field trips + favorite things

almost summer + a love note to The Eeebs

Today was the last Friday of kindergarten. I've had tears just beneath the surface all day. The boys had their last visits with their big buddies, their last kindergarten field trips, their last day of gingerly carrying their pizza-day hot lunch from the cafeteria to the car while I silently pray that they won't drop their trays.

I knew that the first day of school would be hard but I'm surprised by how sad all of these "lasts" of kindergarten are. When school started, I was comforted by the fact that I would be picking them up at 12:15 and we'd eat lunch together and they'd still be mine for most of the day. In first grade, that won't be the case. 

Kindergarten has been more wonderful than I could have imagined. I'm going to soak up every second of this summer with my boys until I lose them to the longer days of first grade.

Tonight, instead of reading books at bedtime, E & N wanted to tell me a story. They set up all of their Playmobil animals, turned out the light and used a flashlight as a spotlight as they told me about Santa and his animals in the forest and an unfortunate encounter with a hammerhead shark. Ethan even played the harmonica at just the right moments of the story. It was the best.

Yesterday as I was waiting for the boys at pick-up, I saw Ethan come towards me quickly and then suddenly switch in to reverse and back up. Mrs. Russell asked what he was doing and I told her matter-of-factly that the extra lengths of strap hanging off of his backpack were controlling him. He'd pull his straps to the left and veer off with a huge smile on his face and then suddenly his straps would pull him the other way. "It's too bad your kids aren't creative", Mrs. Russell said, laughing. 

Months ago, Ethan was standing in line in the school yard waiting to walk out to the pick-up line after school. I was there volunteering for something and I watched him as he did this crazy dance in line. Another little boy in his class turned to him and said "you're so weird". I've never been prouder as he just kept dancing. 

 

Fiesta through a Holga

 


 
   

I spent a Saturday morning taking pictures with a Holga camera - something I had never used before.  Thank goodness I was part of a very nice and helpful group because I couldn't even remember how to load film in a camera.  :)  I love the results - the color in the prints is much brighter in person - I'm not sure why colors are so muted when I upload to Typepad.  The thing about Holga is that you have to get VERY close to your subject which is why you see a lot of animals and inanimate objects in my pictures.  I'm a bit too shy to go up to a stranger and take a picture.  I just stocked up on film so I'm excited to take pictures of my own kids and our upcoming adventures in Minnesota.  Thanks to the lovely folks at Specialty Color for helping me learn about this fun toy.  

 

 

   

34 things to do before I turn 35

1. take the kids to lunch at Pixar
2. sew a skirt for myself and library bags for the boys
3. book a Christmastime trip to New York
4. shop at the farmer's market every week
5. take a photography class
6. buy a 50mm 1.4 lens
7. import my records and record player to California
8. go on a family camping trip
9. collect more blankets for fort making
10. make 4 mixtapes and mail to friends
11. go back to Cambria
12. do a service project with the kids
13. take the kids on more one-on-one dates
14. get family photos taken
15. plant a veggie garden with the kids
16. learn to play something simple on the guitar
17. feel financially awesome
18. go back to Disneyland
19. get the kids in swimming lessons
20. build an outdoor dining table and/or a bench and/or a sandbox
21. cook 100 new recipes
22. learn to bake bread
23. get photos and scrapbooks organized
24. stop hoarding magazines
25. learn illustrator
26. make blogging a habit
27. empty my inbox
28. go ice skating at the depot again
29. make running and exercise a habit
30. get to and stay at a happy weight
31. take a letterpress class and have access to a press
32. figure out a way to make a little money doing something that I love
33. empty my WIP (works in progress) basket
34. go see the Twins play in the new stadium

inspired by hulaseventy

grand cayman days 1 & 2

(source)

Day 1 was a blur of sleeping and eating.  We arrived a bit after noon having spent 15 hours traveling overnight.  The boys were stellar travelers and we were lucky enough to get in to a train in the Atlanta airport next to Kevin McHale at about 6am.  Rob said "Hey look, it's a fellow Minnesotan" - Kevin said something about how early it was to the boys  - nice guy.   I managed a quick swim in the ocean before crashing out, waking up at about 11pm to eat some dinner.  The boys slept from about 4:30pm straight through until 6 or 7 this morning.  

Day 2 began by going down to the beach and playing in the sand.  Ethan fearlessly headed in to the ocean while Noah stayed a safe distance away.  Rob and I went out snorkeling and had the best time being swarmed by a whole bunch of different kinds of fish and spotting a stingray.  The wind was pretty strong so it was quite the adventure trying to swim against it to get back in.  While everyone went back to sleep, Noah and I went out to the pool.  The two of us had the best time swimming - he even let go of me and ran back and forth across the shallow end.  He agreed to trying swimming in the ocean together tomorrow.  

This evening we went to a party at one of the condos right on the beach.  Ethan was disappointed to find out that not all parties include cake and pizza.  :)  The boys had fun running around, trying to shake and climb the palm trees to get the coconuts to fall down and Rob had them race each other down the beach and back - they are having the best time.  

The highlight of the day may have been the walk back from the beach tonight.  Noah was walking talking to himself ahead of my dad and I.  All of a sudden he started reciting the names of the planets..."Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto".  We couldn't believe what we were hearing.  The only time he's ever heard that has been when my dad has gone over them, starting in the NICU.  I clearly remember my dad holding those tiny, newborn babies and talking about the plants - something he did with me every night when he tucked me in growing up.

Eeebs had a dream...

