All Done

(get ready for rambling)

Last week Todd and I celebrated eight years of marital bliss. Holy eight years! I’m so glad I stalked Todd for so long so that I could be the happiest wife around. Seriously.

So I was doing the dishes the other night. Ugh, I do NOT enjoy the dishes. It makes it ten times worse when A. you don’t have a dishwasher and  B. its about a hundred degrees in your kitchen. The only time I have a little enjoyment digging my hands into a sink full of stink is when I listen to my tiny iPod shuffle. Todd teases me that I don’t like music anymore. Truth is, I do, I just never have an opportunity to listen to it. Our CD player in our car has been stolen twice since we’ve lived here and I just don’t feel like replacing it again. Anytime I try to listen to a little something during the day on the computer, Stella takes control (typical in our house) and turns it to a singing Snow White or Ariel. Um, a little barfy. But cute that she sings along.  So, (for heavens sake where was I going here?) oh yeah, the other night I turned on  my shuffle and I felt like I was 23 again when I first met Todd.  So then I start having my very own dance party in the kitchen. Every once in a while I would jam out to the living room and bust some moves for Todd and make him guess what I was listening to. He knows when those headphones go in, the dance parties begin. Whenever I add songs to my shuffle its always something I used to listen to, never any new stuff. I like the memories. A little Erasure, some Creeper Lagoon, perhaps some Built to Spill thrown in.  So great. I hope that when my kids are older that maybe they will want to have dance parties with me too. I know better though. I’m sure I will only be embarrassing them. Especially when my playlist will still be the same.

So I just want to say that I’m glad my husband still loves me even though I’m a big nerd. Here’s a few pictures of  years past. We’ve aged.

New fabric. So excited about this stuff. Its been a while since I bought some fun fabric. I had some birthday money and decided to make a little purchase! I have kind of a fabric addiction so I have to hold back quite a bit. I spent hours looking at fabric the other night. I think I ended up with some fun stuff. The top fabric is going to be a sundress for Stell. I’ve been sewing a lot more lately thanks to my television diet (except for SYTYCD- so happy this has started again. I love, love, love this show. Is it just me or do all the contemporary dancers look the same. All the girls dance in that “I’m a tortured soul” way. Oh, but don’t get me wrong, it will still be my favorite show.) and it feels great!

New dress. So I joined this sewing blog that Todd’s cousins started. They do a different project each month. This month’s project was to make a little girl’s dress out of men’s dress shirt. I had to tear this shirt out of Todd’s white-knuckled hands. It was one he got at a thrift store in New Zealand. It had a tear in the sleeve and he never wore it anymore so I deemed it time for a change. I love the way it turned out.

New hair. I decided I needed a change for the summer. My favorite hair stylist Charlie worked his magic yesterday and I’m pretty happy with the results. And now all I need is a color change. Maybe blonde again? I said this the other day in the car and Stella said, “No mommy, I don’t want you to have hair like me.” Sad. She’s already embarrassed of me.

Every time we take a trip to a park, Stella likes to bring along her soccer ball. I have to say for a 3 year old, she is pretty darn good. She cruises around while kicking the ball around. I’m impressed!!! I can’t wait to get her into soccer and go to all her games. I think this kid is going to an athlete. Here are some action shots.

Todd and Penns getting in on the action. This picture cracks me up.

I love the weekends!

Well, I’ve completed another year of my life. I had such a wonderful birthday today. Todd took the day off and we spent it as a family.

Our first stop was Bite Cafe of course. Our favorite neighborhood eatery. Don’t worry, I got my super bagel with two poached eggs on the side. Stella ordered on her own by telling the waiter, “And I want a pancake.”

Next we headed to the burbs to visit the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It was a gorgeous day and the gardens were so beautiful! Stella was especially happy with the model train railroad garden, with its cameo appearance of Thomas the train.

Stell.

Penny frequently has this look of pure joy on her face. I love it. Like mother, like daughter. You can see Penny’s two teefs in this picture!

Birthday party at Mo’s. Why yes, that is a banana split cake. And there are no “diet” rules during birthday time okay. AND, don’t look at my flared nostrils. Just stop, right now.

I had to throw this one in even though Stella’s room is in shambles in the background (usually the case). She put her apron on and said, “Mom, now take a picture of me.” I took a couple and she kept doing this same pose. She is such a goof.

