Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas Part 1

For your viewing pleasure, the unedited pictures. (better story to come later)


Here, the girls are seeing the tree decked out with gifts for the first time Christmas morning.

Inspecting the loot

Getting ready to open Santa's present


So excited she had to remove her socks
 
MayLee showing mommy her new puzzle


MayLee opening Santa's present




Santa even got the girls a floor puzzle to share - they got to open it together



Some of the felt food made by mommy

The smoker we got for Daddy that was supposed to be a surprise


Merry Christmas everyone!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Not again.

It's just not fair I tell you.

Last month, I had a canker sore the size of a dime on my right tonsil.  It stuck around for 14 days.  It hurt to even exist.

I can feel another one coming on - this time on my left tonsil.  Because, you know - that's just fair, right?  Might as well spread the love.

This time, I'm going to be ready.  I need to go to the store and get myself some alum powder, that should help it to resolve itself faster.  And if I don't feel better by next Monday, I'm taking the day off! ... oh wait, I already have the day off in observance of New Year's.  OK, then Tuesday!

You know the funny thing?  Last time, after about 10 days of misery, I finally took a sick day to rest and hopefully feel better.  And at the end of the day of studiously staying in bed and not playing with anything fun (like my sewing machine or computer), I felt worse.  Yes, I started developing a cold.  Because my body has a sense of humor that I don't always appreciate or understand.

Luckily, thanks to a friend, I never developed more than the very beginnings of that cold.  But that's a story for another day.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

At a loss for words

I have two things to admit.  They do not make me proud.

They even confuse me a bit, but here goes.  Healing comes with acceptance and sharing.

---

I went for years without eating a Snickers bar.

Because I didn't think I liked nuts in chocolate.

I went all through high school without eating one.  Until I was a senior.  And then I ate one and realized I'd been a fool.  A fool I tell you!

I've been making up for lost time.


-----

Next, and related to the above.

I went for years without eating my parents' glorious spaghetti sauce.  Oh, I can taste it now.  Savory and fresh, chunky and smooth - just a little bit of fire to keep you coming back for more.

And I rejected it for years in favor of cheese because I didn't think I liked onions.  Well, let's be clear - I didn't like onions, but one day, we were out of cheese.  I remember thinking to myself - come on Mom, how could you do this to me?  You know I don't eat that stuff.  But I grudgingly tried it.  And the same thing happened (although, I'm pretty sure this happened in early middle school).  I realized I'd been a fool.  A fool!


I can't get those years back because I can't find my copy of the recipe.

----


Mom?  Dad?  Please, look kindly and mercifully on this, your wayward daughter.  I'd like to come in from the cold and enjoy a feast of thanksgiving.  Give me the recipe again?

I may even share some with my family...  but only if we're out of cheese.





Changes - What you need to know

I will be changing the name of our blog. 

I will be updating it every day.

It won't always make sense - but you'll thank me anyway.

Merry Christmas part II

OK, so I know I'm doing this a bit out of order since I haven't even got the pictures from Christmas up yet, but here are the pictures of MayLee and Alyson in the jammies Gma & Gpa got for them. You'll see in their arms the little bears they also included who are wearing little aprons.  The girls have matching aprons to wear too.  :)





Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Changes Afoot

Oh, no what has she done now?

You'll find out on January 1.  That's when the boat's going to start rocking. 

More details then. 



But as a preview:

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Fluttering By

Last night, Alyson acquired two wipes that she promptly used as wings.  She happily ran around with them in her hands flapping merrily.

Alyson: "I'm a butterfly!"
Daddy: "Oh.  Well tell me when you turn back into a girl so I can have a kiss"
Alyson: "You can have a butterfly kiss."
Daddy: "Okay."
Alyson: "In just a minute."
Daddy: "I'll wait."
Alyson flap and dances and twirls: "Ow, I just flapped my wing in my eye!"

Vacation - Final Dose

It appears that I still owe you some resolution on the vacation adventure.  I'll keep it brief - I'm sure you've seen enough of our slide show to be looking elsewhere for a while.

These are the pictures on the way back to the Tri-Cities.  It's always hard to leave loved ones.  Making it bearable is the fact that we get to come back.





Lengthy absence

So, the internet has been a bit goofy at our house lately.  And I can't currently post on my lunchbreak anymore because my computer needs an update to Adobe Flash Player.  And well let's be honest here, I've had other things on my mind than posting.

But I have been thinking about you.  I actually have a bunch of things I want to post eventually.  Random stuff, pictures, rants, etc.

To make you feel a little less neglected, please consider the following.

I felt really off for a couple weeks due to hypochondria.

I had 3 halloween costumes to sew.

I had 2 beautiful girls to play with and be a mommy to.

I had a wonderful husband to spend time with.

And due to the above, we all had a crazy messy house to pay attention to.
I'm happy to say that after a very large effort on all of our parts, the house looks great right now.  But it's a culture shift for all of us.  It's amazing how little messes accumulate without any help and how little messes quickly turn into big messes with nothing more than a slight breeze and a sideways glance.

