Alex

Alex has really been changing alot lately and it is neat to see him growing up. While we were on vacation he decided to potty train, which had been a huge challenge for me. I find it hard to believe that he is now such a big boy.



Can you spot Alex among the covers?



Last night Alex and I went on a Christmas light viewing bus trip with some friends. It was nice to have some time with just him and I.



Tonight we went over to my in-laws house for dinner and a late Christmas celebration. Alex was so excited to get more presents.

Some More Pictures from the Trip

The Bride and Groom just hours before the wedding.

The view from the beach at our resort.


My usual attire for most of the day on St Lucia, quite the change from the three plus layers of warmth that I had to wear when we got to Wyoming.



Here is my money and time saving tip for when you travel, bring a crock pot. You can easily throw something in in the morning and have a hot and nutritious meal when you get back to your room in the evening. We will even bring the crock pot with us when we camp in the trailer if we have hookups.

We're home

We left Jackson Hole at 10 am on the 27th and drove with only short potty, gas and food breaks and got home to Arizona at 4am on the 28th. This made for a very long day and a very exhausted Joe and Becky but we were all so very glad to get home. I think that the thing I missed the most on this trip was having space of my own. I am very luck to have a nice size house and it was so very hard to live in a hotel room smaller than the size of our master bedroom.

After we got home I went to the post office to collect the mail that had been on hold for us and it was a huge pile! I had some cool packages in the mail though. One was a set of bows from the Fairy Princess Bow Boutique. I also got two onesies from Happy Panda from a $40 gift certificate that I won. I also got a couple packages of trim from Michael Miller that I won from their blog. Lastly I got an emergency flashlight/radio/cell phone charger that I got free from buy.com from a deal that I found out about on imommies. I just love getting free stuff. We also got a ton of Christmas cards, which makes me feel guilty since I didn't manage to send out cards before I left town. I think that I am going to send out Happy New Years cards instead.

Merry Christmas All

Okay, I know that this is a day late, but I don't have easy internet access here. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas day. We had a nice drive with the kids and just hung out for the afternoon and then in the evening (after some searching to find a place open that wasn't totally packed) went to a nice Italian food restaurant for dinner. We leave Jackson Hole tomorrow and will be back home in a couple of days.

Today we took the kids for a sleigh ride on the National Elk Refuge. It would have been great except Abbie screamed like she was being murdered the whole time. Joe should have gotten some good elk pictures though.

Long time no update

Well it's been a bit busy over the last few days as I am sure you can tell by the lack of posts. There was playing with the kids and hanging out with Suzy and then on Thursday Joe and I watched Suzy's kids while she and her husband took the day to drive into Salt Lake to have some alone time and do some shopping (they live in a pretty small town). I was glad to help them out, but unfortunately about midmorning on Thursday I started to have a bit of a sore throat and it kept getting worse and worse. Fortunately I have experience with Strep so I called and made an appointment at a local clinic for Friday morning before the end of business on Thursday. By that doctors appointment on Friday I was pretty miserable but they gave me some good drugs and I am feeling much better today. We are now in Jackson Hole, WY and it is cold (12 degrees) but pretty here. Today we went for a drive in the Tetons and saw a moose and a wolf (we think, it was pretty far away). Here are some pictures from my husband again, all but the moose are from the Seedskadee wildlife refuge that we went to Thursday.

I got my babies back

It was nice to have some time away to relax without the kids, but I was sure missing them. We got back into Rock Springs about 8:30 on Monday night and there were many hugs, kisses and I love yous going around. We spent the night at Suzy's house and then moved into a hotel on Tuesday afternoon. I am very grateful to Suzy and Tom for their hospitality, but it was really nice to have some space for our family to be alone together again. This morning Joe took some family pictures for Suzy and Tom and now the kids are laying down for naps and I am going to run to the store to pick up a few items. We will be leaving for the Tetons on Friday.

More Pictures

Joe and I at the Botanical Gardens and Joe on the Catamaran trip.

Pictures

Here are some pictures I haven't been able to upload. Top two photos are of our drive from Wyoming to Salt Lake and the last photo of Joe on one of the many van rides we took in St. Lucia.

