~ a week in photos and words ~

c is for contagious

d is for drinks

e is for enjoying the iPad with elmo

f is for fork

Friday, I got a call from daycare...fever and complaining of an owie in her ear.  So I made an appointment, and after an hour and a half of various tests (none of which made her happy) we came home with nothing but a 102.9 fever and a diagnosis of virus.


Saturday evening, my older daughter watched B. while we went out for supper to celebrate with friends.  A close friend of mine turned 40 and her husband pulled off a surprise party. We almost didn't go because about a half hour before we left, B. vomited. I like this iPhone photo because the drink is the focus, but the party is still shown in the background.  We came home after just a couple of hours to a kiddo with a 103.5 fever! Scary!

lime light (g is for green)

h is for hearts

Sunday was a little better.  Still a fever, and stomach things, but times of "normal". I love this photo because1) B. set it up. She wanted the blankie on the floor (I helped) and then she set up the gorilla, and they played with the iPad.  2) The hair twirl.  She twirls our hair and her own, especially when tired, or sick.



Monday, I was home with B all day.  While still a bit pale and cranky, overall much better and no fever! Yay!  Continuing with the alphabet theme...I chose a for, macro style  for "macro monday".





Tuesday was my first night of class for this semester, so a quick shot of a lime for g is for green!









Wednesday I decided to try an idea that my older daughter, H. found on Pinterest! Fun shape bokeh.  H is for heart, of course! (and I had to get a bit of orange in there somewhere)

I've been thinking a lot about my word; balance. Sometimes I think I even see it in the distance, but mostly it hasn't found me yet.  :-)  I need to go to a show or two I think!  I miss music and spending time with C., just the two of us.  Since B. has been sick I have gotten to spend more time with her, which is nice (the time, not the sick, of course).  And I even had a minute or two to work on a layout (not quite finished, but will post soon).  So maybe balance isn't so far away after all. Notice I haven't mentioned any sort of exercise though!

One thing is for sure, I have not been spending enough time with my parents.  And even more important, B. hasn't been spending enough time with them.  It doesn't help that she has spent the last two weekends with a fever!

Over the last few weeks my father has had several procedures to remove cancerous and pre cancerous cells on his skin.  He worked outside most of his life, so it isn't surprising that it would be catching up with him at this point!  This most recent procedure required quite a bit of tissue to be removed from his nose (dead center, of course), enough to necessitate skin grafting.  This is something they will actually need to knock him out for and it makes me nervous!  He suffered a stroke nearly 15 years ago, and we do believe that there have quite likely been other mini strokes in recent years (there are signs).  Also since the kidney transplant, over four years ago, his health has deteriorated a bit due to the drugs that they have him on to keep him from rejecting my kidney.  AND he has diabetes.  So all of these health concerns are why I am a bit anxious about this upcoming event.  It will be weighing heavy on my mind over the next week!

In my near future:
1.  A show (or two).  I have several on my calendar and I'm ready to go!
2.  A night away with my soul mate.  C. and I have several ideas about how to make this happen.  It involves grandparent babysitters and reservations!
3.  Finish that layout!

And I leave you with a B. story that makes this literacy coach very happy.

B. brings me a pile of books and says, "Mommy, talk these with your mouth."  And that's what I'll focus my orange-colored-glasses-view on this week!

~ explored ~

Busy, busy, busy around here!  I've done a few of my December Daily pages, but I'm still not done!  I will finish!!  :-)  The good weather that we were having when I last posted has left us, and we are experiencing full on winter!  The girls have enjoyed playing outside on occasion.  More snow predicted for later this week!

12/365

M & B on sled

M saying "cheese"

 The last two days I've had photos "explored" on flickr.  This is all new to me, and kinda silly, but also kinda fun!  I find it interesting that I would consider both shots "over done" or a bit cliche.  But, oh well, I'll take it! Here are the two photos.

~ minimal liquid ~  16/365 and 2/52 weeks (theme "liquid") and "minimal" for We're Here! group

 ~ bright & colourful ~  17/365 and "bright and colourful for We're Here! and 112 pictures in 2012

I cannot leave you without a B. story.  She loves pistachios!  I have photos of her eating them.  She can even say the word, and it's quite cute!  Last night, we were watching Pinocchio and B. looked up at us and said, "Can I have some Pitocchios?"

