and one for elizabeth of course, too.

thank you, thank you erin. and don't worry about adding fuel to the fire.
We're embracing it.

happy weekend.

there are two things that continue to inspire and astonish me in this blogging community: the encouragement and giving spirit of so many of you.

Your comments and emails lately have been so warm and helpful when I needed it most and was suffering from quite a little funk.

I'm happy to report that I think I'm emerging a bit from the first trimester blues. The nausea is definitely still there. Even today at lunch, I just sipped a little iced tea because nothing really seemed appealing. But the last few days, I've felt some energy returning and that feels good! I have been feeling trapped in a fog (like those goofy claritin commercials) that is now slowly rising and clearing away. But ahhh, normalcy feels so good!

Meanwhile, this week I received two wonderfully unexpected packages from Sally and Alina.

First of all, my dear friend Sally sure knows how to put together a parcel. Of course, I have no pictures to prove it because the package didn't even make it inside before being opened. The girls and I sat on a bench outside and tore into it....but from the cute address labels, to the orange tissue paper, drawstring paper bags and labelled gifts...just the packaging alone took so much care and time.

my part of the parcel included her amazing gift tags, the sweetest card, these fantastic erasers(that I've searched everywhere for to no avail) and this fantastic japanese craft magazine/book:

as they all are, it is full of inspiration...a few inside shots here....

Sally even included two golden books for the girls. Don't you love the old golden books? Lots of memories from growing up....Mary got a little Richard Scary word book, currently tucked in a tangle of blankets inside her crib for naps, and Emma got this book which has prompted the purchase of a nurse's kit, little "red and green pills (smarties)", and lots of pressure for me to stitch up a nurses cap. (who knew you needed so much heavy duty starch for one of these babies?).

Between visiting me in the hospital, the purple doctor's gloves, and holding my hand and rubbing my forehead during shots, these girls can't get emergency medical play off the brain. So this book just added more fuel to the fire.

As if that wasn't enough for one girl, the next day, I got a surprise package from Alina. Alina bought some buttons from me, which led me to her blog where she shows some of her beautiful jewelry. I love the colors she chooses and all the wooden beads that are in her work. I've really been digging wooden beaded jewelry lately....I even think she's opening an etsy shop soon, right alina??
I was the first person to comment on her blog and after my rough go of things last week, she decided to send me a little care package. It contained one of my favorite necklaces of hers, and a few vintage buttons...

Thank you so much ladies for your sweet gifts. You are too good to me.

And thanks again to all of you for sweet comments and emails. You are good to me, too.

More crafting coming soon, I can feel it....

The mailman has been good to me lately...the mailman who lets me put envelopes in the mailbox without postage and never gives me that little brown envelope for postage due, the mailman who wants to buy tomatoes from me for his brother's restaurant but doesn't know I have ONE little tomato plant in my garden...

Anway, the first was an early birthday present from one of my dearest blogging friends. When Blair asked me if I would mind one of her quilted bags instead of the tea cosy that we had been talking about, I about spewed my cup of coffe on the computer screen. Did she even have to ask?? I told her I wanted to be surprised and that she could do the picking for me as far as colors and fabrics (I love a little surprise now and then), and man, did she pick the perfect bag for me!

I love every yummy slice of fabric on this bag--from the green cursive alphabet to the tea cups and saucer fabric, to the vintage prints and polka dots. Its wonderful and so exciting to actually have a true blair bag in my posession. And the small details hidden inside make it so unique and special, too.

And to top it off, she sent along some other goodies from the daiso store near her house, including the cutest little "roly-polies"-- as we call them in our home-- wooden toys for the girls...Thank you Blair. Really-- a big thank you.
Awhile back, I  came across alicia's wonderful blog after scrolling through the tie one on smock entries. Her simple little linen smock was one of my favorites and when I commented on how much I loved it she offered to make me my very own in exchange for one of my pendants.

I obviously got the better end of the deal, in my opinion. The smock is wonderful! Fits perfectly, even though I'm not wearing it in the picture--I'm too hot, sticky and nasty to pose for a photo right now. I absolutely love it and can't wait to wear it with a little tee and a pair of jeans. Thank you so much alicia!!

And last but certainly not least-- this wonderful CD came from Courtney at two straight lines.

When I saw the list of songs she put together for her kid's music swap CD, I knew we must be something like musical soulmates...so she offered to send me a copy. And we love it. Just today, I put it on again in the car and Emma said, "mom, you really like this CD don't you?" That says it all. If I didn't have a crafty/family blog, I'd probably have a music blog. I love music and even more than that, I love discovering new music. So this one is a big score for me.
Thank you so much Courtney. Once I get my act together, I'm going to send you a CD in return. I think you'll enjoy it.

I wish you could see what I see right now. In fact, I've taken pictures of it, but they're not the type you share on a public website--definitely family only pictures.
I'm sitting under the picnic table umbrella in Pa's back yard, enjoying his wireless connection, while my two naked babes enjoy some time in the wading pool. By now however, they've migrated from the pool to the chinese elm and those naked bums are climbing and crawling all over the twisted tree limbs. This is their 'house' where they've returned for swimming supplies, most importantly towels. They are having a very serious conversation about what they'll need for the pool and Mary is calling Emma, "Sammy". I have no idea on that one.
Anyway, back to the title of this post. Can you say, "holy MO-ley!!"? I'm sure saying that after the goodness that spilled from my mailbox yesterday. I admired some wonderful fabric that she scored at a garage sale--the white with red children's silhouettes at the bottom. Isn't it lovely? She offered to share some with me. Um...yes!! thank you! and look what else she sent along. You truly spoiled me Mo. Really
spoiled me.
She listed where each piece of fabric was from... 

