It’s Not You, It’s Me

May 7, 2012 By 6 Comments

I had five photo shoots this weekend, and to be honest, I’m a little fried.  I don’t have a lot to say or share, and I’m going to be spending most of my time in the next couple weeks editing.  I’m going to do my damnedest to be here as much as possible, but today is just not that day.  But here are some cute photos of my kids to get you through!

In case you didn’t know, Spring in New England = Rain.  Live here long enough and you will become very familiar with this joke.  I remember seeing it on a bulletin board in my Massachusetts elementary school.

April showers bring May flowers.  So what do May flowers bring?

Pilgrims!

Ah, a little bit of Massachusetts humor for you.  And with that in mind, here are some shots of my kids who just simply cannot get enough of their umbrellas, rain showers or no.

So I have a lot going on in these next couple weeks–plus a newborn shoot next Sunday and don’t forget Mother’s Day!–so please just be patient with me if I’m absent a bit more than usual.  It’s not you, it’s me.  I still love you.  Thanks for your patience!

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Something Like Cookie Cutter Bird Feeders

May 6, 2012 By 4 Comments

Sometimes I just can’t believe how easy a craft looks in someone else’s home, and how quickly it all goes to hell in my own.  Maybe you think that about me–that’s I’m super craftastic and that I own a glue gun and a cricut and other fancy DIY equipment that is just a step below a Bedazzler.  If that’s the case, you are sorely mistaken.  It’s just a matter of good odds–we craft often enough that sooner or later one of them is bound to come out well.  The others have not the same good fortune.  This is the story of one of those.

So I saw a great idea on…wait for it…PINTEREST (shocker) that showed simple and beautiful bird feeders made in molds from cookie cutters.  They are supposed to look like this:

but mine came out more like this:

Follow along and see if you can spot where I went wrong.  Because seriously, I’m still not sure.

So my niece Erika and I followed the directions given on the other site, which basically combines hot water, unflavored gelatin, and birdseed into a gooey, clumpy mix.  We tried hard, but after we followed the instructions exactly, our mixture looked more like soup than a mixture.

So, just like I do when I make pancake mix by just adding water, when there’s too much, I just add more powder.  In this case, we just added more birdseed until the consistency seemed more appropriate.  Then Erika put the mixture into shaped cookie cutters on wax paper and patted them down until they were even and flat on top.

Finally, we cut a straw into shorter pieces and stuck them through the birdseed cookie so that later we could put a piece of twine through it to hang from a tree.

Then we left them overnight (actually it was closer to two days) and supposedly we would be able to just pop them out of the cookie cutters and all would be well.

Hmmmm….not so much.  They dissolved instantly into a pile of sticky birdseed clumps.

And the reason why they didn’t work out?  I haven’t the foggiest.

All except for one.  There was one birdseed cookie that popped out pretty well and I think we could have salvaged it.  But instead of treating our one surviving bird feeder with the reverence and respect it deserved, Jax immediately ran over and destroyed it like Cookie Monster destroying a chocolate chip cookie.  So at that point I just said, “Forget it,” (well, maybe it wasn’t quite that G-rated) and we crumpled them all up until they were bird seed once more.  From birdseed you came, and to birdseed you shall return.

Jax and I had a fine time throwing our birdseed chunks out to the birds in our woods.  I’m not sure how well they’ve been received, but I do not that our dog–who thinks dirty diapers are a delicacy–wouldn’t touch the stuff.  So if you read about flocks of birds dropping dead from the sky in the Middle of Nowhere, Vermont, don’t blame me.

Remember, I’m craftily challenged.

So enjoy this craft, good luck fixing it, and hopefully the birds will be flocking to you and yours!  And if you see where I went wrong, please let me know!  I still have half a bag of birdseed with these birdies’ names on it!

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8:29 A.M.

May 4, 2012 By 8 Comments

It’s 8:29 A.M.  This is what my life is like.

