Christmas goodness

There are so many fun Christmasy things going on in the new house. Now that I'm almost finished I have the time I've been hoping on...and it's turning up to feel like boredom. Of course. :)

I'm going to put in some photos of our winter wonderland decorating to remember:

New Colors

Zeek's Tree Trimming

Homemade (cheep girl) Trees

Blizzard Alison

(Pretty much the first snow of the year brought about 14 inches!!!)

the angel

The Bird

Silver Branch Boughs

Over the Kitchen Sink

Unplanned but too good to pass up

The Planned and Very Intentional, BH&G Inspired, Branch Tree in a Vase

The Hand Painted Deer

The New Tree
(finally finished)

The Wreath As We Found It
(this was in the attic above the garage when we moved in.
when i asked if you would sit by it for me to take a photo of how big it was you said, "with pleasure".)

After and Hanging
(i squeezed you so tight and cried when i saw this hanging for the first time.
we are so blessed and it just gets better and better.)

My First Decorated Wreaths

The Mantel

The Easy Way Out

(gift wrap)

Zeek said:

"I want to eat something perfishous" (yes, he got the makin'-up-words gene from his Mama)


"These pants are quite falling off my body."

"I found something mysterious, and I know how it happened."


just sitting at the table, eating his breakfast:
"I can’t wait to see souls...human souls. I can’t wait to see Nemo again. And his soul."

me: I just want to eat you up!
zeek: don’t eat me. I have blood in my body. And I’ll rain it on you if you eat me!

"Yum this is quite fantastic."

"I wish we had a machine that threw out chocolate at your face so you could gulp it."

Greg shaved his long goatie this morning and Zeeks said,
"Now when santa sees him he will say that he has no beard, having no beard, that is to say, beardless."


On Saturday, December 12th, 2009 you were punched in the face for the first time. :( Our neighbor boy did it. He has a sensory disorder and he has some issues with the way he chooses to express himself. You wanted a foosball from him. He didn't want you to have it. 
You're reaction was so sad and funny all at once. You came to me crying and yelling,
"he PUNCHED me in the FACE! I have NEVER been punched in the FACE! Who punches someone in the face? Now my face HURTS! I want to PUNCH him in the FACE. I want his face to hurt, too!"


It honestly reminded me a little too much of how you reacted when Nemo bit you. You're such a verbal processor, and I'm glad that it appalls you when you have been hurt. Poor thing. I think I was 19 the first time I was punched in the FACE. :( 


You've always been a little ahead of the game.  

good ol' saturday

Today was such a normal day. Just the kind of day you hear about regular people having. It was nice. I wonder if that happens more often when Jaymee is here. It seems so. And if so, that it is falling right in line with my theory that I'm a "two kid Mom".

Anyway, Greg and I had a healthy disagreement this morning and then he agreed to go out for awhile and do something for himself. :)

I made Natalie's Christmas gift (a framed jewelry holder thing like mine) while the kids watched Lady and the Tramp with popcorn (after french toast and bananas for breakfast).

Then Greg came home with some beautiful flowers for me. The first flowers I've ever gotten from Greg that I actually loved. They really did make me feel better. In general. He said he was sorry (though I was just as wrong as him this morning) and we laughed and carried on. He also bought himself a cute little peevy practice amp. for the house.

He played that and shortly after he began Teri, the neighbor lady came over. She invited us to come sledding with her two boys at her place. They have an awesome hill. We sled and visited. I photographed their family for their Christmas card.

Then we all went into their home for the kids to continue playing and the Mamas to talk. The kids had hot cocoa and banana bread. Oh, and some of the sugar cutout cookies we brought over for them. :)

The kids went off to play and Zeek and Jay returned about 20 minutes later, crying. Henry, their youngest son (who has a sensory disorder and some social issues we are all aware of) had punched them both! Jay in the back of the neck and Zeek right square in the nose! :(

Zeek was hilarious. He was SO mad that he was yelling through his tears, "I don't like that kid anymore! I never want to play with him again! He punched me right in the face! who punches someone in the face? i have never been punched in the face! my face HURTS! and now i want to punch him in the face so HIS face hurts TOO!"

So we held in our laughter at his hysterics and dealt with the issue. It was fine. We all apologized and forgave and moved on. Home that is. Where we all ate some hearty meaty spaghetti and cold milk. Then Zeek and Jay went out to play in the snow hills made by the plow guy. I went out and enclosed the screened porch in heavy plastic.

