Stoppin' By...

...to say hello!

And show you the last picture of my tulips. They were pruned yesterday.

And tell you that Sully is going to sell his neat stuff at market this Saturday.

And that I am dying to show you the fish we caught.

And tell you that we have 15 days til' we go see my lovely sis-n-law get married.

Then a week after that we get to see all our peeps in California!

And say that I still need to show you the favors we made for Minna's party.

And let you know I got a hair cut after watching it go all rogue for a year.

And mention that Jeff is out back building a CHICKEN COOP for me!

(Well not for me, exactly.)

And, lastly, this is my 500th post! Can you even believe it?

Hope you are having a great week so far!

You ready for July?

Our Sure Signs Of Summer.

So, here in Kodiak we don't have the same Summer indicators as we did in California. The seasons seem to blend almost seamlessly. In California you knew Summer had arrived as it was obvious with the heat and Summery smells and grass turning gold and bees buzzing.

Here, we are newly covered in the rich green leaves (love it) that California looses to high temps, end of Spring. It isn't Summer-warm and won't ever get sticky hot out here. We do have some buzzing. Mosquito buzzing to be exact. Not used to him as a Summer constant, but he is a sign.

Plus, the layers are coming off. My acclimated kids feel it's definitely Summer and we got bare legs and feet all the time.

There it is. The tried and true Summer sign, from California to Kodiak, is the skinned up, bump and bruise sprinkled bare legs of my littles. These busy Summer legs never escape Summer untouched.

So, yes indeed. It is Summer.

Happy Monday!

saturday and sunday (very small portions)

This Moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

Happy Friday!

Second Coming Of The Suit.

It emerged at 4:00pm today.

Fits perfect with a couple of cuffs here and there.

That velcro closure in the back still needs to be fixed.

Maybe it will be one day. Maybe it won't.

"What's that?! Does someone need my help?"

"I hear you special plants!"

(Also known as Pushki.)

Good thing us people and invasive plants have Spidey around.

So the legend of the suit lives.

Not just in our hearts now, but in a smaller,

more feminine form.

I so dearly LOVE all its forms.

So glad we get to enjoy it a bit longer.

And let's face it, Spidey has never been this pretty.

Happy Wednesday!

Summer Solstice Kind Of Day.

Today we spotted the sun! And even felt it a little!

OK. Maybe not so much in the photo below.

That didn't stop us!

We rode and jumped and sped on our bikes and boards.

And proved that all bikes are made for two.

Took a couple of walks and ran into friends on the path.

Everyone gathered up bunches of weeds/wildflowers as souvenirs.

To kids, they are always flowers. Never weeds. Love that.

These kinds of days are good.

A 4-Wheelin Father's Day.

Happy Monday!

We had a busy weekend with a birthday and Father's Day.

Somehow we managed all the fun with no problem.

I still swear that Minna is the best dressed rider on the island.

Too small snow pants and hand-me-down cowboy boots will earn you the title every time.

I love all the gear and gadgets that go into the sport.

The backdrop ain't too shabby either.

Little mud-freckles always end up across noses and foreheads.

Colyer's "ready to ride" smolder.

Hope you all had a muddy-wonderful Father's Day with the dad's in your life too.

friday, saturday, sunday

Count 'Em!

Happy-Happy Birthday, my girl!

(And happy weekend to all of you.)

Thumbs Up.

All good here!

(Minna's new thing is the "thumbs-up".)

She flashed me one to let me know she was moving right along with her sorting project. She had to separate all the different sized paper circles and put them in piles. We decided to cut hearts and flowers last minute and those got a pile too.

We cut a ton of circles to sew together to make streamers for Minna's birthday on Friday. I am trying to make everything, from the decorations to the favors. The theme color is purple, but we added some pink and light blue with newspaper print and magazine pages. Minna leafed through a copy of "Real Simple" and ripped out pages with lots of purple on them. We love how they turned out! You get to be surprised along with the birthday girl who wanted to wake up to everything decorated on Friday morning. I personally wanted to put them up now and enjoy them for a few days. But, she is the birthday girl after all.

