singing kids

the other day while avoiding folding laundry (I'll do anything to avoid folding aundry) we had a little singing time!

(please ignore all the clean clothes in the background!!

finding nemo

on friday we went met some friends at the zoo. we've been twice before, but somehow we had missed 2 air conditioned exhibits! WOW, where were they when we went with mom and we were all so hot! they were really fun. one was an aquarium (hence the nemo pictures) and the other had lots of different animals and fish in it. it had bats. ~shudder~ I don't like bats! they're so gross, it was giving me the heebie jeebies just looking at them! they had the lights off so they were awake and just climbing around the trees like monkeys with their gross little arms in their gross little wings. they didn't quite look as mean as this picture, but they were still really icky. I tried really hard not to show kate how gross I thought they were. eeeiiiiigghkkk!

besides the bats, it was a lot of fun. here is sawyer hanging out in the stroller. he came away from the zoo with 3 mosquito bites! DARN these houston bugs!

after our friends left we went back to the air conditioned exhibit so kate could play in this tube some more. she thought it was so fun...until another kid wanted to play in it and then she would hide behind my legs and watch until it was "safe" again and then go back and play. she is SO silly! the tube goes through the piranha tank. kinda cool

all in all, it was a very fun day at the zoo!

baby giggles

faffles for dinner

Last night Kate asked for faffles for dinner...

and what Kate wants, Kate gets....even though she's pooped her pants the last 2 days. WOW, she has one nice mom!! (really, I just didn't have any better ideas for dinner)

Kate loves to help me cook and she helped me stir in all the ingredients for the waffles with surprisingly little mess! Then I was making the syrup and she was asking to bring her chair over and help me. I was telling her "no, its too hot!" but then I let her bring it over to the counter next to the stove. I was stirring and telling her all about how hot it was and not to touch and all that over and over. Once it started to boil I turned the burner off and then brought it to the other front burner to add the flavoring. As I filled the teaspoon, about to dump it in, Kate says "I want to help!" and leans over and goes to put her hand RIGHT ON THE HOT BURNER!!! She may not understand how hot it is, but her mama sure has good reflexes because I jumped and threw the teaspoon in the air and maple flavor went everywhere and grabbed her hand. I'm pretty sure I stopped her and she didn't get burned, but she was a little startled. (I can't really blame her!) As she was crying I asked her if she got hurt and she held up one finger. It didn't look red or anything but I gave her some ice and sat her at the table and finished dinner. I cut up her waffle for her and gave it to her and then I saw her eating like this:

One finger on the ice the whole time! It was pretty darn funny!

Here are some random pictures of Kate and Sawyer hanging out on Kate's bed

and the other day I was looking at different blogs and I found one with short hair hairstyles and this was the first post on there. So Kate and I had fun this morning playing with her hair!

Kinda a funny do, but it was nice to have a bit of a change! Can't wait for it to grow so I can venture more into this fun hairstyle frontier!

ready for school

a long time ago, prior to kate being potty trained, she was sitting in the garage helping ryan fix his bike to ride to school. she started to go on and on about how she was going to get a pink bike and ride it to school! but her daddy told her she had to be a big girl and learn to go pee pee on the potty before she could go to school. well, now we are successfully potty trained and I'm telling her what a big girl she is and she is now convinced she's going to school!! she gets so excited when she sees a school bus on the road and talks about it all the time! now her mommy tells her she has to be 5 before she can go to school....and guess what! she's 5 now! (if you ask her how old she is, thats what she'll say!) silly girl! all this talk about wanting to go to school is making me so sad! my BABY thinks she's ready for school!! I am SO not ready for that! I told her today she can go to the Kissell School for the Gifted (hee hee) and we can learn to write her name. we'll see if she thinks thats enough for now!!

life

here is a collection of random pictures and short stories all smushed in one post:

sad to say, so long to the olympics! its always so sad to see them end, but I have to admit I'll enjoy going to bed at 10 again. I was afraid that I might have missed my favorite sport of them all....but they were on yesterday!! I like them all, but I definately have a favorite!!

rhythmic gymnastics!!

Kate loved it too.

she went and got her ribbon to dance along with them

here are some sunday afternoon pictures

me and my babies

daddy taught kate how to make a funny face

Sawyer looking sharp

Kate enjoying an after dinner fudgesicle

and today we painted Kate's fingers and toes. as she was eating her popsicle I said "those are some NICE hot pink fingernails!" and she gave me her quizzical look that is SO cute and I need to get a picture of and she said "no, kinda warm"

here she is showing off her *warm* pink fingernails!!

and this photo collage I call "attack of the big sister"

poor kid. its hard to be loved so much!!

Mommy tag!

I saw this on Hilary's blog and thought, "its going to be so cute when Kate can answer these kinds of questions!" and then I thought "what the heck, I'll give it a try!" Here are the results:

What is something mom always says to you?

