Thursday, July 31, 2008

These are a few of E's favorite things.....

Thank the camera gods my baby is back!! I picked her up Tuesday night with much excitement!I gladly gave Kevin back his point and shoot. I told the saleslady at Ritz how I was using a point and shoot and she laughed and said 'you CAN'T use a point and shoot after experiencing your camera!' LOL, very sad but true!

In celebration of her arrival back home (after 9 long agonizing weeks I bought a 50m f 1.4 lens. Should be here next week or so. I can't wait. It's a portrait lens so I can get some nice close ups of the girls!!! woo hooo!!!!

OK anyways heres some pics of E this morning playing with her favorite things:

First- her play gym, she LOVES this thing and goes crazy with it!


Next is one of her wooden spoons. It will still be at least 9 more months til she eats with them but for now she loves to suck and chew on them

and lastly one of her rattles,she was having lots of fun with this earlier.

It's nice that shes now interested in playing with things.
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Thursday, July 24, 2008

In Loving Memory

*I apologize in advance, I am exhausted and still in shock taking all of this in*


Of a truly amazing,caring,wonderful man- Michael or as K refers to him 'Fiona Daddy'.

Him and K last November

Him and K and Fiona and D'Anne last November.


He left this earth much to soon and is missed beyond words. Can I just say this is NOT fair! You never met a more caring individual.
All our love,prayes and thoughts are with our beloved D'Anne and Fiona.
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Monday, July 21, 2008

Lazy Morning

1st off, can you believe it? I'm knitting again!! woo hoo!! I finally finished knitting and embellishing all my squares for the knitted farmyard play mat on Saturday,our lazy day as you'll see a pic of below. Now I just have to wait on the other 11 mamas to finish theirs so we can trade and knit them all together! So now I have started on a soaker for E. It's the Pea patch pattern by my friend Michelle (blog is in my list). I'm knitting it in 'Fiona' by Three Irish Girls.

Our garden is flourishing now. Here's some peppers I picked the day my family arrived.



This Saturday morning was one of those mornings I have been dreaming of for years now! We all were in the living room and E fell asleep in her hammock.


My knitting I worked on, finishing up the squares while everyone slept.


K playing with her dollhouse by herself.She was having a blast. And being oh so quiet to not wake anyone up.


Daddy and Nara fell asleep on the couch together.


It only lasted about an hour but it was heavenly.



I'm still editing my post for the family trip! Will be up soon I swear!
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Friday, July 18, 2008

look at this quilt! *drool*



It's being given away! Cn you believe it? go to the link in my sidebar. Hey if you want to enter for me I'd be ever so grateful :)

Pics from the family visit coming soon!
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Saturday, July 12, 2008

new haircut,amazing E, and snakes galore

After my pregnancy my hair was pretty ratty looking. Plus I have been growing out my Betty page bangs that I never like on my face. so I went and got 10 inches taken off to donate to locks of love. I feel so much lighter! This pic is a bad pic my hair isn't even washed and I just got out of bed but it gives you an idea, none the less. This cut is saving me seeing how I never have time to do anything to my hair out of the shower.

Last Wednesday our local library had a rattlesnake event. sadly they didn't bring rattle snakes though. kinda odd huh? K loves rattlesnakes right now. But we did see some other amazing snakes and creatures and K's friend Riley was there.

Here's K holding the tail end of a boa constrictor. I can remember holding one when I was in elementary school so K is following in my footsteps!


Here she is petting a milk snake


and in this pic she had just kissed the snake but my crappy point and shoot camera paused and got the picture after she kissed him :(


E,I have decided is a Saint in a baby's body. She is amazing, I can't believe how laid back and easy going she is. The exact opposite of her big sister!!
She even fell asleep on her own sucking on her fingers yesterday! see below


she did the same thing today too. I can't believe it! I am not used to this. And she is content doing just about anything now. She lets me put K down for a nap which can take a 1/2 hour sometimes,lets me clean and sometimes cook too.
She is just so happy all the time. she sleeps for an hour smiles and coos for an hour, then sleeps an hour and smiles and coos an hour..this happens all day long til 8pm then she goes to bed til 6-7 the next morning and we start all over again. shes just so wonderful, I feel so blessed!


