Fun Free Crap

So, for my printing work, I mainly use a website called vistaprint.com . . . they're fast, relatively cheap and good to work with. Plus, the off free stuff ALL the time. I got something like 8 different personalized family photo calendars this year for maybe $10 in shipping, plus some free new business cards.
They have a free section on their website that includes all kinds of fun offers . . . including creating your own caricature family. Here's ours . . .
I think I'm pretty much right on . . . in fact, Annie seeing this said, "Hey, it's Mommy! And that's almost Dad." There really was no getting close on Annie or Ellie's hair.

One discounted offer the website keeps giving me is for t-shirts . . . I'm so tempted to do this one . . .



Potty Training Update:
Things were going so well . . .
All morning Annie was right on. Going in her potty every half hour or so, taking her baby dolls potty, checking in and telling me she was still 'dry'. It seemed like we were right there . . . when she came in and told me she'd peed in her panties. On the potty. Huh? Turns out she had done just that, sat down on her potty, panties still on and proceeded to pee. Minor setback, at least she was still using the potty. Then it happened again. And AGAIN. Three pair of wet panties in less than 15 minutes. Then we went to play at the neighbors house, and I put a pair of "Pull Ups" on her (which are nothing but more expensive, flimsier, thinner diapers . . . that Annie likes to pee in.) We came back with a very wet diaper, or whatever, and we got her changed back into 'big girl panties for the rest of the evening. Only to have her pee all over the kitchen. It's like that first setback reset everything and we're at square one again . . . but that's possibly just my bad mood talking (which is a direct result of the mopping and the extra laundry . . . )

My Picture Princesses

It's no secret I think my girls are the Picture Princesses . . . and not just because we've taken over 13,000 pictures since they were born :-) They both light up around the camera, and take some ridiculously beautiful pictures. We're gonna test my theory that my children are the two most beautiful girls known to mankind (or at least that I've given birth too) by entering their pictures in the "Picture Princess Contest" over at www.shabbyapple.com.

Annie

Annie is a princess if ever there was one. Complete with naturally curly blonde hair that winds itself into beautiful ringlets after each and every bath. Many of you know we moved recently for pretty much the sole reason that Annie needed more girlfriends. She had some cute little boys she liked hanging out with, but when we went to places like Tracy Aviary, the boys were chasing after ducks and throwing rocks at the peacocks, and Annie was showing complete strangers how her shoes and her purse matched. The two year old is a princess, through and through.

How gorgeous would she look in this dress by Shabby Apple? These are the cutest dresses for little girls and girls dresses from shabby baby!

Ellie

Ellie is the perfect "Gerber" baby with perma-rosy cheeks who smiles with her whole face.For the last seven months, each and every time I've taken her out in public we get stopped as people 'ooh' and 'ahhh' over my flirty little princess. When we first attended our new Church in our new neighborhood, I had several people come up to me and gush, "Oh, the pretty baby moved into the ward! Everyone in the neighborhood has been talking about her for weeks, ever since you first came and looked at the house!"

And as we all know, Ellie rocks the orange and browns.

Strained Peas are the Best! Or are They?

Ooooh! I LOVE peas!

They are sooooo good! I love peas!

Mom, have I told you how much I think peas rock? Love 'em!

Can you even believe how tasty these peas are? LOVE peas!!

Stupid peas. I hate them.

Losers!

My sister Lacy's gentle prompting ("Dude, you're all way too disgustingly fat!") has led our family to participate in a "Biggest Loser" competition for the next four weeks. $10 to buy in (we're a very cheap family . . . several of my siblings were considering sitting this one out because of the 'steep' entry fee . . . I think my Mom was scouring the newspaper for a "Buy One Get One Free" coupon, but to no avail.)

This means I woke up this morning and weighed in first thing (before peeing, of course). Then the girls and I headed downstairs and I did 15 minutes of Tae Bo . . . I would've done more, as I was just pleasantly feeling the burn, but me doing 15 minutes of exercise means Ellie had been screaming non-stop for about 14 and a half minutes. Maybe I'll attempt something during her nap.

