Thursday's Thirteen Things: Let's Play Catch Up!

1. So aside from a post in January and a post in December, it has been, what? 4 years since I last posted on this blog. Time for some catch up!

2. We had 1 cat back in 2013...well...now we have 4! Crazy right? Jak is still my snuggle buddy at night, though there was an adjustment period after the tiny human came to live in his house. He did appreciate all the tiny human furniture that we bought him, though!

Jak (on the left) teaching Helix about the finer qualities of the furniture for the tiny human.

3. Binx we got in August of 2014 when we were ready to add another pet to our lives. He was just the addition that we needed! He loved our girlie pretty quickly. He brought the playful kitten out in Jak. He knocked down all the pictures off the walls of our bedroom at night...yeah...he's more of a daytime snuggler. He's talkative and sweet and social and full of personality! Just what we needed!



4. Helix was a rescue...his mom was hit by a car when he was only 4 weeks old. He was (consciously...I was aware of what I was doing) my new baby substitute. He is the softest, fluffiest kitten I have ever met. He's feisty as hell. He prefers his humans to all others. He is especially wary of the small humans. He and Jak now share duties for snuggling at night, though Helix will snuggle during the day, too. He also tries to look like Jak, but the smug of 10 years will be hard to master in such a short time.

5. Luna told Robert she was coming home with him from a call, and so she did. The owners of the house said she was a stray they couldn't take in. She followed him around and even sat on his shoulder while he fixed a furnace. Then she hopped in his van and was ready to go. Girlie and I had just read Christmas Kitten for the first time that very day, so we were willing to take in another. Luna is super social. She loves to play, loves to snuggle...um, she did not say anything about it being ok to pick her up, FYI! She actually has been snuggling our girlie at night lately. It's super sweet!




6. We are at full occupancy! This is our mantra when people tell us about animals in need. I repeat: we are at full occupancy!



7. We are homeschooling through the Waldorf tradition. Earthschooling is the curriculum that we use, and we love it! Stories, nature walks, paintings! It's fabulous! It has really reinvigorated my creativity. There are parent crafts each month. I enjoy needle felting characters for the stories we tell. I think being around children and being in the Waldorf mindset is just the thing to spark my creativity, just as it did when I was teaching. It's so fulfilling!



8. We have made some amazing friends through our journey as parents. At first, being a stay at home mom felt very isolating, but I started going to la leche league meetings and meeting moms there. From there, we've made homeschooling connections that totally enrich our lives. We've made good friends at gymnastics...I mean, having a kid is the secret to making friends as an adult! LOL! And they are socializing and making wonderful friendships too! It's awesome!

9. As I posted earlier this week, I am a Beachbody Coach as well as a homeschooling mom. I'm enjoying having something that is my own and separate from mothering, though she works out with me, and tells me to post my food in my challenge groups...so, it's all intertwined, as it should be.



10. So I finally figured out health and fitness! It was a struggle since I got pregnant. I was super worried about the strain on my heart. I was trying it all, and it just wasn't working. Challenge groups, PiYo, Shakeology, and the amazing community that I'm part of now seemed to help it click! It was amazing! My friends and family have been super supportive, and that has been amazing too! I can't describe how far I've come internally. All I can do is show progress pictures or tell you I can do more with each new workout than I could ever do before...and it still doesn't compare to the internal shift!



11. It feels good to be blogging again. I started this as a way of expressing myself, being creative, maybe even just finding my place in this world. I'm still doing all of those things, and it feels good to talk about all of it again. :)

12. I LOVE being a mother! I mean, I obviously loved it 4 years ago, when she was under one and the cutest baby I have ever seen! (Mother bias! It's allowed!) Now, I just know it is what I am meant to do. I love teaching her. I love learning from her. I love watching her learn and grow and interact with this world. She's amazing! I am so grateful to have her in my life!

