Where did January go?

It seems every time I blink another month is gone. Earlier in the month we celebrated Savvy's first birthday and of course, due to popular demand, continued the tradition of birthday week. The night before I did an emergency run to Target ISO a gift, as I had been fruitless in my half-hearted searches in earlier weeks. For Christmas I really wanted to find her a phone. Now, I realize there are lots of phones out there, and what half-sane parent wants to gift their child a noise-making, plastic machine? I did. I wanted one that lit up and made noise. I know there are a lot of pretend phones out there, but their sounds are annoying. I wanted a realistic one because, let's face it, kids aren't dumb. They know when you are giving them your out-of-date and battery-less cell phone. I wanted one that would trick Savannah into thinking she had the real thing. Well, I had been fruitless and finally decided it was time to make a trip down the toy isle to see if something would catch my eye. I started down the clearance isle and was pleasantly surprised at the selection of baby dolls and the like. Great prices, fun toys. And then I saw it. It was pink. It was plastic. It lit up. It made noise. Even better, it had an answering machine.

The 29.99 toy was marked down to a mere 7.04. I could not pass up this beautiful girlish contraption. It came with a CD-Rom that would allow you to personalize the messages that Barbie left on the answering machine, so Savannah would be called by her very own name! Victory on the toy isle! I came home full of energy and bursting with excitement. I almost woke Cade up to show him the toy. Let's face it. He would probably have more fun with the phone than Savannah--- until of course, she figured it out.

I decided to let Cade sleep and decorated the kitchen birthday-style instead. I wrapped presents and set them out....anxious for the unveiling of her gifts. Morning came and we had hot chocolate and Savannah opened gifts, thanks to her eager assistant, Cade. She was spoiled with girly outfits, a talking and singing dog, and a port-a-crib. That night we took the kids swimming at "Daddy's Gym" and ate at our new favorite restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes. Cade and Savvy ate all the ice cream their hearts desired. It was a good day. Birthday Week continued with gifts from Gramma & Grampa Berry: a dolly baby! and Jake & Rebecca: an outfit only a picture could do it's cuteness justice....

White Yard = Brown Bathroom!

Funny how this worked out. I finished the front door (time to hammer in the trim, honey!!) just in time for it to get cold again. It was 50. Now it's dancing in the single digits. With the cold weather forcing me inside, I got motivated to finally paint the hideous bathroom! I couldn't have done it alone, that's for sure. I dropped the kids off at a babysitter's and a girlfriend came over and helped me paint. Three cheers for Lee Jackson King Day, I mean Civil Rights Day, er, uh, Martin Luther King Day....er, whatever the PC name of yesterday's holiday that granted school children and government workers a day off! Without a babysitter and a painting buddy, I may just be finishing up with taping the room! The color is called Decatur Buff-- a Benjamin Moore color. It's a lovely caramel brown-- very cozy and warm.

We got a beautiful fresh covering last night and it's hard for me to be in a bad mood when it snows. Do I have reason to be in a bad mood? Well, not really I s'pose. Kyle's out of town again, which in turn shortens my fuse a bit becuase I know I don't have relief at the end of the day. So, for that reason, I am running low on patience and overall feelings of chill-ish-ness, but since it snowed, everything has been put back into perspective! I get to stay at home with my kids and take care of them when they are sick (happense to be the situation at hand) and I don't have to call in and tell work I can't come in. I can be a mom and not worry about anything else. (well, and then the phone rings, and that not worrying about anything else goes out the window, but it's nice while it lasts!) That's a blessing. Life seems to slow down a bit after it snows (or perhaps it's just me that slows down; in any case, I like it!) and everything looks so beautful. Of course I had to make hot chocolate with my hot drink maker. It's amazing how much euphoria I experinece over such a small appliance. It was my Christmas present to myself, er, from the kids to me. :)

Hopefully tomorrow the kids will be well enough and want to play in the white stuff. Cade got a snow suit from Gramma and Savannah got one from Santa. How convenient!!

Brown Yard = Red Door

Well whaddaya know. We woke up Sunday morning to absolute ugliness! The temperature jumped to 60 degrees and my snow melted, exposing our yucky, brown, leaf-covered yard. It was nice not having to bundle up for sub-twenty degree weather, but I still prefer the white stuff so that I can continue living in denial about my yard.

With the warm front, however, came a bit of motivation. Since last Sept (yes, almost 1.5 years ago!) we've had a new door installed and I've been meaning to paint it red,--- it was primed and ready to be painted, but I have always been able to find an excuse to not do it--- our spring doesn't last long enough to get around to it-- by the time summer hits, I don't want to leave the door open and let the cool air out of the house or let the bugs in, fall we are usually traveling to this that or the other place and the weeks in between are just spent playing catchup--not getting ahead on any home improvement projects. Then right around when we are done vacationing, the snow falls and it's too cold to paint an exterior door. Not to mention how is it possible to find a window of time in the day that I can paint a door without fearing my kids would get "creative" on me and I would find the paint on surfaces in my home I didn't even't know existed.

I made a verbal committment to myself that since I was given a warm day in January, I was going to make the most of it!

