Striding with Shortcake

Three months ago, at his first birthday, Shortcake wasn't even crawling on hands and knees, much less cruising the furniture. All of my kiddos are late walkers and I am really okay with that. Right around his birthday, however, he did figure out how to get to a sitting position on his own. The crawling on hands and knees followed that. 

Then he started to pull up on things. He was getting very proficient at cruising, but was still not confident enough to take any steps. Even if I stood right in front of him, he would go from standing to crawling to reach me. The next step was to stand up in the middle of a room without holding on to anything, but still no steps. Around two weeks ago, he took his first few tentative steps. 

He continued to build confidence and is full out walking! He started with his arms up in the air for better balance. Now he just holds on to his pants while he walks around. (Or whatever else he can find to hold on to and walk.) It is such fun to see him taking off after his sisters with a smile on his face.

For the Love of Fabric

Last week I was able to sneak in some fun creating and sewing. I had three baby presents to put together in addition to a birthday gift for Peachy. I spent a decent amount of time picking out fabric at the local Joann Fabrics. (Especially considering the fact that I had Shortcake and Cream with me.)

I really love fabric. I love seeing what is all available and then putting it together in combinations. I don't think that I have ever mentioned on here, but I worked at a quilt store in high school and college. It maybe wasn't every student's dream job, but I loved it.

My favorite type of customer would come in with a pattern and let me choose the fabrics with them. It was like shopping without spending the money, but rather getting paid to do it. When I sit down to work on a project, I probably spend more time than necessary choosing fabrics.

I just enjoy the process so much! That is also why I don't mass produce the items in my shop. I like to create unique creations, not a bunch of the same. And then, it is such a joy to see all of my careful decisions come together in a great finished product.

Backyard Spring 2015

When we purchased our house, it was the end of summer/beginning of fall. We immediately both fell in love with the awesome yard and outdoor space.

There is a good sized front yard with two birch trees, but the true gem of the yard is the backyard. There is a nice lawn area around the house, but beyond that it is a little more wild and natural with bushes and trees and lots of other fun features.

I would love to talk with the previous owners and learn how they designed the yard and what it looked like when they were caring for it. Since that doesn't seem likely to happen, we will just have to see what comes up and decide what we want to do with it.

We are enjoying seeing what is coming up and deciding if it is a weed or plant. I went out and took some pictures a couple of weeks ago when the spring growth was really just starting. Since then, it has really greened up and grown. I will have to take some more pictures later to show the growth and change.

Mr. Cherry worked throughout the evenings of a week to prune and trim and just clean up after the fall and winter. He is still a bit overwhelmed with the work he could do back there. I leave that kind of yard work to him.

We have been loving spending time outside and enjoying the peace and calm our backyard offers. And we can't forget to mention the covered patio!! We have been enjoying as many meals as we can in the comfort of the shade with the added bonus of not needing to vacuum up after each meal!

Weekend In the Rearview

We had a wonderful weekend filled with all kinds of celebrating. We started on Friday night with a trip to Famous Dave's. (This was partly because we knew we wouldn't want to face the crowds on Sunday with a family of five and also because I didn't want to cook! Ha! Win, win.)

Saturday we headed over to our nephew's first birthday party. It is so cool to live much closer to much of our family now and be able to celebrate and get together more often.

There was plenty of outside play time, including dandelion gathering.

His momma (and maybe daddy, too) put together an awesome monster themed party. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins so much. Cream was asking to go back the next day!

Sunday may have been Mother's Day, but it was also this little girl's 6th birthday!! She was born on Mother's Day and it was so special to celebrate the day with her again. We kept things very low key. We went to church, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, grilled a pizza for supper, opened gifts, made school birthday treats for the next day, and just hung out as a family.

Oh, I almost forgot!! I snuck out of the house in the morning for a jog and along the way I saw this.

It is hard to see, because I didn't want to get too close, but there was a doe and two fawns on a path just down the road from our house. I can't be sure, but the fawns seemed so fresh and new. I am hoping the one laying down was just resting. Such a neat sight on Mother's Day morning!
I hope that you were able to enjoy a great weekend as well!!

What's Up Wednesday: April 2015

I am a long time reader of Melissa's blog Larson Lingo and decided I would join in on her What's Up Wednesday for this month.

*What We're Eating This Week: I am trying to get myself and our entire family along with me back on the healthy eating bandwagon. Just adding in more fruits and vegetables in general and also more whole foods. Tonight I am making Zucchini & Vegetable Quesadillas from One Lovely Life.

Don't worry, I also made these Healthy Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie Bars from Half Baked Harvest.

*What I'm Reminiscing About: I took on the major task of sorting through the kids too small and too warm clothing this week. It is always fun to look back on what they were wearing throughout the last year or so and how much they have grown and changed. (And oh my word, why do three children have this much clothing?!!! We are certainly blessed!)

