text: Mama Kenz Studio: Sweet, Sweet Summer & need for a reprieve...
  Is there anything really like it? Kids playing in the sprinklers while you relax in the shade and watch their joy as you sip a cool glass of water? Today Roman and I went to a friends' house where four of us mamas (all having kids relatively close together) regularly gather and let the kiddos play while w e chit chat and get a little "girlfriend time." The house has a lovely backyard with lots of room to run and things to explore. They recently finished a beautiful patio area with a pergola and have had a nice little swimming pool up all summer that is the perfect height for the munchkins but deep enough for us mamas to cool off in too! And of course there is always the spinkler to play in as well!
  When I really think about it though, I guess I really didn't get much relaxing, more chasing my crazy 15 month old! What a little instigator! The other kids can be completely well behaved and then along comes Roman! What a handful! Now don't get me wrong- I love him to death! He is my son! God gave him to me and I wouldn't want him any other way! But lets face it, there are those days when you feel like you are at your breaking point, and this week has had a few of them! I think we have some serious teething going on and on top of it I have had some shipping mishaps with a few recent orders I have sent out. Sometimes when he is clingy and the only way to keep him calm is to hold him (with his left hand inevitably down my shirt "twiddling" and his right thumb in his mouth!) while I am trying to juggle everything else at the same time- you just want to call for a time out! Any mama of a young child can sympathize I am sure! Where is my reprieve? Where is that place that I can escape to and just be by myself for a few moments, with no one touching me, and not have one bazzilion things running through my head?
  Hence the name of my blog! Someday, I will have a studio all to myself! I will make that one room as girlly as I want, have all my projects, supplies and books just where I want them, have a big window with a wonderful view and lots of natural light, and best of all- a lock on the door!
  For now, this is that place. This blog is my studio- the place I escape to late at night, when everyone is asleep, to recapture a little bit of me. In this place I collect my projects and thoughts to share them with whoever might listen and look...
  ...and then I find a project, a collaboration if you may, of some of the most beautiful art I have ever seen- Roman's first chalk art (I made the "R" or course- that is where the collaborating came in!). And when I look at simple little things like this, and can find such joy and beauty, I know this whole mothering thing is more than worth it. These are the things that I live for and they make those frustrating moments feel small. Well, smaller anyway...
  To every mama out there... find your studio... your place to be you... take those moments and breathe...