Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Definitely NOT the Weekend We Had Planned!

This past weekend was the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering, our all-time favorite festival. Our plan (as is our plan every year) was to buy the weekend passes in advance, and spend pretty much the entire weekend out at Battle Ground. But thennnnnn.....

In the middle of last week my mother-in-law had a minor surgery that turned into a major surgery when they jabbed her with their camera scope thingy and perforated her esophagus! So on Saturday we decided we'd try to just go to the evening Fiddlers show and go see her down in Indy during the day. But then we thought (at the last minute) if we went down in the morning (which when we were thinking it was "right now") we could get back in time for the afternoon show. So we left home, which always takes three hours longer than it should, now that we have two children, and went down to see her. Except I never got to because since we timed it about twenty minutes wrong, Anja was SO tired and in SUCH a bad mood. Martin and I tried going up together while the girls were with my sister-in-law, but we could hear Anja screaming all the way through the hospital. We were then going to take turns going up, but it just wasn't going to happen. But Martin got to visit, and that is obviously the important part. So then we started home but we kind of took a wrong turn that didn't make us LOST, but put us on a longer (but better) route. And while we were on a longer route anyway, we thought we might as well stop for lunch since we were so hungry. So we didn't end up getting home until after 3:00, so we decided to skip the afternoon show but still try for the evening show. Of course, with the evening show starting at 8:00 and the girls' bedtime being between 8:00 and 9:00, that was probably an unrealistic thing to think....

Now you might feel sorry for us for missing out on all that good music, but don't worry! We had no shortage of entertainment here on Alabama Street. Our friendly church neighbors down the street at the Greater Church of Macedonia (or something like that) were having a full-blown revival that started on Thursday night and went all the way to Sunday afternoon! Let me tell you, this place was on fire with love for the Lord. Most of the lyrics to their songs were "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Glory! Jesus!" It was completely awesome. Lots of preaching about the goodness of the Lord, about keeping out the Devil, and about how the Good Lord will always forgive you. You might think, "wow, Martin and Annie skipped the Fiddlers Gathering for a prodestant revival?" Well, not exactly... we heard it all from the comfort of our front porch swing!

On Sunday morning we made it to the 7:30 mass and were able to visit with all sorts of good friends afterward! I loved the visiting missionary priest who gave a very Jesus homily and terrified me into not going to Communion, which I always view as a good thing. And since we evidently hadn't had enough old-fashioned religion yet that weekend, we headed out to Battle Ground for the 10:00 Gospel Sing!! Martin warned me that it was a little bit cheesy, and it wasn't quite what I'd expected, but I was still happy to be there. And it was free! We ate biscuits and gravy with Uncle Kim, saw good musical friends, then headed home for naptime with the intent to return later in the day.

Martin and I fell asleep while the girls slept and we all woke up a little after 2:00. We packed up some lunch for Anja and headed out there... we didn't get there TOO late, but late enough to get in for free! So that was good and it was a gorgeous day. Anja had SUCH a good time running around and she looked so adorable in her very Fiddlers-ish dress! Unfortunately, I'm a dummy and didn't take any pictures.

So it wasn't the All-Fiddlers-All-Weekend time we'd planned on, but all in all, it wasn't a bad weekend either!

Today Laura and I are going to visit our friend Mary who just had a baby boy yesterday! She came to visit us when we had our baby girls, so we've been looking forward to repaying the visit to her. But my mom is coming to watch my girlies and I HAVE to get the dishes done before she gets here or she'll try to do them for me!!!

By the way, my mother-in-law is doing very well!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Schwimmen

Do you ever feel like the thought of all the work needing to be done is almost as exhausting as the work itself? Ugh. That's how I feel right now. I am feeling completely unmotivated. We're going to the pool later with my sister and her kids and I'm just kind of sitting here waiting for that, singing songs to myself like "Winter Wonderland" and "Baby It's Cold Outside" in an effort to keep cool. I figure the heaps and heaps of laundry and dishes can wait until tomorrow when it's forecast to be 85 degrees instead of 100. Actually, I should really just do the dishes... they tend to start stinking if I leave them for more than three weeks. KIDDING!!! KIDDING!!! They are just from breakfast!!

Anyway, my garden is dead. I don't know what happened, but it's all wilty and turning bad shades of brown and yellow. I'm tremendously depressed by this. And if it weren't bad enough that my own garden is dying, I NEVER remember to go to the Farmers Market during the week so I end up buying fruits and veggies at the grocery store, and I always come home with fruitflies and it's gross. You should have seen the fruit flies at the store today swarming around the peaches area. And there weren't even any peaches there because they were moving them to a different spot! They stupid buggers were just warming around empty crates! Blech.

