"Dirty Laundry"

Ok... so this one is called "Dirty Laundry" and it is about 7 things that are quirky about yourself. So here goes. I hope you all still love me after you read about my habits:

1- I hate having dirty feet. If my feet are dirty before bed, I have to wash them before I can get in. Terrence sometimes begs me to just go to bed without washing them and I lay there tossing and turning thinking about how dirty they are until an hour later (after he has fallen asleep) I secretly tiptoe to the bathroom and wash them.

2. I LOVE folding laundry and ironing. I usually do all of it on "Laundry Tuesday" and stock-pile it on my chair in my front room. Then after the girls go to sleep I stay up and watch a movie and fold clothes. The hard part is putting it away. I really dread that and sometimes it doesn't get done. I just pick what I need out of the basket during the week until I realize it's laundry day again and I really should put it away so i have a free basket to use. ( I know I'm horrible)

3. I'm a stress eater. This one is a little more obvious...ha ha. If I'm having a bad day I go to the kitchen. I'm really working on this and do really well until I have one of "those" days....then I'm sunk again. You know those days when you wake up to a tantrum right off because your 3 yr old's favorite skirt is dirty. Then you make the "wrong" thing for breakfast and after a vital grocery store visit where you end up chasing kids, warding off crusty looks from the people who don't have kids yet and putting back the million things the kids put in the cart that you have said "no" to.....only to find out you left your wallet in the car AFTER you have already been checked out. Yeah.....those days.

4. If my kitchen is dirty I feel like my whole life is a mess...WOW I am really starting to sound a little OCD. My teeny tiny townhome is cluttered enough. If things aren't organized....somewhat...I can't function.

5. When Terrence is actually home at night to fall asleep next to, we try to go to bed early just so I can talk. It's been something I've done since we got married and I'm not really sure how it happened. I think it's annoying, but he tells me to keep yapping away because it "lulls" him to sleep. I talk about anything and everything. How my day went, hopes, dreams, cute or naughty things the kids have done....you know...stuff like that. I guess he talks quite a bit too, but it's one of my favorite things. I think that is why we have such an incredible marriage. We have awesome communication skills. There are no secrets between us!

6- I'm not a big fan of cuddling. On our wedding night I rolled over in our big California king bed and slept right on the edge...on the opposite side as him and not because we were mad at each other. When we lay awake talking I'll say to him "ok..well I'm ready to fall asleep so goodnight." Then I roll over to my edge and I sleep. My family used to tease me when we were engaged, because I can't sleep with other people. If Kylie climbs in bed with us during the night, I either take her back to her bed or I sleep on the couch. I hate being touched when I sleep.

7. This one is obvious too. I am a MAJOR push-over. I'm really trying to work on it though. I hate confrontation and I let people treat me like crap without sticking up for myself. I'll do anything for anyone and I can forgive pretty much anything. I HATE drama and I don't play games. I'm pretty sure I graduated high school in 2002 right? If there is Drama involved, I either back off or I try to please everyone because I really can't stand knowing that someone doesnt' like me. I know....it's really sad, but I've been that way forever.

NOW....YOU CAN PLAY THIS LITTLE POSTING GAME TOO! I LOVE READING STUFF LIKE THIS ABOUT PEOPLE. I STOLE THIS OFF OF VALERIES BLOG. THANKS FOR THE IDEA!

A Growing Girl

Our little Maddi is 18 months old! I took her to the doctor today for her well-baby checkup to see how she measures up. I'm a little shocked that my girls are so skinny. Kylie only weighed 18.5 lb at 12 months! Well...Maddi is a little bigger than Kylie was, but she is still small. She was 22.8lb....putting her in the 35% and she was 32.75in....which is the 80%. My doctor does a cute little thing at all the well-baby visits. He gives us a little card with all her stats and notes of her behavior in the office, then they make some footprints to put on it. It's fun to see how fast she is growing. Her feet sure have grown anyway. Maddi was so good. She sat nicely while he checked her out, and then while he was talking to me she gathered her clothes and shoes and my keys, purse and phone and headed for the door. She was trying to unlock it with my keys so she could go. It was pretty funny. She also got some shots today. I was totally prepared for the crying afterwards, but she just looked up like "What was that?" and then went back to her little "Maddi land". I was such a proud Momma. When we left our Doctor let her pick out a sucker and she said "kank-ku". She says "kank-ku" (thankyou) after everything. It was actually a very good experience. On the down note...my hubby was home throwing up all day :( So after taking the girls to the park to play for a while I came home to care for my "other" baby.

