minja

A peek at FIVE.  Life is happy.  

If we could all be five...

We took a road trip to celebrate Diego's fifth birthday.  And while I sort through the photos, I'll quickly share about a little 'minja' project we did.  Minja is obviously ninja in five-speek.

We made our own felt softie the other day in less than an hour.  I made a paper template and quick cut out the felt pieces.  I had Diego choose two button eyes from our button stash while I did that.  It's always fun to play in a pile of buttons.

(Not sure why he looks so lint-covered here, my new lens is real good at picking up unwanted details sometimes.)

Diego was eager to help, too.  Still cautious with the needle after the finger-prick incident when we were threading pompoms for a simple garland...ouch that hurts!  But we had fun guessing where the needle would come up as we sewed on the buttons.  The simple stitch around the face was very doable for him, the blanket stitch around the edge of the ninja was a little harder.  I did most of that as he hovered nearby.

I didn't expect him to be so in to the sewing.  But the other day, he saw me crocheting (a new thing Isabela and I learned to do from a free class at the library) and wished he could do it, too.  I thought that was an interesting wish for a five year old boy.  I broke it down for him, but half-way through, flipping and faking kicking his new ninja was way more interesting.

Have you sewed anything lately?

random thoughts before spring

I'm awaiting spring with an eagerness in my spirit like a child on Christmas morning.

Could spring be my new favorite holiday?  I think so.

While I'm busy trying to forget the two weeks my husband was in Bolivia and the stomach bug came and stayed at our house instead, spring is peeking out with buds on the trees and daffodils.  

Instead of an almost-five-year-old crawling into my bed and throwing up all over it two minutes later, I will choose to remember the beautiful rainbows of St. Patrick's Day.  (If you like crafty things, you should be reading Krokotak and OhHappyDay.  Just saying'.)

I don't care if we made this holiday up or not, after the winter we just had, I'm all about colorful and sparkly.

I came across a cool mom at FantasticFunandLearning  that made gold glitter play dough for her kids to celebrate those sneaky little leprechauns and their pots o' gold.  (An invitation to play is a genius concept, by the way.  You set the stuff out before they have nothing to do, even before they wake up, and they can get right to it.  One day, I plan on getting up before them.  Although, why not do it the night before?)

Anyway, I asked my sick kids if they'd like to make some glittery dough and Diego promptly said no.

So I was happy to oblige my 10 year old and make it with her.

But gold glitter play dough can only be ignored for so long.  They played with it for two hours.

And while Carmen's bout with roseola was no picnic, she did learn to snuggle with me in the bed...what's a baby for, if not snuggling?  

I'll happily say goodbye to the winter snow and freeze that had us cuddled under the comforters and welcome in the warmer temperatures with some outdoor time that can finally thaw us out.

Carmen is almost ONE, and could it be this is the first time she's crawling around on actual grass and leaves?

There's nothing so thrilling in the world.

Spring means it's time for some exploring.  The world is new again.

And while I silently fumed at Juan Pablo's absence during our fight against invisible, microscopic enemies, he did come home with some cool presents.

These little wooden puzzles were begging for their pieces to be lost, so I used some sticky velcro and attached them all.  Now they can be a decoration on the wall, as cute as they are, but the kids can still play with them.

I've always been in love with these colorful wooden figures we discovered many years ago in La Paz, but they're very expensive.  We've only had two, forever...but he surprised me with this funky llama with a cut-out of the Illimani mountain in his belly.

And Diego and I have chosen our favorite threading bead, the dragon.  Isn't he cute?

I like how the string came with a huge bead at the end, to keep them from falling off, and a wooden peg at the beginning to help thread them on.  Toys from other countries are cool.

We've got two big birthdays coming up at the end of this month!  Spring is coming.  Thankfully.

What are you looking forward to?

totes adorb

I've been meaning to write about this for awhile now.  It cracks me up every time I say it.

The other day, Isabela, Carmen and I were sorting through Carmen's little clothes in my closet. Every now and then, they can get quite unruly, being that I usually just toss them on top of her wire shelf unit instead of organizing them.

It was kinda fun... just us girls in the closet.  It's so much easier to have a conversation.  At least you know no one will mention farts.  Oh wait, I just did.

Anyway, Isabela was watching Carmen toss through the socks and blurted out, "She's totes adorb."  

And you know I was like, "What?"

"Totes adorb, Mom."  And her hand even did a little flip in the air when she said it.

"Don't tell me that means totally adorable! Are people really saying that?!" = my uncool mom response.

