Quick 5, Kansas City Style

Just an observation: the sun comes up later in Kansas City.  Makes getting up at 6:15 feel like it's really 4:00am. 

1.  Joya's little fever was actually a bit more serious than I first thought.  Thursday night her fever spiked again, which prompted me to call a 24-hour nurse hotline at midnight, just to make sure I didn't need to take her to an ER.  The nurse assured me I didn't, and shortly after the call, Joya finally fell asleep.  Then, feeling like the worst mother in the world, I packed her into the car at four in the morning to drive her to Kansas City.  My reasoning was I could take care of a sick baby just as well in Kansas City as I could in Denver, but it is so lame to travel when you're sick.  Well, she slept the whole way there, waking only when we stopped for food or gas.  And then on Christmas Eve, I had had enough.  I took her to urgent care, where the kind doctor checked her out.  She deemed it a virus, which you all know you can't do anything about.  So we just let her take 3 and 4 hour naps.  And let her sleep 12 and 13 hours at night.  And finally, the day after Christmas, she was back to her cheery self. 

2.  Christmas was a hit around here.  During present time, we learned that we had to let Alaina go at her own pace.  It seems that we assume that most kids want to plow through their presents at high speed.  So as soon as she finished opening a present, we'd have another one waiting for her.  She got a little upset that we weren't letting her play with the gifts she opened, so we slowed down.  Really, that was fine with us, just a little surprising.  She must be old beyond her years.

3.  The girls LOVED playing with their Aunt Mindy and Uncle Josh.  Uncle Josh spent hours and hours as Alaina's horsey.  And Aunt Mindy and Uncle Josh have fun phones that have fun games like Angry Birds and Squish the Ants.  Even Joya was able to play Pop the Balloons with Aunt Mindy.  It was a sad day when they left to go back home.

4.  And just a few random pics from the past week:

Joya slept the whole ride.  Alaina stayed awake the whole ride, except for this brief 30-minute nap, just as we came into Kansas City.

Gramma and Grampa Kimble found a fun car that Joya LOVES to crawl into.

This turkey hat sings "Turkey in the Straw."  Good times.

Joya is also a big fan of the princess castle from Gramma and Grampa.  If you can't find her, look in there.

Alaina had fun making desserts with Gramma and Grampa

Storytime with Gramma

 5.  And now, on to one of my favorite times of year.  I don't know why I like New Years so much.  It's a little lame.  Not sure why a new calendar signals such a feeling a freshness and newness.  But it does.  And while I'm excited about it, I'm trying not to stress out about it too.  Because starting January 3rd I have to hit the ground running with the new position as the nursery coordinator, and starting up the MOPS group on January 9th.  I'm trying to live by the philosophy that I'll get done what I can, and the rest will have to wait.  I'll keep you posted on how that works out for me.

Happy New Year!  Happy New Year, some more!

Quick 5

It's been a crazy, busy, good and not-so-good week before Christmas around here. 

1.  We painted cookies!  I know it seems like a little, mundane thing, but I am so proud of myself.  It turns out that I'm not really a fan of making huge messes, and painting cookies is definitely a mess.  But I need to get over myself so my girls can have fun experiences and memories, so I got it all together.  It was a mess, but one I was pleased with.

You can't keep a girl from licking her fingers while painting cookies

I'm not brave enough to give a 14-month-old frosting to paint her own cookies, so Joya just enjoyed eating one while we did the decorating

2.  Then on Tuesday we drove down to Colorado Springs to making graham cracker gingerbread houses with Aunt Jamie and Naomi.   My mom was able to come, and it was loads of fun.  I brought WAY too much candy for two little girls to make houses, but I'm not sad about that. 

 3.  A little holiday cheer for you, performed by Alaina.  (This happens to be her favorite Christmas carol.  I don't know why, but it's the one she sings all the time.)

