Adventures in Munchkinland

New URL

2010-05-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

I've moved the blog over to a Wordpress format. I'm tired of how time-consuming Blogger and Live Writer make it for me to create a blog post. I'm loving how the new blog looks, and I REALLY hope you'll join me over there. I've made it easy to subscribe to the blog by posting a link in the menu bar as well as the sidebar on the left, so I hope you'll subscribe or bookmark me, or whatever you do to follow your fellow bloggers. :)

Here's the link to the new blog - I imported everything from this blog, just in case anyone wants to look up an old recipe or something. ;)

www.adventuresinmunchkinland.com

Hope to see you soon!

Easter

2010-05-11T10:05:00.001-07:00

I know I'm really late sharing these, but I've been busy making headbands and editing other sessions, and my personal pictures have fallen behind on the priority list. These pictures are clear back from Easter.

Easter was really nice this year - Sasquatch's mom was here, and it was wonderful to be able to share a major holiday with family. The girls were a little bit spoiled - new dresses, new jammies, and a couple of new toys for each of them. The Princess received a book/CD called "The Composer is Dead." The story was written by Lemony Snickett, and the music is done by the San Francisco Symphony - I HIGHLY recommend it if your kids are into music - it's a great way to introduce kids to various musical instruments, and the writing is hilarious.

We were invited to dinner with several other families in the ward, and it was so much fun to spend time with friends on Easter. One of the things I miss most about being back home is the fun holiday get-togethers where the girls get to play with their cousins, so it was great to be able to spend time with a big group of people - it helped me feel a little less homesick. I'm so grateful that we were invited.

The munchkins all participated in an Easter egg hunt, which was lots of fun. The Princess was too busy hunting for eggs to let me take pictures of her, so I followed Sparky around instead. She refused to look at the camera, but it was fun to capture her first experience hunting for Easter eggs - she thoroughly enjoyed picking up the eggs and putting them in her bucket - she had to look in the bucket every time she dropped an egg inside it. Once she verified it was still there she would move on to the next egg.

She agreed to stop long enough to pose for a picture, but you can see she wasn’t thrilled about it. I love soft, hazy sunset-ey pictures.

Sparky's Favorite Words

2010-04-24T21:13:00.001-07:00

It's after midnight, but Sparky's still wide awake. I think she's teething. We tried to get her to go to bed around 10 because she was all sorts of grumpy, but when she was still screaming an hour later I couldn't bring myself to make her stay in there any longer. Hopefully the Ibuprofin kicks in for her soon. And with any luck she'll have a full mouth of teeth by the time she starts Kindergarten.

Since Sasquatch lets me sleep in on Saturday mornings, I decided to be nice and stay awake with her while he turned in "early." I think he deserves that every once in a while - especially since he's been working SO hard these last few months. AND he watched both of the girls all afternoon while I had fun downtown doing a family portrait session (I LOVE it when families opt for urban sessions!!).

So, Sparky's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and she's talking up a storm and I'm trying to keep things quiet and low-key to remind her that it's time for sleep. All the talking made me realize that I haven't been very good about documenting her favorite words. She started talking like crazy while Grandma Rosie was here, and now there are some actual words mixed in with all the gibberish. Some of her favorite words are:

DAY-doo (thank you)/WEH-come (she has to say the two words together - it's never just "thank you")

Pwease (please) - Not quite as cute as The Princess' version (she used to say "Beeps" for please), but still pretty adorable - especially when she signs it at the same time

Boop (book)

SEE-see (Seriously)

BAY-bee - She refers to all of her stuffed animals as babies

PUPpy - Sometimes she's referring to an actual dog, but it also means "goose," "squirrel," or any other random animal we see while taking our daily walk

KEY-key (Kitty) - The only animal she does NOT refer to as a "puppy"

Oof-oof - This is what a (real) puppy says

Meow - What a kitty says

Cack-cack - What a goose says

Tweet - Treat

Coo-kie - She distinctly pronounces each syllable and stresses the "k" sound in the middle - I'm not sure why she can't pronounce the "k" at the end of "book"

Soos (Shoes) - She tries to put them on several times a day and gets upset when I won't take her outside for a walk

Soss - (Socks)

BUH-boos (Bubbles)

Bap (Bath) - Don't make the mistake of allowing her anywhere near the bathroom unless you want to indulge in her chronic desire to strip down to her birthday suit and take a "bap"

She also has an adorable way of saying her sister's name any time she sees a picture of her (or sees my camera - she thinks any picture on my camera's LCD is her beloved big sister) or thinks it's time for her to be home from school.

She loves to say DAH-dee and Ma-MEE, and I love how she pronounces all the consonants - so cute!!

Up - She says this when she wants to be picked up

Hep - Sometimes she asks for help instead of screaming in frustration - usually she screams

WIH-ga? (What's that?)

Hi - It's so adorable to go in and get her when she wakes up from a nap. She always says "hi" in the most nonchalant manner.

Buh-bye

DOH-stay? (Downstairs - with a question mark at the end) is still a staple in her vocabulary - she hates to be cooped up in the tv/computer/playroom

I'm sure she says more than this, and probably MEANS a lot more with her nonsense words (she repeats the same ones over and and over), but these are the words that stand out because she says them most often these days.

Random

2010-04-21T14:20:00.001-07:00

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any images of The Princess. Here are a couple of images I captured of her at the pond near our house. The pond isn’t really much to look at (although we walk down there just about every day to feed the geese), but I LOVE how well it photographs. I thought I’d already shared the wing portrait, but I can’t seem to find it, so I must have just shared it on Facebook. If you’ve already seen it, here it is again. It’s still one of my all-time favorites.

That’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll have my new computer up and running within the next couple of days. Sasquatch built my current computer when we’d been married for about 2 months, so it’s really old and runs slower than molasses in January. The new computer should be MUCH faster, and I’m hoping the speed will make my editing process faster, so that I can share pictures on the blog more regularly.

Cupcakes

2010-04-17T10:30:00.001-07:00

There are few things that I love as much as photography, but baking probably comes pretty close. More than baking, I love decorating – especially cupcakes and sugar cookies. It’s so much fun to decorate sugar cookies with royal icing, but it tastes pretty awful (I prefer cream cheese frosting for eating), so I usually only decorate sugar cookies when I can take them somewhere and leave them there.

I wasn’t terribly fond of cupcakes - especially after I took all the time to pipe homemade butter cream on a bunch of cupcakes and the Princess took one bite and told me the frosting made her want to throw up. Thanks, Alton Brown. You and I usually have a pretty good food relationship, but you failed me on the butter cream.

I’d given up on butter cream, but somebody at playgroup suggested that I try making Italian butter cream instead. Holy crow! Sooooooo much better! You use regular sugar instead of confectioner’s sugar (making a simple syrup of sugar and water and then pouring it into the egg whites), and I think that makes all the difference! In some ways, piping frosting onto cupcakes is even more fun than decorating sugar cookies with royal icing. :)

A couple months ago, when Sasquatch was in Utah with Miss Sparky, The Princess and I went on a photography outing with our friends Larisa and Foster. As bribery, I promised The Princess a stop at our favorite bakery if she agreed to have her pictures taken and gave me nice facial expressions. She obliged, so we made a stop at the cupcake cupcake counter at said bakery. I usually can’t bring myself to drop $3.50 on a single cupcake (we usually share one), but I think it’s okay to splurge on occasion.

On this particular day, they had some adorable cupcakes on display that looked like ice cream sundaes. Chocolate cake and vanilla butter cream topped with chocolate ganache and sprinkles and crowned with a maraschino cherry. They were almost too cute to eat!

I decided I had to replicate them at home. The Princess was impressed when she saw them. Without being prompted, she told me that they looked just like the cupcakes at the bakery. That was a nice little boost to my ego.

I also made some plain-looking but oh-so-tasty chocolate cupcakes with hazelnut butter cream. They weren’t quite as pretty as the sundae-cakes, but they were my favorite on the taste scale.

I couldn’t go to that much effort without taking a few pictures, so here they are. :)

Don’t you just love the “catchlights” in the cherry?

And the hazelnut… I’m not much of a food photographer, but you get the idea.

Glee!!

2010-04-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that Glee starts again tonight!

I know it's totally geeky (or should I say "Gleeky" - ha! I'm hilarious, right?!?), but I love this show. I think it's probably my all-time favorite TV show.

Part of it probably stems from my high school choir days. Although at my school, it was actually considered socially acceptable to be in choir. I was in Madrigals, which was our version of show choir (we didn't get to perform any mainstream music like they do on Glee, but it was still SO much fun). Most of the Madrigals were pretty popular (I wasn't - I was too painfully shy and didn't know how to flirt - most of the members of the group were notoriously talented at flirting), and none of us ever had Icees thrown in our face.

But in spite of the differences between the show and my personal high school experience, there's still so much about Glee that reminds me of one of the few things I actually loved about high school - music; particularly singing. I wasn't a great solo singer in high school, but I was great at singing in a group (matching pitch, sight reading, all that fun stuff).

One of my favorite memories about Madrigals is the weeks leading up to Solo and Ensemble festival. We used to practice our pieces in the hallway near the gym - the ceilings were really high, and the acoustics were amazing. When everyone matched pitch just right, you could actually feel the notes bounce off the ceiling - it was so cool! We'd occasionally practice the school hymn in that hallway as well - just for the fun of it.

I also loved Christmas. It was so much fun to practice beautiful Christmas music and then perform at various events around the valley during the months of November and December. We had the opportunity to sing on the stairs inside the church office building during my Junior year. While we were singing, President Hinckley came into the foyer and stopped to listen to us sing. He said a few words to us (I think I wrote them down in a journal somewhere), shook a few hands (I was too high up on the stairs to get to shake his hand), and left a lasting impression on our hearts. I still miss being in a choir when Christmas rolls around each year.

The actual show Glee is so different from my high school choir experience (the music is much cooler and better produced and there's a bit too much drama), but it still evokes some of the positive feelings that I have when I think back on high school. It reminds me that there were actually a few things that I enjoyed about school (photography was my other love, even back then - I still miss the darkroom!).

I'm pretty excited for the show to start again tonight. I'm feeling a bit melancholy and homesick since Sasquatch's mom went back home on Sunday, so it will be a good distraction. And it's so much fun to watch Sparky dance to all the musical numbers!

Flip-Flops and Funny Faces

2010-03-17T12:29:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. There are some things going on in my non-existent social life that are really bugging me. I naively thought that high school ended after high school and that at some point in my life, I’d actually “fit in.” Not that I want to be like “everyone else” – I’m still a fan of being unique, but still!

I really want to blog about the specifics that are bothering me, but Sasquatch and another good friend have managed to convince me to be the better person and just leave it alone. I’m REALLY trying to be the better person, but for some reason, it’s all led to a little bit of a creative block. I’ve struggled to come up with anything else to write about, and I haven’t really wanted to edit any of my personal pictures in a while.

I’m determined to get over the whole thing, though. I desperately want to figure out how to be happy regardless of the circumstances. I’m still holding onto the hope and faith that certain things in our life are going to change soon, but in the meantime, I know it’s not a good attitude to say “I’ll be happy when…”

With that being said, I decided to edit some pictures of Miss Sparky last night. She LOVES to steal other people’s shoes and socks. Her very favorite shoes are a pair of The Princess’ flip-flops. She manages to clomp around in them remarkably well, but she’s prone to stepping out of them. This causes her no end of frustration, and when she’s frustrated, she makes that lovely little scream that sounds like a bottle rocket going off in the living room. Since I’m not a huge fan of high pitched noises reverberating off the vaulted ceilings (and amplified by the uncarpeted floors), I’ve asked The Princess to please keep the shoes in her bedroom.

I had to take these pictures first, though. When Sparky is actually willing to look at the camera (which isn’t very often), she gives me the funniest little cheeser grin, which I LOVE. I know I make a point of telling my clients to PLEASE refrain from telling their children to “say cheese,” and I’ve never uttered those words to my own children, but somehow they figure it out anyway. I think it’s kind of adorable in an only-every-once-in-a-while-on-camera sort of way.

Gotta love Sasquatch in the background working on code in this next one.

The Princess is Going "Old School"

2010-03-06T10:11:00.000-08:00

The Princess and I were in the car the other day listening to one of the 4 not-so-great radio stations that can be picked up by our car's half-broken antenna.

"The Boys are Back in Town" began to play, and The Princess said, "Mommy, I really like this song." We listened to the song for a minute, and then her little voice piped up from the back seat, "Mommy, this song is old school, isn't it?"

Makes you feel old all of a sudden when your six-year-old starts telling you that music is "old school." At least she wasn't talking about Pearl Jam, or Korn, or Alanis Morisette. Although that's probably just because I don't have access to a radio station that plays them.

Speaking of old school, she came home from school the other day and was so excited to show me a "new" dance that she had learned. She then proceeded to perform the Macarena.

Winter Still Life

2010-02-19T10:03:00.001-08:00

Some images from the night I took The Princess outside to play in the snow. It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed non-people (even though in high school I swore I’d NEVER photograph people because I wasn’t any good at it), and it was fun to get back in touch with my artistic side.

I ~~stole~~ borrowed Larisa’s 105mm Micro lens for these images, and I do NOT want to give the lens back to her. It takes such yummy closeups – both for abstract photography and babies (you should see some of the images I captured of Sparky’s eyelashes – maybe tomorrow). If anyone has an extra 1K lying around and you want to buy me a gift, I can tell you exactly where to purchase my new lens. :P

As usual, these images look much better in any format besides Blogger. I’m still feeling pretty tempted to switch over to Wordpress for the better image quality, but I don’t want to lose all my cute little sidebar widgets (or my few loyal followers).

Snow Day

2010-02-18T19:00:00.001-08:00

I know I’m super late posting these pictures, since it snowed a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to share them anyway. The grandparents will appreciate my efforts, if nothing else.

I’m still getting used to this whole snow in the South thing. It seems so strange to me that 2-3 inches of snow can shut down an entire city for half a week. You should see the grocery stores on afternoons when a snow storm is still a mere possibility. You’d think the apocalypse was just around the corner the way people jam the bread and milk aisles.

To be fair, it usually only snows once a year around here, which makes the expense of hundreds of snow plows rather unnecessary. However, since our government doesn’t “waste” money on snow plows, we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature when the rare snow storm occurs. We have to wait for it to melt to be able to leave our neighborhood.

The Princess was super excited to hear that snow was in the forecast. I was worried that it was going to be another situation where there was lots of hype about a storm that would never deliver. So when I looked out the window right before The Princess’ bed time and saw that the snow was sticking, I told her to put on her coat – we were going to enjoy the snow even if it didn’t stick around until morning.

We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to several inches of snow. Both of the girls were thrilled at the chance to play outside in our wintery wonderland. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of snow, we were poorly supplied in the winter clothing department. The Princess wore her daddy’s gloves and a pair of too-small rainboots that quickly filled with snow (and made her cry when she wanted to take them off 10 minutes later – I thought it was because they hurt her feet, but after the hysterics wore off she informed me that it was because she was afraid I was never going to be able to get them off her feet). After reading the blogs of some more experienced Southerners, I’ve since learned that the proper foot coverings for playing in the snow are bread bags or grocery bags. At least we know for next time.

Sparky wasn’t sure how to walk in the snow. She made it about two steps off the front porch before face-planting a snow drift. I took her back inside to warm up, but she quickly wanted to go back outside and try again. Notice the adorable ~~socks~~ mittens she’s wearing on her hands.

The weather actually stayed below freezing for several days. Church was cancelled (a first for me), and The Princess missed three days of school. We all had a bit of cabin fever by the time the roads were clear again.

While it still seems strange to watch the world shut down at the first fluttering snowflake, it’s kind of cool to enjoy the “magic” of a snowstorm again. It’s neat that my girls get to live somewhere that “snow days” actually happen sometimes, and we’re forced to slow down and just enjoy the day and our time together.

Puppy Love

2010-02-13T11:56:00.001-08:00

When Sparky went to Utah with her daddy a few weeks ago she ~~stole~~ adopted a stuffed puppy from Grandma Rosie’s house. This puppy has now become a fixture in Sparky’s life. She insists on taking it to bed with her, and won’t allow you to remove her from her crib until she’s secured the puppy in a ~~death grip~~ snuggle to carry him around the house while she fully awakens. Thank you, Grandma Rosie (and Aunt Lizzy) for allowing a nice Valentine’s gift to become the new best friend of our little redheaded girl.

I really couldn’t decide between color and black and white on this one. I love the contrast of her red hair and pink shirt in the color version, but I adore the vintage look of the black and white. I wouldn’t trust the black and white version to print correctly (for some reason, most brown-toned prints end up with a purple tint when they’re printed), but I think it’s adorable online.

