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January 8, 2010
You can dance! You can jive! Having the time of your life! OOOOOOOO.... see that girl, watch that scene, digging the dancing queen!
Pearl is in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE with Mama Mia! The New Year's Elf gave it to us and boy has Pearl enjoyed dancing, singing, and literally driving her Dad into hiding because she won't let us turn it off. I guess I can't blame him, the estrogen does get flowing pretty hot and heavy when Mama Mia is on - which is why we have been banned to watching this only on Fridays when Jeff is at work. The first time we, well I, watched it she kept saying to turn it off but once they started singing Dancing Queen she was hooked. She knows all the words. She knows all the moves. And she knows one must be in full dress up attire to fully become the dancing queen. It is so funny and every time I watch videos of her it makes me want to jump right up and dance too!!!
January 2, 2010
Pearl got Hungry, Hungry Hippos for Christmas - Santa figured Dad would enjoy the game as much if not more than she would and it would encourage some healthy, competitive family fun. Little did Santa know how good Dad really was at this childhood favorite. Nor did Santa anticipate the potential family battles that would ensue over trying to eat as many white marbles as one hippo can in 3.5 seconds.. seriously the time it takes Jeff to win. Maybe Santa should buy a more quiet, less competitive game next year.
January 1, 2010
After a visit from the New Year's Elf, Jeff cracked the whip and said it was time for Christmas to come down. Now I give him a hard time about being a scrooge when it comes to Christmas decor but with constant teasing that I bawl for a month after taking down the tree, it's only fair. I guess he does make a good point that having the day off to both work on taking down all the decorations is far more productive than scrambling to do it the week before Valentine's Day (which is probably when I'd decide I should take down Christmas). But it's just so sad. Our house looks so cute all decorated and then to have to take down all the lights and bells just makes me feel empty inside. I guess I get it from my mom... she really does cry some years taking down the tree. So this year, since I was a slacker on the picture taking the past three months, I decided to take a picture of our star. Jeff made this for our second Christmas when he was looking for a job and well, bored of doing housework and watching M*A*S*H all day. I came home from work and he proudly showed me his star he had made out of tin foil, a toilet paper roll, and some spare cardboard. I love it! It fits our tree perfectly and I'm never going to replace it, EVER!
December 31, 2009
After a lazy morning and a few piles of laundry, Pearl needed something fun to keep her entertained. She's getting to be quite independent... well at least she wants to be. Not only does she prefer to pick out her own clothes, put her coat on herself, and get her own plates and bowls but she also loves, loves, loves to paint her fingernails. Thanks to grandma and our neighbor Vickie we have quite the assortment of colors to choose from. Today's choices were hot pink and a sparkly, tamer pink for the toes. After proudly displaying her work (but not wanting me to take a picture of it), she decided it was mom's turn for a little makeover. Luckily I learned my lesson from the last time I let her paint my nails and had some fingernail polish remover handy to repair the damage after she went to bed.
December 27, 2009
I know, I'm out of order here with my days but I still wanted to post this picture. Pearl got panties for Christmas, a lot of panties! In fact I should post a video of her opening her very first present... panties! We didn't plan that it's just the one she happened to grab and boy was she excited! We hoped by having some Tinkerbell, Elmo, and Princess and the Frog panties around that Pearl would suddenly have the urge to get potty trained. Boy did she prove us wrong this morning! It's not that she isn't excited about the prospect of wearing panties, it's just she doesn't get that she needs to tell us BEFORE she pees that she has to pee. After two outfits, pee on the floor and carpet, and some tears we decided to try again another day. What I don't get though is that with a bit of peer pressure at daycare, she'll use the potty no problem. Must be her way of rebelling at home with us that she doesn't seem interested in potty training.
December 28, 2009
I saw this great deal at IKEA for an art easel, complete with white board, paper, and a chalkboard and knew we just had to have it for Christmas. I left work early one day and drove to IKEA and couldn't believe my luck when I snatched the last two art easels (one for Pearl and one for her cousin Ruby). Talk about some luck! If you've read any of my blog posts from the summer you'll know we are BIG fans of sidewalk chalk. Jeff is quite the sidewalk chalk artist and Pearl loves to help him. So tonight, after days of movie watching, we decided to break out Pearl's new toy from Santa. Now if we could only find a spot for it in the house!
December 26, 2009
After four days of sledding, playing at two sets of grandparents, movie watching, present opening (and some jealousy that your cousin got better toys than you did), eating popcorn and candy, and staying up WAY past bedtime, Pearl was worn out. She didn't even make it through her new movie Snow White - the only thing Santa could figure out she wanted - when we got home and set up Jeff's new present (surround sound and BluRay). But isn't this what Christmas is all about when you're a kid?
