On my mind... Springtime 2013

 

The peonies are in bloom in our yard. This crazy Colorado spring we've had this year means that we only got one lilac bloom out of our two huge bushes. But my peonies are blooming!

The other day I stepped outside and I felt the fires that have been burning tens or hundreds of miles away. The Black Forest. The Royal Gorge. La Veta. The sunshine on the ground was that awful hue of orange, the air made it feel like the world was one big campsite, smokey and hot. It's very unsettling to this native Coloradan.

We caught a second swarm of bees last week, thanks to my husband! He found them in downtown Denver, at the bottom of a skyscraper at 18th & Champa. What are the chances? They are hived and appear to be doing great. Still, our bees won't fare very well this year if they don't get any nectar, and they won't get much nectar is there isn't any rain. Pray for rain for poor Colorado, we're burning to the ground. Our bees are in a dearth and our land is scorched. People have lost homes, hundreds of people.

 

We have a nice enough little home in a lovely neighborhood, and I take it for granted. I do.

During the school year the parents of the kids at the elementary school across the street drive me batty. Justin and I have agreed that when we go home shopping {hopefully sometime next year} that we will not buy a house within 1 block of an elementary school. 

The pick-up time coincides with naptime at our house, and the pick-up takes place right in front of our house for some reason, despite the school's entrance being on the other side of the block. At 3:45 p.m. every day they park in front of our house and proceed to set off car alarms, yell at their kids, honk their horns, let their kids "practice" their lack of trumpet skills, and basically just be as noisy as possible. I'm a city girl. Noise doesn't bother me, I love having people around...unless my ginger child is napping and then my hair goes a little more gray every time someone makes a noise that could wake her up prematurely. When you have a wild ginger for a middle child, you need that naptime.

You'd think the weekends would offer a sweet break, but no. My kids still nap and the parents still bring their kids around to practice lacrosse by setting up a giant tarp and hitting a ball against it every 2 seconds for an hour.

This doesn't seem like a big deal, I know. Look, I'm always happy to see a parent and child spend quality time together. BUT, the noise bounces off the school building and echoes to our house and it sounds exactly like a giant firework display booming every. two. seconds. until they decide she's had enough practice, pack up their stuff and leave.

OR, if it's not the lacrosse kid, it's the college students from another country who practice right outside my house, kicking balls into our yard occasionally. I can tell they're foreigners because I can't understand a word they say scream...except the swear words, which they choose to express in perfect, clear English whenever they miss a goal. Awesome.

Last summer we were given no respite because the city decided to do construction on the entire school yard. So construction vehicles were right outside our house all summer. But not this year! School is out and it's quiet, except, well...

The ice cream truck lady is my archenemy. 

She's baaaaack! How could I have forgotten her?

The other day she saw us out in our yard and she stopped her truck and asked my kids if they wanted ice cream. Who does that??? Um, disturbingly zealous ice cream truck drivers apparently, and pedophiles, that's who.

I was right there, of course, and said, "No thanks! If we wanted one of your extortionary $10 popsicles we'd flag you down ourselves like tradition dictates. No need to trouble yourself by stopping your truck and acting like a creep toward my children." Okay, so maybe I just said those first two words.

As she drove off I then had to explain to my daughter why she couldn't have the ice cream that lady had offered. Thanks a lot, lady!

One time, when Violet was a napping baby, the ice cream truck decided to park itself for lunch. Right outside our house. With the music running. I sent Justin out to threaten them ask them to move, they did, but I think it's made us a target of their obnoxiousness ever since. This is like something out of a Seinfeld episode, but I swear, the ice cream truck lady hates us. They want to make us pay, be it a $10 popsicle or a lost nap.

 

So I've hit the one month mark. 4 weeks from today, my c-section is scheduled! I'm officially 9 months pregnant. This means I'm having a hard time doing anything these days. I hit this wall during the third trimester. Like, I'm done. But I'm not done yet, not until July 12.

"I'm never doing this again, you hear me?" I've said to Justin a few times this past week.

"Okay, honey." 

Except I have to admit, that's third trimester talk. Will we have another? Pssh! No! Who knows? All I know is: now is really not the time to ask me for an accurate answer to that question. We will know more when we're well into being the parents of three, whether or not we'd ever welcome another. Because hey, once you break the two-kid rule American society has, you're crazy enough to go to five, or six...or twenty! Right?

