April 2009

April 12

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

From the Jones' Easter Bunnies!

 

April 21

A year in review... birthday perspective

So yesterday was my 33rd birthday.  We celebrated over the weekend.  Jerry got me family portraits as my birthday present.  I'm really happy with them.  We got the kid's portraits done as well and they also turned out really well.  My actual birthday was okay.  I hung with grouchy kids, went to Costco, and went to the park in the afternoon to hang with Kristie and co.  Kristie's birthday is tomorrow and we are having a joint Bearthday party this weekend to celebrate Earth Day and our birthdays.  I think it will be fun.  Thus far there are about 80+ people coming.  I'm making a rice krispie treat earth and my friend Jenn is making a sheet cake for the earth to sit on.  We will have a craft for the kiddos.  It's at a park, so there will be a playground for the kids to play on and a field for games and whatnot.  We are having a freecycle table for people to give/take what they want to get rid of/find to take home.

Okay on to the review:

This year has been a good one.  I had Grace.  And while we didn't go on a summer vacation, we did get to spend a week in the mountains and celebrate 10 years with friends from WWC.  I feel like I have learned to stop being concerned (as much) about what other people think of me/my parenting.  I have tried to get a thicker skin and not let my feelings get hurt so easy.  I have gone through the emotions of a new mom and learned to try not to let guilt get the best of me.  I have kicked myself for having two kids so close together in age and then turned around and found something like this:

  and realize I wouldn't want to have it any other way.  With the help of Jerry I potty trained Elijah and am SO glad...now onto night training!  I have learned to split my time between the kiddos.  I have found myself becoming more domestic-ish... in cooking and attempting to clean more.  I have found that my heart can indeed hold even more love than I thought.  I have supported Jerry through leaving an undesirable job to one that is MUCH more enjoyable.   I have gained a lot of perspective on what makes a true friend and have vowed to put forth more energy on friendships that will hopefully last, as for the others...I will definitely put the energy out there, but am not going to lose sleep over them.   I definitely get a kick out of the kids.  They are hilarious.  I will not feel bad that Elijah isn't in school, or that he doesn't know every color in the 64 count crayon box, or can't count to 10 without skipping a few numbers, or doesn't know his ABCs from rote memory.  I will take comfort in the fact that my children are happy, laugh easily, have fantastic imaginations, can make up incredible stories, love to play outside, love to pile up on Jerry and me, will sit and listen to stories, then make up their own (well Elijah does...Grace doesn't have enough words yet!) get along with their friends and show genuine concern for them, love to bake cookies, love to make mud pies, love to paint, love to play soccer.  I take comfort that I am a good mother.  This year has taught me that I can handle many things.  That my patience is VERY STRONG, but has a tendency to falter when there have been too many "NOOOOOO!!!!"'s   That I can run after my kids.  That my energy level is dependant on the attitudes of the kids.  I am continuously amazed by Jerry and his willingness to come home after a 8+ hour work day and chill with the kids.  That he will stay up with Grace and her itchiness.  That he will, without (to much) complaint watch over us and endure a horrid job in order to provide for us and make sure we are fed, have insurance, a roof over our heads, and a car to drive. (Now that he's in this new job, we joke that we don't have that much to talk about over dinner anymore!)  I am amazed that he puts up with me and my (occasional) insanity.  Though I shouldn't be.  We will have been married for 9 years next month.  It shouldn't phase me that I got such a GREAT husband.  It shouldn't phase me that he is such a phenomenal dad...but it does.  Maybe this year I will work on being okay with having all this... and feeling like I do deserve it!!

So that's it... for now... another year is starting for me and I think it will be just as good... if not better!

April 25

Signs of Summer?

Today it was 86 degrees.  Not kidding... 86 degrees!!!  Holy monkey!  It was hot!

We had a great time at the Bearth Day Party.  I only took 4 pics and three were of the cake!  I can't believe it!  But hopefully, Kristie & Co. got more and she'll share.  Anyway, here are a couple I took!

We are the few (to be explained in a later post!)

This is the cake...well, cakes... My friend Jenn made the sheet cakes.  There were FOUR different flavors.  I made the rice krispie treat Earth (with fruit roll up continents.)  It had some earthquake issues with the humidity, but hey... it's all about taste right?

