Molly Severtson

07.05.08 | SCORE

I picked up these beauties at an estate sale this morning for $1 (I haggled them down from $2). Aren't they pretty? I'm not even sure what they are. Trivets perhaps? I'm thinking about using the smallest one as a soap dish in my kitchen and hanging the other two on the wall. Oooh, the possibilities!

I also got these five juice glasses (for $1 also). This set is just right for our little family.

On the Lookout for Thrifted Beauties Like These

After getting inspired by all of the above awesomeness on flickr last night, I mapped out a garage sale route for us this morning. (Click on the photo to see the photo credits.)

I'm relatively new to the world of thrifting and garage sale-ing. Honestly, it's hard for me to get up early enough on Saturdays to go to garage sales. But I snagged these treasures after 10 a.m., so the dream is still alive.

I love how thrifting fits into the “re-use” part of the recycling equation. It's one of the many little things I can do to reduce my footprint on the planet. Plus it's crazy fun.

07.04.08 | INDEPENDENCE DAY

Despite all our nation has been through in the recent past — from the wrong we've done to others, to the wrong that's been done to us — I'm still quite patriotic in my heart of hearts. Not “we're the best” patriotic, but “I love this land” patriotic.

And I'm thankful that a man like Barack Obama can rise from such humble beginnings to run for president of this great country. It's awe-inspiring.

07.03.08 | MAKING MY HOME: COASTERS AND CASES

The other night I got these coasters at Target on clearance for around $3. I know right!? I think they're pretty awesome.

I intended to put pictures of the kiddos in them, and still may at some point, but since I knew it would take me awhile to get that accomplished and I wanted to use them right away, I cut out some pretty pictures from my Domino magazines (I never cut up Martha) and slid them into the frame openings.

I didn't get the requisite overwhelming excited approval from Eric that I was looking for regarding these, but I'm learning to live with it.

And here are the pillowcases I made a long time ago, but haven't shown you yet. I'm not linking to the tutorial I used because, frankly, it contained a major mistake that cost me a yard of fabric. But I'm sure you all know how to google “sew pillowcase” and then choose from the 341,352,596 tutorials that are out there. Funny that I chose one with a mistake in it...

And just so you all know that I'm trying to keep it real, here is what the bed looked like at the beginning of the photo session. “Making the bed” isn't one of my strong suits. “Lying in bed,” however, I have that down to a science.

07.02.08 | THE LAKE OF AUNT VAL

We got home Monday night from a great three-day weekend at my sister's place on Flathead Lake.

The girls call Flathead Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, “Aunt Val's Lake” or “The Lake of Aunt Val,” which is just fine with my sister.

We celebrated the twins' birthday with oodles and oodles of family and fun. I called this craft The S. S. Twinow.

Of course there was cake.

And presents.

And even a pirate pinata.

My great-niece Eleanor brought out her aggressive side.

It Got a "Little Lord of the Flies" There for a Minute

And it got just a little “Lord of the Flies” there for a minute.

There was slip-n-sliding.

And rides behind Uncle Allan's paddle/sail/bicycle/stair-step boat thing.

And here is where my niece Betsy fell to the ground in a fit of laughter over something funny that I said. That was a good moment.

Of course the ripple blanket enjoyed hanging out at the lake too, and getting a few more stripes. And now Betsy has started her own ripple blanket in shades of purple and white. How exciting!

There was a lot of relaxing.

And smiling.

And eating of cantaloupe by adorable little children.

And no weekend at the lake would be complete without an evening campfire. And s'mores. And music.

Thanks Val and Allan for graciously sharing your lake with us! Once again.

06.27.08 | DINNER ON THE DECK

Here's another of my submissions to the food group on flickr.

And here's Soni taking a very big bite!

I've gotta make it short today. I'm running around getting ready for a fun weekend. I'll see you back here on Tuesday. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

06.26.08 | FUN FOR NOTHIN': A LEMONADE STAND

Have you seen Sew Liberated's new photo group at flickr called “Fun for Nothin'?” The idea is that it shouldn't take a lot of money to help your kids have fun. A little imagination and energy go a lot further than a bunch of expensive toys. I love this concept, and the photos over at the flickr group are just great.

