This post has been in the works for a long time. Updates will be noted.
Holy blasted buckets! I haven't posted on here for A LONG time! I'm pretty sure my lack of posting coordinates directly with when I got Facebook. Oops.
I like being a regular poster. It's time to repent.
Holy blasted buckets! I haven't posted on here for A LONG time! I'm pretty sure my lack of posting coordinates directly with when I got Facebook. Oops.
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| Facebook is an evil time vampire. |
I like being a regular poster. It's time to repent.
In the Vaterworld since we last spoke:
Thanksgiving was really nice. My mother made sure that everyone planned to come to get together for Thanksgiving since it was the first one we could all be together for in 2 or 3 years. We also had Grandma and Grandpa Great (my grandparents) and delicious food.
Thanksgiving was really nice. My mother made sure that everyone planned to come to get together for Thanksgiving since it was the first one we could all be together for in 2 or 3 years. We also had Grandma and Grandpa Great (my grandparents) and delicious food.
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| Grandma Great (my grandmother), my mother (whom I will name later), and Scarlet, playing tea. I love how Grandma Great makes EVERYONE feel important. |
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| Traveling, even just to my parents', really wears us out. No stinkin' joke. |
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| Part of the reason we're all worn out is that we all sleep in the same room if my two siblings are home. I don't sleep well when Grace is with us. |
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| Couple selfie! We just don't do these anymore. We should do them. |
We had a great Christmas. I LOVE making Christmas for my girls! (Even though I stayed up till 4 with last minute Xmas prep and Santa and Mrs. Claus time) You know you got good gifts for your children when they are more interested in playing with their opened presents instead of unwrapping more. I received three cookbooks - all of them were highly desired: I'm a good cook and love learning anything and everything regarding cooking. I once considered doing culinary school instead of physics, but decided to stick with physics. Turns out my love of science and cooking are very compatible.
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| I think this is about as much snow as we got all winter. Not my idea of the perfect, white Christmas, but Arizonan Cool Apa loves it. |
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| Grace trying to open her Christmas present She was really excited! |
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| Grandma Gracious and Grandpa Gnarly gave us a new set of BEDSHEETS!! Nice ones too! This is a big deal because our bed is a California King and new sheets are at least $50 a set. AND they match the quilt that Grandma Gracious's mother made for us! WIN WIN WIN!! |
Starlet started SUNBEAMS!! It took a little while, but now she is comfortable going to Primary in our ward unless she's super tired and hungry.
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| Jesus wants me for a sunbeam! |
Grace turned ONE! I can't believe it. She'll be ready for nursery at church next month. Her cake smashing was much more eventful than Starlet's: Starlet touched the frosting once and was DONE.
My brother came up to visit the week of Valentines Day, the same week he got a steady girlfriend! That week I made Star Wars chocolates for my husband and everyone I knew! It was actually really easy thanks to the silicone molds I purchased just for the occasion; I haven't used them since. The next adventure with the molds needs to be Star Wars Jell-O, according to Cool Apa.
We started potty training!! Starlet is an expert at #1 and rarely has an accident. Apparently the best place for #2 is not the toilet, but your pants. Erg. We're still working on it.
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| I just had to get these silicone Star Wars molds and got them in time for Valentine's Day. Here's what I made Cool Apa. I think I got some wives in trouble. |
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| Starlet is so beautiful. Look at how her red hair GLOWS in the sun! I'm gonna paint this some day. |
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| And Grace! Oh! She has always been a beautiful baby. This was the weather in February. |
We started potty training!! Starlet is an expert at #1 and rarely has an accident. Apparently the best place for #2 is not the toilet, but your pants. Erg. We're still working on it.
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| I HATE poop, but my gag reflex and germaphobe tendencies have calmed down. |
My in laws came to visit during their Spring Break. Grandpa Gnarly helped Cool Apa fix our 4Runner, Grandma Gracious enjoyed playing with the girls, Uncle Awesome remained the favorite uncle, but by only a small fraction because Uncle Grits really started warming up to being an Uncle. (Holy buckets, I'm gonna need a family tree to keep track of all these names.)
Uncle Grits was on his mission shortly after Starlet was born and very freshly returned when Grace was born. As the middle child with only one younger sibling, he's not had much experience with babies. It took a while, but now he'll help keep Starlet and Grace safe, actually talks to Starlet and reacts to Graces's faces and noises, and just dies laughing when they do something funny. He's turning into an awesome uncle.
