inspired mama miscellany*

He found this guitar in the closet in my studio and serenaded us all weekend.

Our real foodie group had it's second food swap today. I took oregano plants that I thinned from my herb garden, kombucha SCOBYs, and sets of cotton "unpaper" towels. I brought home freshly baked ciabatta and rye bread, plum butter, strawberries, cherries, plum seeds and recipe cards with cute little bicycles on them. 

Oh, and I made another embellished tank! Hoorah!



chicken funnies*

luca picked up our biggest hen and said "look at me, mom!" and i snapped a couple pics with my iphone. then esmé said "aw, look at her legs! i bet that is how you put pants on a chicken."

i hope you are all having a lovely weekend, friends!

xx

inspired mama*sunday

yesterday i cleaned the house. like scrub floors, wash windows, dust shelves, wipe walls - that kind of cleaning up. 

today i grocery shopped, kid-free, then returned home and baked 1 chocolate zucchini-coconut cake and 4 loaves of zucchini bread for the freezer. i prepped salads and sides for our weekly menu. i cut copious amounts of fruit for breakfast smoothies. i brewed tea for new batches of kombucha, started a fresh pitcher of cold brewed iced coffee and made a jar of simple syrup to sugar it up a bit.

i cleaned up after each creation so my kitchen looks sweet and smells even sweeter. however the rest of the house looks like mama took the day off and let a bunch of wild turkeys roam the rooms. sticky doorknobs, sticky floors {big thanks to homemade ice pops!}, an emptied knitting bag {grumble} and toy cars from here to there and everywhere in between. i maybe-might just ignore it all until tomorrow. with exception to my knitting bag...

in other news i have decided that i am going to lose 20 pounds {i am super serious this time} and am already down 5. woohoo! a few diet modifications {less snacking and self medicating with food. ahem} and lots of walking, hooping, yoga and urban farm girl chores. go me. if when i reach my goal i am buying a new wardrobe. you have been warned inspired daddy.

sweet*teeth

it was an impulsive purchase, at the fabric store of all places. we don't do it often and we went straight into the bathroom and brush-brush-brushed when we were finished. and it was fun.

too, too good.

hey girl, just for fun.

handmade ryan gosling. new love. check it out.

this is what we do.

* christmas music * warm sunbeams * baby napping * mama sewing * empty box discovery * creative wheels turning * proper modifications made * a little paint here * some red ribbon there * imagination comes to life *

good on you, monday.

we met jan brett {she is our favorite!}

look! jan brett's book tour bus! we were so excited!

there were a whole lot of people there but we all agreed that we were not leaving without saying hello and getting our new copy of "home for christmas" signed. so we took a place in the long line.

hedgie was there too!

she gave a demonstration on how she creates her illustrations. 

there she is! we've almost made it through the slow moving line.

it is exciting to be so close.

at long last it is our turn! she was so kind and patient and chatted with the kids about their love for art and their favorite animals. even harper talked with her and told her he really likes bears. 

{if you know harper you know this is a pretty big deal}

she wrote ::

Dear Esmé, Harper and Luca

Love is.

Jan Brett 2011

♥

esmé posed for a photo with her. harper politely declined.

we also picked up a copy of "the hat" for our little library.

now we are back home and all settled in for story time and naps and coffee part two for mama.

*happy sighs*

but before i go i want to share with you what i found! jan's website is full of printable fun for your kiddos! {including some adorable thanksgiving printables}

here are the activity pages.

a whole bunch of sweet coloring pages can be found here.

and she also has some learn to draw videos to watch!

enjoy, friends!

love is.

♥

friday.

* good morning * hot coffee * green smoothies * elk roast in the crock pot * play, play, play * clean up * baby nap * preschool workbooks * sweater knitting * reading * one more cup of coffee * what should we do next, little loves? *

happy friday, friends.

sunday

good morning * hugs, kisses, big happy smiles * green juice and waffles * coffee, oh, glorious coffee * dining room clean up, round one * birthday cake baking * dancing in the kitchen * wildflower bouquets * hula hooping on the back porch, still in our jammies * more coffee... more dancing... more smiles and giggle, giggle, excited giggles...

there is nothing more i need.

happy sunday, friends!

i live for weekends.

except now our summer vacation has officially started so the weekends seem to never end. i really am a no schedule, let's just see where the day takes us, laid back kind of gal. yes, this summer lifestyle suits me fine.

hope your weekend is treating you right, friends!

sunday musings, updates and upcomings.

today we went to the east end market and harper bought this little sock frog. he loves it, so much that he asked me to come outside and take photos of him in the herb garden. he named him "ribbit". esme picked out a small yellow and blue sock kitty with button eyes. then we took our new creaturely friends across the street to the sweet shoppe. one jaw breaker, a small bag of assorted taffy, and a couple peppermint sticks later we were on our way home.

