you have to admit...

...it is really pretty. I just took these at my next door neighbor's house. So lovely, Alison!

I've got gadgets and gizmos a plenty...

...I've got whosits and whatsits galore.

I love a good kitchen gadget. I am a sucker for a good infomercial. I love watching the vendors at the State Fair make their pitch as to why my life isn't complete until I own their product (Note: That claim was actually true. My life wasn't complete until I got my state fair knives.)

Turns out my love for kitchen choppers and blenders and citrus squeezers is actually genetic. I get it from my Great Grandpa Anderson. The french fry cutter above is from him. And so is the Food Glamorizer below. What does it do, you ask? It galmorizes.

When I was growing up, my grandparents gave all of their grandkids $25 for Christmas. We would get our check in the mail around Thanksgiving and then it was our job to pick something out, wrap it up and bring it to the family Christmas. We would sit in a circle and open our present in front of Grandma and Grandpa so that they could see what we purchased with their money.

In seventh grade I spent my $25 on a Braun hand blender. And guess what? I still have it, and I still use it. Best $25 bucks I spent in 7th grade.

So you can only imagine how excited I was when I got a gift card to Williams Sonoma from my brother-in-law Troy for Christmas. Talk about kid in a candy shop. I took my time with the card. I spent a whole lot of time on their website looking through all of my purchase options. As I worked in my own kitchen I wondered what would be the ultimate kitchen gadget to assist in my daily meal prep. I decided that the one thing I hate most in all of food prep is chopping onions. And so there, in the fruit and vegetable tools section I found it. It is the Professional Multi-Chopper. It slices. It dices. It is dishwasher safe. It is compact for storing. The only tears you will shed while chopping your onions are tears of joy. It is a bit loud as you slam through your produce, and you have to be a bit aggressive to get your potatoes through, but honestly the time this baby saves is awesome. And I know Great Grandpa Anderson would approve.

is there anything better?

...than a hand-written letter?I got this letter in the mail last week and I was so excited. I kept it on the coffee table this week and picked it up a few different times to read it all over again, because it is just so rare to get a hand-written, stream-of-consciousness thoughtful piece of mail. My goal for the weekend is to write a letter back to my friend Leslie in Nebraska. And to try to contribute a bit more often to the world of snail mail.

recent reads

A few recent favorites, from bottom to top:

When Elephant Goes to a Party Oh my word, I adore this book. It's all about manners and how to behave at another friend's house. I have a girlfriend who recently told me that she uses the Berenstain Bears all the time to reinforce to her kids how they are to behave/keep their room/tell the truth etc... This book is along those same lines and a great teaching book.

The Crafter's Devotional Delightful and so inspirational. My friend Shannon got me this book for my birthday and it fits me like a glove. Each day is a different creative prompt. Some days it has me writing, others making a simple craft... I will for sure have a bigger blog post about this one in the future.

The Pastor I am a fan of Eugene Peterson as a storyteller and this book showcases his gift through memoir. I loved reading about his childhood and all of the lily pads that led to him becoming a pastor.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child Lately this has been my baby help book of choice. I like how the book is so easy to use as a resource for each age and stage of Ivar's sleep schedule.

The Power of a Praying Parent Confession: I had judged this book by its 80's looking cover. But a few weeks ago Rory and I opened it up and prayed one of the prayers over Ivar and it was a really beautiful moment. The book covers all sorts of topics to pray over your kids, things that I wouldn't necessarily think of to pray without a bit of prompting. Topics like: attracting Godly friends and role models, following Truth and rejecting lies, developing a hunger for the things of God. It's good stuff.

How about you? Read any good books lately?

hymn cards: springtime

Before Ivar was born, I made hymn cards for his nursery with the hope that having the lyrics of these important songs written in a visible place would help me sing these songs to my son. I use them all the time. So much so that I am ready to retire 'I love to tell the Story' for a long while... For the baby shower on Saturday, I was planning on giving Sarah a copy of each hymn and then decided to double the song choices. I picked eight new songs, taking all of the hymns that were sung at my friend Hildur's funeral and then added a few more of my own favorites. I packaged them with a bow and thought they made for a pretty gift.

a pysanky field trip

Three years ago, Lisa invited me over to her house to decorate easter eggs. It was a brand new art for me, called pysanky or Ukrainian Easter Egg dying. Then, I led an event out at camp for women to come and try using a kiska. And this year, Lisa brought us to the queen of Pysanky herself, Luba of The Ukrainian Gift Shop.

