11.29.2008

My Little Miss Adrianne..

Everytime I look at Adrianne I realize just how much she is growing. It kills me. With Alexa it's honestly not that bad, I don't mind her turning into a little lady, but Adrianne.. I can't stand it. She's supposed to be my "baby" and she even hates it when I call her a "baby". Even when I say goodnight to her I just wish I could suck her up and put her in a glass bottle to be treasured forever. I always want to hug her and hold her growing hand..

Isn't that mommy mushy-ness, and I am not a mushy person. But I just wish I could capture every moment and never forget.

Here is her first photo after we arrived home from the hospital, I love it, and I always have. It shows just how much sisterly love my girls have for each other, from the very start.

Alexa and Adrianne - January 2006

A day of FIRSTS...

We took family photos! Check them out, and while you do imagine Frank S. singing the Christmas Waltz... :)







Alexa was a little less cooperative, I don't blame her, we didn't get the photographer that I wanted which is something that I dis-like about the Sears. But Adrianne really did well and she was cute as a button.

After the photos we went to see Santa. It was awesome, there was no line at all and Santa was happy to talk to the girls and ask what they wanted for Christmas (Alexa would like a guitar, and Adrianne a horn). And for the FIRST time they sat on Santas lap all by themselves!! I wanted to cry, they are so grown up. The photo isn't one of them smiling, but hey I can't expect everything!

On the way back through the mall we wandered into Icings and got Adrianne her FIRST pair of earrings! She did awesome although she did cry saying, "It poked my ears!" She was fine after about 3 minutes and ever so happy to see her earrings in the mirror. Oh and I forgot to mention she picked the BLUE earrings (no not the pink ones that mommy wanted, or the clear ones that daddy wanted... yes people, blue). She will be wearing jeans for the next 6 weeks to match her blue earrings.. But she is happy with them and she says they don't hurt, they actually look alot better than Alexa's did when she got hers done.

When we got home we decided to defrost some meat and I was cleaning off one of our forgotten kitchen counter tops while Julius decided it was time to peel the wallpaper off the main bathroom.. Yes people, our FIRST remodel effort. It's quite a mess and we spent about 2 hours on half of the bathroom.. Its really bad underneath because it was originally wallpaper, then they plastered over the paper (why I don't know) and then wallpapered again.. Kinda hard to understand but I think we have it under control.

What a big day for all of us.. In addition to that, I got up at 6am and went to Walmart to get Christmas gift for everyone, then the window people came and installed the last window in the kids' room, and we even had time to do the laundry and break out the Christmas decorations.. WOW (needless to say, my homework is still lingering..) We might get our tree tomorrow, yay!!

Cause... "It's that time of year when the world falls in love, every song you hear seems to say, MERRY CHRISTMAS..."

11.26.2008

Three Hours and Still Organizing..

Do you scrap? Do you have a ton of stuff? Like an overwhelming amount... We'll I do. I have spent most of the day organizing my crafting "closet" it's crazy! How did I get so much stuff? And the worst part, while organizing I keep thinking of things I don't have that I should BUY!! It's a sickness.

Nearly done though, just all my paper and stickers to figure out where I should put them. There really isn't a convenient way to store stickers, do you organize by holiday, maker, color, there are just too many choices.. Not to mention my ridiculous amount of paper!

But I know I will get it done, I will finish it and I will scrap some tonight as a reward.. And perhaps I should start digi scrappin', not nearly as much storage issues.... And there are some really cute things out there... (Perhaps my X-mas gift to myself?)

11.25.2008

There's a reason it's called a Vacation..

It's my Thanksgiving vacation this week, which to me means I should be kicking back veg-ing out on my couch eating popcorn watching romantic movies. Somehow I pictured this week of ample time to strip and repaint my much needed home. I was imaging time to read through atleast 4 books with lots of time to prepare a home cooked meal and fresh baked cookies. The kind of vacation where time is an endless abundance and the bounty of time brings on a fire of creativity..

Boy was I wrong! I have homework like crazy just lurking in the corners, more paper-fun to do and that is not all... The laundry keeps piling up, and dishes haven't been washing themselves and the kids are all too happy to scatter toys in every direction with the all too familiar yells of, "I'm still playing with those!" (Really cause I thought you were watching a movie!!!)

