Nut Milk And Blueberries

Yesterday, our friend Martha (mama to Leigh) invited us over to her house for a little nut milk making adventure.  Levi thinks all things kitcheny are fun, so he especially enjoyed it.  He stood on a chair and helped pour in the nuts and the water, and then he would cover his eyes every time the blender was turned on....so cute. 

Of course, being two, we couldn't escape without a meltdown.  So, Martha got the joy of seeing Levi grow horns....very long ones.  Sigh.  It's a good thing these little critters are so darn cute. 

When we got home, Levi wanted blueberries and nut milk for lunch.  Me thinks I'll be making more nut milk soon.  I like it when I find a healthy food that he'll actually eat. 

Because I "Needed" More

I have this sweet friend who works for an interior designer. When she's chucking her fabric samples and swatches he gives me a call. The last time the stash was unbelievably HUGE...as in a truckload. Tons of the "samples" were giant pieces of fabric. It took some major effort to find enough space for all of it, and, despite my best efforts, I still haven't made a very big dent in it. I am so not complaining. I can often be found just flipping through the fabrics...dreaming and imagining.
This time the stash was thankfully smaller and involved mostly sample books. I've found spots for quite a bit of it, and am hoping to quickly use up what I can't find storage space for...
I use tons of scrap fabrics anyway, so many of these samples are the perfect size.
So far, I've made bunches of these...
I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure what they'll become. I also whipped up a few silk pumpkins, and am currently working on a Princess and the Pea play set for my goddaughter. Pictures to come as I get the time.
What do you collect in ridiculously large amounts? Are there any freebies that you just can't turn down no matter how huge a collection you already have? Obviously, my answer is fabric. It's about as bad as a drug. If I could inject it straight into my veins, I really just might. I'm kidding....sort of. ;)

Can't It Always Be This Good?

Some weeks it seems that problems just pop up left and right and nothing gets done quite when and like it's supposed to. And, then other weeks everything runs smoothly (even when it doesn't--if that makes any sense), and time is slow in a good way. And things just fall together quite nicely. This has been one of those smooth (even when its not) and good weeks. I've been busy as a bee and happy as a lark (Geez, I think I've read I'm As Quick As A Cricket ten too many times).
We've gone to appointments, run loads of errands, possibly skimped on the housework (but whose counting?), gardened, worked, and, of course, played.
My sister, Annie, came up for the weekend. We had a blast running errands, chatting, and playing with Levi. Saturday, we left extra early for the Farmer's Market, so we could run other errands before nap time. Being the genius that I am, I managed to lock the keys in the car which put us behind schedule by two hours while we waited for help to arrive. We still had fun though. The market was hopping, so there was plenty to look at and enjoy. Not to mention it was a gorgeous day, so how could a little thing like being locked out of the car put a damper on things?! We even managed to get all our errands run and get Levi down for his nap on time. We must have hit a time warp! That evening we went to a cookout hosted by some friends. Grilled eggplant was on the menu....Yummy!!
Speaking of food, my garden is becoming quite edible and oh, so yummy! I have 11 tomato plants, and they are huge and overflowing with lovely green tomatoes. I even broke down and fried some up. Generally I steer clear of fried food. I love fried green tomatoes, though. So, I finally found some recipes and tested the waters, or should I say oils? Mmmm, mmmm, good.
Some of these plants are as tall as me!!
Sigh....How cute is this little munchkin???!! And, when did he start running? Seriously, people. One day he's crawling, the next he's walking, and now running. He cracks me up waddling around on those short legs. He still loves to be held and cuddled though. Makes a momma's heart just melt.
Now why can't every week be this good?

