balancing act

Balance.  That word is an interesting one.  At times it sounds beautiful and poetic.  Maybe because it sounds like 'ballet' and something that if achieved, is peaceful, soft, and well...

Balanced. 


Balance.  The 'thing' I am searching for, working toward, wishing to find.  That doesn't seem like enough.  To be balanced I have to have 'just enough' of one thing, but not too much and 'just enough' of another thing, but not too little.  Does balance equal mediocre?  I want it ALL.  But that's not balanced. 

I love vivid, bold, and deep colors in my home.  My kitchen is a deep blue, my living room is a deep grass green, and my living room is a pumpkin spice orange.  Not bright, but bold.  Lately I've been seeing a lot of photographs of beautiful rooms with soft, muted tones.  Light gray-blues, creamy tans, buttery yellows.  "Hhmmm," I think.  "Maybe I want THAT."  I want both---in all their glory at the same time.  A balance isn't enough for me. 

The man and I have been thinking about building a new home.  Then, in a moment, we think maybe we want to buy a 100+ year old home and renovate it.  I want both---in all their glory at the same time. 

The good thing about these acts of balance that I can't seem to manage is that if I fail and fall, it's okay.  I'm not high above the ground on a tightrope.  I'll just fall and it will all be okay.

It's the other balancing acts I'm concerned about.  If I lose the balance and fall down on my mommy job, people can get hurt.  My kids can get hurt.  So I suppose I need to keep my balance. 

And just like that, the word 'Balance' is scary, overwhelming, and haunting me.  A word just out of reach that needs super balanced tippy toes to reach.  And a ballet dancer I am not. 

look whoo's two!

This party was a Hoot!  Pun absolutely intended!  I've had this 'thing' for owls lately and knew I must throw an owl party.  Since Lucy isn't old enough (or vocal enough) to let her party preferences known, this was a perfect time. 

It helps that Lucy makes the most adorable 'hooo' sound when she sees an owl.  It was meant to be. 

Whoo's Two?  Lu's Two!  And I can make cute little statements like that.  (Mrs. Suess, I am, I know.)

The invites were a fun one.  I borrowed this idea from Across The Branch.  I loved them so much that I made bigger ones to use as decorations.

I originally made the bunting three years ago for Stella's 1st birthday party.  The pieces with owls originally had stars.  It went perfectly with this party and I'm absolutely patting myself on the back for keeping this around and reusing it!

I hung the lanterns while Lucy was taking her nap.  When she woke up, she was in awe!  I loved seeing her little eyes light up.  I was in the kitchen fixing a few things with my back turned.....I turned around and there was Lulu with a chair pushed up to the table sneaking a cupcake.  It's her party---she'll eat a cupcake if she wants to!

I topped the store-bought cupcakes with printables from Tip Junkie. The little pink and brown owlie makes me smile.

It's hard to believe that my little baby Lulu is two years old.  She has grown so quickly and while I am a little bit sad that she's not a baby anymore, I love the sweet little girl she has become (even the terrible toddler moments she has started) and I look forward to the young lady she will someday be. 

Happy Birthday, our sweet Lucy-Lu!

tangled up in fun

Four years ago, our sweet little Stella Susan was born.  She has grown so fast, so pretty, and so smart.  We had such a fun time celebrating her birthday Tangled style!  (Which is actually very appropriate considering that this little girl also tangles her hair into huge knots with her fingers while she sleeps...  another story...)

Stella loves Tangled and Stella loves Purple, so this party was just calling her name!  I took a few ideas from PagingSupermom, and combined with a few of my own and I declare this Tangled party a success! 

First up, the Invites.  I love making invites.  It's a sickness, really.  I'm quite proud of these babies:

We ended up having to postpone the party by a week since Stella started running a high fever (ON her birthday, no less!) a couple of days before the party.  Finally the party day came and Stella's friends were welcomed by a "WANTED" poster on our front door:

Inside was a sea of purple and gold!  I can't decide if the lanterns or the sunburst bunting is my favorite.




Stella wore her Rapunzel dress and we fashioned her some braided Rapunzel hair, complete with flowers, just like when the little girls in the movie braided Rapunzel's hair.

