The Swenson Chronicles

Little Walking Girl

2012-02-07T09:20:00.000-06:00

Alice's Evil Genius Laugh

2012-02-02T09:39:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Alice!

2012-01-30T11:19:00.001-06:00

Alice had a fun birthday. We opened presents after her nap when she was in a really good mood. Here she is opening up a book from Aunt Becky.

Look! I'm actually in some of the pictures!

Stacking boxes from Grandma DeeDee and Grandpa Ken.

I love her face in these next few pictures.

Stacking bowls with a little ball on top from Grandma Nean and Grandpa Boyd. Alice loves the little smiley face ball that came with this toy. As a matter of fact, she is playing with it as I write this post. She thinks it's pretty silly.

Dinosaur Train books from Grandma Nean and Grandpa Boyd. I have to say these were a big hit, especially with Elsie.

Even Elsie got a present! She was a little sad that everything was all for Alice and was so excited when we pulled out a present just for her. (Thanks Mom)

Lace up patterns! Elsie works on them and tells me all about how she is sewing like Mommy.

Finally Alice gets to open her present from Mom and Dad.

A new carseat! It might look like a boring present, but Alice loves sitting in it. She climbs in it and demands toys like a little princess on a throne. She still fits just fine in her old carseat, so it will still be a little while before we put this one in the car. That just means she has a longer time to play with it in the living room. :)

Alice with all her presents (minus the book from Becky which somehow missed this picture... I think Elsie had stolen it and was looking at it.)

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..."

After a dinner of Alice's favorite food (meat and more meat), we brought out the birthday cake.

Lots of messy cake pictures. Alice tried to shove as much of it in her mouth as she could as fast as she could. I think the cake was a big hit.

Mmmm, tasty birthday cake thumb...

Happy Birthday Alice!

Twelve Months

2012-01-28T16:55:00.000-06:00

One year old today! How did that happen? Alice's walking has taken off today. I guess she decided that she's one year old now, and one year olds need to walk everywhere. She is crossing the entire room to get to where she wants to go before falling down and crawling. She has a total of nine teeth with a tenth about to pop through any day. Four on bottom, three on top (with one on the way), and two back molars on the top. She is in a hurry to get teeth so she can eat all the yummy food we have. She still loves to eat and out eats her sister at every meal. She has developed a very diabolical laugh and will throw her head back and cackle like an evil genius when she thinks something is silly. She is still very loud and likes to speak her mind. She can say Mama, Elsie, hi, uh-oh, and a mimics a lot of our words.

We love you Alice! We're so glad you came into our lives one year ago!

Snow day

2012-01-22T16:52:00.000-06:00

For Katie

2012-01-19T08:12:00.000-06:00

I wish we could go out for our walks again.

I wish I could take Olivia for a few hours and give you a break.

I wish we didn't live states apart.

All I can give you right now are these funny videos and hope that you can watch them and laugh for the 8 minutes or so you spend with them.

Don't Carpe Deim

2012-01-17T12:08:00.000-06:00

Do you remember a while back ago when I wrote this post about not loving every minute of being a mom?

I opened my email this morning and had a message from my sister with a link to this article about how we as mothers should not Carpe Deim, but rather Carpe a couple of Karioses a day. It's like she read my thoughts and wrote them out in a more eloquent form.

And here's a picture of Alice with cute hair.

Shirt number two

2012-01-14T09:57:00.000-06:00

This one came together a lot faster. Already having a pattern measured and cut out and knowing how to work my sewing machine saved a lot of time. I was super proud of the fact that I saved the big logo on front and the little one on the sleeve.

Can you tell which shirts Alan loves and wears to death? Elsie was equally as excited to have new "Go Cougars" shirts. We are a true blue through and through family.

My New Toy

2012-01-13T12:40:00.000-06:00

For years my mom tried to teach me to sew. She picked out simple projects, tried to get my friends to do it with me, made them Personal Progress goals... I went along with her for a little bit, but never had much enthusiasm for it.

Plus, I hated her scary machine. The foot pedal squeaked as I pushed it down and I never knew exactly where it kicked in. The slightest push sent it flying into super fast mode. It resulted in me pushing down as slowly as I could... SQUEEEEEEEEEEEAK-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD as the needle started flying and I screamed and closed my eyes. Yeah.... her machine really freaked me out.

Fast forward a good 10+ years and I've purchased a machine of my own. It's new, quiet, and the foot pedal doesn't make a sound. It has an adjustable speed lever so it won't take off on it's own. And I've had driving lessons, which I think is a good precursor to learning how to operate the foot pedal.

It has been up and running for a full 2 days now, and I'm happy to say that I have completed my first project. I followed the 90 Minute Shirt tutorial and it only took me a day and a half to finish it. Alan gave up one of his old ratty shirts to be my test dummy.

The seams aren't straight; I don't think it was even cut straight to begin with. The two sleeves are hemmed with different stitches. The BYU is off center because of how the pattern fit onto the shirt. And I couldn't be prouder of it.

They crack me up

2012-01-07T08:41:00.000-06:00

Me (to Alan): "I'm going to go take a shower, and then we're going to get workin'!"
Elsie (from the couch): "What? We're going to eat a pumpkin?"

Go Alice Go

2012-01-03T09:34:00.000-06:00

Not really getting it, but have a great time...

Tired and grumpy, but making progress...

First steps!

2011 in review

2012-01-02T11:44:00.002-06:00

Here are some of the highlights from 2011
-Alice was born!
-Gallbladder surgery (and lots of whiny posts)
-Elsie turns 2
-Creativity project part 2
-Alan graduates from BYU
-Alice was blessed
-Saying goodbye to Provo
-The big move to Wisconsin
-She said He said
-Alan's Epic work
-Potty training Elsie (twice)
-Family visits (a lot)
-Alan's business trip
-My second 5K
-Hair cuts
-Halloween
-Thanksgiving
-Christmas Christmas Christmas
-Anniversary #4

Happy four years to us

2011-12-30T09:19:00.000-06:00

A little blurry due to the fact that it was taken in a darkened booth with my cell phone

We had our four year wedding anniversary yesterday. We celebrated Wednesday night by dressing up and going out to a fancy fondue restaurant. Yesterday was pretty low key, but Alan did surprise me with a canvas wrap of one of our favorite beach wedding pictures taken by Becky. We ate chocolate molten lava cakes and drank a little sparkling cider and put the kids back to bed for the 5th time. Happy anniversary to us.

Eleven Months

2011-12-29T09:52:00.001-06:00

Is my little stinker really eleven months old? Alice popped out another tooth on Christmas bringing her total number of teeth up to ~~six~~ seven (I just felt and she has another one that pushed through today). She has three on top and ~~three~~ four on bottom and she loves to use them. She loves to eat and easily out eats her older sister. Whenever she smells food cooking, especially meat, she crawls as fast as she can to the kitchen to get underfoot and whine until someone picks her up and gives her something. She seems to have gotten over her separation anxiety and is back to her adventurous self. She is still shy around strangers, but she is back to crawling around/over/under everything by herself. She is starting to be a real distructo kid and she is fast at it. If I blink she is at the DVDs and half of them are on the floor. Elsie has taken to climbing way back on the couch with her toys so that Alice can't reach her and mess up what she's doing. She loves to talk nonstop and very loudly. She has a lot of sounds and syllables, but only two discernible words: Mama and A-be (Elsie). Still working on Dada much to Alan's dismay.

Christmas morning

2011-12-28T09:05:00.000-06:00

Lot of pictures in this post. Must satisfy the demands of the Grandparents... :-)

Elsie left out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. She was so amazed when she woke up and they were all gone! Santa even left her a note.

Punch balloons! Growing up I always had a punch balloon in my stocking. The girls had a lot of fun with them.

Alice got a little blue hippo from Great Grandma D. Aside from her taggie, it is her new go-to snuggle toy and goes with her everywhere.

Elsie got a Mickey Mouse from Alan's parents. She was very happy when she opened it, and so was Alice. Whenever Elsie turned her back on it to open another present, Alice snuck in to give Mickey a squeeze.

The ball popper has been a big hit. We have to keep reminding Elsie that it is Alice's toy, and Alice is being nice and sharing, so stop pushing Alice out of the way whenever she tries to play with it.

The girls with their loot piles after church. I forgot to get a picture of us all in our church clothes and the girls in their Christmas dresses...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:27:00.001-06:00

Happy Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T14:59:00.001-06:00

We're spending the day cleaning the apartment, picking up last minute food items from the store, preparing food for tomorrow's dinner, and making cookies to leave out for ~~Alan~~ Santa. Happy Christmas Eve!

