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Feeling Nostalgic: Mother and Baby Christening Necklace Gift Set

January 15, 2013 By Audrey Leave a Comment

I’m working on uploading several new items to the site this week, and find myself feeling particularly nostalgic about this one.

Maybe it’s that my own children are growing up (ages 6, 8, 11)…and that I read this post yesterday, which reminded me that they are no longer babies.

Maybe it’s that I had the chance to snuggle this little model last night, and cannot help but feel a tug at my heart whenever I raise a tiny curled-up newborn to my shoulder.

Maybe it’s that I can literally see the closeness between this sweet boy and his lovely Mama in the photos I’ve been editing.

At any rate, it has me thinking a lot about the bond that grows between a precious child and the important women in his/her life. I love this gorgeous pearl cross necklace set as a symbol of that bond…a poignant token of the connection between a mother/godmother/grandmother and a beloved child.

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Prayers for the Children

December 15, 2012 By Audrey Leave a Comment

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It Doesn’t Have to be Perfect: Easter 2012

April 10, 2012 By Audrey Leave a Comment

Sometimes the days & weeks become so crazy, I find myself saying over and over again: It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. (Thank you, Nester)

As much as I can clearly see gorgeous holidays in my head and on my Pinterest boards, it just is not realistic to expect that I can nail down all those perfect details in the midst of a blessedly busy life. Reality is that relationships/people, daily necesseties, schedules, and obligations trump visions of sugarplums, impeccably styled photo-ops and dainty handmade decorations.

That said, I still try to pull off as many somewhat-scaled-down traditions as possible. So Easter this year went down like this:

Easter egg hunts – check (3 of them!)

Food & fun with lots of family- check

A beautiful, spiritual feast at church – check

Easter dresses for my girlies – fail (funny, from the girl who makes dresses for a living, no?)

Clean/organized/decorated holiday house – fail (good thing all our festivities took place elsewhere!)

Do you ever find yourself having to reconcile dreams of perfection with the reality of life?

{Oh, and for all of you living life by-the-seat-of-your-pants-with-your-hair-on-fire (like me) I have some great news: One Small Child is now shipping all orders within 24 hours. Woo-hoo!}

Filed Under: ceremonies and celebrations, family, on my mind

Weekend Inspiration: The Most Important

January 7, 2012 By Audrey Leave a Comment

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One Little Word

January 4, 2012 By Audrey 2 Comments

A new year is here, and it feels fresh and full of possibility! In the small amount of reflection I’ve been able to squeeze into the chaos of kids-home-for-the-holidays {love ‘em, but they’re noisy!}, I have decided there will be no formal list of resolutions for me. Whew. That was freeing.

I am, however, declaring my focus for 2012. Over the past few years, I’ve been inspired by the One Little Word idea, and I’m here to share my word for the next twelve months:

One Little Word 2012

 

My plan is to focus on 6 areas of mindfulness over the course of the upcoming year: my thoughts, my spouse, my children, my home, my voice, my dreams.

Do you have a word for 2012?

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Looking Closer

August 5, 2011 By Audrey Leave a Comment

I was going through the photos on my camera card the other day, and ran across a large (LARGE)  number of images I did not shoot. 9-year-old Jessa has been sneaking Mom’s camera and snapping close-ups featuring various in-and-out-of-focus flowers, clocks, wall-art, her brother, the cat, power poles, trampolines and sunsets.

My first impulse was: Sigh…There are a lot of pictures of nothing here…I don’t really have time to slog through them all…Where am I going to store them?…How many should I keep?

And then I looked closer.

Sure, there were a lot of throw-aways. But there were some amazing photographs in the bunch. (The image above is unedited: straight-out-of-the-camera.) They told me something  about the world she sees through her eyes, the details that catch her attention, the natural artistic talent she possesses. And my feelings changed from mild exasperation to profound gratitude for the glimpse I gained into her, and for the opportunity to be part of her life.

The experience reminded me of something I truly believe: there is joy to be found in everything around us. Sometimes a closer look is all you need to see it.

Filed Under: family, on my mind

I Blinked

March 31, 2011 By Audrey 1 Comment

It happened. I hoped it wouldn’t. But it did. I blinked…and my baby went from this:

To this:

Really, how is it possible for five years to go by so quickly?

So I’m left to hope the next five slow down…but I’m here to tell you: snuggle and kiss and soak up all those precious tiny moments. They go by fast.

Filed Under: family, on my mind

It’s the Little Things

February 11, 2011 By Audrey Leave a Comment

Little things keep me grounded.

Let me explain: I often find myself running full-speed with a brain on fire. I love most of the sweet obligations & tasks that fill my days, but sometimes I get so wound up trying to get all the moves right and be everywhere (on time) that I get stuck in my head, bouncing with ideas, to-dos and worries. Then, mercifully, some small thing catches my attention and brings me back to the present: my four-year-old grabbing my face and looking me straight in the eye to tell me what is on her mind right! now!, the sunrise as we drive home from an early-morning violin lesson, a little voice singing softly (oblivious to listening ears). Yesterday, it was this sweet valentine from my little man. Life is full of beautiful little things!

What are the small things that anchor your days and bring everything back into focus?

Filed Under: family, on my mind

A Confession, a Rescue, & a Giveaway

September 1, 2010 By Audrey 12 Comments

Confession: I’ve been a bad portrait mom. As much as I try to keep up with everything, between work and home and family, one of the casualties of this busy life has been the ritual of sit-down, formal portaits of my children. Fortunately, I’m blessed with some serious photographic talent in my family, so we have actually shot random portraits, but until recently, I haven’t followed through with printing/framing/hanging very well. This makes my mother-in-law crazy, but she still loves me. {wink}

Why does the above confession matter? The holidays are fast approaching, and I decided that for Christmas this year I would like to create small Shutterfly albums for each of my three kiddos chronicling the first year of their lives (because I’ve also been a bad scrapbook mom). I started sifting through digital files and quickly pulled together sweet little books for my younger two, then realized I didn’t have much on file of my darling first-born. How does this happen? Well, the short answer is: the digital camera we had when she was little is so archaic the files had to be specially converted, and somehow over the years, we’ve lost a lot of images. (Back to that printing problem I’ve already explained.) Boo.

This morning Grammie came to the rescue! She dropped by with an external drive filled with portrait sessions of my babies, sessions I had completely forgotten. One of those sessions included this image of my sweet little one in her original version of our Jessa blessing dress. Phew!

So this whole episode got me to thinking: do you have similar experiences? Do you find that some things you’d like to do fall by the wayside in the crush of busy-ness and responsibility that is the life of a mother or grandmother today? I’d love to know what those things are…and that I’m not alone in not having *everything* as together as I’d like.

Just for fun: all those who join in conversation in the comments section of this post before 10 p.m. (Mountain Time) Wednesday, September 15th will be entered in a random drawing for a $25 gift certificate to One Small Child. One entry per person, but feel free to converse away!

 

 

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