"Prepping"

I don't know if I told all of you,  but the kids and I are headed East for my brother Wally's wedding for a little over 2 weeks and we leave on Saturday.  I am more than excited to spend so much quality time with family, but also not at all looking forward to the actual getting there.  I've managed to get myself to a place of calm acceptance..after all, it's not the first time I've flown with them, so I know what to do and what to expect.  It'll be whatever it is and then it'll be over and I'll be in Boston with my sister!  Hooray!

Anyway, the other day my sister Emily asked if I was going crazy getting ready for the trip and I had to laugh out loud because I'm just so not.  I am one of the biggest procrastinators I know and there is no way I could ever wrap my brain around how people manage to pack for trips like this ahead of time.  Everything I bring with me is everything I use on a daily basis and I don't have some magical second pair of favorite jeans or more than two or three "it'll have to do because it's the only thing that fits me" tops.  Plus (I'm going out on a limb with mild confidence here, based on a recent conversation I had with my sister, that many of you ladies out there will nod in agreement when I say), I have ONE BRA that I wear every day.  When I have to wash it I wear an ill-fitting Spanks tank top and a baggy sweatshirt.  Who am I kidding?  If weather permits, I'll happily wear said baggy sweatshirt every single day...although I do have at least 3 of those to rotate throughout the week.  So, I ask you, how could I possibly pack any earlier than after the very last load of laundry is done before the trip?  I guess I could pack my bathing suit, but  I'm not even sure I'll be needing that this trip.  Seems a shame to have the stupid suitcase out and in our way for 2 days just so I can feel like  I'm "getting ready" if all I can put in there is a swimsuit and maybe my travel toiletries.  Anyway, the kids would have a field day with a half-packed suitcase just laying around my bedroom.  I feel quite sure I'd end up repacking that sucker at least 15 times before Saturday rolled around.  The kids stuff isn't exactly the same reasoning, but basically we bring what we wear and whatever we leave behind is either not appropriate for the season or we don't really like it that much.  It's okay though...I actually do pretty well under pressure and if I've ever had a conversation with you about my inability to enjoy chocolate, cookies or cake in moderation you already know that I'm an "all or nothing" kind of gal.  I guess it applies to packing for me too...once I get started on it, I can't relax until the suitcase is full, zipped and waiting by the back door.

What I have been better about this time though, is steadily taking care of work obligations and crossing stuff off of the "to do" list...not the one that I make and complete every day (another reason why I can't fathom getting ready for something that is days away when sometimes it's all I can do to get through THIS one) but the annoying "to do at some point"list.  I did so well with it this week that I even did a few things a day or two before I told myself I had to do it or else!  So Saturday will get here and I will somehow get ready.  My goal is to head East with nothing on my mind but getting there and enjoying it.

Just to sneak them in here in case I don't get a chance to share before we go....here are a few fun things about the last couple of days:

Zoe and I made an impromptu mini teepee on our patio the other day.  We just did it for fun, but the fairies surprised her with a thank you note in the morning.

Sprinkling "magic dust" on it

Today, just before taking Zoe to school I was working diligently on getting the kitchen cleaned up before heading out the door.  I wiped down the counters and said loudly as I headed out to the patio where the kids were playing quietly: "Okay guys I'm done cleaning the kitchen--who's ready to go to sch---"  and this was what I found.  A prime example of how you have to just go with the flow sometimes...I am always encouraging them to get messy, after all....

We went out for a walk earlier and Owen INSISTED on wearing this hat.  I just love this kid.

We had our monthly Kids Art Group/Young Scientists get together this afternoon.  We made paper mache volcanoes!  We used the flour/water version for our paste and didn't cut the tops off of the water bottles, though and it all seemed to go well. We plan to paint them and blow them up next month.

I think all of us ended up using masking tape to help hold the mold in place before adding the strips with the paste.

Anyway, if you don't hear from me for a few weeks, you'll know why!  Later, dudes!

