Shopping

I am going on my Disney cruise in 64 days. Yipppeeeee! We actually leave in 61 days, but don't set sail for 64 days. 63.5 since it's so late in the day.

We have friends going with us as well and today my girlfriend asked me when we were going to go shopping for the big trip. Of course we "must" get some new clothes (and really-must is the correct term for Matt's wardrobe especially). I don't want to really go shopping for at least another month in hopes that I can--Please God give me WILLPOWER-lose at least 10 more pounds before I go shopping. I want to lose 20 more pounds before we go on our trip, but I think my willpower-less February has greatly sabotaged that goal. ANYWAYs the question then is- do we try to carve out time to go to Kansas City and shop, or try to find what we need here?

I'm kind of thinking that maybe a long day of shopping in Wichita, where I am not worried about getting home or on the road at any particular time, might have to do the trick. Life is looking pretty busy the next 64 days, especially on the weekends. And part of me thinks, if I'm going to spend some money, shouldn't it be to the benefit of Wichita's economy and not KC's? :) I'm not one to usually think that way, but I'm coming up with all the reasons that I need not pout about not getting a chance to go shopping in Kansas City. Surely we can find everything we want somewhere here!

Here's my shopping list for the cruise; some sexy black strappy sandals that will go with all my dinner outfits, so I only have to pack one pair of dress shoes. A pair of black capris that will go with a few "dressy" tanks I've already purchased. Some casual clothes. Some casual and dressy clothes for Matt. Actually my shopping day will probably end up with more money spent on him than me. But...I would like to find perhaps one more dress that is fancier for "formal" night. The stuff I have will pass just fine for that night if accessorized well, but I just want to keep my eye out for something that might really entice me.

I really didn't have anything that I wanted to write about today, so this is what you get. Brooke's been hacking away and has been on breathing treatments. Her appetite is gone and her attitude is not great. Hannah's appetite has been a roller coaster the last few days and her teeth (or lack thereof) are hurting her a lot. I didn't feel like doing anything this afternoon while Brooke was at grandma's and Hannah was taking her 3 hour nap...so I didn't do much but read a novel. I deserve that every now and then. But I didn't feel like writing in great detail about all that... so I rambled about nothing all that interesting... :)

Have a good weekend!

Gorgeous...

...I can use that word to describe a lot of things today. The weather. My girls. The vision of my kitchen counter without dirty dishes on it. Spending time working out with a friend. Movie night with girlfriends (last night). Gorgeous is the word of the day.

So....two questions for you....what is something you would describe as "gorgeous" today... and what do you like to do most when the WEATHER is gorgeous? Post your answers in a comment!

Here are a few pictures taken yesterday outside in the gorgeous weather of my gorgeous girls.

Big Girl Brooke

I will never be lacking in a blog topic because I have Brooke. My silly, funny, sweet, dramatic almost 5 year old. She has really been growing up and changing a lot lately. We still get those flashes of fits and temper, but some of the things she has been doing has been so "big-girl!". She has taken a huge interest in writing. She has notebooks and pens located around the house, and it seems at any given moment she's sitting there practicing writing a variety of letters and numbers, and asking how to spell things. The joy she exhibits when she successfully writes a word is so precious. I think she is amazed at the fact that she can actually write something besides her name, with some spelling assistance. This week she finally figured out how to pump on the swing. finally. I was wondering if that would ever "click."

And the things that come out of her mouth. I look at her and think "who is this 12 yr old personality in a 5 yr old body?!" Last night she said "Mom, I'm done with my sandwich. I'm just gonna sit here and hang with my chips." I said..."uh..alright?!"

Here are some fun little things about Brooke. Much like the "25 things you didn't know about me" thing that everyone posted on facebook...here's some fun little things about Brooke. But not 25. and not on facebook.

1. Her favorite restaurants are Subway and Olive Garden.

2. Her favorite color is Orange. This comes from the fact that her favorite ice cream is Braum's Orange Sherbert...has been for about 3 yrs now, and therefore that is her favorite color.

3. When you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she says "I just want to be married and be a mommy." We must be doing something right around here if she thinks being married is a thing to aspire to :)

4. When she was about one or so, we noticed that when she got excited, she'd lean forward and her little body would quiver a bit. When she started standing, she would lean forward and her arms would go behind her a bit and that was her excited little twitch. She still does it sometimes, it is so cute.

