Quick 5

Welcome, Friday.  And end of September.

1.  I know I've been a little slow on the draw, but I'm finally getting around to giving Alaina some solid chores.  She's been in charge of putting all the toys away at night (much to her chagrin) for some time now, and she makes her bed.  But everything else has been (and still is) easier just to do it myself.  I'm mending my ways, and first up has been putting her in charge of putting forks on the table for dinner each night.  So I say, "Alaina!  Come get forks for everyone!"  She says, "Okay!  Joya!  Come get your fork!" and promptly delegates that one utensil to Joya.  Joya loves to be included, so I haven't nipped it in the bud, but I'm a little afraid that Alaina might turn out to be something of a Tom Sawyer.  If she starts handing over more than one fork, I'll know that there is a discussion we should have.

2.  Thanks to our early Christmas present from Lee's parents, we now are the proud owners of our first piece of furniture from IKEA!  Our kitchen is pretty, but has very little counter space.  Which translates to very little work space.  So I'd been looking around for an island for our kitchen, and lo and behold the great behemoth that is IKEA had exactly what I had in mind.  So we trekked out there last Saturday to pick it up, and Lee spent most of the day putting it together.  We haven't gotten much use out of it yet, because the surface needed to be treated, and that involved several coats with six hours in between and a recommended 72 hours before using it completely, but I can already tell that it is going to make a huge difference in food prep.  Yes, it takes up much of the floor space in our kitchen, but all that floor space was being used for was a "swimming pool" by the girls.  (They liked to rub around on it after they got their jammies on each night.  Consequently I haven't had to sweep the floor much.) 

Before...the empty space

After...welcome island

3.  We had a family adventure after Cubbies on Wednesday night.  Usually either Lee or I take Alaina, and the other one stays home with Joya.  However, due to some scheduling errors, we all had to go last Wednesday; Lee had a class and I volunteered for the AWANA Sundae night.  After I had collected the girls, we discovered that it was raining Noah's Deluge-style outside, which is quite rare around here.  I didn't even realize it was going to rain that night.  We didn't wear jackets.  So Lee ran to get the car while I waited with the girls.  He got as close as he could, and waved for me to come out.  I couldn't get both girls, and clearly they were going to need to be carried through the storm.  So he ran back, grabbed Alaina (who started screaming the minute they hit the downpour) and I ran with Joya.  I knew I was about to get wet, but I was shocked at how much rain there was and how hard it was coming down.  We jumped in the van and closed the doors and then buckled everyone in.  Alaina was completely distraught (unnecessarily) and Joya and I looked like drowned rats.  Joya was completely cool with it; Alaina was not.  Apparently we have confirmation on which girl has the sense of adventure.

4.  One of my favorite things to do with the girls right now is sing along to "Home" by Phillip Phillips.  (Or "Oliver's Song," as Alaina calls it.)  During breakfast each morning we listen to the local radio station to hear the Mindbender, a fun little contest they do.  And of course, they usually play a current hit.  Lately we'll hear "Home" at least three times a week.  And thankfully 50% of the lyrics on that song are "Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh."  It cracks me up to see both Alaina and Joya singing their little hearts out.

5.  One benefit to having a big, ugly, very dead tree in our front yard: I get visitors at least once a week asking if they can cut it down for us.  They're so sweet.  In related news, I think it is very strange that it is the end of September, and the trees are all turning the appropriate shades, which means everything is shutting down for the winter, and yet our lawn is greener than I've ever seen it.  We've had two non-consecutive days of incredible rain, and apparently that was all it needed.  On the plus side, it makes our house look a little less ghetto for all the people who are coming to see the house that is for sale next door.  I almost want to go to each of them and say, "Don't freak out about our house.  We're working on it." 

Well, it's about time to bust out the electric blanket.  Guess you know our project this weekend. 

Quick 5

Ah.  That lovely time of year where you need to bundle up in the morning, and then short sleeves and maybe even shorts in the afternoon.  I don't really know how to dress my girls these days, but we're getting by.

