{this moment}

{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. 

Wishing you a memorable weekend! 

 

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The Olson Christmas

We had Christmas with the Olson's this year. An early Christmas because I had to work Christmas day, but Christmas none-the-less. It had been a while since we'd been home. You won't remember our last visit home because I didn't tell you about it, but I took Sawyer to visit Erik's family when I picked him up after he was done fishing in Alaska. I can't believe I never wrote about that -- it was so much fun! Well, here's a picture of Sawyer helping my MIL in the garden in July...

On our more recent visit, from December 15-20, we tried to squeeze in as many of our traditions in as possible -- eating at Vera Cruz, checking out the Skagit Barn Ornament Place thingy, spending too much money at Quiet Light Candles, eating lefsa, eating everything, and spending time with the family.

This is Mom making lefsa. Lefsa is actually delicious, but I only like it when it hasn't been refrigerated... then it doesn't taste as potato-ey. According to Wikipedia, lefse is "a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread. Lefse is made out of potato, milk or cream (or sometimes lard), and cooked on a griddle. Special tools are available for lefse baking, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves."

I think my MIL uses sour cream in her lefsa. Lefsa is pretty much a giant crepe made out of mashed potatoes. I like mine with butter and sugar -- yummy! The only reason I don't like it being too potato-ey is because then putting sugar with it just seems wrong... I don't usually enjoy my mashed potatoes doused in sugar.

Below you can see Erik's sister, Shawna, participating in the festivities through skype. We got to talk to her boys and then she sat and chatted with us as we opened our gifts.

We are always so busy when we are at my in-laws. We are busy and yet it feels like we don't really do too much. I have said it many times and I am sure I will say it again, but I love it there. 

Merry Belated Christmas!

a few of my favourite things

I love everything about newborns:

• the way they curl up if you hold them under the arms
• the way they smell
• their slightly dusky extremities
• the way they grunt and squeak
• the way they mold into you
• the way they sleep through anything
• their yawns
• their perfect little cheeks
• their perfect little hands and feet
• their itty bitty bottoms

These are a few of my favourite things about all newborns, but Jordyn has a couple other things I adore -- things not every baby has. 

First, her bum chin. Cuuuuuttteeeee! I love love love it! 

And second, her furrowed brow. It's not actually furrowed... she just has a chubby forehead, I guess. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Yup, those are a few of my favourite things about my newest niece, though I am sure I will come to love many more. As my sister Lindsey put it, I can't wait to show her how loved she is. 

Hope you're still lingering in the lovely Christmas season. I am trying to, but it is a little difficult when you are working every day.

Music Monday: Boxing Day Special!

I hope you are all happy mondains today. Visions of sugar plums the day after Christmas is probably not the most pleasant thing to have in your head. That's why I am doing my part for the world and posting my two most favorite songs today from Sufjan. Its a Christmas miracle!

This first song is runner up for most favorite on the album (although pretty much every song I've posted has that title too). The funny thing is that I didn't think twice about this song for a long time but it has grown and grown on me. I love its simplicity and honesty but it has an edge of enigma that keeps me interested. Love it. This is "Only at Christmas Time" by Sufjan Stevens



Now it is time to reveal my number one! I don't know how to describe my appreciation for this piece of music. I love that he took a melody that hasn't been changed for hundreds of years and changed it while still doing it justice. I love the driving beat. I love the constant accompaniment of the electric guitar distorted to a high degree. I absolutely love the solo that builds the song up and the organ that catches the listener when it falls. I love all of the instruments and voices blending together to make a great noise. I love this song!

This is "What Child Is This Anyway" by the incomparable Sufjan Stevens



Next week concludes my Sufjan Christmas special with more great music.

Until next time, keep your children labelled.

EDO

Meeting Jordyn

Erik and I were planning on driving to his parent's on the 14th and we were passing through Abbotsford so we had a chance to meet Jordyn - the newest Jansen. She was a mere 16 hours old when I first held her (which is younger than Maelle was for our first snuggle).

I thought I was going to be emotionally stable, but I burst into tears the minute I saw Anthony. The tears only came on stronger as he collected his newest daughter and placed her in my arms. The tears were nothing new and my SIL even said she expected nothing less and would have been disappointed if I hadn't been teary-eyed.

Again I was amazed at the immediate love I felt for this little person. This perfect little being. Seriously, so much love.

I love seeing Anthony as a daddy. He is so proud of his girls and pumped to be a father. It is adorable to watch him play with Hailey and it was amazing to see him holding his new baby girl. Again, so much love.