~ If you pin it, they will come.~

Tonight, while putting B. to sleep...

Me: Do you know that I love you?
B:  (big binkie smile, nods yes)

Me: Do you know that your daddy loves you?

B: (big binkie smile, nods yes)

Then, as if I forgot to mention it, B (through the binkie, while twirling my hair): AND Gwamma loves me!


It's probably important to the story that I also tell you, she was holding her {Pinkalicious} magic wand at the time (apparently, this is now required for sleeping).

Also, I learned that I've been scraplifted on the Scrapbook Circle Blog.  Pretty cool.

One more thing...Pinterest is a powerful thing.  Not only do you get sucked in for hours at a time and it really seems as if it's only been minutes (similar to the story line of many a sci fi novel), if something gets "pinned" that links back to your blog, you get people looking at your blog!  Woah.

Why am I not sleeping?  Oh, right, Pinterest!  Sleeping now!

~ all about pink ~

Tonight after work I took B. to Menards while Daddy jogged.  One of the items on my list to look for:  pink Christmas lights.  B. has been so unbelievably into pink these days -- even her favorite book is Pinkalicious.  I have this skinny pencil tree that I haven't decorated for a few years.  I thought it might be fun to decorate it this year and put it in B.'s toy area downstairs.  So...it needs pink lights!  We found them!  And pink beads.  And a few pink ornaments that are not supposed to shatter (since she has already broken at least three since Saturday)!  ALL on sale at a good {cheap} price.  It was a good idea!  She loved it!

After Daddy got home we went out to eat.  She was a talker the whole time!  Man!  Good thing it was a very casual place!  When we got home we still needed to open up our book for the day, which she promptly did (Eve Bunting's Night Tree).  She made some sort of moderately appreciative comment, then tossed it on the ground and with perfect timing said, "Let's read Pinkalicious".  I will continue the 25 books project, but I don't think she is appreciating it as much as I am!  :-)

STILL NO DECEMBER DAILY ALBUM IN THE MAIL!  Argh!!

Day One:::Day Two, Three and Four

~ days 2, 3 and 4 ~

December 2

Friday.  That means pizza!  Most Fridays we make it easy for ourselves and have pizza for supper -- cheap, Target, cheese pizza, and we add fresh garlic and green olives.  Tonight we also had wine and beer!

My december 2011 in photos group asked us to take photos of trash today -- so the photo to the right is what I chose to upload to the group.

The rest of the books I ordered for our new family tradition came today!  Yay!  Now to wrap them and make the tags for them!  Also in the box are the books that I ordered to give as Christmas presents for my daughters, son-in-law and our nieces and nephews.  Also a yay!  Three other packages came today, one for my soul mate and two for me.  They are mostly gifts for the girls (M. and B.)!  Lots of wrapping to do, and the tree isn't even up!

Tonight we spent some time downstairs.  I was making tags for the books, C. was playing guitar, and we were both playing with our sweet B...multitasking.  We had coffee and tea and eggs and cupcakes all prepared and delivered by B.  She danced and used Daddy's electric guitar cables as a jump rope, or made 'snakes' with them.  I took a few pics of the evening, most didn't turn out as well as I'd like -- not sure which photo from this day I will use in my December Daily -- but my book isn't here yet, so I guess I have time.

December 3
I REALLY thought the album that I am using for my December Daily would be here today!! How long does it take to ship from California???  Seriously, Elise did her job -- it was shipped Monday morning.  Still not here.  I'm anxious to get started...until then, just the stories.

