the second day of spring

Rain rain go away; we've been reading all day.

I'm glad I picked up this 600-page tome on a recent trip to Book People. I didn't know I would be halfway in on this soaking wet weekend in Austin. Scout returned from her spring break adventures yesterday just as the rain took hold of the city. We've been trapped inside ever since.

In addition to plowing through Salinger today, I also read eight library books plus a Frog and Toad to Tillie. Scout busied herself with Nancy Clancy while Catcher read Diary of Wimpy Kid for the 15th time. We also completed a 500-piece puzzle and the kids played architect with their Structures. We managed to get a bit of gambling in too, while we caught up on the current standings of our NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Brackets (Scout and I are currently tied for first place if you're wondering). Only one more day of spring break...let's do this.

calling all jedi masters...

Two nights ago I didn't hear a peep from Catcher after dinner. He had lost his screen time due to an earlier incident that involved hitting one of his sisters, so I assumed he was in his room lost in Lego land. To my delight and surprise, however, when I peeked in I found him quietly reading. Wednesday is his library day at school, and he's discovered the treasure trove of Star Wars-themed books available to die-hards (or your average first grade boy). At first I thought The Strange Case of Origami Yoda sounded, well, strange. But then I heard from several sources--all of them elementary-aged boys--that these books are quite the thing. Who knew? Besides...can I really question a book that came from his school library and keeps him interested in reading for hours at a time?

summer vacation starts here

In three days Alex and I will begin the end of our summer vacation when we travel to Sonoma, CA alone...without the children. Alex will be working most of the time, but my sister is meeting us out there so I'll have a companion to share in some good old-fashioned wine tasting fun. Which leads me to today and why today is actually the beginning of the end of my summer vacation: 1) Alex returned from his weekend trip (he was working, not playing) from Denver this morning 2) I went to the Target and bought sunscreen and a new book for Sonoma and 3) Alex entertained the little ones in the pool this afternoon. I was off the hook and picturing myself halfway to California.

And, in case you're wondering, Sonoma is also the end of our summer vacation because the day we return is the day we set off on our 20-hour journey back to the great state of Texas for the remainder of the hot, hot summer. Forgive me if my mind is in vacation mode until then.

nerd alert

Today I got to do something I normally don't during the daylight hours...read. Last weekend, in preparation for our 20-hour car drive to the Northern Country (i.e. Wisconsin), I took these little bookworms to Recycled Reads--the Austin Public Library bookstore. The store sells books that have been "retired" from the public library system along with donations from the community. All hardbacks are $2, paperbacks $1 and children's books are a mere $.50 (hardbacks included!). The nerd and hippie in me finds the whole idea fascinating, and I grabbed a few books of my own during our outing.

This week I've been able to get an early start on my "vacation reading" while Catcher is in camp and the girls are napping (or playing in their room, pretending to nap). The downside of having this free time in the afternoon, however, is that I've already finished my first book. I suppose another trip to Recycled Reads is in order before we load up the Buick and head out of town on Monday.

three little nerds

This does not happen every day, but it does happen. Every once in a while the stars are perfectly aligned and my three little nerds (I use that term only in the most endearing of ways) sit quietly together reading solo on the sofa. This moment was captured on the day Catcher returned from his spring break adventure--in between major meltdown #1 and minor meltdown #2, incidentally--and I couldn't believe my eyes. They all paused a moment when they heard the telling beep of my camera focusing on them, but then it was back to business.

it isn't a party until something gets broken

Here is what broke in our house today: one cereal bowl, which came crashing to the ground during breakfast around 6:45am and one bed, which came crashing to the ground after dinner around 6:45pm. In between the shattered porcelain bowl and the splintered wooden bed frame, we actually had a nice day. This morning while Alex walked Catcher to school, the ladies took turns reading Olivia on big brother's bed. Then we drove Alex to the airport, and Scout started her first day of preschool. Tillie and I enjoyed a sibling-free morning together and bonded over zucchini-mozzarella quesadillas for lunch.

