The Hansen Family

Ultimate Date Night Giveaway- part 2

2011-12-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

New Look

2011-11-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

So my friend from Virginia redid her dining room chairs and shared how she did it on her blog and I loved her idea so much that I did it to mine, and they look FABULOUS!!! It was really simple to do. First the chairs I got were redone many years ago from the previous owner, it went from black:
To this tanish burlap style:

I just simply unscrewed the seat from the chair, took off the burlap looking material (it was just stapled down)and stapled our new material to it. My friend used a shower curtain for her chairs, that's really cost effective but we knew with our kids we'd have to redo the chairs more often with a shower curtain. Josh really wanted something that wasn't fabric. With the fabric material the kids would spill alot and it would just soak it up and stain. I told him that I can get a clear plastic to cover the new material, but he didn't like that idea, he wanted leather! I told him that I could probably do that but it would a TON more expensive. Turns out Joann's doesn't sell leather, but I got pleather... well the label said vinyl, in a brown. It was $16.99/yd. YOWZER!! I know, but gonna be totally worth it. I cut them into squares:

And then I stapled it to the back of the seat. (sorry no pics on that)
Then I screwed the seat back onto the chair and voila! New chairs!!

So simple! And the clean up is soooooo much easier, just wipe it up. We plan on restaining the table and chairs to a darker color, so the new color of the seat will match it better.

Before and After:

So proud of myself!

Pattern

2011-05-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

As I came home today fresh from church I couldn't seem to stop my mind from wandering back to the lesson in Relief Society. Patterns. Yes we talked about patterns you use to make clothes and stuff. But it really came to head when the teacher started talking about why we use a pattern... you know less mistakes... etc. (I didn't pay good attention cuz' she gave me and another lady instructions to whisper to each other during class, but we miss understood and whispered during the crucial beginning instead of during a time when the whole class was reading a hymn... whoops!) And then she started talking about patterns to be righteous and how they were both very similar. I had to share my story to the class and I feel I must share it on my blog today as well.

I'm very aware of how easy it is to break the pattern of going to church every Sunday. You want to sleep in, clean the house, not fight with the kids, etc. Whatever excuse you can think of, insert here. In fact Zoey's whole first year of life didn't include going to church because it was at 9am and I went by myself and there was no way I was going by myself with a newborn and a toddler to church by 9am. See pattern broke. But we did the next year. Pattern fixed. Then we moved back to Idaho and I knew going to church here would be difficult. You know all alone again, not knowing anyone and on my 3rd Sunday to church the kids were HORRIBLE!! I was so embarrassed. They practically screaming at each other during sacrament, hitting, crying, throwing fits.This was just 20 min into sacrament too. Everyone around me was looking at them and me and probably thinking that I would just go out to the foyer so they can listen to the talks in quiet. Well we did end up in the foyer, but the kids just escalated, so I took them home! I was in tears because it felt like the people in my ward thought less of me, Zoey was crying because she's 2? Ginger was crying because she REALLY wanted to go to primary. We just went home. I called my hubby who is not a member of the LDS church and I just started bawling and telling him that I didn't want to go to church anymore. He was a little freaked at my outburst. But in the sweetest voice he told me to not stop going to church. That it's so good for the kids and me to go and continue and try and make friends in the church. He called his LDS grandma and arranged for her come to the following Sunday with me so I wouldn't be alone. And I'm crying as I write this because my husband is SO amazing but... while I was so close to break the pattern yet again, he encouraged and gave my optimism to keep it up and it will get better. It's just so hard sometimes and you feel like you get nothing out of it some Sundays but I always feel better when I get home. Renewed, refreshed, and loved. So while it's hard to set a pattern/example and stick to it... it's so worth it!

Easter 2011

2011-04-27T08:34:00.001-07:00

It was a pretty great Easter. Especially since we had all our family around to be with. After the girls woke up and found their baskets we did a little egg hunt with Josh's parents. And later in the afternoon I went with Matt and his family and did another egg hunt. The kids just love egg hunting!!

Valentines Day 2011

2011-03-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

Of course I had to do the traditional Valentine's Day breakfast for my kids. It wasn't as fancy as I think it could of been but my girls still felt special and loved by it.

Trying to take a pic of all of us together, Zoey's getting ready to kiss Ginger

Ginger taking stock of her loot she got from school :)

Nashville

2011-02-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

I tried posting this a while back but blogger wasn't allowing to post pics, so better late than never!

Josh and I went to Nashville, TN last week. I guess it was my valentines day "gift" from Josh. But I think that's just what he says to himself to justify the trip. On our way there we had stopped at the the University of Virginia, that college was amazing. And so pretty. Did you know that President Jefferson was the architect who designed it?The best part about the trip was that my Aunt Dani watched the kids so it was just Josh and I. That was the best part! No kids. It had been over a year since we'd done a trip with just the two of us. And the car ride there was like 10 hours so we spent a lot of quality time together. It was just great. We went downtown to what they call the district and it was just lined up with bars, and every bar had a live band playing in it. Josh was in heaven! He just loves music. We also went to the Country Music Hall of Fame museum. That was pretty cool. On our way home we also stopped at Virginia Tech (we got to see the stadium where BSU stomped em'!) and University of Tennessee, did you know that that college is 3,000 acres!!! No we aren't going to colleges to see where we want to go, we just thought it would be fun to check em' out :) Like I said it was just so awesome to be alone with Josh.

What is romance?

2011-02-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Seriously? What is romance? My friend was over last week and we got to talking about it and I think everyone has their own idea of what it could be. Maybe it's your special someone who buys you flowers and candy and jewelry. Or your special someone who cleaned your house for you. Or whisked you away on a mini vacation. Or took the kids off your hands so you could sleep in, take a bath, finish a project, go shopping, etc. I think that we have these preconceived notions on what we should expect romance to be (you know, candy, jewelry, flowers, sexy talk, all the time). But it's not all about the gooey stuff. Sometimes I forget because Josh is not a romantic kind of guy most of the time, but every now and then when he is and when I look back at the times that he has done small gestures for me... man it just blows me away and I fall even more in love with him. I am one who doesn't particularly doesn't care much for Valentine's Day. I love making the kids a morning breakfast, but I love even more remembering why I love Josh and remembering. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Dulles Air and Space Museum

2011-02-08T08:31:00.001-08:00

On Saturday Josh wanted to finally go to the Dulles Air and Space Museum. We've been the one in DC and have yet to go to the one practically down the road. It's free admittance but parking is normally $15 but when we got there it was FREE!! woohoo!! So that just made the trip that much more better!! It was quite amazing. Basically it was like a hangar (a huge one) filled with every type of flying contraption. We saw a plane called a Blackbird, it's like the fastest EVER. On its final flying day it went from LA to Dulles Airport in 1 hour 4 min and 20 sec. Don't you wish that you could travel that quickly? So cool. There was also the space section where they had all kinds of satellites that were once up in space and an actual shuttle. Pretty neat. They also had a portable planetarium. Very beautiful. The girls loved it. There was an actual space suit out on display and you could touch it and put on the gloves. Zoey was very afraid of this "spaceman". She didn't want anything to do with it. The kids did great. There were a couple of meltdowns ( I've got 2 girls, I was happy with the amount) one was while we were waiting to go on the elevator to go to the observation tower, Zoey just freaked for a bit and we let her. She was on the ground, face down, and the she proceeded to lick the floor!! Disgusting and slightly embarrassing since we had an audience. Needless to say that she now has a cold.

Here's the blackbird! Very sleek looking huh?

See how Zoey won't even look at the suit?

Wow, it's been a while!

2011-02-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

I was just going through my blog and I noticed that it has been a lllllloooooonnnnnnnngggggg time since I last blogged. Man, facebook makes me lazy! It's just so easy to post something quickly on there and have everyone know right then and there. But I'm going to try and do something here more often. So there has been halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, a birthday and new years since I last blogged... Since I live so far from most family we didn't really do anything.

Halloween we went trick or treating with some friends from church.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve was at Aunt Dani's house, which was AMAZING!! It is just such a blessing to be able to spend those wonderful holidays with this family. P.S. I made the shirts! Aren't they adorable?

Zoey turned 2!! My big girl. She is just the sweetest, chubbiest, most loving little girl. She LOVES to give snuggles. She loves her big sister and would do everything she wants to do. She's already completely potty trained (I know it's crazy). She brings so much joy in our lives. Kids sure are wonderful.

Josh had to work New Year's, but the girls and I were invited to our friends house to bring in the new year and it was a blast. The kids even stayed up the whole time!!

So those are the past things that I didn't really blog about, but deserve mentioning. Ginger LOVES going to school. Last week school was closed for most of the week because of the snow and Ginger didn't like that one bit! Especially since pajama day was that week. But she got to do it on Monday. She loved wearing her pj's to school.

Austin is living with us and we love having him. Especially the girls. They love their Gunkel! And we love having a live in babysitter. ;)

I'm active in church again. Which is wonderful. I now teach the CTR 7 class (7yr olds) last year I taught the 9-11 yr olds. They are so sweet. I also play church basketball and I love it. It feels good to "work out" at least once week. We might start doing some Zumba on fridays to get an extra work out in the week.

Josh and I are doing great. We love living in Virginia and have loved exploring all of our surroundings and enjoyed getting to know the Kynaston Clan (who are one of the most amazing families EVER). But we feel a change a coming. I don't have the details, which is frustrating. But prayers for guidance and clarity for us would be more than welcome.

I'm crafty!

2010-10-07T17:25:00.001-07:00

I'm totally feeling like a crafty lady this month! Check it out!!

My halloween house!

Below are my projects from my Super Saturday at church. It was so much fun!

A tile with vinyl stuff, super cute. I totally love it.

These mummies took for ever, in fact I didn't get a chance to finish them Saturday so I finally finished them today! Super cute!

