Outside with Kids

I think we’re in the better-than-average realm of outdoor play, but I know we could be better. Hardly a day goes by (even a rainy one) without us finding a window for playing at the park, walking the dog, or riding bikes.

{read more}

Rainy hike in Smuggler's Cove on the Oregon Coast

Idyllic Orchard

We spent a beautiful Autumn day at my parents' place in Canby, Oregon.

{see more of the gorgeousness here}

It could have been so much worse

I hope you never have to experience what I did yesterday. I watched my little three year old boy get hit by a car.

We were riding our bikes to the farmers market, crossing a street in the crosswalk. I always pull in to the middle of the street, then wait for both kids to cross the street. Anna was in front of me, and I think I went a little further than the middle of the street before stopping to wait for Eric. I don’t know why, I think I either thought he was closer behind me, or I felt safe since we were crossing at a crosswalk and the light was with us. In any case, I stopped about halfway through the adjacent lane, and looked back to wait for Eric.

I saw the car start to turn in to the cross walk, right where Eric was riding. I’m shaking my head no no no even as I type this. I started screaming “NO WAIT STOP NO NO!” but he kept right on turning. In that flash of an instant, it occurred to me that all of my fears as a parent were coming true right then. I see Eric get pulled down, but then I can’t see him any more, and I’m running and screaming at the top of my lungs. The car finally stops 10' later (I measured the scrape marks today), and Eric is pinned under his bike, the back tire of the bike is under the car’s front tire. I can’t get him out, I bang on the hood of the car and scream BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP! I’m a little fuzzy at this point. I’m not sure when I stopped screaming,
more...

Is This My Beautiful Life?

Do you ever have those moments where all of a sudden you are 17 years old, looking at yourself in your surroundings thinking, “Wait. How did I get here? Is this really my life?”

Read more...

Now to Find a Way to Shrink Myself...

I'm building a fairy garden with my kids and one of our neighbor kids. I should say, I'm building it for me and occasionally I remember to try to include them. They are all loving it, actually, and I'm looking forward to us having this project to tinker with all summer.
It started with some cutesy little flowers I picked up at the Trillium Festival a few weeks back. When I started adding them to the trillium, columbine and maidenhair fern I bought at last year's festival, it all seemed so delicate and whimsical. And a fairy garden was born...
Half the fun has been seeking treasures and found objects to add to it. I raided my "I'll fix this someday" box of broken jewelry and pulled out some treasures that I know I'm not really going to fix.

Here's our progress so far. I have to agree with our neighbor girl and co-creator when she says, "Now I just wish we could make ourselves small so we could play in the garden!"

The "Great House" meeting hall (in process), with earring chandelier & jeweled bracelet fence and the beginning of the twig boardwalk.

We chose these little white flowers because they look like perfect fairy dresses. I. Love. Them.

While we were working, a little ladybug flew in to enjoy the garden.

Working hard!

Yashi made this for us, and it's perfect in the fairy garden, nestled between grape hyacinth and a tiny red tulip.

That's a hammock back there, and the beginning of a beaded path in the lower right corner.

The twig path leads from the Great Hall to the center of the garden, then the blue glass stones lead to the "Dance Circle"

The Frog Bard, waiting to serenade some dancing fairies.

The most basic of soups

I asked the Girlchild what we should make for dinner tonight, and she said, "Basil potato mushroom soup!"
I was pleased that she didn't say, "mustard custard," which is a dish she's been promoting for a few weeks now. I've managed to dodge that particular iron chef challenge.

I initially thought we'd do a potage parmentier and add mushrooms and sprinkle basil on top. We didn't have any fresh basil (fancy that in Oregon in April...), and the spirit of the kitchen took over (also known as spontaneity), and we did this instead:

Soften in dutch oven:
*1 onion, chopped
*2 carrots, peeled & sliced
*3 potatoes, peeled & diced

Allow the veggies to soften for about 5 minutes, then to the sides of the pan, and brown:
*1 lb ground turkey, with salt & pepper

Add (in no particular order)
*1 quart beef broth (or whatever kind you like, I like the full bodied flavor of beef broth sometimes)
*2 cans of tomatoes. I used one can of stewed tomatoes and one can of diced, because that's what I had.
*3 cloves of garlic, minced.
*I also added some of my favorite shallot salt from Penzey's Spices. Dreamy stuff, really.


