My First Piece of "Old"

I'm not a very good decorator.  You'd realize I don't have a cohesive "style" if you walked in my house.  I have a little bit of La Z Boy, a little bit of Roomstore and a little bit of Ikea.  And I'm not really in love with any of it.  In the past year I've been combing through catalogs to circle/cut out/dog ear pages of things that I really love so I can try to replicate it in future purchases I make.  Its always hard taking the first step because I usually look at something I like and say "yeah... I really like that, but it doesnt go with ANYTHING I have at home right now". 

But hey... I guess I have a hodge podge already, so what the heck!

So the style I like is a mix of "old and new".  Its Ballard Design-esque (when they're not being all frou frou).  This was my first purchase of something I really liked but didnt think would "go" in my kitchen.  I picked it up at Goodwill for cheap and while it's not in perfect shape, I really like it.  My plan is to get rid of all of the boring stuff I have and accumulate some fun pieces like this vintage pyrex.  Now I've just got to find some good thrifting haunts to make that happen!

School News

Natalie requested "rainbow cake" for her birthday celebration at school.  Nevermind that it was the DAY after we returned from camping and I had a pile of laundry a million miles high and several sold items on eBay I needed to ship.  Rainbow cupcakes were the priority. 

I got the idea from this blog.  Highly, highly recommend EVERY ONE of her recipies.  I've tried several and that girl has a good palate.

They were a hit at school.  I was glad because I felt all this pressure from the previous parent to "have the right birthday treat".  (It was all self-induced, of course.)

In other news... remember that kid Noah at school?  Well, Natalie came home on her third day and told me she'd kissed him.  Lord have mercy... this was NOT what I was prepared for.  Well, maybe I shouldnt have been THAT surprised.  She likes to act out Sleeping Beauty here at home and loves dressing up as a princess and likes acting out all of the various prince/princess roles with us.  But kissing a boy??!?!  I stressed.  I called his mother.  I emailed the teachers.  I pulled the princess movies off of the shelf at home.  Maybe an overreaction?  I dunno.  Perhaps.   Especially after I found out the kiss may have been a quick peck on the chest rather than on the lips. 

Regardless, I dont think my reaction really hurt anything.  I have noticed her talking more about getting married, asking when, who, etc.  And not really interested in watching other kinds of movies.  So, for now the princess books and movies have "gone to play at another little girls house". 

And boys have cooties.  Lots of them.

I Have A Problem

I can't fit this weekends yard sale finds in my office.

Hahaha... Its official!  I'm addicted to the whole resale adventure on eBay and Craigslist.  I started doing it out of curiosity and now I'm really gung-ho about doing it to save for vacation.  So far I've banked about $700 (and I'm getting more efficient).  Not bad for something I just started about 10 weeks ago.  I have to admit, though, that certain things have suffered as a result: 

• cooking (why cook when you could be listing items on eBay!?!?!)
• ironing (we'll just wear the knit stuff for now)
• blogging (I haven't take a picture of my son in over a month, but I've got picture of plenty of toys, coats, bikes and baby gear!)
• sleep (I've adopted the mantra "I'll sleep when I'm dead")
• scrapbooking/other hobbies 

I suppose it DOES take time and everyone I talk to about it gets this perplexed look on their face and wonders aloud "how I have time for all that?".  I guess we make time for what we want to make time for.  It certainly is something I'm interested in for now. I mean, its just SO exciting to see my bids increase on an auction or have someone email me about something I have on craigslist.  I mean I bought a stroller at a yardsale recently for $20 and sold it within a couple days for $75. 

As my grandmother says "You can't beat that with a stick!!"

I recently have been selling more baby items on craigslist.  Having gotten rid of my own things fairly recently I knew what things were hot.  I was selling a Bumbo baby seat on Craigstlist and had arranged to meet an interested buyer at a local grocery store parking lot.  When we met, he got out of the car with his wife to inspect the seat and I asked how old their little one was.  He said... "oh we dont have kids, we have a business!" 

Oh...

Then he and his wife proceed to try to talk me down because "they had just sold one of these on eBay last week for such and such amount and weren't going to make enough profit on this one".

