Little Girls at the Museum

Back on December 16th of LAST year, we went to the Children's Museum with our dear friends Laura, Lee, Layla (3.5) and Levi (.5).

I'm JUST NOW getting around to blogging about it.  I've been....busy.  You know, doing stuff like going to museums and junk.

We went last year before Christmas too and mostly because PBS sucked Jayna into wanting to go on the Yule Slide.  And I'm telling you...that slide is as much fun for grown ups as it is wee ones.  We thought we'd load up again and go ride the slide again.  And it was awesome.

Last year was a little frustrating.  The girls were only 2 and while they were interested in some of the things (read:  BARBIES), they couldn't DO many of the things.  They were just a tad too small yet.  This year was SO much better.  If they were a little taller and could drive, they wouldn't have even needed us there.

There is a very cool new exhibit there also.  It's a National Geographic exhibit called "Treasures of the World" or something.  There is more interactivity in the one exhibit than there is in the whole rest of the museum.  I mean kids like to LOOK at things, sure.  But what they really want to do is DO things.  They want to touch things and throw things and play with things and wear things.  Especially the ones who can't read yet.  That exhibit is a good teaching tool even if the child is at the non-reading age.  The Barbie exhibit has things to do, but those are pretty much all things that little girls do at home.  And we all know that it's no fun doing things at places like a Children's Museum that you ALREADY do at home almost everyday.  How educational and/or fun is dressing a Barbie with rubber bands and pieces of fabric?  Notsomuch.  Just ask Layla and Jayna. 

As always, the girls had a delightful time together and played well.  No fighting.  No arguing.  No clinging to mommies.  I think they're used to each other now and they get along so well.  I hope Jayna has made a life long friend there. :)

And here's the proof that I'm not lying:

They're getting ready for a snowball fight in the Jolly Winter Days exhibit.  It was super intimidating for both of them.  Too many older kids acting like jackasses.

Lee and little Levi saying hello to Santa.

YULE SLIDE!!!!!!

GERONIMO!!!!

Fossil digging in the DynoSphere.  This picture reminds me of Bubba and Forrest.  "I'll lean against you and you lean right back against me.  That way we don't have to sleep with our heads in the mud."

More digging.  They spent about 30 minutes in there.

Dinosaur costumes!  They were so cute as little dinos.

This is part of the NatGeo exhibit.  You put all the pieces of a mummy's tomb together and then it lights up and makes big scary noises and shit.  Pretty cool.

Part of NatGeo.  Me being a scuba diver. :)

Tiny scuba divers!!  I can't take it! :)

Under the glass exhibit.  They laid there for all of 30 seconds.  Probably because much longer and they'd both have been asleep.

Hand holding in the Barbie exhibit.  Darling. :)

Playing Barbie stuff.

OWNING that Barbie runway.

Lee looks giant on that slide.  This picture is hilarious to me because of that.

Jayna wants that slide in our house.  We live in a ranch style house.  Go figure.

Playing with the huge snow globe.  Silly girls. :)



If you have kids, TAKE THEM TO THE NATGEO EXHIBIT!!  It is so much fun and education in one!  And if you do end up going, call us.  We'll meet ya there. :)

Every Picture Tells a Story

I like to take pictures.  And then never upload them to the blog.  It sort of fits with my lazy procrastinator sitch.  That would explain why I'm about 6 months behind on my Six Pix posts.  Umhmm.

So...anyhoozy.  Here are some phone pics. 

Only in America, people!! A product called Forever Lazy. It even has a zippered flap on the butt and a two-way zipper on the front so you can do ALL of your business without taking it off. Matching slipper socks included.

  So I was in Best Buy yesterday and THIS was on the shelf next to some curling irons that will apparently make you look like Bella or that other nameless, faceless chick from Twilight. Really, people?? We're now marketing flat irons to dudes with the word "Sparkle" on the box? I also love how it's a "detailer" and not a flat iron. The person who came up with this marketing strategy needs to be fired. Immediately.

