jan crowley designs

a self-posting blog

That's what I need! :)
Man, I just hate getting behind with this thing! I feel like someone has pulled the stopper on me and I'm just drained. I'm so tired, y'all. But I'll spare you my incessant whining.
Ok, I have ton of photos to post, so let's just get started!

Actually, I am very proud of myself. I didn't purchase a single thing when we visited Swarovski Crystal Worlds. Isn't that first picture amazing? Austria is so beautiful. And the neatest thing about Austria is they are very thorough. They even have potty instructions. :0)

Who knew they used those fancy new-fangled forward facing potties....We need one of those! I'm so tired of looking at the wall when I pee. And since Norah broke the lid off, it's been terribly uncomfortable.

I keed! I keed! :)
Speaking of Noodle, she's got quite the hair. And quite a list of nick names. We're always amazed when we come up with a new one. The other will stop and turn and congratulate the former when a new combination has been formed. It's quite a talent we have, this naming thing.

Ok, so back to our trip...the weather was SO FREAKIN CRAPPY. We went there specifically to enjoy the mountains, sunshine, and fresh air. What we got was rain, rain, and rain. With a side of rain.
Can I have a poop sandwich with my rain?
No, sorry, ma'am. All we have is rain.
Mmmm. That sounds yummy. I'll have that.
BUT we made the best of it and we had a good time despite the weather! :)

And this is one of my favorite shots from Michelstadt...

You simply cannot garner the sheer joy just from this photo...Lara was pretending she was driving 'the boat' and she was the Driver Captain. Mia then exclaimed that she was the Poop Captain. Go figure :0)

We got to hang out with our friend John...and of course we took no photos of him. I have no idea why...we're idiots. :( He's so cool, though, and it was so nice being able to catch up on him and his family. :0)
On the way home, we stopped at 2 places.
First, Ehrlenberg Castle. We'd never heard of it, but saw a sign on the road and pulled a U-ey and dropped in. SO glad we did. It's the most interactive castle we've ever been to. You can try on armor, listen to audio clips, watch re-enactment videos, AND...the coolest part was that every single bit was also in English. We got to take in everything. The displays, exhibits, history, just amazing! SO, anyway, here are some pics:

Norah's diapers are so bad, we had to buy a suit of armor just to get near her. We don't use the sword to change her, though. Don't be ridiculous, now! And no, this is not Genghis Khan. This is me. Don't let the nut cup fool you.

Just don't ask, people. I wasn't even drinking...

After the castle, we stopped near the Alpsee and Lara and I rode the Alpsee Coaster.
SO.MUCH.FUN.

You have to take a ski lift to get up there (a good 10 minute ride) and it's one hairpin turn after another coming down. You control the brake and the acceleration and it was freakin awesome.

We weren't actually smiling...our teeth were chattering and our lips were starting to recede from the cold. It happens. And it's not pretty.
And this was the weather driving home.

Funny thing is, it was sunny when we got back to Darmstadt.

So that was out weekend in a 20 pound nutshell. We had a good time and, like I said, we made the best of it. I still like to bitch, though. Go figure. :0)

replay

Norah.....

Let's just say she's on probation. That sounds nice, right? It's better than saying "one more morning like this and you're outta here, girl!"

At my favorite hour this morning, the Noodle decided it was time to get up. She was playing and whining and she even managed to pee on our bed a bit. She fell back asleep for a few minutes, but the insanely loud click the front door makes when Daddy leaves for work woke her up again.

I can't do this, people. I need around 10 hours of sleep a night to function properly during the day. Just ask my dad...he knows. I'm one of the hardest people to wake up. It's best if you just come in, coffee in hand.