Oh, my sweet Stella Sue! You are such a great kiddo! I love your smiles and silly grins!

 

I learned several birthday parties ago that Cakes are not my forté, so Thank You to Wal*Mart for a cake that Stella adored!

We started the party by coloring a few Tangled pages.  I love coloring pages at the beginning of parties.  It is something fun to do while all the guests arrive and for late comers, they can just take the pages home to color.  After this, we played an exciting game of "Find Pascal!" I learned something very important: Three and Four year old girls cheat.  They haven't quite grasped the 'no peeking' rule.  Pascal wasn't too hard to find.  Finally, all the girls made a paper lantern.  I sent each guest home with a small glow stick to put inside her lantern at bedtime.   I love the way they turned out:

Stella has the cutest little friends---Thanks for getting Tangled Up in Fun with us, girls!

i quit (sort of)

There are not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to Do and/or Be.  So, I've decided to do/be none of them.  I'm an equal opportunity quitter.  I mean, it's not fair to my scrapbooks if I go finish that quilt I'm working on.  And it's certainly not fair to the book I started to finish decorating my bathroom and not finish the book.  So I quit.  For Today. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to be a seamstress, quilter, scrapbooker, happy homemaker, novelist, writer, photographer, and Great Wife, Mom, and Friend.  Because tomorrow HAS to have more hours than today, right?

pumpkin man

Pumpkins.  They make me happy.  I love a good rich orange pumpkin in Fall. 

Or maybe it's just orange that I love.  Is it because I was raised attending High School sports games where the Orange was so bright it just might have glowed in the dark (Hail Orange and White!)?  Was it actually attending said High School where wearing orange every friday was considered standard and the orange sequins on my show choir costume glittered with every jazz hand move?  Whatever the reason, I love it.  My living room walls look fantastic bathed in Orange-y goodness (not the glow-in-the-dark shade, thank you) and my newly refinished computer cabinet looks very lovely as well. 

So, where was I going with this Ode to Orange?  Pumpkins.  My front porch was adorned with them for fall.  My uncarved pumpkins didn't rot this year and were still in perfect condition when it came time to pull down Fall decor and start with Winter decor.  There was NO WAY I was throwing these beautiful pumpkins away!  As I took the pumpkins to the garage, I realized that they were stair-stepped in size and would be a most perfect snowman.

A bit of white paint, orange felt, buttons, and black sticky velcro circles and we had our pumpkin man.  He's keeping warm in a spare scarf and hat and makes us all smile! 



early resolutions

Oh, blogging world. I've missed you. Really, I have. I'm not just saying that to make me you feel better. Guess what, blogging world? I'm resoluting in 2012 to add blogging back to one of the 'things I do.' (Yes, fully aware that 'resoluting' is not a real word. But, you like it too, don't you?) I'm also resoluting to work on a weakness in 2012. That weakness, friends, is Procrastination. (I know...some of you were on the edge of your seats waiting to see just which weakness I would choose. Yes, there were many to choose from.)

Here I sit fulfilling a New Year's Resolution before the New Year has even arrived. Take THAT, Procrastination!

So there's that: Two of my resolutions for 2012. I'm not sure if I have any more...I'll figure that out some other time.

cautionary tale

Planting a garden with a baby on your lap is a dangerous operation. Just ask Lucy:

baby lulu--2 months old

peeps

Stella and the Peeps.

'Nuff Said.

lucy is here!

Our newest little spud joined our family on February 2nd and here is her story:

I based a lot of my expectations for this birth on the births of my first three babies. With each one, I had had a lot of early labor and contractions, but nothing ever moved forward until my water was broken. I had always been at the hospital by 3-4 centimeters dilated and wanted an epidural by 5-6 centimeters.

On February 1st, I decided to try drinking Caster Oil to jump start the early labor I was already in. The kids were out of school for an ‘inclement weather’ day. My friend, Cori, invited us to her house where her kids played with mine and Cori and I finished decorating her daughter’s bedroom that we had been working on for the past week. I drank the Caster Oil at 11am (Cori had done this with all 4 of her babies and couldn’t be in the room when I drank mine because the memory of the taste alone was enough to make her nauseated!) I managed to gulp it without tasting much.

