Some Things and Stuff

Saying Goodbye

2012-01-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a difficult one for us for two reasons. We had to say two very sad goodbyes. One was to our dear friends who are moving to another state to pursue a career in ministry. We were so blessed to have had this sweet family in our lives for so many years. Our kids play together like siblings. Sometimes that means fighting, but most times that means a love that is seen in their every interaction. Here is a picture of their oldest with our oldest when they were itty bitties. Apparently neither one could figure out how this bike was supposed to work.

And here they are a few years later. Besties for sure!

And while I'm at it, I might as well include a pic with our littles too. Here is our silly crew:

Such sweet friends. We love them like family and our hearts ache as we let them go. But that said, we are so proud of them and all the Lord is doing in their lives.

The other goodbye we had was to our sweet cat Digit. Oh how we will miss that sweet boy. I got Digit almost 12 years ago. I had one cat at the time (Coda) and the vet recommended that I get a second cat so that Coda wouldn't be so lonely when I was away at work all day. So, being the cat lover I was, I jumped at any excuse to get another one. I always joked that I only owned 1 cat because Digit belonged to Coda.

Just before our move to Alaska, the vet told us that Digit was in the throws of kidney failure. This was not something that could be reversed. There were several things we could do to help slow down the progression, but eventually it would take its toll on his body. Within a year of that diagnosis, Digit's body weight went from a healthy 10 pounds to just under 5. The poor cat was withering away. He was quite literally skin and bones. Over the last month, I have played nurse maid to him. I've been administering medications twice daily and have also been injecting IV fluids under his skin once daily. He HATED these procedures, but in true Digit fashion, he never made a fuss. He was such a good boy.

I could tell he wasn't feeling well because he had stopped purring. This was a big sign to us that something was wrong because Digit always had a strong pur. So much so that the vet could never really tell if his heartbeat was strong because she could never hear it over his pur. So when the purring stopped completely, we knew he must be miserable. I finally decided that we needed to see if any of these interventions were doing any good.

On Friday, I took him in to check and found that he had lost weight yet again and his symptoms had only worsened. At that point, the vet and I agreed that the most humane thing to do was to let him go. So we said our sad goodbyes and on Saturday morning, we let the vet put him to sleep. SO HARD! I held him the entire time and it was peaceful and quick. Harder on me than him really. Claire is sad, but handing it well. Sarah is clueless. I don't even think she has noticed that he is gone.

Here is Claire holding sweet Digit. She had just drawn a picture of him on her easel and wanted a picture with him beside his picture. Look how she is holding him. Such a patient cat.

Goodbye sweet boy. You will definitely be missed!

A Whole Heap-a-House Pics

2012-01-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

So the house. We closed on our house on October 16th. And I kid you not, we were completely unpacked within 2 weeks. That's just how I roll. Can't stand the boxes. But I didn't want to post pictures yet because we were going to have the entire interior painted and I wanted to wait until that was done.

Also we were going to purchase a ton of new furniture and I wanted to make sure it was all in and set up. Prior to now, our furniture was a mixture of hand-me-downs from family members and steals at garage sales. It was an eclectic mix and it worked for us. We had talked many times about getting new stuff one day, but once the kids came along we realized how much they spilled, barfed and peed on things (not to mention drawings with rogue markers). So we decided that we would wait to buy new stuff until they were a little older.

When we moved to Alaska, we made a decision that when the time came to head back to Texas, we would have a huge garage sale and sell all of our used furniture. Thus avoid having to move it all back. When we returned we could buy new furniture that would fit whatever house we were hoping to have for the long haul. Granted, when we made this grand plan, it was based on our anticipation of spending 2 to 3 years in Alaska. Little did we know we would only spend 11 short months there. But the plan was made and we weren't going to let an early departure deter us. No sir!

So after a looooooong day of shopping, we picked out all the new furniture and it was delivered within the first week we were in the house. The painting was finished mid-November and I had all my decor in place and ready to go by Thanksgiving. So why no pics? Well, Thanksgiving started the season of hosting for us. We hosted Thanksgiving for my Dad and step-mom. We hosted a Christmas party for 50 of our church friends. We hosted Christmas for Michael's family and we hosted Christmas for my mom, step-dad and his mom. It was hectic, it was mad chaos and I loved every minute of it. Seriously. I would host every year if I could. Much like Monica on Friends, I love, LOVE to play hostess.

But that kept me too busy to blog and WAY to busy to take proper pictures of our house. But now that everyone is gone and the house is quiet (at least until our next hosting gig this weekend), I will present to you our house:

Here we are on our closing day. Since we hope to stay in this house until the girls graduate high school and beyond, (no guarantee of that in the oil business, but one can hope.) I wanted a family picture of us on move in day so we would always remember how little our sweet girls were when we moved in.

Here is our entry.

This view of the entry is for my Mom so she can see the entry table she helped me buy. Love it!

Our dining room with our new dining room table. And you can't see them all that well, but the framed pictures on the wall are three of my favorites that we took with our camera while in Alaska. This way I can still see some of the beauty we were so blessed to live in for the past year. Oh how I miss it!

Office and all our new office furniture.

Living room with our new couches, chair and end tables. Ahhhhh.

Another view looking into the breakfast nook where our two beauties are enjoying their lunch on our new breakfast table!

Kitchen!

Love my cabinets!!!

Master bedroom. Still needs window treatments. Another project for another day.

At the top of the stairs, there are three extra stairs that step up into our gameroom.

I love how the game room overlooks the entry and NOT our living room. Keeps the noise levels more tolerable that way.

Our guest room. The bed still needs to be made after our last guest departed, but you get the idea.

This will be my workout room if we ever get rid of that mattress in there. It was our old king mattress that we had and hated. It was just too soft. We held on to it so that our guests over Christmas could sleep on it and not the floor. It was handy, but now I am ready for some floor space so I can get my Jillian Michael's workout going again.

This room has no purpose except to store random items that have no home yet. So I guess I am not COMPLETELY unpacked. There are two boxes of books that are waiting for us to either purchase a bookshelf, or haul them out to the garage. Not sure which. This room may become a craft room or a quiet space to do my Bible study time. Maybe eventually a homework room for the girls. It's nice to have so many options! I like how it has a cut out to the entry but still has a door. Gives a little privacy, yet I can still hear/monitor the girls while they play.

Sarah's room and new furniture.

With every room decor change, I have painted letters for the girls names that would coordinate. I think Sarah's name this time around is my favorite. I took various elements from her bedspread and used those elements in each letter.

The arched doorway in Sarah's room leads to her own personal sink. Her closet is opposite the sink.

Looking into Sarah's sink area, you can see the shared tub/potty area and looking beyond that you can see into Claire's room. This bathroom set up was one of the features in this house that I loved the most. Since we hope to be here when we have teenage girls, I could think of no better set up than for them each to have their own sink and counter space in the mornings.

When we left Alaska, Claire made it perfectly clear that she wanted a purple room. I wasn't quite sure how well purple would go with her bedding since there is very little purple to be found in it, but I think it turned out quite nice.

Why yes that IS five hundred sixty eight stuffed animals on her bed thankyouverymuch! How my girl sleeps like that is beyond me.

She was NOT happy with me when I made her get white curtains. She wanted them to be purple too. But this momma had to draw a line somewhere. I had to introduce the phrase "Accent Color" into her vocabulary. She got over it pretty quick once I put the purple ribbons at the top.

And there is Claire's sink.

This picture and the next one I took specifically for my Alaska friends. This is our "view" from our game room windows. We do live on top of one another. A far cry from my almost acre lot in Soldotna.

And see all that green stuff out there? That, my frozen friends, is what happens when the high is still 75 in January. It is nice to still be able to go out in shorts and flip flops, but I am SO jealous of all the snow you've been getting this year. Can I come back and play with you guys??

To say that the Lord has blessed our socks off with this house would be the understatement of the century. We feel so blessed to have such a lovely home and can't wait to see how the Lord plans to use it for His glory in the days, weeks and years to come!

It's Time

2012-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

October 11th? Has it really been that long since I've blogged? I knew it had been awhile, but gracious me that's a LOOOOOONG blog break.

It's funny how the longer I'm away from blogging, the easier it is to put it off. And the sad part is that I LOVE to blog. It is so therapeutic for me. I really have missed it. And while I am sure this time away has lost me over half of my 10 readers, I will soldier on for the 5 who remain.

So what has happened in the last 3 months? I'll give you the abridged version in a list below. Let's call this the teaser list. For you it will be a foreshadowing of blog entries to come. For me, it will be a To Do list of blogs that need to be written pronto.

So in the past three months . . . . .

. . . . we closed on our house and got all unpacked and settled.
. . . . we bought an insane amount of new furniture to fill said house. (The salesman is our new BFF)
. . . . .Sarah decided she wanted to start potty training THE DAY THE MOVERS ARRIVED.
. . . . . we hosted a Christmas party for our ABF and had over 50 people crammed into our living room about 2 days after we unpacked the last box. (and we loved every minute of it!)
. . . . .we stayed home for the holidays and were host to 4 different family Christmases at various times in the months of November, December and January.
. . . . . I became nursemaid to one or our ailing cats and now know how to administer IV fluids to a feline.
. . . . . our healthy cat was attached by a rogue neighbor cat and I am now extending my cat hospice care to him as well. (apparently I am in training to become a vet whether I like it or not.)

I am sure there is more. Much, much more. But it is late and I am too tired to think of it all. I will get to work on this list and expound on each of these very soon. I promise! I may combine the first two as one blog post so I can get to those house pictures everyone is hinting at wanting!!

For now, the blog is back in business, baby. Oh how I've missed it!

-

Toddler Tuesday

2011-10-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today we ventured out to one of the parks downtown. They were having a Toddler Tuesday event where they read stories, have a few activities and a craft. The story today was one about Mickey Mouse. At the end of the story, they brought out Mickey and Minnie.

Sarah was quite star struck when Mickey and Minnie came out but was not willing AT ALL to take a picture with either of them.

I didn't take pictures of the craft because it really was more of a craft for the mommies. Sadly, it was a lot of intricate cutting and origami style folding. Not really something my 4 and 2 year old were able to do. So we will just move on to pictures of the girls' favorite part of the park. The splash fountains.

We came here to play a few weeks back because we knew there was a playground, but had no clue that there were these great fountains. We weren't prepared for water play and promised the girls that we would come back on another day. So today, I came prepared with swim suits, towels, etc. Claire jumped right in and had a blast. Sarah, on the other hand, was a little more timid at first. She preferred to hang out on the perimeter and splash her feet.

Eventually she warmed up and was splashing around just like big sister.

The water runs in cycles. Sometimes the water arcs WAY high and other times it is more tame. At one point the water stopped all together for a minute or so before starting back up. Here are the girls waiting for the water to come back on.

And here they are when the water started up again.

I absolutely love those two pictures because they show my girls personalities to a T. Claire is very expressive and couldn't hide her emotions if she tried. Sarah is more stoic and her expression hardly changes. It makes it that much more impressive when I manage to get a smiley pic of her.

Sarah reached the point of exhaustion well before Claire did. The last 20 minutes looked like this for Sarah:

and like this for Claire:

So much fun! Finally Sarah looked up at me and said, "All done water!" So I took the hint and we left so my precious baby could have lunch and a nap. I am glad we got to take advantage of this park before we move out to the suburbs. I know from experience that once we are there, we will be reluctant to brave all the traffic to get to this park very often.

Yes Today, Sweetie

2011-10-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

So Michael is out of town on business. We are fortunate that he doesn't have to go out of town too often, but when he does it really makes me sympathize with some of my fellow mom friends who have hubbies who have to travel a ton.

Anytime he is going to be out, I know that my days will be loooooong so I always try to come up with something to do to make time fly. Today I decided that it would be fun to have a "Yes Today, Sweetie" day. You see, so often when we are at the mall or any store in general, the girls see tons of fun stuff that they want to do. I get lots of, "Mommy, can we go there?" or "Mommy, can we have one of those?" And as you might guess, more often than not, the answer is, "Not today, sweetie." Mainly because we are at these particular stores with an agenda. I've got precious little time to get the items on my list and get out before lunch time, nap time or melt-down time . . . whichever comes first.

But not today. Nope. Today, we went to the mall and the only agenda was kid fun. As we walked in, Claire looked at me and said, "No shopping today? Just fun?" And I was happy to say, "Yep! No shopping, just fun!"

So on our "Yes Today, Sweetie" day, we played at the indoor playground:

We took a spin on the 2-story merry-go-round:

After that, we ate lunch at Sarah's favorite place, "Old McDonalds":

After lunch, they each got their own quarter so they could get some candy out of the machines:

Then we took time for some ski ball:

And of course, you HAVE to ride on the mall train:

And we finished out the morning with a trip to the Great American Cookie Company.

Now Sarah is sleeping off the morning and I have two very happy, blissful girls. So. Much. Fun. I hope it was worth the battles I will have to fight the next time we head to the mall with a Mommy Agenda. They will no doubt get to hear "Not Today, Sweetie" again, but at least now they know that sometimes they get to hear, "Yes Today, Sweetie!"

Picture Update

2011-10-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

With so much to share and catch up on, I decided the best way to do it was with a picture post.

Once we landed in Houston, first order of business was to go swimming. We haven't been in a swimming pool in almost a year so Claire was pumped beyond all measure to know that we had a pool at our apartment complex. The girls dove right in and very quickly declared that they were happy to be back in Houston.

After a grueling set of immunizations that left my poor sweet girl limping for almost a week, we were ready to start preschool. This is Claire's 2nd year of preschool. She is going to be a part of the Monday, Wednesday, Friday class. So far she LOVES it!! Here she is on her first day.

Sweet Sarah also started preschool this year. She is going one day a week. She absolutely loves that she gets to go to school like Claire and that she has her own backpack and nap mat. She is struggling a bit with being exhausted at the end of the day because she refuses to nap at school. Here is my big girl on her first day of preschool.

So both girls are in school on Fridays. That means I drop them off at 9:00 and pick them up at 2:30. Woah. That is a crazy, amazing amount of freedom. I feel like a 16 year old who just got her license. Sadly, the first several weeks of free Fridays were filled with dental visits and house purchasing business. But soon, very soon I will have tackled all my major "to dos" and will have some serious "me time". At least I hope so.

We hope to close on our new house next week. Once I get inside and finish painting, arranging furniture and unpacking boxes, I'll post some pics of the inside. But for now, here is a pic of the exterior! Can't wait to get settled and start hosting playgroups, ABF fellowships, etc, etc.

We took a quick trip to Dallas last weekend to celebrate our niece's birthday and see family. While we were there, we took advantage of the amazingly mild summer temps and spent tons of time outside playing . . . .

. . . . and playing . . . .

. . . . and playing!

The girls always love seeing their Aunt Nikki!

We are having such a fun time. We are experiencing quite the "honeymoon" period right now because we left Alaska just before all the cold air started blowing in and arrived in Houston just as the worst of the heat was leaving. So now we are experiencing the mild start of "winter" here. (For my Alaskan friends, the start of winter here is translated as temps in the upper 80s, lower 90s. Crazy, huh?) I am sure we will be singing a different tune next August when the temps are in the triple digits and all my dear Alaskan friends are enjoying highs in the mid-60s.

Maybe we need to come up with a time share where we trade off time in each other's homes during the more favorable weather times. Come on Alaskan friends, I am game if you are! ;o) I know these two will be more than happy to share their rooms!!

Okay, okay, OKAAAAAAAY!!!

2011-10-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

My blog has been pestering me. Seriously. Totally pestering me.

Blog: So Aims, ya planning on posting anytime soon?
Aims: Yes, I'll get to it. Just not today.
Blog: Uh, Aims, I'm still here. Don't forget about me.
Aims: I know, I know. Hang on a bit longer.
Blog: Helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooo?! I am totally tired of that muffin post. Time for something new. I'm feeling stale over here.
Aims: Okay, why don't YOU come over here and juggle this move and I'll go sit over there and snark at you for awhile.

So I finally caved and here I sit. Now, I will share with you, my faithful readers, something that I am not sharing with my blog. So please keep in quiet okay? The truth is that I have had PLENTY of time to blog. I really have. I have 2 1/2 hours each day where Sarah is napping and Claire is having her quiet time. Perfect blogging opportunity. So why I've managed to go this long without a post is beyond me.

There really has been quite a bit going on. In the past few weeks we have sold a house, packed up a house, boarded a plane and flown all night to end up at an apartment in our new town where we have updated immunizations, started pre-school, started a new job and bought a new house. Just to name a few.

But I must say, even with all of that, things are moving along crazy smoothly. We have found a house and are hoping to close on it at the end of next week. Our stuff has arrived from Alaska. Granted, it is sitting in a storage unit until we can close on our house. But it is here nonetheless. As soon as we close, we are one phone call away from having our belongings delivered. Amazing.

And? Our van arrived today. Whoop! Oh how we've missed that van. Sarah was elated to have the "Purple Car" back. (note to self: must teach Sarah the difference between purple and charcoal grey)

We have been well taken care of in our furnished apartment, but I am super excited to get into our new house. I have definitely developed a love/hate relationship with apartment living.

I love that Michael's office is only 5 minutes away which means he can stay up later at night since he doesn't have to leave as early for work. And as an added bonus, he is home earlier in the evenings.

I hate that we have no yard and I have to walk outside, across a busy street every time my dog needs to go potty. Even if it is 2 AM.

I love that our apartment comes with FREE housekeeping every Friday. There is nothing quite like walking in after a long day and seeing everything all tidy, floors vacuumed, sheets changed, etc.

I hate that we are so far away from friends and church and that I have to drive in morning rush hour traffic to take my girls to preschool. (although I am going AGAINST the flow of major gridlock so that helps a bit)

I love that we are so close to all the downtown shopping, restaurants and parks.

I hate that my "furnished kitchen" is lacking a majority of what I need to cook the meals I need to cook.

I love that Michael's company is covering all our food costs (grocery and/or restaurants) until we get into the new house.

Do you notice how some of these cancel each other out? The truth is, I really don't have ANY room to complain. Nor do I want to. The company has made this move EXTREMELY easy. They go way above and beyond the call of duty to make the process smooth and painless. And I am grateful.

Now that I have finally started the blog-flow, I'll try to take the next several days to catch up on here. I fear that once we are in the house, I really will have trouble finding time to blog since I fully expect to be painting and unpacking like a mad woman!

Good night my persistent little blog. I hope this fresh new post will help you rest well!

Breakfast Muffins with a Side of Conviction

2011-08-14T23:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I planned to make chocolate chip muffins for a breakfast treat. As soon as I told Claire, she immediately asked, "Can I help?" Claire LOVES to help me in the kitchen. Whether it is cleaning or cooking, this girl loves to help. It is really sweet and I love watching how excited she gets.

So today we strapped on her little apron and started the process. Now I have to confess something here of which I am not proud. It is HARD for me to let Claire help. When she helps, things are messier and the process takes longer.

My type A, perfectionist nature sometimes gets the best of me and I quickly become a spoon grabber. I'll let her do a little bit and then quickly grab the spoon to finish up the stirring. I don't think she minds, she always seems thrilled to take part no matter how small the part.

But today, Claire said something that gave me pause. She was beaming at the thought of doing it all by herself. She said, "I can't wait until Daddy gets home so I can tell him that I made muffins all by myself!" So I let her.

It wasn't easy. I don't do well being the silent observer. But I did my best to keep my hands off the process.

As I watched my sweet girl attempt to spoon batter into the muffin pan, the Lord used my frustrations to teach me a valuable lesson.

I couldn't help but think about how often the Lord must watch me fumble through tasks that I am DETERMINED to do all by myself. Does He cringe at my feeble attempts? Does His stomach tie itself in knots because He knows there is a better way? I don't know. But what I do know is how grateful I am that He lets me grow and learn through these fumbles. All the while, He is standing by ready for my call for help.

