Easy Alternative to the Baby Book

I saw a picture like this done on Pinterest and knew I wanted to do them for my girls.  I think it is a good way to keep track of changes through the years.  Especially if you are like me and maybe haven't filled out your kids' baby books.

Gwendolyn had a big birthday.  She had the party at Chuck E. Cheese and a family party at my cousin's pool where she had a rainbow cake and loads of family and friends around her.  And this weekend we are celebrating June and July birthdays on my mom's side of the family so she has another birthday party.  Then hopefully we will get back to our regular schedule and do more off of our summer fun list.

Linking up with Paper Mama's Best Shot, Photostory Friday, McDougall's Fabulous Friday and Company Girl Coffee

Fruitcake Summer Fun

Summer is here!  With that brings lots of spare time (at least for the girls, my time is pretty much the same), and it could lead to watching too much TV and general boredom.  I wanted some sort of a guide to keep us busy and having fun, and something so everyday doesn't seem just like the last one.  So I came up with a few ideas and got many more ideas from around the internet and pinterest.  

My criteria for the list was pretty simple.  I like it cheap or free.  I like if both my girls can participate: they are almost 2 and almost 5 years old, having them read a chapter book or write a fan letter on their own isn't really feasible.  If there are too many instructions period, they aren't going to get into it.  We have a good library in town that offers plenty of summer programs we will participate in, but the nearest zoo or children's museum is over an hour away.  So keeping it simple and close to home is best.  

Tee-ball and soccer are over, but the girls are signed up for story-times one day a week and I figure we will try to go the the pool once or twice a week, and our local movie theater shows morning movies twice a week for $2 a ticket so we might try that.   All that means we may only need a couple things a week to do to keep us busy, having fun, and not watching hours and hours of Blue's Clues in a sitting.

I'm planning on putting our list on the refrigerator and making sure we have stuff on hand to do at least two of them at all times.  Sounds like a good enough plan, right?

1.  at home dance party
2.  jump rope
3.  family movie night
4.  go to the library
5.  Go to the movies
6.  backyard swim party
7.  yoga day
8.  computer games
9.  go to the splash pad
10.  make smoothies
11.  play dress up
12.  car wash
13.  run through sprinklers
14.  build a fort
15.  go on a nature walk
16.  go to a parade
17.  fireworks show
18.  blow bubbles
19.  tea party
20.  watermelon
21.  water balloons
22.  go to the farmer's market
23.  celebrate an unbirthday
24.  family picnic
25.  sidewalk chalk art  

26.  have a cookout
27.  donuts!
28.  eat snow cones
29.  paint
30.  make ice cream
31.  make popsicles
32.  stargazing
33.  play frisbee
34.  make a playhouse with a big box
35.  make lemonade
36.  family game night  
37.  make homemade playdoh
38.  build a sandcastle
39.  pizza party!
40.  make rootbeer floats
41.  go to the zoo
42.  banana split party
43.  feed ducks
44.  make greeting cards for the year (valentines day, st patricks day, easter, 4th of july, thanksgiving, christmas, birthdays)
45.  paint pottery

