I looked through these shots of our weekend and realized I was taking photos of my child – a very tall drink of water who has all of a sudden since her last birthday, stopped being anything close to a toddler, or baby … and very much everything to do with being some one who is entering school and has thoughts that are bigger than barbies.

It’s a bit of a phenomenon. Look at her!

Oh my God, how blessed I am. How incredibly in love I am with her, with this spirit of hers – with everything about her.

She’s beautiful – and she’s pretty on the outside, too.

Last time I left you with my daughters bedroom redo/update it looked like this:

And now, half way through the process of growing her room all up, it looks like this:

With this on her wall – nearest her bed.

I know the walls are bare otherwise. I have plans for them, but after Aaron got home from SXSW I needed a break from running around like a madwoman.

I’m refinishing 2 dressers (one for her room, one for her brothers) like this and when those are complete I’ll reveal the other views of her bedroom thus far.

There’s been lots of talk of a decal on the facebook page and YES! there will be a decal, above the dresser – but above the bed, I’ll be doing espresso cork board in a funky frame and changing the art as she grows.

Where did I see those squares of dark cork board? I saw them, I know I did. But google isn’t helping me remember where.

The headboard was SOOOOO easy.

I did, at one time, have photos of the process, but then my camera ate them. So. No photos. BUT! I found the frame to use for the project in our attic – so … free! I borrowed a staple gun from friends (Thanks Dave and Tracy!) and bought the batting and fabric needed to make the headboard.

Pretty much you just lay out the batting, staple on, then lay out the fabric and staple it on the frame as well. Make sure you tug on the fabric so it’s taught.

And there you have it! Easy peasy fabric head board.

Here’s the inspiration for her room, once again:

And our version of that is:

How are we doing?

I’ve talked about this before, but I’m planning a conference for bloggers for later this year right now. AND! I just confirmed myself as one of the speakers!

Oh the perks.

I’ll be covering the topic of incorporating other forms of media into your blog … video, photos.

Excited yet?

Don’t you worry, we’ll cover all the ticks involved with incorporating your face, live, into your blog … if that’s your thing.

I have a lot of ticks.

One of them being planning this very conference for all you friendlies. I love you all so much.

See?

I’ll have more to say on this topic at the conference … and I’m sure I’ll be caught wide mouthed with something similar in my eyes about something. I’m … emotionally dramatic when I speak … would that be a good assessment, folks who know me?

Anyway, thats how I roll. Completely authentic and open and raw. What you see is really what you get. Even if it’s my booger.

Peace.

Wordless Wednesday.

Baby Lettuce peeking through the soil. Welcome, Spring, your growth and promise of a bounty excites me.

You can see more Wordless Wednesday Awesomeness at 5 Minutes for Mom.

The cookie monster was in our house recently.

These peanut butter cookies are gluten free. And there are only 3 ingredients. Oh, oh yes you can.

1 egg
1 C. Peanut Butter
1 C. Sugar

Mix well, plop by spoonfuls on baking sheet and bake in oven at 350 for 8 min, cool on wire rack.

Here’s the play by play on twitter, I only annoyed a few people with my rapid tweets … I think.

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5, 6
Step 7
Step 8

I haven’t been that good at remembering my camera this winter, partly because for half of it I was trying to sell it and then when someone said – I want to buy it, I’m coming to get it tonight – I panicked and changed my mind. I don’t yet have another camera to replace it, so … bad idea.

But the winter is pretty hard for me to get excited about photos. Not because it’s not beautiful but it’s pretty mono-tone. And I stay inside a lot. Or the lighting is fluorescent and then it’s just … really?

So I love that we’re getting outside more and the sun is shining to boot!

One of my favorite things to do with my camera is to follow my little people around and just click away. I rarely look through the view finder … I just aim and shoot at knee length, street level, eye level … whatever looks interesting.

Some times all I get are feet. But that’s ok with me. I love those little feet.

And the way they amble along the sidewalk.

The way they stand next to each other, having a conversation all their own.