All You Need is Love

2010-02-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

In an effort to avoid making a bunch of snarky remarks that I’ll regret later (let’s just say I’m feeling rather homesick and lonely again), I’m going to focus on an enlightening blog post I read a few days ago. Natalie Norton (one of my new favorite bloggers) recently made a guest appearance over at The Coterie Blog, and the things she said have really stuck with me this week (in some ways – in other ways I’m still feeling snarky and sorry for myself, lol).

If you don’t feel like reading her blog post (you’ll be missing out – she’s a great writer), the main gist is about various ways she shows love for herself and her family. Really basic things like doing a load of laundry each morning, sorting the mail on the way in from the mailbox (rather than allowing it to form a pile of epic proportions on top of the microwave – oops, did I say that out loud?), taking care of her body (daily shower, exercise, etc), and making sure to schedule a weekly date night.

While everything she said made perfect sense, the one that stuck with me the most was the laundry.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a stay/work-at-home-mom. I love being able to watch my babies grow up and being there when my oldest daughter comes home from school each day. It definitely presents it’s challenges, though, and I’d be lying if I said it was all smooth sailing. I struggle a lot. I struggle with feeling like my business isn’t successful enough to allow me to genuinely provide for my family. I struggle with boredom and loneliness and a general feeling of isolation. I struggle to keep my house as clean as I would like, and from there, I struggle with a feeling of resentment that I’m the “only” person in the house who “cares” if anything is clean (this is absolutely not true – my husband and oldest daughter really DO care, and it hurts them every time I say those words out loud – I’m trying to get better about how I vent my frustrations). Which in turn leads to me feeling like I’m not good enough – I’m not patient enough, I’m not easy-going enough, and I’m not doing a good enough job to keep the house clean so that I *don’t* feel bitter about the mess.

Obviously, my perspective is all sorts of messed up. I’ve been looking at things the wrong way for a very long time. Natalie’s comments about the laundry were what really helped me to see the error of my perspective, and this week has gone much better. In her blog post, she states:

“Loving myself means putting one load of laundry in every morning, FIRST THING.

Laundry is the ultimate SUCK, and I HATE nothing more than hearing my husband and my kids say "Mo'om I can't find any clo'othes!"

I've decided that I love myself too much to allow myself to get behind. Having clean clothes to wear everyday, well, it shows my man and my boys that I love them too.”

This was the proverbial 2X4 to the head for me. I REALLY don’t enjoy doing laundry. I don’t mind the sorting or the actual washing and drying. It’s the folding and the putting away that makes it the epitome of tedium in my world. It’s one of the few thorns in my SAHM side. I just don’t enjoy it. And I tend to feel bitter that I’m the “only” one who “has” to do the laundry (again, not exactly true). Especially when it comes to the white load and matching up all the endless pairs of socks (and the annoyance of realizing that half the socks no longer have a match). Laundry is the chore that I avoid more than any other, which causes me to always be behind. The piles of laundry in my house are so big, that I become overwhelmed, and I avoid them even more diligently.

Natalie’s statements about LOVE really helped me to look at laundry (and dishes, and picking up after the baby) in a whole new light. Is laundry ever going to be fun? I’m not sure. But I’ve been trying to do at least one load of laundry first thing in the morning (including folding it and putting it away). I’ve been telling myself that I’m doing it because I LOVE my family, and I want them to have nice, clean clothes to wear. And guess what – it REALLY works. Even the folding and putting away hasn’t been as bad as I’ve always made it out to be. It’s a wonderful feeling to realize that I’m doing my best to make life pleasant for the people that I love – even something as simple as clean clothes makes a difference in the day-to-day routine. If I do one load a day (rather than waiting for everything to pile up for weekly “laundry day”), it’s not nearly such a daunting task.

I’ve been adopting the same perspective for dishes, and it’s making a world of difference. Now to just get the routine down to the point that I can start focusing on other areas of the house – like the bathrooms. :)

I totally agree with the other things she says (date nights, etc). I know Sasquatch and I are much happier as a couple after we’ve spent time with just the two of us. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of a regular free babysitter around here. I have a couple of friends who have been willing to watch the girls in the past, but I don’t want them to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. At one point, I had hopes of starting a babysitting co-op and trading sitting services a few times a month, but that hasn’t ever come to fruition. Paying a babysitter is most definitely out of the question – as is actually going anywhere (it’s too cold to go for a picnic in the park right now). My parents and siblings gave us a “date night” for Christmas (dinner and movie gift certificates), but we’re saving it for Alice in Wonderland (I can’t wait!). However, as soon as Sasquatch’s company is earning a good income, a weekly date night will be a guaranteed happening at our house – happy, sane parents result in a happy, sane household.

Changing my perspective and focusing on LOVE being the reason that I do certain things around the house has made a significant difference in my attitude this week. I’m going to continue to focus on love, and think of my beautiful family every time I start a load of laundry or sweep the floor, and I know it’s going to help me be a happier and more grateful wife and mother.

The Princess just came home from school, and while my house isn’t perfect, I’m going to stop what I’m doing and go spend some time with her. That’s one of the perks of being a SAHM. She had a Valentine’s Day party at school, and we’re going to sort through her bag of treats and read all the cards and focus on LOVE again.

XOXO

At Least She’s Looking at the Camera

2010-02-10T10:35:00.001-08:00

There are a few things I’d like to blog about, but I’m going to take some time to develop my thoughts before posting them. So for now, I’m just going to share a couple pictures of the littlest monkey. She was reaching for the camera – hence the pained facial expressions. I’m trying to get better about looking at the bright side of things, so I’ll just say I’m glad that she was willing to look at the camera for these images. And I’m grateful for bounced flash which provided the nice catchlights (I’m a sucker for a great catchlight) and modeling on her face. ;)

Oh, I’m also grateful that it looks like her hair is FINALLY going to start growing. Although I probably need suggestions for easy hairstyles to get her through the mullet phase.

If You're the Praying Type...

2010-02-06T17:45:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, this family experienced a tragedy in their home when their youngest baby boy was found unconscious in the bathtub. I cannot begin to fathom the fear they're experiencing as they watch their little boy fight for his life at PCMC. If you get a chance to read the blog - I highly recommend it. You'll need kleenex, for sure, but your faith will intensify 100-fold.

I read all of these amazing stories about the angels who work at PCMC (and every other children's hospital), and I pray daily that my husband's company will take off SOON. We have some ideas for ways to utilize the program that would really help the families at PCMC and every other children's hospital as well. I can't wait for the day when this company is more than just a concept, and we have the financial means to donate certain aspects of the program to various children's hospitals in order to help the families of the children staying there.

In the meantime, I'll continue to pray for baby Bronson, for my cousin's little boy Carter (who will be going in for major heart surgery next week), as well as Natalie Norton and her sweet family.

If you would like to help a GREAT cause and get a beautiful handmade keepsake in the process, be sure to check out my friend Brae's Etsy Shop. They are selling "Spoons for Scarlet" in order to earn money to donate a tree to this year's Festival of Trees (the proceeds of which benefit Primary Children's Medical Center). The spoons are fun and whimsical, and you won't regret checking out the shop.

Sparky's New Word

2010-02-05T09:16:00.001-08:00

Sparky still doesn't say much. She definitely communicates, but most of it is non-verbal right now. Her pediatrician isn't worried about it - she makes eye contact, and she definitely understands what we're saying (her ability to do the exact opposite of what we ask her is uncanny!). She plays "pretend" amazingly well (you'd think she constantly had something in her mouth the way she eats pretend food, and she can turn anything from an actual cell phone to a shoe into a phone and have long pretend "conversations).

Besides, her big sister was a late bloomer in the verbal department as well. As much as I wanted her to hurry and grow up and learn how to speak (for some reason I thought this would magically make tantrums less severe - ha!), there are times now that I wish she'd stop talking for just a moment or two. (I'm sure that once she's a teenager and never wants to talk to me, I'll be wistfully looking back at the days when I was hoping for a little peace and quiet).

Sparky says a few words, and signs a few more. She's quite adept at saying "Da-da," she'll occasionally say "Mama" (although she knows how much I want her to say it, which makes her less willing to do so unless she's in just the right mood), and she's attempted to say her big sister's name a few times. Sasquatch said that while they were in Utah, she took a huge liking to her Uncle Joe and would try to say his name in the middle of all her babbling.

She's very skilled at signing "please," "more," "food," "milk," & "finished" and she's created her own weird little sign for "juice." She also loves to wave "bye-bye," and it's quite adorable to watch her blow kisses to everyone she meets.

Her very favorite word right now is "touch." She loves to be picked up, and then she'll point to various objects around the house and say "touch" so that you'll take her up to said object and allow her to touch it (she's particularly fond of light switches, thermostats, and anything else with buttons - just don't tell her it's a button, or she'll lift up her shirt to point at her own little "button"). Her second favorite word is "downstairs" (although it sounds more like "Dolce," or "dont touch" and Sasquatch makes her mad by saying "Dolce & Gabana" every time she asks to go downstairs - which is about every 30 seconds if you dare to attempt to keep her upstairs in the loft with all the toys).

She learned a new word today. I was making her the only thing she'll eat for breakfast (waffles), and she was getting impatient for the toaster to finish. I pointed to the toaster and said "waffle" and then she pointed to the toaster and said "waff-uh." We did it a few more times to verify that she was actually saying the word, and she said it every time.

We've also been practicing saying "baby." The first time we tried it (she was in the car with me running errands and she was getting tired and fussy) she repeated it every time I said it. Now it's more hit-and-miss. Sometimes she'll say "baby" and point at herself. Other times I'll say baby and she'll just sort of wave at herself.

She may not have a full vocabulary yet, but I'm trying really hard to just enjoy her babyness and allow her to grow up at her own pace. I should probably be doing alphabet flashcards or at least working on colors or something, but somehow I'm just not structured enough to do that at her age. I guess she'll just have to settle for a regular preschool rather than a genius preschool if that's in our budget by the time she's old enough for preschool.

More Valentine’s Pictures

2010-02-04T16:06:00.001-08:00

Here are the rest of my favorite pictures from The Princess’ Valentine’s Day session. I didn’t really like the tutu after I finished making it, but it photographed better than I expected.

I edited out the graffiti on the image below, and left it there on the next image. The color on the image below looks a little off on here, but it’s cute in Photoshop. :)

Valentine’s Day Portraits

2010-01-31T13:22:00.001-08:00

Since the Valentine’s Day mini sessions ended up being a bust (I booked a big fat ZERO sessions despite my various marketing efforts), Larisa and I decided to take our kiddos out last weekend for their own special Valentine’s Day portraits. While I’m disappointed that I apparently can’t even give my work away for practically free right now (the mini sessions were a REALLY great deal – maybe I was giving away too much), it was really fun to take The Princess out for a portrait session. Sasquatch and Sparky were in Utah (keep your fingers crossed that his new business takes off soon), so it was just me and The Princess at home and we needed to get out of the house.

Here are a few of the Valentine-themed portraits that we did for the Valentine cards she’ll hand out at her class party. Which reminds me – I need to make a final decision on which design we’re using and get the order sent to the lab.

I’m playing around with various vintage looks – the goal is to develop an editing style that’s instantly recognizable as “mine.” Larisa and I were talking over the weekend. As much as I LOVE the bright, humorous, FUN style of so many child photographers, it’s not really “me.” So I’m trying to find a niche that really is me and makes me more marketable as an artist.

The morning shade made it absolutely freezing in this wind tunnel of a stairwell, but she was such a good sport about the entire ordeal. We walked over to Starbuck’s afterwards for a hot chocolate. That’s right – I’m not above a little bribery to get nice portraits of my own children.

I can’t decide if I like this image better in black and white or “vintage,” so I’m sharing both.

I absolutely adore the combination of these shoes and tights and felt that they deserved to be featured in a picture all by themselves.

After the hot chocolate break, the weather warmed up considerably. We found a couple fantastic urban areas and created some tutu portraits which I’ll share later in another blog post.

Finally Got “The Shot”

2010-01-17T11:07:00.001-08:00

When it comes to wall art, I feel like certain things need to be balanced. One of the reasons there are currently no portraits on my walls is because I have favorite wall portraits of The Princess, but no coordinating prints of Sparky.

One of my favorite images of The Princess was taken when she was about 9 months old and I was experimenting with my studio lights for the first time. She was sitting up, but didn’t know how to crawl, so she wasn’t mobile yet (as a sidenote: this is the very best age for photographing babies!). I surrounded her cute little bare body with lots of white tulle and placed a long strand of pearls around her neck. At one point, Sasquatch walked into the room, and she leaned forward just a little bit with the cutest “I love my daddy” smile on her face. That was the first time I felt like I captured “the shot” with one of my own children. Of course I had to have a wall portrait created. I don’t have the file on my computer at the moment, so there’s no way to share the image in this post, but most of you probably remember the image.

The print has never made it onto my wall since we moved out of our house in Stansbury Park. After we moved from that house, we never seemed to stay in one place long enough for our walls to be decorated. Since we’ve moved here, it seemed unfair to have a “shrine” of portraits to one child, while not having any large portraits of our other daughter on the wall. So for a while, we waited for me to capture a similar image of Sparky. The image was finally captured a few months ago, but for some reason, I’ve never had the wall portrait printed. My goal is to take care of that this week. This image has been shared on the blog before, but here it is again. It’s not an exact match of The Princess’ 9 month picture, but they’ll look cute on the wall together. (It looks a bit red on here, so I think I might fix the color a bit before sending it to the lab).

While living in Stansbury Park, our breakfast nook had AMAZING light. I captured a beautiful series of images of The Princess while she was standing on our kitchen table. I printed a 16X16 wall portrait of one of my favorite closeups, and while going through boxes a few weeks ago, I unearthed it again. Since then, the challenge has been to capture a similar closeup of Sparky. This is no small feat, because Sparky absolutely refuses to look at the camera. If she’s looking in the general direction of the camera, she’s running at full steam with hands outstretched to touch the lens before I pull the camera away.

The fates smiled on me the other day – we had good light in our loft upstairs (I think I only had to set the ISO to 800 – thank goodness for a camera that performs well in low light!), and Sparky was in a particularly cooperative mood. I finally managed to capture a closeup that I like. Hopefully Sasquatch will be willing to help me get some art up on the walls once the new prints arrive later this week.

I’m sharing this last image just because I think it’s cute. Since the intention was to create a black and white print, I used the pink blanket as a backdrop because it wouldn’t matter with a black and white image. During post processing, I decided that I loved this particular image in color. It’s so rare to capture her looking at the camera with a happy expression on her face, that I may decide to get this one printed large, too.

Silhouettes

2010-01-15T09:30:00.001-08:00

I’ve wanted to create a silhouette wall in my house for quite a while, but never got around to taking pictures of the girls to make it happen. I finally captured a good shot of each of them, and I’m so excited to share these! Aren’t they adorable?!?! Now we just need a silhouette of Sasquatch and me, and maybe we can actually get some framed art on our living room walls.

I’m still debating on when to create a silhouette of Sasquatch – right now, his hair is down to his shoulders because he’s growing it out for Locks of Love again. It can’t hurt to take a picture and see if his silhouette looks weird with long hair (I like his hair long, but I don’t know how it will look in a blacked-out silhouette) – if it does, his hair should be long enough to cut pretty soon. Do you think the damask background works for all of us, or should I find something more masculine for Sasquatch’s silhouette?

The goal will be to create a new silhouette of everyone each January. It should be fun to see how much the girls change each year.

New Favorites from Last Autumn

2010-01-13T13:57:00.001-08:00

I was digging through some old files to find a sample image for a client, and I came across a couple of snapshots of the girls that I really like. I need to get better about organizing my files – I’m sure I’ve “lost” a lot of great images of the girls because I never took them out of my client folders.

2009 Recap

2010-01-08T13:01:00.001-08:00

I have to be honest here – I’ve totally stolen these questions from my friend Ashlee’s blog.

1.What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? I did a lot of cooking and baking that I’d never attempted before. It was neat to discover that I actually enjoy doing both. It was also pretty cool to discover how much better baked goods turn out when you don’t live at a high altitude.

2.What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? I would LOVE to have a second car. It would be so nice to have the option to pack up the girls and go to playgroup or the park without having to make special arrangements.

3.What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory? I don’t know that there’s anything specific – the trip to Colorado over the summer was wonderful, and it was great having Grandma Rosie come visit. The year was pretty uneventful for the most part.

