The Waiting Place

That is where I am right now. Dr. Seuss was right, it is not a good place to be. We are waiting for the baby and waiting for our house to sell. We are waiting to move and we are waiting to send out news. Just waiting.


From Oh, the Places you'll go!

The Waiting Place......for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow.Everyone is just waiting.Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pantsor a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

Excitement on Tax Day!

April 15th generally comes and goes without a second thought except for this year. It turns out I had some preterm contractions and earned a night at the hospital. We are fine now, it's just that the baby is a touch too little to be greeting us right now (34 weeks). So I am learning to "take it easy" and keeping the baby in. It was a small scare and we are hoping to see the baby soon, mid-May.

Yeah, It's Done!!

Lucy Is Potty Trained! Yippiee! So I decided that I was done buying diapers, so I stopped using them. All day today Lucy has been wearing big girl underpants and she hasn't had one accident! We even made a trip to Wal-mart, still no problems. She is still wearing a pull-up at night, but at least we have ditched the diapers. Now how do I avoid diapers with this next baby? Still haven't figured that one out.


Hooray for underpants!!!!

Happy Birthday, James!

So I am so sorry it is going to be a lot harder than I thought to keep up with my blog. Without the Internet at home I have to bring all the pictures and stuff with me. It stinks. But I did promise I would post about James' birthday. It was fun. We went out for Mexican, went to the movies, and ate cake. His birthday cake of choice was a Fudge Ribbon Cake, which is a dense chocolate cake with Cheesecake swirled throughout it. The only problem is that a "Leprechaun" got a hold of the cake and turned the swirls green. Every bite I kept expecting a hint of mint. But it was good no the less. I will try to post a recipe soon.

Imagine it looking something like this only green: So The birthday was fun and the cake was good, but the surprise that I made for him was a mint truffle. It was a recipe that I found on Bakerella. They are so simple to make and oh so yummy. you have to try them. They are made from mint Oreos, cream cheese, and chocolate chips. For a decadent treat you can't get anymore simple than that. Here is the recipe, enjoy!!

Our trip to the Ballet!

We were lucky enough to get a private ballet performance. We thought that it was so good and entertaining that we recorded an excerpt and decide to share it with everyone. We hope you can enjoy it as much as we did.

As A Result...

Well, we have decided to cut our tv and internet services. As a result I have had time for projects. I have made a tiered skirt for Lucy and a rag quilt for the new baby. Both were so easy that I can't wait to get more fabric and make more. I just wish I had more choices for fabric than just Wal-mart.

I have also been able to make something for James' birthday on St. Patrick's Day but I can't post about that until after his b-day. (I don't want to give away any surprises.)

Oh No....!

We caught Lucy in the lotion AGAIN! Of course it had to be the expensive Eucerin.  Just imagine how the rug, couch, and surrounding blanket looked. What a mess!

What's So Funny?

I was looking through some old pictures and found one that brought back a flood of memories. When my sisters and I get together we can not stop laughing. I guess it has been happening since we were little. I think I am about five or six in this picture. 

What is it with Zoos?

One thing people may not know about our family is that we love zoos. Every place that we live we find a way to go to the nearest zoo. While in Nebraska we have found that we have been to the Denver zoo quite a few times. So with our latest trip we saw a theme developing and I thought I would share. 

This first picture is the summer of 2005. 

This second picture was taken in September 2007. 

And Finally, this picture was taken February 2009. It seems we are averaging every other year.

Can it be done?

Today I am attempting the impossible. I am going "unplugged" for a whole day. I am going to turn off my computer and television and unplug both of them. At least I'll have the phone and therefore will not "fall off the face of the earth" (well, I hope not). 

So here goes my first social experiment. I will have to be creative on how to fill my day. I know that my house has been suffering, maybe I will start there. Has anyone else done this? How did you do? Any tips? You might have to call because I won't be able to read responses (well maybe not until Wednesday).

New Month, New Trial

This month we are again trying to potty train Lucy. Anyone who has attempted this knows how frustrating it can be. So far we have been successful with #2 but we have only been working on it for about two hours. Any suggestions? Ideas? Help?

When I potty trained Thomas it took about 6 months. Once I found his motivation, it worked. When he had accidents he lost television and computer privileges. After that, he was potty trained almost overnight. The only problem is that Lucy couldn’t be more different from Thomas. So I am really up for any ideas anyone can spare. 

Our Picky Eater!

As a mother of toddlers, I am constantly worried that the kiddos aren’t getting enough proper nutrition. I was told by a far off source that if a child is lacking protein, carbs, and/or vitamins they will crave and eat those foods to fill that void. Boy is that off. Needless to say I have a picky eater, a VERY picky eater. Every meal we would put veggies and fruit on the lunch and dinner plate and every meal they would go untouched (unless they floated in the drink.) I tried not to make too big of a deal out of it, thinking that someday she would get curious about the “other” side of the plate. But when I found out that she was becoming deficient and it was affecting her health, I knew I had to take immediate action. So here are some tools that I have used to help solve my dilemma.

