elizabethursday

Happiness is… hearing your little one say ‘weeee’ before she even goes down the slide.

Taylor Tuesday

Happiness is... having a sprinkler park all to yourself while big kids are in school.

elizabethursday

With dove season right around the corner, Chris found the perfect hunting buddy.  Lizzie prefers to just reload the Nerf gun than shoot them, too bad she also thinks the bullets go in the end of the barrel.  She might need a few more safety classes before she's allowed in the field, but don't worry she's mastered safety goggles for eye protection.

 

Taylor Tuesday

My girl focuses so hard on what she is working sometimes that she didn’t even notice my camera a few feet from her face. 

elizabethursday

Every super hero needs a super outfit and we know that Lizzie is great at coming up with good ones.  We do need to work on her eating her wand though.  Baby step I tell you, baby steps.

KAL: Chugging Along

Just in case some of my blogger friends and non-knitters were wondering, KAL stands for Knit ALong.  I know I can knit anything I want at any time I want, but this Summer Sweater KAL gave me boundaries for what type of project and a deadline to be done.  My knitting wish list is quite long and grew even longer when I started seeing all the other great projects people are working on for the KAL.  Taylor keeps asking if I’ve started on her knitting project yet and I keep telling her I’m working on the pattern.  It’s true, but two projects on needles is enough for me right now.  I love my two projects so much I know they will be put the back burner once Taylor knows that hers has been started.  Plus I am hoping she forgets about it and I can surprise the girls with the completed projects at Christmas.  Is anyone else already thinking about Christmas gifts yet?  I found several items on Target clearance and have them stashed away already.  Let’s just hope I don’t forget about them between now and then. 

Okay… back to knitting.  I’ve made some progress on my sweater.  Not enough for it to look like a sweater yet, but you can see my progress here and here.   I haven’t spent as much time knitting due to birthday festivities over the weekend and but I did get a couple of rounds done.  Only a few more before I start arm holes.  I’m a little nervous about the armholes and neck hole.  Cross your fingers that I get this right.  This yarn is too beautiful to screw this sweater up.

For some reason the pattern doesn’t want to photograph well for me.  I hope this close-up gives you a better idea of the open weave pattern across the body.

    

Also cross your fingers because I will need to wind another ball of yarn soon and I don’t think my winder is playing nice yet.

Taylor Tuesday

Can we pretend it’s Tuesday in the world of blogging and act like I’m posting this on the right date? 

K, thanks!

There must be something magical about Lizzie’s car seat since even Taylor fell asleep while in it.  Lizzie loves to sit in Taylor’s car seat, so Taylor agreed and within minutes of driving down the road she feel asleep.  Can someone drive next time so I can sit in Lizzie’s seat? 

Birthday Fun Day

Yesterday was my birthday and I thought it would be fun to spend the day with one of my favorite little people.  My mother-in-law was super sweet and watched Lizzie so Taylor and I could hit the town, well Cedar Park at least.  When I went to drop Lizzie off I was surprised with a card from Taylor, her, and Lizzie that said we needed to go visit my favorite Brighton lady in the mall.  We had already planned to head that way, so off we went on a treasure hunt.

    

First stop was at the mall to give Princess Sparkles(Taylor’s Build-a-bear cat) a bath and get a new outfit. 

Next stop was at Brighton where Taylor went into the back with Vicki and came back out with flowers and a present.  My mother-in-law had taken her to the mall the day before and Taylor picked out all these charms for a bracelet for me.  A T for Taylor, E for Elizabeth, and a purple heart because purple is my favorite color.  I also love that when she found out that the heart said ‘BFF’ that she wanted that side to show because I’m her best friend.  Yes I started to cry because she was so sweet and so was my mother-in-law to come up with the idea.

 

Next it was time for lunch and we dined on some good pasta at Olive Garden.  Why do I love their bottomless salad so much, but feel weird when I’m the only one eating out of that huge bowl?  Yummy shrimp ravioli!

    

Props to the waiter who gave us extra mints with the bill and to my kid who didn’t like them and so I got to enjoy them all.  Calories don’t count on your birthday in my world.

 

Full with yummy pasta(and mints) we headed to the theater to see Ice Age 4.  When did they get to four versions of the movie?  Taylor is my popcorn lover and ate half of the bag of popcorn and would have eaten more if I let her.  We ignored that tidbit of info from the news that morning that said you shouldn’t put the artificial butter on your popcorn.

 

We still had some time left before Lizzie would be up from her nap, so I decided we needed a pedicure.  Taylor has only had the ‘Mommy paints them while you watch cartoons so you will sit still’ kind, so this was a huge treat for her.  I thought she was going to fall asleep in the massage chair and all the ladies in the salon thought she was too cute holding her nails out to dry.  I let Taylor pick the color and she choose purple in honor of my birthday. I love how cute her little hands look with the purple polish.

 

Chinese delivery for dinner while watching the Lorax was a good way to wrap the day with my other two favorite people.  Lizzie even walked around saying ‘Happy Day’ as her way to say Happy Birthday.  Then the last big decision of the day was which kind of bundlet to have for dessert.  Good thing these are the perfect sharing size and I could sample a bit of each.

