No More Training Wheels

Today my husband got the big idea that it was time for Curtis to get rid of his training wheels. I was amazed that after only three tries he was riding! By the end he was going out doing a U turn and coming back...all within 45 minutes of taking them off! He is an amazing kid and I am sentimental now because he's really growing up. Here are some still shots and a video so you can celebrate with us.




So I just looked again and realized I've lived in the south too long. I sound like a total redneck in this video! Oh the horror!

CSA Class of 2009

Curtis had his graduation ceremony at the CSA this morning. He graduated from the 3 year old class to the VPK class.

Here is a photo with all the class who could be there today.



Here he is with his favorite buddies Aiden, Jordy, and Miqdad.



Here he is with Jordy and Miqdad.



And a great shot of him with his best friend Miqdad. When this school first opened he, Miqdad, and the owners daughter Emma were the only three students. They become very close and learned a lot along the way.



Here he is with the soccer ball his coach gave him as a gift in the uniform he wore for the ceremony. He is number 2.



We are excited to start a new year at VPK in August and a little scared about surviving the summer with out it!

Go Magic!

Water Table

A week or two ago I was at Aldi's and found this sand and water table there for $50. I went home and looked it up online to find it goes for $80 retail. So I went back over and used a little more of our tax money to buy this as a special surprise for the boys.



I guess you could have guessed that Clark was going to love it. This is a cute picture, even if it is off center. He is such a little water baby. He must get that from my husband, or maybe my Mom, because he doesn't get it from me, for sure.



I filled it just with water for now, and both kids have liked it a lot. It's really perfect for Clark's height and also perfect since the true FL weather has finally hit us. Hopefully those crazy weeks of constant rain are a thing of the past.



I've not been blogging as much because we are outside more. Plus I have noticed that I think of the blog while I'm out living life. Isn't that nuts. This weekend we went to Sea World and a parade and I forgot my camera both times and was bummed I wouldn't be able to put stuff on the blog. Then I realized, I'm right here and can enjoy it first hand!!! The Internet has a strange effect on me (and most people who use it). I haven't decided if I love it or hate it, or if it is progress in the right or wrong direction.

I'm trying to do more writing now-a-days, so maybe I'll be able to get it together to focus on that sometime soon. Focus is at a premium here during the summer though, so I wouldn't count on it much.

Some Recent Cooking/Baking

Last week I made my first lasagna. Can you believe a nice Italian (well some Italian) girl such as myself waited until she was 33 to make a lasagna? Well, I must say it turned out pretty good.



I didn't add any meat, because well I don't like the way those farmers treat those cows, so I guess it was a vegetarian lasagna. Curt didn't seem to miss the meat.



The best part was we had leftovers for lunch the next day AND I put a big piece in the freezer.

Today I decided to try this recipe again and came out with this. It's been super rainy here for days and cool too (like 60's, which is nuts for FL in May), so I figured heating up the oven wouldn't bug us too much and I would take advantage of this weather.

Happy Mother's Day

Here are a few photos of what I am thankful for this mother's day.

Kitchen Cupboard Paint Job

Recently we used our tax money to update our kitchen a little. We decided to paint the cupboards and replace the hardware.

I forgot to take a before photo so I found this old one so you can see what they looked like. These are the original cupboards and hardware from when the house was built in 1977 and you can tell! The kitchen felt very dated and dark.



So we bought special paint and new handles and went to town. It required lots of time because with the kids we could only do a few hours at a time when they were asleep or with my MIL.








And here you can see the results! The kitchen is so much nicer now. So our next step is to use the rest of the tax money to replace the dishwasher and oven, both of which hardly work and are on their last legs. I wonder if the dishwasher is the original too and the oven we got for free from freecycle when the one in the house died and required a $300 repair job.





It's amazing the change you can get from just $100 worth of paint and hardware.

