St. Patrick's Day 2014

I don't post a lot here, but lately I've had a lot of random thoughts that I don't feel are facebook-appropriate so I decided I'm going to start posting them here instead so as to not incite the facebook judgment group.

I realize as a stay at home mom I should be the good wife and prepare amazingly cutesy green and rainbow-covered meals for my family today and have a case of assorted Irish beer waiting for my husband when he gets home so he can rest his weary feet after working all day to support our family. And I suppose I should be wearing a pressed linen dress, have my hair, face, and nails all perfect, and oh- I probably should have showered today! Thank God Joe loves me for me and thank God he brought home the beer and doesn't mind that I smell like wet dog, made english muffin pizzas for dinner, and when he walked in the house our three kids (Marbles is a kid now) were off the chart crazy! Not saying I didn't get a crapton accomplished today, I just did none of those things. We may not be a glamourous family but I think I'll keep us. Maybe I'll rub Joe's feet later. Who am I kidding? He knows he'll be rubbing my neck (I have a medical excuse).

OH! I haven't updated in ages! We have a dog now. I think a detailed udpate is in order soon.

Bike ride

This was a random weekend day,  I don't remember when,  but sometime since I  last actively posted.  It is definitely worth remembering these little moments.

Running

This has been a big year for racing in the Bailey family! Remember last year when I went from walking a one miler to running 15Ks and Joe went from 5Ks to half marathons? Well, we even surpassed that this year!

This was me at Color Me Rad in Tampa in May. Completely covered in colored corn starch.

For Mother's Day, Joe and the kids and I did the I Love Mother's 5K in Clearwater. I got a cool shirt.

This is one of my favorites. 

We signed Rosemary up for the one mile kid's run after the 5K and we all ended up doing it together. It was so fun!

Joe had a crazy year! He is in this picture somewhere at the start of his first triathlon! This one was the Race from the Fort at Fort DeSoto. We camped out with some friends the night before and night after. The kids and I had a great time watching all the crazy people swimming in the freezing, choppy water from the edge of the sea.

Needless to say, they were pooped and had a nice nap in the wagon while waiting for daddy to finish. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Joe after the race, but we were so proud of him!

In January Joe did his first marathon! It was the Disney Marathon. Here's Xander cheering on the runners from the family waiting area.

We had a pretty good time waiting for him to finish! It was ridiculously hot for the marathon. We were warned about freezes during this time of year, but it ended up being during a heat wave. People were carted back on stretchers due to heat stroke. Joe finished, though! In fact, it made him go crazy. He just signed up for the Dopey Challenge for next year- four days in a row: 5K, 10K, half, and full marathon! He's crazy!!!! Once again, no picture of him running. I need to get better about that!

And.... I signed up for my first half! Actually, two of them. In November I will be doing Wine and Dine at Epcot and in February I will be doing the Princess Half. I will most likely be walking the Princess with my mom, though.

Patio renovation

I have not updated for quite some time. So many, many little moments I have missed. There's no way I can go back and record all of the little moments, but I can quickly highlight some of the biggest moments of the year. One of the biggest projects we accomplished this year was our patio renovation. What a difference! This was finished around February/March this year.  It has already rained enough this summer for us to say that we successfully fixed our flooding issues and have a beautiful outdoor living space now! It was a huge project and my dad did an incredible job planning it, with my help and vision. I am still not 100% satisfied with the fire pit, but can't figure out what to do differently yet.

While we were out there working on the patio, I also moved and expanded my gardens. I now have two raised beds with veggies and herbs, and a beautiful butterfly garden! With a seashell walking path! 

This is going to be annoying- the app I used to publish the photos for this update mixed up all the pictures and I can't change the order, sooooo.... bare with me....

This is the before.

This is one after shot. We extended it out about two feet, added the extension on the right for the grill, extended it all the way to the edge of the patio on the left for a toy area and fire pit.

This is the butterfly garden right after we finished it, before things had a chance to grow. Milkweed and salvia transplants are on the left, nectar plants in front of the birdbath, and a passionflower behind the birdbath that has attracted tons of Gulf Fritillaries!

Here's the butterfly garden a bit more mature. 

My beautiful, beautiful passion flower in bloom!!!

Xander is trying to feed a caterpillar in this one!

Here's where it gets really annoying. Here's another after shot of the patio. You can see the fire pit area better in this one. Still trying to decide whether to build it in or keep it free standing.

