Christmas: Visit With Friends

Oldies... I know.

At the end of January, we were in Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas, and we used it as a good excuse to meet up with friends we hadn't seen for some time.  We visited friends in Wausau, WI, and friends from the Twin Cities were able to meet with us as well.  We had a grand time catching up and eating brunch together, and it was fun to watch the kids interact. 

Julia being the oldest still wasn't too keen on sharing... her toys OR her sister.  Ha.  Raven was just happy to hang out and have someone hold her.  :)

erin

Seed Update

Woohoo!  Our seeds have taken off and Julia and I check on them regularly.  In just a few short weeks we'll be able to move them outside and watch them bloom into large plants with fruit.  Yay!

We planted... pickling cucumbers, snap peas, green beans, ground cherries, two types of peppers, and heirloom tomatoes.  We are excited for canning and food dehydrating later this summer.  Julia likes to point out to me that there is water in the tray (and then stick her fingers in it and then try to wipe it on me giggling all the while).  She smells her plans and gets a kick out of the fact that they are growing.  Through various hand gestures and rambunctious rambling, it is obvious that she *gets* what we've done and remembers planting the dirt plugs and seeds, and yesterday she asked me if she could plant her little chickies from her Chick Basket in the plant starter as well.  Too funny.

erin

My Beautiful Girls

Are any other words needed to describe them...?

Playdate Fun & Easter Crafts

Today we had our playdate and good friends over to play and to make Easter crafts.

 

First we started off by making "Chick Baskets"... pom poms with beaks and eyes glued into egg cartons... so fun!  (Pom poms are becoming increasingly difficult to find, it seems!)

We also made a Good Friday craft... the three crosses on the hill with flowers, etc.  We had a lot of fun (me and Melissa, after the kids gave up!) poking flowers into our half-sphere florist's foam and the crosses are made of popsicle sticks.  I wish I had a picture of Melissa's... her ribbon on her cross was so cool!  We made an extra Good Friday craft to take to daycare tomorrow.

erin

A Little Walk

I took the girlies for a little walk to Central Park (Town Square) and back, and I let Julia walk a bit in the "big" areas... i.e, the big park and the Molengracht.  We had a lot of fun and it included picking up sticks and throwing them... picking up leaves and throwing them... attempting to touch the tulip buds and being scolded by mommy... taking a long stick and acting like it is a walking stick (HILARIOUS), and a bunch of other fun-ness.

Raven hung out and either played with her toys or took a nap while Julia flitted around.  What a fun evening!

We came home and rode our bike a bit and then hit the swing until daddy came home... and then it was bath time!  All clean and ready for a new day! 

erin

Cousins

Adam's sister, Claire, had a baby with her husband, Dan... his name is Dex and he was born January 25th.  We celebrated Christmas with Adam's family at the end of January (the 30th), and we were able to meet Dex at that time.  Yay for new babies!

Even though they are all looking off in different directions (or asleep... ha!), we still were able to get some cute "cousin pictures" of the three "Draeger" grandchildren.  And... I know, it's been two months since this picture was taken, but I still wanted to share it (yes, still going through my hundreds and hundreds of pictures). 

It might be some time again before we have a chance to see Dex in person, but through pictures on Facebook and otherwise, we know he's becoming quite the cutie.  It will be great fun for these kids to have cousins close in age.

erin

I Want to Win a Layer Cake!

http://adventuresindressmaking.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-and-great-new-sponsor.html

I came across this fun blog and of course it adds fuel to my creative side.  :)  If I posted a link on my blog, I had another chance at winning a free giveaway... a layer cake from Fat Quarter Shop - a great online store!

Here's hoping I win!  :)

Almost There

Well, it took flu-like symptoms to stop my 31 Day Exercise Challenge.  For the second time in three months, I had the "flu" yesterday.  Not sure if it was the flu, but the symptoms were similar and it landed me in bed for a big portion of the day.  My poor kids.  Even though it was quite gorgeous out yesterday, we spent the day inside and Julia even spent a lot of time playing by herself with books and toys so I could 'rest'.  Boo.  I feel terrible about it, but there wasn't much to be done about it.  Thankfully Daddy took the girls for a walk last night to get them some fresh air.  Yay!

(I totally plan on heading back to the gym on Monday, in case anyone was worrying if that meant that I was stopping altogether... I'm not!)

Today I'm feeling TONS better and even ate breakfast... YAY!

