Thankful

Day 1- I am thankful for snuggles on the chair, painting small fingernails, braiding hair, and everything about my sweet little girl.

Day 2- I am thankful for my sweet, compassionate, sensitive little boy.  And even the moments where he is loud, rough, and violent.  I live getting the experience of having a boy.

July Classes

Saturday July 7 - Upcycled Altered Book- 10:30-2:00
Saturday July 7 - Paper Wings Productions Workshop - Cards with Unique Materials 3:00-5:00
Friday July 13 - Mixed Media Scrapbooking 10:30-12:30
Saturday July 21 - Art Journal Club10:30-1:00
Saturday July 21 - Bookbinding 2:00-5:00
Friday July 27 - Dreamweavers Stencil Techniques 6:00-7:30
Saturday July 28 - Paper Wings Productions Trunk Show and Free Make & Takes at Scrapbooks N More in New Braunfels

All classes at Stamp Antonio unless noted.

Cards with Unique Materials

Upcycled Altered Book

Sentimental heart

I've coslept with Lillie for the past 4.5 years.  Miles slept with us up until last year when he decided to sleep with the dh in his own bed. 

She's been sleeping on her own the last couple of nights.  So strange how its taking me longer to adjust.  Feeling very sentimental about it while still looking forward to our next chapter. 

She's my snuggly lovie and I've enjoyed cosleeping because I knew they would sleep on their own when they were ready.  I also knew that I would look back on our days of cosleeping with great fondness.  They grow up so fast, too fast.  That's what everyone always says, but to see it happen right before your eyes is truly magical, and terrifying, and bittersweet.  I am so thankful for being able to be a mom to them.  I treasure it.

I have no witty title

I am 37, a mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter. I went to college, ran a business for 10 years, started my own company, teach a handle of new workshops every single month, I juggle, I survive. Why is it that sometimes I feel like such a loser? Why do I read about others and wish I could be someone else? Why did I spend so many years so terribly depressed and heartbroken? Why am I so hard on myself.

I'm not feeling particularly depressed or anything. These were the random thoughts going through my head tonight.

let the madness begin

Last night I was finishing wrapping and realize how many gifts the kids have! A lot of it is practical stuff like clothes, socks, and underwear. There are also several books and art supplies. Then, I have all of these super kind and generous friends who have given them presents. I decided to let them open a couple of presents tonight. My friend Jill made Lillie a bag that holds coloring books and has little pouches for crayons. For Miles, she made bean bags. My friend Linda got Lillie a mirror to decorate and spin art kit. Miles got a super cool wooden car that you build, and it's super fast! Fun night, glad we decided to open some. Sometimes cool gifts get lost in the craziness of Christmas. Although, I am pretty sure that we opened some tonight because I am just as excited about Christmas as they are. It is nice to enjoy the magic of Christmas over again.

ch ch ch changes

I've gone through some personal changes in the last few months. I'm currently gluten and sugar free. What's that you ask, have I lost my mind? Well, yes, but more importantly I'm trying to find the me that I lost so very long ago. Trying to make up for lost time spent in sadness and despair. Life is good now. I'm thankful for everything that I have.

I feel like rambling a lot lately. I hope to remember to come here and just ramble. It's time to kick things up a notch.

water babies

My kids both love water. Seriously. Lillie is a full on fish. She can full on swim. She would be completely good to go on her own, but she's 3 and doesn't quite have a grasp on knowing her limits. What she lacks in form (she kind of looks like she's wiggling through the water, not clear arm or leg movements but I think that comes with more muscle strength and control). She can swim across the width of the pool without help. She can come up for a breath, float, and dive for floating objects all on her own. This afternoon, she dove in, caught a toy that was sinking, swam back to the edge, climbed out and did it again by herself. Too cool. She gets tired pretty quick but tries so hard to fight it. I hope she sleeps REALLY well tonight!

Little buddy likes to put his face in the water. That's "swimming" :) He's much more cautious in the water (thank goodness!). He really likes playing sports in the water (surprise!). Nana and Grandad have a floating basketball hoop, water guns, balls, and all sorts of fun toys. The toys that sink are the best for getting them to put their faces in the water.

when it rains, it pours

Two posts in a day when I didn't even post once in over 6 months? Yes, that's how I roll.

I've had a....well, a....day. I won't call it productive nor nonproductive. It was productive in the sense that I did what I wanted to and took pictures of the kids, rolled in bed with them, played in the RAIN, and generally knocked off. I was nonproductive in the sense that I barely did any house work.