I am so grateful for this little reminder. While I like to think that I have things all figured out, the truth is that I am really just a sweet little 4 year old attempting to pour batter into a muffin pan. And I am blessed to be loved to pieces by the One who allows me to create the mess.

Somebody's Been Sittin' In MY Chair

2011-08-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

Holy schnikies! We had a bear in our yard tonight. A BEAR! I know that we grow 'em here in Alaska, but I've never seen one roaming about.

I was sitting at my computer updating the blog on day 3 of Sarah's potty training when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up I saw a black bear staring at me through the window. BAHHHH! If that doesn't startle you, nothing will.

So I immediately dive for my camera and follow this bear as he wandered around the perimeter of my house. He explored almost every window and took a good look inside each time. It is almost like he heard the house was on the market and wanted to check things out. Sorry, big fella, no porridge here.

Sadly I had my flash on and most of the early pictures didn't take. Just a big old glare from the window. By the time I realized it, the bear had moved from checking out the interior of our home to exploring the rest of the yard. But I did get some good shots of that once I turned the flash off.

And I'll just casually mention, that these pics (taken with no flash) were taken at 10:30 PM. Still got daylight-a-plenty around here.

Here he is rounding the corner of our garage. Sadly my camera wouldn't cooperate when he stood up on his back feet to check out the trash can. Boy bears are tall!

Excuse the glare on this one. This was before I managed to turn off the flash. I took this pic through the glass in our front door. He had just taken a good look inside our entry.

I consider this little encounter my reward for handling the girls on my own for two weeks while my hubby is in Houston. I've been wanting to see a bear (safely) ever since we moved to Alaska. Now that we are on our way out, I am thrilled that I got to see one before we head back to Texas.

I will say it is going to make me a lot more cautious about letting the girls play in the yard. I loved watching him from the safety of my house, but don't really desire a face to face encounter.

Training, Training, 1, 2, 3 . . .

2011-08-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am planning on documenting Sarah's potty training here more for myself than anything. Whether this is a successful venture or not, I know that one day I will want to look back and remember what we did. For many/most of you this is probably the least interesting topic EVER. So feel free to tune out for a few days. I do plan to post updates each day. I will just tag the updates on to the end of this post.

DAY 1:
So we have completed day 1 of our three-day attempt to potty train Sarah. And I must say at the end of day 1, I find myself asking whether Sarah even knew she was in training.

The goal of this strategy is to allow for and expect multiple accidents. Multiple accidents = multiple learning opportunities. I'll spare you the step by step, but know that Sarah is oblivious to any and all accidents. OBLIVIOUS. And she also has the bladder capacity of a . . . . of a . . . . um . . . . okay, I honestly don't know a good example. I am not an expert on bladder capacity. But let's just say that the kid can hold her water.

She only had two accidents all day long. Which isn't so impressive once I tell you that those were the only two times she peed all day long. And with both of those accidents she was clueless. One time, she was sitting in a puddle of her own urine, wet as a seal and happy as a lark. (now I've got synonyms-a-plenty)

So with both accidents, I followed the same routine:
Take her to the bathroom.
Explain where we put all our unwanted fluids.
Wipe her down.
Put dry panties on her.
Clean up the puddle that started this whole process.

We truly had a pretty stress free day. Sarah was happy to check for dryness all day. She was very proud when she would find that she was dry. (Although she was equally happy to pronounce herself dry when she was sopping wet). Since I truly don't think she was dry because she was TRYING to be dry, I have my doubts on how successful today was for the process. But we will see what tomorrow holds.

DAY 2:
So the lesson for today would be, "Careful what you type." Complaining about Sarah's lack of accidents was all it took to turn that right around. I think she had 6 or 7 accidents. And two of those accidents? Right on my lap. Yep.

But I am really not complaining. I was actually told to expect up to 20 accidents so Sarah is still way behind the curve. The day was good as far as I am concerned. She was willing to sit on the potty multiple times and even ALMOST managed to "go" on the potty right before bed time. Close, but no cigar. However, we celebrated as if it was mission accomplished.

Here is hoping that tomorrow will hold much more success. We had better get this thing figured out quick though because I have to be out of the house for part of the day on Friday so the new buyers can come in with the inspector. Somehow I don't think they will appreciate seeing a little girl pee all over their new home. Best keep that little tidbit a secret! Shhhhhhh.

DAY 3:
URF. That is the best word I can think of to describe how I feel right now. URF. Today was quite frustrating for me.

My sweet Sarah is making progress. She has finally proven that she is capable of holding her bodily fluids in her body. She managed to stay dry all afternoon. This is great! What is not great? Glad you asked. For some reason unknown to me, Sarah woke up this morning with a massive fear of the potty. Yesterday? They were pretty good friends. She sat on the potty several times. No problem. But today? Completely different scenario. Anytime I would take her cute little toosh anywhere near the potty she would have a fit. Cry, kick, shake her head no. And the few times I was actually able to get her on the potty, she was saying, "All done!" a nano-second after her bottom hit the seat. All I can figure is that she must have had some strange nightmares involving rogue toilets.

I am grateful that she is learning the art of controlling it, but would be even more thrilled if she would learn the art of releasing it at appropriate times.

So here we are at the end of day 3 and I can honestly say that my child is NOT potty trained. My current plan is to soldier on. I figure I will just continue with it and see who breaks first. I would say, "Good luck Sarah" since I am so stubborn, but if there is anything I have learned about my youngest is that she inherited her stubbornness from her Mommy. So I may be the one needing the luck.

This could become quite the showdown.

Happenings . . . . Oh the Happenings.

2011-08-08T23:11:00.000-07:00

I now present to you the top ten reasons my head is spinning and my left eye is starting to twitch.

10: We've moved a majority of our furniture out to our garage in preparation for our moving sale. So I get to do most of my relaxing on folding chairs or the floor.

9: My to do list compounds daily. It is growing at an alarming rate. Kind of like plucking gray hairs, when I cross one item off the list, two more spring up.

8: All this running around, crossing items off my to do list has wreaked havoc on the girls' routines. Their behaviors are showing their lack of appreciation for said havoc wreaking. As a result, I now have two girls who are very whiny, clingy, dramatic individuals. And to borrow a phrase from my good friend, Meredith, whining is my kryptonite. I am fading fast.

7: Michael left for Houston yesterday. He will be there for two weeks to start work in his new position. I totally understand his need to go, however it makes handling #8 just that much more daunting.

6: Our satellite TV is out. Fortunately we have several kids shows on our DVR that we can still access, but I cannot watch my Today show in the mornings. And I also can't watch any of my favorite mind-numbing TV trash that helps me wind down at the end of a stressful day. And since we live in such a small community, the repairman can't get out here for 2 weeks. Bah.

5: We've had almost 2 straight weeks of rain. Now I almost hate to complain about this one. I have so many friends who will be reading this one and thinking that they would give anything to be complaining about multiple days of rain. (Next thing you know, she'll be complaining about the fact that the temperatures in her town are topping out in the 60s.) But the simple fact of the matter is that my girls' temperaments change drastically when they head outside. They can be whining and complaining, crying and fussing but open the door and they become shiny, happy people in an instant. It is almost magical. I could really use a few sunny days here.

4: Our house is now on the market. No further explanation needed.

3: Our house just sold, I think. This is actually a very good thing. We had a couple come look at our house the very day it was placed on the market. The next day, they made us an offer. We've been in negotiations for the past several days so my stomach has been in knots. Happy, excited knots about the fact that we got an offer so soon. Yet crazy, nervous knots as I hope it all goes through. We are hoping that we can finalize everything tomorrow and then I can cross this off my list. (Although, I must say that I am a little nervous about crossing something this huge off my list. Who knows how many new things will crop up.)

2: While Michael is in Houston, he has been tasked with doing a little house shopping for us. We have found two homes that we love and now have to debate whether we put in an offer now (before I get to see it in person) or wait until I get there in a month and risk losing one or both of them.

And the #1 reason my head is spinning and my left eye is starting to twitch . . . .

I've decided to start potty training Sarah tomorrow. And before you ask, yes I am crazy thankyouverymuch. I have been wanting to do this for the last week or so. Every time I'm ready to start, something comes up and I have to postpone it. I actually thought I had myself all geared up and ready last Friday and then the realtor called saying they needed to show our house. However since that showing turned into a buyer, we no longer have to worry about showing the house and I am back to thinking it is time to train.

I know that being in the midst of a move isn't the best time to take on potty training, but all I keep thinking is how this is the most normal life will be for us for quite some time. Once we get to Houston, we will be in temporary housing and will have none of our stuff. It could be months before we are all settled in a new home. So the logic here (I use the term logic VERY loosely) is that if I get her trained this week, we will have 4 more weeks to really solidify the training before we leave. Then she will be good to go once we are in the major transition of the move.

So wish me luck. I am attempting the 3-day training method. I may regret this, but I am sticking it out for the entire three days. No. Matter. What. Once the three days are over, if she is still struggling, I may decide to push it all off until later, but at least I will know I tried. I promise to post updates at the end of each day so check back often!

Now if you will excuse me, I am tired and I have a very comfy folding chair calling my name.

Fun With The Fam

2011-08-07T23:34:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am going to share some pictures from my brother's recent trip to Alaska. We had so much fun while they were here!

First we went clamming. If you have never experienced the joys of digging up your own clams, you are truly missing out. It was a blast. And we got to enjoy some yummy fresh clam chowder made by my very talented sister-in-law once it was all over.

Then we spent time on a glacier cruise. The entire cruise was beautiful, but my favorite part was seeing all the seals camping out on the chunks of glacier ice. They apparently hang out here because it is more difficult for the Orcas to come and feed on them in all the ice chunks. So this is a pretty safe place for them to have their babies. In this pic, you can see several seals on the ice chunks.

And here is a close up of one of the seals. Nice of her to pose for the camera, huh?

We spent time fishing . . .

. . . . and hiking . . . .

. . . . even hiking on a glacier.

We were able to see some pretty amazing animals . . . .

. . . . and spend some time cruising our neighborhood on four wheelers.

(yes, that is my sweet Claire under the helmet.)

All of that and my nephew's favorite thing was playing and exploring in our yard . . . .

I can't say that I blame him. We have a pretty cool yard!

There are so many things I will miss about Alaska. But I am grateful beyond words that the Lord brought us here even if only for a short time. We've been blessed to see amazing sights and to be able to share those sights with many of our family members. Fun, fun, FUN!!!

Don't Get Too Comfy

2011-07-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Well I've been absent again. And this time, for good reason. Really, it's true. Hey, don't shake your head at me!! It REALLY is true.

So what is this good reason? Well first, my brother and his family came for a visit. They were here for a full week and believe me when I say that we filled just about every spare minute with activities. We went fishing, clamming and hiking. We cruised to a glacier. We day-camped at a lake. Then we hiked again. We saw quite a few amazing sights and I plan to post pictures in a day or so, but I want to take the remainder of this post to tell you the main reason for my absence.

We're moving. Again. Uh huh. I told you it was a good reason.

We got word earlier this week that Michael is very wanted for a new position back in Houston. Same company, just a new team. Apparently they went back and forth for a few months trying to decide whether or not to offer this job so soon after our move here, but in the end, they decided that no one could fill the position quite like Michael and the job was offered!

If there is anything I've learned about moving with oil companies is that everything must happen NOW. I think we are shooting to be back in the humid, hot south by the first week of September. We have a matter of weeks to get our house on the market, pack up and head back to the lower 48. Now before you pity me too much, the packing and moving part is relatively painless. The company will pay for a company to do all of that for us. So our main "pain" in this process is in the doing without our stuff for 5 weeks or more while it is shipped back to us and while we search for a house.

We are feeling a crazy jumble of emotions over this move. First we are stunned. We've only been here for 10 months. We knew that a move back to Texas was more likely than not, but our timeline had us here for 2 to 3 years.

Of course we are elated to be able to head back "home". Back to a place with friends who are as dear to us as our own family members. A place where we have a church family who constantly challenges us to follow the Lord in the good times and in the bad.We have missed all of that more than words can say.

But with that, I never expected our move back to Texas to be bitter/sweet. But it is. In our short time here, we have been grafted in to this little community so perfectly. I know that the Lord planted us here for sure. He gave us the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood and surrounded us with amazing neighbors who have grown to be dear friends. He lead us to a wonderful church full of believers who are passionate about spreading the gospel to the unchurched. We have been blessed beyond measure to have made so many friends in such a short time. We will definitely miss them all.

I find myself wishing that we could marry the two. You know, bring all of it together into one perfect place. A place where you get to see snow, but it ends soon enough to wear your flip flops in February. A place where the summers are sunny with a high of 65 instead of humid with a heat index of 115. A place where all our friends and family get to be in one place at the same time. A place with a Target and a Chick-fil-A for cryin' out loud! Ahhh wouldn't that be nice?

So it is with very mixed emotions that I say goodbye to one set of good friends while looking forward to reconnecting with another. This has been a 10-month adventure that we will always cherish. We are grateful that the Lord took us on this journey and anxiously watch and wait for whatever journey he has in store next!

A Jumpin' Good Time

2011-07-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

One of my neighbors recently decided to open her own business in town. It is an indoor play area full of bounce houses. I was THRILLED when I found out that she was considering this. Mainly because there is very little for young kids to do in our town. Unless you want to hang out at McDonalds or Wal-Mart, you are pretty much left to figure things out for yourselves. Granted, there are parks and those are great on sunny, warm days. But on rainy and cold days? Yeah, not much for us.

When she told me she was going to start this venture, I told her to let me know if there was anything I could do to help her. And she definitely let me help. She let me paint the business logo on the wall behind their welcome desk.

She also had me design and paint her two party rooms upstairs. Here are before and after pics of one of the party rooms.

I don't have pictures of the second room, but it is similar in design with different wall colors.

My mom and brother also played a role in helping my neighbor set up the business. They put their skills to work in writing and producing the commercial that now plays on the radio to advertise her business. I can't tell you how much fun it is to be driving down the road in small town Alaska and hear my mom's voice over the radio. I love it!!!

This whole venture has been so much fun. I've had a blast exercising my creativity and my girls have had a blast . . . . well exercising!!! Here is picture proof!

Feed My Need

2011-07-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so blog #2 in so many days here. But don't be proud of me yet. Let's see how long I can keep this thing going.

Truth is, I spent way more time uploading pictures to facebook today than I should have. In fact, I got on yea old blog this morning so that I could write a post about some of our Alaskan adventures and quickly shut it down and opted for facebook instead. Why? Well, I am addicted to comments. Yep. There it is.

I love, Love, LOVE to get comments. I think that is why I love facebook so much. When I post pics on facebook, I usually get lots of feedback. On here? Maybe a comment or two. On facebook it really feels like a back and forth relationship with all who are my friends on there. I can hop on facebook and leave a few minutes later feeling connected with everyone.

Blogworld is oh so different. I do get comments, and I love, Love, LOVE reading those too, but it is somehow different. Here, I never know how many people are reading my blog. Could be 1, could be 100. I really don't know. So being the comment addict that I am ashamed to be, I often choose the medium that will better give me my fix.

And this isn't meant to be a slam against my faithful blog readers at all. It really isn't because I am just as guilty. I blog stalk ALL THE TIME. I read my friends blogs and laugh, cry and sigh along with their little antics and rarely do I comment. Why? I really don't know. Why is it so much easier to comment on facebook? My only guess is that it is the back and forth. If I write a comment, and my friend writes back, I get a notification about it. Yeah, baby. I can quickly hop back on and rejoin the convo stat! Not so much with the blog.

But never you fear. I am continuing on with the blog for the benefits it offers me to rant and ramble as long as I like. Can't really do that on facebook. Facebook is for the short and sweet. And anyone who knows me at all knows I am not known for my ability to say anything with only a few words.

So now, for all my friends who read this and do not have facebook accounts, I will first say: GET A FACEBOOK ACCOUNT!!! And then, I will put up a few pics from our Alaskan summer. At least what we've experienced so far. Oh how much fun we are having!!!

Such concentration!

Sweet sister love.

Tiny Sarah in a big, big world!

This one will likely get framed soon!

We took a cruise to a glacier. Very cool . . . . literally and figuratively!

Love the mountain reflection in the lake.

We saw orca whales on our cruise.

Humpback whale tail.

We had some fun on our neighbor's zipline.

And now Claire takes a turn.

Beautiful bald eagle in flight.

My Absence

2011-07-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy, busy. In three words, that describes the last month and a half of my life. Around mid-May, I was contacted by my church to see if I would be interested in helping out with a VBS. I love participating in VBS and was immediately on board. At our first planning meeting, I was asked to take on the bulk of the planning/organizing and thus became the primary director of VBS for our entire church. What a blessing! To have only been here for 9 months and really to have only been at my church for about 5 months and to be invited to take part in such a great event. I was truly honored.

We only had about 6 weeks from that planning day before our VBS was scheduled to start. So I have been SWAMPED with to do lists, shopping trips and countless hours at the computer writing curriculum. Obviously my blog has taken the brunt of the hit, as has my house. But it was SO worth it. I always feel refreshed after a week of VBS. I love to teach and as I have said before, vacation bible school is my "shot in the hip" if you will that gets me a taste of teaching without all the craziness of a full year in a classroom.

Our little church has a big heart for Jesus and just wants to get that out to the community. We decided to host a family fun night at one of our local parks. This was the Sunday before the start of VBS. It was free to the community and was meant to serve as a kick-off for all the activities that were to follow. Claire had a BLAST there and even consented to have her face painted! Here are a few pics from the week.

Claire and her friend, Joy.

Sarah enjoyed her first taste of Kettle Corn and was a big fan!

It was so wonderful to watch Claire singing praises to the Lord who made her.

We did a really cool experiment that shows the plan of salvation. By mixing a few chemicals, you turn a golden solution (meant to represent purity) into a black solution (meant to represent our lives full of sin). Then when you mix the black solution together with the "red" solution (which represents Christ's blood) the two combined cancel out and the mixture turns clear (forgiven sin). It was AMAZING and the kids really got it! 10 of the 60 present wanted to give their lives over to the Lord!

Now that VBS is over and the fog has started to settle, I've emerged from my planning cocoon and am doing my best to get life back to normal. Today is house cleaning/catch-up day and hopefully from this point forward I'll be able to pay more attention to my little blog. I may have to discipline myself to do one blog per day for awhile to get myself back into the swing. So check back tomorrow and see if I managed to follow through with that one!

I'll leave you with a fun video clip that my amazingly talented brother put together. We wanted a little video of VBS events to show our congregation but we didn't have anyone who could put one together. So I uploaded a few pictures, music and a little video and sent it to my brother in Nashville, TN. And in one day, he put this amazing video together! What a great brother, huh?

Of Sickness and Pee

2011-05-23T00:28:00.000-07:00

Oh what a day we've had around here. Usually I am in bed by now. It is 11:00 pm (and still daylight, by the way thanks to our crazy-awesome Alaskan daylight) But I am not in bed. Instead, I've spent the last several hours soothing my poor sweet sick Claire. She decided to come down with some sort of weird hacky, barky, coughy, full of fever, no appetite ailment. And it all started Saturday. She has been running a 102 fever for the past few days and the poor thing can't get any sleep because she keeps waking up in hard-to-stop coughing/barking fits. I am guessing we are dealing with croup. But regardless of the cause, my poor baby is quite miserable and I feel so bad for her.

On top of all that, I am just waiting, WAITING for Sarah and I to come down with it next. Why? Well, Claire's coughs come so quickly and randomly (it's like her diaphragm just spasms out of control) that she will often be in mid sentence looking you right in the eye when a giant cough occurs with no warning. I have been sprayed with her cooties more times than I can count in these past 48 hours. And Sarah? Well, try as I might to keep her away from Claire's cootie zone, I found her sucking on the thermometer I had yet to sterilize after taking Claire's temperature. Lovely. So thanks to that germsicle, Sarah and I both no doubt have something ominous brewing within us and are just waiting for the fallout.

