ALREADY!?!

OK. Can you believe it!?!? Not ONLY does Logan have his 5th birthday this week (the GALL of him to keep growing older and bigger!), but I just found out two scary things:

• He is eligible for LITTLE LEAGUE this summer!! T-Ball division, but LITTLE LEAGUE! That stuff is not for babies!
• Brace yourself... Kindergarten Registration begins in 15 days. 15 DAYS! Until my Baby Boy can be registered for Kindergarten!!!

I KNOW these are positive milestones, and I am VERY happy and proud that he is growing and thriving and really becoming quite a sweet, GOOD person. It is good that he is gaining more independence. I'm just not sure I am ready for all this. I LOVE that he and I have such a close bond, and I want to make sure we keep it that way. I know that it will just get harder and harder to stay SO close as he gets older. And YES, I am a Protective Mama, and it really does frighten me to send such a sensitive boy out there to be more and more independent. I need to do all I can to prepare him so that he can protect himself, while not losing his sweet and generous disposition. I've got to teach him well, and then pray like hell that the world is kind to him. Hopefully I have done a good job so far, and I am going to keep on doing it as long as I have breath in my body!

OK, there is my "Emotional Download." Now that I have unloaded that little bit of angst maybe I can get to sleep a little quicker and wake up refreshed another day to teach my babies and hold'em tight while they still let me!

My Sweetpea at 1 day old

Scavenger Hunt

Today the sun was shining (although it was very cold out) and I wanted to get the kids outside and get myself some exercise while we had the chance. Sunshiney days aren't too easy to come by in February in Oregon. So I told the kids we were headed out on a Scavenger Hunt, I made up a quick list of things to find, and off we went into the neighborhood!

 Starting out!

 Teamwork!

 Coley is showing off her marker

 Logan was in charge of marking off the items we found.

 Just cuteness.

 More girly cuteness.

 Paired with her new favorite coat - her brother's hand-me-down Mets coat.

 Jolly Roger!

 This is the kitty cat that came along for a part of our Scavenger Hunt.

 Coley, making sure the Kitty Cat was still following us.

 My big boy. How did he get so big?!?

 Love this one.

 Stopped for a rest.

Our Scavenger Hunt list at the end of our journey (called short because we were cold!).

Baby Steps

For a long time now I have wanted to have my own at-home business, where I can work from home, creating an income from my art. Well, according to our budget, NOW would be a great time to get some extra income! Not only do I want to do this for the income (since I do, of course, realize that the income will not be that substantial - especially at first), but I just need it for me. Making art and being creative is such an amazing outlet for me that I have largely ignored in recent years. Hmmm... I wonder what has kept me from it? Oh yeah, the two small children who take up 27 hours of my 24-hour day! :) Don't get me wrong, I ADORE being a stay-at-home mom; there is no place I would rather be. Which is exactly why I want to pursue a home business; something where I can set my own hours and still devote the majority of my time to the kiddos. BUT, as many of you know, being a SAHM is often exhausting and draining - physically, mentally and emotionally. Recharging yourself is essential in order to be the best Mom for your kids. You can't keep pouring out 100% of your energy day after day without replenishing, and expect to be able to give your best to your family. For me, one of the best ways to replenish is to be creative, artistically.

Larry is completely behind me on this idea of my own business, both for my monetary reasons and my sanity reasons :) So we are trying to take a little time once in a while for me to work in the office while he watches the kiddos, and treat it the same way we do when HE is in the office working. Mommy is not to be disturbed because she is working! Tried it out this weekend a little bit and it went pretty well. Obviously the kids are going to need to get used to it, and so am I! It is so hard to hear them right outside the office door and not help them out or tell Larry, "This is how we usually do it, try it this way..." They need to learn that Mommy's work time is important, and I need to learn to let them figure things out their own way - the kids AND the Daddy! But, at least the first baby steps have been taken on this new journey!

Oh yeah, and was I working on portraits, paintings, crafts, business plans, logos, branding, or PR during my work time in the office this weekend? No... I was making roller skate invitations for Logan's birthday party of course. Ah well, baby steps.

Ready, Set, Get Active!

It seems as if we are starting a flurry of activity this week! Busy, busy, busy! Coley, Logan and I are all beginning new fitness/sports classes this week, as well as a Fitness Challenge for myself! I guess January is just THAT time of year for this sort of thing, but it feels good to pull out of the winter blahs and get active.

Coley started her next session of pool class Saturday, and she is still loving it. Her favorite parts are jumping in to the pool from the deck, and walking around on her own two feet in the very shallow end (of course, if you know Coley you will not be surprised that her favorite parts are the ones where she gets to be independent!) It's really nice to have a class to do with just Coley; I am used to having both kids together. A little one-on-one structured activity with her is great, rather than the puttering around the house we usually do. :)

And that brings us to Mr. Logan. He has done swim classes for so long, but is taking a break this time. He swam in lessons pretty much non-stop between the ages of 6 months and 2 years, and has taken numerous classes since then, just not CONSTANTLY. So this time around, we gave him a few choices and let him pick his own class. From swimming, dance, and trampoline/tumbling he chose... Trampoline/Tumbling! He had his first class today and he absolutely loved it. He has been talking about it for days, and getting so excited about it. He woke up this morning and it was the first thing he said to me: "Mommy, my trampoline class is today!" It really seems like it will be a great class for my bouncing boy! They did some running, crab walking, mule kicks, Spiderman hand stands, somersaults, a trampoline/mat run, and jumped on a HUGE trampoline. I was so glad that they started right off with learning hand stands, because that is what he was most excited about. For the last week at least, he has been talking about learning to stand and walk on his hands at trampoline class!

