They are gone now to their little beds, but for the past 3 days we have made this of Mommy's sheets. Hot little bodies, achy muscles, soar throats and lots and lots of lots of snuggles. Babies with strep throat is never welcome, but I sure don't mind the extra loving. Even at 3 am. Even with pink medicine stains on my shirts. Even with a shop that is a little behind with shipping. Even when laundry is piling. I would rather have snuggles and hugs with my feverish babies than a perfect house any day. I can't always say that, but something about having sick little ones reminds me that my house isn't going to grow up and get too big for my lap someday. So dishes in the sink...quit your whining. These little divas come first.
Magic.
Addie age 1
"And above all watch, with glittering eyes the wholeworld around you because the greatest secrets are
always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those
who don't believe in magic will never find it.
~ Roald Dahl ~
Addie age 3This week I learned from my children that:
- Your shadow is your best friend because it is always with you
- Monsters live in trees but they are scared of daddy's
- Sunshine is meant to be felt with just your skin on (even when it is 40 degrees outside)
- Flowers are for giving to people (especially the cashier at Target)
- Dirt is for toes
- One piece of broccoli is a tree. Two pieces of broccoli is a dark forest.
- Igloos can be made from an end table and blankets
- Tree stumps are for sitting on when you are sad.
- Big stretches of green grass are for taking a "belax"
- Trees are for hugging.
- Butterflies have mommies too.
- Nail polish and chapstick makes you a princess.
And so I add to that beautiful quote:
Watch with glittering eyes your children and you will see the whole world as it really is. And you may even end up believing in magic.
Happy Monday everyone!
Mamma and her boys.
These past few 'vacation' days have flown by! I have loved this time to create more, and wishing that I could just work faster. It sometimes feels like my brain is so full of images that I have to get them out on paper or I am just going to burst. I keep a sketch book with me at all times, but sometimes taking real "art time" is necessary. I have been working on a few other projects that I can't really post about right now...hopefully soon. But these new prints are enough to keep me happy!
All this is available in the shop now. I have more coming, as always, but now I must get back to shipping and packing!
I am also going to be making my "I love my mom" cards available as singles in honor of Mother's day coming up. Don't miss out on these elephants!
And speaking of Mamas and Boys, check out my forever crush. He loves hanging out with me. He is my little side kick. I just can't get enough of his short stubby, squishy legs. Oh!! I love him!
Thanks for all your lovely comments about the chairs by the way! Have a great weekend and see you back for "happy site friday!"
Little moments. Little memories.
Hello friends,
I love weekends! Especially this weekend. "Conference Weekend" we call it. Twice a year, the Prophet of our church and other church leaders gather together and speak to a world wide congregation of Jesus and his teachings. Families and congregations from Africa to Sweden gather together to listen and watch all day Saturday and Sunday to the teachings from the scriptures as applied to our lives today...like how to find more joy in motherhood, etc. It is like a Mecca really, and I find it really cool that millions of people are listening and watching all at the same time. And, on top of that, our little family has the tradition of cooking lots of yummy food (swiss chard soup, homemade bread, slow cooked ribs, biscuits grilled asparagus, cream asparugus pasta, homemade granola and crepes with strawberries for breakfast) as cooked by my husband and kids a like. Ya. Whew! Well, I did end up making a cardboard stove for the kids when Kenneth started to saute. They didn't mind using "pretend" food, and I sure could have used it instead! But really, I am 'filled' in more ways than one!
And one more little happy note: I have new little pretties to add to the shop! I am really excited about this, and it has been in the works for a while. I was able to have them made here, and they turned out great!
Little mini cards with buttons on them for added cuteness. But these aren't any kind of card. They are meant to make those little moments: a note for a friend left in her purse. Or a note on your daughter's bed for her to see when she comes home from school. Or a note in a lunch for a little hand to open on a hard day at school. My mother was always leaving little notes for me as a child, and let me tell you...it made my day. These notes are for ANYONE. But, I would hope that these would encourage more note-giving between mother and child. Just an idea.
I will be posting these in my shop soon. Don't know if I will post them individually, or as a set yet. I sure love them! Hope you do too!
My Weekend Gourmet.
We call him the 'Weekend Gourmet'.
His stats: tall, dark and handsome.
His title: teacher, father, and chef extraordinare.
His therapy: cooking.
We are going to Hawaii in a couple months, and I have been desperately trying to get rid of those unwanted pounds I put on over the winter. But I have no hope. None. I have an amazing excuse to eat food. The reason? My husband. He loves too cook like I love to draw. It is in his blood. His therapy after a really stressful day is cooking up some new inventive recipe. My therapy after a really hard and stressful day is eating his really amazing new and inventive recipe. We make an incredibly good pair.
No, I have no reason to blame him. It is really my laziness about getting to the gym. But really...can you blame me when this was our weekend?
This is every weekend. And this is just "easy food." The kind of food he can make quick without thinking. You should see him on holidays. Or during the summer. You should see his library of books he POURS over...every culinary institute's manual, every ethnic cookbook, you name it he has read it. And I love it.
