Happy Monday

Happy Monday all! So, just because we all need a little smile and a wave hello (and who doesn't love cute kids doing it).... Hello!! Oh, and please excuse the french toast syrup face and morning playroom destruction.

picture by K.Innes

Pin it Friday--Holiday edition

It's almost December and the holidays! More importantly... I have a house I can decorate!! Woo Hoo!!! Since moving to C-ville I have been dreaming of the day we get a house and I can decorate for the holidays. I am by no means Clark Griswold (via Christmas Vacation) or do I plan to make my place look like Santa and snowmen threw up on it... I love meaningful, family traditions--advent wreaths, turning off all the lights and sitting by the tree, a big wreath on the door, candles, and Christmas mugs full of hot chocolate. The smells of the holidays...fudge... I could go on and on. My mom is my inspiration for decorating-- she always made our the house the coziest most wonderful place during the holidays and I have wonderful memories of growing up there. Granted she probably ran herself ragged trying to do it all, but she never let it show. And since I am my mother's daughter after all, I hope that I can make Christmas as special for my son and family as she did for me.

So... how do I find inspiration for decorating my new huge house? Pinterest of course!!! Here are some of my favorites that I either do or are thinking of trying out. Enjoy.

                                                                              Source: make-it-do.com via Kate on Pinterest

My first pin comes from Make-it-do.com. It is one of my most repinned pins. At my house during the holidays it always smelled wonderful -- something was baking, the smell of the Christmas tree, a fire in the fireplace -- I loved it. So I tried this pin out last year to see if I could make our tiny place (we were in a tiny apartment) smell more homey, more like Christmas and it worked. This stuff is amazing. Try it. I know you will like it.

                                                                                                  Source: kimmccrary.blogspot.com via Kate on Pinterest

My next Pin is about changing up the way do our advent calendar/countdown to Christmas. For so many years we had the advent calendars where you opened up the little window for the day and got a piece of chocolate. Now anyone who knows me, knows that I am all for chocolate, but do I really want my son to associate counting down to Christ's birth with chocolate? I want him to experience the season. So that is why I am trying this idea for kimmccrary.blogspot.com. Using activities to celebrate each day till Christmas. I hope this goes well and it can become a holiday tradition at my house.

                                                                                   Source: tinycookers.com via Kate on Pinterest

This last idea is from tinycookers.com. Cookie Cutter Pizzas! What a fun way to serve pizzas for Dunc. I'm thinking this would also make a fantastic holiday appetizer. Just cut the dough with any holiday cookie cutter and top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings. this is going to be so much fun. I can have Dunc help make them too.

Hope you all find some inspiration! Happy Holidays. 

Before I was a Mom

The other day one of my former students sent me a little email letting me know she was pregnant. We have kept in touch over the years, and I was (still am) very happy for her and her husband.  It got me thinking about what life was like before Duncan, and I found myself thinking over and over just how incomplete my life was. Then today-- from out of the blue (I swear this was karma) I was perusing pinterest (don't you just love nap time?) and this poem was there. It describes me perfectly. Enjoy...


Before I was a Mom -
I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.
Before I was a Mom -
I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on - Pooped on - Spit on - Chewed on, or Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and My thoughts. I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom -
I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests...or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom -
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known The warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

Summer Bucket List 2012

It's time for summer!  Too often I make up a list of things I'd like us to do as a family and then {POOF} summer is over and I don't get to even half of them. Last year we were in the midst of a move, starting new jobs, and discovering a new city so our list got thrown to the wind. This year I am much more determined to do enjoy a summer filled with family fun. While scouring the web for ideas of activities near us, I came across the Happy Family Movement's Summer Bucket List Challenge. What an awesome idea and I immediately signed our family up. There are over 1000 families participating--how exciting!!! I'm looking forward to a fun filled summer. So without further ado, I present to you the Innes Family 2012 Summer Bucket List Challenge!

• visit Grandma Tenney
• visit Grandma and Poppa Tyler
• swim at the beach on Lake Michigan
• see the Thomas the Train Experience
• make homemade ice cream
• visit the water park with Felicity and CJ
• go camping
• attend a Friday at Five concert together
• have a picnic at the park
• feed the ducks at the local pond
• plant flowers
• go mini golfing
• go to the National Zoo
• go strawberry picking
• see fireworks together
• swim at the pool
• go to a carnival 
• ride horses
• visit a petting zoo. 

I will most likely update the list with more ideas and I will definitely add links to relevant posts as we cross things off.  Have a  great start to your summer everyone.

Dirt!

So I just have to share this photo. Granted my son is playing with his new tablet (thank you Grandma R.) but check out the dirt. I think he brought more home than he left at day care. Must have been a real good day of playing outside. And this is after both our day care and my husband worked to clean him up. I guess you could say his shirt is very appropriate for the situation :)

Update-- 6/20/12

Motivated by my friend Mar, I entered Dunc into Joshua's Photo Party... and low and behold!!! We won first place for the week. Check us out over here....Our Footprints on the World.

