easter rookie

As a mom of two young children, I am stuck in weird spot.  I want to make holidays special for my kids, yet I know they are still pretty young… and don’t know any better, so I just want to coast for as long as I can.  I mean, soon they will be old enough to have expectations and… stuff, right?  So, I end up not planning ahead in any way, and then feeling guilty and going to the store the night before to make up for my lack of prep.

I did have a few small things, I bought the kids sand buckets instead of baskets because I was thinking I’d be practical… but then Lee and I started waxing nostalgic about our own baskets and how we both distinctly remember ours from when we were kids (his woven plastic, mine white stuffed fabric).  Which led to the aforementioned store run.  I got a few small toys to put in their new baskets.  A ham and stuff to make funeral potatoes.  I didn’t want to do a ton of candy this year because I am having slight problem with sugar addiction, and I don’t want to make it too much worse.  I did however buy a package of those mini Cadbury eggs and also some mini reeses eggs… just so my kids (translation: I) didn’t feel totally  gypped on the easter candy front.

I sneaked out early in the morning to hide the eggs thinking the sprinklers had already come on earlier… although the dryness of the grass should have tipped me off.  The second I had everything “hidden”, they came on (of course).  I dashed over and shut them off  to save whatever stuff hadn’t gotten wet yet.  I then went in and waited for Carmen to wake up.  When she did, I showed her the new dress her daddy picked out for her (not for easter… just for fun), she wanted to put it on.  After she was all ready,  we went out  to hunt.  I’d say about an hour had passed since I had put the candy out.

We got out and I started looking around thinking “What happened to all the candy?”  Just then we saw a crow land and make off with one of the last few pieces.  Sweet.  The only thing left were the real eggs, some confetti eggs, and 4 (out of about 30) foil wrapped candy eggs.  WHAT THE HECK!   I remember back when I worked at the golf course I saw those crows fly off with all kinds of stuff.  One guy set his hot dog on the seat of his cart, went back to get some ketchup and by the time he got back a crow had snatched the dog right out of the bun. Them things are crafty!  I should have known better.

So, I guess we’ll be doing things a bit differently next year.  The easter bunny will be told to strictly stay indoors. 

Luckily for me, the kids are still young enough, that they still had fun.

This was Moseley’s first experience with easter egg hunting… he dove right in, and for not even being able to walk yet, he loved it.

Daddy tried out the new bubbles. He commented to me about how impressed he was with the “new technology” in bubbles.   Millions of bubbles from only one dip of the wand!  Amazing! :)

Hmm this looks tasty… let’s try it…

Uh… hey Carmen…

Here, I found a really good one, just for you.

Later, we were just sitting down outside to eat our feast when we started to feel some shaking.  Me and Lee looked at each other and at the same time realized we were having an earthquake.  I’ve never experienced one outside before.  The ground was moving in waves and it gives you the strangest feeling of vertigo.  It lasted a while  probably 40 seconds or so, but no harm done in the house.  Carmen couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on.

We finally sat down to eat and since it was so windy outside, the food was cold and my potatoes were under cooked!  Like I said… rookie.

Actually though, I had a lovely day.  I got to spend it cooking in the kitchen around my family, listening to general conference.  Afterwards we got to clean up together and dance around the kitchen while listening to tunes.  I loved it.  Next year, I’ll try a little harder to not be so lame.

i have an idea

At preschool, Carmen got one of those little guys with the sticky hands and feet that you throw against the wall and they stick like a gecko.

She was playing with it and threw it up against the ceiling.  Of course, it stuck, and was not coming down any time soon.  The conversation that followed went something like this:

Carmen: “Mom, can you get that down?”

Me: “No, I’m not tall enough to reach it.”

Carmen: “What are we going to do?”

Me: “Well, we’ll have to find something long enough to get it down with.”

Carmen: “Wait, I have an idea… We’ll get a seesaw and put it under there.  Then I’ll get on one side and we’ll throw Moseley on the other, and I can go up there and get it.”

