making a new list for a new year

Find your 2013 printable kit, here!
Hello friends! Go here for the 2012 printable kit!

we went out for greek food tonight. and it was really good. partly because we were there without children. partly because we enjoyed our gyro’s with friends. partly because we were crossing the very last thing off of andrey’s list for twenty-ten.
…and partly because the food was really good.

i get a big fat D+ on my new years goal list. i took my big girl photography class in january, and sent letters to my sisters until february. nice. and despite seeing my list several times a day on the refrigerator, it ended there. i did however spend the year of twenty-ten growing babe. which should give me a little smidge of extra credit, don’t ya think?


i got this idea on a blog a few years back. it’s become a little family tradition of ours and we’re really looking forward to breaking the seal on that orange folder and reading the letters we wrote our future selves. i’m especially curious because that lindsay had no idea that this lindsay would be reading her letter come twenty-eleven with a little bit-o charlie grey in her arms. isn’t it wild how that works? i love the dreaming/scheming ahead and reveling in the retrospect at the same time.

i spent yesterday scurrying to cross something off of my goal list. one of my goals had been to master my illustrator program. yeah. not going to happen in one evening. i did manage to get in a little practice and got to work on making our new years packets for tomorrow nights festivities. everyone will get a goal card to fill out, a notecard to write a letter to themselves on, an envelope to stuff it in and a sticker to seal it up until twenty-twelve.

we keep our goal cards up where we can see them and if you’re like my husband, cross fun things off your list throughout the year. the last few years we’ve had a set of simpler questions to ask lucas and even had him draw a little picture on the back. i loved reading through luc’s old answers to see how much he’s grown.while learning new things last night – i made a PDF of our packets and figured out how to share them with you here!  i’d love for you to be joining us tomorrow evening while we daydream about the coming new year.
free printables:
+ goal cards
+ a letter to myself
+ envelope seals

happy celebrating, friends!
love, lindsay

baby mine.

charlie grey – month two

i’ve been writing charlie’s birth story in my mind. waiting for the right words to tell of how he came to me. and they’re starting to come. bits and pieces. the ones i remember and the ones that have been told to me. my births take a settling time. a getting used to before i can write them. i’ve still yet to write luc’s birth in my words – as it’s still settling. gavin’s came quickly. and i’m swimming in this little charlie-boy’s until i sort them out a bit more.

we like to joke that we should have named him charlie zen. he’s THAT good. and maybe we still will. something amazing has happened with me and raising up charlie. probably due to his zen-ness. it feels like i’ve had all the time in the world to soak him in. there was really no struggle to mother him. he just happened one morning and everything else just happened with him. while he is still growing too quickly – changing from newborn to baby in a blink - i feel like i’ve been watching him in slow motion at the same time.

i’ve been:
folding up the teeny-tiny clothes and pulling out the next size up.
watching baby wrists grow too chubby for handsome boy bracelets.
ohhhh-ing and ahhhh-ing  at more new smiley tricks and less sleeping bundles.

he’s growing and i’m watching.
he’s happening and i’m not missing a thing.
he’s calmed me and i’m soaking it in.

and… that’s a wrap!

  
christmas has been had.

a birth story

i cannot read this version of the nativity without weeping.
something connects with me.
a deep gratitude for this family.
sweet mary, her loving joseph and their boy.

merry christmas, my dear friends.
love, lin

the trimmings

the mood has to be right for me to package up my gifts.
it has to be just the right day. not too early in december but early enough that the packages get a spot under the tree for counting and re-arranging.
there has to be music. christmas music. classics and newbies. a little mariah carey. not-gonna-lie.

and i must be feeling happy.

i’ve kept an on-going collection of pretty trimmings under the table in my craft room for the last few december weeks. there’s been no handmade gifts this year. i crossed that off my list of to-do’s long ago – knowing that come the month of december i’d still be in the transitioning stages of welcoming boy three (whom we now refer to as mister-wild-charlie-grey.) wrapping the gifts up would need to be my creative holiday outlet.

i felt like a happy little birdie yesterday when i pulled out my collection. it was THE absolute last day to get packages off to the post office and i spent ALL of tuesday morning humming away at my kitchen table. but first i had to recover the gifts from their secret hiding places around the house. i studied them all one last time and daydreamed away about the people they were being sent off to.

this years collected trimmings:
*black yarn
*a yard of black + red lumberjack flannel
*silver striped masking tape
*teeny-tiny crisp white tags
*a spool of glittery silver ribbon
*clay monogrammed tags (made by lukey + me especially for wrapping day)


a phone call was made to my natalie-sister in the middle of my taping, tying and happy jingle belling.

