Signs of Life

I am so happy to report that I am finally feeling back to my normal self. Well as normal as you can feel at 19 weeks pregnant anyway! I knew things were starting to get back to normal when the following happened:

Laundry getting washed, folded and put away on the same day! This didn't happen around here for months. I could get it washed and dried on my normal day (Monday) but it usually sat in baskets until Allen folded it for me (on about Thursday).

Meal planning and cooking! Yay! It feels great to be back in my kitchen and feeding my family healthy meals again. I'm especially enjoying all of the fall baking this year. Last year I was on my crazy strict diet and did virtually no baking all fall so I'm totally living it up this year! {And next year I'll have to be good again while I lose baby weight}Scrapbooking! I'm so happy to have enough energy to be getting back into a few hobbies. I scrapped TWELVE pages this week and am happily completely caught up on my kids' school scrapbooks! Next up is getting my 365 blog updated this weekend.This fall is shaping up to be INSANELY busy. My bestie (Mindy) is getting married in two weeks so we are making a QUICK trip to Utah for her wedding. We are thrilled to pieces for her and love her fiance Erik.

The very next weekend Allen and I will be boarding this:

And heading to places like this:

(One of our ports - St. Maarten, Virgin Islands) as an early 10 year anniversary trip. We are so excited but I have A LOT to do to get ready for my parents to come and care for my kiddos that week.

We also have all of our traditional fall activities - apple picking, state fair, pumpkin patch, balloon fiesta - to squeeze in to the remaining weekends. Carter starts football this week and the girls have started their dance and gymnastics classes. I have some decorating and sewing projects up my sleeve (including DARLING Halloween costumes - yes, I am a glutton for punishment!!) and am pulling out my fall decor bins to start decorating around here this weekend!

Ok, that's about it from around here! I'll be back with more soon!

What a day!

I got up early this morning and jumped right into the shower. Fed the baby, made breakfast for the big kids, packed lunches/waterbottles, went through take home folders. Got beds made, kids dressed and teeth/hair done and in the car by 7:30 a.m. for school drop off. On the way we went through a couple paragraphs of the proclamation on the family, which our entire ward is memorizing, and then dropped Carter off.

I had 1 hour from when I got home until I had to leave to go visiting teaching. Hurried and got Addie down for a nap. Then the real craziness started. In that one hour I did the following (almost none of which was planned):
Cleaned up breakfast
Threw in a load of laundry
Answered/fielded 4 phone calls from soccer parents about various things (Al is coaching this year)
Let my pest control guy in (2 days early) and talked to him about some stuff
Let the termite treatment guy in (about 10 days early) and talked to him about some stuff
Put together my VT monthly gift and quote (a cute galvanized metal bucket full of apples, tied w/ cute ribbon - of course!)
Did my hair and makeup
Friend picks up Makenna for preschool carpool and another friend is with her so we all visit for a few minutes
Talked to my sister about Christmas plans and flights (and I have been on cloud nine all day because they are going to CO for Christmas too - I am SOOOOO happy!!!!!)

Then I did:
All my VT for the month
preschool carpool pickup
Got the girls home, fed and down for naps
Cleaned ALL my baseboards
Cleaned all three bathrooms
Wiped down walls, doors and switch plate covers
Put clean sheets on the bed in the guest room
Put tons of scrapbook/craft stuff away
Moved a few things around in the guest room
Watered the garden (twice)

Ran to the scrapbook store
Picked up Carter from school
Ran to the mall to buy M a pair of jeans and C a pair of church pants (Makenna did not have a single pair of pants that fit and we will be in the mtns this weekend)
Dinner/cleanup/get Al off to YMs
Homework time
Bedtime routine
Paid Bills
Painted a quick project for the girls' room
Made a cute/quick Halloween decoration (I KNOW, seriously, what am I thinking w/ the craft projects?!?)
Laundry, laundry and more laundry
Watched DVR'd episode of Fringe

Luckily I did most of my cleaning, shopping and meal planning earlier this week. My mom and dad come into town tomorrow morning! I can't wait! But first I can't wait to climb into bed tonight!

Photo Tag

I've seen this tag done a couple places and think it's a fun way to capture the here and now of day to day life. You're supposed to take the photos without staging anything. So here's the good, bad and ugly :)


My Laundry Pile: I did 7 loads yesterday which is why this is so small. We all know it won't last.



My Kitchen Sink: I am thoroughly anti sink clutter. Call me a minimalist. When we replaced our kitchen counters last year I had them replace my sink to include one with a built in soap dispenser. Love it.


