Apron

I would totally look cute in the kitchen in one of these...

And so would you!

This is a really fun site. Who knew aprons could be so stylish?

thanks for the tip jenthemom

Grooooooss

I just finished cleaning up a small boy with 'explosive falling out of his diaper coming out the back' diarrhea. The best part is when you think you've got it all and you find a smear in another unexpected place.
And about half an hour prior to this I was cleaning up a room full of puke. Another small boy. You know it's bad when you open the door and it hits you before you even see it.

It's 10:15am.
We're now out of spot shot.
I'm thinking of outfitting them in garbage bags. Too much?

If you need me I'll be bathing in bleach.

Downtown...and Camilla Engman Artwork

I had to go downtown last night to pick up a print from here. This was my second trip. I made a very specific trip downtown Saturday morning to view the show and Camilla's work.
AND NO ONE WAS THERE.
I brought Shishi and the baby and a stroller and my sister brought her roomate all under the premise of checking out this cool show and nothing. I'm on the mailing list so I had a recent 'hours of operation' and everything.
Now I'm not a demanding shopper for the most part. I don't get all hissy over little things, but getting downtown is a big deal for me. It doesn't happen often or without a certain amount of pain.
So I wasn't happy.
So I emailed.
And there was an apology (but not a discount!)
ANYWAY...I headed back downtown last night because they were open late for a special 'shopping night'.
And it was crazy. It was like rush hour at 7pm on a Thursday. And parking was non-existent. And I had to carry the baby around because she had fallen asleep in her car seat. And she's a heavy little thing.
And I picked up my print which is lovely!
Mine is framed which makes me happy, but you can order all 4 right from Camilla for a great price.

AND...All that driving around downtown while I was looking for a place to park reminded me of something. Downtown is sexy!
It's mostly difficult and annoying, and downtown daytime is corporate and dull, but at night there are well dressed grown ups going to events at swanky hotels and shows and shopping at pretty stores and having sexy dinners at trendy restaurants.
I used to work downtown every day and mostly I don't miss any of it.
But Sexy Night-Time Downtown, I miss you!

Out Takes

My goal, since The Babe was born, is to get a nice shot of the 3 kids together. It hasn't really happened. Everyone can have a bad day, or a goofy face but one child in particular is often uncooperative.
Here are a few examples of the photos that will not be appearing in our Christmas card this year...

Those Days

I am having one of 'those days'. I have felt guilty for even admitting that I feel this way, but it seems unrealistic to not have them. There may be superwomen out there who don't feel this way, but I do.
And it's not that the kids are doing anything out of their normal sphere of mess making and being difficult, I'm just not interested.

Instead of cleaning up the same food off the floor and looking for socks and listening to whining I'd rather take a shower for as long as I want and read something when I feel like it or have a nap. Or go to a store that doesn't require a shopping buggy for 3. And even though laundry can be fascinating, I'm just not interested in doing 4 more loads today.

Don't worry, the kids are not being neglected. The Babe is impatiently sitting on my lap at the moment. It's true I am probably a lot more impatient today.
I might even venture to say I am bored. And yes, that may be because I am boring and fail to find the spectacular in everything around me. But there you have it.
Go ahead and judge me.

And the Heavens Opened and Doves Flew Down

The Babe hasn't been sleeping. First she was eating every two hours for a couple of weeks and then she got a cold. The night before last was probably the worst night she's had since she was a day or two old. She just kept waking up and crying a pitiful sad miserable baby cry. All night. My poor little baby.
And I'm surrounded by snotty, slobbery, sloppy faces. It's gross. Oh how I love November. Last November still haunts me with the vast assault on my senses and my sanity.

However, by a stoke of magic or whatever you want to call it, but it did require nothing short of a higher power, my Charming Husband and I went on a date. That's what you call it when two adults who might sort of like each other get to go out and eat dinner. Together.
And we were tired and grumpy and he was late getting home and we took the baby even though she was snotty.

