The End of Summer...School Beginnings...Discovering Me

Oh my, it has been since May since I wrote....wow!! Time sure flies when your having fun! Let me just recap my crazy summer. The summer began with a dance recital and t-ball games, both of which, I love to watch. The kids did so good this year, Vanessa danced her little body to The Banana Boat Song (she loves to sing it too) and was so cute in her hawaiian girl costume. Miss Calista gave her a framed certificate for most improved dancer, which she was awarded last year, but Calista didn't have the certificate and frame yet at the time of last year's recital so she basically recognized her two years in a row. Vanessa beamed so proud! Mommy did too!

Mr. Hayden Lee has excelled immensely on the baseball field. This is his sport, his absolute favorite and it shows. He had home runs every game and got many kids out, his catch is awesome. I was amazed when I saw how well he was doing. I knew he loved t-ball but didn't realize how good he has become. I showed up late for one of his games and I had three different parents, some from the other team, tell me how great he is...talk about a proud moment and at that point I hadn't even saw what they were talking about! I'm so glad he found something he can sink his teeth into, he can continue to blossom and become the ball player he wants to be.

His dad told him one time that baseball players and other athletes make millions of dollars...I think his eyeballs had green dollar signs in them and he will tell people he is going to be a professional baseball player....now, what is so funny about this is, at the end of the school year he had to write a biography about himself and he had drawn a picture of himself as president and that is what he was determined to be when he grew up, The President of the United States. Then just this week he was with his buddies and told them he was going to be a pop star so girls can hang posters on their walls of him and scream when they see him...can you tell what kind of kid he is? Hysterical!! He is so funny and serious at the same time, just cracks me up!

They are both characters!!

July was a whirlwind, the kids and I drove to Pennsylvania where I got to see some of my friends that I miss so much and we had a blast hanging out catching up, floating in the pool...ahhh..It was great! Then the kids went with Nana and Papa to Virginia Beach on their annual vacation. Then the following week they went with Grandma Janie and Grandpa Phil and had a blast, hanging at the pool and visiting the Baltimore Aquarium. While they were away, my hubby and I took a romantic vacation to Maui...ahhhh...it was glorious and beautiful and full of fun. We explored the whole island, in which some parts were just breathtaking. I love Hawaii, the Hawaiian people are so kind and I could easily retire there....oh the thoughts of fresh pineapple everyday are floating in my head...hehehe!

August zipped by quickly but we had lots of beach days with friends and lots of ice-cream, campfires, food on the grill and fun! I will miss those summer days especially sitting with my friend and chatting the day away...so relaxing. I always look foreward to the local art fair in August and my friend and I found some cheap treasures, we had so much fun that morning...I wish there were more art fairs to go to.

September was an interesting time for me, Vanessa started all day everyday kindergarten and Hayden started 2nd grade. The night before the first day of school, I was a weeping mess and the first day I was an even bigger weeping mess but I got through it and the rest of the week was a blur. I couldn't seem to find the energy to do anything nor did I want to. I felt lost...the quietness was too quiet and I couldn't find myself. It was the strangest feeling but I was lonely, bored and sad. I missed my baby girl whom is no longer a baby by all means but to me still my baby. The only bright light that week was breakfast with my dear friend and she made me laugh and lifted my spirits and I needed it so badly.

The second week was better, I met two friends for breakfast that week and we had lots of laughs...now I was feeling better..starting to feel like me again. Brian, I and the kids went camping that weekend and I just LOVED that. We all did.We had so much fun and laughter with 6 other families, I can't wait until we do it again next year. After that weekend, I felt I could breathe, I could laugh, I could clean the house and relax and still feel like I accomplished something in my day. The next morning I had my first MOMSnext meeting and it has given me another great thing to look forward too. The women I adore and enjoy so much, it is going to be a great year.

I feel each day getting better but I'm still re-discovering ME, what do I like to do?...Well, before I turned on music during the day, now I crank the music loud...before I would sing a little, now I put on pretend concerts...laughing...sound ridiculous I know but it's me and who I am...I discovered I absolutely love when I organize something, so every room in the house is getting a makeover, sort of...at least getting de-cluttered!

Today, I met another friend for breakfast and it felt soooo good to not have to watch the time, to know I still had the rest of the day to get my to-do list done. I'm easing into this all day to myself lifestyle but even still at 4:05 p.m. when the front door opens and my two children come running in and I hear" Hi Mom!!!" "Guess what I did today at school/" and backpacks are slung over chairs and coats and shoes are whipping off and "I'm hungry, may I have a snack please?" and all the loudness and chaos....is wonderful  music to my ears!!....smiling with tears.

