Challenge for myself

In the spirit of taking this photography thing and trying to run somewhere with it, I have decided that I will challenge myself to post of new picture everyday. I have read many blogs that do the whole 365 thing and I guess essentially this is what I am doing, beware my photography skills are beginner quality at best. My hope is that this little challenge will help keep me motivated and make my class a little easier.

Should I listen to mom or not???

It has arrived

Well I stayed home all day yesterday waiting for the UPS delivery. It really felt like Christmas all over again. I finally got my camera and I LOVE IT! I have to admit that it is a bit overwhelming going from a little P&S to a camera with all the bells and whistles. My mom found an online course for her and I to take and it started yesterday, so I spent my morning reading. I feel lost already, but I am sticking with it. I think it is a good thing we are doing this together, my mom and I, that way neither one of us gives up.

In other news my little Taylor got her first haircut on Tuesday and although is was painful, it was worth it. I am not sure she would agree, or the lady that care her hair for that matter, but it was for me. She has little bangs now and no more hair in her eyes. I am still waiting for the day when it is longer and I can do something more with it, but I will settle for this now.

I know I am bias, but she is my little cutie!!

Is it to much to ask??

To keep your sick kids to yourself? I need to just say that I am not at all the mom that runs her kids to the doctor every time they have a sniffle. Frankly it drives my husband crazy, as he thinks they should go every time they are sick. I believe if it looks like a cold and it acts like a cold.....IT IS A COLD!! Well this morning I woke up for the third day in a row with a sore throat. I decided to take a looksy and see if there was anything going on in my mouth. I saw a few sores on the back of my throat and thought.....um.. please don't let this be strep. After asking my pharmacist what he thought, I decided to go to urgent care and get checked out. I was only afraid that if it was strep and highly contagious I would give it to the kids and I did not want that.

I HATE going to the doctor, any doctor, for this reason...........SICK KIDS and parents who let their sick kids run amok. Is it too much to ask that you keep your sick kids to yourself? I am forced to politely smile as this 2 year old with a runny nose, cough and a pacifier that should have been thrown away when he could take it out and talk, tries to touch my 10 month old baby. Now I know that kids do not know any better, but parents do. I should have known that the parents of this kid would do nothing, as his mom was still in her robe....yes her bathrobe at noon in the urgent care...and she wasn't even the sick one. Anyway, as I suspected from the beginning, just a sore throat. So all of this annoyance for nothing except a reminder of my hatred of doctors offices.

I called my mom after leaving the urgent care asking her to stop me the next time I think I need to go against my better judgement.

I did it...

Today I made my big purchase. A Canon Rebel Xsi with 4 lenses and a ton of other stuff to go with it. I have decided that I am going to make it my goal to learn all about my new camera and become really good at taking pictures. So many people take great pictures it has totally inspired me to learn. I love taking pictures, but am only happy with half of what I ever get with my P&S. I will keep you all posted with my learning and hopefully it will be reflected in pictures to come. My mom has a really nice camera also, so we will be learning together.

Oh I forgot to mention....

Valentine's Day was low key, I worked and Tom hung out with the kids. Friday night though, we had our babysitter come over, we went to dinner and against my wishes we went to the casino. Well, for once I was wrong and pleasantly left the casino with a little more in my purse. I am really close to my new camera, it may be this week that I make the big purchase.

On another note, after our long day at the zoo Tom came home and rather than laying down an taking the nap he really wanted, he went out in the front yard and did some work. It looks wonderful and I think it may have even inspired him to finish the back. We'll see.....

Overdue Family Day

Well it is not very often that Tom and I have a day off together. We have our schedule set so particular that anytime he is off I am working, it sucks, but if I am going to work that is the way it has to be. I was pleasantly surprised when he told me he had today off. If I had known in advance I probably would have planned to work, so it is a good thing he told me at the last minute. Anyway, we decided to have family day at the zoo. Oh and apparently so did every other family in the state. I do not even know why I didn't think the zoo would be busy being a holiday and all. We kind of slept in which was nice, cooked a big breakfast and got all ready for the zoo. Thomas was super excited, the poor kid spends most of his days tagging along with mommy doing things not so fun for him. It was a very nice day and although it was busy, it was fun.

Here are a few pictures from our day.

I Don't Wanna Take a Nap.....