And we had a good time anyway. It wasn't very long. But I got to eat Vietnamese food. And we were relaxed and even smiling.
Big thanks to Shishi for babysitting. Which is really just fun time for the boys.

And then to top it all off...The Babe only woke up once in the night! Angels singing!!
Which doesn't undo all the damage of not sleeping for 3 years, but it makes for a very pleasant morning.

Texture

It seems like all the cool photo kids are using textures to get special effects in their photos. I recently stumbled across some vague instructions and this is what happened...

I took this before photo at my parents place on a foggy morning, but it didn't really have the dramatic effect I was trying to capture.









Add a texture, and more drama...yes?
(You really just add a layer of texture overtop of your image and adjust opacity. I'm sure there can be more tweaking, but this is a fun start!)

Brushes

I was having a difficult time feeling inspired for November. Blech. So I was playing around with these brushes from Jason Gaylor and started to feel quite inspired! He has some really amazing brush sets.
And the font was a freebie from Adobe. Just what I was looking for.

Halloween Hangover

Well, it took some serious persuasion and a little bit of bribery but we got The Bug to wear his costume for Halloween. The Bee was already dressed and ready to go, of course. And can I just say, Halloween was so fun!
I took the boys while The Babe stayed with daddy to hand out candy. We went to our next door neighbours first, and they practically filled up the buckets in one stop. We really only went to about 5-6 houses but the boys were so cute. Sure, they thought they should come on in whenever someone opened the door, but they were very polite.


The Bug said 'thank-you' every time.
And the little kids who came to our door were adorable too.
I've always thought Halloween was fun, but who knew it was so rewarding just to watch the wee ones.








And The Bee loves the jack-o-lanterns.
Officially known as pumpkinheads at our house!






















Now it's on to November.
And we've eaten too much candy (well, the grown-ups have).
And we all have colds.
Ugh.

Pumpkinheads

The Bee has really been enjoying pumpkins this year....

























I wanted to get some fun photos of the boys with the pumpkins. I keep thinking that as they are older it will get easier. No way. The Babe is way easier at this age, as the boys were when they were younger. Too young to run away.
The Bug has been especially uncooperative. Today he didn't want to take his pajamas off. I managed to remove them from his body, but then he wouldn't put any clothes on. And then they both started throwing clothes around. And were trying to lift the big pumpkins and move them all around.
In the end, this is what we got. And The Bug spent the rest of the day in his pajamas.

p.s. The Bee fell onto a skateboard a while back and his face is actually looking much better than it did...less scabby!

First Halloween

I Love You Zoo

The kids in the twomittens household had a pretty fun weekend. We all went to a Halloween party on Friday night with fun music and lights and treats. The Bee proudly wore his costume, but The Bug would not. Oh well. I'm hoping I can reason with him (bribe him) for the real Halloween or it will be very sad indeed.







Saturday the family hit Boo at the Zoo with Nana and Poppa and cousins K and C. Super fun! They actually got to get out of the stroller! The Bee spent a lot of time holding tight to Poppa's hand and getting a good look at things. The Bug spent a lot of time trying to get away from us and just do his own thing.












Regardless, it was a fun, although exhausting day for all.











This was written on the wall on the way out...

Lil' Pumpkin

And one more note on pumpkin before you tell me to shut up with the pumpkin already...

Pumpkin pie mix (not the plain puree I usually use but the sweet spiced kind you use for pie)
Plus steamed milk ( I don't drink coffee, so milk it is)
Equals delicious!!

Baby Girl 5Months

Wow, 5months already. I really feel like she is growing so incredibly fast. And she is because that's how it works with babies. But it's shocking sometimes. And I love her as a baby. And I'm sure I'll love her regardless of what age she is, but being a baby is special and so short compared to all the rest of your life.



And I know I already mentioned it, but she has teeth already. She doesn't need them yet, but she has them.

