Home & Garden Show

Well, today was a fan-freakin-tastic day in mommy land. The sun was shining, it was a perfect 72 degrees outside (we played outside for literally hours), and I went to the home and garden show with one of my dearest friends Marjie!

We were out for breakfast at Kneaders this morning (My new favorite home grown Utah eatery, i seriously like it better than cafe rio, no joke), and she mentioned that she was going. I was like, "No way, I SOOO want to go!", she said "Come, I have an extra ticket", so later in the afternoon I packed up the kiddos and off we went. This is the first time I've ventured to a non kid venue with the girls, and you know what, they did just fine.

Anyhoo, all my dreams came true when I saw the tupperware booth! I've wanted my very own tupperware ever since I got married, but I've never known a tupperware rep, and it isnt sold in stores. I almost peed my pants with excitment. I ditched my kids with Ms. Marjie and headed staight to the sales lady. I just started picking up the items, asking a million questions, and dont you know, $100 later I was on my way. I got a few things that I remember my mom had growing up, the meat marinde container, the big juice jug, and then i got something she would just die to have today, a microwave pasta cooker! My mom LOVES microwave cooking, and owns several microwave cook books to prove it. I'll have to hide it the next time she visits, or it just might end up in her retro 50's suitcase back to Canada, ha! (just kidding mom). My last purchase was a veggie chopper. I just chopped my first zucchini tonight and it was divine. I cant wait to try an onion. If I can never dice an onion again, I will be one happy lady.

So I told the lady that I'd love to host a tupperware party. I need to spread the joy I felt today. Im sure there are plenty of thirty somethings out there that grew up with moms using tupperware that haven't found it since. I might even become a rep for it if all goes well... afterall isn't that what mom's in Utah do, ha!

Here are my purchases. And no seany-sean, I know this was not in the budget this month, and our "miscellaneous" envelope is definitely in the red. Time to pick up some more overtime sweetie :).

XOXO
Eve

Product Plug

I have like 20+ hair products left over from my hair school days that i am trying to use up before they go bad. So, I pulled out some of this Paul Mitchell Thicken Up.... and it was amazing on my super fine hair. Seriously, my hair actually feels thicker and healthier. I paired it with some PM super skinny (my all time favorite for pretty much any hair type), and the results were awesome. Fullness, silky smooth and shiny, a perfect combination if you ask me. I really like Paul Mitchell products. They are at the low end of the price spectrum for salon products, they are super easy to use (the name of the product generally tells you what its for), and they are available everywhere, not just high end salons (ie- bumble & bumble).

Single mama's & field trips

My respect goes out to all the single mama's out there. Seriously, it is SO MUCH WORK... and i'm only a single mama for half the time. My former boss (whom I loved) is a single mom to a 14 year old boy, (and was single since the baby was an infant). Anyhoo, her life always seemed like such a struggle, and my heart really went/goes out to her. So to all you single mama's out there, I tip my imaginary hat to you.

So, onto my single-mom-hood... I've found that the only way for me to get through the days are to pack them full of field trips and activities. This is what we did this week, while Sean was away ...

Day 1 (tues)- Trip to the Dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point, then off to the deli for a free toddler ice cream cone. Dixie loves the twinkle stars at the very beginning, as well as the motion exhibit. Oh and the toy store too.

Day 2 (wed)- Dixie's Toddler gym class went on a trip to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. Feeding the goats, cows and duckies is a real favorite for me and my girls. I'm pretty sure I get more joy out of the baby calves then they do. They are so cute, and I want to have a cow one day.

Day 3 (thurs)- Trip to the Aquarium in Sandy and then off to Arctic Circle because it has the most toddler friendly play place of all fast food joints around here.

Day 4 (fri)- Trip to grandma's house to "help" her in the yard and garden. Dixie LOVES helping in anyway she can, and especially outside.

Day 5 (sat)- Trip to Kangaroo Zoo & then to Target in search of treasures in their dollar bins. Plus I may have picked up a bag of Cadbury mini eggs to get me through the rest of the day. And PS- Kangaroo Zoo is the absolute WORST place to go with a 2 yr old and a 9 month old. The blow ups are all too big for Dixie to maneuver on her own, so i had to hoist her up onto everything, while also carrying around baby lulu. That might just be my workout for today!

