merry babies

I Don't Want To Forget

I had that overwhelmingly grateful feeling today as I messed around with my littles this afternoon. I don't want to forget these days! And the truth is, I already do. In some ways, I am so sad I've missed sharing our lives here, since I'll never be able to remember where we've been and what we've done. More than that, though, I'm afraid I'll forget the regular old days, the mundane, the moments that happen every day now, but will pass in the next season.

 

So I dusted off the camera and tried to snatch a little of what I felt this afternoon. It was beautiful-- my lens wasn't able to really get it, but my heart is glad to be here remembering...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samara was playing with her little Calico Critters animals--she still hasn't ever really played with a doll. But animals?! Oh, my.

 

 

She and Asa had art camp at the firehouse this afternoon, which may have inspired everyone else to head for the paint...

 

 

Everyone seems to wander over to Mr. Jim's yard with a "Mr. Jim said he needs to help planting something...!" They just chat at him until I call them back. It's a dreamy place to be, Mr. Jim's garden. Tonight he gave me "trimmings" from his giant oak leaf hydrangaea and some other giant purple flowering plant--"for the table". So sweet.

 

 

 

Family Videos

I've been waiting for so long to share these with you guys! This is a long-term project, but--oh!--so worth the wait. 

Last winter, I broached the idea of making a family video with some awesome videographer friends of ours (Scissortail Media, to be exact, or actually, Will and Evan, to be really exact). Here's why:

I hate taking video of our family, mostly because I don't seem to have the time or expertise to turn it into a video we'd actually want to watch.

Anyone else agree?

It occurred to me that, just like people pay photographers to take family pictures, it would be nice to be able to hire a videographer to do the same thing...and with a couple of friends who were game for an experiment, here's what happened:

Bonner Family Video

Family Football Video

What do you think?

We had them come over one morning for cookies, and they just hung out and filmed while we did our usual thing. You might be able to tell that we didn't pick out special outfits or do much planning--we just tried to keep everything as normal as possible. We also had a dear friend come over and interview each of us individually--those videos aren't available to the public right now, but they are so fun for us to watch! He asked us all kinds of leading questions and they just captured who we all are, right in this very moment of our lives. Precious. It was also especially fun to have them come on our family walk/football game--I love the idea of splitting the cost with a few other families and sharing a video! It is incredibly cool for me to watch us all interacting with each other,with our dear, sweet friends and their little ones...

 Feel free to ask me any questions or leave any comments--we did this not just for our family (which is awesome in and of itself!) but also to encourage Will and Evan to consider offering this kind of service to other families. I think they're in! I know you're going to want to know how much this cost, and I would say "It's priceless!", which is what I gushed after I watched them the first time. :) But, the truth is that Will and Evan are working on that--I'm sure you can check in with them on that soon!

Let me know what you think!

 

Phin's art

Phin is not as prolific an artist as some in this family, but when he creates, they've got a little more to them. Quality over quantity, for sure!

One day he just made these, with no warning or discussion with me:

 

I love them. That's me with the kids, and Dad with his friend Blayze at--you guessed it--The Gray Owl coffee shop.

Interesting, eh?

Spring with Samara

After I posted those pictures yesterday, I remembered this little photo shoot we did that I never posted--this was a month or so ago, during red bud season here in Oklahoma.

 

 

 

 

Samara and I were both inspired by the red buds--she painted the tree outside our kitchen window...

 

 

 

 

I loved it and promptly put it on the mantel--then I sent one of my photos to Kinko's and had them print it up on regular paper.

 

(that's a cardinal--they come to the feeder right beside that tree all the time)

 

 

I love looking at this every day!

Favorites

Lots of people know that I love toadstools. I think I've figured out that its because they were featured in all my favorite childhood storybooks, and, well, those impressions were strong ones! The funny thing is that I don't really like to eat mushrooms...what do you think of that?

I sure do like these, though! The idea came from this really neat e-zine called Nuno--their fall edition. I loved everything in it, and have looked it over numerous times since then--beautiful and inspiring to me. This is the only project I've made from it, although there are several I've considered...

 

 

 

 

I bought a couple of leather coats at the Goodwill, and a red leather purse. That and some glue and stuffing, and there you have it! And I've got enough leather left to make a bunch more. I gave most of these away, but I'm ready to make more...especially since my sister Carrie called to tell me yesterday that she saw these in a display at Anthropologie. Of course--if I could live in an Anthropologie window display, I probably would. Wouldn't you?

We're getting ready...