1.  Because I know that inquiring minds want to know, I had my 17 week check up this week.  The baby's heartbeat was strong and immediately heard, which always makes me feel better in these days where I don't really feel any movement.  I think I feel movement, but it's still a little hard to discern from the other normal rumblings in my abdomen.  Anyway, the real important piece of news is that I scheduled my ultrasound for October 25th.  They couldn't get me in before then, and I told the scheduling lady I could be patient.  I'll be 22 weeks then, which seems unheard of these days for an ultrasound.  Most moms are so anxious to get in, and schedule between 18 and 20 weeks.  I was a little concerned that we would be missing a window for important measurements, but the doctor informed me that the real reason they schedule an ultrasound between 18 and 20 weeks is because it gets to tricky to terminate after 20 weeks.  That was so offensive to me, that I'm glad I'm waiting until 22 weeks.  Now no matter what they find, they know that there is no way I'll ever terminate.  Keep that in mind, mommas.  They want to find problems before 20 weeks so they can kill it.

2.  We're pondering school choices for Alaina for next year, and have a friend at church whose son is having a great experience with a charter school in Douglas County.  That prompted me to look into charter schools in Jeffco, and there is one close by.  Then I made the mistake of asking Facebook friends their opinions.  Not that I don't appreciate the time those who responded took to answer, or their wisdom, but it really opened my eyes to what I'm looking for when I post a question to the Facebook universe.  Some of the responses that people wrote I could have written for them because I knew what they would say.  And I really only found one to be encouraging.  That's what I was looking for: encouragement.  And really, when you ask for people's opinions, aren't you really looking for opinions that already kind of match your own?  Ones that will bolster the one you have growing in your mind?  So in the future, I need to either phrase my question differently, or just buckle down and individually ask the people whose opinions I'm REALLY looking for, because there were just a few people I was hoping would respond.  (My friend Becky would like that, with her new take on Facebook anyway.)  All that to say, thank you for responding, if you did.  I do appreciate that you care enough to weigh in.  The worst part is, I think, how I feel like if I make a choice different from what you've advised that you'll think less of me.  But I'm choosing to believe that we're all more adult than that anyway.

3.  This week I found myself having to ask Alaina for forgiveness for becoming angry with her.  Yes, she was acting in a less than desirable manner, but I didn't need to go overboard the way I did.  So I apologized and she graciously forgave me.  Then she sang me a little song that went like this:

When you feel so mad
That you want to ROAR
Take a deep breath...
And count to 4!

Thank you, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, for teaching my 4-year-old some anger management tricks that she can wisely pass on to me.

4.  Lee surprised me with these beauties on Wednesday:

September 19th was the 9th anniversary of the day he proposed to me.  That was a good day.  And so was this past Wednesday when he brought me these pretty roses.

5.  I know we're behind the times, but Alaina and Joya have finally joined their cousins in their love for Micky Mouse Clubhouse.  We don't have cable or satellite, so we've not had access.  But I stumbled across a DVD at the library, and Alaina was most excited.  And now Alaina walks around the house singing, "La la la la la la la la la" and Joya walks around saying "Oh boy!"  Such a cheerful influence.

I hope you all embrace the first day of fall with open arms. 

Quick 5

My word.  It always surprises me how cranky SOME people get when I skip a week of the Quick 5.  Sometimes things just aren't newsworthy, people.  Maybe if you would all stop by or call or send us stuff I'd have things to write about sometimes.  I wonder if my friend Becky gets this kind of grief when SHE skips a week. 

1.  Last week was just completely uninspiring.  We made it through a week.  The End.  But all of a sudden I'm feeling all sorts of inspiration.  Not really writing wise, but I bought my first can of spray paint yesterday and suddenly I have so many things I want to do with it.  I've got a Pinterest-y craft in the works to make some artwork for my walls, and then I remembered this old wooden shelf in my basement that I was about to throw away because it's a little too 1990s.  But with a coat of black spray paint...

2.  I recently put a full-sized pillow in Joya's crib.  When I did that with Alaina, she stopped moving all over the bed at night and began to sleep in just one place.  It was great training for moving to a big girl bed, and it became very handy in keeping her covered at night.  The pillow takes up about a quarter of the crib; Joya now sleeps in the other 3/4 of the crib, still all over the place.  And she still moans at night when she gets too cold because she's wiggled out from under her blankets. 