Bone To Pick

Seriously guys, I'm a little pissed at the Easter Bunny.  This is at least the third year in a row he (or she, as Zoe kept saying) has forgotten to bring me Peeps.  I mean,  I know they are totally disgusting and I know they don't exactly fit into my new heart healthy diet but you can go ahead and shoot me because I love them.  Also, last year he (or she) was really great about leaving the kids a little candy, a little money and plenty of easily-lost-between-the-couch-cushions-or-often-times-fished-out-of-Owen's-mouth-right-before-they-got-lodged-in-his-throat toys. A perfect mix of junk that was either belly bound, piggy bank bound or garbage can bound (that is, if it's ever fished from amidst the dust bunnies behind the TV).  This year though, all he (or she) brought was loads and loads of cheap, delicious, hard -to-say-no-to-just-10-pieces-before-breakfast candy along with some clearly-an-after-thought-pocket-lint-covered change.  I'm guessing he (or she) was busy and that maybe Easter sneaked up on him (or her) and that maybe by the time he (or she) realized Easter was coming up, he (or she) only had one quick 20 minute window to get everything for the baskets.  Sure we, as their parents, probably could have avoided Owen's 9am sugar crash and Zoe's 4:30 and 7pm puking sessions by telling them they couldn't have as much candy as they wanted but then they wouldn't think we're totally awesome and who wants THAT on Easter morning?  So, I blame the Easter Bunny.  He (okay, okay SHE) can suck it.

Honestly, though aside from the puking we had a nice weekend and then day today:

Dying eggs with Daddy.  I've never been that sentimental about this tradition honestly, so Nathan's always the one motivating us to do it.  Every year I feel more and more grateful for his enthusiasm and am beginning to appreciate it.

Zoe putting our baskets together.  It was fun to have her so involved in preparing this year.

We revisited clean mud at the end of the day yesterday and I was so pleasantly surprised to realize it's the perfect kind of activity for Owen.  He must have spent a half hour messing with it and then pouring water from bowl to bowl and trying to carry it around without spilling it.  I'll have to break this one out more often.

Two of my favorites from this bunch though:

Proof that he's not always happy with me...

..and the way these kinds of activities usually end up

This year we planted (and then watered, of course) 4 jelly beans in our backyard because I'd read somewhere that if you plant them the day before Easter something cRaZy happens...

I went grocery shopping in the morning and when I came back, Nathan and Zoe had made a dandelion necklace for me and I wore it until it fell off.  What a nice surprise--I really did love it!

Overall, the day was a success (depending on your point of view I guess)!  Happy Easter!

Reality Check!

This past weekend I finally went to the hospital to get a routine blood test done.  I'd been meaning to check my cholesterol and thyroid for a long time but getting the timing right (between fasting for the right amount of time and Nathan being home to help with the kids),  it just kept getting pushed to the side.  It didn't feel urgent because I'm pretty healthy and although I have a hard time controlling myself with sweets, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about eating a healthy diet.  [Side note: How hilarious is it that I just had such a hard time spelling "knowledgeable" that I had to use the closest spelling I could manage for a Google search and since I couldn't hang onto the spelling in my head long enough to type it here, had to cut and paste it from the top of the results page, where it says "Did you mean knowledgeable"?...reminds me of the time my brother Ben came with me to pick up my college diploma (the one I finally earned a full year after my original classmates)...and had to correct me as I  loudly and proudly read it aloud, mispronouncing a key word (for the life of me, I can't remember what word though.  Maybe Ben remembers)]

I don't know about you, but my brain does not comprehend medical lingo and I also have a terrible time remembering my personal and family medical history.  After I had Owen, the nurses and midwives asked me if I'd had certain shots after I'd had Zoe and all I could say was "I have no idea...will it hurt me to get it again if I did?"  To which the answer was "no" so I just went ahead and got whatever shots they were offering just in case. I think they all thought I was crazy because I got so many shots in the days after Owen's birth and probably only needed one or two (or none--who knows??).  Anyway, imagine my surprise and total confusion when the midwives called me the day after my blood was drawn to talk about the results.  This is what my brain was able to comprehend from that conversation:  "High thyroid and triglyceride numbers...need to see an endocrinologist...will probably have to go on medication....also should see a general practitioner....no, don't wait until after your trip east in a couple of weeks, try and see someone right away."  This is  basically my side of the conversation:  "What does the thyroid do exactly? What is an endocrinologist and what do they do?  How do you spell triglyceride?  WHAT is triglyceride??"  Luckily my friend Jessica was over with her girls for dinner so I had another person there to help me hazily fumble through dinner and bathtime.  I called my Mom (of course) and then the midwives again to clarify a bit after I was able to think about everything a little.  In a nutshell, this was my side of both conversations: "Should I be freaking out?? I don't have the faintest idea what all of this means!" and both amazing ladies assured me that there was no reason to freak out, but plenty of reasons to become more informed and look into the situation.  After bedtime, I emailed Nathan to update him and he completed the process of setting my mind at ease so I was able to get some sleep without letting my imagination go crazy.

