So much for getting back on the weekly track for posting.
The past week was busy and made me question on more than one occasion if it was wise to add another baby to the mix of this craziness that I like to call daily life. Good thing I always change my mind on that issue before the baby arrives and I get to be excited about having another baby again. It has really been a week of highs and lows emotionally for me and I have found myself praying that my hormones would please just level out enough that I didn't have such extreme emotions.
Monday we had the Reedy girls over to play in the morning and the girls and I all had a blast together. I got more than enough help from the 4 toddlers with my laundry efforts. Most everything I folded was folded again by little hand and folded again by my hands and put up where no more little hands could help! haha! I love when little kids want so bad to be just like 'mommy'! The afternoon was spent hanging out at home and cleaning house so that I felt like we could continue through the rest of the week without getting stuck with a months worth of cleaning in the end! Alayna decided to let her fever get a little out of control that night.
Tuesday I buckled and took Alayna into the doctor thanks to the fever and my exhaustion level. We learned that she apparently has some kind of bacterial infection from having the cold she has had since Thanksgiving. We picked up her antibiotic and went to Loveland to get my mom to take her to the airport. Much to my dismay when we got to Loveland I realized that the antibiotic, that had fallen to the ground when coming out the drive through carrier, was broken and now spilled all over the floor of my van. Thankfully I have rubber mats so the clean up wasn't too bad and the pharmacy mixed up a new bottle for us to start her on. The drive to the airport was uneventful Alayna slept most of the time and Eliza told us all kinds of stories. I came home to a wonderful surprise from Erin Jones, a friend of mine from church. She had sent dinner over in spite of not knowing a thing about what had been going on with my day or how difficult it had been dealing with sick kids and wishing that I could somehow figure out what to do about dinner when I didn't get home until 6pm from the airport. So thank you Again Erin! You were truly a life saver that night!
Wednesday was less eventful. Alayna still didn't feel great so we mostly spent the day at home doing a lot of snuggling and resting.
Thursday we had 3 of the Mott kids over to play all morning and into the afternoon. It was a lot of fun for the kids. Lincoln (18 mo) didn't appreciate me trying to convince him he wanted a nap but the poor kid just about fell asleep sitting at the table. In the end he won that battle but I sure tried for his mommy's sake. Other than that the girls just ran around the house and played together happily all day. There were many different variations of 'family' played and school and church and boy were my kids exhausted by the end of the adventure! That evening I was exhausted and emotional, I gave Ben a kiss when he got home and then I left seeking refuge anywhere but home with the kids. That sounds kind of bad but I was very thankful for the chance to take a little break.
Friday was spent running around like a crazy person. It did not go as planned but what are you going to do!? I made a trip to Loveland to go look at JoAnn's for some silky fabric to try making a blanket for Alayna who has been twirling her hair into terrible knots. We ended up leaving that store with one kid having a huge tantrum and us buying nothing. Then we went to Grandma's to have Abby cut the girls hair. Eliza just got a little trim and Alayna got a repair job that cut off about an inch and half from the back of her hair. I was sad to see it go but at the same time she had knotted both sides off from the twirling and that was pretty much the only option we had so I'll take it! She still really looks like my little Alayna! Then we came home and Alayna had a wonderful and long nap. I did not get everything else done I needed to but that just seems to be how life goes sometimes!
Saturday Ben went snowboarding with his family again. They went for the Scout Ski days. I stayed home with the girls and we mostly just cleaned up and watched Christmas movies. We have really been watching way too much TV these days, good thing the girls love to read so much or tv would have been the only things we did this week. Thankfully we spend almost as much time reading as we do watching tv. That evening Ben came home and I went out. I was ready to kill the girls for all the fighting that was going on and I needed out. So I got to run those errands that I intentionally put off while waiting for Ben to come home. I even made it over to JcPenny to pick up one of my last Christmas gifts for the girls! Yay!
Sunday was weird. Sacrament meeting was totally normal then the oddest thing happened. Alayna refused to go to nursery (for the first time ever!) instead she sat unmoving on my lap for 2 more hours and completely unresponsive. It was very very odd. We couldn't get any kind of reaction from her at all no matter who tried. Eventually she did just fall asleep but it was still very odd. After her little cat nap in church she seemed to be back to normal again but boy was it odd. Eliza also woke up early that morning ate breakfast and then fell asleep on the couch until I made her get up to go to church, also odd behavior. I will now be spending a good portion of the week washing sheets and sanitizing everything, wish me luck!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
The Verdict!!
Monday was the best day of the whole week!! It was also one of the longest days thank to my desire to have Ben attend the 20 week ultrasound with me! The kids and I spent the day getting things ready for Tuesday which was Eliza's birthday party we spent the morning picking out plates, and cups and other party favors at the store. The girls were very patient with my slow pace and desire to find the 'just right' hand towels to be turned into some of the cutest little aprons ever! Anyway back to Monday, we did our shopping picked out a cake flavor and then went to the Merritt's to play. I put Alayna down for a nap and ran home to get started on the party things that needed doing before the next day! Then finally 4:00 rolled around and we had our ultrasound!! and guess what! WE'RE HAVING A BOY!!! This little guy sure likes to move though! he gave the poor tech a run for her money because every time she would get one picture she would move to do the next and he'd be in a new position making it much more difficult! We even got to watch while he was kicking up a storm in there! It's like he needs to have a little wave pool happening inside of me with the way he kicks! The squeals of joy from all the family when we told the Merritt's may have been comparable to a bunch of 13 yr old girls at a sleepover... but maybe that was just my interpretation!
Tuesday was pure mayhem! I had an 8:30 Dr apt for a follow up on the ultrasound. Everything is looking great with the baby and he is even currently head down which is a great thing! I picked the girls up from the Merritt's house and did a mad dash clutter clean up before the party started. It wasn't a great cleaning job and I didn't get the dishes done that I wanted to but in the end I don't think it really mattered. 10 started the party where we had a rousing game of pin the nose on the snowman, and some free play outside, then we made some snowman aprons (as alayna is modeling hers!) most of the kids are a lot taller than Alayna so hers kind of looks too big but it isn't on the others! She just gets to stay extra clean! I was a good mom-helper and didn't let my OCD perfection get in the way of letting the kids make their snowmen look however they wanted... it was hard... really hard. But the kids were all very proud of how they turned out in the end! After that we did presents and cake and then shipped off a bunch of sugar filled kids to their own houses where their parents got to figure out how to convince them to eat something healthy right after I filled them up on cake! Eliza had a great time and was very excited about her toys I think we ended up opening everything during Alayna's nap and setting it up to make for a very fun and slightly messy afternoon. We were suppose to have missionary's for dinner that night but they ended up standing us up so they must not have been that hungry. We had a nice quiet dinner at home.
Wednesday was when Hailey and the cousins went home. We miss them already, Eliza asks on a regular basis when they are coming back and if she can go see them! I'm so glad she loves her cousins so much! We went to Loveland that day and took care of running a whole bunch of errands for myself and my mom. We got a lot accomplished but I'm confident that I can't tell you half of what we did because I can't remember it anymore! Isn't that just how life is as a Mom, you spend all day running around doing so many different things that by the time Ben comes home I can't remember what I did with my day and it has to make me sound like I really must sit around watching TV all day long!
Thursday was cold. By cold I mean we woke up to a good 6 inches of snow and a very happy 4 year old who just wanted to go outside and play. I was a mean mommy and only let her out once due to the cold she already has! But it was her birthday so I really felt like I needed to let her go at least once! We spent the day cleaning up and getting dinner ready. We played all kinds of ABC games thanks to a puzzle she got on Tuesday. And we did accomplish the single most important task of the day (at least to Eliza) we set up the Christmas tree! I let the girls do almost all the ornaments this year so as you experienced parents know, the bottom half of the tree is heavily decorated and the top is basically bare... slowly but surely the ones that hit the floor are moved up but both those girls are so proud of the tree they decorated that I want to leave it just like that as long as I can! The Merritt's came over for dinner and gifts that evening and Eliza made out like a bandit with everything she got! I think the favorite toy currently is the little 'Fur real' puppy dog that barks and walks, that thing gets dragged everywhere!
Friday was spent at home staying warm. I didn't really want to go out and we didn't really have anything pressing enough to make me want to go out in the fresh snow. Eliza went out and played in it during Alayna's nap and other than that we just hung out until the evening when I had a little melt down and promptly left and went on a 'girl date' with Bethany Mott to go see the new Twighlight movie! It was very well done both of us were impressed and then we went to dinner and came home and crashed!
Saturday Ben had to work, that poor guy has been working like crazy and hasn't been home is almost 2 weeks thanks to everything that has been going on! So he worked in the morning and I bundled the girls up and took them over to the Merritt's house to do a little bit of sledding and snowboarding in the backyard on their awesome little hill! The hill is really the perfect size for toddlers because they don't have to work so hard to get back to the top and it's steep enough to have a fast and fun ride! Eliza had a blast, Alayna on the other hand got cold very quickly (I need to get her a better coat!) and let me and probably the rest of the neighborhood know that she just wanted to go inside. Grandma was nice enough to take her in and warm her up while Eliza and I finished playing. Eliza was a little rock star and tried to snowboard for the first time and managed to make it down the hill without falling by the second time she tried! She wants to go with daddy to the big mountains but she's got to prove herself on a little hill first! That afternoon Ben watched the girls while I went and served dinner for another ward's Christmas Dinner and program. That was fun madness. That evening was nice and quiet with just Ben and I! Ahh sweet peace.
Sunday has been good church was excellent and we are really looking forward to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
Alayna and Ellie playing iPhone
Super cute snowman aprons the kids made at Eliza's party
Eliza playing with her marble works set!
playing at the park with Grandma Waite
I love it when my girls sit and read or play so nicely together!! even if one of them is basically naked...
Who knew... she fits inside that box!
decorating the Christmas Tree
Opening gifts on her actual Birthday... pretty much this face was stuck the whole night!
Snowboarding!!
SWEET!!
sledding is more fun... you don't have to work as hard to balance!
Tuesday was pure mayhem! I had an 8:30 Dr apt for a follow up on the ultrasound. Everything is looking great with the baby and he is even currently head down which is a great thing! I picked the girls up from the Merritt's house and did a mad dash clutter clean up before the party started. It wasn't a great cleaning job and I didn't get the dishes done that I wanted to but in the end I don't think it really mattered. 10 started the party where we had a rousing game of pin the nose on the snowman, and some free play outside, then we made some snowman aprons (as alayna is modeling hers!) most of the kids are a lot taller than Alayna so hers kind of looks too big but it isn't on the others! She just gets to stay extra clean! I was a good mom-helper and didn't let my OCD perfection get in the way of letting the kids make their snowmen look however they wanted... it was hard... really hard. But the kids were all very proud of how they turned out in the end! After that we did presents and cake and then shipped off a bunch of sugar filled kids to their own houses where their parents got to figure out how to convince them to eat something healthy right after I filled them up on cake! Eliza had a great time and was very excited about her toys I think we ended up opening everything during Alayna's nap and setting it up to make for a very fun and slightly messy afternoon. We were suppose to have missionary's for dinner that night but they ended up standing us up so they must not have been that hungry. We had a nice quiet dinner at home.
Wednesday was when Hailey and the cousins went home. We miss them already, Eliza asks on a regular basis when they are coming back and if she can go see them! I'm so glad she loves her cousins so much! We went to Loveland that day and took care of running a whole bunch of errands for myself and my mom. We got a lot accomplished but I'm confident that I can't tell you half of what we did because I can't remember it anymore! Isn't that just how life is as a Mom, you spend all day running around doing so many different things that by the time Ben comes home I can't remember what I did with my day and it has to make me sound like I really must sit around watching TV all day long!