4.  We kind of had two not-so-good things happen this week, but happen at the best time possible.  First, on Wednesday at midnight, Joya woke up with a fever.  I gave her tylenol, but then she woke up whining every hour until 4:00.  Then the whole day she would run a fever, and the medicine would bring it down slightly but the fever would spike back up again about the time for her to have more medicine.  It was like that all day.  She actually acted okay until the end of the day, when she had just had it.  She didn't nap too well either, so she was in bed at 6:30.  That ties into the second not-so-good thing which was the major snow dump we got that night.  I ran out to get her some infant ibuprofen so I could do the alternating thing at about 8:00.  It was snowing pretty heavily and it was pretty slick out there.  Coming home was worse, since I was heading north and driving right into the blowing snow.  I haven't been that scared in a long time.  I probably should have sent Lee, but there are so many baby medications out there, and I knew exactly what I was looking for, so I thought I could do it.  I made it home safe and sound, but only because I didn't go faster than 20 mph.  It was worth it, though, because around 10:30 when Joya woke up again I gave her the ibuprofen and she then slept solid for the next 8 hours.  She woke up on Thursday still wiped out, but without a fever.  The good I see in both of those things, however, was that they happened on Wednesday and Wednesday night and not Thursday.  Any later in the week and we might have had to alter our plans.

5.  Which brings us to our plans.  Today we are driving to Missouri to spend Christmas with Lee's family.  I've been stalking the interstate forecast, and it shows nothing but sunshine and 0% chance of precipitation the whole way.  That combined with my incredibly gracious and generous parents letting us use their car is going to make for a nice little road trip.  Well, all that and John Denver and the Muppets will make for a nice road trip.

Merry Christmas!  It's pretty incredible that God chose to come to be with us, so no matter what is going on, we definitely have a reason to celebrate.

Quick 5

1.  Last Friday was Lee's work Christmas party.  We had a great time last year, and we were looking forward to this year.  They had planned a murder mystery, and those are always intriguing.  (Side note: Lee says he's been to two other murder mysteries and they were both really lame.  He boldly says this, even knowing full well that I planned one of them in college.  Let's forget the fact that it was lame; the point is it's REALLY hard to plan banquets.  So we went to this one with as little expectations as possible.)  I'll spare you most of the many details, but I do have a couple of things to say.  First, the company that put it on was REALLY good.  Very entertaining.  Second, I WON!!  At the end of the night, you had to fill out this form saying who you thought was the murderer, and most importantly why.  I totally nailed it.  They gave us clues throughout the night that we were able to look over, and when I turned in my paper I had no dreams that I would have won.  But then the host read the winning paper and I thought it sounded a lot like what I had written, and lo and behold.  I won a water bottle (lame, but Lee uses it), a bottle of wine (too bad I don't like wine; I gave it to my folks), and four tickets to a comedy club in Denver.  Comedy clubs aren't really my thing, but we're going to give it a try.  Anyway, winning was pretty cool.

2.  The Christmas program was last Sunday and it went off fabulously.  I could not be more pleased with how the whole thing worked out.  The music was great; I watched most of the services and did not get tired of the music once.  The kid part was hilarious.  I'm still a little sad that I didn't let Alaina participate, but it was still fun to watch.  And the drama went off without a hitch.  Seriously, we hit our sweet spot and pulled off all four performances nearly flawlessly.  We rehearsed so much, but I still wasn't sure how it would all go, especially since for the final few rehearsals we made TONS of mistakes due to nerves or whatever.  I just prayed the night before that God would be honored, and would honor all the work we had put into it.  He truly came through for us on that one.

3.  Alaina was able to watch the program, since my parents came to one of the services.  She sat with them through the whole thing.  Three things stuck out to her: 1.) At one point, the angel puts duct tape on the priest Zachariah's mouth.  She of course wanted to know why he would do that.  2.) Another time, I, as the narrator, yell at the angel to "Knock It Off!!"  Alaina pointed it out, and then wanted to spend the rest of the day telling various things (her sister, her toys) to knock it off.  I finally told her that she could only tell people to knock it off when she's a mother.  And 3.) After Mary has told Joseph what is going to happen, she tries to hug him.  Joseph has not come to terms with it yet, so doesn't let Mary hug him.  Alaina was very touched by that moment, wondering why "he wouldn't hug her."  I love that she was paying attention.

4.  I finally got around to making some Christmas treats this week.  I made these lovely little pretzels that I saw on Pinterest.  Super easy.

Pretzels, Hershey Kisses and M&Ms

And super addictive.  I don't think there have been any scientific studies or anything, but I think the addictive properties of these little guys is right up there near chew and cigarettes. 

