Silly Saturday!

Elliot: "I can move around without my body"

(This picture was taken while he was running circles around me and I was moving to catch the shot...he thought it was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s)

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Spring randomness

I wasn't sure if Spring was going to show up here in Central California this year. There's been a lot of rainy, cold, overcast days (which I love) but I think we may get a few weeks of Spring before the Summer weather sets in. I love Spring....not as much as I love Fall.....but way more than I like Summer. The number 1 reason I love Spring? The flowers in my backyard.

I love love love flowers. Someday I'm going to have a huge garden of flowers. But right now, I'm busy growing my garden of boys =)

Another reason I love Spring: the weather is kind of nice enough to roll down the windows in the car and enjoy the outside air. Along with this comes listening to good music, you can't roll down the windows in the car without listening to good music. Good music and rolling down windows go together like a-ramma-lamma-lamma-ka-dinkidy-dinka-donk ("Grease" reference, in cause I lost ya).

Now, I drive a super smokin' awesome minivan. And sometimes when I drive around and listen to my kind of good music (which would include: The Rolling Stones, Cake, Franz Ferdinand etc) I feel a little weird. I mean, I'm driving a mininvan for crying out loud and listening to music that I used to listen to while cruising around in my super smokin' awesome VW GTI turbo (it was red.....and so fast.....). It just feels weird, like I SHOULD be listening to kidbop or Barney songs or Raffi...but I'm not, I'm rockin' the good stuff.

Anyways, enough about me and my weird ideas about the types of music you should listen to while driving a minivan. What kind of music do YOU listen to? Any good suggestions? I love suggestions! =)

New parents and crazy ideas

3. What is going on in the bedroom? Describe a memorable sleeper.

When Elliot, our first son, was born we were soooooooo new and NERVOUS. It's true what they say, those feelings that come when you walk (or ride in a cool wheelchair) out the hospital door realizing there is no nurse waiting for you at home, realizing that this is your baby, yours, ALL yours. Those feelings of "oh crap. what am I going to do with this baby? how will I know what he wants when he cries? how do I keep him safe and healthy?" etc etc etc. We had all of those feelings, plus some. 

Elliot slept in his crib, directly across the hall from us. Seriously, no more than 12 steps away. We had a cat and a dog at home and we were mortified of them getting in the crib with Elliot (I mean, of course a welsh corgi with stumpy little legs could jump up into a crib with high rails, right?) So what did we do to ensure we could keep Elliot's bedroom door open and keep the animals out of the room?

We stacked child gates in the hallway. Vertically people. We stacked child gates vertically in the hall way. That's right, one on top of the other. Building a nice, tall, wall of child gates. No stumpy leg welsh corgi was going to invade Elliot's room in the middle of the night. No extremely cuddly fat cat was going to jump in his crib. It wasn't happening.

We did this for at least a couple weeks. Until we realized the animals could care less about Elliot and his crib. We talk about this now and laugh. Good, hard, laughter comes from this memory. I mean, really? Stacking child gates? What kind of paranoid crazy new parents do that?

We do =)

Small and silly things {why are they so powerful?}

Sometimes the smallest and silliest things can make my whole day either amazingly wonderful or completely miserable. The most common small and silly thing that does this to me?

The scale.

Yes, THAT scale. The one that is sitting in my bathroom. The one that I occasionally sit a 5 lb. weight on top of to make sure it's accurate. The one that is dusty because I refuse to clean it. The one that comes out of its hiding place too often for me to count. Yes people, that scale.

Today, that scale said I gained weight. Yesterday it said I was losing weight. Yes, I am one of those people that weigh myself everyday........and I average it at the end of the week to get a better picture of what all those fluctuations really mean. Usually, at the end of every week, I'm moving in the right direction, which would be down just in case you weren't sure. This wasn't the case last week. I went up, 1 whole pound. This has been following me around like a plague for the last few days.