We get to watch all of Jayna's dance classes through a big window.  There are pros and cons to this.  The pro is that it is the funniest thing EVER to watch little girls do dancing.  The con?  Well, I get to see all the weird things Jayna does in a crowd of little girls.  These things include but are not limited to picking nose, pulling skirt up to under armpits, pulling skirt all the way off, wearing skirt like toga, picking 87,421.5 wedgies out, playing with hair barrette.  And the best thing is that ALL THE OTHER PARENTS CAN SEE HER TOO.  (I'll leave out all the disgusting/hilarious/weird things that all the other little girls do that I can see also.)  On this particular day, she had yanked her skirt up to her armpits and the dad sitting next to me completely lost it.  I thought he was going to fall out of his chair.  So I stood up, did the 2 fingers to my eyes to her (the "I'm watching you" sign) and then motioned THRU the glass this EXACT sentence, "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, LEAVE THE DAMN SKIRT ALOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!"  It obviously embarrassed her.  So she gave me the sassy/sad combo to make me feel bad.  It didn't work...mostly because that made the dad next to me laugh even harder.

This was the first day of jazz class.  She pays more attention in this class than she did in ALL her other classes combined.  Here she is learning to gallop to the side.  Whatever that's called in jazz, I haven't the slightest idea.

She found these goggles in my brother's basement the day we went to my nephew's birthday party.  Jayna is very good about sharing.  NOT THESE GOGGLES.  I don't know why, but she attached herself to the goggles and wouldn't let anyone else have them.  Her Aunt Summer even let her take them home.  She still wears them from time to time when she "fixes her toys."

This is our Christmas tree.  We had to buy a new one this year because most of the lights on our old one shorted out this year.  I was nervous that the tree would catch on fire and then all Jayna would ever remember about Christmas would be "that year our Christmas tree and all the decorations and presents went up in flames."  I can't take that chance, so new tree it was. 

Jayna and I made these reindeer pops.  I saw the picture on Pinterest and this was my thought process:  "All we'd have to do is melt some chocolate and dip the marshmallow on a stick in there and then poke the pretzel antlers in and put on the nose and eyes and VOILA!!  Reindeer.  Quick for Jayna's attention span and easy for my sanity."  Um...no.  Do you know what happens if you dunk a room temperature marshmallow in piping hot chocolate sauce??  THE MARSHMALLOW MELTS.  And do you know what happens if you try to poke pretzels into a marshmallow?  IT JUST FALLS RIGHT OUT OF THERE.  And then if you try and put the eyes and the nose on there too quickly before the chocolate is hardened a bit?  THEY SLIDE RIGHT OFF.  He's so special though. :)

For those of you who know me, it takes more than a little marshmallow melting/antler falling off/eyes and nose sliding off to discourage me and to make me scrap a craft project.  So I perservered and made some changes to my methods and got them looking like this one by the third one.  I think they're adorable.  And tasty as all get out!! (I'm channeling my mom there.)

Here she is practicing one of the many ballet type moves that I don't know the name of.  You'd think after umpteen years of French in high school and then 4 years of Latin in college that I'd be able to pronounce and remember a few foreign words.  Well...you thought wrong.  The truth is that the moment Jayna told me she hated ballet, I quit listening to what the moves were called.  I had NO IDEA they'd come back to haunt me in jazz class.  That'll learn me.

She just tries so hard to pay attention and do what the teacher is doing.  But do you see those 3 kids back there in the corner?  They're crazy and distracting and Jayna always somehow gets stuck in between them or around them or something.  If my kid were acting like a lunatic and never listened to a teached, I'd yank her outta there so fast and give her a good talking to.  But no.  That takes effort on the part of these teenybopper parents.

We went to BDubs with my dad last weekend and Jayna decided to play marker cap fingers.  Then she randomly looked at me and said, "Mommy, take my picture.  It will be funny because of my marker fingers."  And so I did.  And it was good. :)

What have y'all been up to?  I love how each of these photos brought a story.  It makes me smile to share my ridiculously mundane life with you people.  I'll try and give you photos with weird stories more often.  Shouldn't be too hard...I love a weird story. :)

Five For Friday: Random Holiday Things

Hi everybody!!! 

I'm...a lazy procrastinator.

Everytime I say "Hi everybody!", I feel like I just HAVE to follow up with "I'm Dr. Nick."

Hey...I live my life for song lyrics and movie/television quotes.  I don't judge you, so watch it.

