Finding Joy

Pondering happiness

2012-01-31T12:10:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about happiness a lot recently. It feels like our world revolves around this quest for happiness. We want to be happy! We want our spouses, our children, our jobs, our lives to make us happy. And yet, so many people are so miserable. A couple weekends ago I spent a good chunk of my time painting a dresser which gave me ample kid free, quiet time alone with my thoughts. I really got to thinking about what it means to be happy and how so many people that I come in contact with just don't seem to be happy at all. After all of my big thinking I believe it comes down to this: happiness is a choice, not a feeling. It seems that most people (me included at times) are just waiting around for happiness to find them. They have ideals that they would like for their life and they believe that once they get to that perfect place happiness will be theirs. I think that true happiness is being content with what you have right now, the big and the small, the perfect and the broken.

I remember when Dan and I were in the beginnings of our dating relationship. We were discussing love and what it means, what it is. (Ah, young love and all of the glorious time we had on our hands to discuss it!) We both agreed that love isn't a feeling.....yes, feelings go along with it but it really isn't about how you feel. Mature, long lasting, true love is a choice. We make the decision to love one another even when its hard or inconvenient or the other person has been eating mass quantities of bean soup and has horrific gas. We love and continue on because that is what we chose to do, that is the commitment we made. I think the state of happiness is very similar to the state of love. If we choose to be content in small things, the everyday mundane things then we are sure to find happiness which will make the big & awesome things in life even bigger and more awesome.

This is something that I need to work on and get better at. Recognizing the remarkable in the mundane of my life. Choosing happiness. Because the alternative is significantly less happy!

I know.....total nonsensical ramblings. It made perfect sense in my head. To make up for the random, here are a few things that make me immensely happy right now:

Lots and lots of felt hearts

I have big plans for these.....stay tuned

Good books that are free from the library

Our new gizmo that we traded my old camera for

This man who loves his family more than anything

and who might or might not be consuming a lot of bean soup

This cross stitch that belonged to my grandma that I finally put up

Clean and colorful diapers

Living in the south and drinking Cheer Wine

My precious babies

A slightly more cheerful laundry room

A basket full of painted hearts that will soon be hanging in our living room

And a sweet girl who got a cleaning wipe all by herself

and asked if she could clean my computer!

She did an excellent job

I wish it would snow down, down on me

2012-01-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

My kids have been talking about and anticipating snow for months now! Since the end of summer I have heard them discussing snow angels, snowmen, eating snow & hot cocoa. We all want it to snow very desperately. But mother nature seems to have other plans for us.....it has been crazy warm this winter! I can count the number of truly cold days on my 2 hands. Most of this winter I have been wearing my flip flops, we hardly ever need to wear our heavy jackets and Eleanor has been assaulted by a winter hat maybe 4 times. I don't understand. I moan and complain about the heat and humidity all summer and the only thing that gets me through the misery is the dream of cold wintery weather. I love winter! I want some snow gosh darn it! Instead we have 70 degree, sunny days that feel exactly like spring.......in JANUARY. It is nice to get outside and move our bodies without 5 layers of clothing on, but come on, it needs to snow! All of this winter warmth makes me truly afraid that this summer is going to be inferno hot and totally bugtastic. I haven't completely given up hope (we did get snow in February 2 years ago) but I'm starting to think that our beloved snow is going to be a no show this year. Bummer. Since the weather has been so ~~annoyingly sunny and warm~~ nice, we've been enjoying the sunshine & playing outside. Here's the proof:

Maddie drew this

Babies like chalk.....especially eating it

Charlotte was flying like a bird

Babies also like to eat random pieces of bark

Babies do not like to eat dandelions.....but they try anyway and then need help cleaning their mouth out!

Then they found a worm and spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of it. Yuck!

My hydrangeas already have buds......in JANUARY!

The morning the world almost ended

2012-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

The girls woke up before 7:00 this morning. I'm not exactly sure on the time, but I rolled over, looked at the alarm clock with one eye, saw that the first number was a 6 and then rolled back over and tried to ignore their giggling for as long as possible. They are generally pretty good in the morning regardless of what time they wake up. Charlotte is usually the instigator (Maddie & Eleanor like to sleep in) and wakes up at least Eleanor. Sometimes Charlotte will get up and go into the TV room and put on cartoons all by herself, but most of the time she climbs into Eleanor's crib and the two of them talk and laugh and jump and share Eleanor's pacis (all while Maddie is still asleep with a pillow over her head). This sisterly bonding time usually buys me an additional 15 minutes of snoozing time.

Anyway......so I drag my butt out of bed, crawl upstairs, get Charlotte out of Ellie's crib and send her in to watch cartoons. I change Eleanor's diaper and nurse her and send her in to play with Charlotte. All the while Maddie is still sleeping......I swear that girl could sleep through an air raid! But that is not the point of my rambling. I close the baby gate and groggily make my way downstairs to get my life line in a cup. My kids are mucho adorable first thing in the morning, but I NEED my coffee before I can deal with anyone/anything! My kids are much happier once I have coffee in me, trust me. I grab my cup and walk over to the coffee maker and discover this:

And I think to myself......Oh, how sweet, Dan left me a little love note. (He does this sometimes!) Upon further inspection I discover that it is not a love note but an un-love note. The first line reads....."We are out of coffee. No lie." This is the end of the world! How could this possibly happen? I start to panic. This can not be true. No way, NO WAY! I NEED my coffee! The rest of the note reads....."No I couldn't make any this morning. Yes, it is really empty. Seriously. But...."

"I got you a cup at the gas station. It is in the microwave. It is not doctored yet so it would stay hotter. I love you. We need coffee......"

What the crap? Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful that my husband drove to the gas station to get me coffee.....if he hadn't, the world would probably have come to an end. But what I don't understand is why he didn't tell me that we were out of coffee yesterday when he used the last of the coffee?!? I know, I know, he works full time, does college nearly full time, takes out the trash, sometimes does the dishes and is an awesome father and husband......but come on......running out of coffee is world ending stuff!

I doctored the gas station coffee with creamer & sugar and downed that luke warm bad boy like it was my job. The caffeine enabled me to get the kids ready for school, make their lunches and get out the door with enough time to drive through Dunkin Donuts and get myself a large hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar. Oh, and I forgave my dear husband for his transgressions. I need to make a trip to the store this afternoon........we need coffee!

*Disclaimer: I'm not sure if the " marks are required for quoting what someone else wrote, but I added them because it looked better and seemed to make it easier to differentiate between my writing and what Dan wrote. If you are one of those people who are annal about these kinds of things, I apologize profusely......but really, I don't care. Don't you have better things to do? :o)

2012-01-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

There has been sickness in the house of Schultz. Thankfully I am the only one who is sick, and although I'm not really thankful about being sick, I am happy that my kids aren't sick because it is so much worse when they can't sleep and are extra whiny! On one hand it is easier when I only need to deal with my own snot, but it is also a lot harder to explain to my kids that I am not feeling well and try and convince them to make their own lunch and not jump all over me while I'm laying on the couch trying to nap. They just don't understand! Maddie and Charlotte are at an age where they can watch cartoons (all day) and I can lay out the crayons & coloring books and they will ~~yell and argue with each other~~ quietly color, but Eleanor is a different story. She is at an age of discovery. She wants to empty out everything, move anything that isn't nailed down and she is climbing like a chimpanzee. She is not to be trusted. Luckily her new favorite thing to do is climb up on the bench at our kitchen table and play with whatever is there. Yesterday (or was it the day before?) baby Ellie was hanging out at the table shirtless, with maple syrup all up in her hair, eating crayons and playing with a glass drinking glass & kid silverware. I was on the couch with tissues stuffed up in my nostrils to prevent the continual flow of snot from running down my face and totally supervising. No one was hurt! Actually the girls have been very good these past few days and I had a random serge of energy and did a bunch of cooking and cleaning. Dan says that I should be sick more often. Jerk. :o)

The older girls stayed out of my hair these past few days so I didn't get pictures of them. I did get some shots of Eleanor and her antics.

In our pajamas all day long
Wearing mismatched/too big shoes
Eating cookies
(The girls helped me make cookies while I was sick. 10 points for me!)

Photographic evidence of:

shirtless

eating crayons

maple syrup hair

Charlotte asks me, "Mama, have you seen the glittery purple crayon?"

Um....no, but if you need a fork I'm your gal.

She did actually get some coloring done!

It wasn't all nutritional

A little of this.....a little of that

2012-01-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

Life is chugging along as usual at our house. We're getting back into our non-holiday routine and although I miss the decorations and festiveness, I'm glad to be back to life as we know it. Dan started back up with school and we are adjusting to his new school work load, I am dealing with some minor stresses with the Wake County school district and as always we are juggling all of the other things that come with being a family of 5. These next couple of months are going to be busy....we have soccer starting up again at the beginning of March and I'd really like to get Charlotte into some kind of dance class. I have not even begun to start thinking about my garden, but that needs to happen soon if we want early spring veggies. There are some exciting things in the works for the next couple months, but I'll write about those at a later time.