Favorite Shoes: Flip flops, of course. I'm loving these blingy ones right now




Our Most Popular Potty: The one in the kids' bathroom. It's right off the bonus/play room and most convenient during the day. (and still needs to be painted, it's the next project on my list)




Self Portrait: This is way harder than it looks


My favorite room: Not because of how it looks, because it is a HUGE mess, but because we are finally done painting all 1000+ square feet of it (6 gallons of paint!!!). This is exactly how it looks right now. I've decided to dejunk, reorganize, purge and deep clean as part of this project. It will be put back together before I hit the hay tonight. I have some really cool ideas for this room so stay tuned!


What my kids are doing right now: The girls are napping (M is actually asleep right now). Carter is in his room playing with his Legos (of course)



My fridge: Let's be honest, in dire need of a good wipedown:

Play along if you want! And look for your blog invite tonight because they will also be done before I go to bed!

Busy Saturday, Relaxing Sunday

Yesterday was such a busy day. It seems our sports season starts a bit later than most places, probably due to the weather. This week the weather has been fantastic. It's been in the 90s and then this weekend it's been overcast and in the low 80s (yes, Kayla, I finally got my first overcast day in AZ). I truly feel like a new woman with the lower temps.

Anyway, Carter started his season of Kickball yesterday. Yes, Kickball. He has been begging to play in a soccer league since he was 2 years old. In CT, the league starts at 3 but we moved before the season started. In Seattle, it starts at 4 but we moved before he could get going in that league. Guess when the leagues start here? Yup, you guessed it, at 5. Poor kid is dying to play sports but he always misses the age cutoff. So.. long story short, we did sign him up for a kickball team. It is totally low key and is supposed to just teach the kids about sportmanship and playing as a team. He had fun and is getting a little bit of exercise every week. Here's a picture of him in his uniform. His first game is next Saturday.

This picture is for Aunt Laurie - please pay specific attention to the shoe choice :)

While I was at the practice, Al attended the mandatory parents meeting. He had to pretty much sign away his life with the parents rules of conduct. Basically saying he would support the coaches and refs during sports and not get physically violent. Cracks me up. They must have had problems with it in the past. We rushed from practice to the church for Primary program practice. Carter was late but got in the last hour of the practice. We also spent hours at Home Depot finalizing paint decisions and getting stuff to get going on the kids' rooms. After digging out all of our painting supplies leftover from our days in CT, we decided that everything needed to be replaced. So we spent at least an extra $100 buying new brushes, rollers, paint trays, etc. I would love to have my house professionally painted but there are SO many other things I would rather spend the money on at this point (we still need lots of furniture and Al has his eye on a new BIG TV). So we will slave away and paint ourselves. Finally, we attended a fun ward party late into the night last night. I'm pretty sure I didn't sit down once all day until the party.

Today was the Primary sacrament meeting program. Despite the fact that we worked tirelessly on the Primary songs at home, Carter didn't really sing any of them. It was kind of frustrating for us as parents but in the end we decided you can't do anything but laugh it off. It seems to have been typical for most of the Sunbeams but we know that he knew the words to all the songs. We think he had a little bit of stage fright or something. After church we had a nice relaxing nap, took a long walk, played a bit at the park and on the trampoline, grilled for dinner and read lots of books. After such a busy Saturday, it was so nice to enjoy some down time together today. The windows are open and the fresh air feels heavenly after such a long, hot summer.

Question: What Happened to Every Day?

Answer: Life

Sheesh. I had such good intentions for posting every day this week. Here's a summation of my week and you'll see why it just didn't happen:

• 1 flooded backyard - the landscapers who installed our sprinkling system set our timers to run 3 times a day for 40 minutes each time. When they came out to adjust the sprinklers they said we really only need 1 time a day for 5 minutes. Nice. Can't wait to see that water bill. Our grass is completely waterlogged and nasty.
• 2 sick little kids - fevers, boogers, coughing, general grumpiness
• 3 unexpected house guests - my 4 year old niece Eva had a massive allergy/asthma attack while spending some extra time up in Show Low. It was so bad that the doctor ordered her to be medivaced (helicoptered) from Show Low down to Phoenix Children's Hospital. Gratefully, she is just fine now but was could not fly home on Wednesday morning. So my Sister-in-law Tracie, Eva and 2 year old Arin stayed with us from Wed-Saturday morning. It was crazy but the kids had fun having extra time together.
• 7 workmen in my backyard - our patio addition is finally finished. Seriously, it has been a huge hassle but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. The noise drove me crazy. But the painters showed up yesterday and the project is finally complete! YAY!
• 10 phone calls between me and Carter's preschool teacher (maybe even more) - school starts on Monday. She called me on Thursday to inform me that he is not allowed to start school without a Hepatitis A shot. So I call my pediatrician and since we are new patients she will not see us just for the shot. I have to schedule a well child check before they'll see us for anything else (stupidest policy ever). The first well child appt. is well into September. So now I have to take Carter to the Maricopa county public health clinic to get the shot or he can't start school on Monday. Nice that they gave me 2 days notice.

