such is life...

I miss blogging so much.....

This image and the story behind it captures so much of why I haven't been blogging... like, at all.


The girls have been resisting naps with every ounce of willpower in their little bodies, and I have been desperately trying to hang on to naps with every ounce of I-just-need-a-freakin'-break-and-oh-by-the-way-I-need-to-get-my-work-done-while-you-sleep.

So today, Avery was practically begging me to take a nap - I figured as much since the girls don't seem to sleep any longer at night when they don't take a nap, and eventually it catches up with them.  About the 4th or 5th time Avery came running out of her room screaming because 'Brynn touched me' or 'Brynn hit me' or 'Brynn won't let me sleep' or 'Brynn slammed my leg in the door' I set her up in my room so she could sleep in peace. 

Brynn was NOT happy.  'I miss my sister' 'I need my sister' 'I promise I will sleep like my sister'  uh... no.  So I left her in her room to play by herself and after it got really quiet for a long period of time... this is how I found her:


So yeah, I really miss blogging.  I miss writing about all the crazy things my children do - but at this time in my life, I'm just managing all the crazy things they do and not really getting a chance to write about it... but this feels good to write... really, really good.

I miss blogging...

I really and truly miss blogging... I can't believe it's been (well) over 3 months since my last post... with good reason, it's been a slightly busy around here, and once I got out of the rhythm of blogging, it sure has been hard to get back into it.

In a very quick re-cap of the past few months; we found a house we loved, we put our house for sale, sold it, bought the new one, moved in, moved out, and here we are!  The timing was perfect, and luckily for us everything just fell into place like it was meant to be!

I keep debating whether or not I should try to catch up on all the months of pictures that I have never posted, but it seems like I may never get caught up on my personal pictures... but I do want to share this one of the kids.  I attempted a photo shoot with them, which has never left me happy - but I did manage to get one image I love:

I still can't manage to get a picture of all three of them looking AND smiling, so I will have to settle for this one - I love it because the girls had just given Evan a kiss on the cheek, and this was the reaction.  I think it's so representative of his relationship with his sisters.  I've thought it and said it out loud several times, that he is so wonderful with them.  He really puts up with a lot of grief from them (and of course, he has his limits), but he really truly loves them, and so far this summer I have really enjoyed watching him play with his sisters and including them in his games; playing make-believe, running in circles, playing duck-duck-goose, letting them watch him on the playstation... ;)

I sure hope I can get back in a routine of blogging consistently... here's hoping, right?

just a post...

No 10 on 2sday.  Just a regular post.  And just 'cause it seems like I should be posting something.  The truth is, I've been feeling rather blah about my blog.  If you visit the blog-site you'll notice I made a few changes.  It looks 'cleaner' to me.  I like clean.

So since I'm feeling blah, I'll just leave you with a few pictures...

I need a nap.......

Their big day!

Today was a big day in our house... 

I no longer have the ability to say I have 2 2-year olds... and I can no longer blame all the tantrums, misbehaving and general mayhem on the fact my girls are two....

...now I can blame it on the fact they are THREE!  :)

Happy Birthday to my little sweethearts...

I can only imagine life without both of you in it would be unbearably boring...

I love you and all the craziness you girls have brought into my life!

Guess the movie...

I've got a dreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam....

The cuts...

I finally took the girls to get their first haircuts.  They have both been pushing hair out of their faces long enough...

In the end I went with bangs for both of them... I have a tiny bit of remorse in doing that, but at least their hair will grow back.  No more 'baby firsts'... and it's kind of sad. 

hello.

someone...

...likes to play in dirt...

10 on 2sday

1.  I've been trying to figure out why I've had such a hard time getting these 10 on 2sday posts up.  Part of it is just being busy, but the biggest part of it is I'm just not motivated to write anything.  I don't feel quippy and I don't feel like anything I write makes sense... but here I go... a bit of catch-up to do...

2.  We left on Easter Sunday for our trip to Hawaii, and the Wednesday before, I got sick with strep.  At that point I was feeling so overwhelmed by my to-do list, that I couldn't imagine losing an entire day to laying on the couch praying the kids wouldn't get into too much trouble while I attempted to rest.  Instead I hauled all 3 kids with me to the doctors office so I could get on some antibiotics, only to be sent over to the hospital to get blood work done to test for mono.  I almost lost it when the doctor mentioned mono.  Thankfully it was just strep.  Just.

3.  The Friday night before we left (my family was all in town for Evan's birthday), Brynn started looking awful.  So Saturday morning I took her to the doctor and she got treated for strep too. 

4.  Everyone but me and Brynn got to go to our city-wide Easter egg hunt that Saturday morning...

5.  ...then we loaded up for chuck-e-cheese for Evan's birthday party, and I *think* he had a good time...

Oh, who am I kidding... he had a blast!

6.  Saturday night after the birthday festivities... we packed, said our goodbyes, and set our alarms for 3:16am... I woke up at 2:47am.

