bless our little nest

ode to the blue pen

2012-02-09T06:54:00.002-06:00

so ethan's little friend kingston had a very cool blue pen. i mentioned it in my last post.

the pen that ethan wanted sooooo badly.

the pen i couldn't buy him.

the pen that prompted kingston's mom to call the company who sent them their pen. and she asked for one that ethan could have.

and the little blue pen came in the mail.

it's my february miracle. it's blue. it folds. it attaches to the little guy's belt loops.

and now, believe it or not, he has been hard at work writing all kinds of important things. like numbers.

it's the little things. really, it is.

xoxo, s

all the way around

2012-02-08T10:51:00.000-06:00

i took these on friday... my attempt to do structured activities when we didn't have school...

ethan put his hands behind his back, asked me "guess how much i love you?" and said "all the way around."

i melted. i mean. could life be any sweeter?

apparently he told that to his nana as well. and after some investigating, i think that his grammy taught him that gem.

m e l t

in other news, i am on the mend. i am sure you didn't know otherwise, but last week i had a crippling sinus infection. why on earth, when i started to feel bad on monday, did i not call my friend who is married to an ent guru?

i wish i could say that was the first major mistake of the week. last week was a week of extremes... great things... crappy things...

let me back up... sunday evening. my mother-in-law is at my house... we are talking about my husband's upcoming trip and how she would be dropping him off at the airport the next morning. she says, "do you have all his hotel and rental car stuff squared away?" i think it was more of a space filler type question. not really wondering if i had done all of that. because surely, the night before, it would be done, right??

wrong.

completely. slipped. my. mind.

so sunday night i booked things, and spent awhile on google maps trying to make sure things were indeed squared away. and i made these great little packets with hotel/car rental/driving directions from point a - b- c- and back to a. beautiful work that should have been done a while back.

so he leaves... the kids wake up. ethan acts like a turd.... its all a little fuzzy. but i am sure it had everything to do with the little guy not listening to me and not wanting to get dressed.

i make it to the grocery store and start having some sort of anxiety attack where i have to remove my jacket and scarf and find a bottle of water to start drinking. its a busy week. i'm off my game. too. much. to. do.

but it wasn't. i mean, i think that my not feeling 100% started compounding my natural stress over a busy week. a meltdown in the grocery store is not normal. it didn't help that i had forgotten my list.

and it didn't help that i had a list of expectations in my mind of what fun filled things i should do with the kids while the weather was perfect. the zoo. the stock show. the botanical gardens. take ethan to ride his bike. insert mom guilt here for not getting any of those things done.

at preschool pick up, all ethan talked about was his friend's blue pen. a pen that folds. that was a promotional pen. that was sent in the mail. the kind with a minimum order. the type of gimmicky pen that won't be at staples. i would have spent $10 on a pen at that point to end the constant whining about the pen. he didn't shut up about blue pen for a week. it got so bad at one point, i bought him a transformer to shift the focus off the pen that i couldn't produce. you'd have done it, too. don't be judgey.

anyway, we ended up spending the afternoon with a dear friend. my friend was welcoming and generous and invited us to stay for dinner since faustino was out of town. which, i have to say, it is a beautiful thing to share a meal with friends. in that sense, the week was off to a fabulous start.

one thing that must be noted, is the fact that my friend's backyard is a child's paradise. and my children were using 140% of their energy. and might have been incredibly overtired. and we might have had a very sleepless night that night. one were my wiggly little cuddler savannah managed to fall asleep on my for half an hour or so. and in that moment, it didn't matter how tired i was. her sweet little sleeping face on my chest, and ethan snuggled next to us, was all that mattered. it was beautiful.

but it was also 3:30 a.m.

and it beat me down the next day. and i had a crick in my neck. whatever.

i did a boat load of cleaning and errands on tuesday. things that had to get done. things that sucked the time and energy out of me. but i ended tuesday with food in the fridge, my list checked off, and a clean house - including laundry. i was exhausted. my sinuses hurt with every step i took. still prideful that my body could heal itself. what. was. i. thinking.

wednesday came and i enjoyed a morning visit from a sweet friend that lives out of town. we ran errands... nothing special. but it was nice. i am spoiled to have such a good friend. the best listener. she's the one that is up-to-date on everything. a week where i only talk to her a couple of times is strange... its usually more like 20 :) but it was nice to see her in person.

anyway, after our visit and school pickup, my mother-in-law watched my kids so that i could work my junior league rodeo shift. i love working my rodeo shift every year. i even had new boots this year...but, each step of the way, from box to box of that matinee, all 5 of the whopping programs i sold... i felt my face. horrible. and why on earth had i not called for an antibiotic? its like i was torturing myself. my sinuses were taunting me.

by the time i picked faustino up from the airport that night, i felt like death warmed over. however, a wonderful thing worth noting: my mother-in-law had made homemade chicken noodle soup that afternoon... so at least i had good food to eat that i didn't have to cook. comfort food, in fact.

and then, luckily, my mother swooped in to save the day. she stayed over on wednesday night to sit with our sleeping kids, while i picked my husband up from a long three days of travel. and on thursday morning, i slept in half an hour later while she fed the littles breakfast... then it was off to the dentist, off to bible study, and bible study lunch... and costco because... i was co-hosting bunko. and i managed to squeeze a junior league meeting in before that because lord knows i need all the meeting credits i can get at this point.

whew. add in there a moment where i wanted to kick in another snarky mom's teeth and another moment where i thought i might walk out of bible study...

as one of my friends said: what? both of those happened this week? i would be emotionally fried.

well put.

and those of you who are friends of mine on facebook might recall the long thread of us bashing mom guilters. i should print it off and read it every couple of days. :) thank you.

now, for thursday, add in time with friends... friends that i had not seen in awhile. bunko was fun. even junior league was fun. and even parts of bible study were nice.

then friday came. i rested. i skipped a large chick-fil-a playdate because, quite frankly, that sounded like a small slice of hell. it rained. the kids were out of school for the day and where i normally am sad i don't have a morning of solitude, i was was singing praises that the kids could stay in their jammies late into the morning and i didn't have to push them to get ready.

and that was my week.

i started taking the antibiotics on friday... and things are looking up. and now that i feel better, i guess i didn't realize how crappy i felt.

this weekend we spent time outside. made more homemade ice cream. i started reading a great book. i managed to scrape my energy together and cook some decent meals without resorting to my freezer stash of organic costco goodies. and while it took three days to do it, i posted this to the blog. sheesh!

xoxo, s

grateful

2012-01-30T01:22:00.000-06:00

occasionally i read things, or see things, that make me aware in a way that i can't always access. aware of how very, very lucky i am to have the privilege of living this life. it is my honest opinion that most people in my life, myself included, move about blissfully unaware of the world.

on the plane to san francisco, i watched "this (illegal} american life," a documentary about people living in the united states that are undocumented. and i understood the message they wanted to convey, etc. i saw both sides, i saw the political slant, blahblahblah.

but what i also saw, and have thought of over and over again, was the family of the undocumented worker. what his family's living situation is. what it must be like living in a 2 room house. living in a tiny village. women doing all the farm work because all the men have gone to the u.s. to work, trying to send home as much money as they can.

it is heart breaking.

it chills me to the bone, really. my ingratitude. my selfishness. my truly pampered life, as i sit in a warm home. on my imac. with a full stomach.... i could go on and on.

we are truly an ignorant bunch, no? and i struggle with this... what i have. what i might have in the future. the inherent selfishness of man. i can not logically wrap my mind around it. and i consider myself to think very outside the box on these type of things.

and then today, i read this article about how our electronics are made. and this isn't a new topic of thought for me. in college, i gave great thought to garment manufacturing conditions. the fact that often times, what we in our pampered lifestyles thought was absolutely horrid working conditions and child labor, was a much much better alternative to other truly horrifying things, like child trafficking.

but the glaring differences... the people who slave over our iphones. ipads. everything, really. the image that so many of us try to convey... of being down-to-earth. the times we downplay hiring help for something. the things that everyone glosses over. we are not so self-sufficient. we have lots of people working for us indirectly.

we are so ignorant. i am so ignorant. and sometimes i am scared to learn the truth.

odds and ends and ice cream

2012-01-26T16:21:00.001-06:00

i am all over the place today. so bear with me...