Some thoughts on Judgment

Lately the Universe has been sending me many messages about judgment. I used to think I didn't judge people much at all. I know deep down I am a very loving and caring person and I hate for anyone to be in pain, and yet I was judging all along. I think in part it is human nature for us to search out the right and wrong in society. I tend towards a manic depressive mentality and this really has me thinking in terms of black and white in my everyday life. It is an everyday struggle for me, and I do fear that I am judged by those around me. There are times where I cry in pain because of an off-hand comment from someone who doesn't know me well at all. In my head I yell out in pain about the unfairness in being judged by someone who may know me very well on the outside, and yet knows very little about the inner struggle and day to day of what makes up Tara, which is impossible to communicate.

Then on the other hand I have gone around myself thinking that so-and-so didn't keep their house clean enough, or let their kid have enough freedom, or communicate enough with their husband, or handle their finances responsibly enough, or even respect themselves enough. Until recently I have still remained in the belief that there was a right an wrong way to deal with all of life's ins and outs. Through lots of meditation and many messages from God I have learned how wrong this is.

So how has that changed? Well suddenly I have realized, that the reason you cannot judge another person, is because you will never know the complete story behind their actions. This untold inner struggle is very personal and, I believe, impossible to fully understand or communicate. The Native Americans have a saying about walking a mile in another man's moccasins, but I honestly believe even if you could walk that mile, that you still would never be able to reach the essence of what this other person is experiencing. Perhaps this is also the beauty in being human in that we have this personal relationship that we share only with our own inner self and our own higher power.

So from there I have come to the conclusion that I have no right to decide what is right or wrong for another person. Obviously there are exceptions in the way of child abuse or such things, but for the most part I just don't have enough information or knowledge to be able to judge whether another person is doing something "right or wrong".

I am now wondering why I feel this pull to constantly 'keep score' for everyone I see and/or know. Why does my mind want to mark down who is doing better or worse than I am in the many aspects of my life? I'm assuming it all boils down to self-esteem or self-confidence in the end. As a human I think I am naturally drawn to use other people's perceived faults and failures in order to build my own self up. What a terrible thing to realize about ones self, and yet this realization has also freed me in a way to see the truth behind my own judgments and those handed down upon me.

I have meditated long and hard recently about how this has effected my personal relationships with friends and family and even myself. I have wondered about my control over my own thoughts and actions and how life's distractions play into this, and have decided that I am going to publicly take responsibility for this.

I have been judgmental to people I love throughout my life. I am not going to beat myself up about it because, as I said, I know deep down I am a very loving and caring person, but I am going to take some action and work towards being a better person from now forward. I want to be the type of person whom my family and friends know they can count on for comfort and love without judgment. I hope if you are reading this as one of my friends or family that you will feel comfortable coming to me whenever you need.

Earth Day Crafting

We decided to make a bird feeder to celebrate Earth Day this year. We picked up a couple pine cones when we were out in the country over Easter.

Curtis spread peanut butter on them.





Then he rolled them in bird seed.



And here is the finished product.




We celebrated a little early and made these last weekend. The one in the front yard was there for a couple days and it looked like no one had touched it. Then on Wednesday evening we noticed it was missing. The one in the back yard was missing after the first day. Then that next day we found it sitting on top of our trellis. I guess the squirrels broke the yarn we tied it up with and hid it up there.

I talked to Curtis about how we should treat the other animals on the planet with kindness and how making a bird feeder is a nice thing to do for the birds.

Here are a few fact for you.

Did you know that in our current system food travels an average of 1,500 miles from field to fork? US agriculture currently emits about 925 billion pounds of CO2 each year from crop and livestock production. Just cutting back on eating meat is one way to reduce the emissions because each cow requires a lot of corn which requires a lot of fossil fuels to produce and transport.

Packaging is responsible for emitting 24,200 tons of greenhouse gases every year. One was to help reduce these gases is to only buy products that come in bulk bins or with very minimal packaging. Over packaging is definitely a big problem in today's supermarkets.

