Happy Birthday!

To my Blog, that is. I started one year ago today but didn't really give out my address until our Christmas card this year.

Anyway, in honor of my blogging birthday, I've put together a fun package of a bunch of my favorite things to send to one of my blogging friends.

So... you have 1 week to post a comment on this message and then I'll draw a name from the comments for my cute little package!

We're off to our family reunion starting tomorrow so I'll post more when we return!

Have a great week!

Dear Mr. Cox Communications,

I thought I would write and apologize for the debacle at my house yesterday afternoon. You see, when you rang the doorbell at 4:30 p.m., my 4 year old had already been asking when his dad was going to be home for two hours. So, when you rang he was convinced that it must be his daddy arriving home. The temper tantrum that you heard from the outside was merely because he hasn't learned how to unlock the door at our house yet. The ensuing meltdown when he realized you weren't his dad really took the cake though. I appreciate that you tried to tell me all about your service packages while my 4 year old was writhing on the front porch and screaming loud enough for the neighborhood to hear.

Whilst the screaming ensued, my 2 year old ran out the door completely naked. You were absolutely unfazed by her bizarre behavior that included a potty dance and her repeated requests to take her to the bathroom. And still you continued to tell me about the services your company offers.

I'm really sorry that I pretty much had to take your brochures and slam the door in your face to deal with my monsters, I mean, children. Really, your professionalism is to be commended.

Additionally, I would like to apologize for my personal appearance. No, I don't always hang around my house in cut off sweats and a ratty tshirt. I was merely spending the afternoon unpacking boxes and cleaning to get ready for company. I realize you will not be nominating me for mother of the year or Miss America anytime soon.

Sincerely,
Occasionally frazzled stay at home mom of 2

Eternal Potty Training

Potty training Makenna has just solidified in my mind how very different two children from the same parents can be. Really. We PT'd Carter at the exact same age as Makenna is right now. We started on a Saturday morning and by the end of the day he was completely trained. We didn't even have to ask him if he needed to use the bathroom. He just did his business and went on his merry way. He was even night trained at the same time. I can literally count on one hand the number of accidents he has ever had.

Fast forward to now. Makenna has been obsessed with the potty since she was about 20 months old. But we (wisely) decided to wait until our lives were more settled to take an aggressive approach to PTing her. She was doing great as long as we let her run around with a bare bottom. The second we put panties on her, she got a false sense of security and did her business. It has been such a mess. She has been wearing solely panties for about 2 weeks. As long as ask her often and taken her to the potty about every 30 minutes, she stays accident free. But alas, that is not very practical and is more parent training than child training. To her credit, she is getting a little bit better every day. Today we went to Target and to the Mall and I took her potty a total of 5 times in 2 hours. It's rather exhausting but certainly better than the alternative. The other problem with Makenna and the potty is that she still loves to run around with a bare bum. I probably wrestle, threaten and coerce her for a good 15-20 minutes to get her redressed and hands washed. So ready to be done with this.

So really, I've long given up that our kids' successes or easy behaviors have anything to do with us and our excellent (heh) parenting. It's clearly all about the children and their individual personalities. Someday I won't have to bribe anyone into using the potty and I look forward to that day already.

Finally Settled.

Well, we are in! It is SO nice to finally be in our own place with all of our own stuff. And gloriously enough room for every single one of our possessions!! This is a feat when you know how small our homes in CT and Seattle were and how we constantly felt cramped for space and more storage. For the first time in our married life, Al and I can fit ALL of our clothes in one closet. Granted, the closet is roughly the size of an average bedroom and we both have a lot of clothes... but I digress.

Anyway, my parents were here this weekend and literally SAVED us. I don't know how I would have managed without them. Words cannot even express the gratitude I feel for them for all the work they did. My dad hauled about a million boxes up and down stairs, put together endless furniture and was our go-to guy for everything. My mom seriously kept me sane. She played with the kids, fixed food, emptied box after box and helped me from getting too overwhelmed. We are all exhausted but the house is miraculously almost completely put together. I still have the playroom to organize and our office/craft room to unpack and of course things to hang on the wall, but other than that we are completely settled. We are loving the house and all the space we have.

We also were able to take a very quick trip up to Show Low for a family party for my Dad's family. We stayed at Al's mom's house and had a great time for the few hours we were there. It was so fun to see many of my cousins that I haven't seen for years. And the kids LOVED the ranch. It is the first time they have ever been there. We are headed back up next week for the Frost family reunion and they are so excited to go back.

In the midst of it all (and I am kind of embarrassed to post this), I was able to finish:

HOLY COW!! Was it ever a great book. I will not give away any of the plot details here but it was an amazing end to the series. I laughed, cried (hard), gasped and was thrilled with the plot twists and turns. It was perfect. I read in the car on the way home from Show Low and then read late into the night on both Saturday and Sunday nights while everyone else slept. So this one took me all of 48 hours to get through. I am anxious for a 2nd read but will relinquish the book to Al for now. I can't wait to discuss with others who have read.

Ok, I promise to post pictures later this week, catch up on blogs and send out the millions of emails that I have slacked on for the last month or so.