These days, you announce #3 is on the way and people give you looks, they wonder about your sanity, they ask, "When are you going to stop?" 

But third trimester talk says no more kids. Also, just don't listen to me right after this baby is born because then I sound completely different. Holding that newborn baby in my arms, marveling over him. You're bound to hear me say...

"I want at least five more!" 

And Justin will say,

"Okay, honey." 

Yeah. Don't listen to postpartum baby love talk either. Basically, for the next three months or so, everything I say could be a lie. I blame hormones.

 

Speaking of hormones...

You know the classic story of the teenager who's parents are going out of town and so she quietly plans a small party she shouldn't be throwing? Except the whole school finds out and shows up and gets drunk and trashes her house and the daughter gets in mega trouble?

{This doesn't just happen in movies, it actually happened to one of Justin's wealthy clients recently. So they had Justin install a new system of security cameras all over their estate. The things that put food on our table, I'll tell you what...}

Anyway, that scenario is basically the same thing as what happens when a pregnant lady shows up to pull weeds in the evening at a garden next to the Highline Canal...where 5 trillion mosquitoes just hatched over the stagnant water.

Yep. Party at my body! Somebody brought the estrogen! 

The last three nights I have been eaten alive. It makes me furious. I leave the church garden with my family, in the most foul of moods, scratching my ankles, my back, even my derriere, until I'm raw and sometimes bleeding.

Last night I coated myself in this natural bug repellent, but to no avail. I'm 9 months pregnant, I don't want to use DEET. But at this point, I'm feeling I might have no other choice. Because at the rate I'm being bitten, even after bathing in natural mosquito repellent, I will get West Nile Virus. It's only a matter of time...

I think I'm extra allergic to mosquito bites too, because Justin says he gets bit but they don't bother him because they don't itch.

"I just don't scratch it and it doesn't itch. That's what you should do, just don't scratch it," he says.

And I look at him, whilst scratching one of my twenty bleeding bites, some in unholy places because who would think to spray mosquito repellant there, and I imagine hitting him over the head with a garden shovel. {Loooove yoooou honey!}

My last try, before resorting to the DEET, is going to be this product. Wish me luck. Last night I dug the Benedryl No Itch Cream out of the medicine cabinet and asked my husband to put it on my ankle, because I can't bend over his baby to do it  myself.

 

Four more weeks...

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Look at me, I got something done!

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum

I've been meaning to share a few (haha, few) photos from our visit to the Littleton History Museum a couple weeks ago.

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is that it's FREE. So we always find ourselves there on a whim, like last week when we just decided to drop by after visiting a nearby thrift store. Unfortunately for me, this means that I only had my cell phone to take photos with.

Sadly, yes, these are all cell phone pictures. {I need to be like Jan and get a camera bag purse so that I'm never without my Nikon.}

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is how close you can get to all the animals. Look at deese bebe sheeps!

 

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is this guy:

Eisley's at this cute stage where she likes to strike a pose for photos.

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is these cuddling pigs. The girls have recently been into the movie Babe, so this was pretty exciting, as you can imagine.

Look at this guy couldn't even get up for a picture with us. What an ass.

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is that they keep bees in their apple orchard. This place is reeeal purty when summertime arrives.

The best part about the Littleton History Museum is that you can explore freely the two houses they have, as well as an old school house, an ice house, and several barns and sheds.

Doesn't this look straight out of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book?

Across the museum is a home modeled after a later date. This was an actual original home from those times in Littleton.

The best part is that you can walk right in...

...and pet their cat. They have cats all over this museum. And some peacocks. And a lake full of water fowl, with a gorgeous bridge and gazebo made of trees overlooking the shady lake. I didn't get any photos of all that though. BUT, I did get a photo of this cat!

I could live here. I've always wanted to hang my wall things this way.

Since I'm the photographer taker of the pictures in this family, I never show up in these posts. So, here I am!

 

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is that most days they have actors people who've time traveled from the past into the future to walk around the park and engage with you.

I could live here, yes, but I'd remodel the kitchen for sure. The stove is fine, but that light fixture must go.

