framed

Jim's dad is a woodworking wonder.  And I benefited with this handmade frame.  Which I love.  And plan to fill with a cowboy picture of these two. In honor of a truly cowboy-ish papa.  The frame was really made for the boys, but I felt truly gift-ed by it.

The boys felt most gift-ed by this: A year or so ago, when Aidan was hanging out at their house, Papa made him a wooden "A".  Which has held a place of honor on their bookshelf.  Well, a while back, D starting having many conversations about "when Papa makes my D".  So, he, of course, was excited to get that from Papa for Christmas.  And I must say that woodworking a "D" is far more impressive than an "A". 

But "impressive" and any other adjective I attempt to conjure can do no justice to this next woodworking feat:

Mike (and Daniel and Michael) built this 14-foot-long dining room table.  Seriously.  I'm not sure what you can really say about something so insane.

Wow seems slim. At best.  And I need to bring my camera back in the daytime for some pictures in natural light because it is gorgeous.  Truly.

finally!

When Kelly moved to Arizona I had big plans.  For a huge blog welcome.  Joint self-portraits.  Hanging out weekly.  The works.   

Ha!

Life definitely has its way of interceding. 

So here we are 6 months later, having our first creative-ish Friday.And, okay, there may be a few things wrong with our first joint self-portrait.  The blur.  My lack of hairdo.  A 5-year-old photographer.  Horrible angle.  Two pairs of squinty eyes.  My scrunching, her straining in attempts to equalize the height difference. (why didn't I fix my hair??)

But I'm posting it anyhow. Because Kelly lives here (still a surreal realization) and the moment must be marked.   It's so nice to have a friend who knows you so well.  The good, the bad, AND the ugly hair days.Love ya, Kel!

my new Sunbeam

This afternoon I was reading a cousin's blog that started with this sentence:  "I cannot believe my baby is a Sunbeam".  And it hit me that mine is now, too.  And it seemed sort of shameful that this occasion, which was so momentous with child #1, passed without a thought or a photograph for child #2.

Perhaps it's partially because he is three weeks from turning four, has written the alphabet since summer, and is well on his way to knowing all of the phonograms A has been learning in Kindergarten.  Davyn hasn't seemed Nursery for a long time.

Still...guilt seeped into my mom heart.  Skipping a milestone can't be good.  And, as Aidan came in for the thirty-third time (of that hour) asking (demanding?!) attention, I realized D had disappeared hours ago.  So I quested out my #2.  Who was in his bedroom playing legos.  One peek into the room revealed all.  The boy was completely immersed in his own universe.  I wanted to capture his quiet..his concentration..his independence, so I snuck back out for my camera.  Which somewhat broke the spell.

But, still, a realization came.  My Davyn (Nova, DB, D James, child #2) doesn't need the same acclaim or attention that fuels Aidan so completely. There never was an issue in going to Nursery.  Of course there would be no issue in moving onward to Sunbeams.  Of course he'd sit quiet & still in Primary.  The boy is a blender.

And I have to laugh because with his background nature comes background listening skills.  He still looks at me in confusion and turns the other direction when I ask him to take something to the laundry room or pantry (yes, the boy who can do a 100 piece puzzle solo). And for the past two weeks he has come home from church touting some interesting doctrine.  Product of half-listening, no doubt.  Last Sunday when I asked what he learned, this was the answer:  "After we die, we go live with Jesus, then we get to be babies all over again."  Aidan quickly tried to straighten him out.  D stuck to his story.  "No.  We get to be babies after we die."  I tried to straighten him out.  Ditto {with heightened anxiety}.  I tried again.  Tears.  Jim was the smart one.  He remained silent. 

Davyn will learn it all eventually.  Quietly and in his own way.  Because that's his style.

My style demands a moment of near-to-tears silence.  Others gave up the nickname long ago, but I do have to let go for good now.  I definitely don't have a "baby D" anymore. 

SPT: I Resolve

Leave it to Lelly.  Here are the SPT (self-portrait Tuesday) challenges for this month, along with her invitation:

"i love a new year. i love the chance to start over. and i know you do, too!! so, if you've been absent from spt, or if you haven't gotten up the nerve to link up, or if you are lurking and haven't yet picked up that camera, now is the time to come along! how about you make a resolution to join in the fun?"

tuesday, january 6 i resolve to take more self-portraits
tuesday, january 13 i resolve to take more self-portraits with people i love
tuesday, january 20 i resolve to take more self-portraits while trying new things
tuesday, january 27 i resolve to take more self-portraits doing things i enjoy

In line with this self-portrait resolving, I'm making a commitment of my own.  Those who frequent my blog know that I like to post large pictures.  If it fills up the screen, that's fine by me.  But when it comes to spt's, I find myself minimizing every picture as I mentally maximize all of my flaws.  Well, no more of that. 

Margin to margin me:

Happy New Year!

A few weeks ago JoDee called and said she had a good idea. We should have a New Years Eve party at my house. No kids. Lots of games. Lots of food. People we like.

So we did.

(We handmade these signs & I love how they turned out)

My favorite new food was this baked brie from Martha Stewart:I thought it was so gorgeous straight out of the oven. And then, we cut it. And the cheese flooded forth. And it was definitely even more lovely.

I'll be posting all of these recipes on Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner today. Here are some of the other items enjoyed:

Cyn's shortbread cookies are to die for.

and I love her Viennese torte (I remember taking this to a school party in 6th grade because it was my favorite so, so long ago).

I have a thing for tall, tall 6" round cakes, so I made two.

And all of that wasn't near enough dessert, so we had to try this cheesecake Megs pioneered.  Which was wicked times ten.  

So, obviously, if you're in the neighborhood today and want to stop by for a bite of sweetness, please do.  Because we tried hard, but there is still much sugar leftover in the fridge.  Because it was difficult to move beyond the veggies and dip, chicken-filled cream puffs, bruschetta, shrimp cocktail crackers & dip, and sweet asian chili'd meatballs of the other table.

Though my pictures support a different argument, the highlight of the party was definitely the company. 

Cyn printed off some random questions that we passed in a bowl for the first 1+ hours of the party.  Some good laughs were had.  Like when Corey pulled a question for Rachel.  Where do you plan to retire?  And she (in true Rachel style) busted into detailed description of "their" future plans.  Or when Emily discovered that Chris's "what brings you the most comfort?" was his bed.  (why don't we hang out more...we love you guys!)

There was then some Cranium, card games (imagine 7-person Shanghai, Megs & Gina), Madden football (for Jim & Nate), RockBand, plain old visiting and "Happy New Year"ing.  We parted with well-wishes for a good 2009.

Which I like.  I've never been a big New Year's Eve celebrator. I can't remember the last time Jim & I did something with anyone besides ourselves.  But I've always been a big fan of January 1.

I truly, truly love the freshness of that date.  New starts can obviously be made any day of the year, but there's something about a New year that closes the door on the *old*...gives me hope of shedding some of the bad and seeking some of the better, working towards my Best. 

Happy New Year!