Something to inspire

This month has marked one of the busiest I can remember. Too busy. But tomorrow....

The wee cousins will be together again! 

That's right! I get to fly away from it all (literally, if our wonderful, big, borrowed car -top carrier decides to lift off and get us to Wildwood faster) and go see, as Luke reminds me daily, Penny and Ellie (he pronounces her name something like Ew-wee),
JD and Sarah
Peter and Laura
Rebekah and Josh
and Rachel and Greg and Francis
and of course the parents who made it all possible!

I'm going to try to not think about it too much tonight, lest I not sleep well~ it has been over a year and a half since all these dear people have been under one roof, and it is the first time many of said family members will meet the newbies: Ellie and Evan. Can we all say WHOOHOO together? For a whole week no less!

Well, I am just now having the opportunity to get very excited, mostly because this past week has been one of getting stuff done, due to two piano gigs I said yes to for last weekend that had me practicing gazillions of hours this whole month.

But before I go and forget to share, I wanted to blog about last Saturday,  as we got to go see some dear friends of ours down in Gap and enjoy a cook out at their gorgeous farmhouse. It was SO beautifully decorated and clean (inside and out) that I got inspired this week not only to pack and prepare for vacation, but also to clean, tidy, clean, (which in some cases IS almost like redecorating when you realize your desktop really is dark wood and not dull grey). But seriously, Corrie has some amazing talent when it comes to making a home look inviting, while still being kid friendly. And so creative...let me show you what I mean.

(yes I do take pictures with permission when the opportunity arises, especially when the projects/ decorations are doable myself...one would not want to forget the object that first inspired!)

 You will not be surprised that this couple, as a wedding gift, gave me a huge potted garden similar to this one that graced our young home the entire summer after we got married. Aren't container gardens heavenly?

 She made this wall art herself that hangs above the crib...inspired from the Pottery Barn, but much less $$. All she thought was "goodness, I can do that" and voila! I love it!

 Who wouldn't want to stay in this guest room? The colors, the patterns, the wreath...and the windows overlook the creek where they got married and trees and cows ( I will not be jealous, I will not be jealous...)

 Kids nook. Let's just say that if I even had a kid's nook it would not look like this. Maybe in heaven it will?

Old barrel found in barn turned sink by handy husband. W.O.W.

What did I tell you? I love when people spend their own time and talents putting their own personal touches on the places they call home, and I love when I'm inspired by it, and I love when (if?) I inspire others by putting effort and talent into making my own homestead a better place for body and spirit.

Speaking of body: sleep is calling my name. 

Speaking of spirit: I don't know if anything quite refreshes my soul in the specific way that hanging out with my family does. I can't get over how blessed I am. It always hits me afresh each time...

Luke says: "Bungabee, where argh you?"

Some firsts

Little Evan is growing up fast...well, not really, seeing as he's still tiny as a peanut, but now he has experienced the pool with delight, pulls himself up to play the piano, feeds himself at any time (he's the best little vacuum there is, which keeps me always questioning what exactly is in his mouth), and plays chase with his big brother. So here's a few scenes from his young life:

 Smiles with great grandma Ellie

 Hairdo in the bath (yes it's curly at least when it's wet)

 The boys

 First time in one of those .25 cent rides. When Luke runs away crying, Evan has a blast!

 Dancing with the Stars

 First summer in the pool

 Yes my son plays ball by himself (at least for 2 minutes =: )

 Luke's first trip to the movies: Cars2

If I wasn't as busy with practicing piano, visiting with my Seattle sister and Ohio grandma, being sick as a dog, gardening and watering in the 100 degree heat while being sick as a dog, practicing more piano, cooking, cleaning, and spending the hottest afternoons in my parents' pool, - you know, the daily happenings of life, I think I would be content to just play with these little boys all day.

Luke says: Mommy, I have food in my mouth

Mommy says: Yes I know

Luke says: no, it's stuck

Mommy says: In your tooth?

Luke: wyes!