So here we are...6 hours later....and I'm still up. Can't nap cuz we have too many things to do. Gotta pack and have everything for this weekend. I have to have everything ready to go by the time Colin gets home from work on Thursday. He is literally going to come home, pack the car and then we'll leave. It's about a 4.5 hour drive and we need to get there before 9 p.m. because the lady we are renting the house from made this disgustingly scary air-sucking/wheezing noise when I said we would be there between 8 and 9. I thought she was going to die. So, in order to save her life, we will be heading out the very second we can.

Let's see....what else is going on...oh! Yesterday we managed to raise over $700 for the March of Dimes! So amazing!! We still have 30 days to go! eek! SO COOL. If any of you are scrapbookers, I encourage you to buy the kit. It really is beautiful and it may not be available after May. Check it out HERE.

We bought our plane tickets for Ireland and were gonna be making hotel reservations soon....I've been riding my bike everywhere, Noodle in tow. It still baffles me that I don't have to take an hour and a half to go grocery shopping. I can do it in 20 minutes and be incredibly sore. What a deal!

And I bought some page sketches yesterday by Jen Caputo. So fun! When it comes to scrapping, I have zero mojo lately, so sketches are such an easy way for me to NOT have to think and still have beautiful layouts.

I love these photos of my mom and Mia....especially the one where Mia's got a hold of her face. Too precious. :) Well, that's all I have for today...need to get to work and get some things done. Ciao! Happy Wednesday!

good morning, sunshine

Too bad the sun isn't up at 4:30 a.m.
But we were!
Norah decided that even though it was dark and cold and oh so snuggly warm in the bed, it was time to rise and shine!
The only reason I crawled out of bed and endured her insanity was because today is a special day! Today is the day we debuted www.songbirdavenue.com.
It's kinda crazy that right now it is 11:30 a.m. and I have already been up for 7 hours.
Things that make you go hmmmm...
or zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Its not so bad really...once you get past the initial eye-searing pain of turning the light on (and you brush your oh-so-lovely teeth) it's not so bad. For about a minute.
And then you want to crawl back in bed and lay there for days and days and you wonder why in the world the great Creator added 4:30 to the hours of the day.
He should have started at 10.
10 would have been a good hour to start with!

Noodle's had a power nap but I'm still going strong.
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!

That would be the delirium yelling.

We've been working so hard on this charity site and it is such an awesome moment to see it go public. 100% of our sales (after Paypal fees) will be donated to The March of Dimes. If you feel inclined, click right HERE and you can see the site for yourself! Every month we will have a different collaboration project with a different designer and we will change the charity every month as well. We've already had so many sales, too! So exciting!

So now that that is done, I need to focus on some other things around here. We're going to Bavaria this weekend to see our friend John. :0) We've rented a floor of a house and we're really excited! We can't travel very comfortably anymore...we just have too many people. So, we end up paying an arm and a leg for hotels. For the price of 2 hotel rooms, we can stay here at a quaint little house and have a full kitchen, a yard to play in, and plenty of room. Heck, the one floor of this house is almost twice as large as our apartment!

Obviously there won't be snow, but it'll be nice to be in the mountains in summer again. I miss Bavaria. it is so much prettier than where we live now! We're also hoping to stop at a few places on the way back...Leichtenstein and the Rodelbahn. The Rodelbahn is a roller coaster of sorts....the only way to describe it is in photos...

I'm really excited! We leave Thursday night and we'll drive back on Sunday. SO.MUCH.FUN. I think I'm just excited to hang out in the sunshine and just play and cook and be together.

My eyes are starting to water again and I can't see whati'mtyping so mayeb i should get offf the puter...... :)   

--------> out

We've been enjoying the most beautiful weather lately! We went for a walk and played catch with the girls...they're so uncoordinated! ha! No reflexes whatsoever! They had a blast, though.

