ready for fall...

inspired by my friend amy's success last year with presenting handmade Christmas gifts to everyone in her family, i thought i would give it a shot this year. mind you, this is from someone who can't draw a stick figure to save my life. but i have discovered that i can have a creative outlet, i can be a somewhat nonoffensive artist, without having to draw a thing! 

the picture at the top of the post is what my living room looked like yesterday after working all afternoon to tear strips for a rag rug i will hopefully make before Christmas. again, i have NO idea what i'm doing--all i have area some really awesome instructions from amy. even long distance, she is a great teacher, but i still have my doubts that this thing will turn out looking like my 5-year-old son made it. alas, i will trudge on despite my self-doubting...

so last night as we were settling in to watch "be kind, rewind," the above picture is what i saw: marley thinks he is a cat. this means he picks the highest, most cushiony spot in the room on which to lay and he settles in there. so last night this meant my piles of rags. i wish i had a video to share of him  actually picking the right spot. it was like goldilocks and the 3 bears: he laid on the first pile and decided it was too hard; then he laid on the 2nd pile and decided it was too soft; then he nestled himself snugly into the 3rd pile (notice his nose is burrowed into the side of the pile) and decided it was JUST RIGHT. and he promptly passed out for the duration of the movie...

i worked and worked and worked on turning these strips into a ball. one thing i have discovered about myself during this crafting self-discovery is that i work very S.L.O.W.L.Y. so i worked throughout the movie on just one pile of rags, and i didn't even get all the way done: 

this ball is already gigantic, and look how many strips i still have left to add to it! so i'm already thinking i might have enough strips to make one big rug and two smaller ones.

i wish everything wasn't so girly and pink. normally i wouldn't be saying this, but i just feel like when i look at the ball of fabric it's too cottage-y for me, if you know what i mean. but then again, it's not for me...and i think the person it's for will really like it (that is, if it doesn't turn out to look like aedan made it...).

in other news, this weekend we just hung out and spent family time together. i'm trying to get into a routine where i only work during the day while the kids are at school. this is really hard, especially because i still put pressure on myself to try to turn jobs around really quickly--but i'm trying to stop doing this and just hope for the best. :) 

i'll leave you with one final photo that, besides me being in the picture (somehow i seem to be the one taking all the pictures, which means i'm almost never in them!), pretty much sums up how we spent the weekend:

you have to notice that the kids are still in their jammies, gillian's holding a book, rhys is plotting how to GET the book from gillian and subsequently dissolve it with his magically powerful saliva, marley's thinking "why are you making me sit here for a photo shoot?" aedan's making funny faces and trying to figure out how to be the center of attention, and everyone's sitting on rick's lap. see, i told you: pretty much sums up life around here! :)

have a great week everyone!

the weekend in pictures

this weekend was our last chance to take the kids to see the dinosaur exhibit at the local Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). it's been here all summer, but of course we procrastinated... 

gillian really wasn't that keen on going, since there were huge robotic dinosaurs that moved and looked at you with their robotic eyes when you walked past. the exhibit had only 10 dinos, so afterward we went to the kid area to play. here are my favorite pics from the outing.

obviously i have lots of favorite pics! when we got home yesterday i started off mending a few pieces of the kids' clothes and then decided to make a bag.

of course, i have never actually MADE a bag before, but i thought "how hard can it be really?" well, let's just say i'm glad none of my local friends sew so i won't have anyone wanting to really "look" at it. :) the best part is i used an old skirt and an old pair of pants (that no longer fit in the good way--hooray!), so i recycled! 

the fabric is very forgiving too--it's kind of a faux tweed, so  i could make seams all over the place and they don't show up! 

it was a great first project, and i feel a bit edgy with the skeleton. :)

and i sewed these pieces on the back of the bag from an old tshirt (that's where the skeleton came from as well) to cover up some of the oops seams from where i took out the zipper. 

maybe this will tide me over until i can buy that bag i saw on the Simple website (i LOVE their eco line, and i LOVE bags, so this is a bad combination...)

have a great sunday everyone!

the weekend in pictures

here are some photos from our long weekend. locations include the pond by our house, around ybor city, and picnic park (and one random picture of a frozen peanut butter pie i made for our community group sunday). hooray for presidents (well, most of them anyway...)!

and now it's time to get serious about finishing this project. to help me: a good cup of coffee.

