Sunday, February 8, 2009
Leah's photo shoot
I recently had some photos of Leah taken by my friend Taryn, who is starting her own photography business (http://www.portraitmemories.webs.com/), and here are some of my favorites. Leah was actually being quite a stinker for most of the shoot and wouldn't cooperate much but Taryn was still able to get some good pictures. If you're looking for an affordable photographer in MI who will come to your home and is really good with kids, check out the link above. But first check out these pictures of my cutie!
25 Random Things About Me
I've been tagged with this about a million times on facebook so I decided I'd finally do it and post it here for my blog audience also. Enjoy learning some weird things about me!
1. I’m a night owl, I rarely go to bed before midnight
2. I grew up in a really small town, so small that the closest McDonald’s and Walmart was two hours away
3. I am the 7th of 10 children, all from the same parents, and no sets of twins
4. My first real job was working at a Subway shop and I still love their sandwiches today
5. I used to live in a church. All our bedrooms had chalkboards, we had a trampoline in the gym indoors, and we had a drinking fountain in the hallway (now that I’m a mom I can see the value of that!)
6. I don’t like attention and hate being in the spotlight
7. I’m a perfectionist and borderline obsessive compulsive, I love having everything organized and clean
8. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a wedding dress designer or a librarian
9. My mom is a music teacher and I took piano and violin growing up but I still can’t read music
10. I love checking things off on my to-do list, sometimes if I’ve done something, I’ll write it down after the fact just so I can cross it off!
11. I’m terrified of spiders, so much so that if I see one or think too much about one during the day, I’ll dream about them and usually end up screaming or hitting/kicking Jared in my sleep!
12. I like to sing and dance when I’m at home with my kids but never in public or in front of people
13. I’m known as the most stubborn one in my family but will adamantly deny it if asked
14. I hate almost all nuts, especially in brownies or cookies. Why ruin a perfectly good treat?
15. My favorite ice cream flavor, however, is chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cup and brownie. I love smooth peanut butter (never crunchy) in sandwiches, cookies, and ice cream
16. My 10 year wedding anniversary is coming up in May
17. I had some interesting jobs during my college years: Telemarketer, cafeteria lunch lady, ice cream soda fountain jerk, picture framer, and a nanny
18. I recently won a weight loss contest with some friends by losing almost 15 lbs in 3 months. It feels great to be back to my pre-baby size and I’m amazed that I actually made it to my goal weight!
19. My passport expires this year, I got it 10 years ago to do a semester of study abroad in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan
20. When I was young, I spent almost every summer living in a cabin in the forest, picking huckleberries, playing in a muddy pond, watching moose and beavers from our front porch, singing songs around a campfire, eating hot dogs and marshmallows almost every night, and making tree forts.
21. I have a deaf nephew and am trying to teach my kids Sign Language so we can communicate with him
22. I still have a teddy bear from when I was 4 years old
23. I am never bored, I always have some craft or sewing project I’m working on, some book to read, some scrapbook page to complete, or some recipe to try out.
24. I was born 7 weeks early and could fit in a shoe box when I was born
25. I love cats, chocolate, and Celine Dion, not necessarily in that order but if I’m listening to Celine while petting a cat and eating chocolate, that’s a pretty good moment!
1. I’m a night owl, I rarely go to bed before midnight
2. I grew up in a really small town, so small that the closest McDonald’s and Walmart was two hours away
3. I am the 7th of 10 children, all from the same parents, and no sets of twins
4. My first real job was working at a Subway shop and I still love their sandwiches today
5. I used to live in a church. All our bedrooms had chalkboards, we had a trampoline in the gym indoors, and we had a drinking fountain in the hallway (now that I’m a mom I can see the value of that!)
6. I don’t like attention and hate being in the spotlight
7. I’m a perfectionist and borderline obsessive compulsive, I love having everything organized and clean
8. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a wedding dress designer or a librarian
9. My mom is a music teacher and I took piano and violin growing up but I still can’t read music
10. I love checking things off on my to-do list, sometimes if I’ve done something, I’ll write it down after the fact just so I can cross it off!