This weekend should be fun...!  Tonight we are going to watch Adam's new band (or duo or group or whatever it should be called), Another Side of Jane.  They are playing in Knoxville at Swamp Fox, so we are meeting some friends for dinner and then watching them play.  Yay for a family-friendly venue, so I can take the girls with me.

Tomorrow we head to Cedar Rapids for a long-awaited game day... haven't been to one in quite some time and truly looking forward to it! 

And, Sunday will be full of church (I sing again, yay!) and family time. 

Should be a great weekend!  I hope you have a great weekend too!

Erin

First Swing Experience

Raven had her first swing experience at daycare yesterday... I'm so glad I got to see it!  :)  She really seemed to be enjoying it (but was even more excited to see me... ha!).  Looking forward to a fun summer where BOTH of my girls can enjoy the outdoors... having a baby in September turned out to be a pretty awesome thing that way!  :)

erin

6 Months

Today Raven had her 6 month check up.  :)

She is:

Height: 27 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 16 lbs 10 oz (75th percentile)

Head: 16.5 inches (40th percentile)

She is doing well.  We've introduced some fruit and veggies.  The pears were good but the sweet potatoes came back up.

She is still rolling over, but not a rolling log yet.  She is more and more vocal.  :)  She typically sleeps about 9 hours at night straight, though we've had a few 10 - 12 hour nights.  Looking forward to more of those!

All in all it was a good appointment today and of course Julia was a good big sister while we were there.  :)

erin

Somedays Laughter Makes It All Better

This is one of the first videos I took of Raven laughing. (January 15, 2010) Raven is a little slower to vocalize than Julia was... mostly, I think, it's due to her being in a house full of chatty people... she doesn't need to say anything because someone is ALWAYS talking! Ha!

At any rate, I love baby laughter... it is wonderful and contagious. So for any of you who might have had a rough Monday... I hope you enjoy it! Heck, I hope you enjoy it even if your Monday was super smooth sailing.

erin

Baby Pea Pod

I had the pleasure of creating this little cutie the last couple of weeks.  A friend of mine is due with Bebe #2 in April, and she was wanting this Baby Pea Pod to be made.  She showed me a picture of it that she had found on etsy.com and asked if I would be able to find yarn for it.  After a quick stop at what is becoming my favorite yarn shop, Crazy Girl Yarn Shop in Coralville, IA (thanks, C!), I found the "thick and thin spun" yarn, and then was asked if I would be willing/able to make it.  I thought the pea pod was CUTE, so I said I'd live to give it a go.  It worked up really quickly, and what's more, I learned a cool new technique that allowed me to do the entire thing on circular needs: Magic Loop.

All in all, a fun experience, and I can't wait to give it to my friend for her new baby... and well, I can't wait to meet the new baby either! 

erin

New Play Area

A couple of months ago we finally accepted the facts that we were parents and needed a play area... so we sold the bar/pub table and chairs, and now Julia and Raven have their own toy space.  There is even a little "house" underneath the stairs, which houses more toys.

This space became necessary as Julia received a little table with chairs for Christmas and with the addition of the bunk beds and a dresser to their bedroom, we needed a new home for the bookshelf.  Julia seems to enjoy it and the pub table hasn't seemed to be missed too terribly much.

erin

In the Dark

I'm sitting in the kids' room, waiting for J to fall asleep, because she is feisty tonight, and if I leave her to her own devices, I will soon have a very-much-asleep-six-month-old screaming and a two-year-old who would be very excited that she created such havoc.

During a discussion last night, blogs were mentioned... types of blogs and what they are for and what blogs are "cool" and whatnot.  I've tried hard to "Know Thy Audience", and so while my blog may not be hip and cool and exciting to the masses, I hope that it meets its purpose -- to communicate with family how the kids are doing and to do so in a manner that their lives are archived (because goodness knows I cannot keep a baby book to save my life).

Okay... really?  I confess that this whole "blog meaning" thing has had my brain in a tizzy much of the last day because not for the first time, it was mentioned to me how neat and awesome X's blog is, and at one point suggested I should try to be more like that.  Umm.  Yah.  I have read said blog, and to be honest, I don't see the different between us, really.  Well, other than that I blog regularly so as to provide pictures and updates such that you "see" my kids more than once every two months.  But otherwise?  We're both writing about our lives.  Just maybe *my* thoughts aren't as profound.

But, then, I'm not in Mission, Texas, on the kids' spring break in an old folks' trailer park watching my kids play shuffleboard.

I'm just sayin'.  Know Thy Audience. 

