Bullies and old Jim Cricket

What nobody tells you in those tender, high school years... Is that those "mean girls" don't stay locked in the walls of adolescence. Nope, they actually follow you around, making you cry (or blog, red-eyed and tissue-clad at 2am). I don't know if there is a particular reason women are so nasty to each other, but I'm becoming vividly aware that the pleas for us to stop go unnoticed.
What's the answer? Snide comments and backstabbing shouldn't be ignored, right?

So... Stand up for yourself! Nope. Any approach taken can ultimately be twisted and drag out the drama.
So.... Kill them with kindness! OK, if you appreciate looking like a tool and being laughed at. Sweet.
So..... Cry. Try to sleep. Get up and prepare to be bullied all over again.

It breaks Christopher's heart, and drives him insane, that I don't adapt to his "everyone is a backstabbing jerk and you need to grow thicker skin" mentality. I can't. I think that's part of the problem, definitely not the solution. Once we all cave to being as ugly as people are to us... It's time to surrender as a species. As nice as it feels to sometimes daydream about returning those glares or getting a few jabs in, it is the WRONG thing to do. I simply can't fight rudeness with rudeness, because the ugly in that makes the person in my mirror a hideous-beast.

Maybe some people have lost their crickets? Ha, that brings to mind the image of a world full of wandering crickets. Poor things.

Really, in case anyone out there is reading on the edge of their seats, I believe the "answer" is simply to not let it break you. Nobody being truly terrible is worth the time and effort it takes to be hurt by them, right? Also, to be aware of not making others feel badly ourselves. If there is someone out there I have personally hurt, please believe I am sorry and there was no excuse.

That's what I'm going to stick with and eventually teach my daughters too. Except when someone hurts them, I'm sure post-motivational mom speech.... I will cry all over again.

end.

Dear Chris,

Love,
If anyone were to ask me to describe the best time of my whole life, my happiest of all memories... it would undoubtedly be the week we spent on our family vacation 2011. You will never fully know how much this trip meant to me and I hope we can continue to show our family this treat of undivided love and attention as we grow.
The Tennesse part of our trip was such a wonderful time. I loved sharing with you that side of myself and believe all of the love we were shown from the family is one we have carried into our relationship and as parents.
Cape Cod, in a small cottage with the 2 people I love the very most in this world was bliss and I'm more in love with you than ever before. All of the planning and work you did to make this happen didn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. It is a testiment to how much unconditional love you have for your family and what an amazing husband/daddy you really are. Thank you for all you do, thank you for being the rock of this family and thank you for the vacation of a lifetime. Cape Cod, with you and Aspen IS my happy place.

All my love forever + 1 day,
Jes

I Love You

We have never tried to do baby signs with Aspen, but she picked up this one from us and started doing it on her own one day! Makes us smile, and we really do love her oh so much.

Holidays 2010

The Holidays have come and gone, and I am just now getting around to updating our blog! Turkey-Day was wonderful, we did our rounds and saw the whole family... ate too much and slept great that night.

Christmas was a blast this year because Aspen knew more about what was going on. She opened presents and laughed a lot, which made our day that much sweeter! We again, got to see everyone in the family and had a full day of love and cherished memories!

!Almost Halloween!

YAY! It's almost Halloween!!! We carved pumpkins, and it was really a great time. Aspen was more into it this year, probably because she was older than 2 months? She also got to "drink" hot cocoa with THE GETTMAN and we got some pretty amazing photos of the Pre Halloween fun. We also just found out that Uncle Chad will be (back) out for the trick-or-treating!!! YAY!!! I'm sure it has less to do with seeing Aspen in her dinosaur costume than it does with.... other things.... haha, I'm so happy right now for everyone :) HEHEHEEEEEE

~Enjoy these shots~

Vegas

I really love this picture of us... timeless.

Vegas was a good vacation. I think in the future we will have to plan trips where Aspen can come too. I really really missed her. It was great to see the sights, and we really enjoyed the fountains! Jess and I drove most of the way there, but Chris drove most of the way back so it was all good :)

Textured Quilts

I have stumbled into one of the coolest things I've ever done

Textured Quilts

It's not a secret for anyone who knows me, but I really enjoy sewing. It's almost like a meditation. I love the challenge of a new project and it's such a part of who I am that I see fabrics and instantly start molding them into thousands of projects I don't yet know how to do! It's disgusting how much I love to spend ALL of my money making things to be given away... gross. Haha. If we were to become independantly wealthy I would make quilts and clothes and drapes and anything else you could imagine.... and then just give em away, because I love to see the look on peoples faces when they recieve something so heartfelt that they just don't know what to say. It's the BEST. All of that said, let me share some pictures of the latest projects! I used to work at CSDB (Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind) here in Colorado Springs. It was such a touching job and I really did enjoy the time I spent there. One of the ladies from CSDB recently sparked an interest in making textured bean-bags and other things for some of the very young students. I made this quilt yesterday! Can you imagine all of the amazing textures, and then the zipper and velcro pockets?! It's very cool. There isn't much out there for parents to choose from in the textured and stimulating department. I think I am going to update my site to include color swatches of different styles of quilts for the parents who would like to have one that matches their lives a little better. Brown and Pink would be a cute combo, also a few animals on one etc. Aspen LOVES playing on this one and it really isn't just limited to visually impared children... YAY, I'm so excited about this new chapter!!! Stay tuned for the updates on different themes and keep us in mind if you meet any little ones who could really use the sensory stimulation- OH, and they are actually machine quilted (only my Christmas gifts this year are hand-quilted ;) hehe) with a fantasticly fluffy batting for extra padding on those little knees and extra warmth for those little naps!

THANKS!