holiday home made lovely tour

would you like to come on inside our casita for a little holiday home tour?

then pop on over to heather's place for a visit.

i'd love to have you over and share a hot drink next to the twinkle lights.

xoxo,

annalea

thanksgiving 2013

 

it has only been a week since thanksgiving, but we are in full advent mode at casita hart.  before beginning an influx of holiday/winter inspired posts, let me spend a moment on one of my favorite holidays of the year.

i think i love thanksgiving so much because it is the start to a sweet season of celebration that lasts through the new year.  also, i love to eat good food.  and to spend time with others.  and to pick out a christmas tree the next day. 

for our first new mexican thanksgiving, we hosted a friendsgiving feast for 18.  it was so so great.  lots of cooking, lots of eating, and lots of thankfulness for these new relationships.  it is still crazy to think how much has changed in the past year.  this holiday almost felt like the start to our rooted life in the southwest.

the brined roasted turkey was so pretty and even tastier.  so much yumminess was brought and enjoyed.  through the use of danielle walker's thankful i was able to make all of my dishes paleo or gluten-free, which was quite an undertaking, but not as difficult as i imagined.  i highly recommend the recipes in that ebook.  the smoky candied bacon sweet potatoes may be my favorite.  i could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

thank you, friends, for sharing this meal with us.
and for humoring me with the chalk hand turkeys.

last of autumn wreath

before we officially plunge into christmas/winter mode, i thought i would share some details on my autumn wreath now gracing the front door.  i waited on this post, because we have been hoping our landlord will let us repaint the front door turquoise - which is so very new mexican - but no word back yet on the approval.  so can you just imagine this wreath sitting on a turquoise door?  okay, thanks.

also, this is not a true tutorial.  there are so many wreath DIYs out there and this was a dipping-my-toes-back-in-the-creative-water type project.  but here are the quick details:  

one straw wreath without the plastic wrap removed

2" strips of fabric wrapped around it

lots and lots of felt roses hot glued to the bottom, as well as a few rolled wool buds

add in some orange berries i found in the stash

burlap leaves tucked here and there

and a strip of burlap to tie the wreath up on the door

without counting time to make the flowers (which i had premade a couple years ago when i was still selling on etsy), the wreath took me maybe an hour.  and that is with kiddos afoot.  plus needing to pull out and choose the materials.  it was such a breath of fresh crafty air in our full homeschooling days.  i need to remember it is okay to do that.

i do like my house to feel decidedly autumnish through thanksgiving, so i have another week with this pretty thing.  but, yes, i have begun some christmas crafting in preparation for a total house swap next friday.

how about you?  is your tree already up and the christmas music a'playing?  or will you wait until next weekend?  

balloon fiesta 2013

watching the sunrise over the sandias while the colroful balloons begin to fill and glow.
 this will never get old.

this year we brought our first out of town guests to balloon fiesta.  (i don't think it will be the last time either.  yes, you are invited, folks.  come and visit us next year!)  we strategically invited jesse's parents this magical week.  october weather and hot air balloons?  i mean what better way to impress them during their first visit to allbuquerque.  (but i will warn you that we wake up darn early and it can be mighty cold during those wee hours.  it is oh so worth it.  i promise.  and a warm and tasty breakfast burrito with green chile sauce hits the spot.) 
 

 

 

odds and ends

it seems mighty fitting that we just cut into the backyard watermelons harvested last month.  life doesn't seem to fit into the days allotted.  i need to be okay with the overflow from one season to the next.  but i also want to stop putting off for tomorrow what can be done today.  like cut the watermelon.

i don't know if the above makes complete sense.  but i do know that you might get it anyway.  right?

my business trip in cali was full and encouraging and so so quick.  then i came home to family of sickies.  thankfully it has passed and we now are back at it. 

as for today...

without being asked, the 8yo raked all of the backyard leaves and then proceeded to vacuum most of them up.  all by himself.  no help.  so cool.

without being asked, but with permission and minor supervision, the 3yo washed all of the non-glass dishes.   totally occupied for most of an hour.  those were some clean plates and flatware.  so so cool.

all of that while the 6yo became hooked on pentatonix and folded laundry.

i was kinda winning at the mama gig today.

if you don't count the littlest one throwing a huge fit at the dance studio and making me look like i don't parent well.  it is tiring to so often feel that vulnerable. and know that others probably won't get us.  i have developed so much compassion as a special needs mama.  it is truly a gift.  limited experience blinds us to the complicated and messy and there-is-no-book-for-this.

Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways.

and show me the ways i should train up my little harts amidst the complicated and messy.  and You actually have written a book for that.