December 25, 2009
This little ornament could very well be the demise of my siblings. Actually there's a whole bunch of these little handmade treasures but every year we argue over who will finally get them from my mom. I of course, being the oldest and only one of two siblings to have actually been present when they were made, claim full rights to them. My mom says I have to share though.
When my brother and I were little my grandma had us help her made these. I think it was mostly to keep us busy one night but I'll never forget it. She had made this little round ornaments then got out a box of old Christmas cards she had saved and helped us cut out pictures to clue in the center of the ornaments. I remember going through all the cards searching for just the right scenes to cut out. And I remember each ornament, my favorite was this puppy in a Christmas stocking. We even have a blank one that didn't get a picture put in it... I'm positive this was the one, single ornament I gave to my brother Jesse to make. Once we were done my grandma decided they didn't match her tree and gave them all to us. We have loved and fought over them ever since.
Little do my siblings know that I've got a talented mother-in-law who not only found variegated yarn like this, but also knows how to make these little things. And I've got my own box of Christmas cards I've been saving so one day I can have my own special treasures.
December 20, 2009
I'm pretty sure our attempt to teach Pearl to count to 24 was only exciting because it involved chocolate. And not just any chocolate... the good kind. Dove, at Jeff's request. After finishing my advent calendar Pearl and Jeff would spend a few minutes each night counting to the next available square of candy. She LOVED this tradition and couldn't wait for Jeff to get home so she could "count." Thankfully all our practicing paid off and she counted to 12 all by herself. Who says bribery is a bad thing?
December 16, 2009
I thought this year would be different... Pearl might actually want to see Santa Claus. Hopefully next year we might be able to at least walk into the room with the Jolly Ole man seeing as how this year it took me 20 minutes of walking around my building before convincing Pearl to join her friends to see what Santa had brought. At least this year Pearl kept the screaming to a minimum and just clung to me instead. So this picture is as good as you'll get with a frightened two-year old and a prego mom who was just a bit freaked out herself by how much Santa wanted her to sit on his lap. Guess I can't blame Pearl after all, I was kind of weirded out myself afterwards.
November 21, 2009
I pretty much skipped October and November this year. Yes, we are all still alive but just barely at times. I swear kid #2 has just about killed us all! So now that I can get out and function for a few hours without crying or puking, we decided to keep with our family tradition of taking the train to the Gateway and watching the tree light up. Pearl loves riding the train (oh and the new hair cut she got today... super cute and way easier to do with less fighting and crying for all involved) and Jeff and I love avoiding the holiday traffic downtown. We listened to another great Jon Schmidt concert, ate dinner at the Sports Bar, shopped, watched a massive tree get lite up in about a million LED lights (still think we should donate our ugly pine tree for next year's celebration - after all with a thousand glowing lights on it who'd notice how ugly it really is?) and had a great time dancing to the music. Pearl had a blast until Santa arrived which instantly brought screams, tears, and clinging to our legs. Not even the temptation of a candy cane could convince her to finish out the evening's events so we hurried home, exhausted but grateful for a fun family night out.
October 4, 2009
Today was my family's annual Fish Fry at my Aunt Julie and Uncle Bob's house. Basically an excuse to get together, pig out on perch and salmon (or in some folk's cases, chicken), laugh, try to decide if you want to sit in the warm house or cool October temperatures on the patio, and did I mention pig out? This year I got lucky and had the attention of my Uncle Bob, a master photographer (check him out at Robert Dyer Photography on Facebook or his website), for a pert near hour. He explained my camera to me, helped me take a couple pictures, and then realized his "quick" photography lesson was going to be in vain considering there were rambunctious toddlers streaming in and out of the room, I was losing interest (not because I was bored, I was just trying to not throw up everywhere and then have to tell my family I was pregnant), and the fact that I have about as much knowledge when it comes to taking pictures and using my camera properly as a rock. Hopefully my photography growth won't plummet too much over the next few months of being sick and I can get back into the swing of things before kid #2 arrives.
BTW, this is the last, consistent 365 post. I'll do my best to take something at least weekly but as you'll see it's going to be pretty pathetic! Maybe next go around I'll actually accomplish a 365 project.