  • Woke up a little before 7:00 to the sounds of my daughter whining that she can’t find her Binkie and Blankie.  Knowing her as I do, I know they are somewhere in her bed, next to the 3 new Disney princess dolls she got for her birthday, five books, three stuffed animals, two blankets, pillow, and God knows what other detritus that has found its way in there.  She is a hoarder. I ignored her and mentally begged JDubbs to take care of it.  He did.
  • I didn’t sleep well last night, mentally running through all the zillions of things I need to do before my photo shoots this weekend.  I was up until 11:00 pm getting some photos edited and off my memory card.  Jax developed a strange cough that kept me sleeping with one ear open, plus I had nightmares of arriving at my shoot unprepared, at the wrong time, or wrong place.  Not ready to start this day.
  • My husband comes to wake me up with a snuggle.   My eyes are not open because I cannot stand to face the glare of morning yet.  As I go to snuggle, he goes to kiss, and we smack heads.  Now I have a headache and will probably have a bruise.  Sexy.  I haven’t even opened my eyes yet.
  • 7:05.  In the shower.  Must shave legs; they are horrifying even for someone who lives in the woods of Vermont.  Kids are thundering outside the bathroom hallway, already very awake.  I am grateful for this extra five minutes of quiet.  Gave me time to wonder if there are any other tactics I haven’t tried to convince JDubbs to have another baby.  I think not.
  • 7:30.  I am dressed.  I have had a timeout with Jax to talk about his hitting.  JDubbs has had a timeout to talk to Jax about his hitting.  Em threw the contents of the box with all her hair clips into her bed.  I cleaned them out because I know I’d forgot by naptime.  I have since found more all over the house.  Had to carry each kid down the stairs individually because they insisted and it’s just that kind of day.
  • 7:45.  Kids have eaten breakfast.  It was miraculously uneventful. No spills, no meltdowns, no fights.  I emailed my clients for tomorrow’s shoot about the chance of rain.  Please God, no rain.
  • 8:00.  Bribed kids to let me clean their hands and faces with tiny containers of bubbles left over from Em’s party.  Em dumps one out immediately.  Have to get her another one.  Turn back to the kitchen to find my dog standing on all four legs on my kitchen table, licking up scraps.  Lose my mind and put him outside in the rain.  Call JDubbs to tell him that the dog is coming to work with him from now on.  No answer.
  • Get the pillowcases for the living room throw pillows out of the dryer.  Had to wash them because there was a chance my niece had headlice, something I am NOT mentally prepared to deal with.  Turns out she didn’t, but now I have clean throw pillows.  However I also have to wrangle these freaking pillows back into those tiny pillowcases.  By the end, I am covered in feathers.
  • 8:10.  Jax and Em get into a battle over the bubbles.  I realize now that was a bad idea.  Jax hits her.  I lose my mind again.  My patience is officially exhausted.  It is only 8:10.  JDubbs calls back and I start to cry because neither my son nor my dog actually listens to me.  JDubbs is not surprised they don’t listen to me.  Now I am aggravated.
  • Beg Jax tearfully to PLEASE start using his words and PLEASE stop hitting.  My tears seem to alarm him.  Hopefully he will take pity on me and begin to act like a human being again.  Otherwise he’s going to be sitting alone at the lunch table in a few years.  I waste precious time wondering if he is a sociopath.
  • 8:18.  Head upstairs to get the kids’ clothes.  Here a crash downstairs.  Come downstairs to find a basketball in the wine rack and one of my wine glasses in a million pieces on the floor.  The pieces are EVERYWHERE.  Mom always said, don’t play ball in the house.
  • 8:29.  Finish cleaning up the wine glass, have put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, am finally sitting down to eat my own breakfast, and the kids have to be at school in 31 minutes.  They are not dressed.  I have lost my mind.  I think I will put on a second cartoon after this one.  I may need time for a cocktail.
  • Resisted the urge to have a mimosa and instead wrote this blog post.  At least now I feel better for having taken a moment to write all this stuff down.  Except for the fact that now it’s 8:53 and school starts in 7 minutes.  Kids are still not dressed, still watching TV.  Shit.
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Happiness Is…{big cousins}

May 3, 2012 By 10 Comments

My ten-year-old niece Erika and nearly twelve-year-old nephew Christian came up for Em’s birthday festivities last weekend.  I had a chance to take a small trip alone with them in the car, and to take a walk with them and my kids one afternoon.  I’m happy to report that after some much-needed quality time, of course this auntie loves those two more than ever.

And so do my kids.

It was a simple pleasure: I merely sat on the ground with my camera and watched the fun unfold.  First, they each searched for the perfect rock and then began a classic game of hopscotch.  I captured the camaraderie and enjoyed the dynamics between two adolescents and their Mini-Me’s.

I’m not sure why I didn’t get as many photos of my niece since she is just a big a ham as her brother, but she must have been feeling a bit more mature that day, or my attention was focused on my three-year-old wielding a rock.  Anyway, even with the age difference, I sure am grateful that my kids have such amazing big cousins to look up to and play with as often as we can!