first of all, i want to publicly brag on myself for getting both kids out the door, dressed for picture day, and to school in time to take sibling photos before class began yesterday. in the rain. it might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but i was so proud of myself. so. proud.

i mean, really, who else can i brag about that to? my husband was up and out of the house by 5:30. in the pouring rain. so for me to tell him about my great feat of getting out the door at 8:30... well, you get it. so thank you, blog.

and yesterday stayed rainy all day long... savannah was quite the peach and decided that she wanted to watch her favorite princess, ariel. it was so sweet... she had the figurine in her little purse. and she had the little board book... when i sat her on the couch and she was still in the same place 20 minutes later, i decided i needed to take a picture.

i could eat her with a spoon. sweet girl.

and then after dinner, as a family we watched toy story 3. i cried {this happens every time} my eyes out at the end. so much that ethan decided that i needed snuggles. oh, toy story. you get me every single time. your ending turns me to mush...

after the babes were in bed we finished season four of dexter. and i had strange dreams all night long. do you watch dexter?? do you have strange dreams??? ahhhh! so good, yet so disturbing!

and then i skipped bible study this morning. savannah woke up clingy. ethan doesn't like going to the childcare there. and i had yet to accomplish my "homework" that isn't mandatory... but sort of is...

and i still needed to get dinner in the crockpot. {beef vegetable soup}

soooo... we skipped. and the kids played in their pj's all morning. and at one point i was certain that every toy had been taken out of its proper basket. oh well. once i finish up here, i have matchbox cars to corral.

but today is beautiful. a little cool... sunny.... windows open. but very muddy outside. thought about taking the misfits out, but decided that i didn't want to fight the mud. call me a wimp. but seriously, the playground i like to go to becomes a super swamp when it rains... oh, the laundry!

instead ethan has enjoyed his legos. these tiny pieces are the bane of my existence. but he loves them... and they are good for his tiny fingers to master... but can we say choking hazard?? ever since my friend's son swallowed a sequin and to have it surgically removed... i am a bit paranoid to say the least. you would be, too. i remember all that... i think i was pregnant with ethan and i thought, "how on earth does that happen?" well folks, after savannah was born, i realized pretty quickly that when your older children have toys with little pieces... it could happen in an instant. not to mention that my attention is split... sooo... those pesky legos...

but he does love them.

and one other reason holding me indoors? this is the fourth consecutive day of no contact lenses. now, you can really call me a wimp. i just hate wearing my glasses. i feel like i am about to go to sleep. seriously. and i don't have prescription sunglasses. so i get all squinty. in fact, in general, my face has been all pinched up lately... the glasses aren't helping things. i had an eye infection... and seriously, i think this will be the longest time i have gone without my contacts since the 7th grade. i must admit, my eyes look really white. such a stark contrast to the normal bloodshot appearance... when i go out and about, i pray that i don't run into anyone of real importance! i feel so "undone." i always wonder why i don't pull off glasses like other people do...i keep telling myself it is all in my head... but i dunno.

anywho... ethan and i made ice cream this afternoon. and i made up my own recipe. because i only had milk and 1/2 c. half & half. most of the recipes call for heavy whipping cream. perhaps i can call this "light" ice cream?? :)

i received two tea kettles for christmas... you know, both my mother and mother-in-law wanted to increase the likelihood that i would successfully make iced tea without scalding myself. so, one tea kettle went back to williams sonoma... and i got an ice cream maker in return.

folks, you've got to get one of these. ice cream in 20 minutes!

today's recipe:

Light Berries and Cream Ice Cream

ingredients:

1.5 c. frozen berries
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. half and half
1.5 cups whole milk
1/2 T. vanilla extract
dash of salt

directions:

chop 1.5 c. frozen berries with food processor.
dissolve 3/4 c. sugar in 1/2 c. half and half and 1.5 cups whole milk.
add 1/2 T. vanilla extract
add dash of salt.
add berries and mix
pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions.

if you don't have an ice cream maker... mine is on sale. with the extra bowl. just saying...

xoxo, s

a quick trip to san francisco

2012-01-24T15:44:00.000-06:00

holy smokes. it feels like it has been awhile since i have sat down at the computer to blog.

chalk it up to:

1. a four year old who doesn't nap and is resistant to quiet time. {do you know how many times and ways i have tried this? some days are more successful than others. just out of my mouth: "you actually must be quiet and lay down for it to count as quiet time"}

2. a 20 month old who wants to do everything by herself but wants my undivided attention. all. the. time.

3. a lingering sinus/virus/upper respiratory/case of the sickies/allergy thing that has been around since the day after christmas.

4. and... faustino took me on a quick little trip to san francisco in conjunction with a fellowship interview. so i had the pleasure of getting ready to leave, booking our trip, etc.

i still have yet to do all the little things i like to do in january. like make a zillion lists. and now, its almost february.

i feel overwhelmed by all the things i feel like i need to and should be doing. i guess i need to make a list... :)

but for now i will just hit the highlights of our weekend getaway.

:: san francisco is a great place to visit. i had never been... and will most definitely go back. there are several things i would have liked to have done but we were limited on time... and the food options are amazing. we had the best chinese food {chef jia's} i have ever eaten. saturday evening we ate at a bistro that was so good. and it all amounts to the fact that now i really need to work out :)

:: we got a great deal on virgin airlines. the personal t.v. was nice... the sandwich i ordered was actually good... but the vibe... was trying-too-hard-to-be-cool. and our flights both ways were delayed. and on our way there, we had the very unfortunate luck to sit next to some mid-30s guy that must have had outrageous hearing loss because his music was so loud that we could hear it. loudly. and he had ear buds in. it was so loud that i thought someone near us needed to plug headphones in their laptop. and at what would have been 1 a.m. texas time, he began listening to the ting tings "that's not my name." on repeat. i wanted to shoot him.

:: you could go broke giving money to people who ask for it on the san francisco streets. one guy asked for $12K. ha!

:: the shopping is fantastic. too bad we don't have the disposable income to fund it. faustino even enjoyed window shopping watches...

:: and it was a little cheesy for me to have seen the speakeasy on the bachelor and want to go... but we did. was easy to get to from our hotel. and their drinks were delicious. cucumber gimlet. mmm...

:: despite the fact that it was dreary, i enjoyed myself. though, i didn't take pictures of things i wanted to... because, its not much fun to pull out your dslr in the drizzle... on a pretty day, there are all kinds of photography candy. the people watching is the best...

:: my kids enjoyed spending the weekend with their grammy. and were adorable when we came home. and as a mom, it is so nice to be missed. so, so, nice.

jumbo gumbo - my favorite gumbo recipe

2012-01-10T14:44:00.001-06:00

it is sort of gray out. rainy and gray. and really, i haven't minded all that much. not that i don't love sunshine, but i haven't felt 100%... and i certainly feel a little pissy when i miss all the good weather because i felt gross. i mean, it's not florida. we don't get an indefinite amount of 70 degree days.

anyway... feeling crappy and running errands in the rain is something i could do without. and really, i could do without the kind of errands that involve work on the car while i entertain offspring in a waiting room. today was round 2 of fix-the-tire. and after a couple of phone calls and a long wait where a trashy lady gave me an unsolicited parenting scolding {i must add, she told me that she never negotiated with her children when they were the age of mine. it took every bone in my body to conduct myself respectfully so i did not set a bad example for the children. i did tell her that we all have different parenting styles and i would appreciate it if she kept her commentary to herself. my children were even being quiet and sitting nicely -- although that might have had something to do with my french fry negotiation}, i came out of the battle with a new tire, a mere $760+ ahead of what NTB told me it would be. word to the wise... a second opinion is critical. and take that NTB. and i will never go back to NTB again. granted, it still needs a little more work {something with the hub??} and the wheels aligned... anyway, for all the mucking around, it was worth it!

so, with the weather like it is, and faustino's love for duck hunting, it was the perfect time for gumbo round 2. i miraculously managed to find the handwritten recipe... but had a moment where i didn't know for sure where it went... so, for my own records most of all, i am blogging it. but really, you should make it. fantastic gumbo. and equally fantastic the next day or two... especially when the weather is cold and gray.

do you remember the the first time faustino made his gumbo? this time was just as delicious. please let me know if you make it. sooooo yummy. even the kids loved it... ethan calls it Jumbo Gumbo. and last night it was heart warming to watch ethan pick out the shrimp and spoon feed savannah. so sweet.

and gumbo isn't the prettiest food... but i have to post a picture. here is my bowl of gumbo for a gray day...

Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients:
- oil of your choice to cook duck and vegetables, as needed.
- 4 duck breasts, chopped into small pieces {1 cm sq.}
- 2 T minced garlic
- 3 cups chopped onion
- 3 cups chopped celery
- 3 cups chopped peppers {combination of red, green, and pablano}
- 1.5 lbs. andouille sausage
- 1.5 lbs. shrimp {shelled and devined}
- 3 cans chicken broth {small cans or equivalent}
- 1 can tomato sauce {14.5 oz can}
- 3/4 cup red wine
- tony chachere's and cajun breakdown spices to taste
- tabasco {few dashes}
- 1/2 T fresh chopped oregano
- kosher salt to taste
- 1 T blackening spice
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup butter
- flour as needed to thicken roux

Directions:
- saute duck pieces with oil and 1 T garlic, set aside
- broil sausage on low, when finished, slice into rounds 1/4" thick
- saute vegetables in oil in stock pot until tender
- while vegetables are sauteing, make roux {3/4 cup vegetable oil, 3/4 cup butter, and flour to desired consistancy (separates with a spoon) and color (carmel)}
- add tomato sauce, wine and chicken broth to vegetables and bring to a simmer
- add spices and herbs
- add shrimp and sausage
- slowly add roux. it will start out thinner and slowly get thicker. thin with water if needed.

- serve over rice and garnish with fresh parsley

will you please, please make this and let me know what you think???

xoxo, s

ethan's birthday party

2012-01-09T16:00:00.001-06:00

last week i would sit down at the computer, and all i could do was compulsively compare orbitz to kayak to travelocity to bing travel to priceline.

you get the idea.

travel arrangements on a tight budget make my head spin. i will be happy when fellowship interview season has ended. blissed out. and equally happy when i know where we have matched... because the "where-are-you-thinking-of-sending-ethan-for-kindergarten" talk is pretty much the let's-catch-up ice breaker... and i am sure will only intensify. right now... well, i don't even know what state we'll be in. much less the public vs. private debate.

sheesh. no worries though. and i better chill out because we have four more months before we will have any idea.

and a year and a half from now until we move.

but fellowship is only a year {we can really do anything for a year. even snow. even lots of snow. i think.} and then we will move somewhere else and begin a "real" job. and no, we don't know where the "real" job will be...

that pretty much sums it up! i've gotten those questions quite a bit lately... as we hover closer to the end.

so the whole travel blahs began my week... then the kids went back to school... then i lost my voice. right in time for ethan's birthday party. {his real birthday is smack dab in the middle of december... so we have the party at the beginning of january}

niiiiiiiiiiice.

my voice was sounding a bit pathetic on thursday afternoon. but then, yours truly, had to take it to a whole new level by going to a bar on thursday night. it was bunko night out... which means we just met up and of course didn't play... so i essentially sacrificed my voice. but i desperately wanted to go. and no amount of feeling crappy was going to keep me home... i had cabin fever...

so. friday. only a whisper. nothing louder. do you guys know what it is like to try and get your kids out the door in the morning when you can't yell, "c'mon! move it!! get your shoes on and line up at the door!!" ethan proved that he will actually listen if i whisper. a tip that i will remember...

one more thing... i got a flat tire 2 hours before the party. really cool, huh? and today, i found it that it's not the patch and get-going kind of flat. it's more of the, we need to fix a, b, c, d, e, and you need new tires. love. it. {insert sarcasm.}

but the party...

thank god a billion times over that i decided to take the totally easy route and have his party at the little gym. i mean. best. decision. ever.

i managed to save my voice all day on friday. and then saturday morning. and with the help of visine and concealer, i managed to pull off less of a death-warmed-over look than i had been sporting earlier.

mercy.

i will say, the birthday party went so well. the cake was super tasty. and pretty cute. and we had pizza... {so original} ethan loved playing with his buddies. savannah might have very well thought it was her own party... and it was delightful, organized chaos. chaos that our two party helpers had the joy of organizing.

i highly recommend it.

the photos... not my finest. bad lighting combined with apathy. :)

and i was so distracted by the chaos, i think i only got teary-eyed one time... possibly a new record. lately everything sends me into an emotional downward spiral as i see my little guy as a little boy. no more toddler. not even a little bit. i could get really sappy here... but... i won't!

happy birthday, again, sweet ethan.

xoxo, s

christmas-y stuff

2011-12-29T15:52:00.002-06:00

these two weeks have been a blur. not a bad sort of blur.... just, well, its all run together.

we started the christmas vacation {i.e. the children's day school was not in session} with faustino taking a fellowship interview trip.

also known as single parenthood.

but strangely, i was okay with that. even without all of my shopping done. {confession: i did have my mother-in-law swing by one evening once the kids were tucked in so that i could run a couple of places without carting the circus with me}

of course ethan had his yearly doctor's appointment. and we had the polor express class playdate with boxes as our "train cars" {so cute}. savannah and ethan also played with a "older" friend while she did some babysitting "training." they asked me every. single. day. to go back and play with their new friend. i think i'll be putting her on the schedule as my mother's helper. for real. amazing.

we did a lot of playing. bed jumping. reading. puzzles. rain coat wearing {ethan really digs the outer wear}. with the occasional christmas movie thrown in {might i suggest the curious george very monkey christmas? quite possibly the one that held their attention best. has a catchy song too. that way you can hum christmas monkey all the damn day long... hahahaha. curse me later.}

i really enjoyed it. i also released myself of several things. christmas baking. christmas crafting. and christmas friends' gifts.

was that good or bad? i don't know. but it was freeing. and cheaper {think: fellowship interviews} and waaaaay less stressful.

i remarkably managed to score matching carters pj's for the kids. in their correct sizes. after failed attempts to find christmas pj's elsewhere including the store where i found them {nothing like procrastination} from the looks of all my friends christmas photos on facebook and blogs... it looks like we all bought the same pairs :)

wilbert gave the kids the christmas pj's. but i have slipped up so many times and corrected myself that i am certain this will not become a wilbert the elf tradition. i can't keep up with the elf trickery! our elf did basic stuff all season. basic is really better for me. no crazy pinterest style elf tricks for us.

christmas eve eve we went to a family christmas party {where savannah enjoyed being the center of attention}... spent the night at my parents house.... and woke up and had christmas presents. after we ate brunch and played we jumped in the car and came back to fort worth where we put the children down for naps and then went to the christmas eve service.

her sussy to open was her little "ears"

mom, can you send me some of your pictures?

all two that i took were, uh, not great. this was the best... and it isn't so fantastic, huh?

ethan was so so so tired for the christmas eve service that he just wanted to lay with his head in my lap. which caused me to bawl the whole time. my little boy just doesn't slow down like that anymore. and he is my christmas baby... oh. break my heart. so sweet to hear carols about the silent night with jesus in the manger and hold my baby boy. makes me cry just thinking about it...

and after a beautiful service we went home, read a night before christmas, and snuggled our babies before last minute wrapping and minor assembly of santa gifts.

in our house, with space and budget issues, santa brings each child one, unwrapped, assembled thing. when space and budget are no longer an issue, i have no doubt that this rule will still be in place. wrapped gifts also don't arrive under the tree until christmas eve. it definitely takes the focus off of the gifts a little bit. and every little bit helps.

christmas morning, ethan and savannah woke up to a bike and a shopping cart from santa. faustino cooked us breakfast... and we lounged around all morning. i got a pair of boots that i am so excited about... i can't even tell you what it is like to live in fort worth and not own boots. sacrilege.

by the way... ethan's bike has training wheels. just fyi...

he may be his father's son, but he is no cycling prodigy... :)

and this melissa and doug shopping cart is amazing. it really looks like a miniature store buggy. super sturdy.

the kids played and destroyed the house all day... we watched episodes of dexter while the kids napped, and then we enjoyed christmas with my nieces over at grammy's house. i ate enough food for two people to gear up for the wrapping paper ripping fest... whew. delightfully exhausting.

and do i have photos from that night? no. didn't even feel like busting out the camera. shame on me. i should have because all 5 kids had a fun time...

and this week... i have been sick. monday was the whole, achy body, super sleepy thing. then i spent a few days on the mend... much better today. we played with friends this morning and are planning on going to the botanical gardens after i get dinner ready and everyone wakes up from their nap. a simultaneous nap. nearly never happens.

i will *almost* be sad when school starts up next week... almost.

and that sums up the comings and goings and mostly staying in the house portion of christmas...

xoxo, s

and for sister...

