I Love You Because...

Spring Break 2013

Last week went by too fast and in an effort to remember in my old age how wonderful my life was *at this moment* I'm going to do the uber fast- one-liner-recap of the week....

Monday- 
The kids BEGGED for a Happy Potter Read-A-Thon Day... we stayed in our jammies and read for hours and hours finishing book #2 just in time for dinner. 

Tuesday-

Today was all about spending time with the BFFs... Lunch w/ Cottrell's then Doug and I joined Phil and Alicia at a Pink Floyd tribute concert.

Wednesday-
 

The kids enjoyed some adopted Big Sister Time all morning, Owen went on a date with who he calls 'my miss rebbie', and then Doug and I took the kids to see Mary Poppins at the Fox Theatre! 

Oh, I have to say more about the play because it was sooo flipping good! The songs were 'practically perfect' and the set?! HOLY COW, I loved the amazing 'pop-up' backdrop and colorful sets.  The kids were more then adorable and I found myself looking over at them AMAZED that they are mine. They were cracking me up during supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, just trying to sing along but not being able to even pronounce it. (don't worry, they've been practicing it ever since and have it just about down pat) I am soo blessed to be thier mommy and for reals, Husbandface and I make freaking cute kids! At the end of the show as Mary Poppins is saying goodbye she kisses Burt on the cheek and Owen (in a loud five year old 'whisper') says, "Eww! That's so gross! Now they're going to get sick! Only married people can kiss without getting sick. That's discusting." The entire time Doug and I are trying to hush him but we were laughing so hard he didn't really think he had to listen to us. It was adorable and a moment I want to remember FOREVER. I bought a Mary Poppins  Umbrella as a souvenier and the kids have just been praying for rain so they could fight over, play with it.

Thursday-

After living in GA for 9 years I finally made it to the Tellus Museum. I got to spent it with another wonderful friend from high school, Jackie whom, lucky for me, moved to Georgia because she missed me so much. (okay okay, it was because of her hubby's job but let's face it, I'm the one that benefits.) We took all the kiddos to the museum and I'm pretty sure they loved every minute of it. Ethan practically had to be yanked out of there and feels like he 'missed too much' because I was rushing in through exibits (5 hours wasn't enough time spent obsessing on science). It was such a great day! 

Friday-

We played in the dirt... ALL DAY. Doug and I are working on A MAJOR YARD WORK RENO and Friday was the day we told the boys they could get as dirty as they wanted, dig where ever they wanted and build whatever they wanted.... Needless to say I think they were in heaven. They even helped me move dirt and rocks and earned a few bucks in the process. My back still hurts from all the work I did but the kids? THEY had fun! (I'll post picts of the backyard project soon.)

Saturday-
MORE yard work but the highlight for all of us was....

Doug's nephew's coming into town to visit!! In Doug's family though, nieces and nephew's aren't what you're thinking. They're our my age. Seriously, Casey and Brandon are the coolest cousins ever and my kids can NOT stop talking about how awesome they are. They pulled out all the stops, playing Star Wars, Having a Rock Bank competition, Teaching multiplication and Poi and generally showering my kids with tons of love and attention. IT WAS SOOOO FUN TO HAVE THEM AROUND and I totally wish they lived closer.

We all hated saying good bye but were glad they got to stay all weekend. 

How do define a perfect Spring Break? You head out to a favorite location? or reach out to your favotie people? For us every year seems to be different. This is our Spring Break 2013. Yeah, no beaches, no crazy parties, no trips but still perfect for our cute family. 

Hoping not ever to forget how perfect it was,
Joanna  

 

 

 

 

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At Christmas Husbandface and I came up with the great plan to go to The Ranch in Florida for The Rodeo. We drove in Thursday and Friday we spent the morning teaching Ethan (finally) and Owen to ride a two wheeler. Then it was rodeo time. My cute 8 & 11 year old nieces were not only in the drill team performing but also starring as Barrel Racers as my 4 & 5 year old nephews showed us how to mutton bust like pros. Even Owen and Ethan got in on the action catching greased baby pigs and earning money in the process. Bampa flew in for the occasion and it was such a fun, amazing weekend. Nothing like playing in the dirt and horse back riding to give you a perfect weekend getaway.

Since Ethan received The Harry Potter books for christmas and needs a little, ummmm.... coaxing and... let's call it modivation,  we decided to make the kids a deal. "Read Harry Potter Book 1- we'll take you to "Harry Potter Land". After all, we'd be there anyways, right? So of course my kids dutifully read everynight for months. Even Owen gets in on the action and the kids start taking turns reading to eachother. It was adorable.... Fast forward to reality and being in a new place and unfamiliar people around and the crounds and the not-so-according-to-regular-schedule of a rodeo and come Saturday no matter how hard my 10 year old Autistic sweetheart tried he just couldn't hold it together. There were lots of tears of no big deals, lots of disobeying and rule breaking and lots of meltdowns and frustrations. Doug and I have noticed that the first day we are somewhere new he coasts on the excitement, day 2 and 3 tend to be autism centered and rough and by day 4 we're back to smooth sailing and we have our happy son back. The problem with that is 4 day weekend trips, no matter how fun they are, it's always hardest on him and he's barely adjusted before it's over and we're headed home. We had planned on visiting Universal Studios on Sunday and come Saturday night, Ethan flat out said he didn't want to go if there was going to be too many people there (which in his mind is more then 10 people). So we broke the news to his siblings... as hard as they worked and as sad as they were, they realized that yep, let's do what we have to in order to make Ethan's life a little easier. Sunday morning we went to church, had lunch and played games... according to schedule. We still had a relaxing ,perfect weekend and my kids still had fun and played with cousins and made memories to last a lifetime. 