Anyhoo, today I went with "lazy procrastinator."  For obvious reasons.  I can't seem to get it together and take pictures and blog and upload to Facebook and such.  Just.  Can't.  Do it.

The one good thing that has come from my absence from the blog world and from photo-taking is that I am dead center of LIVING my life.  I'm here in the present.  I'm doing things with Jayna and with Chris and with my family and loving every minute of it.  It's so great to not feel obligated to stop and get a picture.  It's...liberating.  I think I said that in my last post, but it was so long ago that I can't really remember.

What I DO remember between my last blog post and this one is:

• I still have a love/hate relationship with Christmas music.  There are a few songs that I will always love, but far more that I will ALWAYS cringe upon hearing.  One of those is "I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus" by The Jackson Five.  I am a firm believer that that is one of the songs on the soundtrack in hell.
• We are going strong with our Elf on the Shelf, Finnegan, and Jayna is having a great time with it.  I'll write an entire post about it soon.  She is sort of skeptical about how he moves around and does things.  She said this morning, "Mommy, Finnegan is a toy...how does he move around?"  She's onto me!!!  Deny, deny, deny!!!
• I have stood up to my handmade/small business/homemade Christmas list very well.  Of course, some people you just can't give all handmade things to.  Like a 9-year-old boy.  He needs books and sports things and funny t-shirts.  And like a 3-year-old girl.  She needs princess things and Adele CDs and dresses (that don't cost me an arm and a leg).  I am making many things (baking, crocheting, crafting, etc.) and I've purchased many things from Etsy that are handmade and VERY AWESOME.  I'll have to share said gifts after the holidays.  I've also tried to be very thoughtful in my gifts instead of just buying things to be buying them.  The thing about making things?  I actually have to DO it and stop procrastinating.  It's only 16 days/2 weekends until Christmas.  YES...I DID just do that.
• We've begun tumbling and jazz dancing.  Jayna loves both and she is doing better in these than she did in the previous ballet and tap classes.  I think she's finally just caught on to what a dance routine and rhythm really are.  And tumbling?  She'll do flips and walk on a balance beam anyday!
• Next Friday we're going to The Children's Museum for our annual (okay, it's only the second year, but whatever) Yule Slide/Winter Wonderland visit.  Our friends Laura, Lee, Layla and the new addition, Levi are going with us also.  The girls will have fun again and the adults will like the slide better than the kids...again. :)

I will be posting some photos soon (you know, the few I take with my phone).

Are YOU done with your Christmas list?

Five for Friday: Holiday Thoughts

Man.  Where the hell have I been?!?  What the hell have I been doing?!?  Well, life.  I've been doing life.  And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I struggle between making sure things are down right PERFECT so they look good in the photos and actually being PRESENT in my life.  I've found that when I'm pushing for things to look a certain way so that I can remember them, I miss things that should absolutely NOT be missed.  And seriously?  The photos are hardly EVER representative of what actually happens.  I'd rather remember things for what they are then for what I WANTED them to be.  I want to be present.  To not miss out on things.  I want to remember because I was there...not because of some photo that was staged.

That, my friends, is one of the main reasons for my absence from blogging.  I try to keep up with the blog.  I try to keep people reading.  But I also need to be there in my life doing things like playing Barbies with my kid...because she NEEDS someone to brush their hair properly, people.  If I'm blogging or trying to stage photos, HOW WILL THOSE BARBIES LOOK FANCY?!?  Yeah, you tell me.

The truth is that Jayna and I have been having so much fun.  We've been playing and crafting and making flarp and cooking together.  Dudes...I am REALLY going to miss 3 years old.  I mean really miss it.  I find myself so concerned with keeping the house cleaned and making the kid eat at the dining room table instead of in the living room and doing the laundry and blogging and taking pictures and...and...and making the kid wear clothes in the house and be nice to her imaginary friend and NOT yell at that dog that I often forget to just...............STOP.  (Collaborate and listen.  I know most of you were thinking that anyway.)  STOP and play.  And listen.  And teach.  And smile.  For the love of all things...just SMILE!!!

