The Paustenbaughs

She Grows

She's lost her lisp when she pronounces her "S's".

She's reading chapter books.

She's learning to make her own breakfast in the mornings.

She's outgrown those oh so lovely fits we had grown accostumed to.

She's fixing her hair and getting it just so in the mornings.

She's growing up.

A little too fast for us, but becoming such an amazing little girl.

We are loving this time with her and watching her learn so many things each day.

Trying to teach her how to navigate life, friendships and school.

She is still completely stubborn as a mule, but we know in time this will serve her well.

She certainly doesn't take "beef" from anyone!

Layout as seen on the Pebbles blog

 

Have a fantastic Monday!!

Infectious Energy

I adore this kid!  She may drive me absolutely stark raving mad on some days, but to bottle her energy would make a very rich woman very quickly!  If she doesn't like something, then she REALLY doesn't like it, but when she loves something she puts her whole self into it.

She hasn't been a fan of her weekly dance classes for a while now, but when a dance club came to her school for 6 weeks she was all over it.  It may or may not have been influenced by the pom poms too!  She was so excited to show me the final dance on their last class earlier this week and she did great!  Never one to shy away from being on the stage, she put all she had into it.

And gave me some funny faces along the way too!

I'll be back tomorrow with a new mini and a Studio Calico giveaway!

New Pebbles

**Don't forget the giveaway below is open through Friday morning!

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This week on the Pebbles blog we are introducing the new Country Picnic line!  I am in love with the colors of this line, especially as a mama of 2 girls.  The touch of kraft and green are really nice against the shades of pink.

I've been wanting to scrap these photos of Ella from late last summer when she finally lost some teeth.  Granted, they were pulled at the dentist, but they FINALLY came out!  She was happy to have her first visit from the tooth fairy!

I went with a simple design on this to showcase several different Country Picnic papers and products.  I tend to deconstruct a lot of products and that was the case here too!  I pulled off the flower on the dimensional journaling sticker so I had room for the year and replaced it with some punched butterflies.

And those corrugated alphas?  I might need to order about 10  more packs of each color of those!  Perfect size, super sticky to stay put and beautiful colors too!

Head on over all week to check out the ladies' beautiful projects!

52 Fridays: Shiny

I'm back today with another 52 Fridays post from The Bloom Forum.  I have to be honest and say that I just simply ran out of time this week and that certain something did not pop out to me at all this week!  I had big plans yesterday afternoon to take a photo in our brilliant sunshine we were having, but someone came to look at our house and well, that trumps photos!!

Instead, I'm bringing an older photo from this past fall I took.  When I kept thinking of Shiny for this week, the first thing that kept popping in my head was the 1990 R.E.M. song, Shiny Happy People!  And this photo puts that song right in my head when I see it!

Now head on over to Amy Moisuk, CT and see how she interpreted this week's theme!

Natural Competitor

This one:

definitely got her dad's competitive spirit.  Maya and I are in it for the experience and if we win great, and if we don't, well better luck next time.  Terry and Ella are in it to win it for sure!!

We saw this first hand last summer during swim team.  Ella started in the "mini" Rays, where it was glorified swim lessons, but she was quickly moved up to the competitive team after one practice.  She wasn't so much into the daily practices, but boy her first meet rolled around and she had fire in her eyes!

We told her what to do and where to swim and she was on it!  We watched her as she took a breath, looked around at her competition and kicked it into high gear to get to the finish line.  She didn't come in first place, but she did place in several events.

She lived for Saturdays when she could get out and race again and was disappointed if she wasn't in a particular race.  I believe this summer we have a competitive swimmer on our hands!  Should be fun to watch her bloom.  And p.s.-her dad is ecstatic that she got that competitive spirit!

I have been hoarding this Custom Flair from Ormolu for a while now and decided I needed to get it out of the packaging and actually USE IT!!  I thought it was perfect for this layout with all the intense bright colors and it sort of pops.  The ribbon was perfect too from this Studio Calico kit to highlight a swim ribbon.