Now I am not really sure how Claire got sick. But I do know why. Fevers always have a way of rearing their ugly heads in our house just before big events. Schedule a trip? Bring home a fever. Family coming to visit? Better pull out the thermometer. So of course, this fever has preceded another big event. I chose this week to begin potty training Sarah. It was the perfect week. Gymnastics were finally over. My women's bible study has wrapped up its current session. For the first time in months, we have nothing we HAVE to do this week. So I thought it was the perfect time to start the potty training process. I actually planned to start the training process on Monday, but when Claire's temperature flared up and we couldn't take her to church, I decided that since we'd be stuck at home anyway, we'd start the training a day early.

Sigh.

That sigh deserved to be a paragraph all its own. Day 1 of potty training has been a roller coaster. It started out very, VERY well. But things quickly spiraled downhill.

We did all the typical potty training prep. Once Sarah woke up and had her breakfast, I started the timer to remind me to take her to the potty every 10 minutes just to see if anything would happen. The first three attempts were moderately successful in that she sat happily on the potty while I read her a book. No fussing, happy as a clam Sarah just sat there until I said, "All done!" and then she happily got down and resumed play time.

On attempt 4, she actually went potty a little bit. SCORE!! That provided the opportunity for lots of verbal praise and, of course, some Skittles. Sarah was shocked. Candy? CANDY?! She never even noticed the container of Skittles sitting by the sink until I delved out the first round. She was thrilled. Elated. As was I.

Attempt #5 went just as smoothly. She went potty for Daddy and received yet another skittle. Things were going well. Then I made a fatal mistake. I literally said these words, "This is going so much smoother than when we did this with Claire!". Yes, I did. Really.

Sigh.

That was the turning point. For whatever reason, from that point on, Sarah wanted nothing to do with the potty. When we would say, "Time to go potty!" She would shake her head no and run in the opposite direction. We didn't want to force her just yet. After all, this is just day 1. She is really just supposed to be learning what the potty is all about right now. The last thing we want to do is traumatize her to the point that she won't ever sit on the potty. So we did our best to play it cool. I think we got her on the potty two more times before the end of the day. And both of those times she was unsuccessful at going potty.

I realize that she may not be ready yet, but I am not giving up after only one day. We are giving it this week before we decide whether or not to postpone further training. And if she ends up with Claire's nasty virus, then I expect that to derail training all together. No way am I going to force a baby with a 102 fever to sit on a potty. So time will tell.

I look forward to reporting back in a couple of days that Sarah and I are healthy and that Sarah is fully potty trained. Hey, don't laugh. You gotta think positive, right?

Sweetness

2011-05-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

I love post-bath time in our house. The girls are all mellow, warm and cuddly. Plus they smell GREAT!! Tonight, the girls wanted to spend their post-bath time watching TV with Daddy on our bed. I snapped a few cute pics of it and thought I'd share. I am going to post several shots because it will display for you the mobile nature of my sweet Sarah. You will see that in all the pictures both Claire and Michael are pretty much in the same pose. They were both engrossed in the show. Sarah on the other hand . . . . well, she wanted to watch the show, but her method of "watching" has always needed to involve some sort of motion. Love her!

I love this sweetness. It reminds me of this sweet picture when Daddy only had one little girl to snuggle:

Boy do we feel doubly blessed now!

Claire's Cut

2011-04-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

So posts about my sweet Claire's hair are becoming regular on here. You may remember this one which actually has links to several other posts about her hair. In re-reading that post, I saw a phrase at the bottom that made me laugh. I said, "I am really looking forward to the day when all her locks are long enough to accomplish the basic pony tail. Oh won't that day be nice?" Well, folks, that day came. And it was nice . . . . for me. I could sweep her hair back into a pony tail and it would make the cutest little ringlets. I loved it. However, when her hair was left down, it would friz out and stand on end. I would comb it down all nice and neat and I kid you not that within 2 minutes, it would look like she just crawled out of bed. So the pony tail was the perfect solution for me.

The problem? Claire HATED it. With a passion. It got to the point where Claire would see me coming toward her with comb and detangling spray in hand and would say, "No pony tail!" Often I would swallow my pride and accommodate her. After all, it was her hair wasn't it? But I have to be honest and say that there were some days where I forced the pony tail position just so that I wouldn't look like a mother who never combed her child's hair.

While in Houston, I decided to do a little experiment with her hair. One day we were having a playdate at a dear friend's house. I intentionally left Claire's hair down so that my friend could see my predicament. She and I both agreed that as beautiful as Claire is, her hair needed some help. Here are a few pics of my sweet beautiful girl with her hair down.

So I finally decided to cut her hair off short. After all the waiting to get it long enough for a pony tail, I never thought I'd take her back to short. But I am tired of fighting the battle with her. So I took her to my sweet friend, Renee and she did an amazing job. Here are a few shots of the final result:

And a blurry shot of the back of the hair . . .

I don't know how long we will keep the short, sassy do, but I love it for now. And so does Claire. She is finally getting her wish. No more pony tails!!

Happy Birthday My Precious Claire!!!

2011-04-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Claire turned 4 on Sunday. And Claire was clueless. We didn't tell her that it was her birthday because we already had her big birthday party a week ago when we were in Houston. Originally I planned to make it clear to her that she was just having an early party and that her real birthday wouldn't happen until we were back in Alaska. Then I looked at the calendar. I realized that this year, Claire's birthday fell on Easter Sunday. I couldn't imagine trying to incorporate all the festivities of Resurrection Day with all the festivities of a birthday. So whenever Claire said her birthday was going to happen in Houston, we just went with it. It did make my Mommy's heart ache a bit to know it was her birthday and not be able to make a big deal of it with her on the actual day.

But we had an amazing party filled with lots of friends in Houston. Claire was on cloud nine! I wouldn't trade the joy she had during that party for anything.

Greeting her sweet friend who she hasn't seen in months.

Another sweet friend reunion!

About a month ago, Claire came to me and requested a rainbow cake. She loves Cheer Bear (from the Care Bears) who has a rainbow belly badge. When she asked for a rainbow cake, I knew what I wanted to do. I saw an amazing rainbow cake on another blog and badly wanted to try my hand at making it. But that just wasn't going to happen from our hotel room. So instead, I enlisted the help of my good friend Kristi and she came through BIG TIME!!! She made the outside look like a cloud and even put a Cheer Bear on top.

What an amazing job!!!

Claire even danced a little birthday jig with Chuck.

While we didn't party on the actual day, I can't think of any better way to celebrate my precious 4 year old than surrounded by our dear friends back in Houston. Claire has been missing her friends so much and talking about them almost daily. What a treat to get to spend this precious time with them.

Happy birthday my sweet and precious Claire. You are such a blessing to us. You make your Mommy and Daddy very proud and we love you more than words can say!!!

Packing, Packing, Packing

2011-04-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

The time is here. We are finally headed back to Houston for some much missed sunshine and warmth!! We are so excited to see all our friends and to attend church at "home" again! Claire is more excited than any of us I think. She has really missed all her friends. We have chosen to celebrate her birthday several weeks early so that we can have a party at Chuck-E-Cheese with all her Houston friends. She is pumped beyond pumped. And she isn't afraid to share her enthusiasm with everyone we meet. Seriously. Her Sunday school teacher, the check out girl at the grocery store, the nice neighbor walking her dog and many other random people have heard this same run-on sentence spew forth from Claire's mouth at breakneck speed:

"We are getting ready to get on a plane to fly to Houston so I can have my birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese and eat my rainbow birthday cake with all my friends and my Nana is coming and is going to bring me a Jasmine doll if she can find it!!!!!!"

I almost typed that entire sentence without spaces so that you could experience just how fast she blurts out that entire ramble.

I've had to remind Claire multiple times that we are NOT going to be staying in our old house. She had convinced herself that not only would we be staying in our former home, but that all our stuff was going to magically appear there so that she would be able to sleep in her own bed the entire time we were there. Poor pumpkin. She really misses "home".

So we will be gone for a solid week. I am sure I will return with many grumbling posts about our insane 12 hour flight (Which, by the way starts at midnight. Yep.) And I will hopefully return with several fun pictures of us all enjoying one of the 3 weeks a year that Houston weather is comfortable.

Now I am off to pack some more. As I type this, my To Do list is smacking me in the back of the head and asking me why I am blogging when there are so many things that still need to be accomplished before we leave.

Cheers!!

Techno Tots

2011-03-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I made a commitment that I would significantly reduce the amount of television my children watch each day. Now I must admit, this is a commitment I have made many times in the past and within a few months, we have slowly crept back up to what I consider WAY too much TV.

I think it has gotten worse since we moved here. My excuses for this added TV time are as follows:
1) Claire has dropped her naps and the ONLY way I will EVER get anything done is if I let her watch a movie while Sarah naps.
2) It is stinkin' cold here and the only place that offers indoor entertainment in our town is the playground at McDonalds.
3) We now have a playroom that has it's own cable access. So now the girls can go into the playroom and shut the door while watching TV. This is a tricky one. When they are in there and the house is quiet, I switch into "get things done" mode and the time flies by at warp speed. Before I even think to check, they have often managed to watch at least 3 or 8 shows in a row.

Head hung in shame.

Don't think for a moment that I feel that any of the above excuses are actually excusable. I really don't. Thus the new commitment. This commitment started last Friday. Snicker, snicker. Does anyone really ever stick to new commitments that start on Friday? Well, I did. For one day at least. Friday was great! I think the girls got a total of 2 hours of TV over the entire day. I know that for some of you that is still too much, but for us that is a major accomplishment. We played and played until we couldn't play any longer. I was quite worn out, but the girls were happy as little larks. And I was feeling like Mommy of the year.

Then comes the weekend. I did my best to monitor how much TV they watched, but weekends around here are so relaxed. And it is hard for me to want to play with the girls around the clock when their Daddy is taking a (well deserved) break from work by watching TV in the living room. All I want to do is put on a movie for the girls and go join him. So the weekend was a big flop. Not to mention that the girls' answer to my "less TV" stance was to go in search of alternate forms of technology.

At one point, I found them sitting the hallway with my iphone and Michael's ipod.

Then a bit later, I found them in our office. Sarah now had the ipod and Claire had ditched the phone for the Mobigo.

It was at this point that I admitted defeat and decided to start my commitment anew on Monday morning.

And here we are on Monday morning. You know what killed my resolve today? Both girls woke up with fevers and Sarah has a wicked, gross cough. So now we are nursing everyone back to health in the hopes that we are all well for our Houston trip and my resolve for less TV will just have to wait for another day.

You Can Never Go Back

2011-03-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

We've officially started chores with Claire. She was such a trooper about it at first. Now? Well it's touch and go. I don't know that I would have started this little chore list quite so soon had it not been for my cheap nature. I'll explain. (was there any doubt?)

Claire received a pillow pet for Christmas. And she loved it. Loved it. Loved, loved, loved it. Fast forward a month or so and you'll find us perusing the aisles in our grocery store. This store has started carrying pillow pet pee wees. These little darlings are about 1/4 the size of the original pillow pets. I knew immediately that Claire would want one. I knew this because ever since she was old enough to hold on to a stuffed animal, she has been obsessed with all things mommy and baby. If she has a stuffed animal, rest assured it has a mommy or baby somewhere in her collection. Sometimes they are similar in nature. For example she has two little stuffed kittens who play mommy and baby to one another. Other times, the combo is more on the odd side. Take her baby giraffe/mommy elephant combo for example.

So back to these pee wees. I knew that Claire was going to want to have the matching baby purple unicorn to go with her "mommy" purple unicorn. It didn't take Claire long to spot them and begging to commence. I took a quick look at the price tag and knew immediately that I wasn't going to be buying one of these things for Claire. They cost $12.99. That is a mere seven dollars less expensive than the original, 4-times larger version. I just couldn't do it. But of course, Claire was insistent. So I recommended that we create a list of jobs for her to do around the house. She could earn some money and save up for this baby pillow pet. Immediately, Claire was on board. She ran over to the pile of pet pee wees and grabbed a baby unicorn. She snuggled it close to her cheek and I heard her sweet voice say, "Don't worry baby. I am going home to work hard and make some money so I can buy you! Your mommy will be so happy to see you when I bring you home!" I must admit, that melted my heart. Too bad for Claire that it didn't even begin to thaw my resolve.

So we created a list of chores.
1) Make your bed.
2) Dress yourself.
3) Bring your night time cup downstairs and put it in the sink.
4) Put your coat, shoes and dirty clothes where they belong.
5) Clean the playroom each night before bed.

Immediately I nerded out and my inner teacher took control. I put all these items on a chart in picture form and taped it to the inside of Claire's bedroom door.

That way, she could see the list every morning and remember what she was supposed to do before coming downstairs.

For weeks I never heard one argument from Claire about her jobs. She was such a happy little worker. She was thrilled that she could make her bed and happy as a lark to dress herself. Every morning, I'd be downstairs reading or working on something and I would look up and see a very happy Claire be-bopping into the kitchen. She'd be fully clothed and tossing her cup into the sink. She was ready to face the day. It was awesome and I was questioning why I didn't start this sooner.

Each Friday we have a payday of sorts. She earns 3 dollars each week. (one dollar per year of life) 30 cents gets put aside for God, and the rest goes in her piggy bank to save for her precious baby pillow pet.

When the day of purchase finally came, I have never seen this little girl so excited. We headed to the store and made her purchase and she was on cloud nine.

Mommy and baby now united, Claire suddenly announces that she no longer needs to save money and thus no longer needs to perform her jobs. Sigh. This is where the real work begins I suppose. I find the nicest way possible to explain to her that once you prove that you are capable of doing jobs independently, you really can never go back. Not in our house at least. And that like it or not, her jobs were going to continue. She might as well start to think of the next thing she wanted to save up to buy.

We had several weeks of a reluctant worker. But she is finally about half way back to where we were before. She will do her jobs without complaining once more, but she no longer does them without being prompted. Oh well. Better than nothing I suppose.

Her most recent purchase sent her piggy bank balance back to zero. But her love of this little creature has reignited her desire to earn money.

She has now informed me that she is saving to buy the movie Milo and Otis. I don't even know if that movie is still being sold anywhere. Guess I better start looking online.

I am happy she is starting to make goals. And I am also happy that she has yet to figure out that the money she earns could possibly buy her candy. That's a battle I am not quite ready to fight.

Alright, I'd better go do my chores. Too bad I don't get a weekly allowance for mine. Because I know FULL WELL that my money could purchase candy and that knowledge would definitely thaw my resolve in that realm.

A Workout Within My Workout

2011-03-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

Working out at home is very convenient, but it also has it's challenges. In my home, those challenges are named Claire and Sarah. Some days, I work out and they are precious. They come in and try to work out with me. Watching Sarah attempt push ups or Claire and her awkward jumping jacks will bring a smile to my face even as I am covered in sweat and quietly bad mouthing Jillian Michaels and her insane workout.

Then there are days like today. Days when the girls are a constant interruption. Today, I started the workout and no sooner did I finish the warm-up than Claire comes in with a problem. She needed to go potty and the toilet paper was out. Fair enough. Not her fault. She certainly can't fix that problem on her own. I'm on it.

A few minutes later I am back to my workout. I have just gotten my heart rate up when Claire waltzes back in the room with another of her dilemmas. Apparently she can't find her blanket or chicky toy. Between gasps of breath, I tell her to keep looking and I'll help her find them later. She retreats only to come back one minute later with tears in her eyes. This child cannot rest or relax without the aforementioned items. I know that if I don't stop and help her find them, she will not leave me alone for the remainder of my workout and it will be well worth my efforts to find them now. So I take another quick break and find the items. I hand them over to Claire just as my heart rate has returned to its normal, resting rhythm.

I usher Claire into the playroom and turn on a cartoon for her giving me added assurance that I will have at least 30 minutes of peace. Claire is now resting comfortably with her blanket and chicky. And for extra insurance, I decide to give Sarah the MobiGo. You may remember her love of this item from a previous post. I was now positive that I would have an interruption free workout session. You know what positive means? It means wrong at the top of your voice. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I was barely back into the workout when Sarah comes in the room saying, "It's broken!" I look down and see that she has pulled out the game cartridge from the MobiGo. This is a new skill she acquired recently and she has yet to learn how to reinsert said cartridge. I quickly stop to fix this problem and now Sarah decides to stand and play right in the middle of the living room. Right in the middle where I am trying to exercise. I try to dodge around her a few times and only manage to step on her and almost trip and injure the both of us. So I gently push her aside trying to convince her to move elsewhere.

A short two minutes later, Sarah has discarded the MobiGo for a new toy: my water bottle. It is sealed shut so I don't worry about it and continue the workout. Mistake. My crafty little tinker tot manages to open the bottle and before I can get to her, she tumps it and pours the entire contents on the living room carpet. I'll spare you having to read the thoughts that were screaming through my head at that moment. I stop to gather a few towels and begin the clean up process. Then I escort Sarah back into the playroom where Claire is still happily watching her cartoon and shut the door.

Back at it, I finally have my heart rate back to where it is supposed to be for calorie burn when I see trouble brewing through the glass panes of the playroom door. Sarah has walked over to Claire and taken her blanket away. Now this is something we are working on right now. Sarah's blanket looks very similar to Claire's and she often mistakes it for her own. Claire knows this and knows that the proper protocol for this situation is to ask Sarah for the blanket back and if she doesn't give it to her, she is to come find Mommy or Daddy so we can help. Do you think that is how it went down on this, my day of crazy interruptions? Nope.

As I watch, Claire violently pulls the blanket away and hits Sarah with enough force to knock her down to the ground. Wailing ensues. I, of course, can't let this go for many reasons. So I pause the DVD and head into the playroom to ~~kick some serious tail~~ calmly discipline and reinforce what Claire already knows.

By the time all that is done, I am OVER trying to exercise. I call it a bust for the day and turn off the DVD. I will live to exercise another day. Hopefully my children will too. I guess some days motherhood is its own form of exercise.

Happenings

2011-03-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

This past week was very busy for us. I figured the best way to blog about it is with pictures. First, we took a day and had lunch with Daddy at his office.

It is amazing how the same foods we eat at home suddenly become the most tasty food EVER when you put them in a new environment. The girls have been asking to eat at Daddy's work almost every day since.

While we were there, Daddy took his girls to meet the office "pet".

This is "Stew". He lives in the woods surrounding Michael's office. Stew is well fed by all the employees so he comes often for visits. Our girls loved getting to be so up close and personal and this sweet rabbit was happy to oblige.

Over the weekend, we traveled to Anchorage for Furrondy. This is a big annual event that started back when the fur traders would travel to Anchorage to sell their goods. While the fur traders are still a part of this event, it is now full of many other activities for family fun.

First up were the dog sled rides.

Then came the carnival rides.

Just a quick stop to hug a bear.

And what major event would be complete without pony rides?

The last item on our agenda was the Reindeer Run. Michael signed up for this event mainly so he could say he did it. He is becoming more and more Alaskan by the day. And who can blame him? I mean, who wouldn't want to be chased down a snowy road by a group of crazy, agitated reindeer?

Sadly, I don't have any great pictures of the actual run because about 5 minutes after Michael left us to go line up to run, both girls decided to melt down on me. I was doing my best to balance Sarah on one hip (since we forgot to bring our stroller) while holding a camera in the other arm while at the same time trying to convince Claire that she didn't need me to hold her. They were both crying uncontrollably and there was nothing I could do to console them. I really had no clue what their problem was. But after 15 minutes of non-stop crying (the race still hadn't started) I finally gave up and took the girls off where they could both sit in my lap. Turns out, they were both just really cold and tired of being outside. Once we got back to the car, I took off their boots and discovered just how cold their feet actually were. I felt so bad for them.

