Underestimated

(Sorry it has been a while since I have blogged, picasa and I have had some issues...)  I wrapped my gifts for my kids the other day but couldn't find a good box for the corn popper we got Anya.  Then I thought to myself, she is only one, I could wrap it as is and she won't figure it out!  Wrong.  I totally underestimated my one year old.

Thankful

I am thankful for these guys

and that Sterling is HOME.

I am Thankful for mid dinner dance parties and all the booty shaking involved. (This video is really loud FYI).

Daddyless

Cue the sad music, get a tissue, and get ready to feel bad for me.  Sterling is doing "Cat Duty" in Connecticut (yes, the exact office he just left a few months ago) due to the surge of Superstorm Sandy insurance claims.  He's been gone for over a week now and won't be back for another 9 days (But who's counting?  Oh yes, I am.  I even have a count down chain.  I told Mesha it was for her...)  I know that a lot of women spend a lot of time away from their husbands.  I still don't like it and I don't think I will ever be ok with it.  It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.  But I did resist writing this self-pitying post until just now and all 3 of my children are still alive.  For now.  Feel bad for me yet?  That's ok if you don't, I'll feel bad for me enough for the both of us.  He will be home for Thanksgiving, I will end on that positive note.

Emma

Well if you know me you knew it was only a matter of time before we got a cat.  This one is actually just on loan to us.  We are 'babysitting' her for a few months while her owners are between apartments.  She is a sweet little cat and lets the kids love on her without scratching, hissing or biting.

In her former home she was an inside cat and here she needs to be an outside cat (Sterling is allergic).  The minute we put her in the backyard for the first time she took off scared and didn't come back for a day and a half.  When we did find her it was after a trip to Costco and we heard a funny noise coming from the engine compartment.  Sterling opened the hood and THERE WAS EMMA!  I can't believe she was in there while we drove around and wasn't hurt.  Since then she has stuck around and seems happy.  We are glad to have her with us!

Halloween 2012

Halloween was a success!  We carved our pumpkins.

On Halloween night we dressed up for trick-or-treating up and down our street then we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat.

A fairy princess/ whatever we could find in the dress up box.

Rapunzel.  Yes, we just happened to have a miniature cast iron skillet.  Our kids call it a "Tangle bonk".

Batman!

Happy Halloween!

BFF?

It can be a fine line between good friends and good enemies...

A very fine line.

Bricks

Most parents buy their kids legos...

Our kids get to play with bricks.

Mesha's 5 Year Pictures

I am learning all sorts of new things having a child in school.  Things like how to ignore PTA membership requests, fundraisers, hot lunches, school pictures, etc.  Do I sound like a scrooge?  Maybe, but the request for my time and money are ENDLESS.  After much thought, consideration, and lots of phone calls to sisters and ward friends I have decided that it's easier to not get into it all from the beginning.  I can always change my mind later, but for now this is year 1 of 13 for Mesha and I have more kids to come.  So my goal in life is to keep it simple.
The point of this rant is that I decided to get Mesha's pictures taken outside of school.  The school offers were crazy expensive and redundant (they take pictures in the spring as well as the fall, strange, I know).  I wish I had done this in the spring when she turned 5 but oh well, too late now.  At least this way I got some pictures of Toothless Joe herself.  Here are my favorite shots.

Go me for accidentally matching her socks to her outfit!

Ah, October

It's October, you know what that means.  Yes, putting your kids in ridiculous outfits and posting them on the Internet.

Hazardous To Your Health

Having an older brother can be hazardous to your health.

Camping

We went camping with a group of new friends from our ward.  We got to use our tent that we bought a long time ago and haven't had a chance to break out yet.  The kids got so dirty and had so much fun.  We ought to go more often.

House Pictures

Okay, here they are.  I finally got things together enough for pictures.  Please ignore any random piles of boxes you may see.  I took way more pictures than I intended so if at any point you find yourself rolling your eyes or yawning please feel free to skim to the end!



I started in the sun room which is in the back of the house just to be confusing.  We use this as our dining room and computer room.  It was just too pretty to use as a kids toy room!



The computer part, the door on the right goes to the garage.



Going into the kitchen from the sun room.



What boxes?  Do you like how Anya is trying to get into the no-no cupboard.  How do they know?



Going toward the front door from the kitchen.  On the left is the laundry closet and on the right a half bathroom.



The "toy room" which is really the formal dining room.  The downstairs layout is a big cirlce except for the sun room off the kitchen if that helps you orient things.



Griffin wanted to be in the picture :)



The living room from the toy room.

 

The other side.

From the living room toward the front door and stairs.



Going up the stairs, a linen closet on the far right, the kids bathroom in the middle and the open door is Mesha and Griffin's room.



On the opposite side of the hall from Mesha and Griffin is Anya's room.



Sorry for a million pictures, small rooms are hard to get in fewer shots.



Almost there...



...Last one.



Mesha and Griffin's room.

More...



The giant bunk bed sort of fits, you can see that it overlaps the closet a few inches.



Look Mitch, we hung up the mirror you gave us years and years ago...



Look Mom!  I found a cute place for these!  This is a hall going from the kid's rooms to the master bedroom.



My room (yes, Sterling gets to stay here too...) We got new bedroom furniture, I love Ikea.



Sterling's home office.  It makes the room not so glamorous but it sure saved us a lot of time and trouble with some other home office solution.



Master bathroom (yes that is way to much carpet for a bathroom area and yes the drawer is missing, drives me crazy...)

 

On the other side is the toilet room and a closet.



So that's it!  We like it.  We still have a mile long list of little repairs and such, welcome to home ownership eh?  We really do enjoy working on the house together though.  Our next project is cleaning out the garage so we can put the car in it.  That also includes making some storage shelves in the attic so the stuff in the garage has a place to go!  Also the yard has been neglected for years.  We have about 10 trees we would like to come down.  Sterling has been looking at tree climbing spikes on craigslist...good thing for life insurance...  The hotel Smith in Charlotte is officially open!  Come visit us!