Weekending!

December 30, 2013 by Summer

We stayed close to home this weekend, cleaning house, playing with new toys, catching up on laundry (where does all this laundry come from?!), the dogs were given much-needed baths and I worked on a New Years project (I will talk about in more detail this week). I also opened those seed catalogs and started dreaming up our garden plans! I tend to get carried away every year with grandiose plans for my “homesteading garden”. I made my new favorite lentil/feta salad for snacking on Saturday and Jeff made an apple pie and chicken with ground bacon stuffing for Sunday’s dinner! It was a quiet, somewhat busy, after holidays weekend. Looking forward to the New Year and what’s to come.

Hope you had an equally lovely weekend! Joining Amanda over at The Habit!

Weekending!

December 23, 2013 by Summer

We had a very nice weekend, making Christmas candies at my parents house, doing a little more decorating around our house, checking out the Christmas lights around the neighborhood, wrapping presents and taking beach walks in the late afternoon. Relaxing and enjoying family. This is what the season is made of.

-joining in with Amanda for weekending!

Weekending!

December 16, 2013 by Summer

Another weekend closer to Christmas. Eek. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Our tree is drying out quickly and for the first time, I’m not sure it’s going to make it for Christmas. I still haven’t finished my advent calendar and our Christmas cards have not gotten here for me to send out to all of you. We are behind folks. But, I did manage to squeeze in a bit of baking, reading (singing) 12 Days of Christmas about 200 times, a pre nap time walk downtown and a lovely Mom’s Night (late afternoon) Out. How was your weekend?

-joining Amanda over at The Habit!

Weekending!

December 9, 2013 by Summer

It’s amazing how quick some weekends just fly by. This weekend, I found myself scrambling for time and still unable to get everything I wanted done. Saturday it rained, so we were inside for much of the day. We did get out for a chilly afternoon walk (and found pinecones). On saturday we took a drive down PCH to visit with some of my best girl friends and their families. We ate brunch, we played with blocks, we caught up on gossip. It was a nice morning. The chill has set in around these parts though and the rest of the weekend was spent in doors (or bundled up for walks in the wagon), battling ants that have made their way inside and a Christmas tree that I just can’t keep watered enough (notice the sad display of needles all over the ground in that last photo). Hoping next weekend doesn’t go as quickly. How was your weekend?

-joining Amanda over at The Habit.

Weekending!

December 2, 2013 by Summer

It was a nice, long weekend. Lots of cleaning up after a successful Thanksgiving. Lots of decorating for Christmas and searching for the perfect Christmas tree. Lots of coffee and tea. A Saturday late afternoon first family photo shoot for some good friends (it was great practice for this novice-wanna-be photographer). Some Cinnamon popovers for sunday morning breakfast. And lots of dancing to Christmas music and Daddy’s banjo playing. So much to be thankful for on this very first day of December.

-joining Amanda over at The Habit.

Weekending!

November 25, 2013 by Summer

We spent the weekend preparing for Turkey Day; cleaning house, running errands and working on autumn crafty things. Sunday morning we thought we’d meet friends for a morning hike by a beautiful lake. The weather was perfect and both little one’s did a pretty good job hanging in the carriers for a few miles. On the way back, Ellie got antsy, so Mama, Dada and Auntie Lindsey took turns holding her (the trail was a little too rocky for this new walker). We had lunch together overlooking the lake. It was a nice morning with friends. We spent dinner at my parents house ending the evening in a great way with family. A really nice weekend, heading into what I’m hoping is going to be a lovely Thanksgiving week. ( And excuse Ellie’s colorful, strange attire and hair… I didn’t get all the laundry done and so it seemed Ellie ended up looking a little like a Fraggle today with what we pieced together). How was your weekend?

-joining Amanda over at The Habit!

Weekending!

November 18, 2013 by Summer

A friend’s first birthday party (the cat softie revealed in full) and Gramma and Grandpa over for burgers and playtime with Ellie, on Saturday. A Sunday in Ojai, visiting the farmers market, walking around the local parks and checking out the local bookstores. It was a nice, seemingly quick autumn weekend.

How was yours?

-joining Amanda over at The Habit.

Weekending!

November 11, 2013 by Summer

Jeff and Ellie were under the weather this weekend so we stayed close to home and rested most of the time (they rested, Mama cleaned and organized).

Ellie has been really into watching Jeff and I do our morning routines in the kitchen. She always wants sips of my tea or coffee. Instead of telling her “no” once again, I decided to make her a quick little felt tea bag of her own to pretend with. She seemed to like the idea and the tea bag came out rather nicely for a quick hand sew.

Lots of indoor play with corks and ramekins and a runner Ellie found in the closet.

I worked on new decorations for the holidays with a cup of freshly brewed coffee (Jeff and I are generally tea drinkers but we thought we’d try fresh brewed coffee this week).

A kitchen nature display. A happy space of mine.

How was your weekend?

– joining Amanda over at The Habit!

Weekending!

November 4, 2013 by Summer

It was a stay-close-to-home sort of weekend this weekend. I did some deep cleaning, Jeff changed the oil in the car and Ellie enjoyed carrying around stuffed toys in bags and pushing around the stroller her Grandma and Grandpa bought for her. We tended to the garden, went to the market and sunday we went downtown for pizza in the park. I found a great children’s book to add to our collection and got a couple of hours to myself to go antiquing. Of course I came home with some neat ramekins for Ellie to explore (they currently reside on her table where she can put things into them, and dump thins out of them). It’s amazing to me how fast November has crept up on us. Even with California’s warmish weather this past week, it feels like fall. The nights cool down quickly and by bedtime, we’re all in socks and long sleeves. I’m liking it. We’re hosting Thanksgiving this year and we may have a whole lot of family in our little space. I’m anxious about it and excited. The planning has already begun.

How was your weekend?

*joining Amanda over at The Habit!

Weekending!

October 28, 2013 by Summer

It was a pretty uneventful weekend here. We spent a lot of time walking around, Ellie’s new favorite thing to do. Walks around the block, walks downtown, walks through the farmers market, walks in the morning with the dogs, walks in the evening with the dogs. We are a walking family these days. Saturday we did walk on down to our neighborhood’s annual Halloween block party. It was fun and festive with Ellie’s favorite song “What Does The Fox Say?” playing at least three times while we were there. She danced and enjoyed all of this newfound independence. Sunday we had pumpkin ginger waffles for breakfast! They were so good, I declared them our new sunday before Halloween tradition. Groceries were bought, errands were run, the World Series was watched (go Red Sox!), naps were had and we had Gramma and Grandpa over for a curry pork chop with saffron couscous, sunday dinner (Jeff cooked and yes, I know I am VERY lucky to be married to a man who’s not afraid of the kitchen). It definitely feels like fall here by the beach by the way and I’m enjoying every minute of it! How was your weekend?