Family Pictures and Weekly Goals

Oh, the joy of family pictures. Figuring out what everyone should wear, where the pictures should be taken, driving there (for 3 hours, in our case), actually getting the 3 year old (let alone the baby) to look at the camera and smile, etc. Okay, that sounds bad, and actually it was such a great adventure today! We flew Andy (Brad's brother) out here from SLC to take our pictures. He owns a photography business there found at http://www.creativproductions.com/. We were totally thrilled to find some beautiful coloring in the trees up by Duluth, MN. We drove around forever, trying to find an ideal spot, and then we found this little private driveway that wound back into a perfect clearing surrounded by colorful trees. Brad and Andy asked the people living there if we could use their yard to take our family picture, and they were so nice, pulling their boat out of the way, finding us logs to sit on, and giving us free reign to wander around the place. We had a great time, the kids were well behaved, and we have some great pictures now. Here is a vast selection to see:

Mac was trying so hard to get Leiden's hair clip.

Mac is more interested in the trees and flora.

Here we have Mac facing forward, but Leiden is not sure what to think.

Should I do what Uncle Andy says and kiss daddy?

Brad was making fun of someone in this picture, and he ends up looking like Fire Marshall Bill.

Always it's Leiden that brings out the laughs in Mac.

Mac's head glows like that of a wee angel. What a halo.

Gap-toothed grin.

Andy's emphasis is on weddings, after all!

To Andy's credit, he did not tell us to do this annoying pose. It was something our videographer at our wedding wanted us to do, and here we are, making fun of him all these years later.

When we choose the nice one to be blown up large scale, maybe we'll put up some more. Andy did a great job and is very good at what he does. Thanks, Andy!

Weekly Goals revisited:

It was pretty daring of me to put my goals out there where everyone can read (all 3 of you who read this:), but it keeps me honest. Honest to the point of pain when I have to report that my goals were not met this week! Here's the rundown.

1. Reading scriptures in front of your children is hard. Anyone have any suggestions?

2. I ran 5 times this week. If I don't get out of bed and do it immediately, it pretty much doesn't get done. Sleep or exercise? I guess it depends on the night. I have no idea whether any weight was lost this week or not.

3. Dress pattern pieces were not cut out this week. I discovered the excitement of Facebook. If you've not heard of it or tried it, check it out.

4. Leiden's quiet book materials lay where they have for weeks now.

5. The treats kind of evened out, although that's not the point. There were a couple days that I ate NO treats, and then a couple days where there was more than one.

In short, all my goals will be reinstated for this coming week. I do have to say, however, that my having written them here and knowing others were looking, I have thought more about them than I have ever previously thought about goals I have made. Thanks for the support--even if you didn't know you were supporting! Let's root for new goals next week instead of these boring re-do's. It's all up to me. Great.

The Office

Hooray! The Office is back on tonight! For any of you who don't know what I'm talking about, see here. I absolutely love this show!

Happy Fall!

Sorry, it's been a few days. We've been busy around here. First of all, Happy Fall! Usually I love fall, and I still do this year, but that means 7 months of winter is coming. Not so happy about that. We are considering getting Brad's brother, Andy out here for the weekend to take a nice family picture in some fall colors 'up north'. It may be a bit early. Leiden and I celebrated the onset of fall by making some baked Apple Cider Doughnuts. I was a little less than impressed. They were good, but did in no way rival Krispy Kreme like the blogger who posted the recipe claimed. They are baked, so I guess I should have known better. We're going to try some fried ones. I'm sure they'll be much more worth reporting about! Leiden loves to help me in the kitchen and asks every day to help--usually with dinner, when I'm working with raw meat and hot stoves. She sure loves the KitchenAid.







Mac's outfit is finally finished as of yesterday, so that's good. I need to start on Christmas dresses next. I love my new sewing machine. It is so superior to my old one! Here is the darling girl in her darling outfit!

So Exciting!

As I've said before, I spend a lot of time on my blog--writing, downloading pics and videos--probably too much for health. However, I have to tell you all that I am totally jazzed by the idea that there are people out there reading my blog! I never, ever thought that I would enjoy reading comments as much as I do, and this has also taught me a lesson. I will try to comment on others' blogs as often as I can, just in case all of the rest of you get as excited as I do by comments! Thanks so much for them.

Fine Print: This was not to make anyone who does not leave comments feel bad, or to make anyone feel like they have to leave comments. Absolutely not. Leave them or don't, but thanks for reading!

Roof is Done! and New: Weekly Goals

Hooray for Brad! He and his friend from work, Shane, finished the roof last night at about 7:30 PM. We are--excuse me--Brad is almost done with outside work! Then the fun begins inside! No, not for a while, although I did put on a new front door knob yesterday, and also bought a new chandelier for the kitchen table and entryway, too. We would love to redo our kitchen cabinets and counters (me, I think more than Brad), but that will have to wait until we can save a bit more money. They say that a new kitchen sells your house better than anything else, so we'll do it if we can in case it comes to that! 'Be prepared' is a good motto for anything in life.

