guest post: ONE-HANDED ART by Hannah Stoney

I have two children and I am an artist. Shayla and I have that in common, as well as the fact that we are both married to genius musicians.

The other day, as Shayla and I were watching our kids play she said "it's funny how they slow you down and speed you up at the same time." It is such a true statement that it merits a "yes" with an exclamation mark: yes! Shayla, you said it. Ain't that the truth.

Slow-You-Down.

Oh the double-edged, slow-you-down sword.
My smallest one is almost eight months old and over the last few weeks, I have just started to get back into making some art. I am in the zone. I'm inspired and I have about ten projects backed up in my head and I keep getting lost in line drawings like a tetris playing teenage boy. I would love to be able to just run with it but it's just not the season I am in. I have two small, beautiful people who trump it all.

Of course sometimes it feels frustrating but overall, the slow-you-down part has its own story, its own strange and playful fruit. I am slowed down enough to notice beautiful things. I am slowed down enough to make different kinds of art and explore different mediums. I started writing poetry during long chair-bound breastfeeding sessions. I notice more on our toddler-paced walks and take richer photos with longer stories behind them. I started making tiny videos whilst facilitating parks and playtime. And of course, there are crayons, costumes, race tracks and glueing.

Fallen Walking from Hannah Stoney on Vimeo.

Levi Bang gets the bus from Hannah Stoney on Vimeo.

Speed-You-Up.

It's a bit of a joke amongst my friends that once I get to my desk I am hyper-productive. Two-hands time is a precious commodity these days and so when I get it, I go for it.

It makes me feel a bit geeky to admit this but I also have a read/write/draw system. I have little projects, notepads and books dotted around my house and in my diaper bag and whenever I get a moment (and it usually is just a moment), I pounce on one of these activities. Many of my projects are the culmination of weeks of ten minute here-and-there steps. I am learning to be increasingly OK with. staccato. pacing. (See what I did there).

Here are some recent speed-you-up fruits. In the last month I have been working on shadow boxes, line drawings and paper cuts. I've been working towards all of these things for half a year. I'm not sure if I am really fast or really slow. ~

Hannah Stoney is a dedicated mother, writer and music lover with tons of talent, fashion and quiet kindness in her clever hands. She hails from across the pond and we are so lucky to have stolen her, along with her musical high school sweetheart and darling boys to help class up our town. I'm proud to have a piece of her art hanging in my home. check out her blog at the thinks.com.

guest post: "PEELANDER-Z. For the Family" by Allen Demling

SXSW…you know, for kids!

If you’re like me, one of the reasons you enjoy reading the Mama Storms blog is to relive those carefree youthful years, before bills, jobs, rent and slowing metabolisms ruined everything. Watching Ruby and Jesse pretend the rug is lava and pillows islands of safety, or the trampoline is the surface of the moon and you’re searching for extra terrestrial Barbie dolls, brings back those times for me. But there is another way! Take a vacation to Planet Peelander! And you can even bring the whole family (it is *mostly* kid friendly).

Peelander-Z is, as they themselves put it, a “Japanese Action Comic Punk band hailing from the Z area of Planet Peelander”. With songs like Mad Tiger, Ninja High School, So Many Mike (about how Planet Earth has So Many Mike), etc they keep things very fun and tongue-in-cheek. They also bring a pretty raucous stage show too that includes banging pots and pans, human bowling, life sized Mad Tiger and a bass player that loves hanging upside-down and jumping off tall places.

I love watching these guys go crazy every year and usually end up joining in the madness. I have been fortunate to meet these guys and they are all extremely nice and accommodating. They even let several of the Austin Facial Hair Club crash on their practice space floor in NYC when we were up visiting last year. Do yourselves a favor, check out this band. And as an added bonus for those with kids, they are hosting the Peelander Family Jamboree on Sunday the 18^th, don’t miss that show!

