A Journey to a Simple Happy Life

Happy Father's Day

Allow me to brag for a minute. Today is a special day so I get a free pass ;o)

Finding Mr Right and marrying him is tricky enough. Having children with him is a whole different ball game. It's not about the two of you anymore , you're responsible for little human beings and let's be honest it doesn't exactly make life easier. That's why today I gladly acknowledge that you my love have passed with flying colors.

You are the best Daddy our children could have (you can rest I have no plans to replace you).I love how you make them happy, how you make them laugh, how they squeal with pleasure every time you come home from work, I love hearing you read to them and the funny noises you make. I love that you can smile at their mischievousness and that you never raise your voice (I wish I could say the same). I love that you would rather stay home with us than be anywhere else....I love you for this and for many other things.

And I love that even after three kids you still look hot. Me...well, let's just say you will not be seeing a picture of me in a swimsuit on the blog right away ;o)

Above all I love that we're raising our children as a team like we always do everything in life.

In search of summer

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We stayed home, played, made bubbles and got wet, went to the pool, met with friends for dinner and the next day other friends for a BBQ. The weather was wonderful. The stars were aligned to make this weekend a wonderful memory. But there’s even more to come!!

If you’ve been reading my blog you probably notice we don’t go away much. Not that we don’t appreciate vacations or time away. We’re just very lousy planners when it comes to vacations. I always make jokes about the fact that marriage has clipped my wings literally, I used to travel a lot. But in 9 years together we took a grand total of 9 days of vacation. Well I don’t account the times we visit our parents as vacation. I’m talking more about the going away to new places…That’s all to say, YES we are taking some days off and heading to …

THE BEACH!!! As you can see Samy is already training for some underwater adventures.

After much consideration and thanks to this post by Nicole. We are heading to the beach!! The boys are so excited and to be honest, once I will be past the stress of packing I am sure I will be too!!

It’s a wonderful way to start summer and to celebrate the season to come. I will also be joining Mary In Search of Summer on her blog. I love the idea, thank you Mary!!

You have a wonderful night, I will leave you to read the newest edition of Rhythm of the Home. Awesome job Heather, Julia and Bernadette.

And while we’re on our little family vacation, make sure to check your mailbox (ok the blog) for postcards!!

FOUR...

" Mama, I slept and when I woke up the sun made me four". Yes my love you are four and we all love you so much! Happy birthday Tarek!

Happy Mother's Day

For all those days I wonder what I'm doing, who I've become. One look at you and I know exactly why I am doing it all. Thank you my loves for making me a mom.

Happy Mother's Day to you all!!

 

The week before Mother's day

I was shopping for a birthday gift this morning when I ran into a Monchhichi doll. I was 4 again in Galeries Lafayette with my mom and buying this little buddy. His name was "Kiki" in French but who cares about languages, love knows no frontiers.

You can tell that I got use out of mine, he's one of the few toys that stayed with me all this years. When I was 12 my mom and I gave all my toys to the Children's hospital and I only kept "Kiki", my music box and my Barbie dolls. It was a wonderful experience to see my children having fun with one of my favorite toy...30 years later. There are so little things that link my childhood to that of my children: we live on different continents with very different cultural surroundings so when I can share something with them even if it's a toy or a book it's very important to me.

I started blogging last year on May 11th which happened to be Mother's day. I didn't choose the date on purpose but it just happened that I found the courage to do it that day. I stepped out of my comfort zone and never regretted it once. I chose to celebrate my blogiversary on Mother's day every year.

And because this blog wouldn't be the same without you all, I will be organizing one giveaway a day until Sunday. They will all stay open and you can participate in all of them, they're will be a little something to please all of you (knitters, crocheters, seamstress, crafters, mamas...). So come and join the fun!

To launch this week of celebration I made some changes to the design of the blog. Just in case you haven't noticed the new banner and new blog button, take a little moment to admire my friend Krystal's work. Krystal and I "met" through twitter and felt a connection right away (well at least I did). She is a terrific blogger (one of her posts made me laugh on one of the worst days i can remember) and she knows all about making your blog look awesome. She designed the banner and the button and the little personalized signature. Krystal you rock!! Thank you!

Today I will be giving away one of my favorite Japanese sewing book "Carefree Clothes for Girls " by Junko Okawa and "Pretty Little Presents".
To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment before sunday may 9Th telling me what you like about my blog and what topics you would like me to talk more about.

You can gain five additional entries (remember to post one comment per entry) in the following ways:

• Join this blog with Google Friends (right side bar)
• Add my button to your blog
• Add me to your blogroll (1St timers only)
• Mention the giveaway on your blog
• Tweet about it

 

Gearing up...and a giveaway

The past week has been a very sobering and emotional experience. Sobering because I realized I could slow down, do less and it was ok. Emotional because I have received so many testimonies of friendship, through your comments and emails,I was so touched. Thank you!!

The good news is that I am healing well, I will not be needing to stay at the hospital. My doctor says that my lungs are slowly clearing up.

We spent a wonderful Easter weekend, with egg-hunt and visits to the park. Crafts, egg dyeing and too much chocolate… Not many pictures to show for it as I was too busy having fun.