The poor things...they just stood there and let the ball hit them in the face. hee hee. It got to the point where I was moving Mia's hand to catch the ball and Colin was helping Lara. They got bored really quick. So Colin and I played catch for a while. Then we continued on our walk. :0)

Then on Saturday, we went to Ronneburg to see the castle there and experience the Medieval/Renaissance/PunkScot festival. There didn't seem to be an actual theme to the fest...just ale, flat bread, peasant garb, and knights. But the main reason we went was to see the animatronic dragon they have. What sealed the deal was that the dragon was supposed to breathe fire, bleed, and pee. Come on! Who would miss that!?!?!
We mentioned that we were going to Jenny and Jesse and they seemed really excited about it, so we told them we'd all go together if that was cool. After only a slight detour (i.e. Jan's navigation skills suck big time and Germany doesn't put names or numbers on their roads), we made it to the fest. The castle is amazing and I don't think we stopped eating the entire time we were there. Flat bread with ham&onions&cheese, honey wine, Persian honey, wild figs, barberries, saffron rock candy...we ate it all and had a blast!
I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but I sure wasn't expecting such a wonderful time. The festival was small (maybe around 200 people there) and the people were so friendly and everyone was having such a good time. Some people had a very good time. Some people drank pint after pint of honeyed beer and talked very loudly (or so her husband says) during the dragon show. :0)
We took tons of cool photos and we all had fun, so who cares about who was the loudest drunk, right? Right?!?!?

On the way home, we completed a glamorous task. I call it "Put the Lid on the Can" It's a bit like a game.

The object of the game is to rip the toilet seat clean off and make Mommy and Daddy buy a new one so they don't have to hover all weekend. Sorry, folks. You have to be under 15 months to play this game. Only the strongest and sneakiest player wins!
And the winner is:
DING DING DING!!!!
Norah the Noodle!
The bathroom by far is her favorite room in the house. The toys and brushes and spoons make such a lovely PLOP! when they hit the water. Who wouldn't love it? So, our littlest chubkin Hulk'd out and ripped the lid clean off the pot. Don't you wanna come visit us for many, many weeks? We're loads of fun! We'll even pre-soak the TP in the potty so it's nice and fresh for ya!

And today, we've been invited to Laura's for lunch. :0) We're going to ride our bikes and we're looking forward to it. We were told they have a SlipNSlide, so we're showing up bathing suits in hand!
Unfortunately Colin has to work today, so he'll be meeting us there later.

BUT since he's working today, that means he's taking a long weekend next weekend and we're going down to Bavaria. This is what we have to look forward to:

Bavaria is absolutely gorgeous...so wide open and so green. I can't wait! In this photo there is a teeny little honey shop that has the most delicious honey with blueberry pureé. I've not been able to find it anywhere else, so this is one of my goals: Return with blueberry honey!
This is no selfish mission, though...I have a dear friend who loves all things blueberry and I am bound and determined to bring some to the States for her. Come hell or high water, I will bring that honey with me. Even if I have to shove it down my pants...which actually isn't a bad idea. That way it won't crystallize. It'll be nice and warm.

rollin, rollin, rollin, rawHIDE!

Good morning!

Things are insane as usual around here. Our washing machine broke last night. Oh, joy.
Colin is refusing to buy me another one, so I have to use the pliers to break the door open every time I want to take the clothes out. His argument is that we may be moving to England soon and he doesn't want to drop the money on a washer that won't work there. And he has promised me that we will buy an American JUMBOXXLGINORMOUS washing machine when we get there. I think that's sweet of him.

The flipside is that we have no idea if we're even going to England...let alone when. So while he may think it's ok to sit and wait, I'm secretly plotting against him. I'm gonna fold his clothes and put them directly back into his armoire and see how long it takes him to notice. And when he comes up to me and asks me if his shirt smells, I'm going to say, "Honey, you smell like roses."

It's a nice dream, isn't it?

The man is soooooo cheap. He actually apologized to me for being so cheap last night. He even thanked me for putting up with him and his crazy need to pinch pennies.

I, of course, gave him the silent treatment. Because to say "You're welcome." is just the same as saying "Oh, go right on ahead and be as cheap as you want, Darling. In fact, if we stop eating, that'd save us even more money. Oh! and let's be nudists!"