I won't even continue but the list seriously goes on and on. My sister in law saved me this week. She watched the kids so I could run errands (alone!!!), sewed a project for my Achievement Day girls, babysat so we could go on a date last night, etc. Thanks Tess!!

So maybe, just maybe, I can get caught up this next week. We'll see!

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

So much for global warming!

Said my mother to me yesterday. I can see why. She is kind of bitter about the seriously crazy winter weather that is still plaguing Colorado and apparently, much of the country.

Spring is really the never ending season in Seattle. Remember way back in January when I rejoiced at the first glimpses of spring in my yard? Buds on trees, things sprouting in my yard? I'd like to see some real sunshine and warmth right about now. Guess I'll be holding out until July or so when it finally warms up around here. And remember, I use the term "warms up" pretty loosely. 80 degrees is a full on heat wave around here.

Have you noticed yet that I am seriously OBSESSED with the weather (And I 100% credit my mom for this obsession)?!? Allen totally makes fun of me for it. He finally downloaded a handy dandy weather bug for my desk top and I probably check it at least 10 times a day. I used to plan my morning and evening around catching the weather on the news but with my weather bug, those days are long gone. I love it.

Ok, a couple other things here. First, I am still sick. Makenna mostly seems to be better. I really can't complain as this is literally the first time all winter/spring that any of us have been sick. We've had a gloriously healthy winter up until now.

Second, I totally have to share 2 household tips that I learned and used this week (and you know they must be good for me to share them on the blog.)

Tip #1: For scratched DVDs, rub peanut butter all over the DVD with a coffee filter. Then buff clean with a 2nd coffee filter. I know it is bizarre and I was a total skeptic but I now have good-as-new Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (the most watched DVDs in our house). Way cheaper than replacing DVDs, for sure.

Tip #2: Perhaps everyone else in the world already knows this because it REALLY is pretty obvious. But someone just told me to use a sticky lint brush on my fabric lampshade. Brilliant. My shades look brand spankin' new.

That is all. The glamour continues.

(PS - Was LOST not fabulous last night? We had to rewind and watch the previews for the next few weeks a few times to try to catch all the little hints. If you do not watch this show, you really should. It is not too late. Rent the DVDs, you won't regret it!!)

Happy

77 degrees and rising = happy

3 Day Weekend for Al = happy (but dang, this year is flying by)

Girls Night Out tonight = happy

Long Leisure Target run this a.m. = happy

Movie (Meet the Robinsons) and early dinner at yum-o Cosi with the kids today = happy

Caught up with an old friend this week = happy

Got great news about some of the young women I worked with while in the Hartford ward = happy, happy

Talked to a Realtor in Phoenix yesterday = happy

Found out some great news about a friend of mine = happy

Our neighbor's dog Trixie spends all day in our yard = happy (the best way to "have" a dog, if you ask me)

Easter festivities all weekend = happy

Have a great weekend everyone!!

What a strange week it has been.

Nothing earth shattering happened this week, but I've had an unusual week.

On Tuesday I had a doctor's appt. for some weird things that have been happening to me the last few weeks. My doctor was perplexed and I ended up having to have an EKG for them to check my heart. It ended up being ok and we're just chalking it up to bizarre reaction to seasonal allergies. It has been rainy and cold this week and the weird symptoms have completely disappeared.

On Tuesday night I broke out with what I thought were hives all over my both of my hands. Al looked at them and said that it looked like poison ivy to him. What?!? Last spring when we were putting our house on the market and doing lots of yard work both Al and I got poison ivy. Al's was pretty bad and he had to go on a strong oral and topical steriod to get rid of it. Occassionally poison ivy will flare up for no apparent reason. We still had some of the topical stuff so I took some Benadryl and used the ointment and the next day it was cleared up.