  

For me birthdays have always been so much fun.  I feel like I’m at an age where the age part doesn’t bother me and I want to just have a fun day. It was the best day and I can’t wait to do it again next year.  I look forward to having both my girls with me next year and seeing what fun we can have together!  What fun things do you like to do for your birthday? 

Top ten

I love lists. I mean, I really love lists. You could look around my house and find two or three to-do lists, one on my iPhone, and one in my planner. Lists keep me from spending all my free time stalking looking at Facebook, pinning on Pinterest, or getting lost in my Kindle. I guess my kids like to eat sometimes or not get stuck on the sticky floors :) I'm always interested to see what other people love and you ladies rocked it last week with kid’s books.  My Amazon account thanks you! So to start my 32nd birthday off with a bit of Wendy flair, I combined my love for lists and my current favorite things for you. Here are the things that I just could not do without right now:

1. My steam mop - had a Shark, loved it, it broke, waited 4 weeks for Shark to replace it, then the replacement broke after three uses, Shark told me it would be another 4-6 weeks to replace it again, that's a long time without a mop and two kids so I bought a Bissell. Love my Bissell. I love the concept of a steam mop and yes it can get major sticky toddler messes off the floor. I am a barefoot kind of person and can tell when the floors get truly clean. Plus I can drag it upstairs to clean the bathrooms without having to take a bucket with me.

2. Loose tea from the Steeping Room - I had heard about this shop for years, but it is in the Domain and not really a place you can take my youngest without fear of having to buy too many things she broke. We went here a few weeks ago after our anniversary dinner. I love my tea, hot or cold, and this place is wonderful for tea lovers. They had so many loose teas to choose from and several flavors iced for you to try. I ended up buying Summer Strawberry, The Empress Cup, Hibiscus Breeze, and Berry Tisane(my current fav) and have a wish list for my next venture in.

3. Erin Condren Life Planner - this thing rocks! I bought it last summer after much debate over the price and quickly learned it is well worth the price. If I stick to using it, then my life tends to be a little less chaotic. My current planner goes until December and I'm already planning out my design for my 2013 planner because she just released new designs.

4. iBooks app for my iPad - I love to knit, but my paper patterns always end up a crumpled mess from little hands wanting to see them. I discovered that I can keep pdf files stored on my iPad in iBooks. This is a free app and makes it so nice to have everything in one place, especially when I'm buying yarn and need to remember quantities/type.

5. Invellop iPad cover - I live by my iPad. It goes with me all over the house and to work. I used the standard Apple iPad cover and Joy clear back cover for almost a year until little hands dropped my iPad and it cracked the corner of the back protective cover. My new cover is all one piece and has done a great job of keeping my iPad safe from little hands. Now I just got my new iPad sticker(from Erin Condren, see a pattern yet?) and love seeing these faces when I open my iPad. 

6. Dark chocolate kit kats - these aren't a new fav but a constant fav. You can't find them at every store, but I can always count on my nearby Walgreens to have them and we buy 10-12 at a time and straight to the freezer they go. Why frozen you ask? Try it and then you will thank me. Too bad I have to share with Chris.

7. Starburst fav reds - who was the wonderful person that came up with this idea??? I have always loved the tropical punch starburst but hated all the other tropical flavors, then add in cherry and strawberry but not make me have to give away the lemon and I'm in heaven. Lizzie has discovered my secret nightstand stash and now has a love for them too.

8. Ocean Minded flip flops - I was a Reef girl. Loved them and counted down the until it was warm enough to wear flip flops again. Ruby's in Southlake had a wall of them to pick from and it was heaven. Then my beloved pair did not weather the beach very well and I was off in search of another pair of flip flops. Enter Ocean Minded and their comfy leather soles, cheaper price tag, donation to help clean up the ocean, and ability to survive getting wet. Four years later they are still my favs but about time to replace, good thing they still make my favorite style.

9. Zoku - a Mother's Day gift from Chris and the kids. What better way to end these hot Texas days than with popsicles. We can make whatever flavor we want and have been experimenting with different juices and I even made my veggie hating Lizzie a few out of baby food. She thinks she is getting a yummy popsicle and I get to enjoy the fact that it includes good for her veggies. Even Taylor got mad that Lizzie got a carrot popsicle last time and wants me to make her one. Do you have any good recipes that we need to try out?

10. True Lime - as mentioned, I love my tea. You can often find me with a large cup of it somewhere nearby, unsweet with lime. Keeping fresh limes on hand was getting to be a hassle and not all restaurants have lime so I found this to keep in purse for such needs. Not a tea fan, it’s great in water too.

What are some of your favs right now?

elizabethursday

It’s always important to accessorize correctly, even if it means resorting to a sticker.

First round down

I finally got the first round of ‘pattern’ done on the body of my sweater and keep asking Chris if it looks even more like a sweater now.  Not sure it looks like a sweater but more like a green blob of linen.  I can’t wait to get a few more rounds of the pattern done so that I can really see how it’s going to look. 