I hope I've done you justice over the last few years... and well, if not... at the end of the day... even more important than knowing your audience... it's about knowing yourself.

Love you,

erin

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my darling husband who turned 33 today!

We are in Des Moines celebrating his birthday at El Bait Shop. This
is my first ever blog post from an iPhone... Hooza! So this is going
to be short. Ha!

Too bad it wasn't Friday...

Woohoo! Georgia, Here We Come!

After discussing the cost of DRIVING to Georgia with my sister (to visit her) in May, we both determined that if I could get tickets cheap enough, it would be more advantageous to fly.  Besides, who wants to sit in the car with a toddler and an infant for 18 hours (ONE WAY)... Bueller?  Bueller???

Yah.  Not me either.  (Though I think that Julia would be more the problem than Raven.)

Well, after a couple of months of looking at prices (cheap enough... yay!) and after a couple of days of working out questions with Delta Airlines, today I booked our tickets!  YAY!  I'm so excited!

We'll be going the second week in May and I'm SOOOOOOO excited to see my sister!  We haven't seen each other since Christmas 2008 and she hasn't had the chance to meet Raven yet.  I think it will be a great vacation!  :)

 

Lisserbean... I'll send you our info!

YAY for Georgia!

Erin

(The End of a) Saturday Morning Tantrum

Not all mornings start off great... not even all Saturday mornings.  But they sure make for fun photo ops.  :)

Oooops

I wondered if this might happen but I tried hard for it not to...!  Last night I was planning to blog after putting the girls to bed, but by the time I had done that and sat down to blog, Adam came in the house and we got talking and next thing I knew, we were watching a show and then heading to bed.  This morning I woke up and slapped my head.  Whoops!

Last night was our last night of swimming (boo!).  We had a good time and really enjoyed being able to swim the last six weeks or so with friends Rach and Cora.  Julia loved the pool and I even found an incentive last night to get her to use her arms to swim... she LOVES getting out of the pool by using the ladder, so I would tell her she had to swim with her arms to get to the ladder, and that worked for a while.  I will post a picture of her in her swimming suit soon... I remembered to take a picture of her last night.

We did lots of jumps last night too and each time she jumped I let her go underwater, which she didn't seem to mind at all.  And, after each swimming lesson, we take a shower... well, last night she headed straight for the shower and said, "Shower, Mama?"  Kids sure do love consistency and repetition!

It will be sad to no longer go to lessons but it should be a fun summer of swimming when it's finally warm enough outside.  And until then, if we get really cabin fever-ish, we can always head to Open Swim at the indoor pool!

erin

I Can Smell It!

Spring is in the air... tra la la!  I can smell it... yay!

Today as I was driving to the grocery store after lunch (after church), I thought it would be a good afternoon to attack the lawn.  We have our annual free brush pick-up day this Wednesday, and our lawn was littered with twigs and things.  Adam had done a great job of piling up the big stuff, but it still needed to be hauled out front.

Adam stubbed his toes hard this morning... one might be broken?  So, it seemed like a good idea for him to stay inside with the kidlets (who thankfully napped this afternoon), and I went out.  I would say the purpose of this afternoon was three-fold... 1.) enjoy the beautiful sun and weather... the first real sun in a week, 2.) get my exercise in for the day, and 3.) be productive and start working the lawn.

After two-and-a-half hours, I still have about half the lawn to do, but the half that's done looks great (if I do say so myself).  I managed to unearth the shade garden (Adam's reply to this was, "The what?"  That tells you how long it's been since it's been an actual garden as opposed to a place collecting lawn refuse) and create a home for the fire pit with some flat stones I found on the side of the house.  There's a nice large pile of twigs/branches out front, and three lawn bags.  Hopefully before Wednesday I'll be able to find time to finish the lawn. 

Today's work was a good workout and it felt so great to be outside.  Julia joined me for the last 15 minutes or so after she woke up from her nap, and we inspected that which we have yet to complete.  Hopefully this year we can get ahead of the yard and do a better job of maintaining it.  We hope.  :)

erin

Dance Party USA

It's been all about the dance parties in our house the last couple of days... enjoy!

(I think Raven liked Black Eyed Peas a little better than the Fridge DJ... ha!)

Raven is 6 months old!

Today we've reached the half year mark with Raven... she is six months old today!

This morning I was playing with the girls and having fun with them and was marveling at how quickly they are both growing.  I'm happy to report that both girls enjoy each other... Raven is starting to interact more and more with Julia, as Julia is now able to make Raven laugh.  And Julia loves having a little one to protect and hand toys to and read to... it's so fun and cute to watch them together!

