March Madness

I'm not sure which is worse -
the Zags losing in the first round or snow on March 30th.

Both are quite maddening!

love thursday

another entry into the shutter sister's love thursday segment.... go check out all the entries - there are some pretty amazing photographs and inspiring words!

i love how dylan's little arms are stretched so far not quite making it all the way around her daddy! such sweetness!



happy love thursday!

Just Me & My Girls

This Week's "Ten"

1. We just spent four days at a Benedictine Monastery to celebrate Easter. This has been an annual tradition for us for the last 5 years with the exception of last year's hiatus due to bedrest. It is such a wonderful experience to partake in the liturgies of the hours (prayers through out the day), however this year I was on mommy duty so I wasn't able to participate as much as I would have liked to.

2. I managed to keep up my bloomsday training while out of town for a week. I love that I have rekindled my love for running, and that I am maintaining my discipline. Such a good feeling!

3. I am taking an online photography class from one of my favorite photographers starting in April. I am so excited! There are definite areas that I am wanting to improve in, and the class description hit on all of those areas! Can't wait to show off what I learn!

4. It's official - we are headed to Disneyland in June. We are taking my niece who is graduating from high school and who has never been! Jonathan and I are going to have to take turns hanging out in the princess la-la land while the other one actually rides some fun rides! Mary, are you still considering a birthday trip??!!

5. In the car the other night, Holland asked me, "Mommy, why did God make animals like grizzly bears when they can eat people?" (I passed that one right on the Jono!) Click here to read the rest of the commentary on Jonathan's blog.

6. I bought this soundtrack and this one, too. Love them both! If you haven't seen either of the movies, I highly recommend both of them.

7. It was rainy, cold, and very windy where we were on Easter so we didn't even get our Easter egg hunt done! I still have a bag full of stuffed Easter eggs for Holland and Dylan. I told Holland that the Easter bunny probably left them at our house since we were out of town, but then I forgot to hide them. Oops. Can we have a belated Easter egg hunt? Is that totally lame?!

8. Dylan is offended by baby food these days! All she wants is what's on our plates, and she protests anything that resembles baby food. Sometimes I can trick her if I use a grown-up spoon though!

9. This is kind of a boring "ten" post so I'm gonna stop at nine so I won't bore you further!

Ten Recent Entries From Our Thankfulness Journal

1. Mommy, I'm thankful for you, and I'm thankful that when I turn five, you are going to buy me a dog. (Holland)

2. I'm thankful that Dylan took a long nap today. (Ashley)

3. I'm thankful that Holland helped Dylan take a bath tonight. (Jonathan)

4. I'm thankful for the sledding hill outside. (Holland)

5. I'm thankful that you have such a cool daddy that would build you a sledding hill in our backyard. (Ashley)

6. I'm thankful for my princess dresses and my tiaras. (Holland)

7. I'm thankful that I got big hugs and lots of smiles and exuberance from Holland when I came home from work today. (Jonathan)

8. I'm thankful for myself. (Holland)

9. mamamamamama - translated: "I'm thankful for mama". (Dylan)

10. I'm thankful that y'all are so thankful for so many things. (Jonathan)

9.5 Months

Picking My Battles & Embracing Preschool Ensembles

"Fashion Friday"

Okay, here's the story: I decided on this particular Friday morning that I really didn't want to have a full on "battle-of-the-wills-fest" with my four year old. She is very enthusiastic about dressing herself, and she is so proud of the ensembles that she comes up with - complete with a "golden", beaded hair clip for the finishing touches! At a quick glance, this particular ensemble doesn't look as "flavorful" as most of the ones she comes up with. If you look closely though, you will notice the shirt is a summery, long- sleeve shirt with surf boards and glittery Hawaiian flowers, the skirt is corduroy with embroidered hearts, the hair clip is a golden beaded flower that the hair dresser gave to her when she got her hair cut, the shoes are black leather, the tights are polka dotted, and all of the pinks are varying shades! (just didn't quite do it for me). However, how could I dampen that sweet spirit and stifle her fashion creativity? Not to mention trampling all over her self esteem, confidence, and sense of individuality?! (All for the sake of my own pride and embarrassment issues).