Thursday was cold. By cold I mean we woke up to a good 6 inches of snow and a very happy 4 year old who just wanted to go outside and play. I was a mean mommy and only let her out once due to the cold she already has! But it was her birthday so I really felt like I needed to let her go at least once! We spent the day cleaning up and getting dinner ready. We played all kinds of ABC games thanks to a puzzle she got on Tuesday. And we did accomplish the single most important task of the day (at least to Eliza) we set up the Christmas tree! I let the girls do almost all the ornaments this year so as you experienced parents know, the bottom half of the tree is heavily decorated and the top is basically bare... slowly but surely the ones that hit the floor are moved up but both those girls are so proud of the tree they decorated that I want to leave it just like that as long as I can! The Merritt's came over for dinner and gifts that evening and Eliza made out like a bandit with everything she got! I think the favorite toy currently is the little 'Fur real' puppy dog that barks and walks, that thing gets dragged everywhere!
Friday was spent at home staying warm. I didn't really want to go out and we didn't really have anything pressing enough to make me want to go out in the fresh snow. Eliza went out and played in it during Alayna's nap and other than that we just hung out until the evening when I had a little melt down and promptly left and went on a 'girl date' with Bethany Mott to go see the new Twighlight movie! It was very well done both of us were impressed and then we went to dinner and came home and crashed!
Saturday Ben had to work, that poor guy has been working like crazy and hasn't been home is almost 2 weeks thanks to everything that has been going on! So he worked in the morning and I bundled the girls up and took them over to the Merritt's house to do a little bit of sledding and snowboarding in the backyard on their awesome little hill! The hill is really the perfect size for toddlers because they don't have to work so hard to get back to the top and it's steep enough to have a fast and fun ride! Eliza had a blast, Alayna on the other hand got cold very quickly (I need to get her a better coat!) and let me and probably the rest of the neighborhood know that she just wanted to go inside. Grandma was nice enough to take her in and warm her up while Eliza and I finished playing. Eliza was a little rock star and tried to snowboard for the first time and managed to make it down the hill without falling by the second time she tried! She wants to go with daddy to the big mountains but she's got to prove herself on a little hill first! That afternoon Ben watched the girls while I went and served dinner for another ward's Christmas Dinner and program. That was fun madness. That evening was nice and quiet with just Ben and I! Ahh sweet peace.
Sunday has been good church was excellent and we are really looking forward to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
Eliza at Children's Museum... cutest firefighter I've ever seen!
Happy Thanksgiving!
The past two weeks are not some that I should have allowed any scrimping on my blog posting! so much happened that there is not a hope or prayer of my remebering everything so I am going to hit up the highlights from the week and utilize my photos for the sake of jogging my memory on at least some parts of the events!
Starting with the week before last! We had so much fun I still feel like I am trying to recover from all the adventures we had. Monday started nice and early at the Merritt's house playing with the cousins. Mallory and Evan were able to bring their neice and nephew out as well to play with the kids. Everyone had a great time just running around and being excited that they had family to play with! Throughout the week we were able to do lots of fun things! One day was an 'indian day' where the kids all got to make hats, play in grandma's teepee and watch Pocohantus. The different variations of idian games that went on throughout the day were very entertaining to watch I was lucky enough to be able to have all the kids to myself for a few hours that day while all the other adults (who weren't at work) went to go see the new Twighlight movie. I had a blast with the kids and they were all so well behaved that I would do it again in a heart beat! I took over a lego set for Jackson to play with one of those days and I don't remember the last time I saw so many different 'weapons' created. It made it extra cool that there is a little motor with the lego set so Jackson could make all of his weapons do all kinds of things on their own!
By day Three I was wearing down some. Alayna had been sporting a cold for a few days and of course she was kind enough to share with me! But it didn't stop the fun or really even slow us down, the kids made sure of that! Wednesday morning we went to the Denver Children's Museum to let the kids play. I had looked into a number of other places and this sure seemed to be the best choice based on how much fun the kids seemed to have while we were there! I could hardly believe it when Eliza, in spite of desperate hunger and exhaustion still begged to go right back in after we fed her! Silly girl! She loved it so I think that she will be even more excited when she realizes/ finds out that Grandma got her a year pass so that I can take the girls any time we want!! That afternoon was spent with the big kids playing and the convincing the little ones that they really NEEDED to take naps!
Thanksgiving was wonderful! The entire day was well planned and well spent. I missed my family but had a wonderful time with my other family. We did family pictures in the morning that turned out very nicely (as you can see). I will post the Christmas card that Hailey designed later after Grandma has a chance to send them out! Then we had a fantastic dinner where I was agian reminded just how much of a blessing it is for us to live so close together that these big family dinners aren't the least bit filled with uncomfortable small talk, instead it is full of memories and laughter! We also got to have some delicious pie courtacy of Bethany Mott in my ward who 'sold' 3 thanksgiving pies at a service auction last month!
Black Friday... it has transitioned. It made a HUGE change this year and I am fairly disappointed with the results. This year for the first time in my memory the major stores that do big black friday sales opened at 10PM Thanksgiving night. Normally I wouldn't be so bothered by that but honestly I am NOT a night person, and being pregnant makes me even less of a night person. That said I took my sister-in-law out for her very first Black Friday experience to WalMart knowing there were a few little things that I wanted to get. That was a mistake. I don't think I have ever been to such a crazy store. We were forced to park in the neighboring sports park parking lot and then getting through the crowds was enough to just about push me over into a full blown panic attack. Whoa! But being a faithful black friday shopper I went to the one store and then got up at 5am the next morning to do a little bit more shopping. Much to my dismay there were no crazy shoppers to watch, no fights, no long lines to wait forever in (ok I didn't really miss that part). But it sure did take a lot of my 'lets get up and shop at 5am' drive out of me for next year. I did get almost everything on my list of 'deals' that I wanted and hopefully I wont have much more shopping to do after this!
Ben went skiing that morning with all the boys and Jackson went for his first time! Ben spent the day teaching Jackson and apparently he did very well because Jackson was doing awesome by the end! Grandma Merritt was nice enough to watch the girls for a little bit between me getting home and the guys leaving for skiing. I attempted a nap, failed and went to Loveland instead to go play with my sisters and mom! We had so much fun managed to find Heather the shoes she wanted and discovered a new love called "Charming Charlies" an accessories store which is awesome! We went to Toys-R-Us in the middle of the day thinking it would have calmed down, we were wrong! it was still crazy so we didn't last long! But I was thrilled to get a little bit of time with my family!
Saturday was spent at home cleaning house and taking a little break from the family. This seemed like the best solution to prevent too much bickering between the cousins because too much of a good thing isn't a good thing anymore! Our house looked 100x better by the end of the day and the girls were both ready and begging to go play with cousins again!
Sunday went well. We had Jackson and Grant over after church while Hailey was driving Brian to the airport.
That was that week. I think I am going to do another post for this past week!...
Family Photo shoot! It really rocks when you have so many excellent photographers in your family!
Starting with the week before last! We had so much fun I still feel like I am trying to recover from all the adventures we had. Monday started nice and early at the Merritt's house playing with the cousins. Mallory and Evan were able to bring their neice and nephew out as well to play with the kids. Everyone had a great time just running around and being excited that they had family to play with! Throughout the week we were able to do lots of fun things! One day was an 'indian day' where the kids all got to make hats, play in grandma's teepee and watch Pocohantus. The different variations of idian games that went on throughout the day were very entertaining to watch I was lucky enough to be able to have all the kids to myself for a few hours that day while all the other adults (who weren't at work) went to go see the new Twighlight movie. I had a blast with the kids and they were all so well behaved that I would do it again in a heart beat! I took over a lego set for Jackson to play with one of those days and I don't remember the last time I saw so many different 'weapons' created. It made it extra cool that there is a little motor with the lego set so Jackson could make all of his weapons do all kinds of things on their own!
By day Three I was wearing down some. Alayna had been sporting a cold for a few days and of course she was kind enough to share with me! But it didn't stop the fun or really even slow us down, the kids made sure of that! Wednesday morning we went to the Denver Children's Museum to let the kids play. I had looked into a number of other places and this sure seemed to be the best choice based on how much fun the kids seemed to have while we were there! I could hardly believe it when Eliza, in spite of desperate hunger and exhaustion still begged to go right back in after we fed her! Silly girl! She loved it so I think that she will be even more excited when she realizes/ finds out that Grandma got her a year pass so that I can take the girls any time we want!! That afternoon was spent with the big kids playing and the convincing the little ones that they really NEEDED to take naps!
Thanksgiving was wonderful! The entire day was well planned and well spent. I missed my family but had a wonderful time with my other family. We did family pictures in the morning that turned out very nicely (as you can see). I will post the Christmas card that Hailey designed later after Grandma has a chance to send them out! Then we had a fantastic dinner where I was agian reminded just how much of a blessing it is for us to live so close together that these big family dinners aren't the least bit filled with uncomfortable small talk, instead it is full of memories and laughter! We also got to have some delicious pie courtacy of Bethany Mott in my ward who 'sold' 3 thanksgiving pies at a service auction last month!
Black Friday... it has transitioned. It made a HUGE change this year and I am fairly disappointed with the results. This year for the first time in my memory the major stores that do big black friday sales opened at 10PM Thanksgiving night. Normally I wouldn't be so bothered by that but honestly I am NOT a night person, and being pregnant makes me even less of a night person. That said I took my sister-in-law out for her very first Black Friday experience to WalMart knowing there were a few little things that I wanted to get. That was a mistake. I don't think I have ever been to such a crazy store. We were forced to park in the neighboring sports park parking lot and then getting through the crowds was enough to just about push me over into a full blown panic attack. Whoa! But being a faithful black friday shopper I went to the one store and then got up at 5am the next morning to do a little bit more shopping. Much to my dismay there were no crazy shoppers to watch, no fights, no long lines to wait forever in (ok I didn't really miss that part). But it sure did take a lot of my 'lets get up and shop at 5am' drive out of me for next year. I did get almost everything on my list of 'deals' that I wanted and hopefully I wont have much more shopping to do after this!
Ben went skiing that morning with all the boys and Jackson went for his first time! Ben spent the day teaching Jackson and apparently he did very well because Jackson was doing awesome by the end! Grandma Merritt was nice enough to watch the girls for a little bit between me getting home and the guys leaving for skiing. I attempted a nap, failed and went to Loveland instead to go play with my sisters and mom! We had so much fun managed to find Heather the shoes she wanted and discovered a new love called "Charming Charlies" an accessories store which is awesome! We went to Toys-R-Us in the middle of the day thinking it would have calmed down, we were wrong! it was still crazy so we didn't last long! But I was thrilled to get a little bit of time with my family!
Saturday was spent at home cleaning house and taking a little break from the family. This seemed like the best solution to prevent too much bickering between the cousins because too much of a good thing isn't a good thing anymore! Our house looked 100x better by the end of the day and the girls were both ready and begging to go play with cousins again!
Sunday went well. We had Jackson and Grant over after church while Hailey was driving Brian to the airport.
That was that week. I think I am going to do another post for this past week!...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Ceaning Week
Monday started our week off with a bang... or just a visit to the doctors office for Alayna's well child visit. Either way it was a fun way to start our week! Alayna is doing well and gaining her weight back that she lost from her last round of being sick so she is thankfully back up on her growth chart where she was before. Alayna is weighing in around the 22% and is in the 27% for her height so basically she is little but healthy and that's just the way we like them! She only got one shot and handled it like a trooper! It never ceases to amaze me what a good attitude and healthy child visit can do for the way that the girls act in the doctors office! Alayna was such a ham the whole time and was a very willing patient which she usually isn't! That said I kind of doubt she will be so interested in being nice to the nurse next time considering her annoyance with the shot. I spent the rest of that day cleaning the upstairs of the house. The girls room no longer has a mountain of clothing to get lost in in the middle of the floor and you can walk through my bedroom again without stepping on books, toys or any other countless items the girls have 'shared' with us in the last few months. (yes months it has been that long since I really cleaned my room. Don't judge me!) Thanks to a great family that used to be in our ward at church we now own a carpet shampooer and so the upstairs almost got all shampooed before I ran out of soap and energy to do more.
Tuesday went a ton slower. I managed to seriously pull a muscle in my abs the day before so I could hardly move without being in pain. So the goal of having a spotless kitchen and living room to match the upstairs was a very slow and slightly unfinished project. BUT the girls had a great time playing at Grandma's house while I cleaned and I really enjoyed not having them taking out toys as fast as I could put them away! By end of day we were all exhaused and ready for bed and the girls were fantastic for the time they were at home 'helping' me with the cleaning!
