Two years of this face.

Ian, two years ago today, we weren't sure how everything would turn out. You were on a lot of machines and all we knew is that we had a miracle baby. Since that day, we have had two years of miracles. Your eyes, your kisses, your hugs and your "bonks" are just what I need to get through my day. Happy birthday, Bug.



You know those moments? Ya those.

So, I was visiting my genius friend Kelly. We are chatting while Emma (Kelly's 4 year old daughter) and Addie are playing princess and dressup's in Emma's room. No harm. They are only playing dress ups.

Emma comes out of her room and up to us:

Emma: "Mommy, look at my pretty nails!"

Kelly: "Emma, you know you aren't supposed to do that without mommy."

Me: GASP!!!! Addie has NEVER seen nail polish before! This could be bad!

I race into the bedroom. Behold the wonder!

Me: "oh...ah...addie...oh my...DON'T MOVE!!!"

Addie: "Mommy, I am a beautiful princess! Look at my pretty feet!!"

Not only does the polish not even come off her feet all the way (which made Addie happy actually...she cried when we started to take it off!) but it also got on the carpet!!! Even the cleaning guy said the only way to take it out is with scissors. Oh man. I felt so bad!!!

But truthfully, Kelly and I were trying not to let the girls see how much we were laughing. Kelly, are you still laughing???? I hope so!
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Ian has learned his first sentence. Well his third. His first two were a tie between "I love you Jesus" and "I love you too." So sweet, isn't it?

Well, his THIRD sentence was "DON'T TALK!" This sentence has only been used at me, when I am talking with a friend or someone else in the room other than him. Not only is it firmly said, but he also gives me "the hand." (Do people still say that phrase?). It has now moved from "the hand" to covering my mouth. Yesterday, my best friend Laura came into town, and we spent the morning together talking and wrestling our kids. When covering my mouth didn't work, he started to kiss me. Over and over and over. I burst out laughing, and then started talking again. So, he starting to kiss me again.

Boys really know, don't they? To get a girl to stop talking...KISS HER!!

I think that is the most clever thing he has ever done.
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Addie had her FIRST dance class yesterday. This was a HUGE moment for us, because Addie is a natural dancer. She could perform and pronounce "arabesque" before she was 2. But she was doing arabesques before she even knew what they were! Let's just say, she was in heaven!!! this morning she woke up, and begged to go to dance class. I still can't get her to understand what a "Wednesday" is.

Happy as a bowl of vegtables.

Ok. So, maybe that really isn't a phrase to coin...but I sure do feel as happy as THESE vegtables. WHY???

Because I have a WORK SPACE!!!


I FINALLY have a designated work space, and I just had to share.

In the past 4 months my work space has gone from the dining room table to my bedroom, and now back to our "office". We have a 3 bedroom condo, and the third bedroom has always been our space to work. Well, Ian moved into the office after a year in our bedroom. (Addie is NOT very good at sharing a room...combo light sleeper and LOUD going to sleep-er). So, I had my office in our bedroom for the first 2 months in business, and wheh! What a challenge. We finally got a portacrib in the office. We put Ian to bed in our room, and then when I am done working at night, we move him into the office. He is pretty easy going. So far, he hasn't seemed to notice that he wakes up in a different place than he fell asleep in!

So, I don't know if that made any sense...but in a nutshell...I have my office back. I spent all Saturday getting it ready, and it works great!

I found a GREAT link from a post I read in Jaime's blog (a FAB blog about motherhood meets business entrepreneur). ON MY DESK peek's into people's work space! I love getting space ideas, as well as getting a sense of where and how people do their "work". Very cool.


Speaking of cool, these happy vegtables are also making my kids happy. I traded a print for these awesome wool and felt bean bag veggies. (I LOVE ETSY!) Addie and Ian have been cooking (and sleeping) with them since we got them. They are so well made, and with those happy faces, who wouldn't want to eat their vegtables?

Well, off to work! It is much easier to think straight with everything in its place!

Cheers!

Three's a charm!


Well, we did it! Addie had her FIRST birthday party, and it was a hit. Thanks to all of you who commented. We had such a great time, but I really can't take credit for the activities we did. They were all borrowed ideas from you! So, Thanks!!

We had all the girls come in their best princess dress. They all arrived promptly with wands ready, and we started by pinning the Kiss on the Frog. My friend Kristi gave me this idea, and it was a hit!

I had to run and ask my neighbor for a boy costume for Ian. He got a little too excited with all the girls in dresses, and is at the stage where he wants to do everything big sister does! So, instead of him joining the princess squad, he got to be a wizard...thank heaven! (These are the things you learn your first time around with b-day parties! Little brother needs a part too!)