2011-12-21T14:34:00.001-06:00

a hand-smocked dress from nana. which she loved wearing. of course, she ate plenty of cake and has played with brother's toys as well.

better dress pictures to follow...

celebrating my sweet ethan

2011-12-20T23:12:00.000-06:00

he's four. oh. my. lord. he is four.

what a blessing. four years with the sweetest boy i could imagine. but how is he four? the years move too quickly. sometimes i cry.

birthday celebration at school.

he simply is such a wonderful son. inquisitive and creative. cute. funny. witty.

he delighted in "blowing out" the candles. i held it together and didn't cry.

it wasn't easy.

he also challenges me. has already developed the male-selective-hearing thing. and likes to pretend things are guns and shoots them at things {i initially was appalled by the violence... but have learned, this is a boy thing}

the orange trash truck. i've only heard him talk about wanting this everyday for the last 4 months.

you can't make him sit down for very long and craft. or color. but he can build a fantastic block house. or use his little mighty world people for hours-on-end of pretend.

the airport.

it was same thing as the trash truck.

on the "wish list." he wanted this so bad that the day before he was trying to replicate it with his race track, making his cars "take off" and "land"

he probably watches too much t.v {insert mom guilt here} ... but lately he's been really into caillou. who i personally think is sweet but a tad too whiny. although, caillou doesn't pick up every blessed stick and pretend it is a gun. and that's nice... and caillou is polite. and likes being a good big brother. good lessons from the t.v. :)

the nano bugs... entertainment from our two bugs, Zank and Zarnarsh. ethan named them. with no prompting from us...

he wakes up at 7:15 or so {dry! and has been for a loooong time} and keeps me on my toes all day... we might get lucky and he has a easy time taking a couple hour nap around 2:30... or we might get not-so-lucky, and have a struggle for the nap. or it might just not happen. but that is okay... because it's bed time somewhere in the neighborhood of 7:30, although i have been known to push it up or back by a half hour.

he's a decent eater... he has a major sweet tooth. he says his favorite foods are pizza, french fries and chicken nuggets. he loves milk. and thinks juice is a majorly wonderful treat.

my big boy is 37 lbs. and almost 44 inches tall. that puts him at the 50th and 95th percentiles... so tall. he is in 4t clothes and has a closet full thanks to generous friends and wears a size 11 shoe. which just about kills me. he has boy feet. not little boy feet. big boy feet.

my son is sensitive. he wants to make me happy. he has taught me about patience, forgiveness, grace, and a child's delight.

major entertainment for sister. ~~and the rest of us watched them for quite awhile too.~~

he has the most vivid memory. he gets that from his father. tonight, while looking through a book he saw a picture of a dragonfly and he said, "remember yesterday a long time ago {i.e. past tense} i saw a dragonfly at the farm and i named him Power??" folks, yesterday a long time ago must have been back in september. or perhaps even the summer.

cake. unbelievably excited.

for his birthday there were additions to his bruder armada: a crane and a trash truck. and i do not lie, my mother and i built a shelf to house the aforementioned armada. pretty much in the thick of all the christmas/birthday hubbub of the end of the week.

word to the wise... homegoods has these ridiculously overpriced trucks for a bargain.

shop early... i bet they get picked over quickly.

thanks, jenn, for saving us an arm and a leg.

for his little birthday celebration - just us and grandparents. easy peasy. and a store bought cake that ethan decorated. with an iron man action figure stuck in the frosting. he couldn't have been any happier. i think it is just the adults that truly delight in the art of the fondant. not four year olds. it was cake. ice cream. and a iron man that he has slept with every night since. we'll save the more elaborate cake for the bigger bash.

we'll have a "friends" birthday party in january. after this holiday madness.

best moment of the evening. ethan. on a stool in the kitchen all alone. looking at the cake and singing happy birthday to himself. hardly able to contain his excitement.

my sweet ethan, it is a privilege to be your mommy. i am so blessed.

the aftermath of costco

2011-12-13T21:42:00.000-06:00

who knew that costco samples could wear her out like that???

i'm still alive

2011-12-12T14:43:00.000-06:00

i made it. in all honesty, my feet still hurt. but i am very pleased with the event! it went very smoothly. everyone had fun.

thank you for your support. your encouragement. your prayers.

thank you, mom, for spending the day with the kiddos.

and thank you to my husband for letting me spend sunday as a complete slug. speaking of which, it is his birthday today. we celebrated with family last night... where we took the above photo.

i'll post some pictures of the "beatles and boots" bar mitzvah when i get photos from the photographer... i'll do a recap of sorts... the details the family put into this event were phenomenal. it was a pleasure to be a part of the festivities.

xoxo, s

quick brain dump

2011-12-09T10:56:00.000-06:00

tomorrow is the big day. my event coordination debut. the "after-children" version.

send good vibes my way. please. i know it will be an excellent event. but i always get like this beforehand.

my ability to multitask on the rest of my life is not all that great. {you should see my "laundry room." please, anyone, send your laundress to my house to volunteer. you think i am kidding.} my personality is very well suited for event planning. i've known that. but if i had too many events, the events would consume me. i. get. so. focused. just one has filled my mind this week. to the paralytic point. do you know what i am talking about?? f r o z e n.

i've been watching friday night lights on netflix to get my mind off of my nerves about saturday. how did i miss friday night lights when it was on television?? it is so good. seriously. and nice to have something so good when it seems like all my favorite shows take a christmas vacation. that makes me sound like i watch a bunch of tv. i don't.

i mean, if you don't count pbs kids... but that's another entire debate. let's not go there right now. we will. someday. i want to... i feel like i could write a novel on the whole, snarky, judgey, we-don't-watch-tv thing. you know, for the mom's who are perfect. not. me.

anywho, i watch maybe 3 tivo'd shows a week. if they are all new. this isn't always the case...

but, yes, friday night lights is excellent.

and now i must fold a load of clothes. before the laundry wins the war.

xoxo, s

holiday frame of mind

2011-12-05T15:29:00.002-06:00

hi, y'all. thank you for your sweet words about my leg. really, i was not trying to get a bunch of sympathy. but it was nice to have so many encouraging messages on here, facebook, phone calls + text messages, and in person, etc.

the burn is much, much, better. just trying to minimize the scar now... :) at least it isn't pool weather.

definitely far from pool weather here. its been a nice, windy, rainy, drizzly, cold, seasonally appropriate grey here. and i will take it happily.

don't get me wrong. i would prefer 75 degrees. however, there is something fantastic about putting up the tree, eating a roast, and listening to the rain come down while baylor beat the pants off of ut.

it was a good weekend.

and friday was a good start to the weekend with a very unexpected invitation to take the ticket of another friend who sadly could not go to the gingerbread house building extravaganza charity event... i had to pick the little ones up so i could only stay for an hour...

so i did what anybody would do. hoarded candy and took home a half finished house for my preschooler to work on. it is no beauty. but i did get some major "cool-mom" points.

don't worry, it wasn't nearly done here. more candy was added... :)

and he worked on some fine motor skills. and sorting skills. really, it was quite educational. and my frame of mind was good. i didn't have any expectations about what it should look like. i did not care that it might be considered ugly-ish.

i am sure that most of the houses that came home were beautiful. i mean. people came with their own tools and researched their plan.

not being from fort worth, i had no idea that this was such a big deal. we can add that to a running list of things on which i have been educated.

and that is how i am going into this holiday season. no to low expectations. a purposeful laid-back. hopefully, it will bring me joy to lose the christmas-bitch persona that creeps in every year. you know, the one that is irritated that the bows got crushed on the packages as someone else loaded the car. the one that freaks out over minor details. who gets irritated over thinking about being dropped off a christmas card list or two {perhaps they didn't send out cards, stephanie. that is what rational stephanie says...} the one that gets irritated at the children when christmas cookie frosting gets on their christmas clothes... i sound like mom of the year. grrr. not proud.

wish me luck.

and on a completely unrelated note, savannah got the top two teeth she's been working on right before thanksgiving. and this past weekend, she got the bottom two. have we turned a corner?? time will tell.

xoxo, s

my epic leg burn

2011-11-28T01:04:00.000-06:00

isn't he cute? i know, i am biased. but. i can't squeeze him hard enough. he is the sweetest little boy. not that he has anything to really do with this blog post. i just couldn't start off with anything gloomy. so... i'm giving you a picture of ethan.

