What's a little 6 months between friends?

Hey, remember me? I'm that ridiculously pale redhead who blogged, oh, you know, 6 MONTHS AGO. Funny how my last post started with "So yeah, it's been awhile." I guess that's my style now, to just drop off the virtual radar for a gigantic chunk of time. I don't know how my masses of avid blog readers ever survived without me. (Kidding, of course. But can I just say how cool it is when someone I've never met contacts me about this blog? And a tiny bit scary. But mostly so cool.) Facebook has sort of taken over with its perfect platform for the "drive-by picture posting." My extremely short attention span has really enjoyed being able to edit and display a favorite photo within minutes and be DONE for the day. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong on Blogger, but it is a wrestling match every single time. And although I always sorta win, it makes me want to curl up in a corner rocking with my Facebook wall by the time I'm done.

Life has been good. I have run into a constant struggle since having kids, but surprisingly it has nothing to do with them anymore. In the last 6 months we have slowly navigated our way to a new family groove and Raya is, dare I say it, an easy baby! Even better than Jude was at this age. I know, it's shocking. Other than the way she does a violent Riverdance during every diaper change making it nearly impossible and very annoying, she's great. But it seems as though we Bucheles put in our time at the front end of the baby stage. It's all hell until around 6 months, and then we sit back, relax, and enjoy our good little sleepers and mostly chill children for the rest of it. Until they hit 3, of course. Then it's a rocky road. But truly nothing like our Newborn Hell. Anyway, my new struggle is a personal one. It is the need for more time to be as creative as I feel now with these little guys around me. I'm so much more inspired, so saturated with fun ideas and find myself surrounded by wonderfully artsy friends. And, no extra time to really dig into any of it. Which is driving me crazy. I want to bake sweets. I want to make patchwork curtains from vintage linens. I want to master the manual setting on my camera. I want to crochet pixie hats. I want to make my own soap. I want somewhere really cool to wear all of the new boho tweed vintage coats I've found during my many thrift store adventures (upcoming blog post about those). And I should probably finish Raya's pregnancy scrapbook one of these days. Where is all of my extra time? Ah yes. It was used up peeling grapes, chopping cheese into the smallest cubes imaginable and washing white blond angel hair in an overly bubbly tub. And all that other stuff in between that makes a mom of two little ones feel overwhelmed most days. And yes, I am aware that someday I will miss all this.

In an attempt to feel somewhat caught up, I'm going to post a smattering of favorite holiday pictures and flash through the last few months. My husband says that being "caught up" is an absolute impossibility for me, especially with the recent discovery of a new brilliance in my life called Pinterest. Do not click on that link if you are crafty and easily inspired, unless you currently find yourself bored. Don't. Do it.

Halloween

A 3 month old colicky baby girl in a homemade poodle skirt and personalized cardigan, a larger (slightly less cranky) 50s style mama, and two greasers. And way too much candy for a toddler.

(You may be wondering why this one is first when the other holidays are in descending order by month. That's because Blogger is winning this round and instead of reloading all the pictures, I'm gonna just have them be out of order. I deserve a few points for letting go of my perfectionism a little tonight, right?)

Easter

Decorated eggs, handmade baskets (just the lining, I didn't weave those personally), train rides, egg hunts, and a Herbie car that took me a very long time to make. See that sad face on Jude down there? That's due to a back bumper failure. It fell off moments after being taken out of his Easter basket. I meticulously placed each tiny Herbie racing decal on that plain white VW bug, carefully sealed it with 3 coats of clear nail polish to protect it from toddler crashing...and the BUMPER FALLS OFF. Nice.

Valentine's Day

A charming picnic lunch with Grandma at the arboretum, Jude's first glittery handmade Valentines, and generally lots of pink and red.

Christmas

Little color coordinated outfits, night walks through magically lit neighborhoods, sticky sucker Christmas card photo shoot, and the best Christmas morning so far. Oh, and a massive, epic meltdown on Christmas Eve, compliments of that darling girl below.

And there you have it. The last half of a Buchele year in a nutshell. And it only took me about 6 hours to get the spacing (mostly) right.