Baking bread

When I was pregnant with my first child, I imagined all the things we would do together. High on my list was lots of art and baking projects at the kitchen table. Somehow, once my son was born, none of those things happened at all until recently. I became overly worried about the mess and the frustration and he was not at all interested in the kinds of projects I was. In retrospect, I cannot believe that I let go of that dream so easily. Since we started homeschooling, I've become closer to the kind of parent I want to be. Not to say that I did not thoroughly enjoy babyhood (I'm still suffering from a severe case of baby fever), but I've so enjoyed the more focused activities with my kids as they get older. I ordered this book and was inspired to give bread baking a try. I was excited to discover that bread making is indeed transformative. My children love it. The book has wonderful recipes that are simple and failproof (in our experience) along with traditional read aloud stories about bread. We've actually even broken out in song during the kneeding process! I love sharing this activity with them. I cannot wait for our next loaf!

And just like that...

She turns four! Somehow this birthday hit me harder than most. She just woke up acting more grown up. As a stay-at-home mom, I've tried so hard to savor the good stuff, but I find it so difficult to remember how fast it really goes while bogged down in the ridiculous household challenges of the moment. I'm going through a period of extreme baby lust and actively contemplating a third baby especially after reading this post. Becoming a mother has certainly been in so many ways the beginning of me. I'm so lucky to be participating in this journey with my children.

And I even came up with a nifty party favor idea. I've always struggled with party favors as they are generally crappy little toys that break immediately and go directly to a landfill (in my house anyway), so I decided to do cds of Katya's favorite songs. I know this is not a new idea (and is, in fact, an infringement of copyright. Please don't turn me in!), but at least I hope they will be enjoyed by recipients for a while before being tossed into the trash. I realized Friday night that I had no cd cases, so I sewed up these little interfaced fabric envelopes from my enormous pile of scraps.

Patchwork angst

I have major performance anxiety when attempting anything patchwork. Don't know what it is....I guess it's because I don't know what it will look like until it's all done. What if I don't like it? I'm planning to make a couple of quilts in the very near future (my first attempt), so I thought I'd start with this scarf to get warmed up. At first, I didn't like it, not at all, but then I wore it yesterday and got a ton of compliments (I'm such a sucker for praise). I do like the pattern, very easy to put together. I'll keep trying.....

Happy Hearts

I love Valentine's Day, mostly for its simplicity: a card, some candy, maybe a glass of champagne, and especially its color scheme. I just love red, be it big blocks of red or little splashes of it. I love to add a dash of it to whatever I'm sewing.

I made something!!

Inspired by this skirt I saw. I still like the other one better, but it was a fun and quick thing to make. We're going to DC in February and would love to make my son a fleece pea coat and cannot find a pea coat pattern ANYWHERE. I guess I'll have to make something up myself. I might do something kimono-like because I won't have to worry about a collar. But the question remains...why are there so few cute patterns for boys? Boys are cute too!

A few of my favorite things…..

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Happy New Year! I am looking forward to a year filled with lots of personal growth. I’d really like to improve my photography skills which will probably mean (I hope) lots of photos on this blog.

It was merry enough

For some reason, I don't feel as satisfied by this Christmas as I have in years past and I can't pinpoint why I feel this way. I think part of it was that I didn't have enough time to properly nest and prepare the house to feel Christmasy. I really wanted to make more decorations, cookies, gifts....just make in general. All and all, I can't complain. Our lives are very full of friends, family, beautiful things and good health. Let's hope that 2009 brings us more of the same (and lots of making!).