“i’ve got three boys. one that must be carried. one that moves too fast and one that dilly-dallies. and i’ve got packages. big ones. i must get to the post-office. today! the line is going to be sooooooooo long. what would you do?” i asked. practically singing with gift wrapping giddy-ness.

we came up with several solutions.

some of the best:
*dropping the baby off to be snuggled –leaving me with only two wilds to wrangle
*hiring a car-sitter to sit in the car with the children
*stroller and suckers and a BIG red santa bag
*calling the whole thing off

luckily for me, andrey saved the day. and i went to post-office alone.
i sang carols the whole way there and may or may not have still used a big red santa bag. 

love, lin

i want to blog…

… but i’m much too busy.
must find a quiet moment soon. maybe.

where i belong

 
photo snitched from her

in the plans for months. big secrets kept with our lips sealed tight. and now we’ve already come and gone. checked every happy place off of a long list of must see’s. filled our bellies with the yummiest of foods. filled our suitcases with treasures. we were moved by music - in the car, in a theatre, in a giant conference center. we were moved by mountains. we shared late night worries and giggles until our eyes were closing. if you haven’t seen the sights with these ladies – well i think you should. they each have the perfect balance of sweet spirit/wild heart. i think my mom explained us something like this: “these are the girls that make things pretty.”

i am lucky.

read danyelle’s utah first’s here and marilyn’s notes here. and hopefully a hipstamatic photo or two will pop up here.

thank full

our “just add water” thanksgiving – 2010

table settings: lucas
put turkey in bag: andrey
stuffing: stove top
rolls: costco
pie crusts: pillsbury
baby milk: lindsay

supervisor: gavin – of course. 

baby mine

 charlie grey – month one
+++
this sweet boy is made of magic.
we’ve yet to really hear a cry from him.
he is peaceful and content.
+++
a champion nursling.
a growing wonder.
a deep thinker.
a bassinet sleeper.
a swing lover.
+++
a piece of baby cake.

right now:

dear passionista:
right now:

+ a blanket of calm happy is covering this little house. thanks to the fresh-still-falling snow.

+ i’ve got a belly full of peppermint hot cocoa. sipped from a red holiday starbucks cup. (the first real sign that winter is on it’s way.) a surprise treat from my true love.

+ my growing-too-fast charlie babe is snuggled up and swish-swooshing in his happy swing.

+ joe purdy pandora station humming through my cozy home.
heartbeats/jose gonzalez (dreamy)
and the happy thought of lucas declaring that we dance instead of walk today.

+ boys and their dear cousins pulling a bright orange sled in the backyard. i can hear them laughing. i can remember that happiness, too… a declared SNOW DAY!!! on cleveland street growing up.

+ still laughing at the thought of mini gavin in full snow-play garb for the first time. thinking i’ll call him randy for the rest of the afternoon.

+ thanksgiving feast on my mind. must buy a turkey! today! and make a few of these sweeties for my loves.

+ finally felt like making a holiday wishlist. must remember to tell andrey!

+ wishing you and a collected other few of my favorites would join me by the toasty fireplace. for music and giggles and fresh-baked-somethin’-good.

happy first snow, my friend. i know you love this. today i will love it for you, too.

but just for today.
love, lin

imagined: gratitude

through the speakers this very moment:
beautiful boy – ben harper

…she had her own little corner of the world.
it was bright with the colors of a string of peaceful prayer flags.
it was perfumed with handmade bars of patchouli soap. (heavy on the patchouli)
it echoed with her laughter like the happiest of franti songs…

while i was pregnant with boy three – i would often find myself counting the months ahead and wondering what belly and life would look like - come september. i wouldn’t be super huge yet. lucas would start preschool and i’d be able to load gavi up in the stroller and waddle ourselves over to pick him up.
september came and went and we strolled that belly just like i’d imagined.