Lisa and her mom Zina brought Sara, Ruby, Josie, me and Ivar to Luba's shop today and it was a feast for the eyes. Her art is stunning and seemingly perfect. I love the bright colors.

And then we went to Kramarczuk's for some traditional Polish food. I saw this restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives and have wanted to go ever since. It was a great day...and if you live in the twin cities, I highly recommend visiting both places.

celebrating babies

My cousin Kathy hosted a baby shower for Ivar and Stella on Saturday. I've said it before, and I'll say it forever...there is nothing like getting a group together to encourage and love on new mama's as we embark and continue to figure out this whole motherhood thing. Kathy threw a

classy shower and Ivar and I both felt loved and affirmed. Ivar and Stella's great grandma Bredberg got to hold each baby. She's well-seasoned at holding babies and two at a time didn't really pose any added challenge for her. In fact she probably could have held both babies and kneaded caramel roll dough without any real problems.

Kathy made Banana Punch, a Bredberg family favorite and absolute favorite for us three girls. I remember many a family function where the three of us would just hang out by the punch bowl and refill our glasses as soon as they were empty. It's a slushy drink and super good. I'll have to put the recipe on the blog someday...

Stella was full of hugs and love for Ivar. She had been waiting for this party for weeks and had a few meltdowns before the party officially began because the suspense was just too much. Then she, too, found the banana punch and seemed to be in a better place.

Kathy assembled these stinkin cute scrapbooks for us and had everyone write a message to Stella and Ivar on the paper circles to put on each page. Adorable and so perfect.

And now here's the blog bummer... I took lots of pictures, but very few have each person in the photo looking blog ready. Somehow in each shot I got someone putting food in their mouth, someone's eyes clothes, someone's backside... so I don't have any more people pics to share! And I love everyone too much than to put an unflattering picture of them up on the internet :) But the food. The food was very photogenic and delish, so I'll share these pics to close this post.

library favorites

Before I return our library books from our last visit, I wanted to share a new favorite: Sporty Babies Wear Sweats by Michelle Sinclair Coleman. It's silly and the illustrations are adorable. Apparently there are other books in the "babies wear" series and I'm eager to see those too. I'm just happy to have found a new board book to add to my list of favorites. You can only read But not the Hippopotamus so many times.

30 years later...

This little sweater was made for me 30 years ago by our family friend, Donna Solomonson. We have lots of pictures of me wearing it and now it fits my baby boy. Lately when I pick up Ivar I can't get over the fact that I have a baby that is ready to snuggle and cuddle at all times. I spent a whole lot of my childhood rocking dolls, burping them, changing their clothes, walking them around the house, taking them for walks in the stroller around the block. But now I have the real thing. I have wanted to have a baby my whole life and right this very moment I am living my dreams come true.

I think I link to her blog almost every single time she posts a new blog entry, but my friend Meta has written another gem. She also just had a baby boy and her writing always sweeps me off of my feet. Click here to read Meta's latest thoughts on mamahood.

living room remix

Rearranging the furniture is basically what I do when I'm going a bit batty inside and need a change of scenery. If I can't actually get out to change the scenery, then I have to work with what I've got. For this room redo, we took the corner sectional and turned it into two sofas. Is that legal in the world of room design? I don't know. Don't really care either. It works for us. And a special perk? The end cushions on our couch are super saggy and lack in support (read: your butt can get very close to the floor). But the corner cushions that used to be placed together rarely got any use, so now we have two prime sides of two couches that actually support our bodies when we sit down.

around here

Around here we are playing dress up in summertime clothes, just to get us ready for the warm weather just around the corner. Plus, at the rate Ivar is growing, he is not going to fit into this sweet outfit that Mimi and Papa brought back for him from Hawaii!

Around here we are having more trouble with our naughty cat than we are with our infant son.

Around here we can't get over how "healthy" our son looks. We laugh at how it looks like he has rubber bands around his wrists.

Around here we are so elated that the snow is melting. Rory was out all weekend working on the yard and added 11 bags of woodchips to our front landscaping.

Around here we are debating if perhaps now would be the right time to take down the artificial Christmas tree we put up on our porch five months ago. It's hard to know...we'll be putting it back up again in only 7 months.

Around here we are living through our baby's first fever, cough and cold. It means that we're snuggling a lot, reading lots of books together and that I am still in my pajamas from Saturday night.

