Aunt again

And in other exciting news, I became an Aunt for the 2nd time today! Shauna had her baby girl this morning, and we can't wait to meet her!

breakage

First, I decided Annika needed to learn to drink from glass cups. The VERY FIRST time she drank from one, she dropped it on the floor & broke it. And I was right there, and it was only 2 feet off the floor onto wood flooring. This happened last week.

Now I decided to start teaching Saben to clear the table. The VERY FIRST time he takes a bowl to the kitchen, he drops it & breaks it. This is today.

For the record, they have both drank from glass & cleared the table periodically, it was just when I decided it was time to make it a permanent habit that they managed to break things.

No Tear Shampoo

For every mom who's ever wondered exactly what "No Tear" shampoo feels like when its in your eyes....let me tell you, its not good. Burt Bees "No Tear" kids shampoo is not "pain free". In fact, you might wish it produced more tears to get it washed out faster. The stinging & blurry vision seem to linger on and on....

Kari tests products so you don't have to!

My favorite meal

I start by making a double batch of carrot soup. Freeze 2/3 of it in two separate containers for other nights and eat the rest for dinner. The ingredients are so simple, three meals worth cost less than $10. (as long as you buy the tomatoes on sale or use canned ones)

The I went to our local meat & cheese store. I am IN LOVE with Old World Deli. (don't tell Kyle) I got 4-5 slices of 3 meats (toscano salami, coppa americana, etc) and two chunks of cheese for $6.50. He forgot to charge me for the olives, which are the fabulous castelvetrano sort. Out of this world. So maybe $8 for my meat, cheese & olives, or less if you buy the slightly cheaper meats. (I splurged on some gourmet varieties) Enjoy with bread & wine, or if you are crazy like me, try making homemade crackers. They are delish.

So fabulous gourmet meal for two for only $10-$15. Not too bad.



Unless your sweet daughter decides she is REALLY into gourmet brie and expensive castelvetrano olives. Much tastier than carrot soup. I tried to convince her that the earthy sweetness of the carrots is a perfect match to the salty cheeses, but she didn't buy it.

Then off to the couch for pouty faces with Daddy

Saben was with his grandparents for the last two nights and we loved spending time alone with our sweet daughter. I really love spending one on one time with both kids and wish we did it more often.

Inspire me...Please?

For the last 8 months we've been working on finishing our basement and now the time has come.... to pick paint, carpet and all those frills. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! (kari runs screaming from the house)

I have no idea where to even start. No one ever uses basement pictures to inspire people in their pain choices & design! Our house is built in 1920 and is a craftsman. The upstairs has lots of period details & we used earthy colors like brown, green, orange, cream & blue/gray. Now we have this entire basement & I am so out of ideas.

It has no personality - just sheetrock. Two bedrooms will be for the kids, plus a family/rec room, a hallway & the kids bath. I don't know if I really want lots of different colors on the walls down there (maybe just 2 different ones) and I know I don't want to many dark colors because its already sort of dark. We can pretty much start from scratch on the kids rooms, both kids need new bedding & don't really have color themes.

Hmm....just writing this out is giving me ideas actually.... I think i just need a couple neutral base colors that I can accent with brighter colors.

Lately I've loved how everyone (or just orange poppy and The Nines in Portland) has been using aqua. And I've always been madly in love with my friend's red/light blue combination. hmmm.....

sigh. So all you folks out there with ideas stuffed into your brains, do you have any for me? Links to any cool sites? Anything awesome that you love and probably won't use? Inspire me! I guess I better start spending time on design blogs & get my bum in gear.

Everytime I say "I don't know" to Saben he replies:
"Then why don't you think about it mommy? Think hard!"

Whenever my arms hurt carrying the kids or I say I am tired, Saben says:

"Do you need to go to the gym more mom? You should go, that will make you stronger"
He said this in the middle of a huge crowd of people at the zoo while we waited for them to feed the tiger. At least they were all entertained....