Not my problem, buddy.

I politely informed them that I sold on ebay also and I was firm on the price.  They left empty handed. 

Its highly annoying when someone waits until they're face to face with you to try to talk you down.

Jerks

Well, the next Saturday I started out at an upscale neighborhood yardsale promptly at 7am.  Who should roll in behind me but Mr. Bumbo himself.  He and I played cat and mouse throughout that entire community sale.  He'd run to one sale and beat me out of a stroller I wanted.  I'd run to the next and save a whole bunch of things I wanted and ask if I could go to the one across the street and come right back.  Seriously one of the most stressful experiences of my life!  I was trying to avoid "buying it all" because of the hype, but was having to make quick decisions and couldnt look anything up to double check prices.  All in all I was extremely happy with what I came home with (I packed Kevin's car to the brim!). 

I did overhear Mr. Bumbo telling one deflated homeowner that "he didnt have kids he had a business" after just wheedling him down to $10 for 3 carseats.  I couldn't BELIEVE he hadn't learned his lesson and felt pretty sorry for the guy who'd just been duped.  Ah well.. I guess no one twisted the guys arm to MAKE him sell his carseats.  Its just got to be a rotten feeling.

So, yes, something I laugh at.  I hope I dont have to contend with Mr. Bumbo at any sales in the near future, but figure I haven't seen the last of him.

The Order of Things

I'm an arbitrary putter-offer of particular "milestones" for my kids.  Here's a list of the milestones that I've come up with on the fly.  Some make sense... some just are, well... arbitrary!

6 = the age you have to be to chew gum
8 = the age you have to be for us to even consider pierced ears
10 = the age you have to be to learn how to use a knife in the kitchen (and thereby cook me dinner!)
10 = the age you'll be when you can have soda on a more regular basis than "on airplanes only"
14 = the age you have to be to start wearing some makeup
25 = the age you have to be to get married

I find that things keep getting added to the list.  Did you have any "rules" like that growing up?

1st Day of School

My baby *sniff* started school this month.  Okay, its just preschool, but it just made her seem all grown up.  I'm sure when Liam starts it will be old hat.  Poor kid!

I got to go along for her gradual entry day.  It was just four days after her fourth birthday!  We left Liam with Grandma and Natalie picked a "special" place for lunch.  Natalie picked Arby's. 

Curly fries = special!

I took this picture right before she looked at me with her big brown eyes and told me: "I love you forever, Mom".

I was just kind of speechless and stammered out a "I'll love you forever too, Natalie".  Seriously... my newly minted 4 year old was already blowing me out of the water with how old she seemed.  This is the sort of stuff that just makes you beam inside as a parent.  Kind of amazing and surreal when it happens...

She really didn't "need" me there during class.  She's so social (even though she likes to pretend she's shy at the outset).  She quickly made friends with a little guy named Noah and spent a good amount of time playing princess and knight with him during free-play time.  I found myself cringing when she'd run around in the princess dress and say "I need to find a prince so I can get married!"  Oh dear...  maybe one too many Disney movies??? 

First day of school!

Roll call (It was cute watching them learn how to raise their hand and say "here!")

Learning the songs!

Storytime (she had two kids arguing over who was going to sit next to her)

the end of class (she was ready to go back!)

There's a Four Year Old in the House!

Natalie's birthday falls on my company's annual Six Flags picnic.  I debated a bit about having an actual party for her, but then I decided that Six Flags was PLENTY of celebration and I was going to heed the warning from a friend that throwing a party for 4 year olds was a lot more work than perhaps it was worth.

Noted.

So Six Flags it was and it did not disappoint.  Natalie, fortuntely, was tall enough to ride the 42" rides this year.  We talked importantly about how she was able to ride those rides because she'd eaten her vegetables and gotten taller and that Liam would have to eat more vegetables for next year.  I think it worked because she's all excited about the really "BIG" rollercoasters that she'll be able to grow into provided she continues to down those green beans.  I'm just hoping we can branch out from the canned variety at some point.

