Hint of a Smile

Oh this girl's smile makes a mama happy! Great start to the day.

Today

Today has been productive. I'm proud of that. Often times, Monday mornings are slow starting and drift into afternoons without me even realizing that half the day is gone. I had a jump start this morning because I had to clean up a dog mess (really, the third one in three days) and the cleaning bug hit me HARD as I finished that dreadful task.

I cleaned out my fridge (food content AND germ content), cleaned up all of the dishes/sink area/counters, hard boiled a dozen eggs, cooked a chicken for lunch meat and dinner later this week, tidied up the upstairs, and got lunch on the table all within a couple of hours.

PLUS I got a few more piano students set up to start! I will have four new students total this semester and I only lost one last from last semester, so things have improved for my little music studio quite a bit. I'm so pleased with how it's going! I give lessons on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the afternoons from 3-5:30 and it's just perfect for me. I get that little bit of "grown up" time even though the lessons are mostly with kids, but I still get plenty of time with my own kids throughout the week. The extra income helps too of course.

My favorite thing of the day? I found a great little table and chairs for the girls on craigslist and picked it up today for only $20! It's tiny and has a crayon scribbles, but it isn't finished so we could always finish it with stain of our choice if we don't like that. I'm fine with it though. Let's be real - it would have gotten scuffs and crayon markings from our girls in no time at all! It looks loved. :)

Oh and did I mention that I got a new phone? Yep, the old 'dumb phone'  started showing signs of imminent death and I freaked out thinking that I would be without a phone all of a sudden so off we went the good old phone store. (You may laugh but I was trying to sell something via craigslist and that was how we were communicating. I couldn't miss out on that sale because my phone wasn't working!) I got the Windows 8x Phone and I'm loving it so far. The one downfall is that a lot of the apps I planned on getting are not available yet. Maybe that's a good thing - I won't get bogged down using my phone all the time. Just finding the bright side... the rest of the phone is awesome though.  

Girls are sleeping - better be productive!



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My enemy: the nap, and other things

It's been a battle lately to get solid naps in around here. Josie is still at that stage of bouncing between one nap or two. She shows definite signs of exhaustion and then fights it like she's being sent to her death. I'm not going to lie to you, it's wearing on me. I have started to dread nap time because I just never know what I am going to get. Sometimes, she fusses for just a minute and then is out. Other times, she'll scream so loud, my vocal chords ache. You know the cry when you don't hear any sound for too long and just know it's going to get uglier than ever imagined? Yeah that one. She spends more time screaming and fighting me than just napping and coming back out to play. Half of our day seems to be wasted with nap fights.

Ugh. I need a new topic. I am sick of thinking about naps.

I'm slowly preparing myself to follow the Paleo lifestyle. I've been wanting to do it and have been reading about it for about a year now, and I am dabbling in it right now. I just haven't made the leap to full on Paleo. I did  make a two week meal plan and will get the grocery list ready for going this weekend... here's to starting next week! Not 100%, but maybe 80/20. Ease into it. That's doable.

I need to need to get up before the girls. I need to just get up and out of bed when my alarm goes off. Unfortunately I just can't seem to do it. Maybe tomorrow?

It's supposed to blizzard here and be ridiculously cold. I'm not too concerned (other than when will I Paleo grocery shop?) since we stick around all day. I do have to go to the bank tomorrow but we can squeeze that in before lunch. No problemo, right? Then we'll just hunker down. Watch movies... enjoy each other. Ha.

I do just have to say that when Jo's not prepping for a nap, she's awesome. Like we laugh so hard we both fall down, we dance all the time, and we play all day. She's a hoot, too. Says the funniest things. Love that girl.

I've been a baby wearing machine the last couple of days and I'm not even mad about it. She loves being nice and close and frankly me too. I love that girl too. They just rock.

Well look at me ending this on a good note!

Goodnight.



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Memories: Dealing with Death

I have the itch to write, but have no inspiration other than the two kiddos I spend my days with. I love them dearly, but I want to still be me and not just mom. I searched around for writing ideas so that I could find something that I was interested in writing about, and came across a list of questions. 

I love hearing about lives from past generations. I love hearing the little details that most people roll their eyes at. My absolute favorite is getting an older gentleman or lady (those terms just fit so much better for that generation, don't they?) going on a topic and just letting them say whatever comes to mind. I have wonderful memories of my grandpa and me sitting in my grandma's hospital room, waiting for her to come back from therapy or for her to wake up from a nap. He told me story after story of his life when he was my age and when they were just starting out as newlyweds. I couldn't get enough. He loved it too, because really, who doesn't love to talk about themselves and the good old days? It is a win-win.

