The Holidays are exhausting, but totally worth it, right?!

This whole blogging thing was meant to help me keep up with little Nora's milestones and track my fun projects. Turns out- all of the keeping up with Nora and creating the projects has taken up ALL of my time.  Which is totally fine.  I mean I definitely wish I had the energy- and lets face it- discipline- to sit down and write every few days about the happenings over here.  But, I really, really like to sleep.

I keep hearing little quips on the interwebs that if you don't (blog/instagram/pin/tweet) it, then it is like it never really happened.  Wait, what?  By that standard I think it is safe to say that my freshman year of college is gone with the wind, never to be heard from again.  Let's take a moment to thank the good Lord, shall we?  ahem.

Moving right along.

We have had some fun times over here.  I even have some photographic evidence to prove it.

trunk or treat-  Nora caught on really fast to the free candy aspect

The kids are over it.  Happy Halloween yall.

despite a bad fall and bloody knees, this gal pushed through- it was for the candy.

she totally got it.  no please. no thank you.  just grab and run.

visiting our dear friends in Dallas (future home some day-- fingers crossed!) @ Thanksgiving

Friendsgiving Turkey day 2013 in Dallas

the biggest turkey of them all

our little family @ by big brother's wedding 11/30/2013

I'm a lucky gal-  these guys, yeah, they're by brothers.  For the WIN.
-- Jacob, Me, Josh (the Groom), and Turner man - wearing the tie I made him!)

Tie pattern available here:  http://seekatesew.com/mens-skinny-square-tie-pattern/

I shortened it a bit to make it the right length for a ten year old.  He loved it.   I have also made this tie for my brother Josh.  He even wore it in his engagement pics. Talk about love.

the sweetest flower girl there ever was. // this is the only picture we got!

You guys.  I am telling you I cried like a baby.  I was so sure she wasn't going to walk down the aisle.  In fact, I didn't even get her a basket or flowers to walk with I was so sure it wasn't going to happen.  The time came for us to give it a shot.  Jeremy kept Nora in the back with the bridal party while I waited, super nervously, up front. If I am being totally honest, I cried from the very beginning of the wedding procession.  But then it happened.  It was Nora's turn and I walked to the edge of the aisle at the front to coax her down the aisle.  Jeremy told her to "Take the flower to mommy."  and I literally had to choke back a sob.  And she did it.  She looked up and saw me and walked straight down, stopping only briefly to poke at the flower.  Afterword I found out that Jeremy was determined not to let the flower girl walk down the aisle without at least one flower.  He pulled it from an arrangement in the back.  He melts me. 

It was by brother's wedding and it was beautiful.

 In the coming days weeks I hope to share a little tutorial on this custom covered family recipe book I made for my brother and his wife.  I seriously love her.  Back on track-  this project was super easy and fun to fill with recipes from my family.  So- tutorial to come!

This tie- which you saw above was another fun project.  I want to come up with a way to lessen the bulk.  So perhaps another project is going up on my creative board...

This table is one of the five hundred reasons I haven't blogged in months.  I did two craft fairs and they were awesome.  Well, one was awesome, the other was meh.  They were such fun experiences and I think I want to do more in the spring.  No promises.  

And this guy.  Oh man. This guy.  I love this quilt and I will hate to send it to live with his new family (my brother and my new sister-in-law).  I was so naive in counting the amount of hours this baby would take.  I told Jeremy, "Maybe 20-30 hours".  Try 90+....  A lot of that was trial and error and probably inefficient use of my time.  ahem.  getting caught up in the grey's anatomy story line...ahem.

Also, Nora does not love the sewing machine.  I can only sew during nap and night time.  

But, he is almost complete and I hope to ship him by January.

Speaking of January-  Stash Bee 2014 starts in January.  I am so excited.  And nervous.  I can't wait to learn all sorts of new things.  Check out Stash Bee 2014 here!  

xo,

Jansen

bethany beach vacation

we have returned from a wonder-filled beach getaway up to bethany beach, de.  nora and i loaded up our goodies and headed up to a beautiful beach house with some other moms and kiddos from our mom's group.  we ate an obscene amount of fried and sugary foods, and we loved every second of it.  

besides the obvious benefits of a beach vacation {sun, sand, boardwalk food} we also had the opportunity to experience the way five different babies and moms make it from sun up to sun down every day. lets be honest the most valuable experiences shared were those that pertained to the witching hours after sun down.  every single baby in that house woke up every. single. night.  

