chubbas 'n boop

As promised, our new blog Home

2010-03-10T19:41:00.002-07:00

Well, with the big happenings and our crazy fast move into our new home on wheels, we are starting a new blog: "We Are The Delzers"

The new blog will focus on our life as a family on the road, our crazy adventures, the day to day happenings, the ups and downs of us living our dreams and whatever else we decide to ramble on about.

So, hop on over and day hi: www.WeAreTheDelzers.com

YES, yes, YES. and yes, yes, yes

2010-02-24T11:22:00.007-07:00

Yes, we did it. We bought ourselves an RV.

Yes, we are crazy.
Yes, we love our life.
Yes, we have no idea what we are doing.
Yes, this is wacky exciting.
Yes, I have no time to really share about it all right now.

Yes, we are really going to live in this thing, very possibly by THIS weekend.
Yes, we are crazy. -did I say that already?
Yes, I did.
Yes, it is winter and we will probably have to shower in the RV park showers so our pipes don't freeze.
Yes, we have sold a ton of our crap and are loving that.
Yes, we love this journey.
Yes, we will be ok, we really will (for you mom and e-do).

Yes, we have so much to learn.
Yes, we have SO much to do. yikes.
Yes, all that stuff to do is making me tired.
Yes, we will be here in Colorado for a little bit.
Yes, we do need to save some money before we head out. (just in case)
Yes, we will try to go as soon as we can.

Yes, we can't wait.
Yes, the kids are totally into this and super excited.
Yes, we will blog about our adventures.
Yes, it IS time for a new blog all about this crazy journey.
Yes, I should get that ready to share with you all next week, hopefully.
Yes, I am going to go now and get some stuff done so we can get this party started.
Yes, I will be back to share more soon.

xo~Lisa

Oh, no he didn't?!

2010-02-10T10:11:00.006-07:00

Oh, yes he did!

As a mama, you would think I would have learned this lesson already. No scissors just hanging around, accessible to my little barber.

But, noooo, lesson not learned.

And, now, Anabel's little curls are GONE!

Well, there are a FEW left...

**sniff**

I am going to have to take her somewhere to get this fixed.. it looks bad. Really bad.

This is what I heard from the other room - "You are going to look so beautiful..." I thought nothing of it. Then it was just too quiet. I went to check on them and there she was ~ totally trusting her big brother.
I can see this may be a problem in the future. Her totally trusting him. She will blindly following him into all kinds of trouble.

Ok, now off to pout in my coffee.

my big girl

2010-02-08T07:49:00.005-07:00

She will probably kill me for putting this picture on here when she gets older, but MAN! This is just too friggin' adorable to not show off!

My little baby is hard at work growing up into a big girl. It is kinda breaking my heart.

Baby = Forever?
Pleeeaaaasssseeee?

But, I am so proud of her! She basically potty trained herself overnight.

Here's how it went:

One week ago... "Anabel, wanna try the potty?" Her response: "NOOOOOOOOOOO. NO. No. No. NO!"

5 days ago... She started to tell me every time she went pee in her diaper. She would grab my hand and drag me to take her to get changed. The was MANY times during the day, sometimes even when she was totally dry. If I wouldn't jump up to change her right away, she had ways to make me do it. **Fit throwing ways.**

4 days ago... "Anabel, wanna try the potty?" Her response: "No." Still demanding a diaper change at every incident.

3 days ago... She grabbed my hand demanding to be changed. "Anabel, let's try the potty." She led me in and sat down (the cute photo above). This happened throughout the day after she has just gone in her diaper.

2 days ago... Anabel: "Poop!" Me: "Wanna sit on the potty?" Her response: "uh-huh." So in we went. She peed on the potty.

And has ever since. At night she still needs a diaper, though is not very wet in the morning. During nap yesterday, she stayed dry. She is telling me when she has to go and then goes. She needs a little help from me, but is totally going with zero fight or hassle.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!

Seriously blown away by how easy this was! Enrique took 2+ years to get it. Of course we were pushing it really hard and he just wasn't ready. It was a constant battle. With Anabel, I decided I would just wait until she was the one who wanted to start learning. I guess she was ready.

Lesson learned/reaffirmed: Let the child lead. They will get there when they do. Don't force it. Don't rush it. They are growing up and learning at their own pace. Their pace is good.

I seem to be learning this (trusting this) more and more as my kids grow up. Such a powerful way to interact with them. I mean, really, trusting them?! To learn and grow and become the person they are meant to be come? I am here to just provide a great, loving environment for them. They will take care of the rest.

love this!

2010-01-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

I found this picture the other day lying on the floor. I asked Enrique about it and here is the story...

The dude on the left is ladybug. Enrique is on the right. It is ladybug's birthday and they are having a party.
The best part? "The hearts are coming out of our brains because we are so full of love."

a formal introduction

2010-01-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

I would like to formally introduce you to our little girls.. Penguin and Isabelle.

Aren't they cute? Our neighbor that we love had a bunch of kittens. And we were loving them and debating about whether or not to get one. After the bunny died, I have been not so sure about taking on another pet.

But, we live in a really old house. And with an old house comes these little annoying rodents that seem especially bad this year. So a cat was starting to seem like a good idea.

Then awesome neighbor came up with a good idea. Why don't we borrow a couple of kitties to help with the mouse situation and then if we didn't think is was going to work, we could give them back to her. Hmmm.. I like that idea. No feeling bad if they ended up being a pain in the you know what, but maybe will help with the rodents and the munchkins will love having them.

So, on Thanksgiving, she brought these two little fluff balls over. Enrique named them (of course) and we are totally in love with them.

Seriously sweet kitties. The kids are gaga over them. They sleep with us and are cuddly and they put up with being carried around everywhere by the little people.

Oh, and no rodents. I think we are going to keep them.

self portraits by chubbas

2010-01-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

Oh, yeah, he is pretty much a silly head. I now have hundreds of pictures like these!

hockey and hats and songs

2010-01-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I just went through and organized my pictures and downloaded everything that was in my camera. I normally sort through my pictures about once a week, put them in folders, etc. But, I have not done any picture organization since November. November! Can you say a little behind?

Well, I am caught up now. Which means I can hopefully get back into a regular blogging groove. Yay! Here are a few pictures to catch up on some things we have been doing lately.

Anabel is loving her new kitties. Here she is reading one of them a story.Too sweet.

We took the kids to see their first hockey game. A good friend of Don's was in town playing, so we went.
Enrique was totally captivated like this. Until the game started. Then he was done.

E has been stealing my camera alot lately. There were over 100 pictures on there that he took! Everything is fascinating to him. Here is one that I really liked...

A little art making..
But I am so out of the habit of capturing our days with the thought of sharing stuff here that I never took a picture of the finished product. Bummer. It was a fun painting for Don's mom that both Don and the kids did using some pictures I took.

Me thinks we need to be making more art around here, don't you?

We have been loving getting to play outside after way too many days cooped up with colds and freezing temperatures.
See that cute sweater she is wearing, my sis made it for her and I love it!

This is what pirates would look like if they could sail their ships into Colorado...
Gotta keep that head warm, which the pirate hat alone doesn't really do.

I never did show and tell of all the goodies we made for everyone for Christmas. So, here is one picture I managed to take of a couple of hats I made for the kiddos. E's is too big, I need to fix it, but I think they are pretty dang cute!

And lastly, a song for you from my goofballs...

A song for you from Lisa Delzer on Vimeo.

A New Project

2010-01-15T11:01:00.003-07:00

If you have been wondering why Lisa just is not posting as much around here lately, it is because I have been working on a new project. (and now that it is up and running you should see more of me here)

VisionaryMom. com

This is a place for me to express my love of making a difference and helping people. That is what I did before I became a mom. My life was about making a difference, helping people live lives that they truly love. The past 5 years have been all about being a mom for me. I love being a mom. I love my children more than anything in the whole wide world. They are why I exist.

But, I also miss contributing to people, giving them something that helps make their lives a little better. I have been dwelling on how can I be doing that again, but in a way the incorporates and celebrates my love of motherhood, that allows me to be home with my babies, but still make an income and do what I love. (and give us the freedom to travel and pursue our own dreams)

I've spent months working on this.. exploring, trying to figure out what is it I want to do. And here I am sharing it with you now.

Visionary Mom is a place for us moms to dream.. to live lives we love.. to make a difference and express our hearts. It is a place for moms to get a little inspiration and encouragement to get out there and pursue their passions.

And, it is also a place for me to offer what I am good at - working with people to experience the love and joy in their everyday lives. To be in touch with the core of who they really are, to express themselves fully.

My focus is on mothers because I think far too often, we put our needs aside in favor of caring for our little ones. I've been starting to feel a little fed up and annoyed with myself for putting my needs last. I actually think we do a dis-service to our children by putting our dreams on the back burner.

Our kids need to learn FROM US how to live full, magical, dream fulfilled lives. They need to know that it is okay to dream and to chase those dreams. We can teach them this by doing it ourselves. They want us to thrive and be happy, creative, passionate human beings. They don't want us sacrificing our lives for them. Really, they don't. Trying to be supermom is so last century! :) This decade is about us moms ROCKIN IT!

So, there you have it, Visionary Mom in a nutshell. Oh! Almost forgot to say that I am offering coaching, e-courses and retreats. (that's the business side of it and a way to make even more of an impact by giving people a chance to really work on themselves). I am practically giving these services away right now as a way to collect some great testimonials, if you are interested.

So, pop on over and say hi. I hope you love it!

i heart homeschooling

2010-01-06T17:43:00.002-07:00

Today Enrique came up to me and said, "Mom, I want to be doing school right now. Will you be my homeschool teacher so I can learn something?"

Adorable.

Of course, I obliged. He wanted to learn all about the world (hmmm in one afternoon?) by talking about his brand new globe that he got for his birthday from Grandma. She also got him a United States puzzle, so we also spent some time putting that together and talking about the names of all the States.

Enrique is a certifiable NUT!

He does not just sit still all calm and cute wanting to learn. No, he is wiggly and jumping up and down and dancing around and singing songs. He cannot sit still for more than 2 minutes. I am for sure going to have to do some research on kinesthetic learning styles. Because that is so him and I have no idea what to do with this amount of energy! No. Idea.

Check it out for yourself. A little song he was singing while putting the puzzle together today...

Enrique's Learning Tune from Lisa Delzer on Vimeo.

See, a nut! I love him so.

Five!

2010-01-04T07:25:00.003-07:00

A love note for Enrique, who today has turned 5. Five!

5 things that you love right now:

Your kitties - Isabelle and Penguin.
Teaching things to Anabel.
Pineapple Pizza.
Playing dress up (which gets its own category).
Building giant forts, though you don't call them that. They are space ships, castles, boats, etc.

5 great thoughts we have heard from you recently:

"What do you love more? Santa Claus or Rock 'n Roll?"
"I am going to shrink so big"
"When I grow up, I am going to be a present seller" (referring to his obsession with being Santa Claus.
"I want to be a rock star, go get me my bongos!"
"Did you know Santa Claus turns into Superman?"

5 dress up characters we have come to know well:

Santa Claus. This one is serious. You ARE Santa Claus. We are your elves. Anabel is Mrs. Claus. Totally was not sure what to do about Christmas, because when we asked you want you wanted you would get mad because YOU are the one who brings presents.
Superman. Not getting as much action these days because of #1, but just yesterday for about 5 minutes we got to hang with Superman again.
The Mexican Chef. Complete with crazy, wacky Spanish accent.
The Magician. Who gets in the cupboards and makes scary looking "poison" concoctions that probably are actually poisonous and your mom should not be letting you do this. But, it's cute.
Cowboy. Boots-check. Hat-check. Rope-check. Bandana-check. Cowboy lives in the southwest.

