transforming clothes

I absolutely love iron-on adhesive for fabrics. You can transform clothes immediately.

I got started on this kick again once I realized that Kaya had no fall clothes. So I went through Zander's old clothes to start putting "girly things" on for Kaya. I will post those outfits later.....I do love them!

But as Zander watched me make things for Kaya he wanted me to make an outfit for him. So he removed his pants, yep I just took them right off of him to transform them, and found a white polo shirt of his and made him his Louisville outfit.





I did think he looked like a cute little coach!

my baby girl is two!

I truly can't put my mind around the fact that Kaya is already two! Well, I can when she is really bossy and says "NO" with a purpose.

Here she is in some of her 2-year photos. Unlike her brother, she is quite the ham and loves to be photographed. She thinks she's beautiful and wants the rest of the world to think so too. At least she has mom as her biggest fan who agrees with her.

fun in a box

You have to admit....this does look like fun.



You may be wondering why we have such a huge box in our house.

Well, Zander and Kaya's brilliant mother decided to get 500 balls (yes, you read that correctly, 500) to put in their inflatable ball pit for Kaya's party. It actually turned out to be the perfect amount but I'm sure I'll be cursing those crazy little balls for years to come as they appear all around our house and yard.


The kids have a blast playing peek-a-boo and hiding in the box. They both fit in perfectly. I even crawled in it a time or two.





And after all of the fun of peekaboo and remodeling their box "house", they need to take naps of course.




I've been debating when to get rid of this monstrosity of a box.......but don't have the heart to break it down for recycling after the fun it has given the kids and the laughs it has gotten out of me.
So, I guess the box stays. For a couple more weeks at least.

happy birthday to kaya

goodbye pappaw

Since my last post, life has been emotionally and physically challenging. The pain has been draining and the postponement of the surgery was bringing me down. (Good news though about that, it did get moved up to next Wednesday so I only have 9 more days to wait instead of 30 days).

But the night of my last post, we lost a wonderful member of our family. Matt's Pappaw passed away quickly and surprised us all. He was one of my favorite people in the world and I miss him so much already. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to physically make the trip to the funeral but I mourned here at home while Matt has away. Now I'm trying to figure out how to answer the questions from Z and K. They have asked me, "What is wrong with Pappaw?", "Why are you and Dad sad?", "Do we have to be sad when we go to Kentucky next time?", "Where did Pappaw go?". So if any of you have any tips for dealing with death questions from a 2 and 3 year old please let me know.

The last time I talked to Pappaw last week he told me, "I sure wish I could come to Kaya's birthday party." I did go ahead and have they party, since Matt requested me to go ahead and have Kaya's special day since I couldn't travel. But I think the best part was that I felt Pappaw was with us there in spirit for the party in the backyard.

Goodbye Pappaw. I loved you from the moment I met you. Thanks for the wonderful memories.

sometimes life isn't fair

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

-Carl Jung

Thanks so much to all of you for your support, emails, and help concerning my medical condition. I could finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. My surgery was less than two weeks away. The pain medication could keep me holding on until then.

So I thought.

A couple of days ago I got a call that the surgery had been postponed. Not for a day, not for a week, but for 3 weeks from the original date. I was devastated. I'm sure my doctor can't believe I am actually geared up and ready to have surgery..... I also don't think he can believe the severity of pain I'm in and how each day just drags on.

I was so upset the day I got the call that Matt called and pleaded with the doctor to please move it up some for me. We still haven't heard if that will happen but just the fact that my husband was so sweet and attentive to my needs makes me feel better.

So, until I hear anything else I'm gonna pray for patience and that the pain will subside enough to let me get through the next month without being miserable. But even though I'm trying to stay positive, I just want to shout out, "Sometimes, life isn't fair!"

seven simple pleasures (part 7)

I had a wonderful day with my family on my birthday. It was a simple day of being together...

The kids help make my morning coffee


See what close friends I am to my blogging readers......this is craftykorisa as soon as she gets out of bed


Sweet kisses from zander and kaya



It was my idea to have ice-cream cake for breakfast (maybe that is why the kids were so wild.....more on that later)
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After our morning drama we finally made it to the children's museum. We loved our 4th visit there, of course!






After we got home and the kids went to bed, Mattie made me a wonderful meal. Happy Birthday to me!

seven simple pleasures (part 6)...ready, jump!

seven simple pleasures (part 5)

A conversation with Zander......

"Mommy, why don't you go to work at Daddy's work."

"I work here at home. My job is to take care of you and Kaya."

"I like that work."

" So you like to have mommy here with you every day?"

"I love it."

I then squeeze him to me and kiss his teeny nose and say..

"Zander, how did you get so wonderful?"

"Because I'm just like you mommy, and I love you."

I love conversations with my 3-year old.

seven simple pleasures (part 4)

This week I have loved teaching. Teaching my kids, that is. We have had so many fun lessons. You can check out some if you wish on my other blog.

I especially loved practicing Z's with Zander. I would draw them on his dry-erase board and then he would trace them. He then wrote one all by himself! I don't know who was more proud, him or me.

seven simple pleasures (part 3)

I love pictures.....as you have probably gathered if you've looked at my blog at all.

My house is covered with frames and photos. It is perhaps a bit obnoxious but I love surrounding myself with the faces I love.