INFLATION DESPARATION!

So...we bought a scooter....that's about all I can say about that. I remember looking at people riding them with their dorky little half-helmets and thinking...wow...I bet they don't get a lot of dates. I have become one of those people, but remarkably enough...they don't seem that dorky to me anymore. With my paper route, we were spending between $350 and $400 per month on gas alone and now including the new payment, insurance, and gas we'll be saving a lot more. It's crazy what inflation can make people do. So....here is a picture of my hott new ride. I know you're all jealous....j/k. Except Ryan, (a good friend of ours) he has caught the wave and become one of "them" too. :)

Maddi Makeover!

We decided to make Maddi over too. I didn't want to create jealously in the house. We gave her a more natural look and finished it off with waterproof mascara just in case of a tantrum...which she is throwing as I type this....so I'd better hurry. ENJOY!

I decided to all another picture to this. I've had several people tell me that Maddi has some Shirly Temple qualities about her. I think it's just the dimples which aren't even showing in this picture, but I decided to try it out. What do you think?

Princess Makeover!

Kylie and I stayed entertained today during the rain for a whole hour doing nothing but....makeovers! We took some pictures and Kylie picked out hair, lipstick, gloss, eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush.....on and on and on to create some new looks for herself. Together we created Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel. It was so much fun. I highly recommend trying it out!

WHO NEEDS A BOY?

Hi! I'm Maddi and I decided to try blogging too! My Mom is so busy all the time that she doesn't get a chance to do it very often. So...my Mom and Dad think I'm a little bit of a tomboy. It is true, I do enjoy getting dirty and even make concious efforts to do so. Sure I am still gentle and love a good kiss, but a also really love dirt. We went fishing a couple weeks ago with Grammie and Papa and my mom just let me do my own thing. I had so much fun. I ran down a dirt hill and fell face first into the dirt. When I got up...just to prove what a strong girl I am...I brushed off my hands gave a little chuckle and just kept on going. My mom really likes giving me my freedom and letting me explore on my own so I can learn. But sometimes she laughs at me when I screw up, which I guess is okay because it makes me laugh too.

Just getting up after a running fall.

This is after the face plant I did. My mom is trying to get me to hold still for a picture, but I really didn't want to. I wanted to go run again!

Kylie is a little more prissy than me. She spent the day in a Barbie dress and stayed relatively clean...considering the activity...

Last Sunday, my Dad made us this really cool hut in the front room. He was hiding in there with a flashlight and when I went inside to see what he was doing...he had fallen asleep.

KNOT HEADS

Hi! I'm Kylie and I'm three. In September I'll turn 4 just like Caillou and I can't wait! My mom was debating whether to post some pictures of Madison and me, but I just decided to go for it. I want everyone to be able to see what we do for fun at our house. My mom has a bunch of silly pointless rules for us like....don't climb on the counter, don't throw the entire laundry basket of clothes in the bathtub with us, and absolutely do not ever try to jump down the stairs or slide down on any item...EVER!!! I really don't get it, so I've secretly taught Maddi a couple of my mad skills so she can help train my mom in the art of patience. I'm really not sure that it's working...in fact we may be making it worse, but at least we're having fun. Madison even made up a new game by herself. She pushed my kid-size Dora couch up to the grown-up size couch and started jumping off of it. But one of her favorite things is to climb on the counter! She climbed up there a few days ago and....voila licorice!

She was even clever enough to get past the child lock on the snack cupboard ...(another dumb rule of snack limitations) See my grammie Sharon blogging in the background?

My mom was taking pictures, so I figure it's okay right?

Then...the week before Independence Day, my Mom and I had a blast outside doing a little chalk art. (our kid-hater landlord totally freaked out about this by the way!)

Apparantly another one of Mom's rules is DO NOT TRACK CHALK THROUGH THE HOUSE...so I ran to the kitchen to wash my feet off in the kitchen sink, but I miscalculated the counter exit stradegy and fell face first into the book shelf. This was immediately afterwards. It swelled to the size of a golf ball and now....almost 3 weeks later....I still have a bruise. But my Mom does have good traits too. She gave me some Tylenol in a little cup and a popsicle and even extended my TV time for the day!

RECIPE OF THE DAY

I've been trying to really watch my diet lately and am continually trying to find new healthy recipes that are actually tasty and came across this one. I really really enjoy it and make it often, so I thought I would share! ENJOY!

