I am sad to report that I switched over to blogger because wordpress wanted to charge me to upload more photos. Lame sauce, right? I’m really super duper bummed about it.

Anyway, read about our weekly adventures here from now on.

February 17-23

I have two words to describe this week: cold & snow. Everything was cancelled: school, church and anything school or church related. We really only got 4-5 inches but with the amount of traffic around here, that can and does cause some major havoc.

So, lets start with the snow.

Here’s our street:

getting ready to go out:

*Quick note: I took A LOT of videos this week. I was trying to capture funny things, every-day things, cool things, etc that I want to always remember and I probably over did it. But most of them are very short. Just so you know that I recognize that I have a problem. 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESvvry4n8HI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GodFJiAfKK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfztNVQOk-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCbzowbEvQI

Oakley’s first snow angel:

Tuesday was the first day of snow. We went out twice that day and both times I couldn’t get over how blue the sky was. I don’t know if it was the lack of clouds, the whiteness of the snow, or my lack of outside exposure over the weekend, but it was literally unbelievable. And there were bald eagles everywhere. We counted six in the sky at the same time. It was one of those moments that I hope my memory never fails me. Watch this video and you’ll get a glimpse of the sky and the eagles, although the camera (especially on my phone) does it no justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mferm27g-0

Our snowman “Samantha:”

I hope you can take a minute to notice the awesomeness that is Oakley’s snow suit. It makes me laugh so much. Like every time I look at her. When we’re getting ready to go out, she says: “Mom, I’m going to look so awesome!” My infectious joy with putting her in it has spread into her little psyche. I always laugh and I tell her it’s because she just looks too awesome. It’s almost like she’s wearing a fat suit because she looks 5x bigger in it. And she waddles when she walks. But it sure does the job!

On Saturday Dave and I had a date planned but that date quickly turned into a fiasco when we foolishly decided to drive in a blizzard only to find out that our planned activity was cancelled. So instead of finding something else to do we decided we’d better pick up the kids before the roads got any worse.

A good decision made a little too late. Our friends who were babysitting the kids happen to live at the bottom of a huge hill. After picking up the kids and attempting to get back up the hill several times, I thought we might have to spend the night at their house. And I secretly promised myself that our next car purchase would involve 4-wheel drive.

Well on our second to last attempt, we had a small collision with another car, who was also trying to get up the hill. It was really scary; one of those slow motion moments you always hear people talking about. Thankfully no one was hurt. Our car suffered only minor damages to one of the headlights and the other guy’s car came away unscathed. That was definitely a tender mercy. While Dave was outside exchanging insurance information, I looked over to one of the houses nearby to see some guy, who was out shoveling, taking pictures of us with his phone. I’m sure it was the most exciting thing he’d seen all day. I wish I had taken a picture back! When we set out again, I said many silent little prayers of gratitude and pleaded for heavenly help to get us up the hill. We did and I don’t know if I’ve ever been more relieved than I was when we drove into our very own garage. Never again will we go on a date in the snow. Lesson learned.

Saturday night that snow turned to ice and we woke Sunday morning to a thick sheet of ice on everything.  Needless to say, we didn’t go to church that day.

And now for the cold. There was some of this (Thursday):

And a bit of this (Friday):

Record cold temps, according to the news people. And these happen to be the days I decided to go on my first post-surgery runs. But I honestly didn’t care how cold it was, I was ready to GO. And it felt good in a very painful sort of way.

Because it was so cold, we spend a lot of time inside.

Oakley really likes to take videos and pictures with my phone. It can really get out of hand. Most the time I find that she has filmed the floor, her foot, her knee, or the back of someone’s head. But sometimes she gets some good stuff.

Here’s a super short one of my pestering Peter with the camera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3noOYbChZ_k

She can also work-it in front of the camera, too. Even without music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQSI68hZo9Y

I am so grateful for story time! We are regulars. It’s the one place we go consistently every single week.

Oakley is the perfect age. Peter is the perfect age for wrecking havoc on the library. And I am the perfect age for chasing him around for half an hour replacing all the books he rips off the shelves. It’s a fun time. The turnout this week was really low thanks to school being cancelled. Normally it is packed.

Speaking of books, I finished book #2 this week. It pains me to say that I was very sadly disappointed. I don’t want to go into all the details of why I didn’t like it because maybe someone out there did. I think my expectations were too high? Anyhow, now I can mark it off my list and gladly return it to the library.

Thursday was a really wierd day. Oakley slept in til 8:15. When has this ever happened? Like never. So, that was the first wierd thing. When she finally did wake up she was acting strange and lethargic and kept wanting to lay down. I kept checking her temp and asking her if she needed to throw up, but she never showed any symptoms of being sick.

So around 9:30 I was getting Peter dressed and she totally zonked out on the guest bed. And slept for TWO HOURS!