Mother's day was AWESOME! Cool Apa gave me a digital thermometer that has a probe you stick in the food in oven and it'll beep when it reaches the desired internal temperature, a very geeky food gift. AND he surprised me by making my favorite dish from Olive Garden: steak gorganzola alfredo! OH MY GOSH! It was so good! And was JUST like the real thing! So so so so yummy.
We had our family reunion!! Cool Apa affectionately named it Vaterlarteger - a combination of the three last names of the families in attendance. It was my parents' family, so just them and their children's families. I was in charge. Thankfully, I'd been thinking about fun games I wanted to play with my siblings and immediately knew what I wanted to do. After that, I decided on the central location (my parents' house), the food master (my dad), and t-shirt makers (Aunt Astute and her husband volunteered.) Basically, I came up with the schedule and games and delegated the rest; the most popular game was the baby food challenge I'd seen on YouTube. OH MY GOSH -HILARIOUS! I think I set a high bar because Aunt Astute and her husband were already coming up with really fun ideas for the reunion next year, of which they will be in charge. (Whew! Glad I don't have to do it again for a while.)
June hit and so did a nasty cough/chest cold. Thankfully, I've been the only one affected, but it's been mean and nasty!! I have never hacked up/blown out so much green/yellow/cloudy variations of both in my life! (Yes, I know you really wanted to know that.) It's Independence Day weekend and I STILL have a cough. I just finished my antibiotics so we'll see what happens.
My birthday week I learned that one of my favorite teachers, a very influential man in my life, passed away just a few days prior and the funeral services were on the day after my birthday. Once I learned about it, I called my husband and said, "I'm going to the funeral. I want to go to this funeral." It worked out because I got to spend my birthday with my folks and go to a bridal shower to my cousin the same weekend. The funeral was beautiful and I learned a lot about that wonderful man. I'll probably have to write a post on that.
We finally got on Grandpa's boat this year and went fishing. Last year we optimized fishing, meaning get up at 4 AM to be on the reservoir at 6 AM, and had a very grumpy 2 year old at about 7/8 AM. She caught a fish and thought it was awesome, but was very very tired and hated her life jacket. My then less than 6 month old did great! She got to sleep and was ok with her life vest. THIS year we tried to optimize kiddos comfort. That meant on the boat at 11 AM. After about an hour of being in the heat and in a life vest, my now 3 year old declared she was ready to be done. Hmm. My 1 year old did AMAZINGLY well with her life jacket and LOVED being on the boat. It was hot and the fishing was slow, but the day was redeemed when Starlet caught a fish by herself!! I was setting up the boat's portable potty and privacy pod so Starlet and I could go potty and the glimmer of the fish's scales caught my eye. I did a double take and shouted, "Starlet! You're catching a fish!!" I helped her net it, a tiny little perch, and asked her if she wanted to keep it or through it back. She opted to keep it, I think under the false pretense that it would be our pet, and I explained to her that we could try and eat it. Cool Apa tried to clean it, but ended up mangling that tiny thing. It's remains are buried in our super lately planted garden, currently benefiting the soil just beneath our basil.
And now we're into July! Holy buckets. 2016 has flown by, more than I expected it too. All throughout this adventure I've worked on my depression, which will be a post, or five. Mental health is always on my mind. Always. That and improving my homemaking. That's why I need to blog more - to get out of my head.
I've also felt impressed to "let my light shine before men" (Matthew 5:16) and JUST WRITE: tell our family's story. I hope it blesses someone's life! More blog posts to come! There are .... three I have swimming in my head that need to come out.
Thanks for slodging through the long post!
-Cool Mamma
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| Our 4Runner which is the more stable car right now... |
Uncle Grits was on his mission shortly after Starlet was born and very freshly returned when Grace was born. As the middle child with only one younger sibling, he's not had much experience with babies. It took a while, but now he'll help keep Starlet and Grace safe, actually talks to Starlet and reacts to Graces's faces and noises, and just dies laughing when they do something funny. He's turning into an awesome uncle.
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| Uncle Grits before his mission. I think this captures his feelings before. |
Mother's day was AWESOME! Cool Apa gave me a digital thermometer that has a probe you stick in the food in oven and it'll beep when it reaches the desired internal temperature, a very geeky food gift. AND he surprised me by making my favorite dish from Olive Garden: steak gorganzola alfredo! OH MY GOSH! It was so good! And was JUST like the real thing! So so so so yummy.
