Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Sharing a new birthday present, or two. From Soulemama's blog: A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

photocredit With a title like Catfish and a simple poster like the above movie photo, probably not a lot of people are going to see this. I'm telling you, however, that it's intriguing. This movie is....like a train wreck. Strange, disturbing, but you can't look away. The plot of the documentary Catfish , is a true story about a 20-something photojournalist and his online relationship with a family. The youngest member of the family, Abby, is a painter and sells her artwork for hundreds of dollars. She gets in touch with the main character, Nev, by sending him a painting of one of his photos in a newspaper. The connections are instantly made, and he falls for Abby's older sister, Megan, while simply texting, emailing, and sending messages and photos via Facebook . This movie is so bizarre, but at 90 minutes, it's an easy watch and the entire movie flies by because of what happens. Watch it! It's so interesting. I would not let anyone under 16 watch it for sexual

Here is the finished "Little Helper Tower" Stefan made from Ana-White's directions on her site. The only changes were that we did not do arches (didn't have the proper tool) and just made it square on top. This piece is adapted from the original (and expensive ) Learning Tower . We saved a bit over $150 for doing it ourselves. This was Stefan's home made gift to Ani for her 2nd birthday, and already the kids love it. It looks somewhat small in the picture, but both kids fit easily inside, and there is plenty of room for a third in the back. The tower scoots right up to the counter, table, or where-ever you're workinga nd the "ladder rungs" on the side you can see in the picture are actually 4 different 'heights' so it can grow with the child. We decided to put hinges on it so once you take the platform out, it can actually fold down to a small height and slide under a bed or to the side of a closet when not in use. That doesn't happen m

So you'll have to guess which favorite animal I've actually left out...that gets a post all on it's own some Monday down the road. I love all of these pictures, found via Weheartit.com , for different reasons but I think my favorite is either of the pups, or the ducks... Which one is your favorite and why? Enjoy. **I die**

They never stop moving. At least now they can't fall out. * From Soulemama 's blog: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

XoXo to our Little Peanut on her 2nd birthday! We love you Anikka! Loves: Singing, Dancing, Coloring, Running, Playing outside and being tickled. Also loves to get her hair done. Baths, hats, hair clips, chocolate, dressing up, playing dolls, and SMILING. She never stops. Dislikes: Nap time (though she falls asleep within minutes), finishing her food, biting her fingers, which she does quite frequently! Nicknames: Ani, Nanny, Bean(ers), Monkey, Flopsy Mopsy, Butterball, and "Dani", which is what she calls herself. We pray this year you would remain healthy and exuberant and begin to understand the foundation of being a child of God. We love you Banana!!

photocredit Love this 'Barbie Alternative' found via Soulemama this week. Even though it's still winter, we can be surrounded by the warm thought of a lovely Summer Tea Party . Awesome girly felt-board and 'felt dolls' (as opposed to paper dolls) made for a local store. So cute! Is your little lady sketching her first ball room gowns yet? Maybe she's shown interest in learning a craft. Sewing School is a great teach-yourself book for elementary aged children! Wee Sing has been on my wish list for awhile--my girl loves to sing and dance. I've heard tons of these book + cd combos and I'm ready to try one out. Daughter love doll-play? Check out these awesome doll accessories from Nova Natural. Afford-ability is huge to our family, so I'm trying to get my husband to make Ani a DIY wooden doll chair ! Is your child a nature-lover? These little suitcases are so neat. Check out The Botanist or ( swoon ) The Sewing Kit . This romantic hankies-turned

photocredit Of course in keeping with all things 'girl' over here this week, I'm pleased to still do a movie review that every young girl would love, Secretariat . This film is based on the true story of the Triple Crown winner, Secretariat, who was a super-horse back in 1973. It's a Disney movie, so expect heart fuzzies, clean-slate language and content, and wonderful footage of the fastest horse in America. The story starts with the loss of character Penny (Diane Lane)'s mother, and with that the abrupt news that their family stud farm is in danger of going under. Penny has to decide how to keep the operation from sinking and thoroughly researches and works hard to turn the stable back to its original state. She puts all her emphasis on a horse, Big Red, and with a superb team (including John Malkovitch as quirky Quebecois trainer), turns this horse into a racing powerhouse. The missing plot to the story are how her and the absent and borderline- neglected family

It's about to get really girly over here this week. My baby is turning two and we're celebrating with family and friends on the weekend with brunch and cupcakes. Here's my visual inspiration to start. I love every one of these images for different reasons, mostly color or originality. What is your favorite? * All photos found on weheartit.com. Beware, WHI is uncensored.