ode to st. valentine

st. valentine, for various reasons i have rejected you over the years of my life--first as an awkward teenager who never had a date on your day, never got those special candies or flowers that were sold at school in honor of you (actually i think they were sold to make money for the boosters, but they used your name for it!); and then as an adult grew cynical (thanks to pressure from my hubby) about your day just being a big marketing ploy all about making money and not really much about celebrating love.

this year's valentine's day was different though. it wasn't your typical advertised mushy valentine's day--my husband and i didn't have a date (we will get one tonight instead--thanks angie & warren!) or fancy dinner for two. instead, the day was filled with these things, and together they made them sweeter than any other valentine's day i can remember in a long time:

1. here is gillian in her pjs filling out her own valentine's day cards for her class (notice how she is lining them all up--anal like her mom!):

2. farm fresh eggs, which we drove about 45 minutes to buy yesterday:

3. because we made the trip way out into the country for the fresh eggs, we passed THIS sign:

4. which made me go, "turn the car around!" and so we went back and bought these (for $10 total, in case you didn't notice the sign above--can you believe it?!!):

5. and then last night i attended my first ever elementary school dance, where my daughter acted exactly like i acted at these things when i was little--a wallflower. she wouldn't budge from her chair, even when coaxed by friends to get on the dancefloor and do the chicken or the hokey pokey. i didn't bring my camera inside and then kept kicking myself the entire time, because i could use up 3 blog postings just writing about everything i observed at this dance: 5th-grade boys breakdancing (one slightly pudgy one with sunglasses and a sideways hat--straight out of a Judy Blume book); kindergarten girls (like my daughter) afraid to leave their seats; 3rd-grade girls "sort of dancing" in huge groups but mostly talking and laughing and pointing (boy crazy it seemed to me...i remember those days!).

but the best part for me (and the scariest, simultaneously) was our encounter with a boy named alex, who is in gillian's class. he was wearing a vest (yes, a 5-year-old wearing a vest, hilarious!), white long-sleeved button-down shirt, black pants, and airwalk sneakers. he had a bowl cut, which showed off his sparkly eyes. and he kept coming up to gillian (as in, WOULD NOT LEAVE HER ALONE) and sitting next to her and trying to dance in front of her. really, for the entire hour we were there he did this over and over. his main dance move was running and then sliding onto his knees across the floor (think risky business). i guess he thought this would impress gillian. instead, she mostly scowled, with a beet-red face, the entire time. several times, though, he was so persistent that he managed to make her giggle.

so i watched this with much amusement and a little horror as well, knowing in the back of my mind that one day this will all be for real, and gillian won't be scowling, she'll be enjoying the attention, and THEN it won't be quite so amusing...

so in all, st. valentine, it was a fabulous day--here's to you!

time to wake up

i have been sleepless for a while now. it's to be expected: i have 3 kids, one of whom is 6 months and teething like a madman. my oldest two got their first 4 teeth all within a matter of days, and it seems that rhys will be no exception.


because of lack of sleep, i have had a ton of trouble finding any motivation or concentration to sit down to edit this book. it's over a thousand pages, and my deadline is looming, but i just can't seem to get on the ball with it.

instead of working, i'm finding lots of other things to do to fill my time: cleaning my house, doing laundry, and taking these photos in our backyard this morning. anything to keep from working!

i can't take a photo that does justice to this spiderweb; these little guys are all over our backyard, and we are grateful because we are hoping they keep the mosquitoes somewhat at bay (yes, in case you have missed previous posts, we DO have these little pests all year long). this particular web spans about 8 feet altogether.

i have also been fascinated by the clothespins strung across my backyard for the past few days--photographing them, that is; unfortunately i haven't been motivated to hang my laundry out to dry.

yesterday, when gillian got home from school, we all went outside to soak up the sun because we have a 70% chance of rain today with cooler weather on the way (i know, i know--not nearly as cool as most of the people who read this blog!).

the hives

no, unfortunately i'm not talking about the band...i'm talking about aedan. our weekend started out friday night with friends over for dinner. then saturday we went to have lunch with friends, followed by a visit to a u-pick strawberry patch. that was a letdown, because the berries were grown hydroponically. i didn't think it would matter to me, but there is something just unnatural about picking strawberries (or anything else, i would think) out of a ceramic pot while walking on a floor lined completely with plastic so that there is not a speck of dirt in sight. when i go picking, i want to see dirt! next time we'll know--but the strawberries still taste amazing.

