November 14 2007
My girls are growing up. 3 yrs old! Walking!
Sophia turned 3 on friday. My baby's not a baby anymore!
We made a birthday banner and I decorated wonderpets cupcakes the day of, plus streamers all over the "Birthday party dining room" as sophia calls it. We still have the decorations up, mainly because I'm lazy and I like em.
My parents came into town on Friday night. On saturday we opened presents, played and then went out to eat at a bbq restaurant in Roanoke. Sophia loves playing with my mom and posing for my dad when he takes pictures. On sunday my parents came to church, and sacrament meeting was the primary program. The highlight for me was watching a young sunbeam in the frong of the stage sing "This is my beloved son, Hear him!" at the top of her lungs during that song. Hilarious.
Other things I loved about this weekend:
Having bbq ribs leftovers on sunday ! Hurray for no cooking!
Black Bean and corn salsa from sam's club- so delicious
Hanging out with kassandra and my amazingly cool little sister
Watching sophia feast on that cupcake
Expanding my decorating talents with the cupcakes- they didn't come out exactly as I wanted, but close
Natalie has been suprising us everyday as she learns to walk. On Monday she was taking a few steps from John to me and back, but would only stay upright if she was holding a stuffed sheep. It's now the magic sheep because without it she's falling all over the place. She was so excited to walk, mainly because we were hugging her and giving her tons of love afterwards. I guess we need to be more affectionate. Or is this how it's supposed to be, kids need to earn my love? Just kidding.
Natalie also has two teeth now, and her new love is stale bagels. They sooth the gums. She is quite the swiper, if you aren't looking she'll snatch food out of your hand and in less than a millisecond it will be in her mouth.
I want to post pictures of my latest projects...but lots are christmas presents, so I guess I will in January!
This week's agenda- Grocery shopping, apple turnovers for thanksgiving, start some christmas projects, try out a new denise austin tape.
-Jacki
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November 03
Fall Foliage
The photos pretty much say it all.
Bumblebee costumes. I've also been sewing a grownup girl purple and bright pink quilt for Sophia- I just have to machine tie and bind it. It's a psuedo birthday present.
We've been playing outside more, now that it's not humid outside and the bugs are gone. Our newest game- hide monkey around the yard and sophia finds him. Monkey can hide lots of places i can't fit. Like hanging upside down in the tree, or straddling our fence. Or ontop of the electrical box.
This past month John's parents came to visit and we had a fun time visiting and seeing the Virginia countryside. We didn't tell Sophia they were coming until the morning, so she woke up and they walked in! She was out of her skin excited. We did a lot of stuff while they were here- visited family, drove the blue ridge parkway, petting zoo and shopping. Sophia was quite distraught when they had to leave. But she talks about christmas all the time, that's the light at the end of the tunnel.
We also visited my parents in Maryland, went to the temple and my sister's Soccer game. We got to view the newest member of my parent's family, a camera lens that weighs more than Natalie. And is two times the size of my head. We call it The Hubble. It makes my dad look like the papparazzi as he takes pics for the Soccer teams.
Last week I made some apple butter, with mixed results. I think I need to start following recipe directions. I'm quite prideful and I think I can improve the recipe, and then it doesn't work quite right. Tsk Tsk. It might help if I had all the right spices too. Maybe next time.
We're gearing up for Sophia's birthday in a week- a trip to the zoo and my parents visit will commerate the occasion. And some cupcakes. I'm going to try to make zebra and leopard print frosting. We'll see how that goes.
This week...
plan my primary lesson for tommorow
Buy some gifts for sophia at Target
Monthly canned shopping at walmart
Clean my house for my parent's stay
Finish some christmas gifts I started at Enrichment
Replace batteries in some toys
Wish I had a million dollars to buy amazing toys
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September 22
September Craziness
I still don't have a virginia license. I've been twice to get it and each time have the wrong documentation of my identity and legal prescence. So still not official virginian.
Game day today in blacksburg. We rode by crazy tailgaters at 9 am making breakfast on their camp stoves all around campus. And drinking beer. A little early, but that's game day. We biked to the farmer's market, bought some produce, went by the duck pond for the kiddies, and came home. Then I made 100 rolls for ward conference tommorow, homemade pizza and we played inside.
Lately we've been more organized in our house, mainly because John and I are more diligent about spending 15-20 minutes each night cleaning up after dinner, and putting everything away that was lost throughout the house. I like it. When John is more diligent, it gets me in motion to clean up. Guilt is a motivator. For sure.
