18 for the 18th

18 things about life right now

1. Kaden never stops making us laugh. A few of his latest -- I was heading upstairs to exercise but before I left the kitchen I went over and gave Chris a kiss. Taycee made her usual "eeew" sound and Kaden said very matter-of-factly, "it's okay Taycee, Mom's just giving dad a pep-talk." 

Kayden often has random bruises. One day a bruise appeared under his eye, when I asked him where it came from he went to look in the mirror. He came back with a very defeated look on his face and said "ah mom, I just got knocked out!"

2. Taycee has her funny moments as well. On the way home from the store we were talking about missionary work. I was telling her not everyone knows Heavenly Father or believes in him. She said "mom, that is so sad. He is such a good Heavenly Father. He doesn't spank us or anything." (We don't spank for punishment so I'm not sure where that came from). We were discussing chores during FHE and I was reminding the kids that there were four chores that had to be done by 8:00am in order to get credit. I asked Kaden and Taycee if they remembered what they were. Taycee enthusiastically raised her hand and said "make my bed and rub your feet!" Chris was rolling and asked if I had implemented a  new chore regiment.  (For the record the chores were brush teeth, make bed, say prayers and get dressed/put pajamas away)

3. Brielle is cutting her first tooth at nearly 8 months. She is miserable and it hurts me to watch her hurt.

4. Addison started this things about 6 months ago. Whenever she eats something she really likes she very loudly "nom nom nom's" the entire time. Sometimes when she knows she is going to really like it she starts the sound while the food is on the way to her mouth. She has even mastered making the sound while drinking. It is rather hilarious, but it makes feeding her snacks during church to keep her quite pointless. Put a piece of cereal near that girls mouth and it is a full ten seconds of very satisfied nom noming (I am sure that isn't a word) There really is only one way to truly appreciate it and that is to witness it. I never seem to have a camera handy during mealtimes so I gave her a handful of cereal this afternoon just document the awesomness.

5. I went grocery shopping today and when I slid my card and it asked for my zip code I didn't push the 8 before realizing I am now in a 2 zip code area. Baby steps.

6.We have had a lot of "oh we're not in Utah anymore" moments. But none were bigger than the moment Kaden poured himself his own cup of beer at the neighbors house. He thought it was lemonade. I thought that it must be beer because it was in a large metal canister in ice with a hose attached but when his little friend from school poured herself a cup and he told me it was lemonade I figured he knew something I didn't. It wasn't until the mom standing next to me said "uh, you know that is beer right?" that I went leaping on to the deck and removed the cup from his hand. After a few "what can't I drink that" and "what is beer" questions the situation was under control. And I am sure I only looked slightly oblivious... #imissthebubble

7. Kaden brought home is first report card here and he has "Exceeds expectations" in every subject. Every subject but art that is where he got a "Satisfactory" he said to me afterwards "yeah mom, art just isn't my thing" Chris was never prouder. :D

8.The snow has just kept coming and school just keeps being canceled. But it does make for some extra play time in the snow. The kids even got to build their first Virginia snowman.

9. My mom and dad and sister are coming for their first visit this Friday. I almost cry every time I think about it. I didn't realize how homesick I was til I opened a birthday card from mom and dad and had a hard time reading it through the tears.  #iamgoingtokidnapthem

10. Chris has now had his work published 3 times and is closing in on his fourth. I wish I could read them and explain them to you, but I can't. I married a smart smart man. 

11. Addison had surgery a few weeks ago they put tubes back in her ears (the first set fell out after 7 months) and removed her adenoid. I was hoping for some improvement in her speech and learning but was discouraged to find that it seemed the same. However today she walked up to her purple octagon on the floor that goes to her shape sorter and said "PUPLE!" I think I squealed I was so happy.

