We took a little hike in the woods.....

It was VERY green....

And a little purple...


We spotted Faerie homes....










And we made a few friends...






And posed for a few silly pictures......




I hope you don't mind the photo overload. We are planning a trip down to the Redwoods soon for our 10th wedding anniversary, I am sure I will take a bazillion photos to share. I have been dreaming of visiting the Redwoods since I was very young. We have lived in Oregon for 9 years and haven't made it down to California yet or discovered much of southern Oregon.
One part of our trip will take us into a fern canyon were they filmed Jurassic Park 2....see that will be a hundred photos alone....prepare yourselves ;)

The Giveaway has ended...

I like to do things the old-fashioned(hard) way so I drew the name from a hat

And the winner is.....

*****The Monkey's Mama*****
Yay, and congratulations Lauren, I hope your little one will love the tail.
Thanks so much to everyone who entered this Giveaway.
If you didn't win this time, don't worry I have another Giveaway planned for the very near future.

A Giveaway Day!

I am happy to be part of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway this year.
Here is your chance to win a Dragon tail costume from my Etsy shop,
HumbleLuna.

All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment below sharing what your favorite costume from childhood was. ( Due to shipping costs contest only open to residents of the United States).
If you sign up to follow my blog I will add you a second time into the drawing.
Thanks for stopping by and good luck.
I will draw the winners name randomly, the good old fashioned way.
****The Giveaway ends at midnight on May 25th****

This Moment...

A moment from our week to cherish and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

I also wanted to share our moment from last week when blogger wasn't working......

Crafting update and a future Giveaway!

I am getting pretty behind in sharing the crafty stuff that I have been working on lately.
I knit my nephew Riley a T-Rex for his 2nd Birthday. I used this pattern before to make Solomon's Birthday Dinosaurs a while back. I decided to omit the scary teeth, they didn't look right no matter how many times I tried, this is a friendly T-Rex.

Also the craft- along I am part of made the Easter Garden on page 25 of The Children's Year by Cooper,Fynes-Clinton and Rowling for the April craft. We planted this a week before Easter, but I am just getting to sharing mine now as it took quite a long time to sprout. We planted cat grass in ours and our cats have been enjoying it.


I have also added several pairs of light weight cotton pants in several sizes in fun prints to my Etsy shop for summer and I will be adding some skirts very soon.

Come Back on Monday for a Giveaway! I will be giving away a handmade item from my shop as part of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. This will be a fun day, be sure to check out the link in my side bar. There will be a link on the Sew mama sew blog to several handmade giveaways! Good Luck everyone! I am hoping to get in on the action too!

Memories in Lilacs.....

When I was a a young child growing up in Wisconsin and elderly woman named Esther lived next door to my family. Esther had a sister named Stella . I can't remember anymore if they lived together or not, but they were always together in my memory. They would often invite me inside their home and we would play my favorite game, hide and seek. I always hid in the same spot under Esther's bed and they would always pretend they couldn't find me although they knew very well where I was. They would let me try on their perfume and gave me tiny lipstick samples to take home with me. They always had cookies and Popsicles to share with me before I would return home. It didn't matter to me then that they were several decades older then me, they were my dear friends, honorary grandmothers.
They lived alongside and alley way that was separated from the house by a small white fence and an amazing row of lilac bushes.They were enormous to me then, more like trees than bushes, with gnarly trunks that were irresistible to climb. I climbed them all the time, although I don't remember if Esther or Stella minded. The lilac bushes were spectacular there must have been five or six all in a row all with different personalities. Each bush had lilacs of a different color ranging from dark purple to lavender to white and and all the colors of purple you can image in between. They smelled so sweet it almost made your eyes water.
Esther and Stella were only our neighbors for a short time of my childhood. Ester got sick and passed away and Stella moved into a nursing home. I was too young to know the details and it is all a blur in my mind which is for the best because all the memories I have of them are good. My sweet friends.
Lilacs are the flower of my childhood.
Now whenever I walk past a Lilac bush and smell their wild perfume, I am eight years old again in my private grove,perched on a knobby branch picking lilacs for my mama. Without a care in the world.
Someday when my family settles down in a home of our own, I am going to plant two lilac bushes in our yard, and I will name then affectionately and with love, Esther and Stella.

illustration sunday....

I painted this my last semester of art school. It was for an assignment to create and anti-depression poster. I rummaged through my old portfolio this week trying to find this painting because it very much applies to my life right now. I am been feeling kind of blue lately and have been working hard to get myself back on track. I have been exercising and hiking as much as I can and have been listening to tons of happy African(Mali) music, trying to break out of it.
I think a lot of it is because I was hoping to visit my family in Wisconsin this summer with my husband and my children. Until I looked at how much it was going to cost us for the flight alone and it is literally twice as much as it would cost for us to go to Hawaii. So I am trying to not feel sad about that, although I do. I often feel like a pioneer,I left my home and family to go West and although I didn't plan on never returning home, it is so hard for us, who live simply without excess money to make is back home to visit. It costs about the same as three months rent!
I wonder how long it would take in a hot air balloon? ;)

Mother's Day outing....

I bet you can't guess what I did on Mother's Day.....

Just joking, I am so darn predictable these days. A real rock hunting junky.


But what I love the most about it is that it gets me out of the city for a while and it is so meditative, and best of all it is free.

(I did not make the rock sculptures, they have been showing up here for years. I guess someone else loves this spot as much as I do. Maybe we are kindred spirits?)



The kids had a lot of fun playing together, building a house out of branches. This was so refreshing for me to see. There is quite an age gap between them and it is usually challenging for them to get along without teasing(the elder) and shrieking(the younger).






The storms even cleared up right after we got there. Leaving the rocks shiny and clean, perfect for finding treasures. Giving me a few hours of beautiful sunshine. It was a really fun day.
And it took my mind off of my swollen impacted wisdom tooth for the day, ouch is all I have to say about that. OUch :(

Illustration Sunday.... Guest artists

Since it is Mother's Day I though I would share the beautiful art work that I received as gifts this year from my two favorite kids.

*****Happy Mother's Day !!*****

This Moment...

My Speedy Gonzalez....

A moment from our week to savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

Playing in the mountains....

I have been feeling a great need to get out of the city lately. Ben doesn't have weekends off so it makes it tricky for us to get too far out, on his days off Sophie is in school and we need to stick close to home. Luckily my Dad was up for a little day trip out in the mountains. I wouldn't really feel comfortable driving and hiking up there alone with the kids. I have a fear of John Cougar Melon Cougars...