More from our runaway day …

Only, we have to worry about more than just her allergies and how to protect her from them, because we also have to protect the other children’s allergies from whatever might possibly end up in her sack-lunch.

Nothing of a peanut variety may be along with her for her bus ride. They did say we could pack them but that they could not open their lunches on the bus and thats like asking your three year old to help you wrap the presents blindfolded for Christmas.

It’s easier to just do it yourself, am I right?

So, no peanuts. Which is one of the food groups she can have plenty of and we can be pretty creative because of it … but not for school.

And because of the cost we don’t eat a ton of Gluten Free breads or crackers, which is half of what a sack-lunch used to be – your sandwich and those yummy-bad-for-you crackers and cheese. Oh yum!

I put it out there on my personal facebook page asking parents who make them WHAT THEY PUT IN THEM!! I just don’t know.

I’ve gotten some great tips, best one of all was to include the occasional note or sticker, I loved it when my mom did that and can’t believe I was totally forgetting that about lunches.

Here’s the other dilemma I run into … how much do I pack with her? She get’s a snack in the morning (crackers that all parents provide to the school, in her case, special crackers) and then lunch. Do I plan that she’ll stuff herself so she can make it through the ride home and then beg me for something to eat? Or do I pack something that along the way home, she might find and decide to snack on herself.

I have been the sole source of nutrition and food for my daughter since she was born. Unleashing this huge responsibility on her and strangers around her feels like I’m handing reigns over to someone I haven’t met, who doesn’t understand that her rosy cheeks mean more than she’s warm.

Or the tight red line she gets around her lips means her stomach hurts. That when she starts itching her legs and arms she’s having an allergic reaction and the only that makes her feel better is a cold drink and time on my lap, possibly some lotion.

They don’t know that the awful sound she makes when she’s frustrated is really where the word “HELP ME” is supposed to go but she can never find it in time to say that instead of burst out yearning.

And how in the world is the teacher going to see all of this when there are 20some other children, all with their own special quirks and stories, in her room expecting the same treatment that I expect for my baby girl? WHO IS NO LONGER A BABY AND … AND …. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

{long pause}

Well I just lost my marbles. So this week is going to be tough, the week I have to act all “This is so exciting!” and I’m feeling “Dear God please keep her safe, when did she start walking again? Will she come back to me?”, “She’s still so small!!”. She’s already announced to us that she realizes I am going to cry on her first day of school – it’s what I do! She declared.

She’s right.

But along with working through all of this, letting her go, giving her wings and watching her take off and be great, I have to pack a Lunch! With no peanuts.

Mom’s, how do you do it?

A few Sunday’s ago we hosted our first Cocktail Party at our new apartment. It was a way for our friends to see the new place but also a wonderful way to have friends over and finally use some of my ideas for decorating and enjoying a fun evening.

We made super fun use of the mustaches.

I tried a few new recipes and made some yummy treats.

And we even had games to play.

Getting together with our friends there usually is never a lack of conversation, but since this evening was specifically for adults only I decided to try to steer the conversation in a direction that would make everyone think of something other than where soandso’s kids were for the evening. Not everyone has children and it can be pretty difficult to sit in a circle and only ever hear myself talk about my kids. So the Conversation Game was a way for me to practice using other parts of my brain and to keep it interesting.

The first question we pulled out of the jar was “What are your thoughts on the oil spill and BP’s current reaction to the problem?”

Wowza! We hadn’t had enough PomTini’s to answer that one yet … so we skipped it. I had a blast going through the questions and hearing everyone’s answers. After 10 years of knowing and hanging out with these guys, I still learned something new about them … which was refreshing and fantastic.

The last slip I pulled from the jar as people were getting ready to head out was “Refill your drinks!” … ha! A little late in the evening for that one, but a perfect ending nonetheless.

Unfortunately I failed to get the invites in the mail early enough for an RSVP but I did print them! I chose a template from Download and Print and customized them with this invitational message:

join us for a

Cocktail Hour @ Schaap’s New Roost
sunday, august twenty-second
at
seven o’clock in the evening

address street, holland

rsvp is requested by august eighteenth 

adults only, childcare not provided

Next time we host a party it’ll be my first goal to get the invites in the mail 14 days prior to the event.

It was a blast! We can’t wait to do it again, have you hosted any fun parties lately? For a birthday? A friend or family member? A wedding or even a graduation or retirement bash? I’d love to hear how you pulled it off, helpful tips you thought of or creative ways you decorated for the event.

Here are more photos of our fun evening.

This weekend the husband and I went to Chicago to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary.

More to come on our trip and how I went about planning it, how we decided what to try, what to do and where we went.

Until then – Happy Anniversary, Aaron! Seven years and I STILL do.

{Mushy face}

As far as conferences go I’ve been to one, planned one and am now hoping to win a ticket to another one!

I’ve heard people talk about conferences in a number of different ways, mostly I hear that what you get out of them is social interaction; putting faces to names and making friends across the world from right across your table. Which I’m excited about and did experience first hand at BlogHer09, however, I’m more excited to get energized and excited about what I’m doing here every day, day after day, when I’m in a room of creative people who think that this is valid. That writing within this media is worth it.

Most of the audience at the conferences I’ve been to so far are women and it feels like this wonderful, welcoming tribe of people who want to listen to you. There’s always someone who’s interested, who has questions/ideas.