Wednesday I kicked myself for not taking 'before and after' pictures of the house because sometimes I think I could really benefit from seeing how bad I have let it get in the past and how badly I don't want to put that much work into cleaning the house again! But I started work on the nightmare of a basement. I did laundry non-stop for two days to catch up on it all but after those two days the only laundry left was the stuff to be put away and the things we were wearing so that was a pretty huge accomplishment. I got a lot done in the basement and am about ready to have Ben tackle to project of fixing the broken board on our fouton.
Thursday I finished laundry (those two days I talked about before were Wednesday and Thursday.) and finished everything I could in the basement. It is now possible to walk through the basement. It's not perfect but it is much better the next step is purging and organizing. The girls both had playgroup that day and I really enjoyed some talk time with Bethany when I came to get them! It really makes me appriciate friends who are tolerant of my crazyness and are ok with random chats that last an hour!
Friday I ran away from home. I needed out! it had been basically a week of being locked up in the mess and all I wanted was for it to stay that way for even just a little bit! So I loaded up the girls and we went to Loveland to a 'craft day' with a mom and enjoyed some time to just talk with other grown ups and get some little projects done while all the little kids ran around and played! After our adventures there we finished a whole bunch of stuff for my mom's calling with the young women and then headed home to a wonderful dinner that daddy cooked. Much to our dismay I got an e-mail that day from our internet provider that they had gone bankrupt and would be ending our services... that day. Which of course left us NO time to get something else figured out so we were left with no internet.
Saturday Ben spent the morning working out internet for us. We found out that thanks to a comcast problem we could not do anything over the phone so Ben went in nice and early to try to work out internet with them... long story short they lost our business by not being able to service us for more than a week. So we are trying out an AT&T mobile hotspot for the time being and $110 later we have internet. It was a long day and Ben was good and wore out by the end. That evening we went to the Merritt's house to see Hailey and the cousins, Jackson, Grant and Elle who are here for Thanksgiving. Eliza and Alayna were thrilled to have some time with cousins and we had an awesome dinner thanks to Abby! After a night that went way too late for the girls we finally crashed!
Sunday has been good. Ben spoke in church today and did a wonderful job! He got tons of compliments on it and I even got a few for him! It really was wonderful especailly considering the limited time he had to prepare thanks to the internet fiasco over the weekend. Everything else has been nice and quiet. Currently Alayna is napping, Eliza is playing quietly and Ben in snoring in his chair behind me! Life is good. It is very good!
Tuesday went a ton slower. I managed to seriously pull a muscle in my abs the day before so I could hardly move without being in pain. So the goal of having a spotless kitchen and living room to match the upstairs was a very slow and slightly unfinished project. BUT the girls had a great time playing at Grandma's house while I cleaned and I really enjoyed not having them taking out toys as fast as I could put them away! By end of day we were all exhaused and ready for bed and the girls were fantastic for the time they were at home 'helping' me with the cleaning!
Wednesday I kicked myself for not taking 'before and after' pictures of the house because sometimes I think I could really benefit from seeing how bad I have let it get in the past and how badly I don't want to put that much work into cleaning the house again! But I started work on the nightmare of a basement. I did laundry non-stop for two days to catch up on it all but after those two days the only laundry left was the stuff to be put away and the things we were wearing so that was a pretty huge accomplishment. I got a lot done in the basement and am about ready to have Ben tackle to project of fixing the broken board on our fouton.
Thursday I finished laundry (those two days I talked about before were Wednesday and Thursday.) and finished everything I could in the basement. It is now possible to walk through the basement. It's not perfect but it is much better the next step is purging and organizing. The girls both had playgroup that day and I really enjoyed some talk time with Bethany when I came to get them! It really makes me appriciate friends who are tolerant of my crazyness and are ok with random chats that last an hour!
Friday I ran away from home. I needed out! it had been basically a week of being locked up in the mess and all I wanted was for it to stay that way for even just a little bit! So I loaded up the girls and we went to Loveland to a 'craft day' with a mom and enjoyed some time to just talk with other grown ups and get some little projects done while all the little kids ran around and played! After our adventures there we finished a whole bunch of stuff for my mom's calling with the young women and then headed home to a wonderful dinner that daddy cooked. Much to our dismay I got an e-mail that day from our internet provider that they had gone bankrupt and would be ending our services... that day. Which of course left us NO time to get something else figured out so we were left with no internet.
Saturday Ben spent the morning working out internet for us. We found out that thanks to a comcast problem we could not do anything over the phone so Ben went in nice and early to try to work out internet with them... long story short they lost our business by not being able to service us for more than a week. So we are trying out an AT&T mobile hotspot for the time being and $110 later we have internet. It was a long day and Ben was good and wore out by the end. That evening we went to the Merritt's house to see Hailey and the cousins, Jackson, Grant and Elle who are here for Thanksgiving. Eliza and Alayna were thrilled to have some time with cousins and we had an awesome dinner thanks to Abby! After a night that went way too late for the girls we finally crashed!
Sunday has been good. Ben spoke in church today and did a wonderful job! He got tons of compliments on it and I even got a few for him! It really was wonderful especailly considering the limited time he had to prepare thanks to the internet fiasco over the weekend. Everything else has been nice and quiet. Currently Alayna is napping, Eliza is playing quietly and Ben in snoring in his chair behind me! Life is good. It is very good!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Someone Turned 2!!
Have you ever had a moment in life when you look at your calander for the week and it suddenly hits you that there is almost no way possible to get it all done and squeeze that favor in for your friend or neighbor that you would really like to help out. It kind of felt like that for me this week. It seems like every time I try to plan to go do something with friends (the girls or mine) something else has to be on the schedule. People are going to start to think that I don't care about them!!
Monday was spent in Loveland taking advantage of the last day that we had with Rachel, Bruce and Hailey all here to play with. So I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of as much time as possible with them. Not to mention the fun that it is to now watch all the little cousins play and run around together. Eliza was very disapointed when I told her that we were taking them to the airport to go home that evening. Durring the day we did take the girls over to Toys-R-Us to play for a little while and I thankfully finished up some birthday shopping for Little Miss Alayna! That evening after both girls got in a good long nap on the drive to and from the airport we went to Grandma Merritt's house and celebrated Alayna's birthday a day early! Ben was awesome and took care of the cake for us and Alayna made out like a bandit for her gifts this year! From us she got a Rapunzel doll, Tinkerbell figures, and a barbie and horse. The Waite side got her a new stroller for her babies (which is so cool!) and the Merritt side got her a new dress (super cute I will get some pictures later!) and a magnent board with letters for the wall at home! Thus far the favorite toy has been Rapunzel and the stroller but the magnent board is a very close runner up with house much use it has already seen!!
Tuesday was Alayna's official Birthday! So Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful and amazing little girl! You are always a little light in this house and so full of laughter and joy that you can't help but feel it right along with her! Our morning was spent doing a quick temp clean on the house so that we could again walk through the living room and then Aunt Abby came and took Alayna out for her birthday to get a balloon and "Abby treats". She of course came home with a 'singing balloon' they are all the rage these days and everytime that thing hits the ceiling or a person or anything else for that matter we hear " Buzz Lightyear Two Infinity and Beyond" and other Toy Story quotes. I do not hate them... I'm sure that I do not hate them... I just have a very strong desire to 'accidently' run into it with a knife or let them take it outside to play with it... good thing they're cute so I don't do either of those things! After Abby got back I took them out for a birthday lunch and playtime on Chic-Fil-A's playplace. They were pleanty wore out after that and we all had a nice quiet afternoon to follow!
Wednesday we went to the pool. Eliza had really wanted to go the day before but by the time Alayna was awake it just wasn't worth the effort anymore. So we had a great time the next day playing in the pool. I learned my lesson though that we will not be the last ones to shower after the water arobics class because we all got chilly showers and both girls were then starving, cold and grumpy so next time we get out first! After that we ran some errands and worked a bit more on the house-of-no-return. I am really starting to think that I need a professional organizer to come fix my house... That or else my sisters just need to come over (all 4 of them because that is how much there is!) and help me just get rid of stuff that I really don't need!! It is time for a good purge.
Thursday we had the Mott girls over to play all morning it was fantastic they all play so nicely together and as the mom it sure if fun to watch and listen to their little imaginations take off the way they do. Sometimes I don't love it when I suddenly see myself in their play and the way that they interpret some of the things I do but I do take a little statisfaction that someday their children will do the same thing to them and in the meantime I just need to work on improving those tendencies!
Friday was fun... or just insane. I went to Loveland to help with the set up of the open house for Lindsay and Mike. I made a few pies and then spent a good portion of the day packing up those pies and the other pies that my mom made. In total there were 40 pies to be eaten that night... I don't think we even came close to denting that excess of pies but they were all very yummy! Then I let the girls ride scooters around the gym at the church while we set up until I gave in to Alayna's pleas for a nap which was apparently much needed at that point. The reception was in the evening and went very well the decorations were incredible! I was glad to see so many people and Lindsay looked fantastic as expected! By the end of the night we got home around 9:30 and both girls had crashed in the car on the way home so bedtime was a piece of cake that night!
Saturday was good. First off Happy Birthday Grandma Merritt we love you so much thanks for everything you do for us!! I did not get done nearly what should have been done but the girls and I sure had fun going shopping all morning together. Ben went with the young men to use their catipult one final year and chucked pumpkins for pleasure. I was lucky enough to happen across a TV for a really great deal at Sears that day as well. After some serious thought and debate, some internet research and taking Ben back to look again we ended up buying a new TV. We bought a floor model Sony 46" LED that is wonderful! We probably spent too much money on it but it was also 50% off and was better quality than were were going to end up getting plus it means that I didn't fight any crazy black friday shoppers for a TV this year. (ours really needed to be replaced thanks to the old one turning itself off on a regular basis and not turning back on. So this was our Christmas this year Merry Christmas Ben & Sarah!!)
Sunday has been good. Church was excellent the Bronco's are playing a decent game so far and Eliza managed to only have one thing today that made us shake our heads. Apparently it was announced in sunbeams today that I told Eliza that "her baby brother is going to be a girl." I had no idea that it worked that way. All I have been doing is trying to get it into her head that it will be ok if this baby is a girl because boy-oh-boy this baby's big sister is not going to be happy if it comes out a girl!
Overall the week has been good Alayna is showing us more and more each day that, yes she is offically two. She has tantrums like you would not believe and the language/communication barrier is becoming more and more of a sore point for her. I keep wishing she would just hurry up and have that 'speech burst' so that we could talk to eachother better. She understands just about everything but getting her to form some things into words seems like an impossible task! I have to remind myself that this is just temporary...thankfully.
Monday was spent in Loveland taking advantage of the last day that we had with Rachel, Bruce and Hailey all here to play with. So I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of as much time as possible with them. Not to mention the fun that it is to now watch all the little cousins play and run around together. Eliza was very disapointed when I told her that we were taking them to the airport to go home that evening. Durring the day we did take the girls over to Toys-R-Us to play for a little while and I thankfully finished up some birthday shopping for Little Miss Alayna! That evening after both girls got in a good long nap on the drive to and from the airport we went to Grandma Merritt's house and celebrated Alayna's birthday a day early! Ben was awesome and took care of the cake for us and Alayna made out like a bandit for her gifts this year! From us she got a Rapunzel doll, Tinkerbell figures, and a barbie and horse. The Waite side got her a new stroller for her babies (which is so cool!) and the Merritt side got her a new dress (super cute I will get some pictures later!) and a magnent board with letters for the wall at home! Thus far the favorite toy has been Rapunzel and the stroller but the magnent board is a very close runner up with house much use it has already seen!!