The office is a disaster and my Christmas cards are not finished :( Thank goodness for this awesome cocoa curtesy of Coffee Lounge...

Speaking of.. Did you know they made Main Street into a TWO WAY!! I am happily making my way to Coffee Lounge by going down whatever road comes west of main then going down to Evergreen and proceeding to go North on main... When I find a HUGE SUV coming at me?!? And what do my wondering eyes see but a bright yellow line going down the middle of the road (where did that come from?) thinking the SUV has gone awry, I slow down and make enough space for it to barrel past only to find it followed by a number of cars and the parking spaces are all going the Wrong direction?? What a mass of confusion, only after I had made a evasive parking manuver did I realize that they had made Main into a two way over the weekend..

Crazy, really, I thought all of downtown vancouver had gone haywire! (Turns out it was just me who didn't know what I was doing). Keep your eyes peeled down there ladies, because it's quite a new idea.

I'm off to finish my paper-fun now, atleast I can cross that off my list WOO HOO! :)

11.24.2008

I'm just going to call it, "Paper-Fun"

How was your sunny November day? Ours was great, I got up to the girls already awake and playing happily (I'm glad they were playing contently together!) Then we made cinnamon rolls, no not the homemade kind because Martha Stewart doesn't live here... The kind from the refrigerator section. Just as delicious and so much more convenient. After a quick shower and a tub for the girls we were off to Alexa's second day at gymnastics.

It was a surprise to see one of the other MOMS there with her little girl too. Alexa did her usual "watching" the others, then kicked in towards the end. She really likes the gymnastics I just don't know how to get her more involved, or maybe she just needs to be more outgoing... Hopefully it will come with time. I'm always glad to see her trying :)

Adrianne was much better this week, and happily waited knowing that her turn is coming later tonight with Dad. The kids got to do the bars today, which Alexa has been asking me about for a while now. She was glad to have help from the teacher to swing on it.

Afterward we went to the bank where they entertained the tellers with their expressions of awe at the Christmas decorations, one teller even said, "They look really surprised to see holiday decorations!" (Is that a hint at bad parenting??) No we have not yet gotten out our X-mas deco and Julius and I are still debating on where to place the tree.. This weekend though we will put it into high gear.

I was going to take the kids to the park, but I have so much paper-fun to work on. I've been sitting her for about an hour and I am almost half way done so that is promising, and I told myself that I could work on the kids advent calendars once I got done with the paper-fun.

The sunset is really gorgeous, I can see it every night from our office window (and the kids room). Oh shoot I just remembered I am supposed to make meat-love.. Add that to the paper-fun and I don't think we will ever get out of the house! :) Hopefully tomorrow will be nice and we will be able to enjoy it.

P.S. Sorry no pics, I didn't have the camera this week.

11.21.2008

Chatterbox..

Why does Alexa have to constantly chatter? I swear she gives running commentary on everything that is happening or could happen or that she is thinking about. We cannot eat a meal without her counting how many bites she has remaining. We can't watch a movie without her telling me what will happen next, I cannot watch TV without her endless questions (try to explain last nights ER where a doctor had to open a mans eye area).

It does not end there.. in the car she tells me when to go, "The light is green now mommy." or "Lets go faster!!" Not to mention the endless repeating of, "Where are we going? What are we going to do? Then what... then what.. then what.." I must repeat the whole days worth of events over and over...

Oh and don't get me started about leaving the house after it gets dark... "But mommy it's dark outside, so it's bedtime." Heaven forbid we have to run to the movie store or pick up something from the grocery store. That results in an endless round of, "it's really dark... mom is it really dark...?"

And with the changing of the season comes even more questions, "Mom why is my mouth smokin'?" If the car is cold I even hear relentless rounds of, "My Mouth is SMOKIN in the CAR!!"

The chatter, chatter, chatter.... And ALL of her questions are directed at me, as if Julius cannot answer them. To which I tell myself that she must think I am wiser than dad.

Oh and the newest thing.. "Mom sissy isn't listening to me." I just want to say, "Mommy isn't listening either!!" Even Adrianne has picked up on it, often stating, "Sissy not answer me." and breaking into tears.

Good golly miss molly, will it ever end..

