Neighborhood Watch

In case you were driving into my neighborhood to cause some trouble. Just remember we have neighborhood watch (on both sides of the street).

PS That is not my house.
PPS I am sorry, in advance, if it is yours.

Introducing

Baby E. 

Born: November 30, 2010 

9:07AM. 

7 lbs 5 oz, 17.5 in.

We love her and are so excited to have this new little one in our home.

Three's a Crowd

No baby yet. I just thought I would get that out there.

Here is a look at what our life is going to be like when she does arrive:

Nice and cozy.

Smile

Do other kids smile for pictures? Because mine are not so good at it. Even with bribes.

Unless you are doing something like this:

Or this:

In case you were wondering what I look like 36 Weeks pregnant, here you go. 

(Lucky for me, I camouflaged with a scarf.) 

I am now almost 39 weeks. 1 week and 2 days until due date. Pray that it's not longer. 

Successful family pictures. 

You will just have to wait until I send out Christmas or New Years or possibly not until Valentines cards, to see the rest...

Trick or Treat

Are you are looking for a great place to trick or treat?!!

A house that hands out king sized candy bars to every kid?!!

Well, then you can walk right past our door because per my husband's request, we will be handing out these this year:

To top it off, we have this masterpiece sitting on our doorstep. 

(The green stuff is bacteria).

Don't worry parents, we've got your kids covered. *We will not be giving your children cavities this year.

*But just in case they do end up with a toothache after eating their loads of candy, you know who to call (wink wink). The number will be on that fabulous toothbrush we just gave you.

The Slopes

Are calling their names.

30 Weeks Down, Forever to Go?

My current pregnancy status: 30 weeks along, 10 weeks to go. The time has flown by until now, and all of a sudden, I feel like time is dragging on. All the wonderful aches and pains of the 3rd trimester have begun to set in. You know the ones: pain, trouble sleeping, peeing 5,000 times a day, emotional breakdowns, exhaustion, falling asleep right in the middle of the day, etc.

Lets not forget nesting. Good old nesting. I feel like I need to not only organize every room in my house, but everything else in my life as well. It is fine, unless you happen to be the one driving slowly in front of me or you are the one in line at the store that takes an extra ten minutes to write a check. Whatever you do, don't forget to put something on the calendar or you will witness my hormonal wrath (just ask my husband).

Of course I'm not complaining! Something great comes out of all of this in the end and I am very excited to have a new little baby.

You just might not hear from me again until the baby is 3 months old.

Here you go: 30 Weeks

Little Ballerina

Last week I started her first ballet class. The first day, she could not wipe the grin off her face. She looked as if all her dreams had come true. She couldn't believe a teacher would actually be telling her to prance around the room. 

I should have taken pictures then, because this week, she was all business. Not many smiles to be had.

Ballet is a very serious class you know.

First ballet slippers (that are usually hidden or they would be ruined by now).

Pure concentration. That 3 year old class is tough!

Finally a smile! I wish the pic wasn't so blurry, but I will take what I can get!

Worth a Thousand Words

The other day my mother informed me that she had done some fall cleaning.  She had a couple boxes of my stuff that she wanted removed from her house. These boxes were full of school yearbooks, papers, pictures, mementos, etc.

Her one request was, "Please don't go through the boxes at my house."


So, what did I do? I went through the boxes at her house, of course.

While sorting through (throwing away), I found this:

That is me. 

Judging by the pink glasses, I believe I was in fourth grade.

I know what your thinking and the answer is, "No, I was not an orphan".  

I questioned my mother about this, wondering, "Why did you let me leave the house looking like this?" and other important questions, mostly regarding my unsightly hair. 

Her answer,"I'm sure it really didn't look as bad as this picture makes it seem".  Implying that maybe it was the photographer's fault? 

I disagree.

Some of you may remember this little number:

This is me in 1st grade.

I plead my case.

8 Seater

Welcome to Idaho.

Smell Like a Man

The other day I was doing my good motherly duties and laundered our family's clothes. I grabbed N's pajama's from the night before and did what any great laundress would do...

I inspected them,

with my nose.

I was shocked to find that I was not graced with the normal 2 year old pj scents (ie. urine, milk, food, etc.), but the surprising scent of a man. Confused, I took one more quick sniff and threw them in the laundry.

The next morning I overhear this coming from the bathroom,

"Hey N, don't forget to put on your deodorant today, just like Daddy"

Thank you, B, for teaching our son to be a man.

He now asks for Old Spice about 20 times a day.

It's My Party

This little man recently celebrated his second birthday. 

He was very pleased with the idea of everyone singing to him.

He was a little confused about the candle. He thought you were supposed to smash out the flame with the palm of your hand. Don't worry, no one was hurt in this process.