Which is even more impressive when you consider that we hosted Music Makers that day, which means that all these little peanuts were running around our house. And not quietly, mind you. Oakley is in this pic because she woke up just in time for snacks. She seemed to be feeling fine at this point and I figured she was done with being sick or feeling tired or whatever it was.

….. until we get to the commissary that afternoon and I turn around to find her asleep in her carseat! What is going on with this girl? She never did get sick. And this sleepiness only lasted a day. A friend suggested a growth spurt….. and before she mentioned that I had thought that Oakley did look taller….. weird. I’ll probably never know.

Awake and bugging hugging her brother:

Peter found the container of blueberries in the fridge and made quick work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PWPl5DJGWw

On Friday we had nothing else to do so we went to the hospital to torture Peter. I mean…. get his vaccinations. He made some friends in the waiting area, like he does everywhere he goes. He sure is good at fooling people into thinking he’s a real sweet, friendly little guy.

The only cool thing about going to the hospital is that Dave works there and sometimes he can meet up with us. If he hadn’t have been there, I wouldn’t have been documenting this torture session. I would have been the one pinning the poor kid. Oakley insisted on sitting on the table with Peter.

so, so sad.

Something funny about Peter is that he does not like to be comforted. He gets over things really quick but initially he’s just angry and the last thing he wants is a shoulder to cry on. His most common outlet is pulling, or rather ripping, books off of bookshelves. It cracks me up. Sometimes I just want to hold him and cuddle with him  and comfort him when he gets hurt. But that’s not his cup of tea. So much for a mama’s boy! He is definitely not that.

The kids love seeing Dave:

And watching him shave. Ha! Very entertaining. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jNNdzchB_g

Dave gets a gold star for making dinner on Sunday. This is actually the omelet I made for breakfast……. but later that day Dave made this rice/bean/chicken casserole that was really yummy. Even Oakley ate some.

And the perfect picture to end this post. 

Funny quotes/notes from the week and more videos:

February 10-16

I slept in almost every day this week. And I took naps. And I changed less stinky diapers and wet underwear. And had a few intelligent adult conversations. And I didn’t unload the dishwasher, do the laundry, or clean a single thing…. yet my house is clean, my clothes are folded, and all my dishes are put away. It was magical. Enjoyable. Fantastic.

It was my mom.

And now she’s gone and I’m facing the fact that I have to start cleaning again. And getting off my lazy butt to get Peter out of his crib in the morning. He’s always so happy to see me (italics=sarcasm). It’s been an adjustment. Saying goodbye is hard.

I miss you, Mom! We miss you. (that is not sarcasm)

It was so awesome to have my mom here for Valentine’s Day. Mostly because I love to spend every day with her, but also because it is bliss going on a date and not having to worry about what your hired teenage babysitter is going to do to your kids, i.e. sit them in front of the TV for 3 hours, feed them a ridiculously large amount of raisins resulting in days of diarrhea, neglecting to take them to the bathroom before bed… you know, all those babysitting hazards. It happens and we survive, but needless to say, Grandma babysitting reduces a lot of stress. Maybe someday we’ll live hear a Grandma or two….. maybe.

Now more about that date. Dave and I are terrible planners. “Reservations” isn’t really a word in our vocabulary. So Dave scrambled to find something for us to do just a couple hours before we were supposed to go. But it turned out to be tons of fun! First we went to a theater that was showing the Oscar-nominated animated short films. Some of them were really good. Others were really bad. We both agreed that we like the funny ones the most.

Afterwards we went to Barnes and Noble, drank hot chocolate and tried to look high brow

or stalker-ish in my case

And then we went on a scavenger hunt. The categories included (in Oscar-inspired fashion)(this was Dave’s idea, of course): best cover, best title, best author name, best title to describe each family member, most acurate likeness of us, most likely to be a movie, most romantic, etc.

We didn’t end up getting through a lot of the categories because we kept getting distracted by books. Imagine that. The employees had to come tell us the store was closing in 10 minutes like twice.

Anyway, here’s what we came up with:

Best book to describe Oakley and Peter:

Best title to describe Oakley:

Best author name:

Best title to describe Peter:

Dave’s favorite:

Best cover (I actually ended up buying this journal because it made me laugh so much):

Best title:

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the romance section to find the most acurate likeness of us. So, this will for sure be a repeat date. I can’t wait!

Valentine’s Day was fun too. We surprised Dave with a heart attack at the bottom of the stairs and breakfast in bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBSXnSdT0mg

Oakley helped me make some special Valentine’s treats. They were fun, easy and cute. But very messy.

Dave had a few surprises of his own…..

Earlier in the day Mom went out on a walk and on her way collected sticks and rocks and poky balls (not sure exactly what they’re called but that’s what we call them) to make a “heart tree” with the kids while we were out on our date. She is so creative. I love that about her.

