Leif's Quote of the Day

Looking out the window while eating breakfast, Leif says,

"Hey! The clouds aren't moving....Why?"

Jason looks, shrugs, "I dunno."

"Hmn..." Leif muses aloud, "Maybe they're taking a rest."

Jason laughs. "Maybe."

Momma and Son

On the left, a picture of me in Montessori school, when I had just turned 5. On the right , Leif a month or two after he'd turned 3.

I scanned the Montessori photos of me in for another reason the other day, and gasped when I saw my profile! I was the spittin' image of Leif, or vice versa, I guess. I'd never really seen the resemblance between us until I saw this! Wow!

The picture of him isn't the closest I've ever seen, but it was all I could find for this.

You can click on the pic to make them larger! :)

Weirdness.

Just thought I'd share the cuteness!

Leif's Quote of the Day

Leif was dancing his spoon around like a person at breakfast time.

"Look at your face!" he said to the spoon.

"You're a spoon guy!"

HeeHee.

Leif's Quote of the Day:

Last night, when Leif was snuggled up in bed, I said to him, "You're very cute, Leif."

He responded,"Aww, thanks!  That was nice of you to say!"

A slight pause, then, "You're a good Mommy."

and then he fell asleep. 

* Bliss *

Recent Tidbits

So, now that I've grossed most everyone out with my toothbrush story, here's a few more "light & cheery" things from our everyday:

:: Leif likes to help. While this is nothing new, what is newish is that he likes to set the table, put things away, and be a big help to his Momma in general. When I get dinner going, he runs to the china cabinet to get out plates and silverware and places them on the table where we sit. Sometimes I have to replace bowls with plates, and plates with bowls, but for the most part he gets it right and is a really big help to me (literally!)

:: He's also big into doing things himself. Getting dressed, putting on shoes, and brushing teeth are all things that he is pretty adamant about doing himself. Sometimes the shoes are on the wrong feet, the underwear on backwards, or a shirt is inside out. Sometimes two legs are in one pantleg, and he calls for help, but otherwise, he's bound and determined to do it himself. That makes me one happy Momma. I also love his mistakes - it is rather funny to see him standing there with one or all of the abovementioned dressing faux pas goin' on. I try to conceal my giggle, give him a big hug for cuteness, and then we fix the clothing issues.

:: If left to his own devices, he works on puzzles, reads books aloud to himself (he's not actually reading - he's just repeating the story back, generally very close to the actual words, from memory), and plays with trucks and tools. He loves to do welding with his welding tools from Grandmom and Granddad, and will spend a good part of each day measuring around the house with different measuring tools.

:: He also enjoys running around in circles. He places his blankie on the floor in a pile over his giraffe, then runs around and around (and around) it over and over again. Sometimes this ends with an accidental run-in with the wall, or a trip over a foot. For the most part, though, he runs til he's pooped and then snuggles in to the blanket with giraffe.

That's all for now!  Happy Days!

Bad Momma, Bad! And Other Little Items of No Particular Interest

Leif putting a puzzle together while I cleaned cleaned cleaned. It was taken through a window wall (we have a wall in our house is that is floor to ceiling windows - this was taken through that!) so that is why you might see chair reflections, etc.

The other day, I woke up and realized that I had had enough chaos in my house for far too long.  I hopped out of bed, started cleaning, and didn't stop until dinnertime (Jason was a good lad and brought home pizza so I didn't have to cook).  And after dinner, I cleaned some more.  I cleaned until late in the night.

Since before our trip to Maryland, our house has been, well, somewhere between "okay" and "disaster zone" and it wasn't making me, or anyone else in the family happy. 

Between a homemade christmas (or ,ahem, an attempted one), and loads of crafty homemade-ness since then, I haven't had much time to put in to cleaning.  And somewhere between "okay" and "disaster zone" is not a good place to be.

So, I cleaned it all up.  But that meant a whole day was gone with me not playing with Leif - no puzzles, no books, nothing.  I gave him his meals and snacks, but he was on his own for the rest (hence the title of this post, "Bad Momma, Bad!" - he didn't say it, I did!)

All that day, he played with puzzles, watched movies, undid the laundry I had just folded and the animals I had just put away, and generally kept himself entertained.  In fact, you can see the animals scattered in the background of that top picture.  I had just put them back in the basket not an hour before, and out they came - scattered, but not played with.  Grrr...

Anyway, he was a very good boy that whole day, and I'm glad I took the day to clean because the whole family has been a lot happier going to sleep and waking up to a nice clean house.  Everything runs more smoothly when a house is clean, donchya think?