My kids love it too. Our weekends are spent making sure the kids aren't falling off the counters while they are covered in flour. They LOVE to cook with dad. I think they always will. And I think that I will always be his best food critic...um...taste tester that is!
I love you DeGeega.
We have a word specialist in our house. Addie. She makes up words. She learns words really fast too. Like, museum, stethescope, delectible, exhausted. She says these words in context, and pronounces them perfectly. She has always been our word girl.
Have you ever said "I love you" and recieved the response "I love you more?" Well, we say it all the time in our house, and it turned into a game really....
"I love you more."
"I love you MORE"
"I love YOU more"
"I LOVE you more."
It never ends, and no one can really win, can they? Addie figured it out.
She finally blurted out..."I love you DA GEEGA" (da-gee-ga).
"What does Da Geega mean?"
"It means lots and lots and lots."
She won. She wins every time. So now, when she says "I love you Mama and Dad," and we resond, "We love you more!" she will always reply, "I love you Da Geega." Can't top that, can you? But then really, no one can top anything she is. She is just the most fun I have ever had. I love you, Addie. (More than 'Degeega', but I won't tell her that:)
PS: thank you so much for all your wonderful input below! I just love hearing what you have had to say, and it is really helpful for me! I am still deciding, but I have decided to make the chalkboard print into some darling bookplates. Still deciding on the rest, but I have a pretty good idea! Thank you guys! You are the best!
Tangles, Toddlers and Two new stores
Isn't he just so darling? Yes, but oh so clever!
So Ian wakes up from his nap today with a great big YELP! and then quietly seems to rest back to sleep...or so I thought. I was in the middle of you know...all those things that Mommies do during nap time, and hoping for a little more time, accepted the fact that he was just having a dream. Well, optimism wore off when I walked in to see Ian IN HIS CRIB but with our room looking like this.
Yes, he had climbed out of his crib, rolled around in the bed, went searching for bears in the trees outside our window and became so excited that not only did the covers get scrambled but the blinds broke too. I wonder if he found any bears. (I did!!) So what he did isn't really that earth-shattering...I mean really, there isn't anything else to do in our room. What makes him the CLEVER boy, is that after making all this mess, he must have remembered that he wasn't allowed to climb out of his crib, so he crawled back inside which is where I found him after I heard him say...oh so politely..."AWAKE!"
And then Darling-dainty-ready-for-the-runway-Addie has the habit of ROCKING (no I mean really rocking...like she WHIPS her body back and forth as though I were still bouncing her up and down the hallway from her severe colicky days) and so her hair becomes this wild tangled seaweed every time she takes a long time to fall asleep (which has been every night now that Addie and Ian are sleeping in the same room now). Wow. Sorry grammer freaks. Run-on sentence. But really, you can't tell from this picture...but Little Miss has DREADLOCKS underneath those loose curls that (I have timed it) take 25 minutes to get out in the bath after only one night of tossing around.
But with my mischief making son, and my wild haired daughter we still manage to get things done here in the studio. Like starting wholesale! I have two online shops with my artwork ready to order...and not just any online shops. These are GREAT! I encourage you to look around (if you haven't seen these stores already). All incredibly great for kids and all very unique. Warm Biscuit has been a favorite of mine ever since my nursing days when I would nurse and read catalogs...theirs being a favorite. Simply a boy is new to me, but oh so great! With all the GIRL stuff out there, it's about time there was a place just for those boys! And there are more coming soon!
I love the children's industry! I love that I get to be a kid and a grown up all at the same time. Best of both worlds. Hey...I never even have to make my bed! (Ian does it for me:)
Happy Site Friday.
I may have mentioned this blog before. In fact I am sure I have. It is also on the left hand side under "My Daily Reads."
I don't read many blogs...i browse through my friends and my favorites every once in a while...but ZEN HABITS has me hooked.
I am a mom. I am a wife. I am a cook. I am a housekeeper. I am an artist. I am a business owner. I am an assistant dance teacher (ok...I keep Addie's 3 year old dance class under control). I am a voice teacher. Bus driver (to Addie and Ian). I am a bill payer. I am a woman who loves time to myself. (when?)
Do you relate? Sure. Every woman I know has to be a master juggler. And ZEN HABITS (though written by a man) is starting to help me get the picture. Each day of the week is designated to a different topic (finance, organization, family, simplicity, health) and he writes about it.
He has 7 children, is a writer (meaning...there is right brain in him like me) and he believes in living minimalistically. It is beyond me, but I DESIRE to believe I can do the same (not the 7 kids part!!)
But keeping two kids, a studio, a happy husband and laundry all from flying out the window in complete chaos is a real art! I go through phases. Right now, I am needing to get back into the phase.
I need to have a picture in each of my posts ( I am a visual person...no. Really?) And so I leave you with a picture of me and my kids 2 days after Ian came home from the hospital. Remember now, that Addie and Ian are 12 months apart...so Addie, bless her, was still just a baby!
If any of you have any inspirations you find to keeping the balance, please share. It is always good to get good simple ideas!
But for right now, this site is making for a Happy Friday.