~Life as Dad

Wow! October starts tomorrow and it is my absolute favorite month of the year! My husband and I were married in October and this year is our five-year anniversary!

Cooler (relative) weather is supposed to reach Florida tomorrow.  I’m so excited because I am hosting a private art show featuring seven local artists at my house! I’ve been busy preparing for a few weeks.  As this is my first show of anything like this I am anxious to see what happens.

A special thank you to the following women who will be participating in tomorrow’s event.

Tina Adkins
Danean Hoenicke Ermentrout
Kate McKuhen
Joni Rollen
Beth Smith
Elizabeth Sullivan

~Life as Mom

It was an awesome little store with a closed-in kids play area.  SWEET!  I put Aden in the play area and headed straight for the boys clothing area.

The next thing I hear is a lady saying, “Is this your baby?” I don’t have a baby any more (sad) but what the heck I better turn around and check.  The lady is staring at Aden.

I follow her gaze and see that Aden has pulled down his shorts and is peeing on the floor. In the play area.  On the rug.

“Aden, what are you doing?” I say as calmly as I can while trying to get over the barricade to him.

To her grace and my gratitude, the cashier was more than kind.  Of course, I had to buy stuff to make it worth her while to clean up the mess which she had done by the time I could get back from the bathroom from cleaning up my potty-trained (sometimes) son.

I should have taken a picture.

~Life as Mom

Son, I write this series most of all for you. You are going to have a lot of influences in your life and you are going to have relationships wth family and friends that will vary all your life. In all of these relationships I want to attempt to give you a connection to the one relationship that is impossible to have while on this Earth and that is one to your Grand-Father. My family has been essential in my relationship with my Mother’s Dad, my Papa. Even though my Papa passed before I was born I feel that I have a good connection of what the man was like thanks to the fantastic memories of my Mom and Nanny (Grand-Mother) as well as my Brothers. I will attempt to do the same as my family has done for me in sharing you my stories of my Father so you too can feel a connection to a most wonderful man.

Aden, I want you to know I love you so much, you have brought so many joys and lessons to your Mother and I. I hope by now I have been and will continue to be the Father you have always deserved to guide you into manhood. I do not want my series to dwell on how emotionally difficult the passing was for me, your Nana and Uncles but do know it was life altering. I felt that it matured me a lot faster than normal. I woke up from the daydream.

Your Grand-Father John Steven Hanson was born December 1, 1947. He was raised with your 11 Great Uncles and Aunts. He and your Nana dated in high school but then broke up and married other people until 15 years later they ran into each other again and ultimately married. I am a result of that reunited “lost” love.

I don’t know much about my Father during the years he was married to his first wife. I know he served in the United States Air Force as a C-141 jet engine mechanic. I know that he bought a 1967 Ford Mustang when he was 21 in 1968. He and his first wife did not have any children together. I know he worked for the now defunct company Florida Bonded Pools and also the defunct Big Star grocery chain. Perhaps this gap of time can be better researched as I write this series.

Now on to the first few memories…

My earliest memories of my Dad are that of being carried back to my bed after falling asleep in my parents bedroom. This I have done with you countless times already.

I remember going on a short mountain hike with my Dad and brothers while we took a rare family vacation to North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains.

I remember holding my Dad’s coffee canister in the truck while I rode with him down to the dairy so that he could milk cows.

These and many other memories are examples of what I have in my head that I want to share in this series. I have to admit that when I attempt to cover this topic about my Dad, my feelings for him may be of idealism of the memory of him but he was really an ideal man and Father. Dad was well liked, jovial and fun loving. He conveyed to me his care and guidance in the short time I had with him.

As for the rest of the viewing public I hope you can find inspiration for your own “memories” project from my series as well as enjoy what I am attempting to do with my family by writing out my memories.

~Life as Dad

Local mom, starved for creativity and culture in her life, attended the Samuel P. Harn Museum’s Tot time with her two-year old in Gainesville, Fl.

After a docent-led tour of the museum, mom and toddler work on an art piece to take home as a souvenir. Twice a month the University of Florida’s Samuel P. Harn Museum hosts a preschool hour that helps moms get out of the  house.

Culture for the preschool set! I love it.  I love that I can introduce my son to art in a more formal way.  This particular event is wonderful because the docents are prepared for little ones and I get to go to one of my favorite places in town.

He may not know his alphabet yet but he’s learning to identify elements in a piece of art!

This activity is low-cost, usually about $5, which is key to our participation.  One dollar is for the museum and four is for parking.

Another local activity that fills up half a day for us is the local library’s reading hour.  The newly renovated library branch that we go to added a toddler playground and a coffee shop.  Can you say heaven?

They have toddler-friendly computers which have touch screens and nothing but child-friendly games.  Aden finally figured out how to use the computer mouse this past month.  That has made the games a lot more challenging and fun for him.

