One Minute in Esther's Life

She's four (and a half!), fickle, fancy-free, fancy, friendly (uber----more on that later), frustrating, and mine; love her, I do.

Rewind

I like how in my last blog post (over two months ago), I said I'd have more time for blogging. Ha!

Highlights since last posting:

Leah's 7th Birthday
Leah finishing 1st grade
Esther finishing Preschool
Phoebe getting bigger, cuter, and more personality-full every day.
Visits with family and friends
Summery weather
a few nervous breakdowns (oh yeah, this is supposed to be the highlights section) . . . .

I must catalog with photos, because if I don't, this chapter of our lives could be lost forever. Please oblige. And then maybe when I get caught up, I can actually post something of more substance. I still do think, even though I hardly have time (or peace and quiet) for that anymore.

Our Animal Friends . . . tres charmant!

Now that Darlybird shipping is outsourced, I may have a bit more time on my hands; which means I may be able to update my blog a bit more frequently. There are a lot of things swirling around in my head right now, but I'm not really wanting to hash them out just yet. So I'll just tell you about one of my favorite children's books of all time.

A few years ago, an unexpected package arrived on my doorstep. (Those are the best kind.) It was addressed to Miss Leah. She was thrilled beyond measure, and opened it up right away. Inside was a book----one that I had never heard of, but have since grown to cherish as an all-time favorite: Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen.

Basically plotless, it is a charming slice of country and farm life~ makes me want to shun suburbia and move to some acreage so I can have all sorts of animals with amazing personalities. The narrators obviously love these animals---and I do, too, after reading about their antics. The illustrations are delightful as well. When it's time to read to my kids, I often reach for this book because I love it as much as they do.

If I were you, I'd pick up a copy tout de suite. Maybe you could get two and unexpectedly send one to a deserving child. Enjoy!

*Thanks be to beccalecca for sharing her love of this book with us.

Phoeb-a-Roni and Cheese is 1!!!

Phoebe turned one while on our trip down south. So we celebrated a week late. Thanks to Rubyellen of mycakies for the adorable wool felt crown.

So Cal

Jon had a conference at the Hotel Del Coronado is San Diego. In usual fashion, I said, "You ain't leavin' me behind.....or for that matter, the three munchkins." So, a trip to Disneyland was in order (I forgot my camera at the hotel....oops!), a few days at the Del, Ph's 1st birthday, a great night and morning with old friends, and a quick stop back at Grandma Jane's to break up the drive home and say a quick hello to some of the Clovis contingency. It was a fun week, but 4 different beds in 5 nights is a little harrowing with 3 kidlets. Some of the highlights included the new Children's Museum in San Diego. I wish we could just move in . . . Port-a-Party (port-a-potty turned into a miniature disco room), Pillow Fight Room---with silk-screened pillows that look like real tires, making "flowers" out of junk toys, tent city, painting a real VW BUg, ahhhh....maybe we need to move to SD.

Shenanigans

After the Valentine Party had ended, we couldn't find Esther and her compadre, C. After a quick and fruitless search, we checked the van. They had locked themselves inside and obliterated one of my favorite MAC lipsticks. Shucks. But they were pretty cute and totally excited.

Valentine Cafe---Feb 14, 2009

We

We decided to be festive at the last minute. We invited neighbors and friends for heart-shaped lunches. Dad were the waiters and kids picked off a menu! (Let's not get too excited: heart-shaped jam sandwiches, heart-shaped turkey slices, fruit cups, sparkly juice, and cupcakes.) Jon's mustache was a nice touch. My thrift-store Square Dancing blouse came in handy for the 2nd time in my life. I knew it was worth it! My pink and red striped socks also got their cost-per-wearing down. It was a fun celebration.

A Little Monday Inspiration

My Jonnie gave me his alarm clock yesterday after I threatened to buy my own . . . my cell phone chime isn't cutting it these days. [Jon is an anti-consumer. I own a shop full of whimsical nothings and everythings that appeal to the consumer in some of us. But that's beside the point. If I really want something he has, I just threaten to buy my own. Then it's mine.] He set the alarm to 6:00. Yep. And so, post-snoozes at 6:30, I got up and got my "magic" shoes on (thanks for the memories, beccalecca). Hit the treadmill. What the? It seems too good to be true? Or is it your daily routine already? Well, it hasn't been mine. I have settled into the fog of not exercising regularly since my Phoeberoni-and-What-Not was born, yes, 18 days shy of a year ago.

To make it even better, I read the Ensign. And even more amazingly, I wasn't bored. I totally enjoyed it. And here's a little tid-bit I re-came across, even for you who have or want nothing to do with my religion:

COME WHAT MAY, AND LOVE IT!

If you click on the link, you'll get the full text of what I'm talking about. If you don't click on the link, you've still got a motivational motto for your Monday. I've already said it about 7 times to myself this morning, and it's kind of working.


In other news:

Darlybird's got a little bag of surprises for you. Deep discounts for all you loyalists.

Darlyblog's got a giveaway x 4 --- and there is no statute of limitations that says that friends and relatives of the owners can't win. So there. Sign up.

May you LOVE what comes your way today.

A last minute idea . . . .

