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Ellie and Addison
02.18.10

February Randomness

Just some random pictures from this month I never got around to posting…

Addie’s first time bowling. I’m not a big fan of bowling, but I loved the way she was rockin’ the shoes.

Ellie’s class Valentines Party

On the way to a Valentine Party with friends. She’d only hold still long enough to admire her tights. It’s very clear which of my daughters is going to be my future shopping buddy. Ellie only cares about comfort. Addison has learned early on that there are many times you have to sacrifice comfort in the name of fashion. She may look more like her daddy, but she’s got a little of her mom in her too.

On Valentines Day we surprised Kenny with some hearts on the pantry door. We all wrote things we love about him. Similar to the Father’s Day book the girls made him. He loved it. Last year I heard of another cute idea that I wanted to start and never got around to it. You start at the beginning of February and each day tape up a heart saying something you love about someone else in the family. Great idea I want to make a tradition… as soon as Addison can write. For now she just dictates and signs her letter “A”. My favorite one she told me this year was “I love daddy because he gets our favorite babysitter for us.” Yeah…that’s one of my favorite things about daddy too. :)

Speaking of Addison and her daddy, she sure is becoming a daddy’s girl lately. My girls seem to be all about me until they get close to age four…then there is a switch and all they care about is their daddy. Good timing for another baby. I need some love around here. The above picture of Ellie is a favorite of mine because it shows her life long obsession with grapes.

With temperatures being in the mid to high 70’s this week, we’ve been spending a lot of time at the park. Last weekend the girls had fun at a b-day party doing sack races. They were prepped for this little game from all the hopping they’ve been doing around the house in my pillowcases.

What’s a sack race without a victory dance afterwards?

Typical evening doing homework. Ellie always has a little “helper” that’s never too far away.

And as for me, I’ve been doing lots of cleaning. My energy level has been dropping big time lately and my back always hurts. Once a day I have to take a mini break and sit down and just rest for a minute. My girls are great to entertain themselves and each other, I just have to be prepared for the tornado that is the result of this little rest period.

Like when they turned my hallway into a “boat filled with treasure.” Just like in this post, they’ve also been doing a lot of pretend play on my bed. It’s never made these days. I love that my girls are creative. I just need a creative way to make the ‘after’ messes disappear.

Speaking of messes, the girls were supposed to be picking up their room last weekend and when I came up to check on them, this is what I found. Bless her little heart. Can’t blame her really. This looks a lot more appealing than cleaning to me too.

xoxo, Erin
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Mom Adventures
02.16.10

Dear Erin

{**Preface – I’ve made no secret of the fact that the “newborn stage” of motherhood is not something I look forward to. I really struggled through this three month phase with both of my girls and am trying to mentally prepare for it one more time. So this is a little note – to me from me. Something that I can pull up and read when I’m in the thick of it. Hopefully it will help.}

Dear Erin,

This is a phase. You will not always feel this way. You will not always look this way. Repeat those three sentences five times. Take five deep breaths. Now read on.

Before you know it your days and nights will be two separate entities once again instead of one never ending black hole. It feels like forever away right now, but in the big scheme of things, it really is such a short period of time.

Be nice to Kenny. Try not to snap at him. Everything isn’t his fault. You’re just tired. In the night, when you’re up with the baby for the fourth time – and he rolls over and half asleep mumbles, “gee babe I’d love to help, but since you’re nursing” …snore snore snore… do NOT smother him with a pillow. This will be tempting, but you need him around to take Ellie to school the next morning.

If you’re feeling depressed, do one of the following. These things always make you feel better.
– Call family or a friend (you have several great friends close by)
– Organize something. A drawer, a closet, the fridge.
– Step outside. Even if it’s just into the backyard for a few minutes. Sunshine works wonders.

