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peeking in…

August 21, 2012 in family, me | No comments

to say hello! My goodness. How have you guys been? Good I hope. Me? Lawd, it’s been a busy summer for my little family and me…I suppose that’s just how it goes until the kids can drive themselves to all the places and events they need/want to get to. Those days will be here before I know it!

In just a few short days Miss Molly starts Kindergarten (!), Caleb starts third grade and Logan starts middle school (!). Once again, I find myself stunned by how quickly time is passing. This rapid progression of time is compounded nowadays as I watch all of my sweet little nieces and nephews growing from tiny babies to toddlers and even a second grader now!

With all the frenzy and chaos of this summer I haven’t created much and I’m desperately feeling the pull to get back to it. I have sketched and doodled in my ipad almost daily so I think that has kept me from totally losing my mind…but I don’t have much to show for it. It is time for something more tangible to spring forth from this brain and these hands. Seriously.

To supplement the digital-doodle-creative-fix I’ve been living vicariously through all of my maker friends who tweet and flickr their projects for the rest of us to be inspired by and enjoy. Regina has been posting the most wonderful little paintings. Dawn has been a whirl wind of creating: designing another plush army of awesome for an upcoming show, collaborating with a fashion designer for a runway show, printmaking, and on and on. Then there’s Sonya and her 100 Acts of Sewing and all the fabric printing and dyeing and sewing that Calamity Kim has been up to lately…they remind me that I love fabric and I love to sew clothes.

You probably remember that I love me some gadgets too, right? Well, this sewing bug that’s been rekindled in me set me to researching sergers over the last few months…I finally decided on one and found what I hope to be a really good deal too. The serger is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow sometime. If it arrives as advertised and all is well I’ll be sure to post a link to the place I purchased my machine…but for now I must get back to cleaning my studio! Everything needs to go back in its place. I need clean surfaces on which to create new messes and I need to free up some real estate for my new toy too.

I’ll try my best to keep the cobwebs off this joint now that the fall routine is coming back into swing. Until next time, take care!

saint nick delivers, 2011 edition…

December 7, 2011 in Christmas, family | 2 comments

This morning Caleb asked why Saint Nick doesn’t leave anything fun for Lynn and I to play with and I told him it was because Saint Nick brings for the kiddos. I guess I’m going to have to create a new December night time visitor who leaves things for the moms and dads so the kids won’t have to worry about the adults in their lives being left out. It’s the right thing to do . Heh.

As the kids get older (that’s Logan’s shoe on to the left of my Birk, *sniff*) this tradition in particular hits home just how fast time flies and how quick my babies are growing. I mean, intellectually, I know the kids are always growing, that we want them to be growing, but I suppose it seems less apparent in the day to day business of raising a family. I see it in the piles of out-grown clothes and in the fact that Logan is almost as tall as I am already and that I can’t keep Caleb in long pants to save my life. Even then it doesn’t feel like that big of a difference. No, it’s in these little moments like lining the family’s shoes up side by side for a tiny little tradition or watching my boy do his Scoutmaster interview at a camp-out that it hits me like a ton of bricks. It’s these little moments that remind me to slow down and pay a little more attention to the day to day things; to really appreciate the little things, and to do everything I can to help my babies keep growing strong and independent. So, to all you new-ish moms and dads: embrace your two year old redecorating the tree now, make a mental note of how tiny those feet are today and take pictures of those chubby little hands because one day you’ll be sitting down blogging about a family something-or-other, feeling a little sad that your babies aren’t really babies anymore and then just end up in awe of the whole thing.

After I posted the above picture to flickr this morning I went back and pulled up the previous years we’d documented this tradition and it just. blows. me. away. Click on the pic if you want to see our Saint Nick visits for 2006-2011…I posted annual pics in the comments section.

so glad december is here…

December 2, 2011 in Christmas, family | No comments

I love December. Generally speaking it has FINALLY cooled down and actually feels like winter here in my corner of Texas. I love all the Christmas decorations that go up and I love how excited the kids are about everything. Though, nowadays the pressure is on because they remember the things we’ve done in previous years like the Advent calendar for example. Because of the way our schedule is shaking out, I’ve decided to go unconventional this year (and maybe start a new tradition if it works the way I think it will): I am making a little count down notebook with envelopes and pages for whoever wants to write or draw something they want to remember about the day. I’ll be busting out my Polaroid POGO printer so the kids can take pictures and print them off to stick in the book (because the prints are actually stickers! So cool.) if they want. Should be fun.

We’ll have a few days to catch up on before I get it all finished, but that’s cool. It’s going to be one of my projects I’m toting along on my rainy and cold camp-out-with-strangers weekend. Logan is participating in a Webelos Invitational Weekend with one of the Boy Scout Troops he is thinking about bridging over to in the next month or so. There is no parental interaction other than we can observe what they’re up to from a distance. I have to be on site the entire weekend because Lynn is away on business. I am amassing quite a bag of stuff to keep myself busy handwork wise. Hopefully it will be a productive couple days for me!