****** complaining disclaimer ******

well. i debated. do i blog about this, or no?? well. in the spirit of keeping things real around here, i might as well.

the week before thanksgiving's week. i think i was sick. like, rough scratchy throat and voice. people would ask... but i would think, "gosh, am i?"

i had something else that was more uncomfortable than whatever chest cold i was fighting.

you see, that wednesday night, i decided to make iced tea... and somehow knocked over the pitcher as i was pouring in the boiling water. all over my right thigh. i don't use a tea kettle...i use a pot of boiling water... so, uh, pretty much i poured a small pot of boiling water on my leg.

i was wearing skinny jeans. my skinny jeans don't exactly slide off. imagine a blanket of boiling water on your leg. a blanket that you had to wriggle out of. holy crap.

i have no idea what expletives i screamed. but i know i screamed. i am just so incredibly thankful that neither of the little ones were hanging on my legs. they typically are. oh, how horrible that would have been.

anyway. it really sucks. i spent the evening running cold water on my leg and faustino took over dinner. thank god. and, after a few days of my pathetic attempts at wound care, i let him fix me up. it makes a world of difference. especially when he got some of the "good stuff" for me. waaaaay better than the gauze from target i was using.

it was the most painful if a blister got inadvertently popped. oh. my.

would you like to see pictures?? i mean, i know they are gross, but aren't you curious??

this was the morning after it happened. it still had not blistered all the way. ewww... then i put on JEANS and went to bible study. wanted to cry.

this was yesterday... healing quite nicely. i think i will go gauze-free tomorrow. :)

a combo of 1st and 2nd degree burns. it looks like a map... with "continents" that are blistered. ewwww. i thought is would just be a couple of small blisters. nope. about a third of it blistered.

it is much better now.

but all of this is nothing, really. and so, i don't want to really complain. it could have been worse. other people have had much worse. it also makes me think of sasha... an acquaintance. a very kind and friendly girl. her sweet wedding reception was my last event at colonial. a couple of years ago, she had a tragic accident where 20% of her body - her face, neck, arms - was burned by one of those fire bowl outdoor lighting things... she had a blog for awhile, and it was one of my favorites. the summer of the accident i ended up having a couple of run-ins with my oven and had a few small burns on my wrist and arm. i looked at those scars all. the. time. and they reminded me to pray for sasha. send good energy her way.

the other day, i was thinking how those scars had faded. they are so faint, i can hardly see one and the other is gone. i thought. well, it's about time for another kitchen mishap. obviously, i didn't do this on purpose. and i hope that this scar fades away. however, it will serve as a good reminder for me to pray for sasha... i hope she is doing well.

sooo... that's the rest of the story here. my thigh has a giant burn. :) be careful in the kitchen! heed my warning!

xoxo, s

a blessed beginning to thanksgiving week

2011-11-23T19:20:00.000-06:00

well. somehow its the middle of the week. but i have to tell you how we had a perfect weekend.

perfect!!!!

friday evening we got a sitter and went out to celebrate our anniversary. 5 years! it wasn't a fancy date... but it was nice spending time together without social obligations or family obligations!

i can tell you that marrying the right person is a huge part of life's happiness. i don't even have the right words for how fortunate i am that i am married to the right man. he is funny, and smart, and loves me. he pushes me to be a better person, and he is the hardest working man i've ever known. he loves our children and is a great dad. i really am blessed to have him in my life.

i wanted to scan old pictures in... but our scanner is acting up. i really am dying to get all my old film converted to digital. have any of y'all done that?? do you send your photos off somewhere? does that scare the crap out of you like it does me????

engagement pictures. gee i look young.

right after we were married...

our first year anniversary dinner. a month before ethan was born!

so that was friday.... and then on saturday, we spent the day together at our friend's farm. picnic of "chicken and fil-a" and enjoying the 70+ degree weather.

boots. pigtails. perfection.

we put the kids down on saturday night and watched one of the best football games. ever. seriously.
i can't wait for the next game because we will be there! but i really don't need to elaborate on how good the game was because you would have to be living in a cave to not know about baylor's ginormous win. i'm not even a c r a z y football person, but wow. its a fun time to be a baylor fan.

it made me want to wake up little savvy and put her in her baylor cheerleader uniform and dance around. or at least a little nostalgic for some post-game celebration.

on sunday, ethan and i had the chance to go to a super fun birthday party where i was in awe of how my formerly timid bounce house boy was jumping all over everything with his friends. my little boy is so grownup now. bittersweet.

and then on sunday evening, faustino made the best gumbo i have ever had. every bit as good as a restaurant. seriously impressive. mmmm.... it had little pieces of duck in it and the roux was perfect. 'liscious. {in savvy-speak} both kids ate it by the way. spicy and all. {not too spicy. just right, spicy} it was starting to rain and was the perfect food to come home to. and the aroma! i love coming home to a home-cooked dinner i didn't have to cook!

i would share the recipe... but faustino made it. and used several recipes. and he wrote it down... but i think it needs a "round 2" to see if that is indeed the recipe. we will definitely make it again. mmmm...

but back to the weekend...

it was full of just a general sprinkling of things that make a weekend wonderful.

and on monday morning, we went out to see the deer my husband shot, and then we headed to my parent's house where the kids have been spoiled with new toys and tons of attention. i think it was their most fun visit yet. savannah was talking up a storm... telling my dad "i love you" among other adorable little things. and i was off the hook for all my daily tasks... life was good. i even braved the longview crowds and did my thanksgiving grocery run so that my parents could watch the kids instead of making it a group trip. blessing.

so now i need to start cooking for tomorrow!!! happy thanksgiving, everyone. i am thankful for the so many blessings we have in our lives. and now i am going to put two of those blessings to bed.

xoxo, s

working on a bar mitzvah...

2011-11-17T16:37:00.007-06:00

my precious little bugs. my full time job...

last week i alluded to a new little something i was working on... and i want to tell y'all about it. a bar mitzvah. this december... day of coordination. i am so excited!!

you see, i am a stay at home mom. {everyone already knows that, right??} and with my husband in training, {y'all know that, too - right??} it has always been difficult for me to even fathom working because of his busy schedule. how could i commit to a job in my previous fields when i need to juggle the kids and not count on him for help with that? the childcare expenses would make it tricky to even come out ahead. and the stress... not that extra money wouldn't be really cool. but also, i feel very strongly that i want to be the one raising our children. my season is one of my children. this has always been my hearts' desire. my dream.

staying home with my children is not glamorous, but is quite rewarding. but i have had "glamorous" and it wasn't really all that rewarding. sometimes fun. sometimes a boost to the ego. but not the long-lasting rewards that motherhood has brought me. snuggles from my children. teaching them about the world. if i look past the tantrums, boogers, and the poop, it really is magic to be the first person to show a little one what a popsicle tastes like or plant a flower or a see a bug or a enjoy certain kind of fruit. to watch my daughter's face as we watch cinderella. to see my son impressed by a firetruck or a cement mixer. letters and numbers. stars and planets. grass and dirt and leaves and pumpkins. the mundane things of the world are their magic moments.

but extra money is nice. and retaining my own sense of self is really very important. i am a mom, but also, i am stephanie.

so, by the grace of god, at the perfect moment, someone asked me a question. would i help with an event? and my answer was YES. an absolute blessing.

let me just say, i never, ever, EVER, in a million years thought that i wanted to plan events again, especially as my own business. i have seen others do it. and thrive in it. but that season of my life was very demanding. {do y'all know about that season? i worked here doing sales and marketing and helping plan the wholesale market, and here as the catering director dealing with the private events and the tournament events, and here as a catering manager with non-wedding large events. whew!}

it was rough. busy. it's nights, weekends, happy hours, get-togethers. all my invitations skipped. or postponed. so that i could be there for other people's events. and i was always {over} emotionally attached to my events. leaving colonial to go to the fort worth club was like a bad divorce. i cried for the events i wouldn't get to do. leaving the fort worth club to stay at home with ethan, had many bittersweet moments, too.

my point is that it never entered my mind that this could be an option... but it is. and here i am. so say prayers that all goes splendidly for the bar mitzvah in december.

and let me just say, that this is going to be an awesome event. it's an great family... a creative theme... i will hopefully get to post some awesome photos afterwards... insert squeal of excitement here!!!

