While Mama’s in The Kitchen

September 3, 2013 by Summer

It’s been more and more difficult to do anything in the kitchen these days with a little explorer under foot. The kitchen isn’t exactly set up for an almost 13 month old’s curious hands, but every day I find I need to get in there to do things. My solution was a kitchen basket. To keep Ellie busy and exploring, I loaded up a basket full of child-friendly kitchen utensils, empty containers, little dish ware and and anything else I think Ellie will find interesting and when Mama’s in the kitchen cooking and cleaning, Ellie is welcome to pull things out of her basket and go to town exploring.

Empty yogurt containers are great fun these days. Ellie tries hard to put the lids on them and they are great for filling and dumping with. We have oatmeal containers for makeshift drums and wire whisks and wooden spoons and ladles. I try and change it up every so often to hold her interest. It certainly gives me a bit more time to prep for dinners or wash a few dishes and it gives her some time to independently play and explore her environment.

Making + Listening

August 22, 2013 by Summer

I’ve been MAKING a lot of dinners these days. Jeff is working later and in attempting to keep a steady routine in this household, I have taken over dinner duty. The crock pot has been a dear friend of mine but I’m also trying out some new recipes here and there. My Grandmother makes a wonderful split pea soup that I tried to reproduce last night. Mine was a bit more paste-y and less soupy, but Ellie seemed to enjoy it.

There has been a lot of trying to feed ones self around here. She’s certainly enjoying sensory experiences!

As for LISTENING, we have had the record player on in the afternoons with some old fashioned Broadway tunes, Auntie Lindsey (my SIL living with us as of last month) has played this for Ellie several times to Ellie’s utter and complete joy and a friend lent us these videos to get Ellie and I signing and singing.

-joining Dawn for Making + Listening today!

Tin Lights For A Summer Evening

August 12, 2013 by Summer

We have this deck in our backyard that was probably previously used for a hot tub. I’ve been dreaming up ways to spiff it up ever since we moved to this house. Right before Ellie’s birthday party, with the help of my husband and father-in-law, we turned the space into a lovely summer time gathering area.

What really makes it fun though are the tin can lights. I wanted them as soon as I saw the inspiration on this blog. We did our’s a little differently but they turned out adorable and are so much fun when it’s dark out. I decided to put LED tea lights inside of them so I didn’t have to worry about the fire aspect and they work just as well, even flickering like the real thing.

I took a sharpie and drew designs on each can (Jeff got fancy and looked up constellations for some of them and copied the design). After each can was sharpied-up, Jeff took a nail and a hammer and hammered holes where the sharpie dots were. My father-in-law helped get them all hung up on the bamboo rods and twine and we were all set.

A cozy space to sip wine, watch the baby play in the grass and chat with friends into the night-time hours was created. I’m liking it so far!

Hoppy Days Are Here Again

July 9, 2013 by Summer

A boy and his hops. Have I mentioned my husband wants to be a brewer and a hop farmer one day? This is our second year growing hops and thank goodness they have finally started growing because I could see my husband’s dreams of owning a hop farm slowly seeping into the ground when his hops were not doing anything for months upon months. But they finally started growing and are growing fast!

We’re growing them on the side yard of the property where they get plenty of light. Jeff rigged them from their pot to the top of the house so can grow properly (I really know nothing of growing hops. I just watch and take photos every now and then). They are the fastest growing plants I have ever seen. One full day and the vine has grown several inches. It’s pretty amazing.

We shall see how these hops grow this year, being in somewhat of a different climate than last year. We did get a few hop cones on our balcony in Orange County so I’m curious to see what happens with more space. I’ll keep you updated on our hoppy progress!

Making + Listening

June 20, 2013 by Summer

Making : I’m almost done with a bunny for a special little girl who’s turning one very soon. Her Mama and I have been friends for ages and our babies are exactly six weeks apart. I’m loving this purple fabric and can’t wait to do more with it. That first picture is my nursing/napping station for afternoon naps these days. I outfit myself with books, sewing and of course the computer. Ellie naps and I get to unwind a bit from the day.

I also finally got the peacock framed and up on the wall.

I’m really digging the colors of the whole thing. It has a Hawaiian, summertime kind of feel and it really looks lovely next to Amanda’s First Day print. I love art and consider myself a collector of sorts, but it is also really neat to outfit your home with pieces you have created as well. Putting up your own art or in this case, crafts, brings a tender, well-loved feeling to your home. Seeing this on the wall inspires me to make more!

Listening: We haven’t been listening to much this past week. But I am starting to rotate in some summertime tunes like this one while doing dishes and cleaning and a little of this too while we play.

What are you Making + Listening?

Joining Dawn today!