4.What was your biggest achievement of the year? Probably that whole learning how to cook and bake thing. I’ve also gained confidence in myself as an artist – it hasn’t made the lack of bookings any easier, but at least I’m not doubting my abilities as a photographer any longer.

5.What was your biggest failure? I’ve really been struggling to have faith that Heavenly Father has a reason for us being out here, and that he’s going to make sure there’s a way for us to provide for our family.

6.Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major. I caught a cold about a week before Christmas and I’m still dealing with the cough and accompanying rib pain. Super fun. The girls managed to stay healthy for the most part – I definitely don’t miss the inversion and the resulting respiratory illnesses that happen in Utah each winter.

7. What was the best thing you bought? We didn’t buy much of anything this year. The deterioration of image quality in my old camera forced me to buy a new camera with some of our tax return. I was able to get the D700 and I LOVE it!!

8. What behavior merited celebration? The generosity of our families this Christmas was really amazing.

9. What behavior made you appalled and depressed? It’s depressing that Sparky still doesn’t sleep through the night (or at least doesn’t go to sleep until about 2AM) most nights. At some point, we’ll get her out of our closet and into her own room, right?

10. Where did most of your money go? Groceries, bills, diapers. Nothing exciting.

11. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? I’m trying to be happier, more faithful, and more optimistic. b) thinner or fatter? Probably about the same. We need to get generally “healthier” as a family c) richer or poorer? About the same – although that’s not saying much. :)

12. What do you wish you’d done more of? Appreciate the little things, and spent more time playing with my children.

13. What do you wish you’d done less of? Waste time on the computer and television.

14. How did you spend Christmas? We had a very quiet Christmas at home as a family. We talked to family on the web cam, but I hope this year we’ll be able to spend time with family members in person.

15. Did you fall in love in 2009? I fall more in love with my husband and children every day.

16. What was your favorite TV program? (See question 13). “Good Eats” is always a family favorite. I was happy that my favorite won on ANTM, although I almost can’t watch it any more because Tyra is so dang annoying. “Lie to Me” was pretty good this year, and I don’t think they gave “Dollhouse” enough of a chance.

17.Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I try not to hate anyone. I actually read a really good talk by President Monson over the holidays, and I’m trying really hard to genuinely let go of all of my past grudges.

18. What was the best book you read? “The Lovely Bones.” It was so beautifully written!

19. What was your greatest musical discovery? Owl City - “Fireflies” is getting pretty overplayed, but he has some other really great music, too.

20. What did you want and get? A new camera.

21. What did you want and not get? A lot of things – I feel like I have way too many “wants” right now, and I’m trying to figure out a way to be satisfied with what I have.

22. What was your favorite film of this year? The Blind Side

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 28 this year. I was in Colorado with the girls. We went to a street fair type thing and had dinner at Costa Vida (I miss that place!).

24. What one thing would have made your year better? Being closer to family and friends “out West.” Not owing anything to Sallie Mae. :P

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? Unfortunately, at this point in my life, I’m a very “wash and wear” jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. I dream of having the budget for a vintage Anthropologie-esque style. Maybe one of these years…

26. What kept you sane? My husband’s never-ending faith.

27. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most: Nobody, really.

28. What political issue stirred you the most? Healthcare – I’m really worried about what’s going to happen to our healthcare premiums with all these requirements being forced onto insurance companies.

29. Who did you miss? Too many people to mention anyone specifically. My parents, siblings, and in-laws definitely top the list, though.

30. Who was the best new person you met? I met a lot of great new people in 2009. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by leaving anyone out, so I’m not going to name names. :)

31. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: As difficult as it may seem, it is actually feasible to survive without having family members nearby. Our little family has really been forced to learn how to support and rely upon each other in the last year. As lonely as it is sometimes, it’s still been a good experience to learn how to be our own little family.

Christmas Miracles

2010-01-04T11:27:00.001-08:00

There are so many things that I want to say about our Christmas. I’m not sure where to begin.

Suffice it to say that my family was extremely blessed to have a number of angels in our lives this year. Santa wasn’t sure how he was going to provide the girls with much of anything besides dollar store gifts. He had actually decided to just give one or two gifts to The Princess and leave Sparky out of the gift giving, but he was worried that The Princess would notice that Sparky didn’t receive anything. He was also worried that The Princess would notice that she didn’t receive any gifts from Dad and Mom if Santa delivered all the gifts. This was beginning to cause Santa a lot of stress.

December ended up being a month of small miracles. Various family members contacted me to say that their Christmas wish this year was for my girls to have a nice Christmas. They asked me what the girls wanted, as well as what they needed. Soon, the nice people from UPS and USPS began to deliver packages to my door. I was told to choose which items came from Santa, which items came from Sasquatch and me, and which items came from family members. Not only did my girls receive some fun toys, games, and art supplies, they also received various necessities such as jammies, tights (The Princess loves wearing skirts to school, and all of her tights were a couple of sizes too small), socks, and shoes. Those of you who helped us – I can’t tell you how nice it was for The Princess to have nice warm jammies (her room is freezing for some reason), tights, and new shoes.

There are a few close friends here with whom I’ve shared some of my worries (I’m so sorry if I’ve dwelt on it too much in conversations – I’m working on that for the new year), but I didn’t think I had specifically mentioned Christmas to anyone. I really tried not to – especially since I knew our families were going to be helping us. Well, a few days before Christmas, a member of the bishopric came to our house to deliver a package of wrapped gifts for our family (for the girls as well as for Sasquatch and me). I was out running an errand at the time, and when I came home, Sasquatch sent The Princess to her room (after informing her that she was not in trouble), because he had an idea of what my reaction would be when he showed me what had arrived. He was right – he showed me, and I instantly burst into tears.

It was kind of a strange night. I was soooooooo grateful that someone had thought of us at Christmas. But at the same time, I felt an awful lot of guilt. For one thing, we had already received some help from family. And for that reason, I felt certain that there was someone else in the ward who could have surely used the items more than we could.

To be honest, it also felt kind of strange to be the person who needed to be on the receiving end of someone else’s kindness. I guess it’s one thing when that kind of help comes from family – you still have a sense of anonymity when it’s your family helping you out. But when the help is coming from an anonymous outside source, all of a sudden, you realize that maybe your struggles aren’t quite as private as you thought. I guess there was a sense of embarrassment along with the guilt. I was also racking my brain trying to figure out if I had told anyone about my Christmas worries specifically – I felt so bad that I had put that burden on somebody else. But I couldn’t think of anyone I’d told.

After a while, I called my mom to ask her if she’d called my bishop. I knew she was worried about us, and knowing my mom, she wouldn’t be scared to call my bishop (I had already told her that with the family helping us out, we were “covered” for Christmas, lol). She told me that while she’d considered calling him, she hadn’t actually called him. I began to tell her about the guilt I was feeling (that whole idea that there was someone out there who maybe could have used the help more than us), and she reminded me that my willingness to accept the gifts that we’d received was allowing someone else to have the blessings that come with serving somebody else. Sasquatch told me that maybe part of the reason we had been chosen to receive the gifts was because Heavenly Father wanted to remind me that we are not alone or abandoned living out here without any family members nearby – as much as I sometimes allow myself to feel that way.

Another reason that I felt guilt (for the known and unknown givers) is because I have been tormented by a missed opportunity for service a few years ago. While Sasquatch was in school, we went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert. During the concert, I received a very strong impression that there were a couple of families who could use our help during that Christmas season. Since we were living on student loans and my full-time income from the U of U at the time, we had a bit of “expendable” income. Not a lot, but enough to provide Christmas for The Princess and help out these other families that I had in mind without putting any debt onto our credit card.

Well, I had this concern about how to keep the whole thing anonymous. I didn’t want to feel bad if the money (I felt the need to donate money rather than gifts) was used for something other than Christmas, and I didn’t want to feel bitter if our kindness was never acknowledged. (it’s so embarrassing for me to admit that – I now realize that I was not willing to give out of the kindness of my heart to those particular families at that particular time, and it haunts me to this day). I wanted to keep it anonymous so my feelings wouldn’t be hurt. But I could never figure out how to do that and make sure that the money was safely received by the families rather than by somebody else (I didn’t really feel that I could put an envelope on the doorstep and leave it there for them to find). Like I said, I was working a (very stressful) full-time job in a pediatric clinic at the time, and before I knew it, Christmas had come and gone, and I’d never offered the service I felt so strongly prompted to offer.

This missed service opportunity has made it so much harder for me to accept the amazing service that we have received this year. It makes me feel that much less worthy to receive it. At the same time, it’s made me so grateful that there are people in the world who care enough about my family to want to make sure that we had a wonderful Christmas experience this year. I have promised myself that if Heavenly Father decides to bless my family with greater financial means in the future, I will be helping my girls to provide Christmas for someone else in need every year that we can possibly make it happen. It’s also given me a very strong desire to help people throughout the year, rather than just at Christmas time. I don’t have the means to do much right now (it’s hard to even get out there and help people when you only have one car), but as soon as I do, I’ll be helping as much as I possibly can.

To all those (known and unknown) who helped ensure a truly beautiful Christmas for my family this year, I just want to publicly thank you. The clothing provided by the anonymous givers was so absolutely needed by all of us, and the girls enjoyed their toys as well. And to my family members, well, I know I’ve told you thank you a few times already, but I just need to say it again. The clothing and the gifts were amazing. I can’t wait to start sharing videos of the girls (although Sparky seems to have an innate sense of when the camera is turned on and stops doing whatever cute thing she was doing at the time), and I’m beyond excited to find some recipes to try with my new dutch oven (I’m thinking I might try some sort of braised short ribs if they go on sale soon).

I feel bad that I didn’t take any pictures of the girls opening gifts on Christmas. We were a bit preoccupied with separating out the gifts from Santa and from family (family gifts were being videotaped and Santa gifts were being set aside for a web cam with Grandpa & Grandma Clover and Shayne & Erin), and my current illness decided to catch up with me in full force that day. The combination of excessive coughing and sitting on the hard floor wrapping gifts the night before had caused one of my ribs to slip, and I was in too much pain to do much of anything, let alone take pictures.

Here are the few pictures I managed to capture from that day. Sparky still refuses to look at the camera, so I don’t really even try with her right now because I just get frustrated. It was really rainy that day, which made our house was too dark to get any “action” shots of her and I had no intentions of messing with the flash when I was feeling generally awful. The Princess was willing to give me a Christmas morning bedhead shot at the kitchen table.

Here’s a shot of the kitchen window on Christmas morning. I love the combination of the raindrops and the pretty colors in the background.

After the girls went to bed that night, I spent some time blog surfing and came across The Pioneer Woman’s blog post about Christmas bokeh. I felt inspired to create some bokeh shots of my own.

Finally, if I didn’t have a chance to mail you one of our Christmas cards (I really had to limit the number I mailed this year), I’d like to share our family’s Christmas card with you. Hopefully our situation will be a bit better this year and I’ll be able to make yummy press-printed cards to send to everyone. :) I’ve had a few people tell me that we look sad in this image, but I think we just look serious – and at least Sparky’s in the frame and not screaming – that was the best we could hope for this year. I love the backlighting on our hair. The names at the bottom have been changed for the blog. ;)

Random Christmas Snapshots

2010-01-01T12:27:00.001-08:00

I was going to do several blog posts highlighting our various Christmas activities, but as usual, time got the better of me. Since one of my New Year's resolutions is to be a better blogger (on both my personal and photography blogs), I figure better late than never, right? So if you feel like reading a novel, grab some cookies and hot chocolate (unless your New Year's resolution is to start a diet, in which case, I guess you can grab some carrot sticks) and sit back and read for a bit. Otherwise, there will be a bunch of pictures, so feel free to scroll at will. ;)

We had an amazingly blessed Christmas this year - so much more than I ever could have hoped. Even though I missed our extended family desperately, I felt like they were here with us this year in so many ways. And while it was difficult to not have any grandparents or cousins around to share in the Holiday traditions, it also forced us to enjoy our own little family and create some new traditions for ourselves.

Due to a number of various factors, we spent a lot of time at home this December. I debated putting up the tree, because I was worried that a certain busy little toddler would spend her days removing the ornaments. I was right – Sparky was entranced by the lights for about 1 millisecond before she noticed the various baubles adorning the tree. She spent the next 3 weeks removing every ornament she could reach and hiding them in various cubby holes around the house. The closer we got to Christmas, the higher the ornaments were being placed on the tree to prevent her from removing them yet again. This caused the tree to look very imbalanced both in color (I like my ornaments placed just so to ensure that there aren’t too many ornaments of one color in any given place) and ornament placement. However, I was glad that we put the tree up – it just wouldn’t have felt like Christmas without it.

I didn’t manage to get a full-length shot of the tree that I liked this year. We put it in front of the window, but it’s such a wide window that there are two sets of blinds as window coverings, and I couldn’t get a shot without the funny blinds and the bookcase in the background. Here are a couple of “detail” shots, though. Next year, if finances permit, I’d LOVE to get a white tree – I think my candy-colored ornaments would really POP against a white backdrop.

It was so much fun to have a mantle this year. It was a great place to display the nativity sets that my mother-in-law has given me over the years. We also used the mantle to display the Christmas cards we received in the mail (The Princess LOVED going to the mailbox each day in the hopes that we had received another card). Next year, I’d like to get some more of the sparkly, candy-colored snowflake ornaments like the ones on my tree and make a garland to decorate the mantle – I’m thinking I want to go all Winter Wonderland next year.

I did a lot of baking this year – both with a good friend (we delivered plates of goodies to some friends – something that I’ve always enjoyed doing with my mom and was glad to be able to do again this year) – and with The Princess. I’m still learning how to relinquish control and my need for perfection when I bake with The Princess. I’m still a work in progress, but I think I’m getting better. I’m trying to tell myself that she’ll never learn how to measure/stir/pour/etc correctly unless I actually give her a chance to do rather than just observe.

This year, we baked homemade gingerbread to make gingerbread houses. I learned that I don’t like the smell of molasses (somehow, I’d always thought it would smell sweeter – it reminded me of Mr. Yoshida’s sauce – which is fine for cooking savory food, but not what I was expecting when I was baking something sweet). But when the gingerbread came out of the oven, the house smelled heavenly. I think I’m going to bake gingerbread every year.

The whole point of making gingerbread rather than buying a kit was to save money. We had plenty of leftover Halloween candy (as well as candy from Easter and last Christmas), but for some reason, I felt like I just HAD to buy egg white powder to make the royal icing. I’m not sure why, because none of us like royal icing, and it’s not like we would actually consume it so regular egg whites would have been fine – but for some reason, I felt obligated to follow Alton Brown’s instructions to the letter. I found egg white powder at WalMart, and when I glanced at the shelf, I saw a price tag of roughly $1.50. However, when I finally made it through the checkout line (I picked the line with the checker who felt the need to discuss her Christmas vacation drama in every minute detail with the colleague she was checking out before me), I realized that the egg white powder was quite a bit more expensive than that (somewhere around $6.00). At this point, Sasquatch was still in the car with the kids because I’d promised I’d only be in the store for “ten minutes,” so I didn’t bother going back and checking the price. When you consider the fact that we didn’t make our gingerbread houses until Christmas Eve, and most stores had their kits on mega sale at that point, I didn’t really save any money on the gingerbread house in the end. Although I did bake enough gingerbread for two houses, so I guess I still saved a bit of money. And I now have enough egg white powder to pipe sugar cookies for every major holiday in 2010 (I LOVE decorating sugar cookies with royal icing – I just don’t like to eat them).

The reason for making two gingerbread houses was my aforementioned need for perfection in certain things (this perfection obsession is the reason I gave up scrapbooking before The Princess was even old enough to sit up on her own). I knew that The Princess would want to be very involved in the decorating process, and I’m not very good at sharing. So I made one house for her, and one for me. I think next year, I’ll make the pattern about half the size of the houses we made this year, and hopefully I’ll be able to get Sasquatch and Sparky in on the decorating action. Just maybe not on Christmas Eve. :)

Here’s the gingerbread house that The Princess decorated. I especially love the landscaping she created with green and white Nerds.

Here’s my house. I’m kind of giddy over the little Christmas lights and the royal icing icicles.

I think this is enough of a novel for one blog post – I’ll talk about Christmas day separately so that I don’t bore everyone to tears.

In the meantime, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. And I truly hope that 2010 is a year of peace, joy, love, and prosperity for every amazing person who has touched my life in some way this past year.

LeeLou Swag Giveaway - Whippy Cake

2009-12-16T07:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm so not a headband person. But I LOVE the Glamour Bands that LeeLou Swag is giving away from Whippy Cake. I really really want one, so I'm linking y'all to yet another giveaway (but don't enter, because I want to win, lol).