They have props everywhere, even a pantry full of items that an early 1900's pantry would have. {You know, like Sanka and Tang and snuff boxes.}

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is the gorgeous wall paper in the kitchen!!! I want to cover my whole house with this.

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is the real working blacksmith.

 

He was doing a demonstration on how metal has to get hot before it can be bent or formed. We sneaked in the back and acted like we were with this group of 5th grade boys.

And then I sneaked out of the blacksmith's shop and called one of those cats over. Crazy cat lady here! And the cats know it, she came right to me and we had a moment of purrs and cuddles...

...that is, until Violet discovered us and chased the cat into the nearby bushes. I had to call Justin to help get her out because--call me lazy if you must--I'm not into climbing into bushes when I'm 8 months pregnant. There are baby feet wedged in my lungs right now, see? {Look how the cat passive aggressively sits just beyond Violet's reach? I love cats for their quiet, snarky sass.}

Meanwhile, Eisley made herself comfortable right alongside the 5th grade boys and enjoyed the demonstration. She was really excited about blacksmithing. Too bad she wasn't born 100+ years ago, or I'd say she'd just found herself a calling.

 

The best thing about the Littleton History Museum is the giant trees that invite you to climb.

And finally, the best thing about the Littleton History Museum is their cute little gift shop, filled with all sorts of Colorado books for children and pioneer stuff. They also have an art exhibit and a historical exhibit inside the museum building as well.

If you find yourself in Littleton anytime soon, check out the Littleton History Museum! Because the best thing about it is, it's free. {And I'm only showing you about 50% of the entire place in this post.}

 

Learn about visiting the Littleton Museum of History right here.

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Also, this week over at Lark & Lola:

Pyrex & Succulent planters! You know you want one. 

Home Tour Today!

One of my sweet "Texas friends", Lauren, connected me with  Heather at Life Made Lovely several weeks ago. Her blog is awesome because she features home tours of other blogger's homes. When Heather emailed me asking me to participate in her Home Made Lovely series, I was like, "Really???" But of course, I agreed!

So go check out my "Home Made Lovely" today at her blog!

Then check out all the other home tours. 

If you're like me, you love seeing inside other people's homes and getting a glimpse of what they've done with their space and who they really are, as reflected in their decorating.

Happy Friday!

Heather

A May Day...one of those days

WARNING: This post is sort of gross, and includes the word "poop". 

This morning I woke up to the following words, said by my oldest daughter to my youngest daughter:

"It's a poop lizard! Don't touch it, it's hot."

Justin had to leave for work an hour early this morning because he had a day full of walkthroughs all over the city. The girls are getting up early these days, in part because Violet has a toddler bed now and she can get herself up. (Joy.) Everyone was up but me. He had set them up with breakfast at the table, said goodbye to me, and left.

So I was still in bed, going through my slow waking up process {not a morning person}. I knew I had to get up and supervise the children and start our day, and I could hear the girls in the hallway, right outside our bedroom.

Eisley kept saying over and over, "It's a poop lizard." Violet was babbling.

First, in my morning haze I registered the word poop and made a mental note to have a talk with her about using polite language.

But she kept saying it...

Then, suddenly I found myself wondering what the lizard part was all about. Was there a lizard in the house? {We don't even have lizards around these parts.} Why were they hanging out in the hallway? Obviously something had caught their interest...and Eisley was calling it a "poop lizard"???

That's when she said to her sister, "Don't touch it, it's hot."

Hot. Poop. Lizard. Not a good combination of words.

So, you can imagine, in my early morning state, where my mind is still half-dreaming, what was going on in my head while trying to make sense of their conversation.

But suddenly I was very awake, nothing like hearing your kids chat about a poop lizard in the hallway to snap you out of your sleep, I popped out of bed and headed for the hallway.

"Look mom, it's a poop lizard," Eisley said as she pointed to something gross looking on the hallway floor.

I had to get closer to inspect it, but it turned out to be a scrap of yarn from my crocheting. However, apparently a cat had eaten it, and decided it wasn't worth digesting, so it came back up onto the floor only to look disgusting and be named a "Poop Lizard" by my children.

