Welcome to our REALLY crazy um... "adventure". This is a forum for us to share what's going on in our lives with our friends and families near and far. We are artists experimenting in environmentally friendly sculpture, photography, garden art, graphic design, sewing, paper crafts, glass beadmaking, cooking and baking (among varoius other interests). For the past few years we've been running a photography business, which is a huge commitment alone. But then Jeff did have a full time job with health insurance and other good stuff (like a regular paycheck). So we thought it would be a good time to take advantage of a new opportunity and tackle a major rennovation on a house that had been reposessed.

That was going reasonably well and then the past two weeks happened. Jeff got fired from his "real" job and his Grandma passed away. So here we are with no insurance, no guaranteed income and we're trying to keep things in perspective. I'm sure Jeff would love to be with his family right now. Thankfully, we just returned from our holiday vacation and he spent tons of time with the fam and he visited Grandma on a day that she was feeling a little better. They got to talk a little and I think that has made this experience much easier to bear. Its always really hard when someone you love dies, but I've found that the opportunity to say "good-bye" makes you feel a little more comfortable in your grieving. You get a little time to prepare yourself for whatever may come.

Jeff is looking for a job pretty much anywhere. It's weird and exciting and terrifying to imagine that reality might be a move to the other side of the country sometime in the very near future. I really don't know how I'll EVER move away from my Mom and my best friends. I'm getting choked up just thinking about the possibility...

There are a bunch of big things happening in our lives, but there are still plenty of small wonders and adventures. My friend Dana had to go away for her Dad's funeral, so I agreed to babysit OVERNIGHT on Friday. First, there was the major clean-up. We finally had to take down the Christmas tree. Then we tried to brainstorm where the kids would play and what items we should put away in order to make a safe environment for the kids. I'm sure many of you have done this before, but this was my first time. I've come to understand that if you don't want to chase them down a dozen times a minute, you have to clear out an entire room and barricade it. Because it's not just the breakable stuff you have to worry about. ANYTHING can become a lethal projectile in the tiny adorably chubby hands of a one-year-old. Then you have to look out for his sister, who will try to kick baby on-the-sly roughly once every hour because he's getting more attention than she is. Okay, I definitely want kids and sure, I'll probably want more than one, but let this be my lesson from God NEVER to have more than one baby/toddler at once. Marley is four and Caleb is one, they are so funny and awesome but I was freakin TIRED by the time they went home. The baby just RUNS around non-stop. You keep thinking "oh no, he's going to climb the stairs and fall" or he would try to grab things and you think "if he pulls that clay pot down on his head it's going to mean a trip to the hospital for stitches". I'm a worrier, so I watched that kid like a hawk. Then there are the diapers, I'll spare you the gory details regarding that subject, but let's just say that his bottom kept me pretty busy. Meanwhile, poor Marley is a wee bit jealous of her little brother and all the attention he must have. Also, she doesn't want to go to sleep at night and she won't take a nap during the day. This makes for a very emotional and overly-tired little girl. Exhibit A: We used a big mirrored panel to barricade the basement staircase. This proved to be functional AND entertaining as Caleb had a great time dancing in front of it. I thought for sure that Marley would put on her dress-up clothes and pretend to be a ballerina in the mirror, but the only time she used it was when she was pouting. She would go stand by the mirror and lean against the wall and cross her arms firmly while putting her head down and making the crabbiest face she could muster. Then I noticed that she was peeking out the corner of her eye to see herself pouting in the mirror! It was so funny, aside from the fact that she was in a bad mood and I felt bad because I knew she was so tired.

It wasn't all crazy though, there were times that I was sitting on the floor with Marley and she would climb into my lap or just hug me, and it was so sweet. I made her a heart shaped pancake for breakfast and she thought it was so great that she wanted a pancake for lunch too. So then I put the syrup in a little bowl on her plate so she could dip the little bites of pancake and they wouldn't get soggy. She thought it was the best thing ever. When she washes her hands, she really gets into making the soap all foamy and playing with the bubbles. She runs water in the sink until its half full so she can rinse by dunking her hands into the basin. This creates a sinkful of floating bubbles which are very fun to play with if you haven't tried it before. In Marley's book, handwashing should take a minimum of five minutes. Cheers to the little things in life that can give us a moment of childlike joy...every day.

For all of you who've had multiple little ones at the same time, you have my utmost respect for keeping it together. I mean, sometimes I think the stuff I'm dealing with in my life is big, but when you have little kids,you have to put your stuff on hold no matter how urgent it is. What if you have cramps and a major headache? Well, its just not that important when you have to attend to the little guys. This overnight adventure has clearly illustrated to both Jeff and I that we are indeed on the correct path in our lives. We have a lot of big decisions to make right now. It would be WAY more stressful if we had to consider the needs of children as well as our own. We're not quite ready for babies yet, although when it happens, I'm sure we will be given the tools to navigate our path safely and with joy.

On that note, I'm going to make some lunch. I'll be on the lookout for any opportunity to enjoy a childlike joyful moment, and you should too.

Peace.