I have visited this whole idea of letting her have a little more fashion freedom before, and it is quite a challenge for me. The truth of the matter is though that if you walk into any preschool classroom full of girls, you will find very similar fashion trends. Lots of tights, sparkly hair accessories, mix-matched patterns, anything princess, flowy skirts and dresses, shiny jewelry if they can sneak it in, and if it were allowed - each of their sweet, little heads would be adorned with glittery, jeweled princess tiaras! (the gaudier the better)

I have realized recently that one of my favorite things to do when I drop Holland off for school, is to glance around the room and check out all of the girls and their individual styles. I'm not sure if I am more impressed with their moms who were able to "let go" and allow their daughters to be free, or the daughters themselves who were able to pull off an obscene amount of fashion fauxpas and still manage to look so stinkin' adorable!

I think there are lessons to be learned from both mom and daughter - the main one being "No worries". I want to be that mom who has no worries. I want to be that mom who is able to embrace this fun phase of life (that isn't going to last forever), and just roll with it. I just want to let her open up her drawers and closet and toss each article of clothing on the floor until she finds that perfect piece that she has envisioned completing her outfit! I want her to paint her fashion canvas of life with glittery, sparkly socks, shimmery necklaces and flowery shirts paired with striped pants.

Because that is something I would be too fearful to do. Too fearful to have "no worries".

I'm working on it though..... so for now stay tuned for more "fashion friday" posts, and see how I am taking small steps to have less worries!

Happy Saturday, Friends!

Love Thursday

I have recently been turned onto the shutter sisters blog, and they host a "love thursday" segment each week.

I submitted this picture to their blog this week because it depicts an every day love occurrence in our house these days - big sister peaking into the car seat and violently shaking it as baby sister laughs her head off. (Hence the out of focus-ness!) This is actually a calmer moment than those frequent occasions that require parental intervention!

Bedtime Poetry

A couple of nights ago, Holland was having one of those nights where she was not able to settle down and "turn her body and her thoughts off" (as we say). She was a chatter box and wanted to keep talking and talking and talking. As I was lying down and cuddling with her, she said, "Mommy, I love you more than anything." "I love you more than the moon loves the stars."

(kinda glad I hadn't enforced the "no talking" bedtime rule, yet!)

A few minutes went by and I left her in her room by herself to settle into dream land. I knew though that it was going to be an hour or so before she actually got calmed down (maybe it was the 4:00 in the afternoon chocolate milk that she ever so sweetly asked Grandpa for....). Not sure what it was exactly, but she was definitely not headed to la-la land anytime soon.

A couple of minutes went by, and she jumped out of her bed and ran to find Jonathan.

"Daddy, Daddy, I have to tell you something!", she exclaimed.
"Yes?", he answered.
"I love you more than the sun loves the earth."

And then she scurried back to her bed.

About ten more minutes went by, and I heard the pitter patter of her little feet sneaking up the stairs into our bedroom.
"Mommy?" she sheepishly called out.
"Yes?", I replied.
"I have to tell you something."
"Okay. What is it?"
"I love you more than all the creatures love their mamas."
"Thanks, sweetie. And I love you more than all the mamas love their creatures!"
(how else was I suppose to respond?!)

So, needless to say there were a few more poetic professions of love that evening. And you know what? I embraced every one of them and gently placed her back in her bed each time. There may come a time when her expressions of love come to a hault, and I'm just not ready to miss out on those. Bedtime or not!

10 x 2

Equals 20.
20 of my favorite flickr shots.

10 years ago today....

It was ten years ago today that Jonathan and I had our first date on a ferry boat in Seattle - March 7, 1998.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart. I'm so glad I got on that boat!