5 things that make me proud to be your mama:

Your imagination. It is off the charts fabulous.
Your eagerness to help and participate in whatever we are doing as a family.
The strange, intuitive, brilliant things that you say when you first wake up in the morning (and I should right down because I always forget.)
The way you love your sister and want to teach her things (when you aren't fighting!). Seriously it melts my heart the way you speak to her.. so lovingly.
How excited you get about just about anything. You experience life thrillingly.

5 things I wish for you in this next year:

That you get your first loose tooth because you really want one.
That you get to experience your first sleep over with one of your little buddies.
That you discover the joy and excitement of reading.
That you continue to make new discoveries that dazzle you.
That we get to meet many new interesting characters that you think up.

Happy Birthday today my Creative, Imaginative child.
You are amazing.
xoxoxo ~Mama

merry merry

2009-12-25T08:34:00.004-07:00

Taking a quick moment to wish everyone a very
Merry, Happy Christmas!

Be safe. Be warm. Be loved.
See you in the New Year!

mad dreaming

2009-12-07T10:56:00.007-07:00

Yes, I said I was coming back to this blog space and I am. Really, I am. But, there is a bit going on for us right now and taking the time to blog is low on the list of things for me to do.

But, somehow, blogging rose to the top the list and here I am taking a moment to catch you all up on what we've been up to.

Chubbas 'n Boop is crazy busy. Not so crazy busy that Don is leaving his job or anything, but crazy busy that all our family time is spent doing toy stuff right now. I am seriously wondering how we are going to get everything done on time for Christmas, but I know we will.

Speaking of, I cannot believe Christmas is in less than 3 weeks. I have not been infected with the Christmas spirit bug yet. No Christmas decorations or crafting or anything. None. Nada. Zilch. I think I may have to move into "fake it until you make it" mode and hope the fa-la-la takes over.

Enrique, however, has decided that he is Santa Clause and it is so cute. I ask him what he wants for Christmas and he just looks at me all confused, "But, Mom, I am Santa Clause so I will bring YOU a present!" Adorable.

I have waaaaaaay way way too many pictures to down load and sort and whatnot, so, no pics of the kids playing in the snow and doing their cute thing. Sorry. Lots of hilarious pics of Enrique dressing up as Santa and a princess. Blackmail pictures. Good stuff. Hopefully soon I will deal with the backlog and get some pictures posted here. (but don't hold your breath that it will be anytime too soon)

Let's see, what else? Oh, yeah, almost had a crazy life changing event occur a few weeks ago. Crazy. Life. Changing. Crazy.

In case you don't already know about us, one of our living life to the fullest dreams is to live on the road with our kids. Roadschool, roam, explore. Make art. Do our thing. Don and I love driving and just going. Well, about a month ago, I had this idea..

What if we went ahead and bought an RV to live in now? Instead of waiting until it all came together and we had enough money, blah blah blah. We could just live in that and park ourselves at an RV park long term and save way more money than living in our house. Our living expenses would be cut by at least 1/2. Plus, we would have a swanky place to stay when we wanted to go camping. And then when we save enough money, we could go roam and explore some of the places we have been thinking about moving to. You know, hang there for awhile, maybe get jobs and move on when we wanted to. Or stick around for a while if we were loving it.

Yeah, good idea, let's do that! Why didn't we think of that before?

So, we started checking out craigslist and one day (seriously only a week after we decided this was a good idea) I saw this ad for an old RV that some dude wanted to trade for a car that was good on gas. Hmmmm... we have a car that is good on gas that my granny gave us and Don uses to drive to work. Wonder if he would trade that?

Don called the guy, email back and forths, pictures of the car sent, etc. Yes! he will trade us for it. Since he lives in Denver, Don took a day off work for us to drive up, check it out and quite possibly drive back home in it.

It was a crazy couple of days... should we do this? Is this what we really want? What will my mother think? My aunt is going to kill me. Everyone will tell us this is dumb, hmm.. wonder how quick we could save enough to hit the road full time? Worst case scenario we could sell it and find a new house to rent.. This is so crazy, we are actually going to do this.. now- not later! Yikes! Yippeee!! Oh, god is it going to be okay? I can't beleive we found this awesome deal, what is wrong with it? I know it is old, but we can paint it, sew some curtains, make it really cute. Tons of time googling (googeling?) learning about life on the road.. wow, we could be living FT on the road by this next summer! To do lists of what we need, what to get rid of.. how can we make money. Yes, yes, yes, let's do this, why not? We want to so bad.. yes. But let's not tell anyone so they won't talk us out of it. Except my sister, I will call her, she'll get it. But even she was not as enthusistic as I had hoped. doubt. fear. exstatic joy. this is what it feels like to go for it and be crazy and trust the universe. holy moly, so alive and excited and ready. and scared. LOVING this!

Then, the guy pulled out at the last minute.

Crushed.

Totally, absolutely devistated.

the one that got away

Seriously, Don and I were in a bit of a daze for days afterward. Not sure what to think. And really afraid to be so happy about this whole idea anymore. Funny how it is with dreaming, huh? Rug gets pulled out from underneath and we take our toys and go home to pout.

Well, after recovering from the burn of being slapped in the face, A new plan has emerged. If not THAT RV (which we have decided must have been a totally peice of crap and the universe has got our back) then another. We are still a yes, we still want this. And now, not someday.

So the goal is to be living FT in an RV by June. (Don's birthday to be exact). I am working on a new project that will give us some income while living on the road. (shhhh, secret for now) I am working and researching and formulating. We may or may not be able to pull away from Colorado Springs by this summer, but for sure we will be living in an RV and will get on the road as soon as we can.

We are going to do this! That is what came of all of that mad dreaming- clarity. We are now so clear about how bad we want to do this. So we are going to. Not sure of all the how, but the plan is in motion.

And that is what the Delzer's have been doing. Crazy mad dreaming. What we do best. And Enrique is totally in on it now. Every time we see an RV while out and about he asks us to stop and buy it. That's our son- he knows what's up.

anabel's laugh

2009-11-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

One of the most wonderful things about being a mom is getting to hear my children's laughter. It is truly one of the most delicious sounds in the whole world.

There are those little moments when I hear Anabel and Enrique playing and then comes the giggles.. those moments make all the other crazy times so worth it!

Well, little miss Boop has been sharing with us this little laugh these days...

Anabel's Laugh from Lisa Delzer on Vimeo.

Sinister!
I love it.

welcome back!

2009-11-11T12:13:00.002-07:00

Some random pictures from the past few weeks...

superheros

2009-11-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well, a little late.. but here are my little superheros!

Enrique, of course, was superman. Kinda funny because he wears this outfit most every day lately, so it didn't really feel like dressing up. But, he played the part really well, I think!

So serious...

He was so friggin' excited to go trick or treating!

Anabel was Rocket Girl. According to Enrique - All us girls are Rocket Girl! He created this outfit for his little sister. I made it, but it was all his doing. Pretty cool, huh?

Anabel was totally cute trick or treating! She would just point to her bag whenever someone opened the door. Too cute.

Happy Halloween (a little late)!

enrique

2009-10-20T14:20:00.000-06:00

This is my boy and a few of his silly faces.

Really, what is not to love? Goof ball all the way. My kind of boy.

Oh, and a snap shot of the lovely little hair cut he gave himself.

Silly indeed.

my peanut is TWO today!

2009-10-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

Anabel is 2 years old today. I can hardly believe it, these past two years have gone by so dang fast. I am so insanely in love with this little girl. She is silly and sweet and wonderful. I love being a mom to a girl.. there is something special and magical about that and will forever be one of my most favorite things.

So, in honor of TWO, some love for my little peanut...

2 things I love about you:
Your big sweet grin.
How affectionate and loving you are.

2 things you are loving these days:
Baby dolls.
Ice Cream.

2 things you are learning right now:
New words.
How to climb up on things.

2 things that make you laugh:
Daddy tickles.
Your brother.

2 things I wish for you:
That you always be true to yourself.
That you live your dreams.

2 things you say that are oh so cute:
WOW! (with big wide eyes taking it all in)
Apple.. you say "app" like it is the yummiest thing on earth.

2 things you do that you shouldn't:
I keep catching you drawing on the walls with crayon.
Peeling bananas, but then not eating them.

2 things you don't seem to like:
Bananas.
Your brother chasing you.

2 things you like playing with:
Hats - you love, love, love hats.
Your babies.. you lay them down for bed and kiss them night-night over and over again.

2 things for you to never forget:
You are loved so very, very much by your family.
You mama is so thankful that you came into this world 2 years ago.

I love you with all my heart, dear sweet Anabel Raini!
Happy Birthday! xoxoxo

fall

2009-10-02T13:45:00.000-06:00

Enough said.

Happy weekend everyone!

just being

2009-09-29T12:29:00.000-06:00

Woah! Sorry for the extreme freak out yesterday. Yes. I am busy. Yes. I feel a little nutty. Yes. I have a gazillion things to do. But today, today is good.

Today we are just being. I think this is all I needed. A day to hang out and do whatever I feel like doing without feeling guilty for not doing all that other stuff. A day to just be. To enjoy my sweet little people. To love on them. To soak up the sun. To stay in my pj's and just chill.

And for all this relaxing and just being today, we were rewarded with a few moments with some of our mountain friends.

I have not seen them yet this year, have only heard them and picked up a lot of trash that they always dump all over the place (well Don has done the trash clean up part!). I was starting to wonder if me and the kids were going to catch a glimpse of these awesome creatures this year.

And here they are, wandering down our road in the middle of the day. Enrique had just gone back outside and came back in to say, "Mama, there are some bears out there!" Now, he says that all the time, and usually, no bears.

But today, we got to see a mama and her 3 adorable cubs.

(Sorry for the bad pics, I was too excited to think!)

Just being. That's what we needed today. And thanks, Mother Nature, for reminding me that just being and enjoying my own little cubs is what really matters.

fall nesting

2009-09-23T16:36:00.000-06:00

I don't know what it is about this time of year, getting ready for winter I suppose, that makes me just want to stay home, organize stuff, make things and do boring things like clean up my family notebook.

But that is what I have been doing lately. Staying home alot, making food, and reorganizing things. And I don't really feel like doing much else.

It has been cold, snowy in some parts of town, which makes me just want to stay home even more. We've had our fireplace on and we've been doing a ton of snuggling the past few days!

I have been doing some canning the past few days and I don't think I am very good at it. You have to really be organized, which I normally am.. but I seem to be having things boiling at all the wrong times and stuff all over the place! My kitchen is a serious mess. And, hubby is home from work with a whacked out back, so his turn to do the dishes I don't think is happening. Bad timing on his part to hurt himself, doesn't he know that all those dishes piled up are waiting for him?

Anyway, we have some yummy peach jam, zucchini salsa, apple butter and jalapeno jelly waiting to be gobbled down in the future. I think that is all I can handle this year. Sometimes, I have silly farm girl dreams of canning a whole ton of food every year, but I don't think that is ever really going to happen. I'm not a farm girl, ya know?
Enrique has been busy in the kitchen as well. There is a whole new independence streak happening with him right now. He does not want help with ANYTHING!

His new trick is to go into the kitchen to make something "all by myself." The other day I wandered in to discover him making peach and apple muffins "all by myself." He had used a real knife to (sort of) chop up the peach and an apple. Then he poured a TON of baking soda on top, a little sugar, and some salt. "I got all the ingredients all by myself!" When I came in, he was up on a stool putting the muffin tin into the oven, trying to figure out the timer.

Yeah, he can eat these all by himself!
(But oh, how cuted out am I seeing him becoming his own little person!)

evening walks

2009-09-17T08:06:00.000-06:00

This is one of most favorite things to do as a family, and something we don't do enough! A nice evening walk, after dinner, as the sun is going down. Usually we are busy making dinner, catching up, getting the kids ready for bed..

But, every now and then, we manage to pull ourselves out of "go mode" and go on a little stroll...
Really, I do think we should do this at least a few times per week. It is such a good way to reconnect as a family, to unwind, to just be together...
On this walk, we discovered some yummy apples that were ready to be picked.
My super hero husband climbed up to get the best ones.
Evening walks are definitely something that is good for the soul...

going for it

2009-09-15T08:03:00.000-06:00

Some toymaking has been happening around here, plus a few orders waiting to be made! We have been going back and forth about whether or not we want to continue making toys.