Back in the USA

We got back into Miami at about 7:30 Arizona time last night. It feels good to be back where we can call the kids whenever we want. I have seen a pattern developing though, last night the smoke detector in the hotel went off TWICE! I am not sure what this is about but it woke both of us up both times. I hope this is the last time it happens on this trip. Today we fly to Salt Lake and then Drive back to Wyoming to pick up the kids. We will stay with Suzy tonight and then in a hotel for a couple of days so Suzy and I can visit.

Another Brown Joins the Old Married People Club

Today my brother got married to his lovely girlfriend of 3 (I think) years. The ceremony was on the beach at their resort with my parents his bride's parents, me and Joe and my sister and her husband. Joe took the wedding photos and I am sure that they are going to turn out great. It has turned out to be a very long day though. The girls got together this morning to have a spa day and the guys went golfing so we had to take a taxi to their resort at 9am this morning and we just got back at 10:30. The massage and pedicure at the spa was lovely and it was nice to have that time to hang out together.

I am really missing my kids now and am looking forward to getting back to Rock Springs to collect them from Suzy. I have been in contact with Suzy by email pretty much every day, but since it costs $3.25 a minute to call there we have only been calling to talk to the kids every other day. Today was that every other day, but with the 3 hour time difference we got back to the hotel just at bedtime so I hurried to the room to call and luckily they were not asleep yet and we got to talk to them. Suzy assures me that they are doing fine, but I will be so glad to hold and kiss them again Monday night.

Tomorrow is our last full day at the resort and I am planning on just being lazy and relaxing all day. Joe and my dad want to go snorkeling and I am going to let them do that together, all I want to do tomorrow is sleep, eat and maybe I'll work up enough energy to go for a swim.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures from my very tallented husband.

A Calypso Christmas

When we got here one of the first things that I saw was a Christmas tree in the hotel lobby. Yesterday on the catamaran cruise they were playing Calypso Christmas music on the radio, and this afternoon when I walked out of the hotel after changing into my swimsuit for lunch there was a steel drum band playing a Christmas song. It took me a second to realize that was what they were playing, I am so used to the way I normally hear the songs that they sound like a completely different song. It is hard to think that it is December and getting closer and closer to Christmas when we are down here in this humid 80+ degree weather. In Phoenix it is often in the 70’s and 80’s all the way into December but it is never humid like this, plus I just don’t associate beaches and sand with Christmas.

Today the family took a cab to the marketplace and duty free shops (right next to where they dock the cruise ships). I wanted to find some fabric to bring back to my quilting friends but didn’t see anything good. I did find a nice t-shirt for me and then one for Alex and his two Wyoming friends and a beach wrap for me.

The internet here can't really handle the upload of pictures so they are going to have to wait until we are back in the states. Joe has been getting some good ones.

A Boat Trip

Today Joe and I, my parents, my sister and brother in law and my future SIL’s parents all went on a Catamaran tour of the island. We left in a bus at 8am to go to the dock and then took the boat for about an hour and then docked and got into another bus to tour the volcano and the botanical gardens. The garden was really cool because it had all kinds of great tropical flowers plus cocoa and nutmeg trees. I have never seen nutmeg fresh off the trees. After those two stops we went to a local restaurant for lunch and then back on the boat for a short trip to a snorkeling and swimming area. We are now back at the resort and I am desperately trying to get on the internet but it doesn’t seem to be working and I am very frustrated. Oh well as they say here no pressures, no problem. Here are some great pictures that my husband took last night. I have a couple more pictures but they are going to have to wait since the internet here is too slow.