Kate: beans

What makes mommy happy?

Kate: I go pee pee

What makes mommy sad?

Kate: I go poo poo on the bed

How does mommy make you laugh?

Kate: Beans

How old is mommy?

Kate: 2

How tall is mommy?

Kate: big

Whats mommy's favorite thing to do?

Kate: beans

What does mommy do when you're not home?

Kate: eat dinner

If mommy was famous, what would she be famous for?

Kate: beans

What is mommy really good at?

Kate: beans

What does mommy do for her job?

Kate: I go pee pee

What is Mommy's favorite food?

Kate: beans

What makes you proud of your mommy?

Kate: beans

If mommy was a cartoon character, who would she be?

Kate: Sawyer

What do you and mommy like to do together?

Kate: go pee pee

How are you and mommy the same?

Kate: beans

How are you and mommy different?

Kate: beans

How do you know mommy loves you?

Kate: how you texas

so funny!.....for anyone who doesn't know, Kate says "beans" a lot. she tthinks it is just plain hilarious! but I love some of the answers! My job HAS been Kate going pee pee for the past few weeks!!

What time do your kids wake up? around 7:00

On a good night, what time do your kids go to sleep? 6:30

How long have you been a mom? 2 years 4 months

How old were you when you became a mom? 23

What is your favorite kid show? Pee Wee's playhouse.....oh wait, you're talking about me being the mom and the shows my kids watch?!?! I am loving not watching too many kids shows yet.

Least favorite kid TV show? They're all okay, but I am getting tired of Teletubbies, her only favorite

Favorite chore? NONE. I need a maid

Favorite meal to cook? cafe rio salad...when I don't have to clean up afterwards

What's the meal cooked most often? different variations of Mexican

What is the kids favorite meal? Kate really likes spaghetti, but eats everything

What are 5 things that make you smile while being a mom?

1) Hearing the funny things Kate says

the other day we were in the car on the way home from the gym and I cracked my window. Kate said "what are you doing?" (I hear that a million times a day) and I said "Mommy stinks, so she needs to roll her window down a little bit" and Kate said "Kate stinks!!" Needless to say, she enjoyed a nice breeze from her window the rest of the way home!

2) Giggles

3) Success in potty training

4) Kate's cute bouncy run

5) the pride my kids give me when they're cute, well behaved, successful....all that

Where do you want to take your kids someday? its hard to imagine them thinking anything is cooler than McDonald's right now.

When was the last time you and your husband went out without the kids? FOREVER ago. We didn't even do it that much when we LIVED with mom and dad!

One thing you said you'd never do as a mom? when I'm shopping and they're walking really close behind me and, when I stop, bumping into me all the time I will NEVER say "STOP!!!!! are you afraid I'm going to fart and you're not gonna smell it?!?!" hee hee, just kidding, I probably will!

Favorite past time with your kids? cuddling

Advice for a new mom: Just have fun!

When was the last time your kids said "I love you"? unless "beans" means "I love you"....we haven't gotten that far yet!!

rag doll

Did anyone else love reading Little House on the Prairie? I read and loved lots of moving west, 1800's, pioneer, fictional books in my younger years. Last night I was watching the olympics and started sewing this cute little doll that I saw on my internet friend Rachelle's blog and she got it from Martha Stewart. (I love the variations Rachelle put on it!) Anyways, back to Little House on the Prairie, as I played with it last night and was sewing until 1am, I was remembering reading about pioneer moms staying up to handmake their children's birthday and christmas presents. I always thought that was the coolest thing ever and I was imagining myself like that...well, without the olympics on the tv, of course. This morning when Kate came to wake me up from my sewing all night grogginess, I told her there was a new doll for her on the couch. I had a lot of pride as I watched her run in to show me. She was so excited! Handmade things are the best and I'm glad she likes it!

the quilt is done....finally!!

Once upon a time I started making a quilt. I was very much inspired by Heather Bailey. I found her website just randomly while cruising the internet for quilting ideas. You know how you find someone and instantly you want to be just like them when you grow up? Heather Bailey is one of those people to me. Then it all started in September here and then progressed to this this and this ....and then it became a beautiful decoration on my sewing and crafting table. Now, 10 months later, it is DONE!!

I was so excited to put it on Kate's bed!! I promise she was excited too (or else she just thought I was so funny jumping up and down that she did it too) but she's looking out the window at the rain in this picture. we've been getting a lot the last couple of days.

and here is what finally gave me the courage to finish Kate's big girl bed quilt:

Its a quilt that I helped the young women make. The activity started before I moved here but I ended up helping and I finished it yesterday. Then I was on a binding roll and just kept going!!

I am loving quilting!

rainy day hat

Today is dark and rainy and since our swimming playgroup is cancelled, we're having a lazy day inside again. I'm hoping that means I can get to work on some of the projects that are sitting around halfway finished. I've been working on this hat for a little while and finally finished it. Kate was really excited about it and I love how it turned out!

