Friday, August 2, 2013

For the love of WASHI


Claire's birthday is next week. She will be ONE YEAR OLD! It's so crazy! The time really has flown by. Annnnyyyywwwaaaayyyy, we are having a little party to celebrate our little bundle of joy next weekend. I have been busy trying to get as much done as possible this past week, as today was my first day back to work. My summer break is over. :(   I picked the theme "You are my sunshine," and it is a pool party. I am trying to keep it pretty low key, and just a very  few of our closest friends are coming.


This is where the washi tape comes in to play....I wanted to have a little clothes line up with Claire's baby pics from birth on hanging for everyone to see how she has changed over time. I couldn't have just plain clothes pins, of course, so I thought an easy way to pretty them up would be to use...you guessed it...washi tape. (I also used some for super quick and easy cupcake toppers, and on the invitations.- more on that later.) I bought some  yellow chevron and yellow striped washi tape from Michael's the other day, and had some turquoise that I had purchased from Groopdealz a while back. I am sure you all have seen this done before, it's not anything new...

What you need:
washi tape
clothes pins
craft knife
cutting board
3 Easy Steps:
-Unroll the tape, sticky side up. (on cutting board)
-Place the clothes pin on the tape.


-Use craft knife to cut excess tape off.


And...you are done. Quick, easy, and cute. 


I will post more for the party later this week. Also, sorry for the awesome quality of these pics. I didn't have access to my good camera, and had to use my iphone. :)

Happy Friday-


Tracy

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Whatcha Dooooo- ing?

(Just for the record, the above title is a Phineas and Ferb reference, and should be read in the voice of Isabella...a fact that is actually a nice segue-way into this post..)

So. What ARE you doing?

It's been a long while since I have asked, I know.  There aren't enough blogs out there to fill the void, and you've been missing me (and I you), I know. So. What have I been doing?
Well.... this...

Ok, so I haven't actually been in labor for an ENTIRE year. Although, honestly, that might have been easier than what I have been doing. (More on that later.) 
Moving on, Meet Claire Yvette Crosby. :) Here is a most recent pic of my little lady...


She's kind of a doll, right? Yeah, I could post pic after pic of this little monkey. However, I must stay focused. 
My last post was in June of 2012. Whoa. It's really hard to believe that I have let that much time go by. Last summer, when I was hugely pregnant and ohhhhh sooooo HOT, I totally just lost all energy. I was running around after the other two monkeys, (My sweet Cash and Luc- have to get a pic in of them, too!)


working on house repairs/fixing up the nursery, and did I mention it was HOT last summer? 
YES, tried to stay out of the 100 degree weather.

So I lost it. Lost my energy, lost my motivation.  Creative block.

After Claire arrived, I thought things would get back to normal pretty quickly, but come to find out...the old "normal" was not to be seen again.  Which is ok -really(!)- I just had to figure out a new "normal."  My husband, who had been the stay at home dad for a while with the boys, went back to work.  My maternity leave ended, and I went back to work. Cash went to 1st grade, and Luc and Claire went to daycare for the first time in their lives. 

Ensue crazy weekdays from sun up to sun down. My husband has to be at work super early, so for the most part I would get the three kids up and going, as well as myself. (Of course, the hubz did help as much as he could before he had to get out the door!) The little ones were dropped off on my way to work, and Cash went with me to school. **Pretty nice teaching at the same school my kid attends!**  After school there was the "I must loose the baby weight power walks" with my teaching partner, then pick up the kids, and head home. Some days there was baseball practice or games. Once home, the action didn't stop. Homework, dinner, lunches, Phineas and Ferb, dishes, baths, laundry, yeah, it was all waiting for me. As I said, my hubz was a stay at home dad for a while, so I kind of got use to him being there to help me with all of that stuff. Plus, he has ALWAYS been the household chef. He likes to cook, and I mean, who am I to take away his happiness?? Well, now he doesn't get home from work until 6:30. Needless to say, I was struggling to come up with dinner every.single. night.  (Hello, crock pot and pinterest.) 

I know. I know most of you out there are welcoming me to your world. Hello. Nice to see you. Glad your here.

All of this to give you a peak into my life, which probably reflects a lot of other people's, to say, I didn't get my mojo back like I expected. 

But I want to begin again. This blog was originally started to keep me accountable to my creativity. My creativity may not come across the same as it did before, as I think my interests have veered somewhat over the past year. However my creative side chooses to surface, I want to hang on to that. It's part of me, and no matter how busy life gets...I can't loose myself. So. I am going to try.  I hope you all are still around, and I hope you enjoy it.

XXOO-

Tracy