transitioning

I have just started working saturdays in exchange for a weekday that I was working. I am a hair colorist and my book has been weak so scince the weekend is a sure fire way to get people in the chair I had to give up my family weekends. I have been super busy on that day so it is definitly worth it but my husband has had to pick up some of the slack as far as kids are concerned.

This is the view of our yard from the kitchen window. He cleaverly made a campsite to appease the little ones while doing yard work and they absolutly love it! He is an awesome father for this and I am happy that he has the balls to take them on.

This picture was taken durring a walk with Dylan. He grabbed his older brothers mini skateboard and practiced riding it for 5 whole minutes. This is an eternity in 2 year old time and I would have never thought to give this to him. Gooooo D!

After a friend came by with her 2 1/2 year old son and the boys were super rambuncious I winded Evan down by having him deseed and seperate concord grapes for a pie. It definitly worked to center him and we had a nice talk over this activity.

Well I am off to finish my painting I will post pics when I am done. Happy mid November!!

Catch it while you can

Few things liven my spirit more than the foiliage on the coast of ny/nj. I have it down to a science, the 3rd week in October is usualy peak, as long as we aren't having a drought. Then it could be a bit earlier and of course the colors are not as rich. Because of this amazing time of the year, it has for as long as I can remember been my absolute favorite week on the calendar. The irony of this is my first son was born on October 25, he was also 12 days late. What are the odds he would be born on the last day of my absolute favorite week OF THE ENTIRE YEAR! Pretty cool but also slightly annoying because I am not able to get out for a hike as easy with all the birthday planning and celebrating. Well it gets "better"... His brother was born October 10 (14 days early), they both had the same due date. For now my Octobers are amazingly full. My favorite week is bookended by the births of my children. This fact both reafirms my belief in destiny and leaves me feeling the time crunch. How am I going to fit in all the inspiring sights! Unfortunitly the weekend that falls inbettween birthdays this year was a complete wash out with rain. Ugh

So of course this past month I found myself unable to free flow through, subconsiously absorbing the colors and smells. And when I did get the chance to sit and take in some of the scenery I was not fully taking it in, I felt like i was literaly just fitting it in. I surely thought I had missed out this year. October was too slippery and had gotten away from me. I was WRONG.

Although it isn't peak it was awe inspiring. We drove down this tree swarmed stretch of the palisades parkway which was also blessed by cobble stoned bridges and the ny skyline peeking bettween branches. It is my favorite road to travel down durring autumn with a great album. It's the place where some of my best ideas come from. There is also something so rewarding to be able to share this with a new soul. To be able to help awaken that part of someone that would most likely lay dormant until well past the point of spontanious, non-selfconsious creative expression.

My favorite tree in the whole scene is the bright yellow colored ones with the almost black branches. The contrast is so severe that it looks like the leaves are floating in the air, unattached to anything. Now throw a blazing red one in front and then a still green one on the side and maybe a glowing orange on the bottom inbettween the front of the yellow and still green one. Oh man, it makes my heart sing and float and dare to dream. This is what I want to teach my October boys.

staying the course

So funny, last night I came to this blog for the first time in a while and noticed that I have 2 followers! I stopped writting in it because it seemed pointless and I figured it would never see the light of a computer screen other than mine. But just seeing that someone else peeps in from time to time has given me new inspiration to write!

This is a shot from a music festival I went to for 3 days this summer. It was creativly restorative for me as well as unifying for my marriage. I recommend sleeping on the beach suggled up with your favorite person and some pillows and blankets whenever possible. It will

save your soul, haha. Sometimes children can take so much from you that you dont have anything left to give. It is up to us to take back some personal freedoms so that we can be the person they need us to be.

**********Now on with the inspiring of the small ones********

We have so many used old papers laying around so I have been taping some of them together and turning it around to the blank side for projects like this one. I think its very important to let curious toddlers have complete control in certain things that they do everyday. This kind of project allows that freedom and helps them feel more independent. I just threw him in the bath afterwards and wipped the floor. Although the paper was so big nothing really got on the floor. He has sweetly been calling every color lellow, so that more than makes up for the mess.

I took Ev for a trip to the Museum of Modern Art the day before his first day of 2nd grade. We had such a great time! It was fun to see what art he was drawn to. He was very interested in the sculptures and spent the most time checking those out. Although when we entered a photo exhibit he said "when are we going to see the real art". My mother wants to take him to a class on saturdays so I am trying to find a good sculpting one in our area.

