WAR!

We are currently at war with certain aspects of our yard. According to the "experts" at Zamzow's we have some real areas of concern.

Mold





Crab Grass
Dandy Lions

Weeds and Dry Patches

John spent a enough money to run a small country on a trip to Zamzows to buy some fertilizer a few weeks ago. He purchased our fertilizer for the year (apparently there are several different types for different times of the year) and he also got us various killers that will hopefully save our lawn. He said going to Zamzow's was like going to the mechanic.
"Do you have crab grass?"
"Yes."
"Oh No! You'll need to put down this spread now to stop the crab grass as it is seeding, you also need...........(insert various yard savers here)"
Since John was unable to say no we should have an awesome lawn in no time!

Spring Planting

Today we did our first bit of planting outside. Our yard was very bare and some areas were pretty over run. I know, I know it still looks bare! We decided to start in the front yard since that is what people actually see. So we spent last Saturday and today cleaning out flower beds. Last week we took all the overrun grass and rock out of the top flower bed and just stuck it an a garbage can for garbage day...it was so heavy they wouldn't take it. Today we made an edge for the flowerbed and trimmed the front bush and planted the tiny spiky plant by the fence. I just thought it looked cool and we needed something to go there (if you squint you'll see it). We also got down some bark so it looks a lot better. The second picture is the flower bed by our front door. It was overrun and gross too, so we pulled everything out and just started from scratch. I wish I could have planted all that I wanted to today but the "experts" at Zamzow's told me I had to wait. So all I got to plant today were some perennials (a new word to my vocabulary). In the next few weeks I'll get to put in some cool flowers, get the bark down, and I'm going to put in a rhododendron or hydrangea bush as well. I'm really excited to see if the flowers and plants will live. Everything I have ever planted has died(in my defense it has always been in a pot) . I'll post pictures when the job is complete.

It's Official!

Owen officially took his first steps crawling last night. He did it very discretely when he thought no one was looking. Maybe that's because he was headed somewhere he wasn't supposed to go. Owen's destination was the bottom drawer in our entertainment center. (We had to do a little recreation for the picture, we did not actually get a picture of him in the act.)
Owen has learned how drawers work and that there are fun things inside them. He really likes this particular one because it is full of kids DVDs . Maybe we should be a little bit worried that Owen was willing to take his first steps to get into something, and not for a toy or something he is supposed to be playing with. He hasn't "crawled" since his first incident but we will still count it since I'm sure as he continues to piece crawling together he will be off and into all sorts of mischief in no time.

Laundry Day Take Two

Yesterday I completed my domestic duties. I went grocery shopping, and I did all of the laundry. I even washed the towels and sheets. And then last night as a gift to his mother, Owen spit up (not just a little bit...a lot!) all over his bed. During the middle of the night, I believe it was approximately 4:00 he decided to spit up all over my bed as well, again a lot. It was as if he sensed the sheets were clean and he needed to do something about it. So this morning I got to rewash all of the sheets that I went above and beyond to get washed yesterday. Next time I think I'll just wait for the spit up, or any of the other various sorts of leaks we deal with, before I wash.

I want to ride my bicycle

We have been looking for a bike for Ainsley for a while. I had mostly been looking on my new favorite craigslist, but to no avail. Bikes are apparently in high demand and go very fast. Last weekend Ainsley's cousin Maddie was nice enough to lend Ains her old bike for the summer. Ainsley was very excited and has been wanting to learn to ride her bike all week but the weather has been awful. This weekend the weather was still bad but John took her up and down the street and then let her practice in the garage. She finally figured out that you have to peddle to keep moving. She had a lot of fun with it. Now we just need to get her fast enough so that we she can ride along with us while we go on family walks...no more stroller for her!

I want some of that, and that, and that...

When Ainsley joins me for my make-up routine it always involves Ainsley getting a free facial. She starts sorting through my make-up bag, looking at eye shadow colors, and getting the blush brush ready. She then tells me what she wants to wear. She used to want everything, but she has learned what is only for moms and what she is allowed to try on. For example she knows she can wear blush but not eye liner. So when I put on my make-up she comes and tells me that she wants blush, white, pink, and brown (eye shadow) and chap stick. She only gets lip color when she is lucky.

