THE Best Snack

Today I roasted carrots from my last farm box. Delicious. I've been eating them all day. Make some and use this recipe.

Four Years Ago

These pictures were taken four years ago when we were in D.C. with Jill and Josh, attending the inauguration of President Bush. It was an amazing experience and a very happy day. And that's all I'll say (cute rhyme, huh?).

God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam God bless America, My home sweet home.

These past few weeks...

...have been quite trying. We've been sick. Sick. Haven't been to church or any other functions in two weeks. It all started two weeks ago when Elliot started sniffling. It went downhill from there as he continued to get sicker and sicker with what I thought was the worst cold ever. After a full week of suffering for him and a week-end where I was sure he was dehydrated and almost going to the hospital in the middle of the night, I took him to the dr. And he had RSV. Thankfully no wheezing so he wasn't in any real danger but he has been miserable (and consequently, if I'm honest, so have the rest of us). And then two days after the diagnosis, Ryan comes home with some kind of stomach virus (his third time puking this month) and passed it on to me and probably Elliot (although I couldn't tell for sure if he actually had the stomach flu since he had been coughing to the point of throwing up for days). Charlie somehow seemed to escape it although that could have been because he threw up the week before--in a restaurant of all places--and was whiny for a day or so afterwards (confusing timeline, I know. It's all running together in my mind).

So anyway, I've been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and planning. Planning all the projects I'm going to complete once I'm finished with our 2008 Photo book (something I've been working on this month on Shutterfly), which I'd hoped would be completed by now but the aforementioned weeks of sickness have slowed me down.

I've been reading --
When People Are Big & God is Small -- great book, why would be a post of it's own
Stitched In Time -- So many projects, so little time; first up: The Family Tree project
The Creative Family -- checkout author Amanda Soule's blog if you get a chance but lookout: she's not a Southern-SuperChristian-preppy-diva. This crunchy green mamma from Maine is the kinda spiritual that makes us nervous and the kind of "in the trenches" mom who inspires us; will be making many of her projects as well

And it's almost time to decorate for Valentine's Day! I love this holiday. Not the super commercialized cheesy romance side of it but the fun side: kids exchanging cards, thinking about why you love people and the excuse to add some seasonal items to our decor. :) And since we've been in isolation for 2 weeks, I'm in the mood for a party. So if you live around here, put Feb. 7th on your calendar--First Annual Moody Family Valentine's Day Party. And bring a glue stick, 'cause we'll be crafting! E-Vite coming soon.

Hopefully I'll be able to actually work on and then post pictures of some of my planned projects. If I can ever figure out how to work my new sewing and embroidery machine, that is! And now I'm off to order a few of the birds I've been eyeing on Etsy.

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PS - Do you like my new look?!

Etsy

I hope I've mentioned Etsy on this blog before. I really can't say enough about Etsy. I think I'm obsessed. It's a bigger time-suck for me than Facebook. I had a sick baby so I stayed home from church yesterday and after organizing the pantry, butler's pantry/office area and the downstairs linen closet (go me - I love organizing in January!), I spent about 5 hours on Etsy (just to defend myself: I did play Charlie's new Thomas board game and memory with him for quite awhile too).

Anyway, I found some amazing things. And some amazing things that I just know I could make, if I can get my new sewing and monogramming machine up and running (a Christmas gift from Ryan).

Here are some of my favorite finds -

Adorable Hearts
Stuffed Letters
Stuffed Numbers
All of these Valentine's Day birds
Amazing necklace (and actually, I love all of this seller's stuff)
Felted Acorns
Amazing hair piece (too bad I already had my wedding)

The list could go on and on...

To see for yourself, just checkout the featured items from their blog. And while you're at it, find something to buy, support handmade stuff, stay-at-home moms. You know you have at least one random gift to purchase or something!

It was a Great Day, Mommy

That's what Charlie said to me as I was putting him into his crib for his nap. Aaah. What more could I want? It has been a good day. Not a perfect day: I've gritted my teeth a few times, trying to choke back the annoyed and angry words that were trying to escape; one child has already been bathed, I've had to wash 2 sets of sheets (long story) and one little precious baby is nursing a bad cold but still - a good day. This is one of those days that I want to remember when my kids are grown, when the floor is no longer littered with smashed cheerios and plastic Dollar Tree soldiers (those hurt when you step on them, by the way).

We are getting back into our regular routine, which is so good. Charlie and I both love, appreciate and crave order. And Elliot doesn't mind either, so long as plenty of Charlie is involved. :) We started the day out with breakfast (after the bathing and sheet issues were resolved) and reading time. Elliot then took a nap and I got out the playdough for Charlie, while I worked on something new I'm doing this year: a 2008 Moody Family Yearbook. I'm making it on Shutterfly and hopefully the end product will be an "Our Year in Pictures" album for us to keep. Hopefully we'll rack up an entire shelf of these over the years...

We then piled into the car for a nice long walk with Fef all over Isle of Hope. I loved the exercise, Charlie loved the boats, Elliot loved the fresh air and we all loved the company. After lunch Charlie practiced his ABCs with his fun fridge toy while I did the dishes and then we started something new: reading "big boy" books on the playroom couch. Today we started one of the chapter books in the Frog & Toad series. I think Charlie followed most of it and just doing this made me excited about the thought of having older kids: books I actually like, bike rides, roller-blading, soccer. Maybe the day-to-day jobs of this motherhood thing is not just about wiping noses and bottoms.

A picture from our walk...

We had a fabulous Christmas!

And hope you did too!

ps - If you need me, I'll be digging out of all the mess we've made over the past few weeks!