Approaching Spring

We've got all the signs of spring starting early except for a prediction of snow on Saturday.  Just in time for our Sasha's 8th Birthday.  I decided not to do a home party this year- this weather is just too random and unpredictable.  Furthermore I wasn't prepared to have ten 8 & 9 year olds running a muck in my house.  With a recent play-date involving one boy helping himself to matches that we have 'safely' hidden in a cupboard, I'm not willing to risk what would happen if 10 inquisitive and mischievious boys showed up.  Oi.  So yes, a swimming party it will be.  Not nearly as creative as past years, but oh well.  If it does end up snowing I'll be so relieved we made other plans!

I'm ending the week on a positive note- I finally tackled a few more things that have been hanging over my head (namely accounting), and got caught up, thanks to help from a friend.  It was seriously a daunting task.  I know that this is something that's supposed to happen weekly or monthly, but sorting receipts has been the very last thing on my to do list, never to be crossed off.  And then it got out of hand.  Mounds and mounds of shipping receipts that I couldn't even imagine trying to record and sort through.  Mental block hit, and this last week I had the brainwave idea to get Kat to come in for help.  She helped me pack all the boxes to send to Anthropologie (they have arrived! not online yet) and she really is a wiz at being organized.   So, along with finishing up all my local shop orders, I feel as if I have a handle on things once again.  More or less, that is.  Until I realize that I don't actually have anything ready for my holiday shows... all in due time. 

I'll be in the studio this weekend with a bunch of 14 year old girls.  Our niece is celebrating her birthday and I offered for them to come to the studio while it's still bare, to do some making.  I have a feeling it's going to be full of laughs and giggles.

Have a great weekend!

Keeping motivated

 It's my birthday this week and things are being kept pretty low-key around here.  My boys are at my folk's place all week while work continues on the largest order I've ever filled.  It's not for the faint of heart these large orders.  It's a whole lot of intensely physical work and I've been going to bed with sore muscles from all the lifting and pouring of molds in my little studio. I'm so grateful to have Sarah with me in the studio this summer- her energy and enthusiasm is certainly helping me stay motivated to keep at it.  At the rate we are going, we'll only have 1 more week of slip-casting, and the rest of the summer will be glazing, glazing and more glazing.  If all goes as planned, the bulk of the order will be finished by the end of the summer (and by the time Sarah has to go back to school), so I'm just finishing up the last bits in time to send it off early October.  By then I'll be full-on in Holiday mode.  Phew, what a year!!

photos:  The waterlilies at the studio are blooming again!
I remembered I had this photo kicking around- circa 1981 or 82.  Love the wallpaper, and clearly, I am ready to party!!

Fun Finds for Birthdays

I got lucky at a garage sale on Saturday and found some fun 'props' for the ninja party I was putting on for Johnny this weekend.  It's too bad I didn't find film in time for the polaroid camera I bought (simply for looks in this case), but the typewriter was the perfect thing for the kids to 'register' themselves for 'ninja training school', aka backyard obstacle course and party games.  The origami stars made a fun craft, although I had pre-folded some of the papers for kids that were really having trouble with the instructions.  They were supposed to be like 'throwing stars'... but apparently real ninja throwing stars only have 3 points, as one of the kids so kindly pointed out. 

Nine

Well we officially have a 9 year old in the house.  He no longer needs a car seat.  It's his last year as a one digit number.  And he is growing very tall.  For his birthday he asked if he could have breakfast in bed.  The novelty wore off pretty quick, and soon he was at the table to eat the rest of his 'hungry-man's breakfast' that he had requested.  Eggs, bacon, and pancakes with blueberries, whipping cream and maple syrup.  Seriously.

Happy Birthday Oliver!

My little nephew is a St. Patty's day baby- he turns 1 years old today! What a sweetheart he is!  It's so remarkable to see how much babies grow in one year. Yesterday I visited my good friend who just had a baby last week- he was so small and tiny at just 5 days old.  Looking at these Oliver pictures today made me realize how amazing that first year really is!
We'll be taking off for Vancouver Island over the weekend to visit with my sister and her family, and some good friends of ours.  I have a couple of orders to get out the door before then, but otherwise, things might be a little quiet around here. 
My thoughts are with Japan- there are a few auctions and fundraiser's I'll be highlighting here if you are looking for ways to help out.  Otherwise have a wonderful week and I'll have some photos and inspiration for you when I get back! 

