Everydaymoments

Everydaymoments

Monday, October 14, 2013

A month...

...since I wrote. How did that happen?

...of fun times and train rides with little friends.





...of the return of our favorite Daddy after 2 long weeks on the road.


...of birthday photo shoots for Little Miss who is 3 going on 17.




...of an undefeated soccer team.



...of purchasing pumpkins and mums {and just a few more mums. and another pumpkin or two.}



 ...of a special lunch date with Mommy and a very quite day at home, just to two of us.




{I thought maybe while his little sister was gone he would need me to play games, read books, just generally keep him company but it was exactly the opposite. He read books, played with the kitty, and quietly entertained himself for hours. I almost forgot he was there. Almost.}

...of celebrating 60 years of Grandpa.



...of field trips with first graders.


...of joining a cousin for a small town parade. {where record breaking amounts of candy are thrown out, thank you to whoever threw the toothpaste our way too. not pictured are the potato chips, pens, glow sticks, water bottles and chocolate milk also collected at said parade.}

 


... of a 30th birthday party for a sister-in-law, returned from afar. My sister and I made the food, but not the cake. Her family did the decorating. Her husband (my brother) conspired and coordinated it all from across the globe.





  {Yeah, we've been a on a bit of birthday overload around here, but who doesn't love a party. Another one coming up this week.}


...of a weekend church retreat (sans kids) where I took not one single picture. Not one! I find it hard to believe  myself but there was just too much connecting and being inspired and late night partying to be done.

{This picture was taken at the same retreat several years ago, it gives you an idea what we had to suffer through.}

And now you are officially up to date. I know you've been checking daily for all these inspiring, thrilling details. Be back sooner next time. Really.



Wednesday, September 18, 2013

When Mama has a birthday...

...she makes extra coffee in the morning, because she can.

...little people get (much more) excited (then the mama herself.)


...{said} little people really can't understand why nothing unusual is happening.

...so {said} little people take matters into their own hands.

...the boy collects a box, a hefty stack of old newspapers and a few hand-me-down "treasures" from his room.



...he brings me the scotch tape...I tear off a piece...he runs off to attach it randomly to the newspaper...he comes back for another...rinse and repeat for about half the morning.

...he asks me how to write "Happy Birthday Mommy" and spends the remainder of the morning copying his important message onto any and every paper within his reach.


...the girl decides a cake must be baked.

...she volunteers for the job...repeatedly!

...her kitchen will not do the job, it must be made in Mommy's kitchen.

...the laundry still does not do itself.

...boy #2 comes home from school to do the birthday song & dance {Adventures in Odessy style}




...the delivery man shows up with flowers from the Mr. who is miles away {and not happy about it!}



...the mailman brings bright colorful envelopes wherein the words "Due By" are not found.

...the Facebook page chirps countless notifications.

...Grandma makes and serves a tasty dinner complete with cheesecake. But there are still no candles, the girl is not convinced, what kind of a birthday cake has no candles?

...the Mama decides that treating herself to a latte and a road trip to visit a sweet friend just a few days before is one of the best ways to celebrate.


...the Mr. is still trying to figure out how to "make it up."

...the girl has momentarily forgotten about the cake.

...boy #1 asks "Mom, are you 26 now?" (I say, yup, something like that. :)
   {no need to wrap any more treasures my boy, that is the best gift ever!}

Monday, September 9, 2013

three {3}

In the midst of all the summer produce madness, we had a little celebrating to do. The Little Miss turned 3 this week. Must have party!

I was so looking forward to girlie party ideas. I've used up all my fun boy ideas and then some, so I thought girl parties would open up a whole new line of ideas. Too bad I'm not into princess-y everything. This was a little tougher than I thought but we finally decided on a watermelon party. And as usual, I might have had more fun pulling it together than she had at the party but we're both happy that way!



The Menu
tortilla roll ups
chips & fresh salsa
(I thought my green [guacamole] chips were pretty cool.)
jello
cake 
ice cream
licorice
(& drum roll please)
WATERMELON





and watermelon lemonade




Since she is into all thing 'pinkalicious' (as she calls it) I picked up a 
strawberry cake mix on a whim at the grocery store.
What could be better than pink cake?
Um, lots of things, unless you're turning 3.
 I was a little concerned for the flavor so
I added real pureed strawberries to the batter and topped it with 
cream cheese icing.
Not bad but I'll be having chocolate for my birthday.
The decorating was easy enough, that's for sure!


We had to borrow a few girls for the party.
All those boy cousins just don't get how cool pink really is.



The boys, however, were much more enthusiastic about the seed spitting contest.


I bought a couple of cute little mini watermelons that I intended to use as bowling balls
but since I was unwilling to allow my family to drink 20 liters of Mt. Dew 
in 2 days time
and the craigslist guy never got back to me about the real bowling pins he wanted to sell,
that game was canceled.

The favors.
 Watermelon gum & candy, side walk chalk and 
a couple of other girlie do-dads.




A few super exciting gifts and some sparklers
to round out the night.


This pic isn't the best quality but it must be included because it just sums up
the fun and feelings of the whole evening!
Thanks J!


Happy Birthday Miss Kyra!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Farewell Summer

Such craziness around here the past couple of weeks. I thought my life would slow down a bit with the arrival of the big yellow bus, at least between the hours of 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. but suddenly out of nowhere came project after project.

So much handsomeness we had to split them up into 3 different school buildings this year.
 3 different Back to School Nights
3 different schedule systems
3 different sets of fundraisers
3 different lunch menus 
My organizational skills are already over taxed!


 First Day of First Grade


 Off to the Middle School
First Day of Fifth Grade
He thinks he's pretty big stuff!


 First Day of Seventh Grade
(this picture thing is not as cool as it used to be)



And with that, Summer officially ended. Sniff!
I'm never ready for return of homework and schedule and early mornings.
Thankfully they were (in varying degrees) so the transition has been fairly smooth.

********

So I sent them off with backpacks and folders lunch boxes and water bottles, new shoes and cool erasers. All the important stuff. :)
And I turned into house-wifey Hilda!
I don't have a garden here so I am ever so grateful for friends who share their abundance but it doesn't come with much warning.
When I arrived at church last week I found a box of tomatoes for me.
My sister bequeathed her green beans to me when she left the country.
And I already had 5 baskets of apples waiting patiently in the basement.
So there was some of 

this...

a lot of this...


a bunch of these...


and a bit of this...

 
plus 50 quarts of applesauce and 6 batches of homemade granola,
along with the usual grocery shopping and
three meals a day.
Sometimes I wonder what percentage of my life revolves around food.
I'm not complaining! I feel very blessed!
I enjoy cooking and serving my family this way and I am grateful to have plenty of healthy food to offer my growing men.
But I'm ready to think about something else for awhile now.

Maybe I should start with filling out those fundraiser papers.
Anybody wanna buy magazines or coupon books, or maybe support my 'Race for Ed' runners?