oh january

Hi friends.  I'm still trying to snap out of these blahs.  This weekend helped and hurt all at the same time.  Spending time as a family is always good, and we did take a little trip onto Brian's base all together.  We helped him clean his office up for an inspection.  Thank God I didn't get "inspections" when I was working.  My desk was never, um, organized.  We braved the P/X on the first Saturday after payday, too.  If you aren't military, that means nothing to you, but think braving the mall or Target on a Saturday and you get gist.  But then we came back home and spent the rest of the weekend taking down Christmas.  That always makes me sad.  And cranky.  And I was pretty extra cranky thinking I'd be doing the bulk of it, but Brian really stepped up and pitched in so much.  He's a keeper.  And every year I think the same thing: Why, oh WHY do I put so much up??  And then every year Christmas rolls around and I get into the spirit and over decorate all over again.  It's a vicious cycle.  A vicious Christmas cycle.

I inherited it from my mother, who had to deal with taking down an immense amount of Christmas decor after the holidays WHILE going back to work.  So that meant that Christmas lingered a lot longer at our home.  But I just can't let it linger.  I have to cut all ties at once, or it will drive me up the wall.  So yes.  Most of the weekend was spent taking it all down at once.  The littles watched, and asked a lot of questions, and worried about taking down the little trees in their rooms.  Brian took down some garland we had in Rowan's room.  She looked at him with big, watery eyes, and pleaded, "Don't take down my garland.  It's my very very favorite."  So he put it back up.  Sucker.  We found it in an open box of decorations later.  So she had decided it was time all on her own.  The girl likes to operate life on her own terms, trust me.

We got *most* of it packed away.  There are still a couple things here and there, but it looks pretty normal here.  I promised Rowan some Valentine's decorations, so that's what I'll be working on this week.  Brian took out the tree and burned it in the bonfire.  I missed it, but he said the flames shot up about 30 feet in the air.  Whoa.  I wanted to take pictures, but missed out.  That thing was dry, dry, dry. It took me a while vacuuming up the needles that got left behind.

And that's our weekend!  I'm trying to find the joys in our day to day to cheer me up, and watching Downton Abbey last night went a far way to cheer me right up!  Also catching up on blogs this morning has been fun.  Especially my friend, Karen's blog.  She's been documenting her pregnancy, birth, and baby boy for over a year now.  And today's post was so super brave, regarding post partum.  I'm so proud of her, and of what a great mama she is.  I have a lot of fun things to look forward to coming up this winter and spring, so I'm going to focus on that and forge ahead.

How do you combat those winter blahs?

pansy maiden

It's an exciting day!  Pansy Maiden has new bags up!  A friend of mine, Laura, owns and operates Pansy Maiden.  Which means she designs and sews her beautiful creations!  She is a completely vegan, cruelty-free company.  And her company is up to so many new and exciting adventures, like two of her bags are being included at a Disney World Epcot Center installation on sustainable living.  So exciting! 

Go on and take a peek for yourself, but I am in a serious quandary on which bag to buy.  I would buy them all if I could.  I really would.  But for now, these are in my top 3.

{Bang Messenger in Whiskey}

{Canteen Clutch/Hip Bag in Vintage Tribal Ikat}

{Petite Hobo with Fringe in Whiskey}

So so amazing, right?  She also now has some really cute accessories, too!  Here are my favorites.

{Faux Suede Fringe Bracelet}

{Mega Pouch in Green Floral}

I'm going to have to think pretty hard on what to get today.  I'm in love with the fringe, but I also think the canteen clutch is so unique and pretty!  Go check it all out, she also still has her classic creations.  I can proudly say I own a custom Weekender, which I first used as a diaper bag, and now as a laptop carrier/weekend bag.  It is still in beautiful shape a few years later!  *AND there is a discount for all the new bags!!*

Congratulations, Laura!  Your new collections are just beautiful.

sharing

Our littles have a lot of toys.  A LOT.  It's a little ridiculous.  And we've made a greed monster out of Fletcher with his potty training prizes.  When you want your 3 year old to poop in the potty, you start promising the moon.  What?  You want a new expensive toy?  Well, poop in the potty and it's YOURS!!! 

So he started asking for more and more, because, uh, he could.  And I inwardly chastised myself and decided it was time to change gears here, and poop in the potty be damned.  I let Fletcher know that he was incredibly lucky to have wonderful toys because some boys and girls don't have ANY.

Fletcher: Where did their toys go?
Me: They never had any.
Fletcher: Do they have books?
Me: No, not even books.
Fletcher: What are their names?
Me: I don't know their names, but there are millions of children with no toys, no house, and not enough food to eat.

Well, that blew his mind.  He decided he wanted to take his toys directly to these kids, and show them how to play with toys.  Bless his lovely child heart.  He was sorely disappointed when I explained that we wouldn't be able to give toys to the children directly, but we'd be dropping them off somewhere and grown ups would make sure they got to the children.  So he started thinking about what toys he'd like to give up for these children.  Which made this mama happy. 

When he went to bed last night, I asked him if he had decided what he wanted to give the poor children. 

Fletcher: I want to give them my train table! 
Me: Really?  You want to give them your whole train table?
Fletcher: YES!
Me:  Ok, but I want you to know that when you give away your toys, you won't be getting them back.  It means the other children get to keep them and play with them forever.
Fletcher (thinking for a minute): Maybe we should give them some of Baby Rowan's toys.

Gotta love that line of logic!

But this kid?  He is still a keeper.  He shares pudding with his little sister, without any complaint.

He even lets her lick the spoon.

But he gets to lick the cup.

June Afternoons

Do you like babies?  Do you like lovely photography?  Well then I have an etsy shop for you!  The host of You Capture (which I participate in weekly) opened this shop to help a cause near and dear to her heart.

Beth's words:

June Afternoons is an Etsy shop that, until May 31, 2011, will be donating all of the proceeds from the sale of each print, gallery wrap or book to the March for Babies, March of Dimes in honor our sons, James and Jake. 

So check it out!  The prints really are amazingly beautiful.  And the kicker is that ALL the proceeds will go toward such a wonderful charity.  Don't you feel extra charitable this nice Easter week?