Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas parties, oh my

Last week we were bombarded by Christmas parties. Between the Christmas party we had here for Mitch's coworkers and all Addy's activities and Riley's teachers and therapists I feel like I've been buying gifts nonstop.

Last week we had Addy's swimming party, where she got to decorate an underwater tree!


We also had Addy's dance party, which I liked since parents normally don't get to stay and observe so it was fun to watch them put on a mini-performance for us.


And of course there were the school parties. We didn't go to Riley's - I guess no parents did so while I felt a little guilty I didn't feel TOO guilty. I had already committed to help out at Addy's party which was the same day and time so I had fun watching the kids make a mess, I mean make crafts and decorate cookies. :)


I made cupcakes for Addy's dance party which were pretty good, if I do say so myself. :)
Ok I think I'm caught up in my blog now! Except for a ridiculously funny story about Mitch the night he picked my brother up from the airport. But I need to try to get a picture off my brother's phone first!

bye-bye glasses


Ok so that is a picture of me with Riley as a baby, so going on 4 years ago now. But it's the only one I could find of me wearing glasses!
I had LASIK done 11 days ago and am SO happy I can see! I was a little worried at first because my left eye was blurry for a while, but now it's all good.
Yay!

my parents

Are here!

They are renting an apartment about 20 minutes from my house for THREE months! It's so strange (but in a good way) to be living in the same town as my mom and dad again. I haven't lived within 4 hours of them since ... well I guess since I lived with them in high school and summers in college! It's especially nice now that I have kids, too. Addy is loving being able to see her Gramma nearly every day. And I love being able to go over there for dinner when Mitch has a work dinner.

It's also fun to do things like meet my mom WITHOUT the kids and go shopping! Here we are doing just that at Target. :)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Christmas Cards

It was a beautiful day out yesterday so after naptime I decided to have the girls put on their Christmas dresses and go outside to take some pictures to hopefully use on our Christmas card. Apparently getting a good picture of the 4 of them (yes, including the dog!) is not going to happen this year. The dog just wanted to chase a ball and Morgan, well, Morgan would not sit still for one second. Between that and trying to get a picture without Riley's hand in front of her face... yeah, pretty impossible.

I did get one picture for the card that I will keep a secret (though still not the greatest), but here are some rejects!










oh, Addy

I cut Addy's hair last night (at her request) and while I was cutting it she was drawing a picture. I didn't actually look at the picture until this morning.


I may not be a great hair-cutter, but I swear her hair does NOT look like that!

Monday, November 17, 2008

back at it

I figured out the best way to keep baking cakes and NOT eat them all! I volunteered to make birthday cakes for a local children's home. My first one was for a 12 year old girl who likes football. A little different from my princess-loving girls but I think it turned out pretty cute!


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

too early for Christmas?


Not at our house! Addy got sick at school yesterday so she is home today. It's 60 degrees with rain and wind so we are listening to Christmas music and decorating the house!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Chef Addy


Addy made scrambled eggs for dinner last night and did it all herself from start to finish! The only thing I did for her was turn on the stove - the egg cracking, stirring and cooking was all her! I look forward to her cooking me more meals in the future. :)

Wilton Course 1 Final Cake

I wasn't even going to post it because it's not all that exciting and not all that different from the cake I made last week. It's hard to be creative and do much in the class though - I need to spread out!

However I signed up for Course 2 which starts next Tuesday so there will be plenty more cakes!




Friday, October 24, 2008

like I said - obsessed



It would just be awful if we didn't have cake in our house for a day so I made this "practice" cake yesterday. I had planned on making it for my final cake on Monday but now that I made it I might have to think of another design for my final! And I think I need to send future cakes to work with Mitch - I can't keep eating like this...
I haven't learned how to make leaves yet so don't look too closely at my first attempts. :)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

more cake!

I am having way too much fun with this cake decorating class. Our instructor told us we didn't need to bring a cake to class last night but what fun is that? So I did anyway. :)


The burgundy blob is my first attempt at a rose. I've been practicing today and hope to make a rose cake for my final cake next week. I can't wait to sign up for the next class!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

cake!

I started taking a cake decorating class at Michael's this month and this is the cake I decorated last night. It was so much fun!

what a weekend

Our weekend in Florida was so incredible! What I wouldn't give to have a vacation home there and spend weeks at a time!

We stayed near Seaside - this is a view down the street

This is a view we had every night from our hotel balcony - need I say more?

Thursday, October 9, 2008

falling behind!

These are Addy's 2 latest art class creations. I like the first two better but she had fun doing these so that's all that matters. The one on the left they used some type of mud and the one on the right was fun with spray paint.

I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off for the last week or two. And our internet, cable and phone being out for 2 days didn't help! Gotta love Comcast.
Today we're going to a craft fair that's supposed to be huge, then Addy has dance class, then Addy and I are going to get our nails done. :)
Tomorrow Mitch and I leave for our 4 day weekend ALONE! No kids, not even Morgan! My stomach is in knots just thinking about it.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Seven Years!


My gift to Mitch is that he gets to go to New Orleans to watch the Minnesota Vikings play the Saints. I had no desire to go. One of these years we might get back to getting each other actual gifts again!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Art Wednesdays

The kids in the class right before Addy's came out with water color paintings and I'm glad Addy did the same type of painting as last week. I can just see a wall covered with these things!

Last Saturday Addy and I went to Michael's for an American Girl craft event so I took this picture to send to my American Girl friend. :)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Morgan sleeps!