I’m interested in the Type A Mom conference for the same reasons that drove me to plan a conference for bloggers by bloggers with my partner in crime, Stacey from Stacey Says…, to learn more about how to get to the next level. To create relationships with the kind of companies, other bloggers and friends that go beyond the giveaway, that go beyond the page and where respect runs both ways.

This website is work for me (fun and amazing work but still work). It’s time away from my kids and getting to a place where the companies I am or have worked with respect that and don’t expect my words, my time and my influence for free is difficult. Which is just the reason Type A Mom fits where I am right now in this business and I hope to get a chance to be inspired to continue thinking outside of the box.

More details coming this week.

In the mean time, please discuss amongst yourselves in the comments about the best month for the “Healthy Cooking Demo” and there will be a slight cost to this one to cover the food. September or October?

I’ll be doing a Holiday Cooking Demo early December as well. Dates and details will be discussed and released via the facebook page in November. If you have specific requests please share them!!

Lisa spent the entire day on a 20 minute rotating schedule of photo-shoots. The photo’s of the day turned out wonderful.

I spent the day keeping my kids out of other people’s photos and getting them ready for their own 20 minutes of “fame”, and I took behind the scenes photos of what Lisa does.

Here’s Lisa’s write up about the day. (Including some of the photos she took)

And they’re doing it AGAIN in July!!!

If you’re interested in having your photos taken please email Lisa Walcott directly.

**Hey guess what! I get paid to write. This is a disclaimer stating that to you so that no one gets confused. This website is my job.**

It was a big day for him. Lots of frosting and presents.

It was a big day for the whole family, really.

We celebrated the joyfulness he fills us with every single day …

And how incredibly in love with life he is, he’s made us and he continues to be as his own little two year old self.

It was a very low key celebration with just Grandpa’s and Grandma’s, a few aunts and uncles. It’s not really our “thing” to make a huge deal out of birthdays outside of our own family of four. We like to celebrate each other in a big way, without fanfare or 17 primary colored toys.

Because celebrating life isn’t about getting, it’s about giving.

And he gives us so much.

Being the baby of our family is fun, I think. My daughter and I like to cater to him but we also like to treat him like a big boy – because that’s what he prefers. She said to me yesterday, driving around in the car, that she can’t wait to be a Mommy! Hearing something like that from your own child is a pretty big compliment – because their frame of reference of mothering is you. It’s me.

I get pretty paranoid about screwing them up. Am I telling them I love them enough? Am I smothering? Am I strict enough where it counts? Do I establish boundaries well enough? It’s always about being enough and doing enough and accomplishing it all when really they see me being me. Just me.

Short comings, pitfalls in my own character, crabby and sad. They see it all. Of all the people in my life – my kids know me, my heart, the best. We’re with one another every single day, all day. But she chooses to see the happy, well adjusted person I try to be. She chooses to see me for me.

And she said she wants that, too.

Happy birthday to our little guy, to our special girl and to our family of four. We just might be doing this right – and we’re loving every single minute.

April 24th, 2010.

One of the very biggest life list items came to fruition. I thought, when I wrote that line item, I was foreseeing a grandchild’s birth in my future. That I’d have years and years to ponder the deepest gratitude for this one coming true.

It’s weird how things happen.

This is a baby boy.

This baby boy is my nephew.

His name was Judah at birth.

He was given up for adoption.

There is reverence in these memories because of the raw emotion involved in being present to see a mother, a mom like me, give birth and then say good bye.

To hear his cry and watch his chest rise with life, to hold and touch and smell and smile at your son. At my nephew. To capture in those moments with him in my arms the beginning of a story I’ll forever save for just him, if he ever wants to hear it.

He is beautiful. How amazing is the God I believe in, to create this wonder inside of someone with a heart heavy enough and big enough to know that giving him to someone with empty arms is the best thing for him?

There will forever be a bond between 3 women in my family that will never go beyond our hearts … and will always reach farther than our hands.

June 15, 2010 Life Style Photo Sessions FREE

Last year I paired up with Walcott Imaging to host (virtually I suppose) a Photo Party. How about we do that again?

This year’s date is June 15 – a Tuesday. You can schedule a free 20 min photo session between 9 am and 6 pm.

We’ll be scheduling folks on the half hour but the session itself will only be 20 min.

Kids playing, moving, posing, smiling. Feel free to be creative with outfits and props. This is a great opportunity to get your senior photos done for next year, engagement photos, kids portraits. Only, and lets be honest here, lets not do so many poses, ok? Let’s be ourselves. Let’s have some fun. Let’s play in the dirt and giggle.

A Life Style shoot is just that … a window into the moments of your lives that you don’t usually capture.

Bring your dog! Or your chicken! Need an updated photo of your parents? THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.

The possibilities are endless, really. So … email me to schedule your time slot and we’ll get ready to rumble.

Personally, I’ll be scheduling a time slot for my kids and we have a whole box of play clothes I’ll be bringing for props (that you may use too!) … and have you seen this hat? Yes. More of that.

A few more details:

• The photoshoot will be outdoors, location: 1106 Ardmore St Holland, Mi
• There will be a handful of props and “costumes” available but you’re welcome to bring your own as well.
• We’re EXCITED! You are too? Oh good. That’s just what we hoped for.

PRICING:

• $100 for the digital rights (regularly $150),
• $35 for a single digital image (regularly $45)
• 20% off of print orders. These deals are good for one week after the session.