Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Monkey Joes and an ice cream sundae




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donut cake anyone?




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Some pics from Ayla's birthday celebration

I don't think I ever posted any of these.
She was SO cute!!
Here she is sportin' some of her loot.
A purse, a watch, a necklace and new twinkle toes.

We had the group celebration for Macy, Lani and Ayla earlier and there were cupcakes.
Then we had Lani's birthday and donuts in the morning and cupcakes at night.
Our neighbors have been awesome and have brought us lots-o-sweets.
And we had a donut cake on the morning of Ayla's birthday.
So by the time her evening celebration arrived, I was SO sick of sweets that I just couldn't do it.
I could not make another cake.
So I stopped at Hy-Vee and ordered a 6 inch cake.
They slapped on a few princess rings and viola.
One happy girl (and a pretty happy mommy, too!)

We got Ayla an orange blanket. It's just like Brigg and Lani's and she was ecstatic.
Funny.

Paul got her (a much cheaper version of) the "i love you" sign language necklace.
She was quite proud of that as well.

Gosh do we love her!
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Monday, November 15, 2010

another monday

lots of running around today.
ayla was crabby from about 10 minutes after she opened her eyes until bedtime.
with a few fleeting moments of joy in there. but trust me, they were few and far between.
i find that interesting because i TOO had a rough attitude day. i hate that.
hate.
it.
it's not typical for me and i hope my attitude is all cleared up by morning!
made some homemade bread tonight. it was the first time since we moved in. actually, the first time since the week before we moved out of oakland drive. so 2 months almost exactly. it felt good and smelled better.
BOTH of our cars are in the garage. that's something to write home about.
ran into our realtor today. love her. was so happy to be able to tell her how much we love our new location. and after hearing about how terrible the market continues to be, we are reminded how thankful we should be that we actually got our house sold at all.
paul has 2 inspections this week. another big deal. it's been a while. so again, thankful for work.
i received an email from the Board of Educational Examiners. my sub license was officially printed TODAY and i should be receiving it in a week or so. mixed feelings about heading back to work, but mostly i am excited. i miss the classroom.
it's nice and quiet around here tonight. kids are fast asleep. paul is working in his "office" on his report. dog is laying at his feet. and i am sipping a peppermint mocha decaf...reading.
feeling pretty darn blessed. and hopeful for the days ahead. just one of those reflective nights.
winter is arriving.
and it's nice not to feel the wind gusts coming through our walls. :)
and the sun set on another monday....

Sunday, November 14, 2010

i'm excited about this

ok...so we are pretty much unpacked.
a few boxes left in the house to empty out...but nothing major.
garage is cleaned out! my car is parked in there right now.
kayaks and bikes are hanging from the ceiling.
paul has been working in there for 3 days. he's so DONE.
but my favorite part about all of this is that i have a shelf that needs to be hung in the laundry room and guess what!
i have no doubt that it will get hung this week.
i don't know if you understand the significance of that.
in our old house if i had a shelf that needed to be hung in the laundry room, it probably just wouldn't happen. because honestly, a shelf hanging in the laundry room would be so far down on the TO DO list, that it wouldn't even register.
living in an old old house comes with a HUGE to do list. big big projects. not just a little paint here and a small shelf there. nope. the projects might take a month or at least a couple weeks.
and we have NONE of those here.
so hanging a shelf in the laundry room is NUMERO UNO on our to do list.
and that, my friends, is so very exciting to me today.

Wine to Water 2010

Last night was the 2nd Annual Wine to Water event in Davenport.
The guys stayed home with the kids and mom and I made it a girls night.
I wore high heels.
And lipstick.
And a little braid in my hair.
It was a big deal. :)

We went out to dinner and then hit the event where much wine was consumed by me.
And 2 Africas were purchased by mom.
This was not one of them...but was beautiful and a high seller.
It is by Naomi, whom we all have learned is an amazing artist.
She shipped it to me and it got here with 24 hours to spare.
So happy it did.

The event took place in the same space as last year.
People mingled and bid and helped hundreds of people they will never meet in Liberia.
Pretty cool.

