oh autumn bounty.

so thankful for. . .a cozy bed. anthropologie window displays. ear tubes. peonies. danish pastry. talks by dieter uchtdorf. big lazy snowflakes. sisters. central vac. white drapes. jimmy. ashlyn. cam. andy. ava. hand sanitizer. my beach cruiser bike. white pumpkins. pandora. four seasons. these is my words. crackling bonfires. parents who taught me how to have a happy life. the smell of rain. live concerts. indoor plumbing. freedom. my blog. the bible and book of mormon. four wheel drive. christmas songs. apple computers. storm stories. the big dipper. dermalogica moisturizer. second hand shops. solitude. window transoms. pear trees. argyle sweater vests. outdoor clotheslines. the big apple. fun friends. driftwood. crisp mountain air. guittard milk chocolate chips. boogie boards. fuzzy socks. warm sand. being a mommy. sand dollars. forever 21 jewelry. hot water. freckles. baby wipes. historical preservation committees. my camera. my happy life.

happy thanksgiving.

image from better homes

weekend discoveries.

This weekend I discovered that:
without kids you can bike the pa'rus trail in approximately 1/100th of the time.
i love the song a comet appears by the shins.
i love hanging out with my jimmy.
there are red telephone booths in several other places besides london.
wedding parties with dancing really are the most fun.
the water in zions is beautifully clear in november.
the urban dictionary defines gillar as "an unbelievably dumb person who uses stupid points to prove themselves." that's just great.

books. glorious books.

I have this vivid childhood memory of sitting on my bedroom floor looking at my favorite book, wishing so badly that I could read the words on the pages. I was probably four at the time because I know we were living in our Escondido house, with the library at the top of the stairs (with the little sofa that I would hide my easter basket behind so my sisters wouldn't eat all my candy.)

But back to the point.

Which is. I think it's safe to say I have loved books from my earliest childhood days.

And although I love reading books of every kind, over the last few years I have especially loved discovering childrens books. I love them. Adore them, in fact. So every year when the book fair opens at the elementary school, you better believe I will be wandering around looking at each one. So here are the ones that I got for Andy & Ava this year.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown is a story about a little boy who, with a love of being outdoors, a little curiosity, a little preparation and a little work was able to turn a gloomy city into a vibrant colorful city full of overflowing whimsical gardens. (And although is about beautifying an industrialized city, it is not one of those obnoxious i've jumped on the bandwagon of indoctrinating kids about global warming. i mean climate change. kind of stories) We all love it and the illustrations are extra specially delightful!

The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle is about a little boy (who has the cutest pout you ever did see) who wants a dog. Oh that sounds so familiar. Which by the way, I don't think I ever confessed on here that after buying our adorable-other-than-using-the-kids-as-chew-toys little izzie over the summer, we returned her to the owner a mere three days later. Clearly we are not ready for a puppy. But books about puppies (and dragons), no problem.

the stockings were hung.

There's no holding me back now! It's official. I have started my Christmas preparations in earnest. I did a little Christmas shopping for the kids yesterday, listened to a delightful pandora Christmas playlist, finished our advent calendar adventures, felt the promise of winter chills in the brisk air and am counting down the days until we can go buy our Christmas tree! So it is in this festive spirit I bring you two of my favorite stockings of the season. The first I purchased at the showcase from the bobbins nest. I was immediately drawn to them and only a couple days later I realized they are made from the same fabric I almost recovered our library chair in. I love it. The second stocking is from india rose. A perfect way to add a little whimsy to your holiday season.

christmas adventures.

Every year about this time (well usually it is closer to November 30. But remember my planning-ahead-goals with my "be still" theme?--i'm totally making baby steps!) So anyway, every year about this time, I plan our Christmas Adventure Calendar. Oh that is such a lame name. I know. I have been trying for the last five minutes to think of a new name for it, but I've got nothin. And in real life that is what we call it, so I suppose we will just continue on with it until inspiration hits.

Now before you start mocking my zealous list-making and calendaring (this is primarily directed to my boy cousins who mock me endlessly for this blog), a word in my defense. . . I have found that without a little planning ahead, the holidays pass by in a rush and when they are all over, I am sad because we didn't make the time to just sit by the fire and sing Christmas carols or get bundled up to go to the Christmas parade and look at the little Christmas village displays or act out the nativity.

So a few years ago I came up with this idea. First I make a master list of 1. all the fun things we want to do during the holidays (like read Polar Express snuggled by the fire and drink hot cocoa) 2. all the things we need to do during the holidays (like send out Christmas cards, buy our tree, etc) and 3. all the activities that are already scheduled (like ballet recitals, neighborhood parties, etc.)

As I look at my December calendar and my list, I assign each day in December one of our "little adventures." Then each adventure is written on a little piece of paper and stuck into our advent calendar in the corresponding day. I'm flexible and inevitably end up doing a little rearranging throughout the month. And sometimes if I don't feel like following through with the preplanned activity, I replace the activity-for-the-day with a little treat.

