Now that the Olympics is Over...Or if you were Over it a Week Ago Like Me...

So you've seen Frozen....because who hasn't?! (If you don't know what I'm referring to when I say Frozen, you officially live under a rock.) It is this generations Little Mermaid. The songs are catchy. We saw the movie before Christmas, bought the soundtrack the next day, and I've the girls have been singing it ever since. In fact, they wanted to see Frozen again this past weekend but told them we should wait to see it with Dad since he hasn't seen it yet!*(You are welcome Court!!)

So if your household - much like my household - has been listening to Frozen on repeat for two months, you'll appreciate Christina Bianco's cover of 'Let It Go!' It is so funny and so good.

In other media news, were you sick of watching the Olympics a week ago like me? The Olympics is amazing for the first week and then I'm like ok, Brian Williams summed everything up that is of any interest in less than five minutes so I totally good to watch my regular show after I put the kids to bed. But alas! TV land is on vacation and just showing crap shows or the Olympics. Most people would opt to read a book in such troubled times. Not me. 

Picking a quality read for the whopping price of $10-$15 a pop is quite difficult. I mean I could just pop over to the NY Times best sellers list and trust that they and their millions of readers can pick something worth my time. But, again, a lot of unnecessary work. Especially, when Netflix times the release of House of Cards at the exact moment the world, the country, I got bored with the Olympics. 

Court and I watched most of Season One. We had a few episodes left to watch before we could feel right about starting Season Two. And watch we did! We even tried watching two episodes - on a 'school night' because the show is that good!

Before Court left on his business trip, I told him that I was going to rage ahead and watch Season Two while he was gone. I know. Totally thoughtful of me, right?

So on my first evening, after the kids had gone to bed, after all the dishes were done, animals were fed, doors were locked, I climbed into bed to watch Season Two, Episode One.

Spoiler Alert. 

It's good in a completely twisted, unbelievable way. Note: If you hate the American government and are already planning your move to Canada, this is probably not the show for you. Then again, maybe it is. Anyway, the unexpected twist in the first episode of the new season, took my breath away. I officially felt horrible for not watching with Court. So Court, I didn't watch any more House of Cards while you were gone. I am saving it all to watch with you. You are welcome!

See? I am thinking of nothing but your happiness while you are away. See the * above!

Instead, I watched VEEP. 

HIGHLY recommend!

Happy viewing!

Getting Back on the Horse - The Blogging Horse

I've definitely lost my touch - if I ever had one - on this whole blogging thing. I ALWAYS felt like I had something to write about. My family would even say... while I was snapping a photo or telling a story... that they smelled a blog post coming. They were usually right!

Lately, I can barely remember what I did yesterday, let alone recall something significant worth sharing. I just got to get back on the horse and then the creative juices will start flowing. Right? Regardless, these are my memories, my thoughts. If I don't purge them today, I'll never remember them tomorrow, let alone six years from now. So back on the horse we go!  (You can always follow me on Instagram. Not as much "purge" as a blog post but fun little tidbits nonetheless!)

The big news of this past week? I became an aunt again. Yay! Court's brother's family grew by one on Wednesday. I haven't gotten to meet the newest addition but I hear all are well!

Speaking of babies....babies ARE a conundrum, aren't they? They are so cute and amazing and they bring so much happiness. Every time I see one, it just makes me crazy. Throw in the fact that I'm up to my eyeballs in archiving my photos. I'm currently working on photos from 2009 - Grace's first year. All those firsts! All the cuteness! I'm just in total bombardment of "baby" and I ain't gonna lie, it makes me want another.

At least, it makes me think about wanting another. A lot. God was onto something when he made babies so darn cute. He was also quite genius in sprinkling some kind of magic voodoo powder on a mother's memory so that she'll look right past the haggard, exhausted mother holding a tiny, new baby in the grocery store and at first sight want another....instantly...overwhelmingly. It's crazy. (*Side note: Funny how He didn't feel the need to sprinkle the same magic voodoo powder on men. They can recall all the HARD stuff on contact! They are not as easily bamboozled by cute...cute babies that is! ha!)

So other than 'The Great Baby Debate' going on upstairs, we've been up to the usual. Busy, busy.

The sun has been out so we've been out more too. Bring on summer! It is still amazing to see Grace run post surgery. She just flies! She easily runs a half mile at a dead sprint. 

I took this photo with my iPhone. The sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see the screen so I just blindly snapped away.

When we got home from our walk I looked at it and it really hit home. It captured so much more than I'd realized. Yes, it captured a sunny winter day. The vineyard that surrounds our house. Mt. Adams in the background. 

What caught me most was the distance. How far Grace was down the road. At a dead sprint. Symbolic of her growing and maturing.