We all came in together after dark, the kids played games and had a night snack. Then I bored them to sleep reading BabyZeek.com, and I am off to do another art project and watch Julie Julia. Or whatever it's called. Greg has a guy flick for himself that he's going to watch in the theater.

Good, fun, usual day. :)
Thank You God.

too much

i need to relive two years ago. living in the house where i always wanted something else. the time when i enjoyed every single moment i had with my then two year old. watching his every move in amazement. happily juggling the schedule of two, with Jay during the weekdays...

i need to remember those days when i believed that financial freedom and security would make life SO much better. and that living in more space, in the country just outside of town, with our own places to explore in our own big backyard would cause us to enjoy ourselves so much more...

i can't help but recognize how much time i had when things were simpler because they had to be. or how much we LOVED the few times we left in the jeep to go exploring someplace bigger (wild life sanctuary, baird creek, pamperin park).

i can't help but note that it's no wonder we felt like life was making such a huge transition when we moved here. the money. the amazing inside space. the extra outdoor space. outside of the city...

and then there were the visitors.
the amount of company alone changed everything.
and certainly for the better, then.

today, i am in over my head. the holiday is approaching and the gift planning, making, buying, preparing (having been the biggest pain to me in the past) is the most enjoyable part of it all.

my list is 18 serious things long: well here. so that next year i can look back and be SURE not to do this again...

* paint living room art
* create art for kitchen
* purge house
* close up and clean screened room
* make three wreaths
* decorate mantel
* make pizza gifts
* finish Christmas shopping
* package, wrap and send out gifts
* make Natalie's gift
* make Morgan's gift
* finish hallway art
* make Zeek's box castle
* paint and ready kid's table
* clean out boxes in garage
* clean crazy craft room
* move out of kitchen, clean EVERYTHING and move back in
* hang Christmas cards

and yes, the majority of these are FUN. but not when i've already decorated with lights in the yard, the tree and themed woods stick trees and ornaments, hand made five cone trees, purchased all the table settings for Christmas Eve, and done almost all of the Christmas shopping!

When does it stop?!

I'm afraid that this has a lot to do with hosting Christmas Eve. Which I'm SO happy to do. but some of it is just having so much more space (you know, that which would make everything easier?), and of course the money to afford so much (you know, that which would make everything better?).

I feel like my plans are going to leave zeek in the dust, and i will never have his four year old Christmas again.

and i was going to say that i would vow not to let this happen "next year". but now that i've gotten it all out, i'm going to vow not to let it happen this year.

I'm changing my schedule.

*enjoy painting my little dream Christmas art on the huge canvas i bought for it
*let Zeek make the frame art for the kitchen
*purge the house even harder than i was going to (because this is going to help us all SO very much)
*bake cookies with Zeek
*close up that screen room and make it cute so Zeek and i can play on it.
*bring snow into the screen room and play in it with Zeek
*complete the one big wreath and screw the other two. no one will ever know!
*take a morning to go pick out new library books with Zeek instead of pre ordering then online, and hit Dairy Queen on the way home together.
*simplify the mantel plan and just stick it up there already!
*make popcorn and watch lady and the tramp with Zeek while i make the pizza gifts
*Christmas shopping is FUN
*so is packaging, wrapping, and sending gifts
*let Zeek play with a whole can of shaving cream at the kitchen table while i make natalie's gift
*BUY Morgan something
*screw the hallway art
*make a box castle for Zeek on the bridge while he's sleeping on christmas eve WITH my Mom!!! she'll rock at it, and what great memories we will have. :)
* let Zeek paint the kid's table while I prep the top stuff
*screw the boxes in the garage. they aren't going anywhere.
*clean the craft room (because i have to)
*get over my freaky cleaning standard and give the kitchen a lick and promise
*hang up the beautiful Christmas cards with care.

TA-DA!!!
I feel so much better.

:)

let it

(journal entry: 12.4.08)
I dream of the house. Every time I dream it is of being there....
I'm so excited for our future there @ the partridge home. 

It's our first snow here.
It's hard to believe, but it's real.
We are here.
Just like He said.
and it's snowing for the first time!!!

Thank You Jesus.