This is ONLY the second time it's rained this year. It poured, and poured, and we played and played. Lillie's still out there. I'm watching her sing to the rain. After a serious 15 minute down pour it almost stopped. She says that she made it come back by singing to it. I'm not quite sure how the song goes, but I did hear "I love you rain". Awww. We talked about how the rain is important for plants, animals, and bugs.

the L

random updates:

Lillie:

• She all about dress up, giving performances, and lots of pretending. She will walk up to you and introduce herself as all kinds of different people (popular names include Vanola, Cherry, and Ariel). I got her a microphone and some more dress up stuff. It's too cute. She dances, sings (her own made up songs!), and tells a joke for her performances. The joke is a knock-knock that consists of whatever she sees. (knock, knock...who's there...glasses....glasses who....glasses with a computer with a handband, with coffee, with a cup...hahahahaha)
• Plays well with M fairly often. They physically fight a lot these days. They really want to cause pain to one another, you can see it in their faces. It makes me crazy. When they aren't trying to kill each other, they laugh and laugh and call each other buddy. They play hide and seek, sing together, watch shows together, and go out of their way to include and be thoughtful to each other.
• She has mad skills at most physical things like riding bikes. She's still completely fearless. Willing to try just about anything, especially if she sees someone else doing it. (yes, I already fear for the teen age years).
• She's incredibly opinionated and isn't afraid to speak her mind. When people tell her to do something, she is not quick to simply just abide. Like if a kid on a playground tells her to do something or pretend like she's something, she usually won't. She either tells them that she doesn't want to or just walks off. The girl has some huevos, that's for sure.
• She seems to do a lot of testing on how far she can push people. Sometimes she tells people hurtful things to see how they will react. We have lots of talks about how our words make people feel and how to be respectful and truthful.
• Favorite color is still red although for a whole day it was pink!!!
• Keeps asking for a telescope for her next birthday. (just told me 6 times in the last 2 minutes, literally)
• Favorite book: Children's book of virtues,
• Other favorites: playing Angry Birds, matching game, playing with people's hair, most things "princess" or "ballet" related,
• Favorite Foods: carrots, pasta, corn, oatmeal, almost all fruit, broccoli
• Favorite songs: Lone Star, Lily (Matt Pond Pa),
• At last check up she is 38lbs and 38" tall. She wears a size 4 in clothes, and a 9 1/2 in shoes. She's REALLY good at any doctor/dentist visit, even LIKES to go.

neglect

I haven't intentionally neglected this blog. I use a tumblr more now to vent and rant. If you want to find me, let me know. I'll send you a link. I will also try and update this blog too. But not now, I have to finish up my summertime mix cd for our exchange today.

ooooo goodie

Wow, has it really been that long? Seriously? Too much has happened to back track now. We will keep with the randomness of things and just move on.





RIP my point and shoot digi camera. You took thousands of really wonderful photos and I really loved using all of the manual settings and trying to pretend you were a SLR. You lived a good life. Sorry about the abuse in my pocket on the beach that led to your demise. You will be missed. I hope you can take solace in the fact that I really, really love to take pictures and I have really, really wanted a SLR for a long time. btw- I think I'm in love.

look...

so, I realize that this post is very strange to most. I've had a long day, lots of coffe, and still have tons left to do. I'm hyper, in a good mood, and procrastinating. That's usually when I'm the most creative and strange. Welcome to a small glimpse of the real me.

Lillie just woke up politely saying. "Mama, please my mama". Awwww

gimmie shelter

I've never really thought of myself as being "sheltered" but something happened this week that made me rethink that. I was reading some one's facebook post about how she has always thrown egg shells in the disposal and lemon/lime peels in the trash and how her husband wants her to put egg shells in the trash and lemon/lime peels in the disposal. There were like 16 posts debating which one was better and how egg shells have salmonella, blah, blah, blah. I instantly wondered why they didn't put all of those things in the compost. For some reason I really thought more people composted. I thought it was even "trendy" to compost and have a garden. Wow, what a sheltered little world I live in! I also thought long and hard about why the hell people mash up food into tiny morsels and wash them away with water to end up with poop and all kinds of chemicals and crap in the water sewage system. WHY? Seriously! Organic compost soil is EXPENSIVE! You can make it for free, so why not?

