virtual scrapbook is published!

here is the link so you all can check it out.
just remember it is very, very preliminary....
The 5 Baumgart's Website

I had to add in this picture.  I captured this moment at Discovery Park the other day.  really, they were playing, but i love thinking he was caught in the act of shaking her and trying to throw her off the log.  my twisted sense of humor.  

hopefully this website/scrapbook will turn into a fun way for me and the kids to keep our memories and share them too.  and hopefully people will get my sense of humor and not turn us into child protective services :)  it will be a scrapbook without all the paper and mess that doesn't go along with my simplifying life month i had a while back.  August i think it was.

i am getting back to yoga....yet again.  still my one true passion i have discovered through this search.  and man, when i don't go for a couple weeks...it can be rough.  especially when said weeks have been surrounding the thanksgiving holiday and there has been lots of merry making and eating.  lots of eating.  god, i love food.  remember that post so many months ago...where i love food more than any other human?  yeah, i am still working on that one.

and as for next month...it is already working out smoothly.  i am going to a drumming class....latin hand drumming...on, yes, it starts on Wednesday....December 1st!  it'll be every week and an hour and is open to total beginners.  any takers on going with me?  it's at the Seattle Drum School in Georgetown.  maybe i'll play a little drum thing at my christmas eve party this year.  and hopefully it will be better than when i attempted Mary had a Little Lamb on the accordion one year.  wow.  glad that was not captured on video.

well...i am sure i have a ton more witty, insightful things to say.  i know i did.  i was thinking about them when i woke up in bed the other night.  but now all i can think about is getting dinner started for tomorrow.  Jamie invited some friends over for dinner and i wasn't thinking and went to yoga tonight instead of the grocery store.  and after i work tomorrow and pick up the kids from school, I'll have exactly 2 hours to cook everything, get cleaned up and pretend it was nothing.  oh this, i just whipped it up.  Roasted chicken, kale salad, sausage stuffing, corn and mushrooms.  it was no sweat.  smile.  drink.  smile some more.

but seriously...so glad i went to yoga.  i never rested in savasana so much in a class ever.  guess i need it.

well...11:20...time to get started cooking.  it's how i roll.

xoxomelissa

windy

i was wishing i had my camera yesterday, and that i could have got a shot of a flying leaf through the air.  but they were moving fast.  we don't get much extreme weather here in the pacific north west, and not that it was extreme, more exciting.  the kids on the playground after school were running around trying to catch yellow leaves as they swiftly darted through the gray sky.  it was quite beautiful, both in colors and sight and in my heart.  so simple, so innocent...what i thought having kids would be like before i had them.  no yelling and fighting, no video games, no hitting and whining.  just kids having fun, in nature.  i tried to recreate that dream i had about children, the one i woke up from oh around when lily was 19months old and i had levi.  maybe it happened before then during pregnancy when she was one and i watched three other kids in my home.  regardless, i tried to piece that dream back together by sending my kids to a waldorf school.  keep them sheltered and innocent a little longer.  let them be kids and play instead of stuffing mathematics and reading in every free space, and then some, as early as kindergarten.  5 years old. but all i ended up with was more chaos at home...i couldn't keep up with the joneses of waldorf perfection, nor could my wallet.  stress.  but it wasn't all bad and i am grateful for our time there, i just don't think it is all it's cracked up to be (well, what i had it cracked up to be, as i can only speak for myself).  it's not all chasing leaves.  they do their best, but look, even public school kids chase leaves...and that warmed my heart, and especially more so since all the kids on the playground weren't of one race or SES.  (socioeconomic status...one my new favorite terms to throw around.)
it's those little moments, the little ones that maybe only take up five minutes of my life, but fill my soul more than the rest of the hours i spend alive that day.  you gotta keep an eye out for them.  even in the midst of chaos or despair...there is a silver lining.  sometimes not apparent until later, when you see its glittery hint as you are walking away from a storm, when you look back thinking...what the fuck was that?  and you get it.  you have a moment where life makes sense, where you know you are right where you need to be.  i am trying to keep my eyes open, and to trust that the silver lining is there.  every day.  even today. even at my job.  that i hate.  but oh how i wish i were looking back at my job for the hint of glitter.  looking back from the forward distance of not working at a place i have stayed past my intended due date of leaving.  well, anyway...
as i walk around with my camera these days, i am looking for moments.  capturing things that i find that take me out of the everyday.  things that remind me that life has surprises and heart warming images in the midst of a storm.  which is why i really really wished i hadn't left my camera yesterday.  eh, i doubt i could have actually caught a leaf in mid flight anyway.  but i will remember it today.
have a good one...
xoxomelissa

nothing happened yesterday unless you count...