come october i imagined - the baby nest would be ready. cath and her lil’ red mini would pull into the driveway and we’d settle in to welcome boy. i imagined she’d make herself a little space in the guestroom of her own. i imagined my labor would come. imagined the birth the best i could. knew the day would come that we’d know his name. that we’d ink his foot prints and introduce brothers. i imagined oatmeal for breakfast and her spaghetti. i imagined she’d paint with gavin and win his heart. that she’d sing franti and dance with my lukey. that she’d mother my husband with beef stew and spoil me with late afternoon naps. i imagined we’d stay up late and wish for my sisters to join us. i imagined my dad would visit and they’d whisper and snuggle like young loves. i imagined she’d visit old friends and even make new ones. that she’d midwife a few of my own.
 
i imagined that come november she’d pack up her things. bags a little fuller than when she’d come. that i’d bury my head in her shirt and cry my eyes out. that she’d kiss the top of my head and tell me she’d see me soon. that i’d send her off and we’d both be a little(big) bit different than when she’d come.

she left her corduroy coat on the back of her desk chair. and a few other things here and there. she left me with charlie grey. brother three. grandchild ten. born on a early sunday morning during a gentle rain. caught in her hands. my mama’s hands. just like i’d imagined…

kindred spirit

the house was peaceful for a minute this afternoon.
peaceful minutes are hard to come by in these new days as a mother of three littles.

during my minute:
gavin was deep nap sleeping
pandora was singing straight to my heart
-belated promise ring (iron + wine)
-and then you (greg laswell)
-nobody knows me at all (the weepies)
-all the way (glen hansard)
a dear friend was baby laboring at home just down the street
the perfect little ray of sunshine was peeking through our skylight
the mailman dropped a big box from canada on my doorstep
  
i snapped a picture of “wild charlie” lying in the sliver of sunlight.
turned up the pretty tunes and carefully opened my happy mail.

i can easily count on one hand a small handful of people that i have met and instantly felt a tug at my heart strings.

joanna is one of them.

bliss

    

this boy is a dream.
+++
i am in such a happy state of postpartum mommy bliss, right now.
just took in a big deep breath of my delicious newborn.
then wrapped him up tight and snuggled him into his bassinet,
so that i could sit back & study his baby perfection.
+++
he is calm.
peaceful.
the sweetest.
just like i knew he would be.

tricks & treats

 

chocolate is the best thing that ever happened to gavin west.
and having an entire blue pumpkin bucket filled with the stuff has put him into little boy gavin heaven. it’s gone everywhere with him today and he’s guarding it with every inch of his mini-gavin self.
++++
when luc first saw himself in the mirror with the painted mask – i saw him give himself a sly crooked lukey-smile and a thumbs up. aha! officially a mutant turtle. he woke up this morning with what was left of his leonardo mask. he wore flaking blue paint all. day. long.
++++
i love halloween. i love sending boys to bed with candy filled bellies for one night. i love a little orange and black spookiness going on. i love the vintage witch grammy bought and lucas taped up in his bedroom. i love trying to get gav to say trick-or-treat and him repeating “candy-candy-candy” instead. i love remembering the homemade costumes my mom spent hours on. and then the silly plastic ones we wanted the next year. i love that i gave in to the store bought leo suit and how lucas felt no shame in heading out last night as a teenaged turtle. i love that gavin let me gel his hair and wore argyle socks. i love that andrey took his boys to the annual trunk-or-treat all by himself and left me home to be a baby-mama for halloween and snuggle my newborn.

 

happy halloween!
from leo & geeky gavin

oh boy!

boy three is here!
we’re enjoying the most peaceful baby-moon with charlie and he’s currently snuggling his way right into this family full of boys.
birth story to follow…

thirty years of andrey

happy birthday to this boy.
so lucky that seven-plus of his thirty years have been spent with me.
++++

custom cake by kate

get ready… get set…

recipe for a good birth:
golden amber resin – voluspa candle
ol’ red plaid blanket
my mommy
andrey’s forearms (for holding on)
a complete baby nest

good music:
.into the wild soundtrack
.008-august passionista mix
.xobc
.xavier rudd mix

a safe place for the boys
a blessing
hot hot water
sonic’s “good ice”
burt’s bee’s baby lotion
white receiving blanket
happy birth thoughts from my circle of loves
deep breath
++++
a new boy
a name.

the brothers, three

the wee babe is on my mind.
i can picture it now.
this nameless new boy addition.
with just a few weeks to go – we’re ready.
++++
the brothers, three.
i can’t wait to watch them adventure together.
 