Annie and I then ate a typical breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt (well, typical for her, I tend to skip breakfast or grab a granola bar around 10AM . . . no wonder I need to do this!) Then I came up and blogged. If only blogging burnt more calories! Maybe I could get a Thigh Master or some other convenient sitting exercise type apparatus . . . 'cause I bet those are ridiculously effective! ;-)

Anyway, do me a favor, anyone who runs into one of any of my family . . . feel free to feed them a doughnut. Do enough damage and I might split the winnings with you!

Edited to add: I was sitting on my office chair playing with Ellie, when she suddenly threw her little self out of my arms and landed on her head on the carpet below us. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped. She began screaming, I dived to the floor next to her, trying to soothe her while not picking her up for a few seconds to make sure her neck worked and all. I held her for a minute or two until she started to settle down. It was pretty quick from screaming to complete calm, so I'm assuming she's fine. I immediately called my Mom ('cause that's what one does in such a situation, "Please assure me you dropped each of us on our heads at least once and we all turned out relatively okay!"), and she gave me the typical 'concussion check list' advice. Then said, "Well, it's nice Ellie never naps for longer than 30 minutes, you won't have to wake her up during her nap to check on her!" Always seeing the bright side.

Oh, and Annie just ran from the room crying out, "I have to pee!!!!" There's a giant puddle on my bedroom carpet, so I'm thinking she was a little late on that. Sigh. Good times. I have to go get the carpet shampooer . . .

Oh Sorry, That's My Other Line!

Earlier today Annie was doing what Annie does best . . . talking on the phone. She was on her cute little princess cell phone toy, and was mashing numbers then held it up to her ear and informed me, "Mom, I calling you!" So, I held my hand up to my ear and started a fairly typical phone chat with my daughter. I was sitting in the front seat of the car, she was in the back (are there laws about talking into imaginary cell phones while driving?) After a minute, she asked to speak to Daddy, so I handed him my imaginary cell phone and they pretty much repeated everything I had just said with Annie. Then, all the sudden, Annie pulled her phone away from her ear, pushed one of the buttons, then said urgently, "Oh Daddy, my phone beeped! My other line. I gotta go! Love you bye!" HA! I mocked him for awhile that his daughter had just faked another phone call to get him off the line! A few minutes later though, we heard the mashing of random phone numbers, and a little voice trilling, "Hi Daddy! You there?" Greg 'picked up' his imaginary phone and informed her he had answered. "Sorry about that, I had another call. Nobody was there." So cute. Then I got to laugh again when a few seconds later she mashed another key on her phone and said, "Oh no! My phone beeped! It dying. Gotta go! Love you, bye!"

The potty train was a bit derailed by Church today, and a family party in the afternoon, but we've still had some impressive results so far. I was getting ready this morning in my bathroom when I heard a strange sound through my blow drying. I stopped what I was doing and called, "Hey Greg, did you hear that?" He didn't. I went back to what I was doing, then hearing it again decided to go explore. I walked into the hall, to see a naked two year old standing on her giant step stool up to her bathroom sink, her clothes and nighttime diaper in a pile on the floor. I'd thought she'd been asleep. She turned and grinned at me and said, "I peed in the potty, now I washing my hands." Seriously, if it was only that easy all the time!
We had Annie wear a diaper to Church. After Church she happily went back to panties, and stayed dry almost all afternoon. We brought her toilet seat attachment to my parent's house for a party, and early on she used it great. Then she got to playing with her Uncle Cody and was having far too much to notice stuff like, oh I don't know, the fact she'd pooped her pants. Lots of clean up ensued. Later she was sweet talking my Mom, and I turn around to find my Mom giving her a cool new toy. "What's that for?" I asked. "I'm giving it to Annie 'cause she went potty at Grandma's house!" "IN HER PANTS!" I exclaimed. "Oh, that's not how she told the story."

Hop on the Potty Train

So, I hadn't thought much about the words "Potty Training" before . . . that is until I heard my two year old daughter enthusiastically shout to her father after a successful outing to the bathroom, "Daddy! I'm on the potty train!" Cracked me up.

