handmade baby

My friend from high school, Crystal, made this hat for Ivar. I adore it. It's so sweet and I love that it has ear flaps. Ivar loves it too. He can grab things now and is a fan of putting whatever he was able to grasp into his mouth, so the strings on this hat keep him really busy.

My sister-in-law, Sara, made these little slippers for him. They are so stinking cute and STAY ON HIS FEET! A serious bonus in baby footwear.

I am inspired. I want to learn how to crochet. And if that doesn't happen for a while, I want to get crafty again. It's been a long, long time and I miss making stuff. Maybe this weekend...

wolf blitzer and troy groves

My brother-in-law was on CNN last night on a few different shows. He and Sara and the band were stranded in Chicago during the blizzard...

great, great grandsons

This is pretty cool. These two little boys have the same great, great grandparents. It makes them third cousins on Rory's side. I wish I had someway to show this in a family tree, because I finally just wrapped my visual head around it, but I think it is so amazing to think that four generations later, these little boys will grow up knowing each other as family. It reminds me of Sara's song, "to my great, great, great grandson, live in peace." It's amazing how the heritage of one couple four generations ago is still felt so strongly today.

I like this picture. I think it looks like Henry is saying, "tell me again how we're related?"

And the mama's. Marlene's cousin Debbie had us over for a new baby brunch. It was a fantastic morning with two new moms so happy to be out of the house for the morning! Thanks Debbie for having us over. I wish I had a picture of all of us!

how he loves us

On Friday night I started singing to Ivar as we lay on the bed together, “He loves us, oh how he loves us…” and as I sang this refrain over and over again Ivar began to join in. He was singing the sweetest coos, looking right at me and joining in my song. We sang for a long, long time, his sounds sweet and pure.

His song was indescribably beautiful to me. I could have lived in that moment forever. I sang my lyric about how much God loves us, and I had this powerful moment of understanding why we sing praises to our God. Because in that moment I was so pleased and delighted in the song of my son and I realized that God shares this delight when we offer our sweet songs of praise to him.

It made me want to worship.

good sports

Mara, age 5, was very crafty the whole time we were in Mesa. She made lots of Valentines and then decided to make Valentine headbands for everyone to wear in a valentines parade we were planning. Unfortunately the parade never happened, but two headbands were completed...Ivar's and Svea's. They were kind enough to pause from their busy schedules for a photo shoot.