And to make the day even more awesome, Aunt Lesly came down for dinner! In fact, she brought dinner. Complete with spiralized zucchini. It was delicious. The kids love Aunt Lesly. Especially when she comes with raspberries. 🙂

So, that was Valentine’s Day. Now for the rest of the week.

We took Grandma to the trampoline park on Tuesday. I wanted to jump soooo bad, but restrained myself (for the most part. Give me a break. How can you walk on a trampoline and not jump?). Nonetheless, it was a really fun time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S9nkaV-FfQ

We had dinner with the Katie, John Isaac and “baby Kaleb”. They are so fun to be with.

Oakley requested to “say goodnight” to Grandma every night. In other words, can you lay with me and tell me stories and tickle my back until I fall asleep? But it usually turned out that Grandma fell asleep before Oakley did. That girl can outlast any adult in this house.

an empty laundry basket calls Oakley’s name.

Beans in a swimming pool. The beans were my idea, the swimming pool, Dave’s. It’s a GREAT winter boredom buster if you’re looking for one.

And fort building

Sometimes Oakley and Peter seem to really like each other:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMCsbbIvo9o

Wasn’t as warm this week as it was last week, but we got outside some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LUfX-4BvhI

Oakley got a very special surprise in the mail from her Grandma Shaha. Nancy made one of these poodle skirts for all her granddaughters as a tribute to her mom, Great Grandma Williams, who made one for her when she was little, which she wore to bits. Oakley loves hers. And it looks especially good when she twirls in it. Thank you Nancy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gVHl8eqzh0

Music Makers. Peter’s got to be in the middle of everything.

Drawing with Grandma. I wish I had inherited an inkling of Mom’s artistic talent.

On Friday, we met up with Aunt Lesly at the Baltimore Aquarium. Oakley LOVED it. She was so excited about everything. All Peter wanted to do was go up and down the escalators.

We had lunch in a room with a beautiful sunny view of Inner Harbor.

Aside from the escalators, Peter was super into the scuba divers who were in the tanks feeding the sea creatures. It was so funny. When they’d swim away, he’d turn around and put his hands up like “where’d they go?” He could care less about the shark that just swam by. Silly kid.

Have you every seen a sea turtle? They are HUGE! I was so surprised. This one was missing one of his front fins.

mornings with Grandma.

This is my new favorite picture. I put it as the wallpaper on my phone I love it so much.  And that’s really sayin somethin.

goofy bubs

Stink-eye bubs. This look shoots lasers. My mom told me that once you’ve seen this look from Peter, you don’t forget it. It’s even better with a blue chin. photo cred to Dave.

On Sunday, as part of my lesson, I had my class listen to “I Lived in Heaven” and draw what it made them think of. One of my students was so very kind to let me keep his drawing and I saved it because it makes me laugh. I love the depiction of the Holy Ghost. And the mustache.

I teach 14 and 15-year-olds, by the way. 🙂

The time came to say goodbye to Grandma and it was hard. But we made it through the tears with chocolate covered rice crispies and conversation hearts.

On Sunday evening our friend Riley came over for a semi-sleepover. (meaning she got picked up in the middle of the night).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrXbSJ-XPrc

After I took this video, the kids started running around the house chasing Dave. He would hide and jump our from around a corner and scare them. One time he did it and Riley turned around to run away and ran smack into Oakley who was right behind her. Oakley literally bounced off of Riley and both walked away with impressive goose eggs. I so wish I had still been filming. Anyway, Oakley was balling and Riley was walking around like nothing happened. So Dr. Dave got them some ice and they looked so funny standing next to each other, holding the bags to their heads. When Dave got the camera out and said “smile!” Oakley immediately stopped crying, smiled, and then went back to crying right after the picture was taken. It was the funniest thing ever. Oh and Peter was still running around the house like “C’mon guys! Why’d ya stop?”

When we left them to their own devices in Oakley’s room, I was hoping Riley would maybe, possibly teach Oakley how to read or something. It was so funny to sit downstairs and listen to them talking and reading books to each other. When I went up, I found them arguing over the letters in the alphabet. Maybe one or two more sleepovers with Riley and Oakley will be ready for Kindergarten. 🙂

They finally zonked out around 10. And Riley left around 11.

Our favorite Monday morning activity is to watch the garbage man take our trash. That’s about as exciting as it got today.

Oh and winter storm “Octavia” is headed our way. It started this afternoon and is supposed to continue all night. I guess I’m glad mother nature can finally get this out of her system but I really do hate snow. So I hope it melts like tomorrow, preferably.

Post-surgery note: I did try to take it really easy this week (again, thank you mom!), hoping to speed up the recovery process. But really since about day three or four I’ve felt really good and the last couple days I feel back to normal. But I haven’t run or exercised at all since the surgery, so getting back in the habit is going to be a painful process…. and difficult with 8 inches of snow on the ground. But I am so grateful to be feeling so good 10 days out, physically and emotionally. Love from family and friends helped with that. Laparoscopic is the way to go!