me scoring a free ticket to see my new favorite band!  (thanks Jamie!!!!)  We got tickets to see the sold out show of Fistful of Mercy.  it is a trio with Ben Harper (LOVE Ben!), Joseph Arthur (now i also LOVE Joe) and Dhani Harrison (son of Beatle George Harrison).  it was amazing and i have not stopped listening to the album all day. (literally.  i think people at work and my kids at home have had enough)  talk about passion and creativity....these three guys wrote and recorded their debut album "As I Call You Down" in only three days.  wrote and recorded.  it is inspiring.  here is a link to a video of them at KEXP here in Seattle.  also, they started their tour here....made seattle feel special to me.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9CPuCJxRc

so...yea, that was real good.

and back to scrapbooking month, i have been snapping shots everywhere....mostly just of random stuff i see.  whether it is artistic or dumb or fun for people to look at doesn't quite matter when you are doing something to stir up the creativity within. at least that is what i have found.  the more i wonder if what i am photographing is cool, the less i feel that deep sense of awe in the world...the mystery.  it comes from the same place within us that creates life, from the womb, from the source.  it's like life is totally coming full circle in so many ways for me lately.
in some ways the circle is about the birthing career thing i mentioned before in a prior post.  since i mentioned the womb i thought of it.  i am starting a career as a birth assistant.  i am getting all my training and certifications in order in the coming months.  and then coming soon, probably before i realize the time has gone by, i will be on call and attending births!  i will be assisting the midwife...getting her the things she needs, being a second pair of hands when needed.  i can't believe it is happening.  and yet i can.  i have been transforming more than i ever have this past year and it is paying off so to speak.  i always come back to wanting to be a midwife and now as i embark on this new chapter, i can look back and see that i have always been on this path...even times that i doubted, times that i denied it, times that i shrank away from my  dreams.  all those times, i were part of my path.  every step paves the way for the next, even when we walk through dark times...we are perhaps nurturing the depths, so that we have a stronger foundation.  that is how i feel these days, like i am starting to stand on a stronger foundation.
just seems like lots of situations have happened lately where i find myself knowing i am in the right place at the right time.  it is quite satisfying and scary.  i used to equate that feeling of satisfaction or comfort or like everything is lining up with the thought that it must mean i was going to die.  i know, crazy.  but somehow i always saw the headlines...."sweet girl dies just as everything was going right."  i bet that is some crazy past life shit right there.  but the scary part is way less....now the fear is more like i am about to jump off the high dive and i am shaking, but i also sorta know it will be exhilarating and fun.  not saying i am ready for a bungee jump, but a high dive...yes.  (aside....i am a bit fearful of heights and get vertigo, a random yet apt example i happened upon with the high dive.  cause i absolutely loved the high dive as a kid.)
well, my thoughts are jumping everywhere...so i am off for a break and more Fistful of Mercy, exploring Joseph Arthur's music.

peace.
melissa

Step 1...

I got started today with the first stage of my Geneva/Europe scrapbook for my girls.  I know Melissa wrote "crapbooking" as being funny but to be honest I picked this month but kinda initially felt the same way.  Since I have been here I really feel that it is important to make something for my kids to help them remember their experiences here...kinda how sometimes when you have seen a picture so many times you feel like you can remember it but really you just are remembering the picture...like that.  I wanted something to give to them that would have all the memories that will help are family talk and think about our trip here when we have long gone....something special to them from me.  I have always known from the beginning that I did not want to do a book with a ton of fancy boarders etc but just something that was interesting to look at I guess a bit creative as I would not consider myself to be crafty at all.  Since we arrived in Geneva I have been collecting all the "crap" we have done....tickets, menus, napkins of fun places we ate at, receipts, bus tickets etc.  Ok so really this stuff drives me crazy...I hate it....all the papers ugh so I initially hid them all in a cabinet...that is not going to get me anywhere.   Today I decided that my first step was to organize them all into the places they come from and create some kind of system to put new things in.  Once I get this done I will start making "pages" for each topic.  I think I mentioned before that I have been reading other blogs and one that I love is from a mom in San Diego and she is the most organized person I have ever "met"...she gives great ideas and sometimes I dream about being that organized but I am going to give this a go.  Joyce gave me a scrapbook with plastic page protectors so I took that all the crap and off I went to a friends house (by bus...so love not having a car) and spent the afternoon organizing.  Here is what I came up with..