Yesterday we went swimming with my sister and her kidders and it was pretty fun. Anja was okay with it by the time it was time to leave, though she was a little reluctant at the beginning. I think her favorite part was sitting on the towel in the shade passing out cheerios to all her cousins. Today I will be leaving Greta at my mom's house. We've got a heat advisory out on us and I think it's smarter to just leave her to play with her Ooma in the air conditioning.

And speaking of air conditioning, we WERE going to tough out the whole summer, but we've already broken and turned on the A/C. Oh well, with a tiny baby, I say "better safe than frugal!"
I HATE FRUIT FLIES.

Both girls were asleep a little bit ago but I am hearing some suspicious noises through the monitor now, so I think I'll go take a peek through the door. I'm really glad that Greta is sleeping in her crib now because it makes me much less nervous knowing that Anja can't crawl into her bed and sit on her. Anja just likes to sit on laps... she doesn't realize that Greta doesn't have much of a lap yet, so she just tries to sit on her head instead.

Martin has a vacation day on Friday, which is something to look forward to! Maybe we will do some more of this: The last few times we've gone up to the river we've taken Martin's air rifle with us. I hit the bullseye consistently, and shot the coke can off the top of the stake.

Greta is most definitely awake.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Holy Moly! Time Flies!

Our little bird is three months old today! THREE MONTHS!! I can hardly believe it. I did this funny, yet really not funny thing this past weekend where Martin was making me glass after glass of iced coffee as a nice cool treat. It was AWESOME... until we wondered why Greta wasn't sleeping. HAHA!! I felt really bad after I figured it out, and quickly cut out that nice little summer treat. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Today Martin and I were reminiscing about our summer of engagement. We were so active that summer, it's no wonder I was so skinny! He reminded me that we used to swim up to the dam at the river a lot. I hadn't thought of that for ages, but we did! We would swim (it wasn't so much swimming as walking upstream through water, since our side of the river gets pretty low in the summertime) up to the dam and then float back down on our backs. It was so much fun. We also rode bikes that summer and would take AT LEAST daily walks over to and all around campus. We would walk up to Slayter Hill from my apartment all the time. That was such a fun summer. And Martin didn't have a job (which wasn't really so wonderful at the time, since we were getting married and he didn't have an income, but looking back it sounds pretty great) so we had all this time on our hands. What a great summer. And the summer before was just as great, because we weren't yet dating but we were becoming best friends and we had SO MUCH FUN together. It was awesome.

And now we sit around and laugh at how cute Anja is and wonder if maybe we should get some hobbies that aren't Anja. You know, just so we'll have something else to talk about in conversation with others.

The Fiddlers Gathering is this weekend. I am SUPER excited and only slightly nervous about taking both girls. I'm actually more nervous about taking Greta out in the heat than I am about anything else. Maybe this weekend will cool down some and it won't be such an issue.

Mrs. Watson came to my house this morning!! She brought me a very adorable box of tea! How sweet. I love the Watsons. For more reasons than bringing over friendship bread and tea, they are the best.

Oh gosh! It's 10:30! It's time to eat Cowboy Beans and watch THE UNIT!! Who says I don't have a good life? I have an excellent life.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Crazy People

Whoever came up with the idea that all holidays should be spent with all extended family CLEARLY didn't have a 3-month-old and an 19-month-old. Or if they did, they must not have been in the car with them when the idea was hatched. In any case, it was a crazy morning and both girls cried almost the entire way to the cottage. When we got to the road that leads to our cottage, Anja had JUST fallen asleep (Greta had fallen asleep a few minutes before) so Martin sat in the car for an hour or so with her while I hung out with my family. Luckily, the short nap didn't matter and Anja was in a great mood and happy to see her cousins. She and PeterXavier seem to be becoming good pals, which is funny, since I think she used to find PX a little intimidating. I mean, he IS a walking firecracker, so I can understand her reluctance toward him, but she seems to have completely gotten over it. Maybe it's because she's bigger now and able to rough-house with him. In any case, they had a good time together today. And we did too. Amazingly, I didn't eat myself to death! Anja also had a great time throwing rocks into the river with her cousin Aurelio, as well as walking down to visit the horses down the road. Such fun!

So happy fathers day to all the daddies out there. I hung out with all the best today!