Jayna brings me so many smiles that I can't even count 'em.  She makes me laugh.  She makes me cry tears of bittersweetness because she won't be like this forever.  She makes me remember what it's like to be a kid.  And I won't be distracted at this time.

Of course I'm still going to take photos.  That's never going to end.  Should it matter that most of them are iPhone photos?  No...it shouldn't. 

I'll still blog.  I have too many random things to say to not write stuff down. 

I'm just 100% COMPLETELY FINISHED with feeling guilty about how I do or do not do these things.  The end.

Well, the end of that anyway.

The holidays have brought the above epiphany.  I will be DOING this holiday season instead of RECORDING.  I'm sure things will be recorded, but not in the capacity of past years. 

I now present to you:  Five for Friday:  Holiday Thoughts:

1. I am sick and tired of putting my heart and soul into making gifts and/or putting tons of thought into buying gifts for people and them not being AT ALL appreciative.  I'm not saying that I expect people to cry, send me a Thank You card, faint...I'm just saying this:  THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE WHEN I GIVE YOU A GIFT SAYS MORE THAN YOUR WORDS EVER WILL.  That being said, I refuse to let just a FEW people that I give gifts to ruin my holidays by making me think I just have to hand them cash.  Not. Going to. Happen.  I have a 3-year-old to teach.  I want her to learn that gift-giving doesn't have to be about money.  Gifts can cost a million dollars or nothing at all...it's thoughfulness that is important.  If you DO happen to get a monetary gift, you should think of this as an insult.  And it will only be five bucks.
2. I will not stress over whether or not people have a good time at my house.  This one is going to sound a little harsh.  If I invite you over for a holiday and you actually come, then there is NO complaining about the food, the activities or the lack of things like watching TV.  If you don't like my mashed potatoes because they're made of red potatoes and are chunky, then DON'T EAT THEM.  I happen to LOVE them that way.
3. I am trying my best to be thoughtful with gifts this year.  Not just thoughtful to the person receiving the gifts, but thoughtful about where I buy them.  I am making many of this year's gifts.  Jayna will be helping me.  She LOVES to help me do things.  It makes my heart sing. :)  I am also buying many handmade things from Etsy and from local businesses.  I will not buy ONE SINGLE GIFT at Walmart this year.  Let it be heard.
4. I will be introducing our Elf on the Shelf, Jimmy, right after Thanksgiving.  I am so excited to put thought into what I want this elf to do.  I have some very good ideas that I think Jayna will LOVE.
5. I plan on DOING more things this year with family.  We did so many awesome things around the holidays when I was a kid.  We went to the Circle of Lights show downtown.  We went to plays.  We went shopping together and made cookies together and made ornaments.  We strung popcorn and played in the snow.  I have so many good memories of the holidays and I'm eager to start our own traditions as a family that includes a little girl.

What is YOUR holiday mission statement this year?  I'd love to hear from all of you.

February 2011 Six Pix

February was the debut of my iPhone.  There are pros and cons to that situation in the area of photos.

I take atleast 50 photos a month with my phone.  I run most of them through Instagram and post them to Facebook...all from my iPhone.  It's so much easier than uploading just one or two pictures from my actual camera just to put them on Facebook.

In the month of February, I took a total of 42 pictures.  That's NOTHING compared to most months.  But half of those were iPhone photos. 

Anyhooters, my point is that atleast I have the ability to take on-the-fly photos with my phone.  That means that I TAKE more pictures.  But that means that a lot of them aren't very good quality and rarely make it anywhere except to Facebook.

Here are February's Six:

Camera photo.  This was Chris' first time playing in 10 years in a band for an audience.  While the band has since parted ways, he gained so much musical knowledge and confidence in his playing over that time period.  Big things are coming for him.

 

Camera photo.  KT went with me to Chris' show to support him.  Even though it was in a high school gym.  In Martinsville.  On a Friday night.  She's a good friend.

iPhone photo.  Jayna and I made the Valentine's for her preschool friends this year.  These were for the boys.  On the back, they said, "Best fishes on Valentine's Day."