Tesi, the woman of the hour.
She put the party together again this year and did a short presentation.
Plus, she looked super cute.

And there was no Muscatine event this year and I must say, I was very relaxed about that.
Actually, with the lack of Muscatine event to worry about and the comsumption of wine, I may have been overly relaxed. :)
But it was fun.
I don't have totals yet, but I can tell you that over $2000 was raised alone on Woodfire Grill auction items.
Pretty amazing.
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

wednesday

whew...half way through the week.
amazing sunrise this morning. i need to enjoy those more often. it was beautiful.
another gorgeous day is forecast for today. 70 degrees and perfect.
if you are from here, you understand how exciting this is for us midwestern-ers.
we all know the months of yuck are coming. so we certainly know how to enjoy these perfect fall days!
ayla and i have big plans to work out in the garden and finish some things up out there. i was talking to a friend yesterday and she said, "it is hilarious that you are working out in this garden while you are surrounded by boxes inside."
and it may not make sense to you. but once the cold comes, it is here for a lot of months. there is NO working in the garden until march at the VERY earliest. and this is a big project that we don't want to be just starting as the ground is thawing.
the boxes will wait. trust me. i know they will wait. they have been waiting for a month. :)
so today it's a day of working outside.
love it.
love this weather.
feeling so thankful today....

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

today

we are heading to monkey joes with mom to meet jennie and tate.
ayla is very excited. brigg and lani were not. they LOVE monkey joes.
but they need to get an education. :)
so it's monkey joes, lani's piano lessons and then dinner and gifts tonight.
ayla requested mac-n-cheese. i'm getting fancy with homemade mac-n-cheese and we'll have some chicken, too, because for some of us, we need a little variety.
i ordered a 6-inch cake from the grocery store with princess rings on it. $6.47 :)...saving me lots of time. i made the donut cake this morning. ha!
lani and brigg we very excited to get up a little early to sing to ayla. lani carried her to her donut cake just like brigg carried her last week. it was cute.
off to monkey joes.
and to enjoy what looks to be our last beautiful day for a while.
gosh...3 years. that's nuts. (i teared up when i gave her a hug this morning and said, "ayla! you are THREE!" seriously, it's kind of sad!)

she's 3

and hilarious.
and smart.
and beautiful.
and spunky.
and sweet.
and difficult.
and passionate.
and determined.
and one.of.a.kind.

oh my goodness do we ever love her!
our biggest surprise that we had no clue we needed.
3 years ago today we welcomed ayla into this world.
8lb 12 oz of dark-haired spunk.
i could see it in her eyes from day one.
they just sparkled.

she was a biter.
she was a hitter.
she was a screamer.
never one to be "redirected".
she challenged our parenting from about 6 months on.
she was not about to let us believe we had it figured out.
i remember at one point paul looked at me and said, "i think we really need to get help. we have no idea how to handle this."
and it was true.
it is still true.

today she is quick to get angry, but even quicker to forgive and forget.
she's been known to say, "mommy, you're mean."
and literally 10 seconds later follow with, "mommy, i love you."
she still leaves me baffled on a daily basis. :)
we love that about her.

so today she is three and my heart nearly bursts everytime i look at her or squeeze her or hear her throw out something witty.
she's been "2 1/2" since about november 20, 2009.
she's been waiting for this day for months.
we cannot wait to celebrate ayla.
all that she is and all that she's becoming.

we love you ayla with everything that we are.
we pray that god continues to reveal himself to us in new and different ways through you.
you are our surprise blessing and we cannot imagine life without you.
happy birthday ayla lyn. happy happy birthday.
you are three.
finally. :)


today i interviewed ayla.
i will leave you with her responses.
(she might be the only 3 year-old i've ever known who genuinely gave appropriate responses. hysterical.)