The other side of this story is if the numbers were going down on the scale and I was losing steadily, then I would be elated. So extremely happy and proud of myself I would be telling anyone and everyone who would listen (and even if they weren't listening, I'd tell them). This brings to mind a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

When some external event raises your spirits 

and you think good days are preparing for you,

do not believe it. 

It can never be so. 

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

I'm 29 people. This isn't the first time I've read this quote or heard something about not relying on others or things for your happiness. But today, when I read this quote, it was different. You know how you can hear something 15 times but it's the 16th time you actually "hear" it, yeah. That.

I really think it's human for us to let outside circumstances dictate our moods. I mean, my 1 year old took his first steps almost 2 weeks ago and it made my whole day (the next day I weighed myself and forgot all about the happy excitement of the day before). My 2 year old told me I was the best mommy ever and I was on cloud 9 (the next day we needed new tires on the car and couldn't really afford them and I felt like a dark cloud followed me the whole day). I think you get my point. I'm human, you're human, we're all human.

But maybe we could try and remember that peace and happiness comes from within.....maybe, just maybe we could do that?

Is there anything in your life, good or bad, that controls your mood?
I'm all ears =)

(Linking up for Wordful Wednesday with Dumb Mom at Parenting by Dummies)

Deep Thought Tuesday (and a birthday!)

First off, Happy Birthday to my little man Caleb! He is officially 1 today! We've been celebrating in various forms since Saturday but today, he's official :)

This last year has flown by so so fast. Literally, warp speed. Yesterday I was talking with the hubs about the future and I had to stop myself.....because most of the time I talk about the future. It's always: "I wonder what it's going to be like when the boys are teenagers?" "Do you think we'll make more money by then?" "Can we go on a really big vacation someday?" "Can you imagine how weird it's going to be to not have children in the house anymore?!" etc etc etc.

When I start talking like this, the hubs gets a little on the quite side (read: moody). He is definitely more of a "present" minded person.....while I, well, I think you know what I am. Though I am learning, focusing on the future all the time isn't really a good idea. I mean, it's good to have goals. It's good to strive for something. But if we're constantly thinking about the future, the present turns into the past......right?

I mean, look how fast this last year has gone by for us. A year ago at this time I was huge and hungry and sitting in a hospital bed getting hooked up to an IV and getting prepped for my 2nd c-section. Now here we are....a year later.....and that little boy who was born a year ago isn't so little anymore, and he's just going to get bigger and bigger....oh wait, that's the future.

I heard someone say once that thinking in the past creates emotions of guilt or the thought "I wish...." and thinking in the future creates emotions of anxiety or the thought "what if...." so living in the present is really the only thing that really REALLY makes sense.

If you stop and really think about that, it's totally true. Like, for reals.

I'd like to leave you with this quote by Abraham Lincoln:

The best thing about the future 

is that it comes

only one day

at a time.

I'm really grateful it comes one day at a time, cause those days are precious and awesome and perfect.

A birthday parrrtay!

The birthday party was a huge success! How do I know this? Because not only were my boys (hubs included) exhausted afterward, but so was I!


A few pictures of the day:

The crown was made by my talented sister, the "smash" cake was made by my talented friend

Elliot and his big cousin Kiefer modeling the pirate eye-wear of the day

The birthday cake

Caleb digging in to his little cake

cameo, work it baby!

Like I said, success. Tomorrow is his actual birthday, I can't believe how fast the time has flown by!!!

Silly Saturday!

Hubs: "Elliot do you like blues music?"

Elliot: "No, I'm Scottish...."





Today is Caleb's birthday party!! I'm off to act like a crazy woman and speed clean/organize my whole house! Have a GREAT weekend!!!

Love your mother {earth}

True story: when I was in high school I used to say "your mom" a lot. For example:

Someone: "Hey! Who toilet papered my house last night?!"
me: "Your mom!"
or
Someone: "Um, why is there toothpaste all over my car window?"
me: "your mom!"
or
Someone: "Em, you really should have your lines memorized by now"
me: "....your mom!"