Thanks to Facebook, I stumbled upon this. NPR had an article posted about their list of the "100 most essential folk songs." Not only was it a list, but it's a list you can listen to on a live stream. Needless to say, I'm in heaven. I think I have had 90% of that list on my own repertoire at one time or another in my life. It could basically be the soundtrack of my life. In other words, I LOVE IT. We've had it playing nonstop back here since we discovered it. How often do you just happen to find nonstop audio of your favorite songs??? The list includes such amazingness as "Love is Our Cross to Bear"; "Caledonia"; "Our Town"; "Tecumseh Valley"; "Deportees"; "Streets of London"; "Circle Game"; "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda"..... GEEZ!! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE WHAT GREAT SONGS ARE ON THIS LIST!!!!!!

Okay, but I just counted and I only play 68% of it. Still. That's a pretty good percentage of one list.

Now that I'm thinking of that, there's nothing else to say. Oh well, we're off to bed anyway. It's been quite a weekend!

Friday, June 19, 2009

And It Was SO Worth It!

My favorite kind of bad weather is the kind that pushes you into a REALLY fun situation. I'm sure I've mentioned here about the "Tomato Party" when I lived at my sister's house and we all ended up in her basement (her family--Christopher and Grace were babies--and a few friends of mine and myself) eating pizza and hiding from tornadoes. Christopher got the words "tornado" and "tomato" mixed up, so our Tornado Party went down in history as the Tomato Party. Good times!!!

Well, tonight we had another good time, except I guess the sirens didn't ever go off. I was SURE they would... and then Anja unexpectedly woke up only about 45 minutes after she went to bed, just as the storms were coming in. We couldn't get her to go back to sleep, so I took it as a sign that a tornado was coming and that we needed to get to the Cooks storm shelter. So even though there was no real tornado, we called them and invited ourselves over. Martin even went out and got us ice cream! Tara asked Doug to get out the ice cream, but Doug reported that it was freezer burned. A few minutes later Martin said he was going to check on the dog. As soon as he left I said, "yeah right! He's going to the Village Pantry to get ice cream!" Do I know my hubby, or do I know my hubby!? And the cooks had strawberries, so we had quite the tasty treat. The only unfortunate part about it is that we stayed there until 10:00 so now Anja is just going to sleep and Greta stayed up pretty late too. But it was worth it. It was a good time with our good friends who soon will be moving away... to Manhattan!

So Greta is a completely awesome baby. She is so happy. ALWAYS. She talks so much more than Anja did, and she smiles so much too! I'm always kind of glad when she stays up late with Martin and me because it's a nice little time for the three of us, drinking coffee and watching "The Unit."

Okay, so I had written a long article about what a great sleeper Greta is, but since I had to go up to nurse her back to sleep about five times just in the time it took to write the paragraph, I decided to just erase the whole thing. Ha! And she's STILL a better sleeper than her sister!

I guess we'll have a busy weekend... we'll cram all of our obligations into Saturday so we can spend Sunday up at the river with our families. That'll be fun, and less hectic than usual since we'll all be in the same place and won't have to go place-hopping.

Our one episode of "The Unit" is over, so off to bed we go!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Mobile Command Center

Last night Martin and I ate dinner up at my parents house, unexpectedly. When we came home later in the evening, we noticed a giant silver truck parked outside the Cooks' house, with decals all over it saying "Mobile Command Center" and other dangerous sort of things. Doug wanted to peek in the windows but Tara wouldn't let him, so we just speculated for awhile, then we all went into our own houses. Awhile later TusaRebecca came by to pick up a couple of things and she and I stood in the doorway coming up with all sorts of theories. We were sure there was going to be some kind of MAJOR drug bust, but we couldn't tell where. We were getting very excited, promising to call each other if one of us saw the action, when the headlights started flashing!! Oh boy!! So we went out on the porch, but nothing more happened. Then this white-haired, slightly stooped old man in a suit comes hobbling over and opens the back door. We are very curiously watching. Maybe he was just a really old terrorist. Then he opened a cage and this tiny, ancient dog appeared! This dog might have been older than the man himself. He set the dog on the ground wearing its leash. TusaRebecca couldn't contain herself; she went over to tell him what we thought he was. I think he was pretty pleased with himself for fooling us! He said that's his camper and that he "boondocks," which I guess means he parks in parking lots of places like WalMart and helps keep the riffraff away. He said he's in town for a funeral. When he saw Greta, he said, "You have a baby?! That's wonderful! Thank you for having a baby! The world needs more of them." I always think it's very funny when people thank us for our children. It's not the first time it's happened, and I know what they mean, but it still makes me laugh.