5.  Today I am going to make Christmas cookies, and this afternoon I am going to let Alaina "paint" them.  I'm so excited about it; she's going to love it. 

Is your Christmas shopping done? 

Quick 5

This is one of the busiest weeks we've ever had, and yet I'm not sure I have enough to fill 5 today.

1.  The reason it is busy is because of the Christmas program.  Lee is playing guitar, so he's had his practices, and the drama has had their separate practices.  We'll finally all run through it together on Saturday.  While there are still quite a few unknowns as to how it's actually going to all turn out, I'm ready for it.  And ready for it to be over.

2.  On a Christmas program-related note, this year there are a couple of kid numbers in the program.  A note was sent home after Cubbies one day asking for permission and explaining the rehearsal schedule for the kids.  This was sent home in early November, when I was so busy I'm surprised my family got fed.  The practices really involved the kids coming early to Awana, and then a few others.  Well, the fact that I was in charge of the drama kind of had me at my limit, so I decided that Alaina wouldn't participate.  I still feel pretty good about that decision, except for the fact that we always showed up to Awana at the end of the Christmas rehearsal, so Alaina really knows all the songs.  She sings them all the time.  I'm just a little sad because on Sunday she'll be in the nursery while her friends will be in the Christmas program.  She doesn't really know about it, but I'm a little nervous that she's somehow going to find out.  Like, one of the nursery workers will ask her if she's supposed to sing in the Christmas program, and she'll answer "Yes!" because the girl loves to be on stage, and then we'll have to get some things straightened out.  As long as she doesn't realize what is going on, she'll be fine.  They don't do a kid thing every year for Christmas, but I'm hoping there will be something else in the future she can participate in.

3.  I've been waiting and waiting for Joya's face to clear up before we take her one-year pictures.  In October and most of November she had a rash under and around her eyes.  That lead to the taking her off dairy, which lead to soy milk, which lead to the Diaper Rash to End All Diaper Rashes.  And still didn't really clear up the rash.  She's back on milk, and the rash around her eyes is gone.  I have no idea what made it go away.  Now she has a rash around her mouth, which I am 98% sure is due to her paci-sucking at night.  So I'm saying to heck with it, and we're going to have our good friend Leah take her pictures sometime in the next couple of weeks.  The beauty of having Leah do it is the fact that I can load her pictures on a jump drive, bring them home, and practice my photoshopping skills.  The world will never know that Joya always seems to have an unsightly rash on her face at this age.

4.  I want to give a shout-out to Kohl's.  They were doing some promotional thing that I don't really understand, except it involved red pieces of paper that looked like and acted like Kohl's bucks, only you didn't have to spend $50 to get them.  They just handed them out when you made a purchase a week or so ago.  I had two of them, and thanks to their crazy practice of making their price tags way higher than the actual price, I walked away with a nightshirt and six pairs of socks for $5 out of pocket.  I love that store.

5.  Alaina has become a pro at getting up in the night and using the bathroom.  By herself.  There was one night where she needed my help, but only because she was wearing her zip-up footie pjs.  Those are hard for her to manage on her own.  But if I put her in her regular pants/shirt jammies, she can handle it on her own.  I think it's adorable, mostly because I don't ever hear her do it.  I can just see signs in the morning, like the soap in the bathroom is moved to where she uses it, and her door is shut rather than cracked open.  I was starting to get nervous, wondering if we were going to have to venture into letting her sleep in undies soon, which sounds like a disaster to me.  But we're not there yet.  For the longest time, her pull-up was reliably wet every morning.  Now it's unreliably dry.  So I'm waiting for the reliably dry days before we have to cross that bridge.  I'm in no hurry, especially since she can now change out of a pull-up and into her undies on her own every morning. 

Only two weeks left to soak up Christmas!  :)

Quick 5

Friday, eh?  Okay then.

1.  The house is decorated for Christmas.  And Joya has not really messed with the tree.  I'm a little surprised about that, actually.  She's been our destructo, so I was fully prepared for the battle.  I can't decide if this is one of those times where I should have expected the best and not the worst from my girl, or if I simply was prepared and shouldn't let my guard down.