3.  Alaina has been complaining about her shoes lately.  When she goes to Cubbies they ask that she wears closed-toed shoes, so she has been wearing her sneakers after a summer of sandals-only.  She said her shoes were too tight, and I believed her because I know kids grow.  So we went to the shoe store and I had the dude there measure both of the girls' feet so I'd know what to look for.  Turns out Alaina needs a 9 1/2 these days; her other pair was a size 8.  No wonder she was complaining.  Joya needs a size 5, and I've been shoving her little feet into size 4 for the past week.  Mommy fail.

4.  Alaina has discovered the joy of Mister Roger's Neighborhood.  It all started with a new show on PBS Kids called Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is produced by the Fred Roger's Group.  It's a completely updated version of that old show, but they've posted some of the old shows on PBSKids.org and Alaina found them.  Which led to borrowing a Mister Roger's DVD from the library.  And most surprising of all is that she actually watched the whole thing.  Those shows were WAY less stimulating than today's shows for kids, but Alaina was able to focus on the whole thing.  I really don't mind "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" running through my head.

5.  MOPS started at our church last week.  But I don't want to talk about it.  I'm going to forget it ever happened, and pretend that it really starts on September 24th.  So tell all your friends: the Valley View MOPS group starts on Monday, September 24th at 9:30am.  Childcare is provided.  :)

Peace out.

Quick 5

Goodbye, August, Hello, Fall.  Right?  Fall is coming, right?

1.  No doubt the biggest news of our week was the purchase of our very first minivan.  Tuesday was a crazy day, and if I had planned it out I would have planned it very differently.  I had seen a van at a dealership on Craigslist and we made an appointment to see it on Tuesday at 3:00.  After I made the appointment I got a call from a guy who goes to our church who runs the GO dealerships in town.  He had seen our prayer request about a van and asked if he could help us.  After looking at his inventory, we decided that he indeed had one that seemed to be very similar to the first one we were going to look at.  So we decided to see the first van, then go to his store and see his.  I really wanted to work with someone from church, so we kind of had it in our minds that we would probably end up buying his car.  Well, after seeing both, we really liked the first one best.  It was in much better condition.  I felt terrible, because I wanted to give the other guy our business, but I didn't want the one he had.  He said he had one more he could bring down in price for us, but it was at another dealership.  So we went to dinner while he sent one of his guys to the other dealership to bring it to us.  When we got back an hour later, we immediately realized the second one he brought would not work; it had a bench seat in the middle rather than the bucket seats.  Plus it cost more, and I did not want to spend more money for something I didn't really want.  Sadly we left, and decided to go get the other van.  By this time it was 7:15 (30 minutes past Joya's bedtime), but we knew that the other dealership wouldn't hold the car for us.  And Lee didn't have the next day off of work or anything.  So we called them and decided to go over right then to get it.  We got back to that dealership at 7:45 and began the paperwork process (one hour past Joya's bedtime.)  I'm sure you all know, which we didn't, that it takes almost two hours to sign everything.  The men working with us were very gracious about our kids, but it was late.  We finally shook hands with them at 9:30, the exact time that Joya went nuclear.  I put the screaming/crying girls in our car and Lee drove the van home.  I am so grateful we do not have to buy cars every day.  And I really like the van, so I think it was worth it.

2.  Everything else pales in comparison to that adventure.  So here is a video of Joya singing "Old MacDonald."  It's her favorite song, and is quite handy since she's been obsessed with cows for the past week.

3.  And you can't have a video of one girl without the other.  Here's Alaina saying her verses from Cubbies, which started up again last week:

4.  Alaina made us laugh in the midst of our car buying adventure.  We had dinner at Wendy's that night, and they had a lovely gal dressed up as Wendy for the evening.  The girls were quite shy when it came to meeting her.  Later, as we were eating, Alaina tooted nice and loud.  Then she said, "I hope Wendy didn't hear that!"  The irony is that she's never seemed to care before.  Glad to know she is modest in the presence of fast food chain mascots.

5.  And finally, a look back four years ago, when Alaina met her very best friend Avery:

Have a lovely Labor Day weekend.

Quick 5

Surprisingly, I feel like we have a lot to talk about this week.  We'll see how it goes.