But we're working on it.  For our sakes and for the girls.  Because though I don't want to care more about a perfectly clean house than I do about playing with and teaching the girls, it's important for them to learn these good habits when they're young and they don't have to figure it out when they have adorable little cuties around to play with.  Can it be done?  You bet your life on it.  Will it be perfect?  I wouldn't even bet chewed gum on that. 




Thursday, September 29, 2011

Morning Musings

Yesterday, Alyson woke up after having slept with her mouth open. 

Aly: "Eww! Someone put slobber on me!... MayLee did... And I didn't like that!"
Mom: "Sorry to tell you this, honey, but that's your slobber."
Aly: (blank stare waiting for me to say "just kidding")

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Ice Cream

Once upon a time...

I was on vacation with my parents and my brother and sister.  We went for the day to Aspen to do the Alpine slide.  It was a lot of fun and as we were leaving, Mom and Dad said maybe we could get some ice cream. Really nice of them right?

Well, then Rachel and I had to ruin it.  I thought it was over by the "x" thing and Rachel was sure - absolutely positive that, no, it was definitely over by the "y" place.  We argued about it.  Until Mom said, "Fine, we just won't get any."

I can't be sure, but I think that was a pretty good learning experience.  When ice cream is on the line - play nice!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Confession

Dear Mom,

Do you remember that Sunday when we were trying to leave the house to go to church?  And I couldn't find my dress shoes?  And we were late because we were all looking for them?

I have a confession to make.

I hid them underneath the table.  Do you remember that fancy round table we were going to re-varnish?  It had a really long table cloth over it.  It was green with a lacy white over cloth.  It hung all the way to the floor.  It was the perfect place to conceal something.  I don't remember if I ever used it for anything else intentionally, except for that one day. 

So why did I hide my perfectly good (probably adorable) Sunday shoes underneath a dusty table?  I was hoping you'd notice the super adorable strappy heels you didn't really wear anymore.  I'd conveniently laid those out somewhere conspicuous after Rachel or I were done playing with them. I think I must have been a tween or early teens at that point.  And man, but did I want to be wearing some more grown up shoes. 

Incidentally, if you don't remember - you didn't take the bait.  I gave up and then "found" my shoes underneath the table. 

Though I didn't think it was awesome at the time, I appreciate it now.  Thank you for not letting me grow up too fast.  I'll have to put the brakes on for my own girls all too soon.

I love you,
Cakle-berry.


PS. Yes, I do know that "and" is not supposed to start a sentence.  I like it anyway.

Dose 5 - the Aftermath

When we were at the Cosmosphere, Erik picked up a fancy little contraption in the gift shop.  It's pretty much a wing on a stick.

 The next day, Erik and the girls tested it on the hill next to my parent's house. 
All you do is put the stick between your palms and drag your hands in opposite directions.

Think of how cool it was when we all used to "Give a five, and let it slide".  That's pretty much what you want to do with your hands - but vertically. 

After the wing is free of your fingers, it spins up and away from you.  And then you have your children bring it back to you.  Because it's hot and they feel more like running around than you do.



My little Pookle








 I'm not sure why, but I absolutely love these two blurry pictures.





We all had a blast.  And then the girls needed a bath.  Exhibit A:
MayLee's hobbit-ish feet

Monday, September 5, 2011

Dose 4 - The Roadtrip within a Roadtrip

In addition to hanging out in town, we decided to go on a mini roadtrip while we were in Topeka.   The girls have never been to the Cosmosphere space center and it's been years and years since we've been.

Before I give you the meat and potatoes though, here are some appetizers.

Grandpa C on a walk with the girls

MayLee playing at Aunt Amy's house

Alyson playing at Aunt Amy's house

MayLee with one of her cousins


Here we go now...


To be honest, we double dipped.  On the way to Hutchinson, we stopped in Abilene to see the Eisenhower Museum.
We waited for a while before our tour of his boyhood home.


At the Cosmosphere, they have an entire HUGE airplane in the lobby.  I can't believe I didn't get a good picture of the whole thing, but here we are at the tip of the airplane. 



It's cool - there are no ropes - you can touch it, take pictures with it...


...or even sit your kids on it.



MayLee is looking at what we soon found to a lunar module.  Pretty cool.

Alyson was kind enough to share her chapstick (tap-stitch) with Grandma C

The girls got to learn about Mars explorers

Aly got to sit in an ejection seat

Grammy, Grandpa C and MayLee next to the Apollo 13 space ship command center.  Uh yeah.  I said the Apollo 13 command center.  The one they made a movie about.

MayLee fell asleep in Grammy's arms


Grammy and MayLee (asleep) in front of a the Lunar Module
We had a blast - an awesome, exhausting and memorable day!  Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Grumpy and Aunt Rachel!