Micron Celebration

2010-10-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

So Josh's work had a big celebration a couple weeks ago for hitting a goal. They were to make so much of something in so much amount of time (that's all I know). They threw a huge bar-b-que at this beautiful ranch called Marriott Ranch. There was tons of food, balloon animals, face painting, popcorn, games, wall climbing, pony rides, ice cream, rodeos, you get the idea. It was fantastic. The kids had a wonderful time. So did I but I enjoyed watching the kids have some serious fun. We got Ginger's face painted. Zoey's too, but just a small butterfly on her cheek. We had to wait in line for almost an hour. But it was worth it just for her pure look of joy while it was getting done and then when it was finished. The kids loved the fact that they could eat whatever they wanted to and mommy and daddy didn't care. Ginger LOVED the pony ride she thought it was the most coolest thing ever. The rodeo was kind of a bust since 10 min into it one of the cowboys horses tripped and the horse rolled on him and kinda squished him sooo.... we left. But Ginger did get some candy from them throwing them out in the crowd.

Here is her beautiful face!

And this what it looks when you have to wash it off. It was very traumatizing for her.

School

2010-10-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here we are on our way to school!!

Oh my...

On our way in....

Waiting for class to start. She could hardly stand it.

I don't really know why she's upset here, but, I do know that it did not last long!

Getting ready to start her very first school work

Here is Ginger's cubby. It's the bottom one.

This was after school, as you can see she had a wonderful time!

Ginger has officially started pre-school and she LOVES it! So do I. Not only does she get the learning she needs it's preparing her for kindergarten. And while she's in school Zoey is napping the whole time that she's in school. So I have a solid 2 hours with no children running around and screaming at me. So peaceful. She was so excited to start going to school. She didn't even cry when we had to leave her leave her there. I didn't either (yeah me!). Apparantly Ginger assigned herself a seat cuz' when another kid sat in her seat she freaked out! Normally the teachers will wait till they assign seats so they can see how all the kids interact with each other and make the necessary switches but the teachers made a mental note to make sure that Ginger's seat remained her seat. I thought was hilarious.

OBX

2010-10-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

The beginning of September we went to Outerbanks, North Carolina. It was beautiful. Even the drive was pretty and it was 8 hours. We camped on the beach, of course! I guess I must look like some stuck up housewife. Cuz' the park ranger checking us in looked in the car took one look at me and said that this was a simple campsite with no showers, just bathrooms. Ooookkkaaayyy, and I care because?? I'm camping at the beach!! The ocean will be my bath... So I was totally expecting outhouses and to my surprise there was running water and no stinking outhouses! Alright! And there was showers, cold ones but showers nonetheless! I was at the 'Hilton' of beach campsites. :) The girls couldn't wait to go play in the ocean. Even Zoey seemed to finally enjoy all the awesomeness of the beach. We were at the ocean playing in the water three times a day, the girls were exhausted come bedtime. The best part about the East Coast beaches is that the water is warm. There is no shock factor. We saw dolphins, lighthouses and even a drive-thru just for drinks. We took a ferry to another Island and enjoyed looking out in the water and seeing all the sandbars. On our last day there, there was hurricane Earl coming in a few days so the waves were HUGE! We boogied boarded till our arms couldn't take it anymore. It was awesome.

Amanda and Ginger Hansen's Page

2010-10-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

This is Ginger's very first fundraising event and we are pretty excited about it! Our goal is to earn $400, a hundred dollars for how old Ginger is. Ginger's school goal is $1500. Any donation would be wonderful. Thank you! Amanda and Ginger Hansen's Page

Ginger's B-Day!

2010-09-17T11:11:00.001-07:00

Guess who turned 4!! Yup, Ginger did. 4 days after we got home from Idaho. So that didn't leave me with much time to plan anything or shop, but that's okay. I made a cake and invited one of her best friends for cake and ice cream. She was in heaven! This was her first birthday without any family around, so it was more sad for me and Josh. I'm sure she didn't notice. She loved the clothes that me and Josh got her. Especially her spongebob panties, she did specifically ask for them for her birthday. I was glad I was able to make that dream come true :). She truly had a wonderful day. I'm so blessed to have such a girl as her to be my daughter.

here are four things that I love about her:

1. She loves her sister

2. She's outgoing

3. She loves to be silly with me or dad or uncle

4. She starts preschool

Ginger and her best friend Samantha!

Trip to Idaho 2010

2010-09-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Yup this is our classic Ginger! (how cute would of this been if the finger wasn't there??)

I know it's been a while since I've been back, but I think it's about time I wrote down everything and shared with all of you. Me and the girls flew down to Idaho a full two weeks before Josh was to join us. It's always hard traveling with kids but doing it by yourself makes it a little harder. This time I kept my stroller with me and checked it at the gate and boy was that great! It made going through the airports soooo much easier. Especially since we had a 3 hour layover. The kids did great on the plane rides. A little crazy on the first flight but then slept through the second (which was the longest one). It was so great to see everyone. Of course I cried, and of course Zoey clung to me like she was paper and I was glue. We had many things going on while we were there. Josh's side of the family had a family reunion and his mom got re-married. I tried my best to visit as much as possible and see as many people as I could. We also hit up the waterpark while we there. Ginger LOVED it! It was so much fun seeing her light up and enjoy the day. Zoey loved it, as long as I was always within her sight. She kept falling in the water and would end up floating on her back with the life jacket and Ginger would look at her and laugh and say "mommy look zoey's swimming!" she wasn't she just couldn't get back up to a standing position. After a while Zoey was doing it on purpose. Of course my kids LOVED their cousins! It was like we were never gone. Zoey's most favorite person was Madison. Boy did she love her. Ginger's most favorite was staying the night at unce Matt's house. I loved hanging out with Matt and Desi, we also did a camping trip up in Cascade, Idaho. It was beautiful! I sure missed the land of Idaho. As gorgeous Virginia is, it doesn't really compare with Idaho's mountains. And seeing the new babies... OMGosh!! They are so flipping adorable. And of course they love me! :) Ginger and Zoey loved their new baby cousins. I so want one now, and Josh thought that holding the babies would help with my baby hunger, hahaha. The family reunion was a little intimidating to me since I hardly knew anyone. But I guess that was what Josh felt like at my family reunion back in 2007! We had a lot of late nights and great days. It was so fun to have everyone see how much my girls had changed since we've gone.

I feel like I've missed a lot but I haven't really, I mean we were busy but it was mostly just hanging out! Which is what I wanted to more than anything.

New York City

2010-07-06T10:29:00.001-07:00

For mine and Josh's 5yr anniversary this year we went to New York. It was AMAZING! It was everything we thought it would be. We only went for the day, but we saw as much as we could. We took a bus there, so it was nice to really just enjoy the drive with Josh since he didn't have to worry traffic and what not. Once we got there we were dropped off in front of Macy's, the largest department store. We didn't go inside though :(. Then we went to the Empire State building. That was great. The views were amazing. After that we had lunch in Bryant park! That was exciting to me since I watch Project Runway and that's where they have the final fashion show :). Then it was off to grand central station where we rode the subway, which wasn't as crowded as we thought but it was pretty dirty, to Times Square. All I have to say about Times Square is OMGosh!! It was unbelievable. I wish I could of seen it all lit up at night, but we had to catch our bus. While in Times Square we went to the Hershey store and M&M world. Then we rode the ferry to Staten Island, it's free, and then rode it back. We passed right by the statue of liberty. Then we went to see the world trade center site. It wasn't really impressive and it was hard to try and get any feelings for the place since the whole area is under construction. We bought hot dogs from a street vendor. They weren't as great I thought it would be. We also hugged a couple of black dudes. They were holding up signs that said 'Free Hugs' or 'Hug a black guy and get addicted to black', so we thought what the heck. We also got free Dr. Peppers, and while I was crossing the street to catch up to Josh this bicyclist crashed into me and smashed my pop all over me!!! And then he just left, what a true jack ass! He's lucky I didn't get hurt. After an amazing day in New York we caught our bus and headed home.

Biggest Loser Results

2010-06-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

No judging!

This is me! I had gained 30lbs while I was pregnant with Zoey and I had just never lost it :(. I blame it all on the fact that I had moved far away from my family for the first time ever and I had quit smoking. I told myself many times when I looked in the mirror and saw myself that I would rather be fat than smoke another cigarette! It had nothing to do with the fact that I would 2-3 packages of oreos a week... or so I told myself. Then an amazing opportunity presented itself and I jumped at the chance. Aunt Dani had started a Biggest Loser competition among the family and I couldn't wait to get started. I knew I wouldn't win. There was just no way it could happen. I could only lose so much weight and I didn't want to go back to my pre-pregnancy weight cuz' it was just to skinny for me (125lbs). I worked out 3 or more times a week and was careful with my portion sizes, although I would splurge. I'm still continuing to work out, though not as much since I have no motivation what so ever!! I'm so proud of myself and what I've accomplished, check out the results!

It's so amazing to know that it is possible to lose the weight! It's a lot of HARD work and I never want to do it again. But at least I know that I can. I can do it. It's an amazing feeling.

Fun for Cheap

2010-05-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Cuz' you know that's how we do!

Our newly invented fun thing to do... Slide-boarding (that's what Ginger calls it)!!!

Booty Dance

2010-05-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

I just had to capture Ginger dancing cuz' it cracked me up!

Now watch her face, it's priceless! Whenever she watches this she calls this her booty dance...

Easter

2010-04-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty easy going for us this year. I would of loved to have gone and had Easter dinner with some family but... they were on vacation :). The girls dyed eggs on Saturday. They sure did love that. And then they went to bed with the anticipation of the Easter Bunny coming. Ginger fell asleep quickly that night. When they woke up Zoey's basket was on her high chair, which Ginger found and came running into my room to wake me up and ask where her basket was. When I told her it was hiding and she had to look for it. She freaked out!! She didn't like that at all. It took maybe 9 minutes to find it. I helped her a little. I just told her the general idea where her basket could be. After lunch and Zoey's nap they did a little easter egg hunt outside, right in front of my downstairs neighbors porch. They had so much fun doing the hunt. Ginger found ALL of them, not really giving Zoey a chance to look for them. But Ginger would find Zoey's eggs and put them in her basket. There was also one golden egg that had double the candy and 50 cents. Ginger was very proud of her money. Which she promptly lost later that day.

Miami Baby!!