...and then, if i were to get referrals and other business, i would be thrilled. just a few events. day of coordination and consulting prior to the event.

so, i guess, i am putting it out there... i'm working again. let me know if you'd like any help with your event ;)

xoxo, stephanie

randoms...

2011-11-11T16:16:00.003-06:00

so... this past week. i feel like i've been picking up lots of negative energy. i could feel it. i kept asking myself why.... well. to be honest, i was only selecting to tune into the negative stuff. and it was almost like my receptors were hyper-sensitive, because i don't think that the negativity was all that horrid. so, can i take a mulligan on this past week? i mean, i guess i wouldn't really want to... there were some good parts to it. but still.

we've been busy. i'll list it out for you. it's not all bad. in fact, i'll try not to harp on the bad ;)

:: a week ago. bible study child care. ethan got a bad report. geez. i HATE that. however, he has not received a single bad report since last school year... so perhaps his bible study child care teacher is having a hard time differentiating between "bad" and "boy."

any boy mom's out there that relate?? i've become somewhat passionate about this... i could write an entire post :) but first I have a book or two saved on ibooks I would like to read.

:: i'm kinda gloomy when my kids get in trouble. i am doomed when they are teenagers.

:: i have taken on a little project. its literally a godsend... and would take a whole post in and of itself to explain... but friday i had a morning meeting about that... i can't wait to elaborate about it on the blog. very exciting. btw, the meeting went super wonderful and i felt very rejuvenated in a professional way that i hadn't realized i had been missing.

:: i made venison chili and wanted to eat the whole pot. this recipe. wonderful.

:: friday night, i had a massive craft fail as i tried to make flowers for hair bows. so sad. i wanted to give them as birthday gifts. bwahahahhhhahahaa. i think it looked like savannah attempted to make them. i should have taken pictures of the failures. they made me think of this pin on pinterest... {and i can't correctly site the source because there is something wrong with the permalink, so my apologies!}

:: a sweet friend from college mentioned me on her blog. loved that. really, in fact, it made my day.

:: double birthday party fun on saturday. i was whipped. i mean. wow. i think i went to bed at 9. really. and i am a night owl... so that says something.

the first party was at one of those tumbling gyms with lots of trampolines and a foam block pit. the kids literally bounced around the whole time and i chased savannah for the duration trying to save her from her fearless little self. the kids had a blast. and i jumped on the trampoline, too :)

the second party was a train extravaganza. again, chasing savannah all over and coaxing her out of the bounce-house-obstacle-course clearly intended for kids and not an 18 month old. saving fearless savvy from her happy go lucky self. exhausting. fun, but exhausting. they did have wine at the last party, and i felt like had i had a driver, it might have been a truly helpful thing. :)

this was almost the end... cake number 2... do you like ethan's take on the conductor hat? i was too tired to care about correcting it :)

:: i finished savvy's skirt! one super cute sewing project down. eleventy billion to go. and i put the sewing machine back in the chest... i just couldn't handle it next to my bed for another minute. these walls are closing in...

:: i made baba ganoush for the 3rd time... it was pretty good. savannah loves it by the way. but eggplants under the broiler smell a little like death. i don't love that. really. why does something have to be so stinky to be so great in the recipe??

:: i also made it out for a bit to the jwc softball game. and when savvy made it clear it would be another game of chase, i opted to leave! no thanks, not two days in a row.

:: while we were there, i did hold a friend's little 3 month old baby. savannah thought it was pretty cool for about nine seconds, and then she turned into the green eyed monster. she even started to ask to nurse. completely out of character for her! she never wants that. only in the mornings... so i knew she was thinking, oh no. that's my mommy. put down the baby, NOW. i sort of loved her possessiveness.

:: savannah went to the doctor for her 18 month check up. 33 inches long and 26.2 lbs. and.... we found out that savannah has had an ear infection. but after the whole issue with ethan, there is no way we are putting her on antibiotics. so we will wait and see. i'm hoping its almost run its course. she's booger free. fever free. and pretty much happy all the time. just occasionally, she'll act super fussy. and then i think she's not feeling top notch. we go back in a month... hopefully she'll have a good "ear check" and i won't have any mom-guilt.

:: sister had a major meltdown yesterday at bible study childcare. so i needed to pick her up early. i think she just doesn't like to go, because this is her in the back of the volvo eating her lunch while we waited on brother {who i promised that this week he could eat at school with his friends} the classes are 3x as big as her school... but the ratio is the same. it makes for more chaos. i'm not opposed to sending her, because i think there is value in learning how to tolerate a little of what we don't love. plus, it's good for me to go to the bible study.

she is eating cheese and saying cheese. :)

but you see, her meltdown totally foiled my plans to sneak away a little early and go to the junior league lunch meeting. as in, i was in my car, halfway there when they called me. BUMMER. they thought she was sick. i think she might have just been sick and tired of them. a little cranky with the ear and the time change, but really, sister wasn't feeling it. after a quick cat nap in the car, she was back to normal. she was catnapping when i drove through the neighborhood with the buzzards. and by the way, faustino thought i was crazy for being bewildered at the sight of them. oh well.

strange birds

2011-11-10T16:39:00.001-06:00

okay... so i am desperately trying to piece together a post that makes any sense... and i am failing because i am also trying to pick out a christmas card simultaneously and i am thinking about calling my client {because, YES!! i have a little gig!!! deserves it's own post entirely} and so i am super scattered.

i'll keep working on that post ;)

i wouldn't go so far as to say today was a fail... but let's just say i didn't get to breeze through with my plan.

so i will leave you with this.

strange birds. on a strange day. in a very urban area, i might add, {arlington heights} i saw these two things. they are the size of chickens. i actually stopped the car. reversed and attempted to take a picture out the passenger side window.

i tried my darnedest to adjust the iphone photos so you could see them. sorry, i know the pictures suck.

but, what the heck? are they some totally common thing i am just not realizing? they weren't fazed by the car stopping by them, either.

they looked like they belonged in "raptor canyon" at the zoo.

i can't wait to ask my husband if he knows what they are... but do you?? do y'all think this is weird? the size of chickens?!!! just walking around????!!!!

i sort of felt like it was par for the course with how my week has been. :)

UPDATE: apparently these are super common, no big deal, run of the mill buzzards. Well, okay then. They still creeped me out, especially walking down the street in a neighborhood.

eighteen months old

2011-11-03T00:18:00.002-05:00

my little grub. she had a half birthday. and i can not believe how grown up she is. i know everyone says that, but lately, it has been hitting me that my kids are growing up very quickly.

we go to her check-up next week, where i can get all the stats, so i will come back and update it. i have no doubt she will be in the top of her age curve... she's in size 24 months/2t. she breaks my arm when i carry her. and she wears a size 6 shoe. we are still in size 4 pampers when we do disposable diapers.

but --- she is showing interest in potty training. so maybe she won't be in those diapers too much longer.

in fact, we went to eat lunch with ethan and his class on monday, and he told everyone at his table that "sa-nannah toots on the potty" thanks, buddy. i'm sure sister would have wanted to share that as well. :)

my girl loves to eat. gotta love a girl who eats! we are still nursing in the mornings, and occasionally in the late afternoon. i'll nurse her as long as she's interested... there is so much good stuff in my milk. i could go on and on about her favorite foods... but just know, right now, she has a thing for the mini pepperonis. i know. not the best food choice -- don't judge. perhaps my breastmilk will make up for the carcinogens? and she really loves yogurt. it is helpful that she is talking more because she will voice her cravings at the fridge after her nap. she typically grabs my hand, pulls me to the kitchen, stands in front of the fridge or pantry and yells, EAT. then, she gets specific :)

we are still waiting on her last four teeth to break through the gums. she has her top and bottom front 4. and her molars. its the ones between the molars and the front. geez, they have been giving her trouble. motrin. tylenol. homeopathic teething tablets. we are down to the paci only at night. mostly. but sometimes she really wants to chew on that thing during the day.