Ok perhaps not as impressive as Addy's painting but it sure surprises the heck out of me!
A little background: Morgan has slept with us every night since she was born. Heck, she even naps in our bed (without me, though). I've tried to put her in her crib on and off and every time she screams her little head off and never sleeps. I let her go for an hour like that, it's about as long as I can take it. I was figuring we just needed to skip the crib altogether and move her to a big girl bed.
Fast forward to a week and a half ago. Morgan's sleeping is SO TERRIBLE I have to get her out of my bed just so I can have even the tiniest bit of sleep. So I decide to start laying her in her crib for naps and the first time she cried for maybe 20 minutes and then SHOCK! She fell asleep! The first couple of times she didn't get much of a nap but hey it was something and it was IN HER CRIB!
Friday the 12th (my birthday) Mitch and I go see a 10:00pm movie (Burn After Reading - very funny!) and my mom puts Morgan in her crib to sleep. I left her there and she ended up sleeping until 2:15am. Four hours, not bad for her! So I decide to keep starting her out in the crib, even if I could just get 4 hours of unbroken sleep that would be HUGE after what I was used to.
Night 2 she sleeps from 9:00 until, get this, 6:15! I couldn't believe it and figured it had to be a fluke but nope! Every night since then she has slept for about 11 hours straight in her crib. I am so amazed! And so rested, ahhhh... I thought it would take nights and nights of lots of crying to get to this but she hardly cries at all now, maybe just for a minute. She has the saddest look on her face when I lay her down for the night and it breaks my heart but she wakes up with a smile on her face every morning so I know she gets over it and forgives me. :) It's about time though!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

well I'm impressed


Addy LOVES to draw, paint, color - anything artsy/crafty. Her teachers are always telling us how she puts more detail in her drawings than anyone else in the class so I signed her up for art lessons and last night she had her first class. She painted this picture! Then she came home and drew another picture she called "10 pretty things". She's hooked!
I think I'm going to need to invest in some frames...

Friday, September 12, 2008

I'm 33 today

Some things I'd like to do today:

eat ice cream
get a pedicure
fun dinner out with the family - maybe with some live music
go see a movie - I haven't seen a movie in a theater in years!
eat these cupcakes

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Morgan at 18 months


22 pounds, 25th percentile
31.5 inches, 50-75th percentile
head is 18 inches, 50th percentile

In other words, she's perfectly on target! :)

She says:
Mama
Dada
Addy
Riley
Sadie
Nama (grandma)
Num num num
baby
shoe
hi
bye
thank you (tee you)
meow (cat)
hee haw (donkey or horse)
puppy
uh oh
oh no
NO!
MINE!
up

And she repeats a lot of what we say so I think lots more words are coming soon!

Her favorite things to do are puzzles - especially animal puzzles - and read books! She also LOVES to wear other people's shoes. She is always walking around in either my flip flops or a pair of Addy's shoes.

She had her first vaccination today - the Hib shot. Handled it like a champ and I'll probably take her back in a couple months to get another one. Ideally I'd like her to be caught up by the time she's 3 1/2 in case I put her in preschool. If not, I'll catch her up when she's 4. I just wanted her to be past this 18 month mark.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Addy's first day

Addy's first day of kindergarten was a success. Although I asked her if anyone in her class cried and she said "no, only me". Figures! Apparently she spilled her milk at lunch. Oh well.
Here she is with her new backpack
Mitch walked her in to school (I had a sleeping Riley and Morgan in the car)
She has been so excited to ride on a school bus for so long. I was going to pick her up her first day but she wanted to ride the bus so I figured why not. She's the first one on (6:20!) and the last one off but she loves it!


Thursday, July 31, 2008

trip highlights

We are back! That drive is long. And sleeping in a hotel that has 2 double beds for 5 people is not fun. Especially when one person does not sleep so well. But anyway, we made it back home safely.

The computer at my parent's house is slow and I didn't feel like doing a bunch of individual posts so I'll just do one big one now that I'm home.

This is one of the big reasons I love going up to my parent's house. It is as peaceful as it looks in this picture. The lake level was LOW this year and they had lots of beach so we made a campfire and roasted marshmallows.
Yum!


We went to the wildlife park one day and all thought this turtle was fake until it moved. Pretty peacock
Mitch and Addy fed the bears
I used to love buffalo and I have no idea why. They are so ugly.

There was a nest of bald eagles on my parents lake so I took the camera out there but of course they flew away when I got close so here is the nest. :) Addy fished with her new Barbie pole, but didn't catch anything
My parents house isn't the easiest for Riley to walk in but she sure did have fun walking outside when we went to town one day. She needed a little help stepping over the cracks in the sidewalk though. For some reason she stopped at every one.
Addy enjoyed her big bag of candy from Dan's Minocqua Fudge

Addy went to Vacation Bible School at my old church. Here she is showing off her butterfly mask she made with silly Uncle Bryan Sadie had fun jumping in the water after tennis balls, as usual
Eventually we all made it into the water but Addy was the only one who swam every day. The weather just hasn't been hot enough to warm up the water this year.
The last couple days were spent at Mitch's parents house with all the cousins. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them all playing together! I got the camera out once but Addy was too busy pouting about not being able to take off her lifejacket in the water so I only took this one lonely picture of Morgan in the boat.

Our trip was shorter than usual this year but it was hard since we had just moved. Hopefully next summer we'll be able to spend our usual 3 or so weeks up North!