My kids are growing up so fast! Part of me really likes that they are getting bigger, because they are also getting easier. But another part of me wishes that they could stay little forever. That they could always be at home with me with no where to go and nothing in particular to do. Craft projects, toenail painting, baking, dressing up, playing at the park. The fun stuff, the easy stuff. I love the age that Eleanor is at right now. She's becoming her own little person and has opinions about things. She is learning new words every day and figuring out how things work in the world. I love that she brings me random pieces of clothing that she finds (or pulls out of the big girls drawers) and wants me to put them on her. The other day she had on her footie pajamas, socks, 2 pairs of underwear, a tank top and 2 headbands. It's the lovely hobo stage.....I remember both Maddie & Charlotte going through this same stage, and I loved it just as much then as I do now. Charlotte is still our little girly princess. She will rotate through multiple princess dresses throughout the day and always wants to wear sparkly things. Anytime there is music on she is sure to be shaking her little booty and she's actually quite good at it! I love listening to Charlotte talk, more and more she is surprising me with the insightful and well thought out things she says. Often times I feel like she isn't listening to me, or isn't paying attention but a day later she will recite verbatim everything I told her, or I'll hear her telling Maddie about something that her and I discussed. Charlotte has also gotten really good at the computer. It's fun to watch her learning! What can I say about Maddie? I look at her and see a girl far beyond her years. She's ridiculously tall and so stinking beautiful! One day (in the far, far distant future) she is going to give the boys a run for their money. She is so smart, sometimes I am astounded by the things she knows, the things she asks about and the level of understanding that she has. Dan and I often wonder if she has a photographic memory or something similar because she remembers everything. You can explain something once to her or show her something only one time and she soaks it in like a sponge and never forgets. She's getting really good at reading which makes me immensely proud.....so proud, I often get teary eyed after she's done reading me something. And the girl is seriously funny! All kids are funny at a certain level, but Maddie makes me laugh out loud all the time. We've been playing games at night before the girls go to bed nearly every night, and it is something that we all look forward to and I am amazed at how well they do. They are really good at taking turns and are learning how to be gracious winners (and losers) and it is just so much fun to interact with them in this way. I really love my kids!

Isn't this parenting thing amazing? Having the privilege of sharing a life with these little ones, guiding them through their childhoods, helping them become everything they want to be. I am truly humbled. And I'm gonna stop gushing because it's gonna make me cry. :o)

I thought I'd share some random pictures that I've taken the last couple of weeks. Just things that we've been doing and stuff around the house. A couple pictures are projects I worked on over the last couple of months that have been completed and I never shared. You know.....a little of this and a little of that!

Eleanor on the go.....

she is always running somewhere

We moved Charlotte into the 4 year old class at preschool

and within a few weeks, she learned how to write her name!

Big girl.

Am I the only one who puts my kids in the bath during the day in wintertime?

They'll play in there for a good hour! Breaks the day up.

Water color painted coffee filter snowflakes

Rag curls. I didn't get an after shot, so we'll have to do it again.

But they turned out really cute.....REALLY curly!

Dresser painting project

Before

Dresser behind Eleanor

After.

I still need to get the pulls on

Lots-o-books from the library

Raleigh Kids Exchange consignment sale.

Spring/Summer clothes & shoes

Notice the shiny black tap shoes? I got a pair for both Maddie & Charlotte.

I'm hoping Dan can make them a little stage. This WILL be fun! :o)

Flag bunting in the girls room

We finished painting these mini canvases a while ago.....

FINALLY got around to hanging them in the girls room

I finally got around to cleaning and organizing my craft area!

I can actually work here now......and I have.

Hopefully this week is treating you well! I'm overly tired, but keeping the sleepies away with copious amounts of caffeine. Getting closer to the weekend!

purging & bowling

2012-01-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

For the past year or so we've been trying to reduce the amount of junk our kids have. What I'm referring to are junky, plastic, cheap toys. I don't think that we will ever completely get away from junk entering our house, but I'm trying my best to keep it to a minimum. I'm just tired of spending money on the latest fad and having it end up destroyed within months (or sometimes days) of entering our home. The one nice thing about cheaply made toys is that they are cheap.....better quality, longer lasting toys are generally a lot more expensive. But, if you think about the longevity of a better made toy, the added cost really is worth it in the long run! With that in mind I tried my best to buy good quality Christmas toys for the girls this year. They got a wooden train table, a PlanToys circus set, a wooden (vintage) doll cradle, American Girl dolls and a very fun wooden bowling set. I'm sensing a material theme......wood withstands the test of time! Another awesome thing about better made (often wooden) toys is that they have less bells and whistles which more often than not facilitates more imaginative play. What do you do with a kitchen set that doesn't make running water sounds and sings to you when you open the oven? You make the sounds yourself....you sing your own songs!

Right after Christmas we did a huge purge of toys and donated 3 garbage bags full of stuff. It is so nice to have even less junk in our house. Less little pieces, less randomness. We also did a lot of reorganizing and now everything has its own place. It is so much easier to put things away and because of this the girls are getting a lot better at cleaning up. Even when they get their toys out and make a big mess its not so hard to get it back under control because there is far less stuff and what we do have, has a home. I feel really good about the state of our house and the amount of junk we have. I'll address this subject again in a few months and see if I feel the same!

For your viewing pleasure.....bowling fun!

P.S. I've been letting the girls use my camera (supervised of course) so some of these pictures were taken by the littles. They are actually quite good.....although I do have to set up the settings for them since my camera is only ever on manual anymore. Oh, and Charlotte took like a bazillion pictures of bowling pins. If you want to see the collection, just ask! :o)

Photo courtesy of Maddie

Charlotte makes the best faces while concentrating!

You better watch out pins.....she means business

Maddie is very serious about her bowling

Photo courtesy of Charlotte

Take that! (She ended up getting a strike)

Photo courtesy of Charlotte

Goals for a new year

2012-01-09T19:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not really big on making resolutions for the new year. I like the concept, but it seems that most of the resolutions that people make in January are totally unrealistic and get forgotten before the winter thaw. I do however like goals and I pretty much always have a running list of things to accomplish in the weeks & months ahead. So, since it is a new year and a fresh calendar and since people like talking about their goals I thought I'd type mine out.

1. I would really love to finish selling off/giving away the rest of our baby gear. Unless God has other plans, I'm pretty sure that Eleanor is to be our last baby. And I am super done with all of the large baby equipment that we have cluttering our house and attic space. We've gotten rid of some of it in the past few months but we still have a long way to go. I'm more hesitant to part with the baby clothes, but it has nothing to do with future babies and everything to do with sentimentalism. I think I'm going to sort through the clothes and set aside outfits that I am most attached to and space saver those to give to the girls when they are adults....you know, for their own babies! :o)

2. I want to read 75 books. I had this same goal for last year and only got through 67. I know.....only, right?!? I feel good about getting through as many novels as I did, but I would really like to make my goal. If you have any awesome book suggestions, let me know!

3. I want to be more intentional with fun activities for my kids. Most of the stuff we do together (craft wise) is spur of the moment, throw together kind of stuff. And it also seems to go in waves. I'm really good about planning stuff to do around the holidays because I LOVE Christmas, but I'm not nearly as good at keeping that momentum throughout the year. I want to have weekly plans, maybe even a set day of the week where I have specific plans for us, and most importantly.....I want to be prepared.

4. I want to continue nursing Eleanor. I don't really have a set time frame on this one, but I know that as of right now I want to keep going. I can't believe that it has been 15 months already! There have been moments when I've felt like I desperately wanted to be done and have my freedom, but that was mostly around the 9-11 month mark when she was still nursing a ton. Now she'll nurse 2-3 times a day and it just feels normal.....it feels like it's what I'm supposed to be doing. Don't worry, she won't be going into kindergarten still attached to my boob, but for now we'll keep on keepin' on.

5. I want to make a pot of soup every week (during winter/spring). I know this one seems weird, but every time I make home made soup I absolutely adore it! There is nothing cozier or more comforting than a big pot of soup. It is so easy to make, and it can be a fill in for meals all week long. Got soccer practice, or AWANA in the evening? Hey, we have this soup here......wa-la, dinner is made!

6. I want to blog more consistently. I got very neglectful of my blog these past couple months and I feel really bad about it. It's not like many people even read my blog, but that isn't why I do this anyway. I want to save our memories. You wouldn't believe how many times I've referenced my past blog entries to jog my memory of something. I love having this record and I want to make it a priority.

7. I want to take more pictures of my life. This one might seem hard to believe since I have upwards of 65,000 pictures on my external hard drive, but it's true. I haven't taken very many pictures the past couple of months (of course this is relative) and I completely regret it. Days go by without me even picking up my camera. I won't get these days/weeks/months back and I want to capture as much as I can!

8. I want to go to bed earlier. This one is going to be TOUGH! I generally don't go to sleep until 12:30 or 1:00 every night. I have the best of intentions but I take a long time to fall asleep and heading off to bed at 11:30 is just too late if I want to be asleep before tomorrow. I honestly don't know if I'll be successful with this goal, but maybe by putting it in writing it will keep me motivated!

