10-10-10

Oct. 10th, 2010... 40 days since I last posted anything. Somewhere in the middle of school starting up again and being in the trenches of the terrible two's (almost three), I have been completely unmotivated to post anything.

The whole idea of actually taking the memory card out of the camera, uploading the pictures to the computer and then actually putting captions (gasp!) to go with them totally overwhelms me at the thought of it. How ridiculous is that??

Besides, I've been collapsing on the couch every night and passing out by 9.

So, this is my blog post to hold me accountable. THIS WEEK, I will begin posting everything that has happened the past forty days. Well, maybe not everything. Some of it (a lot of it!) is just plain ugly and would make you want to walk away from your computer. Quickly.

Ok, now it's out there... I WILL get the memory card out of the camera. I WILL upload them. I think I can, I think I can, I think I... oops, sorry. I just dozed off there. :)

Life With Kids

No pictures to go with this post, although, if you could've only SEEN the chaos of last night, it would do this post much more justice.

So, I had a Mary Kay skincare party at my house for a girl who just recently started selling it. I only needed to invite like three people, so I invited some close friends. Mark had plans, so I knew Kate would be at the house with me. My friend, Sara, brought her one year old, Trevor, because her husband was at their daughter's soccer practice. Megan brought little Allie, who is 7 months old. And Hanna, the LUCKY ONE, came by herself.

I kinda knew in my head how this would go, but I threw it together last minute, so it was what it was. I never did tell the poor Mary Kay girl who had to drive an HOUR to get to my house that there would also be three babies joining us. It was her first party, so we broke her in "real good."

The minute she would start talking, a kid would scream, or fall, or require "attention". At one point, Allie started crying, so Megan went and rescued her (probably from my dear sweet CRAZY Kate) and put her in her lap. Allie stuck her hand right into the skincare products that the girl had out on Megan's tray. Trevor fell at least two times and at one point Kate was hovered over poor Allie (who, mind you, was innocently laying on a pillow) yelling, "NO, NO, NO" about two inches from her face, all while poking her belly. Needless to say, Allie started screaming and needed "rescuing" again!

We were putting makeup on one handed with kids in our laps, our attention divided between makeup and motherhood.

At one point, we were smelling Allie and Kate's butts to see which one had pooped. This poor Mary Kay girl (who was not a mother) had NO idea what she was in for when she stepped foot in my house!!

A Heavy Load

This is what being out of town for a weekend, getting two bags full of clothes for Kate from her grandma, and being completely EXHAUSTED will do to a laundry room.

I have my work cut out for me today!!

Maybe some "after" photos will follow. :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

I'm late on this and I have no picture to go with it, but HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the great dads and grandpas in our lives: Dad/Papa, Marlin/Paps, Gampy, and Grandpa/Poppy. You guys are great!! Hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day!

Sorry for the laziness when it comes to blogging lately. I'll get better when summer school is over, I promise.

I have just been absolutely EXHAUSTED!! I have four days of summer school left, and I couldn't be happier! Then, we are headed to Oklahoma for a wedding this weekend.

I also started selling Lia Sophia jewelry, so I have been so busy doing parties for that. It is a huge success, though!! I'm having a lot of fun and making a bunch of extra money.

I will, I WILL, I WILL get better at posting more often. Kate is growing up more and more every day and I need to make sure I document it on here. She is hilarious and keeps us on our toes, to say the least. We seriously have no idea how we will handle TWO! It's terrifying and I think we are still living in denial for a little while longer. ha!

Not Much to Say

There's not too much going on right now (in case you were wondering why I haven't posted since our big news!).

I'm teaching summer school and am working on my new business with Lia Sophia. I have four parties within the next two weeks, so I am busy with all of that.

Mark is working and taking pictures for people on the weekends.

We are pretty boring right now! But, I thought I would at least post a quick picture of our cutie!

It's Been Awhile!

I haven't blogged in forever, it seems like. It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

Mark and I were in a wedding together, which seemed to take a lot of our time. It was a blast, though.

Kate came to the rehearsal and the wedding (we've NEVER taken her to a wedding and may never again. ha!).

She was fine at the rehearsal... she and the ring bearer fell in love.