11. I’m terrified of spiders, so much so that if I see one or think too much about one during the day, I’ll dream about them and usually end up screaming or hitting/kicking Jared in my sleep!
12. I like to sing and dance when I’m at home with my kids but never in public or in front of people
13. I’m known as the most stubborn one in my family but will adamantly deny it if asked
14. I hate almost all nuts, especially in brownies or cookies. Why ruin a perfectly good treat?
15. My favorite ice cream flavor, however, is chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cup and brownie. I love smooth peanut butter (never crunchy) in sandwiches, cookies, and ice cream
16. My 10 year wedding anniversary is coming up in May
17. I had some interesting jobs during my college years: Telemarketer, cafeteria lunch lady, ice cream soda fountain jerk, picture framer, and a nanny
18. I recently won a weight loss contest with some friends by losing almost 15 lbs in 3 months. It feels great to be back to my pre-baby size and I’m amazed that I actually made it to my goal weight!
19. My passport expires this year, I got it 10 years ago to do a semester of study abroad in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan
20. When I was young, I spent almost every summer living in a cabin in the forest, picking huckleberries, playing in a muddy pond, watching moose and beavers from our front porch, singing songs around a campfire, eating hot dogs and marshmallows almost every night, and making tree forts.
21. I have a deaf nephew and am trying to teach my kids Sign Language so we can communicate with him
22. I still have a teddy bear from when I was 4 years old
23. I am never bored, I always have some craft or sewing project I’m working on, some book to read, some scrapbook page to complete, or some recipe to try out.
24. I was born 7 weeks early and could fit in a shoe box when I was born
25. I love cats, chocolate, and Celine Dion, not necessarily in that order but if I’m listening to Celine while petting a cat and eating chocolate, that’s a pretty good moment!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
It's so freakin' cold...
So we decided to visit the local botanical gardens and pretend that we live in a rainforest for a while. It was warm and green and beautiful in there and Abbie and Leah had a blast running around and smelling the flowers. There were also big palm trees, little walkways everywhere, and ponds with fish in them. Abbie thought the fish were cool and kept asking me why they were eating the water. We weren't able to spend as much time there as we would have liked so we'll have to go back soon since there's free admission one afternoon a week. I couldn't get the girls to hold still and smile for even one picture so this is the best you get!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
A taste of summer...
We went swimming at an indoor water park last week and it was so much fun! It was humid and warm and felt just like a day at the pool in the middle of July. It was hard afterward to go back outside to the snow and negative 15 degree weather. I know, not fun. Here are the girls playing in the water and despite my best efforts, I could not get either of them to look at the camera. It was a great day, nonetheless. We can't wait for summer!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
What did you do today?
I've gotten this question a few times lately from friends and family so I decided I'd give you a little summary of a typical day for us. It's probably similar to what many of you SAHM's experience. Try not to laugh too much...
8:07 am: Get woken up by Abbie saying "I'm hungry and I want to watch Dora." Get her dressed, give her a bag of cheerios and some milk, put on Dora, and decide whether to stay up or crawl back to bed. Stay up since I need to leave the house by 10:45 to get to a doctor appt so I start getting ready.
8:52 am: Put a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave for myself and then hear the phone ring. Finish phone call, hear Leah is awake so go to get her out of crib and discover she had thrown up overnight and it's everywhere! Strip her down, fill the tub, put her in the bath, and proceed to clean up the sheets, floor, crib, animals, dollys, etc. Throw a load of laundry in the washer, clean Leah up and get her dressed.
9:46 am: Remember my cold oatmeal that is in the microwave, heat it up again, and start getting breakfast for the kids, leery of giving Leah anything since she might throw up again. Remember I still haven't done my hair so try to finish that while kids are throwing food around and running around the house with half-eaten dripping gogurts.
