"the blues"

Due to some recent, unexpected, circumstances I have had the 'luxury' of laying around the house for the past few days. In this time, I have realized a few things.

1) It is nearly impossible to sit still and relax in your own home. When I lay on the couch all I can think is, "look how messy that coat closet is!" or, "wouldn't some bolder drapes look better there?" or, "wow, I really should mop!." Does this mean I have a problem?

2) I will NEVER be done decorating and re-decorating my house. Is it impossible to be satisfied, or do my interests just change that quickly? Hmm...

3) I do not like to be alone. The more time I spend alone, the more my mind wanders to things like, "wouldn't some bolder drapes look better there?" Clearly not a healthy thought for me, given my pension for spending way to much on 'bargain' drapes that end up being replaced next month.

4) My house has "the blues." That's right. We are almost entirely blue, floor to ceiling, side to side, front to back. I believe whole heartily that blues are extremely soothing, but there is the potential that I have gone overboard....

Would you care to be the judge?

Even the kitchen and bathroom have caught the fever!



Any suggestions??

let me count the ways...

How many times and or different ways can I say...I REALLY cannot keep up with life these days. And mind you, its not only this blog that is suffering. Lately I have begun to resonate with the saying "stretched thin." After school, Lemon Tree, my friends, my family, and real life stuff there just seems to be no time left in the day. Without making any hasty changes, I have to say that sometimes I think my priorities need a little investigating, and maybe just a little more than a "talking to..." Does that make sense?

Ok, ok... this is is serious danger of turning into a place where I do a little too much thinking out loud. Tomorrow (and at this rate by tomorrow I mean, like, a month from now) I will move on to much lighter subjects. Subjects such as how cute L has gotten these days, or how terribly much I love my husband. You know, the good stuff.

What's New?

I blame my terrible, terrible blogging record here at Little Burlew on Lemon Tree Creations. While a major love of mine, it had me completely overwhelmed for awhile. But, I have decided to turn over a new leaf. Starting today, I am going to slow down just a little. I have noticed recently that if nothing else, I just really need the time to sit and indulge with thought all of the great things about life.

So, that being said, here is an update on life as we know it.

Laurelei is 22 months old now, can you believe it? She is growing like a weed. Never been healthier (relatively speaking), funnier, or more outgoing. She entertains us daily with new phrases, "where are you going?," "where's daddy?," "why mommy?," "No, I do it!," "Do it again!," "love you..." Well, you get the picture. She is in a great stage of life.
Matt was recently ordained. Talk about being proud of your husband. My history has been full of churches and various church families. Full of wonderful examples of godly men and women. Oddly enough though, I have never felt as blessed as I did sitting in the service when Matt was ordained. In that moment I pretty much new I was the luckiest girl in the world, having such a wonderful godly man as my husband, someone who I am lucky enough to raise a family with. Can't believe I get to hold his hand forever!
Not much has been going on with me. Just the usual... school, summer school, and the blog. If you haven't checked out much of Lemon Tree Creations you should! I am lucky enough to share this wonderful site with some very creative girls. We are just having a blast!

Ruru and Laurelei

Laurelei has a new fascination: our dog. She has always been very fond of Ruby, but now she is downright obsessed. We are not allowed to be in the house without Ruby. She will go to the backdoor and knock on it until we let "Ruru" in. It is too cute.

Tonight Laurelei was feeding Ruby through the leg openings in her high chair and saying "uh-oh" every time the dog would take her food. Matt and I are fairly certain this was not truly an accident, nor a cause of "uh-oh." I think we might have a situation on our hands...

spring fever

Laurelei and I have been enjoying the recent sunshine as much as we possibly can! Every sunny day after work I am rushing from school at 3:30 or so to make sure we get some gooD play time in at the park. It seems like Laurelei is growing so quickly, so we are enjoying all of her excitement as she discovers spring for the first real time.

At the park her favorite things to do are swing, slide and cram her little self into any nook and cranny she can find. For obvious reasons, my pictures are mostly of the first one. The rest of the time is spent chasing the quick little booger around!

Enjoy...

Patrice

Losing track of time...

Time is moving so quickly, and with so many project going on, I am terrible about posting all of the amazing things that are happening right now.

First off, Laurelei continues to grow like a weed! Her hair is getting so long we can't believe it. We've said it all along, but we truly were blessed with a happy little baby. With the sunshine out and about, we have been able to take her to the park and go on a few walks. She giggles non-stop and is just soaking it all in. Lately she has added a few words to her vocabulary. She is consistently trying to say her name, which currently sounds like "rah-rah-rye." Everytime she points to herself, or a picture of her self, and says "rah-rah-rye," I just want to scoop her up and smother her with kisses because it is too cute!

Here she is enjoying her new stool and a snack (our current favorite...goldfish.)

