I could really use a cup of coffee...if I still drank it.

We all arrived safe and sound! Saturday was a long day but everything went as smoothly as it could. We flew in over the river looking at buildings boats and bridges. My boy says to me "Mommy an airplane is just like a bridge." Confused I look down at him and ask, "how?" He replies,"They both go over the water."

I guess they are similar then.

Back to that imaginary cup o'joe - cream, no sugar please. Oops, dairy free something I meant. Boy jet lag is a funny thing. You'd think a little two hour time difference wouldn't throw two kids into a time warp. They are both up late and then early. Both fell asleep just before 10pm last night (8pm at home) so not too bad. I could have skipped placing me had in warm goo at 4:15am when my daughter woke up to nurse for the how-ever-many-th time.

Finally getting us put back together and back to sleep I hear rustling from the corner where my son is supposed to sleep. I think I've only just closed my eyes since the diaper fiasco but then I also hear quiet movemets out in the kitchen so I know it's closer to 6am (yeah, 4am at home).

Without opening my eyes wider than the cover of a cheap paperback mystery I ask my son to grab the blanket that fell off the air mattress durig the night and cuddle behind me. Next thing I know wool over my eyes (actual wool), baby arms flailing and eye's pop open. Have I never mentioned that we don't throw blankets over sleeping mommies and babies. I have now!!!

My daughter seems to be taking a decent nap currently but I've tried every thing (short of glueing his eyes shut - I don't know where my Mom keeps it!) he just won't go to sleep. (current time 2:47pm)

I've already taken a bunch of pictures. Yesterday we went to Lasdon and walked the memorial trail as well as around the grounds. Then we went to muscoot farm. It was a fun morning and my nephews birthday party in the afternoon. Maybe I'll get some pictures up if my kids go to bed tonight, but of course - don't hold your breath!!!

Ready to go!

Well, We're pretty much packed and ready to fly out. Going to NY first to see family and friends then to NH for my sister's wedding. You can see my yellow dress in the picture was one of the first things packed.

Both the kids really wanted to be involved with the packing which was nice but my daughter thought it was hilarious to dig pair after pair of her brother's socks out of the suitcase. Then she would make a dash across the room holding them. Not to mention crawling into my suitcase and tearing it apart. Despite the minor obstacles I think I've got everything (still have to go up and do the bathroom stuff after my shower.)

First we fly to Denver tomorrow morning and then to NY - since the "we" is just me and the kids I'm praying for smooth and peaceful flights. Hopefully my hubby won't get to lonely at home all alone. We'll miss him terribly.

I'll be gone for 10 days so I'll try to get online to post some updates now and then. Happy Summer travels!

While I was fixing lunch

we were singing This Little Light of Mine. When we were finished my son asked me, "Mommy what does shine means?"

After my answer of bright sunshine and lights filling the room. I said and in the song it means we let the lights in our hearts shine for Jesus.

After a brief pause, he replies, "But Mommy mine can't shine right now because the batteries are dead."

I'm eating sweet potatos...

and carrots, avocado, banana and squash!!! Yummy!

Yes, she's officially started eating regular stuff. And sleeping worse! Well not actually sleeping worse but trying to get her to sleep at night for about the last week has been rougher. She doesn't want to nurse to sleep so we rock and cry and cry and rock for awhile. Teething?!? I don't know 10 months old - will the first one break before a year? We'll see! It sort of puts a damper on Mommy's blogging time when the baby's up until 10pm - yes she's so much more important than my little computer habit!

I've been so bad about putting stuff in her hair. Mostly because not much stays but today I braved it. Got the palm tree (as my Mom called) to stay in it today. My son and I started calling it a "baby spout" - like a porpoise spout ya know. Anyway, she looks cute and it's got to be nice for her to not have whispies in her eyes.

She would not sit still and smile - all her big smiles were on the move!

