...chocolate air...

swapped.

Kristin just posted about the things we sent to them in the Miniswap a few months back, and it made me realize that I had never shared it myself.

I had so much fun with this swap. Kristin had mentioned that her Margaret likes playing school, and since that was one of my favorite things as a kid (and still kind of is... homeschooling is so fun!), I decided to make up a playing-school kit. We put it together almost entirely from things we had around the house.

This box had a lot of odds and ends for the teacher... office supplies, stickers, old rubber stamps, a jumprope for recess time, a school bell, etc.

You can't have a school with no chalkboard, so this slate was put in, along with a little bundle of chalk and a pointer that Zach made from a wooden dowel and a couple of spools. A few books for reading/writing.

I made this smock from a felted wool sweater, and am truthfully unsure of how it was meant to be used. School uniform? Teacher's apron? Art smock? Lunchtime apron? I guess it's multi-purpose.

Speaking of lunchtime... my favorite bit. A packed lunch. I actually squealed when I realized I could make this as part of the kit. The lunchbox itself is a tin with sticker labels on either side, which have pictures of Margaret apple-picking that I swiped from her mother's blog. The juice box was made from a wooden block, a dowel, and a bit of paint, and then I made a label for that on the computer, too. The apple was a thrift store find, and the cookies and sandwich were whipped up from more wool sweaters.

I am really happy with how the lunch turned out. I need to make some of these for myself for Zachary.

Kristin and Margaret were such great (and patient!) partners, and we loved putting this together for them. Thanks girls!

okay, so it's been a while...

Some of you have been quite patient. Others of you have been less-than-subtle in your promptings for me to update the blog. (Kirsten, Jennifer, Karen, Renae... you know who you are. No need to name names.)

I thought I'd take a leaf out of Amanda's book and share ten things that are making me happy lately, in no particular order:

1. The arrival of camping season (and the complete happiness of a little nature-loving boy)

2. Good music running through my head all day

Night Mantra

3. Eating right, walking with a good friend, and being already four pounds closer to my pre-baby weight. (Yes, by "baby"... I am referring to my almost-seven-year-old. Give me a break. The time has come.)

4. This commercial about the power of the wind. Hilarious.

5. This little love, my friend Heidi's newest little one

6. Adorable children's books

7. Digging through and organizing my craft area (nearly done!)

8. The chance to study nature, literally in our own backyard

9. This fabulous blog, which completely inspires me to document the lives of family and friends with warmth and personality. (Look through the archives, seriously. Amazing stuff.)

10. Listening to quality audiobooks with my son (he's loving the Little House series, yea!!), and knowing that I can go to Kiddie Records Weekly and we'll be knee-deep in great recordings from the 40s and 50s. A couple of clicks and you're wading in nostalgia.

a short new haircut...

... owing to the incessant wailing coming from the boy every morning as I try to (gently) comb out the massive snarls he manages to get in his hair through the night, as he rocks himself to sleep rather violently, as he has every night since he was about ten months old. I decided to give up the fight, at least as long as the hair takes to grow back.

fools.

We attended a little friend's April Fools' birthday party yesterday, where much fun was had by all, mostly because of the silly string and whoopi cushions...

There was also a bit of a cupcake fest, wherein the kids helped themselves and went a little wild. Susan, methinks there be a bit too much sugar in your cupcakes. Did you SEE the kids' teeth afterwards?!

Happy birthday, Miss Claire!

wild beasties.

We've had a very nice and relaxing week, and weather so beautiful that we've headed to the zoo twice in the last five days. Always a good time. There are so many gorgeous and majestic creatures in the animal world... and then, there are definitely some oddballs.  Here are a few of the ones we like to visit...

And then there were these wild things, which were neither properly labeled nor were they caged. I believe they are called BOY, and they remain one of those mysteries of the animal kingdom...

big stuff.

Yes, he's very proud.

whales, iguanas, and dinos...

Oh, my!