Today is CHRISTMAS TREE DAY!  It just so happens that another group I am in (called We're Here -- we call ourselves 'The Hereios'), had a "too much stuff" theme today.  Totally fit my day!!!!

too much stuff

We put up the tree and hung the stockings.  You'll have to wait for those pics, as I haven't had time to go through them much yet (and there are quite a few). (I like how I say "you'll have to wait" as if there are people waiting on pins and needles to read this stuff -- especially since I only have one follower -- well, two if you include me -- Hi Julie)! Here are the stories:

1.  We had a light emergency!  None of the strands we used last year worked!!!  Luckily my mom just purchased a lighted tree and was trying to get rid of the lights she no longer needs so she ran them down to me!  Whew!  Thanks Mom!
2.  After I got the lights the way I wanted them (I'm kinda picky about them), I noticed there was one burnt out.  I had some extras, so I pulled it out to replace it.  However, I think I wasn't supposed to do that because it didn't come out correctly.  SO....I had to take that strand off (in the middle of the tree, not the top, not the bottom, the middle) and replace the whole strand with another.  Bleh.  Minor setback.  We forged ahead.
3.  When the lights were satisfactory, we opened the box of ornaments.  B. noticed the two strands of beads and immediately decided we should jump rope with them!  (She is on a jumping rope kick -- it's really NOT jumping rope -- it's jumping up and down and flinging something like a rope around, sometimes hitting things with it)  After a few jumps and then tears when we put them on the tree, she was fine.  Whew!
4.  Next, the balls.  Our tree has pink, lime green, blue, red and orange (of course) balls on it.  The strand of beads is also lime green and so is the bow on the top!  I used to have a more "tranditional, country" type tree, but the last couple of years I decide on this change!  I like it, but may go back someday.  It fits us now, and matches the furniture!  LOL.  B. was hilarious helping with the balls!  She has been on this kick about colors, pink is her favorite, green is C.'s and orange, of course, is mine.  So...she thinks EVERYTHING pink is hers.  Likewise everything green is Daddy's and everything orange is Mommy's.  So, with each ball she would say, "That's my ball", "That's, B's", "That's Daddy's", etc.   AND, of course there were a zillion balls on the bottom third of the tree, multiple balls on each branch, and colors in bunches instead of spread across the tree.  But, I was proud of myself.  I'm usually pretty picky about that stuff, but I let them stay.  C. couldn't stand it, though.  He moved a few eventually.  It's still quite full on the bottom third though. She has had a difficult time keeping her hands off them.
5.  My photos didn't come out as well as I'd liked.  C. took some that were better.  At least I'll have some!
6.  B. wore a cute little Elmo top with a hood that has white fur on it today.  So...we decided the red balls on the tree were Elmo's.
7.  More packages arrived -- but no december daily album (but I already said that).
8.  While C. put B. down for bed, I made a quick run to Target for a few items.  When I went through check out, the lady (that I apparently see often) said, "I was worried that you weren't going to be here today".  I should probably go to Target less often!
9.  I finished all the tags for the books -- and got them all wrapped.  FUN!  Our book today was called Santa Duck and his merry helpers.  Also fun!

December 4
Today M. (my 20 month old granddaughter) was with us for about five hours while her daddy was working and her mommy was at a party watching the Vikings lose, again.  We enjoyed her.  The girls slept at the same time for nearly two hours, which was also good!  A miracle even.

We opened B.'s book of the day while M. was here.  I let her because I knew that today was actually four little board books with Elmo.  They read them.  I think I read Goodnight Moon nearly twenty times as well.  When we were done reading it, M. picked up the book and started saying, "Night, Night" and flipping the pages!  It was cute!  She doesn't talk as much as B., what a difference seven months makes!  But she is saying more words and phrases that I understand.  B. was extra bossy, of course. When B. was eating supper tonight she said (unsolicited), "I had fun with M."

My favorite part of the day was probably when we watched part of a movie on the couch. I was laying down with M snuggled up beside me.  Then B. had to be a part of it, so she laid kind of on me and on the pillows behind me, so she could still see, but also have access to my hair to play with it (wonder if she'll still be doing that when she goes to college)!  C. grabbed the camera a took a few shots.  Even though I have no make up on and look hideous, I may use it as my photo in my album (if it ever comes ;-)).

love those binkies

I decorated the house a bit more today, and now I am down to two boxes with Christmas stuff that I still need to decorate with.  It will need to wait for another day though.

