The Birthday Princess

I'm still trying to get the hang of the special day, kid stuff and lucky for me, Madeline's just starting to grasp what these special days mean (she has the presents concept down). It took most of the day for her to understand that birthday doesn't necessarily mean party.

As a birthday treat, we made cupcakes before lunch. Madeline decided on the strawberry mix. She put all of the paper liners in the pans and did nearly all of the decorating.

Great Grandpa came over to say hi and have a cupcake with us before lunch. And he brought her a little tiny ballerina bear that my Grandma made.

After her nap, GG came over for a hug so we just had to have cupcakes again (M will only eat the top half of a cupcake). And then Thor brought home a couple of HUGE balloons and we let her open her presents.

I had a very cute video that I wanted to post of me asking her how old she turned today, and her answering me that she was now 6. And me asking her again, with her answering that she was now 8. But my video camera got dropped (yikes!), and somehow the camera is fine, but the little dvd is not. So no cute video. Boohoo.

Wednesday Wanderings

1. The easiest way to get Madeline to eat her cereal in the morning is to put it in the big blue bowl. The easiest way to get her to drink her milk at dinner is to put it in the blue cup with the straw.

2. Thor and I escaped Saturday night to go out with some friends. We had some drinks at the guys' favorite raunchy, stinky bar and then saw my cousin play at the House of Blues. I didn't even have a hangover the next morning. How's that for self control?

3. Sunday I went to my first movie in about 2 years. He's Just Not That into You. It was cute.

4. Since Mommy's name is Jessica, and Daddy's name is Thor, and Grandma's name is Lisa, and GG's name is Audrey, Madeline thinks it's hilarious that Ian's name is Ian and Max's name is Max.

5. A couple of days ago, I plugged my camera into my computer to get the pictures off and it did nothing. I thought my camera was broken. Then I thought my usb plug had gone out. Turns out I've jammed my 150GB hard drive so full of junk it won't let anything else on. Now I'm working to get some of it off.

6. Today my baby girl turned 3.


7. My house is in a state of total disaster. The kids destroy faster than I clean up. But laundry is done.

8. Maison has been different the past few days. Lots of crying and clinging. He even took two naps today, which he hasn't done in a while. It has to be a tooth/ growth spurt combo that's hitting him pretty hard. Or maybe the walking is wearing him out and making him hungry. Or maybe he just loves me so much that he can't stand to be more than 3 inches away. I don't know. Poor little guy.

9. The kids this morning, entranced (sp?) by the tv-

Wednesday Wanderings

1. Today IS Wednesday, right? I'm a little lost.

2. I will now officially say that Maison is walking. He's walking more than he's crawling. But he walks like Frankenstein, or like an old man who rode a dirt bike for too long.

3. Since he's been walking, I've been trying to find some shoes that would stay on his feet. After returning a couple of pairs to different stores, I finally took him to a real shoe store and the lady took one look at his fat little feet and said "oooh, he needs extra-extra-wide!"

4. We've had some company for a few days. It's been nice. Kinda a little vacation for me too- shopping, eating out, watching a movie, Thor's been home really early every day. Nice.


5. Madeline is now enrolled in dance class. I was much more scared to take her than she was to go. She did fantastically. Didn't even care that she had to go in the class and stay with the teacher by herself. She followed the teacher's directions and talked with the other teeny tiny dancers. When the class was over, the teacher asked if I could remind her to stay in her chair for next time. I just hope she has more grace than I do!

(She's the one without dance gear)

6. When I first started this blog, all of the pics were of Madeline because Maison was just a boring newborn, and I felt guilty. I'm making up for it now. Isn't he the handsomest?

Hubs thinks he's funny

He saw this on the counter so he thought he should take a picture "to put on the blog"...



Just for the record, I was reading the recipe while Maison was hanging out on the counter (in his favorite spot, by the window) chewing on the dvd, that's how they ended up set out together.

Also for the record, the cookies have been made and eaten. And the dvd is still unopened.

Wednesday Wanderings

1. Our Sophie gets cold. She's the wimpiest, coldest dog I've known. When she's outside, Madeline will look out and ask to let her in because she's "wiggling" (instead of shivering). And Madeline "wiggles" after she gets out of the bath if we don't put her robe on right away.

2. I am obsessed with taking pictures, couponing, and now, after visiting a couple of friends with great decor, redecorating my house . Although, I am VERY irritated at my COMPLETE lack of design savvy.

3. Video link is fixed, for real this time.

4. Brownies are not my most favoritest dessert, but I finally used this pan that my mom gave me like a year ago, and now they've definitely been promoted. This pan has walls through the middle, so every single brownie has at least 2 chewy yummy edges. It rocks. Really.

6. Madeline's memory is killing me. She asked me where her pinwheel was that she got at a friends birthday party last April. Then she remembered that it broke and I had to throw it away (a week after she got it). She was barely two then.

7. When my Ipod is on shuffle, every 3-4 songs is sung either by a Sesame Street character or a Disney movie character.

8. I'm pretty sure Maison has some strange e.s.p. where he can sense the moment my head hits the pillow at night. I'd say 75% of the nights that he wakes up, he wakes within 4 minutes of me climbing into bed. Ask Thor- I'm seriously not exaggerating.

9. Just look at this face...

I don't care if it's 40 degrees outside and I'm naked. I WANT TO GO OUT SIDE!!!

Madeline's camera, part 2

I'm just impressed that the camera still works. I can only recall one time where she dropped it, but I guess it doesn't really have all that far to fall anyways.

