{April}

Well, we must be having a TON of FUN, because time is sure flying by at mach 10 lately! I am a bad Mama, haven't taken a monthly portrait of my baby yet this month - I've got just a few days left before she turns 11 months old! Can you believe it? She's rounding the corner to her first birthday, already!?! She stands independently and takes a few steps before falling to her knees because she's lightening fast at crawling and it gets her there faster. It's cute to see her just stand right up in the middle of the room, put her hands high in the air (soooo  big!) and then toddle a few steps. It won't be long before she's tearing around the house at full speed! She sure is a sweetheart. She's had a rough go the past couple weeks with all FOUR of her top teeth trying to break through the gums - they're almost there. It makes for some uncomfortable nights for the poor dear. My baby is slowly, yet quickly, disappearing and before I know it she'll be a toddler! With 6 teeth! I'm excited to celebrate her first birthday in June. But like most Mamas, it's a little bit sad to say goodbye to that first amazing whirlwind of a year where they start sooooo tiny and helpless and end up running into your arms with a huuuge smile that shows of their few little teeth. Crazy! Makes me want to just keep on having babies...I really hope I will have a strong feeling when our family is "complete" because right now I'm not sure I'll ever feel that way? 

Since she's good at balancing and taking a few steps, the kids decided to "hand down" or give Hazel their old little bike. Hazel was THRILLED to feel like such a big girl, riding a bike! It was so cute! Sawyer and Aspen were equally thrilled watching her and cheering her on!

The warm spring days are even warmer than the warmest summer days in Seattle. Everyone keeps warning us about how HOT summer will be, but in the meantime, we've really enjoyed the weather here. Immensely! Walks to the park, playing in the sand, spray and splash pads, pool, picnics, bbqs - it's my kind of life. The smell of sunscreen and dinner on the grill. A splash in the pool to start or end the day - I LOVE it! And of course, so do the kids!

It's so awesome that because of the wonderful weather, people can have parties outside whenever they please. We attended a birthday party at the park under a huge old oak tree. It was magical! We will have to plan a party outside one of these days...speaking of party planning - we've got TWO birthdays coming up! I don't think they'll be outside this year - but we are planning Sawyer's 5th birthday, which he has requested to be a LEGO party! It's going to be so much fun! And Hazel is going to have a small party with just our family. So fun to have so many reasons to celebrate! We got a head start on party prep and the kids helped me peel a bunch of old crayons and melt them in mold into lego bricks and little lego men (we'll use as party favors). Aren't they cool? I think so!

The big news of the month is that we closed on our new home! Did I mention that we bought a house? We are so so excited! We have a month of overlap between ending our current lease for our apartment so we decided to start on a couple of projects before we move in and have to be in the middle of it all. So, now, we're kind of half way packing and in between and running back and forth -- it's a little crazy. But, it is exciting and it will pass. We'll be moved in soon - the kids are absolutely thrilled!

Someone from our church moved recently, and gave us a ton of boxes to use. The boxes take up 1/3 of our living room in our apartment, or so it seems. They have turned into a climbing wall, ice skating rink, and other various fun things. At first it was fun, and now it's kinda driving me nuts - but hey, just part of the process, right? At least the kids are enjoying it! Even Hazel is amazing at climbing the slippery "wall". 

I got Sawyer registered for Preschool right near our new house. He will go for 2 days in the fall - from 9-2pm, and eat lunch with his class those days. I think it will be good for him, yet I'm sad he won't be with us for part of the day. I figure, though, since the following fall he will start full day, intense kindergarten, he needs to at least acclimate a little bit to getting out the door and being away from home for a chunk of the day. Maybe I do, too :) I really wish they had half day kindergarten here, but it's not an option. Texans take education very seriously! That said, I think he'll do great in school. In fact, I worry about him being bored since he's been reading a bit, writing, and spelling on his own for quite some time. He's also quite the little artist. Check out his cow ^  He draws things, and then sounds out and phonetically spells words. I don't correct him. In fact, I don't even work with him on it at all - he just decided it was fun. So, I'll just let him have fun with it. It's crazy what kids learn, or just pick up, when they're excited about something, isn't it?

Okay. Call my CRAZY! (because you KNOW I AM!!!) I decided I wanted to start making our house our home, "ours" by starting in the very heart of it - the kitchen! I wanted to paint the cabinets white, add new sparkly hardware, and brighten things up a bit. So, I studied and researched for HOURS and DAYS and WEEKS and came up with a master plan of how that would happen. Let me tell you, it is a TON of work! And it's really hard to do with little children, and a family. And thank GOODNESS we're doing it while living elsewhere. Like most DIY projects, it costs A LOT less to do it yourself. Like under $500 vs. $5,000. So, I'm doing it. Crazy? Definitely! Worth it? I'll let you know once I'm done!

