and to all a good night

 

Finishing up the making and wrapping.  Gingerbread cookies for Santa.  Opening of handmade jammies.  Nativity story from the Bible.  Hot cocoa.

Merry Christmas!

holiday white

I love white.

I love it in the summer...white linen dresses and skirts, white flowers, puffy white clouds, white beach sand...

white is summer's signature color.

I also love white in the winter.  So festive and cheery.  

Mixed with traditional reds, I think it's perfect for holiday decor.

Here are some of our favorite holiday whites:

I love my nativity.  There's something holy and reverent about a white nativity.  And look how the sun shines in mid-day to light up the manger.  Beautiful!

Simple white table, with a hint of Christmas holly.

 

 I left my faded vintage book-stacks on the mantle, and dressed them up with tiny red packages, another small white nativity scene, and other festive pieces. 

White and red packages ready to send.

 Lots of white envelopes for carrying our holiday cards all over the world.  And lots of little hands to help prepare them for their journey!

 Homemade raw milk yogurt...our new love!  Yummy any time of the day.

 Creamy cotton velvet capes-in-the-making for good little girls on Christmas morning.  I'm lining them with bright quilting cottons, and adding a few playful details inside (think felt paper dolls)...oooh, I can't wait to see their faces...and I can't wait to see how darling they look in fur and white velvet!

 White linen handmade gifts for cousins.

Ruffles and flowers...best in simple white!

MY Christmas gift from my sweetheart...a brand new sewing machine!  Which happened to come with a new serger too...gotta' love December shopping deals!  He forbade me to open the boxes before Christmas, but after some begging and persuading, he understood how much I wanted needed to use them for all of my holiday gift-making.  I LOVE them!  (I'm really still just learning how to use them.  I sewed right through my index finger last weekend...yikes!  But it was really just a needle prick, so I'm okay.  I have the manual next to me at all times...I'm getting the hang of it!)  All of my sewing has been much easier and much more pleasant with my new partners-in-crime.  Hooray for the holidays and technology and generous husbands!

I love the white, wintry view out the windows.  While the fire roars inside, I love to see the chill outside.  It fills me with cozy, nostalgic feelings, and a real love for this special time of year.

Oh, those pine boughs heavy with fresh-fallen snow...so lovely.

Kids' favorite winter activity...sledding with friends.  I join them for a few runs, with cute Sarah on my lap.  I get cold, so the little girls and I hike back to the suburban to watch Polar Express or another holiday movie, with the heat on, sipping hot cocoa and knitting.  I love to watch the big kids fly down the big hill and wipe out.  Good winter entertainment for the mom too!

We took the kids skating at the Olympic Oval, and bought a year pass.  Everyone had a great time (except for poor Sam, who had to sit out because of his back, but enjoyed playing games on my iphone instead).  We'll be going there often this winter...fun!

Other Christmas festivities have included:

• Hosting a 'knitting night' at my home last week...a fun night with some great ladies.
• Attending our Ward Christmas Party.  Food, friends, and fun.  
• Attending a local performance of Handel's Messiah as a family...such a beautiful way to celebrate the true meaning of the season.

And today?  We're recovering from a fun Christmas party last night.  We hosted our monthly youth book group.  We read and discussed Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  What an awesome group of youth we have...I'm so glad my kids have good friends!  We had a great discussion, and then played card games inside, and had snowball fights outside in the dark.  If you haven't read that timeless Christmas classic, do so!  We had everyone bring canned goods to donate to the Utah Food Bank.

I'm thick into the Christmas gift-making...boys' handmade gifts are wrapped and under the tree, and girls' gifts are still in progress.  Cousin gifts are finished and will be sent today, along with our 200 Christmas cards!  (If I don't have your address...email me!)  Off to the post office I go!

On our list for the week before Christmas?

• Two wedding receptions.
• Two kid Christmas parties.
• A strings recital.
• A basketball game.
• Caroling to neighbors.
• Baking goodies to give.
• Conducting the choir and the youth for our Ward Christmas Program.
• Performing at a local care center.
• Seeing the lights at Temple Square.
• And sewing, knitting, making...