5. Brooke didn't get her first tooth till she was 13 months old. (Hannah appears to be following in her footsteps).

6. Brooke didn't walk till she was 15.5 months old. We're hoping Hannah beats her and seems to be well on her way in doing just that.

7. Brooke does not like cool whip / whipped topping. Not on anything. Weird kid.

8. She loves to do projects of all sorts, including helping mommy cook. We don't do this as often as we should, because mommy gets impatient and mommy likes to cook too -by herself!--maybe we'll work on this.

9. Brooke has one hell of a memory. Not textbook stuff -- life stuff.

10. Brooke has one hell of an imagination. She has imaginary friends, can make up stories like no other. This morning she tells me, "Just a minute mom, after I finish sending this text message..." -on my old phone that is her pretend phone. Ironically, mommy doesn't even text!

11. I was reading an assesment for 5 year olds and it said "Does your child speak in 4 to 5 word sentences?" I laughed out loud. My 5 year old speaks in entire paragraphs. She starts talking when she gets up in the morning and doesn't stop till bedtime. If we're not listening to her, she's talking to whatever imaginary friend she is giving directions to, or her "kids", etc.

12. She has a pair of pajamas that say "I am a dream come true".... and that is indeed the case!

Some recent pics of our beautiful big girl--

Hannah, Then and Now

Yes I will blog all about Brooke one of these days...but Hannah's birthday was yesterday so I'm going to blog about her again! :)

Hannah--a year ago....we had Hannah's birthdate set as February 22nd. I was being induced b/c apparently I have a mild case of high blood pressure. I can't imagine my weight having a single thing to do with that! Anyways... I did not want to have a leap day baby, so we picked Feb 22nd since that was exactly two weeks early and it was a Friday. Pregnancy was good the whole time, and the doctor expected labor and delivery to be "much better/easier" than what I'd reported Brooke's to be. We arrived at Wesley at six a.m. that day...that's when our doctor's office told us to get there. However, we sat in the waiting room for at least an hour because it was close to shift change and they didn't have anything ready for us..including a room! As soon as we got into our room- at about 715 a.m., my doctor popped in and told them to get my pitocin going. All day long, they kept upping the pitocin a little bit at a time, and we were getting nowhere fast. I sat dilated at about a 5 all day long. I even got my epidueral before I really was in much pain--hoping that would relax me and move things along. No such luck. They were almost to a 40 on the pitocin (the highest they go) and there was some concern we may end up needing a C-section (a thought that totally freaked me out). The doctor came in at about 3:30p.m. to check me... I said I was starting to get pretty uncomfortable and my back was hurting--perhaps we should increase the epidueral? She checked me and said "how about we just deliver the baby instead?!" I said uhhhh-okay! In a flurry like I've never seen before, I was pushing about 10 minutes after she said that, and two pushes later...Hannah came flying out at 347p.m.! And flying out is meant quite literally! My OB caught one arm and the resident caught a leg, then there was a little juggling act before they finally got a firm grip on her! I was so happy our sweet baby was here and healthy (and had a much easier delivery than her big sis did!). I loved the OB I had with Hannah. I'd totally have another baby just because she was so awesome. (but, we are not having another baby!). Hannah nursed like a champ and was such a sweet little thing. She was short, so cute, had tons of hair. We brought Hannah home in a snowstorm the night of Feb 23rd...we didn't get released until after 7 p.m., so we just came home and let Brooke stay one more night at grandma and grandpas.

Hannah...now....is still a sweet little thing, still short and cute and with tons of hair. We thought Brooke was a pretty laid back kid until we had Hannah....now she REALLY is laid back. Though Matt likes to say she is bossy and opinionated, she's good spirited about it all. She loves to play with balls and with babies. She doesn't have any teeth yet. She is so close to walking, we really think just a few more weeks! She does not snuggle a lot- she is "too busy" for that... but she always has a smile. She is not a champion eater...fruit, breads, crackers, cheese, and sometimes chicken are usually what we can get in her. We are hoping she outgrows that phase! We have discovered in the last few weeks-with some fabulous weather-that Hannah LOVES playing outside and is going to want to be pushed in the swing all the time like Brooke did. Her feet are little but tall/fat so a lot of shoes don't fit her. Thank goodness for pedi-peds. She doesn't really like any other shoe besides that kind either! She loves taking a bath with her big sister. She can be crabby crabby crabby (a.ka. tired tired tired) and we stick her in the tub with Brooke and she's happy as a clam. She is a mommy's girl. (which is nice, since brooke is a daddy's girl).

