Tomorrow is the Big 3!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Buster!

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating a birthday that I've been anticipating for the last few months. And, now that it's here, I'm thinking differently.

It's complicated.


I'll say it like this. It's taken a much greater amount of creative effort in harnessing the boisterous--sometimes untamable--2 year old energy that oozes from our only son. His mellow, chilled, older sister did nothing to prepare us for the endurance that was needed with him up ahead.


Don't misunderstand, Luke's zeal for life has been delightful to watch. The amount of energy he has to burn is astonishing. And his determination, well, quite persistent.

But, while in the thick of the 2's, those attributes can sometimes create the most intense flavor in one's mouth. So as we worked on loving his fun qualities, we also thanked God that the 3's might bring a change for the good with the not so fun ones.

Then, about a month ago, things started to pan out for our little man. Cause and effect became much clearer. The idea of privileges and consequences appeared quite solid. And, potty training began to click.

And tomorrow he's 3! But, now I'm thinking that regardless, he's growing up too fast.

Luke's Version of Reading Rainbow

Butterfly in the sky

[Luke] can go twice as high

Take a look
It's in a [Thomas I Spy] book
A Reading [Railroad]

Reading Railroad

Not Me! Monday with Scrap Pages

We're all back from Camp Craft and it was downright dynamic.

Shocking, I know!

But, I guess that's what you get when you gather a slew of girls together and give them great food, thread, and tape runners for an entire weekend. What a bunch of shenanigans, we were.

So I thought I'd share a bit about it in Not Me! Monday fashion.

To start, there is no way that I forgot my camera at home and was cameraless the entire weekend, leaving me with nothing but post-craft weekend pictures of just the pages I created.

And, after making two identical pages that look like this:

..one for each of Norah and Hazel's scrapbooks, I did not find that buttons combined with pictures of ladybug rainboots, and shiny letter brads that spell the word "ladies" would send me into a tizzy of tears and sniffles over our growing baby girls. I didn't.

Speaking of a tearful tizzy, I did not turn into a sobbing mess at coffee this morning when a friend asked if Mr. Marvelous and I were done having children. There were no tears to fight back and no reason to finally give in and throw my face into my palms and cry...right there in front of my 4 coffee crew members. The thought of waving goodbye to the--very short--childbearing stage we just went through does not pluck an emotional cord in me.

I do not feel a bit narcissist when I look at this page and proclaim it my favorite:

...regardless of the fact that I'm found in, like, 3 photos with our children since the first was born.

Here's one other:

Oh, and I have not started planning Norah & Hazel's 2nd birthday already. The birthday that isn't until the end of June. Even though I just finished their 1st birthday "Carnival style" pages 2 days ago:

And being the secret keeper and surprise giver that I am, I'd never share with you that the girls' birthday theme this year has to do with colorful circles and peas in pods. Never!

Now head over to Mother Hen MckMama and pluck away at all the other Not Me! entries.

You'll be cracking up before you know it.

Camp Craft on the Lake 2009

Last year, 'round this time, I hosted my very first annual Camp Craft on the Lake.

And good gracious was it a blast!

It was then that I was a mommy of a newly turned 3 year old, 1 1/2 year old, and twin 7 month olds, and I was in desperate need of a break from bottles and diapers, and baby food and spit up. My husband, the wonderful encourager that he is, told me to, "Go do something fabulously fun for yourself, darling."

So I did. (So maybe he didn't say it exactly like that, but that's what it translated into for me.)

I took his advice and rounded up 9 crafty mommys--who also needed somewhere to relax quietly, besides behind their locked bathroom door--and we headed an hour away to the lake house to craft the nights away.

And now, it's that time again.

Tomorrow afternoon, we'll all be returning to the lake--plus 5 more team members--for another round of a craft-your-heart-out retreat. For the entire weekend, we'll be off to the far away land of inspiration, imagination, and artistication.

Ahh! I can almost hear it now...the rum of the sewing machine, the slash of the paper trimmer, the silence of knitting needles, the zing of creativity. While we all craft the town red, the daddies will be home managing the merrymaking of the little ones.

So, it's back to packing my paint brushes and buckets of Shanghai Red and Elated Cherry Pie.

What town wouldn't look good in those colors!

That's amore!

Our Valentine's day was full of lovely things.

A date out with my lovey Mr. Marvelous, a stop for sushi appetizers, enjoying life with my sister-in-law down there on the left (a sweetheart who was plucked right from a peach tree):

..and youngest brother, reservations at a swanky, Zebra-print-dress-appropriate restaurant, a kind couple who offered us the rest of their wine before they left, our kind gesture of offering said bottle to the neighbor table next to us before we left (because we had ours to finish), jazz music, plates of seared tuna, maple cranberry chicken, filet mignon, and cheeseburgers with fries--my little brother cracks me up--and fragrant roses for the ladies.

