currently enjoying

the following vices this week:



an intriguing piece of writing, very disturbing topic however.

~ and ~



because we are the slurpee capitol of Canada :)

I am just finishing up my crazy work week. I've been waking at 6:00am everyday and loving it! I just need to get to bed a bit earlier for it to stick long term, 6 hours is not enough sleep for me.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of gardening and partying. We will be celebrating a birthday, pics to follow next week, and it is a long weekend here so mr. duckyhouse will be hanging around an extra day longer to help me with the gardening. Yay!

What are your weekend plans, care to share? Happy Friday, xo

sisters

Somedays life seems extraordinarily peaceful in our home.


Sisters in the early stages of reading, cuddle together hoping to recognize a word or two from one of our very favourite books.



Working hard and trying to understand why the English language gets to break so many rules - naughty, naughty.

Wishing you a peaceful Monday, xxx

everything

We put a halt to our renovation efforts for July and August in favor of enjoying the long days of summer.  It's a short season and when we aren’t out frolicking in the sun, which would be on those endless rainy days, we migrate to the everything room.  You can see more on the progress of the room by starting here: original room, the redo, painting, and getting funky. We've come a long way baby.  



The everything room is easily the most organized room in our house and one of the first rooms we completed (well almost completed, there are a few finishes touches that need to happen but they are minor).





It's a room filled with everything and everything has it's place. Guitars and a piano, books, books and more books, laptops and a desktop, homeschooling, art supplies (more on that tomorrow) and of course any decent "everything room" in a house of kids has to have it's toy/play zone.



I love how this room turned out and believe, over the coming years, it will adapt just fine to the changing needs of our growing family.



Where does your family gather on rainy days ?

quiet monday

our weekend was full.



attending my sons' piano recitals. they both did really great.



family party for two siblings now 17 years old and 14 years old.



at home puzzling



sisterhood



and gingerbread dipping

quiet monday

I am starting a blog post today called "quiet monday".   I basically want to journal our weekend in photograph with minimal print.  Mondays have a air of "back to business", I suppose it is from the Monday to Friday work week.  Sometimes I can get so focused on the week ahead that I forget to reflect on the days that we were all together as a family doing the things we love.  So here's my digital reflection:

painting:





finger painting:





too sick to join in:



feeling better:



big brother reads to us:

i did it!

I went ahead and finally ordered a pre-sale of copy of Rowling's 7th book in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
 


I was going to order the book store in person, but at $ 38 a copy I opted for online ordering which was almost half price. Since I saved myself some cash I thought I would reward my frugal-ness by picking up a few other books. How exactly does that work I am not sure but it was fun. Soon I shall be the proud owner of...



I can't wait to view the embroidery images in this book. Everything looks so whimsical and upbeat. For more Jenny Hart visit her website.



Denyse, Denyse, Denyse...I've been meaning to order this book for a while now. Even her fabric is wonderful.



I can't say enough about her latest line but you can pick it up at purlsoho. It is so very remiscent of feedsack & vintage prints which I love.



I don't know about you, but I can hardly think of my childhood reading without picturing this book in my mind. We have rented it from the library on occasion, but really this home needs to own a copy. After all we are house of many children, so it is precisely the perfect title for us..."where the wild things are". 

my latest craft book...

I picked up a cute little craft book by Susan Cousineau call Sewing for Tiny Tots on my outing the other day. It is full of very simple designs, lots of fleece & felt, that is sure to encourage my imagination. Here are some creations from her book:







I know what I will be reading over the weekend and it should be lovely. Hope your weekend is full of inspiration as well. 

back at it...

Well I pretty much completed all the little "urgent" projects in my yard for the time being, now it is time to slow down, relax and enjoy the view. We had a great family day outside on Friday in lieu of the impending rain on Father's Day that did arrive, as well make the outdoors very mosquito-y. The hubby had Friday off so we all loaded in the van, grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant, headed to a nearby creek for some butterfly chasing and then off to Chapter's for a delightful read & peek at new books. It was a great way to spend the day.
 






Aha! Caught in the act :) We were terribly excited to get this picture, not only because the butterflies held still long enough for photos to be taken, but also to find them in such a delightful state as they re-populate their own species. Nature is incredible.



At the end of the day our pocket book was a wee bit lighter from the good food and books, but some times splurging is an necessity.

japanese patterns

I finally dug into this lovely book (pictured on the right hand side), the mum & daughter tops & skirts just keep pulling at me. Understanding the pattern and how the book is set up took a bit of getting used to. I was very surprised by how the patterns are all laid on top of each other, it was very confusing. I was almost tempted to get my dh to take the book to his work place so he could have one his Japanese Students figure it out for me.  But I didn't and forged ahead. It wasn't so bad after all.  I started with making the pink top on the cover for my girls. It was just too pretty to pass up.
 


Since this was my first Japanese pattern and not being too sure (or confident) as to how things would turn out, I pulled out my vintage sheets to "practice" on. I am so glad that I did because the blouses are so pretty and gave new life to the delicate, yellow-flowered sheets of old.
   


It went rather well and I was happily surprised at how simplistic the pattern pieces themselves were, once traced. Basically once you get past the road map, things were fairly straight forward.



   

Nothing tops off this blouse like a nice set of braids. My wee girls ask me every morning to "have hair like Laura" (Ingalls) from Little House on the Prairie and I, their "ma" happily oblige. Oh and the other thing they love, love, love is their butterfly barrettes, can't forget about those.



Well I'm hoping to get a few outdoor things done this weekend as it has rained all week long. I'll also be trying to sneak some more Japanese sewing goodness in as well. Have a lovely weekend everyone.