9. I want to make tons of money doing what I love. I'm kidding. Kind of. I want my business to be more successful! 2011 was actually really great and unexpected, but I want to get my butt in gear and get organized and proactive with my photography. The winter here is cold which makes it less than desirable for people to get outdoors and do photo shoots, but I have big plans for the spring! I'm going to do some advertising and be more proactive about drumming up new business. I also would love to get my feet wet with some wedding photography.....so if anyone knows of couples looking for very reasonable wedding photography, send them my way! :o) I love that I can make money doing something that I truly adore.

I think that's it for now. Of course I have a gazillion other goals, but I don't have the time or the energy to get into all of them. I think that my biggest "goals" are ones that are always on going. I always want to be a better person, a better wife and mother. I want to be less impatient, kind with my words and overall more empathetic. I want to be more awesomer than I already am! :o) Here's hoping that 2012 is everything I want it will be and more.

Three girls and a tree

2012-01-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

It is hard work to get a decent picture of three kids. It's even harder when those three kids are your own! Don't get me wrong, getting good group shots of strangers is a challenge, but there is something extra special when the group is your own kids. You get that extra dose of attitude and non cooperativeness that just really makes you crazy.....maybe its just me?!? My girls were actually pretty good during this mini session, and by mini session I really mean mini.....like 5 minutes. None of the pictures are fantastic, but they are good enough to mark the moment and maybe I'll even frame one of them. It gets easier as they get older, right??

P.S. We're attempting to grow Maddie's bangs out.....she will look like a ragamuffin for a little while. :o)

I think this one might be the best

Christmas palooza

2012-01-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas and the days before and after were fantastic! We were so incredibly busy leading up to the holidays......magnet school applications, preschool activities, photo shoots & editing, Dan wrapping up things at work and of course baking! There was one week that was so crazy, it was go-go-go until we drop. But we made it through! The Thursday before Christmas was Dan's last day at work and then he had 11 days off to spend at home with his favorite girls. We baked TONS and tons of cookies and goodies to give out to our neighbors (and of course eat ourselves!) and the girls helped me with almost everything.....they are getting to be good little bakers! We decorated ginger bread houses for the first time this year and it was actually a very fun process and not nearly as messy as I thought it would be. Our evenings were spent wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies and spending good quality time together. I love having Dan home! We got a fun gift from my brother and sister in law this year......The Elf on the Shelf, which was a lot of fun for the girls leading up to Christmas. (Thanks Mike & Robin!) They had a great time trying to find their elf every morning and I'm looking forward to next year when we'll have more days to hide "snowflake" (the girls named him)

Christmas eve we had a yummy feast of marinated steaks, roasted root veggies, wild rice pilaf and fancy macaroni and cheese and then we made sugar cookies for santa. The girls did so great with the sugar cookies! This was the first year that we didn't have a sprinkle disaster.....craft trays are very handy. All three girls got to open their matching Christmas pajamas and their ornaments for 2011. Maddie got a glass cupcake, Charlotte got a ballerina and Eleanor got a little pea in a pod. Then it was off to bed. Dan and I had hoped that since we didn't have a bunch of stuff to assemble and I had already wrapped all of the presents that we would be able to go to bed at a decent time. Not so. The train table took longer than expected to put together, and I had to do all of the ribbon and bows on the presents which took a good long time. We were in bed around 1:30 in the morning. Yikes.

Christmas morning the girls woke up around 7:00 and were very excited to get to opening presents! They played with the train set a bit and opened their stockings while Dan and I waited for the coffee to brew! I wanted to have the present opening go a little slower this year so it wasn't just an insane whirlwind of wrapping paper and so that we could actually watch the girls open their presents and see their reactions to everything. We took turns opening things and it worked out really well. We actually got to a point where they girls were off playing with some of their new toys and there were still presents under the tree to open. Dan and I got to sit back and relax a little and watch each other open our gifts. Then the girls came back and were ready for presents round 2. I made french toast with Hawaiian bread for breakfast and we lounged around in our pajamas playing with toys all day. Dinner was a repeat of the night before......which is why I made so much food on Christmas eve......leftovers! We had a really great Christmas!

The next couple days were spent playing with new Christmas toys. The girls got to make cakes with their new easy bake oven, they did sticker faces, doll dressing, Christmas candy eating and played lots of games. We played UNO together as a family and it was really a lot of fun. I love that the older my kiddos get the more entertaining and fun they get. Favorite gifts were: Maddie- train table, easy bake oven & pet shops. Charlotte- Dolly w/ clothes, princess dolls & hair stuff. Eleanor- Candy (she stole from her sister's stockings) that she ate constantly.....you could find Eleanor with either candy in her mouth & hands or candy all over her face, pretty much all day! Dan- I'm not sure what he'd say his favorite was, but I'm partial to the Chicago Bears jacket, sunglasses & suede slippers that I got him. Me- I really liked the necklace that Dan got me and my new camera flash. It was a super wonderful Christmas this year. I loved having Dan home, spending time all together and making new memories. The girls had a blast and of course are looking forward to next year. Merry Christmas! (belated)

The girls helping me bake

Eleanor got mad because I took her marker away

(she was coloring while we baked)

Ginger bread house decorating

Our sugar cookies for santa

Obviously Santa liked our cookies.....he left us some loot

The fun has begun!

Santa brought Maddie, Charlotte & Mama American Girl dolls.

Yes, I got one too!

Easy Bake Oven

It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be

Sticker faces

The girls (dolls) helped

We let the girls eat their ginger bread houses before we threw them out

It was like eating slightly sweet concrete

Decorating

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

These pictures are not great......but it was evening and I didn't feel like getting my flash out. The girls had a lot of fun decorating the Christmas tree. For the 3rd year in a row we had a small tree that was just for the girls, but for the first time ever, we let the girls help hang ornaments on our grown up tree. We still saved the precious ornaments for adult hands and hung them up high where the kiddos couldn't get them & break them. But overall the kids did really well with decorating both trees. I am truly amazed at how well Eleanor handled the Christmas tree! I was very worried that it was going to be a battle with her to not play with the sparkly, colorful baubles hanging from a tree in our living room......but she did great! It took about 2 days of cutting her off before she got her hands on the big tree and telling her, "No no, you go to your tree." before she completely left our Christmas tree alone. It's great having a little tree that the girls can decorate however they like with non breakable ornaments......they put them on and took them off over and over again. I'm looking forward to the day when they are old enough and responsible enough to have just one Christmas tree, but until that day comes our arrangement works really well for us!

Both big girls got a turn putting the star up on our Christmas tree.....

thank goodness we have a strong daddy!

Oh Christmas tree

2012-01-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

We went and got our Christmas tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I always grew up getting our tree early and keeping it up until the new year......and for the past couple of years we've gotten our tree kind of late in the game. So this year we got a very early start! When I was a kid we would all hop into our 1970's conversion van and drive for what felt like hours to go hunt down and then cut down our perfect Christmas tree. I would love to be able to do that with my little family, but trees are really expensive these days and we've found the best price ($29.99) to be at our local Food Lion (grocery store). So we made the treck to Food Lion, Dan humored me and held up multiple trees for comparison, and we finally settled on a 7 1/2 foot decently full Frasier Fir.

It was after the tree was paid for and on the roof of our car that we realized we had nothing to tie it down with! Dan went back into the store to see if they had rope. They did not. But Dan bought some bungee cords and strapped our Tannenbaum down. We had another stop to make before heading home, so we got on the highway (which out here is a 2 lane road with a speed limit of 45) and headed on our merry way. It was about 10 minutes into our journey that we heard rustling up above our heads on the roof and I turned around in my seat just in time to see the Christmas tree flying off the back of our car and nearly hitting the car behind us. The two cars behind us slammed on their brakes nearly having an accident themselves and while we turned around, one of those drivers moved our Christmas tree off the road. We spent the next 15 minutes trying to located the bungee cords that flew off onto the side of the road (one of them was on the other side of the hwy) and retying the tree to the car roof. Thankfully no one got hurt! I would have freaked out if a 7 foot Christmas tree came hurdling at me while driving, but the cars behind us were fine, and actually thought it was pretty funny. The tree didn't get run over, and really only lost 1 branch to the road. We got home safely and our Christmas tree made it into the house. Our tree never really drank any water and got very brittle very quickly......I think it was post traumatic stress from the incident! :o)

Here is my attempt at getting a picture with all 3 of my children at the "Christmas tree farm" aka Food Lion.

FAVORITE!

End of November and my return to bloggerland

2012-01-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

I have been very negligent with my blog these last couple months. I blame life.....it's too busy. Really though the reason I haven't been on top of this site is because I spent a good portion of my "free time" during November and December doing photo shoots for my business. Taking pictures of other people, editing pictures of other people take time and I have less interest in picking up my camera and editing my own pictures when I've already spent hours on the computer, hours behind my lens. It's all good of course.....I love that my business kept me busy this fall and I believe that if I get organized and start earlier next year will be even more successful.

We have also been very busy with all things holiday. We made a special play set for Thanksgiving to learn about the Pilgrims and Indians, the girls had a feast at their school and we went to Charlotte, NC to spend Thanksgiving with Dan's family. Thanksgiving weekend also began preparations for Christmas. The house got cleaned, the tree was picked out (I have a funny story about our tree that will be featured in another blog) and we started making decorations. I have thoroughly enjoyed the fall and the holiday season this year! It's nice not having a small infant in the house.....it gives me more time to do fun crafts with the bigger girls and introduce Eleanor (very slowly) to the fun of markers and glitter!