Meanwhile...

...outside, the boys rigged up some elaborate pulley system in a tree which looked (as I spied through the window) as if it were intended to drop something heavy on one end of that board and catapult lil' bro on the other end, into the air.

Turns out I was correct. I couldn't believe I heard the words coming out of my mouth suggesting that they try to catapult something lighter, like a rock or a smaller hunk of wood.

Colyer asked if Minna was light enough. I said no, because she is almost 3.

Anyway, it worked. Of course. Are there other pulley-lovin' kids out there? I can't have the only ones.

Well, while they are stringing up pulleys, I will be stringing up paper streamers.

Thumbs-up to that. :)

Lessons.

Have a good start to your week? Us too!

The boys started swim lessons yesterday. They can get around really well in the water already and keep themselves afloat if need be, but I want them to learn the real strokes and get as strong as possible.

Bottom line- they WILL become better swimmers than their mother, (me) who pretty much has only mastered the dog-paddle after 30+ years. Shouldn't be too hard a challenge for them I guess.

Off to a splashy good start. The boys had a great time and the pool is really nice.

I couldn't quite tell, but I think Minna was a little bored. I forgot that watching and waving at her brothers and throwing an occasional thumbs-up to them probably wasn't as thrilling for her as it was for me.

Lesson learned- bring snacks and cooler stuff for lil' sis to do while she waits.

How this guy stayed above water with all that heavy wet hair, I will ever know. He sure did though. Soon they will both be graceful, amazing swimmers just like their Dad.

Welp! We are off to make some party decorations. Busy, busy getting ready for Minna's birthday on Friday! We are having a "Purple Pizza Party". I have had to pull back on the "purple" part. Purple pizza dough may be going a bit far...

Maybe.

this moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

Happy Friday to you!

What To Wear To Greet The Sun.

The sun came out at 8:00 pm today. Needless to say we spent time with it and ended up staying outside pretty late. Minna needed a little something more to wear than her leggings and belly button. So she threw on a shirt and her new mama-made play skirt! My new favorite thing to make and to make her wear. I don't really have to make her wear it though. Because she loves it too!

I took cues from the Oliver and S tutu and gave it an apron back. I was also inspired by Dottie Angel's sweet wrap skirts that she makes out of used and vintage fabrics. I have some cute old sheets that would be perfect for the next one (or ten).

I used a Heather Ross fabric from Spoonflower this time. Aren't those clothespin people the coolest? The fabric and trim choices are endless with something simple like this. I would love to make one with some embroidery. (I also just love how those bug boots go with everything.)

For now, the play skirt wraps all the way around and can tie in the back, front or side, depending on how you want it. The ties are long enough to wrap around a toddler sized waist twice, making it a true wrap skirt. I really like it tied at the back like an apron with the ties in a nice full bow. As Minna grows, it will someday be an actual apron. She could be wearing it in her own kitchen one day, cooking as an adult.

What? It could happen.

Only if it makes it through all the stick wars, mud puddles and horsin' around on the hammock.

And just when you thought this little skirt couldn't be any more versatile, here it is, tied comfortably in the cookie-eating position. There is nothing the play skirt can't do.

I am thinking I might make several more and take them to market this weekend. Every girl needs a hammock-playing, cookie-eating play skirt right?

River Sticks.

The boys were out doing some serious fishing yesterday. So, Minna stayed home with me even though she really wanted to fish too. I figured it was reasonable to let the bigger fisher-people do their thing on their own sometimes since Minna-

A) doesn't have a fishing pole.

B) thinks fishing is more about wading too deep into the water.

C) doesn't understand that it may be difficult for Dad to fly fish with an almost 3 year old wiggling on his hip.

She also has a little bit of a wimpy Mama that gets cold after an hour out there if it is raining.

Poor girl had to settle for a walk to "our" river instead.

We both enjoyed it. Didn't get too cold. Only a little wading, not too much. Just right.

Don't tell Minna, but the boys want to get her a fishing pole for her birthday.

It's coming up soon.

She will be fishing with the big kids in no time.

sunday