An Overdue Update

So lets see I've been saying I need to update my blog for a bit now but so much has been going on I just haven't gotten around to it. So I think some short tidbits are in order.

We had VBS at church. I really do want to enjoy it but I really don't. That said Elijah learned that God is always with you which is a wonderful thing to learn. I learned way too much about tie dying and people who don't understand math. I enjoyed some of the dying though and think later this summer Elijah and I are going to do a bit for Christmas gifts. We used the Dahrma fiber reactive dyes and they were awesome.

Emily is sort or crawling. We call it crawling with intent. She will get on her hands and knees and go till she is just within reach of what she is after then plop on her tummy and stretch out to grab it. Truthfully it would be easier for her if she would just go a bit closer but oh well. I think I'm going to make her some new clothes since some of her dresses are just getting in the way. Like I really need an excuse but I do need to get her smocked dresses sewn together first.

Chrissey had her baby Alex. Sounds like it was a challenging time she actually labored for longer without an epi then I did total in both my pregnancies including a bit of functional epi time. Seems as though all are doing well now though. I finished her baby present somehow managed to make one pant leg smaller then the other but they are knitted so hopefully it will be OK once they are on.

Elijah is so full of himself its not even funny but it sort of is. I think he is ready to have a bit more going on. A few days ago and Barnes and Noble he informed me that when he's 6 he's outta here. Not sure what kind of job he's getting with a preschool education though so perhaps he'll stick around for a few more years.

Unfortunately he was sick earlier this week and now Emily is sick. It was pretty short lived in Elijah so hopefully it will be with her too.

Some of lifes bigger questions but not the ones you think.

So life has been full lately with Elijah out of school. Thankfully Emily has bonded with the Y nursery ladies and the pool is open but man am I every ready for camp to start. That said I figured I'd blog a bit about the big questions I've been pondering lately.

1) Exactly what kind of mom am I anyways? Those of you who are moms know that this is far from a simple question. Those of you who aren't just plug the word person in for mom and you get the gist. I know I want to be a good mom and most days feel like I bet the spread on that one but beyond that I'm also striving for cool mom and sometimes a touch crunchy. The cool mom part comes from the fact that I go on the water slide with my kid and now that he has his black band be still my heart let Elijah go in the deep end by himself to dive. I can report back that the water slide is actually tuns of fun especially if you remember to hold your nose around that last bend and that those lands end swimsuits keep their hold everything in promise even on the water slide. As for the deep end it scares me but I'm trying so hard to except that he is growing up and is actually pretty capable. Crunchy bc I recycle obsessively, sew my own diapers, and wash everything in Charlies Soap. In addition to that I'm not overly sure about everything else. I can say though that I relish that fact that even though my son is getting older he still likes to share fun things like the water slide with me and that I'm not too busy laying out in the sun to do it with him.

2) Do I really need it? Ahh can't you just feel the purse strings tightening across the nation. Seems that everyone is trying to spend less and we are no exception. Funny thing is Neil and I have both found that we save a decent amount of money just by thinking about our little purchases. As hard as it is I've excepted that my children both have enough o clothing for the moment as do I and that we really don't need all that much. Truthfully I am sometimes disgusted when I see how many things I have purchased for myself in the heat of the moment that I don't really even like when the smoke clears so in some ways I feel much better not spending so much. Of course the follow up is Do I really really want it? and sometimes when the answer is yes I get whatever it is but we are all trying.

Emily is screaming I best be going.

Well I guess this all means summer is here.

Elijah is a Graduate. Well a preschool graduate that is but they wore caps and gowns and marched into whatever that song is. It was all really precious. They even sang songs so on a whole way more entertaining then most graduations. So I know your wondering "Did I cry?" umm no I thought about crying since this means preschool is over as I really wouldn't have minded another month or two. He has lots of camps coming but nothing much for a bit so its hard to say what our days will be like.

We went to the zoo with Angela, Steve, and Beca Sunday. Had a great time. Elijah and Beca really seem to enjoy one and other which is great since Angela and I have been friends for years. We are all zoo members so we got to walk right in while everyone else waited in line. It was also apparently random large animal sit up front day. We got to see elephants, water buffilo, and several other animals just sitting up in the front of their areas staring at us.

Hmmm what about Emily? She has discovered bubbles and getting her knees under her. Oh and she has a tooth. Well at least the start of a tooth. Oh and good little southern girl that she is we took her to the farmers market restaurant on Saturday and she tried grits and biscuits. She liked them both very much. Really though whats not to like about food drenched in butter?

Oh and last but not least the YMCA pool is back open. We all went Monday. I got nice and sunburned bc I forgot to put sunblock on myself. Elijah is thrilled by the water slide. Says its Awesome and is now wearing his yellow band always.

