Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas Vacation

It would have been a lot funnier if it had not completely grossed me out.

This morning as I was getting ready I heard quite a commotion in the kitchen.  Thinking Munchkin was tearing into some treats I walk right past her and hear squabbling.  Squirrelly squabbling.  And it was IN the kitchen.  I’m sitting there freaking out, thinking at first there are rats in my cabinets.  Then I realize it’s a squirrel.  And I’m having a heart attack trying to to decide what I should be doing at this point. Open the cabinets and risk getting attacked?  Leave him in there to die and stink up our house? 

So I called my husband instead.  He came home, opened the cabinets and figured out the dang animal was stuck in the oven vent.  We called pest control and he came over right away, drilled open the vent and tried to fish him out.  No luck.  So he threw some moth balls into the top of the microwave, set a trap and duct taped the cabinet shut.  “Call me if you hear the trap go off.”

Awesome.

Fast forward to a few hours later, the girls and I walk in the door after dinner (husband was at a movie with his Dad) and Diva with eyes as big as saucers spots him first.  He’s in our Christmas tree chattering away.  Not kidding.

What in the HELL do I do now??

I shoo the girls into their rooms and call my neighbors in because, “THERE IS A SQUIRREL IN MY HOUSE!!”

We open the doors and they chase the little rodent up the bookshelf, the curtains, the kitchen, the counter, back to the tree, behind the couch and finally out the door.

Oh my gosh.

Not to mention he left some wonderful treats behind.

I spent the next hour sanitizing the crap out of my house.

ick.

 

 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

That one time we brought a rat to a party…

The husband and I have made it somewhat of a mission to bring the most random/hilarious white elephant gift to any party we’re invited to at the end of the year.  And let me tell you…they are awesome gifts.

First time, three years ago, the awesome gift was unintentional. 

It was a fondue set.  Booooring right?  I know.  But it was a fondue set from our wedding.  It was a fondue set from our wedding given to us by the husband’s grandmother on his dad’s side.  Follow?  We thought, well we’re never going to use this (who has time for fondue??) so we wrapped it up and lugged it to our first white elephant party as a married couple.  (Really we had been married 5 years at this point…WHY HAD WE NOT BEEN INVITED BEFORE??)

So.  It comes to the moment when someone chooses our gift. Nobody knows who brought what because it’s funnier that way.  My friend who happens to be sitting next to me picks up our gift, unwraps it and eyes the box.  Not believing it really is a fondue set she opens the box and the very first thing inside was a card.

CRAP. 

In my hurriedness to wrap the gift and call it good I had completely failed to inspect it to make sure it was free of re-gifting evidence.  THAT CARD.  A card I hadn’t read since the day I got home from my honeymoon and furiously tore into my future kitchen supplies.

Apparently I had opened the fondue set, thought it was mildly interesting, skimmed the card and put it back in the box.  And I had totally forgotten it. Until now.

Everybody listened intently as my friend reads the card and all the while I’m trying to grab it from her in hopes that I think she’s a idiot and didn’t see it in the first place.

It was a sweet, heartfelt card written by Grandma Bingham, congratulating us on our wedding and wishing us all sorts of sweet thoughts for our future. 

And then someone asks (in the midst of an uproar of laughter), “Wait wait wait…is Grandma Bingham still alive?”

Husband and I, blushing immensely hang our heads.  “No.”

More laughter, but in an Oh My Gosh Poor Grandma Bingham and Her Forgotten Fondue Set sort of way.

Shame on us. 

We never lived that down. 

Next year we had to come up with something even more memorable. 

Cue the rat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_rat <---one of those guys.  A cute black and white little creature we bought for nine dollars.  We kept him in his traveling box, gave him some cheese and carrots and lightly wrapped him up.

It was hard to keep a straight face.   After ten or so gifts had been chosen, someone finally chooses Mr. Rat.  And wouldn't you know it was our friend, Elise who has five boys who would LOVE a pet rat. But I saw the dilemma in her face.  She was too sweet to admit it but there was no way in hell she wanted to keep it.  And neither did we.

