the tree post

Gave our thanks, ate the ham and stuffing, made a Black Friday excursion to Target with my brother just out of curiosity (emerging with only a peppermint mocha apiece, three pieces of kids' clothing, and a general sense of bewilderment) (because OMG BLACK FRIDAY PEOPLE BE CRAY) .... then onto the legal Christmassing!  The first stop, as is tradition in our new lives as Coloradans, was the San Juan National Forest.  Where I eschewed all trees under the 9,000 foot mark and forced J to climb higher and higher and HIGHER GOSH DARNIT with his chainsaw until I found just the right Tannenbaum for our living room.  It's hard to breathe up there, yall.  And the snow was up to my waist.   SEE WHAT I DO FOR CHRISTMAS?

do i have the cutest sister and brother in the world?  why yes.  yes, i do.
sparky is a big tough man.

Success!  Victorious, we drove home to the sound of the Glee Christmas soundtrack I can't get enough of (but J can....), set up the tree, and admired our work for a whole twenty minutes before the kitten climbed the helloutta that tree and knocked it down and threw bits of forest debris from one end of the living room to the other.  Fa la la la LAAAAAAA.  As of 9am today we were down two (sentimental) ornaments (yay, kids!) and had already stripped the tree down and dressed it back up again when I spent a good hour last night tossing and turning over the painstaking decision I'd made to do the colored lights (FUN MOM!) when what I really wanted was the classy white lights.  So, you know, DO OVER.  (Kids were thrilled, for the record, because it meant they got to fight over who got to hang which ornament where alllllll over again!)

No but for real?  I love this all.  The tree, the kitty, the nightly Advent snuggle up and read time with the red pajama clad kids.  And the glitter!  And the music!  And the GLITTER!

turkey's dry and tasteless, anyway

So apparently I've become one of those awesome bloggers who shows up once a quarter or so, all apologies and excuses.  My bad.  Good thing I'm not in it to win it, blogging-wise.  My husband won't be quitting his job to hold my purse while I share pictures of my shoes on IG, or anything like that (that's a hello to those of you coming over from "ETST Circusgate 2013", btw.)  (I REGRET NOTHING!)  Anyway, onto the excuses.  I blame The Mabester for this blog circling the drain.  Having a third kid, you guys?  Knocked me off my A-game.  Hats off to my friends with four or five (OR MORE?) (YOU CRAZY?) kids, because three is about all I can handle.  My dishwasher is lucky to get unloaded before noon, the mailbox gets emptied once a week at most, I'm still unable to breathe inside my skinny jeans, and my teeth are more grindy than ever.  My showers are less frequent, and when I do dare take one before J's home from work at night, I pay for it dearly.  Likesuchas, last week when Mabel, instead of playing with the 49 toys I spread all around my bedroom come shower time, snuck into my closet while I lathered up and pulled EVERY SINGLE THING off its hanger.  Like, all the things.  On the floor.  I'd rather be stinky another day than have to spend a half hour re-hanging my entire damn closet, yall.  Or the shower before that when Anderson helped himself to a granola bar he found in my bag while I was in that shower and dropped some of the chocolate chippy pieces onto my duvet cover and then somehow smeared them around so it looked like someone legit wiped their BUTT on my duvet cover.  Which I didn't even notice until J came home and was all "who crapped on our bed?"  And he wasn't even, like, SURPRISED about "poop" smeared on our bed.  Just nonchalant, like it's the norm.  WHICH IT REALLY COULD BE.  What the HELL am I even talking about, now?

CHRISTMASSSSSS!  Wasn't it just Halloween last blog post?  (It was, actually.)  I gave up on waiting until after Thanksgiving to do the Christmas things, this year.  One minute I was all "TURKEY RESPECT BLABLABLA!" and the next I was all "RED!  SPARKLES!  FA LA LA!"  I had one peppermint mocha out of the big red cup and next thing I know, my kids are wearing Christmas jammies whilst sitting in beds adorned with twinkly lights while the Glee Christmas soundtrack shakes the walls.  Who cares, screw the turkey, we're having ham for Thanksgiving, anyway!

It was the first real snow, quite honestly, that pushed me over the edge.

From there, it just BLEW UP.

