Sam picked up new blinds for the living room windows.  This is a good thing, since the kids have picked at the old ones and broke pieces off.  This looks especially lovely from the outside. 

He put them up today which meant an impromptu jump start on spring cleaning.  I took down the drapes and sheers and washed the windows (on the inside at least).  Not what I was planning on doing today but a nice task to cross off the spring to-do cleaning list. 

Do you think this early spring cleaning mught catapult us into an early spring?  Ummm, ok…me neither but it sure would be nice.  I look forward to getting out in my garden and planting more perrenials and the vegetable garden.   Soon it will be time to start sowing vegetable seeds indoors, most of the plants from last year were purchased already transplant size - this year we’re shooting for “from seed”.   At least I can start planning what will go into our vegetable garden.  That’s a fun process and will have to do until I can get my hands into some soil.

Ross has an appointment with a photographer on Monday for new photos for his comp card.  I have to tell you I am a little scared.  I am not afraid of some of the usual things you think I’d be afraid of.  I’m not concerned over whether Ross will cooperate, he listens better to others than to me and loves photographers. 

 I’m also not afraid that I’ve chosen the wrong clothing for the shoot.  We shopped Gap Kids and Children’s Place for 3 good outfits and a variety of mix and match polos, button down shirts, jackets and blazers.  We have our props.  Knock on wood, no injuries to the face or body.  His hair was cut 10 days ago so it’s not such a fresh, new haircut.  We even bought a new pair of black Chuck Taylors, just in case.  Most of the time they cut off the shot at the lower calf.

I am afraid of the photographer himself.  This time we went with the agency recommended photographer.  A photographer heavy in experience with fashion photography and working with models.  He is based in New York and travels across the country to several key loctions and works with a lot of the agencies.  Ross’ agent heavily recommended him. 

His website looks great.  The photos he has shot are amazing.  He is good.  And he knows it.  He also is relatively expensive.  And he comes with many rules.  Once booked, he provides you with information to prepare for the photo shoot, and his rules and regulations - arrive 10 minutes early - no more, no less, and on and on.  You receive updates making sure you have read all the rules and reminders about everything.   And then you sign off that you have read all the rules and will abide by them, and that you completely understand them.

I hope the photos and his work are as good as the image I have built up.  I understand about professionalism - as a “talents” mother - I am always sure that we are punctual - which in the modeling world is 15 minutes early.  I dutifully make sure I know exactly where we are going and that we bring what we need to based on th clients requests.   The talent, even when children need to be respectful and easy to work with.

I have to iron everything this weekend and make sure everything gets packed up properly.  I am looking forward to Monday, and hope that the experience is a good one.  I’ll be happy when it’s over.  Hopefully we will have some amazing shots.

So since before Christmas Sam has been talking about buying a video game system, you know, for the kids. The kids that are newly 5 and newly 2. Something tells me, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist here, that he wants to play video games. And that’s okay. Just own up to it.

As per my standard method of operation, I polled friends and family members who have Wii and XBox to see what they thought about the games and got the general feedback that Wii is more family, little-kid friendly where XBox is more bigger kid (including bigger kid-like dads) friendly. Which I dutifully passed on to Sam. After much thought his decision, which is much like his other previous decisions, was to buy both. And true to Sam’s form, that is as far as we have gotten. He has decided to buy both. When he will actually do so will be another story. We decided to paint Francesca’s room a long time ago and it’s still not done. Ahem, but I digress.

The other day, the kids and I came home from a Christening party to find Sam all set up with a video game hooked up to the tv. Upon further inspection, it was his very old Nintendo game sytem and Donkey Kong, in partucular, up on the screen. Ross is totally beside himself. He can’t wait to play video games with dad every day and has gotten really good at it - I initially thought he was way too young. I take it back.

We’ll still get the new game systems at some point - but what a great idea to resurrect the old video game system. To a child who has never played them, what difference does it make if the graphics are a fraction of what the new systems are? And it was free. Francesca jumps up and down and dances to the “music” as they play the game. With all the yelling and excitement, we have been having a blast.

What a difference a few hours make. This morning I was admiring the grass grown from seed in our backyard and noting that we need to reseed to fill in the gaps, and looking outside now that same yard is blanketed in snow.

This past monday I had the opportunity to walk in the back yard, first time since fall when we seeded and fenced it off from the dog. It was really mushy from all the snow and I think it was softer than usual from all the tilling. I walked to the back where my garden is, looking around at where I planted all my Michigan Bulb purchases last fall. I had ordered Mums, Allium, Coneflowers, Coreopsis and Annabelle Hydrangeas.

