Friday, December 17, 2010

Happy Birthday My Love

Today was a day of wow. I have a 9 year old. As in 9 years. 9 years of having the honor of being a part of something so magical. Something so much larger than I.

I saw him through different rose colored glasses today. A little more crisp rose colored. A little more in focus. I saw a glimpse of the man he will become. Confidence gallops through his veins pumped by that strong, energetic heart full of love and a new chamber I identified as defiance. That little lift of his head, shoulders squared back, cock of the head, eyes hooded. He wants so badly to be older not realizing that soon, soon enough, he will want and desire for time to stand still, go back, regress into boyhood.

This year he was lucky enough to have his grandfather here to celebrate. It is becoming tradition with each of the 5 kids to have their favorite meal cooked for them by me. Tonight it was beef tacos, spanish rice and coke with the new addition of guacamole.

Of course it wouldn't be complete without a delish cake baked by his sister with chocolate frosting.



He was willing to share his new chopper. Not really. But he did. With all of us including myself.


Lovely boy, thank you for being you. For your courage I know it takes to be the oldest brother of 3 younger brothers. For your blessing every day and every night that you never, ever forget to give me. For your unconditional love of a far from perfect mother. For your generosity. Even if said generosity is extracted by a raised eyebrow look from your mother. For your sensitivity and understanding that being older is not all that it's cracked up to be. You are amazing. You are wonderful. You are mine.


Happy Birthday. May all of your wishes and dreams continue to come true.

I love you.


P.S. Thank you for choosing me as your momma.
P.P.S. I can't decide who is more excited for your birthday. Your brother or you.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

This Will Make You Smile or Laugh. Take Your Pick.

These pictures make me so happy.

I don't know why he must fully undress to use the bathroom, but undress he must. Every single time.

He was 'reading' the new Walmart ad.

I love you Aiden. You made my day.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sabotage

I don't ask for much. Really, I don't. Everything, and I mean e.ver.y.thing goes to these kiddos and that's the way it should be. However, I saw a picture in Pottery Barn that had my heart all aflutter:


I actually have a white bench. A very beaten up, lead paint peeling, weathered bench I found at a yard sale for 10 smackeroos that has been sitting outside, lonely and unused for roughly a year. It had a home for a bit with our outdoor table and chairs but when I saw this picture I knew it would work. Kind of.

I love everything about this picture. I imagined the frames filled with snapshots of these boogers, the baskets underneath lovingly filled with their toys, no firewood because I do not have a fireplace and a little motivating factor like live children with brains safely ensconced in their skulls, the live plants and the color. Oh, the color. Be still my heart.

Then reality set in. I painted. It wasn't what I reeeally wanted, but hey, close enough. I set to looking for frames, didn't matter what color, that's what spray paint is for, and found 2 in my house. Hmmm, wasn't going to work. Then I saw a tutorial somewhere (can't remember where, sorry) about this mom who had black and white pictures printed, a sheet of MDF and made her own little "canvases". Genius! So, off to Home Depot I went where I purchased a sheet of MDF for 17 bucks. Since I couldn't narrow down the pictures that I wanted printed in black and white and to print them would have been about 30 dollaaahs for approximately 50 pictures (so not paying that) I had the sweet lady at Office Depot print them out in paper. At the price of 6 awesome cheap bucks. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the spray adhesive. Another 4 bucks. (Side note: the Home Depot guy suggested I purchase the $17 spray adhesive. And I quote, "You're wasting your money if you don't buy that one." I should've listened. But who pays $17 for spray adhesive? Not I. I'm really cheap frugal. I should have though. Just saying. I had to go back and keep respraying because those 'pictures' kept falling off.)

Anyway, have I told you how much I love power tools? They are my new BFF's. Two thumps to the chest yo! I measured, and measured again. Then I remeasured my measurements. Again. Then 1 more time. And then I started cutting the wood. Or a sheet of pressed wood chips. Whatever. I spent lots of time cutting very slowly only to end up with 40 very crooked rectangles. Again, not too worried. I then sprayed 40 very crooked rectangles with spray adhesive one by one and added the 'picture'. Flipped it over and with a slightly rusted blade sheared the excess paper. Truly, it was rusted. It was all I had at the moment and I had not a moment to lose nor was I to be deterred. Turned them over and ohhhed and ahhhed. Then I nailed them strategically to the wall. Not really. I eyeballed it, nailed, hung, removed, eyeballed again, nailed again, and hung again x 40. Then I placed the bench under the 'canvasses', put out the basket with blocks, and a small plant from the Dollar Store. Loved it. Isaiah promptly walked over and tore the plant out from the pot and proceeded to dump the dirt, Michael and Aiden broke the basket by sitting on it, and Manuel sarcastically stated that the bench was 1 more thing that I was going to have to clean and then bitch complain about. Talk about my bubble crash and burning. I removed the bench and cleaned up the mess. Then I started to laugh. At least the pictures came out the way I wanted. If I close my right eye and lean my head to the left the wall of pictures looks straight. Almost. 

The important thing is that I love it. I do.
I couldn't get a straight shot. Mostly because my 6 ft tree was in the way.
These are some of my favorite pictures so far.


Don't you love Isaiah's picture? It's my all time favorite of him.


If you look closely you can see that the edges of the wood are still visible. I ran out of time was too lazy to paint them. Plus I like earthy vibe it gives them.

So it's not quite Pottery Barn. So it didn't come together the way I wanted. Well it did, but I'll won't mention the sabotage. So it makes me smile every time I walk into my house.