Today we Skyped with my mom and dad.  B. loved showing off the Christmas tree to them and telling them about her day with M.  Next time I hope I remember to take a photograph of the Skyping so that I can record that in my December Daily album (wait for it....wait for it....if it ever gets here).  ;-)

The Hereios are all about candlelight today, so I lit a candle and placed it in front of the tree for a bit of bokeh.

But my favorite photo of the day is this one that I took with my iPhone.  While we were trying to cook supper, B. insisted on putting just about every "pretty" that she owns in her hair at the same time.  This isn't the first time she's done this, but it's been a while.  Then she wanted to see herself in the mirror.  I liked the way you could see two of each of us, at different angles, because the doors to the medicine cabinet were open slightly.  So, I had to take this photo.  Fun!

~ day 1 ~

Last night, B and I made wrapping paper together!  I'm thinking we will use it to wrap presents for daycare and maybe grandparents.  I purchased some kraft wrapping paper at Target (which wasn't exactly easy to find, but I found it).  Then she stripped down to her diaper and got busy!  I showed her how to use her thumb to make holiday lights.  After painting I drew lines to connect the lights.  Although this was a December Eve activity, it just might make the December Daily album! 

our work

B's work

A new tradition that we are starting in our house this year is one that I found around somewhere, but now I've seen it so much I have no idea who to give credit to!  I purchased some fun wrapping paper at Target and have started making tags to match.  I'm using a few traditional colors mixed with more contemporary "Christmas" colors like pink and maybe even a little orange for good measure.  ;-)  I am wrapping 25 picture books with a Christmas theme, adding a tag with the number on it, and each night leading up to Christmas we will unwrap a book and read it!  Sounds like fun, right?  She might be a little young for this, we'll see.  I had some books already (imagine that) but I ordered some new ones too.  They haven't arrived (I expect them tomorrow).  So I just wrapped a few and tagged them to get us started.  My plan is to finish them up this weekend and put them in a basket under our tree (which isn't up yet, also on the to do list)!  I brought two tagged books upstairs, but left one on my desk downstairs because I still needed to make a tag for it.  Tonight when I got home from class, I went downstairs to throw in a load of laundry and found this:

the evidence

B was downstairs by herself for all of five minutes or less while I was at class tonight.  But in that time she managed to pull her chair over to my desk, find, and open the "present" without anyone knowing!

the method

I found this, of course, after we had already opened our first book, The Polar Express.  She didn't seem all that interested in settling down much to read.  Maybe it will go better tomorrow?  I dunno, we'll see.  I'm still glad I'm doing it!

day 1

As if December wasn't busy enough, I also joined a new flicker group -- december 2011 in photos.  It's a theme a day for the month of December.  Today's shot is supposed to be of my better half, but so far he isn't cooperating!  I will be sure to update this post if I make that happen -- I have an hour!

UPDATE:  meet my better half

~boggle boggle boggle~

Yesterday we visited both sets of grandparents and ate two Thanksgiving feasts!  My parents had a bit of a full house, but not quite all of us at the same time.  My brother and his family were leaving as we arrived -- off to his in-laws.  My nephew, Seth, and his wife stayed just barely long enough to eat and then they were off to two more celebrations!  My nephew Rich and his two kiddos were there longer than we were, and my older daughter Hollyanne and her family were there for quite a bit as well.  It was good to see them all.  After supper, my sister Jeanne, my mom, B. and her Daddy, Rich and his two kiddos, and I walked up to the school a few blocks away to play on the playground.  I didn't need to wear a coat!  Amazing weather!  I took a few photos, of course.  I uploaded about 32 to facebook and flickr, but I'll try to keep it down to just a few here.  :-)

After my folks we went to Grandma and Grandpa B's house.  Grandma B. really  wanted a photo of B with her poinsettias.  I tried...but it was B's "run" time right before bed, so I mostly got blurry photos of her not looking at the camera.  This is what I'm left with:

More photos of the day on flickr.

We pretty much did NOTHING today, which was NICE!!!!  I did try to do a bit of work on my scrapbook space.  I wanted to fix up the bulletin board area so that it looked a bit nicer -- it was all cluttered up with a bunch of stuff I ripped out of magazines for inspiration.  So, I took all the magazine pages and put them in a clear envelope, used the Cricut to cut out the letters for the word "inspiration" and attached the word to the envelope with colorful paper clips.  I was going to glue them on, and I still might, I haven't decided if I like it or not.