13. I am IN LOVE with my amazing husband. He works hard so that I can stay home and homeschool. He supports my business. He knows how important my health and creativity are to me, and he encourages it. He reminds me to stop and rest and have fun, too! We have been hanging out and watching the show, the Arrow, on Netflix after girlie goes to bed. We have so much fun doing that. Date nights, texting through the day (seriously just deleted over a gig and half of messages between the two of us because my phone storage was full! How crazy is that?), enjoying our amazing little girl, playing board games, you name it, I love spending time with him. I'm so grateful to have him in my life!

Jak is Six

Our Jak is six years old! He's still young at heart though. He still gets into stuff and loves a good snuggle. He's even snuggled me while I was holding Girlie, just because he needed snuggles at that very moment. He still loves to play with curly fries (twisted pipe cleaners) and fishing pole types of toys. He's such a good cat. He's had a difficult year with losing Albert and then adding a baby to the mix. Here are a few pictures I've taken over the year. Enjoy!

Close up

Jak needs attention.

Jak snuggling while I feed the baby.

Jak helps with the groceries.

Jak looking cute.

Jak stuck in the laundry hamper.

Jak surveying the kitchen from a bowl.

Reagan and Jak

Sun bathing

hidden kitty

new nap spot

under the crib

Jak is always getting into whatever he may find in the kitchen sink!

Jak is watching the birds while I blog.

Our First Yule In Our New House

Last year was a big year for us: lots of changes and more "firsts" that all culminated in celebrating our first Yule in our very own house! Like 2010, when we celebrated our first Yule as a married couple, we bought a Fraser Fir tree from Whole Foods. We decided to put it in our upstairs nook, where we could see it outside and enjoy its fragrance wafting through the whole house.

Exterior View of Yule Tree

Interior View of Yule Tree

We had many new ornaments to decorate the tree with this year.

Knitted cap ornaments from Robert's maternal grandmother.

My Flower Fairy Collection

We were also fortunate to be able to decorate with Robert's late maternal grandmother's Santa collection.

Christmas Eve day, we spent with Robert's side of our family. We had lots of fun with our nephews and all the grown ups. I prepared a fruit platter, to complement his sister's wonderful brunch of homemade waffles, scrambled eggs,  and sausage.

Yummy Brunch!

Their dog, Mattie, in deep thought

Christmas night, Robert and I went out to the movies to see New Year's Eve. We returned home to some very cute and hungry animals.

Albert and Jak on the stairs, waiting to be fed and given much attention since we went to the movies without them.

We're enjoying an after movie snack of holiday ham. Benny and Jak wanted us to share.

Albert being cute.

It was the Tenth Day of Christmas that we finally built a fire in our new fire place. It was so cozy, especially with the decorations still on the mantel.

Benny enjoying the fire after a cold walk outside.

So Cozy!

Yay! Our first fire in our very own fireplace!

The Kids Are Alright

Well, last night, we had a great night as a family. It was almost as if we all came together with the decision that we had each other, and, by George, we were going to have a good time as a family.
My MaryJanesFarm magazine came in the mail yesterday. Robert happily came upstairs to hand it to me knowing he would hear that happy surprise noise that I make. I think he also knew that it would be a great distraction and tension reliever for me. Sure enough, I finished up the laundry, and Jak and I sat down to enjoy a good read.

 Then, it was dinner time. Jak helped Robert make his mac and cheese.

Benny and Jak both thought it wise to supervise as Robert finished up his cooking and I warmed up some chili leftovers from the big pot I made last week. They know that when I cook, I often drop, and they often get treats. Of course, they see it as their job to help keep the kitchen clean. :)

Last night was the BCS National Championship Game between two SEC teams: Alabama and LSU. Since both Robert and I follow SEC teams (I am, of course, proud to be a Florida Gator while Robert follows that team up in east Tennessee) and are college football fans (me more so, he spends too much time on pro-football, in my professional, yet humble football fan opinion), we wanted to watch this game. Robert fed Benny and Jak before the game began, and he and I ate our meals at the start of the game. I very much enjoyed my meal.

After Robert and I had both finished eating, the four of us piled on the couch, snuggled together, and watched the rest of the game. Girlie even made several appearances-literally my whole stomach would lurch. It was definitely a happy family night that was worth the late bedtime. :)

Jak is Five!

