Winsor Bloggityblog

Isaac's birthday

2012-01-03T14:36:00.001-08:00

This year we celebrated isaac's birthday with chicken and waffles. Neither of us has ever had it from a restaurant but we found our homemade waffles and KFC chicken delicious.

Also no cake this year, just root beer floats.

Someday Isaac will have a real birthday, but probably not in the next 7 years if the last 7 years are any indication.

It's a good thing he loves me anyway.

Gingerbread houses

2012-01-03T14:02:00.001-08:00

First Blog post from the iPad! So far it's taken me forever.

This is T's gingerbread house. I did the icing and he did rest. I am so impressed that he sat there long enough to put all of those smarties on!

Ahoy mateys!

2011-10-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

Not pictured: the lack of pants, and the cutting of playdoh with a sword. Because he wouldnt wear them and I was too slow.

3 months!

2011-10-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

At 3 months H is getting funner and funner.

She:
spits up A LOT. But not projectile, and shes still growing so apparently its not a problem.
likes to stand a lot
refuses to laugh
has slept through the night twice
looks like she wants to be a thumb sucker.
is more smiley every day.
gets mad if you recline her, and happy if you sit her up.
still refuses to make eye contact most of the time. If you move yourself to her line of vision she looks away. (which makes me wonder if she will grow up to be an introvert)
continues to tolerate her siblings.

Hey did you know . . .

2011-10-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

That leg warmers are coming back?

Happy belated birthday to E!

2011-10-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago E turned 5! Its pretty much the best thing thats happened to her since she turned four. She has seriously been looking forward to her birthday since November of last year. When her birthday finally came she was ready! She spent the whole day talking about how she got to choose and do whatever she wanted, because its her birthday. Breakfast? "I want a fancy breakfast, because its my birthday. I want eggs with ham and ketchup." Dinner? "I will get my own soda, because its my birthday."

Since then she has told every person she meets that shes five.

Sadly most of this blog is about E because her personality is so overpowering over T's. Poor T spends a good portion of his day getting bossed around. She knows exactly what she wants and she will not rest until she gets it. She asks questions over and over thinking she might get a different answer, I dont even think she knows she does it.

Last week I had my first parent teacher conference and her teachers raved about her happy confidant self, mostly I think because they have daughters and she is not the kind of girl to get taken advantage of. They told this one story about how two boys wanted her stand with them in line and she said "I will stand where I want to stand" Which is a variation of something she says almost everyday. But to them they were like "Yeah, you go girl!" I have to remind myself all the time that she has lots of qualities that will be awesome in 15 years, but are very frustrating in a child.

One of her favorite things in life is H. Our day is punctuated with constant requests to hold her. She really is a big helper, I can usually get her to keep H happy for a few minutes if I am busy with something. Instead of keeping her from picking her up instead we have taught her how to hold H safely(ish) and stand her up, one of H's favorite things.

Why my kids room is never clean and we dont do anything fun

2011-10-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Me: Do you want to go the park?
Kids: Yeah!
Me: Clean your room and we can go to the park!
E: Actually I changed my mind I want to go the park tomorrow, or maybe the next day.

2 months!

2011-09-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

This post definitely fits in the better late than never category. But whatever.

Our girl is getting big! She no longer wears newborn sizes (tear) at first it was because of cloth diapers but now its because she's officially too big. She weighed 11 lbs even, which is about what I remember T being. She is 54% for weight, 44% for length, and 31% for her head.

As you can see her most striking feature is her hair. I am constantly getting comments on it. Poor girl, I dont think its exceptional since this is the third time around. It sticks up pretty much just like this no matter what. You cant tell in the pictures but she has blond roots about 3/4 of an inch long.

She has gotten to be a little easier to handle, which is partly me and partly her. She likes her life a certain way and it took me a while to figure out how she liked everything. We have started letting her cry it out, because she was crying it out in our arms anyway and it seems like she finds the 5 S's upsetting. This way she gets to sleep faster and my back doesnt hurt as badly.

And here is proof she can look like a normal baby. (Even though she is channeling Queen Elizabeth I with that hairline) Most pictures of her she has a crazy look on her face so its always nice to get one where she doesnt look like an alien.

I now think that picture of her from last month was her first real smile. After that she kept doing it and it took me awhile to remember that babies like to smile at walls and not their parents. She is most smiley when you change her diaper.

She is working on getting her fist in her mouth and it seems like its an accomplished skill. Its one of my favorite skills to watch develop since you get to watch them punch themselves over and over.

I am sure there is much more to say about our little Hannah Banana but Isaac needs help battling the children. Yay for zone defense.

Baby its cold (60) outside

2011-09-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

H's first cold snap!

I can tell I've been watching Project Runway when today instead of thinking I love her pink socks! I thought Her socks add a good color pop!

Ya think?

2011-09-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

"Mom I think I have too much stickers."

First day of school!

2011-09-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

E had her first day of real preschool today! (FINALLY) She loved it of course. This girl was made for school. No one cried or looked back at all. She will be going 4 days a week, two of which include lunch.

T was going to go to this preschool as well but I decided to do a home school co-op thing instead, mainly because his best friend is doing it. That should start next week.

I am so proud of my big kids! Although I keep feeling like there is no way I can be old enough to have a kid this old!

Thank goodness for preschool

2011-08-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

In the last two days my children:

Painted with petroleum jelly

Cut all the hair off of a barbie

Dumped and entire bag of pretzels on the floor.

And my personal favorite: filled a bag with water and dunked the toilet brush in it.

This picture

2011-08-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

is exciting because:
1. T is wearing underwear!
2. H is in the bouncer!
3.T is wearing underwear!
4. Hannah is in her bouncer!
5.T is wearing underwear!
6. H is in her bouncer!

This was actually on Monday, but let me tell you i felt like i had completely different children. H had sat in her bouncer before that, but on Monday she started taking naps by herself more.

And T had resisted all efforts to potty train until this weekend when he randomly peed when sitting on the potty. Sunday he had all accidents and since Monday he has been accident free except when his mother takes him places and doesnt tell him to go potty. And the fact that he wont poop in the potty he just holds it in until naptime or bedtime. Any advice for that one?

Now if I could just stop self medicating with Diet Dr Pepper we could get H to go to bed before midnight. And then move on to the next parenting problem. . .

One Month!

2011-08-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

It seems so hard to believe that Hannah is one month old already! Life so far is good, I would absolutely have a new baby over being pregnant any day. But I am really looking forward to the kids starting preschool and dreading the day H starts moving around. To compare her with Thomas click here. (She appears to be way longer.) I dont know how much she weighs, but it took her past two weeks to get back to birth weight so Im guessing she actually weighs less than he did.

She is probably my most difficult baby so far. Unless I forgot about what they were really like. She is happy in the mornings and grumpy in the afternoons. She does not like to take a nap without being held in the afternoon. But she LOVES the pouch sling. Unfortunately my back hates all baby carriers, but its not bad if I am sitting down so I still put her in it because its easier than holding her. Thankfully she mostly sleeps well at night. Overall she is just a normal baby, I just had super easy ones before.

She doesn't really seem to look at us yet. Boo. Her head control is really good, like our other babies. Its sad to me that I mostly think about how she is different from the other two.

Just pretend this is a real smile. Yes we help her hair stand up. Although in the picture of her with the alligator thats what it looks like if you comb it down when wet, it sticks up anyway.