One of my goals for 2012 is to be better at maintaining this blog. I know not many people read it, so I don't feel like I would be disappointing anyone if I stopped blogging, but I want this record of our life for myself. For my girls. I need to make sure that I get at least the important things posted in this space. I have other goals for this year, taking more pictures of my family, making business plans for ginaschultz.com, advertising, crafting more with the kiddos, using my sewing machine more......I'll write more about my goals in another blog. For now, I'm back and I hope to get some more posts up in the next week or so to get caught up with the past couple months. Below are some pictures from November of our Thanksgiving peg people set and the girls feast day at school.

I love that Charlotte has some red substance all over her face!

Eleanor's birthday pictures

2011-11-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Is there such a thing as too many pictures? I think that this post will surely push the envelope if it is in fact possible to see too much pink, tutu-ed, chubbiness. But I am a more is more kind of a gal and so you get no less than 46 pictures of my darling one year old! Which I must say is significantly less than the nearly 400 pictures I actually took of said baby. I love this child SO much! I don't know if it's a third child thing, or if it's just been a long time since I've had a one year old.....but I seriously look at her and see perfection! Maybe it really has everything to do with the fact that she can't sass me yet?!? All I know is that this sweet baby girl has a special place in my heart and no less than 46 birthday pictures on my blog! :o)

Hot pool

2011-11-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

The cool fall weather has made it lots of fun to enjoy our hot tub! The girls are having a ball and it's nice to play in water outdoors even when it is cold outside. They ask to go in the "hot pool" almost every day. I'm glad that we have a hot pool!

Chasing leaves

2011-11-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Fall is such an unpredictable time here in North Carolina. One day the weather will be beautiful and warm and the next it will be freezing cold. We try to make the most out of the beautiful weather days because soon enough it will be too cold to do much playing outside. This day in particular was very lovely, and I'm glad that the girls got to spend some time with grandma at the park before she headed home to California. The leaves we just starting to change color and fall from the trees and Maddie & Charlotte enjoyed running around trying to catch the leaves as they fell. Eleanor mainly tried to eat leaves. Sweet baby!

She had her sights set on a falling leaf!

Yeah, getting a decent shot with all 3 of my kids is still a challenge. :o)

Halloween-palooza

2011-11-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

I decided that instead of doing a separate post for every little Halloween activity we did, I would combine them all into one huge Halloween-palooza blog. This year was a lot of fun because the girls (minus Eleanor) were old enough to know exactly what they wanted to dress up as. Maddie has wanted to be Spider-Man for the past couple of months......I was kinda hoping that she would change her mind and pick something a little girlish, but she wanted to be Spidey and she stuck with it! I actually felt a lot of pride watching my big girl walk around dressed up in a boy costume, and we actually got a few surprised remarks about a girl Spider-Man. Charlotte is my girly girl through and through and wanted to be a ballerina. She was so excited to go pick out her costume and we ended up getting actual ballet clothes instead of a costume (minus the slippers) so she will be all set if we sign her up for dance classes. Eleanor dressed up as a Care Bear for the girls' school party and was Winnie the Pooh Honey Bee for the Halloween parade and trick or treating. We had quite a few costumes to choose from for the baby! We didn't do as much this year as we did last year, but what we did participate in was a lot of fun and the girls had a great time dressing up and of course receiving candy! It was another great Halloween at the Schultz house but I am happy to be done until next year. :o)

School party

Charlotte and her best friend Wynston

Maddie and Noah (whom she says she is gonna marry) Gulp.

Muscles

Do you see how crazy TALL my child is?

Eleanor likes being in their classes and playing

The two ballerinas

Super heroes always eat their carrots first!

Do you want a grape?

None of my kids enjoyed the inside of a pumpkin.....

But they all did it!

I love her face!

Dan is our master carver :o)

Our glowing pumpkins

Once we were done carving we took our pumpkins out to keep us company in the hot tub

Halloween parade

I didn't get any pics of us trick or treating outside because it was rainy-ish outside.

But here are the girls with their loot!

Walking

2011-10-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

One of my parents most favorite things to do while visiting us in North Carolina is to walk around the neighborhood. Another one of their favorites is to sit in the rocking chairs on our front porch. The chairs are currently filthy and need repainting so they were not photographed, but one of our walks was. We went out to dinner and came home with super full bellies and figured a walk was in order. There are so many things that I like about our neighborhood! I love that all of the houses are different, made from different materials and constructed in different eras which means they each have very individual architecture. I love the tall trees everywhere and that most of our neighbors make an attempt at landscaping and each yard is different and interesting. I love that everyone you pass will wave at you, and most of them will walk on up and start chatting with you. I love that each time we take a walk we can go a different route and see completely different things. The neighborhood is always changing, the trees and flowers and shrubs are always changing and it makes for a good learning environment. I love that we live in a neighborhood where people walk.....on any given day (if it's not freezing or raining) you can find people out and about. I really like this place that we call home and I'm glad that my children get to grow up here. And I especially like when my parents are here and we can walk the hood together!!

Don't ya just love my mom's hair? I think it's so cute!

My awesome, silly Charley. Always willing to jump for me and my camera!

NC state fair 2011

2011-10-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

We made our yearly trip to the state fair while my mom was visiting. Dad went home after 1 week and missed out on the awesomeness that is the fair. Although in my opinion he didn't miss out on much this year. The weather was perfect which is always a plus but it was so ridiculously crowded there was a line for everything. And I was so bummed because my two favorite things were not available. The baby ducks and chicks were caged up because the turkeys were getting exercise and the cows weren't even at the fair because it was changing time. The meat cows went home and the dairy cows had not arrived yet. Bummer! By the time we used all our ride tickets I was more than ready to head home. The girls had a good time which is really all that matters, but I don't know if we'll be going back to the fair next year.......although we probably will because we are gluttons for punishment!

I love cotton

They got to harvest fruits and veggies

Awesome sun in their eyes photo

I think this picture is hilarious....it looks like a turkey party

Charlotte putting stickers on Eleanor's head. Gotta love big sisters!

Hill Ridge Farm 2011

2011-10-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

We made our annual pilgrimage out to Hill Ridge Farm a couple weeks ago. It was nice that grandma and papa were able to go with us again this year! It's a fun time for all (at least I hope it is) and having the extra pairs of hands makes for a much smoother day. Plus I really like that my girls will have memories of their grandma and papa at the pumpkin farm. I was bummed this year because we didn't get to go on the train, but there was a head on collision with the train and a hay ride tractor so understandably the train was closed for the rest of the day. Hill Ridge is always an action packed day for us and after a few hours the kiddos were grumpy and ready to go home. I think we may try to get out there again this year just because we missed the train and the line was super long for the big slide so we skipped that too. We've found that halloween day is usually like a ghost town there which means no lines and no running around from one thing to the next. A much slower pace. Maybe we'll go back on the 31st. All in all it was a great day and I'm glad we went!

Bounce housing

Charlotte got really lost in the maze and needed help out. :o)

Eleanor learned that hay does not taste good

My newly 5 year old is crazy tall!

Corn angels

Eleanor also learned that she does not like sitting in corn.

"Get me outta here"

Mama learned (again) that taking pictures of 3 kids is WAY harder than 2 kids.

a little bit of fall

2011-10-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

It is beginning to look very much like fall at my house. And I love it! I actually think that I may like fall more than I like Christmas.....and that is truly hard to believe. I really like that this season lasts 2 long months and the creative opportunities seem to be unending. There are a ridiculous number of pumpkins at my house right now. Between the market and 2 pumpkin patches our pumpkin total is at 11, and that does not include the little pumpkins we have in the house on tables. Pumpkintastic! We have been busy working on fall crafts, some of which are shown below and some I'm hoping to blog about when I have time. I'm looking forward to November and Thanksgiving.....I've got some books on hold and have some fun art planned. Until then we are enjoying the colorful leaves, collecting acorns and thinking up fun recipes that include pumpkin!

City acorns. Most of our acorns have been collected from around downtown Raleigh!

Pumpkin spice hand soap.....yummy!

Backyard camping

2011-10-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had a camp out in our very own backyard. We wanted to get one more camping trip in before the weather got too cold, but we didn't want to pack up all our camping gear and drive far away. The backyard seemed like a good solution. The girls played on the swing set while Dan (Maddie helped) put the tent up. We started a fire, roasted marshmallows, made s'mores and burned sticks. Mama and Eleanor slept in the house while Daddy and the big girls slept in the tent. It was VERY cold that night and around 5:00 in the morning the campers trudge in from the yard and climbed into their warm beds. It was a fun experience and one that we will for sure be repeating!

Look at my dirty faced, runny nosed, barefoot child. Awesome!

I know it doesn't look like she enjoys the slide, but I swear she does!