Next up?  The second annual Thanksgiving weekend family expedition to the forest to chop us down a tree.  My cards are ordered, my shopping nearly done, and I'm quite certain this will TOTALLY be the "hap hap happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny-bleeping-Kaye!"

happy halloween

I'm not even sure where to start, people.  The past month has been a blur.  School days, work days, sickly days, out of state guest days, scary medical appointment days.  Every day filled with the chaos that comes with three small children and one 70 pound puppy and two constantly begging cats and the MESS this all makes.  I don't tend to even notice it until 7:30pm when we've finally wrangled all (or most of) the kids into bed and I look around the main floor and it's just like "WHERE DO I EVEN START?!"  Nights, too often, scattered with wakings from Mabel, who's outgrown an age where such mid-night shenanigans are really excusable .... but she IS cutting her 4th molar so she's been cut some slack.  A great helping of slack, really, the kind that's only given up to third babies because they're ..... the baby!  So anyway.  Busy, tired, the usual.

Medically, things are fine now.  I'd had some random issues, I'd seen a local doctor, I'd had an MRI that, instead of putting my mind at ease, resulted in some suspicions.  Spoiler alert: I'm fine now.  J and I trekked over to Phoenix earlier this week to see some fabulous doctors, and all is, or will be, well.  Phew.  So grateful, I can't even tell you.

It's Halloween!  If your kids don't have school on Halloween, BLESS YOUR HEART.  Because by 9am?  I couldn't load Spiderman and Sleeping Beauty into the car (sorry, V, I meant ROYAL CARRIAGE) fast enough.  Excited energy was propelling them around the house, and my coffee just wasn't kicking in fast enough to keep up.  Mabes and I will pick them up soon, we'll see friends and do the trick or treating thing until frostbite sets in.  Which won't take long, since it's 40-odd degrees today and there's a layer of white stuff on the ground.  Should be in bed watching Gray's by 8pm, easy.

I was asked a few times, when I posted the above photo on Facebook, how I managed a shot of the three looking at me and not crying/grimacing/blinking/acting a fool.  Oh, only took about 1,238 snaps to get one decent one.  Madness.  Outtakes:

"you're a dog."  "no, you're a dog."  "no, you're a dog."

yeah, exactly what i was envisioning.

that looks comfy.

one's a hunk, one .... is .... vivi.

you're going to regret that in 10 years, kid.

this is when i about gave up and started drinking.

she doesn't even know how to walk, but she'll figure it out if it means ending this photo shoot.

sickie saturday

this is just a quick snapshot through my windshield.
it does no justice to the actual beauty of fall in colorado at 7000 feet.

Oh, fall.  You with your plethora of bloggers bowing at your feet, your PSLs and your glittery gourds, your scarves and boots.  You with your GERMS.  We're starting this already?  Anderson barfing Thursday morning, a school morning of COURSE.  Who doesn't love paying for school for a kid who's not there?  (ME!)  My throat getting scratchy then my nose getting stuffy then the sinus headache joining in.  Mabel's nose running so effusively a Cheerio got caught in the stream and, I kid you not, hung down to her chest in a snot string.  And now J's complaining via text message from work of tummy issues and V's telling me her "face hurts" which I take to mean something in her head.  Oh, germs.  Gone are our fun plans for friends over tonight, dicey are our plans to road trip up to the mountains to see the fall foliage. I've just got my fingers crossed for no infected ears or crapped-in pants, yall.  (Minus Mabel's pants.  That's a given.)

However?  It's been a nice little Saturday, despite the boogies.  We're in pajamas, cozy since I finally caved and turned the heat on when every room in the house was still under 60 degrees at 10am, and we've built forts and cut out jack o' lantern faces and avoided the "sit in front of the TV and get crabby" pitfall that so often wins out on these kind of sickie Saturdays.  It's been a good one, really.  I got to talk to my beloved grandparents on the phone and the kids sang a lovely happy birthday tune to my grandma (happy birthday, Grandma!)  And?  The kids all napped long enough for me to watch TWO episodes of Dance Moms off Amazon for FREE.  Wins!

And hopefully, we'll pass the crud in a hasty manner and move on to a happy week.  With kids who go to school and my doctor calling with sigh-of-relief type results on some stuff I had done last week.  And with more gorgeous leaves and many PSLs and probably a few more glittery gourds because OMG I can't get enough of the gourds!