Wow...I'd better get busy!  I LOVE Christmas!!!  I love the busy bustle and the quiet moments alike.  I love the feeling of tradition, home, and family.  And the music, and worship, and generosity that abounds.  What a blessed time of year!

sunrise and photos

I watched the sun rise through the office window this morning.  Up came the beautiful, calm light over the mountain sillouette, casting muted hues on all of nature.  It was like seeing the world awaken from it's nightly slumber.  Such a peaceful sight.  It inspired me.  

The house was quiet.  

I was at work editing yesterday's photos of the kids for our holiday greeting cards.  I added a few new photoshop actions from here and here, and had fun fixing up the shots.  I wanted to capture them in our own environment, with a farmy feel.  So, we had to include the animals, right?  It was a bit tricky, but we did it.  And I'm happy with the final result.

I won't spoil the surprise and give you the final edited version...but here we are, trying to get the goats and chickens (and kids) to cooperate:   

Sam, sprinkling chicken feed around us to entice the hens to gather.

Taylor, tickling Sarah to change her grouchy face to a smile.

 Romney, petting the goats and telling them to stay still for a picture.  

Hmmm...don't think they quite understood...

Sam, offering the goats some hay so they'll pose for the picture.

Romney, petting chickens.

Eliza, bored, but obedient.

Hannah, perfect.

Taylor, still working on Sarah's grump face...

Classic.

Just factor in my hoarse voice, demanding everyone (human and otherwise) to stay uniformly still with perfect smiles and posture.   I know, pushy, pushy.

The results?  Not bad, eh?

weekend successes

The boys were stellar at their Speech and Debate Tournament on Saturday.  I watched them each compete and they really stepped up to the plate...they made their mama proud!

What a great thing to have youth that choose to push themselves and do hard things.  To be a part of this competition was definitely out of their comfort zones.  (in fact, Taylor was thinking about backing out the day before the tournament, until Mom came up with the plan to have friends and pizza for a debate practice/party...that won him over...whew!)  

They both competed in impromptu and spar.  For impromptu, they were given a total of seven minutes to prepare and give a speech on an assigned topic.  In spar, they are assigned a topic, and had to take the affirmative or negative stance on it, debating against an opponent with the opposite stance.  They only had one minute prep time!  After three rounds of each event, they were exhausted, but so excited from having really done their best.

And their best was awesome!!!

Taylor placed sixth in spar, and we think Romney should have placed as well.  They were fantastic.  Yesterday, Romney pulled out a stack of history books and told me he's going to read them all before the February tournament, so he can be more prepared.  He's determined to do even better next time!  I love when my kids get inspired to learn on their own.  That's what education is all about...making it their own.

Speaking of education, I did an online seminar last week with this amazing online private high school.  Wow!  Their students presented speeches and they were incredibly polished and so well-read.  Romney is thinking about doing their program as he works toward getting accepted into BYU.

Christmas is coming...the weekend's preparations included:

a stop at Material Girls for Christmas dress fabric and doll-making supplies,
a practice photo shoot in the foggy backyard,
photocopying and sorting choir music for the annual Christmas program,
wearing out my voice and my chorister-arm teaching festive music to our ward choir and the young women,
and listening to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night by the fire, knitting project in hand, with my hubby.  Inspiration!!

I LOOOOOVE this season!  (Just wish time would slow down a bit!)

It's Friday

Slept in a little today.

Still in my pj's.

Kids practiced instruments while I made raw milk hot chocolate and sprouted grain toast.

Sang Away in a Manger and had family devotional: Joshua of the Old Testament and scripture mastery.

Reviewed our song, The Atoms Family.

Learned about radioactivity of atoms.

Kids worked on math and wrote in journals.

A friend stopped by to bring us BYU Basketball tickets for tomorrow's game...go Cougs!! 

Another friend stopped by to check on Sam's health and measure an outside door that needs replacing.

Layed out clothes for family pictures (I'm shooting them in the backyard--kids only this year).

Now, I'll make lunch for the kiddos (guacamole with natural tortilla chips and a strawberry-kale smoothie).

Girls and Sam will go on errands with Mom.

Boys will stay home and finish reading their book of the week, Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and write an essay about it.

A couple of friends will come at 2:30 to practice and prepare for the big Speech and Debate competition at the U tomorrow.