sometime in between lunch and the strawberry "patch," aedan started itching his jawline. on closer examination, i saw (to my complete horror) that he was absolutely covered in hives. they were HUGE. his hands and feet were swollen, his cheeks were puffy--in general he was a big red blob. poor thing. he acted fine saturday, but we spent all day sunday at home while he laid listlessly on the couch (probably all the benadryl he was consuming), unable to really walk because the soles of his feet were just that swollen.

we were instructed by our lovely (said sarcastically) pediatrician's office at midnight saturday night that he was probably fine. but you know, when you look at your kid and he is swollen and listless, you wonder if you should just rush to the ER! we didn't...i was always on the edge, but i felt reassured because he never seemed to have trouble breathing or anything.

today, he just has some spots on his thighs, but otherwise he is back to his old self--bugging his sister, dragging out every toy in the closet, singing a song at the top of his lungs when the baby is trying to sleep--and today i am celebrating these things about my son because i know this means he will be okay.

here are a few pictures from the weekend. the one of the tractor was taken when we stopped to get gas; there was a random junkyard of sorts right on the property, and i had to take a picture of this because it reminds me of childhood (my parents owned a farm for a time). the naked photos of rhys are to prove to my mother that he finally has gained "enough" weight and she can stop worrying that i should stop nursing and give him formula.

hope your weekend was eventful (in a good way)! happy monday.

rearranging...again

i love to rearrange my furniture. when i get the hankering for a new couch, or i want a new bookshelf, or a new piece of art, and we don't have the funds to rush right out and appease my desires, i rearrange. it makes me feel like i have a new house for a while. it also forces me to clean behind things (like my friend amy just did recently).

my track record with rearranging in the house we have lived in for about a year now is pretty scary if i stop to think about it much. we live in a 1920s bungalow--it is a VERY cool house, but it has all these rooms, and they all seem to have at least 2 doors or doorways. because of the way it's set up, though, it makes me feel unsettled at times regarding not only how the furniture is set up but also related to who is sleeping in what room. so, in the year we have lived here, we started out with our 2 oldest sharing the middle room (which is the biggest room in the house); then we separated them and put aedan in the very back, very tiny room and gillian in the front, and we took the middle room. then we moved aedan to the front to share with gillian (which is the current arrangement) and i turned the back, tiny room into a playroom.

until yesterday, that was the current setup. however, i noticed the kids didn't really like to be in the playroom alone, and when they did go in there they would just grab toys to pull out into the living room or into their bedroom.

so the reasons for my rearranging yesterday were twofold: the older 2 weren't really getting use out of the playroom as it was set up, and we recently moved rhys to his crib, which we had set up in one corner of our office. i called rhys's area the "nursery nook," because that's exactly what it was: the area was exactly as wide as his crib, and there was room for nothing else in there. it was cozy, and i love cozy spaces. but remember i just posted about hating to walk the 5 feet across our dining room in the middle of the night to feed him?

so yesterday i talked rick (thanks honey!) into moving rhys into the playroom and making it his nursery. then we put most of the toys in the kids' closet and turned the "nursery nook" into a play area, which we can also use as a "guest nook" when we have visitors. does anyone else with kids love the simplicity of a nursery versus a "kid room"? i love a room with just a crib, dresser, and rocking chair. no mess, no clutter. ahhh.

forgive this boring post; it's hard to describe (and i don't have everything neat as a pin so i'm only willing to post pics of the nursery right now). i guess you'll just have to come visit and see it in person!

must...not...lose...steam

i don't really have tons to report here on the homefront, but i figured since i haven't posted in a few weeks i didn't want to lose my 2 readers i have built since starting this thing. :)

i guess the major things are these (in the vernacular of that show "Pushing Up Daisies"):

1. I had a severe case of strep throat around New Year's Eve. we still had people over, and i went to bed at 10:30 while everyone else stayed up to celebrate. i have always felt like the magic of "midnight" isn't all that magical anyway.

