SUCCESS!

At last! In the last few days maple has suddenly become pro at the
potty. I could not be happier! After months amonths of struggles,
something finally clicked. I have to admit a little bribery was
involved to get things going (not something I had planned on, but...)
and in just a couple days we have gone from zero interest to zero
accidents. High five maple!

Happy EARTH DAY!

Another test at blogging by email via my phone. I couldn't get my
words to show up last time. So here's another shot.

This is one of the many murals in our little mountain town. It's one
of my favorites so thought it would be nice to share.

Today is earth day and I'll be planning (not planting yet) our garden
and finding a spot to build our compost pit. This will be my very
first garden. I'm very excited.

Happy Earth Day!

LEMONS!!!

backyard love.

we were lucky to get a few 70ish degree days this week. we broke out the summer digs and made the best of it. tomorrow it will snow and be cruddy all weekend. so here's a little taste of sunshine for you.

sunshine and backyard rompin' make for a happy maple. LOVE IT!

house tour

ok. so real quick before i wait any longer. you can view our new home photo tour HERE. these are a bunch of pictures i took when we were just making an offer on the house. i was afraid to post anything about this house until we actually closed and had the keys in our hands. didn't want to jinx anything. now that its ours i will gladly share. so enjoy, there is a bunch. not too fancy, but does the trick. a little TLC should help turn this house into a nice little home for us.

mmmmmmm. nanners.

oh man.......

i started this post about 3 weeks ago and just got the photos uploaded and then became entirely distracted by our move. i will now attempt to finish (briefly and quickly) if i can remember what all i wanted to say here.

this was maples first "real stuff" (as opposed to scribbles) drawing. mommy helped her learn how to draw faces, stick figures, and flowers. the green thing is her flower and she did everything in blue. you can see a whole person there on the far right. very proud mommy here.

maple says here marker tastes like red.

already coming up with some good ideas for halloween too.

this picture is blowing my mind because i only took it a few weeks ago and already this boy has changed so much. alaska is obsessed with standing and is having fun trying to walk with help from mom or any random object he can grab onto and push around. this kid is growing up way too fast. he will be ONE in less than 3 weeks and has just got his 5th tooth and now working on number 6.

he is super happy (except when teething) and a little snotty in this shot.

maple loves to eat snow. she calls it ice cream. i forgot to put gloves on her and after a few minutes of snow gorging she realized her fingers were freezing and started freaking out. oops. bad mommy. this snow was, yes a few weeks ago, very pretty, but nothing compared to the 11 inches that dumped on us yesterday. at our new house we actually have a yard and a little hill and we got to ride the sled down it and build a snowman (ben and i did this while maple hung out eating snow).

this deck used to be our only outdoor play space and now we have a real backyard which i will share with you sometime in the near future.

pretty view from the old house. also soon to share pretty views from the new house.

ok. now thats done. i promise i will get you the scoop on the move and the new house soon.

paint some pottery

last weekend i went to one of those paint your own pottery places. something i have wanted to do for many many many years but never did. well HighCountryMommies was having a get together there and thanks to alaska's heavy appetite for solid foods i was able to leave BOTH the kids at home with ben and venture out ON MY OWN and have some fun with the ladies. what a great time. this was my very first time going anywhere without children since alaska was born. (ok, well i have been to the grocery store several times, but i don't think that really counts). it was such a great feeling to be my own person and think only about myself for those few hours. and it was really really really FUN - i LOVED the pottery painting experience.

we went here and they had so many different items to choose from. not knowing quite how it worked or how my project would turn out i decided on something purposeful and not too pricey - a cereal bowl. there were many other great and purposeful items i had my eye on like a spoon rest, salt and pepper shakers, and some really cool travel mugs. but the cereal bowl seemed like a good first time option. and it was. let me tell you, this was so so so enjoyable. to be able to leave my house, be away from my kids, do something creative and new, make a mess and have someone else clean up after me, and then end up with a new kick-ass bowl. totally satisfying. i can't wait to go back.

of course i had to show off my project, i am quite proud of how it turned out.

a new kind of year

so.........happy 2009!

i made a list of resolutions. something i always do. most years i do not follow through. i would like to believe that this year WILL BE a following through year though. here goes:

1. re-establish a healthy lifestyle (ditch sweets, eat better, drink more water, exercise regularly)
2. declutter, simplify, and curb my impulse buying and tendency to over consume
3. bring more structure to my homelife (conquer housework, form some routines both for myself and the kids, plan meals, bake more)
4. work on improving our finances, pay down debts and increase savings
5. (which goes along with #1) get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and shape by alaska's first birthday

we've got some big things in store for us this year. we are buying our first home. we will be moving sometime around february/march. we will have a yard for the kids, be in walking distance to the park, library, farmers market, downtown area. granted this is a SMALL town, i think the population is under 1200 people. a little redneck, a little artsy fartsy, a little quaint, i'm excited.

this year our little boy will turn 1 and our little girl will turn 3. the 2s started out ok and have gotten progressively worse. i hear the 3s are not much better. i'm hoping having a yard to exert some energy in will help us all out with that. ben and i just celebrated our 3rd anniversary which also marked 5 years together in life for us. this spring we will also celebrate our 3rd anniversary owning coyote. maybe, just maybe, i will get a mini-van this year. thats pretty wishful thinking, but i'm just putting it out there. i will also become an aunt this summer, ben an uncle, and the kids will become cousins. i will be wishing more than ever that i were not so far away from my family (and ever more thankful and appreciative of skype and the internet in general). all in all i think 2009 is going to ROCK!

i am currently working on a new blog for my family and "a new kind of juggling" will start to be devoted solely to my creativity and crafts. hoping to unveil said new blog in the next couple of weeks. stay tuned.

life is good and getting gooder. cheers!