Here is my Marineland stuff...kinda like Sea World but oh so different:) that we went to in Biot France.  We had a great day with the girls and this packet contains all of our tickets etc.  I am not sure I will use everything but at least it is all together.  The next one is all of my stuff from our trip to Villefranche.  I have to say it was awesome to look at all the stuff and it did remind me of the fun we had. I have decided not to add photos to this book.  Both my girls have baby albums and really I think as Melissa is doing..photos should be kept digital and I would bet that by the time my girls are grown photo albums will be a thing of the way past.  So there you go my first step at scrapbooking.  So far I love it...mostly because I am making it for Madeline and Hazel.  They will never remember all of this crazy adventure we are on so if I can give them a piece of what they don't remember this was so worth it.  I know if I handed them a bag of this stuff they would never appreciate it or be worried I would be upset if one day they wanted to throw it out so maybe if I just make one simple book they will have it to treasure...I may be kidding myself but I hope so.  Next step is to make the fist page!  I am going to do that next week.  Happy Crapbooking!  So far I LOVE it~
xxoo-Dina

learning iphoto

i am learning a lot about the new iphoto software, and loving it.  the facial recognition thing is wild.  so, i have taken lots of photos and after i learn how to really use iphoto to my best ability, hopefully this week!  i will start making a family website on iweb.  then the kids can have their own page too, to post their creations...like Levi's photos of the ravens game on tv.  funny what they use a camera for.
here are a few of my photos i have taken this week:

Post Halloween in our raised bed garden

just the mess of shoes from our "shoe box"

Seward Park

Sunny in Seattle



xoxomelissa

taking photos

today on our walk to school, i took some shots of...well, our walk to school.  :)  it was so quiet and peaceful (i had dropped the kids already and it was my walk home...as if you couldn't already tell) and although i had wished i would have remembered my camera the past two days when the sun was vibrant and shining, this is what it was and i dug deep to find gratitude for these quiet overcast moments.  the leaves were still so colorful, and the houses i pass were still beautiful...and maybe even cozier with the cloudiness that surrounded them.
i will be taking the bus through the city today and i plan on taking some more pictures, and to step out of my comfort zone and not worry about looking like a tourist and snap as many shots as i like.  that will be hard for me.  but hey i do hot yoga, i can do anything!
Speaking of bikram yoga....i was scrolling through the email i got from the sweatbox last night.  that is the studio where i practice.  anyway.  i was reading through it because last month was the 30 day challenge and my friend Stephanie did it.  yea stephanie!!!  amazing.  and so i was excited to see her name and then i kept reading and i saw my name!  i felt semi famous for a minute in my own way.  i hate to admit that, but i did.  here is what the owner Laura wrote....

Melissa Baumgart, SweatBox student, searches for joy and finds it all over the place, including at The SweatBox:http://www.goodluckwiththat1.blogspot.com/

so, there is my excitement.  had to share.  and looking forward to sharing more with this "scrapbooking" month.  the kids want to get in on it and i think maybe after i figure it out...we could have a little family website where they can share their photography and thoughts.  that would be fun.


ok, off to a midwifery conference.  oooh, yes, i have exciting new on the birth career front.  I'll share more later.


and PS....if you found this blog through the Sweatbox link....go back to April's posts to fread about our journey with finding bikram yoga.  i think it just may be one of the whole reasons i did this blog.  it is my passion....and i am still searching for more...who says you can only have one!


xoxomelissa

Where to start?

I am actually excited about this month because we have done so many amazing things that I want to put something together for my girls.  I am a bit overwhelmed on where to start as I have collected so much stuff over the past few months.  So my plan is to work this month on a system that is easy to continue and add to as we live here in Geneva and this way my girls will have a memory book to look back on when we return to the states.  I have some friends coming for lunch tomorrow who are big into this kinda thing so they are going to help me!  Keep you posted...

xxoo-Dina

ok, new month!

let the scrapbooking begin!

my plan for the month....take a bunch of pictures and make a digital scrapbook.

sooooooo....let's see how it goes everyone.  wish me luck to stay on task this month.  i really don't want to let another month go by without fulfilling my bloggin duties.

xoxomelissa