Mommy: should we brush your teeth?

Luke: wyes!

Stay cool!

Fresh

The grocery store could never compare with THIS kind of freshly picked, freshly washed spinach...

my little helper (look closely, for in case you can't tell, he is washing each individual spinach leaf)

 Like his father, that one. He is very careful to do things right.

And a smiler and squealer for good cheer...

Hope your day has some good memories in it!

Birthday celebrations

Yes, I know, it's been almost two weeks since my birthday, but as you will see below, it was a great one this year! Well, birthday week really =: )
My last 'big' birthday was 16...my parents threw a huge surprise party for me, under the guise of a huge party for my sister and brother-in-law who were visiting from Seattle. So ALL of our family and friends were there, and they were all in on it...tons of fun. And good memories.
I can't remember what I did for my 17th birthday, or 18th, or 19th, or 23, or 24th, you get the idea. Either school, or college was done for the summer, or getting married, or pregnant, you name it. Birthdays just haven't been one of those special days for the last decade. But of course, there have been many other special things to outshine over the last decade too, for which I'm very thankful.
But this year there was nothing in May that was exciting, or at least as exciting as the idea of doing a high tea!
I enjoy every aspect of having people over and putting on a lovely meal, when I'm not rushed. I had time to make favors ( a week before), my dear mother came to help me for 6 hours the day before, and by the time all my guests arrived, I got to just relax and sit and visit =: ) 

 I had chicken salad filled cream puffs (a delicious memory from my sister's wedding 14 years ago, see how good food sticks in my mind?), of course cucumber sandwiches, deviled eggs, and tomato basil tarts...

 And I got to pull down and use all my pretty teacups that I collected in high school.

 16 women were able to come, so our patio table moved into our living room to make room for all the fun!

 Need I even speak?

 Friends from over a decade ago (and still going strong!)

 Friends from less than a decade ago, and so glad they could all come!

 My oldest friends (of course not in age, but I've known these lovely ladies for 23 years!)
I'm so bummed I don't have pictures of everyone that came! But ah well, too much visiting, not enough photographing...such is my life!

It was such a huge success that I think I need to make this a yearly thing. Maybe not for my birthday, but a May High Tea does sound like music when one has just gone through January, February, March, and April with no high teas in them.

And lest you think my husband was on sweet baby sleeping duty with no fun, we had a trip earlier that week, JUST THE TWO OF US, to Hershey Park. Yes, he took the day off on the most beautiful Wednesday of them all and we went to Hershey with no children (made possible to us by Luke and Evan's wonderful aunt and uncle and grandparents!), ate at Fuddruckers afterward (where we had to dash in as two buses were pulling up in front of us!) and enjoy a pleasant drive home. Funny though how tired we were...I guess we're getting old. Although I think it was due to the fact that there were NO lines, so we just went from ride to ride with hardly any break at all.

Ok, Evan has just crawled the entire length of the hallway and into Luke's room... It might be the end of my little world as I know it, but I feel fine...
Have a good one!

Live to eat

There are, with perhaps some gray folk out there, two kinds of people in this world, those who eat in order to live, and those who live in order to eat. The former, like my mother, would be happy if God created them without stomachs and also would be happy enough eating pancakes and toast their whole life, without butter.

Not me. I belong to those souls that thrive on living our eating adventures.
I think about food.
I talk about food.
I watch shows about food.
I like looking at recipes. Even if I don't make them, I just enjoy reading them.
I like planning menus, even if at this point the 4 course meals never happen, who says I can't dream?
I like growing food. Well, I should say, planting and watering and watching those little veggies grow! I would not rob God's thunder by taking credit for something I truly can't even do (or understand). It really is a marvel that our creative God made so much to eat with so much variety!
And last, but not least of course, I love to eat!

So here's a sample of some of my latest food adventures, in all their sweet and savory glories:

 This order last weekend was for a frog and turtle themed baby shower...honestly, I've never made a 'turtle' cake before, but it didn't turn out too bad. Luckily there's a lot of people who have made frogs and turtles out of icing and cake before that I could look to for inspiration. Thanks google images!