We love you Hannah! You are a wonderful daughter and little sister!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HANNAH!!!

my sweet baby hannah is one today. she is a happy, fun, sweet, loving, beautiful, adorable, toothless, not-quite-walking yet, bundle of joy!

I thank God for my two perfect girls everyday!

Let us eat cake and celebrate!

pics to be posted later...

Etsy blog posting

the website etsy.com posted a little article about the Cora Project on their blog... here is the link if you are interested

http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/love-is-a-movement-the-cora-project-3450/

buy something to benefit cora's playground by clicking the cute pink button on the right.

have a great weekend...!

Back in the Day....

Some days it totally boggles my mind that, besides my family, about 95% of the people in my life now didn't know me until my mid-20's or later. That's over 20 years of my life that most people know very little about. Matt and I didn't even meet till I was 22. For this reason, I always find myself hugely fascinated by, and sometimes envious of, people who were high school sweethearts, or grew up in the same town and got married, etc. One of my oldest friends and her husband were both in my kindergarten class. Amazes me. Matt and I have been married for almost 10 years and there are probably still thousands of little stories and things from my childhood that I still haven't filled him in on. Will I ever get him up to speed? Does he want to get caught up!? Probably not...haha.

I'm not sure why I am doing this but I'm sure there is some entertainment value... I dug out my old school pictures. When we graduated, we were given the school office record card that had our school picture on it from Kg-Senior year. So I thought I would share them with you. Even the third thru sixth grade ones that I absolutely hate. With a passion. My mom wouldn't ever grow my hair out because she said "when you're old enough to take care of it and do it yourself, then you can do what you want to with it." Gasp-how could she?! And certainly I could do my own hair by sixth grade so why in God's name it was still this short in sixth grade I'll never know. Anyways- here they are...

This is kg, first, second and third.Does everyone have one of those "silhouette" or reflection pictures from the early 80's? Come to think about it, I have one of Hannah from 6 months ago! Wasn't I cute?

Here is 4th, 5th, and 6th. What is going on with my hair? And those glasses? I pray to the Lord above that my girls have Matt's vision and won't need glasses, but I promise if they do they will not be this horrible.

7th and 8th grade. 7th was always one of my favorites b/c I finally had contacts and they were green. Which you obviously can't see in this pic. I had some frizz issues going on in 8th grade. Didn't we all in that era?

9th, 10th, and 11th. I have no commentary for these, but thankfully they were an improvement over years past!

One of many senior pictures. Ironically, I wasn't nearly the Disney fan then as I am now. See that pillow under my arms, with the mickey pillow case? Got my first kiss on that pillow case.... it was the pillow I'd taken to church camp and at Tuesday night "stargazing" Jesse Johnson shared my pillow and kissed me under the stars...lol...at CHURCH camp! :) Aye-yai-yai. Speaking of senior pictures, Matt didn't take any. He was seriously anti-getting his picture taken, and I don't think I've seen a single picture of him in high school except maybe a yearbook picture. And let me tell ya- that makes me crazy! Me the picture nut, with no pics of her hubby for a gap of years...however will I do some fabulous family-history scrapbook for our girls someday!?

So now I've shared with you some of the good, bad and ugly of pictures growing up. I'll refrain from the vast numbers of snapshots that were none too fabulous! My cousin Danica is in a lot of those pictures, and she already threatened me if I put any of them on facebook a few months ago...so I'm guessing she might not want them on here. Though I don't think she reads this, so how would she ever find out!

Over time, assuming I keep blogging....I'll share some stories from "Back in the Day" with you... though for most of you, as I said, "Back in the day" could just be a mere 5 or 10 years ago given how long we have or haven't known each other!

Go trip down your own memory lane for awhile. It's a good way to let yourself relax a bit! How timely...as I finish this post, "Step by Step" by New Kids on the Block is playing on the 90's channel on our digital cable.... I was a NKOTB nut in 8th and 9th grade. But that's a whole 'nother post!

Hannah Hannah Hannah

My baby is going to be one on Sunday. In case you didn't know, we're "done" having kids....so this big upcoming birthday is kind of making my heart hurt! Hannah has been quite the little clown lately...and is living up to her nickname of "Monkey" too. She first climbed the stairs a few months ago but had since lost interest in them. She had never gotten past the little landing that is just three steps up. Yesterday I found her halfway up to the second floor. Not good. Today, she was up to the landing again. She is such a monkey. I've even seen her standing next to the couch, trying to get something just out of her reach...and she'll put her little foot on whatever she can to get a step up (my leg, the wipes box, etc), and then try to hike the other one up on the couch. We're in trouble. Brooke was never this adventurous. She is going to be a handful when she starts walking...!