Just have to share something that warmed my heart the other day. A boy had come over for a playdate and when there was a lull in the action Ev suggested doing an art project. It was impromptu so I couldnt find the other easel so of course it was given to the guest. But it was really cool to see them going for this instead of the video games. Who says this generation is mindless? Proof they have depth is right here in this photo, scince they choose this project themselves.

To free range or not to free range

Recently I have been hearing people talk about this movement in parenting called free range kids. Apparently its a method of parenting where you give your children a lot of space to make their own way in the world without constant supervision. Like riding their bike to the library alone or playing in front of the house without you actually being outside. Thoughts?

cha cha cha cha changes

We took the crib out of the "babies" room this weekend. He has not been sleeping well and thought we would try this. He is 20 months so it IS about that time : (. So bitter sweet the growing thing is. On one hand I cant wait till he is capable of functioning without my help but on the other he loses his innocence and gets more demanding to do his own thing. Soon the days of plopping him in front of sesame street when he is incapable of being redirected will be over. Buuut when those days go away I will be able to trust him more when he is out of my immediate sight. If anything its a reminder to live for the day and enjoy each phase for what it is.

transformation

A lot has changed in the past year and a half. The catalyst for that change has been primaraly caused by the birth of my 2nd son. But so many other things were positioned in just the right way durring that life shift that it has caused me to completly transform. Am I happy with my new outlook and position in this world? Most of the time I am, but of course I miss my old self a bit and wish I could write her a letter or something to prepare her for the road ahead. The picture below is my mama group. These women have, in such a profound way, helped shape me for the challenges I faced when ajusting to my new life. I met them while I was still pregnant with my youngest. On a whim I found them on a meetup website. They each embodied the type of woman/mother I had always admired but never knew really existed. It really was divine intervention because I would probably be lost if it wasnt for them.

First day of summer

I have a 3rd child this month, so far she is easy peasy. I am watching her for an old friend while she is at work.

On a personal f up note I have completely neglected responsibilities lately and they have reached a sort of crisis mode.
Crisis 1: I have been procrastinating my car problems and last night the horn malfunctioned at 1am. It blared for about 5 min and is now disconected. Oh yeah and I am over due for an inspection.
Crisis 2: been meaning to call an exterminator to deal with termites and today noticed 3 swarming in the basement. Terminix is comming tommorow morning(that means I can't bring my car to the shop right away, gatta be there to let the little bug killers in).
Crisis 3: yuk, we have ants on top of the termites and I keep forgetting traps.
Crisis 4: massivly overgrown bushes and lawn. Today we were hanging outside and all I could do was look at them in disgust, considering a certain 1 1/2 year old that requires my attention.
So yeah time to take care of all that life b.s.. So I can get back to my world of fantasy where you can let the dishes pile up while concentrating on an oil painting.

May the band play on while I attempt to be a productive societal member! for now.....

One more for the road

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A few weeks ago I went on a yoga retreat with evan. It was great, here are a few pics from it.

lets try this again

Since my last post a lot has happened creatively  with my boys. I kind of forgot about this blog due to a very terrible beach weekend. I am not even going to go there in my mind again but lets just say it set me back for an entire week in my pursuit of positive thinking.

Yesterday we went to the clearwater music festival for fathers day. I was so glad that even with all that activity going on Evan was so excited to go to the arts and crafts area. He got lost about 15 minutes after I took this picture (we found him thankfully) so it came in handy when telling authorities who to look for ; ). Bless that head of red hair he is easy to find!

We had a great day crafting out while Grace Potter and Taj Mahal played on stage a few yards away. Thanks to the rain it was not as crowded as usual. We meet up with our friends and took turns going to the beer garden and main stage without the kids amongst each other. Good times were had by all and I am going to try and make this event every year from now on.

I will leave you with a picture of his latest project. It started as a chapter book but has now developed into a compilation of short stories. He was inspired by this bound note book we got at the craft store. Keep you posted.

start it up

We are leaving for my family beach house in around 4 hours.... I always let my husband sleep in in-exchange for him taking over the night shift. This works perfectly for us because I am not up for the challenge at the end of the night and he is apparently possessed by a monster before 10 am.  So here I am thinking about  whats in store this weekend .  

beginning

I dont know what it is about big hands helping little hands create something new. But I am really digging it lately. We seem to feed off of each others creative juices and flow through the process in separate but unifying ways. The hardest part is letting go. Letting go of the need to control the mess and the need to make suggestions as to how they could be doing better. Just let them watch you create and feel inspired by it enough to try it in there own way.

My oldest is 6 1/2 and very introspective. I am going to try and help him find his way through art and creative play. My littlest is 1 1/2 and very willing to do just about anything his big brother does. This blog will be about that and all the shenanigans in-between.