Tuesday was Alayna's official Birthday! So Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful and amazing little girl! You are always a little light in this house and so full of laughter and joy that you can't help but feel it right along with her! Our morning was spent doing a quick temp clean on the house so that we could again walk through the living room and then Aunt Abby came and took Alayna out for her birthday to get a balloon and "Abby treats". She of course came home with a 'singing balloon' they are all the rage these days and everytime that thing hits the ceiling or a person or anything else for that matter we hear " Buzz Lightyear Two Infinity and Beyond" and other Toy Story quotes. I do not hate them... I'm sure that I do not hate them... I just have a very strong desire to 'accidently' run into it with a knife or let them take it outside to play with it... good thing they're cute so I don't do either of those things! After Abby got back I took them out for a birthday lunch and playtime on Chic-Fil-A's playplace. They were pleanty wore out after that and we all had a nice quiet afternoon to follow!
Wednesday we went to the pool. Eliza had really wanted to go the day before but by the time Alayna was awake it just wasn't worth the effort anymore. So we had a great time the next day playing in the pool. I learned my lesson though that we will not be the last ones to shower after the water arobics class because we all got chilly showers and both girls were then starving, cold and grumpy so next time we get out first! After that we ran some errands and worked a bit more on the house-of-no-return. I am really starting to think that I need a professional organizer to come fix my house... That or else my sisters just need to come over (all 4 of them because that is how much there is!) and help me just get rid of stuff that I really don't need!! It is time for a good purge.
Thursday we had the Mott girls over to play all morning it was fantastic they all play so nicely together and as the mom it sure if fun to watch and listen to their little imaginations take off the way they do. Sometimes I don't love it when I suddenly see myself in their play and the way that they interpret some of the things I do but I do take a little statisfaction that someday their children will do the same thing to them and in the meantime I just need to work on improving those tendencies!
Friday was fun... or just insane. I went to Loveland to help with the set up of the open house for Lindsay and Mike. I made a few pies and then spent a good portion of the day packing up those pies and the other pies that my mom made. In total there were 40 pies to be eaten that night... I don't think we even came close to denting that excess of pies but they were all very yummy! Then I let the girls ride scooters around the gym at the church while we set up until I gave in to Alayna's pleas for a nap which was apparently much needed at that point. The reception was in the evening and went very well the decorations were incredible! I was glad to see so many people and Lindsay looked fantastic as expected! By the end of the night we got home around 9:30 and both girls had crashed in the car on the way home so bedtime was a piece of cake that night!
Saturday was good. First off Happy Birthday Grandma Merritt we love you so much thanks for everything you do for us!! I did not get done nearly what should have been done but the girls and I sure had fun going shopping all morning together. Ben went with the young men to use their catipult one final year and chucked pumpkins for pleasure. I was lucky enough to happen across a TV for a really great deal at Sears that day as well. After some serious thought and debate, some internet research and taking Ben back to look again we ended up buying a new TV. We bought a floor model Sony 46" LED that is wonderful! We probably spent too much money on it but it was also 50% off and was better quality than were were going to end up getting plus it means that I didn't fight any crazy black friday shoppers for a TV this year. (ours really needed to be replaced thanks to the old one turning itself off on a regular basis and not turning back on. So this was our Christmas this year Merry Christmas Ben & Sarah!!)
Sunday has been good. Church was excellent the Bronco's are playing a decent game so far and Eliza managed to only have one thing today that made us shake our heads. Apparently it was announced in sunbeams today that I told Eliza that "her baby brother is going to be a girl." I had no idea that it worked that way. All I have been doing is trying to get it into her head that it will be ok if this baby is a girl because boy-oh-boy this baby's big sister is not going to be happy if it comes out a girl!
Overall the week has been good Alayna is showing us more and more each day that, yes she is offically two. She has tantrums like you would not believe and the language/communication barrier is becoming more and more of a sore point for her. I keep wishing she would just hurry up and have that 'speech burst' so that we could talk to eachother better. She understands just about everything but getting her to form some things into words seems like an impossible task! I have to remind myself that this is just temporary...thankfully.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Wedding Weekend!!
Dang I don't really feel like blogging today. That is a bummer because I really need to get on top of this blogging every week again. I have been getting way too lazy about this! so I am biting the bullet and getting this post taken care of!
By the way because I am a slacker and keep forgetting birthdays: Happy Birthday to Jaron, Heather, Heidi, and Rachel for the month of October!! We love you!
Our week was full of excitement and adventures... Monday I finally took two begging little girls to the pool. They have only been pestering me for the past month to please take them swimming so I finally buckled down and did it. I was again reminded that I have NO idea why I fight it so hard because it really isn't that much work for the two of them! Plus they get clean and good and worn out from doing such activities. I need to quit fighting it so much. After the pool I took the girls home and we did a few things around the house that needed to get done and then waited for the evening hours so that we could do a little bit of 'official' trick-or-treating. It was really up in the air if I was going to take them after the mass amounts of candy they got from the trunk-or-treat at the church but thanks to their cute little pleas I took them out. We did one house in our neighborhood before deciding that it was just too creepy to trick-or-treat in a neighborhood as sketchy as ours is. So I loaded the girls up and we went to the Merritt's neighborhood which was much better. Grandma ended up coming with us and we did a few houses before going home to put them to bed! They both loved it and spent the next few days asking if they could go "truck-r-triting" again.
Tuesday was a fun day we spent the morning running errands going to a few stores in hopes of finding some costumes on clearance that would be fun for the girls and didn't find anything that I was even slightly interested in buying. Oh well we tried. I had a baby appointment that afternoon so Alayna had her nap at Grandma's house and Eliza got to play with everyone while I enjoyed a lovely trip to the office. The baby is sounding good and I'm measuring just where I should be!
Wednesday it snowed again. In fact it snowed another 6 inches here in Longmont and buried many of the branches that were sitting on the side of the road from the last storm. It did some more damage to the few trees that didn't give up their leaves in the week they had free of snow. Poor trees. We went to Loveland they also got plenty of snow and the Waite tree that had suffered such great loss last week was being propped up by previously broken branches so they could drive under the bottom branches that were again touching the ground. I can't really remember everything we did while we were there but we must have had a good time because both girls ended up falling asleep on the car ride home!
Thursday was spent getting ready for the weekend. I cleaned house and started some laundry. The girls went to playgroup that day at the Mott's house and I got to go pick up some clearance fabric for making some princess dress-up for the girls for part of their Christmas. Other than that, I played with the girls a bunch and mostly we just stayed home that day! By the end of the day my cleaning had all been undone, the sink was again full of dishes both girls were screaming at my feet and I was down right grumpy. I was thankful to have Ben come home and take over for a little bit while I cooked dinner. After dinner I went to my meeting and Ben took care of bedtime with the girls! Thank goodness for amazing husbands like him!! Sometimes he is the only reason my children live to see the next day!
Friday was insanity! I cleaned the car, did the dishes, did more laundry and packed for the weekend in Colorado Springs. I made a trip to the store and tried to not stress about the fact that I felt so far behind and really needed to hurry up! In the end I successfully got us out the door with Ben's help (of course). We ended up having a fantastic drive (at least for the first hour because I slept through the second hour) of the drive there. We found where we needed to be and were able to get things rolling the way we needed. There was some real confusion with the babysitter that we had arranged for in the late realization that we were about 30 min away from her and we needed to be leaving for the rehearsal dinner in about 20 min. So long story short Lindsay had her friend bail us out (I owe her big time!) and we all went to dinner with everyone. It was kind of a mess and I again apologize to Lindsay for adding to the headache of trying to make your own wedding happen. So long story short it worked out. Dinner was amazing I can't remember the last time I had food that yummy!! We took the babysitter (Eliza) home all the kids seemed to really like her, at least until it passed bedtime and the little ones just wanted their mommies to come put them to bed! We stayed at the Hampton that night and neither of the girls wanted to go to sleep when we got there they were both waaay too excited about being somewhere cool like a hotel. So sometime around 10pm they both crashed. Thankfully the girls slept very well at least until about 6:30 the next morning.
Saturday we had a fantastic morning getting ready had a great breakfast and then headed over to the church for pictures before the wedding. Neither of my girls were happy about it. They were both exhausted and little stinkers for the photographers. I felt kind of bad but the memories will now be forever of my moody little girls at Lindsay's wedding :-) Gotta love toddlers! After that we took them to Lindsay's house where the babysitters were waiting for us! Eliza was excited to see Big Eliza again but Alayna promptly burst into tears. Poor kid was so tired that she couldn't even handle the idea of being left to play. So I put her down for a nap before we left and crossed my fingers that she would wake up in a better mood. Rachel carried Hailey in with about the same reaction. After spending the night cleaning up after her puking toddler she was also in need of a long nap! Poor Hailey sick tummies are no fun! The wedding was beautiful. Lindsay looked amazing and Mike looked like the luckiest man alive (which he is!) Ben video taped the ceremony and I enjoyed sitting by my siblings enjoying the scene! After the wedding we went to the reception which was at one of the most beautiful placed I have ever been to! It was a photographers dream come true!! I got some cool pictures there and enjoyed the scenery in general! The food was incredible and the 'take home' gift was delicious (I think I may have single handedly consumed an entire mason jar of homemade toffee in one sitting!). So thank you to everyone who put so much work into making it so much fun for us! After the reception we went and relieved the babysitters took them home and then made our own way home. After waking up at about 1 AM that morning and not being able to go back to sleep I ended up having a very difficult time staying awake for the drive home as did both of the girls who were super easy to put in bed as soon as we walked in the door!
bride and groom... my personal favorite of the ones I took!
Please note that this bride was "wise" enough to have a really fun activity the day before she got married... they went paintballing!! So the bride and all her bridesmaids were covered in all those wonderful little (and big) welts Lindsay happened to have one located perfectly to look like a hicky. They all wore their battle wounds with pride!
Sunday has been good! It was stake conference and I really enjoyed the day! I was wiser this time and came with more things for the girls to do and then had the chance to entertain one of the little boys sitting behind us (who was begging to go home) for the last 20min of the meeting. Both girls were great and other than it being hot thanks to how many bodies were in the room the talks were awesome! Now we are headed over to enjoy some time at the Waite house with the Sommerfeldts before they go back home on Monday night. Hopefully the weeks to come will be just as much fun as this one has been and maybe a little less stressful!
Eliza-izm of the weekend:
Lindsay: "Eliza do you like my dress?!"
Eliza: "No!"
Kari (Lindsay's maid of honor): "What would make you like it Eliza?"
Eliza: "If it was pink."
seriously that little girl is all girl even a wedding dress now has to be pinked up!
By the way because I am a slacker and keep forgetting birthdays: Happy Birthday to Jaron, Heather, Heidi, and Rachel for the month of October!! We love you!
Our week was full of excitement and adventures... Monday I finally took two begging little girls to the pool. They have only been pestering me for the past month to please take them swimming so I finally buckled down and did it. I was again reminded that I have NO idea why I fight it so hard because it really isn't that much work for the two of them! Plus they get clean and good and worn out from doing such activities. I need to quit fighting it so much. After the pool I took the girls home and we did a few things around the house that needed to get done and then waited for the evening hours so that we could do a little bit of 'official' trick-or-treating. It was really up in the air if I was going to take them after the mass amounts of candy they got from the trunk-or-treat at the church but thanks to their cute little pleas I took them out. We did one house in our neighborhood before deciding that it was just too creepy to trick-or-treat in a neighborhood as sketchy as ours is. So I loaded the girls up and we went to the Merritt's neighborhood which was much better. Grandma ended up coming with us and we did a few houses before going home to put them to bed! They both loved it and spent the next few days asking if they could go "truck-r-triting" again.
Tuesday was a fun day we spent the morning running errands going to a few stores in hopes of finding some costumes on clearance that would be fun for the girls and didn't find anything that I was even slightly interested in buying. Oh well we tried. I had a baby appointment that afternoon so Alayna had her nap at Grandma's house and Eliza got to play with everyone while I enjoyed a lovely trip to the office. The baby is sounding good and I'm measuring just where I should be!
Wednesday it snowed again. In fact it snowed another 6 inches here in Longmont and buried many of the branches that were sitting on the side of the road from the last storm. It did some more damage to the few trees that didn't give up their leaves in the week they had free of snow. Poor trees. We went to Loveland they also got plenty of snow and the Waite tree that had suffered such great loss last week was being propped up by previously broken branches so they could drive under the bottom branches that were again touching the ground. I can't really remember everything we did while we were there but we must have had a good time because both girls ended up falling asleep on the car ride home!