The afternoon didn't get wild until the big kids got home from their respective schools, and the chaos culminated during FaceTime with Alex when the aforementioned bed (Scout's, of course) came tumbling down. My back was turned on the action, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the prancercizing Scout had been performing on the mattress. Perhaps I shouldn't have served the rest of my leftover birthday cake for dessert tonight.

I did not take a picture of the broken bed in all its glory because seconds later Tillie tripped, bit her lip and spewed blood all over my white tee shirt (Catcher advised that I throw it in the trash). Scout offered the suggestion of "taping" the bed, but I think it was a bigger job than Scotch could handle. In the end, I disassembled what remained of the bed and tucked Scout into her mattress on the floor.

What's funny about Scout's bed breaking, by the way, is that Alex was asking me yesterday when we would start looking into a "big girl" bed for Tillie. I guess we have our answer now--after we find another big girl bed for Scout.

looks like catcher

This afternoon I was reading one of my favorite kids' books to the girls when Scout pointed to one of the drawings and said "That guy looks like Catcher." That guy that she's referring to is the red head wearing glasses in the photo below. I asked why she thought he looked like Catcher and she said "Because he has orange hair." Duh. Kids are crazy...but her keen observation made us all look at the page a little closer to find ourselves.

I'm the girl in the upper left corner peeking into the picnic basket. Alex is the guy wearing glasses right below me. Scout is the girl in red tights sitting on the rock. Tillie is in the far right corner with the wispy blond hair covering one of her eyes. And Catcher, of course, is the guy at the bottom of the page with the orange hair.

scout st. clair was a handful...

Scout's favorite book in the entire world is Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake. There's something about Betty Bunny, too, that reminds me of Scout. She (I'm talking about Betty Bunny here) is precocious and tenacious...and also pretty stylish for a preschooler. Scout memorized Betty Bunny months ago, and I sometimes hear her reciting it after I put her to bed at night. Yesterday when we visited the library, Scout made an amazing discovery: there are two more Betty Bunny books out there! So we have read Betty Bunny Wants Everything and Betty Bunny Didn't Do It about 15 times (each) since last night.

Honestly, though, I'm not tired of the books yet. I pretty much love Betty Bunny, too--she's like the Olivia of the 2010's. In case you're not familiar, each book starts out with the line "Betty Bunny was a handful." Now tell me...what parent doesn't relate to that?

totally cool mom

I've been known to get starstruck a time or two. I remember waving furiously to Bart Conner in the Apple Blossom Festival parade after he won gold in the 1984 summer olympics. Prior to that, however, I remember going to a Lee Greenwood--the "I'm Proud to be an American" guy--concert with my dad. We rushed the stage after the concert and my dad hoisted me on his shoulders so I could shake Mr. Greenwood's hand. He patted my head and said "Hi sweetie." True story. Mark Wahlberg, who will always be Marky Mark to me, was my first real celebrity sighting (and therefore most exciting and memorable) when I moved to New York in 1999. Today I was starstruck once again when I met Cortney Novogratz, the coolest mom ever. I've been a fan since her show 9 By Design on BRAVO, and when I heard that she would be in Austin at a book signing event, I had to be there.

She's just as cool and personable in real life as you would expect her to be. And it turns out that we have a small world connection. She and her husband live in New York City (with their seven children!), which is where Alex and I met. After Alex and I got married in New York, we moved to Charlotte, NC, which is where Cortney and her husband met. Pretty cool, right? I thought so...

Tonight I will be geeking out reading my new book Home by Novogratz, which Cortney signed for the family today. When we get back from Wisconsin at the end of next month I'll be totally inspired and ready to start some new projects!

the one and only ivan

The other day Catcher came home from school and told me he would like to start a journal. Funny because I had just read something recently about keeping a reading journal with your preschooler, so I knew what to do (or at least had an idea of what to do).

Today I bought him the book The One and Only Ivan and a blank journal. I've never read the book myself, but it was recommended and has won an award or something. It's about a gorilla who lives in a mall...sounds promising.