And I learned something... we are an Autistic Family... and we may plan and have fun things scheduled and they might not always work out according to plan... but that's okay! My kids have actually embraced it and set thier expectations and listened when I break up fights or remind them of eachothers differences and needs. We may not be able to take the kind of vacations that others do but, this is our life... unpredictacble, unorthodox and perfect for us.  

Sincerly and lost under a pile of weekend laundry catch-up,
Joanna 

 

PS- did you know baby pig poop stains clothes and the smell doesn't come out even after two washes? 

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Star Wars Legos

THE HISTORY aka- How I got sucked into this world...

When I got married I had no idea what a big part of Lego's were actually going to be in my life or in the lives of my kids. I didn't grow up playing with Legos, I doubt there was even one single Lego in our entire house. Then I got engaged and as many engaged couples do... we registered. I took the little scanner to barcode for things like towels and plates. Husbandface? He scanned legos... and got them as wedding gifts! 

Thus began our family's Lego journey. Shortly after we moved into our first apartment. The piece of furniture I was most excited about was my curio cabinet. I had gotten it as a graduation gift from my parents but hadn't lived anywhere long enough to even take it out of the box. My wonderful Husband built it the first day we moved in... I started lovingly unpacking my Grandmother's Teacups and within minutes he was just as tenderly setting up his Star Wars Lego Collection inside as well. It was definitely something that I had to learn to compromise about. I certainly never thought I'd be the Mom researching Lego storage, buying sets of TOYS worth hundred of dollars for my husband or fighting the kids for computer time because they're too busy watching Lego videos on YouTube to share but, it is our world and oddly, I'm pretty happy with it...seeing them have something that they all enjoy doing and creating TOGETHER is my idea of a perfect Friday night.

(photo; My Nephew Courtland. Pawtucket, RI, December 2002)

Fast forward to our oldest son developing the fine motor skills for Legos and a new obsession in Star Wars and well... I'm pretty sure the Lego's are going to out live me. Apparently the Lego Birthday Party from a few years ago was just the begining! Let's be honest here, one of the main reasons Ethan got 'the big room' when we moved in was because Doug saw in his head the ultimate Lego space. After12 years the passion for these little toys has slowly spread from Doug to Ethan and now it's infected the middle two kids and it's only a matter of time before it's an all out fever in Cam and I.  So I  promised Ethan I'd put 'on the computer' (i.e. Blog)  his Lego space... Here's how it stands now (I've finally come to realize that this space for them is ever changing and that's part of the process...)

THE BUILDING SPACE aka The Main Table....

I'm sure this won't stay here forever because it's already too small for 4 builders but it's short enough for the 4 and 7 year old so it's staying for now. Daddy usually sits in the comfy chair and builds with the bins and kids spread all around him. 

 

The STORAGE aka It rarely looks this put away...

After searching the internet for ideas we combined our two favorite storage systems (Lego Storage Labels are available for free download from Heather Jones' Cute Blog, we just adjusted them for the way my boys organize and separate.) and the awesome Ikea Trofast storage idea I got from i heart organizing. Before I headed to the maze of an ikea store I had the boys come up with a list of ways they would separate is space wasn't an issue, what would go in each bin and what size they would need based on thier current inventory (frankly, a MAJOR flaw in the design, because they're always adding to it!) They decided they don't sort or search by color but by shape and size and function so that's what they got. Then it was about sorting it and deciding small/medium or large. Since I knew we wanted different sizes and since I knew the collection was so large already I bought two Trofast Frames and the storage bins to fit. Two of the small boxes don't fit in the width of the tower so we just matched them up and made them one unit....

(we've had it for over 8 months and it's holding up perfectly.) Now, we've already outgrown this set up so I'll be adding 2 more units exactly like this next time I am brave enough to head to the mega store. There's also a great idea from Jenn at Clean and Scentsible using a play table and since I have one of those currently not being used that might be re-vamped soon too. Basically now Lorali has a bunch of Lego Friends/Architecture  stuff that is currently homeless, they now have started into Harry Potter and Ethan's Christmas/Birthday presents added a lot of new Star Wars stuff. The drawers Husbandface built last fall have some legos and instruction books in them but also house other toys, it may get ear marked for Lego storage as well.