So much for a drug bust! That was the hilarious event of my day yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon after Anja woke up from her nap and ate her lunch we met up with my sister and her kids on Main Street and the whole lot of us walked down to the Plaza fountain. The first best part was PeterXavier sitting in the middle of the crosswalk on his BigWheel picking his nose. The second best part was Anja's exitement over the whole outing. She had a very good time. And enjoyed riding PX's Big Wheel...

...And Greta just chilled in the grass.
It's a little late for naps today, but at least both girls are sleeping and went down easily. Greta is such a good and predictable baby, I just have to make sure I pay attention. When I keep an eye on the time and think, "oh, Greta is probably getting tired" before she gets fussy, then all I have to do is pick her up in her snuggly pink blanket, smile at her a little bit, and watch her smile back at me until she falls asleep. This method takes about five minutes. The harder method involves me waiting until she is actively acting tired, in which case I have to pick her up in her snuggly blanket and carry her around screaming for awhile... often half an hour or so... until she wears herself out and falls asleep. I much prefer method #1.

Here is our family bed. Notice the tiny sliver of space over on the right where there's no pillow... that's my spot.

And finally, I've finished Anja's little apron that matches mine! I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, and less pleased with the fact that it's been impossible to get a good picture of Anja wearing it. Whenever I get a decent one, I'll post it. Until then, here is a picture of Anja from yesterday. It kind of makes me worry about Anja's future social status... I have a slight fear that her flashy sense of style is going to be a self-nomition into the role of "that kid."
Maybe it's not so bad when she's with her cousin......or maybe it's worse.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Anja Moved Out.... Houdini Moved In!

Today's "Best Thing About Toddlers" is: HOLDING HANDS!!!!!!!! I about melted when I was following behind Anja and her Figgy as we were all walking down the road at the cottage and she was holding his pinky finger!!!

Anja is so active. She can get ANYWHERE. Today I came into the living room (after being out of her sight for about three seconds) and there she was, sitting in her big stroller, absolutely beaming at me and asking for Cheerios. She sat in there for a long time, SO HAPPILY, eating her cheerios. She was so incredibly proud of herself. Then later we were driving home from the store and she kept getting out of her carseat. WHAT?!? I don't know how she does it. She didn't ever make it all the way out (I had to pull over twice to strap her back in properly) but she almost did. She's nuts! I don't even know how she gets the straps off, but she's quickly figuring out how to undo the buckle as well, and when she gets that, we'll really be in trouble.

She's been practicing her fine motor skills by playing with keys. I had no problem with this until today when I found her sticking keys in hole she found throughout the house, and I suddenly realized I don't have enough outlet covers to cover the entire house. I've hidden the keys for now.

Martin's friend Patrick has lent us season 3 of THE UNIT!!!!! Why else would I be up at 12:41?! Because Martin and I couldn't help ourselves. We had to start it, and then we just had to keep watching!!! Well, then we went to bed at midnight, but I was so hungry I couldn't sleep so I came down for cereal and then started blogging. Ooops.

Anja was such a good girl today. We walked over to my sister's house and on the way I said to her, "would you like to go see your cousins?" and a minute later, she started saying "Rah Rah? Rah Rah?" which is how she says "Bella." As I told my sister, I don't think Anja is a genius or mentally advanced or anything... I just never realized how smart kids are at this age. She amazes me with the things she knows! And she follows directions beautifully. If she would use the normal english language we could have some great conversations, but as it is, we communicate almost flawlessly in AnjaSpeak.

Tonight I took both girls to the store by myself again and it was really fun. Greta rode in the wrap and was awake and happy right up to the checkout line, and Anja was wearing some new pajamas I got from Once Upon a Child for only $2.50 (plus 15% off!) and was super happy. We went down the dog and cat aisles a few different times. And we got a huge bag of seed for her bird feeder, which is broken (again. I fixed it with glue, but it must've melted in the rain) So maybe we'll just sprinkle some out in the jungle to try to lure the birds back.

WHAT AM I DOING STILL UP!?!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Here I am, before anyone else in my family, COMPLETELY READY FOR CHURCH. An hour ahead of time!!!! This is a once-in-a-lifetime happening. I know that kids are notoriously slow at getting ready for things, especially church, but don't worry, no matter how many kids we have, I'll always be the last one out the door. And it won't be because I'm busy getting all our ducklings ready, either. It's because I can never decide what to wear, and because I tend to sit at the table and zone out in the mornings while drinking my first cup of coffee, instead of actually doing something productive, like taking a shower or getting dressed. In fact, usually Martin is the one who gets both girls ready for church because he quick and efficient and I am slow and tend to dawdle.