On Island Time Now

December 9, 2007

On Island time now

Wow what a whole different world this is. The airport here is something that you would see on a TV show and not really believe that it existed. We landed at this tiny little airport with probably the shortest runway that I have ever seen and then we used stairs to get off the plane right on the tarmac. There were a grand total of two other planes there. Then we were herded into customs were we waited in line to show our passports. The inside of the airport was very rustic but the outside was even more so, you walk out the double doors of the airport into an open air patio where the resorts just back their shuttle busses right up to the curb. There were all kinds of people waiting at their cars presumably to pick up people that had just landed. It was so very different than the airports that I am used to. After boarding the bus we took a 2 hour drive around the outside of the island (the only main road I suspect) to our hotel. The road was one lane in each direction and motorcyclists and other cars routinely passed us at breakneck speeds. I was sure that we were going to witness an accident, but luckily that was not the case. I am sure that they are used to this type of driving and have learned to be more defensive than I am used to. After getting into our rooms we (my parents, my sister and BIL and my brothers future in-laws) went to dinner in the English themed pub here. The food was good and plentiful but the service was on island time, luckily the drinks are free and plentiful. I suspect that there will be more than one person in our group with a headache tomorrow. We have now come back to our room in hopes of catching up on the sleep that has been so sadly lacking over the last week, but no such luck as of yet. The air conditioner is not cooling and we have a very nice man from maintenance in here trying to fix it for us so that we can cool and dehumidify the room for more comfortable sleeping.

Joe wants me to mention the fact that there is a bird or some such other creature outside of our room that is making a rhythmic squeaking noise and that his preferred activity for tomorrow is bird hunting. I suspect though, that as soon as the air is fixed we will be so ready to sleep that the noise won’t be an issue.

Another tidbit from the trip that I forgot to mention earlier is that when we were driving through Wyoming to get back to the airport in Salt Lake we passed the first JC Penny’s store in a little Wyoming town. It was super small and unimpressive, funny to think that such a big chain grew out of something so small. Also, last Friday morning I won another prize from Prizey, a cool set of bows for my Abbie girl.

December 10, 2007

Well the air conditioner took 2 hours to fix last night and it is not completely fixed, they told us that they were going to have to completely replace the unit some time today. After the air was finally fixed we went to bed only to have the smoke detector go off at 2:45. We called the front desk and their solution was to come and take the detector out of the room (they still haven't replaced it). This morning we woke up about 9 and went and took the tour of the grounds. After that Joe went and took a nap while I went out with everyone else on the small sail boats that they have for the guests to use. It was very fun and nice and cool on the boat. Tomorrow we are going on an all day catamaran trip around the island.
I miss the kids greatly but I am hopefull that this break will allow me to be a more patient mom when we get back. If you want to read about what they are up to go to Suzy's blog and read all about it. Suzy is my saintly friend that agreed to watch my kids so that my husband and I could attend my brother's wedding.

Now I need to go to the room to cool off for a while. Well maybe not, Joe just came out and said that they were cleaning the room.

A Quick Update

Just a quick update since it is almost 1 am here and we have to be up at 6. Got up this morning in Salt Lake at 6am (we could have slept until 10 if we could have slept). It was still snowing and we were both worried that our flight would be canceled. We managed to get out of Utah just fine and everything else went smoothly (if you count numerous hours in too close contact with strangers) and we are now at our hotel in Miami. The kids are well with Suzy but I miss them fiercely. Joe and I have been looking at the pictures she is sending us when we feel lonely for them.

Some Great Pictures

Suzy sent along some great pictures of Abbie girl in the bath last night. She just LOVES water.

Apparently the kids have not been on their best behavior since we left yesterday. I really hope that they will settle down into the Sholar's routine and things will get easier from here on out.

A Change of Plans

We were originally planning on getting up Saturday morning and driving to Salt Lake to catch our 3pm flight but that plan changed this morning when we woke up to falling snow. As the morning wore on it became more and more clear that we needed to get into Salt Lake today or risk missing our flight tomorrow. So after some hurried last minute packing, laundry and errand running we kissed the kids goodbye and got on the road. The pass that we took from Salt Lake to Rock Springs was already closed so we had to take an alternate route. It pretty much snowed the whole way here and we had to be in 4 wheel drive most of the way, but we made it here safely (in about twice as much time as it took to get from Salt Lake to Rock Springs). We are staying at a hotel near the airport tonight and have just enjoyed a pretty decent meal that a local restaurant delivered to our room. I miss the babies already, but I am extremely grateful to be given this opportunity to have a much needed break from the constant work of having two small children. I have pictures from the drive today but the camera is in the car and I'll have to post them the next time I get on the internet.

