Adventures of Gnomes, Penguin, and Baby Bee

Naomi's 7th Birthday Tea Party

2011-10-09T12:24:00.011-06:00

Naomi turned 7 yesterday!! She had a great 2 days! But then last night she threw up the entire night (probably because she ate too much popcorn and slushie at the movie with daddy!)

Friday I spent the entire day prepping the house for her tea party. It was quite a busy day!

The Little girls did a lot of TV time.

Then the tea party began! It was fun! Each girl received a hat and boas and gloves. Then they served themselves mini-sandwiches and fancy little desserts, while I poured hot chocolate for everyone. They all sat nicely and told each other jokes! So sweet!

Then they opened presents and afterwards we had cake.

All of the guests are in Naomi's French class so when I started to sing happy birthday I was overpowered by these sweet girls singing happy birthday in French!! How Cute are they?!?

Saturday morning Naomi woke up and came downstairs to find her present. A nice new acoustic guitar! She loved it and played on it for a very long time. I didn't get any pictures yet and can't get one right now because she is still sleeping it off from being sick.

We headed out for the day and took the train down to Gardner Village.

They got a pony ride and then we rode on a hayride to a little witch's village. Naomi was pretty stunned at the witch's. She wouldn't talk to them. And they sang Happy Birthday to her there.

Then we had the girls get their faces painted.

Last night Naomi had her daddy daughter birthday date. They went to the Copper Onion for dinner. Naomi apparently loved the mashed potatoes, and she does not like mashed potatoes. Naomi and Brian went to see Kung Fu Panda 2, and they both loved it!

When she was going to sleep last night Brian asked her if she enjoyed her birthday. She said it was great! And then 2 hours later she was sick. Sad!

2 Birthday Parties in 2 days!

2011-08-22T10:06:00.005-06:00

My mom and grandmom came to visit us for a week! We had a great time. Since it was so close to Bianca and Gwen's birthdays I decided to do both parties while they were here. It was a crazy idea! I think next time I will just let us visit with family instead of doing the parties while they are here. I'll just have to take better pictures of the parties, which we all know I seem to be very very bad at doing!

So first off we did Gwen's party with her preschool friends on Friday. She had a great turn out! We did an ice cream party in lots of pink. Gwen is such a cutie girl! I always find it funny that she wants to have kids around all of the time, but she spent most of the party downstairs with the grown-ups cuddling with someone. She loves friends, but has a very limited amount of time she can be with them. I also notice that she would rather dig in the sand by herself at the park rather than run around with everyone. I am also always amazed at how generous people are at parties. I always put on my invitation, "no presents needed" because I don't want people to feel obligated or stressed about another birthday party kid present/money wasted/whatever, but Gwen got tons of stuff! I did not have the presence of mind to take a before picture of her ice cream parlor set up. Here are the pics for her party:

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

Clearly, I have lighting issues!

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

Oh big 4 year old!
This one is a little bit more clear:

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

On Saturday, yes the very next day, I took on Bianca's bee party! For this one we invited our friends. I think that until the 4 year birthday party, the parties are still for me! Age 4 is when they suddenly want all their friends there. The plan was to just do cupcakes, but I had so much left over from Gwen's ice cream party, I put out the ice cream bar again! I actually got pictures of the decorations this time, but the sun was shining in through the curtains so they look all glowy and weird. I bought a better camera to do this stuff with, but the first time I used it, it broke. Gotta get that figured out still. So here are the pics:

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

I didn't even get a picture of Bee on this day! I think Brian has some on his phone though - so I will have to check.

Quick Look for less Bathroom Redo

2011-08-04T10:52:00.005-06:00

I was feeling like our upstairs was a bit too pink. Pink, pink, pink. Perhaps we could call it pinkalicious! It was pink and grey with princess stuff everywhere. I was tired of it. So I found a color combo I liked on CB2's website.

Only problem was that one towel cost $24.95!!! Not going to pay that. So I went to HomeGoods and Target. I definitely found the Look for Less!!

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

I want to put up a shelf above the toilet to put the rolled towels on. The awesome bath mat is perhaps the softest thing I've ever touched! So glad I got it! And looks just like the inspiration rug.

Have you ever purchased a tumbler rinse cup for your bathroom from the bath section? Did you notice that they cost like $10 sometimes?? I did not want a $10 tumbler! So I found my adorable cups in the summer section for $1.50 each!

This is my favorite find from HomeGoods:

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

Some happy girls!

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

The best and surprise benefit to this redo is that the girls will finally use the bathroom again. They have been terrified of it since our electricity went out when they were in there with the door closed awhile ago. This morning I wake up to, "Can you please put toothpaste on my toothbrush, and Gwen is in the potty." Woohoo! Finally I don't have to hold their hands to get them in there!!

Bad Dreams

2011-08-01T12:19:00.001-06:00

I have certain things that I still have bad dreams about! Often they involve vampires, people breaking into our house, ghosts, something bad happening to people I love, sometimes high school stuff that haunts me. There are more things I have bad dreams about, but that is a fairly good list of things to be afraid of when it happens in your dream, I think.

This one, I don't think you should be afraid of.

Naomi came to me last night at 5am. Her eyes were wider than I have ever seen. So much so that I instantly got scared she was sick (or it was one of my bad dreams where my kids are possessed!). When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she had a bad dream.

Here is the dream: I was in the bathroom. I washed my hands 4 times, and then I used sanitzer one them so I knew they were clean. But then I left my water bottle in the bathroom.

Say WHAT? This is what traumatizes the poor kid? I told her to go back to bread and do some deep breathing. Normally when she has a bad dream I let her sleep the rest of the night on our floor. I understand the fear of a bad dream, but I tell ya, that one really threw me for a loop!

2011-05-31T09:53:00.002-06:00

I dream of having a garden with all white flowers! Imagine that at night? I think it'd be gorgeous! Brian and the girls, however, want all the possible colors in it. I think I should win, but I doubt I will...

My living room needs an office.

2011-05-14T10:17:00.005-06:00

Lately I have been realizing that I need an office space of some sort. I want a place where I can do the occasional craft, allow the girls to color whenever they want, do homework, house the computer, bills, printer etc. Currently we have the computer in the living room and all of the coloring craftings in the dining room. Having the girls use the dining room for crafts is quite inconvenient. They are never finished for dinner time so the table always has to be cleared. Additionally I tend to set them up to color and do homework while I make dinner. Then when dinner is done I have to clear off the table and THEN set it. So I have been dreaming up a solution to have a bigger office space in the living room.

I want to have at least two work spaces. I need quite a bit of storage for the craft stuff and coloring books and office supplies. I have it all dreamed up from the pottery barn catalog, but obviously I cannot afford a pottery barn office. I want something that is able to be out in our living room though; it can't look too officey. It has to have a little class and be totally organized. So I am asking for some tips or advice on what might work.

Here is the location for the future office set up:

From Drop Box

Here are my dream offices:

From New Album 5/14/11 10:15 AM

One of my dilemma's is that I am always drawn to a white office. Every one of my dream offices is white desk and storage etc. However, we don't have any white furniture in our living area. I don't know if I can mix it properly to get a good look or if it will totally stand out against the rest of the room and look awkward or worse, cheap! We plan to paint the walls a blue grey. And we are keeping this tv stand:

From Drop Box

Because of the price point I am turning to Ikea as my most possible solution. They have a corner desk that will fit right in there. Any ideas? I am worried that I am looking at this from just my view point and not seeing the whole picture.

I am planning on these to use as legs for the desk:http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bush-Stockport-Collection-3-Drawer-File-Pedestal/13062139

Any ideas??

Mawwiage, Mawwiage is what brings us togewer today.

2011-04-22T20:00:00.002-06:00

QUICK UPDATE: Naomi went to the doctor and had an xray. We'll get the results tomorrow. However, the doc is pretty sure its constipation and we will be starting a whole regime to take care of that.

Onto the topic:

I find it hilarious how different kids are. Both Gwen and Naomi were raised in the same house by the same people and yet, at this very early age, they are so so different. I don't think that Naomi has once brought up marriage until just this year. And she might have only brought it up because because Gwen talks about it constantly! Many months ago Gwen brought up being married and having 2 sweethearts (sweethearts are what she calls children). This dream of hers also included her pink house and 2 pink dogs. I feel sorry for her future husband. I just find it so interesting that its not something Naomi obsesses about. I guess I never thought it was something girls did until now that Gwen is obsessed with it. This evening, in quite the urgent voice, she told me that I need to get the decorations ready for preschool. Worried, I asked her what was happening at preschool that I needed decorations. Well, her wedding of course! She is going to marry one of the little boys in her class. I need to provided the decorations. I asked her when this was happening, again. She said this week. I told her it couldn't happen yet, I wasn't ready, and she was too young! She agreed that that was true because she does not yet have a "big purse". I laughed, and asked her if she thought it'd be ok to get married and then get the big purse. That would be just silly! So we've got time. She needs to get the big purse first. Oh and "boobs, big boobs." Right Ian?

Constant sickness, no sleep, ugh!

2011-04-22T09:41:00.002-06:00

Naomi lately has been more vomity than usual. She has always been vomity but in small doses. For a while now she will start to vomit and then vomit through the entire night. As she has no ability to say out loud, "I am going to throw up" I have to stay awake the entire night in case she starts to throw up which will happen every 15-30 minutes through the night. So I'm not doing nothing all night. We all camp out in the living room. Naomi and I on the couch. Bianca and Brian on the floor. The reason we do this is because Brian cannot stay awake all night and then go to work all day, but he also won't wake up if Naomi starts throwing up because as I mentioned no warning. It would be just me, but Bia is still nursing so if I am nursing when Naomi starts I have to yell out to wake Brian to help her. This has happened 3 times in the last month. One of those we do think was a virus because Gwen got it.

We have an appointment with the doctor today. I am not feeling hopeful of anything coming of it. We have noticed that Naomi is a very anxious little girl. We wonder if maybe it is tied to anxiety, but like today there seems to be nothing that would be making her anxious. She gets mad when she can't go to school so I don't think that just school is the culprit. Our other wonder if that maybe its constipation that is hurting her tummy and causing her to throw up. We know this is possible, we just don't know how to tell if that is what is happening. It is really annoying! I recently read about Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. I sure hope its not that because it seems like basically patterned vomiting for long periods of time for no real reason. Back to the anxiety, we have noted that any time we are on a trip or vacation of any sort she gets sick. (One reason we tend to not travel often) This may be because she is anxious about the change in environment or just the stress of traveling or plain excitement about it. Either way its NEVER fun for me! Oddly Brian can look back on these trips and still think of them fondly and remember fun things. I don't have that ability, if she vomits for half of a trip, I only remember that I was miserable being covered in puke or being trapped in a room or wherever with her, and being very worried it might be something spreadable.

We miss out on so much because I can't spread something. Even if its not spreadable I don't take the risk, ever! Its times like these, especially, that I wish we had any sort of family near by. 1 full hour of sleep and the occasional 10 minute snooze just does not cut it to be able to function through a normal day. It'd be great to have some sort of socialization during these times of seclusion. And at the same time I just want to lock myself away for the next week or two to recover!

We also noticed that once this child decides she is going to throw up there is not stopping her. Its almost like she wants to throw up, but I have no idea WHY anyone would want that. She came home last night with a tummy ache. In just trying to determine if she just has a little gas or is going to throw up, just the suggestion makes her do it. Then I often wonder how much of the continued vomited is just from being set off by that one time and then she thinks she needs to keep throwing up, ya know? Its frustrating, and I am very tired!

French Duel Immersion

2011-03-25T14:31:00.002-06:00

Naomi's school is offering a Duel Immersion program in French starting next year. It is only available to the new incoming Kindergarteners and Naomi's first grade class. We put in her application yesterday. It looked like there might be a ton of applications, but I am not sure if there really are. They are only taking about 50 kids in her grade. Half of her day she will have a teacher that talks to her entirely in French, if she gets in. We asked her if it was something she would like to do, and she said yes.