So that’s my happiness this week.  How about you?  What simple things made your heart smile lately?  Come share them at the Happiness Is…blog hop!

The Happiness Is… blog hop is simply a place to come, link up a post (not your homepage!) that made you happy recently (anything but a giveaway or review) and share it with the rest of us!  Photos, recipes, crafts, stories, moments, and anecdotes are all welcome!  Come peruse other amazing posts and meet fantastic new people in the blogosphere!  The only rule is to please grab my button (right sidebar) and link back to me in some way, otherwise you won’t be able to link up.  That way more people will come and learn about this uplifting way to promote your blog!

So, are you ready?  On your mark, get set, hop!



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Bee Mine

May 1, 2012 By 2 Comments

We were celebrating spring at Cocktails & Crafts this month, helping our kids make busy bees that are currently residing in my kitchen next to our nature plate.  Bringing just a touch of Mother Nature into our home!

My friend Michelle got the idea from her daughter’s class at her local Waldorf school (a different one than ours), and like me, she caught the bug–excuse the pun–and is now getting into the crafty fun of it.  All you need is some black and yellow wool roving, a couple teeny pinecones, some black thread, some glue and a couple of those maple tree helicopter seed things for wings.  Very scientific of me, huh?

We arrived at Michelle’s and the kids had a great time playing together.  It had been raining all week, so although they were still trapped inside, at least they had each other as playthings!  I love seeing how the second babies–all Jax’s friends’ younger siblings–are getting bigger and bigger.  Soon they’ll all be running around as a big destructive horde, and God help us then!

Then once everyone had arrived it was time to get creative!

First you wrap your tiny pinecone in black and yellow wool roving to create stripes around the “bee.”  Be sure to stretch out the wool to make it a bit more feathery.  You could also use a felting needle to secure the stripes where you want them if you feel the need.

Tie the bee up with the thread so it can “fly”.  Then you use the glue to secure the maple tree seed thingies to the bees.  Ours came out a little wonky, but our crafts always leave a little to be desired.

Once our bees were flying free, the Mommies had a creation of our own: raspberry bellinis.  Yum!

And while we all snacked on a delicious spread of snacks and a yummy dessert concoction–chocolate, caramel, cookie, heavenly something–the kids ran themselves ragged and had an overall delightful time.

I so love Cocktails & Crafts, our great monthly get-together where both the mamas and the kiddos have a chance to be creative, while relaxing with a delicious new beverage.  Doesn’t have to be alcoholic, and the kids don’t have to be the  doing the crafting–it just needs to be easy-going and fun! Start your own C & C group and I’ll feature you right here and link back to you in my Cocktails & Crafts link forever!

Have a bee-autiful day!

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Spring Sight Words

April 30, 2012 By 2 Comments

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Jax is definitely a visual learner.  He just stares at something often and long enough until suddenly he has it committed to memory.  That’s why something like a word wall would be a big success for him, but I honestly haven’t taken the time to make one.  I kind of prefer the kind of learning that can be tucked away and brought back out on a rainy day so it’s always fresh and interesting; I think if my kids see something every day they eventually become oblivious to it (half of their toys fall into this category).  So when I pulled out Jax’s ABC clothespins and sight word box, he was excited to play with me because we haven’t used it in about a month.  Plus the fact that I had found some great spring sight word printables here which I had added to the mix, we had a really great time learning together while having fun!

We did the same thing as last time–Jax organized his clothespins…

…and then we took a look at his cool new spring words.

This time he tried to find a word for every letter, instead of choosing the word first.  He had a few different words going at the same time but it was a bit more challenging–he had to think about which words he was going to focus on so he didn’t have twenty different words; he focused on two or three and soon was able to complete each one.

Proud of himself for a job well done!

I’ll keep sharing any printables that I find for this activity–so many of you enjoyed that post, I hope you like this version, too!  And as long as my kids are into it, I’ll keep the fine motor fun coming!

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Celebrating!

April 28, 2012 By 4 Comments

I’m taking the weekend off for a very important, very special reason.  The most beautiful and fabulous little girl I know had a birthday this week, and her whole extended family is coming north to celebrate.

So we’ll be hanging with aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings, enjoying each other’s company and celebrating the birth of my darling Em.  Diva she may be, but she’s still my little girl.  We love you so, Em!  Happy 2nd Birthday!

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