The Taylors

How babies are made: courtesy of Sydney Taylor

2012-01-14T09:02:00.001-06:00

This morning's evolving conversation with Sydney:

"Mama, when did we buy this house?"

"When Elisabeth was one year old, sweetie. You weren't even born yet. In fact, you weren't even in my belly yet." Sydney has a hard time conceptualizing life before being in my belly. Understandable. It's hard to envision what life was like before you entered it. So I kind of expected the conversation to either a) stop at this point or b) enter into a battery of questions for which I wasn't totally prepared to answer.

So you can understand when Mark and I were confused when she continued the conversation with this statement:

"So I was still in the food."

Chirp chirp went the crickets. Dead silence. The food thing threw us off, big time.

Until she moved on and started talking about how food goes straight into your toes and then into your belly. And then into your nose. That's when it clicked, that in the eyes of a four year old babies grow in our bellies because of special food that mommies eat. I'm not sure how the nose thing fits in, but I am thankful that we don't actually grow babies in our noses. Imagine the stretch marks, ladies.

I love the way kids think. Honestly, I think it makes total sense. And that's what we're going to let her believe for today.

Mittens

2011-11-28T22:33:00.001-06:00

Matthew is 5 months old already! He has discovered his toes, he loves baby food, he sleeps through the night, he gives kisses, and we love him.

He's wearing some pretty special mittens in this picture. They have been worn by Sydney, Elisabeth, our niece and our nephew. But even more special than that? They were worn by my dad when he was a baby. These mittens have seen a lot of love! This generation may be done with them, but I'll bet this isn't the last set of wee little hands that will wear them. I'm looking forward to seeing my dad's great-grandbabies' hands in them 30 years from now.

Happy Halloween!

2011-08-31T09:51:00.000-05:00

Elisabeth lost two teeth this week!

To honor this occasion, we are celebrating Halloween a little early with our own personal Jack-O-Lantern.

2 months

2011-08-16T14:39:00.001-05:00

I'm going to let you in on a secret: It's really August 31st today. I'm backdating this post, because let's face it: I am a procrastinator (except this time I have an excuse! Woot!). But the picture really was taken at 2 months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Matthew,

You are two months old today! You have been smiling since about 5 weeks old, and you now love to have conversations with us. We could "coo" and "goo" and "ahh" all day with you, and I think you feel the same. Except for when you are napping, which you also love. As long as it's in 15 minute increments. I'll be honest with you, I don't love that. But I do love that you sleep for long stretches at night! You have been a good sleeper since day 3, when you would go 4 hours before waking up at night, and now you are up to about 6 hours! Thank you for that!

You are a big boy, much like your sister Elisabeth was at this age. You weigh 14.5 pounds and are 24 inches long now. That puts you in the 90th percentile! I'm not really that surprised, since you like to nurse about every two hours. You sure do keep me busy!

Your sisters also love you very much, and are constantly talking to you and petting you and kissing you. And you just soak it in. I hope it continues for a very long time.

Love,
Mommy

matthew james

2011-08-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

Meet Matthew. He's now eight weeks old and of course has changed so much since this picture was taken at the ripe age of two days old. He's such a doll and we love him to pieces.

Sheldon, Party of Five

2011-06-15T17:00:00.002-05:00

This is it. It's our last night as a family of four.

Tomorrow we'll welcome our first baby boy. We've been calling him Sheldon for the past 7 months or so, but tomorrow we'll find out who's really been hiding behind this belly.

Love this kid

2011-06-14T22:31:00.000-05:00

Any day now

2011-06-09T22:02:00.030-05:00

38 weeks. This baby is getting ready. He's head down and much like the school of fish that get caught in the net in Finding Nemo, he appears to be swimming down in an effort to escape. Actually, more like burrowing. Swimming down is a little "softer" sounding than how it feels to have a head shoved in your pelvis.

I think I'm officially ready to be done being pregnant. I might be getting ready to meet this baby, too. Though the thought of having three children in the house is s.c.a.r.y. and I'm not sure I'm ready for us to be outnumbered!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this pregnancy. I've had very little to complain about until recently (and only now because I feel huge when I try to move) and have tried hard to savor every moment knowing it's most likely the last time I'll be lucky enough to carry a child. It's truly a blessing - and quite a miracle. All women should be able to feel this at least once in a lifetime. I have loved feeling every kick and hiccup and hearing that little heartbeat at every appointment. I know I will miss it. The good news is there's a souvenir at the end of all of this, and we can't wait to meet him!

Getting closer

2011-06-02T20:52:00.001-05:00

37 Weeks. Just to document. I'm still waiting for "any day now". Though I kind of thought today might be it, after having weird pains waving in every 5 minutes for a few hours. They went away, but it did make me realize that I should probably think about packing a bag one of these days.

Reason number 56: Why I should own stock in Kleenex

2011-05-28T07:55:00.000-05:00

Mark's oldest brother got remarried Mother's Day weekend to a really great lady. I have never been to a wedding for someone older than 35, and this might have been my favorite wedding yet. They're such a sweet couple, and watching how happy they were at the wedding was so neat. My brother-in-law was giddy. He gave his wife-to-be the sweetest hug when she met him at the altar. Once they embraced, it was over for me. I didn't stop pulling tissues from the box until the ceremony was 100% certainly no doubt about it done. I'm a sucker for weddings, but this one really touched me.

Courtesy of local photographer

Sigh. Just look at them! That's what I call love.

Excuse me while I go grab another tissue now. Sniff.

The girls absolutely love their new Auntie. She is so sweet. No wonder my brother-in-law is so in love with her. I'm kind of in love with her too.

Courtesy of local photographer

Courtesy of me

Never mind all of the stuff above. This post is really just to prove that sometimes we really do clean up.

Courtesy of local photographer

Just kidding. (Sort of.) Congratulations guys! We're so happy for you!

Courtesy of local photographer

36 weeks

2011-05-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

Last week as I was walking into a store a random stranger -- a man, mind you -- passed by and yelled "Any day now, eh?" Uh, no, I technically still have 5 weeks left, but thanks for pointing out how huge I must look.

I don't look THAT big, do I? I mean, if this minus one week is what "any day now" looks like, what does 39 weeks look like?

I guess we'll find out soon enough!

untitled

2011-05-14T22:20:00.001-05:00

Taken on a recent weekend getaway in Galena, IL

34 weeks

2011-05-14T09:08:00.000-05:00

Elisabeth, who just announced that she'd like to be a professional photographer when she grows up, took this picture for us yesterday. Our crabapple tree is in full bloom so this was a perfect way to preserve the beauty of my favorite tree. We're getting rain this weekend which means these blooms will last us about 24 hours. Unless we look at this photo!

We're also trying to preserve this pregnancy. I'm uncomfortable. I can't sleep, I'm swelling like a balloon, I'm sore, blah blah blah, but I'm savoring every moment of this knowing it's probably the last for us. I'm sure I'm going to miss this. But in less than 5 weeks we will have a beautiful little baby in this house, and we're excited!

I have some other great pregnancy photos that Elisabeth took. I might backtrack and add them in here so we can go back and remember what this baby boy looked like. Looking forward to meeting you little boy!

Apparently we had hail?

2011-03-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

And apparently when you get hail, it can dent aluminum siding. Which ultimately leads to many strange people knocking on your door offering to fix your siding for free. They look even more strange when they stick their faces right up to the siding to look for what to me can only be invisible dents.

They've always been a bit sketchy to me and eventually I stopped answering the door and just hid in my office until I was sure they had moved onto the next house.

But one guy came to our door wearing an Indiana Jones hat and was the nicest guy I have ever met. His name was Guy. And he didn't stick his nose up to my walls like the other guys did. Well maybe he did, but I didn't see it happen, fortunately.

Anyway, we really did have some hail damage! Which amazingly, insurance companies are willing to pay for.

And that is how the journey started.

Being pregnant, I can't make a decision to save my life.

And that is how the even longer journey of deciding on a house color started.

It was agony.

For everyone involved.

Which was a lot of people. Polls on facebook. Going over and over color choices with my dear friends and trying to figure out how the trim color would impact it.

Looking at a bazillion houses that had been done by this company. Realizing that after the 10th house, they all look the same.

It's like when you're trying to decide on a new scent at Bath and Body Works and they all start to run together so the lady tells you to sniff your sleeve to clear out your senses. And then you start wondering when was the last time you washed your jacket.

I wonder if I had sniffed my sleeve in between houses I would have had an easier time deciding on a color?

Anyway, here are some pictures of our house! They started precisely at 7am and I didn't have time to go out and get a true "before" shot. This is the best I can do:

After about an hour, it looked like a tornado had ripped through the area. Siding was everywhere! Seeing it on the ground was the first realization that yes, it was okay to let go of the blue color that I hated but somehow pregnancy hormones made me cry when I realized my house wouldn't be blue anymore.

I don't recommend pregnancy hormones to anyone.

They make you do and think crazy things.

And then the new color started to go up! And I secretly watched them. And dreaded that the color was going to be very very light which was the opposite of what I wanted.

I kept thinking "what have I done?"

But then I stepped outside and realized that it's not nearly as light as I thought.

And that I actually (gasp) liked it!

So, here is the finished product:

Complete with red star on the front door to get me thinking about painting it red.

At the rate we went with the siding, I figure it should only take us about 3 years to decide on a door color.

All work was completed by Cornerstone Exteriors. I highly recommend them! And if you're pregnant, go with Guy. Very patient man. With a super cool hat.

The end.

Work it

2011-03-15T21:03:00.001-05:00

Elisabeth and I went on a short mother-daughter date last weekend. Really, all we did was exchange a pair of shoes and then explore an old mall, but we had so much fun together. While she was busy exploring the old brick building I was busy snapping pictures and all of a sudden she started modeling for me. I was cracking up! She sure knows how to strike a pose.

untitled

2011-03-04T20:18:00.000-06:00

Onomatopoeia

2011-03-01T23:01:00.000-06:00

I just like saying that word. Sydney does too. All while Elisabeth teaches us what the heck it means.

Apparently I've been out of school for too long.