Click here if you want to see the giveaway on LeeLou's blog.

Family Portraits

2009-12-05T13:53:00.001-08:00

We had a friend take family portraits for us last weekend. My children did not cooperate. We did manage to get an image for our Christmas card, but I’m not going to share it yet, because then it won’t be a surprise when you receive your card in the mail. :)

Here are a few non-card images I can share.

And here are some favorites I took of The Princess that day while I was borrowing one of Larisa’s lenses to test the focus on my camera. I thought it was the lens, not the camera, but after spending money we don’t have on a new lens, I’m not 100% sure.

Palm Tree Hair

2009-11-22T14:14:00.001-08:00

Sparky finally has enough hair for a ponytail. Okay, so it’s really not long enough, yet, but I’m so tired of people thinking she’s a boy – even when she’s wearing pink. So since there’s enough hair there to pull up into an elastic, she will have palm tree hair every time she goes out in public.

I’m hoping that if I start doing her hair this early, she might keep letting me do her hair – unlike The Princess who refuses to let me get within 10 feet of her if I’m holding a brush or comb.

Here are a couple quick snapshots from today. I prefer the expression in the second image (and the fact that you can’t see the hand that’s restraining the little busybody), but I cropped the ponytail out of the frame in camera which was slightly less effective.

Super Belated Halloween Pictures

2009-11-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

Just sharing a few snapshots from our ward trunk-or-treat (Sarah did an awesome job planning and decorating the whole thing) and trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

I’m still getting accustomed to the not-so-cold-weather on Halloween. The night of the trunk-or-treat wasn’t bad, but Halloween night was humid and HOT! It definitely didn’t feel like autumn, which was kind of disappointing.

Sparky spent most of the night of the trunk-or-treat exerting her independence, and refused to look at the camera like usual. She had lots of fun begging cookies and brownies off her unsuspecting victims – just look at those big blue eyes!

We didn’t have time to decorate our trunk – I was asked to set up my studio equipment in the gym, and spent the “trunk decorating” time snapping pictures of cute kids (and parents) in their costumes. Some people went ALL OUT decorating their trunks.

One family dressed up as bakers, and their adorable little girl (same age as Sparky) was dressed up as a cupcake. It was so cute it was ridiculous! They decorated their car like a French bakery and won the costume contest AND the trunk decorating contest. Another couple dressed up like clowns and set up a cotton candy machine – pretty cool! And another couple dressed up like the old couple from the movie "Up" complete with tons and tons of helium balloons which they handed out to all the kiddos at the end of the night. It was adorable! Of course I didn’t get to take pictures of any of it because I was too busy chasing a barefoot toddler around the parking lot.

You can see our sad little undecorated trunk below. The Princess wasn’t too happy that night. It was a school night, and she was pretty tired. She was also mad at me for asking her to behave. I’m such a mean mom.

Halloween night. The girls and I went trick-or-treating with some friends while Sasquatch stayed home sick. We learned our lesson last year and decided to avoid trick-or-treating in our neighborhood (the houses are too far apart, and most people aren’t home on Halloween). We drove to a nearby neighborhood that actually had sidewalks (I’m still getting used to the fact that most subdivisions here don’t believe in sidewalks – not sure why).

Sparky totally didn’t get the concept of knocking on people’s doors and asking for candy. And since she refuses to hold anyone’s hand, she spent the night in the stroller. I think she enjoyed it, though. And I’m very much enjoying eating her candy. My waistline isn’t very appreciative.

I had to take a snapshot of my girls with their trick-or-treating buddies. Aren’t they adorable?

Anyway, it was a fun Halloween. I was grateful for friends since Sasquatch couldn’t go trick-or-treating with us. Halloween is right about the time I REALLY start missing family for the Holidays – makes me want to be with my dad singing “Happy Birthday.”

Really Cool Holiday Contest

2009-11-17T21:03:00.000-08:00

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?

My kids and husband to have a happy Christmas
A second car (I can dream, right?)
Le Creuset Dutch Oven
A fully functioning computer (I've had my computer almost as long as we've been married)
A trip to Utah/Colorado to see my family and friends

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

I swore I'd never like them (I used to think they were tacky), but I LOVE the photo ornaments that The Princess has given to me.

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

I'd love to learn how to knit to make super cute chunky baby hats and blankets.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

My hamster - until I killed it by starving it to death (long story, but it wasn't intentional starvation, I promise!!).

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

Art Supplies
Camera
Every random item that she sees on tv or in the store
The new Tinkerbell movie
Sparky is really too young to care about Christmas - she'll be happy playing with wrapping paper and empty boxes
They both need new jammies but I doubt that's on either of their wish lists :)

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

Sandwiches made from leftover turkey and cranberry sauce. Or maybe caramel apple cider or salted caramel hot chocolate. Or stuffed mushrooms! Who am I kidding? I love all of it! Oh, and homemade English Toffee!! (As long as it's nice and crunchy).

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

I'm trying to get up the gumption to bake gifts for friends and neighbors this year. Not sure how many people will even be in town if I bother, though so it's still up for debate.

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

The Holiday

9. Favorite holiday song?

I have way too many favorites to list. Anything by Trans-Siberian Orchestra (especially live!!). I don't know what my favorite traditional carol is, though, because I love them all - I miss choir solely for the Christmas music!

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

I used to love going to Temple Square and going out for hot chocolate afterward. We're still working on creating new traditions as a smaller family - suggestions are welcome! As of right now, we enjoy decorating the tree together.

More from the Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some more images from our trip to the pumpkin patch.

Due to the not-so-child-friendly nature of our yard (not enough grass and WAY too many pine needles), Sparky doesn't get to spend much time outside. Which means she goes a bit crazy when she experiences the great outdoors for any period of time (ie: refuses to hold hands, screams like a banshee when you try to pick her up, and generally exerts her independence in any way possible). Which means she's not willing to stand still or look at the camera long enough for a decent portrait these days. I thought these were some pretty cute snapshots, though.

Fun Contest

2009-11-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

My friend Brae is an amazing writer, and she has a great blog that you should check out sometime. She also makes beautiful Faerie wings which she sells on Etsy. She's having her first giveaway right now - the winner will receive a pair of custom-made faerie wings. Check out the contest here.

Chicken Nuggets & Apricot Sauce

2009-11-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

Blogging another recipe so I can find it when I want to make it again. The intent was to make enough for dinner AND to freeze the leftovers for lunches, but they were so popular that very few actually made it to the freezer.

Chicken Nuggets

* 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 teaspoons garlic powder
* 2 teaspoons onion powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 cup panko breadcrumbs

2TBS olive oil and 2TBS EVOO for frying (you could probably bake them if you want to be healthy).

Cut chicken into 1 inch strips, or"fingers" about 3 inches in length.

Mix together remaining ingredients, (except breadcrumbs and 3 tbsp. margarine), in a bowl and add chicken and mix well, insuring that chicken is coated on all sides.

Allow chicken to marinate in this for at least 20 minutes.

Coat chicken in breadcrumbs, shaking off excess, and place chicken fingers on plate.

Heat oil and butter in skillet over medium heat; add chicken fingers, and cook until browned and crispy, about 5 minutes per side.

Drain fingers on paper toweling.

Apricot Dipping Sauce

* 2⁄3 cup apricot preserves
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons ketchup
* 6 slices unpeeled fresh ginger
* 1/2 a lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)

Stir the preserves, soy sauce, ketchup, and ginger in a small microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH until the preserves melt, about 30 seconds. Stir in lemon juice and cool before serving.

The Princess is 6!

2009-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

The Princess turned 6 on Tuesday. She's growing up way too quickly!

Since her birthday was on a school day, we celebrated as a family. She came home from school and opened her gifts, and then we surprised her with a visit to a local pumpkin patch for a haunted hay ride.

After the pumpkin patch, we drove a million miles (give or take a few) to take her to Applebee's (her favorite sit-down restaurant). It was the first time we'd been to a sit down restaurant in exactly a year (the last time was when we took her to the same restaurant for her 5th birthday). I really wish we would have used our once-a-year restaurant opportunity to check out one of the many local favorites that we've never tried. The Applebee's experience was awful - we had the worst server ever, and the food was pretty lackluster. But The Princess had a good time and enjoyed her Mac & Cheese and birthday sundae, and that's what really matters.

She's had a pretty good week - yesterday her class took a field trip to a farm, where they got to see a bunch of farm animals and pick out pumpkins. Today, they painted the pumpkins in class. We're hosting a birthday party for her on Saturday. Although there won't be many guests, because I made the mistake of hosting the party the morning after the ward campout. So only one of her friends from church will be in attendance. But her good friend "F" will be there, as well as her friends from carpool, so I think she'll have fun. And there will be LOTS of party favors to go around, since I originally planned for several more people to attend the party.

I'm going to attempt to make Halloween-themed cupcake pops a la Bakerella as party favors. If they turn out, I'll be sure to share pictures of them.

Here are some pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch. They look pixellated and over-sharpened as usual. If you look at my galleries on Facebook, they usually look a bit better on there... I managed to get a few images of Sparky, but I'll save those for another post.

Okay, I'm revisiting this after looking at the images after they were published on the blog. Some of these look REALLY awful, and I'm not sure why. I'll check the sizes on them in Photoshop and see if I can get them to look better. Otherwise, I recommend checking them out on Facebook.

Beach Trip 2009

2009-10-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but obviously, I don't know my geography very well. For some reason, before we moved here, I assumed we would live close(er) to the beach. We live close-ish, but it's still a rather long drive when you have a baby who refuses to nap in the car - if you want to go to the beach here, it's definitely an all-day event.

I didn't think I'd get to go this year. Sasquatch saved most of his time off to help The Princess with her transition into kindergarten. And as usual, there's that whole issue with our car. So when my good friend Larisa mentioned that she was taking her little guy to the beach, I asked (begged) her to let us tag along.

We had so much fun! The drive there and back was interesting - Sparky screamed much of the time because she was exhausted but refused to sleep. That's right - 3 hours in the car at nap time, and she would not sleep. Fun times for all of us, let me tell you! But it was worth it when we got there. The weather was perfect, and the water was beautiful.

Sparky, being exhausted, was a bit freaked out by the water at first. But once she got used to it, she loved it. She would get mad when the waves would recede and she'd point at the water with one imperious finger and grunt until the water came back again.

The Princess would have stayed and played until sunset, but "F" is a couple years younger than her, and he was tired after a few hours. So we made a final trek to the dunes to get some group portraits and then we headed back home.

It was a great trip overall. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sasquatch will get to make a beach trip with us next year. At some point, I'd love to rent a house on the beach for a week and entice our family members to come visit us. :)

Most of these of these images were taken by the fabulously talented Larisa. I think I captured the images in the shade and by the dunes.

The images still look a little pixellated, but I like this better than using the image uploader from Blogger.

Blah

2009-10-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer - if you don't like miserable woe-is-me blog posts (and I don't blame you for that, lol), you should probably stop reading right now. I'm going to vent about some things, and I think it's going to get long and boring. :)

I'm feeling pretty miserable these days. I'm lonely and homesick (since my parents and siblings are no longer in Utah I guess I miss my family more than "home," but I miss "The West" in general - and I miss all my Utah peeps, too). I'm bored out of my mind, and it's driving me crazy...

The area of the country in which we live is beautiful. Lots of trees, lots of green... I can't stand it. I miss the mountains. The trees make me feel claustrophobic. I'd give anything to see a horizon. I still can't find my way around without a GPS because the darned trees and winding roads make it impossible for me to get my bearings. I absolutely despise the bugs and the humidity.

Did I mention that I'm lonely? We have a great ward - lots of nice people who really made us feel welcome when we moved here. Problem is - they all have close friends and/or family here. So while it's great to say "hi" to everyone on Sundays, we don't really do anything with anyone outside of church.

Some of the women in the ward have a playgroup on Wednesdays, but since I don't have a car, I can't go most weeks. I could probably drive George to work on Wednesdays, but our car has so many miles on it that I feel guilty putting any more miles on it than absolutely necessary.

I miss having friends that I could call at random and ask them to go to Target or Costco with me. Or having friends over on the weekend to watch movies or play video games. Like I said, everyone from church has other friends (the dental students all hang out, the medical students all hang out, and the natives all kind of flock together). I'm sure I'm suffering from nostalgia and "grass is greener" syndrome, but I don't remember kids being such a detriment to having a semblance of a social life until we moved here. Seems like nobody can do anything on the evenings or weekends (which is the only time I have a car), because they have to take care of the kids.

I know my life wasn't perfect before I moved here. I no longer had a best friend who was willing to hang out with me on a regular basis. In fact, most of our "closest friends" had pretty much abandoned us, which is part of what made the decision to move here so easy. But at least I was only one state away from my parents, so I saw them every few months. I also had a brother who would come and visit on occasion. And we lived within walking distance (not that we ever walked - we always drove) of Sasquatch's parents. We were in the same apartment complex as his sister. My girls had cousins to play with! And even when I didn't have friends to keep me company, I had family. Whom I didn't appreciate nearly enough. In addition to the family dinners (which I miss desperately), we also had a regular babysitter at least a couple times a month. I can't even tell you the last time I went out on a date with my husband - we can't afford a sitter here.

I'm dreading the Holidays. The 4th of July was bad enough. Halloween has me pretty depressed - I miss the days when we'd take The Princess trick-or-treating and then spend time with my dad to wish him a happy birthday. I want to cry when I think about Thanksgiving. And don't even make me think about Christmas. I really really really miss my families...

I feel like I'm failing in my church calling. I don't really feel like I fit in with the rest of the presidency, and I'm the least organized person I know. I feel like they really should have given the secretary calling to someone who remembers to do things in a timely fashion and can at least get to church on time (since Relief Society is the first meeting).

Anyway, that's about it. I'm bored, lonely, miserable, and worried about money. I'm wondering why we moved here. We've prayed about moving closer to home, but the answer we've received is that we're supposed to stay here. I really wish I could see into the future and know why we're supposed to stay here. Maybe that would make it easier to be cheerful about it. Maybe not. It's really hard to be positive at times, and I know that's not fair to my husband and kids. Sasquatch works SO hard to make all of us happy, and I feel beyond guilty when I'm depressed and it makes him feel like he's not doing enough. And then I feel worse because I feel guilty. Which makes him feel worse... You get the picture - it's a nasty cycle.

I know I should work harder to get involved, but I don't know how to do that when I don't have a car to get out and do things. We don't live within walking distance of anything, so walking Sparky to the park during the day isn't even an option. The Princess even has to be driven to school because it's not within walking distance.

I try to maintain hope that things might change at some point. I'm hoping that our finances will improve and we'll be able to afford a second car, which will open up a whole world of possibilities... But I'm trying so hard not to live by the "I'll be happy when XX happens" mentality. It's incredibly difficult, though. I don't know how to be happy right now. I dread the weekdays because they drag on forever until The Princess and Sasquatch get home. I really just don't know what to do to make things better right now... And yes, I'm already taking medication, thank you very much. ;)

I'm really embarrassed for posting this. It's such a negative post, and I'll probably end up deleting it soon. But I'm hoping that by putting it all down in writing I might be able to start working through it. I know I have so many things for which to be grateful - it's just hard to remember those things sometimes...

Macaroni & Cheese

2009-10-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

I can't stand the stuff in the blue box - my kids like it, which is great, because it's an inexpensive meal when I don't feel like cooking (or eating), but personally, I think it's gross. The only time I crave it is when I'm pregnant, and I'm most definitely not pregnant.

I was, however, craving a good homemade Macaroni & Cheese after watching the Mac & Cheese challenge on Food Network earlier this week. I searched online for recipes, and a lot of recipes had various characteristics that I like in my Mac & Cheese, but none of them seemed like "the one." I ended up making a smash-up of two different recipes (Alton Brown and Guy Fieri), and the results were pretty dang good. So good, in fact, that there aren't enough leftovers to make fried Mac & Cheese tomorrow (AB's suggestion for the leftovers).

I don't want to forget the recipe, so I'm going to post it here so that I can look it up later.

Macaroni & Cheese

8oz Pasta (I used mini penne because it's what I prefer over elbow macaroni)
4 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled (reserve 1 TBS bacon grease and don't wash the skillet)
3 TBS Butter
3 TBS Flour
1/2 tsp Ground Mustard
3 C Milk (or Half & Half if you're bad like me)
1/4 C Yellow Onion, Finely Diced
1/2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Ground Thyme
1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Large Egg
16 oz Grated Cheddar Cheese
1 tsp Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Topping:

1 1/2 TBS Butter
1/2 C Panko Bread Crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook bacon until it's cooked how you like it for crumbling. Reserve 1 TBS of bacon grease. Add onion to the skillet with the reserved grease and cook until onions are caramelized.