i had intentions of coming to post the birthday month giveaway winners no less than a dozen times this weekend. so sorry if you have been waiting on the edge of your seat! a sweet local friend won luca's birthday giveaway and we delivered her goodies yesterday. aimee from in a cobweb cottage by the sea won harper's birthday giveaway and her coloring wallet is all packed up and will be on it's way to her in the morning.

and, tomorrow is esme's birthday which means one more special giveaway! YaY! so stop by in the morning to see what she has planned for you.

good night, dear friends! see you in the morning!

erika

february :: it's a day to day thing.

the day before yesterday ::
muddy, messy, sunny and warm. tulips were spotted peeking up from the front flower beds. playing in the backyard. swinging, bubble blowing run, run, run.

today ::
fluffy white wonderland. excited little faces peering out the window. "SNOW!" they exclaim.
mama gets busy locating mittens and scraping mud off of the snow boots that were left in the garage earlier in the week, when it was spring.

ohhhh, february.

lust for life

rainbows on hips.
iggy pop in speakers.
singing out loud.
laughing at everything and nothing at all.
getting our silly on.

happy sunday, friends.

the day took us here, there and no where in particular

for lunch we ate spaghetti squash from our garden. vine to oven to table to tummy in an hour!

then we made play dough using this favorite recipe. i spent most of the late afternoon pretending to eat play dough cookies, play dough pasta, play dough pizza, and unrecognizable play dough creations offered to me by harper.

there was also a trip to the book store and i had intentions to buy nothing, but they had a copy and i had a coupon and i couldn't resist. the projects in this book are beautiful and i already have several of them bookmarked in my brain. hmmm, handmade home holiday this year... it could work!

with all this eating and playing and making and reading going on there wasn't much time left for housework. i did clean the bathroom sink while the kids bathed. clean sink, clean kids - good enough! as i sit here now with a cup of tea and a messy house, i don't regret any of it.

lost and found

today i had a deep desire to access the small cupboard above my refrigerator, which required the top of said appliance to be cleared off and cleaned - this is a dirty, dirty vile job, folks! everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, sequins (?) and just plain ick!

when i finally opened the cupboard i discovered this little gem ::

how have we been living our lives without the use of this handy-dandy item? and where did we even get it? and why did we decide that the cupboard above the fridge was the best place to keep it? who knows, maybe it came with the house...

i did find some cool stuff too, including old photos of both me and the hubby, and two barnes and noble gifts cards with a combined balance of $28! over all, not too shabby!

squirrel-y

this little critter has been visiting our bird feeder every evening. we can watch him dine from our dinner table. esme' has named him "chunk", which i think is very fitting. i wonder though, would he prefer something other than wild bird seed? i am happy to oblige him, just as long as he leaves my garden alone!

welcome in, june-bug!

so far this month i have ::

• bathed 2 kiddos, taking special care to scrub black ink off of the littlest one's legs, belly, and hands
• had my very own shower while the kids watched a video
  
• made oatmeal and smoothies for breakfast
• watered the garden and bounced a few unwelcome guests (weeds)
• wished my friends kyle and aubrey a happy 1st anniversary
  
• volunteered in esme's kindergarten class (for the very last time *sniff*)
• drank a vanilla iced coffee with milk
• heated leftover black beans and rice for lunch
• held the hand of a little boy after school while we waited for his mom to come. he was crying because he had a horrible headache.
• ate banana chocolate chip bread that we baked yesterday.
• drew sidewalk chalk stick figures and pushed harper in his swing.

now it is nearing dinner time. there is still so much to do today- meals to prepare, dishes to wash, laundry to fold. but it is june, it is warm, and we still have several hours of daylight ahead. welcome back june, i've missed you!

random reflections :: today, this is me

i liked my hair this morning before i spent 20 minutes outside in the wind
just like this photo, i feel a little fuzzy need coffee!!
i am unorganized esme' was late for school because i could not find my sweater
i am excited mom's night out with all of my girlfriends tonight! yay!!
i am knitting another spring/summer top for esme'
i am happy it is may also known as birthday month around here

wishing you all a happy today!

random reflections :: shades

lions, tigers and kindergarteners... oh my!

yesterday we joined esme's kindergarten class on their first field trip to zoo boise. there is a new african plains exhibit that we were very excited to see. the giraffes were my favorite- they are magnificent! i would have happily spent the whole afternoon with them but when you are with a group of five and six year olds you are only allowed to spend a couple minutes with each animal and then you are on the run (literally) to see what is next.

after the giraffes we saw a big kitty ::


a big nest ::

a big egg ::

a small elephant ::

and a tiny tiger ::

i think the monkeys were harper's favorite. they were very cute and entertaining. they kept coming up to the front of their enclosure to check harper out. it looked like they were inviting him in to play! but no, we decided to pack up our sleepy little monkey and head home for a nice, long nap.