46.  smores

47.  luau

48.  go to the park

49.  tie-dye t-shirts

50.  go on a photo walk

Linking up for company girl coffee

Who's Clues? Blue's Clues

1.)  Maggie and Gwendolyn have found a new love of Blue's Clues thanks to Netflix.  They have watched a ridiculous amount of it over the past two weeks.  Maggie was playing with her cars and trucks the other day and got so excited and came to me holding her truck and screaming "Lou's Lues!! Lou's Lues!!" Yep, she found a clue!  I'm seriously considering hiding blue paw prints all over the house for her to find because she was so excited over the paw print she found.  I'm just trying to come up with what the clues might be cluing her into, but she is not quite 2 so she might not care to have the clues lead her to anything.
2.) I am also trying to come up with fun things to do this summer.  Gwendolyn got used to a more structured day when she was at school and I am afraid if I don't have ideas for us ready, she (we) will wind up watching way too much television.  We will, of course, be going to the library for story time and the summer reading program.  And we will be going to the pool as often as we can.  I'm thinking we will have special picnics, bubbles, run through the sprinklers, make snowcones days.  I have several lists saved to my Pinterest and will hopefully make my list for the refrigerator next week.
2b.) Does anyone need/ want a Pinterest invite?  Drop me your email if you'd like one and I'll get you one.
3.)  I have a tiny tomato growing in my garden!!  I am terribly excited, but now I am looking at any birds or squirrels in the backyard as potential enemies who want to eat my harvest.  3b.)  I'm starting to wonder if I need tomato cages.  I don't really know what they are or why you use them, but I saw them at Home Depot.3c.)  I also have a mystery plant growing in one of my squares.  I'm not sure how it got there either since it is a raised bed that I put new soil in.  It looks a little like my squash plants I have growing, but not exactly.  I'm trying to decide whether to pluck it out so it doesn't steal nutrients from plants I know I want to survive  or just let it grow and see what comes of it.  I should add that last spring/ summer my husband and I carefully transplanted a tree from our back yard to the front yard, only to find out at the end of summer we were caring for a weed.
4.)  I'm not entirely sure why I thought I needed to add that, but it seemed tangentially related to how I garden/ grow my plants.  
5.)  I almost went all "Office Space" on my computer this week while I was trying to install actions into my photoshop elements.  I got so frustrated I was tearing up, and finally handed over my computer to my husband and saw that it was actually a more involved process and not like anything I have had to do before so I didn't feel as bad.  It actually took my husband three times before we figured out exactly how to do it. I think it was a combination of I don't know how to use pse, never installed an action, am using a new, more touchy laptop.  But it is mostly done now so I can work learning how to use it.  You know, in my spare time.  ;) 
linking up to Company girl coffee and saturday confessions

Last Day of Pre-K

I posted yesterday about it being Gwendolyn's last day of pre-K, and then Blogger went down, and now that post is missing.  So I will just repeat myself and apologize to anyone who might have read it the first go round.  Honestly though, I don't remember what all I said, so maybe this time will be more poignant or clever.  It is possible, it could happen.

Gwendolyn's last day of pre-K was Thursday.  The school year flew by and I can't believe it is over.  (And I can't believe that she will be starting kindergarten in three months.  What happened to my baby!)  Although we had not intended on sending her to preschool, it worked out and benefited all of us:  Allowing us to get used to school routines and new social interactions.  We really lucked out and had fantastic teachers and a school that allowed her to grow and blossom this year.

When I picked her up from school yesterday, her teacher put her in the car and buckled her in then whispered in her ear.  I heard Gwendolyn whisper, "I love you too" back.  Then as we were pulling out of the parking lot, she took a deep breath and her little voice was shaking and her lower lip was quivering and she said "I just hope Miss Rhonda and Miss Nancy and all my friends will remember me."

Just about broke my heart.

Gwendolyn's first day of school, September 2010

Linking up to Company Girl Coffee and Photostory Friday

The days are long, but the years are short.

source

These days I could even change that to the days are long, but the weeks are short.  My days feel excruciatingly slow and I try to just get through them without any incidents, without losing my temper, crying, or yelling, without forgetting anything, trying to get at least the bare minimum done around the house, and something fun or special to do with the girls.

Weeks, months and years are flying by though.  It is already time to register Gwendolyn for kindergarten, I have no idea how she is already almost 5 years old.  She only has two weeks of preschool left though it feels like she only started a couple weeks ago.  Tee-ball (t-ball?) practice has started, games start next week, the soccer season is half over already.  Maggie is potty training and saying words here and there (She started saying "Love you" or "looloo" this week), but she is still a baby to me.  I was looking at pictures for a couple years ago and last week and see how much Keary's hair is thinning and how obvious my silver streak has become (the lady who cuts my hair told me it looks like I have highlights so I hadn't been trying to cover it.  Sufficed to say, she was just blowing smoke up my butt.).

I know that part of my warped time perception is related to being a stay-at-home mom, and another part is related to how stressful thing things have been since Grandy's stroke and hospitalizations.  I remember my Pampaw telling me when I was seven or eight that when you get old and the older you get, the faster time seems to go by.  I don't think that he would have been referring to my nearing thirty as old or older though.  Maybe relative to my seven year old self though.

Linking up to Rachel Anne for Company Girl Coffee.

