sweet stuff

I don't know what says summer more than sticky popsicle fingers in the sun.
We had the same red popsicle molds growing up and I have many memories of crunching grape juice pops (or sucking out the juice till there was nothing but a tasteless white blob on the stick- then trying to figure out what to do with it) laying in the grass on lazy summer days. And we are counting these days now as summer- we have to count every warm day we get here! The sunlight is nearing its crazy peak- nearly 19 hours and I get this mix of excitement and a sort of sleepless frenetic buzz that I can never quite decide if I enjoy or not. I remember sleeping the long long winter nights away with Ari's pregnancy, but with this one I feel lucky if I carve out 6 or 7 hours. I feel pretty exhausted, but I don't want to stop- summer is so short, we must.enjoy.every.moment!

And some other exciting news around here- I've recently become an auntie! Perry's brother and his wife had twins, a girl and a boy. They live on the other side of the country, so we are gobbling up what ever photos and stories we get, but of course they are sleep deprived and rather busy over there. I made a couple things for the wee ones- these teething dolls, which I made from tracing the one we bought for Ari (before it would of occurred to me that I might be able to make such a thing,) and greatly inspired by the lovely ones Emilie at The Little Nest makes. I've been admiring them for awhile now and had to give it a try. I made the red flannel one with the stripy hat and it was clear that it needed to belong to my baby! So I made up another for the twins. They are just awaiting an order of some beeswax polish from Natural Pod for their teething rings before they get packed up and sent of to their sleepless but cuddle-filled new home. Except little stripy-hat there. That one will be going to live in the pile of slowly growing goodies for this little one I can feel flopping around in my womb.
I also made the twins each a fabric ball using tinyhappy's great tutorial. The first one I made turned out a bit lumpy and elongated and so it also will be joining the pile of things for my baby-to-be. Every crafter's kids must have a good collection of not-quite-perfect items to play with and wear, right?

And now, off to bed, to attempt some sleep despite the light. Maybe the next craft project I post will be one of those eye mask things- I've been waking up at 4:00 and tying a t-shirt over my eyes in the hopes of getting another hour or so of sleep. We are starting to regret choosing such lovely large windows for our new bedrooms!

lake days

Ahh, the season of picnics at the lake, and baby toes in the sand. Never mind it is interspersed with days of torrential rain and chilly wind. We enjoy the sunny days as they come. And Ari does not seem to mind at all if his daily "walkin' in the forest" includes soaked feet and soggy clothing. Me, I'll take anything that isn't snow. But it will be awhile before the lake reaches swimming temperature. Ari probably wouldn't mind it as is, but I've set a strong no-swimming limit when the lake ice has only just recently departed.

in the kitchen

For Ari's birthday this year, we wanted to get him a wooden play kitchen. I searched high and low for someone who makes or sells them in Canada (aside from the terrific Natural Pod, who had none in stock,) to no avail. I looked into getting one shipped from the States, and shipping alone was going to be over $100 not to mention duty and customs fees.

It finally occurred to us to ask some local woodworkers and a family friend who did some of the work on our recent renos was thrilled with the idea. He finished it up the weekend after Ari's birthday and showed up on the Sunday morning with his two wonderful kids (whom Ari adores- I think his 8 year-old daughter is Ari's first crush.) They were so excited to give Ari the gift which had been wrapped up in bedsheets and tape, and they all helped him unwrap it. Such excitement! And he was thrilled with it and started cooking for us straight away. Lots of lasagna and salmon being whipped up around here.
And veggie soup.mmmm.
He also likes to take his breaks in the warm oven. He's sporting the mama made apron in this picture, though it has already seen too many real true baking days to take a close up. The apple print on the pocket is super cute though, even when smeared molasses.

The kitchen is absolutely beautiful. Solid wood with knobs that turn and a little sink and shelves and a pull out cutting board and so much attention to detail. And to have Ari know whose hands built it for him is really special. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to move it out of this little corner of our own kitchen, even when the kids are grown and moved away!

parties and blogging excuses

It took a few minutes after waking up from his nap for the party reality to sink in (we waited to tell him, knowing he would never get that nap in otherwise,) but he warmed up to the idea quickly.
It was a beautiful day so we just put the food out on picnic tables and let the kids graze and play in the sunshine. They had so much fun and Ari was such a star, greeting people when they came without any prompting, happily letting his friends open his presents (we asked for none on the invitations, but of course, many came anyway!) and playing hard. This boy loves a party!

The party favours were mixed CD's of Ari's favourite songs, which he helped decorate. This Dan Zanes song featured prominently, since he requests it daily, plus lots of Elizabeth Mitchell. And the Beatles. Somehow he has become a very big fan.

And apologies for being a bad blogger lately. I have severe computer aversion since spring has sprung. I want only to be in the garden or walking in the woods or sitting in my sunny studio. I have a hard time making eye contact with the computer when I walk by. There is always lots I could do- blogs to write, photos to download, things to research (coldframes, sandboxes, maternity skirt patterns,) but I'm afraid of getting sucked in, and wasting any minutes of these precious springy days. I'll try to pop in now and then, if only just to post a picture. There is lots to report on, just limited reporting time!

birthday

We've been busy celebrating Ari's 2nd birthday this weekend. Will be back soon with a few photos of the festivities (though I didn't do much better at remembering the camera.) Ari was a wonderful host and had so much fun with his friends- so far two hasn't been terrible at all! (okay, just a tiny bit...)