End of Summer Adventures

This week we had so much fun. So many play dates, almost every day which I love because we need to get out of the house. On Tuesday we went over to our friend Liz and Lexie's house for a laid back pot luck. It was really fun because I got to see some moms that I haven't seen for awhile. I also got to hold 3 new babies! They were so sweet. Only downfall to the day was Jackson biting Lexie. He has been biting a lot lately, mainly Lizzy which is bad. I just don't know what to do because I don't see him do it and don't notice until later.

On Wed we went to Tumbleweed Rec center for Bikes, Bounce, and Boogie. We have never been before and I have to say I don't think we will be going back any time soon. I wasn't that we didn't have fun but it was crazy crowded. There weren't enough bikes for all the kids and every time one of my kids went for a bike another kid would snatch it out from under them. I did manage to get a few pictures of them riding together though.


Today we went to Superstition Farms. It was so much fun. They had a petting zoo with horses, a donkey, goats, chickens, and cows. Lizzy was so excited when we walked out and saw all the animals. She was waving her arms like a crazy person. Jackson made a friend with a horse who kept giving him kisses on the back of Jack's neck. Once we got closer to the animals Liz was a little scared but she really liked the chickens.
Then we went on a hayride of the whole dairy farm and even got to see a live calf birth. It was amazing! The farmer said it usually takes about 3 hours to birth a calf but it only took this cow 10 min. She must be a two time momma. :) Jackson was watching the whole thing and sawing "cool". Who knew we would have fun and get a lesson on the miracle of life.

After the hayride we got to taste some of their milk and ice cream. They had like 12 different flavors of milk which was really fun and Jackson loved the cherry vanilla. The ice cream was amazing. Jack had bubble gum and he thought that was so cool that there was bubble gum flavored ice cream because he loves gum. It was such a great day.

Clarify

I just wanted to clarify that the previous post was probably influenced by the fact that I took Lizzy to the doctor today and realized that my baby is no longer a baby but a little toddler now.
By the time Jackson was this age I was already 3 months pregnant with Liz.

Elizabeth is in the 75% for both her weight and head circumference (21 lbs and 18 cm) and off the chart for her height at 32 inches tall. (BTW the height limit at Disneyland for the big rides is like 42" which is crazy to think about). Jackson was 31" tall on his first birthday so she already has the size factor working for her which is good because the doctor mentioned that he noticed a little bit mark on Lizzy's arm from Jackson. Jack gets excited and bits sometimes, I can't really blame him her little arms are so chewable. She is already learning how to defend herself from Jackson's ever present wrestling with her. She was very brave when she got her shots and barely cried. Jackson however really milked the flu shot he received. Big alligator tears crying Mommy Owiee, Owieee. My family will get a kick out of that since I used to say owie owie owie over and over when I was younger. LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON!

Here is a slide show of some memorable faces of Lizzy's first year.

And the birthday background is in honor of all the other Sept birthdays in our family:

Grandpa John-Sept 7th
Grandma Porgie-Sept 9th
Elizabeth- Sept 10th
Dad-Sept 17th
Grandma Sandy (mom)-Sept 28th
Brandon-Sept 30th

Confession

Just had a twinge in my uterus aching to be filled. Then I came to my senses. Three under three? I don't think I could handle that. Better wait another year, if I can. I just need all my friends (Susan, Kim, Erica, Lindsey, Kristy, Marel, Jessica) to have their babies already so I can cuddle on them and not have the longing feeling to make one of my own.

Good to Great

This post is a little different than previous posts. It is extremely personal to me but I feel like if I get my feelings out and send them off into the void I will be able to overcome them. So here goes. . .

My whole life I have been good at everything. In high school I was good at sports. In college I was a good student. Post college I was a good teacher, a good cook, a good photographer, a good wife. The problem with being good at so many things is that you are never GREAT at anything. A life of good=mediocrity. I see all these amazing people around me that are doing so many GREAT things. They are running their own businesses. Being amazing mothers. Creating wonderful clothing, or pictures, or crafts. They are busy with their lives living in Greatness.