I have a few more finishing touches to do today, and then the house will be spotless and ready for most anything we want to do.

And what do we want to do?  Play and spend a whole bunch of time together!

And drink lots of Thai Iced Tea.  Lots and Lots and Lots.

I ordered a big box of various Thai foods that are somewhat hard (read: impossible) to find here in the backcountry.  One of them was Thai Iced Tea, so we can enjoy our favorite drink without paying 3 or more bucks a pop at a restaurant (not that one around here offers it!)  Yay!  It tastes just like the restaurant stuff! Lovin' it.

Leif has been lots of fun lately.  He pretend plays all time, and it makes us laugh.  We love to hear the little stories he comes up with.  Even just the simplest things make us laugh, like when he takes a bit of train track and turns it vertically, like a ladder, then uses his hands to climb the ladder, as if his hands are two different people.  They talk back and forth to each other, and they say the funniest things - just so random.  I can't recall any at this moment, but when I do, I'll blog it in to posterity.

He also does really special things, like taking my toothbrush and scrubbing out the shower with it.  I snatched it from him, put it on the vanity, and proceeded to get him out of the shower and ready for bed.  Next morning, I woke up and went to brush my teeth, and oh, you know it!  Totally forgot that he had used it in the shower (and that I hadn't cleaned it - it was still in all it's shower-muck glory!) and proceeded to brush my teeth with it.  Right as I was about to rinse, I realized what I'd done.  Much Hydrogen-Peroxiding ensued (of both my mouth, and the toothbrush).  To make matters worse, he was in the shower because he'd had a potty accident and had poo all over him.  That's what he was cleaning in the shower. 

Oh. Special. Day.

All of our azaleas have kicked the bucket with that recent cold snap.  It was so sad...one day they're flowering and gorgeous, the next day the flowers are drooping and falling off, and the next, the whole plant is brown.  I have around 6-7 large azalea bushes, so that makes up the majority of the landscaping in the yard.  Now dead.  Lovely. 

Lately, Leif has loved coloring.  He received a box of really nice crayons from Aunt 2p & Co. for Christmas and he'll go to the armoire, take out paper, grab his tin of crayons from the shelf in the playroom and sit down at the desk and draw.  When he is done, he puts them away.  Most of the time.  Love that!  He's very proud of his artwork, which at this point, is just scribbles of color, but still pretty. 

He's also been doing much better in the potty department.  We've had an awfully long struggle with it (long story - don't feel like getting in to right now!) but he seems to finally be back to being potty-trained again.  Hoorah!  It's only been a year!  We're all wiser for the experience, though.

Leif has been singing a lot lately, too.  He's never been hugely in to singing, but now he'll just break in to song whenever.  Sometimes, I recognize the songs, and sometimes they're his own tunes.  It's insanely cute, and if I can ever get him to do anything in front of the video camera, I'll post it!  Lately, his favorite songs have been, "Twinkle Twinkle," the Theme Song from Thomas the Train, and the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."  It really is a good night when he's singin' that song! :)

Anyway, I'll quit before I get too rambly...I always start a post with good intentions to keep it short, and with more interesting tidbits, but it never works out that way! 

Have a good day!

In his undies, puzzling.  That's his nature table there in the forefront. :)

More Projects

The Seashell Project

This is what I began with - and then some - a bunch of shells. I'm lucky enough to have a shell factory down the road a way, so I have a huge assortment at my fingertips. I can't seem to bring myself to paint REAL shells - they're too pretty naturally!

I made some of these as a Christmas present, so that is why I couldn't show them until after Christmas. I know it's a long way past that, but, well, I'm slow.


The finished product.
I've loved this look for a while, since all of the design mags (esp. coastal ones) have these shiny lovelies everywhere. But, I wasn't willing to pay the $28 a pop that they sold for, so I made my own. My favorite is that top left one, it's so pokey and fun. I also did a starfish, but he is currently part of a display in my house, so I didn't take him out for this.

I'll put these in different places around the house (they look rather dull the way I have them here) so if you come visit, you might see one on a stack of papers on the desk, peeping out from the bookshelves, or simply on the table, being pretty. They won't be grouped together - they look better solo.

Anyway, that was a pre-Christmas project that took several days, mainly due to drying time!

Today, I worked on a different project that I'll post later.

And tomorrow, I'm going to get some supplies for even more projecty goodness!

Happy days!