favorite:
color: pink
food: "mac-n-cheese"
book: chicka chicka boom boom
drink: nilk
game: dora memory
sports team: hawkeyes!! (yes, we fully believe in brainwashing)
thing to do outdoors: camp and make marshmallows
animal: puppies
candy: m-n-ms
cartoon: analise (barbie as the princess and the pauper)
thing to do with mom: pack (oh my...we need to get this move FINISHED)
thing to do with dad: drive and play outside
thing to do with brigg: play
thing to do with lani: play
thing to do with willow: pet her
song: butterflies fly away (yes...as in miley cyrus...party in the usa)

what do you want for your birthday? presents and a trampoline
how old are you? 2 1/2
how old is mom? 3 (ok...not ALL answers were appropriate)
who is your best friend? noah and evan (they lived next to us for 4 wks before we moved out of oakland house. weird!)
if you could go on vacation anywhere, where would you go? church

sweet, funny, energetic ayla...we love you.
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Monday, November 8, 2010

well-rounded

i forgot to mention what i was doing while paul was working his butt off in the garden...

i figure, if nothing else, my children will be well-rounded.
they will understand and value the importance of both
a. working hard...manual labor.
and
b. sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying the moment.
equally important in my book. :)

and seriously, i tried helping and i thought my back was going to break.
i have some PTSS after by back surgery a few years ago.
but trust me, i too will be working very hard come next year and the garden needs weeding.
and i'll be fine with paul sitting back, drinking a beer, laughing at me.
maybe.
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Progress on the garden yesterday.


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football and basketball

i've not taken many pics the past couple of weeks outside of brenda's visit and the posed ones of the kids.
i downloaded some this morning and this is what i found.
football and basketball.
last week i took the kids to the muscatine football game in cedar falls.
before the game we met lisa and macy at peppers for supper.
the girls sat at a table by themselves and chatted for and hour and half.
it was fun!

we enjoyed the game together even though the muskies ended up getting beat.
lani took lots of pics.
thought this one was pretty good...

and then this weekend brigg had his first basketball tournament.
they played 3 games.
they got beat three games.
but they had a blast out there...


they had only practiced about 4 times together, so i'm sure there will be much improvement this year.
but as for this weekend, it was a bit painful to watch. :)
by the 3rd game it was a little less painful, so that's good.

it was a gorgeous weekend and we spent all of sunday working outside.
paul got the last of our things moved out of my parents' storage unit and into our garage.
so we FINALLY have everything we own at our house.
now we need to go through it and get it all into the house...or the trash.
looks like we have 3 really beautiful days ahead of us before it starts cooling off.

tomorrow ayla turns three.
unbelieveable.
seems like it was yesterday, yet she acts like she's 17.
we are anxious to celebrate her.
there will be another donut cake and balloons. and this will be the first year that she "gets" it, i think.
so lots going on this week.
and for a few more days i love iowa in the fall.
but after that my love will slowly disappear and by january i will be searching online job placement sites for jobs anywhere except iowa.
by february i will probably have my house on the market and be dead set on moving south.
it's a give and take here, i tell ya.
:)
but for today i will enjoy.
happy monday.
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Saturday, November 6, 2010

Working on the garden


Ayla was a big big help...
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the weekend

brigg has a basketball tournament today. i sent he and paul on their way this morning. the girls and i are staying back and heading over for the 2nd game. just didn't think we would make it the FULL day.
we'll be leaving just as the hawkeye game is starting. darn it! but it'll be fun watching brigg play and paul coach.
it's supposed to be GORGEOUS weather this weekend. 60 or so. we have plans to finish up our garden so it's ready to go in the spring. we are putting in 5 raised beds...each 10ft x 4ft and a brick walkway around each bed. i'm so excited about this! paul worked his butt off getting those bricks to this house. they were free, but we had to haul them first from the city parking lot to our storage and then from the storage to the house. i'm talking hundreds of bricks. the kids even helped. it was not fun. but now that he is getting them down, i'm so happy we did it. (or more like HE did it.) it's going to look great.
in other news...lani and ayla are doing great sharing a room. actually, the past 3 days they have woke up in the same bed together. somehow ayla finds her way to lani. so sweet.
paul, lani, ayla and i all watched Princess Diaries together last night. they are growing up. so fun and so sad all at the same time.

so hello weekend...so glad you are finally here!

Friday, November 5, 2010

couple fun things

1. we hired piano movers to get our piano moved in the house. it's been in the garage since the day we moved in. the kids started back to lessons this week and we knew it was time to get it moved in. they did it in about 10 minutes flat. that's nuts. and so worth the payment!