Boil a pot of salted water and start cooking pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, add the onions and melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, thyme, Worcestershire Sauce, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs and crumbled bacon. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Sparky's Favorites

2009-10-06T09:24:00.001-07:00

Ignore the bad snapshots - I was lazy and used the point-and shoot.

These are currently Sparky's favorite "toys." She loves to climb in and out of the toy bin, but she always has that "oops, I'm in trouble" look on her face if she catches you looking at her after she's climbed into the bin. At least now she's only HALF emptying the bin before climbing in. Less for me to clean up that way.

The house is the toy that I rescued from the Shareware at church a couple months ago. Sasquatch surprised us a while back by ordering all the extra pieces that were missing. The extra parts definitely add another element of fun, but it's also just another thing that I get to clean up 10 times a day. But it's made both munchkins very happy, so I can't complain.

Happy Blogoversary!!

2009-09-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

I just realized that today is my Blogoversary! Yay me!! I'd offer some sort of contest or giveaway, but I don't think many people read my blog these days, so it wouldn't really be worthwhile. :P

If you do read my blog, I'd love for you to leave a comment sometime- it's nice to see that people are actually reading this stuff. :) I'm sure I could just check my statcounter, but I change blog templates and then forget to reinstall the code. Besides, the statcounter just gives me a general location of the person who visits the blog - it doesn't actually tell me who visited.

So pretty please, leave me some comments on some of my posts so that I know I'm being visited. :) I'll definitely return the favor when I can remember to do so.

Talking in Class

2009-09-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Princess is really enjoying kindergarten. She enjoys it so much that she insists that she enjoys it WAY more than church. We're trying to help her remember that church is important in ways that school never can be, but I know that's difficult to wrap your head around when you're five-turning-six and you get to have recess every day at school. ;)

The teacher fills out a paper every day that tells us how The Princess has behaved at school. The paper has 3 faces on it - a smiley face, a "flat" face, and a frowny face. If The Princess has behaved well, she gets a smiley face. If she has received a warning from the teacher and ignores that warning, she gets a "flat" face. If she continues to misbehave and receives another warning after that, she gets a frowny face. If she gets 4 smiley faces for the week, she gets to choose a prize (dollar store toys) or a privilege (extra computer time, etc) on Friday.

The first week of school was great, and she brought home a smiley face every day. Since then, she's become more comfortable with the other kids in her class, and talking is starting to become an issue. Last week she brought home a flat face for talking, and yesterday she came home from school with another flat face (for talking during "rest time"). I know my child, and I know her tendencies, and I had a feeling that talking or hyperactivity was going to be her struggle in school.

I was actually looking through a box of old papers a few months ago, and I came across some of my old kindergarten report cards. I had an issue with talking in class, too. Which I totally don't understand, because I was so painfully shy back then that I don't remember ever talking to ANYone...

She also brought home her first progress report last week. Her teacher said that she's doing well academically (I'm worried she's going to get bored soon since she's already reading and some of the kids are still learning their ABC's and that it will exacerbate the bad behavior), and that she's getting more comfortable in class. She then said perhaps she's getting a little too comfortable, because talking in class is starting to become an issue.

Here's my question - what can I do with her at home, or how can I talk to her, to help her remember to be respectful of her teacher's requests not to talk in class? I know she'll be disappointed the first time that she gets two flat faces in a week and doesn't get to choose a prize (which will be a good lesson), but I worry that eventually the novelty of choosing a prize might wear off and she'll start to talk too much. IS there anything I can do or say to help her remember? I'd like to get this worked out now before it becomes an actual problem...

Since I've been diagnosed with ADD, and I think her dad has some ADD tendencies, I'm pretty sure she's going to have those tendencies, as well. I know they can't diagnose ADD until a child has started school, but I've been noticing some of those tendencies in her for a couple of years.

I'd love to help her find a way to deal with those tendencies at a young age before the school labels her as ADHD and insists that we medicate her. Not that I have anything against medication if it helps - it definitely keeps me sane and functioning on a daily basis. But I kind of wonder, if my teachers had realized back then that I had ADD (I guess I wasn't a "typical" case because I did well in school, but looking back at certain things like the fact that I was a "daydreamer" it seems pretty obvious), could I have learned how to cope with it rather than having to use medication? I use medication now, because it helps my house run more smoothly which allows me to be nice to my family, but I don't know that it would have been a necessity had I learned to deal with my symptoms in other ways.

I know some people suggest diet, etc as a way to "cure" ADD. But going all organic and giving my child an über-expensive multivitamin is not really an option at this point in time...

First Misunderstanding

2009-09-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

The Princess has been excited about her first trip to the school library since last week. Yesterday was the "big day" and she was sooooo excited. She woke up extra early to wash her hair so that she would smell like coconut (her current shampoo "flavor of the week"), and put on a special dress to wear to school.

When she came home from school, the first thing I asked her was, "How was the library?" She told me that she didn't get to go to the library because she hadn't taken a hardcover book back. I was confused, and tried to get her to clarify, but she was upset and started crying. I tried to get her to explain the situation better, but all she could tell me was that the teacher didn't let her go to the library because she didn't have a hardcover book. She was getting more and more upset that I didn't understand and less and less coherent. So I told her we'd talk about it more when her dad came home from work (he's sometimes better at *calmly* asking the right questions to get clear answers from her).

When Sasquatch came home, we talked to her about the situation again. She just kept saying that she was one of 4 kids who didn't get to go to the library because she hadn't taken a book back. We verified that it wasn't the paperback "take-home" book she'd borrowed from the class (not the library) the week before. She insisted it was a hardcover book.

Finally, I had an epiphany. I realized that it was Wednesday. She hadn't been in school the Wednesday before (being a bad mommy, and knowing that all they were doing in school was writing their names over and over and over, I'd allowed us to take a "field trip" to the beach), and therefore, had been unable to go to the library. If the other kids had gone to the library that day, they all had books to return. I promised her we'd talk to her teacher today.

This morning, she reminded Sasquatch several times (both at home and in the car on the way to school) that he needed to talk to her teacher. He went in, asked about the situation, and reminded the teacher that she hadn't been in school the Wednesday before. Her teacher immediately realized the mistake, and felt awful about it. She promised that The Princess would be allowed a special trip to the library today to check out a book. So it all worked out in the end.

This parenting thing is heart wrenching sometimes! I know it was all a misunderstanding, but it broke my heart that she was denied something that she had been looking forward to for such a long time. If she had been denied the privilege due to naughtiness, I would have appreciated that she learned a life lesson. But the fact that she hadn't done anything wrong just made my heart hurt for her. It scares me to think about her growing up and all the times she's going to be hurt and I won't be able to do anything to prevent it. I know I can be here to pick her back up and try to make her feel better, but it's sooooo much harder to watch your children suffer than to go through it yourself.

I think part of it is that I remember what it was like when I was that age. Little things like trips to the library mean EVERYthing when you don't have to worry about mundane things like bills to pay. It's so easy to have your heart broken, and eventually the innocence wears away and you become a cynical grown up. I hate thinking that my little girl is starting to grow up and experience the "real world." I know she's strong and resilient, and I pray that she'll turn out well in the end, but I hate that she ever has to suffer.

I guess it gives you just a teeny tiny understanding for what our Heavenly Father feels when he watches us suffer and knows that we have to experience those things for ourself. I can't even begin to fathom the agony He felt when he watched His Son suffering on the cross and begging to have that pain taken away from him. In a small way, little experiences like these help me to understand that a little bit more and make me grateful that we have a Heavenly Father who loves *all* of us enough that he allowed His Son to suffer the ultimate pain in order to allow us all to return to Him some day. It makes me want to work harder to do what I need to be doing to earn the privilege to return some day, and to inspire my children to want to do the same.

The Princess

2009-09-22T11:02:00.001-07:00

Here are some images of The Princess playing outside with her very favorite toy - her sand & water table. I was playing with the rented lens again. I'm so sad that it has to go back on Friday.

I know she looks mad in this first image. It's the only expression I can get other than "aloof" or cheesy grin...

Stripey Sparky

2009-09-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

I've rented one of my dream lenses for a reception I'm photographing this weekend. I figure I need to get my money's worth, so I've been using it as much as possible since it arrived on Wednesday. Sparky was my first subject.

Fun Stuff

2009-09-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

I recently had to dig through some old files on my computer to find a Halloween picture, and in the process I came across my "year end" slideshow files for The Princess from a couple years ago (I think this was the year she was 2 turning 3). I just wanted to share a few of the images I found.

I have a really bad habit of shooting a lot of pictures of my kids and then never having any of the images printed (or even getting as far as editing the images). My kids are probably going to think they're adopted, because there are hardly any prints of them on the walls.

Actually, there are NO prints of them on the walls at the moment, because the only thing on any wall of my house is Sasquatch's (DH's old/new nickname for the blog - a bit less generic that way) big wolf picture over the mantle. And a faerie calendar where my computer desk used to be.

I need to get better about having prints made from the thousands of pictures I take of my kids. I also need to get better about decorating my house. I guess I kind of keep hoping in the back of my mind that this isn't our permanent dwelling place, and that if I avoid decorating, there's nothing to tie me down here. I suppose the proper way to tempt Mr. Murphy would be to get my house just how I like it, so that I'll be annoyed if we end up moving.

Don't get me wrong, I love the people we've met here. We've made some amazing friends. But I still feel lonely and cooped up most of the time, and I hate being so far away from all of our family and friends. And the one car situation is pretty miserable most of the time.

Okay, enough whining. Onto the retro cuteness!

This first picture is still one of my favorites. I was out with a friend and Sasquatch was babysitting, and she managed to find my makeup stash. I was furious at the time, because she got a ton of makeup ground into the carpet, but I think it's hilarious that so much of the makeup is applied "correctly." Or at least on the correct areas of the face.

Obviously she perfected the dirty looks at an early age.

She used to run around with this tape player and pretend to take pictures of everyone and everything. It was super cute!

Tutu cute!

2009-09-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love cliché titles?

Just one of Miss Sparky for today. I finally had the gumption to create a studio portrait to go along with a similar (albeit rather different - but at least they're both wearing beads) portrait of The Princess at this age. The Princess was actually about 9 months in her portrait, but since Sparky is kind of a peanut compared to her big sis, they still look pretty similar. I think I'm going to get this one printed as a 16X20 to match the other portrait, and maybe I'll actually start putting some art up on my pathetically bare walls.

If you want to get the full effect - click on the picture to view it larger. It will still look a little too red and dark (something awful happens when I post images on the web) but it will look at least a little better than the smaller image.

Isn't she a cute little monkey?

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

Whether or not I'm ready for it, The Princess is now in Kindergarten.

She missed the cutoff by three days last year, so she's more than ready for school. She's already reading and writing (although they didn't tell us how she did on her assessment), and she's thrilled to have the social interaction.

The first (and second) day went really well. She had trouble sleeping the night before (adrenaline/nerves/baby sister who was screaming for hours), and didn't have much of an appetite for the fancy breakfast her dad made for her, but she had a lot of fun at school. And being in school all day has helped with her behavior at home, as well (knock on wood).

I was apparently a bad mommy on the first day - the temperature dropped to the 70's, and "all the other kids" had jackets while she had to fend for herself in capris and a t-shirt. I suppose the heat and humidity has already thinned her blood and she's turned into a cool weather wimp. I was LOVING the "cooler" temperatures yesterday and didn't even think of having her take a jacket. She insisted on wearing one to school today in order to be like everyone else. I guess we haven't done our job teaching her that it's okay to be different.

Here are a couple of snapshots - she's sporting the spiffy new backpack that she picked out all by herself.

The Princess' Fool-Proof Weight Loss Plan

2009-08-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Apparently I need to be more careful about what I say around my eldest daughter. She's already catching onto the the "I'm too fat" statements I make about myself. I definitely don't want to give her any body issues (the media is perfectly capable of taking care of that for me), so I guess it's time to start speaking about myself in a more positive light. DH will appreciate that... Here's a conversation The Princess had with her dad at breakfast time today.

During breakfast, DH was making PB&J sandwiches, and had both creamy and crunchy peanut butter on the table. Trying to decide which peanut butter she wanted, The Princess said, "The crunchy peanut butter has less fat than the creamy. So I think I'm going to eat the crunchy peanut butter from now on, because I'm trying to get into better shape."

Later in the meal, The Princess was reading the peanut butter jar. She turned to DH and asked, "What is S-A-T fat?"

DH: "Saturated fat."

The Princess: "Crunchy has sixteen saturated fats... I think that's okay... I can handle sixteen because it won't make my hips get bigger."

DH had to work really hard not to laugh out loud. He told me he's never been so grateful for having so much peanut butter in his sandwiches - he had to stuff half a sandwich in his mouth so that she wouldn't think he was laughing at her.

Shareware and Women's Clothing

2009-08-26T07:42:00.001-07:00

We had a "Shareware" at church last night. It was great that it was on a Tuesday, because DH has cub scouts on Tuesdays, so we were all able to go to the church at the same time and I didn't have to spend a night at home alone with the girls (it seems like my two little hooligans save most of their grumpiness and attitude for the evening - especially on cub scout night).

So what is a Shareware, you ask? No, it's not free software... It's more like a ward-wide thrift shop (except everything is free). In an effort to practice provident living, families have been bringing their unused clothing and housewares to the relief society presidency for the last few weeks. Last night, everything was set up on tables in the gym for other families to browse through and take home. So basically, I dejunked a bunch of stuff from my house (not nearly as much as I would have liked - I never made it through the third bedroom and Sparky still sleeps - or not - in our master bedroom closet), and brought a bunch of other stuff home to replace the stuff I donated.

My goal (other than getting rid of some much unused kitchen items) was to pick up some clothing for Miss Sparky, since so much of The Princess' old clothing is the wrong season. There wasn't much in the way of 18-month girl's winter clothing, and there was nothing in The Princess' current size (which is fine for now because she's okay on school clothing at the moment).

However, I did get a couple of really cool toys for Sparky (again, so much for reducing the clutter in my home). I picked up a Leap Frog learning drum, which is exactly what I'd wanted to get her for her birthday (I think she's destined to be a percussionist when she's older - so Grandpa - that drum set would be a WAY better option for Miss Sparky than it ever would have been for The Princess), but didn't have the money to get (look on Amazon - they're expensive). Someone had also donated a cute toddler playhouse type thing - it's basically a free standing set of windows with a door in the middle - I'll take pictures later - my wonderful visiting teacher agreed to transport it home for me since it wouldn't fit in my car. A lot of the pieces are missing (there's a little spot for blocks of different shapes, and what I'm assuming was a flower by the window is no longer there), but Sparky will LOVE opening and closing the little door to crawl from one side of the structure to the other.

I also decided to look through the women's clothing. I felt sort of silly looking, because I kind of have this fear that the person who donated the clothing will see me wearing it, but I suppose the whole point is to help on another. I found a REALLY pretty gauzy skirt and top (and it will look nice if I'm brave enough to wear it to church), and a cute pair of khakis from The Gap.

Old Navy and The Gap are two of my very favorite women's clothing stores (and of course I love their kid stuff, too). Why? Because when I wear clothes from these two stores, I'm instantly two pant sizes smaller than any other brand of women's clothing. It always makes me feel better about my post-pregnancy body. :) I think they mislabel their clothing on purpose. It's definitely good psychology for me (I'm much more willing to purchase something that tells me I'm a smaller size than I thought), or maybe I'm just a sucker...

So thank you to whomever donated the items I brought home from the Shareware. They've gone to a good, loving home, and we're grateful.

My Sweet Girl

2009-08-01T15:47:00.001-07:00

I did an event at GreenPea Nursery last night, and I was gone for a few hours. I'd left the house in a hurry, and the front room was pretty messy (granted, it was mostly The Princess' toys, etc, but I had also left a few things lying around).

I came in the garage door into the kitchen, and it was totally clean (thanks to my wonderful hubby). The Princess was really excited for me to go into the front room - she had cleaned the entire room all by herself. It was TOTALLY spotless (she had even tried to sweep the kitchen, but Miss Sparky thought that was the perfect time to start playing with the broom and the crumbs)! I was pretty dang proud of her - it definitely made my night to come home to a clean house.

Question of the Day

2009-07-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

The Princess was in the car with her dad the other day (they were taking yet ANOTHER bike back to WalMart - we haven't been having much luck with bikes - hopefully this new one will be a keeper).

