Currently {link up} these little characters of mine

The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you! Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host at Harvesting Kale.

This week's themes: dropping, making, wearing, kissing, keeping

This week we have been... Dropping everything on Monday as Loretta's babysitter was dealing with a family emergency. That situation is on the mend now, thank goodness. Anyways, Monday with Loretta was actually kind of amazing. It's hard as a working mom and the breadwinner to take anything in stride. I'm terrible about going with the flow. It's something I really wish I was better about... So, I had a few things to do at work that had to get done Monday so we packed a "go bag" with snacks, crayons, toys and headed off to work. Loretta lit up the joint and LOVED meeting everyone and then to her dismay I locked her in my office with me for the most annoying 2 hours of my life. That "go bag" kept her occupied for about five minutes, then she was crawling all over me, tearing up the place, and just losing it. I had to go to a really zen place and crank out some detail-oriented stuff as fast as I could so I could escape. Stress! We finally made it out of there and then the day got good. It was gorgeous outside so we played in the backyard for a bit and then later took a walk around the neighborhood. I don't really get one-on-one time with her very often and she was just loving every second of it and so was I. Also, she found a huge stick (see pic) and was the funniest little peanut parading down the street with a giant branch bigger than she was.

We have been Making plans for summer or at least planning to plan for summer. I'm hoping this year to get over to Portland at least a few times and to get our butts down to Disney (someway, somehow). I think this might be magic Disney time in Otto & Loretta's lives and so that's the summer vacation goal!

Otto Van Halen has been Wearing some pretty rad gear.

We went to a friend's house Saturday night and Otto was in awe of her 10 year old who was cool enough to play with my guy for a few hours. Rock on, little cute one!

I have been Kissing sweaty, dirty, adorable heads. Ahhh, the smell of happy kids when the temperatures rise. It's just great.

and we've been Keeping our seeds safely tucked away in their packages ::sarcasm font::. It's almost mid-April and time to get my seed starts going... I just need to get motivated one evening and do it. What's my problem? Gah! Anyways, garden season is about to hit and I'm excited to have a patch of things growing out back, but planting is a pretty big to-do or there won't be a garden. Time to get my rear in gear.

That was this week and here are next week's themes:
clearing, digging, mixing, reading, watching 

his and hers

I'm so excited to share some pics of Loretta and Otto's bedrooms with you guys. A month ago this was one shared bedroom (now Loretta's) and one room full of everything we didn't want to unpack when we moved into this house 18 months ago (now Otto's). We managed to shove all that unpacked stuff into a closet (Go Team Muth!) and I'm really proud to say we managed to create both of these rooms without buying a single "new" thing. We thrifted a bit, but still, I'm gonna say, "Go Team Muth!" one more time for sticking to a New Year's Resolution and generally being frugal.

His...

As you can see, there is a giant pole right in the middle of Otto's room! This 101 year old house has character and I love it but there are weird things like giant poles in the middle of rooms. Hard to put furniture and/or take photos in this room but we figured it out. And my favorite part is the way Otto set up his desk. He brought all of these things upstairs, set them up, and spends hours writing, drawing, playing castle, ruining vintage lunchboxes (ahem), and just enjoying his own space. Just what a room should be for a little guy.

Hers...

My favorite part about Loretta's space is that she loves it. She is sleeping better since we moved her crib and she loves to help pick out her clothes now that her dresser is more her own height.

Anyways thanks for taking a little room tour with us!

three gratitudes, 5

Today I'm grateful for my husband and Tylenol. Sometimes life without a gall bladder gets interesting. On Friday night we went out for ice cream (the adventure begins) then later that evening our friends came over for board games... well, a circuit breaker (or something) in our neighborhood blew out so we ended up hanging out in the living room by candlelight for a few hours... I had two beers, a brownie, and more ice cream (power's out you gotta save the ice cream, yo!). That was my extreme party night of wild abandon and I woke up Saturday basically poisoned. Thankfully Rob laid down the law, around 8am yesterday he actually said, "I'm going to have to lay down the law here, you go to bed, now." I spent the whole day in bed until 2pm, just a lump of misery. Thank goodness for my guy letting me sleep off my "bender".

I'm also grateful for my little streak of bravery that's grown as I've gotten older. Recently an opportunity to try out for a part in a short film came my way. This is my secret little dream! But honestly all through my childhood and early adulthood I was just too timid to take a chance on myself. Fingers crossed I think my tryout went really well and if I get the part I will be able to cross something off my relatively short bucket list.

Finally, this morning I am grateful for half co-sleeping. Every night I get an opportunity to cuddle my Loretta for about twenty minutes before she demands, "bed, more water," which means she's ready to go back to her crib. Some nights we do this song and dance a few times. I really do love it. Otto, who recently transitioned to his own big boy bedroom (post coming hopefully tomorrow) still climbs into our bed around 2am. This morning I woke up to Otto talking in his sleep. What a charming moment, here's what I heard:

"You only get one wish and you can't take it back. Ok, I wish to be a karate... master!" And then a few moments later, "I'll kick your butts. I'll kick your butts."

Oh my goodness.

Currently {link up} a quiet week

The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you! Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host at Harvesting Kale.

This week's themes: reading, feeling, racing, using, smelling

This week we have been... Reading Magic Treehouse at bedtime. A chapter a night is a big part of Otto's bedtime. I wish it was also a part of Loretta's but she gets so intensely sleepy at bedtime that books tend to get ripped out of hands and angrily slammed into faces. She has hurt my face; she has hurt her face. A funny bunny! I predict sometime pretty soon she'll start taking part in Otto's bedtime book reading and then one of my life dreams will come true, which is sitting in a pile of my children ready bedtime stories. Bucket List: check! Anyways, we were on a Roald Dahl kick for a while there which was awesome, then seemed to be trudging through The Marvelous Land of Oz FOREVER because it put Otto to sleep within a few pages, every night. So I'm stoked to be reading one of our Magic Treehouse books. We're slowly collecting them all from the thrift store and I predict a little reader will be ravenously devouring them on his own within the next couple of years. Yay reading! Seriously, yay reading! Reading!

Otto has been Feeling pretty nonchalant about being a petty thief. He pocketed a toy screwdriver from his best friend's house during a playdate recently and got busted trying to sneak it into his toybox. We had a talk. And Otto wrote an apology note to his buddy along with returning the contraband. I'll tell you this, he was thrilled to write the note to his friend and excited to deliver it at school. Five year olds, go figure...

The kids have been Racing around, pretty much just tossing our house all week. It looks like we were either robbed or that the cops have been here searching for evidence. Either way, it's time for an intense toy room cleaning. I feel like every piece of every toy/game/craft is just kind of scattered everywhere and am looking forward to re-organizing kid stuff and weeding out the junkiest for donation soon.

For the first time in my life, I have been Using dry shampoo. Feel the excitement! Call the newspapers! No but really, it's always seemed so expensive and I didn't know if it would really work, but I found some on the cheap at TJ Maxx and decided to give it a whirl. PEOPLE! This stuff is magic business.

and we've been Smelling fresh baked bread. This week I added a little rosemary & oregano to the dough and the outcome was amazing. Loretta's babysitter loaned (lent?) me a bread book and so this weekend I'm going to try something new. Baking bread is just the best. Next cooking challenge: pickling!

That was this week and here are next week's themes:
dropping, making, wearing, kissing, keeping