The Kate Effect

struck by love.

could he be more handsome - i think not.

this kiddo is amazing - probably because he can have an intelligent conversation about Wookies and Clone Armies.

he belongs to my husbands co-worker...well, she is my client... actually, she is more of a friend.  I know this because friends share awesome soup recipes and knitting books.

 

  

mrs. independant

it seems life with a five year old is even more full of power struggles than life with a pack of bull-headed dogs. everything is "why do i have to do it YOUR way?" "I don't want to be like you!" " I want to do it for myself!"  "I can do it. I can do it! I don't need your help."

Thankfully this seems to be waning just a little. It's amazing to me - especially since I have been encourager of independence and am usually the one to encourage her to "be her own person". Sometime it baffles me when she says " I don't want to be like you!"  - Since when did I ask you too? 

In my mind I see myself and how I did the same thing - how I spit out the same words - how my mom at times replied: "It's not MY way tot clean the toilet, it's RIGHT way to clean the toilet." 

She was right - but I was just so hell bent to be different.

And then I realize how I do this everyday in my conversations with God. How I fuss about wanting to be unique, how I want to follow his will..... But half of my day is spent spinning circle in my mind about the way things 'should be done' or how I 'need to be different'.

Simultaneously I can thank the Lord for knowing Kate is right on target and that God is good + gracious.

Here is the product of a "I can do this myself" moment.

v is for violet.

i had the pleasure of cuddling a friend newborn for a brief moment this weekend. she was tiny + warm.

surprisingly, as cute as she was - i was happy to hand her off for the changing duties. it's nice to remember how little they are when they arrive - It's equally nice to go home and recognize  how grow up and independent they have become! 

Happy Birthday Violet - here's to years & years of yawning, sleeping, and screaming your head off!

and with this ring...

just finished up and mailed photos from a recent wedding and I am over the moon about the simple but lovely shots of the rings.  it was so fun playing with the rings and the books from the decor  I had to pull myself away to make it across the yard before the ceremony began. 

measuring up.

just had Christmas in April! 

Mom gifted my sister-in-law and i Cirque Du Soeil tickets but the show wasn't until April.

So we have been patiently waiting to spend the day together and enjoy some amazing acrobatics. 

What we didn't expect was the mini shopping spree and fondue time. Spoiled, yes. 

I had a great time just enjoying my mom and sister-in-law!  The bonus is every time I see my finds

from the day I think about how special my family is to me.

I picked up these awesome measuring spoons and measure cups. I love their nostalgic look!

I also managed to score some of the teacup bracelets I have been eye-ing for TWO YEARS!

They were steal too.

I will have to take a picture of the ceramic strawberry and blueberry baskets I got as well... I can not

see to find them online. My future kitchen is styling already!

hold your horses! thats KATE!

Source: spoonflower.com via Carrie on Pinterest

 

WHOA! this IS kate.  

It's like Heather Ross came to my house and watched kate play and then drew tiny little picture of her on her fabric.

I really enjoy Heather Ross fabric. It's small whimsical drawings are so nostalgic and wonderful. Unfortunately my aesthetic for creating sometime doesn't jive so i just sit and daydream at the fabric all day instead of actually using it. 

but don't let that deter you from ordering a few yards and sending it to me.... if you where thinking about it or wondering.

i would immediate frame it a small square just to remember kate this way and then whip up something wonderful! I promise I would. 

now I think Iw ill go play ponies with Kate before she grows up.

 

 

Kate meets Ella

OUr library has the best little collection of CDs and I only recently discovered the richness it can add to my life!  I have begun to borrow CDs for Kate to listen to at night as she goes to bed. Stories, songs, musicals... It seems Kate is like me int he sense that she has a few favorite but is not big on repetition. While she likes some music and will ask for it when in the mood - she is always asking do we have anything NEW?

God bless the library for always having something *new and interesting. This week I grabbed two CDs -one Dan Zanes which I was not impressed with but I will give him another try hoping it was just this particular album that is not interesting.... and one from Universal Music Family that was AWESOME.

This is the cover of the CD:

We loved it for it's Jazzy tunes appropriate for kids sung by really awesome Jazz artists. Ella Fitzgerald open the album up with her own version of Old McDonald and later does a great rendition of The Muffin Man.  My favorites are Rag Mop by Lionel Hampton and Lois Prima's YES! We Have No Bananas Today. It's all tied together with Louis armstrong ending the album with What A Wonderful World.

I checked out the website: http://www.ilovethatsong.com/family/index.html

and noticed they have an entire album by Ella Fitzgerald. They also have other CDs with Motown/Disco/Broadway - we will have to look it this and try them out. I was sad to see that they CDs are sold at Target and Amazon  - but I had no luck at iTunes. I guess I will have to look for the songs individually.

There you go - my first kid music recommendation...which is a big deal since we don't listen to a lot of "kid music" around here.

 

Cherry Turnovers.

Kate and I declared a day of baking + cooking last week. It was truly a great day for us both. We made...

