BIG is beautiful.

Justin Hackworth did a photo shoot with Addie and I yesterday for his 30 Strangers project. He is a brilliant photographer with a very documentary look and I am so honored I could be part of his project! You can see and read more here:

This is (believe it or not) the first time I have let myself get infront of a camera for most of my pregnancy. BIG is beautiful I keep telling myself! Something about this time around has made me feel more awkward and more full than ever before, but 30 weeks is close enough to 40 that I am willing to keep on going!

Visit his blog post today toread more of his post. Justin is SO talented, and if you are ever in the Provo Utah area....give him a ring. Thanks Justin!

Little Feet.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have little feet again. What would the world look like if my head was as high as my hips are now. I guess that is why I can't stop drawing for children...I am constantly curious what they think about when they walk around with those little feet in that magical world of their's. Sometime's I remember what it is like, and other times...I have just as much fun imagining. But that's it: Little feet imagine.

Our golden shoes.

This weekend we celebrated Easter, and it was our best yet. Easter egg hunts, cake decorating, a wonderful morning at church, candy eating, family gathering and really, really great memories.

One activity we did I think will turn into a yearly tradition: reading of "The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes".

(If this book is new to you, here is the one sentence recap: A country bunny with 21 children to tend to, is able to maintain her status as one of the 5 Easter bunnies, because of her mothering skills in the home, and the extra help of a special pair of magical golden shoes. Message: As long as you always try your best, you will get the help you need to do great things.)

My children have read this before, and my husband and I grew up on this story. It is one of my ALL TIME favorites. But this year, we made it even more special.

On Easter Eve, we walked over to my Grandmother's house where she was waiting for us...ready to read her very own copy of this story (she is the Country Bunny to a "T"). She read it aloud in her own words (which we audio recorded) and then at the end, I pulled out a wrapped box with a real pair of golden shoes to hang up on the wall as a reminder of the amazing message in this book. The kids were tickled to think they had their very own pair to look at.

I wish I could have posted this before Easter, but alas...it was a last minute idea. I had bought a pair of old vintage toddler shoes at an antique store years ago, and I spray painted them gold. I laced them up with leather lacing, and VOILA. A family heirloom to pull out every Easter.

If you haven't ever read this book, you may be a bit confused. You need to go read it...it is worth reading ANY time of the year!

The baker's wife.

I know I have mentioned before how in love I am with the fact that I have a gourmet chef for a husband. He calls himself the "Weekend Gourmet". Because really, it is the weekends that he has the time to just play. To him, cooking is completely a creative outlet. He'll study baking and cooking from cultures world wide, memorize the principles, and will never touch the recipes again. He will make up his own variations and never create the same thing twice. And often, his best cooking is when he just needs to take a break from the world and play in the kitchen. I really don't mind when he comes home stressed since it usually means something really yummy is coming!

This weekend there was Irish in his blood. With St. Pat's just around the corner, he whipped out 3 different kinds of Irish breads: raisin and lemon Irish soda bread, Brown Irish soda bread, and his own variation of Baps (an Irish breakfast role). Oh, and do I mention that he did this all in 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon?

I probably shouldn't mention that the photos don't even include the grilled salmon meal or the traditional Irish Corned beef and cabbage meal, both with all the trimmings of a gourmet night on the town. I am REALLY trying to get him to write down his recipes...maybe a little blog pressure will help?

oh yes, I love my life.

Feel free to nibble at the screen.

Excuse me.

We aren't getting much sleep around these parts...and it isn't from a newborn...yet. It is from children old enough to think waking up in the night and keeping their parents up for hours at a time is a rather fun passtime. I mean, I love my kids and all...but I may be taking a break from blogging till I get my brain back. In the mean time...have fun making wall art!

Making an art gallery.

We paint and make things a lot around these parts. I love watching my little artists have at it. But after a while, I started to wonder what in the world I was supposed to do with all their art pieces. Too many to save, but not any room to put them. There are plenty of ideas I have found about storing your children's art, but I really wanted to showcase it. Here is what we came up with.

We continued the art project by turning the art time into craft time. I drew basic animal shapes on a piece of paper, and cut them out to be a template. Then I placed them on the poster board (making sure to find the most interesting parts of the art) and cut then cut out around the paper template. (The bird print is actually a collage of the art paper, cut into random shapes, glued down on a paper, and then cut into a shape...very Eric Carle-ish.) The kids helped me glue the cut out animal shapes to white paper, place them in an IKEA frame, and VIOLA! Instant art. Pleasing for me and for the kids. I can't wait to make more!

**EDIT: And yes, I am VERY aware that the bird template is a swallow, not a sparrow. This only goes to show the state of mind a mother can be in when she has her 2 toddlers crawling on her while doing art projects! I could go in and change this posted picture, but instead, let it stand as proof that I am mother and often make silly mistakes at the expense of justgetting projects finished in time to please excited little ones!

Weekend peeks.

Around my house:

1. More color. Moving in and getting closer to having a clean vibrant space!

2. Two stickers made friends on my wall.

3. Sleepy boys after a long day of adventure seeking.

4. A happy mama who's Valentine's present was 2 FULL days to myself! Result: an almost moved in house!