IZZIE AND THE BEAST

May 17th, 2012

This is my sister Melody. She dresses like this all the time. I kid, but seriously, doesn’t she look gorgeous in this picture. She lives in South Korea and there’s this place you can go and get all fancied up and take pictures. The rest of the pictures from this shoot are amazing as well.

It’s Melody’s birthday today. Technically, yesterday was her birthday where’s she at because of the time difference but whatever. I personally think you should get to celebrate your birthday all week, not just one day. She is being spoiled and celebrated this weekend, but we miss her here! We haven’t seen her in over a year, BUT…In just a few short weeks we will be reunited for our sister’s wedding!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELODY JOY! I hope your 27th year is the best year yet.

Love you and we will see you soon!

P.S. This is her blog which is pretty awesome. Spit On The Street

Lets go for water today.

I asked Izzie if she wanted water or apple cider for her school lunch.

My two dates for a Mother’s Day lunch:)

May 16th, 2012

I’m not all grown up yet.

Tonight was the last Awana until fall. Cubby was there. He’s a giant bear and walked around giving the kids high fives and congratulating them on their hard work. Noah’s enthusiasm to shake Cubby’s hand diminished as soon as he was up close to the oversized bear. On the way home, he shared this afterthought.

May 15th, 2012

We really look like sisters.

Izzie just said this to me. While I appreciate the sentiment, in another 20 years I’ll appreciate it even more:)

I found organic polenta at a local store and made this. I did add some caramelized vanilla bean pears to top it off. It was delicious.

Find the recipe here

I found pictures from my sister’s bridal shower on my camera…I wish there was more.

Stained coffee filters and masking tape were used to make the flowers
I loved making this but definitely underestimated how long it would take me:)
Everyone enjoying lunch. I wish I had some close ups of the table. The tablescape was lovely.
The favor table
The ‘smell the roses’ soaps are from here. The bride and groom’s name and wedding date were on front with their last initial monogrammed behind it. On the back the label said ‘made especially for’ with their names and the ingredients in the soap. Kris made the wood dishes for me and twine was used to tie them up into a pretty little favor (Melody, I saved one for you!)
Heart of love:)
Presents!
This was my favorite. I bought a bunch of various flowers from Michael’s, took them apart and hot glued each piece onto a wooden letter. My parents happened to have two shepherds hook, I think for the wedding, so we used ribbon, clothespins and more twine to string her name across. This is where Amber sat to open her presents.
Baby Amber and pink carnations. I used wet floral foam in the tin so the flowers will stay fresh longer.

May 14th, 2012

The kids have started doing this thing where they constantly ask me for stuff. The famous line is, “I wish I could…” or “I wish I had…” It started with Izzie and Noah picked up on it. While I realize their practically babies, I don’t think they’re too young to learn to be thankful. Izzie has always been super thankful for everything, but as she gets older she’s picking up on things from..well, everywhere. The girl can read now and she reads everything from billboards, to adverts in the store, to…you get the idea.

It’s practically impossible to keep my children from outside influences and I don’t want to. I don’t want to keep them sheltered. It’s just driving me insane right because if I give them one, they want two. It’s always something more. I also don’t want to discipline or harp on them. I remember when I was younger always getting in trouble and hearing, ‘If I give you one cookie, you ask for two.’ I would rather say, ‘Let’s say something we’re thankful for right now.’ So, that’s what we’ve started doing. Anytime Izzie or Noah says, “I wish I had ____” , I change it around and say, “But I’m thankful that I have ____”.

We’ve also implemented it into our bedtime routine. We each say something we’re thankful for. This is what the kids said tonight.

Izzie: “I’m thankful for the earth, my family; Noah, Momma, Daddy and my two dogs.”

Noah: “I’m thankful for my best friend, Izabelle; my best Momma, my two dogs, Papa and my Lightening McQueen!”

