Flowers and teefers. Day in my life.

So it's my favorite time of year again.

The roses at my house are in bloom...making my house look much prettier than it usually does!

Every year, our rose bushes burst into sunny yellow happiness and remind me why I live in my tuna can of a house. For about a week or two, once a year, we're the prettiest house on the block. Provided that we've remembered to mow our yard and kill the dandelions.

There is no possible way to be grumpy when looking at my yard during this time of the year. It's fantastic. The girls wanted their pictures taken. Lily was being a ham, as usual.

She's wearing the tie her dad was supposed  to wear at my sister's wedding. He snuck out of it because I was so busy. Harummph. Lily also likes to smirk somewhat evilly at the camera to warn me that she's about to get into mischief. Or ask my a question/make a comment that makes my brain all explodey. Just the other day she golfed her first nine holes and loved it. She proceeded to tell me that she's going to be a better golfer than Tiger Woods. Seriously, how the heck does she know who Tiger Woods is? She wants golf lessons, so I guess we're adding that to the list of things to do this summer. Lily is interested in everything and that makes summer a crazy time for us as we try to get her into as many activities as possible so she can explore. So far this summer we're doing horse riding, golf, swimming, and art lessons. Possibly a Harry Potter Science Camp. I'm taking donations for all of this. Please be generous. *wink wink* I'm also constantly searching for books for her to read. She's reading faster than I can find book series for her.

Sage Muffin still has the cutest jack-o-lantern smile ever. I am really going to cry when she finally gets another tooth on the bottom.

She just got a fourth tooth and guess where it is? Yup. Still up top. Haha. This is the slowest teething child I have ever met. 18 months and 3.5 teeth. That has to be some kind of a record. Being mostly toothless does NOT slow down her eating. This kid eats. Lily doesn't. I've spent the last 8 years of my parenting life fighting for every morsel of food to go into Lily's mouth. Sage eats her portions AND Lily's portions AND mine AND Nic's. There's no stopping her. The other night at dinner out, she ate calamari, shrimp, bruschetta, brie, clam chowder, my mahi mahi, Grandma's steak, and a couple mouthfuls of pineapple salsa that was too hot for ME. Oh, and she chewed on a lemon wedge for about 10 minutes. We call her our hobbit eater. She has to have first breakfast, second breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, second lunch, afternoon tea (milk), supper, dinner....the list goes on. It's about 90% fruits and veggies, so I don't stop her. I'm going to have to up our bountiful baskets to two a week here soon to accommodate her! She also ate her first mouthful of dirt as we were planting Grandma's herbs. Possibly a bug or two. Heh. 

I can't help but smile at my flowers and my girls. That's what summer is all about to me. Playing hard, getting dirty, and sighing at the flowers. I can't wait to enjoy this sunshine and happy time!!! Just remind me in August when I'm ready for school to start again that I felt this way! By then I'll probably be ready to hide in the spider corner of my laundry room just for some quiet. ;)

While we're on the topic of flowers, can anyone tell me what type of clematis this is? Or if it is a clematis?

It's really pretty! I would love to find this variety to plant in my yard somewhere. Thanks in advance for your help!

Happy SUMMER!!!!!

I'm going to stand outside. If anyone asks, just say I'm outstanding.

I think that is my best FB status ever. Just sayin'.

It has once again been WEEKS since I've played on my bloggity blog. I have been super productive though! If you count school work and making sure my kids have clean laundry (mine is another story). I have had some wonderful firsts recently in regards to my teaching internship:

I decorated a classroom with awesome blossom pictures cells and made bulletin boards with GIANT MICROBES. If you need to ever get me a present, just get me some of these adorable little guys. Seriously, too cute! I think my favorite was the little sperm with a bow on it's head. It and the egg are magnetic so they stick together. HAHAHA.

We're starting a new unit on bacteria and cells and viruses and body systems and and and... it's all very exciting to me.

I wrote my first test. It's printed and waiting in a pretty stapled stack waiting to be groaned over this week. It's kind of hard. I'm not going to lie. If I was a student, I'd be a bit freaked. I found that realization invigorating and made myself slightly giddy. Those kids learn quick though, I'm sure it will work out just fine. I'm also proud that it doesn't have one single multiple choice, essay, or true/false question on it. I'm breaking test boundaries here, yo.