savannah asks for "med-cine." whenever she cries, ethan says, "i think sa-nannah is getting teeth." except sometimes it's after he's hit her... and then i have to inform him that teeth probably aren't the issue.

she has quite the vocab... i have been keeping it on my phone in the notes section - fun to see what all she says. she will certainly be a chatter box. lately, her big word to scream is "buckle!!" when i get her in and out of the car seat. :)

i also really enjoyed when she grabbed part of ethan's halloween costume and put it on and looked at faustino and me and said, "ironman." yes, indeed.

she has so much fun copying her brother. the things he says, noises he makes, what ever he does, she wants to do too. and they play really well together. until he decides that he wants to play rough :) or until she takes whatever the toy of the moment is and runs off with it.

she loves to dance, sing, play peekaboo, play with fake food, and love on stuffed animals and babies. she is very affectionate to her babies, but guards her kisses tightly from anyone else. so when she does give a kiss to me, it melts my heart. completely.

and when she is eating, she wants to give bites to others. i had no idea that this was a sign of her affection until the other night. she was eating some smarties and giving some to me and faustino. then ethan waltz's in and totally zones in on them... and she gets them all in her hand and won't share a bit! it was so funny!!

she has friends! her face lights up when she's sees certain people in particular... i remember the first time that she said "Abby!" i nearly fell over in disbelief {it was at the beginning of the school year} that she knew and could articulate another child's name. and it wasn't like we saw the friends every day back in the summer, either. and at her school, the much loved ms. tracie tells me that savannah is quite the playground flirt. nice.

she loves books. i mean, LOVES them. i could read to her for hours. she loves to pick out books from her shelf... point to pictures... say the words. i know i am biased, but i think she will be an early reader. it's definitely her thing to make letter sounds and name letters. A E and S are some of our favorites right now.

she also loves shoes. and clothes. and stealing my makeup brushes. she loves bracelets. and will find my ponytail holders and wear them all day long, calling them bracelets. my poor husband... he has no idea what is down the road. i think he will have a hard time saying no to her big blue eyes.

she is my sweet, happy-go-lucky, blessing of a baby girl. i want to sit and snuggle her and kiss her neck all day long, but she is too busy for that. she is so smart and has a great sense of humor and i could not imagine our family without her. she is a blessing beyond my wildest dreams and i can't believe i have the honor of being her mother.

and thanks, sabrina for capturing all these images of savannah.

who knew?

2011-11-01T01:39:00.000-05:00

who would have known that my little owl would have understood and delighted in trick or treating.

she held her own bag. wouldn't put it down or give it to me or her daddy.
she wanted to walk.
she attempted to say both trick or treat and thank you.
she understood the "pick-out-your-candy" concept.

unbelievable.

and ethan? i think he was born to celebrate halloween.

the unexpected hit of the evening? glowsticks.

and trick or treating with friends made the night even more fun. i mean, iron man and princesses are a perfect match, right?

success :)

Sorry :(

2011-10-31T01:09:00.001-05:00

sorry. savannah says it all the time now... except her's sound more like "sawry." so cute. {except when she took off her diaper in the crib and when i came in said "sorry." that was just gross}

but, i digress.

i'm so sorry, y'all. i usually am good about responding to comments. not lately. gigantic fail.

gigantic fail because i really love comments. soo... just getting it out there that i am so sorry i didn't respond. i meant to. please don't stop commenting. i will do better.

and thank you, thank you. the overwhelming positive energy from you all on facebook and my little comment section about savvy's costume and chloe's return.... makes my heart happy.

ummm... i just threw up in my mouth a little, because one of the most insincere people i have ever personally known always said "thank you, thank you." i promise -- i was being sincere.

but if you can tell me who said "thank you, thank you" i will figure out a prize and mail it to you!

xoxo, s

halloween costumes... and good news

2011-10-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

so, first, the good news.

chloe came home!!! last night. praise god. really. i prayed for that little cat... "keep her safe and healthy. if she wants to come home, please help her find a way"

i prayed that over and over.

and all i can say is that god is faithful.

faustino had a journal club meeting after work and didn't get home until 9 or so... we chitchat-ed a bit and then he had to get something out of his car that i am sure pertained to the big presentation this morning. while he was out there, his phone started ringing {it had to do with the presentation} and i took him the phone. he then stayed outside and talked on the phone awhile {he is not a soft talker, and he likes to pace... both are no-no's if anyone is trying to sleep in the house} and he was talking and walking all over the front yard. and then he started to hear a meow.

and then he saw her. he came in got me {still on the phone!} and i went outside and plucked her off of my neighbors porch. it looks a lot like our porch... was she confused?

i told you she wasn't very smart.

so thankful for the timing of everything -- that faustino would be outside in our yard for an extended period of time. so thankful he heard her. i could go on... but there aren't really coincidences, are there?

the even more amazing thing? she isn't hurt. at all. she has a rough spot on her ear, but i can't really tell what its from. a fight? a scratchy branch? who knows. it's not something you would take a cat to the vet over...

de-clawed, stupid, cat. out in the big bad world of feral alley cats. and busy streets. from friday at some point until tuesday night. incredible.

the only problem was that she was so gross. i mean, a long hair cat was NOT made to roam outside. at all. i will spare you the details but suffice it to say that i was thoroughly grossed out by all the nastiness on her belly and it was not mud. she was quarantined to the bathroom and i had to stop what i was doing and groom her. shave her fur. bathe her. so not fun. wow, folks. i could never work at glamour paws. or petsmart.

and really, she was so nasty, it would have been embarrassing to even take her there. and it needed to be done right away. it was 911.

and then i had to thoroughly disinfect the bathroom.

lord.

but still. so incredibly thankful that she gets to come back and live her little life in our nest. and now it looks like she could win worst pet hair cut ever. EVER. if you laugh at it, you can pony up the cash for a pro. its not in the budget around here...

i'll get a picture of her at some point so you can feel bad for her. i'm sure, that just like people hair, it will grow ;)

and now... halloween costumes. it's supposed to be cold/wet/more seasonally appropriate later in the week. so i had them don their costumes and pose for some photos. i didn't even bother to move the plants that need to be planted from the background. just keeping it real.

our owl and red iron man. i made the owl... inspired by a pin from pinterest that took me to this tutorial for an owl costume... except i ditched the mask and bought a winter hat from target for $12.

and ethan's costume he originally picked out in costume express... you know? the junk mail catalog that comes in september? well... $45 before the gloves and accessories... before tax and shipping... uhhh... no. so i lucked out and got this costume at JBF. for $15. and the quality of the mask is way better than the ones at target... and the accessories are at least $15. i just had to do a little repair and buy a light for $10. so... $25 vs. $50+ :)

so these are my two goofsters.

i don't know what i said... but they reacted the same way. :)

fun times.

xoxo, s

bullets!

2011-10-24T17:29:00.003-05:00

hi y'all. lot's of randoms today... so i will resort to bullets.

:: thanks for the kind feedback from last week. makes a girl feel good. :) maybe i should add more substance to blog, eh? i'll try. sometimes its a little scary to put it all out there. i try to be open and honest on here, but i do not want to over share. i'll work on some stuff...

:: savannah is quite the chatterbox lately. i've been counting and she knows over 100 words! incredible. ethan didn't talk this early at all, so it really blows me away to hear little things come out of her mouth. ethan thinks it is fun to teach her or get her to say a word on cue "sa-nana. say, applesauce!" and she will. so fun.

:: i will dwell on the loveliness of the above bullet when ethan pushes, pulls, hits and demands that she get out of the way or stop playing with his things. sibling squabbles are not fun! and i feel like they are here to stay.

:: saturday. i made a cassorole that i thought would be awesome. F A I L. fail x 100. i usually whip up really good stuff in the kitchen. i taught myself to cook from lots of cookbooks that i read, cover to cover, in college {i like a recipe to go off of, but can tweak it. i definitely have a comfort zone. i am lacking the whole, i-watched-my-mother-make-it-this-way-a-thousand-times-and-this-is-my-twist.} but for the most part i don't suck at cooking. if given ample allotments of time and money, i really love cooking. but this was not good. at all. it involves mayonnaise {already not my favorite} and artichokes {this is a bad combo} argh.