This and That/Random Crap

So I've probably got about a dozen decent blog entries with cool titles floating around in my head but alas if we wait for me to do that well it will never happen so here's a whole string of tiny ones.

1) Really you picked pea? So Emily is eating some baby food now. She cringed at applesauce and bananas, tolerated sweat potatoes but only mixed into cereal so we tried peas. You guessed it she loves them. Umm what ever freaky baby who wouldn't let me eat sugar for 8 out of 9 months. You have weird taste but maybe it will make you skinny.

2) What a Dorky name for something so great. So Neil and I took a parenting class at church all about being Emotion Coaches. Yes you read that right we are being emotion coaches. It really is a great concept though. Its all about trying to relate to you children's feelings and help them through it without a struggle. We even bought the book. Parents Children and Power struggles and guess what. It really works and helps everyone keep their cool. As an added bonus we have only had a few time outs and no dragging a screaming 5yo to his room.

3) I think the 30s have kicked in. Not in a bad way exactly but I've notices some disturbing things lately. Exhibit A is that I bought a Lands End scort from Sears recently and think it looks great on. The waist even comes up to my navel. Exhibit B are the shoes I bought today. They are supper comfy leather sandals similar to the ones my mom loves. Add to these that no one has made a strange comment about me having kids lately. Oh well I guess this will be a good decade even if I'm dressing more like an adult.

4) I swear we were outside as a family today and I felt like I was in a weird episode of The Wounder Years. Everything was normal except that Elijah was on a skateboard and not a bike. There was my husband loveingly running alongside his son on a skateboard.

My first smocking class

Well I have officially started smocking. I went to my first class tonight and had a good time. Of course there was little miss perfectly put together despite having a 5 month old with her mom and her aunt but I took some solice in the fact that the teacher kept having to take hers apart. Well that and that at the end she actually did seem nice . I guess I shouldn't be judgemental but really who has makeup on at night??? Last time I was made up was for Emily's Baptism. It turns out that smocking may be one of the many things that the same things that make one decent at math help with. I mean I'm sorry how hard is it to go 1/4 then 1/2 or to remember that the thread needs to be over or under the needle. I guess time will tell though.

I've also made myself a fabulous ring sling since I last posted. Oh and I saw the one I so badly wanted in person today was was totally unimpressed. Well that and I made one with a gathered shoulder out of silk of all things and it is beautiful. I'm not using it much till Saturday though bc we are getting family pictures taken and I don't want to ruin it between now and then.

The kiddies are both well. I'll do a bit about them another day.

Yeah Elijah and I want I want I want

Seems that lately we are having days and days of feeling really busy without being able to say exactly what we did. Today comes with a touch of big news though. Elijah passed his yellowband test at the Y. He really could have done it last summer but doesn't like to swim without his goggles on which I totally get bc their pool is awful but that's the rule so there you go. Neil took he and Emily swimming today though and he passed the test. Wish I'd been there but oh well. He's super proud of himself.

Now as for me I seem to have an awful case of the I wants. I think its brought on by my making the decision that I really don't need anything and should be saving money combined with the knowledge that Emily is not going to be a little baby for much longer. So my current want is a prettier ring sling to take along for our family pictures. I'm working on my dream mei tai that is going to totally rock. Of course just as soon as I got the fabric the precious decided that she loves riding around in her ring sling or mama made pouch. Well that great but the sling is most comfortable to me but super ugly. I got it for Elijah and did the I'll take whatever in this size for the clearance price. Ummm its just ugly. Its this multi color Aztec like print. I want something I a khaki color linen to go with the whole look of our pictures. I don't know what I'll end up doing though bc I really don't need it but I WANT it. We'll see how this plays out. I'm also starting to feel a little self conscious about it bc on of my church friends has started commenting on how I always have a different baby carrier. She thinks they're all pretty I just feel like I have to justify having them and I don't quite know what to say. I mean I have several they weren't cheap but they could have been so much more expensive and Emily loves to be worn so she is on me so much of most days and I use them for different things. Plus they're all neat. Oh well back to searching fsot on thebabywearer.

Our little Engineer

So of course Elijah can be whatever he wants to be so long as he can be it while paying for his own adulthood. That said we had his end of preschool parent teacher conference this year and some things just made us smile. He still doesn't care for coloring but his teacher did agree with us that since he understands the directions and is capable of coloring just doesn't care to that it probably doesn't actually matter. We more enjoyed the fact that she showed him shapes at the beginning of the year asking him to identify each one. He could except for the oval and the diamond. The funny thing is her diamond was just a square rotated 45 degrees which he identified as a square turned on its side. Well yeah of course it is honey.