Along with all of the above, there has been much Dora (dixie's new favorite, she dumped mickey last week), and lots of playing outside since the weather has been so nice. We have the best neighbor kids across the street, and dixie just loves to play with them.

Its all really quite exhausting, and by the end of my 13 hour days, all i want to do is plop my big butt onto the love sac and watch my recorded shows on DVR. Again, no energy to work out, sew, cut hair, organize, clean or anything else that is actually productive.

To get through it, I have this AMAZING babysitter that I owe my soul to. She is a niece of one of my very best friends and she's a college student with her very own car (priceless in babysitting land). Anyhoo, she comes to my place for 2 hours a day when I'm on my own, and I usually work out, take my self to lunch, or go shopping during my break. Without this break, I'm pretty sure I would have moved back to Cali already, Ha!

What fun things do you do with your kiddos to keep them engaged, learning and active??

XOXO
Eve

No Big Poo Poo

I knew I was in trouble this afternoon when I was out for a neighborhood walk with Dixie (2), her friend Zach (2.5) and Lucy. I was carrying Lucy (ie, no stroller and no diaper bag), and Dixie and Zachy were riding a tricycle and scooter respectively. Both kids were running through a sprinkler with wet clothes and had discarded their shoes. (And yes, Its still too cold to be doing that, I'm really not sure why the heck someone's sprinklers were even turned on). That's went Dixie looked at me and said "No big poo poo mommy", which of course meant that she had a monster size poo that was leaking through her dora pull ups. Ugh oh... what does a mom do in this situation? It was a very LONG block away from home with no diaper, no stroller, and 2 excited toddlers that were not listening to me. Well, I made it home. Thank the good lord. Next time i'm bringing the stroller and the diaper bag... lesson learned. And if you are ever witness to a mom in such distress, please offer to take the scooter and tricycle home for her.

XO
Eve

M*O*T*I*V*A*T*I*O*N

Lately I've been wondering what has happened to the motivation I had in my twenties. In my twenties I would wake up at 5:30am every weekday for a 6am work out before work. Then I would work for 10-14 hours, and I'd get home and eat a healthy dinner. Steamed veggies, bocca burgers and lots of broccolis. I rarely ate sweets, or chocolate (my weakness). I would have double workouts on the weekends, and usually do something active like mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding or running the dish. On top of all that, I would also do various half marathon's and sprint tri's just for the fun of it.

Fast forward to my thirties (I'm 31)...... what the hell has happened to my motiviation? I look at my facebook profile, and its like I was a different person back then with all of these fun interests that I honestly havent done in years. Seriously, I am a stay at home mom at the moment, and I cant seem to motivate myself to get on my treadmill or elliptical, both of which reside in my basement, so It's not like I even have to leave the house to get there.

Plus, I'd way rather eat mcdonalds fry's and a diet coke then cook up broccoli. And a big old bag of M&M's will be gone in a week.

I need the find the motivation of my twenties. It is lost, deep down somewhere inside of me. Can someone lend me a shovel so I can dig it up? I am a blog stalker of this girl Jenna that was in my old ward. She has 3 kids all 18 months apart, and she is one hot motivated mama. I need me some of that.

Check her out; http://crandalls.blogspot.com/

XO
Eve

Little Lucy is 9 months

How is it even possible that my little baby lulu came out of my tummy 9 months ago? She has grown so much. I’m interested to see how much she weighs at her 9 month appointment.

update- ok so big surprise here... My baby girl has went down in percentiles for both height and weight. Shes been measuring 95% for both from 0-6 months. Now at her 9 month appt she is 52%weight & 33% height. (She's 18.25lbs & 27.25 inches tall). I had the doctor double check to be sure. He wasn't concerned about it though, so I guess I'm not either. Kinda weird though.

This is what she’s been up to;

She loves to take whatever toy Dixie is playing with, because they are oh so much more appealing that her own “baby toys”. Dixie is often squealing “LUCCCYYYY NOOOOO”.

She is on the verge of crawling, but not there yet. She really really wants to crawl. She gets up in crawl position, rocks her body back and forth, but then she just face plants in the floor instead of moving forward. She’ll get it one of these days though, Im not worried.