Now that I look back on that, it's pretty ridiculous. Using "your mom" as an insult, an answer to a question, an exclamation, or whenever I had nothing better to say, was quite silly. But then again, that's probably why I said it =)

source

Have you ever seen those bumper stickers that say "Love your Mother Earth"? Well, I had one, and I cut off the "Earth" part so it read" Love your Mother".....and I didn't mean it in a kind, sentimental way. Ridiculous right?

So, let's talk a little about this Mother Earth. Today is her day after all.

• Everyday the world's population grows by 211,000. That's a new Akron, Ohio everyday.
• Every year the earth travels 1.6 million miles.
• Why is Earth day always on April 22nd? The rumor is it's because it's Vladimir Lenin's (the founder of the Soviet Union) birthday. His goal was to destroy private property, which was a goal shared by early environmentalists (source)
• Let it be know, this is just a rumor, and a lot of people think it's a ridiculous one
• Earth is the only planet in our solar system known to harbor life......or is it?
• All the planets are names after Greek or Roman Gods, except for Earth which is an English/German word meaning "the ground"
• Earth Day started in 1970 with 20 million people present, it became a national celebration in 1990, today more than 1 billion people and 185 countries mark the day on their calendars.

Are you doing anything special today? Planting a tree? Recycling? Using less energy? Driving less? Something, anything? Want to share? =)

Have a great weekend! We're having a paaarrrtttaaayy!

Thrifty Thursday: Picture wall!

Last week I demolished our picture wall, well, not the actual WALL, just the pictures. I painted some silver frames black and changed out some pictures and found a few other things around the house that I could add to the wall to make it nicer/better/more awesome/sweet/etc.
Now while I would love for my wall to look like this:

source

 

Or this:

source

This is what I ended up with (and it's much better...in my opinion....than it was last week):

I have a couple things I want to add, but I'm not sure yet where to put them.

So, now that that is crossed off my list of things to get done before the birthday party (this weekend!) all that's left is the cleaning....hooray.....(tons of enthusiasm there, I'm sure you noticed).

Thanks for stopping by!

Gratitude for unlikely things

Have you ever been grateful for something that you wouldn't normally be grateful for? Or maybe something that you really shouldn't be grateful for? Think about that while I ramble for a second....

Yesterday was quite the busy, awesome, successful day!

The piano recital went really well. We had 16 students performing and about 60-75 people there to watch, pretty awesome.

The other exciting news, Caleb (who will be 1 a week from today!) started walking yesterday afternoon!!!!!!!

It was quite funny really, I was in the kitchen, the hubs was on the couch, big brother Elliot was busying himself with some mess ( you know, the usual) and Caleb was just hanging out by himself and decided to stand up and start walking......no one there to help him, no one there to coerce him to move, he just started! It was so random! It is about to get a whole lot more exciting around this house =)

Yesterday we also got new tires put on one of our cars. Now, we didn't get new tires because we wanted to, we got new tires because we absolutely needed to. It would have been unsafe to drive another mile on those tires. And the hard part was, we had to pay for it with a credit card.

This is where the being-grateful-for-something-you-wouldn't-normally-be-grateful-for part comes in. Credit card debt is not something I like. It is not something I want in my life, but the reality is, its in my life, and yesterday, I was grateful for it. If it wasn't for that credit card, we would not have been able to put new tires on the car, it wasn't something we had budgeted for. So, yes, I have debt. I have debt that drives me nuts. I have debt that I pay down every.single.month. But today, I am grateful for that debt because it has kept my family safe. Tomorrow, I will hate the debt like usual =)

So, do you have anything that you're grateful for that you wouldn't normally be grateful for? I'd really love to hear what you have to say =)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Silly Saturday

This week, our Welsh Corgi Sammy twisted his leg while doing his duty rounding up the vacuum (he's a herding dog by nature....and for some reason, while I vacuum he feels the need to herd me and the vacuum) so he's been limping around. He's actually quite good on 3 legs =)
Every chance Elliot gets to talk about Sammy, he mentions that he's "broken."
"Mommy, Sammy's broken."
"Mommy, Sammy's still broken."
"Mommy, Sammy is broken. He's still broken."

