Thursday, February 28, 2013

our day with emmy

just hanging out.  because isn't this how all of us like to lounge?!
trying on all of emmy's rings.
two wedding bands and one giant diamond.  if i ever lose my ring, i'm going to steal em's.
watching it glisten in the sun.
emmy's present for abigail!  (brady got a farm board book)
they (emmy) covered the whole patio and baby girl's favorite part was that it included a huge track for her thomas to ride on.
and an easter basket to put her egg chalks in.
i love that even though my family lives far away, baby girl takes no time at all to warm up to them... she just knows.
and emmy will make fun of me for posting this but i have no other pictures signifying that mom and dad arrived.  they brought out all of my childhood stuff.  notes from girls camp, collector dolls, random crap from my room... the works.
they match!  arriving with my parents (they rented a car this time) was my christopher's mission friend, slavik.   he's one of the nicest and happiest people i've ever met in my life (zero exaggeration) and one of my top three favorite friends of my honey.
slavik's dad is an expert quilter and made an awesome quilt for baby girl that hung on her wall in her nursery in calfornia.  he made a coordinating quilt for brady.  the embroidery and detail is amazing.
precious... i wish i'd taken a picture like this of abigail with hers.
he's learning to look at the camera.  and i'm loving him for it.
let the games begin!

ps- we made rice krispie treats and after some trial and error, discovered that the reason my rice krispie treats from the other day were so terrible is because it was a double batch.  every time i make a double batch they turn out hard as a rock because it takes too long for the marshmallows to melt and the butter turns brown and dries out the treats.  i felt like nancy drew after that mystery was solved.  the case of the dry rice krispie treats.  check it out from your local library.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

prepping for emmy

welcome to colorado, emmy!


emmy said she was bringing a present for baby girl that required a clean and dry driveway... so i shoveled it (again) while baby girl was at school so that it would be dry for emmy's first morning here.
baby girl was being sweet... so we took pictures.
and then she started hamming it up like a little model so i took a million more.  i'll spare you though.
emmy's flight was delayed so she got in a few hours later than planned but brady and i went to get her and coming home at 11pm didn't deter us from making cheese eggs on toast and hanging out a bit before getting some sleep.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

trying to be mr. rogers

y'know how sometimes your day can be going just fine and then two hours later you want to punch something and you wonder how things got so crappy so fast?!

the morning was good.  even though baby girl woke me up at 8, i tossed her in front of the tv while i was able to get a shower before brady woke up.  everything was going pretty alright and we were only a few minutes late to story time at the library which is a pretty big feat.  instead of going to walmart after the library, we headed home because it was super windy and had started snowing.  the parking lots are bad enough after all the snow we got this weekend and we didn't need that much anyways and this was the final straw.

my mom called on the way home and we talked about this coming weekend and when i got off the phone with her i saw it was only one.  that's when things went south.  my first thought was "i have so so so much to do, i should just give baby girl her lunch right now and get her down for an early nap."  that's the thought i should have gone with.  instead i went with thought number 2: "i should try to be a good mom and a good neighboor and have abigail help me make and deliver a treat for our neighbors so we can meet them and welcome them to the neighborhood."  bad, bad, bad idea.  well... actually the idea was nice... it just didn't pan out.

so here's what happened between the hours of one and three...

i had abigail help me make rice krispie treats.  she was being cute and helpful and we made a double batch so that we could make a big plate for the neighbors (they have a lot of kids) and still have a little to keep (i promised baby girl).  well i got them all arranged on a plate and we were literally about to walk out the door when i went to grab brady's carseat (he was still napping in there from our library trip) and i realized he was awake and getting fussy.  since he was long overdue for a feeding i thought it would be best for me to just get him out and feed him real quick and then we could head over.  well half way through his feeding he got a blowout.  of course.  it's the age of blowouts... abigail was the same way.  so i took him upstairs and got him a fresh diaper and clean clothes and tried to finish feeding him but he wasn't interested anymore and it dragged out way longer than it should have.