Hope this makes everyone smile. Oh and because I just got yelled at by my mother, yes the car seat strap is a little loose, but we tighten it and then he wiggles around it becomes loose again. He is fine and safe!! Just prior to this video he was freaking out because he wanted his coat off, the strap came down while he was doing this.

Two week wrap-up

Okay I have been a very bad blogger in the last couple weeks. I have no real excuse except that each time I have sat down to post, I have wound up doing something else. First I must comment on the sad ending to the Superbowl last Sunday. This house was really pulling for the Cardinals, but no luck! Anyway, my latest project has been selling the kids' clothes on eBay. I have had some success in the past, so I thought I would try again. I am very happy to report that everything I put on has sold. I tackled Thomas' room first. Last week Tom was gone again for three days and my mom was kind enough to keep the kids overnight and I went to town on Thomas' room. I cleaned out everything, lots of clothes got donated, but I put together 4 Lots of clothes/shoes. Kids grow so fast when they are young, so many of the items in his closet have barely been worn.

All of the auctions ended last night and this morning and they all sold. YIPPEE!! I also broke down and sold my very nice and VERY unused film camera. I bought it when I graduated high school (before digital was around), spent a good portion of my graduation money on this camera, I just never have used it. It is film of course and that is such a thing of the past. The gentleman that bought it got a great deal as far as I am concerned. $65 for the camera, 2 lenses, a case and filters. Oh well I guess this is the way life goes. I am saving up again with Christmas money and the money from my eBay sales to purchase another nice DIGITAL camera. Taylor's clothes will be tackled next. Piles and piles of clothes that this little girl has also barely worn. I even have to admit that there are clothes still with the original tags. SAD:(

In other news, I finally booked our flights to Hawaii earlier this week and for any of you that know me very well you will know this was a very hard purchase. I am the saver in the family and big purchases like this give me anxiety. We are excited for the trip, but never the less I should make Tom do this kind of spending, it would save me a stomach ache. We leave on the 1st of April and will be gone for a week, bless my parents for agreeing to watch the kids while we are gone. Every night I say a little prayer that my little Taylor will become more and more independent as not to drive my mom nuts while we are gone.

I called the babysitter for tonight so Tom and I can have a little "date-night". Who knows what we will do though, usually we get in the car and just look at each other with blank stares. When you have kids it is such a foreign concept to have a quiet night out, well at least it is for us.

No new pics to post today.....I'll try and take some this weekend. Have a wonderful weekend all!

Never a dull moment

I just have to share a little something that happened today while I was on the phone with a Southwest Airlines associate.

Conversation:

Thomas: "Mommy, mommy"

Me: "Shh Thomas mommy is on the phone."

Thomas: "Mommy, mommy"

Me: "Shh please, I am on the phone."

Thomas: "Mommy, I have to go poop!"

Me: "Okay, go."

Thomas: "I have to go poop, mommy, now!

Trying to hold my laughter in, I hear a little bit of quiet laughter on the other end of the line.

Thomas: "Mommy I said I have to go poop!"

The quiet laughter now becomes obvious laughter and I say to the nice lady. "Did you catch all that?"

She proceeded to tell me that her kids are grown and she was happy for the much needed laugh.


Glad we could help!! Never a dull moment when there is a toddler around.

She does have her moments

My little Taylor has her good moments and of course she has her not so good ones, but since I often post about the not so good ones I thought I would share a little of the opposite. Thomas is napping, so I thought I would take her outside to try to get a few good pics. For the most part she was in a cooperating mood, so I thought I would share. Notice in the last picture the big bruise on her forhead, in a previous post I told you she is pulling herself up now....well she has no clue how to get down. The bruise is a result of a fall on the very hard tile. Ouch!!

My big girl and her two little bottom teeth.

"Are you done yet mom?" (This was picture number 50 I think)

A very long week...

So my hubby has been out of town for the last few days and I am very anxious for him to get home tonight. He works long hours normally, but just those few hours I get with him each night are much appreciated (probably more so when I don't have them). Hands down to any single parents out there, I do not know how you do it. I am not built that way.

Anyway, I know I have touched on this before but I am having to revisit the issue because frankly it has not gotten any better. My little bundle of joy Taylor!! She is the cutest, most high maintenance little girl. She cries non-stop if she is not being held. There are rare occasions where she will play on her own, but only if you are in her line of sight, leave the room and well, forget about it. The past two nights her bedtime has been 5:30pm. I refuse to hold her and cannot handle the constant crying, so to bed she goes. I cannot even begin to tell you how this plays with my mind. Am I a bad mom because I can't make her happy? Am I a bad mom because I refuse to hold her all the time? I know there are moms out there that would do just that, but I am not one of them. I love my daughter, but I need my space too. I go crazy having a toddler and a baby hanging on my 24/7.