End of The School Year Festivities and More

It is coming, I can't believe it, so quickly coming to an end...the school year! Before we know it we will be swimming in the lake, making smores and running around the yard catching fireflies...ahhh...I really cannot wait. But, first I have my motherly duties of field trips, t-ball practice and end of the year parties and teacher gifts.

April, where are you going so fast?

We are already in the middle of April, time sure is flying past...I feel behind for some reason, maybe it's the load of "stuff" I have to do or maybe it's time management. Sometimes I feel as though my head is spinning and all I hear is Mommy, Mom, Kristen, Mommmmm, Mom where are you?, Mom, can I do this?, Mom can I do that, Mom, where is this?, Mom, where is that?, Mom, do you know where my ----- is?, Kristen, Have you seen my------?, Mom, what's for dinner?, Mom, what are we doing next?.....ahhhhhhhh, I need a giant hot tub and a three hour nap some days. Life is funny sometimes, mommies juggle twenty different things at the same time, all the time, and we ask our children to do one thing and it can take them hours to do it....sometimes I feel like I look as tired as I feel but yet I wouldn't stop anything. I read "Baby Blues", in the comics section, of the Saturday paper, every week and I laugh every week because it relates to me or my children somehow and I remember one of them listing all the things we do as moms and wives from care taker to laudry folder to bill payer, it was hilarious and it was so true. I wouldn't change any of it for the world though...it is what I am supposed to do...I am supposed to be a teacher of all things...smiling.

So, Easter is coming up and like all other holidays, the kids and I have to dig our craft stuff out and start our Easter fun. We are making a garland out of bunnies, coloring eggs with that new spinner gadget, making cards for the grandparents and chocolate bunny pops. I will post pics soon of our fun! Happy April!!

Shamrock Shakes, St. Patrick Crafts and a clover hairstyle

St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching and the kids and I will be making crafts again. I just love holidays, any holiday, we always have so much fun creating things. This year, I found a few ideas from another blog that I love and they are really cute! We are going to make these cute handprint leprechauns for family. Thank You Tip Junkie!!

Then, similiar to our valentine heart garland, we are going to make a shamrock garland using shamrocks made from different paper.

 Then I will be making cards for friends with vintage images like the one below and seed cards for spring.

and while we are doing our crafts we will be enjoying shamrock shakes. YUM!!!

I also will be making St. Patty cupcakes for Vanessa's class as a special treat and, of course, let her help, she LOVES to bake!

The final thing I will be doing is a clover hairstyle on Vanessa on St. Patty's Day. This is sooo cute!

 Check out the video on how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZmgn76d6YE&feature=player_embedded

Hope everyone has a magically delicious St. Patrick's Day! I just had to use the Lucky Charms saying! Until next time, have a beautiful day!

Valentine Fun!

The kids and I love to make crafts and cards for every holiday, we have been doing it since they were itty bitty....the whole table gets covered in scissors, glue, tape, markers, crayons, paints, glitter, ribbon and scraps of paper. It is so much fun and I look forward to every moment with them. Well, first we did some really cute boxes that we are going to fill with goodies for their teachers. This craft came from http://www.marthastewart.com/ where you can find all kinds of cool craft ideas. I am on that website pretty regularly, since I am a HUGE fan.

Then we got into my art supplies from college and found my water color paper, which makes working with watercolor paints so much easier for kids. I traced a cookie cutter heart 9 times on two sheets of paper and then each child painted them with watercolors the way they wanted, notice I told them to paint outside of the lines on purpose, here are pics below:

Hayden's paintings

Vanessa's paintings

Then I cut them out and strung them together to make a garland and it turned out so pretty. I must apologize for my photos though, for some reason it just wasn't capturing the finished result the greatest because of lighting but you can get a glimpse of how cute it turned out.

Next up will be some Valentine cupcakes for Vanessa's classroom, she is so excited to decorate them! Stay tuned! Hope you have a very Happy Valentine's Day!

