white picket fence

ragamuffins.

Before I had children of my own, I never spent a lot of time with really little kids. I saw my nieces sometimes, and I babysat a little when I was in high school, but basically, I only saw kids in passing. And I hate to say it, but I honestly thought the cute and tidy kids I saw on TV or in magazines were pretty true to life. Yeah. Dumb. 

Kids are DIRTY. We just get SO DIRTY all the time. And I know I wrote about this before, but I just can't get over it. The three of us are like Pig-Pen, the character from the Peanuts cartoons who's always enveloped in a cloud of dust. But guess what? I really, truly, do not mind. I want my kids to have fun and I'm pretty sure kids think dirt=fun. 

So this is us. Dirty, snotty, messy haired. . . but still cute! 

Real life. 

I love the kids faces in this and I even kind of love that I didn't quite make it into the photo. 

And poor Norah. Who can blame her for being gross all the time? She's in that exploratory 1 year old stage; she wants to go everywhere, touch everything. The blooming tulips and new hostas are too tempting for her NOT to crawl through a bed of mud and leaves. 

Though I am happy to say that pretty soon after these photos were taken, I decided giving everyone a long bath would be the best use of our time, so the kids went to bed all clean and shiny and happy. Post-bath squeaky clean kids are pretty cute too. 

smarch!

This past month will forever be remember by me as Smarch. Smarch = summer March. 

Sometimes we went outside in the morning before we even changed out of our pajamas, and some mornings the kids got so dirty they needed baths by 8:30 am. Norah's hands and knees were stained brown from crawling around in the grass. I feel like we were in constant Ragamuffin mode: dirty, barefoot, trailing mud into the house. We chatted with our neighbors, went on walks, looked at bugs, listened to the birds, poked around in the dirt. That's summertime.

And it's times like these I wouldn't trade my life as a stay at home mom for any office job. I feel so lucky to able to take advantage of beautiful days and live in nature a little more, and encourage my kids to do the same. (Poor Norah, she's already tired of being inside for the cold and wet days of the past week. She spends a lot of time pointing at the door and crying.) 

friday afternoons

Let's count the number of things in these pictures that are probably not ideal. Bed not made. Kids hanging out in parents bed. Kids watching TV. Book on bed indicates I probably wasn't paying full attention to kids at some point. Boy drinking a soda (it's an IZZE though, so really. . . that's not a biggie, right?). Boy drinking a soda in bed. Baby precariously crawling on bed while mom holds camera. 

BUT. It also looks like they are having fun. So that's alright by me. And let's be real. . . sometimes by Friday afternoon the week has worn me out and the only remedy is piling us all into the big bed to watch PBS kids shows and just decompress for a while. Right?

february recap

Let's not talk about how it's already March 8 and I'm still talking about February, okay? Oookay. 

A little shopping. For as many tops or skirts I have from Anthropologie, I've never been able to find a dress there that actually fits, is flattering, and seems worth the 3 digit price tag. I did end up with a cute sweater though. 

Thrifted sheet fabric, soon to be part of some new art journal packs in my etsy shop. 

I assigned myself some memory work as part of my Lenten daytime internet fast, something to take up time I usually spend online. A psalm a week seemed like a doable amount but I'm behind already. My confirmation memory skills have obviously declined since I was 13. 

Kids on the Amtrak on our way to Minneapolis. Our weekend there was so fun, we enjoyed walking around downtown, and of course seeing all my family at the wedding was fantastic. Oh, my family! All so funny and quirky and comforting to be around. I wish we didn't live so far away. (I do highly recommend Amtrak for medium-length trips with little kids. It was amazingly better than being stuck in the car for 8 hours, and you know David just went nuts for it.)

One, or rather two, downers about the trip: I took most of my photos on my iPod. . . . which I left on the train on the way home. Bummer. And we're pretty sure Mike's iPod was stolen sometime in the train station. Bad weekend for our family's technology collection. 

My paper Valentine's Day garland, which was left up for weeks after Valentine's Day. I really liked it though. And guess what? I'm an adult, I own this place, and I can do whatever I want. Boom! to that. 

ragtag

Sometimes I feel like being a stay at home mom aggravates all my worst scattered, unfocused, wander-y tendencies. It takes effort to stay on task and make things happen. Some weeks are better than others, and some weeks I just can't help it. This week, well, me and the kids are kind of a ragtag band of misfits. 

We joined a gym recently and I'm actually really excited about it. I don't know if it's just maturing, or getting more invested in roller derby, but I've finally realized it's time I started working out a bit. Plus, you know, it doesn't hurt that the kids are members too and there's free childcare. Can I get a big HOO RAY? 

But the segue here is. . . both kids got sick after just a few hours in the gym day care. Of course. Norah's nose is like a little faucet and David was up late last night with the most awful-sounding croupy cough. And my poor un-exercised body was pretty sore after a "cardio boxing" class. So we've been laying low, staying home, having quiet playtime, making soup, and trying to keep both kids from poking/kicking/stealing toys from/annoying each other. 

I don't want to get too cooped up, so I'm hoping I can get the boy to actually put some pants on soon (as you can see, he is not a big fan of pants this days) and exit the house today. I'm thinking of taking a stack of quarters to Goodwill and seeing what cheap thrills we can find. Then hopefully, hopefully, everyone will fall asleep on the way home and I'll be able to spend a little time finding some focus. Wish me luck.

projects & parenting

A few little peeks into the projects taking up my time this week. 

