satin roses

Amy and I got together to make hair pieces for our girls' summer ensembles.

This was by far our favorite! So cute, so unique and SOOOOOO easy!!

thanks to the ever crafty idea room for another fun idea!! we will definitely be making these again!

ps-hopefully "the idea room" stamped across the photo gives enough credit-these aren't ours. but I swear ours are just as cute! :)

while Daddy was at class tonight...

look what Lulu did!!!

finally!!!

And the second person in the pool this season...

...was Miss M herself!!

It may have been 67 degrees but the pool was a warm bathtub at 91 degrees and she gladly went for a swim with uncle Sam.

the best part of all, she picked up right where we left off! She jumped in her inner tube and jumped off the baby step and into the deep end! She was so brave!
She had a blast but Lulu wanted nothing to do with it!

This is more Lulu's speed. 'nuff said.
The two princesses on their thrones! M told me this morning that Dad is the king of the princesses so we need to call him the king!

PS

We just found out yesterday that the girls are losing their insurance because we made a whopping $200 too much last year. Now ask me how happy I am that things are to change in health care???

opinions

Every once in a while I get political. Mostly not. Definitely mostly not on the blog.

In fact, I criticized a politician once here on the blog and later voted for him. So, an opinion stated here is just that. An opinion that can change.

But I'd rather write it here than as a Facebook status. :)

Here are some things I know.

I do not understand the new healthcare legislation. I'm looking forward the President's PR campaign to help us understand it better. I also wish that the PR campaign had come BEFORE the vote.

HOWEVER, I am jumping up and down that I will now be able to get health insurance!!!!

(here's the boring stuff you can skip if you want)

I have been on both sides of the fence, and have seen both sides of being insured. I grew up very well insured, not even knowing what a copay was. I worked in health care in Minnesota and was always disappointed that my uninsured kiddos who needed speech just as much as my insured kiddos would be charged MORE for my services. It was an upside-down, backward policy!

My first pregnancy with M was very expensive, with lots of excellent but probably excessive pre-natal care. She cost me a whopping $20 out of my pocket. Our insurance has since continually deteriorated. We're STILL paying for Lulu to be born! And now that my husband is a temp, I'm self-employed, and my husband is in school, we have crappy insurance. We pay premiums we cannot afford for marginal coverage.

So, while I may not understand all the costs and consequences, for now I will continue to jump up and down!

My three year old nephew can now get health insurance. He has always been denied as well. And so I am jumping up and down that he and I won't be denied anymore!!!!!!!

Spring Break!

We're going to Minnesota for a long weekend to visit family!

So, until then, we're running around, trying to get ready, squeezing in as much work as possible, and all sorts of general craziness!

See you next week!

Smurf!

Last week, I discovered M coloring her arm red with markers. I counted to five and told her it was very creative but that it wouldn't wash off very well and that she needed to be careful and only draw on paper. She said she was Mulan and she was writing on her arm like her.

Apparently this time she wanted to be a smurf?????

Seriously, she even colored her nostrils and tongue!! I can see her thinking, "cool, this fits right in my nose!"

I didn't freak out, which I am not so secretly proud of, as my temper has been quite short-fused with her lately! I lifted her up in front of the mirror and she was horrified enough at how it looked to punish herself!
Luckily, 1) it washed out of her shirt

2) as my Dad puts it, you grow new lips really fast-it's almost gone already and this happened yesterday

3) she hasn't colored on the carpet or furniture...recently
And this is my other child, this morning, demonstrating the true art of "when sister is bad, I will act even better!"

ps-Heather! See, my children do wear bibs! :)

the real reason for the ants...

...is to inspire more heavy duty spring cleaning than usual!

i had no idea that killing ants with 409 would be so effective....

or bring me so much joy!!!

the apartment guys are coming to spray tomorrow. i couldn't wait that long. i bought poison and have been downright neurotic about keeping the kitchen clean ever since it got warm to keep the ants out. to no avail.

then tonight, i went a little overboard cleaning after dinner. i "409'ed" EVERYthing!! the counters, appliances, floors, cupboards, you name it.

and enjoyed watching each and every ant squirm as they died.

and for the next five minutes, there will be no ants in my kitchen!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!

still love me? :)

noodles

lulu likes my cooking.

i love getting her wide-mouth, round-cheek, crinkle-eye stamp of approval!

My own version of Claritin

I am thankful for my mother.

For many reasons really. But yesterday, I went to her and complained about escrow accounts, grad school and its many joys including schedules and tuition, and sinus infections. She was perfect and didn't try to fix it. I went to work; congested, upset, but feeling a bit better.

I came home three hours later, feeling defeated that the sinus pressure had built to a point that I was a very ineffective and downright hazardous speech therapist. My Mom asked if I had read this month's Ensign. It's our church's magazine. And just my luck, I found hers not five minutes later, holed up in the bathroom (sorry if that's gross-she's the one who left it there! :) while my girls banged on the door so I could have some privacy. I didn't finish it then. I came home and opened my own copy. ...And then read three more articles.

I had fooled myself as I often do.

I had convinced myself that my poor attitude lately was because I was being a slacker and not being valiant in my scripture reading, prayers. I had convinced myself that everything would be better when I was more diligent. And when I was more diligent, I had fooled myself into thinking that it wasn't better despite my efforts.

