Toast 2 Mom

The Full Weekend

It's the end of a three day weekend (after our summer has officially begun) - and I'm just getting around to typing. That's the sign of a good, eventful weekend.

We had a rib party yesterday. I had time to make my girls a full, hot breakfast! We swam. We biked. We had just a great busy weekend. 

A few words and a few photos is all I have tonight. I might actually put myself up to another photo challenge this summer. Taking pictures to document my days might be more reliable than my words as I know this summer will just fly by. 

Some pics...

 

Today Was Better

I have been riding a very fast moving train for about three months. And yesterday I had to finally blow off some steam.

Building a business, preparing for our home to be on display for an open house, running a household, raising two girls and all that involves and being a decent wife (and about to celebrate 10 years) has been building and building and building on my sensitivity. And all of a sudden, but not out of no where, the waterworks showed up yesterday - and I just had to let it out. 

Though I'm trying to start this cookie business to show my daughters another side of me - I feel like I've been failing as a mother. Every day they say, "mommy, you're so busy." Though I've been working my tail off researching right and left and trying to line up all the steps to this business, there are several pieces still missing and I think, how will I get this all figured out? 

And something I failed to mention in my blog recently - in the last couple weeks I broke my toe and I bumped Vanna into another car in a parking lot and dented in my bumper. Typically I share all these goofy moments that happen with me day to day. But my head has been so heavily weighted down - and I simply just didn't have time. 

Today was better though. My mind just needed some space. When I get stressed, I feel really insecure and paranoid. It's a horrible feeling and very unproductive. But eventually I start to see the light.... And the light was some much needed quality time with my girls today. I got lots of business stuff accomplished today - but even better I got some extra carved out one-on-one time with my girls - where I really listened to them, not multitask listening. I worked with them, not helped them while I was doing something else. And best of all I did lots of things WITH them not just FOR them. 

And I feel like maybe I'm going to get some decent sleep tonight....

A New Sweet Journey

I pretty much assume anyone that reads my blog knows me - and probably knows by now that yesterday I launched my new business - Sydalie's Cookies.  If you did not know - tada!! 

This was the tease I referred to a few days or so ago. I really wanted to write something here yesterday - but the day just was insane. And today was about the same. I'm not complaining - becuase the response to my new gig has been so very positive. 

This weekend I'll be selling my new cookies at an open house tour in our neighborhood. Homes that have recently been remodeled were chosen for this tour. Our home happens to be one of those on the tour. So with the house tour, the cookie business, end of the year school activities, swim team, dance recital practices and day to day - time is flying by! 

I'm very excited about this new journey and excited to market my product with hopefuly a very big crown this weekend! Until Sunday night, I might not come up for air. 

Check out my web site and visit my page on Facebook! And below are my business cards - which I just love!!! My awesome and super design-savvy friend Joelle helped me design them. Check out her business here.  

The "Girl" Bunny Cake

We completed our next Easter activity today.... Behold the bowtie wearing "girl" bunny cake. You can also tell she's a girl "because she has eyelashes."  Happy Easter!

Cereal Please

Here is a photo of my cereal queen.

A Whirlwind

We've been in a tailspin for the past three days or more....so much so that I took a nap today! I feel like I caught up on my sleep a bit - but now I'm behind in my household chores. But at least I'm rested! 

Sydney's school had its carnival on Saturday. I ended up chairing one of the events from the carnival - the Cake Walk. You would have thought it would have been a "cake walk" - but ended up being a bit more of a task that I origninally thought. After the event was over, and seeing how successfully it all went down, I enjoyed being a part of it. It was great fun. 

Rewinding a little bit, on Friday, Cheekers had a program at her school. In between carnival set up and spending lots of lots of time in the kitchen baking the end of last week, I took a break to have a picnic with Cheekers and watched her perform songs about spring, the outdoors and Easter. Those programs always leave me with a warm heart and misty eyes. They are so sweet. 

Friday night was set up at the carnival. The girls were great volunteers with me.

Saturday we spent most of the day at the carnival. By the end of the day, the girls had their face painted, got their hair sprayed pink and purple, got tattoos, had pizza, a snowcone, did the jumpy house, won pink dracula teeth, went into a haunted house, and brought home three cakes from the cake walk. I think they had a good time!! 

Luckily we had a bit of down time yesterday afternoon. We went over to some friends house for dinner. It was another late night - like the night before and the night before that. 

Today we all slept in until 8:30 - a rare day - to probably any parent. The fun didn't stop there, though. We went over to some other friends' house for brunch, followed by a trip to the park. And then to make things even more exciting, we took the girls swimming this evening (after our naps this afternoon). 

Whew, a whirlwind, right?! 

Right now I've got the dishwasher and the washing machine going and I'm about to plan my week ahead - sure to be another busy one. 

A few photos from our past few days. 

This Time, Four Years Ago

I am a little bit obsessed with documenting my days. When I'm not using this blog to capture moments, I am writing down everything that I did for the day in my calendar. It's kind of a problem because I can't seem to find the right method of documenting my days without doing double work most of the time.

I really like to write things down. I think it looks and feels a bit more authentic to see what I've done by my handwriting - on paper, with a pen. Though in today's day and age, and having the convenience of a calendar on my phone - and coordinating the busy days - my phone seems to be more efficient. Well, it's kind of more efficient. I always have my phone; so in that way recording my plans and such, it just makes more sense to do it electronically. But I still struggle to type short little notes on my phone versus the quickness of writing with pen.

And in all of this detail on my struggles of "how is the best way for me to document my days," I digress.... One of the biggest reasons I love to write down what I've done for the day is to often look back and see what was going on that day, that year.

Being that today is a rather special day, I couldn't help but wonder, what was I doing the last Leap Year. A few things I could recall, but it was more special than I thought. 

On Leap Year, 2008, my sweet Cheekers was celebrating her first month of being born. The other thing I know that was going on that day was I was in Illinois visiting my family. At the time I was on maternity leave, and that was the opportunity to travel and show off my new baby!  That day was the tail end of my visit; so my girls and I joined my Mom, Step-Dad, Dad and Step-Mom for a good-bye dinner at Outback Steakhouse. If I recall correctly, my children were absolutely perfect during the whole dinner. :) 

And today, Leap Year 2012... today was a school day for Sydney. Cheekers and I joined Sydney at her school for lunch today. After school we went to the gym. Wednesday's are swim lesson days. After the gym, we came home. The girls kept me entertained in the kitchen while I experimented in the kitchen with a new recipe I found on Pinterest. They played "the Barbie Princess Fairytale" game while I whipped up din-din. 

So while today doesn't seem all that exciting of a day, I bet in four year it will seem like a wonderful day. The next Leap Year I will have an 8 and 10 year old. I only hope their wish is to play "Barbie Princess Fairytale"....and be in the same room with me. 

Happy Leap Year!