Some how I managed to get the fall seeds in the ground today after procrastinating for over a month now. I stirred up the compost, pulled weeds in the bed, and expanded the garden to include an area for squash and pumpkin (which I hope was not too late to plant). I cleaned up and cut back some of the Roma tomato plants that had grown into a large bush. I also planted broccoli, carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, kale, and two kinds of peppers. Don't let me fool you into thinking that I know what I am doing. Hell, I'm clueless. Like most things in my life, I get a shallow yet solid feel for the way things work and b.s. through the rest of it. In the spring I planted two things I knew were supposed to be too late. I actually got good production out of everything I planted, so I'm just going for it. It's a good way to learn the ropes. I dream of having a luscious, urban garden and am totally willing to take baby steps to get there. Gardening is in my blood, it's just a matter of kick starting those genes.

Grow little seeds, grow.

I didn't get out of my pajamas today

It's just some random day in August. It's my day off and I haven't done much of anything. It's been a really long time since I've had a day off without something planned. I ended up working in the garden for a very short period of time, decided it was too hot and went inside to order seeds. Much of the rest of the day included watching videos with the kids, looking out the window and watching the birds drink water from the puddle that had formed from the hose I forgot to turn off. That was fun and made for a great photo op. I of course took advantage...

Lillie said "mama...can we go outside and think?". We went outside and she talked with a cricket for a few minutes and we went back inside. Hmmmm. Wonder what a two year old thinks about...

We randomly took pictures on the bed throughout the day...

By the way, I have no idea what is up with my pictures being turned. I keep fixing it and it goes right back. GRRRR. I'm done, tilt your head damn it.

Randomly in the middle of the day I was promised a much needed nap...but it didn't happen. Bizarre. That one confused me.

So, I just kept taking pictures. And now it's time for bed. Hopefully this day of leisure will help with my attitude. I've been on the grumpy side and I'm ready for that to change. night, ya'll.

I am so lame

wow, I'm totally lame. I just reread some of my posts. I guess I was proud that I had a moment of non-procrastinating-lazyass-ness. Something pretty major for me. I am slowly making progress on some of my goals in life. Although I completely admit that my garden is a mess, as well as my house. s i g h, oh well.

quotes from the kids

july 2010 - told by mama - yesterday we went out front to play with the hose. As lillie walked out the front door I realized she didn't have on any panties. I ran back to grab some inside. When I walked back outside, I see her about half way down the sidewalk, dress hiked up past her waist, in a wide squat, peeing. I brought her inside, wiped her off and asked why she did it. She says "Mama, it was my choice". Wow, I didn't have a response.

july 2010 - told by dada - today Lillie had an epic stack of books going when she knocked a dozen or so, off the top. I knew she was not gonna be happy about it, correct... "honey, its ok, that's what makes stacking books fun. You stack them up as high as you can and they fall and you keep trying to stack them higher." Disaster averted. Minutes later... Miles knocked over entire said stack, though he was trying to stack, not destroy (strange). I expected bad, what I got instead was shocking. Lillie, "Its ok Miles we'll stack them up together." Holy Crap! Wow! Yay! Its working, its working!

domestic goddess

Pictures:
Today's harvest
My heirloom cherry tomato plants are huge! I think pretty soon we will have an over abundance of cherry tomatoes

I've been freakishly productive lately. Feeling reclusive and the need to reconnect with "home". This from the person who never really thought she was any good at domestic things. In the past couple of days, I worked on my garden. Weeding, harvesting, adding compost, and breaking up dirt to add more plants. The Farmers Almanac said today was good to plant root vegetables so I planted beets, more carrots, and radishes. I don't mean to sound like I know what I'm doing, because honestly I have no idea. I just go with it, try things out and log my results in a little cute journal I made (it was a good excuse to buy this cute veggie paper we got at the scrapbook store). I also baked fresh bread for the first time in my life yesterday. Granted it was with a bread machine, but still. It was good and I felt very proud. I've done oodles of laundry and other household chores. Tonight I made one of the best meals ever. I have finally perfected pot roast in the crock pot. It was freaking fantastic. I did all the dishes too. About 5 minutes ago I finished a class sample that I'm really loving. I even made TWO blog posts in a week! Now I need to return a ton of emails and do some business-ish work. Don't freak out on me, I'm not even pregnant. I think I'm just in a good groove right now. I need the personal growth.

water babies

I'm in deseperate need of some POSITIVE in my life. Here's one about a nice, fluffy, family story. No work on emotional issues or other stressfull things on my mind. A nice summer day to make it all fade away.

