Ummm...???

This is how I found the kids after emerging from a one-and-a-half hour phone call with my sister.

And I thought they were playing so well together...I should know by now that's never a good sign.  The kids "playing really well together" always equals trouble.

5 Days

We spent them with my little sister and her baby

This is "cousin Boston"

Have you seen anything cuter?  Or rounder?

We did get one warm sunny day, which we spent picnicking at the park.  It also happened to be Paul's day off, which makes for a lovely day in any kind of weather.

The cousins could have swung together all day long...

Love those faces...

My kids couldn't get enough of this little guy.

As for Boston, well...he liked'em much better when they weren't 2 cm from his face.

Michele and I spent our days talking, laughing, joking, crying, and just enjoying each other's company.  And the sight of our kids together.  And eating treats.  And drinking diet cokes.  And Izzes.  And staying up until 2 every night.

We also managed to squeeze in some shopping for my house - which we then decorated.  I love it, paint color and all!  (pictures coming soon).  Couldn't have done it without you Shell : )

Our last (and biggest...and craziest...and stupidest...and worst) project was putting together the kids' new bunk bed.

It only took us 12 hours.

We started at 3:15 pm.

Do the math.

Most of the time we wanted to do this...  

But it turned out pretty well so we celebrated with another Diet Coke 

(#6 of the night?)

(P.S.  Michele is the Drill Master)

We realized just before I took her to the airport that we didn't have a picture of the two of us - at least not one where we had possession of our minds.

This one's not much better though.  We're going on less than 3 hours of sleep.

And last, but not least

FAVORITE QUOTES OF THE WEEK:

"I'm tired..."

"Why do goats have spikes coming out of their heads?"

"...and WHAT is that noise?!?"

"They might not all be psychos."

"Where's Paul?"

"I'm putting a note in here."

(and much much more)

The week was...PERFECT.

Thanks for coming Michele and Boston!!!  We love you and we all miss you already!!!

Check this out

www.alleanzabridal.com

My mom and my sister started a business...designing wedding dresses.  They're crazy - and talented.  

Spread the word.

P.S.  My other sister is the model.  Yeah, I got screwed - the beauty and the talent genes went to my little sisters.  I've been trying for 27 years to figure out what my talents are and...???  I'll let you know if I ever come up with anything

3 Months

That's how long it took me to read this book, cover to cover.  I've read longer books before but it has NEVER taken me so long to get through a book.  EVER.  That's not because I didn't like this one.  I thought it was excellent and I'm so glad I read it.  But I'm not much of a non-fiction girl (although I have branched out quite a bit the past few years).  I also started the book just as we moved to Rochester.  With everything on my plate I've had very little time for reading - in fact never in my life have I spent LESS time reading.  Sad : (

This was my second attempt at reading this book (the first time I died out about 150 pages in) and I was determined to get through it this time.  I tried picking up where I'd left off but it had been about a year...so that didn't really work and I started over.

Anyways, I'm pretty proud of myself.  

And with me feeling everyday like I never get anything done I had to record this accomplishment, even if it was 3 months in the making.  

I also didn't want you to think I just never update my sidebar.

And don't worry Goodreads buddies, I'm still here

Update

I've been bad about taking pictures of my kids lately (too busy taking pictures of my food, apparently).  So today we decided to have a little fun with the timer on the camera.

Here's my attempt at a "family" photo

(Paul is still part of the family - just not usually a present part)

Oh yeah, and I'm really hoping that's just a bad angle for me, or that the camera adds 10 pounds or something...cuz if that is what I really look like...???!!!

And this is Alex giving me a "Cinderella Kiss"

which requires some explanation...

(and please ignore the kitchen, it's a work in progress)

Last night I was laying between the kids at bedtime (Alex insists on sleeping with her bed pushed up against Noah's) and they were both fighting for hugs and kisses.  Suddenly Alex rolls over to me, wraps her arms around my neck, closes her eyes, tilts her head to the side and presses her lips firmly on mine...and doesn't stop, until I break away laughing.  She says, by way of explanation.  "A Cindawelwa kiss.  Dats how Cindawelwa kisses the pwince."

Thanks Disney - she's only 2!

And this is what the kids are doing right now:

Noah - coloring (sharks, of course)

Alex - snuggling (her red blanky, of course)

Yesterday Paul was on call (30 hour shift) so we did church by ourselves (as usual).  Luckily, things were slower than usual for Paul (i.e. his pager was NOT going off every 60 seconds) so he called us and said we should come visit him at the hospital.  We got to spend about 10 or 15 minutes with him, which was great.  We all loved it. 

As we were leaving, this was Noah's conversation with Paul:

N: Dad, I want to see the room where you work

P: I work in lots of rooms, all over the whole hospital

N: Ok, I just want to go in one

P: Well, there are really sick people in all those rooms so only the doctors can go in there

This is when I chimed in with

"Someday when mommy has another baby you can come see me in my hospital room again"

This appeased him.  That "someday" may be a lot further away than he realizes though : )

As for today the kids and I headed off to the ward picnic.  It was sweltering but the kids enjoyed themselves anyways.

Paul got home and waited up to see us before he crashed - for the rest of the day and night.  I was hoping to take the kids to a movie this afternoon but turns out there were no kids movies playing.  So we rented one instead and ate popcorn, candy, and soda downstairs.  Noah thought it was really cool how we turned it into a movie theater - all I did was cover the couch with a blanket so we didn't spill on it : )

After movies we had a "pancake picnic" in the backyard.  I was proud of myself for being so fun and creative with the kids but it backfired.  For some reason all the bugs were out tonight and after all of us found spiders crawling on our legs we headed back inside.

The three of us had FHE then went for a bike ride/walk.

Noah starts preschool on Wednesday and can hardly contain himself.

Poor Alex is in tears over it.

Hope your holiday was great!