In 2000, the global food system produced 3,8000 calories per day, which is up 800 calories from 1957. Guess we know it isn't my family raising this though since my boys eat like birds!

Please do your part to keep the earth clean. Every little bit helps.

Staycation Part III

Here we see photos from the beach trip the Fisher's took just today. This set is admittedly Clark heavy, but what can I say, the boy LOVES the beach. Seriously his personality changes as soon as you step foot on the sand. We had a blast!



The boys had lots of fun making sand castles and drip castles.



I love this photo! His new nickname is Pig Pen because he could find dirt in a padded cell. Seriously, don't try to keep him clean, it's futile. Of course I know keeping kids clean at the beach is a fools task.



Another favorite of Clark. He just loves the ocean and you can tell by this photo.



Here's one of the two 'big' boys playing in the water.



And one last shot of my baby.

And Mom, if you're reading this, we promise to take you if you come visit.

Staycation Part II

Part II takes place at Rock Springs, where the water is a frigid 68 degrees year round.



But that does stop my water loving guys from going in. It hasn't even been that hot here this week, but I guess if you go to the Spring you have to get in. I stood in the water but refused to go under like my crazy husband did.



Clark is like a fish. He just loves the water.



Like a true boy Curtis had a blast finding snails on the bottom of the spring.



After all that fun we took a hike and then had a picnic. I think this last photo of me pushing the boys in the swings is pretty funny actually. We were acting goofy as you can see. It runs in the family.

Staycation part I

So we are at the end of a week long 'staycation' and here I sit uploading photos while a load of beach towels goes around in the washing machine.

Curt took the week off and we originally planned to go north and visit family. Unfortunately, while Clark is handsome, he does not travel well, which he proved in a disastrous overnight trip last week to Dunedin. So we canceled our plans and took the easy/happy family route of staying home and enjoying all the fun here in Cen FL.

For part I I'll show you Seaworld!



It was very crowded, being Spring Break and all, but we got annual passes so we didn't mind too much. There were a few parts where I had to hang onto my kids for their dear lives...LOL!



The good news is my 'poor' traveler did great at the park, and even fell asleep in the stroller w/o me even trying! Here he is napping in front of the sky tower.



Curtis loves the kiddie rides they have there and also enjoys playing the carny games (especially ski ball).



All in all it was a really nice trip. The day started out kind of cold, but by noon it had warmed nicely. It was a bit of a battle with the crowds, but since we live close and can go back we didn't stress about seeing everything which made for a nice relaxed time.

This one is for my dad!

Here's a back view in case you are confused.



Hopefully he will now forgive me for the whole Yankees outfit thing.

I don't know if you can tell but Clark is saying cheese now when I take his photo...so cute.

Vegan Chocolate Truffles

I went to a dessert party a few weeks ago and I decided to bring these Vegan Chocolate Truffles.



Here is what they looked like when they were finished.



They were pretty messy, yet easy to make. I used vegan chocolate chips (I love some dark chocolate) and chocolate Almond milk.



You melt a bag of chips on a double boiler and heat the almond milk in the microwave. Then combine the two and refridgerate. Then you roll them into balls and then into cocoa powder.




Everybody really liked them and even Clark can eat them!

Strawberry Farm

We love going to the Strawberry farm for many reasons.

The farm dog is so friendly and cute when she comes to greet us.



The berries taste so good, much better than the ones from publix. I'm not sure if it's because they are so fresh or because we picked them ourselves, but they just taste better. In this picture you can also see the Florida sweet onions they grow there.



I always go overboard, but it's fine. Clark has plenty of Florida strawberries in the freezer for his morning smoothie.



We love roasting hotdogs and marshmallows while we're there for a picnic lunch after that hard work of picking berries.



And the boys love getting dirty and sticky with berries.



PS - I am NOT a Yankees fan. It is a hand-me-down and one of the only things that fit Clark at the time. Since then I have gone into the attic to get the box of 18 month clothes so he won't have to wear that again. Go Phillies!