Another once-in-a-lifetime happening has occured today: ANJA SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!! I am not expecting this to ever happen again, but it was absolutely GLORIOUS to have a full night of sleep. (Waking up to feed Greta twice doesn't count.) Martin and I are showing an amount of energy that we haven't seen in ourselves in a year and a half. It's amazing! No wonder I was so quick at getting ready!



Greta has been in her swing laughing to herself all morning. She is the happiest baby alive. And so easy! We are constantly amazed at the things we can do together with her as an amazing newborn. We can go places! We can talk to people without having to shout over her screams! We can enjoy our evenings together, even if she's awake! She is so sweet and cuddly and predictable. In short, she rocks.



Yesterday ended up being a really nice day, even though nothing went as planned. Martin really wanted to take me on a little date, so my parents came over at 2:00, just like last Saturday, and we woke up Anja from her nap before we left, and she was NOT HAPPY. She usually wakes up from her nap ready to take on the rest of the day, but yesterday she just cried and cried before she even knew we were trying to leave her. So we didn't go on a date--all of us instead walked down to McCord's for ice cream. I felt bad for Martin because even though it was a fun outing, it must be kind of disappointing to want to take your wife out and end up taking your in-laws out instead. So I secretly called his sister later and asked her if she wanted to come watch Anja so we could try again. Hooray! Anja was a zillion times happier by then so we went to the BrewCo and had beers and pepper fries, then took a stroll through Mosey Down Main Street. We saw a number of people we know and it was a nice little outing (with Greta, who slept the whole time!)

Friday, June 12, 2009

I Love Downtown

I'm always happy to be living down here in the Ghetto, but some days I am reminded of how truly fabulouso it is! This evening Martino got home and on his way in picked up the Friendship Bread starter that Jill had left on our porch! (On the table that belongs to Sarah that I've had since that blasted home tour.) How exciting! I LOVE FRIENDSHIP BREAD. We ate a quick dinner of "Lemonicious Chicken" then went for a family walk over to the West Side. We've been doing our best to not spend our money on dumb little things because there are so many big things we want to do this summer (like the Fiddler's Gathering) that we'd rather save up for... but we did get a couple of coffees for our walk. On the way home we passed Scotty's Brewhouse and there was this man with another group of men going in, and I thought, "That looks like Mr. Langenkamp" and I kept doing that quick looking at him, thinking "No, it must not be him, he doesn't live here and he's with all those men." Then as we were passing him, he called my name, and sure enough, it was him! How funny and weird. Then we went home and I called Mrs. Watson to thank her for the bread starter, and I love Mrs. Watson, and then I gave Anja a bath and thought it would be a good time to call my friend Joannie. Unfortunately we didn't get to talk long because Anja has been constipated.

Now both girls are sleeping (MIRACLE!!!!!) and we're about to enjoy some tea and read some "Inside Delta Force."

P.S. If you want to know why I didn't post pictures of the cake I made for Martin's office, check out Jill's blog. As I told Clare, my cake turned out looking like a bad 4-H project. There was no way I was putting pictures of it on the internet... I was embarrassed enough just sending it into his office.

Do you like how I linked everyone I talked about?

I've Misplaced My Coffee

What is this? I've lost two cups of coffee this morning. I keep putting them down someplace and forgetting where they are.

Anja must be watching us constantly and taking in everything we do. She figures out things that I never would have expected her to even notice. For instance: keys. We used to have a working key fob on our keychain and last winter when we were driving more, I would hold up the keys by the window to start the car. Since then, whenever she finds a set of keys, she holds them up in the air. Then the other day she found my keys and immediately went to the filing cabinet and tried to put the keys into the lock. She spent SO MUCH TIME doing this. And I'm not sure how she figured out the connection between keys and the filing cabinet lock that doesn't even really look like a lock. Yesterday she was showing the same interest, so I fished out the real key to the filing cabinet and put it on my keychain. She's been working and working since yesterday and she often gets the key in and is so proud of herself! Then she'll pull it out and do it again. It's so funny!

The other morning Martin was doing push-ups on the kitchen floor and Anja got down on her belly and started doing them too! Later in the day I asked her if she could do pushups like daddy, and she did it! It was so cute.

Yesterday she was singing, and for the first time I recognized it as really singing. We got out my guitar and she sang with me, then later she wanted something and I told her I'd get it for her if she sang me a song. She grinned and sang a little song for me, then immediately went back for what she'd asked for.

She also is good to tell me when she needs a new diaper.

Meanwhile, Greta reeeaaallly wants to roll over. She isn't that close, but she tries constantly. Today it's finally not raining so I think we'll take a really long walk. And maybe we'll bump into the cousins someplace along the way!

