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Antiques That Tell Your Family Story

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I love filling my home with things that have history. I don’t spend a lot of time shopping antique and thrift stores. (Although I wish I had the time and money to browse antique stores.) Most of my treasures come from family members, so I really appreciate the history behind these pieces.

 

The pocket watches belonged to my step-dad and grandpa. I love holding something in my hand that they held onto for so many years.

 

This sewing machine was in a corner of my parents’ garage for years, before it found a home in my craft room.

 

There is nothing more meaningful than holding your great-grandmother’s Bible. There are even handwritten notes inside from church services and Bible studies.


When we were going through my grandma’s old suitcases, we opened one and found her wedding dress and my grandpa’s WWII army uniform. Many years before, she told us she had thrown them away because they were tattered. It was amazing to find them in perfect condition inside a suitcase in her garage.

The flower garden quilt is from my husband’s side of the family. His grandma sent it home with me after a visit to her house. It is very tattered, but I just have the good part of the quilt poking out of the basket. The star quilt was made my great grandmother and the picnic basket belonged to my grandma and grandpa.

This one was made my great grandmother and my great, great grandmother as a wedding gift for my grandparents. The patterned fabric was made from old shirts and dresses. They didn’t have a lot of money and they used the scraps they had available.

I can’t say I purposefully fill my home with antiques. I don’t seek them out, scour thrift shops, or shop ebay for a great deal. I fill my home with these treasures because each piece has a story.

What story does your home tell?

Decorating With Old Books – Loving Family History

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My husband calls it old junk, but I love home decor that has some sort of history.  I think he may be coming around a bit.  Recently, when we went away for the weekend, I convinced him to wander the antique mall for a few minutes.  He actually said that it wasn’t the worst part of the weekend.  That’s improvement!

I love treasures that tell a story. Even more special is a treasure that tells part of my own story, and reveals a little bit about where I’m from. I love the look of old books in home decor, but I really love that my old books came from my grandparents.



They have the neatest old covers.

The inside of the cover is beautiful too! They just don’t make books like this anymore.

Here’s my favorite. This is a bible that was on my grandma’s bookshelf. Inside, it says, “For Our Dear Mother. From, Edith and Chester. August, 1927.” Edith and Chester were my grandmother’s parents. So, this bible belonged to Edith or Chester’s mother, my great-great-grandmother. How cool is that… just to know that I’m holding the same bible that my great-great-grandmother held.

There are even hand written notes inside the margins that were written during church services or bible studies.

I also have an old hymnal from Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University). Both of my grandparents, both parents, several aunts, uncles, cousins, and I also went there.

If you look around my house, you’ll see that I decorate with lots of old books. To most people, that’s all they are… just old books. To me, they’re part of my history and it’s amazing to hold a little piece of history in my hands.

Happy decorating!

My Home Town

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 I was driving to work this week and I was thinking about what a cool place I have an opportunity to live and work. The sun was shining, frost glistening, and it just felt peaceful. Well, it just so happened that, I recently saw on Facebook that Budget Travel is holding a “Coolest Small Towns in America” contest, and my hometown is in the running.  Let me tell you a bit about Snohomish, Washington.

I don’t actually live in Downtown Snohomish.  I live up the hill from the town.  To get to town, where my school is, I drive through the valley.  It’s beautiful.  There are mountains in the background, rolling farmlands, hot air balloons, and sky divers.  The snow geese (swans) land here every year.  When my son was younger, he loved the idea that people would come from miles around to take pictures of the snow geese.

The town itself is an old town.  My grandma went to Snohomish High School in the 30’s and her dad was a pastor at one of the small town churches.  The main street through town is lined with old buildings, filled with cute little shops and restaurants, and houses LOTS of antique shops.

One of the joys of this little town is watching the skydivers and hot air balloons on a sunny afternoon.  One of my favorite memories of moving to Snohomish was eating at Chuck’s Seafood, one sunny summer night.  We were eating outside, having some really yummy clam chowder and fish, and enjoying watching the skydivers off in the distance.  The live music was playing and one of the songs was Bruce Springsteen’s My Home Town.  Everything about that night was absolutely perfect… music, food, family, weather, entertainment.  It really made me appreciate the home town my kids would be raised in.

I may have mentioned a time or two, on this blog, that I really love farm life.

Wide open spaces, raising animals, working in the garden, and local farmer’s markets make me truly happy.  While I don’t have all of those things, living in a suburban neighborhood, I do have everything I need within a 5 minute drive from my house.  I love all of the local pumpkin, berry, corn, and tree farms.  Lots of kids in the area work on the farms as seasonal workers.  It’s a great feeling of community and October tends to be one big party at the corn maze or pumpkin farm. (Many places around here offer night time corn maze adventures.  My personal favorites are not the zombie paintball corn mazes.  I prefer the corn maze that ends with a bond fire and marshmallow roast.)