We helped the poor kid out and re-lit the candle so he could blow it out.

It's good to be 2.

It just so happened to be my birthday too (a day apart) so I was lucky enough to blow out the "2" candle on the dinosaur cake as well. (yes, I am a metal mouth, we'll discuss that later).

The best part of all was watching N try out his new bike. With the help of some cousins, he was ready to go.

Oh little boy, please don't grow up!

Little Fish

Can you believe it is August? I'm not looking forward to an Idaho winter. What do people do all day? I have a feeling my online shopping might get out of hand. Until then, I will take full advantage of the warm summer days. 

This is how I has been spending her mornings.

She loved going to her swimming lessons.

She was so brave, she even jumped off the diving board! 

Only once, though, she could not be convinced (bribed) to do it again. 

Looks tempting doesn't it? 

I almost jumped in to cool off.

Now for the rest of these dog days...

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

Guess who's 2?

Can you believe it?

Happy Birthday little man!

Innovative

What do you do when you have travel across town with your two young children just to use the Internet?

What if you have to pay a bills and search for phone numbers and it has to be done that day?

What if it is right in time for lunch and naps and it takes all your might just to get the screaming children into their car seats?

What if you decide to go to your parent's home because they have a box of mac and cheese and endless episodes of Dora on DVR?

What if when you get there, your son decides to have a diaper blow out and there are no clean diapers anywhere near the vicinity?

Do you immediately hop in the car and drive home to change him?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

You make one of these because you are a genius.

Yep, that is a home-made diaper. So innovative right?

Sugar

Apparently we need a little more sugar and spice in our home because we are having another

GIRL!!

All is well and we're still on track for late November/early December. I can't wait to pull out all those cute baby dresses (and possible get a few new ones!).

The Great Outdoors

Enjoying the great outdoors.

















I promise he went out the door with pants on. I'm not sure what happened in between that and this, but that heap of clothes in the grass is kind of suspicious looking.

Convenience

I am going to start making a list of good things about Idaho, to help me appreciate it more. In the city, there were many inconveniences, parking is probably the biggest one.  I could easily make a list of those, especially when it involves toting around 2 young toddlers. Today lets talk about some of the conveniences of living in a smaller town. Let me be straight with you, all these things will never make up for the amazing beauty and culture that San Francisco has to offer, but I can find some positive right?

1. Attached garage. No questions about that right?

2. Fenced back yard (although yard work is completely new to me).

3. Parking lots. Free parking lots. Even downtown gives you 20 free minutes on the meter.

4. Drive through banking

5. Laundry room located on the second floor which is also where all the bedrooms are. (Let's be honest, I am just happy to have a washer and dryer in my home, I don't care where it is located).

6. Walk in closet. After sharing a tiny one with Ben for the last few years, this is heavenly to me.

7. Inexpensive groceries. I am in shock every time I visit Winco.

OK, so the list could go on. The only problem with all these conveniences is that I am going to have to join a gym.

Because convenience can also mean lazy.

Now that I got that out of the way, here's a few pictures just for you.

I'm not sure what kind of baby he's going to have? 

Finally

We are finally in our rental. We haven't had the Internet for the last 2+ weeks. I am way too dependent on the world wide web. How else am I supposed to get directions, pay bills, write a talk and communicate with the outside world all during nap time?

Things have started to calm down and we are getting settled. B got his dental license in record time (9 days after graduation!) and loves working. (Thank goodness! I don't think my hairstylist gig could pay off those student loans.) I is taking swimming lessons and is doing great. N is happy tagging along and could spend the whole day in the kiddie pool in the backyard. I am putting the house together and trying to squeeze in a nap once in a while. Each week goes by so quickly and I am dreading that 3rd trimester (can I just skip that part?). Almost 21 weeks and feeling great. Maybe I post a belly picture soon.

But for now, here we are:

Overheard

I was in a department store the other day and there was a little girl there who was conversing with the mannequins in the lingerie section. I overheard her chatter and noticed she had named them. 

"This is my mommy and this is my grandma," she said. 

Apparently, the two under dressed mannequins were her family members. She continued to talk and play and I continued to shop. Suddenly, I heard her frantically crying. Wondering what happened, I listened intently.  

"Oh no, I just pulled down Grandma's panties!" She cried.

One of the mannequin's underwear had been pulled to it's ankles and the little girl was hurriedly trying to pull them up. 

Poor Grandma!

I then grabbed the girl and ran because she might possibly have been my own daughter.

 Just maybe.

Summer

One thing I do like about Idaho is the warm summer weather. Add that to some wide open space and you will get 2 happy kids.

Here are some pics from this week. It took about an hour just to upload (can't wait to have my comp back), so I couldn't even fathom the idea of editing.

Nonetheless, here you go..two happy summer kids.