Karaoke Kids

2011-02-27T16:06:00.003-06:00

The Fun Fair (originally scheduled for Feb 5th but cancelled after the roof collapsed on the warehouse holding all of the goods because of all of the snow from "Blizzard 2011" {which obviously means that we won't get another blizzard in 2011}) was held this weekend at Elisabeth's school. It was a blast for the kids and we are now the proud owners of something called Noisy Slime that truly is as noisy and disgusting as it sounds, along with 5 Chinese Torture Devices, 3 plastic hand clappers, 2 Parachute Guys, 1 Noiseless Harmonica and 1 set of Noisemaker Plastic Lips.

All of which is sitting in my purse and the kids haven't asked for once.

(Two more days and they're going in the trash. But don't tell the girls that.)

"Mom! My Chinese Torture Device doesn't work!" Well, try one of the other four, sweetie. I'm sure there's at least one in there that will torture you.

In addition to winning some really, um, "great" prizes, the girls were desperate to sing Karaoke. But the question was, what song to choose? A little Black Eyed Peas? Some Selena Gomez? Some other grrovy song that I don't recognize? Nope. Not my Elisabeth. She likes to choose the classics.

This year (as well as last year), it was "B-I-N-G-O". This year Sydney decided she wanted to sing too, because Miss Rabya "tings dat tong!"

They waited on stage a looooong time. Long enough for Sydney to develop her typical stage fright (and no pun intended on this one! Ha!) and put on her "I'm not so sure about this" face.

Elisabeth's friend Ellie went up with them. I'm pretty sure Ellie is trying to console Sydney here. "Don't worry Sydney! Just say B.I.N.G.O. and you'll be great!"

And then Sydney probably said back "What are you kidding me? That's a bunch of BS. I mean, do you SEE all of the people out there? Do you?"

And then Elisabeth probably said "DAA-AAD! Sydney doesn't wanna siiiing" in the typical "tattle tale" voice that only kids know how to do.

Eventually it was their turn to jam out on stage. And jam they did! At least 2 of the 3 did.

Can you guess which one didn't?

(I love that Elisabeth and Ellie had to read the words on the screen.)

Oh sweet Sydney, you are such a good sport. I promise you can have one more Chinese Torture Device to make up for your pain and suffering, okay?

bright (and toothless) elisabeth

2011-02-27T08:23:00.002-06:00

While Sydney's look belongs in ages gone by, Elisabeth's look definitely belongs in the bright and colorful era.

vintage sydney

2011-02-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

This is a typical "I'm not really sure about this" Sydney look.

Somehow it looks like the appropriate expression for a 1940's picture, doesn't it?

Family scrapbook

2011-02-26T10:43:00.000-06:00

We have this table.

I have had it since I graduated college.

It came from my parents, who got it from their neighbors who were going to throw it away when I was a kid.

This table has traveled with me just about everywhere I go.

It has a love of love worn into it.

And after rescuing it from our furniture graveyard (also known as the basement) it is now serving as our kitchen table.

I love looking at every marking and trying to remember how it got there.

Our children have already added their own "love" to the table, but that is my intention. I'm looking forward to trying to remember some of the newest memories that are being made around this table.

Are you missing your bowling ball?

2011-02-17T17:43:00.000-06:00

If you are, I think I might know where it is.

And I am truly sorry about that, but I was really, really hungry.

Are you also missing your ever-growing back end? Because I think I've got that too.

I am very hungry. And happily 22 weeks pregnant.

Our baby is the size of a yellow squash or something like that. I don't know why they measure babies in terms of produce. I honestly think sporting goods would be more appropriate. Either way, I'm happy to be growing a lovely baby boy bowling ball. Or squash. Which used to be a turnip. And before that was a blueberry. I wonder how long before they get to watermelon. I wonder if I'll turn into any of these, because that's kind of how it's starting to feel. In a good way of course, if it's possible to be a good squash flavored bowling ball.

(In all honesty, I'm truly enjoying this pregnancy.) Did you know that squash have legs? And that they can kick and do summersaults? One of my favorite things about produce. You can't find 'em like this at Trader Joe's, and I know I'm going to miss this. And so I enjoy every minute of this pregnancy, knowing it's probably my last. I'm so lucky to be able to grow such amazing produce.

It's not just the blog that I am behind on

2011-02-15T21:42:00.000-06:00

Because let's face it, I'm behind. Really behind. But the good news is that I don't just suck at the blog, I'm much more well-rounded than that. I also suck at planning birthday parties on time. Elisabeth's birthday is almost 2 months past and we just finally had her kids' party.

But I made cupcakes, so that counts for something right? No? Did I mention that they had orange frosting and sparkly pink sprinkles on top? And that I bought a fancy cupcake carrier to transport them? That definitely counts for something.

Elisabeth's 7th birthday party was at color Me Mine, a paint your own pottery place. We have a pretty big collection of pottery from this awesome store.

We had eleven 7-year olds in a private party room. Eleven 7-year old girls is not necessarily a lot. I mean, first grade teachers do it all the time, except they usually have eleven 7-year old boys thrown in the mix as well. But when you throw these eleven girls in a party room without their teacher?

Break out the earplugs, because they. are. loud.

I mean, LOUD!

Oddly enough, photos don't capture the noise. Somehow the party looks so peaceful through the camera lens. Maybe I shouldn't have divulged all of that. I probably could have gotten away with just saying this:

Look at how well-behaved everyone was:

And look at their masterpieces, ready to be glazed. Beautiful! I was awe-struck at the creativity in the room. Each piece was so uniquely beautiful. I don't know why my creativity is so stunted sometimes. These kids had no problem painting. They put the brush to the plate and happily created their works of art. And screamed and giggled and spoke in slight teenager-valley-girl accents while doing it.

Like, totally.

And then they sang Happy Birthday complete with the craziest lyrics, some of which I don't think should be repeated, and they ate their beautiful cupcakes:

And everyone went home happy. Except for the one kid who said to me "HEY! Where's our goody bags?" Patience may not be a virtue for seven year olds, but the plate is coming, my dear, I promise.

I didn't take a picture of my expression when I was asked about the goody bags, but maybe I should have! I think that one would have translated equally as well through the camera lens...

In any case, Happy Birthday to our sweet Elisabeth!

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-12-19T15:40:00.000-06:00

Now that we've seen Santa Claus (who knew about our Elf on the Shelf when Elisabeth told him! he IS real!), the kids are ready for Christmas. Are you?

I'm in love.

2010-12-13T15:29:00.003-06:00

Smitten, actually, with someone I haven't even "met" yet. Well, at least not face-to-face. That's right, I'm in love with our tiny, 12 weeks and 4 days old peanut who has about 27 nicknames already. Max. Sheldon (my new fave). Kate. Baby. Tister. Bwudder. And the names of every single one of Elisabeth's classmates.

^ Those might be the cutest little fingers I have ever seen.

And look at that little profile! Sure, there are a ton of teeth that give a sort of Puppet effect (and let me tell you, that effect is multiplied by 10 when you see your little baby moving on the monitor and opening and closing its mouth), but still - have I mentioned that I'm in love? Can you see the ear? And the arm raised up by the side of its head? Sigh...

We can't wait to meet this little miracle that I tried so desperately to avoid making. I'm so glad I apparently don't know a thing about my own fertility. ♥

sparkly and beautiful

2010-12-07T21:23:00.002-06:00

This is Elisabeth.

She just overcame a huge obstacle.

The potty accidents she was having? Well she made a goal of making it 20 days in a row without having an accident. For her, that is a huge accomplishment considering where we were a few months ago. She has pushed through so many physical and emotional factors to get to this point and we couldn't be more proud of her.

Of course she had some sparkly motivation of her own as well.

Well, Miss Elisabeth, ask and you shall receive.

And receive she did, this past weekend as evidenced in the photo above. She's not going to lie, getting her ears pierced hurt bad. Much more than the pinch that her friend told her it would be. But I don't think she would have changed a thing. She walked out of there one proud kiddo.

And we are very proud of her for finding her own motivation and working so hard to achieve her goal.

PS -- today is day 23 and she's still going strong!

Sweet Sydney. With a capital T.

2010-11-30T22:43:00.003-06:00

Sweet little Sydney.

She's about to turn 3.

I love that the majority of her words start with a T, whether they are supposed to or not.

"Mommy, who wad dat on da tetetone?"

She eats food out of the tittertator.

Her days of the week: Tunday, Monday, Twoday, Wend-day, Tursday, Tie-day, Taturday.

And of course, there is the Tissmas Tee we just chopped down.

Merry Tissmas to all and to all a goo-night. Tee you in da mawning, momma.

Scratch that last one -- that's just what she said to me tonight.

What we do on Saturday mornings.

2010-11-07T15:12:00.001-06:00

Here is a sampling from yesterday.

We chill in our jammies.

We watch cartoons and pick our noses.

Well, some of us pick our noses. Some even eat what they find.

We play peek-a-boo.

(And us parents continue the 3 year streak of ignoring the wood trim that needs to be painted white. I believe I was pregnant with Sydney when we got our new doors and windows and we said we'd finish the trim before the baby came. But who's counting, right? Life's short. And I'd rather play peek-a-boo anyway.)

Ahem.

We mother our cat and say in our highest pitched two year old voices "heyah titty, do you wan some watah?"

We bathe in the sun while said two year old continues to mother us.

Some of us furrier folk try not to act annoyed.

We chill.

I don't know about you, but I sure am thankful God gave us lazy Saturdays.

A day late, a dollar candy bar short

2010-11-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

I know it was only a week ago, but somehow Halloween seems like a lifetime ago to me. I guess that tells you what kind of week I had in between then and now.

Slow as molasses. Long. Which makes me even more thankful for Saturdays and Sundays. But mostly Saturdays.

Anyway that's not the point.

The point is, I'm late in posting the pictures that I promised my mom I'd post asap. And the candy bags, which were overflowing with sugary goodness, are still overflowing. But I'm doing my yearly duty and trying hard to get rid of the candy in this house by eating it.

What other way is there to get rid of candy besides eating it?

Dandelion wishes

2010-10-21T14:30:00.000-05:00

Apparently I have a thing for dandelions.

What can I say, my children have me believing in dandelion wishes again. It's good to think like a kid! We should all be so innocent and free-spirited.

Happy Halloween, suckas.

2010-10-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

From our crib to yo's.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

In the orchard.

2010-10-18T22:40:00.001-05:00

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is "In the orchard". That's a perfect theme for me!

While I have a gobzillion pictures from this year's apple orchard extravaganza, I have a secret love affair with last year's orchard trip. Sydney was just 18 months then. She had baby curls. And the cutest orange sweater dress.

