One of the joys I have in life is creating; it’s how I got into soapmaking. I love crafts of all types (don’t believe me? My crafty boards on Pinterest have a veritable lifetime of awesome craft ideas for me to try). I knit. I have a flower press. I have newly started gardening. I adore cooking. I rubber stamp. I like to color. And, I now consider myself an expert play dough sculptor.
When I was tasked with developing a 2.5 day retreat for my Entrepreneur’s Organization group (that’s us at the Inn at Langley enjoying an amazing meal cooked by Matt Costello), I jumped at the chance to make our team building exercise creative.
We tried glass blowing. Wow! It was intense. I was alternately terrified and curious about the process. When it came time to actually do it, I tipped over the line of worry and spent most of my creative time scared I would drop the molten hot glass or slip and touch the glass. It’s over 1200 degrees so apparently, it would burn me but first, it would burn all the nerves so I wouldn’t feel pain initially. That news wasn’t all that comforting.
This is my creation. I’m ridiculously proud of it and even with the fear of burning myself, would definitely try my hand at glass blowing again. I also have a new-found appreciation for all glassblowing artisans now too.
Big thanks to my husband for taking extra good care of our sweet children while I was gone. Lily has firmly crossed over into the “I can eat solids” department and loves her little organic puffs (basically a more expensive form of cheerios that somehow manages to get me to pay more for the same product by having a different name). She’s not a big fan of sitting still (see above). Lily is not yet crawling but is sooooooo close. She can get up on all fours now and rock. Any day now, she’ll start to crawl and our home will turn into babyproofing central.
Jamisen is growing to look more like his Daddy every day (which of course thrills me because I think his Daddy is pretty dang cute). He remains obsessed with trains, loves fire engines and likes to pretend cook me creative things every day (“Mommy, can I cook you some cheese ice cream?”). He adores reading time and we spend a lot of time at the library in addition to lining the pockets of all the local booksellers. Books are the one thing I feel good about splurging for him on; well, books and healthy food. Jamisen still drinks green juice and asks for it most days.
We’ve got Lily in on the green juice act as well. She gets kale or spinach most mornings for breakfast and is so good natured that she smiles through the entire meal.
Jamisen and Lily remain typical siblings, as the photo series above demonstrates. He loves her most days but still likes to torment her. Today, I caught him trying to feed her olives. He claimed he thought was sharing. I tried to explain the meaning of “choking hazard” to him but I’m not sure it sunk in. Not twenty minutes later, he came over, enveloped her in a giant hug and said, “I love you, Lily.” I’m reading the book ‘Sibling Rivalry’ in the hopes that I can steer them towards friendship and teaming up against their parents, instead of each other. We love our little family of four – and though I remain tired every day (seriously, the new theme of my life is “exhaustion”), the challenge is good and I know that each day is sweeter with these little munchkins in it. If you have any advice on any of this stuff: delicious healthy meals for baby, being less tired, sibling rivalry or books for either child to read, please let me know. I always love to read your feedback and get the experience of my soapy friends. =)