The wedding was a different story. My parents were invited to the wedding, so they brought her. I knew the minute she saw us, she would probably freak out. And, that she did. Luckily, it was before the wedding, so we kinda knew how she would react. I think she spent most of the wedding watching through a window. :)

She had a ball at the reception (despite the fact that she broke a plate right after the best man gave his speech, when the room was silent!). Kate is a dancin' fool! She was boogy-ing on the dance floor long before the lights even dimmed.

It was a late night for her, but well worth it. She was asleep after about 10 minutes on the car ride home.

Other than the wedding, I'm not really sure what else has been occupying our time. It just seems that the weeks are always busy and they just fly by. For some good news, though... SCHOOL'S OUT!!! I am teaching summer school from June 1-26, though. It's not terrible, although it does kinda cut into your summer a bit. The money is too good to pass up right now, though.

That's pretty much all that is going on in our world right now. I'll blog more often, I swear.

Just Reading The Paper

This was the morning Daddy gave her leftover lasagna for breakfast... well, more like brunch, but still, lasagna? Oh well, I'll let him slide this time.

And if you can tell by the pictures below, she has made the move to the table. She now pretty much exclusively sits in her booster seat. She loves being at the table with us.

So, Mark got her all set up with her lasagna (for breakfast) and mandarin oranges (of which she could eat for every meal for the rest of her life and be totally content), left the room to grab something, and when he came back, here she was just reading a part of the newspaper.

The paper was sitting on the table and she just, you know, wanted to have a nice read during her breakfast.

Seriously, should I pour you some coffee, Kate?

No wait, coffee and lasagna don't go very well together.

What a Day!!

I am exhausted! We had such a packed day, but it was so much fun.

We started the day with an Easter egg hunt at a local church. They advertise this as a 20,000 Easter egg hunt, so literally, there were a TON of people there. You had to register by 9:45, so after standing in a long line, we walked around the "carnival" until the egg hunt started at 10:30.

There was a parachute, a ball pit, a bouncy house (which Kate didn't participate in because there were lots of "big kids" in there... and the line was too long. ha!), a really scary Easter bunny, face painting, and lot of other games. We were pretty much content to just walk around and watch everyone.

Around 10:15, everyone started to go to their area (the egg hunt was grouped by age level) to wait for the egg hunt to begin. The area was roped off, but leave it to crazy Kate to go out there before it even began and start picking up eggs! We had to empty her basket and make her wait.

When the hunt did start, HOLY COW!! Some of the eggs were filled with prize vouchers instead of candy, so there were parents grabbing as many eggs as they could find and cramming them into their kid's basket. So obnoxious.

Kate did really well picking up the eggs she saw. She took her time with each one. She was absolutely adorable. She got about 10 eggs (literally, it was over in about 3 minutes!).

See her little green "wrist" band around her ankle? That was to show that she was in the 1-3 year old group and that think drove her nuts!!

After the egg hunt, we came back home for lunch and Kate's nap. Mark and I got all ready for the Cardinals game.

The game started at 3:00, so we left here around 1:30 to make sure we got there in time. Which meant we had to wake Sleeping Beauty up from her nap, which usually goes over horrendously. But, amazingly, she was in a great mood for the rest of the day!

We were a little nervous about taking her to the game. (How will we keep her busy? Do we take a stroller? On and on and on). Honestly, it all worked out great.

We found a parking spot for only $5, but we had to walk awhile to get to the stadium. So, I was glad we had the umbrella stroller. We were able to check it in at Guest Services when we got to the stadium, so we didn't have to worry about putting it under our seats.

It was Kid's Opening Day at the park, so all the kids got a voucher for a free ticket to a Cardinals game and a Cardinals hat.

Mark's company had given him tickets for the Redbird Club, which is up behind home plate. It is a section of just regular seats, but there is a big "food court" type thing with flat screen tv's, tables, lounges, etc. for only people sitting in the Redbird Club to go to. Pretty cool.

On our way up there, I ran into a local dj that I am mildly obsessed with... Cornbread from WIL. :) I have met him once before and acted like a blubbering fool that time, so why would we expect any less this time?? Hopefully, I will never see him again. Let's just say it involved me grabbing his arm and yelling his name and my face turning really red.