February 3-9

This was a week for the books. Prepare for an epically long post.

Mosiah 3:19 says:  “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

This scripture popped into my head as I lay on an operating table last Friday afternoon, about to go under general anesthesia to remove an Ectopic pregnancy. I memorized it months ago but that phrase at the end about being “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him” has often crossed my mind when things get tough, but it was especially pertinent as I wondered why this was happening to me and how on earth I was going to get through it.

So, remember that pain that I mentioned last week? Well it actually went away and for about 5 days I thought I was in the clear. But what I didn’t mention last week was that I was pregnant. And my repeated trips to the lab during the week indicated that I was still pregnant, despite all the irregular bleeding. But I went through the week trying to think positive thoughts, with a faint glimmer of hope that it would somehow turn into a viable pregnancy.  But a late-night ultrasound Thursday night revealed that there was still nothing in the uterus, which wasn’t good. So Friday morning I got a call from an OB staff member at Ft Belvoir Community Hospital telling me that I needed to come to the hospital NOW for surgery. It was a crazy shock, to say the least. Dave had worked all that night and was suddenly faced with staying up all day with the kids while I went to the hospital, and a recovery period for me that would put a huge burden on him. I am never thrilled to go to the hospital but this time I was especially dreading it. My heart was heavy as I drove away from our house. I felt very alone at that moment.

But throughout the pre-op process (lots of paperwork, lots of questions, and lots of reminders of all that could go wrong), I begin to feel a calm assurance that everything was going to be okay. Thoughts (like Mosiah 3:19) came to my mind that helped me gain a better perspective and trust that everything was in the Lord’s hands.

The procedure went well. I don’t remember a thing. Waking up from that anesthesia was the BEST feeling- and then they took all those heated blankets off and that dreamy, drousy feeling was replaced by nausea. The next couple days I experienced (and continue to experience) a few of the lovely side effects that accompany abdominal surgery. But today what I feel is an immense gratitude for modern medicine that probably saved my life, a supportive family who buoys me up, and a loving Heavenly Father who knows me and how to help me grow.

So that was by far the most significant event in our week. But here’s the good stuff:

Peter. He sticks out his tongue a lot. Pretty much for almost every activity that requires concentration, which is every activity for him. It’s funny because his Grandpa Shaha does the same thing.

It was a nice week weather-wise. Behold the highs:

Tuesday- 44°

happy to be out, not happy to go back in.

Wednesday- 60°

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2xIDLUqbXM

Thursday- 41°

Friday- 37° (the best day of any to be in the hospital, I suppose)

Saturday- 50°

Sunday- 75° (!!!!)

a play-by-play Peter conniption. My mom says he’s a 17-year-old in a 1-year-old body. It’s kind of a perfect description.

Needless to say, we spent some good quality time outside. It was nice. And we saw some AWESOME sunsets on the Potomac.

And…. back to the homestead. This is not as gross as it looks, although still gross. Tuesday morning, someone squirmed their way into the refrigerator and pulled out a tupperware of leftover soup. And this is what I found when I felt the need to investigate.

And no question in my mind as to the culprit. Look at that trail! It’s actually kind of funny (now) because when I found him with his hand in the goop, he looked totally disgusted. I wish I had a picture of that face.

Oakley is always putting her friends down for naps. This day it was Patches’ turn.

And when all her friends are tucked in and cozy, this is what she does when she’s bored. I really love it. Like a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eNL_apL-pI

Peter has the BEST belly laugh. I kind of want to eat him when he does it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxY8A5NGHwA

I was a really lousy reader last year, so this year I made a goal to read 12 books, or one per month. First up was Flyboys. This was a good book; very eye-opening and very hard to read at times. But I like history and I liked this book, even though it’s hard to know the cruelties of war sometimes.

One of the pros of going to the hospital so much this week was getting to see our favorite doctor. The kids love that, especially Peter.

And I’ve been trying for weeks to catch the excitement of Dave’s homecoming every day on video and I think I finally got it. Best part of our day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lBQBQfhMWc

Our friends the Laxes came over for lunch on Thursday. They are so awesome and Oakley is SO sweet with “baby Kaleb.” She loves that kid to death. I have rarely seen her so sweet to and so giddy about another human being.

Our Iowa/Vietnamese friend Truc sent Oakley this outfit for Vietnamese New Year (Feb 19). She looks so stinkin cute in it and what a cool thing to have.

“Bye guys. I’m going to work”

So THIS is what I was looking forward to Friday night. And these pictures are for the doctor who LAUGHED at me when I said I wanted to postpone my surgery because I didn’t want to miss the Iowa wrestling meet. It does seem pathetic now, but at the time I was really angry at her insensitivity. But we did end up going. Dave picked me up in my half-awake, light-headed, slightly nauseas state from the hospital and we drove straight to the University of Maryland to see the Hawkeyes scorch the Terapins 33-3. It honestly saved my sanity. I miss college sports SO MUCH!