Now my other problem is I tend to be hard on myself and compare myself a lot to others. I know I shouldn't but I can't help it. So how do I overcome my good and lead a life of Great. I have so many interests and things I would love to do with my life I sometimes feel overwhelmed because I know if I try to do all of them all I will end up with is being good at something new.

It's like in volleyball. In my four years of high school volleyball and club volleyball I played outside hitter, setter, right side hitter, and defensive specialist. How is someone suppose to be Great at a position when they are shifted around life a chess piece in some many directions? I ended up being good and when they needed to fill a spot they put me in it. But I was never Great at any of the positions and when high school was over my volleyball career ended as well.

Now I'm not saying woe is me, poor girl is good at so many things. I am just trying to figure out how to be Great at something. ANYTHING! I would be satisfied with being Great at one thing and being good at everything else. Maybe I just need to pick one thing, focus on that, and go for it. But I am afraid. Afraid of failure. Afraid of trying something new, putting myself on the line, and ending up being just good.

A life of good isn't so bad, it is just frustrating and a little bit of a self-esteem breaker when you are never Great at anything. WHAT IS MY CALLING IN LIFE? I always thought it was to be a mother. Now I am a mother of two and my children are GREAT, but I am still just good. Maybe that is my calling still and I need to focus on being a mother, a Great mother. I don't know. . .and now it is time for bed so I will have to wait and see if Greatness really is in me somewhere.

Spoiled Eggs

Check out this blog I came across, Spoiled Egg. It is a blog about women who are infertile. Sounds depressing? This is a great blog with a fresh take on the issue. Funny, clever, and well worth the read.

Love you all . . . already moms, moms to be, and moms without children.

How Funny?

How funny is Jackson? SO FUNNY! He cracks me up every day.

Example #1: lately I have been letting him pick his own clothes out each day. Most of the time he does pretty well, shorts, shirt, Spider-man shoes. Yesterday he chose to wear not one but two sweater vests (one on top of the other). Mind you it is 105 degrees outside but I couldn't change his mind. Today he chose his cars pajama top and shorts. Dressed up one day dressed down the next. What will he pick tomorrow?

Example #2: He refuses to try any new food. However, when I do convince him to try something he always says, mmmmm afterward. New food today, sweet and spicy chicken.

Example #3: He doesn't like to get dirty in any way. Dirt gets on his shoes he says, owie mom owie. If something gets on his fingers he fusses until I whip him down. Today I conviced him that finger painting is fun. He only wanted me to put the paint on my hands at first but then after I forced him to try it he discovered a whole new world of creativity.



I love Lizzy's little eyes peeking over the table. You know she's saying, "Hey, whatcha got up there?"


What will he do tomorrow?

Snuggle with a Giraffe

I saw this really cute baby blanket at church the other day and I thought to myself, I need to make one of those. So I went to the fabric store. Right now I think that Joann's should have some kind of punch card because I have spent WAY too much money there these past few months. Anyways, I found the same fabric but then something else caught my eye. I loved this purple giraffe snuggle flannel. It is so cute so I went to find a giraffe print for the back of my blanket and I found the best print. Here is the finished product. So simple yet incredibly cute.


BTW the original blanket was zebra print with hot pink on the back.

Party Time

In our family for some reason birthdays tend to last at least a week because there is the actual birthday but then we always celebrate on Sunday with the family. This week we had a friend birthday party on Tuesday and the family party on Sun. The thing about 1 year olds is they have a very short attention span so the 1 week celebration really works. This way she opens 1 present each day. Thanks to all her friends and family Liz got some really fun stuff but the thing she loves the most is her baby doll. She carries it around with her everywhere giving her kisses. Isn't it funny how girls have this innate sense to be moms?

Jackson and Lizzy having a tea party and then Lizzy playing us some tunes.

Yummy cake.