We watched White Christmas last night. This is how Elsie watched most of the movie.

2011 Christmas letter

2011-12-23T09:11:00.000-06:00

Dear Family and Friends,

2011 has been a big year for our little Swenson Family. Our family got a little bigger at the end of January. Alice was born on January 28th. She is ten months old now and just starting to learn how to get into trouble. She has an adventurous soul, and anything and everything is seen as a challenge that must be conquered. If it can be climbed, pushed, crawled over or under, Alice has tried it.

Elsie turned two years old in April. She talks a lot and loves to be the center of attention. She loves to sing and play with all of her friends. She knows all of her letters and can recognize most of the sounds they make. She is a smart kid with a very good memory, and she doesn’t forget things easily. She has recently been potty trained, which makes life easier and harder at the same time.

Alan graduated from Brigham Young University in April with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. While he was still in school he was offered a job for a medical software company called Epic. A week after graduation we packed up and moved to Wisconsin where he started work in Epic’s Technical Services department. Epic is an amazing place to work and they have been very good to our family.

Sarah is mainly in charge of making sure everyone is fed, clothed, and entertained. She ran her second 5K race in August and improved her time from her first race. She keeps a regular blog with all of our comings and goings. Her days are filled with reading, trying new recipes, making memories, and trying to keep the kids from destroying the house and killing each other.

Alan is in the Young Men’s program in our local ward where he works with the twelve and thirteen year old Deacons. Sarah teaches the twelve and thirteen year old Sunday School class on Sunday, so they get a double dose of Swenson every week. The youth are great and we love working with them, even if they can get pretty crazy sometimes.

We are enjoying small town life. Our town has a great library that we go to at least once a week for story time and play time. Alan’s work is very family friendly and we meet him for lunch and to play in our favorite spots frequently. We have a great church family out here and have made many friends. Life is good for the Swenson Family.

With Love,

Sarah, Alan, Elsie, and Alice

Trying so hard

2011-12-18T15:19:00.000-06:00

I think we made it snow...

2011-12-17T13:47:00.000-06:00

Elsie and I cut out snowflakes yesterday to put up on the screen door. We had clear blue skies and no clouds in sight. This morning we woke up to everything covered in white fluffy snow...

Christmas tree

2011-12-16T09:57:00.000-06:00

We have had a Christmas tree up for just about a month and a half now. As soon as Halloween is over, Alan starts pulling out the Christmas boxes and decorations. We started out with just our little tree, but we took advantage of a little Black Friday sale and bought a bigger tree this year.

We have started a new tradition of letting the girls pick out an ornament each year, and these are the ones they picked. Elsie was almost settled on getting a Darth Vader ornament before she saw the Mickey Mouse. For Alice, we found all of the soft cuddle ornaments in the store and held them up to her. She giggled and clapped and lunged for the monkey, so monkey it is.

Wonder where Alice is?

2011-12-14T12:12:00.001-06:00

Chances are she is right here...

We have been going through a lovely separation anxiety phase with Alice. If we set her down on the floor or get more than an arm's distance away from her, she screams bloody murder. The best part of this is not only does it happen all day, but all night as well. We have had quite a few sleepless nights around here trying to get her to go back to sleep. Most of the time she finally collapses out of exhaustion just to start it all back up again in another hour or two. To get anything done around the home I have to strap her in the backpack and wear her around while I use two hands to do everything. My arms are killing me, my back is killing me, I'm tired...

Trying to count my blessings... At least she will still go to Alan and is not fully Mommy dependent. Alan takes over with her as soon as he gets home so I can get a little space to myself.

Don't feed my baby beans

2011-12-09T11:19:00.001-06:00

...Or else she will be up all night crying and farting.

Excuse me while I put on an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and hide behind the couch with a pillow...

So close

2011-12-08T09:00:00.003-06:00

Alice wants to be walking so bad. She can pull herself up onto things and walk along the edge of them. She will get to the end of the couch or chair, stand and lean out - then pull back. Lean out, then pull back. Then stand and complain until some one helps her get to where she wants to go or until she sits down and starts crawling.

Happy Birthday Alan!

2011-12-07T09:00:00.003-06:00

It was Alan's birthday on Saturday. We hired a babysitter and went out Friday night to celebrate just the two of us. We tried a little hole-in-the-wall mexican place that we have heard about. For a tiny little place, it was really good food. We stopped for some frozen custard before heading home to relieve the babysitter. On Saturday Elsie woke Alan up and brought him his birthday present. We got him Skyrim for the computer, and he was very excited. For his birthday I let him play all day with minimal interruptions from the kids.

The rest of the visit

2011-12-06T10:00:00.004-06:00

December is just too busy! I feel like I need to rush around and get everything done right after Thanksgiving, and that's what I've been doing. All our Christmas cards are out, the kids presents are gathered, the house is decorated, and we are on our way through our 25 day advent calender. It's time to take a breather and get a few blogs scheduled to post before I get too much further behind.

Katie and I braved the crowds Thanksgiving night and went to a few Black Friday sales (since when does Black Friday start at 10pm Thursday night??). There were some crazy people out and about, but we came out on top. I came away with a new comforter set for our bed, big mixing bowls, cookie sheets, some presents for the kids, and a nice winter coat.

We took them though a tour of Epic. No visit to Wisconsin would be complete without a trip to Epic. The kids had fun running around and playing with everything.

This was on one of the bulletin boards...

On Saturday a lot of the shops around the city were having an "open house" where they offered free samples. Craig and Katie wanted to check out the city, and despite the constant rainy drizzle, we had a good time. We stopped for some free gelato in a fancy resturant, rode around on the trolly with the crazy driver, met Santa, and got pretty wet.

Santa was very baby faced...

Before they left, we looked up a local pub that specialized in house made soda pops. We tried a few different flavors while we ate our dinner. I didn't like the orange cream very much (too sweet), but the root beer and cream soda were delicious.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-01T11:45:00.001-06:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Alan's older brother and family drove in for the holiday. Elsie loved having her cousin Lucas to run around and play with. They got along very well for being two and a half. There were only a few shoving matches, but otherwise they played (and ran and laughed and jumped) together pretty well.

We did a lot of food preparation in the kitchen...

Preparing my first turkey ever. What you don't see in this picture is me freaking out because I have to touch a dead bird. I really hate touching poultry...

Let's cook this sucker up so we can eat it.

The finished bird. I have to say, my turkey turned out fantastic. I followed this recipe, and even though it had a lot of prep that went into it, it was all worth it. It was so moist you could eat it without gravy, even the light meat was succulent. Plus, the gravy made from the drippings was divine. I don't think I will ever cook a turkey any other way.

Alice just waiting for the food. She ate so much... she slept really well that night.

Our full menu included: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, gravy, and rolls. It was all so yummy that we didn't mind eating the leftovers everyday for the next week.

Wishing everyone else a happy Thanksgiving.

And then there was pie. Somehow, we only ended up pulling the pie out after all the kids went to bed. And then it happened again the next night and the next night... We had a chocolate pie, lemon meringue, pumpkin, and razzleberry pie. Yes, we did have a pie per person. And it was awesome.

Ten Months

2011-11-29T10:19:00.000-06:00

My little stinker is getting way to big. Alice can pull herself up on just about anything and is now walking along the couch, chairs, her toys, and anything else she can. I am fairly certain she has started calling me Mama, but Alan is still skeptical. She might have a word for Elsie as well. Every once in a while she will reach her arms out or crawl towards Elsie saying "A-be! A-be!" Alice loves to eat and would eat half of my dinner if I let her. She loved Thanksgiving and probably ate a full adult serving of turkey all by herself. She has the most pitiful cry and will crawl over and collapse at my feet and wail whenever she doesn't get her way. Alice still loves her taggie and sucks her thumb when she is tired or upset. She has the cutest giggle and she thinks the world is hilarious. She has started giving big hugs where she grabs your face and smashes her face on yours.

Thanksgiving Preview

2011-11-26T13:49:00.000-06:00

Alan's brother and his little family are in town and we are enjoying lots of playtime, good food, and fun times. We are too busy having fun to make a full post about everything we have been up to, so I'll leave you with a cute pictures of the little ones for now.

No, she is not pretending to be a Nephite...

