polaroid tuesday: week thirty-three

Um... yeah. My baby is almost nine months and I just started feeding her baby food.

My reasons for starting a bit late are: 1. I was scared of her losing baby status. 2. I didn't want her poop to change (breastmilk poop smells good to me). 3. If she is my last one, I want her baby-ness to last forever (kinda like #1).

Hey! Don't judge. Plus, if you saw her thighs, you can tell she is well fed.

to miss joan

My friend is getting married this Saturday in Virginia, and while I am bummed that us Bratchers can't make it (though most my family will be heading east this week along with the photographer of the wedding Christian Cruz), I am so glad she entrusted me to make something so that way I can be part of it in a small way. I made two little pillows. This first one is for the coin pillow and the biggest leaf is a pocket that will hide the coins as it walks down the aisle (with a cute little boy holding it of course!).

The second one is the ring pillow that will walk down the aisle (of course, with another cute little boy holding it).

The pillows are made with some pretty gray linen fabric and the flowers and leaves are done with wool felt and some pretty vintage baubles. I opted against the traditional satin because I wanted some that would practical and cute enough to be used after the wedding, and could be put on some cute little chair or couch (if the bride and groom choose to do so).

To Joan and Terrence! We are so blessed by the testimony of your constant trust in God's goodness and grace. Marriage is so fun and I know you two will have a blast! Enjoy running this race of life together!!! Love, the Bratchers

Monday is here again and my three year blog anniversary just passed, so there will be another fun giveaway soon! Promise. I got another list of things to do and projects I want to do with the girls. What is on your project list this week?

p.s. Must see Joan's engagement shoot done by her photographer sister (and my friend) Ica. Utterly adorable!!!

slice of life: in video

{song is Look and Yes by Isan}

hi again

Well, it has been a long while since I hacked into cyberspace. I have been a bit busier these days crawling around, even standing and taking steps (and trying to steal my sisters' toys). The most steps I have taken is 4, but I can't wait to get this walking thing down pat. Oh.. the possibilities are endless! I will be conquering my house before you know it. Of course, my mama is a little worried about that. I also really like being the baby, everyone always gives me hugs and kisses (and my big sisters fight over me). It is all really fun! My mama also tells me that I have to be careful because I might get arrested. She says that it must be against the law to be this cute, but then again, I think my mama is a whole lot biased. Right? Okay, time to go (and please pray i don't get arrested). Have a good weekend and I will try to be back soon!

Love,

Soul

p.s. my mama may have another video up tomorrow. i really like those!

doodles and tomatoes

I did some sketch book doodling yesterday afternoon. I love our yellow owl workshop paris stamps, they are just way cool! I totally want to collect them all!!!

I also ate some freshly picked tomatoes and basil with mozzarella... yum!

This crazy heat wave we have going on right now is leaving me feeling yuck! I am not a fan of this heat. 108°F is just crazy! I tell you, C-R-A-Z-Y!!! Oh please Autumn, can you come more quickly?

How is the weather like in your part of the world?

my little animals

To be honest, there hasn't been a whole lot of kid crafting going on, but we are finally getting back on track. It all started again with painting, then the painting led to talking about animals, which led to making animal masks.

Brave wanted to be a gorilla and True requested a giraffe, so with some drawing, cutting, and sewing on some elastic, they had their masks! I think I kinda got the gorilla, but I forgot what giraffes look like and was too lazy to go look it up. Thus, when I was done with True's, she said, "Mommy, it kind of looks like a dog." I said, "Yeah... well..." But really, I think it looks more like a bear with funny antennas. Though, I did manage to give it a long neck!

The mask making then led to some sort of animal show, which they put on for me. They started interacting with each other and making funny animal noises. Apparently, gorillas and bear-giraffe-dog breeds speak the same language. My girls are hilariously funny! It feels good to be doing some fun kid crafting again and I have a list of projects I want us to try out!

Have any suggestions for fun kid projects?

soul and boogie

Late again, but she is still eight months. See her at seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one month.

polaroid tuesday: week thirty-two

We are so normal. We fight. We lose our tempers. The kids fight. The kids are disobedient. We get angry. We apologize. We got a whole lot of lovin', but most of all we got a whole lot of God's grace.

photobooths

You know how much we love them and now you can make your own all the time. Visit La PhotoCabine now.