seven years ago

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is 7 today.  It's also amazing to think that I gave gave birth 7 years ago.  Having a baby is no short of a miracle.  After Johnny's birth (which took me 8 months to heal from- another story all in itself), it took a lot of courage to even think about having a second baby.  Well, turns out it was something we didn't have to plan, and thankfully, the birth was so easy (relatively speaking, of course)...and short!  I had been induced again- it was only 4 days after my due date instead of 13 with Johnny and my labour started really easy- Dean and I went shopping together, went out for dinner, I had a nap- both of us enjoying having Johnny, our 21 month old, be with his grandparents.  Anyways, I woke up from my nap and I was in full labour- we called the hospital to say we were on our way and my Doctor was waiting for us when we arrived at 11:30 pm.  Sasha was born at 12:30 am on Feb 23rd.  So fast! And after Sasha was born I sighed a big relief and said "I'm Done!".  Dean turned to me and said "Done done? or just done?"
We were both surprised to see our new, healthy little boy.  He looked so different than Johnny did- had lots of dark hair, a button nose and had my chin.  
Sasha is my artist.  He's very musical and loves to draw.  He's a funny story-teller and has an interesting slant on life, with big ideas of how things should be.  Every year he grows older I feel sad that I will miss the way he was when he was 3, 5 or 6.  Even so, I'm still done.

Mid Thirties.

Well, my 35th birthday has come and gone and I'm slowly absorbing the thought that I'm officially in my mid- thirties.  I realize it's not so bad, but I keep asking myself 'where did the last 5 years go?'.  And if this is an indicator of how fast the time flies, in 5 years I'll be turning 40 and my older son will be entering his teens, turning 13.  CRAZY!  Let's slow down here... time doesn't have to move that fast, my kids don't have to grow up that quickly and can't we add an extra hour or two on a day so I can finally get it all done so I can really enjoy my summer???
So there you have it, photos of me, innocently at age 4 and last year at age 34, somehow wanting to hold all those years in between in my memory long enough to slow the world down, if even for just a second.   

(If I'm a little slow on the blogging front this week, please bear with me... I have 3 kiln-loads of work going in and out of the studio this week so that I can take some holidays with my kids in the month of August.  The boys are being lovingly cared for at Grandma/Grandpa 'camp' so I can plow through the work...it's amazing how much I end up missing them when they are gone despite all the extra studio time I get in...)

Birthdays for boys and a diagnosis

Well, we officially have an 8 year old boy in the house and for his party this past weekend 2 of his closest buddies came over for a sleepover complete with mini-golf, nerf gun target practice, a late night movie, pizza and cake and a pancake breakfast to boot.  Wow.  I felt like I needed the next couple of days to recover from all that!  The decorations were kept pretty simple- just some balloons, streamers and paper airplanes hung over the table.  A couple of old trophies made for a fun centerpiece.  I did end up putting a 'Darth Vader' Birthday Candle on the cake so it was a little more appealing to the boys.  Anyways, it was fun and wild and sometimes crazy but that's how it goes with boys this age.

Yesterday we had our meeting with the school psychologist who actually did do some diagnosing.  I'm still trying to process some of the results- more the labels and associations that come with the diagnosis.  It seems that Johnny has some form of ADD and dislexia that are inhibiting his ability to learn to read and write as smoothly and quickly as other kids.  Both diagnosis were kind of a surprise to me. Johnny has never mixed up letters and he can read and write, albeit slowly and below his level.  So there is a program he might do for 10 weeks in fall to re-learn how to read and write geared for kids with mild dislexia. 
I think what surprised me more was the whole ADD diagnosis.  I sat down to do some research yesterday and frankly, it's hard not to see every boy Johnny's age as being somewhat ADD.   Knowing that about 7 of Johnny's classmates have undergone a similar psychological assessments this year makes me a little frustrated that we aren't looking at the process of teaching kids as opposed to simply trying to medicate and diagnose our kids into being good students. ADD or ADHD seems to be a catch-all phrase for kids who have a lot of energy and a low attention span.  Perhaps it's not just our kids who have the 'problem', perhaps some of the issues have to do with educators and parents who haven't completely learned how best to motivate these kids to learn and cope with life at their optimum.
With that in mind, I can see that there are a few strategies that I can work on personally as a parent to make life a little smoother for both Johnny and us as parents.  Some of those parenting tips I found here, some more I found here- both sites and the video being advocates for the concept of 'positive parenting'.  Essentially, the idea behind positive parenting is to learn how to avoid conflicts/power struggles with your child while trying to teach them how to make positive choices.  For me it will mean being more intentional about how I relate to my boys and not trying to rush over the parenting tasks that I do every day.  Also making sure that we have a more consistent schedule, complete with lots of meals/snacks, good sleeping habits and lots of physical activity will be on the agenda.  Good thing I bought some new running shoes on the weekend- I have a feeling I'll be playing a lot more soccer and going for more hikes and runs throughout the summer...