7.  My parents graciously offered to watch the kids at our house the week we were gone, and my Mom sent me pictures of the kids from her phone every day.  (one reason I LOVE technology)

8.  We've been playing catch up ever since.  Lots of spring cleaning, attempting to get our house ready to sell, enjoying the beautiful weather while we can before it gets too hot, hoping to get our fence fixed after the 2nd time it fell over because of wind...

9.  ...started cleaning out the raised garden beds, getting ready for Evan to graduate from preschool, trying to find the line of keeping the kids active this summer and not over-scheduling them with too many activities...

10.   ...and lastly, my Mom would be happy to know that we bit the bullet and got a new dishwasher this past weekend.  After spending a week at our house, one of her first comments after we got home (aside from glad to see ya, I need a nap) was how horrible our dishwasher was... yeah, it was that bad.  Dan emailed me one day with the subject line "there is soap in my salsa".  It was time.

lazy on a 2sday

I'm not sure why, but I tend to feel guilty if a Tuesday comes and goes without posting a 10 on 2sday...  but here it is, 9:30pm and I don't really have the patience energy gumption to work my list and all the pictures...

So instead of a long list, and a bunch of pictures... just one...

I heart

10 on 2sday

1.  We are finally getting some decent weather around here... and we are hoping this is the last we see of this stuff...

 and this stuff...

so we can do more of this stuff...

and this stuff...

...except, without the coats on!

2.  Brynn figured out how to open the refrigerator.  Then she showed Avery.  For some reason they only open it when I'm around... which is totally the opposite of what they normally do... which is to wait.  until I'm not around.  then get into trouble.  weird.

3.  Let me tell you something about this girl... her hair is going crAYzay...

4.  Let me tell you something about this girl... she's an AWESOME bubble blower...

5.  Let me tell you something about this boy... when he puts his mind to something... he does it... even if it's as 'little' as the tight rope game on our wii fit...

6.  Last week I met up with a couple photographer friends to play around with our cameras and learn from each other... and while we were there I asked if I could get some head shots for my website while we all had our cameras out... and one of the shots is posted here!!  Let me just say... I do NOT make a good subject... it was hard not to go into dork mode with the camera pointed at me...  :)

7. While playing hide-and-seek Evan says to me... "Mommy, hide someplace special... where I can find you."

8.  Recently the girls have been very interested in numbers... letters a little bit, but mostly numbers.  Brynn started counting one day... 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8... and Avery comes up and chimes in... 9!  Another speechless moment...

9.  Sometimes I take random pictures of the girls hair, just because.  I thought about doing a post with the progression from birth to now (which I may still do)... but for now, A little more of Avery's crazy hair:

10.  The recent tragedy in Japan has had me glued to the news these days... and I realized just how impressionable kids can be when Evan asked me... "what if I die?"  Ugh.  I was not prepared for that.  Fortunately he accepted and moved on when I told him he doesn't need to worry about that right now. 

10 on 2sday

1.  I got a wee bit of good news a few weeks ago...

... and I wasted no time in booking our trip, lining up babysitters (thanks Mom & Dad!), and I'm sure I will come back with a ridiculous amount of pictures!!

2.  Just before the good news we had our winter birthday celebration with my side of the family... it tended to revolve around Avery & Brynn a little more than everyone else (ity bity's will tend to do that, I think?), but it was nice to get everyone together... and get a picture of the cousins where my children were NOT screaming!  (although it was a close call until my Mom rushed in with a snack for Brynn!)

3.  Speaking of birthdays, my Dad celebrated a pretty momentous one... not sure if it's ok to post his age or not, but when have I ever really let that stop me??   :)  He turned 60!  With the help of lots of his family and friends, I created a book for him (using blurb.com - and I TOTALLY recommend them!) that had pictures from baby to now including letters and notes that were written to him for the book.  I was really happy with how it turned out... and I think he was too... a kid at heart...

4.  We got a new laptop not too long ago ~ which was a much needed upgrade.  I edited a photo session in about a 1/3 of the time it took my on my old laptop... soooooooooo sloooooooooooooooooooow it was.  Anyway, it's been a bit of a headache transitioning documents, making sure programs were moved over... and I lost every font I liked for my blog and my photog biz.  Very frustrating... I need to figure out how to get those fonts loaded back on the new computer, but I just haven't yet.  phooey.

5.  Avery & Brynn have been skipping at least one nap a week lately.  And they don't just skip a nap and lay quietly and play... they fight, they scream, they pound on the door, and they tear apart the little bit that is left in their room.  They have starting pulling each others hair during their little scuffles too.  lovely.  (I guess that's what sisters do?)

6.  So in light of their occasional nap-skipping (and general fondness of destruction), we turned their drawers back around... so dang frustrating that I can't even use a chest of drawers in their room.

7.  The girls have finally started pulling their weight around here and helping with the dishes...

8.  Brynn and Avery are still far more interested in the potty than I'm ready for... but again, I'm not totally discouraging it either... I figured for now we would just work on getting clothes on and off... but Brynn has taken it to a whole new level.  We now find her with her PJ's pulled down around her ankles at night when we go check on the kids before bed.  One night, instead of trying to put them back on and risking waking her up... I just pulled them off and let her sleep in her diaper.  I felt kind of bad about it, so the next time it happened I tried re-dressing her... she was a limp noodle... didn't even phase her...
 