Allow that to simmer until the potatoes are almost all the way soft, then toss in:
*1 lb of mushrooms, sliced. The kids love to slice the mushrooms with a butter knife. (helpful and safe!)
*Green veggies. We used a pound of asparagus, because it was in the fridge, plus about a cup of frozen peas.

Simmer a bit more until the latest veggies to join the party are ready, and it's all set!
{I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to the times of each step, but the whole process took about an hour.}

I love it when my kids eat veggies, and of course they're more likely to eat them when they've helped prepare the meal!

Girlchild on her second bowl. This is the first time I've ever known her to eat mushrooms.

We thought about making biscuits, but settled for grilled cheese on Dave's Killer Bread instead. Something about that bread is perfect for toast or grilled cheese.







For more family-friendly healthy recipe ideas, visit Disney's Magic of Healthy Living. I'm not typically a recipe follower, but they've got some good ones over there.

Getting To Know You... UBP11

It's time to party like a blogger...
Welcome to my humble corner of the blogosphere!

I started this little blog because so many of my friends and family would tell me how much they enjoyed reading my facebook posts. It finally occurred to me to create a better forum for sharing!
So I'm a late bloomer...

I write about my family and our adventures. I experiment with and write about food. I have a hard time sticking to recipes. My five year old daughter, the charming Girlchild, likes to invent recipes. She throws out a list of ingredients and my challenge is to turn it in to something edible. I have a three year old flirty boy and an awesome husband, along with three snuggly kitties and one lazy puppy.
My family makes me laugh and cry and scream and I never knew there was room for this much love in my heart. I want to write more about fashion, but I'm a little intimidated by all the amazing fashionistas out there.

I have a problem with thinking rules don't apply to me, but I'm working on it because I have to.
I get overly annoyed by grammatical errors and passive aggressive behavior.
I've realized lately that I'm more competitive than I previously thought, and since turning 40 I'm wondering what I want to be when I grow up.

I believe in the power of good shoes and wine.

I am inspired by nature, by unnecessary kindness, by women who make fitness a balanced part of their daily lives, by Cupcakes and Cashmere and This is Glamorous.

 I'm halfway through the process of migrating this little blog to mostlymommyhood.com. It's been a bit of trial and error, but I hope to have it live in a couple weeks. Blogger has been good to me, but it's time to take the leap! The most exciting part about the migration is my dear friend Dayl is going to start contributing with me. She has some amazing stories and is one of the brightest stars and kindest humans I've ever encountered. I can't wait to expand Mostly Mommyhood to include the adventures of Dayl and her family.

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here. I look forward to getting to know you!
~Krista

Trillium Festival

I did not draw this, BTW.

I've always had a special place in my heart for trilliums. I remember spending what seemed like hours drawing them when I was a kid. I'm not sure if it was the rarity of them or the perfect symetry, but I just love them. My notebooks from 6th grade Outdoor School were littered with trillium sketches. Perhaps part of the allure is that they're found out in the woods... a place I like to be!

Last year was our first to the Trillium Festival at Tryon Creek State Park. We loved it so much, we joined Friends of Tryon Creek and bought several trilliums and other native plants. Here's one of our little trillium from last year, signaling that it's time to get back out in the woods:

Trillium with some columbine and an industrial-ish fairy house built by one of the neighbors.

Today the kids and I met my parents out at Tryon Creek State Park to enjoy the Trillium Festival again.
Our adventure took us on an hour and a half-long hike through the park, on the look out for trillium, wood violets, licorice ferns, Oregon grape, and salmon berries.

We found the perfect Pixie Hollow!

Today pushed all my happy buttons: fun with the kids, exercise, nature, my parents, education... it's all there. Plus, I stopped by the native plant sale and came away with these beauties:

so pretty, right?

I hope you can get out and enjoy some nature soon, too!

Girlchild's Quinoa with Pancetta & Peas

Anna likes to invent recipes – a hobby I whole-heartedly support!
Here's how it goes: She lists a bunch of ingredients and gives me a format (dessert, dinner, etc) and I have to turn it in to something edible.
While we were at the Disney World, we had the pleasure of attending the celebration dinner for their Magic of Healthy Living contest winners. It was pretty awesome to see the mighty power of Disney focused on helping families lead healthy lives. My kids were skeptical of the ultra healthy dinner that was served, but it got us talking about healthy food, which led to the following recipe:

"You take smashed up peanuts and some peas, and pancetta and add all that to quinoa, plus three tablespoons of chicken broth. And olive juice, honey and a squeeze of lemon. And then you add a little parmesan cheese, garlic and arugula."

