2/28/11

Riding Around in my Automobile..

My baby sister beside me at the wheel...

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We are so in love with the warmer weather and the sun that even the rain can't deter us from living outside.

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Sisterly love

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At Two-And-A-Half "really, seriously?" "YES, as of Sunday, I know it seems crazy, but it's true," this one has turned in her table and chair for ALL meals and taken up residence with picnic blankets, front steps, concrete, grass, the back of daddy's truck, anything outside to have her meals, and I love it, I love my little wispy blond haired, sun loving, outside girl.

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2/22/11

For the love of sun

I love the sunshine, I NEED the sunshine. The sun is a huge source of energy for me. When I walk outside and feel the warmth of the sun on my face I instantly feel energized and ready to tackle anything. Some people have this huge need to feel all 4 seasons for more than a day or two, but not me, I could do summer, summer, summer, or at most summer and spring, and I would be perfectly content to ditch fall and winter all together. Clearly, the dreadful freezing weather that us Texans experience for several weeks was not exactly 'my kind of weather,' but luckily I live in Texas where we can go from 32 degree highs one day and 78 degree highs the next. So we suck it up on the cold days, learning to knit cute hats and crochet cute flowers to make it look like we are enjoying the cold weather, and we soak it up when the sun comes back around. The sun has come back around and we have celebrated by spending lots of time outside, and eating has been no exception. I think we have picnic'd at least 7 out of the last 10 days and I'm not sure how lunch eaten anywhere but on the picnic blanket will go over. This morning as we were pulling out of the drive way Blythe asked me "you got the picnic blanket, right?"

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This picture is a bit nostalgic for me because it was this very gazeebo almost a year and a half ago where our relationship with the Winds started. Blythe was just perfecting her walking skills.

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On Saturday we got to celebrate the baptism of Lucy Crow. Her Uncle, Father Justin, studied to be a priest in Rome so we had a 'formal' baptism which made our kids baptisms look like a drive through. I volunteered to take pictures at the baptism and the formal baptismal setting, starting outside and making our way into the church, and then to the baptismal fountain provided some great natural light. I don't know if it was the formality of it or the fact that he studied and has been a priest in Rome for 8 years, but it somehow just seemed more official. Thanks to the Crow's for including us.

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Saturday evening we headed over to the Romansky's for a slumber party. They have a back apartment so we put our kids to bed in the back and stayed up till the wee hours having adult beverages and playing 500. Father Justin was conducting the 7am mass so we took a nap on Saturday night and started our Sunday at 6:30am. The plus side of going to 7am mass is you literally have the entire day ahead of you as of 8am...I think we all looked at each other at 10:30am (ok not the kids, but us adults) wondering if it was nap time yet.

I am signing off today with a few pictures of my cute girls doing the home thing. We are often out and about, but when we are home there is plenty of dress-up, admiring yourself in the mirror, and being the teacher of ballet class.

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p.s. I have already talked to the maid about cleaning those mirrors so the kids can see themselves better!

2/15/11

Giddy with Love

Giddy, that is the word that best describes how Blythe gets when she hears the word 'dough' or hears the kitchen aid mixer and thinks that the dough hook is waiting for her to come lick clean. She is a baker, she enjoys rolling the dough, and using a cookie cutter pulled in a close second to eating the dough. She is one fantastic valentine and my almost two and a half sweetheart!

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We hosted a Valentines Day party for our friends, soaking up the delicious vitamin D from the sun when it wasn't hiding behind the clouds. The kids decorated v-day cookies, ate heart shaped PBJ's and did what kids do best...play, play, play.

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Clearly there was love in the air because Michael and Blythe spend the majority of the day in loving company with each other, (which is hit or miss with these two because they both want to rule the roost and every now and then they call a truce, and decide to dictate together) holding hands, sharing a stroller, a cozy coupe, you name it.

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And of course my littlest Valentine was devine and happy with big smiles and waves for everyone. If I had a nickle for every time a random person comments 'she's such a happy baby,' we might have her college fund complete.

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and because everyone loves to compare, here is Blythe on her first Valentine's Day.

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I love my little chubby, rubber band arm explorer:

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Random funny:

We shared the park with some school kids and a group came up to Jericho and I talking about how cute she was, etc. Then Crissy started walking towards us with Isaac in a sling and one girl shouted "she be a Mexican," x3 (talking about Isaac)...oh kids say the darnedest things and it was hilarious how matter of fact this little one stated it like it was so obvious yet also so obvious that she needed to make sure everyone knew.

2/13/11

Hats By Mom

I am stopping in real quick today to toot my own horn. I have finished knitting both the girls a hat and crocheted a flower to boot. Of course I think they are adorable and I am quite proud of my first knitting/crochet projects. I think I just might need to make one for myself.