We're continuing to have mixed, although surprisingly good, success on this whole potty training thing. I think if we just let the poor kid stay at home, and not drag her out sledding every single day (and putting a diaper back on her for the outing), she'd already be there. It's my own inconsistency that's kicking our butts, but oh well, she's a smart kid and will adjust and my little baby will be wearing panties full time any day now. That's scary.

I overheard a whiny, tired Annie (around that time she should be napping) have the following exchange with her Dad:
"Come on Annie, let's go upstairs."
"Actually, I can't. Actually, I can't walk anymore. Actually, you'll have to carry me."
Seriously, she loves the word actually.

Photographic Evidence of our Sledding Skills

It was a nice warm day, perfect for sledding (well, almost perfect . . . another few inches of fresh snow would've helped, especially since my Mom kept running right into the grass on every sledding run.) My Dad had come over yesterday and taken Annie sledding, so when the rest of my family caught wind of this, there was an overwhelming desire to ALL go sledding with Annie (if only there was more of Annie to go around, one little kid to entertain and share sleds with that many adults has to get exhausting!) Annie had a blast, as did everyone else, and even though I'd forgotten my camera, Rachel had brought hers, so here's the photos from our little adventure:

Annie & Daddy. Annie would giggle the whole ride down the hill. If it was slightly more intense her little tongue would stick out of the side of her mouth.

Uncle Cody trying something dumb. He's 17. His legs didn't make it much more into the splits before he just fell over.

Annie & Greg alongside Rachel & Jovanny (it was Rachel's and Jovanny's first time sledding).

Rachel and Aunt Lacy holding Jovanny.

Ellie and I watching everyone else make fools of themselves.

Rachel and Jovanny sitting one out.

Our little snow babies: Jovanny and Ellie in the sled.

Ellie and Aunt Lacy

Annie & Grandpa Robert's wild ride!

Annie and I kinda jumped 'off track' and ended up going down the wrong side of the hill!

Again with Cody trying something stupid. We took lots of cool video of Cody doing dumb stuff . . . unfortunately I was having a hard time downloading it off of Rachel's camera.

Daddy, Annie and Grandpa. Annie loved going down as groups. Although this was the one and only time she went on her stomach.

Pile of snow victims at the bottom of the hill. (Lacy, Annie and Talina)

My Dad sacrificing himself for Ellie at the bottom of this sled run.

Ellie spent some time just chilling out in Uncle David's arms, just enjoying the sun.

As with most of our family activities, it ended in wrestling. And white washes.

Overheard While Sledding

My whole family drove out to our neck of the woods to enjoy some world class sledding (of course, the hills are mostly grass at this point, but we made it work.) At one point my Dad had my brother pinned face first into the snow in some kind of wrestling move. Cody yelled out, "Hey, that's not legal in wrestling!" To which my Dad responded, "We're not wrestling! We're fighting to the death!"

I'll have sledding pictures up soon . ..

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Potty training highlight of the day:
Annie wore panties to the grocery store. And the UPS store. AND the gas station. All on one trip, without a single accident! We ventured outside during potty training and made it home clean and dry. Feels very much like a success.

Potty training lowlight of the day:
Annie wandering upstairs, her underwear a little damp. "Annie, hon, where'd you pee?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, pee. Downstairs somewhere."
Despite dragging her all around our main floor, I never did find the spot.
Personally, if I were you, I would not come over here and sit on our couches or floor until potty training is complete and we've had everything shampooed.

Redesign Glitch

So, I was messing around with a new template for my blog (a task one should NEVER undertake when there's only 15 minutes left of the baby's nap!) Despite all my best (fairly unknowledgeable) efforts, I lost some information in the process. Specifically, all of my links. So, I tried to remember some, but I know I'm missing a few, that'll probably come to me in the next few days, but if you want to go ahead and leave a comment with your blog address if you'd like me to link to you, please do! I'll get it added right away!