Mark had just fully recovered from his heart attack. And I was so blissfully happy to have a beautiful (and healthy) family!

I love the way Mark looks in this photo. I think he might have been as happy as I was.

Catch it.

2010-10-13T09:05:00.000-05:00

Make a wish.

Did you see it?

Did it come true?

I did.

Twice!

And we named them Elisabeth and Sydney.

The end.

1492

2010-10-11T14:18:00.004-05:00

It's Columbus Day. Daycare and schools are closed, which gave me a pretty good reason to take the day off. Us grown ups don't do that often enough.

You know what else we don't do often enough?

Enjoy the scenery.

Admire the weeds and realize how beautiful they really are.

(as long as they're not in my garden)

Make a wish. Or two.

Go to the park and play with the kids. (oddly enough I didn't take any pictures there)

Climb a tree.

Stomp in the fallen leaves.

Thank goodness for Christopher Columbus and this glorious day!

One more reason to love orange.

2010-10-09T22:16:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time there were two girls who had a couple of days off of school.

So they went to visit their grandma, who took them to a pumpkin farm.

Their grandma took lots of pictures. Mostly of their backs.

They found the perfect pumpkins in the field!

And then they found out they were way cheaper pre-picked, so they left their pumpkins near the checkout and grabbed two pre-picked and equally awesome orange beauties.

And then they took them home.

And their momma showed up to help carve the pumpkins!

She makes weird faces.

And her daughter knows how to use a knife a little too well.

While the pumpkins were carved, the little sister vigorously stirred pumpkin seeds with an ice cream scooper and made "soup."

A "lottalotta toup," as she would say.

Happy Fall! Happy Halloween!

The end.

Taking the plunge

2010-10-08T12:46:00.003-05:00

As I continue to feed my passion for all things photography, I have been lurking, watching and reading iheartfaces.com for some time now. There are some amazingly talented people out there, and if you have the same love for photography that I do, I suggest you check them out too!

So anyway, today is Constructive Feedback Friday, and I have decided to take the plunge and finally join in the fun in hopes of someday being half as talented as some of the regulars.

That's right, I'm coming out today!

Because a certain person whose job starts with "ther" and ends with "apist" told me to be selfish for a change. Do something for myself and embrace my hobby.

So here goes nothing.

We went apple picking a few weeks ago, and Elisabeth decided to climb the ladder and pose for me. She has been doing this lately and I love it! A) because we have finally exited the refusal to smile phase and B) because I get to exercise my index finger and snap away.

So this is the photo, SOOC. I am proud to say that I just switched my camera to manual! Alas this photo was taken prior to that, on the (gasp!) auto setting. With the (gasp!) kit lens.

Nikon D40 f/8.0 1/250 sec ISO 200 55mm

I am a sucker for photos taken on an angle and love that about this photo as well. But even more than that, I love how she just sat up there and posed for me. It's so sweet! But the picture is dark, and I wish she stood out more. I also don't like how dark her eyes look. Or the white sky. It was so cloudy that day.

Here is my somewhat edited version in PSE 8.0 using my limited experience (which I'm working on!). I brightened the photo, saturated the blues and greens a bit, sharpened the photo and added some sparkle to her eyes.

I don't know that these are necessarily the right edits, which is why something so aptly named Constructive Feedback Friday appealed to me -- I'd love your input and suggestions!

Thanks for letting me play! Oh and for any of my family and friends who are reading this, please keep in mind that the whole point of this for Constructive Feedback -- so don't be offended if you see just that on here! xoxo

Model child

2010-09-30T07:33:00.000-05:00

We went through a couple of years where Elisabeth, our strong-willed child who will undoubtedly do the opposite of what we'd like because that's the kind of model child she is, refused to smile for the camera. It was like we were torturing her by asking her to take a nice picture for us. We often used reverse psychology to get the smile out of her; that is until she was old enough to pick up on our tactics and then we were just left smile-less.

That is until recently. Now when I break out the camera she picks out the perfect location, cocks her head to the side, and gives me a gorgeous look. A lot of the whole posing thing started with her first teen idol Hannah Montana, and her desire to be all grown up and cool like Miley. But now I honestly think she's blossoming into this tiny grown up person who just likes to smile for the camera. When it's on her terms, of course (because some things will most likely never change - and I have a feeling the strong-willed nature of our sweet Elisabeth is here to stay).

She has been so amazingly helpful with Sydney lately, who is starting to enter a bit of a defiant/stubborn stage. Elisabeth has a way of calming Sydney down and explaining the facts to her in ways that I could only dream of. And she gives the best advice to her baby sister. Tonight we had the joy of hearing Elisabeth say "Sydney, you need to listen and respect your mama." AMEN TO THAT!

An apple a day

2010-09-29T07:31:00.055-05:00

Apples.

They're good for you. You're supposed to have one a day to keep the doctor away. And we like that!

I don't actually like apples.

But apple picking? In an apple orchard? Sign me up! It's now one of my favorite activities.

I give equal rights to our seasons and love them all for obviously different reasons, but Fall has got to be my favorite. I think I bust out the camera the most in the fall. Maybe. Or not. But it feels like I take a lot more pictures in the fall, and for me I can almost judge my happiness by the number of photos I have taken at any given time.

Is that weird?

Thanks. I didn't think so either.

Anyway, we went apple picking recently with a great neighbor who has two of the cutest kids with the best smiles. They make for great photo ops too!

Seriously. Don't you just want to eat her up?!?

Thankfully we could split a bushel with said neighbor so that I didn't have to eat so many apples. Imagine the torturous pain if we had to eat the whole bushel!

We have more fall activities planned. The ones I'm looking forward to most? I'm chaperoning a field trip to a farm with Elisabeth's first grade class and we'll go pumpkin picking as a family as well. And halloween. And truck or treat by the lake. Just to name a few. I can't wait! I'm sure I'll have more photos to torture you with soon enough, my pretties (insert evil laugh)!

eight

2010-09-28T11:38:00.001-05:00

Happy Anniversary to my best friend and love of my life.

What is the gift for anniversary #8?

I think I've already gotten it: I'm the luckiest girl alive and thank God every day for blessing me with this great life.

Patience.

2010-09-22T21:32:00.001-05:00

The girls are taking swim lessons.

I love love LOVE that they are taking swim lessons. One because I think it is a very important skill that every person should know, and two, because I loved swimming. The swim team was the one sport I really, truly, loved.

I loved the feeling of slicing through the water. Of being weightless yet so powerful. ~~Of having a super dreamy and cute coach to admire.~~ Of having an awesome coach to look up to and respect.

Okay and admire.

I love watching Sydney not fear the water and dunk herself under without thinking about it.

I love watching Elisabeth perfect her basic swim technique because she truly seems to enjoy it. I can almost see her in a few years racing through the water, although I try not to because that is her decision, not mine. I also try not to envision that because no matter what I say she does the opposite. Darnit! So I remain supportive and patiently wait.

Very patiently. Wait.

I mean seriously, look at that form!

Chicago and a Grey's Anatomy Reference

2010-09-10T12:40:00.003-05:00

It's no secret that my friend Kate is a very important person in my life. In fact, I have often referred to her as "my person". She is there for me always and exudes happiness, energy, and can find the good in anyone. I stand to learn a lot from her.

She also knows how to live it up on her birthday!

Along with a handful of other amazing women, we spent the entire day downtown helping celebrate Kate's birthday. We snacked and sipped the afternoon away at a restaurant off Michigan Ave and then treated ourselves to a mani/pedi. A few of us were able to continue the party on a private racing boat, the S.S. Painkiller (and boy was it!) as we were treated to more amazing food and never-ending glasses of wine, an awesome crew and a breathtaking view of Chicago. It is not often I get to see Chicago, never mind view it like this.

You can consider this the "before" picture. Don't we look so nice?

Do you see the Ferris Wheel in the picture below? That's Navy Pier. I have to admit, I may never go back to viewing it in person. I much prefer looking at it from a boat. Less people. More wine.

The Tall Ships were also in town and docked at Navy Pier:

The sun slowly went down as we sailed around. It made for some great photo opportunities and I never stopped snapping away.

Have you ever wondered how many people can fit in a self-taken photo?

(You can consider these the "after" photos. Someone even offered to take a nicer picture of us and we refused. That would have ruined the fun!)

I'm thinking we could have fit one more!

As the wine flowed, I continued to take more photos. Kate steered the boat while her boatboy directed her.

Here is the cityscape as we bobbed on by.

It's a good thing the night ended, because I'd be afraid to see what any more pictures would have looked like. Probably much like my white pants did -- full of wine.

Happy birthday Kate!

Enjoy the moment.

2010-08-28T13:00:00.002-05:00

I took this picture on Thursday, Elisabeth's first full day of school. She had a writing exercise to work on and decided to sit in the old school chair that came from my mother in law's farmhouse that was recently torn down.

Do you see the baby in the picture above Elisabeth's head? That's Elisabeth when she was 6 months old.

Time flies by so fast, doesn't it? It's just crazy to me that this big girl who does her homework sitting in an old schoolchair was once so little. How on earth did that happen? I am not sure which age I love more. I love almost* each and every stage/age that Elisabeth has been through.

*Except the 3.5 to 4.5 age. That stage I could have done without.

How does a tiny baby grow to be an independent child who doesn't need help working on her penmanship homework? How does that happen so fast? It is moments like this when I realize that another 6 years will flash past me with barely a blink of the eye. She'll be almost 13 then. Thirteen! I have to take these moments to remind myself to slow down and enjoy the craziness. If she has gone from being a baby to being a first grader in a flash, she'll probably be grown up and married before we know it too.

Enjoy the moment.

It'll be gone before you know it.

First day of school! First day of school!

2010-08-26T22:35:00.005-05:00

I think I had the same post title last year. What can I say, I love Nemo.

Elisabeth loved her first day of school. Sadly, she did not get to hang with William. But she did make some new friends and was super excited that she got to bring a snack to school and that they had recess and there was no math on the first day. All the important things, right? Right.

First Grade!

2010-08-25T22:04:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe it was a year ago that I facebook stalked Elisabeth's kindergarten teacher. And chased down a Kindercare bus.

I'm proud to say that I did NOT do any of that this year. But I do believe I was the only one to ask Mrs. Maglares if I could take her picture. How could I resist? Seriously. She is equally as sweet and awesome as Elisabeth's Kindergarten teacher. ~~I'm so excited~~ Elisabeth is so excited!