9.  Evan and I were looking at the February calendar, you know... back in February... and he started counting... from 1 to 28, and he says... Mommy - it's missing 29!!  Up until that moment he was still forgetting a teen number here and there while counting, and all of the sudden he's counting all of the 20's!!?!?!? 

10.  Evan asked me to take a picture of him with all his favorite toys... and I couldn't resist...

Super Brynn...

One of our favorite IPTV shows is Super Why... the part at the beginning when all the super readers put their arms in... yeah, we all come together and put our arms in right along with them!

the Drawers

I mentioned a while back that I had to move the dresser around in Brynn & Avery's room in an attempt to minimize the destruction.


Well, it was driving me crazy that I couldn't use all that glorious drawer space since the drawers were facing the wall.  So I finally decided to tempt fate and turn the dresser around not too long ago.  I still didn't put much in the drawers... some summer clothes, spare wipes that are sealed shut, stuff like that.


No surprise, they routinely yank all that stuff out and throw it around their room.


The dresser isn't exactly fully functional anyway.  During their destructive period they used the dresser as a ladder and broke one of the drawers.  Since I had the drawers turned around, we didn't get into any hurry to fix it... out of sight, out of mind.




Weeeeellll...






...turns out maybe we should fix the drawer:

The birthday girls...

Guess what we did today?

We turned TWO!!!!

 Mommy says we aren't supposed to grow up so fast... but we don't listen.  I mean, really, we have to grow into our new tricycles and all!!

And we really want to be able to help daddy clear the snow someday...

heh, heh... just kidding... we'll let Evan do that...

Mommy also says we need to work on sharing... see... we can do that!!

My Mommy tells me that I have a big heart, and I'm kind of a momma's girl ~ and I totally agree, I'm always trying to be her helper.  Sometimes I like to hang out by myself with my nose in a book.  I really like to sing and dance, and my Mommy thinks my fake laugh is adorable.  Mommy puts me in a big girl bed at night, but I usually just sleep on the floor behind the door.  Who likes sleeping where they are supposed to anyway?  Mommy and Daddy keep telling me to "use your words," and it kind of makes me mad when they do, but I sure have been trying!!  I use my manners really well and say peez & tank-uuu all the time!  I like to push buttons too.... mommy says the literal and figurative kind, but I don't really know what that means.  I really like to color, especially when Mommy leaves her planner and a pen within my reach!  Goldmine!!  Mommy says I have a really good pincher grasp, I guess since I was first given a crayon or something ~ and she can always tell my coloring from Evan & Avery's.  I'm pretty laid back, like Daddy, and I don't talk much unless I have a reason to, and Mommy seems to think I have a bit of a temper... not sure if I agree or not.  But I do know I'm loved a lot... but really, could you resist this face?

They gave me a really neat cupcake tonight for my birthday, and I figured out how to blow out the candle!

Well I like to be a little mischievous, although I usually feel bad and end up telling on myself.  Like when I find Mommy's phone where I can reach it, I usually play with it a little bit, then take it straight to Mommy!  I really love Evan & Brynn.  I tell them hi every morning and give them hugs.  I like to repeat everything Evan says, well, anything anyone says for that matter.  I prefer to talk in full sentences, and unless I get into my mumble-everything moods I can usually get what I want if I ask nice enough!  I really like to take baths, and my hair gets really curly when I get out!  I sure hope I grow out of my food allergies some day... I've been noticing everyone else eating bananas and cheese and peanuts and I really want some of that too!!  Mommy says I'm the most determined child she knows.  She's right.  If I don't get what I want the first time, I just wait for the right moment when Mommy isn't paying attention.  And I get it.  I really like to jump and tumble.  Mommy says I do things with GUSTO ~ like when she goes to change my stinky diaper, I like to jump over to her and plop right on my bottom! My mommy is always sticking a camera in my face, she thinks it's hard to get me to smile for her... but I don't think so... well, maybe a little!

They also stuck a cupcake in my face tonight and I really didn't like the fire... but once they got rid of those things, I sure liked to eat it!!

Singing along...

Last week my cousin, Kelsey, posted an adorable video on her blog with a little girl and her dad singing. Well, yesterday the duo was on Ellen ~ and Avery & Brynn were glued to the screen watching them, and Brynn even tried to sing along a couple times!!

Sluggish...

I've definitely been a little slow to blog these days... I had a reflections and resolutions post like last year started... didn't finish.  I had a 10on2sday post started... didn't finish.  I've been having a hard time focusing these days, so it's no surprise (to me) that I haven't been posting much.

Anyway, I thought maybe to end the week I'd at least share a couple of my favorite pics from the week ~ and one from Christmas...





I have no idea how she knows to make a boy and a girl doll kiss... but it's only these two...



We made a quick visit to Ames this week to meet up with my parents and some great friends, and one of the favorite "toys" by far were these beads... girls and jewelry, I tell ya...