Chicago

I went to Chicago over the weekend to meet Katherine, a friend I've been "e-palling" with over the internet for a few months. I did my best to get out of having to do this after I accepted the invitation for a girls' getaway weekend to one of the biggest (scariest) cities in the US. I had all kinds of reasons not to. Mostly based in and around fear. of driving. of being away from home. of leaving zeek for NIGHTS (for the first time). of meeting a complete stranger and being stuck with her for two days...

I'm SO grateful with much thanks to Greg I was unsuccessful in my attempts to pass. It was one of the most amazing trips I've ever taken.

Thursday, my Mom made the brilliant suggestion that I get a hold of Greg's cousin Andrew to see if he might be able to lend me his couch on Friday night. This way I wouldn't have to get up before dawn to drive four hours to pick up Katherine at the train station.

By Thursday night it was settled. Zeek would go to Becky's for the day on Friday, I would be leaving around 11:30am for Chicago. Staying with Andrew in Lincoln Park.

Friday I packed, dropped Zeek off, and headed out of town on time. 

I stopped at Jimmy's a couple of hours in, and it was on to Ikea from there. 

I got to Schaumburg, IL, at about 3:30pm. Shopped Ikea which was cool but not quite all it had been cracked up to be for me. I bought some fun stuff and headed to Drew's around 5pm. (I knew this was rush hour, but I didn't care)


TWO hours and nine minutes later, I arrived 21miles away in Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL at Drew's. :)

We had an awesome night. 


We talked, went out to dinner (burgers and shoe string fries), laughed until our faces hurt, played on photo booth (his first time), laughed even more, gossiped something fabulous, hung out with his new girlfriend, Britta, and FINALLY went to bed at around 1:30am.

So far I was loving the traffic, the streets, and the people of the big city I thought I'd be so afraid of.

Saturday morning I woke up at 7:00am before my alarm. I snuck into the shower, got cute quick, packed my stuff, left a note for Drew and headed out around 8:30am.


That was when the crying started. I'm still not completely sure why. I was just SO happy and something "me" was happening inside. again. that seems to be a reoccurring theme lately.

The spoiling I had just received by Andrew.
The city.
The buildings.
The sun.
The traffic.
Me alone.
My car.
My stuff.
The people.
Their dogs, Ipods, bikes, joggers, smiles...
The freedom.
What lay ahead.
The gratefulness.

It was overwhelming.

I think it was at this point that I learned how difficult it was to park. anywhere. ever in Chicago.
I had to pick a girl up FROM THE TRAIN STATION. and there was absolutely NO access.
She had to find a corner and I had to stop and throw her and all her stuff into my car at a red light!
It was crazy. and fabulous.

We laughed, hugged, sighed, and pushed the pre-programmed buttons on my GPS all while safely squished between three other cars in a two lane street. We were off to our pre-determined first destination; the renegade craft show and sale.

We did that not so fun parking thing again (which really was kind of fun). And between my GPS (on foot) and my Iphone we were finally able to find the place. (Greg would have been so proud)

Once inside we took it all in. It was like we'd known each other forever. Like we'd done this before. Got together, shopped, perused, laughed and told each other what to do, visiting and loving each other all the while.

We were the first to take our free photos in the photo booth they had set up. We decided what each of the four photos should look like. Practiced them TOO many times to count, and then took the CUTEST shots ever with one minute between each shot. Again, like we were made for each other. The planning and bossing and leading and moving...it was all done too well for TWO of us on top as we seem to be. It was hope for my future with women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to say it. Likeme.

Katherine learned just how much I love bird prints and owls, and I learned just how much she really does like a girly brand of things, as well as ALL things paper! "Get me one of each." :)

We photographed a bit there and on the street as we navigated our way back to the jeep.


Then, button punching, off we were, headed to Little Branch Cafe. 

THE BEST FOOD! We think this may have been disagreeable with our stomachs as we had bathroom issues that night, both. But, strangely, it was SO worth it. 

We TALKED at Little Branch. We cried and hugged, and photographed our food and drinks. It was wonderful. I learned that she doesn't like cucumbers. She learned that I like to take my journal with me almost as often as my camera, even though I rarely use it. The rest of things we learned are ours. Just ours.



Next, we went to millennium park. Parking there was better. Well, the trade off is you PAY to park when you get a spot. $22 for nearly two hours. But again, SO worth it.

