The Crafts

It is cold and snowy and 100 percent officially winter. We are all feeling stir crazy while trying to find space for mountains of Christmas gifts, tripping over toys and leftover boxes.  I found a pile of dirty socks behind a chair and under a table.  Static is the newest member of our household and probably your's too.  Most parents are in the same spot but each of us easily forgets that we are not alone. My New Year's resolution is to control less and love more. And like any New Year's resolution it doesn't seem to be coming to me easily. Today, on a no school, snow day I have said yes to nearly everything and the mood has improved dramatically. All work and no play makes the household crabby. We have played in the snow, a dozen rounds of the game Spoons, two games of Uno, playdoh, play kitchen, princesses, made our own band, read books and now for some quiet time. And come lunch time, the girls offered to "cook" and told me to go ...

For those long time blog followers you may remember this post way back in 2009 where I detailed my semi-extensive history as the self dubbed Wasp Ninja. If you are not familiar you can read about  HERE.   While I am really quite proud of my history of indoor wasp kills I look back at that 2009 post about beheading a wasp with scissors in an epic battle for my life combined with the photo of a ninja wielding a sword and I immediately think of the extremely scary group ISIS. This all makes me cringe. So I will leave that picture out of today's post and instead focus on my most recent hard fought battle with an indoor wasp who was apparently sent to avenge the death of his ancestors. Yesterday's battle started like this... I was walking Natalie to the bathroom sink in our "Iowa State Room" when the wasp was spotted. Now to establish the proper scene in your mind I must tell you that this room is a bit odd. The room has a bathroom but the toilet is in a small closet-...

I'm not certain how two whole month got away from me but that is exactly what happened. About a week ago I realized I have not blogged since August 20th. I decided it was about time to get back at it and thought I would wait a wee bit longer for October 20th. To personally celebrate my return to blogging I want to share 20 things on October 20th that have been going on around here for the past two months.  1. Outdoors I can't say we are get down and dirty every single day but we come pretty darn close. If it's not sand in the hair, then it's crushed leaves in our shorts, dirty water in our shoes... You get the idea. But it's fun and we are building immunities to Ebola and stuff.  2. School Previously I blogged about Kate starting the school year but I never got around to blogging about CJ who started a week or so after Kate. CJ is well into her year in butterfly preschool class and while I believe she is excited for Kindergarten next year we have a ...

The word awesome is most likely way over used. Do I over use it? I certainly do, but in this case the things below could make the most negative grump say, "whoa, that is awesome." Sidenote: there really is a website called thingsthatareawesome.com. Any excitement I had to create such a site is now dashed. My list of recent awesome things.... Kids reenacting the musical, Les Miserables: Our neighbors and friends were cast in the Waterloo Community Playhouse summer musical Les Miserables. Since then Kate sings Les Mis songs all day. No, really. All day. Like all the time. Here they are recreating the first scene and singing "Look Down."  "Fantine" here has bit the dust...on a porch swing. I don't recall training wheels in the musical though. Not sure what scene Natalie is participating in. Was there breakdancing in that play? Here is "young Cosette." She apparently was a breakdancer also. I joke about how tir...

I almost titled this blog post "Round Here" because when I decided to name it "Around Here" I immediately thought of the Counting Crows's song, "Round Here." But Round Here doesn't really make sense so I went with Around Here and instead decided to share the Round Here video with you. Are you confused yet? This is one of my favorite Counting Crows songs. Actually they have so many great songs. Songs that lead to high school flashbacks of me driving around Cedar Rapids with my two best friends, Laura and Traci, to get "big, fat malts" from this awesome 50's diner which is now a Panera. Wah. Nothing against Panera but the 50's diner was so much more original and awesome. Let's be honest though. While "Round Here" is totally fabulous it is also slightly depressing and that is not at all the mood I want to set for this blog post. So why don't you listen to this song before continuing on... Want to ...

With the rise in heat I somehow got that Robert Palmer song in my head. You know that jam you couldn't help but shaking your shoulders to when it came bouncing through your car speakers. "Some like it hot, some like it hot." I couldn't find an official video but I did snag this awesome live version from 1997. Seriously? I thought I was a little kid when "Some Like it Hot" was hot. I mean, I was a little kid. Honest. Here you go... So it is finally hot just like summer is supposed to be. But really, as long as I can wear shorts and flip flops then it is summer to me. Oh, and go to the pool. The ultimate tower...chess pieces and cards. Kate was so proud she too took a picture with her LeapPad. Summer's bounty... from my mother-in-law's garden. One day my green thumb will ripen enough to not kill plants. CJ swears she was just trying to cool off Kate. I mean, Kate was pretty sweaty. Revenge. When I ask to snap ...