On Wednesday we dropped off supplies, found Elisabeth's locker and her desk, complete with a yummy Ring Pop. It wasn't until Elisabeth started sucking on it that we realized how much the First Graders looked like babies with these goofy suckers in their mouths. I'm not sure that one was thought through very well.

It made for some awesome gothic lipstick though.

Elisabeth found the spot where her class lines up after recess.

She and her daddy double checked her class list to see if William was on it. He wasn't. But it makes for a good segway on this blog post:

So Elisabeth has a special place in her heart for William.

Like, really special place in her heart.

She has had a crush on him since they started Kindergarten together last year and rode the infamous Kindercare bus together. His mom had a baby (Elisabeth's future sister-in-law) and so William has been home all summer. It's just about killing Elisabeth. If you and I are friends on Facebook, you may have seen posts every now and then about Elisabeth's William comments. She makes a lot of them. Her most recent comment the morning of her first day of school?

"Mom, I really miss William. I really hope I see him today. You know, he's really special to me. Did you know that? I really like him a lot. He makes my stomach feel funny. And I think, I think, I think that I might cry when I see him today."

Wow. I fear for the teenage years.

I guess for now we'll just be happy with a sweet First Grader. We're so proud of Elisabeth!

And I promise I won't chase anymore Kindercare busses. That is, until Sydney goes to Kindergarten. No promises there, people.

My future photographer...

2010-08-24T23:07:00.001-05:00

...took this picture.

How to take a really great picture of your children. Or not.

2010-08-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

How to take a great picture of your children on a 185 degree day:

Find an amazing backdrop at the Milwaukee Zoo.

Ask them to say "Fuzzy Pickle!" because you're guaranteed to make them laugh as they say it.

If you ask them to say this too often and they don't smile, well, at least you can practice your lip reading skills via photos.

Goofy faces? Fear not. Just keep snapping away.

You're bound to get at least one good picture of the kids, right?

When one child gets annoyed and proclaims "I'm outta here, this is bowwwrrring", don't fret.

You still have one child sitting - so keep snapping away!

Maybe the younger child who often says "But I'M listening, mommy" will actually DO that and smile for you like you asked.

Or not.

And even if monkey see monkey do kicks in and the second child starts to leave too,

keep snapping! The battle isn't over yet!

You still have a chance to get a great shot!

Maybe!

Or not.

There is always next time.

American Graffiti

2010-08-06T07:41:00.003-05:00

While Mark and I love to see our children express their creativity through art, we most certainly do not condone using our actual home as a blank canvas. That being said, when I find this kind of graffiti on my office door I can't help but smile:

and I am not sure it will be coming off the door any time soon. ♥

Summer Days

2010-07-31T22:46:00.004-05:00

People keep talking about summer coming to a close.

That's so depressing!

So we are soaking up every last ray of sun.

Eating lots of grapes.

Swimming.

Hanging out with neighbors.

And hanging onto our lazy summer days for as long as we can.

untitled

2010-07-27T07:05:00.000-05:00

Crouching tiger. Hidden sister.

2010-07-25T22:51:00.000-05:00

One day last week when I picked up the girls at daycare all of the kids in Elisabeth's class had their faces painted. It was actually really confusing trying to sort through a sea of bloody monster faced boys and beautiful bright kitty faced girls. It took me a while to find my own tiger.

Sydney more than freaked when she saw Elisabeth. She's had quite an overactive imagination going lately (she sees a scary ghost boy to be exact but who's keeping track?) and this didn't help matters! It took a while for me to pry her fingernails out of my arm and get her to stop screaming and it took a lot of coaxing by Elisabeth as she tried to reassure Sydney that it was still her loving big sister underneath the "scary" mask. Eventually Sydney warmed up to her kitty-cat sister when she realized the kitty was coming home with us instead of the usual Elisabeth, and they are now loving siblings again.

Thank the lord. Because I love watching my children transform into a giggling push-me-pull-you.

Preserved memories

2010-07-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

The farmhouse.

No longer.

Still, this place is a foundation carved full of memories.

Literally.

We may not be able to climb the trees or play by the fireplace any longer,

But you can bet we will remember every time we step on the ash-stained limestones that will be placed in our garden.

We will miss you, dear farmhouse.

You have been good to us. Thank you for giving us so much of yourself.

Ode to a farmhouse

2010-07-06T07:59:00.001-05:00

This was originally drafted last year -- July, 2009. Never posted. I am not sure why I never posted it, but it seems appropo now, considering the farmhouse is gone. The city has claimed the land via emminent domain to soon build a huge bypass. There is nothing left at the farmhouse but weeds. Ground up tree stumps. A demolished fireplace. An open foundation. And a ton of memories.

Dear farmhouse, thank you so much for all that you have given to so many of us. While I have only known you for less than a decade, Mark has known you for all his life. His mom lived here with her many siblings and has fond memories. For me, you provide the perfect tree for my children to climb and to hit a pinata with their distant relatives. You provide the perfect cement slab for watching the trains go by. You provide the perfect land to run around and play. The perfect sheds to go exploring and discovering old treasures. You provide the perfect home for us to gather at. To reflect on life. To reconnect with family. To appreciate our elders. To think about our elders growing up in this house. The history in these walls runs deep. I don't know much of it, but I can feel it when I step onto your land, dear farmhouse. I will miss you sorely.

Sydney speak and mommy-isms

2010-06-24T07:08:00.015-05:00

Sydney: "That's a cacagahlo mommy?"

Which of course is Sydney speak for crocodile. I think. She was pointing to an alligator. (The Crystal Lake South Gator, to be exact, for you locals.)

More of my new favorite Sydney words:

Alacoppa (helicopter)

Bubbatie (butterfly -- my personal fave)
Momocaca (motorcycle)
Bewbie used to mean bird. It's recently changed to bewdie. And those hoppers that loiter in our yard have turned from bubbies into bunnies. (sigh) At least they still eat those orange cae-coes at our house.

And of course, these two words:

Tie (slide)

Bubbos (bubbles)

Her vocabulary is ever-expanding and much to my dismay the majority of it is being articulated ever so clearly now. It kind of makes me sad to see our baby turn into a girl. Not to say we aren't loving every minute of the almost-threes. Because we are. I so love this age.

How can anyone not like this age?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, a statement that can only come out of the mouths of moms:

Me: "No sweetie, you may not clean the table until you put your plate in the sink."

HUH?

As Sydney would say, "da tilly mommeeee".

Lest you think I'm lying about the whole expression thing ...

2010-06-23T07:31:00.004-05:00

Exhibit B. Sweet Sydney's daycare photo.

First Haircut

2010-06-13T22:05:00.002-05:00

Sydney had her first haircut today. She was very excited about it!

Or so we thought. Sydney has a way with expressions when she is unsure of a situation. The change inevitably occurs when she is being photographed by professional daycare photographers or, as evidenced today, when she is getting her first haircut.

Even so, she was very brave. She sat on my lap so that she was high enough for Miss Kim to cut the back. Kim doesn't normally cut kids' hair, but she does cut mine and I didn't want anyone else to touch Sydney's hair. At least not the first time.

Sydney helped count my fingers while she was supposed to keep her chin down.

She was a little unsure about the whole situation, but she was very brave and didn't make a peep the entire time.

She didn't need to make a peep -- the face says it all, don't you think?

In any case, she looks very cute. Her hair is still curly and just slightly changed. No more McGruber mullet, just a cute girly bob.

And you know what? As soon as we got home the expression-filled Sydney was back in a flash.

(I was waiting for the "speak no evil" pose. It never happened.)

(Coincidence??? I'm not so sure!)

I love Sydney's new haircut. Still nice and curly with a hint of crazy. Very fitting for my sweet-with-a-side-of-crazy little girl!

Vacation = Good

2010-05-19T14:36:00.002-05:00

Mark and I went to Aruba for a long weekend vacation.

It was fantastic, as we knew it would be!

Vacations are good for the soul.

And good for the marriage.

Not so good for the skin; unless of course you are channelling your inner lobster...

Hi my name is Erin

2010-04-20T21:42:00.000-05:00

And I have been a huge messy ball of negativity lately, none of which looks very good on me. Thankfully, I've been given good news in the past two days and I am now ready to shed some negative pounds! (Too bad those don't equate into actual pounds, because judging from the amount of candy wrappers in my office garbage can, I could stand to shed a couple of those, too.)

(If we are friends on Facebook then you can just ignore all of this because it's old news to "you's guys" as my Dad would say)

My dad had his surgery on Monday and it went very well! For four hours, robots worked to take out his prostate. Robots!! For four hours!! The Dr. was very pleased with what his robot helpers took out. When you think robots, do you think of transformers doing the surgery? No? Yeah, me neither.

Ahem.

The Dr. stated that he saw exactly what he thought he would see, and his prostate is now sitting in the hands of a pathologist that will analyze it to be sure that's truly the case, and from what my dad told me he will simply need to go in for testing periodically to be monitored and be certain that the "C" word is never a part of his vocabulary again.

Speaking of the "C" word, I'm happy to announce that it's not a part of my vocabulary either! The results of my biopsy came back with a beautiful "Non-Suspicious" label slapped on them. We still don't know why that big ball of fluff of a lymph node is there but we do know that we've ruled out the scary stuff. I'm going to take antibiotics and we will see if that brings it down, and I will go back to the ENT in 3 or 4 weeks.

It's been a while since I've felt this light! A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders (again, I wish the scale showed it) and I have a renewed spring in my step, which is so refreshing. I'm sure you guys were getting sick of hearing my "woe is me" crap anyways.

So now I will show you some Easter photos, which are much cuter than negativity.

(FYI, a whisk makes a perfect egg holder when coloring Easter eggs!)

So long, negativity!

Thanks for all of the warm thoughts and the prayers while we've (okay mostly "I've") been struggling. We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives!

Love,
Erin

Update

2010-04-13T12:22:00.003-05:00

Just an update to tell you that I'm still alive (haha, I know). The ENT walked Mark and I through the CT results, and one of the lymph nodes looked like a solid jelly bean and although it looked small to us was supposedly large. The other even larger one looked like a big ball of fluff. The ENT swears it's a lymph node. He's the smart one, so I guess we'll believe him! I have a needle biopsy on Thursday afternoon and should know the results by Monday.

My dad is having his prostate removed on Monday. Please pray that all goes well for my dad and for me.