Happy 10 months little one. You've begun to slow down gaining and only gained 1/2 pound this month bringing you to 21 and a half pounds of wonderful love! If you could call a crawling baby running you're doing it. And along with a baby push up position you have started to lift your hips into a little down dog pose too. It's just adorable. You want to be right in the middle of the action and are such a happy baby. Totally content as long as Mom, Dad and big brother are not far away! Last month I was doing this!

And the winner is

Amber! Congrats! Send me your address to thebutterflymama at gmail dot com and I'll get it out to ya!

Thanks for all the birthday present ideas. Really great! Thank you!

I log on tonight and think - I've got to be then only person in blogland that has a contest that only one person enters!! LOL. Then I log onto my bloglines and see that my last two posts haven't been picked up by bloglines. Weird.

Maybe this one will and you might so be moved to go here and give me your opinion so you can have a chance to win!

Wrapping Paper and give away

This link should work now!

I think I have become known by my friends and family as the one who wraps presents in her son's artwork. It's cheap, easy and it seems to give them some purpose. Recently though I was sent a sample of this adhesive wrapping paper made by Hallmark.

I didn't know what to think when I first heard of it but it works very well. It's really not that sticky or anything - I had envisioned getting stuck into it like a spider web! It is tacky on the back side and in fact when I cut it I got distracted (baby stuff!) and when I came back to it I thought the adhesive wouldn't stick anymore but it did.

The seams seem to hold nicely and if the ends do need a bit of help seals are included with the roll. At $4.99 a roll I still don't know if I'm spendy enough to buy it for little kid birthdays and such but for wedding gifts and the sort it is nice to have real paper.

Want to win a roll?? Leave me a comment on this post letting me know your ideas for the best kids birthday presents (either ones you've given or received) by the end of the day Friday June 13th and I'll randomly pick a winner.

My thoughts on kids presents...books and games are best - but again my oldest is only 3 I don't have many under my belt yet! Let me know what you've found the most appreciated gifts are for your kids...

A Wonderful Gorgeous Day!

This morning started out a bit rough, I forgot to eat breakfast when my son did. The baby woke up and two blow outs later and nudging my son to get dressed for church I begin to get ready myself. Then got frustrated with my hubby for some little thing and remembered my bowl of oatmeal, berries and granola.

I'm so grateful to have food to eat when I need it! So many others in the world aren't so lucky.

Not five minutes after sitting down in church I had to take my son out for a little talking to and afterwards he was playing with a stick on the playground and Adam told him to put it down and leave it alone. Soon after another Dad comes over and tells him our son is swinging it around other kids...ugh.

I am grateful that our church is small!

After lunch my hubby went to work and had already instructed our son that he needed a nap today. Well, after standing guard at his door for 30 minutes he was forced to succumb to sleep.

I am grateful for some time to think.

Peace for 50 minutes- both asleep laundry folded and put away a room picked up, kitchen cleaned. Baby crying wakes up said son who is almost more whiny than earlier. Baby back to sleep, son feed a snack and sent outside to hopefully get a better outlook.

I am grateful to be reminded that whining is not acceptable - from kids or adults!

I decide I could use some of the same fresh air so I go out to weed in the garden. My son, still acting a bit ornery was playing with our dog (who didn't look all that thrilled about the whole thing.) I suddenly jump up and say let's play soccer. What fun we both had passing the ball back and forth and running the length of our yard time and again. Then after our dog popped the ball it made a perfect second base for our t-ball game.

I am so grateful that 15 minutes can change everyone's outlook on the entire day.

When the baby wakes up we head to the park - it seriously was California weather here today - 70 mostly sunny big puffy cotton candy in the sky - perfect. On our way out the door I finally remember to bring the camera along to capture some pictures of the wee one in the swings. When we get to the park I realize the battery is dead. I've seen Adam remove the battery when it dies, replace it and then it will take another picture. I did this about 8 times and came out with a few cute ones.

I am grateful that I have a resourceful husband to learn from.

