them

Just because I am trying to get back on the saddle of recording and creating again, a photo of my 2 oldest. Now in his junior year of high school, she's a sophmore in college. Yes, I started this blog when she was like 10, that was like 4th grade. 😦

They try me, but support me. They push me, but they love me. They exhaust me, but I love them. So many emotions that are constantly changing with teenagers… glad to have them part of this ride where I am learning how to balance it all.

She even blogs. KIKI CUISINE 🙂

July 29, 2014 0

hello :)

Last night I had a dream about scrapbooking. I'm sure it was because I happened upon a page of mine posted on Pinterest and that got in my head somehow when I was off in lalaland. (My favorite place to be) I don't remember what I was doing exactly, but I think I was at CHA and I was flipping through an album. I remember being SO happy. Like, it was fast forwarded to today and I was back scrapping and I was like, how did I ever stop? I know why and how I stopped. My children got older and I wanted to share less. I wasn't comfortable putting too much information online of them. Els was still fair game cuz she was a baby. But now they've all gotten even older, and I'm the mom who's looking back and reading her scrapbooks and thinking, I AM SO GLAD I WROTE THIS DOWN I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS, THANK GOD! And oh wow, that's a nice design, and that paper- ohhh i loved that paper and those stickers! Oooh. My ❤ fluttered remembering the feeling of it all. A few months ago I realized I had some credit in my 2peas cart and bought a handful of things. I was so excited when I spotted that familiar box on my doorstep, the rush of ripping it open and feeling it all. Then I put it in my stash and haven't thought about it until last night.

2014 has been a great year for me so far. A new way of taking care of myself as my little ones don't physically need me taking care of them as much. I still am here for them 24/7 and care for them in other ways than chasing after them and taking them to the park like I used to. It's like a little spark fired up and with baby steps, I'm discovering me again. I hope that I will revisit that stash of supplies and get my thoughts on paper like I did before. It truly is such an amazing treasure that I am so glad to have. Here's to 2014 and baby steps.

March 22, 2014 4

our girl

She's discovered a love for blogging! It's been a fun experience to watch her grow, I found an old scrapbook page about how she wanted to be a food network start when she was about 12 years old. She has certainly been influenced by that cool community and is now blogging about her own food journey! She also developed her very first cookbook, Freshman 15, Healthy Eats for Students Away From Home. You can download it for free at her site, www.kikicuisine.com :)

Though she is still home with us, I am so glad to have her here as much as I can before she is officially out. The thought of her not here makes my heart hurt in ways I am not quite able to grasp yet. But I know that day will come, sooner than later. At least I'll get to keep up with her via her blog :)

November 4, 2013 0

music and light

Chris got this Lomokino as a gift from our clients, yesterday was his first try at the camera and I love the results 🙂 Hope he gets addicted so I get more videos to treasure! When Elsie watched it for the first time, she said, the music and the light are just perfect together 🙂 love that. she's right.

Elsie in March from Chris Waters on Vimeo.

March 19, 2012 7

the hub

i was grabbing my hardly used camera and running out the door, so i clicked a random picture to make sure there was a card inside. i almost hit delete when i realized, A the light looks really good in here right now, and B this is my hub. this is where i cook, organize my day, make lists, throw my mail, put most things that need to go away at a later time. it's pretty messy but then again, so is life. i love my hub and i love my life.

January 27, 2012 5

happy new year!

it's 2012 and that picture was a few years ago. this is how i feel about time going by so quickly!
HA! we enjoyed our holidays at home in sunny southern california with friends and family. good times. alas, here are my 2 obligatory new year's resolutions: exercise and blog more. you know, same ol same ol 🙂

happy new year!

January 4, 2012 3

milestones

i think one of the biggest milestones in our children's lives (besides getting thru the first year) is kindergarten. they go in so fresh and ready to learn and leave kindergarten reading and writing. to say elsie loves school is an understatement. from the moment she wakes till we are heading out the door at 11:20 (15 minutes before school even starts) she is asking if it's time to go yet.

i haven't taken a personal photo (besides my phone camera) since JULY. i'm pretty sure that's a record for me. i intentionally took the camera out a few days ago. trying to love it again. the process of snapping and going to the computer and posting is just so much for me. i don't want to spend my time doing all that. but then i get a gem like the one above and i say, ohhhh. and i'm happy.

cameron said to me the other day, what's going on with your blog mom? you haven't posted in forever. ahhhh i said, just don't feel like it. but thanks for checking, lol. he said, i always check mom. (awwww) my faithful blog follower. my almost 13 year old son. love you buddy. 🙂 i'm pretty sure he's the only one who checks this these days.

October 21, 2011 27

back at it

I miss these summer mornings of sleeping in. Each morning, I hit the snooze button and groggily get out of bed and make lunches like a robot. But it's good, life is good. Everyone is back into their routine, I'm surprisingly not crawling back into bed as the kid's all leave the house 🙂 I've got this year to really focus on what I'm going to do in the next few years. All growsed up. The kids and me. Haha.

September 14, 2011 2

san clemente via instagram

another mini trip of ours over the summer to visit my mom in san clemente. traffic in southern california, no bueno.

love her view, amazing. that hill is killer on your legs, though. 🙂

favorite part of the beach, swings on the sand. i bet if we lived there, that would be elsie's favorite hangout.
stunned at how big the big kids look, love both of these pics so much!

i think the stairs behind him are equally killer on the legs. he ran all the way up. oh to be young and fit.
i'm way behind. more photos of our summer to share. now that they've all gone back to school, we'll see if i can keep up with this blog again! 🙂

August 30, 2011 2

ojai/santa barbara mini trip

we like little night/day trips somewhat close to home. santa barbara is always at the top of our list as it's always a little cooler there and of course, there's so much sentimentality that goes along with it- as that's the place we first lived together and grew our little family! santa barbara by day via instagram on my phone:

waking them up super early, partly to make the most of our day, partly because chris is so excited 🙂

after the day in santa barbara, we decided to stay in ojai- a little town inland. we've never been before and we are for sure gonna go back again! kids on the golf cart on the way to our rooms:

i wish i took more pics of the hotel and ojai in general than the ones from my phone 😦 you can click on their website and see just how lovely and amazing our hotel is! totally going back!!! ojai resort.

this is the building we were in, heaven!!!

good times. we've got a few more little summer mini trips before the crazy early school season begins! love the long days, no schedules, sleep in life we're having right now 🙂

July 25, 2011 13