First day of swim season!!!

My kids already LOVE the water. Lillie was simply amazing in her aquatic skills. My mom got some "noodles" for the kids. Lillie grabbed a hold a noodle (which she calls her trapeze!) and took off swimming. She swam back and forth, up and down the pool with NO help from me. I swam right next to her, giving her plenty of freedom to go for it and test her abilities. She also spent plenty of time jumping into the water, splashing, and having a watery blast all around.

Miles loved it too. Splashed, splashed, splashed, and splashed some more. He would yell "THREE", meaning for you to count one, two, three- throw him in the air and splash down in the water. Loved it. My mom also got a dolphin blow up toy everyone calls Shamu. Miles rode it simply to try and impress his friend Clara. We HAVE to get her one of these toys, even if it never sees water.

g.r.o.s.s.

The past 5 days have been the most disgusting of my entire life. I'll go ahead and warn you now that I am about to talk about barfing a LOT. I need to vent, so if this isn't your cup of tea go ahead and click the little red X box in the upper right hand corner of your screen...

It all started around midnight on Saturday night. Miles was fussy, tossing and turning, so I was awake. I hear this faint gurgling noise, it happens again so I turn to look at Lillie. She was laying on her back, vomit coming from her mouth...she was choking on it. I jumped up, turned her over, yelled for paco, and ran to the bathroom.

******I am interupting this blog post to give a plug for co-sleeping, or the family bed. Yes, I sleep with my two children. It's been an awesome and rewarding experience and I'll look back later and life and really miss the days when I got to cuddle with them all night. Anyway, I truly believe that if I hadn't been right next to her, she had a really good possiblity of choking on her vomit and dieing. I don't know if I would have heard her if I was in the other room. She wasn't moving or making any effort to get the vomit out of her mouth when I found her. A VERY scary possibility! I'm glad I was there for her!**********

She barfed 5 times during the next 4 hours. After two bed sheet changes and two baths, I got wise and moved to the couch with towels. She fell asleep watching Tinker Bell and slept in the next morning. The next day she acted totally fine. It was really strange. She even asked to eat and was hungry. I still don't know what the hell that was about.

Fast forward to Monday evening, Paco texts at 6:30 saying Miles just barfed on the living room floor and he felt nauseas. By 6:50 he was begging me to come home from work. I got home and Paco and Miles are at the toilet, both barfing, Miles crying. Lillie, thankfully, was asleep on the couch, with a book clutched in her hands. Paco couldn't stop throwing up. Miles wanted to nurse, but immediately threw it up. He fell asleep pretty quickly after that. I had to wake him up to put towels under him and he started barfing again. As long as he was asleep, he was fine, if he woke up...

Paco got sick every 10 minutes for 4 hours. I started piecing together some info. Paco made dinner with cream based pasta sauce that had been used two weeks ago. Only Paco and Miles ate the dinner, they both started to vomit about an hour and a half after eating, and started within 3 minutes of each other. Food poisoning. Miles woke up about every 2 hours to barf. The next day it was down to every 4 hours and now he hasn't thrown up since 8 this morning (14 hours ago).

Before this week I had never had someone throw up on me. In the last 4 days, it's been dozens of times. I seen and felt the most disgusting stuff ever (ok, I know that's uber dramatic, but bare with me). After the first night, I was kinda proud, like I earned a mommy badge for dealing with barf. Now, I'm just done with it...or at least i really, really, really hope I'm done with it.

my garden

I've always wanted a garden. I love plants and flowers of all kinds. While living at Gladney, I spent some time in the greenhouse and learned to propagate plants from cuttings. In collage I had success with flowers from seeds. I never could keep a store bought plant alive though. I never thought I had enough time for a garden when I worked full time. Then I had back to back babies and was either too sick or no energy for a project like a garden. This spring I finally made it happen. I dug up the ground, prepped my garden, even made a stone border. Bought some seeds and decided that I wouldn't worry about it too much, I would just do it and learn as I went. I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I was each time something sprouted. I love to go out and check on it every day. My little helpers love it too. Lillie picks the leaves off the swiss chard and eats them. We had our first harvest this week. Sweet Peas and Spinach. Hooray! I'm so thrilled, I dug up more dirt for cantaloupe and squash.