Emily Jones

December Ramblings

It's definitely starting to feel like Christmas!

We've had our tree up since the second of December, and the lights too, but I'm getting so excited now that Christmas is only a few days away!

We finsihed up our shopping yesterday afternoon, and I cannot wait for the kids to open their gifts.  Also, remember that guitar that Jake asked Santa for?  I'm pretty sure Santa is briging Jake his very own Toy Story guitar. 

Just like every year Joey is getting a TON of books, which I'm sure he'll have read by January 1st.  ;)  That boy is such a voracious reader.  He is getting a ton of Goosebumps books, Diary of A Wimpy Kid 4, 5, and the Do-It-Yourself Journal, Animorphs, various Science related books, and my favorite?  The Baby Sitter's Club Mysteries.  Yep, you read that right.  My boy likes the Baby Sitters Club!  Just don't tell his friends. hehehe.  I am so excited that he enjoys those books, as they were my absolute favorites as a kid.  I had the whole series, including the mysteries and super specials, and I wanted to be Stacy.  So, I am pretty stoked that Joey likes them, though he tells me he likes the mystery ones because I think that makes him feel better about liking such an overtly girlish series. ;)

The present I am most excited about this year?  My novel.  It is a Middle Grade (meaning for middle grade elementary kids) fantasy.  The best part is that Joey is the protagonist in the book, and I wrote it for him.  I finished editing it a couple weeks ago and ordered it through lulu.com, and I got notice yesterday that it should be here sometime this week.  I cannot wait to give it to him.  He has NO idea that I did this. 

Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics from around the house and what we've been up to the last 21 days of December.  I am participating in Ali Edwards' December Daily project, but I'm waiting to put the album together until after the Holidays because I am getting the photos printed and shipped next week.  So here is a bit of our December:

 

My vintage glass bulb lights, LOVE them!

My Christmas Village.

Stockings were hung by the (pictures) with care.

Tis the season for Christmas themed homework!

Our pretty wreath.

The tree has been trimmed. (And re-trimmed by little fingers that like to move ornaments around.) ;)

Taking pictures of ornaments that mean something to me.  This particular one was given to me by my Grandmother when I was a young teen.

Baking and decorating sugar cookies.

Hanging the ornaments on our advent tree.

Tearing off links on our Christmas Countdown chain.

Just a few short days until Christmas!  Unfortunately Joey is having an MRI tomorrow, (more on that later) so I am looking forward to tomorrow being over quickly, and then beginning the joyous festivities. 

Christmas is and will always be my favorite time of the year.

XO,

Em

Here Comes Santa Claus!

We saw Santa the other night.  Seeing Santa has always come with mixed feelings for me.  Don't get me wrong, I love Santa.  But Jake does not.  Jake, my sweet boy who has struggled with sensory/behavioral issues since birth, Jake who is not comfortable in new situations or with strangers, has always cut and run when he saw Santa. 

Sometimes he would cry.  Sometimes he would back up and hide behind us and sometimes it was "holy-epic-sensory-meltdown."  There was no way he would ever approach Santa.  He would talk about Santa when we were at home, he would tell us he was going to sit on his lap, but when it came down to it, he just couldn't.  And it was okay.

This year we prepped the kids before we left for the Fire Station (where we see Santa every year) We told them it was okay if they didn't want to sit on his lap, but we talked it up big about getting to tell him exactly what they wanted for Christmas.

Joey thought long and hard about what he was going to ask for, and he decided on the Diary of A Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Journal.  Lily out of the blue decided she had to have "Bullseye" the horse from Toy Story.  And Jake went on and on and on about Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story. 

So we left to go see Santa and we talked about seeing him some more, all the kids were excited.  We pulled up to the Fire Station, got in the big line and we waited. 

The kids danced to the carols and as we inched closer and closer to Santa, and I started to hold my breath and prepare for the freak out.

There was none.

When it was our turn, Lily ran up and plopped down on Santa's knee, and Joey sat on the other.  Jake tenatively made his way toward Santa and his siblings, smiling shyly.  I held my breath some more.

He stood next to Lily, not quite touching Santa, but definitely taking it all in.

Joey and Lily told Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and they smiled and talked to him as if they saw him every day.

Santa turned to look at Jake.  "What do you want for Christmas?" Santa asked him.

Jake smiled his gapped tooth smile and I waited for him to tell Santa about the Mr. Potato Head, he just had to have.

Jake opened his mouth and spoke.  "A guitar.  I want a guitar."  He told Santa.

Santa laughed heartlily and looked over to me. "Ummmm, mom?"  He said.

