toddler boy fall picks! hurrah!

Guys there are more and more yellow leaves popping up everywhere and I can hardly believe it's actually fall! The state-fair is going on, the cranes are in the farmers fields all around my house and it's getting down into the 40s at night. FALL.

I posted some of my favorite fall items for baby girls a couple of weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to post my favorite fall items for boys. But just from two shops because:

1) I don't like and of Old Navy's toddler boy clothes, they just don't fit Riggs well (short and wide).

2) if I included Crew Cuts I would have to include basically everything on their website, and well, that just wouldn't work.

So. Here are my favorite items from Gap and Zara. And if you have boys over 3, you are soooo lucky because Zara's fall line for big boys is amazingggggggg. I can't wait for Riggs to grow a little bit so I can just buy. it. alllllll.

GAP

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

5 | 6 | 7 | 8

ZARA

1 | 2 | 3

4 | 5 | 6

7 | 8 | 9

currently {vol. 2}

thinking | about the fish that I should be filleting and packaging for the freezer while I blog instead. I'll do it later, I promise! Also about that kitchen up there. It's soooo cute! And I'm getting the kids a kitchen for Christmas, so I'm on the hunt!
listening to | Teri Gross' interview with Bryan Cranston, who won an Emmy award yesterday. Really interesting and funny...but when I hear his voice all I can picture in my head is Mr. White, ha. 
watching | Mad Men and I'm not sure what I think about that. It's so full of sad things and yet addicting to watch. I think my favorite thing is seeing what life was supposedly like 'back then'. Those women needed yoga pants and top knots soooo bad!
thankful for | that fish I mentioned earlier and how nice it will be to eat wild alaskan salmon all winter instead of just chicken and beef. Also for the gorgeous sunshine and the arrival of fall. Also for my gorgeous babies who fill my days with so much joy. And also (last also, haha, I promise!) for all the amazing pre-loved items I got in the mail yesterday (IG shops are amazing). 

But don't let these peaceful pictures fool you...babies be crazzzzyyy!!! 

harvest

We finally made it over to Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm (the local u-pick farm) yesterday to harvest some peas...one of my favorite vegetables in the whole wide world. There's nothing in the world like freshly shelled peas - better than dessert, I swear! I decided to go during lunch time so Riggs ate the food I packed in the wagon while Raina napped alongside him. I did some serious perfect-pod hunting and by the time we were ready to head back home (well, the kids were, I would have stayed longer if possible!) I had about half a 5-gallon bucket full.

When we got home I spent all of naptime shelling peas and watching Mad Men. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon, if you ask me. Of course, I missed carrots by a day, so I might go back this evening with my bff to get more peas and some carrots too. They go quick, so if you live in the area be sure to get over there and get your farmer on!

f r i d a y !

Yay for Friday! I had a super busy week this week with my instagram sale and doctors appointments and post office visits with both kids (man, those lines are K I L L E R!). I'm so ready for a slow paced weekend. And it's the last weekend before the fair starts, so that's really really incredibly exciting. I'm dying for the fair, I want to go every day haha. 

Here's my favorites from this week!!

 | ONE |

sweet moments with my beautiful babies. I feel so lucky that I'm blessed to

be their mama. Raina got her first mail this week filled with cute things that

I can't believe she'll ever fit into (and they're only size 9m) while wearing the

most beautiful cardigan that my second mom/aunt Connie knit for her. ♥

| TWO |

I think I'm just going to be posting cozy cabin pictures every week, I can't help it!

Doesn't this just look like the best place to spend a weekend, or two or three?! I

love the bookshelf over the window and all the pillows, reminds me of my inlaws

home across the bay from Homer. Perfect for a rainy windy day like today. ♥ 

| THREE |

I've been watching Mad Men (which for the record should be called "cheating men")

and am so in love with the ultra-feminine clothes they wore! That full skirt and tights

just looks perfect for fall and is a modern adaptation of those lovely sixties styles. ♥

| FOUR |

Isn't this the truth? ♥

berry season = best blueberry oatmeal pancakes ever!

It's berry picking season in Alaska and they are plentiful this year! We went and got over five cups of blueberries in Hatcher's Pass last week, and I've been seeing pictures of all my friends with buckets brimful of the small, tart berries.

I've also seen the same question over and over - now that I have the berries, what do I do with them? Well let me tell you, you make pancakes! Amazing (and healthy!) blueberry oatmeal pancakes, filled with yogurt, oats and a whole cup of those juicy berries you just picked. 

I add chocolate flavored wheatgrass powder to Riggs' and sometimes switch out the blueberries for chocolate chips. Yum!

blueberry oatmeal pancakes

 original recipe here

why go outside?

It was 4:37 in the afternoon and I hadn't gotten as much done during naptime as I had hoped. There were still so many things I needed to get done and just a little over an hour before Steve would be home. Starting to feel overwhelmed, I started running around the house trying to prioritize what needed to get done. Riggs was following me around, "I wanna go outside, mama," over and over (and over).

