can't hardly wait

Am I excited for the new Wes Anderson movie? You know I am... 

 

just so I can remember

This post is mostly so I can remember.

For most of Jack's life, he has had a side kick. Always by his side - every nap, every car ride, every scraped knee... "Bear" was in hand and ever loyal.

Now that Jack has grown older, I have seen with some sadness, the final end of the era of Bear. Jack's posse has officially added on others - or he has out grown most all together. And while Bear was once the favorite, I now see him left behind on the bed each day, as Jack bounds off on his adventures.

For so long Bear was Jack's world, and I am some what sad now that those days are officially gone. I will miss my little man's once sweet little voice, with thumb in mouth, uttering that one word that would solve all problems: "Bear." I will always see the age of Jack's innocence and childhood every time I look into the ratty love-worn face of Bear. 

I don't know why, but I still make the bed with a prime spot for Bear on the pillows. But that is where he will stay all day - and most likely will be pushed onto the floor at night, no longer part of the adventure.

I know it's lame, but I'm sad for Bear.

oh my

Tonight Ry and I hit up a late night movie (thanks aunt Jennie for holding down the fort of sleeping monsters). We went and saw WE BOUGHT A ZOO, and oh how I loved it! Cameron Crow is one of my most favorite directors... so I knew I would not be disappointed, but I left completely taken over. It was so beautiful. And the soundtrack by Jonsi was fabulous and I could go on and on.

Go see it before it leaves the theater if you haven't already. 


Sigh.

meet shirley

Ryan gave me this gorgeous sewing machine for Christmas. She's in great condition... only catch is how to use her. I have been searching online for a manual I could download or purchase but so far can't find the right one. Does anyone have any good sewing books they could recommend for a beginner? I need some good projects to start out with. I am determined to start putting her to good use. I have no sewing abilities whatsoever, so I hope this ol' gal is the beginning of something I thought I would always love.

Oh, and I've named her Shirley, after my grandmother. 

Yes... I like to name inanimate objects.

creativity project // bookplates

One of my resolutions for the year was to try and be more creative. I used to do creative things all the time... and well now I realize it's not so much that I don't have the time to be creative as much as I rarely MAKE the time to. I'm trying to be conscious of doing something once a week - that gets the old creative motor running again.

Today's "creativity" project was dedicated to my books. My personal library is slowly growing. I hope to one day have walls and walls of books. Something like this.

I love to read, but with these three monsters running circles around me, I don't get much reading time in. So for now, I slowly read one book at a time and just keep collecting books I would love to one day get around to enjoying. 

So today I made some personalized bookplates for my small collection. I will make a full series this weekend. I like the idea of having all different kinds of birds. Then every time I pick up a new book, they will be ready to be installed. I might even make a small series to give to people whom I know love to read as well. Maybe that will be next week's project. We will see.

 

latest book finds

Here are our latest favorite finds at the library.

For Cash I found "Where's Walrus?" by Stephen Savage. There are no words, and the pages follow a great story about a walrus that escapes from the zoo and camouflages into the scenery on each page as the zoo keeper tries to find him. The illustrations are simple and beautiful in color. We loved it.

For Jack I found "The boy who cried ninja" by Alex Latimer. I picked this up merely on how cool the illustrations were on the cover, but the story was fabulous too. It's about a little boy named Tim who keeps getting blamed for things that happen around the house even when he explains it was a ninja, or a time traveling monkey, or a sunburned crocodile. Then his parents discover he was telling the truth. Jack wants to read it every night.

Check them out next time you are at the library - they are good picks. You won't be disappointed.

a post of a post

This story is such a beautiful and tragic story. Ryan wrote this song 2 years ago when we followed her blog as her son battled for his life. I cried reading this updated post 2 years past, and I am in constant awe of this woman and her faith.

READ HERE.

because of all the throw up

Because of all the sickness and throw up that was happening at our house around the time I finished my stationery boxes for the boys teachers, I never got around to posting these pictures. 

I tried to use mostly what I had around the house, so the patterns and ribbon don't completely match, but I still liked it. I got the cigar boxes from Michaels, the cardboard initials (glued on the front) from Hobby Lobby, and the idea from this crafty girl's blog. Each box had a set of 12 cards with their monogrammed initial in a different font. Then I designed up some smaller note cards which had birds and other motifs stamped on them. 

There you have it. I think they turned out pretty good.