Thursday was spent getting ready for the weekend. I cleaned house and started some laundry. The girls went to playgroup that day at the Mott's house and I got to go pick up some clearance fabric for making some princess dress-up for the girls for part of their Christmas. Other than that, I played with the girls a bunch and mostly we just stayed home that day! By the end of the day my cleaning had all been undone, the sink was again full of dishes both girls were screaming at my feet and I was down right grumpy. I was thankful to have Ben come home and take over for a little bit while I cooked dinner. After dinner I went to my meeting and Ben took care of bedtime with the girls! Thank goodness for amazing husbands like him!! Sometimes he is the only reason my children live to see the next day!
Friday was insanity! I cleaned the car, did the dishes, did more laundry and packed for the weekend in Colorado Springs. I made a trip to the store and tried to not stress about the fact that I felt so far behind and really needed to hurry up! In the end I successfully got us out the door with Ben's help (of course). We ended up having a fantastic drive (at least for the first hour because I slept through the second hour) of the drive there. We found where we needed to be and were able to get things rolling the way we needed. There was some real confusion with the babysitter that we had arranged for in the late realization that we were about 30 min away from her and we needed to be leaving for the rehearsal dinner in about 20 min. So long story short Lindsay had her friend bail us out (I owe her big time!) and we all went to dinner with everyone. It was kind of a mess and I again apologize to Lindsay for adding to the headache of trying to make your own wedding happen. So long story short it worked out. Dinner was amazing I can't remember the last time I had food that yummy!! We took the babysitter (Eliza) home all the kids seemed to really like her, at least until it passed bedtime and the little ones just wanted their mommies to come put them to bed! We stayed at the Hampton that night and neither of the girls wanted to go to sleep when we got there they were both waaay too excited about being somewhere cool like a hotel. So sometime around 10pm they both crashed. Thankfully the girls slept very well at least until about 6:30 the next morning.
Saturday we had a fantastic morning getting ready had a great breakfast and then headed over to the church for pictures before the wedding. Neither of my girls were happy about it. They were both exhausted and little stinkers for the photographers. I felt kind of bad but the memories will now be forever of my moody little girls at Lindsay's wedding :-) Gotta love toddlers! After that we took them to Lindsay's house where the babysitters were waiting for us! Eliza was excited to see Big Eliza again but Alayna promptly burst into tears. Poor kid was so tired that she couldn't even handle the idea of being left to play. So I put her down for a nap before we left and crossed my fingers that she would wake up in a better mood. Rachel carried Hailey in with about the same reaction. After spending the night cleaning up after her puking toddler she was also in need of a long nap! Poor Hailey sick tummies are no fun! The wedding was beautiful. Lindsay looked amazing and Mike looked like the luckiest man alive (which he is!) Ben video taped the ceremony and I enjoyed sitting by my siblings enjoying the scene! After the wedding we went to the reception which was at one of the most beautiful placed I have ever been to! It was a photographers dream come true!! I got some cool pictures there and enjoyed the scenery in general! The food was incredible and the 'take home' gift was delicious (I think I may have single handedly consumed an entire mason jar of homemade toffee in one sitting!). So thank you to everyone who put so much work into making it so much fun for us! After the reception we went and relieved the babysitters took them home and then made our own way home. After waking up at about 1 AM that morning and not being able to go back to sleep I ended up having a very difficult time staying awake for the drive home as did both of the girls who were super easy to put in bed as soon as we walked in the door!
Lindsay is a beautiful bride!
Sunday has been good! It was stake conference and I really enjoyed the day! I was wiser this time and came with more things for the girls to do and then had the chance to entertain one of the little boys sitting behind us (who was begging to go home) for the last 20min of the meeting. Both girls were great and other than it being hot thanks to how many bodies were in the room the talks were awesome! Now we are headed over to enjoy some time at the Waite house with the Sommerfeldts before they go back home on Monday night. Hopefully the weeks to come will be just as much fun as this one has been and maybe a little less stressful!
Eliza-izm of the weekend:
Lindsay: "Eliza do you like my dress?!"
Eliza: "No!"
Kari (Lindsay's maid of honor): "What would make you like it Eliza?"
Eliza: "If it was pink."
seriously that little girl is all girl even a wedding dress now has to be pinked up!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
80 degrees to 1ft of snow in 48 hours or less!
This week got a crazy and busy start bright and early on Monday morning. We had Heather and Heidi come spend the night Sunday evening so that I could get their annual pictures done before the anticipated snow storm hit! Eliza had her last tumbling class (at least until I get her signed up for another one!). She really has enjoyed those and I have had fun with having just a little bit of mommy/Alayna time once a week! After tumbling the sun finally decided to make it's presence known and we got some very good shots of Heather and Heidi around town here! I was again reminded how there really are some perks to living in Boulder county and how we have so many beautiful well maintained parks around here! After we finished pictures my Mom came and picked up the twins and shortly after that we had the Reedy girls over to play for a few hours. Hailey (18 months) doesn't really like us when her mommy isn't with her... so she screamed at us for an hour undeterred and completely undistractable. I can usually handle a tantrum just fine but an hour into it and I finally had to separate the two of us. She got shut in a room while I located shoes and socks for all the other kids so we could escape to a park where hopefully the swings would provide me with a little bit of sanity and quiet. Hailey screamed the whole way to the park but finally settled once we had her situated into a swing! After that long of a day I crashed and so did both my girls!
Tuesday was equally fun but a lot less crazyness! The girls got to go to Grandma Merritt's house and make a haunted ginger house while I ran to the store for a few things. They both had a great time and Alayna could have gone a few days on the amount of sugar she consumed while 'building' and 'decorating' the haunted house! They sure had fun and it's been a fun decoration in the living room/ kitchen for the last while! After the girls play date with grandma we went home and puttered around the house a bit made a failed attempt and multiple baking things (cookie dough dip = horrible failure! never try again!) and (inside out carmel apples = I have no idea how to do carmel and I totally burned it!) After that I gave up in the kitchen. I cleaned up my messes and told Ben he had to cook dinner because based on my track record for the day I was too hungry to risk ruining one more thing! That evening Ben watched the girls while I went to book group! It was a good discussion but that book is one that I feel like I could spend weeks discussing and not exhaust it! (Cutting for Stone)
Wednesday started early. And by early I mean that Miss Eliza come skipping into our room at 2:00 AM to inform us with much enthusiasm that it had snowed! Regrettably her enthusiasm was NOT returned in fact I don't remember exactly what I may have said to her that night other than, "thanks, I don't care, and GO BACK TO BED!" I think she was a little disappointed at my reaction but the next morning I got a better understanding as to why it apparently mattered to her that it snowed... With pride she came down for breakfast exclaiming "Mom, It snowed so I'm 4 now!!" much to my dismay I had to explain that the weather doesn't determine her birthday and she still has a few more weeks to go! poor kid. We had planned on going to the Waite household that day but thanks to the foot of snow outside and the snow that was still falling we opted for a snow day of our own. I heard that we missed quite the party that day because my parents were one of very few houses with power so they had a large number of guests to play with! My girls and I enjoyed our warm house, a little bit of snow play and ...shhhh... Christmas movies, for our excitement! After all the work of finding snow gear all over the house the girls lasted about 20 min outside before they were cold and done playing. Alayna also made it very clear to all of us (and anyone else within a mile radius) that she did NOT like being in snow past her waist but we had fun anyway! The snow caused a lot of tree damage around here. My parents big tree in front looks really funny and will need professional attention in the future thanks to the amount of branch loss due to snow. The Merritt's brand new hot tub cover suffered a number of puncture wounds resulting in a premature death from the tree that fell on it. At our house our trees did fine. Other than one branch that unexpectedly landed on me while I was scraping the car. (I'm fine it was not that big so don't worry about it!) But at this point there doesn't seem to be many trees that did not suffer through involuntary pruning. I will try to take some pictures of the piles of branches that are currently lining the streets!
Alayna's coat was a size too big so she could barely move!
Eliza's first ever snow angel!
Thursday was great! We had two little Mott girls over to play for a few hours. We successfully built our first family snow man... once the snow melted enough that it would stick. Then the girls mostly just played around the house. The afternoon was busy with other errands and lots and lots of cleaning for a house in desperate need of attention!
Friday Ben went to work around 5:00AM to start on their inventory at work and we made our way to the Waite house but not until after 8AM because we are normal humans who like/need sleep. We made a trip to Arc (a thrift store) and a few other places in search of a bench or something of the sort to help my disorganized mess in the living room. I finally found some good ottomans at Walmart that seem to be working well at this point and my living room doesn't look as bad! I was also finally able to get some of the much needed birthday things for Miss Alayna who will be turning two all too soon!
Saturday was suppose to be a nice relaxing day. But it wasn't. We started the morning with a huge melt down over costumes with Alayna. She completely refused to get anywhere near the cute Elmo costume Grandma bought her and we settled on a bug costume instead (most unwillingly). Eliza was thrilled to go as the Little Mermaid. We then went to the town Halloween parade and did a little bit of trick-or-treating on Main street. It was crazy crowded but the girls still made out very well. After that we went to Grandma Merritt's house so Daddy could help with some more tree removal (snow melted off the roof so they could get the big branches down from there) Eliza and Alayna got to play with Elijah and Aleah (Evan and Mallory's niece and nephew) while the boys did the work. Then after Alayna's nap we went to Trunk-or-Treat at the church. The girls had a blast with that and brought home way too much candy! Alayna just about couldn't carry her pumpkin by the end because it was so heavy! Haha! That was another night for crashing! I was exhausted by the end and needed a good long nights sleep!
Sunday morning came too early in my book but we had very enjoyable meetings at church and I was glad to see the girls get such a kick out of being at church in class and with their friends! I am a lucky mom to have such awesome kids! That's the week in a nut shell... it's been busy but tis the season and I hope to be ready for when family starts arriving in the next couple of weeks!
Tuesday was equally fun but a lot less crazyness! The girls got to go to Grandma Merritt's house and make a haunted ginger house while I ran to the store for a few things. They both had a great time and Alayna could have gone a few days on the amount of sugar she consumed while 'building' and 'decorating' the haunted house! They sure had fun and it's been a fun decoration in the living room/ kitchen for the last while! After the girls play date with grandma we went home and puttered around the house a bit made a failed attempt and multiple baking things (cookie dough dip = horrible failure! never try again!) and (inside out carmel apples = I have no idea how to do carmel and I totally burned it!) After that I gave up in the kitchen. I cleaned up my messes and told Ben he had to cook dinner because based on my track record for the day I was too hungry to risk ruining one more thing! That evening Ben watched the girls while I went to book group! It was a good discussion but that book is one that I feel like I could spend weeks discussing and not exhaust it! (Cutting for Stone)
Thursday was great! We had two little Mott girls over to play for a few hours. We successfully built our first family snow man... once the snow melted enough that it would stick. Then the girls mostly just played around the house. The afternoon was busy with other errands and lots and lots of cleaning for a house in desperate need of attention!
Friday Ben went to work around 5:00AM to start on their inventory at work and we made our way to the Waite house but not until after 8AM because we are normal humans who like/need sleep. We made a trip to Arc (a thrift store) and a few other places in search of a bench or something of the sort to help my disorganized mess in the living room. I finally found some good ottomans at Walmart that seem to be working well at this point and my living room doesn't look as bad! I was also finally able to get some of the much needed birthday things for Miss Alayna who will be turning two all too soon!
Saturday was suppose to be a nice relaxing day. But it wasn't. We started the morning with a huge melt down over costumes with Alayna. She completely refused to get anywhere near the cute Elmo costume Grandma bought her and we settled on a bug costume instead (most unwillingly). Eliza was thrilled to go as the Little Mermaid. We then went to the town Halloween parade and did a little bit of trick-or-treating on Main street. It was crazy crowded but the girls still made out very well. After that we went to Grandma Merritt's house so Daddy could help with some more tree removal (snow melted off the roof so they could get the big branches down from there) Eliza and Alayna got to play with Elijah and Aleah (Evan and Mallory's niece and nephew) while the boys did the work. Then after Alayna's nap we went to Trunk-or-Treat at the church. The girls had a blast with that and brought home way too much candy! Alayna just about couldn't carry her pumpkin by the end because it was so heavy! Haha! That was another night for crashing! I was exhausted by the end and needed a good long nights sleep!
