Oh my dear boy, I am so enamored with you. This is really saying something as you got me up at 4 am this morning and didn’t sleep much last night. You’re working on your top front teeth and it has been rough on all of us. I can see them poking through now, it should get better soon.
Your personality is such that teething doesn’t affect much more than your sleep. You are still giggly and active, smiling and wonderful. You’re crawling all over the place and giving your brother a run for his money. I can’t believe that you are approaching one year old. You are already looking like a little boy {oh, my heart}.
Looking for the rest of these? They’re here.
A little photo editing, a little plant shopping and home depot. And then? African peanut soup and homemade pita bread! Yum. It was a fun day with the boys.
Have I mentioned my love for Instagram? It’s by far my favorite app for my iPhone. I find it makes documenting life and my processes super fast and easy. I combined it with the Diptic app to make the storyboard above.
Do you have a favorite photo app? Are you on Instagram? Leave me notes in the comments about either or both.
Happy Sunday!
It’s a long weekend here in boyland (teacherland? Pacific Norrthwest rainland?) whatever the descriptor, it’s a long weekend.
So, of course we’re all fighting colds, that’s somebody’s law isn’t it?
The silver lining of the whole cold thing is
#1 no one has gotten full blown sick
and
#2 I have had some rest time (i.e. time to catch up with my Google reader).
Rad stuff… right?
Big brother first and then little brother, right? Big brother’s January photo highlights are here, if you’re looking.
January with Gideon {the highlight reel}
for more see his Flickr 366 album
Awhile back I mentioned that I would be participating in a project to document the boys via photos. One for every day of the year {366 this year because it’s leap year!}
I quickly (around January 4th or so) realized that I might be failing… so early on?
Really?
After a brief moment of disappointment and some consideration in throwing in the towel, I picked myself up and dusted off and thought, no, this will be really fabulous to look back on. I finally edited the January photos. I have decided that I will be using both my nice camera and my iphone to keep track (Instagram anyone?) It worked nicely to work through a month at a time so that’s how I’ll roll for now.
This project was thought up by the lovely Gregarious Peach, I continue to be inspired by her creative work and her sense of calm and enjoyment through raising two youngsters. I am also super envious that she is in the middle of summer right now (she live in Australia).
January with Decatur {the highlight reel}
for more see his Flickr 366 album
On my way to 366! It was so fun going through these, I found myself almost in tears at how sweet they are. My excitement was renewed to keep this project going.
It feels like the days are flying by. Every day I just try to slow slow down and enjoy.
We’re working through some sleep stuff, and some there’s just not enough time in the day stuff, and some looking forward stuff… I feel like I’ve lost the delicate balance lately.
It’s time to get back on track. It’s time to delight in the little things and let some other stuff go. It’s time to share excitement and create. It’s time to forget about logistics for awhile.
Oh and I also need some of this:
Here’s hoping.
Did you know that all elSage apparel is printed by hand?
The process of printing by hand means that each piece has a little extra love put into making it special. It also means that each piece is slightly different. Very rarely, I have a piece turn out not quite perfect. This happened to me on the last printing when the bicycle design I was printing didn’t come out quite right. So… I’m giving away the bicycle baby gown below to one lucky reader. These gowns make the perfect new baby gift, they make diaper changes easy and fit wonderfully!
How do you enter? All you have to do is check out the new shop and leave a comment here that tells me what your favorite item is {don’t forget to leave me an email to contact you with if you win}. If you want an extra entry or two you can become a facebook fan or follow me on twitter {leave separate comments for each entry}. That’s it, easy peasy. I’ll pick a winner on Saturday February 18th.
{Update: Congrats Zara Stevens! Though there was stiff competition, your number came up in the random drawing. I’ll send your gown out soon}
Remember my dear friend Cassie? Well, not only did she make it out of UW hospital and off of bed rest, but she made it to 38 weeks! Cassie delivered completely naturally under the care of midwives at our local hospital. She’s a bad ass, pushing for 2 1/2 hours to bring little Olin David into the world. I get chills whenever I hear or think about natural childbirth. Just incredible!
For Olin’s nursery, Cassie and Justin asked if I would paint a tree branch across the wall that would hold a few book shelves. It was such a fun project! I took photos along the way and as you can see there was a ton of activity happening that day.
Nursery Mural Project from elSage Designs on Vimeo.
One of my first memories is of being in preschool at 3 or 4 years old and making wax paper & melted crayon shaving art. I thought it was so cool how the colors exploded.
Fast forward some years and I’m on Pinterest. I see this heart garland tutorial via the ever so talented (and fellow educator) Rae Hoekstra
As well as the Martha Stewart pin for wax paper/crayon hearts.
My mission was simple, make some decor for the baby shower of a very dear friend. I wanted something that the boys could help me with so I blended these two ideas together.
Here are the ever so easy steps involved in making your very own wax paper heart garland for Valentines Day!
step one, sharpen or grate crayons
step two, lay wax paper out, sprinkle shavings on. cover with another piece of wax paper (you have a sandwich)
step three, iron your ‘crayon shaving sandwich’ (make sure there is lots of paper under the crayon sandwich and on top of it otherwise you will ruin your iron and/or ironing board)
step four, cut out hearts
step five, sew together in a line
{I used a little cotton tape on each end with a loop sewn in for easy hanging}
This project turned out really rad. I love that it’s made with household materials and that it gives another purpose for all those broken crayons {hello eco friendly!}. The final product has a stained glass look to it that is super versatile. It was a fun project to do on my days home with the boys. The sewing part is so easy I did it one handed (holding baby with one hand and feeding hearts in with the other).
Is it something in the air this time of year? Or because I just got hired to design the hair pieces for a bridal party? Not sure but every time I pin something to my weddings board on Pinterest I think, “you’re married, what is this board even for?”
Weddings are magical and for me, waaay cooler in theory without all the stress and pressure. I’m so thrilled to be happily married and not planning a wedding, but I do sometimes come across ideas and think, “that would’ve been cool”.
Wedding Wednesday gives me an outlet for this maddness (as well as an excuse to have a weddings board on Pinterest) so, Wedding Wednesday is coming back.
Rad.
And that dress (above). Oh my, it’s breath taking.
photo source via zara stevens on pinterest
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