Happy Mother's Day!

This year, I am a mother on Mother's Day.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Surprise in the Mail!

This came in the mail yesterday:

Aren't cousins the greatest?!

Thank you Luke and Jenn Thomas (Will's brother and wife) for having little boys that have outgrown their clothes. Tee-hee.

This is perfect! JUST what Preston needs right now, seriously. It came at a great time when he was needing some bigger clothes. I won't lie, we still squeeze him into some of his 6 monther outfits on lazy days.

Thank you so so much. :) We love you guys.

P.S. A huge thank you for the giftcard too. We'll use it for Preston's 1st birthday next month. THANK YOU.

P.P.S. Yes Preston does have clothes that fit him. LOL. But he was quickly gaining a ratio of clothes that were too small compared to the ones that did fit. :)

10 Fun Things to Do on a Budget

I'm sure you've all been feeling the economic crunch this year. We certainly have.

I have heard way too many times lately from friends and family though about how it's hard to do fun things when you don't have enough money. I even got that same schpeal the other day when I reminded my dear husband that he had not taken me out on a date in...wow I don't even know how long.

Let me remind you all, that once upon a time you were a starving college student and finding creative ways to spend your time (and what money you had) was like an art.

I decided to bring out the inner-college student in myself and think of some ways to have fun and not spend a lot of money. Feel free to steal ideas, or send me some of your own.

1. Put together a homemade picnic lunch of sandwiches, drinks, and brownies and head down to your favorite park. Want to make it a datenight? Do what we've done and bring a dozen tea candles and go at night. Lakes and oceans are the best to get the reflective sunset and city lights.

2. Explore your city. What would you do and where would you go if you were a tourist in your own city? We're in Seattle, and there are lots of fun free/cheap things to do. Pike Place Market to watch them throw the fish, a walk-on ferry ride across to Bainbridge Island and back, free taste testers at Costco :), Beach volleyball at Alki Beach (or rollerblading, jogging, walking, etc.). Take the monorail from the Seattle Center to Westlake Mall and back. Run through the huge fountain at the Seattle Center.

3. Go on a hike. No matter where you live there are always places to go hike and explore. We are fortunate enough to live only 10 minutes away from the Cascade Mountains where there are a million different places to hike. Pack your daypacks, a sack lunch, lots of water, and dress comfy. You'd be amazed at what fresh air and beautiful views will do for your mood.

4. Movies in the Park. There are tons of parks in our area that do summer outdoor movie nights, and usually they are free if you donate canned food. Bring your blanket, pillow and snacks and enjoy the warm air.

5. Go Camping. Sure it's not as great as sleeping in a nice comfy bed, BUT, it's fun and economical. And if you pick the right place, you can make some pretty fun memories. Next month we're planning to camp over on the Olympic Peninsula at our favorite state park that overlooks a bluff next to the ocean where you can watch the sun set over the ocean right from your campsite. Add a fire, roasted hotdogs and smores and sounds like heaven to me. :)

6. Visit relatives. Okay so maybe you can't afford to take that week in Maui, but if you're desperate to get away, lodging is always cheap if you stay with family. We sometimes take weekend trips up to my parents house, who only live an hour north of us. Doesn't really seem like a vaca right? BUT they do live on an island, lodging and food is free, and they even have an in house babysitting service. What could be better than that?

7. Movie Nights in your Living Room. I have to say that we can't even really afford to go to the movies lately. At $10 a ticket, plus paying a babysitter...it adds up and by that time we can't even afford dinner. So here's what you do. Rent a movie from Blockbuster, pile all the pillows and blankets you can find into your living room, pop a variety of popcorn, drinks, and have a movie night right there in your living room. Plus, hey, you get to wear your pajamas and I think that makes it all worth it right there.

8. Turn your dining room into a romantic restaurant. A couple of months ago, I surprised Will by making a fancy dinner and turning our dining room table into Cafe al la Thomas. Tea candles burning, cloth napkins, sparking cider, after dinner mints, and menu to complete it. Preston even had his own plate. I just need to figure out how to get a waiter next time. Hmmm. It's also fun if you have a favorite restaurant and try to duplicate their recipes. It really opens the mind up to creativity.

9. Taking in the View. Put the kids in their jammies and drive until they fall asleep, then go to a great lookout spot overlooking your city. Bring snacks. Sit there, soak in the night time view, and get some great one-on-one time with your spouse. Hint: If you're from Seattle, there is a GREAT view on Queen Anne Hill that puts your right smack dab in front of the Space Needle.

10. Free, free, free. If you really do your homework, you will find a ton of free events in your city. Free concerts (sometimes on Sunday evenings at various churches), free movies, free art exhibits, you name it. Do a city search. You'd be surprised.

Got more ideas? I want to hear them! Comment away. :)

We Did it Will's Way Today.

Today - we did things Will's way.

Instead of going to the gym today, I opted to take Preston out for a walk in the stroller.

"Preston and I are headed out for a walk, " I said to Will. "Do you want to come or should we just go?"

Will mumbles under his breath and tries to open his eyes through a groggy state of mind. He had gotten up at 5:30am with Preston, then went running at 6:00am and had been trying to catch up on a little bit of sleep.

