Happy Birthday Uma!!!

It was my Mama's birthday last week... what fun we had! I took her to a sweet little cafe in town (Citrus) and we had a little lunch, chatted, and enjoyed the warm sun! realllly great salads! then we shopped a bit in all the little antique shops.... then....



we had my parents over for a nice dinner... I have my inlaws in town as well... so both Grandparents, and our family... celebrating a fun birthday under the stars!



lit some candles, set the table and enjoyed one of my specialties... EGGPLANT TIMBALE!!!! It's amazing and I get more and more proud of it each time I make it! I would love to make one for all of youuuuu!



geeee... wonder where our girls get their red hair from??? hmmmm??? hahaha



Isabelle sneeking a lick before we sang Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mama!!! Hope you have another beautiful year!!!!! I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoox

felty kinda day....

we had so much fun this morning trying oh so hard to felt these sweet little Easter eggs I found on this site! Felting is something I have really been enjoying lately being so crafty! Having kids makes me try to do so many little craft projects... a lot of which I remember from when I was a tyke... and a lot of things I just come across here and there......



even our tiny little cheeky girl loves to get crafty!



a little proud of my light blue egg... afraid to say as they were drying outdoors a bird or squirrel liked my egg too and off it went... can't find it any where... if any one finds a little blue felted egg please let me know....



and the final result... a nice collection of sweet little woolie Easter Eggs! I am so happy... feel like making a few more!

welcome Spring!

it's here... the birds are chirping, the air is a little cool, the sky is oh so blue... welcome Spring! welcome warm sunny days planting little seedlings, welcome picking vegetables at the farm, welcome late nights spent in the garden eating dinner by candle light and enjoying families togetherness and a little wine.....





some lovely amethyst onions at our local Jessica's farm! one of our family's favorite spots in town! locally grown, organic, equals... DELICIOUS!!!



fresh milk!



how cute is she!!! we love to take our girls here every week usually... teaches them that vegetables come from our earth... we have to be kind to the earth so that we can have tasty veggies!



working hard in the fresh air... what a life!



even our little pumpkin loves to tramps her way through the fields ... getting nice and dirty and feeling the soil in between her little fingers... and tasting a bit too.... :-)



ahhhh... so many greens!



I love how she picks me flowers every day... it warms my heart so! always stopping and taking her time in this life... always seeing the pinks and purples our mother has made for us... always thinking of me and knowing how happy it makes me to get a fist full of the loveliest weeds a mother could ask for... love it when the roots are attached and dirt is falling off... reminds me when I was a girl and would go for bike rides with my Daddy and feed the ducks... would always find some flowers for my Mama too!



off to Farm and Garden with Farmor & Farfar (grandma & grandpa) for some herbs, veggies, and flowers for our spring garden... so inspired now after being at the farm! They always find something to smuggle back to Sweden with them... this year... a jasmine plant! crazy! hahaha!





and finally... what life is all about.... breaking bread with family and friends at a big table... inside our home or out in our garden... life is brilliantly a circle of laughter and candle lights... reflecting on our past and living in the moment of love with each other!

come enjoy our garden sometime... with the warm returning... our bar-b-q is full of coals and the table is always set...

necklaces...

from amber necklaces to shell necklaces our girls have been quite fancy lately...



I ordered this beautiful amber necklace almost 2 months ago all the way from Lithuania... whew! it is said that these gorgeous stone's elements are a natural way to help soothe babies that are teething... the natural oils are absorbed into babies skin and it keeps them nice and calm... also it helps with drooling... from the moment we put it on her she hardly drools as much... with such a wait in customs the necklace was up in the air when we needed it oh so much... when she got some MOLARS!!! so I think when she gets her next round this beauty will do it's trick! not to mention how darn cute it is on her! (I think it matches her hair) :-)





such a little lady!



our oldest girl has been into making necklaces... from shells! this is her special shell she found on our secret beach... we also made a shell necklace to send to her Auntie all the way in China.. hope she loves it as much as Isabelle loves hers!



Isabelle's bike... used to be MY BIKE when I was a little girl! My parents restored it and gave it to her for her 3rd birthday! love the streamers (and the banana seat! :-) )... she has such fun riding up and down our street ... ringing the bell at every house we pass by......



my goodness... the leprechauns came! Happy St. Patrick's Day! We had a morning of finding green things to wear and drank green milk... so funny to have it be a surprise as it pours into our glasses!



a nice story time with Farmor... fun for the girls to have this special time spent with their Grandparents.....

bike ride to our secret beach...

this is our "secret beach!" we always feel while there that we're pirates on a deserted island... at least that's what we pretend.....

it's a secret to most of the tourist which flock to our little town these days.... but to us locals this is a real gem.... mums the word...



it's not too far from our home so we like to bike there.... (with a little backup on our bridge these days... sometimes this way is much faster)



this is my new bike which I love so so much! I got it as a gift from my mother and step-father-in-law... I love the color of it and it rides so fast!!!



this is Isabelle's Pirate Ship! she sails it through the rough seas and goes way out of her imagination to a land far far away.....
between building sand castles with her sister and sailing her ship ... a day at the beach is a day of much adventure!