Mini Meatballs

Mini Cherry Turnovers

Chocolate cover Banana Bites with Nuts

Sausage Patties

Bacon

Sauteed Mushrooms

Banana Bread

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

...we made anything we could think of and stuff our freezer full! We have even added to it since...Pizza Dough, Lasagna Rolls, Cheese Enchiladas. 

Honestly I never want to cook again after that marathon. The timing was great because we have a contract on a house and are packing - so that last thing I want to do is stop and cook. One less mess and one less thing to think about makes a world of difference right now. 

The best thing Kate said that day was : 

It my dream come true, I get to play with raw meat!

Obviously the meatballs were her favorite things to make... and she made them from beginning to end on her own. She also learned an important less about why you need to make your meatballs uniform size. And we both agreed it is sad that they all need to be the same size because it is much more fun to have variety...then we created a solution... you just cook all the big meatball in one batch and the little one in another ... and even medium meat balls in a different batch. then you mix them all together in your sauce and make meatball families. 

*just incase your wondering; you have to make the meatballs all the same size (or cook similar sizes together) because the bigger ones will take longer that the small ones to cook thru... leaving you with some uncooked and some too crispy...

I think my favorite item of the day were the cherry turnovers. I was slightly disappointed to have run out of powdered sugar and had to skip the frosting part... but they were spectacular despite the set back.

What are you making these days?

LOVE headboard knock off - part two

after a few persistent emailers I gave in and photographed the headboard I chatted about a few weeks ago....here. 

So these are 'real' photos verses the photo-app pic from my phone. 

Please note I in the middle of moving and my apartment is slow being dissembled....I can't wait to get this headboard in the new house with the new bedspread and .... sleep.

bad day.

this is what a bad day looks like. 

kate and I had been at each other all day - just plain cranky. and I was trying to finish up my gift for brad for valentines...which needed to be sweet but free since he got me a killer gift and i had no budget. 

all day long i worked on compiling photos and loading them onto the photo frame that I was no longer using for biz stuff ... and finishing up a fantastic graphic I made just for him. it would be something original and something I made just for him and free because I already had the frame.

then it happened. 

kate tripped over the cord which made the frame fling off the table and the glass shatter into pieces.

so there we are both in tears which turned into giggles.... 

we ended up taking all the glass out of the frame and the screen still worked - all was fine. 

In the end kate's crayon drawing got MANY more raves than my awesome graphic work. Moral of the story: paper doesn't shatter and crayon drawings are way faster. Keep it simple next time.

Raspberry Bites

I recently co-hosted a baby shower and had the grandest ideas. 

but everything fell apart (on my side of things). everything.

the cake was going to be a four layer Ombre Pink Cake with white frosting... So cute and simple. I had actually made the cake once before so I knew it would a winner. 

I began making gum-ball bracelets as a sweet guest favor.

I attempted homemade hummus - WITHOUT a food processor - which is crazy. 

Bunting of glittered letters would announce the theme and set the tone....

 

The first attempt at the cake fell off the counter while being frosted, the second attempt at the cake cracked in two after being layered. There were more guest than favors and the store ran out of gum-balls. Then the hummus was ruined by a meddling five year old and the the bunting letters got torn....

everything fell apart.

So I bought the cake + hummus, ate the gum-balls, and I trashed the bunting.

All that survived were the raspberry brownie bites. 

The shower went great - just the way it should and I am glad I was able to just let all the ideas and plans go. After all,  paying attention to the guest of honor was the important part... and all the oooh+ahhhs over the cutest bake in the world would have just been distracting.  

jumping into spring

kate's style is developing in her drawings. this is a favorite of mine she drew back in Jan (2011) 

it has kept hope for spring alive during the uncharacteristically chilly texas summer.

headboard love

Source: housetweaking.com via Carrie on Pinterest

 

 

 

I stumbled upon this headboard on one of my favorite blog - since that first day it was posted, it has quickly become quite talked/pinned/blogged about. 

 

I was terribly smitten but hesitant about doing something similar or actually doing the same thing.

as a social type I like to share everything - where, how, what I am doing ....

as a creative type I do NOT like being copied - i prefer to be original or inspired but different. 

In this case I was TERRIBLY conflicted. Do I just do something similar or do i try to twist the concept for

the sake of not being the same.

After pulling together a few different interpretations I headed to my dads house to  beg him for some

 old fence panels and jumped in. 

First of all, this is not as easy as it might seem. I tried to have my own spin but I always felt like I had

something that was just "alright". It would be one of those items in your house that you always feel

the need to explain how "this item is just ok, but you should have seen the awesome original" 

and I DO NOT want to feel the need to explain...

So I went back tot he original post and just stared at it. then I realized something very important.

The post was a tutorial. TUTORIAL. They imply the expectation of people making their own.

I put on my big girl panties, swallowed my creative pride and made myself a headboard.

It's not exactly the same but it's obvious that it was made to look like the original. and I LOVE it.

Absolutely love it.

Here are a few iphone snapshots from the actual project day - Hopefully after a few more bedroom projects I will grab some serious photos of this baby.

 

In my dads garage where I had to paint due to the rain.