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2/7/11

Hit By A Freight Train

I wish we all felt like we had been hit by a freight train because we stayed up way too late enjoying the company of friends and family, playing games into the wee hours of the night, and drinking cocktails, but alas that isn't the whole story.

We went to Montgomery to watch the Super Bowl with the Kennemers. We managed to get Blythe and Jericho to bed by 9:30pm and Jason and I stayed up playing 42 with Phil and Julie till midnight. At midnight we heard Jericho and I was able to nurse her back to sleep, and Julie and I stayed up a little longer chatting. Just as I was about to fall asleep I heard Jericho again. I slit my eyes, held my breath, and hoped that she was just going to fuss for a few minutes and go right back to sleep, especially since it has only been an hour and a half since she had eaten. After 10 minutes I gave up on that idea and decided to throw her into the bed with Jason and I hoping she would fall back to sleep while I patted her and she wouldn't keep crying and wake up the rest of the house. All seemed to be going according to plan for about 20 minutes until Jericho decided she was ready to party. She pushed up and let out a really loud giggle. Ugh, it was the middle of the night, I was tired and I was not in the mood for a Jericho party. Each time I tried to lay her down she got really upset and I couldn't just let her cry it out because I didn't want to wake up the rest of the household. I tried just about everything under the sun and an hour later Jason decided he would take over. B.A.D idea. As soon as Jason took Jericho her low key crying turned into a really loud, top of the lungs scream. So here we are two exhausted parents which makes for zero patience, instant frustration, and stress at the thought of waking up the rest of the house. At this point Blythe was awake and I really contemplated throwing everyone in the car and heading home so at least we could remove the stress of waking up the Kennemers. Of course driving at 3:30am when you are already tired is not a good idea, but I did entertain it. After 10 minutes of Jericho's top of the lung screaming I couldn't take it anymore so I went and relieved Jason. I guess that wore Jericho out because once I put her in my arms she was quiet and I was able to keep her quiet as long as I didn't put her down. I ended up pulling the padding out of the bottom of the pack 'n play, putting it on the floor, pulling the comforter off the bed and curling up beside her at....4:30am. 3 hours later the day started. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night. It has left us feeling like the soles of our shoes should be covered in bar slime and our hair should smell like a giant ash tray and our heads and stomach should be churning from too much alcohol and great memories that make all of it worth it, but in reality its just another day in 'our' paradise and a reminder of why God makes babies so cute.

Hope you had a very restful night!

2/2/11

Randomness

I seem to always be at a loss of what I should do when I get behind on my blogging. Should I go back and do separate blogs and play catch-up or should I just go from the day forward and not try to go back or should I some how try to make it all flow together? I am not feeling the flow together today and I hate to not share cute stories/photos so I am opting for random because random I can do.

Story Time

Story time is back and Blythe is ecstatic. This girl loves her story time. She sings the songs, talks about the books, and talks about Ms. Bobby all the time. Story time runs on the A&M schedule so they took a good 5 weeks off during Christmas break so Blythe and I had to improvise. Creating our own story time at home, taking turns playing Ms. Bobby, but last Thursday we got the real deal. Jason hears about story time, but had not had the opportunity to witness it himself so he surprised Blythe and showed up at story time.

After story time we had a picnic on the Library lawn with daddy as our special guest. When Blythe was helping me make sandwiches she noticed that we made an extra one and kept asking me who's sandwich is that mommy? I told her it was just an extra in case one of our friends or someone else was hungry.

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After daddy left to head back to work we got an extra treat because the Romansky's showed up to join us for our picnic. Jericho decided all this fresh air and sun was a great place to catch some zzz's while the toddlers ran around and watched demolition across the street.

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Late Night Fun with Daddy

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Sunshine

We did our very best to soak up as many rays before this horrible cold front as possible. Spending long leasurly mornings at the park, knowing we should go home for nap time, but enjoying the moment so much that we decide naps can be pushed back by an hour, or two. This little stint of warm weather has me really excited for the tiny smidgen of spring that will soon be here where we can be park junkies all day!

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I know you are all wondering, where on earth did Jericho get that good looking hat? Right here from these two hands and two knitting sticks [professionally known as needles] baby, my first knit project! And where is Blythe's hat? Its shoved in a bag waiting to be resurrected by Crissy because I decided this time I should use finer yarn and make a fancy brim, lets just say something went awry.

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Today we went for the one pony tail look and wow how can that make her look so much older?

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Watch out, this one is going to be on the move any day and I know a 2 year old who is not going to be impressed with the new found mobility