We also decorated crowns that I cut out of poster board. I had a bunch of markers, stickers and stick on jewels, and the girls went to town! These crowns rivaled any royal crown, that's for sure!

We had a little princess parade...thanks Sarah (if you can call it that. Our space is so small, we ended up making it a little more like ring-around-the-rosy:)

I took pictures of each of the girls in their crowns, and then went into my office and printed them off and put them into pink paper frames I made. They turned out so cute! Another borrowed Idea! Thanks to Kelly for that great idea!


We finished with Presents and of course, Princess cake and cupcakes. Be impressed: My husband did it all...pink frosting and everything. He is an AMAZING baker, and will someday open his own restaraunt. So it is no surprise to anyone that knows him. I think this is his first pink frosting experience:)

Well, it was a lot of fun. Tim and Rebecca came and Robyn...thanks so much! My Grandpa came afterwards which meant so much to me...He played with Ian and had more fun with Addie's new toys than they did!

The rest of the day...and still going, we have been playing with new toys ever since!

Happy Birthday Addie, my little princess!

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The problem of a Princess

Let me just say flat out....I really HATE (Oh wait. We don't say that word at our house) ...Try again...Disney Princesses are NOT MY FAVORITE.

I have a problem though. I have a princess of a daughter. Do I love it? YES! Do I love that she prances around the house with that dreamy look in her eyes when she hears romantic music, YES! Do I love the way she sings as if she is in the middle of a staged opera, YES! Do I love that dress-ups magically turn her into royalty, YES! Do I love that ANY store I go into we can't get out of without her begging for that DISNEY princess book display in the front entry, NO!!!!!!!

Why can't you be a princess anymore without trying to be Belle, or Ariel, or Jasmine or Cinderella? Why???? Why can't girls just be their OWN kind of princess, instead of being someone with a 16 in waistline with perfectly curled blond hair? (I could keep going, but I won't). I really love the movies...I mean, Cinderella really is the only cartoon character I know of who can get away with saying "Oh! Killjoy!" upon rising too early. It's all the merchandise I get annoyed with.

I wasn't that 'girly' of a girl. I pretended "princess" but I also pretended "school" and "mommy". Addie's first choice of pretend is Princess. She was BORN with it! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I just don't love that most tools that you need to have princess play are dominated by "Disney's BIG 6"

SO: Addie's third birthday is on Saturday, and I am trying to come up with a fun party theme that she will just love. As a mother, I just want to give her a princess party. As Sarah, I want to give her a tea party with dolls, or a Dress up party...the good old standards. But, being a good mommy, we are having a PRINCESS party. No Aurora plastic cups, No Belle table cloths...none of that. Just good "kiss the frog" "dance with wands" princess party.

I came up with these invitations in like 5 minutes tonight. I think that I might want to start doing Children's invites. So much in the kid's industry right now is dominated by mass marketing...Disney being the front runner. To me, once you get a mass market like that, it just takes all the imagination out of the pretend play. This invite is really simple. But I want to really learn more about Graphic design and layout.

Anyone know how to make a scalloped edge or dotted lines in Photoshop/Illustrator?

So, with that said, I have to share some AWESOME trades that I did for my kid's Christmas presents. I am telling you...the internet (ETSY being my FAVORITE) is really my answer to keeping my children from narrowing their imaginations to what Disney has to offer. My kid's FAVORITE toys are the good handmade wooden toys and handmade dolls.

Take a look at what I traded this Christmas with GEMMIE LOU HANDMADE:

Aren't these so sweet? Addie and Ian play with these for HOURS!!! Handpainted wooden pegs (and BEAUTIFULLY painted nonetheless). I also grabbed these clips too. Can't get enough of them.

And from Rachel at DARLY BIRD, I traded a few prints for these BLA BLA dolls that I have been eying for a year now.

On Christmas morning, Addie's eyes grew SO big when she saw "Sheesha" (her Addie-given name). Sheesha hasn't left her side yet. They are SO soft, handmade in peru...but the simple pattern and colors are my favorite.

Horray for handmade and handcrafted toys! Word from a mother: keep your kids away from the BLING BLING of the kids industry, and let them imagine again. Keep it handmade. Keep it simple. Keep them children.

Any of you mom's have any fun (non-disney) Princess activities you have tried with your 3 year old princesses? Do share.

Mommies are fast. My children are faster.

Have you ever had ONE OF THOSE DAYS?

It is 9 pm, and my children are finally asleep, and I can almost give a little chuckle in my fatigued state of mind.

The day:

6 am: ADDIE: "mommy, I can't go back to sleep. My ear hurts." Addie was also up in the night several times with a terrible cough. Ear infection I am sure.