The headboard right after my mom and I showed off our muscles and heaved it up the stairs and into the apartment. I figured I should do it all before Brad got home from class....this way he would be more inclined to love it or at least live with it!

books + stop motion = birth of a new obsession

this makes me want to stop my entire life and just learn & create stop motion videos. it's like i have caught some kind of sickness and all i can do is dream of great stop motion opportunities...

 

int he meantime i will let these guys totally rule the stop motion world with this excellent book organizing video. bookcase, get ready.

 

kate + snow

unicorn + dog

I found these my old scanner this morning... Kate says she was trying to make copies to send to her friends but the scanner wasn't working. I decided this was not a teaching moment and she could go at least another week or two before figuring out how to PLUG-IN the scanner before using it. She is slowly trying to take control over all my stuff and I am trying to hold the boundaries that keep creeping in.

She drew these lovelies back in January  - I love the way she gave herself an A+. 

 

 

Feeding Agnus.

This past Fall I had the JOY of photographing a friend for her senior photos ... and she has been raising a fantastic pig named Agnus.  I was able to bring Kate along for the shoot and she had a great time meeting + learning about Agnus the pig. 

SInce then Agnus has DOUBLED in weight and been to a handful of shows. Kate and I were talking one morning about how Agnus would be going to a Butcher at the end of her shows and Kate was sad.

She decided that she would rather raise a lamb so she wouldn't have to "send it the Chef" which is code for butcher. No matter how hard I tried I could not convince her that people also eat lamb. 

We were thrilled to find out that Agnus was not headed to the butcher but being sold to a breeder and would have the job of "Baby Mama"!  So we headed out to visit Agnus one last time before her last show.

It's quite noticeable that Kate has a whole different demeanor around animals. She is calm and attentive. She also can be uber-shy and quiet but SOAKS every word  you tell her in.  This whole animal thing might be more than just imaginary play. Do I dare ponder the possibility of 4-H? I am not sure I am ready for this. 

I do know that she loves animals and pushed through her ridiculously strong gag reflex to be with the 350+ lb pig. She still get timid to try something new with everyone watching...but as soon as i tried (miserably) she would say " that not how you do it mom- watch me".

Thanks 'M' for a FANTASTIC afternoon and teaching us so much about pigs! 

 

a locket, a cheese, & snitch

Kate got a cute little locket for valentine's from my mom. It's just a little cheap metal locket with gold paint from Walgreens - a trinket in her valentines gift bag - but she TREASURES it. 

I tried to take a quick snapshot of her but she was refusing - Finally she says "Mom, I will smile once - i hope you catch it." 

Ha! I did catch it you little mischief maker!

I shouldn't be so surprised that she loves her locket. I also received a locket for Valentines! 

Brad gave me a Snitch! I really love it. Now everyday I have this huge dilemma of figuring out whether to wear my awesome photo album locket from my mom or my Snitch. Such decisions!

Chicken Pot Pie - and no one died.

I managed to produce not one - but TWO beautiful chicken pot pies. 

People ate and no one died. Which good because I took one to Brads grandparents!

The funny thing is ... I can't really say if it was good or not because I don't even like Chicken Pot Pie. The crust was amazing and i can't wait to make a sweet pie so I can enjoy the crust in all it's glory.

 

http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/02/how-to-make-pie-crust.html

wood: to burn or not to burn

 

Recently my dad tackled the project of replacing his fence and along the way he built this nook for his firewood. Although I am sure he did it for practical reasons...I am completely spell-bound by it's neat design.  I just can stop looking at the all that wood piled up and I love the seemingly clean repetition but know that it's totally made up of irregular mis-matched forms. 

So can you imagine my joy to find a photo of a fireplace full of logs just like this....

What a perfect way to make use of a fireplace in this warm weather land called Texas. Granted Brad will never agree to letting me purchase a house solely based upon the fact it has a fireplace with the intention of filling up the fireplace with wood, never to be burned. 

But I must admit that when I am browse houses online I am avidly look and thinking about this very thing.

 

Source: curbly.com via Carrie on Pinterest

 

Sweet but Fashionable.

Inspiration:

This great Valentine's gift on Creature Comforts Blog - It looked like the prefect party favor for a girly baby shower.

Source: creaturecomfortsblog.com via Carrie on Pinterest

 

 

And so it begins with a bowl full of ribbon, gum-balls and sharp objects.

I have to say the hardest part is poke the hole ... I ended up using a mechanical pencil (empty and clean) to poke hole and then twist into a bigger hole. Then turning the gum-ball to the other side make the other hole without crushing the the gum-ball.  

I was watching TV while I did this but that turned out to be risky since during intense scenes I would crush the ball and then eat it. Three bracelets later I had a mouth full of gum!

the sad part of the story is that I had more guests at the party than bracelets and so I never used them - but kate and I wore/ate them for DAYS!

...and carry a big stick.

Teddy Roosevelt's slogan was to "Walk softly and carry a big stick"

well, we have the big stick part down.

just an average day at Gigi and Poppi's  dragging sticks around the yard with the mini-Jeeps. 

I am pretty sure Hunter was the "stick-watcher" for this load.