After it was all said and done, I asked Claire to tell me her favorite part of the weekend. Her answer? Eating Smores at the hotel, and eating McDonalds for dinner and sleeping in the same bed as Sarah. Oh, and watching TV in her bed at the hotel.

I reminded her about the dog sled rides, pony rides, carnival rides, etc. To which she said, "Yeah, those were good too. But I REALLY liked being in our hotel room."

So for our next trip, I guess we will forgo all the costly events and simply hunker down in the hotel with Smores making supplies. A fun time for all!

Not Fat, Just Frustrated

2011-03-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

I so desperately want to write a blog about weight loss and dieting but I can't figure out a way to do it without sounding like I am complaining or whining about being "fat". I am not fat. I know this. I do have about 15 pounds to lose in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but even with that, I don't consider myself fat. Out of shape? Oh yeah. In need of serious toning? Uh-huh. But fat? Not really. Being this close to my target weight is nice, but it also comes with frustrations. Mainly, it is from the reactions I get whenever anyone finds out that I am on a diet. Let me explain what happened this week.

I joined a bible study. The church that hosts this bible study provides childcare from 9:30-3:00 (with small monetary donations from the parents) so that the moms can have bible study, eat lunch together potluck style and then have several hours to scrapbook, quilt, paint or really whatever you want to do with that time. It's awesome. The ladies were super friendly and welcoming and I had a really great time. The only problem with the day was the potluck lunch.

As you may recall, I have recently started down a path to be more disciplined. Part of that was being careful to eat more healthy foods. I have also been doing a close calorie count of what I have been eating. Because of all this, I knew I couldn't join in the potluck lunch at the church. I wanted to participate, but I really needed to not participate. Since most potluck lunches are filled with all sorts of yummy foods that would drive my diet right into the ground, I just packed my own little sandwich and planned to eat that and be good. But the ladies would have nothing to do with that. They saw my sandwich and reassured me that there was plenty of food to go around and I was more than welcome to share. That statement alone was very sweet and nice and showed great hospitality. I appreciated that. However, I reassured them that I was fine with my sandwich and as amazing as the food looked, I was really trying to be careful with my calories and I would pass on the food. But that wasn't the end of it. I heard lots of, "You don't know what your missing!!" and "Oh come one, just one little bit can't hurt!" among many other similar statements. Over. And. Over. Again. Talk about a constant barrage of pressure. Where is the support here people?

Another side of this that is frustrating is the looks I get from people when they realize that I am dieting. Now I don't go out of my way to announce to people that I am dieting. (unless you read this blog) But it seems that so many social functions involve food. So you either explain why you are not eating, or risk looking antisocial. When I tell people that I am trying to watch what I eat, I often get looks like, "What? Are you kidding me?" It drives me crazy. Again, I KNOW I'm not fat, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be careful of the foods I am putting in my body. I hate feeling like the simple act of calorie counting immediately puts a label of "Obsessive Crazy Lady" on my forehead.

Maybe this is why dieting is so hard for everyone. Social situations seem to always require yummy, fatty foods and it is uncomfortable when someone isn't participating. It's almost like we all have to indulge or we are all uncomfortable together. So I will continue to push through and smile politely at the well meaning, back-handed compliments and once I reach my target weight, maybe then I'll allow myself the occasional potluck lunch. We'll see.

As an update, it has been 3 weeks since I started working out. I have managed to work out 5 days a week for each of those weeks. It has not been easy. In truth, I have hated almost every minute of it. But if disciplines came easily, they would be called something else I guess. While I have hated exercising, I am loving the results. I can feel my body getting stronger and my clothes are already starting to fit a little better. I am a little nervous about this weekend because we are making our trip to Anchorage and there will be plenty of eating out. I haven't eaten at a restaurant in 4 weeks. That may not be a big deal for some of you but for me that's huge. We usually average eating at restaurants 3-4 times a week. It has been a tough adjustment, but it has been a good one. I knew this weekend trip would require some eating out and I am looking forward to the break in the diet, but I am going to have to be REALLY strong to get back on my path of discipline when we return on Sunday night. Wish me luck!

A Little "Art"

2011-02-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

Claire: Mommy, do you see my painting? What did I paint?

Me: Hmmm, well I am not sure. What is it sweetie?

Claire: Just tell me what it is, Mommy.

Me: Well, baby I am really not sure what it is.

Claire: Mommy, you just have to use your imagination.

So can any of you use your imagination? This Mommy is stumped. And apparently so is the artist!

A New Obsession

2011-02-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas, we bought a present for Claire that was more a present for us. We bought her a MobiGo. For those of you who are thinking, "A Mobi-What??" . . . . a MobiGo is a hand held gaming system by V-Tech. It is geared for kids 3-8. We bought this in our hopes that it would help Claire pass the time on the many, many flights we had scheduled to get us around to see family over the holidays. Claire was happy to get it and if you ask me, she likes it the proper amount. She'll play it from time to time but it doesn't consume her every waking moment. It is a good supplement to her already overfilled toy inventory.

Recently, Sarah discovered Claire's MobiGo and fell in love. Seriously. This kid can't get enough of that thing. She has always been my little engineer. She can fiddle with something with amazing patience until she finally figures out how it works. The MobiGo was no exception. With Claire, I had to show her how to play the games. Once I did, she was set. But Sarah? I have never once told her how to play any game on this thing and she is already playing circles around Claire. It's a little scary I must admit.

I decided it was time to blog about this little love of Sarah's which has turned into an obsession when I saw her in the kitchen the other day. She loves to play with my oven mitts and will often stop whatever she is doing to slip them on her little hands. On this particular day, she had been playing the MobiGo. She stopped to put on the oven mitts and then went right back to the game and attempted to play it while wearing said mitts. I ran for my camera to capture the incredible cuteness of it all, but before I could get back to her, the smarty pants had realized that wearing oven mitts was only going to hinder her game play. I made it back to the kitchen just in time to see her walking away with her precious MobiGo, oven mitts shed and lying on the floor.

But that gave me an idea. I decided to keep my camera ready over the next day or so to see how many different ways I could capture Sarah with her newest best friend. Here, my dear friends are just a few of the places I've found Sarah playing this contraption.

A little game with your breakfast?

I had put the system up on the counter so she would be forced to take a break. Then she moved the stool over, climbed up and got the MobiGo and started playing it right there on the stool. Little stinker!

During her morning snack. Notice that she is actually using her Cheese-It cracker to touch the screen for game play.

While on the hippity-hop.

Even sisterly love won't stop her.

In fact the sisterly love was a little too much distraction, so she is on the move to find a new spot to play in peace.

A random floor crouch playing position.

And yes, even while "watching" TV.

This is my child who really can take or leave TV. She will watch an occasional show, but for the most part TV is too sedentary for her. Sarah is much happier when she is tinkering with something and figuring out how it works. So while I was initially surprised by how much she adored this little game, the fact that it is basically an interactive TV created the perfect combo for my little tinker tot. It's been interesting and even a bit funny to watch her obsession grow, but I think it is time to create some sanctions. I am preparing to stow this little toy away in the highest cabinet where she can't find it and only pull it out for short spurts in the day. I dread the withdrawal she will no doubt experience once I separate her from this new love of hers!

Thus Said Claire

2011-02-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

I've seen this done by so many friends on their blogs and I absolutely love it! I've wanted to interview Claire ever since she started talking in complete sentences. Sadly I have yet to stop and do it until now. Below are the questions I asked and Claire's unedited answers with a few moments of commentary from yours truly.

Claire's All About Me Interview---Age: 3 years 10 months

What is your name?------Claire
When were you born?-----I don't know.
How old are you?-----3
Who is your mommy?-----(ducks her head and shyly points at me.)
What does Mommy do?-----Work
Who is your daddy?-----Michael
What does Daddy do?-----Work
What is your favorite color?-----Purple
What do you want to be when you grow up?-----A mommy. (BIG smile on this one)
What is your favorite food?-----Popsicles
What food do you NOT like?-----Green Beans
What is your favorite animal?-----Unicorns and horses (she leans over and says, "Make sure you write horses. Okay, Mom?")
Where do you want to live when you grow up?-----(points to the floor indicating, "Here!" She made it perfectly clear long ago that she will be living with us all the days of her life)
What do Mommy and Daddy do after you go to bed?-----Turn the light on. (Hallway light that acts as a night light until we all go to bed.)
What is your favorite song?-----Mary Had A Little Lamb
What is your favorite movie?-----The Lion King and Snow White
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?-----Vanilla and Strawberry and Cotton Candy
Where is your favorite place to eat?-----At the table.
Who is your favorite person?-----Aunt Nikki
Who is your best friend?-----Karis and Maryn
What is your favorite book?-----The Bible
Who is your sister?-----Sarah
Where did Sarah come from?-----She leans in with her hand cupped to the side of her mouth and whispers, "Your tummy." I guess the secret is out now.
What is your favorite thing to do?-----Play
Are you going to get married one day?-----A very enthusiastic and bright eyed nod of yes.
Are you going to have babies?-----Yes!
How many babies will you have?-----5 and they will be boys and girls.

Discipline

2011-02-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

While I feel that I've got discipline down to a science where my children are involved (hold on while I laugh at myself on that one) where I really seem to be falling short lately is in my SELF discipline. So I've committed to four different areas of self discipline and am hoping that I can stick to these. Time will tell.

First: I will start getting up in the mornings when Michael gets up to get ready for work.
My girls are late sleepers. Claire has started getting up earlier recently, but that still equates to about 8:00. Sarah is one I usually have to go wake up around 9:00. So it is really easy for me to be lazy in the mornings and sleep in until Claire wakes me. While that makes for a very leisurely and stress-free morning, it also makes for a very unproductive day. So I've committed to waking at 6:00 every morning so I will have 2-3 hours of child free time to accomplish some of the other goals on my way to a more disciplined me.

Second: I will make time to be in the Word every morning before I do ANYTHING else.
This was a tough one at first because I love to wake slowly. Even if I manage to crawl out of bed at 6:00, I would prefer to not have to think for at least an hour before starting my day. This means getting my breakfast, hot cup of tea and zoning out in front of the TV. But I've truly felt convicted to give the Lord the first of my day so I have committed to forgo the TV and sit with my Bible instead. I've been reading through Hebrews a chapter a day and am loving that book. It's been too long since I've read it. Chapter 9 in particular is such a great breakdown of the gospel. Love it!

Third: Eating better foods.
I am convinced that I have become addicted to eating out. This is not something I am proud of in any way. It is really sad to me that I can hardly resist the temptation to grab food out on most any occasion. Even when there is perfectly good food at home. So I have committed to stay away from any restaurant food until March 3rd. The reason for March 3rd? We are heading to Anchorage for a weekend trip and I won't really be able to avoid eating out. But if I make it that far, I will have made it 3 full weeks from the day I first committed to this. And once we get back home, I am planning to skip restaurant food until we leave for our trip to Houston in April.

Fourth and Finally: Exercise
This one is the one I feel most likely to fail. I HATE to exercise. I think it is because I am so out of shape. I am guessing that if I can manage to exercise consistently for the next four weeks, I will feel so much better and might actually start to want to exercise. I have made every excuse in the book as to why it is tough to exercise in Alaska. From "I don't have a gym membership here" to "It's -18 degrees outside and I can't go out in that with the girls". But the truth is,even in Houston I had a great gym membership that included free childcare and I still didn't go work out. So I cannot justify hiding behind my circumstances any longer. I have pulled out my Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD. It is a good workout and only takes 20 minutes of my day. I am committed to doing this for the entire 30 days and then I will feel out what will come next. Baby steps here, folks. Baby steps.

I started on commitment items 1-3 last week and have stayed consistent in them. Item 4 started today. I did complete my daily exercise and am glad I did it.

Make no mistake, I am a weakling when it comes to these areas of discipline. I really don't even like putting it all out there for the world to see but it's the ugly truth of who I am and I am working to improve it. I can't even take credit for the motivation to get this ball rolling. This was a true conviction from the Lord. I had a quiet time a few weeks back and no matter what I read in the Word, one word kept popping into my head. That word was "discipline". So I prayed about it and asked the Lord to show me areas where I lacked discipline in my life. And boy did He show me!! So now I am praying for strength to see these items through and whip myself back into shape both mentally and physically! Keep watching for an update in March. I promise to give a full, honest report.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2011-02-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

Our master bath has been occupying a bit of my time as of late. As I mentioned in a previous post, this bathroom was a major negative for me when deciding to buy this house. The layout of the bathroom wasn't my favorite for starters. I mean, the bathtub is encased in what can only be described as a stage. The tile work is a good 3 feet tall and stretches wall to wall. To me, that is a huge waste of space in an already moderately sized bathroom. Since we don't plan to be in this house for more than about 3 years, we were not willing to spend the money or deal with the mess of a complete bathroom remodel. So instead I focused on changing my second major hang up. The decor.

Here is the best "before" pic I can offer you.

Since the bathroom isn't all that large, it's impossible to take a picture that includes everything. But this corner of the bathroom was the corner that I was most disturbed by so we will focus our attention here. Ahem.

The massive tub taking up too much space is not my favorite, but it is nothing compared to the decor chosen by the previous owners. I am not really sure what this lady was thinking, but due to her efforts I will, for the remainder of this post, refer to her as Hildi. Can you see the purple flower print design on the front of the tile and along the back by the windows? That, my friends is wallpaper. Wallpapr on walls is bad enough in my book, but on tile? Who does that?!?!

Now lets discuss the walls for a moment shall we? They were painted a bright sky blue. Not my cup of tea, but paint isn't a big deal. That can be painted over. Unless of course you have super glued wall paper, yarn and marbles to the walls. Oh yes, I said marbles. Check it out.

This little pattern was repeated around the entire ceiling-to-wall boarder in the bathroom. It even extended down over parts of the mirror above our sinks. Have you ever tried to scrape super glued yarn and marbles off of walls? How about on mirrors? If you haven't consider yourself blessed. I had more than a few choice words for Hildi as I did my best to deconstruct all that she had constructed.

We couldn't simply pull the yarn off the walls because (as anyone who has worked with yarn can tell you) yarn is quite fuzzy. So I would get hand fulls of little fuzz balls with a large majority of the yarn left on the walls. We finally resorted to using a power sander. And you know what? That didn't take it all off either. By the time we chipped the marbles off and had several large holes to patch, I knew my only option was to re-texture the walls. So I did.

When I removed the wallpaper from the tile around the bathtub, I found patterned tile.

Apparently it wasn't Hildi's taste. Thus the wallpaper I suppose. The pattern isn't horrible, but is certainly not my taste either. So I decided to try my hand at painting over the light pinks and greens with a dark chocolate brown so that it would better coordinate with the new wall color.

So after much sweat and a tad bit of frustration aimed at Hildi, we have newly textured and painted walls. New roman shades and newly painted tile. And while it is still not my ideal layout for a bathroom, I now can stomach this space. So again, here is the before:

And the after:

One thing I do like is that it is surrounded on all sides by windows. We basically live in a forest so privacy isn't an issue. In this place, I can totally see why you'd want to be surrounded by windows while soaking in the tub. I mean, check out the view I have from each of my four windows.

Who wouldn't want to soak in a relaxing tub while enjoying all that scenery, right? Wrong. At least for me. As nice as it would be to soak and relax, I will never, EVER be taking a bath in this tub. Sad, I know. The reason? Our water. Where we live, there is a very high iron content to the water. And as it turns out, iron turns water brownish-orange. You don't really notice it all that much in the shower or sink. But bunch it all together in a tub and you get this:

We've had our water tested and have been assured that the water is clean and safe. The color is simply from the high iron content. The only other "problem" with our water is that it has traces of Arsenic. My first thought when I heard this was, "Isn't that the stuff that NASA gives to astronauts to ingest if they need to commit suicide in space?" And now it's in our water?! YIKES! Apparently the government has acceptable levels of arsenic content for water and we fall well below those, but to me any Aresnic at all is alarming.

So for now my children are drinking bottled water and I am refusing to soak in my tub. Seems a little silly to do all that work for a tub I won't even use, but at least I don't have to look at those blue walls, wallpaper and marbles any longer!

It Only Took 12 days . . . .

2011-02-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

11 days of incorrect forecasts.
11 days promising 60% chance of snow with NO SNOW.
But on day 12??? The chances skyrocketed to 70% and we finally got what we were promised. Hours and hours of fresh new snow!!!

Dog Sledding!

2011-01-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

We finally ventured out and did something very Alaskan today. We bundled everyone up and headed out to the Tustumena 200. This is a local dog sled race. It's a race used to qualify teams for the Iditarod race coming up in the spring. It was really interesting to see all the dogs in action. They really love to race. It was crazy watching the handlers have to hold them back so that they wouldn't take off before it was time. Here are some pictures from the day.

I love how the dog in the background appears to have a smile as big as Claire's!

Sarah watching big sister bark at the dogs.

Sweet sister hugs.

Big sister tackle.

Pretty blue eyes!

Some sweet puppies.

Ready, set, GO!!!!!

Eating some snow on the race track.

Beautiful!

Note: I'll have you know it took a great deal of strength to not title this blog, "Who Let The Dogs Out?".

Habitual Utterances

2011-01-27T16:24:00.000-08:00

I know there are things we say often because those things are echoed back to us by our darling children. Through these echoes, I've discovered many things about how our family operates. For example, we have an apparent lack of compassion for minor boo boos. I have found that anytime Claire hurts herself and starts to cry, Sarah immediately says, "You're okay!" It happens so frequently that Claire even mentioned it to me the other day. She said, "Mommy, I don't need Sarah to tell me I'm okay, I just need you to kiss the boo boo." Okay, sweetie. Message received.

And today I learned that (despite our lack of compassion for boo boos) we are full of love around here. Sarah feels that anytime the word "goodbye" is uttered, it must immediately be followed by, "I love you!" And this was made perfectly clear today when we were at Walmart. We stopped off in the restroom and as we were finishing up and leaving the stall, Sarah calls out, "Goodbye potty! I love you!"

Claire immediately looked at me with a puzzled look and said, "Did Sarah really just tell the potty 'I love you'?" I couldn't help but laugh at the sweetness of my youngest and the emerging snarky nature of my oldest. I guess I have only myself to blame.

Writing to Write . . . and a Little Foreshadowing

2011-01-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

I have absolutely nothing of consequence to write today. I was hoping for some noteworthy events to transpire so that I could put it all down in narrative form for you, my dear readers. But sadly, I've stayed home all day. Normally this would be my grocery shopping day, but the Window Guy was here. He was replacing all the windows in our bathroom. There were 4 windows and they felt the need to schedule 7 hours time to complete the project. Fortunately, the Guy was an extremely efficient worker and he was done in more like 4 hours. This is a good thing because who wants 4 gaping holes in their house when the temperature is in the 20s outside?

Why replace the windows? Well, this was a left over project from our negotiations with the sellers when we got the house. Apparently, when your windows are close enough to water (i.e. our tub) then the glass should be tempered glass. It's code. We like code around here. Code is very popular with us. Therefore, to be in code, we asked the sellers to pay for and order the new windows. They agreed and the installation is finally complete. So now, if on the way out of the tub I should slip and fall into one of the windows, I won't have to deal with dangerous shards of glass cascading down on my person and into the tub. Although I can assure you that I will never, EVER be taking a bath in this tub. I have my reasons. Oh yes I do. And I will explain them in a future post. It has nothing to do with baths in general. I really don't mind a good soaking bath. But here? Not gonna happen.

