Guess who was in the Times today?

Our little jaunt to Manzanita a couple of weeks ago turned out to be even more eventful than we had expected. While visiting the Bread and Ocean Cafe, we were approached by a very nice woman named Julie Keefe. She is a freelance photographer for The New York Times and was taking pictures around Manzanita for the travel section of the paper. As we gazed longingly at the cases of breads, pastries and frittatas, she snapped a couple pictures of Jasper. Go here for the whole story. It is wonderful to see that others view Mananita and the Oregon Coast as a haven and feel the need to shout it nationwide!!

stacking trees

This was a little craft project that Samantha and I did today. It was easy, fun and provided instant gratification (which I was needing at the moment). To make one of your very own, go here to find very thorough and easy to follow instructions.

Oh, happy bed day

The ride home from school today was quite uneventful; a rainy day with not much to see outside. The three speed bumps we always seem to bounce over just didn't feel as big and even the geese, which usually are playing baseball at the park (according to Jasper), failed to show up for practice. The afternoon seemed like it would be a long one.

As we turned onto our street, we immediately noticed a large white truck parked in front of our house. "Could today be the day?" I said as the children sat upright in their boosters and tried to catch a view through the water spotted windshield. The day we had been waiting for for the past 2 months had finally arrived.

The drivers from Cotton Cloud Futon were just as excited to get Jasper's bed off their truck as we were to receive it. A big boy bed for a much deserving little one who was only inches away from both ends of his toddler bed. The bed we chose for Jasper was a solid maple Arts and Crafts style bed from Pacific Rim out of Eugene. The workmanship and wood quality are the first things you notice about the bed, but for us (3 Pacific Rim beds later), we love the fact that we are supporting a local business and that all their furniture is made with minimal environmental impact. It feels good to support a company with a conscience.

As soon as the bed was together and made, this is what unfolded next....




May you all have a beautiful slumber tonight!!

dinner with friends

"before"


"after"

6 parents craving adult conversation

5 recipes to prepare

4 friends from school with hours to play

3 sorbet choices

2 extremely tired children

1 story before climbing into bed

Jasper's one wish

Jasper was overjoyed when his good friend from school came over to play. He had been saying for weeks that he was "wishing in his heart" that his friend could come see his house. After a morning of making apple cider (a game they play with blocks), reading in their fort, playing with Gak and a satisfying snack, Jasper hugged his dear friend goodbye.

What a magical connection these two have. A budding friendship that will be fun to watch in the coming years.

Giving Thanks, again.....

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. We were all greeted at 9am with coffee and tea from Steph. What a wonderful beginning to a full day of cooking, baking and great conversation. At the end of the day, we gathered as a family and talked about the things we are thankful for. It didn't take long to realize that we have some wonderful people in our lives, an amazing school and so many great memories together as a family.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Giving Thanks

We have always encouraged the children to create thank you's for kind gestures or gifts given. We are not perfect and sometimes that card or picture does not get made. Although, when we do give thanks to our friends and family, a handmade treasure is always well received and so much fun to make.

These cards are thank you's for anything surrounding Jasper's birthday; whether it was a celebration, a gift or simply someone stopping by on his special day. Each of the fabric scraps were chosen by Jasper with a certain person in mind. Pink and yellow for his teacher, blue and pink for Grace and so on. What was so impressive to me was how Jasper seemed to know which colors people would like. With more cards to make , I leave you with our progress so far. Have a beautiful day!

cherished gifts from school

These are the sweet gifts that were presented to Jasper at school on the day of his birthday celebration. Poppy, the little doll, was completely handmade by his teacher and has a body full of lavender. The orange wallet was made by one of Jasper's "greatest" friends and his family. These handmade gifts are truly magical and have inspired hours of creative play. Simple, beautiful and made with love.

Special Spots

I just wanted to share the space in which we live, laugh and create. Home.... so much more than walls and a roof. A place where we can just be us and where our subconscious allows us to self express and freely think. A place where we come together without conditions, just understanding and compassion.

Around our home, we have certain spots were we feel an emotional connection. For Samantha, each time she looks at her cluster of drawings it's as though time freezes. When she steps back to take a look, you can see that she is reminded of what inspired each piece. As for Jasper, the child who loves his sleep, the smell of his pillow and a soft friend that is ready to cuddle bring warmth and comfort. For me, all I need is to sit in my sewing chair; the chair I salvaged from an antique fair and painted my favorite color. The chair that allows me to take an out breath and to create to my fullest capacity.

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I can't say thank you enough for your dedication to this blog. The comments and emails have been insightful and endearing. Please keep checking in and don't hesitate to leave me a message.

*brown*

Color is such a huge part of our lives. It is an inspiration for our artwork and crafting. From an early age the children have adopted colors as their very own. For Samantha, yellow and red have always been incorporated into her clothing choices and drawings. As for Jasper, if you were to ask him what his favorite colors are, he would enthusiastically say, "orange, orange and orange". On this day, it just so happened that Stephanie, Jasper and Lucy all wore the same color and Jasper, of course, was the first one to notice. How beautiful are the many shades of brown each with their own texture and richness. Color so warm and bold leaving me thinking, "hot cocoa anyone?"