 

iPhone photo.  When I asked Jayna what she wanted to get for her friends for Valentine's Day, she said hair barrettes.  So I crocheted some flowers and glued them to barrettes.  The little girls still wear them.  The owl was the Valentine card for the girls...also made my Jayna ME.

iPhone photo. It's NEVER too cold to swing.  NEVER.  I love the perspective of this photo. It's whimsical to me. :)

 

iPhone photo.  This was the first thing that Jayna built all by herself with her blocks.  It's a robot.

As you can see, more photos from my phone than from my camera.

What did YOU do in February?

November Six Pix

More catching up. 

Compared to October, November was a boring month.  We did have one fun outing with some friends and a few get togethers with family.  Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned and 90% of the pictures from Thanksgiving Day are...gone.  I have no idea what happened.  I had some good ones of Jayna and her Aunt Aimee and Uncle Steve and some others of Jayna and her Pawpaw and Cousin Anthony.  The pictures are just gone.  Without a trace.  Into thin air.  You get the idea.

So, since some of the most important pictures from the month are, as mentioned above, gone, this is what I've got:

This is Jayna's self-proclaimed "party hat."  She wanted a new hat for winter and when asked what sort of hat she wanted, she said, "A party hat, mommy."  How was I supposed to NOT make her one??  Look how happy she is. :)

And there's the ketchup!!  This was taken at Kilroy's.  That's Jake and Michelle, Chris and me.  I think I have a picture of every single one of my friends wearing those ridiculous glasses.  Note the Crystal Blue down at the bottom.

While the rest of us decorated for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving, Chris caught a nap with Deuce.  Looks pretty relaxing.  Nothing like helping a 2-year-old hang ornaments on a tree.

**Heavy sigh.**  I will miss 2-year-old Jayna. My heart aches when I see this picture.

On Thanksgiving, it is customary to read "The Night Before Christmas" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" at my parent's house.  Pawpaw loves to read those stories to the kiddos. (This is the one picture I have of Thanksgiving.  I also remember it being the last picture I took that day.  Weird.)

Girls.  At Kilroy's.  Drinking Crystal Blues.  KT, MZQ, me, Laura.  Love these girls. :)

What did YOU do in November?

Tidbit Tuesday: Neither Here Nor There

Lots of random going on in my world these days.  And if you're still reading, here are some highlights:

1. My finger is healed.  It didn't require medical attention and seems to be functioning properly at this time.  And I'll beware of electric mixers in the future.  There are still some things that bother it...like opening the car door, gripping things tightly or pushing buttons on the microwave, but all in all I'm really lucky that it wasn't severely injured.  I haven't tried to crochet yet.  We'll see how that goes in the next few days.
2. My mom got an iPhone for Christmas and now I want a smart phone.  Really bad.
3. I had a dream on Monday night that scared the shit out of me.  The long and short of it was that I was sat down with 2 other people at gun point and was told by a man with a laptop computer equipped with a webcam that one of the 3 of us would be killed and that he'd take 12 minutes to do it and he'd be streaming live to his website.  He was a serial killer and had killed 11 other people in the coinciding amount of minutes (one minute to kill the first person, 2 minutes to kill the second person, etc.) and now he was on the number 12.  I was excited that maybe I'd live because he was only choosing one of us.  But then he said, "The other 2 of you will be killed almost painlessly."  And all I could think the whole time in the dream was, "How the hell did I get here??"  Freaky.  I was crying when I woke up.
4. Last night Jayna and Chris were playing with a punching balloon in the living room.  Jayna started to get out of control, so I told her to "turn on her listening ears" and settle down...and DON'T spill daddy's drink on the table.  A few minutes later Chris was playing with the balloon and spilled his almost full drink all over the table, carpet and entertainment center.  And Jayna said to him, "Dad, you have to listen with your ears and be careful."  Ha.
5. Christmas was weird this year.  Completely strange.  Jayna got lots of stuff and enjoyed everything about Christmas, but I'm standing by my original statement of it being a strange year.
6. Jayna was moved in with the 4-year-olds at her preschool.  Yay!
7. I want a new house.

