Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Card Outtake

Macie looks terrified of what might happen if she does not smile and Zoa is just plain mad!

For more Wordless Wednesday, check out 5 Minutes for Mom!

dizzy

Even though I have unsuccessfully taken pictures on with my camera on the Manual mode, I am still trying.

Last weekend, Macie stayed with a friend. Zoa and I were outside, playing and snapping away in automatic mode.

Out walks Jeremy...

"Swing me, daddy!"




Have a great Saturday!

"Can I do that?"

{My camera is broke...so I apologize for the pictures. They are taken from my phone.}

Our girls love to help in the kitchen. Zoa just climbs right up on the counter top and starts stirring. Macie loves to read the directions. Lately I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen and I think they have enjoyed themselves more and more the older they get....they much rather be helping in the kitchen than playing with toys.

I got to thinking...

Aprons! So I got on Etsy and started looking. I found these and I fell in love!

After a few chats with the owner of the store, I placed the order, hoping they would be just as cute in person.

I am extremely happy...



These little cupckaes are adorable!



They are now hidden, stashed away from tiny hands...waiting to be wrapped in Christmas paper.

And speaking of Christmas, I have quite a few presents bought. Is it too early to start wrapping presents?

If only it were that simple...

Zoa's preschool site on the top of a small hill. When I back out each afternoon, I always fear someone will be flying over the hill and rear-end us...which would be potentially very bad considering it is back roads and people do speed on them often.

I always make sure Zoa is buckled because she is old enough to where she can do it by herself. Macie is already buckled in.

Today, I had to explain why we buckle up....

Me: "Zoa, are you buckled?"

Zoa: "UUUGGGGHHHHH."

Me: "Do you know why we buckle? We have to so in case we get into a wreck, nobody will fly out of the car and get hurt."

Zoa: "I could land on grass. Grass is soft."

Me: "But dirt is not. The ground is hard and you would still get hurt really badly."

Macie: "I could land on a trampoline. That would be okay!"


Oh, if only a trampoline was around!

It was eye-opening....you really do have to explain why we do things and how doing certain things actually serve a purpose.

Man, motherhood is a big job.

Labor Day

I saw this Labor Day meme on a new blog I read and wanted to jot it down. Bear with me, I hardly remember anything from Zoa's pregnancy and delivery but I will do my best!

How long were your labors?

Macie: About 14 solid hours.
Zoa: About 12 hours.

How did you know you were in labor?

Macie: I was induced. Boo for the pitocin drip!
Zoa: Induced again...I wanted my dang water to break but it just did not happen on it's own.

Where did you deliver?

The hospital.

Drugs?

Macie: Wanted to wait as long as I could for the big epidural. After staying at 3 cm for hours, I wanted to epidural.

Zoa: I don't remember, but I got the epidural.

C-section?

Nope.

Who delivered?

Macie: After Dr. J did not show up after being paged for one hour saying I was at a 10, Dr. P graciously delivered Macie after delivering a patient of his.

Zoa: My doctor, Dr. U.

Play along if you want!

(Image via.)

So much to say but...

Before I blog about our little getaway, I have to tell you this. If you were at our house at 9:30 last night, you would have overheard this:

Picture it...

Me telling the girls to please go to sleep. Be quiet. Lie down. Quit talking. Go to sleep.

Over and over and over.

Finally, Zoa, who would not lie down or be quiet after I told her to numerous times, gets a little swat on the butt by your truly.

She is about to start crying hysterically, tears forming in her eyes, lips started to quiver...

"Mom. I just want to tell you Jesus would not be very happy you hit me."

I replied, "Jesus would not be very happy you did not listen."

I was so glad she finally slipped under the cover because I could not help but smile (and then laugh!).

Finer Things Friday: Our week in pictures

What's fine in my life this week?

Our new patio and fire pit...

S'mores made over the fire pit...

Snuggly toddlers...


Having a good meal from the freezer on a busy night....

What about you? Any finer things you are celebrating this week?

A day in St. Louis...

Sunday, Jeremy had a rugby game in St. Louis. Due to the game getting pushed back, we were not able to make it to the zoo or The Magic House like we wanted to. We decided to go to the Omnimax theatre at the Science Center. If you have ever been to an Imax theatre, you know how much fun they are. The girls loved it and was in awe of how real life it felt. We saw the Grand Canyon Adventure (which was super interesting) and at times, my stomach would drop...it is amazing how much you feel like you are there!