Little Jordyn has some war wounds from her birth. The surgeon accidentally cut Jordyn's face when cutting through the uterus. Jenn said the surgeon was good about it and apologized profusely for the incident, but it is still sad to see a baby with a wound before even being born. I'm thankful it wasn't any closer to her eye -- now that would have been awful!

And Hailey is now a big sister. The two girls are 18 months apart and Hailey apparently loves her little sister. Haily seemed much younger and smaller when I talked to her on Skype last Monday... she looks huge now that I have Jordyn to compare her to. Funny how that happens.

I was glad I got to meet Jordyn when she was so new. I enjoyed sharing in my family's excitement and snuggling a brand new, sweet-smelling baby. I love her.

My Niece: A Proper Introduction

Jordyn Sierra

Born December 13, 2011 at 2339

Weight: 7lb 10 oz

Height: Longer than her sister was.

Christmas Tree Hunt

This is my second year having a real Christmas tree and the first year I have actually gone out to get it. Friends of ours have a relative who owns a pretty piece of property and every year they go hunting for a Christmas tree on it (it's some bajillion acres). That's where they got our tree for us last year because we couldn't make it the day they were going. It's about an hour and a half drive from home, but it's a beautiful drive and we went on a b-e-a-u-t-f-u-l day. There was no snow at home, but there was a light dusting in Cherryville.

Erik and Kevin had to go take down the tree stand Kevin uses when he hunts on the property so Mandi, Sawyer and I walked along a road that goes through the property looking for the "perfect" trees. When we saw one we thought we might like we would go off to explore it and we usually changed our minds.

I have learned that I am not very good at picking out trees. I have no perception of what is small enough for a house -- the giant ones always caught my eye. Mandi would poo-poo the ones I like initially and say they were far too big. Mandi picked out our little tree last year and it was pretty perfect so I decided I could trust her. I did get better though.

We ended up finding two trees that were side by side in a little field just off the road. There branches were almost touching and they were both lovely. We decided it was meant to be and sat by them waiting for the boys to come back. They thankfully agreed with us and we were making our way home five minutes later with two trees in the back of Kev's pick-up.

We are thinking we need to bring cookies and hot chocolate next year and have a little picnic in the back of the truck. And that, friends, is the story of my first ever Christmas tree hunt. Not nearly as exciting as I thought it would be, but Mandi and I enjoyed chatting and watching Sawyer toddle through the snow. I don't know what excitement I was expecting... silly me. If it wasn't abnormal I would have Christmas trees all year. I love love love them!

So Much

I have so much to be thankful for. So much! This past week has been incredibly busy and I have many posts a brewing, but I wanted to start off with this... Right now I have this little lady sleeping on the floor in my living room while I finish up my Christmas cards (woops!). 

Having her lying in front of me is a little distracting -- I can't help but stare at her. These little people I have in my life constantly remind me to slow down and revel in their sweetness. They truly are a blessing.

{this moment}

{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. 

Wishing you a blessed weekend! 

 

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Music Monday: Worst ever!

Good night,

It is late for my music post. I apologize for that. I do not apologize for the reasons why, spending time with people I hardly ever see.

Yesterday my family celebrated Christmas together as we will not be here next week for the actual Christmas day. It was great to be together observing the same Christmas traditions that we have ever since I can remember. I get a quantum type of feeling when we celebrate Christmas. Because we have the same traditions every year it feels like all of them are simultaneously happening at the same time. I remember eating the same food I have for the past twenty years, opening the same types of packages, sitting around the same decorated tree, making the same Christmas jokes, and smiling the same smiles. It is the most bizarre feeling; like twenty feelings of deja vu at once.

Many people have Christmas traditions. They can be wonderfully comforting or endlessly annoying. Let's hope that your Christmas traditions don't resemble this song; this is Sufjan Stevens with "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!"



This is Sufjan Stevens with another classic Christmas song, "Once In Royal David's City"



Until next time I hope that all of your Christmases bring hope. Stay safe in all your travels.

EO

{this moment}

{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. 

Wishing you a merry weekend! 

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Another Addition to the Family

In my excitement over welcoming a new niece I forgot to inform you that we will also be welcoming a new sister into the Jansen clan!!!

My brother Joel and his girlfriend Rachael are getting married this summer!!! They dated many moons ago and then broke up for many moons more and have gotten back together and decided to get married!!! Yippee.