I'll bring home snacks and pizza for the debaters.

Boys and Mom will watch The Great Debaters to get pumped up for tomorrow, while the girls watch The Grinch down in the basement.

Dad and Mom will meet for Sushi and a December planning date.

I love Fridays!

Happy weekend to you all!

house tour: part II

Welcome to my new kitchen!

New french Tolix chairs and stools from Sundance Catalog and Design Within Reach.

New light fixtures from Restoration Hardware, one bought at a local Downeast Home outlet at a discounted price...score!

LOVE!

I LOVE the painted table.  The new antique distressed white brightened up the eating area for a nice clean feel.

I took off the old curtains, and will eventually sew some new ones, but I like the bare windows for winter, letting in lots of light.

I had painted the accent cabinets black when we moved in, but I wanted to brighten everything up, so I painted over the black for all white cabinets. 

New polished nickel hardware was bought on ebay for $1 each.  I drilled in the drawer pulls extra tight, as many of our drawer fronts were loose or falling off altogether.  Much more sturdy for the many little hands that pull and hang on them.

I organized my herbs and spices, using IKEA shelving and containers.  I previously had them stuffed into a small cabinet, and every time I reached for a jar, everything fell out!  So, now I have the ones I use most filled and in view.  Perfecto!

I removed the black drawers and replaced them with our tea cup collection.  They were just too pretty to hide any longer.  Tea anyone?

That's all for today...more of the home tour to come?

Well, there is more in the works, but alas...December is upon us, 

so I must turn my creative energy toward gift-making!

come on in: house tour, part I

Whew!  I've been busy in this house of ours.

Over the past few months, I've redesigned most of the main floor.  Painted, added furniture, shelving, hardware, and light fixtures, in hopes of making it more beautiful and functional.

We don't have a lot of space on this main level, and future plans include building onto the back of the house.  But for now, we needed to re-arrange some things to make our space work for our big family.

So, without further adeiu, here's a look around...

This is the entryway.

Hooks for hanging bags and hats (from World Market),

a place for shoes,

and a basket full of winter wool hats, snow gloves, and umbrellas.

The mirror used to hang over the mantle...years old, it's original color was gold, then it was painted black, and now antique white.  If you don't love it, change it until you do!

Looking straight in from the front door.

Freshly painted swedish blue walls (color: In Your Eyes by Benjamin Moore, in their fabulous hard-drying acrylic Regal paint).

New light fixtures at the top of the stairs from Sundance Catalogue Outlet in Salt Lake City, $20 each...a steal!

The light fixture on the left came from Taylor's room in the basement.  Thanks, Tay! 

George Washington vintage framed print and fold-down table with casters are from the Sandy Antique Mall...love them!

Looking left from the entry into the family room.

This is where we spend most of our time, and since it's visible from the front door, I like it to be clean.  All the time...which is a stretch, with seven of us home during the day, and with it being the space we use for our morning studies.  

Until this year, we had school time downstairs in the basement.  See our old set-up here.  It worked great, until we ran out of room!  We didn't have enough seating, and as the kids grew, they wanted to sprawl out more.  Last semester, we gradually began dragging books and papers upstairs.  Piles were forming everywhere.  And it started to drive me crazy.  When things don't have a permanent spot, cleaning up can be difficult...especially when the kids are doing the bulk of the cleaning.  They just didn't know where to put things, so everything just ended up all over the place.  It was a mess.

I knew something had to be done, so I worked and worked the entire month of August, and into September, and finished just before we started the school year, the week of Labor Day.  Well, I say "finished," but I still need to paint baseboards and crown moulding...but the bulk of it was finished for an organized start to a new school year. And we all LOVE our new space.

I love the new white IKEA furniture (purchased and assembled by yours truly).  The coffee table is perfect for this space.  The glass tabletop is easily wiped clean by the child in charge of cleaning this room after school time.  Dry erase markers on glass surfaces make for fun handwriting and math practice! 

Each child has a basket full of his daily schoolwork, which is stored under the coffee and sofa table (behind sofa).  It keeps things tidy.