Speaking of cousins, I was on a walk with the girls sometime last week and I randomly bumped into my cousin who lives in San Francisco. I didn't know she was in town, and she was the absolute last person I expected to see in the middle of the day over by pottery painting store. Weird!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Are We Obsessed Enough?

Now that we've finished Season 2 of The Unit and we don't have Season 3 to watch, Martin has begun reading to me again. The book? "Inside Delta Force." I'm not sure how many times he's read it before, but I'm sure he told me aaaaallllll about it when he was reading it himself. Now that he's reading it to me and I've seen the TV show, I'm finding it ridiculously interesting. I am such a nerd!

Also, Anja has learned to color on paper (and sometimes on the kitchen floor) and with sidewalk chalk. I tried to get a picture of her colorful bare feet today, but she was much too wiggly.

It's Schleich This...

Anja has loads of these little Schleich animals. She loves them all, but some are more special to her than others. One of her very favorites is a black dog that looks like Karenin--we call him "Karenin Dog." (There is also "Albert Dog" who looks like Aurelio's dog, Albert; "General" who is a St. Bernard, named after a fraternity dog; "Kwondo" the German Shepherd named after the police dog; "Baby Dog" and "Other Baby Dog.") Last Sunday morning while we were eating breakfast and getting ready for church, Anja was looking through the Schleich catalogue and came to the dog page. She spotted Karenin dog and said, "Woooof!" ("Voooo!") She showed us the picture, woofed again, then took off for the living room to find him. She couldn't find him. She kept on woof-woofing and looking for the dog. We gave her all the other dogs and she screamed and kept woofing for Karenin dog. It was no use. We looked EVERYWHERE for him that morning and were almost late to mass because of our search. This is the second Karenin Dog we've lost! Poor Anja. But the point of my story is: isn't she so cute?

You may remember last fall when I fashioned myself an apron from an unused curtain. Pretty cute, very easy to make. I later stumbled upon the second matching curtain and decided to make Anja a matching apron. That was before she cooked with me, but when she started helping me bake and cook I realized I'd better get on that apron-making idea. I still never touched it, and then yesterday when I put on my apron, she went to the wall hooks and started tugging on the other aprons there... she wanted to wear one too!!! I put one of mine on her and she was very pleased... but won't she be delighted when I make her one of her own that matches Mommy's!!!!!!!

So that's what I'm up to today. The past two days have been a struggle for naps and bedtimes, but today we're on the right track. Anja went right down at noon. Let's hope for an easy bedtime as well!

I have blossoms all through my garden. I wish I would have gotten more plants. I'll be happy to have vegetables from my own garden, but next year I'm going to plant enough so that we'll hopefully never have to buy veggies. That would be the best. We don't eat such a variety of veggies that would make that impossible... and as I already mentioned a few posts ago, I've got a good amount of empty garden. (Just like Elton!)

It's only Wednesday, but I'm SO looking forward to the weekend...

Better go work on the apron! If I'm extremely lucky I can have it done by the time she wakes up!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Surprise! You're a Mom!

I was running my fingers through my hair this evening and feeling something like a bit of leaf or twig that I couldn't catch to get out. I kept feeling it and ignoring it, until finally I got my fingers on it and got it out. I take a look, slightly nervous at the idea that it COULD be a spider, and what do I find? A booger. A BOOGER! I had a booger in my hair. Now that is just gross.

And since my hair isn't long enough to sneeze into, I'm relatively sure it's not mine.

Martin's office has asked me to make them a cake for their meeting tomorrow! I'm so excited that they thought of me!!! I will post pictures, for sure.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Funny Stuff

I thought of a couple of funny things that Anja has been doing lately. One of them is walking backwards. Every once in awhile, to get from point A to point B, she'll walk backwards, very carefully. It's SO FUNNY. Another thing skill she's been trying to master is jumping! It's the cutest thing ever. And she thinks it's great, just to try to jump. She was delighted to learn this morning that if she's on the bed, her jumping attempts actually DO something!!! Hahahahahaha. What's better than a toddler?

I Do Loves a Weekend!

The only bad thing about Saturdays is that they are over so soon. But they are always so fun. Even when we don't do anything, Saturdays are the best day of the week.

