A winter weekend at the lake
We are headed out of the town tomorrow morning for the long holiday weekend to our beloved lake. Winter time there is quite different than summer but just as lovely. Hannah turns 15 on Saturday and there couldn’t be a more perfect place to celebrate her birthday.
I’ve got my warm winter essentials packed up and ready to go along with the ingredients for Hannah’s birthday dinner request- lasagna (made with homemade noodles by Norah with the pasta maker she got for Christmas) and a carrot cake.
If internet service is available I will be posting daily photos throughout the weekend. See you soon!
Valentines weekend
We had a fun- filled weekend starting with Hannah’s first winter formal dance. It was a 1920’s theme and I think she pulled off lady Hannah rather beautifully. And Chris was quite the dapper chaperone!
While Hannah and Chris were off dancing the night away, Norah and I went out for Indian food.
Saturday was spent cooking, cleaning and sprucing up our home for dinner guests that evening.
On Sunday we hosted an afternoon Valentine tea party. There was lots of chocolate, whipped cream, heart shaped sugar cookies and of course conversation hearts. But my favorite were the pickled radish hearts. We have an over abundance of watermelon radishes from our winter CSA share and last week I packed a huge mason jar full and covered them with a salty, spicy brine. I was pleasantly surprised to find that within a few days they had turned a beautiful shade of pink. Cut into hearts, they were perfect paired with cheese and nuts.
We ended the evening with Downton and all was right with the world:)
Today Norah cashed in on one of her Christmas gifts and attended a 4 hour long cooking class. She came back even more inspired to cook new things (if that was even possible).
It is now snowing and we are getting ready to cozy up and watch this.
How was your weekend my friends?
Let’s start with cake…
We usually drag birthdays out as long as possible around here. The day you were born is an important day to celebrate so why not do it over several days or even a week!
Although Hannah doesn’t turn 12 until Tuesday, we began the festivities with a birthday cake with friends last night. I made this cake and it was to die for!
I am usually a chocolate cake with buttercream or cream cheese icing kind of gal but this cake spoke to me when I read the icing was made with sour cream and bittersweet chocolate.
The tangy to sweet ratio was perfect! Warning: make enough icing to ice your cake and eat it too. It was hard to stop tasting!
When I came home from the store to unpack the cake ingredients I was disappointed to find that I had overlooked the bittersweet chocolate I had bought contained almonds. Chris was nice enough to run back out for me. He couldn’t find plain bittersweet but did come home with both dark chocolate and milk chocolate. He thought combined it would do the job. And he was right. It was perfect.
And there is still cake left over. Cake counts as breakfast right?
Hannah and Norah
3/52
hannah: you love sweets and tea. not a week goes by where you don’t make us all a tea party. i surprised you with applesauce cake for breakfast. you thanked me at least ten times.
norah: you came down with a dress, stockings and maryjanes on. not your typical attire. i couldn’t stop looking at you all day. i saw who you will be in 5 years over and over.
A Cozy Weekend
hannah is sick with the stomach bug and i write this from the sofa watching pride and prejudice with her.
the weekend was rainy and gloomy, perfect for board games, applesauce making and organizing drawers and closets.
the weather has warmed up a bit which makes my long early morning walks a little more tolerable.
harry our dog has been such a gift in getting me outdoors. since we do not have a fenced in yard i have no choice but to take him out on walks in all sorts of weather. i thank him every day for that.
for those in the area, i am teaching a class on beauty and simplicity in the home.
i am rather excited about it.
back to snuggling with hannah.
A New Room and Floor
oh i could not wait to share this with you.
it’s all pretty amazing really to have watched this room in all of it’s stages and now in all of it’s glory!
it is officially complete and hannah is over the moon.
she chose benjamin moore maiden hair fern for the color. and as much as this mama of hers would have loved to see revere pewter on the walls, i love how it blends in with the leaves right outside of her huge windows.
to get an idea of how much we needed to dormer out you can see the original roof line just above the staircase. behind the mirrored door is the old attic space which comes in handy for storage.
the woodwork and trim was made to match the rest of this arts and crafts style house and we added some ship lap on the walls for a little more modern feel.
my grandfather crafted the built in bookcase (who’s top i am picking up from his shop tomorrow) to house books and collections.
she has a nice sized closet which fits all of her shoes and clothes and allows for more space in her room for dancing, playing and hanging out.
her antique bed was a gift from my mom and the drawing above it lived in my room as a child. artwork by hannah and my sister also lives on the walls. her desk was salvaged and given some new hand crafted drawer pulls.
on her first night up there i laid with both her and norah (who has been invited up to sleep and snuggle whenever she likes) and looked out at the leaves rustling on the big maple tree. we listened to the rain tapping on the roof and i marveled at this little house of ours and how it keeps on expanding and growing along with us.
stay tuned for more details and photos of this exciting new project!
Home stretch!
some sneak peeks….
home stretch!
It warms my heart
it warms my heart…
~to see how much you two enjoy one another.
~to find you reading to one another
~to find your dolls wrapped up in my scarves after a morning of play
~to hear you giggling in bed in the morning
~hear you hug and kiss at night and say i love you.
~norah,that you still call hannah sissy.
~to see how totally different you are from one another yet it is completely clear that you are sisters.
~to know that you will always be the best of friends.
Hannah and Norah
hannah
:: you are determined to run the media 5 miler again this year. you started training this week.
:: you have been spending a lot of time drawing and writing in your journal. you drew the most beautiful picture of papa sitting in a tree today
norah
:: you told me the other day you have always wanted to be a dog but the one problem would be you would only get fed once a day. you love to eat.
:: you are such a night owl and you usually stay up later with papa while hannah and i go to sleep. these last few weeks though you have been asking me to sing you to sleep. your favorite is “stay awake”.