We've also started narrowing down paint selections and putting a few samples up (okay, maybe more than a few) on the walls. We will study them in all sorts of light and live with them for at least a week before we decide on the winners. Although I may go ahead and decide and do Hazel's room because I really want it to be painted so we don't have to rustle her around. She's been in our room, and sleeping with us, up until now, and so I want to only have to make one transition for her. Jacob is also getting me a much-longed for and anticipated super comfortable gliding/swivel rocking chair to put in her room. I'm so excited about it! It will take a long time to get our house all decorated etc. but we're trying to start with the most important things, first. A rocker was pretty high up on the list :)

The kids have been amazing, as always. Wonderful little troopers while I drag them around to lots of errands and attempt to do some things around the new house with them under foot. They are seriously such good sports. And they play SO well together. Sometimes I feel a little bad that we hardly ever do playdates - but we don't really need to, since they're best friends. Something exciting, though, is that I met some of our new neighbors and there is a little girl right next door who is Aspen's age, and a boy across the street who is Sawyer's age. How fun is that?

Last Sunday we took the kids to our new home to have a picnic dinner in the back yard. We knew all along we were buying a home for them, more than for us, but WOW, it's crazy how excited they are to have more room to run and a huge back yard! Aspen decided to start moving some of her special, important stuff (ie toys) over to the house. "Look Mama, I'm stroooong!" 

Amidst the craziness and chaos that is our lives the next few weeks as we get ready to move and get settled, I noticed we have a couple of beautiful rose bushes on each side of our house. And they're all blooming. Good reminder - even during times of craziness, it's good to stop and smell the roses. For reals! We are feeling so so very blessed, yet also a bit overwhelmed with all we have to do in the next three weeks. Let the crazy fun begin (well, it already has!)

My favorite Trio

I meant to share this a couple of months ago, but just now got around to it while organizing some digital files and *attempting* to clean off my desktop a bit. A couple of years back, Jacob helped me do silhouettes of the kids - which have since hung in their shared bedroom. I think Sawyer was barely two, and Aspen was around ten months at the time. I just loved them! I had an empty frame just waiting for something...so Jacob updated the Silhouettes by doing a new ones of all three of our kiddos. Sawyer is 4, Aspen just turned 3, and Hazel about 7 months in these. I love seeing their little profiles. It has been said that three is a "magic" number. Yes, it is! Loving and cherishing these three, my favorite trio ever!

A little privacy...maybe?

So, I've wrestled with the idea of going private for a long time. I started thinking about it even more last summer when a dear friend and fellow photographer found some of our images stolen on flickr (really - someone created a new identity and claimed photos we had taken were part of their life? images and words, stolen right from each of our respective family blogs?). It kinda creeped me out a little. Jacob said, "I'm sure there's more stolen out there, if there's some." I don't even care all that much about the stealing. It's weird, and why would you do it? But at least they weren't doing crazy horrible things with the images, ya know? Anyway, I watch the stats from time to time on the blog and sometimes feel flattered and other times freaked out about how many people (all around the world!) are peeking at our family blog. Some come from referring sites, like Pinterest (which I also have very mixed feelings about - I had an account when it first came out, but ditched it long ago for various personal reasons) Anyway, I don't want this to come across all negative or that I think everyone who looks at our blog are creepy. In fact, I think most likely the majority, if not all, the people who get glimpses into our family's life, are most likely wonderful and amazing people - some of whom leave sweet and kind comments from time to time. I am fairly certain half of my family doesn't even look at our blog - which, ironically, is one of the major reasons I started blogging and one of the reasons I kept it open and public (easier access). So, I have contemplated just going private and only inviting my husband to read. Then it could really be a journal, I could share more personal thoughts and feelings and information that I don't feel comfortable doing in a public setting. Or, I could invite family and close friends who, like me, enjoy keeping "in touch" via the blog-o-sphere. My feelings are still mixed. I'm weighing in the pros and cons of going private or just keeping things as they are. 

Don't be surprised if one day, this blog just "disappears".
Or, be surprised!
Or, leave a comment or send me an email if you'd like an invitation if I decide to go private but keep the die-hards in the loop. 

Am I even making any sense? I know I threatened to go private a few years ago, and felt like it wasn't the right time. I'm not even sure if is now...I'm curious about 

Your thoughts?

I know google's "reader" is going to phase out this summer...maybe this ole' blog should phase out with it?

UPDATE:  After some careful consideration, I still feel like I should NOT go private. Weird? I think a lot of the traffic I was wondering about is one-time viewers from Pinterest or other links. So, for now, I'm just not going to worry about it. The odds are definitely in my favor that it's good people who stop by this little corner of the web from time to time, and not a bunch of psychos (unless there are psychos who are specifically looking at how to make ruffled crib bedding or something like that! ha!)