2011-11-22T09:44:00.000-06:00

Elsie had a little tumble today. We have told her over and over again not to push against the table and lean her chair back... Today she pushed too hard and fell all the way back onto the floor and landed right on the edge of a frisbee. I ran to her and held her head, and when I pulled my hand away, it was covered in blood. I ran her into the bathroom, and after further inspection, she had a long, thin, cut in the shape of a smiley face on the back of her head. It was very shallow, but man, head wounds bleed a lot! She felt better after lots of hugs from Mom and Dad and a nice warm shower to wash the blood away. Now she is sitting on the couch with a scarf tied to her head to hold an ice pack to the nice sized welt that is growing on the back of her head.

Alice is very sympathetic, as always. She crawls around playing, and every few minutes climbs back up the couch to check on Elsie and bring her something.

I should blog, but I can't think of anything to write about

2011-11-17T13:28:00.000-06:00

Do you ever get that feeling? Whenever I let too much time pass in between posts I get this nagging feeling that I need to get on and say something.

Alan and I purchased an early Christmas present for ourselves this past week. Brian Regan is coming in March of next year, and we snagged two tickets in the second row. I saw him live at the University of Utah my sophomore year at BYU, and he is even better live than in his recorded shows. We are pretty stoked about it.

We finally started going out and buying winter clothes. Alan picked out a really nice new jacket. It's one of those with the removable lining so it can either be a heavy coat or a lighter jacket. Plus, he looks really hot in it, so that's an added bonus. Elsie picked out her new long johns, and she chose a pair of plain white ones and a pair with leopard print. Of course, she calls the leopard spots "hearts"... Either way, she's pretty rockin. Other than getting a nice new pair of gloves, I'm very much lacking in the cold weather clothes department. It is so hard to find a coat/boots/hat that looks nice, is warm enough, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Maybe my expectations are too high.

I bought my first turkey yesterday. This is my first Thanksgiving where I am mostly in charge of making the big meal, and I'm actually kind of excited. Alan's older brother and family are driving in to spend the holiday with us. Yay for Craig and Katie! I'm so excited for them to come over and spend time with us and show them all Wisconsin has to offer (mainly Alan's awesome work place). Elsie is so ready for Lucas to come over and play and keeps asking everyday if Lucas is coming yet. We should have a good time and have enough food to feed a small army. It's going to be awesome.

I should just accept the fact that we live in Wisconsin...

2011-11-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

...and living in Wisconsin means there will be snow. My heart sank as the flurries started flying yesterday morning. Elsie was so excited for it. She danced around singing "Snow! Snow! Snowsnowsnowsnow!" and begging me to let her go outside. I remember being a little kid and being so happy when it snowed. Growing up in Oregon meant that it would maybe snow once a year, and then we were lucky if it was deep enough to play in.

I've really come to hate snow as I've grown up. Actually, I don't think it is the snow's fault. I really just hate being cold. And if there is snow it means it is way too cold outside. *Sigh* I guess I just need to buy some good winter clothes and get over it.

Anyway, Elsie really wanted to play outside, and I really didn't want to. My compromise was to bundle her up and let her play with the snow that had fallen on our balcony. She thought it was fantastic, so I got to be the Cool Mom and the Lazy Mom at the same time. Sweet deal.

Elsie thought it was so funny to throw the snow at the window. Alice thought it was so funny to watch her.

Look how dark it is outside! It was barely five o'clock! I watched, and the street lights came on the other night at 3:40pm. It was a dark and stormy day, but still, 3:40 is way to early for it to be getting dark. When is Winter Solstice again? Can't it come sooner and we can get it over with?

I guess I'll end this whiny post. Most of the snow has melted away, and it doesn't look like it is going to snow again anytime soon. The forecast calls for upper 40's to low 50's the rest of this week. I just need to wrap my head around living with snow...

This photo has not been altered

2011-11-07T07:48:00.000-06:00

Yep, Alice is standing. She has pulled herself up on things a few times, and yesterday Alan tried standing her up. She can balance as long as she is not distracted by anything. Alan has already starting trying to bribe her with smarties to get her to walk. The other day he was holding her and he told her he would give her a whole package of smarties if she stood up. He kissed her, set her down, and she promptly pulled herself up on the coffee table for the first time.

"Help! I'm stuck and I can't get out!"

2011-11-04T18:23:00.000-05:00

Here is the latest of my little rugrat. Doesn't matter what the obstacle is, she will try and go over it. A lot of times it just leads to situations like this where she will sit and whine until I rescue her.

Maybe it's genetic...

2011-11-03T18:26:00.000-05:00

Alice isn't feeling so well. She has had croup for the last week, which means she has been sounding like a combination of an old smoker women and a seal. We went to the doctor today and she seems to be on the downhill slope and feeling better.

Alice, taken a few days ago.

I only mention it because when Elsie was nine months old, I took her to the doctor for what turned out to be croup. How is it that both sisters contracted croup when they were nine months old?

Elsie, nine months old with croup.

On the upside, Alice's second top tooth finally broke through today (the first one popped out on Halloween). She is a MUCH happier girl now that they are finally out.

One more pumpkin...

2011-11-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

I carved this one way too early, and sadly it molded long before the big night. Still, it looked pretty sweet...

Our Halloween Weekend

2011-11-01T14:42:00.000-05:00

Our Halloween started on Friday night with our ward party. The Young Women set up this backdrop for family pictures. There was food, costumes, pies, parades, and a trunk or treat to finish off the evening.

I spent most of Friday afternoon furiously gutting and carving three pumpkins to put outside our trunk. It took some quick carving skills, but I was very happy with the end result.

Everyone seemed to love my Angry Birds pumpkins.

Back at home ready to get in jammies and go to bed.

But they aren't too tired to sift through their loot first...

Halloween day. Two little dinosaurs went out to lunch at Daddy's work so he could show them off.

This next picture is hilarious. Little did we know just how fast Elsie would slide in her pteranadon costume...

Two little dinosaurs and one big dinosaur. Our local library has a real dinosaur skeleton on display for the next month sponsored by Epic. I thought before we went trick or treating would be the perfect time to check it out. Don't be fooled by the picture, they thought it was pretty cool.

Finally, we ended the evening with a little trick or treating. It was a little cool, but not bad by Wisconsin standards. Elsie had no fear and ran from house to house. She always took one piece of candy for her bucket and then picked one out for Alice.

My little girl is growing up...

2011-10-31T10:01:00.000-05:00

Elsie had her first haircut on Saturday. I have been putting it off for months, but it just needed to be done. It was so long and getting to be a big hassle to style and take care of.

I may have cried a little bit as I took the first couple of snips...

Elsie was very good about sitting still and letting me work. She is used to holding still while I do her hair, and this wasn't any different.

Elsie was excited to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse during the whole thing. I just had to watch out for the Hot Dog Dance; Elsie always likes to dance along.

"What's this, Mom?"

The finished product. Her hair is a lot shorter, but it looks healthy and light.

My little girl suddenly looks so much older. I still get a shock every time I look at her and realize half her hair is gone. I'm happy with how it turned out. It looks very cute, I just have to get used to it.

Nine Months

2011-10-29T13:40:00.000-05:00

Little Alice is nine months old. Actually, she was nine months old yesterday, but we had a big day full of Halloween parties and we never took pictures. Her front teeth still haven't broken through, but they have been on the edge for weeks and they should be here any day now. She has fully mastered crawling and can get just about anywhere. If I happen to walk away it's not long before I see a little face crawling to find me. She still prefers to army crawl, but she will get up on her hands and knees just to try it out every once in a while. Alice will follow Elsie everywhere, and Elsie uses this knowledge to get them both in trouble. Alice is still very snuggly and attached to me; she is very much a Mama's girl. Dad is fine when she wants to play, but other than that it has to be Mommy.

Hand print ghosts

2011-10-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

Elsie has wanted to make these ghosts ever since she saw her cousins make them.

Don't mind her messy hair or the fact that she is still in her jammies. Some things are more important than getting ready for the day.

I haven't left the house in 5 days...

2011-10-21T12:57:00.000-05:00

...but I guess it is for a good cause. Potty Training Take 2 is happening at our house right now, and I have to say it is being pulled off with flying colors.

We started a month or two ago by telling Elsie that once she used up all of the diapers we were not getting any more. We talked a lot about how when the diapers were all gone that meant it was time to wear panties and use the potty. Whenever she would get a new diaper we would talk about what would happen when they were all gone.

They ran out on Sunday and we really started buckling down on Monday. She has been wearing panties all week. She has had a handful of accidents... We started setting the timer for 20-30 minutes and when it beeped it was time to sit on the potty. We read books and sing songs to help her sit longer and "try". Yesterday and today she started jumping up and saying "oh, I have to use the potty" when she needed to go without and prompting from us.