“in creating… she becomes herself”

i’ve been going to bed with PROJECT: craft on the brain for months now.
danyelle + i hatched the idea in our heads and we completely ran with it. no detail was spared. i really truly feel like it was a complete collaboration. both of our brains contributing tiny details that all seemed to fit perfectly together.
we were so excited when tickets were actually purchased + new friends + old friends were coming out of the woodwork to join us on our crafty adventure.

we felt so happy once every pretty-little-thing was in place + people began to arrive. danyelle + i had created the perfect space to inspire an amazing creative energy. i sat back and listened to the happy chit-chatter while stitching a little somethin’ sweet for the wee babe. 

i hope that all of those amazing women left feeling as happy as we did.
 
 

i’m a little sad to pack up PROJECT: craft. i want to collect everyone back up + check on their projects. i want to have my new friends over for lunch + visit some more. and of course danyelle + i have already got the wheels spinning for PROJECT: craft part two. will you join us next time?

be sure + check danyelle’s blog all this week. she’ll be posting all the teeny tiny details about our community craft night over there. i’m afraid that my big bellied pregnant self couldn’t stand to sit at this computer long enough to share them all with you here.

i’m so thankful to my sweet friend danyelle for appreciating + encouraging my lindsay-girl self to create. i’m amazed at what we did together.

and… he’s off!

it was a big week for us over here.
my biggest boy – mr. lucas jude himself started preschool.

his first year.
the big kid three-hours-a-day/three-days-a-week kind.
he was excited.
i was nervous.

i got up early and made boy a mickey mouse pancake.
he had no idea i was capable of such things.

we brushed teeth, combed hair, pinned buttons on his new backpack, tied new school shoe laces and sent text pictures to grammy.

oh – and had a talk about keeping his ninja turtle fighting skills in check while out in the real world.

i walked him into ms. kristen’s classroom fully expecting/hoping that he’d ask me to stick around.
instead he hung up his pack on the hook marked L-U-C-A-S and said, “bye mom!”

oh. <<lump in throat>>

run lucas run.
an invisible kite string connects me to you.  
++++
this is only the beginning, isn’t it…

a sweetest sunday

 
the morning started out in a scattered hurry. this usually happens when the church clothes don’t get laid out the night before and the boys don’t get soaked in the tub on saturday evening. but gavin woke up happy and andrey was willing to help and luc was already singing sweet happy boy songs. i ended up throwing on a pregnant-lady-tent-dress (seriously running out of options to cover this belly over here) tying my hair up in a pony tail and shuffling everyone out to the mini with bananas for breakfast.

we braved the walk-in-late and found a comfy bench near the front. just in time to raise my hand in thanks for my dear brother and his service to our neighborhood ward. just in time to hear his powerful testimony and feel a full heart.

this is not the first time his service in the church has blessed my own little life. i was reminded of the years he spent on his mission in spain that resulted in the baptisms of his three little sisters miles away back at home.
 
here i was today - years later snuggled onto a church pew with ALL of my boys. a bit disheveled but hearts full of gratitude that yet again, my dear brother’s years of service to this church have found me safely right where i was supposed to be.
  
a dear sweet friend of mine makes sure that the pulpit has beautiful flowers each and every sunday. these beauties are straight from her own rose garden. before leaving church to head home she caught up to me and asked if i would please take them home… “i can’t think of anyone who deserves these more than you today!” she said. and i love her for that. because i needed them.
they’ve added such a sweet and happy calm to this house all day long. lucas and i studied them and picked our favorites. we gathered around them for a spontaneous family treat of ice cream and rainbow sprinkles in the middle of the afternoon. they caught the sunshine and lit up my whole home/heart. and i can’t wait to wake up to them and my happy boys in the morning.  

happy sunday night, loves.
-lindsay