Although she still has them, Elisabeth has been doing better with the accidents! I sure hope we are on the right track!

Elisabeth also lost her first tooth the day before Easter! She was so so SO mad when her grandpa pulled it out, but fortunately all has been forgiven.

The tooth fairy was nice enough to leave 5 singles under Elisabeth's pillow when we returned home late Sunday night from Grandma and Grandpa's house. Word on the street is that each subsequent tooth gives less than the first lost tooth. Thank goodness, or that tooth fairy would be broke!

In other unrelated news, it appears that $5 is missing from Sydney's piggy bank. No word on who may have taken it, but they did leave an IOU speckled with what appears to be fairy dust glitter.

Pray it's nothing.

2010-04-05T16:35:00.001-05:00

I had a contrast CT scan last week to take a look at the lump in my neck.

First of all, let me just say that if I wasn't claustrophobic before, I certainly am now! A CT scan is not the scary MRI tube - it's just a donut that they pass you though while laying on a table to look at whatever they need to look at. I didn't think it would be bad, until they stuck my head inside of it and turned it on. I thought I might have my head stuck inside the engine on a jet plane. It was crazy! But also done in about 5 seconds. The iodine passing through my body also left me a little off feeling but all in all not so bad.

I got the results today. I have two enlarged lymph nodes and since I last saw my physician last week they are starting to hurt. I am going in to see an ENT on Friday. If you don't mind, can you just pray that this is nothing?

Dirty laundry

2010-03-30T16:43:00.000-05:00

I've got some dirty laundry I'd like to air out because frankly, I'm tired of holding it in.

Elisabeth has been having a lot of potty accidents during the day. A lot. She's actually been having them on and off since we started at KinderCare, right before Sydney was born. That's when I started feeling like my little girl was very fragile and I was afraid I would break her. We have tried just about every potty training and parenting technique to try and alleviate the accidents, all of which have not helped. We recently took her to get an abdominal ultrasound and x-ray to see if there was something physically wrong. Everything looks normal. We are now seeing a child psychologist to see if she can help us figure out how to emotionally fix it. We have one session under our belt, four more to go. Please pray that this works. Because I can't bear to hear the school nurse tell me again that she doesn't consider Elisabeth to be potty trained. If I have to hear it again I may climb thru the phone and smack that woman who is actually very nice, so it would't be so nice for me to do that.

I am embarrassed about Elisabeth's accidents and often worry that people will think we are bad parents. Yes, I know that's crazy.

My dad has prostate cancer. He is having his prostate removed in a few weeks. I'm pretty confident that my dad is going to be just fine, but that C word is scary as hell and really bothers me. A lot.

I have a lump in my neck, just below my ear. I don't really think it's anything to worry about, but I'm having a cat-scan to check it out and figure out if it's a cyst or an enlarged lymph node which would need to be biopsied. I'm a little neurotic these days, so it's a little bothersome to me.

Mark's dad has been in the hospital twice in the past few weeks and he is fine, but it has not been a fun rollercoaster.

My grandpa Marvin died in January. I miss him dearly and can't get myself to post anything about his death and his amazing funeral.

I am totally stressed out and working really hard trying to relearn everything at my job. I am in love with my job, I'm just working some long hours and it's hard for me to balance my career and my family at the moment.

I had a dream the other night that Elisabeth had cancer, so I told Mark about it last night. He confessed to me that he had the same dream recently but didn't want to tell me because he knew I would freak out.

Officially freaked out. One dream is okay, but two separate parties having the same dream is a bit profound, don't you think?

I feel like I have a lot on my plate. It's been a long year, and I'm tired. I think back to after Mark's heart attack and how clear everything was to me, and it makes me chuckle because now that he is fine everything is muddy.

What the heck is that all about?

Cool like fi-yah

2010-03-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

Did you hear the story about the 7 year old boy in CA that grabbed his little sister and a telephone and locked themselves in the bathroom and called 911 when some burglars broke into his house and said they would kill his parents?

Holy mackerel! (Pardon my French.) I had such mixed emotions when listening to the 911 call on the news. What a brave and smart little boy!

We took that story as a reminder to have the 911 emergency talk with Elisabeth again. It had been a while.

So we asked her: "Elisabeth, do you know what you would do if there was an emergency and mommy and daddy couldn't help?"

And this was her simple response: "Well yeah, you call 911. Don't you know the song that teaches us about that?"

Uh, no. How does the song go Elisabeth?

Cue the music. (That means click the little triangle "play" icon in the blue rectangle below for those of us that could also use some help programming our VCR's and Blackberries.)

Who knew this guy called "Shawty" was so educational?

Birds of a feather

2010-03-23T17:35:00.000-05:00

Some of you who know me well would say that I'm stubborn. But let's call it spirited instead, shall we?

And most of you who know Elisabeth would say that she is spritedly stubborn as well.

She and I are two of a kind. As stubborn and spirited as they get. Which is why when I heard the following story about a recent stay at Grandma's house, I had a newfound appreciation for my eldest's ability to get out of anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scene: Grandma and Elisabeth, snuggling in bed together. Way past Elisabeth's bedtime, but I won't get into that.

It was a dark and stormy night...

(okay, not really dark and stormy)

Grandma: Now Elisabeth, if you are going to stay at Grandma's house, you need to behave.

Elisabeth: Why?

Grandma: Because if you don't (insert grumbly "Where the Wild Things Are" monstery voice that only my mom can do so well), I'm going to tie you to the tree outside!

Elisabeth: That's okay Gwamma, because the birds will just eat the string off of me for their nests, and then I'll come back inside!

Insidious laughter ensues by all. End scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's my girl!

drowning

2010-03-18T13:08:00.000-05:00

Do you ever feel like you can't keep your head above water? With all of the career stuff, mom stuff, wife stuff, and just general life stuff going on?

Yeah, me too.

Soak it in

2010-03-08T17:00:00.002-06:00

I'm not going to make this a cliche' post about how fast time flies and how it seems like just yesterday that my children were helpless newborns.   (Although it's true -- and I will use the cliche' another time, you can count on it!)

Instead I will tell you about yesterday.

The children in our church collect coins for children in Peru. For just pennies a day our children are able to help feed hungry families that can't afford to eat. It's quite an amazing program, and the kids take such pride in donating their coins.

Sydney is no exception. Although they are not necessarily her coins, she still brings a handful of coins from where we sit in the back row, all the way up the center aisle, puts them into the big jar and goes back to her seat. Usually we kind of walk up with her and help guide her.

But yesterday I decided to guide her to the center aisle and then let her go on her own.

I let her go.

She walked so carefully down that center aisle, so slowly, with such a beautiful smile on her face. She looked from side to side, smiling at all of the people sitting down.  Every eye was on our sweet little Sydney, and I stood there at the back of the church and just watched. I soaked it in. This was our baby, who was proudly walking down the church aisle, who was somehow getting everyone else to soak her in. With every step she took, she seemed to give off this amazing, addicting energy that I can't even put into words. She continued to walk to the front of the church, and when she got to the jar she carefully placed each coin inside. One at a time, she lovingly placed each of her special coins into the jar to help feed the children in Peru who are not nearly as fortunate as we are.  With all eyes in the room on her every graceful move, I was told that I wasn't the only one with watery eyes.

As she turned around to slowly walk back, she continued to smile her sweet little closed-mouth smile that she smiles whenever she is proud of herself, and continued to watch every single person that was watching her.  And when she saw me standing at the back of the church, my knees bent, my arms wide open, her smile grew ten times larger, her eyes grew ten times brighter and she ran for me with her own arms wide open. I grabbed her in my arms, scooped her up, showered her with kisses and told her how proud I was.

The whole thing kind of happened in slow motion. Sydney's very slow and methodical pace had a lot to do with that, but as I watched it all unfold, I was so filled with pride that I could almost feel her growing up before my eyes. I could feel her doing amazing things with her life with that same purpose and that same captivating grace that she showed yesterday as every eye in the church followed her every move with anticipation and delight. I could feel her walking down the same aisle as an adult, her daddy by her side. And I could see myself with her as well, looking back and thinking about how she once walked down that aisle as a toddler to put her pennies in the jar.

I soaked it in.

Because these moments don't happen every day.

Life is often quite rushed for us. I don't always remember to stop and just let the moment happen.

Yesterday I did, and I soaked it in.

I heart Valentine's Day

2010-03-03T22:31:00.000-06:00

We have a tradition of making a heart shaped pizza on Valentine's Day. This year, considering we now have a very cute live-in raccoon as well as a bird-turned less-of-a-bird, we figured we'd better make two.

The less-of-a-bird decided that her heart would have a face on it, complete with black olive freckles.

Mad cute. The pizza and the bird, that is. You can ignore the mommy in the photo, if you don't mind.

The raccoon's pizza had a ton of toppings on it. The Dad may have had something to do with that too I suppose.

In any case, both pizzas turned out pretty darn good!

We had a fancy dinner in the dining room. Take notice of Sydney's favorite Mr. Potato Head glasses that she is wearing. She would wear them everywhere if we let her!

Our fancy pizza dinner ended with some equally amazing cherry Jello, fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Don't get me wrong, the pizza was good. But it's apparent that the dessert was good.

And of course the night wouldn't have been complete without some giggles, some craziness and lots of love.

I heart Valentine's Day. Nights like this make me remember how much I heart my family as well!

Finding their inner divas

2010-02-28T21:31:00.000-06:00

My editorial for the day.

2010-02-25T07:00:00.009-06:00

I once got an email from a place I used to work at that started with this research factoid:

"Tardiness costs U.S. businesses more than $3 billion each year in lost productivity. The effect on the bottom line of the average business is significant: An employee who is late 10 minutes each day has, by the end of the year, taken the equivalent of a week's paid vacation." (source: HR Magazine, Nov. 2005, by Dianna DeLonzor)

Awesome.

Got anything about Saturdays?

And then the email went on to say that tardiness and leaving early were becoming an increasing problem in the company and restated the normal working hours. At this point my coworker and I had been busting our behinds, working long hours, all with a paycut in hand. To say we were insulted by this email would be an understatement. And here is the issue we had with the email.

Being the fantastic market researchers that we were and still are, this research has a flaw. It is not telling the whole story (and it's very outdated, but we'll ignore that). How many weeks of unpaid vacation are employees getting for all of the extra time they put in? What is the counter-effect? Is the reason these employees are coming in 15 minutes late each day because they are staying an hour or two after work each day? Or possibly working into the wee hours of the Tonight Show? How much time are they giving without being paid?