Charlotte in hot pursuit. Snipping at her heels.

Also, extremely symbolic.

And me. Left in the dust.

You guessed it. Symbolic.

There are times when I've had it up to my ears and I've secretly counted down the days until Grace will be in kindergarten...ALL DAY! EVERYDAY! After seeing this picture it hit me pretty hard how much I'll miss her. All day. Everyday. 

Switching gears. Dogs! Oh thank god for dogs! The dogs love going on our walks. It helps burn off some energy. Luckily, they entertain themselves for the most part. You never know what they are going to be up to when you look outside. 

Spring is springing and so they are chasing and sometime capturing little critters that are returning to these parts. I am REALLY hoping they channel some of their energy towards snuffing out snakes this summer. Fingers crossed.

Court is out of town for a few days which is hard in all ways OTHER than the cooking department. It's no secret I don't love to cook. The only reason I ever REALLY cook a meal is when Court gets home from work. Even then, it sometimes doesn't happen! So while the cat is away, the mice will eat pancakes for dinner, hit Red Robin and order pizza. woo hoo!!

Other than trying not to cook, we did manage to have a little fun. We saw the Lego movie, and did a few projects. The girls made chalk which they loved!

We also made panda ear headbands. Grace and Charlotte pretty much have refused all hair doodads of any kind. Charlotte will do a pony tail from time to time but Grace absolutely refuses.

Slap some white and black felt on a piece of plastic and they won't take it off.

Go figure.

Killing Precious Time

The power company decided to do some maintenance on the power lines around our house thereby shutting down or power ALL DAY! We couldn't be at home because there would be no heat or light so we visited Santa's reindeer...

the girls got haircuts and then went to see the movie Frozen!

We saw the 3D version and saved $2 by ordering popcorn bigger than Charlotte.

The girls LOVED the movie!

LOVED!

I think Disney will be heavily influencing Grace's birthday and Christmas wish lists!

Not the day I wanted. With Grace's birthday party this weekend, I wanted to be at home cleaning and prepping but this was a great day…even if brought about by inconvenient circumstances!

We Interrupt Unpacking...

It's been busy and the girls have done a pretty tremendous job of entertaining themselves.

(Truth be told, Stranger and Hiccup have earned their keep a thousand times over.)

So we broke things up yesterday morning and while Court went to work, I took the girls to the Cherry Festival at Bill's Berry Farm to blow off some steam...and get some donuts! It almost didn't happen because a huge thunderstorm rolled through that morning, but the sun broke through and thus we were on our way!

First stop, donuts!

Homemade cherry donuts hot off the press. 

Grace loves theses suckers and had the skies opened up and she missed out on all the other fun activities, she wouldn't have minded as long as she left with a tummy full of these!

Mission accomplished. 

Next stop? 

The train!

The girls displayed obvious signs of cabin fever. They were go, go, go!!

Off to the tree fort...stopping only for a quick drink and another donut! 

I was a bit worried about Grace out on the farm in her casts. It just had rained really hard and I feared mud and dirt. She still has 3.5 weeks to go and that is a long time when you are itchy and uncomfortable. So I concocted a little foot protection with our grocery bags. It did the trick!

In the middle of picking cherries, Court called and our Uhaul truck that we had rented for the afternoon hadn't been returned and thus, we were out a truck. They did have a truck NOW but it was available only for three hours!

So I hightailed it out of Bill's farm and back to the old house to meet Court. 

We moved and hauled all the remaining 'big stuff' and got it on the truck. We ran back to the new house for an unload and at that point the girls just lost it. It was HOT!! And they were worn out. 

Court - the amazing trooper that he is - returned to the old house for one more run before we ran out of time with the truck. While he was able to pack and clear out a lot, he wasn't able to get it all!

Yes, we'll be going back. In fact, this week is going to be all about making little trips back and forth.

UGH!

It feels like it will never be over!

But when I stop to take a breath, and I look around - I really look around all the world is right. 

Treading Water; Barely Afloat

It seems I am finding less and less time to get new posts up these days. There just isn't enough time in the day! To all those people who can't figure out what SAHMs do all day...to them I say we are always busy. Always. And it is exhausting. I think this past week my body has just given out due to pure exhaustion...and probably a little stress.

Last weekend, everything started off great!

Court kicked off Saturday with doughnuts for the girls. They thought they'd died and gone to heaven. Then, they asked to go to work with Dad and I had a few hours to get a few things done.

They worked hard!! Soon it was quittin' time. I picked the girls up and our cousins got new baby chicks, so of course, we had to go see them! Oh they were darling and Grace and Charlotte LOVED them! Wish I could've taken a few pictures but Grace and Charlotte were being a little too affectionate. Grace and Charlotte were even lucky enough to name two of the chicks: Blackberry and Sammy is what they chose!