Here's Joe tamping down the sand before we lay pavers (yes, we sweated LOTS during this project!)

The kids were a big help clearing out the old pavers and prepping the ground!

We decided to commemorate our backyard renovation by creating a time capsule. It was originally going to be buried under the patio, but, um, well, I think we forgot, so we ended up burying it in our butterfly garden. Everyone chose something to go in it and I wrote a little note explaining why we all chose what we did. It'll be interesting when we dig it up in years to find out what we pit in it and why!

Here is Rosemary ready to bury it!

Here is it in the ground ready to be covered up!

Yes, annoying and out of place. Joe laying pavers. I promise he did not do the entire thing himself! My dad and I were out there the whole time! I just wanted to snap some photos when I could! Joe stayed out there until past dark one night. It was a big project.

2013

It has been WAY too long without a post! I am sad to think of all the things that have happened that are not getting documented! Unfortunately, I also have to mention that I killed YET ANOTHER computer. So, what's that, like 3 computers and maybe 3 phones, since starting this blog? Maybe 4 computers. I have lost count. Unfortunately, this time I aimed my poisoned arrow right at the hard drive- and succeeded. Which means, not only did I not update anything for a long, long time, but I also lost all the pictures from that time. So..... I am going to try to blog more. Right now I feel like I am in a transition phase and I'm having to make a lot of  important decisions. Some things that are different about this year or things that I am debating:

1. Rosemary will start kindergarten. About a week after I enrolled her in the local public school, a sign went up and ground was broken on a new charter school right down the street. After much deliberation, I have applied and we are now waiting to find out whether we are able to enroll or if we enter the lottery. So, it's a waiting game.

2. We decided not to start Xander in preschool this year. He would be in the two-year program but will turn three less than a month later. We joined the YMCA and their nursery staff is amazing and they have a schedule that pretty much accomplishes everything I would hope he would get out of a traditional preschool- and we're already paying for it. So, we decided (for now) to keep him out another year. Unless....

3. I am debating whether this is the year I go back into the classroom. I feel bipolar and schizophrenic about this decision. One second I hear that calling stronger and louder and clearer than ever before and other times I'm reminded how I keep taking the fact that I am able to stay home with my babies while they're babies for granted. It is not a decision I am taking lightly. Once I go back, I'm back for good. I'm constantly reminded of one of Rosemary's books I bought her when she was a baby. It's called "The Three Questions" and it's based on a story by Tolstoy. To sum up a very beautiful fable that answers the questions "When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do?" The best time is now. The most important one is the one you are with right now. The right thing to do is good for the one standing by your side. One major hesitation about going back this year is that it would mean three MAJOR changes: me going back to work full time, Rosemary starting kindergarten, and Xander going to full time daycare. I'm not sure if that would be good for all three of us. Maybe another year to decide. Which brings me to the next thing....

4. If I do decide to stay home another year (or four if I wait for Xander to start kindergarten as was the original plan) I need to find a new direction. For the first three years of my motherhood I was engrossed in one playgroup and made it my life. The next two years were dedicated to another MOMS Club where I was a member of the board and delved into a lot of charity work which I loved. I also heavily involved myself in everything related to motherhood- church groups, medical lectures, books, everything mom you can think of. A few months ago I made some changes to start focusing on myself. We are in the process of church shopping and have found one we really like. I would like to involve myself a little more in the community and in service. I don't know how to do this without a support system, so I'm thinking of getting involved in the church. I want to veer away from motherhood-related organizations and focus on myself as a whole human- not just the mother part. I am a mother and put my children before all else, but it's time I focus on being a better person overall and show them a good example on how to live their life. The mother groups were incredibly important for me as I adjusted to being a stay at home mom, but I now need to focus on other aspects of myself. I see the importance of this more and more now that Rosemary is a little lady and not a baby, toddler, or preschooler. So, whether that means going back to work full time or finding other ways of involving myself in the community- I need to rewrite my mission statement for this stage of my life.

5. This is the year of the house. I have spent five years doing little fixes and now it's time to get this house fixed up. The little fixes just won't cut it anymore. First up is a patio redo. We had tons of flooding problems last year and hopefully the new patio and tweaks to the drainage system will prevent that from getting worse. Second, we are going to repaint the house. Other items on the wish list: repaint and new cabinets in the laundry room, new floors in the living room, and new roof. My dream wish list (probably won't happen this year but I really, really want and need if we are ever going to try to sell the house): new bathroom vanity in the kid's bathroom, complete renovation of master bath, and kitchen renovation. Of course, I learned last year that having this list ensures that if something can go wrong, it will. So, we will see what we are actually able to accomplish this year.