Both Ruby and "Rah-rah-rye" have been enjoying the sunshine and walks to the park. They are quickly becoming best friends. The first thing Laurelei does when we walk in the door is go back to Ruby's cage and try to get her out.

Here is Laurelei at James Lane Allen park, right around the corner from our house. Laurelei LOVED the slide. Daddy was nice enough to take her down over and over again, and she giggled everytime!

On another note, something new in our lives has been a new blog project I have been working on with some friends. Just this week we started a new "creative blog" called Lemon Tree Creations.(check it out here) I have been a great deal of fun so far. I get to be creative again, and they even let me draw the little trees for the LOGO below. It was like a breath of fresh air! The girls I am working with are Erin (who many of you would remember from our time in Edinburgh), Tiffany (Erin's friend and my new inspiration for her FABULOUS pillows), Jessica (great coworker and creative kin) and Amy (another contributor that I haven't had the chance to meet yet!) Each and every contributor is super creative and has been creating wonderful things, most of which I am going to convince them to let me knock off :).

Needless to say, however, I have been quite busy with the family, teaching and my newest project. Matt, the world's best husband, has been extremly patient and understanding. He has been helping me with some projects which has been a lot of fun. No matter how late into the night I work, or how crazy my ideas sound, he has been very supportive. I'm a lucky girl!

Well, that is all for now. I hope you will come over and check out our site. Maybe even chose to follow us to see what we are up to in the future! It should be exciting! (FYI, Thursdays are all mine, so visit please! )

New Year, new milestones...

Wow, it has been awhile since I have posted. Let me just say things have been crazy around our house since the new year began! Before even going back to school after the holiday break sickness was plaguing our house. Laurelei started out the new year with a wonderful double ear infection and that was only the beginning! Three ER visits later and things are finally starting to look up. Midway into February we are turning a corner...though now I have a sinus infection and Laurelei has some form of cold, currently undiagnosed. Whew, what a month its been. Luckily we will enjoy the thoughts of our months of illness as we joyfully pay off some hefty hospital bills over the next few months...hmmm...

Anyway, onto the good stuff! Laurele is growing like a weed. She is happier and happier with each day and learning a ton of things too! Beginning this second year in life, having just celebrated a first birthday a mere 2 months ago (nearly), she is really showing her personality.

Among her favorite things to do are....

-sitting on anything and everything of the appropriate height...(Currently she is like one of those machines that should beep as it backs up. She walks backwards, around the house, squatting until she finds just the right seat. I'm going to have to start calling her Goldilocks! Just yesterday Matt and I ventured to target with her and wondered what the little bean was doing as she began clearning a shelf of its boxes. Why, clearing a space to sit down of course! She plopped down and was extremely difficult to move again. It was quite cute though! One of those, "wish I carried my camera EVERYwhere" moments!)

-giggling... (at anything, anytime, anywhere. I mean come on, what is as funny as a banana, puppy, snow, mommy, daddy, seats, lightswitches, remotes, babies, mirrors, pillows...etc, I am sure you get the picture!)

-eating...

-playing peekaboo... (While this is a game we began playing many, many months ago, Laurelei has perfected the art of hide-n-seek. She can hide behind a couch, pillow, table, candlesitck, curtain, finger, dishtowel, cheerio and even under a bed! Nothing gives her a greater pleasure than uncovering herself when we cannot find her. It is a wonderful pastime and makes parenting so much sweeter everytime we see her dracula grin!)

-cutting teeth... (Though our first birthday came and went with not one tooth, we the first one starting poking through within days of that 1 year milestone. In just two short months, we have gone from completely gummy grins to a well rounded 'dracula grin.' Our friend Jarod likes to tell me she is trying to impress me with her 'Twilight" dedication. Her two top teeth has arrived in fang position, while her two bottom teeth are right next to each other, snuggled directly inside the upper fangs. Her smiles are simply too cute now!)

-pointing...

-understanding everything mommy and daddy say... (I have to say, Matt and I were a little freaked out by how quickly and accurately Laurelei started to respond to our words. It's as if she went from knowing and understanding basically nothing, to knowing everything! Some recent sentences she has responded to are: "Time to take a bath." (by trying to take her clothes off while standing next to the tub); "Do you need a diaper change?" (going into the bedroom, getting a diaper, laying down on the floor); "Are you hungry?" (running to the kitchen, pointing to snack cabinent uttering "more!"); "Naptime." (shaking head no, and standing from a previously lounging position.) These things seem so basic, yet a month ago she simply stared at me like I was a babbling monkey when I tried to talk to her, it's so weird!)

Our little miracle baby is a true joy! I am loving everyday of motherhood. Oh, and we are currently completely outgrowing 6mo clothes (nearly!), how exciting is that? On to the big girl wear...fashionista in the making for sure!

Sorry for the marathon post, its been awhile. I am going to try to upload a video or two today!