Kate was a champ during the game. She clapped when the fans clapped, threw her arms in the air when everyone stood up for homeruns, and even wore her free Cards hat for longer than 10 seconds.

We had packed lots of snacks, crayons, and a Binky, and that pretty much kept her occupied.

That and flirting with all the people around us.

Oh, and playing this really "fun" game after the people next to us left, called Play with the Springy Seats.

And... messing with our neighbor's soda after they had left. I kept telling her "No, no". Can you see the sneakiness in here eyes in this picture??

This is the only picture we had taken of all three of us there, and it's all dark. Oh well. I accidentally deleted the CUTEST picture of Kate and I at the game off of my phone and I could literally just throw up I'm so sick about it.

We came home and we were pooped, but we had time for this! :)

Hope you all had a Super Saturday!! Have a fantastic Easter.

Kate and Mommy Time

This...

plus this....

equals this...

And one weak Mommy. Dinner in the living room in front of the t.v.

Seriously???

I swore we would never do that once we had kids!!

Mark was at a Masons function Thursday night for a little while, which left Kate and I home by ourselves.

I made dinner and told Kate to go to her chair. She thought I meant her rocking chair in the living room, so she went right over there and sat down.

When I showed her dinner and asked her to come in the kitchen, she whined and patted at her rocking chair.

Ahh, what the heck? Eating in the living room once won't kill her right??

I couldn't resist. She looked so cute sitting in her little rocking chair waiting for her dinner.

So, we had a living room dinner with the t.v. ON. Baby Einstein to be exact. At least it was educational.

Then, we read books to get all the "eating dinner in front of the t.v. toxins" out of our systems. :)

Reunited

I have a friend from high school, Trisha, who I hadn't seen in a LONG time!! Like 4 years long time. We talk on facebook now and then, and after Megan had Baby Allie, finally decided we all needed to get together.

She came over a couple weekends ago and brought her little girl who's not so little anymore. Georgie is five and a half (she made sure to throw the "and a half" in there after I asked her if she was five).

Megan brought Allie and it was so nice for all of us to sit around and catch up.

It's weird that next year, we will have been out of high school for TEN years. It doesn't seem possible. It's even weirder that we all have kids now.

We used to make Spice Girl videos and hang out in each other's basements. Now, we have real lives, real responsibilities (other human beings), and real worries. It's crazy what a difference ten years can make.

Tuesdays

I used to like Tuesdays. Tuesday was our night off... home together with nothing to do. Now, Mark works late on Tuesdays and doesn't get home until 7.

I pick Kate up from Miss Marilyn's and then, I have to get creative about what we do. It is SO hard to keep her happy, keep the house clean, cook dinner, all while waiting for Mark to get home. I seriously don't know how single parents keep it all together. You are my heroes!!

It's like she knows Daddy is coming home soon, and on Tuesdays, she has to wait so long for him to show up. It makes for a whiny, cranky girl. Not to mention she tears the house APART and I am just one person chasing after her.

All that to say, Tuesdays stink for us.

So, I came up with a plan. All of my "running around" will be done on Tuesdays. Kate LOVES being out and about, waving at strangers, and pulling things off the shelves. It's a win-win situation. I get my stuff done, she's happy, and I don't have to worry about getting through that crazy time of the day waiting for Mark to get home to HELP US OUT!!! I plan a simple dinner that can be thrown together and we just eat late that night when Mark gets home.

This past Tuesday, we had a bunch of stops to make. We got stuck in the rain at Target, so we camped out at the Starbucks for a little while and split a chocolate chip cookie.

And, here she is on the way home from that trip.

Pay special attention to the details: a bulging diaper, no shoes or socks 'cause she pulls them off the minute she gets in the car, her carseat straps that are still loose from the winter coat days, and her disheveled hair... but, she's just chillin'.

How that is comfortable, I will never know!

This Tuesday, we are heading to the Washington Riverfront trail to do some walking... the weather is supposed to be GREAT this week!!

I think Tuesdays are looking a little brighter around here...

