HAPPY BIRTHDAY

debby and hillery!

two of my favorite people are celebrating birthdays today and tomorrow.

they are both amazing artists who are beautiful, stylish and incredibly kind.

i am happy they are my family and friends.

we will be celebrating them from michigan and missing them very much.

kuura

adam and i are showing some drawings at sparrows, opening next month.

mark your calendars for the 4th of march and join us for some cupcakes and tea during the opening reception between 7 and 9pm.  

thankful

this morning, i got an early birthday present from my mom, a computer. 

my very first computer! 

i hope to step up my game as a blogger 

and to become more professional all around. 

thank you, mom!   

then, we went over to our friends house for a soul food potluck in honor of black history month.  it was wonderful to spend time with good friends and eat so many delicious foods.

i love this photo of suki serving herself a piece of vegan fish.

the amazing adventures of suki and the beedle

this morning we went to frederik meijer gardens and sculpture park.  

the humid air of the rain forest felt so nice on our dry winter skin.  

 

suki and beedle were searching for the tree frog, but they never found it.  some of their favorite things that they saw were the waterfall, the mossy rocks, the butterflies and the cute flock of walking birds. 

i need to find out what kind of birds they were, i loved them.  it's too bad i did not get a photo.

suki and beedle were too cute in their own world, flapping their arms pretending to be butterflies.  

after the garden we went to target for some stickers and to pick out a few things from the dollar bins (they were half off today!)

suki picked out an ambulance, beedle picked a fire truck and a cricket for his dad. 

afterwards, beedle said that he is happy now that he finally has his very own small fire truck.

they played with their toys and shared some snacks before lunch at the eritrean restaurant.

they were so patient while waiting for the food that took a while since it is made to order.

the selam store may very well become a regular part of our weekly outings. 

they both loved it.

golden hearts

for valentine's day i made raw coconut truffles for adam and suki.

suki was very happy since she does not get sweet treats like this very often.

i made suki a dress with gold hearts on it for the special day, from the oliver + s puppet show tunic.  

i love this pattern, especially the sleeves and the buttons up the back.  i will have to make her more of these dresses soon because she is on the last size of the pattern and it is now out of print.

on mondays we usually get together with friends and play for a while in the mornings.  

this week was extra fun because we had a delicious brunch and exchanged hand-made valentines.

nfc was the host and she made the most special valentines and beautiful decorations.

the homemade heart shaped chips were my favorite part of the morning.  

heart shaped foods always taste extra good.

the children colored and enjoyed a puppet show created by stephanie.

xoxo

for specks & keepings

we just sent out a few things for the specks & keepings store that will be open in march. 

i can't wait to see these little things with all of the wonderful things hillery has made and found. 

paints, crayons, pens, stickers and oats!

a couple months before suki's first birthday she tried finger paints for the first time.

 it was a blast! 

we used her prints as party invitations.  we have not worked with finger paints since then because it has been too cold in my studio and it's a messy project for the house.

she has been coloring with crayons and pens and using stickers. her drawing technique is the same as her father's. she draws a little bit on a lot of pages then goes back to those pages one by one and adds more layer by layer.

she favors the orange and purple crayons but the others do make an occasional appearance.

another fun cold day activity has been playing with oats and containers.

i got this idea from our friend kathy, she teaches preschool and does something similar.

this activity will keep suki busy long enough for me to make lunch or dinner. she loves filling small jars with the oats and then pretend feeding them to her doll with a fork or spoon. i hide little toys in the oats so there are a lot of fun discoveries for her.  

if you have any ideas for projects for children under the age of two please share them as a comment to this post.  if you know any blogs or websites with ideas that would be great too.  

thanks!

coloring books

1. scribbles by taro gomi

2. charley harper coloring book

3. the coloring book by herve tullet

4. the united states coloring book

5. the indie rock coloring book

add some crayons and let the fun begin!

calvin college faculty show

hope you can make it to the opening reception for the calvin college faculty show.

friday february 11th from 6 to 8pm

at the new center art gallery.

i am excited to see adam's new work in person, so far i have only seen photos.  

i know this is going to be a breathtaking exhibition!  

if you are in michigan do not miss this.

snow day

this morning we woke up buried in snow.  calvin canceled classes so we were able to spend the entire day snowed in together.  this is my favorite kind of day.

i made some bread and hummus while adam shoveled the driveway, it took two hours!

i love this new bread recipe, found by our friend lucio.  the above loaf was made with whole wheat flour and i added flax seeds and wheat germ then sprinkled the top with seeds. 

after lunch we went outside to play. 

i love the way suki looks all bundled.

we dug some tunnels and pulled suki on the sled.  she had a blast!

then to make going back inside a little more exciting i made hot cocoa with honey and oat milk.

yummy!

we ended the day with arts and crafts.

a perfect day!

patchwork afghan

recently i finished this afghan!  

i was inspired by the afghan debby made for hillery last holiday season.  

this one was made all in one piece, that is why it is very asymmetrical.

i used a combination of single and double crochet.