random interruptions

Today is just a day of randomness, because I have a few random pictures, a few random thoughts, and a few random minutes to get them all down.

Laci loves this animal picture book.  She found it last weekend at my mom's house - one of those coffee-table-type books with big colorful pictures of wild animals.  She oooo's and aaaaa's at all the pictures and zooms in close each time she turns the page.  It has already suffered from her enthusiasm and now bears some tape as a scar.

House progress is slow, which is discouraging to this often impatient, cranky lady.  The current plan involves relocating our lovely double wide to another area of the yard in order to start moving dirt (the new owners aren't quite ready for their castle).  I'm also slowly becoming an expert in navigating our county building division as they request ridiculous amounts of information to ensure that the house we want to build will be structurally sound, energy efficient, and environmentally responsible.  I can assure you that getting your bachelor's degree is easier than translating and interpreting county documents - I speak from experience.

The weather is warm and sunny, which makes me happy.  Enough said about that.

{Insert short coloring and reading break here, where I am distracted by a certain little one and completely lose my train of thought.}

Remember playing with Lego's?  Laci likes to build tall towers and organize them by shape.  Yes, organize them.  She gets it from her dad, I swear.

Lego's have become entirely too sophisticated for me.  Growing up, I built a lot of houses and buildings with Lego's, I never had a "house construction set" or instructions.  Technically, I didn't even have real Lego's.  I had Lock Blocks (at least that's what we called them) - a different version of Lego's, and better if you ask me because it didn't require a death grip to break them apart - anyone else have trouble getting the Lego's apart once they were firmly stuck together?  Disclaimer for my mom:  I promise I am not scarred by the fact that I did not have real Lego's.

 {Insert another break here wherein I open unopenable containers, wrap a baby doll in a blanket, and hold out my index finger so Laci can put hair ties on it.  Oh, and I completely forget what I was saying...AGAIN.}


Now I'm back from mommy interruptions, wondering whether I'm being interrupted from blogging, or if blogging is interrupting my real life.  And with that thought, I'll return to my "real life" where I am a hero for my abilities to open any container and it doesn't matter if I forget what I was going to say because we speak in incomplete sentences these days anyway.

Easter in Pictures

Mostly in pictures.

And a few words, because I can't quit talking completely.

The weather turned out beautiful.

Laci wasn't so much interested in finding eggs, as she was chasing her cousins around.

Once she figured out there were prizes inside the eggs, she didn't hesitate to steal them from her cousins' baskets.

I'm pretty sure she most enjoyed hugging Maggie, the dog.

And despite the wind, it was a wonderful day with family, fun, and food...three of my favorite things.

enjoying the small things

I've been reading a new blog the past few weeks, Enjoying the Small Things.  I can't remember how I found it, but I'm glad I did.  The photos, the writing, the person, they are all beautiful and inspiring.  I really look forward to reading her sunny posts (she's in Florida) on these gray mornings we've been having.  Between the weather and my hormones, I've been losing sight of the small things that bring me joy each day.  I feel like I'm constantly reminding myself to just focus on the good little things, but it definitely helps to see others doing the same thing.  As I cried my way through Toy Story 3 the other night, I confirmed that my hormones are definitely out of control, and if the sun doesn't come out for good soon, I might try building a cocoon to hide in for a month or so.  And yes, I'm aware that I can control neither the weather or my hormones at this point, so I'm left to refocusing again, this time on the little things that I forget to enjoy.

Enjoying strawberries.  Because Laci loves them, even though she looks less than enthused here.  They ooze all over her clothes and leave red stains on her cheeks.  I love watching her eat them, wondering if they must taste sweeter to her because her palate hasn't been wrecked by too much sugar yet.

Enjoying mud.  Because the other day we were walking in the field and she decided to "skip" through a muddy spot and ended up doing the splits.  I think every kid must have done this at least once, I know I have.  She cried a little because she hates to fall down and because I think she might have twisted her ankle, but she was tough.  I helped her up and held her hand, and although much more cautious than before, we continued our way through the muddy patches.

Enjoying our accomplishments, no matter how small.  Because she is so proud of herself when she builds the whole tower, and she wants to make sure that everyone sees what she has done.  Our applause is always appreciated.  The tower building here is pre-shop era, but I can assure you, it is a daily activity.  Also because I accomplished grocery shopping yesterday, which isn't such a big feat to most people, but for whatever reason, I struggle with getting it done.  And now, we have food to eat, which I'm pretty sure makes everyone happy.

Enjoying tubby time.  Because she looks so sweet and innocent (probably because she is), and because her hair is wild and I love it.  And because tubby time is usually a happy, playful time, and our chance to unwind a little before bedtime.

