choose the moment

Choose The Moment. That's my new motto. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in how tired I am or how if I have to tell jake one more time not to throw things I'll lose my mind that I forget how incredibly lucky I am to be in that moment. I'm trying to remember to take the moment. To choose it. One day I'm going to look back and wish that he was still able to crawl up into my lap. Or how anna does this crazy crawl with one knee down and one knee up. I know I'm still going to be at the end of my rope...daily??....I'm just trying to remind myself to take a few seconds. Close my eyes. Breathe deep. Appreciate life. Choose the moment.









Some of these are incredibly blurry and off center....and I think I need braces and maybe a good whitener....but, this is a moment with my baby girl....unedited and just the two of us.

super me!

I like to think I'm crafty but, really, I'm not really good at any one thing so its kind of a crapshoot as to whether my projects are really going to turn out or not.

One of jake's friends turned 3 recently...can you believe they're turning 3 this year! ack!...and I decided since their imaginations are starting to go into overdrive, I'd try and make a cape for dress up. I contemplated buying one but figured everyone likes home made...right? I tell myself that when what I make turns out like crap...everyone appreciates the time and thought I put into it...ummm....yeah right.

So I put on my "pollyanna everyone appreciates the thought and time of home made" hat and dove into making v's cape.



Ummmm...can you say love it! So proud of myself.



There's pleats and velcro in that sucker!



jake liked it way more than I thought he would so my plan is to make one for him and his bff aubree this weekend.

she's a crawler!

to my right

The other day, my friend Rachel told me how she used whip cream as finger paints for her little guy. I've heard of pudding and shaving cream but, the thought of whip cream never crossed my mind for some reason. I thought I'd give it a try. I added some food coloring for fun.



She said she used it as a tool to help her little guy learn how to spell his name. All jake did was this....



Sooooo....I looked to my right.



and saw this beauty.



I love you, cutie pie.



anna banana



Oh, sorry. Are we supposed to stop with the anna banana?



How about dimples?



Better!



Silly mommy.



Blondie?



Don't be silly.



Lighting was horrible but, I couldn't help but keep snapping away. She had me at hello.



Then I remembered the whole reason for this get together and turned back to my name spelling learning son...



hmmm....no names were spelled in the making of this project.

acron frame

I try to let jake brush his teeth on his own in the morning. Trev gives them a good brush down at night so I figure the kid can give it a try in the morning. Just so you don't think that my kid has dirty teeth, I do give them a quick brush once he's had his go. I walked into the bathroom to check on him this morning to find him "baking a cake". Really it was a bowl of water that he was filling up. He'd put a cup under the running water than pour it into the bowl and that was him baking the cake. I stood there listening to him for a bit and ummmmm.....maybe I'm making a little too many cookies with the kitchen aid mixer. The ingredients he listed for his cake:

sugar
eggs
brown sugar
chocolate chips
vanilla

The fact that he specifically said brown sugar then threw in the vanilla...well....maybe I've been making too many chocolate chip cookies.

anna I think secretly can crawl but, just doesn't want us to know. She's so incredibly close its ridiculous. She's actually gone forward one or two steps....crawls?...but, it doesn't really seem to be clicking in her head. She's got the biggest most beautiful smile you've ever seen. I think Trev wants to go out and get her everything her little heart desires whenever she smiles at him. I won't even go into her gorgeous blue eyes.

Here's one of our little projects we did one fall afternoon.

jake was obsessed with acorns. I had these things all over my house. They were everywhere.



So one day I told him to get all the acorns together. Ummm....yeah, there were some behind the chair. They were EVERYWHERE.



How about that sad attempt of fall decorating. Some gourds in glass vases. Oh well.

He takes acorn projects very seriously.



So I took a cheap frame from Michael's and we began gluing those suckers all over the place.



jake told me where he wanted the glue...I was the hot gluer....I stress hot....then he placed the acorns.


It held his attention for a bit.



This is how much we got done the first day. It took us a few days to fill the whole frame.



A two year old's attention only goes so far. During the whole thing I kept telling him to be careful because the glue wasn't dry. When he showed Trev the frame that evening, Trev tried to touch it and jake immediately told him to be careful because the glue wasn't dry.