We went straight for the big chrome bean, which is apparently a highlight of the park. (and rightfully so)
We photographed ourselves like fools in the reflection of this "space craft" looking thing. We stood, we crouched, we laid, we jumped, we went close, we went far, we were ridiculous. and we loved every minute of it.

About 10 minutes in about 140-or so people showed up dressed in SANTA gear!!! all at once, pretty much. They skipped and danced, held hands and circled, hugged and sang a carol! It was amazing! I cried. again.
It was all so wonderful. Like a perfect dream.

I asked a guy where they all came from and he told me that there is a place on Facebook that determines what day and hour people in santa costumes will meet there. He told me they didn't know each other, but this was their third year. :)

SO AMAZING that at noon, on Dec. 5th, 2009, we just happened to be there. We, complete-face-to-face-strangers ourselves, pushed through being the staples of our families, fear, and whatever else could have (and always had for me) stopped us, and were RIGHT there RIGHT at that moment. It was way too Jesus to be anything else. (In fact, the whole weekend was.)

After this we took more photos in the park and then headed to our movie. The Blind Side. We did that paid parking thing, again ($29 this time). We paid $11 each to get into the movie, only to find out that it had started 20 minutes prior. The listing showed wrong. But what could we do.

Well, I don't know what we missed, but it was the biggest screen I'd ever seen. We had to sit WAY too close to it. And the movie was fantastic! More crying. At least this time there was chocolate. :)

In the parking garage we found a gentleman worker on a fast golf cart type thing who agreed to zoom us across the garage to the jeep. We were pretty much clueless. Whip lash and tip and we were back in the car.

Finally, we made our way to the hotel. The Blake. Should be referred to as "The Bust". Although, the valet parking and the concierge who took our bags to our room were magnificent, it all stopped short at the laundry list of issues that followed.
I'm not documenting the trouble we had. It's certainly didn't ruin our weekend, and it isn't going to sour my memories either.

We walked the streets to find a place to eat and pretty much gave up at a place called "Hackney's" which was tasty, thankfully. I had a rubin and she had a hummus apple dish... ??? I'm pretty sure.

We walked back to the hotel... and after a LONG night of not so much fun, we were blessed to wake up with few troubles. Although, we decided it would be best if we only chose one more destination for our time there, and headed home a little earlier in the day than planned. Our tummies were a little screwed up still. :(

We went to a place called Paper Source. We street parked and walked again. Farther than we'd hoped. But all went well. The place was adorable and full of PAPER.

Kat bought some... PAPER. :) And I bought an owl apron. Which couldn't have been more perfect. A perfect souvenir.

We took a cab back to the jeep, which, Zeek pointed out to me when I told him the story, might very well have been my first cab ride ever.

I drove her to the same corner I picked her up from, and pretty much had to throw her out at a red light. She left for her train. It was so fast I didn’t even have time to check how I felt about leaving. Her. Or chicago.


It was time for home.

I LOVED knowing that something happened to me between now and past that made me capable of driving in all of that after all. Capable in a way that even made me feel like I made friends in passing, driving so closely in such a welcoming crowd of vehicles.
I LOVED knowing that she and I were even more amazing together than we'd already gathered from our awesome, unique, wonderful e-mail relationship.
I LOVED knowing that the whole trip was a success, and that I had conquered the feat of doing the big city on my own, and couldn't do it again soon enough!

I can't WAIT to return. I can't wait to take Greg. I can't wait to go with my Dad, and one day Kat and kids, too. One day, maybe even just me. :)

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!!

zeek talk

Mom. You can have as many babies as you want. You can have 100 if you want. Because I love babies now. I even love elijah! Can you believe it!?

me: I just want to eat you alive!
zeek: no mom, I don’t want to go back into your tummy! Then you would have to poop me out like a giant poop! Right?

zeek: I wish I had a (cat) tail.
me: I know you do. I wish I had a maid.
zeek: I know you do.
me: I think you should be my maid.
zeek: I can’t.
me: why not?
zeek: I’m too young to have a baby.
me: maids don’t have your baby, they clean your house.
zeek: well, I’m too young to be a mate.




We were making bean people for art, and I said,
“I think this one will be the baby”
Zeek leaned over my art to watch me color the baby bean and he said,
“why are you such impressed with babies, mom?”