Here’s a list of some Peelander shows during SXSW:

Wednesday March 14^th, 4:30pm at Elysium, corner of Red River and 7^th St

Thursday March 15^th, 6:15pm at Kebabalicious, E. 7^th and Navasota (all ages)

Firday March 16^th, 5:45pm at Threadgill’s downtown, Barton Springs and Riverside (this one costs money)

Saturday March 17, 6:25pm at The Grackle, 1700 E. 6^th St (all ages)

Sunday March 18^th, all day, Springdale Farm, 755 Springdale Rd (kids show!)



All photos stolen from the internet by Allen Demling the Beard King, except for the last one, in which he is pictured smooching Peelander Green. Thank you Allen! I hope you find 100 dollars floating in a pool of Lonestar this week. It could happen.

South by Southwest

Oh, South by Southwest. My busiest week of the year, we have about 12 bands per day at the club in which I work, and we all subsist off of 2 hours of sleep per night, coffee injected directly into our veins, crushed crackers and warm cazadores. I meant to do a nice informative post about it before the fact, but now 5 days in, not having glanced at a computer- I don't really trust myself to type too much english. 5 more days to go! I invited some of my clever friends and family who weren't completely swamped this week to do some guest blog posts in my stead, I hope you enjoy them!

R.I.P. Leslie, you belligerent homeless drag queen, I guess the Mexicali police never did catch you.

Thank you Orla Kiely for making it hot for my inner nerd to wear black socks with sandals. You read my secret fashion heart when you made this video!

I was really looking forward to rocking some spring fashion at the festival this year with short belted dresses and straw hats, but the first four days were all galoshes and black tears mascara with the monsoon-like weather.

I'm leaving Evan in charge of the blog and the house AND the babies, though he's playing five or six shows. I'm sure nothing will suffer. ha! There is a loud rock band practicing in my house this very second. If you're the praying sort, send some thoughts the way of my feet and Evan's sanity.
love,
the Storms monsters

*photo sources: 6th street sxsw, rain crowd

guest post: THE SECRET LIVES OF PARENTS by Alison Vaclav

Hi, friends and readers of Mama Storms. I am honored to be listed among you.

My name is Alison. I've lived in Austin 14 years. I am married to the magnificent Michael Vaclav. Together we have four crazy-hilarious-adorable kids ages 7, 5, 3, 1. Somewhere in the midst of all those diapers, play dates and sleepless-snuggle-filled nights, we managed to open our coffee shops called Caffe Medici. And right about now, you're probably thinking the one phrase I hear almost every time we go out and about, "Wow! You've got your hands full!"

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that. Seriously. I hear it at the grocery store, the coffee shop, the school, the playground, just walking down the street. Usually I smile happily and say, yep I do! Occasionally I just nod wishing they would add some action to their observation by holding the door open for me as a bungle through with my high-occupancy stroller. But whether peoples' comments are spoken with approval or disdain, the fact remains that we are quite an amusing bunch. I had not realized that big-family life would be such a spectacle. And it is, at least, it is in the places where we circulate.

Here is the thing about parenting: the hard parts are easy to observe. At the grocery store--the frantic mom with the wailer in the basket. At the restaurant--the embarrassed dad mopping milk and ketchup off the floor while the kids have trampoline time on the bouncy booth seats. At the stop light--mom misses the green light (UGH!) for being half-way in the backseat chucking snacks at screaming mouths. At the coffee shop--the saggy-eyed parent hovering by the pick-up counter oblivious to the muffin food fight waged beside her (oh, or is that just me?). Or the worn-out listless expression of the sleep deprived parent strolling their finally-snoozing-baby down the street, again, desperate for just a moment's peace. We have all seen it. And if you have kids, you have been there and remember it well.

These frequent and public episodes give parenting and big-family a bad rap. Like I said, they are easily observed and easily imagined when discussing family life. I could be wrong, but to me, it seems that the hard parts of parenting are often more public than the rewarding parts.