My coworker put together the best email in response to the email that we got. Of course it didn't get sent to anyone but it sure made us feel good. It's hanging on my wall and always puts a smile on my face.

"Working overtime and being extremely busy every day can cause an employee to hate their job, cause depression, cause lack of sleep, cause frustration, and cause medical issues. This has and will continue to be a problem for the market research department So, our normal working hours are 8:30 to 4:15. You do not need to work overtime because we don't want you to be late for the next day because you were up til midnight working and only spending one hour with your family. (Source, {an awesome friend who will kill me for posting this but I'm keeping it anonymous so I think it's okay, okay?})"

And that pretty much sums up what happened after the whole company got this email. People stopped working extra hours. They worked during the regular business hours and were not tardy but did not stay late. It was the start of the Disgruntled Club.

Not to mention a complete backfire on the company's part. One of many that would follow.

Have I mentioned how much I love my NEW job? Don't get me wrong, there are many days when I work after hours. But that is okay. That is normal, especially if you take pride in your job. Here there is no reason for the Club. They are successful and are busting out of their office space (no pun intended) (okay, intended) seams but so far nobody has been moved to Storage Room B and we all get to keep our staplers. The thing that I love is that this company is so, well, normal. And totally awesome. And there is a completely mutual level of trust and respect. They don't send out emails about old research cited from HR Magazine because they know that we all work our tails off and hours (although we have them - don't get me wrong) are honestly pointless as long as the work is being done to its fullest. And being a market research company they would probably laugh at that research too.

I am so very very thankful for my new job is all I'm saying here folks.

Newsflash

2010-02-15T22:37:00.003-06:00

I am so in love WITH this kid. (is that better, michelle?)

You Still Color My World

2010-02-12T17:39:00.003-06:00

So I thought I was done making Valentines after that 2nd batch for Elisabeth.

I lied, okay?

Besides, Sydney needs Valentines to share too...

You Color My World

2010-02-09T21:05:00.003-06:00

Alternately titled: Reduce Reuse Recycle. I couldn't decide, so you get both. You're welcome.

Elisabeth and I worked hard to make her Valentines by hand this year. We made 23 of them, and we didn't purchase a single item! We have world's largest bag of crayons in our house -- it's where all of our crayons go when they enter our house because I could no longer stand having 13 opened boxes laying around. It works well and it shows us what a ridiculous number of crayons we own so that I don't get tempted to buy any.

So, we decided to Go Green for Valentine's day and Reduce those crayons, Reusing them by turning them into wonderfully unique pieces of art that could be shared with Elisabeth's friends. And although there was none involved in this project, we Recycle every day!

I think they turned out pretty darn cute, don't you? Of course I can't take the credit for the project, it came from Disney's Family Fun magazine.

Here's how we did it.

Peel the wrappers off your broken (or not) crayons. FYI, the cheapies that you get at the restaurants are MUCH easier to peel. Less glue.

If they aren't already, break up the crayons into little pieces. A meat mallet works wonders and gets a good deal of frustration out!

Put the pieces into tiny heart shaped muffin tins. Ours is a silicone Wilton 24ct pan. Fill it up, because they're going to melt down more than you think they will.

Bake at 250 for 10 to 15 minutes. We needed the full 15 but that's because of the silicone pan. I think.

When they are melted take 'em out of the oven and let cool. Then pop them out! If you have a hard time getting them out, place the pan in the freezer for a few minutes and they will slide right out. This is a good tip for candles, too.

Write out your favorite punny saying on circles of paper - we chose You Color My World - in fun colors. We discovered as we went along that the ones written in multiple colors were the coolest. Make sure to leave room in the center for the heart. Have your child sign their name on the back. Make sure you do this before the next step!

Attach some thick foam tape to the back of the heart and place in the center of your circle.

Voila!

It took us more time than it would take to buy, say, Pixy Stix Valentines and sign them, but I think these are super cute. And it was a good lesson about saving our planet, too. Oh -- and best of all, it was a great bonding experience!

I just found out tonight that Elisabeth needs another 25 Valentines for her daycare party as well. YIKES! So excuse me, I'm going to go peel some more crayons.

Fun Fair: Microphones and Moxy

2010-02-06T22:53:00.003-06:00

We went to Elisabeth's school's Fun Fair today. Have you ever heard of that? I hadn't. It's basically an indoor fair at school that's fun. Shocking, I know!

(It's also a haven for lice -- we hung onto our coats and hats and hugged nobody.)

We had so much fun at the fair. Elisabeth had fun playing the games and we had fun watching Elisabeth in her element. Of course many of her classmates were also at the fun fair, and even some neighbors!

We played lots of games that payed out big. We're stocked now in green rubber witchy fingers, marbles, tiny plastic airplanes that don't fly, tic-tac-toe boards and rubber bouncy balls. Oh and four inflatable microphones. That's right, four. All paid out at the same time. The same time. They gave us 4 inflatable microphones. For losing the game. Four. At the same time. I wonder what we would have received had we won?

Elisabeth ran into Addy, who she used to be good friends with at daycare and now shares a locker with but never sees because Addy is in AM Kindergarten and Elisabeth is in PM. The fun fair was like a reunion for them, and it was obvious that their feelings for each other hadn't changed a bit.

(Notice inflatable microphone number 1 in the photo above.)

Elisabeth and Addy didn't waste any time and jumped straight into the Karaoke line.

Holy cuteness.

When Elisabeth and Addy were up, they chose a classic Karaoke tune: B-I-N-G-O.

They had the whole cafeteria clapping along! Mostly because they didn't realize they were supposed to clap for the silent letters, I suppose, but that's such a minutely small detail -- I mean, these kids have way more moxy than I'll ever have.

They even had groupies!

Seriously, 6 year olds and karaoke are quite possibly the best mix. They have no inhibitions. And as a parent, watching from the tiny cafeteria tables where you once sat 30 years ago, you can almost fast-forward 10 years and see who your child will be. It's moments like this when they just seem so grown up and the pride flows from you.

Until you try and take a picture of your child watching her crush sing and she gets embarrassed. Then you're brought back to reality.

It's all about the chase, people.

2010-02-02T23:27:00.005-06:00

Did you catch the wolf moon last weekend? We did -- it was AMAZING! We were driving through the country, and there was this ginormous red ball of fire set behind a farm. It took me a while to figure out what it was until we got closer to the barn and the red ball moved and suddenly had a familiar face.

WOW!

So I made Mark pull over so I could take a picture and capture the moment.

FYI, the picture above is NOT mine. It came from someone much more prepared than me at flickr. I have no idea who they are but their picture is amazing, and pretty much captures what we saw.

THIS my friends, this little beauty is what I captured via my fancy Crackberry phone:

(Really? Can they really call it a camera if that's what it captures?)

I'm telling you, that moon was huge - why does it look like a speck of dust - or maybe even a louse if you look carefully - more than it does the giant moon that stood right in front of us?

I was bummed that I didn't have a better camera with me because I'm suuuuuure I'd be able to capture the same beauty* that my flickr friend did so beautifully. Sigh. If only I had brought my equipment, the picture would have been as breathtaking as the actual moment was.

*totally joking. there is no way I could replicate that kind of picture - it's awesome!

The next night after dinner we bundled up and headed out the door in hopes of finding the same beautiful blazing red wolf moon again, except it was cloudy and snowy. We tried. We tried hard. We drove and drove and drove. And somehow our car and my fantastic full-moon-finding-inner-gps-skills led us straight to another beautiful spot.

And it was SO worth the chase!

What have you been up to?

2010-01-26T17:07:00.001-06:00

What have I been up to? Well thanks for asking! I'll tell you what I've been up to.

I've been researching mental institutions, because that's where I should be.

Those are head lice.

O. M. freaking G.

I have never considered myself to be a germophobe. I mean, I wash my hands and try to make sure the kids aren't licking the glass (emphasis on "try") but for the most part germs don't bother me. But apparently uninvited bugs that feed on our scalps and lay eggs in our hair leaving us with fresh new itchy friends is a completely different story. Completely. Different. Story. For the past 3 weeks I have been consumed in a world of lice, both real and imaginary.

**I should preface this next part by saying that it's not so much about the workload that these bugs caused me, but more about the insanity that took over my brain.**

We took some guests home with us one day a few weeks ago and I became a neurotic mess. A total basket case. Washing every article of clothing that was touched, including the clothes that I wore when I put a load of laundry in the washing machine. I must have changed clothes 5 times each day. I washed each towel that was touched, I washed the bedding daily and we only slept with one blanket to keep the laundry down to a "bare"minimum. HA!

I combed through and inspected each individual strand of Elisabeth's hair nightly. We all washed our hair with Rid and combed with fancy metal combs. (By the way, if you're looking for the next up and coming stock to purchase, might I recommend Rid. We dumped enough money into that stinky brand that their stock probably skyrocketed!) Along with that, poor Elisabeth had to endure crazy hair treatments like Listerine and Vinegar. We all washed our hair with tea tree oil shampoo and coconut conditioner, neither of which I can stand the smell of anymore. Sydney had mysterious jumping dandruff that made me inspect her like she was my monkey baby. Only difference is I didn't eat the bugs. :)

All stuffed animals and dollies went into garbage bags and froze outside in the sub-zero temps on our porch for two weeks. (I still feel guilty about freezing them to stuffed animal/dolly death!) Hats, coats and mittens went straight into the dryer for an hour every time we came home.

We didn't hug each other or snuggle for weeks. I wouldn't let my kids lay down on anything but their own beds for fear of transferring unknown new intruders. They weren't allowed to do summersaults on the carpeting until a random date that I set. And when that date came I pushed it back because I wasn't mentally ready to let go of my fear.

When one of us scratches our scalps I immediately assume that it's the Invasion of the Lice Part II. I inspect everything. Every speck of dirt that I see, I assume it's a louse. Every person who scratches their head has an "obvious" case of head lice in my mind. Last week while travelling for work (which is going fabulously, thankyouverymuch) a very nice and good looking man offered me his coat while we waited in the cold for our luggage, and while I thought that was amazingly and shockingly chivalrous, I declined for fear that I would catch lice from him.