Well you can apologize in one hand and put a washing machine in the other and see which one...oh wait...that doesn't work. ;0)

Moving right along~~~~~~~~~~~

Today I rode my bike! We have a bike trailer for teeny chubkins, so I put Norah in it and rode with the girls to school. SO EASY. And it sure as hell beats walking all over town. Noodle loved it, too. Squealing and screaming the entire way...you would have thought I was on my way to the slaughterhouse, porker in tow.

Speaking of bikes, Lara learned to ride a bike yesterday. My friend, Vega, is letting us use one of her bikes that she's not using. I use the term 'learn' loosely. It went something like this:

J: "Lara, do you want to try Ellie's bike and see if you can ride it?"

L: "SURE! YEAH! GREAT!"

J: "Ok, well you get on...here's the brake....and 'm gonna hold onto the bottom of the seat so you don't fall. And I'll run with you, k?"

L: "SURE! YEAH! GREAT!"

I ran one lap around the parking lot with this child. I didn't even touch her. She took to it like a fish to water. It was amazing. I had this huge, stupid, HUGE grin on my face and I was clapping and squealing and yelling "Yay! Go Lara!"

She was beaming and of course I didn't have my camera! ARGH!

So after the tenth lap around the lot, she stopped the bike, turned to me, and said:

"Mommy, I'll go down to the other side. You stay here and laugh and clap and say 'Go, Lara!'  OK?"

SURE! YEAH! GREAT!

where are the brakes on this thing!??!

Usually, about once a month, I'm dying for a breather. I just don't understand how these kids have as much energy as they do. And, yeah, I know they're just kids...and kids are rambunctious and goofy and off-the-wall bonkers, but how do I keep up?
How do I go from "I either need a cocktail or a nap" Jan to "Wow, where'd all this energy come from?!?!" Jan?
Colin says I need to exercise.
Well, poo on that idea.
I already walk a mile everyday just to take the kids to school.
On top of that, I walk all over town taking the kiddos to ballet and Kindermusik, to do my shopping, and to run errands.
And in addition to that, I used to carry Noodle around in a backpack.
So, tell me...WHO backpacked 25 pounds for a mile every day for over a year?

My jaw about hit the floor when he told me I needed to exercise. HA!
Add that to the fact that I keep losing weight...and who in their right mind would want me to go running? My size 6 jeans are falling off of me, I barely find time to eat, I'm rarely hungry, and I walk ALL OVER this house picking up the crap that no one else under 5 feet seems to be able to put away themselves.

So poo on exercise. :0)

And I hate when people get upset with me cuz I have issues with my weight. They always say "Oh shut up! I wish I had your body!! I wish my size 6 jeans were hanging off of me!!"
I have just as much right to complain about my skinny ass as someone does about the junk in their trunk.
Hahahahahahhahahaha.
Today's just one of those days, people. :0)

Moving right along~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been so overwhelmed with deadlines that I barely have time to breathe. BUT these are good things. Approaching deadlines means that thing are coming to fruition. Good things, wonderful things.
Things like:
trips
friends
visits
family
fun
charity

Now, THOSE are things to get excited about!

And here are a bunch of layouts I did forever ago...never posted them online, so I thought I'd post them here. :)

These layouts are with some of the first photos we took when we arrived in Germany. We lived in Bavaria and had the best time....everything was fresh and new. :0)

I'm trying to scrap chronologically so I can estimate how many layouts I will have per 3 month period. Let's just say it will be "a lot". Cuz it will be. We took so many freakin photos.