I have to go double check my list and finish rounding up my gear. On the bright side, I am finally going to get to use the catalytic heater I bought a couple years ago. I did a test run this morning and I have to say, I am impressed with the heat that little thing eminates. I also bought myself some new boots for the occasion: they’re Sorel 1964 Premium (leather) boots. Cute, right?! Molly loves them and wishes she had them in her size, though wearing mine is apparently pretty fun too.

Wish me luck! I’ll meet you guys back here on Monday with a report on the goings-on. Have a great weekend and think of me when you’re all snuggled up on your couch!

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Speaking of Advent Calendars, my mom is doing her own version on her blog this month: http://mkpdesigns.wordpress.com/ click on over to see my sibs and me age gracefully through the last 36 years of Christmasses Past. Fun stuff!

are you kidding me? posting two days in a row? it’s true…

April 3, 2011 in family, projects | No comments

I suppose with all the picture taking comes the need to share them, yes? Plus, it seems like the Lyons’ Den is in somewhat of a creative frenzy these last couple days too.

I was stitching up some pieces for my DQS10 quilt today when Caleb wandered through, stopped dead in his tracks and said, “wait. Are you drawing with thread?!” to which I replied, “yes. It’s called embroidery.” to which he inquired, “will you teach me how to do that?” Uh, heck yes I will!

I ended up teaching him how to embroider AND how to make a doll pattern today. We had a blast this afternoon! I will put up a post tomorrow about the process and the finished piece. In the meantime, check out flickr for the pics!

note to self…

April 2, 2011 in family, me | 4 comments

As the kids were getting ready for bed tonight I over heard Caleb say to Logan, “you know? This was the best day ever!” I relayed to Lynn what I heard and his response? With a grin, “that’s good to know.” Heh.

You know what we did today? A whole lot of nothing really. We did soccer all morning. Caleb’s team won another game. Logan’s team lost one. We ate lunch at Red Lob-stahs. We came home, rested for a bit while the boys played Lego Star Wars III. After that we went outside and played all afternoon. Lynn and the kids went swimming at the neighbor’s house. We rode bikes and scooters and tricycles. We jumped on the trampoline with friends. The kids got to bang on stuff with hammers and dismantle things with Lynn’s fancy green drill. Some friends from around the bend stopped by while on a bicycle ride and stayed to help destroy stuff. I made taco meat and all the fixings for burritos and then served it on one of the camp tables in the driveway for whoever wanted to chow down at supper time. Once everyone was fed we walked our friends home (some rode their bicycles and scooters too) and after a quick visit we headed home to get everyone ready for bed.

As parents I think we get so busy with “the schedule” and “the routine” that we forget to focus on the simple things:

saying yes to going out front to play (where I will have to stop whatever I’m doing so I can go out to supervise…because don’t you know? The backyard is safe and tragically boring.)

taking twenty or thirty minutes to walk to a friend’s house together instead of hopping in the car and getting there in five.

changing up the meal time routine.

It’s hard to remember/accept that the yard will not go feral on us if we don’t get it edged today…the laundry can be folded tomorrow; wrinkles are not the end of the world…the dishes will wait, and wait, and wait…those weeds? they aren’t going anywhere!

Also? Automatic car washes are awesome. Especially if your kid thinks it’s magical:

happy 2011!

January 3, 2011 in big plans!, family, me | 10 comments

Man, 2011 already!? 2010 flew by faster than any other year I can remember. I have officially reached the point in my mothering career where my kids keep me busy even when they aren’t home. Between soccer and scouts and volunteering at school and church for them my year was fairly break neck. I didn’t keep things balanced like I would have liked to and I didn’t create nearly as many things as I would have liked.

That seems to be my only real regret from last year: I didn’t spend enough time working on my art. Whether it was for myself or for other people…there were projects I should have committed to and I wanted to commit to them, but I knew I just didn’t have the time. I suppose I was keeping things somewhat balanced at the expense of my art. So I guess I did better than I thought? THIS year I am focusing on my art again. I am happiest when I am able to make things when I want to making things and who doesn’t like to be as happy as possible?

We made some lists of things we would like to accomplish as a family and as individuals this year as we chowed down on our good-luck-for-the-new-year black eyed peas. Tops on my list: GET ORGANIZED, GET HEALTHY, GET BUSY MAKING ART. Seems pretty simple to me. I just have to DOOOO EEEET.

