3 Short Years

This little girl is 3 years old today. She is a busy girl.

We had some family come over for a little party. We started with a monster-drawing competition with sidewalk chalk. 

Anna discovered a picture of last years Easter Egg Hunt and asked that we recreate that for her birthday. So we had a Birthday Egg Hunt! It was fun and we were lucky that the weather held out.

She asked for a pink cake, so I rocked a Red Velvet Cake mix with loads of pink frosting and star candles. No pictures unfortunately. And she got lots of great presents from everyone, she cannot be slowed down.

She has come a long way. I think we all have.

Happenings

Anna heart-attacked the door for Daddy for Valentines

Anna got into some serious fingerpainting of late

Serious fingerpainting

Eliza helped. By being adorable.

Daddy went to Tokyo and got us some cute presents. Eliza got piggy socks

Anna got Lambie socks. The only socks she is willing to wear around the house or sleep in, she calls them her sleeping socks.

He also got a Hello Kitty and a little baby chick. We taught Anna that if she has one, Eliza must get the other, she has become very diligent about it.

Holidays

So Ben and I are not really holiday people. We enjoy Christmas as much as any but we aren't crazy about it and that is probably our most celebrated holiday. We just don't get excited about these things, maybe we need some good traditions to get us going.
I barely stayed awake for New Years, we watched a movie in our basement and I complained about being tired the whole time.
I really wanted to have tacos for Thanksgiving. It just sounded tastier than the same old turkey and mashed potatoes.
We have never dressed up for Halloween - I can't even remember the last time that I did even before I met Ben. Anna still hasn't gone trick or treating (this year I think we'll have to).
Ben does enjoy the firework season in the summer, he bought a bunch in Wyoming but he is too law-abiding to light them. We haven't stayed out to watch fireworks for several years.
I don't remember celebrating Mother's day and Father's day. (Ben reminds me that we were on a train to Moscow on Mother's day last year)
St. Patricks Day?!?? what is that even celebrating?
No Easter baskets - but Anna did enjoy the Easter Egg Hunt at Grumma Sue's house.

and finally, for Valentines we agreed to get each other plants - like house plants. But that makes sense because its like the flower that never dies (until it dies, then it's very sad because you killed it). Plus Ben likes house plants in his cubicle.

In conclusion, here is a beautiful picture of Anna getting hit in the face with snow after the only major snow storm in December.

I have no new pictures of Eliza.

This is for the man we miss

We miss you Daddy!

QUILTBOT 2011

Here is a project I just finished for a friend (and her baby), I had so much fun and it turned out so cute. Ben wants one too.

But I will let it speak for itself.

Greetings, I am Quiltbot 2011.  I am compatible with all BABY Models 2011 and greater.

My Functions include: 

Cuddling up

Tummy Time/Playtime mat

Indoor Picnics

Absorption of fluids (body and other)

Fort Building

etc...

Care for QUILTBOT is easy, just give me a clever new name, lots of love and an occasional bath in the washing machine. I am here to serve you and your new BABY Model 2011.

I got the pattern from this book, which I love.

Fun Fact

So I've noticed for about a year or so that when I eat especially delicious, crave-quieting food - I can feel it in my ears.
The first time it happened, we were at sushi and I had been looking forward to having a delicious, eel-sauce covered caterpillar roll. On my first bite my ears just came alive, I told Ben it felt as though my ears were expanding. It's hard to put the feeling into words really, and sometimes it sneaks up on me.

Yesterday - Cream of Wheat with raisins and brown sugar.
Today - Water

So that's a fun fact about me.

Remember...

So, remember that time I only had one baby and I blogged about her relentlessly? And now I have another equally adorable baby and I never blog at all? It's gotten so bad that I really have to force myself to read other people's blogs. Is blogging dead? Too much effort? Life is dull? Not willing to put all and every detail of yourself on the interwebs?
I suppose it's some of all of these.

In any case, i just wanted to reconfirm how cute these girls are with you all.

3 Short Months

This baby is 3 months old now.
She is a big girl.
And happy too.

Happy Birthday baby.

If it works for them, it works for me.

If you can't tell, Ben and Thad are playing Super Mario Brothers Wii and Eliza is having a stomach ache.

Blessing Day

Eliza was blessed on the 19th, she borrowed her sister's dress for the occasion.

She had her Dad, Grampa and all her Uncles (even Uncle Dave) and the Bishop circled around her and she only cried a little bit.

2010 in Summation

2010 was a whole year, the history books will definitely acknowledge it as a year that happened.

Basically all I remember was I was pregnant for the first 9 months and caring for a deliciously adorable newborn for the last 3.

