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+a portrait of each of my girls every week for 2014+

NG: sweetness
Cord: I love her chipmunk smile
Pip: my littlest explorer

Breakin' in Spring + pie

Ahh Spring….ehh.

Y'all might remember my last spring post,

Spring isn't my favorite.

However,

this year feels a bit different.

Maybe it's because of my thankfulness journal,

my new swimsuit,

the psycho polar vortex,

or maybe our super, fun spring break trip to Gram and Pops.

Who knows?

But, I am loving this transition into Spring!

hearing

little birds singing every morning. 

The other morning,

 Nora woke up to the "beautiful songs of birds, it was so beautiful!!"

seeing

a favorite fairy garden,

Nora and her Gram worked one afternoon on our trip to 

put together a sweet little garden for two little fairies,

Cordie Fairy and Sapphire Crystal.

feeling

w i n d b l o w n

 I am not sure I will ever get acclimated to Oklahoma wind.
(this is MO wind, but I love her annoyed face here)

dreaming 
of summer. Let's get to the good stuff!
(picture from Iowa last summer)

smelling

rain on the wet, cool breezes. 
The other day, getting into the car, Cordie asked me, 
"Mama, what smells so good?"
"Spring, girl, fresh springtime air"

sewing
my first rag doll! I'm ready to try again soon!

planning
my best friend's birthday in early April!

changing
little girls' wardrobes from sweaters and fleecy jammas 
to sundresses and swimsuits!

tasting

Berries! Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

we like to throw them on our oatmeal, our yogurt and granola,

or just eat them by the handful!

Remember a few weeks ago I made an apple pie on a drizzly cold day?

It was the best my crust has ever turned out.

I must share this pin that helped me out,

and this week I am thinking raspberry and blackberry pie, mmm!

 Happy Spring!! 
Now go make some pie!!

"As Thomas Edison says…"

Whenever I get frustrated at a failure of mine, (usually in cooking)

my dear, well-meaning husband says, 

"Eden, remember what Thomas Edison said when creating the lightbulb,

I haven't failed 10,000 times, I just found 10,000 ways it won't work.'"

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll try again.

---

So meet Happy, an rag doll that has been brewing in my head for 

quite some time, but I put off actually working on her till now.

Last week, while visiting family on spring break,

Little Pip and I had some one on one time,

so I took her to Hobby Lobby, where we searched and bargained 

for the materials I thought I would need to create this idea. 

Then we split a donut at a new little place in Joplin called Sweet Spot.

Their maple cake donut was delicious! Pip loved the red and white booths.

Back to doll, I decided this week to make this project a priority 

since the house was fairly clean and laundry was fairly caught up.

I made templates for the body, arms, and legs,

washed, iron, and cut the fabric.

Then I colored her hair, face, dress and shoes,

with these Pentel Pastel Dye Sticks. 

Her back was just a fun print fabric.

Today, I sewed and sewed, 

felt sweaty and teared up, 

sipped tea (to help me calm down)

sewed, and muttered, and sewed.

 I am pretty proud of this prototype.

Somethings didn't work out like I wanted,

somethings rubbed off, one leg is a bit longer than the other,

and her head is a little lumpy.

But as I showed her to my older daughters, they said,

"She's so beautiful!"

"Mom, you did a great job!"

"Can we play with her?"

And that felt great.

Then I remembered what my husband says that Edison said,

(good one hun!)

and I am super excited to get back to work, 

figure out the tweaks and changes I need to make 

so she can look better and be a little bit easier to sew.

I'll try again.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.

The most certain way to succeed

 is always to try just one more time.

--Thomas Edison 

(quote found here)

    

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Hooray, double the portraits this week! 

These are a mix of iPhone 5c and Canon t1i. 

We just got back from our spring break, 

so much catching up to do!

week 11 portraits ::

NG: wild woman
Cord: always, a l w a y s hiding.
Pip: unsure of her new loopdy-loop hair do, it is my favorite though.

week 12 portraits :: 

NG: first soccer game, her favorite part was the high fives at the end.
Cord: very sick little girl,  she is our brave little girl.
Pip: loved exploring Gram and Pops' backyard this past week.

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+a portrait of each of my children every week for 2014+

Sonora: prepping her friends for their adventure. She told me not to worry because she brought her bow and arrow.
Cord: this girls loves books
Pip: if someone leaves their chair out, she will climb onto the table.

backyard awesomeness

Turns out, I don't just have the funk, I have an acute sinus infection.

So that hasn't helped over the last week.

And while my weekend was not busy,

and not fun,

 I did make pie,

but couldn't taste it,

today started with a diagnosis and medicine to help.

Things are looking up.

looks so good, more on this guy later.

Turns out that at least for this week, spring is here.

High today in sunny OK was 75,

so I knew I couldn't just keep my girls inside even if I felt like sleeping all day.

Cue backyard awesomeness.

they were playing ninjas that plant flower trees, because bad guys chop them down
also note, BAREFEET!

sheer joy at digging in the dirt

"Mom, I thought she was dead, because Cord cut her in half
(accidentally) but Chocolate Brownie is moving!"

favorite moment of the day:
having been given flowers picked by my girls,
because they were the most beautiful in the land.

And after over an hour we headed inside,

I scrubbed the dirt off of them,

 and they had a blast in the tub doing cannonballs.

Now I am sitting, 

they are cleaning, 

and I am trying to make dinner 

without getting off the couch.

(someone say pizza??)

It's been a good day.

silly me

not in the funk...yet

I thought I was in the February Funk, turns out it's not specific to a certain month,

it's a lifestyle you have to break out of fiercely. Super.

As a former winter lover, I have grown weary of the teases of spring followed by sheets of ice, dropping temps and frozen pipes.

So I really want to dump this cold pity party,

and choose joy, choose gratefulness,

and choose happiness.

You know what I did,
I stopped keeping up with my "Eucharisteo".
I know, I know, it's bad. 
I love how something so simple could tie me so close with the Giver of all gifts.
I hate how easy it is for me to stop focusing on the thanks and wallow in my self pity.

SO…
I am writing a simple list here,
join along, because it is wonderful putting the focus off of ourselves,
and focus on thanking God, and even the minute things we have been given.

-a surprise package waiting at the door from my brother and sister.
-kleenexes
-hot tea & honey
-messy side ponytails from playing so hard.
-giggles from a slow draining tub
-confidence from a flattering, well fitting swimsuit, thanks Mom!
- buckets full of grace constantly poured on our little family
-days full and days of relaxing
-tulips
-singing with my littles in the car.
-wonder of Penny as she really sees & processes new things
-friends who check on you, cheer you on, and pray for you
-a dependable car
-fresh perspective

lap and heart full, thank you Lord!

Also, real quick before I duck away for the weekend,
fellow stay at home moms, do you give yourselves sick days? 
How does that look for you? Or is the guilt too great? 
Also, what are your most recommended ways of clearing painful congestion in the sinus region? 

 Happy Weekend friends!!

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+a portrait of each of my children every week for 2014+

NoraGirl: loves to play Candyland, but watch out, this little stinker has already mastered the "double spin while mom is distracted" cheat. 

Cord: our daredevil.

Pip: always trying to find me behind the camera.

This icy weather kept us inside all weekend, but it was so nice to be together, relaxing and pretty much doing nothing. We have had some low key weekends lately and I am thankful. Thankful for the time spent just watching the girls grow and play in our home, enjoying every stage of these little ones.