2. i am trying out a free online recipe organizer, storage. it's totally fun. i have lots of my recipes stored in a file in my email labeled "recipes". but it's becoming a bit full and i have a hard time sorting. so i can copy and paste the recipes in this organizer and then i can add the ingredients to my shopping list. i've only added about 4 recipes so far, but i think i'm going to love it. might make my meal planning easier. if you want to check it out, go to http://onetsp.com/

3. lots of unpacking happened yesterday. lots of boxes emptied. and it's about time. geez...we've been here a month on monday. wow. that's kind of embarrassing that it's taken that long to get things unpacked. and we still have lots in the garage to move in.

4. it's friday. and that's just fun in itself. happy weekend to all!!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

this parenting gig is not for the faint of heart...

one minute you are wondering if you are ever going to get them potty trained and the next minute he is asking you what sperm is.
for real.
knock me over with a grain of salt.
and then like that, their innocence is gone forever.
oh...and the look on their face when they realize how they were created. well, let's just say i have no idea how i am going to explain this two more times to the girls.
ugh.
the older i get, the more i am aware of my lack of parenting abilities. if anyone actually knows what the heck they are doing, could you please fill me in?
thanks.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

24 hours

We had a very short 24 hours with Brenda and the boys on Sunday/Monday.
We squeezed in lots of lovin' though!
The girls could not get enough of Boone.
(neither could i!!)
And we had so much fun with Bode around, too.
Can't wait til we see them at Christmas!



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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Nana and Papa S

 
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a walk...with cousins

priceless...



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tuesday tuesday tuesday

-made a list minute FLYING trip to cedar falls to watch the muskies take on cedar falls. game was supposed to start at 8:30 but didn't get started until around 9. it was just me, brigg and lani. we met lisa and macy for supper. it was fun! but the muskies got beat. and we got home at 1:30am. i let the kids sleep in this morning and dropped them off at school at 10:00. maybe not the most responsible mom choice, but i think they'll probably still graduate. (teresa c. agreed with me when we spoke last night...so it must be true. :))

-voted this morning! it's kinda of fun! :) and ayla got to eat fritos with our neighbor that signed us in while i voted. she was happy.

-realized on my trip that my "new" van's cruise control doesn't work. annoying.

-photo shoot with nana and papa and all the grandkids. pics coming.

-lani starts piano lessons tonight. she's so excited! BUT the piano is in the garage. just called to hire a piano mover to get it in the house. we just can't get it up the stairs. that thing is about 100 years old and HEAVY. they come on friday. kids may have to practice this week in the garage.

-taco tuesday tonight.

-there are lots of things that i knew i was going to love about our new house. and i do. i love all of them. the one thing that i was just certain i would hate is the small kitchen. it could have been a deal breaker for me. but everything else just seemed so perfect. and guess what! i absolutely, positively LOVE my small kitchen. LOVE it. it literally takes me about 2 minutes to sweep the floor. it's about 1/10 the size of my last kitchen. and i firmly believe now that big kitchens are overrated. :)

-took an afternoon walk with mom, brenda, bode, boone, jennie, sean, tate and my kids yesterday. we didn't have school. it was beautiful. lots of pics to come from that, too!

-we bought a 1/4 cow. organic, grassfed out of kalona. we can pick it up anytime.

-brigg literally has holes in the bottom of his shoes. i feel so frustrated about that. and sooo old and grown up when i say "they wear their shoes out so quickly!" but they do! i hate it. so we are going shoe shopping tonight after taco tuesday in our small kitchen. (see how this all goes together? not random at all!!)

-paul started working on the brick walkway around our future garden. so fun!

-brigg has a basketball tournament this weekend. paul is one of the coaches. he is loving that.

-last night when i took the BIGS to the game, paul took ayla on a date. she felt pretty big herself. and the things she said...too cute.

-still nowhere near unpacked...ugh.

-tomorrow i'm starting back up meal planning and grocery shopping organization. could take all day. i have big plans.

happy tuesday to all. could this weather be any more perfect?? i think not.