I chuckled and said, "Jake, is there something else you wanted to tell Santa?"

Jake said. "Oh yeah, and uh...a Potato Head.  That would be cool too." 

Santa gave them all a candy cane, and he told them to be good.  They alll waved goodbye and Lily shouted "BYE SANTA!  MERRY KISSMAS!"  And we walked out.

I could not stop beaming.

He did it.  It may seem silly to be overjoyed because your kid sat on Santa's lap, but if you knew how many ways Jake has grown in the last 8 months since he started therapy, you would be overjoyed too.  My dear friend Nicole, who is Mom to an autistic boy told me, "I get it.  Every little milestone is a big deal."

And she's right.  It's the small victories that add up to a whole.  It's the tiny baby steps that take us closer to Jake being comfortable in his own skin.

I am so proud of Jake for taking the leap, for putting himself out there.  It's not an easy thing to do.

Way to go buddy.

 

 

XO,

Em

A Space To Call My Own

Living in a small house, the one thing that constantly goes through your mind is: "Where can I put it?"  It doesn't matter what "IT" is, you are usually hard pressed to find space.

As a scrapbooker, the sheer quantity of supplies I have acquired over the past ten years is staggering.  Jim has always been very supportive of my hobby and in every house that we have lived in, he has helped make sure that I have a place to call my own.  When we moved in, he very graciously let me have the garage, and let me tell you.  I took the garage.  The whole garage.  Jim is a carpenter, and he comes with many many tools and he needs space too, but he let me have the garage.  Such a nice boy. ;)

And it has worked, sort of.

In the summer I would come out to the garage and scrapbook to my hearts content because it often stayed very cool in the heat and it was a nice get away.  But I always felt bad about being segregated from the family.  And then we had an unusually cold fall, and it became freezing in the garage. And I started dragging my stuff into the house to scrap at the dining table.  Which presented a whole slew of new problems, like "Oh, where are we going to eat dinner?"

So the other day I saw this and this at Apartment Therapy and the wheels began turning.

I casually mentioned to Jim that turning a closet into an office was a very cool idea. 

And he got to work.  True to his craft, he wanted to build me something beautiful and polished and stained beautifully, and I just laughed.  I told him, "Babe, I'm going to be painting and sewing and glimmer misting and it's going to get ruined.  I just need something functional."  He saw that I was right (as per usual ;)) And he went out to Home Depot and bought some wood.

This is what the closet looked like before: (Now, I took this picture after we had started pulling stuff out, so just so you know, my closet is actually always very organized. ;) )

Before:

 

Jim cut a desk that spanned the entire length of the closet and added an extra shelf under the pre-existing shelves, and voila!  An office! 

 

After:

You can see that he put up a pegboard and a cork board inside so I can pin up inspiration, and hang up tools and embellishments.

 

I've got all my wood stamps and acrylic stamps on this shelf, to the right of the picture below is a basket of loose acrylic stamps and all the acrylic stamp sets.

I consolidated my button, flowers, and thread and opted for a more compact storage solution..they aren't separated by color anymore, but it's no biggie, at least it all fits!

 

These little jars were Jim's that he gave to me, they are magnet topped and attach to the metal strip.  I've got beads, brads etc.. in them.

This is a pic looking up while sitting at the desk.  You can see I have a lot packed in here!

Under the desk I have a white rolling cart to the right side, it houses ribbon, extra tools and punches.

Under the desk to the left, I've got my Fat Max.  I keep all kinds of stuff in here.  This is the best thing I ever bought for scrapbooking, true story.  It holds so much product and tools and it is so easy to travel with.  I use it all the time.  I got it at Costco a couple months back when it was on sale for $39.99, such a great deal!

 

Oh, and if you're wondering where all the clothes went...we went through all of them and scrutinized what we actually wear and still like and we gave a lot to the Goodwill, and then the remainder went folded into "Under the Bed Boxes" and into the dresser.

So there you have it!  I now have a space to call my own, and I don't have to freeze my batootie off just to scrapbook! I still have some stuff to find room for and I'm planning a big purge soon, but most of all the important stuff is in here!

Jim says he is very excited about the prospect of hanging out and watching movies while I work, this way we're not banished to two different spots in the house when I work!

He's the best husband ever. <3

Best Christmas present ever.

XO

Em

Before and After

Recently I have discovered a love for a new hobby.

Recycling and re-purposing furniture.

I am absolutely obsessed with finding vintage and quirky pieces and making them my own.  My favorite place to find pieces is Craiglslist and this awesome local Thrift Store called Treasure Quest. 