See that guy with his hands on his hips? That’s the strength and conditioning coach for Iowa and a friend from our time there. He’s really cool. We made a weak attempt at saying hi, but…. it was weak. I wish now we had louder voices or something.

On Saturday, we bopped around post and found this Valentine’s display at the PX. Oakley’s always game for a picture and I seriously almost burst out of my stitches (literally) laughing at these pictures later that night.

another sunset:

Oh and my mom dropped everything and flew out to help me with the kids for a week. How lucky am I?! She has already lightened my burden so much.  Thanks Dad and Gabe, for letting her come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN8IXLz1B8Q

Grandma always brings fun surprises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu_c0fwdPNw

And as soon as she found out about the surgery, my Aunt Lesly ditched her job and drove down from Annapolis, MD to help with kids. She is such a fun person to be around and always brings lots of kicks and giggles to our house. 🙂

Now that’s what I’m talking about when I say how grateful I am for a supportive family. The amount of love shown the last couple days is crazy go nuts! Thank you for all the calls, texts and e-mails. It is so nice to know that someone is thinking of you.

For Family Home Evening tonight, we spent most of the time pushing the kids around in this box we got at Costco. I love when they find joy in such simple things. Because it’s fun… and doesn’t cost any money. Priceless. I could be on an American Express commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qaw7VVgghU

And lastly, poor Dave. The transition from nights to days is always hard for him but throw in all the craziness of the weekend and here you have a very very tired man. Sleep deprivation is real. But I’m so grateful for him and the rock that he is.

January 27-February 2

A few things I’m especially grateful for this week: 1.Dave 2.a warm house 3.lollipops 4.socks 5.Dave 6.our car 7.the Book of Mormon 8.Dave

I wasn’t feeling super hot for a couple days. A trip to the hospital Friday night gave us no answers so I came home feeling crappy, confused and frustrated. More on that later, possibly. But that’s why I’m grateful for Dave x 3. He’s like superman, saving one sick person at a time. This week that sick person was me!

Here’s our week:

I found these unlicensed drivers at the commissary. Reckless driving to the max!

baking. we did lots of baking last week. Oakley is my ever-faithful helper.

It was dang cold this week, too. And it snowed. Oh joy.

This was Peter’s first time in his snow suit. It was a nightmare getting him into it. I didn’t know if we were going to make it out the door alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Rc–B9ixQ

If it were up to me, I’d stay inside, read a book, and drink hot chocolate- not a big fan of cold, wet, white stuff. But Oakley begs and begs and begs to go out when it snows, starting at about 6:30 am or whenever she wakes up. I don’t know why, because we’re out for 20 minutes before she begs to go back in.

Lunch and play date with friends. MUCH better than freezing in the snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZTj1j3lblY

I was putting Oakley’s socks on one morning and she complained that her little toe hurt. So, I took her sock off to discover that her pinky toenail was hanging on by a thread! It came off shortly thereafter (with a little help from yours truly). Is that weird? Does this mean her shoes are too tight? Too big? I have lost many a toenail, but not at this age. But that means I also know that it’ll grow back. So, not worried.

Fun in Peter’s crib and more camera experimentation. Notice the Peter-stepping-on-Oakley’s-face picture and the Peter-pulling-Oakley’s-hair video. That’s normal. And it goes both ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lkudhi5rak

Something Oakley’s been working on is getting dressed by herself. She gets frustrated really easily so this has been a long and painful process. Independence seems to manifest itself in her slower than most, but we’re getting there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–wSyuN3G2w

Peter has… uh…. 9 teeth? I think? Anyway, I’ve started trying to brush his teeth but he won’t let me. He insists on holding and chewing on the toothbrush himself. And if you know Peter, you know that he almost always gets his way. This kid has got the lungs and temper of a banshee.

Which….. is why I keep a secret supply of dum dums. It’s crazy the magical effect these things have on children. You would NEVER know he had been screaming for 10 minutes straight- at the top of his lungs- just before this picture, would you?

Lollipops=sanity.

Peter agrees with me in that real men wear hair bows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c-FvlwudyU

wear sparkly shoes:

and read princess books.

shirtless.

We went swimming as a family on Saturday. This photo sequence of Oakley cracks me up:

Watch out pool honeys! Look at this physique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT7dWcj4bdY

More baking. This time with two helpers.

eagerly awaiting the chocolaty goodness.

Oakley was showing us the “potty dance” which she, by the way, has perfected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94LW8jy3DNs

A well-deserved salad after a long fast.