Don has been thinking about becoming a tattoo artist (something he has often dreamed about for many, many years). We have been really talking about what that would take and how we could make that happen. While all this talk has been going on, making toys has been on the back burner.. we have not really been promoting or pushing Chubbas 'n Boop.

A wooden play fridge.

Well, a few weeks (maybe a month?) ago, we started really discussing what we wanted RIGHT NOW for our family and Don got to thinking that maybe doing tattoo's isn't it. Though it would be fun and a HUGE creative outlet for him, being home with us and focusing on family is what we both really want right now. So, Don decided to put his tattoo artist dream away for awhile (something he can always decided to do later).

Which has inspired us to get serious about making toys. When we originally started this last year, the vision was that I could plan weddings and make some extra money with my websites while Don stayed home and made toys all day, taking breaks to have lunch, go for walks and do stuff with us. We have even talked about getting the airstream and hitting the road a few times a year, going to craft shows, traveling and promoting the business wherever we go!

But then, I think we both got a little intimidated and scared by the thought of us actually doing this.. you mean we can live the life we dream about? Not to mention all the new laws for kids toys that are getting implemented.. I have just been avoiding learning about that business all together! Talk about intimidating!

There is something totally frightening about putting yourself out there, taking a risk and asking the universe to get behind what we are dreaming about. But, here we are. Going for it. Asking.

so much food - zucchini brownies

2009-09-08T18:44:00.000-06:00

Every time we go down to the garden, we walk away with TONS of food! I seriously do not even go into the produce section too much at the grocery store these days...

We have mountains of zucchini, so I have been coming up with some yummy ways to use it up.

My favorite thing so far? Brownies! Yup! - ooyie, gooey, yumminess, loaded with garden fresh zucchini.

I found some recipes online and have been playing around with them a bit. Here is what I've come up with that is making us happy:

Zucchini Brownies

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups shredded zuchinni

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 11" pan and "flour" with cocoa powder. Mix the butter and sugar together. In a seperate bowl, mix up the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the dry mixture into the butter + sugar mix. Fold in the zucchini. Dump into your prepared pan. It will be dry, don't worry - it WILL turn out! Bake for 25 -30 minutes. Cool and eat!

More goodies from the garden:

My Little Helper

Anyone have other good ideas for using up our zucchini mountain? Help us, please!

ten thousand feet

2009-09-08T08:37:00.000-06:00

I have a list in my head of places I want to make sure to see and explore in Colorado while we are living here. I have a picture that looks a little like this one hanging on my inspiration board in my craft room.

This is Crested Butte, which has been high on my list of places to see. So, when we were planning a camping trip with some of our favorite friends, Crested Butte is where we decided to go.
I love, love, love this little town. If I had a million bucks to spend on a house, I would totally buy a house there. It is so beautiful! I mean, really, amazing, wow beautiful.

We found the perfect little camping spot right on Lake Irwin, at ten thousand feet.
Kids are crazy, they don't seem to care at all that the water is FREEZING! I remember not caring either when my dad would take us to the ocean in Washington State.. brrrrr! But we didn't care.
Of course, the boys did a little fishing! I love seeing papas proud and protective of their young...

It was really awesome to get to just hang out and chill for a couple of days with people that we love and care about. No place to go, nothing to get done, no to do list calling my name.
And just look at that! Spectacular...
That's it for our camping adventures this summer. Fall is for sure in the air and before we know it, we will have snow on the ground. So crazy how fast life if moving right now!

I just started a part time job, so the focus for me - still - is on slowing down, not taking on too much, getting us in a a good, slow, fall rhythm. I am finding this to be challenging right now. I am on GO MODE, high gear. I feel a little stuck there. So, breathing, stopping and paying attention are my goals these days... ( sorry if I sound like a broken record about this, I have to keep reminding myself.. go slow is becoming my little mantra to live by..)

saturdays at our house

2009-09-05T14:51:00.000-06:00

Hope you are having a great weekend!

weekly art group :: paper mache part two

2009-09-01T10:16:00.000-06:00

Yes, these pictures are from weeks ago. I just now downloaded hundreds of pictures from the past few weeks. So expect some catching up in the next few days! :)

If you remember, we set out on a 2 part art project. The first week, we make bowls out of paper mache. That was so much fun!

The following week, the kids got to paint their bowls.

This ended up being one of the best art groups we have had in a long time!

The big boys got so into painting. Usually they hang out for a few minutes then take off to play legos or Star Wars or whatever.

But this week, they were totally captivated.

They ended up doing quite a bit of painting their own bodies!

It was awesome!

Our youngest little painter...

We are going to take a little break from our regular, weekly art group. I don't know if it is fall sneaking in, or what, but I am just feeling the need to be home, be still, be quiet. Having my house full of kids (though usually really fun) is not what I need right now. I feel like I am nesting or something (really it must be fall) - I just want to spend some simple, quiet time with my own kiddos these days.

taking time for slowing down

2009-08-31T12:14:00.000-06:00

Today is an interesting day. There is nothing I HAVE to get done. Nowhere I have to be. After the last few weeks, which have been so very, very full, it is really nice. I am finding I have a lot more time to stop and think. To ponder, to notice and pay attention.

I have been going too fast. It is time to slow down. Which takes some intention. I am really good at running around doing a ton of stuff, checking off my mile long to do list. But, it isn't very good for me. When I go.go.go life goes too fast and I am so caught up in the doing that I am not noticing and celebrating the little things around me that make me happy.

Which makes me exhausted.

I think, as human beings, we really NEED to stop and take it all in. Appreciate and marvel at what is happening around us. I know I need to.

So, here I am today, trying to not do too much. To just enjoy and be glad for where I am right now.

time with my sis

2009-08-20T07:51:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am still here. Just REALLY busy! I have a wedding I am coordinating next weekend, so blog posts will probably be a little sparse the next week or so. Whew! Experiencing crazy summer madness!!

My beautiful sister was here a few weeks ago...

We had an INSANE week, the busiest visit ever. We had 2 separate visits with cousins that we have not seen in 10+ years. That was nuts! Lots of memories and catching up. Then there were 2 parties, and lots of other running around seeing people. It was fun.

Look at these cousins!

And I think my nephew is pretty dang adorable, don't you agree?

We watched my nephew one night so my sis could go have some grown up fun. I felt like a rock star putting all 3 kids to bed at the same time!
So much fun hanging with my sister, who is my very best friend! Love you..

weekly art group :: paper mache part one

2009-08-15T07:31:00.000-06:00

For our art group this week, we started making paper mache bowls.

I used this recipe for the glue:

5 parts water
1 part flour
Boil for 3 minutes, then cool.

Be sure to stir the concoction the whole time. I didn't. It burned. It was gross. I had to fish little black chunks out. I don't recommend it, but it still worked.

I asked everyone to bring a bowl to use, but gathered up some back ups just in case. We covered the outside of the bowl with saran wrap so they will come off the mold easily. I also tore up all the newspaper pieces into strips ahead of time.

I find that when doing a craft like this with a group, having everything done ahead of time helps the process flow smoothly. Plus, the kids have a short attention span and we want them to get to the paper mache part, not just be all mesmerized by tearing up newspaper, ya know?

I demonstrated how to do it first, then let the kids at it...
We used some plain paper for the first and the last layer, with newspaper in between. This will make it easier to paint and give a "nicer" look to the finished bowls. You totally don't have to do this, but I had the paper on hand, so that's what we did.
They had fun with the gooey mess for a bit then most of the kids gave up before all the layers were done. Not a problem for us moms, we wanted to get our hands dirty REALLY bad. So, we gladly took over.
I had not done paper mache since I was a kid and it was really fun! I loved it! I think the kids had fun with it, but not as much fun as us grown ups did! We kept saying how we needed to get the dad's to watch the kids so we could have our own paper mache play date.

These are sitting up on my mantel drying, waiting for us to paint next week. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

saying yes

2009-08-14T10:06:00.000-06:00

I have been a grouch with my kids lately. They have been driving me crazy. Fighting. All.The.Time.

It's been making me nuts and my patience levels have been super duper low.

And I know that when they are all wacky like this what they need is me. 100%. Paying attention. Present.

But, it is a vicious cycle. They need more of me. I want to go do my own thing and not play with them. They get more wacko. They need me to pay attention. I just want to check out and avoid them. They get more insistent that I pay attention to them by acting up, and I get mad and angry with them. Around and around it goes.

Well, after our art group this week (paper mache), I had a big bag of torn up paper sitting on the floor waiting for me to do something with it.

Enrique discovered it. I was working on the computer (trying to escape my nutsy kids) when I looked up and saw that he had dumped the WHOLE BAG out onto the floor.

My first reaction was to yell. Scream. Get mad. Clean that up! Don't do that! NOOOOO!

Instead? Instead, I took a moment to breathe, to watch him and the pure delight all over his face. This was a MAJOR DISCOVERY!

And I let go of all my annoyance and frustration and said YES!

So all three of us - me, Anabel and Enrique had a confetti party. We tossed, we rolled, we laughed.

And laughed.

It is good to just let go sometimes. To be a yes. To let these goofy kids be kids. And in doing so, I fell in love with my little poops all over again.

family fun day

2009-08-13T10:35:00.000-06:00

Last month we went to the Imagination Celebration's Free Family Festival. I forgot I had these pictures on my computer, but it was such a fun day that I wanted to make sure and share about it (even if it is a month old news!)

I heard about this and thought the Enrique would really enjoy it. The theme was metamorphosis....
They had a bunch of really great, kid friendly booths. All kinds of stuff to learn about, art to make, new things to discover...

Enrique was fascinated by the Dinosaur Museum's exhibit. We have not been up there yet, wasn't sure if it would freak him out or not. Now, I think we need to go on a rainy day...
They had sidewalk chalk for the kids to make their own art...

Nice butterfly, eh?

One booth let the kids make their own pasta. Enrique is no pasta making virgin, but the pasta machine was a hit..
And this is the real reason we went..
I am seriously in love with street art like this. We went to something like this up in Denver when Don and I were first married and I fell in love. So, when I heard they were going to have street artists I really, really wanted to go.
It was starting to rain, so many were covered up, but I was not disappointed! Look at how amazing these are!
The zoo had a booth with some cool animals to pet and love on...(if loving on snakes is your thing)...
This guy was pretty cool just chilling...
And then, a new experience for Enrique! His first ever performing arts concert! They had a great little sampling of some of our city's best dance/music/performing arts groups. Look how excited he was waiting for the show to start!

He said he loved the dancers the best.. they were AWESOME! Anabel was pretty captivated as well. I love getting to do stuff like this with my kids and how cool they think it all is.

art + bbq = arteque

2009-08-11T08:55:00.000-06:00

We had our 2nd annual Arteque this past weekend and it was SO MUCH FUN! We had a ton of little people running around playing and making art. Excellent! (Though no big people art..we will have to remedy that next year!) I think this is a really wonderful way to celebrate summer, good friends and the creative spirit....

Some highlights from the day...

Sidewalk chalk...

We re-did our banging wall. It is a little smaller, but you can attack it from 3 sides now, WAY more fun!

Giant bubbles (using this idea for inspiration). They didn't work super great, and I missed getting pics of the actual bubbles, but I love this idea. We just need to fiddle with the formula a bit since they popped as soon as they were released.

We had lots of good friends who came over, including some long time favorite people that came down from Denver and Boulder. AMAZING food (missed getting a shot of that also.. I was so distracted by all that was happening). I love having a potluck with people who care about food.. seriously yummy stuff!

And, of course, we did lots of painting!

This picture is one of the things I love most about doing art with kids. They mix up the colors so pretty almost every time. I could frame this colorful wonderfulness!