2010-04-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

So the last weekend of March we were off to Miami! It was fantastic. We were there for a real estate class. I was supposed to go with Josh but we didn't find a sitter who could come with us so, darn it, I had to take care of the kids and take them to all the fun things to do in Miami. It really was fun. Most of the days it was cloudy and rainy. But it was still beautiful. And on the only sunny day that occurred while we were there, me and the girls went to South Beach. Wow, it was just gorgeous. I had never seen ocean water so clear. Ginger loved every moment of it. The day before South Beach we went to Key Biscayne but could only stay for a short time cuz' it rained :( but we made the most of it anyways. Ginger was happy cuz' there was sand for her to dig in. Zoey on the other hand HATED the sand, she absolutely refused to stand in it. It was pretty cute. She would only stand on the towel, boogie board or stroller. And Ginger sure knows how to make friends wherever she may be. While we were at South Beach she even made friends with some college boys (I know, I know), she danced for them (I know, I know) and she even kissed one (I know, I know trust me I know). The girls and I got totally fried from the sun, I felt horrible about Ginger's sunburn, the poor girl couldn't even pull her pants down to go potty without screaming. I'm a horrible mother. The next was cloudy and a chance to rain so we went to the zoo. That was fun. The girls loved it. On Monday Josh was out of class and finally able to play with us. That day was also cloudy and stormy and rainy but we headed off to Key Largo anyways, beautiful just beautiful there. We got some key lime pie while we were there as well. And then we headed off to the Everglades. Now that was amazing. It was crazy to see so many alligators in there natural habitats and knowing that the only thing between us was a wooden fence. It was a relaxing trip and the girls did pretty good throughout the whole thing. On our way home we stopped and played a little bit in Savannah, GA. That was great, very pretty. I thought it would of been more hopping than it was but it was amazing. And we also went to Ft. Stewart, GA the place where I was born. We drove on the army base and took pics of the hospital that my first breath occurred. It was pretty cool.

Joe's B-day

2010-02-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we were invited to spend the day at Dani and Brents and celebrate Joe's 4th birthday. It was so fun! Dani made a yummy cake (I didn't take any pics of it so she'll have to post them) it was so cute too! The kids had so much fun playing together. The bully was there, but it was all good. (he knocked down Zoey and hit Ginger in the face and kept taking Joe's new birthday presents)I'm glad he's not my kid. Asher Ginger couldn't of been more happy to be there. And to top it all off we stayed the night. Ginger and her cousins loved it. I did to.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

Oh what a day Valentine's Day was. It was my first year doing a special breakfast for the family. And let me tell you... I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Just watching them when the first saw it was so worth the effort. I'm still new at it so I didn't do as a faboulous job as my mom did when I was growing up. But every year I hope to be better. And I couldn't find the candy red hot hearts anywhere! Dani says that they are hard to locate so when you find them buy them on the spot and then you'll have them for next year. I'll be looking everytime I go to the store. Heart shaped pancakes and juice for breakfast, but for this year, it was more than enough to please my babies.

This is my Valentine's Day shirt that I made :)

Here's the back.

More Snow Pics

2010-02-23T07:47:00.001-08:00

We took this pic of a random house with a random family all working and playing together to clear out the snow. We thought it was fun/sweet.

You can see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the US Capitol. This pic was taken at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Pretty huh?

Here are some more snow pics that I had from the crazy storm we had a couple weeks ago. The snow is slowly starting to melt and we're starting to finally see some grass! Yippee!!

A what Sandwich??

2010-02-08T07:08:00.000-08:00

Thursday Ginger and Zoey were playing and getting along great (woohoo!!) when I heard Ginger repeatedly saying to Zoey "You want a ??? sandwich?" and she's saying this in a sweet voice you talk to babies in and she just kept saying it, and that's when I realize she's saying "You want a knuckle sandwich?" I was just like what? where'd she get that? when I hear her ask Zoey that one more time and then Ginger winds up her arm and then punches Zoey in the head. I was speechless... I couldn't believe what I just saw (not the hitting itself but how it was executed, come on they're sisters this wasn't the first punch thrown). I put Ginger in time out. Zoey didn't even waste her breath or her tears. And I struggled to keep poker face so that Ginger wouldn't see me almost breakdown and bust up laughing. Knuckle Sandwich... they learn so early these days.

Weekends... where'd you go?

2010-02-06T16:17:00.000-08:00

Weekends have been sucking it up for me here lately. In January the first weekend was fine a whole new year and everything. The next... we went to philly. It was great. We had a blast and we learned tons at the seminar. The next Ginger got Scarlet Fever, the one after that Ginger had some stomach bug, the one after that we were snowed in (not heavily, I really hate driving in the snow) and now this weekend. Snowed in AGAIN and this time quite literally. Man, I'm feeling a little cabin feverish. Taking the girls out for a winter walk isn't quite enough since they are done in about 10 mins. I'm ready for the warmth of spring to sneak in. I'm ready to be thawed out. I want to take the girls to an actual park and have play themselves to exhaustion.

Snow Globe 2010

2010-02-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! It has been snowing like crazy here on the East Coast. Gotta say I kinda like it. I'm glad I don't need to drive in it though! We've gotten like 2 ft. That's just insane! It took Josh like an hour to dig out our car. Then he helped a lady out with hers then moved the cars to a plowed parking space. It's beautiful out there. So quiet and clean looking. It's just amazing. Josh took Ginger out to go sledding. Well she didn't really like. What 3 yr old doesn't like sledding? Maybe tomorrow we'll go walk around in it.

These are pictures from the 1, 3 and 5, 6, it's been a snow crazy week!

2/06/10 Josh took Ginger out to play in the snow with the boogie board
2/06/10 So clean looking
2/06/10 It's just gorgeous
2/06/10 So much snow!
2/05/10

2/03/10 Me and Zoey... Snow Bunnies!!
2/03/10 Zoey loved walking on the sidewalk, but get her on the snow... she hated it!
2/03/10
2/01/10 Making a snow angel

2/01/10 I had to hold her most of the time to get her to walk in the snow :)

Stompy Feet

2010-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Zoey just started doing this and now she's kinda done with it so I'm glad I got it on video when I did. Just out of the blue Zoey would do a little jig. I took a couple videos cuz' I wanted to get a really good one and it took like 2 days, and I think this one is the winner. I liked to call it her Fancy Feet but Ginger was set on calling it Stompy Feet. Since that's what it kinda looks like. Zoey is just to cute.

A year ago...

2010-01-05T08:04:00.001-08:00

A year ago Dani and me had just had our babies. My mom came to visit and we headed to Dani's so the two of them could visit. How often are sisters together nowadays? We took some cute pics of the babies.

aren't they so cute? so adorable, so sweet.

And then they turned 1!

still adorable and still sweet. what a year it was!

Happy Birthday Zoey!

2010-01-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

I know it's a little late coming but...

My baby girl turned 1 on December 30! I just can't believe it. Where did that year go? I want it back. I want to cherish more. She's no longer a baby. She's a walking, talking(well she thinks she's talking, it's just babble) almost toddler! It's been so great to watch her grow into this sweet little person. I don't think I've met a more sweet baby (well baby Sammy is right up there, he sure is sweet). She loves to play with sister. It's fun to listen them giggle with each other. They get along with each other more than not. And Zo Zo knows how to get even on Ginger as well. She doesn't retaliate right away. She'll wait till Ginger least expects it and then POW! she'll pull Ginger's hair or whap her with whatevers in her hand. I know it's not funny. But I laugh, just not out loud. Zoey LOVES to dance. It's so cute to watch her. And her smile? It just lights up the room, as well my spirits. I couldn't of asked for a better baby! Happy Birthday Zoey. Here's to the next year and whatever it may bring. I love you!

So we had a little party with just me, Josh, Ginger and Uncle Austin on Zoey's b-day

On January 1 we went to Dani and Brent's to do a joint celebration. Sam was born 2 days after Zoey. It was neat to have a double birthday party. Made it a little special and Dani made this wonderful cake!

Terrifying

2009-12-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

So the day after Christmas I decide to take Ginger to go see The Princess and The Frog. We were originally going to at 1:40pm but for some reasons the line was super long so by the time I got to the tickey booth it was already 2pm. So we went at 4pm. We get there and there are no seats for us to sit together. She has to sit on my lap. That pissed me off. I paid for two seats and I only get one. The movie was wonderful. Ginger was great. That was her first movie theater experience and she was delightful. After the movie I decided I was going to talk to a manager and see about getting reimburesed for one ticket since Ginger had to sit on my lap. On the way there I lost Ginger. I couldn't find her, anywhere. There were a ton of people in the theater waiting to watch Avatar. So it was crowded and I couldn't see her. And I'm screaming her name and she's not answering me, the panic is now clawing at my throat and ready to burst. I'm being stared at like I'm crazy or a bad mom. Then a lady comes to me and grips my arm and basically takes charge and tells me to tell a manager and looked in the bathroom with me. She tells me to stay in one spot and she'll go look for her aswell. A few minutes later Ginger is found. She had somehow doubled back. I was terrified to move anywhere. Cuz' I was stationed close to the exit and I didn't want her to slip by me. And I felt that no one would recognize her like I would. One worker actually told me to calm down and not panic. I just looked at him and asked if he had kids, and he was all no... but I have a sister. Okay I know sibling love is strong and I remember when Erin got lost on the beach in Italy and I was scared and terrified. But this... this was different and even if you are a parent and never lost your kid I don't think you could fully know the full terror that comes with that. I'm so glad that she was found and okay. I got home and just bawled like a baby. Ginger doesn't even know what went wrong. I've taught her before to say 'here' when I call her name, and I didn't hear her. I hope to never have to go through that again. Mom... I don't know how you survived Erin's lostness.

Matrix!

2009-12-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

So Santa brought Josh a giant sticky hand in his stocking for Christmas and Josh LOVED it, he pretty much mastered it. He was able to stand in the middle of a room and hit both walls in the same swing without losing rythmn. He was also able to do that with the kids, one would be on one side and the other on the other. Silly Josh. Anyways, Josh was showing Austin his mad skillz when Josh decided to see if he could hit him with it. Here is how it turned out...

Christmas

2009-12-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love them in there Spongebob jammies!! (Thank you guys for an awesome Christmas Eve!!)