So late that night she and her husband let him go (after asking PetSmart to take him back!).  Domestic he is no more.  Actually, he’s probably dead.  Or maybe he joined some rat posse or is breeding outside of his class.

This year we realized we had to keep the funny and forget the live animals.

So we brought these:

<em>Fundies</em>

Undies.  Built for two. Four leg holes. You get the idea.

Moral of this story? There is none.  We just like White Elephant parties.

And fundies.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Magic

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Looks like the dusting elves missed my house.  Slackers.

Some call it fibbing, lying, or perhaps maybe prepping your child for a lifetime of disappointment and depression.

I call it magic.

The little Elf, named Elfy (very, VERY original) is the newest member of our family and it has been wonderful. I cannot tell you how delightful it is to watch Diva’s eyes sparkle when he’s moved to a different location, or how she has precious conversations with him after school.  I love the way she she is so extremely careful NEVER to touch him and asks me if I can hold him for her so she can get a closer look.  She asks him silly questions and waves to him from the other room.  It’s priceless I tell ya.  Absolutely priceless. 

I want my kids to believe in magic.  They’ll grow out of it soon enough and I’ll be darned if I ever deprive them of that childhood rite of passage. 

Munchkin is aware of Mr. Elfy but it’s more of a seehowmuchIcanannoymysisterbypretendingtotouchElfy kinda thing.  Her magic will come next year no doubt.  I can’t wait. 

Bonus?  Diva has been an absolute angel.  But that’s only the icing on the cake.

Click here if you don’t know what the crap I’m talking about.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Just have to…

She looked so cute today I just had to snap a few.  And bonus was that she did this all herself.  From the boots all the way up to the headband and randomly placed ponytail.  I love this girl’s fashion sense! 

She’s doing so well in school and is loved by all her friends.  The other day she informed me that a boy in her class doesn’t behave very well. 

“Yeah Mom, he’s a bucket dipper.”

*me trying not to laugh*.  “A what?”

“A bucket DIPPER.”

“Are you a bucket filler?”

“Yes, every day!”

Atta girl!

Speaking of school…don’t tell the girls but I’m having Diva ditch get sick on Friday so the in-laws can take them to Disney on Ice.

It’s going to blow.their.minds.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Feelin’ it.

We’ve been getting into the holly jolly spirit.

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And just FYI….if you give my girls a glass fairy ornament, they WILL play with it and WILL break off her wings and her foot and her leg.  Poor thing.

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Tonight for Family Home Evening we watched the following video and discussed with the girls the true meaning of Christmas.  It’s so important for them to know why we celebrate during this season.  It’s not about Santa or presents or treats.  It’s about Him and the ultimate Gift of Life. 

I wish I could embed the video but for now, if you haven’t seen it, click on the link and enjoy.  There are others as well. 

A Gift to the World

P.S. I’m not feeling the comment love lately.  I mean c’mon that’s why I blog DON’T YOU KNOW?!  All you stalkers.  I know you are out there.  Don’t leave me hangin. 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Dance Dance

It’s that time of year again!

Tutus and glitter and tapping and ballet and a crapload of makeup (even for an adult.)

Today was Diva’s dress rehearsal.  And seriously, their dance is hard.  I have a hard time trying to follow along with just my eyeballs, I can’t imagine what’s it like to actually dance the thing.  I think their teacher was a little overzealous.  But they are cute nonetheless!

 

Oh I hated putting this makeup on her.  And even though I took her pictures I just kept thinking, “I can’t wait to clean this garbage off her face!”  I don’t like that crap altering my little girls’ already perfect, innocent little features. 

And wipe it off we did, as soon as we got home.  I just have to do it all over again next week!  Blah!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Houses

‘Tis the season for gingerbread houses. 

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I’m no fool.  I buy kits.  I mean c’mon, can you really see me slaving away in the kitchen making gingerbread house dough that will eventually become stale and be thrown away?  Exactly. 

untitled-9818   untitled-9854 untitled-9856

Dad and Papa were into it.  Maybe more so than Munchkin.  No really. 

