Halu-Halo

Preparing myself

The little-lest member of this Halu-Halo family is turning one next week.

Yes, I know, right?  Where did that baby go?

She, as you can see below, has decided that she wants to be a toddler.

But I refuse to give this last year up without having a party.  Not just for her, but for me, for Hubby, and for her older siblings.  These babies don't get to be such a happy one-year-olds without the rest of the crew who feed, cajole, appease, and tickle her.  So I have been busy, thinking of special little ways to celebrate the day.

Inspired by another friend's idea, I decided to do handmade for the thank you goodie bags for the children coming.  I love goodie bags like I love Chuck E Ch&*se -----> which means, not so much.  But just like going to that crazy restaurant/arcade, we have given them away ourselves because it's just all part of childhood - no?  There are bigger fish to fry, and I would rather save my energy for that.  

Instead, I have tried to stay away from the goodie bag aisle at the Party Store and have opted for more meaningful take-a-ways. 

Here's a sneak peak of three I'm giving away, though more are in the works.

It's going to be a small bag, that's for sure!  But hopefully it will last longer than the whistles and tops that find their way under the kids' beds or in between the couch cushions.

What have you all done for goodie bags?

Weekend for Babies

...and one of those babies was me.  A friend and I ran our first 10K race, and I was a ball of nerves. I yapped nonstop right before the race about this and that, complaining about the cold weather, deciding what cold weather gear to wear, if any, anticipating the time it would take me to finish it, commiserating about my sometimes-bum knee and how much I need to use the bathroom. 

While running through Quantico, I kept asking myself...I was in the Army, wasn't I?  I'm sure I was in more undesirable conditions, attempting not so easy obstacles, and making decisions in a split second.  But those memories and adventures of a very motivated nurse-soldier are usually tucked away in the back of my mind, just as my one last BDU is hung in between a couple of old dresses in my daughter's closet.  And that despite the Army life I still live as an Army spouse, that pre-stay-at-home-mom status was the "life before", sometimes even too complicated to mention when, for example, I am introduced to a new person.  

It seemed so so far away.

But, coming through the finish line, uninjured, feeling strong, after conquering that crazy Quantico hill that brought the inner San Franciscan in me, I was reminded that those memories weren't just memories, and that those experiences weren't just from a past life.

They built this life. 

And after receiving news that my niece has been born, and after just returning from a dear friend's baby shower, some words I have to share with them, whether foolish or wise, is this:

Listen to your questions.  Submit to your instincts.  Enjoy your triumphs.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

 

 

Lola's Lesson: Sending Thank You's

My mother - we call her "Lola", which is Tagalog for grandmother - always hounds me about Thank you's.  Even to this day, she will call me after I have posted pictures on Facebook of one of her apo's (grandchild) birthdays and she will ask me - "Did you send thank you cards?".  Of which I always roll my eyes and say one of two things:

1. "Ugh, yes mom, I did!" or

2. "Ugh, I'm almost done with them!"

It's a lost art though, isn't it, to write an honest to goodness thank you card.  It's so much easier to call, text or email a Thank You.  I, personally, love to send and receive all versions of Thanks, but I do have a stack of blank cards here at home at the ready.  Because while most folks have a Devil and an Angel on their shoulders, I also have a Lola right on my head.

The virtual Lola has actually been jumping on my cranium for a while now, because I hadn't sent a proper, handwritten, thank you to a couple of friends who have done such thoughtful things for me these last couple of months.

Thoughtful doesn't really cover it, because these two ladies gave up some loved items of theirs to share with me, so I thought a little made item for each of them would give my thank you card a little bit more of an oomph.

...a thong for one...

...a bracelet for the other...

I also wanted me to make sure I tell you all Thank You for being such great readers, some for a few years.  Although I haven't celebrated a Blogversary, it's been more than 5 years that I have took to writing on the internet!  Thank you for supporting me every step of the way.

Much love, Tif

Monsters in its wake

Please excuse my bleary eyes and my lack of concentration.  I've had a monster of a hangover the last couple of days.

But it's not the - I.knocked.back.a.few.too.many.drinks - type of hangover...it's more the - i'm.really,starting.to.show.my.age - version.  The version stemming from G's birthday sleepover.  Send me some props!  We, our should I say, our house, survived a small herd of 10 year olds overnight.  Except for a slight mishap with someone's glasses, no one needed a trip to the emergency room or an armed escort home.