Annie's latest potty training news:
So far, really pretty good. She's really taken to it, and does most of the work herself, often taking care of an entire trip to the bathroom without even involving me. No accidents at all today, except that the little stinker will wait 'til she gets a diaper on (like when we had to run to the store last night, or when she got to go sledding today with Grandpa Robert) to poop. Which is, quite frankly, the part of diaper changing I'm most trying to avoid! We'll get there though . . .

Annie got to, as previously mentioned, go sledding with my Dad today. The two of them headed off to the park while Ellie and I stayed home and mopped floors. (Do you know how great it is to mop the floors without a two year old running around? Awesome.) Afterwards, Grandpa stayed for lunch and to play for awhile longer. While here, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, saw it was my Mom, and handed Annie the phone and said, "Say, 'Hi, this is Robert.'"
Annie did as she was told, "Hi, this is Robert. How are you?"
My Mom responded, "You don't sound much like Robert."
I told her to tell Grandma, "I have a cold."
Annie continued on the conversation with my Mom, while pretending to be her Grandfather, and said something that made me and my Dad laugh for several minutes . . . chatting it up, she responded to one question with, "Yeah, I'm just here. Just hanging out at Hilary's house." It was so funny, and further convinced my Dad that is granddaughter is obviously a genius . . . apparently a master manipulator type of genius, but a genius nonetheless.

Later on, Annie and I were discussing who's turn it was on the computer. I felt it was mine, because I had graphics work to get done, and it's my computer. She felt it was hers because, well, she's two. At one point she said, "You know Mom, I'm getting pretty annoyed."

I sometimes feel guilty I say so much less about Ellie on here than I do Annie, but she's 7 months old, and really doesn't do (and definitely doesn't say) that much. She's adorable beyond words, so fun, growing out of all the dreaded fussiness/possible demon possession that plagues my children the first half year of their life, and is starting to go to just about anyone who'll let her stand up and hold onto their hands. She happily sits all almost all day playing with toys, but is starting to prefer standing more and more. She'll quickly (VERY quickly) roll onto her back anytime I set her down on her stomach, although she will occasionally, if properly bribed, actually roll onto her stomach. Of course, then she gets angry and rolls right back onto her back. I frankly don't know how we're ever gonna get this kid to crawl given her complete fury whenever her stomach comes in contact with the floor, but it'll come eventually. She weighed in at 14 lbs 9 ounces at her last weight check, on Tuesday. So, she's gaining. Slowly but surely. She's over a pound less than Annie was at this age, but at least we're starting to bust out the 6 month clothing, so it's good. Her and Annie play more and more together every day. She seems less nervous around her big sister, and there's more actual interaction than there was even just a few weeks ago. When Annie runs around and brings her toys, Ellie just beams, soaking up her big sister's attention. As seems typical with my children, Ellie has very, very little hair for her age. Meaning that despite her gorgeous baby girl features, and dominantly pink wardrobe, she gets mistaken for a little boy most every single time we take her into public. I really needs to start putting her in bows.

Potty Training? Am I Crazy?!

Annie used the potty twice before bed last night, then all day today she's been diaperless (well, pantless, to be more accurate), and we haven't had a single accident yet. (A little off topic, and slighlty gross, but I had NO idea how much stench the diapers kept in from Annie's apparently rampant gassiness! Never noticed it 'til now . . . I'm constantly convinced I 'missed' a very messy accident, but so far it's all just been gas.) We've had "Fancy Nancy" sticker rewards (she calls it "Antsy Pantsy" stuff, which cracks me up everytime she asks to read one of her Nancy books), as well as some "Princess" gear (sticker earrings, barrettes and pony tail holders with fake, colored hair) as random 'prizes'. (There were a ton of cute dress up stuff in the dollar bins at Target that we've divided up into little prizes. Annie gets a sticker for every time she goes potty, and a prize for every three stickers. Probably excessive, I know, I was just so excited to give her the dress up stuff! (Turns out my kid is a bit of a prize-accruing-genius, 'cause she's managed to pee about 10 seperate times since 8AM this morning!) We also have Winnie the Pooh set up with his own potty right by hers. And by mine. There's been a lot of social time spent in the bathroom today. It's been odd.
Last night she got her first prize, the sticker earrings and hair stuff . . . we took pictures.