2.  For the first time in my adult life, I truly burned dinner this week.  I was trying to make the crock-pot orange chicken.  You are supposed to coat the chicken in flour and brown it before putting it in the crock pot.  And I totally burned it.  The pan must have been too hot, I must have crowded the chicken, I must not have been working fast enough.  Anyway, I tossed it in the crock pot anyway and added the sauce thinking it wouldn't be that bad.  It was.  The house smelled like burned popcorn for the whole next day.  I believe the recipe is a good one and I'd love to try it again, but this time it just tasted charred.  My family ate it like champs, but it definitely wasn't my best moment.

3.  We finally joined modern society and watched the movie Tangled.  It's our new favorite around here.  Throughout the day, Alaina will act out various scenes.  In the movie, the bad mom calls Rapunzel "dummy" and I've told Alaina it's not very nice.  So of course she feels the need to tell me several times a day that Rapunzel's mom called her that.  I think it's her excuse to say the word as often as she can.

4.  Alaina's newest addiction is playing in the snow.  Yesterday it snowed again, and I happened to see Lee drive up as he came home from work.  I said to the girls, "Daddy's home!"  And Alaina hurried as fast as she could to get her snow clothes.  She knew that Daddy would be shoveling the driveway, and that she would get to go outside.  So I dressed her up.  Lee tells me that she made a snow angel in the driveway.  We're not sure why she chose the driveway and not the lawn.

5.  And some pics from spaghetti night:
Joya enjoyed her dinner...

...while Alaina made "silly" faces (that she taught herself how to make)

:)

Thanksgiving Quick 5

There is no rest for the weary.  So, at the insistance of my father and brother-in-law, you get a Quick 5 on this Black Friday.

1.  Alaina is starting to love to play games.  I think she learns them at Cubbies.  Her first favorite is "I Spy."  It's so cute to hear her say "I spy with my little eye sompfing...red!"  Except she doesn't quite have the concept that you should spy something before you say it.  Sometimes, after several failed guesses, I'll give up and then she'll take a moment to locate something of the color that I didn't say.  Or she'll name something that is up in her room when we are in fact in the car at the moment. 

2.  Her second go-to game is "Pretend Flip the Cards."  She always suggests this one when I tell her I'm tired of playing I Spy.  To play, you simply pretend that you are playing a matching game.  Unfortunately it is very easy to cheat when you are playing a pretend game of matching.  Where's the accountability?  I can't very well argue when she gets seven or eight matches in a row. 

3.  It has been so fun to watch all the cousins playing together.  Last year, except for Alaina, they were all just lumps.  This year they are starting to play together, even though most of their play involves taking toys from one another.  They'll get it.

An unsolicited, completely candid kiss for cousin Naomi

 4.  For their ornaments this year, my sisters and I painted ceramic letters for all the kids.  It was fun, and Alaina got to paint too.  The girl loves her crafts.  I should buckle down and let her do crafts more often.

5.  My mom's friend came over on Thanksgiving day to take pictures of our family.  The key to a good family picture at this phase of life is to not expect anything from the kids.  So we didn't.  And I think we got some great pictures.

The whole crew

The Kimble Crew

 Let the enjoying of the Christmas season begin!
 

Quick...Something

Lately I've been busier than a one-eyed cat watching two mouse holes.  I'm directing/acting in the Christmas play at church, trying to start up a MOPS group (our first meeting is in 52 days!), preparing for a new job, and getting ready for the Marsh family Christmas that will take place on Thanksgiving this year.  As in, next week.  So I'm not sure if I can come up with a quick 5, but I can give you a quick something (so Dad and Nick have nothing to complain about.)

1.  Did I mention my new job?  Starting in January, I am going to be the nursery director at Valley View Christian Church.  Yes, that's the church we go to.  It's an extremely part time job, (I know 20 hours a week is part time...what do you call 10 hours a week?) and it's something that is stay-at-home mom friendly.  Most of the job takes place on Sunday mornings, and the rest can be done at home.  Or if I have to go in, I can bring the girls, because churches are the greatest places to work when you want to drag your mini-muffins along.  I'm excited about it.  This job came along at the perfect time for our family.  God must have been involved or something.

