Crediboys

That is what the girls call The Incredibles. We recently bought it, and we all watched it together. Katie and Aimee were both obsessed with having powers. So we did this:



And I got a super cute video of them too.

Dead bird

Yesterday, we went on a walk. All of a sudden, I see a dead squirrel right next to the road. I made some kind of ahhh type of noise, and told the girls to look over the other way and kind of pushed them forward. I have a totally irrational fear of dead things, plus it’s just gross. Luckily, they didn’t see it.

The next morning, we took Katie to preschool. The girls went outside ahead of me, and there was a dead bird right near the door. They were entranced by that thing. I had to pry them away to get in the car.
After we dropped off Katie, Aimee says, “We saw a bird and it was dead!” Then she started chanting, “Dead, dead, dead!”

They have talked about it all day. When we went out again this evening they stared some more. Then Aimee told me when we got back it could fly away.

The premonition

The other night I organized the cabinets and threw away a bunch of expired stuff. Then I made Jon come look and made him give the requisite amount of compliments. Then I pointed out that I found a couple small bags of cheetos. (Jon likes them!) Jon said, "that's funny, the first thought I had when you said cheetos was of Aimee with orange all over her face." So I asked if it was a flashback or a premonition. We didn't know, but we laughed at the thought.

Fast forward to the next morning, there is an empty bag of cheetos on the table. Aimee's face has traces of orange. Then Katie shows me the picture she took on my camera:

Orange Face Caught!

 Later I was washing my hands and I looked at the hand towel, and it was covered in orange. She wiped her face! You might think she was just trying to clean up, but I know her. She was hiding the evidence.

The funniest thing I've ever read...

This book.

Image from amazon.com

(Dear mom, you will not like this book. Love Manda)

Okay, let me just tell you, I laughed out loud (lol-ed!) like an idiot for the two days it took me to read this, and I didn't care. (If I didn't have kids I would have finished it in a day.) It was delightful.

I have probably annoyed Jon to no end by wanting to tell him all the funny parts. 

So let me tell you something about myself: I have a sense of humor. And this is not me being braggy. I realize that most people don't find me funny. (I find myself funny!) But I appreciate good humor, and it is important to me. My whole family is like that I think. Except they actually are funny. Seriously, my dad can make a pun from anything. I talk to them on Skype a lot recently (they are out of the country on a mission) and there has not been a single time I've talked to them when my dad has not made at least 2 punny jokes. You can tell how many he's told by how hard my mom rolls her eyes. My sister Lisa hurt her neck, so I've spent a few weekends at her house recently, and after we put the kids to bed we laugh all night long. So I need the humor in my life. 

I was going to write my favorite part, but there are just too many. So instead you can read the introduction here or listen to it here. Or do both! I bought the book, but I am considering buying the audiobook too, because it is awesome listening to Tina Fey read it. If you like the intro you will like the book. Buy it, or get on the waiting list at the library. Or I will loan it to you if you promise to give it back. And maybe leave something as collateral.

Ballet Video

I think I got it to work! Don't listen to the sound, it's just parents talking in the hallway. I took the video through the window.

Ballet

The girls are in the same ballet class, and every week I die from the cuteness. There's a little window to watch them through, and I watch the entire time, and I just die. The thing I love most about the place we go is that it is pretty casual. I don't think they're old enough to be in a serious dance class, so it's nice for them to start here. Aimee is the youngest (by far) and Katie is one of the oldest, so there is a lot of variety. Their teacher is so patient. They are kind of crazy, so it's always impressive when she gets them to do something. I had a video, but it's not loading, and I gave up. So here's a picture instead.

Be back soon

School is almost done, but I've got so much to do! Hopefully in a week I will have something interesting to say. You know, other than holy crap, I've got so much to do! Till then, look at how cute they are!

I am sick.

Today, around dinner time, I gave the girls yogurt. Then they wanted crackers, so I got them some. Then they wanted water, so I was like, FINE! Then it was almost bedtime, then it was bedtime, then I realized that was the worst dinner ever.

I don't like being sick! It makes me forget to make dinner!

So I'm going to post a bunch of pictures until I get too tired and want to go to bed. Deal?

(Since I am milking it, these pictures will not be edited. Because I'm sick. Did you forget?)

Okay! The first one I have been saving for a long long time. It's the wood sign with white paint. Look closely:

That's right! You can cut the camels and llamas, or we'll do it for you! I think they may have forgotten something crucial!