Old Pictures, and a Few New

Last week, while looking through my iphone pictures, I happened upon these:

This is what our fun Monday night get togethers look like!

It's been awhile since I've blogged, but craziness took over and we were left with no time.I am hoping for a relaxing weekend with not much to do.

Tonight, I am celebrating being DONE with the Balanced Literacy class I was taking. It was practically every Thursday night since about October, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity (our district pays the tuition for us to attend this one class through a grant they received). It was a little rough on our schedule because I wasn't getting home until 7:30 on Thursdays, but we made it work. So, yay... it's OVER!!

I am realizing how RANDOM this post is, but that's what happens when you let a week go by with no updating.

OK, let's swtich gears here.

I wanted to share with you Kate's mad obsession with the computer. Any computer.

Many a tantrum is thrown around here when she is not allowed to play with it. Occasionally, we let her play these little toddler games, watch Handy Manny on disney.com, or just type in regular old Microsoft Word. She can get a little crazy and start pounding on the keyboard (hence, my missing Caps Lock key). But, let me tell you, that laptop is her main squeeze. She would be content to spend her whole day with it.

Here's evidence of just how happy it makes her...

I mean, seriously...HOW can we say "no" to her????

My 27th Birthday

Yuck... it kills me just writing that. I don't WANT to be 27. I can't believe I cried when I turned 25. I want to be 25 again.

Oh well. At 27, I have a very blessed life and I should be grateful. Right?

We started the day at the Mason's Pancake Breakfast.

Did you know Mark was a Mason? Well, he is. And it's really weird. He enjoys it, so I am supportive. It's still weird, though. If you click on the link above, notice the super cool web page Mark designed for them (and he took the pictures... he would never brag on himself, so I have to do it for him).

Our good friend, Ryan (i.e. Kate's boyfriend), was cooking in the kitchen at the breakfast. Kate saw him and ran right in there with all those old men straight to Ryan. She LOVES him!!

After breakfast, we came home, got ready, and went to meet my family at Chuck E. Cheese. Perfect for your 27th birthday, right???

Scott and Maddie were there. Brad and Vicky were there. Some family friends were there. It was great! Kate had a blast. She ran around like she owned that place, stealing people's Skee Balls, hitting people on the butt (one was a really cute dad... he probably thought it was me!), and dancing in front of the blue screen while we watched her on "t.v."

Soon after that picture was taken, she got all nervous and wanted out. So, until the ride ended it was just Papa up in the air in a tiny car. He still steered and everything... all by himself. :)

After we partied at Chuck E. Cheese, Kate went home with my parents while Mark and I got some time to ourselves. That NEVER happens!!

We hit up Barnes & Noble for some Mocha Frappucinos and magazine reading. I am now caught up on ALL of my celebrity gossip... ask me anything!! This has been a favorite past time of ours since college. We go to the book store, get some coffee, Mark reads smart people philosophy books, and I read US Weekly. That fits us well, wouldn't you say?

We stayed there until about 7 and then went for a late dinner. It was so nice to be able to talk just the two of us. We did miss our girl, though... just a little bit!

All in all, it was a great birthday. Three years from thirty, though?? I STILL don't like the sound of that.

Cleaning with my girl

Seeing as how a recent post was titled, "Cooking with my girl", can you see what we do a lot of around here? Cooking and cleaning!

I got behind on the dusting in the living room, so last night, Kate and I went to work! Anytime I clean, I give her a little towel or something and she follows me around wiping the walls, the t.v., the carpet.

Last night was no different except that she was doing such a good job wiping the end table, I just went ahead and sprayed a little Pledge on it and let her go at it.

She was actually pretty good... she knows her way around an end table! She was very diligent. So diligent that half the pictures I took turned out blurry because she was wiping the table so fast.

She crawled up under it and scrubbed and scrubbed.

She would stop and fix her little dusting rag, then go on and dust some more.

Look at her still clinging to her dust rag... she takes her job VERY seriously!

She's very efficient, too. After she dusted the table, she dusted my foot. And the couch. And the Pledge bottle.

She's really into the broom right now, too. I need to get her a little broom and dust pan.

All I know is, this could be the start of something very beautiful...