“Mom, this is what girls do when they wear dresses”

the bowtie:

the bubs:

On Groundhog Day we went to this trampoline park called “Flight” that we’ve been wanting to check out since like forever. It was so much fun! Imagine a big warehouse filled with trampolines and really loud music that makes you want to jump. a lot. Oakley had a blast. We will definitely be going back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIz7Nggb4_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyFe11WNmdE

Later that day Oakley and Dave went out to fly the kite. It was really windy and the kite got stuck in a tree, but Dave rescued it. Thankfully, the Penguin kite will live to see another day.

More baking. I promise I don’t take pictures every time I bake. It must be this whole blogging thing.

Oakley’s baking face:

The result: Groundhog Day cupcakes. Totally copied from my friend Laura. Thanks Laura! Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?

Quotes from the week and a few more videos:

January 20-26

When I got the idea to blog every week, part of me thought it would be a flop because some weeks go by that we just don’t do much, or at least that’s how it seems. This week felt like one of those… until I started uploading pictures….. and good gravy! And what you see is only a small percentage. I guess our weeks are more filled than I thought. Or maybe I just take too many pictures of boring things. You tell me!

Where to begin? Probably Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday.

So, I’m doing this “introductory experience” with Oakley at a local kid’s gym where we get to scope out different classes. Last week we tried gymnastics and this week was a dance/gymnastics combination.

Oakley was pretty pumped:

And because it happened to be “parent involvement day” (what gives? I didn’t sign myself up for this!), Peter got to take part. He was actually pretty into it, almost more than Oakley. And almost more than me cuz you know how much I LOVE to dance (see video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxhTzOZGhno

There are many times throughout the day when a kitty named “Sully” graces our house and demands to have her snacks fed to her on the floor.

I fell in love with this house and this place when we drove to the Darm’s for Music Makers this week. Just the day before I was lamenting to Dave about my wishes to someday live in a place where we don’t have neighbors. It was an especially trying neighbor day that day. Think dog poop and thin walls (not simultaneously. ha! that’s gross) Solitude sounds so good sometimes.

I love finding wilderness in the middle of metropolitan Northern Virginia. It’s like a huge breath of fresh air.

Dave continues to run to work and back.

getting closer….

closer……

who is that hot dude?!

Speaking of breathing fresh air… seeing Dave is one of the happiest parts of my day.

Thursday night Dave tackled the kids while I endured the DC traffic for a pretty spectacular prize…

ta-da! Well worth all those brake lights.

one of our dear I mean, deer friends

A popular cold day activity- building forts:

A trip to the optometrist for some new glasses:

pretty great fit!

Actually, it’s me that’s blind, not Oakley. Lookin pretty nerdy:

This is Oakley’s “hey Mom, look at my beautiful eyes!” face:

Don’t they look SO excited to go for a run with me?!

Peter brings me dresses and shoes and necklaces and gets angry if I don’t put them on him. He also loves tea parties. Dave hates it. But come on, the kid hangs out with girls all day. He’ll grow out of it, right? I’m going to make this picture extra big just for fun. 🙂

I don’t know how to flip this picture but.. it’s a puzzle. Sometimes I do the kid’s puzzles when I’m bored. A girl can only pretend to be Prince Philip so many times.

I know I JUST talked about how I could never cut Peter’s curls. Well, last Friday night I decided I just couldn’t take the hair in the face anymore. So, with an open Saturday we took the kids to get haircuts. Peter sat surprisingly still….. as long as Dave was holding a sucker in his mouth. I think he ate two of those things, maybe three. so. much. drool! It was so cute to see his little head sticking out of that blue apron thing that I almost squealed. Look at those cheeks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAwdINtDd68

Oakley was really very scared (can you tell?) but we’ve been talking about “being brave” a lot lately in preparation for our next trip to the dentist, and I could tell she was really trying hard to be brave. The lollipop and movie (Frozen) certainly helped. 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJL5NySPgsk

The result:

I was scared for Peter to get his hair cut; questioning my decision all the way to the barber. His hair is kind of like his defining characteristic. I thought he wouldn’t look as cute without all his hair. But I’m pleasantly surprised. His big brown eyes look even bigger now. And I don’t miss the curls as much as I thought I would, Although I still miss them.

Dave and I’s Christmas present to each other was a new camera. A really nice one. But it’s not our first nice camera. We’ve experimented with our share of cameras, and a few of them have frustrated me to the moon and back, but this time we (I say “we” because Dave’s on board this time) are bound and determined to learn the art of photography. Even if that involves spending a Friday night watching a super awesome amazingly exciting DVD about how to use the camera. It was SO EXCITING I thought my brain was going to explode from yawning. just kidding. Here are some experimental shots from an outing on Saturday:

Nose-picking time at the mall. I actually caught her on camera numerous other times this week with her finger up her nostril but decided for the sake of her future dating life not to post them all. She can thank me later.

Need some caffeinated Oakley?

Peter, sporting his new ‘do at church. SO many people commented about how much older he looks. It’s so true. It’s like a whole new era of his life. But he can’t grow anymore because he just can’t grow out of this suit. Not allowed.

