Living, Loving, Learning

Lucy had a great day yesterday!  I brought fruit and cupcakes into her classroom in the morning and they all sang her Happy Birthday and enjoyed their snack.  Then we went straight to her favorite restaurant to meet up with 3 of her good friends for a birthday lunch....cheese dip and chips, her pick (no big surprise there!)  Then we all headed over to the library for story hour, to meet up with more friends and of course, they sang her Happy Birthday too.  When Papa got home he had a dozen roses for his baby girl (such a sweet tradition) and she absolutely LOVED them.  After her birthday dinner (carbonera...I am so SICK of this meal but the kids love it, so what is a Mama to do?) and cake and ice cream she opened her presents.  She loved it all but I think her Kimochi Cat was the favorite!  (Thanks, Lexi and Jessica for the Cat and extra emotions!)  Her grandparents sent her money to be put toward a trip to the TN aquarium in Chatanooga...love experiences over toys!  W

My baby girl turns 4 today.  Amazing.  This has been an incredible year for her.  We have seen such momentous shifts in her personality, courage and ability to connect.  She started pre-school this year, and we all remember I did it kicking and screaming but it has turned out to be the BEST decision we could have made.  She has become so much more confident and happy.  She has a lot of friends and has begun connecting with people on her own.  She has surprised us with her athleticism which is showing up more and more as she gets comfortable in her own skin.  She has a brilliant mind which her teachers are always commenting on.  She has tons of creative talent that I can't wait to see blossom over the years.  I am so lucky, so blessed,  so privileged to parent her.    Birthday Interview   Age? 4 Grade? Pre-school Your teachers this year? Ms. Amy, Ms. Cissy, Ms. Lisa and Ms. Karen, Speech: Ms. Sonya What activities/sports/clubs were you involved in this year

I made myself a little clutch last week and I absolutely adore it.  I used this tutorial as a guide.  I have never put in a zipper before and now can't even figure out why not.  That was one of the easiest parts of the construction process.  I picked fabrics that were neutral, but of course, now I want one in every color of the rainbow! It has an awesome little divider in it that keeps my cell phone from rubbing up against my keys and lip gloss.  AND 2 little pockets for my plastic.  (Not quite sure what to do with cash, but since I usually don't have any on me it hasn't been an issue!)    I found the hardest part of construction was getting the gathered front straight.  Here is my first attempt, you can see how it shrunk and the fusible webbing is larger.  I solved this by cutting the front gathered fabric 1/2" bigger to start and then trimmed it after fusing it.  That worked out perfect.  

Boxes never get old. And why am running around town buying birthday presents?

We took the kids to a tiny craft fair near our house on Saturday. They had an area set up by a retired elementary art teacher for kids to do projects. They were so excited to make a bug jar. The insects in our backyard better watch out cause these kids have plans!

Lucy loves to "read" our Dr. Seuss collection to herself. I am stoked to have a second child that also loves books!!! Like mother, like child I guess.

The teachers at Lucy's school asked me to come up with a craft project for their once a year Family Fun Night (originally supposed to be father's night even though many children in the class don't have active fathers AND there is no mother's night.... But don't get me started on that soapbox!!). After some Internet scouring I found a bunch of adorable handprint projects. These are the examples I made for the school and I loved them so much I framed them. The ones side by side are Bruce's and the kids' individually. Of course the other is all of ours. I am so glad I took the time to make these!

I have seen all kinds of pennant banners all over the Internet for a while now and have LOVED them.  I finally got around to making one this winter.  I decided to go with Happy Birthday because it will be such a fun and quick item to grab when celebration is in order.    I used this tutorial as my basic template.  I bought the fabrics from Connecting Threads .  I have about a billion ideas swirling on all the occasions or words I could make pennants for.  You may see more of these in the future!

We had some friends over on Saturday night for some green Harp and guacahummous and Irish pub songs. John couldn't resist Omar. To see him brings the need to snuggle him! John shared some amazing stories about seeing the Stones, Kinks and a bunch of other ground breaking British Rock groups back before they hit it big. So fun!!

Having a puppy is an incredible excersice in mindfulness. Omar demands I live in the moment with him. It would be easy to get super overwhelmed by my now somewhat grueling schedule and demands on my energy.  I am so appreciative of this not so gentle reminder that I can BE in a space happiness and peace NOW...and Now....and now.  Omar is soooo sweet.  Sometimes he is the cuddliest little buddy and others, a crazy chewing (major teething happening) tazmanian devil.  And always, always, on the brink of peeing!  The potty training is going great, mostly because anytime he is awake he is being carefully monitored and we take him out about 75 times a day.  Soooo glad the weather is warm, as it makes it easier for me to get out of bed at 3 AM to take Omar out.   He loves the kids and Lottie and super cute bonding moments are happening all the time.  When we can't watch him, he lives in a pack n' play!  So funny!  This was at the breeder's suggestion and is working out great. 

Feels, looks and smells like spring here in 'Tucky.

Don't think we've forgotten about Lottie! She is loving on the puppy and super sweet with him. She is getting extra long walks and cuddle time so she knows she is still the queen. We went to the vet today (I could easily write a half hour sitcom episode based on my morning!) and the Dr. asked me THREE times if he could take Lottie home with him!!!

Where Omar gets to know his kids...

Introducing the newest member of the Gast clan.... Omar Little, our maltipoo. I just picked him up in Nashville and enjoyed cuddling him the whole ride home. The kids spent the morning at the Solise's house and weren't ready to come home when we got there. They loved meeting Omar and I'll get lots of photos of them tonight. So far he seems like a sweet and playful pup. Lottie is totally stoked, love at first sight I think!

Like kids on Christmas Eve over here. We are all excited to bring home our newest family member tomorrow!! Got his little area ready yesterday. Feel like I'm preggers and nesting!!! Guess that is just a strong Mama instinct!! We've watched the video of the puppy like 62 times and are ready to experience all that playfulness first hand. The only member of our family I can't prepare is our sweet Lottie! She has no idea how her world is going to improve tomorrow! In the meantime she is doing pretty well for herself! She has started sneaking into Griffins bed during story time each night and staying there all night. A boy and his beloved dog- nothing finer.

Today is the final day to donate money to St. Jude's through Griffin's Mathaton.  He only needs $45 more to make his goal!!!  Thank you Soooooo Much to those who have donated! http://www.mymathathon.org/GriffGast

So, I believe I mentioned my Ladies' Weekend, but I wanted to share some photos. What an AHHHHMAZING weekend it was! It feels so good to get away and recharge the ol' battery with a group of incredible friends.  Devin, Hilary and I all have birthdays within about 2 weeks of each other so it is a no-brainer for us to pick this time of year to celebrate together (Rhian was totally along for the ride so we will pretend her birthday is near too!).  We stayed at a hotel in downtown Nashville...so nice that we didn't have to drive a vehicle all weekend once we were there.  We stayed in a suite and it was so awesome to have that extra room, when the 4 of us wanted to stay together.  We spent the weekend walking, talking, laughing, drinking and eating.  We had a great dinner the first nice at Demo's ...check it out if you are in Nashville.  Good food, great service, super reasonable prices.  The rest of the night is a blur of cocktails, many bars and many new friends.  We

I had a wonderful 36th birthday celebration! I spent last weekend in Nashville with 3 dear friends and had an awesome birthday dinner with my family! Bruce made his newly perfected Union Mac n' Cheese! We are all excited to pick up our new puppy next Saturday. Three cheers for stretching your birthDay into a birthWeek!!!