We had a great weekend! So great, in fact, that it’s taken me two whole days to get pictures uploaded!

We went to the zoo on Friday, and drew propaganda on the jellyfish tank.

We were all happy Daddy was home on Saturday! We did yard work and I fell in love with the chipper. It was BEAUTIFUL weather.

Some of us napped. I gave Randy a mohawk.

We had dinner with friends and went bowling.

I nursed while bowling.

Does anyone else get depressed reading their favorite craft-related blogs? Or even just regular parenting blogs?

Some of the bloggers I read seem to have such perfect lives. You know, after they make all the beds in their adorable, clean, and uncluttered houses, they serve their children a nutritious breakfast of made-from-scratch biscuits served with fruit preserves they canned themselves using fruit they grew, herbs they harvested wild, and locally-grown sweetener. After breakfast, the whole family spends the morning engaging in creative endeavors - sewing, or playing with capes and helmets, or painting, or whatever. After their made-from-scratch and nutritionally-balanced lunches eaten on a handmade quilt under the tree in the backyard, they spend some time learning about the parts of plants while they work together in their spacious and well-weeded gardens. (Their lawn is, incidentally, mowed.) Some time, and I’m not sure when, they also have an opportunity to make wonderful things for their Etsy shop. Evenings are spent with their spouse after, of course, a made from scratch dinner.

Their kids are always really good, and when they’re naughty, they’re naughty in funny ways. The parents never lose their tempers, and always have the right answer. Nobody has bad habits, or does anything like let their kid have frozen pot stickers for lunch 5 days in a row.

Sigh.

I wouldn’t turn down a life like that.

But it’s not my life. And, truly, I do not think that that is what THEIR lives are like, either. It’s just what they appear to be, because I, as the reader, only see glimpses of their lives. Highly controlled glimpses, at that.

So, in an effort to make you feel better about yourself, here is OUR typical Monday.

Get up. Lounge in bed until everyone is good and awake. Get out of bed, make bed, make breakfast. Breakfast choices are the same every day: oatmeal, cereal, toast with peanut butter, toast with cinnamon sugar, eggs. Some days we add pancakes to the list, some days we have bacon. wahoo. Get dressed. (We always get dressed on Mondays!) Wash dishes, clean in Zone. Homeschool, starting no later than 9:15, preferably 9. Story time is at 10:15. (except tomorrow, there is no story time.) After story time, grab a snack and head down to my office (or my apartment, as Wally calls it). Work. Process orders, process shipping, sew, cut, whatever.

While I work, Wally can watch a movie (2 times a week), play games on the computer, draw, paint, playdough, or do whatever strikes his fancy. He will spend a significant amount of this time asking to watch a movie. Genna will sleep for an hour if I’m lucky, and be happy playing with toys for another half hour, and will fuss or need to be held the rest of the time. Sewing with a 6 month old presents some challenges!!

Finish up work as soon as humanly possible, but no later than 2. I aim for 1 every day, but don’t usually make it. Eat lunch. Lunch is usually sandwiches, leftovers, soup, or spaghetti. Soup is usually chicken noodle. From a can about half the time, though I’m trying to cut back on canned soups. I have never served us from-scratch rustic country breads with fresh-from-the-garden vegetable soups for lunch.

After lunch, mommy wants to rest, but usually ends up doing crafts or playing games with Wally. We always plan to read books after lunch, but usually forget. (We read books during homeschool time and in the evenings, so it’s not a huge deal.) Playing games usually means on the Wii, but with the return of nice weather, we’re heading outside more and more often.

Daddy comes home in the evening, and at least usually offers some books or other one on one activity with Wally. (this helps prevent obnoxious begging for attention later in the evening.) Monday is rehearsal night, so we eat dinner and then have dance team practice at our house for an hour or so before bed. Wally watches a movie while we practice.

So there you have it. If I ever give the impression that our life is more glamorous than this, well, I’m sorry.

In the trunk of your SUV, with a baby and girl scout cookies, on a beautiful day, while your preschooler snoozes in his carseat.

Birth-day

3 days, first trip to Menards

5 days

1 week, at Jive Junction

2 weeks

1st Birthday

And today he is Five. I can hardly believe it.