11.19.2008

Nastics, Day One

I took Alexa to her gymnastics on Monday morning. She was very excited. She did pretty good, although alot of the things were not as easy for her. Her class had only two boys in it, but they have been taking the class for a while now so they know what to do. At one point the instructor was asking her to run "rocket speed" well if you haven't already guessed, she doesn't really have a rocket speed.. Infact she doesn't have much speed at all. But she had fun and wants to go again.

Check out her pics!

Pre-class excitement

Watching the other kids

Big Summersalt

Adrianne and I watched from the bench, we were glad that we were the only class going on at that time so the gym was pretty empty. Adrianne spent her time running and jumping and repeatedly asked me, "is it my turn?"

Once Alexa was done Adrianne thought it was her turn and was gravely disappointed when I told her that she didn't get a turn. Then I felt bad, so I went and signed her up for the evening class of parent and tot to see how she would do.

Later that night we all went back and Julius took the class with Adrianne, she did really well although she is such a ball of energy that she had a hard time holding still to hear the directions. She had a blast jumping off the big platform into these big foam blocks. And once her turn was over she broke into tears, she wanted to go back on the trampoline. It didn't matter what I said to console her, she was still heartbroken that her turn was over.

I couldn't find a way to make her understand that she would have a turn again next week.. Hopefully it will go better at the end next time!

Here are a couple of the photos I took of her, she was kinda far away so they arn't great photos but I didn't want to distract her with the camera.

Listening for the instructions

The first backbend

Over the Mailbox

Trampoline Jumpin'

Fearless fall into the foam pit

11.13.2008

Two weeks til the turkey trots..

Well it's finally Thursday, which is my Friday. I have my tax class tonight which I am finding that tax and I do not make a very good combination (not that I ever thought we would). Julius really enjoys taxes and finds it all interesting, while I cannot believe what a huge system has been made with so many rules and regulations which are constantly changing. It's like a huge spider web and once you start to understand one section then a law is passed and it all changes.

I would much rather keep to bookkeeping, it's much easier and although you have to know some general tax things it's not as detailed as actually preparing taxes.

So far I think I am receiving B's in all my classes. To me that is mediocre but I don't have a will to put any more time/effort into it. Perhaps next semester I will have something that keeps me entertained.

I don't think we have anything planned for this weekend, which is a first. We have really made an effort to cut back on our volunteering. It's made the last couple weekends much easier. We still have a full December, but that is always full no matter what you do.

My mom is coming to town on Dec. 17th, so we should be keeping busy. Maybe she will help me to redo my house :) *hint, hint, mom*

Oh, speaking of my house, I have had a lot of requests for photos of various things around here and especially our hideous wallpaper. So I stopped at my Aunts house to borrow her camera and I will take some photos today while the sun is out (perhaps the natural light will make it seem less atrocious). Still asking Julius to PLEASE PICK UP MY DESK *Julius!* I would love to have some space for scrappin' even if I have to fight for square footage around here.

OMG I just realized that my scrappin' is the same time as MNO this week.. dang myself, I cannot get my schedule to have some sort of order. Will have to look into the times, maybe I can pull off both.

Okay it's 4pm and I still have to do my homework for tonight... Hope everyone is enjoying this nice fall day. We went to SWWMC and while we were there we got to see one of the Life Flight helechopters land, it was pretty awesome. :)

11.12.2008

A Big Day at the House of 'A'

We got up really early today, just after 8am.. It was nice, we were all in bed before 10:30pm last night so I guess early to bed, early to rise.

With getting up early comes more time for those daunting responsibilities.. (which I will start right after I blog, I mean some things are just more important!)

Alexa and I have been looking for a class for her to take (some kind of dance or gymnastics), I want her to have some time with other kids - AKA not her sister - before she heads off to kindergarten in the fall. I remember when I was little and I first went to kindergarten it was horrible. What a nightmare experience. I don't want that for her, I feel she should atleast have some adjustment time before I throw her to the wolves.

I chose not to put her in preschool this year. At the time of sign-ups she was a very shy and timid little lady, not speaking to people who addressed her and not wanting to make eye contact with new people.

However, in the last 4-5 months since she turned 4, she has turned into a different girl. I see alot of new interests and the desire to learn really emerging in her. Which I love! She is really interested in computer games, trying to do things for herself, playing with other kids, being more athletic, and she even spends time entertaining herself. What a different little girl.