Heres how she napped today, with Nara curled around one side and me on the other.
this pic cracks me up b/c of K's face. Nakies as usual.

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Monday, July 7, 2008

You can't take it with you when you leave this earth...

So why not de-clutter and get rid of it now?!

this is inspiring me to clear out more.

copied from an amazing mama on mothering.com

Good Rules of Thumb:
* get rid of anything that requires you to purchase some kind of organization item for it. chances are, you don't need that crap to begin with.
* anything that ends up covered in dust--if you really loved it that much, it would get more attention.
* anything you can always find at goodwill for under a buck that you hardly ever use anyway.
* Get rid of duplicate things you have that you thought you'd keep both of in case one broke
* Get rid of that box of stuff you might try to sell someday.
* get rid of stuff that just never seems to find a "home".
* get rid of "some day" things, as in "SOME DAY I'll use this for xyz".
* Get rid of things you would NOT want to pack up and have to move if you were moving to a different home.
* get rid of all of the boxes that haven't been unpacked yet from the last time you moved.
* things that "can be fixed" -if you haven't fixed it by now, it's probably not going to happen.


EMOTIONAL/SENTIMENTAL:

* Consider taking a photograph of a momento then getting rid of the actual momento.
* Get rid of ANYTHING that does not bring you some joy when you see it or use it.
* Get rid of gifts you don't like and things you keep out of guilt or obligation
* Get rid of anything that reminds you of someone who doesn't make your life joyful
* Get rid of thank you cards, birthday cards...that don't really have special meaning
* Get rid of things that make you feel like you're not the person you want to be (those reminders of things you'd love to do but never have time to and that only drain your spirit/energy)
* Get Rid of Anything You Don't Need or Love, things that aren't "you".
* If you pick something up and wonder whether you need it, you don't.
The things you truly need and love - you know that without hesitation.
* Ditch all your dried flowers.
* Get rid of balloons that no longer stay afloat


KITCHEN
* Get rid of kitchen appliances you use less than, say, once a month
* Anything in the kitchen cupboard (dishes, canned goods, utensils, you name it) that haven't been used in a year. (Other than the forspecial china and silver).
* Get rid of all but four pot holders
* all the extra measuring spoons and cups
* All those knives that don't really do it. you only really need 2.
* the cookie cutters that are never used.
* Get rid of food in the pantry that has sat there for a yr (find a new owner or toss it with an expired date)
* most of the tupperware can go


CLOTHING/LINENS:
* Get rid of clothes you don't look good in, don't fit right, or you don’t love.
* Ugly, stained, ill-fitting, maybe someday I'll wear it again, itchy clothes. (keep one set for painting and crud)
* Get rid of clothing I won't wear or haven't worn in 2 yrs
* Get rid of the orphan socks and pairs of socks with holes in them - they're useless!
* Undies with holes even if they will last another year
*Get rid of all towels that are holy or frayed or excess (keep enough for 2 per person and 1 for the pets)
*Get rid of all bedding sets (keep 1 for myself and 2 per child)
* Get rid of your fat clothes, your skinny clothes ... dress the body you have and love it
*Get rid of hand-me-down clothes that you don't even like!
* Get rid of the 8 or 9 boxes of fancy baby clothes that will never be used


HOBBIES/MEDIA:
* Get rid of books/magazines you don't read all the time, will never read again, or no longer interest you (what's a library for after all?)
* Get rid of outdated reference materials
* Get rid of pictures and artwork you have no place to put - if you like it, then find a place for it - take something you like less down, but if it doesn't have a place what good is it?
* decorations you don't love
* craft supplies you aren't using
* Get rid of scrap wood from that last project, unless you have an actual plan in mind for it.
* Get rid of scrap fabric.


KIDS STUFF:

* all the extra markers and crayons. keep one set of new.
* Get rid of dried up play dough.
* Get rid of toys that are overflowing out of the toy bins, toys the kids don't even know they have, noise-making toys that require batteries!
* all but 25 favorite toys for each kid (sets count as one thing). This one is hard.
* Stuffed animals. They are nasty and collect dust. Keep one or two special loves. but not 50.
* Get rid of poorly written, insanely annoying or duplicate kids books.
* Get rid of broken crayons (yes, I know you can melt them to make block crayons. If you were going to do that, wouldn't you have done it already?).
* Get rid of things you have been collecting to do "recycled art" with your kids, unless you actually plan to do it this week. There will always be more.