Some days I feel very excited about this opportunity! How cool will it be if she is speaking fluent French by 3rd grade? And I get excited about the fact that if her brain learns to learn new languages, she can pick up more starting as early as high school. THey say that in 8th or 9th grade they take the AP French exam. I know I would love to be able to know languages.

Other days I feel almost sick to my stomach thinking about how hard next year is going to be for her should she get this chance. I couldn't imagine going into my first grade class and not understanding my teacher. I would have died. So I am trying to prepare her for that possibility. I have told her if she does the Duel Immersion that it will be really really hard. She said she feels a bit nervous, but that she really wants to learn French so she can go to Paris (which will really help her if she becomes a Fashion Designer like on Project Runway, her favorite show) and today she told me that France has a lot of bleu cheese and she can't wait to try more. She is cute!

This program is something we have to really commit to. They want us to stay here until she leaves the 6th grade at least and if Naomi does it, Gwen will get first priority to do it when she enters Kindergarten so that is another 3 years, then add on Bianca's 3 years. So we'd be stuck in UT for the long haul! We probably are stuck in UT anyway because Brian's job is pretty wonderful! And we love the area we are in now. Davis county is pretty nice! I like everyone I have met that is from Davis county. We just wanted to experience living in other parts of the country. We'll just have to travel a lot to make up for it.

So I am wondering what others opinions are of something like this. Do you think its a good idea? Would you put your child in a duel immersion program?

Chocolate Chunk Blondies with Maple Brown Sugar Sauce

2011-03-06T17:40:00.002-07:00

I stole this from someone's blog. I have forgotten which one.

Blondies

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate chunks or chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8″ baking dish. (Line with foil, wax or parchment paper if desired. Grease the lining too.)
Melt the butter in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat; add both sugars and whisk until combined and sugar is melted, about 5 minutes. (i did this over low heat and it seems to take forever. When I tried it on.medium the sugar clamped. I just stirred occasionally until you can't feel the sugar in your teeth when you taste.it. )

Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Next, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly drizzle in the butter and sugar while whisking constantly. Then add the flour and whisk until just incorporated.

*Now, at this point you could fold in your favorite add-ins: chocolate chips, milk chocolate chunks, nuts, etc. Me? I like mine just plain, baby.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top cracks slightly and is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist pieces clinging to it. Remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Or until you can’t stand it any more and have to dig in!

I found the Maple.sauce on a different site.

3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 Walnuts optional
Melt butter and syrup together. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved like in the blondies recipe. Add Walnuts if using.

What's for Dinner - 2 nights ago!

2011-03-04T14:12:00.002-07:00

I saw this on the Rachael Ray Show! It was good the first night, but reheated it was so much better! Brian agrees! This is one of those meals that even though there is no meat, Brian does not complain. I used 1 eggplant instead of squash (it could handle 2 for sure), whole wheat lasagna noodles, and spinach instead of escarole. We got our Gruyere cheese from Caputos, Brian's one true love in the world, the cheese cost $13 per pound, but was well worth it! We also got the Parmigiano Reggiano from there too, but it was the Gruyere that made the meal!

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling, plus 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper
1 pound ruffle-edge lasagna noodles, broken into irregular shapes
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium head escarole, chopped
About 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups fresh ricotta cheese
A small handful of sage leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a couple of handfuls)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1/3 pound Italian Fontina or Gruyère cheese, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups)

PREPARATION
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.

Arrange the squash on a baking sheet and lightly dress with a drizzle of EVOO, salt and pepper. Roast for 35-45 minutes, until golden at the edges and tender.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and under-cook the pasta by about 2 minutes, a little shy of al dente.

While the water comes to a boil, heat about 2 tablespoons EVOO, a couple of turns of the pan, over medium heat in sauté pan. Add the garlic and stir for a minute, then add the escarole and wilt. Season with a little salt and pepper and add the stock; simmer gently until ready to use.

In a small bowl, stir together the ricotta with the sage, salt, pepper and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
In a saucepot, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, cook for a minute or so, then whisk in the milk. Raise the heat a bit and season the sauce with salt, pepper and a little freshly grated nutmeg. Let the sauce thicken to coat the back of a spoon, then taste to adjust the seasonings.

Drain the lasagna noodles and add them back to hot pot. Stir in the ricotta cheese mixture and combine evenly. Fold in the roasted squash and escarole. Transfer to a casserole dish and pour the milk sauce evenly over the top. Cover with scant layer of Italian Fontina or Gruyère cheese and place in the hot oven on the center rack.
Switch the oven to broil and leave the casserole in the oven until the lasagna is brown and bubbly all over, about 4 minutes.

Bianca's Six Month Appt and Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T14:09:00.002-07:00

These two were on the same day. I realized it too late that getting baby shots on Valentine's day was probably not the best of ideas. However, Bee did fine. She was pretty cheerful most of the day.

Here are my tiny baby's stats:

13 lbs 13.5 oz puts her at 15% for weight

26.5 inches put her at 85% for height

16 3/4 inches puts her at 50% for head

So her head is perfect, like we didn't already know that!?!?

Hold on - I gotta go get the other girls' stats to compare!

Gwen:
16lbs 7oz 58%
27 inches 87%
42.5 cm 47%

Naomi:
19 lbs 7oz 90%
26 inches 85%

Bee was all happy and smiley at the doctor. Very social! She loved the nurse who came in to give her her shots. Until the shot, when she did the stop breathing crying. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped crying to smile at the nurse. I think she is going to be a people pleaser.

A week ago Naomi had her Teacher conference. She is doing excellent. So she advanced to bringing home books to read. She is loving being a "reader". She will read each book about 7 times in a day. The only complaint from the teacher is that she doesn't get all of her work done because she stops to help other kids get their stuff done before doing her own work. How can we fault her for that?? I don't believe a nicer person has ever been born than Naomi. She makes her bed and gets Gwen to make her bed so she can come in to tell me they did it. One day while I was in the shower she came in to tell me that she had made MY bed! And she did a good job too! But, seriously, what 6 year old makes their parents bed???

Gwen has been having a troubling few weeks. She has quit potty training for the time being. Too much pressure! So we are taking a hiatus until she is a little more ready. She does not care if she gets put into a time out. She will choose to stay there rather than have to do what she needs to to get out of time out. Yesterday she pulled the curtain rod out of the wall in her room. She was at least sorry for this one because she likes her pretty room and was sad that she messed it up. She was crying forever about it. So she didn't receive a big punishment other than no playing in her room for that day. Since Bee was born Gwen was sleeping on her mattress in Naomi's room so she wouldn't be alone. She has now moved into her own room and is doing really well. I thought she would sleep bad when realizing that Naom isn't there, but she is doing better. (Maybe Gnomes' snoring woke her up??) Nay also has nightmares quite a bit. Grandmom has helped that recently because she brought out some worry dolls for her to put under her pillow. Every morning I find a few under her pillow that weren't there the night before.

Brian and I actually went on a date for Valentine's Day. We got babysitters and everything! Best babysitters ever too! They made Valentine's with the girls, and even got Bianca to sleep! We went to Caputos for an Artisan chocolate tasting which was fun because I have never been to a meeting before. I know founder of the Chocolate Society's wife has never been to a chocolate class! Oh and just in case you haven't read this: Brian is famous!

Happenings

2011-01-26T14:03:00.002-07:00

This is what Bianca and Daddy do for fun!

From 2011

Bee's Bee Headband

From 2011

Naomi had 2 days off of school, so for fun she requested that we do her makeup and paint her nails. This was the final makeup product

From 2011

Bianca in a box!

From 2011

Any guesses on her eye color? We can't settle on a color. Sometimes I think they are green, but Brian always says they are stone or slate, deep grey. Sometimes they do look like maybe blue.

Learning to sit up.

From 2011

Until she sees the remote.

From 2011

Posing with a dinosaur

From 2011

Tickle fest. Our friends David and Becky got her these cute outfits. This is one of them!

From 2011

Something I'd like to do

2011-01-26T09:57:00.002-07:00

I really want to make this! But I don't know if I have it in me! There are a ton of projects I want to do that I am sure if I have it in me, but this one is at the top of my list of "things I don't know if I can do".
Anthropologie Inspired Bed Cover

Ice Cream Trucks

2011-01-21T14:31:00.002-07:00

You know how a lot of people are afraid of clowns? Well I definitely don't enjoy them! But I also do not like anyone who dresses up for a living. Halloween is a different story as everyone is dressing up, and I love it! The people who work at Disney - all of them are creeps, I know it! Its not so much the people. I am sure if I knew someone who dressed up everyday or was a clown I wouldn't hate them. However, when I see someone dressed up it freaks me out!! When Brian and I went to Disney for our honeymoon he did a great job of making sure I was walking as far away from them as possible. You know how they all like to come up and touch you or taunt you. I hate that crap! It is definitely worse if I can't see their faces. Disney princesses - not so bad. Mickey and Goofy - keep them away!

Today, I realized there is something that I dislike and distrust as much as people who dress up for a living! The ice cream truck! Its just creepy and ominous!! That tinkly sweet music that draws the children in. Makes me wanna hurl! They drive all slow down our street waiting for kids to run over to them. Its creepy I tell ya! And just plain wrong! This is odd considering how much I LOVE ice cream. Having someone deliver it to my doorstep should be wonderful! But its not! I gave the guy the eye as I drove past him today. You know he has ulterior motives! Perhaps I was just extra suspicious because he is driving the ice cream truck down our streets in January!!! For goodness sake!

It was just surprising to me how upset it made! I didn't realize I felt this way until today, but now I know, and I will be protesting ice cream trucks from now on. Just like people who leave their Christmas lights up and ON until February!! Ok I start yelling about it on January 2nd, but that is just me being crazy. I believe in a 10 day leeway to take them down.

Now let's all say Awww!

2011-01-08T16:22:00.002-07:00

From Christmas Presents 2010

Her favorite toy!

From Christmas Presents 2010

Her legs are so long she can almost get her feet into her mouth!

From Christmas Presents 2010

So this little Bee is super long! She was above 95% long and was 25% for weight. So you can imagine. She's like all legs! She would still be in 3-6 month clothes but I recently noticed that all of her buttons were popping! SO I moved her up to 6-9 months clothes, but she is swimming in them. She loves her exersaucer! Its been a lifesaver. She is a really calm baby but really just wants to be held all of the time. So the exersaucer gives me 5-10 minutes here or there to get stuff done without the yelilng. She tends to yell for me instead of crying. When she does get to the point of crying she starts choking. Poor baby! I do love how her lower lip sticks out and quivers when she cries!

Naomi is still loving school. She really wants to be a reader like some of her friends so she is working on that. She struggles with it because she is a math person. SHe can do all of her addition tables and they haven't learned those in Kindergarten yet. She has been emotional lately when she thinks of memories or other people who might be having problems so I can tell she is becoming more socially aware.

Gwen has decided she only wants to do what she wants to do. We get a lot more 'tude lately. She has started drawing people which I will scan (now that I got a scanner for Christmas from my mom! and Ian got it working for me). She likes to nurse her dolls so she does that whenever she gets a chance. I've got some awesome New Year's videos that I am going to try to post of her dancing after the ball dropped!

Hopefully soon I will get to play with my scanner and scan the cool drawings and then get to the Flip so I can download and upload the videos.

Christmas Day

2011-01-08T15:19:00.004-07:00

The girls wanted a picture of every present they opened so here is a little montage of presents. My favorites will be individualized.
I don't know who that man is.

From 2010

From Christmas Presents 2010

From 2010

Best gift idea from my mom!

This is all of Gwen's booty, but its only about half of what she got overall. Grandmom and Mamu's presents hadn't arrived yet.

From 2010

All of Naomi's booty from Mom and Dad, minus all of the grandparent stuff.

From 2010

Cute bracelet is from great grandma Oppelt.