I've also been working out every day in some way, and I can feel my "core" being stronger. I can do a full situp now, with no hands for help, something I couldn't do after I had Natalie. Sophia likes doing tae bo with me, she picks up her pretend plastic 2 inxh cans from her kitchen and does the punches with me. (I use campbells soup cans for weights)
Recently I made up a 8 week dinner menu to go off of to plan meals and streamline my grocery shopping, but I haven't quite translated the meal setup for each week into grocery list. My hope is to go to walmart once a month for most of my groceries, and stop by a closer store for fresh produce and dairy intermittently. We'll see how it goes.My plan is to have a set month dinner menu so I can have a 3 month supply of food on hand at some point in the near future. Anyone ever done this, one month shopping? Does it work?
I've been called as CTR 5 teacher. So I teach 6 five year olds every sunday. They love to talk and be silly and color. I wish I could live in Pasco, then if I had this calling I'd be my niece Alise's teacher.
I've also been piddling at the piano and refreshing my memory of how to play. Not mozart yet, but I can play super simplified versions...at retardando speed.
Sophia has been all about the BIG TOWERS. She is constantly making them and remodeling them, or Natalie comes along and knocks it down, godzilla style. Sophia also has been talking constantly to "the wonder pets" and tells me to say hi because they just came inside, or to wave to max and ruby because they are here. I really need to babysit some kids her age so she can have friends. A lot of the kids in this ward go to preschool, even at Sophia's age. We played outside with the soccer goal in our backyard, and passed the ball down the yard, then kicked it in. Pretty soon we'll be running plays and drills, the 5 year old league won't know what hit em.
Natalie has started waving, and does so everytime you enter the room, or she crawls in. So cute. We had a small victory this week because we've finally gotten rid of all her psoriasis scales on her scalp. It requires special shampoo to get rid and to keep them away, but it's worth it. It was so sad to see her scratch them and get cuts on her scalp from the itching. She has extremely sensitive skin, I noticed her face broke out last week because we had a some clothes washed with tide detergent at my mom's house, her face was blotchy for 4 days. Poor kid.
John is brushing up on some new computer languages, and reading about the history of spain, in addition to being superdad and bathing our kids everynight and putting sophia to bed.
Well this next week we've got....
Visiting Teaching/ be visit taught
An appetizer cooking group at my house
Friends over for dinner
Hopefully a storytime and a park group
The Office season premiere and Ugly Betty season premiere
Fabric shopping at Joann's 50 percent off sale (halloween costumes!)
A license? I sure hope so. Third time's a charm, right?
-Jacki
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August 26
Take me home country roads to the place I belong...
We are now official Virginians. Well, we will be in a few days when we get our liscenses and what not. But we're not Hokies. yet.
Our house is huge. 1500 square feet feels huge to us. Especially when some rooms are empty. My parents are bringing furniture next weekend. Yippee! Then I will post pictures of our house. Right now it's frightfully bare. I hardly feel the need to go outside in the sweltering mugginess though, because we can run around and not be claustrophobic.
I made the girls dresses this past week. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. Their first matching dresses. Precious. I'm proud of myself because I designed the pattern off a few dresses they had, figured out the linings and order of assembly, AND did buttonholes and snaps for the first time. It was fun to figure something out and make it all my own.
In the pictures you can also see our daleytown car and animal play mat. I'm still pretty excited about how cute it is and I made it over 3 months ago.
In other news...I'm on the third Lord of the Rings book. I'd never read it when the movies came out, and frankly they're too scary for me, but I decided I need to know this cultural phenomenon. Because you can't make fun of something you've never read right? He He. I do like the books but I can tell I'd need to read them a few times to fully digest the imagery and full meaning, rather than just the plot, as I am now.
Wonder Pets we're on our way...This is Sophia's favorite tv show of the minute. The animals in this show sing most of their dialogue. She does it now too. I love it. Mainly because John and I randomly bust out into song if a phrase in our conversation resembles one (does that make any sense?). She's finally growing up and singing her random thoughts. (Wipe away tear). Sophia also has started "putting things away" in an obsessive matter. She's been known to not go to bed because she thinks John left a cupboard open or a handle facing up rather than down. Now that we have a ton of built in bookshelves and cabinets, when we lose stuff, I look and find random stashes of toys that used to be on the floor. A common mismash of items- Sunglasses, stuffed bunny, bookbag, one of my notebooks, a sock, and sippy cup with 2 day old juice. So now when we're looking for something I know I've seen but can't remember where...i ask sophia. And she usually knows where it is. I like it though, it's a welcome alternative to breaking my foot over random toys.
Coming up this week
A trip to the local park
Grocery shopping for my parent's visit
Mattress shopping
Figure out how to make dimple dolls from scratch (6 inch dolls that little girls love)
Replace elastic on a skirt I wore during pregnancy
Design a tutu skirt with flowers for sophia (tuille is on sale at joann fabrics)
Price how much it would cost to make a playhouse out of pvc pipe
Plus craigslist cruising for used sofas
maybe some visiting teaching
a blast from the 90's past with Denise Austins' Hit the Spot tapes...Love the high waisted belted workout equipment, makes me feel trendy....
See ya!
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