A New Baby

I am thrilled (more than thrilled) to announce the arrival of another Jansen darling -- my niece, Jordyn Sierra. This little one already has a mind of her own as she was supposed to be born today. Jenn had a cesarean section booked, but Jordyn just couldn't wait to meet us! Jenn went into labour early yesterday morning and Jordyn was born via c-section sometime around 11pm last night weighing a whopping 7lb 10oz. I'm told she is pretty adorable.

I happened to be awake at 0200 when my mama sent me a text message (silly mama) about a gift she has for me. I texted back and asked why in the world she was awake (and what made her think that texting me at 0200 was a good idea). Turns out she was leaving the hospital. She didn't tell me why, but informed me that I should call my brother. So I called Anthony and he broke the news that I had a new niece. Yay!! Mom, Dad, and Jordyn were all settling down to sleep so we kept the conversation short, but I got to tell them I loved them.

We are heading down to Erik's parent's for Christmas today or tomorrow and are planning to stop in at the hospital for a little meet and greet. I can't wait!!

We have a new baby! I am so excited.

little miss

Little Miss and I had a sleepover on Saturday. The girls are actually over again right now -- I even managed to put them down in the same room! 

On Saturay, Maelle's parents had a Christmas party to attend so Erik and I enjoyed her company. As I have said many times before, she is absolutely delightful. She sings and dances and is very very vocal. She chats for hours though I don't understand much of what she says. She throws in the odd identifiable word like ball, daddy, mommy, puppy, arrrfff, ya-ya (snack). But it's mostly just babble. And she sometimes babbles with a lisp -- pretty cute. 

I can't believe how big she is getting! And how much hair she has grown in the past couple months. It was so nice to have her all to myself again. I like not having to share her with her mama. My girls always pick their mama's over me... but they usually pick me over their uncle so I get plenty of snuggles at my house.

I sat down intending to write more, but I just realized it's after 11pm and I don't know how early my morning will be with the two girls sleeping in the same room tonight. It's their first sleepover with each other and our first triple date.

Goodnight!

Music Monday: December Doubles!

Hello Mondains. I'm glad you are here to listen to two more of my favorite Sufjan Stevens Christmas songs. The first was "Sister Winter" a song with tones of overcoming what hardships stern winter can bring.

Next up is a favorite for any singer who loves to belt out a good chorus. "FAAAAAAALLLLLLLL ON YOUR KNEEEEEES! OH HEEEEAAAAR THE ANGEL VOOOOIIIICES!" I love this version because of the almost nonchalant tone they keep for the chorus and yet it is still very moving. I also love the prominent female voice in the background; you know, the one with the glass breaking high note. She's great.



Until next time, keep your nights holy and your winters stern.

EDO

this girl needs some jeans

In the past month I have ripped TWO pairs of jeans (in a matter of nine days actually). With one pair I bent over in the grocery store and felt a cool breeze where there should not have been one. And with the other pair I took a large step up into the back of a truck and felt the same. Neither tear was due to my growing derriere, both were expected. I had been wearing both pairs since high school and I had gotten them second hand from my sister.

This turn of events, however, means I am down to two pairs of jeans. One of them is ripped in the knees (a lovely thrift store purchase) and the other is from the gap (and stretches out to give me a saggy butt within an hour of squeezing in to them). Actually, I also have a third pair, also from the Gap, that I was told to purchase in a size smaller than I am because they were expected to stretch out... and they didn't so I have too tight pants that give me a muffin top and nobody likes a muffin top. I bought those three years ago and they have been sitting on my shelf ever since (at least they were on sale for $20). Oh, and as an aside, they shrunk in length after the first wash (somebody put them in the dryer) and are now an inch and half too short... not attractive.

So I implore you, what are your favourite jeans??

I am willing to save up a little extra cash to get nice ones as I end up wearing them for years and years. I would prefer jeans that don't stretch too much and that aren't too tight. Where do you buy them? What do you look for? Help!

{this moment}

{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. 

Wishing you a peaceful weekend!

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the solar system

I could not, for the life of me, remember the sequence of the the planets in the solar system. The little ditty I was taught as a young lass to keep the planets in order has since been forgotten. I know that it starts with My Very Excellent Mother, but I cannot recall the rest, so I have always managed to keep Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars in order, but my memory is hazy beyond that. I knew that Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn fit into the puzzle somewhere as all, but I often forgot about Neptune entirely! And I'm not told that Pluto isn't even a planet? When did that happen? And how?

