cozyblue

are you ready for the weekend?

well, i am!  by the time you read this i will be on my way to west virginia.  by.  my.  self!  



one of my very best buds in this world, emily, is getting married, and i am taking the whole weekend to myself to travel there, hang out with all of my very favorite people, and cheer emily on.  it's gonna be great!  i am so, so excited!



but, as excited as i am, i'm also a little nervous.  this'll be the first time in 7 years that i have been away from my little ones for more than a day...  and this will be three whole days!
i think it'll be great for me, and i'm so happy to be spending time with my friends.  but i know i'll be missing the kiddos like crazy, and probably will be crying before i hit the state line.



stig will be home with them for the weekend, and i know they will all be fine.  they'll have fun.  stig will probably let them watch tv all day, which they will love.  they'll leave toys, dirty clothes, and dishes all over the house, and will have wrestling matches on the bed (which drives me crazy! -- they'll fall off!).  but he'll read them bedtime stories and tuck them in, and maybe make pancakes in the morning (their favorite!) and give them tons of maple syrup.



and i'll be fine.  i'll have fun, and maybe even have an uninterrupted conversation!  i won't know what to do with myself without someone to keep track of, or someone to make food for, or someone who needs some mama-ing.
but i do need a reminder (that last longer than a few hours) that i am more than a mama.  for so long that's been my main gig, and it's one that i do pretty well and enjoy immensely.  it's familiar and comforting, and it's my most favorite thing to be.  but i think i will be doing myself good to get out of my comfort zone a little more, and reconnect with the rest of me.



so, i'm off!  i'll be back in a few days with an update and some pictures, and lots of fun memories.
and in the meantime, i've got one of griffin's hot wheels in my purse, and one of adella's tiny animals in my pocket.
xo



p.s.  the photos are some garden pics that i took this week.  everything is so pretty now...  there are more pics over on flickr!

summer! yes!

now that school is finally out, we've got lots of summer-time on our hands!



we are heading down to atlanta for the rest of the week.  we get to see papa and pippi!  our plans are to visit the aquarium and the zoo, and to hang out by the pool and relax.

adella is signed up for two summer day camps later this  summer, one week at the arboretum, and one week of ballet camp!  she is super excited.  and there will be dance pictures.





we've made a long list of some things that we want to do this summer.  some crafts, some day trips, some bigger home projects we want to tackle.  adella has added a lot of fun and wacky suggestions to our list also.  one big thing on my list is something simple, but sometimes over looked:  to say YES more often!  oftentimes, when the kids run up to me, interrupting whatever i am doing to pitch an idea or an activity they want to try, i automatically say, 'hang on just a minute..., not now...  maybe later' or something similar.  'cause i do have lots of things to do... things that need to be done, things that i want time to do, or just a few quiet minutes to myself.  
don't get me wrong -- we do lots of fun stuff.  most of our daily activities revolve around the kids and what they want/need.  but i also crave 'me' time and sometimes i can be a little grumpy about having (or not having) it...  which leads to the auto-response.



but i do need reminders to be flexible and open to accommodating the kids' requests.  it's summertime!  fun time!  when else do we have the freedom in our days to stop everything to build an obstacle course in the yard?  or to make a neighborhood scavenger hunt?  or to run to the store to buy ingredients for ice cream and lemonade?
and honestly, how long will the kids want to play with me?  how long until they are so big that they don't even need my help?



yes, i need to remember to be present during these times, and to be open to their ideas.  to not only support their creativity, but to show them that "yes!  what you are thinking and saying sounds like fun!  and it is worthy of my time and attention."
because it is.  and adella and griffin know that.  i tell them all the time that i love their creativity and their ideas, that i appreciate the way they are thinking.  but i want to be extra-sure that i am showing them again, in every way that i can, that they are free to bloom and grow, and explore and create.
(of course i also expect some serious relaxation and lazy days.  books, lounging, boredom, the works.)



oops -- that ramble grew much longer than i intented.  i'll post the rest of the summertime 'to-do' list soon...

so, it's summer!  let's have some fun!

just a little photoshop experiment

(adella says 'experience' instead of the word 'experiment' -- i love that.)

today it rained all day

so the kids snuggled up to watch a movie,



while i annoyed them with my camera.



i'm glad i didn't miss this moment though.

we ::heart:: spring

everybody say 'waterfall', originally uploaded by cozyblueliz.

we've been happily busy this past week, enjoying the beautiful spring weather. and i've just uploaded oodles of photos to flickr, so please hop on over and check them out.
click right here to see a slideshow -- it's fun!