With how much of a fiasco it was the first time we tried, I was really nervous to give it another go. But Elsie is older and wiser now, and was ready to get out of diapers. She was telling us whenever she peed and that she needed a new diaper. If we couldn't change it right then she would get upset and yell that she needed a new diaper. Even though she asked for them, she hated getting her diaper changed. It was time and she knew it, and it made all the difference.

Here's hoping this time sticks!

Pumpkin Patch Fail

2011-10-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be a fun family activity for us to all go to a pumpkin patch last weekend. When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a couple trying to get into their car. Apparently they had lost their keys in the corn maze the night before and were back with their dad to try and break into the car. Alan walked over to see if he could help, and 45 minutes later Alan succeed in getting the trunk open. Then it was just a simple matter of pushing down the back seat enough for Elsie to crawl through and climb to the front seat to open the door.

After standing outside in the wind for that long, the girls were FREEZING. I didn't expect it to be that cold so we didn't bundle them up as much as we could have. It wasn't all that cold outside, but the wind made everything at least 15 degrees colder. (Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was COLD.) We went inside the little barn and got a cookie warm from the oven to try and warm the girls up.

By the time they had thawed out, it was getting close to nap time. Add that to the fact that it was still super windy and cold, we decided not to go all the way out into the pumpkin patch. We chose a few of the already picked pumpkins and called it a day.

So that's the story of how we went to the pumpkin patch but didn't actually go to the pumpkin patch. I guess there is always next year...

Fall leaves

2011-10-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of two girls in the leaves all by myself? It's not easy. I snapped a few shots of them, but Alice didn't know what to think about the whole experience and I never got a smile out of her. I played around with the pictures and tweaked the colors a little bit. Is it too much? Do they look too "fake"?

Quick note

2011-10-18T09:22:00.000-05:00

I have a few posts coming up about what we've been up to the last couple of days, but I just wanted to jump on really quick and say that Alan has finished up all of his training at work! Hooray for Alan! Hooray for finishing within the six month timeline! Hooray for a pay raise! We are all very proud of Alan and his hard work.

Sold

2011-10-12T09:38:00.002-05:00

On a whim, I attended a class about coupons at my local library. All of a sudden it seemed like this whole new world has opened up to me. I started collecting them and sorting them and planning out shopping trips... I have to admit it is a little addicting. I am still very much a novice at the whole game, but I'm getting better. This is my biggest haul to date...

One Dr. Pepper Ten

Three Suave Professionals Shampoo

Three Suave Professionals Conditioner

Three Always 16c packs

One Lysol Dual Action wipes

One gallon whole milk

Three Grands Biscuit sandwiches

Total price: $32.05

I paid: $7.20 for a savings of 77.5%

It's pretty awesome. I actually only paid for the shampoo, conditioner, and pads. The rest was all free. Not bad for a rookie.

Who says...

2011-10-06T10:18:00.002-05:00

...you can't have an Easter egg hunt in October?

October is here

2011-10-03T16:06:00.000-05:00

Eight Months

2011-09-30T10:21:00.000-05:00

Alice actually turned eight months two days ago, but our internet has been slow and it took a while for everything to reset and upload. We did take these pictures on her eight month day, though. Alice had her first ear infection this month, and she was lucky enough to get one in both ears. She took it like a champ and seems to be feeling better after a round of antibiotics. She has barely starting inching forward and is starting to get into trouble. Alice loves to talk and is getting to be rather loud. I swear she has called me Mama several times, but Alan isn't so convinced. He's just jealous that she said Mama first. Alice still loves to eat everything. The first bite of something new always brings the "What is that?! Why are you trying to kill me with whatever you just stuck in my mouth?!" face, but by the second bite she likes just about everything.

Best. Muffins. Ever.

2011-09-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

Stumbled upon this recipe about a week ago. If you can even call it a recipe; it only has three ingredients.

One box of cake mix (yellow, spice, I've even seen it with chocolate. I used yellow for the one pictured), one 15oz can of pumpkin, and half a bag of chocolate chips. I used mini chocolate chips so they would distribute more evenly. Mix up and spoon into a muffin tin. 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Delicious. They stay moist and soft for days if covered. That is, if you can make them last that long...

Night time wanderings

2011-09-24T13:15:00.001-05:00

The past few nights I have been woken up at around 2:30 in the morning to the sound of the TV. Elsie has been getting up, getting her milk from the fridge, then sitting on the couch watching whatever is on PBS in the middle of the night. I'm not even sure if she is fully awake when she does it. We tell her it is still bedtime and lead her back to her bed, and all she says is "ok" and climbs back in bed. One time she came in to my room half dazed and handed me a bag of Alice's yogurt bites at 3am. I guess she thought Alice was hungry...? Not really sure what is going on with her nocturnal activities...

Kid History

2011-09-23T10:38:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of these videos? They are probably some of the funniest little movies I've seen. Here is Episode 4, it is one of my favorites.

Genius. If you have the time, watch all six episodes. I laughed so hard I started crying.

Just for good measure, here is Episode 6. It is my other favorite.

Love them so much.

Not really sure where I am going with this post...

2011-09-19T15:19:00.002-05:00

Football season is here. Every Saturday we will be decked out in our new Cougar Blue shirts (and white and pink for the girls (thanks again Jeanine!)). We walked around the zoo this last weekend and we certainly stood out from the sea of red Wisconsin shirts milling around. Every time Elsie sees a football game (or picture or commercial) she says "Hey! It's Go Cougars again!".

By the way, those sugar cookies I made in the picture are the first batch of sugar cookies that I have ever made from scratch. I used this recipe, and they came out pretty amazing. Be impressed.

The weather is cooling down. It was in the mid 50's all last week. We took several walks around the neighborhood and enjoyed the cool weather.

Elsie has decided that she wants to be a dinosaur for Halloween. Not just any dinosaur, but a Pteranodon. She walks around saying "Braaack! The Pteranodon says Braaaack!" My kid is pretty cool. She will probably end up looking like this dinosaur. That is Tiny Pteranodon, one of her favorite characters on the PBS show "Dinosaur Train".

There is nothing quite like...

2011-09-13T09:50:00.000-05:00

...pouring a bowl of frosted mini wheats only to discover that someone has been biting off the frosting and then putting them back in the bag.

Humility

2011-09-06T08:49:00.000-05:00

Elsie: (Running her hand along my hip after I stepped out of the shower) "Look Mommy, you have fire on you."

Me: "That's not fire, sweetie. Those are called stretch marks."

Temple Day

2011-09-05T10:55:00.000-05:00

Like I said before, we went to the temple on Saturday. We met up with another family to make a kid hand off. I snapped a few pictures on my camera of the five of us walking around the temple grounds while the other parents took their turn in the temple.

This picture of Alice makes me laugh every time I see it.

I love this one of Alan walking with the girls. It reminds me that it won't be long until Alice is tagging along with them.

Go Cougars

2011-09-03T09:00:00.003-05:00

The BYU Cougars play their first football game of the season today. We will be attending our Stake Temple Day and I'm not sure if we will be able to find a way to watch the game. It is the first time I have ever had to travel out of state to attend the temple... But when in Wisconsin, do as the Wisconsinites do. We will be cheering for the cougars in our hearts, and Elsie even added a line to her bedtime prayer last night:

"Please help the cougars to win"

Simple Pleasures

2011-09-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

Alice is stable enough now to be able to sit and play with Elsie. Elsie loves to play with Alice and always brings her toys and shows her how to play with them. Alice loves that she is finally able to play with Elsie instead of just watching. I love that they can occupy each other and give me a little more time for myself. Books are getting read, scrapbook is being updated, ideas are being planned out, and the girls are entertained. Win-win-win.

What happened?

2011-08-29T13:51:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how different they are. Even Elsie has grown in the last six months. This is one of those moments where I realize my sweet babies aren't going to be babies forever...

Seven Months

2011-08-28T15:53:00.000-05:00

Little sweetie pie. Alice has mastered sitting up and loves to sit on the floor and play with Elsie and steal her toys. She seems so glad that she can finally play along instead of just watch from the sidelines. She will eat just about anything we give her and is learning how to pick up small pieces of food. She still hasn't mastered crawling, but Elsie is determined to teach her so it probably won't be long before she gets going. Alice loves to babble, and so far is favoring the bababa sound. Every once in a while she throws in a mamama, but I think she just does it to mess with my head. I'm trying to teach her to say "Mama", but every time I do Elsie comes up and says "Alice! Say Elsie! Elsie!". I guess we'll just have to wait and see who wins out.

Cuteness Overload

2011-08-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

Uh-oh...

2011-08-25T13:05:00.002-05:00

It won't be long now, especially with a big sister showing her the way...

