what's goin' on in the hiz-ouse.

Some of these pictures are a month or two old, but come on...like you care. Cute is cute, even if it's outdated by a month or so.

Here's Reid after breakfast one morning and he got out a little clementine cutie, one at a time, and counted them. It was really sweet.

Dane at breakfast making spit bubbles.
Erik with our boys, seriously, could they all be any sweeter? No, I don't think it's possible. It's easy to see where the boys get their good looks from. I hope that someday one of our kids will hit the jackpot and get Erik's blue eyes.

At this point Alec still had one goopy eye, but they are both clear now. He's had issues with both of his eyes and blocked tear duct drainage systems, or something like that. He was going to have to have a small operation where they put him under anesthetic and just kind of pop out the blockage, but luckily both tear ducts opened on their own.
This is what it looks like after bathtime. Pure crazy. Limbs flying around and naked babies trying to get free and then running around while we're trying to lotion them up and get diapers and pajamas on them. It's like the most stressful 5 minutes ever.
Reid's joy in life: making new combinations of Mr. Potato Head. He does it all the time and comes up to me with a new creation, and he's always so excited and proud. It's adorable.
Most mornings the boys all get to play outside and just goof around for a while. Sometimes it's a little chilly, so they have to wear coats and hats, but it's getting warmer.
Some indoor play. Here's Dane after one of their favorite scores, finding Dad's motorcycle vest.
Big smile from Alec.
Another appearance from Mr. Duck. He's still so into Mr. Duck.
The huz had a birthday two weeks ago and turned 34. I say, 34 never looked so good. He got some more camping equipment for the many campouts he has planned with the scouts, some handsome new dress slacks, new cologne (that one may be more for me...) and lots of slobbery kisses. From the boys, of course.

Here's Erik with his cake, a Martha masterpiece.
Reid can't wait for some cake! I used this cake recipe and this frosting. It was intense, but very good. Next time Erik requests a chocolate cake, I think I'll try a different cake but stick with the same frosting. The frosting was dense, glossy, and heavenly. Of course it was, the two ingredients are cream and chocolate chips. 4 cups of cream! Crazy.

There were three layers and it was seriously huge. Ever since I was a kid and watched Pollyanna, I've always wanted to make a huge layer cake. It fulfilled a deep-rooted childhood Disney fantasy. Speaking of, Reid needs to see Pollyanna. He's seen the Parent Trap and Summer Magic, so he NEEDS to see Pollyanna.
Here are the boys enjoying a movie together. They love sitting here, each with a blanket, staring right into the TV. They last for about 8 minutes that way and then run around the room playing while the movie just kind of happens in the background.
Remember my spending hiatus? It's going pretty well, except for maybe my new obsession with Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics. Well, the obsession is not new, but the flood gate finally burst and I've been snatching up some fabrics on ebay. This is one collection of 6" charm squares that I didn't win, but wished I paid more attention to it and had won it. Look at that triangle pennant print in the bottom left! Perfection!
I did, however, pick up a little more than a yard of this gorgeous print, "Betsy" in green. This is probably my favorite, and will maybe end up as a dress someday. For my someday baby girl. I just hope she doesn't puke as much as Alec and Dane did/do, because puke doesn't belong on Liberty Tana Lawn. True business.
Lastly, have you seen this couch at Anthropologie? Like I would ever spend that on a couch, but come on, it's so beautiful! I can't even stand it. And imagine how lovely in a living room with our black piano and with my someday/dream house white glossy floors...

Then again, Alec puked all over our couch in the living room last night, and baby puke on a couch this lovely would cause me to cry for a full fifteen minutes...

So, I'll just keep this in my dream house file in my brain grapes.

the spending hiatus.

Not to be all doom and gloom and stuff, but I truly feel like we are on the brink of financial meltdown in this country. It seriously scares me. For some frightening enlightening, check out this movie I.O.U.S.A. (if you have netflix you can watch it instantly online). It's terrifying and captivating.

What scares me is that we used to be a nation of producers, and we are now a nation of consumers. Someday, I fear, our rainy day will come and we have a string of generations that not only don't have savings, but they have serious debt. What will our Great Depression look like in a nation of citizens that don't know how do acquire something without money? What happens when money isn't worth anything?

This is the bigger reason for me to want to buy land in Washington. I have this deep, burning concern/desire/inspiration to learn how to be more self-sufficient. I want to be able to take care of myself and my family. I want to buy land, in a place where things grow, and learn how to work the land. I realize that it sounds so "Far and Away", but that's exactly what I want. I want land. Land of my own.

I want the security that comes from having water from my well, food from my garden, milk from my cows, eggs from my chickens, etc. I want to know that if this monstrous government (and growing bigger by the day) fails me in a huge way, that I can take care of my family. That's what is concerning to me, that during the Great Depression, people knew how to get by with less. With next to nothing, actually. Our generation doesn't know how to do that. That's scary.

Erik and I have never been huge consumers, but there's definitely room for improvement. But more than reducing consumption, I want to shape how our family views things, how we see our needs and wants, and how to "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

Hence the spending hiatus. I like a blog called Simple Lovely, and she's done what she calls a spending hiatus a few times (click here to read all her posts about that) and I've always been interested in the idea. More than the outcome, I've been interested in her purpose and what she wanted to achieve.

Joslyn outlined her goals, and the one that really struck me was,

"We’ll spend even more time ingraining in our girls the value of things, how lucky we are and how quickly life can change…how to adapt."

That's exactly the goal. To really understand how lucky (blessed, really) we are and to learn to not take it for granted.

Stay tuned for how this spending hiatus plays out, what tempts me to buy it, and what I don't really miss.