Those are the feet that are going to, one day, take my Little’s somewhere new. And if I always aim at their smiles I’ll one day forget that those feet were carrying them all along.

22 months ago, exactly, you held him in your arms for the very first time.

Your hands have held me, and kept my daughter safe.

Countless joyful afternoons were spent swinging on your arms, feeling the breeze whisper on my face as you flung me back and forth – always careful, always strong.

Today, he felt it too.

Here’s the fam:

We went up north to The Parent’s cottage a few weeks ago and spent the time hanging out making donuts and marshmallows from scratch. YUM.

In order to eat those marshmallows we needed a fire. So I took it upon myself to lick the flame.

I may have paraded around giggling after the whole “I build fire!” thing, but it was fun … there’s a technique to building a fire – one with air flow and oxygen. It was good times.

Then we waited for the flame to die down and give us some coals in which to roast the marsh’s …

And our weekend was complete.

Not only did I have this on my list of things to do this weekend … I also had this.

Nom nom nom.

Kind of like perfection … which is totally heaven in your mouth.

My mom had printed out the directions and brought them up with her, but I’m a picture girl (surprise huh?) so I stuck with my trusty Kitchen Companion and went for it.

I like to measure my success as I go against the photos Pioneer Woman provides along the way.

Some times I completely freak out – but keep going and trust that the end result will at least resemble 10% of what I’m really supposed to be doing. In this case, we did just fine.

Rinse and repeat about 32 times. Give or take.

I had a blast.

Which is kind of what this Life List is all about, any way. Living the adventure of life as if it’s a front row seat on the roller coaster you’re strapped in to. And oh-my-ever-loving-goodness … when someone tries something I’ve made, baked, cooked – whatever the case may be – and their eyes shine with delight … there’s is nothing higher on the list for me in the form of a compliment. But it’s not even that – it’s knowing my hands are capable of love in forms I haven’t even recognized yet.

It may be called a “Life List” but it’s really just a recipe for a full life, a sweet, full life.

Here are photos of the entire process:

I’ve been on quite the journey to be a more healthy person, inside and out, over the past 4 years. Lots and lots of credit goes to Jill Tanis and her understanding of food and our relationship to it.

One of the biggest take-aways I had was to eat MORE MORE MORE dark, leafy greens. So I did. I love kale and beet greens – we’ve tried endive, we eat tons of spinach, broccoli rabe (or rapini) and romaine, I’ve taken a gander with dandelion greens and I even juiced rainbow chard a few weeks ago. But eating swiss chard? No, no thank you. Have not had the bug in my pants to try this one until recently.

Here it is. You’ll need: EVOO, salt, pepper, swiss chard, and garlic.

Start by pouring some EVOO into a pan on the stove.

While your oil is heating up, chop up some garlic … and this I love to do. You get to get a little rough with the garlic. Knock it around a bit. Get a little frisky. Get angry, even.

Start with your cloves and a knife that would scare your grandmother.

Take one clove and set your large knife on top of it, like so…

Then SMASH it.

Success. You should be able to peel the skin off the garlic now and set it aside to chop after you’ve smacked around the other cloves of garlic.

When you’ve smashed and skinned all your cloves, chop them up. Be fearless.

Then toss them in the oil.

Add some salt (I forgot about the pepper)

(Missing photos)
Chop your swiss chard, I only used 5 or 6 leaves for this saute. They’re big leaves and being the first time trying it, I wanted to take it easy.

One you’ve removed the vein (stem) from the swiss chard (it’s bitter) chop up the swiss chard and toss it in with the garlic, salt and oil.

It doesn’t take long for it saute down.

Add to your dinner and try it … maybe you’ll enjoy it. Who knows!

We did not. It was a little too bitter for my liking and my very adventurous children spit it out. Can’t blame them. So I tried it again – only the next time I tried it … I added it to soup (substituted the spinach in the recipe for swiss chard and kale). Much better flavoring for me. I’ll keep taking swiss chard out on dates until I find the perfect fit. Why? Because it’s beneficial and worth the leg work to make it a part of our diets.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.