fresh air truly is a reset button....and as my firstborn gets ever closer to 13, I try to tell myself again and again to take time to put things into perspective...these "last" years with our family of five together under the same roof are going to go far. too. quickly!~k

I always forget the "me" part of this too~ until I'm standing outside breathing fresh air and wondering why I didn't think of doing so sooner!~kate

Thanks so much for your kind words Stacy!~Kate

Caroline! NO! I didn't get it!!! I was just thinking about you the other day, wondering if maybe something happened. Any chance that I can still get a copy? SO EXCITED to read it!

Ah, Amie, I know all too well the desire for exploration and spontaneity! I love that you can experience where you are now, fully, while still holding a place like Holland in your heart. Thanks for sharing. love, kate

Hi Sarah, and welcome! I'm so glad to know this space may provide you with a little taste of the north....and I have to say, I simply *love* the phrase "with such rich and varied currency...people, water, woods, seasons." simply beautiful. love, kate

Sherry, you are too kind! Can't wait to hear/read/learn all about your next adventure. Coming up soon, right? love, Kate

be here now. I always love when that phrase pops up. Yes to the photo, a frozen (mostly) stream. there was a whole section that looked like this. It was enchanting!

So sweet! Don't you just wonder where those two years went (besides the abyss of newborn wonder/exhaustion):) Happy birthday and Birth Day my friend!

thank you thank you, thank you, for this post. We've just come back from several weeks out west, and our rhythm this week has been anything but~ I needed that reminder to be powered down 90-percent of the day, and to get back to a block schedule....because even before we left, as my kids get older, I think we were slipping away from it. And boy, can I feel the relief just saying we'll return to routine.

I love the description "Tired of people thinking our son was a girl ("but that hair?!") (okay, so he is really pretty, but still)." Yup. Have one of those in my house too, over in our small town in northern michigan;)

We've been doing the same thing with our youngest (she's three) on our backyard hills...I have visions of a rockin' little tele skier in a few years (because her mama? yeah-- learned way too late. Not. Pretty.). :)

wait....do your kiddos TELE already?!?

PS-- Calvin and Noah would get along smashingly-- Noah spent the whole trip deciding if he should be a little kid ski instructor or a ski patroler (our friend is an avalanche patroler complete with awesome avalanche dog-- seeing them working, and knowing they are always last off the hill because of mountain sweeps....). I love hearing their grand plans: ski guy in the winter, give people sailing tours of Lake Tahoe in the summer;) Yes, please!

we just ventured out to lake tahoe for two weeks, and I hit the slopes once (when a ski patroler friend offers tickets to a sweet mountain, it is a bit required to say yes)-- my baby is now a little ripper at three, and there was SO MUCH JOY in my children's faces to actually see mama on the hill, with them the whole run (so a tip, from one feeding-gear tracking-triage-prefectly happy to be so mama to another: when the time comes, once or twice a year slide out there with them-- they will be so excited to show you everything...It's worth the extra hassle. But only, ahem, once or twice a year;)). I'm in the process of uploading pictures from our trip to my blog.....maybe today? How does one recap a journey to the mountains and redwood forests, really? The, eh, 1,200 pictures I took may be a bit on the excessive side;)

I love this story Amanda, perhaps more than any other story I've ever read in this blog (and that's saying something, lady!). Saying "no" is a nearly impossible task for me-- even when it feels not quite right to say yes. I struggle with it personally (which of course boils down to that age old "am I enough?") and professionally (if I say no, will I lose other important and necessary opportunities down the road?) But getting to know ourselves-- and even a step further-- ACCEPTING ourselves...that's where real growth and creative spirit dwells. It's also, I'm quite certain, one of the biggest gifts of modeling we can give our children...letting them know it is okay. that we're all okay, just as we are. thank you. if i lived on the east coast, instead of the beautiful shores of northern Michigan, you can bet i'd be basking in the magic of squam this june....even if I *still* can't knit more than a scarf or sew better than a hack job...because, hey! I'm okay with that-- permission to learn what I love, or accept that I don't mind the mindful task without amazing results? Yes. please.

it isn't the same! We had a green Christmas this year-- the dusting we got right before the holiday melted and the snow is still barely covering the grass! It's driving us crazy! At least in Arizona you don't have to worry about becoming vitamin d deficient:) Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

In addition to old standbys, we did a lot of linocut stamping-- used kraft paper to create card sets for friends and family, and linen to make napkin/tea towel sets. I think that was my very favorite thing-- it was so meditative to add quotes to the cards letter by letter when the kids were tucked in for the night. Also, we did hit the thrift store for some vintage records (scratched!) and made record bowls-- super easy and cute...only drawback was me being sketched about heating vinyl-- I opened every window in the kitchen (brrrrr!). In any case, they were a huge hit, and cost us a whooping 90-cents for six gifts....And in the yet-to-be-finished sibling gift pile, I love the vintage frame (another 50-cent find) my first born is giving his brother-- once he gathers enough "just right" sticks to glue on it (inside I put a Katie Daisy print "Take a Hike").

mary oliver's instructions for living a life: pay attention. be astonished. tell about it. pretty sure you nailed that this morning, my friend. xo kate

I am in constant reminder mode now:) Letting go is so hard~ but if feels so good! And the early morning I've been sewing-and-eating-chocolate-all-night-and-now-I-see-the-result-is-half-witted...Yeah, I'm definitely NOT missing those moments;) ...kate