Also, PSA?  Just because your five year old tells you he feels all better by the time you get the middle child dropped off at school does NOT mean he's well enough to make a quick trip to Wally for some necessities.  (Milk, Cheerios, Kleenex, Mod Podge.)  Oh no, it does not mean that at all.  It only means you'll end up illegally cramming your baby-holding cart full of necessities into the family bathroom while you rub your five year old's back as he retches into the Wally toilet.  And then you'll have to go home and scrub yourselves down with BLEACH because EW.

Adios from Boogerville.  Happy weekend, everyone!

spoiler alert: there was no favorite part

It's hard to narrow down my absolute favorite part of this here Wednesday.  Was it on the way into town this morning, when ten minutes from our house I had to ask my THREE year old if the baby was in the car, because I had a sudden feeling that I might've left her sitting on the kitchen floor in our mad dash to get everyone out on time?  (She was, in fact, in her car seat, just quietly enjoying the scenery.)  Was it after I'd raced across town from the speech therapist's office to the pediatrician's office in the fifteen minutes I had between A's two appointments, parked my bus-sized SUV in their compact-sized parking garage without dinging anything up, and then realized my wallet was missing?  So then I got to upend every part of the vehicle to finally deduce (and confirm with a frantic call to the kind speech lady) that I'd left it on the counter at the speech office?  Or was it when we finally made it up to the pediatrician's office for A's 11:20 well child/everyone's flu vaccinations, waited for twenty minutes, and were informed they were absolutely slammed with sick children and running at least another 10 minutes behind?  We were running dangerously close to nap time by the time all this examining and thigh poking and nose squirting fun wrapped up around 12:40, and the attitudes showed it.  There were so many tears.  So.  Many.  Tears.

For a moment, at least, the FakeTwins thought they'd outsmart the nurse with this super duper hiding spot.

yeah no.

I can tell you this much, my favorite part of this day WON'T be the part where J's got a late meeting so it's a single-parent bedtime routine for the second night in a row.  Because also?  Couldn't exactly stop by the wine store on my way home from the torturous pediatrician visit WITHOUT A DAMN WALLET NOW, COULD I?  (I didn't just leave it there.  J, the champ that J is, agreed to go pick it up on his lunch break and save me another stop on the Morning O'Fun Tour.)

Take me back to last week, please.  To the beach.  Where we five were relaxed and sandy and my biggest worry was whether to do the fish and chips or the club for lunch.  Thanks.

Let's just pretend like it hasn't been a month since I last blogged, okay?  Thank you kindly.  I'll be back.

preschoolers.

It's 1:00pm.  So far today, I've bought groceries, started Christmas shopping, ran a few errands for the dealership, made a lasagna, fed all the pets, and put the baby down for her nap before she even had to resort to rolling around the hallway screaming in exhaustion while I wipe someone else's butt/retrieve a stray lovey from the basement/insert other distraction here.  And then, I sat down to update my blog for the first time in weeks.  Having one child at home for the first time since my nearly-five year old firstborn was sixteen months old?  Glorious!  Oh yes, friends, today this happened:

 Back to school!  Or in the case of Miss Vivi, first ever day of preschool!  I thought, really would've bet a lot of money, that I would've been sad today.  I warned my mom that she may be called upon to meet me downtown for a lunchtime glass of wine.  I suspected there'd be some tears and that the echoey house would make me feel blue.  But really?  I'm so happy for my kids, that they have this lovely little preschool to attend, their caring teachers and their new adventures and all this goodness to prepare them to be good students and good people when real school comes calling.  Especially my Vivi girl, who's been waiting for this day since last summer when big brother went to VBS and she was stuck with me and that was just TOTALLY not fair.  And all last year, she'd ask, as we drove back home after dropping off the brother at preschool, when SHE would get to go to school.  She wanted to make new friends and learn new things and have a backpack!  Next fall?  Next fall was forever away, my girl would bemoan.  And finally, today, with summer winding down and autumn's glory beckoning ... my girl's wish came true.  She picked out a dress, put her leggings on all by herself (and then put them on again, when the first try came up with a tag up front), dictated how I'd do her hair, inspected her backpack to make sure there was a lovey for nap time and a blankie with her name on it.  Shoes on, ponytail straightened, out the door.  School time.

And off they went.  My girl starting on a brand new adventure, my boy embarking on one last year of practice school before the real deal next fall and so, so excited to have his little sister at "his" school.  And .... I'm happy.  Mostly.  I must admit to an emotional moment a bit ago when I went into Vivi's room to put clean clothes away and it hit me that my girl was grown, a bit anyway, and gone, today anyway, and doing things I don't know about and meeting people I don't know yet and breaking away a tiny bit in the way kids do before you know what's happening.