...and woke up in the middle of the night crying because an elephant had taken his water.  Poor dude.

dear santa

I'm dreaming BIG this year.  Because, really, what else is there to do but dream in a year when one has lost her job and the economy has gone down the drain?  There's no harm in daydreaming, right Santa? 

 

A spot in a photography workshop

 

A green, vintage Schwinn

ikea console 

a new printer

Anthropologie cuckoo clock ornament

Anthropologie In-a-Moment dress

new shoes

aerie hoodie

aerie cable slipper socks

A Studio Calico subscription

 

A White Chrsitmas

a polaroid mini album

We're off to Minnesota for the rest of the month and I'm so excited!  I thought I'd share a mini polaroid album I made for a day I spent with two of my best friends in Minnesota last summer.  I made 3 of these albums and packaged them along with 3 markers, 3 glue sticks, 3 pages of Martha Stewart stickers and 3 packages of film.  Totally easy and fun - you just can't beat the instant thrill of Polaroid!  And yes, I'm sporting a really cool scar across my forehead from the tree incident.

I used this awesome tutorial from Rachel Denbow to make the albums.  I could whip these things up all day long and be perfectly happy.  Contact paper may be my favorite craft supply.  :)

happy weekend!

Summer adventures are always better with ice cream in hand.  

Some inspiration for soaking up the last of summer from around the web:

poppytalk

recovering lazyholic via kelly mccaleb

smile and wave

be cheery

lifelovepaper

papertissue

elise.blaha

 

blue yonder

 

laurageorge

mini moopys

Lisa asked about the stuffie in a photo a couple of posts down.  I made these little bunnies for the boys for Easter.  They're called mini moopys and the pattern used to be available for free, but now I see it's for sale on the sidebar of this blog: Nest Studio.  It was a fun little pattern to sew, though I enlarged it quite a bit from the original.  See more little bunnies in the mini moopy flickr group.  It's cool to see how differently they all turn out!

P.S. - Does anyone know why my photos are so washed out on Typepad?  Take a look at the same photo on Flickr.  Bummer.  

i love making mixtapes for my friends

1. OK - Holly Conlan

2. Dimmer - Bishop Allen

3. The Show - Lenka

4. The General Specific - Band of Horses

5. Four Winds - Bright Eyes

6. Tiger Mountain Peasant Song - First Aid Kit

7. Old Times - The Whispertown 2000

8. Your New Man - Mason Jennings

9. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out - Cat Stevens

10. The Ancient Commonsense of Things - Bishop Allen

11. Dangerous and Sweet - Lenka

12. What I'm Looking For - Brendan Benson

13. I'd Rather Be With You - Joshua Radin

14. Fidelity - Regina Spektor

15. Lo Boob Oscillator - Stereolab

16. Don't Let Me Fall - Lenka

17. You Got Growing Up to Do - Joshua Radin

18. When I Go - Slow Club

19. Reasons to Love You - Meiko

20. Far Away (Live) - Ingrid Michaelson

21. Oh, It Is Love - Hellogoodbye

22. Here Comes the Sun - Belle and Sebastian

hmmm, it's been a while

I'd really like to get this puppy up and running again.  xoxo  

a valentine for you

squirrels in love

I would love to hang this sweet silhouette in my home!  Found at this cute website: Craftsbury Kids

happy birthday & happy mother's day, mumfred!

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenck's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." -marjorie pay hinckley

I love this quote and I am so lucky to have the best example of how to be this kind of person in my own Mom.  Not that you don't have nice clothes and hair, Mom. :) We love you, Mumfred, and can't wait to spend next week with you! 

mother's day presents

mother's day presents, originally uploaded by Sara*P.

These went out to the grandmas. Tiny photo albums for their purses made from business card holders from Target and inspired by the awesome Danielle Thompson.

a date with the eeebs

a date with the eeebs, originally uploaded by Sara*P.

I covered much more ground at this park with Eeebs than I did with NB. He has much more of a run and explore attitude as opposed to NB's slightly hesitant, stop-and-study-everything approach. In fact, Eeebs was so fast that I had trouble getting pictures with him in the frame. So instead we make due with bits of him. :)

bedtime video for the grandparents

bedtime from Sara*P on Vimeo.

tractor

tractor, originally uploaded by Sara*P.

Today: time on a tractor, going on the slides at the park, watching a little Yo Gabba Gabba while mom starts her first quilt.

testing :)

NB and The Eeebs from Sara*P on Vimeo.

Greatest Party Idea Ever

I would love to attend a party like this, if only to see if I'd experience the same heart-racing and last-minute-escape-plan-making that I did back in school when it was my turn to make a presentation.  Seriously, how fun does this sound? 

Paul's Party on Oh Happy Day

pretending we own a beach house

pretending we own a beach house, originally uploaded by Sara*P.

We've been really lucky to get a taste of what it would be like to live on a wide-open, quiet beach. Rob is helping a family to get their home ready to sell, so the boys and I have been going along to play in the sand.

Just NB & Mom

Just NB & Mom, originally uploaded by Sara*P.

To NB,

I loved spending the afternoon together, just you & me. It was such a joy to run around the park with you, letting you decide what we were going to do next. Life as a twin requires so much compromise and waiting for your turn and I think you enjoyed having my undivided attention today. It was so sweet how, after we had walked down the ivy-lined path entering the park, you turned back and called out for your brother and waited for him to follow behind us. Thanks for holding my hand so well and for sitting in your chair like such a big boy at Starbucks. I learned that I need to do these special outings with you and your brother more often. It's pretty cool to get to know you separately.

Love, Mom