I was a little dismayed at my lack of knowledge so I decided to do a little bit of research. For starters, the order of the planets goes like this:

Mercury

Venus

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn 

Uranus

Neptune
Pluto

Now that we have that sorted out I'll continue on to a couple other things I discovered in my research today. 

• The solar system is split into the Inner Solar System and the Outer Solar System. 
• The Inner Solar System contains Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. 
• The Outer Solar System contains Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet and therefore only receives an honourable mention here. 
• The Inner and Outer systems are separated by the Main Asteroid Belt which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. 
• The planets are also classified by composition. 
• There are terrestrial or rocky plants: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. 
• And there are jovian or gas planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. 
• The terrestrial planets are composed of rock and metal and have relatively high densities, slow rotation, solid surfaces, no rings, and few satellites (like the Moon). 
• Gas planets are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and generally have low densities, rapid rotation, deep atmospheres, rings and lots of satellites. 
• If we were to reduce the size of the solar system by a factor of a billion then:
• Earth would be the size of a grape. 
• The Sun would be 1.5 meters in diameter (about the height of a man).
• Jupiter would be the size of a large grapefruit. 
• Saturn would be the size of an orange. 
• Uranus and Neptune would be lemons. 
• The Moon would be a foot away from the Earth.
• The Earth would be 150 meters from the Sun (a city block).
• Neptune would be 30 blocks away from the sun.
• Planets can also be categorized by history. 
• Classical planets have been known since prehistorical times. They are visible to the unaided eye and include Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. 
• Modern planets were only discovered in modern times and are visible only with optical aid. These include Uranus and Neptune. 

Thought you might like to know.

information from http://nineplanets.org/

Music Monday: Its Christmas Time!

Hello all you Mondains. Today marks the first Monday of December and that means that it is also the first Monday for December doubles!!! That's right all of December I will be doing double posts. You may be asking yourself what this is all about; where's the catch? The catch is this; at least half of the doubles will be Sufjan Stevens... in fact all of the doubles will be Sufjan Stevens! This may lead you to ask why again and my answer is because Sufjan has an entire five disk Christmas album that MUST BE HEARD!

You may be tired of Christmas songs by now but before you roll your eyes and go on to the next blog you should have a listen. As with all of Sufjan's music he strives to tell the story in a different way. I love his songs. Even the ones that sound similar to their original form have a special Sufjan touch.

So to kick off the December Doubles here is Sufjan Stevens with a Christmas classic: Lo! How a Rose E're Blooming.



And now a not so Christmas classic: Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well You Deserved It).



I hope you enjoyed but if not there are 6 more songs left to go. Pity me because I have to choose which ones to leave out. Sad.

Until next time, keep your roses blooming.

EDO

that sewing machine and some beautiful things

I cannot believe it is already December! I thought the year and life in general would slow down after school was out, but it seems to have sped up. I think shift work does that to you. Especially casual shift work -- half the time my body doesn't know if it should be awake or sleeping.

I got very frustrated with my sewing machine this morning. Very very frustrated. I hasn't been working that well (ok, so it has never worked that well) and it kept ruining the banner I am making. The sewing machine was given to my mom a couple years ago and wasn't in good working order to begin with, but I have suffered through it all this time.

Today was just too much.

Maybe that was because I was sewing before breakfast. Or because the banner is already annoying me (free-handing letters and first time trying applique). Or because this happens over and over and over and I can't seem to figure out what is wrong with it. Whatever the reason, I almost threw my sewing machine through the window. If you were in the room, as Erik was, you would even have heard me say "I just want to throw something! Or break something! Or hit something really hard!" But I didn't.

Instead I curled up by my husband and pouted. Then claimed I didn't want breakfast (because I sometimes do silly things like that when I am angry). And because he knows me best he kissed me on the forehead and got up promptly to start frying some eggs.

So, with the smell of frying butter, I have retreated to calm down at the computer. The sewing machine is still within view -- sitting on the kitchen table, rejected. My heart is still racing in frustration, but I no longer want to break something. Instead I want to go to the store and purchase a brand new sewing machine this afternoon so I can continue on my sewing endeavors. But I won't do that. Instead I will hunt one down that I can borrow.

For now I will look at lovely and beautiful things that make me happy. Like this adorable dress, for example.

And the colour palette of this room.

And a little munchkin entangled in linen (in a yellow sleeper -- my favourite!).

And this room. Oh, to have this room. I don't know if there is anything I don't adore about this room. I love the colours, the old window, the banner, the pillows, the fabrics, everything. This room is lovely.

My mood has only slightly improved. Maybe setting up the Christmas tree will make things better.