A few of my favorite things… 

I needed a breather after that horrendous Kate Spade colored-legs torture. Ugh. The bags, maybe. The shoes? Definately. The colors? Over my dead body.

This is the Frog Prince Under glass. I have made him a nice little nest from tree branches, and he can see out, but the little stinker is not going run rampant in my house. NO kissing of frogs for my little girl to find a prince. Nope. That sucker is mine.

 As you can see, I have a thing for cloche, or bell, jars. Love, love, love them. The only green one I have is over the cast iron toadie. Oh, I know. Toads and frogs are devastatingly different. All you amphibiaovers just keep it to yourselves.

I believe it was Edith Wharton who said a well designed room should always have somethign whimsical for the eye to alight upon. I like that.

And again with the cloche jar. What can I say? This one is on cake stand, also something I positively love, and contains a woodland sprite I caught in south-eastern Germany in 1998. She is lovely, isn’t she?

Love the green rannuculas bursting roots from their gavanized little tin- nevermind that they came from Target. The picture is of a great-grandmother holding a parosel in the sun. Beanie strives to be like her.

So there’s a little tiny glimpse into what I think is pretty. These are my favorite parts of the inside. At least while the kid’s are awake. Once they’re asleep, my favorite part’s are their little faces. But until then… 

Finished. 4:12 p.m.

Very nicely done, Ms. Rowling. No spoilers here, since I don’t split my screen, but if you want to talk about it the comments, I’m all game. Let’s just say it was a satisfying read and a good culmination of 10 years of waiting. I am not let down.

Now, I just can’t wait until my kids are old enough to thoroughly enjoy them.

Taking the day off to read Harry Potter. Be back soon!

A fenced yard is one of the tender mercies for mothers of young children. I know this is true.

How did I do it for almost five years at the Old Place? Oh, I have no idea. But now, now that we live in Heaven, and I’m beginning to feel like it may stick, like maybe no one is going to show up and tell us it’s all a joke and we have to move, I think I could give up disposable diapers, or running water,  before I could go without a fenced yard. Well, ok, maybe not, but you get the idea.

Right now, I’m watching Beanie dance around on the patio, holding a large green Japanese parosel and twirling in the sunbeams- and I can see he forgot to put his undies on again. Jeffrey is zooming back and forth across the yard on his bike, and Abby is standing at the wall-length picture window in my sunlit studio banging on the glass and laughing at her brothers.

Because of our fenced backyard, the boys, and soon enough Abby too, have freedom they never knew and the Old Place. They can safely come and go as they please; creating forts and secret areas and hidden worlds away from mom’s eyes, but near enought that I know exactly where they are- a balm for them and for me.

Everyone needs a fenced backyard.

Just look at them! They’re soooo delicious. I am in LOVE with this wonderful woman’s creativity. She has taken something I positively adore, vintage linens, and made them into something even more adorable. Don’t you just want those shoes for your baby?? I may give it a try- I have an old pillow case that just tore today, and I was wondering what to do with it- and now I may try and make Abby some shoesies.

The store is called tiny happy on Etsy, and she is based out of New Zealand. All the shoes are gone- I already checked! But check back in, and if I don’t beat you to it, maybe you can score some shoes too! She also makes other lovely things.

No, not me! My very good friend and blogger Mo Mommy is in the hospital as we speak (or type- what’s the etiquette these days?) working on getting out her own little Maybe.

She was supposed to be induced tomorrow morning, but Baby had other plans- we have one of her boys, Thing 1, here tonight for a camp-out- which means many boys piled in a bed and not a lot of sleeping.

Send some prayers and goodness vibes her way… she’s in for a long night- but with a bundle of joy at the end. Yay for babies!

Update: Baby is born- all are well and healthy. I’ll leave the details to Mo Mommy to share when she gets home. Yay for healthy, born babies!