I also wish this was knit from the top down so I could start trying it on. I have a feeling it might be too big but I will be happy with a looser fitting sweater for my ‘fat’ days. Who’s kidding, I have those all the time. I should have ‘skinny’ days instead. I started my second ball of yarn and with that needed to wind my third ball to have it ready. I really should have spent the extra time at the yarn shop to have them ball all my yarn for me. The winder and I didn’t quite see eye to eye, I said a few curse words, and it knotted my yarn up even crazier. Maybe if I talk sweet talk it first then I might have better results.

  I use the metal interchangeable needles bc it is the most budget friendly way to go once you learn to love circular needles.  The only problem while working with this yarn is that the needles kept unscrewing.  I was so afraid the yarn would snag on the ends that I ended up switching to a non-changeable needle set.  Does anyone else have this problem?  If so, have you found a solution?Can you see the open holes?  It’s so hard to see right now and I hope to have much more done by next week.  I’ve also been working on the gray knitted item, but want to wait a little longer before posting reveal pics.  Off to get a little knitting in before the little ones get up from nap!

Taylor Tuesday

My little mermaid that refuses to get her face wet while swimming.  She cracks me up with how high she will hold her chin up while swimming just to make sure her face stays out of the water.  What happened to my mermaid from last summer???

Elizabethursday

Me: Lizzie do you want a snow cone

Lizzie: (nodding head) uh-huh

Me: Do you want grape, apple, cherry, or strawberry?

Lizzie: sh-berry

(later)

Me: Lizzie, do you like your snow cone?

Lizzie: (nodding head) uh-huh

… it’s all about the sweet things in life.

21 months

I know, why 21 months?  Well I had good intentions of an 18 month old post, then a 20 month since 18 never happened.  And now another month has passed and I feel like if I don’t write down(or blog) about some of the funny things you do, then they might get forgotten.  Poor second kid doesn’t get blogged about near as much as the first one, but you make up for it with personality and making sure that everyone knows where you are unless you are up to no good.

(I apologize for the multitude of photos and really long post now)

You are our Elizabeth, Lizzie, Lizbear, Lil Bit, or Busy Lizzie.  Each day is a new adventure with you.  Most mornings I can plan on you being up by 7 am and ready to watch Bubble Guppies as soon as you get up.  Then food is a must in your book, followed by going through every drawer in the bathroom or my bedroom.  You must have an incredible nose bc you can find my candy stashes everytime.  Don’t you know that Mommy needs sugar in order to keep up with you.

 

Then it’s time to get Taylor up(since she took notes and learned to sleep in) and you proudly beat on her door until I open it and run in exclaiming ‘Ga Mornin'!!!’  You are so proud for learning this phrase and then push her aside as you climb in her bed.  Oh sisterly love is so sweet. ha!

 

Then you go between eating(everything but what is healthy) and running around like a crazy woman.  I never know what to expect out of you and you are constantly doing things that make me crack up.  Then you will climb on top of the play kitchen or rearrange my k-cups and drive me crazy.  Is it bad that you know how to say coffee?  Maybe it’s because I often claim I need lots of it when you think 6 am is a good time to get up.

 

You have never heard of doing it the easy way and like to try everything your own way.  Sometimes it’s fun to watch you go at it and other times I feel our first ER trip with you is not too far in our future.

    

You LOVE Taylor.  You two can make each other laugh the hardest and scream the loudest.  You want to be just like her and have whatever she has.  The problem with that is that she doesn’t always want to give you what she has.

  

You have your own style and proudly wear it.  You love to play dress up and wear sunglasses(aka eyes).  You are fascinated by Daddy in his hats(especially his straw hat) and love to play with them too.  You love to dance.  We are still trying to convince you that you don’t need the Wii controller when you dance and hearing you say ‘wiggle, wiggle, wiggle’ to LMFAO is the funniest thing yet. 

        

You nod your head and have a cute little uh-huh when you sweetly want something.  You can now say please, thank you, and welcome but when gently asked what you say the response is currently “please, welcome”.  Some of your favorite phrases are: I got it, there it is, you okay?, I okay, po-sicle(popsicle), I cookie(I want a cookie).  You had your first roadtrip watching a movie and still don’t quite understand headphones, but love the concept.  You loved your first slurpee(thank you free slurpee day) and pretty much love anything frozen like snow cones and popsicles.  I can get you to eat all kinds of veggies in popsicles, which is good since you only want to eat cheese, pasta, mac n cheese, cereal, goldfish and cookies.  I swear you could almost go back to taking a short morning nap right now.  You did take one in your stroller everyday during VBS and still napped later on just fine.  I keep telling you kid, sleeping in would make everyone much happier.

        

You make us smile, love to bounce and jump on Daddy, pretend to be my pack-pack(backpack), love to color, snuggle with your lambie when you get tired, and water activities make you happy.  I can’t believe you will be 2 in a few months, but I also can’t imagine our life without you.  Happy 21 months lil bit!