Have I sold you on why my home town is a great place to raise a family?  My kids are 14 and 10.  We moved out here about 10 years ago because my sister and sister in law both lived in the same neighborhood.  My sister found the perfect house for us, in the neighborhood, and we just couldn’t resist the idea of all of the cousins growing up together.  This year we have a Junior, Sophomore, Freshman, 8th grader, 7th grader, and 4th grader running through the schools.  It’s so much fun having them all go to school together. (elementary, middle, and high school)  Last Summer, I decided that I was ready to make the jump from the Edmonds School District to the Snohomish School District so I could teach out here too.  It’s been a pretty great move!  I really love my new school.  I’m enjoying the small town feel, getting to know more about the district my own kids are in, and learning about the families in my community.  It’s a place I see myself staying for a long time.  

To vote for Snohomish in the  Budget Travel contest, click here.  Voting ends today, March 4th!

Photos on this post are from Googling Snohomish.

60 Acres of Sunflowers

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A few weeks ago we made a trip over to my cousin’s farm in Kittitas. My cousin and uncle usually plant hay, wheat, corn, and the typical Eastern Washington crops.  This year, my cousin had a contract to plant 60 acres of sunflowers.

I really love our Farmcation every year, but I was absolutely giddy this year with the thought of taking pictures in the sunflower field.  I have over two hundred pictures to sort through and edit.  The kids were all great sports, posing for many photos.  I haven’t had time to edit those yet- too many vacations and too little time!  Here are a few of my favorites that are straight out of the camera.  The sun and the field were so beautiful they really don’t need editing or filters.

Seriously, is there anything happier than a field of sunflowers?  
Ok, one thing might be happier than a field of sunflowers… 
me – taking pictures in a field of sunflowers – and also having permission to pick a huge bucket of sunflowers to take home for my table!

Just happy.

Hiking to the Ice Caves

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I’ve been dying to do something really fun lately.  It’s summer and we have the time, so I’ve been suggesting lakes, rivers, outdoor pools, and any fun outings that come to mind.  My kids, on the other hand, usually respond with , “Ehhh.”  
Ehhh?  What do you mean, ehhh? It’s summer!  It’s time to get out and have some fun!  We only have about 4 weeks of nice weather around here and we can’t spend those weeks lounging around the house!  Well, my speeches have been falling on deaf ears and all the kids want to do is hang out at home.  Yesterday, we didn’t give them a choice.  We just told them what we were doing and where we were going.  My oldest thought hiking to the ice caves sounded pretty cool, but the youngest just wanted to stay home.  Guess who won that battle?
It’s called a hiking trail, but it’s really more of a short walk with a slight incline.  The trailhead is about an hour from our house.  We got there about 1:00, on our rare 90 degree day.  I think the threat of heat chased people away, because the parking lot was practically empty.  I won’t lie.  It was hot walking up there.  When we got to the top, the view was pretty neat!

There are signs all over, warning people not to go exploring in the ice caves.  A few years ago there was a death up here when ice fell on someone exploring.  Everyone was very respectful of the power of Mother Nature and we didn’t see anyone going inside the caves.

We did, however, stand on the ice at the bottom for a picture.  Cooper (the dog) LOVED cooling off on the ice.  He rolled around on it and tried to eat it.  I guess he was a little hot.

The caves were truly amazing.  Like I said, it was about 90 degrees, but when you stood in front of an ice cave, the mist would blow down and it was about 30 degrees cooler.  Then, you could move two feet to the left or right and you’d be baking again.  It was really awesome!  

I don’t usually encourage my kids to bring their electronics on days like this, but I wanted them to take a few pictures, so I reminded them to put their phone and ipod in their pockets. The next few pictures were taken by the kids.

Not too shabby for my budding photographers!
We cooled off in the river on the way back down.

We all had a great day and I’m hoping I won’t have complaints when I want to take them to do something fun now.  Maybe this is just what they needed to get out of their I’m-on-summer-vacation-and-I-just-want-to-be-lazy moods.

Happy hiking!

Hitting the Slopes

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In the olden days, before kids, I absolutely LOVED to ski.  I spent my Saturdays on the ski bus and went skiing with my dad, brother, sister, friends, or anyone who I could get a ride to the mountains with.  The kids came along, and suddenly there was no such thing as free time. Fourteen years later, here we are.  My skis have been in the rafters of my garage and I have lost all confidence that I can even handle the bunny hills.  My son has really been wanting to learn, so yesterday we decided to take him up to the mountains.
 
We signed the kids up for the cheapest package they had.  It included 2 hours of a group lesson, ski equipment rental, and a lift ticket.  My son was really excited and my daughter was a bit apprehensive, which kind of surprised me because she’s such a dare devil.