Around here we're low on the staples: milk, bread, eggs and butter. Hard to get by without those ingredients.

Around here we are celebrating the tulip buds that are popping up all over our front garden. I can't wait for spring flowers!

Around here we rearranged the living room furniture. Because that just needs to be done once in a while.

Around here we have added a high chair to our kitchen table set up so that our little man can start eating sweet potatoes and carrots with his mom and dad. It's the best. He's very proud to have joined us. The last time I posted an around here post was over a year ago! It is so amazing to track the day to day details and to see how hugely our life has changed in one year... You can read that post by clicking here.

time to get your game on!

Family Fun Magazine has some super simple practical jokes that are ready to print and enjoy. My sister emailed this morning and said her 5-year-old, Mara keeps asking, "what are we going to do for April Fool's Day?" as if she believes it is a major holiday. So if you're looking for some fun ideas to get your creative juices flowing, check out this Family Fun April Fools link. My favorites are the easy, printer-ready ideas found here. I can't wait until Ivar is old enough to help me celebrate this very major holiday!

fill-in-the-picture books

This post is another tip of the hat to my mom. Somehow she finds these awesome albums that tell you what pictures to place where. This book is a book about Ivar's baptism that she put together. This is her 7th baptism book as she has made one of these for each of her grandkids. It means that she comes to the service equipped with a list that she usually passes onto my aunt louie with items listed like: exterior of the church, baptismal font, baby with pastor, inside of the church etc. Then those 20 pictures get placed throughout this book that weaves a story around the pictures, explaining what baptism is and then you add the details:

It's a super cool teaching tool for passing on the faith, so that when Ivar is older we can talk about baptism and what it means to be baptized into the kingdom of God. My niece Sonna was baptized in Flathead Lake and she will "read" this one to us with her own script, "once I was a teeny, tiny baby and there's pastor wayne in his shorts and we all walked into the lake..."

The baptism book mom uses can be ordered online here or here, if you're interested.

the mini album

My mom is the queen of the mini album. For each of her grandchild she has created a "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book using all of the members of our family for the different pages. My niece, Sonna, once called and told me she could 'read' her book all by herself and then read the thing to me three times in a row.

I love these books because they reinforce family no matter how far away the family is. All of Ivar's cousins on the Harrington side live in Montana or Washington, so books like this are really, really important to me.

Mom also makes small albums for each grandchild after she visits them. She takes a ton of pictures on her trips and then comes home to develop and assemble an individual book that will be sent in the mail. She has done this since her grandkids were babies, so when you visit my brother or sister, you will find these 4x6 albums strewn all around the house. Again, it is reinforcing family and all the fun we have together, even when we live an airplane ride apart. To see these simple albums, click here.

Ivar's baby book

Yesterday I wrote about our Family Album. The plan for the Family Albums is that I will not make multiple albums for multiple children. Rather our kids, if they ever care to, can take those albums and scan or make copies of whatever pictures they want. But a baby has got to have a baby book. I found this Eric Carle baby journal at Barnes and Noble and loved it for its bright colors and tons of blank pages for special pictures. All of these pictures are duplicates from the Family Album, but these pictures pertain specifically to the topics listed in the journaling questions on the pages in between. And even though there are proper spaces for each picture, it is becoming more of a "scrapbook" on other pages...in the front cover I mounted my favorite pregnancy cards, in the back cover I mounted Ivar's baptism and dedication certificates. And on any empty area in between I have stuck in other special mementos: the napkin from Ivar's restaurant in Seattle sent from Uncle Ben and Aunt Jeanette, a picture of Ivar drawn by his cousin Mara, a little note my grandma included in with her gift. It's all in the pages of this book.

And now all that's left is the journaling. Heaven help me. That is an overwhelming task! I think I'm going to take a page a day. And I also plan on printing a lot of my blog posts and maybe add those in an envelope in front so that those stories are included within the pages of the baby book.

