this moment

I'm joining Soule Mama in this Friday ritual.  In her words: "A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Wishing you a weekend full of child-like exuberance!

don't wake a sleeping jedi

Simply lay his tunic on top of him to see if the fit will be right.

And oh so gently see if the belt you are fanagaling to design is going to work.

As predicted I am doing a bit of late night sewing here! 

But the house is quiet and some hot tea and those yummy chocolate cookies we baked yesterday are keeping me going!

So excited for the Halloween fun coming up this weekend!

What special things you are doing this weekend to celebrate?

so a jedi, a dinosaur and hollie hobby walk into a bar

That is if they have something to wear. 

And we are oh so close to being done on this year's Halloween costumes!

Dinosaur.  Done.

Jedi.  Almost done.  (If you don't count finishing the pants and putting important decorative elements on the tunic as very time consuming.)

Hollie Hobby.  In the wash as I type.  (So okay, this wasn't sewn by me, or by my mother who was instrumental in making the dinosaur and Jedi cape.  I imagine it was sewn by someone who worked at the Hollie Hobby doll factory sometime in the early '70s.  But I so just put it into the washing machine!)

This has been a pretty fun year getting ready.

There have been lots of hands to help.

And Munchkin joined the team too.

I am not sure which is better:  having time to enjoy sewing or knowing that I am teaching him to sew too.

Either way.  Divine.

in my kitchen

Okay, if you know me, I imagine you are already chuckling that I could even title a blog post "in my kitchen."

If you are just getting to know me, you should know that the title of this post should more accurately be "in my honey's kitchen."

I am so very lucky that my husband does all of the cooking around here.  And by all, I mean A-L-L of the cooking.

My idea of planning for dinner is calling my husband up and asking "what's for dinner?"

Okay, okay I don't want to sell myself quite so short.  I do prepare meals for the kids, and truth be told, I help best I can to get things started for dinner. 

I can boil a mean pot of water for spaghetti. 

But my husband is just so good at cooking.  No matter what meal I have made, he can zip into the kitchen and within minutes make it even better.

He has a gift.

And I am lucky recipient of that gift -- day after day!

But back to my post title...in my kitchen there is some baking.  Specifically cookie baking.


Ever since getting the Martha Stewart's COOKIES recipe book last fall, I have been in love with making cookies.  And every cookie we have tried from this book has been fabulous.  And by fabulous I mean "could eat the entire cooling rack of cookies" fabulous. 

Heaven help me if the recipe yields five dozen.

I think one reason I love making these cookies is that I can.

And I can with my kids.

Which makes the cookies oh so much more sweet.

looking up

For me fall usually means the typical reds, yellows, oranges ablaze.

But for some reason this fall has felt so very blue.

It may be because I have spent so much time looking up.  I am simply mesmerized by the blue depth that seems to have enveloped my days this month.

Each walk outside, each play time in the backyard, each family day out in the world, I have been surrounded by this amazing miraculous color.

And I have enjoyed every minute of this blue.

The air seems fuller, the wind seems kinder, the world seems wider with possibility.

The leaves, they are lovely too (but I contend nowhere as lovely as last year).  So this year I am contentedly focusing on the blue blue sky and the color it gifts to this beautiful season of transition.

In the world.

And in me.

* And just in case you were wondering...absolutely no adjustments in color to these photos.  This is the real deal my friends!  (See why I am so amazed!)

at my sewing machine

See this pile of fabric here. 

This fabric, my friends, is well on its way to being a red dinosaur and a complete Jedi outfit.

This has been a weekend full of cutting and pinning and sewing. 

And I have been lucky to have lots of helping hands.

When those hands are a bit smaller than mine, and belong to a very sweet creative boy that is my son, well that is a very special way of being together.  (Oh, just melts the heart of this creative mama when he asks to help!)

And when those hands are one generation older and much more capable than mine, well that is simply amazing!

Yep -- red dinosaur got a great start thanks to Nonnie!  Who is truly the most talented seamstress ever, but claims never to have made a dinosaur, so really we are just expanding her repertoire.