And finally, enjoying the end of this post.  Because I started it two days ago, and no matter how hard I've tried, this is the first chance I've had to sit down and finish it.  Enjoying the small things can be time consuming sometimes.

making progress

As I anticipated, the weekend was refreshing, and warm, and sunny, and brought me out of my funk.  I spent some much needed time with my mom and sisters, sewed, crafted, made wedding favors, and even caught up with a few friends.  I soaked up the sunshine wishing it was here to stay, but of course, the rain has returned this morning, and it is still pretty chilly in my shop "living room."  I know this is just the part of Spring that is inevitable and uncontrollable, so I'll deal with it the best I can.  Right now, that means I'm focusing on all that has been going on around me while I've tried my best to roll up like a pillbug.

Ryan has been working hard at rock wall demolition and, after two weekends of tractor work and shoveling, has successfully freed the double wide.  It is ready to be split apart and moved to its new home.

These were my front steps.

This was my back porch.

And while I obviously want the double wide gone, and soon, I can't help but feel a tiny bit nostalgic about seeing it all go.  We've only lived here about 3 1/2 years (it will be four years this July), but it was our first major purchase together, the home we returned to after our honeymoon, and the home we brought Laci to when we left the hospital.  It was good to us, the double wide.  I had my doubts about how it would withstand the elements, and while it was often cold and drafty or hot and smelly, it sheltered us and held together long enough for us to make it to the next chapter of our lives.  The chapter in which we take up occupancy in a shop and attempt to build a home from scratch.

And now, here is where our porch and our steps and our rock lay in a giant, heaping pile.

As with all things construction (and demolition), rain means delays, and I'm disappointed that progress will be slowed once again.  But for today, I'm satisfied to see at least a little progress in the direction of our goals.  And tomorrow promises sunshine again, so I'm hoping for a little extra bounce in my step as I go about the daily business of living life...groceries, laundry, killing shop bugs...you know, the usual.

because i love it

This week has been a tough one for me.  No specific reason really, except that maybe the pregnancy hormones are a little out of control.  Ok, a LOT out of control.  It's been one of those weeks where it feels like you take one step forward, then two steps backward, no matter how hard you try.  And there is nothing you can do to fix it, so you just cry.  Ok, maybe I'm the only one that resorts to crying.  And no, it doesn't fix the problem.  In fact, it creates new problems of running mascara (if I've even managed to put any on), and a red nose, and puffy eyes.  But it seems to be my "go to" solution these days.

The good news is that today is Friday, and weekends are always good for my soul and my sanity, and my Internet has decided to work again (just one of the many hiccups this week), and I can feel like there is some light at the end of the tunnel.  Especially if the weekend brings actual sunlight, not the clouds I see today.  And even though I didn't take enough pictures of Kristina's shower, I did catch this one, and I love it.  LOVE IT.  My grandma and Laci.  And isn't that what taking pictures is all about...catching just a few that you really, really like?  And finding a picture like this is just enough to keep me trying to take more, because eventually, I might catch another one that I love just as much.

Kristina's Shower

Kristina's shower was a success on many levels...photography was NOT one of them.  Somewhere between food prep, greeting guests, organizing games, and generally running around, I wasn't able to capture near as many photos as I would have liked.  In fact, I've only got about 30 that turned out, which is a huge disappointment to me and makes me realize that wedding and event photographers have really, really, really tough jobs.  Granted, they usually can focus on just taking pictures.  Even so, it is a ridiculously difficult job, one that I do not wish to undertake...ever.  At least I got a good one of the bride, beer in hand, very typical Kristina. I can't wait to capture one just like this in her wedding dress.

Even though I only got 30 pictures, I'm did something I never do...I printed them.  Like uploaded them to Walgreens and picked them up...real pictures to look at without a computer.  There has been a lot of talk within my family lately, and all over the blogosphere, about how all these pictures get taken and then just get stuck in the computer until...forever?  Since I didn't end up with enough good ones to warrant a photo book, I figured at least printing them would be a step in the right direction.

Like most family gatherings, there was no shortage of food.  I spent approximately 10 hours in the kitchen on Friday, mixing, baking, and generally going crazy with so much food.  I managed to ruin 24 hard boiled eggs, grate my finger, nearly cut my toe off with a knife (being barefoot in the kitchen isn't always a great idea), and making a royal mess in my mom's kitchen.  And to think I can't even take credit for these adorable creations.  My Aunt Lisa made these fully edible goodies.  Yes, all edible, right down to the candy rocks in the planters - no, the clay pots are not edible.

But I can take credit for these mini fruit pizzas, which were sweet and beautiful, and will probably never be duplicated because it was entirely too much work.  And Laci picked the flowers out in the field, and since I gave birth to Laci, I'm taking credit for the flowers too.

Since I probably sound like a total complainer right now, I'll admit that I really enjoy making food and getting everything ready.  It was just one of those days where nothing was going right.  I mean, really, who can't hard boil eggs?  And I know Kristina had a wonderful shower and really enjoyed herself, so I suppose even my bleeding, grated finger was worth it.  If bleeding fingers aren't sisterly love, then I don't know what is.