Life As We Know It

Maya the Songbird

My girl fancies herself to be a pretty fantastic singer.  She tries to clap, slaps her legs, and has a few sweet dance moves to go with her songs.  I think she's on her way to becoming the next American Idol!  Here is a sampling:

 

Christmas!! Part Two...

The fun continued!

There was:

Decorating ourselves.

Cookie baking (not as much as I had hoped, but some!).  This is Sam, post-haircut.

Watching Charlie Brown Christmas in bed.

Dressing the baby up for our enjoyment...how funny is this?

Making a gingerbread house with Grammy.

Crafting fun gifts.

I think Christmas Eve and Christmas will have to wait until tomorrow...I am tired.  Goodnight.

Christmas!! Part One...

We have had one awesome December!  Sam was at the perfect age this year...he was so jazzed about Christmas.  The Christmas season officially began when we went to cut down our tree.  Here is the tree Sam picked out.  A little too big.  Maybe that's why he looks grumpy.

I actually cut down the tree holding the baby and a cup of coffee!

No really, this guy actually cut down the tree.

With Sam's help...

Then we got out the decorations.  Sam was beside himself with excitement.  You could hear him saying things like, "these ornaments are SO BEAUTIFUL.  I just don't know how to stop loving them!"  For a while, he would hug the tree every morning when he woke up. 

Maya thoroughly enjoyed the festivities.

Our community center has a breakfast with Santa, so (one of) the kids got all dressed up to go. 

Breakfast with Santa was pretty fun.  Sam was not to into sitting on Santa's lap, but Maya could have hung out with the big guy all day long.  There was also a few kids from a high school choir singing Christmas carols and Maya sang right along (really loudly!). 

The fun will continue in the next post...

 

What's going on around here

Yes, we are still alive...I am just busy beyond belief!

I thought this term at school would start off kind of easy, but then a bunch of stuff fell in my lap and filled my schedule right up!  I am coordinating a peer mediation program at an elementary school, interning as a process consultant for an undergrad "Conflict in Sports Teams" class, took a weekend class on dialogue across difference, am volunteering this week at the CADRE (National Center on Dispute Resolution in Special Education) Symposium where I am hoping to network my way into an internship! 

Plus I am still a mom to a 5 month old and a three year old!  This is where my amazing husband comes in.  Brian is currently on leave and staying home with Maya.  Sam is in school 3 days a week.  Brian ROCKS as a stay at home dad.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about going back to school.  I mean Maya is a baby and I am her mom...mom's are kind of important.  But Brian has really stepped up to the plate.  He takes awesome care of our baby, brings her to me at school so that I can nurse her, makes dinner every night, cleans, pays bills, signs Sam's field trip permission slips (and goes on the field trip!), has made two huge batches of applesauce this week, and on and on.  This is a crazy term for me at school and I'm pretty stressed at times, but having Brian home is making everything easier for me.  I love it!  I can't say enough how amazing he is.  It's also so nice to that he isn't stressed about work.  I wish he never had to go back to work.  When I get my high paying job, maybe he'll stay home then.  :-)

The first two weeks of Brian's stay at home gig, his Aunt Mary Ann was here.  It was awesome...I wish we would have recorded the way that Sam yelled "AUNT MAR-Y-ANN" up the stairs every morning.  She was incredibly helpful in our transition back to school.  It's the first time she's been here to visit and we can't wait for her to come back.

After that, Brian's parents were here for a week.  I barely got to see them because I was in busy every single day (except one) from morning until night...even on the weekend.  But Sam, Maya and Brian had a great time with them!

 Here's a few pictures from our hike and applesauce making last weekend.  It's been fairly beautiful fall weather lately...it's been awesome!

Inspiration

I am an avid blog reader...I admit it.  There are A LOT of blogs that I peruse periodically and a few that I look at almost daily.  Most of them revolve around food or creativity, but to me the people that write them offer more than that.  I admire that so many of these writers are so real on their blogs.  They really put themselves out there.  This authenticity has really inspired me to try live my life and raise my kids with a sense of genuinity (which I don't think is a real word, but hey, it's is in the "Urban Dictionary," so that counts).  It's hard to be real, especially in the society of perfectionism that we live in.  I struggle with every day.  But I believe it is worth it.