It was a really great afternoon.. thanks to all of you who came out! We are looking forward to next year!

still making toys

2009-08-06T10:39:00.000-06:00

Yes we are! We have been getting the chance to make some fun things lately, like this giant rainbow stacker a homeschooling mama custom ordered from Alaska!

And, we have started to get some inquiries about Christmas presents. So, we are offering up a little incentive to get your Christmas orders in early!

Receive 10% off all orders placed in August!

This includes layaway orders, toys you want made now or toys you want later. Pre-orders under $100 have to be paid in full, anything over $100 requires a 50% deposit or a layaway agreement.

Please visit our website to shop around, get some Christmas ideas, and place your order:

Chubbas 'n Boop

Remember that we are ALWAYS taking custom orders, so let us know if there is something specific you are looking for.

You can email us with questions or inquiries:
toymaker [at] chubbasnboop [dot] com

Ordering early will really help us get a jump on Christmas production. Don is working full time now, so at some point we will have to cut off order taking before Christmas. I don't want him working until 3am every night and neglecting to make MY Christmas orders for the kids. :) So, make sure to get your order in as early as possible!

Isn't this so pretty! I love how it turned out.

Thanks for supporting our business, we really appreciate it!

garden goodies

2009-08-05T07:39:00.000-06:00

Oh, my! Our garden is out of control! We have hardly even been down there that past few weeks because of all the rain and wow! Everything is now so big (well, most everything), especially the weeds! We are bad at keeping up with the weeds, mainly because we have been busy and it is a bit of a production packing up the crew and keeping them happy at the garden for a long weeding session.

Which is funny, because I LOVE weeding! I so enjoy plopping myself right on the ground, getting all dirty and giving the garden some love. It is so relaxing and calming. I am craving having our own house where we can garden right out are front door just so I can go out and weed everyday. It's therapeutic.

We did do some work on the weeds over the weekend, but we really need to get back down there sometime this week.

Here are some of the treats we had waiting for us this past weekend...

A few peas.. I think this is all we are going to get :( but they were really yummy! Enrique ate them right there in the garden.

A little tiny broccoli flower!
Promises of future deliciousness!
Crazy amounts of basil...

Here is a little of what we brought home...
Swiss chard, lettuce, carrots, beets, and some gigantic zucchini!

We should keep getting some lettuce and chard for a bit here unless the heat really kicks in. The green beans, peas, watermelon, and cauliflower are not doing too hot. There are lots of beets and carrots still and we are looking forward to tomatoes, broccoli, corn, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers (though the cukes are not as abundant as we have had in the past).

All in all, it is SO exciting and yummy eating food we grew with our own hands. I'm feeling pretty happy about the whole thing.

screwed the pooch!

2009-08-04T09:08:00.000-06:00

Yup, that pretty much sums up how we did on our No Spend Month. We suck. Instead of spending only $250 on all our non regular bill stuff (groceries, gas, pet food, thrift store shopping, etc) we spent closer to $400. Yes, you heard me right.. We went over by about $150. Yikes!

How did this happen? We were doing SO GOOD...

I would say it was a combination of me being sick, which means I get a kind of depressed + starting to feel a little deprived + our consumer buying addiction + very little self control. Yeah, lethal combination. We just went buying/spending crazy the last week. It was weird, like aliens took over our minds.

I was pretty mad at us for a good week, had a few moments of yelling at myself and being mad at Don, because, really, it was all his fault, you know?

Well, I can say (because I always have to see the good side of things) that we did learn ALOT this month. It was not a total loss...

What we got out of doing this:

* We got to see, really see, how we are about money and what we want/need to do to change things.

* I learned how to grocery shop on a tighter budget and still eat good food. Last week when it was obvious we had screwed the pooch, I still only spent $50 at the grocery store.

* We had some pretty awesome conversations about money that we normally do not ever have. This has created some new goals and commitments that were going to happen "some day" but we are now working on now.

* I had a new insight about our budget. I relate to our budget as a hope or wish and don't ever really stick to it. I just spend money on whatever I feel like. So, even though I do a budget every month, and I thought I was following it, I wasn't. I am full of it.

* This new insight has led to us committing to only spend cash and use the envelope system. More on that in a minute.

* Don has a better appreciation for where our money goes, where it should go and where we want it to go. This is a good thing.

* We did discover that we can live on less and though we may not love it, we can do it and be fine.

So, all in all, I am really glad we did this. I think we learned some good things about ourselves and for sure we got ourselves re-oriented and pointed in the right direction toward fulfilling our dreams.

This month, we are taking on a new challenge! To only spend cash and use the envelope system. I have tried this before, but what ended up happening is we would "steal" money from other envelopes to buy things or just use our debit card.

Uh, yeah, not really the way the envelope system is suppose to work. The idea is that you have an envelope for all the categories you need to spend money on. Then you put a budgeted amount of cash in each envelope and when the money is gone, it is gone. Kinda like when we were kids and when we had money, we would spend it on stuff, but when we didn't, we didn't. Sounds simple enough right?

Well, when I have tried this before, when I ran out of money, I would just whip out the debit card and buy stuff anyway. That meant spending money that should be going into savings, resulting in no savings.

So, here is how we are doing the challenge this month.

Each week when Don gets paid, he will deposit his paycheck and keep a certain amount of cash that will go into our envelopes.

What goes in the bank stays in the bank for rent, bills, etc. I have taken our debit cards away. They are tucked into a sealed envelope that we are not allowed to open for the entire month.

I made some cute little envelopes for us to use. I needed something pretty that won't get torn up and mangled. So I whipped these up last week. Pretty basic and seriously whipped up - don't look at them too close! But they are a pretty place for us to put our money and they will serve as a reminder that our money is important.

The categories we have are: groceries, out and about, thrifting, household needs, and pet supplies. I need to make another one for gas. I was going to have us just use the debit card for filling up the tank, but I think that we really do need to put the debit cards away for the whole month and not use them at all. So we will have to go pay for gas the old fashioned way, no paying at the pump for us! (note to self: get gas when the kids are awake or when we are both in the car)

So there you have it - our new game. Spend only what we have budgeted, using a cash based system.

homemade graham crackers

2009-07-30T09:25:00.000-06:00

I used this recipe for making our homemade graham crackers. I think it was a bit on the sweet side, so next time I will cut back on the sugar.

Photo by my friend Robin.

They came out awesome! And worked great for making s'mores.

Today is such a rainy quiet day.. I am loving it! Will probably do some more baking. Rainy days are perfect baking days!

homemade marshmallows

2009-07-29T10:49:00.000-06:00

Here is how I made the yummy marshmallows that we took camping with us. They were not really hard, just sticky and messy. But, if you like marshmallows, totally worth trying.. they were pretty fun to make.

Ingredients:

* powdered sugar for dusting the pan and rolling finished marshmallows in
* oil for greasing the pan
* 2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
* 1 cup water
* 1 cup corn syrup
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* dash of salt
* 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

First off, grease a large baking dish and dust generously with powdered sugar.

In your mixing bowl, pour 1/2 of the water and dump the gelatin in. Let sit while you do the other stuff. Use a stand mixer unless you have a huge amount of patience.
In a saucepan, mix the rest of your water, sugar, corn syrup and a dash of salt.

Heat on medium, stirring most of the time. Use a candy thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature.
Cook the syrup mixture until it reaches the "soft ball" stage, or about 240 degrees.
Pour the hot mixture (be careful!) into your stand mixer and mix on high for about 15 minutes.

You will end up with white, fluffy marshmallow goo.
Pour the goo into your baking dish. Get as much of it into that pan as you can.
Spread it around in the pan as much as you can. It is super, duper sticky!
Let sit for 4-5 hours to set. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, then pull it out of the pan. Again, it will be really sticky and will stretch a bit as you pull it out.

Use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut the marshmallows into squares or whatever shape would be fun.

Roll each piece in the powdered sugar, this helps them not stick to each other.
Oh, yeah, super yummyness! Well, I don't really like marshmallows, but this one told me they were really good.
A wonderful little homemade treat that were better than the store bought ones.

I do, however like marshmallows cooked up black over a campfire.

Tomorrow... homemade graham crackers!

painting rocks and making rainbows

2009-07-28T12:45:00.000-06:00

I have been a little on the sick side, so we canceled art group this week. But, I still wanted to do something fun and artsy with the kiddos.

I am working on a little face lift for our nature table (fun stuff to share soon - I hope). Here are a couple projects we did to add to our new nature table space.

We have been seeing alot of rainbows lately because of all the rain we are getting.

So, I thought it would be fun to make some stained glass rainbows as a backdrop to the nature table. I've had quite a few people ask me how we do this so I am going to give more detailed instructions here.

Supplies:

* tissue paper in pretty colors
* construction paper (black works great, but any color is fine)
* clear contact paper
* glue
* scissors

What to Do:

* First off, decide on the shape you want to do. Keep it simple. We have done flowers, stars, moons, houses, the sun, houses.

* Draw out your shape on the construction paper and cut out two identical pieces. You have to think about it like stained glass, leaving a solid outline all around and openings where the color will show through.

* Cut a piece of contact paper a little bigger than the shape you are making. Peel off the back and stick one of the cutouts to the paper.

* Tear up small pieces of tissue paper and fill in the holes with whatever colors you like. You can also use scissors and just cut one big piece that will fill in each individual hole. I just like the textured look of overlapping pieces.

* Once everything is filled in, dab a little glue all around the outline and stick the second piece on top. This has your stained glass look nice from both sides.

* Cut a second sheet of contact paper and stick it sticky side down on top of everything. Use your hand to rub out all the bubbles and smooth it out.

* Cut close to the outer edge of your shape. Hang up and enjoy!

Here is the rainbow that Enrique did, mostly all by himself. He worked very seriously on this and was so cute, "I don't need ANY help, Mama!"

This is one of most favorite projects and is a great way to bring more color into the house. I loved that E got so into it this time.

Now onto some painted rocks....

We collected a few rocks from the yard and sat outside to make them pretty.

Anabel got really messy. She is LOVING painting these days!
Aren't they pretty? We are doing some paper mache bowls in the next few weeks with the art group and I think they will make a nice holding dish for these.

forgiveness is a good thing

2009-07-27T08:50:00.000-06:00

So Enrique and I had a little fight. Well, it was more like mama getting kookoo crazy mad. I was not feeling too hot and decided to lay down with Anabel for a nap. Enrique was watching a movie. Then he came in and woke me up and started whining about something.

I just wanted to sleep. Really, really bad. And I totally lost it with him. I was so frustrated and upset I started crying and yelling. I had my hands on his shoulders, looking him right in the eyes screaming, "Leave me alone.. p-l-e-a-s-e!" It was not very pretty. Enrique got a little freaked out. I wanted to throw him outside and lock the door. I say it like I'm joking. But, really, I did. I don't think I have ever been this upset with my son and I, for sure, was having what I think was my worst ever mom moment.

About 10 minutes later, I was finally fully awake and feeling a little more sane. I apologized and we got on with the day.

Well, that night, while putting Enrique to bed, I came back to that moment of our day. Horrible, awful feeling. Laying with E in the bed, I pulled him super cuddly close and just looked into his big brown eyes. "I am so very, very sorry I got so mad at you earlier today." And he just looked at me with the saddest eyes. "Yeah, that was not very nice. You were really mean to me. I didn't like that." Oh man, break my heart! Then I said, "Please forgive me. That was not a very good way for me to treat you." "Ok, mommy, but don't ever do that again."

Deal.

The next night, before going to sleep, he asked me, "You aren't going to get mad when you wake up in the morning?" "No. I am not. I promise." I think I cried myself to sleep that night. I hate that I made my son feel this way. Not some mean bully down the road, but me, his mom.

Last night, before falling asleep, he rubbed my cheek and said, "You are my best super hero mommy in the whole world." Forgiveness is a good thing.

this is summer

2009-07-24T07:26:00.000-06:00

We went our first camping trip of the year last weekend. This is how I know we are really officially in summer. We usually try to go a couple of times each year and have another trip planned for next month.