When I think of the contents of a child's Easter basket, I usually think of the year that I was seven, and we got stuffed bunnies that looked real (well, we thought so, anyway), and the usual Mommy-made chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. Simple. Sweet. Eastery. I try to maintain that same feeling when we do our bunnying, and yet somehow, the child ended up with a dino puzzle, a stretchy rubber iguana, and a whale. I drew the line at Transformers though... they have no place in a bunny basket.

This whale was my creation. He was done in just a few hours, and I think he's adorable. (Thanks a million for the sewing machine help, Susan! But I still wimped out and hand-stitched the darn thing.) This is another felted sweater project. He was pretty simple, the same on both sides, about a foot long. I used the cuffs of the sweater to create the grooves on the underside of the jaw. One of his fins is a pocket, specially made to hold a little boy's tooth so it won't be lost before the tooth fairy can get to it. Soon, people. My boy has his first-ever wobbly tooth. And he couldn't be prouder.

His camera smile, by the way, is improving quite a bit. I'll be sad to see those baby teeth go...

avoidance tactics.

Our little friend William visited us today. Is he not the sweetest? He and Zach get along well, and it was interesting to hear Zach "big brother-ing" him today... playing along with his games and gently correcting him when he was doing something he shouldn't.

I really have nothing to report today. I'm afraid that I'm mostly only blogging to put off other things, like cooking dinner. But I think I've dragged it out as much as I can. I'll try to be back tomorrow with something of interest...

swap received.

Okay, yes, I've been completely negligent. We actually received this gorgeous swap box over a week ago, while we were still flu-ish, but after spending the whole of last week just trying to get everything caught up, I am FINALLY blogging about it.

We gave our swap partners an odd list of things Zach was interested in, and they pulled it all together to create a nautical-themed box, that somehow incorporated pretty much all of his interests. Amazing. I'll start with my personal favorite, this little Sock and Glove rabbit. I've had this book for over a year, and still haven't created anything from it. (I think that's due to my sewing machine fear...) But Kristin had the book for what? two days?! and had this guy whipped up and in the mail. I mean, really.

Zach named him "Ahoy". I love his wee belly button, and that adorable scarf that matches a bag she stitched up for some seashells they sent.

And then there's this pirate mask... seriously, have you ever seen a cleverer little thing? Genius.

One of the things that amazed me about this package was how really talented Miss Margaret is!! The child is not yet five (!) but she went all out creating several things for the box, including this ocean puzzle she drew.

And all the rest of the loot. We have here a whale shirt that Zach wears every chance he gets, a pirate yoyo he's a bit obsessed with, a CD of whale songs (obviously a winner around here), and a few other cards/collages by the lovely Margaret, and the shells with their bag.

Kristin... you seriously rock. What an amazing package you two created for my boy. It made a really lousy week oh-so-much better. Thank you, thank you!! (And your box is soon on its way, I swear!)

news.

I wasn't sure if I was going to blog about this or not, but it turns out that I am. Those of you who know me, or have been visiting my blog for a while, know that we have been working on the adoption process for a couple of years now. Well, right at the beginning of the year we were matched with a baby, due in early April. There is also a five-year-old sister currently in foster care that we have been hoping to adopt as well.

But... it's been a situation filled with confusion and conflicting reports coming to us second-hand. And this weekend we got the news that the baby is not going to be put up for adoption after all, and as the mother is still trying to get custody of the little girl as well, we're stepping back completely. These are apparently not the children who are meant for our family. And it is, well, heartbreaking.

These last six years of waiting for another child have always been accompanied by a dull ache, fairly constant but usually easy to ignore. Because really, our life is quite a happy one. But this new pain has been different, sharper and hitting me in waves of emotion that have made me quite teary.

And yet, miraculously, it is already fading away.

Because we know without a doubt that God has a plan for us, that He knows and loves us, and truly does work all of these experiences together for our good. And I can be sure that there are other happy things in store for us, as there always are.