Lucy is very tactile, and always wants to be playing with something. Paper, plastic, toys, food, mommy’s hair, you name it, those hands have got to be occupied.

Lucy is FINALLY sleeping through the night! This is big! It only took about 3 nights of letting her cry it out and now shes sleeping from 7pm-6am. It was really more a matter of me being ready to let Lucy cry it out. Im sure she could have been sleep trained earlier, but i just wasnt ready. Now maybe i can start to focus on getting back in shape since I will be getting some uninterrupted sleep, yahooo!!!!

Lucy Loves solid food. She usually eats more than Dixie does at a meal… but this might be because Dixie is constantly snacking, so she’s really not all that hungry at meal time. Lucy loves pasta, fish, bread, strawberries, oranges, and milk. Cows milk. Horrible I know…since shes not a year old yet. But she hates formula, rice milk & soy milk, and I just cannot breastfeed all the live long day to quench her thirst. I’m so over breastfeeding at this point, and cannot wait for it to end already!

Lucy loves to laugh. Dixie is always making lucy laugh. Its adorable to see them interact and play together. It warms my mommy heart.

Finally, Lucy got her first tooth! Bottom left, so adorable to see her grinning with her very first tooth.

Happy 9 months baby girl. You are my cutie pie and I love you lots and lots and lots~

love, mommy.

My Kitchen Transformation

Ever since we bought our house, I’ve wanted to paint our kitchen cabinets white. There is so much wood in my house, I needed to brighten it up. Plus I just adore the Martha Stewart clean white kitchen look. Sean has been very resistant to this idea because well, you know how men are with their wood. I think they all want to be lumber jacks at heart. I finally just decided that since I am the one who spends the most time in the house (Sean is still traveling to Sunnyvale for work 50% of the time), that it was really my choice, not his, HA! He finally conceded my point (with a little push from my sister poo), and 4 weeks later, our kitchen is finally complete. No, we didn’t do the work ourselves (although, if I didn’t have 2 needy kids 2 & under, And Sean didn’t work in California, I probably would have attempted it).

This project took so freakin’ long because our first painter never showed up. He seemed so eager for the job and even confirmed the day before, but then he just never showed up….weird right? So then I spent the next week (2) getting new bids. Let me tell you that it really pays to get multiple bids. The price difference was enormous ($1050 vs. $2650). Naturally, we opted for the less expensive, non corporate guy. The following week (3) he finally got it done. At least I thought so. But the white I picked looked a lot different on the cabinets that it did in the paint bucket. In the bucket it was a creamy off white, but on the cabinets it is has a cool greyish hue to it. It’s super beautiful, but it is definitely not in the warm family of colors. This Cool Hued White did not work with my already antiqued white island, and the contrast just looked stupid (mixing warm and cool colors always looks stupid). Lesson learned, always test your paint color in your natural lighting. The lighting at the paint store is not the same as the lighting in your home, and lighting changes everything! So, week 4 I called my painter back and had him to the island the same color as the cabinets. I am in love. I’m so glad I did this, even though I’ve been without a kitchen for a month! We’ve been living off of premade Costco food. Its been kinda nice not cooking, but I’m way to scared to step on the scale.

Our painter is really a handy man, so we also had him move the kitchen light fixture to the middle of our kitchen table instead of the awkward position it was originally hung.

And here are the pictures, Drum Roll Please….. Oh, and please excuse the crappy pictures, my flash is in the shop and I took them at night, bc my kitchen is always a disaster during the day.

BEFORE- lots of honey colored knotty alder wood.

AFTER- crisp clean white, with a rustic feel (knots are still there, and the style of the cabinet is still rustic).

Dixie (26 months)

My little two-two is really hamming it up for the camera these days. She loved every second of this shoot, it was darling to watch. She stole the show from Lucy.... it was Lucy's 8 month pictures and dixie was just tagging along. Ha! (See lucy's pictures in the previous post)

Happy 8 months

Happy 8 Month Birthday to my sweet baby Lucy. We love her oh soooo much. She is giggling like crazy, sitting up, rolling around, eating bread crusts, baby cookies, donuts and anything else she can get her little paws on. She is still waking up a couple of times a night, but really i have only myself to blame for that because I suck at sleep training. It hurts my heart to hear her cry and I'd rather soothe her little soul then let her cry it out.