Oh, they're saying it.

And once you say it once, you'll being saying it, too.  It's quite addictive.  My immediate response was, "Well, that's totes weird."

And we went on a 'totes' rampage for every little phrase we said, and you could hear us laughing all the way down the hall.

Isabela asked me what slang we used to say when I was a kid.  The first thing that came to mind was 'rad'.  "That's rad, man."  

Ewww.  Did we really say that?  Gag me with a spoon!

Okay.  That one's way worse.

You know I ended up googling it later...and apparently a whole lot of people were saying way worse stuff than me. (Although anyone remember adding the letter A to a really bad word?  Why did that make it cool?)

I do remember distinctly trying to pick up some California slang from a friend I met at a summer ballet school.  "And she was all...and he was all...and I was all...".  

I'm glad slang changes over time.  Aren't you?  What slang words do you remember saying growing up?

On a side note...my totes adorb baby has ROSEOLA!!  A rash all over her body from head to toe.  That's totes uncool.

happy

I've been analyzing happiness lately.  

It's been a reoccurring theme all over the place. Radio, books, life in general.

On NPR, Terri Gross interviewed an author the other day who wrote about parenting--a book called All Joy and No Fun.

Any hands?

Take this cute little baby that is pulling up to stand now.  I smile and clap and am so proud of her!

But now in her crib, she can't figure out how to get down once she's up.  And she's tired.  So there's more crying going on.

Plus she just might pull this wobbly rocking chair over on herself.  Well, there's no might about it.  She's done it.

AND, she can reach the lego table with all those colorful little bits.  It's her favorite go-to spot now. 

I'm consistently amazed at how I can be so happy and then so unhappy all in the same day. Those toddler emotional roller coasters have definitely rubbed off on me.

While I'm joyful at watching her accomplish these amazing milestones, it's not fun knowing there will be bumps and bruises along the way.

"Clap along, if you feel, that happiness is for you."

We are loving Pharrell's song, "Happy". 

It was our theme song over the snow break, and I even tried to get the kids to make their own music video with some new words.  Here's what we came up with:

Clap along, if you feel, that snow days are for you.

Clap along, if you feel, sledding's what you want to do.

Because I'm happy...

Clap along, if you feel, like an igloo without a roof.

Clap along, if you feel, like snowball fights are cool.

Because I'm happy.

Joaquin was so happy building this igloo.  He actually built two igloos:  one on his own, and the other with the help of his dad.  He nearly froze to death.  I had to force him to come in.  And he NEVER wants to stay outside.

The next day, the snow was so frozen, he could walk on his igloo.  

So I often wonder why I'm not happy.  

And I'll take you through my thought process.  Here's how my crazy brain works.

I thought about my husband and his happiness.  He gets up and goes to work and generally likes his job.  He gets lots of pats on the back and team lunches.  Not to mention those little things called checks, plus maybe a bonus every now and then.  He's acknowledged for all the work that he does.  That would make you feel good, right?

Then I imagined us trading places.  I'd go to work and he'd stay home with the kids.

But then I realized he'd love that, too.  He'd watch TV all day, play games and take naps.

And the little light bulb lit above my head, and I realized I'm just not doing anything for ME anymore. And I know this.  I've been ranting about it for awhile.  But I'm realizing it's in the little things, too.

So instead of folding clothes or crossing off one more To Do, I went to the gym this morning.  Yes, I'm dog tired, but exercise is good for people.  It makes them happy.  (Plus I could get a small break from my joyful children. Win-Win.)

Next, Diego and I had planned to eat at Chick-Fil-A.  This is not unusual for us when I go to the gym, but we almost always eat from the drive-thru.  WHY?  So I can get home and fold more clothes?  (Which is weird because me and three of my kids almost always have NOTHING to wear.)

What an amazing lunch we had!  It was SO HAPPY!  And I'm not kidding.  What a difference it was eating inside verses on the run.

Here's a bullet list:

*  Diego had the run of the playland.  There were no other kids at 11am.

*  Carmen had her first applesauce pouch and LOVED it.  She even figured out how to use it!

*  Another older couple couldn't stop smiling at us and even commented on how much fun we looked like we were having!

*  Carmen went in the playland for the first time and was squealing with excitement.  Diego banged at her through the plexiglass, we listed to the echo on the slide, we looked for the moon in the rocketship windows.  

I wished I had my camera, but snapping away can be distracting from enjoying the moment, and that's one of the important things about happiness.  Living in the moment.

