Going Under Again

It's another one of "those weeks." Big craft show Saturday. 1000 projects started. Gigantic mess in my craft room (aka secret lab)... too much to do, not enough time to get it all done... time to work feverishly every spare second I have... only to find that on Saturday, no one will come to the show. That seems to be the normal manner of things, at least in my experience- I don't really like all the sitting around. BUT, the upside is that I have made some really AWESOME things in the process of preparing for this show and the ones I've done before, and they look really great!! With or without great craft show success, my little business is blooming. And that makes me happy because I cherish the hours spent in that little room letting my long-suppressed artistic self run wild.

I made these today, and they made me feel happy. I think I would put them in my hair if I was wearing something that matched. :) And that's kinda what I'm going for. Some styles that can cross over between big girls and mamas. :)

Fun, and Not So Fun

Yesterday our flight didn't leave out of Jacksonville (about 2.5 hours south of Nana and Papa's house) until about 4pm and the whole crew was up early due to the time change, so we busted out in the morning for a quick hour at the beach before cooping up the kids for the long journey home.  It was the best part of the whole day- and would have been the best part even of a much better day than one spent in airports, planes, and cars! The weather was beautiful, and the ocean is so magical and wonderful. 

There's just something about the ocean that brings out the child in me. I took a few pictures of Carolyn dancing in the shallow water and playing in the waves... but then I just joined her and had a ball looking like a nutcase. :)

The water was really quite warm for November, and the sand was so soft... and my girls are so beautiful that they take my breath away sometimes.

Nana and Nora had a lovely time playing in the sand.

Later I brought Nora a bucket of bubbles I caught on the surface of the water... possibly pollution (hopefully not!)- but I thought they were just the product of the waves on the shoreline and the tide coming in... guess time will tell... but we washed her hands pretty thoroughly after we were done, and she really did have a wonderful time playing in the bubbles.

Her toddler enthusiasm and wonder is so fun to watch!

It took me several shots to catch this look on her face, but I'm glad she did- every time she reached into the bucket for more bubbles, she made this "oohhhhh!" face!

Finally it was time to go (if anyone knows how to photoshop the lady in the background out, let me know! the picture would look so much prettier without her)- it was a good thing I brought some more clothes for the girls! They were all wet!

After a much-enjoyed lunch from Chik Fil A, it was almost time to go, but I fulfilled my promise to Carolyn and we went out to the dock to look at the water at high tide. I like this picture of my 3 favorite people all peering over the edge of the dock. Thankfully, no one fell in. :)

Then it was time to go. We drove to Jacksonville and boarded our flight to Baltimore, where we ended up sitting for over 5 hours waiting for a late connection. Thankfully, they had a Potbelly's!

We made a huge mess devouring our dinner... well, some of us ate.

Carolyn enjoyed her PBJ sandwich (minus the J)

Nora was too busy working on the three poopy diapers she had in the span of time we were at the airport! Even with as much as I overpack for trips like this, we were down to just one more diaper after the final one! 

The rest of the evening wasn't really picture worthy (if indeed you can even say that the first part of it was!) Our flight kept getting delayed and moved... we camped out at the gate and thanked goodness for the laptop and the DVDs we brought. I tried to walk Nora around in the stroller but due to Poopy #3 never did get her to go to sleep. Finally at nearly 11pm they drifted off once the plane got in the air. We finally got home exhausted after 1am. Today it was SO GOOD to be home! Even in my messy house and too many loads of laundry to keep up with and all the CLUTTER CLUTTER CLUTTER. I happily worked on orders all afternoon, and I'm actually looking forward to my next craft show on Saturday. :) 

And now I have officially finished blogging my trip. If you want to see more pics, you can see my Facebook album. :)

Porch Pictures

Lighting in our other series of pictures being a bit brighter than ideal, with the consequently shadowed faces, we decided we needed to attempt a retake of the family portrait. The Porch had the best light, we thought, so that's where we did it. Overall, a success... though not in every picture. :)

Doug, Katy, Emily, and Jake. A cute picture. I believe this is when the adults started to do the chicken dance behind the camera.

Our little family. The Chicken Dance had evidently become somewhat less funny at this point.

Nana and Papa and the Grands.