This is where my inner 13 year old boy shows up:

But come on, is that really the sign you want front and center at your restaurant? :)

Aimee as little red riding hood. With matching red eyes!
And possibly the funniest current picture of the girls.I can't even tell you how often they look JUST LIKE THIS!!! (Yes, Katie is rolling her eyes)

And last, but not least, organizing is my new hobby. I got all fired up about it a few weeks ago, and have been staying up late with it ever since. It's all inspired by my friend Janelly (which btw, I still do not know if she totally hates being called that) and the i heart organizing blog. I've been doing a lot, but I forgot the befores and afters of all my projects, except one.

Spice shelf before:
Spice Shelf After!

I dumped out a few of those jars that I hadn't used in the 8 years we've been married. Ew. But now I go and open that cupboard just so I can admire my handiwork. That brown box holds the spices I buy in bulk, but the real story it I used the last of my kosher salt, and it was the exact right size to fit, so I cut the top off, spray painted it, and labeled it, and now all those bags are not falling on me when I open the door.

Now I'm too tired to go on. night!

Welcome to 2011

Only 25 days late. I've been busy! Or really, I've been "busy".

We had Christmas. Here are two of the five total pictures I took:

Christmas Eve
Grampa reading the night before christmas to most of his grandkids
Christmas Morning!
Pink Kitchen! Santa is awesome.

Then new years. I was really sick, so I went to bed about two minutes after midnight. (I was going to bed before, but I decided to suck it up and stay up the extra 20 min so I could kiss Jon. It was worth it!)

This term, I am only taking online classes. I'm really excited! It was so hard going 4 days a week, and just being really busy all the time gets to me. Plus my sister got hurt, so I was able to go visit her for a few days. I missed a few classes, so that's when I decided for sure to drop my chem class! (I'll still take it later) It was kind of a relief to have a break from being at school all the time.

So instead of being totally lazy, (like I had wished) I am still crazy busy! How does that work? I've got three different preschools going on, the girls are in ballet, church calling teaching 10 and 11 year old girls (which I love!) and I'm working on organizing my whole house, on top of homework (which I should be doing right now!)

And last but not least, we finally got a family picture. It has been two years since the last one. I took it myself, so it's not super great or anything, but I love it.Aimee is doing a pirate hook maybe?

Anyway. There's the update. Next I will post a video of what my life is like. (Noisy)

My baby is three!

Happy birthday to the cutest, most mischievous, lovable little trouble maker in the world.

I thought it would be fun to write down what she did all day so she can look back when she's older to see what her third birthday was like.

To start, Aimee couldn't keep still all day. She roamed around the house looking for things to do, and couldn't sit still for more than a minute. She was a more restless version of herself all day. And she couldn't take a nap. I tried twice, but she was too excited!

We started out with our own little family, and opened presents. She got a couple of things, but the hello kitty gumball machine from Katie overshadowed the rest of them. The gumballs were gross, and Aimee just swallows them anyway, so I told her we could go to the store and buy some candy to put in it instead.

We went to Costco to get the huge jar of jelly beans to put in the gumball machine. Jelly beans are one of her favorites. They were giving samples of fudge there, and when they found out it was her birthday, the sang happy birthday really loudly to her. It scared her a little! :) We bought mini lava cakes, and she wanted flowers, so she picked them out.

We came home, and had lunch, and I tried to get her to nap. That didn't work, so the girls played until it was party time! Aimee informed me she was having a kitty party, so that's what we did. They played hide and go seek, had a scavenger hunt, opened presents, ate dinner, then had cake.
We used trick candles, and Aimee loved them. I wish I would have gotten a video of her, because she was so excited every time she blew them out, and they came back on. It was very cute. Then all the girls did the exact same thing: they ate the middle chocolate, and left the cake.

Then we went to the zoo to see the lights. We braved the really, truly horrible wind, and we rode on the train (the max). Aimee was delighted with the whole thing, and loved seeing all the lights. She didn't want to have me near her though, she much preferred Gramma or Aunt Kelsey. When we went inside to get hot chocolate I saw that she had hives! She gets hives when she gets cold. (she gets the random hive thing from me) They faded as she warmed up. Then she ate cotton candy by the handful, and shoveled it in as fast as she could. I had to make her stop, and she was not happy. She drank some hot chocolate, but then she spilled it, and got very sad. We decided it was time to go, so we put hats, gloves, scarves, etc back on, and braved the cold again. Aimee had a couple meltdowns on the way back, but she was so tired. She was good though, and didn't complain about the cold at all. She was very excited to ride the train back to the car, and fell asleep on the way home.

I think she had a pretty fun day. I wonder if she will remember any of it!

We are so glad to have our Aimee. She is not an easy kid, by any stretch, but she is so lovable and adorable most of the time. She does get into a lot of trouble, and I have never seen a kid who loves getting into things more than her, and she can throw some awesome tantrums, but she is sweet, and I can't imagine what I would do without my Aimee girl.