::Jasper's favorite things that are brown::

1. a brown dog 2. his shoes 3. our baby kitty, Lucy 4. black beans

::Samantha's favorite things that are brown::

1. mud pies 2. Dad's brown pants 3. a seed pod 4. tamari sauce

The Grand Finale

All good things must come to an end. This sunset was the grand finale of Jasper's special day. It's warm glow wrapped around us as we continued to play on the dunes. As the proud mama's looked on, Jasper and Ted created a cozy little restaurant with a special flag out front to attract customers. The menu: wheat and corn on the cob.

Pure joy

Words can't express the excitement and joy we were all feeling when our friends met us at the beach. The children all played beautifully with each other. Two families coming together to celebrate Jasper.

Just us.....

This past weekend was one of the most enjoyable we have had in a long time. With the weather forecast predicting rain and wind for the entire weekend, we decided to move forward with our plans to go to the coast. After driving through a heavy rainstorm and extremely thick fog to get to our cabin, we were sure that we would be spending the weekend sipping tea and playing games in front of the crackling fire. To our complete surprise, we awoke Saturday morning to not a cloud in the sky.
After shoveling french toast into our bodies as quickly as possible, we grabbed our coats and hats and nearly ran the short 2 blocks to the beach. Jasper squealed each time he saw a wave curl and then hit the sand. With Samantha's first step onto the beach, she saw a never ending tablet in which to draw and write.
Even John (with his chai tea in hand) was truly at peace while finally having a moment out of his frantic life to marvel at nature's power and beauty. Our moment on the beach was a sacred one for us as a family.

Time alone together before our friends would arrive.....

The Great Unveiling

It seems anytime Jasper finds a stick these days, he quickly heads to the fabric basket and turns it into a flag. When it came time to brainstorm ideas for Jasper's birthday, Samantha knew exactly what she wanted to make him. We all know a 4 year boy can never have enough flags!! With the fabric from the Woolen Mill Outlet, a few vintage buttons and some old remnants from past projects, Samantha began her work.

After a lot of cutting, a little sewing and 30 minutes of finding the correct placement of each piece, Jasper's flag was nearly done. As Samantha headed off to bed, Mama went to work sewing it all together. How proud Sammy was to see the finished product in the morning.

One perfect afternoon

One bag of bulbs

One yard of rich, moist soilOne unexpected friend

Shhhh.....Top Secret!!

Yes, that is Lucy eyeing the ball of woolly goodness....
There is so much excitement in our house these days. We are currently in birthday planning mode and rather than doing all of the "making" myself, I now have an assistant. Samantha has so many ideas surrounding Jasper's birthday and is constantly drawing pictures of gifts and birthday decorations that need to be made.

In an attempt to make Jasper's gifts, I headed to the Woolen Mill Outlet Store and scored some awesome woolly remnants. Last night, I pieced together this football. The rest of the fabric stash is for Samantha's gift for Jasper which has been declared "top secret". I will clue you in as soon as I learn all the details!!

Mr. Freckles II

During a fun park day with Daddy on Saturday, Jasper found an amazing branch that he had to take home. My dear son dragged his treasure 3 blocks and across two streets to our house. Upon arriving at home, Jasper so graciously pushed his branch on the rope swing and then found it a warm snug bed in a basement window well.

The next morning, he invited his branch inside, placed it by the kitchen door and disappeared. The next I saw of Jasper, he had his arms full of clothes from his dresser and was carefully selecting outfits for his new friend. Mr. Freckles II was born. His first outfit was his cold weather wear, followed by his evening attire (Jasper's summer jammies) and lastly, Mr. Freckles II became a spooky ghost. Wow!... the things the children come up with. They inspire me and warm my heart on a daily basis.

Sunny November

Everywhere we go lately, people seem to have a skip in their step; a certain easy-going friendliness which makes everything around us feel connected and familiar. How powerful the November sun can be. Here in Portland, it has been sunny and comfortable for the past 2 weeks. I feel like we are spending most of our time outdoors soaking up the sun as a squirrel stores nuts for a long cold winter. Even Alice and Lucy are getting plenty of vitamin D these days. Warm November sun, we shall miss you when you're gone.

knock, knock....who's there?

Knock, knock.....Who's there? Bread. Bread who? Bread wants butter!!! This, I believe, is Jasper's favorite joke right now. And of course it is one of the many that he and Samantha have created at the breakfast table in the last couple of months. Yes, the idea of 2 joke cracking clowns was presented to me in August along with a full description of fabric colors and costume design. Sam and Jasper seem to wear their costumes for a little bit everyday and love to entertain the neighbors with a clown parade around the block.

Lantern walk

On Halloween, it is tradition that the young children at school take a lantern walk through the Rhododendron Garden. What a sight it was to see our friends dressed as leaf children, with their glowing lanterns, singing and greeting one another. Along the way, we saw a farmer, a baker, Mother Earth, Father Winter and Jack Frost whom all had a wholesome treat for the children. When we all got back to the car after this experience, we all sat in silence pondering what had just happened. How grateful we are to our school and our loving teachers for creating such a magical moment for all of us.