This is the awesomest thing about H, when the umbilical cord (or the pipe according to E and T) first fell out and it was still gunky it looked like a cinnamon roll.

Six years

2011-08-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Six years ago this happened:

Proof that we are perfect for each other?

The first time we talked about our plans for this evening?

Last night right before we fell asleep

Me: "Do you think you will be working late tomorrow?"
Isaac: I dont know, it all depends on how much work I have to do.
Me: Well you have a good excuse to come home at a normal time.
Isaac: Yeah?

Sadly he was not joking and I didnt care.

We may be lame, but at least we make cute babies!

Milestone

2011-08-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

Age I stopped cutting E's nails: 4.5.

We actually haven't in months. She just takes care of it when they need it. There are some benefits to having a crazy independent child.

Sad but true

2011-08-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

The following is an excerpt from a gchat earlier today

me:

i am back pre prego weight!

just not pants

the end i love you

isaac:

awesome

go you

I'm eating a giant brownie

One week!

2011-07-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Its hard to believe that Hannah has been here for a whole week! So far everything has gone really well. My c-section was the best Ive ever had. The other two I was really out of it and loopy, my memories of them are really fuzzy. This time I was really aware and talking to Isaac the whole time instead of just waiting till I could go to sleep. I had Elizabeth and Thomas with two different doctors and two different hospitals so I expected to have pretty much the same experience, but they were surprisingly different.

Here we are in the OR! This is actually the first stereotypical c-section picture we have had. Not sure why. Probably because I was out of it. And FYI thats a thermometer on my head and Isaac said my temp got down to 92!

Im not sure if this is the first time T held her or not. The first day they each held her for a minute and then quickly lost interest. After that their attention span gradually increased and now they are officially obsessed.

This picture is from when we were still in the hospital. But this is pretty much the only face she makes when she's awake. I still think she pretty much looks just like baby Thomas, which is mostly like Isaac but with my forehead and just a slight dimple in the chin instead of a booty chin.

Tomorrow!

2011-07-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

I am having a baby tomorrow. SO EXCITING. Comparison pictures of the last two pregnancies can be found here.

Why are my nostrils flared? No idea.

As a recap of this pregnancy for the future: Pretty easy, no hip pain (HOLLA!), way more puking, way less patience. 20lbs gained due I think to the new we dont keep containers of ice cream in the house policy, certainly not because I kept myself from eating cheeseburgers.

E and T are VERY EXCITED to meet baby H tomorrow. Like woah.

Hopefully we will pepper the internets with lots of pictures before you know it!

Carried away

2011-07-11T07:25:00.001-07:00

Sadly Thomas is not actually in focus, and I cant figure out why I do exactly what Im supposed to do with my pictures and blogger still butchers them. But this picture makes me laugh so hard. Immediatly after this he freaked out about all the sand in his mouth.

Who knew it wasnt cake?

We have THAT child

2011-06-18T09:31:00.001-07:00

Would you rather . . .

2011-06-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

Puke all over yourself in the car?

Or

Lock yourself out of your car and have to walk (20 mins) home with your 4 year old on a busy street on a 90 degree day because your husbands cell phone is on vibrate?

How about both before noon?

PS. Said husband cleaned up the car cheerfully and therefore receives no blame for his cell phone malfunction.

Almost as easy as the blue box Mac and Cheese

2011-06-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

I adapted this recipe from this recipe for alfrado sauce, which is our go to recipe for alfrado. And I added my own special technique for ultra lazyness. The result is tasty, and only slightly more work than the blue box.

Ingredients:
16oz pasta
1 cup milk
8oz Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese)
8oz or two cups chedder cheese, the sharper the cheese the more cheesy the sauce will taste.

1. Boil pasta

2. While pasta is cooking put the milk and cream cheese into a blender. Yes the blender. If you have a block of cheese instead of shredded put it in the blender too. Blend it all up. You may have to readjust the block of cheese a time or two. The cheese will not completely blend up, but will be shredded.

3. Drain pasta. Add the contents of the blender to the now empty pasta pot. If you are using shredded cheese add it now. Heat until the cheese is melted.

4. Combine pasta and sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Lost in translation

2011-05-09T06:04:00.001-07:00

Isaac being the practical and thoughtful guy he is got me breastfeeding supplies and chocolate for Mother's day. He took the kids and let them help pick out my gift, doing his best to explain why he was getting gel pads that are made in heaven.

Right after the presentation of gifts E says to me "It hurts you when you feed the baby so we got you some chocolate to help you feel better"

Something like that.

Edited to add: Isaac did more than this for Mother's day, he also took me out to lunch Saturday, let me sleep in, and made me delicious food for breakfast and lunch. And put up with me whining and yelling at him on Saturday while I was sick. To quote myself "all I want for mother's day is not to be sick or pregnant anymore!"

Elizabeth lately

2011-04-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to write this post for a month or two now, and I had so many ideas about what I would say about her but now that I am actually sitting down to do it they all seem to have left me. E is a big ham for the camera. She always makes funny faces, and changes her facial expression by the second just like a little model.

She currently only wears skirts. She will wear leggings or pants under the skirt, but she would rather die than not wear a skirt.

Much to our surprise she has started to read. She can read words up to four letters, and attempt others. She still prefers to just look at the pictures when she "reads" though. I am kind of afraid to encourage her too much since she has over a year before she starts kindergarten and I dont want her to be too bored. Also she LOVES LOVES LOVES books. When we went to the beach she spent the whole three hour drive reading and then sat down with another book as soon as we got there. Her favorite author right now is Richard Scary, although Fancy Nancy has a special place in her heart.

She is VERY excited to have a baby in the house. She talks about it all the time, what H will do, what she will do with H, etc. I have sat her on my lap with her back on my stomach a few times when H is kicking a lot and she loves it. She always talks about how H wants to come out and play with her. She still seems to expect a 6 month old no matter how much I try to tell her that H wont do ANYTHING for the first little while.

E is incredibly strong willed. She is 100% convinced she is right 100% of the time. She is usually convinced that I just dont understand what she is talking about when I correct her. Rules such as "Dont do X ever" dont work ever. She can always come up with a valid reason why she should be painting her fingernails, cutting things open, eating whatever she wants wherever she wants, etc.

We have already acknowledged that we are not going to be able to tell her she can't pick up H, instead we will have to teach her how and establish guidelines like dont carry her upstairs. I still havent figured out any behavior modification that works well for her, either she doesnt care at all or you have stepped over the line and she is so upset by it that she cant connect the punishment with the crime.

Having said that she is much easier to deal with at age 4 than she was at age 3. I think mostly because she is not overtired all the time like she was.

She has recently learned to pump on the swing! This is one of my favorite of her new skills since it means I can be more lazy. :) Also I dont have to worry about how to push three kids at the same time. I really feel like this is a super great age to have a third child, she has learned to do so many things by herself in the last few months that will make my life easier. AKA she wipes her own bum and everything.

E is super super cuddly, huggy, and kissy. Since one of my main love languages is physical affection I feel like this makes a huge difference in our relationship. Also I know its something easy for me to do to show her I love her. Hopefully this continues throughout her life.

I am sure there is so much more I could write about her, but these seem like the most important things.

Beach trip!

