Ten Months

Maeve will be 11 months soon and I haven't dedicated a post to her 10 month old cuteness yet! Last month I said nine-months was my favorite...well, 10 months is now my favorite but I suspect my allegiance will shift to whatever whatever is Maeve's current age.

Maeve at ten months has been in constant motion. She walks all the time and only crawls after she has fallen or tripped. That said, she's very stable and quick! Currently she has taken to running away if she thinks her toy will be confiscated. She also started playing a 'psych!' game with Jamie where she would walk towards him but just before reaching him she would turn around and run away laughing. She would then turn around and repeat this little game. She is the cutest.

Baby girls is quick to smile and laugh. She's affable, winsome, and delightful. She raises her hands in joy and still does her maestro trick of holding one hand up to signal her happiness. She plays hide and seek with any blanket or pillow she encounters. She claps on demand!

Maeve eats well and sleeps well, which are really, truly the two qualities that define a GOOD baby. She happily eats whatever quinoa, lentils, black beans, or veggies I give her. In fact, the other evening I was feeding her my favorite black bean, lentil, and sweet potato chili and she was LOVING it. She smiled after every bite! I looked at her chili smeared happy face and noticed her foot bouncing joyfully and I nearly choked with emotion. Tears welled in my eyes and I wanted to capture that simple, perfect moment to save for future days when she will refuse good foods, not enjoy my company or (gulp) actually annoy me. If I could somehow burn or tattoo that moment on my mind then I could gain peace and happiness from it when life feels suddenly out of control. I know those days will come but in the meantime, I am building my cache of glorious Maeve moments and it's easy because they are plentiful and my bounty grows rapidly.

Maeve will be one soon and I am pretty torn up about it. I actually feel on the verge of tears all the time. If I could suspend this time then I would because I love having baby Maeve and her four year old brothers. As hectic as home life can be with three little ones--it is still remarkably sweet and simple with no kids in school and no structured activities to disrupt our reverie.

Only one more month with my less than one-year old baby Maeve. She's so turbo that she'll probably start talking and requesting to be potty trained.

2011 Music Celebration

This has been a phenomenal year for new music. Every month it seemed like I had a new favorite record. I have been uplifted and inspired by so much of it.

A list of my favorites:

1. The Antlers
2. The Mountain Goats
3. Iron and Wine
4. Damien Jurado
5. Bon Iver
6. Fleet Foxes
7. Low
8. Beirut
9. Mates of State
10. Wilco
11. Ryan Adams


ELEVEN records--can you even believe it?

This list will soon grow because Feist's new record is out next month! Yay!

Even Dinosaurs Love Cider

Love Cider. Love this time of year. Love those clever boys!

Drawing by Asher

I found this drawing on the table recently and was so delighted to immediately recognize that it was a firetruck! I asked Asher about it and he pointed out the firefighter driving the truck (love his hat), the unraveling hose, the ax, and the ladder. I asked him what the scribbles were behind the fire fighter and he said, "Oh, that's the fire chief--he's melting." Shoot, sorry chief!

Perfectly Cute

Daily I think I will die from the cuteness of Maeve. I know that's dramatic but seriously--she's so happy and funny and sweet. Her curls kills me and when she does that scrunched nose face I nearly pass out. She's so tiny and mobile and friendly and joyful. I can hardly find a single fault with her...it's just the I feel about babies and her in particular. I mean, it's hard not to love the person who thinks I am hilarious for saying, "mommy!' in an exaggerated voice. Also--when I lay her down for a nap or bed and she kicks one foot up and down I know that her happiness is equal to her cuteness and here it comes again--I find those moments to be perfect.

Anyways...lest you think I find Asher and Soren any less cute...let me tell you that I also find perfection in them. Lately I find myself putting my hand to my heart and nearly passing out because I am so overwhelmed by the adorable things they say to each other. I especially swoon when they snuggle together on the couch to 'read' a book. When they were younger it was enough to just turn pages together but now they narrate what they see and their stories are perfect little microcosms of their world. My favorite is when Soren assumes his 'rescue' voice and says things like, "Calling all units! There is a fire on main street!" I'm telling you, I die.

Life is flawed and often disappointing but also enormously satisfying and even, in those quiet moments when two little boys are telling a story together, perfect.

Paper Trimmings

Soren had fun tossing bits of colored paper on Maeve and she was absolutely delighted!

Colored Paper Weekend

Pom poms! I thought they were stunning and looked like giant mums!

Pumpkins as labels.

I had a few extra pom poms so someone put them on pitchers and they looked fabulous!

We used Japanese washi tape to seal the popcorn bags--one of my favorite details of the night.

My soup! Pumpkin and tomato.

Apples and the dip that makes the ladies go crazy.

Goat cheese rolled in toasted hazelnuts and dried cranberries.

Herb butter.