Ha!  At least I know little brothers are good for something in a big sister’s eyes.

p.s. we did get it down, I just had to precariously balance on a bar stool to get it, and the day was saved… without the use of baby projectiles. :)

the snob

So this little boy has developed a very distinguished palate…  He apparently is going to be my picky eater.  We like to call him the food snob.   He is selective on the foods he’ll eat, If it doesn’t look quite right to him, he gets rid of it.  The stuff he’ll eat also changes from day-to-day.  He likes fruit, yogurt, and bread.  Randomly he’ll eat other stuff, but he wont even eat foods that I thought he’d go gaga over like french fries or chicken nuggets (which is good for his future, bad for when we are stuck in the car and need something to keep him quiet).

Moseley doesn’t just refuse to take whatever food I am offering, in fact he reaches out for it like he wants it and then exaggeratedly throws it on the ground. It reminds me of the SNL digital short of Andy Sandberg “threw it on the ground” (if you are sensitive, stop watching at the 2 min mark, since Saturday night live does love to push the envelope a little).  I think of this video every time he does it.

toadstools

When we got to this house the people before us had left us all kinds of interesting things in the back yard, and while I’m not really able to refurb half a treadmill, or a deflated Thomas the train kiddie pool,  I was able to help out a little kid table that was back there.  So I did, and here is what it looks like now:

I wanted to give it a little Mario bros feel, and since I was limited in the colors available in plastic paint,  I decided to go with mushrooms.

I am not great at painting… but I think they are considerably better than the original, which looked like this:

(the table had been spray painted this really lovely hunter green, although I bet that little lime green stool had been pretty cute in its day, if the rest of the set had matched it)

Since I am being crafty… I might as well post the pic of my little “bride”:

Carmen is obsessed with all things marriage lately, and was walking around with a doll blanket as a veil, so I whipped her up this purple one with some left over tulle I had lying around.  Now she walks around the house with it on saying “Now… Who is going to be my king?’  She is such a funny girl.

the move

So, we finally moved two weeks ago.  I was a little bummed to pack up all my stuff and move it again.  It is the worst ever.  It forces me to get organized… and I hate organizing! :)

We moved into a much smaller more manageable house.  There were a lot of things I loved about my last big house, like my  huge kitchen with an island, and my warm wooden floors.  After all is said and done though, it was too much for our little family, and I really love our new place.  Sure it has white walls, and a lot of circa 1990s brass fixtures and such, but there is a lot I like about it.  The back yard is one of the things I love.

It is so green  with large mature trees (if you ever saw the swampy wasteland that was my last backyard, you’ll understand why that is important to me).  It is the perfect place for the kids to go play.  And it has a lemon tree!  Sigh.  I love it.  So beautiful.

Another thing I love is the smaller square footage.  That may seem weird, but my last house was way too overwhelming for me to keep clean.  And while now I have had to get rid of a ton of stuff, every day my life feels a little more simple.  Which is good for my chi.

The location has made my life a lot easier as well, because we are still in the same ward, but we are right next to my gym and Lee’s office, which is super convenient.

I also rewarded my self by buying some new quilts for Carmen’s and my  bed.  I needed something pretty to look at every day.

Here is Carmen’s room, I love how the kids follow me around and help me take pictures. :)

And here is mine:

My Camera battery died before I could get a picture of the whole thing, but you get the idea. :)

happy birthday carmen

Happy Birthday Carmie!

I love you, little girl.  Thanks for being born!

happy birthday moseley

Happy Birthday Mose!  I could not be a luckier mom.

Thanks for being my special boy.  I love you.

family party for the kids

Since we were planning on moving right on or around the kids birthdays this year, we decided to have a small family party to celebrate the births of my two precious babies.

Lee’s parents happened to be in town that weekend, and Lee’s youngest brother and his family came down for the day as well.

The kids had a lot of fun opening gifts and eating cake.