We got some photos at our local picture place to celebrate, and while Lucy is usually very happy and smiley, she was not cooperating for this shoot. So sad, because I booked it especially for her since she is sitting up on her own now. Dixie pretty much took over and was the star of the show. I can't really afford to do another one anytime soon, so I guess Lucy will just have to wait until she turns 1. Hopefully she's more smiley then!

Funny little things Dixie does or says

The fun thing about being a stay at home mom, is that i get to hear and see ALL of the funny things my girls do and say... its precious really. Heres a few to share with you, and so i dont forget about them when they are angry teenagers...

Fruit snacks- Dixie hates the Orange ones. She immediatly hands them to me, or tosses them on the floor and says "NO ORANGE"....

Goofy- I'm not sure what he did, but Dixie does not like goofy. She has a set of plastic figurines of all the clubhouse characters, and she always says "NO GOOFY", and tosses him off to the side, never including him in her play.

Sparkle Jeans- Dixie has a pair of jeans given to her from her best califorina friend Jade. They are sparkly. For some reason she Hates them, and whenever I am picking out her pants she says, "No Sparkle!"

Hotdog Song- At the end of an episode of the mickey mouse clubhouse (her favorite), they sing and dance to the hotdog song. Most kids I know love dancing along to this song. However, the moment it comes on Dixie says, "Another one", meaning that she wants to watch a new episode, and she'll have no part in dancing to the hotdog song.

Stickers- Dixie is a sticker fiend. Santa gave her a mickey mouse sticker activity book for christmas, and shes addicted. She can finish and entire sticker book in a day if I let her. She's already done 5 entire books. At $8 a pop, its not cheap either! I've scoured the shelves at costco and purchased the last 3 mickey mouse sticker books they have, and Im hiding them for use in emergencies (ie- when sean is out of town and Im about to loose it!)

Ok, so this post was all about Dixie. I totally love lucy just as much, she's just not in this funny phase yet. However, I can say that my little lulu LOVES food. She can pound an entire jar of baby food, whereas Dixie used to eat the same jar over a few meals. Lucy gets really angry when I dont get the spoon to her mouth fast enough, and she usually wants to take over, grabbing the spoon away from her slow mommy. Ha!


Ta Ta for now!

XO

Eve

Mommy's Girl

Dixie is all about her mommy these days. She wants almost nothing to do with Daddy when I am at home (which is 99% of the time). Also she does not ever want to share me with her baby sister Lucy.

These are a few of Dixie's Mantras these days...


* "Mommy do dixie, daddy do Lucy"

* "Mommy Up!" (this was recurrent theme at the zoo today, i seriously had to carry her around for an hour and a half. Sean and I were talking about how our 2 year old is our boss. I asked him how i can regain control, and he laughed saying "I'll let you know when i figure it out". Ha!

* "Daddy hold Lucy"

* "Lucy down"

I'm feeling very neglectful of Lucy these days. I feel like the only time I get to hold and enjoy her is when I'm nursing her, and even then its usually with Dixie sitting on top of her head or something, begging for attention. And its not like I don't give her plenty (of attention)! I'm pretty lucky that Lucy is super easy going right now. She is sitting up on her own, and is perfectly content sitting on the floor in the midst of the action (aka, Dixie playing), with a couple of toys. These toys are generously lent from miss Dixie's collection, who hand picks the specific toys Lucy is allowed to play with. Should Lucy grab a toy not allotted to her, Dixie immediately takes it away exclaiming "Dixie Toy, Lucy NO!". My poor baby Lucy. She's going to get a boatload of toys on her first birthday with her name tattooed on each if I have anything to do with it.

On another note, in early December my big sister Betina took a few pictures of my girls. They are pretty great, and she did them in 15 minutes top with challenging lighting.. not that you would know it. We love them... thank you Betina! (Her business is called Wits End Photography). Note, Lucy is exactly 6 months and Dixie is exactly 2 in these pictures.

Our Little Lulu

My darling little tutu!

My sweet dixie mae turned 2 on Dec. 8. She had 2 parties, one with her cousins in Colfax, WA, and a friend party at home in utah. Dixie is so special to us. She is determined, persistent, loving, sensitive and she likes to wake up at 6am everyday.