October 3, 2009
The day finally came... our 70+ year old cherry tree saw it's last day and Jeff got to buy a chain saw (I still think he could have hacked it down with his reciprocating saw and bare hands like he's done with at least 10 other trees in our yard). Personally I think the man just needed an excuse to buy a new toy, destroy something, and get out of an estrogen filled house. But the tree was half-dead, huge, and getting to be a bit of a worry that it was going to fall down and knowing our luck on our house or one of us! So down it came. I was sad to see it go - the first year we had our house it had the most fragrant and beautiful blossoms not to mention the most delicious cherries you've ever tasted - and it provided shade for us in our ginormous yard. Then my attention quickly changed to making sure my husband came of of this honey-do project with all limbs intact and eyeballs still in his sockets. To which I'm happy to report the only thing in pieces that day was the tree itself.
October 2, 2009
Pearl loves to have tea parties. The only problem with them is the preparation that must be taken beforehand to avoid massive flooding. We strip down to our diapers, ok so just Pearl does that, pull out at least two bath towels (regular old kitchen towels don't cut it with this kid), mover her table to a spot clear of any valuables, find every single tea cup and tea pot we can, and then refill them about 10-zillion times. She loves it and I figure what's a few sopping wet bath towels to dry when you can spend an hour pretending to drink the water (which inevitably has floaties in it from little fingers dipping into the cups) she pours you over and over again? Not to mention her cute faces as she explains the intricacies of drinking tea properly.
October 1, 2009
All I can say is what in the world was Pearl thinking when she picked out THIS outfit to wear today?
September 30, 2009
We copy-catted our neighbors' idea for Halloween decorations... putting those cheap, plastic trick or treat buckets on our outside lamps. They look great at night all lite up in orange and make our house look so festive. Which is hard to do considering our neighbors to the South decorate for every single holiday - lights, inflatable things, spooky music, you name it they've got it. And I must admit... while I admit to stealing the idea, I have to say our decorations look much cuter than theirs!
*Small disclaimer... this is the ONLY Halloween picture I took this year. I didn't even get up off the couch (or bathroom floor for that matter) to take one of Pearl dressed up in her Cinderella costume. I'll be paying for that one someday. Luckily for anyone who wants to see her, you can see a couple pics on my sister's blog.
September 29, 2009
Again, apologies for the crappy picture but when I spied a gaggle of women at the park shaking their groove things I couldn't help but laugh and try to get a picture of their booty-shaking. I couldn't figure out what was going on since I've never seen this happen at the park before. Was it an aerobics class gone wild from the Rec Center? A community dance group gone wild? Who knows! It was quite entertaining to watch them dancing away, despite the wind and imminent storm coming, without a care in the world as to who was watching. Which was also weird because not only did a swarm of dancing women suddenly show up at the park but they seemed to bring an entourage of fans with them. I was super curious about the whole event which lasted well over an hour. The instructors were hilarious to watch and were getting a little too into some of the moves if you ask me. Then I realized they were burning WAY more calories than I was sitting on the porch, which is when I promptly went back inside.
September 28, 2009
Apparently sleeping with your scriptures is the way to gain spiritual knowledge... 'cause heaven forbid you cooperate with your parents and actually listen to scripture reading! Maybe I'll give it a try, after all her Book of Mormon is Pearl's favorite story book, even if she won't let us read it to her.
September 27, 2009
Today was the big day... Pearl's first Primary Program. I didn't have high expectations, after all I've taught nursery before and honestly, you're lucky if you can just herd all the kids to the stand and keep them from screaming, picking their noses, or jumping off the stand in a superhero type move let alone actually sing "I am a Child of God" loud enough for anyone to hear. I did think Pearl would find the change of pace in a boring Sacrament meeting a bit more exciting though but alas, the only thing she wanted to do is hide on my lap. Then when it was time to go sit with her dad again while I stayed with my own class, she screamed "MOM!" and proceeded to squirm out of Jeff's arms and run back to the stand. Oh well, it got a chuckle from everyone in the audience.
September 26, 2009
You may have remembered our first try at family pictures was rained out. Today was our second try and succeed we did! No rain, limited morning sickness (thank heavens I didn't puke in the pictures), one good looking family, and a relatively happy little girl. You can see them all here at Brooke Snow Photography's blog.
So I'm embarrassed that I chose to post this picture of all things today. After all I went to a class taught by Brooke meant to teach me how to actually take pictures. And I know this is a really bad one... bad lighting, bad angle, bad background noise, and on and on. But... I love this picture. Not only does it show our Aggie spirit by attending the Homecoming parade (OK no Aggie gear but we had just finished family pictures), but Jeff and Pearl were so dang cute at the parade. Jeff was so excited to take her. Pearl was so excited to get candy. I was so excited to not be throwing up, and if I do say so myself, I think Jeff's butt is pretty dang cute in this shot too!
January 8, 2010