It finally ran out!

I love to open and use new make-up, toiletries, food, office supplies, whatever. For some reason the new seems to be better than the old somehow even if it is the exact same brand. I bought a new tube of foundation about 3 months ago. My tube seemed to be near the bottom so it was time to get a new one. Apparently I was not even close to the end. I have been squeezing the last bit of foundation out of this tube for months now. As much as I love to use the new I feel that I have to use every last ounce of whatever it is I'm using before I can even think of throwing it away. Well...today the tube was empty. Empty at last! And I moved on to my 3 month old "new" foundation.

Crazy Week

Usually things here in our house are pretty boring, run of the mill, and predictable. This week however things got a little crazy. For some reason, and I think this happens to a lot of us, we go for a long time with just our random normal things to do and then all of a sudden we have a week where everything just hits at once. I would love it if things were a little more spread out. Then I could fill my boring weeks with a few activities.

John's mom came to visit this week (actually she came to help out with our nephew Zachary after his surgery, but we got to see lots of her too). Ains loved being able to spend lots of time with her cousins. We spent a lot of Monday at Dan and Paige's house, I felt bad because I think Ains wore poor Zachary out. Ainsley was excited because Grandma got to come see her new bedroom and house.

We got home from their house late that night and then I had to make some banana bread for a brunch/play date that we got invited to the next morning. I was really excited that we were invited because Ainsley needs some friends in this ward and who am I kidding, I do to. It was a lot of fun and we both got to meet a lot of people. Tuesday right after our play date I had to prepare things for scouts and enrichment that night. All I have to say about scouts is that I'm never baking cookies with the help of 8 boys, a 3 year old, and 2 babies again. I could go on for hours about the experience but I won't. I'll just add one more thing and ask, "How in the world do chocolate chips get in the bathroom sink when you are making cookies in the kitchen???!!!" I survived scouts and then rushed off for enrichment, I would have been tempted to skip but I had been asked to prepare food for the event, and I really do need to meet people. Enrichment was good, I came home and crashed.

The next morning we got up early and ran our errands. Not fun errands. We had to go to Costco and the mall. Why did we have to go to the mall you ask? When I went to get Ainsley dressed that morning I realized that her 2 pairs of pants (yes she only has 2 left that aren't completely holey and one of the 2 has patches) were both dirty. Enough was enough. I kept thinking that it would get warm soon and I wouldn't have to buy more pants this season, but yesterday I gave up. I threw on her dirty grass stained pants and we were off to Costco and the mall. What made shopping more fun was that is was 30 degrees outside, raining, and windy! The mall wouldn't have been so bad but Ainsley has an opinion now and refuses to wear just any old thing that is on sale. We eventually did find her some pants and a few shirts and then the shopping experience was over. Two hours later we were home and Costco things were finally put away...except for the huge tray of hamburger that is still sitting in my fridge. (How long will that stay good for there I wonder?) We did get to spend the rest of the day with grandma and cousins. They came over to play and have dinner. So that was nice. The picture above is a zoned out Ainsley and Zachary watching cartoons. Today things have finally slowed down. Just dance, laundry, and errands. Tomorrow just the cleaning of 2 houses. What a fun life I lead.

Owen's Favorite Things

Here is a picture of Owen doing two of his favorite things. Spitting and jumping. He would spit and jump all day if he could. Actually I guess he can because he is a baby and has no other pressing things do to. He just has to get someone to hold him so that he can jump over and over while they balance him. I'm now regretting not seeking out and buying one of those jumper things you put in the doorway when he was younger. Now he's too close to crawling. Oh well!

I can't handle this myself!!!

I wish I had a picture for this incident. It was to the point of time that we needed to start "really"getting ready for church. We don't go to church until 1:00 and it was about 12:00. I still needed to dry my hair and get ready so I asked John to go feed Owen some mashed banana and get Ains eating her lunch so we could get ready to go. I was happily drying my hair when a frantic John raced to the bathroom door and yelled, "COME OUT HERE, I CAN'T HANDLE THIS MYSELF!!!" I must say a look of fear was in his eye. I was a little annoyed and thought, how hard can feeding 2 kids be. So I finished the section of hair I was working on and when I turned the hairdryer off I heard "JESS!" being screamed like I have never heard my name screamed before.