Here's what we actually did:
Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of chicken broth.
Bring to a boil, then cover & simmer until liquid is almost completely absorbed. While there is still a bit of liquid, add about 1 cup of frozen peas.

Meanwhile, lay the pancetta out on a baking sheet. Broil until crisp, flipping each piece about halfway through the process. Total broil time is only about 4 minutes. Warning: never walk away from anything under the broiler! I usually grab a glass of wine and sit on the floor watching it, which the kids seem to find amusing.

broiling pancetta

Let the pancetta cool on the sheet, and grate about 1/4 cup of parmesan.
Mince a garlic clove and add to the juice of about 1/2 a lemon.

When the quinoa is done (liquid is about all absorbed), add the lemon juice & garlic and stir in. Turn heat off, and stir in parmesan. We then put that whole concoction in a bowl and crumbled the crisp pancetta over the top. I was afraid if we mixed it in, it would get soggy.
Crisp pancetta = awesome. Limp pancetta = meh.

You'll notice the peanuts, honey and olive juice didn't make it in to the recipe. The arugula kind of did, as we made my all-time favorite salad: Arugula with hearts of palm & shaved parmesan. The dressing is one clove of garlic, fleur de sel, fresh pepper, the other half of the lemon from earlier, emulsified with some fruity olive oil. Lemon juice + garlic + olive oil, as my dear friend Gwenn says, "emulsify like nobody's business."

 We served the quinoa and salad with some broiled mahi mahi and toasted Pugliese bread.
In fact, after we removed the pancetta from the baking sheet, I rubbed the bread around on the sheet and then toasted it. Mmmm. Pancetta drippings.

The Girlchild was very pleased about her recipe, and how the whole meal came together. I love cooking with her, and of course she ate everything because she helped make it. My kitchen ended up a bit messier than if I had just made dinner myself, but I wouldn't trade this time together for a cleaner kitchen, that's for sure.

Anna was more smitten than usual with the hearts of palm. In fact, she claims our next cooking adventure will be a "Hearts of Palm Custard!"
OK. I'm not sure what to do with that, but I'm sure we'll come up with something!

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some other fun perks. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

Run baby run

I'm running a half marathon on Mother's Day. It will be my first b i g run since Hood To Coast in 2004. I did run a quarter marathon on Mother's Day in 2006, five months after Anna was born. But that's pretty much it for b i g runs. I've been really happy to run 3ish miles several times a week with some hot mamas in the neighborhood, but we really haven't been running together much for a month or so.

so anyway... I'm nervous about today.

According to our training schedule, I should have run about 10 miles, broken out into three runs throughout the week. I ran three miles. One time. That's it.
Today we run eight. 8 miles. 8 miles when I haven't been keeping up on my training for two weeks.
I know I'll be fine if I warm up sufficiently and take it slow. I know I can get through it – that's not the issue. I don't want to cause an injury that I have to live with the rest of my life! Ok, now I'm being dramatic.

After my three miler earlier this week, Girlchild says, "Mama, why is exercise only for grown-ups?"
«cue sound of tires screeching to a halt»
Obviously, I need to do more to incorporate "exercise" into our daily lives.

Sure, they get a lot through their regular activities. Just yesterday, Brian had them playing at the park —running, climbing, jumping— for 2.5 hours. But I think there's something more important than just doing the activity. If my kids are to grow up fit and strong with a commitment to healthy living, then they need to realize that exercise is important and know that it's just something you HAVE TO DO every day.

Like brushing their teeth and reading books. That doesn't mean it can't be fun. But we need to call it exercise, so it becomes habitual and normal. Wouldn't that be so much easier than trying insert "exercise" when they start going to the (oft-dreaded) PE classes in school? I'm heading over to Disney's Magic of Healthy Living site to see what they say about it. Disney has committed to providing families with healthy living resources, which we learned about at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.*

I'd be interested in knowing how other parents handle this, though. Do you set aside "exercise" time, or sneak it in with everyday activities?


*I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday • Cool Slide at Port Orleans

 

 

 

 

Find more Wordless Wednesday at 5MinutesforMom

Renew Our Vows?