2009 goal update

Goal #1: Exercise once a week.

I ordered and received an exercise video, but have yet to open it. That's all I've done. I'd say this one is so far a Fail with a capital F.

Goal #2: Hem pants and get out of these sweats and yogies.

Half way there. I've made a stack of everything that needs to be altered.

Goal #3: Plan, a full month at a time: dinners, the kids' meals, my lunches, and an activity with the kids for each weekday

My new calendar rocks, just as I thought it would. Look at how wonderfully large it is. January's dinners went well. Were adjusted as needed, of course, but I loved the month long schedule. Sundays now call for a grocery list only and no scheduling, which is great. And I have a whole month to work on the next schedule. And I can just reuse whole months once I get a few done, if I want to. February is the first month for planned lunches, but have decided it's not worth the trouble doing. The scheduled kid's activity is on once a week for now. And I also scheduled out my "chores". Which I will gradually be able to follow.

Goal #4: Shop Costco once a month, and major grocery shopping once a month, with weekly trips for spoilables.

So far mostly good.

Goal #5: Update my checkbook and budget worksheets once a week.

I redesigned my budgeting system and now update off of my receipts each night, or when I have them. Much better than trying to figure out my purchases off of statements 2 or 3 or 4 months down the line (who woulda thought?). Forces me to think twice before buying. So far, I have this goal in the bag. Only 11 more months to go.

Wednesday Wanderings

1. I forgot to keep this list running throughout the week, so this will probably be a short one.

2. I'm eating a cupcake right now that was supposed to look like an alien, but after a little disappointment, was adjusted to look like a cupcake, with green frosting topped with white frosting and valentine sprinkles.

3. The kids both woke up with sniffy noses this morning. I think every type of tree in our neighborhood is now illegal to plant because of the allergies they cause.

4. Thor and I both lost our Superbowl bets by 35 seconds. I only bet 20 bucks but would have won 100, which could have kinda almost paid for my hair appointment this month. Thor's dissappointment was a little greater than mine.

5. I slept 3 whole nights in a row this week without anyone waking me up. Maison decided to bring me back to reality last night.

6. This morning was a nice morning at the park. I resisted the urge to stop at Jack in the Crack AND Starbucks on the way home. Which I made up for by eating the cupcake.

7. I changed our reservations for next years Polar Express to not include the gross buffet and saved our party of 10 almost $300 bucks.

8. We've been putting offers on houses to keep as a rental, but keep missing them by one day. Fingers are crossed for the current one.

9. Madeline now knows more of the words to Horton than the last time I mentioned it and now wants me to talk along with the movie too.

10. At the grocery store, the cheap organic milk is no longer the cheap organic milk. They tried to trick me by putting cheaper stuff over by the regular milk, but I caught them- suckers!

11. I feel lucky to live in Las Vegas in the wintertime. Our tree is already budding and we need to check the sprinklers because the grass looks really dead.

12. Not a short one afterall...

Madeline lately

Madeline will be 3 years old in less than one month. She's a little person now. No more baby. No more toddler. She can hold an all out conversation. Can talk on the phone. Potties by herself. Comes very close to dressing herself. Plays toddler computer games by herself where she has to move the mouse and click. Can count to 10 easily, although sixteen or tweleven ends up in there sometimes. Can blow bubbles by herself (which is a HUGE deal). And does not need constant visual supervision.

She is still a super dooper cuddler and a momma's girl. Lucky for me, she still likes to be babied and loved up. She loves her daddy too and they have great little outings on the weekends. Outings are a breeze (usually). She walks herself around and really listens well. We've been very lucky to never have to endure a store or restaurant fit.

Long gone are the days when I could tell myself not to get angry at her because she's not doing whatever she's doing to make me mad. Now she does things just because she knows they annoy me.

Her imagination and memory are fantastic. She remembers things from months and months ago, like which chair everybody was sitting in at our kitchen table when we frosted cookies for Christmas, and details from our last trip to San Diego. And she told me a little story while we were driving, of how she was going to turn into a butterfly and fly up to the top of the mountain that we could see in front of us, but she couldn't carry me with her because I was too heavy, so I'd have to wait in the car.

Her bedtime routine is nearly the same as it has been for the last year. Jammies, diaper, turn on noisy fan, turn on ceiling fan, turn on fishy nightlight, she checks attendance of her current group of bed toys, asks to go get whatever's missing and gets denied, jumps and lands on her knees and lays her head on her pillow, gets covered up, mom gets sippy of water (we are nixing this gradually), goodnights, after door's closed yells "goodnight mommy!"2 more times for the heck of it. Newly added is her star blanket that she won't sleep or get out of bed without, and wanting to be carried to bed upside down.

She still will NOT get out of bed herself even though we moved her into her toddler bed months ago.

I love it when she runs to give me a hug before daddy gives her a bath, and when she says the word "beautiful" even if it's only referring to the only pair of undies she ever wants to wear, and when she says "oh my goodness' because she sounds like me. And I love it when she kisses me on my cheek spontaneously and when we cuddle in my bed at night and watch part of a movie after Maison goes to sleep.

Her specs at nearly three years old? Hmmm... Seems tall for her age and pretty skinny. Probably about 32 pounds. I had to cut her hair shorter to stop the tangles. She doesn't like it brushed. She hates to have her hair in a ponytail or braid if we're at home. Clothes size 3T. Size 5 nighttime diaper. Size 8 shoe. Beautiful big blue eyeballs that I like to take pictures of, if she'd just sit still.

Oh, and lastly... (plug your ears)... she still has her binki.