2011-04-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago our little family joined my parents at the beach for a few days. We had a great time! I got to take too many pictures, the kids got to play in the (really cold) water, and Isaac got to . . . uh . . .watch us all be happy? Now that I write this I dont see what was in it for him, but thats pretty much how he rolls.

In all seriousness he enjoyed it too, not just because we did. My parents got a really nice condo right on the beach so we were able to enjoy all that that offers. It wasn't really warm enough (70ish) to play in the water but Isaac and the kids did anyway. Until E said things like "the water got warm" and we realized that she was numb.

Isaac did go for a short swim, to prove his manliness.

The first night we were there my dad told E that the next morning they could go watch the birds eat as the sun rose. We werent really sure that she would remember, but sure enough at 6:30 she appeared at the side of our bed ready to go! After waking everyone up she stripped down and ran around naked until we provided her with clothing. He level of focus (when she wants to) never ceases to amaze me.

This is the funniest picture I took while there. I was trying to get a picture of the waves hitting my feet and so as the water came up I quickly took a picture. Unfortunately I forgot to account for my baby belly.

While there we also went to the aquarium twice, actually ate at Sanitary fish market (The t-shirts are the cool thing to wear in NC, Ive had one forever and never eaten there), ate waaay too much yummy food, and Isaac had his first ever BLT.

Sadly a few hours before we left T got sick and started throwing up, but he was back to normal by the next morning!

It was so nice to have a vacation! I am really looking forward to when we can have more trips like this. More pictures can be viewed here

Beach trip!

2011-04-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

In the kitchen

2011-04-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

So this morning T brings his bagel upstairs, because who wants to eat breakfast in the kitchen when everyone else is upstairs?

So I tell him to go back to kitchen to eat his bagel. Where does he go? To the "kitchen" in their room. "But is has a refridgerator." He says.

Umm, no.

So then I get distracted and one minute later he is back with his bagel. I tell him to go into the kitchen. On his way however E intervenes and informs him that he doesnt need to go downstairs, there is a kitchen in their room!

Just another conversation with E

2011-03-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

E: Our baby will say goo goo gaa gaa!
Me: She wont be able to when she's born.
E: We will teach her to say goo goo gaa gaa!
Me: You're going to teach her to say goo goo ga ga?
E: No, its goo goo GAA GAA it has two a's.
Me: looking incredulous and annoyed
E: I am sooo smart!

E likes to talk a lot about things that baby is going to do. Unfortunately most of these things are more consistent with a 6 month old than a newborn. Due to her strong willed nature I've lost patience with trying to convince her otherwise. Now that I type this out I realize I have also given up on feigning patience, since to the best of my memory I really was this short with her.

Questions I have been asked about the baby

2011-03-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Can we name our baby Cinderella? (that one started about a year ago)

Can we name our baby Abigail? Hannah Abigail?

Is our baby this big? (holding out hands)

Is our baby a princess?

Will we feed our baby eat crackers, applesauce, yogurt, squishy foods . . .?

Can our baby be a pirate for her first Halloween?

Are we going to rip paper to make our baby laugh? (A week after watching this video)

hair balls or I bet my kid is weirder than yours

2011-03-03T18:39:00.001-08:00

Just to warn you if you find hair disgusting, you will find this post disgusting as well.

On Tuesday E excitedly showed me a tuft of hair she had pulled out of her own head. My response?

Eww, gross, dont do it again.

She did it again. And again. Each time accompanied by a conversation about how bad I found this to be.

Then on Wednesday she presents me with a BALL of HAIR.

Once again, a serious conversation followed.

Then after quiet time she gave me a giant ball of hair. I was so shocked when she handed me the big one I bust out laughing. Because look at that thing! (They actually have about the same amount of hair)

Then I found two more balls in her room. I started to worry she was going to go bald before she stopped.

After lots of talking about it she seems to be over it. Thank goodness because I was starting to wonder if she had some sort of mental/emotional problem.

The weirdest thing about it though? Half the time she screams in agony when I am brushing her hair gently and when asked if it hurt to pull out the hair she said no.

Crazy child.

Baby names

2011-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

So . . .its been a while. No good reasons for not blogging. Unlike last time(s) I am not depressed or anything. I think blogging is something on my to do list instead of something I really want to do.

Except that now that I have the microphone its awesome. So I should get better at telling funny stories about how T calls his man parts his "stick" which he came up with all by himself despite the fact that we have taught him the correct language. This is funnier and naughtier because he mispronounces it. Making the st in into a d.

Which maybe I shouldnt find funny. But I think its hilarious that he inadvertently stumbled upon the correct swear word.

Ok back to what I am really here for. As most of you probably already know we found out Monday that we are having a girl! I am very excited. In fact I feel a little bit guilty how excited I am. Because if it was a boy I would be a little bit sad.

But its not! So bring on the adorable dresses! And ruffles on the bum!

Long time readers of this blog know that we thought T was a girl for a while and that we had a name picked out. For some reason I felt that I needed to do lots of research before deciding on a name for this baby.

You know, to find the perfect name. Whatever that is.

Anyway. We apparently should stop having children because Isaac can not name anymore of them. I already knew from T that he has problems naming boys. No name is acceptable. He dislikes all of them. I was under the impression that girl names were different.

Ummm no.

After me spending 20 minutes looking at every letter of the alphabet on the Baby Name Voyager and running names by him it turned out that he only found two acceptable. Rebecca and Hannah. Oh and he wouldnt actually call Rebecca, Rebecca he would call her Becky (blech, for reasons that only make sense to my parents and brother).

So we are back where we started and Hannah it is!

Arent you so glad you read this post?

Dear Janette

2011-02-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

Isaac and I were looking through old pictures yesterday and we found this one. You can look forward to the scene everyday starting in July. (Well this precise scene will take a few extra months, but who's counting.) We are so excited to meet your little girl. Especially E!

Love,

Rachel

Wise men still seek him . . .

2011-01-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

I was very excited to get this Little People Nativity this year! I just cant resist the Little People AT ALL. Its very sad. Anyway, I digress.

I had E set it up and as soon as she set up all the figures that came with it, all facing Jesus, she insisted that we get all the Little people and animals out to worship him as well. It was just about the sweetest thing ever.

Each time she set up a nativity this year she always made sure to have them all face the baby Jesus. It was such a simple thing that I had never thought of. We set it up so that it looks pretty with everyone facing out, but were those wise men looking at Bethlehem or at Jesus? Duh! Jesus!

awwww

2011-01-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

I was just looking over some pictures from last week when I found this picture:

Why I havent blogged but once this month

2010-12-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

Because I am not a good secret keeper, and the one thing I wanted to blog about I had to sit on for a while. Also I am really lazy right now. But I have the best of excuses to do nothing all day.

Winsor baby #3 is coming at the end of July!

We are very excited about this baby. Like first kid, except we know-how-hard-it-will-be-and-how-awesome-it-will-be-at-the-same-time, excited. Like I never cry and I just teared up thinking about it excited.

I have been wanting a baby ever since T stopped being a baby and it was so hard waiting for my life to settle down a bit. But now I am done with school and ready to stop sleeping!

So far its been just like the other two. I have realized though that several things that I thought of as things I did "when we lived in UT" are actually things I do when pregnant. I just spent a lot of time pregnant in UT. Like being pregnant apparently makes me much more laid back, and now I know why we ate different food then vs now. I know you all are very interested in all of this so ill quit while im behind.