Going Outside

Leif gets ready to go outside.
Can you tell he is my son? He's wearing a sweater and wool hat - but short pants and sandals!
The sweater is a crazy new one I got for him since this cold weather has been here, and the wool hat was his great-grandfather's hat. I like me all of the oranges! :)

Blue Nature

This was what the water looked like last week - insanely blue and beautiful. It was crisp and bright outside - absolutely gorgeous!

A large flock of birds (this was about 1/20th of them) flew by as I was taking pictures...
They're neat if you zoom in on them and look at the angles of their wings - or maybe I'm the only one who thinks that! :)

Uncle Shawn, Mr. Daniel, and Jason going out in the cold weather. Don't envy Shawn one bit this time of year - getting in to the cold cold water! Brrr...

Leif loves balloons, and every time we go to the grocery store, the bagboy always gives him one, and generally, they're orange (ribbon)and blue (balloon)(this happend to be on the day of a Gator win, too). He'll play with the balloon for hours happily, and will insist that it stay in his room at night - no sleeping in the kitchen for the balloon!

Toys I've made lately

Leify and Daddy in the dump truck.

Leify received this dump truck for Christmas, but was very sad because there were no people with it. I checked the company's website, and they don't sell people, unless it is with very expensive kits. So, I went to the craft store, picked up some little wooden people and painted them. They're very small (like old school fisher-price people) so I had to use tiny paintbrushes.

Now, painting and I have never been best friends, although I've always wanted to be. And these were my first attempt at painting these guys, so please don't judge too harshly! :)

I painted Daddy and Leify (at Leify's request). Leify is wearing his "orange shirt" and his brown pants (a regular outfit of his!) and is sporting some pretty crazy eyes that I messed up on. :)

Daddy is wearing his blue shirt, and his big orange bib trousers, complete with black straps (the one he wears while working).

They both sport rosy cheeks.

Here they are working at the construction site.

And taking a walk in the woods (no, I'm not bored!)

And this is the beginning of Emily - (no one in particular, I just named her that because I thought she looked like an Emily). She is a clothespin doll, and so far, I've only painted her face, but I did a much better job on her face than I did the boys. Anyway, I think she will be quite a cutie when she is fully dressed and completed. I just have to figure out some nice simple clothes for her, and then varnish away!

Hopefully, I'll be able to make an arsenal of unique figures for Leify to play with for his construction trucks and road sets. I love me some handmade and unique toys! (And um, hopefully, I'll become more skilled at painting them as time goes on!)

Eating snacks and Home Improvement

Leif’s favorite snack of late: apples dipped in peanut butter.

Mmmm, it’s good.

After the room was painted, Leify helped nail the trim back in to place.

He was really doing it by himself, too.

We take the laid-back approach to home improvement around here.

The last one going in, with Leify doing it his way.

Then a cute dance.

Then doing it the way Daddy taught him to (in a tight spot).

Voila – trim is up and doin’ fine! Thanks, Leify! You really are a big help, even in your undies!

Snowflakes and Dirty Face

Some of my handcut snowflakes in our Dining Room. Every window was decked out with loads of these little guys, so it looked like a snowstorm in our dining room. My favorite of all of them is the one on the far left in this picture.

Showing me how he finished his chocolate cake (my leftovers from our Christmas Eve shindig) - he even licked the plate! Now, why doesn't he do that with veggies?

More snowflakes in another window. They're all different sizes, but unfortunately, the big one is turned sideways so you can't see it.

I took down all of the Christmas ornaments a while ago, but these have stayed up. I reckon they'll come down soon enough, but I think they're more wintery, less Christmas-y, so they stay until I'm sick of them.

Leif looking at the weather outside from his post while Daddy was painting the Dining Room. I'm ver' pleased that the Dining Room is now painted, and we can move on to other rooms. We're slow, but we'll get there eventually! :)

More pictures tomorrow or the next day - stay tuned!

Cheerio.

Christmas Photos, Belated

Leif and Jason early early early in the morning, playing with the choo-choo that was under the tree, chugging, when we woke up.

In his new school desk, "It's just my size!" from his Mommy & Daddy. It was an antique find on our trip to Maryland! :) (And yes, all he wore the whole time were his underpants - *sigh* - 3 year olds!)

Enjoying the train together.

Learning to use the remote control - it even whistles and chimes (I'm so easily amused!)

Those are really the only pictures I took on Christmas. I hate Christmas pictures...for some reaon, they're always dark and not good at all, and I really don't like taking them, because mine never turn out right. Same for Christmas decoration pictures - they always are dull, too, when taken by me. Not my forte, that's for sure!