This little break has rejuvenated my soul and I have many projects in the works. Knitting, sewing, photography and some soul searching through art. Shannon has extended her registration until tomorrow evening so maybe if you want to join me…

I took some time to look up the participants today and there are some amazing women. I can’t wait to get to know them better. I am thrilled to take this class and even more now that Valarie and Michelle will be with me.

The time of reflection over the past months about creativity and how to make time for it has always left the same lingering question : “How can I fit creative time in my day?”. I would visit blogs, read article and books and the only question that I had on my mind was “For heaven sakes give me your schedule? how can you find time”.

So it’s not a surprise I was drawn to Shona’s book when I saw it on the bookshelf of my local bookstore: “The Artistic Mother- A Practical Guide to Fitting Creativity into Your Life”. It felt like the gods had answered my prayers or to be more precise Shona!

Shona , mother of five and mixed-media artist lays out a plan for all mothers to find time for creativity in their daily life. She knows that to be a good mother we have to find time to be creative, nourish our souls .Her book is a blue-print of sorts…You can embark on the adventure on your own or with a group a friends; Exploring your creativity through Poetry, Photography and mixed-arts>

As with all the women I admire I thought Shona should be featured in Blogviews. We’re working on it right now!  In the meantime, she was so gracious as to offer a copy of her book to one of my readers.

 Leave a comment on this post before April11th. The winner will get a copy of the “Artistic Mother” by Shona Cole . You can gain three additional entries in the following ways, remember to add a comment for each additional entry.

1. Add me to your Blogroll.
2. Mention the giveaway on your Blog.
3. Follow me on Twitter
4. Tweet about the giveaway

The winner is @home : "oh Im very interested to win this one....please count me in...thanks"

Birthday Party

 

Yes I did it!! I baked the cake and it was actually pretty good…well a bit lopsided, Salim nicknamed it the Pisa tower but I was really happy it worked out fine.

It didn’t come without some frustration and a bit of swearing but I am proud that Samy got his wish that Mama makes his birthday cake. I used this simple recipe with this frosting and fresh strawberries in between. So much for buying in season fruits and veggies but the birthday boy insisted.

The home baking was one of the steps I decided to take to make a simple birthday party. At home, surrounded with friends, entertained by me (until Papa has fully mastered his magic tricks). I had a ton of ideas fueled by this book and this one. But decided against implementing everything at once to avoid mommy burnout. I am well known for starting huge projects and finishing them with frayed nerves and exhausted. So this time I am taking it one step at a time.

We also used a birthday ring for the first time. We lit up the candles and explained the symbolism of each decoration and then sang happy birthday. I plan on writing a story to incorporate in our next celebrations.

 

Another new tradition is the birthday crown. I wanted to make one ever since I saw it on Soulemama’s blog. I used wool felt that I bought here. I didn’t know the difference between the wool felt and the polyester stuff but you need only to hold in your hands to know it is worth the money. It is so soft and the colors are so beautiful.

I downloaded the pattern from Skip to My Lou but mainly followed the step by step instructions of Nicole at Frontier Dreams.

Here’s about the details of the birthday making. For the rest the children enjoyed playing a pin-the-tail on the donkey game, red light-green light and most of all the bouncy house. We bought a bouncy house 2 years ago and it has become one of our favorite games if the weather gets really bad and the boys need to burn some energy.

These past weeks have been fun between Christmas, the New Year and Samy’s birthday but I am looking forward to a return to our normal rhythm and a day without deadlines.

FIVE

And now we are five! This year I decided to incorporate new traditions in our birthday celebration.

The night before his birthday after I tucked him in bed I told Samy a little poem that I made for him.

And then we talked about our plans for the next day. I told him he would be our king and the he would decide on what we would eat and what activities we would have. I wish I could share with you the look in his eyes.

I also made him a crown, a birthday t-shirt and bought a birthday ring for our family. More about these in my next post.

After a late night of crafting, talking and planning for the future with Salim.

Our king awoke to a crown and special birthday t-shirt.

 

Chose his breakfast.

 

Opened some presents

Went to the movies for the first time

Decided he wanted pizza for lunch.

Drew a map with all the important places in his life (Home, School, YMCA, Santa’s house, Alice’s house, the supermarket, the library and the bookstore).

Played all afternoon and then had dinner with Babasidou  and Mamou.

And went to bed dreaming of the next day and the party with his friends.

Happy Birthday and Happy New Year

I’m taking a little break from stitching, baking and sewing for this wonderful little boy to wish you a happy New Year.

I will be posting sometime tomorrow after his birthday party. i can’t wait to share with you all the wonderful thing we did and my resolutions (more of an attack plan) for the new year.

Until then HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Making

I had great plans of showing you everything I made for Christmas, I only overlooked one major detail. A very special boy is turning 5 in 2 days and Mama has a lot of things to finish off for him. I am drawing my inspiration and ideas from Michelle, Skip to my Lou, Grace and many others.

This year we will start a birthday tradition that I hope to carry into the next years and who knows maybe my children will too. So it all takes a lot of planning and making. I promise to share everything with you after the birthday party.

I have everything under control except one thing. The birthday cake!!! Samy requested that Mama “makes” it and he wants a chocolate one. Simple you would think…but I am not a baker, really I have the equivalent of a gardener’s black thumb but in baking. Despite my best efforts my cakes always come out lopsided , charred or undercooked. So if you have an idiot proof recipe, please send it to me and spare me the humiliation ;o)