Ok, I have to get going...LOTS to do today. Ciao, all! I hope everyone is doing well!

cacophony

in full gear

Everything seems amplified. The kids are fighting even more than usual (which is already a lot), Noodle is just bonkers. Bonkers, I tell ya. She cried all day yesterday. I know it's cuz she's teething and she's cranky...but holy crap, it gets old. I think she's been teething for about 8 months now and I'm just ready for her to have her chompers already. Oh and of course she now bites. Just a bit, though. She likes to nibble on us. If we don't stop her, she gets progressively harder until we suddenly yelp with pain. It's cute. Sorta. When she's not biting us, she's dragging the tupperware out of the cabinets.

And of course my frustration levels are up and we're on one of our infamous peaks in this roller coaster we call a family. Yesterday, I had the creative bug, so I sat down and pulled out my alcohol markers and my expensive paper and tried to revive what little bit of art school I could muster from deep within my tuckered out brain. I tried my hand at creating a mod botanical print so I could scan it in and manipulate it. It is beautiful. And I am very hard on myself. When I produce junk or uninspired crap, I am the first one to knock its lights out. So in between Noodle's raging fits of pain and violence, I kept going back to the marker and the pad for refuge....the result took an entire morning's effort.

And what's the best thing to do when you're on a roll and tension is high? Why, you spill a liter of water all over your project. (note: marker paper and alcohol markers are impenetrable by water. Lucky me.) So, after that bit if idiocy, I pinned the paper down to the kitchen table to let it dry. It was still salvageable. Yay!

After lunch, Mia brought out her markers and a coloring book and sat at the table to create a masterpiece of the Strawberry Shortcake variety.
Well, at least that's what I thought the little skinny mini was up to. After another battle with Norah's will, I turned around to see Mia dancing about madly and flipping around a colored piece of marker that..GASP!!!!!...looks remarkably like something I slaved over all morning.
The reaction went something like..

"MIA!!!! OH MY GOD!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?!?!?!?!"

Instant tears ensued. They just came from nowhere. And then poor little Mia started crying, too. I was soooo upset. I know it's not her fault, and I know she was innocently coloring what she thought was just a pretty paper. But it felt like a little bit of my heart broke off when I saw that paper.

So, when Colin got home from work he just knew. Ya know...when you come home and your wife's face has taken on the form of a raging bull, nose ring swinging with every heavily controlled exhalation while her eyes turn to an even darker shade of red rivaled only by the center of the sun? Yeah, he knew.
The scene went something like this:
I am sitting on one end of the couch, holding Norah like you would leash a cat, arms pinned to keep her from slapping me. Constant screaming, of course. Mia is sitting on the other end of the couch in a most dejected state after the barrage of "Why? Why? WHY?!?!?!?!" Lara is on the other couch in time out for fighting with Mia and not listening to me.

I felt so bad for Colin. He looked like he'd had a relatively nice day and here we were...crouched like spiders waiting to throw hot boiling acid all over him.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to be alone. Like out-of-the-house-on-my-own kind of alone. I never do that. I rarely ever go anywhere alone. But I really needed to get out. So, I looked up the movie times and checked to see what was playing in English. Babel at 8:30. Perfect.
So I made Lamb Korma (my all-time fave Indian dish).
Noodle proceeded to yell at us all during our meal.

Do you like her hair? It is completely uncontrollable. I think it adds to her charm. Then I got ready. I use the term "getting ready" loosely. It mainly means that I popped a piece of gum in my mouth instead of brushing my teeth and then I pulled hair back into a somewhat even ponytail. Good enough for me. I hopped on the train, rode downtown, walked to the theater, paid for my ticket, and purchased a beer for good measure (Europe rocks, people). Then I sat down and watched an utterly sad and heart-wrenching movie and cried and cried.

I got home around 11:30 only to find Norah in our bed because the little tornado had a bad cough. So I hopped into bed looking forward to snuggling with the sleepy dragon only to find myself repeatedly kicked in the head and pushed aside. Once she even bit me. Fabulous.

