Not cool, not cool at all.

See those high waters up there?  They belong to Oliver and are making me real sad today.  Not because he could pass for Erkel but because its proof he is getting so big.  I bought these jeans for him not even a month ago and he is already outgrowing them.  I don't know what happened but overnight he has sprouted up about 2 inches.  Maybe a diet of Poptarts and Cheezits really do supply all the nutrition they need?!

Little by little his baby features are going away and being replaced by this smart, funny, grown up little boy.  Sometimes I can look at his fingers and toes and see what they are going to look like on the 15-year-old version of him.  I can almost picture his lanky, little legs hanging out of the bottom of athletic shorts after a sweaty baseball practice.  Is this how my mother-in-law still sees her "little boys"?  Do you forever see them as just a bigger, hairier version of the 4 year old them?  I think I will.  

I want to just stop the clock for a little while.   Take all the to-do's off my list and just be able to really appreciate where we're at.   I don't want to be caught up in cleaning, cooking, driving, stressing, and doing but instead focus on those (not-so-) little (anymore) hands and feet and remember that one day I won't have them around my house anymore.   I guess its the same as how you see your spouse every day but life is so busy that you don't even realize how much you both have changed until you look back at that photo album from the first year you were dating.  You both die at how much older you've gotten and how happy and naive you look back then.  Not to mention how shocking it is that your husband fell in love with you at all considering your hair then!!   

Distractions help you miss the subtle changes so you can really appreciate the mornings when clothes don't fit and tiny hands don't fit as tiny in yours.  They give you a chance to really see how far things have come but, its still not cool.  My little Oliver is about to leave little boy land for good and it'll be no time before he strolls down to breakfast listening to his iPod and texting on his Blackberry.   I won't even realize how much time has gone by the morning I wake up and help him move into a dorm.  Not cool at all.  So when we go to the mall to replace his jeans once again I will try not to focus on how irritating it is to shop with children.  I will not lose it when I have to ask him for the 5th time to stand still and look in the mirror.  I will try my hardest to enjoy the moment even when its not enjoyable, remembering that these times are as fleeting as the jeans I bought him a month ago.  And speaking of fleeting so were these Oreos...pure, chocolate joy.

Crafty Time

If you looked up the word procrastination in the dictionary.  Well, wait a minute does anyone even use the dictionary anymore?  I guess I should say if you googled the word procrastination you would see my picture pop up.  I guess I like the adrenaline rush of doing things last minute or something.  Or maybe its just I don't like doing things that I don't like doing.  For instance putting pictures in albums, dusting, cleaning out the coat closet, or buying socks (see previous post).  But give me a crafty project and I can't wait to start.  Over the last month I have had a couple of opportunities to put my crafty-ness to work and I loved it!! And even better these projects were basically free.  My first idea came from some old sweaters I was about to take to Goodwill.  I was sick of staring at the basket of clothes that I intended to take to Goodwill for weeks.  Again I was procrastinating so it had been sitting in my dining room but all that staring gave me an idea.  I could use the sleeves of the sweaters to make a cool covering for a vase.  The cable-knit would look very Fallish and cozy.  One problem: the vases were in the basement which I only enter if there is an emergency.  So far the only emergency has been to grab a spare bottle of ketchup from the fridge down there and even that caused full body shivering that lasted well after I had shut the door back and checked my hair for spiders.  These vases were no where near that level of necessity.  "Dip dip" is crucial in this house.  Vases not so much.  Turns out I had three empty soup cans sitting on my counter that would work perfectly.  I added a little ribbon and voila...cute Fall vases and a cute (if I do say so myself) way to display some photos.  Oliver happily collected some branches from our yard and I simply clipped the pictures and a little note to them.

My first project was for a special opportunity I get every few months.  I volunteer at a great place here that houses young girls and their babies.  It offers these girls a place to live and assistance while they go to school and get on their feet.  The girls are all under 18 and would not otherwise have a stable environment to raise their kids.  I just kind of stumbled across this place and immediately felt like I wanted to do something to volunteer.  Even though our lives couldn't be more different, at the end of the day we are all moms and I can't imagine doing that job without the help of a husband or just having basic necessities.  I tried to think of something out of the ordinary that they wouldn't normally have and to me that was having pictures of your kids.  So now I go and just take casual fun pictures since I am NOT a professional and they get to have little keepsakes.  So my cheap-y vase project was the perfect way to gift them their pictures.

*dust bunnies not included

My next project was to crate some kind of cute center piece for my brother-in-law's rehearsal dinner.  I just re-vamped this idea and it was all still pretty much free.  I got a roll of burlap ($3) and covered some wine bottles (supplied by my in-laws) and again raided the yard for branches.  They were a fun, easy personal touch that night!

BONUS: I kept the wine bottles for a cool Thanksgiving centerpiece!

