It's been awhile

After much consideration (the safety and online security of my family being my biggest concern) I decided to continue my blog. It's no secret that I take many photos and although I scrapbook these photos and keep journals for both of my kids, I miss writing about our other moments - our ordinary days, crafting and cooking and playing and being in nature. Living life together. Being a family. Traditions. I enjoy going back to the blog posts to relive the moments and the digital preservation of our family memories are captured in a way that we can watch the videos and see the photos again and again.

So, after combing through every single post to eliminate anything that would give away more info than I was safe revealing (first or last names, addresses, license plates, etc.) I'm giving this another go.

I've quickly filled the time I spent blogging with other things. Mostly being healthier- we eat much healthier because I cook much healthier (which means I spend more time shopping, cleaning and cutting all the fresh foods we are eating) and I've added running to my daily routine, getting up earlier than I ever have voluntarily (who knew I'd ever be a morning person?!) So I likely won't blog as often, but it's my blog so there aren't any rules anyway:)

Welcome back:)

A Tree for Our Little Man

My husband's grandparents planted a tree for all of their grandchildren at their house and I love that idea. They have watched their children grow and watched the trees grow along with them. I wanted to  do that for our children and we planted a tree when our daughter was born (before I started blogging) and most recently when our son was born.

Picking out just the right tree was more work than actually planting it!

We all helped plant the tree once we got it home

This little girl took a break

and found a worm

This little guy mostly just supervised...and played with the yard flags

Now each of the kids have their own tree, we labeled with a personally engraved rock.

~Angela

Brother for sale

Right now our little guy is very mobile and that means he can (and does) get into his sister's things. This bugs her to no end



Of course that frustrates sister to no end. And our little man still just grins at her. There are moments like this that I love stumbling upon...





And then there are moments that our little girl acts like this:


I am sure this sibling dynamic will change as they grow and change, but I'll savor the sweet moments whenever I can.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Stump Becomes a Table

You may recall that I found this beauty while on a trip last summer. I had plans to use it in my house but wanted to leave it as close to its natural state as possible

It has been drying out for months since it was quite water logged and I made feet for it to elevate it off the ground a few inches. I sanded it so the top was smooth and with a wire brush, removed all the sand from the crevices.

Then I stained it to enhance the color of the wood and now we use it for a coffee table.

~Angela

Little Free Library

I love to read and I love to pass books along. I've been visiting Little Free Libraries when we travel for several years and thought it would be fun to make my own. And recently I have discovered several of them close to my home, as these libraries are located all over the world. The idea is you can take a book or leave a book or both (exchange a book for a new one).

Our little girl has also gotten into them- she likes to be the first one to spot them as we try to find new ones we have not visited....and she has picked out some interesting books for herself:

I downloaded the plans from the Little Free Library website and I've been working on this for MONTHS. And I have had a lot of help for this project- it has really been a labor of love...I took a woodworking class where I did most of the work.  Our friend and next door neighbor helped me a lot with the door and gave me all the wood for the project. Another friend gave me the the shingles for the roof.  My daughter helped me paint the Little Free Library and my husband helped me with the handle and attaching the door. When I put it that way, it sounds like I hardly had any part in this project, but I assure you I did!

I've been stocking up on books:

And put on some finishing touches. Since the library will be at our dental office, I thought it only fitting to have a toothbrush for a handle.