then and now.

G, 2007.

You think they look so different, time flies, oh my they are getting so big. And then there is a moment, a glance, a look, and you realize...

G, 2010.

corner view:: street photography

This weeks corner view is street photography. While we do live in the city, at this time of year we are a bit done with the dirty slush, huge mounds of gray gritty snow, rutted pothole streets, and colorless views of winter in town (February in Wisconsin). So we take the back roads out of town, and choose where we go to re-supply carefully. We much prefer blue skies, white snowy fields, steam coming off of thickly furred horses, chipped red barns, and hawks circling above.



Even when we must drive in town for things, my view is usually out the other window, watching the lake and the fishing shacks scattered all over the ice.


We love getting out of Madison to stop in our favorite small town cafes for some cocoa and a chess game - no crowds, nice view, and easy in and out.


Not to mention friendly gazes as we head back home.

For corner views from around the globe visit Jane at Spain Daily.

things i love pt. II

Following our passions.

things i love.

Sunny winter days,


big brown eyes on my happy boys,


fresh air and crisp white snow.

wood craft.

Some of my favorite projects with the boys are those that start off with one idea and morph into something completely different and creative. We talked about making different things with scraps of wood we've been saving, but nothing really was taking shape until we pulled out the saw, miter and heavy duty wood glue over the weekend. We came up with some cool designs - a land-water boat, a race car, and a pickup truck.


We used bits and pieces of wood, parts from those wood craft 'kits', little tiny craft spools, wheels, dowels, and other scraps from the bottom of my 'wood' craft box. The boys sawed and carefully laid out the pieces (spending a lot of time putting pieces together so they looked like vehicles) and once we had each vehicle ready, they glued! We waited a day for that to dry, and then they sanded rough edges and put a base coat of white acrylic on and waited another day for that to dry (they actually looked really cool all white too).


Finally, we were ready to paint some color. I had put out a bunch of different colors of acrylic on the palettes, but once the boys saw the new metallic blue color I had found at our last craft store visit that.was.it. They wanted some bling.


So now we have some funky bright home crafted wooden vehicles that have been raced down ramps, ridden by finger puppets and bionicles, and which have been used to haul things around the house like LEGO people, marbles and pirate gold.


Of course making them was the best part. I saw the boys digging in the wood pieces box today to see what we have left. I have a feeling we have some new designs coming on.