Anja has shifted her own bedtime so that for the past few days she's been going to bed at 8:00 and waking up at 6:00. This happened by mistake one morning when she woke up at 5:00 and didn't go back to sleep until I gave her an early 11:00 nap. So now her naps are earlier too. It's actually been great because she's been going to bed easily and so we've been having more of an evening for the past couple of nights. Then this morning she slept in until 7:00! Hoorah! We walked to the Farmers Market (didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to be there,) then took a stroll up the hill to our favorite Hidden 8th Street. It runs behind the house of my Lady Doctor and he was working in his yard. I like it when rich people do their own yardwork. Anyway, we said hello to him, he is a very nice guy. Funnily, a friend of mine in highschool babysat his youngest daughter, so I knew of him before I ever KNEW him, and I always thought he had such an interesting old house. And the house next door to his has the BEST stone wall. And across the alley of course is Joel's old house with its fabulous yard and cherry tree........ anyway, we kept on with our walk and when we got home it was naptime and during naptime Martin worked out while Greta and I folded laundry, then Greta fell asleep at the perfect time so that I could make a huge pan of Cowboy Beans and we watched the *sob!* second-to-last episode of The Unit!

When Anja woke up her Ooma and Oompa came over to watch her (Greta too, but Greta just cried and slept while Anja played with sidewalk chalk and went for a walk) so Martin and I could have a quick date! It's nice to hold hands. We walked over to Vienna and shared a Vanilla Chai.

Anja is so hilarious. I wish I had a camera attached to my head at all times that I could run live on my blog so everyone could have a glimpse of how funny she is. She is never nearly as funny when other people are around, you have to catch her when she thinks no one's watching.

And Greta is cute. Greta is a lot cuter than she appears to be in pictures. She doesn't look like anyone but herself, and I'm a little jealous of her looks already... she has such nice dark eyes and good coloring. I've always thought if I could choose my race I would be Indian. They all have the most gorgeous hair and skin.

Oh, did I ever post about my new plan? In my next life I've decided I'm going to be a wedding planner!! It will be so much fun. I'll get to subscribe to all the bridal magazines and put the cost on my separate "business expense" credit card. Then I'll get to attend weddings ALL THE TIME. All summer long! And I'll have all the fun parts, not spend a dime (get paid, in fact!), and bask in the wonderful knowledge that the crazy people involved are somebody else's family members, not mine! Sounds like the perfect job to me.

Friday, June 5, 2009

I Love Being Married to a Gay Man

Well I'm glad to see that no one thinks my blog is as boring as I do!

We came into a few extra half-gallons of 2% milk this week. We don't really drink 2%, and its expiration date was yesterday and we already had two and a half gallons of whole milk when we got the extra stuff. So it was clearly going to go to waste. Yesterday Martin suggested that instead of just waiting for it to spoil and then throwing it out, I should have a milk bath. I told him I'd never had a milk bath (or shower) and I wouldn't know what to do. Then he gave me instructions and told me how amazing it feels and how awesome it makes your hair.

Kind of weird that my husband is giving me tips that I could find in a health/beauty section of a women's magazine, but hey! Who's complaining?! I used half the milk this morning and saved the rest for tomorrow, and HE WAS RIGHT. It felt AWESOME. And my hair is more amazing today than it's ever been!!! (Well, really, I have pretty bad hair in general... but today is looks pretty good, and it feels so thick and luscious!)

So, ladies, here's your dating tip of the day: When in doubt, choose the homosexual. That way, even if the romance dies, you'll still have a supply of natural beauty tips and a well-dressed hubby. (That's not to say that the romance is dead in our marriage! Why, just last night we gorged ourselves on apple dumplings and watched The Unit until 12:30! Talk about romantic!!)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

I Want to Be Organic Farmers

Good news about my garden: it didn't drown in the recent rains! Bad news about the hanging baskets on my porch: they did.

I have one huge flower on one of my zucchini plants. This is great news! I feel a little cheated on my garden this year... I downsized my tomato plants (instead of 28 plants I think I have 12) and one of them died. One of my broccoli plants died and one of my pepper plants died also. I also left a big empty space in the middle of the garden plot for another vegetable--preferably onions--but I never was able to find anything to put there, so now it's empty!! Ugh! I'm considering getting more tomato plants because last week people were still selling them at the Farmers Market. But still... if I had onions, I would have an entire salsa garden and that would be very cool. I love salsa.

Last night we went to the BrewCo for dinner with Martin's mom and sister. Martin and I split a beer and had hot food and it was cozy and festive. When we came home nobody went to sleep. Again. I don't know what the trick is. We HAVE a routine. We've always had a routine... it's just that now the routine lasts 2 hours or so and instead of just changing diapers, putting on jammies and fixing bottles there are a lot of failed attempts at getting kidders to sleep as well. We've tried making bedtime earlier, we've tried making bedtime later... we've tried all the advice we've been given by different parents and nothing seems to work. Arrrrggggg....