2.  I thought I'd show you a bit of Alaina's latest art:

I love it when Alaina draws a picture of her family.  I'll explain this one to you.  The person on the far left is Mommy.  The thing dangling above Mommy's head is Batman.  Joya is next.  Then Alaina.  (Notice she gave herself eyebrows.)  On the far right is Daddy.  And hanging upside down above Alaina is her brother Alan.  

Alaina told me as she was coloring this that it was a rainbow.  I think it looks like a human heart.  And it didn't escape my notice that she used the colors of orange and blue.  Which tells me that in Alaina's heart she is a Broncos fan.  Good girl.

3.  The other day, I dressed Joya is this outfit:

 Alaina thought that Joya looked so pretty, and that she wanted to "be pretty like Joya."  So she picked out this outfit:

4.  I don't have much else.  I think Joya's rash on her face is finally going away.  It's a little hard to tell sometimes.  But she's been off dairy for almost exactly a week, so that really must have been the problem.  I think I'm going to give it one more week just to be sure, and then I'll slowly introduce cheese and stuff to see what she can tolerate.

That's it.  My brain is fried.

Quick 5

Most of my Quick 5s are Alaina-heavy.  It's because she's 3 and completely interacting with the world.  Nothing against Joya; Joya is cute and sweet but still pretty much just does the normal baby things.  However, this week Joya gets a chance to shine.

1.  For the past month, Joya has had a rash on her face.  Mostly under her eyes.  It's a little unsightly, and looks worse on some days than it does on others.  I finally got her into see the PA yesterday.  She recommended a pretty expensive lotion (which the pharmacist assistant raved about) and prescribed a steroid cream that I'm supposed to use sparingly.  However, the biggest thing she mentioned was that it might be a milk allergy.  I'm so bummed about that, but it's worth a try.  Soy and rice milk is more expensive, but I'm trying to tell myself that it's not as expensive as formula (right?)  If switching the milk doesn't clear up the rash, then we'll try this crazy cream, but the milk thing might be the way to go.  She doesn't really have any other symptoms, like wheezing or vomiting, but it's worth a shot to see.  I've been putting off her one-year baby pictures until the rash clears up, so hopefully we'll see results soon.

2.  On Saturday we heard a weird sound coming from the corner.  Joya was playing near the chairs, and I didn't think too much of it.  Then Lee looked over and put an end to the sound.  Joya was CHEWING on the chair.  She chewed the paint right off.  I sure hope the paint was non-toxic.  So far she seems okay.  The chair might never recover.

3.  In the teeth related world, Joya also has been known to grind the four teeth that she has.  A few weeks ago, I heard a story on the radio talking about misophonia, which, according to ask.com, is an extreme intolerance to a sound.  It literally means an "extreme dislike" or "hatred" of a sound.  Apparently, grinding of teeth triggers misophonia in me.  I have to struggle to tone down my reaction when I hear her grinding her teeth.  I know she's just a baby and can't understand why I'm freaking out, but that sound really bothers me.

Our friend in college, Brian, used to freak out when he heard someone crack their knuckles or back.  We used to do it just to watch him freak out.  Brian, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry.  I totally get it now.  Just thinking about it has raised my heart rate quite a bit.

4.  Who needs to buy hair product when mac and cheese has equally satisfactory results?

5.  And I haven't forgotten about Alaina.  Here are the cutest things she says right now:



The "fff" sound instead of "th"...as in "Fursday" and "Firsty."  Even when we coach her on the "th" sound, she'll say "Th...th...firsty!"

"Froap" = throat

"Camalope...K...M...L...Camalope"

Happy 11/11/11!  Do any of you do things to celebrate days like this?

Buck-Toothed Beauty

An addendum to last week's quick 5 -

Still not the greatest pic, but the best one I could get, with Daddy's help. 

Now if only she'd let me do something with that hair...

Quick 5

Life goes on.

1.  We are not a Halloween family, and this is the first year that we spent a lot of time talking about it.  Between the way people decorate for Halloween like they do Christmas, and all the stuff in the stores, and all the Halloween-themed shows, Alaina had plenty of questions.  My favorite part, though, came on Halloween night.  We left our porch light off, so as not to encourage trick-or-treaters to stop at our door, but that didn't stop one eager little person.  Around 7:30 we heard a pounding on our door, and then I heard his mom call out "No!  We only go to the ones who have their light on!"  Alaina, however, got a stricken look on her face.  She wanted to peak out our closed blinds, and I told her not to.  Then she told me she was scared.  I asked her what she was scared of, and she said, "The kids!  They're all dressed up and walking around with their buckets of candy!"  It made me laugh, as if kids walking around with buckets of candy was the scary part of the day. 