A slow day

Last night we all didn't go to bed until about midnight and then Abbie wouldn't sleep so I ended up with her on the couch with me for most of the night (nursing a lot for comfort). Then this morning the boys were up by 7:30. After breakfast we took the boys to gymnastics class and Joe stayed at the apartment with Abbie while Tom went to work. After gym class we went to a cute little quilt store in Green River and I bought 3 yards of fabric, a really cute monster panel and a book on making aprons. We then came home and made lunch fed the kids and I tried to get Abbie to take a nap while Joe took Alex on an adventure to the local wildlife preserve in hopes of taking some pictures of wildlife. Abbie didn't ever take a nap but I was able to rest a while. This evening Suzy made some yummy chicken enchiladas and I made Spanish rice, everyone enjoyed it except Alex who refused to even try anything (although he has eaten and liked my Spanish rice before). After dinner we put the kids down and the adults had a bit of computer time and then we played two fun games, toss up and pick picnic. It's now about 9:45 and the Sholars are getting ready for bed and and as soon as I am done with this I will be too.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot I was notified that I won another giveaway that I found on prizey. I won a $45 gift certificate to flattenme.

The Adventure Begins

I have been writing this as we go and will be uploading as I have internet access.

December 4, 2007

The adventure begins

We left town about 10:30 this morning after a pretty sleepless night. Last night we put Alex to bed at his usual time and we could not get him to stay in his room or settle down long enough to go to sleep. We even at one time tried letting him sleep in bed with us. There was some difficulty in getting the roof bag onto the roof, packed and tied down but it holds so much stuff that it is truly worth the hassle. The only other way we would have been able to bring enough stuff for this trip would have been to rent a trailer and we didn’t want to deal with that in the snow. I bought the duffle bags that fit into our roof bag and that made it much easier to gauge how much would fit and to contain all of the small clothing items that needed to be packed in it. We stopped at Cracker barrel (my favorite road, especially since they have Swedish fish) in Flagstaff for lunch about 1:30. From there we took highway 89 north and then took 89A to Kanab. 89A which goes close to the north rim of the Grand Canyon was so pretty with a covering of snow and very peaceful since there were not too many people on the road. We got into Kanab, Utah about 6:30 and stopped at Pizza Hut for dinner. After dinner we decided that it was too early to stop for the day so drove for another 50 miles to a town call Panguich (sp?) and got a room at a small motel (cheap, clean but for $44 most assuredly not luxury). Now Joe and I are both on the computer, Abbie is in her pack and play and Alex is running around the room out of control. I guess it’s a good thing that this motel doesn’t look too busy. Tomorrow we will drive to Salt Lake and pick up some cold weather gear and then head onto Rock Springs.

December 5, 2007

In Wyoming now

This morning the kids woke up about 6:30 and we decided to just get going and were on the road by 7:30. At 10 when the kids were starting to get stir crazy we just happened to be driving past a McDonalds with a play area so I had Joe stop so we could let the kids out for a while. We ended up staying for nearly an hour and the kids were much happier after that. We got into the Salt Lake area around 1 and went to a Walmart to get some of the cold weather gear that we couldn’t get in Phoenix. After lunch and shopping we headed out for Rock Springs and arrived at Sholar Siding around 6:30 just in time for dinner. After dinner the kids were going nuts and Suzy had the brilliant idea of taking them to the local rec center so they could burn off some energy. The boys ended up practically running for a half mile on the running track before going to the play area and letting them play for over a half an hour. We then took them home and put them to bed. Now all the adults are sitting in the Sholar’s living room working on the computers (3 laptops and 1 blackberry).

This year's family picture

Last night Joe had a friend come over to help us take our annual family picture. Thanks to some photoshop magic on the part of my husband I think that this one turned out pretty cute.