When I asked Catcher what he wanted to call the journal, he said "How about 'Lots of Words Journal'?" Sounds promising.

story time

Story time is a big deal around here. When all else fails, I call out "Who wants to hear a story?" The only thing better than Alex or me reading to the kids is when they start "reading" to themselves (or each other). Reading, of course, means reciting at this age. Scout has a few of her favorites memorized, and here she is "reading" them to Tillie before nap time this afternoon:

And then Tillie picked one for herself...

what i'm reading

Two things I love: the television series Felicity (have I said that before?) and Jesse Eisenberg playing Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (*note: that's Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, not the actual Mark Zuckerberg--just so we're clear on that). So when I read a review of Penelope on Daily Candy, which started like this: "If Aaron Sorkin's version of Mark Zuckerberg had a daughter with Felicity, she'd be the neurotic and meandering Harvard freshman Penelope," then I knew it was the book for me. Two days and halfway through the book, I'm a fan. It's funny. In a cleverly, witty haha kind of way.

jump around

I got another book on photography. It looks like I've found a new hobby, so you'll have to bear with me--or suffer through--as I try to figure this thing out. The new book is Beyond Snapshots, and just reading 40 pages today has given me a better understanding of my camera then after sifting through the owner's guide 20 or so times. This afternoon I gave myself a tutorial in freezing motion--remember, my camera is now, and forever will be, off auto mode. Catcher was happy to participate in my little experiment.

The more I read the more I realize I have a lot to learn. But my new photography obsession (for lack of a better word) has caused me to reflect on the evolution of this blog. It's funny to think back to how The Sassy Shack started as diary of sorts to document the sale of our house in Charlotte. I was a working mom at the time with only one child, although I was pregnant with Scout. I thought that we would sell our house and buy a "fix-it-upper" to make our own. The blog would chronicle the ups and downs of home renovation. I would remain a working mother and spend my evenings blogging about paint colors, bathroom tile and fluffing pillows. I had no idea that the sale, or lack there of, of our house would land us on a reality TV show (my secret dream) or that a year after starting the blog I would be pregnant again (that's #3) and about to move halfway across the country. The real kicker is that once we landed in Austin I became a stay-at-home mom whose main objective is making it through the day. And it turns out that there was a new inspiration slowly creeping into the driver's seat of this blog: my three children.

Maybe it turns out that my "job" (in addition to the little things like carpool and keeping the house clean and reminding Alex to take out the trash) is documenting the lives of these amazing creatures. Life is nothing if not unpredictable, and that's why I've never put myself on a five-year (or even one-year) plan. I'll still write about paint colors and my decorating tips, but look for more, albeit experimental at this stage, photography as The Sassy Shack continues to grow.

just the kids

Once upon a time Saturday night meant going out with friends, drinking a little too much, staying out a little too late. In fact, that was the rule for Saturday night for seemingly so long that you forgot what you did on Saturday night before you were social. Now you find yourself faced with the opposite. You forget what it was you used to do on Saturday night (when you were social) because now Saturday night is just like Thursday night. Or Monday night. Or Wednesday night--the nights have become interchangeable. Or maybe that's just me.

Last night, which happened to be a Saturday, I found myself geeking out reading Photographing Your Children by Jen Altman. It's kind of ironic that my days and nights all feel the same because of my children and I then spend my "free time" learning how to photograph them. (Hahaha.) But since I got a new camera for Christmas, I have vowed to take more interesting/thoughtful/artistic pictures of the little ones. What I discovered last night is that first I have to turn off the "Auto" setting on my DSLR and, second, I need a better lens ($$...sorry, Alex!). At some point I'll fully grasp the meaning of aperture and f-stop and eventually develop my own style (if I don't move on to some other venture before then), but today was my first day working under the "Manual" setting. These are my practice shots (i.e. gratuitous kid photos):

pillowmania

I've been voraciously reading The Perfectly Imperfect Home by Deborah Needleman in a quest to perfectly craft my imperfect decorating skills. One of the things I've learned is that I definitely need more pillows on the sofa. After much consideration and shopping around and thinking way too much about pillows, I finally came up with a scheme that I like. Here's a look at the [boring] before:

And here's the sofa all dressed up and waiting for someone to relax on its comfortable, welcoming imperfection...