Making + Listening : Birthday Edition

May 30, 2013 by Summer

MAKING: Yesterday was Jeff’s birthday. Being that it was a Wednesday workday, the day was pretty much like every other but I hoped we made it a little more special with some presents (primarily beer/brew books for my brewer husband) and some homemade goodies as well.

Beer books, beer t-shirt, a framed picture of Daddy with his little girl for his home office and a little something I whipped up- an embroidered (freehand) Hop plant.

I’m also going to include the cake I made for Jeff’s birthday. I was so excited about it because it was a Chocolate Beer Cake and I spent the night before and the morning of working my butt off to make it with a little girl tugging at my heels the whole time. It was an adorable cake but looks can unfortunatly be deceiving. I’m not sure where I went wrong but let’s just say we only had one piece. Tomorrow I plan to stick to what I know best and make it up to him with some chocolate chip cookies.

At least he got a good wish out of the cake!

As for LISTENING: Of course we have sung Happy Birthday a few times to dear old Dad this week but other than that we’ve been rotating between that Steve Martin c.d., some Sinatra and a bit of Elizabeth Mitchell while we play and fold laundry.

*joining Dawn with Making and Listening.

Making+Listening

May 24, 2013 by Summer

MAKING: Yay! I finished embroidering the Peacock! It was so much fun and I am hooked! (I wanted to post earlier today but I’ve been busy walking the streets with a teething baby, so these pictures are a bit shadowy at the end of the day- I kind of liked the way they came out). But, I managed to get it done here and there and I even added some fabric to the ends. I’m very much looking forward to framing my Spring Peacock.

LISTENING: I received this in the mail this week and I have been playing it whenever I get the chance. I’m a huge fan of Broadway (for those of you who do not know me personally) and a huge fan of Audra McDonald from back when she was in Ragtime. I’ve followed her career, got to see her sing once at Pepperdine University in Malibu and one of my guilty pleasures was the drama Private Practice which she had a role in for awhile. I’m so glad she has gone back to her Broadway roots though. The songs she chose for this album are lovely and dreamy and just plain good.

*joining Dawn for Making + Listening this Thursday.

Make + Listen

May 16, 2013 by Summer

I’m joining Simple Things Notebook today with the Make and Listen Along. It’s a good way to keep me motivated on working on these projects and getting them done. And music is just such a special, wonderful thing. I think it will be neat for Ellie to look back one day and see what we were listening too when she was just a wee one. 🙂

MAKING: I have decided to start making Ellie some fabric letters inspired by Meg’s Montessori Letters from her book Sew Liberated. I’m thinking it’s going to be a long, drawn out project… something I will try to complete before her first birthday. (I can’t believe that’s only about three months away)!

I’m still working on a Softie bear for a friend’s baby. It’s been slow going as well.

LISTENING: My Dad let us borrow this great new Steve Martin/ Edie Brickell c.d. I am a big fan of the banjo and Steve Martin. I once spotted Steve Martin at an art show at UCLA. He was alone and kept smiling at me. Who knows, if I was brave enough I could have had a date with the guy. I saw Martin again years later in Orange County at one of the most fantastic concerts ever. This man can not only get a whole crowd hysterically laughing but he can play the banjo… really well! Can you tell I have a little crush? This c.d. is nice to have on in the background, preferably on a sunny spring day with all the windows open. Ellie liked the first song the best and it seems she’s fond of Steve Martin too. She liked checking out the pictures of him on the c.d. case.

Making + Listening

May 9, 2013 by Summer

MAKING- It has been a busy, tiring week of teething but in between the walks and the extra cuddling, I’ve managed to start another little softie for a friend’s baby due this summer and finish up on Ellie’s room (for now). (The Ellie’s room post will be coming next week).

LISTENING- We’ve also had a breakthrough in the bath tub department. Ellie has hated taking a bath for months now. I’ve been trying to get her used to it ever so gently, but it always ends up in tears (she’s just fine in the shower). Well, just last week I tried making the water a wee bit hotter and sure enough, she was just fine! So we’ve added bath time to the night time routine and it’s been wonderful. While we bathe, Daddy turns on the record player in the next room and lately, we’ve been enjoying Debussy’s Clouds. A little classical for me and my girl.

-linking up today with Dawn’s Making+Listening.

Letters for Ellie

April 24, 2013 by Summer

I’ve been Pinteresting a lot lately. I never put a nursery together for Ellie because when she was born we were living in a one bedroom apartment and when we did move to this house, I threw all of her stuff in her “room” but didn’t bother spiffing it up because she was sleeping and napping in our room. Well, now that she’s on the move and interested in all sorts of things I thought it was time we created an all baby-friendly space for her. There’s lots of planning going on these days but one little thing I accomplished yesterday was finishing letters for her room. I’m thinking of hanging them over her bed. They turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself, plus we had a fun little photo shoot to show them off…