B. "helped" me, and her daddy snapped this photo with his iPhone:

I don't like the way I blend in with the chair, making my butt look extra large...but overall, I like the photo and you can see the space a bit better.  The clear envelope is just under the bulletin board, hanging from it with a ribbon.  Now the bulletin board is ready for other bits of inspiration and photos!

B. made this turkey at daycare on Wednesday:

Here's the conversation...
Me:  B, what does a turkey say?
B: Boggle! Boggle! Boggle!

Hilarious.

~ 11 weeks ~

I was going to wait until week 12 to do my first belly shot (I like even numbers), but The Hereios, a group I'm in over at flickr, had "Reflected Restroom Selfie" as it's theme for today -- so I took it today instead!  The shirt I'm wearing is stretchy.  I'm going to try to wear it for as many of the belly shots as I can.  And, since I did this one in the restroom, I may try to do the others that way as well.  It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I'm hot happy with the actual photo, so maybe not!

I'm growing more quickly than my last pregnancy!  I'm sure this has much to do with the fact that I have no stomach muscles left -- from babies, the kidney donation, as well as the incisional hernia from my last pregnancy.  There's nothing left to hold it all in, so I popped quite quickly even though I've actually lost a little weight.  I think I'm going to have to break down and buy maternity clothes earlier rather than later.  Until then, I have the bellaband to help out (I would die without it).

The GD is still kicking my butt.  I continue to be over emotional and distracted by what to eat, when to eat and how to get exercise in.  Bleh.  But on Friday, I should get to hear the heartbeat!

What about craftiness, you ask?  What have I been up to in that area?  I'm not sure what I am thinking, but I ordered some PUL fabric and a book about how to make really cool cloth diapers.  I am not finding time to do anything crafty, I'm barely taking photos, and I'm not a person that sews.  I had to look up PUL fabric online so I would even know what it was.  So..uhh...what was I thinking?  I guess I wasn't.

I did get this awesome selection of doodle twine (doodlebug design inc.) in the mail the other day, and I cannot wait to use it!  It has been busy around here with birthdays and stuff, but I'm hoping that I'll find time this weekend to reacquaint myself with the scrapbook area!

But, not before I clean it up.....

My soul mate:  (hollering up the stairs) Uh, was B. downstairs by herself at all yesterday?
Me:  (as I'm walking down the stairs) Um, I'm not sure, I think she was recently, but I'm not sure....
My soul mate:  Look...

This is the floor!

At least she finished the task, right?  Her daddy says this means that she will probably finish college.

~ camping ~

Charlie is on his second round of antibiotics, steroids, cough medicine and now and inhaler.  I'm feeling much better, but this cold has been nasty!  We've pretty much had the plague at our place since school started!  Luckily, the worst of it has stayed away from B.  She has a little cough and a slightly runny nose, but mostly it seems like allergies for her.  This is how cute she looked on Friday, Sept 9, in her Pink Hawkeye cheerleading outfit!  Isn't she big???!!!

 

Immediately after this photo was taken we headed to Pleasant Creek State Park to get away from it all and camp for the weekend. Pleasant Creek isn't a creek, it's a lake...but it is quite pleasant!

    
One of the reasons that I like this camping area so much is because you are surrounded by natural prairie everywhere you go.  The yellows are very active this time of year.

We saw a deer the first night we were there.  Then over the next two days we had encounters with a snake and bullfrog.  B. loved them all!! 

Another great thing about this camping spot is the playground.  When B would get bored, we would take a little walk and play on the toys.  Once again, these photos remind me of how unbelievable big she has gotten!

Believe it or not, some of the noodles did get into her belly!  The smiling is partly because of the "yummy in her tummy", but mostly because Daddy is making faces!

We took our hand-me-down scooter with us.  She didn't do too bad!  We should get out that helmet, though!  Daddy helped push, but she was also able to scoot herself a long a bit.  Steering is still an issue!

All that playing did make for a tired two year old!