I wish you could see our bathroom. Really I do. It is very, uh, interesting. This bathroom was one of the major negatives I had with this house when we were contemplating the purchase. I told Michael that if we bought this house, I would have to have somewhat free rein to make improvements that would make the bathroom a bit more bearable. He agreed and so I have been on a mission to transform this bathroom with as little out of pocket expense as possible. And never you fear, I am taking before and after pictures. And I am almost finished. I can clearly see the light at the end of this tunnel. I will share very soon. Maybe in the next week or so. In the mean time, I'm off to paint some more tile.

Faux Snow

2011-01-22T15:04:00.000-08:00

I love snow. I really do. A good snowfall is one of the few things that can calm my nerves in mere seconds. The sound of my mom's voice, a hug from my amazing husband and snow. That's about it. So while I was a little nervous to move to Alaska for all the culture and climate shock we were sure to encounter, I was calmed by the fact that I would finally live in a land of snow!

Now that I live here, I am finding that while snow on the ground is nice, nothing quite beats snow falling from the sky. Sadly, we haven't had too much of that so far this year. It is sad that I live in Alaska, and yet am jealous of my family and friends in Georgia, Tennessee and even Texas. I think they are getting more snow fall than we are. Seriously. Don't get me wrong, we have had snow on the ground since October. Because once it falls, it doesn't melt away until sometime in May. But the fresh new falling snow? That has been quite scarce. The reason? Crazy cold temperatures.

In the south, the wait for snow looked like this: we would hear a hint of snow to come in the forecast. "Did you hear? Did you hear? There is like a 20% chance that it will snow!!!" And then everyone makes a mad dash for the store to stock up on pantry items. Then you hunker down at home and hope that the temperature drops low enough so that you get beautiful snow instead of crazy cold rain.

Here? A totally different scenario. Here we have to hope that it will be warm enough for snow. Seriously. In Alaska, it actually gets too cold for snow. Once it gets to be in the single digits and lower, the air is extremely dry. No moisture in the air equals not a cloud in the sky. And as you might have guessed, no clouds equals no snow. None. Zip, zilch. Nada.

The snow fall we received in October was really a teaser for me. It was our first snow here and it was PERFECT! Huge fluffy flakes of snow falling fast for a good three straight days. We accumulated a good 2 feet with that one snow. It was wonderful and I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing this on a regular basis. Want to know the next time it snowed here? December 24th. That's right. Not only was it a full two months later, but it was also the day we left for Texas!! The entire week we were in Texas, our little home in Alaska was being blanketed in snow and I was missing it. Now I will say that I wouldn't trade seeing my family for a little snow, but the timing was a bit vexing to me. Especially considering that all the snow stopped the day before our return.

This week has been nice. It has warmed up to the twenties and the clouds have rolled in bringing in SNOW! Sadly, it's not snowing right now. In fact, there isn't a cloud in the sky, but it looks like it is snowing because we have a gentle breeze that is slowly blowing the snow off of the trees. It is cascading down in huge beautiful white clumps and giving the illusion of snowfall. A faux snow if you will. Hey, I'll take what I can get.

I am told that come March, the temps will warm up enough that we will get "dumped on" and I will be sick of shoveling snow. Let's hope so. At this point, I'd LOVE to be sick of shoveling snow. Bring it on weather man! Bring it on!

Messy Fun Learning

2011-01-19T16:13:00.000-08:00

So I decided that we needed to have a little fun that wasn't linked to playing "The Princess and Her Mother". That, friends, is a game that Claire has created that involves us sitting on the floor in the playroom as Claire says over and over, "Mother, what shall we play?" and then I have to come up with idea after idea until I am ready to pull my hair out. Not so much fun. Not really sure why my darling is insistent on playing it around the clock.

So I saw a neat idea on another blog and decided to give it a try. It incorporates making a mess with learning. Both things Claire loves. The mess, I don't love, but don't mind too much either. So as soon as Sarah was tucked safely into bed for nap time, I pulled out our supplies. A cookie sheet and some flour. We made our own homemade etch-a-sketch.

We had fun drawing pictures, letters, numbers, etc. When we finished each little drawing, we simply shook the pan a bit and had a clean slate ready for more drawing. It really was fun. Then I decided to let Claire have a straw so she could play around with "wind". The wind blows quite fierce here on some days and creates some interesting looking snow dunes. Teachable moment right? What a mess.

Least you think that I've lost my ever loving mind, the mess really did clean up easily with a quick vacuum. And that would have been the end of it had Claire not decided to reenact one of her favorite scenes from The Lion King. You know the one where Rafiki paints the stripe on little Simba's forehead? Check it out:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Yes, a fun mess for sure!

This Whole Parenting Thing Just Got Easier

2011-01-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

My girls are growing up. Now normally the realization of this would make me a reflective, sappy mess. But today I received two benefits of this whole growing up thing and I am just too excited to be sad. So instead I'll share.

First:
Sarah has now hit the 2 year mark. What that means for me is that both, yes BOTH of my children are now allowed to attend the little mini-daycare inside my grocery store. Today I dropped both girls off and for the first time in almost 4 years shopped with full focus and ZERO stress. AHHHHHHHHH. I have to admit that once my list was completely crossed off and my basket was full, I was tempted to do a little extra perusing just because I could. Since I live in No Man's Land, the grocery store is also the department store, shoe store, furniture store, hardware store, etc, etc. So there were plenty of departments I could visit once I finished up my business in grocery land.

And I no longer minded how long it takes the checkers to ring up merchandise here. This really deserves a blog post all its own. At this store, you don't have checkers and baggers. Nope. Just one person who does it all for you. So they will scan items, bag those items and put those items in your cart. ONE BAG AT A TIME. Meaning, they will scan about 5 or 6 items, stop and bag those items and place the bag in your cart before scanning the next 5 or 6 items. It is really taxing to watch. Especially when there are other people in line in front of you. There was one week that I clocked a full 20 minutes from the time I wheeled into one of the lines to the time I finally swiped my credit card. Not fun with two kids who have already exceeded their limit of patience as we marched through the store for the past 45 minutes. But now? Today? I stood in those crazy long lines sans kids. Which meant I had time to read the covers of all the trashy tabloid magazines and even flip through a People magazine to see all the celeb photos. No whiny kids, just a happy mom who has let her mind completely zone out. Bliss.

As soon as my purchases were complete, I just walked over to the playland where my darlings were fully engaged in a rousing game of house, collected the very happy campers and made our way home. I am now considering shopping for my week's groceries day by day.

Second:
Tonight Michael had to work late. This happens from time to time and while I don't love it, I understand it. What that means for me is wrangling two girls into pajamas, navigating potty time, teeth brushing time, story time and countless other night time routines all on my own. It's doable, just not fun.

So tonight I was upstairs getting Sarah's pajamas on and Claire announces that she wants to try to get ready on her own. Really? Okay baby girl. I am more than happy to let you try. So off she heads to the potty first. She closes the door stating that she needs her "energy". (which translated means privacy--the poor girl can't ever remember that word.) When she comes out she tells me that I have to close my eyes so that I can't see how well she is doing until she is all done. Um, okay.

So I finish dressing Sarah and brushing her teeth. We are half way through Sarah's night time story when Claire walks in fully dressed in pajamas she picked out. (the shirt on backwards) She is sporting the biggest smile I've seen to date and runs to me for a hug. I make all the appropriate gushing statements of pride over her and when I go into her room I find that she has also put her dirty clothes in her hamper. Seriously? This girl has got it down! What a big girl I have.

I am sure I will get sappy over how fast they are growing up very soon, but for now I am giddy. Giddy I tell ya!

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Sarah!!

2011-01-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

My precious baby girl turns 2 today. I don't know why, but that suddenly feels so big! And big she is. She has really blossomed since we moved to Alaska. It was like someone turned on a language switch and she was suddenly all a chatter. Granted most of it sounds like Swahili, but it is chatter nonetheless.

She has gone from silent nothings to being able to sing complete songs without assistance. Off the top of my head I can count 8 songs that this girl can belt out solo. She is a singer at heart for sure.

I love how she echoes everything we say. Often times we will find that she has wandered off to another room and when we want to find her we simply call out, "Sarah!" and we hear a sweet little voice echo, "Sarah!" from a distant part of the house. Target acquired!!

I love how lately Sarah will give a hearty belly laugh and follow it up by saying, "It's funny!" Oh my sweet girl. My heart fills to overflowing each and every time she runs up to me and says, "Hold you!!".

Sarah Grace filled a gap in our family that we didn't even know existed. She approaches everything in life with a passion that can only be described as reckless abandon. She is a joy. She is a pleasure. She is a precious gift from God. May she one day embrace her creator with that same reckless abandon.

We love you sweet girl!

Checking out her birthday present. Like the sweet nap hair?

Cooking up something yummy!

Give it a good stir.

Fun with balloons!

GRIN!

Well hey there good lookin'.

Birthday card from Mimi and Pops.

Hey Mom, this card SINGS!!!

Sarah is 21? Oh wait, Sarah is 2!

Anytime her mouth wasn't full of cake, she was singing "Happy Birthday to You!" over and over.

Finger licking goodness!

Forget the fork. I'm going all in!

See?

Hey sweetie, I think you missed a spot.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

2011-01-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood is amazing. Seriously. We were plopped down right into the middle of the most amazing community of people. Within 2 days of moving in, we had visits from most of the neighbors. These visits all included a gift of some sort. And we were also given a spreadsheet of everyone's names, address, phone numbers, kids names and ages, etc, etc. Now such a barrage can leave you feeling either very welcome or very scared. I chose to feel welcomed and it was the right choice. These people are amazing. They pet sit for each other. They baby sit for each other. They carpool together. They even attend school plays for each other's kids. While we were out of town, one of our neighbors regularly came over to see to our cats and another neighbor was so sweet to plow snow off of our driveway so we wouldn't have to shovel the drive when we returned home from our holiday travels. If I haven't mentioned it before, these people are great!

So tonight, we are having our neighborhood Christmas party. It's a tad on the late side because the family hosting the party was out of town for Christmas. It will be fun to hang out with everyone and let the kids run off steam together. I am in charge of bringing salad for 30 people. And drinks. Not a problem. I guess they felt the newbie in the hood should be given the easiest of tasks. We are also exchanging gifts, but they have to be homemade/handmade (is there any difference between those two?). Now this revelation alone had Michael rethinking our love of our neighbors. But me, I love it. Nothing gets me energized like a new project. Maybe that makes me a grandma, but I really don't care. I love to be crafty. The problem for me isn't the idea of doing crafty gifts, it's the time frame. We were out of town when the instructions were sent out. This means that I only had 1 week to come up with 2 homemade gifts--one from me and one from Michael. So with very little time to plan, I utilized my skills of creating frozen dinners. (Skills I honed to perfection thanks to my Katy friends and all their precious babies!) So I made a complete meal from appetizer to dessert. It is frozen and ready for a simple reheat and eat. I figured one night free of cooking was a pretty good gift. But the dilemma was in figuring out how to wrap a gift like that. Who really wants to open up a gift box and find a frozen lasagna? So I've made my own little menu to wrap. I figure they can open the menu and then be presented with the actual food later.

And the coolest part is that we don't have to transport this meal in a cooler. Nope. The temperature outside is an accommodating 3 degrees so simply leaving the food in the back of our van will keep it nice and frozen. Love it!

Okay, I am off to put the finishing touches on Michael's handmade gift. (like that?) And I also have some baking to do. Yum!

Cheers!

One Big Giant Catch Up . . . . And House Pics!

2011-01-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Wow what a long break from blog world I've had. I think, I THINK, that I am finally at the point of settlement where I can get back to more regular blogs. The boxes are unpacked and we are now only tripping over random artwork and pictures that still need to find homes on our bare walls. We finished our Christmas travels and are now back in our frozen nest.

So here I sit trying to figure out how to summarize it all for you without turning it into a 3 hour read. I think I'll start with a few notes I've made for myself about traveling to and from Alaska with my younglings.

Dear Aims-

*Scheduling a midnight flight is asinine. Don't fool yourself into believing that the girls will sleep because the moment you get them all settled with their blankets and lovies, the flight attendants will turn on the inflight movie. And yes, it will be an animated movie. And yes, the only travelers on the plane who will be interested in said movie will be your two children. (note: remember to practice your best "Are you kidding me?" face. You'll need it when they shut the movies off and your children FINALLY fall asleep only to be woken up 20 minutes later by the flight attendant who is insistent they be sitting upright and fully buckled even though the plane won't land for another 25 minutes.) Yep.

*When you are stupid enough to schedule a midnight flight, for heaven's sake DON'T forget to pack the DVD player's battery pack. You just might need that thing on the second or third leg of the trip.

*Remember to pack a thermometer because Claire will no doubt spend half of her holiday running a 103 temp. I'm just sayin'.

*Expect a most miserable flight home because you and Sarah will no doubt have contracted Claire's cooties and will now be the ones suffering with fever.

*Don't think that just because you've landed in Anchorage that all the travel woes are complete. Be prepared for a van with a dead battery and at least an hour and a half's worth of trouble to replace it before you can start your 3 hour drive home.

*Consider long and hard the 22 hours it took to get from door to door before planning your next excursion southward.

Sincerely,

Aims

Now those are the low lights. I will say that once we got to our destination, we were very, very happy to have traveled. We got to see family and even some of our Houston area friends. We ate at most every restaurant I can think of and even did a little shopping at Target! We were refreshed and it was lovely.

As for the rest of this post, I'll put up a smattering of pictures of the house for those who have requested to see them. Enjoy!

The front of our little igloo complete with a cute bundled up Sarah!

View from the entry. Please ignore our unhung pictures.

Master bedroom. Can you see the view from our window? Can ya? Can ya?

View of dining room from the top of the stairs.

Our office.

Kitchen.

Second view of kitchen looking into the breakfast nook. This is where I enjoy my hot tea every morning while watching our friendly moose family. Bliss!

View of our living room (and playroom) from the kitchen. Yes, those walls are painted with an argyle design. And yes, we will be repainting soon!

View #1 of our HUGE playroom.

The other side of the playroom. My girls better never tell me they are bored and have nothing to do!

View from my breakfast nook window. Complete with two of our moose friends.

Ahhhh sunrise.

Well hello little fella.

This, friends, is a baby moose. They get about twice as big as this. This little guy came right up to the window and stared down our dog. These little woodland creatures are quite bold.

See Claire? Even the moose wants to come play in your playroom.

Still Amidst The Boxes

2010-12-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

Well hello little blog! Long time no see!

So I haven't gone dark, I promise. I am just buried beneath boxes upon boxes. It has taken me way longer to organize this house than I had hoped it would. I am sure it has something to do with the fact that my children don't have a preschool to attend and one of the two no longer naps. I will say that I am about half way finished. I find myself spending a lot of time in the completed rooms. Those are the rooms where I can relax and take a deep breath. A stress free zone if you will. Then I walk into an uncompleted room and my blood pressure starts to rise. Crazy boxes scattered here and there, most of which are already opened because we had to go spelunking for some item we couldn't find. As a result half of each box's contents are lying on the floor or some other flat surface in the room and packing paper is cascading down to cover it all. My cats are in heaven, but it is starting to make my right eye twitch.

But can I tell you how awesome my mornings are? I sit in my breakfast nook with a cup of hot tea and my breakfast and look out on the most beautiful sight. My back yard is a wooded wonderland, covered in snow and often hosting a family of grazing moose. It is gorgeous and peaceful. I get very Zen-like. It is lovely.

I am working feverishly to find/uncover my plug-in that allows me to upload pictures from my camera to my computer so I can finally bring you a picture update. It is quite amazing where the movers can choose to pack things. For example, I have found dining room stuff in boxes labeled "master closet" and books intended for our office in boxes labeled "kitchen". I've found I can't trust the labels on the boxes. It's like the movers gave up trying about half way through the packing process.

I will share one picture with you that was taken with my phone. I was unpacking a box in my room and found this:

That, my friends, is trash left from the lunch we ate on moving day. It was lovingly wrapped in packing paper and tucked neatly in a box with my other master bedroom belongings. Now come on! I realize that the movers don't have time to play "what goes and what stays". And I concede that it makes sense to just do a blanket "pack everything just to be safe" but seriously? I think this was a time for a judgement call. Who really wants to keep their trash? Maybe they thought I was one of those hoarders on TLC.

And what a cruel tease for me. We don't have a Chick-fil-A anywhere near us. We've moved to a land of no real restaurants. I've been craving Chick-fil-A for many-a-week and to unpack this little gem was not unlike the feeling I would get when I'd have a major hankering for a Chick-fil-A sandwich only to realize it was Sunday.

Okay enough on that. I'd better go get to the boxes. I promise to blog more regularly once the house is unpacked. This house had better be in order before we leave for Christmas travels. I can't bear the thought of coming back home to this disaster zone!!

An Unexpected Luxury

2010-11-17T09:23:00.000-08:00

Living in a cold climate can certainly have its advantages. Today being grocery shopping day, I was reminded of one more. I, ladies and gentlemen, can now unload my groceries from my car AT MY LEISURE! Oh yeah baby! It is 26 degrees as I type this so as you can probably guess, my car stays quite chilled when not running.

Grocery shopping with two fidgety toddlers is taxing enough. But for me, the arrival home is just as taxing. Let me paint you a picture.

We pull into the garage and shut the garage door. Girls are unloaded and I begin my multiple trips between kitchen and back of van.

I put 4 bags on one arm and two on the other. Using my pointer and middle fingers, I manage to turn the doorknob and heave the door open with my hip. (I got mad skilz, let me tell you) Claire is there waiting with a question. "Mommy, when are you going to get me my lunch?" I tell her to wait until I get the groceries unloaded just as the cat dashes between my legs into the garage. I know I can't leave him there because he will likely eat his way into the bags of lawn fertilizer or some other such poison.

I race to the kitchen to deposit all 6 bags on the counter and find that Sarah has managed to take the back off of the remote control and is sucking happily on a battery. One battery removal complete and I am headed back to the garage for my second trip. I now have 4 bags on one arm and 3 on the other and am headed to the door when I hear, "crunch, crunch, crunch". Oh that stinkin' cat!! He has found a bag of something and has started chewing his way in. I run quickly to the kitchen and drop off the bags and find Claire rummaging through the first set of bags and once more she asks, "Mommy, can you make my lunch NOW?" Um. . . . no.

Off I go to the garage to ~~drop kick~~ gently pick up the cat and take him inside the house. I go back out to the garage to find that Sarah has somehow slipped past me into the garage and is now digging through Daddy's tool box which is filled with all sorts of fun sharp and dangerous objects. I scoop up the baby and take her inside as Claire asks once more for lunch. With a growl and a huff, I plop the baby and 3 year old down on the couch and turn on the TV in the hopes that I can manage a free 2 minutes to unload the remaining groceries. 10 minutes later, my kitchen is a mess with bags of groceries, (many of which have toppled over spilling their contents all over the counter) the girls are chowing down on a quickly thrown together lunch and I can finally start the process of putting the groceries away. And this is a tame day.

Now that was Houston, where the temperatures are so hot that your groceries could spoil on the cart ride from the store to the car. So you have no choice but to unload quickly. But here? Ahhhhh, bliss. The temperature is cool enough outside that leaving my groceries in the van a little longer is no problem at all. In fact, I get some great benefits.

First? I don't have to worry about my groceries going bad. I can get the girls inside and fed with minimal frustration. I can be calm, relaxed Mommy and actually enjoy this time with my girls. Once Sarah is down for her nap and Claire is busy playing with a full tummy, I can take my time unloading the groceries.

Second benefit? Most times, my groceries are actually colder when taking them from the van than they were in the store. That ice cream that starts to soften and melt during my multiple laps around the store is now refrozen perfectly. The 24 pack of water bottles? Nice and chilled and ready for consumption!

There are plenty of things about this cold weather that are tough to adjust to, (another blog for another day) but it has also afforded me this unexpected luxury and I love it!