I went out into the kitchen and found that Ainsley had tried to get the gallon of apple juice out of the fridge and onto the counter. Needless to say she dropped it, the lid broke, and apple juice had dumped all over the floor. When John had seen Ains drop the apple juice he set down the bananas that Owen was eating on Owen's tray. Needless to say again, Owen was thoroughly enjoying the bananas that had just been placed with in his reach.

It is always nice when things like this happen as it is time to get ready for church. We immediately started cleaning up and even had to pull out the fridge to get the juice from underneath it (I wish I hadn't been in a hurry so I could have given the floor back there the cleaning it deserved). Rugs and towels went into the washer, the floor was scrubbed and mopped. Owen was cleaned up. We finished getting ready for church. And the miracle of this story is that we left for church earlier than we usually do. This however did not get us there any earlier though because the road we usually take was closed. So moral of the story is...never let John make 2 kids lunch on his own. He just can't handle it.

Bowling

Please excuse the blurriness of the pictures but I forgot to take my camera so I got some pictures of our night out bowling with my phone. My parents invited us to go bowling with them on Friday night and we learned that John is either lucky or demonstrates some level of bowling proficiency. He had either a strike or a spare almost every time he bowled. I tried to get a picture of his leg crossing over behind him but I missed. His form was similar to what you would see on TV. His score was second only to....my mother. My mom used to drive bus years ago and took a job driving kids to the bowling alley for their class. She got the extra money and all the free bowling she wanted. So now she is still quite the bowler. Ains loved it as well. She would carry her ball up to the line, get the finger holes facing up, put her fingers in the holes, take her fingers out, and then push the ball down the lane. The ball only got stuck midway once. My glorious moment of the night was when I let go of the ball when my arm went back. I think the girls in the lane next to us got a kick out of that one as well. All in all, we had a good time and now John thinks we should bowl every week.

John is Awesome

John is awesome. Please comment on how much you like him.

Tag! Your It!

Three Things That Scare Me:
1. Scary Movies
2. Something happening to one of my kids
3. The guy with the long nose on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
1. My kids
2. John (when his is funny)
3. Dwight

Three Things I Love:
1. Sleep
2. Dates
3. Summer

Three Things I Hate:
1. Laundry
2. Getting ready in the morning
3. Red stop lights when you are in a hurry

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. Why I have been called to scouts
2. Why I'm not rich (John and I are both genius's aren't we)
3. How come I already have grey hairs and wrinkles, how cruel is that!

Three Things On My Desk:
1. Camera
2. Lamp
3. A Million cords that drive me crazy

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
1. Listening to some sitcom John is watching
2. Holding a folder full of coupons on my lap
3. Hoping that Ains has come out of her bedroom for the last time tonight

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Travel anywhere and everywhere
2. Run another half marathon (a whole one is completely out of reach)
3. Go on a mission ( I copied that answer but it's a good one)

Three Things I Can Do:
1. Make really yummy desserts (except chocolate chip cookies)
2. Make cards
3. Clean (weird answer, but I am a little obsessed)

Three Things I Can’t Do:
1. Show any self control when there is candy in front of me
2. Sew a straight line
3. Make good chocolate chip cookies

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. The radio really loud when you are driving
2. Your children
3. The prophet

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. Whining
2. Any music John listened to in high school
3. Commercials (hit mute when they come on...for those of us who can't fast forward TV yet)

Three Things I’d Like To Learn:
1. Gardening
2. How to sew a straight line
3. How to be a better mom

Three Favorite Foods:
1. Mashed potatoes and gravy
2. Cheese Fondue
3. Chocolate desserts

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
1. Saved By the Bell
2. Duck Tales
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks

Three Things I Regret:
1. Being scared of people in high school
2. Not traveling/going on dates more before John and I had kids
3. Losing my temper with Ainsley today