Here is a poem that he wrote for me on our first year dating anniversary.

March 7, 1998

The boat we boarded struck a course across
the painful truth from east to west and back
again, the self-concealing landscape of loss.
My Great Expectations and your heavy pack
carried on like shopping lists of lack,
your past and mine collided through the dross
of things we cared for, conjured up in talk.
And blundering sunlight warmed, cheered and seared
the memories; and the moment like a garden stalk
just broken through the stiff earth cleared
of difficulties hindering – and ghosts we feared –
to stand at the gates of paradise and knock.
The boat we rode on floated back to sea
and we walked home on ground now changed by mystery.

joy

joy, originally uploaded by happy girl lucky.

Someone posted an anonymous comment on my "what's your dream?" post from a few days ago. In the comment, they said that their word of the year was "joy". So, whoever you are, I thought you would enjoy this! : )

Ten at 10:00.

1. I entered a photo contest on the shutter sisters website and I received "honorable mention"! The theme was "messes" and there were different categories: outside messes in nature, messes in the kitchen, messy art projects, etc. I submitted an older picture of Holland playing in the mud. Click here to see the winners and my honorable mention - my flickr name is "happy girl lucky" and the photo submitted was titled "splatter".
2. Speaking of "happy girl lucky", I have been considering changing my blog name from ashmash to happy girl lucky. Any thoughts? Which one do you like best?
3. Two more days until I start my bloomsday training! I am looking forward to meeting back up with my moms in motion team. All of the moms were so encouraging and incredibly inspiring last year when I was training for the 1/2 marathon! They are such a great group of women athletes. I am aspiring to gain "athlete" status once again in my life (it has been way too long since I considered myself an athlete).
4. Tonight I was nursing Dylan and she got distracted by Holland so she popped off to see what her big sister was doing. Holland quickly reprimanded her and said, "Dylan, get back on that boob right now!".
5. I made a pear, brie, and prosciutto pizza for dinner tonight - YUMMO!
6. Dylan got her first official hair cut last week. No more pathetic, mohawk comb over! She was looking pretty silly so I just had to have it cut. Did you catch that? I HAD it cut. I actually took her into a beauty salon and paid them to make a couple of snips. That is one thing I will always refuse to do - cut my own kid's or husband's hair. Ridiculous? Yeah, maybe but I'm not budging on that one.
7. I was hoping for a few more comments on yesterday's post! I thought it would be a record breaking comments day for ashmash. Not so. However, it's not too late to share..... : )
8. Just needing a little reinforcement for keeping up the ole blog, that's all!
9. I am just about to get the spring cleaning urge. I LOVE spring cleaning (and our house SO, SO needs it!).
10. Gotta work tomorrow so I need to go set out my clothes! Does anyone else do that?

Night, Night!

What's Your Dream?

I walked into the mall yesterday, and saw this huge ad on display:

What a great ad! I had no idea who or what it was for, but after taking a closer look I discovered it was for one of our local universities. The ad is continued on the other said with the message that whatever your dream is, EWU (Eastern Washington University) can help you achieve it. How clever and inspiring is that?

Like so many others, I have always had a running "list" of things I would like to do before I die. I haven't seen the new movie "The Bucket List", but I already know I will love it. I only have a mental list that I keep, but I have thought on many occasions that I really need to sit down and write them out. I would like to see just how many things I have already crossed off my list, and how many more that I have to accomplish. There are so many things to do, places to go, and people to see! It was so nice to stumble upon a reminder like this ad in such an unexpected place, and now it is fresh in my mind. I plan to make my written list very soon, and when I do I will post it on my blog for y'all to read!

For now, I will fill in the blank with something that is presently an interest or goal of mine.

One day, I'll run another 1/2 marathon or possibly a whole!

What's on your list? One day, you'll _________________.

(please leave a comment and share something from your list with me!)