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Okay, they DID let her put on some decorations. 

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And done!   Kids just make everything more exciting.  Well except for Dr.’s visits, and road trips. And restaurants.  And museums.  And…..

okay I’ll stop.

But really, everything else having to do with warm holiday memories…yes!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Quack quack

belly

Ah yes, there it is.  31 week belly.

Heeeeeeey fat girl!”  Said the funny homeboy on my way to the airport the other day.  I just laughed.  It was a compliment right?  He told me I was “stylin and profilin.”  A quick urban dictionary search said it means to “have class; so fresh and so clean.”  Well okay then.  I’ll take it.

Soooo…at the risk of being a little TMI I have to explain something.  I mean I thought I had escaped it this time around but noooo…it’s come back full force in the last week or so.  And it hurts.  A lot.

Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t one to complain.  Pregnancy is good to me.  Aside from the pukes earlier on, I’ve had it easy.  But I have to warn people if they see me out in public waddling around like I’ve been riding a horse non stop for 12 days straight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphysis_pubis_dysfunction

Click click and read all about it.  I had this with my other full term pregnancies and read that it just gets worse each time.  Sweetness! 

So today I walked up the stairs and gasped in pain.  I climbed into the car and cringed.  I have to get dressed sitting down as if I’m 90 years old with bad hips.  And yes, I waddled around like a sad, fat duck because my bones feel like they are literally grinding together. 

But hey other than that, it’s going great!  No really.   It’s not something I whine about a lot or wish for my pregnancy to go by more quickly because I am cherishing this time with my baby boy.  Just him and me!

Where have I been?

Wow, lack of blogging much?  I have good reasons.  I promise.

First of all, I’ve been doing photoshoots and those take up a lot of time.  Good time, but still time.

And second…I have been spending the past few days with this boy:

Look at that scrawny little cutie!  My little nephew, J, has had a rough go these past few weeks.  Born with what is called malrotation of the bowel, little J had to have emergency corrective surgery at only five days old!  They only figured this all out when my sister knew something wasn’t right.  He was fussy, throwing up yellow and seemingly in pain.  Thank goodness for an alert pediatrician who told them to go immediately to the E.R at the Children’s hospital.  Poor baby.  He had emergency surgery to correct the problem.  At only 5 days old!  You can’t see the scar in the picture, but it’s there, under that diaper flap, across his abdomen. He  spent two very long weeks in the NICU to assure he was digesting properly, half of that time he could only have an I.V. 

Did I mention my sister and her husband have three other children?  It’s just not feasible to spend all your time at the hospital when you have others who also require much attention.  Thankfully my mom was there initially, then the other grandma and then my other sister and I flew up over T-day to help them (thanks to my parents).

And here is the concerned and exhausted mom and dad, on their first night home administering some Tylenol.  My sister’s face just says it all.

 

We managed to come up with a decent Thanksgiving meal to salvage what was left of their holiday week.  J was released from the NICU just in time!

 

 

And this girl, my little niece.  A princess in a house full of brothers.  Oh I love her.  She has everybody in that house wrapped around her finger.  Only 2.5 and just the feistiest little girl I have ever met!

Not to mention she’s got some serious looks.  Her parents are in deep trouble when she’s a teenager.

So now I’m back home and left my sister to fatten up her sweet little newborn.  Can you believe that in only the 10th week of pregnancy is when his bowels formed incorrectly?  That just seems crazy to me considering they were probably the size of a piece of thread! 

And what about MY family?  The girls were left with their dad back home.  I didn’t worry about them once.  I knew they were in good hands.  My mom has been so helpful watching them while the husband worked. 

I see how hard it is for my sister to live so far from family during difficult times like this but their ward was amazing.  They really looked after them.  They watched their kids, fed them dinner and prayed for them constantly.  I am so grateful for that!

Also, my husband is awesome.  I mean truly.  After worrying about how the girls would fare if I went at a different time he suggested I go over Thanksgiving weekend since he had off most of those days.  He did fun things with the kiddos, kept the house clean, did the laundry and never complained about me being gone over a very important holiday!  See?  Awesome.  Thanks hon.

