Back to MN!

Tonight we're driving to Minnesota for Thanksgiving! Pray for good weather for us! 

It's high time LG meet her other grandma and grandpa and show them how cute she is in person!

I'm thankful that we can make this trip.

I'm thankful for my parents' truck that will take us there and haul our junk back. I'm thankful that my parents will help us put more of our junk in their house too! 

I'm thankful that my big girl is so excited for this trip! 

I'm thankful for my friends that we're so excited to see...and well, show off our cute girl....that's really why we're visiting, right?

I'm thankful for all of my family.  I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful crazy family.

Thanks Kim!

My friend, Kim, sent me this link for a cricut cartridge! We love my Mom's so I would love this giveaway!!

me, the ladies and two thousand other crazy teens!

Oscar-worthy? not so much.

Enjoyable? definitely.

Do it again? absolutely!

I met with some of the girls from church  and my SILs, T and MM, to go the midnight showing of Twilight. I think we were the oldest ones in the theater. It was exactly what I needed!  I needed to get to know these ladies better, I needed to get out, and I needed to see a fun movie!  I thought it was fun but there were a few gimmicky things.  I can't wait to see it again with Gracie and Mom and just sit back and enjoy!

Lately...

we discovered some yummy BBQ at The Whole Hog Cafe

It was very tasty.  They had the best potato salad and anyone who knows me, knows that's a big statement from me. I rarely like potato salads!

LG has taken to sucking her thumb!!!! She comes by it quite honestly!  Her cousin, Hazel, her mommy and her grandma all sucked their thumbs.  We'll see if it's a phase or a long term thing.  It's quite cute and noisy though! :)
There has been lots of peeing and pooping going on!  This is M's booty for going potty.  We're trying to wean her to stickers and m's now.  She still has accidents but I'm working on my temper about it and she's working on not doing it! :)
I told you I'd make something cute out of this fabric!  I fell in love with this skirt and tried to replicate it.  I still have to get an off-white tee to make a top for it.  Hopefully by Sunday.  Then I have to decide whether I have the stamina to make one for LG!
we've been busy!!

seven

I was tagged a long time ago. I forget about them. So here goes.

1. My husband is my first boyfriend, first kiss, first everything.  I was lucky. I didn't have go through the whole shebang more than once.

2. I was president of the Asian American Student Council at USU my junior year of college. The things you do for free tuition! No, I'm not Asian. My first room mate was and when she was president, I was her secretary. I met some awesome people that way.  She had to leave during the first semester and somehow I ended up president.  

3. I have Adult-onset Still's Disease. No one knows what it is.  It has been in remission for ten years.  It wreaks havoc on one's medical history though and so I get all sorts of special care when I have babies and no one will let me donate blood.  

4. I have lived in Minnesota, Utah, and Arkansas twice.  The hubby and I need to live in  California once to complete the cycle.  We've had a baby in Minnesota and Utah, so if we stay here long enough, we'll have a baby in each of those states as well, I predict.

5. I crawled on my head.  I can work on getting some 8x10 color glossies if you don't believe me.  

6. I have to be early to certain things.  I would rather sit in an airport terminal than stress about being stuck in security.  I have to be ridiculously early to movies so I can sit in my favorite spot and prop my feet up on the railing in the front row. It stresses me out that my sweet husband and girls make me late.  Sunday mornings are not pretty as we try to get out the door to church.

7. I bite my nails when I'm stressed out or nervous.  And it's killing me that I'm already seeing the habit in my two year old. 

My Mother and I Vow to NEVER Open a Daycare...

I don't think we can handle the

3 two year olds crying in unison

throwing food on the floor

continuous pushing and hitting

spitting out liquids at each other

diapers for four and one potty training

fighting over blankets even though they each have one

making sure the toddlers don't disturb the babies in the swing or walk all over the babies on the floor

short-order cooking a mix of noonos and samdiches

the two infants needing to be held in the midst of all this

and silly us, we thought we could clean the house today! 

Treasure Hunt

I had a lot of fun with fabric stores in Utah. Probably too much... we won't go into that though.
When I moved here, my Mom said the best she'd found without crossing the river and driving 40 minutes was Hobby Lobby and WalMart. Which, don't get me wrong, have wonderful fabrics and are great for a great deal!