He got attacked by Jelly Bean stickers....

This is what I've been hearing for the last 3 days. Poor dog, he's going to have a complex by the time he isn't "broken" anymore.

Somewhere along the line, Elliot learned how to be really polite. I don't recall really drilling this stuff into him, but he says "please" and "thank you" and "your welcome" etc very willingly and without be prompted. It melts my heart every.single.time.

The other day, I handed him his juice cup and he said:
"Thanks Mommy, I appreciate it."




 Melts.my heart.


Have a great weekend!!!!

Playing outside is fun when you're a grownup

Today has been a fun day of outside "chores." I never understood why my mom and dad always liked working outside (which is why I always moaned and groaned every weekend when it was time to work outside) but now I get it. I totally get it.

1. It's nice to be outside. The sounds of the birds, the sweet breeze, the warm sun....
2. It's such a great feeling knowing you're doing something that is making your house/yard look better
3. You get to burn calories! Yes!!!!
4. You wear out the children so they go to bed on time =)

The fruits of our labor:

Flowers!!!!

I planted snapdragons (they aren't blooming just yet), pansies, petunias, lavender and ranunculus (my favorites!). I have to find somewhere to put the extras, that will be my mission the next few days.

Landscaping here we come!

We also carved out a little spot in our front yard for some landscaping, but wouldn't you know it, plants are expensive! So, we've started and that's a good thing....now just to find a rich uncle to pay for the plants =)

The weather is so nice here lately, spending time outside is all we want to do around here. What's the weather like where you are? Are you getting any fun outside "chores" done?

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Thrifty Thursday! (or not)

Today I am going to dedicate my free time(that was a joke, there is no such thing as free time in real life) to finding and editing pictures to put in all the frames that I have gathered. At some point I need to decide what I'm going to do with the pictures that currently sit in said frames....hmmmmm, maybe I'll start an album......or maybe they'll sit in a pile on top of the piano like all the other stuff that is waiting for me to decide what I'm going to do with it.....

Since I can't really show you how productive I'm being at this point, how about a deep thought. Maybe today can be "Deep Thought Thursday" instead of Thrifty Thursday......or maybe not, you decide =)

First off, a quote from Benjamin Franklin: 

"A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough."

This is kind of morbid, but bear with me, it's very thought provoking I think:

Would you rather die at 50, 

having lived an extremely satisfying and successful life, 

or live to be 100, 

having experienced little happiness 

and few real highlights in life?

Hmmmm, deep thoughts.........
(thanks for stopping by!)

When they grow up

It's funny that one of the writing prompts from Mama Kat's pretty much world famous writer's workshop this week is about what you think you're children will be when they grow up, because the hubs and I were just talking about this!

We'll start with the youngest, and that would be Caleb.

Caleb is adventurous. He is very independent. He loves to tear things and bite things and hit things and throw things. He is fearless this kid, nothing fazes him. He has a great sense of humor and loves to repeat any sound he hears. He is also pretty dang large for his age. He will be 1 in 13 days (ahhh!) and he has been wearing size 18 months for the last month or so. This boy is thick. Not much in the way of chubs on him (unless you count his adorable thunder thighs...which I don't, because they are so darn adorable). Caleb got the nickname "Moose" when he was just 3 months old because of his size. My dad frequently refers to him as the future linebacker of the family. And we pretty much agree. When Caleb grows up, I can see him being a sports guy. He's got the attitude and the size that's for sure! Such a great boy. Love him more than he'll ever know.

Now on to Elliot.