But mostly, happy.  And excited to pick them up and squeeze them tight and hear about their day.  And they'll probably be bickering before we make it down the street from the school and I'll just be like "OMG IS IT THURSDAY/HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION YET?!"

And my Mabel?  On this, her first birthday (more on that later!)?  She has the mama all to herself, at last. A quiet house for napping and new birthday toys all her own for playing.  She'll like this preschool business just fine, no doubt about it.

welcome to my basement.

HURRY UP AND READ THIS.

Just kidding.  Take your damn time, see if I care!

So, the playroom.  That playroom, for me, was a big draw to purchasing this particular house.  The playroom and the whole rest of the gigantic walk out, light-filled, potential-filled basement.  Square footage, here in beautiful Durango, Colorado?  Not cheap at all, so not cheap that we basically had a heart attack when we arrived to house hunt and saw what our Wisconsin dollars would buy in Durango.  This house, up against the newer/more updated competing homes in our neighborhood of choice, was an underdog at first.  Brass fixtures here, oil rubbed bronze in the competition.  Dated 1990s baths here, Jack n' Jills with granite there.  Underdog-o-rama.  Except when it came to the square footage (okay, and the big lot and the updated kitchen and the glorious - if worn - hardwood floors).  So we looked at the prettier places with the prettier things but kept coming back to this one with the good lot and the good size and that good feeling I kept getting, as I wandered through the echoey rooms rubbing my big belly,  about this being home.  I felt it, anyway.  J?  He was all "NEWER PRETTIER LESS WORKIER PLEASE!"  So obviously, as these things go, we boarded the plane back to WI with a contract on this house in hand.  Because I was pregnant and nobody argues with the pregnant, duh.  And 11 months in, we're chipping away, dollar by dollar and Sunday by Sunday, at a hefty list of "Things We Want to Fix Up".  Likesuchas, the basement.  Where the guest room was neon green and the guest bath an accompanying neon purple and there are boob lights aplenty.  Where a previous owner's elderly cat ..... you know .... here and there on the pale blue carpeting.  But the basement overhaul, in reality?  It's quite a ways down on the priority line.  After things like "eradicate the brass doorknob plague" and "get big mama a claw foot tub."  Eventually, the basement will receive new flooring and new paint throughout and new lighting and new furniture that the dog hasn't chewed on, but for now, it's a pretty nice spanse of space into which to throw the FakeTwins and let 'em at it.  Crunch your Goldfish into the carpet, see if I care!  (Okay, I sort of do.)  Ram that truck into the wall, I dare you!  (NOW STOP IT THAT'S LOUD.)  But you know what I'm saying.  The basement, it suffices.  Let's take a peek at what we were looking at, coming in:

told ya.
NEON OMG.

boob lights, blah paint, blue carpet.

So for now, until we do All The Other Things and make our way to the bottom floor .... little tweaks are making our basement more palatable in its current state. Painting over the neons in the guest suite last weekend, using already-owned rugs to cover dirtied bits of the baby blue carpet, tackling a DIY reclaimed wood headboard (stay tuned!)  And on a quiet Saturday morning: giving some flair to these cheapie Ikea frames I picked up many moons ago.  They've made two moves with us and were just looking .... blah.  The mats were yellowing a bit and Saturday, eying them disdainfully, I briefly considered tossing them all into the trash.  Instead, I did what I do best after eight hours of sleep and two big coffees.  I crafted.

I took out my favorite book of paper (Bramble Rose, from Hobby Lobby, also seen here and here), traced the mats, cut the paper "mats" out, and was all ready to Mod Podge the paper onto the mat when I realized (duh) I could just set the paper over the mat, put it all back in the frame, and hang!  Easy.  Peasy.  And the best part about not gluing the paper down is that when I tire of the chevrons (which, let's face it, will be sooner than later), I can toss those out and put in something more current.

So that's where we're at, for now.  The new "mats" really add a little sumthin' sumthin', eh?  The woodsy colored rug is a leftover from our woodsy house, where it matched (not so much here).  But it covers up a few stains on the carpet and is free, so yeah.

It'll get there.  Baby steps, yall.

Have a great week, friends!

ps: Info about the super simple flash card project (and a flashback to the playroom of ole!) HERE.