Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Birthday Pictures... And I Can't Fix my Blog!!!

I am having some blog issues. Is it looking to anyone else that all of my sidebar information is now all the way at the bottom instead of in the sidebar? It's very annoying and I don't know how to fix it! Anyone with any information on how to solve this little problem is welcome to give me some tips.




And now, here are some pictures from Anja's birthday last week: The Festive Table.


Notice the store-bought cake. I am not usually one who buys birthday cakes... Not that I'm AGAINST it by any means.... I'm just the type of crazy mom who takes special orders for birthday desserts, right up to the very last minute. (Gee, sound like Halloween?) Anja's order this year was the same as last: Stringy Monster Cupcakes, from one of my cupcake decorating books. No problem! I can do that! Just give me a few minutes to get my stomach under control...... Just a few more minutes.... What? It's already 4:00? Everyone's coming over at 5:00 for cupcakes and ice cream? Where's the ice cream?! Where are the cupcakes?!? WHERE ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR THE CUPCAKES?!?!? I had nothing. I was not exactly unprepared, it's just that the idea of going to the grocery store makes me nauseous, let alone actually baking something in my kitchen. Do you know what our grocery routine is as of late? We go to Target (I can't do Aldi, as there's no place to get away from all that food) and while Martin and the girls do the food shopping, I go browsing in the clothes and tiny baby things. Then Martin sends me a text message to tell me what checkout line they are in and I meet them there. I try to time it so that I never have to see any of the food out of their bags, but sometimes I just have to avert my eyes. So for Anja's birthday, I thought for sure I could do it..... but it turned out I couldn't. So we ran out at 4:30 and bought a Happy Birthday cake that she was very happy with.






She opened her presents first thing in the morning. She's never been so excited about her own birthday before!



Cutie Patootie Avila!!!!



Blowing out the birthday candles. (See those cookies?! I DID make those! From scratch!)



Anja received this kitten from Ooma for her birthday. It's one of those creepy Fur*Real pets that makes scary noises and walks and purrs. She named it Thunder Snow and then to match it's WWF name, she dressed it up like and 80's rock star. Remember how Anja had such good style back when she was 2? I'm not really sure what happened to it.







And here's our old friend, Ratty! For awhile I thought he was dead. I hadn't seen him in so long, but the other day he was back, hopping around in the rain. I realize he's all wet and not looking his best, but check out that tail. He is definitely not a purebred squirrel. If he weren't so charming I'd be afraid of him. But we've given him so many nicknames he's kind of like a member of the family. (In fact, Greta just came up behind me and saw this picture and said "There's Ratty!") Pretty gross though, huh?



In other news: Saturday was the beginning of shotgun season for deer. The weekend was windy and yesterday was nasty so today was the first day Martin got out to hunt. I am proud to say that he was only in his stand for about an hour before he shot his first doe. Way to go, Martino! As we speak he's stringing it up from our tulip tree in the backyard and tomorrow he'll get to work butchering it.


Today instead of doing laundry, which is slowly taking over our house (I shouldn't admit this but I've stooped to the point of piling dirty clothes into empty cardboard boxes. How disgusting is that?) I worked on a baby quilt for the new baby. I know. My bathroom is in a State of Emergency, and I am spending my time crafting for a child that won't be born for at least 6 months. Sheesh.


And speaking of that new baby, Martin has started calling it "Elkis." This is because a boy will likely be the name not given to Anja and Greta, which is John Francis--whom we would call Francis. And a girl will very likely be named Elka, which I think is an absolutely gorgeous name, and which is the Polish form of Elizabeth. I LOVE IT. I had never heard this name before, but it was the name of an author of this children's book we got called "One Little Chicken." I saw it, and loved the name immediately. I texted Martin (I was at the library; he was at work) and asked him if he liked that name. His response was "Yes! It's a good Jewish name!" And that little book turned out to be a retelling of a traditional Jewish story. I think it IS a good name. I like it better than the similar German name, Elke (El-key) which is the German form of Adelaide, and is a slightly more common name.


Have I bored you to death yet with my names obsession? That's good because it's WAAAAY past bedtime. Martin got his deer hung and is back to get us. Time to go home and go to bed!!!! Hooray!!! I love bedtime!!!!!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Apologies

My apology is for the layout of my blog and how weird it is. I'm going to be messing with it in the days/months to come. Don't be alarmed.

The better apology (my sister will appreciate this) comes from my mom who apologized to me tonight, not only for the horrible dress she made me wear to my piano recital AND talent show in 4th grade, but also for the WORST HAIRCUT EVER that she made me have FOR MY ENTIRE LIFE. I had this horrible, horrible, wretched, horrible haircut from the time I was in first grade to the summer after 6th grade. I remember the last time I had my haircut in that awful way because it was for my cousin's wedding that summer and after that she said I could grow it out. And I did! Right away!

I told her she's lucky anyone married me. I also told her I wasn't too embarrassed for Martin to see the video of me in that dress from the piano recital.... 'cause I know his mom made his sisters dress the same way. :)

Friday, November 11, 2011

Where We Finding Baby There Be Milk Nearby!