Superkitty and a parade

Today Alex got to go to Build a Bear for the first time for his friend Bailey's 4th birthday party. He did really well working with the lady from the store and getting along with the other kids. He ended up making a kitty in a superman costume. I think that he was most excited about the kitty sized play ipod that he got (mommy got a new nano as an early Christmas present from daddy).

This evening another friend of Alex's, Anna, was in the Chandler Light Parade and Joe and I took the kids to go see it. I think that Alex had a fun time seeing the floats. (the picture of Abbie hanging to the side was because she was playing peek a boo with Joe who was behind me)

Getting Ready To Go

On Tuesday we leave for our big month long adventure to Wyoming and St. Lucia. I am not sure how I feel about it. On one hand it will be nice to see my friend and it will be nice to have a mommy break in St Lucia. On the other hand I have never left my children for this length of time and Abbie is still breastfeeding. Also I am worried about the weather in the Tetons, I don't like being cold so I am not sure how I am going to do. I just keep reminding myself that I am lucky to have the opportunity to leave town on vacation for such a length of time. I also tell myself that Suzy will do a great job of taking care of my kids for me and that I am very grateful to her for being willing to watch them so I can go to my brother's wedding. So far I have a 4 page excell list of the things that I need to bring. I am seriously worried that it all won't fit into the back of my Xterra. (I just ordered a roof top carrier to use, it should be here Monday). Wish me luck, I feel much better now that I ordered that carrier.

Aunt Jean's Wassail

A few years ago when visiting Joe's Aunt Jean in Missouri she made Wassail for us. I loved it and I am not a fan of hot drinks. I have made it a couple of times since then for my family and the other day my mom was asking for the recipe. I thought I would share it with you.

Wassail

2 quarts apple juice
2 Cups orange juice
2 1/4 Cup pineapple juice
1 Cup lemon juice
1/2 Cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cloves

Simmer covered for 20 minutes, then simmer uncovered for an additional 20 minutes, strain and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

To all of you in the US Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful day with your family and friends and good food. Today it was 79 degrees here and we spent the day with my husband's family. I made Pioneer Woman's Sweet Potatoes and A mexican sweet corn pudding (this is a similar recipe). I thought I would share a few things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my two beautiful and healthy children who taught me that love is something so huge that it can't truly be put into words.

I am thankful for my husband who loves me very much.

I am thankful that I have everything I could ever need in life and most everything that I could ever want also.

I am thankful for my family who I know will always be there for me, even if they don't always agree with me.

I am thankful for all of my wonderful friends that are so generous, selfless, and giving and show me the kids of person that I strive to be.

Thank you all!

More craftiness

Here are the last two things I have been working on both are going to be given as gifts. They are from the same idea as the joy wall hangings from last year (which I apparently did not take a picture of, sorry). I have made several of the love hangings so multiple people will be getting them.

Crafty Stuff

It has been far too long since I have posted anything crafty so here goes. Top photo of Abbie and her little friend on Halloween in mommy made outfits. Second photo is Abbie coloring with crayons for the first time. Third photo is of Alex making holiday picture frames with his two friends at my friend's house last Sunday. Fourth photo is of the Barbie themed gifts for the two girls pictured in the previous photo. Each will get a bag, 2 pillowcases and a crayon roll. Last photo is of the cloth shopping bags that I am using instead of gift wrap this year. I have more to share but blogger wouldn't let me put them in this post so I will have to make another post.

Everyone's sick

We went to a birthday party Saturday night and so far there are 3 kids and 2 adults that have come down with a nasty stomach virus. Poor sweet Abbie girl woke up at 4:30 on Sunday morning and was repeatedly sick so I took her to the ER and she was dehydrated enough that they admitted her for IV fluids. She is home now and doing much better, although while I was in the hospital with her her dad was home with her brother who was sick also. Now my husband is sick too and I am just hoping that I will be spared (although my karma account is pretty low right now). So please send your good thoughts to my poor sick kids and husband and hope that we don't infect anyone else.

I love Prizey!

Some of you might have noticed that there is a button for Prizey on the sidebar of my blog. I would highly recommend checking them out. They are a blog that lists internet giveaways with lots of cool features so you don't miss anything. I have now won four things, the most recent of which is a Pixar short films dvd. I have also won a pair of baby legs, a pregnancy journal, and a children's cd. This weekend I got the baby legs in the mail and they are very cute!