Santa Claus made an extra special visit to her Utah Party.
She whispered all of her hopes and dreams to him,
and hopefully he delivered.

Dixie has become quite the little baker. These are her "muffins". She baked these while her mommy made pumpkin bread for the neighbors. Dixie will never sit on the sidelines... she always wants to participate in the action.

Dixie is full of laughter, joy and curiosity. She's always got leftover treats on her little face. She loves icecream, candy and anything sweet. I think she might just turn into a tootsie pop one day.


This little girl changed our lives forever, and we love her a LOT!

Random Happenings


Dixie loves little Lucy and is quick to shower here with hugs and kisses.


Poor little Dixie would rather hide in various places and poo in her diaper than to just go poo in her lil' toilet. She is quite embarrassed by these episodes and does not want to want to talk about it.


The Farm at Thanksgiving Point continues to be Dixie's favorite place to go, especially when she wakes up from her nap in a grumpy mood. Now all she has to learn is how to keep from spilling the oats all over the sidewalk!

Little Lulu has reached the remarkable step of being able to sit up in a grocery cart! She is a bundle of happiness who is quick with her smile and loves to giggle.

Dixie and Mommy standing next to a couple of horsies at the Farm. The mild winter here in Utah thus far has made these visits possible, even in the dead of winter.

Dixie's favorite thing to do is to relax in the bean bag draped with the plush Canada blanket as she watches the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

When it does get too cold outside, we love to go to Cabela's and explore, eat snacks, and purchase an item or two.

Dixie just being Dixie. Happy New Year to everyone!

c

Dixie the Negotiator

The Culprit

Dixie has been honing her tactical negotiating skills as of late. A prime example involves a certain show popular among younglings called "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". (On a side note, those Disney people are geniuses of the highest order in regards to their use of propaganda. Lil' Dixie, although not yet two years of age, is already a Disney addict!) Anyhow, each morning Dixie is able to watch an episode of "the Mouse". She will cuddle her Daddy in the bean bag and devote the entirety of her attention to that big eared rodent. Of course when it is time for the hot dog dance (an indication that the conclusion of the episode is approaching), she begs and pleads to be able to watch another. These pleadings have a decent success rate, although she is never able to watch more than two episodes during the morning.

The aforementioned pleadings are of course the most basic negotiating tool inherent in an two year old. However, Dixie is exhibiting a more advanced method of negotiating as of late. She realized that the afternoon is not a time that we allow her to watch "the Mouse", so she has developed different methods to achieve her goal of an afternoon cartoon. The other day she came up to Daddy, the weaker of the two parents as far as Dixie's charms are concerned, and fulfilled her aims in a most clever manner. She confidently held up her right index finger, looked her Daddy in the eye, and pleadingly said "One mouse, One mouse". Her Daddy, completely caught off guard by this new approach, quickly acquiesced to his daughter's demand. In order to feel like he still had some control of the situation, Daddy told Dixie that we could watch only one episode. To make sure she understood, Daddy asked Dixie how many Mouse's we were going to watch. Dixie's reply: Two!

Clever girl.

Mommy and Dixie watching the Mouse with Lulu napping

5 months & 23 month update

My little lulu is already 5 1/2 months old! She just the cutest little chubster you ever did see. She is right on track with development- shes rolling over, she is eating solid foods (just rice cereal & bananas for now), she giggles and is constantly babbling. I just love this girl! Lucy is completely enamored with her big sister Dixie. She always yelps with joy whenever dixie pays her even the slightest bit of attention. She is happiest when I put her on the floor right next to where ever Dixie is playing. Lucy and Dixie absolutely LOVE taking their bedtime bath together. I always ask Dixie, "Who do you want to take a bath with, Mommy or Lucy?", and without missing a beat she relies "Lulu" every time. Dixie is really a great big sister. She always gives Lucy kisses and hugs, and she shares her toys with Lucy, and piles up stuffed animals on top of Lucy while she plays. Its so fun watching their little relationship develop.

Lucy's sour face after eating the butternut squash!

Lucy is a rock star napper while driving, and is slowly learning to take daytime naps in her crib as well, although she much prefers the car. She is still waking up 2-3 times a night, which is really taking its toll on her mommy! Its a good thing I don't have to wake up early and make my self look professional for work in the morning, bc i think I would probably have a break down if that was the case! To all you working mommies out there, I salute you! On that note, to all you S-A-H-M's I salute you too.... this mommy thing is no joke!