Our form of “Fun for Nothin'” the other day was a good old-fashioned lemonade stand. I knew the kids would enjoy it, but I didn't realize how many great life skills it would help teach, including counting money, making change, customer service, cleanliness around food, taking turns and responsibility.

In order to bolster business, I made a some phone calls to a few of our friends in the neighborhood, and soon we had a whole group of neighbors hanging out on our lawn in the afternoon sunshine. We even met a few new neighbors who have little kids, so that was awesome.

The kids made $5 on the venture and I donated the $2 I had given them as change to start, so they made a total of $7, or $3.34 each. Not bad at all.

06.25.08 | SIX

This weekend, my twins will turn six. Six? When the heck did that happen? Over the past six years, I suppose.

This is newborn Ani, looking for all the world like a middle-aged businessman, ready to pick up her tiny briefcase and ride the bus to work.

Ani was happy as a clam to come out of the womb. She'd been squished in there by her bigger twin, and was more than ready to be on the outside where she could nurse like a maniac.

Bryni, on the other hand, was not so happy to enter the real world. She held this scowl for the first I-don't-really-remember-how-long, and just seemed generally unhappy to be alive. She sure was cute though. And she looked like my momma, which made me very happy.

And here's our Sonja, the best big sister in the whole wide world. For a few days, she called both the babies “B,” short for Bryni I guess. I remember her looking back and forth from one to the other, checking on them to make sure they were okay. Tucking blankets around their chins and bringing me diaper after diaper after diaper.

I can't believe that eight months before this day, I thought to myself, “Gee, Sonja's getting really BIG now. I guess it's time to make her a sibling.” I was insane.

With a lot of food and a lot of love and a little mental anguish, our babies grew...

and grew.

Always curious, always cute and always ready to pose for a photo.

And always the best of friends. Or mortal enemies. Depending on the moment.

I remember so clearly the instant I saw those two tiny heads on the ultrasound screen. “Yikes,” I thought. “This is going to be interesting.” I had no idea.

No idea how draining it would be to nurse two while chasing after a two-year-old. No idea how gorgeous these children would be. No idea how much they would fight with each other. And no idea how they would fill my heart to overflowing every single day.

06.24.08 | FRATERNAL TWIN CRAYON ROLLS

I made these crayon rolls for my twin great-nephew and great-niece. They were so easy and fun to make! Seriously, you have to try this.

I've seen them all over the craft blogosphere and flickr. I looked at a lot of different tutorials and ended up using this one at Skip to My Lou.

I followed it step-by-step, except that I omitted the interfacing. I'll admit it — I'm a little afraid of interfacing. I know I'll try it someday, but these really came out fine without it.

Since I used eight jumbo crayons, I changed the dimensions a bit. For mine I used three pieces of fabric (one of one type and two of the other), all 6" x 12 1/2". I meant to add rickrack to the “girl” crayon roll, but forgot. Oh well. I made each of my pockets 1 1/2 " wide.

Here is Eleanor's.

And here is Brody's.

I'm planning to make another “girl” crayon roll for another little lady we know. And, eventually I'll make some mega colored pencil rolls for my girls. Stay tuned...

06.23.08 | TWELVE

Eric and I celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary yesterday. He brought me these gorgeous roses, and for the first time ever, we hired a “real” babysitter. It was so great.

We went out for dinner, took a drive into the hills around Helena and strolled around the capital area. Oh, and then we went to Dairy Queen. And we also did a little shopping at Target. The perfect evening.

And here we are back in the early 90s. Yes, Eric did have hair back then. And yes, I had just one chin.

You know, I truly do love him more now than I did then.

It was so simple then: I just wanted to be with him ALL THE TIME. Snuggle, snuggle, laugh, laugh. Watch Star Trek. Skip class so we could snuggle. Snuggle some more. Drive to Seattle. Snuggle again. Laugh, fight, laugh, fight, snuggle. That was pretty much it.

Now it's so much more. There's still a lot of snuggling, and many laughs every day and, yes, a little fighting now and then. But there's so much more.

There's so much love and there are so many memories:

Him feeding baby Bryni with a cup when she wouldn't nurse because I was worried that she'd get nipple confusion.

Him leaping out of bed like Superman one night when I thought my water had broken.