Christmas Eve was AWESOME!! We went to Dani and Brent's house and it was so great to do some of the traditions that we haven't done in many years. Like caroling!!! That was so awesome. And yes we had the reindeer antlers while we did, it just wouldn't be the same if we didn't. It was fun to have Josh there and have him join in as we did this. It was great to show him some of the traditions that I grew up on. We were going to do a nativity scene as well. But it got to be late so when we got back we had hot cocoa and then opened presents. Well we just opened our christmas eve jammies and the Kynastons opened up all gifts from family, and from each other. It was fun to watch. It was like looking into the future for me. The absolute delight on there faces was so fun to watch. Before we left there house Dani looked up on Norda Santa and looked where he was at and Ginger was just amazed and so into it. Drove home and then set out the plate of cookies and a cup of egg nogg (cuz' that what santa likes to drink when he comes to our house).

What a wonderful day Christmas morning was. Ginger was just delightful. And though Zoey is young she still enjoyed everything as well. Mostly the stuff that she could put in her mouth. When Ginger woke up we should her the plate of cookies and egg nog (egg.noggin as she likes to say) that santa ate. And she just couldn't believe it. She just so darn cute, opening her presents, and Zoeys too. She LOVED the clothes that mom and dad bought her. And thought that candyland looked fun. It's just awesome to enjoy christmas all over again except this time as a parent. Although man... it sure is exhausting to be a parent on christmas day.

I know this video is dark, but it's Ginger when she first turns the corner and sees the presents that santa left and the plate of eaten cookies and the empty cup of egg nogg that santa ate.

This one is just us opening presents

(sorry if this a little much too many pics and videos, but I figured my mom would love it)

And then later Christmas day Ginger's best friend, Kodie, came over to give Ginger her christmas present. Ginger was so happy. She got a Zhu-Zhu pet. They are kind of weird. But better than having a live hamster. It was great to have friends come over and visit us on christmas.

The finished product

2009-12-24T06:24:00.001-08:00

So earilier this month I was asking people for a glue gun so that I could finish a christmas project with Ginger cuz' the regular white glue just wasn't working. I ended up buying one cuz' they weren't that expensive. So now I have one of my very own for future projects. Here's what it ended up at the end. It was fun to make and Ginger enjoyed putting the eyes, buttons, and ear muffs on. Great project for us to share. It's a tree garland. I think it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself.

It's a bird, no a plane, no its.....

2009-12-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

SUPER GINGER AND SUPER ZOEY!!!

Ginger really wanted to have a cape so I tied one on her and then I thought that Zoey would be super cute with one, and I was right, cuz she is. I thought Ginger would just fly around the house but she kept saying 'super sleuth' lol. She got that from Tigger and Pooh super Sleuths. And they wore capes. So cute. They sure do make my days sometimes.

Sledding = Disaster

2009-12-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Snow Day!

Josh digging out our car so he wouldn't have to do it the next day, and he also went to the store.

Ginger making a snow angel, so cute.

Ginger in her "snow shoes" that we made for her, boy did she hate them when we put it on her

that tree looks like it should collaspe from the weight of the snow.

Ginger is loving walking through the snow

See how unhappy she is? Boy she really hated those on her.

But obviously she's much happier now

So as most of you know we were hit with a pretty nice snow storm that left us with 16 inches of snow! It was CRAZY I have never seen that much snow in life, that has been on my doorstep. I'm glad that I was able to just enjoy watching it and didn't have to drive in it. Well the day that it all came down I took Ginger out to build a snowman, but we couldn't cuz' the snow was to powdery, we did make snow angles though. That was cute. And after a few minutes Ginger was done and wanted back in the house. The next I wanted to take Ginger sledding on the small hills by our apartment. Josh took the car work, he didn't feel like trying to ride a bike in 16 inches of snow. (I don't blame him) Let me tell you taking the girls all by myself was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I took Zoey in the stroller thinking it would be easier, but it wasn't since obviously I couldn't push her through the snow so I had to pick up the stroller with her in it and take her where we needed to go. And then I had to double back to get Ginger where I had to pull her on the boogie board (we didn't have a sled and it worked pretty good too), but Ginger would get upset if I left her to long to carry Zoey so I would have go half way put Zoey down, double back to pull Ginger to Zoey pick up Ginger since she kept falling off the boogie board. I did that 3 more times till we got to the little hill. Some other kids were there and had already set up the snow so it was packed down and all we had to do was go down. Well Ginger was already crying cuz' she was cold and Zoey was starting to fuss, I took Ginger down once and she loved it but got snow all over her and started crying and didn't stop so I made her go down one more time and then we could go. We were there for MAYBE 5 minutes. Both girls were crying hysterically and I still had to take them back. I had to carry Zoey in the stroller again. And then I had to carry Ginger cuz' she wouldn't sit on the boogie board. I had an audience at this point. It was great that they didn't offer any help. I was so physically exhausted and struggling for breath that I started to see spots. Man was I glad to be back home. I will never try taking them sledding by myself ever again.

Needless to say, I didn't get very many pictures of our sledding adventure. Just these two.

See the trail of footprints behind her? that was made by me with the pull and drag moves I had to do. Ginger wanted to walk for a bit... crazy girl

See how deep it is? Crazy!

Dance Performance

2009-12-17T13:03:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Ginger's dance class had a little performance for the parents to watch. It was to show what the kids had been learning. It was so much fun to go and watch and Ginger loved to dance for us. Although she did get distracted and she was shy at first. And Zoey LOVED watching it. She was just entranced by it. It was wonderful to watch. And fun. I'm so glad that I put Ginger in this class!

I've put up a slide show and 2 videos, I totally restrained myself from putting up the other 5.

Here's Zoey just focused on watching it!

Thanks Grandma!

2009-12-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

My grandma made a blanket for Zoey and mailed out to me back in June. She asked last week how Zoey loved it and I told her that Zoey doesn't have one but Ginger loves hers so much that it's basically falling apart, grandma made one for her too. Well it never got sent to me and we were really worried and so the next I went to the post office but it was closed. Apparantly it closes early on saturday. So I decided to chance it at my old apartment building and see if the clubhouse maybe had it. I thought that was where it was sent to. And miracles of all miracles they did!! They still had it. It had been sitting there since June and they were wondering about it the whole time. My goodness I just couldn't believe it. Thank you grandma for the blanket! It's beautiful.

And here's Ginger with her blankie. Ginger was super excited that Zoey has a blankie just like her.

And it keeps us really warm! I know this first hand since I ended up rocking Zoey back to sleep last night and used it to keep us warm :). I love you grandma. I hope Zoey will love her blankie as much as Ginger loves hers... well I hope she doesn't end up eating it though.

Are you my Mother?

2009-12-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

So I know this woman from church/playgroup and she finally came to playgroup (she's normally super busy so she doesn't go that often) and she was wearing this gorgeous nest necklace with little eggs in it, one for each of her kids. She said she made it! I couldn't believe it. She then invited me to her house on Moday where she'll show me how to make one. I went and made one and it was super easy and it turned out super cute! Here's mine! With 2 eggs for my 2 little birds.

UPDATE: so i made one for my mom, my sister and my sister in law for christmas and they loved it! mom's had 4 beads, erin's had 2 (one for Alex one for her) and Desi's had 3. And they loved it! Desi has had many compliments on it which makes me happy! And she's already making noise on there being room for her 4 th child, when she hasn't even had her 3rd! so fun taht they love it!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

This thanksgiving we spent it at my Aunt Dani's house and it was wonderful. I'm so thankful that even though I moved a couple thousands of miles away I still have family nearby to spend the holidays with. The food was delicious! The company delightful. I enjoyed meething Dani's friends that came to dinner as well. The kids had so much fun. I love hearing kid laughter on the holidays it makes that much more holiday-ish for me. I'm thankful for my husbands job which allows me to be a stay at home mom. I love him so much. I'm so blessed to have Zoey come into our lives healthy and happy. She's the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. I'm thankful for Ginger's... everything. Even though she drives me crazy more often than not, she's just wonderful. She brings joy into my life everyday. Not a day goes by that there isn't something that she does that doesn't make me laugh. I'm thankful for my brother Austin coming to Virginia. It's been so great having him here. It makes being far away from my family having him so close by. Happy Thanksgiving! (better late than never;) )

Get down!

2009-11-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

Tilt your head to the left and watch Zoey get down with her bad self!

This was during story time before bed. She just cracks me up. I love her so much!

My favorite is when she drops her arm and really gets into it. Silly girl.

Walking and Talking

2009-11-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Our little Zoey is now walking and talking *sigh*, she says dada now, when I tell to say mama she just continues to say dada. And I thought she was a momma's girl. She's just started to walk this week and she's been doing more and more every day. My little baby is no longer a baby. It's so sad. I love watching her grow up and become more independent but I'm going to miss her being a snuggle bug. Those were some of the best times. I'm trying to cherish every moment that we have and not be too weepy.

Here's a video we took of the first day she walked. Now she's doing more and walking longer distances. Soon she won't be crawling soon.

Pierre- The French LumberJack

2009-11-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

On Friday we went to a halloween party and costumes were encouraged. I was just going to wear the halloweeen shirt that I made for me, but at the last moment decided to be a lumberjack. Here is what I came up with...

Pierre the French LumberJack, with the accent and all.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

This was our first year trick or treating in Virgina and it was definately different than Idaho. At first we thought that maybe no one was trick or treating cuz' it was drizzling a bit but that was all. Well it turned out we just couldn't find any hot spots. We drove around for a bit until we found a townhome division and even then it didn't have that many lights on. But Ginger's only 3 so she didn't know what that really meant. She just wanted to knock on the doors and say trick or treat and get some candy. So that's what she did. She loved every moment of it. She was a witch, a super cute one. Zoey was a cute little lamb. The hood was a little to big so she held up the whole time. And I'm not kidding she literally held it up the WHOLE time. It was super cute. Halloween is so much fun when you have little kids who can enjoy it.

Dance

2009-10-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

I signed Ginger up for this Music and Movement class they meet evey wednesday from 10-11 am. They dance a little and do a art project and it's only $30 a month so I went ahead and did it. And I couldn't be any happier with my decison. She LOVES it. The first class I couldn't leave. She went crazy when I left. :( poor girl. So I stayed and watched. She was a little shy but that's to be expected from her first class. I got a couple pictures from it. But they're a little blurry cuz' they moved around alot. She went to her third week of dance today and she didn't even have to tell me good bye. The teachers tell me she's participating more and more. And she's only asked for me once.

