Picture a Day: More Snow!

snowman, made and melting, at Grammy & Grandpa's

Picture a Day: out to eat

:: At Wine N Diner. Oreo pancakes for the kids, turducken pilgrim sandwich for the grown ups. Yum!

Picture a Day: Pancakes!

Lots of Pictures Today: Valentine's revisited

This year I am all about being ahead of the game, especially with making gifts. So far, so good--I churned out a scarf for for each kid's Valentine's Day gift with plenty of time to spare!


They were a hit and inspired lots of love:


Both patterns (and yarn) are from Morehouse Farm. They turned out super cute, Tigerlily's heart scarf was super quick and easy and I love how the hearts kind of link together when she wears it. The bandit look of Lyric's raccoon scarf is totally killing me! This one took a bit of time, partly because it calls for sport weight yarn. Next time I'm totally using worsted.

Picture a Day: Osu!

Lyric has been talking about joining a karate class since he was at least three and I finally got around to signing him up at the beginning of the month. Tigerlily wanted to give it a try too so I signed her up for their introductory 3-lesson course for everyone over age 7. She's never really followed through with anything she's tried before (dance and piano) so I didn't have high hopes. Man, was I wrong!

Tigerlily at the dojo

I have never seen the girl take anything so seriously. The juniors are expected to attend at least 2 classes per week and my girl has asked to go every. single. day since she officially began as a student last Tuesday. She's gone every weekday since then and has become this amazing karate sponge! I am so, so proud of her, not only for her determination to do her best but also for working hard to bring the key principles of her karate practice, self discipline and self control, into her life outside the dojo. It's so exciting to see her confidence grow and to hear those spirited, "Kiai!"s.

Picture a Day: Day 4

When the girl is at camp....

up in his sister's loft listening to tunes (and winking)

Once a slacker always a slacker

Only three days into the Picture a Day project and I've already missed one. Rats.

yesterday: Lyric wearing the infamous sushi pants (given to newborn Lil and worn by both kids from infancy to age 4) strummin' on the old mandolin

today: Tigerlily at skateboard camp (in the pink helmet)

Picture a Day

I was just over at Abi's blog and was totally inspired to follow her lead and try to regain my blogging groove with a picture a day. And what better time to start than right now?

A glimpse into a typical Saturday morning chez van der Laan. There's no tv during the week but weekend mornings are zone-out time!