Wednesday morning as I was walking out the door to meet some friends for lunch I ventured into my laundry room to put some stuff away and realized that the pipe that drains the dirty water out of my washing machine had become disconnected and I had a full laundry cycle's worth of water all over my floor. It was such a mess and I had to do 4 extra loads of laundry to handle all the towels. Such a pain but luckily quickly resolved.

Last night I had another major poison ivy outbreak. This time on both hands and up my arms. As we were trying to figure out what could be causing them, Al remembered that you're supposed to stay out of direct sunlight if you have poison ivy. Well, I have been tanning a lot getting ready for our trip and my outbreaks have both happened within an hour of getting home from the tanning bed. Ugh. Not sure how my 8 days in Hawaii are going to go if I'm not supposed to be in direct sun.

Today I took the kids to the Children's Museum. As I was walking in I noticed a little boy standing all alone very close to the busy parking lot. Another mom joined me and we were trying to figure out where this boy's parent/caregiver was. The boy was probably about Makenna's age. We stood there for about 5 minutes looking for his mom (he was little enough that he could not communicate where she was when we asked). Finally, a lady got out of her car (about a football field away) and yelled for the little boy to come over to her. Hello, walking through a huge, busy parking lot by himself. I was mortified!! So I packed up my kids and grabbed the boys hand and walked him to his car. Stupid, irresponsible parents.

Other than that we are just getting ready to go on our trip! This weekend we are having the kids' Easter pictures taken and getting our legal documents updated/notarized in preparation for our trip. I cannot believe I will be in Hawaii in 3 days!!

Suddenly Feeling Overwhelmed

Wow. I'm just looking at my schedule for the next few months and I am feeling very overwhelmed at the moment. Here's what's coming down the pike for us:

This Friday - co-hosting baby shower for my friend at my house (40ish people invited)
This Saturday - Drive to Boise for Al's little brother's mission farewell
This Sunday - Attend farewell and drive back to Seattle (yes, we are insane)

March 25-April 3 - Hawaii

April 5- Huge Enrichment Night that I'm in charge of - Musical Easter program and dinner for 70 women - 2 days after my trip - I have a ton to do and it all has to be done before I leave

April 18-23 - My dear friend Lizzy is coming to visit Seattle. We are planning a trip to Oregon during this week to visit our mission president's wife (our mission president is deceased)

May 1 - 5 - Watch my sisters 5 kids while they are on a Carribbean Cruise - (we are trading kids for trips)

May 18-19 - Stake Women's Conference that I'm on 2 committees for and have been asked to teach a class (YIKES)

May 25-28 - Girls weekend with my mom and sisters in Victoria, BC. We are celebrating my sisters 40th bday.

Throw in the mix the fact that we *might* have to squeeze in a house hunting trip sometime during these next few months and potentially get ready to move. Holy cow. I'm stressed!

Typical

A whole lotta nothing is what we've been up to. Ok, we have been outside a TON because the weather has been fabulous - in the mid 50s to lower 60s - and it has been glorious (though rain is in the forecast for this week). We've been at the park and in the yard - cleaning out flower beds and loving seeing everything sprouting and green. There are even some buds and blossoms on the trees around here. Glorious. I love spring. Really, I love anything that's not winter.

I took these pictures yesterday and want to post them because they just so typical of my kids right now. Carter is STILL wearing that stinking Lightening McQueen shirt every day that it's clean. And shorts. Lots and lots of shorts. And his newest obsession is his Crocs -they are cammo, of course. So I swore that my kids would never wear character clothing and that is clearly out the window with this one. You just never know until you're there. I STILL won't buy character shoes though he begs every time we see them. He's also had a major height growth spurt. He's needed size 4 pants since the fall to allow for height but now they are almost too short but totally falling off of him, even with the waists adjusted as small as they will go. He's so stinking skinny. And of course Miss M. with messy ponytails, which is how she looks a lot of the time. I adore the knee socks and of course the pink Crocs, that she is also obsessed with. (I would personally probably not wear Crocs but I think they're really cute on little kids.) And no outfit is complete on Makenna without that little twinkle in her eye. She's started to act very TWO lately. She's a pretty defiant little girl but her cute personality makes up for her stinkerness (yeah, I know that will pull up on spell check).