1.  I suppose the biggest news of the week is the announcement of the impending birth of our 3rd child.  I am crossing out of the first trimester into the second, and I'm finally starting to feel normal again.  Starting.  It's official: early pregnancy and I are archenemies.  For weeks Alaina told me I needed to see a doctor about all the throwing up.  We finally told her about the baby, and now she just knows it's the baby making me sick.  Anyway, since this pregnancy has followed the path of my other two so far, I'm hoping it will continue the trend and that I'll feel normal again within another three weeks or so.  I had a good doctor's visit this week.  We weren't able to hear the heartbeat, but the doctor pulled out this I-pod looking thing that was a handheld ultrasound.  We were able to see the baby wiggling its little arms and legs in there, and we saw the heart beating strong, so both the doctor and I felt better after that.  Anyway.  Lots of adjustments coming up, but it's hard to not feel excited about finding out who this tiny person is.

2.  This pregnancy has made this summer rough and lame in many ways.  The girls and I have done very little, because of how I was feeling.  Thankfully they like to watch movies.  But last Friday I finally felt good enough to take them to the park.  Joya was a bit cranky, but it was good to get outside and play around.

 3.  Feeling poorly has also put unpacking and settling in this house on hold.  But I'm finally feeling inspired.  And I finally bought curtains.  After discussing it extensively on my girls' weekend, I decided to just go with my gut and get red curtains.  It's always been the first thing to pop in my head when I've thought about curtains for the front room, so I decided that must be what I really want.

 My good friend Leah stopped by and after chatting for a few minutes I asked her what she thought.  She looked surprised and said she didn't notice them.  This is a good thing.  It means that they are right.  And rightness is important to me when it comes to decorating my house.  Since decor has very little to do with rightness, you can see why decorating is so difficult for me.

4.  *Note: from here on out, when I say "new," I mean "new to us."  Our other big news is that Lee's little 93 Ford Escort has finally bit the dust.  Which means we have to buy another car.   We have never ever had to buy a car before.  I mean, outside of the piddly deals we made with our college cars, both of which belonged to people we knew and were given to us for prices that were easily paid in cash.  Both the cars we have been driving for the past few years had been graciously given to us, so we've never had to deal with car payments.  But now we have to bite the bullet.  I do see the Lord's hand in it; after our move and changing around some health insurance things, we actually have monthly money to work with.  But it's never been our goal to have ANOTHER monthly payment on anything.  That being said, I'm having a crisis of conscience about how excited I am about the thought of getting a new car.  We plan to get a van to accommodate a fifth family member, and that means I'll be the primary driver the vehicle.  I shouldn't be excited about spending this kind of money, but I am.  And it was Lee's car that died, yet I'm the one who seems to be benefiting.  So I'm a little sad that I'm so excited about it.  But I am.

5.  The other thing that happened this week was our trip to an ENT to evaluate Joya's ears.  She's had three ear infections this year, which is too many.  Lee took the morning off of work, which was a good thing, because we got to the doctor's at 10:15 for our 10:30 appointment.  They finally called us back at 11:40.  All that, and the doctor took a look, saw fluid in her ear and said he wanted to see her again in a month to see if it were still there.  I appreciate the conservative approach, but not the crazy wait time.  I'm not really looking forward to going back, but we'll do what we have to.  I can't decide if I want him to see fluid so we can just get the tubes, or if I want it to be clear and hope that maybe this was just a crazy ear year for her.  I really dislike it when she gets those fevers.  The waiting begins.

This marks the last fall that I'll ever spend not sending my girls to school.  I'm trying to savor it, as much as my nauseous, tired pregnant body will allow.  The good news is fall is in the air!

Quick 5

Happy Friday, everyone.  Happy Friday indeed.

1.  Last weekend was so refreshing.  I got to chat with friends in person.  I got to eat at restaurants without asking for high chairs and kid menus.  I got to paint pottery.  I got to eat at Blue Parrot.  I can't say how honored I am that my dear friend Becky flew all the way out here just to spend the weekend with me.  Such a good time.  Lee seemed to manage okay with the girls too.  I even found this little gem on our camera, which suggests that Daddy had a special dinner in mind for the girls:

2.  The other day Alaina called for me to hurry to the bathroom.  When I got there, she insisted that I take a picture, because apparently she discovered a fantastic new pose:

That was it.  That was all she wanted.