My house is a mess. My husband has come to terms with the fact that my absent minded noises count for conversation after the kids go to bed because that's when I'm doing homework. I can't step out of the house without makeup for fear someone could get lost in the dark circles that have taken up permanent residence under my eyes. I don't care. It's all worth it. I am having so much fun even as I am drowning under school obligations. This is seriously the craziest, but best semester ever.

Are ya'll sick of hearing me talk about school yet?

While I'm thinking about it, I want to post this fantastic picture of my girls. Auntie Alli sent it to me after she edited it and played with the colors. I am so going to have to think of ways to terrify teenage boy children later on.

Lily's birthday is coming up this Saturday. Eight years old. EIGHT FREAKING YEARS OLD. How does that happen? Can I send in some form to somewhere requesting that my children don't grow up so fast? She doesn't really want a party, she wants to go to the Museum to see the King Tut exhibit. So we'll do that and have a cupcake party afterwards somewhere. I asked her if she wanted to invite some friends from dance or school and she said, "Nope, I will be just happy spending the day with my family." Awwww.

Well, hopefully it won't be another several weeks before I get back to blog land. I have a few recipes to post because the food that is made in my house is delicious and I want to share it with you all. Not bragging or anything... ;)

Oh and P.S... Not only did I get sick, everyone but Lily got sick. It was like the plague had descended upon my household. Wishful thinking didn't work!

First day of school...again.

Today was the start of Lily's year as a second grader. Apparently, that is so much more older than a first grader. Second graders such as my daughter do not need parental help to find their classroom or be shown where to line up because, "I know where to go, Mom!" Second graders are such old hats at this school thing dontcha' know.


I also had my first day of school. Well, I'd already been in school a week, but this semester, I'm spending some time in the field in a 7th grade science class! I get to go practically every day and work on my teacher look. It is such fun. I'm totally in love with everything I'm doing.

I have to tell you, when you get up on the first day to read the syllabus to a room of about 25 kids, it's mildly terrifying. Even more so when you haven't done it before. They can smell fear. You have to take a minute to squash down all the big, giant butterflies doing the rumba in your stomach and then get to work and put on your big girl teacher pants and go with it or lose face and look like an idiot. Kids can smell idiots too, I'm telling ya.

I got to see the inside of my first faculty room and that was weird too. I had to shift from student to teacher mode so I would quit looking over my shoulder like I was going to get kicked out of the room and put in detention. Ha!

Tomorrow we're doing our first science lab. Gummy worms are involved. I swear, this will never get old for me and I'm so busy, but it's worth it. It feels absolutely wonderful to know deep in my center that I'm doing the right thing and I'm on the right path. It's taken long enough to get here!

My other classes this semester are pretty dang fun too. Last night for Botany, I got to jump in the college SUV and go on a field trip. Field trips are just as cool when you're an adult. We collected plants and took them back to be pressed. I'm totally geekballs over this because I used to love pressing flowers as a kid. There was one plant that was a vine called Virgin's Bower that had seeds that looked like Truffla trees from the Lorax. Totally wicked cool. Every person I rode to the field trip with was in the teacher program. Guess what we chatted about for 40 minutes?

I miss doing crafty things. I know I haven't posted any beautimus creations in awhile. I'm hoping that things will even out and slow down a bit so I can do something fun. I have a couple projects that I'm dying to finish. I don't think Nic misses the craft mess though...

Vacation of the beachy sort part two.

Ok, forgive me.

In the craziness that is back to school prep, I have about four different posts I need to get done.

So I'm going to get right on that instead of packing up my school bags for tomorrow. :) Priorities, right?

There's plenty of time to play with binders in a bit.

So back to the beach... (I wish I was still there!)

The one big excursion we had was to the Virginia Aquarium. I never miss a chance to see fishies.

Haha, look at my little hippie family! Too bad I wasn't it tie dye. It would have been perfect! This was the coolest tunnel thingy. Each triangle had a lighted picture with a reflective mirror above and to the sides. End result was a visual overload of wonder.