Visitin' (Round Here G's Are Optional)

Levi and I spent the morning at a local tennis court watching my goddaughter, Makayla, test out her tennis chair and catching up with her momma, Miah, and little sis, Ainsley. At the very end of our visit, my brain kicked in and I remembered to take photos. More like to try to take photos. We wanted a pic of all three munchkins together. This is what we ended up with.
Nice, huh? Levi was none to keen on being held by anyone but mommy. Can somebody say, "Momma's boy!" We did finally get a halfway decent pic of me and the two oldest kiddos--baby Ainsley not included.
We even got a couple of cute ones of the two girls...In Levi's defense it was VERY close to nap time, and he was quite worn out from the days adventures.

Wedding Bells

Saturday I got the great pleasure of seeing my best friend, Kathryn, marry her soul mate, Rupa. The wedding was in the middle of nowhere, but I'd have driven anywhere to be a part of it. It was a beautiful day!
Here we are getting ready for the big event:
Did I mention it was outdoors in the middle of January? Luckily we're having a bit of a warm snap, or I think I'd have turned into ice.
You can't see me, but I'm behind the column to the left. This is the part where her daddy gives her away. That gets me every time. I had to hold back tears.
Of course, Levi came with me. Luckily the bridesmaid dress was nursing friendly.
They announced their engagement in November. They'd been dating for forever, so they didn't feel the need to wait too long. But, that meant I didn't have long to make their wedding present. Yikes!! I've been working on it every spare chance I got, and I finished it the night before they got hitched. Yay!!

Levi's Baptism

Levi was baptized on Sunday in an absolutely lovely ceremony. The Holy Spirit certainly had to be present because my normally water phobic baby grinned when the minister sprinkled holy water on him. After the baptism my parents hosted a fabulous party in Levi's honor. We celebrated with tons of yummy food and loads of friends and family. It was a truly beautiful day.Do these two pics remind you of anything?
Nana and Aunt Annie made a beautiful and very tasty cake.
Okay, so I swore he wouldn't be allowed to eat cake except on his birthday. I might have bent the rules.
In my defense, he wanted more, but I stood firm. ;)
The revelers:
Nap time.

Levi's outfit was made by a very sweet and talented lady named Lori. She happens to have a shop on Etsy. You should certainly stop by. The outfit Levi is wearing was a custom job, and I truly have never gotten better service in my life. Lori was wonderful to work with, and she even made him a terribly cute jacket that she threw in for free. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics with him in the jacket. Don't worry...Aunt Annie and I have plans for a photo shoot later on this week with Levi in the full outfit, and of course, I'll post pictures.

All of the photos were taken by Aunt Annie, Uncle Jack, and the Glorious Gloria. A big thank you to all three.

A Brick Oven Party

Last night my parents hosted a brick oven pizza party for the youth group at our church. The perk of living next door, is that Levi and I got to come over for pizza too. My dad makes a pretty dang skippy fabulous pizza in that snazzy oven of his.
Before the festivities began, Levi and I did a little relaxing. We were pretty tired. Confession time: I forgot to set the clocks back. Needless to say we were ready for church a wee bit early. Unfortunately, I didn't get the benefit of that extra hour yesterday.

You'll have to forgive the party pics. Polka dots seem to have attacked my camera lens. Oops!

We did individual pizzas, so everyone got to make their own. Grandpa was pretty busy, but he likes it that way. No major catastrophes to report. Just a good time.

Fall Festival

I wanted to post these yesterday, but between work and running errands my time got zapped. So here they are. Better late than never.

The Fall Festival was held at our church on Sunday. We got to dress up, go trunk or treating (a variation of trick or treating), and eat lots of yummy food. Since we were bringing food and treats we got there a bit early, so Levi, Nana, and Grandpa got to hang out with the Hillbilly Groom.

Some people had their act together enough to decorate their trunks for trunk or treat. Levi thought this balloon was pretty smashing.After Trunk or Treating we went into the Fellowship Hall for food, entertainment, and a bake sale auction. The money collected is going to the children's playground fund. From what I heard, we did pretty well on the money raising front.

One of the men in the church has a train collection that he put up for the kids to enjoy. Can you tell Levi looks up to his Grandpa. . .literally and figuratively? Of course, Levi had to do some exploring.