Free to be me

I made a post yesterday that offended some people in my family and hurt others feelings. In response to that I decided to make my blog private. Now I am coming to second guess that decision. I love blogging, it is very therapeutic for me. I blog to clarify things for myself, to record my thoughts, feelings and opinions and as a scrapbook of my family's life. This blog is all about me and in a life where so often things have to be about other people I need something to be all about me. Some people may think that is selfish and wrong but I feel that I have a right to have some small piece of the world be about me.

I love that there are people out there that I have never met that find my life interesting enough to read about it. I get a thrill that there are people that subscribe to my blog, there are even people in other countries that want to know about me, wow! You all make me feel so special even if you have never left a comment. Thank you! I feel that part of the special feeling that I get from blogging will be lost if I make my blog private. So I have decided to make my blog public again. I can't promise to not offend anyone, all I can say is that my thoughts, feelings and opinions ar mine and mine alone and I have the right to have them just as you have the right to disagree with me.
To those I have offended or hurt, that was not my intention and I love you all very much.

Haloween

Here are the Haloween photos, Abbie was a lady bug (red onsie that I had, sticky back felt dots and a pair of red wings from Jo-Ann total cost $7) Alex was a cowboy (jeans he had, flannel shirt and hat from the thrift store, 2 sheriffs badges (he lost the 1st one at the trunk or treat), guns and holster from Walmart, boots on loan from a friend total cost $15). The kids actually got to wear their costumes twice, once the Friday before at the Trunk or Treat at the YMCA and the second time on Haloween when we took them around the block. This was the first year that Alex really got the idea of trick or treating so it was fun to watch him having fun.

Blankies children's music

I found the Blankies while surfing blogs and I love the music! Some people might be getting these cd's for Christmas. Go check them out, you can listen to sample music on the site.

Schnepf Farms

On the 14th of this month my girlfriends and I took our kids to Schnepf farms for their pumpkin festival. The kids had a great time at the petting zoo, on the train ride and on the bumble bee carnival ride.

The top picture is of me and the kids last year (Abbie is in the sling) and the second one is of us this year.

I have got my certificate

Well it's official, I passed and got my certificate in the mail. I can officially call myself a lactation consultant. When this adventure started at the beginning of the year it didn't seem like this day would ever come. For now I'll be working one 8 hour shift a week for lactation and then we will probably reevaluate after the 1st of the year.

I have unofficially, oficially passed

I was able to go online today and check if I passed the test to become a lactation consultant and I passed! I was pretty sure I passed but it is always nice to get that confirmation. They state that nothing is official until you get your certificate in the mail, but I am going to take it on faith that everything will come out alright in the end and call myself a Lactation Consultant. Yeah!

A good day

Today was a pretty busy day in our house. We are having pretty much the entire house painted this week and the painters got here at about 7am this morning. I am very pleased with the work that they are doing, but it has made it difficult to keep the kids out of the way and Alex will not nap if he can hear or see people in the house. So this morning the kids got me up at about 6:30 and the painters got here at 7 I had the kids dressed and fed by 8 and we left to go to the gym for my exercise class and then Abbie's gym class. After that we went to the store where I picked up food for a birthday dinner for Alex (he is 3, hard to believe). We then went home and had lunch and I put Abbie down for a nap and tried to get Alex to take a nap but he wasn't having it. So, he and I hung out until 3ish when the painters left and then I put him down for a nap. Unfortunately Abbie got up about the same time that I put Alex down so I didn't get any child free time this afternoon. For dinner I invited my dad to join us since my mom is out of town this week, we had hamburgers, fries and a small birthday cake (Alex had a bigger party last Saturday). Afterwards we hang out and talked for a bit and then I went to quilt guild and Joe put the kids to bed. All in all a good day, I am really pleased with how the painting is turning out and am really glad that it is getting done. Our walls were the flat white paint that the builder painted and they were filthy dirty.