*What I'm Loving: The weather this week is absolute perfection. This is why I endure the cold winter days. These perfect spring days with no humidity and no bugs. We have been living outside as much as possible.

*What We've Been Up To: See above!! I will have to share some pictures of what the backyard is looking like in spring. That is what really sold us on this house and it is charming me again!

*What I'm Dreading: I really am not dreading anything at the moment. Maybe the night time because the kids sleep has been awful lately.
*What I'm Working On: I just delivered another set of caddies and crayon rolls. I love how these red and black houndstooth ones turned out. The store found the wooden Wisconsin buttons and they match perfectly!

*What I'm Excited About: We are heading to my parents' this weekend. The college my father teaches at is doing a children's theater production of the Ugly Duckling. I am sure the girls will love it!
*What I'm Watching/Reading: You can catch up on my latest book selections here. I am so happy that Call the Midwife is Back! I usually don't watch it live since it is on at 7 here and it isn't exactly for children (or all husbands for that matter.)
*What I'm Listening Too: I love hearing all of the birds in our yard. The Red Wing Blackbird in particular makes me feel totally at peace.
*What I'm Wearing: I am actually participating in a Spring Clothing Challenge right now. It is really helping me get use out of my clothing and upping my outfit game everyday. I will have to post on this at some point. This is my outfit of the day for today.

*What I'm Doing This Weekend: See above!
*What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: My Peachy is turning 6!!!
*What Else Is New: I am really getting back into working on our house. The ideas are percolating. Now it is just a matter of deciding what to tackle! Stay tuned!

What I Am Reading

I love to hear what other people are reading. So here are some of the books that I have enjoyed lately, in case you are looking for a good read.

I have discovered the author Liane Moriarity. I had been hearing lots of buzz on the internet about her and when I saw The Husband's Secret at a friend's house this winter, I borrowed it and devoured it.

I just finished up What Alice Forgot in an equally quick fashion.

Both books have good characters with an equally strong plot. They aren't super light, but also aren't too heavy.

Since I wasn't able to get another ebook of hers right away, I read How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donahue. I have read other books by Meg and they are always good light reads. This one was as well.

On a different level of reading, I also borrowed The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst. This was an excellent read for me in determining how to best make use of my time at this point of my life. If you are at all struggling with over commitment or even the guilt of not being committed enough, I highly recommend this book.

It has been a bit since I read it, but I will mention it here. I enjoyed many of the parts of the book Carry On, Warrior by blogger Glennon Doyle Melton. Some parts had me laughing so hard that I ha to share with Mr. Cherry what was so funny. (I don't think he found it nearly as humorous as I did.) Some parts got a bit long and I am pretty sure you could just read her blog and get the same content. However, as a mom and wife, this book did resonate with me.

There you have it. What I have been reading. How about you? Any good recommendations?

A Spring In Our Step

Oh boy, you guys, last week was a loooonnggg week. Someone at church used the term, Easter hangover, and I am totally stealing that. We had such a wonderful long Easter weekend and then we returned to routine and it was rough. The kids were challenging me and I just didn't have the energy to deal with it in a nice, calm manor. Cream was laying low at the beginning of the week and by the end all of the kids had colds. Yuck! But, enough with the negative. We made it through and this week has been so much better. 

We didn't get any pictures on Easter weekend of our family. Peachy had an Easter concert at her school on Tuesday, so I tried to get a few pictures of the kids then. Most looked like this:

This is the best I got of all three.

I did get a few of the girls.

We celebrated my birthday on Sunday. Peachy, my perpetual party planner, wanted to go big. I told her, she just needed to be a obedient listener for the day. She admitted that would be really hard. Ha! We didn't do much, but when you are, ahem, thirty something, that is a-okay! 

We went to church and went out to fast food for lunch. Then the girls and I went to the local figure skating club's annual show. We picked up the best ever DQ ice cream cake and each ate a big piece for supper. A great way to celebrate, really.

The weather this weekend was very spring-like! And today is even better. That is a huge game changer for me. The gorgeous days and being outside make life so, so, so much happier. Today I went for a walk with Cream and Shortcake in the morning and then again with all three after lunch. I may not have gotten much else done today, but that is a benefit of staying home full time. I can always fold laundry tomorrow.

I also picked up a pack of grapefruit shandy at Target the other day. (I love living in a state where you can buy alcohol where you normally shop.) It is so light and refreshing. Perfect for these warm days and sipping on the patio.

I am not the only one who is loving the nice weather. Shortcake can't get enough of being outside. Gone are the days of sitting nicely on a blanket or in the stroller. He wants to be off exploring. I am so afraid he is going to crack his head open this summer. Lets hope his guardian angels are working overtime.

I hope and pray that you all had a great Easter and are fully recovered and enjoying spring as well.