I Am Me

Well, almost... Do you know that feeling? Somedays you are forgetting who you are and wishing you could be more like "her" "him" or "them" or maybe even just a little more like YOU, the real YOU?! Well, of course I am me but do struggle with those feelings and these past few weeks have been all about me with Mama's Day and my 34th birthday in this lovely month of May and made me think a little about someone I rarely think about - little 'ol me! I am so thankful for this moment in my life, all the wonderful time with my children that stretch into these lovely days filled with lots of hugs, adventure and learning, by all of us. Both of my children have taught me so much in these past five years about grace, mindfulness and good cheer. I realize how much I am growing with them and with each passing year I am becoming more confident and sure in my own skin. But I have so much work to do! One of my big goals is to become an accomplished guitar player. I have plucked away at it for the past few years with the goal of being able to play with family and friends in the quiet evenings. My Dad has played since he was 13, but it was never something he would freely do in front of us kids. I now ask him to play each time I go home, and the joy it brings my kids to hear either my Dad or I play is unreal. It makes me want to practice more, be better. So many things about my kids have me feeling that way... And then this year for my birthday, my husband got me the rock star of rock star presents, a handmade guitar by a really cool friend of his. It is UNREAL, custom made for me and the thoughtfulness of it all really blew me away. Did I mention we are getting him socks for Father's Day?! I swear he asked for them, but now I am wishing I had raised and sheared the sheep, then dyed and spun the wool to knit his socks instead of driving to L.L. Bean. But that is the other really special thing about being me this year (or any year), Far loves me no matter what and for all that love I am always thankful... So back to the guitar. Well, it is a project on my year of 34 manifesto, along with a few other things that I have been thinking of for years and really need to just sit down and DO. So although my kids groove like crazy to my mean rendition of twinkle, twinkle little star, I am pushing myself a little further on that front this year. Speaking of being busy, I now need to head out and build an airplane for Soren out of scrap metal by his birthday in August to justify all this happiness I have been given these past few weeks!

Notes about the guitar:
It is made with a bearclaw spruce soundboard, rare Hawaiian birdseye koa body (where we were engaged and later married), mother of pearl inlay around the edge, a wooly mammoth ivory saddle (no seriously!). Pretty amazing stuff.

May Day

Finally ringing in my favorite month of the year! So grateful for all the blessings of this Spring and am trying to finish projects so that I can abandon our little nest for the outdoors each day this summer and really appreciate the warmth and light. One of my big projects was making a doll (it is the third doll I have made for AnaSofia). THis time I wanted to make one in the Waldorf/ Bamboletta tradition. AnaSofia and I have been admiring them for awhile and I knew we would never fork over the $200 for a totally amazing, handmade one. SO... Being so much like my father, I decided I could make it myself. The materials themselves were fairly expensive (wool stuffing, handspun, hand dyed wool yarn etc) and then I had to tackle a "pattern" on my own. There are some great online tutorials to do the very difficult head and hair but nothing on body parts, so I came away with a bag full of misfit arms and legs but finally figured it out. The most challenging part was that, unlike other dolls I have made, the neck and body are attached to the head and stuffed before sewing on the arms and legs. I did a bum job (in my opinion!) of attaching the body parts but I know the kids are really happy with the results. My plan had been to finish the dolls for Easter, but I was still working on them that Friday and decided to abandon the rest of the work until another holiday because I really wanted to enjoy Saturday preparations rather than stressing out over finishing the dolls. Thankfully neither child minded because they had some other special homemade presents Sunday morning AND May Day was right around the corner so I aimed to finish them for today and with a little hard work I managed to just on time!
I made AnaSofia a matching dress for her to wear with her doll and Kasper has the same pants as his rockstar dude.

AnaSofia wanted a mermaid tail for hers and knew she would name it "Ariel".

The hair yarn is from a Cortland, NY gal (yay, supporting "local" handmade)and is so gorgeous and fun to play with. Kasper (THANKFULLY!) informed me right before I was about to give his doll a "boy" haircut that boy dolls "scared him a lot". Phew, so he has a long haired dude (it still looks like a boy to me even with the hair for some reason).

I filled the dolls with lots of love and hugs and was so happy for the joy with which they were received. I hope they will be special friends for many years to come.