I've noticed that ever since I've had kids my blog has become insanely boring. This is not to say my LIFE is boring, because it most certainly is not. It's just that my life is completely filled with little things that are important to me, but that are completely worthless to everyone else. So even though good stuff is happening, it isn't anything that anyone in his right mind would want to read a blog about, and so my blog is now boring. And I'm sorry.

In an effort to make it a less boring blog to read, I'm thinking about moving my family to Idaho.... or at least to Warren County. I'd like to have an organic farm. I'd like to open my farm to the WOOFing idea that Martin and I were never able to do. What could be better than a small organic farm full of enthusiastic young hippies and a lot of animals and vegetables and children? Probably nothing.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Stepping Into the Afternoon...

I feel like I should post, but really there's nothing to say. Evidently our credit card number was stolen. Martin proceeded with caution thinking it might be a scam to get his information, but it seemed to be real; they just verified that it was his card, that the recent charges were not his, and then cancelled it. We won't have to pay what was spent. And it doesn't matter that the card was cancelled because we hardly ever use it. I think we only use it for gas and for emergencies. It's one of those credit cards that you get points for using, so Martin likes to fill the car up with it, then every once in awhile we can cash in our points for things like REAL money. Anyway. The fact that we're now without one doesn't matter.

I made corn soup this morning, but I forgot to keep an eye on it and it boiled and the milk curdled and about an inch of crud formed on the sides of the pan. Kind of gross. So I dumped it (sadly) and tried again with tomato soup. It wasn't very good, but at least Martin was able to have a cozy mug of soup when he came home for lunch on this cozy, rainy, chilly day.

Anja helped me with the corn soup. She started eating the creamed corn right of the can. I think she doesn't have any real interest in cooking... she just likes to taste whatever we're making. Also this morning I made pie crust and when the bowl was only full of flour and salt she got an unpleasant surprise when she stuck her fingers in for a taste! It's fun that she helps me. Any time I am at the counter, whether or not I'm baking, she tries to pull a chair over to help. It's very cute.

Tonight we're going out to dinner with Martin's family. I might be slipping out early with Greta to try and get her to bed on time... the girls have been staying up until about 10:30 the past few nights and it is not a happy thing for anybody.

I have a few sewing projects I really need to finish. One is Anja's little green dress, followed by Greta's little green dress of the same material... and one is Anja's apron which REEEAAALLY needs to get done because she is a messy little Pie.

WBAA has added "Performance Today" to their daytime programming. Ugh. I hate it. It runs from noon-2:00 and Fred Child is sooooooooo annoying. He has the yuckiest voice. So instead of enjoying the cheery yet soothing voice of Jan Simon, I have to listen to him through the entire naptime. Barf!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

It was a Dark and Stormy Night...

I don't have many nights in my memory where it actually stormed for hours and hours. How cozy! It would've been cozier if our girls had gone to bed at a reasonable time and Martin and I could've had dinner and watched The Unit together as was our original plan for the evening... but oh well.

Martin worked until 6:30 yesterday. When he came home on his lunch break we returned the rental car, then I drove him back to work and would pick him up afterward. It's kind of annoying the way they do things at his office now... anyone who is inside the doors by 6:30 will be seen by an advisor. So if eight people show up right at 6:30, they all have to be seen. This means I have to wait until exactly six-thirty for Martin to tell me I can come get him, or to know if he'll be home on time. Last night wasn't a problem but sometimes when they are busier he doesn't get home until much later. It's kind of a bummer. But last night the weather must've kept everyone at home. Since he wasn't here at 5:00 when the tornado sirens went off, I called my neighbor Tara and the girls and I went over to their storm shelter! Their storm shelter is the most adorable thing EVER. It's in their cellar (which is much like our cellar, except cleaner and cozier) and Doug put down some planks for a floor in this little inlet that used to be where the stairs came down from the kitchen. (Now you have to enter from the outside.) He painted the walls yellow and there are buckets down there to sit on. This year they put a set of paints and brushes down there and the kids were SO EXCITED for the tornado because they got to paint the walls! What a great idea!!!! I told Tara she can't move away--she gives me all the best parenting ideas.

So anyway, it was a cozy way to sit out a tornado. The sad part of the storms is that the bottom fell off of Anja's bird feeder. It might've been a nosey animal who pulled it off... something got into our trash last night too.... but I think it was the storm because I think I heard it happen. Anyway, it's sad. Oh well, at least the seed is all over the ground so the birds will still be hopping around there and will probably perch on the pole still.

The girls went to bed late last night, but Greta still slept a 9-hour stretch! I think it's funny that Anja wakes up more in the night than Greta ever does.