Etsy Gift Guide

Christmas is around the corner. I love the holidays,  I love Etsy..and I think that they make a beautiful team.  My children have enjoyed all of these gifts over the years and I have had great experiences with each of the shops. There are so many unique, imaginative  and beautiful toys to explore.

Suburbs Wooden Block set: www.etsy.com/shop/fidoodle

Wooden Playground: www.etsy.com/shop/SmilingTreeToys

Corduroy Robot: www.etsy.com/shop/Littlebrownbyrd

Fabric Wings: www.etsy.com/shop/GreenManShop

Playsilk Wand: www.etsy.com/shop/BeneathTheRowanTree

Reversible Cape: www.etsy.com/shop/firstcrushdesigns
Owl Snack Bag: www.etsy.com/shop/BebelooshMini

Wolf Mask: www.etsy.com/shop/herflyinghorses

Crayon Artist Case: www.etsy.com/shop/OurLittleMesses

Alphabet Puzzle: www.etsy.com/shop/JustOffNormal

                                                                Grandma's Buns

1 cup Milk (scalded)       1tsp sugar                                  4 cups white flour (approximately) 

1/3 cups white sugar      1 package traditional yeast        

2 tsp salt                         1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup butter                 1 egg

Directions:

Dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Add one package yeast. Let rise undisturbed for 10 min

Scald 1 cup milk (microwave or stovetop). Pour hot milk into mixing bowl and add 1/3 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 cup butter. Mix until well combined (The hot milk should melt the butter). Let milk mixture cool slightly.

Once the yeast has risen, add to mixing bowl.

Add one beaten egg and mix again.

Add two cups flour and mix with electric beater for two minutes. Add two more cups flour (or what feels like right amount). Dough should be very soft but not too sticky. If you don't have a dough attachment turn onto floured surface and knead for five minutes by hand. If using dough attachment mix for 1 or 2 minutes. 

Let dough rise for an hour. Punch down, form buns and let rise for another hour. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until brown. 

Brush bun tops with butter while still warm and enjoy!

Big event for Sophie last weekend, she was the flower girl in my lovely cousins wedding. Preparations went through a number of stages…mostly involving gently popping her many bubbles about what it would actually mean to be a flower girl. Never having been to a wedding in her 4 long years Sophia was under the impression that it was more of a performance piece than a ceremony and wondered in what part of the show she should do her “pump up” number… or if a “soothing dance” would be more appropriate. Once she figured out that she just walked up the aisle and stood still things seems a little bleak. Luckily the funky bride also thought it sounded a little dull and decided that the flower girls should blow bubbles and walk the ring bearer (who in this case was a dog in a tux) down the isle. Although this certainly lifted Soph’s spirits, even resulting in an impromptu “pump up dance”, it left me a little concerned. I have seen Soph walk our neighbors incredibly old dog and she can’t seem to keep from continuously yelling at the little guy - drill sergeant style. She feeds off the power. I can only imagine how happy she’d be if we had a leash for Sam. Because Soph is a dog yeller...we decided that she would blow bubbles on the way up the isle and could walk Oscar out after the ceremony when shouting would hopefully be less disruptive.
The walk through for the ceremony took place at 10 o’clock at night on Friday so the flower girls got a two minute briefing of how it would all go down as the guest were being seated. It was all looking smooth until they completely missed the isle and just kept walking; it took a couple people in the crowd doing giant airplane controller arms to get them on the right track, but they made is eventually. Sophie stood perfectly at the front…clearly somewhat delusional and under the impression that everyone was solely watching her while the bride and groom were more of a background feature. She even did the occasional, out of the blue, dramatic bow complete with hand swirl. When I asked her about it after she let me know it was “to make sure people knew she was talented”. Mission accomplished. It was a great day and we even managed to score a few pictures of us all together at the same time with eyes open...quite a feat ☺.

Spring is in the air…or at least it is when you hop on a plane and fly to a place where spring is in the air, which is exactly what we did this week. I am in love with it here. Any island that allows my three year old to see whales migrate, deer wander and sheep graze all in the same afternoon is a place I want to be. Wandering outside refreshes Soph’s mood and lets me see her imagination at play. This afternoon we looked for Little Red Riding Hood and Darth Vader on the same walk in the woods…alas they were nowhere to be found but that was soon forgotten when a perfect digging stick and some mud were found.

Our whale watching spot

Morning coloring

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At the beach

On one adventure in “Grandpa’s Forest” Sophie announced that she wanted to walk home alone. I have to admit that my first overprotective instinct was to say no. Luckily I caught myself…or possibly my husband said yes before I started to speak I forget… Either way she headed off on her own and we kept her little pink jacket just in sight. She exceeded my expectations by making all the right turns and I exceeded my own by only shouting “move more to the side of the road!” twice ☺

I have found that as a mom of two, my good intentions to write down every milestone, amusing comment, adventure, or project in the end rarely come to fruition. I almost always put it off thinking that I will take the time to write about my day once the kids are tucked in, only to find that come eight o’clock I’m no longer up for the task. And on those rare days when I do get it done, its usually scribbled down on something entirely random like the old grocery receipt that is still sitting on the nightstand a week after I tossed it there much to the chagrin of my husband. Either that or I sit down to write only to find that my chronic baby brain has caused the amusing antidote to almost slip my mind entirely leaving me with only an unsatisfactory remembrance of the whole story. And writing down jewels like “Sophie said that thing about cats today”…is not exactly the gold nuggets of her childhood that had hoped I would treasure and relay to her when she’s grown. Hence the blog…I am hoping that getting to combine writing with photography, something I happen to love anyways, will keep me focused and will put an end to months going by before I finally try to recall important thing in my children’s live like when exactly was it that Sam started to roll over….And if this fails I’m going to buy a receipt spike for my night stand.

Enjoyed painting a little bee while not watching the Superbowl ;)