ridez

Posted in Kiddie Hangouts, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

i don’t know if you know this but we take darla to a lot of fairs. A LOT. she’s met more carnies than a ummm person who meets a lot of carnies.

well, anyway, i took darla to a carnival yesterday. more on that event later but i wanted to share some photos from our buzzker visit at the beginning of the month. see here’s my thought process: carnivals + left coast = buzzker visit memories:

lucky for us, we live right across the street from the park where the annual neighborhood carnival is held. we took the girls over for some fun when darla’s best friend, elsa, visited a few weeks back.

1. ready to ride 2. big girls riding the big slide 3. the lamest carnival ride ever 4. seriously the lamest but they both loved it 5. gerbilz 6. father + daughter barrel spin 7. i asked her to stand next to buckey and this is what i got.

we really miss you friends! we’re so thankful our gals got to spend two days together riding that bath tub ride. seriously? what was the attraction there? they rode it like 5 times!

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:

30Aug2012

quality time

Posted in it's cool to school, let me let me update ya, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

i’m off to san fran for 5 whole days. FIVE.

so i made sure to have some quality time with my little peter venkman – as she sometimes likes to be called.

we spent a nice afternoon picnic lunch date at wallace garden plots in our neighborhood the other day after we visited the library. it was pretty cool to walk around all the different plots and take in the different gardening techniques. it was good to be around abundant gardens. it was peaceful and educational. i was able to show darla where sunflower seeds grow and we discussed the different ways plants grow their fruit.

yay for free teaching resources!

i’ll sure miss that girl.

ps. that yellow flower is for my hair. laughy laughy.

27Aug2012

porchy

Posted in let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

this has been our new reading spot this week. i know it’s pretty lame to share this but i’ve been loving it. the weather has been so perfect and darla shares my enthusiasm for creating a special little reading nook. it’s been a good way to distract her from computer/tv options and make a quiet afternoon snuggle down seem fresh again.

also in recent news…darla’s now into barrettes!

i was pretty thankful for this weekend. in conjunction with some gorgeous weather, i felt able to let in a lot of peace and bring back some self-focus.

i feel poised for the week to come. this week will include the closing of one chapter of life and a west coast reunion. i am thankful for events this past weekend that have left me feeling prepared and centered for both these upcoming events.

i look forward to sharing with you this week. thanks for stopping by and good luck with your own s’ennight endeavors.

26Aug2012

weekling

Posted in let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

just a bit of darla from the week

“look mom, now i’m an indian.” she’s so unP.C.

admiring her chalk outline

she said this was the best hopscotch board ever. didn’t have the heart to tell it to her straight.

hope you’re all having a lovely end of your week.

20Aug2012

msg week

Posted in advantageous adventures, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

here’s our week from my iphone:

we found walking sticks and were proud of it. we said hi to our sycamores.

we had lazy picnics in the park

and kicked our shoes off for a bit. we let our bodies become grounded again.

we hung our new nature prayer flags and added darla’s new books from maine into heavy reading rotation.

we rode ruju to the audubon center to continue the bird learnin.’

we dressed up like our forest friends,

and came to an understanding that darla has no chance of normalcy under her current parental guidance.

“the older i get the more i am into taxidermy.”

we gathered blossoms and walked trails,

and spied on the pond creatures.

did you know ohio has white sand beaches? oh. no. that’s just a volleyball court. my bad.

we tried out the thursday food truck festival at columbus commons and enjoyed the commons activities.

we took in a game at huntington park.

i was sure to wear my protective head gear since our seats were pretty close.

but really the most important development of the week was my complete surrender to my msg addiction. i think i’m on my second bag of rold gold cheese twists for the week. my body is NOT happy with me.

I’m incredibly thankful for all these moments the universe has bestowed on us this week. Goodness is abundant.

ps. if anyone is interested in obtaining maine themed books you can find them here: One Morning in Maine, Blueberries for Sal, The Little Fisherman, About Birds: A Guide for Children

2Aug2012

HI A TUS

Posted in let me let me update ya, Momma Needs a minute... by ElaineMarie

so….i’ve lacked some serious motivation lately.

or rather, my priorities have been elsewhere.

let’s face it, summer is busy and everyone is outside enjoying it and off on vacations instead of reading crazy blog entries.

so i’m just going to go ahead and state the obvious and say that momjeanz is on a hiatus until life gets more structure and balance. because right now i need to be able to just hop on RuJu and go wherever the day takes me instead of bending to some self imposed pressure to post.

i hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer. we’re headed up to maine this weekend where darla will be a flower girl. 3rd times the charm! i’ll be sure to share some photos when we return.

here’s just a bit of what we’ve been up to:

mustache parties

making pancakes for some old friends

discovering new breakfast digs

swinging in the park like a big girl

tea parties + music on the lawn

fudgesicles

summer is a melting fudgesicle

and state fair!

23Jul2012

weekending

Posted in i dig music, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

wow. we actually had a weekend at home. and now imma blog about it.

yez.

we took part in a moustache contest at a baby shower. sadly we did not win, but that’s ok because the victor totally deserved his prize.

my girl learned how to swing herself. it’s bittersweet b/c it’s further reinforces the fact that she’s rapidly turning into a big kid but i’m also pretty happy because it means i get to sit down on a freaking park bench for once and just wave while she uses up some of her own energy.

another important playground development was darla’s first experience with oreos. she would use her nimble little fingers to peel off the white filling and then give me the cookies. i think it’s the beginning to a beautiful new relationship.

and we finished the weekend with an extremely under attended jonny corndawg and the almond brothers. these fellas are some mighty fine human beings. i like them a lot.

27Jun2012

family fun fest

Posted in let me let me update ya, Travels by ElaineMarie

ok, so we’ve been doing a lot of living life instead of blogging about it, so, i’m going to try to catch up. a lot of cool awesomeness has transpired.

like many people, i have been blessed with a wonderful family. i mean, they are all REALLY cool. one of my cousins got hitched last weekend so it meant full-fledged family reunion. we made quite a weekend out of it.

the weekend consisted of: cousin reunion night out, great lake swimmers, late night karaoke, vintage store shopping, family fish fry & june birthday celebrations, the marion county fair, wedding wedding wedding, hotel party with a baby and sunday funday pool party. mike, darla and i then continued on to cincinnati for yeasayer on sunday night but that is all for another post.

pics!

looking forward to doing this all over again in 6 weeks. i love you, family!

18Jun2012

fahder’s day

Posted in i dig music, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

hope you all had a great father’s day. darla came back from her weekend at the grandparents so that made it a pretty fun day.

we started the day with a pancake breakfast and then met up with my parents for lunch and ice cream. it was nice to be around two pretty great fathers. darla is one lucky girl.

in other weekend happenings, we saw lindsey buckingham at the southern theater on saturday night and tried out the jury room for the first time.