Getting ready to do their art project. It was a butterfly.

Skipping (more like running for Ginger)

Trick or Treat

2009-10-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

So earlier last week I was taking the trash out (growl...) and I was about to throw away the gallon ice cream bucket but I decided last minute I would make Ginger's halloween trick or treat bucket. And I think it turned out pretty good. I pretty much spent the amount it would of taken to just buy one for the supplies but I've gotten imense satisfaction every time I look at it. And I think Josh likes it too. Ginger sure does. She can't play with it till trick or treat time.

The top of the bucket!! You put the treats in it here. Cute huh??

So it obviously has some flaws but not enough for Ginger to care and not enough for me to not be proud of it. For a first time ever project I LOVE IT!!

Ginger says...

2009-10-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

As we were shopping in target the other day she decides to hide in the clothes, no big deal EVERY child has done that. But it bugs me. Even more so when she doesn't answer me and I end up screaming her name. Anyways I finally got her out of the clothes and tell her it's time to go she says "yes your highness" it even sounded a little sarcasmy.

Zoey coughs Ginger says "cover your mouth Zo-Zo"

Zoey is getting ready to chew on Gingers favorite blanket corner and Ginger says "that's my corner honey" in voice that you would use talking to babies.

I just thought those were to cute to not share them with everyone. There just might be more of these to come.

Saturday

2009-10-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning was spent in the ER with Zoey. She got 2nd degree burns on her jaw, shoulder and forearm. It was a scary terrifying couple of hours but she'll be fine. We were getting ready to take a drive through West Virginia and Josh had put my coffee in the thermos and the strap of it was hanging down and the cap wasn't on it yet. Zoey decided to pull herself up and grab it, it came crashing down on her. So scalding hot coffee soaked her. Josh rinsed her off the best he could. I grabbed and pulled her clothes off and got a cool washcloth (she HATED that), called my mom and told that it was just red she said to watch and if it blisters take her in. One minute later I noticed she was peeling skin, so a blister had formed then popped. I called my mom again she said to take her in and get her checked. At that point all I could see was mostly red and some peeled skin. When we got there we were sent immediatley to the back (so I knew it was kinda bad) and the nurses (like 5 of them) were surrounding us and I finally got a real good look at Zoey and it was bad she had alot of bubbles along her skin I couldn't help but start crying. I felt so helpless. Zoey was just screaming, she hurt so bad. Nothing I did could do would calm her down. We were lucky though, I know your thinking how could we have been lucky? Well when we first got there Zoey's face was beet red so the doctor thought she had burned her face as well. And they don't like those. She would of been sent to the Children's hospital in DC were they know how to treat burns. Which was the only hospital within the whole DC area that could. But once the drugs kicked in for Zoey and she was calm and in no pain there were no burns on her face, well some first degree on her forehead. So she didn't have to go there. After a couple of hours in the ER we were able to go home. So yes I think we were really lucky that as bad as it was we know it could of been a whole lot worse. We need to follow up with the DC burn clinic on Monday. She looks SOOOOO much better this morning. She's herself. I'm still a little shaken and I still tear up thinking about it.

Caution!!!! These photos may be to graphic for the younger readers!!!!!

If I had superpowers...

2009-09-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

If I had superpowers it wouldn't be flying or x-ray vision or super strength or lightning speed... it would be doing laundry in a blink of an eye!! Seriously. In a blink of an eye ALL the laundry would be clean, dried, folded and put away just the way I like it. I think that superpower would be better than ANY of the other super powers that super heros have out there. But then none of them are parents (that I know of) or stay at home moms/dads so they don't know what a daunting task of doing laundry is. I'd rather takle a bad guy rather than laundry somedays. And my kryptonite would be poopy diapers.

Did you know you could seriously knock down your energy bill just by hang drying your clothes? You can. We save $20-50 a month. It super sucks having to do it and you have to do a load basically EVERY day otherwise you get behind. I cheat sometimes and use the dryer but the motor in mine is kinda overheating when I dry clothes in it and it never really fully dries my clothes unless it's a super small load so I guess it's a good thing I'm hang drying my clothes anyways. *sigh* I can't wait till the day when we move into a place where I can bring my front load, energy saving, triple load washer and dryer out of storage... until then I'm doing what I'm doing.

Austin

2009-09-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

If you guys have been following mine and my moms facebook then you already know this and if not then you will. My brother Austin and his girl Colette went yesterday to find out if they were having a girl or boy... ITS A GIRL!!! Super exciting. But the news weren't all that good they discovered something about the brain,hydrocephaly I guess it's called (my mom knows a whole lot more) and today they had some more testing and it turns out the baby doesn't have a brain just a brain stem. So they're not going to be able to keep the baby. We are all devasted over this. And poor Austin and Colette to have to go through this. I wish I could be with them and help out any way I can. It's just so horrible.

Fairs

2009-09-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Before we left for Idaho we went to the Prince William County Fair and Dani and the kids were able to join us and it was so much fun.

In Idaho we went to the Western Idaho Fair and my mom and Madison went with us and it was awesome. Madison is such a trooper even though most of the rides weren't that exciting for her she went on them anyways so she could ride with Ginger. What a girl!

Needless to say we are all faired out.

Floating the River

2009-09-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

In Idaho we did what all Idahoans do... we floated the Boise river! It was awesome. I don't know I didn't do it more often when I lived there? Probably cuz' I thought oh next year. It was so much. Josh's mom watched Zoey and we took Ginger with us. My mom also joined in on the fun. She rented a tube that had a mesh bottom for Ginger and it was perfect for her. She was safe the whole time. It takes like 3 hours to float it and it was so relaxing and COLD! My mom brought some tubes for us as well, and Josh and I had one to. The ones my mom brought were so small. I felt like a giant in it. And it wasn't easy to keep myself in it the whole time. Me and my totally got dumped going over the first waterfall. Super fun though. But getting back in was difficult. I couldn't believe who awesome Ginger did on the river. I thought maybe she would start getting bored but she enjoyed it the whole time. There was one scary moment where my mom and Ginger (they were tied together) were headed towards the edge and there were some small rapids and Gingers tube went straight up and she nearly landed in my moms lap. Whew! I was starting to shiver real bad that my mom was getting worried and so we took a little break and instantly I felt better once I was out of the cold water. It's so much fun and relaxing to float the river. I'm so glad that my mom came with us and did it with us she's such a trooper.

Meridian Speedway Races

2009-08-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

The first Friday we were in Idaho we got free tickets to the races cuz' Josh's cousin's husband was racing his car, so off we went. Zoey stayed with mom and Erin where they had a fabulous time. It was really loud. I'm not really a car racing kind of gal. I started getting a headache but once I put in the earplugs I was good to go. I didn't realize how many crashes there were in the races WOW pretty intense. Also there were these tiny tinny cars that 10 yr olds drove. It was so cute and they hardly crashed. When the races were done we went to go see the drivers. It was quiet so I was a happy girl.

Nampa Nights

2009-08-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

In Downtown Nampa Idaho they do this thing every Thursday night during the summer where they'll have a live band and shut down a couple streets and you can just hang out and visit. We did that while we were there. Boise also does this but it's on Wednesday and I think it's better (don't know for sure since we haven't gone to it yet). So we went and it was pretty neat. We stopped at a fountain and ran through it and got nice and wet and then Austin found us and we went to sit with him and Colette and enjoyed each others company and the live music. But not the creepy homeless mentally handicapped person who would continually sway to the music and stare at the little kids *shudder* Erin is claiming he's a product of inbreeding. He tried selling us some "artwork". Anyways after the music was done Austin wanted to show us a dog park nearby so we called Matt to see if we could pick up Jack(the dog) and he said no. That was a little weird, Jack would of loved the park. Austin went and got his dogs and off we went. It was great. Ginger loved seeing all the dogs and she made a friend. Kids sure do know how to make friends quickly.

Swimming Hole

2009-08-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

So while we were in Idaho Josh had a schedule of things he wanted us to do. And going to our swimming hole was one of them. It's not really ours many people know about it. I had my girlfriend Jessica come with us and it was great. The water was COLD!! Man I'd gotten used to Virginia waters, warm. But it was beautiful. Ginger sure did like it. She mostly enjoyed having Jessica pay tons and tons of attention to her. Zoey loved splashing her little feet in the water if you held her up to it. It was just great to go there and enjoy it. Even if it was cold.

Happy Birthday Ginger!

2009-08-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Ginger turned 3 on the 22nd! It was a sad sweet day for me. We were in Idaho for her big day and we planned a huge party at a local park where everyone can come and see us for a bit. Ginger had a blast. She knew it was her party to. All her cousins were there and she couldn't of been happier. She was so much fun to watch the whole time. When the cake arrived she wanted to eat it right away, it had spongebob on it. Her favorite. She couldn't wait to open her birthday cards, that's right cards. She has a thing for cards. She got one in the mail from toys r us and she slept with thing. And when Zoey got a hold of it and it ripped in half she cried. Watching her opening her presents was pure joy. Her expressions were priceless. She loved practically everything. Although her favorite was her Little Mermaid birthday card that played a song that opened up. Too cute. I also decided to take a page out of Aunt Lauri's book and ask people what they loved about Ginger. So without further Ado...

Norman: Her blonde hair and the way she gives kisses

Mom AKA Grammy: Her personality and the way she has "say so's" (that's what she calls her dresses, don't know why) mom thinks its cuz' she says so.

Erin: Her tantrums and how they work, and how she puts her older cousins in their place!

Josh: How she loves me and how she does silly new stuff

Zoey: Pftttttt (she just blew a raspberry at me)

Alex: Ginger (just kept saying her name), because. On a side note when Alex came home with Erin for the weekend we weren't at the house and that's where they went first and Alex went through the whole house calling for her. They're pretty good friends.

Austin: Her mischevious personality

Colette: Her "Perfct" hair

Matt: Her curls, her cheeks and her smile

Desi: Her laugh (in case no one knew Matt and Desi are expecting their first baby together!!)