I closed my eyes and wished I had some help so that he could play outside while I finished chores inside. I felt guilty that we hadn't gotten outside yet. I felt guilty that I didn't have everything done. I felt guilty that I was feeling so grumpy and was being short with him while trying to get everything done. And then the baby started crying, needing me too. 

At that moment, I knew it wasn't the chores I needed to be doing. I needed to get outside. I needed to get outside. I opened the front door, "Everybody outside!" I said, and both Riggs and Tutka ran excitedly down the stairs and into the yard. I nursed Raina while I watched Riggs play, and then laid her down to nap in the sunshine. I breathed deeply of the fragrant summer air, feeling my shoulders drop and some of the tension leaving my neck. I leaned my head back against the railing and just soaked it in.

I listened to the gentle gusts of wind as they came closer and closer, the ebb and flow of rustling leaves so soothing. I heard the chimes hanging from the porch above me as they rang against each other merrily with the breeze. The birds sang as they flew to and from the feeder and the flapping of their tiny wings so close to me as they hovered here and there brought a smile not only to my face but to my soul. 

Riggs came up to the porch and sat cross-legged with me and then when we saw a trail of ants marching by us we watched them intently for over fifteen minutes. The clouds kept on floating by overhead, and I thought of a quote I've read over and over:

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu

currently

thinking | Robin Williams' apparent suicide is really getting me down. My friend Lena said it perfectly, "So sad that a man who made so many people happy took his life because of depression." I struggle with understanding severe depression, especially when it causes thoughts of suicide. I just don't understand what could have been so hard that he'd rather die than live. I'm so glad that I can have peace in this life through Jesus Christ. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

reading | nothing at the moment...suggestions? maybe something in the fantasy genre?

listening to | All Things Considered in the background and miss Raina groaning and grunting next to me while she 'plays' on her back. Can you call it playing when all she's doing is looking around and sporadically moving her arms and legs?

watching | The Little Mermaid...on repeat! Riggs loves it and when he's not watching it he's pretending to play with the characters. "I swimmin' with flounder mama!" - I get that. When asked what he's doing while crazily hopping around - "I jumpin' on flounder!" oh, of course...wait, what?

thankful for | this crazy life that is so easy and peaceful and simply wonderful compared to so many of the horrible things going on in the world right now. I truly am blessed. 

smiles, smashed fingers, and friday favorites

It's Friday. Thank God. I've had one of those weeks...lots of good and lots of hard. Well, really just one hard thing. Hard as in metal...a big metal truck door, smashing the ring finger on my right hand. Right in the Target parking lot, before a shopping trip that was supposed to be slow, leisurely and fun for mama. Instead, I slowly walked inside in a cloud of pain, got some ice from the Starbucks lady, and rushed through trying to get everything I actually needed in a hurry before heading home to take some ibuprofen. 

It's...interesting trying to dress my children or change their diapers with such a tender injury on my right hand. Any little bump or tap to the fingertip or especially the nail itself is excruciating and I don't want to injure it further so I'm trying to be really careful. It's been three days and even typing this is awkward. Sigh. At least time will pass and it will heal.

There was lots of good too, including Raina's first 'real' smiles. Her sweet little face just lights up my life. I even managed to get video of her smiling this morning. Also there was Riggs' newfound interest in breastfeeding his favorite animals. Steve and I were almost in tears two nights ago as he gave his lego dog milk, making sure to 'feed him on both sides'. Video, here - be prepared to laugh!

Here are some things I just had to share...

 | ONE | 

I just want to be there. right now. with a cozy sweater, a good book or a good friend to chat 

away the hours with. I can't wait to have a cabin somewhere to go retreat to on the weekends,

with big windows and a deck overlooking some pretty view and big trees all around.

| TWO |

Robert Redford. Meryl Streep. Out of Africa. I just love candid pictures like this of people 

I admire. Also, my father-in-law looks a lot like Mr. Redford when he shaves off his beard.

true story.

| THREE |

blankets out of old wool sweaters and sleeping beauties. I want to make a blanket/quilt like

this for Riggs' big boy bed along with sheet set I plan on making him. Now I just need to find

some cute sweaters to make it with. Also you can tell that's a real photo and not posed by the 

phone next to her head. Just like me when I sleep, although maybe I should change that...

| FOUR |

I want all the pretty, comfy, flowy clothes. That's all.

| FIVE |

these words are so true and yet so hard to actually live by.

I'm trying to get better at letting go gracefully, it's tricky.

Also. This hi.lar.i.ous. video. Yes it's another Let it Go video...but seriously so funny. I love impressions.

Read this post about independent play in babies and toddlers and stop feeling guilty about not playing with your baby/toddler every minute of the day.

My friend Hannah shared her birth story. Grab a box of kleenex and head over to read it on her blog, Joyful Life.