Which segues nicely into my next bit of news--Mac is close to crawling. The last week or so she has been wiggling her hips on the floor. It brought to mind a hula hoop; it's that kind of motion. I'm not entirely certain why I'm pushing for this, but the last couple days I've been putting her legs up underneath her belly to show her what she's aiming for, and then today, Brad had her on the bed and she got the up under her several times and even pushed herself forward! Flat on her face, but as soon as she learns to keep her arms up and moving, off she'll go. Woohoo! for Mac, AHHHHH! for mom. Here is some video, although the memory card filled up before I could get some really good shots.


Leiden is really noticing fall this year. She points to all the changing trees, and asks me every day if fall is still here. I have been a little slow on the uptake, but Fall decorations will come out this week, and I might just put up Halloween while I'm at it.

I thought it might be a good idea, as I'm forever a 'list' person, to make some weekly goals here in the public domain and then I've recorded them in a place that won't get lost. I am also an 'I can't find...' person. So, this week I will:
1. Read my scriptures while Leiden is awake every day. (She needs to see me reading
them.)
2. Go running 6 times in the next 7 days. (And therefore lose 1.5-2-lbs. this week.)
3. Get the pattern pieces for the girls' Christmas dresses cut out.
4. Finish, as much as possible, Leiden's quiet book.
5. Eat no more than one treat a day. (This is embarrassing to admit, but it will help
with the losing weight thing, too.)
That should do it! I'll post pictures of the new lights this week, too.

I Love Digital Scrapbooking!

I am totally in love with this art form. It is so much easier than paper. Here's the latest from naptime. I'm finally on January!

Busy Day

It was another of those days when the kids are content and I seem to work a bit quicker than normal, so I was able to get some things done. Most exciting: Leiden's outfit is done! (Mac's is right behind, I just need to put the elastic in the waist.) It is so cute, although the shirt is a lot smaller than I thought it would be--I cut it as a 4-5! But, it's so fun and colorful. The skirt is a little big, but she is going to wear it next summer, as well. Such a fun pattern.

I got three baby book pages done today. That's some serious movement for me. I never quite know what to think of most of them. They usually have to 'stew' for a while before I decide if I'm actually done with them, although I can't imagine going back and actually re-doing anything. I think I'll do some pages of Leiden next.

Door

Okay, here's the door. I guess it's growing on me. You can really only see the color in the close up, but I guess you can get the idea in the whole house pics. The big question is...should we paint the garage door the same color, or is that too much?





Mac was doing a really great job today of getting the spoon in her mouth. We're in this really annoying stage where she only wants to bite on things. She's not even particularly interested in eating. She just wants to bite the bottle, the cup, the spoon, my fingers. But she's doing pretty good with biter biscuits!




Leiden's mouth is looking better every day. The salt water still stings, but the gums are looking even better today than they did yesterday. You can see the line above her lip is starting to go away, too. I don't have any pictures because I wasn't there, but Leiden did her first show and tell today at preschool. The teacher said she actually talked! She was to tell her favorite color: orange, and tell what she brought that was that color: her camera. Yay, Leiden. I think this class will be good for her in many ways.

Rough Few Days

Leiden's luck is really not with her right now. Her stars are all out of alignment. Does anyone know any feng shui? While we were out on a run today (again, with my ER doctor friend, Kelly--I need her to move in with me), Leiden starts screaming and kicking her feet against the footrest on the stroller. I come to a screeching halt, and am trying to figure out why she's bashing her fist against her leg, and then me as I come closer. Kelly says, "Was it a bee? Look for a bee." Sure enough, there is the little bugger all curled up and dying on Leiden's shorts. I am trying to figure out where she has been stung, and I can't see anything. Meanwhile, the drama of hitting mom with her closed fist continues. I pried open her hand to see if it was on the inside, and it wasn't. Then for a split second she opens her hand, and there is that stinger, still sticking out of the side of her finger. Kelly pulled it out while I held her hand still, and then we raced back to the car. She's crying just as hard as the other day, and I am huffing up hills and across grassy knolls to make a straight line to the car. I'm of course worrying that if anyone is allergic to bee stings, it will be her, and then figuring that if she's still crying, she's still breathing, and anaphylactic shock isn't setting in yet. Anyway, drama aside, she's fine. We came home and slapped some frozen peas on her hand and she felt fine after that, and even better after a nap this afternoon. I didn't even take any pictures because you can't even see it anymore save a little red spot. I'm wondering how she'll react to the next bee that hovers near her.