Alice hasn't quite figured out the whole forward motion yet. She has gone backwards, but I don't think it was deliberate. She is, however, very good at turning in circles. Won't be too much longer until she figures it out.

What happened to August?

2011-08-24T13:01:00.001-05:00

Where did this month go? It seems like I blinked and all of a sudden it is almost September.

This is a weird time of year for me. We have always moved for the summer following Alan's summer jobs, but we always moved back home at the start of fall. It feels like we should be packing up and driving back to Utah any day now. I have to keep reminding myself that this is home now.

This is also the first time since I went to kindergarten that I won't be preparing myself or my husband to go back to school. It is weird to think that the only thing that will change in September is the weather. No new schedules, no books to buy, no grades to worry about. The next time we will deal with "back to school" is when Elsie starts kindergarten. Yikes. Not sure I'm ready for that...

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean

2011-08-23T13:58:00.000-05:00

Read aloud by Elsie

Borrowed Chariot

2011-08-18T13:45:00.000-05:00

Another fun thing that happened while Alan was gone on his business trip... We were involved in a hit-and-run. Someone backed into our car in the parking lot, got out and surveyed the damage, then got back in and drove away. Luckily for us, we had neighbors outside who saw the incident and reported it.

Not only did the driver of the other car not have any insurance, but he didn't even have a driver's license. The whole thing has been a huge hassle dealing with the police and our insurance company. Everything is filed now and it is out of our hands, so that is a relief. Our car is in the shop now being repaired, and we have been driving around a rental car.

It is a KIA Soul. It looks pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Like a box on wheels. But... I have to say it has been growing on me. It is a lot more... zoom-y than our car. It has been really fun to drive around a new, clean car and play with all of it's features. I find myself making excuses to drive it around more.

In other news, isn't this a cute picture of me and the girls at the zoo? Thanks again, Vanessa!

Man of Steel

2011-08-16T15:23:00.001-05:00

Alan and I enjoy watching TV series together. We watch a few current series, like House and Chuck, but our favorite way to watch them is after the series is over. We watched Lost after it was over, and we made it through the whole series in about 3 months. I don't think I would have survived if we had to wait the whole six years like the rest of the world did...

Lately we have been on a Superman kick. Since it is done airing, we have started watching Smallville. We have been enjoying watching it and shouting out advice to the characters. Oh, Clark Kent, for someone who has had to lie about who he is his whole life, he is not very good at it. Don't just stand there with a pained expression on your face! What does that say about Alan and I when we can come up with feasible alibis for him every episode? And isn't it so convenient how everyone seems to loose their memories at the end of the episodes? There is more amnesia than any day time soap opera!

We also checked out the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies from the library. We have only watched the first two so far, and they are hilarious with how ridiculous they are. Really, Superman? You can hold up a fault line in California, but you get smashed by a bus that the super dudes throw at you? It takes you less than 60 seconds to fly a hydrogen bomb into outer space, but it took you 5 minutes to fly to Paris? Not to mention the fact that you flew around the world so fast that you reversed time. And really? You now have magical kissing powers to erase Lois's memory? Where did that come from? And what do you even see in Lois anyway? I think my all time favorite part is every time he changes into Superman, all he has to do is rip open his shirt and the rest of his clothes magically disappear.

Like I said, we've been having a lot of fun with them. One side effect of so much Superman; I go to bed with the Theme Song stuck in my head and then I have Superman dreams. Some of them have been pretty cool...

5K take two

2011-08-13T15:04:00.000-05:00

Remember my first 5K? It wasn't my best run. I was sick with a bug that left me throwing up the day before and I was secretly 6 weeks pregnant with Alice. I was committed to doing it and I finished it, but I always thought that I could have done better...

Today I redeemed myself with the Mama Goose Run. It was a small 5K in my local town; there were probably no more than 80 to 100 people that ran with me. I was very intimidated walking up to the starting line. Everyone was young and spry and looked like they were current track runners in high school/college. There were a few older folks, but even they looked in way better running shape than me. I tried not to think about all of that as we started running and it felt like everyone was passing me. I just focused on my goals and put one foot in front of the other.

Before the race with Elsie wearing my new race shirt.

Alice and Elsie had a fun time with Alan waiting for me. There was a playground that they played on until...

...the rain came. Luckily, I had thought to bring the umbrellas. Alan ran back to the pavilion with Alice under the big umbrella while Elsie walked back under her own umbrella. At least they stayed somewhat dry-ish. I can't say the same for me.

I don't think I could have gotten wetter if I had jumped in a pool. It was coming down really, really hard. I have to say though, I think I would prefer running in a torrential downpour than running in blistering heat. At least it kept me nice and cool.

I set out with two goals: beat my previous time and don't come in last. I am happy to say that I accomplished both of my goals, and as of right now I have no more desire to run anymore races.

...Then of course, that is what I said last year too. I guess we'll see what happens next summer.

Lack of Motivation

2011-08-12T15:08:00.001-05:00

I have had these pictures sitting on an untitled post for about a week now. I've been meaning to hop on and type something up about last week, but I've been having a lack of blogging motivation. Even Alan has commented how I haven't posted in over a week. Not sure when the last time that happened...

So here we go. Trying to get back on the blogging horse.

Alan had his first business trip last week. I probably could have talked more about it while it was happening; it was a little bit of a rough week and I could have used an outlet. But I didn't really want to advertise the fact that I was home alone with my girls to who ever might be lurking on my blog, so... yeah.

I sometimes feel very weak admitting that I had a hard time being alone with the kids for a few days. My respect has grown for those who do it on a regular basis. There are plenty of women in my ward who's husbands are gone a lot more than Alan. They have got to be made out of stronger stuff that I am...

"Choo Choo!" says the train at the zoo

We mostly just stayed really busy. We left the house every morning after eating breakfast, came home for a nap, then went out again until dinner time. By the time dinner was over, it was time to start getting ready for bed. I put Alice down while Elsie watched an episode or two of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, then Elsie went to bed. I usually crawled in bed with a book until I fell asleep an hour or so later.

It was a tiring routine, but it made the time pass. Elsie loved getting out and going places. Every time she woke up (in the morning and from her nap) she came out and asked "where us going tonight, Mommy?" We went to the zoo (twice), played with friends, went to the library, the store, Costco (love their double seat shopping carts...) and anywhere else we could think of. Once we even we to the store, not because we actually needed to buy anything, but because Elsie loves pushing the little kid shopping carts. We walked laps around the store with Elsie leading the way for a good hour or so.

We all missed Alan a lot. My plan was to wear the kids out enough during the day so they would crash at bedtime. It worked a few times, but a couple nights it just made things worse. Elsie didn't really understand why we weren't just picking Daddy up from work. Alan normally does the bed time routine. One night she was so distraught that he wasn't there... having me get her ready for bed was the last straw. She threw a tantrum like I've never seen from her before. It took an hour to calm her down and she eventually was so exhausted that she fell asleep in my arms.

I'm glad that Alan is home. I'm glad that his job only requires him to travel a few times a year. As exhausting as it was to have him gone, it is exhilaration to know that I was able to handle the challenge. It feels good to know that I can do hard things.

Zoo trip

2011-08-03T19:50:00.000-05:00

We are lucky enough to live in an area that has a zoo. I guess the story behind it is there once was a rich guy that donated a big plot of land to the city with the stipulation that anything built on it had to be free for the public to enjoy. The city decided to build a zoo, so we can go and see all the animals anytime we want completely free of charge. That is my kind of zoo.

We have a lot of free time this week, so I decided to take the girls and check it out. Elsie was so excited. When we pulled into the parking lot, she starting jumping up and down in her car seat and said "The zoo! Yay! Thanks Mom! You're the best mom ever!"

We picked a good day to go. It was warm and overcast; a little more humid than I would have liked, but we survived. The animals were all very active, walking around and playing. It was fun to watch them.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures of the day.

Alice looks bored in this picture, but that was just because we hadn't gone into the monkey house yet...

Alice loved the orangutans. They were being very silly and she just laughed and laughed at them. The bigger one had a sheet of fabric that he kept hiding under while the smaller one swung around above him trying to pull it off.

The giraffes were outside when we passed by. Elsie called out to them. "Hi Giraffes!" Surprisingly, one of them ambled over to say hello back. He just stared and stared at her while she carried on a conversation with him.

A second one came over too. They tried to eat the tall tree by Elsie so we got to see their super long tongues. Elsie thought it was pretty cool. She should probably get a job as a giraffe tamer.

The ostrich was very loud and kept trying to eat the fence.

