Nothing of Interest

If this were Facebook, and not my blog, I could post often.
On a weekend evening, you might gain a bit of unimportant information about us, like what we are having for bedtime snack... "mmmm, banana splits!"

Or perhaps you'd get a laugh reading the little tidbits of life in this household...
When "Oh crap!" takes on a very literal meaning:
I am nursing my 3 month old to sleep. From the bathroom I hear the 2 yr old say "I peed and pooped!" Then the four year old says "bend over, let me wipe you."
yeah...oh crap!

Or...
Brant just bought a bent slinky from Aubrey for $20.
New rule in this house: all transactions involving dollar bills requires an okay from mom first!

Or...
Dean just informed me that the three naked kids in the pool that is on the tramp "are not his children".
Hmmmm, I wonder where they came from?!

But blogs aren't status updates and typically consist of more than a few sentences and minutes of my time. And finding the time to write more than a few sentences is becoming harder and harder.  Actually, I am writing. In my spiral notebook/journal.  But I don't think anyone would care to read those writings, as it's usually a pretty desperate need that makes me pick up my  pen.

So...as I have very little to say at this time about my daily life of laundry, housework, meal planning, grocery shopping, bill paying, owie kissing, homework enforcing, toddler hugging, baby snuggling, child bathing, and bedtime readings, I will probably be kind of quiet on here.

Until, that is, I find some motivation to make time to finish up my chair project.  I'll share the results.
And if I ever finish Aubrey's quilt some time in this next decade, I'll probably share that too.

And most likely I'll once again start going crazy wrapped in the doldrums of mommy talk and chores that I'll log on and post something uninteresting or unimportant.

Basically, my point is, I have nothing that I think is of interest to share.  But I'll most likely be sharing it anyway.  At some point.  Because sharing kind of makes me feel like an adult and it somehow keeps me sane. But it'll be sporadic because I've always got some laundry to go fold.

Thanks for letting me share.  Thanks for helping me feel like an intellectual, while in reality I am surrounded by preschoolers and play a lot of candy land. Thanks for helping me stay out of the loony bin.

I am forever in your debt.  And I bet my husband thanks you.

Okay, I'll shut up now.
And go fold my laundry.
And go find out what Elaina is getting into this time.

Ahhh, September

September just might be my favorite month.

The excitement and promise of a new school year, the settling down and establishment of routine, the cool mornings and evenings, and the still-gloriously-warm sunshine are a few of the reasons I'm loving this time of year.

Yes, summer was and always is wonderful..

I almost have to look through my pictures though, to remember that we did in fact have some relaxation in this form...

Did we really go camping only once this summer?!?  And did I really not get any pictures of the funnest part - swimming and kayaking in the reservoir?!?

And did I really never share other summer pictures from our fun road trip to California?!?

What is summer without at least one trip to the beach?
What is fun without some cousins to share it with?

It felt like we were really busy this summer.

But I must have been spinning circles alone, because I found these pictures...

It looks like the kids got the fun, relaxing summer that I wished for.

I wonder if they wished for an activity-packed and busy summer that I did not wish for, but certainly felt!

Either way, I am breathing in and relishing the September air, much like the way Brant and I buried our faces in the warm, crisp sheets on the clothesline this morning.

Sure, my calendar might look just as full this month as it did last, but my doors are wide open and the breeze is carrying in the sounds of the boys playing in the sunny back yard.  

And soon I know, will come the sound of the school bus dropping the kids off at the corner, followed by their feet and voices as they hurry through the front door.  

Ahhh, September.

What are you loving about this month, or about today?

Five

Today, my middle child turns five!  His anticipation for this day has been so keen, I know I have to make it extra special.

He's pretty cute.  And he's growing up on me.
I am thankful that I have him home for another year.  While finding things to keep him entertained and challenged will be a chore, I really am enjoying this time to cherish him without the struggles.  This kid seems to have grown up overnight.

I'm off to please my mario-loving, bug loving, competitive, yet very sweet little five year old boy.

Pumpkin and Berry Picking

Growing up, I can remember visiting the pumpkin patch at Young's Farm in the fall.  There would be a smattering of tall, tall sunflowers among the hundreds and hundreds of pumpkins.  There were wagon rides, zip lines in the hay bales, crafts, and fresh apple cider.  There were tweens waiting with their wagons to haul your pick to your vehicle for a couple bucks. 

Flashback! The kids were so little and so cute! You can tell Aubrey and Elaina are sisters.  And we miss Big D!

I am suddenly missing Young's Farm and sad that they closed down a couple years ago. 