And you've never seen a kid sooooo excited to try on a Halloween costume.  So excited in fact that he is jumping up and down and up and down and up and down and his poor mother can't get a single in-focus picture of his beaming face. 

But boy he is super cute in that red costume -- and he is quite desperate to wear it.

Already he has tearfully begged to wear it to play outside.  And normally, this laid back mama would go with it.  However, the costume isn't even done yet and the dinosaur tail pretty much drags along the ground.  So in the interest of a somewhat clean and completed dinosaur on Halloween -- no go. 

Let's see how my conviction holds out as the week goes and the excitment builds!  What a lesson in patience.  (I'm not sure more for whom, him or me!)

So all in all, a wonderfully creative weekend here.

I hope you too got to spend time doing something you enjoy!

this moment

I'm joining Soule Mama in this Friday ritual.  In her words:  "A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Hope your week has been filled with "simple, special, extraordinary moments."

All the best,
Claudine

so I know now

If you were a reader of my first blog, you know that I had been spending quite a bit of time wondering.

Wondering what this crazy, wild life of mine is all about.

And realizing that as I enjoy each passing year (read: nearing middle age -- gasp!)  that I want to be (and become, thus the name of this blog) what I am intended to.

So I've done blogging, journaling, thinking.

I've stopped short of meditating.  Really, with three kids, I don't have time for that.

And over this time I've noticed some patterns, some wonderful movement in my creative life.

And that creative life took a big leap in the last week.

I've committed to writing every day.

Write.  Something.

Every. Yep, each one.

Day. New and glorious, thank you very much.

So I imagine you will hear a bit about that here.  Hope you don't mind.

And I would love to know about a time when you had to take a leap and put yourself out to the world.

san fransisco

Lately I've been thinking, and writing, a bit about how we honor our ancestors.  Not necessarily the folks who came centuries ago, but those who we've known in our own lifetime.  Those special people who are one or two or, if we are lucky, three generations older.

It seems that in the busy of our every day we can so easily forget that the men and women who came a few generations before us had the busy of their every days.

So how can we remember them?  Honor them?

I've been thinking about that.

Even though all of my grandparents and my husband's grandparents had passed before our first child was born, I want to make real for them the love that we felt for and from them earlier in our lives.

So at lunch, when I poured a cup of hot tea for Little Brother into a mug featuring a sketch of the Golden Gate Bridge I talked about my paternal Grandma.  She loved San Fransisco.

And Little Brother kept asking questions, and we talked about the bridge, and that Grandma had been there, and that boats go underneath.


We listened to "I Left My Heart in San Fransisco" after lunch.  One of her favorite songs.

I showed him the picture of her in the upstairs hallway.

And I felt it.  The honoring.

projects

There are about 15 projects in my to-do basket (and by basket I mean huge pile.)

Some of the sewing projects are must-dos like elastic to be stitched into school pants, mending coat lining and whipping up some gloves as winter approaches.  But the most important must-dos are a couple Halloween costumes.

Anyone seen an orange dinosaur costume around? Yes, it is a pretty specific request.  That is one I will need to make to order!

Truth be told I LOVE making Halloween costumes for my kids.  It gives them a chance to think creatively, and think BIG, and dream about exactly what and who they want to be -- even if just for a few hours.

And how great is it that I (and often Daddy) get to help make that dream come true.  So it is a very special mama-made (and Daddy-made) time around Halloween.

We've had some pretty unique costumes over the past several years.

Super-Why.  Before there was a Super-Why costume on the market.  Some magic with fleece and felt and some late-night hand stitching!

The solar system.  Yes, the entire solar system.  Paper-mache planets, painted and mod-podged and late-night hand stitched to navy blue long johns.

And last year, the Space Shuttle.  Atlantis to be specific.  Daddy did the majority of the crafting.  I took care of the late night stitching of flame pants. 

See the pattern here?  I expect some late nights during the next couple weeks. 

So anticipation is building.  Lots of discussion of details, lists and plans for a trip to the fabric store.  I'll keep you updated on how all of this dreaming and realization of dreams is coming!

