Christmas Break Project!

We (Derek) tackled Sofie's room. Rearranged furniture, hung a shelf, painted the wall lavender, and added the trim around the room. Oh, and even decorated with Princess stickers. I was thrilled with how it turned out. Still need to hang her name (the wood ones I painted last year) on that big blank wall, put up curtains, and a few cuter things on the shelves. But I love it, and Sofie constantly wants to play in there now!

We have LOTS of extra paint if anybody is interested!

Derek's mom and sister put this darling growth chart together! It is so cute and it goes with the room perfectly!! (a little harder to mount to the wall with the trim now though, we'll have to be creative)

No Turning Back

Okay, she's launched. I've got a new blog at http://gettingskinny-er.blogspot.com There's not much there yet, but there definitely will be. If you don't care to hear the ramblings, complaints, and rejoicings about weight loss and everything that goes along with it, then don't worry about going there. If you are interested, be my guest! I'm down about 70 pounds from the good ol' days and there's a lot to share about the experience!

Happy Birthday Grandma B

My first words only blog.

I'm coming up on my 28 pound weight loss goal. That means I'll be back to my pre-Meili weight by her first birthday! You may be thinking, geeze, it's about time, but I really have lost 40 pounds. (yeah, I gained a frightening 50 pounds with teeny tiny Meimei...and only lost 10 of it when she came out) And if you knew me in the dark ages of late high school/early college, I was almost 70 pounds heavier. Holy crap, that's the first time I've realized that. That's a lot.

Anyway, now that I'm reaching that point, I'm ready to take on the next 28. That will put me at an ideal weight for me. Never been there. Ever. Not sure it even exists. I'd like to maybe make a separate blog (yeah right, I can't even keep up with this one!) and kind of document my progress and previous success. I want to know before I dig into it if there's anyone out there who would be interested in knowing the nitty gritty of it all! Would anyone read it? I can offer encouragement and the straight up honest miserable truth. :) Maybe it will help me get there before another pregnancy destroys all my hard work and I have to start all over again! (vicious cycle, but so worth it, right?)

I'd appreciate comments if you're interested, or if you have any ideas of what you'd like me to include in it. (meals, exercise, mental process, breakdowns, poundage, pictures, etc.)

The Fierce Race to Catch Up!

It was Christmas! and now that we've actually gotten a couple inches of snow it should be Christmas again. I told Derek I want him to put the Christmas lights back up. But the snow was short lived anyway. Every day I wait for the tulips to sneak up early!

It was a great Christmas in St. George

The kiddos played and played and snuck food, and played some more. Here Sofie and Mattman were grandma's cheeseball taste testers. The cheeseball passed, needless to say.

7 stockings for 7 excited cousins!!

We could have been done right there on Christmas Eve with Sofie's sparkly rings. That face tells it all! No need for Santa.

Opening cousin/sibling gifts on Christmas Eve.

All of us were able to be there in St. George. It was a full house, and a happy house!

Once she shook off the sleep, Mei LOVED all the excitement, and especially Sofie's Dora ball.

The Christmas carnage!

We were all definitely spoiled!

(and I thought I heard the phrase "small christmas" whispered that night!)

It's That Time of Year Again

Making Great Great Grandma Catarina's Ravioli!

Sickies

I'm happy that it's the season of Christmas. I'm happy that people can focus on Christ and make our homes beautiful to distract us from the weather. I'm happy for the excuses to party and spend time with family. I'm happy that people are in the spirit of giving.

I'm not happy that it's flu season.

(the lump on the couch is Sofie falling asleep for the night at 6 pm after taking 2 naps already)

Both girls got pretty sick, and Mei's still suffering :( We're lucky nobody has the stomach flu, but the fever, crying, coughing, congestion, snotty faces, all-nighters, isolation, and overall grouchiness is all stuff I could do without. Poor Mei has had one thing after another since Thanksgiving day. I just want her better!!

November Came and Went

We spent lots of time with family

I don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving, but we did celebrate and it was great!

Movie night with cousins. We devoured 2 dozen pumpkin cookies before the movie was halfway over.

Derek turned 29! We had a little gathering with nearby family.

I made my first cake from scratch. It was a Caramel Apple cake. Most delicious cake I've ever eaten in my entire life. I was pretty happy with it. My first try at buttercream frosting too.

Silly girls.

Growing Up

I'm so amazed at how grown up my little girls are getting! I still feel so young and it's hard to believe that I have 2 beautiful girls!

I love these eyes!

Playing together!! First time ever that they played together without Meili's life being in danger. I was shocked!! (That's our makeshift toy room in the unfinished portion of the house.)

Is it normal to be jealous of your 3 year old's hair?

Meili ADORES her daddy! The other day Meili watched the door for about 10 minutes after he left. It was so cute and so sad. She's 9 months old tomorrow!! I can't get over it! Slow down Mei! The newest latest: walking while I hold her hands, loves being chased, patting, waving, feeding herself bits of banana and peas. She's slowly moving toward just 2 naps a day, leaning more toward 2 hours a piece. Kind of nice for mom!

Sofie is getting so smart!! She loves joyschool and has made lots of friends in our ward. Her favorite things are spaghettios, cousins, and sleeping on moms floor... She dressed herself this day and I wondered if Jane Fonda and Denise Austin knew they had a 3 year old's sense of fashion!

Push ups with Daddy! This cute little thing already knows what Tae Bo, Kickboxing, Ellipticals, and Yoga are, if she is lazy when she grows up it won't be my fault!

Still Making Stuff

Sorry if you don't appreciate the posts where I just put up pictures of things I make or decorate with. The problem is I put time and effort into projects to beautify my home and then the only person who ever enters my house (other than the ones who live here) is my sister...so I put these up to make myself feel better I guess! :)

I modified the frame, but it was the preschooler that made the beautiful fall art. Those were all leaves from my front and back yard.

Fabric Pumpkins. So much fun to make! This white one was my favorite!

I found the idea and bought the fabric last year, but then we bought a house, moved, had a baby, etc so it never happened. And I'm kind of glad because by the time I got around to making them this year I had better ideas on how to finish them.

Turns out tying a quilt in the basement with a 3 year old and an 8 month old is really hard. I'm soooooo glad Lindsey came over for the evening to help! And Meili only almost died just once. She puked all over my floor in order to get the little piece of invisible plastic out of her airways. Wonderful. Sofie only pulled the quilt frame on top of her maybe twice.

I'm in love with this idea that my mother-in-law shared with me. Wait for the holiday flannel sheets to go on dirt cheap sale, put two flat sheets together, stuff, tie, bind, done. (Also it was so much fun to watch Heavyweights and Major Payne with Linds, I can think of very few ways to have more fun!)

Easy and way cheaper than buying flannel at the yardage store. This wasn't the first blanket I've tied, but it was the first I've bound. I hope to get better with practice...and now I've got to go back and tie some more, turns out they were too far apart.

Now that we officially have 2 blankets, my guests no longer have to bring their own when they sleep here!

(and no worries, although this blanket is darling, I do have a bedspread that matches my room)