Setting up their sleeping bags

It's the little things

2011-10-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

We spent some time outside doing yard work and the girls discovered the joy of a leaf blower. It's amazing how much fun the simplest things can be! Daddy blew all the leaves off our driveway and also made it a windy day for the little ones. They danced and screamed and had a blast. I love the pictures from this photo shoot so much I had a very hard time picking what to post. So here are a dozen or so of my favorite and if you make it all the way to the bottom there is a video for your viewing pleasure!

Eleanor turns one!

2011-10-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

How did this happen? How is my sweet baby already a year old?!? It feels like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. And I guess in the grand scheme of things it was just yesterday! Eleanor Irene Schultz was born on Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 4:48 pm. She came into this world in a hurry (arriving before the doctor) and has been doing her very best to keep up with life in the Schultz house ever since. Our bouncing baby girl was 8 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches long.

From the very beginning Eleanor was an easy going and mellow baby. She loved to be held, was a great sleeper and tolerated her sisters....which was asking a lot! She had (and still has) the cutest baby pudge ever. She was my first baby to enjoy a swing and tolerated tummy time without hollering. I feel that in some ways Eleanor was forced to grow up faster than my other two kiddos because she had to jump into our already crazy life. But in a lot of ways she is so much more a baby at 12 months than my previous babies were. I don't want to rush her.....I don't want her to become a kid faster than is totally necessary, so I baby her! Eleanor didn't really roll over until she was around 4-5 months old, she didn't start crawling until she was around 9 months old, and she has yet to start walking. And I am totally okay with all of these late-ish milestones because it means that she gets to be my "baby" just a little bit longer!

I think that Eleanor is one of the happiest and most content babies I have ever come across. She loves to smile, loves to laugh, can entertain herself with toys, loves nothing more than to be in my arms and seriously LOVES playing with her sisters. She is a funny baby, and she knows that she is funny which makes it all the more funny. It's so amazing to watch her crack herself up with something as silly and simple as putting her finger up inside her paci and waving it around. She thinks this is hilarious! She has recently discovered that her finger fits very nicely inside her nostrils and she spends much time testing this new skill out. She claps when she is happy, she loves playing peek a boo and she is excellent at jumping and dancing. One of her favorite activities is wrestling with the girls and putting small Pet Shop animals in her mouth. Although she is very good at spitting them out if you put your hand in front of her mouth and tell her to give them to you. She loves crawling up the stairs, playing with keys, putting small objects inside other objects and taking baths.

Eleanor has been nursing since she was a few minutes old and she is still going strong! I feel like this is a huge accomplishment for both of us because my other girls weaned before 12 months. And not only has she been nursing for all this time, but she has only had 2 bottles of milk since birth. Yep, that's right.....I have fed her from the source for every single feeding (except 2) for the past 365 days! I feel pretty proud of myself for this insanity. It did feel a bit crazy in the thick of it, but I am so glad that I stuck with it. She still nurses between 4-5 times a day and I have no intention of stopping until we are both ready, which will hopefully not be too soon! On top of breast milk, Eleanor eats pretty much everything you could imagine. I did make baby food for her, but only for about 2 months and then we switched to giving her little bits of whatever we were eating. Her favorite foods are broccoli, hot dogs, rice, blueberries, pizza crust and cheese crackers. We also pretty much skipped the bottle and went straight to a sippy cup and she enjoys drinking very watered down juice.

I honestly can not believe how lucky we are to have Eleanor in our family! She is such an amazing gift of laughter and joy. I think God knew exactly what we needed and sent miss Eleanor Irene to us. I knew that our third baby would fit right into our family but I am overjoyed to see how much greater our family is because of her. How our hearts have grown to fit her. How much love she has for Dan and me and her sisters. How much love we have for her. I watch Maddie and Charlotte interact with Eleanor and I see devotion. Both of my older girls would move heaven and earth for their baby sister and I know that Eleanor adores them. I know that this next year will bring us a walking, talking toddler.....that there will be trials and difficulties and struggles for independence but I truly believe that God will never give us more than we can handle and I have a feeling that our littlest baby will take it easy on her parents! :o)

Happy birthday my sweet 1 year old! I love you immensely!

Eleanor 1 - how to create a free slideshow

Soccer season two

2011-09-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

We started our second season of soccer a few weeks ago. Dan is coaching Maddie's team this season and it has made an amazing difference! I'm sure that having a season under her belt has helped Maddie get comfortable with soccer in general, but having her daddy there coaching has given her confidence and seems to have completely changed her attitude. She has been loving soccer practice and there have been no tears. Last season we hardly made it through a practice or game without some kind of melt down. It appears that Maddie has also started to really get into the game. She jumps in there, steals the ball away and has been making goals like crazy! At her last game she made 3 goals. I'm really glad that she is liking this experience! I am so proud of Dan too.....he is proving to be a great coach! I love that this is a great family experience for all of us.

Maddie is #6.....in the front with the ball

Hooray! Right after one of her goals.

Dirty little secrets

2011-09-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

My three year old still has a paci. We've tried at different times to phase out her beloved paci but something always seems to come up (sickness, trips) and it just hasn't happened. There are lots of people out there with lots of opinions on the subject.....some are louder than others but most of the opinions are that she should not still have a paci. The only two people whos opinions matter to me in this regard are my daughter and her dentist (and of course my husband who's opinion always matters). My little one would love to keep her paci but her dentist has suggested we take it away because it is starting to affect her teeth. Which means, that the dentist wins and we are going to part ways with our paci.

This topic in general is very difficult for me. Coming from a 31 year old woman who still has a blankie, still sleeps with a blankie I totally get Charlotte's attachment to her paci! And it's just so unfair. We are the ones who introduced a paci to her.....from day one! We bought numerous brands of pacifiers trying to find one that my colicky baby would take to stop the crying. We gave it to her and asked her to accept it. And she did. She formed an attachment to the silicone and plastic noise reducer and it has been in her mouth everyday since the day we brought her home. It seems so cruel to me that I asked her to attach to it and now I am forcing her to give it up. It was convenient for us until it was no longer convenient and my poor baby is the one who has to deal with the end results.

I understand that we NEED to do this! I don't want her to have messed up teeth or need dental work in her future to correct the damage that a paci did. I get it. But it's really hard! If there wasn't a dental issue this wouldn't even be a problem. I truly believe that she would out grow her need for a paci on her own time. That it could be something that she chose to let go of when she was ready. I really hate doing this. We've been talking about saying goodbye to the paci. We've talked about her teeth and how she's a big girl and doesn't need it anymore. We've talked about sending the pacis up to God so that he can give them to new babies and we've talked about getting her a paci bear (Build a Bear) to replace her paci. She seems excited about all of these things.....she wants to send her pacis to God, and she wants to get a new animal to cuddle at night but I'm not sure she really realizes that she has to give them up. It's a big concept, one that I'm not sure a 3 year old can completely comprehend. This morning while I was talking to her about it all again (I want to go over it and over it so she knows exactly what is going to happen) I took her paci away from her and said that we were going to practice and not have the paci. And she cried. A heart wrenching, big fat tears, utterly devastated, cry. I felt like a total meany.

The paci has got to go. I think we'll be making the transition this upcoming weekend.....the sooner the better, right? But I feel like crap about it. I wish we didn't have to do this! My heart hurts for my precious daughter and this very big change that she has to go through. I pray that it won't be as bad as I think it's gonna be and I hope that she won't be too mad at Dan and I for forcing this on her. I also hope that she doesn't start sucking her thumb as a replacement for the paci.....that I have been told is an even harder habit to break! Wish us luck.

P.S. If you happen to be one of those people who are of the opinion that children of a certain age shouldn't have a paci/blankie/lovie, please know that voicing your opinion to someone who doesn't have the same ideas as you is not helpful. Some thoughts are best kept to yourself. :o)

Blueberries

2011-09-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Blueberries are messy, but oh-so-delicious! Good thing kids can be cleaned up pretty easily....Miss Eleanor was escorted to the bathtub as soon as dinner was over.

Labor day camping extravaganza

2011-09-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

We headed back up to the mountains over Labor day weekend to do some camping. And this time grandma and papa came with us! It was another long drive, but the kids did better this time except for the nearly constant asking, "Are we there yet?" I think because they knew where we were going and they knew the fun that was ahead they tolerated the 5 hour drive better. It was a great weekend! The weather was a bit cooler than it was in July (which was nice) the lake was also a bit cooler but was lovely once you got in. The first night we were there we barely got all the tents set up before it started raining buckets. We stayed dry and happy all night and the next day was beautiful. A big storm was supposed to come in on Sunday afternoon and last all day Monday so we packed up while it was still dry and left a day early. I was bummed that we had to go home, but constant rain and little kids living in tents is not very much fun. I can't wait to go back to Cascade lake! I think it will be spring before we get back up there but next time we are going to go for a full week.....it makes the drive seem more worth it! Here are some pictures from our weekend. It's really a ton of pictures from our weekend. I have a hard time picking and choosing what I want to post, so you get all of my favorites! Enjoy.

She strapped herself in and then couldn't get out! Ha.

Maddie was a big helper with the tent

Papa taking a nap

Eleanor being adorable.....what's new?

Maddie took this one

Another Maddie shot
And the rest that she took were of her shoes! :o)

Yep, we were roughing it!

Waiting patiently (?) to roast s'mores

Escape artist

She was not happy about being contained!