12. Taycee is big in Dr. Seuss books these days. She read The foot book and Green Eggs and Ham all by herself last week. 

13. Kaden and I went on a date a few weeks ago. We went to his schools night at Chick-Fil-A. He was so excited to be going on a date with just him and I. We got our food and sat at the table. On the way in he noticed the play area and had asked if he could play. I said "sure after we eat". He shoveled his food down and was done before I had taken 6 bites. He jumped off his chair and I said "Hey where are you going?" The conversation that followed went like  this

K: I am done eating I am going to play on the toys

M: But we are on a date you can't just ditch me

K: (pause) Oh.... so what am I suppose to do

M: You are suppose to stay here and talk to me while I finish eating

K: Oh, well I didn't know that mom, I have never done this dating stuff

M: Yep that is what you do so sit back down

K: (thinking)) hmmm.. so I just sit here and talk to you while you eat?

M: Yep

K: Well that's BORING! Can this not be a date? Can this just be a regular dinner.

hahaha, I made him talk to me for a few more minutes before I relented and he went to play.

But I did learn a few things like Curtis is his friend at school but sometimes he forgets he is just a kid and he tries to be a bossy boss. But (in Kaden's words) if you just ignore him he remembers he is a kid and stops being a bossy boss.

14. Taycee is a Diva in her own  right.  She was shaking her stuff down the Wal-mart isle the other day and was being cheered on by a few black ladies. I believe the phrase "yeah, you shake it girl" was in there somewhere. She couldn't have been more pleased. 

15. Kaden eats like a horse, a starving food deprived horse. For his lunch I usually pack a sandwich a granola bar, whatever fruit I have on hand (usually a banana or an apple) a bag of chips or pretzels a drink and a dessert of some sort ( cookie, twinkie, fruit snack) Since this is more than double what I eat for lunch I thought it was probably sufficient. One morning while I was packing his lunch I said "Kaden are the lunches I pack you okay?" to which he replied "yeah, but mom I just expect more." 

16. We have been watching a lot of Olympics and I am in awe of those athletes. The dedication and skills they have are inspiring. I want them all to win. And I think that in some life I will be an ice dancer. 

17. We finally gave in and went to see Frozen last weekend. Taycee was wide eyed and all smiles the entire time. She asked when she could watch it again 3 seconds after we were in the car. For now we just listen to the sound track over and over. 

18.  We have been in Virginia for 3 months, our house feels like a home. I can get to Wal-Mart Target, preschool, elementary school, church, the mall, Hobby Lobby, and Lowes without needing my GPS. However I did make a wrong turn on my way home from Wal-Mart one night and was lost for 20 minutes on back roads with no shoulder, no street lights and no public buildings. The trees here are too dense to see through and they make the roads very dark. My phone had a dead battery and I had a car riding my bumper and honking it's horn. When I finally made it home I broke down in sobs. So there's that. 

The Boost

Dear Addison,

  I read this for the hundredth time a few days ago, and thought of you for the hundredth time.

Because you my girl just may be the fiercest of us all. You didn't start out that way. You came into this world gentle and quiet. You stayed my baby for much longer than any of your siblings. You would gently lay your tiny hands against my cheek and let them rest there for minutes. Many referred to you as their "angel baby" because you were just that a little tiny angel. Not to say you weren't a fighter. No, you have always been a fighter. Sometimes I hurt a little to think of all the health battles you have already fought. You started out on an uphill battle, but you always fought and you have always won. You were my silent martyr to it all, then you turned two, and every ounce of energy and fiest and personality that you had been storing for the last 2 years burst out of every inch of your body. And it hasn't stopped bursting. 

You have one pace these days, and it is turbo. You didn't walk til you were 18 mo. and now you just run. You didn't roll or sit or crawl or do much moving til much later than most babies and now it would take shackles and a tranquilizer to keep you still.  You run, jump, roll, dance and shake til mommy is past exhaustion and then you do it some more. 

We call you The Boost or Booster which I suppose stemmed from your nick name "Addi Boo" when you were still a baby. But you left behind all baby and the name transformed right along with you. You have handled the change of states with ease, of course your world has always consisted of mommy, daddy, brother, sisters and toys. So really this place is not much different than before. And you already had your first surgery here, so there's that as well.