Poor girl. Her gums are looking a lot better, though. I used an infant medicine syringe to shoot some salt water up there last night, which brought on a whole new set of tears where tears weren't present before. Honestly, I keep telling her that stinging when we rinse is a good thing. That means it's working. But, it seemed to help. Today, the bruising seems to have receded further up to the top of her gums, and the little scab on top of her lip is even starting to come off a bit. She'll probably have some scar marks for a while. I'm getting more and more used to her new look every day. She's still my pretty Leiden.

The tooth fairy visited on Monday night, and brought her a new book. Leiden doesn't care about money yet, so we figured that would be a good present. She was very excited when she went to sleep, and then woke Mac up with the light on Tuesday morning in her haste and excitement to see what the tooth fairy brought her.

I have actually joined the forces at work on the outside of our house. Yesterday and today I painted our front door. We had kind of an accent door in mind, and so we picked a color I wasn't too sure of, but is also growing on me more every day. It's now kind of a dark dark brick color--it's called something mahogany, and it actually looks pretty good. We're still trying to decide if we should paint our whole garage that color, too. But, the most exciting part is that I!!! did it! I am always faintly embarrassed to thank people when they tell me how beautiful the house looks, because I haven't done any of the work, but now I can just say thank you with grace. I meant to take a picture of it, but forgot, so I'll get it up tomorrow. Brad's still working on the roof, which is going to look great.

Other, Happier Things

Or at least other. Just as the siding project is almost done--days away from being done, Brad decides (and to be perfectly honest, I agree...) to re-roof the house himself with a friend instead of hiring it out. We would have had to shell out $3000 to $4000 dollars to have someone do it for us, and this was on top of the insurance money. So, Brad's got a friend at work that has done 5 roofs or so, and he offered to help. We bought all the materials, and we'll pay him whatever's left of the insurance money at the end. This just means that Brad is back outside at every moment working on the house. I was gearing up for having him around some more! The other day Brad took Leiden up on the roof to see what was going on, and then she was promptly put back on the ground. Our roof is not very steep, and he held on to her the whole time, ( I guess except for in the picture right below!) but mothers are generally more cautious types than fathers.

I took Leiden to the dentist today to make sure all will be well with her mouth. They took an x-ray and poked around in there a bit, and said everything should be fine. The permanent teeth above sustained no damage, which is a really good thing. You can see on the following pictures the line on her face. The gums underneath are all banged up, too. The tooth to her left of the gap is a bit loose, but the dentist seemed confident that it would firm up. Leiden can't bite into anything until her gums are all better, but that's only about 2 weeks or so. Leiden did such a great job at the dentist. She wasn't scared, she did what the dentist and helper asked her to, and was such a brave girl while they were looking up at her gums. She did so well we went to get an ice-cream afterwards.

The pictures are really sad for me to look at. It's a cute gap, but it's still not how my child's face 'looks' to me. I was thinking about it today, and she'll probably be gap-toothed for another 3 years or so. That's as long as she's already been alive! Oh, for heaven's sake, it's making me tear up just to type it in. She doesn't seem to bothered by it, so that's a good thing. She has started talking about it, bringing it up at random times during the day, so you know it's on her mind, but she just repeats facts--no editorializing. My dear, sweet girl.

Accidents

Well, unfortunately Leiden fell yesterday while running around in nursery and knocked out her top left front tooth. She now has this darling, gap-toothed grin, but it's years too early! We'll take some pictures today and put them up. She fell on a great big block toy and smacked her face just right, and now there is a big red line running from the middle of the top of her lip to her mid-cheek, where it ends in a bit of a bruise. The gums underneath look bad--all smashed up and dark red and black. Poor girl. She was so brave. She cried for a long time, and bled for even longer, but all seems to be okay. We're going to the dentist later this afternoon. They can't do anything for a baby tooth, but we need to make sure everything is going to heal properly. She slept fine last night, and woke up happy, and even said it didn't hurt today. She keeps trying to bite things like normal, and I have to keep reminding her to break things up and put her bites in her mouth with her hands. (I can just see her stabbing the spot with her fork--no utensils!)

I'm just sad, more than anything. I know it's ridiculous, but she's never going to look the same! I sat on the couch in the church lobby while our ER doctor friend made some calls about what to do, and cried right along with Leiden. I know there are far worse things that can happen to change how your child's face looks, and it all feels very irrational, but I can't stop the feeling. I also know that it will get better as we get used to how it looks, and soon we won't even notice, but I sure do now!

My dear friends are the nursery leaders and they were rather distraught. I would be, too if that happened on my watch, but it's no one's fault. Leiden was just doing what kids her age do, and that includes not listening when asked not to run! The upside is that we told Leiden about the tooth fairy, and we're going to put the tooth under her pillow tonight and she can have a surprise tomorrow. (We would have done it last night, but it being Sunday, we couldn't go out and get anything--money doesn't matter to her, yet, so we told her the tooth fairy doesn't come on Sundays. Really, it's amazing where you can slip in gospel lessons.) We'll post some pictures later.