The next day, I called my sister-in-law Sandy (an ER doctor) and told her what was going on.  She talked me through everything in detail and I got another step closer to feeling relaxed about it. After I got the actual lab results from the midwives, I called Sandy again and she walked me through the numbers and what they mean and was able to assure me that although my numbers are high, they aren't high enough to be able to clearly state that I have an issue at all.  I was able to find a general practitioner here that could see me this morning and she, just like Sandy, told me that the number isn't high enough to definitively say that I have an issue.  She said that if I wanted to, I could start treatment right now, but that then I'd be committed to being on medication for the rest of my life.  When I told her I wasn't interested in going on medication unless it was a safety issue, she told me that it definitely is not a safety issue and that I  can take another test in a month and see if my number goes down or not.  If it doesn't, then we can start thinking about investigating whether or not I have an issue.

PHEW!!!  You can really learn a lot in a couple of days if you get the shit scared out of you!  Listen up:  Get your blood work done when a medical professional suggests you do so, even if you think you're totally healthy. 

As far as the triglyceride number goes, it's also not at a "freak out" level.  The rest of the stuff they look at for cholesterol looks fine and although my number is high, it's not scary high.  It's high enough that the doctor suggested I take fish oil pills every day and start to be more aware of what I'm eating...carbs, sugar, alcohol...she said that if I can't get the number down that way, then we can start to be more strict about it all but for now I can stay fairly relaxed about it.  It seems pretty simple on the surface, but the more I think about it I think that simple goal might be hard for me.  It's easy to take the fish oil, but I think I make pretty good choices already as far as food goes so I don't feel like I have a lot of fat to trim there.  The unfortunate truth though, is that I rely heavily on (and thoroughly enjoy) pasta and bread products for dinners, I JUST made the decision to allow myself to enjoy a bowl of ice cream every night after I put the kids to bed (guilt free) and I really really enjoy having a glass of wine every night. Realizing the three vices I've allowed myself are the three most important things to cut back on when working to improve heart health is one of the biggest downers ever.  It makes me feel old.  I know I can do it and will feel better once I get into different habits but first I have to figure out HOW to do it......guess I'll have to get my butt to the bookstore and find the "diet" section.  Sheesh!   Life is so weird sometimes!

Happy Things

I had a post in mind for tonight but got distracted....was headed to bed and realized I wanted to at least share these happy things with you...more thoughts to come!

The kids sharing a quiet lunch together on our patio

 Two of the dozen or so pictures I took of our crab apple trees in bloom.  Feels like everyone has pictures like this right now, but I couldn't stop staring and shooting...so beautiful, and right on our patio!

The dress I made yesterday for Zoe out of one of my favorite skirts (I never wear it anymore but keep it in the closet for some reason)...

Before

After-front

Back

Front with optional sash

Back with optional sash

Front with optional scarf (and Zoe's kitty..she dressed her up too, can you tell?)

 Afternoons with girlfriends and art projects...

One last shot of the busy girls...okay, maybe I was admiring the dress again, too  ;-)

Today Was Totally Awesome

I can't get over how much different life with kids is when you can go outside and stay outside until dinnertime.  Zoe and I figured out a way to go dig in our garden plot while Owen napped this morning and when he woke up well before lunch, she convinced me to just go get him and head right back out to work some more ("Mommy, I don't want to STOP until we are ALL DONE.")  I was a little hesitant, but as I checked Owen's diaper, I asked him: "Do you want to put some sunblock on and go out to the garden?" and he immediately lit right up and said "YES! YES! YES!"  How could that not automatically make the whole thing completely fun?  He looked so cute walking with us in his little summer boy getup, complete with safari hat, holding his little red bucket.  We kept trying to get a smiling picture of Zoe and Owen together on the way there but anytime we stopped him walking he started screaming.  He was so excited to get out there!  I don't know if part of him sensed I was going to let them get completely and totally muddy but for some reason the little dude was in hog heaven even before I let them loose. (ps shout out to my friend Laurie-Anne for telling me how to get my photos into these cool collages...so much easier to make one on Picasa first than it is to struggle with Blogger--THANK YOU!!)