I assume that my kids and grand kids (and great grand kids if I am lucky) will want to know what in the world I did when I was young. Life now will seem so foreign then. I will have so many things to share. Why not try to remember and record some of it now? So today, the question is:

Who is someone you've lost? What are some of your memories about that person?


The first person that pops into my mind is my biological father. A lot about him is a story for another day, but his death is what I want to write about now. I didn't know him hardly at all. He came and went in my life based around his own schedule, and I was mostly fine with that because I had a father figure. My step dad is who I refer to as "dad" and I never felt like I was missing anything. We'd been in contact here and there while I grew up, mostly by email or snail mail. I even had his phone number saved in my phone even though I'd never called him or received a call from him in my life. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

The summer in between colleges, before going to the university but after graduating from the tech school, I worked three jobs and lived in "the big city" (it's ND, no city is big). After putting in a full day's shift at one of my jobs, I checked my phone and saw that I had over 10 missed calls from him. That was odd since as previously mentioned, I never had spoken to him on the phone. Eventually the phone rang again, and I answered it, nervous to hear what in the world was going on. Imagine my surprise when I woman with a huge southern drawl started talking! 

My father jumped careers a lot. He never knew exactly what he wanted, so he tried numerous things. I believe he worked at a printing shop for a while. He was musical and was involved in theater here and there, but never as a career. He trained dogs, which is what I believe became his passion. He did this up here, in the frozen tundra, for the most part, but when I was in high school, he ended up living in Georgia. He worked for a family that had a "fun farm" with hunting dogs and a huge hunting lodge that needed maintaining when they weren't there. His job was paradise to him - he got to live on a small house on that property and enjoy the great outdoors while training dogs and while having plenty of alone time, something else he enjoyed. The family that owned this farm had a wonderful relationship with him and I admit that I have been jealous of this from time to time. He would cook for them (a hobby he picked up while living there), help them with whatever they needed while they were there, and generally spent time with them like he was part of the family. They seemed to enjoy him just as much.

When Andrea (the wife in this family) told me that my daddy had died (strange to hear him called that since I had never thought of him as daddy), I had conflicting emotions like never before. She expected me to cry, and I did, immediately. I couldn't even comprehend what she was saying and yet I had to. As his only daughter (heir), I was the executor of his estate. I had to deal with it, way down in Georgia, even though I felt like I should be the last person to do it. 

Nobody knew what I was feeling. I didn't know what I was feeling. I talked to my mom about it, and she did her best considering the circumstances (she had her own battle - grieving the death of her ex husband while happily married)  My sister had no clue what to say as she was just a young high school student. My boyfriend? He and I had been dating for one month. That boyfriend? He's my hubby now. Stuff like this makes or breaks a relationship and that summer was definitely defining for us.

To be continued...


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Newest phrase

Hee go Mama!

x50. Her new favorite phrase. She gives me something, says "here you go mama" and then says it again and again and again. It's so cute.

A little snapshot of our life.


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Birthday.

Did you know that I had a birthday last week? I was pretty low key about it, which is funny because I pretty much love birthdays and think they should be BIG DEALS. When it comes to my own, though, I get a little shy about it. Thankfully, my family knows this and still makes it wonderful every.single.year.

This year, my parents came up and hung out with the girls and I during the day. We shopped a little, ate at Pita Pit (my favorite lunch place), and just relaxed for a while before going to Grazie's (an Italian restaurant) for dinner once my sister and hubby were off work. We enjoyed way too much food and some wine, and then headed back to our house to do our family's Christmas.

Now if we had combined Christmas and my birthday ten years ago? I'd have been so upset. This year, though? I loved it. It's funny how being older puts things in a different perspective. Now I love sharing that time with my kids, my parents, sister, hubby. They are my favorite people, after all. Family's awesome. :)

Matching outfits, yet again!

Awesome wrapping paper from my sister, don't you love it?

Highlights:

1. My parents got Jo a Melissa and Doug kitchen and we got her some food for it. She loves it.
2. Hubby made my dad's present his year - 6 can holders for around the campfire at the lake. They stick in the ground and are very sturdy.
3. My parents got me a Silhouette Cameo! I cannot even wait to get started using that thing. It's a little overwhelming now, but I have some ideas of what I want to do first (and second and third).
4. My sister who works at Macy's got me a bunch of make-up (that is over my head). I typically don't use anything fancy so I feel pretty spoiled now.

Birthdays are the best.


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Christmas.

I've been less than motivated for this post. There are just SO MANY pictures and I haven't felt like a "review" post at all. So I"ll let the pictures do the talking and comment here and there. Feel free to skip this post as it is mostly just for my own memory.