This time, we went with some friends, which was really fun! Here are some pictures from the weekend...

My darling little sunshine girl!
Who is totally into picking flowers these days. I love that, so girly!
All the boys took off to collect firewood..
And came back looking all manly and macho!
Heading out on a little hike... some REALLY good conversations!

Happy!

Hanging out around the campfire. I love that smell!

A bit of a blurry shot, but check out this amazing sunset.. WOW!

These two boys are going to be serious trouble I think!

Seriously. Look at them. Trouble I'm saying. BIG trouble. But, man, did they have a blast together!

And to finish it off with some super silly faces from my goof balls!

For this trip, I make homemade marshmallows and graham crackers to make s'mores. They were YUMMY! I'll share the recipe next week.

Have a great summertime weekend everyone!

weekly art group :: stamping with paint

2009-07-23T14:34:00.000-06:00

For art group this week, we did some paint stamping with random objects. I collected things from around the house that I thought would make good impressions with the paint.

Some of the things we used were cookie cutters, which worked really great.

I also had some balls and wooden eggs that the kids could roll around after they covered them with paint.

Then just using our fingers seemed like a good idea (can you see where this is going?)

Yes, things started to get a little more messy.
One of Enrique's finished pieces. He really liked using the egg to roll the paint onto the paper.
Anabel prefers using a paint brush most every time.
This little one is a SERIOUS artist. She kept going back to paint more just after her mom would get her cleaned up. She had paint ALL OVER her!
She is totally not afraid to dig in, make a mess and have fun with it!
And my little one had fun painting all the things we had out to use as stamps.
This was a REALLY fun project that all the kids really enjoyed!

a retirement and a birth

2009-07-22T11:31:00.003-06:00

I have an announcement to make! I am retiring this blog.. Gasp! I know, crazy huh? Well that is because I am starting a new one! I have been mulling this over in my mind for awhile now and have been working hard getting the new one all set up.

I love, love, love blogging! But, I was feeling like I needed a new angle, something a little more personal, with more of what is going on with ME and with more sharing of what is happening with us fulfilling some of our dreams.

The new blog is called What Feeds My Soul and will still have lots of what you find here- art projects, nature walks and our day to day happenings. But, I am also going to be sharing alot more about what I am working on personally and some of the dreams we have as a family.

So, go check it out (and I hope you like it!)...

Also, I transferred over all the old entries from this blog, so if you are looking for something, you should be able to find it over there.

no spend month check in

2009-07-20T10:50:00.003-06:00

Well, I really did mean to update last Thursday, but we went camping and well, summer time just means busy time. I have lots of pictures from camping and lots of other fun stuff to share about, but for now, I just wanted to let you all know how we are doing with our no spend month.

Here are the Grand Totals up until today:

Groceries: $95.35
Gas: $30.17
Bus: $1.75
Ice Cream: $8
Fishing Trip: $10
Camping: $32.96
Eating Out: $6.50

Amount Spent So Far: $184.73

Now, first off, I have to confess that Don got a little tip money and we bought some coffee and other stuff with that. I really should count that in our grand totals, but I am not going to. I am cheating a little, I know.

It is pretty crazy actually to see IN BRIGHT LIGHTS our whole relationship to money. We get a little extra, we spend it. That is how we roll. Not very powerful or effective when we are wanting to save money to fulfill our dreams. And wow, we are so justified about it all.. I'm telling you, this is turning out to be such an incredible experience. Don and I are really learning a lot, and (I think) starting to establish some new habits.

Going camping really threw us off, however. Especially because we went for a little drive on Sunday and a coffee here, an ice cream there, it really adds up. I think we spent about $30 that was "extra" tip money on things that we for sure did not need, but wanted.

In writing this, I am going to go ahead and add that $30 into our grand total so we can see just exactly where we went over (which we for sure will with that in the mix).

So, here is our real spending:

Groceries: $95.35
Gas: $30.17
Bus: $1.75
Ice Cream: $8
Fishing Trip: $10
Camping: $32.96
Eating Out: $36.50

Amount Spent So Far: $214.73

The real challenge now would be to only spend $35 for the rest of the month. Very unrealistic given we need gas in the cars and groceries for the next 2 weeks, but I am going to try and get as close as I can.

That feels better. I am such a cheater all the time! Trying to make things look better than they are. But this whole experiment is to cause a shift in how we do things and "cheating" is how come we don't own a house or go on great vacations.

Sorry this post is so ramble-y. I think there is really a whole can of worms opening up here right before your very eyes. Don and I spent a good chunk of our mountain drive talking about this whole thing.. what we want, how our spending doesn't help us to get there, what we need to do to change... again, I am so happy we took on this challenge.. I think it is working, the pot is being stirred and new things are brewing!

Don even said yesterday, "let's cancel the cable" WHAT?!! Did my tv watching hubby really say that? We have some stuff we really want to do with our family and our lives and we DO need to live a little more frugally and give some things up in order to get there.

So here we are confronting what it will take to get from Point A to Point B and making some small changes along the way. I feel like the little engine that could...

"I think I can, I think I can..."

art group :: nature pressing

2009-07-15T08:14:00.003-06:00

I could have the art group just paint stuff every week! I think paint is the funnest. But, it is good to branch out a bit, doncha think?

So this week, I grabbed a bag of sculpy stuff (what is that stuff called?) and then Enrique and I collected some flowers, leaves, and sticks from the yard.

We used our treasures to make press marks in the clay.

We had to use a wooden block to press them down, but it worked great!

The kids were pretty captivated trying different things until the rain threatened to run everyone inside.

Enrique got totally into making sculpy people. For the rest of the afternoon and into the night he was at it. Concentrating very hard.

our family's mission statement

2009-07-10T22:50:00.003-06:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Simple Mom blog. I could spend tons of time cruising around her awesome website (and have).

This week she is starting a Back to the Basics series that looks to be really fun. The first assignment was to create a family mission statement. I used to do things like that when I was a workin' girl and always really loved making them. They can be really empowering! So, naturally, I printed off her questions and sat down a few times this week with Don to create a mission statement that inspires US.

Here it is:

We believe that our purpose as a family is to love, celebrate and nourish the creative spirit. We will accomplish this by:

• living simply, loving unconditionally and exploring
• making our home a place of creativity, laughter, and love
• valuing the creative process above all else, and
• being in harmony with Spirit, each other, and mother nature.

Pretty cool, huh? This was such a great exercise to do. I think both Don and I got alot out of it. It helped us to really look at our family and where we are at right now and where we want to be in the future. It gave us a "why" for doing all the things we do. Go check out her blog to read more about it.

our grand adventure

2009-07-10T09:42:00.007-06:00

I have been wanting to take the kids on the bus. Don't ask me why. Maybe because I hate driving and I like taking the bus. I'm not kidding. I often wish we lived in a place that getting around on public transportation was easy AND convenient. I'd give my car the boot if the bus around my house ran past 6pm and I could get wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. But, not the case.

So we drive EVERYWHERE, all the time! I hate it. I never even owned a car before I moved back home when I was 31 years old, that's when I bought my first car. This town just doesn't really work for the carless, unfortunately. And, truth be told this has been an issue for me that I could go on and on about.

Well, I have been craving taking the bus. I've been wondering how hard it would be with 2 kids in tow and if it would be possible to be out and about all day without my kids going bonkers.

So, on Wednesday we did an experiment. We took the bus into the "city" and putzed around ALL DAY LONG. It was a grand adventure indeed!

Heading out. I packed up the stroller with food, a picnic blanket, swimming clothes, towels, water, baby carrier, diapers and changes of clothes.

Waiting for the bus, which is about a mile from our house.

Here it comes! (Enrique was FLIPPING out!)

A cute shot of the kids while we were waiting.

They freaking LOVED riding on the bus! It was soooo not hard, they were really good and had so much fun!

Once we got downtown, we went to the YMCA. I did a yoga class and the kids played in the playroom. Well, Enrique played.. Anabel fussed the whole time! She hates that place. But they are wonderful with her, I'm hoping she will get used to it one of these days.

After yoga, we went across the street for a picnic. This is the park where I hung out alot in high school doing things I hope my children never do! So fun to watch all the kids hanging out - not alot has changed in 20 years.

Then we went and splashed in the fountain, which is one of the coolest things in Colorado Springs if you ask me.

Uncle Wilber ROCKS!

The kids LOVED it!

After the fountain we headed over to the library, where it was nice and cool inside. We hung out there for awhile playing with the bunny and reading stories.

Anabel was seriously needing a nap by this time, so we wandered around downtown for a bit trying to get her to fall asleep.

Sleep was not happening and it was HOT outside.

That's when my NEED for ice cream kicked in, leading us to spend that $8 that is not in the No Spend Month budget!

After ice cream, I put Anabel on my back and we walked around some more.. she finally fell asleep, yay!

We headed down to the Farmer's Market. There was not alot we could afford on our small budget this month, so we just window shopped. It was fun to look around. Why is the farmer's market so much more expensive than the grocery store? Such a bummer when funds are limited.

Anyway, the heat got to us again, so we headed to another fountain! So happy these are around.. I think we would have died - seriously.

Isn't this fountain awesome?! We have always gone to this park in the cooler months, so this was the first time I have ever even noticed the fountain.

Splashing makes kids extremely happy!

After splashing we had to get some nature exploring in.

Then we met up with some friends around 6pm, leading to more splashing in the fountain.

They have live music on Wednesday nights, so we met up with friends and Don came down to meet us for a picnic dinner.

A nice ending to the day, hanging out with Dad, dancing to some fun music.

I LOVE this picture!

Don drove our tired crew home, after we stopped off at the garden to water. It was a LONG day! But fun. Took me most of yesterday to recover.

My conclusion to this experiment is that we should be taking the bus to places more often, I think at least once per week. Though spending 12 hours out and about is a little too much. I think we may be able to do a little grocery shopping this way, go to the library, etc. To make our getting around a little easier, I'd love a better stroller, the one we have is hard to maneuver, but we work with what we have, right?

I truly believe being out walking around helps build our connection to the community. I wish more of us did it. And I am for sure going to make sure we do it every now and again. It felt good to just "be" without rushing around.

how we are doing

2009-07-09T09:34:00.004-06:00

We completed our first week of our No Spend Month. For the most part, I think we are doing great!

Here is where our money has gone so far this month...

Groceries: $37.54
Gas: $20.00
Gas: $5
Bus: $1.75
Ice Cream: $8

Amount Spent So Far: $72.29

Yes, I did spend $8 on ice cream yesterday!

I think the heat got to my brain a bit.. I HAD to have ice cream and the only place I knew of to go while we were downtown was super expensive. Yes, I could have just gotten the kids ice cream and it would have been cheaper, but well.. I am an ice creamoholic and there was NO WAY I could have sat there and watched them eat some creamy yumminess without me. So I splurged. And, OUCH! $8?? I mean really? That was not even for anything fancy.. just plain old ice cream...crazy!

Lesson learned.

Everywhere else, we are doing great! We had a week of delicious homemade food. I even made a pie!

It is really interesting to watch and notice how consumer driven we are. Every day I think of something we "need" and tell myself that when we are done with our no spend month, I am going to go buy x, y, z. Most things we don't even really "need" but I tell myself that anyway. And I really feel like I have to have whatever it is to be able to function properly in life.

Because we are taking a break from just buying whatever we think we need, it has been very interesting watching my reactions to not buying stuff and how deprived it can make me feel. I am totally consumer driven! And though he has not said so, I think Don is HATING this experiment. He just wants to go buy stuff, I can tell.

Very interesting indeed. I really didn't think I was this wired up to buy things, but I am. I admit it. I want to go shopping! I really do...

So, I would say that this challenge is doing exactly what I wanted it to do. CHALLENGING us.