So, while I may be busy with other projects and our move, I will still make a whole hearted attempt to blog, and capture some of the happy moments of my little families life. 

Thanks for your thoughts!

SXSW: Bring Your Own Chair

A few weeks back, Jacob and I were stoked to experience our first SXSW (South by Southwest - only the biggest live music festival in the world!!!). We were especially excited because The Butler Bros - Jacob's new office - puts on one of the only very cool, yet family-oriented, events. It was an all-day event with six different bands, fun stuff for the kids, yummy food trucks - one of which was GoodPops - a popsicle stand where I had the best popsicle(s) (or 2 or 3) of my life (not kidding - hibiscus mint...you've got to try it!) and just an overall super awesome day with the fam. You can see a little video re-capping the day on the Bros blog, here. 

Have I mentioned yet how much we love the weather here in ATX? Can you say...perfect? Okay, I know we haven't been here for summertime yet, but from what I hear 6 weeks of "hot as hell" is worth the rest of the year being utterly amazing. Everyone has air conditioning and a pool nearby, or a river to float - I think we'll survive. But, yes, we are thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and warm temps here in Texas. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

So, our kids had been kinda chill just relaxin' in the shade of our little tent cover thingy, and eating their trailer food (and popsicles!), but finally when the Danish band Tako Lako came on for their set (btw they were awesome! such good energy!), something inside Aspen was set free. She was mesmerized and decided to just get up and dance like I know she can. Perhaps she was being a little shy before (we have plenty of dance parties at home, so I know she has moves) but she just let it loose and it was SO fun. I've been known to dance with the hippies...her Daddy, too...so perhaps, it's just in her genes. Any way around it, it was cute and we even captured a little iPhone video of our whirling dervish girl.

Even though it was a long day, Tako Lako gave the kids their second wind and they kept going strong. They found an ice chest with the melty ice and started playing with the melting ice cubes. Eventually, more kids joined them. Aspen danced so crazy, her little buns fell out, and she decided to try to take a dip in the ice chest. Good times, I tell ya, good times. 

We can hardly wait for next year!

SXSW 2013 from Tysha on Vimeo.

Nursery Inspiration and Ideas

PINK

There, I said it.

Pink is a word I laugh at a little. Growing up, I considered myself more the tom-boy sort and I steered clear of pink for a long time. I always loved shades of blue. But somewhere in my 20s I decided pink was okay. In fact, more than okay. I decided I actually liked it. Maybe even loved it from time to time. Not hot pink, or bright pink, or even true pink. But baby shades of pink. Elegant and classy shades of pink. Those are the pinks I'm drawn to. The kind of pink that is found as the sun sinks into the sky and makes the fluffy clouds look like cotton candy. Or the kind of pink ballerinas wear when they dance on their toes. Or maybe the color of rosy pink baby cheeks. Any way around it - I do enjoy some pink.

Since Hazel is looking to be a beautiful true brunette, I kinda liked that little random quote (the woman who said it dyes her hair platinum so she said at heart she's a brunette and loves pink, haha!). So, a pink room for our brunette :)

I have to admit, I'm kinda excited thrilled to be able to plan a nursery for our sweet baby Hazel - even if it's a year late. When Aspen was born, she was sharing a room with Sawyer from the get-go so I steered clear from pink. When Hazel was born, she had a corner of our room, and has since shared our room as we've had temporary arrangements here in Austin. But now that we bought a new home, and Sawyer and Aspen insist on sharing - I finally get to do an all out girly nursery. My goal is to make it enjoyable for her babyhood and toddler days ahead, but not so baby-ish that I have to re-do it all when it's time for her sister to move in and share it with her in a couple of years. So, I am thinking ahead. I am thinking of what we already have (for example, we have two white cast-iron beds that the girls will use when it's time) and I'm thinking of a few things we'll need, little by little. Oh yeah, it will take some time because my budget is small. But that's kind of the challenge I enjoy - how do I create something with what I have and the resources I can allocate? It's a fun game. 

Anyway, I hope this isn't boring. But it was fun to gather some ideas and put them in one spot. I don't do Pinterest, so here is my own sort of inspiration board. I'll be watching Craigslist, stopping by the Good Will, spending a little time in fabric stores, doing some DIY -- and the first, step: finding the perfect paint color for the walls. I think I've narrowed it down to about 5 colors...now to get sample pots and put them on the walls and then...it begins. Someday - likely a few months down the road, I will perhaps post some before and after pics. In the meantime...we still have a few weeks before we close and move, so I'll keep making plans. Wish me luck! 

ps- sorry I don't have the sources for these photos to link or credit. Mostly, I just screen grab them to save in my inspiration photo on my desktop. I guess that's one un-benefit of being anti Pinterest. Sorry folks!