Today is a yellow day for Team Up Thursday. Love Amy's little cactus flower with it's little visitor:
This is my yellow quilt I have had my eye on. I am redecorating our bedroom, redecorating my office, redecorating my business (more on that later). So tired of all the browns and tans that came with my house. Ugh. I need bright, light, HAPPY! So for my room, I have wanted this King Sized yellow quilt. Then, this week I got a flyer from Kohls that showed the quilt being marked down from $129 to $39. That same day I got a Kohls giftcard for $10 in the mail. I think the fates were speaking to me. 5 minutes later, I loaded up the kids and we were on our way to get my brand new quilt. Happy Happy Happy.
Speaking of redecorating, I am making huge changes to my business. Soon, this blog will be no more and you can find me hanging out at Stephanie Smith Outloud. The blog site is not totally done and I'm not completely ready to launch, but I just couldn't wait any longer. Hope you stop by and visit, add me to your Twitter feed and "like" me on Facebook.
I think it's fun that Amy and I both picked colorful and unique items to shoot this week. We never discuss what we are shooting...we just do and then surprise each other. Amy's is on top.
When she left for school yesterday, she was five years old. When I picked her up, she was almost eleven. For some reason, I have frozen my children at certain ages in my mind. She was always a 5 year old. My son, who is 9, will forever be three. My baby, who will be 5 in July, is always a toddler. My brain knows and understands their real ages, but my heart has not caught up to my brain yet.
Yesterday, as I watched her run towards me, with her back-pack slung casually over her shoulder, my heart stopped for a nano second and my breath caught in my throat. I was, for a few seconds, overwhelemed and stunned that she had become a young woman in a matter of hours. My heart and my eyes finally acknowledged what my brain knew all along...she is gowing up.
I stared at her and hugged her and told her she was beautiful, right there in the middle of the school parking lot with tears in my eyes. Right there in the middle of all her friends. She hugged me right back and didn't let go until I did.
As I drove them to our favorite ice cream shop, I could not stop staring at her through the rear view mirror. I still could not process when and how this had happened. My heart was running a marathon, still trying to catch up with what my eyes were seeing. As we ate our ice cream, I snapped this picture with my phone so I would not forget the day I suddenly realized she was growing:
I still cannot stop looking at it. This morning, I thought I had accepted the fact that she is no longer 5. Then she bounded down the stairs, full of life and ready for her day, and stopped right in front of me. Being just a few inches shy of being the same height as me, she pats the tops of my head and says "Good Morning my pretty little mama"....I do not think my heart will ever catch up.
Summer is such a busy time if you have kids home from school, isn't it? The school year is busy too, but summer is just a different kind of busy that revolves around keeping the kids entertained and wearing them out. I struggle with trying to balance fun, activity, rest time while still trying to get them to do a few academic things at home...well, only one month of summer left and we have done 'school work' exactly one time! Sigh.
Since Amy and I (and many of you out there) spend so much time at the library and book stores during summer, we decided 'books' might be a great theme:
Amy:
I chose "books" because our life seems to revolve a bit around books lately. We spend lots of time at the library and Barns & Noble. My 7 year old is obsessed with books...reading them, collecting them, starting them all and taking forever to finish them! And my 4 year old loves books too, but in different ways. He loves Star Wars and Batman books, books about animals, and anything funny! He more likes to look at the books and talk about them! Either way, I'm so happy my kids have a love for books. I didn't enjoy reading until I was an adult. So to have them enjoy it now makes my mommy heart swell. :)
Me:
My kids love to load up our 'book bag' at the library and then come home and spread out on the floor with blankets, pillows, and all of their books. I love their expressions when they open up their treasures
We have been having a pretty difficult month around here at the Smith house. Nothing major, but just many things out of our control. I have been feeling pretty down. I suppose my sweet sister, Jessica, in law thought she should do something about that. I'm so humbled and happy that she did.
This afternoon I opened the front door and saw a big long box on my front porch with my name on it! SQUEAL! Know what's better than a present? A present 'just because'. Jessica has been very giving and thoughtful since I met her when she was just a young girl. She gave me an adorable Winnie the Pooh watch a few weeks after we met. Now she is a wife and mom of my 2 adorable nephews and is still just as thoughtful. She remembers birthdays, anniversaries, and send presents 'just because'....I am terrible at remembering birthdays.
Notice 2 new additions to my family???
Jessica sent me a mini rainbow umbrella I can carry in my purse or camera bag. I can use it for my tiny clients :)...the she sent me her big sister...the mother of all rainbow umbrellas with 3 times as many colors as the original umbrella....oh, the possibilities!!!!!
Jessica, thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!! You made my month! I can't wait to use them in my sessions and just use them on a gloomy day...hope it rains soon!
Before I moved to Texas I would always hear that old saying "Everything's bigger in Texas" and I would think "Yeah right! Whatever braggers". Then we moved here. Know what? It's true!!!!! The houses are bigger, the thunderstorms are bigger, the veggies are bigger, and the BUGS! The bugs are HUGE! It's a good thing I am not afraid of them.
Here is an example of one we found on our deck the other night. Call it what you want : katydid, cicada, leaf bug, leaf eater. I don't care. I just call it big and loud!
I found a fun, cheap, and easy project in Family Fun magazine about making Lava Lamps with things you already have in your house.