– Do NOT go shopping. Retail therapy backfires when you’re still carrying around baby weight.
– Do NOT eat away the blues. This is only a temporary upper that will result in more depression later on. (Besides you ate enough junk food during pregnancy to sustain you forever. And then for a week after that.)
– Do NOT make a drastic change to your hair. Color, cut, OR style. Chances are, you won’t love it and because of the hormonal state you’re in, the consequence of this little decision won’t be healthy for anyone.

Don’t stress when the house is a mess. Don’t stress when the girls are going to school with “daddy ponytails” once again. Don’t stress when at the end of the day you don’t have a nice hot meal ready to serve the family. (Ha! I put that last one in to make myself smile since I rarely have a nice hot meal ready to serve the family.)

Hang in there. This too shall pass. And before you know it, you’ll be going through your pictures on the computer – maybe for a blog post, or scrapbooking, or because you enjoy just looking at them – and you’ll see pictures of your newborn baby boy. He’ll look so unbelievably small and sweet. And you’ll wish so badly that he could be that small again. Just for a few days. So you could smell his cheeks and kiss his little feet and rock him to sleep one more time. Remember this when you feel tired and when the baby is fussy and when the house is a disaster. And try to enjoy every minute you have with your precious newborn boy.

Love, Erin

xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
02.12.10

It’s Friday!

Well, not technically since it’s 10:30 on Thursday night right now, but for some of you on the East Coast…it’s Friday!!! Valentines weekend. Does everyone have fun plans? Plopping on the couch with a good flick like You’ve Got Mail sounds ideal to me.

Whatever you’re up to, I hope you have a swingin’ weekend! ;)

(**Yes, I know I’m getting a little cheesy in the last two posts with the play on words, but it’s Valentines – and I’m pregnant… and tired. Enough said.)
xoxo, Erin
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Uncategorized
02.11.10

How would you like your Valentine?

I’ll take mine to go.

With a few of these on the side.

xoxo, Erin
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Ellie
02.09.10

Project Life (Ellie’s book)

Finally ready to share some of my progress on “Project Life.” I’ve mentioned before that I’m not doing a picture a day, but instead am using these books for my kids’ scrapbooks. I’ve been working on Ellie’s book and I’m loving this system! I started in August (when the school year began) and am almost caught up through January. Here are some of the pages in her book so far:
Cover Page
One thing I love about these books is that I can add bits and pieces of my kids’ randomness. Like these little animal drawings that kept popping up all over the house last summer. :)
I have also been adding journaling inserts from my blog. So easy! I just pull up certain old posts that I want to include in her book and hit print. Then I insert an 81/2 x 11 page protector into the book to hold the journaling. Also fun to add bits of memorabilia like these little stars from Ellie’s Star Behavior Chart. (which we still use on and off – they work like a charm every time!)
I love how some pages are completely random pictures (like the page on the left) and then other pages have a theme (page on the right from the beach). It makes it so easy to just use the pictures I really want her to have and remember.

These pages are from Ellie’s first day of school. Sometimes I use a big journaling card and display it in a 4×6 slot if I have more to say than will fit on the little journaling cards.

I loved this blog post about a conversation Kenny and I had with Ellie and wanted to include it in her book with the “pool” pictures so again, I just printed it from my blog.
A lot of the vertical pockets I’m using to hold pictures instead of putting the journaling cards in each slot. I’ve found that one or two of the little journaling cards is usually all I need.
Love seeing her artwork throughout the book. This was a picture she drew soon after we told her she was going to have another sibling. Our family including “baby.” :)
On this layout I had so many pictures that there wasn’t any room for journaling so I just printed our December Traditions from my blog. (Grateful for blogging! It has made this project so easy.)

I’ve also inserted pages from my School Kits.  You can read more about how I document “school days” here.  
And I’ve added this packet at the back of her book for any other miscellaneous awards, artwork, etc. that isn’t already included throughout the book.

I’m loving this and I’ll tell you why. It’s DOABLE. All I’m doing is printing pictures and inserting them in slots with a little journaling. It will be so easy to stay on top of. Especially since I’m just picking select pictures each month to include. I’m so happy to be printing my pictures again and to have a solution for my kids’ scrapbooks!
xoxo, Erin
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Food and Cooking...or lack thereof
02.08.10

Scenes from the backyard

Yea! Our first tangerine.