2.  I'm in the camp that enjoys the fact that Christmas sprouts up on November 1st.  If we're going to celebrate something, let's celebrate the fact that God came to be with us!  And let's celebrate for two full months!  And I love that anytime Alaina sees anything that has to do with Christmas, she shouts, "Merry Christmas, Mommy!"  Merry Christmas, indeed.

3.  I think it is so cute whenever Joya does something that is more little person than baby.  Currently it's the handing over of things.  If she has something she's not supposed to have, or if she's chewing on something she's not supposed to chew, we'll ask her to hand it over.  And she always immediately does.  I like it, because it is one of the first few signs that she understands what we are saying to her. 

4.  Her two, big front teeth also make her seem more like a child than a baby.  We like to call her our Buck-Toothed Beauty.  I'd post a picture, but I can't get a good one.  She's too wiggly for that. 

5.  I have been summoned by the Great State of Colorado for jury duty on Monday.  Someday I think I really would like to sit on a jury.  Just not now.  Best case scenario is that I call the number on Friday evening, and my juror number doesn't come up.  If it does, then Lee will have to stay home from work so I can go.  I don't have a smart phone or iPad or anything cool like that, so I'm afraid that having to report will be terribly boring.  If I do have to report, I doubt I'll be selected for a trial, which means it will all be for naught.  And there is nothing more annoying to me than wasting my time like that.  But this is a momentous occasion anyway, because it's my first time being summoned.

Thanksgiving is only three weeks away!  Let the turkey sales begin!

Quick 5

It's the end of October, and Christmas songs are starting to quietly creep into my consciousness.  It's the most wonderful time of the year, right?

1.  Sometimes Alaina spills her water, like every little kid.  Only she no longer tells me about it; she simply takes it upon herself to clean it up.  Sounds like a great arrangement, except for the fact that her go-to means of cleaning up spills is toilet paper.  I get it: it is within her reach.  But toilet paper is the worst thing to use to clean up a spill.  It creates a bigger mess.  I'm trying to tell her to just tell me so I can get her a towel.  I suppose I'll just have to put a few towels within her reach, and teach her where those are.

2.  In a related story, for the first time in their little lives, Alaina and her friend Avery were naughty together.  I was watching the younger two Gillett girls while their mom was teaching piano lessons this past Monday, and things were going great.  I had finally turned on The Aristocats, so Macy, Joya and I were enjoying that movie, while Alaina and Avery got bored and wandered off.  They just went into the dining room, where Alaina's coloring table is, so it was fine.  I heard them giggling and shrieking and having a grand old time, and that was fine too.  After awhile I finally got up to go check on them, only to find them standing on chairs at the dining room table.  I had forgotten that I had given them all small paper cups of water for their snack.  Well, the water cups were empty, and all across the table was water, clumps of wet toilet paper and all the salt and pepper from my salt and pepper shakers.  There was a good amount of salt and pepper on the carpet too.  I immediately put a stop to that, scolded the girls and banished them to the living room to watch the rest of the movie while I cleaned up the mess.  Of course Alaina immediately started crying when she saw me (funny how she was giggling before I came in, but the minute I entered the room she knew she was in trouble.)  Right then Lee got home, and Alaina tearfully told him, "Daddy, I made a mistake!"  It was the first time little Thelma and Louise had been naughty at my house.  Not too big a deal, but one for the books, that's for sure.

3.  Joya now has four teeth, her middle bottom and her middle top.  I forgot how big the top middle teeth are; hers are probably halfway grown in, and it has almost erased the baby look of her face.  Babies seem to become kids when they have their teeth.  Mothers all over like to proudly point out how early their babies get teeth, but I'm not so sure it's a good thing.  It's just one huge sign that your baby isn't going to be a baby forever.