I took a chance and tried some rub ons on the fabric swatch too.  I was nervous that it wouldn't work and then my absolute favorite swatch would be ruined, but yay for experiments working out!  These are older rub ons too and they went on beautifully.  I highly recommend them.

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Just a reminder that you can still save 20% on the new Ella Publishing Stamping Secrets eBook now through March 7th.  I can't say enough about this book-I'll be reading and re-reading it to help me in the stamping department!

Tough Conversations

Remember when your tough conversations included negotiating with your toddler about wearing the pink overalls and not the purple overalls for the FOURTH DAY IN A ROW??!!  Or eating peas versus carrots??

These are still the tough conversations with Ella at the ripe old age of 7, but for Maya, at 9.5, we have certainly moved on to the really tough conversations.  They are necessary, but tough.

I will say I am so happy that she is totally comfortable with both Terry and I to ask questions and explore possibilities in life.  I am hoping and praying we are fostering that and she will continue into that age that kids aren't quite as open and willing to sharing.

Last night dinner conversation went from what their favorite part of the day was to why kids bully.  No, thank goodness she is not being bullied, but it's a common conversation in schools these days and at home too.  One thing she said that struck me is "I can deal with a boy bully because they won't bother you for a long time, but a girl bully might".  Wow.

We talked about why kids do it, what she can do if someone does say or do mean things to her and the most important thing-we will always, always, always be there for her and go to bat for her.  Always.

I see the detrimental effects bullying has on kids. I've worked in a high school environment for most of my working career and makes my heart hurt to see the pain on kids' faces.  I know what she'll be facing and it makes me want to wrap her in a bubble until she graduates.  Kids are cruel and pre-teen and teenage girls especially are extremely cruel.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that grown women can also be cruel-very cruel.  That's for later!

I think she's feeling a bit out of sorts about the upcoming move.  She is over the moon excited, but also going into 5th grade where going to a new school goes from exciting to slightly terrifying.  And I'm pretty sure there will be many  more of these tough conversations in the upcoming months and I welcome them.  Hard to navigate and explain, but so open to having these conversations with her. 

And because I don't like photo-less posts, my sensitive, big hearted 9.5 year old:

**I promise to be back with crafty posts soon!  Working on a giant mini (oxymoron??) right now and will share next week!

7 Years of Laughs

7 years ago today this bundle of laughs came into our lives with a fury!  She is so excited and has been counting down the days since Christmas until it's her birthday!  She has brought us laughs since she was old enough to laugh herself.  She is her own comedian and definitely the family comedian.

Right now:

*She loves Victorious and all things Victoria Justice.  I mean LOVES!!

*Her favorite color is blue.

*She eats waffles every morning for breakfast. Every.Single. Morning.  Except on weekends when she will cross over and eat daddy's eggs!

*She also loves enchiladas, baked beans and all things Subway.

*She still has trouble entertaining herself, yet loves to pick fights with her sister-go figure.

Love this kid and hopefully she never loses that free spirited, laughable personality!

I Forget

I forget that even though she's the crazy one, the live wire, the go with the flow gal, that she's still sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily.

I forget that she's "just 6" sometimes and interact with her as if she is as old as her sister.

I forget that sometimes she just needs my attention. Period.

I forget that even though she is very social and outgoing, that she still needs me to be there, to go on field trips, eat lunch with her and just be around.  She was reduced to tears when I didn't get chosen to chaperone a field trip.  I was nearly reduced to tears too.

I forget that even though she doesn't ask a lot of questions about the move, that she still has anxiety.  She brought a worksheet home yesterday that asked what her worry was and she wrote: "I worry my friends won't remember me".  Broke my heart.  In two.

I need to remember.  Every day.  Even during the days that I just want to forget everything around me.  Forgetting isn't worth it.

Busy. Exhausted. Hopeful. Thankful.

Do you have those weeks when everything happens at once and you know weeks before that it will be exhausting?  That was me/us last week.  It's like a storm that you know is coming, so you just brace yourself for it and ride the waves.