Can't wait to see what else evolves from this over the month.

growing

2009-07-07T09:54:00.007-06:00

The garden is super happy these days because we have been getting SO MUCH rain! The weeds are happy too! Every time I go down there it looks like a different place, so many changes and growth...

Our lettuce is ready, which means we have been eating LOTS of salad, it is so good!

Carrots...

Tomatoes...

Broccoli...

Swiss Chard will be on the menu this week...

Corn...

Green Beans and Beets...

And, really, I think the whole reason for this blog post is to show you this cute picture!

Ok, off to make a salad for lunch!

we love puddles!

2009-07-05T08:50:00.001-06:00

no spend month

2009-07-02T09:00:00.003-06:00

Rachel, who has a great blog called Small Notebook has created a challenge. The No Spend Month. For the past few years she and her family have given themselves only $250 for the month of July to use for food, gas and other incidentals. Of course things like rent and car payments don't count.

Well, Don and I are totally taking this on with her! During his time of being laid off, we really tapped ourselves out financially and got a bit behind on some of our bills. He has been back to work for a few months now and we still have not quite gotten it together.

We just keep spending money, eating out, etc. like there is money in the bank. And there is not. We have been talking for the past week or so about what it would take for us to knock it off and get serious about our money. Like grown up serious. We have a lot of dreams and things we want to do, but none of all that fun stuff is going to happen if we keep living paycheck to paycheck. So we have been confronting our finances and knowing that we need SOMETHING to kick us in the ass.

Well, yesterday morning after one of these big talks, I opened up my blog reader and there was a post from Rachel about her No Spend Month. She's been writing about it and alluding to it for awhile now and I've read those posts thinking, "Hmm, good idea."

Yesterday however, the bell went off and I said YES! This is what we need! A FUN game to play (with someone else) that will actually take some creativity and motivation to win. So we are on board! July is no spend month for us.

I am giving us $250 to use for food, gas, bunny stuff, and any thing else we need that is not a regular bill. This is truly going to take a paradigm shift in our household. Right now, I easily spend $100 or so each week in groceries alone. Not to mention coffee out, ice cream, art supplies, gas for the cars, etc. I am not even really sure how we are going to do it, but we are going to do it.

I will update here once per week and let you know how we are doing. Anyone want to play along?

our beach

2009-07-01T09:10:00.005-06:00

We have a little lake here in town that has a section blocked off for swimming. It is the closest thing we are going to get to a beach here in Colorado, so I like to make sure we go play there a couple of times each summer.

It was sooo nice. Seriously, I'm thinking we should go there most everyday when it is hot outside.

I was super nervous to take both kiddos by myself. Wasn't sure how they would be and if I would feel safe with them. But it was SO EASY!

Enrique had a blast, was super cautious, but not afraid to get in the water by himself to play. I think it felt safer for him because the water gradually gets deeper, unlike the swimming pool, where he clings to us for dear life.

Anabel, who I thought would just go running in totally careless, stuck close to me and loved playing in the water!

There is something about kids, water, sunshine and sand, isn't there?

weekly art group :: sidewalk chalk paint

2009-06-30T09:38:00.005-06:00

This week we made sidewalk chalk paint and painted our patio area, which is now super pretty!

To make the paint, I mixed water, corn starch and food coloring. I used a good amount of corn starch, but kept the mixture on the watery side. I found the thicker it was, the harder it was to spread around.

This is a funny medium to work with. When you paint it on, the "paint" is pretty watery and does not look like it has too much color to it. But when it dries, it totally looks like chalk!

Of course, the kiddos ended up just pouring out the jars.. who needs a paint brush anyway?

family ortiz

2009-06-29T09:06:00.006-06:00

This past weekend, we were in Pueblo, at a family reunion. Don has a HUGE family and this was my first reunion. Not as big as some in the past, but really fun to see and meet people.

I am still putting the puzzle pieces together, but I think I figured out that Don's grandpa has 19 brothers and sisters! WOW! From 3 different mothers (that is an interesting story that I am still sorting the details out about). I was looking through the family tree book and it seemed to be something like 50 pages long, and that is only the past few generations. Pretty cool to see some old photos and experience so much history in one family.

Here are some snap shots from our weekend...

Anabel is REALLY well loved by her cousins! I fear for anyone that does her wrong. Between her brother and her cousins that sorry sucker will be in big trouble.

My cutie girl...

Most of Don's aunts and uncles, with his mom, grandpa and grandma...

Classic.

Cousins...

My sweet nephew...

Me and Don...

Dancing and running around...

Boys..

Here is Don's Grandpa (2nd from the right) with some of his siblings...

Dancing with Daddy...

Our nephew again (he shares a birthday with Anabel!)

Brothers...

Walking with Daddy...

Enjoying the sunshine...

Our other nephew (handsome boy!)

Getting some love from her cousin...

Love this picture!

No family picnic is complete without some watermelon..

Don and his Grandpa...

A rare family photo with ALL of us!

It was a really great, surprisingly relaxing weekend!

garden report

2009-06-25T15:52:00.006-06:00

Well, we have everything in the ground and most everything peeking out of the soil!

Swiss Chard...

Peas...

Corn...

Cucumber...

Broccoli...

Beets...

Pumpkin (or could be another squash)...

Carrots...

Watermelon or Zucchini (I know it helps to label everything! Whoops!)

Lettuce.. the first thing I get to leave off my grocery list when I go shopping this week! Yay!

We also have some green beans, herbs, cauliflower, LOTS of tomato plants and some peppers. But they were camera shy this week!

I am totally digging growing stuff...It is alot of fun! Made even more cool by the excitement of getting to EAT our first goodies this week!

weekly art group :: splatter paint

2009-06-23T09:49:00.006-06:00

Summer means messy painting fun in my book, so we did another BIG painting project yesterday with the art group.

I have some large brown butcher type paper that I cut into big pieces and hung up on our clothes line.

I used washable paint this time so the rain will clean up the messes that we make.

I watered down the paint and put out lots of paint brushes for the kids to load up with paint and splatter all over their paper.

This was all I could get Enrique to do.. he just was not interested in art today, too bad..

Because all the other kids had SO MUCH FUN!

Especially Anabel. She was just so completely adorable getting into her project.

She seems to be getting more into art than Enrique these days..

Here is her finished painting.

And some of the other children's masterpieces:

Enrique was then happy that the painting was over so he could PLAY with his friends! He found himself a new pirate buddy!

I am going to need to go searching around the internet for some more great outdoor projects for us to do the rest of the summer!

the week in review

2009-06-22T10:51:00.006-06:00

Why, yes, it has been a week since I have updated my blog! And what, you ask, have we been doing that has kept me away?

Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that...

Making stuff with our weekly art group.

We did a similar project last year to give us some color in the winter months. This time I wanted a little something something to spice up my naked summer windows..

This is from over a week ago, but Enrique did some hangin out with one of his little buddies that involved cutting up paper into LOTS of little pieces that I only this morning got totally cleaned up!

Working in the garden.

Uh, yeah, this is a work out in case you were wondering..

Going for a bike ride with our friends.

Building a teepee in the yard with Daddy.

Making this awesome rainbow cake for a certain special daddy who turned 38 on Saturday.

Wearing our aprons while getting some housework done.

Making handprint t-shirts for Daddy's Birthday/Father's Day.

Eating the awesome rainbow cake for breakfast!

Celebrating the start of summer in a yellow sunshine dress.

And, we finally finished the new home for our little bunny!

Whew! It's been quite a week and here we are at the start of new one. One that is not quite so busy and is kicking off with a clean house. That truly amazes me (and makes me happy).

cloth diaper contest

2009-06-15T22:10:00.006-06:00

I am SOOO excited! I am hosting my first ever contest on my website, Cloth Diapers Made Easy...

I have been working on this like a crazy looney person and somehow managed to get the contest live and ready to go 4 days ahead of schedule! Of course, my house is a mess and there are a million other things trying to get my attention.. But, what the heck, when I get going on something I have tunnel vision, baby!

Anyway, I have some great prizes lined up, including a $150 gift certificate from our local diaper shop, Baby Cotton Bottoms! That is a super duper prize! (thank you Dani!)

So what is the contest??

Making Cloth Diapers on a Budget

Besides the environment, using cloth diapers also saves TONS of money as is, but these days we are all trying to figure out how to save even more.

I know I have made some diapers on my own and lots of you out there have too. So, why not give you all a chance to strut your stuff and show us your clever ideas for making diapers without breaking the bank.

There are 2 aspects to the contest, a tutorial contest (where the big prizes are because that takes some work!) and a photo contest. You can make something new or show off something you've already made.

I think this is going to be so much fun to see what everyone comes up with! Go check it out!

spotlight boop

2009-06-12T06:58:00.003-06:00

This little girl is killing me lately with her cuteness! Seriously! I can't even seem to get a fabulous picture of her because when she pulls out the cute trick, I am so overwhelmed with gushing mama pride I forget I own a camera.

But, here are some pics of her from the past few weeks. Isn't she getting so big?

nature color hunt

2009-06-11T12:43:00.007-06:00

Yesterday we went on a little nature scavenger hunt with our homeschool group.

I painted the insides of some egg cartons with colors I've been seeing on our nature walks: white, purple, orange, yellow, brown and green.

It was threatening to rain, so we didn't have as many kiddos from the group as we expected, but we still had fun wandering around and hunting colors.

But, then our clever little nature game deteriorated when the boys just wanted to be boys!

My friend's sweet daughter picked a huge bouquet of flowers and then gave them to ME! So sweet.

Once we got home, Enrique was a little more into his treasures. We had fun talking about them all.

This is about as structured as we get on the homeschool front these days. I am really liking just being, spending time in nature, keeping it simple. There is PLENTY of time to get a little more serious about our homeschooling. But, for now, we are enjoying doing it like this.

split personality or imagination in full bloom?

2009-06-10T09:03:00.004-06:00

Enrique has been so funny lately with his imaginary play.

Yoda

Little dude is obsessed with Star Wars these days. In particular he constantly talks about needing to go to Yoda's for a sleepover.

For over a week he was totally focused on building a space ship and flying to the Dagobah System to see yoda.

He packed this bag of supplies that he might need on his journey.

Baseball, check. Money, check. Water glass, check. Shovel, check. Ok, now we can fly into space to see Yoda!

Bacon Tawon

The most craziest imaginary play is the creation of other personalities. He is so good at it that Don and I are beginning to wonder?!

Most recently, he has become Bacon Tawon. He will leave the house and then come back and knock on the door. When I answer, "Hello, I am Bacon Tawon, what is your name?" And then he makes this funny face that I have not been able to capture with the camera.

The deal on Bacon: He is a treeman (not sure what that is) that lives in the southwest. He is also a cowboy. He has a gun, which is a spiderman pez dispenser. (I am not a big fan of guns, but have decided boys will be boys, so I let it be). He is super duper polite, calls me Lisa and Anabel "little princess."

The funny thing is that once he comes into the house, Enrique is not here. If I say, "hey, Enrique, come here," Bacon will just ignore me. I have to address him as Bacon (or whoever he is being at the moment). And he asks about Enrique... Who's shoes are these? What is he like? What did you and your son do today? etc. He DOES NOT go out of character at all. It is kind of amazing really.

And this will last FOR HOURS. The other night, Bacon ate dinner with us, brushed his teeth and went to bed (in Enrique's bed). Then, in the morning he was still here. He had breakfast and then left.

When he leaves, he goes out the front door and spins around a few times then comes and knocks on the door again.. "Mama!! I missed you, I am home!" Lots and lots of kisses and hugs. Then Enrique goes around and ask questions about Bacon. Who's gun is this? Was someone here? Was he nice? What did he call Anabel? etc. And he tells me all about being at Grandma's, which is where he was this whole time.

