Handmade soap for sale

Handmade cold-process soap for sale! It would make a lovely mother's or father's day gift. My soap friend Ruth Nellis and I have a few options available for you, $4 for a 4ish ounce bar. Current kinds are:

-Nourishing Butters Soap - an extravagant experience of nourishment with the comforting aroma of chocolate. Cocoa and shea butter moisturize and soften the skin and the soul.

-Honeyed Ale with Citrus - this handsome soap is made with beer and barley. It is a masculine scent with exfoliating barley and honey.

-Cedar & Saffron - an earthy aroma with a spicy note. Joel's current favorite.

More to come!! Talk to me for more details!  I could possibly even ship places, if you pay for shipping too.

Oh here it is

I like that one day she wears this outfit, and two days later she wears what you saw in the last post.. bare legs, short sleeves, sandals. Love this place, I do. Don't you?

This is what she looks like now on camera

"baby! baby! baby!"

"baby! baby! baby!"

"baby?!  baby! baby?!"

Sometimes we get lucky. This is what she does if you tell her she has a nice smile.

 I think I told you she calls cameras "baby" since there are always photos of babies on them. Poses a problem when you try to take a photo of her ... she just makes an anguished face and runs to you with arms outstretched shouting "baby baby baby eeeeeuuuu baby".

Love that face!

 Thank you for your comments last time!  So love your words!  Oh I found that other photo for you, but this computer is not rising to the challenge so I'll keep you in suspense...
Joel and I are going away this weekend with our small group to Whidbey for a weekend of rest and feasting. Marie is spending the weekend with grandma and grandpa!  Woo hoo our first nights apart. Hoping all of us can have peace with that. Think of us.

Oh have I mentioned she does laundry?  Start 'em young...

18 months

Marie will be 18 months tomorrow. Which means she's spent twice the amount of time outside my womb as she has inside.  And that number will only keep getting more drastic.  I wanted to post this cute photo I took of Marie today, which is rare these days because every time I get the camera out she starts running toward me shouting "baby! baby! baby!" and reaching and yelling because she wants to see the photos of the baby which of course in her mind are on every single electronic screen that exists. Which means I have to subversively get the camera out and snap fast, leaving no time for camera adjustments which means we have about 4 months of blurry disappointing photos of Marie.  But today I got a nice one of her wearing her red Postman Pat boots with jeans semi-tucked in, and that red sweater with a kitty on it that Grandma Berwold knit for baby Heather 20-odd years ago... and her little blue hat that my mom knit that makes her little blue eyes stand out so much... she was sitting on the wooden steps outside that go up to the back deck. Anyway I can't load the photo because of the aforementioned little girl who must have hidden the key to the computer box and wires.

Such a little cutie face now - she is most definitely a little girl now, people.  In the last week she's been talking up a storm - a storm I tell you.  She repeats all sorts of things - watch out, Justin!  She weighs around 30 pounds now and don't say anything about her being overweight or at risk of anything or you better run the opposite direction as fast as those legs can carry you.  Someone did a week ago to me and oh my that was my first real "momma bear" moment.  Marie eats healthier than probably anyone I know, and has since she was conceived. Well ok, about 7 weeks after that.  There are many many things I am not good at, but feeding my child healthfully is not one of them. I am stellar at that.  Every chubby little ounce of her is full of good fats and adorableness.  And don't even start me on breastfeeding, people.  Would you believe someone in a position of semi-authority told me "don't worry, once you stop breastfeeding, her weight will get better" (ie lower). When she saw my eyes after she said that she started running and she's still running today.

 Oh people, she wears pigtails now and it's so stinkin' cute. So much hair! It's amazing! If I don't comb it out of her face, it gets in her eyes and she starts squinting and touching her eyes with her fingers. How come every little thing a toddler does is just adorable?!?

She still looks so much like my dad it's kind of unnerving at times. Those eyebrows...

Her shades are so hot right now. Starting trends here...

In other news... oh wait, there is no other news. Our lives revolve around this 30 pound strawberry blonde bundle of joy.

Valentine's Day

For someone who really isn't excited about a commercialized holiday that has become pretty meaningless in America, I feel like we have quite a history with this day in my family.
Exhibits A-F:

First of all, 90 years ago today, my Grandpa Ehli was born. It must have been cold that day in South Dakota, and they didn't have running water until the last children were born. My, my, am I grateful we have so many options for birthing babies these days!
*Correction* Grandpa was born in North Dakota. They didn't move to South Dakota until he was 2. And they didn't have running water until after all 9 of the children were born!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

A little less than 90 years ago, my Grandma Berwold was born in Yellowstone National Park. Her mom and dad had immigrated from Norway just a few years before her birth. I imagine Great Grandma Velsvick in particular missing having family around, both for the help in childbirth, and for the celebration. There was an aunt there with them who more likely than not helped birth baby Grandma.
Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Pulled this one from the archives!

Moving decades and decades closer to today, 7 years ago today, Joel was in Scotland, I was in Seattle. He sent me this card (through my roommate Alissa), along with my wedding ring, and bunches of daffodils.

I chose both.

Two years ago today, we found out we were pregnant!

One year ago today we had this little precious dressed all in red and lace.

And that brings us to today. I dressed Marie up like a valentine, as you can see. Pigtails came later, sorry you missed out on that.  We are in the midst of sickness. Marie got sick 2 weeks ago and still has green stuff coming out of her nose. I got sick a week ago and still have a raging cough.  We do not have high expectations out of today.