We took Liam with us to Six Flags (something we were a little fearful of) but it worked out rather well.  He's tall and fortunately had a good time on several things his height.  And of course there was plenty of food.  So, he was in his element!  I dont have any pictures from the day, but we had a blast and closed the park!  The most fun was had at the water park.  I think its genetic, because water parks happen to be my favorite too!

The next day, Sunday, we went to church and then we celebrated Natalie's birthday at home with our immediate family. Liam didnt even make the pictures because he was doing some hardcore napping to play catch-up from the previous day!   Here's a few pics from the festivities:

Notice the cake in the background (strawberry cake with white/pink icing)- Natalie and I picked it out and decorated it ourselves.  She was ecstatic with it (nevermind the pink border falling off the side of the cake!) 

The pink suitcase (it has princesses on the front of it) was certainly the star of the show. She had requested it months prior and I searched high and low for one in my resale adventures. God totally dropped one in my lap the Sunday before her birthday for a rock bottom price of $2. I know she doesnt care that it was used and it was in great shape! I just LOVE it that God cares about the little things in life that matter to us and is continually doing things to build my faith.

Baby Emma - thanks Mommo & Poppo!

Strawberry Shortcake dolls.  You know they market these to the parents, really.  My fourth birthday I had a Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake.  Oh the memories!!

No birthday is complete without a princess card!

She was rather insistent that we have a #4 on the cake though. Too cute!

A Marylander Born and Bred

Well, its official. She can stay.

What Happens When You Have An Older Sister

Natalie:    Mommy you saved me from the dragon! (as she jumps into my lap)
Me:          Ha ha ha!  But what you dont know is that I'm the dragon (I start to nibble on her head)
Natalie:    No I want Liam to be the dragon!
Liam:        No!
Natalie:    Yes!
Liam:        NO!
Me:           Liam, you dont want to be the dragon?
Liam:        NO!
Me:          What do you want to be, Liam?
Liam:        (without a pause) Rehreh
Me:          You want to be Cinderella?
Liam:        YEAH!

Oh dear.

August?

A friend called today and asked me how I was and I told her that I'd fallen into a black hole.  This summer has been, in a word... C..R..A..Z..Y.  And I wish that were the good kind.

I worked 50 hours a week for the entire thing and Kevin coordinated an entire office move and all of the hullabaloo that transpired afterward.  He lived at the office (literally) in one pair of underwear for 4 days straight.  And then another pair for another two days.

Fun times.

We are beyond the point of "I need a vacation".

Last week when I finally got back to my normal work schedule (thank you LORD!) it was like I was waking up after having been in a coma.  I had PILES and CLUTTER and my bathrooms hadnt been cleaned in 2 months!! (Okay, I may have cleaned a toilet once in there and wiped down the sink, but the shower?  Ick...)

So I know I know.. a lot of excuses, but seriously, if you wondered if I fell of the face of the earth... well... I did.

I've been so so remiss in taking pictures of my kids this summer.  I *finally* took some a few days ago while we were outside getting eaten alive by mosquitos enjoying an evening stroll.  Well, for Natalie it was an evening skate.

Last week, in the process of slowing down, I was noticing how much the kids (namely Liam) had changed over the summer.  Three months is a long time for a 2 year old and he seemed to be so much more pleasant on errands and able to understand and communicate so much more readily.  How had this happened right under my nose?  In fact... both kids seem to be working on their expressiveness.

I'm loving the trout pout in the middle.  And the "I just got picked for the Price is Right!" face next to it.  Seriously... what a ham!

Liams "funny" face.  "Sad" and "mad" are pretty amusing too.

In the middle of "CHEESE!"

On a rather exciting note, Liam has started potty training in full force! And his dad and I are doing quite the jig at the thought of no more diapers!!! I'm using Pull-ups for now, but I've already resolved that the box of actual diapers I have will be my last. Ahhh... that feels SO good to say that.

So because things aren't quite chaotic enough in my life, I've recently gotten interested in buying/reselling kids toys on ebay and craigslist.  Here's what got me started...

Bought for $3. Sold for $89.99.

You can't tell me that's not addicting.