6. We have a lot of fun things planned to break the seriousness of all these decisions we have to make! We have two weekends in Disney on the calendar, and one weekend camping with friends! I already had one girl's weekend away with some incredible friends and have a second one scheduled with yet another beautiful and amazing friend! We are also planning a few days in New York City this summer as a special trip for Rosemary before starting preschool! So while we may not be setting off for Europe and cruising around the Caribbean like we did before we had kids, we are finally planning a big trip that will hopefully quell some of the wanderlust that has eaten at my heart and soul for the past five years.

I realize this blog is usually more of a scrapbook than a journal, but I needed to document these decisions that we are facing at this stage in our lives. I'm sure I will get back to the regularly scheduled cuteness of my precious offspring, but it feels good to get all these decisions out of my head and in a place where I will see it in five years and these decisions are no longer eating at me!

Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy Birthday baby!

I have been a very bad blogger lately! But a BIG event happened today. Rosemary turned FIVE! I have no idea how that happened! I don't want to let any more time pass without documenting all the wonderfulness that is my little lady so this post is all about my little girl!

What a year this has been! She has grown so much. She is in VPK and has the most amazing teacher. She has more faith in her little finger than anyone else I know has in their entire body. She is the best big sister to Xander and is constantly kissing and hugging him and takes such good care of him. She loves her stuffed animals and usually has no less than 3 that she will carry around with her everywhere we go. She is also into Lalaloopsy and still calls herself a princess. She still dresses up occasionally but doesn't live in her princess dresses like she did when she was 3 and early 4 (which is so sad for me!). She is a little fashionista though! She loves to mix and match leggings and skirts and always has the most fashionable boots (which she never wears on the right feet). She loves science projects, writing, making books, painting, and gardening. She lovs fairies and running and loves her mygym class. She is incredibly strong willed, stubborn, persistent, and still has the occasional meltdown, but for the most part the screaming and crying fits have been replaced by "pouty arms and duck face".  She is 5 going on 15.

She is in love with Lukas- a friend she's had  since before she was born (his mom and I taught at the same school) and has been in her same class since she started preschool last year. She says she's going to marry him! Until this year her (our) life has revolved around playdates. Now that she's in school every day we don't see those friends as often but we have made new friends and I love seeing her with her girlfriends! She has a cute little group of girls, some of whom will be going to the same kindergarten as her next year.

Today I went to her class to celebrate her birthday with cookie cake and oranges. Then we went to the mall and got pictures with Santa and had dinner. She opened presents when we got home. We got her owl pellets to disect (my favorite gift!), a scrapbook, photo albums, and a nutcracker she can paint herself.

Her big birthday present this year was her first pet- a guinea pig named Guinea! It was her present from my parents and she loves him. It's so crazy that my baby girl has her first pet!

This is going to be a crazy year. We are planning a special trip for her this summer to New York City. It'll be her first big vacation and we want to make it special for her. Then she'll start kindergarten! I can't wait to see where this next year takes her. I love that little girl. She challenges me in ways I never thought possible. And she is perfect.

Naptime

I took the kids for a walk after dinner, before bedtime, a couple nights ago. I guess Xander was tired because when I looked back, this is what I saw!

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Ice Age 2

A couple weeks ago we were invited by a friend to go see Ice Age 2. Rosemary had been begging to go to the movies for a while so we attempted it with the whole family. As expected, Xander is just not ready for the movies! Rosemary and I loved it, though! Here are some pictures of her with her huge popcorn! I love the sequence of faces she's making as the popcorn falls down her shirt!

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Summer fun

This summer has gone by WAY too fast! I was afraid I would lose my mind once Rosemary was out of school, but it turns out we haven't had much down time at all. And I haven't taken many pictures, even though there have been a million important things to take pictures of. Xander's baptism, for one. I didn't get any pictures and even though I've requested that people send me some, no one has yet, so, no pics for now. The week after Xander's baptism left me kidless. Yes, a whole week without kids! Not only that, but Joe was out of town for most it! I worked on house stuff- yes there was more than enough house stuff that needed to get done to last a whole week. So while I was at home regrouting my bathroom and tearing up my backyard, the kids were at grandma's house doing something like this:



They had a ball playing at grandma and grandpa's house! I just realized these pictures posted out of order and I'm too tired to fix it. So this will be all over the place.