Just bring along a cup of coffee for me, okay?

Claudine's

I've always loved my name, Claudine.

And because it is not very common at all I've always been tickled to come upon it out there in the big wide world.

I guess throughout my life I've mostly experienced my name in books and songs -- okay song (think "Claudine's Back in Jail Again").  And there even was a very short-lived TV sitcom with a character named Claudine.  (So short I couldn't even tell you the name of the sitcom.)

And I've only ever met one other Claudine in my life.  But it sort of didn't count because she spelled her name Claudean.

So when traveling this past weekend, we absolutely HAD to stop and take a picture of this sign we happened upon.

And then I went inside to actually MEET Claudine.

What fun! 

And she didn't think I was crazy for doing so!

I think she understands, being a Claudine and all.

kind of like VH1 behind the music

But instead it is "my blog behind the picture."

Or as my husband explained, a post going out to any male readers I may have out there.

So about this great little rock stamping project I described a few posts ago, where I am putting positive words on smooth, interesting rocks I have found.

Behind the rock that reads "calm" is a rock you can't really see, just the edges are visible in this picture.

My husband stamped that rock.

It reads "beer."

Oh, I didn't think it was funny at the time.

I kind of think it is funny now.

rainy monday

I don't mind a rainy day.

I don't even mind a rainy Monday.

And this rainy Monday makes me appreciate the fall and the coming changes that fall brings.  In the weather.  In our food.  In our wardrobe.  In our routines.

Fall also marks another big event in our house.

The arrival of the leaf-sucker trucks.

Ever since Big Brother was little, it has been a big deal to watch the leaf-sucker trucks.  A B-I-G deal.

And talk about the leaf-sucker trucks.

And create models of the leaf-sucker trucks.

So, this morning, Little Brother, Baby Sister and I embraced the tradition and followed the leaf-sucker trucks around the neighborhood.

Watching.

Talking.

Admiring.

In the rain.

quickly making

Earlier this week I found myself, as I often do, anxious to whip up a quick project.

We were preparing to leave on a short road trip, one just long enough to warrant a few hours of packing (three kids!) and a few more hours in the car.

So I was itching to make a project that would be a nice surprise for two boys who now readily ask "are we there yet?" about 10 minutes into any car ride.

So...with laundry still waiting to be done, suitcases still empty, trip tasks undone, I focused on this instead:

 

Some cardboard, some wrapping paper, some clear contact paper.

Scrap paper held in place with clothespins and a freshly sharpened pencil tied on with a ribbon.

Felt pieces and ribbons and some zig zag stitching. 

And voila!  A homemade travel pocket filled with goodies -- a clipboard for writing and drawing and special books for reading.

They were a mama-made surprise for the boys right before getting on the road.  I believe they liked them, because they ran to the car, and sat in their seats, exploring the pockets a full ten minutes before we even headed out.

We still got our fair share of "how much longer?"s but I am so happy that they were a bit more occupied during the anticipation!

happy

I'm happy.

Really happy.

I was a pretty happy kid too.  My parents would know better I imagine, but that it how I remember being anyway.

Now this doesn't mean that I don't get angry, frustrated, agitated, and downright sad.  I do.  More often than I like, or like to admit.

But I have found that as life has become more chaotic, busy, stressful, that I work harder for the happy.
And by work I don't mean that being happy is a job.  It isn't.  But it is something that I have the ability to choose -- and intentionally choose I do.

I have two sisters, and both of them have helped me honor ALL of the feelings I have.  They are the phone calls when I am in tears, or in hair-pulling parental frustration, or when I am excited and proud.  Their gift of time and good listening gives me space to acknowledge, understand and ultimately honor every feeling -- which in turn makes more space for the happy.

So, I'm happy.

And I've been creating some little "things" to be reminders....not sure what to call them yet.  Talismans?  Affirmations?  Little rocks I've found that I stamped nice words onto?

Whatever they are called -- they are on my kitchen windowsill.

Happy reminders of my happy.