THE DISPLAY aka This is what separates the hoarders from the collectors (aka how Doug justifies the expense)...

 

The most recent sets usually get put onto of the Ikea Towers. They are also the ones that are deemed 'Playable' once it hits the other shelves the little kids can't touch...

We put up this 12 foot long shelf last November thinking it would hold everything... little did I know how big everything really was.... So Ethan's current school bookshelf is undergoing a few *major* changes and the school books are being kicked out... they'll have that Lego ready as soon as Ethan's done building Hoth. 

Ethan has also had these wonderful mini fig display shelves for years and while we all love them they only hold about 1/3 of his men... so the favorites go here and the rest the kids can play with. They're really well built and can be built to whatever size you need from Dan HERE. 

So there it is... for now... guess the fun part for me has been watching the evolution of the passion. 

 

Sincerly and Never Barefoot,
Joanna 

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Homemade Gifts 2012

This year, the homemade gifts were a little different. It was all about the kiddos. I had this idea last year but it took awhile to figure out the logistics of something soo unknown. I made Little Leather Stuffed Animals for all the babies this year. 

Dahlias and Izzy's Whale, because they live by the ocean ... 

Abby's Elephant & the 'test' Bear for Owen (thier favorite animals) ...

and Emmy's Garden Owl (to match her garden room)...

And while they were by far the hardest and most time consuming things I have ever made they were actually a lot of fun to design and make. Seeing them come to life was awesome for all of us to see. The Cute little owl's inspiration was inspired by a gift tag I had, the whale I saw a few variations online but adjusted and tweeked and basically revamped to make my vision with leather work, the cute elephant was a shape I found online and added the dimenstion. and the bear was a pattern bought off etsy. They were filled with beads and polyfil. One thing I learned was that combining quilt fabric with it added a little more life then just leather (and it was easier on my machine.) I actually plan on making three more that I've already designed as soon as my machine is fixed replaced. 

You can see way more of our Homemade Christmas gift ideas here.... Christmas 2011 and the full list of 2010-2005.

What have you made lately? 
Joanna 

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Homemade Gifts 2011

Speaking of traditions, this one is another one of my all time favorite traditions... HOMEMADE GIFTS! Every year My siblings and I homemake our gifts to eachother. Every year it's different and fun and always heartfelt. It just brings such a personal touch to the gifts and puts their personalities in our lives and in our homes. We went to Florida a few weeks ago for my nieces baptism and it was so fun to see the same decorations and family themes decorating their house too. As I was getting ready for this post I realized that in EVERY room in my house you can see evidence of homemade gifts over the years.... 

A tableloth pieced by Teri in Owen's room.

In our living room, Sean's Photography... (I wish I had more!) 

In my kitchen, Emily's recipe boxes (she took all my Grandmother's and Mother's recipes, typed them up, printed them and laminated them for us one year... This is probably the MOST USED GIFT EVER!!) 

In our entryway, from April and Gentry the ledges (he made those!) and from Spring and Sean the Santa cross-stitch (yeah, crazy, I know but, I love it!) and that picture of Christ? It's cross-stitched as well, My Mom made it for me 15+ years ago. (now are your starting to see where we get the craziness from?) 

and in every bedroom, This year Teri and Chad gave us Christmas Pillowcases... (the kids are so mad at me because I took them off today to wash them.)

This year my Mom also made me a Santa Quilt, it's in Lorali's room and it's so beautiful. Santa's from around the world, all appliqued on, I LOVE IT! ...

This year Sean and Spring gave us a super thoughtful gift, it's a little candy cane countdown to Christmas, exactly like the one I grew up with (makes me smile every time I see it.)...

Then Emily really out-did herself this year, I have no idea how the heck she found the time to make this with her busy schedule but, I'm not complaining it's perfect and I have the perfect spot for it this fall in my entryway...

and what did I make this year? All November my dining room was turned into a leather workshop, Yep, more leather projects just like last year. I now realize how my Grandpa had it as his lifelong hobby. It's addictive! I already have ideas for projects to keep me busy all year. This time it was just for adults... Blank Leather Books. Fishing Logs, Hiking Logs or Journals, whatever they're used for they're all personalized. 

I've already made some for most of the grandkids but decided not to give them at Christmas but to give them to the kids one at a time for thier birthday's this year...

and for Dad's birthday I made him a few more Fly Fishing Reel Pouches... 

Now, I'm off to start planning for next year! 

 

 

 

 

 

Kansas City Cousins

I hate how behind I am in the blogging world. Writing is my therapy and this summer has been too busy to find time to actually sit down for even three minutes a day let alone upload 700+ pictures since June, update the blog and get my own thoughts together. First the move, then Cousin Camp '11 and now a trip to see more cousins in KC. We're having a blast but I'm excited to get home and get my life/schedule back! More coming soon!

Cousin Camp 2011

10 days. 7 kids. 5 books. 3 new recipes. 28 projects. 110 juice boxes and too many meals to count... my kids favorite week of the year is over and I miss my nieces and nephews already!