Happy Sunday!

We had a busy but FUN weekend and now it's already Sunday. Tonight we will be trying to trick the kids into an early bedtime so we can eat pizza and watch the Grammy's. I love Sunday nights, especially at the end of a really good weekend. Today is the last day of January and tomorrow is already February.....wow. I must say though,  I am looking forward to February because that puts me just a little bit closer to Spring...and that's a good thing.
Hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend!

A Little Slice Of Heaven....

If Calgon really could take me away I wish it would take me right here...preferably right now...or at least this weekend, whatever. I couldn't go alone and it looks so girlie and not really kid-friendly, so I would have to take some of my girlfriends. I would take my very best girlfriends, cousins, sisters and sister-in-laws..friends that live close by, some that live way far away,  some that I've known forever and some I know only in this crazy little virtual world. Just a lot of girl talk, good food, plenty of chocolate, wine (actually this little set-up might call for sangria) and no bedtimes, nowhere to be the next  morning..... 

Doesn't it sound just heavenly? 

 

Okay, so who's in?

A Good Day::

Kids playing nicely together; not much fighting...
Lots of fort-building and playing zoo
Not burning any muffins or forgetting an ingredient that ruins a batch
A lunch that both kids actually ate...
Kids resting in their rooms while mommy eats a late lunch alone and gets to chat on the phone uninterrupted....
The sun shining.
Laundry basket races!
An actual dinner plan and everything I need for it (which isn't much anyway)...
Drinking chocolate milk in cowboy boot glasses.
Blowing bubbles in your chocolate milk.
The smoke detector only going off 3 times...
Something to look forward to tomorrow night!
Almost completely caught up on muffin orders.

Today was a good day.

House Of Shame::

I am living in a house of shame-not just a closet, drawer or room, but a whole house of shame. Meaning it's dirty and is in need of some serious attention. I mean, the beds are made, the dishes are done and the laundry is fairly caught up...but it's still dirty. Dust everywhere, dog hair, chocolate milk spilled on the kitchen floor...the embarrassing kind of dirty. The kind where earlier when Wyatt yelled that someone was in our driveway I actually got a hot flash. I was seriously scared that we were going to have to duck down and hide in Charlotte's little cottage in the living room until whoever it was gave up and left. But the car was just at the neighbors....whew. Close call. I think it's time to bust out my cleaning gear (head scarf, smock) and have the kids lay down and rest in my room, with the bribe of a movie, so I can get this house under control. Because really? 

My house has way too many windows to be hiding from possible visitors.

 

Be My {Vintage} Valentine

Over the weekend I started getting out my Valentine decorations, I thought it would help brighten up the house and our moods since all we have seen lately is clouds, rain and no sign at all of the sun.
 I don't have a lot of Valentine decorations but I do have a collection of Vintage Valentine's that I absolutely adore. I think Eric first started buying them for me when we were just dating, there used to be a little shop close to his work where he could always find them. So a collection (obsession) began.  Since then I am always on the look-out for them at antique stores and thrift shops, hoping to find just a few more to add to my collection. I love the cheesiness of them, the illustrations and the little sayings. I have found some pretty cool reproduction Valentine's for the kids the last couple of years but my favorites are still the vintage ones from many years ago. I love that someone, probably little kids in school a long time ago, gave these to someone for Valentine's Day. The little messages and signatures written on the back in pencil makes me wonder about the story and the people behind them.

 

Is She Really Still Talking About Muffins?

Yes, she is. Maybe I should take this opportunity to apologize to my five (6?) readers for this right now. I promise the muffin talk won't go on forever, really. Please don't abandon me just yet.
Anyway, the baking has really slowed down, I baked about 5 dozen batches yesterday and none today. Tomorrow morning we meet with the reporter from the newspaper and my last post reminded me that maybe I should be a little nervous about what the kids will say. Hmmmm...wish me luck on that one, I might need it.  I am  guessing that by now we have raised around $275 in just seven days. Just me and the kids. And I'm proud of us, if I do say so myself.

A friend sent us a check in the mail for her muffins last week and with it was this little card above. I think we get credit for showing kindness because of what we are doing but without everyone else's kindness and support we wouldn't be able to help in this little, tiny way at all. Everyone has been so great; ordering from us, making donations and just asking about our muffin project. People really are good and want to help and that is a very important lesson I have learned through this. And I think that makes it all worth it.

Sometimes My Mommy Likes To Say Dammit....