About a week ago we started feeding Raven baby cereal, and today I decided that we would start introducing fruit.  Raven is starting to get the hang of eating, and Mommy is recalling the little tricks to get Baby to open wide and to actually eat/swallow without pushing the food back out with her tongue.  Today we started with pears, and while the first look from Raven upon pears meeting tongue was a bit puzzled and comical, she happily consumed her cereal and pear lunch after that.  Let's hope that introducing solids means that she will start to sleep through the night again.  (We have gone from about 10 - 12 hours down to about 6 - 7 hour stretches, which doesn't sound bad, but is hard to handle when she goes to bed at 7 pm and is awake at 1 or 2 am...!

As I mentioned earlier this month, Raven is rolling over.  She doesn't do it consistently yet, but does roll over multiple times a day.  I'm sure soon enough she'll be rolling from hither to yon.

It's fun to watch Raven learn to interact with toys... whether it's in the ExerSaucer, on her high chair tray, or hanging from her crib.  She is increasingly more aware of the world around her and reaching out to it... as I found out earlier this week when got saw my earring, got a hold of it, and managed to have it grasped in her tiny little paw within seconds.  I'm sure that soon it will be Adam's glasses.  ;)  She also has a fondness for grabbing Julia by the hair, which leads to screams of "Mommy, mommy!  Owie, OWIE!!!"

We have Raven's six month check up on the 23rd, so it will be fun to find out her stats then.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!

erin

--
*** My new cell phone number is: 641-629-0729***
*** Visit my Blog at: erin-quilter.blogspot.com ***

Some Days It Doesn't Get Much Cuter Than This

Okay.  If you disagree with me, that's fine... just don't tell me!  However, I have to say, one of the cutest things I've seen this week is my two-year-old daughter wearing her daddy's cap.  Too bad we couldn't get a shot of when she had it on backwards.  :)

We were eating dinner last night and Julia somehow ended up with Adam's hat on (I missed the "how"... I was trying to eat and hold a drooling, teething baby), but once Julia had the cap on, she was hamming it up and then passing the hat around for everyone to try on... including Raven and Mommy (let me just say that my hub has a SMALL head... or I have a BIG one!)

It was one of those "Where's the camera?" moments.  Thank goodness for cell phones with cameras.  ;)  (Not something you would have heard me say two years ago.  Ha!)

Have a happy Friday!

erin

Quilt Raffle Tickets Available!

The sale of tickets is once again upon us for the Pella Area Quilt Guild Raffle Quilt!

 

If you are interested in tickets, please let me know.  Tickets are $1 a piece through Saturday, May 8, 2010, at the end of our annual Tulip Time Quilt Show.  You do NOT need to be present to win!

Two years ago a friend of ours won the quilt... so it COULD happen to you too!

The quilt is 84" x 99"... large enough for a bed, for sure!

The pattern is "Tulip Quilt" by Eleanor Burns.  A member of our guild, Cheryl De Heer, pieced the quilt together.

Thanks!

Erin

Remembering To Blog Everyday is Hard

Why did the chicken cross the playground?

..........................

To get to the other slide. 

..........................

Ba dum chhhh!

Good night!  Hopefully I'll have something fun and exciting for you tomorrow... it's been a long day here and my brain is wiped.

erin

Real Quick Like

I haven't forgotten about BlogLand today... just been keeping busy!  :)

Tonight Adam and I are watching Zombieland... we went out and saw this for our anniversary last fall, and it was hilarious.  Now it is out on DVD... yay!

Otherwise... good day with the girls.  Julia and Raven were both good little troopers today despite the rain and I managed to get my workout in this morning and do the laundry and ironing today... though I wonder if I shouldn't have taken a nap?  Ha!  Both girls took naps at the same time today... it was awesome!

So... that is all for tonight... off to watch the movie with my hub.

Good night!

erin

IKEA Fabric Bag

Over Christmas (which was late January for us), my sister-in-law, Claire, and I started discussing purses and bags and got on topic about how Claire was in need of a new one.  I was already perusing the etsy.com site, and ran across a purse made from an awesome IKEA fabric.  The purse on etsy.com was $42, but I knew I could make it a lot cheaper.