2. i started and finished editing a book about transportation systems (don't even ask what it was really about--i have no idea) in a matter of a few days. i had gotten the project well before christmas, but i decided to take a few weeks over the holidays and just relax, since i am usually working like crazy. i thought by taking the time off it would sort of rejuvenate me to start back at the computer, but unfortunately after getting a taste of what it's like to *really* be a stay-at-home mom (actually spend time with your kids, plan meals, clean on occasion, go to TARGET...) i am more opposed than ever now to keep working at this crazy pace, which brings me to the next point...

3. rick's "summer" job at the church where he was filling in is now officially over, and though we have ideas about what may be next, we are not sure. so the major stress begins. keep your fingers crossed that we will have a more solidified direction within the next couple of weeks. if not you may be writing to me at an infirmary. :)

4. the kids were out of school for a full *two* weeks for the holidays. they managed to completely destroy any sense of organization i had accomplished prior to this time, so yesterday i spent the better part of the morning getting sorted out in the playroom and their bedroom (which they share). i think it always feels so nice just to purge, and since these toys (using that term loosely, because i tend to think of most of what the kids collect as junk) are not mine, it's even easier to throw or give things away. i'm so glad i'm not a pack rat, because i am beginning to think that everyone else in my family is (still holding out for rhys...don't let me down!).

5. it does not feel like winter here in florida. i know those of you who are living in very cold climates right now may feel envious, but it should seriously not be 80 degrees when it's january. i remember loving these days when we would visit rick's parents while we lived in boston, but it's a completely different feeling when you have to put up with it every day. so i wish it would be just a little cooler. please?

6. rhys had his 5-month birthday yesterday. it's really difficult to believe that he has already been alive for 5 months. heck, it's still hard to believe we have 3 kids (that is, until we have to cram them 3 across in the backseat of our old volvo wagon--then it's very much a reality). he seems less active and less talkative on the whole than gillian and aedan were at his age. he's still in a bassinet in our bedroom. every time i put him in his crib to take a nap, he won't sleep for more than a few minutes before expressing his dislike. it makes me wonder if i should have been putting him in there little by little to get him used to the space. it's sort of a nook in our office--cool curtains, great stuff on the walls to look at...but he looks around and his eyes get really big and then he starts complaining. he's not trying to roll over yet either. i would worry that he's developmentally delayed, but honestly i can tell he's not, and he just seems like he isn't in a rush to do all that stuff. he does know how to roll over, because i've seen him do it. but i wonder if it's the 3rd child syndrome--he doesn't need to compete, be the first--he has gillian to fill those shoes. so he just hangs out. this could be g r e a t!! :)

well that's all i can think of for now. guess i had more news than i thought. i'll try to post some pictures soon. i think blog postings with just words are boring! happy new year everyone.

gillian's tea party gone wild

to celebrate her birthday this year, gillian had a choice: she could either go to seaworld or have a party with friends. she didn't skip a beat: "a party! i will get more presents!" that's my girl...

she chose 5 friends to invite: 3 new and 2 old (from preschool the years before). i was getting worried when by the day before the party i hadn't heard from any of the moms yet, but sure enough, 2 little girls from gillian's kindergarten class came; one was dropped off by her dad and he didn't stay "because boys aren't allowed," and the other little girl's mom stayed for the duration of the ensuing horror. in addition, two of my friends came to offer their support, as well as rick's mom (who didn't really offer support--at one point early in the party i overheard her detailing the events of her mother's and little sister's deaths 70 years ago).

i baked cupcakes from scratch that morning and set out the china so the girls could use real teacups. i had been inspired by my friend shannon's cupcakes (if you live anywhere near austin you should buy some from her). she even tracked down a cake place in town where i got the little flowers to put on top. AND i even ventured out to use food coloring, something i never take time to do. here's a picture of how they turned out.

when guests arrived, they munched on celery and carrots while i made a yummy recipe from the december issue of cooking light--sandwiches with peanut butter, honey, chocolate chips, strawberries, and bananas. i thought, "how could these NOT be loved by little girls? they are just like dessert!"

i knew the party wasn't going to go well for me, though, when i served the sandwiches and all three girls turned their noses up--of course my precious child led the way with the not-so-sensitive declaration, "mom, i do NOT like these sandwiches. i want a regular peanut butter and jelly." so then her friends of course did NOT like the sandwiches and wanted something different too.

after i served those up and they tested me on whether they were going to eat round 2 or not, i told them they couldn't have cupcakes unless they ate their lunch. is that so bitchy? i felt like it was, but then again, i wasn't wanting to be a short-order cook for the entire two hours of the party.