Friday I realized that the heat was coming and we have no pool... sigh... so the kids and I went out and got one:

It's HUGE!  Has a pump and everything!  Pretty exciting thing! Of course, Elijah is completely scared of it... Alas, this too shall pass....probably tomorrow!

Our garden is starting to come along.  I realized that I planted the spinach WAY to late, so I hoed it under and planted cucumbers in its place.  Our okra, green beans, and carrots are coming up.  And our peas are going hog wild!  We will fill the second garden tomorrow and I will plant tomatoes, green peppers, corn, and squash.  WAHOO!

We went strawberry picking on Wednesday.  While there I purchased 2 new blueberry bushes that were already loaded with blueberries, albeit green, but they will turn blue.  Planted them on Friday near our other two.  I'm hoping to have some yummy blueberries when we get back from vacation.

We have been spending lots of time outside.  I think that one of the best purchases we have made is the swing set!  The kids love it!  Elijah climbs all over it and it expands his imagination...not to mention improves his already great balance!  Grace LOVES to swing.  This child is crazy about going high.  She'll giggle and laugh.  My only wish is that we had more shade in the morning.  The swings and the slide can get rather hot.  But for the afternoon, it's perfectly in the shade!  I moved the little picnic table (which Grace has decided is her Everest and climbs EVERY chance she gets...sigh) over near the swing set so we can have snacks and drinks right there.  It's close to perfect!

And finally... a sign that summer is indeed on the way?  ICE POPS!!!  I love a good ice pop.  Be it the ones you buy in the store that are really just frozen kool-aid or homemade from juice...you just can't beat it on a hot day!  I like to make them out of V8 Fusion.  It's 100% juice and it have veggies and fruit and comes in yummy, perfect for ice pops flavors.  The kids LOVE them too!!!

So here's to summer... bring it on!!!

April 27

The few

Over the past year I have made a couple of very good friends.  Kristie and Katie.  We started hanging out due to some unpleasantness that happened over a year ago.  This past summer we instigated Wednesday Friendsday.  We have been hanging out almost every Wednesday.  I feel very much that I am surrounded by kindred spirits with them.

A few weeks ago Katie's husband played for Wilmington's Country Idol.  While he is not a country singer, he is a talented singer and you do what you gotta do in the biz.  Anyway, we all went to support him.  I left my house after dark, for the first time...well, in a REALLY long time!  And I didn't get home until midnight.  It was insane!  But a lot of fun!

Then a week after that, Kristie's husband got stuck in NY due to really bad weather.  Kristie's little guy had not been napping and she was missing her hubby, so Katie and I showed up and hung out, drank some wine, sang some karaoke (not well!) and ate junk food until one in the morning!

My point is, that there are not many that I would do this happily for!  These women are the best!  We don't always agree on everything.  And that's okay.  I don't feel like I have to prove myself to them.

Last summer, when we really started the Wednesday Friendsday, we were rearranging our schedules to be able to hang out.  We were laughing one day that people were going to start thinking that we were a couple.  But a couple is only two people... so we became... the few!   I have to admit, almost every friendship I have been in has suffered if there are not an even number of people in the group.  The only time I have been GOOD friends with just two other women was in college.  This is not to say that I didn't have other friends.  But the three of us hung out a lot.  This is only the second time that I have been GOOD friends with two females together and it work.  Does that make sense?  For me, threes just haven't worked out.  Someone gets left out.  Feelings get hurt.  Sure Katie and I hang out with out Kristie.  Kristie and Katie hang out without me.  Kristie and I hang out without Katie.  Everything is fine.  None of us is threatened.  It's what I love about us!

And, who knows.  Maybe it's about growing up and growing older and getting over yourself.  But I don't know.

I still don't plan anything on Thursdays for that playgroup.  And I love the women in that group as well.  It's just a different dynamic.  It's a bigger group.  It's a different comfort.  Wednesday Friendsday is small.  I like that there is a difference and a balance.

I think it's important in life to learn who your true friends are.  I think it's important to put faith and trust in them.

I don't have a ton of friends, but the ones I do are the ones I care for and about.  I put energy into friendships.  And with these women, I feel the energy come back "few" fold!

April 28

Composed Whilst Mowing...

