drawing on tables

We drew on our dining table with crayons today. Some friends helped, too. It was fun! :D

(I'm pretty sure I could get it off with soap and water if I wanted, but we are getting
a new table next week, so I figured, why not. Haha, I'm not completely crazy.)

Sorry for the post overload today.

PS This etsy shop... oh!

Blind.

Fe has been having nightmares, so I let her paint a picture of our family onto the window blind
right above/behind her bed.  Fe, Sisi, mom, and then dad (the sunlike one, without a body).

May there be happy dreams from now on, sweet little one (I sometimes forget she is only 4).

Sweater into Hat and Mittens

One of my cashmere sweaters (actually my one cashmere sweater...) was accidentally
felted when it got washed and dried alongside our towels... GASP! (The Mr did it and
he is adequately sorry.)

Anyway, I didn't want to throw it away, so I decided to make a hat and mittens out of it
for Sisi. The crafty people tell me that's easy. And the mittens were easy, I just traced her
hand directly onto the sleeve of the sweater (hey, who has time for templates!), cut it out,
sewed, by hand, because I still haven't figured out sewing machines. They intimidate me.
The thumb-part turned out  a bit funky, but it actually  makes it easier for the little one to put
her thumb in. Ha! The hat is... well, it is original for sure. Maybe I should use a pattern next time.
(I simply don't have the patience to follow instructions. If you do, then click here for a tutorial.)
I was also too lazy to finish it off properly, I hear one should use binding or something. Oh well.

Still, having created something makes me happy, even when it's imperfect. The mittens
we'll definitely use.

hello yellow

Somebody has been a bit independent and moody lately. I sometimes feel like I have a teenager in the
home. They don't start puberty at 4, do they?

white

Snow muffles all sounds a white quiet.

You know I used to think that Finns, like their long winters, are just really boring in their stoic reserve,
but I'm beginning to wonder if, like their long winters, they have simply mastered the art of calm.

(Not all Finns, but certainly quite a few.)

Award Season

I received a blogging award from 50villapeikkoa, and I wanted to say thank you! It's a real honor
coming from her, because she is like everything I am not: an efficient and awesome knitter! I
tried knitting once, and well, let's just say, I didn't get very far. But I love looking at the knitting
creations of other people, and really enjoy the pictures on her blog. So thank you! :)

The rules for the Versatile Blog Awards are:

• Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.
• Inform the bloggers of their nomination.
• Share 7 random things about yourself.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you.
• Add the Versatile Blog Award picture on your blog post.

I know not everybody likes blogging awards, but I do like them, because they are what blogging
is all about: sharing! A lot of the blogs below I read and stalk and rarely to never comment on, so
here I'm sharing them with the world:


I'd like to pass on the award to these blogs, in alphabetical order:

- Fridulina
Thoughtful words and lovely craft projects. And a very special woman in real life. <3

- Domestic reflections
I like her honesty.

- El hada de papel

craft projects with kids.

- Kaffiknopf

family life in Germany (in German)


- lista asioista
artsy and cool (in Finnish)

- Manteli

Because she captures the everyday so beautifully.

- Moka

Because her children always make the coolest things.

- Oon
Because she has a way with color and patterns, and I think she should start selling kids clothes!

- Paju

Because her pictures are always full of patterns and texture.

- Remind Me Sara
Because she is my real-life friend and I love her so. :)

- Ringo

Inspiration for kids art


- Rockstar Diaries
She makes life seem so pretty and easy

- tila

Because she is living proof that there is elegance in a simple life.

- Trula

Because she makes me want to sew, badly!

- Zilverblauw

Color therapy.

In case the blog owners see this: There is no pressure to show this award on your blog, or to pass it on, if you don't want to. 
I just want to show my appreciation. :)




Oh, and then 7 random things about me:

• 1. In my ideal world, I'd have a house full of children, right by the sea, and it would be barefoot-running and pebble skimming, and pancake making, and sunshine and bliss all the time!
• 2. In real life, I barely manage to take out the trash, so maybe not.
• 3. Though I'm thinking, maybe another girl would be nice, someday; and a little boy. And twins on top of that.
• 4. As of yesterday, my husband is back in school and I'm happy and excited for him and for us, but also seething with jealousy. I'm so jealous that I'm seriously considering signing up for a pole dancing/cabaret strip class. Just so I have something exciting and new and slightly shocking in my life. Desperate Housewife much? (Edit: No worries, it's just a class with a silly name at my gym. No poles, and certainly no stripping. Too bad. :D)
• 5. So, I'm thinking it's time for me to go back to school, too. At least part-time. Maybe in fall. To study human rights law, like I always wanted. Or maybe Hebrew, that would be cool, or creative writing, or egyptology, or underwater basket weaving! You know. Something! Anything!
• 6. Hmm.. Can't I have a house full of children, and be a novelist, and have a PhD, and save all the women and children on earth, and live by the sea, all five? 
• 7. I like to day-dream. :)

Thank you, 50villapeikko, for the award! And sorry that it took me a month to finally blog about it!


 :)

A 4-Year Old's Diary

1. FE

2. IS HP AJN BAL                                                              =                                                     I have a ball.

3. MAMA MACHT FOTOS                                              =                                      Mom's taking pictures.

4. IS HP ANE SWESTA SISI                                              =                                            I have a sister Sisi.

5. MAMA KOCHT AJAN                                                 =                                        Mom's cooking eggs.

6. WI HPEN KELOKS                                                     =                                            We have Kellogg's.

7. IS GENE SPILE SSEULE ABA  IS PIN 4                    =                              I like to play school but I'm 4.

8. ACHSEN TPN HPEN WIA                                      =                     Eighteen staircases (steps) we have.

9. IS KUKE KT MEJI POPINS                                     =                     Right now I'm watching Mary Poppins. 

We were cleaning out some of my old things and found an unused notebook. Fe exclaimed excitedly:
This will be my journal! She has been keeping the journal now for a week. She shares it with me,
thankfully... The things she writes... getting to see inside her little head... the simple things she values...
it is beyond fascinating.

All her spelling cuteness doesn't translate, unfortunately.

I mean, Meji (pronounced Meyi) Popins? How adorable is that. The original should have been called that.

Kairos

To those who've asked: 


No, we don't have cornstarch fights everyday.
Yes, our home is a mess most of the time.
Yes, I do get cranky (especially in the afternoon.)
No, I don't enjoy every single minute of mothering.


But I do make a point of  
carpeing my kairoses. (<-- Read this.)


(Thanks Christina for the link!)

:)

Portrait

I had to pose for artiste Fe, and this is what she drew:

Mother. Small-headed. Short-legged. Club-footed. Long-armed. Claw-handed. Big-bellied. Navelled.
Smiling.

:)

Happy 2012, friends! May we all walk on big feet, and hug with big, wide arms.