So small...

The brown bear was out and pacing around. They had a sprinkler hanging down over the rocks and he liked to stand in the water.

The zoo had a really big playground/children's area. There is also a petting zoo area where the kids can feed the animals, but it was already closed by the time we got there. The play structure is huge! Elsie couldn't climb all the way to the top slide and I couldn't help her with Alice in the backpack. She could still climb pretty high all by herself and there was plenty to keep her occupied.

Alice wished she could get out and play too...

It is a fun zoo. I haven't been to a wide variety of zoos to compare it to, but it seems very nice to me. It had a good diversity of animals, wasn't too huge, and had a lot of activities for the kids. I think we will be going back a lot.

Sweet cherries

2011-07-31T20:15:00.000-05:00

We went up to the Farmer's Market yesterday. The local fruit is coming into season; a few vendors had apricots, cherries, and a few of the early apples. They also had sweet corn, but that is not really a fruit. Most of the vendors had samples out, so Elsie and I tasted the cherries as we walked around.

I don't really like cherries. I like the flavor and the texture, but I hate having to eat around a pit. I'm concentrating so much on trying to not bite/swallow the pit that I miss out on most of the flavor.

Sampling the sweet cherries at the Farmer's Market made me wish I liked cherries. They were that good.

I hope I can remember these days. Hot and sweaty, walking around the capitol with throngs of people all around us, seeing and sampling the local produce, Elsie talking about everything she is seeing and munching on pretzels on Alan's back, while Alice is on my back pulling my hair every few steps and jabbering in my ear. The girls are getting older every day and I just want to soak up the now and try to remember the little details.

Six Months

2011-07-29T09:51:00.000-05:00

Six months old already! Alice surprised us this week by getting her first tooth, and I'm pretty sure another one is coming in right beside it. She has been a little cranky, but it hasn't thrown her off her groove too much. She still loves her big sister, even when she is beating up on her. I'll hear Alice laughing only to look and see Elsie laying on top of her or rolling up with her in a blanket. I have to scold Elsie for what ever she did and tell Alice to stop encouraging her. Her new favorite thing to do is to jump. In our arms, in her walk-about, in the jumper, on the floor... her legs are always moving. She loves to eat solid food and we have yet to find a food she doesn't like. She has had applesauce, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and carrots mixed in with her rice cereal and seems to love it all. Maybe we'll have to try the dreaded green stuff next.

New Trick

2011-07-27T11:06:00.002-05:00

Elsie figured out how to do a full somersault. We had the local missionaries over the day she figured it out and thoroughly entertained them by rolling over and over again. She seems to be quite pleased with herself for mastering this skill.

When Mommy is away...

2011-07-24T21:34:00.000-05:00

I was able to slip away for a few hours by myself on Saturday. I packed a lunch, a few books, a cookie or two, and found a nice, quiet, comfortable spot to relax... It was wonderful. I came home recharged and refreshed, and I found all these pictures waiting for me. I guess Alan and the girls had a pretty fun time too.

I think Alice missed me a little bit. She was just fine when I was gone, but as soon as I got back she started acting very whiny and clingy. It was like she suddenly realized that I had been missing. What a cute kid.

Playmate

2011-07-22T17:16:00.001-05:00

It is amazing how having one more two year old in the house can relieve a lot a stress and tension. Elsie is entertaining a friend while her parents go out to a movie. So far it has been a calm evening with the girls moving from coloring to puzzles to toys and back. All they need is a calm/stern word from me every once in a while to keep the peace, but they generally play together nicely. It is nice that they can keep each other occupied. The evening is young and rumor has it that neither girl had a nap today so things could get a little hairy very suddenly, but so far the only problem is that Alice is too little to join in the fun.

Epicnic

2011-07-21T14:59:00.006-05:00

This post is kind of a major photo dump... We went to Alan's company picnic last Saturday and had a wonderful time. We had steak, lobster tail, corn on the cob, corn bread, root beer floats, watermelon, salad, chips and hot dogs for the kids, and devil's food cake. And that was just the food...

There was also a petting zoo. Elsie was a little wary of the big goats, but she liked the baby ones just fine.

Once she saw another little girl on the pony, she said she needed a turn. It didn't go anywhere, but she thought it was pretty cool anyway.

Pig.

Baby cow. She is wearing her "doggie" in some of these pictures. We had talked about kid control and how we would handle the two girls with all the people around. We decided on putting Alice in the backpack and keeping Elsie on her doggie to keep her close so she wouldn't get lost. I am pleased to say that even though she wore it part of the time, we never actually had to use it. She was very good and stayed close and listened to instructions from Alan and I. My little runner is growing up...

She thought the geese were kind of scary. Maybe she was feeding off my anxiety from years of being chased by the big geese down by the river while we were trying to feed the ducks when I was a small child. Either way, geese are creepy.

I think Elsie's favorite part was the inflatable bounce house.

They had a fire truck and construction vehicles parked around for the kids to look and explore.

They had stairs built up to the driver's seat on most of the vehicles. Elsie patiently waited her turn to sit in the seat, and if anyone cut in front of her she would inform them that it was Elsie's turn and they needed to wait.

Concentrating very hard on driving...

The picnic was on the "Back 40" behind Voyager Hall (not to be confused with the Pelennor Fields on the other side of campus... Epic is so cool). I hadn't seen any of Voyager Hall, so when we needed a break from the heat we explored inside.

Elsie thought Darth Vader looked grumpy and he needed a kiss to make him feel better.

Up on the upper balcony in Voyager Hall overlooking part of the picnic area. There were a lot of people there, but with how much space there was and how many things there were to do, it didn't feel that crowded.

Every year they have an annual Tug-o-War contest. A bunch of guys from the ward got a team together. They were called the "Sesame Street Fighters". I guess they got that from the fact that they have so many young adoring fans.

The guys put up a valiant fight against the reigning champions. They were literally inches away from victory when the opposing team rallied and pulled the win away from them.

It was a good effort. Probably the best match-up we watched.

Poor kid was exhausted by the end of the day.

One picture of me just to prove that I was there too.

Not sure where she got it from, but as we were walking along Elsie decided she needed to stop and do a somersault every few feet. Not that she would actually roll over, she would just stop and do this...

...Then stand up and clap for herself. Maybe she'll get the second half of it someday.

All of our bracelets. It was a fun day. It was mostly cloudy and overcast, so the kept the temperature down a little bit. There was so much more we could have done... There were bungee trampolines, rock walls, potato sack races, a wagon ride, a gps scavenger hunt... So many things and not enough time. Maybe we'll get around to them next year...

First meal

2011-07-20T10:31:00.001-05:00

Alice tried out solid foods for the first time on the Fourth of July. She had been acting like she was ready and loved the little tastes we had been giving her. We finally bought some rice cereal and gave it a go.

She downed the whole bowl and wanted more. Glad eating doesn't seem to be a problem with this one.

So far she has had applesauce, sweet potatoes, and an apple/blueberry medley mixed into her rice cereal and has loved them all. We have yet to find a food she doesn't like. It's still early in the game and there is lot she hasn't tried, but it is looking good so far.

Fourth of July Fireworks

2011-07-19T08:06:00.001-05:00

We had our own personal show in an empty parking lot across the street from our apartment building. Turns out the big firework shows were on the previous Saturday and not on the actually 4th. We were still not entirely convinced that we wanted to bring and 2 year old and baby to a big firework show that wouldn't start until 9:30pm anyway.

The girls didn't seem to mind that our show was put on by amateurs. Both were mesmerised by the lights and sounds.

Our faithful pyro-technician at work.

Sidewalk Chalk

2011-07-18T15:04:00.000-05:00

Did I really just do that?

2011-07-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

I swore I would never do it. Then I had a kid of my own.

I made one of these for Elsie yesterday. She finished off the whole blender this morning. It took a few tries for her to really get into it, but once she got used to the flavor she kept asking for more "milkshake". I even got Alan to try a sip of it.

I'm not sure if I feel proud or ashamed...

Swimming

2011-07-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

It was pretty hot out most of the time, so we went swimming quite a bit. It is always nice to have more hands around to watch out for the little ones.

Both girls love the floaty toy. We will definitely have to purchase a second one so they can each float around. Never mind my face in this picture, just look at the cute girls.

I love this picture of the two of them. It is a little dark... hmmm, maybe I'll have to try and tweak it a little.

Walk about

2011-07-11T16:14:00.000-05:00

It wouldn't be a trip to Wisconsin without a visit to the country's largest Farmers Market. It was hot and sweaty and humid, but we had a good time. We picked up some fancy popcorn, more salsa, fresh produce, and a loaf of spicy cheese bread.