I decided to suffer through taking the kids to buy paint and groceries with me which was completely miserable considering Savannah was going on no morning nap (part of my strategy to get them to sleep at the same time in the afternoon so I could paint) and Cade had a different agenda for the day. Savannah hollered the entire time at the grocery store, while Cade insisted he had to go potty twice. He would conveniently let me know when I was in the very back of the store. The restroom was in the very front of the store. In that moment I wished silently to myself that he was not potty-trained and wearing a diaper so he could just take care of his business without adding another 12 minutes to our stay at the store. After our trips to the bathroom, I finally got what I needed (not everything, but mostly everything) and checked out, which took FOREVER because the cc machine kept rejecting my card. That was embarassing enough. I knew I had money in the bank, but of course the card had to be difficult for several swipes. In that moment I look up to see the mom of one of Cade's preschool friends checking out in line next to me. She's the one that puts us all to shame in the morning when we are dropping our kids off at preschool. You know the type-- always put together to a T-- hair, makeup, accessories--- she has it all together, no matter how early in the morning it is! I, on the other hand, was in my sweats wearing no make-up, and sporting the traditional mom-'do--- the pony-tail. I managed a wave and smile, feeling absolutely ugly and ready to lose my mind because I had run out of patience 30 minutes ago.

Heading to the car, (meanwhile making a mental note that it is time to move or start shopping elsewhere. Once I start running into people I know at a store, I decide it's time to change locations. When we first moved out here I loved being in unknown territory because I wouldn't have to worry about running into people I knew while out and about sporting the latest Mom Look: un-showered, sweats and a t-shirt, and no makeup!) I realized that Savannah had taken my phone and tossed it somewhere in the 40,00 square foot store. So I trudged back to the store with two screaming kids, Cade wailing on about how hungry he was, making me look like a rotten mom who wouldn't let her son eat.

Long story short, I found my phone and the chilluns did not die of starvation. I fed them lunch and put them down for their nap, meanwhile cramming the leftovers of Cade's lunch into my mouth because I forgot to eat breakfast--- again. Miraculously they fell asleep at the same time. I had to so badly fight the urge to jump in the shower or take care of the dirty dishes in covering the counters and sink in my kitchen. I knew if I didn't paint the door this afternoon it would never happen. So, thanks to spring-like weather in the middle of winter, I was able to accomplish something!!! Who would have thought I'd get to painting my front door in the middle of winter? Hooray. Granted, the rest of the house is a disaster and I didn't get a shower in today. But aren't showers optional anyway?

Painting the door gave me a sudden burst of energy and this evening I started stripping the wallpaper in our bathroom which has been on my to-do list ever since we walked through the house with our realtor when we were house-hunting. I am beginning to think being so ambitious today was a huge mistake. I had the exciting opportunity to discover the decades of decor that covered our walls. First the walls started out with a bright yellow (probably took place in the 70s), then the awesome peach days took over in the early 80s. In the late 80s a lovely angel wallpaper, then a light blue color was painted OVER the angel wallpaper (yes, over it!), then a butterfly wall-paper was applied on top of the blue. I just thought I was dealing with a butterfly border. Not the case. ARGH! Too bad There weren't more charming decades to uncover. Seriously. This house was built in the 40s --- uncovering stuff from that decade actually would have been interesting instead of annoying!

Next on the list--- painting trim around the front door, painting the bathroom, and repainting the upstairs. It's sad, we haven't been in the house very long, but the walls boast of their evidence that there are children living here--- hand prints, Cade's artistic touch with a ballpoint pen.... you get the idea.

This picture is my fantasy front door. We have a cottage-y house, but nothing screams Irish cottage like this entryway:

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! I have emerged from attempting to establish order in my house post Christmas back West, 2007. We had a great Christmas, despite inflicting my family with the stomach flu which put my little sister in the hospital, Savannah in an urgent care, my sister disinfecting her entire home and cleaning up more puke than she'd really like to, and my mom sick for nearly a week. Sorry you guys. Just send us the bills. I'm still getting up about every other nite with Cade to comfort him with tummy aches that last all nite.

I'll bloggity blog about our exciting Christmas adventures soon. At the present moment I would just like to publicly thank Mother Nature for starting 2008 off on such a beautiful note! When we got back from Utah this Christmas I was sorely disappointed. The landscape was bare and brown. All the snow had melted leaving everything muddy and UGLY!!! Fortunately the next day Mother N. sprinkled a lovely white dusting upon our little town and made it pretty just in time for me to host a White Elephant post Christmas par-tay with the YSA gals in the ward. Thank goodness it snowed because we still haven't raked up the last of the leaves (ahem....our next house will not nearly claim so much acreage to it's title unless a landscaper comes with it!) and our yard looks soooo much better all covered up with the pretty white stuff.

Mother N. decided a dusting would not do for bringing in the New Year, so she really gave us a good covering last night and through today. I LOVE it! I must break out my cocoa machine I got from the kids soon.

Being the season for goal setting, I've been pondering heavily upon what I want to engrave "in stone" for my resolutions. I've been talking about them for weeks and Kyle keeps warning me to start off easy and not be overly zealous with changing my ways.... so I guess I have my long long list in my heart that deep down I want to commit to, but won't tell anyone else about, the medium sized list I'll share with my family for FHE next week, and the short list I shall share with the rest of the world.

#1. Cook more for my family.
The "for my family" is the important part. I don't seem to really need any encouragement to cook when
--I've invited others over for dinner
--someone else in the ward needs a meal
--some sort of socializing is involved be it Bunco nite, a reception, BBQ, etc
The regular day in and out of preparing a hearty meal for the fam is just the hardest thing for me to enjoy.

#2. Be more efficient.
This is open to my own interpretation.... and there are a million places in my life this quality would serve well in giving attention to. So for the rest of you, I hope I just start to exude efficiency and you won't know exactly all the self-improvements I am trying to cram into this singular goal.

#3. Enjoy life more!
I can be a bit uptight at times. Okay,-- I can be really uptight a lot of the time. Time for me to loosen up a notch and enjoy the kids while they are young, the business while it's young (haha) and my life while I'm young.

So, here's to a more relaxed, efficient and culinary self!