This weekend I was lucky enough to have two one-on-one dates-wait, does it sound like I'm on The Bachelor?-and not with my man but with each of the kids. Yesterday Wyatt and I delivered muffins, he got a haircut and then we stopped to get him a chocolate shake because you always get ice cream after a haircut, just a little tradition we have.

Then today Charlotte and I took a girls-only trip to Target for a little shopping, coffee at Starbucks (me) and a snack for her. While we were sitting at the little bar that looks out onto the parking lot, Charlotte looked up and said, with what felt like a megaphone; "Well, she's lookin' a hot-mess!" And in Charlotte's defense, she really did (pajama bottoms should stay in the house) but thankfully only the people inside Starbucks heard that. Ooops. And in my defense? Well, I do use that phrase but it is usually while looking at myself in the mirror, not showered yet, hair piled on top of my head, in my pajamas. This reminded me of another time, not too long ago, that she again embarassed me at Target. When we got to the check-out the cashier asked Charlotte if she was out shopping with mommy today and instead of just saying yes she had to add; "Sometimes my mommy likes to say dammit." Ummm...yeah, totally random, unnecessary...and true. Well, whatcha gonna do with that one?

 

Muffin Mania

Muffins, muffins everywhere. Our (my) lives have been consumed by muffins since we began MuffinsFor Haiti just this past Monday. Baking, packaging, running to the store for supplies, answering emails, delivering, running to the store again for more supplies.... Wow, what a week!
Wyatt's preschool found out about our little project and ordered a few dozen for snack this past Thursday and then asked Wyatt to bring in our chart and explain it to his classmates. His teacher said he did a great job explaining what our project is all about and told them his job responsibilities as well as his sister's. We are so proud of him. One of the best things so far has been everyone's generosity--we have had so many people order muffins, offer to help, donate money for supplies and so on. We got a few checks in the mail this week addressed to Wyatt and he was so excited about that. I have had two days free of baking and now I think I'm ready to get back on it in the morning.  And....I have a house to clean and a kitchen to scrub because we have a date tomorrow morning right here in our kitchen with a photographer from the newspaper. Such excitement in our little lives!

Letting Go.

 

I'm not sure why, but sometimes it is difficult to let go of a bad mood and negative feelings...even when you want to. That is how I've been feeling all week-down, negative but not wanting to be. The weather here has been dreary, foggy, raining or drizzling all week long and I know we have not seen the sun in an entire week, minimum.Yesterday after a bit of a rough day here I decided that we had to get out of the house, get some fresh air and try to get out of this funk, no matter what.  We bundled up in old clothes and headed to the park. As soon as we got there the kids started jumping in puddles, hitting little spots of ice with sticks and just running. I decided right then that I did not care how messy they got, how dirty the car got and knew that they would be getting right into the bathtub as soon as we walked in the door. And I was fine with it. At one point I looked over at Charlotte and asked her what she was doing, she answered; "Smelling the fresh air."

By the time we left the park I had to strip the outer layer of clothes off of them right in the parking lot-  off with the boots, coats, socks, mittens, hats...everything.They got to ride the few blocks home in long underwear and had to be carried in the house. Charlotte's pigtails were dripping mud. I almost forgot how good it feels to let go and just go with it, I'm so glad I was reminded yesterday.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Since I have this memorized now and I don't even have to look it up I thought I would share my super easy muffin recipe.  I'm sure there are better ones but this is what I'm using, it is forever burned into my brain so it's probably the only one I ever will use.

3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 Egg
1 cup Milk-more if needed
2 Cups Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar or to taste
3 teaspoons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Chocolate Chips- 1 cup or more...I like a lot in mine.

Mix dry ingredients together.
Beat milk, eggs, butter together.
Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients, add liquid ingredients. Mix swiftly with large spoon.
Add Chocolate Chips, mix again.
Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes I think. I don't use a timer though...I just keep an eye on them.

Oh and this is what I'm listening to in the kitchen today...

Thank You, Tift Merritt,  for getting me through Muffin-Fest 2010.

Talking Bossy....and other stuff.

Today while I was slaving away in the kitchen and Charlotte was at the dining room table coloring I asked her to do something (or not to do something, I forget) and the little angel talked back to me in a bossy little tone, which I did not like. When I informed her that she was not allowed to talk back to me like that she answered that-Oh, no, she wasn't talking to me at all, it was just the red marker talking bossy to another marker. Oh, really? Well then that is totally acceptable. I just really couldn't think of anything to say to that one, so I didn't. And who knew markers were sooo bossy, anyway? Maybe someone needs to come in and put all the markers, crayons and various art supplies in their place because apparently it's not my children at all.