Each night before bed, the kids take turns pulling out the next days adventure. The kids absolutely love this little family tradition! And soon, I'll share some of the very exciting adventures I'm planning. Just kidding. About the very exciting part.

:: image from olive & cocoa ::

teach me mommy :: gobble

Today the skies are gray and cozy and I am wishing for a big rainstorm. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't even mind a snow storm! I know that is just crazy talk for so early in the season, but I can't help myself. Starting my Christmas shopping at the showcase just really got me in the mood for some fine winter celebration.

But I am trying to reign myself in and take one holiday at a time. After all, Halloween just ended and Thanksgiving is still a couple weeks away. So in my attempts to pace myself, for teach me mommy school today we talked all about that poor little rascal; the turkey.

First we talked about the characteristics of a turkey: feathers, gobbling, head strutting, how the Native Americans helped the pilgrims catch wild turkeys, and it's ensuing role as the thanksgiving feast's main course. . . The girls were fine with this--no widening eyes or sadness was observed. We played turkey hide and seek. Basically hide and seek except the girls say gobble gobble really quietly while I look for them. And then squeal like wild turkeys when I find them. (I didn't tell them to do that last part.)

Then I told the story of Tom Turkey and his temper tantrums which caused him to turn all sorts of vibrant colors. When he finally would calm down after each temper tantrum, his feathers would all turn back to brown except one. It's a cute little story that's been told to each child during their teach me mommy years. Hence all the crayon colorings on the all ready colorful turkeys. If you would like a copy of the story let me know and I'll email it to you.

For our little turkey craft we cut feathers out of some cardstock paper and taped them to a toothpick. On the back of each feather is written something the girls are thankful for. Then they stuck the feathers into the turkey (apple) and put some eyes, a beak (half a starburst) and a gobbler (a chocolate goldfish cracker) on. We attached all those with a little peanut butter.

For snacks they each got a random assortment of pretzel sticks, m & m's, starburst halves, chocolate goldfish crackers and peanut butter covered ritz crackers from which they could assemble their own little turkeys. And gobble up. Which they did. Every last crumb.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

here are the goods girls:
i couldn't get my story to scan in very well, but I found a site with the tom turkey story here.
the turkey picture i used is here.
and the wise old owl is here.

it seems to me.

It seems to me that this infatuation I have with these colors is still going strong. I have just been cleaning off my desktop and over half of the pictures I've got stashed away fit right into this color scheme. I sure would love to design a little girls room with them.

After all, Ava DID just get her big girl bed tonight. . . And we DO need to get some new bedding made to go on it. . . And most of her walls are beadboard, so really it wouldn't be THAT much wall space to paint. . . (Just getting my case ready to present to Jimmy. I think it's sounding pretty solid.)

photo credits: my cousin krista (i would link because she is amazing but alas she is also private), wren handmade, unknown

to create.

:: click on picture to watch clip ::

When I heard these words they resonated so strongly with me, and I have pondered them often over the last year. "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. . . we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. . . don't let the voice of critics paralyze you. You will make the world a better place. Improve. Beautify. Extend. Smile. Cultivate. Develop. Create." So go create with confidence in your corner of the world, in the unique way you have been blessed with!

the end of my piper & chloe posts. . . for now.

It was oh so lovely! But I think the most magical moment was quietly creeping around the house at 1:00 a.m. with Ashlyn, looking at everything and making our Christmas lists. There is something magical about falling asleep and waking up right in the middle of a beautiful little "shop."

happy november.

this november i am looking forward to:

some late autumn hiking in Zions Canyon.
making Christmas lists. oh lists. glorious lists.
admiring the stark beauty of bare trees and deep blue sky.
learning to make danish pastry like my grandma did.
remembering that a grateful heart is a happy heart.
having healthy kids. i think we should be immune to everything after this month of sickness.
and of course piper & chloe!
which means hanging out with all my cute sisters & marm
(my sis ashley even flew in. the giddiness is setting in.)

:: photo from here ::

a first.

Well I suppose if I'm writing on my blog on Halloween, I should be putting something Halloweenish up. But alas, I've got nothing to offer (that I've got pictures of anyway). I did sew some of those paper garlands with gold and black patterned papers and they turned out pretty darn cute. And I also made a little witch skirt (black polka dots with fuschia pom pom trim) for Ava that is alright. The problem is I need to have my pictures developed so I have more room on my card--I think I've deleted everything that can possibly be deleted now! (I have not developed pictures for over a year, and that is the pathetic truth. . . despite my repeated goals of doing it ONCE A MONTH.) Goals, shmoals.