{taken from my sister's blog using la photocabine}

{first two rows: true and brave; third row: the girls with auntie linda; last row: me and my girls}

The wedding shower we went to over the weekend was marvelous. Um... unlimited photobooth, dessert truck, and taco man is just G-R-E-A-T!!!

Hope your weekend was just as fabulous!!!

p.s. Glad you all like the video! We love watching it cause True dancing is such a riot! Beware you may get more... we are addicted to our Zumi. And my sister made a really good video with her Zumi too!

slice of life: in video

We got a new toy, which is the Zumi 2.0, which takes stills and video. The wonderful thing is the video mimics super 8 film, so it is oh lovely! Not as lovely as the real deal of super 8, but lovely enough (it really feels so close).

Ben and I are always talking about how bad we are at filming the girls and their milestones (though we are really good at taking pictures of them), but now with this handy dandy thing, we vow to be better. You better get used to seeing videos here because this is my challenge to myself (and ben's self) to video tape more and just like my sisters do, share it in this space.

Without further ado, here is a slice of our life this past week...

If you want to join me in happy video capturing, buy the Zumi here cause this store is totally rad (or just use what you have), but I gotta say that the Zumi is real cool (and teeny tiny)!

Have a good weekend cherishing moments, be it through stills, video, or just living it. Remember, always have fun (and love God through it)! So tonight I have a date with my hottie husband, tomorrow I will have fun at this gal's wedding shower, and on Sunday, I will have fun at our church hosted community picnic (you are invited, so if you want to come, email me).

What kind of fun will you be having this weekend?

out in l.a.

Yesterday, we made the trek into the city and spent the afternoon roaming the streets of Los Angeles. Well, kinda roaming as the girls were part of the photo shoot for Misha Lulu's new line for Fall, which I must say is just as divine as usual!

Soulie was such a trooper as she was pretty much chillaxin' in her stroller all afternoon and barely made a peep as she completely loved getting doted on by all the big girls (and I loved getting in some adult interaction). As for her big sisters, True and Brave, they loved hanging out with the big girls and I am always so glad for the fun they have on adventures like this. Thanks Karen!!!

Don't forget to check out Misha Lulu's Surplus store, they are always a lot of pretty things for such great prices!

sort-of ice cream recipe

My best friend shared this super easy, sort-of ice creamish recipe with me and now I am sharing it with you!

ingredients:

frozen bananas

blender

whatever toppings your heart desires

1. Get some bananas, old ones work perfectly.

2. Chop up your bananas.

3. Freeze your bananas until completely frozen. I did mine overnight.

4. Stick in a blender.

5. Blend until all mushed and resembles the consistency of ice cream.

6. Add some toppings.

For my girls' scoops, I put some honey and sprinkles and mine was topped with some crunched ferrero rocher.

7. Enjoy!

It definitely has a strong banana flavor, but it tastes yummy! Maybe next time I would add a scoop of vanilla before I blend it. I am sure there a lot more fun ways to add more to this recipe.

What are you snacking on this warm summer day?

p.s. last day for giveaway!

polaroid tuesday: week thirty-one

Taken by Brave at the fair.

Love True's face! She was angry and crying her head off because she didn't ride the elephant.

I hated to see her so sad and crazy about it, but riding an elephant for $14 dollars (for ben and her) just once around, which lasts about a minute and a half, at the same time sharing the animal with two other strangers, just seems to be a bit excessive. That company is making a killing off that poor elephant as there are long lines to ride it.

we partied hard

My momma was an especially happy girl! Everyone she loved was there and everyone involved did such a wonderful job (thank you to all who lent a helping hand or lovely words, we are so grateful!). It was a night full of love, entertainment and lots of fun! I just gotta say that I am not the singer of the family (the one in blue with red hair is but she forgot the words), and my voice quivers a lot when I have to sing in front of people, but we had fun putting together this little thing for our momma (and I hope you enjoy it too!). Here is a little tidbit of what went on...