Kaitlyn: Her curls

Kadin: I don't know, fun to play with

Cathy AKA Nana (Josh's mom): Her beautiful hair, her blue eyes everything about her

Venessa (Josh's sister): How pretty she is, her blonde hair, her blue eyes, her big lips and how she freaks out when she sees me

Kat (Colette's daughter): Ginger plays with me

Madison: Because she acts like me, and she gives her daddy the "look" (don't know what that look is)

Jessica: Funny, so cute, lovable no matter what you do she just loves you

Dad AKA Papa: She's a wild child who acts like her mother, reminds me of her mom

Whew!!

2009-08-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

After 10 days of being back home in Idaho, we're back in Virginia. I'm exhausted, it was the most busiest vacation EVER. Josh had a schedule all planned out and everything. It was pretty great. I miss everyone already terriblly and we probably won't go back home for a long while. I'll be posting more blogs soon. Just gonna chillax for now. Feels good to be in my own home, in my bed.

To my Horror...

2009-07-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

I had just got out of the shower, and was quietly getting my clothes (Josh is on nights so I have to creep around my room) and I hear Zoey crying, not just any cry, her "Help Ginger is picking on me" cry. I can now tell apart that cry from all the others. So sad. So I rush out of my room to see what's going and to my horror, there is Ginger lying next to Zoey on the floor, she had put her blankie over her and then had Zoey in a headlock! punching her head!!! Oh my! I nearly lost it on Ginger. To be fair she wasn't punching her real hard, more like bumping her hand. But still Zoey was not a happy girl. Some days I just don't know what to do. I get tired of yelling at Ginger to leave Zoey alone. But she continues anyway. It's like Gingers new fun thing for her to do, picking on Zoey. Couple days ago me and Ginger came back from checking the mail, she went right up Zoey and kicked her in the head. Oh MY!! Zoey is going to be one tough cookie. Ginger also enjoys shoving her finger down Zoeys throat just to hear her gag. When they're supposed to be sleeping we'll hear a *giggle* and then a *gag* a *giggle* then a *gag*. Man. And Zoey just LOOOVES Ginger, she can't wait to play with her. She no loner needs me now, she's all about Ginger, I'm just the food source. :( Ginger really does love and like Zoey, I know this post makes it sound like she doesn't, but she does. She likes to play with Zoey and they'll do the tummy crawl around the house together. Ginger will cheer her on when gets to a new place. And she enjoys sharing a room with her, and not just for the gag and giggle. Ginger calls Zoey her friend. I was putting Zoey down for her nap and Ginger kept saying (more like yelling) 'Zo Zo my friend, Zo Zo my friend' (she wanted to play with her).

Insurance

2009-07-15T10:57:00.001-07:00

SO I've been having to deal with a whole bunch of crap with insurances cuz' of changing them so often. Well back in december I had to go to the hospital while I was pregnant with Zoey, no big deal. Non-stress test, ultrasound. Well come to find MONTHS later and after I've already paid the bill, the hospital didn't file the whole thing they left out $276 saying that my insurance didn't cover it, well how would they know if they didn't file that claim? So since I've discovered that I've been trying to get the hospital to re-file the whole amount. So far no luck. I've had to talk to Blue Cross often now and they have just been wonderful. They take everything so calmly, even when I talk to them like they're slow (I just wanted to make sure that we were clear on everything). It's been over 2 months and the hospital STILL hasn't sent in the proper claim. But now I'm going to do myself. I thought it was okay if I could do that. The Blue Cross guy (Peter) told me that as a patient it's within my right to send in a claim that I feel should be. And its my responsibility to make sure a claim is filed. Everytime I'm done talking with someone at Blue Cross I feel so relieved, like a weight has been taken off my shoulders. My new insurance (Dakotacare) isn't like that at all.

Virginia Beach- Again

2009-07-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

I love this pic of Ginger, you can tell she's happy, just by the way she's bouncing

So we LOVE virginia beach, we went again last monday except this time we camped instead of getting a motel room. Way cheaper that way. It was a lot of fun. We swam in the Chesapeke bay we could see the chesapeke bay bridge tunnel from the shore (the worlds longest 17 miles), First Landing State Park (where we camped) had some pretty neat programs while we were there, like 'what's in the nets' they'd cast out nets and bring it up and show us what was in it, but the kids were asleep so we missed it. But then they had crabbing so we went to that and the nice rangers helped us out and Josh had a blast, he loved it. Even more than regular fishing. He didn't get one, almost got one, but it go away. That was just the first day. The next day we went to the aquarium, that was awesome, there was alot of neat fishes to see. Before you even go into the place they have harbor seals right out front (in there own exhibit) Ginger loved to watch them swim. There was sooooo much to see there, it was so much fun. We saw sharks and sea turtles and seahorses and crabs and stingrays (Ginger would NOT touch one) and tons of fish and frogs... just so much. Afterwards we packed up our campsite and then headed to the beach to boogie board!! Who doesn't love to boogie? I love it. I forgot how much I enjoyed it. It was Josh's first time ever doing it. So that was way fun to watch. It's amazing to me to see how Ginger can make friends EVERY time we go somewhere. Seriously. The next beach we go to this summer is going to be Ocean City, Maryland.

My B-Day!

2009-07-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

My cake and Ice Cream

Ginger's already liking her lips

My birthday present!!! I've been wanting this perfume since I was 19!! And my hubby got me the big bottle!! It was pretty good day!

4th of July

2009-07-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

For the 4th we went to DC. We just had to go there once while we lived here for the 4th and we knew that it would be crazy and loud and filled with tons of people and getting back home would be long, but we just had to. We took the metro and got there early and walked around some. We found this beautiful old church and Fords theater, that was closed so we couldn't take a tour, and the Petersen house where Lincoln died, it was open so we were able to walk through it, it was amazing and weird to stand in the same room where he took his last breath. After some more walking and getting lost we finally got to the Washington monument and met up with Brent and Dani, that wasn't previously planned but turned out wonderful. We sat with them and visited and Ginger had a blast playing with girls trying to catch fireflys and run around. The fireworks were beautiful, kind short (like 10 mins) but beautiful espcially with them bursting behind the monument. Afterwards we just hung around cuz' a HUGE crowd had formed around the nearest metro and so we say with Brent and Dani and the kids and had strawberry shortcake (thank you Dani for sharing with us) and then we decided that we were going to walk to the next metro. So off we went. We saw the other side of the white house which was gorgeous all lit up. The ride home wasn't bad a little crowded and some standing in lines but we were in good spirits we finally arrived home around 12:30am, that's not to bad. Poor Dani and Brent arrived home 1:30-2am.

Band-Aids and Kisses

2009-07-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

You ever notice that kisses and band-aids are magical? In my family they are so totally true. Ginger being 3 (practically) she's always falling and running into things. She's constantly getting banged up and scratched up. Once she starts crying sometimes its hard to get her to stop. But once we give her boo boo the magic kiss, all is well. If that magic kiss isn't enough the promise of a band-aid is. Of course once we get her one she acts like she's hugely disabled, like a scrapped knee is maimed now, seriously it'll take her a good 20 minutes to walk properly on them. Gotta love kids who believe totally in the magic of kisses and band-aids.

WOWZER!!

2009-06-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm freaking AMAZING!!! Did you see my header??? Did you?? Did you? I did it all by myself!!! Holy Crap, there is potential in me yet!! WooHoo!!

Virginia Beach And Jamestown

2009-06-24T12:45:00.001-07:00

After we went camping at Lake Anna we went to Virginia Beach, it wasn't that far away but traffic was a bit horrendous when we got close to the tunnel. Once there it was time for dinner, bath (kids hadn't bathed in two days by this time) and then bed. We found a hotel and settled down for the evening. The next day we went to the beach. And let me just say that it was the most perfect beach day EVER!!! It was hot outside and the water was deliciously cool and it took only like 2 seconds to get used to it and once out of the water you weren't shivering cold, you were still warm and wanting to go back in after a few min. It was AWESOME!!! After Virginia Beach we went to Jamestown. That was pretty neat. It was fee free weekend due to father's day. We saw the first glass house, and a glass blowing demonstration. That was cool, blowing glass would be a fun hobby. Then we were off to see the settlement. We didn't get to see the original foundations cuz' if left to the weather they would of withered away, but they did have markers that showed us. It was incredible to stand on that land, just amazing. I can't wait till the next time we go there. I'm more excited to go to the beach but Jamestown was just as beautiful.

Lake Anna

2009-06-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

So last week we went camping at Lake Anna with Brent and Dani and can I just say AWESOME!!! We had so much fun we were only there for one night but it was great. We played at the lake all day and rode on there jet ski. I had never rode on one so it was AWESOME!!! They are offically my favorite aunt and uncle now (sorry to all the others :)) Brent took me tubing on the back of the jet ski and it was amazing. After we were done at the lake we went back to camp where I got bit by a horsefly (not fun) then had taco salad for dinner YUMMY!! In fact it was better than my moms (seriously mom, the sauce tastes better ;)) Once we finally got a fire going we sung campfire songs and made s'mores. The kids were begging for sleep by that time (so cute). It was so much fun to spend time with Brent and Dani. The lake was beautiful and the water was warm (a nuclear plant uses the water which is why it's warm, scary huh??). The fireflies were out and it was sooooooo pretty. It had been forever since I'd seen some and it was Josh's first time.

What a day

2009-06-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a wonderful day, seriously. It was quiet and peaceful, mostly. Zoey was great, she figured out how to roll herself around to get where she wants to. To cute. And Ginger was pretty good, we had a few meltdowns and her play shoes had to go to time out cuz' she wouldn't play with them properly. But she was full of love and showed it. I also think that since everyone got naps (WHOPPEE, Ginger napping is a VERY rare thing) we were all in a fabulous mood. I try to strive for a day where there is no yelling, no aruging, and no temper tantrums. And that never happens, but yesterday we came close. I couldn't of asked for a better day.

Poor Zoey

2009-06-09T17:23:00.001-07:00

Already Zoey is getting picked on by her big sister as you can see:

Exhibit A:
Easter day, Ginger decided to use her as a sketch book with her new bunny pen. That's certainly what I would of chosen.

Exhibit B:

In Idaho Ginger used Zoey as a sticker book. Of course. I was told to NEVER leave Zoey alone.

Exhibit C:

Ginger finding her own way to get Zoey around. Oh gosh how I laughed (after my heart had started back beating again) when I looked into the living room to check on Zoey and she's GONE, then I just had to laugh. What else could I do?