Climbing...... Oooh look more stairs!....... You caught me!

For Valentine's day we got Brooke this squishy Hershey Kiss pillow. $10 at Dillon's, and the girls just love it. Hannah kept tossing it around the other day then flinging her little head down on it. She thinks it is just great. Wonder if I should find her one of these squishy pillows? It was such a hoot, I had to get the camera out. Brooke thought it was great too... they've really been playing together a lot (though a little rougher than maybe they should be?!).

Since I took so many pictures this week, thought I'd post a few extras...

I get these looks from Brooke a lot. Miss 'tude these days...

Hannah just having fun. She's almost always just a happy content child. Praise the Lord... in this one you can kind of see how her hair gets curly after her bath...

I didn't have any deep thoughts, or nifty ideas, or riveting reflections for today...so it's all about my girlies.... which certainly has some entertainment value, at least for me!

I shared this picture on facebook but thought I'd post it here. For my 3 readers..lol...

Last week baby Cora was laid to rest...and shortly after that, God sent us this gorgeous Double Rainbow. It's not often that there is a double rainbow, let alone one that I see, and have my camera handy for. I know it was God and angel Cora sending their love to the aching hearts left here on earth since her passing. I hope her mom and dad saw it. I sent the pic to my friend who fwd'd it onto them. I think about them a lot. And I am truly soaking up every minute with Hannah, having more patience with Brooke, etc. I hope you're soaking up your kids too. And if you still haven't heard about Cora's Playground-her memorial- you can click the button on the side and go to the Etsy shops that are selling items with proceeds going to her honor.

I'm getting ready to go do my wii fit. If you have a wii, but not a fit yet, there are some things you should know about it. It's fun...and humbling! I have far worse balance than I thought. It's a real warm fuzzy moment, when-after you step on the balance board and it does your weight and body test, your little Mii figure on the screen has it's belly pooch out of the shirt. Thanks for the visual reminder that yes I indeed have a belly! I was wondering if any of you people who are super skinny, does your mii's belly suck in and make you look like you have an eating disorder? Has anyone been told they are underweight? Well...maybe I don't want to know that...! Our cruise is in 9 weeks and I'd prefer to not have a belly pouching out of my clothes...haha. So on the days I don't get to the Y...I'm going to Wii. Wish me luck. Actually-wish me luck on what does and does not go into my mouth....that is the true problem...Maybe my mii's belly will shrink someday...but apparently it thinks I have a long ways to go!

Have a fabulous day. Leave me a note. Anyone out there?

love-ang

Our Nursery

Have you seen our nursery? We have an almost 5 year old and one year old, and I still love our nursery. We spent some serious hours painting it back when we were expecting Brooke five years ago. We being the Disney nuts we are, went with a Disney theme. We didn't want the "disney babies"--we wanted classic disney. Hard to find that, particularly anything beyond just Mickey Mouse. (Not that there's anything wrong with "just mickey"). So we decided to do it ourselves. We found coloring book pages we liked, made them into transparencies, and blew them up on the wall and traced them. Then we hand painted each character and it took forever. My mom free-handed a castle for us, and we decided to make the sidewalk leading from the castle a little "yellow brick road-y"... in honor of living in Kansas and all....

Did you know that when you take a coloring book page and make it a big thing on a wall, it makes the lines about a 1/4 to 1/2" thick? It just didn't look right to have thin black lines, so we had to not only paint the characters, but paint the lines thick as well to make it "pop." But it was worth it and we still love that room.

We spent so many hours painting it, that when it is no longer a nursery we'll probably make it the playroom (and turn the basement playroom into the spare bedroom). And then when our girls don't need a playroom... well it will probably still have the characters and be a guest room, or a scrapbook room, or a storage area...!

Below is a picture.... this is when it is clean. It's such a gorgeous room when it's clean. Right now it's got about 3 totes worth of clothes sort of slowly oozing around the room.... that's the hard part of having 4 yrs worth of Brooke's clothes saved up for Hannah...and the hard part of starting to transition seasons and sizes--keeping on top of it all. But looking at this picture (that Kacy emailed to me tonight- thanks cousin-in-law!), makes me feel inspired to get that room whipped back into shape. Now if that inspiration holds on until tomorrow when maybe I will get a chance to do that whipping!