Nic's favorite animal was the komodo dragon. He keeps telling me he'll have one of these as a pet someday and I keep telling him they're endangered and it's illegal to own them. I try and placate him and tell him we'll get a tortoise of some sort, but it's only have way successful.

We saw lots of sharks. Grr. It's funny that it was also Shark Week. Lily was full of shark talk after watching some of Shark Week and seeing real live sharks. It's a wonder she wasn't terrified of them.

Lily thought sitting on the dolphin was super cool. Going on excursions with this little lady is an exercise in... well... exercise. Trying to keep up with her is exhausting, but totally worth it. She actually asked if this was once a real live dolphin. Uh, no dearie.

I am a turtle fanatic. It's no coincidence that all of the souvenirs I bought had turtle something. This guy was really cool. I had never seen an albino turtle before.

I can't decide if Auntie Alli or Lily was more excited to see a Dory fish. (Just keep swimming... just keep swimming...just keep swimming swimming swimming...)

JELLYFISH! Yay! So cool. The tank was lit up with black light and they GLOWED. I was in awe.

Nic can keep his dragon, I want one of these guys. Aside from the fact that my dream is slightly more realistic, these lionfish are just freaking awesome. Toxic, yes. Wicked? Absolutely. I have about 10 pictures of these guys on my phone.

Lastly, this lobster was gi-normous. He was as long as my arm. Talk about one expensive lobster dinner....haha. I kid, I kid.

And for the finale, one more of my happy hippie family. Ha! I love that Sage passed out holding her bottle in her mouth. Poor little girl was just too tired from all the excitement!

We got the chance to pet sting rays too, but I missed out on pictures of that. Lily was quite proud of herself. I thought they felt like wet jello.

All in all, totally worth leaving the beach for a day.

I have one more set of vacation photos to post, another about my FIVE year wedding anniversary, and the big reveal about the sheet yarn. I'll get caught up eventually. I might also be surprising you all with a guest post at a fellow bloggy mama's little slice of the interwebs. Neat!

I'm Blue (da ba dee)

While little Miss Sage was sleeping away the afternoon....

Lily and I had a bit of one on one time. Nic and I have instilled a new policy at the house. We each make sure to spend at least 10 minutes of time one on one with Lily a day. Usually, it ends up being more time, but we start with the ten. We take her to the grocery store because she is an excellent list-checker-offer.You will never lose your list when Lily's in charge of it. Or we go outside and play on the tire swing. Nic and her like to race, him on his skateboard, her on her bike. Just a few minutes each day independently with Mom and Dad to make sure that she is not feeling like she's missing out now that there's a very demanding baby in the house. It's working like a charm.

Today we colored and made cupcakes. Blue was the theme as we were coloring a card and making cupcakes for Lily's biological father's birthday. She knows it's his favorite color (his walls are that color in his house, his christmas tree is all blue, his car is blue...) so it was blue everything. 

She drew him a blue cake with blue candles. I didn't realize that when she asked me how old he was, she was using the information to add the exact number of candles on the cake in her drawing. She was very proud that she was able to fit all of them on there. We talked about how there is even a little bit of blue in fire (for the candles) and what her favorite shade of blue is (sky blue).

Next came the cupcakes. In Lily's world, cupcakes are a mean business. The colors have to be just right. She can hardly contain her joy while waiting for them to cool enough to frost. Frosting is never enough decoration. I have 8 different kinds of edible sprinkles in my cupboards just for cupcakes.


Since these were boy cupcakes, I brought out a secret stash of candy to use as decoration this time.

At first I was worried that she was going to balk at the idea of using bugs and mushrooms because of their lack of sprinkliness, but she surprised me and picked out her favorite bugs and mushrooms to grace the cupcakes.I tried to argue for white cupcakes with blue frosting, but got shot down. So, we have bright blue cupcakes with white frosting and super fun bug/mushroom toppers. Since I was on a countdown with Sage's nap, these were just box mix and easy cream cheese frosting. Honestly though, the cake mix cupcakes are always my favorite. Call me weird, but I make cupcakes with Funfetti mix more than I make mix from scratch because it always tastes better to me. Overall, I think the cuppycakes turned out cute.