I have never been this way about anything! When we lived in NJ our bedrooms were in the basement and we had a lot of centipedes living with us. It was quite disgusting, but somehow even that didn't bother me as much as this did. This has completely consumed me. Some kids see dead people, I see bugs. I haven't been doing much else besides working and thinking about lice for the past 3 weeks.

Oddly enough being away from home for a couple of days last week was enough to calm me down and now that the laundry is caught up and I'm feeling slightly less looney, I'm even hugging my children, which feels so so so nice. The verdict of course, is out on when I will allow summersaulting on the carpet again. Maybe next week. Or the week after that.

So, Hi My Name Is Erin and I'm officially a recovering louse-o-phobic crazy lady.

What have you been up to?

Old stomping grounds

2009-12-16T22:14:00.002-06:00

I started my awesome new (and old) job this week. I'm in New Jersey all week, learning all kinds of new things and meeting all kinds of new people. I'm also enjoying reminiscing back to our NJ days. Elisabeth had asked me before I left if I would take a picture of the city, and of course I forgot to bring my camera, but lucky for me (or not-so-lucky, depending on the situation!) I have a BlackBerry now that I can take pictures with! The picture quality isn't so hot but at least I was able to get the picture for her. (Actually, my old boss Lisa was able to get the picture - she had to show me how to use the camera properly.)

Really, I could look at the NYC skyline for hours. We used to live across from Central Park on the other side of the Hudson River, and had the most amazing view. I miss it. So I felt it was necessary to drive around our old stomping grounds and see what's changed and what hasn't. A daily-new-door-ding on the side of your car is still there. Our old apartment is still there, and our slimy landlord (who lived above us) is apparently still there too. Or at least his red BMW is. Our dry cleaner is still there. El Sonsonateco, a little restaurant at the top of our road, that we never ate at but LOVED to say out loud (seriously - try it!) is still there. The lack of parking is still there. And so is the awesome view. My favorite building is the Chrysler building, and it's still there too! Still as beautiful as ever. Oh, and some really great friends are still here!

I kind of forgot how much I missed New Jersey, but still it will be so nice to see the girls and Mark again. Sydney told me tonight "Mama, Ah Eee Ah Ceam!" Clear as day -- Mama, I eat ice cream. Why do kids age so much while we're away from them? She also said "wuv oo tchooo". Sigh.

So I will see them late Friday night when I return home. Until then I'm going to continue to enjoy my stay here in NJ!

On the Nice list

2009-12-07T20:22:00.002-06:00

We went to Oney's Tree Farm the Saturday after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. It was such a sweet day, I am not sure I will ever go back to getting a tree from Home Depot! Talk about a difference in experiences.

Before we went out to the trees we hung out with Mrs. Claus and then rode some ponies that she has living next to her cottage.

As always, you'd never be able to tell but Sydney thoroughly enjoyed herself on the pony ride. She's actually signing "more" with her hands in this picture. She couldn't get enough. Not sure she felt the same way about Mrs. Claus though.

Mrs. Claus was such a sweet lady. I have met Mrs. Claus in various locations throughout my life, but I still found myself all choked up while we visited with her this time. I had to wipe quite a few tears away after we left her cottage and I made sure give her a huge Thank You for being such a great lady. What would the world be without Mrs. Claus? I mean, really? The world could use a few more of that sweet lady.

Mrs. Claus was sure to ask Elisabeth what she and Sydney (who wouldn't even so much as look at Mrs. Claus) wanted for Christmas, so that she could report back to Santa. She also asked Elisabeth to use her special pen and put Sydney's and her name on the Nice list, which she would be bringing back to Santa as well that evening. What a great wife. She does this daily for two weeks straight! Talk about jetlag.

Sydney watched with a cautious eye as Elisabeth put their names on the list. Probably to make sure her name got included.

Thank you Mrs. Claus, for bringing so much joy to my life and to my family. I promise to try not to cry next time I see you!

untitled

2009-12-04T23:23:00.000-06:00

thank you amanda!

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

2009-11-29T22:10:00.005-06:00

We went to the Christmas Tree farm this weekend. We each had our own favorite trees, and one of us won. This was Sydney's favorite.

Sadly, she did not win. Although it is a mighty cute tree with a ton of Charlie Brown Christmas potential, it's just a wee tad on the small side. The tree we did finally choose actually had much of the same Charlie Brown character -- more on that later! But for now, enjoy this sweet photo, for it is one of the few moments in the field (is it a field? it's not really a forest?) where Sydney was not screaming in protest. More on that later, too!

Just one more reason to love the Muppets

2009-11-28T23:01:00.003-06:00

Seriously.

LOVE THEM.

In the words of Miss Piggy...

2009-11-24T16:34:00.003-06:00

...Christmas is coming! (and the goose is getting fat!)

And how do I know Christmas is coming? Because Mark endured a 5 hour battle with a crabapple tree. He has scrapes on his hand. Gouges in his head. There is mud on my kitchen chair. The plastic triangle play thingy was tortured by said kitchen chair as said kitchen chair catapulted Mr. Warrior higher up in the tree.

Yes, it was an epic battle.

But in the end, Mark the Christmas Warrior won out. Or did the tree? Or did I? Or did the neighbors?

I think it's fair to call it win-win. I love our pretty tree. It's a sure sign that Christmas is coming! Let the baking and visiting and decorating and christmas card writing and caroling and shopping and (sometimes stressing) and praying and celebrating begin.

PS - I've been singing John Denver and the Muppets for a week straight, hence the Miss Piggy reference. Best CD ever. Elisabeth now sings it with me. What more could a mom who was born in the Muppet era ask for?

A century minus one.

2009-11-16T17:52:00.078-06:00

Alternatively titled "Fun With Walkers".

My Grandfather turned 99 this October.

99!

I KNOW!

I can hardly believe it myself. Many of us that are able have been going to Florida for years to help celebrate his birthday, and each year it means even more to us. I remember leaving his 90th party and crying on my Dad's shoulder because I thought I would never see my Grandpa Marvin again. Little did I know he had no plans of slowing down!

He still gets around quite well. He is sharp as a tack. His hearing is going a little, but hey if that's the worst of your problems at a century minus one year old, I think that's pretty darn good.

This year my brother and his family were able to come celebrate too!

We all went to visit Grandpa in his apartment the day before the party. Helloooo, chaos! That room is NOT meant for 11 people. 2, tops.

After we sucked all of the oxygen out of the room, we went for a walk to one of the common areas.

This is Josephine, our niece. Isn't she cute?

Josephine was enamored with Grandpa's walker.

Sydney got in on the action as well.

What is it with walkers and kids?

The next day we had a big family party. There were 25 of us that came to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. That's the biggest turnout yet! I wonder what his 100th will be like?

My Great Uncle Bill and Great Aunt Dorothy even came down from Duluth, MN to help celebrate their big brother's birthday. Bill, who hasn't been able to see his brother in 9 years, had been saving a free ticket for Grandpa's funeral someday.

He had just a few people make him rethink that one.

Why not celebrate life while it's still here?

On top of a pretty neat sibling reunion, there was cake at Grandpa's party.

(do you see that smile on my grandpa's face? that's pure happiness.)

There was plenty of visiting.

There was admiration

by 7 great-grandkids.

There was random chicken dancing.

There were traditional whiskey Manhattans had by all.
Grandpa's favorite.

There were gifts (A special sand dollar being one of them, given by Elisabeth).

There was a looking glass

There was random picture taking by a certain almost 6 year old

And there were four amazingly blessed generations.

We really are blessed to have such an awesome family. It's a family that I'm honored to be a part of.

Sunny Days...

2009-11-10T18:15:00.003-06:00

...Sweeping the clouds away...

Sweet and savory

2009-11-08T13:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon Elisabeth and I had a girls' afternoon and I took her to get her hair cut. She was fairly set on cutting it short, which took me by surprise, considering how long we've been working on growing it out. I think I must have told Mark how sad I was that she was going to cut it off, but eventually I succumbed to her wishes and decided that it was her hair and it would be cute no matter what. I guess I forgot to tell Mark that I was okay with it, because he convinced her one night during her bath that she should keep it long, as she wouldn't be able to create her beautiful "updos" in the bathtub if she had short hair. So, this is what we ended up with:

A simple trim. Totally fine by me. She's cute no matter what. And more important than how her hair turned out was the experience of being out together. As we held hands and walked around the outdoor shopping mall together on what is sure to be one of the last few beautiful fall days, the sun warming our backs, listening to and singing along with the Plain White T's "1,2,3,4" that was coming through the mall's speakers, Elisabeth got quiet and then said this:

"Mom, I wish I had a camera right now, so that I could remember this moment with you for a weally long time".

Funny, I had been thinking the same thing. I love moments like that. I'm thankful for our (fairly) sharp minds, so that we do remember that moment for a weally long time.

-------------------------------------

And as for Miss Sydney, who is full of toddlerhood right now, some of which I could do without but most of which is so endearing, well she gave us a good smile in church this morning. During the start of another regularly scheduled temper tantrum (this one brought to you by the letter C), I diverted her and asked her to find the beautiful, hand-carved dove that was hanging in the room. She found it and said "beeeee!" which is Sydney speak for bird. After the tantrum started gaining momentum again we asked her to find Jesus in the appliqued wall hanging that a church member made years ago. She found it and said "JuJu"! which is Sydney speak for Jesus.

The two together seemed to be enough to keep her occupied, and you could see her mental gears turning.

The next thing we heard from Sydney was this: MAMA! Jujubee! DADA! Jujubee!

Just one more reason to continue eating candy, because obviously it's filled with the holy spirit... :D

The latest Sydney speak

2009-11-02T20:56:00.000-06:00

Now that she can speak fairly well (albeit in her own dialect), Sydney likes to tell us all about her friends and daycare teacher.

So on that note, Miss Sydney and I would like to introduce you to a few of her classmates:

Cacah (Rocco)

Addah (Abbi)

Deee (James)

Taytay BEEEE! (Sydney B)

Beh (Ben)

Ahnah (Miss Erin. My personal favorite, of course)

---------------------------

The girls each picked out a piece of candy tonight after dinner. Sydney found a bunch of chocolate "eyeballs". Mark let her eat both of them and so she came to tell me this: Mama, Ahbah Ah Gahh! Clear as day to us, she had said "eyeballs all gone".

--------------------------

And as I type this, she's going around to each of us with my white eyeglass cloth and continually trying to wipe our noses while saying "mah no? mah no? mama mah no? ah dew wah? dada no?" Can you guess what all of that means?