After more t-ball with one of the boys from next door, a pretty yummy dinner and a visit with some friends to watch the basketball game. (Even though they lost) We had no need that wasn't provided for in excess.

Boy am I grateful to live without want for any need and then plenty! Life is good.

Compliments

Should I not be so tickled when Jesus Takes the wheel comes on the radio today and I hear my son from the backseat saying, "Mommy that's you singing so pretty."

And later when I was laying in bed nursing the little one down for a nap he puts his chin on my shoulder and whispers,"She's so cute, just like me when I was married." Confused I reply, "You mean when you were a baby?" He says, "No Mommy first I was married and then you were my baby and you were so cute and cuddly." Alrighty then.

Some other updates

Just felt like writing about some other stuff going on around here. Adam is in the third week of his job and he really is enjoying it!!! He was out of town for training the first week and my kids and I were just thrown into going it without Dad around to help out. Astonishingly it went well except we all obviously missed him. Even our little baby woke up the first morning, crawled onto his side of the bed saying "DaDa? DaDa?" like where could he be!

We are also getting used to him working weekends and having two weekdays off which is different but I'm certain we'll grow accustom to it all. We are grateful that God has provided a good job for him and one that he is enjoying.

We are all getting excited for my sister's wedding in New Hampshire in three and a half weeks. You'll all get to see pictures of me in this dress. And no there is no backless nursing bra in the world so I have not a clue what I'll be wearing under the back of the dress yet!

Another kicker is that it doesn't look like Adam is going to be able to come with us and I'm in the wedding. I'm sure my son will be fine sitting with another family member but my daughter has me concerned. I may be looking to make myself a sling out of some matching yellow fabric! Everyone she's attached to is going to want to watch the wedding not hold a wiggling baby and if she's in the least bit crabby she'll just cry if anyone other than Mommy or Daddy has her anyway. So I'm thinking that me holding her might be just about the best option since a screaming baby and wedding don't generally mix well! Oh, but I'm still praying that since Adam's manager has commented numerous times that he is performing well and really turning the store around I'm hoping he has a change of heart and lets him come. The first and last weekends of the month are blacked out for managers to take time off so now we know!

My son and I finally have planted everything in our little garden this year. It took so much work to clean out all the junk that our renters had thrown in there as well as weed the massive weed pit it had become. While doing all that work I thought why not add another foot to the garden so I ripped up 12- 18 inches of grass along the 22 feet of garden. But finally the seeds have been sown (and resown since my son went in and raked a hill of cucumbers!) I purchased already started plants for my tomatoes this year since this spring we were getting our house painted and ready to sell. BTW I don't think we will be selling now that we have a job! PHEW! Now our house is just a bit cleaner and we have less stuff around which is nice.

I'm pretty sure that's the bulk of the major things going on lately!

I've mentioned that for the last six weeks or so our house has been tv less and honestly we really haven't missed it. We've been watching movies on my hubbies laptop and recently watched csi season finales online - hello do the writers of Miami and the original one talk to each other it seems silly to end both episodes with a shooting... but I digress.

My poor husband is a Los Angeles Laker fan, it's in his blood as much as I'm a Yankee fan (not that I get to watch many games anymore.) I can't tell how lucky I am that basketball is the only sport he really watches - and he really only watches a few games here and there - except for during the play offs. He likes to watch when his team is doing well and of course this year they are in the finals playing of all teams the rivals from his childhood - the Boston Celtics and well, we still have nothing to watch it on! Every once in awhile he's gone out to watch them but it's fun for all of us to watch together.

I'm sure we'll survive. What an unnecessary luxury item it is but as entertainment goes, it's fun to watch a movie, PBS documentary or the food network once in awhile. As we are saving up for the tv we want instead of just running out to get any old one it might be another month or so before we have one. Not to mention my hubby's been tracking the price of it online and it keeps coming down in price so we might as well wait until it's hit bottom. It just humors me like someone is playing a joke on Adam with the Lakers in the finals and all!!!