5 senses, 5 elements, 5 sheaths

5 phases for the tree of life

1. Seed
2. Root
3. Tree
4. Branch
5. Fruit

I think this is a great way to look at our  anniversary. I know for me I have felt like we have really been in the process of bearing fruit this year, and I love the imagery of our life being a growing tree over the past 5 years. I’ve felt more in love lately than ever, but it’s different than I thought. It’s a deep respect kind of love, an awe inspiring love, a giddy school girl kind of love, an irresistible attraction kind of love, a more than I ever thought possible kind of love.

I am so excited for tomorrow, just to have some alone time with Micah but more than that I can’t wait to spend the day cherishing all the sweet things about our life. The preciousness of our beautiful sons. The joy of shared dreams. The healthy hearts created by our faith. The peace of a shared future. The knowledge that I am so truly blessed is overwhelming some days. And I’ve been blessed to know him for 2890 days.

The bursting tenderness I feel everytime I look at my wedding band still gives me butterflies. Funnily enough my band has 5 pointed oak leaves on it, and I’ve always thought of our love as a mighty oak tree, sturdy, deep rooted, and able to provide enough shelter to rest in. So maybe our sixth year will be spent resting in the shade we have spent so long growing, and if you have read my blog over the past year you know how painful some of that growth has been for us. My dream is that one day our branches will reach so far and be so strong that our grand children, children, family, and friends will hang from the branches, lean on the trunk and sit in our shade. And for our branches to be that strong our roots will have to run so deep that nothing can destroy us.

 

 

she designed a life she loved

Have you ever been struck by a particular color, and all of the sudden you see it everywhere. I’ve gone through different phases and styles over the past couple of years trying to figure out what my “style” is when it comes to decorating our home. I like things to be warm and inviting, but I’m not a “colorful” person. I like most colors in muted hughs, but hate primary colors.

I think the problem I ran into when I first started was that I love anything that is well designed. I’m a freak for symmetry (I know that probably means something horrible). So it took a while to look beyond the design and figure out the components of similarity in all the designs that I love.

So after much searching (and a little disbelief) the common factor is…white. I never would have expected that about myself, I’ve always thought my style was more french country or traditional, nope. I don’t mean the stark kind of what but more a vanilla icecream or porcelain. Maybe it’s the artist in me that likes the thought of always having a blank canvas around to decorate however I see fit or maybe it’s a cry of protest against the chocolate finger prints and juice box spills that constantly surround me. What ever it may be, I’m thankful I’ve stumbled across it. Now that I’ve figured it out I can’t believe I did’t see it before. If you look in my closet I have more white shirts than any other color. If you ask what my favorite pictures are…it’s b&w. I never where colored nail polish only french manicure or nude. And a billion other reasons come to mind, but there’s the start.

The best tips I’ve run into so far is that when decorating monochromatically is to use lots of texture so it doesn’t look sterile. When we finally move into our new house I’m going to try it out, but until then, here are the pics that convinced me of my white obsession.

The Feng Shui Color of Purity and Innocence, White is also considered one of the supreme colors in Yogi traditions. My first Yoga teacher used to say that this is the color of Completion, Ultimate Wisdom and Assimilation of all Life Lessons. Be it in the fresh snow or in the immaculate dress of a beautiful bride, pure White Color fascinates us with its feng shui energy of Innocence and Tranquility.

 

By the way, I also adore painted ceilings.

The Joy of Exhaustion

These past few weeks have been so full I am exhausted emotionally and physically.

Micah had to go to the Martek office in Maryland that just happens to be 30 min. from my brother’s new house so we spent four wonderful days there. My sister in law was at an Arbonne conference so I was able to take care of my sweet nephews. Eli and Ben are roughly the same age as Grey and Gentry, it was a definite marathon, but it made me want a big family even more. Grey and Eli spent most of their days pretending to be super hero’s and Gentry fell in love with Sparky the hamster.

