Living, Loving, Learning

Lucy had a wonderful Birthday. She started with a play date with her best buddy, Myles and lunch, her pick, at a Mexican place for queso and chips. When Papa got home that afternoon he brought her birthday roses, yellow, of course! What a sweet tradition! I told Lucy I would make anything she wanted for dinner and she picked our chorizo and eggs breakfast. So that's what we had. Followed by a little cake and ice cream, of course! She had a blast opening her presents. Is it too weird that we bought a photography coffee table book about birds for a 3 year old? I think getting the Beta fish that she has been asking for for months made her night...meet Lucia Fish (she named it.) First thing the next morning she was setting up her new playhouse. So fun for all of us to see her so excited. She has one more birthday event on Saturday when we throw a party with her friends.

My sweet baby girl is 3 today. What an amazing 3 years we've had with her. She is so happy, so sweet, super silly and loving. Her smile lights up my heart, her giggle is the most beautiful music to my ears, her artwork is more stunning to my eyes than any piece hanging in the Louvre. I love how she plays in her room alone, constantly babbling away and singing silly made-up songs. I love how she loves to play outside for hours but cries at the end of the day because of her dirty hands. I love how much she loves her friends and looks forward to seeing them. I love being her favorite person, her port in the storm, her anchor. I love her passion for creating art, for animals, for books and for her beloved brother. I love her sense of humor and comedic timing. Parenting her is such a gift, so rewarding, so challenging, always keeping me on my growing edge. and without further ado.... Lucy's Birthday Interview Age? 3 Grade? - Your teachers this year? - What...

I had a phenomenal weekend!! It started with a visit from Pa and Ma Gast . They were on their way from Palm Springs back up to their summer home in N. Indiana. It was so fun to be able to entertain them at our house. We even got to check out their beautiful new home/5 th wheel. They are doing fantastic, living their dreams and having a great time. We are excited to be able to spend some time camping with them this summer!!! A couple hours after they left, I jumped in the car with two dear friends and we headed down to Nashville for a girls night. This is the first time I have left alone since Lucy was born. It felt great to just be an adult for one night with no ones needs but my own to consider. We had an awesome time. The weather was perfect, even though it is less than 2 hours south, they are a week farther ahead into spring. We marveled at the cherry blossoms and tulips in full bloom! Living in a small town for over three years now, it's easy to forget how much I ...

I had to bribe her with Smarties to participate in a photo shoot for a new item for my Etsy store, an I spy purse. I thought I made it very clear that this was not hers but she still cried when I took it back. Little does she know this purse was inspired by one that I have made her for her birthday. Hope she still wants one in a week!

Lucy and I went with Brandy and Myles to an indoor bounce house park. Oh my, what fun!!! All except for the awful rug burn I got on my elbow taking Lucy down this slide....neither of us tried it again, but Myles was all for it! Good times!

The people around me daily are probably reading this and thinking, "Enough, already!!" but I don't think I've blogged about it yet, so indulge me!!! ;) My dear friend and yoga teacher, Hilary , turned me onto this amazing website, YogaGlo , and I want to share it with you. It is the sight for a yoga studio in Santa Monica. It is stuffed full of incredible yoga and meditation classes that you can stream, unlimited, for just $18/month. The teachers are incredible and when taking their class you can almost feel like you are in the room with them. In some of them, you can see people in the class struggling or succeeding right along with you. They even have a beginner series for each style of yoga that prepares you for taking a full class. One of the best features of this sight is it's search abilities. You can search by style, duration, teacher, difficulty, specific purposes...it's so helpful for quickly finding exactly what you need at the moment. I hugely dislik...

I have to write these down so I don't forget them...and this seems like the best place to do it! **** I was telling Griffin about how when I was in elementary school we had taken a family vacation. My Dad and I had rented bicycles for a day. At that point, my bike at home was still the type where you pedaled backwards to stop. Unfortunately, no one mentioned to me that this rented bike had hand brakes. So, we are going down a big hill and needing to make a turn and I start pedaling backwards with no results. You see where this is headed, right? Crash landing, knocked out, ambulance...you get the idea. So, then I tell Griffin as an aside that they had to cut (what at the time was my favorite) my t-shirt off and I was so sad about it. This was at the dinner table and our conversation quickly moved on to something else. About 20 minutes later Griffin comes up to me and gives me a hug. He says, "Mama, I am so sad you lost your favorite shirt. What did it look like? When...

Recently at school they had a week long celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. Each day they had a different theme for how to dress...crazy sock day, funny hat day, etc. The last day was dress as your favorite character from a book. Here's our Harry Potter, year 1. Happily we were able to pull something together entirely from our dress up bin, without having to buy anything. He has yet to see any of the movies, so I can honestly say it's a book character for him. He and Bruce are having an absolute blast reading the books together. Griffin is soooo happy about it, I know they are making memories he will cherish long into adulthood. They read a chapter a night so they are moving through them at a good pace...they will start the third book tonight. After I put Lucy to bed I grab my laptop and head into the living room to play Mahjong for a few minutes to unwind...me, eavesdropping on Harry Potter, NOOOOO....well maybe...:) After the series is over it will be my turn ...

Starting to feel HEALING creeping up behind me. It's been a tough week, no doubt. But, truly, I cannot tell you how much your support - through comments here and on FB, e-mails, messages, texts, cards, gifts, phone calls and visits have helped me. Feeling the tribe vibe, feeling the love wrapping around us, feeling the healing energy and well-wishes, BIG TIME! We've taken the time to clean our home and yard, and in some ways, our souls. I had an excellent birthday weekend. The distraction and celebration never more needed! We spent Friday night in Nashville with my Dad and Step-Mom for an awesome dinner and family time. On Saturday we went to Griffin's final basketball game of the season, then headed up to Owensboro for lunch at Five Guys, a few hours at the Fine Arts Museum where they have an awesome art studio for kids to use, we saw Gnomeo and Juliet and ended the evening having dinner at the famous Moonlite BBQ with dear friends. Bruce has been my amazing rock through...

It is with immense sorrow that I share this with you. On Tuesday night, our friend came over and we spent some time playing with the puppies. We noticed that a few of them were lethargic, had diarrhea and were throwing up. We had recently changed their food and they had spent some time playing outside so we chalked it up to them feeling a little off from eating grass and the new food. Yesterday though, there was more diarrhea and they seemed more lethargic. Bruce and Griffin loaded them up and took them to the vet "to be on the safe side." There we were given devastating news. The puppies all had perseveres, an incredibly debilitating virus that is severely contagious to dogs. We were shocked with the news but after a quick discussion on the phone, were ready to cancel all plans for the next couple of weeks and commit to nursing each one back to health. Then we had a talk with the director of the Humane Society and the Vet who made it clear to us that this virus is n...