Fantastic February

*(This blog may be heavier on the Meili side simply because she has more changes in a short period of time. I DO love Sofie just as much!!)

This month she officially has 8 teeth and is working on a few molars. Seriously?

Superbowl. I don't care about the football, it's a party with food!

We had an interesting spread of sushi, dips, sides, spaghetti, etc.

Cousin Heilala trying sushi out for the first time! It ended up in the garbage...

Cutting sushi. Stay out of my kitchen!

We began the project! The basement will hopefully be finished sometime this spring! Can't wait!  This will be the room for the Hungarian girl we are hosting next school year!

Valentines Day!!

Coming up with Man ideas is hard, but this was really fun!

We made gummy heart necklaces and bracelets for Family Night.

And heart cookies, of course.

I made lots of these for some important ladies in my life.

Our spread. Pics of the people I love (including my best friend Lindsey who came for dinner)

Meili is working on feeding herself her own drink. It's been a struggle but it's starting to work!

My turn for Joyschool again (minus 3 kids). See the cutie in the front wearing black? Yeah, he didn't look (or sound) too healthy to me either. I think he contributed to the next picture...

Happy Birthday Mei!!

What, you wanted toys for your birthday? I thought you said RSV!

This is her second go round this season. :(

(I'll post her birthday pics later.)

Winter Twilight Zone

Many of you know it's been a strange winter in Utah. The beginning of winter was warm and completely dry. It's at least cold now but it was really nice for a while!!

Picnics with Daddy.

I've never been able to SEE my lawn in winter. It's weird.

Sidewalk Chalk and Bubbles!! Meili is usually sleeping when we're outside, but she has had a few chances to crawl and toddle around a bit. She'll LOVE the Summer!!

(Ha! Yes, that is my sushi roller out there on the step. Sofie was using it as some kind of magic map, Dora style I think.)

We did have one or two days of winter as well.

This is the extent of the snow though. About an inch or two. It melted that day.

Poor Sofie talked about making snowmen, snow angels, and igloos for so long, so when it finally snowed we rushed outside and took advantage for the 2 hours it lasted on the grass!

This angel was in Heaven.

The poor snowman is south facing...didn't last more than a few hours before he fell over from lop-sided meltage :(

I'm not complaining. I love the idea of a dry, warmish winter. However, I am a little nervous about what it means for the rest of the year. Droughts are no fun.

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.