Catching Up & A Week of Thanks

Wanting to catch up this morning on some things I've been meaning to post about lately.

First off, there was a request for a better look inside Weekend Sewing; related post here. Here are a couple pics I took that show some of the projects featured in the book:

Back cover

and Table of Contents

Holiday planning has been in full swing around here since the beginning of the month. One project currently in the works is this year's December Daily album. I've once again been inspired by Ali Edwards' album and will be creating a cover with fabric and trim...pics to come later this week.

For now here's a sneak peek at the inspiration / basis for the inside pages of this year's album.


Last year's album had a much more vintage / old-time Christmas feel. This year I surprised myself by being drawn to lots of brigher reds and greens, and a bit more modern / happy feel. So far I am loving the results. I'm about half way done at this point and hope to have pictures posted by the end of the week of the completed album, ready to go for December 1.

Last, but not least, today also kicks off a week of daily 'thankful' postings. With Thanksgiving upon us and so many things to be thankful for, it seems the perfect time to focus on the good things in our lives. I hope some of you will join me; feel free to leave a comment each day or post on your own blog. What are you thankful for today?

Today (and every day) I am so thankful for these two. :)

1st Halloween

I was more excited than usual for Halloween this year...mostly just excited to dress up Ada. :) We carved a pumpkin, which we haven't done since the year we got married!


Then we got Ada dressed up in her costume, put our pumpkin out on the step, took some pictures, and waited for the trick-or-treaters to show up. I was all excited to answer the door with Ada and see the other kids dressed up. Usually we get about 10 kids that stop. This year - ZERO. I was bummed...and so was Chris because I had only bought one small bag of candy and a huge package of 30 bags of pretzels. (In my defense I like having something non-candy to hand out to the really little kids.) I was given no end of grief over not having a big bowl of leftover candy for him to snack on - so we made up for it the next day by getting several bags of marked-down candy at Target. (And I have to admit he's not the only one that was excited to fill the bowl up with chocolate...)

All dressed up.

And a view of the tail. :)

Sunday was spent doing yardwork; it was finally nice enough (and dry enough!) to clean up the leaves.

Lots of deep blue sky.

Ada helping Mama rake leaves on the garden.

Weekend Inspiration

If you're looking for a great weekend project, look no further. I have been feeling so completely inspired by this book lately. Lots of great general sewing tips and tons of fun projects; even the complicated projects are presented in such a way that they seem totally doable (even for a beginning sewer like myself).


I've also been feeling super inspired by the online scrapbooking class I'm currently taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking: Yesterday & Today, taught by my favorite scrapbooker, Ali Edwards. I wavered back and forth for quite a while trying to decide if I really wanted to take this on right now (it's a 12-week class), but am SO glad I signed up.

(I had to put this on hold while focusing on Permaculture for the last couple of weeks, but am planning to dig back in to the class this weekend, and am hoping to post some pictures in the next couple weeks as my album starts to come together.)

Permaculture

Last week I had an amazing opportunity to take a Permaculture Design Course. This is something I have dreamed about doing for the past several years, but until now had only found courses offered in other parts of the country. So when I discovered a course being held at Natures' Nest Farm in Montrose, only 20 minutes away, I knew I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by. I found out about the class only a week before it started, so that week was pretty hectic around here, working on all the prep work for the class and also getting things ready at home as Chris was going to be pretty much on his own with Ada for the entire week of the course. This class was going to be intense - Sunday-Friday starting at 8:30 am and going until 9-9:30 pm each day, and a half-day each on the Saturdays before and after. (Did I mention how amazing my supportive hubby is??) The certification course requires 72 hours of instruction - basically cramming a semester's worth of class into one week. I was SO TOTALLY excited!!

There were just under 25 of us in the class, with a pretty diverse mix of backgrounds and goals. It was so great to hang out with a group of people that are as excited about Permaculture as I am.


The week was a mix of classroom time, hands-on outdoor activities, videos, and even a talent show (enough said on that). :) Ada got to spend the day with me on Wednesday, when we went on tours of three permaculture sites around MN.