I thought I'd share some of the pieces I've added to our home recently.

 

First was Lily's changing table.  Now that she is potty trained, she really had no use for the chest in her room, it housed diapers and wipes and was now sitting empty. 

The chest was given to us by one of my mom's close friends, her ladies, as she calls them.  It is an antique dresser that had been in her family and she passed it down to us when Lily was born. 

So I had an idea.  I decided to paint it and add crystal knobs.  I loved how it turned out, and put it in the hallway.  It's next to the bathroom and houses extra toilet paper and toiletries. 

 

Another piece we recently did was an entry way/ mudroom system. We've been needing a solution for all the coats, shoes, backpacks, mittens, etc. that come with three kids.  I knew I wanted a mudroom bench and coat rack, but I couldn't find one that was skinny enough to fit on the wall we have in the entry way and I didn't want a huge bulky piece of furniture when you walk in the door either.  So we decided to come up with something on our own. 

We found this reclaimed window at Treasure Quest.   It had the glass panes in it, but after consideration, we decided that our boys would most likely break the glass in it within a day, so we removed the panes.  We painted it a barn red color, which I love, and I distressed it a bit with sand paper.  We added hooks to the top, five hooks, one for each of us.  And voila!  I cute coat rack. 

For the bottom of the wall, I found a mudroom bench with cubby storage at Home Depot.  It's made by Martha Stewart, it only came in white but I really wanted it in black.  I bought some of the "for plastic" Krylon paint and after lots of cuss words and three coats of paint, it actually ended up working.  We use the cubbies for shoes, hats and mittens.

My most recent finds are these chairs. Sorry for the crappy blackberry pic...but you get the idea. ;)

They are vintage Wing-backs, and I have grand visions of recovering them in black and white toile. 

Let me tell you, I love these chairs.

I got an estimate from a local upholsterer about having them redone and he quoted me $525 a chair.  A chair.  Insane.  So I guess I'm going to do the reupholstering myself.  My mom offered to help, and she is the expert on all things sewing related, so hopefully between the two of us they will look great!

 I have one other before and after to share, but it deserves a post of its own, so that will come soon. ;)

If you have a website you love to go to for interior design, share it with me!  I love to peruse Apartment Therapy daily, but I love to find nw inspiration!

 

XO,

Em

 

my baby is three.

I'm not sure how this happened, but my baby girl is three.

It seems as if I wasn't paying attention and when I looked up she had turned into a girl.  Not a baby, not even really a toddler anymore.  A full blown girl. 

Lily is spunky.  That means a lot of things, it means she's feisty, and stubborn and hard-headed and she wants to do everything all. by. herself. 

She is a total drama queen.  Which, I gather, she gets from me.  So I hear.  From everyone. 

Having another girl in the house when you are so used to being surrounded by testosterone is an interesting thing. 

Joey and Jake never went into screaming convulsions if I told them it was too cold outside to wear a skirt, or that their shirt didn't match their tutu.  Nope.  This is new territory, my friends.  I'm handling the mom-to-a-girl thing as best I know how, which means I make a lot of mistakes and sometimes I want to scream.  It also means that sometimes I have to just let go of control and let my daughter wear a pink tutu with a yellow shirt that she put on backwards and rubber boots.  And that's okay, because the happiness she gets from doing it "all by myself!" is worth it.

I've talked about the differences between sons and daughters on my blog before, but it's just so true.  It is a whole new world of crazy with a daughter.  I am excited, and scared silly to see what the future will bring us with this girl. 

For the last six months Lily has done nothing but talk about her "Purple Princess Party" that she was going to have when she turned three.  She came up with this all on her own.  I thought for sure she would want a Dora Party, but she was adamant back in June when the boys had their parties, that when it was her turn, she was having a Purple Princess Party.  And she's been inviting people to it too.  She'd see Nana and say, "Nana, you wanna come to my Purple Princess Party?"  You get the point, she's been talking this up for a while.  So of course I wanted to make sure this party was worth the wait and anticipation because six months?  Is a long time for a two-and-a-half year old to be talking about an event. 

And true to form, I stressed.  And I worried.  And I planned, and I stressed some more.   And my husband gently reminded me that she is three.  She is going to love it no matter what.

And then, we all got the flu three days before the party.

I was miserable, I was in bed for two days, I was so behind schedule and I was mad. 

And I did something I usually never do, I asked for help.  I called my mom and asked her to come stay with us the night before the party and help me get ready, and of course she was very happy to do so. 