For some reason, the song "Feliz Navidad" was playing on the radio (Christmas in July, maybe?).

The Princess asked her dad, "Does 'Feliz Navidad' mean 'don't worry, I got you something for Christmas?' "

Some From This Weekend

2009-07-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a few snapshots from this weekend. The Princess got all dressed up and asked me to take some pictures of her - so I had to oblige! :)

Playing around a bit with some subtle "vintage" processing - I don't like them to look over processed, but I love the vintage look when it's not overwhelming.

I know this one is WAY more processed than my normal stuff, but I wanted it to look sort of "glowy" to go with the fairy wings. :)

This one is sooooo her!!

A door-to-door saleslady came by while I was snapping these shots - I think she thought I was crazy. :)

More from Colorado

2009-07-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some images from our "official" photo shoot in Colorado. My parents live near a really cool sculpture park - there are so many areas in the park that make perfect backdrops for outdoor portraits! We had a really nice evening exploring the park and taking pictures - and it was one of the few evenings that the weather actually behaved for us! :)

I've shared more images over on Facebook, and I'll probably post some of the family pictures on the blog next week - I can't share them all today, or I won't have anything to blog about later. :P

My color looks pretty messed up online (as usual), but you get the idea. :)

This one made me laugh - she was much more interested in the reflector than sitting still and smiling for the camera.

Sparky's Non-Cake Birthday Pictures

2009-07-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few images from our walk. Sorry about the messy face in the first few pictures - I know it will drive my dad crazy, but it's too messy to easily fix in Photoshop.

Sparky's Birthday

2009-07-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sparky turned one on the 7th. I can't believe it's been a year already! I swear we just brought her home last week!

Her birthday was pretty uneventful. We decided to hang out at home, and took her for a walk in the evening (her favorite thing to do!). I made a cake, which she hated.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Rosie, Uncle Joe, and Jimmy (and Lizzy and Seth) for the birthday gifts. She's having a blast with them (when The Princess lets her play with them without "helping").

I took a few pictures to commemorate the day (and the epic failure of a birthday cake). :)

She was interested in the cake in the beginning...

But she didn't really like the feeling when her fingers got dirty...

We figured she'd at least like the icing... I don't think we'll try pink icing again - store bought pink icing tastes like red food coloring. Gross!

Not a fan...

Tried to get her to enjoy playing with the cake. How often are babies given free reign to get filthy? We figured she'd love it...

Not so much...

After that, I tried giving her a bite of the cake (instead of the icing). Bad idea! She almost tossed her cookies all over the table. I guess my kids just aren't a fan of cake until they get older.

Independence Day

2009-07-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to pop in really quickly and share some pictures from the 4th of July.

We went to a ward breakfast in the morning, but in the rush to get out the door on time, I forgot to bring my camera (bad photographer mommy!!). So I don't have any pictures from the morning.

We didn't go anywhere exciting for the 4th - no family to barbecue with, and our friends all had plans, so we spent a quiet day at home. It was nice in its own way, I guess, but I missed having family and friends with whom we could spend the day.

I picked up a box of sparklers for The Princess when I went to the grocery store. She enjoyed them - although Sparky wasn't so sure about them.

I'll try to post some pictures from Sparky's first birthday tomorrow (she turned 1 yesterday).

Pasta Bake

2009-07-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

We tried a new recipe this week. I get emails from the Food Network (I'm embarrassingly addicted to that station), and received a recipe this week that sounded easy and good. It's the "Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina" by Giada De Laurentiis.

I made a few minor modifications, and it was really good. I think I might make it a day early next time, because the flavors were even better the second day. I also doubled the recipe so that it would fit in an 13X9" pan.

1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta - we used mini bowtie pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

(I also used some garlic salt and oregano when I cooked the chicken to add more flavor - I highly recommend this - the chicken tasted great!!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

The Princess wasn't really a fan - she picked out all the tomatoes, and I'm thinking the fresh parsley may have been a bit strong for her - but DH and I really enjoyed it. And like I said before, it was even better the second day. It's a light, easy dish for summer. If you don't want to heat up the kitchen, it looked pretty tasty in the bowl before I put it in the oven (more like a pasta salad), but then you don't get the breadcrumbs and parmesan, which really helped make it great.

Fun at the Park

2009-06-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

The girls and I had so much fun on our trip to Colorado. It was wonderful spending time with my parents, and I miss them already.

There's so much I love about Colorado - the mountains, the beautiful (non humid) weather, the open space (don't get me wrong, the trees here are pretty, but they make me really claustrophobic)... And I loved having a car to use whenever I needed it.

My parents had to work a lot while we were there, and one day I took the girls to a park near Lake Loveland. It was in a nice, shady area (shade is great when your kids are unfortunate enough to inherit glow-in-the-dark skin), and had a great view of the lake (soooo pretty!!). Miss Sparky loved playing in the grass and being pushed in the swing, and The Princess loved the slides, the climbing wall, and the chance to run around outside for a couple of hours in the middle of the day (too hot and humid for us to do that here since we're still not 100% acclimated to the humidity).

I know I haven't blogged in a while, and I apologize. I've developed the bad habit of posting everything on Facebook, and I forget that some people don't visit my Facebook page to see pictures. So I'll try to be better about posting to both places.

Anyway, here are a few pics of our fun-filled trip to the park. They're looking really pixellated when I post them full-size, so I have to post them in the smaller size. Sorry, I'm not sure what's wrong with Photobucket (or Blogger). :( If you click on them, you can see them full-size.

Dance Recital

2009-05-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight was The Princess' dance recital. It was so much fun! The girls in her class worked really hard, and they danced so well tonight. I was worried a couple weeks ago, because none of the girls seemed to remember much of the dance, but they did GREAT tonight. I wish I had a video camera, but some of our friends were there, and I'm hoping to get a copy of the recital from them. :)

I took some pictures before the recital. It kind of freaks me out to see her wearing makeup - she looks way too old!

Sparky Pics

2009-05-01T10:36:00.001-07:00

Just sharing some recent pics of Miss Sparky. I'll take some pictures of the Princess before her recital tonight and try to share them soon.

Sleeping in a Bus and Other Random Pictures

2009-04-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to uploading a bunch of images from my point and shoot camera. It's been forever since I blogged, so I wanted to share some pictures.

We had a really quiet Easter at home. We had to limit what we spent on The Princess' Easter basket (and Sparky didn't get a basket because she's too young to care), but I think The Princess really enjoyed the small gifts she received. Of course, what did she end up liking the most? The basket itself.

And here's an image of the two of us together on Easter Sunday. You'll have to excuse the leftover cupcake on her face. I was inspired by Bakerella. Amanda and her kiddos came over on Sunday night and we colored Easter eggs and made Easter basket cupcakes. Fun!!

Miss Sparky learned to crawl a few weeks ago, and that was eventually followed by learning how to sit up. She became much more adept at both skills while Grandma Rosie was here last week (we miss you already!!), and last night she finally figured out how to start pulling up on the furniture. I'd have pictures of her pulling up on the furniture, but I'm usually too panicked that she's going to fall down and bump her head, so I'm hovering over her to catch her instead of taking pictures. So the crawling pictures will have to suffice until she's better at remembering to hold on to the furniture.

This facial expression cracks me up!

We bought a lawnmower last week. I'm finally not embarrassed to have people see my yard! It looks great now that it's all freshly mowed!

The Princess decided to adopt the lawnmower box, just like she adopts every box, blanket, or stuffed animal we bring into the house. The additional clutter drives me crazy, but this box is making her so happy that I can't complain too much. She started out using it as a cave, but yesterday she drew windows on the outside (AND the inside) and turned it into a bus. She was really quiet downstairs last night, and I found her like this:

And here's a picture of the "bus" itself. I love how she has to write a literal description of all her creations.

I'll probably have more pictures to share soon. I still have to edit the images I took at the garden last week, and I'll have my new camera later this week, so you'll probably get sick of all the images I'll be sharing! :)

Bedtime Conversation

2009-04-07T20:31:00.001-07:00

The Princess has the most interesting conversations with her daddy when he reads her a story at bedtime. Here's the conversation that took place tonight:

Malia - Why can't I hear angels talking?

Dad - They don't usually talk unless it's about something important or dangerous. They usually talk by making your heart feel better

Malia - Oh, so when I need to talk to the angels, like when I lose something, I can pray and they will make me feel calm. Like when I lost my doll, I prayed and found it because they talked to my heart.

I love watching her faith and testimony blossom right before our eyes. I hope we can do the right things as parents to help her testimony continue to get stronger.

Light Bulb Moment

2009-04-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

I had a light bulb moment last night, and I wanted to share it.

The Princess has dance class on Wednesday afternoons. She loves her dance class, and I'm so grateful that we were able to find an affordable class that would allow us to provide an activity for her to look forward to during the week.

The one difficulty about the class is that we only have one car. In fact, that's one of the main difficulties about our life in general - I feel like I'm stuck at home a lot more often than I'd like to be, because it's kind of difficult to juggle the car between DH's work and home. Usually he has to come home at some point during the day and then the girls and I will drop him back off at work and pick him up later. I tend to feel guilty/worried about this, because our car has a LOT of miles on it, and I hate putting more miles on the car than is absolutely necessary - I worry that it's going to reach a point where we won't even have *one* car.

Anyway, back to yesterday. :) Dance class ended, and it was starting to drizzle outside. I put the girls in the car, and then I remembered that DH had mentioned that there was a problem with the driver's side windshield wiper. The bolt that holds the wiper at the bottom comes loose, and when that happens, the wiper won't work until the bolt is tightened. I turned on the car and tried using the wiper, and it definitely wasn't working. So I called DH and asked him how to fix it. He told me where to find the wrench, and I attempted to tighten the wiper.

Well, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get the bolt tight enough. I was starting to panic. I was in tears with DH on the phone, asking what we had possibly been thinking when we decided to move to the other side of the country with only one car and no family to call when we run into situations like this. He gave me suggestions on a couple of people to call, but I knew they were either at work or had kids at home, and I just can't stand the thought of inconveniencing friends.

So I was praying really hard that I could get the windshield wiper to work. It didn't happen. The rain finally let up, and I drove to pick up DH from work worrying the whole time that it was going to start pouring rain and grumbling inside about how silly it was to move out here with just one car. I was pretty crabby for the first part of the evening.

Last night, as I was going to bed, I was thinking about the situation again. I was asking myself why Heavenly Father hadn't answered my prayer and helped me fix the windshield wiper. I tend to doubt myself a lot, and I start to feel like my prayers are never answered. I'm doubting a lot of things right now (mostly money stuff - I hate money), and the one car situation only compounds things. As I continued to think about the situation, I suddenly had the very clear thought that my prayer *had* been answered. My "light bulb moment" was when I realized that even though Heavenly Father hadn't allowed me to fix the windshield wiper, it had completely stopped raining and I was able to drive all the way to DH's work without any problems.

It's made me realize that I need to try harder to appreciate what Heavenly Father is doing for my family. My prayers may not be visibly answered in exactly the way I'm expecting (and I'm usually looking for a very literal answer to my prayers), but He is there, and He's watching out for me and my family. I hope I can get better at realizing that and remembering it when I'm feeling frustrated.

Blissfully Chaotic Blog Party

2009-04-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

I love blog parties! Giveaways, contests, and all sorts of fun! Kind of makes me wish I had a bigger following so that I could host one myself. :) Of course, that would require blogging on a MUCH more regular basis, and not just about my own kiddos. I don't think I'm ready for that. I can participate in the blog parties of others, though.

Anyway, the current blog party is going on at the Blissfully Chaotic blog. Go check it out when you get a chance. If you want to join in on the fun and giveaways, it's simple.

1. Grab her party button and add it to your blog.
2. Tell others about the party by posting about it on your blog.
3. Visit her blog and sign Mr. Linky at the bottom of her blog party post.

Menu Planning (again)

2009-03-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'm really bad at this whole menu planning thing. I manage it for a couple weeks, and then I fall behind again. Of course, I keep hoping that it will magically help save some money, and it doesn't seem to be helping much because I'm terrible at figuring out the whole coupon thing. My pantry staples are starting to run low, and I'm hesitating to stock up because I'm worried that the next week will be the week that everything goes on sale. Anybody want to help me figure out the whole coupon thing so I can start actually saving money? (No, the Grocery Game doesn't work for me, because it seems like everything it tells me to buy is stuff that I wouldn't normally buy, but I feel like I *have* to buy it because the Grocery Game told me to, lol).

Anyway, here's this week's menu plan a little late. I really like my crockpot this week. :)

Tuesday - Crockpot Spaghetti sauce with meatballs and angel hair pasta

Wednesday - Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken (still figuring out the veggies)

Thursday - Cheese-stuffed Hotdogs with sauteed onions (Rachael Ray recipe)

Friday - Hashbrown-topped Chili (Rachael Ray recipe - I thought it sounded kind of strange until I realized that I like baked potatoes with chili on top)

Saturday - Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Sunday - Crockpot Pork Ribs (debating between barbecue or Asian)

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions on how to save money with menu planning AND/OR coupon shopping, I'm all ears. I can save a little money just by avoiding going to the store every day, but I seem to be struggling with snack/lunch items and cereal - it's frustrating how much more expensive groceries are out here.

Sister Schuberts Giveaway

2009-03-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

If you want to enter a yummy-sounding giveaway, visit www.5dollardinners.com.

One Dancing Princess

2009-03-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

The Princess was pretty jealous of all the grandparents raving on speaker phone about the cuteness of her baby sister's pictures. So I promised I would post her pictures tonight. I couldn't narrow them down, so I'm just warning you in advance - there are a lot of pictures.

Grandma Clover, there are a few more images on my Facebook page, if you wanted any other choices for the storyboard.

More Pictures

2009-03-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here are more of the pictures of Miss Sparky. I'll post some of The Princess soon.

The big grin is because she's playing peekaboo with big sister. When she has the eyes-closed grin like this, she's usually making a high pitched squeal at the same time - kinda like a baby Godzilla. It's pretty cute.

Daddy was tossing her up in the air and making her laugh. She's *still* teething (no teeth yet - what has it been - 4 months of teething so far?), and she's constantly gnawing on her fingers right now.

Sneak Peek

2009-03-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

I had my lights set up to take some dance portraits of The Princess. Daddy came home from work, and Miss Sparky woke up right about the time I finished photographing The Princess. She was giggling and happy, and I decided to try capturing a few images of her before she knew what was happening. We got some great captures (both of her AND The Princess), and I'll share more of them soon, but I just wanted to post a couple of them tonight. Don't worry - she actually gave me some smiles and some eye contact, but I figured I'd save those for the real showcase. :)

This is her typical "just chillin'" expression.

And a modified version of the same expression.

And here we have the Amazing Levitating Baby...

Best Fajitas EVER!!

2009-03-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

I love fajitas. I don't like paying for them at restaurants. :) Since I made the mistake of leaving out the entire Costco-sized bag of chicken (after intending to only take out 3 pieces for dinner), I've had to get through a LOT of chicken this week. I decided to marinate a bunch of it in a chili lime sauce, and then pan seared it and we had fajitas tonight. They were so good I wanted to cry. Seriously - better than any restaurant fajitas I've ever eaten.

Here's the recipe for the Chili Lime Chicken - it's great by itself, but it's also good in fajitas, and I think it would be wonderful in a salad, as well. I have 3 more chicken breasts marinate that I have to cook up tonight, and I'll be freezing it to eat later.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons green onions, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons cumin
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients except the chicken in a plastic bag. Seal the bag, and mush everything together to combine. Add chicken to the bag and toss to coat. Allow to marinate at least 3 hours.

The recipe says the chicken should be grilled, but we pan seared it, and it was really moist and yummy.

For the fajitas, I just cooked up some onions, mushrooms, and red peppers. We heated up the tortillas, added a little cheese, and had a really easy, delicious dinner.

Updated Pictures of the Girls

2009-03-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent pictures of the girls. I struggle to take their pictures these days. My camera doesn't handle indoor natural light very well, and I'm not always in the mood to bounce the flash. I seem to have misplaced the battery AND the memory card for my point and shoot camera.

Not to mention, neither of the girls is willing to give me a decent facial expression these days. The Princess is stuck in the five-year-old cheeser grin phase (or she resorts to the other extreme where she looks way too moody and depressed), and Miss Sparky insists on staring at me like I'm torturing her in the worst possible way - seriously, she refuses to smile when I have a camera in front of my face. I thought she was too young for that, but apparently she was born with it.

So here are the pictures - weird facial expressions and all...