Brian and I were married in July of 2001 and had our own version of a fairy tale wedding. Really, it was wonderful and I feel no need to recreate it or redo anything about it.

I've kind of poo-poohed people renewing their vows, because to us, the vows we took are forever. No need to renew. The idea of renewing implies that they're stale or old.

However...
While I was a the Disney Social Media Moms celebration, I learned about a new special promotion that Disney Fairy Tale Weddings has rolled out for their 20th anniversary. All this year, they're offering a special vow-renewal package for $1,991 ~ in honor of the year they started in 1991.
         "In honor of the platinum year, Disney has also created a specially priced wedding package perfect for vow renewals: the Memories Collection. Throughout the 20-month celebration, couples are invited to create new memories through intimate ceremonies at Walt Disney World Resort. The Memories Collection includes up to six guests, including the couple, a floral bouquet for the bride, solo violinist, transportation (three-hour limousine charter) and a professional photographer for one hour.

Ceremony locations include: Conch Key Marina at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Narcoossee’s Landing at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, and Luau Beach at Disney’s Polynesian Resort."

Who wouldn't want a ride in Cinderella's carriage? ©Disney

Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings Pavilion adjacent to the Grand Floridian resort on the Seven Seas Lagoon. ©Disney

I wonder if I could talk Brian into a return trip?

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

Travel with my Family

Wow, I have so much to process and write about from the fantastic trip we took to Disney World. I was fortunate enough to be included in Disney's Social Media Moms Celebration March 17-20, and I'm still pinching myself. It was overwhelming and unreal, to be honest. I learned so much, experienced so much, and met some pretty incredible people ~ all of which I'll be writing about soon!

But the biggest headline from the trip is that my family travels well together.

On the river boat from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney

Fairly early into my relationship with Brian, we realized that we could travel well together, and we were so relieved! It's not that it would have been a deal breaker – or maybe it would have – but since we both love travel, it's nice that we are such a good team.

As we were tucking the kids into bed upon returning from this big trip, Brian told the kids how proud we are of them for also being such good travel team members. I got all mushy when he said that. I'm sure it's just because I was so tired...  But how sweet, right?

And really, the kids were awesome. We've been on many trips together, but nothing this complex or scheduled. We were trying to squeeze as much as possible into this trip! They were such troopers, and I just couldn't be prouder of my little team.

At the airport for our red eye flight, way past their bedtime in jammies & backpacks

I saw so many families at the parks sniping and yelling at each other, and just generally being unkind. It was so sad, and made me that much more grateful that we all discussed it and agreed to be nice to each other. It made the whole trip better. Don't get me wrong, there was tension at times. But we were committed to not taking any frustrations out on each other.

I actually came back from this trip more in love with my husband, and more in love with my kids. That's pretty good for a 10-day extravaganza.

I'm so grateful. And so proud. And already planning our next trip!

I attended the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World, the conference fee included 3 nights at the Grand Floridian, the conference and meals for me, several amazing meals for our entire family, park hopper passes for each of us, and some pretty incredible swag items to take home. Disney did not ask me to write about this event, and all opinions are my own.

Tooth Fairy

The Girl lost a tooth!

OK, this is yet another example of her telling me something and me not taking her seriously. I've got to work on that. She's been telling me for several days that she has a wiggly tooth, but I just thought it was a result of her tumble down the stairs a few weeks ago and would eventually "firm" up again.
Nope!

Well, it may be because of the fall... but it definitely fell out!

I was scrounging for dinner, and Girlchild said,
"Today is the day that I lost my tooth."

I said, "Whaaaaah?"
She said, "I lost a tooth!"
I said, "NO WAY!"
She said, "YES WAY!" and held up a tiny little tooth.

Well, whaddya know? I knew she was advanced in many ways, but sheesh. I didn't think I'd be dealing with teeth for at least a year, maybe two. «scramble, scramble... what do tooth fairies bring these days?»

We talked for a bit about the tooth fairy, and what this all meant, when she told me she needs to go open the window in her room. Fortunately, Yashi was able to convince her that tooth fairies can come in with magic, and don't need the window to be open. When asked for proof, Yashi gave the example of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty, which seemed to convince the Girl. Whew!
Here's the "letter" she made for the tooth fairy:

Note the Sleeping Beauty reference. And the pony.