I am so looking forward to Spring and am very anxious to see what comes up from my purchases last year. I am very worried about the Annabelle Hydrangeas. I walked over to the four Annabelle Hydrangea twigs that I planted and dutifully marked with an orange ribbon tied to the fence behind them and then also tied to a nail in the ground about an inch before the plants. Terrified, as you can see, that I might inadvertently pull them up thinking they were weeds. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I couldn’t even see the twigs that were visibile last fall. Granted, I didn’t move around the leaf mush (technical term) that was covering them but still, nothing.

Makes me want to go out this summer and buy four “Mentor Plants”. You know, the $40 garden center variety, already blooming, and plant them near the young, naive, less experienced Hydrangea and give them something to aspire to. Kind of like plant role models.

I know that I should have more patience. All the plants - not that there have been that many - but the Spirea Little Princess, Autumn Joy Sedum, Coneflower, Coreopsis and Allium have all been bigger, flowering plants purchased from Lurvey’s. Instant gratification. Also expensive. I have a lot of garden to fill especially since I am not done with the back of the yard and I still want to create beds on the sides of the back yard and along the rear of my house.

I am looking forward to getting donations from friends as they split and divide plants this year, and I will supplement that with some purchased foundation plants. It really is economical to order the little plants by mail - I just wish I had more experience in knowing that they will, in time, actually grow.

I wonder how old the Hydrangeas that you buy in the 5 gallon pots (I think they’re 5 gallons) for $40 at garden centers and even Home Depot really are.
I never thought to ask and I guess I just naively believed they were 1 year old but from everything I am reading, it looks like they may be much older than that. Anyone know?

Come Spring when I trek over to my Garden Center for more inspiration, I’ll have to ask. In the meantime I guess I’ll just have to be patient. Easier said than done.

Literally.

Directions courtesy http://www.Nickjr.com.  that’s HoHo from Ni Hao, Kai lan - a Nick Jr. show.  Ross has been wanting to make this for a while now.  The one with the blue trim is his - he did most of it himself.  The white trimmed one is for Francesca - she did none of the work but she did nap while we made hers which was a HUGE help.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you! xxxooo

At a craft show right before Christmas, I saw an adorable barrette holder made from a picture frame.  I had already spent my budgeted craft show spending money so I couldn’t buy it, but it seemed relatively easy to make. 

I tried my hand at it this week and it came out pretty cute.  

It was really easy to make too.

Now I’ll just be obsessed with finding cute little barrettes like this little Gingerbread one from http://www.giddygiddy.com.  It will be fun trying.

In an effort to reclaim my bed and my sleep, I’ve redoubled the “get the kids to sleep in their own beds” initiative, otherwise known as GTKTSITOB.  This initiative has been met with limited success and some time spent in my bed without them is a mixed blessing as I spend most of the time wondering when they’ll come in my bed and who will be first.  Ross comes in silently and snugles up as close as posible.   Francesca comes running in, smiling and saying “mommom”. 

Now I know that time flies by and that some time in the future they will not want to sleep with me and that I will likely miss snuggling with them.  I already do when they manage to spend some time in their own beds.  It still is kind of nice to not have to lie on the very edge of the bed, dodging the inevitable foot to the face or arm slung over the chest.

I am constantly amazed at how my 5 year old boy walks the tightrope between a little boy and big boy.  During the day he is all big boy, fighting the sith with his light sabre and building towers and then making them crash down.  He is using phrases and words that take me by surprise - “Oh, for Heaven’s Sake” was his most recent phrase and now when he explains what happened he starts with “well, apparently”.  

But at night the little boy comes out.  The little boy who wants just one more story because he so very desperately does not want to go to sleep.  The little boy who insists he really does not sleep at all, he keeps his eyes open all night.  The little boy who does not want to be left alone, even with a very bright night light, because he sees the monsters. 

“Please come sleep with me” he says.  As I lay down with him, I try to reason with him that I don’t see any monsters.  They certainly can’t be under his bed as there is no room (his bunk bed has captains drawers under it and so it rests on the floor).  And surely Moose would scare them away.  “No”, he says, “they are here”.  “You can’t see them right now because they are on vacation,  but they were right there”. 

I’m not really sure what to say to that.  I want to tell him that there is no such thing as monsters.  But he truly believes in monsters.  And ghosts too.  When he sleeps in my bed, he walks all the way around to my side to climb in.  He never comes in on the other side, the side by the closet.  EVER.  Even during the day, if he climbs on the bed to play it’s from the side furthest away from the closet.  And at night when he climbs in he sleeps as close to me as humanly possible.  All to stay as far away from the ghosts as he can.    

So I lie with him and read more story books and talk with him and snuggle with him until he falls asleep.  And then,  before I leave the room, I check for monsters.  Just in case.

Today is Kindergarten registration.  When exactly did this happen?  How is it that my only boy will be old enough to go to Kindergarten in the fall?

This was Ross on his first day of Pre-School.  In just a few months, I’ll be posting a boy, a full year older, entering Kindergarten.  I so look forward to the summer and having each and every day to spend with him before he becomes a full-fledged school boy.