We made it home late last night and was wind burnt this morning...the wind was awful at the game. On top of that, 'ole man winter decided to give us one last round so temps are in the high 30's and low 40's the last couple of days. And I just put my sweaters away!

The next day spent in St. Louis will hopefully be a bit warmer and we will be able to hit up the zoo. The best part is they are both in the same area so we can do both at once.

Nothing much more exciting going on in our lives other than that...I guess that is a good thing!

Oh...and there have been over 120 tshirts ordered. Thanks to everyone that bought one!

(The pic was taken with my phone..not the best quality.)

Q & A...Part Dos.

Melissa (who cracks me up...totally reminds me of myself!) asked...

How did you decide on your kids' names?
Funny stories! Macie came pretty easy. At first we could not decide on anything! Then one day, Jeremy was at work and called me asking me what I thought of Macie. Here is how the conversation went:

Jeremy: Hey babe...about the baby's name...do you like Macie?
Alaina: Yeah, that is really cute! I like it!
Jeremy: Are you sure?
Alaina: Yeah...
Jeremy: Okay, I gotta get back to work. Love you! Bye!

You always hear of couples spending hours and hours, researching baby names, discussing, asking everyone what they think...not us! We always have been fly by the seat of our pants, so why not with this? With her middle name, 'Jae', my mom came up with it. It is a small combination of letters from mine and Jeremy's name. Macie Jae...it fits her perfect!

With Zoa...another story. I am still angry at Jeremy!
The entire pregnancy, Zoa was Abigail Paige. Macie would talk to Zoa while she was still in my stomach and call her Abigail Paige. I loved the thought of having a little Abi running around.
Fast forward...I am getting induced.

Jeremy: What are we naming her?
Me: Ummm, seriously? Abigail Page.
Jeremy: I am not really sure if I like that...
Alaina: %%*&@^#$@!&(*^% (Just kidding!) What? We have called her that this whole time!
Jeremy: I think I like Zoa, after my grandma.

Pause here...moms, you know by this point, I do not care if we name her Esther, I just want this baby to have a name!

Alaina: Fine, I I just want to call her Abi.
Jeremy: Okay...well, let's make Zoa her first name, Abigail her middle name and call her Abi.

After having the baby, Jeremy immediately starts to call her Zoa. And it stuck. Ugh!! But she does make a cute Zoa, if I do say so myself.

That's that...how we decided on our girls' name. :)

Not the zoo I was hoping for...

Jeremy was in St. Louis all day yesterday for a rugby game. The game was at Forest Park...and this park has the zoo, a science center...very kid and family friendly. Saturday, I decided that the girls and I would go to St. Louis with him and I would take them to the zoo. The weather would be perfect.

Like clockwork, Saturday night, MJ started to run a low grade fever. It started at 99.5...not a big deal at all. About an hour later, Zoa said her eye was itching.

This morning, we woke up to MJ having a 102.7 fever and Zoa's eye matted shut. Poor girls....

A trip to the hospital told us MJ had strep throat and Zoa had pink eye. Macie's fever at the hospital was 103.1. Medically, they said that is really high which scares me. I don't like it when she gets sick. She is s.i.c.k! She is so tiny so it does not take much to get her on the couch for good. I would not be surprised if she stayed home through Wednesday.


Zoa is, well, Zoa. Nothing can stop that crazy child of ours!


I hope your Sunday was better for you!

Uh oh....double ear infection.

Zoa is running a fever and is at the office with me. A four year old in an office for eight hours? Should be wonderful.

Pray for me.

Oh...and go tell Whitney's husband happy birthday!! No, seriously...go now.

(Went to the doctor...double ear infection. Poor Zoa...)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is Macie & Zoa Valentine's Day parties. Earlier in the week, I found these valentines. They are so cute so yesterday that was my mission. Emily stuffed the bags for me...thanks Em!! Last night, we tied the bows and connected it all. They turned out great!!

My pictures I have are not the greatest, but I will show you a box full of the finished product...


We also made the teacher's valentines and once again, the lighting in the new house is not the greatest so the pictures are really dark. But you have the link to look at them.

I know I have talked about Family Fun in the past, but it really does have some really cute ideas! If you don't get the magazine, you can look at all their crafts and other things online.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Winter Blahs...