"Ummm"... (yawn, stretch) he replies,"Yeah, ...I'll go with you guys."

But instead of my usual route, Will talked me into going on a trail with him on one of his routes. I was a bit apprehensive, but I said "Okey dokey."

The trail was muddy. We went just over 5 miles. He was amazingly fast, being in his element. I was amazingly SLOW, being out of mine. I was sweating. He was not. I got stinging neddle. He did not. I had to pee three times on our hike. And no there weren't any outhouses so I had to squat in the woods. Sometimes being a girl really stinks in that respect. Preston giggled and swatted at bugs.

So we did exercise his way.

Later this afternoon (post hike), we were all just hanging around the house doing our own stuff. I could all of a sudden smell Preston's poopy diaper from across the room.

"Preston you have stinky pants!" I said to him, loud enough that I was hoping his Dad would come and do the duty.

Minutes went by.

I decided I would go and change him but first I needed to finish exporting a track in my music program and convert it to an mp3 and email it to my Mom as she had been patiently waiting for it for like 3 weeks now.

"All right poopy pants, Whew!! Let's get this done." I hear as Will comes over to Preston and swoops him up and takes him into the nursury.

About 30 seconds later I hear "Ughhhhh, we've got a blowout!"

I imagine Preston's outfit completely covered in poo.

A minute later, I hear:

"No Preston noo,....Oh no!! Don't eat that! No no no!!" with intermittent laughs from Will in between, "No Preston don't put that in your mouth! Ughhhhh HELP!!!"

Oh great I thought.

I get up and run into the nursury.

There is Preston sitting up on his changing table with a big dumb grin on his face while munching away on something, and Will with and even dumber grin on his the size of Texas, accompanied by the reddest face I'd ever seen busting up laughing. I'm totally freaking out.

"So what happened?? Did he REALLY eat some of his poo?" I asked frantically.

Will, trying to stop laughing so he can answer my question...could only nod his head.

I'm PMSy so I don't find this funny at all. "Well how much did he eat??? Why didn't you stop him?"

After not getting any sort of good answer as to why Will didn't stop, other than "There was this tiny piece of poop that splatted out onto the changing table as I swiped his bum and he reached over and picked it up and put it in his mouth before I could stop him!", I decided that he was a horrible father (not really, but at that moment I declared to him that he was).

Preston's looking up at me with in his birthday suit smiling. I'm looking in his mouth trying to find the poop but it is long gone. I look at Preston's backside and it is covered in slimy poop, just all over the place. He seems to think it is pretty funny.

"Please, go take him" I said.

Will, still giggling, takes Preston to the bathroom and plops him into the bathtub as I stayed and disinfected his changing table three times and contemplated just how much poop one would have to eat for it to be toxic.

And so, we did diaper changes Will's way.

It's no wonder men have a saying that goes, "Look woman, you can tell a man what to do, or how to do it but not both."

I've decided it is far better to tell a man HOW to do something from now on.

Good Days and Bad Days.

Sometimes you just have really good days.

The sun is shining, everything is going right, and you're on top of the world.

I had two good days where I felt like I got a lot accomplished. I was on top of the world.

I cleaned our kitchen yesterday. You know, the kind of clean where you take the stove apart and wash all the parts.

I also mopped floors.

Vacuumed Cheerios up.

Dusted.

Polished a piano.

Re-arranged some pictures on the wall.

Did laundry.

Cleaned Preston's room.

Cleaned Preston (he hadn't had a bath in 2 days).

Cleaned the microwave.

Did 2 loads of dishes.

Made whole wheat pancakes with strawberries for everyone.

Painted my toenails.

Got Preston down for naps.

Went to the gym.

Had snuggle time with Will.

The day before that was also a good day.

After not being able to do anything with our album for 3 weeks, my Mom and I spent 9 hours in my studio on Friday. We completed one song, which since it is appearing twice on the album (different arrangements), we essentially completed two songs.

This is never done.

Actually finishing a song in one studio session is just not usually done by my Mom and I. But this time it got done, which brings us closer and closer to being finished with the album. 2 more songs to go and then VOILA!

And the day before that was also a good day.

I finished my article for the month for the Music Teacher Blog that I am an author on. I am supposed to write one article per month, and I was kind of behind. So it felt good to finally post an article and get that accomplished.

But sadly, not everyone around here had such good days.

In fact, I would venture to say this last week has been down right rough for this little guy.

Between dealing with a cold and not sleeping well because of that and not knowing why he feels so miserable but just knows he is uncomfortable, what could possibly be worse?

I can tell you.

Teething.

The other night, Preston would wake hourly and scream and only go back to sleep if one of us was there. It was a long tiring night for us all.

The next morning, after we took turns sleeping in (while the other watched Preston) we were finally all caught up on our sleep. Preston was in good spirits, and Will noticed while getting him to giggle the reason why he had not slept very well.

He had two tiny little white front teeth poking through his puffy gums. They weren't there the day before I can tell you that. Poor guy, no wonder he had such a rough night.

But now that those puppies have poked through, he is back to normal...

Having good days where he is discovering the world

As well as himself.