Balancing Bliss

on the mend

i have been taking it easy because of my back and because i woke up with a kink in my neck a few days ago to add to my happiness!. brian was home due to a snow day yes the whole 1" we got on the valley floor, so i took that as an opportunity to go to the dr. that and the hope that some old people might not want to drive in the snow and cancel so there would be an opening and yay for me.........there was. got some x-rays and some meds to heal me not just get me stoned on the ol' heating pad. looking forward to a good week and getting some stuff done.

the kids had soo much fun in the snow. luci played until her gloves were soaked through and her hands were icy. brian took the boys down to the park where they sled down the hill until it turned to mud. i enjoyed watching it come down through the window from my heating pad. believe it or not i do not have one picture of it because my batteries were dead. i took in the moment instead. i know .....wow.

before the weather hit us i got to have a day to myself and see my good friend kristi in creswell. such an honor to go with her to get her wedding dress. it seems like it was not too long ago she was helping me with my wedding (7yrs ago). i am so very proud of her and all she has accomplished since then. she is on a path of happiness.

i am going to try to add some pics to my albums on the left and i would love to get some scrappin in. just haven't felt like sitting on that hard chair in my scrap space but i am feeling inspired so i don't care about my ass (i mean back). while i was in eugene i bought a bead magazine, speaking of inspired. i really miss all that i used to do with beads. i got out of the groove when my kids were little, i mean really how can you have your beads out with little kids. little little. now they eat light bulbs and have concussions and so forth so i don't think a bead or two will hurt them. jk.

off to make the most of my time and be crafty...................craft on

eventful week

hmmm where should i begin.......9 days of sitting on a heating pad on vicodin (don't mind the vicodin) because it feels like i broke my ass. eli blu looks like rocky because he rode a box down the stairs and hit a wall. he proceeded to nod off and then puke in his pj drawer. hmmmmm concussion anyone? not to mention the huge black eye that goes so well with his new buzz. can't wait for his hair to grow back. gaven had to flu last weekend and luci is has a rash all over her face with yucky nose. i guess what i am saying is does anyone want to come visit?? jk stay away.

on a happy note luci is in dance class and could not be more freakin cute! it's all new to her and i both and we are enjoying this time together. oh and i did get my van back after not having it since the brakes went out on dec. 27. happy to be independent again.

brian and i managed to get a date in before all the chaos hit. we went to see "the bucket list" and i highly recommend it. amazing. i went home and made a bucket list of my own. plan on scrapbooking it this week.

maybe i should have named the blog  balancing chaos and not balancing bliss!

One more long post;

Luci was given a five foot doll house for Christmas. I know I know.... where have my values and belief systems gone? Right out the freakin window with fast food, more than 2hrs of screen time, and yelling. If anyone is judging me it's because they have 1 or less children and it's all about balance. My kids also eat at the table 6+ nights a week, take piano lessons and the librarian knows them by name. And they started the yelling!

So onto Luci's doll house....

* we have multicultural girls living here { perhaps encouraging travel and staying in hostels? }

* dolls are all different shapes, sizes and color (some even have wings) {once again opening her mind and world}

* girls here are not of cheerleader fashion but sport dyed hair and tattoos

* one is displaying balance by relaxing in the tub and potty training her daughter i think that also falls under multi-tasking

* some of them have a animal clinic out of their home

* not one girl needed a prince to "save" her

* And @ the end she showed me she has values by lining up her animals 2x2 to the ark

PS I am not sure what the Trex was about

Note: although bent and missing some hair from being groomed with a small plastic brush No animal nor Barbie was harmed in play today.

I ALSO WANT TO ADD THAT I HOPE TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE OTHER PHOTO ALBUMS ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE BLOG TODAY THAT WILL HAVE PROJECTS, DAILY LIFE, AND HAPPY THINGS  SO I WILL HAVE PHOTOS TO BACK ALL THIS UP AND I DON'T SOUND LIKE A RAMBLING SAHM

Rundown of my week:

        Monday___Gav (8) asked if I would watch him @ the pool. A big day for him because they were going in the deep end in a canoe. So after portraying myself as a crazed mother (being the only one there) who proceeded in true scrapbook fashion ran around the pool creating a small distraction with my mini photo shoot.  Luci and I went home to play catch up on the house. Where I did so much that I broke my ass (i mean my lower back) and spent Monday and Tuesday on the couch with my good friend vicoden. Besides some healing yoga there went all my enthusiasm to work out this week.

        Wednesday Luci started her first music, dance and tumbling class. Once again the crazed scrapper behavior occurred. It was fun to watch her in her pink dance skirt (don't think it's a true tutu and she wore fleece pants under them but cute) on the balance beam and roll across the mats. Then the music came on and little ballerinas started doing their "ballerina moves" with special names and she FROZE. This of course started a domino effect of 4yr old dancers. She just kept saying "ummmm... like I don't know how to do THIS". Her look was quite humorous and yet terrifying at the same time. Having two older brothers I think she is more used to transformers, pokemon lingo, and wresting with a few bloody noses. For such a girly girl these little girls FREAKED her out!