 
I brought my skis along because I figured I’d have the rental place look at them and see if they were even in working condition. (I’m talking about those skis my son is holding in the picture above.) I carried them into the rental place and immediately someone spotted them and said, “Man, those are antiques!” My hubby and I couldn’t stop laughing. Pieces of my boots had actually disintegrated over the years and there was no way I was going to ski down any hill with them.
 
I knew it was going to take some work to convince my husband to try anything but when I suggested we take a snowboard lesson together, while the kids were in their lesson, he agreed! He has never been on skis or a snowboard before, so this was big.  I can’t say I was too keen on the idea of taking the fall on your butt class snowboard class, but I was so excited that he agreed to give it a try.

 
Let me just say, snowboarding is absolutely not a sport we are going to be continuing with.  First of all, the whole unbuckling your boot thing is a pain in the neck!  Second of all, every time I fell I felt like the little boy in A Christmas Story who was so bundled up that when he fell in the snow he couldn’t get back up.  Yes, I just created a perfect visual for you… me, rolling around in the snow, with that stupid snowboard attached to my boots, yelling, “I can’t get up.  I can’t get up.”
 
My hubby did much better, even though the instructor kept yelling, “Dude, you need to keep your toes up Bro.  You’re an accident waiting to happen.”  He mastered the bunny hill like nobody’s business!

 
It was kind of fun because we were on the same little hill that my kids were taking lessons on, so I could take lots of pictures.

 
My kids loved their lesson and the instructor was great with kids.  I can’t tell you how relieved I was that they were enjoying it.  Learning to ski is not cheap, and I was worried that they would be freezing and just hate it. 

 
Here’s a picture of my hubby and my daughter coming down at the same time. 

 
I didn’t get too many pictures of my son.  I think he needs brighter clothes so I can find him easier.  He blends in with everyone else. 

 
Both kids picked it up very quickly and by the end of the 2 hours the instructor told us they were ready for the chair lift.  As fast as I could say, “I can’t get up!” I traded in my snowboard for skis. 
 
See the blue coat I’m wearing below?  Well, apparently that is in the same antique class as my skis.  They told me to put my pass in my upper left pocket, but I didn’t have an upper left pocket.  The guy who was helping me looked all over my coat and said, “Man, that’s old school!”  I reminded him that I was the same 40 year old mom who brought in the antique skis and we both busted up laughing.  When he started joking with me to just hang onto everything because they’d eventually come back in style, I told him to watch out because I was going to find myself some stirrup ski pants and Vuarnet sunglasses.  Oh yeah. 
 
 
To finish up the skiing story, once I popped my skis on, it was like 14 years had never passed.  The only difference was that now I was worried about taking care than more than just myself.  I was watching my kids ski for the first time, worried that they’d be scared on the lift, cheering them on, and reminding them to slow down!  Wow, what a difference 14 years can make.  We took a few runs on Daisy and both kids loved it.  I could have kept going, but by the time they turned the lights on, the kids were ready to call it a day.  My daughter said, “This is the longest I’ve ever gone without eating.”  She’s kind of a snacker, so her comment was pretty funny. 
 
We got in the car and the kids immediately started telling us about their lessons, fears, joys, and accomplishments.  They were so excited.  They weren’t tired at all.  They ate everything in sight and were talking a mile a minute.  I guess that’s a sign that it was a good day.
 
Valentine’s Dinner was KFC on the way home and the kids immediately started asking when we could go skiing again.
 
Good times.
 
Happy memory making, Friends!
 

My Playful Living Room

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Yesterday I shared two of my favorite Playful Learning classes.  Playful Learning Spaces was the first eCourse I took from Mariah.  I signed up for this class a few years ago and fell in love. The Playful Learning style is exactly what I want in my home, the homes of my students, and in my classroom.  I have shared the books and eCourses with countless parents in my classroom over the years.

Today, I’d like to share a space in my own home that has become a family favorite.  Welcome to our living room.
When my kids were really little, I thought of this as a formal space.  I had really beautiful lamps and over priced pillows with really pretty tassels.  Guess what… no one ever went into the formal room!  They knew I’d freak out if they used my pillows in their forts.  There were no games or puzzles in this room, and really nothing to do except sit.  In my brain, I was planning how I could add a bonus room above my garage because the kids needed a place to play.  Then one day, it came to me.  I had plenty of space in my house. We just didn’t use it.  Long story short – I sold the fancy stuff on Craigslist, bought some fabric to make pillows and curtains, and hit Target for lamps, cheap decor, and an ottoman to throw our feet up on.  
Just like that, we had our bonus room.
I moved all of the board games and magazines into this room too.  Yes, we even broke down and bought a tv, so it could be a video game space when my son had friends over.  
Then, Mariah came along.
One of her Playful Learning eCourse lessons was about looking around your house to find unused nooks, and make way for playful learning.  At the time, my son kept all of his guitars, stands, music, and amps up in his room.  I decided that if they were downstairs, where we all live and play, he’d use them more.  As a result, he does in fact play more.  I play more often too.  Just yesterday I grabbed a guitar, flipped to Amazing Grace, and played just for fun.  My daughter even ran down and picked up a guitar to join me.  It was only 3 simple chords and 10 minutes of time, but it was something we did together.  More importantly, it was something that we wouldn’t have done together if the guitars had been hiding upstairs.
Why, yes, there is even a microphone in this space!  Call us crazy! 
If you have kids, you know exactly which songs we are hearing belted out these days.  
Let it go. Let it go. Can’t hold it back any mooo-ooore.  Yep, that microphone plugs right into the guitar amp and there is some serious Frozen going on!  My daughter has also been taking piano lessons and we had just enough space to fit a small keyboard.  It’s not fancy, but it does the trick.  