Things to Do

2010-11-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

I am giddy this week! Giddy I say!! Why? Glad you asked. Because as of this week, I now have two, count 'em TWO recurring things to do that don't involve a grocery store! Wahoo!!

First, one of the local churches holds a Tot Time. They open up their gym and fill it with bikes, balls and toys galore. All you do is show up and release your "tots" for a very active 2 hours of energy release. The second thing? Gymnastics for Claire. I finally found a place and signed her up. We go for our first session tomorrow. It will either be an awesome experience, or a day full of blog-worthy fodder. Either way, a win right?

I do realize how sad it is for me to be giddy over this, but people I am BORED! We are stuck in this condo with minimal toys and books and two girls who think the only way to play is with Mommy. I can portray a very believable Diego, but even that gets tiring for me. We hit the grocery store a few times a week just because it gets us out of the house but we all know how my children and grocery stores mix. Not. Pleasant.

Now I don't need to be crazy busy to be happy. The trick is to find at least one significant errand each day to get you out of the house and break up the monotony. But you have to be careful not to put too many errands in one day or you end up with children who have had no free play time and instead of cabin fever, they start to suffer from stuck-in-the-car-seat fever. Which is actually worse.

Sadly I haven't found a preschool here. The good ones are so expensive that I would have to sell my firstborn child just to afford the tuition. Of course, then I wouldn't need preschool, but I digress. The ones we can afford are, um . . . less than desirable. I'll leave it at that. So it is very possible that my kids will not have preschool for the time we are here. I am sad for them, a little. But I know I can supplement their preschool education and teach them what they need right here in our house. But the truth is that I am really, REALLY sad for me. I loved preschool days. I could get so much done with the kids tucked neatly away in their preschool classrooms. But I am trying not to focus on that too much. It is what it is and we are making the best of it. All this is to say that I am GIDDY to have a couple of things to do each week! Whoop!

On a totally random note, we were at Wal-Mart today and (as has become our custom) I let the girls play for a bit in the toy aisle. Is anyone else creeped out by those baby dolls that activate when you walk past them? Good gracious me those things are freaky. I walk by and hear cooing and gurgling coming from dolls that are bouncing up and down in their cribs and everything in me wants to turn and run the other way. Shudder.

Really? SERIOUSLY??

2010-10-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

So several things have happened lately that cause me to stop and say, "Really?" Most are too simple to put in a blog all by themselves, but all compiled neatly into a listing, hmmmm.

#1: I hurt myself in my sleep. REALLY? Yes. I went to sleep all cozy comfy and woke with a crazy neck pain. I obviously slept wrong, but this pain has lasted for days. I would say that you have to be pretty talented to hurt yourself in your sleep, but in truth there is only one explanation. I am getting old. Just get me a cane and my pill organizer now.

#2: We have an official closing date on our Houston home so I made calls to all our utility companies to schedule their shut off dates. Most were easy enough. The water company, however, was not. I called and was promptly told that I would have to hold to speak to anyone. So I held. For 20 minutes. It was crazy. When I finally got someone on the phone, I was told that they charge $25 on the final bill for disconnection services. REALLY? If I just refused to pay my bill, they'd shut it off for free, right? But because I want to do this all legit like, I get charged a fee. SERIOUSLY? Ugh.

#3: I was looking for Halloween costumes for the girls. Most of what I saw were short skirts and tank style tops. REALLY? Even the cat costumes were short and skimpy. Okay, first these are costumes for toddlers. I don't plan on putting my girls on Toddlers and Tierras, so I don't need them to dress like street walkers to get some free candy. And second, this is ALASKA!! Retailers, when will you learn to adjust your merchandise to the weather in your area? When we were in Houston, I struggled to find costumes that my girls could wear and not die of heat exhaustion. And here? It is 30-something degrees outside and I can't find a warm costume anywhere! When I asked some of the "locals" what they did with this crummy situation, they said that they put their kids coats over the costumes and when they go up to someone's door, they quickly open their coats and show their costumes as they say "trick or treat". Okay, so now I will have a 3 year old street walker who is learning that flashing will get you free treats. SERIOUSLY?? Seriously.

Now these next list items are theme related. Michael had to leave on a business trip. He is off to the east coast for a week. Off where the temperatures are warmer, there are actual restaurants at which to dine. Oh, and he is doing all this sans kids. Now this item might require a "REALLY?" all its own, but it isn't like he had any control over this. The company says go, so he goes. So I will forgo the obvious one here and just skip to some of the things I've had to deal with since he left.

#4: The forecast is calling for rain. All. Week. Long. REALLY? It is cold here, if any of you were wondering. And there is very little to do with toddlers. There are a few small parks that we will go to if it is dry out. We just brave the cold and bundle up. And in truth, the humidity is so low that 32 degrees really feels more like 42 degrees so it is bearable. But add rain to the mix and we're stalled out. The rain brings in the humidity which makes the cold feel as cold as it really is, if not colder. Sadly, even a break in the rain offers no relief because the park equipment is all covered in water. This means that little fingers get wet and freeze almost on contact. So when it rains, we stay inside. The irony here is that the rain started the day Michael left. The day after his return? All sunny and clear. SERIOUSLY?

#5: Last night I was starving with very little in the condo to eat. I was able to scrounge up something for the girls to have for dinner, but for me the choice was simple. Get the girls in bed and then order a cheesy, meaty yummy pizza. They actually have a Pizza Hut here--wonder of all wonders. And I love Pizza Hut. And guess what? Michael doesn't. So whenever he is out of town, my Pizza Hut radars start going off. I was thrilled at the prospect of eating my pizza in front of the TV with the girls all tucked into their beds. So I busy myself with the task of feeding the girls, bathing the girls, wrestling the girls into their pajamas and coordinating two bedtime routines. All the while, visions of pepperoni were dancing in my head. Once the girls were in bed and asleep, I got online and ordered my pizza. Yum! I hit the submit button and go to get my money. Just as I was pulling out a twenty, my cell phone rings. It's the guy from Pizza Hut. He is informing me that they do not have a delivery driver and won't have one for at least another week. REALLY? Wish I had known that before I put the girls down. Now I am trapped in the condo with two sleeping girls, no food and a very empty belly. Sigh. Cereal for dinner it is. (Oh and I had to use the milk remnants from Sarah's Happy Meal because I emptied my milk jug yesterday.)

#6: And of course, because Michael is gone, Sarah's diarrhea has relapsed. SERIOUSLY? Yep. She was completely over it. No episodes in at least a week's time. But the day Michael left, we had 2 episodes and had another one yesterday. Lovely.

So there you have it. Never fear, I am sure there will be more. In fact, I am getting ready to head to the grocery store with the girls. If you've read my blog for anytime at all, you know that my track record of stress-free shopping experiences at grocery stores isn't the best. So it should be a REALLY interesting day.

Waiting

2010-10-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

I wish I had some really cool update to off you, my faithful readers. The truth is? We're still just waiting. Waiting for our van to arrive, waiting on our stuff to arrive, waiting to close on a house. Waiting. Just waiting.

Actually I did get word that all our stuff arrived in Anchorage a few days ago. They've moved it all to storage where it waits until we say "go" and then they'll bring it all to us. Oh tease of teases! To know our stuff is so close and yet still out of reach. Grrrrr. It is lovely to know that as soon as we close on a house, our stuff won't be far behind, but not so fun to know it is soooo close and we can't access any of it! So we wait.

We are getting closer on the house thing. We are just waiting on an appraisal. As long as that comes in within an appropriate range to what we are paying, then we will be all set. Then we will simply be waiting on final paperwork so that we can close by mid-November.

Once it is all said and done, I'll post house pictures along with a post detailing the hunt for said house.

One thing I know for sure, waiting is not fun. But it is a great opportunity to seek the Lord. It's a great time to just relax, read the Word and reflect on what is on the horizon. I am trying to take advantage of this time. To not wish it away so soon. To truly relax in my surroundings and not spend this entire time wishing for something different. Anything I go through serves to make me stronger if I will let it and this transition is no different.

So we wait.

Goodbye, Dear Friend. You Will Be Greatly Missed.

2010-10-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

No, we haven't lost a friend or family member. But right now, I am mourning the loss of Claire's nap. I wondered when this day would come. I just never expected it to be when she was under 4 years old. Deciding to drop this nap has been tricky for me because Claire will still nap. There is the occasional day where I put her down and she just plays and reads books for the entire "nap" time, but for the most part she sleeps. Solidly. For at least 2 hours. So why drop it? Glad you asked.

When Claire naps, she invariably suffers insomnia when it is time for bed at night. We will put her to bed by 7:30 and she is usually still wide awake at 9:30 or 10:00. Now, in times past when this would happen, she would just play quietly in her room without calling out to us. We would hear her singing sweet songs to her stuffed animals and reading books to herself. It was really quite sweet. But now? Well I made a fatal mistake several months back. Let me explain.

Claire ended up wetting the bed one night because she needed to go potty and was too scared to get up and go by herself. She apparently called and called for me to come get her and take her to the bathroom, but I never heard her over the monitor until she had already wet the bed and started crying. I felt really bad for her so I taught her how to speak directly into the monitor so that I could hear her better in the night. That worked like a charm until Claire realized that she now had a great little tool for calling us at any point. Her own little walkie-talkie if you will.

So now when she is experiencing insomnia, we get countless calls over the monitor in a sing-songy little girl voice. Things like:

"Mooooooommy . . . . I need to huuuuuuuuug you!"

or

"Mooooooommy . . . . I need to telllllllllllllllll you something!"

A couple of nights ago I went to brush my teeth. The bathroom is just outside her door so when I turned on the light, she could see the light under her door. I barely got downstairs before I heard:

"Mooooooommy . . . . what was that light that I saaaaaaaaaaw?" Now this one I ignored. I was getting really tired of running up and down the stairs to answer her questions that really needed no answer. But in no time she persisted,

"Mooooooommy!! What was that liiiiiiiiiiiiiight that I saaaaaaaaaaaw?"

Me: Still ignoring

"Moooooommyyyyyyyyyy!!! Why did you turn that light on and turn it off agaaaaaaaaaaaain?"

Defeat. With a hearty sigh, I heave myself up the stairs once more to tell her to stop it!

Now on days when Claire has no nap? She falls right to sleep as soon as her sleepy little head hits the pillow. It is evening time bliss I tell ya. So now we are experimenting with the drop of the nap. She seems to handle being awake all day fairly well. Not too cranky and happy to just sit and watch TV. But I don't want her naps to be replaced with just TV. So I am trying to formulate a plan for a more structured "rest time" for her. Any ideas are welcome. I have found a great workbook for the preschooler. She seems to like it, but it requires me to help her with it and I really want something for her to do that can be independent so that I can still use this time of the day for my bible study, cleaning, relaxing, etc, etc.

The other problem (which is a temporary one) is that we are stuck in this condo with none of our own stuff. So all our books, coloring books, toys, etc are still in transit and there is very little for a non-napping girl to do. So it may be just TV and kid movies until we get into the new house.

And as if on cue, my little darling is tugging on my arm so that we can go play mommy and baby alligator. So I'm off.

So long dear nap, it was nice while it lasted!

Arrival

2010-10-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we've arrived. We made it to Alaska and are actually in one piece. The travel here was interesting to say the least. We boarded a plane at 5:00 PM on departure day and following two long flights and one fairly short layover, we arrived in Anchorage 9 1/2 hours later. That's 2:30 AM for those not inclined to do the mental math. 2:30 AM with two girls who did not have a nap the day previous.

Try to picture us navigating the airport with two EXTREMELY tired little girls, 7 suit cases, 3 pets, 2 car seats and 1 pack-n-play. It was not a pretty sight. Then we camped out at a hotel for the night before loading all of that stuff up in a rental car to make the 3 hour trek to our new town. Or should I call it a village? Campground? It's small here, let's just leave it at that. Small, but absolutely beautiful. Seriously. Mountains everywhere. Gorgeous!

So now I find myself sitting in a lovely little condo where we are now settled. Well, at least as settled as people can be in temporary housing. We feel blessed to have found this place. It's a little run down on the outside but completely renovated on the inside. So once we get past the front door, we feel like we are living in the lap of luxury. That is until it is time for dinner time and/or bath time. I say that because we have no table/chairs for dinner time and no bath tubs for bath time. Seriously. We have a bar and stools off the kitchen which work fine for most of us. But Sarah? Yeah, the 1-year-old is not rockin' the bar stool. So she sits in my lap to eat her meals. She better not get used to that! I didn't like the fact that we have no table and chairs, but that wasn't as surprising as not having a bath tub. We have 3 bathrooms in this place and not one of them has a tub. So the girls are getting to experience the joys of taking showers. So far, they are on board and even enjoying it a bit. Wonder how long it will be before the newness wears off and they start pining away for the bath tub.

Rest assured that I am taking plenty of pictures to share. And share I will, eventually. When the movers were packing up our house, I didn't remember to set aside the software I would need to upload pictures from my camera to our borrowed laptop. So I have tons of pics on my camera, and no way to get them on to yea ole blog. So for now, I will just have to do my best to paint word pictures and when our stuff arrives (in 3 to 5 weeks) I'll update with actual pictures.

That's it for now. Soon I'll share with you some of our house hunting adventures!

My How Time Flies

2010-09-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

I just took a random picture of my girls today and while it isn't the best of quality, it reminded me of similar poses I've taken in the past and just had to share. Won't you join me in a trip down memory lane?

Business . . . . Oh the Business!

2010-09-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Busy. We are busy. I am really not trying to ignore my little blog, but we are busy. There are so many things to do in such a little time before we head to Alaska. And it all has to be done NOW.

We had several trips planned for this fall. When we got the news of our move, we thought briefly about cancelling all those trips because we simply didn't have the time to take them. However, the plane tickets were already purchased so backing out would have been quite expensive. Besides that, we REALLY wanted to go see our family members on these trips!! So we've made all the necessary shifts to do all that travelling this month so that we can still be on a plane to Alaska by October 2nd. What does that mean for us? Well, that means that we have spent the past week organizing and cleaning our house and purging TONS of stuff we didn't even remember we had. All so that the house can be ready to sell ASAP. We are now on the first of several trips. With all the comings and goings that are now scheduled, I figured out that between now and our official departure for the north, I have 10 days to spend in my house. And most of those days are not consecutive. Nope, they are scattered here and there amidst this month of manic craziness! And two of those days will be spent on a blow up mattress because the movers will have cleared our house out completely!

In the next few weeks I will get really good at packing, traveling, unpacking, doing laundry, repacking, traveling, unpacking, doing laundry, re-repacking, etc, etc, etc. My head is truly spinning at the thought of it all. But it will get done and we will head to Alaska on October 2nd. I am willing to bet that on October 3rd, I'll find myself sitting in our temporary housing in an unfamiliar city thinking, "Woah, what just happened to me?" Because goodness knows I don't have time to contemplate all that right now!

I plan to get really good at posting on my blog once we are in Alaska. I am sure there will be many-a-moose romping through our back yard and I will definitely have my camera ready to share the fun with you. But until then, my blogging may be a bit sporadic. I am not sure if I've mentioned it yet or not, but . . . . . we're busy.

It All Started With A Prayer

2010-08-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I prayed a dangerous prayer. I had just finished reading the book, "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I had also recently watched this short video of Francis Chan. I felt the Lord convicting me that I wasn't willing to let go of myself and all my selfish desires in order to bring Him glory. So I prayed a dangerous prayer. I prayed to the Lord and surrendered myself to Him. I asked Him to ask something big of me. Something that would cause me to sacrifice. Something that would grow me in ways I never knew before. And it was scary to pray it. I really had to psych myself up because as soon as I felt convicted to pray that prayer, I immediately started worrying about all the "big things" that might be asked of me. Was I going to face an illness? Were my children going to be hurt? Was Michael going to lose his job? But finally, through His strength, I pushed aside the worries and in obedience, I prayed the prayer. And then, nothing. For months, there was no change. Nothing was asked of me. Life went on as usual.

I still knew it was coming. I just didn't know what "it" was. So I just waited and trusted that the waiting was all a part of the growth process.

Then about a month ago, we were told that within a year, Michael was going to be transferred to a new position in his company. It would require a move on our part and it would happen sometime next summer. It would be a 2-3 year rotation that would eventually bring us back to the Houston area.

Hmmm . . . . okay. I can handle that. I've got a year to prepare. So our minds immediately started racing. We were constantly discussing the possible scenarios. There were lots of "Oooh, wouldn't this location be nice." or "I'll be happy as long as they don't send us to that location." Then came the, "Boy wouldn't it be nice if we could be there by this date." and the "If they don't move us before this date, I'll really be frustrated."

By the way, all of those statements above, were made by me. One night I was reading my Bible and the conviction came once more. Suddenly I realized that I was falling back into my selfish ways yet again. Suddenly this move was all about me and what I wanted. If this was the "something big" that God was asking of us, then He obviously has a purpose in it. Which means He knows the best place to send us AND the best timing. Who cares what I think or want? So I prayed another dangerous prayer. A prayer of surrender. I prayed, "Lord, I want this to bring you glory. So no matter WHERE you send us, I will be ready and willing to go. And no matter WHEN you send us, I will be ready and willing to go."

I kid you not, TWO DAYS LATER we got a call that a position opened up and they wanted Michael to take it. All I could think was, "Dude! This was supposed to happen NEXT SUMMER, not now!!!" Oh, and the location? Alaska. Yep. Both a location and time frame that were nowhere near our radars.

So I started to panic a bit. But just for a moment because I quickly remembered the two dangerous prayers I prayed and realized that God's hand was truly in this. I felt a peace about this move. A peace that was not from within myself. He has a plan for this move. I don't know what it is, but I know it exists. I know He will reveal it to us in His timing and in the mean time, our responsibility is to step up in faith and follow His lead. So that is what we are doing.

The current plan is to have the entire family (pets and all) in Alaska by October 3rd so that Michael can start work on the 4th. That's right. We have one month to sell our house and get going. No pressure there! Suddenly the flashes of white light in my right eye make perfect sense. The eye doctor told me that they could be caused by stress. To which I gave a hearty chuckle and nodded my agreement.

No doubt this process will be stressful, but I have been amazed by how the Lord has provided comfort for me every step of the way. For example, I was starting to really fret about the winters there. About the almost 20 hours of darkness each day. Being in the dark so long sounds horrible to me. I almost feel depressed just thinking about it. But then I was reading in Psalms the other night and found this,

"If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light about me be night,' even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You." --Psalms 139: 11-12

As soon as I felt a peace about the darkness, I found something new to fret. I stared to mourn our house. I LOVE our house. I have lived in this house for longer than I have lived in any other house my entire life. I brought both of my babies home from the hospital to this house. How could I leave it behind? But then I was reading in Matthew and saw this,

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . . for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." --Matthew 6: 19-21

What an awesome reminder that my house should not be my treasure. Was I blessed to have it all these years? Sure! But the things that matter most: my family, my memories, my joy and peace did not come from this house. They were gifts from the Lord and I get to take those with me!

With so much to do in such a short time, I often find myself worrying about all the details that need to be taken care of in order to get us out on time. I am learning to simply take care of what is before me in the moment and not worry about the things I can't yet control (or may never be able to control). Note that I said I am "learning". I definitely do not have that part mastered yet. But I am constantly reminded of another passage. The last one I will share (for this blog entry anyway). Again it is from Matthew,

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." --Matthew 6:27 & 34

I am so glad to have these scriptures to keep me grounded. And also to be surrounded by such loving friends and family members who encourage us daily. We are blessed indeed. And now we wait and look forward to seeing what all the Lord has in store for our little family in the frozen north!

And The Eyes Have It

2010-08-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

What a week these past two days have been! At least that is what it feels like. We've had our share of issues in the last 24 hours and all of them are surrounding our eyes.