Carmen’s big birthday gift this year was a new bike.  I had hidden it in our closet covered with blankets so it would be a surprise.  Carmen never even glanced in it’s direction.   Unfortunately for me, Carmen’s best friend happens to be a ninja, and honed in on it the second she got to our house a few weeks prior. :)  So once again she found her gifts, but I think she was still excited when she opened it.  Now when showing anyone her new bike, she says “This is my bike that my daddy built for me.”  Which is kinda true… he did assemble it, without the use of directions. Which baffles me.  It is so cliche but seriously, what is up with that?  He was about to go crazy from me and his mom hounding him about the directions the whole time… and about threw the bike out the window when Carmen chimed in with “Daaaaad,  Why don’t you read the rirections!”  Three generations of woman nagging, ha!

the big 28

Here are some pics from my birthday party a few weeks back.  It was a woodland fairies theme  and Wendy of blue lily photo once again worked her magic.  Ok so these theme parties are only getting a little bit embarrassing right?  It’s alright because the pics turned out so good.

In this next pic, you’ll find Eve, she co-hosted.  She provided us with the woodland party favors and cake.  Sadly though I am so lame that I didn’t even bring a camera to my own party. So I don’t have pics to show you.  The cake was huge with swirls of chocolate frosting, and topped with hand painted red and white toadstools (like the one she’s holding in the pic).  It was really awesome, and I couldn’t be more bummed I don’t have a pic of it.

My friends are so rad.  and fun.  and hot.

I am so glad I found these girls… they are the best and they give the BEST birthday gifts!

that girl

Is getting a little too sophisticated for me, and she’s not yet 4!  She is full of sass, but is also very complimentary on the other end of the spectrum… So it balances out.  One minute the conversation goes something like:

Carmen:” What are we going to do today?”

Me:”I don’t know yet.”

Carmen:”Mom, WHAT is the matter with you today?”

But then she will switch to saying “Mom, thanks for the english muffin, you are the best Mommy ever.”

or

Last night when I walked into the room after getting ready for our date to Joel McHale (which was very funny, by the way), she said “Mom, you look beautiful.”  She is such a sweet girl. For some reason, compliments from kids mean a little more, since they are always brutally honest.

She loves to change her outfit at least 4 times a day.  I usually put her in jeans for preschool, and within 30 seconds of her getting home she has got them off.  The outfits she chooses ranges from mismatched pajamas to princess dress-ups.  Which, I don’t care… as long as she doesn’t put up a stink about what she wears in public, that seems like a pretty decent compromise.

Carmen LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  As soon as she sees me in there, she grabs her little fold up chair, pushes it to the sink and says “Mom, I am going to wash my hands so I can touch food.”  She ALWAYS helps me whenever I am cooking.   I hope that she will always love to cook, the way I do.  Today I wanted to take a picture of the Mexican 7 layer dip I made for Lee’s super bowl snack (apparently it’s not super bowl Sunday without 7 layer dip…even if we are the only ones to eat it).  It just looked too pretty not to document before we tore into it.  Carmen wanted to get in on the action too because she still loves taking pictures.  So she grabbed a little disposable camera I found in a box the other day and started snapping away. 

Then she turned the camera on me.

I’m sure all of the shots on that old wind up camera will be awkward angles of me wearing no make-up and in clothes I wouldn’t prefer to be photographed in, but whatever.

My pretty girl.

Oh and here is the layer dip… If you want the recipe, it is of course from p-dub.  Her food is super fattening, but for some reason, I can’t stop making Every. Thing. I. See. on her site.  SO delish.

Ok… sorry I got a little side tracked by food.  I do that.

Back to Carmen…

She still loves babies and loves to take care of her little brother.

We often have conversations about when “she grows big”.  She can’t wait until she becomes a mommy.  That conversation usually turns to who she is going to marry BEFORE she becomes a mommy some day.  It usually goes something like this:

Carmen: “I’m going to marry Moseley when we get big”.

Me:”Well, you can’t marry your brother, because that would be against the law :)”

Carmen:”Well then I’ll just marry Daddy.”

Me:”sorry, but you cant marry Daddy either”

Carmen (crying)”why!??? Why can’t I marry Daddy!?”

Me: “because Daddy is already married to me.  You have to pick someone who is not already in our family.”

Carmen: ” Well, Ok… I pick Drew.”  (she has also picked Danny in the past, both are boys from her preschool class… ha ha)

She is such a funny little girl.  She makes my life exciting, and so happy.

Love her.