 

And, lo and behold, not five days after we discussed the purse, I would be driving through the Twin Cities, home of Minnesota's IKEA store.  Julia, Raven, and I dined at the IKEA cafeteria and then went on a hunt for the fabric.  I was delighted to find it and bought four yards... because I could.  :)  Ha!

The weekend before last, our Pella Area Quilt Guild held a retreat, and this was where I planned to make the purse.  I have experience in making bags and whatnot, but this time I chose to use a pattern, because I have zero confidence with zippers.  After a short time, I learned that I should have trusted my instincts and gone rogue.  But, I kept on with the pattern, and after a multitude of cursing, bang, and at one point, attacking a piece of fabric with scissors (no, literally attacking... it wasn't one of my finer moments), the purse was done.  It took a bit, but I was back to my jovial self a few hours later and was able to laugh about the experience for the rest of the weekend.

 

And, well... I think it turned out really great... so it was worth the effort that went into it.  And next time?  Well, next time I'm going to trust what I already know how to do.

erin

Future Career Possibility...?

I'll admit... on occasion... when Julia is playing with markers, I am off busy doing something else.  (GASP!)  Therefore it should be no surprise that she deemed the pad of paper "boring" and switched to drawing on her arms.  (WHOOPS!)

Good news... baby wipes takes Crayola washable marker right off, as long as it hasn't been dried on for too long.  Also, Crayola washable marker comes out of clothing fantastically.

What doesn't come out of clothes?  Dry erase marker.  Whoops again.

Julia sure seemed to enjoy drawing on herself that day... one has to wonder if she possibly has a future career as a tattoo artist?  :)

So Easy A 2 Year Old Can Do It

About a month ago we were hanging out at Peace Tree Brewery in Knoxville, IA, and Adam was entertaining Julia by showing pictures on his iPhone.  Julia was fascinated and within a few minutes, she was flipping through the pictures on her own.  Yup, an iPhone is so easy to use, a 2-year-old can use it.  :)

Pass the Pigs and Spin the Cat

Tonight we had dinner with friends in town.  :)  It was a scrumptious Hungarian Beef Stew Over Noodles followed up by Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream (yum!).  I also know through whom I am buying Girl Scout Cookies next year.   :)  Yay! 

After dinner we chatted and watched TV a bit and Adam played Pass the Piggs with the couple and their daughter.  (I enjoyed holding a sleeping baby.)  Julia managed to dig out much of the baby doll paraphernalia, but when she had enough of that, she finally got up courage to hang out with th cat... and SHE started playing Spin the Cat.  Adam managed to get one picture before the cat jumped off; the other picture is a staged shot but Julia is no puppet and wouldn't spin the cat just to have her picture taken.

We had a good night and are just home.  Adam is putting Julia to bed and I'm about to take Raven up for the night.

Have a good night!

Erin

I <3 IKEA

On occasion, we have the chance to visit and shop at IKEA, a wonderful 'home inspiration' store.  The closest one to us in the Twin Cities, and I was fortunate to pass through there on my way north last month to visit my nieces (at some point I will blog about that trip -- SO FUN!).

If you've never been to an IKEA... oh, boy... it's a good time!  :)  My mind buzzes and my heart sings as I walk through the store and soak up all of the possibilities.  We have a number if IKEA products and IKEA-inspired designs in our house.

This trip was specifically meant to pick up fabric (in light yellow) to make a purse for my sister-in-law (yet another blog post!).  However, both girls were being 'good' and I couldn't help but tool around bit.  While I was looking in the kitchen section, I found these great rails and pots.  So cheap and yet so cute!  I was wondering where I could put them and instantly I thought of the wall in our dining room just on the other side of our kitchen.  Ideas were spinning wildly out of control as I realized that would be just the right amount of sun to grow herbs in the pots and HOW AWESOME?!?!?, they would be right around the corner from the kitchen... fresh herbs AND decoration? 

Beauty and utility all rolled into one.  What could get better than that?

But, I am notoriously slow with completing projects.  (Because you know, I have nothing better to do with my time.  wink.)  So, I consider it success that today, only three and a half short weeks after returning home, my rails and pots are installed and are ready for herbs.  YAY!  I was 'good' too... I used the drill, level, and screwdriver to make sure I didn't mess up our already delicate plaster walls.  Success!

 

erin

Little Seeds

While Raven was taking her morning nap, Julia and I did some 'gardening'. 

My house plants were in bad need of having the dead stuff cut out and a good kitchen sink watering.  While they were draining in the sink, we decided to get out our little 'greenhouse' seed starter kit and plant some seeds. 