She's still not sleeping all that well, especially when she has the snuffles, which seems to be a lot. I think she's just getting over them again as she slept much better last night. She gets stuffed up often.
Also she has really found her voice. And by voice I mean a high pitched squeal that sounds a lot like a cat with its tail caught in a door. And LOUD. Ears are bleeding, stop it now noise.




But one of my most favorite things is the way she giggles. If you tickle her she scrunches up and has the most amazing giggle. Pure sunshine.
Last night when I put The Bee to bed I had The Babe with me. I'm not sure what set her off, but she was looking at The Bee and just started giggling. And then she did it again. Laughing her little baby pants off. I told The Bee she thought he was special. A great big brother, so he kissed her on the head.



It's not always obvious what the boys think of their little sister, but it's pretty obvious how she feels about them!

32 Months

The boys are continuing to grow like little weeds. They are actually outgrowing their pants. They are really starting to seem like little boys more and more. The Bee chatters away all day long and they are both more and more expressive all the time.
It's also fun to see them still becoming closer as brothers. They help each other out quite a bit. Especially if one of them is upset (like getting his diaper changed or some other aweful thing) the other one will bring him his blankie.
They are quite hooked on their blankies right now. There was quite a meltdown the other day when I had to WASH them. Yikes.

They are able to play a bit more independently these days, which is nice, although they never miss a chance to get into trouble if they can. The Bee is especially sneaky and will hide himself away if he thinks he will get in trouble. Like taking the liquid soap out of the bathroom and hiding out in The Bugs room to 'check it out'. I really have to keep an eye on that one.


The Bug had become quite a masterful artist lately. He loves to color and likes to sit up at the island and color all over his pages. The two of them have also discovered that crinkling up paper into a little ball and throwing it into the garbage is fun. I have to watch what they are throwing away!

The Bee is quite good at throwing things in general. In a good way. He's good at throwing balls and kicking them. Unfortunately his favorite game seems to be throwing something straight up in the air (like shoes, toys, cars, anything he can lift) and not paying attention to where it may land. Look out!

One of the most interesting things to watch is how the boys are growing emotionally. They show sympathy and compassion. They often say 'sorry' for little things. Although not when I tell them to.
me: tell your brother your sorry for hitting him
bee: no way
And one of The Bees favorite things right now is to point out when someone is sad.
Baby sad.
Mommy sad. (I am probably more annoyed, but whatever)
Bearsnacks sad. (cartoon movie)
It's pretty funny. And often accurate.

And we've been able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa as well as Nana and Papa in the past month. Fun for everyone.

Going Green

Slime that is.
We're still eating a lot of crap over here. But I am trying to inject some more greens into our diets. And it's not like I don't like veggies, because I do. And the kids eat a lot of fruit and veg without too much trouble. But can you really ever eat too much?
Veggies I mean.
Not pasta and cheese. And chocolate.
I saw Jessica Seinfeld a few weeks ago on the big O. She has a new cookbook with recipes that inject veg purees into various foods. Good idea. Never hurts right?
I haven't been that organized yet, but I thought I'd pass along my own sneaky veg snacks...

Right now I'm adding pumpkin puree to everything. The key thing is not too much or I don't like the consistency, especially in smoothies.
The kids' favorite 'milk shake' is just milk and banana. I find I can throw in a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin, without much notice. Or add it to mac 'n cheese or tomato sauce or desserts, or whatever.

But my biggest deal yet is the spinach smoothie. No kidding. You can actually add spinach to your fruit smoothie, and it tastes JUST LIKE FRUIT. Not gross at all.
Here's my latest version. Adjust quantities to taste.
banana or fruit of your choice (pineapple is also good)
fruit juice
water
couple spoonfuls of pumpkin puree
half avocado (great texture)
couple handfuls of fresh spinach

blend and enjoy
yummy

It Flies

Where does the time go?
I was surprised to see that I'd only been posting about once a week. I have some posts to catch up on but it seems like every spare minute has a long list of things to do. Plus I have been reading my book for book club. East of Eden.
Reading the classics can always be a bit of a crap shoot. Sometimes 'classic' can be quite dry and booooring. This is not the case. It's juicy. I'm loving it. And I'm so happy to be reading. I'm about half way. I will try to get editing my photos and catching up, but I think that laundry is going to have to fold itself!