Lemons are out of control, as always. This tree produces year round.

Lucky for me I have an amazing lemon picker. And he has two amazing assistants.

While Addie enjoys sorting and studying the lemons…

Ellie likes to take the funky looking ones and make homes for snails.

As for me, I just use them to decorate. :)

Last time I did a post on my lemon tree it was because my mom and I made Pioneer Woman’s lemon pasta, but it reminded me that I don’t love the taste of lemon. I do, however, love my lemon tree. And I love lemonade. I’m thinking I may have to give that a go. Too bad I don’t have a tree that produces rootbeer year round.
xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
02.05.10

Tis the season

Tis the season! For LOVE. And for making a Valentine box. Was Valentines not the BEST holiday when we were all in Elementary School!? I have great memories of decorating my box every year and being SO excited to get Valentines from everyone. I remember the year my dad helped me turn my Valentine box into a typewriter (I loved typewriters and wanted to be a journalist when I grew up). We went all out – conversation hearts for all the keys – it was cool. I remember how fun it was to deliver Valentines to neighbor friends. The thrill of leaving the Valentine on the porch, dinging the doorbell and running and hiding…do kids still do this? I remember in 4th grade a boy had a crush on me and he would throw candy at me when I got off the school bus because his stop was after mine. (I hated it – I was always SO embarrassed). For Valentines he threw a rainstorm of candy and stuffed animals. I thought I was going to die. My sister laughed her head off. Aside from that memory, my Valentines memories are great ones. Fun to think about Ellie starting to make her own Elementary School Valentine memories. She doesn’t ride a bus so we can hopefully avoid crazy candy launchers.

While she got to work attaching stickers to her box…

I made this little fella.

And soon her box was done. She was SO excited about it. Today she got to stamp and sort mail, model the mail truck, and wear a hat and carry a bag of letters around to deliver.
I officially want to go back to Kindergarten.

Speaking of Valentines and LOVE…

I sure love these three.
Hope you have a great weekend and are able to enjoy the ones you LOVE!
xoxo, Erin
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Ellie
02.03.10

Mail Time!

I’ve been volunteering in Ellie’s Kindergarten class this year and aside from working with the kids, I have been working on several creative projects for the classroom – a lunch chart, a gingerbread house, etc. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m totally getting my teacher fix and then I get to leave and come home and be a mom. Best of both worlds. This month her class is incorporating Valentines with a fun unit on the mail. One thing her teacher asked me to create was a mail truck for the kids to “drive” while they deliver their mail. I talked to my dad about it when I was visiting over Christmas to see if he had a box I could use and next thing I knew he was out in his garage putting the whole thing together. My dad is very creative, very smart, and very good to me.

Spray painting with my sweet niece, Claire. (my dad is also a very good grandpa)

All I had to do to finish the mail truck was add some letters.

Thank you so much dad! The truck turned out darling. I know the Kindergartners will love it! Ellie and I sure do.

————————————————————————————————-

p.s. Thank you so much for all of the help with the boy crib bedding! I have so many fun websites to check out now. I really appreciate it.

p.p.s. I finally figured out how to put my “follower” widget up so if you read my blog, sign up! Kind of fun knowing who’s reading. Plus it’s so nice to know that the people reading are friends and other fun women instead of some creepy stalker. If you are some creepy stalker reading this blog you should think twice. I grew up in a totally safe mostly Mormon suburb in Utah the south side of the Bronx and I know people.
p.p.p.s. Did everyone watch the Season Premiere of Lost? So good. Kenny was giddy about it being on tonight. This show is crazy and I gave up trying to figure it out long ago, but we love it!
xoxo, Erin
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home decor 2
02.02.10

Help!?