My friend Kristin asked me to be on the food and decorations committee for the RS broadcast. I agreed because she is amazing with all things food related and I like decorations and mostly, I like her! Considering we were planning food for 350 people--working with Kristin and the committee was effortless. She's not fussy or high maintenance so it was easy. Plus, I asked my friend Rebecca to join us as an excuse to spend more time with her. So fun! Our friend Kirsten suggested we serve shots of different soups and that was a genius idea. She also recommended that we give the ladies 'desert to go' so they could eat something while they watched the broadcast. Again with the genius idea! In addition to the soup we planned on various breads and spreads. Easy and delicious.

In terms of decoration I suggested doing a pom pom display with cascading colors--very much inspired by the recent ombre design trend. I confess that pom poms may be so five years ago but I still love them! I also suggested potting mums in pumpkins and also smaller mums in apples. I think it was Kirsten again who suggested using smaller pumpkins as labels to identify the various spreads. It was all pretty effortless except there was some tissue paper drama. I thought I had ordered the tissue well in advance of the event but it didn't show up until noon the day before! Mercifully I have the greatest friends (a big shout out to Kristin, Jocelyn, Noelle, and Sarah!) so they helped me whip out nearly 40 pom poms! Their company made the volume of the work actually fun!

The food was a huge hit. We served four delicious soups: tomato pumpkin, butternut squash, black bean, and potato. We offered french bread, whole grain bread, pumpkin bread, and challah bread and each bread was paired with a spread (honey cinnamon butter, goat cheese, herb butter, and plain butter). In addition we had little cucumber/salami bites and slices of apple with a cream cheese toffee dip. Also! We served pebble ice with water and apple cider! How awesome is pebble ice???

Several single guys from the stake served the soup, cucumbers, and apple slices. They were true gentleman because my back was absolutely killing me by the time the broadcast started and when it was over the thought of cleaning up nearly made my back spasm. I teared up when I found that the same men who volunteered to serve food had cleaned up! They scrubbed our crockpots and all the dishes and put away tables and chairs. Their kindness was such a tender mercy.

I had a great time and loved the food and was edified by the message.

(FYI: Turns out Whole Foods has the best selection of pumpkins and the best prices!)

Long Sleeves and Pants

Refusing to smile.




Starting to smile...


Maeve at her favorite perch! I LOVE seeing her peek out the windows.


My friend Kristin told them they were NOT allowed to smile and boy did they smile!

The weather was chilly last weekend so we busted out our long sleeves and pants! Soren also insisted that he and Asher wear their puffy vests. Be still my fall and winter loving heart! It had been MONTHS since I last saw my little men in pants and I was really taken back by their cuteness. It is easy to measure their growth by pulling out last year's pants to see how much shorter they are (Soren) or how they fit perfectly this year (Asher).

The weather is warmer again but we are ignoring the warmer temps by wearing our long sleeves, pants, and cozy pjs anyways!

Pumped Up Kicks

The boys got new shoes this week. Green 'fast cat' Pumas for Soren and 'dragon' Adidas for Asher man. About a month ago I got a pair of saltwater sandals and I love them. Seeing all those colors together made me happy.

Soren said his shoes would help him climb and Asher said his shoes would help him run. In fact, as soon as I put the shoes on Asher he started doing laps around the kitchen table. So cute.

Miss Maeve? She pretty much RUNS in her shoes.

The Corona

Asher spreads out on the new couch.


Sorry about the red eyes but isn't she cute?!

I have been wanting a new couch for years. When we first got our leather couches EIGHT years ago we were so happy with the look and the comfort of them until the leather started to show signs of wear and suddenly--we had a massive tear in one of the cushions. Lately I had been not just horrified by the tears but by the look of the couches. I'd outgrown them and wanted something new.

There were two couches that I really liked--the one we ultimately purchased and the one my awesome friend Sarah owns. Jamie and I decided to get the couch that no one in the neighborhood already owned. We didn't even see it in person--we simply ordered it and hoped for the best.

I love it! When the delivery men were unwrapping it Soren exclaimed, "It's like opening a present!" I completely agreed. The color is beautiful and it really lightens up the space. Now we have to find accent chairs and that is a much more difficult process.

Final Celebrations

It's tradition that I hang balloons for their birthday. This year I stuck to just green.


Birthdays are nearly as exciting as Christmas!




Soren's monster truck cake.


Asher's ambulance cake.







You may suspect that we are still celebrating Asher and Soren's fourth birthday. Their birthday sign is still hanging and we do daily talk about being four but we are no longer eating cake and opening presents. Several birthday parties did confuse Asher and Soren--they thought the party in Bristol meant that they were already four years old but they certainly didn't complain about having cake twice.

They were thrilled to open birthday cards and presenta. My parents gave them four dollars each and when Soren found the money in his birthday card he exclaimed loudly, "I LOVE four dollars!" It was awesome. It just occurred to me that Maeve didn't give them a birthday gift, which probably would have endeared her more to them but it's cool, next year.

Four-year olds are fun and super smart and worth all the celebrations!

(Also--last year Max pulled down their balloons and he did it again this year! I hope he leaves them alone next year!)