what we're doing.

here's what we've been up to:

traveling.

crafting.

finding. (this was lost for TWO YEARS!)

christmas thrifting.

stylish dressing.

 guzzling.

cheering.

special outing.

breaking.

trader joe-ing

a little photoshoot

i took pictures of the girls recently. i realized i hadnt taken REAL pictures of effi since she was SIX MONTHS! time goes so quick (but slow.... really really slow.....) when they are little. i was rocking effi to sleep and thinking "she will be out of her crib in a year, i'm gonna have two toddlers very quickly." with this second kid i am much more aware of little things i know i will miss. i baby her more. and actually she probably is technically a toddler cuz she's "toddling" around, but i'm not really ready to accept that.

all that to say: here are some pictures i took of the girls.

i am lucky that they like having their pictures taken. zula is a ham and effi knows to say "cheese" when i hold up my phone or camera. lol

ps if you would like some holiday pictures taken, let me know!

just in time for christmas: crinkle toy diy

i saw one of these at feather your nest last year and was wanting to make my own version. i saw them again this year and decided it was time.

supplies:

(oh and a sewing machine, not pictured)
i had been (trying, unsuccessfully) to save a chip bag for this project, but the husby kept throwing it out. he's so thoughtful throwing garbage away ha! so i had to improvise with a craisin bag. you just need something that wont fall apart in the wash.
i cut out a flower from some vintage fabric that i liked. you could cut a shape or an animal, whatevs.

sew right sides together leaving a little hole (about 2 in), so you can turn it right side out (the opposite of inside out?)

 iron down your toy, place crinkle plastic inside and sew along edge closing up your hole as you go.

there you have it. i think effi may have enjoyed this better last year.... but i dont think she will complain :)

just in time for christmas: lace card diy

i have been keeping my eyes peeled, literally, for lace cards. i wanted to find them second hand, ya know to save some bills. but i haven't found any.  i had some in my hand at target (they were 3 bucks!) but they were princess and made in china. ew. (if you did not know we avoid buying stuff from out of country.... we do)
so i put them back. and i'm very glad i did because it brought about this creativity. i find i am the most creative out of necessity.

this project was super easy and you dont really need anything too special to pull it off.

supplies:

i used a vintage board book that was ripped and some vintage ribbon but you could use a shoelace or any thick string or yarn.

i cut around the pictures in my book with an exact-o knife. scissors worked fine but this was a little easier.

punch around the perimeter of your pictures.

and lace your little heart out!!

i'm saving this as a christmas present, even though she saw it :) hopefully she'll forget.

here are my other cards:

honesty hour

there are piles on the shelves in my dining room. they have been there for too long, but i am choosing to leave them there. they sit there even though i have company coming over (my mother-in-law, who i know will not hold it against me), even though they are driving me nuts (that's an exaggeration) bugging me. i choose to leave them there so i can do other fun things; like sew and make christmas presents and be thankful.

i have some fun diy's coming up this week :) for you! just for you! i'm already getting started on my christmas presents and i thought you might like a few ideas.

thankfulness tuesday

i thought today i'd share what we have written on our thankfulness frame. as i mentioned before, at dinner we go around and say what we are thankful for and then write it on a card.
so far we have:
family
our puppy
music
a nice warm house
friends
and a scribbled one that zula "wrote."
and aaron is thankful for "a hot wife" haha

what are you thankful for?

the snow is snowing

we had our first snow on saturday. effi was.....um.... a little freaked out. it was really funny. she was very serious about it. you could just tell her little mind was trying to figure out what was going on haha.
unfortunately it didnt stick but it was fun to go out in it for a minute.

it also reminded me of this song and we were singing it all day :)

kids make things so much more exciting and fun. i love watching them experience new things. i can't wait for christmas!

she is saying "snooow!!!"

november is for thankfulness: pinecone edition. also the longest title edition

we have been going on hunting walks (or walking hunts?). so far we have collected acorns (which you should bake at 200 for about an hour because this tiny little month lays larvae in the nut and you dont want THAT on your hands), pinecones, sticks, leaves. oh it's so much fun! especially with a two year old. we brought all our leaves and sticks home and she decorated her bed. it really was lovely, but didnt look too comfortable, to me at least.

this tree down the street from us makes the most perfect pinecones, well i think actually God makes them.

a restock GIVEAWAY

and the winner is...... tracy!!! big surprise :) 

oh yes, for real. i am having a giveaway. this is something i made that i'm not really using anymore, well actually i found a better frame that i'm using :) it's a thankfulness calendar. every evening at dinner we take a turn saying what we are thankful for and i write it down on a card and hang it up. it has been fun/challenging to come up with something new everyday. zula is so cute she almost always says, "i am thankful for mommy." which is really nice to hear, let's be honest :)

this includes
a frame with wires to hang your notes on
23 baby clothes pins
23 red and white paper squares to write on


also you can hang pictures on it when it's not thanksgiving.

to enter please leave a comment and say one thing you are thankful for. i will pick a winner with random.org on monday. and if i don't hold me to it!

walking

sometimes i wish i lived in a city. so i could walk everywhere, so people don't think i'm weird for walking everywhere. i realized the other day that the reasons i was wishing we lived in a city were things that i have here. they just look a little different, for example, i wish i had a grocery store i could walk to, but there is a cute little carniceria 2 blocks from us that is way better than safeway. we call it "the pink store," because.... well.... it's pink.


i think maybe the reason i like living downtown (in the ghetto), is there is so much life. there are tons of little "pink stores" and everyone is always out on their porch (cuz they only have window air conditioners and its still too hot inside), there are a MILLION ice cream trucks (even in the winter), tons and tons of kids, everyone has a garden and chickens and dogs and cats. we also watch out for each other. last summer when there were two shootings on our street afterwards everyone was outside making sure people were ok, shaking our heads together, hoping that things will get better.  i love my neighbors, i love my neighborhood. when we lived in seattle we only knew like 3 people in our whole building (and that's kinda stretching it). this place is just my jam, my flavor, my niche. 

how did i even get on this subject? i didnt really intend to gush all over you :)

here are some pictures of my neighborhood and downtown yakima.

trees on naches, where we go when we are on an "acorn hunt"

old fire station. i secretly wish we could live here. it's such a cool building.

the larson building is so beautiful. check out this site for some fun info on it.

a park we discovered recently.

playing in the grass median.

this is the original train depot of north yakima. sadly it's empty right now.

my favorite sign.,

the pink store.

complete with animal murals.

giant zula!!