Sesame Street Live

This year the hubs and I took Duncan to Sesame Street live for his 2nd birthday and it was quite an experience. We bought our tickets as soon as we could and ended up with GREAT seats on the floor, just to the right of the stage. Duncan was excited to go, after a bit of walking around and some Annie's bunny snacks, he settled in for the show. It was a bit overwhelming at first we could tell--he stuck to me like glue-- but by the time Elmo's World started he was dancing in the isles. As with any two year old, time is of the essence and we made it through about 3/4th of the show before Duncan just couldn't handle much more--I'm just happy he made it through intermission! We headed to lunch at a restaurant in town for hotdogs, bbq, and hamburgers and by the time the three of us got into the car to head home, Duncan was fast asleep for a 3 HOUR nap (it was heavenly!). All in all... a pretty good birthday celebration if I do say so myself. Now, just if they had a Thomas the Tank Engine traveling show... we'd be set for life!

Our seats, right up front near the stage. The characters came down and visited us a couple of times during the show.

Having our Annie's bunny snacks.
We pretty much can't go anywhere with out these :)

The start of the show.

Duncan was a bit overwhelmed by everything at first. That quickly changed once he saw Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Ernie came down off the stage into the crowd. Duncan really wanted to meet him.

A quick picture of daddy, taken by Duncan of course.

Dancing in the isle and having a great time.

Ernie captaining the S.S. Rubber Duckie.  This was daddy's favorite part.

It Snowed!!

One of the things about living in Virginia is the lack of snow. It has been a big adjustment for my husband and I since both of us are northerners by birth and we moved from the west (Colorado to be exact) to our new home. We didn't have a white Christmas this year, no sledding and hot chocolate, snowmen or snow angels... it's been a bit depressing. Until yesterday. At last, we got a "dusting" -- 3 inches!!! I even had a 2 hour delay to work--heaven! Dunc who had never really played in snow (last year he was only just 9 months) was amazed and excited. So as I headed out the door clean off my car, I wrapped up Duncan in his boots, coat, hat and mittens and off we went. He had such a good time. Daddy even came out to play a bit too.

                                  After our first snowball "fight"--one of my favorite snow pictures

                                                            Playing chase in the snow

                                                                       What fun this is!

After my car was clean, a mini snow ball "fight" and making some snow angels, off I went to work, and Duncan inside to enjoy a snack with Daddy. What a perfect way to start my morning and my week. How blessed I am for this time. May you be blessed with a moment this week too.

Kairos moments...

My friend Em posted a link the other day on facebook to a column written by a mom named Glennon Melton for the Huffington Post. (Here's the original link if you want to check it out) In it, along with other things, she talks about time--more specifically--types of time. One is Chronos time. It's regular time--like my students staring down the clock waiting for that last bell on a Friday afternoon, listening to 4 agonising minutes of a Dunc temper tantrum, or even counting the seconds when my husband disappears for more than 15 minutes and I'm up to my ears in bubble bath, toys, and a screeching toddler who doesn't want to get out of the tub. Chronos, Melton explains, is the slow passing time that we most often live in. It can be mean. It makes us feel old-er, and it's what exhausts me by the end of the day.  But then... there's Kairos time.

Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still and you see/feel/touch/hear/share the most wonderful things. I am all for Kairos time. It's the time I most look forward to everyday, and like Melton, half the time I can't remember the actual moment hours or days later, but I know it happened.  But then again, there are times that I hope to remember always. For example--

 A couple of days ago after a rather long day at school grading and prepping for semester exams, I came home to a crazy place--a kitchen that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks, dinner still unmade,  toys everywhere, and my husband and child chasing each other back and forth thru the living room. I seriously thought I might explode or start crying. I needed a break--a bit of time--just to switch gears and start all over. See.. I do love being a working mom, I really do (another time and another post), but there are times I wish that could snap my fingers and life would be simple and stress free, my house would be clean, and dinner would be waiting for me...ya right! Like that is ever going to happen.

Back to my Kairos moment...after cleaning the kitchen, fixing dinner, and getting Dunc a bath and in fresh pjs,  I settled in with him for our nightly ritual...watching that day's episode of Dinosaur Train on the DVR and reading our good night books. Snuggled together on the couch, "blankie" and "monkee" in hand, I began to feel the slow rhythmic breathing of my little guy falling asleep on my chest--something he hasn't done much since he was a tiny baby. I was in heaven...or should I say Kairos time! I snuggled in and just looked at him in wonder---his blonde hair curling just at the ends, beautiful long eyelashes that could make anyone jealous, soft hand in mine, his baby smell--yes I think he still has it-- and that little sleepy sigh... how did I ever get so lucky? It's moments like this that I cherish being a mom and wish would never end.

SNAP! Back to Chronos time--I need to pick up toys and grade papers! As I slowly lift Dunc up and carry him to bed he snuggles deeper into my chest and opens his sleepy eyes for a just a sec, smiles and whispers, "Mum, wuv u". Ahh.... Kairos.