On a Lighter Note...

...after months of deliberation and weeks of serious concern that I wouldn't be able to come up with anything on the scale of last year's costume, I have finally determined what to dress Seth as for Halloween this year.


Imagine this:






As this:

Funny, right? As Brig likes to point out, this is why I have kids.

ps I'm getting feedback that since the blog redesign, some people are unable to post comments. I don't know how to fix it! Sorry :(

The Little Things

A couple of weeks ago a woman at church asked me if Seth is close to 2 yet. When I said he'll be 2-years-old next month, she said almost under her breath, "Wow, that went by fast." I knew she wasn't really talking about Seth, it was more of a sudden awareness that it's already been two years since Matt died. We mark that passage of time by subtracting one month from Seth's age. It's been two years tomorrow.
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I was going through some pictures last night, looking for one for another post, and stumbled upon this:

It's a message Brigham wrote on the cover for Matt's casket. It tears my heart out. Sometimes I wish my boys' father was a jerk so they'd actually be better off without him, but he wasn't and they absolutely adored him. He would walk in the door after a full day at work and Brigham and Hunter would run toward his open arms at full speed, often knocking him flat on his butt. Sometimes I was jealous that they got the first home-from-work hug, but after a conversation with Hunter tonight I'm glad.

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We went to the cemetery this evening. Usually the boys don't like to get out of the car, and I don't feel like I should push them, but tonight Hunter sweetly offered to go with me to "our" grave. As we stood together looking at Matt's headstone, Hunter told me he was thinking about Dad at our old house. "What part?" I asked. "About how he used to walk in the door," he answered.

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On the way home I thought about that phrase..."It's the little things that matter most"...and I thought about how quickly the little things can become enormous things. Little things like walking in the door.

An Equal Opportunity Quilt Post

Right now I am working on what is shaping up to be my all-time favorite quilt. I went to bed last night with all twelve squares pinned together and laid out on my kitchen island. When I woke up this morning and came down stairs, my first thought was "oh...it's even cuter than I remember it being!" From the fabrics to the color scheme to the whole overall piece, it's pretty near perfect. It makes me kiss my fingertips and do that little Italian hand gesture in the air. And it's not even edible! But it's a surprise...so I can't post pictures until I mail it off next week. Sorry.

But I can post a picture of the quilt I finished and delivered last week. It's the big sister quilt to the one I did for Alexa a few months ago:




All this quilt talk is making me concerned that I'm neglecting my male readers, so for the sake of balance I was thinking I'd post a picture of an awesome Smith & Wesson revolver I've been eyeing:

But somehow I don't really think that helped...sorry fellas.