snow eater

Posted in kiddie-do, yum yum eat good by ElaineMarie

will someone please explain to me why i have to force feed my child meals like pancakes with syrup but she wants to eat icicles and snow balls the entirety of the time we are outside. does she not understand it’s just frozen water? dirty frozen water? i’ve tried to intervene but when mike made a snowman darla’s first reaction was to start gnawing on his midsection. it’s weird and i think it’s here to stay…at least for this snowfall. luckily she knows about yellow snow. she pointed some out and said “that means pee.” whew…

do you have a snow eater? try this: i made hot chocolate and then we poured it over snowballs { from fresh snow } and dropped in some smaller snowballs. it was actually pretty fun. i recommend it for those of you who have the if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em attitude.

28Dec2012

grandparents’ weekend

Posted in familyness, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

we had a few nice, quiet days in indiana complete with some snow romping and fort building. darla is staying with my parents for a few extra days. i’ve already 4 boxes lined up at our door of things i’ve separated out to go to donation. I know she’ll enjoy a few extra days with her adoring grandparents and I’m thankful for the extra post-christmas organizing time.

i’m so very thankful to have loving, supportive parents that are a positive presence in my daughters’ life. i’m very grateful for the times they support us by giving us a weekend here and there to recover from the everyday stresses of life.

mostly, i’m just thankful that they treat her with such kindness and true generosity. i’m not talking about simply buying her stuff, but generosity of their spirit. they are wonderful examples of kindness, love and support. i aspire to be more like them.

18Dec2012

everything

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

this is darla telling santa today that she “wants everything!”

santa, mommy and darla settled on some surprises.

oooh i love that girl. even if she is a bit bonkers.

27Nov2012

competency

Posted in familyness, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

things darla has said today:

“mom, can you help me with this? i’m not competent of this.”

annnnnnnd

“mom, these cookies you made make me dizzy with deliciousness. did you put magic in them?”

i can assure you they were not *magic* cookies of one kind or another.

and just a few more pics of us from the last few days because you can never get enough of us.

or can you?

ps. i just love the lighting this time of year, don’t you?

15Nov2012

free will walking

Posted in kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by ElaineMarie

is the twin of good will hunting.

just kidding.

stopping to snap this pic helped me bring myself back to focus yesterday. i realize that a lot of times i don’t let my girl just have a “find what we can find” walk about. she’s independent and wants to be in charge of her own locomotion but that means i’m stopping about every 4 feet to urge her further on, most of the time.

it’s gotten to be somewhat of a bad habit of mine. i have forgotten that sometimes we don’t have anywhere to be. we can just be right here, on the sidewalk looking at rocks, sticks, snails and leaf piles. often times we do have some where else to go so i need to let her have advantage of the times we can just take it all in.

so, stepping back and taking this pic yesterday brought me back. we took our time, darla was bilbo baggins with a stick and then 3 mins later she was all walked out and wanted a shoulder ride.

see, elaine, if you just let go of your control issues everything works itself out.

30Oct2012

local natives

Posted in kiddie-do, Travels by ElaineMarie

i almost laugh when i look at these pics from our visit to the eiteljorg museum this past weekend while in indianapolis for my cousin’s wedding fest. you’d never tell by looking at them that we had a 3-year-old repeatedly telling us she wanted to “get out of here!” and throwing tantrums every 5 min. this is a visual example of how i have these expectations for how our excursions are going to go and then…someone has a breakdown.

it’s beyond my comprehension. i mean, i just don’t understand how someone could be upset in the presence of a tipi. i really don’t.

alas, the problem turned out to be a blood sugar one. it’s pretty nice to have a child that can tell you what is troubling her now. and i’ll tell you what. those tantrums were worth the half a beef taco i got to scarf down as a result. eiteljorg! them’s some tasty bites!

we lucked out because the museum was holding dia de los muertos (cousin and i agree this is the coolest holiday all year) activities for the day. we sat in on different dance troupes performing traditional dances from dia de los muertos celebrations throughout mexico. it was soooooo cool. darla even got up enough nerve to jump in and participate. imagine that.

so, even if we did deal with some slight attitude and darla’s unwillingness to participate in the family photo ( see below ) it was still a winner of a day. look….there was basket weaving! and babywearing! darla and i got to practice wrapping up a baby bundle for a cradleboard carrier. i wish i had thought to take a picture. i think i may just opt for a finely beaded baby carrier next time :)

tipi

and really, REALLY, any day that results in darla taking a little nappy-poo is golden in my book. she napped and had a grand time on the dance floor at cousin’s wedding. it was a good day.