Friday, November 18, 2011

I’m legit

I had my first ever parent-teacher conference on Monday. I’ll admit.  It was bizarre.  Especially since it’s the same elementary school I attended when I was her age.  And especially since my brother still attends the same school.  Yeah.  Definitely bizarre.

And did I mention her teacher has the same last name as our family? Yup.  Pretty funny. 

Anyway it went great.  I am so very proud of  my little girl who follows directions, respects others around her, finishes her work on time, knows her stuff and is in the extra reading group.  I expected nothing less to be honest.  She is a good girl.  Tender hearted.  A little high strung. Sensitive and sweet.  She is as bright as they come and I’m so glad she is such a good example of what it means to be a good student. 

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I’m hoping this will last throughout all her years of school.  And yes, sometimes I do wish her excellent behavior spilled over into her home life but hey, nobody’s perfect.

 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Hats!

Obviously dressing up is nothing new around here.  Especially since moving next door to Diva’s BFF.  Between the three of these girls, they have enough dresses to wardrobe an entire kingdom.

But I’m not talking about the dresses.  My friend, Kara, whom I’ve known for quite a few years now just opened up an Etsy Shop and sells (among other things) these freakin adorable beanies.  I saw her post them on Facebook and I immediately had to have them. 

And then of course, I had to take pictures.  It was extremely impromptu, they happened to already be dressed up running around outside, so I plopped the hats on their heads and said “Come stand right here really quick!”  haha. 

 

 

Munchkin actually refused to pull her hat down any farther than pictured. 

I actually have to tell Diva to stop posing for the camera.   It annoys me.  I want her to look like a child, not a paid actress. ha. 

This is miss Adds.  I love her freckles and big blue eyes.  She’s a sweetheart.

Oh wait! I DID get her to pull her hat down.  And it lasted about 5 seconds.

 

 

The end.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

You like to play?

books

I never really understood how much little M plays with her older sister during the day, until older sister was gone for most of it and I was left to fill the void.  I can’t tell you how tempting it is to pop in a movie so I can snooze (hey I just found out I’m severely anemic…don’t judge!) or do other things but for the most part I refrain.  We spend time running errands, going to the library and playing dolls.  A lot of dolls.  I can’t quite keep up with her imagination and I laugh at how much I actually played with Barbies when I was little.  I mean hours and hours of Barbies.  Man.  Adults are boring.

rap

Miss M is constantly bringing me her dolls and saying, “You like to play?”  Okaaaaay.  So I stop what I’m doing and play 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time.  Today the dolls went to the store to get some rice, chips and popcorn.  Variety is key.  It might not be the most titillating 5 or 10 minutes of my life but it makes Munchkin so happy and I can rarely refuse her request. 

Oh yeah, don’t you love Rapunzel’s dreads?  Thanks be to her spending 90% of her life in the bathtub. 

 

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Like

The rain. Obvi.

Diva is getting so.sick. of me taking her pictures.  I don’t get much out of her these days and I absolutely don’t blame her. I would be sick of me too.

    

But I can still be in stealth mode with a longer lens and not constantly asking them to smile.  Just catching them in their element. 

Today was playing in the rain.  Luckily it stopped long enough to snap a few.  Have I ever mentioned that Munchkin loves apples?  She does.  I have to have them in our fridge at all times. 

 


I have been doing a couple photo shoots lately.  Most recent is on my photo blog and last night I had a fun time at the beach with my sister and her family.  They are so photogenic it’s annoying.  No just kidding.  I’ll have their session up my blog later.

And hey, even though I feel a bit silly for asking…I think you all should “Like” my photography page on Facebook.  Pretty please?  If you haven’t already that is.  I haven’t been super proactive about promoting my photography business (you know..the whole every mom that has a camera has a photog business negativity out there??) Anyway, I really love photography and I can only take so many pictures of my children. 

Click on my photo blog button on my sidebar and you can follow the link on the sidebar to Like my page.

Thanks peeps.

LW

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