I was looking through my pictures recently and felt like you weren't present in many of them. And then I realized it is because 90% of pictures I take of you look like this,

 And if I beg and plead for you to sit still and look at me I get something more like this...

So most all shots of you are action shots with a little bit of blur. And even those have to be taken in a room where I can shut the doors to keep you somewhat contained.

You have been with me for 32 months, and we have braved a lot in those 32 months you and I. From house quarantines to surgeries and physical therapy to skin biopsy. Sometimes I worry that this will always be life for you, going from one doctors office to the next always waiting for that next "medical shoe" to drop. I have a feeling that even if it is you will still be running 100mph in between each visit. :)

   We have been really working on talking lately. I don't know if you prefer not to talk or if all the ear surgeries make all those sounds jumble in your brain. Maybe you just know that your big sister will say everything for you and then some. But words do not come. This is not to say that you are silent. You my daughter are anything but that. You have ways of making your opinions known, and they can fill every corner of the house. :) Which is probably why I keep pushing those words so much. I feel your lack of verbal communication frustrates you more than me at times. I just know you have stories to tell, we just need to help you find the words. Perhaps one day all those stored up words will come pouring out much like your personality did.

 For now we will just run marathons from the moment your feet touch ground. We will sort shapes while I repeatedly say "purple" "blue" "yellow". We will look through your shelves of  "baku" (books) though you never let me read past the 3rd page before you pull it out of may hands and flip through all the pages yourself. We will say "ni ni luh you" (night night, love you) and "bye, ee aay rr" ( bye see you later)  50 times each night because that is the amount of times you get out of bed and have to be put back. We will ride your pony and say "woo hoo das fun" (woo hoo that's fun). You will color on paper til the second I turn around then you will color on walls. You will dump the stuffed animals 5 times a day and I will pick them up 6. You will beg to go "sie" (outside) and maybe it will warm up enough that we actually can. You will torture the "puppy" (which is one of the only words you actually say correctly) but luckily she will still lick your fingers and make you giggle. You will find a way to get your hands on every toothbrush in the house and hide them in un-findable places. You will teach me more about patience, worry, exhaustion, pride and joy. Because you might be little Boost but you are fierce.

All my love,

           momma

Just a little

Dear Brie,

    You are growing, against every wish I make you still grow and grow.  Somehow I believed that if I wished it hard enough you might slow down. But you, my love,  just keep growing and changing and learning and locking those perfectly chubby finger tighter around my heart.

 

But I still keep wishing. I keep hoping that if I hold you a little longer the time won't slip by. If I just sit and watch your beautifully long lashes flutter on your oh so kissable cheeks for a few seconds more maybe I will be able to kiss them forever. 

If I hold my breath maybe those few seconds when you lock eyes with me and stare into my soul before you drift off into dreamland will linger into minutes, and hours and days. 

If I squeeze you just a little tighter, and kiss you just a little more, if I wish just a little harder somehow maybe your perfect 7 month self will stay just that way.  Maybe you always find wonder in the way a rattle makes noise, and the way your tiny little toes can wiggle. Maybe you will never have to see the sad and the weary that comes with life. Maybe your innocent eyes will always just see love and joy.

But then again beautiful girl, you would miss so much this way. You would miss the wonder that comes from catching a snowflake on your tongue and the accomplishment that comes from completing the thing that has made you so weary. You would miss all the joy that comes with the sad, and the beauty that can always be found when you look.  So perhaps it is best that you grow, for you have a peace to bring to this world that so many need.

But for now I think I will still take just a little more time at the side of your crib as we talk about our days plans. I will kiss you a little more, and breath in your smell a little deeper, and maybe wish just a little it would stay forever.

xoxo- momma

Who wore it better?

