Category: Life

Psst! I’m Posting More Over There

I’ve found that quick status updates take a moment, while blog posts take me a while. (Especially recently with my laptop’s hard drive on the fritz.) As a result I’ve been posting more on Facebook and less here on my site, particularly since we started “officially” homeschooling. That makes me a little sad. I’m going to work harder on finding a better balance between the two in the new year.

The Creative Salad on Instagram

In the meantime, here’s a brief snippet of some of the things I’ve shared recently via social media.

Via The Creative Salad Facebook page:
Recent status updates from The Creative Salad on Facebook

And a couple photos from Instagram…
The Creative Salad on Instagram
Left: Thanksgiving storytime with daddy! (The baby kept interrupting the story to give David kisses — so sweet!)
Right: Family piano playing… They weren’t noisy at all.

The Creative Salad on Instagram
Left: Oh, that baby face. (From a trip to the beach with my folks in October. Thanks to my mom for this sweet photo!)
Right: Caught in the act: big sister’s not home, so the baby headed straight for her room. (I originally thought he wanted to play with her stuff, but she thinks he was looking for her and I think she’s right! Oh, that sibling love…)

p.s. You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Handmade Holidays

I feel like I can finally take a deep breath: the baby and our Christmas Tree have peacefully coexisted for over two weeks now. I just wasn’t sure how that was going to go down.

Getting ready for Christmas

To make the tree baby safe, we only placed ornaments on the top two thirds. True, our tree does look a little wonky top heavy, but it’s still standing and only one ornament has been pulled off. The baby reports that the red, hand-blown glass ball ornament tasted delicious. (Mama is truly relieved it’s still in one piece.)

Getting ready for Christmas

Each year we decorate our tree with handmade ornaments, some made by us (like these felt stars, tree, and birds), others made by artisans and friends. Several are heirloom ornaments from my mother-in-law’s childhood. We treasure each one.

Getting ready for Christmas
Getting ready for Christmas

We also like to throw on a home-strung popcorn garland and dehydrated citrus slices reminiscent of stained glass windows. Both of those projects are still in-progress.

Getting ready for Christmas

I think the whole thing looks rather lovely and simple this year. I love perfectly imperfect things.

Getting ready for Christmas

The gifts haven’t been quite as organized or handmade. We’re running late with everything. No cards have been sent out. Holiday presents are halfway made and scattered. (While homeschooling activities are piled high across the kitchen table.)

Getting ready for Christmas

It’s just one of those years where I need to be gentle and forgiving with myself because reality may fall short of my (evidently extremely unrealistic) expectations.

Getting ready for Christmas

Right now I choose to spend my energy and time with my kids, reading holiday books together on the couch, baking almost healthy treats, spending as much time as we can outside before the rains of winter (hopefully) come. We’re making memories that will last a lifetime.

Breathe in, breathe out. Hello, holidays. It’s almost Christmas.

Heading into November

Hello, mid-November. Where did you come from?!

She loves playing that purple guitar

The last few weeks has been a whirlwind of visits with family and friends. David’s mom came to help us while he had knee surgery (which went well and he headed back to his daily yoga practice two weeks post-op).

Each visit was wonderful, although I admit that we may have been burning the candle at both ends these past two months. As soon as our company left, we all took turns being sick, battling stomach flu, head colds and fevers. Clearly we needed to rest and recover, plus find time to knit.

Knitting

Now we’re (finally!) feeling healthy and it’s time to get back to the rhythm of daily life just the four of us. After being stir crazy at home, it’s a treat to step outside and enjoy this gorgeous California fall weather. Family nature walks, autumn festivals, trips to the playground, and time with friends were much appreciated treats this week.

I caught him standing on the piano to look out the window

With homeschooling and the holidays coming, every moment feels full. We have some major crafting and gift making ahead of us this month too! I can’t believe we have just over one week until Thanksgivukkah. Have you started getting ready for the holidays yet?

And, yes, that photo is of my son standing on the piano so he can get a better look through the window. That boy…