Gross cats! But crisis averted. Much worse scenarios had gone through my head when I first heard the words "poop lizard, it's hot."

Yes, it could have been much worse, though it was already clear, it was going to be one of those days.

I cleaned it up, the poop lizard, washed my hands and headed for the kitchen only to find this:

That's Violet, somehow on the other side of the baby gate we use to keep her out of the kitchen and laundry room where the cat box resides. She had three of our 36 tomato plants in her hands, but she tossed them on the floor when she saw me coming and looked at me innocently as if to say, "It wasn't me."

Yep. One of those days...

So, naturally, I got them out of the house. "One of those days" is not a day to keep your kids in the house, you see. Messes and anger will only amount. You must get out of the house, so that's what we did.





Happy Friday.

Cheers,
Heather 

Happy Homemaker Monday 4/29/13

I found some lovely blogs this week, and decided to join in on this series. It gives me something to post about on Mondays, so why not? If you have a blog, you should join in.

The weather...

Ugh...the weather. Denver is all over the place, especially this time of year. We're getting sunburns in the garden and using the A/C in the car today. Wednesday we're expecting 2-4 inches of snow. Such is life in Denver. Look, as a native of Denver I'm used to it, but this year we are anxious for our garden to get going and worried about the frost killing some of our plants so... go away snow!

Right now I am...
Enjoying the cool morning air coming in the windows and listening to my children growl at each other.

Thinking...
That maybe I should really be getting ready for my day rather than writing this post. Nah.

On my reading pile...
Uh, I'm not much of a reader. I have a few unfinished books, but right now what is calling my name {nagging} is the Oriental Trading VBS catalog that I really need to go through and decide what to order.

On my TV...
We recorded Peter Pan for the girls to watch, and they loved it. But our DVR has been shockingly empty as of late, probably due to the fact that Justin decided to cut our satellite bill last month and now we have very basic programming. It's a good thing...though I miss all the Showtime movies and the Science Channel {we loved How It's Made and such}.

Blog Hopping {a newly discovered blog}...
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, the blog that inspired this post. Good pictures, good cooking, lots of family, and some crafting. Everything I like in a blog.

On the menu this week...
Thanks to meal planning, we're looking forward to:
Baked Chicken & Broccoli
Cincinnati Chili {making this for the first time, the recipe intrigues me}
Bourbon Spiced Pork with Sweet Potatoes
A Freezer Meal {Chicken Enchiladas}
Fish Sticks & Fries {I work in what I call a "white trash meal" every week or so, they're easy and kid pleasing}

On my to do list:
Re-organize Pyrex, it's gotten out of control and messy
Get Justin to put up new/thrifted bookshelf in girls room
Work on the spring cleaning list {it's huge}
Homeschool
Plan next week's meals & shopping list

In the craft basket...
Still working on the crocheted blanket for Paxton.

Looking forward to this week...
The first Paris Street Market is Saturday! Justin works Saturdays, but I like to get up extra early and go first thing in the morning just by myself, then I'm back in time to take him to work and Eisley to ballet class. Hope I find some rare Pyrex...

Looking around the house...
Lately, I think it's cleaner than I give myself credit for. Last week my mom stopped by and said, "Your house looks spotless!" But I thought it looked trashed and saw messes everywhere. I think I'm nesting, and I notice every single little mess {plus, I know what is actually going on behind the closed doors of our closets right now, and it ain't pretty} but really it's cleaner than I think of it at least. That should make me feel better, but it doesn't.

From the camera...


On my prayer list...
The weight of the world. I've had a little anxiety lately. About everything.

Bible verse/devotional...
"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." - 1 Peter 5:7-11

Have a lovely week!

Cheers,
Heather

The trouble with boys clothes...

Forgive me for this post...

Turns out, I'm a bit of boys clothes snob. Okay, I'm a lot of a boys clothes snob.

I've never been terribly picky about what my girls wear, though I dislike cartoon character clothes in general {Eisley has one character shirt, Olivia the pig} but most prints that are girly and tasteful are fine by me. Most girly things are cute by nature (i.e. flowers, birds, ice cream cones). Boys stuff? Ick.

I've never cared what I see other little boys wearing, I've never even given it a second thought. But now that I have my own little guy on the way, I think of his blonde hair and blue eyes and his pink cheeks, I just find myself nitpicking what I'll dress him in.