Here's the typical cheeser grin.

And various other facial expressions. I was excited to finally use the pink chair I got from a yard sale a couple years ago.

Playing with textures... Not sure what I think of it.

And a couple of Miss Sparky. This is really the only expression she'll give me. And no, I don't pinch her to make her scowl like that.

At least she gave me some eye contact.

And I love this image of the two of them together. The Princess gets annoyed with her little sister at times (especially when she's screaming at the top of her lungs in the backseat of the car - which happens any time we go out), but she's seriously in love with her at the same time.

More Princess-isms...

2009-02-28T14:34:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I've been having a rough time of it lately, and blogging just hasn't been a top priority. I'm trying to stay faithful and cheerful, though, and I'm going to attempt to blog more regularly.

I don't have any recent pictures - I apologize for that, as well. I've been working hard at re-establishing my portrait business, which means I've been doing lots of complimentary sessions to hopefully start generating good word of mouth. But I've been photographing so many sessions that it's been difficult to pick up my camera and photograph my own kiddos - and when I do take pictures, the last thing I want to do right now is spend any more time on the computer editing.

Okay, enough of the pity party. Onto the cuteness of The Princess. Regardless of how down I'm feeling, she always manages to say something sweet to brighten my day. I love my children and my husband so very much, and they mean more to me every day - I'm trying VERY hard to remember right now that no matter what else happens, I have a beautiful family who loves me, and that's really all that matters in the end.

We're still dealing with The Princess' very strong personality. She got in trouble the other day and before she went downstairs for her timeout, she said:

"I don't want to be a growing up. I changed my mind."

Of course, today she was asking me if she looked like a teenager. Apparently if she had looked like a teenager, she would have been allowed to get a bigger drink at Costco. She didn't believe me when I told her that they only have one drink size.

This is what she said the other day when she wanted to be allowed to take a bath:

"I noticed something in my mind. My mind typed www.hiccups.com and noticed that it might work that when I take a nice long warm bath it may cool down my hiccups."

She was playing with her friend outside a few weeks ago (she has a sand and water table out on the back deck) and the following conversation ensued:

The Princess: "I am making my own tower of doom."

Ginger: "What's doom?"

The Princess: "Doom like a tornado! Like I'm making."

When she was praying:

"Dear Heavenly Father, please send your angels so I can be protective and happy all my days."

To her daddy:

"Daddy, I know you're not a superhero, but you act like one for me."

I think this one means the most to me right now. She was confusing the words "imagineering" and "believing." I was having a pretty rough day. She came up to me and said,

"Have you started believing? You should start believing today."

I'm trying with all my heart to keep believing. I promise. :)

That's about it for now. I'll probably post something similar in a month or so when I've collected more sayings. As always, I miss everyone back home, and I love you all so very much.

Grandma RosiePepper's Conversation with the Princess Last Night

2009-01-29T13:29:00.001-08:00

**Kleenex Alert** (Don't say I didn't warn you)

The Princess had a really neat conversation with her grandma last night. The conversation was subsequently emailed to me. I can't say it any better than grandma did in her email to me, so I'm just going to copy and paste her email here.

"G-- asked me to talk to the Princess to help her believe two things - that her grandmas pray for angels to be with her, and that the angels keep the monsters away.

So, when she got on the phone, he had her ask me if there are angels in her room. I assured her that there are, because I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, and every night I pray that her angels will be with her so that she has nice dreams. She asked more questions - can the angels see the monsters (because some monsters are hard to see) - yes, because angels are Heavenly Father's best friends, and Heavenly Father can see everything so he makes sure His angels can see everything. She was still skeptical, so, remembering something she once (or more times) said about wanting a big sister, I said that maybe one of the angels is her big sister angel. She said something like "My big sister angel? Is she my age?" Yes, or maybe even older. "Like 10 or 17 ... or 18?" Yes, she could be that old, and she watches over you. The angels make sure there aren't any monsters, so that you will have nice dreams. Oh, and she did ask if there really are girl angels. YES!

I think that's about it - if I remember any more gems I will let you know. She was so genuine, so convinced that the monsters are real and needed so much reassurance that there is protection. Yes, I do believe that she, and all of us, have angels watching over us, keeping the "monsters" away. Every day, all day, when I pray for all of you, all of my family, to be safe and feel His and my love, that's praying for His and your angels, and the Holy Ghost, to deliver that message. I didn't lie to her, I didn't make anything up. I don't know exactly who her angels are - she has plenty of ancestors, and others who love her, who are watching over her - and you!"

Thanks, Grandma RosiePepper - I know you helped her sleep better last night.

Snow Day!

2009-01-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

Snow is a pretty rare thing here. The last "big" storm was in 2004. Meteorologists were only predicting 2-4 inches, but it's apparently a pretty big deal to have ANY snow here. I ran to the grocery store to pick up bread on Monday night, and the lines were INSANE.

I think we ended up receiving about 3 inches in our neighborhood, but all of the schools were closed (DH informs me that this wasn't due to the amount of snow on the ground in the morning, but due to the fact that if it had kept snowing all day, students would have been forced to stay at school overnight like they were in 2004 - we're not well-equipped to deal with snow around here), and DH was allowed to work from home.

We didn't tell The Princess about the possibility of snow the night before, because we didn't want her to get her hopes up and then be disappointed. She's still feeling pretty homesick, and she's been sad at the lack of snow here. So when she woke up in the morning and DH told her to look out the window, she was thrilled. We were hard pressed to convince her to allow everyone to dress warmly before going outside to play.

Catching snowflakes on her tongue...

It was REALLY cold, so DH convinced her to zip up her jacket.

Posing with daddy - isn't he handsome?

Sparky managed to last outside for a few minutes, but she wasn't really a fan of the hat, and my jacket wasn't warm enough for her, so we went back inside and made hot chocolate for The Princess to enjoy after playing outside as long as possible.

A couple pictures of the backyard after the flurries finally stopped.

Easy Chicken Recipe

2009-01-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

This is the easiest dinner I've ever made. You could probably make it in your sleep (I think I was half asleep when I put it in the crockpot this morning). Even though it's simple, it's really good.

Frozen Chicken Breasts (I used 3)
1 Bottle Italian Dressing
1 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Plop frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot. Cover with Italian Dressing. Cook on low for about 4 hours, then flip chicken breasts over and smother with Parmesan cheese. Cook for another 3-4 hours on low.

That's it! You can actually put everything in the crockpot and cook on low all day without turning everything over, but my chicken breasts were kind of big, and I wanted to flip them over halfway through to make sure everything was covered in Italian dressing. I wouldn't have needed to worry about it if I'd marinated them in the dressing overnight.

We really enjoyed this chicken. I served it with pan seared broccoli and Parmesan mashed potatoes. Even The Princess cleaned her plate.

My New Favorite CD

2008-12-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I enjoyed the Twilight movie. I didn't think it was the World's Best Movie, but I think they did a good job. There were a few things I would have changed (such as not filming one of the scenes on an obviously sunny day when vampires aren't supposed to be outdoors at school on a sunny day), but I enjoyed it for the most part.

But I LOVED the music. Muse, Paramore and Linkin Park are already three of my favorite bands. So liking those songs on the album was a given. I think "Full Moon" by The Black Ghosts is my new favorite song, and I love "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" by Iron & Wine. So not only did the album include music from some of my all-time favorites, it also introduced me to a couple of new artists that I enjoy. Oh, and Rob Pattinson's voice isn't bad, either. Although I get kind of bored with the song halfway through, so I'm not sure if I love it, but his singing isn't bad. And "Bella's Lullaby" is pretty enough that it has me considering buying the score in addition to the soundtrack.

Anyway, whether or not you're a fan of Twilight, you might want to check out the music.

Our Christmas Tree

2008-12-24T20:52:00.000-08:00

I had resigned myself to not having a tree this year. The movers put our Christmas tree in the garage, and we have rather large spiders in our garage. I'm terrified of spiders (which is partially due to a traumatic experience involving spiders and a Christmas tree). So I didn't want to get the tree out of the garage and into our house only to discover a bunch of spiders. I figured the baby was too young to care, and The Princess would get over it when she opened her presents on Christmas morning. I told myself I didn't care that we wouldn't have a tree, but I kind of moped on the inside.

I had to go to Target today to pick up Sparky's Prevacid. Even though I activated the Benny card on Saturday, and the automated message said to please allow 2 business days for the card to work at the pharmacy, the card did *not* work at the pharmacy, and I now have to submit a very large pharmacy bill for reimbursement. I'm not very happy about that, but I digress.

I took The Princess to Target with me, and when we got home, she went into the house and exclaimed that daddy had put up the Christmas tree. I assumed he had taken the three mini trees from the spare bedroom and put them into the living room. So I was really surprised when I entered the living room and saw our adorable Christmas tree all aglow. We found the boxes of ornaments and had a wonderful afternoon decorating the tree.

It was so much fun unwrapping the individual ornaments and reminiscing about their origins.

This ornament was given to us by George's mission president during our first Christmas together.

This is the ornament I bought for The Princess' first Christmas.

I didn't want Sparky to feel left out, so I bought her an ornament this year, too. Although it doesn't have her name engraved on it yet...

Here are a couple of the really cool ornaments I bought at Old Navy last year after Christmas for 75% off. They matched my tree's color scheme (candy colors - pink, purple, blue, red, and silver, green, and aquamarine), and I totally forgot that I bought them. So it was like an early Christmas present this year when I discovered them. :)

Here's the nativity ornament that Lizzy picked out for us this year. I love it!

And I love The Princess' reflection in this image.

And a couple images of the full tree in all its' sparkly glory.

I think "Santa" is just about finished wrapping The Princess' gifts, and the stocking is already stuffed and ready for Christmas morning, so I'm going to turn into a pumpkin now. I just wanted to wish everyone the merriest of Christmases. I miss all of you soooooo much, and I can't wait to see everyone again.

Email Survey

2008-12-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

My SIL sent me this email survey. I've answered it before, but I can't remember who's received the email in the past (mostly people in the group, I think). So I figured I'll put it up on my blog, and then when I receive the email, I can be lazy and refer people to my blog. :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope - my name is pretty unique.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A few days ago. I was looking at a competitor's website and became frustrated at the lack of regulation in the photography industry (both quality of work and pricing). It makes it rather difficult to re-establish and succeed in my chosen profession.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Depends on the day.

4 . WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes, 2 beautiful girls.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I don't know. I would definitely hope so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Never. (Can you feel the sarcasm radiating from the screen yet?).

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS ? Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Absolutely not. I don't like heights.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Lucky Charms - the real ones, not the generic kind.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Most of my shoes don't have laces, but no.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not really.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Cookies and Cream milkshake from Chick Fil A.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their eyes.

15. RED OR PINK? Definitely PINK!!! I'm a girlie-girl that way...

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I get frustrated too easily.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My family.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Not really applicable since I'm not emailing it to anyone, but I'd love for people to do this on their blogs.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue jeans, no shoes.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A peanut cluster.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The Princess giggling and singing the ABC song as part of her bedtime ritual with daddy. And the heartbeat track playing through the baby monitor.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Too difficult to pick just one color. Especially with all the nifty Crayola-ish names.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Rain, Miss Sparky after I've slathered her with Baby Magic baby lotion, The Princess' hair after she's just had a bath and her hair is almost dry, my hubby after he's taken a shower (I love the smell of his shower gel and shampoo).

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My daddy.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS? Absolutely.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I don't really like watching sports on TV, but I enjoy watching gymnastics and ice skating during the Olympics.

27. HAIR COLOR ? Red-ish.

28. EYE COLOR? Blue.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Unfortunately, yes.

30. FAVORITE FOODS? Chick Fil A, Evil Jungle Princess Chicken, Chicken Parmesan, really well-made chicken curry.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The first half of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? One of my hubby's old shirts - it's green with writing on it.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Spring and autumn.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Both.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Thaifoon's Chocolate Volcano.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? N/A

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND N/A

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Books? Ha!! I haven't read a book in a while. Although I'll probably re-read the last Twilight book soon.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Some sort of space scene - looks like a cluster of stars.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V.. LAST NIGHT? I have vague memories of half listening to Jay Leno's headlines.

42. FAVORITE SOUND? At this point in my life? Silence. Or Miss Sparky's giggle. The Princess has an adorable laugh, too.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles!

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? North Carolina.

45. ANY NEWS IN YOUR LIFE? Nothing that everyone hasn't already heard.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? WVC, Utah

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? N/A

48. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW? 12:28AM

Tortilla Soup

2008-12-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

I didn't plan my menus very well this week, so I was scrambling to find something to make for dinner tonight. I figured I had everything in the house to make Chicken Tortilla Soup, so I decided to Google some recipes. In the process, I stumbled upon a definite keeper. I changed it just a bit (extra cumin, added black beans), and I'm now out of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, but it was soooo worth it!

This makes a lot of soup. You could probably cut the recipe in half and still have enough for at least 4 people. Lucky me has plenty of leftovers. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 tsp Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion, Chopped
4 Garlic Cloves, Minced
1 Medium Jalapeño Pepper, Chopped
1/2 Medium Green Pepper
4 Small Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Cups Frozen Corn
1/2 Cup Dry White Wine or Water
3 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Chili Powder
4 (14 oz) Cans Chicken Broth
2 (14 oz) Cans Diced Tomatoes
1 (14 oz) Can Tomato Sauce
1 Can Black Beans, Mashed

Cheese and tortilla chips for topping (optional)

Saute onion, garlic, jalapeño, and green pepper in olive oil in a large pot until soft.

Add all the rest of the ingredients to the large pot and bring to a boil.

Remove the chicken after about 20 minutes, shred with a fork, return to pot, and simmer an additional 45 minutes.

I had a bunch of leftover corn tortillas from my failed attempt at baked chicken tacquitos, so I cut some of them into strips, fried them in oil and sprinkled them with salt. I personally prefer them to tortilla chips in my chicken tortilla soup.

According to the nutritional information, this recipe only has 3.1 grams of fat. Or course, that's before adding the chips and cheese. This is the first tortilla soup recipe that I would actually be willing to eat without the chips or cheese, but I didn't. That's why I still have about 15 pounds of baby fat to lose. That and the fact that I eat waaaaay too much chocolate...

New Pictures

2008-12-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

Just some images I captured a couple days ago. I was playing with bouncing the flash behind me and to the side (thanks, Paula). I like the effect, since I *have* to use flash indoors with my sad little camera.

This Week's Menu

2008-12-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

I have lots to write about (and pictures to post shortly), but it's 12:15AM, I just got home from seeing Twilight (yes, for the first time), and since Miss Sparky has another ear infection, my guess is that she'll wake up at least once in the middle of the night, so I'm going to keep it short.

I'm feeling uncreative this week. So far, I only have 3 days planned. I didn't cook tonight because I had to run and pick up groceries and Amoxycillin for Miss Sparky before I left for the movie. So this is what I have so far... Please, please leave me some suggestions for the rest of the week (with recipes, if you're not too busy), if you're feeling at all charitable. And you should be, since 'tis the season for that kind of thing. :P

Tuesday - Crockpot Veggie Lasagna (since I'm too lazy to brown hamburger first thing in the morning).

Wednesday - Baked Chicken Tacquitos

Thursday - Some sort of Chicken Curry in the crockpot because I have a whole bag of frozen chicken thighs to use up.

And that's all I have so far. So suggestions would be most welcome and appreciated.

I'll post some new pictures of the girls soon, and tell you my opinions of Twilight, etc.

Weekly Menu

2008-12-08T10:56:00.001-08:00

I think I'm going to start posting a weekly menu. I almost always plan a menu at the beginning of the week, but I never seem to follow it very well. What's the point of planning a menu in an attempt to save money at the grocery store if I never follow it? I figure if I post it online, maybe I'll feel more accountable and actually follow the plan. Wish me luck!

Monday - Baked Chicken Parmesan with Angel Hair Pasta
Tuesday - Blueberry Pancakes and Scrambled Eggs (The Princess has a late appointment with the ophthalmologist, so I want to keep it simple).
Wednesday - Taco Soup
Thursday - Crockpot Shepherd's Pie
Friday - Chicken Enchiladas
Saturday - I think I'll be too tired after the mini sessions at Green Pea Nursery, so it may be a yo-yo night...
Sunday - Barbecue Chicken Pizza - am I really brave enough to attempt homemade pizza crust?

More Fun Contests

2008-12-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

Modern Molly Mormon is celebrating their one year anniversary. Which means they're having lots of fun contests this week. Yay us!!

April Showers offers adorable unique custom blog design. Check out her site for some great blog designs as well as all sorts of graphic design goodness.