Well, so not everything is that ridiculously great of a profit and its been a little bit of trial and error.  But, its been a fun way to bank up a little extra cash toward a vacation at some point or just a night out with my husband.  Hey... and if it gives me another reason to yardsale (did I need another one?!?) then its worth it!

Birthday Musings...

Dear Liam,

Today you're 2. Its hard to believe you made your debut into our lives just 2 years ago. And what an empty world that was comparatively. I am awed by that everytime I walk in the door and you act like you just won the MegaMillions. I hope you never stop acting the fool when I'm around. It's kinda nice to have a fan club. I realize that it probably wont last, though, and you'll be lecturing me on how not to embarrass you in front of your friends in few short years. I guess that means I need to soak this up now.

You're so enthusiastic about the things you love: Mommy, food, Dora, Mommy, blocks, toys, slides, Ms. Jody, Mommy, snacks, music, Mommy. You notice a few repeats? Yeah, you REALLY like those things. =) And when you're talking about them you like you're leading a pep rally with a megaphone.

SNACKS!!!! YEAH!!!!

Unfortunately haven't taken quite the shine to Dad as you have to me. Let me tell ya, buddy, I know he's not me, but he's still a good guy. (Natalie and I think so!). Plus, he's the one thats going to be taking you hunting and fishing and teach you how to pee standing up. And you'll soon find out...I dont know a thing about any of that.

You are getting so big so fast, it seems. You can also almost count to 20 and can recognize a handful of letters. Just this week you started putting two words together. Light on, hi Natalie, fan off. And of course, "more snack". You're too cute.

You're dramatic to the core. I've ripped your little world apart with the announcement that, in fact, we would not be turning the TV on or that it, indeed, was not time to get out of bed. I have a feeling that this is going to be a part of who you are - a feeler. And the real question is, how could you come out of this family and not be a feeler? Should I be surprised? My prayer for you is that your learn not to put too much stock in your feelings as they can change so often. And also that despite your deep reactions to the world you remain an optimist.  I'm hopeful. =)

Tonight we celebrated your birthday with Grandma, Grandpa and Meme. I cooked a big meal - not much of it you ate. But that's okay, because you reveled in the fact that we fed you ice cream cake and juice at the end. You should really be thankful. Your sister got diabetic cookies for her 2nd birthday. So I guess you could say we've relaxed a little.

Buddy, your loud, kinda messy, and smelly at times, but you are a light in our family. A loud, smelly, messy and wonderfully cuddly light. One that loves to sing, dance, blow kisses, dress up in your sisters dress up stuff, play blocks and help us make breakfast by dumping Cheerios on the kitchen floor.

We love you through and through.  Don't grow up too fast.

- Your Mama

The Way You WISHED You'd Spent Your 32nd Birthday...

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. "What does that excatly mean?", you ask?

Well, it involves getting dressed up like a cow in order to get free food.

And if you know me (like, really AT ALL) you know I LOVE a bargain.

And apparently have no shame.

I mean who else marches their 32 year old butt into Chick-fil-a in black spandex with printer paper cow spots duct taped to them and orders a spicy chicken sandwich, extra pickles?

Let me just say, that might have been the best chicken sandwich of my entire life.

Moo!

Oh, and yes, for those of you that are wondering, Natalie IS wearing pants here (despite the appearance that we might be prepping her for a bovine-inspired streetwalker career in the future). Liam's outfit could double for the angel this Christmas. Ha! This is repurposing at its best folks!

Sunday Best

On Sunday we actually had time to put a dress on Natalie AND do something with her hair. This is coming from the family who is usually late to church AND who's children arrive already with stains on their shirts.

Hey... it's hard to keep a 1 and 3 year old clean for ANY amount of time.

So, after straightening Natalie's hair and befitting it with a headband, I decided to take a picture so I could look back years from now (forgetting all of the mayhem) and think "wow... we really had it together back then!"