E all stitched up

2010-12-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

There are sooo many things I should blog about right now, but this seems most important so here it is:

Yesterday afternoon T was down for a nap, E was enjoying quiet time, Isaac was having some quality time with the Ipad and I was having quality time with Harry Potter when we heard a crash. Isaac being the better parent immediately jumped up and ran to the rescue. I being the inferior parent kept reading.

And then he yelled for me to come and E started to wail.

To make a long story short she has a good sized slice on the bottom of her foot and a deep wound in between two of her toes, where she got three stitches. She was very good at the urgent care up until they did the stitches. When the nurse told her she was being to nice she said "yes and Im brave too!"

Now she is a sad little girl who has to crawl or be carried if she wants to get somewhere. Thankfully though it doesnt seem to upset too much.

Originally when questioned what she was doing when injured she said she didnt remember, but later she told the nurse that she was trying to get a sparkly dress. Thats our girl!

Carnage

2010-11-17T04:41:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on making an advent calender. (based on this one which I found through a google search) I completed the first three pieces, a sheep family, yesterday. I was showing off my creations to Isaac and the kids when T looked down at the little black felt scraps all over the floor and said

"Look legs! Daddy Look legs!"

Some random things about today

2010-11-12T06:11:00.001-08:00

Yesterday T unexpectedly counted to 5, today he counted to 9. Like all of his skills, I did not teach him this. At his age E could count to 13, knew all of her colors, and the alphabet.

Ahh the uneducated younger child. Its not all my fault, he's kind of unteachable. Or at least untestable. (You should click on that link, its funny) Ever since his language started emerge he has been like this, I would say "T can you say ______!" And he would give me the blank stare. The next day he would say _______ out of the blue. So its always kind of impossible to tell what he actually knows because he keeps that a secret. And while it was very important to E that she learn her colors, T could care less if he thinks white is brown for the rest of his life.

And now that I know he can count I say "T can you count?" and he says "No, I cant count." But ask him to play hide and seek and suddenly he knows how!

Tonight we are going to see How to train your Dragon at Isaac's (new!) work. E is very very excited about this. However she is concerned that the she will starve to death during the movie, so she has taken matters into her own hands and packed herself a snack. She put a yogurt, some cheese, and a spoon into her purse to take. Very adorable. But unnecessary. I tried to explain to her that there will be all the soda and popcorn she could want there. Her response? "I know but they wont have yogurt and cheese there!"

Eventually she ended up eating said yogurt and cheese. For "lunch" at 9 am.

Now she tells me she needs to pack dessert.

Halloween belatedly

2010-11-09T10:42:00.001-08:00

This year is the first year that E has been truly excited about Halloween. For months and months she has been excited, and she knew exactly what she wanted to be. Thankfully this year her costume counted
We got this jacket in a box of hand me downs. You cant see from here but it has a little fireman logo on the other side. He loved his costume!

Opinion time!

2010-11-08T17:24:00.001-08:00

The other day I stumbled into this little project while I was blog hopping. I was immediately obsessed with it. Thankfully it was the kind of project that didnt take too long so my obsession did not get annoying for a certain person I am married to who happens to get grumpy when I am obsessed with things that are not cuddling.

Anyway back to the point. Isaac and I disagree a little on how we think it should be laid out. He thinks it looks better like this:

And I think it will be easier to frame looking like this:

What do you think?

sick

2010-11-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a cold E lost her voice today.

It has been one of the best days ever.

I feel kinda bad thinking that, but seriously she cant scream at me and it is amazing!

On a side note T just told me "Never say no ever again!" after being denied soda.

NC State Fair

2010-11-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

I will be the first to admit that I always said I never wanted to take the kids to State Fair. But as soon as Fair time rolled around I was itching to take them.

Eating funnel cake for the first time.

This is a booth where you can milk a cow for a small donation to an NC State club. We stood there for about 15 minutes just watching. E had absolute no desire to milk a cow. When asked what her favorite part of the fair was she said "not milking a cow."

E loves chicken legs, and turkey legs are no different. This Turkey leg was all hers as far as she was concerned. She ended up eating about half of it, and kept referring to it as a ham leg.

At this point E discovered the rides. We were unfortunately not willing to pay the vast sums of money required to do so. She was rather distraught

MMmmm ice cream.

All in all we had a great time and we can't wait till next year when we can eat more artery clogging food!

St Augustine

2010-10-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

Isaac and I took a vacation all by ourselves to St Augustine Fl the beginning of the month, four days 3 nights with no kids!! It was very exciting. I didnt really take very many pictures, I just tried to enjoy the moment, so what we have is pictures of South of the Border. Which for those of you who have never driven I-95 from North to South Carolina is a giant tourist trap on the border right after you cross into SC. This time I counted the billboards and I counted 42 just going south. They start about 2 hours away on 95 and feature sayings such as "You never sausage a thing!"

As far as I know the entire reason for South of the Border's existence is that you can sell bigger fireworks in SC than you can in NC(and other states?) and then it grew and grew off of that. But its basically a town of tourist attractions. I was going to give tons more info, but its really better if you read it here or here. (the most interesting fact: Ben Bernanke worked there)

This is the inside of one of the stores, Pedros Mexico Shop . This store was full of el cheapo tackiness.
Isaac standing outside said store. A giant spark plug.

E's Birthday

2010-10-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

Im going for better late than never with this post, so as usual, bare with me. (is that the right bare?)

This is the banner I made. I am very very excited about it! My goal is for my kids to tell me in 20 years "It just isnt my birthday without the banner!" And/or make fun of it. Ill settle for being made of.Here is a close up of a letters.

The morning of her birthday she informed us she was going to have a number candle on her cake. Umm What?! Where that came from we have no idea. So Isaac fashioned this number four out of two candles.

Puddles

2010-10-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ever since we got the kids rainboots last week they have been dying for it to rain. Tuesday all their dreams came true and they were finally able to go puddle jumping.

They had a blast. Although afterwards E complained that they were wet on the inside, and thus were unwearable.

T wears his rainboots nonstop. I love how they are on the wrong feet.

Sunday afternoon nap

2010-10-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

The only way to get E to take a nap these days is to cuddle with her until she falls asleep. On this occasion she wasnt the only one taking a little siesta.

September photo dump #2

2010-10-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what a whole box of panty liners would look like on a little boys tummy? Now you know. I wish this was the first time an entire box of panty liners was made into a sculpture, but its not.

This is just cute.
T decided to pour himself some milk.

I just realized that the majority of the photo dump pictures were T, apparently He is more entertaining.

RIP

2010-10-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Our beloved Koo Koo Legoo has passed away. We knew this would happen sooner rather than later since we forgot to feed him and change his water a lot, but I think what finally did him in was the change in weather. We opened up the windows and let him get too cold.

The kids were remarkably not very sad about it. E actually went so far as to pretend to be sad. But she sneaked a little smile here and there in the middle of her performance. She is the biggest ham!

We buried him in our little garden. "Just like Fancy Nancy's sisters fish"

Happy Birthday E!

2010-10-03T18:24:00.001-07:00

I cant believe E is FOUR! I am very very excited about age four. Three has been a doozy for me and I am ready to leave it behind! Some fun facts about E:

She insists she is going to stop aging at 8.

She will gladly pick up any and all dead bugs, including cockroaches, and many live ones as well.