For the past 2 1/2 years however, my living room has just displayed a hodgepodge of framed photos. There was no unifying color or theme......just pictures that I liked. The crooked, mismatched frames were beginning to make me a little crazy.




So, today, on the first day I have felt halfway decent for a while, I completed this little project. I put an assortment of photos in this black collage frame and some other black frames around it.

I am pleased with myself and I'm pleased with the photography display. A simple pleasure indeed.

seven simple pleasures (part 2)

One of my greatest joys in life is to read. I love reading....one of my favorite t-shirts announces, "Life is short, read fast."

Unfortunately because life is so fast-paced, I often don't get to read as much as I would like. That is one plus to feeling bad constantly......I have read a lot lately. And instead of wallowing in self-pity that I'm stuck in bed a lot of the time, I want to celebrate all the wonderful books I have read recently or am anticipating to read.

Here are a few titles I've read in the past month:

The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen, The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer, A Painted House by John Grisham, and The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall. My favorite among these was The Unwanted. It was a painful memoir about an Ameri-Asian in Vietnam. I had a hard time putting it down and didn't want it to end. I also enjoyed The Russian Concubine, but it took me a few weeks to read that one. A Painted House was also a good read.......I'm not sure how I missed that Grisham book, I thought I had read them all. My neighborhood book club read The Ten-Year Nap. It is a book about 4 women who left their careers to become stay-at-home moms. I thought it was an interesting character study but the plot was lacking. It will provide for some interesting dialogue at the next book club though!

And eagerly waiting in a pile on my nightstand are the following:

Waking Brigid by Francis Clark
A Sister's Secret by Wanda E. Brunsetter
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club by Maggie Marr
The Alexandria Link by Steve Barry
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

It is a perfect night for reading. There is a light rain outside, the kids are both snug in bed, and Matt is out late playing racquetball. I plan on putting on my jams (oh wait, that's right, they're already on....it is past six o clock) and starting one of my books.

If you have any book suggestions for me to read as I spend most of the next month and a half in my room.....please share!

seven simple pleasures (part 1)

My brain has once again been on break. I have wanted to blog but I think my mind is too overwhelmed by my health and upcoming surgery. So I decided to take control of this writers-block and do something different this week.

This week, each day I'm going to post a simple pleasure that has graced my life lately. It is so important for me to take the time and realize what great treats I receive each day.

My first simple pleasure is my little helper. Zander loves to help me clean (unless that cleaning means picking up toys......but that is a different story all together).

Here he is a couple of nights ago cleaning the windows and door in my kitchen. His grin full of pride when he finished was absolutely precious. The other treat is the all-natural cleaner from Trader Joes. It smells great and works wonderfully---even after Z sprayed a third of the bottle on the window. No streaks!

the games have begun

Yes, that wonderful season, football season, is upon us once again. Now I know many of you are doing cheers and whoops of glee out there because of it. I guess you didn't hear the sarcasm dripping from my words.

It isn't that I absolutely HATE football. I actually enjoy live games. I've even been know to cheer a few times for a team that I like. I also don the sports apparel of Matt's favorite teams on game day. But the fact that entire days are consumed with the sport, every weekend, annoys me.

It may be because my husband is obsessed with it. I hear other wives say "Yes, my husband is too." Then I shake my head and say, "No, I mean obsessed." As in, one time a few years ago, Matt was watching a game on tv, talking about it on his cell phone, and tracking it on the computer all at the same time. And he had all of his brackets and fantasy football papers spread out in front of him.

This is something I've just learned to accept. I guess I should be thankful for these LONG weekends of nothing but sports. It helped me feed my craftiness obsession. There have been many Sundays where Matt enjoyed the games while I painted pumpkins.

And although I have loathed this season for many years, I now have a new reason to appreciate it. My three favorite people do look awfully stinking cute in their matching sports gear. (see slide show below)

So now I'll take pictures of them each weekend as they watch their games. Then I'll go cross-stitch or quilt in peace.

mothers and daughters

There is a special bond between mothers and daughters. A bond indescribable to the males we love so much in our lives. It is like mothers and daughters are forever linked by invisible friendship necklaces that have broken hearts matching together that read "mom" and "daughter".

I feel fortunate that I can be on both ends of this special relationship.

Especially this weekend, when I'm feeling not so great. I felt so bad and guilty that most of this weekend (while we hosted Matt's dad and stepmom from Texas) I only stayed in bed, dealing with my pain with my heating pad and pain medication. But during this time of suffering, I had one of the greatest moments that I'm sure I'll always remember.

While resting upstairs, Matt asked Kaya if she wanted to go play or go see mommy for a little while. She wanted to see mommy. She crawled up into bed with me and told me she was going to "lay down by mommy till mommy's belly feels better." She then started rubbing on my belly and patting my hair. I was teary-eyed and so proud of my sweet, sensitive little girl. She then wanted to roll a matchbox car on my belly to make it feel better.

It was such a sweet feeling to see my daughter, who is yet not two, want to take such good care of her mommy.

I also had to once again swallow my pride, yesterday, and admit to my mom that I did need some help. Within an hour of talking to her on the phone, she was packed and on the five-hour trip to stay with us. I'm so glad I have her and she realizes when I need her the most.

Between my mother and daughter, I already feel better. They are taking good care of me.