But really it was. As the wise counsel reminded me, bad things happen to good people. Yes, this is my duh! moment. I know this. But somehow, it gets lost when you're frustrated and thinking things will magically work themselves out if you are a good person. Sometimes we just have to weather the storm.

lulu's words

I'm adding a new sidebar. I want to track Lu's vocabulary. I know it's growing, but I want to record it.

New words this week:

uh-oh

Ruby

go go go go go

water

bath

I have been a bit concerned because so many of her words sound the same. M was such a precocious talker that my "normal" talker has had us worried. Her main vowel has been /a/ or "ahhh" for a while now. book, ball, baby have all sounded the same. So I was thrilled to have go and uh-oh be new words with big round /o/ sounds this week!

I made button holes! and tucks!

spring is coming!

i told M we needed to make new duds for church.

at the fabric store, i knew she needed to help me pick out the fabric or she might not wear the finished product. (remember the red and black peasant dress? yeah, no one else does either because she REFUSED to ever wear it!!!)

i stuck her in front of the calico wall and told her she could choose a purple, green or blue.

(i'm trying to diversify her pink wardrobe)

she chose a lovely purple floral and together we matched it with a lavender polka dot.

i was thrilled to find the same floral in blue and lulu's dress came together in a "matching" yellow and blue!

lulu was NOT interested in posing!
next up, hair accessories to go with!
this lovely pattern comes together so easily and beautifully!

i was so pleased!

i chickened out of the buttons last time though and made myself do them this time! (the last jumpers i made didn't last long enough without button holes!)
instead of gathering the skirt, i made tucks and pleats and LOVE how they came out!

still working on easter dresses...

stay tuned!

Bring On March Lovin' Madness!

We are ready for March!

This is why I love Arkansas in March. The daffodils are up and the crocuses are already blooming. Just to remind me that better things are to come!

More walking lessons! She's gonna do it. Soon! I just know it!

More time in the sun!

And definitely more smiles!

if only she always looked this angelic! :)

In the words of Lady Catherine de Bourgh...

...I have never been thus treated in my entire life!

I handed in my resignation at one of my jobs last week.

I won't bore you with all the details but I do want to document. good, bad...

or humiliating.

I was called last night at midnight by the office manager telling me they had called me on Friday but hadn't heard back and had covered my hours and I didn't need to come back in.

ummm... my paycheck? my therapy supplies? my games and toys? hello! and btw, NO ONE called me on Friday!

So I called her back at 7 this morning and said fine but no one called me on Friday and I still had stuff to get.

She tried to nail me down on a time to come in and I thought that was weird. Until I got to the school. And was asked to sit in the waiting area and wait for the manager. Again, weird. Who then proceeded to escort me through the building like a common criminal, watch me while I gathered my things like I was going to steal their things, and escorted me back out to my car. I don't know if I got all my things. I didn't get to say good bye to any of the therapists who I actually enjoyed working with, any of the kids I dearly loved, or the teachers who I collaborated with. I didn't get to bring treats tomorrow like I thought I would. I had steeled myself when I resigned last week that they might invite me to just leave. But they hadn't. They had agreed to my finishing out two weeks. And then they did this.

I feel better about leaving now.

I don't regret not working for them any more.

I appreciate my current/new boss with a whole new level of respect.

And I haven't decided NOT to give them a piece of my mind. But I doubt it would do any good.

Sunday Dinner at the Tobler's-A Birthday Fiesta!

It was our night to cook and we made the PW's White Chicken Enchiladas and Restaurant-Style Salsa, plus Donna McCabe's Creamy Corn Casserole, and Grandma Betty's Spanish Rice. It was yum, yum, yummy! When W and I cook for the big group, we tend to choose something simple. It stresses me out to cook for the big group, but I'm getting better at it. But we wanted to have a fun dinner for miss Ruby's birthday. (sorry, no proof, but happy birthday to the spunkiest two year old in our bunch!) And this was fun! It was a hit all around!

We learned a few important lessons.

1. The enchilada recipe doubled nicely. But it takes a long time to fry up 48 corn tortillas!

2. Choose a meal your hubby is excited about and he will help more! :)

3. When PW says, "you can always top it with more cheese", she means, "top it with more cheese if you want it to look like mine!" My enchiladas were lovely and tasty but could have used a crusty, gooey cheesy top. my cheese minimalist hubby disagrees.

4. Chopping your own canned green chiles is a waste of time. (i didn't, I knew better and bought pre-chopped, but they looked the same and tasted the same)

5. The salsa more than filled my Mom's big food processor.

6. When you fill up the food processor past the blade, it will leak through that big hole. It may look covered by the blade, but it's still there!

7. I have no business using a turkey baster! I was trying to transfer chicken broth and it kept shooting wildly through the kitchen, mostly in hubby's frying oil. bad, bad, bad, bad situation!!!

8. Don't tell my mother, but I liked my (excuse me, PW's) salsa better. We used one can of regular rotel and one can of hot and it had a nice kick!

9. Donna's corn is the bomb!

3 cans white shoepeg corn, drained

1 stick butter

2 cans chopped green chiles

1 package cream cheese, softened

Mix it all up and back at 375 for 30 minutes. yum, yum, yummo!

10. Grandma Betty's spanish rice is the best! Are you ready for this recipe? You must follow it exactly!

Brown ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Add green pepper and onion and saute until softened. Add canned chopped tomatoes and canned tomato sauce, rice and 1-2 tsp. chili powder, salt, and sugar. Got that?