Here's what I'm not into: super heroes, trucks, farm stuff, bugs, monsters, sea creatures, "Daddy's Little ____", "Mommy's Little ____", dogs, robots, airplanes, motorcycles, construction equipment, race cars, baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, etc., etc., etc. Those things just don't say baby to me, and yet 100% of the baby clothes made for boys are covered with these things!

Call me fussy if you like, but I'm also not a big fan of dark colors. We're Swedes, OK?! We don't do well in dark, bold colors. Especially when we're babies!

Part of this, I'm sure, is that I have no brothers or boy cousins. I'm just not used to boy things and never thought of boy things as cute. I've been happy to take the girls stuff so far, flowers and butterflies trump monsters and trucks, they just do. As I've said before, my father is currently my only living male blood relative. Dad has always been well dressed for a guy, a Land's End and J. Crew sort of guy. Masculine, modest, classy, clean cut. No golf polos here or graphic tees that say snarky things. This is all I know.

So given my list of dislikes, about 0.02% of the little boys clothes I see available in stores are acceptable for me to think of dressing my baby in. I'm. A. Total. Boys. Clothes. Snob. It's silly, yes. But it's who I am. I've often referred to myself as "aesthetically sensitive", I'm affected easily by colors and textures and such. I think it's part of what makes me artistically inclined, and also picky. That and, I just don't like boy things okay?!

Well, he will be here in a couple short months, so I've started to buy what I can find.

So Justin teases me that these are unisex onesies, but I adore the aqua and gray colors so when I saw these at Target I had to get them. Seriously, who knows what else I'll be able to find before Paxton comes?

Then there is this vintage, but unused, winter suit I found at a thrift store. Again, Justin says it's a girl color. But I don't care. I thought it was simple and sweet.

Khakis are fine and this pair a friend gave me are cute {as long as there are no pleats, long ago I banned pleats from my house, just ask Justin}. I thrifted the onesie, and the gray hoodie I bought on clearance years ago at Gap, in case we had a boy. Well good, now we can use it.

{And Gap, by the way, has more acceptable boys clothes than any other store. I just don't like the dark colors, but they do baby clothes better than anyone else.}

Then there are sweet little getups like this! Can you believe, I thrifted this for $3 at Savers? And it's very obvious it was never worn or used. On one hand it makes me sad that some little old lady probably spent hours on this, only to gift it at a baby shower and have it donated to a thrift store, unappreciated. On the other hand, my score! I've found a few sweet, vintage & non-vintage baby knits at thift stores and I love them.

Frogs and ducks are cute, these are both from Old Navy, but also thrifted. {Yes, Justin, they're unisex!}

And then there are the blankets...

Okay, the blue and white striped on the left has sparkly yarn so I'll probably be teased by Justin a little more that it's girly. The Circo blanket from Target was on sale; and, if you haven't noticed, all three of our kids have one of these blankets {Viv calls it her night-night} which are their best friends through the baby and toddler years. So he needed one of those.

But I'm also crocheting a little chevron blanket for Paxton. I found the pattern here, it's very easy and turning out so cute! I can't wait to have him here and bundle him up in it.

I also want to crochet him these shoes--aren't these sweet?
Oh, and these boots, darling!

So, I have just a few things for Mr. Pax to wear, I keep it tucked away in the little orange suitcase until he arrives.


So if you think all of that is ridiculous and picky of me, don't even get me started on baptism outfits available for little boys.

Let's see, I can pick from...

1. Little Lord Fauntleroy
2. Angelic Babe Ruth
3. Mini-Pastor
4. Tacky blindingly shiny tuxedo

Hmm...those all are just so tempting. My mom already had a good laugh at me one night when I was looking in horror at the goofy clothes they make for boy's baptisms. She told me I couldn't put him in my gown, which both the girls wore, because it has pink bows on the shoulders and smocking. Whatever, mom.

So, I think in the end I'll go with something simple like this. 

Cheers,

The Horribly Vain & Snobby 
Boy-Mom-To-Be Heather

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This week on Lark & Lola:

Favorite Pizza Crust - a Mellow Mushroom copycat recipe