And let me tell you, my mom was a great help.  She helped with food prep, decorations, she calmed me down and told me that no matter what Lily would love her party. 

Jim told me not to worry about cleaning the house from top to bottom (which I was very concerned about doing so we could get the flu germies out) he said he would take care of it all.  And he did.  He is such a good guy, I don't know how I would function without him.

So between the three of us, well more like 2.5 of us since I was barely upright, we got the place decorated and the food made.  And it was great.

When my very first tiered fondant cake did not turn out how I had wanted, and I stressed some more My mom told me it was beautiful, and that Lily would love it.  And she was right.  Lily loved it so much.

So Lily had a party, and it was a blast.  And even though we were almost snowed out of the party, even though we had the flu and almost had to cancel, and even though it started pouring rain the minute we hung the pinata on the tree in the front and we were forced to whack the pinata in the living room, it was great.  I hope Lily remembers her Purple Princess Party forever.

But please Lily, stop growing up so fast. 

I love you so much.

 

On Life...

Normally I would preface a post like this with: "I'm back!" or "Sorry it's been so long!"  but I'm not going to give you, (as if anyone is still reading this blog) some meaningless platitudes.

Truthfully, I am not sorry it's been so long. 

Truthfully, I am burned out.

Burned out on pretending like everyday I am so! cheerful!  and happy! !!!!!!!  Not that you probably think my life is roses and rainbows (or DOUBLE RAINBOWS, OMG WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?!?!)  But I have gone back and read every post on this blog and truthfully, I am annoyed.  This is not a blog I would read if it were not my own.  I fell into the trap of writing about the fun stuff, the good stuff and I forgot to mention that oh yeah, sometimes life isn't fun.  Sometimes I want to tear my hair out because my children are driving me up the wall and my husband is snoring and I'm going to smother him with a pillow. 

If you've read this blog at all in the last three years then you are probably a scrapbooker or a friend I met through scrapbooking, or my mom.  ;)  I don't know how much of this blog is going to revolve around scrapbooking anymore.  I will probably post pages once in awhile, but that will no longer be the focus.   I guess I'm just promising to talk about the un-fun stuff too.  To blog more.  To be real-er.  Yes, that's totally a word.  Shuddup. 

I'm not sure what the point of this entry is, other than to say that I find myself wanting to write again.  I am writing again.  I took a sabbatical from blogging and scrapbooking and started writing.  I wrote a novel, I scrabooked for myself, a lot.  I spent way more time with my family and I enjoyed myself.

We also had some heartache.

The last eight months have been a roller coaster for us emotionally.  Our son Jake, who has always had sensory issues, was diagnosed with ODD, and has been in weekly OT counseling since then.  We have grown so much as a family unit and I am bursting with pride for us.   My son, once a child who could not stand to hear a toilet flush, who would run screaming from a high powered hand dryer, who covered his ears at his birthday party because he couldn't stand to hear people sing, is now a Kindergartner in a regular classroom who sings to me.  The first day he came home and sang me a song, I cried.  It was Yankee Doodle.  Or, if you ask him, Yankee Noodle.  :)  His manic episodes are fewer and farther between, he has blossomed and bloomed and is a completely different kid.  I am ridiculously proud of him.

Yesterday was our last day with Jake's first Counselor, Genell.  She has been an integral part of our family, and became a friend.  It's funny, Genell, though not an actual part of my family, knows more about me as a mother, Jim as a father, and more about how my children tick, than any other member of our immediate family.  Genell brought us a parting gift yesterday afternoon, a tin of notes she had written to us, we are supposed to look at the notes every time we need encouragement, or a boost. She then had us write notes to each other and we read them.  It was a crying fest all around. 

I debated on whether or not to share the notes or not, because, to me it's a very intimate thing, but ultimately, I think they're worth sharing.  Here are a couple:

 

- A good parent is not perfect.  A good parent does the best they can and learns every day.

-It's better to take a break and think about what you are going to say than to have to go back and fix it.

-Attitudes are contagious.  Is yours worth catching?

 

She included several personal notes for each of us, but I don't think I am going to share those, they are touching and I think, just a little too private. 

She has no idea how much her words mean to me.

I will say that Genell has given me the confidence I needed to say that I am a good mom.  I am not a perfect mom, but I am proactive about learning how to better myself and my family and I strive to make every day better than the last.  And that's what it's about. 

We will meet Jake's new couselor soon, it's a boy, Jake seems excited about the prospect of having a guy to talk to.  But no one will ever replace Genell.

Thank you Genell for making my family stronger.  I am forever grateful.