Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas from our little family to yours...

We had a very sweet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Nana, Grandma and Grandpa helped make both days very special for our family.

Here are a few photos from both days ::

~On Christmas Eve~

For Santa: milk & cookies

For the reindeer: carrots

Mama loves the "E"

Our animal tree - our yearly tradition.

Our stockings were hung...

Santa Claus

Our card tree.

~On Christmas Day~

Rocko

Sassy

Sienna and Sassy on the "old" sofa.

(Nana bought us a new sofa for Christmas! Thank you, Nana!)

Nana and Sienna

Mama and Sienna

It was a very happy Christmas for the girl.

(P.S. This is the new sofa. Promise to take a photo of it soon!)

Love,

Our little family

A Simple Summer Day

Today was full of ...

Watching our garden grow.

Dancing a Sun Dance.

*inspired by a favorite story The Sun Egg

Running in the grass.

Enjoying fluffy clouds in the sky.

Being happy.

Dressing up as the Queen of the little cottage.

Being barefoot in freshly mowed grass.

"The grass so little has to do,
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,

And stir all day to pretty tunes
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything"

-Emily Dickinson

Flea Market Finds

Today, we ventured out of the little cottage to find some treasures for our home. After Nana arrived (with a little kitchen cart for the little cottage) we drove over to The Mercantile in Anacortes for their flea market sale.

Our treasures ::

Our new kitchen cart (or Daddy's coffee cart) - found on craigslist for $25.00.

Thank you, Nana!

Mama really loved this little jug.

It says, "Live Better Naturally."

The back of the jug.

Cost = $1.50

Pretty picture frame.

Cost = $0.50

Sweet Beatrix Potter picture.

Cost = $3.00

Up close - Miss Moppet

Up close - Pigling Bland

I plan to use the little jug for flowers in our home. The wooden picture frame will go in our hallway, where I plan to hang family photos. The Beatrix Potter picture will go in Sienna's room. I plan to copy and frame some of our other favorite stories.

We also found a larger green watering can for our garden for only $1.00. (I didn't get a photo of the watering can, since Sienna eagerly put it in the backyard when we returned home!)

Total spent = $6.00 plus gasoline, of course

~and~

the cost of lunch at Gere-a-Deli, my favorite sandwich shoppe

Thanks for lunch and helping us find our new treasures, Nana!

We are looking forward to more flea market finds this summer ...

Summer Gardening and Backyard Fun

Instead of working on the inside of the little cottage, our little family is spending our days outside as much as possible and soaking up some much needed sunshine.

Today after a walk to the nearby Jennings Memorial Park, we discovered a neighbor was selling many beautiful ceramic pots. They were all selling for $1, $2 and $3! We ended up buying around 10 of them and getting quite a few small pots for Sienna's garden for free. Total spent was only $22!

Our little garden is growing!

Our new hanging planters were only $1 each!

This large cream colored pot was the most expensive at $3. We re-planted our tomato into this pot.

Mama's lavender. (Each pot was only $2!)

After gardening for a bit, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in our backyard and enjoying yummy summer BBQ on the patio.

Mama and Sienna in our sun hats.

I love Sienna's expression in this one!

Daddy in his Grateful Dead shirt.

Pushing her dolly in the stroller.

She says she's walking her dolly to California.

Cutie pie.

Welcome to ...

... the little cottage with the pink door.

For the next few weeks, I plan to take you on a tour of our little family's new home. The little cottage was built in 1940 and is very cozy at around 1,080 square feet.

Today, I will start with a tour of the outside ...

This is the view of the little cottage from the sidewalk.

This is the view of the backyard from the deck.

This is the view of the sweet garage and workshop.

The side of the workshop has sweet bird decals and pretty rose bushes.

Lovely roses.

The other side of the yard has a shady area with wood chips, which I was thinking would be a perfect spot for Sienna to have a sandbox and swimming pool this summer. Maybe even her own slide!

By the deck we are using this cart for a small garden.

Up the stairs on the deck, we are using our black wrought iron table set. On the stairs we are growing strawberries and romaine lettuce in the planters.

I love this decal/trellis on the deck. If you look closely, it has birds mixed in.

Finally, we have some photos of the little one gardening today at the little cottage. We love having a fenced backyard!

Sienna using her own gardening tools.

Getting soil to put into her pot.

Planting a sunflower into a bigger pot.

She loves getting her hands full of soil!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Happy Summer Solstice, friends!

I thought I'd share a few photos from Sienna's first summer. I also had to include a sunflower, since this is the sunflower cozy, of course.

Sweet little one.

She's swimming in her shorts!

From last year's garden.

And some of our news ...

On Friday, we are moving once again. This time to the little cottage with the pink door. We hope to stay there until we can have our own sunflower cozy.

Our little family will also experience quite a few changes in the fall. Sienna will start preschool and I will be teaching kindergarten. The separation will be very new for us, since she only attended daycare for a short while when she was very small. I am already beginning to think about our new rhythm. Thankfully, we will only be apart for four hours each day. Sienna is very excited, as she loves outdoor play and the preschool has a playground. So far, there are only two boys enrolled with her, but I am sure more children will be signing up very soon. The best part is the proximity of the little cottage to Sienna's preschool and my elementary school. Each are approximately two miles away.

I hope to be sharing photos of the cottage very soon!