The contractions started at about 4:00pm, but were just like the ones that I have had for the last several weeks. Cori and I timed them and they were between 2-5 minutes apart. After invading Cori’s house (and bathrooms) for most of the day, I finally gathered up the kids and headed home about 5:30pm. The contractions continued while I made dinner and while we got the kids to bed. I took a shower and watched TV until we were ready to go to bed about 10:30. It has been typical for me to have contractions 3-5 minutes apart all evening that go away when I go to bed, so part of me really thought this would happen again. I dozed off and on, but was woken by contractions every once in awhile. At about 1am, they were definitely getting stronger and I got out of bed. I sat down at the computer to time them and couldn’t stay sitting when I’d have one. I was too uncomfortable and had to get up and move around and breathe through it. I really didn’t want to wake up Steve and call Cori to come over if this wasn’t really ‘it’, but I decided around 1:30 that something was going on and to go for it. Cori came over and Steve and I left for the hospital at 2:00am. During the drive to the hospital, the contractions came about every 3 minutes and I had to tell Steve to not talk to me during them because it was too distracting. We checked in and were taken to a Labor and Delivery room. The nurse checked me at about 2:40am and said I was 8 centimeters! I asked if she was kidding me. She assured me that she was not. I was surprisingly calm when I asked if there would be time for an epidural and she said ‘probably not.’ I looked at Steve and he was not so calm. The look on his face was like a deer in headlights. I had mentally prepared myself a little bit for the possibility that I may not have time for an epidural this time, but had neglected to prepare him! I was scared, though. I had not done any natural birthing classes or really prepared myself for this at all. I called Cori, who I knew had done this four times and who I also knew would be awake, and asked her how in the world to get through this!

The next 45 minutes or so were spent with a nurse trying to get an IV in me that hurt worse than the contractions. I was progressing, but slowly, so the doctor broke my water at 3:30am. At 3:45am, I was 9 centimeters and the baby was still pretty high up. Pretty quickly I started to feel a lot more pressure and more pain during contractions and the nurse tried to check me and I closed my legs and told her to stay away from me! The baby moved down quickly and I could actually feel it when it happened and the urge to push came fast and furious and I couldn’t help but cry out and I believe I begged for someone to help me. The doctor and nurse tried to break apart the bed, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen and I started pushing involuntarily. I think I was more afraid of the pain than the actual pain itself and all I could think was ‘ring of fire, don’t want to feel the ring of fire!’ Almost immediately my body started pushing again and the baby’s head was out along with a sense of relief immediately followed by another need to push and I delivered the shoulders and body. What a sense of complete relief!

Lucy Patricia was born at 3:57am, weighed 7 pounds (6lbs 15.5oz, technically), and measured 18.5 inches long. She didn’t cry, just grunted and made cute little sounds. I cried and cried when I got to hold her. She is so unbelievably beautiful and perfect. We love our Lucy!

huh?

I got a great note from Sidney (age 5):

You ro the Best! Yao came to my prde pad to day at one fifde two. Loo loo! Hoo? Do you lic sbgede?

Translation: You are the Best! You came to my party pad today at one-fifty-two. Loo loo! hoo? Do you like spagetti?

Again I say.... huh?

happy stella day!

I'm starting to be convinced that the way a child arrives into the world is very telling of his or her future personality (at least as a toddler and young child. I'll let you know if the theory holds true.)

Taylor made life easy on his pregnant mama and arrived 9 days before his due date, making a super quick entrance and waiting for no one (including the doctor). Mellow and easy to please, our doctor called him a 'trick baby'---a baby that 'tricks' you into having another one!

Sidney had to be served an eviction notice to vacate the premises and came into the world starving for both food and stimulation. A Drama Queen and Perfectionist from day one--She needed to make an entrance and make sure she was good and ready for it.

Stella didn't want to waste one moment of life and arrived 6 weeks early. Super sweet, snuggly, and mellow she captured the hearts of everyone around her. Once she started moving, though, look out! Busy and needing to explore every little detail and jumping from one thing to the next. Perfectionism is completely not a priority. Give her fun and waste no time doing it and the rest will come later.

That was two years ago today that my little Stella became part of our family. She has easily taken on the role of Baby of the family and is willing to share that role with the new baby, but is in no way ready to give it up entirely.

