I mentioned awhile ago in a post called Talk About Love that my brother and sister-in-law had successfully navigated the Russian adoption system. The outcome is that a big house in the Denver suburbs is now overflowing with family, love, joy, and adventures. It's hard to believe these two little boys were living in a very poor, rural Russian orphanage only a few months ago.
In an act of closure and appreciation, my brother put together a video documenting their journey that is so sweet and beautiful that I just ha...
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I have an incredibly crappy history of epic fails when it comes to giving gifts to my husband. He is impossible to shop for. I mean, IMPOSSIBLE. He will not tell me what he wants, leaving me guessing. I've been guessing and failing for the past 6 1/2 years.
One year I bought him a set of really nice wireless headphones. We lived in an apartment and Sophia's bedroom was right off the living room. So when she went to bed, he couldn't listen to his beloved collection of old punk vinyl. I knew he was missing that, thu...
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Feeling kind of festive, enjoying a relaxed Sunday morning, just wandered around and took some shots of my favorite scenes from around the house. Sophia is at her dad's house and we miss her. I'll add more pics with her in them when she gets back. Autumn is down in Texas doing what working college freshmen do. We miss her, too.
This is an automaton music box my Aunt Patty gave me several years ago for Christmas. As the music plays, all the characters dance around and play their musical instruments.
When...
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Holiday contest for ideas!
I recently picked up a vintage Elf to start the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition with my kids. I've seen a few posts from around the web with tons of cute ideas for how to place him around the house. I think Dave and I will have as much fun cooking up ideas for where to place him as the kids will when they discover his nightly activities each morning.
This is the cute little guy I picked up at my favorite antique mall for $6. Love that he's teal and green. He fits r...
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Sophia and I took Will out for his first round of trick-or-treating this afternoon. She's been coaching him how how to say it for the past week or so, like the fantastic big sister she is. He toddled after her, climbing up stairs, announcing "tree a tree" and giving a polite "tee you" when the homeowners dropped a piece of candy in his little bucket.
When Dave got home he took the kids out for a second round, then a longer run with just Sophia so I could stay here and greet the trick-or-treaters. I mad...
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I remember going to the hospital the day my brother was born even though I'm only a couple years older. He was born in a 1 story hospital in Palacios, Texas. I wasn't allowed inside, so my dad took me around to the window of the room he was in so I could peek inside. My stepmother (very small on the "step" part...she cared for me as an infant) got a doll for me so I could mirror her activities as she cared for him. I named the doll Christopher after my baby brother.
I've always been very close to my brothers. They...
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Will, Dave, and I loaded up and headed out to an area flea market this morning. I've been nursing a bug to not just sell new stuff in my shop, but to find cool vintage stuff to re-purpose and craft into some new little thing. Today my laser beam focus was on silver plate. I want to make an assortment of flattened and stamped spoons for the spring gardening boom over the winter.
So Will and I got ready to go while Dave was in the shower. Will was feeling his Hemingway look today.
I brought home a h...
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The summer is always a busy time for us. Chicago keeps us locked indoors for so long during the winter months, that it's hard to get me to stay inside very long once things warm up.
Here are the broad strokes:
We went to Texas to visit family.
Sophia turned 10 and got her ears pierced.
Will turned 2.
We got the Yellowstone camper and have been fixing it up.
I got hi...
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I'm nervous.
Our village is looking into the backyard chickens issue and I'm a bit iffy on which side things will fall. I was feeling really positive until I went to the farmer's market in town yesterday. There's a big split between the baby boomers. Some say this is a "common sense" issue and that we live too close to the forest preserve to keep chickens, so it should be illegal. To that I say that common sense issues should be left to the individual. Aren't we supposed to be making those decisions for ourselve...
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I frequently refer to my younger daughter by the nickname she gave herself as a toddler. You'd ask her what her name is and she'd respond enthusiastically, "I'm Fi Fi!" So she's stuck with it.
Anyway, Fi is getting ready for a 50's-themed music program at her school. She even has a speaking part where she gets to announce a boy who's playing Elvis. Last night I cut her hair into bangs and tonight I need to finish making a poodle skirt for her to wear in the show. Just the addition of the bangs changed her look so ...
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Fi's at her dad's this weekend. I always miss her, especially on weekend mornings. Saturday mornings are often spent with everyone in the house, cats included, piled up on our bed while the kids watch cartoons.
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We've been making do with a 1 gallon watering dish for the girls. Now that they're laying, it's not even getting them through the day. They're consuming feed at at least twice the rate that they used to, and now the water needs to be filled up twice a day. So in order to make sure fresh water is always available to them, I devised a contraption that involves a gravity-fed auto-waterer, a food-safe rain barrel, and food-safe tubing (came with the waterer), a cage around the dish, and a paving stone to elevate the dish...
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Poor Annie has been complaining all morning...whimpering and clucking. Her hind-end seems rather puffy and she's staying away from the other hens, so my best guess is that she's getting ready to lay her first egg. She's very happy for us to hold and pet her, so we think it must be soothing.
Since the other hens are hanging out in the coop and she wants some time on her own, I've taken the wash tub and lined it with straw so she can nest in private. I'm sure once they all start laying, there will be a more comm...
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Don't be fooled by the cute. This monkey is pukey.
Poor Monkey Man.
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January in Chicago is nothing if not anti-climactic. It's the end of the holiday buzz and the beginning of the long and tortured march toward Spring. The only way to get through a Chicago winter is to find ways to enjoy the cold weather. So once we realized this weekend would top out at a balmy 27 degrees with sunny blue skies, we decided to find a reason to get outside. A little search turned up a pretty neat fact...It turns out that a mere hour and a half from our home, hundreds of bald eagles have come to roost in...
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A couple of months ago I landed a great job as a design manager for a national retailer.
Retail + holidays = long days = no blogging.
So please pardon the catch up.
First off, Will has been walking like a champ for well over a month now. Lately he's taken to running anywhere he can like a drunkard weaving down a street, still very wobbly. He's so thrilled at this new skill that he laughs all the time as he cruises the house.
Sophia had her first Christmas concert. She started playing clarinet this yea...
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This morning I was brushing my teeth when Dave walked into the bathroom with Will. He's developed this new thing where he opens his mouth wide when he sees you eating or drinking, like a little begging baby bird. After seeing that I was enjoying a feast of toothbrush and toothpaste, Will started mooching, so I held the sonic brush up and let him see what it was all about.
Hilarity ensues.
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