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| Drool. Oh my gosh. Just like the real thing! |
We had our family reunion!! Cool Apa affectionately named it Vaterlarteger - a combination of the three last names of the families in attendance. It was my parents' family, so just them and their children's families. I was in charge. Thankfully, I'd been thinking about fun games I wanted to play with my siblings and immediately knew what I wanted to do. After that, I decided on the central location (my parents' house), the food master (my dad), and t-shirt makers (Aunt Astute and her husband volunteered.) Basically, I came up with the schedule and games and delegated the rest; the most popular game was the baby food challenge I'd seen on YouTube. OH MY GOSH -HILARIOUS! I think I set a high bar because Aunt Astute and her husband were already coming up with really fun ideas for the reunion next year, of which they will be in charge. (Whew! Glad I don't have to do it again for a while.)
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| Aunt Astute's husband who is trying to guess the ingredients in the baby food I gave him. |
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| Uncle Oa and his girlfriend (now fiance) - she's a little grossed out. |
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| My mother was way grossed out and profusely apologized for feeding us such gross food! |
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| My dad rocked this game, but he tasted every single thing he put in his childrens' mouths. He looked the coolest blindfolded. |
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| Cool Apa trying to guess. He didn't get many foods right. |
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| My sister working REALLY hard at the ingredients. This team won. |
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| Precious! Have you caught onto the matching shirts these guys made? |
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| MY FAVORITE PICTURE! Oh my brother's reactions were the best! |
June hit and so did a nasty cough/chest cold. Thankfully, I've been the only one affected, but it's been mean and nasty!! I have never hacked up/blown out so much green/yellow/cloudy variations of both in my life! (Yes, I know you really wanted to know that.) It's Independence Day weekend and I STILL have a cough. I just finished my antibiotics so we'll see what happens.
My birthday week I learned that one of my favorite teachers, a very influential man in my life, passed away just a few days prior and the funeral services were on the day after my birthday. Once I learned about it, I called my husband and said, "I'm going to the funeral. I want to go to this funeral." It worked out because I got to spend my birthday with my folks and go to a bridal shower to my cousin the same weekend. The funeral was beautiful and I learned a lot about that wonderful man. I'll probably have to write a post on that.
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| My 27th which is a cubic number. The cake says 'Happy Nerdy Birthday,' has different representations of the number 27 on the side, and has 27 in binary in the candles, an old family tradition in my family. |
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| I know this is gross, but I sliced my finger one Saturday which made me unable to play the piano on Sunday for Relief Society! I felt so dumb that I couldn't play on account of my pinky! |
We finally got on Grandpa's boat this year and went fishing. Last year we optimized fishing, meaning get up at 4 AM to be on the reservoir at 6 AM, and had a very grumpy 2 year old at about 7/8 AM. She caught a fish and thought it was awesome, but was very very tired and hated her life jacket. My then less than 6 month old did great! She got to sleep and was ok with her life vest. THIS year we tried to optimize kiddos comfort. That meant on the boat at 11 AM. After about an hour of being in the heat and in a life vest, my now 3 year old declared she was ready to be done. Hmm. My 1 year old did AMAZINGLY well with her life jacket and LOVED being on the boat. It was hot and the fishing was slow, but the day was redeemed when Starlet caught a fish by herself!! I was setting up the boat's portable potty and privacy pod so Starlet and I could go potty and the glimmer of the fish's scales caught my eye. I did a double take and shouted, "Starlet! You're catching a fish!!" I helped her net it, a tiny little perch, and asked her if she wanted to keep it or through it back. She opted to keep it, I think under the false pretense that it would be our pet, and I explained to her that we could try and eat it. Cool Apa tried to clean it, but ended up mangling that tiny thing. It's remains are buried in our super lately planted garden, currently benefiting the soil just beneath our basil.
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| Grace driving the boat - she LOVED it! She whined and begged to drive it again. |
And now we're into July! Holy buckets. 2016 has flown by, more than I expected it too. All throughout this adventure I've worked on my depression, which will be a post, or five. Mental health is always on my mind. Always. That and improving my homemaking. That's why I need to blog more - to get out of my head.
I've also felt impressed to "let my light shine before men" (Matthew 5:16) and JUST WRITE: tell our family's story. I hope it blesses someone's life! More blog posts to come! There are .... three I have swimming in my head that need to come out.
Thanks for slodging through the long post!
-Cool Mamma
Images stolen from:
http://warframe.wikia.com/
www.newhealthadvisor.com
www.newhealthadvisor.com
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