This Made Me LOL

2008-12-06T13:02:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I'm a Twilight geek...

more lol celebs!

No "Good Mommy" Awards for Me

2008-11-29T19:52:00.000-08:00

The other day, I could hear a tell tale creaking coming from The Princess' room, in addition to the usual radio blaring (she constantly has music playing in her room). She was listening to Abba - she loves the song Mamma Mia, probably from all the movie previews. :)

What was the creaking sound? Well, she doesn't have the world's strongest bed. Based on the noise, I knew that she must be jumping upon the poorly-constructed contraption.

What should I have done? A good mommy would go into her child's bedroom and sternly remind her of the lesson learned in the book "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." The well-behaved child would have been able to relate, because it's one of her favorite bed time stories.

What did I do? I told her to wait for a minute while I put a new memory card in my camera. After I set up the flash, I told her to start jumping again. Wanna see the proof that I'm a bad mommy? Here's the evidence.

Don't worry - my "bad mommyness" doesn't extend to allowing my children to write on the walls wherever they wish. The top part of the wall in the background is covered in dry-erase material and the bottom half is purple chalkboard paint (yep, it comes in colors now - how cool is that?!?).

More Fun at the Doctor's Office

2008-11-25T13:29:00.000-08:00

We went back to the doctor's office for the third time in a week-and-a-half. The Princess had her 5-year-old well child check-up, and Sparky had her ears re-examined (they're fine) so that she could get her four-month immunizations. They both had shots today. Amazingly, I still have two happy girls at home right now (knock on wood). It's even more amazing since Miss Sparky still hasn't had a decent nap today.

The Princess is apparently following in my footsteps. She failed her vision exam, so we have to make an appointment with the opthamologist. She also *techinically* failed her hearing test, but since she hears everything at home, they'll re-test her before kindergarten next year. The doctor also recommended a good pediatric dentist and wants us to take her to see a genetecist, since there's apparently some testing that can be done to possibly determine whether or not she has her dad's syndrome (although a negative isn't a guarantee that she doesn't have it). Thank goodness for flex spending - especially with our crappy new benefits.

After her check-up, The Princess and Sparky both got their immunizations. Sparky went first, and they woke her up from a mini nap to stick a needle in her leg - she was NOT happy about it. But she calmed down pretty quickly. Then it was The Princess' turn - two nurses came into the room - one for each leg (I'm grateful they try to do it as quickly as possible by having two people administer two different shots). She was okay with the Polio vaccine, but the MMR made her cry just a little. She was really brave, though, and settled down the moment they told her she could go look in the "treasure box."

So that was our excitement for the day. We'll see if I still have 2 happy girls this evening. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Salsa Chicken - Yummy!

2008-11-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

We're having one of my favorite recipes for dinner tonight - Salsa Chicken in the crockpot. It's so yummy (and ridiculously easy) that I have to share the recipe. Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any failed diets. Read this recipe at your own risk. :P

Salsa Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 jar salsa
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)
1 block of cream cheese (optional, but it makes the recipe. I usually use about half of an 8 oz block)

Place chicken in crockpot. Cover with salsa, black beans, and corn. Cook on high for 4 hours (some people cook it for 6 hours depending on the size of the crockpot). Add cream cheese for the last half hour (I shred my chicken before adding the cream cheese). Serve over rice or tortilla chips.

Fun at the Doctor's Office

2008-11-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

For the first time in about 3 weeks, Miss Sparky slept through the night last night. Yay us!! Of course, it meant that I didn't sleep very well, because I kept waking up and wondering why she was still sleeping - I didn't want to wake her up, so I'd go out to the tv room and wait until I heard her breathing on the monitor. She slept from 9PM-9AM. Keep your fingers crossed that this is a new habit - I could really use some consistent sleep. :)

When she woke up, she was covered in a crazy rash. I called the doctor's office, and they wanted me to bring her in. Of course, by the time her appointment rolled around, her rash was completely gone. The doctor thinks it was a really delayed reaction to the Amoxycillin she's taking for her ear infection, but everything seems fine, so we're going to finish the course of antibiotics.

While we were there, The Princess and I got our flu shots so that we didn't have to make a trip back tomorrow for the flu shot clinic. The nurse was AMAZING! I was nervous like always, but she did this thing where she tickles your arm, and by the time she told me to relax, it was over. I didn't feel ANYTHING! I was amazed. The Princess was rather nervous for her shot, and she cried a bit, but I think it was more nerves than pain, because she stopped crying after about a 10th of a second when we told her she could have a lollipop.

As we were headed back to the car, The Princess tripped over her shoes and fell head first into a parking sign pole. It was really loud, and totally freaked out the lady walking behind us. She helped me carry the car seat and diaper bag back into the doctor's office (we were literally 10 steps outside the building - gotta love the irony) since I was carrying a screaming child at that point, and waited in the waiting room while the doctor took a quick look at the Princess. I thought it was really sweet that somebody would be that concerned about our well-being, and I thanked her profusely for her help.

The Princess has a pretty huge knot on the side of her head, but she's feeling fine. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be less eventful.

Recent Princess-isms

2008-11-14T10:32:00.001-08:00

I totally agree with my dad - I would love to get inside this little girl's head for a few minutes - just to see what it's like. Not only does she have the most crazy photographic memory, she comes up with the most amazing ideas. Here are a few recent Princess-isms - they're never preconceived - they're just things she says in the middle of conversations with us.

"I'm an activist on paper. I think up the ideas, and then make my dreams come true." I think I need to have one of those vinyl wall sayings made out of this one and put it up on the wall above my computer.

And here's another one - she was talking about heroes and what she could do when she's bigger to help people, and what she could do right now: "I know I am a small hero, but my hands can make a small difference."

This one was from last Sunday. We were driving to church and asking her if she remembered her favorite scripture story for her part in the primary program: "I think I forgot to click 'yes' in my mind. So I may have put it in the trash and forgot it"

That last one makes me giggle. Obviously she spends far too much time on the computer - not really her fault, though, when you consider her parents.

I've Been Tagged

2008-11-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hilary tagged me today, so it's my turn to answer some questions. Call me a geek (I've come to accept it), but I love blog tag.

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch...
1: House
2: Bones
3: Life on Mars
4: Top Chef
5: America's Next Top Model (I know it's cheesy, but I like the photo shoots)
6: Saturday Night Live (at least the Weekend Update)
7: Project Runway
8: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

8 Things That Happenend Yesterday...
1: Overslept and got to church late
2: Helped the kids practice for the primary program
3: Wished Shayne a happy birthday
4: Talked to my mom on the phone
5: Snuggled with the munchkins
6: Listened to Sparky giggle - it's rare, but adorable!
7: Watched Get Smart
8: Made Mongolian Beef in the crockpot

8 Favorite Places to Eat...
1: Anywhere that I don't have to clean up the mess!
2: Chick-fil-a (It's bad that there are so many of them here!)
3: My mom's house - she's a great cook!
4: Thaifoon
5: Texas Roadhouse
6: Anything Italian
7: Cafe Rio
8: Bajio

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...
1: Paying off hubby's student loans
2: Having lots and lots of portrait clients
3: Christmas
4: A trip home next summer
5: And end to The Princess' tantrums
6: A trip to Disney
7: Getting The Princess into a dance class - she LOVES dancing!
8: Fitting back into my pre-pregnancy clothes.

8 things on my wish list...
1: To get Sparky on a somewhat predictable schedule
2: A clean house
3: New car
4: New shoes
5: A Mac computer with LOTS of space for photos
6: New camera
7: New camera lenses
8: A fenced yard

So now I'm supposed to tag 8 people who are supposed to fill this out and tag 8 more people. Lizzy, Erin, Susie, Jen, Lori (mom), Ashlee, Sam, Sarah.

The rest of the Halloween Pictures

2008-11-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

I could only get "studio" shots of Miss Sparky. She wasn't feeling particularly photogenic on Halloween night.

The pictures of The Princess were taken the day before Halloween. We were on our way to a costume party, and we stopped by this little wooded area that I've been meaning to scope out for a while.

I really like the spot (although the wooded areas around here still make me a little bit nervous - we could still see the road, though), but I'll go a little earlier in the day next time for more ideal lighting.

Halloween Pics

2008-11-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

I know it's late for Halloween pictures, but I wanted to share some images of The Princess in her Alice in Wonderland costume. These pictures are from the Halloween party at Daddy's work. She doesn't look particularly thrilled in any of these images, but I promise she had fun. There were a LOT of people in attendance, and I think she was a bit overwhelmed, but she enjoyed it.

She started out wearing a black ribbon in her hair, which made her more obviously Alice, but she got tired of wearing it pretty quickly. I still think she looked cute, though.

A conversation with The Princess

2008-10-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

Me: Let's call Grandpa Clover and wish him happy birthday.

Princess: Oh man! I thought today was Halloween and it would be dark outside!

Me: It will be dark later.

Princess: Will we go trick-or-treating when it's dark?

Me: We'll probably go a little bit before it gets dark.

Princess: How many minutes?

Me: It won't be minutes from now, it will be hours. We'll go trick-or-treating after dinner.

Princess: I have an idea! Let's eat dinner now! (It's 11AM).

Me: If we go trick-or-treating now, nobody will be home.

Princess: Why? Is everyone still asleep?

Collecting Party

2008-10-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

The dog was acting particularly hyper yesterday, so The Princess and I decided to take her on a walk. The long way around our block is a full mile, so it's a pretty nice walk for all 3 of us.

The trees are finally starting to look fall-ish here, although most of them just kind of go brown and fall off the trees in a diseased-looking way. Some of the trees are beautiful shades of red and gold, however. The Princess decided we were on a "collecting party" and proceeded to pick up as many leaves as she could hold. We brought them home, and I took these pictures of them.

It's really cold here right now. The nights are almost freezing. It's supposed to stay that way through Halloween night and then warm back up to 70 on Saturday. I don't really think that's fair.

Repost: Our "Little" Family Portrait

2008-10-29T13:34:00.001-07:00

Here's the most recent portrait of DH, The Princess, and me. From the same session as the "big" family portrait. One of these days, we'll figure out how to have a family portrait made while I'm not pregnant, so that all of our children can be physically seen in the portrait. :)

She doesn't look entirely thrilled to be here in this image, but it's very Princess-esque.A bit happier here. Ignore the vents in the background - they were edited out before being printed. And I soooo need a haircut! I'm currently debating going back to the pixie cut or growing it out. I definitely need to get my bangs cut, at least, but still looking for the right stylist who doesn't work too far away from home.

Reposting the Evolution of Our Family Portrait

2008-10-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

I just realized that I can copy the posts from my old blog and repost them here. I really like some of those old posts, so I'll probably work on reposting over the next few days.

S and E were married in February. While Bry, his wife and the twins and my parents were in town, S's friend agreed to subject herself to the chaos of creating our family portrait, since I still haven't mastered the art of the self timer. My aunt and uncle graciously agreed to let us use their new house as a studio space.

The twins were really well behaved, but The Princess is sooooo not into having her picture taken when she knows it's what everyone wants her to do. Here are the various outtakes from family picture day, as well as the final family portrait. Several of them would have been the "keeper" if The Princes wasn't such a photographer's child. :)

First, the outtakes...

And here's the keeper...

Really Big Frogs

2008-10-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

When we were at the garden on Monday, we came across a little pond with some REALLY big lily pads. The first thing The Princess said when she saw them was, "Whoa, those must be for some REALLY big frogs."

I tried to take this picture at an angle to give perspective to how big the lily pads were. You can kind of tell, but they were ginormous. They were probably big enough for two people to sit on (if people could actually sit on lily pads, of course).

The "official" 5-year-old portraits

2008-10-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

We took The Princess to a local garden for her birthday since the museum we were planning on taking her to was closed (go figure). While we were there, I decided to take her five-year-old portraits. Maybe I'll actually have some of them printed this time instead of just leaving them on my hard drive.

She's still at the age of the unnatural cheeser grin. So if she looks sad in these, it's because I was asking her to give me a more "natural" expression. Her current idea of a "smile" for the camera is to open her mouth as wide as it will go and close her eyes as tightly as possible - not very attractive for a portrait.

LeeLou Blogs

2008-10-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is my FAVORITE site for blogger layouts. They're so stinkin' cute. She's having a launch party starting next Monday with lots of giveaways. One of the requirements for the giveaways is to have this link button in a post on your blog. So I'm linking away. Go check out her blog designs - they're free and super cute!!

My baby turned 5 today!

2008-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I'm so not ready for this! I swear she just learned how to walk, and I was waiting impatiently for the day that she could speak in sentences (now I occasionally wish she would be quiet for just a few minutes).

I love my little Princess so very much! She frustrates me at time, but I wouldn't give up one minute of the time I've been privileged to spend with her.

She's definitely a little girl now, and no longer a baby, but I suppose that's the way it's supposed to be. She amazes me with her amazing ability to comprehend what's going on around her, her sympathetic and compassionate nature, and her crazy photographic memory. I can't wait (well, yes, I can) to see how much she grows and changes in the next 5 years.

These days, she loves to sing, dance, and do any form of arts and crafts. She's waiting impatiently for the day that mommy and daddy can afford to put her in a dance class (I just need to get some portrait clients *sigh*). She loves her baby sister with all her heart, and she helps me take care of her any way I'll let her.

She knows all the letters of the alphabet and can write them all down. She can read a few words by sight, and she can also write her name as well as "mom" and "dad."

She's still very much a daddy's girl, but she loves mommy, too. She LOVES to have "adventures" outside, and would spend all day outdoors if it were possible (too bad mommy hates the sun and Sparky is a red-head who's too young to wear sunscreen).

I asked her a few questions today so that I could write them down to look at later.

It makes me happy when: It's my birthday and I got $5 in my birthday card. It also makes me happy when me and mommy and daddy talk about silly things.

It makes me laugh when: Daddy tickles me (and it's the most infectious laugh in the whole world!).

My favorite toy is: My birthday toys.

My favorite movie is: My "Pound Puppies" movie and "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." I also still love "Finding Nemo."

When I grow up, I want to be: A pirate, a rock star, an artist, and a person that makes things (like stamps).

My favorite food is: Oranges.

My favorite colors are: Pink, purple, and green.

My favorite TV shows are: Batman, Spiderman, and Dora the Explorer

My favorite memory is: The time we went to the butterfly pavilion in Colorado.

Caramel Apples

2008-10-20T09:23:00.001-07:00

The Princess and I went grocery shopping on Saturday, and it's the time of year when Kraft strategically places their bags of caramel near the apples in the produce section. She was already begging for apples, and when she saw the caramel, she managed to convince me that we *needed* caramel apples. I decided to comply.

So we made caramel apples last night. She stayed up WAY past her bedtime because we started too late and she couldn't sleep without tasting an apple. But it was the night before her birthday, and I'm a softie.

A lot of the images have a bit of a cross-processed look. It's on purpose. I think I've been watching too much SNL lately - it seems to be their favorite method of post processing the images of the host that they show during the commercial breaks. Anyway, I like how it looks, and I've been having fun playing with Michele Black's Photoshop actions.

We started too late to use the crockpot (to keep the temperature of the caramel below nuclear level and therefore safe for a preschooler to help with), so she didn't get to help with dipping the apples, but she had a lot of fun unwrapping all the caramels.

Yes, she really does pose like this. No, I don't prompt her to pose like this.

Trying to wait patiently for the caramel to finish melting.

The finished product. We didn't have any sprinkles (or "sparkles" as she calls them), so we had to settle for peanuts, instead.

I got the bright idea to cover the rest of the apples with chocolate. I somehow ruined the first batch of chocolate, and I gave up after the first batch of white chocolate didn't turn out, but they still look pretty yummy!

Michelle's Studio Pics

2008-10-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the studio portraits that Michelle did for us while we were in Colorado. I'm so sorry if she ruined your backdrop, Michelle!

She should have one of those shirts...

2008-10-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

You know, the ones that say "I did my own hair." The Princess is tired of having her bangs in her face, but she doesn't want them cut (I don't blame her - I wouldn't trust myself within a 2 mile radius of scissors and hair). So she's been spending a lot of time in the bathroom with clippies and spray bottles. Today I asked her if she wanted me to help her with her hair, but she's on a bit of an independent streak and didn't want any help. So this look is entirely her own. I just hope we can get all the clippies back in one spot at the end of the day.

Any time I take pictures of The Princess, she insists that we take a picture of her with Sparky, as well. She loves signing "I love you." My favorite is when we're at the gas station and I'm filling up the car. She'll knock on the window every time and sign "I love you" and then put her hands up on the glass until I sign it back.