Oh great, Annie watched some "Land Before Time 2" earlier today, and is now scolding all her toys for biting like Chomper, all the while randomly coming up to me and saying, "Grrr, I eating you Mom," and biting down.

Edited to add: Annie proudly called me in to show off her latest 'accomplishment' in the toilet. Her first, um, solid accomplishment. "Yay!" I cried, "Good job Annie! You pooped in the potty!" "No," she responded, "I moved it into here. I pooped on my bed, then brought it into my potty."
I have laundry going now. And a bath. And I'm still throwing up a little in my mouth.

Edited again to add: When I asked Annie, "Baby, did you, um, pick it up and bring it into the potty?" She looked at me, her little face filled with disgust and looking at me like I'm crazy, responded, "No! I got a rag." I'm not 100% sure which rag she used, so I've pretty much rounded up every single washcloth, even all the still folded ones, out of the bathroom and hall, and they're all in the laundry right now.

Old School

Inspired by my friend Jessi's super cute baby pictures up on her blog, I got all motivated to stick cute pictures of Greg and I from our childhood's up here for all to enjoy.

Here's Star and I on Christmas Morning . . . have you ever seen two kids more thrilled for Christmas. I'd be just about that happy right now if someone could find me a Smurf Big Wheels, that rocks!

Gotta love the Easter hats . . . (Me and Star)

Star, Talina and I on what I'm assuming is Beans' (Talina's) birthday, since she's the one with the best slice of cake in this picture!

Me, Talina and Star. This was a Halloween picture, but people have asked my Mom if it was some kinda weird Christmas pageant type of thing . . .

Baby Star with the best big sister EVER!

Gotta love Lagoon! Star, me, Talina & my Mom rockin' the old fashioned looks.

Star and I happy to be holding our baby sister, April.

My parents with their feathery, feathery hair, holding their precious first born baby. Pretty much the highlight of their ENTIRE lives!

It was the '80s now, so my Dad's hair toned down a little. Dad, me, Mom & Star.

Gotta love my bangs! They make up like half the volume of my hair!

My Dad and I with a baby lion. We did some COOL vacations when I was a kid.

My Mom and I up camping.

This was at Christmas when I was year and a half old. I love this one, 'cause Annie made this face A LOT around this age.

Y'all just wish you had that perm!

Baby Hilary in yellow.

Baby Hilary in red.

Baby Hilary in white.

Baby Hilary in blue. Last one, I promise!

Me and Star. My Mom was a really talented seamstress, I would NEVER make dresses like this for my girls (mainly 'cause I have neither the ability, nor the patience!)

My Mom and I.

Now into the Greg pictures . . . these were supposed to be on top, so I didn't seem so egocentric, but I always forget that blogger loads photos from bottom to top!

Here's Greg's family before Andrea's arrival. LOVE K.C.'s hair!
James, K.C., Chris, Ruth and Greg. (In my favorite shirt ever! It looks like three sizes too big, and the collar ROCKS!)Greg, Andrea, James and Chris.

Greg has more hair at a few months old than me or my girls have ANY time in our first year!

Baby Greg. Love the pudge!

Possibly evil of me . . . but this picture makes me giggle everytime I see it. Sorry, honey.

Can you believe he was THAT blonde?!

How freakin' cute is that!?

This is probably one of my all time favorites. Such cute baby features!

James, Chris, Ruth, K.C. & Greg (again, so blonde!)

So adorable.

I think this is the oldest family picture I have of them up until Chris & Liz's wedding.
Greg, James, Andrea and Chris. How adorably '50s child sitcom star would Chris look if this picture was in B&W?

Greg and his older brother James. I love this one. How Greg and I ended up with two teeny tiny daughters who spend much of their babyhood around 2% on the charts has to be some kind of scientific mystery . . . we're both HUGE babies!