when i came back down, abigail was eating the leftover rice krispies off the spoon and life was still good... just a few minutes delayed.  then i told her to get down from there because we were going to deliver our treats to our new friends.  that's when she informed me that "thomas got wet."  ugh, seriously?  that's a whole vent for a potty training post of its own but anyways, i had her go potty (takes foooorrreeeevvvvveeeeerrrrrr because everything is "i do it myself!") and ran upstairs to find her a new skirt that didn't require an entire outfit change and thought to myself... okay now, this is getting annoying but we can do it!  we will get out the door to deliver treats!

so as we're leaving i taste a bit of the rice krispie treats i saved for us to snack on... umm, they're rock  hard.  like bricks.  what the heck?!  if they were just a little bad, i probably would have taken them anyways and just said sorry they didn't come out right.  but they were HORRENDOUS.  like their kids would probably chip a tooth or bite their tongue off trying to eat them.  so then i thought, well we will still go over and i'll just explain that sorry i couldn't bring the treat i'd prepared.  but ummm, lame.  inviting myself over to their house empty handed just to say hi?  awkward.  so it was back to square one.  i got out a new pot and new pan (didn't have time to wash everything and too annoyed to do that anyways) and decided to just do a single batch in case the double batch last time was the reason they turned out badly.  made them and they turned out perfectly.  cut them up, arranged them on a plate, covered them with saran wrap, looked out the window and... it's freaking snowing again... and blowing snow all over the place... like crazy.  ugh.  so i put on a sweater and got a puffy coat on abigail and brady was already still bundled in his carseat just hanging out and we were out the door.

and then baby girl, since she hates the wind and i couldn't even blame her this time, wouldn't leave the garage.  probably a good thing because the wind was so strong it might have pushed her over.  so i picked her up and carried her, and brady's carseat, and a plate of rice krispies that i'm thankful didn't fall off the plate or else i might have given up on life right there in my driveway.  and my hair was whipping all over the place and snow was blowing in our faces like sand on a beach and it was awesome.  by the time we got to their door, half of my hair was stuck to the lip gloss on my mouth and i didn't have a free hand to even fix it a little.  i put brady down and knocked (because this process took two hours and now we're well into nap time and i didn't want to wake up any kids that might be asleep... that house has a loud doorbell.

and then we waited.  and waited.  and knocked.  and waited.

and then we gave up and i cursed my neighbors and my life.  not really but i kinda felt like it at this point.  sometimes things just don't pan out.

so then i didn't get abigail down for nap until 3:30 and my kitchen looks like a disaster and instead of doing the millions of things i need to do, i'm having a self therapy session typing out this story.

post edit:  now it's two hours later.  somehow right as my angry self was about to hit publish, i got a call from my dear friend sister lisa.  weed is always so inspiring to talk to.  we have the best conversations.  they are always so uplifting and today was no exception.  my favorite thing that she said was "your dirty kitchen IS a reflection of your eternal choices!  it is that you chose to be a good mother and try your hardest!"  i needed that.  what an answer to my prayer.

Historical evidence

I really wasn't even exaggerating.

i know i've written before about the eating habits, or lack thereof, we had previously in our marriage.  well, when i was doing some organizing yesterday, i found this receipt from 7.9.09 (so weird that this is exactly one year before my due date with abigail... my how life can change quickly!) when we were living in colorado in our tiny, frozen (the heater didn't work and it was always between 52 and 55 degrees) apartment.  it's amazing how accurate my memory is.  i've included a picture of the receipt but i'll go ahead and list what we bought as well...


tortillas
FIVE boxes of cereal
frozen burritos
totino's hamburger pizza
totino's cheese pizza
1% milk
skim milk
2% milk
two cans of spaghettios
three cans of green beans
cream of mushroom soup (looks like i was making green bean casserole)
a loaf of 85 cent white bread
18 eggs
hotdogs
a container of microwaveable bbq shredded pork (for sandwiches)
peach yogurt
raspberry yogurt
cherries (i bet we were taking these to a picnic or something)
a peach (yeay!  something else fresh and non-processed!)
strawberry banana yogurt
strawberry yogurt
mixberry yogurt
raspberry yogurt

all for a grand total of $41.52

that was just a typical grocery trip so now you can understand i'm not kidding when i say an average day included a slice or two of bread for breakfast, a yogurt for lunch, and a bowl of cereal for dinner (or can of spaghettios if we're going to get fancy and have a hot meal).  this is the secret to staying thin and eating for less than $2 a day.  poverty is key.*  i have such fond memories of this time of our marriage... that poor and newlywed experience exceeded my expectations.