Marie is delightful and confounding, precious and even more precious when I get a break from her once in a while. We love her so. I have a feeling there are many people out there willing to be her valentine this year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some Christmas

Marie is at a pretty ideal age for Christmas - too young to expect presents, but old enough to enjoy. And young enough that we can dress her up super cute and love on her adorableness. She's so sweet and is currently into kissing. I read her her Christmas book yesterday (Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett - pretty much perfect for her right now! Kitties AND other animals!), and the last page with Annie and the kitties, she kept kissing and kissing the page. I love it! She seems to be learning new skills and words pretty much every other hour these days. Come see!

Marie with the stocking I made her this year, and her Christmas sweater! 

Love that face!

Hair clips from grandma. This is her "posing for the camera" face. Cute...

Grandma and Grandpa Ehli and 3 out of 5 grandkids. So festive!

So cute! Can I hug you all at the same time?

In gratitude

While running her bath last night, I was giving the bathroom a quick clean. When I turned around, it was clear she had been ready to hop in and had done just that! She was quite pleased with herself.

I just love her face in this one. So much wonder!

May peace and gratitude be present for you this weekend. Lately I've been noticing how grateful I am for God's provision. And while I'm not usually the type of person to say "The Lord provides", that is not out of disbelief. And He has been providing for us quite well in this season. The little gift I am most grateful for has a name, and it is Marie. She is so precious to us, and new every morning with surprising new words and actions!

Off to Joel's parents' house in Newport for Thanksgiving!

Autumn afternoon

one

Happy birthday, Marie!  She is one year old!  We celebrated with a pumpkin extravaganza at the farm. Lots of Marie's friends came, ate cake, sang happy birthday, rolled around in the pumpkin patch, and generally had a grand celebratory day in honor of Marie's birth day.

Marie has been learning lots of new words lately. She now answers "what does the kitty say?" with "aaow" and "what does the doggie say?" with "woof woof". She picked up the latter while we were farm sitting last week and there was a dog. Some other words she says include touchdown (complete with raised arms), kitty, poop, mama, dada, toes, cow, moo, quack...

She also walks! She started taking steps a week or two ago, and yesterday took ~15 in a row. Watch out, Ginger kitty.

Here are some photos of her pumpkin birthday.  It is beautiful to be able to celebrate our precious daughter, and the whole year she has been with us. She is loved!

Our little pumpkin

What.. did you think we were joking about rolling around in the pumpkin patch?

They are all looking at the camera! Miracle! So many boys...

First cake in an overstimulated environment

Surfacing

Oh, hello! We are slowly surfacing from a beautiful, busy, and abundant summer. Marie's first. And how could I have let you miss almost the entire thing? Here is a quick flashback:

 

We helped my Grandma and Grandpa with their extreme garage sale in preparation of them moving.

 Lots and lots of canning... on the list (so far) is lots of dilly beans, dill pickles, peach jam (4 kinds!), canned peaches, canned pears, peach bourbon preserves, salsa verde... what am I forgetting?

 

 Marie's first hike on Mt. Rainier! It was a cold grey September day, but that mountain is gorgeous no matter the weather. Marie's the one wearing the bear hat (purchased in the gift shop when I realized I had optimistically only packed a sun hat for her).

 We had as many beach days we could fit in between everything else.  Not enough, that's for sure.

 Marie's first canoeing expedition, on Bead Lake near Joel's hometown. A secluded little lake in the hills, most of which was wasted on Marie. She wasn't too thrilled with us making her wear a life jacket, and also not letting her fall in the water.  It appeared she wanted a thrilling exciting day, while we had sought a simply subdued one.

 Caring for the garden (on the right, in April when it first opened).

 A family wedding! Beautiful and so well planned it was a delight to attend, and see some of Joel's family we don't see much (read: most of them since our wedding 6 years ago).

Lots and lots of swinging happened this summer. Lots. and lots more. Marie loves swinging! Good girl.  She is almost almost almost walking, picking up lots of things and holding them to her ear like a phone and saying "iowa" (she means hello, we're pretty sure), still sticking every new discovery into her mouth, and getting better and better at communicating. (Baby sign helps! She knows water and all done, and we're working on others).

So that's a bit of what we've been doing. How about you? Anyone newly pregnant? I'm sure you're out there.   School has now started for Joel in 2 out of 3 places, and we (well, Marie and I anyway) are looking forward to life settling down a bit and a decrease in travelling. Hopefully get Marie in some more swim lessons, catch up on dishes, that sort of thing.

Joel and I got married 6 years ago today. Congratulations us!  How different our life looked back then... hard to imagine there were nights in my life that weren't interrupted. I could sleep through the entire night and not wake up once! Whew that is what dreams are made of. Those oft-interrupted dreams. This baby is wonderful at many things, but not at sleeping.  We love her anyway. We'll keep her anyway. We'll defend and encourage and love her at all costs. And her first birthday is coming up this month! Stay tuned...

First parsnip harvest!

I'm so excited I can grow them! Did you know? All you have to do is sprinkle some seeds, be patient, and kabam! Parsnips!

This is how we do it

I start on the knees, like this...

Then I pull up and stand!

I'm just showing off here - one hand, Ma!

Zoo and Ehli Family Reunion

What is that you say? The zoo and the Ehli family reunion were probably quite similar to each other? Why, you must know my family!
(Just joking, family!)

Marie squealed and waved to the baby snow leopards.

With Grandma (and still waving)

Our little family

Chasing Mingus

Everyone together! Amazing! I love this family of ours.
Happy 66th Anniversary, Grandma and Grandpa!