maple syrup festival

Posted in advantageous adventures, familyness, Kiddie Hangouts by ElaineMarie

we made the annual trek north to the Malabar Farm Maple Syrup festival this past weekend. Did you know Ohio is the 4th largest producer of pure maple syrup in the US? now you do.

this was the third year for darla and i but mike’s inaugural visit. our besties joined us too. and darla made fast friends with some other folks. that lady in the first couple pictures is a complete stranger. she parked next to us and happened to be the other closest person to her when she decided she wanted to swing.

this event has become my herald of spring. it signifies that time of year that we can get back outside to climb rocks and take walks. this was by far the best weather we’ve seen but as my boots can attest, it was pretty muddy.

as you can see we got the gallon to tide us over until next year’s fest.

11Mar2013

weekending

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school, kiddie-do by ElaineMarie

ahhhh yes. spring! we officially sprung forward around here so even though that equinox hasn’t made it official…it’s spring dangit. we made it outdoors for some activity this weekend. it was glorious.

after all my grumbling about not being able to take darla on a nature hike like a year ago at my parents’, i decided to go for it even though snow was still on the ground. because, why not? and i’m so glad we did. it was the perfect day for it. the skies were clear, sun bright, temps just warming up so we could sit and literally watch the snow melting off the trees into the creek:

we hiked over and examined rocks and the creek bed. we tossed sticks. rested on fallen logs and listened to the many birds. we guessed at animal tracks and got our boots muddy. we listened to the slow trickle of melting snow and the occasional plop of a big chunk as it fell into the creek. we basked in the greatness of my sycamores.

oh how i long for my indiana home.

26Nov2012

creekside

Posted in advantageous adventures, it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

we spent some time with the rivers and the creeks this past week. darla enjoyed throwing things into said bodies of water. it was very nice of mother nature to give us those temperature spikes that allowed for some outdoor exploration. this is pretty fantastic time of year for getting a last little communion with nature.

although, i am hoping for some winter hikes this year :)

duck whisperer

i think you all should know that she was trying to teach the ducks to fetch in that second photo. she’s special.

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.

23Oct2012

weekending

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

i know we’re already into tuesday but i just thought reminiscing about the weekend was still in order. here’s our roadtripy, woodsy, campfirey weekend:

1. road hat ready 2. coffee goodness ready 3. auto tunes ready (get it?) 4. pit stop

we stopped at aullwood audubon center in dayton, OH for a little woods-walking leg stretch. i’ve driven past many-a-time and said “we should stop there some day.” well, saturday was the day. and i think i’ll put it on the trip agenda more often. we spent a brief time there and i think…i think i’m gonna like it there

and then we reached my parents homestead for a fun night with friends.

the great pumpkin

ghost marshmallows. bonfire tradition now i guess.

it was a pretty quick trip but great just the same. i was so happy to just enjoy everyone’s company and visit with kiddos. i gotta say an added bonus of labor support work is reunion time with the families you have supported in birth.

at the end of the evening darla, mike and i braved the cold for a campout. darla was all like “let’s tell spooky stories!” to which we decided against and settled on robots instead. the best we could come up with was a half-ass account of the jetsons. i think the highlight of my weekend was being snuggled under 20 blankets with my family as the cold air nipped my nose. i kept thinking how great it would be for us to just live in a tent!

yes, a tent. with wheels. called a winnebago. i’ll never give up this dream.

9Oct2012

weddinz

Posted in advantageous adventures, love and happiness, Travels by ElaineMarie

i’d first like to take a moment to thank everyone whose wedding i’ve attended this year for choosing such beautiful settings. i mean, look at this

and this

and now i’d like to take a moment to thank pinterest for spreading and spurring every one of those weddings to be so thoughtfully put together, detailed and aesthetically wonderous to behold. i mean, look at this

and this

and this!

we had an amazing time this past weekend taking part in the communion of a very special couple. their one-of-a-kind weekend was perfectly tailored and i’m just very grateful to have been a part of it and to have seen our friends bc well they’re fun and cool and good looking. i mean, look at this

and this

sigh.

a bit more reminiscing…

1. bonfire! 2. there’s some handsome dudes down there getting pics 3 & 4 fashion choices – farm b&b calls for ruched floral and vintage cowgirl boots, fall wedding calls for faux fur stole & animal print clutch 5. boutineer boy 6. mother nature showing of the beautimous veil 7. officialness 8. another columbus day wedding couple 7. more twinkly 8 & 9. gettin’ this party started! and james on disco ball duty.

and by the way, the dance party was epic. EPIC. at least i thought so…

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:

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.

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