10:34 am: On the hunt for socks, shoes, coats, diaper bag, library movies to return, etc. Kids keep running away while I try to do their hair. Oh yeah, my oatmeal. Stir in blueberries and eat cold. Oh crap, we're going to be late. "Girls, it's time to go, quit watching Dora, I don't know where your elephant is, why aren't your shoes on, you have to go potty?, get in the car, we're late!"
11:07 am: Finally arrive at doctor's office (15 min late) and realize we have no snacks or toys in diaper bag to keep Leah entertained but figure we won't be at the doctor long, he just needs to check Abbie's ears, should be in and out in 10 min.
12:02 pm: Stumble out into the cold after a hour of semi-torture for Abbie, trying to get excess wax out of her ears before they can check for fluid. She was a trooper but had I known we were going to have to do that, I would have left Leah with a sitter. She was a handful in that little room to say the least! We go across the street to the library for some play/reading/reward time.
12:53 pm: Driving through the drive-thru of Wendy's getting chicken nuggets for the kids, while calling Jared to see if we can stop at work to say hi. He's with a patient so maybe another time, bummer. Take my time driving home so the kids can be done with their lunch by the time we get home. No prep, no clean up, awesome!
1:21 pm: Finally arrive home and after getting everyone inside without them jumping in the nearest snowbank, stripping them down of coats, shoes, hats, etc and unloading my arms of all the bags and books and movies we got at the library, go to put Leah down for a nap and realize she has no sheets or clean blankets. Go throw the items in the washer from this morning into the dryer and realize I have to wait an hour before she can go down since her favorite blankie is in there. Crap. "Hey kids, who wants to watch My Little Pony?"
2:34 pm: Get Leah down for a nap and finally convince Abbie that quiet time in her room is fun. Yes, you can have a snack, and no, you can't jump on the bed and bang on the door, that will wake up Leah. It's supposed to be quiet time, remember?
2:56 pm: Ahhh, a moment of silence. Check email, visit blogs, realize I haven't updated in a week, maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Hmmm, I really should work out since I'm trying to win a weight loss contest but I'm tired, I was up pretty late last night. Maybe I'll work out tonight after the kids are in bed while I watch Bachelor. Oh yeah, I need to fold some laundry, I'll do that real quick while I watch yesterday's Desperate Housewives, then take a nap. Sounds like a plan.
3:22 pm: Almost done folding laundry when my sister, who I haven't talked to in a few weeks, calls. I really should take this but I'm so tired. Okay, I'll just talk for a sec, then take a nap.
4:07 pm: Get off phone and realize a nap isn't going to happen now. Dang it. Okay, maybe I can get in a workout before Leah wakes up. Change clothes, turn on Desperate Housewives again, am just starting to get good and sweaty when Jared gets home early. Really need this time to myself so shoo him into the bedroom and go finish workout.
5:11 pm: Kids are up and I'm about to jump into the shower when Jared says he has a major toothache so I call the dentist and get him an appt for 7:00 pm. There goes hard tacos for dinner/FHE plans. Oh well, at least he got in tonight, if the pain is bad enough that he came home from work early, that's pretty bad.
6:30 pm: Jared leaves for the dentist and we start eating dinner. Leah and I are done in 10 minutes, Abbie takes an hour to eat half a hot dog, a few strawberries, and her vitamin. Typical dinner routine.
7:43 pm: With dinner cleaned up, we start making shaped sugar cookies from dough made the night before in preparation for FHE. Abbie has fun doing it but I'm fighting Leah the whole time to stay away from the flour, the sticky dough, etc. Why do I always think this is going to be fun?
8:02 pm: Jared gets home, tooth under crown is cracked, needs to see oral surgeon for extraction. Still in a lot of pain. Cookies are done but haven't made frosting and promised Abbie she could eat one before bed. Hurry and make frosting. Mix colors. Each kid decorates one cookie while fighting over colors. Both lick frosting off cookie. Now they are all sticky and hopped up on sugar. My 12+ hr shift isn't quite over yet.
