birthday baby beds
This is what the children requested for Zion's homemade birthday present. Baby beds. It was a collaborative effort between the in-house seamstress and the in-house woodworker. Which is to say, mama and dada.
tucking in pow pow
The boys both picked out their fabric from the shelf of cotton and I made the simplest pillow/quilt combinations I could come up with. Lines and squares. I don't have a lot of solo sewing time these days, so I'm not really stretching myself creatively. You want a quilt? You can have lines or squares. You can have anything you want, as long as I can do it nearly in my sleep.
well matched for my well matched boys
Dan did some fancy wood-working to produce the beds, which involved the scroll saw I annoyingly gave him for his birthday last year. ("Here's a saw, now make waldorf toys! I can't make them; you make them! happy birthday!")
We finished up the mattresses and mattress-holding-elements just a few hours before Zion's party. Dan didn't want to finish the frame until he saw the stuffed mattress, and I didn't want to make the mattress until I could see the frame. We've been married for seven years now, but one of these days we'll figure out how to work on something together. Then on Saturday afternoon when we were sewing and nailing AND hanging up party decorations I said to Dan, "We can really get stuff done if we leave it to the absolute last minute."
nice and comfy
At any rate, the babies in this house are very well-cared-for. Sleep well sweet PowPows!
what are you doing with your life?!
We've been pretty busy lately, alas. So many great observations and events going unrecorded! I'm back to full time at work for a while, we're scheduled with regular weekday activities three nights a week, there are birthdays to celebrate, we're attending day-long classes at church two weekends in a row... and on top of all that I'm trying to get the back of the house painted in the next week and keep the garden moving forward, while Leah is doing champion work keeping the house from descending into chaos (despite what she says, I think it's actually getting cleaner and more organized as time goes by!). I know none of this is of interest to you described in this fashion, but it may be that by the middle of next week we'll be able to take a breath and be witty and entertaining again. Or even before, who knows; we do enjoy the blogging, when we can find the time for it.
what every mother wants to hear
Harvey shouts through the closed bathroom door:
"Mama, does even praying make blood quickly heal?"
"What's that? Are you asking if praying heals you from bleeding?"
"Yes."
"It does... are you bleeding?"
"I bited my tongue."
"Do you want me to pray for it?"
"It only hurts a little. You can make a decision when to pray for it."
"How about when you're all done pooping."
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(I don't have any big thoughts to write about this conversation, I just want to post it to the blog so I can save it for posterity. I don't know how this thing will go, this experiment in faith, trying to raise children with the knowledge of a powerful God while being a very flawed person myself who is sometimes very far from God's love and power. I have big hopes for Harvey, but I know that life is unpredictable, and whichever way this thing turns out I want to remember when he was nearly four he asked me for clarification about the immediate power of prayer while he was on the toilet.)
more partying
enjoying the day
Today saw day two of the weekend-long celebration of Zion. Since the party was all afternoon a delightfully long portion of it could be spent outside.
Harvey was otherwise engaged
Not that there'd be anything wrong with throwing two parties just for the fun of it, but today's festivities were officially in honor of Zion's dedication at church, which conveniently happened to fall on the weekend of his birthday. The brief ceremony went off without a hitch (if you don't count Harvey choosing not to join us on stage) witnessed by all four grandparents. Then it was home for more food, including the rest of the birthday cake.
reprise
So fine was the day, we couldn't resist breaking out the sports equipment.
missed!
Zion is a little too young for racquet games, though, so mostly he just chilled out and watched.
he likes his bottle
We started at 1:00 and didn't finish up until it was getting chilly and a little dark outside; our friends and family very nicely staggered their attendance so were were able to hang out with everybody in equal amounts. It was lovely.
And of course, you know it's been a good party when you end up without any pants on!
the end of a long day of partying
Happy Birthday Zion!
birthday fun
We celebrated Zion's birthday today with the grandparents, and a fine time was had by all. Thanks to the grandmas there was lots of food.
the groaning board
I contributed the cake, three layers of yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
tall and rich
Harvey orchestrated much of the present-opening, but he made sure to let Zion play with some of the toys. Grandpa helped.
getting right down to business
More partying will follow tomorrow. I hope you feel celebrated, little 2-year-old!