My So-Called Life

When I saw My So-Called life was available on Netflix instant que, I immediately saved it.  I remember liking it when I was in seventh or eighth grade or whenever it aired. I related to the main character, Angela Chase.  She was socially awkward, had ridiculous parents, and just wanted to fit in somewhere in high school and get the boy of her dreams' attention.  They might as well named her Danyelle.  Plus there was Jordan Catalano and his beautiful, dreamy eyes you could just stare into.  Soon I settled in to watch and relive all of it.

Somethings it is better to just remember.  I spent the entire time watching and wishing Jordan would get a haircut or at minimum, keep the hair out of his eyes.  Why did Angela like him anyway?  He was a jerk to her, didn't go to class and didn't seem to care whether he had a future.  He pressured her to have sex then broke up with her when she didn't, if you can even call it breaking up if they never went on a date.  And Angela, oh my gosh!  She was obnoxious to her parents and sulked around.  She was so lost in her own thoughts most the time that she seemed high.  But at least she was still easy to relate to since she was vulnerable and awkward.  The grown up me kinda wants to shake her and tell her that the life she was living isn't so bad and "so-called" and to just make better decisions.  

I also wonder how she turned out.   Did she ever get over Catalano and stand up to Rayanne? Did she ever realize that even though her parents might seem lame, they still had her best interests at heart?  What about Krakow?  Did she ever stop trying so hard to be different and just be herself?  Has she grown out of her socially awkward phase or is she still working on it like I am?  

So many questions and I could go on.  But really, going on about fictional characters from a show from over 15 years ago?  I'd rather tend to things in my own life and embrace it, not act like it is something lame and refer to it as "so-called".  This is my life, the mundane and the exciting and sometimes, as the mom, I have to find ways to make the mundane interesting and exciting.

(Now I'm totally singing Bon Jovi's It's My Life.  That just takes you to the lyrics, in case you don't want to watch the video. If you don't know the song, you should click over because the lyrics are quite applicable here too.)

I want to be here and present for my life and for my girls to remember growing up fondly, not just "hey, we did this and Mom was there too."   I also want them to be able to look back at pictures and actually see me there.  It isn't going to really matter 20 or 40 years from now if my hair needed to be colored or cut or my eyebrows were in serious need of being waxed or if I appear to have a double chin or big butt.  It is going to matter and help to see me there, smiling, participating and being me with my family and friends.  So I am linking up with Emily Anderson and Embrace the camera and posting a picture of the girls and me participating in our every day life, playing outside, and apparently not getting pictures of all of Maggie's face.  (In my defense, look at her eyes, she clearly wasn't wanting her picture taken either.)

Also linking up with Rachel Anne and the Company Girls.

Company Girl Coffee: Hanging in there

We are hanging in there.  I wrote last week about needing to find patience and lacking any feelings of peace last week.  Things are all pretty much in the same state:  Grandy is still in the hospital, we still have a zillion things around the house to do, t-ball still hasn't started.  Major difference is I am feeling okay about all of it.  Things are slowly getting done.  Grandy is still in the hospital, but she is getting the care she needs.  T-ball starts this week and Gwendolyn (so far) enjoys practicing it in the backyard.  Things aren't happening fast or all better, and this all isn't to say that there hasn't been more thrown at us this week, but we are hanging in there and feeling okay about all of it.

Maggie's fortune this week read: Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots.  Do with that what you will I guess. 

We have a big weekend planned: petting zoo in the morning then a soccer game then a 1st birthday party then a cookout then dinner out for my grandmother's birthday.  I'm kinda tired just thinking about all of it.

How are you?  Any plans for the weekend?

Linking up with Rachel Anne and the Company Girls

Company Girl Coffee: Patience

This was Maggie's fortune the other night.  Grammar aside, it probably should have been my fortune.  Or at least it should have been directed at both Maggie and me.  Maggie is a toddler though, and as such, people expect her to be impatient at least to some degree.  I, on the other hand, am far from toddler-aged.