Makes me wonder if we have a fine actor on our hands. It is fascinating (and a little strange) to watch!

nature walk

2009-06-09T13:20:00.005-06:00

We went on a nature walk last week with some friends of ours.. It was so LUSH and GREEN outside. I took WAY too many pictures as usual... but that way you can pretend to walk along with us..

heading out.. don't you love him wearing his "baby" ??

buddies.

it was so nice out.. this look says it all.

thirsty. uh, not sure that's safe, but, ok?

taking a rest.

discovering.

some serious adventuring. he is getting really brave these days.

heading home.

garden watching and waiting

2009-06-08T16:52:00.000-06:00

Well, it is finally looking like we may actually get some food out of our garden! Yay!

It is so strange to read blogs from around the country and to watch people already harvesting crops when all we have are little sprouts. Gardening in Colorado is just not the same.

But, we ARE growing stuff! I think that is so cool.

Here you go..

We have sprouts on the cauliflower, beets, beans, broccoli, swiss chard and lettuce. Maybe a few carrots, but we seem to have bad luck with carrots. The carrots failed on our last garden. We shall have to wait and see...

I was a little nervous about our tomatoes, they did not seem to be doing too well. My sister asked if I planted them DEEP.. uh, no?! Well, apparently they like that. But, I think they are starting to recover.. again, a waiting game.

Enrique is excited about everything growing and getting to water his OWN plants!

Lots of mamas claim that having kids grow their own food inspires them to want to eat it. The only vegetable my son will eat these days is carrots and rarely that. I am hopeful that he will want to eat his own home-grown veggies here soon!

Lately I have been tricking him to eat his greens.. spinach and apple juice popsicles anyone?

Both the kids really like them, but the beet ones seem to be their favorite.

Next up in our gardening adventure is planting the rest our our seeds. That's on the calendar for next Sunday...

leaf printing

2009-06-05T08:15:00.005-06:00

On a sunny day this past week, we decided to make some leaves for our little nature table tree. Poor thing has been sitting naked all spring, even though the trees outside are full of leaves! Well, you can't stay on top of everything, right?

To do this, we picked a few leaves from our yard.

I mixed up the paint on some plates and let the kids dip their leaves into the paint.

We then pressed the leaves onto the paper, leaving a print of the leaf behind.

I think they look pretty great!

We got better results from putting the leaves on the paper, then laying another piece of paper onto it and using something to roll over the top, like the paint bottles.

After they dried and we cut them out, I hung them on our tree. It didn't come out as pretty or as fabulous as I had hoped. (I had great visions for this project!). You win some, you loose some I guess!

They have all been pulled off the tree in the meantime anyway! 4 year olds..they just want to PLAY with everything.. jeesh! :) But the printing was fun. I am loving seeing Anabel get really into our little projects these days!

weekly art group :: paint bombs!

2009-06-02T10:19:00.004-06:00

Oh, yeah, nothing quite like paint flying everywhere to celebrate kid creativity!

We had a small window of nice weather yesterday, so we took our art day outside for some good old fashioned messy fun!

I took some old pantyhose and we filled them with rocks to give them a little weight. It is really better to do this with sand, but we don't have any of that.. just muddy dirt, which I didn't want mixing with and making the paint all yucky. So I used some smallish rocks.

You then need to water down the paint a little to help give it more "splash."

Our yard has 2 levels so I put the paper out down below and let the kids drop the paint bombs from up above.

After getting the bomb really loaded up with paint.. 3..2...1.. BOMB!

Paint everywhere!

And I really do mean everywhere...

It is all over everything.. Next time we do this, I need to remember to cover things up a little better.

Enrique took one of the paint trays and poured it all over the yard..

we now have red footprints as yard art!

And all of us were covered with paint splatter!

A sign of good times happening!

The rain kicked in, but we didn't want the paint to go to waste, so the kids painted our outdoor craft table in the rain.. which led to more paint splashing!!

This was the most fun at art day I think we have ever had!

a nature walk

2009-06-01T08:42:00.003-06:00

Been awhile since I've posted pictures from our nature walks. And summer is officially here! The dry river was FULL of water, everything is lush and green, and it smells so good outside!

our favorite garden gnome

2009-05-28T10:00:00.000-06:00

I have the coolest neighbor. Seriously. She is the nicest lady.. loves my kids, and I find myself chit-chatting with here almost daily.

Don and I call her our garden gnome. Often we look our the window and see sights like this...

Miss Diane in all her loveliness tending to her garden. On this rainy day last week, she was out there working all day and I couldn't help taking some pictures of her and wandering over for a visit.

I love that I trust the people who live around me. I know I can count on them and they will be there if we need them.

Both of my children love Diane. Enrique is always watching for her and asking to go over to her house to play. Anabel waves to her when she leaves for work in the morning.

I never knew that a neighbor could make me smile on a daily basis.

little sprouts :: a garden report

2009-05-27T09:58:00.002-06:00

Well, we FINALLY have some little sprouts in our garden!

I think all that rain really helped, but it did manage to make a mess of things! We had to spend quite a bit of time "repairing" our garden, cleaning up what looked like a bit of a flood that washed our little sprouts all over the place.

And, thanks to the generosity of a couple of our friends, we now have some tomatoes and peppers in the ground waiting to grow big!

So great to have nice people around us! I got emails from 2 different people asking if we wanted some extra plants that they had started. And since we have this HUGE plot, both thought we might want to take them..

Heck, yeah! On our to do list was to go get some tomato starts and now we don't have to! totally cool. I love it when life lends a hand like that...

Some protection from the wind until these little dudes can hold their own...

And what did we do with the kids while we fixed things, pulled weeds and spent way more time down at the garden than we had planned?

Why, make a big, huge mud puddle of course!!!

By the end of this morning, Enrique was running around naked, introducing himself to little girls - "do you like my underwear?", Anabel looked like a mud monster and my car now resembles a pond... ahh, good times!

rain and mud

2009-05-26T18:56:00.003-06:00

We are seeing alot of both these days...I am kindof loving it, reminds me of when I lived in Seattle, only I know there is sunshine in the future! I have been doing SO MUCH laundry! Mud is all over everything, but that means my little ones have been out playing, which makes me happy!

This is a lake that has formed outside our front door. I am not kidding, it was almost coming inside! Don put a board across it to the steps.. a bridge was the only way out!

And even though her face is oh so grumpy looking here (but dang cute!) she has proved herself a mud baby these past few days.

And well, this one, he is the mud king! Can't seem to keep him away from it!

And all this rain has made it super easy to add a few new "pets" to the crew..
WORMS! They have been running errands with us.

craft hope

2009-05-21T08:11:00.004-06:00

If you pay attention to what goes on around here, it won't surprise you when I say that I have been in a craft slump. Just.Not.Motivated to make stuff. I try, but then feel blah and walk out of my craft room feeling defeated. Well, not anymore!

I came across this AMAZING project, called Craft Hope. And it has truly inspired me, on an incredibly deep level. After reading about it, I found myself rising out of my chair and walking directly into my craft room and getting started.

On what? Making a little baby doll for a child in Nicaragua. While I was working on it, Anabel kept wanting to take it from me. Mind you it is only an unfinished head at this point. But she just loves to cuddle with her babies. So I gave it to her. And promptly started a second doll for her to keep.

This way I can work on the doll to send to the orphanage while she plays with the other one. Then "trade" her and work on the second doll for a bit.

I think it is kind of cool, and super sweet to be able to tell her that there is another baby in Nicaragua just like the one she has! That is something special.

The deadline to send the doll is fast approaching, so I'm hoping to get the dolls done in the next week and will for sure post pictures then.

In the meantime, go check out Craft Hope:

Even if you are not a doll maker, I'm sure there are other projects down the road that will inspire you to get your craft on AND make a difference at the same time!

staying organized

2009-05-20T08:35:00.005-06:00

With Don back to work, I have had to get my head around "being a housewife" again. There is lots to think about, keep track of and pay attention to. Not to mention that I have a website I am building, a wedding I am planning and our toy business to mind.

I have read about and even used in the past a Home Management Binder for keeping track of all this stuff, so I thought with me "going back to work" as a SAHM, it was time to get myself organized again.

I put together a new binder to keep me organized and top of things. And, I have to say that so far it is working! My house is cleaner than it has been in months, I have started to confront our finances in a new, powerful way, and lots of new ideas for my work stuff have started flowing.

The binder is just a 1 inch 3-ring binder. I put a little fabric in the front of it to pretty it up. Personally, when things are pretty and neat, I have a tendency to use them more.

I set up tabbed sections for all of the things I need to find easily.

Here is a peak inside:

1. The Daily Plan.. I made a sheet that holds 2 days worth of daily todo lists. They are specific to our life and the things I like to get done on a daily basis.

2. The Weekly List.. All the stuff that needs to be done every week like mopping the floors, paying bills, going shopping, etc. I refer to this list when making my Daily Plan.

3. Meal Plans.. I only plan one week out.

4. Grocery List.. I made a standard list that has most of the things we get each week and space to add other/misc items.

5. Budget.. A place for me to print our monthly budget and keep track of things like debt we are paying off.

6. House Projects.. We have lots of things we want to do with our house, this is where I jot down ideas, plans, etc.

7. Craft List.. A list of all the things I want to make.

8. Kid Crafts.. Ideas for art projects or other cool things to do with the kids.

9. Thrifting.. We go thrift store shopping almost every week. I always forget what I'm hunting for, so I started a list to write things down that we need so when we go I know what I am looking for.

10. Honey Do.. Things that I want Don to do around the house.

11. Holidays.. I have Birthday and Christmas plans for what we are going to make for everyone.

12. Tabs for work stuff.. I have one for wedding planning, one for Chubbas 'n Boop and one for my Cloth Diaper site. I just have paper here for me to jot down notes and ideas as I think of them. Sometimes I will have to-do lists here as well.

13. Notes.. Just some extra paper for me in case I need to write something down that does not fall into any of the other categories.

14. Inspiration.. quotes, pictures, etc.. things that inspire me and remind me of what I am committed to creating in my home.

I am such a list maker! I totally dig crossing stuff off, it makes me happy and helps me to stay sane.

I have seen lots of ideas for books like this out in blog land and the one thing I can say about them (in case you want to make one yourself) is to really think about what works for you and don't get stuck with it having it be a particular way. My way of doing it probably won't work for you, it takes a little time to figure out a system that you will actually USE. Tools like this to stay organized only work if you use them!

bed head

2009-05-19T08:11:00.001-06:00

Yup! She is my daughter! I think this is pretty much how I look in the morning.. Only she's cuter...

a perfect weekend :: thrift, food, mountains, firsts, garden

2009-05-18T08:51:00.011-06:00

Don had his first official weekend after going back to work, and it was packed full of everything we love..

- Thrift store shopping ... (I'll share our scores later this week.. good stuff!)

- Dinner party ... We host a "Natural Family Potluck" at our house once a month. I only took this one picture of the kids sitting so patiently and quiet waiting for food. This is a new tradition we are loving.. Lots of good conversation, yummy food and a little chaos!

- A trip up to the mountains to go fishing ...

Hanging out at the lake means we get to do lots of our favorite things:

Hiking ...

(like my makeshift baby carrier? I totally forgot mine and used our picnic blanket!)

Climbing ...

Digging in the Mud ...

Discovering ...

We saw this tree that had been struck by lightening.. amazing!

Fishing ...

I FINALLY got to see my husband catch a fish! I seriously was thinking I was bad luck.. he never catches fish when I'm with him.. but not this time!

And the big highlight of the day? Enrique caught his first fish!!!

Look at how proud he is of himself!

But, I think Don was even more proud! This was a big day for our little dude, but an even bigger deal for his fisherman papa.

And then, fueled by the excitement of the first fish, Enrique hiked all the way out ALL BY HIMSELF! He usually needs to be carried.. but not today. And, it's quite a hike!

After we got home from the mountains, we went to water the garden. Hanging out in the sun with our kiddos giving a little love to our vegetables, both Don and I had one of those perfectly happy moments where all feels right in the world.

It was a perfect weekend!

zoo impressions

2009-05-14T10:13:00.001-06:00

We love our local zoo! Such a pretty place to wander around.