Dear Clover,

You are very soft under foot.  You also have non-annoying flowers... However, you attract bees.  And while this is not a bad thing... it IS inside the fence in our back yard.  See, while your softness is much nicer on our feet than scratchy grass, a bee sting to one of the kids might send me packing to Alaska (not really, because they have very little sun there in the winter and too much in the summer...but you get my drift.)  Therefore, I'm sorry, but I'm cutting you down.

Sincerely,

Erin

Dear Bees,

I know that you are in peril.  I am a BIG fan, believe me.  BUT, you tend to scare my kids, and let's be honest, me.  And I know they scare you too.  I really am sorry that our house has invaded your area.  And you are most free to buzz and pollinate OUTSIDE the fence, but I am cutting the clover down and composting the remains.  Please vacate the premise immediately.

Sincerely,

Erin

Dear Ants,

There is a perfectly good ditch not very far away that you can move too.  Our backyard has lots of little feet running through.  Leave now.  Please. This is your only warning.  I suggest you vacate immediately or you will be behold the wrath.

Thanks,

Erin

Dear Reel Mower,

I know that you are environmental.  I really like that our grass looks much better when we use you.  I like that you don't scare the kids.  I like that you don't pollute their little lungs.  But come July, you may be retired for a battery powered alternative.  But we'll see.  You were very helpful today and we did get the WHOLE lawn mowed...  Just wanted to give you a heads up.  We still love you... but it's hot out there...

Love,

Erin

Dear Spiders,

GET. OUT.  GET. OUT. NOW.

Erin

Dear Dandelions,

I admire your ability to adapt.  I cut you down, you simply grow back shorter.  It's really rather spectacular.  I have decided I don't really mind you.  Please just don't attract the bees, or I shall have to send you a letter similar to the one addressed to the clover (see attached.)

Thanks!

Erin

Dear Summer,

We are looking forward to you!  We are ready to have fun!  Bring it on!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Erin

December 2008

December 04

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

My mom doesn't have Windows Live Writer on her laptop, so bare with the typos and what not...

SO after Jerry left on Sunday, we have hit the road running.  It snowed on Monday.  Not a lot, but enough to go play in.  Elijah really liked it.  Until his feet started hurting.  I'm a bad mom... poor guy was wearing boots way too small for him.  totally didn't think about it.  So I ended up piggy backing him up the mountain to my folks driveway.  I just couldn't carry 37 pounds on my back any farther (or is it further...i always got those mixed up... i think that farther is the distance...right?)  ANYWAY, we nipped that in the bud.  We exchanged them at a place where my folks volunteer.  SO now his feet won't hurt in his boots.

Tuesday we went downtown Black Mountain for me to meet up with a friend of mine.  It was good to see her and chat.  We did that and then came home for a bit.

On Wednesday, my folks watched Elijah in the morning and I crashed for 2 hours with Grace.  Neither of the kids had been sleeping well and I was exhausted.  When we got up, mom, Elijah, Grace and I went out for lunch and then went to get a Christmas Tree.  It was really fun.  They get their tree from the fire station.  The fire man that helped us let Elijah go see the trucks.  Made his day!!!  After a good nap we decorated the tree.  Elijah LOVED that.  I'm pretty stoked that Elijah is getting into Christmas this year.

Today, mom and Elijah and Grace and I walked up to the coffee shop to meet with mom's group of friends.  I ate the best broccoli corn beard there... yyyyyuuuuuuummmmmmoooooo!!!  Elijah and I wandered around downtown for a bit and then came home and played.

Tomorrow we'll go to Holly Jolly downtown.  Just a night on the town where all the shops are open and having goodies.  Should be fun.  Then Saturday we'll go to the parade in the afternoon.  That's about as far as I've gotten.

I'll post some pics now... OR not... WTF... this new crap is messing with me... so no pics until I get home and can deal with this.  I can't get pics to turn the right way... sigh... oh well... maybe i'll post with pics later, but the girl child is on my chest and not so much right now...

December 19

December...since almost over and all...

So to pick up where I left off two weeks ago...