I'm impatient waiting to hear from Gwendolyn's coaches about when her t-ball and soccer will begin and who her coaches are.  I'm impatient with Keary and myself because there are 1012 projects around the house I want completed yesterday; yeah, even if I haven't fully made the exact decisions and plans, I just want it all completed and settled.  I'm impatient with the people in charge of Grandy's care because I want her to be better already; it has been almost 5 months since she had her stroke and she had to go back to the hospital last week for med changes, monitoring, and I don't know what all and all I really know is that the doctor said is that he thinks this may be as good as she gets and I took that about as well as a punch in the gut.  I'm impatient with myself because I want to learn how to use my camera and take better pictures already, but I know that is an ongoing process, not to mention a rabbit hole because once I am semi-satisfied with taking pictures, then I'll want to process and edit them well too and then it'll be something else.

I really need to have more patience with myself and everyone else but particularly myself since I am harder on my self than anyone else.

Here was Gwendolyn's fortune.



It says "Grant yourself a wish this year; only you can do it."  Sounds like a plan (or maybe half a plan) to me.

What wish would you grant yourself?  Are you a naturally patient person?

I'm linking up with Rachel Anne and the Company Girls for coffee.  Feel free to join us.

Posing Giraffes

I have spent 15 minutes sitting here, looking at the screen, trying to find my words.  I considered posting about a book I just read, but I like to have more personal entries for Fridays when I link up with Rachel Anne and the Company Girls.  Then I considered a post about my frustration with rarely getting time to myself, and I'd just rather put a pin in that and look for better perspective.  The most obvious choice would be just posting about my  Thursday which is into the day of the week that guarantees all hell breaks loose, but I am still processing all of it. We are all okay, it is just mentally draining.

So I started looking through my pictures from earlier this week at the zoo.  I took 100+ pictures, but I kept coming back to the pictures I took of the giraffes.  I've always had a thing for giraffes: they are so beautiful and manage to appear simultaneously awkward and graceful.  My Grandy got me a signed print with personal regards from the artist of this Frace print for my high school graduation.  The string of pictures I took are by no means perfect, but it made me so happy to capture them.

I was snapping away, watching the giraffes.  When I walked up, they were all actually standing at the wall watching the zookeepers next door talk and clean. But I was snap, snap, snapping (pictures, not my fingers- that would be rude). Then suddenly, two of the giraffes took notice of me.

(Like I said the pictures aren't perfect.  The giraffes aren't in focus well, and the baby giraffe kissed his lips at me as I shot, making his head more blurry.)  Just the capture makes me smile though.

Then they started walking toward me.

And she (he?) came and stood right in front of me and posed.  Ha!  Seriously made my day.





Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Spring Break

Despite my efforts, I'm not sure Gwendolyn ended up having the most fun or exciting Spring Break.  We may have just squeeked out ahead... maybe.

We started off strong Monday with strawberries, fruit dip, and dancing in the kitchen.  Then spent Tuesday in our pajamas, watching movies and playing outside.  So far so good.

Wednesday served us our first definitely not cool spring break point when we went to the library like we do every Wednesday for story time, only to find there was no story time.  No instead of story time, there was real life circus clowns. I've had a life-long distrust of clowns.  I'm not afraid of them really but am definitely creeped out by them.  And Gwendolyn seems to have inherited my feelings for clowns; she wouldn't even go in the doorway of the room they were performing.  So much a fun spring break activity.  Maggie, on the other hand, thought the clowns were great.  She hooted and hollered and laughed and clapped for them.

I tried to make up for the morning with a trip to Chic-Fil-A and succeeded when Gwendolyn saw the cow was there.  Apparently, clowns are creepy, but cows walking on their hind legs and dressed in clothes dancing around an eating establishment is super cool.  Good to know.

Then when Keary got home Wednesday evening, he brought out a kite for the girls to fly.  I thought it was pretty neat since I had never before flown a kite.  The girls were only briefly impressed by it.  Still I'm thinking the kites, cows, and chic-fil-a made up for the clowns and saved the day.

We spent Thursday at Grandy's sitting with her.  Unfortunately, she was having a rough day and was extra anxious.  It was a trying day for all of us.  My Auntie came over in the late afternoon though and gave Gwendolyn a manicure/ pedicure, then took her and Grandy to see my cousin play tennis.  Gwendolyn came home around ten last night (Keary says, honestly I was long asleep) saying she had fun.