In closing-

A funny Stella saying:

Stella was having her dinner at the table and Todd came to sit by her with his dinner. Stella thought Todd’s dinner was smelly and asked him to sit somewhere else. Todd said, “But I love you and I want to sit close to you.” Stell then says, “If you love me, go eat over there.”

So I finished week one of my no white sugar and no white flour. Blah. It was fine. Whatever. I didn’t feel any different. In fact, in the beginning I started to lose a lot of energy around 3 in the afternoon. Weird. I’m going to try and keep it up though. I am still waiting for this epiphany of “oh yeah, I feel awesome!”. Anyhow, I have decided that Sunday will be my somewhat free day. Dessert Day mostly. I was lame and tried this too healthy version of a chocolate carrot cake. My first thought SHOULD have been that carrots and chocolate don’t go together. But I did it anyway. It was edible but not something I was dying to shove down my throat witout swallowing. Note to self: if I am going to have a free day, make it count. Seriously, sugar it up. Put down the agave nectar and hand over the refined goodness. I did however make some fabulous pancakes. I thought I would post the recipe.  We are pancake fans in our house and I highly recommend giving these a try. They are delish!

Apple Pancakes

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
1 1/2 cups diced apple (1/4 inch dice), optional
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups quick oats (not instant)
1/3 cup olive oil (not extra virgin) or canola
2 cups 1% milk
1 cup all-purpose whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon (omit if not using apples)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Prepare apples and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, oats, olive oil and milk. Stir in apples (if using).

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Add contents of small bowl to large bowl; stir with rubber spatula to combine. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Heat a large skillet or griddle to medium-high heat until very hot, about 3 minutes. Using a paper towel, coat lightly with oil.

Stir pancake batter. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup filled to the top, spoon batter onto griddle, about 3 or 4 pancakes at a time. Cook until bubbles appear over surface of pancakes, about 2 minutes. Using a pancake turner, turn each pancake over and cook until pancakes are deeply browned, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with real maple syrup.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

NOTES : Try using different additions instead of the apples. Omit the cinnamon and use 3/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips or fresh or frozen blueberries.

Try your pancakes dusted with powdered sugar instead of serving with maple syrup.

I got the recipe here.

P.S. Head over to this blog and enter their giveaway! It includes one fabulous bracelet made by my fabulous friend Wendy!

Oh man these girls have just been killing me lately. I mean, in a good way. I am just loving Penny’s personality coming out. She is just so cuddly and loveable and I can’t get enough of her. Poo noos is super smiley and very vocal. Stella was not so snuggly as a baby so its been fun. And speaking of little Stell, she is not so little anymore. The things this girls comes up with are hilarious. She has a new persona everyday. It usually goes from Ariel to Prince Eric to Peppa Pig or something like that. If we call her by Stella she quickly corrects us and says, “Could you please call me Sleeping Beauty?” Lately her favorite movie has been The Sword in the Stone and Stella has only been answering to the name “Wart”.

So with the beginings of spring and ideas of rejuvenation in mind, I will also be giving something new a try. Starting tomorrow I will be going without white flour and white sugar (best I can). Seriously though, I am tired of just feeling tired and yucky. I have already begun a little running program and I am feeling pretty proud of myself for that. However, I realize that I need to make a major lifestyle change here and that is my diet. So after devouring every last blasted Cadbury mini egg I could get my hands on today, tomorrow it is the new Carrie. My friend Heidi will be joining me in my quest for purification. She is being even bolder by eliminating Diet Coke. I feel that making that sacrifice combined with the others just might put me over the edge of sanity initially so I am taking the Diet Pepsi exit a little more slowly. I am not the greatest at sticking to something like this so I am hoping that I will just feel super fantastic during the detox process that I will never want to go down the sugar path again. Wish me luck. I may record my experience here just for kicks so everyone can make fun of me when I’m cowering in the corner of my kitchen in the dark, sweating, crying, big bags under my eyes and yelling obscenities.