6:30 am: Kenneth leaves for the airport to California.

7 am: Ian awake

8 am: make 9am appt for the kids to see the Dr.

8:15: Try to feed two toddlers with no appetite

8:20-8:45: attempt dressing them and bundling them up for the cold. They thrive in their new-found stage of independence they think they have by saying "no" as much as they can and running away from me as much as they can.

8:45: leave for the Dr. I close and lock the front door and realize I left my house key on the kitchen counter.

9 am-10am: Dr.'s office: Addie has two ear infections and a sinus infection.

10-11am: scramble trying to find a willing boy to climb my balcony and break into my bedroom. THANKS WARNER!!!!!

11am-11:45: unsuccessful getting Addie to take any medicine. It ends up all over her and all over my floor. AS I get her ready for naptime, Ian is shoving raisin bran in the humidifyer he took apart on my living room floor. While I am getting Ian ready, Addie attempts to get a better look at my christmas cards and ends up ripping half of them up in the process (sorry guys!) While I put Addie in her bed, Ian is tearing up all my folded laundry. Oh, and pulled the bag of brown sugar out of the cupboard and was attempting to spread it on the couch when I fortunately caught him.

11:45-1:30: Ian learned how to climb out of his crib this week, and he is proud of it. Just when I thought he was finally asleep, I hear a pounding on the door. He naps in our bedroom, and managed to pull out all the DVDs from their cases and spread them all over the floor. No wonder he was so quiet! Addie won't go to bed because she can here me attempting to keep Ian in his crib unsuccessfully. Neither one of them nap.

1:30pm: I give up. I sneakily put Addie's medicine in her milk, and she drinks it...mostly. While I am taking Addie to the potty, Ian spills the rest of it on my bed sheets. They are pink now.

1:45pm: A realtor calls wanting to show our condo. "TOMORROW!?!?!" I plead.

2 pm: Kenneth calls. He missed the second leg of his flight and now has 6 more hours of travel on top of the 6 he has already had.

2: 30: lunch. I am not paying attention to Ian who has opened up his PBJ and is painting the table and himself with the peanut butter side because I am trying to get Addie to eat something!

3pm-7pm: Before my apt explodes, I get the kids in the car and we spend the rest of the day at IKEA...just let them run around and ware themselves out. I let them play in the children's showroom section...just barely keeping them together. If you've been to IKEA with kids, you know the sheer physical energy it takes to work the isles. By the end, they were screaming in unison thinking it was funny that they could do it together. Much more fun than screaming by yourself. I even took them out to eat in the restaurant. Why do they put Cranberry sauce on the kids meal plate?!? I will never know.

7:30 pm: HOME! BEDTIME! CRASH!

THE END. We'll start again tomorrow!

Overcoming Overwhelmedness

One of the hardest things to do as of late is to be "still". At the beginning of this year, I made it a real priority to have quite moments for prayer, meditation, yoga, listening...I loved it. As I have grown in my plans for this little business of mine, it has been harder for me to find that kind of time! But the truth is, I do so much better when my thoughts are clear at the beginning of the day, and that I feel connected to God and his purpose for me. Running so many things can be overwhelming, and I definitely can't do it alone.

On top of starting up this new Sarah Jane adventure of mine, we have added moving to our plate. We have put a deposite on a townhouse in Daybreak, UT...a new planned community that just started last year and will be done in 2020. It is a beautiful area with a great community feel. Our townhouse is scheduled to be done at the end of December, so we are scrambling to make sure we can sell the condo that we are in now. This townhouse has an unfinished basement which we will convert to a playroom for the kids, as well as my office/studio. It is far away from all that we are used to, but I am always up for an adventure. It's just A LOT to think about right now. Especially with the holidays coming, there is just so much on my plate. But then I remember who gives me strength and I am comforted.

I am quoting from Startup Princess...my new mentoring group for women entrepreneurs--

"Dr. Wayne Dyer says, when you are connected to “Source”, you will do your best work, because it’s not your work at all…it’s God’s work through you…when you aren’t connected it’s all about ego. So, he asks, “How corroded is your connection? How clear is it? What can you do to keep connected continuously? When you’re listening, you’re allowing God to give you the answers you seek. Be Still. Be Patient. Be at Peace."

SO...that is my focus for this week. Remembering that none of here are meant to do this alone!

Last night I took some pics of my house for MLS listings, so I thought I would post one to prove that my house can be clean when I really need it to be!

And here are my two favorite boys. I think it's time for Ian to get a haircut!

More artwork coming this weekend! I am excited! Stay tuned!