While my family was here for Xander's baptism, the cousins got to play. Aren't they adorable? Rosemary and Xander love Malachite!

 

Now back to grandma and grandpa's house. After a week, Joe and I joined the kids in PV. We got a little vacation out of it. We also celebrated out 10th wedding anniversary!!! Yes, 10 years!!!! In honor of the special occasion, we had a vow renewal celebration on the beach. I always regretted not getting married on the beach. It was always my dream to get married on the beach and since we didn't do it on our wedding day, we always said we'd renew our vows one day. So, we did! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures (yet) of the actual vow renewal. But here's Joe and I afterwards when we went out for a celebratory drink with our amazing friends who joined us!

Note: I have been trying to come up with an excuse to wear a fascinator ever since Prince William and Princess Kate tied the knot and decided this was the perfect time. Unfortunately, it just didn't go with the outfit. So I wore it out that night. Sorry for the blurry pics. My camera phone sucks.


 

 Here we are, actually the night before. We started the evening at the San Sebastian Winery. Unfortunately, once again, I didn't get any pics. I need pics people!!! After that we went out to another bar for another drink or two. It was amazing to spend time with our friends, who we rarely get to see altogether in one place at one time. And since most of them don't really know each other it was really a special night for us to be able to spend time with so many people who are important to us. I wish we had a pic of the winery, because there are some important people missing from this shot!


 

 Back to the kids... Back at home...

After 2 weeks at grandma's house, we took the week off when we got home. No playdates. No plans. No schedules. Just the three of us. It was a delightful week with a lot of tea parties!

Rosemary only looks like she's scowling because my camera phone sucks. She was very happy when I took the picture. This particular tea party lasted about an hour, or maybe even longer. I love my kids. Oh, and Rosemary wore this tiara every day this week. Including when we left the house. And for some reason people liked to comment that she must be a "queen." They don't know what they're talking about. She's obviously a princess. :)

 The kids also loved playing outside a lot this week. I have the cutest pictures of them playing in the kiddie pool, but Xander was in his birthday suit and try as I might, I just couldn't get an appropriate angle. But I did manage to get this cute one of the two of them in our hammock!






Staying at grandma and grandpa's house was really good for the kids. For all of us. The two of them bonded like nobody's business! And Rosemary has told me everyday since we got back that she loves me as much as she loves God and Jesus. And since she has more faith in her pinky finger than anyone else I know has in their entire soul, that is a big compliment! Their vacation also allowed me to work on things around the house that have been driving me absolutely bonkers and just can't get done when they're around.  I hope I get more pictures of all the big things that happened over the past few weeks- the baptism, the vow renewal, the trip to the Bed and Breakfast. Oh yes, there were so many more things that happened over the past few weeks (house flooding, drains being replaced, dryer breaking, garage door breaking, roof shingles falling off, tropical storms, worst rainy season ever...) But I'm kind of glad that I don't have any pictures of those for this post. I think this post is all about the little things that have been going on. And really, the big things are nice and memorable (well, the house falling apart really isn't so nice, but it is memorable!). But the little things pass so quickly. And they make us who we are. And I love who we are.

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Our new summer toy

Fun!!!

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Our new summer toy

Fun!!!

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Most exciting day ever!!!

Rosemary and I have been working hard on our butterfly garden this year. It started about a month ago when I purchased a homely looking milkweed plant at Ace Hardware (which was the only plant nursery opened on a Sunday that carried any milkweed at all- believe me- I made Joe drive all over town looking for one that was opened). They had recently cut it back and it only had a handful of leaves, so they gave me a discount and I figured I'd go ahead and give it a try. Rosemary and I planted it in a pot and placed it outside our screened in porch. To our surprise, a monarch butterfly responded and laid eggs on our sad looking mikweed plant! Once the egg started hatching, I brought the plant, along with the several tiny caterpillars, inside the porch to protect them from the wasps and other pests that like to eat them. After a couple weeks, there were no leaves left but there were a handful of hungry caterpillars that needed more food! I went to a local nursery and found some native milkweed- which looks nothing like what I had been buying and which can grow to be as a big as a tree. The owner of the nursery even took a huge caterpillar off another plant and let me take it home. It was the biggest caterpillar I have ever seen. I knew it wouldn't be long before it would be ready to pupate. The day after we got the new plant, I went to Petsmart and purchased a reptile terrarium to use as a butterfly hatchery. Unfortunately, by the time we got home to set up our little nursery, Mr. Big Caterpillar crawled off the milkweed never to be seen again. We knew it was his time and when the caterpillar senses it's time for him to metamorphose, it will crawl off the host plant and change into a pupa (chrysalis). I told Rosemary to be careful where she stepped and for the past two weeks, she has been warning me to be careful every time we step onto our porch. We searched high and low for the chrysalis, but never did find it. In the meantime, we did successfully nurture two caterpillars in our terrarium who did pupate. Today after I drop Rosemary off at school, I go out to check on the little pupas, and there on the screened-in porch, is who else but Mr. (or Mrs.) Butterfly!!!!! Our escapee was inside the porch the whole time!!!! And one of our pupas inside the terrarium was about to hatch! It was magical today inside our little old screened-in porch! Here are some pictures of our adventures in butterfly gardening:

Milkweed is the host plant for monarch butterflies. They will drink the nectar from the flowers and lay their eggs on the plant. Usually they lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, but this little guy left his on the actual blossom. That little tiny dot in the middle of the red bud is a butterfly egg. They are very tiny, but once you know how to spot them, you will be amazed at how quickly you will notice them!


     



 Once the egg hatches, it becomes a teeny tiny little caterpillar. That teeny tiny little caterpillar eats his eggshell and munches through the leaf. You can see the hole bitten through this leaf right above the caterpillar. That's where his egg was. Now our little friend (Rosemary names all our caterpillars Bailey) will start his journey.







 


Here's a picture of another recently hatched caterpillar from our garden. You can kind of see how tiny they are in this picture by comparing it to my fingers. Trust me, I'm not a giant! They look so big compared to the caterpillar though!





 

While I was going around taking pictures of the caterpillars, Xander-man decided to play in my reserved soil. Nice, little man.








 

Here's another caterpillar, not so small. Actually, this picture was taken a couple weeks ago. This is the caterpillar that just hatched into a butterfly today! This was shortly before we put him in the terrarium.







 

Here he is after we put him in the terrarium. When the caterpillar is ready to pupate, he will either crawl off the host plant, or in this case, crawl to the top of the terrarium, spin a little web, hang from it in a "J" shape, and eventually pupate.



Here's the same caterpillar after metamorphosing into a pupa. He stayed this way for about two weeks.






 

Here's a second caterpillar in our terrarium in the "J" shape just before pupating (I hate that word. Pupate.) You can see our first pupa sticking out of the front of the top.



 

Here's the first one again. This was taken this morning. I noticed all the green color was gone, and I could see the color and shape of the wings inside the pupa so I knew it wouldn't be long before he hatched. 




 


And this picture was taken about an hour later. See the empty chrysalis?! SOOOOO COOL!!!!!



 

And here's Bailey! But, what's that in the background, attached to the white part of our porch??? Another butterfly! Yes, that would be our escapee!!! Two butterflies in one day!!!!


Here's another closer shot of the escapee (look by the mulch- he's inside the porch.)




 

And an even closer picture.








 

I waited for Rosemary to get home from school today before releasing either of them. She was so excited to see the new butterflies!




 

After our escapees wings dried (you need to wait a while before releasing them or they won't be able to survive), I gently coerced her outside using Xander's toy butterfly net. She hung out on the screen door for a few hours before she eventually flew away. It was an AMAZING journey!!!! I hope she'll come back and lay some eggs in our garden so we can continue her legacy. But I have a feeling she's halfway to Mexico by now!



 

Our second hatchee of the day was still drying those wings by the time the sun went down so I stuck some food in there for her and we'll check on her in the morning. I'm sure she'll be ready to fly by then! I love how she grabbed onto the stick I put in there!






I like to think I'm teaching Rosemary some valuable life lessons about humans and nature, but really I'm way more into it than she is! She loves it and talks about it and knows all the life stages of the caterpillar (although we keep debating the whole cocoon vs. chrysalis thing. And believe me, that 4 year old can debate!) but I was like a giddy little kid when I saw those butterflies today! I don't think I've been that excited about anything in months!  I can't wait to release the next one. We should have a third in the next couple days because our other pupa in the terrarium was only a day or two behind. And we have one caterpillar that will be ready to pupate soon, and lots of new babies to keep it company! I hope some swallowtails find my parsley so we can see another type of butterfly emerge but so far only the monarch has discovered our little garden.

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