To finish off the blue theme we decided a bit of the Smurf movie was in order. All in all, it was a fabulous afternoon and she was so very proud to give her gifts. I'm trying to turn her over to the handmade-gifts-are-better darkside. Hee.

Linked up to...

Mini Tutorial Tryout: Fish Braid Friendship Bracelet

Fish Braid Friendship Bracelet. Say that five times fast.

Can I just say how excited I am to see friendship bracelets pop back up? I adored making these as a kid. Getting a bag of colored thread was like Christmas for me when I was younger. I made them all the time.

When I found Oh So Pretty's tutorial for a fishtail bracelet, I had a moment to think, DUH! Why didn't I think of that? Then I rummaged for some thread. Her tutorial is AWESOME with step by step pictures if you don't know how to do a fish tail braid. Which you should learn. It's my go to hairstyle for Lily on mornings we are running behind.

I did pink, black, purple, and orange. I also lost my camera, so cell phone pictures had to do. Garg. 

Lily immediately stole it from me and has now claimed it as her's. It's a bit big for her wrist, but it fits perfectly as an anklet. 

Quick, easy, cute. I may add to this tutorial tryout as I complete other bracelets. We'll see how much time with two hands I can get in the next few days with baby Sagey Poo. Also, I found out that Oh So Pretty also has a feature called Inspiration Station too! Haha, so I may have to rename that feature to something else so I don't step on any toes. Have fun!

Dancing with the Lily Bean.

If this summer keeps up the hectic pace it's been going so far, I am going to need a coma to recover by the end of it. One thing after another, I tell you! I would rather stay busy than sit around doing nothing, but at this point, I could stand a day or two of nothing. 

Lily is super excited to start her tumbling and ballet/jazz classes this week. Going leotard shopping was an exercise in patience and the whirlwind of excitement that is my girl. We tried on several different leotards and she wanted me to snap phone pictures of every one. As if that wasn't enough, she wanted me to text them to her grandma and her aunt so they could provide feedback on their favorite. She was so dazzled by all the colors, she had to touch everything. 

"Look! Mom! This one is in America's colors with stars!" 

"Mom! This one has a HAIR THING that matches!"

"Mom, these zebra shorts would be totally perfect with the pink one!"

I was as frazzled as I was amused by the end of it. 

We finally settled on this one. It's velvety, has rhinestones on the collar, and sort of has its own shorts. I tried to get her to just stand there for the picture, but it wouldn't do for Lily to be boring. She had to pose. I have to admit, it's very easy to notice how grown up she looks in her leotard. She's got a mile of leg already. We are going to have to designate a boy-beating stick some day much sooner than I care to acknowledge.

Feeling left out of the fun, grandma had to take her shopping for a second leotard since she is in two different classes. That one is much more sedate and classic. Simple black with pink tights. She'll wear that one for dance and I'll have to add a picture when I get her all ready tomorrow. That shopping experience was no less boring than the first.

I can't describe how much I have been anticipating and worrying over these classes for Lily. She so needs help in the grace and bodily control department. There is a video on grandma's phone that the family has lovingly dubbed the "Lily's Got No Rhythm" video. LOL. However, she is a child that is in her own little world and has had difficulties in regular classroom settings. Her mind is fascinatingly unique and I think that's often why she forgets things like self control and watching where she's walking. She has been counting down the days. I'm afraid she'll have trouble falling in line and directions, but I'm hoping it works out in the long run. We'll see!

Happy (insert holiday of choice here)!!!!!

Holy mother of tutorial loads.

Alina's Adventures in Homemaking has compiled a list of the world's best sewing tutorials
This is the most genius idea ever...and I'll have fun for hours looking at all the different tutorials for Tutorial Tryouts.

I've got a rag quilt for baby Sage and a skirted onesie in the works. Lily has informed me that she would like a crown for herself. That one's giving me a bit of a headache. Haha. I should be posting the tryout for the onesie in the next day or two, so stay tuned.

In other news, what the heck is it about May 5th this year? Kentucky Derby, Cinco de Mayo. Revenge of the Fifth, Free Comic Book Day, AND a full moon. All of the madness makes my brain spin.