Three people I tag:
1. Shelly
2. Steph
3. Shauna

Stir fry for Dinner

Tonight we had stir fry for dinner. As you can tell by the first picture it is one of Ainsley's favorites. She does this really disgusting thing lately when she doesn't like food. She chews and chews until she has this yucky spitty mixture in her mouth and then she sloshes it around and squeezes it between her teeth (making John and I sick in the process) and then it gets so disgusting she cries until she spits it out. The deal tonight was that we were going to have popcorn while we watched the office (it is a way to keep Ains quiet while we watch our show) but she had to eat 10 bites of her dinner. I'm not sure if she ever made it because I got sick of waiting with her and I did the dishes. At one point I looked up and she was falling asleep at the table. That is what the second picture is of. Even though she might not have made it to 10 she still might get popcorn so we get a few quiet minutes. Good thing she still doesn't have a good concept of quanities past 4.

Rainy Day

It was actually sunny today but Ains was pretending it was raining. She got on her rain apparel. The blanket over the head gives extra protection. She also asked for a "sunbrella". While she was wearing this she started making up songs so I jotted down the lyrics to "The Fairy One."

Everyone a fairy came
and everything will be yours
and everything will be mine
a bunny rabbit came
and I so grateful it came
and everything will be yours and mine
and everything will be mine
(last line repeated several times)

I thought it was a lovely song.

It all started a year ago...

Today is my niece Bailey's birthday. She is 1 today. And it was a year ago today that I was here haphazardly looking for a place for us to live. John had just received his job offer and was lined up to start on May 1st. As soon as we found that out I hopped in the car with Ainsley and headed to Boise to get everything lined up for our move. I found our apartment a year ago yesterday, spent the day after running around trying to work out insurance because I was pregnant and we were a little worried about coverage. While I was doing all of that Kortney was in the hospital having Bailey. What a week that was. It seems crazy that for almost a year now John and I have been "normal" adults and not students. Our whole marriage we had been looking forward to being done with school, and now it's been almost a year. And I have to admit, life without school is a lot more pleasant.

I didn't have any pictures of our actual apartment so I just stuck in a couple of my favorites from our apartment days. The second picture is one of my favorites because there is one of me in almost exactly the same pose at about the same age. I guess you have to find some way to occupy your time when going to the bathroom.

Sneaky Sleeper!

Ainsley hasn't tried to take an afternoon nap for a while now. Today, however, while I was making dinner and dealing with a grumpy Owen I assumed Ainsley was quietly playing in her room because I hadn't heard from her in a while. After I got dinner made and Owen settled I started looking for Ainsley. I started calling her name through the house and even started getting a little nervous. I rushed into my bedroom and found her asleep in my bed dressed in full Snow White attire. She was taking her nap at 6:00 at night! Notice that all of her babies and stuffed animals are neatly placed beside her so that they could get their rest as well. We'll see how bedtime goes tonight.

Easter Sunday

It seems like we did a lot more for Easter this year than we usually do. Maybe it's just because Ainsley is a little older now and she can actually participate more in things. Saturday night we got all of our eggs dyed (I only have 5 that still need eaten!) . The Easter bunny came and stuffed the kids baskets full of way to much candy. He then hid Owen's next to the TV and Ainsley's underneath the kitchen table. Are we the only family who the Easter bunny does that for? Owen got Peter Pan in his basket, mostly because what do you give a kid that can't eat, and this way Owen finally has something that Ains wants to use instead of the other way around.

The highlight of Owen's morning was playing with his cellophane wrap, and Ainsley's was getting all of her candy along with her Wendy action figure. The highlight of John and I's morning was when Ainsley asked to eat some "toots" (she was referring to peeps). The highlight of my Easter was listening to John try to figure out why we weren't supposed to eat pork on Easter Sunday. He was claiming that we eat ham on Easter because you shouldn't eat pork. It took him a while to realize how ridiculous he sounded.

Easter Egg Hunts!

This morning we got up and walked to the christian center that is just next to our neighborhood for their Easter egg hunt. It was kind of cool because there was a lot of carnival stuff there too. Ains got to jump around in the inflatables and get her picture taken with the easter bunny. I'm still not sure if she noticed or what traumatized when one of the easter bunnies took off their head for a breather. We also got to attend a motivational presentation in their auditorium. At least we had a moment about what Easter is all about. Ains got into the dancing. They sang "I get low and he lifts me up," and ains would do the up and down actions with them. I threw in a picture of the dancers just for fun. Then we headed outside for the 2-3 year old hunt. Ains was so funny because when they said go she took off running and didn't pick up any eggs. I guess she thought it was a foot race or something. John had to run out and help her so that we could get some candy (yes I mean we). She ended up doing pretty well.