Eliza with the other mermaids from our ward! popular costume this year!
Alayna.. this was about as good as I could get sorry!
Sunday morning came too early in my book but we had very enjoyable meetings at church and I was glad to see the girls get such a kick out of being at church in class and with their friends! I am a lucky mom to have such awesome kids! That's the week in a nut shell... it's been busy but tis the season and I hope to be ready for when family starts arriving in the next couple of weeks!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Dresses, Bees, and a Sickhouse
Ok so if I were to even try to remember back as far as I have missed at this point we would loose everything in the translation of thought-to-page of the past few weeks! That said I am skipping up to this week... and maybe a little bit before that.
A week ago Friday Alayna had a tough night but that seems to be becoming more and more of the norm these days with her. She must be growing or something of the sort because her sleep patterns have become painfully unpredictable. But that Friday we had wonderful park date with the Jones family. I really enjoy the time we spend playing with their kids for some reason they really bring out a funny playful side of Eliza that I don't get to see on a regular basis. The Reedy's also joined us at one point at the park and they had fun until Harley got taken out by a swing and managed to earn her first concussion. The honey bees were also out and busy all morning as well, which normally isn't that big of a deal to me (provided that they leave me and my children alone we are good to go!) This day at the park they were not so kind. I found an overly friendly bee that wouldn't leave me alone or get off of me. I have always had a tense fear of bees and up to this point in life had never been stung. There is a first time for everything and this bee gave it's life up as evidence of that. That stupid bee stung me! I spent the next hour swelling and developing hives that just kept traveling... further. and further. and further. down my arm. So apparently my unusual fear of bees for all these years has been justified. I went home took some benedryl (a couple of doses to get it to work) and slept the rest of the day away. Which was not at all how I wanted to spend my day. Eliza is now petrified of all flying bugs and I never want to be stung again.
Saturday Alayna started to sound worse than the day before (which wasn't good). By morning Saturday she had completely lost her voice. She was so horse that she refused to talk. At one point while playing with Eliza in the basement on our roller coaster toy Eliza accidentally ran over Alayna's foot to which she attempted to scream but to no avail. Her voice was so completely shot that she could not even defend herself with a scream for help!
Sunday Ben and I took turns with church because now both Eliza and Alayna sound miserable and are running fevers.
Monday after one horrible, terrible, no good night of sleep I called the doctor at 7:00 AM when their phones open, explain what is wrong and then dragged both girls out of bed and into the doctors office at 7:30 AM still in their pajamas. I think the office was glad that we were the only patients in that early in the morning because of how terrible the girls sounded and looked. I thought they might have been getting pneumonia or something of that sort but our wonderful doctor took one look/listen at those two girls and diagnosed croup. Alayna's was bad enough that they gave her a steroid in addition to the antibiotic and Eliza just on the antibiotic. They spent the rest of the day resting and being drugged in an attempt to kill Eliza's fever.
Tuesday I would like to say was much better... but really they were both still really miserable sick. They could play for about an hour before their bodies started to force them to stop. They did play at grandma's house that morning for a little bit so that I could get to the store for a few things that we were completely out of... like milk.
Wednesday was better. The girls were almost back to normal sleeping. Alayna is still waking up once in the night (who know why! I think she is stuck in a pattern) but they are doing better overall. We didn't get out that day but at least the girls were starting to act more human than they have in almost a week! After a relaxing and playful morning while I cleaned house and started in on some of those very neglected tasks in the house we might actually catch up on things. The girls started getting cabin fever a bit by the end of the day so after they caused undue destruction in my freshly cleaned living room I took them to the park across the street to wreak havoc there instead.
Thursday we hung out at home... walked to grandma's house for a few minutes and then stopped at the park on the way home. We did get to enjoy talking to some other mom's there which was a relief for me as I had been feeling a little trapped in my sickhouse and away from other adults!
Friday the Doctors office called to check on the girls (I love that they do that!) and make sure that they were really feeling better and things. Since I had a nurse trapped on the phone I figured I would ask her about my bee sting... which after a week was still swollen, and had hives around it. They were very localized hives but definitely still there and very itchy. Well the office apparently did NOT think that was normal or ok to have a week long reaction to a bee sting so they insisted on seeing me. I think I might be single handedly supporting that office at this point. They recognize me and the girls by name when we walk in and that is just not something I aspire for! It turns out that my reaction from the bee sting had turned into a skin infection so the day the girls finish their antibiotics I have to start my own. I am so done. My house is getting sanitized top to bottom and then flu season needs to just end. We are done with all the sick in this house!
Saturday was interesting. Ben was suppose to go on a hike with the scouts but only one of their scouts showed up so everyone went home and Ben got to go watch his dad fly a glider instead. He said he had a great time going to watch and I was thrilled he had the chance! After that we took the girls and went shopping. Not for anything particular but I of course found a few things which will be used as Birthday or Christmas gifts in the coming weeks.
Bryan flying! big thumbs up!
Sunday was the primary program this week. It is my favorite week of the whole year every year! For those who are not LDS the primary program is the program that the kids ages 3-11 put on for our main meeting. It's a lot of singing and each kid has a little part that they get to say as well. Eliza did a great job it was so adorable to see her sitting up on the stand and saying her part. She is by far the youngest kid in the whole group but she still said her part and spent a good portion of the songs either singing or waving at Alayna.
Two weeks ago before the fiasco of the past week (to be read about later) Alayna went on a pants strike. The ONLY clothing the child would wear were dresses and princess shoes... as seen (with attitude) here. Oh and the fancier the better!
This was one of those precious moments when I suddenly stopped what I was doing and laughed and watched as Daddy ran around, played pony, and catch, and other rough housing games with his girls. I know they probably wont always remember this but I hope I do!
Saturday Alayna started to sound worse than the day before (which wasn't good). By morning Saturday she had completely lost her voice. She was so horse that she refused to talk. At one point while playing with Eliza in the basement on our roller coaster toy Eliza accidentally ran over Alayna's foot to which she attempted to scream but to no avail. Her voice was so completely shot that she could not even defend herself with a scream for help!
Sunday Ben and I took turns with church because now both Eliza and Alayna sound miserable and are running fevers.
Monday after one horrible, terrible, no good night of sleep I called the doctor at 7:00 AM when their phones open, explain what is wrong and then dragged both girls out of bed and into the doctors office at 7:30 AM still in their pajamas. I think the office was glad that we were the only patients in that early in the morning because of how terrible the girls sounded and looked. I thought they might have been getting pneumonia or something of that sort but our wonderful doctor took one look/listen at those two girls and diagnosed croup. Alayna's was bad enough that they gave her a steroid in addition to the antibiotic and Eliza just on the antibiotic. They spent the rest of the day resting and being drugged in an attempt to kill Eliza's fever.
Tuesday I would like to say was much better... but really they were both still really miserable sick. They could play for about an hour before their bodies started to force them to stop. They did play at grandma's house that morning for a little bit so that I could get to the store for a few things that we were completely out of... like milk.
Wednesday was better. The girls were almost back to normal sleeping. Alayna is still waking up once in the night (who know why! I think she is stuck in a pattern) but they are doing better overall. We didn't get out that day but at least the girls were starting to act more human than they have in almost a week! After a relaxing and playful morning while I cleaned house and started in on some of those very neglected tasks in the house we might actually catch up on things. The girls started getting cabin fever a bit by the end of the day so after they caused undue destruction in my freshly cleaned living room I took them to the park across the street to wreak havoc there instead.
Thursday we hung out at home... walked to grandma's house for a few minutes and then stopped at the park on the way home. We did get to enjoy talking to some other mom's there which was a relief for me as I had been feeling a little trapped in my sickhouse and away from other adults!
Friday the Doctors office called to check on the girls (I love that they do that!) and make sure that they were really feeling better and things. Since I had a nurse trapped on the phone I figured I would ask her about my bee sting... which after a week was still swollen, and had hives around it. They were very localized hives but definitely still there and very itchy. Well the office apparently did NOT think that was normal or ok to have a week long reaction to a bee sting so they insisted on seeing me. I think I might be single handedly supporting that office at this point. They recognize me and the girls by name when we walk in and that is just not something I aspire for! It turns out that my reaction from the bee sting had turned into a skin infection so the day the girls finish their antibiotics I have to start my own. I am so done. My house is getting sanitized top to bottom and then flu season needs to just end. We are done with all the sick in this house!
Saturday was interesting. Ben was suppose to go on a hike with the scouts but only one of their scouts showed up so everyone went home and Ben got to go watch his dad fly a glider instead. He said he had a great time going to watch and I was thrilled he had the chance! After that we took the girls and went shopping. Not for anything particular but I of course found a few things which will be used as Birthday or Christmas gifts in the coming weeks.
Sunday was the primary program this week. It is my favorite week of the whole year every year! For those who are not LDS the primary program is the program that the kids ages 3-11 put on for our main meeting. It's a lot of singing and each kid has a little part that they get to say as well. Eliza did a great job it was so adorable to see her sitting up on the stand and saying her part. She is by far the youngest kid in the whole group but she still said her part and spent a good portion of the songs either singing or waving at Alayna.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Baby Face
This week I have be relying heavily on pandora radio for my sanity and the health and well being of my children. If you don't know what pandora is you really should find out! it is internet radio that allows you as the listener to type in an artist or some and they will pick a variety of songs that are similar to that particular genre! it has been wonderful we have listened to just about everything from toddler tunes to classical and it has really helped me keep my cool and be more patient with the girls as we have been on a bit of a TV purge. I have learned that the girls mood is often based on the amount of TV they have watched in a day the more tv they get the less impressive their moods are so we have been really really cutting back. there have even been days where it hasn't been turned on at all!
But that said our weeks have been so incredibly busy that I am not sure we really had a choice in the tv cut back.
Monday morning we had Eliza's first tumbling class. It was a hit she was very excited to go and had a great time. She came out just glowing and excited to show me (and pretty much anyone willing to watch her) do all the things she did in class that day. There is no space for us to watch so Alayna and I went to the park next door and walked around until she was wore out and ready to go back. After tumbling we went to the playground and played for a while before heading home for lunch naps and then another round at the playground this time with some friends. Eliza and Harley sure do have fun together and I love watching the combination of their little imaginations go running!
Tuesday was fun! I took the girls over to grandma Merritt's house while I went to the doctors office for another baby apointment! I got to hear a tiny little heart beat and see that the little peanut offically has a face now... sort of :-) The baby kept waving at us which was also cute to watch and other than that everything looks great! I have only put on 1 lb in the last 4 weeks which made me happy (no need to have excessive weight gain at this point in pregnancy!) After my apointment the girls, Abby and I all went down to Costco to say hello to aunt Mallory and pick up some things we needed! We had a good time and the girls were pleanty wiped out after such a fun morning!
Thursday I had a dentist apointment that I had forgotten about until the night before so I rearranged baby sitting so that they girls would be taken care of (thank you grandma for saving me!) and then they had some play time at a friends house. A lot of errands got done that day including a trip to the doctor for an ear infection I thought that Alayna had. Turns out she didn't have an ear infection but she is apparently on the tail end of some other infection so she should be fine in a few days and I got some ear drops to use to future ear infections to get through those difficult nights! I spent the rest of that night being miserable and sick. Got a terrible pregnancy head ache and was so sick to my stomach I didn't know what to do! So after I got the girls in bed I joined them... in my own bed.
Friday we got up really early (for us) and went to Loveland so I could go do a senior photo shoot for a guy that Alan swims with. I felt like it went really well and liked the end result so hopefully they are pleased as well. The highlight of the day was finding a big red barn to use for future photo shoots! I am excited about it, possibly too excited but excited none-the-less! That was pretty much the whole day in a nut shell!