So like I said, everything was off to a great start. Then, we noticed that Grace was getting dark, purple circles under her eyes. He mood and energy level were off.

On Sunday, Grace woke up with eyes covered in gunk. We thought it might be allergy related but it being Sunday and all, there wasn't much we could do. As the day wore on, she seemed a bit better.  Eventually, we packed both girls in the bike trailer and hauled them on a bike ride. Only my bike is equipped to pull the trailer and on the way to...it was downhill, but on the way fro...it was UPHILL - mind you, a very small incline but uphill nonetheless. And let me tell you...these girls aren't getting any lighter and I am not getting any more in shape. An additional 70+/- pounds is enough to make an anthill feel like Everest...unless you actually climbing Everest because then you'll likely be carrying gear weighing much more than 70+ pounds...not to mention oxygen.....Anyway, you get the point. It was a long haul. I was pooped! Lucky for me, we were having dinner at my in-laws so I didn't have to make dinner. Yah-hoo! Both girls were exhausted after a big day so bedtime was a breeze. I think I was asleep even before I hit the pillow.

The next morning, everything went full speed off course. Both girls woke up with eyes practically glued stuck with gunky goodness. It was looking less like allergies and more like pink eye. Perfect. {sigh}

Silver lining. The doctor didn't require us to go into the office. They just called in a prescription and quarantined the girls (and therefore me) for 24 hours from their first dose of medication. That meant no ballet for Grace and Charlotte and no school for Grace the following day. It was a long two days but by Wednesday I thought everyone was on the path to recovery. Their eyes were no longer goopy but their noses were dripping. So we skipped gymnastics and ran some errands instead. We all needed to get out of the house but we needed something leisurely. No stress. After we were done with our errands, the sun came out so I took the girls to the park.

Then we hit the library so that we could kill a little time until Court could meet us for lunch. So far, so good. Fresh air. Leisure. No stress.

Everything was looking up until I started backing up...literally...to head home. Then? Fender Bender. Yup. A little one. Everyone is/was fine and that's all I'm gonna say about that. But for a day where we trying to avoid stress, it definitely found us!

That night, I got hit by flu-like symptoms minus the flu. My whole body ached. I couldn't get warm. I had chills. Sleep was what I needed but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

In the morning, we tried to get back to normal. Grace went to school. Charlotte and I went to the grocery store and ran some other "errands". After lunch, Charlotte took a turn for the worse. She was cranky and tired and kept moaning and crying. I could tell her body hurt just like mine had the night before. Eventually, I gave up on trying to get anything done - cleaning, cooking - (I hadn't accomplished anything the entire week why start now?) - and just held little Charlotte in my arms for two hours. She didn't sleep but she rested. I didn't sleep but I really wanted to. After dinner, my chills and body aches came back hard. I think I took a shower and was in bed by 8. The girls were both asleep so I figured I could hit the hay too.

WRONG!

Charlotte was awake at 9 and though I tried to put her back to bed, Court quickly determined that she was hot to the touch. She was running a fever and it was going to be a loooooonnnng night. She tossed and turned and cried and woke up all through the night. So while little sleep happened, at some point during the night, the fever broke. Me on the other hand,

So here we are. A week later. I'm exhausted. My entire body hurts. I've been treading water - frantically treading water - trying to hang on but barely afloat. Let there be relief, sweet relief...STAT!!

UPDATE: I'm Up to My Eyeballs in Crap! Literally!

While sitting outside watching the girls play, I hit the publish button on my last post. It is still on the chilly side here so I ran into the house to get a sweater. We'd been outside for about 45 minutes.  Lindey too! Charlotte immediately announced she wanted to put on a diaper. She's been wearing panties so I immediately knew something was wrong so I scooped her up and quickly ran to the bathroom. She had soiled her underpants. Two steps forward and one back apparently. She'd already had several successful trips to the potty today! But that is why they call it potty training. We cleaned her up and put a diaper back on her because that is what she wanted. And as I headed back outside - sweater in hand - to enjoy some spring sunshine and fresh air, you'll never believe what I came across.

Another Lindey turd! Come on!

It's Been a Sh*tty Day!

So after getting back home and with everyone sick, I took the girls to the doctor this morning. I think I got off the phone at 8:05 am scheduling an appointment at 9 am. THAT SAME MORNING!

I raced around the house, honking at the girls to hurry up with their coats and shoes. I threw snacks and waters into a bag and we ran out to the car. By 8:20 we were pulling out the driveway. The doctor's office is over an hour away and I had 40 minutes to get there. So you do the math to determine how fast I was driving. Let's just say it was less than 85 but faster than 75...most of the time!