We went to Holly Jolly and waved to Santa.  Elijah is still not too fond of actually speaking to Santa, much less going anywhere near him, but I'm okay with that.  If he wants to have a distant relationship with the big man in red, I'm fine with that.  I have no pictures of me with Santa and I don't think that it's the end all be all if he doesn't either.  We talk about Santa daily and Elijah has taken to wearing a Santa hat and his new galoshes and calling himself Santa.  He goes around saying, "HO HO HO!"  He's attached a chair to his scooter and it has become his sleigh and reindeer.  To me this is way cooler than sitting on Santa's lap. ;)  Anyway, Saturday we went to the parade.  I have never in my life seen so much candy.  Luckily we had a plastic bag in the diaper bag, so we took a ton of candy home with us!  We got a Christmas tree from the fire station and Elijah helped decorate while Grace and I supervised.  I went shopping in downtown Asheville and mom took Elijah to see a gingerbread house display.  It rained a bit the rest of the week.  I made some cookies and mom played with Elijah out in the rain.

A low note of the vacation, well there were two.  One was grace's eczema.  For some reason it really flared up while we were there.  Maybe it was because it was so dry.  It did seem to get better once the rain came...but who can say.  Anyway, the other low note was the fact that I left my cell phone in my jeans and then proceeded to put them in the wash...sigh.  My folks have a front loader, so even when I realized what I had done, there was nothing I could do.  Sigh.  I dried it out, but the microphone didn't work.  We got another one in the mail yesterday, but it was odd being without for so long.  I was nervous being without it with just me and the kiddos.  But we survived.

Mom and I did Christmas in the Valley Arts and Crafts show.  While I didn't do as well as I wanted I did better than I expected.  The economy is really taking it's toll.  Mom said she did SO much better last year.  But it was fun.  Mom and I hung out with Grace all day.  Jerry, Dad, and Elijah hung out together.  It was good experience.  I realized what sells the best, so that's good to know.  I got a little spending cash and that's good too.

I sent out our Christmas cards earlier this week.  We went with e-cards again this year.  We do this for a few reasons.  1) it's super easy.  2) it's free!  3) we never have stamps that are the right denomination since we do almost everything online.  4) it's more environmentally friendly.  I don't claim to be some environmentalist, but I like to save money and if I save the earth a little too, BONUS!  Having said all this, I do enjoy getting Christmas cards in the mail and I reuse them as tags on gifts, so I guess that's recycling too! hehehehe!

We got our Christmas tree on Sunday.  The place we went only had 9+ foot trees.  So we thought it would be okay, but we got it home and in the stand and WAY TO TALL!  So we cut the top foot off.  It looks a little funny, but it's still pretty.  Then I got the lights on the tree and plugged them in... and NOTHING.  Lesson learned.  Always check the lights before putting them on the tree.  So Jerry went to Target, which was out of white lights.  So he got the icicles instead and I gotta say, they worked really well.  Now our tree is all decked out and ready for Santa!

Yesterday, our playgroup had a Christmas party.  It was fun and almost everyone came by at some point.  The weather is insanely warm this week, so it was fun playing at the park.  We didn't get home until 2:30!!!  oops!  It was worth it though!  'Tis the season and all!!

Which brings us to today!!  It was 77 degrees today, so we spent the morning at the BEACH!!!!  It was perfect.  Not crowded, warm enough to be bare foot, and free parking!!!!  We built sand castles and flew a kite (until it broke!) and played with friends.  It was awesome.  While it's hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it's 77 degrees out, it's been nice to be out of the house and playing in short sleeves.

So I have added pictures.  There are some turned on the their side and I'm sorry for that, but my computer (for some reason) will not allow us to rotate pics and this new upgrade that MS has done doesn't allow for editing...sigh... so sorry... but enjoy!

December 23

If only...

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (thanks Amy for sending me this!):

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find any more free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple,which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother, "because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch a cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,

MOM...

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

*Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mommies you know.

December 25

We had ourselves a Merry Little Christmas

We'll start with yesterday.  We went to the park in the morning to meet with Rachel and co. to exchange gifts and play.  We came home and Jerry came home from work for the day!!  After a nap, Elijah and I made cookies for Santa:

Then I made some sugarless cookies for Jerry's dad and yummy full of sugar cookies for his mom and siblings.  Before going to bed we made sure the cookies were out for Santa and a carrot was out for Rudolph.  After a seemingly endless night we awoke to find this:

And unwrapped gifts such as these:

After a relaxing morning of, um, hair styling: 

We traveled to Jerry's parent's house, where both kids received a TON more gifts which I totally forgot to get pics of, but will tomorrow and will post them.  We then went to visit Jerry's dad in the hospital.  He's recovering from really bad arthritis in one of his hands.  He is doing much better and it was good to see him in good spirits.  Matthew played cars with Elijah while we visited.  Jerry got pics of the rest of the family, but Matthew's head got chopped off... Sorry Matthew!