(i think the pictures do a better job of summing up our days than i could, anyway!)

xo

a few bits of today

whew!  today has been a good day.  i wanted to sit down and write all the details here, but i'm tired now, so here are the highlights.

first thing this morning, i checked my blog reader and was happily surprised to see my family tree prints featured on Cool Mom Picks!  awesome!  i'm a big fan of CMP, and i'm flattered and thrilled that they wrote such a nice post about the prints.  the next several hours brought in oodles of orders, so we're going to be busy, but it's all SO good.  yay!

later, griffin and i headed to the nature center for a while.





did you know that griffin can speak Chicken?  here he is saying "bawk, bawk -- hi chickens!  i'm griffin, i'm two!!"



look at this big fella:



as we were leaving, i got a call from a lady that i'd been emailing with, for a craigslist exchange.  we went to meet her, and a few minutes later, we came home with this:



score!  an excellent, super-nice, super-stocked toy workbench.  griffin loves it, and i'm so pleased with it!  matilda really loved the bag that the tools came in:



we've found some really awesome deals on craigslist (the bunk beds, remember?)... and later this week, i hope to be bringing home an ice cream maker, courtesy of craigslist.

after some building and hammering, it was time to pick up adella from school.  
i came home to this:



and then i forgot to take any more pictures.  we played outside, we ate cheeseburgers, kids went to bed, and i've been screenprinting.  i stopped only because i ran out of surfaces for the prints to dry on.

i'm adding some pics to flickr now too, so pop on over if you want to.

good night!

thursday's faves, on friday

making

i've been feeling a little dull and indecisive in my crafting progress lately.  frustrating.  but i'm trying to push on through, so i've just been puttering the last few days...

a vintage trivet-printed cork trivet:


i might like where this is headed.  i'll need to use some thicker cork, though.  a nice big casserole needs a heavy-duty trivet.

i screenprinted some vintage fabric (i picked this up years ago, and i'm not even sure what it is.  but it's nubby and weave-y) with the doily design.


they were later fused to cork, and became coaster sets.


i've had new babies on the brain lately (are you really thinking that?  no, no.  we're good, thanks!) and also, all things spring.  birds, nests, eggs...  throw in some sweet mini-flag buntings and an eBay lot of vintage feather birds (in the mail, on the way), some time on my hands, and you get this:


i'm not sure what i'll do with it yet.  maybe nothing, maybe something.  we'll see...  in any case, it was good to translate an idea into something sweet!

march snow

it snowed and snowed, all day, and we ended up with about 6 inches of the white stuff.  truthfully, we are all pretty much over the snow, the cold, the winter.  but we did get out and play this afternoon, and the snow was perfect for packing snowballs and building snowmen.



adella made this enormous snowball -- she rolled it around the yard, picking up the entire thickness of the snow.  it was crazy, and turned out to be a HUGE ball.  then, she made some more, and she built two giant snowmen.



here's a quick video of the giant snowball-in-the-making.  so cool!

some things (very long!)

first of all... HI.  hi!!  i'm still alive.  i dropped off the face of the blog-world unexpectedly and without explanation and i'm sorry!  i have been meaning to sit down and catch everyone up for several weeks now, and it's just been too darn busy.

things are good here.  very good.  but there are so many things i need to say, i think a list is the only way to go:

*adella and griffin are doing great.  actually, i should say, we are all doing great.