When asked which princesses she loves she includes herself. "I'm a princess! and I love myself!"

She is incredibly independent which means she feeds herself on a regular basis. read: everyday

Although I dont have the specifics she is definitely still smaller than most of her peers.

She is a good "cooker."

She prefers to wear dress up clothes everyday of her life.

She is a very good big sister and mostly plays with T very well, except for when she doesnt.

We love our little princess and are so happy to have her in our family! I am excited to see what the next year will bring in her little life!

September photo dump #1

2010-09-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

September has come and gone and I have only posted once before today. Ouch! So once again Im going through my many pictures and posting them, mostly so I can look a them again in a year and marvel at how big my kiddos are and how far Ive come photography wise (I hope!). Disclaimer for you photography types, I am well aware that all of these photos have issues. Im still working on my manual skills and I can always tell what I did wrong, but I am apparently not so good at doing it right.

This is T on a digger. Such a big boy! This picture also demonstrates what his hair looks like when it needs to be cut. It just gets bigger, Im sure eventually it would lie down but so far we havent seen it. I always cut it first because it looks so crazy.

A kissing ball made out of grapes! By far the craziest bunch of grapes I have ever seen.

E really wanted me to take a picture of her grapes too. So I obliged.

For some reason the kids thought it was hilarious to stuff stuffed animals under their shirts. You can see E (and a whole lot of dirt) in the mirror.

I love this man

2010-09-29T11:04:00.001-07:00

There is nothing at all remarkable about this picture. In fact it has many flaws. But the man in the picture is very remarkable and I love him more than words can say.

Bug Fest x 2

2010-09-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the annual Bug Fest held by the NC Natural Science Museum. It was so much fun for the kiddos. We got to see a lot of different kinds of bugs (duh!) and stand close to tons of people.

There are no pictures because I wanted to live in the moment and so I left it behind. Unfortunately that means I dont have pictures of the moment E held a caterpillar like a pro, alternating her hands so it could keep crawling, or the moment E, T, and Isaac ate chocolate covered worms. E now says she will eat all sorts of bugs, covered in chocolate. T sucked the chocolate off and spat out the worm, yuck!

Then we had a second bug fest at home when we discovered lice in her hair! We have no idea where she got it from, since no one we know has it. We are doing our best to eradicate them quickly!

Peach bum

2010-08-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today my mom and I made peach jam and I took this picture, it makes me very happy because I am in looove with shallow depth of field.

You can ignore this post, its for me, not you. :)

The end

Photo shoot with E and T

2010-08-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday a week ago I finally took the kids out for a practice photo shoot. I am fairly pleased with the results. Let me know what you think!

You can see more of these pictures here.

vacation part 3: The beach!

2010-08-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

These are just some of our pictures from the beach in no particular order since blogger is crazy.

The first night the kids slept in the same bed, until T fell out of it. Then we moved him to the floor.
We each got buried in the sand, E was the best though because the sand was level. Playing at the beach.The moat you see around the umbrella was made by the sand!

At the aquarium.

Pepper's anyone?

2010-08-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Yes what you see is a truck full of green peppers.

PS: does anyone know how I can get my pictures to not be grainy on blogger.

My new baby

2010-08-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

This is probably the biggest thing to happen to the blog since we had a baby.

I felt this picture, while stereotypical, is mandatory.

Vacation part 2

2010-08-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Or the part where I am a hypocrite and more!

After setting up camp the first thing we did was hike down to this lovely waterfall. (More like a watergraduallydecend) At the bottom there was stream where the kids could play. When we got there two small kids were playing in just their diapers, I thought some not so nice thoughts about this. We let the kids play for a while and they loved it.

And then this happened.
He fell in the water. Then we quickly realized that E was pretty much soaked as well, and we should take off her clothing lest it get much worse.

So then Isaac went to explore and this happened.
If this picture had audio, it would be of Isaac saying "Rachel, can you see our girl, shes going to die!" and me saying "Oooo such a cute picture!" On the hike back up T's clothes were still soaked so we ended up letting him hike in just his diaper. While the people who had removed their childrens clothing gave us a diaper, put dry clothes back on their kids, and went on their merry way.

We are such awesome parents.

Later back at the camp we made a fire and had hot dogs. We tried to do s'mores but the kids were too impatient to wait to eat the marshmallows, and Isaac doesnt really care for them. So I ate a lot of marshmallows. So sad ;)

The next day we woke up to cloudy skies, and a little rain. So we decided to take a risk and go on another hike. No pictures due to the chance of rain. We ended up getting rained on quite a bit, although the trees saved us from getting soaked. The whole way out E was running ahead, but go figure when we actually needed her to run she wouldn't.

Then we decided to go down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then the heavens opened up. So instead of a lovely mountain view, we spent the whole time inside a cloud. After a drive through rural mountain NC (different from rural Piedmont, and rural coastal NC) we met up with our old friends the Huffs and had some delicious Mexican. After a two hour drive we arrived home, and we both read the Hunger games in its entirety before going to bed.

The end

Vacation part 1

2010-08-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

For the first part of our vacation we went camping at Stone Mountain State Park. This trip got shorter and shorter the closer we came to it. At first we wanted to stay for 3 nights. Then 2, and finally we only stayed for one night. This is the first time we have gone camping in NC, so I was more than a little stressed about how it would work. Overall it was an ok trip. We definitely want another chance to get it right.

This is Mr. Kiwi, our tent. He was named by my friend Amanda in HS. My parents now have no use for a jumbo tent, so they gave it too us. I think it sleeps 6-7 people, and you can stand up in the main room. The kids loved it because they each had their own room zipped up and everything!

This is apparently the only face my kids know how to make, smiling or otherwise.

Black eye

2010-07-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Due to an altercation involving a kid sized rocking chair and table E is now sporting this sweet eye makeup.

Personality

2010-07-25T19:58:00.001-07:00

Its really hard for me to get a good picture of T. He doesnt really look at the camera at all and he runs around a lot. So yesterday when the kids were cuddling and I ran to get the camera I didnt have much hope.

But I managed to get some really cute(not photographically awesome but cute) pictures! These pictures really show off T's personality. Hes such a happy little guy! I can already see so much little boy in him, little things he does I recognize in 5 year old little boys.

As soon as he saw the camera he stopped what he was doing and sat up and said "cheese"

Making silly faces. I could look at this picture ALL DAY LONG
More silly faces.
Looking at Isaac, I dont remember why.

cupcakes for breakfast

2010-07-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

This morning while arguing over her wardrobe for the day E took objection to a shirt with cupcakes.

"I want to eat them! I dont want to wear them!"

Random in July

2010-07-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

I dont really feel like I have anything that is worthy of an entire post going on in our lives right now. Just random daily living. So for posterity's sake here some random stuff going on.

T talks like a big boy now. Mostly. He conjugates verbs and says complete sentences most of the time.

Remember that fight a lot, play a lot thing? Still going on. Most of the fights stem from the fact that E refuses to recognize that she does not in fact control the universe.

Speaking of which she pretty much inhabits her own world. Complete with imaginary people, birthday parties, and fun. Completely devoid of rules. Unfortunately I haven't yet found a way to get her back into the real world. Every time out is like the first shes ever had and she cant believe I am so cruel to keep her from the things she loves to do.