Saturday Ben had to work that morning. (poor guy! I'm so lucky to have him!) And the weather was terrible. It was raining and cold all day so the girls and I didn't do a whole lot that morning mostly just played in our jammies. I did get motivated and did a fun craft with the girls! we made an 'advent chart' of sorts to work our way to Halloween. We made paper jack-o-laterns that are hanging on the wall now. Each one has an activity for us to do together each day it should be fun! The one thing that didn't work great was it was a few too many to make than they were interested in... We made 20 of them and about 3/4 of the way through we had lots of really gluey pumpkins with nothing on them... oh well they did finish them all and I think they turned out cute!
Eliza is a ham an Alayna was sleeping or she would have hamed it up with her sister!
Sunday has been good so far. We are having dinner at the Waite household tonight which is always fun and that has really been the week!
But that said our weeks have been so incredibly busy that I am not sure we really had a choice in the tv cut back.
Monday morning we had Eliza's first tumbling class. It was a hit she was very excited to go and had a great time. She came out just glowing and excited to show me (and pretty much anyone willing to watch her) do all the things she did in class that day. There is no space for us to watch so Alayna and I went to the park next door and walked around until she was wore out and ready to go back. After tumbling we went to the playground and played for a while before heading home for lunch naps and then another round at the playground this time with some friends. Eliza and Harley sure do have fun together and I love watching the combination of their little imaginations go running!
Tuesday was fun! I took the girls over to grandma Merritt's house while I went to the doctors office for another baby apointment! I got to hear a tiny little heart beat and see that the little peanut offically has a face now... sort of :-) The baby kept waving at us which was also cute to watch and other than that everything looks great! I have only put on 1 lb in the last 4 weeks which made me happy (no need to have excessive weight gain at this point in pregnancy!) After my apointment the girls, Abby and I all went down to Costco to say hello to aunt Mallory and pick up some things we needed! We had a good time and the girls were pleanty wiped out after such a fun morning!
baby face! We get to find out gender in early December!
Wednesday was spent in Loveland having a playdate with Natalie and Jackson at the park by the library. We also made a quick stop at the library while we were there. They are in the middle of renovating there and everything is kind of a mess but the new sections that they have done are pretty darn impressive. I will be excited to go visit again when everything is done. After that we went to my mom's house for the afternoon to feed the girls and do some things over there for a while. Thursday I had a dentist apointment that I had forgotten about until the night before so I rearranged baby sitting so that they girls would be taken care of (thank you grandma for saving me!) and then they had some play time at a friends house. A lot of errands got done that day including a trip to the doctor for an ear infection I thought that Alayna had. Turns out she didn't have an ear infection but she is apparently on the tail end of some other infection so she should be fine in a few days and I got some ear drops to use to future ear infections to get through those difficult nights! I spent the rest of that night being miserable and sick. Got a terrible pregnancy head ache and was so sick to my stomach I didn't know what to do! So after I got the girls in bed I joined them... in my own bed.
Friday we got up really early (for us) and went to Loveland so I could go do a senior photo shoot for a guy that Alan swims with. I felt like it went really well and liked the end result so hopefully they are pleased as well. The highlight of the day was finding a big red barn to use for future photo shoots! I am excited about it, possibly too excited but excited none-the-less! That was pretty much the whole day in a nut shell!
Saturday Ben had to work that morning. (poor guy! I'm so lucky to have him!) And the weather was terrible. It was raining and cold all day so the girls and I didn't do a whole lot that morning mostly just played in our jammies. I did get motivated and did a fun craft with the girls! we made an 'advent chart' of sorts to work our way to Halloween. We made paper jack-o-laterns that are hanging on the wall now. Each one has an activity for us to do together each day it should be fun! The one thing that didn't work great was it was a few too many to make than they were interested in... We made 20 of them and about 3/4 of the way through we had lots of really gluey pumpkins with nothing on them... oh well they did finish them all and I think they turned out cute!
Sunday has been good so far. We are having dinner at the Waite household tonight which is always fun and that has really been the week!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Best BirthMonth EVER!
This whole month has been a whirlwind of gifts and blessing swarming into my house. I have two of the cutest and best behaved little girls in the whole world. Don't get me wrong we have our moments, Eliza is learning more and more each day that there are some boundaries that are just NOT worth crossing. And that tantrums really don't get you what you want instead they just make mom really annoyed with you and unwilling to give you anything. That said she also is learning just the right things to say to melt my gooey little heart and cause me to give into almost anything she desires! Darn those kids and their quick ability to learn!
But back to what I was saying before... this whole month has been insanity and I'm sure that everything went perfectly because it's my birthmonth... right? The world still revolves around me and my life is 100% perfect all the time.
This week in particular has been incredible. Monday was normal Tuesday was also normal the girls played at Grandma Merritt's house and I got the house clean. So normal. The weather has been very agreeable and you can feel fall in the air which has been incredible! I love the cool mornings and days that are so comfortable for playing outside. Wednesday we went to Loveland andslaved I mean played with Grandma Waite all day. We baked pie and made soup and ran errands it was a lot of going and going and going. Wore out doesn't even begin to describe how I felt at the end of the day! Thursday was excellent as well... Ok so it was mostly excellent. The morning was miserable. Alayna decided to have a total melt down over cloths that morning so she did not get to go to playgroup instead we went home and worked on potty training all day while Eliza played at the Mott's house all morning. Much to my surprise Alayna went almost all day without a single accident. She even pooped on the toilet! (this is a big deal someday you will all understand if you don't already!). That afternoon we went to Grandma's to get Eliza (grandma saved me and did the pick up since Alayna was still asleep!) and do some cutting I needed for some receiving blankets. Friday was my birthday!! Happy birthday to me! Ben surprised me by taking the day off to give me the day off too! He took the girls shopping and to the park and I got to go to quilt-a-fair and roam around for a while on my own! The crowds were insane I was glad the girls weren't there for me to worry about! Then after lunch and naps we took them to the Merritt's while Ben and I went out to dinner and then for a short walk on Pearl St. in Boulder. It was honestly the perfect day! I could not have ask for anything more!!
Saturday was busy with projects around the house and lots of soup making in the kitchen for the RS broadcast that evening. The broadcast was wonderful if you missed it you should absolutely look up Brother Uchtdorf's talk it was fantastic! Today has been good I am looking forward to our triple birthday celebration in Loveland later tonight!
Eliza-isms
Eliza has been saying some of the funniest stuff these days! I have to record them somewhere and Here seemed like a good place! I wish I would always remember to write them down but here are two from this week!
1. Eliza was playing in the play kitchen with Grandma while I was cutting my fabric on Thursday. They were playing dolls and house and such and Eliza found herself a little baby doll that she was cooking with. By cooking with I mean to say that she put the baby into the pot and explained to grandma that she was going to cook the baby into a baby bruder (brother) for her. She puts the baby in the oven and continues playing... When checking on the baby she pulls it out and peeks in the lid, promptly closing the lid and putting it back into the oven, apparently the baby came out as a sister so she put it back to cook into a brother.
2. *When talking about Lindsay getting married:
Eliza "BUT Mom! I want to get married too!"
Mom: " really!?" (confusion over the conversation just a day or two before about how she never wants to get married)
Eliza: "Yes!"
Mom: "Ok but who do you want to marry?"
Eliza: "how about I marry my baby bruder when he gets big enough to get out of your tummy"
Mom: trying to control uncontrollable laughter "No you can't marry your brother, it's not allowed"
Ahh to be 3 and so innocent once again!
But back to what I was saying before... this whole month has been insanity and I'm sure that everything went perfectly because it's my birthmonth... right? The world still revolves around me and my life is 100% perfect all the time.
This week in particular has been incredible. Monday was normal Tuesday was also normal the girls played at Grandma Merritt's house and I got the house clean. So normal. The weather has been very agreeable and you can feel fall in the air which has been incredible! I love the cool mornings and days that are so comfortable for playing outside. Wednesday we went to Loveland and
Saturday was busy with projects around the house and lots of soup making in the kitchen for the RS broadcast that evening. The broadcast was wonderful if you missed it you should absolutely look up Brother Uchtdorf's talk it was fantastic! Today has been good I am looking forward to our triple birthday celebration in Loveland later tonight!
Eliza-isms
Eliza has been saying some of the funniest stuff these days! I have to record them somewhere and Here seemed like a good place! I wish I would always remember to write them down but here are two from this week!
1. Eliza was playing in the play kitchen with Grandma while I was cutting my fabric on Thursday. They were playing dolls and house and such and Eliza found herself a little baby doll that she was cooking with. By cooking with I mean to say that she put the baby into the pot and explained to grandma that she was going to cook the baby into a baby bruder (brother) for her. She puts the baby in the oven and continues playing... When checking on the baby she pulls it out and peeks in the lid, promptly closing the lid and putting it back into the oven, apparently the baby came out as a sister so she put it back to cook into a brother.
2. *When talking about Lindsay getting married:
Eliza "BUT Mom! I want to get married too!"
Mom: " really!?" (confusion over the conversation just a day or two before about how she never wants to get married)
Eliza: "Yes!"
Mom: "Ok but who do you want to marry?"
Eliza: "how about I marry my baby bruder when he gets big enough to get out of your tummy"
Mom: trying to control uncontrollable laughter "No you can't marry your brother, it's not allowed"
Ahh to be 3 and so innocent once again!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Bread Baking... Who Knew!?
Monday: that was a good day... I usually like Monday's it gets me back into my routine and sets the precidence for what all will be accomplished in the week... I can't remember a single thing we did that day... and that is what consists of most of the week!
Tuesday on the other hand was a fun adventure! In my ward at church there is this fantastic woman who does a free Boot Camp class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for an hour of self inflicted pain. I decided that I would give it a try because I haven't been too sick and I figured worst case senerio my body would whine enough that I wouldn't go back until after this baby gets here! Thankfully the whole time I was working out everything was great. The sad news was that the aftermath is still up in the air of if I want to attempt it again this upcoming Tuesday. I was SUPER sore for days afterward and therefore extra grumpy which the girls didn't really appriciate! Not to mention the hip pain from over doing it a bit! The girls on the other hand had a great time and have spent the rest of the week asking when we could do it again. They crack me up because they come and do as many of the exercises that they can with us!
Wednesday was a day of soreness, tylenol, and too much partying! I took the girls to the park to play in the morning the weather was very cool and rainy all day long. I was actually very happy with the weather because all I really wanted to do that day was sit very very still and try not to feel the pain in every part of my body from the day before! Abby was awesome and came over that afternoon with gifts for me (mmm pumpkin spice starbucks!) AND a haircut/ eyebrow wax after I got Alayna down for a nap that day! The evening was just as amazing! Hailey was in town for a business meeting with her dad so we had a family dinner before Ben had to go over to the youth activity that night. Then the girls and I stayed and enjoyed some time just talking with all three of Ben's sisters! I was yet again reminded that I really did get SUPER lucky when I married into the Merritt family, they are all amazing wonderful people that I am happy to call family!
Thursday was interesting. We were planning on having friends over to play that day but then they were sick so we found ourselves incredibly busy with many other things. I successfully made some of the BEST homemade bread ever that day! I have been trying annually to make bread since Ben and I got married but have never succeeded until this day! It was yummy and I will be making more again soon! I would love to say that it was a very productive day but I definently did not get everything done that I needed to! oh well such is life
Friday was probably the best feeling day of the week. As much as I love visiting with family, visiting Renae (my favorite massage/MAT therapist) was likely the highlight of the week! I have never met someone who makes me feel so fantastic. She worked her magic on my shoulders and my hips and then she even worked some magic on my belly which has been fighting against the possibility of a baby taking over in there even though I did not know that she could do anything for the stomach pain but sure enough she did some stuff to my back and it promptly fixed the stomach pain! Now all I need to do is fix the digestive issues this baby is causing! Other than that we played with Grandma went shopping and picked up a Little Mermaid (tail not dress) costume that she got heart set on at the local thrift store. Best $5 spent for the play we've already gotten out of it! It was not as fun to convince her she really couldn't wear it to church this week!