Oh boy poor girl, but really she loves her big sister. Ginger is pretty much the number 1 person who will always put a smile on her face. Having Zoey at an easy access is dangerous in my house but it sure makes for an interesting day.

Mini Golf- Idaho

2009-06-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is the last entry of my Idaho excursion. Austin and Colette invited me to go mini golfing with them and Madison, of course I jumped at the chance. Espcially since Josh's sister had Ginger for the night and mom watched Zoey for me. No kids WOOHOO!! We went to this new place called 'Shanks'. It's indoor and has the neon lights that really are neat looking under the blacklights also if you get the 3-D glasses the walls and the art turn 3-D. It was awesome. I even got a hole in one with them on. Yeah for me. Afterwards we went and ate at applebee's I love that restaraunt. It was a great evening with Austin, Colette and Madison.

Water Fight- Idaho

2009-05-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

The day that I arrived in Idaho all the siblings came over to hang out and catch up on things with me. Austing and Matt had gone to the store for some last minute things and Austin also got some water guns for all the kids. He was so funny about it. He filled them all up with water and told them to go line up outside cuz' they were in so much trouble. Poor Madison and Kaitlin were so confused!! No one knew what the heck was going on, some of the little ones were near tears. Then he finally pulled the guns out and they had a blast. Grammy had to teach Ginger how to use hers, she never fully got it though. It was fun to see the kids having so much fun.

Obviously Grammy needs to watch what she says!!!

Girls Day- Idaho

2009-05-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

While I was in Idaho I really wanted to visit the Ste. Chappelle winery. They don't sell that wine here and I've never really tasted anything that was quite as delicious as them. So my good friend Jessica came with me and Erin as well. And of course Ginger and Zoey. On the way there we had a good time just laughing and catching up. I kept missing the turn off to get there... Anyways once we got there it was just beautiful, a gorgeous place. When we got out of the car we were hearing this hissing noise coming from the car, Erin wanted to check it out before our tasting but I didn't really care the problem would be there when we got back... and sure enough it was, we had a flat!!! Actually the tire blew. Wow!! I was glad I waited till after the tasting dealing with it beforehand would of ruined it for me. So we set ourselves to change the tire (none of us had done it before) and we couldn't get the trunk open, so we call mom she just says to keep on trying it'll open. Okay so we get it open then we get the stuff we need and we got the tire off WOOHOO we are now feeling pretty good!! Next is to put the spare on it... it won't fit!! So we call mom again she says that yes it does (not nicely BTW she's got strep throat and doesn't want us calling her) so after a couple more tries we get it to fit!!!! YES we are woman warriors at this point... a man drove by and asked if we needed any help and of course we don't, we are rocking it!! we lower the car off the jack just in to realize that we put the lugnuts on backwards... CRAP. Finally after 15 mins of more work we did it. We changed a tire!!! We rocked it!! Of course if 3 grown capable women can't change one tire together... we're screwed for life!!

Home sweet home

2009-05-24T10:08:00.001-07:00

So I've been home (Virginia) since Wednesday and as much as I loved being with my family and visting them I missed Josh and my own bed terribly. It was a great vacation. Definatley a break I very much needed. I hardly saw Ginger she was so busy playing with cousins, and the only time I got to hold Zoey was when she was hungry. It was great. I got to meet my dad's fiance'(they're getting married June 23). She seems nice enough and they both look sickly happy :) Just realized that I didn't take any pictures of her hmmm... think that means something? It was a little hard seeing all these huge changes that happened since I've moved here but I couldn't be any happier for them. Matt and Desi moved into a bigger house and are trying for a baby!!!! (i swear I'm more excited than them) Austin got back together with Colette and are doing great Erin is in her own apartment and doing it all on her own, I'm so proud of my baby sister!! I can't wait to see them in August again. Josh's family is doing great also not much has changed with them, his sister is trying for a baby as well!!! (again I swear I'm more excited than her) and his Grandpa finally has running water at his cabin in Cascade!! woohoo!! no more outhouse for us!!! Hopefully in August he does another family get together there (he does it every year). It was just a wonderful visit. Had so much fun. I'm going to an installment series of my trip, it's alot to write about.

On my way!!

2009-05-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

3 Days and I'll be on my to Idaho!!! WOOHOO!!! I'm so excited I can't wait. It's going to be just me and the girls and I'm a little nervous flying with the girls by myself but I think it'll be okay. We'll be doing another trip with Josh in August, but my mom has been missing me like crazy and wanted me to visit so dad and her are paying half the plane fare. My parents love me. :) Going to try to pack all of our stuff in 1 bag. Wish me luck with that.

On another note my dad called me last night and he's getting married!!! Can I just say weird?! I'm so happy for him and so thrilled that he's happy, but again it's weird. Just weird. I haven't met her yet but I'm told that I'll like her.

Here I come Idaho!!!

Ginger talk

2009-04-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

after i sit down to nurse zoey

'I feed my baby' (as she holds her baby and lifts her dress) says Ginger

"Oh your going to feed your baby now?" says I

' Yes' (she sits down on the couch and gets comfy)

' baby eat button' (placing baby mouth on her belly button)

"Is she going to eat your boobies?" says I (that's what we call nursing here in our house)

'No, baby eat button'

"Why?" asks I

'Cuz' I no have boobies I have button'

I just thought that was too cute not to share for others, she was feeding her baby with her belly button cuz' she doesn't have boobies.

Camera Happy

2009-04-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this picture of Ginger, can't you just see that attitude? Yeah, it's wonderful.

I decided to just take some pics of Zoey since it had been awhile, and went wild with it. Ginger loves getting her picture taken, for the most part.

Stuck

2009-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know how she did it but really she was stuck, aren't we wonderful parents?? Instead of rushing to her side to get her out we grab the camera first? Evil I know.

Easter

2009-04-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Why is she crying? Big troubles that's why! Read on or scroll down, either way you'll find out.

Easter was pretty good here for Ginger. She loved it. After she went to bed the night before I laid out some plastic eggs that had candy in it and had it so that it was a trail for her to follow till she could find her basket. Since she's to little to understand that her basket was hiding. I had planned to wake up early so that I could watch her do it but she beat me to it. I woke up to this clicking noise and when I got up there were NO eggs anywhere in sight, as well as Ginger. She had found all the eggs in the trail and put them in her cubby seat on her car and was just digging into her basket when I got up. She thought she was in trouble for getting her basket until I told her that the easter bunny brought it for her. Of course I couldn't find the camera while she was unloading her basket. Later in the day I did a little egg hunt in the apartment and tried to keep Ginger in her room while I hid the eggs, but she wasn't having it and threw a huge tantrum over it. Once out and realized what was going on she was alllllll about it. To cute. She got a light up pen in her basket that had a bunny and some fluffy stuff on it and while I was cleaning the kitchen I hear Zoey crying, so I go over and see what Ginger has done (it's always Ginger when I hear that particular cry) and sure enough, Ginger had decided to draw on Zoey. Poor Zoey, this only the beginning of torture for her.

Hanging out at Dani's

2009-04-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

She looks soooo big here. I can't believe how grown up she is.

Daddy loves this more than Zoey

Tuckered out from playing, so sweet.

Blessed and Rocking

2009-04-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we got Zoey blessed! It was so great that Brent did it. It was just amazing to witness Ruthie's baptism and feel the spirit and watch Zoey and Sam get blessed. It was such a different experience from when Ginger got blessed. At Ginger's it was during sacrament and she screamed the whole time. But with Zoey's it was much more intimate. And she was quiet and smiled the whole time. I was actually able to hear the blessing. I know that I'm blessed to have some family here in Virginia. I love you guys!!! Afterwards we went back to Dani's place and just kinda hung out. We also played rock band, and if you haven't played it and you get the chance, take it, it's sooooooooo fun. Anyways we played the song 'so whatcha want' by the beastie boys and i was the singer and i scored a 100%! yeah for me! it was so much fun.

ps. i'm 'Leo'

Cherry Blossom Festival

2009-04-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we went to the Cherry Blossom in DC and it was soooo pretty. It was a bit of a cloudy day but wonderful anyways. It was great to do this as a family. I couldn't believe how many trees there were and they were so pretty Ginger loved being able to just run around like crazy of course I nearly had a heart attack the whole time we were by the water cuz' there wasn't a rail to stop her if she fell EEKK!! She didn't of course. When we got to the Jefferson Memorial they had a stage set up and they were playing music and they had dancers. Ginger loved the music as soon as we got closer she was a dancing fool. Then she ran up the steps (I followed) and she would sit and take a break every now and then. She did pretty good listening to us (SHOCK!!!) but of course since she's 2 1/2 she didn't listen every time. It was a wonderful day.

Atantic City Pics

2009-04-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

What a Nut

2009-03-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

This just cracks me and Josh up!! If you listen to her sing you'll notice how low her voice gets during some parts, we don't know why she does this but we love it. I don't know what was up with her lifting her shirt up. And now she plays that over and over and over again. Oh my it gets quite musical here. Grammy/Mom don't you just love it? On a side note on the way home from Atlantic City we bought a book on CD to listen too and at one point we were turning it up to kind of drown out Ginger's babble but she kept getting louder and louder and singing as well that we just had to turn it off for a bit. LOL.

Happy Birthday Josh

2009-03-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

So Josh's birthday was Thursday and after we were done watching a friend's kids we went to Atlantic City!!! Josh wanted to go on a small trip somewhere and since it was raining Virginia Beach wasn't an option anymore so went to Atlantic City. It was fun. We had brought our own cake (Boston Creme Pie) and ordered Ice Cream through room service, and sang him happy birthday. It was great to see the beach again. Josh was pretty much in Heaven. He didn't care to much about the gambling though he did hit the slots for a couple hours. After we checked out of the hotel we hit the boardwalk and just checked everything out for a few hours. He is such an amazing guy. I can't believe that he's my husband some days. He's caring and loving. He loves his daughters and doesn't care that he doesn't have a son (yet). He works hard so that he can provide a stable home for us. What more can I ask for? I love him.