It was amore all night long.

What lovely things did you delight in over the weekend?

Our winner. And the Top 10 Reasons I'm Proud to be an Under3 Fan.

There's been a handful of things that have happened over the past couple of days that have gotten me singing over and over, "My life is something like a phenomenom." I wonder what LL would sing about if he were over here for a day?

Boy do I marvel at the thought of the family that God has chosen to give Mr. Marvelous and I. And, I love that He knows my husband and I the way he does, to put us where we are today. My oh my, did I think He was way off, though, during those first few months after the little girls were born. You could have sent me to the Nut House. There's no way we would have made it successfully with newborn twins, a 15 month old, and a 2 year and 8 month old, without patience and peace from God.

And now look at us. We love having lots of little ones around. We delight in our 4under3 more than we could have ever imagined.

Oh, we so do!

So, in top ten fashion, I thought I'd give you my Top Ten reasons that "I'm proud to be an Under3* fan."

*Having 4 children in under 3 years


#10 Because you can buy a bazillion boxes of the same size diapers, and they fit all three of your diaper wearing children.

#9 Because, on laundry day, if a shirt from your oldest daughter's wardrobe gets put away in your two youngest daughters' dresser on accident, you can still put it on one of the youngest daughters, because they're nearly the same size.

#8 Because, you can laugh at the ridiculous, yet popular question that you get when your oldest is at preschool and you're traveling with just the three youngest. "Oh, are they triplets?" Um no.

#7 Because everyone thinks it's cool to climb in the youngest girls' crib--when they wake in the morning--to read books, snuggle, and wrestle.

#6 Because the establishments that proclaim "2 and under are free" makes for a nearly free outing.

#5 Because all your children still nap at the same time, for the same amount of time, allowing for a wonderfully quiet chunk of time every afternoon.

#4 Because you can bathe all 4 children at the same time, with no questions asked, making for a fun hot tub party for everyone.

#3 Because you get 4 big wet smooches from every one of your children--by their request--when you drop them off somewhere.

#2 Because when you buy a present for one of your children, everyone seems to like it, being that it happens to be age appropriate for them too.

And, the #1 reason why I'm Proud to be an Under3 Fan is because giving the very last tictac--that was in my mouth--to our 2 year old whose tictac slipped out of his mouth and cascaded down to the sidewalk, is fun to say you did. And none of your other children asks questions or says, "Ewww."

Waaaaaaa. And the crowd goes wild.

But, before I go, we have a winner from the Chop Chop contest.

#16 Come on down, random.org picked you. Erin, send me your snail mail digits, and I'll send you your blue ribbon.

That's all folks.

Chop Chop...a CONTEST

UPDATE: The Chop Chop contest is now closed. Congratulations Erin!

This might be one of my top 5-Second Flavor Fixes! It makes my mouth water just looking at it.

And I think the only thing that could possibly make this Veggie Sandwich that's smooshed between it's Asiago bagel from the "Day Old" bin at Bruegger's any more gradiose, is to place it in a flashy celophane bag and tie it with a green ribbon.

We all know everything looks better in celophane.

But what we all don't know is that this new game Snorta that I snagged at the game store the other night is so fun that it makes your cheeks burn. I brought it along to the Heart Healthy class that I taught at a friend's house the other night, and we played 'til we couldn't see anymore.

So, I've decided. In paying tribute to games, and fun, quality timin' it, and burning cheeks, I'm hosting a CONTEST!

What I mean by contest is leave a favorite 5-Second Flavor Fix of yours in the comment section and earn a chance at a fabulous, crafted, Holy Cow! that's cute item by playing along. I'll round up all our players and leave the rest up to random.org. Then in my next post I'll announce the winner. Doesn't sound too bad, eh?

Now, chop chop!

(I don't mean run and chop chop up some cucumbers, tomato, spinach, and red onion like I did. But if you happened to, you wouldn't regret it.)

Not Me! Monday

I'll be honest.

I had no intention to write a Not Me! post this week. And that's for real. [gasp]

I was going to take a break, sit back and enjoy reading a few other hypothetical, jawdropping stories, and dunk Oreos while I Facebooked my MIL. (She joined 2 days ago and I know she'd like a few comments on her wall.)

But then MckMama went and threatened she'd never link to me again if I backed out this week posted about how this week, all Not Me! postees earn a chance to win a fabulous 7 day vacation to the exotic island of Bora Bora! Hooray, I'm in!

