circle of friends

When we arrived at Eastern Market last Saturday to meet some friends for breakfast, I was struck by how incredibly lucky we are to have a community of people here whom we love and respect. Who we can laugh and cry with, who we trust with our kids, who we can ask for advice, and who inspire and awe us. And who are forgiving when we admit the shocking truth that this is the first time we've had the famous pancakes at Eastern Market (and yes, they were wonderful!). 

After catching up, stuffing our faces, and watching our kids roll around on the ground, we went our separate ways for the day, stopping to pick up a few things among the market stalls. A beautiful day on Capitol Hill. My cup runneth over...

these are a few of my favorite things...

sugarplum fairies 

drooly kisses

making pierogis

opening gifts

decorating the house

visions of sugarplums?

winter greenery

the smell of a Christmas orange

babies and grandmas and twinkling lights

Christmas breakfast

brown paper packages tied up with string!

holiday photo cards

first snow (so excited she didn't even change out of her pajamas)!

music lessons with dad

The past few days have been filled with happy moments and lovely things. Hope you're making good memories too! Merry Christmas!

more little moments

Despite bleary eyes, mounds and mounds (and mounds!) of laundry, dirty diapers, midnight tandem feedings and lots of soreness in all sorts of places... there are just too many moments of gratitude that take my breath away.

little corners

Little by little the corners of our home are coming together. We've been here for two years now. Sometimes it seems like an excruciating process - making our house into the home we want it to be. But I mostly like that it comes along slowly, that we have time to figure out what really works best.

Alas, our bedroom is one of the last things, but if all goes right, we will have new furniture in a few weeks! 

newly painted pale gray walls and new(ish) couches from Craig's List.

the view down the street from our front porch

I know it has been the trendy thing to post photos of blossoming paperwhites, but I couldn't resist. They're simply too lovely...

nothing glorious, but we finally finished painting the trim and doors in the upstairs hallway.

I smile at this every time I walk into my bedroom

the bathroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house - bright, cozy, with a little greenery

Feeling very grateful to have a sanctuary like this with hot showers, hot radiators, bread in the oven, and a little space for snuggling, creating, playing...

a poetic day

There was something brilliant and rather poetic about our outing the other day. It was unplanned. We had finished some chores in the house and I realized Mayumi could really use some focused Mama time. Some time where she could be in control and make the decisions. So I asked her what she wanted to do and she announced that she wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History.

So we did.

We took our time - for once we didn't have to rush in order to meet friends. It was just the two of us and we had no real agenda...

Everything is so much more beautiful when you take the time to really see it. We noticed things we'd never noticed before, despite having been here so many times.

And since it was a Monday afternoon, it wasn't very busy. We practically had the place to ourselves. Maya led the way through the great halls and exhibits. 

And when she had asked all her questions and had her fill, we headed back. And when she requested that we stop and ride the carousel, we did.

Her smile was the most beautiful and poetic part of the day.