First there is me. I've been having weird flashes of light from my right eye for the past 3 or 4 days. They are all in the corner of my eye. It really just looks like someone is holding one of those sparklers over to my right. I can't tell you how many times I would spin my head around to see what was happening just over my shoulder. Of course nothing was there and the sparkley lights were now occurring somewhere behind my back. If I had been my dog, I would have turned my body toward the lights and ended up simply chasing my tail. But I digress.

So I went to the eye doctor yesterday. I will pause here for a brief moment to tell you how amazingly wonderful this visit started out. I took the girls over to a sweet friend's house so they could nap there while I took care of my eye. The initial wait at the doctor's office was bliss! I leisurely checked Facebook on my phone and read e-mails. Then I pulled out my book to read. All while watching the other poor parents wrestle with their babies. I was SO GLAD to not be them! So fast forward 30 minutes and I have dilating drops in my eyes and can no longer read or play on my phone. That is where the REAL waiting began. Then the fun was over.

So the doctor found some spots on my retina that indicates some sort of inflammation. Um, okay. Why are my retinas all inflamed, I ask. He says it could be either a virus, or a parasite. What? Seriously? A parasite? I am officially ooged out. He said if it is the parasite, it was likely something I came into contact with as a child. These things apparently lie dormant for years and years. Lovely. So how much rubbing alcohol can I pour directly into my eye to kill this thing?

Now I have an appointment with a retina specialist on Thursday morning to see what our next step will be. Michael's is taking off the morning to stay with the girls so I will be child free, but am no longer excited about it since I know that my eyes will likely be dilated and I won't be able to do anything but twiddle my thumbs.

This brings us to this morning.I am cutting up watermelon and look up to see Claire has awakened and meandered into the kitchen. I say, "Good morning, sunshine!!" To which Claire calmly responds, "There is something wrong with my eye." I look over and see this:

Immediately I know the problem. Yesterday, as I was buckling the girls into their car seats to take them to my friend's house for naps, I saw a mosquito just under Claire's eyebrow. I swatted it away, but it had already done its job. Within 30 minutes, she had a little red, typical mosquito bite bump. Oh well. By bed time, it looked no different to me and I had truly forgotten all about it. But apparently something happens to mosquito bites on the eyelid in the night hours. I really had to practice my Mommy Poker Face to not reveal to her just how freaked out I was.

So we go to the doctor and they said it is already starting to get infected. Good grief! So we are on antibiotics and Benadryl and hoping that does the trick. They said that if it doesn't get better quick, they will need to give her a shot to prevent the infection from getting into her eye cavity. Here is Claire happy as a lark in the doctor's office.

She obviously has no clue that a shot is even a possibility. And I plan to keep it that way.

I will say that it is incredibly hard to take a sweet girl out in public when she looks like this. I am getting strange looks from every person we pass by. I find myself wanting to hang a sign on her that says, "No, my Mommy didn't hit me, I have a mosquito bite."

So she is all medicated now and we are just waiting to see if it gets any better. She had a hard time taking the Benadryl. Apparently it tastes pretty bad. So I bought some Oreo cookies as an after medicine treat. Sarah got to partake in this part and REALLY enjoyed herself!

Now we are home and the girls are watching a movie. What is it about having a sick baby that makes me want to throw routine out the window? I feel so bad for her. I want to give her cookies and candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner and watch movies all day long. But we won't. Well . . . . maybe the movie part.

Finally

2010-08-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

I finally decided it was time to update my Flickr badge. You know, the picture doo-hickey over there on the left? My account with Flicker filled up around when Sarah was first born. I know this because those are the last pictures on the badge. Apparently, I can only upload so many pictures without paying for a subscription. That is something I am not quite ready to do yet. So instead, I just deleted all the old photos from the site (since we have them on our computer anyway) and added new ones. Voila!

Finally Claire and Sarah are no longer suspended in time.

Why, Why, Why?

2010-08-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

So Claire has finally entered the "Why" phase of toddlerhood. EVERYTHING we say to her is followed with a "why?" and it is exhausting at times. Here is a little exerpt from our drive home from gymnastics today:

Claire: "Mommy, I love gymnastics!!"

Me: "I am so glad, honey!"

Claire: "Why are you glad?"

Me: "Well, I like it when you are happy."

Claire: "Why am I happy, Mommy?"

Me: "Uh . . . isn't it because you love gymnastics?"

Claire: "Why did you just say "Uh"?"

Me: "Claire, let's talk about something else, okay?"

Claire: "Why do you want to talk about something else?"

Me: Big sigh

Claire: "Mommy, why did you just say (imitates a big sigh)?"

Me: "Because I am tired of answering all your "why" questions, honey. Let's just be quiet for a minute."

Claire: "Why are we supposed to be quiet?"

Me: "Honey, I need a break. I am not going to talk right now."

Claire: "Why do you need a break?"

Me: Silence

Claire: "Mommy, what aren't you talking to me?"

Me: Silence

Claire: "Mommy, why are you being quiet? Mommy!?"

Feel like screaming yet? Multiply that 2 minute conversation by 10 and you will get our entire ride home. Aren't you glad I shared?

I Need Some Cheese To Go With All Of This Whine

2010-08-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for humoring me. I needed to get that out. That sums up the past week for me pretty well. Why? So glad you asked. Sarah is going through a lovely new phase. At least I think that is what it is. She has suddenly decided that the laid back approach to life is no longer acceptable. Instead, she is trying out the whole scream, yell, cry and tantrum your way through the day. And I am spent. Completely. I'm weary, I tell ya. I'll be back to blog when my sanity returns.

Heart Breaking Question

2010-07-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

We have a wonderful toddler bible. I really love it. We read Claire one story each night from this bible. I think we have made it through the entire thing at least 5 times and are still going strong. It has planted many of the better known bible stories in her mind and that has offered us countless opportunities to teach her about God throughout the day. Like when she is scared at night after having a bad dream, we remind her what Daniel did in the lion's den when he was scared. He prayed to God.

So the other night we were at the hardest story of the bible for a 3-year-old. The death of Jesus. She has always handled this story with no problem. Fortunately, this bible is truly geared toward the toddler so it is a "just the facts" version that avoids getting too detailed. But Claire was in a "why" mode that night. We got lots of "why" questions that night and did our best to answer them.

Bible: The soldiers arrested Jesus and marched him to Jerusalem.

Claire: Mommy, why are they marching him to Jerusalem?

Me: Well honey, Jesus told everyone that He was God and they didn't like that.

Bible: The soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head. They whipped him. The soldiers put Jesus on a cross to die.

Claire: Mommy, am I going to die?

Me: GULP.

Now, what I wanted to say was, "No, sweetie. You aren't going to die. Don't worry!" That would have been easy. But we decided a long time ago that we were not going to lie to our kids to avoid uncomfortable situations. But it is so hard to stick to that resolve when you really want to protect their little hearts from fear and preserve their innocence. Obviously we know that we need to choose our words wisely when tough questions crop up. The trick is to figure out how much of the truth they can handle and only dish out that much. Give them enough information to answer the question honestly. If they want more information, they'll ask more questions. So with a quick glance over at Michael that begged him to, PRAY, I looked back at Claire and said, "Well, yes baby. One day you will die. But not today."

Claire: (tears now welling up in her little eyes) Mommy, will you hold me when I die?

Me: (wanting to cry at that question) Yes, baby. I will. But remember that you are not going to die right now. You are okay.

Unfortunately, Claire still looked a little uncertain and scared. UGH!!! This is just what we need right before bedtime.

Claire: Mommy, are the doors locked?

Me: The doors? You mean the doors to our house?

Claire: (nodding fearfully)

Me: Yes, honey. The doors are locked. Are you scared?

Claire: (another nod)

Me: Why? What is scaring you?

Claire: I don't want the soldiers to come.

Now I get it. I now know what has her so upset. She thinks that to "die" means you get whipped by soldiers and put on a cross. So when I told her that one day she would die, just not today, she took that to mean that one day she would be taken away by soldiers, whipped and put on a cross. Talk about a punch in the gut. MY POOR BABY!

Me: Oh honey. There are no soldiers coming for you. Jesus did that so that we would never have to. Jesus didn't want the soldiers to come get us and hurt us, so He let them do it to Him instead. Isn't that so nice of Him?

Claire: (still a little uneasy) Yes.

Me: He loves you that much!

Claire: (another nod)

We decided that we didn't want to end the night on such a dark note, so we read further in her bible. We read the story where Jesus comes out of the tomb and also the one where Jesus gathers with his disciples again after he rose from the grave. These two stories seemed to calm Claire's nerves and she was back to her giggly, happy self.

SIGH. I prayed and prayed that night that my fumblings to find the best answer wouldn't leave her feeling anxious or fearful. I also prayed that if she had any lingering fears about that conversation, that she would ask more questions. But so far none have surfaced. She seems happy and content with the answers given.

I do love God moments. Moments when I can seize opportunities in our day to talk about God and share with Claire all the wonderful things He does for us. But I must admit this one was a little tough. Up until this night, the God moments were all about happy, joyful things which aren't hard to discuss. This was my first taste of what I know will be a lifetime of tough questions. Because they will only get harder as my girls get older.

Lord, help me to always be filled with Your Spirit that I will have YOUR answer ready when the tough questions arise.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. --James 1:5

This Daddy/Daughter Moment Made Possible By Orville Redenbacher

2010-07-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Happenings

2010-07-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Some might call it writers block. I, however, don't consider myself a writer so I can't officially explain my lack of posting ideas official "writers block". What I believe has happened is that any and all good ideas have been pushed out of my mind and replaced with gobs and gobs of snotty phlegmtastic goodness. Translation: sinus infection. It really is hard to come up with fun things to write about when you are on 4 different medications at one time. I have been living in a sort of "head in the clouds" reality for the past 11 days. I think I am finally on the road to recovery--for the most part and figured I'd better sit down and blog just out of sheer determination.

So prepare yourselves, this could be a very random post.

During the climax of my cootie-fest, I ended up feeling desperate enough to visit one of those after hours clinics. It was the weekend and I really wasn't sure I could make it until Monday. I am sure that there are several clinics with amazing doctors. But the one I visited was a complete joke. I think I've gotten more thorough check-ups from Claire and her Fisher Price doctor's kit. I ended up leaving with a handful of prescriptions for medications that I was already taking over the counter. When I asked if I truly needed the prescriptions since I was basically already on these medications the doctor said, "Um, well probably not." Gee, thanks. When I asked for a diagnosis, I was told that my throat was red and probably sore from all the coughing. Really? No kidding. Well I'll be darned. I can't believe that I didn't figure that part out for myself. Snark, snark, snark.

Over the weekend, we had a wonderful visit from my amazing mother-in-law and niece. That was quite fun. Claire adores her cousin and they played from sun up to sun down. It's a nice break for me because she'd rather me stay out of the "playing" business when her cousin is around. Trust me, I don't mind taking a break from playing the part of Prince Eric as Claire reenacts various scenes from The Little Mermaid.

Today, Sarah turns 18 months old. She is growing so very fast is amazes me. She weighs 29 pounds (95%) and is 33.5 inches tall (93%). This kid is solid let me tell you. I have yet to see someone pick her up without uttering an audible grunt/groan, so great is her girth. And I love it! I think the extra insulation is the main reason I have such good sleepers. Sarah goes down every night at 6:30 and sleeps until 8:00 the next morning. And still takes a 2.5 hour nap every day. Ahhhhhh, bliss. Believe me, I count my blessings. Every. Day.

And tonight? We are hiring our first baby sitter. We are getting together with several other couples to head out to The Melting Pot. Can't wait!! I told Michael that we are not going to know what to do with ourselves after this weekend because we've gotten so accustomed to time away together. We were blessed by my mom with a cruise at the end of June. Then the following weekend, some friends from church (with whom we trade childcare) took the girls so we could have a date night. Then last weekend, my mother-in-law insisted that we go out while she watched the girls. And now this weekend, we head to The Melting Pot! Love it, love it, love it!!!

So there you have it. You are now completely updated with as much rambly-randomness as my clogged brain is capable of in its current foggy state.

Ta.

Fun with a Bean Bag

2010-07-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Claire was having a blast jumping on her bean bag tonight. And I was having fun playing around with my shutter speed.

Sarah usually opts for the more relaxing way to enjoy the bean bag.

And don't worry. Those are the ONLY two times Sarah has EVER watched TV in her life. You believe me, right? Right?

Happy 4th on the 5th

2010-07-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Last night we let Claire experience her first fireworks. We tried our best to avoid anything that would make a loud noise. Claire shys away from any loud noise that isn't made by her person. Since we would like for this to be an annual event, we chose to break her in slowly. Got that advice straight from the "How to Properly Expose Your 3-Year-Old to Explosives" handbook.

We did put Sarah to bed first. We figured we would have enough on our hands making sure Claire didn't burst into flames. Trying to wrangle a rogue 17 month old at the same time could've proven disastrous.

First came the sparklers.

I think that face says it all. She wasn't quite so sure about the sparklers. She was happy to hold them, but eventually the wind blew some of the embers onto her arm and that was enough to convince Claire that sparklers are for Mommy's and Daddy's to hold.

Then came the smoke bombs and boy did she love those.

They were very quiet and non-intrusive so she was happy to play with those the entire time. We would light them and Claire would run over and stand in the smoke.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Her shoes are now tinted a lovely blue from the blue and purple smoke bombs. We also tried some color fountain fireworks. We were told that they would simply emit quiet sparks of color. Wrong. They were quite loud and a few times even gave off a lovely squeeeeeeeeeel just for good measure. Fortunately Clarie handled that in stride and we were able to call our little intro into fireworks a success.

I did, however, have to tell her to pretend that the neighbors were popping popcorn outside her window just so she'd be able to go to sleep that night. It was a little loud to say the least. And I also had to promise that in the morning we could go outside and pretend to eat all the popcorn they left on our lawn. Hey judge all you want, it worked. She fell right to sleep. And, yes, we did go "popcorn" hunting this morning!!

Couching Around

2010-07-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

As often happens around here, I was playing with the girls and ended up inventing my own little game. It was nothing special. Sarah was on the couch and would pop up and look over the back. When she did, I'd yell out, "Peek-a-Boo" with quite a bit of gusto. She really found this amusing and I managed to get some good smiley pics.

Of course, with all the ruckus we were making, big sister had to get in on the action too.

It's wonderful how the simplest of things can impress the daylights out of small children. I better enjoy it now, because there is a time in the not so distant future where everything I do will no doubt be a complete embarrassment to them.

June

2010-07-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

Wow. June was a busy month around here. We had so many busy things going on that I finally decided to give up on my blog for the month and not feel one bit guilty about it. Okay, I felt a little guilty, but oh well. So now that it is officially July, let me update you on the last couple of weeks.

As you know from the last post, I taught VBS. It was a great time and as always I enjoyed getting to teach once again. As soon as VBS was over, my mom arrived for a 12-day visit. Part of that visit was so that she could spend some over-due time with the grand-babies.

And part of her visit was a mercy mission. What do I mean by that? Well, my wonderful mom took it upon herself to stay with our two girls all by herself for 3 1/2 days so Michael and I could go on a cruise. ALL. BY. OURSELVES. Ahhhhh.

I don't think I can begin to describe how wonderful it was to spend a few days with no real schedule. No running around chasing after a very energetic 17 month old. No halting of activities to head back for nap times. No eating with one hand while fighting to feed the baby. None of that. Ahhhh. It was so nice to spend an entire day reading a book on the beach under the shade of these trees:

Taking breaks from reading only to cool off in the clear, cool water.

Oh, and no vacation is complete without seeing what has to be the world's largest goldfish.

Okay, so it's not a goldfish, but still. Look at the size of that thing!! Michael better watch out because I think that fish wants to eat him for lunch.

Needless to day, a relaxing time was had by all. Well, my mom might say different. She and the girls had tons of fun, but I don't know how relaxing it was for her. Now I am in the process of getting back in our routines (which will hopefully include regular blog updates). And Claire is busy teaching me all the fun new games MiMi taught her while we were away.

And now I am off to the luxurious laundry room where the unfolded clothes are calling my name.

My Fix

2010-06-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well it's here folks. I am talking about the week of VBS. This is the week that I get my teaching fix for the year. It's the week where I can pour out all my creative juices in curriculum and room decor. It's the week where I get to exercise all the classroom management techniques I learned in 8 years in education before becoming a mom (although I must say that I've been known to whip out a few of those techniques on the home front.) I love this week because I get to be all teachery and by the time I am exhausted the week is over. It's a nice shot in the hip as it were.

It's also the week where I remember why I don't teach while having babies at home. Getting up super early and getting myself and my two girls ready and out the door by 8:00 is no easy task. Not to mention prepping all the items you'll need for the next day's lesson. The good news? No papers to grade when you get home and no parents to call! Whoot!

Today was room prep day. I spent the majority of the day up at the church with my partner preparing our room. The theme this year revolves around cowboys, barns, animals, etc, etc, etc. Here is a picture of our story corner.

I was quite pleased with the way it came out. The bales of hay are made from empty diaper boxes that are covered in shredded construction paper. (We couldn't use real hay because of allergy issues.) It will be a ton of fun teaching a lesson while slapping stray hands away from the sheep and keeping rogue boys from attempting to climb the ladder (tongue planted firmly in cheek). Enjoy the look now, I am sure once the kids arrive, it will never be the same!

Taming of the Doo

2010-06-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today I am writing about Claire's hair. Oh, my sweet Claire, your locks are out of control. Anyone remember this? Obviously before Claire was born, I knew this was going to be an issue. And then there was this. Even with very little hair, the problems were starting to unveil themselves.

Now that my beautiful girl is 3, I am shocked to find that Claire's hair (much like its owner) has mood swings. There are times when it will lay flat against her head with small adorable wisps flirting around her ears.

But all it takes is a nap or a good nights sleep to transform her mane into this:

It is mornings like these when I determine the only way to go is pig tails.

Which are cuteness to the extreme if you ask me. I just love this look on her, but can I tell you how hard this is to accomplish? Good gracious, it's hard. It's like trying to comb out hair on an alligator (if they had hair). Trying to get the two pig tails even and centered is almost impossible with a child who is writhing on the floor and attempting pirouettes when forced to stand. And still, somehow I manage to get the hair up. But you know what happens? Invariably, Claire will tire of the pig tails mid-way through the day's events. So she pulls them out (usually when I am nowhere near a comb or extra hair accessories for repair purposes) and ends up looking like this.

Lovely.

And then there is the nightly Farrah Fawcett doo.

This style usually follows a 30 minute wrestle session with Daddy.

Oh so many phases of hair. If only I knew which phase I'd be faced with from day to day I could prepare myself. But alas, I cannot. I am really looking forward to the day when all her locks are long enough to accomplish the basic pony tail. Oh won't that day be nice?

Her hair does cause me headaches from time to time, but whether with hair perfectly groomed, or styled in wolverine fashion, she is beautiful and we are blessed to have her. Down to the very last strand!

When There's No Time To Blog . . .

2010-06-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

It is only the 6th day of June and already this month has me overwhelmed with its business. Right now I should be prepping for VBS, but instead I have been drawn to my poor neglected blog. But with no time to write anything of substance, I will defalt to the easy way out. When there is no time to blog, I post pics. Enjoy!

We took a family trip to the Fort Worth Zoo!!

And Claire got her first close up experience with birds.

When all is quiet, it usually means trouble is brewing, but this time, I found the girls reading together.

Soooo sweet!

On Memorial Day, we ventured out for a day at the beach and had a blast! Poor Sarah was dressed in what has to be the most cumbersome swimsuit on the market.

I felt sorry for her, but honestly she approaches every event with such reckless abandon, I was fearful of how she would handle the ocean. It is a little too vast for me to be comfortable with her in just a swim suit. This kid has so much foam in her suit, I would bet that the entire family could have used her as a flotation device!