Anyway, sorry for the lateness of this post, I've been in a photography/blogging slump of late. Will pull out of it here shortly, though! :)

We've been having a good but busy year so far, lots of crafting and working going on, which is great. I'll be posting more this week (pictures from the past few weeks that I haven't posted.)

Oh, back to Christmas right quick - went to Caryn's house with some of the family (although not much) for Christmas dinner.
Standing Rib Roast with Ox-tail Au jus, Yorkshire Puddings, Roasted Green Beans, and Scalloped Potatoes. I must say, that this was probably one of the best meals I've had in my life - and as someone who has eaten more than her fair share of high-end meals, that's sayin' something. It may have even been the best - perfectly cooked roast, insane puddings, and the au jus! Oh, it was heaven.

So, thanks, De Grande !

PS. Leif is sitting on my lap right now and his hair is very fuzzy and he smells very good. Just thought you might want to know.

Reflections on a Year and Decade

Here I sit, on a very gloomy, foggy, grey morning, surrounded by darkness even though it is nearly nine o’clock, and I’m trying to think of something brilliant to write about the past year and the past decade.  But the thing is, I don’t remember too much of it – either the year or the decade, because so much of everyday life blurs in to a big grey cloud of nothingness, much like this morning.  This reflection on the past will then very surely not be brilliant, and is more likely to be, dare I say it, short. 

The thing is, I love dark gloomy days when street lights are on all day because they think it’s night.  I love when quiet fogs come rolling in, creating a stillness so vast that even the birds stay mute.  Love it.  The trees stop their singing in the wind, and occasionally, a burst of rain showers with world with sound as it hits the tin roof.  It is the perfect day for chain tea-drinking and thinking deep thoughts.  (Clearly, I’ve an English heritage, no?)

So what to say about a year that was filled with little matters of the everyday that are so mundane the brain forgets them?  I don’t think there is much to say about it, except that it was good.  We’ve had a good year. 

And what about a decade that is a bit more bespeckled with interesting incidents that are more remembered and permanently lodged in to a person’s (and a society’s) brain?

Ten years was a long time ago – I can hardly remember who I was then.  It was a really big New Year that year – 2000.  We were on the cusp of Fin di Siecle, the Eve of the Millennium.  Then Y2k came and went with nary a hint of problem. 

The rest of the decade seems filled with some pretty dark stuff, come to think of it – 9/11, 3/11 (Spain), McMansions, and then the near-collapse of the economic system as we know it. 

But in between all that horrid stuff, there were some really wonderful things.  After college came grad school, and immediately after I graduated, I met Jason (swoon!). 

Things were pretty slow up to that point, but then it was like someone hit the fast forward button (you can let go of that button now, someone!) and the next five years fairly flew by.

We met, were engaged, got hitched, and then were pregnant with one small cuddly little guy named Leif.  We moved, we moved, then we moved again.  And then we moved, then moved, and then moved again.  And then we moved – and, oh, I’ve lost count.  We ended up here somewhere along the way.

And that about brings us up to now. 

There is, of course, much more that makes up a decade than the events too big to forget and the ones too small to remember.   There are jokes around the dinner table, laughing until your sides hurt and cheeks are wet with tears.  There are moments making presents for new little babes due to arrive in the world.  There is the happy chasing of butterflies with little squeals.  There are mountains of dishes after a holiday meal.  There are seeds planted and watched as they grow.  There are full moons and blue moons and waning moons, too.  There is French Press coffee in the morning, steaming and black.  There are birthdays with candles and silly hats.  There are birds doing crazy dances in the water outside.  There are books read and forgotten, books read and remembered.  There are oil lamps glowing at night in the dark.  There are bubbles to chase as they blow in the wind.  There are kisses to make little hurts feel better.  There are tears of joy at weddings, and tears of mourning at funerals.  There are nights of late studying for exams in the morning. There are lawns to be mowed and bushes to be pruned.  There are little favors for you do to for others, and others to do for you.  There are road trips to be taken to places new and old.   There are fireworks on holidays. There is snuggling in bed as a family.  There is getting caught in the rain and soaked to the bone.  There are lists to be made.  There are toys to play with and put away.  There are walks in the evening after dinner.   There are tulips in the park to be seen.  There is water to be splashed around in the pool on a hot summer day.   There is the lovely peace and quiet in the house when the child is asleep, snuggled up like an angel in the blankets.

There are things we’ll always remember and always forget.

We’ve had a good year.  We’ve had a good decade, and there isn’t much more in the world you can ask for than that.

Here’s to a good New Year and a good New Decade for all!