And then there is me. Monday I just barely made the deadline to enter a Health and Weight Loss Challenge with a group of local ladies. I am tracking my calories on myfitnesspal.com, trying to get in lots of exercise, lots of fruits and veggies, lots of water... and hopefully in 4 weeks I will be a few pounds lighter and a few dollars richer (prizes awarded for weight loss, points earned, etc.). As some of you may know, I lost 72 pounds between last April and October on the Medifast plan, which was almost halfway to my goal of 150 pounds. Well, the Medifast plan got a BIT expensive, so we decided to give it a try the old-fashioned way ("we" = did I mention Larry did this with me and he lost 50 pounds as well?). Anyway, since going off of Medifast in the autumn I have gained back 11 pounds... ugghhh. So I would love to use this challenge to shed those 11 pounds again, and get a jumpstart on the other half of my goal.

In addition to this Challenge, tonight I started up another session of Belly Dance classes, which I just LOVE. Five years ago, if you had told me I would be belly dancing now, I would have thought you were crazy! Belly Dancing seems so "showy" and outgoing, and that is just not me. But I tried it, and I am now hooked. It may LOOK "exposed" or flashy (of course, this also depends on which style of belly dance you are watching), but what I have found is that it is really a very beautiful thing outwardly, but very meaningful and empowering inwardly. Hopefully I will gather some thoughts and do more of a coherent post on this later, but all I can say simply now is: I am more aware of my body when I am Belly Dancing: it's strength, abilities and beauty! Belly Dancing helps (immensely) to give me a better self-image, and I can literally feel myself standing taller and prouder because of it.

So that has been our week - full of exercise and activities and -now- tiredness!!

Mary Poppins was a Genius

Trying to find a movie that my son will watch is pretty tough. He is very sensitive, so anything with a bad guy or any kind of conflict will get him upset and he won't be able to continue watching. For instance, we tried to watch a Muppet Christmas movie last Christmas (2009). When Kermit found out that he might lose the theater, Logan freaked out. He was so sad for Kermit! Or when the reindeer tease Rudolph, he gets upset. Or when Buzz and Woody have an argument, he cries. He is just very "in tune" to any sort of emotional upset and it really has a strong effect on him. So we are always on the lookout for movies that he might be able to watch. Not because he want to turn our kids into vegetables in front of the tube, they are only allowed to watch one tv show per day. But every once in a while we like to try and watch a movie for Family Night, or we use a movie as a reward for Logan sometimes. One that we thought might work out was Mary Poppins. There are no bad guys, there are a lot of good songs, and of course there is Mary Poppins' magic! We were right, Logan loves it! And so does Coley! They watched it almost 2 weeks ago and Logan is still talking about it. Not to mention the soundtrack. I already had the soundtrack, but now that they have seen the film we have the music on CONSTANT rotation. Coley can now ALMOST pronounce "Atrocious" and "Precocious" from the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious song (or "Docious," as she calls it). Logan wants to be Burt, and he does a cute rendition of the chimney-top dance.

Since Mary Poppins is a popular gal around here these days, I decided to put her methods to good use. I wanted to get some cleaning done the other day while Coley was napping, and I wanted to enlist Logan to help. So I told him that cleaning would be fun if we did it like Mary Poppins; we had to "Find the fun, then -SNAP- the job's a game!" So instead of washing windows and mirrors, we cleaned all the windows in our space shuttle so that we wouldn't get lost in space. And instead of sweeping and mopping the floors, we were firefighters who cleaned up the fire station. These were the only two jobs I had planned, but Logan really got into it and started looking for more to do! When we were picking up and putting things away, he even tried snapping his fingers to do it the magic way like they do in the movie. He would try to snap his fingers (it hasn't actually happened yet) and then he would quickly put the item away, pretending that it was all done with magic instead. What a cutie!

Thank you Mary Poppins, you definitely made my week a little easier; although one does grow weary of the constant stream of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Step-in-Time. It's all a trade-off, isn't it?

Jump up, Jump up and ... Don't Get Down? REALLY!?!

Yesterday we met some friends at Pump it Up Jr for some playtime and Mommy chit chat. We were strong in the playtime area, a little weak in the Mommy chit chat, as we were both being beckoned to slide and climb with the kiddos instead :) We had a fantastic time, and are hoping to get together again soon - hopefully for more of the chit chat part while the kiddos entertain themselves a bit more!