Isaac just had a mini busy season. It sucked salmon. He worked until at least 10 am every night and 1 am a few nights.

Last week I had my last first day of school. I am taking a three week nutrition class and then I just have one online class to finish and I am done! Yay. So far so good.

Our current favorite Pandora station is based on I will follow you into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. Mine used to be my Glee station, but it stopped playing as much Glee and started playing other stuff. Not cool.

I found a yogurt bar in Cary! I have been twice in the last week and really want to go tonight for FHE.

I have read a bunch of books recently. Like one a day for the last little bit. I reason I am a better mother when reading vs on the computer. Whats your favorite book? I apparently dont have one.

Ever since Seth and Janette moved here we have help in sacrament meeting. Its awesome.

Isaac is out of the nursery and into the Elders Quorum (mens group). He misses the little kiddos already. I currently dont have a calling. Its kinda weird.

If you havent seen this parody of the Old Spice commercials you should go watch it now. I laugh. Every time.

Our new favorite show is Modern Family. They are putting "reruns" on hulu and we love it.

We will be taking our first ever vacation in three weeks. Yes, our first ever, as in we have never really been on vacation in 5 years of marriage. We have gone really quickly to see some things as fast as we can in two days with one or more children, but never anything relaxing. This time I think we are spending a few days at the beach and a few days in the mountains. Hopefully it will be epic.

Ok thats it for this month. Hopefully the future holds exciting things!

dont forget

2010-07-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today is cow appreciation day! Dress up like a cow and get free chick-fil-a!

Find a printable costume here

beach trip

2010-06-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the kids and I went to the beach with my mom. Last years beach trip didnt go so well so we were really skeptical of how it was going to go. But it to our surprise they had a great time and we could have stayed hours longer than we did.

They had a great time jumping waves and digging holes. As you can see they got comparatively deep, and even got knocked over a time or two. But it never bothered them.

This picture is E to a T. Sassy. T held onto the digger in one hand and a shovel in the other the whole time. Whenever he fell down he never got upset unless he dropped his digger. Also you can tell a little if you compare her legs to his chest that I have one child that tans and one that doesnt. E has very distinctive tan lines (not visible in this pic) T doesnt really have any, but I do the same things with each kid.

Two appointments

2010-06-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

On Friday T had his 2 year checkup. His weight and height are 40th percentile and his head is off the charts, but less off the charts than last time.

Then today the kids went to the dentist for the first time. It was very exciting. They both cried a lot. But they are soo happy with the prizes, stickers, and new toothbrushes.

Afterwards E revealed that she thought they were going to take her teeth out. Silly little girl.

Fathers day

2010-06-26T11:26:00.003-07:00

In our house on mother's day I provide Isaac with a detailed itinerary of what I want. Isaac dutifully provides all that I ask for and more.

Then before father's day I get all excited thinking about how I can make Isaac's dreams come true. Excitedly I ask what I can do to make that happen.

And what does the love of my life want to make his day perfect?

"Nothing"

So I give him what I want.

Delicious food.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake pie

And homemade bbq pizza. Made with help from the best helpers available.

Trip to Charlotte

2010-06-26T11:24:00.001-07:00

On the 14th and 15th Isaac and I took our first vacay away from the kiddos. Previously we have spent one night away from both of them and a few nights with just T, but this was the first time we have been apart for more than 18 hours.It seems like so often our endeavors teach us what not to do in the future, rather than give us things we want to do again and again. This time was no different, we know a few things we want to repeat, and a few tips to help us have a better trip.

Next time we will:
Go to Carowinds on a 95 degree day. The lines are so short! It was great! Even the water park portion wasnt full to the gills. It was fine as long as we were in shade and being able to cool off in the pool and then go back was great.

Wear shorts without rivets. On one of the water slides Isaac wasnt allowed on due to rivets on his bathing suit. At the beginning of the line a lifeguard told us he "might not be able to but you can try" We saw a lot of guys going down the stairs after waiting in line. My favorite: three guys in tight cutoffs.

Drink lots and lots of water. Without ever going to the bathroom!

Ride the Intimidator last. This ride is the fastest, longest, highest roller coaster in the southeast. It should be noted that Seth and Janette rode its 100 ft higher counterpart at Kings Dominion. Isaac gets a little queasy on "spinny" rides such as the teacups and that kiddie ride he threw up on at Hersheypark when we were engaged. Since this never happens to me I am not very good at identifying such spinny rides and avoiding them, and thus I am really unsympathetic to his plight. I usually try to convince him and me that it will be fine, which doesn't really help. Once he feels queasy hes pretty much done with any all rides. I would ride it over and over if left to myself. Which leads us to our next conclusion:

Get the (cheaper) after 4pm pass, because Isaac isnt good for a whole day.
Not go with Isaac to Ikea. Ever. Even if he thinks its a good idea(which he wont after this). Because he doesnt want to spend more than 30 mins there and doesnt take too kindly to your idea of two hours in home goods heaven.

Stop at Gary's BBQ in China Grove.
This place was awesome. The food was good and the atmosphere was better. We stumbled upon it because we were looking for BBQ, and they had a sign at the exit. The pork sandwiches came without sauce and you could choose tomato based or vinegar based. And of course they had slaw on them. The hush puppies were bigger than golf balls. And my favorite, they had Diet Cheerwine on tap. MMMmmm Cheerwine. I am posi This place is a southern gem. The inside was decorated with antique advertisements.

I took this picture from facebook. You can see the showroom that houses two Tbirds (maybe only one in this pic) and some jukeboxes and other memorabilia. All the walls looked like the walls inside the showroom, completely covered with signs.

Imagine how sad I was when I realized a day later that we didnt get Banana pudding? You cant imagine the sorrow.

We have to go back.

Happy Birthday T!

2010-06-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today is my little T's birthday. It seems so hard to believe he is two already! T is one hilarious little man and we love having him in our family.

He can talk a ton and he is always entertaining us with his new phrases and shenanigans. For example when I ask him how old he is he makes an I love you sign with one hand and wiggles two fingers on the other hand and says "scissors! Scissors!" Well actually he only does that some of the time, most of the time he is too distracted to even answer!

He loves playing with E, and they play so well together most of the time. People always told me that siblings 20 months apart would play together a lot and fight a lot. So far that seems to be the case. He always wants to be into what she is into.

One of the things that makes T so awesome is that he sleeps really well. Im talking 3.5 hour naps all the time really well. Also we put him down for a nap at 10 on Sundays before church with no problem. And if he falls asleep in the car for a little bit we can just put him back down and he will go back to sleep. Its amazing. I am going to die with our next child.

It kind of surprises me that T is a typical boy: he love trains, cars, dinosaurs, etc. But he can get into princesses on occasion. He loves him some shoes.

I wish I had more funny stories, but apparently I forgot them all. Poor shafted second kid.

PS go laugh at this cake why doncha

SO ADORABLE!

2010-06-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

Isaac is making fun of me for posting this.

PS He just put a new sink in our bathroom. He deserves some respect

PSS He told me to say that

Sesame Street Live

2010-06-05T18:11:00.001-07:00

Today Sesame Street Live rolled into town and, thanks to PWC, we took E to go see it. She was a complete pill the whole morning, to the point where I wanted to cancel the whole thing because I thought she would just cry the whole time for random reasons. At first she told me she didnt want to go at all, after a while I realized its because she thought it was scary. (Characters in costumes freak her out, yay we dont have to take her to Disney!) But thankfully she was really happy once we got there. Maybe the snow cone had something to do with it?