We went to the farm (Mike's aunt's home) for Christmas leaving on Sunday after church. After a mad dash around the house to pack (is it ever not a mad dash with two kids and a dog?) we finally got on the road and the girls were perfect for the whole drive. My view of each of them with the mirrors showed two babes sleeping peacefully the whole 2.5 hour trip. 

Once we got there, we had enough time to just hang out and visit, and aunt Ardell got to meet Audrey.

The next day (Christmas Eve), I dressed the girls up in matching outfits but wasn't able to get a decent picture. I probably won't get a good one of these two together for a couple of years by the looks of it.

It was below 0 (or at least felt like it) for the whole trip so we spent almost all of our time inside. Our antsy 1.5 year old needed some fresh air so she got to go on a tractor ride with aunt Ardell. Lucky lady! She seemed to like it!

waiting for Ardell to come get her

Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Greg (hubby's sister and bro-in-law)

hubby, Grandma and Audrey, Grandpa

 I won't lie - you will notice that he's holding a Kindle... I also had a tablet and there was another Kindle floating around. Let's just say that a lot of Sudoku was played this weekend.

We tried to recreate a picture from a couple of years ago by putting on a scarf on good old Buckley (he is still around, I promise! Just not getting the photo attention he used to)

The kids got one present early from Grandma and Grandpa. First, Audrey was given her new stuffed toys. When Josie saw this, she immediately wanted the toys, so Grandma tried to distract her by giving her the new horse stuffed animal. Josie thought we were trying to trick her and therefore wanted nothing to do with this horse. It was so funny. Eventually we showed her Audrey's horse (same thing, different color), and Josie was fine with that one, so we ended up just switching the girls' horses and everyone was happy. Who would have guessed that a black horse could cause so much chaos?

Audrey with her horse once everything settled down

I wanted at least one picture of me with each of my girls 

It was so fun to dress the girls up for Christmas Eve church. I really think that kid's all dressed fancy is the cutest thing and take every opportunity to do it!

Audrey, 5 weeks old

Dean, (cousin) 6 months old

Josie, 18 months old

After church, we took some family photos.

Please look at baby Dean's face!

I did it!  A picture with each girl. :)

After church, we opened presents! It was so fun, of course, because Josie was so into it. I love looking at things through her eyes and it was so fun to see her excitement and wonder at what in the world we were doing. She ended up helping almost everyone unwrap presents and was generally just impressed with everything.

Watching Daddy open his gift from the girls - slippers

Can you stand how cute she looks? The tigger slippers absolutely made her day. She loved wearing them and has them on almost all of the time. We are a Pooh-loving family (extended family, even!)

Opening the gift we gave Dean - a mini toolset! If hubby can have his way, Dean will be a contractor just like his uncle ;)

Hubby's other gift, a waffle maker (he loves him some waffles). To be fair, he also got to go pick out a new pair of cowboy boots... so his gift wasn't that lame.

And what did I get? You won't believe it. Hubby got me autostart for our new vehicle!! The best part is that he had it installed weeks earlier and I almost figured it out. There was a blue light that blinked inside after it was installed, and I noticed and asked hubby about it. He made up some story and I didn't say much so he just assumed that I was onto him. He needn't have worried, though. I had NO clue.

His parents also got us a Roomba. This.thing.is.awesome. It's basically a robot vacuum that goes around the house randomly and vacuums whenever we program it to. No more lugging that old vacuum up and down the stairs for this girl! It fit well underneath beds and couches and has sensors so it won't damage anything or fall down the stairs. AWESOME. My mother-in-law and her sister each have one too so they knew exactly how much we'd love it.

The next morning (Christmas morning), we did the stockings thing. No fireplace or hooks meant we needed to be creative, so we used the back of the dining room chairs.

Josie was not interested in them at all, so we really had to entice her to check them out. I won't lie and say they were the most awesome stuffed stockings ever, but we have to start the tradition somehow, right? Each girl got a Disney movie and a few other little things to fill it up.

We spent most of Christmas day just enjoying our new gifts and each other's company. Eventually hubby's grandparents from his dad's side joined us (they only live a half hour away) and we had the big supper meal (Lamb this year). It wasn't too bad, either! I don't remember eating lamb before, so I was a little nervous about it.

Josie watching herself on tv (we hooked up the video camera and watched some pictures/videos from the year)

Pretty sure the boys had more fun playing with the kids' new toys than the kids did!

I think this was the best trip to the farm we've had yet. Josie was so fun, stayed out of trouble, and kept us busy, while Audrey was sweet and slept in someone's arms almost the entire time.


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