So this was Coley's first time at Pump it Up Jr as a bona fide jumper, and I made sure to take a camera to get some pics. She started out a little timid, preferring to toodle around in the little bumper cars, but she eventually warmed up, as I knew she would. Then I couldn't keep her off the big slide!

The cutest part of the whole day: When Logan and Coley were in the Bounce House together, another little boy came in. Right away Logan walked right up to him and said "Excuse me, but you have to be careful because my little sister is in here." Such a good big brother, watching out for his little sister!!

After 2 hours of bouncing, I just KNEW that both kids would be worn out and that I would have NO PROBLEM getting Coley down for her nap. Well, I was right on one count. Both kids were exhausted. But it took Coley about an HOUR to settle down for sleep once I put her in her crib! And an exhausted, stubborn little girl who needs sleep but refuses to admit it... yeah, you all know how that goes. Finally after an hour she quieted down, stopped the shrieking and screaming, and fell asleep... only to awaken about an hour later. An hour?!? REALLY!?!? So we had some very tired kiddos, prone to crankiness and clinging to Mommy all evening. All in all, though, I'd say well worth it for some fun time with friends and Coley's first jumping extravaganza!

How to defeat Jabba the Laundry Hutt

Today I got a chance to go back to a Zumba class, and OH what a difference it has made! The days that I am able to go to Zumba I really notice a difference in my energy level and in my attitude! More energy, better attitude, just generally feeling better than the day-to-day dullness that hits this time of year. Have you checked out a Zumba class yet? If not, I totally recommend it, and no one has paid me to say that (although if someone wants to pay me to say that, my terms are negotiable!) Zumba class is fantastic for those of us who love to dance, but don't like to "work out" so much. It's a great cardio dance workout, lots of Latin and urban music and steps, and just plain fun. And if you know me, you KNOW that "fun" is not a word I would usually use when referring to exercise!

With all this energy today I actually tackled and defeated ALL of the laundry monsters that have been lurking in my house. I had laundry in all stages that needed to be knocked out - washed, hand washed, dried, folded, put away... I even defeated the Jabba the Laundry Hutt that had parked itself on my couch - do you get those at your house, too? We get them quite often; just a huge mound of laundry sitting on your couch, looking like Jabba the Hutt as it stares you down all day, just daring you to take him on. Well, I did it, and I won! He is gone, for a few days at least.

I also packed up some donations that we need to take to Goodwill, got the slow cooker going for dinner ("Pizza in a Pot" - sounds yummy, hope it's good), read a chapter for my "Beautiful Womanhood" group which meets Thursday (I am ahead of the game, not cramming in the reading late Wednesday night!), and of course I showered. Building up all that energy and stamina during Zumba class can really make a lady not smell like such a lady. :)

I'm just here for a good time

Apparently, I needed some time off from this blog. Summer, fall, and a little bit of winter, to be exact. I just never got into the habit of writing regularly, and once I missed a few posts it was so hard to get back into it. And it got harder the longer I went. I kept thinking things like "Ok, I haven't posted in a month, so my first one back has to be spectacular!" But nothing spectacular came to mind. I took photos that I thought would be great for the blog, and when we would do somehting fun I would think, "Oh, I have to blog this!" But still nothing. Maybe some of those photos and ideas will make it up on here someday.

So now, I've just told myself "Screw it - get over yourself! Just write something to make yourself feel good!" I was definitely expecting too much of myself. I am one of those people who doesn't like to do something unless I am SURE I will do it well and succeed (annoying, I know). But not every piece has to be a piece of Pulitzer-worthy writing; not every piece has to have some life-changing bit of advice... none of them do, actually. I was expecting to be Martha Stewart, when really this blog is just for me. No offense to anyone who might actually read this, but I only had a handful of readers when I was posting regularly, so now that I've taken such a huge break, I would guess that no one will read this anyway. So it's all for me. I don't need to be a maven of household goodness, or a Mary Poppins of child rearing. I'm just me. A regular mom making the most of a life scarce with money, but overflowing with love and creativity. I don't have all the answers, I don't have it all together, and I don't want to pretend that I do. I want this blog to be more of a haven where I share our life: the good, the bad, the everything.

So, there you have it, in all this rambling mess. I'm back, my expectations of myself have been lowered, and honestly - I'm just here for a good time.

Logan-isms

I am getting Logan dried and dressed after his bath while Larry and Coley are playing in the office. We hear Coley get upset and start to cry.
LOGAN: Why is Coley crying?
ME: I don't know, why do you think she is crying?
LOGAN: (thinking) Mmmmmm... I think either she shut her hand in the door... or Daddy is pinching her.

Daddy: the Serial Pincher in our house :)

Logan-isms

LOGAN: I remember the signs at the Children's Museum. They said "No Smokers (cigarettes), No Guns, and No Puppies."
ME: Why do you think you can't bring those things in?
LOGAN: (thinking) ... 'Cuz that place is fun and they don't want to kill you. Smokers can kill you, guns can kill you, and big scary dogs can kill you.
ME: (hysterically laughing)

What a mind he has!