I think she needs to be more expressive!

All 3 kids in one picture!
Too bad it isn't a great shot.

She colored on herself

Grandma and her girls

My two youngest fast asleep

Maddie turns 5!!

2011-09-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

I've always known that I wanted to be a mama! I never thought it would happen as quickly as it did, but I am so grateful that it did. Maddie came into our world at 5:40 pm on Tuesday, September 12, 2006. She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. Today my first baby girl turns five! Everyone tells you how quickly time passes when you have little ones and it is a truth that I have come to know. How have five years gone by already?!? For me motherhood has been a huge learning experience.....I have grown so much in the last 5 years. Being a mama to Maddie (and my other girls) has made me a better, slightly more patient person and has taught me to slow down and enjoy the small things in life.

Maddie has grown so much this year, not only is she ridiculously tall and looking like a big girl, but she is also super smart. The insightful things that come out of her mouth make me laugh but also make me think too! She has learned basic math, she can read simple words and is getting very close to reading books on her own. Her penmanship has gotten significantly better and she surprises me with her knowledge of science and geography. She has a thirst for knowledge and asks a bizillion questions about anything we are doing. I love the way this girls brain works and I look forward to watching her learn. She also has an incredible memory and will shock you with information that she pulls up from a year ago. Like when I told her at age 3 that she could have a cat when she turns 8.....she tells strangers, "When I'm 8 I get a cat.....counting up to 8 always reminds me of my kitty I'm gonna get!" Nothing gets by her!

Maddie is a very special girl! In a lot of ways she is a tom boy, she likes dirt and bugs and worms but at the same time she wants to wear a dress every day. She loves a tea party and is my cuddler. She's not much into cooking, but she loves to eat and this year has marked a huge transformation in her eating habits. She used to be picky and tell me that she doesn't like things but this year she has started eating everything I make, she doesn't complain about it and she hardly ever tells me that she doesn't like something. Nearly every night at dinner I worry that there is going to be a struggle over her eating and nearly every night I am completely surprised by her flexibility and easy going-ness.

I love this girl so much! She makes life so interesting and keeps me entertained every day. I love her willingness to help with anything I ask of her. I love that she has such a great relationship with her little sisters. I love that even at the old age of 5 she still comes to me for cuddles when she is hurt or tired or upset. I love her kind heart and how when she gets something she always asks if Charlotte can have one as well. I love her big feet and her beautiful eyes and her strong legs that keep her moving constantly. I love that she wants me to read to her all the time and can sit through long and increasingly more complicated stories. I love that she craves routine and is proving to be a planner.....just like her mama! And I love the sheer excitement she feels and exudes with everything, even the mundane. I love that Maddie loves fiercely and wears her heart on her sleeve. This girl is such a blessing in my life!

Here is her 5th birthday interview:

What is your name? Maddie Rose Schultz
How old are you? 4
How old will you be on your birthday? 5
What is your favorite color? Pink
What is your favorite cartoon? Pocoyo
What is your favorite breakfast? Pancakes.....with sprinkles
What is your favorite dinner? PIZZA
What do you want to be when you grow up? A beautiful ballerina
Where is your favorite place to go? Monkey Joes, the beach & camping
What is your favorite toy? Littlest pet shop
Where do you live? North Carolina
What pet would you like to have? A cat
When do you get a cat? When I turn 8
What is your favorite thing to wear? Dresses
What is your favorite part of being a family? Movie night, camping and hugs & kisses
What is your favorite thing to do? Playing with Lilly at school
Do you have a nickname? Yes, Angel Cake (this is not accurate! lol) We call her Moo or Maddie Moo
How do you like your hair? Short because it is easier to brush....and no pony tails
Where are you having your birthday party? Old McDonalds
What do you want to do at your party? Party and do a party dance. Listen to music, eat cake and ice cream and cookies and chocolate and juice.
Anything else you'd like to say? Noah & Lilly are my best friends. Lilly is in my class. I like helping people and not fighting with toys!

Asked today on her birthday:

How does it feel to be 5? Good
Do you feel older? Yeah, but I kinda feel the same.
What did you get? Pet shops and lot's of other stuff like a new scooter and games. And mama made me a cake!

Happy 5th birthday Maddie!

Maddie 5th - slideshows

Fun with crayons: take 2

2011-09-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

While going through our art supplies setting up for homeschool I ran across an old box of crayons that were mostly broken. We hadn't been using them because new crayons are always more fun than old broken ones. I had seen chunky recycled crayons years ago and always wanted to make something similar......now seemed like the right time! This project is really super easy and takes something you already have and don't use, and turns it into something totally new and exciting. I made mine in basic colors but you could put any combination of colors together to make interesting and colorful crayons. You could also use different shaped molds if you have them.....I've seen letters and numbers or hearts, but the molds need to be able to go in the oven! I think these will be great for Eleanor once she is over the putting everything in her mouth/crayon eating stage but my bigger girls are very excited by these crayons too......so really, fun for all ages! :o)

Here's how to make them......

Spray tins with oil

Heat oven to 275

Peel paper off broken crayons

Break the crayons into smaller pieces

Arrange crayons in muffin tins in color combos you like

Bake in oven until they are melty......mine took about 12 minutes but watch it closely

Let them cool completely

Pop them out by turning tin over and tapping on the bottom

Enjoy!

Girls at play

2011-09-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a hot one! We've luckily had a few breaks in the heat here and there, but overall it's been steamy. Which means that we've had to figure out indoor activities to keep us busy. We've had lots of crafts and cooking but we've also had a lot of playing! My girls are getting really good at playing together......there is plenty of fighting but there are also moments of sheer bliss. They are also starting to get good at including their baby sister in their play which is always nice. My littlest girl can now go about 15 minutes without being attached to me which is a nice little break for this mama. I love watching my girls play together, especially when they are all getting along!

Don't shake the baby!! :o)

Craziness

Fun with crayons: take 1

2011-09-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

If you are on pintrest then you have probably seen the awesome melted crayon art they have on there. I am a fan of color and a fan of crayons and a BIG fan of making art at home. So, of course I had to give this project a try! I was nearly foaming at the mouth whilst organizing all the crayons by color.....it was magical. This project was a little too much for my young girls.....in theory it seems like it would be easy and kid friendly, but hot hair dryer + melting wax + extended amount of time = not so kidtastic. The girls were interested in it and liked to come by and check the progress and occasionally hold the hair dryer, but overall this was mostly mama made art. It really surprised me how challenging it was to get the crayons to melt in a downward direction.....maybe it was just my hair dryer, but without a lot of repositioning of the dryer the wax wanted to fly all over the place. But, we all love the outcome! So much that I decided to make a few more......obsessive much?!? I did one with just primary colored crayons, one with pinks and purples and one with "natural" colors. I have since hung them all up in our school room to help add some color to the walls. I really liked this project and will probably try it again when they girls are a bit older and can help more. What do you think?

Crayons hot glued on the canvas

Maddie posing with the crayons :o)

Partially done......we had to do it in segments

Wa-la

Primary colors

Pinks and purples

Natural

Up on the wall lookin' pretty!

Daddy's birthday

2011-09-06T08:23:00.001-07:00

Daddy had a birthday last month.....the big 31! While he was actually in Switzerland for his birthday day, we had a little party waiting for him when he got home. The girls helped me bake a cake, and of course they licked the spoons and bowls all clean! Eleanor got to have her first taste of cake......the pieces that I shaved off the top of the cake! She was a bit skeptical at first, but I can tell you in the end she enjoyed some cake. Mama made the number 31 on top of the cake with peanut buttercups and the girls decorated the cake with reeces pieces. Peanut butter & chocolate are two of daddy's favorite things! I think the cake turned out really lovely.....although a little sweet, and the girls had a lot of fun making it as a surprise for daddy. They also made a calendar for him, got him a new Chicago Bears hat (his fav) and a day of the week pill dispenser for his vitamins and fish oil......I think that officially makes him old! :o) Cheers to another year with my fantastic husband!

What is this stuff?!?

Whatever it is.....it's goood!

Look Ma, all clean

The cake: before

The cake: after

Busy baby

2011-09-06T07:51:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness......a blog from Gina?!? It has been a ridiculously long time since I've visited this space and I feel bad. Life has been busy, always busy. I have been taking pictures all this time but just haven't had time to do much editing, so they just sat.....waiting. I am going to try and get myself caught up because the fall will be a busy season for us and I can't let this blog go dormant. So, stay tuned, there will be a few posts coming this week!

This is my busy baby! I can't believe how fast she is growing and how big she is getting. The first couple months with a newborn are always slow.....I blame the lack of sleep, but man these past few months have flown by. Eleanor learned to crawl and climb stairs and she is a busy, busy girl! She has definitely been my easiest baby but I'm not sure if it's because she's really easy or we're just better parents this third go around. She is so happy and content just to crawl around and get into mischief. I love this baby's smile, her deep belly laughs and her super squishy-ness......Charlotte has come up with the nick name chubby wubby baby. Sweet baby Eleanor.