16Oct2012

FAIRfield

Posted in advantageous adventures, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

and here are some more pics from our visit to the fairfield county fair in mike’s hometown, lancaster oh. because, well, fairs always make for pretty pictures. tickets round

this may be the state’s last county fair for the year but i can’t guarantee it’ll be ours. we’re at 5 fairs for the year and one major theme park. we’re gonna see this thing through.

1. ticket to ride 2. new ride 3. dad’s turn on the fun slide 4 & 5. birch beer – it’s not only delicious, it’s pretty too 6 & 7 balloon wrangling. immediately regret the decision to get her that balloon. no i don’t. she loved it and started referring to it as her baby. it was worth it in the end.

15Oct2012

we knew you were coming so we baked a cake

Posted in Kiddie Hangouts, kiddie-do, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

on friday we all waited anxiously for our new nephew -newphew- to make his appearance in the world. to celebrate, i helped big sis and big cousin bake a birthday cake for our newest member of the family. lots of spatula licking ensued:

and there’s the finished product. big sis got to pick out the cake mix, frosting and all the trimmings. i really enjoyed involving the girls this way and reminding them of another benefit of new siblings/cousins – another day of the year that you get to eat cake.

2Oct2012

a wonder wander

Posted in advantageous adventures, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

i much prefer a nice stroll in the woods over any other activity with my girl. after a picnic lunch at their pondside wildlife observation deck we took our apples and went for a walk in sodalis nature park.

i love the way her imagination has the freedom to expand when there are few parameters. we walked along the trail, singing various songs, clearing sticks off the trail and using the sticks to build various projects darla dreamed up. i loved watching her excitement as she found red leaves and exclaimed “i found the first leaf of autumn!” or when she found large rocks to climb and jump off.

i’m looking forward to a whole season of these nature walks.

25Sep2012

renewal

Posted in advantageous adventures, kiddie-do, let me let me update ya, Momma Needs a minute... by ElaineMarie

i haven’t been posting lately, but guess what folks – i just renewed the domain name for momjeanz so i’m recommitting myself to the project.

i know. i’ve just given your lives new meaning.

in true elaine fashion, this is about me not you. self-centered, as always.

we’ve been going through some things lately and i’ve found it difficult to muster the energy to do the blog and to feel authentic about what i’m putting out there. i say this because when i look back at the blog it makes it seem like life is so happy and carefree when in reality it’s been a bit rougher than that.

but then i remembered that these rough parts have always been here. as long as this blog has been around they’ve been here. and maybe that’s why i started doing it in the first place – to remind myself of the good parts of the day, of the bright spots.

these are my bright spots. with a few pity parties and emotional outbursts sprinkled here and there. but mostly these are the good moments when i look back and am filled with such gratefulness for all of life’s spots, dark and bright.

and i want to continue to share my brightest spot:

well, order a stickygram of that and slap it on my fridge. if that isn’t a summary of my child in one frame then i don’t know what is. if i could conjure one image of her as a 3-year-old it would be this. leaping. LEAPING. she’s forever leaping. fearlessly. in a way that puts anxiety straight into my heart while at the same time comforting me and saying “that one, she gonna be ok. she gonna take on de world.” (for some reason this voice is that of sebastian the crab.)

this year has been about us taking the leap from baby to big kid. and she is ready for all the big kid challenges. she basically wants me to hand her a stack o’papes and a cap and let her raise herself on the street. i’m almost tempted to because i love (LOVE) the movie newsies so much. alas, she is a girl and not a young christian bale so i’ve decided to keep her and raise her myself.

why?

because it’s so much fun. everything turns into an adventure. trips to the nursery and apple orchard turn into teachable adventures. and also, there’s the snacks. obviously. when you’re raising a child there’s an endless stream of snacks and i, for one, benefit from that. so does my gym.

anyway, a few more snaps from our nursery/orchard visit with a girl who wants to be dorothy: