Easter 2013.

the sun shined for Easter in New England!

that was one of the highlights of our day.

the easter bunny did not show up last night for his glow-in-the-dark night-time egg hunt,
and our kiddos started to worry that it wasn’t going to come – but he didn’t forget us this morning!

i hope your day was filled with loved ones, and lots of good food. boy-oh-boy do i have to start eating good {AGAIN} and working-out extra starting tomorrow… anyone else with me?

xo.

{pictures by me, Jane Rhodes}

Posted in easter, holidays, KJ, myla, sela, traditions | 6 Comments »

christmas eve

sushi. holiday cards. good friends. good food. traditional christmas jammies. snuggles. cookies for santa. apples for the reindeer. movie: christmas vacation while playing crazy eights.

a new tradition: sitting around the tree sharing our favorite memories of 2012. my favorite memory: the moment we were all singing country songs driving around crescent lake in washington on this road trip. amazing: every one of my kids shared favorite memories that all had to do with spending time together as a family. no favorite toys. no favorite video games were mentioned. kj was almost in tears because he wanted to be back in cabo with his dear friends.

my heart was smiling.

{all photos by me. i was given a new-to-me camera for christmas!!!! and i’m still trying to figure out the white balance, so please be patient with my yellow pictures.}

Posted in chistmas eve, christmas, family life, husband, kiana, KJ, myla, sela, traditions | 4 Comments »

a quiet spot.

while on our trip to southern california, we spent one evening hiking in the hills up behind laguna beach. our cousin has a quiet spot up there, and we wanted to see it —

the great thing about being a guest, is that you get to discover the beauty of other places and fall in love with the culture and people who live there. laguna beach is a sun-kissed town filled with people who glamorously accessorize the sandy beaches. the hills are a quiet refuge with beautiful views of what lies below.

one particular hill has a special spot on top – a shrine honoring nature, filled with painted rocks, and other little souvenirs from life. our cousin created this place about ten years ago, soon after 9/11. she has been adding to it ever since. cool, right? there are rocks she has painted from all over the world, all representing different moments from her life. different challenges.  different goals, etc. her family, friends, and acquaintances have added rocks too. strangers who hike to this spot have added their own offerings to this place. when our cousin isn’t traveling the world, she will hike/run to this spot on a regular basis and is able to observe the new offerings/mementos of life that people bring up there.

the only rule – she doesn’t allow any religious items or money on the shrine. once, soon after the shrine was started it was vandalized. she had to gather all the rocks where they had been scattered, and then created a little border/fence to keep them in. she then wrote a kind request for everyone to respect the offerings. it’s worked so far.

it makes me wonder what people think when they stumble upon this spot out in nature without having any idea it’s there. if they just pass by without a care, or if their curiosity stops them to spend some time checking it out…

myla and i loved it. this special spot inspired myla to find some flat beach rocks during our trip. we brought them home and are going to paint them. we will either take them back to laguna beach one day and they will be added to this shrine, or we are going to create our own special place here in boston that would be our shrine, within walking distance. it’s a little bit harder to figure out a place like this in an urban setting, sans big hills, but we’re trying to come up with something good!

do you have a place like this?   somewhere to retreat when you need to step outside of the wordily chaos for a bit.  if you were to paint a rock – what would it be?  what would you honor, or represent, or decide to acknowledge in your life?  i relate to so many that are already in the pictures above – start again, balance, yoga, patience.

there are hidden, quiet spots all-over the world, and the challenge lies in finding them. i hope we all get a little time this summer to do so. xo.

{images by me. jane rhodes}

Posted in california, extended family, myla, traditions | 7 Comments »

☘ ☘ ☘

everybody’s irish on st. patrick’s day – at least it seems like that in the USA. especially here in boston! did you know Boston held America’s first st. patrick’s day celebration in 1737, and the city is called the Irish capital of America?

if you decide to join in the fun, here are my ideas for green festivities!

on saturday morning {very early} we will dye our traditional crepes green + the kids love green milk! this year for our milk i found these adorable mason jar tumblers. i love how they look with our green stripy straws! and the kids will love using them long after st. patty’s day has come and gone.

then… did you see when danyelle blogged about these jars from anthrolpologie? i thought they were darling, but at the time i had everything i needed for valentine’s day. so, i was in anthropologie this past weekend & found green ones! so perfect for each of my girls this weekend – a little surprise to add to our breakfast table. there are so many fun ways to make these cute! for $10/jar you can’t go wrong.

you can find more ideas on my st. patty’s day pinterest board.
do you plan on participating? do you have any traditions or ideas to share? please do tell.

{all photos by me. this is not a sponsored post.}

Posted in holidays, st. patrick's day, traditions, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

our christmas.

santa arrived early at our home this year.

{ten days early!}

he’s super-magical like that…
{kudos to his insane little elves that made it happen!}

we went out for a festive family dinner & returned to this lil note from mr. bean, stating,

“open your christmas jammies tonight! santa wants to come early!”

without a moments hesitation, these lil munchkins prepared everything…

i should break out my tripod for moments like this, but that is just too much work – so please forgive the awful photo quality… i like them this way. because, the room was lit only by xmas lights and there was a yellow glow.

these two pictures were taken within seconds of each other – one with flash, one without.

see: sans flash is simply more lovely. blurry and all.

5:30am —

one of my favorite things about parenting, is watching my kids interact one with another, with love. kj was thrilled with his gifts from santa, but he could not wait to give his big sis his gift to her — precious.

big papi received all red sox/celtics/bruins attire from the kiddos. just what he always wants. ♥

…at the very end of things, everyone spotted snazzy new iPhone cases that santa hid in the xmas tree!

a beautiful mess.

xoxo.

Posted in christmas, husband, kiana, KJ, myla, sela, traditions, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

elf on the shelf

more mr. bean sightings —

zip-lining across the family room :: mistletoe in the dollhouse

party elf :: mr. bean brought us snow! :: in disguise in the xmas tree

rudolph came to visit & together they painted the kids’ noses red while they were sleeping! ha!

the creatures were stirring :: sipping’ syrup

mr. bean & barbie found our wishbone from thanksgiving! :: domino’s!

hanging-around in some tulle after a busy season…

previously shown here.

{photos by me.}

Posted in christmas, elf on the shelf, KJ, sela, traditions | 1 Comment »

christmas cards: it’s tradition.

how do you feel about the tradition of christmas cards? a lost art? you’ve never sent one? you always send one?

i’m having an inner battle with the expense and time involved. i adore christmas cards – i have a preparing/addressing/stamping party of one when i’m preparing ours.

but, this year, we have maybe received 40-50… and, i sent almost 300.

should i stop? is it not-green to be doing so?
{my envelopes & washi tape from here andhere, personalized stamper from here.}

regardless, i still enjoy the tradition.  and, if you are not on our mailing list – here is our 2011 card & mini letter:

Rhodes family chronicles XV

*****
here’s the cliff notes version of 2011 if you didn’t read the book… err… the blog (www.seejaneblog.co)

chapter 1- Rhodes family living in Utah… loving life
chapter 2- Father of Rhodes family has an idea
chapter 3- Rhodes family votes on father’s idea
chapter 4- Rhodes family packs up and moves to Boston
chapter 5- Rhodes family is fond of Boston
Visited the Cape in the summer,
Salem for Halloween, Plymouth for Thanksgiving,
many, many Sox games and so much more!

chapter 6- Rhodes family still misses Utah…

sneak peak at next book- many friends & family (YOU) come to Boston
to help Rhodes family forget they are homesick.

Cheahs!

i am magnetically drawn to the charm of capturing my kids personalities in the perfect shots. every year, something new – planning mismatched clothes and wrinkled noses, heads tipped in laughter, and the comfort that comes from not realizing there’s a camera in your face.

we’ve been doing this for a long time, and someday we will look back and laugh, retelling stories of the year i drew funny eyes on their hands with sharpies! …made them wear glasses, here. the year we danced & jumped in front of a camera, here.

my conclusion on the cards, it’s all good. it’s tradition.

{top two images by me.  this years family pictures by: Junebug photography. card design by me.}

Posted in christmas, family pictures, graphic design, greetings, husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, sela, traditions | 8 Comments »