She really liked it, thankfully. Although the intermission made her lose her focus on the show. The show was all about Elmo's flower and finding a place to plant it in Big Birds garden. I dont think she really grasped all of the nuances of the story line, but she had fun and she loved seeing her favorite characters.

Memorial day 2010

2010-06-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

On Memorial Day we went to Adam and Tiffany's with the rest of the Winsor clan. Although they have a small townhouse like us they also have a large common area out the back. Its pretty nice, and it worked really well for our activities!
Isaac deemed this picture "the best ever." T had this cookie he tried to give everyone, while they were playing Badminton.

Someday E will hate me for this

2010-05-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

E has an affinity for going to the bathroom outside. She loves it. She thinks of the ground as one giant potty. Up until now she has limited herself to urinating at parks and in peoples yards.

Until now.

Yesterday the kids were playing with chalk in the back "yard" and I looked out to see her with her underwear down around her ankles squatting over poop.

She pooped in the yard. 5 feet from the door.

Thankfully it was just a turd so I was able to dispose of it quickly. But still.

Isaac cant wait to take her camping. No need for a Go Girl for this girl!

pimping pwc style

2010-05-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

At this very moment Isaac is on his way to Charlotte riding in this:
Whats that? Oh you missed the post where Isaac became a rock star?
Only accountants get to ride in buses as cool as this. And only accountants get to go to the U.S. National Whitewater Center for a "meeting."

Children without borders

2010-05-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today while at the park E made a very nice pile of sand. And then she said:

"Look Mommy! Look what I made! Its a ballet school for the ants!"

Before we know it she will be on her way to Utah to build schools for locusts.

typical conversation with E

2010-05-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

E: what are you making?
Me: muffins
E: actually you are making cookies
Me: no I am making muffins.
E: why?
Me: Because they are yummy
E: why?

It never ends

Jill, Meg, and Lillian come to visit

2010-05-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

It was so awesome for us to have Jill and her kids come to visit us this week! We didnt really do anything exciting, but it was fun to have someone to wrestle kids next to. Just like the good ole-days in Wymount. Except our kids are older and more ornery.

Just for kicks here is a picture of Meg and E together about 2 years ago. They are two weeks apart in age and at the time Meg was huge and E was miniature, I dont think you can tell in this picture though.
As you can see here they have since evened out although Meg is still taller, but were pretty used to that by now. We have been dealing with it ourselves for a long time.

Tuesday we took Jill to get some Eastern Carolina BBQ, mmmmmmm. (FYI its vinager based sauce on pork, and spicy. The best way to eat it is with coleslaw in a sandwich.) We thought about going to the Zoo, but after staying up until 1:30 the first night we decided that might not be a good idea. Good thing too, it was 90 at least and humid to boot. We ended up just hanging out and going to the park the first day. Followed by the miraculous event of everyone sleeping at the same time for about 20 mins. I got a two hour nap, poor Jill only slept for about 20 mins.

On Thursday we went strawberry picking. When we left Jill said we just needed it to last long enough for us to get pictures and we would be good. Thankfully it lasted longer than that. All of the strawberry plants looked like this. Mmmmm. It took us no time at all to pick two buckets of strawberries.
Our little helpers helped to keep the amount of strawberries in the buckets low by eating as much as possible. After lunch they went on their way back to VA. Hopefully we can get together one more time before they leave!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

Let me let you in on a little secret.

I am a terrible person.

I kind of hate the loveydovey my-husband-and-children-are-better-than-yours kind of posts. Because sometimes in blogging I feel it can become a little competitive.

So instead of a play-by-play of awesome my Mothers day was compared to anyone else's, let me just say that it was good. Even though I spent most of church crying, apparently I am that kind of person. Who knew?

I am so grateful for the gift of womanhood. I am so grateful for the mothers in my life. The one that raised me, the one that raised Isaac, and the countless examples of motherhood and womanhood around me. I am so proud to be a mother. Motherhood is the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done, and sadly I know its not going to get easier. But I know that it will get that much more rewarding.

Updated!

2010-04-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

As you can see I have updated and posted a ton today. I usually dont like it so much when other people do this but I wanted to save some things for posterity. I have been working on my photography recently so I have lots of pictures up. They all look kind of grainy though and I dont know why.
No update of the last month would be complete though without this little guy. This is Koo Koo, short for Koo Koo Legoo. E made the name up herself. So far we havent killed him. Although I keep thinking he will die soon because he spits all of his food out and has a weird spot on his tail. But as I type he his making a bubble nest so he cant be too unhappy.

Wilmington

2010-04-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Isaac was in Wilmington for the beginning of this week so we joined him Tuesday night. While he was still at work we went to the Aquarium. Its a fairly small aquarium so it only took us about 45 mins to run through it. I mean run literally, with two kids and one me there wasnt much slowing down to appreciate the wonders of nature.
The kids favorite part was actually the nature walk outside. E would have sat on this frog and let me take pictures all day long.

T wasnt as happy to be up there. Even though we were only there for an hour it was fun and I would definitely go again if we are down in Wilmington. Which we will be, since Isaac works on this client once a quarter, and during busy season.
Then we went to the beach right by the aquarium. The kids really liked playing in the sand and they surprised me by actually putting their feet in the water. However T was doomed. E had been running in and out of the water and I asked her to do again so I could get a picture. T always the copycat ran too.
Then he fell down. Immediately following this picture the wave you see hit him.
He got a little wet. He kept saying "water NO!" over and over for about 5 mins.

After that it was time to go meet Isaac for dinner. We went to Flaming Amy's a burrito place that Isaac has raved about. He was lucky enough to go down there the first time with a guy who went to school there and so showed him all the good places to go. It was delish and we ate way to much.

Liz goes from A to Z

2010-04-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Liz's wedding. I was honored to be the Matron of Honor. It was such a fun wedding! Amor's really know how to party!

Bikes

2010-04-22T12:27:00.001-07:00

After listening to T beg for a bike for the last month, we finally caved and got E a bike and T a trike this weekend. They love love love it. Yes T was the one begging for a bike. Randomly out of the blue where no bikes were present he would ask for one, a few times a week.

The day after we got them as soon as he got up T went and stood by the door saying "bike, bike" (gike)

So far neither one of them can actually use them. Although E might be able to ride the trike we just dont know because T is willing to lay down his life to prevent her from using it. We will keep practicing and eventually they will get it.

This is E's helmet. We didnt get T one because tricycles are not known for their level of dangerousness, but he loves hers so much we might get him one. Oddly enough I thought about it for a while before I remembered that his head is bigger than hers so the fit wont be an issue.

Park time!

2010-04-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago at the park. E saw someone burying their legs and so of course she wanted to do it too.

From there of course T wanted to do it too. They thought it was the funnest thing they had ever done. Isaac kept reburying their legs over and over again. Finally he told them enough was enough.
I really really really like this picture.

Cheese

2010-04-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is T's cheese face.

Easter

2010-04-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Easter we had a egg hunt at my parents. The kids were so cute running around and getting the eggs.

E moved so fast it was hard to get a picture because she always turned into a little blur.

T did better than I expected, I still forget he's not a baby!