Make It Mine Monday: Christmas Edition

This isn't so much a Make It Mine in the sense of buying things, but things that I am going to crochet.  I love crocheting and have been commissioned to make a few Christmas gifts.  I'm currently working on one and the other one had me stumped for awhile...but I think I have it now.  If I could make crocheting a money making hobby, that would be GREAT!  Soooo much quicker than scrapbooking for money. :)

Here we go:

Fingerless Mitts/Wrist Warmers

I HATE gloves with a capital H.  I can't stand my fingers covered, but my hands still get cold.  Something like this was the first thing that I *tried* to make after I made Jayna's scarf.  I scratched the idea after my gauge was off.  I'm now ready to try again...but mine won't be as bulky because I don't want to look as if I have casts on my hands.

The Black Hole Cowl

This is one of my commissioned works.  And I'm making one for myself also.  The yarn is so comfy and cozy that I'm sure I'll be wearing it often.

The Infinity Scarf a.k.a. My Crochet Nemesis

This circular scarf (it has no end and no beginning) is kicking my ass.  There are some techniques that are probably a little advanced for me since I have limited crochet experience, but I think I've figured it out through a series of Youtube videos and picture tutorials.  I better get on it too because this is also something I've been paid to make.  I'll get you, Infinity Scarf.  I'll get you my pretty.

Loop D Loop Scarf

This one is a little crazy, but I have a friend who'd LOVE it and wear it well.  Hopefully she doesn't read this.  The entire scarf is made with JUST the chain stitch.  Interesting.

Half Hour Neck Warmer

I've made 2 of these already and I plan on making a few more.  I'm making them for Jayna's preschool teachers and then I'm making one for KT who is training me for the Mini.  It's part of her payment. :)

The most awesome thing about ALL these projects is that they only take me a couple of hours...except that damn Infinity Scarf.  That one will probably be 4 hours.  Crocheting is a pretty gratifying hobby as far as someone who doesn't have alot of time.  Learn 3 stitches, buy 2 skeins of yard and a speed hook and you'll have yourself a scarf in 2 hours!!

Note:  All of the patterns for these items can be found on Ravelry.  I cannot link them because Ravelry is a member website.  It's free to join if you're a crocheter or knitter and the resources are awesome!!

Make It Jayna's Monday: Christmas Edition

I began a few weeks ago with explaining the ins and outs of Christmas to Jayna.  She remembers that we had a tree last year and she remembers that she got new stuff.  Other than that, nada.

So we've been talking about Santa Claus and how he "makes a list and checks it twice."  How she has to be a good girl and Santa will bring her presents.  How we'll see our families and eat good food and talk to one another.  How we'll see lots of Christmas decorations and lights and how we'll decorate our house and make cookies and gingerbread houses and have parties, etc.

And...she's totally down.

She is soooo excited that she can hardly contain herself.

Right after Halloween, we received not one but TWO toy catalogs in the mail:  Toys R Us and Target.  And after I explained what those were all about, she was on board and promptly picked out 37 items that she wanted for Christmas.  She then looked at me and said, "Okay, mommy.  Let's go to the store and get my presents." 

She apparently has no concept of the future.

Here are the things on the top of Jayna's Christmas list, in no particular order.

Alphie The Learning Robot. 

This is always the first thing she says when I ask her.  She really loves robots.

VTech Kidizoom Camera. 

There are actually some out there that are real digital cameras that are cheap!  And this way she won't play with mine.

Fisher Price Loving Family Doll House.

She's definitely a girl.

Furreal Friends - Biscuit.

She has 2 REAL dogs at home that she sometimes is afraid of, but she wants a fake dog that acts like a real dog.  How's THAT for irony?? (And at $170.00, she DEFINITELY will NOT be getting this.)

Strawberry Shortcake Fresh Fashion Boutique...or ANYTHING Strawberry Shortcake.

Nothing compares to her reaction when she smells the Strawberry Shortcake figurines she has.  She's just as surprised EVERYTIME as she was the first. 

A train set that can be configured to her liking.

She isn't really partial to Thomas the Train, so I'll definitely be cheaping out on this one.  She just really likes to put together and take apart the track and make the trains go down the hills.  I'm not sure she even knows who Thomas is.

This is a tall order!!  I'm sure she won't be getting it all (unless I win the Lotto), but she'll definitely get Alphie.  She's been asking for that for WEEKS.  And, of course, I'll have to get her some girly toys.  :)

What do y'all want for Christmas??