When we got home I fell ill with the stomach flu and was in bed for a good couple of days. By the time I was felling remotely better my mom came to visit. It was one of our best visits. No tension, lots of love, and a ton of good memories were made. We went shopping downtown and got some great deals at a thriftstore that was going out of business. We went to the Creation Museum, I highly recommend it for everyone. It’s just a cool place, Gentry thought all of the dinosaurs were “cows”, he would say “no bite, cow, no bite”. It was the cutest darn thing! Jineane watched the boys one night so I could take mom on a date and have a little alone time. It was good for my soul to have her here. Everytime I see my mom I feel like we become more friends than relatives. I’ve started to respect, appreciate, understand her more as the years go by. I guess that’s just part of growing up, but non-the-less it’s nice when it happens.

Mom’s visit also coincided with our Passover Party and Gary getting a job and moving out. So slowly I’m getting the house in order and looking good for our (hopeful) future buyer. Our contract on the other house has expired so we meeting with the couple on Wednesday to discuss options. Micah’s final is on the same day so it’s going to be a pretty taxing 24hrs.

And the most important thing of course is that this Friday will mark our 5th Anniversary. We’ve both planned a few surprises for the other. Apparently Micah has been planning his surprise since last year. All I know as of now is that his mom is watching the boys overnight. And I’m suposed to pack an overnight bag and be wearing a sundress when he comes to pick me up. I’m so thankful to all of you who have kept this a secret. It’s going to be so fun for both of us. And a huge thanks to Grandma Elizabeth for offering to keep the boys!!!

all around great day

Today has been a great day. I got to sleep in with a very cuddly Grey. I got a call from an investor type guy to come an look at the house tomorrow. Grey painted his first real painting. Micah came home at 5:30. I got to use my first Curious George bandaid. The boys ran from front door to back door (buck nacked) while watching Micah mow the lawn. I ordered Micah’s anniversary gift. My mom is in the process of buying a plane ticket to come visit. Oh, by the way, to top it all off I just made some stellar brownies.

A whole lot of catching up to do

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted but a ton o’ stuff has happened.

Micah and I have been doing a couples study which really has been life changing for us. It’s called the “Marriage Builder” by Dr. Larry Crabb.

I got to go to the Grove Park Inn and Spa last weekend for Laura’s bachlorette party and it was amazing. I actually did two hand stands in yoga!!! Which if you’ve ever seen the size of my stringbean muscles you understand my excitement.  The spa was out of this world relaxing.

My neighbor made me a REALLY CUTE little cherry blossom cake (thanks Neane).

Grey had his open house program at school and sang three cute songs.



For Easter we went to the park and had an egg hunt, picnic, and just goofed around as a family for awhile. It was an awesome day.


Gentry decided that Vlad needed to wear socks…it was way to cute!

Grassroots effort

All I can say is that I’m overwhelmed with what wonderful friends we have been blessed with. I sent out an email to most of our friends yesterday around 3pm saying that we were trying to sell our house. By 9am today 223people have looked at the blog with pics of our house. So to any of you who passed it along to even just on person…THANK YOU! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful support system.

www.204custerct.wordpress.com

What’s it worth to you?

What would a family farm be worth to you?

If your immigrant parents had come to this country and purchased a fairly large peice of land, would you be willing to split with it if the number was right? My grandmother (and her two brothers) who share ownership of the family land, that by most accounts would be considered worthless. It is mainly red dirt with no topsoil that has the ability to support a handful of cattle, like most Oklahoma farms.

But lets just say the government strolled along and offered you a pretty penny to drill for oil? Would you be able to give up? I gotta say I kinda like the fact that Grandma stuck it to the man and said no. But on the other hand….

Worlds Worst Friend…MEEE!

I am now officially pond scum…I forgot a dear friends birthday due to the fact of being wrapped up in my own world. So to my dearest Jineane, I love you and I’m so sorry. I will be making it up to you!

Happy Valentines Day Lovelys!

We’ve been really busy around here lately getting ready for this week. Micah and I got engaged 6 yrs ago today, and tonight we plan to go to dinner and reflect on those years and plan for the up and coming…I’m so excited!