Claire absolutely loved the beach! She spent most of her time running up and down the coast.

Great exercise!!

And Sarah has begun her early attempts at a smile on cue. And, of course, the resulting grin is quite comical. ($20 goes to the reader who can tell me what we had for dinner based on the remnants on her face!)

Wow, that one is almost a genuine smile! But I think the one below is my favorite "attempt" by Sarah.

Looks like she is in so much pain.

Waiting

2010-05-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when I really don't have the time to wait, everyone and everything around me goes at a turtle's pace? But when I have all the time and freedom in the world, things fly at an alarming rate? Let me explain.

My eye doctor has one of the least efficient offices I've ever frequented. It drives me crazy. The only reason I stay with them is I only have to go to them once per year and they are close to my home. Oh, and every time I mention how much I don't like their office, I get a look from Michael that says, "Aims, you don't like any doctor. No one is perfect. Just suck it up and deal with it." And to be fair, he is right. So I've sucked it up and I am dealing with it.

So a couple of weeks back I had to get in for an eye exam. I went in for an 11:00 appointment with both children in tow. I'll spare you all the frustrating antics of a child either squirming to get out of the stroller, or attempting to tear up magazines. I'll even spare you having to read about the crying, fussing and wailing that ensued when I stopped any of the "fun" activities my children invented that were definitely on the "No, No" list. Instead I want to focus on the time line.

I arrived at 10:55. Again, my appointment was at 11:00. At 11:25 I was finally called back for the first phase of treatment. You know, the part where they shoot air in your eyes and make you look at the little red barn off on the horizon? It was lots of fun to focus on the letter chart across the room while at the same time trying to keep my 16 month old from racing back out to the lobby to play with the large selection of sample glasses.

We finish phase 1 at 11:35 and I am ushered back to the back of the office (to another waiting room) to wait for phase 2

Phase 2 is where they escort me and my two little darlings into the doctor's office where I sit on the exam chair (which, by the way, is equipped with a massage feature--I guess they know how long they plan on making you wait). Here I wait until 12:20. Yes, TWELVE TWENTY, until the doctor finally manages to grace me with his presence. If you haven't kept track, that is almost an entire hour from the end of phase 1. Keep in mind that I am still doing my best to wrangle two small children who are now WAY past their lunch time and are getting quite cranky.

I finally manage to leave the office at 1:15 (after finishing phase 3--picking out glasses and ordering contact lenses) and my children are delirious with hunger and exhaustion. As am I.

That brings me to today. Today was recheck day. I was to go into the office to see if the sample lenses they gave me were working so they could order the year's supply that cost me an arm and a leg. And by the way, today is Saturday. What that means for me is daddy gets to stay home with the younglings while I go to the doctor's office alone. I must tell you that I am quite giddy about this. I have my coffee and book in hand and am prepared to wait. Oh baby am I ready to wait. Pleeeeeeeeease let this be a long wait. No children? Dude, you can let everyone go ahead of me.

Turns out? Today was efficiency day. I have never, EVER gotten out of there so fast. I barely sat in waiting room #1 before I was being called to the back. I didn't even get to open my book. And forget waiting room number 2. No need for that when the doctor is already ready to see me in his office. I didn't even get to try out the massage chair. Don't they know that doctor's visits without children in tow are now the equivalent to spa treatments in my world? My appointment was at 9:15 and I was getting back in my car at 9:32.

Now I realize that this was just a recheck appointment and one should expect it to be quick. But I am here to tell you that even past recheck visits have taken at least an hour at this joint. I got robbed today people. ROBBED! I want my wait time and I want it now!

Oh well, I am sure they will make it up to me with extra wait time on my next visit. Which rest assured will include two screaming children.

Holy Hectic Week, Batman!

2010-05-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

What a week! I've done it to myself, I know but we are maxed out on events this week. And that is not a complaint mind you. I love it when the week is full but not too full. Too much time locked indoors with two children under 3 is not my idea of fun.

We've had grocery shopping, swimming lessons, gymnastics, VBS planning meetings and playgroups. It has been a blissful jumble of business. Seriously. I love it when I have one good solid errand and/or event per day. I am a little perplexed because tomorrow is empty! Nothing to do. Maybe I'll fill up the baby pool in the back yard for some good splashing fun.

So the gymnastics. Claire has been in swimming lessons since April and is doing well. But as summer approaches, the swim club is getting very crowded and crazy which got me thinking that we needed a new summer activity. Thus, gymnastics. She is going to continue swimming through the end of June, but at that point, she will take a swimming hiatus until the fall.

Of course, now comes the chore of figuring out where to take my little tumbler for gymnastics classes. There are so many options in my area. I found 5 places that offered toddler classes and they all offer a free trial class. YES! So I scheduled one free trial class per gym and now have 5 weeks of free gymnastics classes for Claire. Score! Don't worry, I am not a free loading Mommy who is just out for free lessons. I truly wanted to take a look at each place and actually considered just dropping by each place to check them out. But when I saw the free trials, I decided to give it a shot. That way I could not only see the facilities, but also watch how the instructors interact with Claire and make the choice that is best for her. The best part? Most of these gyms have Mommy and me classes that occur at the same time as the toddler classes. So I am going to get a free trial of those as well so that I don't have to spend the entire hour wrestling Sarah in and out of her stroller. Double score!

I've also been re-writing the curriculum for VBS. Sadly, Lifeway let us down this year and the lessons they offered were quite sad. We have several teachers on our team who have never taught VBS before and needed a little extra guidance to make these lessons flow. So I was able to exercise my passion for curriculum and re-write the lessons. I really had fun with it, but it was a lot of work. While it was fun to nerd out with my teacher skills once again, I am really relieved to have it all done and off my "to be done" list. When I sent the last day off to my director, I had the same feeling that I would get on the last day of school when the last kid headed out the door. Ahhhh, time to relax!

In all this craziness, my house has definitely taken a hit. (see my last post) So I am now off to clean up the destruction that followed the tidal wave also known as Sarah Grace.

Ta ta.

Mess Maker, Mess Maker, Make Me A Mess . . . .

2010-05-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

(That title was written to the tune of the Match Maker song from Fiddler on the Roof--just so ya know.)

I've been pondering lately about this little dance that exists between my 16 month old and me. It goes something like this:

I gather all the toys, shoes, clothes and such and put them in their proper homes. I go to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. When I return to the living room, I find new toys strewn about. They are not in use at the moment because the toddler who pulled them all out has apparently seen something shiny and fun in the other room and moved on to bigger and better things. So I again pick up the toys and throw them in their basket home.

I head to the kitchen to find that a cabinet door has been opened and I now have Tupperware all over the floor. I finish placing everything back in the cabinet (that was supposed to be locked--oops!) and head back to the living room where my 3 year old has removed her shoes and socks and left them on the floor. She is old enough to pick them up and put them where they belong on her own so I go in search of her to let her know just that.

On my way, I see that the 16 month old has now found the computer desk and is scattering the bills from the "pay these today" pile all over the floor while the 3 year old watches. I send the 3 year old to the living room to pick up the abandoned shoes and socks and pick up the bills and re-stack them by the computer.

I head into the kitchen to prepare lunch for the girls. Once finished, I go to the living room to find another slew of toys sprinkled all about the area rug.

At this point I begin to wonder who is more frustrated here. Clearly, I am frustrated by the constant mess and walking hazards (have you ever stepped on a hard plastic toy in bare feet? OUCH!) But I wonder what Sarah is thinking. If I could peek inside her baby brain, she might be thinking, "Mom, I JUST put all those toys out on the floor. I can't believe you are going to make me scatter them again!"

We stare at each other thinking the same exact phrase with two distinct meanings, "Can you just leave the toys where they belong?!?!"

I know, I know

2010-05-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

I am desperately trying to dig myself out from under the mounds and mounds of chores that were staring me in the face when we returned home from Dallas. I am close friends, I see the light peeking through. I'll try to post something substantial tomorrow. (fingers crossed)

Claire's Toe UPDATED--See bottom of post

2010-05-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Do you remember about a month ago when I posted my grocery store horror story? And do you remember the picture of Claire's toe at the end of it? You know, the smallish little bruise that resulted from her dropping a can of soup on said toe? Well here we are a month later and her toe is only getting worse. She isn't bothered by it at all, but it seems like it should have started growing out by now. Take a look:

Injury Day:

And now, a month later:

I do realize that these things take quite some time to go away. I fully expected to see a black bruise-like spot slowly working its way up and off of my little girl's toe, but I didn't expect it to look worse and just slowly take over her entire toe nail. She is not in any pain and can walk just fine so my thinking was to just leave it and let it grow out on its own.

Any advice for me out there? Do any of you have any experience with toe bruises. I, apparently, am clueless. I have e-mailed her doctor and attached these pics. So I am sure I will hear something back by the end of the day. (By the way, how cool is it that I can e-mail my child's doctor and get her opinion? Have I mentioned lately how much I love that doctor's office?!?!)

UPDATE: The doctor e-mailed me back and said that as long as it isn't causing any pain (it isn't) and she can walk on it without trouble (she can) that we are safe to just wait it out. But I am supposed to be on the watch for any redness or irritation. If that develops, then we will have to go in. I must say I am quite disturbed at the prospect of drilling into my baby's toe nail as some have suggested on the comments. Let's hope that isn't necessary because it would probably require a sedative for Mommy.

Sorry Buddy, You Have to Stay Home

2010-05-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Must. Post. Something.

2010-05-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

I'm just posting to tell you all why I am not posting. We are preparing to head out of town. For all you moms of little ones out there, I know that is enough said. But for everyone else, know that my to do list is looming over me and every time I start to log on to Blogger, it smacks me in the back of the head. Really annoying. So I am off to tackle it once more. Wish me luck, it's surprisingly strong.

This Might Sting A Bit

2010-05-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

This post is entirely about inappropriate store parking lot behavior. One should note that I judge based solely on my own pet peeves. These may not bother you. In fact, you may be one of the people committing these acts. If so, this post might sting a little. Many apologies in advance for that.

Offense #1: Putting flyers under my windshield wiper
Man oh man do I hate this one! It happened just today. I went to the grocery store in need of two little items. When I pulled into my parking spot, I noticed that all the cars surrounding mine had been "tagged" with Chinese Food Menus. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had apparently missed the flyer bandit and was in the clear. I was in the store for 5, count 'em, 5 minutes. When I returned to my car, I too was tagged. Was this guy just circling the parking lot looking for new victims to drive in so he could move in for the kill?

The thing that I hate most about these things is that I NEVER notice them until I am already in the car all buckled up and ready to go. Then I have to get out of my car and remove the stupid thing. My temptation is to just turn on my wipers as I am driving at full speed so that the flyer will live up to its name. But I can't do that because my pet peeve for littering is just a bit stronger than the one for these flyers. So, alas, I get out of my car and put the flyer in my car with me until I can get home and trash it. GRRRRR.

Offense #2: Reckless Shopping Cart Abandonment
This is probably my biggest pet peeve. (I only listed the flyer thingy first because it JUST HAPPENED and was fresh on my nerves.) I am constantly amazed by people who empty their shopping carts and then leave them willy nilly in the parking lot without taking them to the cart return. I know it isn't fun to take the shopping cart back, I do. I hate doing it myself, but it is my responsibility. If I leave my cart out there, one of three things could happen: 1) Nothing 2) It takes up another parking space and keeps the next customer from getting a good spot 3) It rolls away and smashes into another person's car causing damage. I am choosing to believe that these abandoners are betting on #1, but that still doesn't excuse the behavior in my book.

Don't get me wrong, I've been tempted many times to leave the cart beside my car and take off. Especially when it is raining. Or when the cart return is WAAAAAAAY over there and I have two screaming kids in the car. But in the end, I know that I chose my own parking spot. It's not like I parked right next to the cart return and then the employees moved it while I was shopping. I knew when I arrived that I would have this little trek to make so I have no one to blame but myself.

Just the other day, I was aghast as I witnessed this offense to the extreme degree. There was a beautiful, shiny SUV parked right in front of my stylin' mini-van. The lady who owned said SUV was just finishing up the unloading of the cart. She was parked beside the cart return. The cart return, my friends, was RIGHT BESIDE her driver's door. Yet, she crammed the cart into the space between her passenger door and the car to her right. Lady--you had to walk to the cart return to get in your car! Couldn't you just bring the cart along for the ride? Shesh!

These people are either major hypocrites or their houses are a jumble of a mess. Think about it. What parent doesn't tell their child to put things back where they belong? Maybe the children don't get told it all the time, but at some point, the child has picked up an item that they should have left alone, or they have strewn their toys all about the dining room or something. The natural response is to tell the child to put things back where they belong. What message does this communicate to them when they see mom and/or dad refusing to put their cart back where it belongs?

Can you tell that this is my biggest pet peeve?

I will say that I have abandoned a cart once. ONCE. It was outside of the Bed Bath and Beyond at our local Ghetto-Mall. I got out to the car only to realize that they don't have cart returns in that parking lot. So I would have had to leave my children in the car while I traipsed back into the mall to return the cart. Not going to happen my friends. So that time, I reluctantly pushed the cart to the very front of the parking lot to get it as close to the store as possible and walked back to my van, head hung in shame. And since that day, I just do whatever it takes to not take the cart out to my van. I will say though that I look quite dashing with multiple bags hanging off of both arms while pushing a stroller as my toddler hangs on to my back pocket. But I digress.

Offense #3: Almost returning your cart
I know, I know, but humor me here. There seems to be an epidemic of people who are only half hearted in their attempts to return their carts. On multiple occasions I have tried to return my cart only to find a smattering of carts all piled up around the entrance to the cart return. The cart return itself? Empty. But the 5 feet radius in front of the cart return looks like a 20-cart pile up jumble of craziness. I don't want to have to untangle your mess just so I can return my cart.

Okay, venting session complete. I am now off to enjoy some freshly baked brownies and possibly order some Chinese food. If only I knew of a great place in my area. Snark, snark, snark.

What Could've Been

2010-05-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't this have been a cute picture?

Pretty flowers in the background? Check.

Cutie patootie girls in matching dresses courtesy of MiMi? Check.

Bright and sunny day? Check.

But instead, I get this. Sarah, who can only sit still for 1.2 seconds is about to break loose and start digging in the dirt. And Claire. Oh, my precious Claire. It looks like she is just distracted by all the beauty behind her. But nope. She has deliberately turned her back on Mommy because she knows I want the picture. Sigh. Let the three's begin.

Frequent Flyer

2010-05-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

So I was all poised to type up an entry about my feelings on shopping carts when Sarah woke up from her nap with a fever. So I called the doctor and they agreed to see her immediately. Now, if you have stopped keeping track (or never started) that makes 4 doctor visits in 4 weeks. Seriously. I feel certain that they are preparing my frequent flyer card as we speak.

My doctor's husband apparently keeps up with her appointments and schedules on his computer and he even called her today and said, "What is up with Evans' coming in today? You'd better check that baby over real good." Lovely.

So we entered the doctor's office with a baby running 102 and left with a diagnosis of Hand Food Mouth Disease. Want to hear the kicker? Do ya? I have it too. Yep, that's right. As the doctor was explaining all the symptoms and duration mumbo jumbo I asked if Claire was likely to get this from her sister. She said that in older children and adults, it only results in mild fever and a slightly scratchy throat. (symptoms, by the way, that I have been dealing with over the past two days assuming I was just reacting to pollen.) When I told the doctor that I had those symptoms, she looked in my throat and confirmed my own diagnosis. Again . . . lovely.

So I am off to medicate my baby with Tylenol/Codeine. I wonder if I should take a nip off of it too. At least one of us should sleep well tonight.

A Quick Post

2010-05-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd better post something quick before I lapse back into my blog coma. Don't want that do we? Not a lot happening today that is noteworthy. Claire had swim class, then we bought groceries. (careful not to fall out of your seat over the excitement.)

On a random note, Claire has been on a 4 day poopy strike and decided today was the day to end it. She went potty just before nap time and within a literal 5 seconds filled the toilet with more poop than I have ever seen all at one time. Good gracious me. If it weren't so gross and disgusting, I would've taken a picture and posted it. Okay, not really. So my precious first born is now sleeping and is probably about 2 pounds lighter. Score.

Over the weekend we went to a neighborhood splash pad. It was a first experience for Sarah and she was quite intrigued with it all.

And when Claire wasn't shooting the water cannons,

she spent her time either beating up the water . . .

. . . or running from it.

And I tried to get a cute sister pic. Really, I did. I don't know many times I will have to say, "Go stand by your sister." before Claire actually listens. For now, I am going to have to settle for the random, accidental shot that just so happens to include both of them.

Like the wild and crazy hair? Yep, that's my girl!

My Own Little Science Experiment

2010-04-29T07:32:00.000-07:00

I just discovered a really cool recipe for turning Crayola crayons into paint. Step by step directions are below.

Step 1: Allow your 15 month old baby to toddle around the house while you check e-mail.
Step 2: Make sure that the crayon box is within her reach.
Step 3: Listen for the ominous lull in playtime noise in the other room.
(NOTE: It is important to wait for the lull. If you go in too soon, you will just find a baby holding a crayon and you will not have the paint you are desiring.)
Step 4: Once you have heard the lull, go check on said baby.
Step 5: You should see that the baby now has a mouth clamped tightly around a crayon which creates the perfect saliva-to-blue crayon ratio.
Step 6: Pry your child's mouth open. This act will cause the now dissolved crayon to pour freely into your hand and onto the floor and baby.
Step 7: Enjoy your new paint!

Some Things and Stuff

Saying Goodbye

A Whole Heap-a-House Pics

It's Time

Toddler Tuesday

Yes Today, Sweetie

Picture Update

Okay, okay, OKAAAAAAAY!!!

Breakfast Muffins with a Side of Conviction

Somebody's Been Sittin' In MY Chair

Training, Training, 1, 2, 3 . . .

Happenings . . . . Oh the Happenings.

Fun With The Fam

Don't Get Too Comfy

A Jumpin' Good Time

Feed My Need

My Absence

Of Sickness and Pee

Sweetness

Claire's Cut

Happy Birthday My Precious Claire!!!

Packing, Packing, Packing

Techno Tots

You Can Never Go Back

A Workout Within My Workout

Happenings

Not Fat, Just Frustrated

A Little "Art"

A New Obsession

Thus Said Claire

Discipline

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

It Only Took 12 days . . . .

Dog Sledding!

Habitual Utterances

Writing to Write . . . and a Little Foreshadowing

Faux Snow

Messy Fun Learning

This Whole Parenting Thing Just Got Easier

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Sarah!!

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

One Big Giant Catch Up . . . . And House Pics!

Still Amidst The Boxes

An Unexpected Luxury

Things to Do

Really? SERIOUSLY??

Waiting

Goodbye, Dear Friend. You Will Be Greatly Missed.

Arrival

My How Time Flies

Business . . . . Oh the Business!

It All Started With A Prayer

And The Eyes Have It

Finally

Why, Why, Why?

I Need Some Cheese To Go With All Of This Whine

Heart Breaking Question

This Daddy/Daughter Moment Made Possible By Orville Redenbacher

Happenings

Fun with a Bean Bag

Happy 4th on the 5th

Couching Around

June

My Fix

Taming of the Doo

When There's No Time To Blog . . .

Waiting

Holy Hectic Week, Batman!

Mess Maker, Mess Maker, Make Me A Mess . . . .

I know, I know

Claire's Toe **UPDATED--See bottom of post**

Sorry Buddy, You Have to Stay Home

Must. Post. Something.

This Might Sting A Bit

What Could've Been

Frequent Flyer

A Quick Post

My Own Little Science Experiment

Claire's Toe UPDATED--See bottom of post