Adventures of Panty Man

Last week before our Week Of Crazed Lunacy began we had a sneak preview of the Adventures of Panty Man/Girl.  Ella is always up for something and Maya is always up for dressing her up in random outfits.  This one?  Takes the cake!  After the show we were all granted permission to receive autographs from the famous super hero.  You can't pass up an autograph because you never know when you'll see Panty Man/Girl again.

Awards Season.

After the 1st grading period marks the first round of awards season for our elementary school.  Always fun to see them be so proud, especially since it takes place in front of the morning announcements for all to see!  She was excited to be part of the first round picks!  Oh, and Panty Man/Girl was not present to receive any awards this time.

I don't do Helpless.

We've been going through several rounds of doctor visits because said award winner and Panty Girl has been having back pain for some time now.  We've already had to go through doctor visits and surgery with her before and I don't do helpless very well, especially when this is occurring:

After several x-rays and now 3 body scans they have prelimilarly diagnosed her with a stress fracture in her spine.  Apparently, according to the radiology doc it sounds worse than it is and the treatment is rest and no sports for several weeks.  We'll find out the final results on Wednesday and the treatment plan. 

I have to say there is absolutely nothing worse than sitting by and watching your child get IVs, body scans, more body scans and not being able to do a single thing about it but hold her hand.  I have a hard time with helpless.

I am so very thankful for the treatment she has received so far and that it is nothing worse than it is right now.  When a radiology technician says "um, I'll be back" your heart sinks and you prepare for horrible news.  I'm thankful for simply trying to keep this active child less active.

From Doctors to Colonial Times.

The end of the week brought more travel, but time spent with the oldest child this time down to her field trip to Jamestown and Williamsburg, VA.  She had been looking forward to this trip since last year when she knew that in 4th grade it was her turn to head down on an all day field trip.  And she was even more excited when old mom was chosen to be a chaperone!  I was excited too, but knew as I looked at my week that it was going to take pure adrenaline to get me through the day that began at 5:30 am.

 

She was a trooper and hung in there the whole time with no complaits!

Mother Nature Waits for No One.

And after that long week of meetings, activities, doc visits and field trips, we awoke to our yard looking like most everyone's around this time of year.

It's pretty, but I'm pretty sure Mother Nature doesn't care how busy and tired we were and are.  Here's to a day of rest, relaxation and adult beverages to get me through!

Never a Dull Moment

Falling Leaves and Falling Children:  Our trees are late to drop leaves, but we had round one this weekend and the girls were more than ready to play and jump.  Plus, it was too nice to be inside and we shoved them out the door.  We may or may not have locked it on the way back in.

Serious, but with 1 Liners:  Maya has always been our serious one.  Unfortunately she was born to 2 parents who don't even know how to be serious all the time.  We take it down a notch from time to time for her, but with age, she is coming over to the dark side with us.

I haven't been very good at writing down her quick one liners, but trying to do better now.

I made a new dinner on Friday and wasn't overly thrilled with it, to which Maya replies:

"You mean it isn't dancing down your throat?"

Nope, no dancing or even sashaying down my throat - love that kid!

 

Clueless Wonder: And there's Ella.  She has been known to ask us if we're moving even when the moving trucks are in the driveway.  Totally not kidding.

Having a conversation with her is both an education and a hot mess.

We were talking about upcoming weekend events that went like this:

Me: You have a party on Friday afternoon and we'll go to dad's running race on Saturday

Ella: You mean I have to miss the party to go to his race??!!!!

Mom/Dad: No, your party is Friday day, then the race is the next day.

(This goes on for a few more lines-I'll spare you)

Ella: So, your race is on Monday.

Me: Yes, it's on Monday (trying to spare us all).

Terry: Ella, what comes after Friday.

Ella: Saturday

Terry: Yes, and that's the day of my race.

Ella: So your race is on January 1st.

Both of Us: Yes, January 1st is when the race will be.

Ella: Oh good!!!  That's before my birthday!!!

I can't make this stuff up.

Never, ever a dull conversation in our house.