Portrait of his sister. From Soulemama's blog : {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

um, adorable. Back for another round of favorite links! Found from my friend, Mia , the Melody Gardot station on Pandora is fan-tas-tic. Seriously, go plug it in and then come back! Those Red Velvet Girls have revamped themselves yet again with their new online store and look-book . Very fun! totally love this re-styled old sheet-turns knitted bathmat ! This DIY floor looks so neat. Never seen anything like it, in fact. If you're local and have kids 3+, make sure you register for the 4th year of the Lincoln Safari at any library! Free and super fun, they are great boredom-busters. I love this outdoor playhouse . (Picture #2.) It's so cute! Stefan..... :) If you're a crafter you may want to add Living Crafts blog to your reader. I get their quarterly subscription, but on their blog they do weekly MEGA giveaways. We're talking $150+ worth of yarn, fabric, felt, etc! We're in the middle of deciding whether or not we'd like to do a garden at our current renta

photocredit This weekend Stefan and I had the opportunity to see a movie and although we were bummed that Harry Potter wasn't in theaters anymore, we had a few good choices. We decided to go to The King's Speech , starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club), and Geoffrey Rush, who I really like. The movie, although exceptional actors, started off very slow and...pretty much stayed that way the entire two hours. The plot follows the true story of how King George VI came to the crown and how he unified his country during World War II despite his severe speech impediment-stammering. The radio has just come into play and so the many war-time broadcasts he has to do cause him anxiety. He hires Lionel (Rush) as his speech therapist, and the two become friends. I love true stories and while I thought the acting was great; the scenery, pretty; the movie really needed help somewhere . If you like historical movies, you may have an interest in this movie, and it had 12 Aca

Ball. Color. Cozy. Hook. Lace. Loop. Knit. Romantic. Skein. Soft. Spin. Thick. Warm. Wool. Yarn . I love every one of these images for different reasons. Which is your favorite and why? I'm drawn to the romantic weekend suitcase and of course, the sign ( so true ). * All images taken from weheartit.com. Reader beware, weheartit is not censored.

From Soulemama's blog : A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

One of my favorite craft bloggers, who has a killer eye for vintage and probably the best color schemes I've seen, has a new e-course designed to help the beginner sewer and seamstress alike to create pieces with Modern Patchwork . She is giving away three spots in her e-course on her blog's giveaway! You'll be inspired to make pieces from pillows, reno chairs, toys, and more! Oh yeah, and I get one more entry for blogging about it! Let's be classmates! All photos from Rachel Denbow .

photocredit I'm not going to lie....I may have a heart attack if I were to ever meet The Pioneer Woman in real life. I've even had conversations with friends that "I want to be her when I grow up". The lady is a homeschooling mother, photographer, comedian, writer, and most importantly for this post, a CHEF . The girl has home-cookin' under her belt, and not only does she have her own recipe website, Tasty Kitchen , but she has a cook book out, too Pioneer Woman Cooks . And yes, I own it. For how much I love her food, (can I get an A-Men! for her Corn Chowder with Chilies !) it's not, generally, ah, ahem, super healthy . Cough . I'm not exactly a strict recipe follower, either. And by that I mean if I ever DID follow a recipe exactly the next thing I'd do is look outside to see if money really grows on trees. Yeah, I improvise. This recipe, I really revamped the ingredient list...and it still turned out fabulously! Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Enc

photocredit I can't remember how I came across this book-someone must have recommended it to me and I wish I could thank whoever it was that did. I so enjoyed reading Walking on Water that I ended it up buying it before I got to the last chapter. This is a book I will recommend to anyone who has a creative bent to them (read: everyone) and is sifting through questions like, "What is good art?" and "How is Christian art different?" among other seemingly lofty thoughts. Maybe you're not wondering those things, but you have a drive to be creative and can't find the time or you don't know why you get frustrated when there's no margin for working with your hands? I still recommend this book to you. I would sit and read 10 pages, and then think about it for an hour. *** Madeline L'Engle has such an interesting way of writing. I was constantly stopping Stefan and begging him to listen to just one more paragraph I'd come across. I felt like al