4.  Wednesday we had our first snow of the season.  It actually was my favorite kind of snow: snow falling all day, sticking to the grass and trees but melting on the roads.  I wish it would snow like that all the time.  Anyway, it was the first time that Alaina got to get dressed up in snow gear and go outside to play.  She, of course, loved it.  And was horribly sad when it was time to come in.  I sent her outside with her daddy, who spent most of the time lobbing snowballs at her.  She would shriek and giggle every time she got hit.  So.  Cute.  I would have taken more pictures, but my camera battery decided to peter out.

5.    The sight of all the colored trees makes me happy.  It seemed to take awhile, but finally all the trees that turn red are bright red.  For some reason, though, as we're driving around, Alaina always says, "Ooo, yellow trees?  Remember what Grandad says?  He doesn't like the yellow ones!"  Is that true, Grandad?  Because she's said it more than once, so you must have said it to her.  :)

Have a great weekend, and get out there and read The Hunger Games!

Quick 5

What. A. Week.

1.  At the end of last week, we had have my car towed into the shop.  Again.  The emergency brake locked up, and we couldn't get it to disengage.  That is an expensive fix, let me tell you.  The worst part about all this car trouble that we've been having lately, is that I no longer trust our cars.  Before I leave the house I check and double check to make sure I have my cell phone and the diaper bag, just in case we're going to be stuck somewhere.  Not really a fun way to live.

2.  On Monday, I took Joya in for her one-year check up.  Everything is in perfect order.  And I'm terrible about getting numbers, but I can tell you that she is very tall.  She's in the 90th percentile for height.  But we all knew this.  At that visit, Joya got two shots, and Alaina and I each got our flu shot.  It was the first time since Alaina was tiny that she cried at getting a shot.  It was sad.  I expected Joya to cry, and she did, but not Alaina. 

3.  As a result of the shots, Joya had a fever Monday night.  I heard her whimpering, and simply thought she was cold.  She refuses to sleep under a blanket, so she sometimes wakes up cold.  I ignored it, but then heard her whimpering an hour later.  I got out of bed to go cover her up, and while she was uncovered, she was on fire.  I quickly gave her some baby tylenol, and then tried to go back to sleep.  She was still whimpering 45 minutes later, so I picked her up and held her for awhile.  I felt her fever brake, then put her back to bed.  She still whimpered off and on for the rest of the night, but she didn't have a fever again.  Even though it was 3:00 in the morning, I actually loved holding her.  She doesn't really snuggle often; she's too busy for that.  But at 3:00 in the morning with a fever, she was tired and didn't feel good, so she laid still on my shoulder and let me just rub her back.  I was sad she wasn't feeling well, but I really enjoyed that snuggle time.

4.  Here's a fun comparison:

Alaina's First Birthday

Joya's First Birthday

 5.  Joya is finally, officially pulling herself up on everything.  It is so cute to see her standing.  I still don't have high expectations of her walking soon, since Alaina didn't walk until she was 15 months old, but she could surprise me. 

Well, we have another weekend of gorgeous weather coming up.  Hope it's gorgeous where you are too.

Joya's First Birthday Party

We had Joya's birthday party on Saturday.  It was a lovely, very warm day, which made my menu of yummy fall soups kind of a bad idea.  But who knew it would be 80 degrees in the middle of October?  My parents and brother, sister and her family and some family friends crowded into our house for the big event.  Joya cheerfully crawled around, chowed down on potatoes and carrots from the sausage potato soup, and turned delighfully bashful when we all sang Happy Birthday to her.  She enjoyed the cake, but didn't eat too much of it.  I'll be honest: we (and I do mean I) are pretty militant about keeping the girls from sugar until they are one, and I love how when we do finally give them cake or whatnot, that they are perfectly content with just a couple of bites.  If only I could show that same restraint.

And here's another confession: I'm not a fan of the first birthday.  I think I'll do much better when the girls can tell me how they want to celebrate.  I don't really know if I do enough, or if I'm going overboard, since when they turn one, they don't really care anyway.  But I do like celebrating my girls.  And I was so proud to celebrate Joya.

The party guests arrive

Joya just wants a toy to chew on

Opening presents

She got toys and clothes

Grandad the Party Animal

Sometimes Mommy didn't open the presents fast enough

Alaina got to hold her cousin Oliver

Lovely shoes from Apple Ben

Blowing out the candle

It's so pretty

The only bite she took of the whole cake; the frosting was much better

Trying to get the cake off her hands