K – I’m having a hard time with this whole boy thing. I’m excited about having a boy, but not having much fun shopping for one. I went to the mall last week in an attempt to get some sleepers/clothes for our little guy and came home with these:

matching tutu skirts and flower headbands for the girls. A little Valentines Day surprise – cute…right? Anyway, this isn’t the first time this has happened. I venture to the stores on a mission to buy stuff for Kole and come home with more stuff for the girls. I hope I’m a good ‘boy mom’ because so far I’m failing miserably.

So here’s my dilemma. I’m having the hardest time finding new crib bedding I love. After Addison moved out I turned half of the nursery into my scrapbook room. I’m not willing to give that up.

The other half of the room still looks like this:

Nice and girly. I don’t want to change my green paint because I love it and I’m not buying new crib furniture for my last baby so I just want to find some cute boy bedding that has green in it and will go ok with the rest of the girl looking room. I know. Poor third kid. We’re hoping to be in a bigger home within a year or two though and when we are, I’ll go all out with an all boy room – no scrapbook supplies included. But until then, I just need some boyish crib bedding he can sleep in for now. He should have something that looks like it was meant for him since he’ll be playing in a pink playroom and sharing a pink and green butterfly bathroom with his sisters (and wearing pink tutu skirts if I can’t get my act together).

I’ve looked around in a few stores here and on-line at a few places, but I’m not finding anything I love with green in it. Everything has too much blue and will clash with the paint. This one from Pottery Barn Kids will work…

but I’m not in love with it. So my question to you is: do any of you know of any websites with cute boy bedding? Any San Diego stores I might be missing? Your help will be much appreciated!

(especially by Kole) :)
xoxo, Erin
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Mom Adventures
02.01.10

Pregnancy Update: 30 Weeks

(when Kenny was getting ready to take this picture I asked him how I should stand – which angle made me look the thinnest. Then we both laughed.)

I tipped over today. At church. In front of people. I was bending down getting Addison a water bottle out of my bag and the weight of my stomach pulled me forward and off balance and I just tipped over. Talk about embarrassing. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Kenny’s good friend was close by and he laughed – in a nice way – and helped me up. It was pretty comical I guess. I’m just a bit front heavy these days.

My doctor is going to induce me at the beginning of April so I’m down to just two months left. YEA. I was induced with Ellie because I was almost a week late and then she was big (8 lbs 8 oz) and broke her collar bone during delivery. Broken collar bones for babies have to just heal on their own. Made for a VERY fussy newborn (poor thing). My doctor said Ellie was way too big of a baby for me to deliver, so with Addison she induced me a week early. Everything went MUCH smoother (she was 6 lbs 10 oz) so the plan is to do the same with this little one. I don’t want to have him on April Fools Day, but we’ll pick a day soon after that.

I love being induced. Obviously I don’t know any different, but it’s right up my planner personality. I love that I wake up in the morning and know – today I’m going to have my baby. My bags are packed, house is in order, out of town parents are in town to help, Kenny has arranged his work schedule so he can be there. And I feel ready and anxious and excited. Guess I’ll never exclaim “I think my water just broke!” in the middle of a restaurant (which always looks so exciting in the movies), but I’m ok with that. I’m a planner.

This baby is moving around so much and I LOVE it. It’s a constant reminder to me that everything is ok.

I’ve gained 20 pounds so far. Good times.

I’m always hot. Kenny and I are sleeping under separate covers because I can’t stand our heavy blanket.

I’m not quite as hungry as I have been the past few months. I feel full for at least 45 minutes now instead of 10. Rootbeer sounds good all the time – full or not.

I miss sleeping on my back.

Because of my first trip to the ER I was put on “pelvic rest” (great term) and couldn’t exercise. My doctor told me I could start exercising again just in time for my second trip to the ER over Christmas. My knee still isn’t completely healed and this has been the longest time I have ever gone without exercising. I miss it. I really miss it. I miss aerobics. I miss my treadmill. I miss my workout mix on my ipod. I miss the regulars at the gym. I miss the kids club. I miss that 45 minutes of sweaty me time that made me feel good the rest of the day. Very much looking forward to being able to exercise again.

