LIFE

I love when she puts her shoes on the wrong feet. Soon enough, she’ll figure it out. Though, I hope not anytime soon.

Jacks loves to set up these elaborate “toy scenes”, as I like to call them. For him, all the fun is in the building and designing. After about 30 minutes or so, he usually gets bored and walks away. This is what he left behind that day. Jacks was here.

I love pictures of everyday life. There are so many details that get lost in the set up shots. I want to remember all those little things, like how she ate a bowl of cereal like it was the best bowl of cereal ever. I remember she was especially cranky that day. It was lunchtime and nothing I offered appeased her. Exasperated and down to only a few options, I cautiously asked, cereal?  Only just the day before, she hated cereal. She reluctantly agreed. I felt victorious!

Our school day is really short. I have to fill in the gaps quite a bit or there would be non stop fighting.  Most days, we have activities outside of the house or I have errands here and there. But, there are some days, I just need to get stuff done at the house. Today we were homebound and 20 minutes after our last lesson, I could see the tension building. Before I knew it, I had Annie crying at my feet because the other two were being, “mean at her.” In an effort to get them happily playing together, I brought out some linens and threw them over the bunk beds. I thought I would just let them hang out in the fort, but that idea quickly fizzled. Then, I remembered I had bought some puppets around Christmas time. I put them away for a day just like this.…

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Do you ever have those days, when you are in such a funk…you just can’t get excited about anything? That was so my day today. I’m not crazy into Valentine’s Day to begin with. It’s probably my least favorite holiday. Honestly, I’d rather celebrate President’s day…at least you can hit up good sales! I usually do a little something for the kids and I honestly meant to, but I kind of got sucked into Dexter last night. Oops…my bad. Suddenly, getting up to make giant fortune cookies to surprise them with in the morning…lost all appeal. Good thing I didn’t commit to that one. That seems to be a problem of mine lately. I build up these grand ideas in my head. I mean they are completely planned out. Parties, projects, DIY’s, gifts…you name it. Then fizzle. Nothing. I cannot execute. I don’t know if it’s because I have so many projects going on that I can’t commit to just one…or because I’m so busy that I just can’t make it happen. Story of my life.
I did manage to size and print out these letters for an upcoming project. I still need to cut them out, trace them, cut them out again, iron and sew them. Well at least I’m moving forward, so I’m not going to split hairs. I’m still learning how to use the settings on my camera. I try to practice a little each day with a few pictures. Some days I think I get it, then others like today, I don’t get it. I can’t figure out this white balance thing. I think their skin looks grey in this picture and I think that’s why. What do you think? I’d love any helpful advice or tips!

Whether today is your jam or not, Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

This child has an answer and a face for everything.

Me: You need to get dressed…we have to go to the store.
Savannah: I don’t want to go.
Me: Well, I’m sorry…but, you can’t stay home by yourself.
Savannah: Why not? I like monsters.

One of my biggest obstacles in homeschooling, has been keeping Annie busy while I teach my older two babes. Here’s the deal with Annabelle. She is insanely loud. Like ridiculous loud. It’s impossible to concentrate with the amount of noise this tiny person produces. Also, we have wood floors throughout our house and nothing to absorb her sweet, but obnoxiously loud voice. So there’s that. I’ll probably start including her in more of the lessons next year. But, since this was my rookie year, I didn’t want to take on too much.
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I’ve been on a mission to simplify my life. I’ve been in an organizing and purging frenzy since the New Year. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. Sometimes, simplifying is not just about getting rid of, it’s learning something new. Yeah, the thought of having to learn one more something seems daunting…I know, I’ve been there. I am there. For a while now, I’ve wanted to improve my photography skills.  I have owned dslr’s for 7 years now and up until recently, I shot exclusively in auto mode. I tried venturing out to manual mode a few times before, but words like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO frustrated and overwhelmed me. So, I continued taking pictures in auto mode. It was easy and I liked it. Until, I didn’t like it anymore.…

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It has been a really long time since I’ve enjoyed sewing. Here’s the deal, I used to love sewing…I found great therapy in constructing things of fabric and thread. I always had this sense of pride of, I can’t believe I made that!  Then, I had this great idea to sell my stuff. And it was great for a while. Then, I hated sewing. For a really, really long time, I hated it! I’ve said mean things to my sewing machine. I’ve thrown my hands up in the air at my sewing machine. I gave the evil eye to my sewing machine. Until one day…I abandoned sewing completely. I was happy to be free of it and I swore I’d never sew again!

Never say never…right? I wanted to make Annabelle a strawberry bag for her 3rd birthday. The thought of sewing one, just wasn’t doing it for me. I browsed the internets and scoured over pictures of strawberry bags…maybe hoping to just buy her one. Then, that old familiar voice of, I can totally make that!, started creeping in my thoughts. And, so I did.
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Happy 2014 y’all! Okay, so that’s a little late, but I took a sabbatical of sorts. I needed a regrouping. So, now here I am, newly regrouped, ready to rock! For the last couple of years, I’ve given up resolutions and instead, adopted a theme word for the year. This year, my theme is: SIMPLIFY.
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