Today Keary worked a half day, then took Gwendolyn to lunch and the movies.  She had been wanting to go to McDonald's for a couple months and we just don't eat there.  So Keary thought he would treat her to that before going to see Gnomeo and Juliet.  She said the movie was good, but she "really wanted to go to the zoo."  Oh well, we were planning on going there Monday anyways.

So there was our week and my efforts at making the best of a spring break when we had no real plans.  I think we did okay and her spring break turned out pretty well.

Linking up to Rachel Anne for Company Girls Coffee

What a week

What a week! I don't think I have ever been quite so happy to see the end of the week.  Especially considering we have no big plans for the weekend.

I developed a persistent cough Sunday night.  No big deal, just a cough.  Then Monday I took the girls and went to sit with Grandy for a few hours.  By the time I got home, I was exhausted, but attributed it to the fact that keeping a constant eye and direction on the girls and Grandy can be exhausting.  Then the fever and chills set in.

Tuesday Keary had to stay overnight out of town for work and I was still sick.  I felt horrible and finally turned a movie on for Gwendolyn and told her she could watch tv, but I needed to go lay down.  Wednesday I didn't feel any better so we stayed home and missed storytime.  The girls acted wonderfully while I was sick and Keary was out of town though.  They entertained themselves and played so well together.

My fever finally broke Wednesday afternoon.  Keary came home Wednesday evening and I don't think I have ever seen the girls be so happy to see anyone.  They ran and embraced him then clung to him and wouldn't let him go.

I know Keary felt bad about being out of town while I was sick, but we did okay.  Chances are, with Keary's new job, he will be staying overnight out of town at least once every other week, and sometimes the girls or I are going to be sick while he is gone so we need to be able to deal.  And all things considering, I think we did fine.

I'm hoping I haven't passed my germs on the Keary or the girls and we can relax and play this weekend.  Today we are sitting with Grandy again and I imagine I will be watching to see the news from the earthquake in Japan and the aftermath of the tsunamis.  And when I am watching the news, my fever and cough doesn't seem so big and bad at all.  

Keary's 30th Birthday and Why My Hair is Getting Even Grayer

Keary's 30th birthday was Saturday.  I had originally thought about throwing him a big party, I had even decided on a Dr.Who theme with a TARDIS cake.  But then a couple days after my Grandy had a stroke, we found out that Keary would very likely be layed off from his job in February.  Not exactly the time you need to spend extra money. We ended up deciding to get a babysitter and go to dinner with friends, still a big deal (for us) and not something we do pretty much ever.

We went to dinner with Keary's best friend since third grade and his wife.  The same friends whose wedding I missed because I woke up in labor with Gwendolyn the morning of but sent Keary on since he was the best man.  Much to everyone's awe, I later showed up at their reception, still in labor, but they weren't close enough or in the window my doctor had told me to go to the hospital for.  This is all a whole other story to tell someday though.

We went to dinner and laughed until we had tears streaming down our faces, listening to Cliff and Keary tell stories from their childhood, teenage, and early adulthood years.  Stories involving them growing and maturing, and others with them being young and stupid. We laughed and laughed until I mentioned that soon, our kids likely will be doing the same.  "That has been my silent fear for the past 5 years, " Keary said.

Anyway, we had a great night out.  I'm lightly kicking myself for not taking any pictures, but I experienced the night instead of sitting behind the lens.

This week Keary started a new job too so we have been trying to get accustomed to the new schedule.  He is working a Monday through Friday day job for the first time ever.  It is taking a bit to get used to, but I think once we find our groove we will like it.

I'm linking up with Company Girls for the second week.  Rachel Anne has challenged us to make a baked good from scratch sometime this week.  I'm thinking about making my Grandy's Oatmeal Macaroons.

OATMEAL MACAROONS

7 c. oats (Old fashioned)                                                                                                                                 2 c. flour (all purpose)                                                                                                                                      2 c. sugar                                                                                                                                                       2 c. brown sugar                                                                                                                                             4 eggs                                                                                                                                                          2 tsp baking soda                                                                                                                                           1 tsp salt                                                                                                                                                        2 c. coconut ( I always leave oatmeal out and they turn out fine.)                                                                        1 tbsp vanilla                                                                                                                                                 2 c. margarine (melted)                                                                                                                             Optional:  Chocolate chips, raisins, nuts.  

 Mix together in a large bowl.  Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.  Store in airtight containers