However, I also love love love the geniuses at Moda, Michael Miller, Heather Bailey, Sandi Henderson, and Amy Butler to name a few.  And you can't get them at Hobby Lobby. So I have branched out on some field trips.

First, I ventured out to the country to Pinwheel Fabrics.  It was like coming home!  

Then yesterday, I searched out the Stitchin' Post.  

I highly recommend a field trip of your own if you're in the neighborhood!

Here are my latest treasures! 

Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market

Moda's Charisma

I have bags to make!!!

And I sold four! They didn't sell at the craft fair, but my mother and I took them to a shower and came home empty handed with a custom order as well! woo hoo!!! Next stop, Etsy.com!

The poor 2nd child

So, I killed another computer. I have the reverse-Midas-touch. Every computer I use, dies! Grandma's died, and along with it, all newborn pics of LG!

We were actually good parents and took tons of pictures of our second child, but now she'll think she's the typical not-firstborn with no pictures of her before a month old!!!

So... I need your help!
Did I send you pictures of our sweet one?
Did you take pictures of your own??? (Katie, Grace, Becca, Sarah, I mean you!!!!)
Please, please, please send me high-resolution copies of them so that I can pretend that I am a good mother with pictures of BOTH of my beautiful daughters!!!!
please!!

Where the Hell is Matt?

My sister sent this to us. It's kinda fun.

Murphy's Law of Poop

It is inevitable when you have just bathed your baby that they will proceed to poop all up their back and down their legs.  It's necessary to keep the balance of nature.  

The Potty Princess Diaries:The Shopping Method

I've figured it out! We just have to shop til we drop and then she'll be potty trained!

Yesterday we had tons of success potty training!  She pooped in the potty four times-yes that's a lot of poop, folks! Then we ran a bunch of errands and got home just in time to pee.  Apparently that works for her.

Today, we had an awful morning of accidents and then ran more errands and lunch with Daddy.  We just rushed home and she just went in the toilet.  Surprisingly, she has a harder time with pee than poop.  So, I'm discovering that if I just fill her with liquids and run her around town, she'll hold it while we're out and then we rush home to pee!  Whatever works, people!! 

We just might have to fit more shopping budget money in until she's trained! :)

This is why

It's those big brown chocolate eyes that melt me.

This is why I continue to wash pee off the wood floors.

This is why I go on search and rescue hunts for princesses before naps and bedtime.

This is why I let her wear her sleeping beauty costume EVERY DAY!

This is why I have memorized all of the words to each and every princess song so that I can sing them on demand.

This is why I hand wash vomit out of clothes and sheets and towels in the toilet.

This is why.

The Bag Lady needs Help!

People have been telling me to sell my bags for months now. Well.... my sister in law is participating in a craft fair/show and wants a few of my bags to take with her. So I need help!

 

Tell me honestly:

how much would you pay for one of these bags?  They are all hand-crafted, machine quilted and are big enough to fit two bath towels or a bunch of church books! :)

any cute ideas for a name???

mommy guilt

Two year olds are hard!  

I love watching my girls grow up. LG is starting to coo and talk and smiling all the time, but I think I'm going to drown in whining any moment now! I used to not understand when moms would comment that they didn't particularly enjoy a certain stage, but now I do!  I'm not good at this age!  

I've been sick or M has been sick for the past three weeks and I'm tired. I'm sure that's not helping. I have one daughter who sleeps a lot, loves to nurse, and otherwise coos and smiles.  My other daughter is clingy and whiney and I'm tired.  

And thus I feel guilt.

Skeletora Mandragora

my brother Jake said he thinks my baby looks like a Mandrake, like in Harry Potter 2 when she screws up her face to cry. I thought it was kind of funny until I looked it up to remind myself what they looked like.

I don't think it's funny anymore...poor thing looks cute when she cries, but I'm sure I just think that because I'm her mom. :)

Halloween girlies

Miss LG was a trooper during trick-or-treating and just walked around with us.  She's starting to coo a ton and I love it!

We joined all the cousins for some trick or treating until it started sprinkling which totally freaked out M!  She was so distraught that her beautiful dress might get wet!

my little skeleton! she glows in the dark!!!!