A few pics from our visit yesterday:

perfect

2009-05-12T10:21:00.005-06:00

My mother's day was perfect! My mom came over and Don made us all some waffles with whipped cream and strawberries.. yummy, oh so good!

Now, the kiddos want whipped cream on something every morning!

Enrique made me a book..

I mean, really, it can't get much better than that!

Oh, and we have some good news! Don found a job doing some granite work. This is really just in the nick of time as his unemployment is up in a few weeks. He started yesterday and really likes it!

It is kind of weird being here all day without him. 6 months of us all together has been really nice. But, it is also kind of great to start getting back into a normal routine with the kids. It has been like being on permanent weekend mode the past few months. And, while I love weekends, my house is not as clean as I would like, I feel a little scattered and I have not done some of the things I would like to with the kids. A good weekly rhythm is something I am really looking forward to getting back into it!

And, in case you are worried.. Don is still totally committed to making toys! It has become his way to stay sane and explore his creativity.. so Chubbas 'n Boop is still open for business! Hopefully one day it can be his full time job, but for now.. it is a fun way for us to make a little extra money and for him to keep his artist self happy.

Life feels normal again, which is kind of perfect!

sowing seeds

2009-05-11T06:15:00.000-06:00

We have officially begun planting in our garden! I know it is a silly thing, but this makes me SOOO dang happy! This is my first ever garden- EVER. We did one 2 summers ago, but I was really pregnant with Anabel, so the only thing I did was put a few seeds in the ground. Don did all the rest. It was his garden. So this is year my first "official" experience with growing my own food.

Food is a big thing for us. Especially where it comes from and how it is grown. Even though we live on a super tight budget, eating well is very important to me. Having our own garden is a way for us to be really connected to our food, to walk the talk. I am also loving the chance to teach our kids about how our food arrives on our dinner plate each night.

Enrique is super duper excited about all of this! Everyday he asks to go to the garden to check on his vegetables. He has a few rows that are HIS. He chose carrots and broccoli as his crops.

What else we have planned for this year:

-swiss chard
-brussel sprouts (yum!)
-kale
-cauliflower
-peas
-corn
-beans
-cucumbers
-beets
-a few different lettuces
-spinach
-melons
-tomatoes
-peppers
-zucchini
-squash
-pumpkins
-and lots of fresh herbs

Wow! Listing it out like that feels a bit ambitious, but it's all a big experiment anyway. We don't really know what we're doing.. Fake it till you make it, I say!

moments of motherhood

2009-05-10T07:09:00.003-06:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mama's (and especially to mine)...

I love being a mom, even with our crazy days and nutty kid moments. I love watching my kids.. they are amazing. I love nuzzling them, cuddle time, laughing with them, their soft skin, their pure joy, their emerging independence, the way they love each other, the way they adore their papa, the way they need me in those desperate moments when only mama will do, the sound of their laughter, the noise their feet make when they are running around the house. I love them. So very much.

I found this poem the other day that made me smile.

Moments of Motherhood by Donner

Crash of glass and I about faced
mid-fold toward the unwelcomed
sound. Too many chores
and now this interruption.
Sarah stood shell-shocked,
toes recoiled from shards
and slivers; a puddle
swept around the footstool,
carrying the head of a daisy
in its wake.

Small hands pulled at the
pockets of dandelion-stained shorts,
never to come clean; cockleburrs
velcroed to once-white socks;
a decision made as quickly
as the jar was changed
into fragments.

Brown eyes never left my back
as I walked to the hutch and
took out a prized vase of cut crystal,
then stooped to collect
the weeds that had been plucked
with childish wonder.

And Sarah arranged her
priceless bouquet as I
mopped up the glass shards
and water.

I hope all the mama's out there are getting spoiled and loved on a little bit extra today!

mother's day crafts

2009-05-09T17:42:00.005-06:00

We have been busy around here doing some crafty things. I wanted to make sure and do some fun mama day crafts, both for my own keepsakes and to give something sweet (and made by the kids) to my mom.

For Grandma cards, I had each of the kids make about 4-5 hand prints. I just used white paint on colored paper.

I then cut out their little hands and glued them together in the shape of a flower. For the cards, I used an oil based crayon to write and painted over that with watercolors. I love the effect of that, the oil crayons hold up to the water color, it is very cool looking.

Then we had a little crafty playdate earlier in the week. I thought it would be sweet for the mamas to get a nice little present "made" by their kiddo just for them (and for me too!).

So I bought a few flowerpots for the kids to paint for us..

They were so sweet painting them.

And then I planted a few flowers in each of the pots...

Having these on my table all week has been making me smile BIG TIME!

Such a simple and easy craft to do...

art group :: handmade playdough

2009-05-08T17:58:00.000-06:00

I don't know why I have never done homemade playdough with Chubbas. Just one of those things I've never done.

My sister was telling me how easy it was to make, so I thought that this would be a fun thing to do for art group.

I found this recipe all over the internet and it worked really well:

1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp oil
1/4 cup salt

Mix everything together in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until a ball forms. Then use your hands to mix in some food coloring when it has cooled enough to touch. Store in an airtight container or plastic baggie.

I actually ran out of the cream of tartar, so ended up using half of what the recipe calls for. It turned out just fine.

It was really fun to watch my kiddos "discover" playdough. Yeah, I know it only took 4 years for Chubbas, but hey, better late than never. Boop tried eating it, of course.

And the kids started playing make believe with their creations soon enough! I love that.

Playdough has been a favorite for Chubbas all week. One day, he made a TON of hearts!

A serious heart factory there..

But man, he was so quiet for a really long time.. I heart playdough!

let me introduce you to..

2009-05-05T09:01:00.005-06:00

Our garden!!!

Since gardening up here at our house would be a big ol' pain in the you know what because of bears and deer, we decided to become apart of our local community garden.

We went down there yesterday to start getting it ready, because in case you didn't know, you can't really plant much here in Colorado before Mother's Day.

So here it is, a 20' by 40' plot that is all ours! So much we can grow in there and let me tell you, we are going for it!

I am really excited to grow our own food this year, to teach E (and myself) about where our food comes from. And I am already eager to EAT all the goods!

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day with Chubbas.. he was just in SUCH A MOOD! We had to cancel art day even because he was just no fun to be around. We then decided a good cure for grumpiness would be to go dig in the earth. Which, helped so much!

I am ever amazed by how connecting with nature and the earth is so grounding and calming. All night long our little dude kept talking about all the vegetables he is growing in the garden. The question remains if he will actually eat them!

graffiti or art? or both?

2009-05-03T07:56:00.001-06:00

The other day, E came up to me and said, "Look at my shirt!" Well, it had marker ALL OVER IT! He was grinning ear to ear so proud of himself. It was a pretty junky shirt anyway, so I didn't worry too much about it.

But then, I noticed this on the door to the craft room..

Then, the next day I discovered all of this spanning from one end of the craft room to the other...

And on the desk:

And around the corner into the living room...

Wow! I was stunned! This is the most elaborate "wall art" that our little artist has ever attempted. I called him over "to have a talk" that went like this:

Mama: "Did you do this writing all over the wall?"
Chubbas: "Yes, I did!"
Mama: "Well, I don't think we are supposed to draw all over the wall are we?"
Chubbas: "No, we aren't."
Then a pause..
Chubbas: Very seriously - "But, mama, do you like it?"

That's my artist boy.. Can't stay mad too long when this clearly was not just some random scribbles, but a true work of art!

a new learning place

2009-05-02T17:20:00.006-06:00

We visited the Pueblo Children's Museum this week for the first time. It is a really great place to take the kids! So much to do.. we could have stayed for hours more.

The coolest thing was the giant wall that somehow picks up on body heat so you can make a giant "painting" using your whole body. Very groovy! I think Don had the most fun with that one!

There are LOTS of art stations, puppets and little puppet stages, puzzles and blocks to build things with, large magnetic walls to make scenes with, little old fashioned movie makers, and so much more that we didn't even get a chance to explore.

The kids really loved the giant building blocks (that BTW are just made out of boxes that have been painted). But there are ALOT of them, enough to build a kid size house, tunnels, etc.

If you are in the Springs and haven't been down there, I highly recommend it! Worth the drive and super cheap to get in.

While we were there, a few school groups were visiting. I was blown away and saddened by how little time these kids had to explore the museum. While we were on the 2nd floor at least 3 different groups came in. Just as the kids were starting to get into stuff, the teachers announced it was time to go! Our kids were there sooo much longer and still didn't want to leave when it was time.

We were with another homeschool family and both of us mamas said how happy we are that we are homeschooling! Both Don and I really felt our commitment to homeschool strengthened by the experience. We want to be able to give our kids the time they need to fully immerse themselves in what interests them and give them the freedom and space to explore whatever it is they want to learn about. I feel so strongly about this and am glad that we get a chance to give our children an opportunity to learn this way.. Yay! Homeschooling rocks!

once upon a time..

2009-04-30T08:33:00.006-06:00

A cute boy who loved Elvis somehow wooed a workaholic party girl.. They fell in love. They laughed alot, they stayed up all night... talking. Right!

Well, one morning, the goofy boy decided to get down on one knee and ask the girl to marry him. On her finger went his grandmother's wedding ring.

They only knew each other for a few months, but decided to head off on a little road trip to Las Vegas to see if they could get Elvis to marry them..

After driving from Colorado to the city in the desert and staying in a scary hotel for one night they decided to start "The Big Day" with a ride on a roller coaster on top of a building..(very fitting way to start this crazy adventure I think.)

Then, Lisa, being a tad bit overwhelmed by the lights and the noise, begged charming boy to take her to a park. After driving around FOR HOURS looking for a place with grass to lounge, they found a nice neighborhood park and loved on each other for awhile..

Feeling refreshed, they headed to a new, fancier hotel to change and get ready..

Elvis was a bit pricey, but the Chapel o' Love did the trick perfectly well..

And here we are 5 years later! Still feeling the love and glad we took the chance.

Happy Five Years to Us!!

I love you babe.

feeling quiet

2009-04-29T08:16:00.003-06:00

Guess I have a little of the introvert thing going on right now, I just don't feel like sharing much.. We have been sick around here for weeks, and it is tiring. We are not super crazy stay in bed all day sick, but we have all had this cough that will not go away! So, we have been staying at home alot, doing some spring cleaning. Wow! We have a lot of junk to get rid of! I think a garage sale is in order.. stat!

I did redo our Chubbas 'n Boop website, it is so much prettier! Go check it out!

I FINALLY got my craft room cleaned up, a true miracle, I tell you! This has been at the top of my put off until later list for months, but it is done! Now, seriously if you all are not seeing some good things coming out of there soon, someone should come and arrest me.

We do seem to be keeping ourselves busy lately and I have been doing alot of internal work, thinking, contemplating about alot of things. I'm not really ready to put these thoughts into words, but I feel like change is coming soon...

today I am grateful

2009-04-17T14:10:00.004-06:00

It is my birthday today! We woke up to a crazy snow storm, which is NOT suppose to happen on April 17th EVER. But, some blue sky is peeking through the clouds, which is making me happy. Don is out at the store buying me some ice cream, little girl is sound asleep on my lap. Life is quiet and peaceful.

Today I am grateful for:

- My amazing husband who is funny and entertaining and loving and sexy and kind.

- My son who is smart and clever and such goof, he makes me laugh every day.

- My daughter who loves giving hugs and just discovered the joy of dancing.

- The whole rest of my family who love me no matter what.

- Getting to have this time, right now, where we are all home together.

- Living in a cozy house that is quirky and fun and so totally "us."

- Nice neighbors who surprise me with fun gifts that make me smile from ear to ear.

- Friends who are really starting to feel like friends and not just acquaintances.

- Ice cream, which was just been placed in my hand.. mmmmm!

I am glad to get to share with all of you out there our life. Thanks for reading this blog and letting me show off the things that make me happy. Have a great weekend!