Oh, dear. That's not right either.

What I'm trying to say is, well, click on over to My Charming Kids and you'll see what I'm trying to say.

Onward and upward!

The other day, when I put Luke out here again, to burn off his 2 year old energy:

I did not catch him in the most bizarre postion and think, "Hmm, that really does look relaxing."

And I didn't ask questions. So your guess is as good as mine.


And I do not have to get this off of my chest. So here it goes.

You see, I've been repurposing the closet that's under our stairs in our basement. We used to store our 14 foot, artificial Christmas tree, along with other Christmas decorations in there, but right now I'm in the middle of turning it into the Imagination Hideaway Station for our children. (Who am I kidding? It's for me, too!) And while I was painting all of the walls and the ceiling a Muddy Blueberry Blue, I did not dribble paint across our 2 year old, cream carpet as I walked through to our storage room for more paint. No I did not!

But if someone did do something of the sorts, I'm sure they'd spend a lot of time scrubbing to get the darn dribble spots out. They'd have most certainly learned their lesson. I bet they wouldn't dribble again--for example--like if they were painting a Featherstone Grey diamond atop their blue. Because you know, I'm sure they'd close their eyes and pray--before they even started--that they wouldn't drip. And I bet they wouldn't.

Donchathink?

They pot nicely together.

It's no secret that leaving a big ol' treat on someone's doorstep, sending a little something to someone's mailbox, or placing a perfectly, cellophaned gift, adorned with ribbons and tissue paper in someone's hands totally trips my trigger. Some of the best ways to make my day, is by trying to make someone else's. (Two 19-month-olds, a husband full of surprises, and Oreos have also been know to make my day.)

And, it's a good thing I saved this LUSH box--that used to hold the Bath Bombs that I've been raving about:

Because when I spotted these mini, potted, glimpses-of-spring in the floral department the other day:

..I knew they'd pot pair nicely together. It just took a little paper, mod podge, and ribbon to make this gift fit for a queen friend.

Wordless Wednesday

UPDATE: It's a good thing it was Wordless Wednesday today. I wanted to give you a ski picture to go with my tweets about being frozen and cold and numb. But it just so happened that I pushed my time to post way too far into naptime. Before I knew it, naps were over and I had only uploaded these two photos. And that's as far as I got.

What I wanted to say was, "Can you tell that Mr. Marvelous and I have aged well after 1 year?" I mean, if you could take off our hats, neckwarmers and goggs and actually see us.

What I remember most about last year's double ski date is how my husband sent my hippie friend tumbling down the hill in an attempt to be first to the bottom.

January '08

Two days ago.

Rest assured, there were no tumbles or racing with the snowboarding couple that joined us this year--unless you count our racing back to the chalet to warm ourselves next to the fireplace.

Not Me! Monday before we leave for the slopes

Top of the Not Me! mid afternoon to you!

Would someone please tell me why it's so rejuvinating to post things that didn't happen to my family and I--but really did happen to us--for the world to see? And why is it even more rejuvinating to read about everyone else's Not Me! scenarios over at My Charming Kids?

I haven't put my finger on it, but it's positively great fun.

Like the kind of fun I have with these two little girls:

(Hazel)

(Norah)

I know a while back, I proclaimed that a 15 month old was at the cutest, sweetest, most fun age ever--and before that I thought 12 month olds were--but holy 19-month-old-bundles-of-bliss! I have not been totally smitten as a kitten with our twins, Norah & Hazel. And I do not immediately turn into "goofball mama" when they're in the room--rolling around on the floor with them while sneaking hundreds of kisses.


And this morning, after dropping Julia off at preschool, I announced that we'd be going home to play instead of infecting other children with what we have while out and about. And by "play," I most certainly did not mean haul my sewing machine up to the loft, then take pretend sips of the children's imaginary drinks made for me, while sewing this fufu coffee sleeve:

I did not plop my machine right down on the floor--completely skipping the whole table idea--and proceed to sew a hot pink lined, faux fur beauty for my girly girl girlfriend right there in the middle of our children's play area. I'll say it again, "Coffee sleeves...so not cool!" And I wouldn't allow our domestic diva, Norah, to sit on the floor between me and the machine to watch a needle bob up and down either. Nope.

And I did not see this again, after pulling our bedroom curtains the other morning: Because, you know, we live right in town, a hill away from stores like TJMaxx and ANYTIME fitness. And that would be ridiculous to see flocks of these things wandering around our place day after day. And I promise, thoughts of rifles and purchasing an extra freezer never crossed through my mind. Not once.