we were all exhausted and tired and exhausted.  it is one thing to deal with a crying baby in the middle of the night when you are at home.  it is an whole different beast when you are in a house full of others that are currently catching some much needed zzz's.  i tell you, those kids must have had a baton they were passing along.  or a spirt stick of some sort.  when one finally went to sleep, another took over with a cry that said "i am refusing to sleep in a strange house where there are other kids that i could be playing with right now, can i have more funnel cake and ice cream, i want to go to the beach and play in the water..." 

we all had hard nights.  and hard days.  the greatest part was how we all dealt with it.  i had copious amounts of coffee and dr. pepper to start with.  but in a more serious way it was great exposure to see how they all dealt with the difficulty.  it would have been so easy for us to all throw our hands up in the air and call the game.  the reality was, despite the difficulty we managed to laugh. a lot.  it was great to see the dynamic of moms and kids.  to take note of how they get their little one to calm down or stop bad behavior.  it was so nice to have someone be present and to see their ability to step in and calm nora (or other kids) down after a fit. that was when i realized, i may have become so invested in what i determined my parenting style would be that i began overlooking some simple solutions to problems that were annoying me like a pebble in my shoe.

the stairs. oh my gosh, the stairs.  i seriously freak out over nora going down stairs and slipping and falling.  so much so that i tend to just carry her down so that she doesn't fall.  insert the cycle of nora never learning how to go down the stairs.  we have practiced every method known to man and i deemed her too stubborn to learn to use the railing.  she wanted to go down free-for-all style.  

this house had stairs and no baby gate.  and there was one amazing momma that spent an hour working with nora on those stairs.  teaching her to use the railing and not giving up when nora yanked her hand away from the railing.  now my kiddo is a professional walker down the stairs.

patience.

and so that's what we did.  we were mommies to all the babies.  we fed and nurtured and played with all of the babies.  mommies got to finish a cup of coffee while it was still hot and fresh out of the pot, not after it had been microwaved five times throughout the day.  it was exhausting.  but so refreshing at the same time.

i can't say i am eager to *vacation*  with that many kids again, but i certainly came away from the experience with a new perspective on parenting.  and a whole lot of patience for my little one.

and for the best part of it all-  nora stinkin' loved the beach.  sand and waves and sun and all.

loving her orange sorbet ice cream cone

moms and babes

all of the kiddies!

it was a great trip.  i learned so much about the other moms that i spend my days with as well as so much about nora.  she is one smart and stubborn cookie.  i love her.

going home again

nora and i set off on a little weeklong adventure back to the great state of oklahoma.  i love getting to take her back home to visit with family and friends.  somehow, seeing how much they love her makes me love her even more.

i love living away from home.  i love the space i have to grow.  i love how the distance has forced me to adapt and develop traits that i am not sure i would ever have discovered had i stayed in oklahoma.  i appreciate my local friendships and work hard to maintain them.  that being said, it is hard to be away from family.  i hate that nora doesn't get to stay at her grandparent's house on any given night, just because.  i miss getting a call to meet my brothers for lunch down the street.  i am jealous of my sisters getting to have morning coffee with my mom.

these feelings make my trips back to oklahoma pretty powerful.  the intensity with which i dive into the trips often causes me to burn out on "quality bonding time" at about day three.  we managed to pack in a whole summer's worth of moments in one week's time... and survived.

we celebrated my mamaw honey's eighty-fifth birthday along with her recent move up to oklahoma from louisiana.  i can't tell you how much i loved getting to go visit her throughout the week.  it was a great celebration with aunts and uncles and tons of cousins.  there was even a cupcake pinata, which nora was absolutely terrified of.  we took advantage of the gathering of relatives and took some great (some awkward) family photos.

mamaw honey with my mom and stepdad and the kids

we are so fortunate to have a large amount of family that all live close together in oklahoma.  i love getting to pack in so much quality family time when we are home.  it can be taxing and difficult to coordinate schedules, but it is always worth it.

i have realized after living away from family for almost eight years that it is important to fill that tank up while you can.  i know that those moments are necessary to help me get through rough days.

so, that's what we did!  fill 'er up!

my sweet brothers

mamaw honey with the daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters

my sweet gigi with nora


i love that nora is getting to play with something that was a part of my childhood.  this wooden rocker duck was made for my older brother by my dad.  it made my heart smile to see her playing with it.

my brother's have excellent taste in women - my sister/friend desirae (L) and my soon to be sis-in-law juice (R)

we spent the rest of the week doing fun things like swimming, jumping on the trampoline, and chasing chickens.  you know, typical oklahoma stuff.

ladies who sun

 

 

determination

now, if i could just get this little lady back into her routine.  she has been waking up every night since we came home!


xo- jansen