The rest of the day was full of fun with neighbors and friends...we did it all:  broke out the sprinkler, ate popsicles, played with the water table, enjoyed po' man's sangria's (orange juice and red wine) and played at the playground.  Save for a 20 minute pocket of time when I realized Owen was going to skip his afternoon nap despite being visibly exhausted, the day could not have been more perfect.  Thanks for sharing it with us, friends!

I'm Baaaack....

Well, hi there it's been a while!  See, there was this little incident a couple of weeks ago.  Our computer totally crashed before my eyes one night while I was quietly browsing the blog world looking for project ideas.  There was no saving it so we ordered a new computer and waited patiently for it to arrive.  Everything is a total mess since we couldn't easily transfer our data from our old computer onto this one but luckily we have an external hard drive that we last updated in January so it wasn't a total disaster.

Anyway in these last couple of weeks one of the biggest surprises for me was how much I missed writing and sharing here.  I've known that it's become a big part of my life over the last year, but I've had this love/hate relationship with my blog and it was nice to realize that I would really miss doing it if I quit writing so here I am!

To avoid turning this post into a chapter, I'm just going to share the pictures I took since our computer died so you can see what we've been up to--since the weather has been consistently BEAUTIFUL, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Caring for Smiley the giraffe...first painting him and then later bathing him with friends...notice the little shorts Owen has on--I knit them!  Here is the pattern.

Art Group/Young Scientists...this is the monthly activity my friend Jessica and I run as part of our Resident Manager job for Family Housing.  This was our biggest turnout yet and was so much fun.  We made homemade lava lamps and then just let the kids go crazy with paint.  Some of the artwork took my breath away as we were cleaning up...

Painting noodles for necklaces.  We used the same method we used to make our rainbow rice last year except that I ended up laying them out to dry like this on wax paper.  Such an easy, fun project..not messy at all and very satisfying.  We were able to talk about color mixing and although we were short on paint and couldn't make as many colors as we wanted, we were both more than satisfied with the outcome.  She's made a bunch of friends necklaces since then, and since I gave her a darning needle to help thread the noodles on, she learned how to thread it and everything.  I ended up tying the embroidery floss onto the needle for her...otherwise she would have quit in frustration, but that's okay!  I tied a bunch of safety pins to the other end so the noodles won't fall off as she strings them on.

So proud of this one!  I made the red head first for Zoe and then the brown haired one for a friend who is about to have a baby.  There is nothing like giving a homemade gift and I think this is the most proud I've been of anything I've made so far...especially since I've never considered myself a seamstress!  Here is the tutorial for the body and you can easily find the tutorials for the hair, face and clothes on the same blog (Quaint and Quirky)

 Just a fun picture of Owen eating a chocolate chip cookie on a hot day...he ate the whole thing and then said in a daze, "More!"

An afternoon with Zoe's favorite teacher, Jen...while falling asleep last week, Zoe told me that she "felt in her heart" that she wanted to invite Jen over so she could show her our playground.  I warned her that although she would most definitely want to come, she may not be able to and Zoe said "It's okay..I mean, I  would be disappointed and might cry, but then that would be over...I just want to ask...please Mommy, can you just ask?"  How could I not just ask.  So, I did and Jen accepted the invitation!  She brought along her daughter, Edie ("Mommy, did you know that Jen has a daughter in high school?") and the two of them graciously spent an afternoon with us watching Zoe quietly zip around as fast as she could in an effort to show them all of her skilz as fast as humanly possible.  Jen even topped off the visit by doing one of Zoe's yoga videos along with her.  Jen is awesome, and so is Children's House Preschool.  We are so, so grateful.

With the warm weather comes....water play!  The sprinkler system turned back on the other day (or they were testing it or something) and Zoe ran around Smiley Court, sprinkler hoppin'.

 ...we also got a new water table for our patio and I think it's going to be a hit this summer...

...last but not least...for 20 minutes at lunchtime today, Zoe didn't allow me to enter the kitchen.  She didn't want to tell me what she was up to, but at one point came into the living room and said "Mommy, will you come open the peanut butter and jelly jars, but DON'T LOOK AT THE PLATES."  She called me in when she was done and this is what I found:

The last time I'd seen it, a half hour earlier, the table was covered in junk.  I looked around the kitchen in amazement as I realized that not only had she made all three of us perfect little lunches, but there was not a spot of peanut butter or jelly on the counters...there were no crumbs anywhere and everything was put away in it's rightful place.  She amazes me more and more every day...

Phew!  There you go, now I'm all caught up!