 The little pacifier idea was just too good to pass up!

 The turtle is supposed to be sleeping on a blanket (or waves, whichever you prefer).

 Now the following is a bit of our process in creating 4 raised beds to grow lots of vegetables this year. They are all popping up now, and Luke loves helping me water (or drown) everything =: )

 

So we laid newspaper down right on the grass, put our little weed-mat-stapled-to-the- bed frame on top of that, filled it with dirt, cow poop, and peat moss, planted some seeds and plants, watered, and voila':

Now we just have to wait and see if we get to eat our vegetables, or all the creatures of the earth do.

Mother duties are desperately calling my name now, so take care and have a lovely weekend!

New discoveries

As I have not been swamped with free time lately to blog what I have wanted to share, I'm just going to dump together three blogs in one. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for stopping by to catch up with the happenings of the O'Connell household...

This March I decided to venture in the paths of what most women since Creation have had no choice but to do: Cloth diaper my children. This is a simple thing that, though it is not a pleasure to do in and of itself, saves money, saves last minute trips to Target, and makes me feel just a touch closer to the life Laura Ingalls would have lived. And somehow, though I have to still swish poop down the toilet, that makes me feel good.

Here's Mr. Cute himself sporting one of the several cloth diapers I bought, after MANY hours of research. Let me tell you, buy them new and buy them from cottonbabies.com. (Free shipping!) Ebay did not work out for me on this (cheaper diapers = cheaper material = less material = wet and messy clothes. Not good!)

Discovery number two that has made my life a tad better is the fact that Raw Milk tastes great and doesn't make me feel awful. AND the farm I get it from has been under my nose these last 20 years! 2 minutes from my parents' house there live plenty of very pretty, cute brown cows that produce very delicious milk. I'm hooked. I make everything with it now, including these lovely Apricot Love Letters with Vanilla Pastry Cream (and at over 4% milkfat, it almost is like cream =: ) Yum!

Discovery number three: my husband is a garden fanatic. Not that our little .11 acre plot of land has that much to garden, but boy when he gets an idea into his head, he goes gung-ho! Between Good Friday afternoon and that following Monday night, we now have 4 beautiful raised beds inspired by the square-foot gardening trend, with seeds that are just now beginning to burst from their dirty homes. So God willing, barring the onslaught of slugs, disease, bunnies, and small children, we may have some:

Tomatoes,

green and yellow beans, 

onions

carrots

spinach

leaf lettuce

sugar snap peas

zucchini

cucumbers

peppers

and oh yes, marigolds. They smell awful but that's the point: they are supposed to ward off unwanted rodents.
Sounds like a lot, and it is a lot, in not that much space. But we crammed them in. I love how the seed packets say "sow 3-4 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart." Yeah, so O'Connell speaking, that's 1/2 inch apart and rows 6 inches apart. But we don't have to walk between the rows, AND there's tons of healthy soil for them to thrive off of, i.e. Irish peat moss (at least I think that's where all the peat bogs are), O'Connell compost, and cow poop. What plant could ask for a happier start? So I'll keep you posted on our gardening adventure as the summer (what a wonderful word) progresses. (as well as pictures)

Discovery number 4: Ducks are able to hatch two different colors of chicks. And are they CUTE. I had the fortunate experience of witnessing a brand new gaggle on my neighbors porch this past weekend, just sitting there (she could have hatched them there for all I know they were so fresh). She didn't seem to mind I got within three feet of her to shoot a quick pic.

Ahhh....smell it! SPRUMMER! May just exudes happiness in it's new life, warm weather, fresh sunshine, blossoming everything, and pretty much is my favorite month of the year (ok, so it's my birthday month, so I guess I'm biased). But it IS lovely nonetheless, and I'm so happy it's finally here.

A couple days late I know, but anyway, HAPPY MAY DAY!