How did she suddenly change so quickly? She is talking like crazy, making up stories, and pretending like never before!

So we have agreed that she will take gymnastics, which she calls 'nastics'. She has been asking me if nastics is 'tomorrow' for the last week, ever since we went to sign her up and she saw the other girls tumbling and swinging from the bars. (It's actually gotten quite annoying.. haha)

Today I called and officially put her in a Monday class, this being a day when we usually don't have anything else going on so hopefully if she gets anxious we will develop a good routine to calm her. Although she says she really wants to go and I told her that sissy and I will only be watching.

She has came up with some interesting questions, such as, "I can't hang from the bars, I'm too small." and "I don't know how to do tumbling.." I just keep telling her that she will need to listen to the teacher and she will learn how to do all the fun nastics.. (I hope I am answering her in a way she understands).

In addition to this, she has done really awesome at Sunday school (no doubt thanks to MC!). Last week she didn't even stop to give me a hug, she saw playdough and immediatly found a seat amongst the other girls, never looking back or even giving me a moment to let her grow into the little lady she is becoming.

Then after her 'school' she came to me and said, "mom, you forgot my hug." (something I can imagine me saying to my own mom.) And I said, "no, you forgot mommies hug because you wanted to play with the playdough.. did you cry?" and she said, "nope, I had fun." to which I mumbled, "well, you almost made mommy cry!" Little stinker.

So in these times of big change I just try to watch and guide her from afar. She is somewhat of a late bloomer in the personality department, so I will enjoy watching her truely immerge as a little lady.

Alexa - September 2008

11.10.2008

When life gives you lemons..

Today is one of those days.. It seems that these days I am having more and more of 'those days'.

I won't bore you too much with my problems which have been taking over my blog as of recently, infact I don't blog very often because I don't have anything nice to say..

However, we did go to the mall on Saturday and the 'big guy' was there waving and having a grand ol' time in his large red chair. Along with him were lights and an assortment of other holiday related items. The stores have completely bypassed Thanksgiving and headed straight into Christmas. I don't blame them, what better way to get people to spend money then to load their senses with holiday paraphernalia. It worked for me! I bought the kids 6 pairs of heavy knit tights, and their matching holiday dresses. Plus ofcourse who could go to the mall and pass up Cinnabon.. So about $100 spent in one day, oh and we also went to Home Depot to get a new hinge when I saw none other then MORE Christmas stuff, so we bought some icicle lights for the front of our house.

But that is the end of our buying, as I know we are living way beyond our means. And we don't really even buy much stuff. We just don't make much money, and with my student loans it looks like we have money that we don't really have.

I called the Vanc. Clinic, the lady said she could get our payments down to $329.40 a month. Which I guess we could make, if we did nothing else during the rest of the month and we completly ignored our other bills. It's really getting down to the nitty and the gritty here.

Plus we went to church yesterday and the pastor guy (we are still trying to find the 'right' church) is talking about how in order to be part of Jesus family you have to conform to the ways taught in the bible of a man and woman union.. WTF?? What kind of thing is that to say? I'm sorry but if you believe that to be true, then that is your thing.. But I don't believe that for a second!! I was furious, next he might say "And you have to have white skin and blond hair to be welcomed into this church." HOLY MOLEY, that was really hard hitting.

So then I told Julius that I thought that pastor was remakably bold to say something like that. And he said he didn't think it was that bad. That he wouldn't like it if one of the girls grew up to like girls.. I was then more infuriated, that is their choice and I will give them the right to choose who they like and who makes them happy.

Then he says, "Well what if drugs make them happy." WHAT? That is so not the same thing, that's not even related, as drugs are a mental stimulant and totally used by choice. Where I feel that being gay or a lesbian is not something you "choose" you are born with it and you can either fight it for your life and never be happy or you can do that your heart tells you. That has nothing, nothing to do with being happy on drugs..

Rediculous. Really before you get married, you should talk about these things. I feel this is a core value that we have really missed during our union discussion.

Now I am going to take a shower because just writing about all this has made me mad again.. That and I don't have any place to put my scrappin stuff, and I am just plain grouchy.