:: i lost a bet to faustino and now have to eat the entire disgusting casserole on my own. i just ate a big plate full and think i am going to die. oh, people. mercy.

:: friday night around 11:00 i started thinking, where is chloe?? {my himalayan cat that i have had since my sophomore year at baylor} and i looked EVERYWHERE. she's gone, y'all. gone. i really don't know how she got out, but she is gone. i am hyper-vigilant about the cats not getting out, and chole never runs for the door when its open. so sad. i am absolutely sick. she's declawed and a little stupid, and i fear for her survival. last year when we lost hobbes, i held fast to the fact that he is a smart cat... but chloe... can you add a cat to your prayer list? is that totally silly? i just want her furry little self to come home safely. and i know you must think i am awful - losing a cat last year, and now this year... i promise this is completely strange. you can read about hobbes' escape and return from last year...

:: because chloe is super laid back and not very interactive with the munchkins, they don't realize she's gone. so at least i don't have to field 37 billion questions about it. and endure ethan rolling the window down and calling out her name like he did last year for hobbes. it killed me.

:: saturday morning. we did have fun at a bounce house party. of course, ethan didn't bounce. he's not a bounce house bouncer. the couch? yes. the bounce house... not so much. but really, i don't blame him. i have nightmarish thoughts still about the time as a very young child {ethan's age??} about when i was at the "yamboree" {longview folks, you know what i'm talking about} and was playing in a bounce house in the midway section of the fair and was sucked into the edge of the bounce house while big kids jumped nearby, further wedging me down between the floor and the wall. i was screaming. i think someone must have dug me out but i don't remember anything after that. and don't want to. it must have been horrid.

:: ethan helped me decide on accessories for an outfit i wore this week, and my husband said that i have hit a low point in my fashion-ability when i seek the council of a three year old. just wait til' residency is over.... hahahha. just kidding. well, kind of...

:: i dressed up another time and ethan told me i looked very pretty. {think: blouse and shorts and lipstick verses yoga pants and a tshirt around the house} perhaps i need to dress up more often?!!

:: i started and finished little savannah's owl costume. so cute. yes, i wanted her to be a little lamb. but this was easier/cheaper. and money talks. so thanks to some pinterest inspiration, she's all set.

:: maybe i'll do a little halloween photo shoot tomorrow.

:: we celebrated sue's birthday...

:: and then went to a halloween trunk or treat carnival at the kids' school. fun times. i now have my bribes fully stocked. :)

:: the lord has blessed me with a napping preschooler. hallelujah! almost everyday. really. did He know that i was at the brink of my sanity??

:: we are the humbled, thrilled, beyond grateful recipients of hand-me-down clothes for the kids. last week it was cool enough to need a winter coat, and it was ethan's first time to see it. he was so excited that he won't separate himself from it and sleeps with it every night!!! i showed him a sweat shirt and he has been sleeping with that one, too. lordy!

:: think how happy kids who really need a coat are when they get one. the kids in the foster system. or homeless kids. so sad. that motivates me to really find ways to give to children in need. and to involve my children.

:: and one last thing, because it sounds like savannah is beginning to wake up. do you have an iphone 3gs?? have you done the software update?? i am dying to... but scared. please, do tell! my inner nerd is dying for a 4s because i want Siri....

xoxo, stephanie

the bane of my existance.

2011-10-19T11:33:00.001-05:00

is my kitchen floor. i'm kidding. really. i'm just exaggerating, of course.

i think i need a disclaimer. i am so grateful. so, so, SO grateful. my cup overflows. please don't take this as whining... i'm not. i'm just stating the facts, friends :)

***

and also, my many friends with housekeepers... just pretend you understand, k? :)

***

and one more thing. i'll throw in a couple of photos of the kids. because really, you don't just want me to show you tons of tile pics.

***

i cleaned my kitchen floor this past week. i made quick work of what was before a dreadful task... thanks to my mother-in-law, who saw a random tidbit on television.

shaving cream will clean unsealed slate.

this is revolutionary news to me. maybe you are martha stewart, and already know this. or maybe you are a better housewife than me, and instinctively know.

i did not.

so after a trip to the dollar store to buy shaving cream {i wasn't about to use faustino's on the floor} and 2 scrub brushes from the walmart {not my favorite place. at. all.} from last summer when i was really only thinking about cleaning my floor, i was ready to begin.

let me just say, for those of you who are not familiar with this particular thing, unsealed slate is porous. maybe all slate isn't as porous as mine... i've only lived in one house {this one} with slate.

and as a side note, slate does best on a very sturdy subfloor. now, i don't know much, but sturdy and or stable is not the way i would describe the flooring or foundation of my nest. {examples: there was the time back before i was married where the house shifted so that i had to enter through the side door because the front door lock was stuck. that was fun... and just as recently as last weekend i was doing the victory dance because the house shifted in the last cool front and i can fully shut the kids bedroom door! and open their closet all the way!!!!} so some of my tiles and grout have gotten a little shifty. and that's okay. but i am a perfectionist sometimes, and this is a contributing factor to my inability to get it perfect!!!!

so, when i first moved into my little home, all by my lonesome, after college, i LOVED my slate kitchen tile. i worked all day, then came home in the evenings... faustino was in medical school, his family lived in town and his mom is an awesome cook. what i am trying to say is that it was easy to love my floor back then. i wasn't home to get it dirty.

and then i got married. started cooking more. staying home more. using my house. and the floor got dirty. and it baffled me. i would mop. it wouldn't get clean.

getting it wet was disgusting. how on earth could i clean it???

i did try to google it, but didn't get meaningful results.

i ended up scrubbing with rags and dawn and clorox wipes for HOURS. e l b o w g r e a s e.

i almost finished. but i stopped caring. well. nix that. i stopped caring about finishing the last 8 tiles. i DID care about anyone tracking dirt in/spilling things on my floor. i was crazy.

but over time, it got grungy again.

i adopted the "we just won't eat off the floor" attitude. if people all over the world could handle a packed dirt floor, i could handle a dirty slate floor.

when savannah started crawling, i just didn't let her in the kitchen. i would pick her up and redirect. oh! my baby! get off that nasty floor!!!

but then i heard about the shaving cream. minimal elbow grease, people. amazing.

but it does take a while to do it and so, while mopping up shaving cream, i was thinking.

thinking about how i am so incredibly accepting of our house now. i am happy to live here. really. slugs and all. well. i don't know about that.

i remember thinking when we got engaged that after we got married, maybe we would move. but that wasn't a fiscally prudent decision. so we stayed. and i remember thinking that when we started residency that maybe we could buy a house. we looked at houses. and quickly realized that this is where we needed to stay. and then, as close as 6 months ago, i thought we could potentially be moving into a bigger house down the street. guess what? we didn't.

so this will be our home the entire time i have lived here. since i graduated from baylor in 2004. all the way until residency is over. our little house has been the birthplace of many of my most treasured memories. i became an adult, started a life, got married, had babies, christmases, holidays, birthdays, on and on.

i think god has been working on my heart. my spirit. humility. compassion. sacrifice.

so as i scrubbed my tile, wiping away dark gray shaving cream sludge, i thought about our home. and as i dug shaving cream out of the holes where grout is missing i thought about teaching contentment to my children.

how do you teach your children the peace of knowing your place in the world - being content with the little bitty home filled with love and a lack of window treatments - but at the same time, give them the energy to reject things they don't like and to strive for better? how?? how do you teach that balance. or rather, paradox?

it seems so contradictory. but i firmly believe that one must be somewhat unhappy with where they are in life, in order to propel oneself forward to "better" circumstances. perhaps i should just say "different" circumstances, since better is certainly quite subjective.

and although you can apply this to a financial/monetary scenario, it encompasses many things that are far from fiscal.

i understand, or try to at least, this in my own life. but to teach my children...

i want to my children to have the gift of peace. but i want them to desire to innovate. to stretch. grow. become more of what they already are. become the best they can be.

so... i leave you with that. shaving cream. slate tiles. the war of contentment and striving for excellence. a photo of my grimy floor. half cleaned.

and gee, if i had a housekeeper, would i ever ponder deep subjects??