I wonder why it is that I can go weeks and months without delving into any creative projects, and then all the sudden: a deluge.  At night I have dreams about old houses full of vintage collections, and working on massive sculptures and art installations (one particularly exciting dream had me carving a beluga whale out of a giant piece of fruit.) I spend my days waiting for the in-between moments where I can rush off to work on a file, or cut & glue some paper, or clean out a cabinet.

Plus I'm sure David is loving it, since frankly, he's watched more videos this week than he did all last month combined. I don't really mind though. In my new life as a non-office working mom, I've been noticing the patterns of our days, and it seems like our routines change often but gradually. We may have a lot of "screen time" one week, but it might be followed by a week of playdates, classes, and errands. I think it keeps us all balanced, too. I love routine but anything too strict is stifling. These days of productivity for me and downtime for the kids feels right, for right now. 

2011, in a single photo

These two are my bright shining lights.

Here's to 2011 and an even better 2012.

truck stops and sleeping toddlers

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen some of these already. But I couldn't resist posting them here too. I feel like the instagram format works really well with road trip photos. 

On our way to my parent's this weekend, we took a break from driving at the Iowa 80 Truckstop (world's largest!) If you're not fortunate enough to pass this place dozens of times a year like we do, know that it's the King of All Truck Stops. And we've come to appreciate it so much more now that we have a small boy traveling with us. It's a welcome respite from being cooped up in the car, and there are tons of interesting things for the kids to look at while stretching our legs. In the back there's a huge truck parts and accessories shop; it's fascinating. 

Mike on the moving truck platform (it spins the truck around in a circle.) David was very concerned about this. "Daddy! Get off of there!"

Norah and I, reflected in the surfaces of various shiny truck parts. 

There was a display of at least 50 steering wheels. 

The boy. (I think this is my favorite shirt of his.)

That big white thing is the spoke of a wind turbine. They look crazy humongous when you see them up close. 

On the way home, exhausted from the day of presents and running around like crazy with his cousins. 

We had such a wonderful Christmas with our families. I'm holding it close for right now and don't want to write about it really, other than to say, I am so so blessed to have the family I do. 

I hope you had a joyful Christmas too, friends. 

little pieces of December

We're having a quiet month here. I know everyone talks about how intense December is, but for low-key me and my small children, we're keeping it pretty chill these days. We just hang around the house, run small errands, go to the library, watch movies (Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas has been a surprising hit with the boy.) I'm intensely grateful that the kids are too small still for school holiday activities. 

My refrigerator happiness.

David's refrigerator happiness (magnetic Nativity Play set).

Current reading stack. Yes, it's mostly cookbooks. And yes, I realize this makes me seem like the ultimate lame housewife. I don't know, I just haven't had the heart for fiction in a while. I tried to read the latest Jonathan Franzen and I sort of felt like he was phoning it in and the characters weren't compelling and it was too long. This coming from someone whose favorite books also function as doorstops, so . . . yeah. I stopped halfway through and I usually hate doing that. 

I have been listening to Tina Fey's Bossypants audiobook, though, and thoroughly enjoying it. It keeps me company in the kitchen on the quiet afternoons when the kids take long naps. And I know, it's such a cliche for a girl like me (brown hair, glasses, kinda funny, kinda smart) to say "Tina Fey! She's just like me!" but I definitely felt that a lot while listening to the book. 

The kid's new favorite activity: hanging out in Norah's crib together. Most adorable thing ever. 

(insert picture of potty training here. I have some cute ones but I feel a little icky posting those on the web, even if they're tasteful or don't show anything. . . you know what I mean?)

So, potty training. I swore up and down before I had kids I would never share this kind of info on the web, but it's been a big part of our life the past few weeks, so here it is. One morning I woke up and decided our almost 3 year old is really too big for diapers. And we went cold turkey. And you know what? It was a huge success. I'm glad I waited because David caught on fast. It's been about 2 and a half weeks and we are officially diaper-free! The unexpected bonus of potty training? We spent so much time in the bathroom that first week that my hair, makeup, and eyebrows have never been better groomed. 

That's been our month. And of course we couldn't be more excited about the next few days of Christmas happiness. 

happy advent

Fra Angelico, The Annunciation

It's finally time. Finally time to break out the sparkly lights. To cue up Handel's Messiah, Johnny Cash's Personal Christmas Collection, and Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas (all three of which are my favorite Christmas albums, all three of which make me cry every year without fail). Time for coffee and gingerbread cookies for breakfast, without a trace of guilt. 

But technically. . . it's not really Christmas now. It's Advent. A time to wait, and think, and hope. I'm kind of a curmudgeon in some ways. Every year I get more and more anxious about money and materialism and gift giving and what all that means. Every year I'm more and more convinced that it's not about presents or music or even Candy Cane Joe-Joes, as delicious as they may be. And don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging any sugarplum visions. I currently have full virtual shopping carts littered all over the internet. There will most likely be more than one gift under the tree marked "To: Me, From: Me." And between the three cookie-eating members of our family, we've already gone through a whole box of those Joe-Joe's.

But I want to make sure that it's more than that too. More than just wordly things. I want Advent and Christmas for our family to mean growth, kindness, and peace. To be about waiting for the baby Jesus in the manger. And being like Mary who "treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." So that's my hope for this Advent season.