We made Hope Lists for Obama before we toasted him. Leah read them out loud and we guessed who wrote what. Lots of great hopes. Among my favorites: "I hope Obama finds Osama." Good job, Jason.

Our Hopes

Here's Leah's hope paper for Obama. Earlier in the day she made a rough draft that included things like, "be onist," "be peesful" . . . from the mouths of babes.

Obama Girls

These girls were so adorable at our Obama party.

Yes, we did!

Hey, who's that girl swinging next to me?

Phoebe couldn't get over her shadow the other day. I can't get over how cute she is.

I'm kooky and feisty

You don't say?

I love this look; her expression seems like she's just been told a juicy bit of gossip. And who could resist her velveteen ruffle tank? Found at my favorite thrift store.....embroidered with none other than birdies.

oh me, oh my! look at those eyes!

I'll bet Marie Antoinette didn't have slippers this cute....

Precious Phoebe pheet (ha!) in sweet slippers.

1, 2, 3, 4

Despite our moments of grief over this girl, she's one in a trillion. I love my sweet darling Esther.

Classic

I adore this shot of Sibi and Esther. They were with a babysitter while I was working and came and found me. They had used every single hairclip and jewel in the girls' possession and went on a walk afterward. The picture actually doesn't do it justice.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Friends at Dusk

E, S, S, L, and W scrambled up a 50-ft boulder hill. Triumphant!

The Year Of

I've had an "essay" brewing in my head for some time now. They come more slowly these days, fewer and farther between. I think the English teacher in me has been waiting for a stretch of time when I could flush out a thesis statement, make eased transitions, draw weighty conclusions. But life these days is anything but tidy, organized, thesis-able.

I've come through an interesting time, a time of sometimes-crisis, sometimes-chaos, sometimes "I'm going to bomb everyone and everything in my life," and sometimes-normal. Don't think I think I'm special: I realize everyone has stretches like these. It's just that I'm realizing it and writing about it now. The funny thing is that I don't really know it's happening until the crisis is upon me full-throttle and I'm at a breaking point. I'm only 32 and I think I've had 8 nervous breakdowns already. One of which happened about 10 minutes ago. (Over-exaggeration duly noted.) But that's a different topic sentence for a different "essay".

I have decided that 2009 is going to be my year of BALANCE. My body is out of whack with my mind, and my mind is out of whack with my body, my jaw is locked (literally, thanks to a case of stress-induced night clenching and TMJ), I've got a skunk patch in my hair, which some have actually told me is, dare I say, "sexy." The verdict is out on that one. I haven't had time to dye it recently, but maybe that's just an excuse for trying on my reality. Maybe I'll like being a skunk. {Or better yet, a sexy skunk. Yikes. I can't believe I just wrote that.}

So how am I going to achieve said balance?

It basically is a simple solution, but gets complex in the execution. I'm going to (as Oprah has decreed this week ***ASIDE: I do not watch Oprah usually. Not because I'm an elitist, but because I don't have time. And I don't want to sit around at 4:00 watching her pontificate while my 3 birdies are listening to every word. They don't need to know about weight issues, world peace, finding Zen, and what products they can't live without. But this week, I've Tivo-ed it and have been watching snippet by snippet, interested that her journey is strangely paralleling my own.) That was a long ASIDE. So back to the last sentence. I'm going to "put myself back onto my own TO DO list." Or something like that. I'm going to evaluate the things that really matter and earnestly seek to be deliberate in my decisions.

What does that mean?

So far, it means that I'm going to be
1) outsourcing the packaging and shipping of Darlybird orders. It has been a significant source of stress in my life, one that I finally realized is not worth it. I realize my folksy customer service is part of the charm of Darlybird, but have also realized that my family and my sanity are more important than a bit of folksy charm or a free bobby pin tucked into a package.
2) eating right. I am a self-proclaimed dessertaholic. I'm trying not to bake anything, lest I eat half of a batch immediately. I'm back to planning menus 10 days in advance. Want to see some of them? They're at harmonyfoodies.blogspot.com. Tonight we're following my older sister's lead with pizza and a movie night---I'm even using Darlybird tickets for my kids to "buy" their movie snacks with. They LOVE that. My dough is rising.
3) Exercising. I've taken a couple of short walks this week; nothing too much. But as soon as I kick this hideous cold, I'm going to be pounding the pavement. I'm looking my butt and belly in the mirror and deciding that I deserve better (aka "less"). I want to be healthy. I want to run.
More on Schutz Infirmities of the Flesh in a future essay.
4)Painting and clipping my toenails tonight. Literally. I think my toenails are an indicator of my level of self-desertion. I've got some work to do.
5) Loving my kids for who they are, trying to figure out how I can help them grow into who they want to become, and enjoying each other along the way.
6) Putting Jonnie back in the top spot. Phoebe has bumped him out this year, but that chica's gonna have to spread her wings and fly into her own room asap. Bye bye, chicalacca!
7) Keep a prayer in my heart always. I am spiritual---and religious---but the spiritual part is my core. I find prayer to be the most grounding, hopeful, and deliberate of yearnings....

More later. My dough needs to be rolled, cheese grated, sauce made. And Phoebe bird is waking from her nap.

Happy 2009!