happy.

belated 4 year anniversary to us.

last week we spent a lovely morning visiting the farm

at south mountain. 

i love that place. i always feel like i am getting away

from it all when i go there.

and then it helps that i hold a sweet memory 

of my first visit there being with my dad, 

who took me for lunch there; 

picnic tables and baskets of delicious sandwiches.

some memories just stick with you forever.

i highly recommend the cowboy eggs we had; 

chili, fried eggs, toast...yum.

we loved it. the kids loved wandering, and i held back 

from helping myself to cutting some chamomile and 

other various beautiful flowers in maya's garden.

do go.

ps. that second photo is of snow white of course, 

in case you were wondering.

she is full of drama.

a happy easter.

it was a rather perfect kind of day; 

the kind of day you are sad to see go,

the kind where little ruby asks:

'i want to go to easter again'.

yes, me too.

the weather was gorgeous and slightly windy.

our church had an outdoor service which was 

such a blessing for the little guys (and us of course).

there were oodles of good eats,

happy kids hunting for eggs and throwing eggs; 

a bit of confusion on ruby's part as to how to do 

confetti eggs...

she just kept throwing it over my moms head

and then throwing hard boiled eggs in the same fashion.

i know, confusing.

and there were even boats and wooden crosses

to craft...so pretty relaxing to sit and sew in the grass

with family. 

a little swimming, some cupcakes even, 

and later on we were blessed with even more fun

meeting up with the mchale fam at a hotel for 

more swimming and cousin fun.

i do feel so blessed by amazing people

all around me. 

hope your Easter's were just as lovely.

railroad revival tour.

with mumford and sons in the line up ed was 

determined to find a way to make it to this show. 

we mutually decided it would be a great way to 

celebrate our 4 yr. anniversary

and since our kids love love good music

we thought we'd give it a whirl.

the setting was pretty ideal...

on the train tracks, a rocky field and the 

general feeling that you were at a fair 

that happened to have the happiest dance worthy 

music line up. 

you could say we had a bit of fun.

ruby rocked out, looked for friends in the crowd, 

and slurped on a snow cone.

declan danced, played with rocks, passed out in the 

stroller and woke up later only to be held and rocked

while occasionally waking to kick his legs to a good song.

so after a good show, sewing clothes for the kids, 

cooking food and a few other Easter preps, 

i guess you can see why i was a little tired.

all worth it...and i'd do it again.

nothing better than that feeling of getting 

lost in a good song you love and just dancing like

you do not care...good to just let go

every once in a while.

pooped.

what led up to Easter and the day of have left me pretty 

exhausted. 

so much to share, but for now, i am going to just catch up.

back soon.

hope you had a blessed and the happiest of Easters!

polvorones.

i made these for the willows this week and keep kicking

myself for not keeping some around for afternoon 

snacks with coffee. 

they are oh so pretty and oh so yummy.

{find a recipe here}

happy gift wrap.

a sweet little idea for you.

wrap up a magazine or two for that mother

you love so much. 

everything is more exciting wrapped and tied up pretty.

I used natural craft paper, pink yarn, and some tissue 

flowers i glued on top. 

you know mom's day is coming up! 

i shall share some more ideas for gifts soon.

tgit.

warm days.

call for rediculously cute mini popsicles i found at 

the grocery. i squealed a bit when i opened them.

they are probably the cutest in dec's wee hands.

and the super happy look on his face when i gave 

him one. more? he says when done.

i know, they are tiny.

some of the perfect food.

chopped tomatoes you needed to get rid of,

dressed in olive oil, s & p, balsamic, chopped garlic,

atop of toasty rustic fresh bread,

homemade basil + arugula pesto,

and some bianco mozzarella.

just thought you should know.

thanks sarah for mentioning pesto the other day!

hucklebones.

some really sweet little girlie dresses i found 

on small magazine. love that big blue bow...

would be such a perfect little Easter dress dont you think?

i am kind of like fraulein maria.

 who knew that stripey ikea fabric that graced the table

at declan's first birthday would become so useful.

first it was aprons for the craft fair,

 and now a fancy window booth....

originally made for movie night, 

and now just generally anything: restaurant...movies...