The First Rule of Book Club...

My first job out of art school was working in an office. I was 20 years old and I hated it.
Never mind that it paid the rent and I was really too chicken to get a job actually doing design or some related thing, so I just looked down on that job with all the arrogance and disdain I could muster. I was of a higher, more creative mind, not to be tamed by the mundane tasks of office administration. I made my best effort not to conform. To not be assimilated by the borg. Needless to say, I didn't really make a great impression there.
(little did I know how many mundane, mindless jobs lay ahead of me, still too chicken to make any real effort in the 'art world'...fear of failure, that's another post for another day)

Ok, so back to the present. I have been invited to join a book club. Which is cool. The cool kids (well, other moms with kids) invited me to join them. And I love to read, and I'd love to talk about books with interesting grown ups. I may be able to save some of my brain after all.
But then an evil thought creeps in.
I am a stay at home mom. I drive a mini van. We go on playdates. I am the disheveled woman at the grocery store with the noisy kids falling out of the shopping cart and making a fuss the entire time. And now I'm in a mom's book club. (which I actually think is cool)

But am I becoming more of a cliche?
What's next? Cut my hair and wear pajama pants to the mall??
Sadly I'm already way less chic than a lot of the mall moms.

*sigh*
It makes me want to do something rebellious.

Affirm

I believe that words are powerful. Written or spoken. Good and bad. Words make a difference. Use them wisely.
I also believe that there is a kind of visceral beauty in the formation of letters and words. The way they sound and feel and have texture and context beyond the message they spell out.

A few years back I did a series of works based on text. Sort of poetry, but in a more visual context. While I was working on them it was as if the words were characters or musical notes that moved in their own rhythm and bumped up against each other in a fluid motion.
Kooky, but true.

So this really piqued my interest. Thanks again to the lovely Tay.

Do you ever need to “tie a string around your finger” to remember something important?

This little ring can be a powerful tool for personal transformation. I originally made a few for myself to help me remember to focus on body-positive messages as I went through my day. Then I made a few for friends and it grew into a large collection.

An affirmation.

i love you
whole
precious body
wonderfully made
be here now
quirkyalone
healed
my body is a temple
remember me
body revolution

From the list I chose two.

i love you - not that I need to remember to love my loved ones, but I like the reminder to think about them. Maybe show them.
(Or maybe I need to remember why I haven't sent them to live with real wild monkeys where they'd be more at home.)

and

precious body - because when my body doesn't look the way it once did, and I get discouraged by all the physical havoc caused by birthing babies, I remember that their precious bodies were created by mine.

I think I would also add to the list:
imagine
forgiven
with gratitude
and just for fun...kitten...!

And you?

Breathe

My life at the moment is consumed by very practical matters. Feed the children. Wash the clothes. Make dinner. Buy the groceries. Pick up the mail. Clean stuff. Do it all some more. Again and again. It's not completely dismal, but it is practical.

It's 9:45 on a Friday night. The boys are finally asleep and The Babe is too, at least for the moment. CH is doing boy things. Assembling something large and electronic with the help of a friend and a beverage. REM is playing their greatest hits on the stereo.
I am here eating ice cream. It's a rare moment.

I find myself here.
(Via Tay via Maryam. like they're friends of mine even though we're perfect strangers. the internet is so fun!)
And for a moment I feel a flicker of the person who went to art school and likes to think about artsy things and be creative and spend time daydreaming about projects that would be great fun even if I never do them. And it's poetry and imagination and inspiration and boldness and bravery.
I like that girl.
She's fun.
She has fun.

Life breath.

Sometimes I get so caught up in all the practical things that I don't even remember what I'm forgetting.