From 2010

Christmas Decorations

2011-01-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

It took forever for me to be able to get these pictures off of my camera. Pretty much everything I do lately is one handed so its always the short cut way to do it. So here is how we decorated our house for Christmas 2010.

From 2010

The Girls and Brian decorated the tree this year. I just handed them ornaments. This is the first year I wasn't in complete control so I have so many little issues with where things are on the tree. Most branches have 3 ornaments on them and it looks a little sparse. But overall, I think they did a great job without any direction from me!!

From 2010

Bianca knows what's funny.

2011-01-07T10:06:00.001-07:00

This morning Bianca woke up while I was showering. So I hurriedly got mostly ready and grabbed her. She looked at me funny at first because my hair was wrapped in a towel. As I was trying to get everything ready to nurse her she was fussing and wanting me to hurry. She made sure, though, to pause before eating to look up at me and laugh at my head all wrapped up in a towel. She just knows when things are funny! Love it!

Gwen Speak

2010-12-10T14:35:00.003-07:00

I have figured out why it is that I can never understand Gwen when she speaks. Her brain is moving way too fast for her lips to keep up. She will tell me whole stories and they go by so fast that I have no idea what she is talking about. The thing is when I slow her down and pull each word out of her she really can say each word properly. Its just that she gets so excited or has so much to say that it comes out too fast. I have to admit that I often find myself tuning her out because it is seriously so much work to step by step translate her Gwenspeak. She doesn't have a slow button. I bet she will be that peppy happy girl who talks a million miles a minute.

Naomis school picture

2010-12-04T12:30:00.001-07:00

From 2010

Who takes that nice of a school picture?

Snow fight

2010-12-04T12:27:00.002-07:00

From 2010

And Thanksgiving. I did it all! We did our turkey in the crockpot and it was delicious

From 2010

Million faces of Bia

2010-12-04T12:22:00.002-07:00

From 2010

One from Halloween

2010-12-04T12:02:00.001-07:00

From 2010

What Gwen does to Bianca

2010-12-04T11:48:00.002-07:00

From 2010

Reminds me of that Dr Seuss book!
Then she reads the safety warning on her car seat.

From 2010

I love the almost exasperated look in Bianca's eyes!

From 2010

I want, I want, I want!

2010-11-04T18:22:00.004-06:00

Finding My Aloha
Show And Tell

These two people have the coolest laundry risers ever! I really want one! I don't know that I have the skills to build something like that though - but someday!

Baby blessing

2010-10-19T11:25:00.006-06:00

From 2010

We blessed Bianca on Sunday. Brian gave her a sweet blessing. Then we had some friends and family over for sandwiches. We had brian's brothers Tim and Tracy and cousin Natalie. Our friends Beth, Claysons, Uzelacs, Shroeders, Rob, Nicole, and Carrie and her family. Oh Not me Carrie, a Carrie from Brians work. Bianca was sweet all day! She wore the blessing dress that my mother-in-law made when Naomi was born from leftover material from my wedding dress.

Gwen was not having a good day that day. She was just kinda sullen. And she needed to show that in the picture.

Super Baby

2010-10-19T11:04:00.002-06:00

From 2010

She cracks me up! When we put her up in the air like this she puts her arms straight back like she's flying.

From 2010

So Serious!

Halloween Decor

2010-10-19T11:00:00.002-06:00

I am usually so on top of Halloween decorating, but I just could not catch up with stuff this year. We had so much going on. I haven't even had Naomi's birthday party yet...shhh, don't tell her! Anyway, I finally got to decorating!

From 2010

I made the googly eye wreath, thanks to Sarah Berry's link.

From 2010

The Trick or Treat blocks and Witch Boot were some of our Freaky Friday crafts.

From 2010

Woohoo for more sewing projects!

Some Sillies

2010-10-19T10:56:00.002-06:00

One night we didn't put the girls to bed. I think it was after the trunk or treat, actually. Brian has been falling asleep really early lately so everyone was asleep on the couch except for me and Bianca. We stayed up really late, as usual.

From 2010

And why wouldn't Gwen fall asleep sitting up while playing the bongos?

I don't even know about this one! haha

From 2010

I just thought this looked funny! Bianca is so short!

From 2010

The many (crying) faces of Bianca

2010-10-19T10:53:00.003-06:00

This is gonna sound weird. I love when Bianca cries! I think it is the cutest thing ever! She doesn't cry much so it doesn't get to my brain and drive me crazy like Naomi's crying used to! It makes me feel sad for her but also like I just want to cuddle her all up and keep her safe forever! And its just adorable! So here are some of the many crying faces of Bianca.

From 2010

I know I'm mean, but she mostly just talks loudly at first to make herself known and then breaks out into the real crying.

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-19T10:46:00.002-06:00

Our ward had a really fun Halloween party that started out with Trunk or Treat for all the kids. Gwen was Strawberry shortcake, Naomi was Orange Blossom (one of the strawberry shortcake characters), and Bianca was Blueberry Muffin (also a character from Stawberry shortcake.)

From 2010

I did Naomi's hair and I forgot to get a close up of it! We had a Freaky Friday craft night at the church the night before and there was a class on doing little girls' hair. I did one of the styles they taught us. It was awesome! It looked like a flower. Maybe when we go trick or treating I will remember.

I also made the tutus, the aprons, and each of their flower clips/bow clips, oh and Bianca's blueberry muffin shirt. I didn't have a pattern for the aprons. I just found something I liked on the internet and started cutting and sewing and I wound up with aprons! Whew! It was a scary process, but now that I have made a type of garment I feel like I would like to try some other things. Maybe I will actually get a pattern this time!

Oh sweet lips!

2010-10-08T12:20:00.002-06:00

From 2010

Apparently Bianca is my only child now! I will have to take some pictures of the other girls soon!

Just Pics

2010-09-30T14:30:00.002-06:00

From 2010

I couldn't get her to do anything but this face because she was hungry!

Gwen's First day of Mom's Preschool

From 2010

Sweet Sleepy

From 2010

Gwen Ready for Preschool again - Naomi and I just both thought she was so cute this day we had to take a picture.

From 2010

Pretty Gwenie

From 2010

Bianca knows how to smile at the camera

From 2010

Girlies

2010-09-07T13:04:00.003-06:00

She actually fits in some of her clothes now!

From 2010

This is how Bianca gets to spend her awake time. Its quite a lot to handle!

From 2010

Gwen always wants to cuddle her face.

From 2010

Super Close Ups!
Naomi lost another tooth. And her stye is still there but right now its a lot smaller than this finally.Thanks Jennifer for the rice tip! It helped almost instantly.

From 2010

Huge Eyelashes.

From 2010

Little froggy mouth.

From 2010

I talked to a nice man on the phone today when trying to get Bianca's hospital bills put through to the insurance. He loved her name and said he hadn't heard it in years! That is the way I like it. My favorite thing is when people hear one of our girls' names and say "that is my grandma's name". I bet the girls will hate that but I love it!

A few days ago, maybe even a week ago, I posted on facebook that I needed crafty projects to learn or do. I got a few suggestions that I'd like to try but while thinking about it I discovered quite a few projects I still have that I should finish before moving on. So now I have a huge list of things to do.

Its September already, and I am so excited for fall! So I have started researching Halloween decorations and costumes - thus some of the projects to do. Naomi and Gwen have decided it would be fun to be Candyland characters for Halloween, and I can't wait. Naomi will be Princess Lolly and Gwen will be Queen Frostine. I am thinking I will do Bianca as Miss Peppermint but I might do her as a Bee.

The Girls' Rooms

2010-08-29T16:20:00.002-06:00

Naomi's room all finished!

From 2010

Bianca and Gwen's Room. I still need to make Bianca and Gwen matching blankets. They will be black and white on one side with bright pink on the reverse. I just stuck in the current pink and green one for the pictures.
Sorry this picture is dark, I'm really stinking at taking pictures lately.

From 2010

This is more accurate for the coloring.

From 2010

Over the last few days

2010-08-25T19:19:00.002-06:00

Look how skinny her legs are!!!

From 2010

Getting ready for her first real bath.

From 2010

She loved the whole thing and only cried when she was about to get out.

From 2010

Sleeping with Daddy! All 3 of my kids mastered the art of sleeping with their eyes open. Bianca has it down better than the other 2 - hers can be completely open at times.

From 2010

I'm a little bit in love with her, can you tell?

From 2010

Naomi's first day of kindergarten. The parents stay for the whole thing the first day so I guess it was actually the parents first day, but she got dressed up and took her backpack so it counts right? Her first full day will be next Monday.

From 2010

Gwen making crazy eyes.

From 2010

In front of the school.

From 2010

In front of her classroom. Her teacher, Mrs Wells, seems really nice.

From 2010

With their baby blankets that Mamu made.

From 2010

Having a little chat

From 2010

Dana Willis Photography - Awesome!

2010-08-16T15:40:00.002-06:00

Pictures of the girls!!

My friend Dana took these pictures today! I'm so glad I did it! I kept wondering if I should do professional photos but we had never done them before and I desperately wanted them! Now I will probably become addicted to getting them done. Everything went so well and the girls behaved. Gwen is 100% natural at the modeling part! This is just a sampling; I may post some more after she is able to go through and edit them.

We are still air conditioner-less and its miserable! They won't be able to get a part in until Thursday and even with our warranty we will still be paying $400-$600!

Pictures of Bianca with my Baby Story

2010-08-15T16:50:00.002-06:00

Today we have been cursed with a sore cursing!! Last night our air conditioner broke! We called an emergency service guy who came and told us it is the compressor so it would be a $1000 fix plus he couldn't do it until Monday. We lucked out because we do have a home warranty so they will hopefully be able to come out on Monday and fix it for our deductible but we were hoping to get it fixed in one day because hello its stinkin hot here. Since I am nursing constantly its very uncomfortable!!

Anyway, I have some cute pictures of cutie Bianca. We have all 0-3 month clothes, and she is swimming in everything.

From 2010

Look, she does have eyeballs!

From 2010

Naomi loves having Bianca hold onto her finger! Gwen and Naomi both get very mad when she doesn't hold on well or look directly at them because they think she doesn't like them.

From 2010

This is from today.

From 2010

Love her lips!

From 2010

Naomi claims she is a cowgirl swinging around her crocheted bookmark.

From 2010

You probably look at Gwen here and think she hasn't been bathed in weeks, but she had a bath this morning! Its just that hot in our house! Ugh!

From 2010

As for the baby story, I had been in preterm labor for about a month and then at 36 weeks they let me off of bed rest. We sort of expected that I would have her pretty quickly after that, but she wasn't born until I was at 38 weeks. Better for her! At my last visit to my doctor before she was born I was already dilated to 4cm. Who knew you could just walk around dilated to 4cm?? I didn't! I am lucky and unlucky to not feel contractions very strongly. So I was very worried about just waiting this out! What if I didn't feel contractions strong enough and wound up having the baby at home? I was nervous!

Saturday I was noticing some small contraction and I was paying very close attention to when they were coming. As I was timing them they were about every 5 minutes. But honestly they didn't hurt very much so I felt stupid thinking that maybe I should go to the hospital. We went anyway. I was having real contractions and they were about every 5 minutes. The nurses had me walk for an hour to see if it would change my dilation. It did and I was then admitted to the real hospital. My doctor was out of town (which happened with all 3 of my deliveries so it was expected!) The doctor on call was Dr Lamb and I liked him a lot!! He came in and gave me the option of waiting it out or breaking my water and having the baby in about 3-4 hours. I chose the faster option because I am not for waiting around in hospitals. I am glad I did because shortly after that the anesthesiologist came in and started my epidural. I did not like the epidural this time! It made me feel too numb. I think I was also really nervous about the whole thing because it was moving so much differently than with the other 2 deliveries. I felt like it was tempting fate for something to go wrong. At about 4 hours after the doctor broke my water she was born. Very uneventful labor overall.

She sucked up a little blood when she first came out but she coughed it right back up and they suctioned the rest out and she was perfectly fine. She looked so tiny to me even though she wasn't especially small. 7lbs 4oz is a normal sized baby, but she was my smallest one.

Baby Pictures

2010-08-12T20:24:00.002-06:00

I thought it'd be fun to compare all 3 girls in their first few days.

Naomi

From Baby PIctures

Gwen

From Baby PIctures

Bianca

From Baby PIctures

Bianca's First Photo Shoot

2010-08-10T13:23:00.000-06:00

Photo Session from the Hospital.

Bianca Hope

2010-08-09T15:04:00.003-06:00

Bianca was born on August 7th at 8:59 pm. She was 7lbs 4oz and 20 inches long. She is healthy and sleeping tons! More will come later, but I wanted to give you a few pictures

From 2010

Help us name our car!!

2010-08-01T20:17:00.002-06:00

So also on Saturday - we purchased a Mazda5! We had searched and looked and researched about minivans because I kept telling myself that the Mazda5 could wind up being too small. I was very unsatisfied with all of my options. Even after we finally had decided lets just do a Toyota Sienna (cuz I really want my own Swagger wagon!! Love those commercials!) I still felt unsatisfied. Even when we went to see a used one in person I couldn't get myself excited! I kept saying I haven't even driven a minivan before, what if I hate it! So we started driving around Bountiful and Woods Cross going to all the used and new dealerships trying to find a used Toyota Sienna that we could drive. Well we didn't find one! We wound up at the Mazda store looking to see if they had any used minivans at all and all they had was the Mazda5. So we drove! And I sat in the very back! And Brian got into the very back! And you know it really seemed like it was going to work for us. Yes there is that once in a year where we might need something slightly bigger, but is that really worth the extra amount of money we would put into the monthly payment and gas every month compared to what we will save by having a smaller vehicle? We went home discussed, I researched endlessly. And I searched through all the used ads. I knew I wanted either a 2008 or a 2009. I found one of each for sale at different dealerships throughout Utah that I would want. Turns out I am quite picky about these things! Meanwhile, we have been working with one of Brian's mission companions to help us find a vehicle. He owns with his Dad a used vehicle shop right here in our area and said he would help us out with a great deal by either purchasing something from another dealership and getting it to us cheap cheap or finding something at auction. So he called on each of these vehicles, one had been sold and the other was available. Brian and he drove down and test drove it and checked everything out and brought it home!!! It was so fast once I made the decision that yes I wanted THIS vehicle!

Introducing our 2009 Mazda5! Its got sliding doors and a hatchback on the rear. Very convenient! And its peppy to drive!! I think that was the biggest thing for me. I knew I would like driving it. My favorite thing that I haven't even used yet is that it has a place to plug in my iPod so I can listen to MY music! Imagine that, I don't have to listen to Brian's CD's! Plus all the things to change the radio are on the steering wheel, very fun if you ask me!

From 2010

It needs a name! Up until now we haven't named our cars, but since I actually like this one, I really want to! Brian is no help with this at all, its like when we try to name a baby, I get ridiculous suggestions and no real ones. Any suggestions?

Gwen's 3rd Birthday Party and our finished Master Bedroom

2010-08-01T20:06:00.003-06:00

I debated and debated about doing Gwen's Birthday party on the 31st because I had been in preterm labor for a month. I was finally off of bed rest and I decided to do a simple party (simple for me) compared to my normal all out serve food and have two or three cakes and all that stuff that I love to do. So we just had a cupcake open house, come as you please and eat a cupcake. I think it turned out great. I was dumb though and never got pictures of the guests as is my usual fault at all parties! We had a great turn out though and quite a few of Gwen's friends from church came. She seemed happy with it and so was I! I'm glad I did it on that day because now I feel like I was a good mom to her and we celebrated and we didn't ignore her just because of the baby coming so close to her birthday. I hate that I will be having 2 kids birthdays so close together! Its really going to hinder my party throwing! =o) So here are the pictures of the decorations and the singing of Happy Birthday and the blowing out of the candle.

From 2010

This last one will have to do for my messy cake face picture because this girl just does not get messy!!

Here is our completed master bedroom! Whoo!

From 2010

Brian's Wall: all of his guitar stuff, record player, even his own framed photos, and the stripe that he created.

From 2010

Videos of the girls talking

2010-07-28T15:06:00.003-06:00

Haircuts etc.

2010-07-28T14:41:00.002-06:00

The girls finally got haircuts. So here are the befores and afters:

Gwen:

From 2010

Naomi:

From 2010

Naomi and I both donated our hair to Locks of Love!

Then one day the girls decided it was time to have a snowball fight! I guess middle of summer is a good time to pretend that right? I have been keeping it very cool in the house, even sometimes too cool for myself but I can't stand to be even a little bit hot right now so its usually chilly. Thus, snowball fight!

From 2010

style

Poor sweet Naomi has had some evil reactions to bug bites lately. We kept assuming it must have been a spider, but I think she might just be allergic to mosquitos. Brian is freaking out more than I am saying that she needs to go to a doctor, but each and every bite has almost entirely healed up. So I am not worried.

This was the worst bite! It swelled up a lot and had a blister on top. It was more red than you can actually see in the picture, but it went down the next day.

From 2010

We thought this was a separate rash, but I am pretty sure it was just another bite.

From 2010

You can see how swollen it is here.

From 2010

I am off of bed rest now. I got off on Friday of last week. Now that I am at 36 weeks I am allowed to have the baby whenever. Of course now that I am off bed rest it doesn't feel like she is going to come anytime early. Brian is more excited than I am and keeps reminding me that he can leave work in a moment if I call to tell him I am in labor. The only reason we have survived with the bed rest is because my mom flew out and has been keeping up with the house. Brian says he has been way outdone because she pretty much finished up my "list of things that have to be done before Bianca" and then some. She has found somet things that weren't even on my list, like replacing 90% of the light bulbs in our house because they were burnt out! Oops, I had missed that one! Although it is still Brian's responsibility to paint the living room and sod the backyard. Other than that we are all ready. I am the other hold up in that I need to get some sewing done!! I want to make blankets for Bianca and Gwen for their room. And then I have one more curtain to make to complete their room.

I decided to go ahead and throw Gwen a birthday party this Saturday. I know if I don't do it then I'll keep postponing it and the baby will just be on time and not early. If I throw the party then she will probably come on Saturday right?

Someday we will get some pictures of all of the rooms we have completed, but I have yet to get to that. Soon!

A few more flower clips and tutus

2010-07-09T16:09:00.003-06:00

These are some of the only things I can do sitting or laying down. So you may see more and more of these!

From 2010

I know these are almost the same but her facial expressions I love!

From 2010

Naomi is making a weird smile because she wants to be sure her lack of tooth is showing.

From 2010

Flower Clips

2010-07-09T10:33:00.003-06:00

I finally got the clips I ordered to make the flower clips for the girls. And here is our result! I have about 10 more I can make but I will be taking it quite slow even though they only take about 2 minutes per clip.

From 2010

You can also see that Naomi lost her first tooth yesterday. The tooth fairy came and everything! She told me something about the tooth fairy that I didn't know. Apparently the tooth fairy turns your tooth into sweet dream dust. She was excited to get a dollar for her tooth because she thought she was getting a tooth brush! haha.

From 2010

Bed rest

2010-07-07T12:23:00.002-06:00

I have been put on bed rest. I don't know yet if it will be for the rest of the pregnancy or just for a few weeks. Friday night I was feeling contractions and they were painless but I could tell they were coming a lot. So we went to the hospital where we found out the contractions were coming every 4 minutes and I was already dilating. I was able to go home and keep taking the terbutaline to stop the contractions. Tuesday I saw my doctor who recommended a modified bed rest where I can get up to get the girls food and minor things like that but to be in bed as much as possible. At least I get that! It was a very boring and frustrating weekend to say the least! And that is only the beginning with Brian actually being home all weekend. Its very hard to look around and look over my list of things that I need to do and not be able to figure out how I am going to get them done. We have all of the basics in order but there are some aesthetic things and just things that would make life easier if they were done before the baby was born. So for now just know that I am bored and frustrated!

Hollah!

2010-06-30T15:13:00.002-06:00

We are done painting Naomi's room! It took forever and lots of math but we are done! And here it is!!

From 2010

Are we great or what? The argyle is just on these two walls, the other two walls are the grey that is above and below the argyle section. Now we can start moving her stuff in and making it look like a real room! yay!

And here is a cute picture of the girls.

From 2010

Our backyard was full of giant weeds and scary stuff so they never went out there. Brian went out two weekends ago and purchased a lawn mower and mowed it all down. So they spent the evening out there sitting on the cement making wishes on the one star that was out that evening. They sat there and watched the sun go down. It was very cute! If you look closely you can see the there were still tons of pointy weed stems sticking out of the ground so they did not want to go running around in it yet. Last weekend Brian tilled up the whole thing and soon we'll get around to putting down the sod! That will be nice!

More baby blankets and tutus.

2010-06-21T10:44:00.002-06:00

This is pretty much my life right now. Baby blankets and tutus! I am in the nesting phase but everything I need to nest involves moving big things or painting little details or large rooms so I am pretty much in the wait for Brian to help me on every little thing phase and its annoying!! So that leaves me to baby blankets and tutus. I am going to start making flower clips soon but I want to finish up the sewing I have before purchasing a bunch of flowers and headbands etc. Today, we are lucky enough to have Brian out buying our lawn mower so he can finally mow down the huge weeds we have growing in our backyard so the girls will be able to play out there again! yay! He is encouraged to do this because I said if he does it he can purchase the grill he wants for his Father's Day present. Its a shame, I know, he has to work to get his present! We have still not finished putting together a single room in the whole house. Each room is waiting for something in another room to get done before organizing or setting stuff up so its like a giant construction zone here. I know, i know I only have 56 more days until Bianca is born. I keep reminding Brian that we have to start picking up the pace! So once we get a whole room finished I will post pictures! I need for it all to start coming together! I hate being unorganized like this! Anyway, here are some blankets I made and tutus I made for the girls. I am seriously considering selling the tutus, but I won't be able to start that until a bit after Bianca is born. But I still love seeing all the colors possibilities!!

From 2010

So you probably think, "oh another Gwen doesn't smile picture", but in reality this is her Project Runway modeling pose! I don't know where she gets these things, but they crack me UP!

From Sewing

I am into Pink, Ya think?

2010-06-09T22:16:00.002-06:00

Naomi's Curtains: First time sewing EVER! Whew! I was proud and very excited! My friend Janine helped me buy what I needed to get started and showed me some of the basics of operating the machine. It seriously sat in my living room for weeks because I was terrified and overwhelmed about using it. I had no idea where to begin. I went to Joanns about 4 times and just walked around slack jawed because I was overwhelmed. Thank goodness she was so willing to help! Its really not scary at all once you operate the machine and figure out what the parts do! So these curtains are just pink so it looks like a blob of fabric but the material was so easy to work with and made the edges look better than I think I really did.

From Sewing

Gwen's curtains: I wanted to get these hung up and take pictures of the whole project, but here is the basic idea of it. It will hang and be all white in the middle with the black edging. I had no idea how to really use the binding so I made it up. I watched some how-to's since so next time should be better.

From Sewing

First Blanket: I love chenille! I think that this is quite a muted look for me. I really love doing the blankets. They are so easy to do. The hardest part for me in blankets is cutting. Any tips on cutting to make my corners squared up properly? I want to cut better!

From Sewing

Second Blanket: I love this one. My girls are historically hot babies so thinner blankets are important for us. Naomi picked the star stitch for the border. She is very excited about the borders!

From Sewing

Third Blanket: I am in LOVE with this one! First of all, its soft EVERYWHERE, secondly its hot hot pink, and third, I think I did pretty good with it considering the stretching fabric. I am glad that I remembered to use the walking foot on the outer edging because I forgot on the inner sewing and that was difficult and frustrating.