We have a new honey guy, more like a honey guru. His name is Jerry and he is local, as in less than ten minutes away local. He has been a bee keeper for over 40 yrs. and let me tell you, he knows everything there is to know about bees. The kids and I take raw honey to help with our allergies, strengthen our immune system and overall health. The best raw honey for allergies is as local as you can get it. I’m so excited. The big jug on the left is bakers honey. It’s been heated past 120 degrees so it’s not raw but I use it in place of sugar for my baking so it’s going to lose it’s raw benefits anyway. The Sourwood honey is from Georgia. It has been awarded the best honey in the world and it tastes amazing. The Wildflower honey is Jerry’s honey. Here’s a link to how amazing his honey is. The ‘Bee Bread’ usually doesn’t taste that great but Jerry adds some of his special honey to make it taste better. He explained the process but I don’t remember it. The ‘Propolis Tincture’ is for strep and sore throats. It is also used as a liquid bandage on scrapes, cuts, burns, etc.

That’s a lot of bananas!

arborescent replied to your post: Sometimes I hesitate in telling you some of the…

I’m having the same thing with the girl I nanny. She turns 3 in 2 weeks and she will. Not. Potty. Train. It’s driving me insane. Sometimes she uses the toilet but more often than not she won’t. UGHHHGAJA. any tips are appreciated!

Honestly, my biggest tip is to wait until they’re ready. Obviously, that can be a problem if the parents of your kids want her to be trained now. I’m big into attachment parenting, but the early potty training is one thing I disagree with. All you end up with is frustration from the child and whoever is training them. Every child is different and instead of being adamant and getting frustrated over potty training, I decided to take my cues from Noah. He was definitely not ready to start when he turned three. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been frustrated with the boy. I tried once and had to stop because he wasn’t ready.

When I tried again, the easiest solution was to let him run around sans diaper. When we were home, he had a shirt on and nothing else. When we went out, I put him in a pull-up. It took about a full month because I couldn’t stay home 24/7 with him. For us, it doesn’t work to put him in underwear, because I don’t want his caretakers at the Y to have to deal with an accident. Instead, I bought him pull-ups that he loves, Lightening McQueen. The last two weeks or so he’s only had a few accidents so we’re doing good:) He’ll be four in August and he definitely gets it now.

Also, I don’t go by the average age a child is potty trained at. I’ve learned to go by my child..where they’re at, what they’re ready for, what they want to try. My pediatrician used to tell me this. If you start potty training a child at age three they’ll be potty trained by age four. If you start potty training a child at age four they’ll be trained by age four. Basically, with some kids the earlier you start the longer it takes whereas if you wait, it might not take long at all. We had to stop twice with Izzie, the first time because she wasn’t ready and the second time because she got sick and had to be hospitalized. We started up again the day she turned four. It took her less than a week to be fully potty trained.

That was a really long reply, but I know it can be tough whether you’re the parent or care taker. It’s even more difficult when you have everyone telling you that the child should be doing this or that by a certain age. There is no certain or perfect age. You do what’s best for her and keep her healthy and happy. That’s what’s most important. You’re an awesome nanny and she’ll get it eventually.

May 13th, 2012

We went to a Farmer’s Market on Saturday. It was the grand opening and still needs to grow into the awesome and impressive Farmer’s Market it will one day become. In the meantime, they had Alpacas. The kids loved them. Their names were Doobie and Bruiser. They were sweet and soft and guess what? The kids want an Alpaca.

Sometimes I hesitate in telling you some of the things my son says. But his logic makes sense to him. For example, the other morning he pooped in his pull-up. We’ve had some great days and some days where he’ll have one or two poop accidents. Progress though people..Progress..Here’s a piece of logic he shared with me this morning while I was wiping him up.

“I just saw my poop! I saw it! I don’t want to eat my poop. Then I would get very sick…And I would turn brown.”

May 12th, 2012

I need a date night…

I may have just had a minor meltdown when Kris got home after being gone all day. Lack of sleep, laundry piles everywhere, clean and dirty; children who have been fighting, complaining and whining most of the day and no adult conversation are my excuse. Oh, and I cut my thumb. I was making yogurt and my trusty thermometer broke in the sink when I was rinsing it off. I have a Dora bandaid wrapped around it so tight the tip of my thumb is blue, but every time I take the bandaid off blood gushes out.

Deep breath in…A messy home is a well-lived in home, right? And I will eventually have a date with my husband. We average every six months, so I have some time yet.

You sometimes see a woman who would have made a Joan of Arc in another century and climate, threshing herself to pieces over all the mean worry of housekeeping. ~Rudyard Kipling