This is the usual scene when we arrive home from church. Somtimes they stay asleep (yeah!), sometimes they don’t (blast!).

Oakley, passed out, with her “prayer bear” (that fuzzy brown thing) that she got in primary on Sunday. She loves that thing. 

We check out a lot of books from the library every week. I usually try to avoid books without words, because they feel awkward and weird to me, probably due to my lack of imagination. But I grabbed this one on a whim and am SO glad I did. Definitely worth a read if you can find it. Very, very cool.

Dave is currently working nights. This is where he sleeps when he’s home during the day. In the basement. On a cot. Sounds depressing but I think he gets more sleep down there than he would upstairs… right Dave? Not like it was my idea or anything….

And lastly… pictures from today. A fun package from Grandpa Harris containing colorful sharks:

And homemade ice cream with sprinkles for family night treats: 

Funny quotes from the week and a few extra videos:

So… last week I was feeling really awesome and motivated for a brief time (yes, that actually happened) and decided I needed to start blogging again. But it had to be in an orderly, organized fashion. Like one post, once a week, on the same day every week. Kinda like my rockstar friend Shelly. 🙂 So I decided Monday would be the day. And up until about 2 hours ago I was pumped. And now I kinda feel like I’ve felt for the last 14 months: not in the mood. But that’s been my excuse for way too long and it’s lame, so here I am. blogging. Even when I don’t feel like it. And for the sake of your poor eyes and stamina, I will only blog about the last week, not the last 60, or however many weeks have gone by since November 2013. What happened right before I stopped posting?

Oh yeah. Peter.

But what really motivated me to get back on the horse was a moment of boredom (or possibly one of my “escapes” into the bathroom) several weeks ago when I found myself perusing through my old posts. It was so fun to see pictures of us from years ago and read about our happenings and my thoughts about them at different points in time. I thought “why did I stop doing this? someday I’ll regret it.” And I think the kids will enjoy these things when they’re older, too. AND I’ve also come to the conclusion that my life is never going to “calm down.” It’s only going to get crazier.

So without further delay, here is the last week of our lives.

January 13-19

We started out our week like this:

sick. cranky. fevers. snot. everywhere.

It soon passed. But those couple of days felt fantastically looooong.

Sometimes I have to wake Peter up from naps when we have to be somewhere. So when I do, I take my camera in and snap some pictures of him sleeping- just to savor those last few peaceful moments.

Oakley loves the primary hymns. She likes to pretend to play them on the piano, or open up the book and “weed” (lead) us in singing with her.

classic Peter faces:

and very, very classic:

Oakley bug.

Dave had Lasik eye surgery on 1/15/2015. Which means no more contacts or glasses. What?!  This guy was almost legally blind before the army granted him this opportunity. But let’s be real. I think he really went through with the surgery JUST so he could wear these goggles. How fantastic are they?! I keep thinking Quicksilver moved into my house.

Fun at Music Makers (our weekly playgroup that involves some parachute action. Awesome!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shg35YG2SJ0

Oakley had her first gymnastics class last week. I was nervous that she’d be timid and clingy but she jumped right in and had a great time. She kept coming up to the plexiglas window and waving to me. It was super cute.

She of course had her moments of solitude:

And she was picking her nose the entire time. How did I only manage to get one picture of this grossnes? I don’t know. Boggles me.

And if you want to be further grossed out. Watch this. I caught her, on video, picking her nose and then wiping it on the wall! Unconditional love, people. Unconditional love.

Watch the first 13 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRkMVYllwvo

Fun with John Isaac at Kids ‘n Motion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec4uNrWLUyw

And who needs lunch when there’s Costco samples? My kids live on snacks.

Dave and I decided to bust out a puzzle my mom gave us last Christmas because it had collected far too much dust. 550 piece, presidential pins on an American flag. Does it look hard? No, it doesn’t. But it took us two nights and hurt my brain more than it wanted to be hurt. I didn’t even contribute that much. Dave is the puzzle master around here.

Some cold outdoor time:

Our fellow Jadwin loopers who help us to brave the cold. Oakley was thrilled to be outside, as you will see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d1btHrMfts

Saturday night we went on a date. For a while we’ve been wanting to explore Old Town Alexandria, so explore we did. My favorite was this store we happened upon called Decorium. VERY cool. But not one I would bring the kids in. They’d break something. But I found the most comfortable hat that has ever graced my head. omg.

We also ate cupcakes. Twas a good date. 🙂

Peter’s hair. I love it. But it’s growing. And people are starting to think he’s a girl. or a hippie child. But seriously? Who in their right mind could chop these curls?!

Not me!

Video chatting with my parents. They have had super duper slow internet from the beginning of time up until 2 days ago, so video chatting has been a disaster in the past. Hopefully we’ll get to see these faces more often!