The dress (hard to see in my overexposed pic) is a cute one we picked up at a yardsale a few weeks ago for 50 cents! Yellow with white polka dots. I'm going to have to stop telling Natalie where I find her clothes, though. She's already begun to tell people where they're from. While it's not a terrible thing in and of itself, school-age girls can be merciless. My mom made all of my clothes (and what a wonderful job she did!) but my pride in where my clothes came from turned out to be great ammunition for making fun of me. All those girls in their Hypercolor t-shirts, Guess jeans and Reebok high-tops. They were so lame. I SO wish I had a chance to go back and live my life over again with the confidence God's given me now. I'd care less about trying to be liked by that lame crowd and be content to just be myself. Ahh... the things I wish I could protect my daughter from...

It's Gone!

Last weekend Kevin and I tackled a project we'd been thinking about for quite some time. But it involved wallpaper removal - lots of it. And if that isnt enough to stop you dead in your tracks I don't know what is. Last time we did this was in 2004 when we moved into the house - so alas we had been dragging our feet A LONG TIME.

Anyway, the impetus for any change in the kitchen was this:

Notice the countertop split in front of the sink.

These counters (even though they're laminate) were brand spankin new when we moved in. Apparently the sink wasn't sealed properly though, so fun times all around.

I guess I'm not complaining though... we thought we'd just replace the counters with postform laminate to cut down on cost, but when running the numbers, granite wasn't a ton more (provided we do a little legwork ahead of time).

Jackpot!

That part should be done in a month or so - I just wanted to show you the beginning stages of our project.

BEFORE:

Can you believe I'm showing you how messy my kitchen is? I really can't either.

But it really was pretty clean in comparison to how it looked once the wallpaper started coming down.

DURING:

Be forewarned: Wallpaper removal is a messy job. You will find little pieces of glue backed paper for WEEKS.

So, we really could use some feedback though on the wall color. We are not redoing the floors, so we matched the gray/blue floor to a medium gray counter. Should we follow the gray theme and do a light gray wall (as seen in the middle swatch of wall color? Or do I try to tie in some of the yellow undertones of the cabinets? I was originally thinking white walls but they're pretty white now and the trim and the walls just kind of blend into each other. Obviously I dont want it to be too dark, though. I was also debating a chalkboard paint on the wall with the two closets (by the kitchen table) although I'm not sure how chalkboard paint "wears". Does it erase well? Can you paint over it easily? Advice please!!!

Carnival of '11

When they're in their 80's, they'll be looking back and telling their grandkids about how when THEY were little, they used to ride on metal carnival equipment that was probably 30 years old and there were REAL germs on all of the rides. And that you'd get whiplash from the roller coasters - the kind that knocks your head around a metal seat like a ping pong ball.

They'd mention how the safety harnesses were easily slipped out of and there were high voltage wires between all the rides that you could trip on. And that all the carnies looked like they had worn the same filthy shirt since last year and maybe belonged on America's Most Wanted.

And then their grandkids would wonder if their parents had been crazy taking them to such an establishment.

And I think the answer might be yes.

But hey, it was fun!

Homemade Tortillas

I was catching up on all the blogs I follow the other day and stumbled across this recipe.  When I was in high school I was a hostess at a mexican restaurant in Springfield, MO.

"How much authentic mexican food is there in Springfield, MO", you ask.

Not much.

But we DID have a really cool tortilla maker in the lobby of the restaurant and would make tortillas for the restaurant and for the waiting patrons, topping them with salsa, whipped cream, honey or butter and cinnamon and sugar.

So this reminded me of that.

Turns out making tortillas is SUPER easy.  So Sunday morning we whipped up about 12 of these and went to town making homemade breakfast burritos (fried egg, onion, tomato, cilantro, cheese....mmmmm)

Let me just say we may never buy store bought tortillas again.

There is no contest.

Feelin' Crafty

Last week I was in an organizing frenzy.  This week, you might not know it because I have junk piled up all over my house, but it really is in an effort to purge and declutter. 

You may see it as messy, I see it as progress!

Anyway, my jewelry was in dire need of reorganizing and purging.  I spent about 3 hours cleaning off the top of my dresser (it has so much bare space now!), purging my jewelry I never wear and cleaning the silver I have.  I was all ready to shove all of my dangly earrings back into my small jewelry caddy when I remembered a really pretty storage solution I'd seen at a friends house.  A little googling, 45 minutes with the staple gun and I arrived at this!