Beloved Uncle Kerry with the nieces and nephew. He's amazing. Never had the chance to be a dad, he has doted on his nephews, and now their children. This time Uncle Kerry brought the brand new Knuffle Bunny Free (the third in the wonderful Knuffle Bunny series) book for the big girls- along with their very own KNUFFLE BUNNIES! The little guys got a sock monkey and accompanying book- which was just perfect for Nora, who LOOOOOVES all things "monkey." Even as wretched as she has been feeling at moments the past couple days, she is still thrilled with her monkey, and even allows it to share the bed with her and the "ooo-ey" (Lovey).

The cousins. They got along amazingly well. Carolyn and Emily seem to have the kind of friendship that is immediately struck up anew even after long absences. They played together so well the whole time we were here. I felt like I hardly saw Carolyn all weekend, she was so happy and busy playing with Emily! Jake and Nora don't share too many of the same interests (he is all about TRUCKS), but they managed to play nicely together also.

Great time had by all. Never seems like long enough when we do it, and always seems like too long until the next time we'll all be together again. But it really was a great time. :) Thanks Nana and Papa for being married for 40 years so we have an excuse to do this!! It's a great reason to celebrate. :)

Beach, Etc.

We went to the beach yesterday. It was a bit chilly, but we had a good time all the same. Kind of I like this picture of Nora headed down to the beach following Carolyn, Emily and Daddy. She's such a little thing and wants so badly to keep up with all the bigger people around her!! :)

Nora and Jake got such a kick out of Brad jumping over them. :)

I've always loved the ocean- the waves, the sand, the seashells, and the birds. Well, maybe not crowds of seagulls... but a few of them at a time are all right- and I LOVE the little sandpipers that move their feet so fast along the sand! 

I thought Jake looked so cute wearing his big sister's fleece. He's such a sweet little guy! I so wish he knew me better!!

Carolyn and Emily played in the sand most of the time. They didn't want to look at the camera, but I told them there was a spider on my shoulder and the fib (well, I guess it was a fib...) caught their attention enough to get them to look up and confirm for posterity that yes, they do both have eyes. :)

I really like this picture of the both of them that somehow (magically?) ended up in focus even though all I did was point the camera in the direction they were coming! Kids have such tremendous, wonderful energy. It's fun to see them run and play! Especially outside...

Self-portrait... still my best friend. :) It's been really nice this weekend for him to step away from all the stresses of work and just "life stuff" and escape with me. :) I like seeing him have fun with the family. There's something really special about seeing him with the people who have loved him longest and with whom he can be free in a way you only are around those who had no choice but to have you in their lives... but chose to love you anyway. :)

Nora's been a bit fragile since we've been here. Overall, she seems to have had a good time, but it really doesn't take much to push her over the edge into a meltdown. We haven't been sleeping a whole lot the past couple nights because we think she has an ear infection. Boo. :( The circumstances and symptoms fit, so being that we have 2 doctors in the house... we cheated and called in the antibiotics and bypassed urgent care... hopefully she really does just have a (hopefully resolving) ear infection and nothing worse! She has seemed to feel better today, other than being incredibly overtired from the short nights and restless sleep... so we'll see how tonight goes. :)

Next door to Nana and Papa's house is a house-in-progress! There's a big digger truck out there, and Jake is FASCINATED by trucks. It has been a highlight of his trip to get to visit the truck. Nora and Nana joined along yesterday.

A fun time was had by all

The Guys (minus Jake) have had a wonderful time reconnecting. They played golf today and a good time was had by all.

Nora was in pretty rough shape last night, running a fever, and feeling just generally lousy. Laying down seems to make her ears feel worse, so she was up every couple hours last night, just crying, though there wasn't really much we could do about it. Poor kid. I hope tonight is better!

This is what we call the "Irving TV Stare." It persists into adulthood. :)

This photo has nothing to do with the rest except to say that isn't my nephew cute?!'

This morning we took the only child who was willing (aka who didn't have the choice) out to the dock to look at the water at high tide. She liked walking on the boardwalk and making sounds with her feet, and she liked leaning over the edge to see what was down there. :)

And I like this picture of her. :)

And that is the end of my post, though not the end of my pictures. :) More tomorrow, but signing off for tonight. ;)

Family

A friend of Nana and Papa's came today and took some pictures of our family. :) It's tough to get 4 small children to look at the camera- much less actually smile! But we captured the moment, I think. I am so blessed by all of these people. It's really fun being together, and always makes me wish that it could be more often.

Carolyn and Emily have gotten along amazingly well. They both seem to just click with each other and love playing together. I'm so happy that they have each other. Just 10 weeks apart, and they are into all the same stuff and have had a ball playing princess and dressup and hide and scream games. :)

Nora and Jake have gotten along well too, for toddlers. They're not really interested in the same things (Jake is all about TRUCKS, CARS, AND TRAINS) and Nora pretty much just wants whatever her sister has- and of course, to be within sight of the Lovey at all times (her security object).