From Sewing

Burp Cloth: I did this today in 5 minutes and it was a bust. It doesn't look so bad from a distance and its still useful, but goodness I messed up about 400 times on it! So never look closely at it! I will do better next time. I think I got carried away with the ease of it and forgot to pay attention to some important factors.

From Sewing

I Spy

2010-06-02T08:37:00.002-06:00

Found it!

2010-06-02T08:26:00.002-06:00

I finally found a connector thing so I can download pictures again. You would think with all of this time passing I would have tons of pictures - but I don't! I haven't taken many. I stink! I will have to make up for it. SO here are some from the past few months.

Naomi fell asleep like this and didn't want to be moved.

From 2010

This is how Gwen eats her bagels! Cracks me up!

From 2010

I just made these tutus for them! I love them!

From 2010

Take the name poll!

2010-05-19T08:49:00.000-06:00

On the right, please help us pick the middle name. We are stuck!

I cannot decide!

2010-05-13T11:45:00.007-06:00

I have been trying to figure out what temporary sleeping device I should purchase for when Bianca is born. I have 3 options.

A Bassinet like this one:

It has storage underneath and the bassinet comes off so I can carry it to any room in the house, convenient for having the baby sleep downstairs in particular. And once it is downstairs it will be on the floor where the girls will probably disturb her. But it doesn't have much use after she is sleeping in her crib.

A Mini Pack and Play like this one:

It is small enough to move through the doorways so I could pull it to other rooms but getting it downstairs would be more complicated. However, it can then be used to keep her safe once she is able to sit up - but I never really did that with the other two girls. And its good if we travel later on. She can still sleep in it once she is older. Added benefit to this one is that it matches our bedroom exactly. haha.

Or this Rock n' Play Sleeper:

It folds up so I can easily get it downstairs and it is taller than just a bouncer so I can reach her from the bed. But she would have to be strapped in and that is more complicated since I will probably be swaddling her. Oh, it also rocks! That could be useful. Once again it does not have much use once she is in her crib.

I will have a bouncer that will be used downstairs mostly and she could sleep in that occasionally for naps etc. That is what I did mostly with Gwen anyway - had the bouncer in the living room and a pack and play in my bedroom for night time.

Slight side note: My doctor wrote in the date August 16th to induce me so as long as I am dialated by that date I will be having her on the 16th.

Our Dinner Tonight

2010-05-11T19:07:00.003-06:00

I think this is pretty good. I kept thinking there was not going to be any flavor to this dish because its basically chicken broth with cream cheese but it was actually quite flavorful. And I like that you can make it a veggie-ful as you like! Ours was probably half veggies.

Creamy One Pot Pasta

Ingredients:
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 jar of sun dried tomatoes*
3 cans (5 and 1/4 cups) chicken broth
1 lb. uncooked pasta (I used bow tie)*
1 head broccoli (2 cups)
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
grated parmesan

Directions:
Cook garlic in 1 tbsp. oil in stockpot for a couple minutes. Add broth, cover, and bring to boil. Stir in pasta, cover and cook for 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, chop broccoli and carrots and slice tomatoes. Cut cream cheese into cubes. Add veggies, cheese, salt and pepper to pot. and stir until cream cheese is melted (do not drain pasta). Reduce heat, cover and cook 4-5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Brian's Birthday Party

2010-05-11T17:44:00.002-06:00

We had Brian's birthday party on Saturday. I did not take any pictures - how strange of me! A bunch of people came so it was a nice turn out and Brian was particularly happy! Our main activity for the party was food. Here was our menu:

Shredded BBQ Beef
Chicken Salad
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Green Salad
And a nice Fruit Salad

I really liked the chicken salad but I think the BBQ Beef was the biggest hit so here is the recipe.

Barbecued beef sandwiches, cooked in the slow cooker.
Ingredients:

2 1/2 to 3 lbs lean chuck roast or bottom round
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup wine vinegar
2 tablespoons spicy mustard or Dijon
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Preparation:

Place beef roast in crockpot. Combine remaining ingredients; pour over roast. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours. Remove roast, shred meat. Place shredded meat back in crockpot; stir to coat well. Spoon barbecued beef onto toasted sandwich buns and serve with extra sauce, if desired.
Serves 6 to 8.

The girls had quite a few friends there so they were super happy and occupied the whole time. And when they were tired of playing with the kids they had plenty of people to help them play the Wii. The Wii was Brian's birthday/graduation present from my mom! The girls are finally figuring out how to do most of the games on their own. Apparently Gwen is really good at golf which makes sense beacuse she is spinning all of the time.

I think her name is...

2010-04-19T08:47:00.002-06:00

We have pretty much decided that the new baby's name is going to be Bianca. Every other name we come up with just won't work for some reason or another. So we are going to start calling her that, but its not set in stone yet since she hasn't been born obviously. Brian says he is already calling her Bianca in his head anyway. I sort of am. We are slowly working on a middle name.

Some of our options for a middle are:
Grace
Eve
Lily
Jane
Hannah
Miriam
Hope
Sophia

Since we had the chance to look at the baby in 3D I have been obsessed with the idea of getting another 3D ultrasound to see more. Its a crazy unnecessary idea but its in my head.

I have started my nesting stage. We are going through every inch of everything and getting together big bags of DI stuff. I'm also very excited for everything we are doing in the girls' rooms. I really need to find my camera hook up so I can post pictures again. Soon!

Another decision made!

2010-04-14T14:24:00.005-06:00

So I have been racking my brain trying to figure out if I should squeeze all 3 girls into one room or split them up. I decided that I am going to put Naomi in her own room. So I am all set for everything for the little girls, their room will pretty much stay the same as it is now. Then Naomi is going to move into the toy room. There is an added benefit to this when people come to visit. Naomi can give up her room and whoever is staying gets a real bed to sleep in. Too bad that bed is going to be bright pink! haha. So I have a question about decorating Naomi's room.

Here is what I want to do except that we will be changing the beautiful blue colors to two pinks and the top will be brown or maybe grey.

Keeping the pink and brown in mind what should I do for a comforter for her? Something simple would be nice, but with a pattern. Any ideas? Thanks!

And its a....

2010-04-09T13:48:00.002-06:00

GIRL! Brian is ecstatic! Everything looked perfect and was measuring well. We even got a glimpse of 3D and her face looks just like Gwen. I have it on DVD so I will be figuring out how to post some pictures from that hopefully later today. It was another good clear gender shot and it was confirmed by the tech and then the doctor. The girls loved seeing the baby's face and legs and feet on the screen. They were pretty good at making stuff out. SO hopefully pictures later today.

Tomorrow

2010-04-08T20:00:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow is our ultrasound! Can't wait to find out more about this little baby!

Ok, Here is the big question:

2010-03-23T11:05:00.002-06:00

I just went through all of the baby clothes I have. I have 6 -30 quart plastic totes, one for each year of clothes so far. If we have a girl this time, I will obviously be using them again. If we have a boy this time, they are all completely useless - I have nothing gender neutral! Ok, I have one green onesie that doesn't have flowers on it. We are still undecided about having any more kids, although at this point the usual answer is we will be done at 3 because I hate being pregnant that much! So I'm wondering how long I should keep these clothes. If its a girl we'll use them, and then should I just get rid of them as the baby outgrows them? If its a boy should I just straight get rid of them all? Or maybe carry them around with me for another 3 years to see if we change our minds and decide to have one more? And then do I continue to add totes to the stash as Naomi outgrows her clothes? I'd probably wind up with almost 12 totes full of clothes. I do keep only the stuff that is in good shape, I don't keep white onesies or socks because they just get so used up! Anyway, any hints? And if we find out we are having a boy, we are going to be needing CLOTHES!! =o)

Our ultrasound just got scheduled for April 9th - so that is the day we will find out! Naomi can't wait!

Single Ladies

2010-03-17T12:46:00.003-06:00

Naomi's Favorite song is Single Ladies. She constantly asks to listen to it in the car so when we just happened across the video on TV, I recorded it for her. This is her dancing to it after watching it maybe 4 or 5 times! I am pretty impressed with how she is doing. There are two videos and you don't have to watch them both, but I wanted to get a view with the tv so you could see that she is in sync and then a view from the front to show that she is doing the hand movements even if they are small.

Single Ladies 2 from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Singles Ladies from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Some videos

2010-03-16T12:08:00.003-06:00

Gwen likes to put her hair up in chip clips for some reason. So we did a bunch of them and she was acting all prissy and prim and proper so I had to get it on video!

Gwen Being Silly from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Naomi and Gwen being really silly! They were just laughing hysterically and once I got the camera Gwen decided she had had too much and Naomi started attacking her with kisses!

Kissing and Laughing from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

I will also be posting a Singles Ladies video soon, once I edit or figure out what I want to do with it!

Wooooooooo!!!!

2010-03-16T12:00:00.002-06:00

Brian just had his 6 month review at work. It was possible he could get a slight raise, but he didn't think it was likely because he had just been officially hired full time in January. However, he got the raise! WOOOOOO!! Its small, but talk about great news for how he is doing at work!

What we have been up to:

2010-03-16T10:29:00.002-06:00

I have pictures that will be coming but I cannot find my adaptor for the computer to get the pictures onto the computer.

We recently purchased a new couch. Its a sectional, and we are really enjoying it!! We have always had an issue with having a couch and then a separate chair. We never ever had 3 people sit on the couch. They would sit on the floor or double up in the arm chair. And it always made me feel uncomfortable thinking that we weren't providing enough seating or something. So now that we have our sectional it will easily fit 6 adults! And Brian loves that both of us can lay on the couch and cuddle one of our kids at the same time! And we have already had 4 adults plus kids sitting on the couch! Its great so far! An added bonus for me is that we don't look so cluttered like it was looking when we had the couch and chair. There was just always stuff piling up between the couch and chair - and now that can't happen! Whoo! The girls love it too, but I don't really know why they love it. They rarely sat on the couch either. But now they are usually on the couch with me instead of on the floor.

In other news we have finally started our house painting! We painted the kitchen! Our upstairs neighbor used to do professional painting, and he says he enjoys doing it because it calms him. So he came over and helped us with it. It looks amazing! He did all of the cutting in by hand! Amazing!! The color is called Vintage Grey. I like it on its own merit, but I am beginning to think I really wanted a grey that was not as blue as what ours is. We will see. Jesse, our neighbor, said if we don't like it we can just repaint it! And he works for chocolate, nice huh?? Now onto the living room, downstairs bathroom, and the girls room - before the baby is born! I'd also like to get our master bedroom done, maybe.

Now that we painted the kitchen I am really wanting to get granite countertops and new floors! But those will have to wait!

I had my doctors appointment yesterday and all is still looking good. I am going to schedule my 20 week ultrasound to be in about 3 weeks. Then we will finally know if its a boy or a girl! I can't wait to find out!

We have started our official search for a minivan! Brian has a hook up at a used car place. One of his mission companions is the co-owner I think. So once we find what we want - he will buy it for us at auction and then we pay him $500 over what he paid! Fantastic right?? I can't believe it! We are probably going to go with the Honda Odyssey from the last generation, but what color?? I don't want burgundy or gold, maybe blue or grey??

I have also started working on Naomi's kindergarten registration! She is finally getting excited except that she still has a few shots to get. Now everytime we drive past her school she points out to Gwen that that is her school.

I forgot to get this on video but here is Gwen's knock-knock joke.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Applejuice!!!! (Laughs Hysterically)

When you wish upon a star...