In fact, I was so nervous about how fast I was driving, I quickly slowed down and lept into the right lane when I saw a fast approaching Jeep in my rear view mirror. Something about his speed startled me and I thought the only reason someone could be going THAT fast is 1) they are undercover police officers, 2) they are just plain stupid or 3) they legitimately have to be somewhere! Whatever the reason, I figured it was better that they lead the way and smoke out any cops hidden along the way. As the Jeep passed, I looked in to see if there were any radios or guns. There were neither. Just two average looking men. So I chalked up their speed to stupidity and merged back to the left lane and kept on my merry little way.

The Jeep, traveling much faster than me for the record, took off. A few miles down the road, I caught up to him because some joker was, get this, going 70 mph in a 70 mph zone! The nerve! The Jeep sat on the slow poke for what seemed like eternity before slow poke finally got over. Again, the Jeep took off and we were on our way once more.

These little slow ups happened about two more times. On the second one, the slowpoke decided he was going to show the Jeep and NOT get over. The next thing I knew, the Jeep flipped on police lights...but police lights like I'd never seen. They just flashed down along the rear bumper and they didn't make any noise. I just about died because here I had been speeding along right behind a cop! The guy in front of the Jeep, probably did the same because he pulled the car off to the side of the highway before I could say "Oh sh*t!" To my surprise, the Jeep just kept going but this time took off at a clip well over 100 mph. He was gone in a flash with his police lights off! It was the strangest thing! Anyone else seen a police car like that? They clearly aren't going after traffic violations!

Anyway, I barely made it to the doctor's office. I come tumbling in, both kids in my arms because they won't move fast enough, and check in for my 9 am appointment. They can't find me anywhere in the system and I am about to lose it when they announce that my appointment is at 9:15 - not 9 am! They told me 9 so they could pad their schedule. Are you kidding me?! I drove how fast? Risked a ticket? An accident? So they could have 15 minutes of flex time?!?!

At 9:30 we are FINALLY taken back to the exam room. (I don't think I'll ever be on time for a doctor's appointment again!). During our wait, Grace and Charlotte decide that being quiet is for the birds. They decide to jump off the side of the exam table which is raised pretty high off the ground, over and over again. I am sure the nurses thought I was nuts because there was no way these two girls could be sick if they were THIS active and making THIS much noise. Well, the jumping off the table on your own volition got boring. So Charlotte decdided to take it up a notch by pushing Grace off the table. See where this is going??

In a nutshell, it got ugly fast. Crying. Arguing. Cursing. Sweating.

Repeat.

Finally, the doctor conducted the exam and sent us on our way. As all they'd wanted to do since we got there was go home, you'd think at least this part would have gone well.

Nope.

Charlotte kicked and cried all the way to the parking lot. She kicked my coat pocket that held my phone and then this happened...

Seriously?

It's only Monday and by noon I'd already had two sick kid confirmations, a trip to Best Buy and spent an obscene amount of money replacing my broken phone. 

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

It's funny but now that the smoke from the holidays has cleared I am finding I have a lot of "down" time. No shopping to do. No cookies to bake. No surprises to wrap.

It's refreshing but it's leaving me feeling a big uneasy.

I almost want to get started on all the holiday stuff for this year so I can try to relieve myself come December 2013. 

Almost.

I know that no matter how early I start, there will always be things saved until the last minute. 

That is the holiday season.

So instead, we've been playing rounds of Chutes N Ladders and Candy Land. Low temperatures have kept us mainly indoors but we've been braving the cold for short jaunts on the tricycle or little walks. 

For the last six months, Grace's favorite video to watch has been the video of our wedding which we thought was just too funny!

She kept asking why she and Charlotte weren't there!

Her new favorite is the video I made of Grace's first year of life.

I had it linked here to the blog but it appears to not work anymore but I made one for Charlotte too which you can view here. 

Anyway, it's been a calm week getting back into the swing of things.

School, gymnastics, grocery shopping...

I have several new projects that I am tackling.

Waiting to gather a few supplies and to make some progress before I share.

On the more urgent front of things to get done?

My crafting area still looks like Christmas got this latest bout of flu that is hitting the country hard and vomited wrapping paper, ribbon, tags, decorations, packing peanuts, cardboard boxes...you name it...all over the place.

It's been frozen in time since Christmas Eve and I just can't bring myself to tackling it just yet.

I think we'll just watch videos of the girls during their infancy...you know, when they were easy, not mobile, couldn't say no and didn't have an opinion of their own, for a few more days. 

Revel in this down time because I know it won't last long.