I'm grateful to have captured this moment in our family's history. No matter when or even "if" God blesses us with another face in pictures like these- a family is an ever changing, ever growing thing, and the days are like jeweled beads on a string, each one slipping off, never to return again. Even though we had to bribe the girls with Smarties and even though no one's exactly smiling and looking at the camera... this is "us." Our family of four- such abundant blessing and joy.

Of course tonight may not be so joyful... we think Nora has an ear infection... it's sort of her MO whenever we fly anywhere. She's already sort of prone to them, and the pressure changes in the airplane tend to bring them on. She's been super fussy and a bit feverish this afternoon, so now she's taking some amoxicillin and we're hoping it clears up. But undoubtedly it will be a disrupted night of sleep tonight, so I'd better go take advantage of the rare quiet moment! Good night!

Here We Are

It's been a crazy week or so trying to get ready for this trip (hence, poor blog regularity lately)- getting the laundry done and suitcases packed, finishing and fixing and mailing (some internationally!) at least 6 orders that needed to go out before we left. And it was a LOOONG day today waking up to Nora's crying at 3:30am and just staying up because we were planning to be up at four. Our flight left at 6:15, flew through Baltimore where we spent a couple hours with a pair of overtired kids... then connected in Jacksonville, where Nana and Papa were waiting for us! There just happens to be a great Chik Fil A not far from the airport, so we got to eat lunch before tackling the 2 hour drive to their house. But... WE ARE HERE! It was a bit rainy outside this afternoon, and for awhile we just enjoyed sitting on the porch watching this egret find its supper.

Nora liked sitting in the rocking chairs.

Papa helped Nora hold the binoculars to try to see the bird. I'm not sure it ever quite worked, but she had a fun time all the same. :)

We are excited about being here! Now Doug and Katy and Emily and Jake are here and Uncle Kerry comes tomorrow. It's so great to be together. :)

Day of Dental Reckoning

Well, I didn't even bother to blog yesterday because it was not the funnest day... I had to start out by going to the dentist in the morning for 3 which turned out to be 4 fillings. I have lived in dread of the dentist since the one other filling I had when I was 15. Despite the "laughing gas" I recall the experience as being quite harrowing. I was hoping they would give me something like I got when I had my wisdom teeth out or when I had my D&Cs where you just get to "skip" the whole experience... and despite my attempts to secure more a more reliable form of anesthesia, I ended up mistakenly telling Brad to see patients during my appointment time, so I had no driver, and had to keep the sleepy pills at home and go all by myself. :( I was so scared I burst into tears in that horrible chair waiting for the scary dentist to come in. He's not an especially warm and fuzzy person- his best recommendation is that he is a preferred provider on our very restrictive dental insurance. But when he saw me sobbing in the chair, he did thaw out a bit, and talked me through the experience and although there was just nothing fun about any of it- not in the chair, not the drilling, not the scraping or filing or whatever that was, not the smell of destroyed tooth, not walking out of the building with my face twice as big as it should be, not talking to the other moms picking up preschoolers at school, not having to cancel lunch with friends because it was so uncomfortable to try to speak, not being so thirsty I wanted to guzzle water but couldn't find the right place on my face to put it so I could drink it. But... I did survive. My face is back to normal now, my mouth hurts only a little bit, and I can eat just about normally. But I never want to go through that again. Yuck.

But... on the upside...

I put this together for Nora, and it pleased me so much. :) I am reaching some new territory with my fledgling business... starting to realize that I cannot do it all alone- that as brilliant (ha!) or creative or crazy or whatever I am, I am still only and ever just one person. And the many other wonderful things in my life that fill nearly all of me with my consuming role as their mother, wife, cookie baker, clutter creator and container, etc-  all have their rightful share... And so what's left at the end that I can give to the creations that I'm so passionate and excited about... is just not enough to go around. I am so thankful for some new friends, including a friend named Trish, who crochets these butterflies (and some other things I'm going to unveil soon) with the love and attention to detail that I would if I had a clone. It's actually even better than having a clone of myself because I not only get to have her hard work doing something that looks amazing and fits in with all my other stuff so well- I get the indefinable element of her own passion and art and creativity.  She adds such a dimension to My Little Pixies, and I'm so glad I found her, and these butterflies, that make me happy.