...which is exactly what this guy did:

As long as I was on this whole pillow kick, I decided to toss one over to the lucite chair by the bookshelf as well. It honestly makes it more comfortable and inviting.

three-hour shelf

While I haven't found myself with a shortage of ideas/projects for the new house, I have found myself a little short on time and the necessary components to complete said projects. If the move itself weren't enough of a whirlwind, leaving town for five weeks right after we set up camp threw this organized Virgo into a tailspin. When we got back, things were even more hectic. I had to find my way around a new neighborhood, the [big] kids were starting preschool in two weeks, and I had no idea where I had put anything in my haste to unpack everything before we left. I still can't find one set of our sheets...I'm convinced I left them in the dryer at the apartment.

Two weeks into the school year, and after I finally made it home from the grocery store without getting lost, I was inspired to get to work this week. However, I don't have any completed projects to show off yet. Except one. It's a bookshelf. And it took three hours to arrange. I wish I were kidding.

P.S. It was finished on day two or three of the great move-in.

This is the living room on the day I first saw the house with the kids but without Alex (notice Tillie's feet in the foreground). The living room was by far the best looking space in the house at the time, and the fireplace is what sold me on it--not because you need a fireplace in Texas but because you need the perfect spot to hang your taxidermy in Texas.

I guess hanging the deer head above the fireplace was technically our first project since it went up the night we moved in, but I've since tweaked it (stay tuned for updated pics) so that doesn't count. My first actual project took place in the back right-hand corner of the room. Check out the built-in bookcase (another reason I loved the house) and my stack of books just waiting to be arranged...perfectly arranged.

Exhibit A: the bookcase that took no less than three hours to complete. This is my new reading corner, which I think is way more chic than the old reading corner at the apartment. Although actual reading has yet to take place here, I have enjoyed a glass of wine (or two) in this lovely spot.

ssr

Back in my school days (of the elementary and middle variety) we used to have this thing called "SSR" or Sustained Silent Reading once or twice a month for 20 minutes or so. I was a big dork and looked forward to these days--especially when it interrupted my math class--and I thought about it today when the kids and I were leaving the Zilker Botanical Garden and I was craving some quiet time. On the drive home I told Catcher that when we got back to the apartment we were going to have quiet playtime. I told him he could play with his toys or look through his books, but I was going to sit on the sofa and read without interruptions for a little while. He and Scout decided that they wanted to read, too, and here is a look at their room after they had ransacked the "library:"

Although they made a mess, they both helped with clean-up and it kept them busy enough for me to get through a couple chapters of Jane Eyre. Besides, who can complain when your kids are playing with books? I even caught Catcher "reading" to Scout when I thought they were being a little too quiet in the bedroom--he was sitting beside her reciting one of the books that makes her laugh (and quack!).

read on

A couple weeks ago Catcher received a book that was once the property of a school library, and as he was peeling away the pocket that once housed an old-fashioned library card--is that even what they're called...you know, the thing they stamp when you check out a book?--I realized it's been a long time since I set foot in a library. I still carry my New York Public Library card in my wallet, but it's more of a relic to show how "literary"  I am (or how literary I was or wanted to be in my Manhattan days). I'm not sure I would even know how to navigate a library today. A bookstore is one thing, but is the Dewey Decimal system still in place?

Always a sucker for quirky, nostalgic things, I came up with this idea to make note cards out of old library cards (seriously, is that what they're called?). But the thing with coming up with a great idea like that is that someone else already has. Here's a look at some crafty etsy people who stole my idea:

library greeting cards

library card bookmark

just because

library card save-the-date

notecards