Instructor Mark Shepard


Checking out the world's coolest chicken coop at Welch Permaculture Gardens

On the last morning of class I got my certificate - I am now a certified Permaculture Designer! (At least on paper - I still have lots to learn!!) :) My mind has been in overdrive and I feel like I now really have the tools to dig in and work on our yard - so excited to start planning and making changes!!


More on Permaculture

The word was originally coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970's; it's a combination of "permanent agriculture" and "permanent culture" and focuses on designing sustainable human settlements. The three underlying principles are Earthcare, Peoplecare, and Fairshare (reinvesting surplus).

From Tagari, on Permaculture Design

The philosophy of Permaculture is to reduce the impact that human settlements have on non-renewable and renewable resources, while creating an abundant living environment, catering to the needs of all living creatures.

Permaculture is a science developed through the observation and analysis of natural systems. Through this analysis set structural patterns common to all natural systems emerge. Permaculture design then applies these “Patterns” to the development of sustainable human settlements, harmoniously integrating landscape and people while providing food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.

Special Delivery

Ada's first "special delivery" arrived yesterday:

The Box

The Note

The Unwrapping

The Aftermath

The tissue paper was definitely a hit
(and Mama loved oohing and aahing over all the cute clothes)

Aren't grandmas wonderful?

4 (and 3/4)

Looking back at 4 months...


Loved this progression of photos from our "4 month photo shoot" earlier this month:

Love that smile!

Other favorite photos / memories from this month include:

Sleeping on Papa after a bath.

Playing air guitar and giving Mama "a look".

Our little "night owl" in the morning...

then helping Mama read her scrapbooking
magazine before dinner...

and taking a little cat-nap on Papa
not too long afterward.

Getting together for our "Bradley class" reunion now that
we've all had our babies.
(The little sweetie behind Ada is Rebecca, with TONS of hair
that's a few inches long and stands straight up off her head.)

And a group shot of those in attendance; out of 8 couples 7 of us had girls!
The little girl on the left is Ruby, then Hazel June, can't remember
the next little one (still so tiny!), then Ada and Rebecca.

Ada's favorite new passtime - blowing "raspberries",
and looking super cute. :)

Sitting up all on her own.
(at least long enough for me to snap a picture)

Looking so cute in the new little hat I couldn't
resist buying for her,

and then taking another nap on Daddy.

And finally our sweet Ada-bee smiling for the camera in an outfit
she only got to wear once because she's growing up so fast.
(Something that's become a trend just lately and is making Mama sad.)

What a great month. I've been a little sad just lately about feeling like I'm not taking that many pictures of Ada now that I'm back at work. It's so great to see that we've actually been capturing so many wonderful moments with her.

6 Years

We spent last Saturday, the 29th, celebrating our 6th(!) wedding anniversary. We didn't have a sitter for Saturday, so went out Friday night on our own to dinner and a movie - our first "alone" date since she was born. :) Saturday was family day, something we intend to start having on a regular basis. We decided to take Ada to the Arboretum; we haven't been there since our 2005 anniversary:

Just the 2 of us, Aug. 2005

We had a really good time, with Ada taking her first ride in the stroller. We weren't sure if she was ready, but she seemed to be having a pretty good time, holding on tight and looking all around.

Love this picture of her all ready to go. :)

Close-up of some very cool bark.

My favorite part of the day was showing Ada the fish:

and

We had a picnic lunch and then went to their new learning center - very cool. We can't wait to take Ada back when she's older; lots of interactive stuff to play with.

Love this picture Chris captured of Ada and me. Totally us, and definitely a keeper. :)

A very cool pitcher plant we saw in the touch 'n feel greenhouse.

We had two sets of batteries with us that day, and both died at the arboretum - this was the last picture we managed to take:


No 'couple' shot, and no family shot. Pretty bummed about that. Somehow we remembered to take pictures of Ada though. :)

We wrapped up the day by making two other stops; I got to go to a quilt shop I'd never been to, and Chris got to go to the computer store. :)

All in all, a wonderful day spent together as a family of three.