Isn't it pretty?  I was so proud of myself!

Introspection

Life has been hectic (as I've said before here, here, here and here).  Obviously with two little ones at home, a household to take care of and 30 hours of work a week, things get crazy. 

I've been underwater recently - as I'm sure you've seen in my blog.  And I've found myself to be irritable, longing for something different and just generally unhappy. 

What?!?!

I'm sure many of you are wondering how that could possibly happen.  How could a girl with two healthy kids, a PART-TIME job and a generally great life be unhappy?  The 2005 me would have DIED to have been in these shoes right now.  But alas... Here I am.  And I find myself wanting something different.  Something freer.  Because this stage of life can feel like monotony.  The kind of monotony that has you waking up at 40 and wondering what happened to your 30's.

It feels like I come home from work to someone whining and pulling on my legs and then I make dinner, clean up, feel guilty about using TV as a babysitter, put the kids to bed and rejoice that I have a few hours to spend the way I want to spend them.  Then I waste the time I have to myself, stay up too late and get up at the absolute last minute the next morning dog tired and wonder when I'll ever get the motivation to wake up early and exercise.  Sometimes I do, but its rare.

Do I sound like I'm complaining? 

Well it sure isn't great.

Is this honest? 

Yeah. 

Does this make me a bad person. 

I dunno. 

I have friends that are endless fountains of patience and so attentive with their children.  I read blogs written by women with large families that home school and have spotless houses because they follow a detailed household playbook.  I read other blogs written by women that save thousands of dollars on groceries because they feed their families using coupons.  I'm finding that I do a lot of things, wear a lot of hats, but that I am mediocre at them all.  Scraping by for appearances sake, but not happy with where I'm at.

I admitted this to an older friend in my Bible study earlier this week and she had a lot of wisdom to share.  She encouraged me that thinking of myself first sometimes was not all that bad. 

Okay, I've heard this one.  But what does that really mean?

Well for the night owl in me, it means that I need some "me time" at the beginning of my day and it's going to involve getting up early - before the kids get up.  I needed the "one up" on them, not to be simply reacting to them as soon as my feet hit the ground.  I needed to be planned, put together, in control. 

This also involves my time with the Lord.   I've always gotten to reading the Bible "when I had time" (which didn't happen very often at all).  I'd shove it til the kids took naps or right before bed because that was the only time I had to myself.  But inevitably laundry, hanging out with Kevin or just general "downtime" would take precedence and I'd find myself in a state of the "ought to's" that quickly turned to guilt. 

Not the sort of Christian life I wanted to live or model for my kids.  Where's the joy in that?

Then my friend made a statement that really hit me.  She said she didn't NEED God to move her right before she went to bed because it wouldn't impact her as much come morning time.  She NEEDED Him first thing in the morning so that she'd be impacted when she interacted with her husband, her kids and people at her job.

I'd never thought about it this way.  I had always heard morning devotions were better, but I didn't really realize why.  It may seem like a "duh" thing to the rest of you, but for me, it was revolutionary.  A completely new way of thinking.

Since we've met I've had a new energy that's not forced, canned or guilt-based.  Amazingly, I've actually gotten up at 5:45 and run, had devotions and planned my day prior to the kids getting up - all with the desire to do so.  It's incredible to see what change has been affected in only 4 days time.  I've been more patient with my kids, intentional in the time I spend with them, on projects around the house and with friends.  And generally, I've been a lot happier and a lot less stressed out.  I think I finally feel like I'm headed in a direction I want to go and I'm excited to see what God's going to do with that.

I also started reading Andy Stanley's Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.  The idea is that you ARE headed in a direction.  The question is: is it where you want to go? It has me looking at my life from an aerial view as opposed to seeing it as a collection of individual, unrelated decisions.  I've yet to figure out exactly where God wants to take me, but I think I might be one step closer to finding out!