So we banished her to the crib so we could get some sleep (this was at 4, such a lovely, pleasant hour). Colin left for work around 6 and she then proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs because "Bear" (the giver of all things sacred and good among babies in this house) had somehow managed to escape the bars of her prison (i.e., she launched him full-force out of her crib). I returned bear to his evil mistress and thought all was well. Only after I had crawled back in bed did she grab her cup and run it back and forth across her bars. The sound is horrible. I bet the houses around us can hear it. It's such an awful sound. So, I crawled back out of my warm, cozy bed and started my day.

And so far, it's been about the same as it was yesterday, except I'm even more tired. I finally got the whirling tornado to fall asleep around 11:27. Who's counting, right? Then I called in a favor and asked Anne to come sit on my couch so I didn't have to drag the demon from her precious sleep just to walk across the street and pick up the girls. Anne graciously obliged and I was one happy mama. Was I tired? Yes. Did I have to drag a screeching cat across the street? No.

And now that all that is dealt with, I have the 50,000,000 other things I need to get done today.
If you made it this far, congratulations. I hope my perma-cloud of maternal doom hasn't dampened your day. Actually, what I need everyone to do is go out and have super fabulous days. Please have the most ridiculously good day ever and then send some sunshine my way. :0)
Hopefully tomorrow will be better. It has to be, because I need a break.

peace

I have unparalleled hope and courage.
World peace begins with each of us.
I count my blessings and see good everywhere.
Friendship and companionship gladdens my heart.
And so it is!

I read this today on my buddy Kim's blog and it is just too wonderful not to pass on. For those of you who don't know, Virginia Tech is Colin's alma mater and many of his friends went to school there. He's very upset and it's extremely hard for him to see a place he knows so well covered in grief and anxiety and sadness.
I can only hope those poor friends and families can find comfort and light in this awful time. My heart goes out to them.
My heart also goes out to that poor young man who thought this was the only way anyone would see his pain.
Peace.

from the top

Now this is more like it.
Our own little corner of blogland. How nice. :0)
Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I have some major deadlines coming up and things are a bit chaotic right now. Not to mention the fact that April and May will be insane for us...so many things to do!

This month we have an old Army friend in Germany and he'll be coming to stay with us and hang out for a weekend and possibly another. We will be taking him to Heidelberg. It should be lots of fun and Heidelberg is one of my favorite cities. I just love walking along the river and there is supposed to be a fabulous Korean restaurant there that we have been dying to go to!

After that, I have the debut for my new venture on May 1st. I am starting a charity site with a wonderful friend and that will go live then. We're soooo excited! All the proceeds from our sales will go towards different charities every month. I just know it's going to be amazing. We are really putting our hearts into this and it is going to be lovely!

After that, Drew and Katie will be in Ireland for a bit, so Colin and I are going to meet them there for the weekend. We'll be staying in Dublin overnight and then heading back. The best part is that it will be just the two of us. Our awesome friends, Jenny & Jesse, have generously agreed to watch our kiddos for the weekend so that Colin and I can both go. It is going to be so fun! The last time we went anywhere on a grownup trip was in November 2004 when we went to Rome. It's been too long.

After that, we fly back to the States on May 24th (??). We are flying straight from Frankfurt to Vegas. When we arrive, Colin and the girls are driving to Utah to visit his family there. I will be flying to New Mexico and spending the long weekend with my parents and brother. After the graduation (and the dreaded reunion) we'll be driving to Vegas while Colin and his dad, Tom, drive to Vegas from Utah. On Monday, the 28th (aka Lara's 6th birthday), we will meet in Vegas and  Colin's sister, Colette, and her family will meets us as well. We'll be staying til the next Sunday and Dave, my bro, will be heading back with us.

So, needless to say, the next month and a half will be bonkers for us. SO much going on. But all good things and exciting things, so the chaos will be manageable. :0)

I just wanted to catch everybody up on our plans. I'll be rearranging and shuffling the blog a bit. There's no need to have a lot of this stuff on here.

I hope everyone is doing well! Ciao!