So this pic just shows one side...on the other side we have another Mickey, Donald, Pluto and Minnie. It's so stinkin cute! :)

I leave you with a song to get stuck in your head "It's a small world after all....It's a small world after all....It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world."

Love-Hate Relationships....

As I was just cleaning up our Valentine's Dinner (which we had at home because we elected to have our Valentine date last weekend)...I got to thinking about Love-Hate relationships. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I have a lot of them. Fortunately not too many of them are with actual people. If there is someone I don't love, chances are I simply do not like them. I rarely use Hate for people. Though there are a handful of persons who would fall into this category--- the old classmate that "I just love" but I "hate" that they are so crass and crude sometimes... the old friend that I "just love" but I hate that they can't seem to keep in touch to save their life.

I do however, have some serious love-hate relationships with things.... I love candy...love love love it...hate hate hate that it makes me gain weight. I love the convenience of a cell phone, but I absolutely hate it when it rings when I am at home. When I'm at home, I want to be called on my home phone, not my cell. I know..neurotic. I love to cook, and therefore Love this new grill pan I got for Christmas... but this is what I hate about it:

Cleaning it sucks. I hate hate hate it. I wonder if they make disposable grill pans. And I hate the stove it is on... I really want a new stove. But chances are, when I get a new stove...it will be one of those flat-top ones...and guess what. Can't use the grill pan on a flat top stove. Thus the love-hate cycle continues!

Right now this pan is sitting in my sink with some water on it. I love that I can stick it in there and let it soak. I hate that it will still be there later, and no matter how long I procrastinate it, most certainly it will be me who cleans it up!

I love my family. Nothing to hate about them. Love love love them. Wish some of them were closer. Love my girls. Having trouble with a few "stages", but I don't hate any of it. I am really trying to soak it all up. Even Hannah's refusal to eat anything but cheese, crackers and fruit. okay so maybe I hate that a little bit. It's stressing me out.

So the point, or maybe the question here is...what do you have a "love-hate" relationship with. An appropriate question for Valentine's day!? And if it is a person... maybe you can work on improving the hate part. Life is short after all... we never know if we get another day/hour/breath. Tell me what your love-hate is. You'll get a brownie point.

Here's a pic of my girls and I from today. I love my girls. I won't start talking about what I hate about me in this pic. I hate that the only time I am documented in photos in my girls' life is when I hand off the camera and say "HERE. TAKE A PIC of me with them!". Of course, the flip side might be a lot more pics of me that I don't like. But this one is okay...

Happy Valentine's Day to You!
oxoxoxo!

Remember, Vday is not just about your spouse or significant other. I think it is an important time to remember to show your love to all of those people who are important to you! We should do this all year round.... but Vday is an easy reminder to do so. So love and hugs to all my beloveds.

My very first blog....

I'm sitting here listening to my dear daughter thump around in her bedroom, when she should be taking a nap.
I'm sitting here starting a blog and messing around on the computer when I should be cleaning my house. Is there a theme here? Life is always full of should be's.... but oh well.

So I have some blogs that I like to read. I've been following some for quite awhile, some not so long. Recently I've been deeply affected by the McClenahan's life thru their blog...which has told the sad story of their 11 month old Cora going to be with Jesus after a short battle with Neuroblastoma. It's just made my heart ache. I've cried some serious tears over this sweet girl. I think because she is the same age as my youngest.... I want to do anything I can to help this family. I've prayed my heart out. I want to help them get Cora's Playground built- the memorial they are planning in her honor. I want to give them hugs. I want to bake cookies for them. (That's what I do in a time of crisis. I bake). I don't know them personally so I probably won't be hugging them anytime soon... and I'm sure they would probably raise their eyebrows if a box of cookies showed up at the door from a stranger. So pray I will...and spread the word about Cora's Playground too. You can donate to it at http://www.gcc-online.org/ or you can go to http://www.etsy.com/ and search "cora paige" and buy something cute that has the proceeds going to the playground. I've even come up with a few things to post on there.

If I figure out how to put a little sidebar of blogs that I follow on this thing, I'll put the Mc's there.

At this rate I doubt my blog will get many readers... but you never know! I don't know how often I'll even get to post to it.... like I need anything else to give me A.D.D.... my daughters, my house, facebook, email, my travel business, my husband, etc. yeah theoretically my hands are full enough as is... but we'll see where this goes.

Have a Happy Valentine's Weekend....

Angie