From my little 5 pound 8 ounce peanut to my big 2 year old today she's only gotten better!

Happy Birthday my Stella Bell!

the cardboard house

Last Christmas, the kids asked to make a Gingerbread House. Now, this would be an easy task if I could just buy the kit or use graham crackers. Having a gluten-free kid takes the ease out of it, though, and I baked up a cute little Gingerbread House for them to decorate. This year, the holiday spirit just wasn't kicking me to be that ambitious. Cardboard makes a wonderful substitute for gingerbread! It's not as if the kids actually eat the gingerbread anyway. They just want the candy. Best of both worlds.

Sid's Side:


Tay's Side:

it's beginning to look a lot like....halloween?

Three days before Christmas and something is amiss! It started with Sidney putting on a black dress and black tights and declaring herself a cat for the day. She insisted on whiskers and I couldn't think of a good reason to say no (and I tried). There is this word is our house that is slowly starting to become known as 'the F word' in my mind. Fair. It all must be fair and equal. I keep asking them who told them life was going to be fair and equal, but they look at me as if I have two heads. So, in all fairness, Taylor had to be painted as well. First he said he was a superhero. Now he's an Indian (excuse me. Native American.)
Even the almost two-year-old is learning the 'Fair' word and had to join in the action.
It's almost the new year, but for now, we are living in the past---Merry Halloween!

being 7

life lessons by taylor

Taylor (7) is such a great big brother. He's always teaching his little sister (5) profound and useful life lessons, particularly on the drive to school each morning. Things such as "Cattle is plural already, it's not Cattles! It's Cattle or Cows."

Today's life lesson: "Don't ever, ever try to lick a frozen pole!"

decor and more

Anything crafty has been on the back burner for awhile now. Crafting with a toddler around puts a damper on things (no dear, you may NOT stick your fingers under the needle in the sewing machine and please leave the pedal alone when mommy is using the serger with the sharp cutting knives, I need my fingers!). Not to mention the stress of moving. But Christmas was coming and so was my mom (who loves decorating for Christmas). My Christmas decor is meager compared to hers, but it's growing each year and I chose this year to make it grow by leaps and bounds. It never hurts when mom goes to Hobby Lobby with me and can't resist things either and offers up her plastic to pay. My tree is now adorned with a beautiful tree skirt and wooden Merry Christmas sign and my mantle a little brighter with a "Believe" plague. (Click on pictures to make bigger)Inspired by my friends Lei and Kierste I created the ragamuffin garland for my mantle,
I got a little taste of the crafting/decorating bug and created one for the baby/guest room that is done in a vintage Americana theme. It needed a ragamuffin garland:
I will refrain from putting one of these in every room in the house, but a cute pink one just might appear in the big girl's room.

My mom saw a Christmas decoration that she loved---a simple Christmas tree on a square canvas. She didn't buy it and described it to me. So, we created one of our own:
She took this one home with her and it looked so good in my kitchen that I made one of my own:
Sidney has been trying to make all sorts of paper ornaments for our tree, much to my dismay. My Christmas tree is sacred ground. Once it's decorated, it's not to be touched, rearranged, or otherwise renovated. My kids just don't seem to take that seriously and I end up with all sorts of the above. In an attempt to quench her need for ornament making, we made some ornaments for her classroom tree. Taylor joined in the fun and we made a few super cute ornaments:
And then there's my new love.

The Antique (and junque!) store. My dad recently got into Antique stores, so when I passed one every day I knew I must take my dad there. We have this piano that is truly an antique---1901 Chickering. The only thing missing was something to sit on. We've been dragging a kitchen chair to the piano for the last 5 years and have been hoping to find an antique piano stoool to go with it. Guess what we found at the antique store? My dad and Steve have been working on refinishing it and it's looking better every day (pictures when it's finished).

Two other things I got at the Antique store are a couple of pitchers for my built in shelves. One is most definitely not an antique, but the other is and I love them equally.

All of this has awakened the crafter/decorator inside of me and I have, oh, about a dozen projects in mind as of this morning. I believe it was just a few days ago when I was cursing my crafty friends' very names. Now, I'm thinking of joining their ranks again. At the very bottom of the totem pole of course.