And the day got even better.  Carmen took a huge nap and Diego and I were able to play tag and baseball outside in our melted, snow-soaked, muddy yard.  Our driveway is full of puddles, so we played 'throw the pebble into the puddle' and made up our own rules.  But then we discovered crystal rocks, and there were amazing treasures hidden among the moss-covered gravel.  We searched and searched until our hands were overflowing with beautiful, wet rocks.

And that was happiness to us.

I know I can't throw the to-do list away everyday, but how often can I?  

Once a week?

The sign at the gym says a one hour workout is only 4% of your day.  I can give myself 4% of my day.

I've been waiting for everything to fall into place until I can be happy.  And that's just not going to happen.  I have to choose to be happy...right now.

And right now, I can smile at this happy day I had.  (Although the evening turned to pot, but that would just ruin the story, wouldn't it?)

How about you?  What was the last thing you remember that made you truly happy? Please share it! 

the january cure

I know it's February.  But last month, I followed along with Apartment Therapy's daily steps to decluttering your home:  saving the world, one room at a time.

I didn't get to each one, but there were a couple that were life-changers.  The first weekend, we had to clean the floors of the home...vacuum, scrub, sweep, mop...I thought it was an odd place to start.  That's usually one of the last things I do.

And my kitchen floor knows it.

It got an amazing hand wash by me (and the kids pitched in, too!).  We could actually feel the difference on our feet!  We were gliding around and felt like we were walking on clouds, that floor was so clean.

But then I got thrown off course when they asked us to choose one of our big projects we had listed and start on it.  My big project:  declutter the bookshelves in our craft room/library/sunroom/playroom.  You know it's bad if a room has that many names.

I knew this was going to be one that got worse before it got better.  Yes, the shelves were a jumbled mess, but at least you could see the floor.

Let's get a close up of the jumble o' stuff.

Photo albums...notice recycling and odd bits on top of shelves.

Craft baskets filled to overflowing.

There are some glimpses of organization in the past...see those crayon jars sorted by colors...yeah, but look at the mess of papers below.

The books!  They actually are somewhat organized here, but I was going to have to be brutal in purging these, keeping only the best of the best.

And one last before:  a blurred mess of paint, ribbon, tape and who knows what.

So then I got started.  And basically, everything that was once on the shelves came off and on to the floor.  There were piles here and there with destinations known only to me.

But slowly some shelf space started to appear.  The key to organized shelves is really SPACE.   And early on, I decided I was tired of them being flat against the wall.  I've really always hated these shelves because they're so tall, but this was a money-free makeover so I need to think creatively.   I decided to turn one and create a little craft alcove.  At least the shelves are open so it doesn't block the space completely.

I finally got the piles out of the room.  (Really, they were just moved to another room ready for the upcoming children's consignment sale.) 

Ready for the after photos?

The craft space now has a box for everything.  One for glue, one for scissors, one for sharpies...so much easier to clean up after projects!  I also moved the printer here.   Since we use that a lot for crafting, it makes more sense.

I came across these dollar store alphabet cards I had bought long ago.  And wouldn't you know, they fit perfectly on the side of that bookcase.  Unbelievable.

Our new reading area, along with our calendar board.   I enjoyed using our many stuffed animals as decorations on the shelves.  They used to be piled high in a basket and rarely touched, but these were the first things grabbed off the new shelves by both Diego and Carmen.

Not sure why this shot is so blurry, but you get the idea.  A little box is home to more stuffed animals; some maps of the world and our globe for exploring; an empty wood frame surrounds one of Joaquin's weaving projects from school; and there's a basket of nature supplies for learning about the great outdoors.

Here's the other side of the room.  The mobile on the wall is made from a few watercolor pictures by Diego that were punched into squares.  It was originally going to be for Carmen, but they wouldn't hang right.  I love them here on the wall.

Oh, did you notice those hideous lines on our wood floor.  Of course you did.  Beware of those Pinterest ideas...have you seen the one where you take tape and make a track for matchbox cars?  Notice how they abruptly end (where there used to be a rug).  Don't put masking tape on your hardwood floors.  I'm sure you already knew that.

And one last view from the side.  That huge bucket is recycling for crafts.  The back porch is a project for another day.

So what do you think?

We've done numerous craft projects since the room has been finished, and I can truly say it still looks like this.  Even when it doesn't, a quick five minutes is all it takes to get everything back in its place.

Now on to the rest of the house.  I need a cure for each month of the year.