The yellow fabric is actually a lovely linen, and the pillowcase is soon to become a summery dress...

and I'm gasping over this horse fabric. reminds me of the horses from the misty of chincoteague books.

and finally a bag filled with lovely gifts tags and cards. i love them.

She also sent a CD of summery songs, that I can't wait to listen to, but 'pooh!' won't play on my mac. So I'm sending it over to my Dad to hopefully convert for me? (can you do that daddy?) Thank you, Mo. You are too sweet and too generous. One of these days, I'm sure, a little thank you will arrive at your door.

This big stack of stuff went to the post office today. It was quite a production. Thank goodness it is a small local post office because by the end one of my children had cleared the shelf of priority mail envelopes, and the other was laying on the floor, no shoes, dress up, diaper showing singing "shrinkle, shrinkle little star" at the top of her lungs. 
Praise the Lord for my patient postal clerk and an empty post office at 11:00 am!

I caught my little four-going on-fourteen year old pouting behind my bed today. If you could see the rest of her, there'd be tightly crossed arms and a deep scowl. This is her new thing lately, finding a place to go off in a huff of anger. I can't even remember what this was about this morning. Probably that I wouldn't give her a second piece of toast with nutella on it or something....But anyway she pulled out of her slump and we're all feeling much better now...
I, on the other hand, am not pouting because I've been blessed with two great packages of late. The first being my kid's CD swap from tracy and her girls.

She and I have decided to share the throne as "queens of procrastination" since we are both quite tardy on our swapping. Me being the tardiest of the two. But her package was definitely worth the wait. The music is phenomenal. I quickly took the CD with me on my errands while the girls were home napping with Dan. Much of the music (tho' not the artists) is new and I love it! love it. And of course, sweet tracy and her girls packed in some extra goodies. For me, it was a bunch of scrumptious linen and some cram-cream deco tape (which I have been eyeing on ebay). And for the girls it was the cutest little bags, stickers, a sunprint kit and a hopscotch kit. (We had a mean game of hopscotch in the driveway that night!) So a big thank you to tracy and her girls. We love/loved/are loving it all!

And I also received my package of gift tags from dacia's swap. they are all so lovely and unique. It is wonderful to see what everyone came up with. However, I took my picture of the tags outside on my porch, and just as I snapped the picture, one flew off the porch into a tall rose bush climbing up the steps. So the picture will have to wait until I retrieve the runaway tag. But they are all lovely. I promise.

Last night I finished Jeannette Walls's book, The Glass Castle. Wow, she is an amazing writer, but what a horrible life story. If the book hadn't been a true story of her life, I would definitely have put it down. It was one of those books that just left you feeling sick and gross in parts. Now, I'm picking up The Time Travellers Wife for next month's book group, although Dan is dying for me to start reading his pick for me: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.

You'll probably notice some additions to my blog sidebars, too. I went back to the old format again. I've added a list of books that I have out of the library right now. This week's list includes some pottery books. After being 'excused' from the course work and going into the workshop, I'm starting to get a little insecure about my pottery knowledge. So I've been doing a little reading, which has turned out to be really inspiring and enjoyable.
I also added a list of books that the girl's are looking at. I told Emma we were going to learn about something this week, and it could be anything we wanted. Then, we'd get some library books out it. She chose flowers, and she's been carrying around that little field guide all week. Although I think she's impartial to small books since she brought a book up to me in the library last week and said, "can we try to find some more books that are this size?"
Speaking of books and children, I read something in Real Simple's Family special addition magazine this month that has me thinking. Some specialist on readding...(sorry, it's not in front of me right now) reccommended that as parents, we do not censor the things that our chidren read. If they want to pick up a book about Barney or Barbie, let them do it. As long as they are reading, it's all that matters. She says not to force the classics down their throats or try to dictate what they are or are not reading. Now, at first I could see her point, but the more I thought about it, the more I disagreed. I think it's a lot like television and the shows we allow our kids to watch. If you let your children watch junk, they are going to want to watch more and more of it. It's easy. It's completely catered to them and their little innocent minds. Somehow those television producers know exactly what hooks our children and it makes them only want to watch more--and if left to their own channel surfing kids would end up only watching the junk like Teletubbies and My Little Pony cartoons.
The same goes for reading, in my opinion. If I let them read every commercial character story that they picked off the shelf, and every book that doubles as a piano and songbook, I bet they'd never come back to Blueberries for Sal or Ferdinand the Bull.-with their beautifully simple pictures and classic storylines. So yes, I'm going to censor what they read, just like I censor what they watch. And I'll bet in the end they're no less voracious of a reader. And I hope they'll have a better appreciation for a timeless narrative, than a flashy piece of advertising disguised as literature.
phew. stepping down from my soap box. taking deep breath.

Last two quickies:
--a note about signing up for my email list. I get regular emails from people wondering when I'll have buttons and more pendants for sale. I try to keep a rag-tag list together, but it's pretty disorganized. So, if you're interested in any of these things, or just finding out when I update my etsy shop, please send me an email and I'll add you to the list. And if you've already contacted me, would you mind doing so one more time? Just so I can try to get it all in the same place. thanks.
--first batch of cuffs are in my etsy shop!