...for the new little one that will be coming so soon.

We've turned the playroom into a diaphanous baby room full of white and light--and all the bird items we could collect around the house...

 

 

...and a little pair of winter "boots" for her to wear.

 

 

Boot pattern from here.

Making things

We've been having so much fun with all the beginning of school activities! The boys are loving soccer and piano and somehow the schedule is working out to be pretty healthy for the rest of us. That said, though, we've been too busy to do much besides eat and sleep and read around here...

Nonetheless, I did find these photos from last weekend--our sweet little friend Annie had her second  cochlear implant surgery and Phin wanted to make her something special. He started off wanting to make her another blanket (to match the one he made her for her first surgery) but I convinced him she might like something different. This is what we came up with, and it was surprisingly fun!

 

 

Doesn't it look like fun?! He worked so hard to make these--he drew letters on the fabric and I helped him cut them out. Then we sewed (together) them almost entirely closed with the exception of a couple inches on one side. He stuffed them up very nicely and we stitched them to close them up. I say them because he decided to make one for everyone in the family, once he got started:

 

 

We heard the spiderman "B" was a big hit!

I think they'll fray and be a nice little toy. Of course I started imagining how fun it would be to have an alphabet's worth....now that would be a great baby present!

 

Asa worked on making a game at the same time--he's such a game lover and so of course that's where his creative energies are going these days.

 

 

I really liked this one--it has lots of different parts and rules that were a little tough to pin down, but in general, I had fun playing it with him.

 

 

I especially love the presentation/container--could he be a graphic designer in the making?! and I also especially love the little game pieces. They're tiny vials (that I bought in the dollhouse section and just put away for something...he found them...) filled with beads, which turn out to be one of the commodities you can trade. No, this is not a game for babies! He spent forever trying to fill each little vial with beads. Such concentration!

 

 

And while they were making their projects (and consulting with me), I finished up a little project that I cut out at least a year ago. In my efforts to organize and clean up around here, I went through my project pile (which is, understandably, astounding) and culled it down to a few things I figured I could finish up pretty quickly and that still seemed worth it. This was one I just couldn't give up. The idea came from a Japanese craft book whose title I can no longer remember...sorry!

It's a teapot cosy. Just in case you were still wondering. Everyone who saw it laughed out loud--I guess it's a little bit of a silly squirrel, or maybe it was the thought of trying to keep anything hot in August in Oklahoma...

 

 

There is definitely no tea in that mug. :)

More of Asa's birthday fun

Asa has grown to be a fabulous advocator for one-on-one time with adults. I'm so glad he recognizes that it's fun and important to spend time together. He's really fun to be with these days!

Grandma and Grandpa gave him a robot kit for his birthday and he had both Grandpa and I busy for an afternoon getting it put together...

 

 

It was so fun for all three of us--I think Dad and I wanted to show off (our) handiwork as much as Asa did!

 

 

 And I gave Asa some japanese ink and rice paper and new brushes, since he's been practicing this at school. The language he's learning is chinese and so he's learned to write a little in this style and so it's been fun to encourage him to practice it a little this summer by joining him! This is one of my favorite ways of painting--so simple and quick. Not easy, though, to convey an image in a brushstroke or two...

 

 

Not to be forgotten...

...in the birthday week line-up are these fabulous shoes!

 

We have an amazingly talented college friend in our house church who creates these shoes. I saw a few she'd done, and thought it would be great to support her work...little did I know I would get such a work of art! I suggested she do a Twelve Dancing Princesses theme, since I'm working on another project for Samara with the same theme...and look!

 

There are six princesses on each shoe, all totally different and interesting. She recommended that I change the shoelaces to brown, which I'll do as soon as I get to a store.

Here's her facebook page if you're interested...check out her other shoes! 

I promptly got her started on a pair for me...any guesses what my theme might be?!

 

 

Crafting

You might remember this darling little scene Samara got at the Dust Bowl Arts Market?

Well, it was the inspiration for our own little scene--I got this little set of buildings for Christmas and we've just had them around to mess with...

 

I provided the clay and the mossy stuff and they all went to town on it!

Here's what I thought was the finished product: 

 

But actually this was closer to the finished product:

 

It kept growing and growing and I finally stopped it at three layers! It was really fun to watch this unfold, mostly because all three of the big little ones were working together on it--making secret spots and bird nests and all kinds of things.

 

 

 

 

 I love watching people create, and seeing what they come up with, don't you? I never would have come up with that, let me tell you!