So, instead of halloween projects, today I am documenting my first-ever design job. Now I don't know if I can really count it, because technically I'm not getting paid--my hairstylist and I are trading services. But she charges a lot (because she is awesome) so I feel like it is a good trade and more importantly that it's giving me more experience for if and when I start pursuing this. I thought maybe I wouldn't enjoy it so much if I was doing other people's houses--not just my own--but those fears have been laid to rest. I feel sort of giddy when I start working on it and that can only be a good sign.

I think if you click on the pictures they'll go bigger. Let me check. . . Yep, they do.

some swamp water.

My job for Cam's classroom halloween party was to bring some "festive halloween water bottles." As much as I love cutting, pasting & embellishing I do think all of this work is going to be lost on a bunch of halloween-crazed school kids!!! But if you want to make some of your own, here's the info. I got the swamp water label from here (there's also witches brew and scream soda.) I attached mine with rubber cement, but I know there must be an easier way! I tried double stick tape, but it wasn't sticky enough. So if you know a good method, please share! Then I either hot glued a spider to the top of the cap, or tied one around the neck of the bottle with a ribbon. Our in house swamp monster (aka Cam) really wanted to add a drop off green food coloring to make it look nice and swampy. I was sorely tempted, but Jimmy's logic prevailed and it was decided we shouldn't break the seal. So this is clean filtered swamp water.

If you do these, you could also have some little packs of green premeasured koolaid available for people to mix in--you know the ones made for water bottles.

On an unrelated side note, I think that a mention from the beautiful life in the fun lane must have brought me some new visitors. And I just want to thank all of you who have commented throughout my blog. Initially I tried responding to each one, but I am falling more and more behind, so let me just say, thank you for all of your very kind words. Really. I love writing on my blog and would do it regardless, but knowing there are others out there that like it, makes it even more rewarding! So thank you! And happy halloween!

some pretty soaps.

During my last stop into Pier 1, I spotted some nice big bars of delicious-smelling soaps on clearance for a bargain of a deal. The thrill of a good deal ensued and I purchased an armful! And although they smelled divine, they were packaged in a plain cellophane wrapper that did not do them justice, so I set out to make the outside match the inside. I have a nice little collection of vintage-inspired paper I have used as the background when taking pictures of my hair accessories, that were just perfect for wrapping these delicious bars of soap in. After I took off the old wrapper, I wrapped them up in my paper just like you would wrap up a little present. And some I just wrapped with a 1.5 inch strip of paper around the middle. Then I snipped off a narrow strip of left over fabric from my kitchen chairs and tied a little tag on. I think these will be just perfect for those last minute holiday gifts for friends and teachers!

holiday shopping.

Just in case some of you are interested I thought I would pass on this delicious little tidbit of information. The coterie blog is hosting a giveaway of a $20 gift certificate to spend at the Piper & Chloe Holiday Showcase next weekend. So if you are local to the beautiful beehive state, mosey (mosy? mozy?) on over there to leave a comment. You can check out the Piper & Chloe blog to get a little taste of what you will find at the showcase to spend that lucky gift certificate on (and you can also find a fabulous playlist to listen to as well. Perfect background music for balancing your checkbook.) In other news, the swine flu is running rampant around the kid's school and I'm afraid Ashlyn has got it. Drat.

teach me mommy::fall leaves

With autumn's brilliant colors blazing all around, it seemed only right to make this week's teach me mommy about fall leaves. So that's just what we did. It was a brisk autumn morning, so I gave each girl a little ziplock to fill with all the fall treasures she could find. We played a little scavenger hunt to help reinforce colors too.

Find something red! Something yellow! Something borrowed! Something blue! Oh wait, wrong game.

Before we went outside we read Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet by Diane de Groat, and looked for the fall leaves on each page. (I forgot to find a fall/leaf themed book, so we made do with what we had!) Then we acted out the different stages a leaf goes through, we started by being a little ball on the floor for a winter leaf and then slowly stretched out our arms and legs for a spring leaf, stretched them out big for a summer leaf, and then started twisting and turning and finally the wind blew us away so we spun all around the room for a fall leaf. (You could turn on some music and let them pretend to be fall leaves being blown all around too.)

I gave each girl a cut-out white leaf I printed from here, a small paper plate with some glue on it, a little pile of cut-up colorful paper and a q-tip (to paint the glue onto the colored pieces of paper.) Then I said, did you see any white leaves outside? Noooo! Let's make them beautiful and colorful like the ones we picked outside!

The girls each had a turn helping me with the leaf cookie cutter. After the cookies had cooled, everyone got a small (tiny) bowl of frosting and got to choose which color she wanted to make her leaf: red, orange, or yellow. Of course, they all chose none of the above, but preferred a pink leaf instead, which worked out well because seriously how do you make red frosting!? They took their frosting-stirring very seriously and LOVED watching the white frosting turn from white to pink.

Three little peas in a pod. Mortal enemies or best friends.