*adella's two loose teeth are just barely hanging on and will fall out any day now.  the tooth fairy pillow is ready and waiting.
*she still loves school.  she is doing amazing there, and i am so proud and happy for her.  i had a conference with her teacher a few weeks ago, and adella is above and beyond all the kindergarten expectations -- writing, math, and reading are all at the 1st grade level already!  she is getting along beautifully with her teachers and classmates.  but last week her "very best friend, tressa" moved and had to change schools.  adella took it really well, but still gets a little sad.  it's hard to lose a new best friend so fast!  but luckily, she is very resilient and has been very happy to play with all her other friends.  and today when i dropped her off, another little girl saw her and ran over to give her a big hug.  so i'm not worried.
*she's been bringing home lots of amazing artwork -- i plan to take photos soon and post them.  i'm thinking about opening a separate account for adella's artwork, instead of on my flickr stream.  i'll keep you posted.
*she's also bringing home a 'baggie book' each night, one that she picked out from the classroom, and she reads to us!  she is totally reading.  sounding out new words and already knows so many on her own.  it's really cool, and i can see that she is very proud of herself.

*griffin is a crazy little guy -- running and racing and flying his rocketship (finger) all the days long, talking non-stop, and generally being very cute.  
*on halloween evening, he fell on some wet marble steps and ended up with a big shiner and swollen eye.  he took it pretty well, though, and already his eye is back to normal.  poor guy -- he looked like rambo for a few days.
*he is OBSESSED with hot wheels and rocketships.  as i mentioned, he flies his finger (or stick, or fork, or penny, or rock, or stuffed rocket toy, or toy airplane) around all day, every day.
*he loves drawing, especially on himself or the kitchen table.
*he hears everything!  even when we're not talking to him, his little ears hear all, and he usually answers or responds with his own opinion.  and wow, can that boy talk.  all day long (and his day usually starts around 5 a.m.).

* stig has been working these past few weeks, which has been really good.  i'm not going to go into detail here, but i will say that we are VERY thankful that he has work right now, and we hope it lasts a while longer.
*most of you probably already know this, but in case you don't:  stig's band is playing at Merlefest 2010!!  they are really excited (and so are we -- me, mom, and the kids are going too) and have been working on some new stuff for spring.  merlefest is about as big as you can get with Americana music -- and Dehlia Low is so awesome, i know everyone at the festival will love them!

*my big news is that my little etsy shop has totally taken off!  i have this new product, and i planned to post about it here, but the first few were gifts and i didn't want to spoil the surprise so i waited.  and meanwhile i listed a few in the shop, and all of a sudden (and very quickly) -- they sold!  and then more sold, and more, and the sales have just kept coming.  i have been so extremely busy that i have hardly had time to do anything else besides craft and sew all day long.
so this is it:


and it's something that (obviously) i am very excited about.  a while ago i decided to start experimenting with screenprinting, and i had a few wedding gifts to make, so the printing and the design just fell into place.  basically i screenprint the tree (a design i drew a few years ago, that you might recognize from here) onto some fabric, then embroider the little heart, which can be customized with whatever names/initials someone wants.  then the fabric panel is sewn up into a pillow cover with some cute red coordinating fabric on the back.  sounds simple and easy enough, right?  well it is, but i was totally unprepared for the amount of sales i've made!  right now i've sold over 100 pillows, and currently have 89 on my 'to-do' list.  the list grows every day, and i'm stitching just as fast as i can.   i've just hired some wonderful helpers, though, and the pillow list is beginning to look a little more manageable.  still non-stop busy, mind you, but do-able at last.
*on top of the pillow business, i'm going to be at The Big Crafty again this december!  it's going to be a great show -- tons of amazing indie crafters and artists -- and fun fun fun!  i'm hoping to have some new items to unveil there, but we'll see how much i can get done in the next (gulp) three weeks.  for you locals, it's going to be december 6th at Pack Place downtown -- i promise it'll be awesome, so please come and say hi!
*i also made a sweet little felt embellished belt buckle that, along with lots of other buckles, will be raffled off to raise money for the Big Crafty, and possibly become part of a new craft book  (all about belt buckles, of course!) so be sure to check that out while you are there.

*there will be more pics of all of this (and more) soon, on flickr, but right now my camera is in the shop.  i really hope to have it back soon!!

*whew!  that seems like just the tip of the iceberg, but i think this post is long enough now.  are you still reading?  good for you!
there's just so much going on these days.  taking care of myself and my family always comes first, but every spare second - literally - has been spent working on my etsy shop stuff.  it's like a full-time job (on top of my other part-time job, and full-time life)!
but i hope this explains why i haven't been around as much.  i'm trying, i promise, but i have a LOT on my plate right now and i'm just trying to balance it all and keep myself sane and happy.