object Love…doggie

This is doggie. He belongs to D and has been his constant companion since day one.  As you can see, Doggie has been loved to death. He's threadbare, and I'm at a loss as to how to repair him. Sure, I can fix him up, but that requires altering his appearance and adding material. Will it be the same Doggie? Or will he just be a semblance of Doggie, like Mickey Rourke style? I'm not sure.

Doggie [lovingly named by D] is unassuming and patient. He's organic and natural, and he's the perfect thing to keep D company every night. He's a seasoned traveler, accompanying D on all our travels and vacations. He's a consoler, a good listener and a wonderful guest at tea parties. I'm so thankful for Doggie.

As he rests near my sewing machine, I contemplate "retiring" Doggie and storing him in D's keepsake box. This will allow him to keep his original threads and still be intact…pure. Or do I patch him up and return him to play as usual until D finally outgrows him? Emotionally, I struggle putting Doggie into retirement. You see, Doggie represents D's entire baby and toddler years. As I see the boy in D come into sharp focus and the vestige of his babyhood recede, there are times I wish I could keep D, like he is at this moment, forever. With Doggie still around, I'll always be reminded of my baby boy.

Sniff sniff,

F&N

family…happy birthday

Things have been a bit gloomy around here. So when my birthday rolled around yesterday, it was a nice pick-me-up that was much needed. D and husband picked out some lovely and very unique presents. It was nice to receive a gift from D that he knew I would like. Generally, his mode of gift giving is to pick out something he likes, let's take Hot Wheels as an example. He will lovingly "wrap" it and give it to us saying "I got this for you, so YOU can play Hot Wheels with ME." 

Anyhow, here are the goods…

The tarantula and ostrich egg are from D, and I love them! They are a great addition to our shelf of curiosities [which I will post about soon… I need to spend some time capturing the beauty of that collection]. And yes, I like spiders. I think they are amazing creatures and hunters.  The vase is from Whitney Smith. Husband has excellent taste!

Can't get over the beauty of this egg! Husband thought is was ceramic; the lady had to convince him it's all Mother Nature's doing. Oh, the cupcake is from Miette, my favorite bakery in town.

F&N

crafty things…on hiatus

My craft projects list continues to grow for 2009. I refuse to begin a new project until I deal with this…

giant stack of photos! There are actually 374 photos that highlight our year, but this is just a drop in the bucket from all the photos of 2008. While I have adopted digital photography, I have not abandoned paper prints. If it weren't for iPhoto and Shutterfly, the majority of my spare time would be spent organizing, editing and printing photos. Before D was on the scene, that's exactly what I did. It was truly my past time.

In addition to motherhood, other endeavors such as baking, sewing, reading, exercising and knitting [life actually] vie for my spare time. Fortunately, I've figured out a system that keeps me trigger happy with the camera and allows me to archive and create wonderful picture books to capture our memories.

As I mentioned, iPhoto and Shutterfly have really made managing digital photos easy. Once I've edited pictures in iPhoto or Photoshop, I export them directly to Shutterfly [Shutterfly has an iPhoto plug-in which you can download to a mac for super efficiency]. Once in Shutterfly, I add borders and send off prints to the Grandmas, other relatives and myself. These are then "archived" into Kolo photo albums. I have one for each year, and each holds 300 pictures. But archiving and creating are not the same thing. 

To satisfy the "creative" craving, I use iPhoto to make photo books. This is the BEST THING EVER!

Now I can really tell a story about our year with pictures without having to print out hundreds and hundreds of photos. If you don't have iPhoto, there are other services such as Shutterfly and Blurb that allow you create your own book. In fact, I really want to give Blurb a shot this year as the ability to custom design your own book is even greater, practically unlimited. I'll keep you posted when I do.

So, I hope this was helpful in some way.

Say Cheese!

F&N

family…the year of the ox.

Chinese New Year is embraced and celebrated in our house. It all began so innocently with a borrowed book from the library about the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year. Hmm, I think applying to a Mandarin immersion program had something to do with it too. In any case, the stories and celebrations are so appealing, we couldn't help but create our own Chinese New Year.

Of course, each of us has our own reasons for participating. D's excitement is centered around the celebrations, food [especially our improvised Tray of Happiness] and decorations. Husband prefers a delayed New Year celebration following Christmas, as it allows him to actually enjoy the prospect of the New Year and reflect upon the past year. My love of Chinese New Year is twofold.

Firstly, I love the cleaning and organizing ritual. It's more than a surface cleaning. It's a DEEP cleaning which means I tear apart a room,  then purge, clean and organize it. This is cathartic and relaxing for me. It's a clean slate in the literal and figurative sense. [My neighbor insists it's symptomatic of a "type A" personality, but I'm not sure what that means.] 

Secondly, Chinese New Year is a great reason to have a party! Especially since the house is in tip-top shape after all the cleaning. Here are pictures of the Year of the Rat party.

Our favorite books about Chinese New Year:  Hiss! Pop! Boom!,  Happy New Year! Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts'Ai and Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats. 

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

F&N

family…happy birthday MLK Jr.

This morning as husband and I started into our conversation with D as to why there is no school, D interrupts, "I know why, it's Martin Luther King's birthday. Mommy you should make him a cake, a chocolate cake. Or maybe carrot muffins." How could I refuse!

In any case, I was pleased that D had a jump start to our discussion around MLK.  He's formulating thoughts and expressing how he would like to be a "kind and brave" person like MLK. Although impossible for him to comprehend, we listened to MLK's I Have a Dream speech, very apropos given tomorrow's historical event.

Onward & Upward,

F&N