Disclaimer: Yeah I know there were no pictures of my kids in this post or funny anecdotes.  To be honest, I haven't taken any pictures.  Poor parenting, I know.  =)  I'll fix that this weekend.  Just wanted to share what's been on my heart of late.

May, So Far

I thought I wouldn't say it, but I flew with the kids again, and it wasn't that bad!  I think I had convinced enough people to pray for us this time under the pretenses we may actually get booted off the plane midway to Kansas City.  Based on the flight I had with them in August, this could have been a very real possibility.

This time, though, was MUCH better - largely due to the love for television that we've worked on instilling in our 1.5 year old.  (The former me just died I think)  I have a huge love/hate relationship with the TV.  I really hate the fact that my kids are in front of it at all.  But I've come to learn that my sanity is on the line and if it keeps me from blowing a gasket or allows me to get dinner made without stabbing myself in the eyeballs then it's probably worth it.  How DID those pioneer women do it?

Liam (quite on his own) has developed a love for all things Dora.  I've never been a fan of the triangle headed kid, who, my friend Beth pointed out, does not have a shirt that covers her stomach.  But, I've welcomed her warmly into my home because for some reason or other Liam adores the ground she walks on, along with Map, Backpack, Boots and the rest of the gang.  I know the songs, I've read the predictable books and have purchased the gear that goes along with being a Dora fan just for Liam because I figure it makes him so darned happy.  It IS cute. I also was figuring it would help make the plane ride a more pleasant experience.  And I was right!

Getting out to KC was perfect.  I had an extra seat next to me so we could all have our own (Liam was a lap child).  Coming back, however, we sat in the very last row next to the bathrooms and I was sandwiched between Natalie's carseat and a broad shouldered guy with Liam on my lap.  I swear the last row has even LESS leg room than the rest of the seats on the plane.  Lets just say I was thankful for deodorant and the lollipops I'd brought to bribe my children that day.

We stayed a week in Kansas City this time and it was lovely.  I got LOTS of time to myself, to shop, to hang out with my sister, to see my grandparents and long lost relatives and to just relax.  I was so bummed to come home to a house where no one does my laundry (my mom rocks at laundry) and I had to go back to work.  =(  I guess it wasnt only the grandkids who got spoiled at Nana and Papas house!

My freshman roommate, Beth, came for a playdate with her daughter Mylie.  Natalie had fun bossing her around.  Heck, she has fun when she can boss anyone around!

Poppo, Cousin Steven and Uncle Mike

SO thankful that they made the trip to come see us!

My cousin Steven is graduating from medical school this coming weekend and starting his residency in OB/GYN.  We got a chance to go out and I got to pick his brain about all of his crazy stories thus far involving women, babies, etc.  He's got a real passion for medicine and a heart for womens health.  I'm excited for him and what he's accomplished so far.  I know he'll make a terrific doctor.

My Great Aunt Hazel.  She looks exactly the same as I always remembered her growing up (maybe just a bit shorter).  Such a bright spirit and positive person.  I love her!

Left: Liam wearing Nana's "dress up" beads, 2011.

Right: Natalie wearing Nana's "dress up" beads, 2008. 

Aunt Lib reading to Natalie.  I love the expression on Natalie's face.  This book was particularly long and had lots of nonsensical words.  I think its ironic that even at 3 1/2 she's like "seriously???".

A sweet picture of Mommo reading to Natalie.

Liam giving hugs to Poppo.  I love that they get a chance to see each other, even if it is much too infrequent.

Dinner with the family

When we got back into town we found a tricycle that fits Liam perfectly.  Craigslist, of course!

We did lots of shopping in Kansas City.  It was nice to buy clothing in stores other than Target and Costco (the main stores I frequent at home with the kids).  This little number is from the Osh Kosh outlet.  I do think the bunny slippers were a nice addition.

Liam started talking up a storm after we got back from Kansas City: "egg", "Natalie", "Banana", "balloon", "heart", "shoes", "up we go"...  And the list goes on.  Next it will be "pink purse".

In other news, we also got rid of the pacifier, Liam had his first dentist appointment and Natalie told me that we were going to be "friends forever".  Gosh, I hope so.