We all tried to stay hydrated. The water bottle was a little big for Alice, so we improvised.

Elsie starting singing to Alice during the car ride home. Can you tell what song she is singing?

Whew!

2011-07-10T16:45:00.036-05:00

What a whirlwind two weeks it has been! Alan's family was in town visiting and my parents arrived as soon as they left. We have been having too much fun with everyone to waste any of that time blogging about it. Now that my parents are back out on the road, I get to play catch up.

Jeanine, Boyd, Eric, and Paul flew out to be with us for the holiday weekend. They had a horrific time getting here and back home; just about every plane they tried to board had some mechanical problem with it and was grounded. Flights delayed, connections missed, baggage lost... Just about everything that could go wrong happened to them. We are so glad they persevered and made it here despite all of the problems.

The first day was pretty laid back. They were exhausted from traveling and Alan was still at work. After dinner and a little relaxing, everyone was sent to bed. The next day we met Alan at work to take everyone to lunch and give them a little taste of Epic before the big tour.

Elise ran around and showed Paul and Eric one of her favorite places: The Tree Staircase.

After lunch we explored a little bit around Alan's office, including the big rocking horse...

...And the slide.

Family in town!

2011-07-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

Five months

2011-06-28T11:50:00.000-05:00

Has it been five months already? Alice is a little ray of sunshine. She always has a smile and a snuggle for me when I am frustrated and fed up with the antics of her 2 year old sister. She sleeps well, she wakes up happy, and she laughs easily. Her favorite things to laugh at are her daddy tickling her, Elsie singing/dancing, and my hair. Alice still hasn't fully mastered rolling from her tummy to her back. She has done it a few times, but not consistently, so she still gets really frustrated when she rolls and gets stuck on her tummy. She has started scooting around. Not quite with purpose yet, but she is definitely traveling. Her preferred way is to lay on her back and kick with her feet until she scoots off the blanket or mat she is playing on. She is grabbing at everything, but her favorite thing to play with is Alan's tie on Sundays. She will sneakily reach out and grab it without Alan noticing and then eat it as fast as she can before he catches on and takes it away.

Dancing Girls

2011-06-27T12:42:00.000-05:00

Sunday Song

2011-06-24T13:26:00.001-05:00

I know it's Friday, but since YouTube took down the Friday song, this will have to do.

Translation: Wee no wee... Oh I know day. On Sunday. Oh Sunday. Sunday. On wa na day. Uh, you you you you you, me. Oh why all together. And church. And church and church. And now I say bounce. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

Words, words, words

2011-06-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

Elsie has a funny way of saying things. Here are a few of my favorites:

-"It ok. Elsie right here. Daddy back hoon." (what she says while rubbing my back if I ever look upset or angry)
-"Bap-byes" (french fries)
-"Municks" (fingers. No idea where she came up with that one)
-"Baby one" (Alice)
-"I pee all day!" or "I pee all night!" (stop asking me to use the potty, I'm fed up with it)
-"Lip up more milk ippy peese" (fill up my milk sippy please)
-"Bik a me!" (look at me)
-"Dal up" (stand up)
-"Boops", "boops pad", and "boops bra" (take a guess)
-"Dinner ready!" (whenever anything beeps)
-"Oh no! Alice lip up on me!" (Alice spit up on me)
-"Smile baby one! I dance for you!"
-"No eat it baby one!" (when Alice steals one of her toys)
-"Lub you" (love you)

There are a lot more, but that is all I can think of right now.

New Photo

2011-06-20T14:35:00.004-05:00

It was time to update our family picture. I really like the self-portrait we took as we were heading out to the Farmer's Market.

Our Relief Society had a service auction a few weeks ago. I walked away with some pretty cool stuff, including a one on one photo editing lesson. I cashed in on it today and just finished my hour long personalized lesson.

Let's face it, I don't do much with my photos. I'll take out some red eye, but sometimes I'm too lazy to do even that. I'm sure my sister Becky cringes when she sees some of my unedited photos pop up on my blog. Now, thanks to Ann Cue, I have a few simple tricks I can use to spruce up my pictures and make them look a little better.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T07:07:00.003-05:00

We love you guys!

Farmer's Market

2011-06-18T19:20:00.000-05:00

Our big city boasts that it has the largest farmer's market in the nation. I haven't been to that many to compare it to, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is true. It takes up the entire city block around the capitol building with as many vendors as they can squeeze together. Vendors even bleed out onto the opposite side of the street in the "unofficial" farmer's market. Today was our second time braving the crowds.Last time we put the girls in the double stroller. Bad idea. Too many people walking around and navigating that thing was a nightmare. We are too afraid that Elsie would run off and be lost forever in the throngs of people to have her walk around by herself. We thought about putting Alice in a stroller, but again, even a single stroller would be hard to push through all the people.
Our backpacks worked out great. It was hot, sweaty work for Alan and I, but it kept the girls close and they enjoyed a nice view of everything going on. Elsie kept a running commentary going on in Alan's ear and Alice fell asleep for most of it.

Good haul today. We came away with two jars of salsa (one was not enough last time), tortillas, fresh cilantro, strawberries, and spicy cheesy bread. The strawberries are small and not that great to look at, but they pack quite a lot of flavor and juice into those little berries. Spicy cheesy bread is what everyone gets and munches on as they walk the market, and there is a reason why. It is fantastic.

Down the Drain

2011-06-17T08:50:00.002-05:00

That is were Elsie potty training has been going. Or, not going, if you look at it that way...
After three or so weeks of doing great and only having maybe a handful of accidents, she has stopped using the potty all together. I can't figure it out. Did it just get boring? Scary? Is she just tired of it? She is back in diapers now, but I don't know if that is just enabling her not using the potty. Sigh...

I'm not sure what I should do with her. The more we ask (plead, beg) her to use the potty, the more resistant she gets. Should we just leave it alone for a little while and try again later, or keep pushing it now? She must get this stubborn streak from her dad... :)

On a sweeter note, Alice loves her daddy's goatee. She was getting sleepy last night while Alan was snuggling with her. She sat in the crook of his arm with her thumb in her mouth and her other hand stroking and fingering his goatee. It was a precious moment.

Edit: As soon as I hit publish, Elsie came up and told me she had to pee, then proceeded to use the potty. Maybe I just need to back off and let her do what she wants to do. She knows how and when to use the potty, do I just let her decided if she wants to use it?

I was trying to be such a fun mom...

2011-06-15T13:15:00.000-05:00

It is a rainy day today. (I might have a little anxiety about it given that last week this happened and Alan is going off to mutual again tonight, but that's not what I'm blogging about right now.)

I thought it would be a fun, indoor activity for Elsie and I to build a blanket fort today. We cleared off the table, pulled away the chairs, found the biggest blanket and made a big "tunnel" (that is what Elsie called it).

We got a little electric candle and crawled into our fort. We brought a few of her stuffed animals in to keep her company. We got her crayons and coloring book. We colored together for a while.

Then Elsie tried to stand up and smashed her head on the table. And then she hit it again. And again. She was done with our blanket fort after that.

Small Town Life

2011-06-14T13:20:00.001-05:00

Though I've never considered myself a city girl by any means, I never thought I would end up in a small town like we are now. A drive by the welcome sign says that it has a population of just over 10,000, but it is growing quite a bit. We are just a suburb of a larger city, so we are only a short drive away from all the major store and shopping centers and everything else we could want.

I'm surprised at how much I really like it here. There is one grocery store in town; a little locally owned shop. It is an "& Sons" type of store, so I'm not sure how long it has been around. When I only have a few things to pick up (and the weather is nice) I like to pack the girls into the bike trailer and ride down to the store.

I don't know how it is at different times of the day, but when the girls and I go first thing in the morning it is pretty empty. Again, maybe it's a timing thing, but all of the workers are sweet old grandparent type people. They love my girls and fawn all over them, ask what I need and then take me right to it, have a treat for Elsie from the bakery, and carry my groceries out and load them into the bike trailer for me.

Main street isn't very long, but it has a few treasures that I'm looking forward to exploring. There is a little thrift store, a few coffee and pastry shops, family owned restaurants, and several more little stores that sell a variety of things. I think I could get used to living here for a while.

Pretty songs are exhausting

2011-06-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

Bowling

2011-06-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

Our local bowling alley participates in the summer Kids Bowl Free program. Elsie has a pass for two free games every day of the summer. Today was the first time we tried it out and Elsie loved it. We would sometimes go and she would "help" Alan bowl in his bowling class at BYU, but today she had the shoes, her own ball, and the bumpers up so she usually knocked at least one of the pins down.