My letter to Julia

Dear Julia,
How I wish I could ask you how to become the best baker in the country! I have a new adventure I'm calling it because for me, it is stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm starting a cupcake business called Kristen's Kupcakes and it is thrilling and scary it all ways possible. But, I'm willing to try this and I wish I could have you by my side to guide me but mostly to give me some of your profound confidence...you were truly amazing and I know your cooking for Jesus now but could you send me a dose of sugar knowledge from Heaven?
Sincerely,
Kristen

Ahhhh, let's see, as I fumbled through recipes, ingredients and cookbooks the last three days, I came across one I was able to make my own and thus have found recipe number one. It is my first cupcake recipe, a dark chocolate cake and buttercream icing...yes, it turned out yummy but with one mishap and decorating horror....hehhee. I mixed up my batch of cake mix, spooned it into cupcake paper cups, placed in the oven and realized I forgot the baking soda! I whip them out of the oven, squeeze everything I could out of the wrappers and back into the bowl, mix in the baking soda and do it all over again...yes, they turned out....oh thank you Lord, yes, they were moist, tasted like a deep, dark chocolate heaven and I was pleasantly pleased. Okay, cake recipe number one works and tastes great. Now the icing, beautiful, silky, delicious icing, started out great on the cupcakes and then as I continued messing around with decorating decided to start sliding together...it was kind of like watching a picture turn into something else...example..I did a basket weave on one, looked great and then somehow in a matter of seconds blended all together and just looked like I frosted the cupcake plainly....Dear Lord, could you let me borrow Julia for about 10 days?

So, I figured out I can cut back on how much cream I add and hopefully next time, work with it better. This was just step one and I liked it...I found I was talking to myself to, which in turn made me laugh...I loved the release it gave me and I loved how the cupcakes I absolutely thought were the worst decorated, my children thought were the best! Julia, do you hear me? Send me a dream tonight with your best frosting recipe, I promise to follow it to the tee and never let you down!...smiling BIG!! The adventure begins..!!Oh yes, and three dear friends I will see tomorrow get the samples from today...I will get my first reviews...yikes!
Until next time, Happy New Year!!!!

End of the Year 2010 Festivities and 2011 Goals

Once again time has gotten away from me so I am going to close out December's blog with a variety of activities that have happened the past couple of months. I have several New Year's Resolutions but one is to write on my blog at least once a month in the year 2011, another is to write in my children's journals once a month and the third one is to continue organizing my "stuff." Notice there isn't the typical still-try-to-lose-weight one or eat better one...well, that's because I'm not talking about it anymore. I turn 40 on January 5th and yes, I still have weight on and yes I will still try to lose it but I think I finally figured out that my time is of the essence and I need to focus more on things I want to do and have done for my children. Not that I'm not important but time keeps flying and I'm not getting younger and there is still so much to do.

I have boxes of things for them, souvenirs, photos, special memorabilia, clothing that they wore as babies etc... the list goes on and I need to sort and put in their own special box. I have school projects, writings, drawings too. Plus, I want to scrapbook their lives for graduation and haven't even started that whopping project. The organizing projects are huge, I even need to organize photos and recipes and they really are things that I want done and can't put off anymore. So, 2011 for me is making over my "stuff", not having piles, boxes and containers of things but projects to show, keep and treasure and eventually share and pass on to my children.

Now, for the conclusion of 2010, we have had a year full of fun and the photo books I made for the grandparents and myself turned out awesome and really showcased our adventures, fun and memories. Here are some photos of projects in the last several months:



Thank you cards I made after Vanessa's birthday party



First attempt at homemade pie dough



Christmas card I made in Photoshop, it's not an original idea but I took an example I liked and changed a few things and made it my own




More thank you cards




second attempt at homemade pie dough, turned out yummy!



Inside of Vanessa's Thanksgiving card to her teacher

Outside of the Thanksgiving card Vanessa made her teacher.

Outside of Thanksgiving card Hayden made for his teacher

Inside of card made by Hayden

One of five different cookies I made with a great friend. We had a wonderful time baking and chatting and can't wait to do it again next year! These are Fudgy Mint Cookies.

Another cookie I made, Lemon Wreath Cookies

Another, Pecan Lace Cookies

And another, Tropical Chewies. Number 5 cookie, I never got a photo of because they were gone in a flash. They were a chocolate and vanilla bark made with oreos...so yummy!

I delivered pies to the police station from my husband and made up these tags to go on the gifts. They had a cute Christmas poem and I just loved playing Mrs. Claus!

Snowflakes Vanessa and I made

on the window

Vanessa, Hayden and our babysitter Paige made these while my husband and I were out at a Christmas party, how cute!

The kids and I made rice krispie treats for the postal man and the newspaper gal, Vanessa decorated with sprinkles and Hayden put them in the tins.

This is by far one of my children's favorite things to do the month of December...advent calendars! Can you say 6 a.m. is never too early for chocolate...hehehe!

Santa's note to the kids. They really got a kick out of that!

That wraps up some of the fun things we have done lately. The year is coming to an end tomorrow and I'm looking forward to 2011. I hope it brings lots of happiness, good health and blessings. Cheers!