Obviously, we are a silly bunch and we all love our momma a whole lot! Well now that the party is over, I am looking forward to a little more breathing room and some boredom. Yippee!!!

Have a good Monday!

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off for the weekend

{the flowers I used for my best friend's wedding, which was another busy time of my life}

Hello friends! I am bidding you a good weekend early. I am knee deep in the busyness of life right now and will be breathing much easier Monday morning after my mom's party and when I am finish with a little project that I am part of. I am sure there a lot of other wonderful places on the internet that will keep you busy in the meantime. For some eye candy pleasure, be sure to check out Danni from Oh, hello friend's engagement pictures (here and here) or read the smile lists from my sister. If you have any fave sites to visit with pretty eye candy, leave the links here to share with other readers... thanky!

Have a happy weekend friends! Promise to be back with a fun post on Monday (and maybe a giveaway this weekend)...

xoxo

my mommy

She turns 50 today. She was gorgeous then and she is still gorgeous now. I hope I get her genes and look young forever!

Happy birthday mom! I love you!!!

polaroid tuesday (on a wednesday): week thirty

I love love going grocery shopping in our backyard. Seriously, it is so cool. You would never know that all this is growing amidst a very normal, suburban, tract home backyard!

slightly obsessed

Ever since I made macarons for the first time for Brave's birthday, which I am glad you all love as much as we loved preparing for it and celebrating it, I have been slightly obsessed with baking this confectionary treat. I am determined to get it down just right. Currently, I use this recipe and Emily's tips. My weekend batch seemed to be better than the last, though they were shaped more like blobs than circles, and I don't think that I put enough batter in my mounds. I have tons of homemade italian buttercream left over, so you can be sure that this week might yield more macarons. Not that we are already done with the batch I made, but I seriously want to be semi-pro at baking these pretty little cookies. I want them in all colors! I think they would make pretty pictures. Be ready for lots of macaron sharing...

Ben probably thinks I am crazy for wanting to bake more because of all the crazies that will be happening this week for my mom's party on Saturday. Plus, I just got thrown into another mix of a project that needs to be tackled this week that has got me a bit in a frenzy! Anyone wanna help me clean my house?!! I had a freak out moment this morning and being on the computer isn't helping with all that needs to be done. I can't wait until next Monday when life returns back to whatever normal is and I have a bit more breathing room.

If you have tips for baking macarons please share! And if you want to clean my house... come on over!

p.s. i am behind on emails again, so if you are waiting for one... i will get to it eventually. promise.

a mouk birthday

Brave's favorite book of late has been Mouk, thus I decided a little Mouk birthday was in order for our newly three year old girl. It was all a bit of a surprise and good thing she doesn't question what I make too much while I am sewing. True knew all about it and was very excited to surprise her little sister.

I sewed my first kinda-quilt ever! It is a blanket of the world because Mouk travels all throughout the world. Of course it is not made to scale (and a few islands may be missing) as something very exact would have made me go bonkers. We hung it up for the celebration, but now it can be used as any type of blanket from picnics to play to learning or even sleeping. Ben put some steel poles in the ground for our little party and I just strung up some left over bunting from Linda's wedding.

Here is my special little Bravey wearing her new, but vintage birthday dress. The birthday girl was happy as she recognized everything right away!

Naturally, a little softie Mouk had to be made to go along with the celebration.

Something from every country Mouk travelled to was represented at the celebration. There were Papas Fritas from Peru, sushi from Japan, snow (the shaved ice in the coconuts) from Finland, fruits from Madagascar (topped the snow in the coconuts), macarons from Paris, watermelon rind masks from Greece, turkish delight from Libya, hibiscus tea from West Africa, licorice from Australia (not sure if it is particularly Australian, but this particular one was made there). Brave also got some special presents which included a golden fish kite from China and a New York stamp set. Lastly, we made painted elephants just like did in the book in India. Thus as we read the book, we indulged in the special delights represented from each country. The girls were most anxious and excited about painting the elephants, and of course devouring all the little sweet treats!

A Mouky (as they like to call him) party was the perfection celebration for our wonderful little Brave... small, simple, and sweet just like our birthday girl!