“Deceptively Delicious” book—it’s a recipe book by Jessica Seinfeld teaching mothers to sneak in veggies and fruit into everyday “kids” foods. I still serve the green beans with the spaghetti and meatballs but I don’t stress out that they don’t get eaten. The spaghetti is now fortified with wheat pasta, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes and spinach. I LOVE trying the new recipes and inventing my own with the added veggies. In all honesty, the food tastes good and we are finding it fills us up a lot faster than before (we are getting added veggies, too).

“Eat this Not that” book—this book is comparing the pre-prepared items in the grocery store. It is teaching the consumer (me) that just because it looks or says that the food is healthy doesn’t mean that it is (and it tells you why so you can make an informed decision). So now I am taking this book to the store with me and every time I buy a premade dinner, bread or juice. I then consult my new healthy food reference and make the best possible choice. I love it because it brings a new challenge to the food shopping trip and I can still get my chocolate and sugar fixes (and not feel guilty.)

The Snack Boxes—we bought a small Tupperware for each of the kids. We let them decorate it and color them. I then put the boxes in the fridge filled with good choice snacks. Now when the kids want a snack they can go into their box and grab which ever suits their fancy. Each snack is the proper portion size and since I control what goes in there I only put the best in there. I only fill them up once a week so once it’s gone, it’s gone. So when snack time rolls around I am not scouring the cupboards and then settle for fruit snacks or the eighth cookie that day.

I am still in the beginning stages of this uphill battle but I thought I would share some of the things that I have found that works. Do you have a picky eater? Do you have any advice? Let me know what you think?

Cool Song

I thought this was a really cool video. I think Kay is my new favorite artist. I hope you enjoy.

Drama, Drama, Drama!!!

I don't mean to sound negative but I am SICK of going to the emergency room. I was privileged enough to make another visit yesterday (Sunday) just as church began. It turns out that my silver ballet flats don't have very much traction when it comes to black ice. So after sitting down in sacrament meeting for about two minutes we decided to make a bee line to the ER. Luckily I only came away with a sprained wrist, but that doesn't take away the pain. Under normal conditions they would prescribe some feel good drugs but because of Aloysius Hector the III (the baby) I have to brave this arm with over the counter Tylenol, (an unenthusiastic, yeah.) So I would post more about this unfortunate event but I am one handed and I need to elevate my injured appendage.  

Need a pick me up?

Any time I am feeling down I think, "if only I could have someone there to pick me up." I think this is my answer. I hope it makes you feel better too! There are some more funny videos at Failblog. Just make sure you click on the G-Rated stuff.

It's Unofficially official!

James accepted a job offer in Texas! Yeah! The best part is they don't want him to start until the summer so, we will have time to sell the house and have a baby. We are really excited about it and can't wait for the warm weather!

Here's to do it yourself!!

Toilets get a bad rap because they handle all the stuff that we don't like to think about. In reality, as long as they are clean, they are not that bad. When our toilet started to run a month or two ago I thought, "oh great there goes another $100 to the plumber." Now, I know the plumber has to make a living too, but January is not the month to have to call a repairman. So I got brave, did a little research, and found out that toilets are an easy and simple mechanism. It just took about 15 minutes of reading, cleaning and repairing. It didn't even cost a penny. So now I feel like I can fix anything, and our toilet doesn't run now. 

"It's Morning!"

Every morning our little Lucy wakes up in the best mood. The first thing she says is, "it's morning" and then she todles into our room and says, "Mama, it's morning. Dada, it's morning." We love her cheerful, happy spirit!

Wow, What a Month!!!

I can not believe that this month is almost over. I have been super busy so I have neglected my blog, I am sorry. December is a busy month for everyone, but it seems to have hit me hard this year.

Grades were FINALLY posted on the 22^nd and I am happy to say I got straight A's. A Brittany first. That is not to say that there wasn't a lot of sweat and tears involved, because there was, but at least the final grades were worth it! 

So I was going into Christmas pretty excited, that is until Thomas opened three gifts and all of his stocking stuffers a week before Christmas. That was a stress beyond belief but we survived that too. On Christmas Eve we told the kids they we are having a baby and they both wanted to sit next to the baby while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Christmas was going well until I ended up in the hospital at 7 a.m. with the stomach flu. Our family was shown the true spirit of Christmas as a family in our Branch brought over Christmas dinner and several people offered to watch the children, even on Christmas. But that was only a little detour from our Christmas celebrations.

I think the cutest part of this all is when I came home from the hospital Thomas wanted to see the new baby. The next 5 months are going to be long for him. 

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know I have not disappeared. I have just been very busy and I plan to be more attentive. Thanks for reading and let me know how your holidays turned out. 

But, to end on a better note, I have been feeling the baby kick! Yippee!

Our Chocolate Fiesta!

On Friday, the 28th, we had a blast at our house. 

We pulled our our chocolate fountain and had our annual Chocolate party. 

Our guests brought food that ranged from strawberries and bananas to cheese and bacon. We played a few games and had a good time visiting with our friends. 

Next to Thanksgiving, our chocolate party is our favorite part of November.