I think winter has gotten the best of me. I have been so tired. The last two nights, I have been in bed by 9:00, which for me is huge, considering I usually am in bed no earlier than 10:30. I definitely need some sunlight...nothing like good, natural Vitamin D to perk your spirits and energize your mind. Anyone else been this way?

Tonight, Emily (a coworker and cousin of mine) and Ashley (Emily's sister and my cousin), are going to hang out at my new house and clean it before we start moving in. As a mom, it should actually be a bit fun to spend an evening with adult girls, although we can act a bit childish!

Oh...Zoa has a new phrase...

"...You hurt my feelings! Thanks a lot guys!!"

Very cute and funny, but sad at the same time. I don't want to hurt her feelings!

Drama queen, but not as bad as her older sister.

That's it for now...hope you have a great Wednesday!

Maybe some relief...

I don't know if you know this, but Zoa has horribly dry skin. Especially in the winter, her skin gets so dry and itchy. Eczema = not fun.

I have tried Vaseline and the texture drives her crazy. (She is weird about textures.) Lotion is not moisturizing enough. Hydrocortizone cream works but once again, the feeling of it she does not enjoy. If you know Zoa, you know how persitant she is...if she does not like something, she will have none of it.

One of the blogs I read is We are THAT Family. She told the story of her toddler's issues with eczema. She also said that Tea Tree Oil works wonders for it (and many other things)! This makes me so happy...we are really trying more "alternative" forms of medicine with the girls. The less over the counter medicine, the better. (Did you know that honey is as good as over the counter medicine for coughing?)

I am definitely buying some next time I go shopping...which might be a while because of all this snow and ice.

I hope this post might help you out if you know someone with this...eczema is not fun for little ones.

More doctors and a dip!

I'm off to take Zoa to the doctor (She has had a cough for three weeks now...bronchitis like MJ had?) but I wanted to share this recipe before I forgot. I had it last weekend and it is great spread on Wheat Thin style crackers. It is actually a stuffing for pork shops but they used it as a dip.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach Dip...yummy!

Update: Bronchitis it is. Ugh.

Resolutions.

At dinner last night, I talked about resolutions with the girls. After explaining what it meant, they decided to make a few themselves.

For a while now, the biggest struggle of mine is coming home. It should feel like a sanctuary and my mind does nothing but race the minute I walk in the door at 4:00 every afternoon.

"Girls, put your shoes up. Put your coats away. Is it really that hard?"

The girls' "revolution" (as they pronounced it) was to pick up for 15 minutes every day, as soon as we get home. This is something I have tried to get them to do. Set the timer on the stove for 15 minutes and everyone pick up. You will be amazed at what all you will be able to do. I feel like we could all have so much fun, if they would just listen.

Also, the promised to be nicer to each other.

Story time:

For Christmas, Zoa got a Leapster 2 from Santa. The next day, she felt she should clean it was BODY SPRAY. Ruined. Water damage. After extensive surgery on the Leapster, it was revived. But, before we found out is was going to pull through, Macie said she would save up her allowance to buy her one.

How flippin' sweet is that? I was so proud.

But, yeah, we will see how long the 15 minute pick up time will last. I'm crossing my fingers!

Did you make resolutions this year?

Wordless Wednesday: School Pictures

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Zoa's Birthday Party

Once again Zoa, happy birthday to you. I hope you had a great 4th birthday party.

p.s. Did you notice my new hair? (My back is in the picture when Zoa is opening her presents. I have a black sweater on.)

It is not Jeremy's color of choice, but I love it!

(Thanks goes to my dad for about 100 pictures of the party.)

We're back...

Just wanted to post a quick update. We got back into town and Zoa and I just got back from voting. She would not let me see her ballot. I hope she made the right choice. :)


Everything in St. Louis went fine. Her incisions look great and her doctors/surgeons are very pleased with them. Praise the Lord!

I got a text from Jeremy letting me know that they arrived in Atlanta safely. Don't tell him, but I was a wee bit nervous about him flying on Election Day. I am relieved that he is there safe and sound.

I will post later tonight with what Kara tagged me for. I have to get Zoa some lunch. She slept the whole way home!

Didn't know you could buy that!

After spending the day with Jeremy's mom, Macie came home with a few toys for Zoa.

Zoa: "Look mom! Nacie bought me diarrhea!"

(Side note: Nacie translates to Macie. Diarrhea translates to a diary.)

She is still referring to her new diary as diarrhea.