I’d have to say that creating this Playful Space for music has added some noise, but it’s a joyful noise.
Happy music making!

Antique Linens

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I absolutely love antique linens.  My grandma had piles of them.  I think everyone in the family took a stack, when we helped her move a few years ago, and we still had plenty for the thrift store.

Many of the linens hold memories of visiting Nanie and Baumpa’s house.  The bedspreads covered the twin beds for as long as I could remember.  I always loved the nubby texture and the fringe at the bottom.  Someday, when my kids are grown and I have an extra bedroom, I will have twin beds with white nubby bedspreads.

I don’t use all of the linens, all of the time.  I usually start pulling them out in Spring.  They feel light and bright to me, which feels springy.

Most of the linens were made by my great grandmothers (at least that’s what I think my mom said).


I wish I had the patience to do this type of stitching.  It’s beautiful.

Happy Spring!

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Seaside Memories and Crab Chowder

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Every summer my Mother-in-law rents a house in Seaside, Oregon.  I’m pretty sure my kids think of “The Blue House” as their second home.  We pack the car and the cargo box full of beach toys, skim boards, and bicycles, and my sister-in-law’s family does the same.  For a week in August, the beach (and The Blue House) are ours.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen a more beautiful sunset at Seaside.  I was lucky enough to be standing on the Promenade as the sun was going down.  I think I took about 100 photos.  This was my favorite.
We woke up early for a low tide walk.
Oregon and Washington beaches have so much character.  You can see the dark, gray clouds off in the distance, but it was actually pretty warm as we were walking and wading in the water.

We’re not always this lucky, but we found several whole sand dollars this year.

 

Of course, there were the annual sunset beach poses.
(Note to self:  Feed children and dads before picture time.  Everyone will be happier.)

The sandcastles are my favorite part of beach days.  The dads  kids absolutely love using the beach as a blank slate.  They spend time building, carving, digging, and sculpting.  Often times, people walking by will stop to take pictures of their creations.  They will spend HOURS on a masterpiece that will be washed away by the next high tide.  But, they don’t mind.  The tide just brings another blank slate.  (Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the kids or dads who love the castles more!)
This year they went for the traditional castle, but also sculpted a dragon, Air Jordan, and a shark eating a mermaid.

 
There was a little beach volleyball, inspired by the Olympics.
(I love the filters on Instagram!!!)
One of my favorite parts of the trip is crabbing.  I don’t exactly love the work of crabbing, but OH MY do I love the product of crabbing!  24 keepers this year! 
 I smell dinner!

I absolutely love any type of seafood chowder, but crab chowder has got to be my favorite.

Here’s my recipe:
24 steamed clams (or as many as you dig up when you’re out crabbing and claming)
Lots and lots of crab (I think I used about 3 cups, minus the huge bites that didn’t quite make it into the pot… yum!)

4 slices cooked bacon, cut into bite size pieces

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup flour

2 bottles of clam nectar

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup corn (We had corn on the cob the night before and cut some off for chowder.)

3 cups 1/2-inch cubed, peeled potatoes (precook by boiling for a few minutes)

2 cups heavy cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 cup minced parsley leaves

Old Bay or Johnny’s Seafood Seasoning to taste

I started by melting the butter and browning the onions.  Then I added my flour, followed by cream to make a roux.  All of the other ingredients followed, and I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. 
I think we must have been pretty hungry because we devoured this chowder.  It was thick, yummy, and absolutely packed with crab. 
All in all, I’d say it was another wonderful year at the beach. Thanks for the trip Grandma!  We always have happy memories.

 

Summer Fun

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Every summer, my mind is filled with fun activities to do with my kids.  I find so much joy in taking my kids on a ferry boat ride, out to pick berries, or just spending time in our own garden.  This summer was no different.  With summer winding down, I was browsing though pictures today and thought these photos represent a few of my favorite summer activities.
Happy summer memories.