Julia was a great help with inserting the dirt plugs and she loved putting the seeds in the plug holes.  (I am pretty sure she ate a few seeds too, so I hope she doesn't have a pepper growing in her stomach anytime soon.  Ha!)

We planted ground cherries, pickling cucumbers, fancy tomatoes, two types of peppers, snap peas, and green beans.  My goal is to 'container garden' most of these items, so we only planted a few plugs of each type in the hopes that a few seedlings grow and take well to outdoors come late April/early May.

Normally I enjoy winter, but this one has been exceptionally 'long'... maybe it's because I couldn't wait to get outside and actually be able to go for walks with the stroller without being thwarted by ice... maybe it was the number of days we went without sun... maybe it's a renewed excitement about growing one's own plants... who knows.  I'm not a big gardener and typically don't enjoy it much at all, but this year I have an interest in it and plan to take it nice and slow with a few things. 

Such a fun little morning project with Julia, and I can't wait to show her the little plants in the front window as they grow.

erin

Near... Far...!

If you don't know this already -- Adam has a great Grover voice.  :)

We watched the Orange Bowl back in January with the Rozenbooms, friends of ours in Pella.  They had this great Grover puppet, and Julia gets a kick out of puppets.  Adam was able to make Grover "talk", and hilarity ensued.  I love the pictures; I can hear her laughing and giggling up a storm as Adam carries on in his Grover voice.  He even pulled out the "Neeeeaaarr.... Faaarrrrrr!" routine and that was cause for more laughter.

Funny enough, Friend Stacey (Not to be confused with a Quaker Friend -- don't know what I'm jesting about?  Click the link and learn something new today!) sent Julia a Grover doll for Christmas and of course Julia fell in love with it immediately.  However, she couldn't figure out why Mommy couldn't stick her hand up Grover's... uh... back.  Ha.  Fun times!

erin

Flash

About two months ago I finally started experimenting using my camera without flash... yes, I know, I am behind the times.  Even with a cheap camera, I know you can get okay pictures with good color and lighting and mood... if you try.  :)  So, I've been trying.  There have been a few cute ones here and there.  This morning I finally started digging through the over-400 pictures I downloaded a few weeks ago that go back to January 5th.  Those are the beginning of my flash-less pictures too.  So, these may be oldy and moldy but I hope you enjoy them anyway.  :)

This picture isn't the greatest technical shot, but I love getting on the floor in front of Raven and taking pictures of her.  Hard to believe she was even alive two months ago, let alone almost four months old... sheesh!  This picture was taken before the Packers lost their post-season game... taken the same day the Hawkeyes won the Orange Bowl... taken back when spring wasn't even a glimmer... the beginning of January.  She has changed so much! 

Off to get ready for the day... Day 2 of Working Out is already a distant memory (in that I have been home for 15 minutes already... ha!)... time to get rolling before the kids get up!  :)

erin

Lion or Lamb?

I think it's safe to say that March has come in like a Lamb, especially considering our weather conditions the last few weeks.  That doesn't bode well for the end of March, eh?

I'm thankful for the Lamb, though, and after a super busy February, I'm looking forward to starting the month off slow and right and engaging in priority #1 -- being a good wife and a good mother.  I found that in an effort to offset one change in February, my life went wildly off-balance and I am seeking to even out the scales again. 

One of those ways...?  I set my work calendar to be completely blocked out on Tuesdays and Thursdays from here to the end of eternity. (Or at least for the next year?  I can't remember which.)  Tuesdays and Thursdays ARE my days off... but it seemed like lately I was letting work spill into the crevices of those days.  This was that first week that those blockages are appearing and already I have people requesting me un-block for meeting purposes.  So far I've been able to politely reply, "No."

I am also going to do a Month of Blog Posts for March... I was doing so well at delivering pictures and stories late in 2009 and since then, in trying to keep my head above water, I have dropped off on posting.  It doesn't take much time to share a few pictures or a small story and I hope do to that at least once a day for you this month.

And, I'm setting a Month of Exercise or 31 Days of Exercise Challenge for myself this month as well.  It will be hard, I am sure, especially with the recent changes in my kids' sleeping habits.  Thank goodness I can count swimming with tonight as Exercise, because Raven most certainly had me awake from 12:00 - 2:00 am.  Bah.  (I am starting to think I best feed this child something other than formula if she is waking up and needing to eat again in the middle of the night.)

I hope this post finds you all well and I hope you all aren't sick of me in 4.5 weeks...!

erin