Another Baby Book Page--I'm On a Roll! (Or is it Role?)

Both my girls took naps this afternoon at the same time, which only happens about once or twice a week. So, that means that I got some good sewing time and some more scrapbooking time. First, my sewing machine is awesome. It works so much better than my old one, and it just wasn't that expensive. I might even be able to finish the little skirts tonight. Here is the second page for the day.

New Baby Book Page

Here is the most recent digital scrapbook page I just finished this morning. You might not be able to read the journaling or anything, but it's pretty cute. This will go in Mac's baby book. (I'm working on baby book and family stuff at the same time.)

Laughter!

I finally got footage--good footage--of Mac laughing. Leiden is merely touching her with her toes and she is having a blast. The really loud laughter is Leiden, but you can definitely hear Mac.

Projects, projects

Okay, so I am, to my dear, sweet, Brad's chagrin, a project person. By this I mean that I love to have craft projects to work on, and generally like 6 at a time. I did really well before Mac came. I finished all the projects I had started in the last year or so, and was all caught up. Then, there was a reprieve (for Brad :) ) after Mac came while I was grappling with a spot of depression. Then, I got better, and back came the crafty projects. So, my thought was, I need some kind of check system. I'll let everyone know what I'm working on, and give updates, etc., and if you don't see an update for a while, give me a friendly nudge. I have currently a bunch of things that I just need to finish and get done.

First, though, I got a new sewing machine while I was in SLC last. I am so excited to use it, and yet it is still in its box. I decided I'd better clean my craft room before I got it out, and that was accomplished last night. Onward!

This morning I started cutting out my fabric to make this cute little outfit. If you like the pattern, you can find it at http://www.pinkfig.typepad.com/.

The fabrics I'm using are the darling, bright fabrics that are all in the cute quilt stores right now, and I'm totally excited. Here they are:

I plan to break out the sewing machine and get to work on it today.

I am also working on Christmas dresses for the girls, which are going to be beautiful, a quiet book for Leiden, and, as always, working on Mac's baby book. Keep me honest!

Miscellaneous Pictures Found on the Camera

The other day, I was getting 'dinner' for Machara, and she was getting pretty antsy in her high chair. I sat down on my chair by her and set the jar of nasty gooey baby 'beef' on her tray and (she is quick!) she immediately lunged for it and tried to jam the whole thing in her mouth. Her hunger cues are pretty difficult to miss. The picture doesn't really convey the desperation with which she grabbed that jar.

Leiden loves to take pictures with our camera. She has her own, but I think she likes ours better. She actually takes some pretty funny pictures, and while most of them are blurry because she can't hold her hands still enough the whole time, every once in a while she snaps a good one. And they are almost always funny because they give you a tiny peek into her perspective of the world. This is her favorite stuffed animal, Big Dog. (She's creative, too.)

Leiden actually is pretty creative--I can really see her left brain developing these days. She loves to draw and write. She traced her own hand the other day.

And then a few days ago, we were sitting at the table together. I was probably tooling around on the computer, and Leiden was drawing next to me. Then I hear, "Mom, look. It's mom," and she points to her paper. This is what she had written, entirely without prompting.

Leiden's First Day of Preschool!

Leiden started her preschool class today! She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-11:30 AM. She was really excited, and of course we had to go get her a backpack. So we haul ourselves all to WalMart, where she spots THE backpack she wants. It's a garishly colored Barbie backpack. I hate brand stuff for kids!! She really likes the Barbie movies (Barbie in 'A Christmas Carol' comes out in November...oi.), and so she saw this and that was that. I tried to steer her toward another generic backpack (which, oddly enough, was twice the price) with polka dots, but she wasn't having any. Oh, well.

Her preschool class is actually held in a park shelter, so there are lots of windows and it just feels like a preschool room!

Her teachers are Ms. Beverly and Mrs. Kathy, and they told me she did great, although she was very quiet. I knew this would be the case, and is in fact one of the reasons I am really glad she's in a classroom. She needs to learn how to interact with adults and in situations that are different from the normal. She told me as we were on our way to Wendy's for a special lunch that she didn't go potty at school, and then promptly told me she really really needed to go--as she's bouncing up and down in her seat. She can go completely by herself at home, but I knew stalls would be a problem. Not to mention the fact that she is pretty uncomfortable with the noise flushing toilets make. (I think she's been sitting on a few too many airport toilets that have a nasty habit of flushing while you're sitting on them!)

All in all, a great experience, and she said she wants to go back on Thursday, so it's a go.