My point to all this rambling...yes, I have one.  I was reading one of those blogs today and was led to this TED talk:

 

This really spoke to me.  I thought that I would link it here in case it should speak to any of you.  Enjoy!

Week in the Life 2011 - Sunday

Last day of the Week in the Life!  I've definitely slacked more on taking photos the last couple of days.  It has proven to be a bit difficult to hold a baby and take pictures, but I think we've managed a good amount of photos for the week.

Today began a little late...pretty much because Maya was fussy and awake a lot this morning, so we fell back asleep until about 8:30.  Brian and the kids and Shasta ran over to the bagel store and came home with this.

Brian likes to get a bag of the day old bagels, but he got a latte for me.  Thank god.

Lyla from across the street came over with her dad.  Lyla is so sweet and actually smiles for the camera, while Sam is in the background running from the camera.  Those two then played in the backyard in the pool for the afternoon while I went to Teresa's baby shower!

Hey Judi...I got your picture on the blog!

The beautiful view from Sarah's deck and the delicious food.

I barely held Maya at all thanks to Jess and Danielle (otherwise known as the "baby whisperer" in our house)

After the shower, I can home and Sam was napping!  For those of you who know Sam's sleep habits, you know this is unusual.  He was having "rest time" in his room and told Brian he wanted his room dark.  Then he curled up on his bean bag chair and went to sleep!  Unbelievable.

After he woke up we made a little dinner and did our typical evening routine.  We did take the time to get an end of the week family portrait.  Brian set up the tripod and timer.  He are the results...

Thanks for spending the week with us! 

Week in the Life 2011 - Saturday

A few pictures + a few words = a good Saturday

Negotiating while making french toast.

Play date with Isaac!!

This filter on this picture  is called "1977" which is the year I was born.  I think this picture really looks like photos from when I was young.

I went out shopping for Teresa's baby shower on Sunday!

Sam got this in the mail today from Gigi and Poppy.  It is the coolest toy!  It's an airport that comes apart and folds up, so you can take it with you.  Thanks Poppy and Gigi!

Our street is a bike route, so friends often stop by when we are on our front porch.  Jeff was out running errands on his bike and stopped by to say hi and for a glass of water.

Wine tasting again!

We were on our way to the market to buy stuff to  make for dinner when we passed by Humble Beagle (our neighborhood restaurant).  Somehow we ended up inside even though we both said, "we shouldn't spend money on going out to eay again."

Week in the Life 2011 - Friday

Today got off to a late start (for me anyway).  Brian took Maya upstairs EARLY this morning because she was grunting non-stop and keeping me up.  Then Sam got up very early too.  He opened the door to our room, saw that Brian wasn't in bed, and proceeded to stand in the doorway and yell, "DAD!  Where are you?!" over and over.  After that, Brian did his best to keep them quiet so I could sleep. 

When I got out of the shower, I heard a baby screaming, a dog barking, a kid playing the drums on a tupperware container, and the Dan Patrick Show podcast playing.  I seriously considered getting back in the shower and never getting out.  

There was excitement in the air because today was a "Leo day" (aka, the day Sam gets to play with Leo  at his house). 

Off to Leo's!  Note the shirt hanging on the curtain rod and the pillow behind the curtain.  Sam has little "projects" like this all over the house.  So fun to clean up!

Everyone kind of went their separate ways for a while.  Sam to Leo's, Brian to the driving range, then home with Maya, me to a meeting at school...we mostly forgot to take pictures for a large part of the day.

While I was at my meeting, Brian folded the massive amount of laundry that needed folding.

I'm not sure if you can see, but the laundry spans all the way over to the kitchen counter.  We have so much laundry and Maya isn't even fitting into her cloth diapers yet!  I can't imagine what it will be like when we have to start washing those. Poor Brian usually ends up folding and it's not even his laundry.  He pretty much wears the same thing every day.  ;-)

After I got home Brian went to pick up Sam.

For some reason when Sam and Leo get together, the pants come off.

A day at Leo's house can really wear you out.

Maya checked out her new crib (which she has yet to sleep in) while we got ready to walk over to the wine store.

Frugal Friday wine tasting

Dinner outside on this lovely evening.

