Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Great Un-Cleaner

I’ve been thinking…008

How many times can a person unload a cabinet, pull tissues from boxes, and remove dvds from a shelf before growing tired of it? Well, as the person doing the opposite of those things (reloading cabinets, refilling tissue boxes, putting away dvds), I’d say it gets really old, really fast.

I can’t say that for Cole. Books off. Books back on. Pans out. Pans back in; this little bear thinks that’s one fun game. He is such the un-cleaner, that boy. He’s so busy! I sometimes wonder why I can’t have a clean house at the end of cleaning up all day long. The answer is Cole. Sweet, cutest Cole.027

Speaking of busy, let’s talk about the past couple days…

Miss Kate finally made a choice between being the unicorn for Halloween, or Rapunzel. Tough choice, but in the end, Rapunzel and her hair won (which was nice, too, being that we already had the dress from her Disney Cruise souvenir).

The only problem with that choice? The dress. It’s Kate’s favorite dress-up, and the whole back side was un-stitched from lots of wear. It was either buy a new dress, or suck it up and learn how to use my brand new (4 years old ago) sewing machine. I reluctantly chose the latter. I cracked open the instructions, did a little reading, and as it turned out…sewing the dress was a piece of cake.

Truly motivated like never before, I decided, “Let’s make a blanket!” Weird, I know. I’ve never once sewed a single project since the ugly days of junior high so to start now, well, that’s just nuts.

Anyway, after cutting, piecing together and sewing the front side, I was on a high. Everything went swimmingly; not a single problem! In my head you might have heard stuff like this going on:

“Wow, Ashley, you’re really good at this!”

“Mmmm, someone definitely has a knack for sewing!” and

“What’s so hard about this sewing business anyway!?”

Well, on Day 3 I decided I was going to figure out how to bind this blanket with a mitered corner, using the backing (am I impressing anyone yet with my sewing linguistics?). This was not the easy route, but I knew I could handle it (being the up and coming expert sewer that I was).  Nnnyes.

Anyway, it took tears, real ones; as well as hours, my sanity, and ultimately, some help from Sherrie to figure it out. Should have gone with the way I knew, but it’s done. 031

There are many imperfections, but when I gave it to Kate she squeezed it and said, “It’s perfect!” She later told me, “When I’m a mom and I have a little girl, I’m going to give this blanket to her.” 033

Oh, I just love my Kate! She is such the little validator and it just made my day! I think her reaction made it all worth it; I can say that now that I’m done.

I love these kids. Life is busy, but I certainly wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

“Go Red!”

Kate’s a soccer star now. It pretty much happened over night…005

The day of her first game, Kate made sure to teach the mom how to appropriately cheer for her. “You have to yell, ‘Go, Kate, go’!” she instructed. It’s a good thing she taught us because all game, every game, she makes sure she can SEE us watching, and HEAR us cheering for her, which we do. We’re very much in the Kate Fan Club!

Team cheer (the two boys on both sides of Kate are pretty much her team’s Saving Grace):

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Intimidation:

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“Soccer Power!”:

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BFC’s:

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Kate’s also learned a really valuable lesson from soccer: Treats at the end of any sporting event make playing worthwhile.

Well…except for that ONE game. Someone apparently forgot their assignment and Kate thought it was a real tragedy. She came crying, “There’s no treat for The RED!!” There were tears. Many of them.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Big Day

Too pretty for words on her first day of 4-year-old preschool:

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The mom is feeling a little blue today.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

A Swissian Evening Away

Another school year is just around the bend. The Dad took us to the Zermatt for one last getaway before the intense preschool curriculum reigns yet again. 051
Midway, Utah isn’t much more exciting than a pool visit, a few carousel rides, bakery treats, yodeling;) and a Mexican meal at Tarahumara…so that’s precisely what we did. And we enjoyed ourselves.
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Miss Kate always loves the helltels and a life of luxury. I honestly think this was the very first time she didn’t cry while leaving a hotel…that’s how much she loves a vacation! 048
Such the little pageant girl with that wave
Now, Cole, on the other hand, that’s questionable. Don’t let the smiles fool you; SUCH a grumpy boy this trip! I’ll go ahead and blame it on teething this time around, but geez, we’ll need to work on that. 050
Cute as can be, but a real spitfire!

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As for Dave and me, we liked our room. It was magic. After a few test runs of a vacationing with a new baby, Dave felt inspired to upgrade to the Villa, which sported a couple of rooms, a kitchen, and a lovely split bath. Bless him! While we can’t always afford rooms like this, it made putting the kids to bed so much easier this go around. If only we could vacation this lavishly all the time…

Well done, Mr. Blackhurst. I think we are now ready for preschool!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Utah Museum of Fine Arts

“Kate, look at me.”
“Kate, over here!”
“Look at the camera. I want to get a picture of you with that mummy.”

Mom snaps the pic right as Kate cries, “Is there really a mummy inside?!!!”
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~Is her face not classic? So hilarious!

It was such the perfect time to visit. With a popular Utah artist, Le Conte Stewart, temporarily on display, as well as some Egyptian artifacts, I’d say we timed it just right.
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L-Cole with one of Le Conte’s pieces.
R-Kate’s attempt at pulling the same silly face as the sculpture.
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L-Seeing this dude in a suit brought me back to Old Town Pasadena where they have a similar statue made by the same artist.
R-They even give kids a backpack of related activities to complete throughout your visit to the museum. So cool (at least Kate thought so).

E, I, E, I, O!

Old MacDonald invited us over. Cole, in particular, learned some valuable lessons:

First, discover your fears.
Second, face them (click on the box if the video doesn't show up)…


Fluffy animals can be scary
And third…parents can be mean sometimes.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t love you, Baby Boy!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Unthinkable Has Occurred

We got family pictures…
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…and I love them.