Birthday Girl

It was only a year ago when beautiful Elizabeth came into this world. She is still just as fiesty as the day she was born, only even more adventurous and rebellious. Even my friend Heather pointed out the other day how she is already testing me. She will do something she knows she is not suppose to but before she does it she looks at me with those baby blues and smiles. She is really smart. Already able to walk and almost run, climbing up on things to get what she wants, and she can already say five words (mama, dada, ball, bye bye, and pig). She likes to follow her brother around but she is learning to defend herself. The other day Jackson fell asleep on the coach and Lizzy decided to take full advantage of the situation by smacking him in the face to wake him up and climbing on top of him. (Jackson didn't even move an inch, out like a light). She only has 4 teeth but she eats everything we eat. Her favorites right now are yogurt, pasta, and watermelon. She can drink from a cup but still prefers a bottle before bed (we are trying to break her of that habit). She sleeps 12 hours every night and takes a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. She is very brave and will try anything including playing with the big kids. She loves slides and trampolines. She also loves to read and give her baby doll kisses. The thing I love the most about her is how independent she is. Sometimes I wish she was more clingy to me only because I miss snuggling with her but when she gives me big hugs and slobber kisses it makes up for her self-sufficient ways. She is strong and that is all I can hope for in a daughter. I know that this next year will be just as exciting as this first year has been. I love you sweetheart and can't image my life without my little sweet pea.

Baby Boy Blue

My cousin Erica is expecting her first child, a baby boy, in October and I was so excited to make something really special for her nursery. I got this great idea from my friend Heather for a fabric mobile. Erica's nursery theme is Elephants, and her colors are blue and green which I think are classic and great colors to work with. I wanted just the right elephant fabric for her so I search and searched and I finally found this cute Micheal Miller print on Etsy. Here is what I made.

After I got the elephant print I went and found some complimentary fabric at Joann's. Then I cute all of them out in circles on my cricut. I am so glad Heather sent me a link teaching how to cut fabric on the cricut because I really had trouble before and now I use it all the time. Then I connected the circles with ribbon. I found the blue circle at Michaels. It was actually just a wood ring but it already had the holes in it so it was perfect. I also found the wood balls at Michaels. These were tricky because they only had 2 packs and I needed 3. So I looked at 3 other Michaels before I finally found another pack. (25mm balls are apparently a hot commodity). Then I painted all the balls. I attached the circle ribbon to a thin white ribbon, strung the balls on it and tied the top to create a nice loop for hanging. Then I found these cute elephant fabric stickers and put them on the bottom circles. I think it looks awesome.
I bought this wood piece and painted it blue. Then I cut the quote out of vinyl and attached the ribbon to the top.

I made these pieces with the remaining fabric. A quilt, onesie, and burp clothes. I love how everything matches and I am so glad she enjoyed the present. I just wish I could have given it to her in person. Love you Erica.

Big Brother, Little Sister

So far Jackson and Elizabeth have the typical big brother little sister relationship. Lizzy follows him around everywhere and wants to be where ever he is, Jackson like to have her follow him but doesn't like to share anything with her unless he decides to. It is really funny because he will take toys from her or a cup or whatever she has, but he always makes sure to replace it with something else. He likes to find things with strings or cords because he gives one end to Lizzy and then he takes her around the house like she is on a leash. The funniest part is she likes it. Lately I have caught them in the act of doing really cute things with each other like him giving her a big hug or reading to her. I love that they are so close in age because I think as they get older they will become best friends.

Last night was yard work night. It is so hot outside that the only options for doing yard work is either early morning or late at night. Since we are not morning people, we choose to do the night work. Brandon mowed the lawn for the first time in weeks (it was a jungle out there, a jungle of weeds) and I pulled weeds while holding Lizzy because she is terrified of the lawn mower. Jackson was so cute because he mowed with Brandon following him around and waving to me when they came near then saying bye mom when they mowed away. It was the cutest thing I have seen. I love that he loves Brandon so much, and how he likes to help in any way he can.



This was too funny I had to take the picture. My little Hitler (although she is the exact opposite of Hitler so smiley and sweet).