Between these activities and play dates we stay busy!  Now if I could just get more efficient in my writing! Ha!  At least I have been taking a lot more photographs.  If only there were more hours in the week!

Are you a stay-at-home mom? What do you do to stay sane?  Do you take field trips?  Do you come up with crafts?  Does having more than one child affect your activities?

~Life as Mom

I thought I would be a lot more scheduled and disciplined but I think I expected too much.  The biggest challenge has been to relax and to let go.  To just enjoy being with my son.  Believe it or not that has been a challenge for me.  It is not because of Aden either, he is absolutely wonderful and possibly the easiest kid in the world to get along with.  It has so much more to do with me.  I expect great things from me and I am my own boss now.  Boss wants lots of things done! Yesterday!  Learning to give myself a break has taken some time and I’m still working on it for sure!

Here is our daily routine!

8am Aden wakes me up sweetly by saying, “Moma, I sleep good.  I wake up.”

9am Breakfast and if I’m lucky I can interest Aden in the morning cartoons on PBS so that I can do my 20 minute yoga session. (Happens about twice a week.)

10am Make a point to get my teeth brushed and get dressed!

11am Either stay at home and do housework while Aden plays or watches TV or go to a park or the museum.

12pm Think about getting lunch.

1pm Try to get Aden to take a nap.

2pm Get the TV off and if Aden is sleeping, work on computer.  If he is not sleeping, make a point to go outside and play! Now it is warm enough to swim! Yea!

3:30pm Think about getting dinner ready and straightening up the house.

5-6pm Patiently await the love of my life to come home so I can hand over the kid!

Thank goodness for FRIDAYS! My mom takes him on Fridays and I wait all week for the day to come! Then when it gets here I don’t know what to do with myself! Too many options! Too much freedom!

I am definitely getting into a routine.  I’m not really a routine kind of person.  When I start seeing the routine I get restless, incredibly restless.  So yes, I am getting to that point where all I want to do is plan some trip somewhere.  I always feel like I’m master of my own destiny when I plan a trip somewhere. Plan it out, set it up, and make it happen.  Such a feeling of accomplishment!

I am trying to channel that energy into my photography work now.  Something I feel like there is just never enough time for!

I’ve reopened my Etsy shop and started filling it with my photographs!  Please check it out!

Rollen-Hanson Gifts Etsy Shop

Love the Camera

One minute later, the fickle hand of fame comes up and it’s “Go away, you crazy Mama Paparazzi!”

Aden scowling at camera

~Life as Mom

Aden counting seashells

It has been a month since I have decided to be a stay-at-home mom and it has taken some getting used to.  I’m learning daily what it means to be home and be creative at the same time.  My inspiration has definitely been my son.  Here are nine lessons from the past few weeks.

1. The overwhelming urge to live in jogging suits and sweats dominates my mornings.  That is if I decided to get dressed.

2.  If I don’t get dressed, invariably someone will come to the door with a package.  Good encouragement to put my bra on.

3. I don’t like my life summed up as “Homemaker” on forms.  REALLY don’t like it.

4. As I knew it would be, protecting my personal time is still my biggest challenge. 

5.  I’ve figured out that I have to limit washing the dishes to once a day or I’ll spend the whole day in the kitchen.  (At least the dishes get washed a lot more often now than they did when I was working.)

6. I’m learning to relax and let go.  The goal is to not  replace one kind of stress with another.  I’m concentrating on doing things that I love doing. Consequently, I feel my creativity is increasing.

7. Stick to the schedule. Laundry on Mondays. Dishes once a day. Keep naptimes consistent! Glass Bottle of wine by 5:00pm. Forgot to take photo of son again.

8. The children’s shows that demostrate nice ants coming to the picnics doesn’t reconcile in a 2-year old’s mind when Mommy is yelling, “GET AWAY FROM THERE!  The (fire) ants (only kind in Florida) will bite and hurt you.”

9. There really is no quick explanation for the crazy woman yelling at her son because he is standing next to the “BAD” tree crawling with poisen ivy.  “BAD TREE! BAD TREE!”

~Life as Mom

Late Night Snack

Taking pictures of Aden every day has been a challenge, but a good one.  Not necessarily one that I succeed at every day, but there’s still hope!  I recently found out about this guy, Noah Scalin, who started making something every day and inspired a lot of people to do the same.  His site, MakeSomething365.com, has made me realize that I’m not alone in trying to create art and that there are lots of really great projects being made every day. 

Reading about some of the artists’ work and how it impacted their lives reminded me of a give-something-away every day project I started last year.  I failed at that miserably.  Does giving an art project away every day count?  What could be more generous? Or is it even generous?  Is it self-serving and selfish?

It’s definitely a lot more fun than being pious!

~Life as Mom

The Artist

~Life as Mom