The side table houses supplies like tape dispensers, staplers, hole punches, rubber stamps, paper, notecards, blank books, etc.  I love having everything we need right at hand, but hidden away out of sight.  Our BOSE iPhone dock also lives inside this table.  Hooray for the iPhone Pandora app for live streamed Christmas music all day long!
On top of the table, an antique drawer holds a few favorite books, writing pencils, colored pencils, pens, and scissors.

I LOVE my new wall-to-wall shelving!  I bought and assembled Billy bookcases from IKEA, and then had a guy come help me frame it in with crown moulding, for a more "built-in" look.  I think they turned out great.  We have the shelves divided and organized according to subject and type of book.  We have shelves for American history, world history, math, science, philosophy, Shakespeare, classics, and religious literature.

The top shelves are lined with more advance reading, the middle shelves have books for youth readers, and the lower shelves are full of picture books, board books, activity books, and buckets of small toys for the little ones.   

On the other side of the mantle is a small "entertainment unit" with three drawers for our alphebetized DVD collection.  The spaces above the drawers house the blue-ray and sattelite boxes, and a basket of CD's.  It felt so good to finally go through all of the loose DVD's and CD's in the house, and get them all consolidated and organized into one space!

The antique window serves as a beautiful frame for my wood-shaving wreath, but also doubles as a whiteboard.  I had to have a whiteboard for school, so why not make it beautiful?  The kids love to teach and write on it as well. 

On top of the unit I store extra blankets and pillows in old wicker suitcases, along with a big basket full of yarn and knitting projects.

I resisted hanging the TV over the mantle for some time, but finally went for it, to free up some space in the room.  And it did give us more space.  I didn't want the TV to be the main focal point of the room, but I've gotten quite used to it up there.  I still may cover the TV with a white shutter-door cabinet...maybe...

Another spot for hanging coats and bags.  And more yarn, of course.

This is our music room.  I bought this antique turn-of-the-century piano from the boys' physics teacher a couple of years ago.  It belonged to his grandmother.  I love the carvings on the front, and the real ivory keys.  It has a beautiful, deep sound, and I finally have a piano tuner coming to help restore the inside and the keys, to make it play and sound a bit better. 

We have another upright piano in the office, where our piano teacher comes on Wednesdays for 2 hours of lessons (bless her!), behind closed french doors for sound-proofing.  We have loved having two pianos for early  morning practicing as well...it mitigates some of the chaos of four pianists vying for a time slot at the piano.

So, there you have it!  Our main living space.  I feel like I've finally gotten a good feel for my design style.  I love elements of Swedish cottage, rustic farmhouse, and french country styles.  And I love mixing different textures and aesthetics.  I like using both modern and vintage pieces, and tying them together through color, shape, and texture to give a room a certain feel.  

I tried to create a happy feeling of welcome in the entryway.  I want all who enter to feel the joy of home and family that we feel here.  I want them to feel a desire to linger.

I wanted the family room to feel peaceful and comfortable.  Yet, I wanted a certain air of formality and refinement for inspired learning.  I think the warm, neutral colors and soft, natural textures are soothing, while the smooth glass and white wood furniture and accents, purposefully placed, give it a bit of a formal feel.  I also tried to create a feeling of nostalgia or sentimentality for the past, lending a desire to research and discover the lessons of history, and respect those who have gone before us.  I used photographs of ancestors and faded old vintage Relief Society magazines and books to give the room a sentimental, academic feel.  I think that overall, I got the feel I wanted, and it's thrilling! 

And I LOVE to use books as part of my decor.  I'm with Anna Quindlen when she said, "I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves."  Books are just a part of who we are as a family.  Some of our best memories have been made around a good book, reading, studying, and discussing together.  I want my children to grow up surrounded with books.  So, this main family room has hundreds of books--on display and shelved--ready for picking up and diving into.  Music is important to us as well, and I love having a big, beautiful piano displayed in the main living area, along with cases and cases of stringed instruments. 

I feel so blessed to have a supportive, wonderful husband, who has given me the great opportunity of having a home and being present in it to raise and nurture my children.  I love creating my own little world here within these walls.  The way I decorate my home is a reflection of who I am, and a way for me to express my creativity.  It also speaks to my children...about who I want them to become.  I hope they can feel what I feel here.