2010-03-07T20:22:00.002-07:00

Naomi begged and begged to go outside at night so that she could make a wish on a star. I told her that she could wish on as many stars as she saw. There were a lot of clouds so there weren't many to see. She would close her eyes and cross her fingers like a prayer and make her wish. I said to Brian that I really wanted to know what her wishes were. She said that it was ok that she could tell me. I hurriedly told her that she couldn't because then it wouldn't come true. But she told me that she had wished that she would be able to tell her wishes and that they would still come true. SMARTEST THING EVER!! Right?? So she told me that she wished to be a princess named Aurora and that she wished that she could be a Barbie Musketeer. So cute! She has already decided that what she wants to be when she grows up is a princess and marry a prince. I wonder at what point I should tell her how rare it is to meet a real life prince? Because she wants this to be her profession. Gwen, on the other hand, has told me she wants to be a doctor. Talk about two totally different kids!!!

Last Night's Dream

2010-03-02T09:18:00.002-07:00

Last night I was dreaming of the library! I started to love going to the library about 3 years ago, but I haven't been since we moved into this house (October). Apparently I am missing the library because it was one of those dreams where I didn't want to stop dreaming about it even though in the dream I was frustrated that I couldn't find the books I wanted to read. I just finished re-reading the Odyssey, and I quite enjoyed it! It wasn't nearly as complicated as I remember it being.

I've been feeling better, and we actually got out of the house this weekend. We bought some much needed new clothes and shoes for the girls. I ate out of the house at a restaurant!! That is a giant step for me! We even got started on thinking about ideas for the backyard once the weather is nicer. And we made our first home improvement - we put a pendant lamp over our sink. Sorry I don't have pictures. We are trying to decide on paint colors for the house because we will be painting soon!

Now that I am feeling better I have to dig into cleaning the house. Its very overwhelming after not cleaning as often as I usually do - I can see every little thing that requires extra attention right now because its been neglected. Normally these things just get taken care of during normal cleanings.

Ok time for breakfast!

Brian Officially Graduated

2010-02-08T12:48:00.002-07:00

Did I ever mention that on here?? Brian officially is graduated from BYU. He received his diploma in the mail and everything. It, like a lot of things in our lives, was very non-momentous! Since we didn't do graduation ceremonies, it was just receiving the diploma in the mail and opening it. Granted, he got a nice pay raise, but we didn't even do anything to celebrate yet as I have still been very morning sick.

Same as our anniversary. We had our 7 year anniversary on January 25th, but we didn't do anything. We have postponed any celebration until I feel up to doing - well anything! He did, however, get to go out with some of his friends to a very nice restaurant that he has wanted to go to for awhile but was closing the last day of January so that is how he celebrated our anniversary.

I am now 12 weeks along in the pregnancy and feeling a little better today. I'm hoping that this will last, but you never know, it could just be a good day. I am actually showered and dressed today which hasn't happened in over a month. I was supposed to go to my doctors appointment today but Brian took my car with the carseats to work and was at lunch when I called him to bring the car home. So I am missing the appointment today.

During this last month both of the girls have miraculously grown out of ALL of their clothes and their shoes! haha. They do still fit in their dresses because that is mostly a length issue, but their pants are all way too short. Gwen only has a pair of snow boots to wear for shoes. Its funny, but sad too! I can't wait to get all better so I can start getting them new clothes and start getting stuff ready for the new baby.

When I was pregnant with Naomi I used to look at her and get so excited for her to be a big sister. I knew she was going to love it! Now when I look at Gwen I just feel sad for her not being the baby anymore. I'm sure she will love being a big sister too.

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

2010-01-28T10:44:00.003-07:00

Brian took both girls to the Dinosaur Museum! He met his brother Tim there for support but it seems like the girls had a blast

Naomi: I love Dinosaurs from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Gwen at Thanksgiving Point from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

TRex is my favorite Dinosaur from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

A little bit of Texas

2010-01-27T16:22:00.002-07:00

I just have a few Texas videos to share. Our first video is all of the cousins lining up and getting their Christmas surprise from Mamu and Papu. Brian's mom made each of the grandkids their own giant pillow with their name in glow in the dark paint. They loved them! Then the rest of the videos is from the family's trip to Battleship Texas in Galveston. There were a lot of videos taken but these were the ones with the girls in them and they don't make me move around to much so you don't get sick from watching them.

Glow In the Dark Pillows from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Battleship Texas from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Gwen's Light Dancing from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Gwen's Monster Walk from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Christmas Presents 2009

2010-01-20T21:49:00.001-07:00

I was finally able to get these videos uploaded to blogger! One of these is like 12 minutes long so I don't expect everyone to care to watch it, just my family.

Opening Christmas Presents 2009 from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Opening Dollhouse from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Playing with Dollhouse from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Playing with Laptop from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Stockings and forgotten present from Carrie Ruggles on Vimeo.

Our daily life right now

2010-01-14T13:56:00.002-07:00

So here is our schedule:

The girls get up about 8am. I wake up and walk downstairs with a pillow and fall back asleep on the couch until about 10am. They eat granola bars and cheerios and watch Dora. I wake up every half hour to Gwen screaming Dora when a new episode starts. haha. At 10am I will make us all waffles - its one of the only sure things that will stay down. I'll stay up a little bit talking to the girls and making sure they eat ok and get some water into them. At around noon I will usually fall back asleep for an hour or sometimes 2. These "sleeps" are very light and I can hear everything the girls are doing. When I wake up from this next nap I never know what to do. The girls should eat, I should eat, but everything sounds gross. We usually just grab a peanut butter sandwich. By this point the house is a disaster area! Once I get something else in me I can usually eat another little thing after a little bit. Brian comes home around 6 either bringing dinner with him or coming home to make us something. He is always shocked at the mess the girls make. Naomi has been very good at cleaning up the living room once we eat dinner before she goes to bed. We have to talk her through it step by step but she does almost all of the work. Sometimes Gwen will pitch in when the work looks fun. Some evenings I am well enough to get up and pitch in with some of the work like laundry or putting the girls to bed. But most days I just lay there while everything gets done around me. Shouldn't that feel nice? Just sitting there while people do stuff for you? It doesn't! It feels awful!

I went to my first doctor appointment on Monday. I am going to Dr Watts recommended to me by my friend Janine. He seems great so I am excited about that. The visit went well until the ultrasound. I was under the assumption that I was about 10-11 weeks along. The ultrasound showed I was only 8 weeks along. That was quite the bummer for me because I was hoping and hoping that at 12 weeks the morning sickness might subside this time. (Though it was very wishful thinking because the last 2 times it went until at least 20 weeks) So I am majorly bummed that I have more time with this morning sickness. I still have hope but its definitely been dashed quite a bit. Anyway, that puts my due date at around August 21st. We saw the heartbeat which Naomi kept saying looked like the baby was talking.

Naomi was hilarious throughout the appointment. As we left the house she asked me where we were going to put the baby in the car. Poor thing thought the baby was coming home with us that day!! I wish! She did not get the concept that we weren't bringing the baby home until we were leaving. The doctor explained to her why we weren't bringing the baby home and I did many times but she was pretty determined. During the exam I had both of the girls holding my hand so they stayed up by my head. Naomi was so upset that she couldn't go watch what the doctor was doing because she wanted to make sure he didn't hurt me. After we saw the ultrasound and she started to understand that the baby was inside my belly a little better, she thought for awhile and then asked if we could just go visit where the baby is so we could snuggle it a little bit. Naomi desperately wants it to be a little boy. Brian is desperate for another girl because he just loves them and thinks boys would be too hard to handle. I don't really care either way. The doctor made a joke about being ready for another little girl so maybe he has some special intuition. Naomi seemed to think maybe it might be a girl after the ultrasound - she said the heartbeat sounded like a girls' heartbeat.

Baby Names Mind Map

2010-01-08T11:48:00.003-07:00

I know its early since I really don't even know how far along I am, but at this point what else can I do but think up names....?

So here are some of the boys name I am liking at this point.

Max Owen
Trevor Marshall
Marshall Oliver
Vincent
or Owen as a first name

Girl names are easier for us. We have sort of been drawn to Bianca so I have up it with a lot of middle name options, but the middle names are also options for first names mostly.

Hope
Bianca Miriam
Bianca Grace
Bianca Mae
Bianca Sophia
Jane
Hannah
Violet

Anyway, those are a few to get us started. How about a few opinions...

Announcements

2010-01-07T13:29:00.002-07:00

So we are well behind on Christmas posting. I will be posting video of the girls opening their presents as soon as I can edit it to a proper time frame.

We spent our Christmas in Houston, TX this year with all but one brother from Brian's family. It was fun, especially for the girls who love being with all of their cousins! It was not as warm in Texas as I would have hoped!

The trip was slightly tainted for me, as I'm sure most of you have heard, I am pregnant. We just found out about a week before we flew down to Texas. The only reason I found out was because I was starting to feel nauseous and I recognized the feeling. The entire trip was tainted by the morning sickness! I spent many days just lying down on my air mattress. haha. Its still not as bad as the last two pregnancies but that by no means makes it good. I do get a tiny break at night at around 8pm til midnight. I'm sure the excitement for having a new baby will come soon, but for now I'm just trying to get through this portion. I see lots of sleep in my near future.

Naomi is excited and keeps asking when we get to go pick up the baby. She remembers getting Gwen from the hospital, but thinks its as simple as putting in a call to make sure that baby is ready. haha. Hopefully I'll be off my sick bed soon and back to some normal functions of life. Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and Happy New Year!

Bad Green

2009-12-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

Dumb Green Ideas

I am a fan of green ideas, but these are just terrible and good for a laugh!

My Christmas Present

2009-12-10T09:43:00.006-07:00

My brother Ian got me a Flip Mino for Christmas. I opened it when it came because I hadn't heard of it before and wanted to see what it was. As it is a new toy I am still trying to figure out the appropriate length of time for videos and what I should take videos of. Mostly for my family I just took some videos of the girls talking about general stuff. Gwen honestly does talk a lot more than is evident in the following clips. While watching the videos Gwen always points to herself and yells out "My GG". Funny!

Two failed attempts at thank you Uncle Ian. I don't know why kids can't say Ian. Its two letters put together to form a word! E-N. Frustrating!

Any tips for adding videos to blogger? Right now I just have them in a folder on the desktop and I upload them using the video button on blogger. Is there a better way?

Agherfligaflager

2009-12-08T12:03:00.004-07:00

Naomi wants her hair cut short. I have no problem with this! I think I will enjoy washing short hair instead of her almost 18" of locks!

I am thinking maybe Alice Cullen?

Or perhaps Katie Holmes?

She still thinks that these looks are too long! Can you believe her???

Possibly the longest blog post there ever was!!!

2009-12-02T10:35:00.002-07:00

This blog is going to cover Halloween to the present, which is only a month, but there are tons of pictures! We'll start with Halloween and move to the pictures of the new house that is now decorated for Christmas except for the tree.

This is the Halloween decoration at the old apartment.

From 2009

Naomi's HILARIOUS toes! She can just do this whenever. It makes me laugh every single time!!

From 2009

The day of the move, also Halloween!! Beth came up and got pictures taken with the girls since she was going to a party up in this area as a fairy just like my little girlies!

From 2009

Naomi LOVES Beth! Look at her face!

From 2009

I was sorting through the winter gear and the girls found these. I think its funny that they were naked with all the winter get up on!

From 2009

Now for the house tour!
Backyard: I think its a decent size considering its a townhouse. YOu can see Antelope island in the distance. That truck is on Legacy highway, in front of Legacy is a nice bike trail.

From 2009

Kitchen:

From 2009

View of Kitchen from the front door:

From 2009

Dining room with backyard out the door:

From 2009

Living room:

From 2009

Living room from front door, little Hallway has laundry to the left, bathroom to the right, and heads out to the 2 car garage!

From 2009

My fireplace decorations:

From 2009

View from by the laundry area:

From 2009

I love my pedestal sink!

From 2009

I know its weird to just show a picture of the toilet, but its separated from the sink by this little pointless wall and it cracks me up!

From 2009

The beloved washer and dryer! All of the boxes and the blanket hold Christmas presents. The girls have no idea that they are right there.

From 2009

This is only the bottom floor. I will venture upstairs maybe next week when I get to clean some stuff up.

