Twirly Girlie

My sweet love is obsessed with her tutu! Now that she is learning to use the potty she often is wearing it, and only it, if you know what I mean!



She loves to twirl!



And she's gone!

Christmas Stocking!

I am finally posting photos of the Christmas stocking I made Neva. I must say, I am really proud of it. I had never used a sewing machine before but with *much* help from my friend Rachel, here is the finished product!



A close up:



This is my favorite part, a little "lift and flap" tree! I just love the extra dimension it gives. This detail was unplanned in the original layout, but makes me smile every time I see it.



Her fun legs on the quilt-y snow backround add to the whimsy of it all.



In action Christmas Morning



I have the stocking my grandmother made me and Stuart has his childhood stocking as well. So I decided that instead of having matching ones, I wanted to make one for Neva so we all have a little piece of our childhood hung up during the holidays. I came up with the layout mostly on my own, although I must admit the elf girl is a variation of one I saw on the internet.

I hope Neva loves this as she grows older as I do the one made for me by my grandmother.

Gathering Drum

Neva's grandparents got her this amazing gathering drum for Christmas! She and all her friends love to bang on it! It has such a beautiful tone and is so wonderfully made. Her favorite thing to do with it is line up her Candy Land playing pieces in a nice neat line in the middle of the drum, then bang away and watch them dance right off the drum!

Solstice Party

Painted Family

I painted these figures for my niece. I got the people from Casey's Wood Products. I decided to make her little family, so there is Emma on the left, her mom (the greatest sister-in-law in the world), my bro and little Even. I hope she likes them!!


From behind!

Things I love

I love that Neva is really getting in to drawing and creating


I love her little fingers and miss the baby dimples that use to be on them


I love the look on her face when she is using her scissors, her favorite thing ever!


I was reading Neva stories tonight and felt like I could read to her for 3 more hours. I loved having her on my lap, I love the way she would get up after a book, walk to her bookshelf, and say "hmmmmmmmm" as she searched for another. I was thinking that these moments are such a short time in her life, that in a few years she may not want to sit on my lap and let me put my lips to her cheek. She may not let me nibble on her ear and stroke her hair. I just felt like I could have sat there with her forever.....

Our New Addition

I grew up with a piano in our house and have many memories of hearing my mother play it. I never formally took piano lessons but being a violinist I knew how to read music, so I would tinker around on it. Ours was in our dining room and thinking back I love the mixture of food and music. Our sweet house is 100 years old, has 2 tiny closets in the whole thing and is about 800 square feet. So when I was offered this FREE piano, I said "I'll make it fit, even if we have to get rid of the couch!" So here it is:


It's a tight fit, makes for coming in with groceries a little bit cramped, but I LOVE having it here and it feels like home. It sounds great, has been nicely kept up, and could use a little bit of a tuning. It is a Francis Bacon, and is a converted player piano. Neva loves opening the doors and seeing the inside. I love letting her, until she started dropping various trinkets in to it.

She loves playing Happy Birthday in her birthday suit! She did come up with a new song that goes like this "I love you, I love you, I love you , I love you" as she bangs away. The other night I was playing (well, trying to play) some Christmas Carols, Neva was in the bath with Stuart and when I finished I hear her start to clap and say "Yeah Mommy!" Awwww, glad she liked it!