My last project has been really fun.  I originally made them for a birthday brunch for my mom and oldest sister.  I cut scrapbook paper into rectangles, glued it to cardboard (that I had from two UPS deliveries that week) and then glued questions on the card.  The questions were things like "My favorite thing about you is..." or "When I think of you the word that comes to mind is..." and other fun things that were all about the birthday girls.   It was a great way to make the day all about them!  I re-used this idea at the rehearsal dinner and made the question about the happy couple.  The answers ranged from sentimental to hilarious to downright racy.  The perfect combination for a wedding weekend if you ask me!  Oh, and most importantly I placed a box (purchased for cheap at Homegoods) at the guests of honors seats.  The cards were placed in there so that they can read them anytime they want a stroll down memory lane.  Unfortunately I can't find my pics from the bday but you get the idea...

A mind is a terrible thing to waste...

Does anyone else out there do things that make no sense sometimes?  Sometimes I amaze myself at how illogically my brain works.  For instance, when I walk by a pile of folded laundry that needs to go upstairs but I just don't take it.  I guess this could be called good old fashioned laziness but its not that.  I look at the pile and know that I should pick it up bc I am going upstairs anyways but I don't.  I tell myself I will just get it the next trip.  Does that make sense to anyone?!  Absolutely not.  Or how about when I go to Target, like I did today, to stock up on cleaning supplies.  This doesn't happen a lot bc lets face it my cleaning supplies have been lasting a loooong time since Sullivan came along.  But anyway I go to buy things for cleaning and I know that we are low on trash bags but I just don't get them.   Not for any real reason other than I figure I will just make another trip when they actually run out.  Because who in their right mind would just buy them today?!   Or heres one....I only own two pairs of tall socks (I have the ankle ones which is another illogical thing since I don't work out).  Dead serious...2 pairs.  I wear boots all the time so why wouldn't I just buy more.  Like, when I am in Target?  Today?  And my favorite stupid thing I do is not getting gas.  I hate pumping gas.   Its boring and I hate just standing there waiting for it to finish.  I only go when my light is on (and has been for a day or 2) but never just when its getting low and I am passing a gas station.  And sometimes, gasp, I don't even fill it all the way up because I hate waiting and again I hate getting gas. So obviously I would rather have smaller increments of time between pumping.  Wow, I am smart!!
I guess all of these habits fall under the same category with being late everywhere I go.  I assume that I can get anywhere in "10 minutes" : the doctor's office that is 15 minutes away, my son's preschool that is about 12, Target that is a good 25, and anywhere else that is within the state of North Carolina.  And I forget that not only do I need more than 10 minutes to get there, I need more than 25 seconds to get me and the two boys in the car.   Some days I feel horrible when I think of their little frazzled faces as I scream at them to "put on your shoes!!", "hurry up and buckle!!",  "move your arm so I can buckle you!!" (this is at my 11 month old!)   Poor guys.  They looked shell shocked most days after we finally get on the road.  And baffled that this crazy woman that just made them flee the house like it was on fire can now be saying "ooh, look boys a fire truck."
I wish I was normal.  Or at least a little more logical in my thinking.  But these are the cards I am dealt so I will just try to do a little better tomorrow and in the meantime I will get up, walk right past the bathroom without putting away the toilet paper I bought at Target and get on with my life.

Mission Accomplished

My little Oliver, or 007 as he was know the next day for Halloween (more on that in a minute), performed as ring bearer and did not cause a scene!  I didn't even talk to him about the wedding until right before we got to Georgia to downplay it all as much as possible.  Because my first-born is precious and smart and adorable but he is also what you'd call "strong-willed" which any parent knows just means "can be a complete jack a** at times."  I love him but its true.  And obviously he gets that from his Dad.   For Oliver the more encouragement you give him on something the more it seems to tip him off that whatever you are talking about is important therefor must be painfully boring.  So we didn't say much and at the rehearsal there was a little gift from God named Mrs. Anne.  She was the teeny tiny wedding coordinator who could scare grown men with her "mean look"...jackpot!  I gratefully handed all control of Oliver over to her and it worked like a charm.   The day of was hectic and I barely even saw Oliver between getting beautified myself but I did see him just long enough to hear that he hadn't taken a nap.  Seriously. NO. NAP.  I honestly considered canceling on the bride but I decided to chance it.   If you have ever been around Oliver on a day when he has not napped you understand my concern.  Not that I thought the bride wouldn't love to have her vows drowned out by the groan he does when he is tired I really was more worried about the chance of him going into the delirious crazy mode.  But he hung in there with a lot of bribery and gentle "love squeezes" from me on his upper arm.  (Don't act like you haven't done it yourself).

He walked down the aisle with the flower girl (not me or Daddy) and took his place: sitting at Daddy's feet with his thumb in his mouth.  We did send him to sit with  Grammy and Papa about half way through when he discovered this little metal outlet cover right next to the bride and groom's feet but he stayed there with them quiet as a mouse.  Usually when I have been in a wedding I have made an effort to glance at my husband during the vows to give him that look like, "Hey remember when we did this..."  but this day I looked at a different guy.  My little guy.  I thought about the day when he is the groom and I am bawling dabbing my eyes in the pew.  I can't even imagine things that far away but it made me want to snatch him up and shove him back in the baby Bjorn!

Tux- Part 2:  

Why let a good tux go to waste?  Especially when you decide to stay in Georgia one more night and you didn't bring a costume?!  He didn't care what he was wearing as long as you filled his bucket with treats!

handsomest trick or treater!

And I can't leave out my other little boo boo.  The cutest pumpkin in the patch!