Saturday was fabulous! I went to the farmers market first thing then went to the stake center to run a booth at the Prepardness Fair that the church put on for the public. It was very neat/ educational and well attended. After running my shift there I came home made lunch fed/dressed the girls napped Alayna, cleaned the house and then we really got to have an adventure! Ben took all of us girls to the Flatirons Mall! We just walked around and broused the shops until I was wore to the bone when we stopped for dinner a little play time at the park and then came home to crash on the couch!
Sunday, today has been good. We had great lessons and got two new councelors in the Bishopric both are going to do a fantastic job they are great men! The lessons were good and now we are just enjoying a quiet evening at home as a family. That has been the week! I hope that yours was as exciting as ours!
Tuesday on the other hand was a fun adventure! In my ward at church there is this fantastic woman who does a free Boot Camp class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for an hour of self inflicted pain. I decided that I would give it a try because I haven't been too sick and I figured worst case senerio my body would whine enough that I wouldn't go back until after this baby gets here! Thankfully the whole time I was working out everything was great. The sad news was that the aftermath is still up in the air of if I want to attempt it again this upcoming Tuesday. I was SUPER sore for days afterward and therefore extra grumpy which the girls didn't really appriciate! Not to mention the hip pain from over doing it a bit! The girls on the other hand had a great time and have spent the rest of the week asking when we could do it again. They crack me up because they come and do as many of the exercises that they can with us!
Wednesday was a day of soreness, tylenol, and too much partying! I took the girls to the park to play in the morning the weather was very cool and rainy all day long. I was actually very happy with the weather because all I really wanted to do that day was sit very very still and try not to feel the pain in every part of my body from the day before! Abby was awesome and came over that afternoon with gifts for me (mmm pumpkin spice starbucks!) AND a haircut/ eyebrow wax after I got Alayna down for a nap that day! The evening was just as amazing! Hailey was in town for a business meeting with her dad so we had a family dinner before Ben had to go over to the youth activity that night. Then the girls and I stayed and enjoyed some time just talking with all three of Ben's sisters! I was yet again reminded that I really did get SUPER lucky when I married into the Merritt family, they are all amazing wonderful people that I am happy to call family!
Thursday was interesting. We were planning on having friends over to play that day but then they were sick so we found ourselves incredibly busy with many other things. I successfully made some of the BEST homemade bread ever that day! I have been trying annually to make bread since Ben and I got married but have never succeeded until this day! It was yummy and I will be making more again soon! I would love to say that it was a very productive day but I definently did not get everything done that I needed to! oh well such is life
Friday was probably the best feeling day of the week. As much as I love visiting with family, visiting Renae (my favorite massage/MAT therapist) was likely the highlight of the week! I have never met someone who makes me feel so fantastic. She worked her magic on my shoulders and my hips and then she even worked some magic on my belly which has been fighting against the possibility of a baby taking over in there even though I did not know that she could do anything for the stomach pain but sure enough she did some stuff to my back and it promptly fixed the stomach pain! Now all I need to do is fix the digestive issues this baby is causing! Other than that we played with Grandma went shopping and picked up a Little Mermaid (tail not dress) costume that she got heart set on at the local thrift store. Best $5 spent for the play we've already gotten out of it! It was not as fun to convince her she really couldn't wear it to church this week!
Saturday was fabulous! I went to the farmers market first thing then went to the stake center to run a booth at the Prepardness Fair that the church put on for the public. It was very neat/ educational and well attended. After running my shift there I came home made lunch fed/dressed the girls napped Alayna, cleaned the house and then we really got to have an adventure! Ben took all of us girls to the Flatirons Mall! We just walked around and broused the shops until I was wore to the bone when we stopped for dinner a little play time at the park and then came home to crash on the couch!
Sunday, today has been good. We had great lessons and got two new councelors in the Bishopric both are going to do a fantastic job they are great men! The lessons were good and now we are just enjoying a quiet evening at home as a family. That has been the week! I hope that yours was as exciting as ours!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Growing by Two Feet!
Guess what! If you haven't already heard through the other million resources that it seems to be coming from,
Our family is growing by two feet by April! (I am due April 14th)
reading books and playing in the tent!
This week was a good and busy week for us. Monday was filled with activities for the girls and I including cleaning and lots and lots and lots of laundry. Did you know that when you put off laundry for two weeks the mass amount of laundry you are then faced with makes me incredibly tempted to fork out the cash and hit up a laundry mat so that I could get it all done in a matter of a few hours rather than a few days of uninterrupted effort in my own house.
Tuesday was an extra fun day. The girls and I went for a nice long walk that morning! We are really getting some good fall weather including temperatures that are no longer in the 90's which is the best part of fall coming. I could really do without the allergies that come with the changing seasons because we are a mucus mad house currently including two very loud snoring children thanks to the inability to breath well! BUT back to Tuesday. The girls and I walked to the park and played and had a picnic until Alayna's nap time when we went to Grandma Merritt's house for nap and then the girls got to hang out there while I went to my first baby appointment! I also got to steal a little nap on Grandma's couch before going to the doc. The baby appointment went really well. There is one healthy little peanut growing in there! I am measuring 'suprisingly large' (according to the doctor) for how early I still am in the pregnancy. I was thrilled to have an ultrasound to see baby and hear a good strong little heartbeat. I am always amazed at what a sweet sound that actually is!
Wednesday we went to Loveland to play with Grandma for the day. We went and did a little bit of shopping... ok we really did a lot of shopping because after Ben cleaned the fridge out last weekend we realized that we really were completely out of food and I HAD to get to the store soon or we wouldn't be eating anything but rice and canned vegi's! So we did some shopping and I was again reminded how much easier it is to shop with little ones when you have another set of calm hands to cope with the toddler who is screaming in the store because you wont cave in and give back that pacifier that she is begging for. (We are working, and succeeding mostly, at weaning Alayna off the pacifier during the day!)
Thursday was great! The girls went and played at a friends house in the morning for a little while I got a ton of cleaning done. The house is getting bad. I need to purge very badly, that and I need to reorganize the toy cabinet in the living room and rotate some new toys in for a while. The struggle is finding the motivation to do that stuff when all I really want to do is sleep, puke, and eat! That evening we had an adventure with the girls! Eliza keeps asking if we can go camping again (she loves to camp!) and I told her no but we could let her have a camp out in her room if she wanted. She was very excited by this so I set up a cool makeshift tent in their room and both girls got to camp out in their tent. Alayna didn't make it through the night without getting moved to her bed (kept waking up) but Eliza did and I think I might have cured them of wanting to have another camp out for a while she doesn't really care to sleep on the floor apparently. They have still had fun playing in the tent otherwise though!
Friday was an adventure! I got the girls up and ready for the day. My visiting teachers came... the girls had a sucker party downstairs... and by sucker party I mean that three of the four little girls that were here sat in the basement and consumed somewhere near 20-30 dumdum suckers in less than an hour. I had not realized that they had access to them so I was shocked when I went down to discover so many freshly finished sucker sticks all over my floor. After that I took the girls to the store for some shoe shopping for Miss Eliza. Her feet got huge over the summer! I realized as I was searching through my collection of shoes for her to grow into that there is not a single pair of size 9 shoes in the group so we went and got her some "running shoes" as she calls them! She is very excited about them. They are silver with hot pink soles... they were her 'favorite!' I paid too much for them but at least she's got some shoes to get her through the winter now!
Saturday Ben went wake boarding with his family super early that morning. I was not getting up that early to not get in the lake so I enjoyed sleeping in a little with the girls! We went to a birthday party that afternoon for our friend Jackson. He had a little petting zoo at his party and the girls both had a great time looking at the animals and petting them... as long as they were on the other side of the gate. Ben took Alayna into the petting area and she totally lost it. Eliza refused to go in at all but they both loved on the animals from the safety of the other side of the gate. After the party we finished up the things we needed to that day and I promptly crashed when we got home. I hate how exhausting normal life is when I am in the first trimester!
Sunday was good. Much less dramatic than last week... no one 'breaking up' with the church this week was great. We had some great talks and lessons and then a fantastic dinner with the Merritt's. Now it is time to move into our next week and have some more adventures!
Our family is growing by two feet by April! (I am due April 14th)
For those of you who don't know what you are looking at: Dark spot on right side = uterus, light spot on bottom inside of the dark = baby peanut!
This week was a good and busy week for us. Monday was filled with activities for the girls and I including cleaning and lots and lots and lots of laundry. Did you know that when you put off laundry for two weeks the mass amount of laundry you are then faced with makes me incredibly tempted to fork out the cash and hit up a laundry mat so that I could get it all done in a matter of a few hours rather than a few days of uninterrupted effort in my own house.
Tuesday was an extra fun day. The girls and I went for a nice long walk that morning! We are really getting some good fall weather including temperatures that are no longer in the 90's which is the best part of fall coming. I could really do without the allergies that come with the changing seasons because we are a mucus mad house currently including two very loud snoring children thanks to the inability to breath well! BUT back to Tuesday. The girls and I walked to the park and played and had a picnic until Alayna's nap time when we went to Grandma Merritt's house for nap and then the girls got to hang out there while I went to my first baby appointment! I also got to steal a little nap on Grandma's couch before going to the doc. The baby appointment went really well. There is one healthy little peanut growing in there! I am measuring 'suprisingly large' (according to the doctor) for how early I still am in the pregnancy. I was thrilled to have an ultrasound to see baby and hear a good strong little heartbeat. I am always amazed at what a sweet sound that actually is!
Wednesday we went to Loveland to play with Grandma for the day. We went and did a little bit of shopping... ok we really did a lot of shopping because after Ben cleaned the fridge out last weekend we realized that we really were completely out of food and I HAD to get to the store soon or we wouldn't be eating anything but rice and canned vegi's! So we did some shopping and I was again reminded how much easier it is to shop with little ones when you have another set of calm hands to cope with the toddler who is screaming in the store because you wont cave in and give back that pacifier that she is begging for. (We are working, and succeeding mostly, at weaning Alayna off the pacifier during the day!)
Thursday was great! The girls went and played at a friends house in the morning for a little while I got a ton of cleaning done. The house is getting bad. I need to purge very badly, that and I need to reorganize the toy cabinet in the living room and rotate some new toys in for a while. The struggle is finding the motivation to do that stuff when all I really want to do is sleep, puke, and eat! That evening we had an adventure with the girls! Eliza keeps asking if we can go camping again (she loves to camp!) and I told her no but we could let her have a camp out in her room if she wanted. She was very excited by this so I set up a cool makeshift tent in their room and both girls got to camp out in their tent. Alayna didn't make it through the night without getting moved to her bed (kept waking up) but Eliza did and I think I might have cured them of wanting to have another camp out for a while she doesn't really care to sleep on the floor apparently. They have still had fun playing in the tent otherwise though!
Friday was an adventure! I got the girls up and ready for the day. My visiting teachers came... the girls had a sucker party downstairs... and by sucker party I mean that three of the four little girls that were here sat in the basement and consumed somewhere near 20-30 dumdum suckers in less than an hour. I had not realized that they had access to them so I was shocked when I went down to discover so many freshly finished sucker sticks all over my floor. After that I took the girls to the store for some shoe shopping for Miss Eliza. Her feet got huge over the summer! I realized as I was searching through my collection of shoes for her to grow into that there is not a single pair of size 9 shoes in the group so we went and got her some "running shoes" as she calls them! She is very excited about them. They are silver with hot pink soles... they were her 'favorite!' I paid too much for them but at least she's got some shoes to get her through the winter now!
Saturday Ben went wake boarding with his family super early that morning. I was not getting up that early to not get in the lake so I enjoyed sleeping in a little with the girls! We went to a birthday party that afternoon for our friend Jackson. He had a little petting zoo at his party and the girls both had a great time looking at the animals and petting them... as long as they were on the other side of the gate. Ben took Alayna into the petting area and she totally lost it. Eliza refused to go in at all but they both loved on the animals from the safety of the other side of the gate. After the party we finished up the things we needed to that day and I promptly crashed when we got home. I hate how exhausting normal life is when I am in the first trimester!
Sunday was good. Much less dramatic than last week... no one 'breaking up' with the church this week was great. We had some great talks and lessons and then a fantastic dinner with the Merritt's. Now it is time to move into our next week and have some more adventures!
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