For the really young kids, they have a ramp that Elsie can put the ball on and push it down. She thought that was pretty cool.
The bowling alley has special six pound balls that they save for the little kids. She had to pick it up and carry it herself during her turn. She would say "Oof, Elsie so strong".
I'm a little proud of this score board because (a) it is the highest score I've ever gotten and (b) I beat Alan. My score is slightly inflated due to the fact that the gutter bumpers were up, but hey, a 120 is a 120. Our names were El Guapo, Hot Mama, and Squirt, in case you were wondering.
Alice was Alan's good luck charm. He tended to bowl better if he was holding her.
During the second game Elsie decided she didn't want to use the ramp anymore. She had to crouch down and push the ball with all her might. I think her average ball speed by the time it hit the pins was about 1.5 mph.

Not as impressive as the first game (for me at least, Alan scored higher this time).
We had a lot of fun. Alice didn't like the loud noises as much, but she was just fine as long as she was being held. Elsie had a blast and I'm sure we will go a lot more before the summer is over.

Last Night

2011-06-09T20:34:00.004-05:00

It was a long and uneventfully day yesterday. It had been raining off and on all day so we were stuck inside. Alan got home from work, ate dinner, and then had to go off to mutual with his Deacons. I was looking forward to putting the girls to bed and then having a little quiet time to myself.

Alice was in bed asleep. Elsie and I had just finished reading her bedtime story. The storm had been steadily picking up intensity and it suddenly got ferocious right in the middle of our night time prayer. The windows were rattling and almost flexing from the wind. The rain was beating on our screen door. Lightning was flashing across the sky. I was getting worried.

I got on weather.com and there were several severe thunderstorm warnings. I flipped on the TV and the emergency broadcast system was playing. Tornado warning sounded for my county. The automated voice declared that we needed to seek shelter immediately and, if possible, get underground.

I started shaking. Moving quickly, I slipped on my shoes, put Elsie's sandals on, grabbed a diaper bag and scooped up both my girls. We headed out of our apartment and down the stairs to the underground parking garage. Seconds later all of our neighbors start pouring in. All of the kids were in jammies, some of them barefoot, and one poor little boy was only in a pair of underwear.

The building was rattling and the lights were flickering. I barely had a cell signal in the garage, but not enough to get a hold of Alan. A neighbor let me borrow her phone so I could call and make sure he was ok and inside. We had no access to news; all we had were snippets we heard from the TV as we were running down stairs. Vortex clouds above us. Funnels sighted but not touching down. At one point the lights went out and every one held up their cell phones to try and collect the kids who had been running around in circles(Elsie included).

And that's how we stayed for about forty five minutes. Finally the building stopped shaking. The thunder rumble was further in the distance. A few people peeked outside to see how it looked. The rain had calmed down. After a little deliberation, we all headed back upstairs to our homes to check the news and see what was happening. The storm had passed over us and the danger was gone.

Alan came home. The girls were put back to bed. I tried to calm down and relax.

Laying in bed I couldn't help think about it. Not so much about what could have happened, but more what if it happens again. Alan said he heard the warning sirens in town, but we must be too far away from them to hear. The only reason I got the warning is because I was looking for it. What if something like that happens in the middle of the night when we are all asleep?

Looking out our window this morning the lawn was a mess. Roof tiles and branches all over the ground. Pool chairs blown around and even at the bottom of the pool. Branches down all over town and power outages in several places.

I'm just glad that we are all safe and sound.

New Callings and a Published Paper

2011-06-08T12:45:00.006-05:00

We have new callings in our ward. I will be teaching the 12 and 13 year old Sunday School class. The last Sunday School class I taught was in my singles ward the summer/fall before Alan and I got married. The class was full of freshly returned missionaries, so all I had to do was look cute and they were more than happy to try and impress me by answering questions and participating in discussions. My class attendance noticeably dropped once I got engaged...

The teacher I am replacing has been teaching the class for over a year and a half, so I'm a little nervous. My plan is to bring cookies and treats for a while to effectively win them over. That, and be a darn good teacher.

Alan will be working with the Deacons Quorum. Since his job doesn't require a lot of travel like a good number of the men in the ward, they have asked him to go to Wednesday night mutual and on any scouting outings he can fit into his schedule. I guess they figure he needs some male interaction since he's living in a house full of girls.

Alan just received word that the final paper he helped co-author before leaving BYU is going to be published in the RESER 2011 workshop as part of Empirical Software Engineering International Week (ESEIW) 2011. It is titled Design Patterns in Software Maintenance: An Experiment Replication at Brigham Young University. I don't remember what it is about, I just know he worked on a lot of surveys and reworked the data to make it usable. Not bad for an undergrad.

Edit: Alan fixed the links in the last paragraph because I had no idea what they were supposed to be, so my previous links were to the wrong thing...

Home improvements and other such things

2011-06-07T11:40:00.001-05:00

We have been working on organizing and decorating our apartment. First up is my new corner shelf. We have this really weird little corner indent in the middle of the wall near the kitchen and for a while I had no idea what to do with it. Then Alan found this shelf online and it was delivered on Saturday. I think it is fantastic.

We finally have some organization in the girls bathroom. This has really cleared up the sink counter.
I thought this was pretty cool. I found it in the office section of the store. Any one know what to do with eight hundred paper clips in eight different colors?
All of Elsie's friends now have a nice, comfy home above her bed. I wonder if she worries at night about them all falling on top of her...
Last but not least, a little bit of hometown art in the master bathroom. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the layout quite yet... Any suggestions?
Despite my post from yesterday, the girls and I do have a lot of fun together...
...Sometimes.

Can I just say it?

2011-06-06T14:31:00.003-05:00

I should sit and blog about our weekend because we had a pretty good time. Farmers market, swimming, redecorating (or decortating for the first time)... but I have something else on my mind.

It really kind of ticks me off when I read posts or blogs or books where people talk about motherhood and say they loved every minute of it.

I don't know why exactly it makes me so upset. Does it make me feel inadequate? Does it make me feel like if I'm not enjoying every second I must be doing something wrong? Does it mean I don't love my kids as much as they do?

I know it's just a figure of speech, but I don't love every minute of being a mom. I love my kids, more than I ever thought I could. But I don't love the moment at 3 in the morning when I wake up to Elsie standing next to my bed saying "Hi Mom. Elsie woke up."

Or when Alice spits up all down my pants for the 12th time that day.

Or when I'm trying to scrub crayon out of the carpet.

Or when I walk into church and realize my shirt is suddenly covered with fresh, warm, baby poop.

Am I not as good as a mom because I can't seem to love those moments?

One of those mornings...

2011-06-03T11:50:00.003-05:00

Elsie woke up way too early. She's been climbing/covering/laying on/pushing wildly in the swing/and trying to roll Alice over all morning. Alice has been very sensitive this morning, so she startles and starts crying every time I reprimand Elsie. Which has been happening a lot. Alice rolled over and got stuck against the couch when Elsie was sitting on the potty and started yelling. I went to rescue her and Elsie got too excited and hopped down and peed all over the bathroom floor. There is something in the air that is making my allergies go crazy, so we can't go outside to blow off some steam without it making me want to scratch my eyes out.

I am very ready for it to be nap time...

3 Day Potty Training - Recap

2011-06-01T17:33:00.002-05:00

Well, we lived through it. We didn't stick too rigidly to the "child must be naked for it to work" or "one hour out on the second day and two hours out of the house on the third day". Going to church caused a hiccup, and our day trip to Epic did as well. It is so nerve wracking having a two year old running around free as a jay bird in an apartment that is 80% carpet...

All in all, our potty training boot camp served its purpose in kicking off potty training. Elsie now knows when she has to go potty and tells us when she needs to go. She still has maybe one or two accidents and sometimes doesn't make it to the bathroom fast enough, but she's doing very well. We still have her in diapers for nap time and bed time, but most of the time she wakes up dry and then uses the potty. We have her in pull ups during the day, mostly for my convenience and peace of mind. She is still afraid to use pottys that are outside of our house, but we're working on it. Every morning she wakes up ready to use the potty and does really well through out the morning and afternoon, but she tends to get a little bored of it as the evening wears on. That's when we start asking (pleading?) her to use the potty, and she gets a little (a lot) annoyed with us.
We met Alan after play group to have lunch with him in the Epic cafeteria. While there I snapped a quick picture of the slide by his office.

Also, this happened today at play group. I guess it's been a while since the back of my neck has been exposed to the sun...