Taycee and I have matching outfits. We didn't buy them at the same time, in fact it took me quite a while to realize we actually had matching outfits at all. But when I brought it to Taycee's attention she would not rest til we wore them on the same day. At first I was a bit hesitant to walk through the halls of preschool wearing the same outfit as my 5 year old daughter. But then I saw the pure joy and pride on her beaming face and all my reservations melted.

So the question (or really no question at all) is who wore it better?

True to the norm all things look better in child sizes. 

Thanks for being my twinner Tasty Sweet.

Snow Days

One of the hardest things to get use to in Virginia has been the complete and total fear of snow. Seriously, snow is predicted in the 5 day forecast and the shelves at the store go bare. We lost almost half a month of school in January to snow days. I found it all a bit ridiculous, BUT the kids had a blast playing in the overwhelming amounts of snow. ;) 

Kaden pulled Taycee around the yard on a little sled with her jump rope. She tried to return the favor but he was too big for her little arms to pull.

They made a few snow angels and even slid down the ice on the driveway on their cute little bums

And then they took a break for some hot cocoa and grilled cheese sandwiches

A snow day is fun, but snow months make me consider homeschooling. (or just moving back to Utah :D)

Projects

It seems that I have a never ending project list, to go along with my to do list, my goals list, and my "I'll never find the time but if I do..." list. 

Most of my projects have been household ones lately, from wall clocks to a kitchen back splash I have kept our every spare minute full. Chris has been his normal helpful self and has taken each project in stride and with a drill (or hammer or tile saw) in hand. One of my last projects was refinishing an old storm door. Taycee was able to help this time and she was so excited. I decided to document this project from start to finish, with my awesome phone camera. :)

I found a store in Richmond that salvages old doors and building parts from old condemned buildings. It was an awesome store that I could spend far more money than I should in.  Finding the right door was a bit tricky, the space the door was to hang was only 67 inches wide, far shorter than a normal door. After looking through isles and isles of old doors I found this beauty. 

 I carried it to the counter and sorted through a few bins of of doorknobs picked out these gems...

 And 67 dollars later I was out the door... with a door. :)

The project began by cleaning the inch of dust off the glass panes 

Then after taping off the glass we started with a coat of ivory paint.

 After coat two on both sides we were finished for the day.

I took some sage paint from an old can in the garage, added some plaster of paris and added a coat of the newly  made chalk paint. 

Once it was dried it was time to do a little distressing, after I did one side by hand Chris suggested using his handy drill attachment, which sanded the entire door in 1/4 of the time it took me to do half the other side.

 All distressed and ready to be waxed.

 After waxing it was Chris's turn to do his handiwork and attach the four door knobs

Drumroll....the finished product...

The next project came about while I was in the shower staring at the pitch of our ceiling. Somehow it reminded me of chevron stripes and I thought to myself, huh, I think I would love big grey chevron stripes on this wall. I told Chris of my thoughts that night as we were laying in bed and 3 days later he was making it happen. (Love that man of mine.)

It wasn't easy, but I LOVED it when it was done. 

I think for now we have reached the bottom of my project list. At least for today, I might have a few ideas brewing in the back of my mind, but for fear of wearing thin that man I love maybe I will give him at least a few spare minutes to enjoy!

The House

I am behind in posts. I have many pictures just sitting and waiting to be shared. But every minute of my spare time these last few weeks has been spent preparing for our housewarming party that occurred yesterday. We had hopes of meeting our neighbors and making a few friends. We made invites, ordered food, polished floors and threw a pretty good party. We met neighbors and only had a few awkward "oh you're Mormon" moments. :D It was fun, but I couldn't help but look around the crowd of unfamiliar faces and wish we had a few familiar ones to share our new home with. I could use a few girlfriends to come crash my house for awhile... anyone up for a quick 6 hour flight? No?...*sigh* ... well I figured as much, so I decided that I would bring my home to you. :) Welcome to our online housewarming party...

http://smu.gs/1ktHhbT

Browse through, take your time. And then decide to come for real.

xoxo-me