The Cookie Mamas

So one of the things that I've been up to is setting up a new business with my pal Paige.

She's the mama to Owen's little friend, Eliot, and since the boys were maybe 6 weeks old we'd been talking about opening a bakery together.

We both love to bake, and admittedly it's something that we're both really good at. We went so far as to look into equipment costs, monthly operating costs, overhead, space rental, target locations...

Yeah...WAY too expensive, and way too much time away from our boys.

So, we took some time to soul search, and right about Paige's birthday we came up with a brilliant concept...which has materialized into The Cookie Mamas!

We are absolutely in love with our shop, and have received such a positive response from friends, family and even people that we don't even know on Etsy!

So this is how we spend alot of our days...baking, tasting, tweaking recipes



king of patiently waiting...



Hi, Mama!



For Valentine's Day, I created a vanilla butter cookiewich, which I dyed pink, and filled with super yummy vanilla butter cream

I think he liked them!

At The Little Gym

One of the things that we've been doing with Owen to have him gain confidence around children and interact with them a wee bit better (as in not be shocked when someone wants to play with him!) is going to a weekly class at the Little Gym

We absolutely LOVE it and he's really been enjoying it as well. We'll be taking more pictures, and maybe some video as he works through his class, the Little Beasts...but so far...



They get to play with the balls at the end of each class, and this is by far his favourite part! sometimes they get to dunk in the big donut, other times it's actual basketball nets (they did that for the first time a week ago, and Daddy had to lift him up to reach the net...they had so much fun!!)



He doesn't always pay attention...



He was a little hesitant on the beam at first, but now...oh wow! Watch out! He'll climb the foam stairs and do the big beam (you can see it in the back left)



Dunkin' balls in the donut!



And sometimes...we get to have special visitors in class!! During exploration time, family and friends (1 extra person per kiddo) are allowed to come in and the kids just go nuts. Owen runs alllll over the place, climbing on things, walking on the beams, rolling down the cheese wedges...and trying to chatter to the other little kids

We're really excited to see him growing, developing and interacting with the other little kids. He's had his first kiss with a little girl named Rachel, bowled over a little boy named Brady, and tumbled after a little boy named Charlie. He gets SO excited when we get there and just goes goes goes!

What we do at Nana's

Since we still have a few weeks before our new house is ours, i thought that we'd recap some of the fun things that Owen does around Nana and Papi's!



We bake cookies...lots and lots of cookies



We try on funny hats...



We push all of our toys out of the cabinet, climb inside and shut the door!



We climb on the ottoman...so much for that obstacle (damn you, Little Gym!)



We stand on the ottoman...and jump off! (yay, Little Gym!!!)

We do alot more things, like read books, watch movies, make art, and snuggle on the couch...but these pictures were pretty funny

Two a Week

Okay...

so I'm going to try really really hard about blogging twice a week. The grandparents are missing the kiddo I'm sure, and we've been REALLY busy...so...

Tuesdays and Thursdays, expect a photo or video dump, and I'll blog real-time ramblings or things that are fun whenever they happen.

It's the best that I can do!

I'm getting into the busy season with Sweet Stella's, have started a new business with my pal Paige, and we get possession of the new house March 9th!!

That's only 3 weeks away, so I'm going to be scheduling posts so that things will pop up in your Readers and you can check back more regularly...and I have some funny posts scheduled already so stay tuned!

Anger at the Addict

Again blogging from the playbook, so Iwill apologize if spacing and capitalization (and spelling) are off.

Today, i received a cal, from my mom that my brothers addiction has taken another bad turn. As with mlst addicts when they get desperate, hes been stealing fromher and thouh he promised that he had stopped....well....it just got worse.

My poor mom. What crap she has to deal with. I know its not myjob to fix this, but i sort of feel like it is now that myDad isnt here.

Right now, it is taking every ounce of strength to not go down to her home, beat the door down and give him a piece lf my mind. I could never...EVER imagine doing what he has done(cheque forgery) and k could never ever imagine feeling that desperate. Sure, he has alot of demonsand the manic depression doesnthelp....but neiher does the oxycodone and pot (and who knows what else...).

Right now,i feel angry.i am so angry that hehas chosen this for himself. I am so angry for the hurt that he has knowungly inflicted on my family.

Ive touched base with the Celebrate Recovery program at the church ive been going to and beard whag the leadefa have to say. Imnot sure its the right place for me....idont reallyhave anything to celebrate...just anger, pain and frustration.

how could he do this to us...

Special Delivery for Owen!

Owen got such a sweet treat in the mail yesterday!!



Oooh...what's that?



Whatcha got, Bear?



A Valentine?! You lucky boy!



A very lucky and loved little boy!



He sat there reading his Valentine from Nana and Papi for a good...oh...5 minutes or so....and was covered in red glitter when we put the card up on a shelf for safe keeping lol

Thanks, Nana and Papi!!

Day at the Beach

Another Florida photo dump!



We met up with Grammy and Rob at Clearwater Beach for some lunch...it was going to be Owen's second beach experience, but the first ocean experience



First steps into the wet sand!! This was a really proud moment and it brought back alot of memories for me with my Dad



Who needs a bathing suit! Pft!



A very wet and happy Owen :)




I can't wait for next year when he'll want to spend a full day at the Beach...building sand castles, playing catch with Daddy...the whole bit!

Addiction

First and foremost, please bear with me. Im blogging from C's new Playbook and trying to use a touch screen....so...bear with me!

I ave something that I need to start talking about, but Im not really sure how to begin...so...here goes.

My older brother is a drug addict.

I dont want to get into the nitty gritty (and trust me, it's gritty!) details of his addiction and what it's done to my family, but I do want to talk pretty openly about what it's like to have an addict around you.

His addiction is just that; his. It's been going on for quite a long time and Ive had to make some really difficult decisions.

Recently, its gotten really bad and recent choices and events have led me to reevaluate the impact that having an addict in your immediate family can have on you personally.

Maybe some of you out here can relate, maybe these posts are going to act like therapy. With the permission of my Mom, Im going to blog about it fairly regularly and talk about it from my side of things in the hopes that my insight might help someone else going through the same ordeal.

The first step in all of this is to find a support group, preferably at church, with people who can relate. The church that Ive been going to has a program called Celebrate Recovery. Its geared toward the actual addicts themselves, not necessarily the families.

When I was talking to the pastor, I asked if they had any support programs specifically for the families. I was shocked to learn that they currently do not. I found it shocking since they have a clear program for the addicts...but nothing for the family members.

So, Ive volunteered to start one.

Yup...use my pain to help others. Kinda my thing.

Ive written to the woman in charge if the Celebrate Recovery program to see if it would be possible to start this group...so...we'll see.

Like I said, these posts might be ramblings, but I think its something worth talking about