I love how the color of the Gulf and the sky match this time of year... the water is so amazing and so clear that you can see your toes through the water... but it's still a bit too chilly to swim past your bellies....



Pappa and our little Pirate Cecilia... walking and looking for treasures....



Cecilia found a coconut while exploring... played ball quite awhile with it... so much milk inside of it... sounded kinda cool to shake shake shake!



the girls with Farmor and Farfar (Grandma & Grandpa) over visiting all the way from Sweden... enjoying spending nice times with them in the fresh fresh air!



good bye sweet secret beach... thank you for many more memories... see you next time... maybe in a week or so... until then little birdie keep an eye out for all the pirates!

an afternoon in our garden is always my favorite kind of day....

I absolutely love our garden... everything about it... from the way I feel in it to the pretty things I see in it... it's such a collection of little things to pretty rose bushes to all of the memories we have made in it and grown in it...



I am loving our lemons! sooo so sweet! and soooo many this year! 11! ... 2 left... maybe I can make a lemon pie??



our parsley has lasted well over 2 years now! a record for parsley! we use it maybe every week... the secret to herbs lasting, I really think... is talking with them and constantly petting them and smelling their beautiful fragrance! they have feelings too.....



our girl's Uma has been quite busy with Really Rosey! look at these adorable veggie dresses!!! they were the talk of the market this morning!



love those eyes... this is our little sparkle... I love how her eyes have such wonder... children's eyes are full of wonder... and potential.. it's beautiful... this is why I love to photograph a single child at a time... to look into their eyes with my camera.. it feels like I am in a way, looking into their souls.......



most kiddies save their coins for marbles, or little cars... ours... hmmm she saves her coins for croissants. yes, croissants! there is a little French cafe downtown and our little girls LOVE their croissants... who could resist! they're so delicious!



a nice little afternoon ... topped with lovely Grandparents visiting from far, yummy muffins, hot coffee, and lots of giggles...





cheers to lovely weather and spending long days outdoors... how do you spend your days...?

Beach girls...

Hello Spring... how we have missed you so.... thank you for putting smiles on everyone's faces... thank you for giving the birds something to sing about... thank you for touching all the lovely flowers and making them all so so colorful... thank you spring for getting us to the beach again and allowing us this time to shed some clothes... ooooh to wear a skirt again...



even in Florida... to have to be cooped up indoors for even just a few days is too many... baring the oh so cold temps and wearing socks is tricky ... it's fun to "play winter" for a bit... doing what we think the friends in colder places do around the world... it's fun to wear a knitted hat or wear flannel jammies... even to sip hot cocoa and breath out and see smoke in our breath is a real treat. We love to take it in so much because we know it's just for a bit... soon we'll be so hot hot hot and eating pop sickles .... so for now we'll take the hot chocolate... but it's fantastic to have the sun melting our Florida hearts again...





sometimes even the most pirate faces are fun...



our little baby caterpillar is exploring our world in so many ways... determined to go go go... up and down ... crashing... wanting down... it's wonderful to see such a young soul explore and squeal with delight at something so simple as a pinecone....

Woodland Fairies... breezy birthday!!!

oh my... what fun! for quite awhile Isabelle has been really into fairies.. magical, pixie fairies... whenever we take walks she always is looking for forest fairies... even on the beach! We have sleep fairies that come each night she sleeps all night in her bed and they leave a tiny paper butterfly! (have to post about our sleep fairies one day... you would love them... maybe some of you need a little fairy coming to your home!??)
So I was very happy that she was excited to have a Fairy Birthday Party!



a little chilly fairy weather was quite a treat... she looked so pretty to me all dressed in her whimsical dress from Uma... she was so happy and breezy all day... frolicking throughout the garden with her little friends....



me and my girls...



welcome to Pixieland!



I loved making all of the decorations... all of the tiny touches which made the party so magical...



fairy berries...



so pretty!



Belle and her little friend... little fairy girls!



we made such a delicious chocolate fairy cake! we wanted it to look like a forest... so we had dark chocolate shavings covering it... in between each layer was chocolate nutella mousse! yummy!!! nothing like little fairies with chocolate in the corners of little mouths!



Happy Birthday Baby!



went for a scavenger hunt and with what we found we decorated a little fairy house! so much fun!



the final fairy house! taaa daaaah!



what a dreamie day we had! thank you everyone for making it even more magical than I could have ever dreamed..........