You will need 3 empty water bottles ( I don't normally buy this kind of water, but they make pretty lava lamps with the lids on), food coloring, vegetable oil, and alka seltzer.
Fill each bottle a little more than half with oil:
Then fill the rest of the way with water. Leave about an inch at the top:
Now add 10 drops of food coloring:
Break your Alka Seltzer into 4 pieces:
and drop them in one piece at a time. Wait until the first piece stops bubbling before you drop in the next. If too many go in, you solution gets all cloudy. Don't worry, he's not hurt. The band-aid is merely decorative...as is the tattoo. Match those up with the black socks pulled to the knees he likes to wear, and I have got quite a little ladies man!
and watch the magic happen...
over...and over...and over again.
We had so much fun with these. If you have any other summer fun ideas, please post a link. I would love more ideas!
I was so excited when I finally got these books in the mail. I created 2 books for our family at www.blog2print.com. One of the books makes my heart sing and the other book breaks my heart all over again.
This first book I made is from my blog. I took the blog posts about my family and personal life and had them bound and printed. It was pretty easy. It's not fancy and does not have any special fonts or embellishments, but I just wanted to print out the record of our lives.
It has a table of contents:
And although the pictures turned out kind of small and I could not arrange them the way I wanted, I am still happy with having a printed record of our fun memories instead of having them living in my hard-drive for eternity. I'm pretty easy to please.
Then there is a book that breaks my heart. The book of Caleb's journey with cancer. A few months after he was diagnosed I started a Caringbridge page for him. It was a journal of his story and the daily updates in his progress. This accomplished 2 purposes: it kept family and friends updated since we didn't have time to answer the hundreds of wonderful phone calls and emails from our amazing loved ones and it helped me keep track of the meds, blood transfusions, procedures, and side effects so I knew what to expect the next time those things came around...for some reason, I did not even realize that it would be something I could print out and give him later.
I have not read this journal in a very long time...5 years to be exact. This year is Caleb's 5 YEAR anniversary of maintaining remission. After 5 Years of being in remission, he is now CANCER FREE! I don't even have sufficient words to describe how it feels....I have been sitting here staring at the blinking line on my monitor trying to find the right words, but I just can't. I am estatic, but also emotional about it. It is a very fragile gift and I am afraid to celebrate too loudly or too boldly...I don't expect anyone to understand that when I don't even understand it myself.
So, with this being his 5 year anniversary,and now that he is a happy and healthy 8 year old boy, I decided to have it printed. I have not been able to look at it for the last 5 years. I have not been able to even talk to some of the people that played such a huge part in our lives during that time...it hurt too much...but I am working on re-establishing those connections.
In a few years, he is going to enter those turbulent, testosterone filled years of his life. When he starts to doubt himself, I want him to have concrete proof of how truly strong and amazing he is:
I have been able to go through and read parts of it again, but it is heart wrenching to remember the pain this little boy went through....more pain that most adults have felt in their entire lives...it still hurts my heart today the exact same way it hurt five years ago. I'm so glad he hardly remembers it. Whenever I have minor aches, pains, flu, I just remember what he went through and I can't complain.
Caringbride was unable to save all the photos from that time period, but there is a collage of before, during, and after:
If you want to read his whole story, you can go here.
This is always so hard for me to write about. I am extra sensitive about it and even a little defensive. I have had people tell me that it shouldn't make me sad anymore and that I should just be thankful we have him here with us, that I should focus on the positive...OF COURSE we do these things, OF COURSE we are thankful he is with us....I am OVER THE MOON with joy everytime I see him do normal, everyday, boy things...even just hanging out with his friends or throwing the football around in the yard. I am so happy and positive about it, but when you watch your child go through pain like this, the feeling never goes away....so please be sensitive when you tell parents like us how happy we should be.
This song is for you my brave little cowboy. I am so proud to call you mine:
I LOVED so many things about Puerto Rico and I can't wait to go back. We stayed in Condado/San Juan. I love that you don't need a passport to get there, but you feel like you are in another world. I love that the women, no matter their age or size, were proud of their feminine bodies and showed it in their clothing. I struggle with this since it took me about a week to decide to wear a bikini, about 30 minutes to get out the hotel door with one on, and about 8 days to finally share the photos...I hope I was able to adopt the Puert Rican woman attitude while I was there. Here are more things I loved about it:
The beautiful beaches and clean, clear water:
Eating breakfast in front of an open window...ocean front
The people. Laid back, friendly, welcoming, hospitable, and happy to help you learn about their island. I love how everyone takes their time...that's my kind of living.
The food...oh, I have no words...hoping I can find good Puerto Rican food here.
The rum
The rainforest
The missions:
We did a lot, but still did not do the many things there that we wanted to do...although we did spend an awesome 9 hour day laying on the beach and boogie boarding. We can't wait to take the kids.
My favorite part of PR was getting to spend some much needed alone time with my man.
In honor of spring, Amy and I decided to use the theme "fresh"...so many idea came to mind. I have to laugh at how similar Amy and I are every week...must be why I love her so much;) We always keep what we are doing a secret and then do the big reveal on Wednesday night. This week, we have different pictures, but both had the same ideas
Amy's is the top picture of chicks. Aren't they cute? What makes this funny to me is that I had my mind set to do chicks all week long, but never got around to it.
Mine is the bottom one. I went out right after the rain and took pictures of the wildflowers in my garden. This is funny because the second picture Amy sent was of pink flowers just after the rain.
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