Ans another totally unrelated thing.....How is that I forget every year how looonnngggggg winter really is? It is rough living where we are basically confined to the house for several months. I want a morning walk by myself, an afternoon walk with the kids and to go play on the playground tomorrow. And where is the SUN anyway? I'm over Winter.

My Wednesday To-Do LIst:

Take Wyatt to school, try my best not to fall on ice.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Bake Muffins.
Deliver Muffins (depending on road conditions).
Deliver Muffins.
Deliver Muffins.
Drink Lots of coffee.

"Give light and people will find their own way."

-Anonymous

Here We Go.....

So I sent out a mass email this morning letting everyone know about our little project; Muffins For Haiti. I am both nervous (what have I done?) and excited to see where this takes us. We decided that all of our profits will go to UNICEF. Initially I had a hard time deciding where to donate but after a little research I saw that UNICEF provides clean drinking water and much needed baby formula for babies, among many other things. Decision made. Within a matter of minutes of sending my email I received responses from people already placing their order for muffins. I am on my fourth batch so far today and have a LONG way to go....as I type Wyatt is working on his poster that we are going to hang in the kitchen recording our orders. Here we go...... Chocolate chip muffins, anyone? 

Muffins For Haiti::

This morning, Wyatt (5 years old),  walked in the room while I was watching CNN and saw on tv a little of what was going on in Haiti. I did my best to explain what was going on there without scaring or confusing him. The specific clip he saw was of a helicopter landing and boxes of food and water being unloaded with huge crowds of people waiting in the background. He had a lot of questions and when I told him people there had little to no food and water he asked if we could send food. I told him that we could not actually send food and tried to explain to him about donating money to help buy supplies. He said again that he really wanted to send food so the people whose "houses and city were smashed could have food to eat."

Since donating and giving money is such an abstract idea for young children to comprehend, we came up with a plan. For the next week or so we are going to bake muffins (which we do weekly anyway) and sell them to our friends and family to raise money. 100% of the money we make will go to a relief organization yet to be decided.
I realize that I will be doing most of the work here, and that I might be completely crazy, but the kids are excited and we are going to get started tomorrow.
My hope is that all of us will learn something important through this endeavor and that my own children will learn the importance of helping others and that there really is something we can all do, no matter how small it may be.

Wish us luck!

{Blush}

A conversation between Wyatt and I the other day:
I kissed him on his cheek.
Him: "Mommy, when you kiss me on this cheek (points to cheek), I think it makes me blush on this cheek (points to other cheek). Does it look red to you?"
Me: "No, I don't think so."
Him: "It sure does feel red."

Can my sweet little boy please stay this way forever?

(Easy Like) Sunday Morning::

 

 

Not getting up too early today.
The sun shining-a little, but it's there.
A delicious breakfast, courtesy of Eric (with help from his little assistant).
Watching the kids play Batman  & Batgirl.
Plans to hang out with my mom's family later today (yay!).
Drinking coffee and catching up on some of my favorite blogs.
*Okay, go ahead, you know you wanna hear the song now.

T.G.I.F.

It's funny that even though I don't work (you know what I mean) it is still such a relief when Friday rolls around. Eric is home with us and all things are more relaxed and it doesn't hurt that I have back-up now. There is still that feeling of excitement, wondering what we're going to do, and even if we don't do much at all, we could if we wanted to, right? Tonight I may or may not meet some friends out to listen to a band, and we may or may not go pick out paint for the bathroom at some point this weekend. That's why I love the weekends. This is what our Friday has looked like so far today:

The kids have been playing with their cousins all day so there have been lots of baby dolls, playing house, mailman, Prince & Princess, Legos, Max & Ruby, The Flinstones, snacks, books and pretend picnics. Hope you all have a Happy Friday and a great weekend!

Well Hello There, Thursday.

The sun is out, the temperature here is up in the FORTIES today and all is good, here in my little world anyway.