Baby Chubb

Mom saw those pictures from the temple and was laughing at Sawyer's chubby legs and I was thinking "they aren't that much chubbier than Kate's were....are they?" So I checked out the evidence.

See for yourself!

Temple Photo Shoot

This Sunday Ryan and I decided to take a trip to the temple to see the grounds and take a family picture. We have heard it was beautiful so we packed a picnic dinner and drove the 45 minutes...and it was worth it! It was so beautiful! We brought the tripod so we could get the whole family in so I was running back and forth in the hot, humid air! ick! but here is our family picture

and here it is cropped in so you can actually see us!

and, as you can tell from the title of this post, I played photographer for a little bit too! Does anyone else find photo editing frustrating/addicting and rewarding? I have lots to learn, but here are a few

I am so excited for Sawyer to start sitting so its a little easier to take pictures of him. Here are my cuties holding hands by a fountain on the side of the temple. It had a pretty walkway under some nice big trees.

Afterwards we went to the park down the street and had a picnic. Here is Kate very distracted by the swings.

And here is Kate and Daddy waiting for a turn on the swings...it was one busy park!!

After a while it started raining, but we were about done anyways so we just packed up and headed home! What a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon! As Kate and I were walking around the temple, singing "I love to See the Temple" I felt the peace that being at the temple brings and I get goosebumps when she sings "....I'm going there someday!" with me. What a blessing the temple is in my life and I'm so excited we have one only 45 minute away and I hope we'll be making a trip to go inside...someday!

Family Day

today began with a super hard, want to throw up afterwards, awesome kickboxing class. but, it kicked my butt. keep that in mind throughout this post....

after I got home from the gym, Ryan said it was BCM family day today and we had kinda forgot and he was wondering if I wanted to go. we hadn't RSVPed, we didn't really know about parking...but then we decided it would be fun to show Kate where daddy goes to school. for added fun, we decided to ride the metro down there. the second we got in the car it started to sprinkle. we got halfway down the road when I realized I had forgotten my camera (and this post wouldn't be nearly as exciting without pictures) so I had ryan go back and get it. he parked in front of the garage and before turning off the car and taking the keys, he unrolled the front two windows to let us breath. I was like "hey, not so far! its starting to rain!!" so we rolled them 3/4 of the way up and he ran upstairs. within seconds it started to POUR!!! ryan's side of the car was getting soaked but I (cleverly) got my umbrella out and stuck it out the little slit in the window and blocked my side with it. he got back in, turned the car in and I (not so cleverly) went to roll the window down a little and instead rolled it up with my hand in it. and I had NO reaction time left. I just sat there, confused, saying "ryan, roll the window down!!! ROLL IT DOWN!!!" he did and kate started to cry from the panic in my voice (I think thats so sweet and so sad when she does that) and I started to cry from pain and a couple minutes later ryan was like "you closed your hand in the window?" ummm.....yes. how could you miss that?!?! I had this weird 3 mm purple indent on the top of my hand that later turned into a really soft, red bump. can you see it?

so anyways, we start driving, camera in tow, to the metero park and ride lot. we got there and it was POURING. we loaded the kiddos into the stroller and hustled over to the train. kate LOVED it, and it made me think about living in new york. I was telling her all about what it would have been like to live there. and then we got to our stop and it was POURING HARDER!!!

we decided to brave it and ran all the way there. well, ryan ran all the way there with the stroller. I had an umbrella and REALLY tired legs so I was less inclined to run.

we got there just in time for the lunch, but we heard that we had't missed much. it was a lot of speakers and stuff. so we ate and then walked around and saw daddy's school. it was fun seeing the place he spends all his time!!

daddy teaching kate all about cell something-or-other in one of his study rooms
soaking wet daddy and kate enjoying the view

kate teaching us Sawyer looking cute and me looking so proud of myself for taking a picture of us

after we left the school and we were walking towards the metro and talking about how nice and cool it was now that it had stopped raining and ryan decided we should go to the zoo. the BCM family day bug must have bit him because he decided to study later and play with us!! we'll take it!! here are some fun pictures from our quick trip to the zoo.

baby elephant

komodo dragon


look at that big belly!!!

2 monkeys

the obligatory picture of sawyer hanging out in his stroller
hook 'em (a little texas pride) ....actually, they aren't really longhorns, they are some african animal that looked like one

riding the funny carosel. it had all sorts of animals like penguins and sea lions and javalinas and wart hogs and a funny little armadillo. kate is riding the panda in honor of the olympics.

so then we walked back from the zoo to the metro and by this time I was dead. DEAD. that kickboxing really kicked my rear. I love it, I even love being sore, but not this much!!! but it really was a fun day and we were soaking up every minute of our daddy time!! I'm just hoping I can walk tomorrow!