a slight improvement

A much better morning. No time outs. Much less crabby. A child redeemed. A mother happy.

Although, I must say, that she is getting increasingly more and more difficult to photograph. She sees the camera and runs in the other direction. This is such a problem for me. She is so dang adorable, I just want to take pictures of her all day, and she will not let me. What's a Mommy/scrapbooker to do? Put her up someplace where she can't really RUN away, and snap away. No super awesome, award winning photos here- but much better than the blurry ones I usually get. I literally just push the button halfway down to focus the shot and wait until she looks at me for one split second and I fire away. Sometimes I get lucky - sometimes I just get that shot where her eyes look all weird - you know the one. Frustrating. 


"Mommy - it's nap time......"

it's monday?

I am hoping that this tired feeling that I am having right now is from actually being tired, and not from anything else. It was a whirlwind week. Friday and Saturday I was pretty much consumed with the whole Mom 2 Mom sale - which ended up not being all that great. There was a lot of disorganization, as well as quite a few other Mom 2 Mom sales that day - which lead to ours not being so busy - which lead to me bringing most of the stuff I brought to sell, home again.  Arrgh! I did sell a few things, so I guess it wasn't that bad. 

But the BIG NEWS of the day - Emily's tooth is finally OUT!! She pulled it out. I think she got really tired of us lamenting about it still being there every day. Now she has that toothless grin that looks so strange on her - like she's growing up or something.

A few days before - notice the snaggle tooth - she made this AWESOME castle thing with Paige's bristle blocks. She designed and created it all by herself. Not really sure why I am so impressed - but I am. My kid can make things. It's awesome.
And this one...more about her later.


It's a feather boa tied around her head. We don't stock tiaras in this house. I think I like the boa anyway. I am not quite sure what she was trying to be, or where she was going with this whole look, but I like it. Too bad the dress doesn't come in my size.
Even though Olivia is a passenger in Jenna's new Barbie jeep (a Mom 2 Mom sale purchase) - all the girls on our block - except for Paige - now have their own wheels - Olivia's jeep is still winterized. They played outside on Saturday afternoon, in the very cool and windy weather - for quite a while. Jenna is one happy girl to finally have her own wheels.
I am quite sure that I have at least 39 more gray hairs on my head - just today - from this child. She is TROUBLE. No, seriously, she really is. NO means nothing to her. Stop means nothing - or maybe it means GO....who knows. All I do know is that she is slowly driving me CRAZY. And lately, she doesn't even wait for you to turn your back - she'll get into whatever she is not supposed to, RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. AND, she smiles about it. She thinks that because she is SO cute, it doesn't matter. Well, it does. And the carpeting in her time out spot has the wear to prove it.

She is talking up at storm. Which is helpful - but does not make up for all her bad behavior. Her new favorite phrase is anything followed by, "I want...". Thanks BIG sister.

I am going to collapse in bed now.

I didn't forget to include the story of Max and the diarrhea problem - the one that kept us from going to Emerson's first birthday party in Kalamazoo  - but as I said....it's hard to type while collapsing....maybe next time.......

six for thursday

Not that I am complaining, but it has been a little busy around here. We have had half days at school, ice skating lessons, a trip to Canada, dance class, scrapbooking club, play dates, phone number changes, taxes, a 36th birthday (me), more ice skating.....and all the other stuff that goes with a normal week. This weekend I am doing my very first Mom 2 Mom sale, AND we are going to Kalamazoo for Emerson's first birthday.  Whew.

So here are a few pictures from yesterday  - we went to California Pizza Kitchen for my birthday, had very yummy and RICH coconut cupcakes at my Mom's, and had a pretty nice family picture taken.....except that Paige didn't look at the camera...oh well.

And today - playing outside in some nice weather.


OK - gotta go - lots to do and so very little time in which to do it!  Have a great weekend!!

sick baby

Paige had  fever last night - just a mild one - around 100.  I gave her some Tylenol and she slept all night.  But still a fever this morning.  So, we had some breakfast - she asked for yogurt - some Elmo, and some crabbiness.
This is what the crabbiness amounted to at lunchtime.  She wanted to sit in her highchair, with Emily's dogs - Furry and Douglas, who we "bought" at Emily's pet store this morning - and wear the sunglasses.  It was the only thing that made her stop crying.  Seriously. She then demanded fruit snacks and cookies after eating half of her grilled cheese.  A movie star in the making.  May she should just go back to her trailer after she finishes........

And in case you are wondering....Emily STILL has that front tooth.  Yeah, she's not too happy about it either.

what I did today...

Before I go on - this is not my recipe - for that, go here.

Today, I made cupcake bites.  They are amazingly cute - and yummy too.  It wasn't hard to make them, just a lot of steps.  AND, I had help from my Mom and my friend and neighbor, Ginger.