So, I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from our trip. We got back two weeks ago, but you know how it goes. Once I get kids to bed, all I want to do is sit and stare at the television. So sad. These pics may come in shifts as I can already sense Penny getting restless and wanting all of my attention. (That has been the norm lately)

Overall our trip was great. I never thought I would take a trip to Hawaii. It has never been on my list. The older I get the more tense I get about flying too.  I know, I’m a big baby. Anyway, besides a little rain and one pretty sick 5 month old, we had such a nice time. I loved being able to wear short sleeves and flip flops every day. I loved seeing an occasional whale flip out of the ocean. I loved eating a pancake puppy at the local Denny’s. I loved sleeping in a king size bed. And most of all, I loved being with my entire family (except little Stell!)  Of course, the wedding was great too. Sara was calm and gorgeous. I’ve been missing all my family big time since coming home. Here are some pictures:

The crazies jumped off that big rock in the background. Its called Black rock. Others went swimming with the giant sea turtle that was chilling just off the shore.

Penny with my sister Emily. Emily is due with her first in the beginning of June. She got some baby practice in this trip. Unfortunately we never actually got all the way through the poopy diaper process. Good luck Em!

Grandpa with Hawaiian Penny at the appetizer buffet.

Almost every picture we took of Penny, she has just woken up from a nap. That’s my brother Dan in the pink ruffly shirt.

My fam.

Sara and Travis.

Wedding Day. Todd getting instruction from Bernie, the wedding planner.

Todd looking official and Travis so excited to see his bride.

Here she comes!

Todd giving some serious words of wisdom.

An unexpected guest. We were concerned that his life jacket was a tad too small.

Penny sleeping it up.

Sare

Sorry so many pictures. I could have included a lot more… We want to go back to Maui!

So just got myself a double stroller finally. I decided that taking two kids on a trip required one. So this is what I got :

Its the Joovy Ultralight Caboose. I saw these all over the city last summer and knew that this is what I wanted. After a few just misses on craigslist, I opted to just buy it new. I got a good deal on strollerdepot.com. I am very excited. Its small, lightweight, not bulky, and you can snap in the baby car seat in the front until baby is big enough to ride in the seat. Stella can either sit or stand in the back. Perfect.

So, this brings me to the for sale part. Since I now have 4 strollers, I thought I would get rid of 2 of them. I was going to throw them on craigslist but thought I would see if anyone who reads this thing is interested first.

Item #1 –

Graco Snap-n-go

Loved it. So great when you don’t want to wake up a sleeping baby. Has great storage underneath as well. Easy to fold.

Item #2-

Combi City Savvy

Looks like the one in this picture only its blue and gray and obviously more used. Best stroller ever. Super lightweight and easy to fold. Easy to push as well.I used it as my car trunk stroller. Has a nice strap for carrying around too.

So, if any 5 of you out there are interested, let me know.

So, my sister Sara is getting married next week. In Hawaii. Hooray. While I am thrilled to venture to a new place and also be somewhere warm for a change, I’m just filled with anxiety for this trip. Here are my reasons:

1. We are leaving Stella behind. Well, we are all flying to Utah and leaving her with cousins and grandma. I am sure she will have a fabulous time. Todd and I are not handling it so well. I know I will be a basketcase leaving my little Stella. I have left her before but this will be the first time we are both leaving and Hawaii is far away! Ok, maybe I’m being a baby.

2. The flight to Hawaii is like 7 hours from SLC. Sheesh. I’m crossing my fingers that Penny will be a good baby. She is just getting over a lovely case of bronchialitis. Flying with kids makes me way more anxious than if I were just by myself. Any tips?

3. I have to have something cute to wear to this wedding. Its just a small ceremony (performed by my husband no less- no he didn’t have to join some crazy church to be ordained). I would like to, ya know, look halfway decent. This however poses a problem when you are still pudgy all over. I don’t know what looks good on me anyway so it makes it ten times more difficult to find something when you just don’t recognize your body at all. I had a dress all picked out and ready to go, but for some reason I had temporary blindness when I tried it on in the shop. At home, the dress is much too short and no one wants to see that much of my legs.

So those are my things. We leave next week. I’m kinda freaking out, but trying to remain calm.

In the good news: second night in a row that Miss Penny has gone to sleep all on her own. No rocking, no nothing. And now I am jinxing it and she will probs be awake in like 8 seconds. Goodnight, I have to go pump up the jam ( that is mom code).

This is what happens when you go to Joanns and a ridiculous amount of poop comes out of a very tiny bum and of course you have no change of clothes for the child. Penny was not happy.