We plan on playing tomorrow and going to the beach again on Saturday (supposed to be 75 degrees again!!)  While I'm not thrilled about not having cooler weather right now, might as well make the most of it.

I think that I will probably post like this until we figure out the picture thing.  It's kinda fun, and for the time being works well.

I hope that everyone had as fantastic a day as we did!  Merry Christmas!

December 27

Is global warming really THAT bad?

Of course it is...but we went to the beach today... Elijah and Jerry were in shorts and I was barefoot.  So, ya know...

Anyway, wanted to start with the gifts from Grandma and PopPop's house:

                    

Elijah's favorite thing to do is start at the top of the driveway and throw his feet up and ride down down.  It isn't motorized but has the sounds, so he pushes the button that makes it sound like it's revving and goes.  It's pretty funny to watch.  Grace likes to watch him go as well.  Grace is attempting to start to pull up on things.  She scoots across the floor on her butt and rocks on all fours, so it's just a matter of time before the crawling happens...sigh... but what she really likes to do is stand up.  She can be in a full blown screaming-crying-life-is-not-fair tantrum and you stand her up and it's as if you gave her all the chocolate in the world!  So this little table is good for her!  Now if Elijah would leave it alone...

Back to today.  When I woke up I was a little bummed.  It was REALLY foggy.  I was skeptical about going.  Jerry said we should go and if it was too cold, then we would just come home.  I'm so glad we went.  About 5 minutes after we got there the sun came out and it was warm and really nice.  There was still a fog bank to our left and right and out over the ocean, but it was GREAT!  Here are some pics:

So now Jerry and I are watching Burn After Reading and relaxing.  I love having him home for extended periods!!!

December 29

Getting Organized

So this morning was spent in the toy room.  We decided a while back that Grace and Elijah would share a bedroom, so her bed is already in there.  We changed her bedroom into a toy room.  So today, I took out Grace's dresser (which was in the closet in the toy room) and all her hanging clothes and moved them into the bedroom.  Elijah helped make a HUGE pile of all the toys in the middle of the room.  While he did that I moved the bookshelf and all the books into the closet.  Then I sorted through all the toys.  Got rid of a bunch that he hasn't played with and then split the rest in half and put them in containers to rotate out.  I did the same with Grace's toys.

I really hate defining them as "Elijah's" and "Grace's" toys because they are both of theirs.  It's been interesting watching Elijah want to play with the baby toys that he hasn't played with for a couple of years.  And Grace LOVES anything that Elijah plays with, especially if it has wheels.  Anyway... I cleaned up in there!  I have my old toy box and I use it as a place to store dress up clothes.  I would really like to take the top off so that it is open, but I can't figure out how to do that...the hinges are put on with some non-screw type things... hmmm... Elijah got a doctor's set and a tea set and Grandma got him some pretend food.  So those are all in the dress up area.  It just would be easier if the lid was off...I'll figure it out though.

I got a call to confirm Elijah's birthday party today!  I'm really excited.  It's a Curious George goes to the Fire Station party!  I found some great sites with things to do.  So all the gift bag things are going to be crafts that the kids do at the party.  I think it'll be fun.  we are having the party at a local fire station.  My friend that made the train cake last year is going to make us a fire engine cake and I'm going to attempt a Curious George cookie to "ride" on the fire engine.  I love planning birthdays!  It's so fun for me.  My mom says that I have been doing this since I realized what a birthday was.  She says that the evening of my birthday party I was planning for the next year!  It's not the gifts (our group doesn't do gifts), it's just a party!  And that's fun!  Maybe it's a sickness.  I know that Grace's first b-day will be at a park, maybe the beach park and the theme will be 1st b-day!  I know that next year we're going to have a Where The Wild Things Are b-day for Elijah... It is a sickness...hehehehe!

This afternoon Elijah put on his boots and we went out and jumped in puddles:

Afterward we came in and made dinner of beef stew and cheese biscuits.  While I did that:

Elijah saw Peter and The Wolf ballet the day after Christmas and he LOVED the twirling and the tutus.  I know the quality is not good, but it's funny to me.  He's fine at the end.  He totally got up laughing.

And my little miss?:

 

So a good productive day!