Ginger

2009-03-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

What can I say about my little psycho?? She is such a 2 yr old that it just isn't funny. She loves to not listen to me or Josh. She LOVES her sister Zoey. She can just talk and talk all day long. She loves to run up and down the hall way. She loves to get out of the apartment and play outside, which we've had a pretty rainy week :( She'll talk back to me, that's including a hand on her hip with the other one pointed at me and then she'll storm off in a huff, where'd she learn that??? ;) (I have to capture that on camera yet, oh but I'm determined) If things don't go her way she'll throw herself on the ground and start flailing(sp?) around like a fish out of water and scream, just ask Dani, she was witnessed this at her house. We went to the zoo a week ago and Ginger got the biggest kick ever there. It was so fun to watch her face light up, when a bear stalked past her and when a bird landed right in front of her, or when the river otters did flips off the glass in front of her. Of course for the most part we had to chase her, but I loved hearing the strangers around laugh as Ginger would rush past them and say to me, I bet she's a handful, and I couldn't help but grin at that. Not a day goes bye that she dosen't make me smile or just laugh out loud. I just love my psycho 2 yr old.

She is really enjoying cooking dinner with us

She was sooo cute with this bird, right after this pic was taken, she told the bird I love you.

This is Ginger watching the River otters, glad I caught that.

Zoey

2009-03-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

Boy has she gotten big quick!! I can't believe it. If I really sit and think about it I know I would cry. I don't know why but for some reason I just don't want Zoey to grow up. Crazy huh? She just had her 2 month appointment last week and she weighed 11lbs 2 oz, 22 in long and her head was 37cm around, which was in the 5th percentile, we think she'll be our small fry but a tough one. She got her her first shots and I think I was more traumatized than her, she just stopped crying after like 2 min, with Ginger at that age it took more like 10 min. It was also Josh's first time watching something like that and I don't think he liked it. Someone delibertly causing pain to his girl?? Nope he definatley didn't like that. Zoey is talking more and more every day. It seems that 8:30 pm is her talking time. I can get to just go off about anything :) Josh thinks its super neat. Of course I have to video it many times and send it to many people. It sucks that no one in my family will be able to truly Zoey and watch her grow into an amazing person.

I got her talking, but the camera ran out of memory so it ran short.

Aaahh...

2009-03-18T08:30:00.001-07:00

So I told you that I got a new bed, and now I'm going to tell you that I love it. It's just so comfy. I wasn't to sure about it until after a couple nights and I realized that I toss and turn WAAAAYYYY less now with my new bed. Its like I turn left then right then left again and maybe (some nights) right once more then I'm done and go to sleep. On my old bed it would be toss and turn for 2 or more hours!! Not kidding. So I'm feeling a lot more rested, well mostly. Zoey some nights has other plans for me. Of course Josh could sleep on the floor and not care. Weird-o.

Love it

2009-03-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

I just love to nurse Zoey!! You can't even tell that's what I'm doing in that picture!! It sure beats having to find someplace that will warm a bottle and mix formula, and it makes night feedings a breeze all I do is pick her up, attach her then we both lay down and fall back asleep. Yeah she just sleeps the rest of the night with me, again makes night feedings easy. I love to sit there and snuggle her while shes eating and just watch her pretty face, she'll now sometimes pull off just to give me a big grin (you know how disatrous that can be, espcially when let down is happening) I just love it. Sometimes I wish Josh were able to feed her, but I also think that since men don't know the pain of child birth they shouldn't know the joys of nursing :). Ginger has even taken to it :) I know that I'm blessed to be able to do this, since I know that there are many women out there who can't or have trouble with it. It's just amazing.

Us

2009-03-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Whew!!!

2009-03-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

We've been pretty here. Josh's dad was here for a visit then 7 days after he left Josh's mom and sister were here for a visit. It was so great to have them here and have them meet Zoey and show them the sights. It makes me miss my family more though. I wish that they could all fly out and visit us. Hopefully we'll still be able to visit them. It was a blast going to places we haven't seen yet and of course re-seeing the ones we have. We went to Union Station (looks like an airport, but for trains. Would you call it a 'trainport?') and the air and space musem and the Jefferson memorial, we rode the metro and went to Arlington (that place will take your breath away) it was just amazing. Ginger loves to feed the birds at union station and at one point they were on me and Ginger kept telling them to get off me. To cute. We also went to the botanical gardens, which were AMAZING. It was just great to have them here.

Ginger

2009-03-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

Top view of her fort (those are bumblebee wings from her old halloween costume)

Front view or her in the fort

It's been awhile since I've talked about Ginger and everything that she is. So she is completely potty trained now, I know it's amazing and a little sad. My baby is big girl now. She can make a fort for herself, super cute. She now likes to try to dress herself now, and since she's not that great at she gets frustrated and yells at me to help and if I don't get there quick enough, she'll just start chucking the clothes around. She decided she doesn't take naps anymore. That just plain sucks for me with Zoey. But I do make her do 'quiet time' in her room with a movie. And since she doesn't nap now it makes putting her down for bed a little easier, again though we need to put a movie on BEFORE bedtime so that she'll calm down a bit. She's super fiesty loving to run up down our tiny hallway. Throwing toys (i don't know why) and talking a mile a minute. Yesterday during dinnertime. I had Zoey on my lap, the only way she would calm down, and Ginger was in her seat eating, more like playing, her food and Ginger was talking nonstop the WHOLE time. It was so cute. She also loves her baby sister. She has her moments where she'll be mean and a little rough but for the most part it's all love. Whenever we go out she likes to show off Zoey saying 'look its my Zo-Zo'. I love that she loves her. Bath time here is great since she'll talk an hour bath and likes to get all pruned up. She's also a little disgusting, last night during our bedtime story she totally let one rip and just started laughing. Also she'll do a stinky toot toot and then want you to smell her butt (my fault, i taught her to do that), however though when she burps or you burp she'll say excuse me. At least she has her priorities. :)

My bed

2009-03-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

So exciting!!! I bought a brand new bed!! It's my first bed that I've bought that is brand new, so I'm loving it. I can't wait to go to bed tonight and sleep on it!! It was just delivered today. I think I got a pretty good deal on it to. It's a Simmons besutyrest world class kimble super pillow top. SOOOO super comfy. The orignal price was 2,000 on sale for 1499 and sold to me for 1199 with free delivery and 30 days comfort exchange (if i don't like it, i can exchange it). The bed was a bit more than I wanted to pay for a bed, but getting a bed for under 700 with the comfort and quality that I wanted was pretty non exsistent. Everytime I walk into my bedroom, I can't help but sit down on the bed and smile.

Roller Skating

2009-02-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

Our playgroup here is pretty wonderful last week we did a v-day party for the kids and the week before we went roller skating. At the rink here the first thursday of the month is "stroller" skating, you can take your strollers out there with you. SO cool. We put Ginger is skates and Zoey in the stroller, DUH, and Ginger had a blast. At first she kept falling but near the end she could actually "skate". More like walking with them on. She could even pick herself up when she fell. Josh went with us since he didn't have to work and helped me with the kids. He was the ONLY adult guy there. Pretty cute. And he didn't care. So much fun. I tried to do limbo but... it didn't work out that great. Ginger loved to push Zoey around with her skates on.

Fatih

2009-02-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

In Sunday school yesterday (still kinda hard to believe that I'm going) the teacher asked us what it felt like to have faith in Christ many people answered but one man answered in a way that I personally felt was what it was like. He said that it was like coming to church on a cold winter day, walking through the cold then entering the church where it's warm and there are many people there who love you. I thought that that was a great description. As I was listening to everyone I couldn't help but think of Zoey in my arms and thinking that this is faith in Christ. Just holding a newborn baby in your arms is (in my opinion) faith in Christ you feel good inside you get the warm fuzzies you look into their eyes and you see their innocence, and you feel the love. No matter where I was in life I've always had faith in Christ.

Making Friends

2009-02-03T10:22:00.001-08:00

I never knew how hard it was to make friends, in Idaho I already had some, my family and friends I'd had since high school. I didn't realize how lucky I truly was until I moved to Virginia and had to start all over. It's difficult when your an adult to put yourself out there and try to let your awkwardness fade away. It's getting better for me. Going to church has helped since there are many ladies there around my age and have kids around Gingers age. Also they have a wonderful playgroup and have warmly welcomed me and Ginger into it and we've been having a blast. And there is this one family who lived below us in corporate housing, moved here from Idaho also and have kids Ginger age and they are only a few years older than us. It's still a little weird to talk to them only cuz' we don't know each other and I don't know how I should act in front of people I don't know (I'm scared I may scare them off until they really get to know me) but I really think we could be good friends (at home and to my family I call her my 'very best friend but she doesn't know it yet'), her hubby also works at Micron (hence the move here) so him and Josh would be able to talk shop (since I just tend to tune him out I don't know the technical jargon). It's going to take some time till I find that true friend here, but for now it's been kinda fun getting to know the ladies of the church.

Wiggle It!!

2009-01-31T10:39:00.000-08:00

So our girls love to dance and that love has started since they were little. I actually captured Zoey's first grin in the video. How cool is that?

Pics of Zoey

2009-01-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

We just love our girls!!!

Church going

2009-01-26T08:51:00.001-08:00

So we went to church yesterday and it was actually pretty good. I was a little scared to go because Josh couldn't come with me so I had to deal with the kids by myself. But Zoey slept the whole time and Ginger was great during sacrament also church started at 9 am!! Holy cow that's early, espcially with a newborn. But we did it and Ginger loved nursery she learned how to pray :) so cute I had to take a pic of her showing me how she prayed.

And the prize goes too.....

2009-01-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

ME!!! That's right this a gift from Josh (and me) to me!!! Why you ask do I get this awesome gift when it's not my birthday or mother's day or valentines day?? Because I quit smoking and am still smoke free!! That's right everyone tomorrow will be 10 weeks of being smoke free!! I'm awesome and completely proud of myself. Although I know that I couldn't of done without Josh and the move to Virginia has had a HUGE role in it also. GO ME!!!

Girls Night

2009-01-22T14:55:00.001-08:00

So Sunday night Josh finally went back to work and I was a little sad ( I cried a little) and anxious, it was going to my first night without Josh there to help with the girls EEK!! Well it turned out I had nothing to worry about, they were great. Ginger just cuddled with me and Zoey it was nice and quiet. Just what I needed to give me confidence that I could be a good mom with 2 kids.