I’m puffy. I’ve entered the retaining water stage and everything is getting swollen. My feet, my fingers, my face. I so despise this part of the third trimester. Like it’s not enough to be gaining weight in every part of my body – but my face too? Can’t I just keep my face the way it is? Can’t I just look in the mirror in the morning and have one thing look normal? Apparently not.

My back is really starting to hurt. Especially by the end of the day. Back pain during the third trimester is the hardest thing for me about being pregnant. I feel lucky that back pain is the worst of it, but still, not fun. It’s getting a lot harder to do things like bathe the girls and bend over to wash their hair. They might not smell as good as they usually do during the next two months. :)

Speaking of my girls, they are so excited about this baby. They talk about him and to him non-stop. I seem to have little hands on my stomach all day long. This baby boy will have three mommys and more love and attention than he’ll know what to do with.

So…two more months. I can do that. We are all anxiously awaiting this little guy’s arrival!

xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
01.28.10

This week

This week we’ve been missing the rain. Last weeks’ showers were a nice change from our always sunny always the same weather. Plus kids look so cute in their brightly colored rain gear. I love taking Addie to preschool and seeing all the fun patterned rain boots lined up.

Rain boots make great accessories, even with ballet tights.

Although it’s nice when your rain gear actually fits.

BUT…not much rain this week. Nope. It’s been nice and sunny… again. I took this picture at Ellie’s school when I went to see her become “Star Student of the Week” for her birthday.

She made an ‘All About Me’ poster that she was awfully proud of.

It included some of her favorite things, one of her least favorite things (snow), what she wants to be when she grows up (a whale trainer at SeaWorld), and a picture of our family. And no, we aren’t a family with exceptionally large ears…those are our shirt sleeves.

She had fun sharing her poster, making a b-day crown, and being the line leader.

She also had fun sharing the Valentines/Birthday cupcakes we made the class.

This week we’ve started getting out some of our Valentines Day decor. It’s easy to make my house look festive during Christmas and Valentines because I already decorate with so much RED. Love it.

This week I have been amazed that my red Target rug from this post is still holding up so great.

This week Kenny is heading up an IPO at work. For attorneys this translates into “Initial Public Offering.” For attorneys’ wives this translates into “kiss your husband good bye for two months.” It’s only been a few days and I’m really missing the extra help around here.

This week, aside from playing the single mom role, I’ve also been working on my Project Life scrapbooks for the girls. I loved what Ali is doing with her book and the way she is adding memorabilia gave me an idea of how I can combine these books with the girls’ school kit books. I’m playing catch up because I decided to start the books in August when both of the girls started school this year. Hopefully I’ll get caught up soon and have something to share. I’m feeling the urge to get “caught up” on a lot of things since I’m down to two months before baby #3 enters the picture. You might say I’ve been “nesting” a lot lately, although truth be told I think a part of me is always “nesting,” pregnant or not.
This week the girls have been racing around in pillowcases,


hiding out in their princess tent which takes up the whole nursery,

and playing a whole lot of “restaurant.” They’ve been serving up all kinds of yummy food like (quoted by Ellie) “hot chocolate stew which tastes just like hot chocolate only a little more cakey.” If you count all of the fake food I’ve been shoveling in I can pretty much say that this week I’ve been eating non-stop. A good friend of mine (who must really really love me) brought me several Cadbury Eggs this week. I love Cadbury Eggs and as this post shows, if they are in my cupboard I have an incredibly hard time resisting the urge to eat them all. I didn’t do so well resisting the other day and when I was down to one egg left I decided it best to just eat it as well and conceal all evidence that they had even been around. This way Kenny wouldn’t see it and wonder if there had once been more. Made sense at the time.

Then I felt so guilty for eating all the eggs in one day that I decided to have just broccoli for dinner. Baby Kole didn’t like that combination too much.

I’ll eat better next week.
xoxo, Erin
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