The sweet parts, the mind-blowing, heart-exploding parts of parenting are and often hidden. And the truth is, whether you have one or four kids, the love for your children is unimaginable. There is no way to describe how it feels when you hold your baby for the first time. How can you imagine the sudden and fierce willingness to die for a little person you hardly know. How can you guess what it feels like when your child kisses you tenderly, or writes you a note, or sweeps the floor because they know you are having a hard day? How can you understand the delight of watching siblings create limitless worlds of adventure together, or defend each other or giggle relentlessly when they should be sleeping? How can you know the deep joy of seeing your child deeply joyful until it happens? These are the moments you cannot predict and the casual observer rarely sees; they happen in your homes when no one is watching, in your living room, on your secret trail at the park. They happen in your heart and they are the very great reward for the sacrificial love and call of parenting. These moments more than make up for the hard parts.

So, I've learned that the hard parts are there and always will be, but the sweet surprises keep getting sweeter no matter how many kids I have. I am one lucky mama and consider myself very blessed to "have my hands full." And I am only up to age seven with my parenting experience!! I cannot imagine what it's like for those of you with high schoolers succeeding at things you never dreamed of, or those of you who have seen your kids grow up and become grown-ups. What's that like?!! I'd like to know, from those of you with kids young and old, what do you find most rewarding?

these are some of my "moments that make parenting worthwhile"

Our family "portrait"

Austin (at age 2)

Emerson (2 1/2)

Hannah's birth

Elia (at age 1 1/2) & Michael
My Super-Kids

Allison Vaclav is co-owner of Cafe Medici coffee boasting three locations in Austin and the best brew and bean baristas in town. She is a well read and brilliant chef, wife and of course, Mommy. She can be found drinking espresso at the West Lynn location, covered in baby kisses and enriching the lives of all around her.

Baby hangover

Ruby's Birthday, the end. Being born on Christmas day I've never had a proper birthday party, no pools and pizza, no cupcakes and sleepovers, more often than not it was a home baked pie and hugs at my grandmother's farm. Therefore, it was pretty satisfying to plan and execute this little gala for Rubes and document it to hold against her in her teen "I hate you Mom" phase.

Though these little monkeys were up cackling 'til midnight they rose at the crack of dawn, quickly morphing into ballerinas and cowboys, not a hint of fatigue on their chubby faces. I scraped up some eggs and hid behind my coffee mug, happily dropping eaves on their sweet (and very serious) lisping discussions: whether the pony and unicorn in Ruby's Narnian stables were dancing OR fighting with each other, or if Matilda's "heart beep" sounded good in the veterinarian stethoscope.

Not Slumbering, party

Birthday part third: Waffle dinner with an option to slumber, a.k.a. stuff toddlers with candy and syrup then tell them it's bedtime. HAHAHA. Here are a handful of shots of the mild chaos- low light and dancing subjects making for blurry memories. I would have liked to invite at least 10 more sweet kids that I know but I tried to be realistic about my own sanity and the legroom in our little house. The waffles made the house smell like magic, and we topped them with berries and reeses piec-i, maple syrup, butter, nutella, bananas, walnuts and chocolate sprinkles. Kiddos and grown-ups alike were tucking the warm treats into their smiles and washing it down with milk.

We played "dress up", "how many people can we fit into the playtent", "let's see what every single toy in the house looks like on the floor", and "parents furtively sip cerveza while distracting monsters with fun movies". We got them pajama'd in increments, said good nights to mommies and daddies and snuggled into a pile of blankets by 10:30, whence they giggled until midnight and passed out from sheer exhaustion.

I jump for birthdays

Ruby's birthday adventure, part second. If you find trampolines tiresome, please feel free to skip this post because I've just put up an eyeful of flying children. I can't help myself, I love capturing the looks of glee on their faces and the wild flapping of clothes and hair, it's like I happened upon a troupe of merpeople floating weightlessly through barbie-infested waters. Wearing silly hats.