After our first egg hunt I got a call from my sister and one of her friends was doing a little Easter egg hunt for a few kids and invited Ainsley to come. So we headed over there and Ains got to hunt for eggs that weren't just spread out all over the lawn. She seemed to have fun, John I think was a little more into it than she was. Afterwards the kids got to play soccer for a while and the adults got to make italian sodas. We're totally into italian sodas now. I guess as far as Easter festivities goes...so far so good. I was a little worried ains would be disappointed because all week she has been talking about going "trick or treating" for Easter. She was going to dress up as a tiger. I can only imagine the looks we would have gotten going door to door with our tiger and her Easter basket today. What fun! And there are more festivities to come!

Easter Pics

Yesterday I attempted to get some pictures of the kids in their easter outfits...things didn't go so well. It was one of those days where Ains and I weren't getting along so well and getting the pictures just turned into a chore.




As you can see I got a lot of candid photos, and not many framable portraits.

The Swing Set!

We finally got our swing set. We learned that they are hard to come by, unless you were wanting to buy one of the $500 + wood swing sets. Those were in great supply. We had been waiting for a swing set to come into Walmart for quite a while now, none were coming in. I can't figure out how no Walmarts in the whole valley had a cheap swing set in stock. I was then told about one on sale at toys r us. John went in on Monday because it was in Sunday's add. They didn't have any in stock either! Why would you advertise something and then not have any of it. I even looked on craigslist (my new best friend) with no luck. Thankfully toys r us got one in on Wednesday. They just got one mind you, but I called right when they opened and got it reserved. John, with the help of Ains, spent last night and the night before getting it set up. There is also a teeter totter that goes on the other side but we're not sure if we're going to put that on yet. So... swing set finally up and we are now all happy. Now we just have to get the trampoline this week (we are borrowing an old one from my sister until she has a yard). We will go from having an incredibly boring yard to the best one on earth.

How Craigslist Saved the Blinds

The process of replacing our blinds began when we moved into this house. The whole house had the old 1"metal blinds, except for our bedroom and Ainsley's bedroom, which were blindless. We purchased our first 2 sets of blinds from Home Depot. The feeling in the house during the installation was something like *%##*@&!. Enough said. When we were ready to replace the rest of the blinds we were told about a place called justblinds.com. We carefully measured all of our windows and sent in our order. We were very excited because the blinds were the same price as the ones at home depot, but we didn't have to take off the length. Taking off the length had contributed to the previous #*&%# feelings so we felt we were a step ahead this time. When the blinds arrived I made John start installing immediately because I was excited to get rid of our old broken blinds. He had his brothers drill this time so things should have gone smoothly. John began installing the far right blind in the above picture. After some harsh words he finally had the mounts in and we were ready just to pop the blinds in place. They didn't fit. I immediately started cursing justblinds.com. Then we started looking at the measurements we had written down. Justblinds was not to blame, it was us. We were the big morons. #*%&$%*% like feelings were really bad now. How could we measure 3 windows wrong. We went through the rest of our list and we had managed to measure the rest of the house right, just not the 3 living room windows. We wrote down the width measurement 1 inch too big on all three.
So how did craigslist save us you ask. Well, after talking to just blinds they sent us a replacement order at half off. It was cheaper just to order new blinds than cut down the old ones. So we got all 3 additional blinds for $57. At this point we were happy we had only made a $57 mistake and not a $120 mistake. After talking to some people and after selling our old desk on craigslist I decided to list the blinds and see what would happen. People will buy anything right? Even if the blinds were cut to a very precise measurement. Well today I got a call and someone that lives just around the corner is on his way to buy our extra blinds for $50. Awesome!!!
I installed the last 3 blinds this afternoon. Actually John had already installed the hardware. I just had to pop in the blinds and put on the valance. Now the house is completely done. No more blinds to install. They look great. And best of all, our huge, moronic mistake only cost us $7!