These are the moments when considering a third child seem almost ludicrous, but tomorrow is a new day and we'll start off optimistic as we do everyday.

Happy Wednesday....

Well I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would today. It has been a pretty uneventful day for me which is sometimes a good thing, especially with two little ones. Yesterday I got some long overdue floor cleaning done, so today I followed it up with a few loads of laundry and some kitchen work. Getting as much done before LOST tonight, the finale from last season to catch us up before the season premier next week. Oh how I love my LOST!!! Anyway, for Christmas my parents bought me a larger crock pot, it really wasn't a huge surprise since I had asked for it. I decided to use it today for the first time and I love it. My mom tells me I need to use it more often for dinners and such, but today I used it for my homemade applesauce. If you like applesauce this is the way to go, it is very YUMMY. I will never buy from the store again.

Depending on your crock pot size:

6-8 medium granny smith apples peeled (2-3 qt crock pot)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 T lemon juice

20-23 medium granny smith apples peeled (5-6 qt crock pot)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T lemon juice

Cook on high for 2-4 hours depending on size of crock pot

Mash apples with potato masher. The apples cook down quite a bit, but the mashing gives it the consistency.

Add cinnamon to taste

It is the best, but no matter how big the crock pot it is never enough. Everyone in my house loves it and it is sometimes gone before it ever reaches the refrigerator.

This is what 20 apples makes and can I just say that the smaller container in the picture is already half gone because both Thomas and Taylor had some as soon as it was done. I personally love it warm.

I am now finishing out my day trying to get inspired in my craft room. I have so many things I would love to do, but am having the hardest time getting motivated. Being a mom is hard work that you never really have a day off from. Well I take that back, it is just that my days off from it are spent at my actual job.

Quick note before I go to anyone that does not know, Taylor is starting to pull herself up and stand. She has absolutely no clue how to get down once she is up, but none the less it is a milestone around here.

Time Flies

This is not something I just figured out, but sometimes it is more obvious than others. I took Taylor to the doctor yesterday for her 9 MONTH appointment. I think when it comes to babies the time flying is magnified by the amount of doctors appointments you have to take them too, weekly and then monthly and before you know it you are at 9 months. She is 18 lbs 5 ounces which is very normal, in the 50th percentile. Height and head size are a totally different story. If you know nothing about my side of the family know this, our heads are a little on the larger side. Taylor's is 45 cm which puts her in the 75th percentile. Height is the biggy, she is 29 1/2 inches and it is no surprise that this puts her in the 95th percentile. Let me just tell you that all of this information equals this.....buying clothes that fit her correctly is a pain in the butt. Nothing is long enough or if it is long enough it is way to big around, but this is really nothing new to me, Thomas is the exact same way.

Just an old favorite of Taylor when she was two months old.

Got a little nosy...

....and decided to search for my moms blog. OK let me just say that although you might think I am bias, WOW my mom is talented. I have always thought this and have aspired to be like her in all things crafty. A very long time ago, for my parents 25th wedding anniversary to be exact, I started scrapbooking, my mom on the other hand did nothing of the sort. Then the first year that her and my dad lived in Arizona she started and did not tell any of us. She created these wonderful scrapbooks for my sister and I (of which she would totally critique now). Long story short, she has come along way since those first days. Mostly she makes cards these days. Look here to see some of her latest. All I can say is that my mom does not give herself enough credit. She is very talented. She inspires me to constantly add to my collection of scrapbooking supplies and try new things. And if I only had two kids that left me alone for longer than five minutes LOL, they too might have more completed scrapbooks. By the way this is one of my goals for 2009.

I hope you don't mind mom, but you will now be one of my favorite blogs. It is the easiest way for me to see all of your newest creations. Love you mom!!

A few more

My mom finally sent me her Christmas pictures, so I thought I would share a few more.


Me and Taylor on Christmas Eve!!



Me and my dad, first good picture of us together since my wedding. It is rare my dad smiles in pictures.



My little ones in their Christmas pj's on Christmas Eve, so cute. Taylor wasn't really feeling the hug Thomas was trying to give her.



Taylor with her Christmas present from Santa, her first piggy bank.