But really, it was fun.  Ten year olds are witty and even slightly sarcastic, but still very sweet and polite.  Or is it my boy and his friends?  There wasn't one moment of disrespect to the grown ups or to each other.  Whatever it is, I count myself lucky.

And I come to you today, as a mama to a ten year old, grateful to have a chance to mother G, because he is a model of a First Son.  I've always said, that G is my Conscience, my mirror.  So, despite my residual grogginess from staying up listening to their pillowfights, getting up early to make their pancake breakfast, and mopping up all of the mess afterwards, I would do it again.

Another monster crept up from our house as well, first showing itself after our bout with the stomach flu  a couple of weeks ago.  That stomach bug ended up taking down half our family, mimicking this legendary scene from Stand By Me.  Although it wasn't as funny at the time.

Yet somehow, it found its way out of its threads in the last few days, and I finished him just in time for a dear friend's son's first birthday.

Pattern: Abigail the Middle-Sized Monster

Yarn: Three Irish Girls

Needles: size 3

I hope you all have a great day! I'm off to face the monster laundry I have waiting for me.

A ripple in a pond

My eldest son, G, brought home a planter a couple of weeks ago from school.  He was diligent the first few days he had it, checking on it as it sat on our windowsill, making sure that there was enough moisture in his makeshift greenhouse.

As the days passed he stopped to check on it less and less; paying more attention to all of those fun kid things he loves to do.  He didn't mean to neglect it, but because it was out of his sight, he, simply, forgot.

Until yesterday...the children and I were at the table doing homework, and we started to talk about the hallmarks of spring - the warmer weather, daylight savings, soccer season, and time for planting....

...and he jumped out of his seat like a rocket and screamed, "omigosh! my plant!"

His poor little friend was shriveled up like a cooked bean, and he (my son) whimpered a little.  He went to the sink and gave his friend a drink and even spoke to it, then put it back on the windowsill.

This morning, his little plant was alive and well.

We talked about some lessons, that as an adult, I forget.

...that we cannot forget those things and people that aren't in front of us.

...that we can't take for granted that our surroundings will get better without our contribution.

...and that it's never too late to try.

 

Let's not forget our brothers and sisters across that actually very small pond, in Japan.  

Winging it.

...because one is never really prepared when the waterfall of sickness will hit.  

...or when one cannot find all of the correct tools to complete a project...

...ya just have to look for that light that comes through in the smallest of packages...

...Thank God for Them.

Filling our spaces

There was just one large area left on the wall in the girl's room after I rearranged all of the doll quilts around, and I took it to mean that I needed to fill it.

So I decided to pull out my scraps (again - I committed to using them all!) and whip up a quick coin-inspired quilt.  It's hanging above Baby J's crib...unusually high in fact, that it looks a bit odd, but I wanted it out of her sweet little reach.

It's something of a marker for me, to make something especially for a space...it's my statement to say, "ok, this is home now, and I am making you to put you here."   It means so much more for me than changing paint colors, small fixtures or even, upgrading or remodeling.  It's allowing myself to bond with the actual walls and structure of the home.  It's accepting that there will be some permanence here, and momentarily ignoring that I will have to tear myself from it sooner or later.  

Here is the back of the quilt, using the larger pieces of the same fabrics featured in front.  I think I even like it as much as the front side :) .  

I also finally have put up all of the quilts from our past homes.  It took almost 6 months of living here to finally be able to come to a peace that they belong here, too.  So this quilt, though not in an art niche, greets us at the top of the stairs, and this quilt, has taken residence in the kitchen.  There are others, of course, but you get the picture.  

I stippled the cream solid spaces and did a zig zag on the printed fabrics.  I then zig zag'd the border.  And instead of applying a separate binding, I folded over the pieced back.

One day, I will be able to put up my quilts and not have to take them down at all, I tell myself.  But, am I really ready for that?  There's something so exciting about newfound space, or finding a creative way to make these walls speak of our spirit.  And there is something so triumphant about looking around a room and say, most definitely, that "this really is ours", despite the city or state, size or status.  

The girl's room is, officially, done.  :)