Him leaping out of bed when Bryni stopped breathing.

Him saying this when I got into a fender-bender: “The car is not important. What's important is that you didn't harm one little hair on your head.”

Him working so hard so that I could stay home for eight years to raise my daughters.

Him becoming a bona fide hero to my girls. Beloved Daddy. Protector. Provider. Everything.

In 1996, I couldn't have imagined all that we would go through. It's been a wonderful ride, full of ups, downs and even a few sidewayses. It's been harder than I thought it would be, and infinitely more wonderful.

We haven't made a million dollars (yet), but in twelve years, we've built a happy home, a strong marriage and this bundle of little girl goodness:

Not bad. And we've only just begun.

06.21.08 | PART ONE: HOW MY GARDEN GROWS

Amazing what a little water and sunshine will do for plants. Who knew?

Here are some of the container flowers on the deck.

Here are the pretty white flowers in the front garden.

Here are the short — but robust — peas, also growing on the deck.

And here is the view up into a tree in the sparkly evening light.

PART TWO: BACK TO BAKING

It's not exactly the time of year I usually get the urge to bake, but for some reason, I've got it! So yesterday, I took the crew to our local health food store and stocked up on everything from vital wheat gluten to millet. (Don't worry, I don't know what they are, either.)

When we got home, the girls went outside to play with the neighborhood kids (the iris-destroyer among them), and I got to baking.

I made a double batch of granola from this recipe.

And bread from this recipe.

They both turned out quite delicious. This is the first bread that I've made in my bread machine that actually rose to the appropriate height. And the granola is just majorly tasty.

Gardening and baking — a weird but wonderful combo for the first day of summer.

06.19.08 | PART ONE: A MOSAIC IN THE ROUND

I can't believe what a slacker blogger I've been the last couple of days! Today Eric told me that it was June 19, and I was like no, it's the 16th! I guess I didn't think that time would pass if I didn't blog. Apparently it did. How annoying.

Anyway, today I'm posting an extra big blog to try to make up for it!

I hope you're all doing well and enjoying some summer sun. It's been nice here, and sunscreen has become the bane of my existence. Can't complain though (even though I just did). Life is good in the warm Montana sunshine.

I made the above mosaic from a few of my flickr faves. I went with a circular theme and thought it was kind of pretty.

I'm still pretty a-flick-ted with the flickr flick-ness, but I'm trying to cut back. Really I am.

PART TWO: A SUMMER DINNER

Here's a pic that I submitted to Juliette's food group on flickr. (Oops, flickr again.) I made this rice salad the other night with stuff I had hanging around: brown rice, olives, chickpeas, green onion, dried cranberries, roasted red peppers and roasted zucchini. I poured a light vinaigrette over it all, along with a little balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper of course.

I actually roasted the red pepper and zucchini myself, if you can believe that, and they came out pretty nicely. The zucchini kind of fell apart, but it was still quite tasty!

Here's a close-up in my pretty green bowl.

PART THREE: NOTHING LIKE A BABY

There is nothing like an adorable newborn baby to make me get a little productive with the ol' sewing machine. I met Alyssa and her baby boy last week at MOMS Club, and we had a shower for them this week, so I just had to make him these Chickpea bibs.

And since he barfed on me five times when held him at the park the other day, I made him this burp cloth. I know it will be useful.

06.16.08 | GARDENING WOES AND WOWS

First the woe: This beautiful white and yellow iris bloomed in our back garden the other morning much to the delight of my girls and me.

I assumed it was going to be purple, but it came out this luscious banana milkshake color and I couldn't have been more excited.

Believe it or not, a few hours later, a little girl from the neighborhood PICKED OFF THE PETALS! Four-year-olds! Erg!

But you know what? There will be more iris I'm sure. And I'm certain that our little neighbor girl is a sweet little cherub deep down. Sure she is.

And I kind of felt bad later about the mini-lecture I gave her. “Now Madison, Molly is very angry that you picked the petals off of her flower. Why did you do that?”

She had no good answer for me. It was probably because the flower was stunningly gorgeous and she's four. Good enough reasons I guess.

Now for the wow: Let's take a walk around the side of our home to the front garden that is faring a little better. I thought it looked so lovely in the evening light with the sprinkler gently showering it.