She asked to make a video {clearly a future vlogger}, here's what she wanted to tell you all:

Yup, she asked the tooth fairy for a pony. A PONY! So classic. Way to aim high, sweetie!

giddy

I stopped at a consignment store to check into water sandals for the kiddles to take to Disney World, and just HAD to buy this little number for the Girl:

It's a Tinkerbell-inspired princess dress!
Now, she hasn't been in a princess mood for a while, just OBSESSED with dinosaurs. It's been a couple months since she's insisted on wearing princess clothes or a tiara, so I didn't know if she'd be in to it or not.
Oh, em gee. She took one look at it and stripped off her clothes to put it on. Once on, she had the hugest permagrin, and this deep gutteral laugh just took over her whole body. Seriously, shaking and jumping up and down. Then... screaming laughing running laps around the house. Laughing laughing laughing.
Next, she needed to put on princess shoes. Then, she insisted on making a mask. Mask? OK! I helped her make this:

When my parents arrived at the house for dinner, she ran up and said, "What do you think of my look? I'm the Queen of the Fairies!" {squeee, resume laps and laughter} I tried to get a picture of her, but she couldn't stop moving.
Is she a little excited? Just a tad. To be honest, every time I see the little countdown to the right, my heart skips a beat. I'm tempted to run laps and scream, too!
I'm so looking forward to not only this UH MAZ ING family time at Disney World, but also to meeting all these inspirational women. And I'm certain that the information I'll learn at the conference will be life-changing. I just know it.
So yes, I'm giddy. Yes, I've been informally packing for months. Yes, I'm religiously stalking the #disneysmmoms hashtag. Like the kids, I CAN'T WAIT.

Girlchild, processing her injury

Girlchild took a tumble down the stairs of her school chum, and unfortunately I was a good 40 minutes away when it happened. Needless to say, by the time I got there, the school chum was fairly shaken up as well. My heart aches for the poor Mama who had to deal with my screaming, bleeding child and also her own terrified munchkin. I have a bottle of wine for the Mama, but check out what the the girl made for her friend:

She called her socks "Naughty Socks" because she said of her fall, "It was all my socks' fault."

 Here's the picture she drew of herself in the hospital. The fish stickers represent the TV, which had the "Aquarium channel" playing.
The people in the room are (in order from L to R) me, Brian, Dr. Eric, Nurse Anna and Dr. Moorhead.
Yes, the surgeon's name was really Eric, and yes, the nurse was really Anna. I know ~ weird, right??

Anna was knocked out for the procedure, but not all the way. She was aware that they put a sheet over her face, so she drew it on the picture.

I have a whole other post to write about how brave my daughter is. I'm so impressed with her, I can hardly stand it. But I'll save that for another post!

Princess Tea Party

Girlchild was invited to a tea party Saturday at a friend's house. A "School Mate" as she says.

When Brian first told her of the invitation, her response was serious and direct.
"I want to do that," she declared.

She already also had a girlfriend play date set up for Sunday, so to make sure the Boy didn't feel left out, we arranged for him to spend time with my parents this weekend.

Anna was so excited about the tea party, she immediately started asking me about it as soon as we got up Saturday morning. We figured out which dress she would wear, then she wanted to paint tea party pictures. We haven't painted much since summer, so I agreed.
{You know what's odd about the dress? It's the same one she wore to my mom's birthday tea party nearly two years ago. I think the girl has been mostly growing up rather than out.}

Here's the Girl working on her paintings:

 Notice my paintbrush water sitting so close to my coffee cup? Yeah, not a good idea.

Here are all of the tea party pictures:

 Tea pot, two tea cups, a cake and a flower scene. All painted solely by Anna, except the one cup:

 It's been a while since I've painted anything but botanicals, but I had fun with this little tea cup.

Here are the four girls sitting for their tea party. It was so adorable, the little hostess {who wore a Disney Cinderella dress, its should be noted} employed her daddy and little brother to be servers, they wore ties and had aprons tied around their waists, and even held tea towels draped over their forearms. So cute, what good sports.

 The girls had a spirited discussion about Halloween costumes:

It was a fun day, and Anna & I are already planning a reciprocal tea party.