 I don't have much to say today as my heart and mind are on the tragedy in Haiti. Watching the coverage last night was almost too much for me to handle, sometimes it's just easier to look away and not have to acknowledge that these things are happening around the world. My heart goes out to the people over there, the injured, the many, many families that lost loved ones and those people here and in various places around the world that are waiting on news of their family members. I cannot imagine the feeling of not knowing where your child is, your parents, your siblings...just as I cannot imagine what real struggles the Haitians go through every day,  even prior to this tragedy. Here we do not know the real meaning of being poor, going hungry and living in fear; fear for your safety, fear that you have no way to feed your children. This is just another reminder for me of just how fortunate we really are, how blessed we are to live in this country, and it makes me feel silly for all of my trivial complaining. It also reinforces the fact that the world is much bigger than my little life. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti today and all the people from around the world that are or will be going there to help with the relief efforts.

Keeping It Real:: Part 2

Last week I talked about an email I got from a stay-at-home mom of three young kids (you can read that post here ) and I said I would answer more on her questions, comments later, so here I am. I don't feel like I am in a position to be giving advice to anyone but I will share my personal thoughts on one thing that she said she was really having a hard time with, which was finding time to herself.  I believe her children are all under five years old with the youngest being under one, obviously I have no experience there.....and even if I did, every person and family is different and everyone has to find something that works for them.

      *    *    *     *     *    *
I try to get out, either with friends or alone, as much as possible, it is essential to my mental health. I  have hobbies and interests outside of my family/husband that are important to me and spending time doing these things make me happy. I have a very supportive husband that understands that I need time away to do things independently and encourages me to do so. I don't feel bad or guilty about needing time to myself and I try not to make him feel that way either. I try to get out and do things regularly, catch a movie with a friend during the week, have a whole evening out with the girls, go antiquing by myself for a few hours on the weekend, etc., I don't mean all in the same week or even every week it depends week to week. When I am able to do things like this regularly as opposed to waiting until I am really stressed out and am feeling desperately in need of some time away, I feel much better on a daily basis.  Sometimes all it takes is an hour walk, a long drive with my camera or a cup of coffee or a trip to the gym (ha-we'll discuss that later) to feel refreshed and in a better state of mind. I have learned that my happiness, stress level and state of mind affects my whole family so I need to take care of it and be proactive about it. For me, things are much better on the mental health front than the physical health front...that is where I need help. One of my major goals for 2010. If anyone else has anything you would like to share about finding time for yourself, please share it with me, I'd love to hear it!

Shhhhhh.......

Hear that? Aaahhhh... me neither, that's because Charlotte is sleeping. Most days now I just make her lay down to rest which usually consists of her "reading" books in her bed for an hour or two and it's getting to be where she usually doesn't fall asleep anymore. Some days she will stay in there and read with no problem at all, some days she can't stay in there for even a few minutes without checking to see where her brother is, what he is doing and why he isn't in his room sleeping. I know our napping days are almost gone around here which is a bit of a bittersweet milestone, if you ask me. I am okay with her resting because it gives us all a break from each other and a little quiet time but then there are those days that she does still need some sleep or she is just a big grouch. And when napping starts to interfere with her falling asleep at night I'm ready to let it go...because I  love my quiet time after the kids go to bed. But for now, before she does wake up, Wyatt and I have some Cranberry Muffins to bake and a book order to fill out.

The Diva.

Yesterday I went up to Charlotte's bedroom to see what she was doing in there so quietly. I went in and found her dressed in her dress-up clothes and she was looking in her little hand mirror while putting on her very best Snow White lip gloss. I asked her to jump up on the bench for me (I have to seize an opportunity when I see one) and after about two pictures she plopped down and whined; " But I don't waaaaant to get my picture taken, I only want to look in the mirror." Oh, good Lord. Seriously?

Is this what I have to look forward to? I'm not ready for all that.

I hope the rest of you had a DRAMA-free start to your week!

Still.

Last night I drove through the park on my way to the grocery store. It was perfect timing, the sun was setting and it was so pretty. I guess I don't catch too many sunrise/sunsets and wow, I am so glad I did. The snow, the trees, the light...and the deer. I saw a whole bunch of deer walking through the snow, stopping and eating and looking at me. Sometimes just a few minutes of quiet still-ness is all I need to make it through the rest of the night.

Ten On Ten::

I totally forgot that today was the 10th until I saw Rebekah's reminder this morning. Not feeling the greatest and I was gone for a good part of the day but I managed.....

Ten On Ten:: January

 

 

  

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Happy Birthday to my nephew Ben who actually turned 7 on Christmas day but we celebrated his Birthday today!