9:13 pm: It's past the kids bedtime and I'm having a meltdown. I throws PJ's and diapers at the kids, not so nicely ask Jared to take over the bedtime routine of getting pj's on, reading a story, family prayer, brushing their teeth, and singing a song while I retreat to the kitchen to pretend to clean up while I de-stress for a minute. It's been a long day and I need some chocolate and a time-out.
9:48 pm: Kids are finally in bed, house is cleaned up, I can finally relax and watch "24" with my patient hubby. Watch Jack Bauer beat up a couple bad guys and think that I'm glad that I am where I am in life. It's hard work being a Mom, really hard, all day, every day, over and over the same thing, never ending, often unnoticed, work but I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. I can honestly say that I can't think of any career or job that I'd rather be doing every day. And I know someday I'll miss days like today.
8:07 am: Get woken up by Abbie saying "I'm hungry and I want to watch Dora." Get her dressed, give her a bag of cheerios and some milk, put on Dora, and decide whether to stay up or crawl back to bed. Stay up since I need to leave the house by 10:45 to get to a doctor appt so I start getting ready.
8:52 am: Put a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave for myself and then hear the phone ring. Finish phone call, hear Leah is awake so go to get her out of crib and discover she had thrown up overnight and it's everywhere! Strip her down, fill the tub, put her in the bath, and proceed to clean up the sheets, floor, crib, animals, dollys, etc. Throw a load of laundry in the washer, clean Leah up and get her dressed.
9:46 am: Remember my cold oatmeal that is in the microwave, heat it up again, and start getting breakfast for the kids, leery of giving Leah anything since she might throw up again. Remember I still haven't done my hair so try to finish that while kids are throwing food around and running around the house with half-eaten dripping gogurts.
10:34 am: On the hunt for socks, shoes, coats, diaper bag, library movies to return, etc. Kids keep running away while I try to do their hair. Oh yeah, my oatmeal. Stir in blueberries and eat cold. Oh crap, we're going to be late. "Girls, it's time to go, quit watching Dora, I don't know where your elephant is, why aren't your shoes on, you have to go potty?, get in the car, we're late!"
11:07 am: Finally arrive at doctor's office (15 min late) and realize we have no snacks or toys in diaper bag to keep Leah entertained but figure we won't be at the doctor long, he just needs to check Abbie's ears, should be in and out in 10 min.
12:02 pm: Stumble out into the cold after a hour of semi-torture for Abbie, trying to get excess wax out of her ears before they can check for fluid. She was a trooper but had I known we were going to have to do that, I would have left Leah with a sitter. She was a handful in that little room to say the least! We go across the street to the library for some play/reading/reward time.
12:53 pm: Driving through the drive-thru of Wendy's getting chicken nuggets for the kids, while calling Jared to see if we can stop at work to say hi. He's with a patient so maybe another time, bummer. Take my time driving home so the kids can be done with their lunch by the time we get home. No prep, no clean up, awesome!
1:21 pm: Finally arrive home and after getting everyone inside without them jumping in the nearest snowbank, stripping them down of coats, shoes, hats, etc and unloading my arms of all the bags and books and movies we got at the library, go to put Leah down for a nap and realize she has no sheets or clean blankets. Go throw the items in the washer from this morning into the dryer and realize I have to wait an hour before she can go down since her favorite blankie is in there. Crap. "Hey kids, who wants to watch My Little Pony?"
2:34 pm: Get Leah down for a nap and finally convince Abbie that quiet time in her room is fun. Yes, you can have a snack, and no, you can't jump on the bed and bang on the door, that will wake up Leah. It's supposed to be quiet time, remember?
2:56 pm: Ahhh, a moment of silence. Check email, visit blogs, realize I haven't updated in a week, maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Hmmm, I really should work out since I'm trying to win a weight loss contest but I'm tired, I was up pretty late last night. Maybe I'll work out tonight after the kids are in bed while I watch Bachelor. Oh yeah, I need to fold some laundry, I'll do that real quick while I watch yesterday's Desperate Housewives, then take a nap. Sounds like a plan.
3:22 pm: Almost done folding laundry when my sister, who I haven't talked to in a few weeks, calls. I really should take this but I'm so tired. Okay, I'll just talk for a sec, then take a nap.