Poor Duke

I'm sick of snow.

This family is getting a brand spankin' new budget because I am on a mission to start this kitchen reno.

Duke is a pretty good dog.



Yeah, those are some ugly socks. They're warm....and I'm sick of the cold....and snow.



jake gets to watch tv while I nurse anna. Duke gets to be climbed on while I nurse anna.



anna loves nursing almost as much as her brother did.



Nursing and sticking her tongue out....her two favorite things.

Why hello wall...

I'm one tired, mommy. I haven't hit the wall....yet. We're having a conversation, though. It hasn't pissed me off so I haven't hit it yet but....I think its coming. The wall isn't too nice.

We found out a couple of months ago that I'm anemic. The doctor wanted me to take iron supplements...on top of my prenatal vitamin...twice a day. Ummm....doctor, I'd like you to meet my digestive system...hmmm...you don't want to meet my digestive system?...good thing because you're trying to screw it that's for sure. Anyway, so I've only been taking the extra supplement once a day. I saw a big improvement in my energy but....now...now...I'm just done. Its probably more that I was on my own for a bit while Trev was away rather then the anemia but maybe an extra shot of the 'ol fe wouldn't hurt. I do not know how single parents do it. God bless them one and all.

On that note, I shall grab my ipad to wind down while I read my favorite blogs and try to gather up all the energy I can to shower. I hope the shower wins....if only for the person that has to sit next to me at story time tomorrow.

I survived

Trev just got back from his annual boys trip "da UP". I'm extremely happy that he gets to get away. He deserves it. He does a lot for this family and me.

I'm not going to lie, the five days and four nights were not exactly cake. He left on Thursday at about noon and got back Monday at about 5ish. I was doing pretty good until Monday. Then the text came that they were driving in a snow storm and he didn't know if he was going to make his flight. Can you say mental breakdown time? Luckily he made the flight....arrived at the airport 40 minutes before his flight was to take off...and I thanked sweet baby Jesus every second I could.

Really its not too different then a regular week. The challenging part came at bedtime. anna had a couple of rough nights but, jake did awesome. Now I'm kind of at the point, though, where I've been with the kids with no break except to sleep for a while and well, I'm tired. Trev is back, though, and all is right with our world again.

When the kids fell asleep, I was obsessed with Houzz.com. Love that site....and the handy dandy app for my ipad. Its totally got me obsessed with getting this house renovated and to our taste. Here's a couple of pics that I love for our kitchen.

kitchen

Houzz- Kitchen Design, Bathroom Design and More»

Find Home Improvement Professionals- For Example:

San Francisco Architect · San Francisco Interior Designer · Chicago Contractor · Chicago Landscaping ·

trains!

The train show came into town a few days ago. We weren't really sure if we were going to go. We had a ton of stuff planned for the weekend plus it was $10 an adult to go. Kind of steep to look at a train or two for a couple of hours if you ask me. We decided to go and I'm so glad we did....jake LOVED it.



I've never seen anything hold his attention like these trains.



anna....well....I'm not sure she was as riveted.



There were trains EVERYWHERE. jake wanted nothing to do with me. It was all about daddy and jake.



I can't believe how big he's getting. He's a little boy now. No longer my baby. He sees pictures of himself as a baby and asks me..."Is that baby jake, mommy? Is that me?" Sigh.



He was so excited about being there.



Choo....



Choo!!



There was a Thomas the Train ride. We avoided it. I really wanted him to ride it but, it was free which meant the line was lloooonnnggg....and when I say llooonnnggg that might be an understatement.

We did see the cool lego models of some of the buildings downtown.



Ummm....I just said cool lego models. I'm so getting old.

Forts

This is a bit of fun we had a couple of months ago...beginning of November. I forgot to post it but, its a great example of what jake does when he should be having quiet time.



I envisioned building this fort and we'd all cuddle and read some books and just relax. Yeah, right. Nothing ever happens as I envision it. You'd think I'd stop envisioning.

jake soon started gathering up every toy and shoving it into the fort.



Look at all those toys. This was before Christmas, too. Ugh.



I suppose I convinced him to at least make some room for his sister. Look at how wonderfully he shares his "toys".



I don't think the fort was what anna envisioned either.

Nighty Night