We were like little kids - giddy over sprinkles and colored sugars.  It was very fun.  It's almost sad to eat them, but, not that sad.

AND  - for no extra cost, I thought I would throw in this totally cool picture I took of this pear. I love pears - not only are they yummy to eat, but they are my favorite color combination. Could this one be any cooler? Sadly, we ate it today for lunch. It was GOOD.
I think I am coming down from my sugar high - so please excuse this crazy post.  Have a good weekend!!

Paige just being Paige

I have not shared a video in a while - and since Paige is so camera shy lately, I thought I would try a video.  Plus, a picture does not quite capture her true Paginess.  She is a very busy little girl - and enjoys multitasking - which you can see quite clearly in this video.

Enjoy!

just pictures..and a few words

Nothing much to report.  Still have very nice, mild, slightly warm weather.  Above is a picture of a pear tree, complete with buds just waiting to come out.  Probably within the next four weeks.  Very excited about that.
Emily did get to go ice skating on Sunday with Eric.  Her new skates are good - and she'll get to really try them out tomorrow during her class.
Emily did finally get to go back to school on Monday.  YEA!  Her new thing - since we have been walking to the bus stop - is to leave a minute or so before me and walk halfway there by herself. This new found independence scares me.
Paige has been keeping busy with her toys.
We have been enjoying the outdoors in the last few days - so wonderful to finally be able to do that.  I do know that this is only March, and this is Michigan - you just never know.  Don't count old man winter out yet - there could be snow next week...who knows.

Paige this morning. She likes to hang out in her toy boxes.

outside

It's a beautiful day today - as was yesterday.  And we have been out and enjoying it. Yesterday, we hung out with our neighbors watching the kids play, and today we just hung out in our yard - watching our girls enjoy the fresh air, sliding down the slide for the first time this year, swinging on the swings, hitting baseballs, and riding in cars - all that fun stuff you can only enjoy in the out of doors.

With baseball season less than a month away, we felt the need to accessorize our van.

And here are a couple taken inside this morning - just goofing around.

(that front tooth is just hanging on - I hope it falls out soon)

This was sunset last night - up against those leafless trees, it's a stunning sight...to me at least.
One more - Paige found Emily's old bunny slippers in my closet.  I am not really saving them, but they are just so dang cute, I could not bear to throw them away.  Since Emily wore them when she was four, they are a little big on Paige - but she doesn't care. She has been wearing them around for the past few days, and exclaiming every time one falls off, "Uh-oh, bunny."

ice skating photos

Are you ready for some AWESOME ice skating photos?  Are ya?

Yeah, not happening. Emily woke up last night complaining of a stomach ache. I won't bore you - or gross you out - with the details, but let's just say that the contents of her stomach were no longer an issue after a few trips into the bathroom...as well as one trip that didn't quite make it. Good times. She's still not feeling quite herself this afternoon, but at least the stomach ache is gone....for now.

So, she didn't make it to her lesson this morning. She is missing school. And I am missing yet another full night of sleep. It's actually kind of amazing that I am awake enough to type this post. To add insult to injury, the smoke detector in Paige's room decided to start chirping at 3:30am - about 10 minutes after I went to sleep.  WHY???

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

seriously - these people are CRAZY

After a very bad night of sleep last night - pounding rain combined with very gusty wind, a crying Paige, an Emily coming in at 3:30am to tell us that the garbage cans fell over due to the gusty winds, and a little dog who takes up WAY too much space in the bed - it is so good to have the inhabitants of this house around to give me a smile or two.

***Sad Story Alert***

I was also awake because of this very sad story I heard at Emily's dance class last night - the 13 month old sister of one of the little girls who takes a jazz class at the same time as Emily's tap class, has cancer.  I nearly cried as the mom told us the whole story of finding blood in her diaper Christmas day, and then the five rounds of chemo she must endure because she is too little for surgery at this point.  Broke my heart.  I have met this little girl - adorable little thing that she is.  The mom was very positive and upbeat - and holding it together so well.  I did my best not to break down in front of her, or ask too many questions - I just let her tell the story. The little girl's name is Caroline - not sure of the last name. So if you could just please say a prayer for her, as I am, I am sure she would very much appreciate it.

Needless to say, I gave my girls about 10,000 extra hugs and kisses last night.
On a happier note - I did get my replacement point-and-shoot camera.  Yea! The Allison paparazzi is back!  I even took a self-portrait.
Like I said, these people are crazy.  Eric and Paige yesterday after the mail pick up. She wanted to get in the mail bin and Daddy had no problem obliging her.
I made yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting last Friday, and finally on Monday night, Paige got one (the very last one) all to herself. You could say she liked it a bit...
Since there were no more cupcakes, Emily had an ice cream cone.  Nice!
Have a great day!