        Thursday I met with Gav's school counselor about his behaviors lately and received some insight and direction I was looking for. Very positive. Love her. Wish we could just pack up Amy in our suitcase and move her to Spokane with us.
        The evening ended with Eli Blu coming down the stairs and announcing that he had cut his hair with scrapbook scissors!!! I had just mentioned cutting his bangs minutes before but he wasn't interested and so I went downstairs ( i know i know what was i thinkin). I would like to think I am gender fair in my home but this is one that I would have been pissed if Luci did but it wasn't it was my little boy with long long hair. So I then laughed, had the safety talk, took more pics (duh) and shaved his head bald. Which we found out that the word "BALD" makes him overly sensitive but I don't think he will do it again.

  So heres to me updating my blog in pj's and to pizza night Friday!

Back home

Seattle was more fun and relaxing than I predicted. Part of that reason is because the 4-5 hour trip in the van with three kids was rather silent w/o fighting. I would like to thank my dad for the gameboys w/o them it could have gone terribly different. And thanks to my hip in-laws who have a Wii, my kids hardly noticed my presence in the room which allowed me to read and nap. Krispy Kreme always makes the trip for me, especially if the red hot sign is on!
And as promised, here is a photo from my project. It was made with Amy Butler paper and fabric. She is my younger sisters favorite designer. This book was for her very first house. I am so proud of her for putting herself through college, moving to a big city, supporting herself and buying her own home. Jen you rock and I am inspired each time I walk through the door.
So Monday was back to normal. Work-outs, laundry and all.

ps. I turned off the nintendos and busted out the homework and books. It was bliss while it lasted!!

much to do this friday

Download IMG_4022.jpg Got this very cute and oh so me mat during my Target splurge. Love college grant time. And sorry about the download I messed up somewhere along the way.

We are off to Seattle tonight to my in-laws. I plan on doing some reading and relaxing while the kids play their Wii and go through all their dads old toys.

Loads of laundry to catch up on today with two kids home because my Eli Blu (5) had a hard night with sleep walking again. Found him up 3 times last night and he has no idea where he is and does not remember doing it. Has anyone dealt with this..........any advice?  Gave up sleeping @ 5am and did some yoga on OPB then hit the coffee hard.

So in a previous post I mentioned an artsy project I had going on. I finished it! However I can not post pics until Monday because it is a gift for someone and she reads my blog. I can't even give a clue because she would know it was for her. Loved it so much I think I will make one for myself. Hope she loves and appreciates it.

Well I am off to pack for 5 people, charge gameboys, MP3 players and an IPOD. Hope you all have a good weekend.

the best morning picnic ever

~ luci girl is quite the hostess, she prepared this picnic for us as soon as I got the brothers (her boys as she would say) off the school.

~ love to know how Belle eats all that pasta and fits into that dress. (bitch)

~ really wanted the cheese, ice-cream cone and diet coke combo but got the cucumber, corn on the cob, chocolate bar with diet coke combo instead. i think Cinderella's horse would have appreciated mine more.

~ i did get picked to wear the tiara morning hair and all.

~ luci then awarded me the prize of a trip to Hawaii for finishing first.

~ notice how the picnic grew and grew?

~ it ended with Belle drowning in her ginormous cup (swear I didn't do it), the dog got her ass kicked for being too "hilton" for the crowd, the frog is MIA after stumbling off high on it's mushroom tea and luci got distracted with teddy grahms and sesame st.

~ honestly it was adorable and alot of fun. much better than all the star wars and Pokemon talk going on with "her boys"

good morning

Download IMG_3904.jpg truly a good morning. helped brian roll his last sunday paper hopefully for life. reminder to self; when the boys ask if they can get a paper route.......aaaa noooooooo!

coffee in my new mug, oatmeal, snow (real large snow!) and grateful kids. man does it get better than this? such peace in our home this morning. did i just jinx it?!

so to anyone who truly knows me is so proud of the fact that i learned to add pics. so easy too. why didn't anyone ever tell me to click on the insert image and browse? come on i can so do that, really i just needed directed. hehehe. so guess who got carried away loading 50 pics to my family album (left) and did not even get crafty at all with my time? trust me that was creative and fun but i didn't play with my project at all. guess i get to today.

okay well that was s*&*&%^%$%$*&*&*NMKJHUJ%$&*! right when i thought i knew what i was doing hmmm oh well. so what if i just uploaded 100+ pics 3times to various folders thats why i married a computer science major now isn't it?? hehehehe brian.........mind fixing that?

oh and one more thing to be blissful about.........luci and i stayed home from church to cuddle on the couch and watch the nutcracker. barbie version but hey i didn't need to put on a dress :)

 

 

i think i've got it.......wait for it.......

balancing bliss

i think it's only fitting, i'm really looking forward to 2008. so i have been really busy crafting something really cute and i am looking forward to sharing once i learn to load pics. really i promise, i will learn.

oh crap look what i just learned all on my very own. yay me. told ya it was going to be a good year!  (by the way those are santas)

so back to being crafty so i can upload those. think i might just surprise the computer "wizard" tonight when he gets back from a concert in portland. heheheh so fun

hmmmmmmmm

so this might just take longer than i thought but i am still excited about it. now who would have guessed i would pick a RED blog?? but hey the butterflies just won in the end. so to my girlfriends out there "help me out"   i need a title for this blog and i would like the word balance in it. if i get enough comments we may have to vote.... sound kinda fun?

there was also a suggestion that i do not call my husband "my computer fairy" and that "my computer wizard" may not offend him as much. hehehehe thanks for the advice taber. so true. i might get help faster too.