Picking some strawberries and blueberries for dessert.

Watching a little baseball in bed after bath, while I went to the store to try to get something to make the little ones tummy feel better.  She is a gassy one!

And off to bed...their room is slowly, but surely coming together.

See you tomorrow!

 

 

Week in the Life 2011 - Thursday

Every day seems to start with the sleep report...sleep (or lack there of) is a very big part of my life right now.  So last night, things were going really well.  Sam had been sleeping in his bed without a peep and Maya slept until 5:30 this morning.  I nursed Maya, then she fell back asleep.  Just as I was falling back to sleep, a little boy comes into our room, wide awake and ready to start his day.  He snuggled in our bed for a while, then I decided to get up with him around 7.  I am usually the one who stays in bed and Brian gets up with Sam, but today I thought "who needs more than 5 hours of sleep?!"

We actually had a lovely morning.

Started with some breakfast.  I even got to read the paper!  Sam had a waffle and yogurt and strawberries and I had oatmeal.  I'm sure that was an interesting detail that you were dying to know!  

While I was reading the paper, I hear "Mom!!  You HAVE to come see this!"  So, I go to see this amazing sight.  The sun was shining on these hydrangeas and Sam was saying, "the flowers are GLOWING!  These are GLOW flowers!"  It was all VERY exciting.

Sleeping beauties.

This was right after he tried to shove a bear puppet on her foot.  He insisted that she wanted it there.  Looks like he wore her right out. 

On another note, I was just lamenting that she wasn't really smiling much yet and sure enough, that very day she started smiling at me more.  The funny thing is that Maya will smile at me once in a while, but once she sees her brother, it's all grins.  I love that they already seem to have a special thing going on that Brian and I are not a part of.  It's sweet.

Later in the morning, Sam and I walked over to Amazon Park to see the Mad Duckling Children's Theatre's performance of Puss in Boots.  

Sammy amazingly sat completely still the whole time and giggled at the funny parts.  I really had a great time spending the morning with my little guy.  It's been a while since that's happened.

Then we went home and switched kids.  Brian took Sam to play disc golf with friends and Maya and I took it easy at home.  Brian forgot the camera and I didn't take any pictures, so fast forward to late afternoon.

The activity that consumes most of my days.

Look Scott, you wife made a cameo appearance on the blog!  Scott sent me a text this morning that this is his favorite week to be a blog stalker (he's one of our faithful readers), so I thought it was perfect that Jenn stopped by to drop off some gifts from her mom.

We were way too tired to make dinner tonight, so we went out to grab some food.  Everyone was in bed shortly after we got home and now I am headed there too.

This project has been fun so far this year!  I am going easy on myself and not worrying about writing everything down or taking pictures of everything.  Being a mom of two kids makes it easier to forgive my own imperfections.  This mom gig is an all consuming job! 

Thanks for reading! 

Week in the Life 2011 - Wednesday

Well, you would think that this day would have started out like yesterday considering we had two kids in our bed last night...another night of not so great sleep.  For some reason, though, I didn't wake up grumpy.  So here is what Wednesday looked like around here.

 

I love Shasta in this picture...the mornings are just too much for him to bear.

 

Celebrating after the last day of swimming lessons!

Taking my baby for a walk while the boys are at the pool.

Take a good look at that hair because it is about to be gone.

Waiting for the haircut, Sam notices that they have "special treats" at the salon.

Apparently when you tell the stylist that you want to keep it long, but have it trimmed a little, you get this...

Brian and I were a little sad...all that pretty hair is gone!  And he was looking so cute in his long, shaggy locks.  The good news is, the first haircut is free!

The other good news is that the salon is right next to the "ice cream store."

Pretty girl enjoying her trip to the ice cream store.

We stopped at Joe and Louisa's to drop off veggies from the CSA box that we share with them.  Sam thinks he owns the place.  He had all the pillows in the house on the couch for his pirate ship.  Then he needed Louisa to get a rag so that he could swab the deck.  Then he wanted berries.  Then he wanted juice.  The list goes on and on.  He is one lucky kid.

Daisy

David

Home for dinner.  Brian made onion rings...mmmmm.

A little after dinner jumping.

Books before bed.

And this day is over!  I am off to bed.