3.  Joya made a big step this week.  She has officially graduated from the high chair to a booster chair at the table.  I'm pretty sure I moved Alaina at a much younger age, but it was so easy just to keep Joya in the high chair.  So basically I buckled down and finally bought another for her.  She handled it like such a champ that I'm feeling kind of bad that I didn't do it a few months ago.

4.  And just because, here are my two little girls eating snack together:

Guess Alaina has been giving Joya posing lessons.



5.  Yesterday I was playing a silly game on the computer (Bubble Safari, anyone?) and I was stuck.  I asked Alaina if she had any ideas on how I could beat the level and she said no.  Then she said, "But I know who the smartest man in the world is." 

"Oh really?"  I replied.  "Who?"

"Uncle Josh," she said.  "We should ask him."

So, Josh, any ideas on how to beat level 95 in Bubble Safari?


Fall IS coming, people.  Do not be dismayed.

Quick 5

Good morning, Starshine!  The Earth says hello!

1.  Last week Alaina made a sign that says "Alaina's Prayer Spot" in Sunday School.  It's the size of a piece of construction paper, and has a loop of yarn strung through it so she can hang it up.  She likes to hang it on the doorknob of the bathroom when she goes in to take care of business.  My little multi-tasker.

2.  I'm in a bit of a conundrum about what to do about Alaina and her thumb.  She's been a thumb-sucker since she was three months old, and I've always loved that it has spared us the midnight paci hunts that I find myself on with Joya.  However, she IS four years old now.  We've told her she can have her thumb at rest time and night time, but she still pops the thing in her mouth at all times of the day, especially in the car.  So yesterday I put a band-aid on her thumb to remind her that she isn't suppose to be sucking it during the day and she flipped out.  Am I choosing the wrong battle?  I know she won't be sucking her thumb in college or anything, but do I even need to crack down on it, or let it run it's course? 

3.  The A/C works like a dream.  Although the greatest thing lately is that while it's still mid-90s during the day, it's starting to drop down to the lower 60s at night.  With our windows open and fans sucking in the air during the night, if I shut everything up by 8:00, the A/C doesn't even need to kick on until about 4:00 in the afternoon.  I can live this way for awhile, I think.

4.  This weekend is going to be lovely.  My sister Jamie has arranged a Mommy-free overnighter for my birthday, and a couple of my all-time favorite people are going to join us.  My dear friend Becky from college is actually flying in, and our college friend Kristy (who lives probably 13 miles from me, but I only see every 18 months or so) is going to come too.  Jamie set everything up, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Yes, my birthday was last month, but it takes time to get everyone's schedules together.  It was worth the wait.  I expect the days to be filled with eating without wiping up faces, watching uninterrupted chick-flicks (Return to Me?  You've Got Mail?  So many choices!) and a blissful night of sleep where I don't have to set my alarm for 6:10 on Saturday morning.  A big thanks to my accommodating husband for agreeing to watch the girls for 24 hours or so.  :)

5.  I'm at a standstill with the house.  (Okay, in all honesty I'm at a million different standstills when it comes to my house, but let's focus on one.)  I need curtains for the front window.  It had broken, dark blinds on it when we moved in, which we of course threw away.  It's a nice, big window.  But it's open all the time.  People have to walk directly past it to get to the front door, which gives them the nice opportunity to gawk in at us before we even have a chance to decide whether or not we want to answer the door.  And it faces east, so in the morning we get a good hours shot of morning sun.  That might be nice in the winter, but not when I'm trying to keep the house cool as long as I can.  The problem is, I'm a little paralyzed when it comes to getting curtains.  I feel like it's a big deal; it's a big investment and a large main part of the decor, and I stink at decor.  Looking a pictures online doesn't help me.  But I'm ready for a little privacy.  See what I mean?  Standstill.

Have a great weekend, folks, and a lovely week.  My little sis turns the big 2-8 on Monday, so if you think about it, send a big ol' Many Happy Returns toward Canada on that day.  Happy Birthday, Carolyn!