Just call me Martha

By default, I'm feeling very Martha Stewartish today. While I was making lunch today my back was turned from Makenna. I was chatting with my dad on the phone and making grilled cheese sandwiches. When I turned around to see what she was doing I realized she had taken the eggs out of the fridge and thrown three of them across the kitchen. She had taken 6 more eggs and smooshed them on the floor. They were cracked but still usable. So I've spent my afternoon baking away. A recipe of my mom's fabulous Texas Sheet Cake for a Relief Society activity later this week and a double recipe of chocolate chip cookies that will go in the freezer. Al and I have stopped eating pretty much all sugar so I'm not really sure what I'll use them for, but at least I used the eggs up. Carter and I have spent the afternoon working on a cute Valentines project for his preschool class. I hope to finish it sometime this week and I'll post pictures. Now I'm off to make dough for our pizza tonight! My Kitchenaid has gotten a workout today.

Busy week this week. I have church meetings on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Al has a meeting on Wed. night and the Klondike campout this weekend. I'm watching my friends kids all day tomorrow so she can help clean the temple. I'm helping with food for a funeral on Thursday and have a RS project that I'll be working on at the church all day on Wednesday. So... I probably won't be around too much this week. Today is the calm before the storm.

A couple other things:

1. Makenna has done GREAT with the binky thing. It takes her a little longer to fall asleep for her naps but she has adjusted just fine. She still asks for it a couple times a day but we just tell her she is a big girl now and doesn't need it.

2. A funny conversation I had with Al yesterday afternoon:

Al: I feel like muffins
Me: You do?
Al: Yes, I love muffins.
Me: Really? I never knew that.
Al: Yeah, if I could, I would have a muffin every single day.

Isn't that random? We've been married for almost 6 years and together for almost 7 and I had no idea that my husband LOVES muffins. It makes me laugh. How can marriage possibly get boring when there are endless things to learn about eachother? I guess I'll be making more muffins.

3. An even funnier conversation with Carter last night:

Background: Al has a great aunt and uncle who live close to us. They have a big family dinner once a month on a Sunday night and always invite us. It is so nice to be included. There are usually 30ish people there and they have opened their arms and welcomed us to their family functions. We are really grateful and have come to really love them. The dinners are full of yummy food and Carter usually sits at the table for the little kids so we dish up his food and never really know how much he has eaten. They also celebrate the birthdays every month with gifts and yummy desserts. So last night, they sang happy bday to Carter. For dessert, Carter ate: 4 donut holes, a Chocolate glazed donut, a brownie and ice cream and a mini Kit Kat bar. So on the way home, he was whining and asking for some of the Cars fruit snacks that Aunt Edith sent home with us.

Me: Carter, you have eaten so much junk tonight, you don't need any fruit snacks.
Carter: But I want them.
Me: Did you even eat any of your dinner tonight?
Carter: Yes
Me: What did you eat?
Carter: (defiantly) I ate Jello and some chips
Me: (Laughing so hard) See, you've eaten nothing but junk tonight
Carter: No I didn't. Daddy made me take a bite of potatoes

As if that makes up for all the other crap he ate. We were laughing so hard.

4. So excited that two of our shows are coming off of hiatus this week! Tonight Prison Break and Heroes come back on. Can hardly wait for Lost to come back.

5. To answer Kayla's question from my last post, Boden does free shipping and free returns promotions pretty often. I just order a bunch of stuff and send back/exchange if it doesn't fit. I'm having issues getting into my email today but I'll post a code if I can find one.

I'd like my left arm back now, please!

I am having a crisis. My sewing machine is on the fritz. Bad. For me, scrapbooking without sewing is like doing it without a left arm. I. CAN. NOT. DO. IT. I am frankly a little panicked about it. I have completed four layouts this week without any sewing on them. And each one of them seems unfinished without a little quick stitching. Sob! I have been fiddling with my tension and rewinding bobbins and everything. I think a service call is in my near future.

In other news, have we moved back to Connecticut without me knowing it?!? It is SO cold here this week. Highs in the 20s. Not even breaking freezing. It snowed on Wednesday night and of course, since all of Seattle has about 4 snowplows/sand trucks, nothing has been plowed. Our streets are an icy mess. But that has not stopped us from leaving the house each and every day. Al walked home from work in the snow on Wednesday night because the traffic was horrific. Only about 25% of people came into the office yesterday, but he was there. Our trash hasn't even been picked up because, apparently, 4 ton trash trucks can't possibly navigate the streets of Seattle when there is ice on the roads. But we've cruised around on errands and a trip to the Children's museum today. The good news is that every place we've been has been pretty deserted.

Have a good weekend everyone! We have not one, but TWO dates scheduled for this weekend. Yay us. And some birthday preparation for our fabulous (almost) four year old.