My final goal with this baby book is that it stays out and is read with dirty fingers by an excited little boy. I mean, not super dirty fingers, and not a super little boy, but that one day (after his ripping pages stage) Ivar can enjoy this book throughout his childhood.

another scrapbooking game plan

I have written a lot on this blog about my plans for scrapbooking. I got really excited about digital scrapbooking for a while. And then I found templates that made it super easy. I thought this style of month-by-month scrapbooking was going to be my scrapbook solution, but each month still took about 2 hours to compile, and honestly I am still stuck back in September. Once Ivar was born, I realized that if I didn't figure out a game plan quick, I'd be overwhelmingly behind. My game plan this time around had to be super, super simple. The solution: print the pictures. Stick them in an album. I waited for a deal at Walgreens and printed 400 pictures. My plan is that these albums will be family albums...not just Ivar albums. This means that when kid #2 comes, their pictures will just be added in chronological order with the rest of the pictures. This is not Ivar's baby book. It also doesn't mean that I am done scrapbooking! My hope is that if I feel so inspired, I might choose to scrapbook a vacation's worth of pictures, or some other picture-happy event. But if it just doesn't happen, those pictures can go into this album guilt-free. What I love about scrapbooking is the combination of story and pictures and mementos. So this album is going to have it all, just without the cropping, matting, trimming and embellishments of an entirely crafted scrapbook. On the page above I have included our three parking stubs from going to the hospital three times before Ivar was born, our hospital wristbands and the sheet of paper we wrote my contractions on. A friend recently introduced me to Project Life and this is sort of the same idea, just without purchasing the kit.

I have places on most pages that at this point are left empty and will be filled with journaling cards next. I have been looking around for the perfect fit, and so far I haven't found many options. I do like Amy Butler's journaling cards, but I have a feeling I may end up making my own 4 x 6 cards to write on, which will probably be a welcome reason to get out my cutter and sticky adhesive :) The other option would be to go digital for the journaling cards and print them like pictures. I'll keep you posted on what I settle on...

So there it is. My latest picture documenting game plan. Give me another few months. It may change yet again. But for now, I'm just proud to be current with Ivar's life!

I got my album from Michaels when it was on sale for $17. It holds 400 pictures and I love that there are vertical and horizontal slots on each page. Michaels also has refill pages available for this album. I can't find what brand or company created this one...it's not labeled anywhere on the album. But they came in a rainbow of colors, with this sort of textured fabric cover. I bought three albums that day and filled the other two with childhood pictures and now plan to purchase a few more so they're ready for the next batch of prints (thankfully our picture taking is slowing down a bit...)

cousins clothesline

This week on zee blog I am going to be sharing a whole lot of picture projects I have been working on. A few weeks ago I decided that I am not going to just take pictures. I am going to print pictures too. And with the printed pictures, I have decided on a game plan for scrapbooking with Ivar... a way to document his life. Just wait until you see it. It is simple, simple, simple and I love it.

This first project took me 10 minutes to assemble. Ivar has six cousins on each side and so using a picture of him with each of his cousins, I tacked up a piece of twine, found teeny tiny clothes pins at Michaels and hung up this cousins clothesline, inspired by this blog post I saw a long, long time ago.

I like this idea because as Ivar grows and I print different pictures of him with his cousins, I can easily swap them out for a quick update.

Celebrating Hildur

Rory, Ivar and I drove to St. Peter today for Hildur's memorial service. You know what is great about a memorial service for a 103-year-old? It's a lot more of a celebration of life than of sad day of grief. For a life lived as fully as Hildur's, there just isn't a whole lot to be sad about. She had a full, rich, and friend-filled 103 years and served God with joy and gladness all of her days. Her funeral was a celebration of faith and faithful friends.

There were a lot of people at her funeral which spoke clearly of how well she kept up friendships even into her 103rd year. Her sister Lois spoke and beautifully thanked every person who had loved and cared for Hildur. Hildur lived independently in her own home even up to her very last days, and though she was well and able, there was an army behind the scenes helping her to live independently. Friends who stocked her freezer with meals, friends who helped her get to appointments, others who faithfully drove her to church... And Lois named each person by name and gave them their earned praise. It was so cool to have the focus of the funeral turned on the congregation gathered. It made sense because we were gathered because of a shared love for Hildur, but it felt so inviting to hear other people's names and how we all served our friend in different ways.

Lois said that when Hildur was asked the secret for such a long and vibrant live she would answer with a list of things, but the first secret was her love for people. That was obvious today.

happy friday night everybody

If you're checking your google reader and are like, "what? did becca just post eight new blog posts?" I'd like to answer that question for you and tell you that yes, yes I did. I feel so good getting the stories and the pictures out there. It was a full week of other stuff going on, but I really wanted to get these pics and stories recorded and tonight was the night.

So enjoy. Even if you just look at the pictures I'll feel better that at least I can start blogging in the present again.