JUNK EVERYONE SEEMS TO HAVE:
* that bunch of random floating pens--give em to the grocery store clerk
* All those screws and nails that are leftover from everything. Can never find the one you want anyway.
* Get rid of blurry or bad photos (especially if they're duplicate prints), unless it's the one shot you have of a momentous event.
* Get rid of at least one rubbermaid of the Christmas decorations you don't like that have been heaped upon you because your inlaws can't imagine that maybe you want a simple Christmas.
* Get rid of the 9 extra cameras that haven't been touched since the digital camera was purchased.
* Get rid of the two "spare" computers that barely work, take 10 minutes to boot up, and sound like jet engines when they run.
* Get rid of the "spare" furniture (that entertainment center) that has been sitting in the garage and storage area since move in day, extra furniture, the ugly chair in my bedroom
* Get rid of junk mail!!
*Get rid of all outdated toiletries and make-up, products (cleaning and body) that are unsafe and lotions and potions you no longer use
* Get boxes loaded with books, DVD's, cd's and clothes OUT of here, before I start going through them and "finding" things I "need" to keep.
*Get rid of stuff you hang onto just because you spent a lot of money for those things, or someone else spent a lot of money for those things. If it doesn't work for you, get rid of it, even if it was expensive. Keep the lesson but not the item.
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And now for something completely different,and to contradict myself... who wants to buy me these undies?!


http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12362910

they say "i'm an obama mama"
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Friday, July 4, 2008

E being a ham today

It has almost been 8 weeks since I had to turn in my camera :( so hopefully it will be back in my arms again soon. I tried to have a mini photo shoot with E today. I took 155 photos and these were the only ones that were in focus :( arn point and shoot camera!!
anyways here she is!

smiles

with big sis!


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Thursday, July 3, 2008

baking as meditation

Monday is our usual baking day,and we did bake on that day but we decided to make some things today too. We needed some more bread b/c we've been eating it like crazy. I found this amazing organic whole wheat bread flour that makes our bread so soft and perfect now. We just can't get enough!!


After we got the bread started we decided to make some cookies to satisfy our sweet cravings. I got out our letter cookie cutters to use for the 1st time,thinking I would just do some random letters but K requested the letters in her name and actually knew what they were! We have never taught her the letters in her name or any letters at all. We do not even sing her the alphabet song. She is too young fr these things yet,but yet she knows them somehow! So I'm following her lead and I made her the cookie letters she wanted. She was my big helper!!
cookie making

She wanted a random O as well.


Our 1st batch fresh out of the oven. These are my Grandma's recipe, we make it every Christmas in my family. I decided for my girls we'd make them whenever we got the urge to.


My very smart,simple living,frugal friend Jill started a challenge that I have been participating in...
I never bothered with coupons b/c everything we buy is from smaller companies so they never have coupons in the paper ,etc.
Now that we have expensive van payments we need to be simple and frugal more than ever.
Anyways she based her challenge after the $39 experiment (http://www.the39dollarexperiment.com/ ) but hers is online instead of wasting money on stamps,envelopes and paper.

So I began e-mailing the companies we buy from,spending about 2 mins an e-mail, asking them for coupons. So far every company minus 2 has replied saying they are sending me coupons.

Here's what came in the mail the other day from Earthbound organics and eden organic foods:

Tons of coupons,including ones for FREE products!! I received more coupons today from traditional medicines and Odwalla.This will help us out so much. Groceries are our biggest monthly expense b/c we refuse to lower our standards on food that nourishes our bodies. We will go without other things before going with out healthy eats. Especially now we us going soy free,I'm really looking at every bite that goes into our bodies. Plus I want us to be a good example for the girls growing up.
We are also now buying from local organic food co-ops and I am buying in bulk from a local organic farm (that's where our super yummy bread flour came from). Supporting our local farmers and saving gas and money at the same time, how brilliant!


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