Sorry that this is going to be another photo free post but I still haven't figured out how to get the pictures off my camera and my husband has gone to bed so I can't ask him to help. (I figured it out and have added some pictures, the first one is from Alex's b-day party on the 13th and the second one is from his actual birthday)

Things have been a bit crazy here

Wow it's been quite a while since I have posted, I have been a bit busy over the last couple weeks. First my birthday was on the 5th and my husband arranged for my friend to come into town from Wyoming to visit with me. It was a nice time, we went to Benihana on Friday for dinner and then hung out a bit on Saturday morning (she and her kids spent the night here on Friday) and then we took the kids to the zoo on Monday. Saturday my other friend took me shopping at a quilt store for my birthday present. While we were out we came across the grand opening of a new thrift store. My friend got a nice skirt, top and jean jacket and I got several books that I had been wanting to read and a bag with a half completed quilting project. I think that I will cut up the fabric and make new string blocks out of it. Saturday night was my anniversary and we took the kids to my parents for the night and Joe and I spent the night at the Princess in Scottsdale (that's where he took me to propose). Sunday we went back over to my parents house to pick up the kids and we also had my birthday lunch.
In between all of this I have finished my butterfly garden quilt and made a "Party" wall hanging. I recently got a new laptop and have not gotten the photo software set up yet so I'll have to post photos at a later date.
This weekend will likely be just as crazy. Tonight is the semiannual mother's of multiples rummage sale so I will be going with my mom and sister to get some winter clothes for the kids (Alex mostly). Tomorrow is Alex's birthday party (he will be 3 on the 16th), and there are no plans for Sunday yet.
I almost forgot, we had a big milestone here yesterday, we turned Abbie's car seat forward facing. I can't believe how big my baby girl has gotten. Yesterday I took the swing, activity center and bouncy seat to the resale shop. We have had these things since Alex was born, but Abbie has outgrown them and we are not planning on having any more kids so it was time to declutter. I was a bit sad to see them go realizing that I am moving out of a phase of my life and that I will likely never have a little baby of my own to cuddle again.

Measuring time

I had a sort of funny revelation today. In the last 6 years I have changed how I measure time. I used to measure time by months and days but now I measure time from events in my life such as that happened before I was married, I have had these pj's since I was pregnant with Alex, on Alex's birthday I will have been breastfeeding continuously for 3 years. It's funny how our perspective changes. For example when I was single and childless I was nuts about my birthday but now that I am married with 2 kids it feels like just something that is stuck in there between Alex and Abbie's birthdays with an anniversary thrown in for good measure. I am not saying this so you feel sorry for me, it is just not as important anymore.
In other ways to measure time, Abbie has gotten another molar so we are up to 9 teeth total. I can't believe that she is getting to be such a big girl.
Quilt wise I should be able to tell of a UFO finish soon. I finished quilting my Butterfly Garden quilt and have the binding sewn to one side, I just need to get some thread to match the binding and then I'll finish it up (since I anticipate that this quilt will be used I will stitch the binding down by machine rather than by hand). It will feel good to have this completed I have been working on this quilt since Alex was a newborn.

A First Birthday party

Today we had Abbie's first birthday party. Fun was had by all and we got some more great cake eating pictures. I'll post pictures in the next couple of days (I finally added those photos!). Abbie gave me a surprise for her birthday also, two new molars. She totally snuck them in on me, I only know that they are there because I saw a flash of white in her mouth and checked it out. Hope all of you out there had a great weekend.

My Baby Girl Turns One

I can't hardly believe it but Abbie girl turned one today. We are having her party for friends and family on Sunday but today we were able to celebrate with a small cake and dinner with my friend and her two kids. Monday that same friend and I took the kids in to get their birthday pictures done (her son is 26 hours older than Abbie) and then we went back in briefly to have a picture of the two of them together. Abbie is wearing the dress that I made her in the pictures of her by herself. The headband is a free pattern from Heather Bailey. Abbie got to eat her first piece of cake today and she made a lovely mess with it. I tried to post a video of Abbie eating her cake but it wouldn't work so I'll try again later.