Pumpkin patches are fun.

I think an orchard would be as well.  Only I've never been to one (at least that I can remember).  Berry farms (is that what they're called?) would be fun as well.  Only I've never been to one of those either.

But I have picked berries!

Here in Arizona, I feel like it is such a treat to be able to go blackberry picking.

If you hail from regions north of here, or perhaps parts of Finland, you are not allowed to laugh at how pathetic our berries are.  We take what we can get!

And smallish, slightly bitter blackberries are what we get. 

 Perhaps we were a little bit early, as there were still plenty of green and red berries, but we (or should I say Dean) picked about one gallon of blackberries.

Starting out, there were four berry pickers.  That didn't last too long though, and before long Dean was going solo while I nursed Elaina, and made sure none of our children drowned.

Because it didn't take long for them to drop their things,

soak their jeans, 

then decide to switch into swimsuits and play in the water rather than try work their way through the brambles.

I always find it amazing that my kids will swim no matter the time of day or temperature of the water.

Especially my little water baby! :)

It really is a beautiful place!

And from here on out, my goal is to hit up any berry farm or orchard we happen to be travelling near.  Does anyone know of any here in Arizona?

project update

I really haven't meant to stay away so long.  I have been meaning to get a couple summer posts up, but here it is already the second week of school.  As for this week, I'm a whirlwind. I have a signing class in half an hour, another class tomorrow morning (crazy, I know, I'm not usually so busy), I send the boys and hubby off to camp, then a few of my girl friends are coming for the weekend. Yahoo! I can't wait.

I'm squeaking this post in because I am thrilled with my recent home decor project.
Remember my bolt of fabric?
The majority of it is now hanging in my dining room.

I worked for an hour or two (or three) a day on these curtains for the first half of this week, and was getting impatient to get them hung.  I love walking in the room now and admiring my handiwork. It took a lot of work to get to this point! I had to convince the hubby that this room needed some softness - in the form of curtains of course, take down the old rod and curtains, patch the holes, paint, hang the new rods, exchange the hooks I bought because they didn't work with my curtains, sew tabs onto the back of my already done curtain tops, make the second panel for the other side...you get the point, and I still have another window in this room to figure out. And some matchstick blinds to hang.  

Basically, these took a lot longer than I thought they would, and they're still not even done (I need to hem the bottoms).

But I love them!  So I guess it was is worth it.  

However, I will not be doing any more windows any time soon.  

I've got other ideas brewing in my head (I do believe I have some pretty strong genes passed on from my maternal grandparents - oh how I miss you Mummu and Pappa!)

I think my baby, who never stays still, has the same gene.  :)

Hopefully I'll get these curtains finished up next week so I can share my other furnishing project with you, and so I can continue working on my other sewing project, and so I can start Elaina's baby quilt that I'm supposed to have done by the time she's one (in less than six weeks) if I'm going to keep up with tradition. 

It's no wonder I haven't been blogging!  I'm having too much fun playing!

Now if only all these projects would finish themselves. Either that or the laundry and meal making happen on their own.

Fabric and Color

Eeeee!!!  Happy dance, happy dance!  Check out my recent purchase.

So maybe it's just fabric to most of you, but let me tell you that this bolt is long awaited.
As in almost a whole year of bare windows kind of waiting.

I have lots of ideas for my dining room, but without lots of cash, my ideas don't often come to fruition.  And without lots of spare time and energy, my ideas take a looong time to come to fruition.
I decided that I wanted blues and greens in my dining/family room.  I decided that I wanted fabric for color and softness.  Every time I was out shopping, I would look at curtains and every time I was at Joann's I would look at their fabrics, but nothing popped up in my price range. At least nothing that I loved.  There were a couple options at Joann's, but the $40/yd price tag left me simply fingering the fabrics then walking on.
Until the founder's sale at the beginning of August.
I came home with 9 yards of the fabric that I had been eyeing for months, and I got it for about $10/yd!
It has my colors, and it has some texture.  A sure improvement over the simple burlap that I considered.

Now that I have my fabric, I can finally choose a color for my accent wall.

Man this is hard, I like them all!  And now that my paint is bought, I must stop second guessing my decision.

Okay, now that some of my ideas are turning into actual tangible items, I could use some spare time as well as energy to finish them off.  I've got a wall to paint (was supposed to be done tonight, but hubby's sick in bed), rods to install, curtains to sew, and blinds to hang.
Well,  what's the rush anyway?  The fabric has only been sitting on my bedroom floor for two weeks now.
And my sewing machine isn't going anywhere.
But darn it, I want to be sitting at it!