August

2011-08-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

We are still alive....just in case you were worried! :o) I think the summer of 2011 is going to be forever remembered as the sick, sick days of summer. I have been sick pretty much since the beginning of June and the girls (except for Maddie who hasn't been sick at all) have been sick off and on since then as well. Throw in a bit of illness for Dan here and there and this summer has ROCKED! Not. Right now I still have a chest cold, what appears to be conjunctivitis and a swollen tonsil and lymph nodes on the left side. I also feel like I have another ear infection. Yep, I said another.....that would be the second one since the start of summer! I feel awesome. But, I'm now taking antibiotics so hopefully this will clear up. I am ready to not be sick!

We have been trying to stay busy & with all the sickness that unfortunately means staying at home. I've planned crafts and school type activities to get them ready for this coming school year. We've been cooking and playing and watching too much TV. But what's a mom to do with this crazy heat and the crazy illness. We're trying to survive! We get out when we can and play at the park and in the sprinklers......I just wish that we could get to the pool and lake a few more times before the summer is over. I think that I will make that our new goal, you know.....along with all of the other goals I have right now like setting up our homeschool classroom, tie dyeing, making curtains, painting a dresser and a couple other sewing /crafty items. There is always something on the back burner in our house.

As I mentioned above, we are going to be homeschooling Maddie in kindergarten this fall. This topic deserves a post all on its own, but here is the (brief) skinny. Maddie misses the public school cut off for kinder by 12 days and instead of just having her do another year of preschool (which she will be going to as well) we have decided to take this "free" year and take a stab at homeschooling. I've been debating whether to teach my kids at home for a long time. I can see all of the great benefits of doing so, the only thing that was holding me back was that I didn't really want to homeschool. I didn't want to do it.....it seemed like too much work. And I think that overall it is a lot more work, but so is dealing with hours of homework after my kids get home from public school. Parenting is work! So since this is a bonus year for us I decided that I needed to give homeschooling a try. I might hate it, but I might also LOVE it and I feel like we all deserve the chance to find out. Stick around and watch as we wade through the unknown waters of homeschool......I'm sure there will be plenty of posts about it! (If I can manage to actually update my blog on a regular basis)

The garden is doing okay.....not great, but okay. I have not devoted the attention that it really needs to thrive and although a few of our plants are doing well that's about it. My cucumbers are done, my squash got bugs and is done, tomatoes and peppers and herbs and and sweet potatoes and beans are all doing well. Corn is getting taller and growing corn, but it is too soon to see if it will be any good. I got that planted really late and it could either be a good thing (yummy corn late in the season when all the other corn is gone) or it could be a bad thing (dies). Only time will tell. My non food producing plants are all doing great! Flowers and berry bushes are all so much easier to maintain......I don't really have to do anything! I am contemplating a fall garden, but I don't know if that will be too much on my already full plate. We shall see.

We don't really have much planned for this week or weekend other than more of the same. Yard work, laundry, playing and I am currently on a crazy mission to rid our house of all unnecessary toys and clutter. I've already filled 3 trash bags full of toys we don't use and we'll be donating them somewhere. I am also trying to reorganize our entire house which is proving to be quite a chore. Furniture is being moved around and spaces are being defined. I need plastic bins and baskets.....at least that's my current solution to the chaos. If anyone has any other handy suggestions I would love to hear about it! I am always looking for a better way to organize our life.

Sprinkler fun

I gave Charlotte a haircut the other day
Her hair looks far less crazy now!

Eleanor loves a balloon
She'll carry one all over the house

Doesn't Ellie look like such a big girl up there?

Afternoon grump

I LOVE the two different shoes

My wild yellow tomatoes

She was upset about something.....
I can't remember what

Children have been here
It's hard to keep any of my flowers growing
Too tempting for little hands to pick

Writing practice

Dangerous?!? Perhaps.

Child of the corn

A Rainbow of Our Own

2011-08-03T05:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were working with beads making necklaces. It's one of the few things I planned at the beginning of summer for filling our long hot days. The girls really liked this project! Contrary to Charlotte's somber and anti camera mood, she had fun beading for a while and then when that got old she played with beads in her bowl.....I ended up finishing her necklace for her. Maddie declared that she wanted to play with beads and make necklaces every day.

While we were working Charlotte noticed that we had a visitor. On the wall next to our pantry there was a beautiful rainbow! The sun was coming through the window and shining into our fish tank and the result was a rainbow of our very own. We took pictures of the rainbow, and took pictures with the rainbow and took pictures with the rainbow on our faces! It was fun. We talked about how the rainbow got to our kitchen (thanks to the fish tank) and then we went upstairs to my children's book library and read "A Rainbow of My Own." Sometimes it pays to own so many kids books......oh,who am I kidding......I think it ALWAYS pays to have books! If you haven't read this book, you should, it's a good one! After the rainbow disappeared we went back to making necklaces.....which I also recommend. It was FUN!

Eleanor did not play with beads

Our rainbow

Please ignore my messy pantry!

Maddie took this pic of me
My camera is crazy heavy.....which makes for blur in little hands

A glimpse into the future

2011-07-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

I can't even remember what brought the subject up, but a couple of weeks ago Dan and I were talking to the girls about our wedding. Then we spent a good 20 minutes searching the house trying to find our wedding dvd. We have no idea where we put it.....I'm sure it is in a "safe" location where the girls wouldn't get to it. Our search was fruitless and the girls really wanted to watch it, so I gave them the next best thing. My wedding dress! We couldn't afford to get it cleaned and boxed up right after the wedding and as time went by I lost the interest to do so. It's just a wedding dress.....what on earth am I going to do with it all boxed up and preserved?? A couple years ago I actually considered giving it to Goodwill, but I'm glad that I didn't. I grabbed it out of my closet where it has been hanging for the past few years and brought it out to my very excited daughters. Both of them took turns wearing it (with the help of a couple clothes pins) and pretending to marry one another and marry daddy all while listening to our wedding music. They had a really great time and spent the next few days doing a lot of wedding pretending. I have since put my dress back in the closet but I think it will be fun to get it out every once in a while to let my babies pretend to be brides. Before I know it these little girls of mine are going to wear their own white dresses and really get married (hopefully to a man who is not in his underwear lol)......this gave me a little glimpse. I may have shed a tear.

Ready to kiss her groom (daddy)

They married each other

Home and Garden: early July

2011-07-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

Things are moving along at our house. I wonder sometimes when life is going to settle down.....slow down, but then someone needs a drink, the baby needs to nurse, the laundry needs to be changed around, a meal needs to be made and I completely forget what I was thinking about. This summer seems to be moving faster than the last couple and I wonder if its just the way that life is as children get older or if its a product of me not being pregnant or having a newborn and wanting to have as much fun as we can?!? I'm thinking maybe a combination of the two.

With that being said, I have not left the house in 4 whole days! I ran a quick errand this evening and realized that I have not driven a vehicle in over a week! I've been in the car (a long drive to the mountains) but Dan drove. For the first couple days after getting home from camping we were mellow, trying to catch up and get back in sync with our life, but last night Charlotte went to bed with a fever and woke in the middle of the night throwing up. Today has been less than great with her being sick all day. Tomorrow we have a lot of household chores....lawn mowing, garden tending, bathroom cleaning, laundry folding, picking up etc. then on Sunday Dan is leaving for Switzerland for a week. I'm not looking forward to his absence.....its never easy doing life without him! Hopefully everyone will be in good health while I am single parenting!

The garden is doing okay. I honestly have not been doing anything with it. My tomato plants are ginormous and falling all over the place. I keep staking them and trying to tie them up, but they are just so huge. Thankfully it has been raining pretty regularly so I have not had to do any watering. On the down side to all that regular rain (thunder storms) some of my plants have taken a beating and I've lost a squash and possibly a couple bell peppers. I can not wait until my tomatoes get ripe.....there are dozens and dozens of green tomatoes but they just aren't turning yet. I went ahead and planted some corn, I had a whole bed and didn't know what to do with it. The corn is bigger than what is pictured, but I'm not anticipating a very good crop.

And in the home part of home and garden, I've been feeling antsy to be creative lately and last week I decided to do something about it. We've had a chandelier sitting around from when we first bought our house. It was the dining room chandelier and we took it down and replaced it before we even moved in! Its just been sitting around all this time and I've had thoughts about what to do with it but always kinda thought that I'd sell it eventually. Well, the chandelier is now pink and has beads and crystals hanging from it and it is in the girls room. The whole project took me 3 evenings, 1 can of spray paint and a tub full of beads from Michaels. I had the clear crystals from a candle holder. All in all it cost $9.00 and some elbow grease. The girls love it and I think it is so much better than the boring light fixture that used to be in their room! I have a few more projects planned for this summer to quench my creative thirst.......you'll just have to stay tuned for those! :o)

Come on.....turn red!

Chandelier before

Chandelier after

Up and coming project.....any guesses? lol

Our grasses have flowers!
Who knew.

Need a trellis for our climbing roses

Corn

Next phase of raspberries

Any birdies need a bath??