HP 5

We are home from Colorado and had the best, most relaxing trip. It was SO nice to be out of the heat. I sort of feel like I can face the rest of the summer now. I have a zillion pictures to edit and upload eventually.


One of the most fun things we did while we were in town was for my sister Nicole and I to go to the midnight showing of Harry Potter 5 the day it opened. We had a blast even though we were the oldest people in the theater. Ok, not really, but almost. We went to a huge theater complex near my parents house that has 24 theaters in it and EVERY single theater was sold out of the midnight showing. It was really fun to just be there in all the action and hype with the movie. Most of the people there were teenagers but it was fun all the same. (Incidentally, as we were pulling into the movie theater parking lot in my sister's Suburban, a couple of really young teenagers tried to hit on us. We were laughing SO hard - especially considering that we have 7 kids between the two of us.)



Anyway, here is a picture of us on opening night. Ignore how glamorous we are looking - it was the middle of the night after all.


I loved the movie. I know there are some die hards out there who don't think it followed the book close enough but in my mind I've separated the movies from the books. The movies are just adaptations of the books. I do think that if you haven't read the books, you would be a little lost in the movie. I also think this is the best movie of the series so far. I loved all the flashbacks they did during Harry's Occlumency lessons. So fun to see how they've all grown and changed. I know it's pretty geeky that we went on opening night but I'm so glad my sister was up for the adventure. It makes for some great memories.


Ok, I will probably be too busy to post much this week. The trip recap will have to wait. We move into the house on Wednesday!!! YAY!!! All the inside work is done and looks so great. My parents are coming for a quick trip on Thursday for a family reunion with my dad's side so I will be up in the mountains with them for a couple days and then they'll stay to help us unpack for a couple days. So we are crazy busy! Have a great week everyone!

S'mores

A few weeks ago I found a delish recipe for S'mores on another blog that I read. I think it's a Paula Dean recipe. Anyway, we have been enjoying all sorts of combos and variations of these s'mores for the last couple of weeks. I just have to share. We used homemade chocolate chip cookies for the base, filled the middle with crushed up Andes mints, marshmallows, and sliced bananas. Wrap the whole thing in foil and throw on the grill or in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Believe it or not, the bananas TOTALLY make the S'mores. I took these to our 4th of July BBQ and everyone loved them. And we had them at my mom and dad's house a couple times. Here is the aftermath one of the days we did them in the oven. Be warned that these are messy but oh so worth it!

Parting Ways.

Al and I have always had a hard time parting ways with our hard earned and saved money. It seems that all I've done the last two weeks is spend money on stuff for the house. Last week I wrote checks for the granite and the landscaping. This week we bought a new refrigerator and FINALLY bought a sectional for our family room. We did end up with *the* sectional we were loving. We probably went to at least 20 furniture show rooms before finally settling on this one. After 3 or 4 visits to look at and measure the couch, the sales person was willing to really negotiate with us on the price. We did spend more than we were planning but decided it is worth it to get something we love. And for good measure, we bought a bedroom set for Makenna's big girl room because he cut us a deal we couldn't refuse. The list never ends. We still have light fixtures to pick out and purchase and a host of other necessities that will have to come slowly over the next several months.

A few people have requested pictures of the new furniture. I had to photoshop them some because they were so dark and I still don't think you can see it very well.

Couch: really crummy picture but it is very dark brown leather and very traditional and simple, just like we like our furniture. No nailheads, no foof. (It is virtually impossible to find traditional leather without nailheads) I seriously love it.

Bedroom set: We ordered this in white. It is very cottagey and cute. It's actually a lot like mine and Al's bedroom set. Makenna's room is the room I am the most excited to decorate in the new house. I ADORE the bedding I chose for her and have a darling room envisioned. I just might have to move in with her.

I will be posting a lot of decorating posts in the future. Bear with me. I am thrilled to have a blank slate to work with here.

Stars and Stripes!

We had a really fun and busy 4th yesterday. First of all, I can't remember the last time I wasn't home in Colorado for the 4th. It was weird, but really fun, to be here with just our little family. (I am actually heading to CO with the kids this weekend). Anyway, we started bright and early with a ward breakfast at 6:30 a.m. We were astounded at the early hour but quickly realized that it's smokin hot by 9:00 a.m. when the breakfast ended. The food was great but the most popular attraction of the morning were the fire truck rides. The kids loved it and Makenna keeps begging to go on another ride.

(You can see Carter on top of the truck right in the middle)

After the breakfast we ran by the house to check the progress of our flooring. They were there working!! The tile was finished yesterday and they began grouting today. It is gorgeous and we love it.

We met up with some friends at a community sponsored party. 10 snow cones, 6 temporary tattoos and one round in the bouncy tent later we were ready to hit the pool. Carter's swim abilities are amazing us. About a week ago he asked to take off his life vest and has been a pro ever since. Yesterday he not only went down the huge water slide by himself, he swam to the side all by himself. He also dives for toys, does flips and can swim the length of the pool alone. He's a maniac.

After lunch and a family nap, we headed off to another swim party/BBQ with some friends in our ward. We really had so much fun. Here's a pic of Carter right before jumping off the rocks into the pool. I think we spent at least 6 hours in the pool yesterday. We were wiped out long before the fireworks started last night!