My Time

I like getting up early in the morning, before my family is even thinking about getting out of bed. On most mornings, I either go to the gym or go running with a couple neighborhood mamas. Even after that, I still have a good hour to hour and a half before the fam rises at 8 a.m.
Since I work outside the home, I have a lot of guilt about the time I spend away from home that isn't work. But this time is stolen time, since everyone is asleep!
I can read magazines, drink my coffee, explore the interwebs, do some sewing, or whatever.
So for a whole week last month, darling girlchild was getting up at 6:30 and following me downstairs. Which is not so bad except she was demanding my attention.
Girl: "Mama, please read me a story?"
Me: "No, you're not supposed to be up yet. Go back to bed."
Girl: "But I want to be with you!"
Me (picking up my Vogue mag): "That's nice, but this is my time. If you want to be downstairs, you can sit on that end of the couch and look at a book. But you have to let me have my time."
She was relentless. *@#!%&*! My time was ruined.

Next morning, same scenario.
This time, I thought to make her hot chocolate, thinking that would keep her busy long enough for me to do some writing. It worked a tad, but I was distressed to be losing my time alone.

Third morning, I'm on my spot on the couch drinking my coffee and reading.
padpadpadpad little feet down the stairs. I sighed.
Girl: "Mama, is this your time?"
Me: "Yes, dear. You should go back to bed."
Girl: "But I'm cold and thirsty. Will you make me hot chocolate?" {She often talks in riddles like that}
Sigh.
I come back with her cup of hot chocolate, and she is sitting in my spot on the couch, reading her Highlights magazine.
She giggled, and very pleased with herself said, "Look, Mama! Now it's my time!"

Oh, girl. If only you knew. It's always your time.

Finding My Heaven in 2011

I recently read on this blog, (paraphrasing) "Only have things that you love." So I'm applying a critical eye to everything in our possession. This year is about finding my heaven. First step, a peaceful abode.


On the one hand, having kids gives me an excuse to have a messy house. On the other hand, GAH do I ever hate all the clutter!

Of all the things that drive me crazy (voice-mail, people who chew with their mouths open, awkward situations that could be avoided with a tiny bit of advance communication, etc.) clutter might just be the bane of my existence. I'm tackling it. Yep, I've had enough. What's that saying about cluttered surroundings reflecting a cluttered mind?

Here's the book situation IN MY LIVING ROOM. I'm sick of straightening those books weekly, and obviously this little rack thingy is not up for the challenge of containing all these kids books, as evidenced by the piles around it.

Here is the piano/stereo/toy pile:



Mind you, I have already pulled out 3 boxes of toys and stashed them in the back room. I'll deal with that later. They haven't been missed, which is good news.

Side note on the piano: we put it there about 5 years ago, and neither of us have liked it. It seems so huge there. But it's a bear to move. It's 109 years old and is missing a caster on the back. (We have that corner propped up on some granite coasters. Whatever works.) I thought it was stuck there forever, because when we moved it there, we asked two of Brian's friends to help him get it in place. We had JUST had the hardwood floors done, and didn't want to risk scratching the floor, so we called for reinforcements. Guess what? Huge gauge in the floor. I'm afraid I was less than gracious about it. In fact, I may have said something like, "The only reason we needed your help was to avoid that exact situation!" In my defense, I was 8 months pregnant, but looking back ~ I'm embarrassed. Sorry, guys.

Back to today.
Brian, being amazing both in physical strength and in mental acumen, figured out a way for he and I to move the piano by ourselves. I know, right? He put a hand truck under the end that is missing the caster. I lifted that end by using the weight of my body as leverage, and he lifted the whole other end of the piano. My job was simply to steer us into place. Awesome. {BTW, perfect example of potentially awkward situation being avoided by employing a little communication. Every step of the way, Brian would explain exactly what we were about to do, and even what we weren't going to do. Impressive, and seamless.}

Here's what we accomplished, late into the first day of 2011:

The shelves are two Expedit from IKEA. Our plan is to move the stereo out, which will help quite a bit more, but we're not quite there yet.

I'm not ready to take a picture of the piano area yet, but I'll update as soon as I do. I'm piece by piece finding my heaven in 2011!

Wordless Wednesday • New family activity

We went out for a walk-about specifically to look at all of our neighbors' holiday lights. The kids couldn't have been more excited about each house. So fun and positive, plus it helped wear them out after dinner and before bed. I'm tempted to add hot chocolate to the next walk-about, but that might not have the same calming effect.

OK, that's enough words for Wordless Wednesday...

Cheers!