Hey, I wanted to take a minute to let you all know about my new project, to be documented at anepicjourney.wordpress.com  It’s called the Day Zero Project. Essentially, you list 101 things to be done in 1001 days. I just started on April 1. You can see my list at over there, and I’ll update there as progress is made. Should be interesting.

(cross posted at Wallypoppers.)

It was 71 degrees out today, a stunningly beautiful day amid a week of 40s and predicted weekend back in the 40s. Both children are still coughing, but nobody seems on the brink of death at this point, and we were all eager to get outside. We went to the zoo as soon as it opened for the day!

Here is Genna, enjoying her first trip to the zoo.

And two swans, enjoying the nice day next to their still-frozen pond. Wally got a kick out of watching the swans and ducks slip and slide on the ice.

This silly goat had climbed up onto the bridge over the sidewalk, and he brayed down at us forlornly, vainly trying to get us to feed him. If only our arms were a few feet longer…

Wally now loves this “bubble” window into the aquarium, though he used to be scared of it.

Can I pause for a minute and say that I love babywearing? I was the only person at the zoo today not pushing a stroller. I had Genna bundled up on my front, where I could protect her from the occasional slightly chilly breeze, and our backpack on the back. I did not feel weighed down, and was happy to not have to worry about a stroller.

We were also able to enjoy about an hour and a half of outdoor play in the backyard after I finished up the days’ work and before the dipping sun made it just a wee bit too chilly to really enjoy ourselves any longer. Well, too chilly for mama, anyway.

Come on, Spring!!

Wally sitting at my computer in my office watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, drinking tea and eating fries from McDonald’s. I mean, how crunchy and wholesome can you get??

Most days, he plays with his legos or his plethorea of toys or he paints or draws. Often, he plays educational games on my computer, but now that we have the Wii, he’s totally on to the fact that Phonics games are just a sneaky way to learn phonics. Rarely, he uses the leappad his grandparents got him. Frequently, he runs around the basement making all manner of sound effects, lost in his own world. But some days, well… it’s TMNT, or Iron Man, or whatever. On my computer. Because that’s way more fun than on the small TV in the neighboring area of the basement (technically the exercise area, which is what the TV’s for).

We used to only watch educational movies (Muzzy or similar), but now it’s largely just entertainment. I think I’ll start throwing the Muzzy back on, though. The Guten Morgen song still sticks in my head sometimes.

OK, we bought this button press a while back. It was a joint purchase between Swing Des Moines and Wallypop. I made up a bunch of super fun pin-up pins and cute little swing dance-related phrase pins and magnets (like “Lindy Babe” or “Fancy a Shag?”). We made lots of Swing Des Moines logo pins.

I’ve made Due Date pins that sell well at baby fairs.

When I go to craft fairs, I take along a little box of pins with astrological signs, sheet music, and a few other things.

But these have been fun. I bought a bunch of children’s books that were in really bad shape at a used book sale this fall. Goodnight Moon. Winnie the Pooh. Lilo and Stitch. Snow White. and this Scooby Doo comic book. And I made pins and magnets out of them. Wally was a little sad at cutting up the books.  We had to keep Frosty the Snowman for him.

But once the pins were all cut out, he went to town making the buttons. Wally LOVES the button maker. And he’s gotten stronger since the last time we got the maker out - he can actually do the handle all by himself now.

Anyway, these book ones are headed for Etsy over the course of the next week or so.

For a while, there has been an informal group of my friends who knit and they would get together every once in a while. I didn’t join them, as they met on a night I had to teach classes. Then, a few months ago, the group got much larger, took on a new name, and started meeting at a time I could go!

Natural Parenting Fiber Artists - largely a group of women who circulate in the same circles I do - Holistic Moms, Cloth Diapering, Babywearing, LLL, etc.

It’s super fun, gives us a chance to craft and talk birth, breasts, babies, husbands, and things completely unrelated. (As if we don’t all have plenty of opportunity to discuss said topics anyway…) Knitting Night is close up there to ICAN night in terms of Nights Away From My Family That I Really Look Forward To!