We traveled a lot, I went to Texas, Ukraine, Russia AND drove to Illinois (and back), and Ben started traveling a lot more for work going to New York and San Francisco and Boston and lots of cool places. Also in travel news, we recently bought a car, 2008 Mazda CX 9, and we (I) couldn't be happier with it. This also meant that we had to say goodbye to the Honda that Ben bought the summer before we met. It was hard but definitely time to move forward.

Anna turned 2 in February, she's grown a lot this year too. Especially her hair, this is from Jan 1 2010.

And here is her hair today.

Eliza's not going to be left out, she didn't even have hair cells at the first of the year and look at her now!

I just asked Ben what else happened this year and we both agreed that it was a very long year and there's no way we could remember/generalize/accentuate what happened in all that time, so I guess you'll just have to reread all my blogposts from 2010. because, isn't that why they're there?

Letters

Anna has gotten into the literary spirit of things, she likes to draw letters and I have trained her to trace over the things I write.

example: Here is a present that I recently wrapped for Ben. I asked Anna to come draw on it (to distract her from her request for scissor time). After some freehand scribbles, she asked me to help her do Letters. We ended up doing names in all the santa beards.

So anyway, just something I thought I should document.

She wouldn't let me finish this blog because she wanted to type. all things letters and communication I guess. Now she won't let me finish because she wants to do markers.

I miss naptime.

Good Times

We're just happy people.

2 months

21 inches tall
10 pounds 5 ounces

everything measured within 30-40 percentile

She is super adorable and smily and we all like her a lot.


more pictures someday

Good Eliza pictures

She is such an adorable, happy baby.

Especially when her hair sticks straight up.

I can't believe it's already been over 6 weeks.

I'm still trying to figure her out.

Anna was super excited to get a new basketball shirt from Daddy. She's our little Deron Williams.

These are our gratitude turkeys. Anna has been giving us lots of appropriate answers all week for things she's "thankyou for." While making these though, I had a hard time getting her to say anything other than Feathers and Markers. She finally gave me some other answers, they include:

my teachers, milk, gramma's and grampas, baby sister, pink, Toy Story 3, Jessie doll etc...

Eliza's are along the same lines, we asked Anna what she was thankful for and there were plenty of repeats.

Recipes That Don't Work - warning

This is a warning, not a mistake. Just don't try this because it's gross.

French Toast Turkey Sandwich

2 slices thick homemade wheat bread

2 eggs

2 T milk

Turkey

tomato slices

cheese

guacamole

dip the bread in the milk/egg mixture, french toast them in a frying pan on the stove on low heat. Since it's lunchtime, and you are hesitant to eat syrup and bread when you should be on a diet (but it's ok for breakfast), and your 2 year old asks for a cheese sandwich you decide "hey, I like to put egg on my turkey sandwiches, how is this different?" So you add cheddar cheese, deli turkey, tomato slices and guacamole. As you take the initial bites you realize that they are different. And you are grateful that you didn't add miracle whip.

Stuff and Stuff

I don't get to the computer very often, so I thought I'd show off some pictures while I have the chance.

Anna has watched Toy Story 3 everyday since it came out. She likes to recreate the last scene with her toys, she also likes to relate the most intense part because she has no idea what's going on. Example: She thinks Andy's mom's name is "Yard Sale" No idea what's going on.

Here she is hiding in the basket pretending to be Bonnie from the movie. When she fell out, she found that it was all fun and games until someone got hurt.

Here are some new hairdo's

Aunt Jan did a french braid for anna, with a bow in it like Jessie.
Eliza got a mohawk because she's hardcore.

Burrito Babies!

In conclusion, Eliza still looks identical to Anna. I have a hard time calling her Eliza, I just think of her as Anna II. how long until she gets a look of her own?

The Higher Realms of Optimal Experience

I recently read this article called "The Hidden Key To Happiness: Participant Experiences" wherein the author tells you that happy people don't focus on gaining material things, but instead try to pile on the Great Experiences. So it's one of those articles that makes you feel bad that you don't like hiking, or you've never been to Nepal or been skydiving in Alaska...you know the type.
So I was getting frustrated that I don't have a ton of those kinds of experiences and don't really foresee any in the near future.
This is the closing paragraph:"When you're in an activity where your skills meet a challenge, you're vaulted into the higher realms of optimal experience, or flow, a state of absorption so complete that your thoughts and deeds are one. This is as good as it gets on the third planet from the sun, as close to anything that can be imagined to what we know as happiness, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the father of flow, has put it."
Then yesterday, I was doing my usual things and as I was soothing E and getting her to smile at me, I realized that everything in the background just kind of faded away. Nothing else mattered because I was experiencing something so profound, so magical that very few people get or think that they want. Being a mother is one of the greatest experiences - I never have to go skydiving or hitchhiking to feel like I've gotten the most out of this life, I'm in the middle of a life-long experience that will enrich my life forever.