Fun with Lila

Hmm.... That's funny guys, I thought we were going to make cookies.... Why are you sticking your faces in the flour?

Oh, that's cute guys. Flour on your noses. Let's all smile for the camera!
Hmmm....It looks like your having fun, maybe I can just run my hands through the flour. Annika, are you seriously sticking the flour up your nose?

Wow, you guys are really into this, aren't you? I mean, flour's great and all but you guys are taking it to another level.

Yup, flour on my hands. Not sure what the fuss is about.

valentines memories

On the way to the zoo

Saben: I don't like our car. It's ugly. It's black, I don't like black, I want a pretty car.

Mom: What color car do you want Saben?

Saben: I want one that is painted lots of colors. With rainbows...Two rainbows, one on each side and one on the front of the car. And smiley faces, one on each side.

But a mean face on the front with fire around it! And railroad tracks on the back of the car, tracks on each door. That's what I want.

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At the Zoo

Saben: Mommy, where did Daddy go?
Mom: He went to go see what stall number we parked our car in, we forgot to check.
Saben: I saw a number behind the car, it said 6...9....6. Nine is an upside down six!
Mom: uh.....really? Was that what it said?
(thinking....is it worth the risk? Kyle has a 5 minute walk back to the car, but could Saben have really memorized the number?)
Mom on the phone to dad: Kyle, what number did we park in!?
Kyle: 696
Saben: nine is an upside down six!

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On the way home from the zoo

Mom: Saben, what was your favorite animal at the zoo today?
Saben: I liked the Rabbits.

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During Dinner:

Kyle: Why does homely mean ugly? It should mean someone you want to come home to. I like that word. Why does it have to mean ugly?

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Just Now:

Kyle: Hey Bloggy mommer, get off the computer!

And now I know why we were meant to be together. Make sure you keep reading down the page or just start reading after the second photo.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Transition-Bank-2009.html

Nerdy (read the rest of the article. BEH!!!) and hilarious. A winning combo in my book.

You think Saben is funny...try this

My friend's daughter, who is the exact same age as Saben says the funniest things ever. This one is my very favorite:

On Christmas Eve we attended my parents' church and the church of my youth. The pastor invited all of the children up for the childrens' story. About 20+ kids sat politely on the stage and the pastor began to speak about "baby Jesus being born".

Then without invitation, out of the quiet, we hear Leah's voice loud and clear.

L: And then Jesus died! Naked!
Pastor: Um, yes. He died later.
L: He died with the bad men!
Pastor: Yes, that can happen. Bad men do die too.
L: And my Mom's grandma died.
Me: (by now I'm in tears)
Pastor: (continuing on with her lesson) And, Jesus was born in a manger.
L: And, my Mom sings, Away in a Manger!

Saben

Saben: "Mommy, is Pooh Bear made out of poop?"
Mommy: "Uh no Saben"
Saben: "Why do they call him that then? What is he made of?"

Mommy: "Saben, your underwear looks dirty, did you have an accident earlier today and not tell me?"
Saben: "I didn't have an accident, I think these underwear are dirty from Christmas when we made Christmas cookies."

Annika's first pigtails!


This is Saben's impersonation of a heater. He came up with it one day when annika had pulled these items out of the cupboard. The day I took this picture, he actually asked me "mommy, where's the stuff I use when I pretend I am a heater?"
Because what could be more fun than running around the house pretending to be a heater?

Annika is a champion scowler. It is my favorite thing ever, and I often try make her mad just so I can show everyone how cute she is when she frowns. This shot barely does it justice, often her lips are pursed out even more, and her eyes get super squinty. SO CUTE.

Once upon a time...

Fear

The only thing on this earth that Annika seems to be afraid of?

Men.

She is terrified of guys she doesn't know and clings to me like her life depends on it. If they approach, she runs, screaming and crying into my arms.

Her worst nightmare is visiting Kyle at work where there are 5 strange guys who try to talk to her.

But...

If we are with a woman she doesn't know, she usually ditches me for the other woman and makes them hold her hand instead of me. She loves it.