Tomorrow we’re all back on our school routine and that makes everything else I have to do each day so much easier! I turned all my week day alarms back on so I don’t lose track of time and forget to pick someone up or take someone somewhere. I even added a new alarm so I don’t let my day get away from me without doing something creative. For the next six weeks that something creative can be artsy fartsy, it can be organizing stuff or it can be purging stuff. I’m going Fly Lady on myself and setting timers. I get so much more done if I set a timer to go off every 15 minutes or so. That way when I have a squirrel moment it’s only for a few minutes and doesn’t turn into half of day zoning out on stuff.

Tuesday’s To-Do List:

finish making thank you notes (creative thing for the day!)

write thank you notes

mail thank you notes as well as birthday gifts to my nephew and my sister-in-law

help boys with their pine wood derby cars

tackle piles of crap around my computer desk

kitty scout camp out…

October 26, 2010 in family, projects | 2 comments

Last weekend was our cub scout pack’s first family camp out of the year. Molly donned her Kitty Scout uniform and helped me set up camp.

She put her Kitty Scout neckerchief and belt on ALL BY HERSELF. “Let ME do it!!” is the Kitty Scout motto.

Pretty much as soon as we were finished setting up it started raining. The good camera never even made it out of the bag and the phone went in the car for safe keeping. Friday night Caleb was burned below his lip with a metal marshmallow stick when an older boy was horsing around. I was in the tent with Molly when it happened…not sure where all the other parents were at the time, but I am trying hard to LET IT GO…trying being the operative word. Caleb is fine and the kid who burned him is still alive! High fives all around…

Even more exciting than burnt flesh and rain was the hail and tornado watch on Saturday — complete with weather sirens blaring, non-stop, for ten minutes straight. We hunkered down in the ladies room with thirty or forty random people and pets.

Logan declared it the best camp out EVER. Molly declared it sloppy. Everything was sloppy. Her boots were sloppy, the ground was sloppy, even the mud was sloppy. I have no idea where she picked up that word! Caleb was bummed. He didn’t get to sleep at camp Friday because I took him to the ER for his burn as the camp grounds were closing for the night and then Saturday we packed up most of our stuff and slept at home for fear of being blown away. I guess we’re going to have to have a family camp out pretty quick before it gets too chilly.

my babies…

June 11, 2010 in family | 1 comment

My first baby turns nine today. He’s busy playing made up games and Wii with my second baby. Meanwhile my third baby refuses to leave my person.

If she’s not curled up in my lap as pictured above, she’s sitting on my knee instead of the chair right next to me. If she’s not sitting on my knee, she’s standing right next to me, leaning up against my side while she plays with Star Wars figurines and Strawberry Shortcake dolls on my desk.

I guess today is just a Must Have Mom Day…

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More pictures of the birthday boy after I finish my chores and the camera battery charges up. He picked a fun restaurant for supper tonight…should make for some great pictures of everyone. I’ll try to post tonight when we get home!

Tags: kids

taking one step further away from being my little boy…

May 26, 2010 in family | 3 comments

*sniff* Make it stop. Please. I want my babies to stay babies!

This is Logan bridging over to Webelos I from being a Bear scout.

Logan and his den mates didn’t get their neckerchiefs or slides at the ceremony because ALL the area scouting shops were completely sold out. SOLD OUT. Nevertheless, the boys were all ecstatic about the accomplishment and excited about what comes next. I’m fairly certain Logan read the entire Webelos I book in two days. Caleb and I have been reading the Tiger book and between the two of them, they are ready to get started as soon as their feet hit the floor on next Friday morning.

Did I mention I offered to be Caleb’s den leader? I did. It was a necessary evil so that we have more control over our activities schedule in the Fall. I’m planning now and trying to get things prepared way ahead of time so that there won’t always be a mad dash to get things done. Fortunately, there are a ton of seasoned veterans at my disposal with all sorts of tips and tricks already figured out. Thank goodness they choose to share their knowledge!

With all the plans the boys are making scouting wise, I don’t think we’ll have to worry much about being bored this summer. Fingers crossed anyway. Five more school days to go!

Tags: scouting

late night, last minute crafting…

May 21, 2010 in family, projects | 6 comments

Wednesday evening Logan informed me he wanted a t-shirt design for his class for Field Day (similar to what I did for Caleb’s class for the 100th day of kindergarten). Now, had we discussed this a week earlier I totally could’ve done it for him and his class; however, since we basically had a day to get it done, I countered with making him a special shirt using a freezer paper stencil. He accepted and then we discussed design ideas. His list was short and sweet: a lion on the front and his name and classroom number on the back. I thought he might like to draw a lion for me to turn into the stencil, but really I think he just wanted a mom-drawn one, special for him (which positively charms me to no end…I don’t know how much longer this will go on so I’ll gladly oblige while I still can).

In the end it took me less than half an hour from drawing and cutting the stencil to ironing the stencil onto the shirt and painting it. Logan was happy with it and his friends thought it was cool…a success all around by my account.

Tags: "freezer paper stencil"