*my husband would kill me if i didn't mention that we were not actually impoverished.  we have never been wanting for money... we're just really frugal and were saving up to pay for his stanford mba.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Monday

I really do love Mondays.



i finally got around to organizing our bin of techology stuff.  computer stuff, gps stuff, camera stuff, cell phones, and cds.  and now it can all fit with the lid on!


so precious.


i can't remember if this is bill or ben (they're twins) but they were the favorites all day and were carried all around the house.  this book, thomas and the castle?  baby girl calls it thomas and the sand castle.  it's precious.


coming to attack with hugs and kisses.




always a blur


a little apprehensive














Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sunday

baby girl has figured out how to play us.  she strongly prefers me in almost every situation but when i tell her we're going to do something she doesn't want to do, she runs over to my christopher with her "daddy hold me!  i want daddy!"  i didn't expect that to start so young.






this boy is so sweet.  if you don't believe me, just look into his eyes.


baby girl's puzzles (and flash cards and matching games and candyland) are taking over.  i have no clue what she played with before these became our staples.


you can tell i've passed my fashion expertise on to my first born.  i'm sure she'll thank me later.


check it out.  my posture is so bad holding a new baby that i again look like i'm at least seven months pregnant.  awesome.


honey left town today for a client ski trip something or other tomorrow in vail.  they're staying at this super deluxe cabin mansion in breckenridge.  and i'm at home caring for our two kids while i cover oatmeal containers with scrapbook paper as i reorganize my bathroom closet.  something tells me things are a little unbalanced...


luckily, organizing gives me a high and we all had a fabulous night.






now i can breathe a sweet sigh of relief that i'm not going to be crushed to death by an avalanche of honey's stash of hotel toiletries.  

Saturday, February 23, 2013

no time

i can't believe how non busy my life was in california.  i couldn't believe it at the time and i definitely have a hard time believing it now.  maybe it was because i didn't have to devote any time to my calling, my kid(s), or my house.  well things have definitely changed and now i have to put stuff like "eat" and "go to the bathroom" on my to do list that i get to when i have a few free minutes.  never thought i'd be scheduling that sort of stuff but apparently my life has come to that.

aaaannnnnddddd brady just woke up.

scriptures and sleep are next on my list.  can't wait for that.

Friday and Saturday

my friday and saturday... in pictures.

baby girl has been complaining about some of her shoes being too small sooo... new boots.  perfect timing because these were on sale.


she is still as loving and nurturing as ever... always needing to be close to brady to "check on him."


this is brady's hat from germany... we call it his thug hat.  for obvious reasons.

i saw this burp cloth laying in brady's swing and picked it up to fold it and put it away.  baby girl came running over in protest.


baby girl had bucked thomas into the swing and apparently he needed that burp cloth as a blanket to keep him warm.


i love seeing how baby girl's play develops with age.  she kept moving this girl around and then telling me all about it.  i can't get enough of her narrating everything going on.


what a peaceful little bundle.


sometimes i just take pictures of my freshly filled fruit basket... because it's so beautiful it just makes me happy.


if i had a dog, i would dress her in this blue seersucker outfit.  it made me think of my friend rach... i wonder if she'll ever get a dog...


we were at pet smart.  honey dressed her and everything she was wearing was too small... even her socks.  i know i shouldn't care but it was embarrassing to be in public with my child looking like that.  especially because we'd gone out to eat at texas roadhouse right before that.  i told honey on the way home i felt like our family could have been videotaped for an obesity documentary or something and we'd be the family eating four thousand calories for lunch with the kid that looked like we couldn't afford clothes for her that actually fit.


tell me we're not the only petless family that takes their kid to pet smart just for kicks.  she loves it.


how did baby girl get so big all of the sudden?!




so affectionate.  and despite how things appear, it's actually all very gentle.