Collaboration

2010-04-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

E has learned how to peel an orange quite successfully. T helps by holding up the trash can lid so she can put the peel straight into the trash. Then she hands him half and they split the treasure. It works pretty well for both of them.

helping

2010-04-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is how the kids "help" us cook. Although most of the time they actually put their chairs on the inside of the kitchen and are much more in the way.

something epic

2010-04-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering

Lack of posts = me not feeling too great about life
This has several causes, its not really important. Lets just say I am looking forward school being done in three weeks, mainly because it seems like I need a babysitter just about everyday for the next three weeks. Which is only an exaggeration for the next week. After that it really is every weekday.
We really have done some fun things. Maybe I will post about them someday. Here is a picture of E. T wont look at the camera.

St Paddy's Day

2010-03-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

This year I tried to get into the spirit of things and so St Patricks day started with green oatmeal topped with green sugar.

We then each wore green (except Isaac). I forgot to take a picture. I did not teach E about the pinching, because I didnt want her pinching people.

We spent the day at my parents where my mom helped me make E and I skirts. Really I think I helped my mom since the bulk of her sewing skillz came about in the 80's and early 90's which means if she only knew how to sew one thing, it would be a ruffle. Trina shared the link to the tutorial on her blog. And while she reported it took her an hour and a half it took us about that much time and we were working together. But it was pretty easy. My skirt looks a little different since I didnt think that shape would be flattering. But I made up the pattern and it looks cute.

This is E's new favorite thing to wear. In fact it is just about the only thing she will wear. When we went to pick out the fabric she latched onto the polka dot for dear life. Then when we got home she wanted to carry it around with her. That girl loves her some pink.

It just makes me want to go to the store and buy fabric for 10 more. :)

For dinner we finished off our St Paddys day with this pasta. It was very good, very green, and E ate two helpings. It didnt taste very goat cheesy to me so if you wanted to make it you could just leave it out.

The princess and the frog

2010-03-13T18:00:00.001-08:00

Today E and I went on a date. We went to go see the Princess and the Frog, which was proceeded by eating lunch. E was so super cute. It was fun to be able to indulge her in her fantasy that she really does rule the world.

Lunch was Noodles and Company. YUM! I got the Pesto Cav and it was soooooo delicious. E of course got Mac and Cheese.

If that girl could live on Mac and Cheese alone . . .

Then after a quick stop for some candy, we were off to the movie! This is only the second movie I have taken her to since she was a slug and we could take her to the movies without worrying about her. The other one was Kung fu panda, and she was a little more than two. It didnt really go over that well. This time she spent the whole time on my lap. Which went over very well.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was cute and funny in all the right places. E really like it too. According to her her favorite part was when "they kissed and then they were married."

Seth and the Dragon

2010-03-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

For the last few weeks occasionally E has told us a story about a dragon.

In the story the dragon captures her and she is scared. Then Uncle Seth saves her.

Its a funny story made even funnier by the fact that she remembers it and retells it like it really happened.

E cant wait till the summertime when Seth and Janette move here to help her slay dragons all the time!

And I cant wait either!

She's a Winsor

2010-03-03T20:37:00.001-08:00

Every Wednesday afternoon Isaac's mom watches the kiddos while I go to class. Today on the way home E fell asleep.

And then she stayed asleep.

I carried her in and put her on the couch. She cuddled up and slept on. As you can see while this picture was taken T even tried to wake her up. "wiswes a up" He seemed kind of baffled by the whole thing.

She stayed asleep for about 45 mins or 10 mins after I decided she should wake up so we went downstairs.

Winsors are legendary for their sleeping skills. My favorite so far is the time T walked up to the couch at their house, moved a blanket, and revealed that Zac had been sleeping there for well over an hour. All while Wayne and I had good talk, the kids were kids, and life swirled around him. We had no idea he was there and he slept through the whole thing.

BTW T has been saying "momas" and "wiswes" for a few weeks now.

Hey look a post!

2010-03-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

Its been awhile. So I should totally post a picture or something. Or I should tell you about how I am going crazy and Isaac is working way too much.

But instead I will tell you a random story from today that will make you laugh. I promise.

The scene begins in the kitchen. I am making dinner so that we can host dinner for a friend whose husband is out of town, and her children.

T demands milk. I, being the loving mother that I am, supply him with a cup full of milk.

I go back to making dinner.

A few minutes later the phone rings, its our friend, and one of her children may be sick so shes not coming. While discussing symptoms and illnesses I look down and realize that there is milk all over the floor.

It turns out I didnt put the lid on well and so T was easily able to decorate the floor with milk.

When the children notice this E lies down on the floor and starts to lap it up like she is a cat. T joins her.

I went to take a picture but I was too late. If I had taken a picture though it would have looked like this:

Isaac's replacement

2010-02-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is what I found when I went to get into bed last night. Apparently E thought I needed something in bed since Isaac is out of town.

It was warm

2010-02-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

I am currently looking for a recipe for dinner. While perusing recipes and reviews I stumbled upon this recipe.

The sixth review down says:

I made this recipe. It was warm. I found out that my brother had put his foot in the soup when I wasn't looking. He's no good !

Ill let you know how it tastes without feet.

blast from my past

2010-02-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

Last week for church I braided E's hair. Then since it was wet she had wavy hair for the next day or two. She loved it. Both the braids and the wavy hair. Of the wavy hair she said "I look like a different girl!" And "I look like Tiffany!" (Adams wife, who has curly hair)

This happens to be a hairstyle that was frequently on my head in the early '90s. It was fun to see her with a new 'do.

Let it snow! (and sleet)

2010-01-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

We got snow!

Which, if we lived in UT still would annoy me. But we dont. So it makes me happy. In UT you are expected to drive on scary roads, here not so much. Because of our 4.5 inches of snow and sleet we didnt have church today, and I dont have school tomorrow. In the above picture you can see the road in the background. That was yesterday. It doesnt look much different today. We did go out today and the highway is fine. It seems that roads that got plowed(only major roads in only some towns) are good and roads that didnt are really bad. For the record E has on two jackets.
This picture reminds me of this one. This snow was not sticky at all. Probably because it was half sleet. So sadly there were no snowmen. The kids liked the snow for about 5 mins. At which point they started asking to go inside. But they loved looking at it. It was so fun how quickly T picked up the snow vocab. But kinda sad since he wont need it, and will therefore forget it.

This is Isaac trying to prove to E that snow is edible. She was not so thrilled with the prospect.

Wiiii!!!

2010-01-21T17:47:00.000-08:00

We have really enjoyed having the Wii. The kids really enjoy it too, which isnt something I was expecting. E and T both enjoy playing the wiifit plus a lot. Not that they can actually do that well but they dont care, they think its great! One of my favorite games to get them to play is the running. All you do is run in place. And they do. Its hilarious to me. T's attention span isnt quite as long as the game, but E does fairly well.

sewing skillz

2010-01-20T17:38:00.001-08:00

While I am in school my mom and my MIL take turns watching the kids. This semester I am doing an "internship" (more on that later) and taking 1 class mwf at 2. Today was Amy's turn. When I got home she said "We have been reading quilting magazines the whole time! It was great!"
Apparently that was not all they did however. She soon showed me that E has developed some sewing skills.
With some help (the pushing the needle in part) she can sew a simple stitch! She pulls it until the exact right moment. It was so cute to watch.