these moments 2010

I want to thank each and every one of you for sharing these moments and all of the ones in between with me in this space. Thank you for clicking over. Thank you for your thoughtful and supportive comments. Thank you for reaching out and checking in. Thank you for  your friendships. Thank you for building a community full of creativity and warmth.

Happy New Year!

handmade holidays - not necessarily my hands

I wanted to share some of the handmade goodness that went on here for the holidays. Not all of it was made by my hands, as they have been highly occupied loving on a little baby. But from etsy to crafty friends, the handmade goodness made their way to our Hanukkah/ Solstice/ Christmas celebrations.

First for the boy... my neighbor SuperJen once again did her thing. I guess she's one of the many people who have tripped over and found Zach's matchbox cars all over the marina. His normal protocal after scraping together his spare change and buying these little cars with his own money (I think he likes the buying of them as much as the playing, as they are just $1) -- is to stuff them in his pockets and bring them here and there to play outside. And many never come home again. SuperJen created a solution from an upcycled wool sweater.

Yes, a perfect little roll up car tote. Hopefully this will help him keep track of his cars, he's already been using it just to carry them around the boat.

But SuperJen's awesomeness doesn't end there. I have been bugging her for a while now (mind you, she works 40+ hours a week and is a mama too, so her spare time is... uh, tight) about this idea I wanted to make. Jen knows that's code for, "will you make it for me and I will stand and watch you?" :)

I've seen those silk/flannel blankies in the natural toy catalogs for a while now, and since we have, oh, 7-thousand or so playsilks on board the boat all I had to do was buy a yard of flannel. Jen sewed it together for me while I watched and voila!

It's SOsoSO soft, I wish you could all reach through and give it a feel. And I think I paid careful enough attention that I could make one myself now.

Naia also got a few other little gifties... an amber teething necklace (from here), a gorgeous set of personalized wooden keys from the amazing MamaRoots, a beautiful dolphin rattle (from this etsy shop), and this lovely little doll from, you guessed it, SuperJen. Zach sweetly re-gifted one of his playsilks to her as well.

I made Zach a little wallet and coin sack for his growing world coin collection (my hand work is not worth showing in photos!) But his favorite items aside from his new audio books (oh how we love audio books!) were a stack of CD's that I burned for him, each with a theme (rock and roll, pirate music, show tunes, sleepy time music, etc) that he can use in the radio in his room. And we made his very own first aid kit.

He's forever running about with bandaids in his pockets and antiseptic cremes up his sleeve just waiting for someone to need medical assistance. So we got this cool army med bag on EBay and my husband stocked it with real medical supplies for him along with weekly lessons on what to do, from wound care to handling burns.

Major father son bonding.

I guess his medical training is paying off, it seems we're all starting to feel better over here after a round of the coughs/sniffles. Thanks to all for the well wishes!

yes wind you're very tough, we get it

Oh the weather outside is frightful... yet the boy wants to go out and romp around in the white stuff.

So Naia and I indulge him. For about 10 minutes.

Then we scurry back in to the boat. Mama still sick. Baby bundled up and sniffling now too.

And wind rocking up as if we were crossing an ocean even though we're snug in our slip. 50 mph with ice chunks slamming down from the rigging like missiles.

We'll be back when things settle down and everyone is healthy.

not even a goat

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the boat... hmmm I don't think that's how it goes.

I sent the fellas out elfing so I could get last minute this and that done.

But having a wicked cold and a bundle who needs tending, I decided to delegate certain gifts and tasks to New Years... Valentine's Day... or even first day of spring.

Instead I'm enjoying the quiet. Sneezing. And cuddling.

Wishing you all love and light during the holiday weekend!

all I want for christmas - mama's version

Staying up late peeling the paste from my fingertips (why is that so darn fun?), and picking the beeswax from my sweater sleeves (not so fun) while licking the dark chocolate from the top of Naia's head in the sling (mmmmm fun).... only to wake up before the sun and get some more small holiday projects done while everyone is asleep...

... so now all I want for Christmas is this...

A girl can dream can't she? Come on Santa, just one dish washing-laundry folding-floor cleaning elf is all I ask. Hook me up big guy.

welcome back old friend

We embraced the darkness. We feasted. We baked sun bread. We let honey drip from our chins. We played with fire. We just played. We let the long night take us away, tucked in our little fiberglass cave.

And then hungover on chocolate and the scent of beeswax, we welcomed back the sun.

making merry

I promised myself that with little Naia snugly in the sling  all day long, and with my ankle just healing up, and with the lack of sleep that goes with a new little being that I would not try to do much of anything for the holidays. I can barely remember to put on a shirt before I walk out the door let alone do holiday cards.

Yet I find myself staying up to the wee hours doing this...

(Nicole I totally blame you for this, I am completely addicted! Of course, they aren't for me. No they're for our friends. Mostly.)

and doing this...

(Yes, I have a beeswax problem.I LOVE the smell.)

...and spending the day time doing this with Zach...

and this...

When really I need to be taking a cue from the wee one and doing more of this...

Wishing everyone peace on the Solstice.

mix. roll. bake. eat. remember

That's how we spent part of our weekend. Click on over HERE for the background on these special cookies... and the recipe.

And the winner is...

I told Zach, "Pick a number between 1 and 68", and he yelled out - 52! So Shannon is the lucky winner. She is a crazy creative mama and a top notch veterinanrian that I happen to know personally. Check out her crafty blog HERE and see the amazing party ideas she's created among other things.
I will get you in touch with Chris to collect your HumBug.

Thank you everyone for sharing the MamaRoots love and thank you Chris!!

~this moment~ cozy & warm

A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - via soulemama

in the shadows

A favorite Solstice tradition for our family is spending part of the long, dark night playing with shadow puppts. In years past we've purchased beautiful shadow puppets on etsy.

But inpsired by Zach's hand made monster shadow puppet last year...

I decided to try to make a set of our own this year. All it took was a little black card stock, an exacto knife, a safe surface to cut on (I used a self healing cutting mat), some tape, chopsticks or wooden skewers, and a little imagination.

We decided on winter scenes and wanted to keep it simple as the only thing more primitive than my drawing skills are my cutting skills. The snowman, the pine, and the sun tree I drew free hand, while the polar bear is from free clip art that I traced.

A little tape attached to a chopstick or skewer and voila!

Loads of unplugged, imaginative, family fun on those long winter nights.

If you want to check out some insanely gorgeous shadow puppets for sale on etsy, click on over to Isabella's Art. And enjoy the darkness :)