Living Room Pics

Six weeks after moving into our new apartment in downtown Seattle I've got everything squared away! (Well, except for that one stupid box of CDs that I keep debating whether I need them for backup or not, and I just don't have the time to check if they're all in my iTunes!) So, here are pictures of the living room. We live on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The kitchen, dining room, laundry, living room and a half bath are on the bottom floor; and the the bedrooms and bath are on the top floor.

I totally envisioned this room exactly as it came out. I love the bright green. i think I wanted it because its so dreary here.

Ruffles are so in now so these are 2 of the 5 pillows I made.

Little reading nook.

I bought blackout curtains from Walmart and customized them with this dark brown panel and ruffle that matches one of the pillows.

Nothin' special just thought i'd throw a picture in of the kitchen.

This is a calendar that I painted with custom chalkboard paint in the dining room.

Girls' Room

Blogging has been at a standstill. Actually, everything has/will be until I get this house in order, and that is proving to be much harder with 3 kiddos!

We got the girls' room all put together with some creative blackout curtains to keep out the heat and 4:30 a.m. sunrise!

The closets have to be creatively put together because they are smaller here, and there are less of them.

Notice the new bedding from Grandma for the new bunk beds!

Seattle Aquarium

We have moved! As a result, blog posts have been on hold.
I'm trying to catch up super fast as the kids are preoccupied for a few seconds. (They actually just came in with packed bags announcing that they are going to the promised land, aka the dentist, for some reason.)

These pictures are of the Seattle Aquarium that we went to right before we moved because we had a Groupon that we had to use. We've been to better aquariums, but it served its purpose for a fun day with family and friends!

Emma posed here for quite a while. I had to peel her off.

The Girls with their buddy, Layna.

Rainforest Month

So, somewhere amongst my frustration (smile) I did come up with a new strategy for afternoon activities. [And I want to say thank you for all the comments regarding the "Un-Super Mom." It really helps me to stay sane if I make my good times and bad times public knowledge.] Emma goes to preschool on M, W, & F, so that leaves only Tuesday and Thursday with the occasional free afternoon hours, generally from 12:30 -2, when there needs to be a planned activity. I decided to give each month of the rest of the year a theme, so when I need an activity I at least have a subject to research. This month I picked the rainforest. We learned about the different levels in the forest, the parts of the world where there is rainforest, and about a few of the animals that live there.

Siri coloring the different levels of the rainforest.


Emma's interpretation of a Blue Morpho Butterfly.


Siri made a 3-D picture of the levels in the rainforest.


Connect-the-dot anaconda.

Red Eyed Tree Frogs.

Un-Super Mom

My kids just can't catch a break. It's been a few days in a row now that I have had some pretty major yelling spells directed at the girls. Emma prayed the other night that God would give me "patience with [the kids]" but even Ty was frustrating me the other day when he wouldn't eat the new food (avocado) and thus wouldn't eat anything after that...and he's only 9 months old. These tough days have been extra discouraging to me because I assumed that when I came out of my own time of personal trials everything else in my life would fall into place and be perfect; I assumed that my patience would be back. And sometimes I can pinpoint certain things that make me more irritable, such as hunger and running late, but particularly frustrating to me is when the kids are whining before they even have breakfast. The girls will fight, still in their beds in the morning, about not wanting to be the pretend character that the other is assigning them.

The other day Emma threw a royal fit because she now only wants to wear leggings, and they have to be "tight, with no bumps." This narrows her pants down to about 3 pairs. That morning I even pulled out the there-are-kids-in-the-world-who-have-no-clothes line. This just got a blank stare. The whining did not stop even after all the reasoning I was trying with her, and I finally exploded. I was at the end of my rope. Emma was sent to her bed, with nothing on it, for an indefinite amount of time. After I cooled down I was able to talk to her again, apologize for freaking out, and she really seemed to accept my explanation that I will not do the laundry every day so that she can wear the pants that she prefers. We hugged, and she accepted the "baggy" pants that she had to wear that day...for part of the day, at least.

I know that the best way to be with my kids is calm. I want them to be calm, so I totally know that freaking out is displaying horrible behavior, but part of me wonders if Emma would have really listened to me and understood what I was saying without the blow up. I had been speaking calmly to her all morning about the pants debacle, but got nowhere.

So, this is a lot of rambling, but I just thought I'd put this out there cause I often use this blog to post the times that I've been a super mom. And I have a lot of those moments, and I'm proud of them, but I am, just as often, the frazzled, frustrated, freaking out mom!

Just Hangin' Out

Purim 2011

We just celebrated Purim (the Feast of Esther) this past weekend! We encouraged everyone in our congregation to come to service in costume, loosely biblical, so the girls were princesses (Emma: Esther, Siri: just a princess), Matt was "spiritual warfare," I was Pharaoh's chief baker, and Ty was Pharaoh's cup bearer. After the service and oneg we had a variety show in which Emma and Siri sang "Good Ship Lollipop." This was actually thrown together as somehow time escaped us, but they sang it last year in NY at Purim and remembered it pretty well...well, Emma did :) Then, on Sunday we attended a Purim carnival put on by another messianic synagogue in our area. Emma got to ride a pony, the girls played games, we ate yummy food, and stayed for the congregations play about Esther set at Windsor Castle.

Friday night we opened a Purim goodie-box from Nona and enjoyed purim masks (of Esther, Queen Vashti, Mordechai, Haman, and the King), treats from Israel, and hamantaschen from Brooklyn! :)

Ty as Morcechai

The treats!

See Ty bearing the king's cup?

Good Ship Lollipop