SAUSAGE ZUCCHINI SKILLET

1 lb. Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed (or ground it you can find it)

2 lg. zucchini, chopped

1 lg. sweet onion, chopped (sweet vs. yellow makes all the difference)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 c. hot cooked rice

1. Crumble sausage into a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray. Add the zucchini and onion; cook and stir over medium heat for 4 minutes. Add the garlic; cook and stir until meat is no longer pink. Drain. ( I can rarely find turket sausage, so I usually use pork)

2. Stir in tomatoes and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 4-5 minutes or until liquid is mostly evaporated. Serve over rice.

****If you use turkey sausage the nutrition facts for 1 1/4 c. sausage mixture w/ 1/2 c. rice =329 calories, 11 g. fat, 5 g. fiber

Bittersweet Day

Today was the big day! I took Kylie to preschool at 8:00a.m. and I am currently waiting for time to pass till I pick her up at noon. I can't believe she is old enough to go to school, and I can't believe that I have four hours without her for three days a week. We went on a tour of the school a couple weeks ago, and I stayed to observe her while she went to class. Today...she was a little nervous when she realized I was actually leaving her there by herself. She was so worried that I would forget her and not pick her up. I hope she does well today although I'm not really worried. She usually makes friends really fast, so hopefully it will be a good experience. Both girls have grown so much lately...I just wanted to share a few cute/fun things they do now. I will post pictures later. I haven't taken many because my Mother-in-law Sharon has taken so many, I just planned on downloading from her camera but forgot to before she flew back to Kansas :( If you want to see what Terrence and the girls did this weekend, you can check out her blog on my link list. We will miss them. So here goes the cute stuff:
KYLIE:
1- When she gets mad at Maddi she says in a very excited tone "Maddi, come upstairs with me!" Then she gets Maddi to follow her and she shuts her in the closet for "time out". I'm not really sure where she got the closet idea from, but poor Maddi freaks out and I only realize what has happened when I hear Maddi screaming from upstairs. (okay..this one isn't cute, but a little silly)
2- Loves to play pretend. Yesterday she was my teacher, and I was her student.
3- Great dancer. She has a different dance for each music genre. The Tango beat type dance ends up looking a little risque. (sp?) It's hilarious.
4- Has to sing Maddi a lullabye every time Maddi takes a nap or goes down at night.
5- Makes up silly excuses to get out of things (see "Noodle cleaning mermaid" blog entry below) Yesterday it was "Mom, I'm much too hot to clean"
MADDI
1- Kisses EVERYTHING! She puckers up really really big and kisses over and over again.
2- Waves and says hi and bye to everyone and everything.
3- Is obsessed with her Daddy. She repeats his name over and over and over again. She's been saying it for months and only started saying Mommy on rare occasion last month. She is too smart though because sometimes we try to get her to say it and she giggles and says..."LaLa" (for Laura) instead. What a stinker.
4- Loves babies. She is so gently and softly pets their heads. Watch out if the have binkies though. She may shove them down the babies throat. ;) I've really never seen a toddler so gentle with a baby before. (no that does not mean it's time to have another!!!)
5- Loves to try to play pretend with Kylie. They've been into the Snow White thing lately. So Maddi gets a hooded towel and puts it on and does this weird growling laugh ( a Maddi version of a cackle) Then she feeds Kylie a ball to poison her. When Kylie falls onto the floor, Maddi puckers up and kisses her to bring her back to life.

My 4th of July

Terrence got off work early on Thursday night, and packed the girls up in the van...and drove away. He is going camping once again with his family, and I am left alone (I can't get work off again :( bummer huh) I think I spent half of the day sleeping yesterday, but have actually gotten a few things done today. I can't waste away all weekend, so I figure it's time to get all that organizing and cleaning done that I can't usually do with the girls here. I'm amazed how much I miss them despite how badly I needed a break. On my way to work this morning, I saw dozens of chairs lined up on Main street waiting for the parade this morning. I remember thinking all morning at work how I would take the girls and we would walk to the nearest main street intersection near the house and go watch it, then maybe have a picnic at the park later today. I didn't even realize till I was half way home that the girls aren't here, and I couldn't be lame and go to the parade by myself, so I came home and read the Ensign instead. I'm going crazy. What did I do with my time before I had kids? Did I actually have a life at any point? I am realizing that everything I do and every thought I have somehow relates to my girls. I don't know what my hobbies and likes are, I've somehow lost my identity and have adopted the title: "MOM". I'm proud of that title and so happy to have the oppotunity and blessing to be a mom, but somehow I need to remember who Laura is too. How do women who are great mom's find time to feel like a woman too? That in itself is a talent...I'm quite sure of it!