Lucy is wearing 9 month clothing, and is filling it out well. I bought her a new Christmas dress size 6-9months from children's place, and the sleeves cut off the circulation in her chubby arms, so i had to cut them a bit to give her wiggle room.

Lucy eating a banana. Sean was scolded for the choking hazard.


Dixie is all about Mickey Mouse Club house. She begs for it all the live long day and it is driving me crazy! We have a Mickey Mouse chapter book that is a combination of short stories, and it is ALL dixie ever wants read to her. While I love that this girl has an avid interest in reading, I think I'm going to have to hide this book for a week or so!

Dixie decorating Cookies for the first *of many* times!

Oh, and Dixie has completely stopped napping, lucky me (not)! She is like the energizer bunny from the time she wakes up to until her head hits the pillow at bedtime. It is exhausting keeping up with her. I try to get out of the house on 2 excursions a day to keep her occupied. We are also getting some backyard play toys next week so that we can go outside without having to actually drive anywhere. I'm pretty sure i was just like Dixie as a child, so i guess this is my mom's payback!

One of our favorite places to go is the Farm at thanksgiving point. We go about twice a week and dixie is never bored of it. She feeds the goats and ducks. She goes for a wagon ride and a pony ride. And she just loves to look at all of the animals. Her favorite is the pony named ROxy. After a trip to the farm she talks about Roxy for the rest of the day. Dixie has the sweetest disposition ever. We just love this girl!

Dixie playing in the leaves


Oh, and Today Sean finished the last class of his Masters in Emergency Management, I'm soooo proud of him! This means that I can have my husband back when he is home! It will also be a nice blurb on the resume and a small pay increase at his job.
Congrats to my Seany sean!

( i would add a picture of him, but after searching it appears that since the girls came into our lives, the camera is always on them)

HALLOWEEN 2011

This Halloween was our first holiday in our new house in Orem, and it was Fan-freakin-tastic. It was Dixie's first year trick or treating and she got right into it. She said "treat", "Moo" and then "next" (as in the next house) for and hour and a half. My sister was surprised that I took Dixie out for so long (shes only 22 months old), but Dixie just loved it so much I just couldn't stop. I asked dixie about half way through if she wanted to stop at our house to say hi to Daddy and she was adamantly opposed and wanted to keep going! She filled her little treat bucket to the brim with candy and was very possessive of it the following week. My mommy heart melted when we went trick or treating. I was so excited for her that i felt like i was a kid again, seriously!




Dixie (the cow) and Lucy (the Dinosaur) with our neighbors. The 2 older girls dote all over dixie and lucy. It is just darling to watch. I remember being a 10 year old and i absolutely loved holding babies, especially my baby cousin Nicole, so I let these girls hold Lucy and play with Dixie whenever they want, because I know just how they feel. Plus I believe that babies are meant to be shared, because they bring so much joy to everyone.






This is Dixie after her hour and a half trick or treating adventure. She was the official Candy girl. She diligently sorted out her candy treasures at her nearby kiddie table and then when the doorbell rang with more goblins she raced to the door and gave them each a handful of candy. It got a little excessive so i had to start limiting her to 2 candy bars per goblin. But then I ended up with a ton of extra candy which i have been eating all week and gaining back any libbers I lost so i probably should have let her just dump handfuls into everyone's bags all night long! I would have been better off in the long run, I'm sure. Note to self, I must rid myself of the excess candy this week. Perhaps i will bag it up and dig a hole in the back yard. Then I can dig it up in the spring with dixie and she'll think that candy grows from the ground, HA!


Dixie and her bag of candy! Her first worldly possession!



Dixie and Lucy (my little goblins)!
I think this is such a classic shot. I got these done a week before Halloween at camera shy in Lehi. Its a great little no fuss kid's photo studio.

Halloween was so much fun this year, I just cant wait until Christmas. When is it ok to start decorating anyways?? I suppose I'll wait until the day after thanksgiving.... I cant wait. Living in a house is sooooo wonderful. Its seriously like a whole new world. We are Loving it!