Wow, I'm a pretty big loser for not updating for this long, huh? I have some pictures that I took from my Facebook mobile uploads album--so if you're friends with me on Facebook, you've likely seen all these pictures already. The night before Anja's birthday Greta and I went out on a sort of date... we had dinner together at Panera, then did some last minute birthday underpants shopping for Anja. (And I would like to say that even though Martin made fun of me for buying her underwear for her birthday, it might've been the gift she was most excited about. So, Ha!)


This is on Halloween night, when we'd all had a bit too much sugar. The girls dressed up as little chicks and they were very cute! I think I got some good pictures on my camera, but of course, that is at home and I am up here at my parents' house. I was a little bummed that at the last minute they decided not to be the characters of Little Red Riding Hood, but I was luckily able to whip up matching chick costumes in two days (thanks to my mom's awesome, jam-free sewing machine!) and the girls were very happy with them. Halloween was really fun.... our kids are pretty shy and Anja in particular was not really digging the hoards of people out and about, even if it was all in the name of candy. But I think during the gorge-fests in the days following, they were glad they'd been brave and gone trick-or-treating.


I participated in my first ever craft fair last weekend! I sold exactly ZERO of these little gnomies I had. However, I had a lot of knitted kittens and except for the three that Anja sneaked into her pocket, they all sold! I also sold a few of my sewn cards, and that was it. I would not call it a huge success, but it was DEFINITELY a lot of fun. My sister, my mom and I all had this big booth right next to the kitchen where a little bakery business was selling cupcakes and stuff. Surprisingly, I didn't have ANY cupcakes, but I did drink their yummy hot cider. Turns out my sister and I are going to have a booth at another craft fair coming up at the beginning of December. This is okay, since I hardly sold anything at the last one! But it still makes me nervous because while I'll be making stuff for the craft fair, I SHOULD be making Christmas presents for, you know, people I actually know. Like my family.


This is a picture of the skunk that Martin shot out in Virginia this summer and it signifies the text message I just got from him a few minutes ago that said "Vacay starts now!" Tomorrow kicks off shotgun season for deer and Martin has all of next week off of work to focus on lowering our annual grocery bill.


Anja turned 4 on Wednesday! She is EXTREMELY excited to be a four year old. I myself can't believe it.


And this is the self-portrait Anja drew a few days before her birthday. The round things on and around her feet are her slippers. Later she got out the glue and cut pieces of ribbon and glued them onto the hair, and then drew clothes and she added the body after she realized she'd forgotten it, too. Complete with belly button. So in the end, I'm glad I got a photo at this stage of the picture because it turned out to be the most comprehensible.


We had a little span of time a few weeks ago when we thought Theodore would no longer be living with us. And you can use your imagination to figure out where that would've put him, since I doubt anyone would've responded to an ad that said, "Morbidly Obese Cat with Severe Dandruff Seeks Loving New Owners Who Are Very Forgiving Of Him Leaving Poop Smears In Their Bed." I mean, I guess they might've responded privately, by throwing up, but they definitely wouldn't have called the provided phone number. Anyway, he was having some serious hygiene issues due to his being vastly overweight and therefore unable to clean himself after *ahem* toileting. Martin called the vet, told them the story and said if there's no way to fix this issue, he's going to have to be given the prick of death. Luckily, our vet told us there might be a last hope: some special prescription cat food and a daily dose of fish oil. Also, we've been letting him outside again. He appears to be losing weight and his bathroom area is MUCH cleaner since starting the new diet! He still has some dandruff issues.... but I guess I can deal with that. The girls are glad to have him still living with us. As you can see, he's not always amused by their games, but hey, he doesn't move either, so I don't think he has too much room to complain.


So, we've been hanging out at my parents' house a lot lately. This is due to the fact that I've really started hating food. Raw vegetables literally make me throw up, if I see them sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for me. I've also recently had a terrible urge to give my hair a new 'do. A serious chop, or style, or bangs or something... OH WAIT.... Maybe I'm pregnant!? As a matter of fact, I am! And except for the aversion to all things edible, our whole house is very excited about this new addition, due in early June. June seems awfully far away... but I should be glad that I'll have so much time to knit cute clothes!!!!! And again, except for the nastiness of the 1st trimester, I'm excited to be preggo again. It's been awhile! I'm excited for all the babyish things... diapers, and baby wearing, all those cute weird sounds they make, seeing a little personality emerge from a wrinkly pink blob.... It seems like so long ago that I had the baby experience. Greta will be well past three by the time this next baby is born, and she hasn't been in diapers for almost a year. Plus, nobody lets me dress them anymore. I need a baby to dress so the world can know that I really don't have ridiculous taste in childrens clothes!


So that's the news around here. Oh, also, my girls have become kind of obsessed with Lady & the Tramp. It's pretty cute... they don't watch movies at home, so it makes Ooma's house extra special if they get to come over for dinner AND watch Lady & the Tramp AND have baths with colored water. And they have no interest in any other movies. They are just really obsessed with Lady & the Tramp. It's cute!


Oh, let's be honest. Everything they do is cute!! Tee hee hee! If I could post a sound clip I'd post Anja singing "the Three Little Kittens" and Greta singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb." We've been having tons of fun recording our singings in the audio memos on my iPhone!
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