Elliot is smart. Very smart. His vocabulary rivals that of a 4-5 year old (he'll be 3 in June). He puts together sentences like no other 2 year old boy I've ever heard. He loves to read. He loves to draw. He loves to DANCE! Seriously, this kid can't keep still if there is music on, sometimes it looks like his body moves without him actually willing it to. It's pretty awesome. He is tall and thin and has a great throwing arm. He has an amazing memory and will repeat things that he heard days before for the first time. He loves to run and play, especially with his dog. He loves to cuddle. He is a little on the timid side when it comes to trying new things that look a little daunting but will throw himself around and "rough-house" like nobody's business. When Elliot grows up, I see him being an artist of some kind. A musician or a dancer or an actual paint on paper type. Such a great boy. love him more than he'll ever know.

It's amazing to think that I am responsible for these little men. That the things I teach them are the things that shape them. Such a big responsibility. I am so amazingly blessed to be their mother.

Have a great day and thanks so so much for stopping by!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

What is it about having people over that makes me want to change things up/build things/clean things? I don't know, but I'm kind of enjoying it. We built a bench (and I stained it yesterday!)

The stain is darker then we expected but I still like it!

And now I've taken all of the pictures off the wall and gathered up a few frames that aren't being used and am going to replace old pictures with newer ones, paint the frames to have a more matchy-matchy look and re-arrange them on the wall

this is the mess that sits on my kitchen table at the moment....

And on top of those things, I'm going to be landscaping a bit in our front yard (finally! almost a year and a half after we moved in!) and planting flowers in the backyard.

It's going to be a very fun (and busy!) two weeks! Hooray for inviting people over and feeling the need to change things up!

In other news, I've lost 11 pounds!!!! HOORAY!!!

Anything exiting in your neck of the woods?

10 Minute Monday!

Last week I joined in the 10 minute Monday fun with Seriously, a Homemaker and have decided my house would appreciate me doing it every week.
So, it's Monday and here we are, 10 minutes spent on a spot in my home that has been driving me NUTS (and I tell myself I never have time to fix it. No longer people, no longer.)

it has begun

the juice cup cupboard! AHHH!!! (seriously, stuff falls out of this cupboard every time it is opened)

the solution? Pack up a bunch of mugs on the top shelf we never ever use and put them in the "yard sale" pile =)

this actually took me under 10 minutes.....so I lied when I took this picture....

This 10 Minute thing is good, I can handle 10 minutes at a time.

Have a super fantastic Monday!

Silly Saturday

Elliot: "Look Mommy, it's Elmo" (as he sits a stuffed Elmo next to me on the couch)
Me: "Oh yeah? What's Elmo doing?"
Elliot: "Oh, he's just chillin'"
------------

Elliot: "I sure do love you Mommy"

-------------

Elliot, after having a time out: "Can I have some popcorn? I think that will help. Can you get my stairs so I can look at it? Then we can watch a movie and chill."


Have a great weekend!
Thanks for stopping by =)

Too much going on in one day!

It's been a super busy day, which is why I have had nothing to say....until now *duhn duhn DUHN!*  (I'm not sure how you actually spell duhn duhn duhn, but I think you get the point...at least I hope you do!)

I actually still really have nothing to say, so I'll show you this:

YES! I have the beginnings of marigolds! Who'd have thought when I planted them in their small egg carton that 1 week later there would be signs of LIFE! YES YES YES!!! (Notice the small egg carton has been a bit demolished since you last saw it. That would be Caleb, the adventurer.)

and this:

This is what the fabulous hubs did after finishing the last screw on the bench yesterday. He rested. And Caleb (the adventurer) was there to witness it. It really wasn't as hard as he is making it look, really.......

Alright, it's totally bedtime for a couple of cute little boys around here, which means
TTFN 
(I used to sign all my journals that way in elementary school! I learned it from watching Winnie the Pooh....in case you were wondering it stands for "Ta ta for now!")
Have a great evening!!!
Oh, and thanks a billion for stopping by!!