Jak's New Nap Spot

I've fallen a bit behind in my bloggety blog posting. Jak, our "littlest one," turned five years old this August. He is both the youngest and smallest of our three "furry kids." He loves mischief and getting away with mischief by being cute. He is also fond of heights and can often be found napping on the highest shelf of any room. He has found a new higher nap spot in the kitchen, since I unpacked his napping boxes. He also loves to play-especially with "curly fries" made by curling pipe cleaners and throwing them across the room for him to fetch. I think he's also a bit of a psychologist: he enjoys avidly watching his human parents swing the fishing pole style toys around in all directions trying to fling them in the most enticing way to encourage Jak to play rather than just watch as we make fools of ourselves. It seems like he is gathering data for his two research projects: how long these humans will fling around a cat toy, and how exactly each cat toy functions. He is also a sweet little kitty who loves to snuggle.

Baby Jak

Jak's Fifth Birthday

Kitchen Unpacked!

            The kitchen was my first priority as far as unpacking. I got the majority of it done the first week in the house. However, I left a couple of boxes lingering until May 15 - at which point it was time to finish the job. One month later, in typical "Amberly" fashion, I'm posting about it. :)

Jak was able to enjoy his box tower for two full months. I think he especially liked the crinkling bags on top. I took some pictures, resolved to find a replacement for Jak's morning nap in the kitchen, and set to unpacking. 

See how cute he is? That is worth procrastinating for!

Could you take this guy's box tower away?

Some of the boxes had plastic storage containers, which I loathe and, quite frankly, did not want to find a place to put them in our new house. Thanks to fabulous wedding gifts and diligent saving of glass jars, we have ample storage containers that I love. So, I recycled all the plastic storage containers, and those boxes were easily and happily unpacked.

Benny appreciates that the kitchen, which he considers to be his room, is fully unpacked. As you can see in the pictures below, the kitchen is where he does all of his major work: watch us cook, oversee cat activity, eat whatever food cats may happen to get to the floor, and nap.

Settling down for a nap

Benny overseeing Albert's activities

Our First Yule Tree

The Decision

After much discussion about the environmental impact of different kinds of trees and how to handle the cats and a tree, we finally decided to go with a fresh cut tree. We knew we needed something large and stable enough to handle either of our jungle cats going for a climb. We also knew we wanted to go with a tree that was as environmentally friendly as possible. We ruled out an artificial tree for two very important reasons: 1) the cats eat them despite the fact that they cannot digest them and 2) that’s a lot of plastic for an all natural woman like me to have to handle.

The Tree

One day, Robert was stopping by Whole Foods on his way home and gave me a call to see what I needed from the grocery. I replied, “milk and a Christmas tree.” He purchased a Fraser Fir, which smells heavenly, and a stand that would stabilize it well for possible cat climbers. Also, the tag on the tree said that the farm where it is from plants two new trees for each tree that is cut down. The tag mentioned more about the origins of the tree and the farm, but, sadly, I cannot find it right now. I will add to the post if I find it, but there is a blog post about trees from Whole Foods that can give you more information.

 

The Snafu

A few days later, I was very concerned that the tree wouldn’t soak up the water it needed if we didn’t cut off the bottom part of the trunk as advised on the tag. I took the ornaments down, bought a saw (and led lights), clipped the lowest boughs, and sawed off the very bottom. I sat it back in its stand and stabilized it with the screw thingys and was very proud of my initiative…until I looked at the tree. It was very, very crooked. Fortunately, Robert came home from work early that day and straightened out the…ahem…situation. That evening, we decorated the tree together, complete with lights and beaded garland. It was a fun tradition to start and the tree looked beautiful.

Our Cozy Fire and Mantel Decor

The Holiday

For our first Christmas together, we stayed home and had a nice quiet holiday. It snowed almost all day. There was no accumulation, but it was beautiful to watch. We built a beautiful fire and opened our gifts in front of it. Benny even scored big with his holiday gift…perhaps too big.

The bone that was bigger than Benny.

Benny enjoying his bone by the fire.