4:07 pm: Get off phone and realize a nap isn't going to happen now. Dang it. Okay, maybe I can get in a workout before Leah wakes up. Change clothes, turn on Desperate Housewives again, am just starting to get good and sweaty when Jared gets home early. Really need this time to myself so shoo him into the bedroom and go finish workout.
5:11 pm: Kids are up and I'm about to jump into the shower when Jared says he has a major toothache so I call the dentist and get him an appt for 7:00 pm. There goes hard tacos for dinner/FHE plans. Oh well, at least he got in tonight, if the pain is bad enough that he came home from work early, that's pretty bad.
6:30 pm: Jared leaves for the dentist and we start eating dinner. Leah and I are done in 10 minutes, Abbie takes an hour to eat half a hot dog, a few strawberries, and her vitamin. Typical dinner routine.
7:43 pm: With dinner cleaned up, we start making shaped sugar cookies from dough made the night before in preparation for FHE. Abbie has fun doing it but I'm fighting Leah the whole time to stay away from the flour, the sticky dough, etc. Why do I always think this is going to be fun?
8:02 pm: Jared gets home, tooth under crown is cracked, needs to see oral surgeon for extraction. Still in a lot of pain. Cookies are done but haven't made frosting and promised Abbie she could eat one before bed. Hurry and make frosting. Mix colors. Each kid decorates one cookie while fighting over colors. Both lick frosting off cookie. Now they are all sticky and hopped up on sugar. My 12+ hr shift isn't quite over yet.
9:13 pm: It's past the kids bedtime and I'm having a meltdown. I throws PJ's and diapers at the kids, not so nicely ask Jared to take over the bedtime routine of getting pj's on, reading a story, family prayer, brushing their teeth, and singing a song while I retreat to the kitchen to pretend to clean up while I de-stress for a minute. It's been a long day and I need some chocolate and a time-out.
9:48 pm: Kids are finally in bed, house is cleaned up, I can finally relax and watch "24" with my patient hubby. Watch Jack Bauer beat up a couple bad guys and think that I'm glad that I am where I am in life. It's hard work being a Mom, really hard, all day, every day, over and over the same thing, never ending, often unnoticed, work but I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. I can honestly say that I can't think of any career or job that I'd rather be doing every day. And I know someday I'll miss days like today.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Playing in the snow!
We got a bunch of snow this weekend so we took the kids out to play in it for the first time this year. We don't go out to play in the snow very much since it's a hassle getting all their snow gear on and then dealing with all their wet stuff afterward but they had a blast so it was worth it. We actually had fun shoveling the driveway as a family but since it kept snowing all day you couldn't even tell we had done anything after a few hours.
Here is Abbie looking like a marshmallow!
Leah with her shovel and pail
Having fun together
I think I'm ready to go inside now!
Here is Abbie looking like a marshmallow!
Leah with her shovel and pail
Having fun together
I think I'm ready to go inside now!
As long as I don't have to drive in the snow very often and can just look at it through the window from the warmth of my house, I say "Let it snow!"
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Tutus and New Year's resolutions
I don't have any pictures from this past week where the girls aren't in their tutus! They love wearing them and as soon as one girl puts it on, the other one has to go get theirs. Good thing I made two of them! They love watching themselves dance around on TV with their Playskool Dance Cam they got for Christmas and also watching old home videos of themselves as babies. Little narcissists, aren't they!
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In other news, we had a great New Year's Eve with some friends and stayed up late watching movies and talking while eating homemade Cafe Rio salad, apple pie, and drinking sparkling apple juice, Woo Hoo! Then we spent the rest of the weekend sleeping in, playing with the kids, going to movies, taking the kids on little outings to McDonalds and other play areas, going shopping, eating out, and just relaxing at home.
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Now it's time to get back to real life and get working on our New Year's resolutions which are to go to bed earlier, eat less, exercise more, spend less, and spend more time playing with the kids. So far we've only been good with one of these, hmmm...
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