Its finally happened!!

2009-11-24T17:49:00.001-07:00

Brian is done school!!!!! He took his very last final yesterday! Done! He got to ring a gong as he was leaving the testing center for the last time. So glad its over! Now its time for the big bucks! haha. I need to plan him a graduation party...

Coming soon...

2009-11-12T12:37:00.002-07:00

I Promise that pictures of my actual house will be coming soon! I just need to get it together and start taking pictures. Unpacking has been slow this time, maybe because I know I am not leaving here in a year or less, but I think I have everything out of boxes. So now I just have to put it all where it belongs. Then the real fun will begin! Painting!! Yes, I do have plans to paint every single room in the house. I think I will leave the closets alone and for now the stairwell hallway, its like gigantically tall. But things are moving along and soon...pictures!

As for the house, I am loving it! And particularly I am loving my washer and dryer! They are awesome! I never knew that clothes could come out of a dryer smelling THAT clean and be fluffy and soft and get oil stains out of a 2 year old's shirt! Its like a magic machine! THey are fast and very quiet. It dried two very fluffy adult sized blankets and Brian's sweater in less than 20 minutes and then there was hardly any lint to take out of the lint shield - that was shocking! Plus I love my fridge too! Its got a water filter inside the fridge and dispenses the water inside. So I love it!

The girls like their new room which is pretty big. THey have not gotten into having a separate playroom as much as I thought they would, but I htink it is because its not all set up right yet. Oh and Gwen's favorite hobby is watching the washer perform! She screams each time it changes directions in the spin and loves it when the water comes out. Hilarious!

Living Room stuck

2009-11-06T11:13:00.006-07:00

So, I am pretty clear about most of the ideas I want to do in the house. I am, however, stuck on the living room. Right now it is red and that will do perfectly all through Christmas time because its Christmas! Anyway, eventually I want to switch over to blues and greens in the living room. Usually what I do is fine an inspiration room and take ideas from that or a few inspiration rooms. I am having trouble find just the right inspiration room though! I found one that I like the colors ok, but the walls are tan. So, any suggestions on what color I should paint the walls?? Here is my quasi inspiration room:
I really don't want it to look too beachy! I don't like the beach house look very much for my house. So any ideas?

I am really going to have to start painting soon, at least the girls room and maybe the kitchen because all of the tan is driving me crazy! Maybe I'll paint ALL the little rooms and then do the living room last. I am excited for the laundry room because I am going to paint it a pumpkin orange because you've got to have a bright laundry room!!

Here is my idea for the girls' bedroom. Its the easiest one for me to do because I've been planning it so long. Here are my inspiration rooms:

And then this is my inspiration colors for the Master, we will not have the zebra stripes though!:

Haunted Apartment

2009-10-30T12:24:00.003-06:00

I'm currently wondering if our apartment might be haunted - or perhaps it was one of those dreams where everything seems real. Last night i was aware that I was having a dream about a ghost haunting our apartment. When I woke up from the dream with fright, I felt a slight tickle on my ear as if someone was breathing on it. I get tickles often so I just pulled my covers over my ear. When I did that, Brian suddenly leaned over very close to my face and was breathing heavily onto my face. I thought it was weird because of the timing. Its almost as if the "ghost", if you will, made Brian do that so it could keep breathing on me. That was the first time I wondered, "Am I dreaming now? or am I awake?" What's odd is that I kept having that dream about the ghost throughout the night. At one point I woke up and looked into the kitchen area and thought I saw a figure standing there, I'm pretty sure it was just the stack of boxes. Another time I woke up I thought I heard people talking, could have been the neighbors. Then just before i woke up I heard a basketball bouncing as if it was right next to my bed. My initial thought was that it was Brian bouncing a basketball right next to our bed and I thought he must be crazy! But he wasn't even home. Even more odd was that neither one of the girls got up in the entire night. Usually at least one of them wakes me up for something. ANd lately its been Naomi having bad dreams and coming into bed with us. (She is oddly dreaming about wolves again which happened right after we moved into Wymount and she was terrified of the wolves!) I feel like there were some other odd happenings in the night but I can't remember them all right now. Weird, right? Its either the stress, the fact that its Halloween, or there really is a ghost. If there is a ghost then at least we are moving out, unless its attached to one of us! woooo!

Tips

2009-10-22T16:51:00.005-06:00

I'm looking for some tips for organization/storage.

What do you do with your kids' stuffed animals? Right now I have them in a hamper which is ok, but there are stuffed animals in the bottom there that NEVER get played with and I feel sorry for them. What do you do with yours so that the kids can play with them, but they aren't just strewn about the room (which honestly ours are sometimes just strewn about the room for days on end).

Also, for any crafty people, what do you do to store all of your supplies? I have mine in this awful box that I bought at Ikea and its falling apart. It was cardboard so there was my first mistake, but I didn't have very much when I purchased the box so it all fit nicely, now I have a lot of craft supplies and its just bulging over and I have things in plastic bags and I don't like it!! What do you do to keep your stuff in order and make it findable and usable, but still somewhat portable. I don't ever need everything from the box, but I also don't have a craft room, its just the box in the closet. In the new place I might have a more permanent spot for it, but it still won't be a room. I've thought of getting little plastic storage boxes and separating things out by type and then putting all of that in a bin or bigger box. Anyway, any tips would be great!!

Future Playroom!

2009-10-19T15:43:00.002-06:00

I have to, have to, have to do this in what will become the girls' playroom in the new house! It will be tons of work, but I love it so much! I can't wait! Sadly, my dreams have me painting every single room in the entire house! haha. why can't I just settle for tan paint? Oh yeah, cuz its boring!! haha. I'm ready for color!

Scary!

2009-10-19T14:07:00.002-06:00

We have a lovely little back patio that the girls like to play on. Usually I just let them play out their by themselves while I do dishes or read. Today I heard them talking to someone while I was in my bedroom packing a box of books. When I came out to see who it was there was no one there. I asked who it was and Naomi said it was the tall boy. This means nothing! So I stayed in the living room to watch. Then a boy who was probably 8 or 9 comes running along the building and comes over to our patio and then asks if he can come in. I said no. He asked why. I replied, "well, we don't know you" So he introduces himself which was nice, but still we don't know him, nor do we know his parents, or even where he lives for that matter. So he asks again, can he come in. I once again say no and get the girls to come inside so we don't have to deal with it any longer. When I told Brian about it, he just says "awww." I was like, "awww"???? He thinks its sad that the time that we live in has gotten to be like that. But even so, we don't know him, he's twice Naomi's age, a boy, who once again we don't know! Naomi and I had to sit down to have yet another talk about talking to strangers and why its not ok to have them into your house.

On a lighter note:

Gwen has decided that her hand is a baby! Yes, instead of playing with a babydoll or any of the myriad toys they own she has decided to pretend that her hand is a baby. Its cheap, at least! The baby cries and needs to be swaddled sometimes. It also eats! Now when Gwen plays with her toys, I can sometimes see the baby playing along with her. She "walks" it through her pop-up books or Noah's ark. Its funny and strange I think too!

How I make the Tutus

2009-10-19T08:51:00.004-06:00

Here is what I do to make the tutus. I originally found some online tutorial for it, but I can't find it so I am going to type up what I do because some of the ones I am finding now are not as easy as what I do.

I order my tulle online from PaperMart.com

I buy it in the 6" spools. I find that easier, but you can buy the bolts and cut the tulle to 6" wide pieces - cut the entire length of the tulle. I generally try to put together 2-3 colors, but even just one will look great. Naomi's tutu dress took almost 5 rolls so approximately 150 yards and Gwen's only used 3 rolls about 75 yards. I wanted Naomi's to be really poufy and Gwen's to lay a little flatter.

All you need next is elastic and ribbon, if you want it. I buy elastic that is about 1" wide. I don't know if the width really matters though.

I first measure how long I want the tutu to be. So if you want a dress measure from under the arm to wherever you'd like the bottom to lay. Then you cut the tulle to be double this length in strips. So gwen's dress is about 21" long so I cut it to 42". I like to find something that is close to that size so I can wrap the tulle around and around it and cut once. For these dresses I wrapped it around a small Ikea table that was 21" across last time I cut cardboard to the size I wanted. You wind up with a lot of 6" x 42" strips. You can do skirts as short as 10" which would be strips cut 6" x 20".

Then you measure the elastic around wherever you want it to be placed. I have read that if you take off 2 inches from this measurement that should work. That hasn't worked for me yet. When you tie the tulle onto the elastic it stretches out so I just tie the elastic and work with that so I can adjust when I get closer to being done. This time I just left it tied and put tulle over the knot, but last time I sewed the ends together once I found the right size.

I pull the elastic up over my leg up around my thigh so its at a comfortable working level. Then I just grab pieces of tulle and I tie them around the elastic like this:

I pulled the knot really tight for Naomi's which is what made hers so poufy. There is a lot of tulle wrapped around that elastic!! Gwen's was not pulled as tight. You can do every other color, but i like to do 2 strips of one color and then 1 of another. You can vary it up. I think it gives the colors dimension instead of just striped. Gwen's butterfly tutu goes 2 brown, 1 orange, 1 cream, 1 orange, 2 browns.

Once you get all of the tulle you want onto the elastic then you can try it on for size. With my girls I always have to undo the knot and re-tie it tighter, usually a lot tighter. The tighter your knots are the more the elastic stretches which also means it will stretch less overall once its on so you do need to leave some stretchability in the elastic. Like I said at this point you can probably sew up where you had the knot, but I didn't this time. Then you finish it off with a little more tulle tied around where you sewed or where the knot is to cover it up.

You can tie ribbon around the elastic to have a nice bow in the front or back. If you did a dress just loop the ribbon around some of the tulle and up over the shoulders to hold the dress up. Then I just tie ribbon around their waist. You don't have to do that, they could just run around in a pouf of tulle!

Gwen's Butterfly Costume

2009-10-16T18:51:00.002-06:00

Oh Yeah! I made them both in one day! What a relief! I was starting to feel anxiety that I might not be able to get them done! Whew! I know, Gwen's wings are too big, but Monarch wings are Hard to find!! She will also have something underneath hers come Trick or Treat. Also, I can't decide if I should change up the ribbon for shiny black ribbon. What do you think?

From 2009

And I know there are a lot of pics of the same thing, but she smiled in all of them! And we all know that is a feat for her! Apparently she likes it!

Naomi's Fairy Costume

2009-10-16T13:28:00.003-06:00

I made this! Today!! I started late this morning and its done! I am really impressed with myself. If you can't tell for sure, its a fairy. She is a "pink tink" as she calls it. The tulle itself cost under $10 since I bought it online. I already had the ribbon so $10 for a custom made halloween costume - awesome! For actual Halloween she is going to have something underneath (maybe a leotard) with some bright pink tights. I do still have to make her a flower clip - as in I have to learn how to make flower clips.

From 2009

I forgot the wings:

From 2009

I don't know where this face came from, but WOW!

From 2009

And a hint for Gwen's costume that I will be making sometime soon. You can tell she has never had her haircut in this picture; its time!

From 2009

Now for fun a picture of Gwen - who fell asleep directly in front of the TV, in Naomi's sweater.

From 2009

And here are the body organs that I had to throw away because of the smell. The grapes were actually bubbling! GROSS!!

From 2009

What a day! And its only 11am!

2009-10-14T10:57:00.003-06:00

Last night poor Naomi woke up and was crying because she missed a friend's baby sister, Danica. I thought that was extremely weird. She kept waking up so I took her temperature, and she had a 101 temp. So I brought her into our bed so she could rest. She wound up using the bathroom like 3 times in the night, just to pee, but still it kept me up!

She seems better today, but still stuffy. So we had to cancel the fun kids club we were in charge of at our complex. The sad thing is I know that she got sick at the doctor's office. Seriously, how can I rectify that situation? Its not just sometimes, its every time we go to the doctor. My kids are very susceptible to stuff!