I have also been baking all kinds of goodies for Grey’s Valentines day party at school and I even found an eggless pancake recipie for Gentry. So the little guy got his first taste of pancakes this morning and said “Mmmmm WOW!” How cute is that!? I got Grey a new Lightning McQueen shirt for V-day and he was really excited, “now I can be like Keaton”.

A new and wonderful friend, Sara, came over yesterday to do my hair because her school had closed. It was so fun to hang out, have girly talk, and get pampered…Thanks Girl!

By the way, in reference to the “BIG NEWS” that I wrote about a week ago…I now will be baking cakes for a bakery in town. Mainly special order stuff, so I won’t actually have to go down there that often.

sweet potato pie and (blue) cauliflower icing

(I’ll do anything to get him to eat a veggie)

wedding cake sampler for Sara

A completely hypoallergenic cupcake

Gentry loved it for about 10 min…then gave it to the dog.

baby cupcakes dipped in white chocolate

lollipop cupcakes

Gentry’s bangs were in an awkward stage so we had to pin them back (too cute)

cookies for Grey’s party

Kinda, sorta, looking

If ever you were going to buy a house, the market is ripe for the picking, so we are kinda, sorta, looking for a house. There’s not a whole lot on the market because nobody wants to give up their house when the return is so low. We’ve checked and there are some possibilities, but if you (Winchester folk) happen to know someone who is wanting to sell their house and not pay the realtor fee let me know…we might just be interested.

Where’d everyone go?

My internet has been out since Wednesday and I was so sure that I was missing super important details from everyones life…but nobody has posted since I’ve been away. Come on guys! I expect you guys to have a more exciting life than me, and when you don’t it causes a very big paradigm shift.

Not the only one…

Things are in the making

I’m going to not try and jinx this, but some things are in the makings.

I’ll I’m gonna say is that it involves cake and money (but not in that way

Good Morning Poison Control

Surprise Surprise, we woke up Sat. morning to…

“Mommy, my belly hurts, I don’t feel berry good.”
“what have you done Grey?”
“It’s in the bathroom, it was uncle Eby’s slip”
“Uncle Ebens’ what? what did you eat Grey?”
“I just wanted some chwocwat….”

So Grey had eaten some of Eben’s dip. We called poison control and they said that he would probably vomit, but don’t force him to, go ahead and feed him, and watch him closely (because it can cause seizures in small children, micah decided to omit this information until the next day). So I think we are just going to have to start locking his door, no other alternative.

We went to Tendai’s birthday party Sat. night. It was at his brothers house (next door), they had it in the basement which was equiped with all of your party needs, including a projection tv, sauna, d.j., and bar. I don’t really know if the cake was a hit or not but one of the quests happen to be a pastry chef for the Maker’s Mark Lounge and she really loved it. We had a great time and stayed until a little after 1am. We had planned to stay at Micah’s uncles house in Louisville, but like all old people we wanted to sleep in our own bed, so we got home about 2:30. Of course Gentry woke up and was up until 3:30ish. She we spent the next day taking shifts sleeping trying to make up for it.

By the way Vladimir is getting pretty big, he’s already up to around 30lbs. at 14 weeks.

Cakes and Razor Blades

I’m working on a cake for a birthday party this weekend and it is by far the largest I’ve ever made. The bottom is 13×24 (3 layer) and the top is an 8″round (4 layer). It was too big to fit in the fridge but luck for us our shed is a walk in freezer due to the temp. So we wrapped them tight and put them outside to set overnight. It should look pretty groovy when I’m done if all goes well. I must say my new mixer ROCKS! I was even able to make homemade fondant. I didn’t think it was possible, and I haven’t rolled it out yet so I still don’t know how it’s going to act, but it’s still cool.

I just found Grey in his bed with a cut thumb because he had snuck into Uncle Eben’s toiletry bag and he had gotten out his razor.  (For Fred: I’m charging the camera battery as we speak so I will start taking pics I’m not even going to mention that his mattress was off and he had the 16qt. stock pot in bed as well, nope not even gonna go there.