Living in Munchkinland

Davis has been so hard lately. So. Hard. Defiant, angry, belligerent. We have been struggling trying to figure out where our easy, independent, fun kid has gone and how to get him back. We've been working on it though. Four is pretty hard so far. Still, I see glimpses of the amazing kid, just trying to work his way through. Time out is our old friend that we are reacquainting ourselves with. Anyway, if you've been wondering what we've been up to, it's mostly adjusting to summer vacation, dealing with tempers, swimming, and working on staying in the moment and trying to enjoy each other. I found this letter to Davis on my computer the other day. It's something I started writing when he was three weeks old and I never finished. It's times like these when he is challenging me that I really need to re-read a letter like this. The love hasn't changed. I still love the little dude so much. Anyway, here's a copy of the letter I found. Maybe I'll...

We had Davis' end of year Montessori picnic yesterday evening. We held our silent auction there as well. The children performed and we had a wonderful potluck dinner. We all had a great time, though we didn't head home till 8:30 which was a bit late for the kids. Davis told me on the way home, "that was fun, but my picnic was too long!". Poor baby. The auction went pretty well though and I got some fantastic items. Tomorrow morning we head for Sugar Land for the weekend to spend time with Michael's family. Xo! Amber

This weekend was crazy. Michael drove in from Dallas on Friday afternoon about 10 minutes before I walked out the door to meet my friend, Alicia and my family for dinner in Austin. After dinner, we all went to see the musical Rent. It was fantastic. The music is not my thing, but the cast was so phenomenal I didn't care. Mom and Dad had just gotten back from NYC the day before and they agreed that the cast was just as good as what they saw on Broadway. No surprise there, since almost everyone in the cast had been on Broadway a lot of times. I really enjoyed it. Saturday morning we woke up and headed for the town square. I helped set up a booth at the Texas Natural and Swing Music Festival where we put out silent auction items and set-up facepainting all for the purpose of raising money for Davis' Montessori scholarship fund. I had been working on this fundraiser all year and helped coordinate the whole thing. We got it set-up and the auction items were really, really g...

How sweet is it that Sam keeps chasing after Davis shouting, "You're my brother, Davis!"? And Davis agrees. But how heartbreaking is it that now Sam has started chasing him around shouting, "You're my friend, Davis!" and it's hit or miss whether Davis agrees? I'm always quick to jump in and say, "Yes. He's your friend.", because they are. They play all day. But how long can I protect his innocent, sweet adoration of his older brother?

I made it for dinner last night and again for dinner tonight. It's that good, yo. Spicy Cilantro-Peanut Slaw (Recipe adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen (have I told you yet about her blog? It's fantastic!), makes 4-6 servings.) 1/2 large head green cabbage, very finely chopped 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions (I steamed mine first, 'cause I don't do raw onions.) 1 bunch cilantro, chopped (use at least 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, or more) 1 bunch thai basil, chopped 1 bunch radishes Handful of sugar snap peas Two chicken breasts salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste Dressing: 2 T rice vinegar (not seasoned) 1 T agave nectar, honey, sugar, or Splenda (I used agave nectar, use that or Splenda for South Beach diet) 2 tsp. sesame oil 3 tsp. soy sauce 1 tsp. Sriracha sauce (less for less spicy, more for deliciousness) 1/4 cup canola or peanut oil Cut cabbage head in half and save half for another salad. (Or open bag of coleslaw) Remove core from the...

We had a lovely Mother's Day weekend at the beach. My grandparents came with us and it was so nice to get to spend quality time with them. We drove down on Saturday and had a great time chatting and reading to each other out of the Untethered Soul. We arrived around noon and decided to skip nap and just head to the pool. We played all afternoon and then fed the boys and tried to put them to sleep. My grandparents came over to our condo and sat with the boys and coaxed a very tired and cranky Sam to sleep while Michael and I got to go out to dinner at a fabulous little restaurant in Port A. On Mother's Day, the kid's brought me breakfast in bed. It was so funny to lie in bed and listen to them and their daddy work hard in the kitchen preparing my toast. They were so excited to make my toast and then when they saw it they insisted they stop in mid-breakfast making to eat my toast themselves. Then they resumed. Davis insisted that I have cherry tomatoes with my toast an...

I've been working very hard on practicing compassion, staying in the moment, and letting go. I ran across this article today on taking these practices into daily life. I found this passage and it really helped me. It's from this website . "Throughout the day, continually remind yourself that you don't want to harm anybody, that you want to be of service to them, and that you seek to do all actions for the ultimate enlightenment of yourself and others. To remind yourself of this, you can use a frequent event as a trigger to call you back to your motivation. For example, every time you stop at a red light, instead of being irritated and thinking, "Why is this red light so long? I'm late for work!" think, "Today, I want to have a kind heart towards others." Thus the red light becomes an opportunity to remember the kind heart. When the telephone rings, instead of rushing to pick it up, first think, "May I be of service to whomever is on the ...

The garden is coming along very well. We spent much of last weekend mulching and hoeing and tilling and building a cucumber fences and adding cages to the tomatoes. We've already been harvesting and eating radishes, chard, onions and a few strawberries. I've been forcing myself not to pick my squash blossoms and eating them, but my restraint is paying off and we are about to have some squash ready to eat. The tomatoes are growing like crazy though I've lost one of them to an odd disease and I'm fighting to keep a second that is also ill. Wish me luck. Anyway, since this garden is becoming my third child, I thought I'd put some pictures up. XO!

Remember, say, ten years ago when I graduated college with BFA in Musical Theatre and headed to NYC to take Broadway by storm? Well, that didn't happen. I did okay. I did some regional theatre, got my equity card, and then followed a boy to L.A. where I did okay, got a fabulous paying job in a show in Aruba and felt optimistic! Then the show closed I went home and struggled in the L.A. musical theatre market and then the boy dumped me and I ran back home to San Marcos, TX with my tail between my legs. Even then I didn't give up on my passion and dream. I started a musical theatre company in Austin and put every bit of myself into it for three years only to watch it struggle and fail. That took quite a few years to get over. And while I was getting over it, I met Michael, fell in love, married him, had two babies and moved to the country. And I'm happy. I LOVE my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I don't have any regrets. But I miss performing. (I als...