'declan's general store', ie. handing me everything in the 

cleaning closet he can reach as fast as he can, and finding 

it all very humorous.

and now this pic i am sure is a result of her admiration 

for my sister em's work in the modeling business.

they do catch on so young.

and for inquiring minds, this was really easy to make.

you just have to be as skilled as maria and also have a large

piece of fabric on hand; i am thinking an old sheet would 

suffice. 

i hope your weekend was super dooper as was ours.

i may have created the worlds largest pile of dishes 

ever unfortunately...pancakes...museli for tomorrow...

stewed strawberry and rhubarb....puff pastry...sauteed spinach....

and thats not all. 

you could say i felt like making a lot of food today.

toodles.

happy weekend.

 here's to hoping for some moments of calm...peace, 

like this above photo.

 some spontaneous dancing...

 some fresh flowers...

 and maybe some sweet treats!

cheers to the weekend.

sorry for the lack of posts this week...

so busy picking up that i find it hard to make 

myself sit sometimes. 

ps. ive been reading this book lately

and find it awe...fully interesting. let me know

if you want to borrow it when im done...

b/c it is very hard to get ahold of at my library!

finally finished.

so i finally finished putting the collar on this dress the other day.

now just getting the guts to wear my little homemade number. 

i am always paranoid someone is going to notice its crazy 

imperfections. oh well, its just a fun church dress anyhoo.

spring.

i was going to share some fun stuff but for some reason

my pictures keep coming up sideways....go figure.

just makes me lose my umph.

on a happier note, i really can not get enough of this spring weather...

our house has been full of breezes and fresh flowers from the garden;

we even had a perfect rainy weekend with a stop for hot coffee

because we were so cold. awesome.

i feel like the clock is only ticking waiting for the summer heat.

maybe that is just the negative little voice in my head.

well its off to battle the grocery with two crazies on my hands.

heres to hoping its ok. maybe a coffee will help.

weekend salad.

i made this for dinner tonight and thought it was pretty 

delicious so thought i'd share.

who says green beans are just for thanksgiving right?

green bean salad

ingredients:

2 large handfuls green beans

3 medium tomatoes

1 shallot

5-6 slices bacon

1/2 lemon

2 T. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Boil trimmed green beans in salted water until tender. Set aside.

Chop tomatoes into medium pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cut bacon into one inch pieces and cook until crispy. With about 1 T. of remaining fat sautee chopped 

shallots until carmelized. 

Add all ingredients into bowl. Squeeze top of salad with 1/2 of lemon juice and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. 

serve immediately or chilled. enjoy! and have a lovely weekend!

showers in the tree.

 clever ol' me draped the hose into the olive tree 

out front and created a sort of shower outside.

obviously not for big kids. 

ruby and declan thought it was the greatest 

and even broke out some soap. ei yi yi.

what the neighbors must say about 

those crazy mchale kids.

a new simple dress.

so i happened upon some ikea sale fabric while 

Easter basket shopping the other day. 

i've really been wanting to try this simple pattern

my mom had made last year, so i winged it

and it was ridiculously easy, fast and rewarding.

i promise i'll share a tutorial soon...

just not promising perfection.

anyhow, it was basically two pieces sewn together

with a casing at the top...and a long satin ribbon strewn 

through the casing. the end.

oh, and i spied some cute j.crew kids clothes 

as we were window shopping one morning recently

before swim class. dreaming of trying to 

copy that giant flower onto a little white

dress...for Easter perhaps?

i shall also note my love of morning light for pictures.

i'll have to do this more often i guess. if only dec

wasn't such a busy body. ruby essentially has to 

put him in a headlock and try to say cheese.

ps. ruby is laying here next to me, refusing to go 

to sleep and just told me "mommy, you look

like mary poppins. why you're not mary poppins?"

not sure ruby, i'll work on that one.

best buddies.

i really can not get enough of watching these two interact

lately. declan will do anything ruby does, and he pretty 

much thinks she is the greatest ever (besides jack and balls

of course). can you not just see it in the second photo? 

the extreme admiration for his crazy sister?

for example: we went out sat. night for a little birthday 

dinner and dec woke up and wasnt too happy. 

our babysitter put ruby in bed next to him and he 

quickly went back to sleep and was just fine.

makes me melt.

i just want to pause and freeze them right now

at the ages they are at.