next, the cupcakes were served. i was so excited to see the girls tearing into these things i had really labored over. not a chance. gillian took one bite and declared, "mom, i don't like these cupcakes. the icing does NOT taste good." then of course her friends thought exactly the same thing. so i gave up and told them they could get down and go dress up some more.

the rest of the party it took all my energy just to keep it together emotionally. i was mad at gillian, but then i knew in my head that she IS only 6, but then i just felt sorry for myself because i had worked so hard for this and i wanted praise, thanks, "mom you are SO great!"

i guess the lesson is not to expect those things from your kids or you will constantly be disappointed. the truth is that she had a fabulous time dressing up, giggling with her friends, opening her presents, and eating tons of celery and carrots (who knew this would be the day my daughter decided to be healthy??). so i should be grateful. this brings me to another quandry regarding parenthood: it really involves giving away all of yourself, completely selflessness, and there's no guarantee that you are going to get anything in return. that is some serious stuff that no one tells you before you enter this wild roller coaster ride.

here are some photos that show just how much fun she had.

aedan's school christmas performance

today was aedan's christmas performance at preschool. his teacher has been trying to get him to try to control his talking during class, so she promised him that if he could keep it together and obey her, he could be rudolph (along with another little boy) during the singalong.

his teacher has been telling me for a couple of weeks now that he is the loudest singer in the class. so when you watch the video and see him looking dazed and confused, i think it's because the nose is blinking between his eyes and the crowd sort of overwhelms him.

enjoy!

gillian's big day

yesterday gillian turned 6. i have heard countless people tell me over the years how they couldn't believe how fast i grew, or how the time flies when you have kids and you wonder where the years went. i usually internally roll my eyes at this, because it seems so cliche to say it. yesterday though, i found myself feeling the exact same way when i looked at gillian. she was born only 6 short years ago. she was so tiny and fragile, cried all the time (and i mean ALL), and wanted to be held constantly.

now she is on her way to becoming a very lovely, well-adjusted, and independent young woman, which is very weird for me. i was talking to rick the other day about how i don't like it that we have these babies that we immediately have to start working toward giving up--concretely and emotionally--so they can become the adults they need to be someday. if i am too codependent, too needy, that won't help my children grow into themselves.

but i don't like it. i have small moments where i think, "is having kids really worth it?" and i say this because it makes me sad to think about letting go. i don't want to let go. i see why mothers smother their children.* it's easier than doing the right thing.

so enough sad talk: yesterday gillian had a blast with various special moments sprinkled throughout the day. first thing in the morning, she had a sprinkle donut with a candle, and aedan gave her his present from the Sanrio store. (incidentally, i picked out his present because once we got to the mall he just wanted to go to the playground and said "mom, you pick it out." gotta love boys...)

then after school, she got to see what her gram and gramps (my parents) sent her for her birthday: dollhouse furniture that my sister and i played with when we were kids. it will go inside the dollhouse we ordered her that just hasn't arrived yet.

marley had to be a part of the unwrapping because my parents have dogs and he could smell them. plus i think he thinks when anything special is going on, somehow it's about HIM. here are some more close-ups of the loot--it's just as cool as i remember.

after all the unwrapping and trying to be sure aedan didn't damage anything while he was running around and in and out of the pile of furniture (which prompted us to quickly pack everything up to get it away from the tasmanian devil), we went to a paint-your-own pottery place and let the kids experience that for the first time, which was quite interesting. gillian was confused because she thought she was going to MAKE her own pottery too. what an ambitious little girl she can be at times.

i think the highlight of gillian's big day, though, came that morning when she was biting into her donut and lost her third baby tooth. so last night she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and also made her request known that this time she would like money, not a toy. apparently the tooth fairy was listening, because she woke up at 2 a.m. to find a dollar bill under her pillow. then she woke up aedan to show him. then they both got up and woke me up, and that woke up rhys, who then decided he needed a midnight snack...all in all it was a wonderful day, and we'll celebrate again on sunday with a tea party birthday with 5 of her friends plus nana (rick's mom). i'll be sure to post pictures next week, as i'm sure they'll be great!

*my sister, the counselor, pointed out to me that this might sound like i mean literally smothering my children. no need to call DSS anytime soon--i just mean smothering in the emotional sense so they will never want to leave me... :)