Berry bushes are now officially gigantic

So many, many bell peppers

4th of July camping

2011-07-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July weekend was spent up in the mountains near Asheville, NC camping. This was the first time that we've been camping as a family since Maddie was 8 months old. Dan and the girls (minus Eleanor) went camping up in PA last summer, but the girls both slept in a cabin, and the summer before that we went camping in Ohio, but again the girls slept in a cabin. So this was their first experience sleeping in a tent in the woods. We had an AMAZING time! Our camp site wasn't in the best location and the drive there and back (5 hours each way) was a bit hairy by hour 4 and the Duggar family moved into the camp site next door and was crazy loud (they weren't really the Duggar's, but there were seriously more than 15 kids!) but all in all it was a great trip! There were tons of kids, a picturesque swimming lake, fun kid activities and of course all the normal living outdoors excitement. We had such a good time we have already made plans to return to the same campground for Labor day weekend and we've caught the camping bug and are planning a trip up to the mountains of Virginia in the next few weeks. I grew up camping and have always really enjoyed it, but I've been skeptical about taking small babies/children camping and the summer in the south east is pretty camping prohibitive. We've discovered that if we drive 3-5 hours away we have much nicer weather and with a lot of planning (and a lot of packing) it's totally do-able with the littles! The girls had a really great time and I got some great memories captured with my camera. Can't wait for our next camping adventure!

The lake was awesome
not too big, not too small
deep enough, nice and cool
lots of inflatables

Our home away from home
the first night our old air mattress broke and we slept on the hard rocky ground
HORRIBLE!
the next day we went and bought a new mattress!

Ice cream and snacks at the snack shack

Really cool dock that the kids jumped off of into the lake

hot dog roasting

This didn't last long.....
she soon discovered the rocks
and then all she wanted to do was put them in her mouth! lol

Hot and sweaty nap time

Maddie wanted me to take a picture of her with her rock
wa-la

Evening karaoke

We attempted pizza making over the fire
It didn't turn out very well
Next time we'll use tin foil to make an "oven"

We had to put a towel under her so she couldn't reach those stinkin' rocks!

I think it's funny that she hiked up her shorts
She didn't go any deeper than ankle level :o)

Breakfast

Maddie collected moss

This isn't a great pic, but it makes me laugh
we went for a walk and the girls got tired but Dan wanted to
walk further and check a campsite out
So the girls sprawled out on the ground.
Charlotte looks beat. :o)

vacation bible school

2011-06-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

Maddie and Charlotte participated in a VBS program with a local church. To kick the week off they threw a mini carnival for the kids to attend. It was super hot which made it uncomfortable and short lived, but that also prevented a lot of kids from showing up which meant that my girls went on the bouncy slide a gazillion times and had more than one snow cone each! Nice. It was a good time and a nice start to their first VBS experience. They had an awesome time all week and learned a lot! I was making dinner one night and heard Maddie upstairs singing, "Beautiful one I love, beautiful one I adore, beautiful one my soul must sing....." So CUTE! Of the two of them, Maddie was more into the whole experience and really had a lot of enthusiasm. I'm glad that I signed them up!

Super easy (and useful) summer art project

2011-06-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

I am not having a good week. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I know this is going to be a short week and that we're headed to the mountains to go camping this long weekend......but I'm pretty sure that it has more to do with my teething 8 month old and her super cranky, doesn't want to nap, wants to be held constantly neediness. I have to keep reminding myself that this stage will end soon enough, but when I'm knee deep in it I feel like pulling my hair out and often find my patience very short!

On to less crabby things. Last week the older girls and I worked on a very easy and very fun art project. I bought some cheap wood picture frames with magnets on them. I got mine from Walmart, but you can find similar items at pretty much any crafting type store. The frames cost me 59 cents each. I have loads of paint and chose somewhat thick tempera paint.....water colors would work too if you wanted a lighter result. I put down some wax paper to protect my table and gave my girls an array of colors to choose from on a paper plate. They both did a really good job! I was actually surprised that both of them really put a lot of effort into the project and took their time to make their frames look nice. We did find that they finished really quickly so I got my hair dryer out and helped to speed up the drying process so that they could apply a second coat of painting.

The second part of this project involved me uploading current pictures of the girls to Walmart's photo lab. I had them printed as wallets so that the pictures would be small enough to fit into these little frames and I got them 1 hour because I'm impatient. Silly me, I accidentally sent them to the Charlotte, NC photo lab and had to get my mother in law to pick them up and mail them to me.....I guess God was giving me a little impromptu lesson in patience! :o) Once they arrived I cut them to fit into the frames and stuck them up on our refrigerator. Easy peasy. I think they turned out really cute! And it's nice to have some magnets again.....mine have a way of disappearing.

I love that Maddie's art is starting to
have some rhyme and reason to it.

Lovely!

The lake: take I

2011-06-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

We had our first lake trip of the season a couple weekends ago. Surprisingly it was way more crowded than it normally is, but that just makes for more kids to play with! We love Jordan lake because it's pretty close to us and the water is crazy shallow. The girls can almost touch all the way out to the buoy. We packed a picnic dinner and ate lakeside before doing some swimming. It wasn't a long trip because about 45 minutes after getting into the lake clouds started rolling in, the sky got dark and thunder started. Once we saw lightening pretty much everyone got out of the lake and headed home. It actually started raining while we were loading up the car! Even though it was short, it was a good time and I look forward to many trips to the lake over the summer!

I think this picture is really funny!
I know, I'm mean.

They look like they are so far out
but they aren't
They can touch!

June's garden

2011-06-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

The weather is getting hotter which ultimately means less time out in the yard. I see all the work we've done with landscaping and planting and it makes me sad that everything is going to wilt right before our eyes in the next couple of months. Nearly everything (minus the vegetable garden) will come back next year, but it's hard to do so much work and have such hot dry weather that stunts all the pretty. Our hydrangeas are beautiful! Big, full, colorful. I wish that I could have them all over my yard and inside my house all year long.....they are by far my favorite! I am already seeing signs of them browning and starting to wilt. Boo. When it's nice out we spend as much time as we can outdoors, when it's ridiculously hot we spend time outdoors in little bursts and make our way indoors dripping in sweat and red cheeked. So far this summer hasn't been as bad as last year for which I am grateful.

We got a big project completed the day before leaving for the beach, one we have been talking about for at least a year. Dan built a perimeter around our playset with landscaping timbers and then filled the space in with an enormous amount of mulch. Not only will our girls not get mud all over their shoes from the dirt that used to be under the swings, but this new set up looks so much better and is easier for Dan to mow around! It was a LOT of work, work that I did absolutely none of. :o) Dan worked his butt off in the hottest weather we have had all year and I think all that hard work really shows......it looks great!

The last thing that I am going to blather on about is our berries. I am so incredibly happy that we planted berry bushes last year! They are so big and are producing the sweetest, tastiest berries I have ever had. We go out about every other day and fill up a small bucket full of berries, and that is not including the vast amount that ends up in Charlotte's mouth! The girls love picking them and I love doing it with them. I finally picked enough and got organized enough to make a pie. It was my first pie making experience as an adult, the last time was when I was a little girl and I made an apple pie with my grandma. It was a learning experience for sure, and I think it turned out delicious.....I've made another one since then! lol I can't wait until our blueberries are ripe and I keep telling Dan that we should plant more berry bushes around our property, I don't think we could have too many!

Sage

Purple bell peppers

Our peaches are getting bigger!!

Squash blossoms

Our improved playground area

Rosemary

Berry picking

Lovin' all my roses

Green beans & more sage

hundreds and hundreds of berries

Raspberry

Teeny bell peppers

From berries to pie

Everyone loves a carnival

2011-06-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite things about going to the beach actually has nothing to do with sand or water. It's the CARNIVAL. Or at least that is what my girls have renamed it. Family Kingdom is an amusement and water park on the beach. We've never done the water part of it because the girls are too small, but every summer we go to the carnival. The girls adore it! It's usually hot when we get there and the sun is beating down on us, but by the time the sun goes down it is lovely. We always get wrist bands so we can go on unlimited rides and we spend a good 4-5 hours doing exactly that. This year Charlotte was tall enough to go on a lot more of the rides and boy, did she love that! Maddie as always is my fast ride fanatic and was ready to get whipped around on spinning rides with me. Those kinds of rides make Dan sick and just like my daughter, I love them.....so I am the designated rider. I really like that the beach & the carnival have become another one of those traditions that we do every year. It really amazed me that Maddie totally remembered going last year and asked if we would be able to go again this year! I always really enjoyed those traditional things that we did every year as a family when I was growing up. Those are the times that stand out in my memory the most. And hopefully we are cultivating those same types of fond memories with our girls!

These are not in chronological order. We were there from about 5:00-9:30.

Maddie was not tall enough for these swings,
but she is pretty sure that she will be next year!
She's ready!!

This was the dorkiest roller coaster ever, but both girls LOVED it
I think they went on it 3 or 4 times!

Sticking her tongue out at daddy

Spinning strawberry
Yes, the girls were on here with me!

Can you see Charlotte's face?
She was laughing hysterically!

Not much for Ellie to do, but she was an angel the whole time

This is the Hurricane.
I'm pretty sure it was both girls favorite ride.
Charlotte likes the fast ones too!

This one is not from the carnival but it's cute!
On the day we left to come home
Eleanor was scooting around on the floor
and got stuck because of the ottoman leg

and then she fell asleep! :o)