The kids’ newest favorite thing to do is “pants jump.” It looks exactly how it sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvbYUS6WpbI

And my favorite part, the aftermath:

ha!

the dynamic duo:

And today we went to Mt Vernon. It was cold. And fun. I was hoping the third floor would be open since this is a low-traffic time, but it wasn’t. The house and grounds are still amazing and I love learning about GW. He was the man.

Oakley. Taking an applesauce break and soaking up the view from George Washington’s porch, overlooking the Potomac:

There were a few animals, but they weren’t too exciting. I think they were just as cold as we were.

Funny quotes from the week:

Something I have found that’s fun for Oakley and I to do with our now limited together is finger painting. She dons her “pay-king shir” and we go to town. I think we’ll be doing it a lot more when winter hits. Luckily we’ve had a few fortunate 50 degree days that have allowed us to maintain our outdoor presence.

I was a little disappointed in the fall colors in Virginia this year.

Until November, that is. Right around Halloween is when the color show started for real. It was unbelievable. Driving to church down George Washington Parkway along the Potomac river was a serious treat. I wish you could have seen it. But now it’s gone. Thankfully we have pictures to help us remember.

I didn’t go as snap happy this fall as I usually do, for obvious reasons, but it’s no wonder this time of year is everyone‘s favorite time of year.

A curious doe we found on our walk the other day:

And the curious-looking caterpillar we found at the Gunston Park playground. Dave was enthralled. Doesn’t look that big but it really was ginormous.

And I just realized this post didn’t contain a single picture of Peter!

Behold the tyke:

and his lady friends:

It’s not like it was two weeks ago or anything…

But man I love Halloween. I’m always sad when it’s over. So a late Halloween post just makes it last that much longer. 🙂

Aren’t Jack-o-lanterns the coolest?

I didn’t waste spend a lot of time thinking up a costume for Oakley this year. It felt like people were asking me what she was going to be in September so about mid-October I decided I better figure it out so people would stop asking. It took about 5 minutes for me to find this costume and when I did, I knew it was the one.

Just look at this face!!

She loved checking herself out in the mirror.

The first time she tried it on was the day we got home from the hospital with Peter. And the costume made an appearance just about every other day leading up to Halloween.

Mom, Peter and I stayed home to hand out candy (holy moly it was crazy! Kids on post really take this holiday seriously. Good thing I bought 50 bazillion bags of candy!) while Dave took Oakley out. She hasn’t quite mastered the art (yes it is an art) of trick-or-treating yet. She is so easily distracted. When someone hands her a bowl of candy, she’ll just stare at it forever until somehow a piece of candy finally makes it into her bucket and even then she’ll just keep standing there staring. Plus she LOVES the decorations- skeletons and ghosts and pumpkins and spiders, not to mention all the other kids dressed in crazy costumes. Too much stimuli! But I think she got the hang of it after a while. Judging from her loot, she seemed partial to skittles. Wonder why….. Dave?

She got a little angry when Dave tried filming:

Peter, of course, was a pumpkin. That took a lot of creativity on my part also.

Back in August my Mom wanted to know when I’d like her to come to Virginia. I stupidly suggested late November because I was sure Peter was going to come late, Dave had scheduled a week off at the end of October, and his parents were coming beginning of November. It all made sense in my head and I thought I could handle two kids by myself if need be. Well fortunately for me, my mom disregarded my suggestion and booked a flight in October around my due date. Well as it turned out Peter was early, I was feeling extremely overwhelmed,  and Mom arrived just as Dave was going back to work. It was perfect. She was here for 11 days and now that she’s gone I’m having to adjust to not having that extra pair of hands around. That first day by myself was a doozy.

Mom was nervous about how Oakley would react to her being here. Because Oakley doesn’t get to see my family very often, she’s usually pretty shy and doesn’t warm up to them very fast. But we talked Grandma up before she got here and Oakley was pretty excited to see her by the time we headed to the airport. She instantly took to my mom and they became really great buddies, so by the end it was really hard to say goodbye.

It’s not easy to play with and entertain Oakley all day. Trust me. But that’s what Mom did, all day every day. For those 11 days, Oakley rarely wanted for attention. She even got to try some new things like finger painting:

It was so fun to see them together. Oakley wanted “grah” to do everything with her. And she wanted to show her everything. I’d motivate her in the morning to get dressed by saying “Let’s show Grandma your outfit!” Worked every time.

And we of course tried on the cookie monster costume more than a few times (Halloween post coming!).

They schmoozed.

and watched the birds.

and went for walks.

and watched movies.

Mom was also a huge help with Peter. She seemed to always know what he needed. She even tackled (not literally) both kids several times, allowing me to take a nap or go to the grocery store. That was the bomb. Aren’t moms the best?

In other news…. my sister Brita left for the Philippines this morning to serve a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m so proud and miss her so much but am so excited for her to have this adventure.

She’s awesome. and beautiful. You should be jealous that’s she’s my sister and not yours. 🙂