Then when I went to feed them breakfast I found that the syrup had been put back incorrectly in the pantry. Syrup EVERYWHERE! Thank heavens for the internet that told me to throw a lot of salt on it and then scrape it up with a spatula.

One of the Halloween decorations i had been wanting to try for a long while is specimen jars. So two days ago we went to the store and bought cauliflower for brains, ginger for a swollen appendix, and grapes to look like eyeballs. We put those in water with food coloring so it looked like we were harvesting body organs. I remember thinking a few days ago that it would eventually wind up smelling weird - but I forgot that I had thought that in my excitement and just did it! Last night I kept smelling something gross. I thought that it was the flowers from Naomi's party because you know how after a few days they just get that smell when you don't change the water enough. I threw those out this morning. But the smell was lingering! What was it?? I just couldn't tell! Finally I walked by the organs. There was the smell! Particularly the brain! I had to throw them all out and wash all of the jars. That lead to cleaning the whole kitchen since we had the salt all over the counters from the syrup cleanup already!!

Crazy day already! Now Naomi is begging for a bath because somehow she spilled orange juice all over her stomach and it is sticky. I have no idea how that one would have happened because there is no OJ anywhere else.

Naomi's Birthday Party

2009-10-13T09:47:00.002-06:00

Naomi's party was on Saturday. As far as parties go this one was the biggest bust ever!! I had all but one of the kids call to cancel in the last 24 hours - most of them were sick. I hadn't invited very many because it was to be an ALL kids party as opposed to the ones I usually do where its all adults and we eat and chat and the children run around playing. So that was really a shame and hard to sit down to explain to a 5 year old why only 1 person is coming! She had fun though because she has wanted a playdate with this girl for a long time!

As you probably know Naomi is in love with pink and only pink - you'll see in pictures in the next few months that her fall wardrobe consisted of ALL pink shirts! I chose this to be a battle not worth fighting! So for her party she wanted it ALL pink and she wanted unicorns. And that is exactly what she got! Here are the pictures:

From 2009

Party favors: beanie baby unicorns, party horns, a giant unicorn lollipop, and your birthday hat which represents your own personal unicorn horn!

From 2009

Pink lemonade cupcakes served with pink lemonade on a unicorn plate!

From 2009

Naomi's handmade Happy Birthday sign that had to be ALL pink! She didn't want white or black or silver. ALL pink! And I did it!! I didn't know it was possible.

From 2009

These are Naomi's presents - the two unicorns on the shelf. She loves them!

From 2009

This one was from Grandmom!

From 2009

At least Naomi had fun! It really makes throwing a party feel pointless when no one comes to play. Has me rethinking the entire party-throwing love that I have.

Halloween decorations are mostly up - so pictures of that will come shortly.

Naomi thinks we live in a hotel!

2009-10-06T12:06:00.002-06:00

When asked Naomi will tell people that we live in Hotel. Pronounced Ho-Teyl - southern accent? I don't know where it came from! (She also says toilet as toe-let.) We have argued over this point many times! She truly believes that we live in a hotel! She says we moved from Utah to Hotel. I have no idea why she thinks this! We have only ever stayed in a hotel once, when we were in Oklahoma for Brian's grandmother's funeral. At least it was a nice hotel so she at least doesn't think we live in a motel, ya know what I mean??

First of the Halloween Decor

2009-10-04T20:44:00.003-06:00

SO we all know I love love Halloween and guess what! Its October! I am once again trying to hold off putting up the decorations because Naomi's birthday is a unicorn themed party and, let's face it, Halloween and unicorns just clash, at least in my mind! I did, however, decide to put up my exterior decorations. I call it Three Witches Live Here and Leave Your Shoes At the Door.

I am having trouble getting all of Naomi's birthday stuff done. I'm just not feeling it for some reason. This has never happened for a party before! Usually I am working non-stop and doing way too much! I still have to make her Happy Birthday sign. I just emailed the invitations today! I didn't even send them out physically - very not like me! I printed one out for me to keep though! I keep cutting out games that I was planning on doing because I don't feel like getting the supplies to set them up. Its really weird! Naomi will be happy just to have it all be pink and unicorn and have a few friends over so that is good!

Then I need to get started on their costumes which I decided to make when I was in a fit of get a lot done and now I am worried I won't want to do it! If all goes well with the house buying which so far it is we'll be moving before the end of October so I will also have to start packing at some point. Plus I need to have the Halloween decorations up for at least most of the month so I'll have to pack around the Halloween decorations! Its crazy! I already know not to count on Brian's help with the packing. We have moved 6 times in the past 6 years and I have packed and unpacked all but maybe 1 box TOTAL. Meaning he doesn't even finish a whole box by himself so if you tally up all 6 moves he might have 1 to his name.

Anyway, crazy stuff happening! I need to get on the ball! And work faster! More fun stuff to come - its that time of year!

Naomi's weird day!

2009-09-29T19:54:00.002-06:00

Naomi woke me up at 8:30 in the morning which is late for her, but early for me considering last night I was up until 2am starting, reading and finishing The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman! She came running in "Wake up!, Wake up! My tooth fell out!" I jumped up very afraid because its way too early. She was pointing at her back tooth too! I looked and looked and nothing was wrong. She said she had been in my bathroom looking at it because it had fallen out while she was asleep. I have come to the conclusion that it was a dream, and I feel bad for her because I have dreams that my teeth fall out all the time and its really scary! Poor thing!

Last night we put both of the girls in their PJs and put them in the car to drive up the NSL to drive around our neighborhood at night, ya know, doing our due diligence, making sure there are no weird smells or loud noises. On the way up there Naomi must have drifted off to sleep because she woke up to tell us that she had peed her panties - and - that we had told her to do it! I was so upset! So we kept driving and stopped awhile later to check since we were on the freeway during the announcement. She hadn't wet her pants at all - I think it was another dream!

Today we went to get Naomi the paper to make her Happy Birthday sign. She wants it all pink! I can't even use black or white for the letters (i'm going to have to use some other color, she will be mad!) Can you imagine hating all other colors? She doesnt like any of them but pink! She is going to be so mad when I paint her room green in our new house! She is even picky on the color pink. On the way home I noticed something off in the distance and pointed it out to her. She said, "wow mommy you sure have shark eyes." haha, Shark! That is how she says sharp. Makes me laugh everytime!

Gwen spent the entire day spinning in circles - because she is a dog - because she is chasing her tail!

Brian went to a Clutch concert tonight so the girls and I had a girls night out. We went next store for some drinks and snacks. Oh yeah, next store is a restaurant called Archibalds. Naomi ordered her entire order by herself. And answered all of the waitresses questions before I could! HIlarious!

Wooohooo!!

2009-09-23T22:10:00.003-06:00

So I went to look at the house listed in the previous post. Loved it! Its exactly the same as the other one with a few less upgrades, some of which I like better, and its got a huge backyard for a townhouse! Brian and I put in our offer at about 5:30. Its listed at 189,900 - we offered $185,000 with closing costs paid by seller and we asked for washer/dryer, fridge, and some bar stools that i loved. I thought that might be going too far, but.....

They countered us already! It was 9:30 when Erik called to tell us, Erik is our agent. They gave us all of that stuff, and only raised our offer to $187,000! WOOOHOOO! So after I review the physical offer, I think we will be officially under contract! Wow! I'm a bit surprised, to say the least, and glad!

More will come, I'm sure!

We are not going to get that house

2009-09-22T20:22:00.002-06:00

So, we are not going to be getting that house, but there is another in the same area with the same layout that does not have as many upgrades but still seems pretty nice that we are going to look at and most likely bid on. Its listed for sale at $4000 cheaper and they are Motivated!

So here is what happened with the house we bid on. We bid at what our agent says is a reasonable price expecting that they would counter, of course. We do not have a ton of bids out here, we were the only one on this one in 6 months of being on the market. Ok, so here is the numbers. It is listed at 193,900. We bid 185,000 with them covering closing costs we also went ahead and asked for the washer/dryer and fridge. We knew this was to be a starting bid not the final frontier. The dilemma comes in because this person either does not want to sell or has a loan higher than appraisal value. Also his mother is the listing agent.

The counter we received today was that we would have to raise the asking price to $194,900 if we wanted to include the $4000 in closing costs we were asking for and that they would not give us either the fridge or the washer/dryer. Soooo....that is a big fat NO! They have a problem because they are under contract to build a new home, but that one cannot be started until they sell this one - BUT if you all noticed they are NOT going to sell that house! It really wouldn't appraise at that high - so we are moving on because those people are stupid! Our agent has even said the seller's agent is crazy quite a few times.

So - we looked again on the MLS to find a newly listed one that is the same floor plan. I will now include the listing:
http://www.utahhomebook.com/fine/real/estate/home_view/911320

So not as many upgrades, but the price is lower so we can add a few things here or there to make it more what we want. The kitchen is still pretty nice just not the ideal like the other one. I pretty much would have hand picked that other kitchen by myself if I could have. Plus the backyard is bigger, and though it is not landscaped now, we can do whatever we want with it since its a giant blank canvas. We are starting to feel a little excited at this prospect, but we, at least I, am really sad about the other one. I just can't see giving in to crazy notions. Maybe, just maybe it would appraise at what they are asking, but I kinda doubt it, as does our agent. They just sold a bunch of brand new ones with quartz countertops and tiled flooring and upgraded lighting and the stainless steel appliances for $189,900 - so I just don't think they would appraise much higher than the new ones sold for.

So this new prospect should hopefully go well since these people are extremely motivated since they are moving out of the state. I will update as soon as I know! Thanks for all of the excitement!

We did it!

2009-09-22T08:22:00.002-06:00

Ahhhh! We did it! We made an offer on a home! After looking at quite a few and all of the MLS listings in the entire Salt Lake area, we went with the one I posted on here first, the one in NSL. We hear back tonight about the offer! So nervous! I am actually more nervous, I pointed this out to Brian, than when I got married!! Hilarious! I wasn't actually nervous at all the day I got married so I am weird.

Some other homes we are looking at...

2009-09-09T13:25:00.003-06:00

So I haven't been inside any of these yet, but I want to share! The last post showed a home in North Salt Lake, no basement, 2 car garage and 3 bedrooms, 3 baths. It is right next to a new Elementary school that everyone is very excited about. And since I am very very nervous about school and kindergarten, the excitement is good for me! I got excited about Naomi going to that school! And its in a nice neighborhood with various sized houses so it'd be a nice mix. That one is my favorite from the pictures thus far.

Here are a few more...

The one below is in Murray. I think its cute on the outside, but no backyard, no garage, however it is 4 bedrooms which is a benefit.
http://www.utahhomebook.com/fine/real/estate/home_view/911473

There are two others were going to look at. Both are brand new construction. One is another townhouse done by Ivory Homes in West Jordan just west on the same road that we currently live on. Its only benefit is that it has a basement which Brian wants. All of the living spaces are smaller than the previous post even though the square footage is the same. Its only one car garage which isn't a huge deal, but its in the considerations. I read some bad reviews of the school in that area. And its only surrounded by other townhomes so I think that is a little boring. But no pictures of this one yet. I might take some myself if they let me.

The other new home we are going to look at is in Magna. Its a freestanding Rambler. Also brand new construction. Has a basement, two car garage, but I think its maybe only 1200 square feet which is smaller than I think I would like for the next 3-5 years. But it may have a great lay out and work well so we will see! Also no pics of the inside of this one. Oh, I think it would be nice to have a freestanding house, but Brian would have to mow so BIG negative! haha

One home I am looking at...

2009-09-09T10:30:00.004-06:00

http://www.slcity.com/panaview/905298/printable.html

Note: the price has come down from where it is listed on this flyer thing!

Besides the weird random faux paint in the living room, I am in love and I haven't even seen it in real life yet. Look at the stove! It looks amazing! Plus, a 2 car garage! Neat! It even says the Fridge stays, but that could be incorrect, who knows!