I love toddler talk. Heck, I just love toddlers altogether. (Even when they've been battling the attack of the 2 year molars. Uff da.) I know for a fact that there is still plenty of cuteness ahead of us, but it's still so sad when they outgrow this stage!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T22:17:00.001-06:00

I'm pleased to announce that I survived the month of October, and only have two new gray hairs to prove it. So, now I can finally start cleaning my disgusting house again post pictures of our many halloween adventures that I've been patiently (and responsibly, I might add) waiting to share.

First, let's talk fashion: Elisabeth was a witch and Sydney was a chicken this year. Elisabeth looked ravishing in a mish-mosh of Target (does anybody else besides me read that as "Tar-jay"?) plus one handmade tutu, which was so fun to make! Sydney was stunning in a hand-me-down costume that Elisabeth wore when she was 3. Old Navy. Love them!

Among the Halloween festivities was Elisabeth's kindergarten party, which I was lucky enough to help with. Oh my gosh, those kids are so stinking cute. One of my big roles was to pass around a jar of plastic Frankensteins and ask each child to guess the amount. There were 24. I recorded guesses that ranged from 1 all the way to 1 million. I wish I could help out in the class more often. I could just eat them up.

Here are a slew of neighbor kids and Elisabeth out Trick-or-Treating on Saturday. All of the parents were with us too on the sidelines. I am not sure why, but the kids stood on this porch for a while waiting for the parents to answer. Only problem was...it was OUR house! Although the kids got jipped by those loser parents who weren't answering the door, I was provided with a pretty good photo op!

The big event that we look forward to each October is Truck or Treat. It's on the beach at Crystal Lake and the kids can check out all kinds of city trucks, police cars and fire engines up close and personal. And get candy, of course!

Sydney ran into her doppelganger at Truck or Treat, and it was quite a show. Both chickens stopped in their tracks and started checking each other out. Elisabeth actually ran into her chicken doppelganger years ago when she went dressed as a chicken, too. The pictures are almost identical to one another, just a few years apart!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

397 images of awesomeness

2009-10-21T10:08:00.005-05:00

That's how many pictures we have to choose from.

A year and a half ago we went to this cute photography studio franchise to have some pictures taken. Amanda was our photographer. She's super cool. We had cheerios there for our live-in raccoon/human garbage disposal named Sydney, and Amanda told us she and her family like to eat fried Cheerios. SUPER cool! What other kind of person would think to fry a Cheerio?

She took some mighty amazing photos and they are proudly displayed in our house.

That photography franchise is no more. But Amanda and I have been developing a great friendship. I really like her. And she and Jessica, who also used to work at the studio, are now taking pictures as a team in various locations, as well as pretty much wherever you want.

Here is a picture of Amanda and Jessica, taken by Elisabeth, who by the way has decided she wants to be a photographer just like them.

(Amanda will probably kill me for posting this picture. I'm sorry!)

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have Amanda take our pictures again with Jessica as her lovely assistant, at a beautiful forest preserve. It was 9am, and it.was.frigid. But a beautiful day nonetheless! Although we were cold, we had an awesome time! Amanda has a way of making reluctant to smile children actually smile. She has a way of making me smile too. I was so blissfully happy to be having our pictures taken by her. She really is awesome. And is an awesome person that I am lucky enough to know.

Here are all 397 photos. They're all there, unedited. Because who would expect someone to edit 397 photos? Not I! Unedited as they may be, they are still so great. Later on Amanda will edit the photos that we choose.

I'd love to hear what YOUR favorites are! I plan on hanging a good handful of them together in this room.

Click here to view these pictures larger

If you want Amanda to deliver the same kind of awesomeness for you, let me know and I'll hook you up. ;D

PS - I know I said you wouldn't hear from me for a while, but I couldn't wait to share this with you! Now...Seacrest, OUT.

They Did the Mash

2009-10-20T16:15:00.002-05:00

You know, it's really hard to stay focused when there are fun diversions like JibJab.

Enjoy our special video!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy and Crazy October

2009-10-19T22:53:00.005-05:00

I am so swamped with work and have had little down time lately. Seems October is following August's lead. In August the end of the month rewarded us with the start of Kindergarten. At the end of October we will be rewarded with Halloween tricks and treats, but before that we'll have an even better treat when we celebrate my Grandpa Marvin's 99th birthday!

I am guessing that I won't be doing too much blogging in the next week or two while the craziness continues, so I'll just leave you with this picture. Much like this one, this picture makes me so happy. For some reason I breathe a little easier when I look at it.

I have some great photos to share. I just need to get through about one bazillion deadlines and then I'll be able to do that!

A couple of Picassos.

2009-10-14T22:26:00.002-05:00

We have the most beautiful bird houses hanging in our backyard. They were made and painted by our two young Picassos, and I wouldn't change a thing about them. The colors are beautiful, and the paint has been happily placed in just the right spot.

If all of life could be like our painted bird houses, I would be one happy camper!

I've heard a lot lately about finding your calling in life. Following your passion.

These kiddos are my calling, that's for sure.

Priorities

2009-10-11T16:06:00.001-05:00

Elisabeth got a piece of mail today. (I suppose it came yesterday, but we're a bit slow some days.)

It was an invitation to the SPA!

We read the back of the invitation to Elisabeth:

Cassidy is turning 6 and would like you to come to her spa to celebrate her birthday!

You are scheduled from: 2:00 - 4:00 on Sunday November 1, 2009

Please confirm your appointment with Cassidy's assistant,

Jody (AKA mom) by October 27, 2009

Can't wait to see you there!!

Her first kindergarten friend birthday party!

We expressed our excitement about Elisabeth's pending day at the spa and expected her to do the same.

Instead, we heard this as soon as we read the date on the invite:

"Oh, NO! That's the same day as Crystal Kingdom! I won't be able to go!"

Crystal Kingdom is a new Dora special that Nick Jr. has been advertising like crazy, which according to Elisabeth, will be airing on November 1st. Apparently the advertising is working.

Thank God for a DVR!

Broad spectrum

2009-10-08T22:07:00.002-05:00

We headed to the apple orchard this past weekend.

We aren't huge apple eaters in our house, so it only makes sense for us to go pick an entire basket of apples, right? cough cough. Oh. Right.

Well, we do like caramel and apple cider. Maybe we can stick with that!

We had a fantastic time at the apple orchard. I am so lucky to have a husband that gave up his football Sunday. (So lucky too that the Packers weren't on that afternoon.)

I noticed that over the course of the day a fairly broad spectrum of emotions were displayed within all of our activities.

Of course there was some sisterly love...

Some comfort in Daddy's arms...

Some fear...

Some curiosity...

Some evil laughter by the mom (okay, me) who didn't tell Elisabeth that even though she wasn't standing up like we asked her too she was still making for a cute picture...

Some baby eyelashes...

What's that? Not an emotion?

Hmmm, I thought it was.

There was pure bliss...

There was courage and the desire to reach as high as Daddy can...

And there was sheer goofiness...

There was strength and the desire to hold the basket of heavy apples like the grown-ups do...

(hey, they were three heavy apples.)

There was joy in biting into a crisp apple off the apple tree...

And then taking one bite out of each of the apples in the basket...

There was much teamwork displayed...

There was free-spirited dancing...

There was some reaching for the sky...

...and then some realizing that sometimes the distance between you and the sky is fine as-is...

There was the pleasure of discovering we took a halfway decent family picture...

There was (plain old cuteness and) exploring the pumpkin patch...

There was love...

There was the courage to make a new friend...

There was frustration in the grownups who discovered the orchard doesn't take credit cards and there was creative play while we waited for Mark to come back from the car with the checkbook...

There was irritation with the momarazzi...

And there was pride.

Thou shalt not not eat ice cream

2009-10-08T19:38:00.003-05:00

As a special treat, we went to Dairy Queen tonight to pick up their new Pumpkin Pie blizzard. (As well as a Tagalongs Blizzard and an M&M's Blizzard. YUM!)

What was an even bigger treat though was hearing this from the backseat as we waited in line at the drive-thru:

"Woah, GUYS! Don't those look like the Ten Commandments?"

Why yes, Elisabeth, they do indeed look like the Ten Commandments tablets. We're glad to know Sunday School lessons are sticking with you! God and your parents are proud of you.

This is love.

2009-10-05T21:19:00.003-05:00

I was going to post a bunch of pictures from our trip to the apple orchard, but then I came across these:

And while the rest of the apple orchard pictures are good and I still plan on sharing them, this trio of pictures stopped me in my tracks and instantly warmed my heart.

They are images of pure love. A fleeting moment between a little girl and her daddy. A moment that, even if Sydney is too young to remember, will be remembered by her daddy. And by me! It's these moments that make up for all of the other awfully hectic and crazed moments we experience during the week.

This is love.

Melts in your mouth. Not in your hands.

2009-09-30T22:15:00.001-05:00

It's no secret that I am addicted to chocolate.

Today I ate way too many M&M's. WAY too many. I just couldn't stop myself. It was awful and so good all at the same time! Did I say how much I love and am addicted to chocolate? Because I am. Darn those M&M's. If I gain 5 pounds, it'll be their fault, not mine.

As evil as those little candies are, they are also a great teaching tool.

My mom potty trained me when I was Sydney's age by rewarding me with them. And letting me reward my potty-training dolly with M&M's whenever she peed on the potty chair. I was always happy to help my dolly when she refused to eat her chocolate. Guess the addiction started early for me.

Elisabeth learned her colors via you guessed it - M&M's. She didn't care to learn colors with us when she was little until we were at a birthday party and family members asked her to get them various colors of M&M's. She happily (and correctly) obliged.

Now Miss Sydney is learning about the magic of M&M's as well. Primarily, she is learning that they are WAY yummy.

Sydney is also learning to share with her sister. (And her sister is learning to share with Sydney.)

The M&M's are helping Sydney learn to count too. Usually it starts with a finger point for "one", much like she is doing in the photo below.

What comes after one? Let me see if I can spell it out for you.

Tchüüüüüüüüüüüw (make sure the last few letters are said a few notes higher than the rest). It looks like this:

We're still working on numbers higher than that. Right now all numbers above two are also pronounced "Tchüüw"!

Thanks M&M's! You never cease to amaze me. In your honor, I will eat some more of you tomorrow.