GRRR!!! Why does blogger mess with my pictures?

This semester I have been making a big deal out of day-to-day things. Because maybe, if I occupy myself with enough trips to the zoo, and visits from friends, and craft projects, I will forget about the missing 1/3 of our family. Too bad it hasn't worked. But who am I to complain; I'm not the one going to school on Saturdays, or waking up at 4:30 to do homework. Brandon has been nothing but a hard worker; I have been nothing but a hard whiner. I totally don't deserve him.
Moving beyond my frustrations, this "keep busy" mentality has resulted in a couple of fun things. First of all, we now go to the zoo so often that I made Violet an official Zoo shirt. And for some reason, blogger decided that the picture needed to be vertical. Drawing the stencil was easy, cutting it out was a different story. It was also supposed to be purple, but I guess the zebra wanted to be anatomically correct and it came out black.

And let it be known that I took my punk rock husband and baby to a country music concert at the Rodeo. Thanks for taking us, Mom and Dad.

That kind of mom

Because of my job, I often have to tote around 2 babies. And because I'm cheap, I'm not always equipped for 2 babies. (Sorry, I just don't want to invest in a double stroller so that I can use it on someone else's kid.) I'm pretty sure I'm the kind of mom that makes other moms feel good about themselves, because I always end up being the mom that no other mom wants to be. Yes, I'm the mom that uses a shopping cart as a stroller. I'm the mom that ignores a tantrum while I shop for groceries. I'm the mom who holds a baby and eats an ice cream cone while the other baby runs wild through TCBY. I'm the mom who leaves her wallet in the car when she's about to buy $5 worth of clothes and comes back from the car with a wallet that's obviously not hers and makes everyone think she's on welfare.

This whole experience has taught me a lot about not caring what people think of me. What they think about me probably isn't true, anyways. I actually don't have 2 babies from 2 different dads. Only one of them is mine. When I do have another one, I will get a double stroller so that I don't have to use a shopping cart. I will care a little more about the behavior of my child when he/she throws a tantrum. I can afford $5 of clothes, and the wallet I used was Brandon's. I didn't stick someone up in the parking lot so that I could buy Violet a dress. And most of all, I'm really proud of the fact that I am able to take care of Violet and contribute to our income so that we don't have to get loans.

Yep, I'm proud to be that kind of mom.

Herding cats

That is the best metaphor I can think of for what I did today. My family was all together for the first time in more than 3 years. Our photo session scheduled for this morning was cancelled due to inclimate weather, but I was not about to accept defeat for a family photo. And guess what I learned? 2 grandparents+ 6 siblings+ 4 spouses+ 9 grandkids= 1 overwhelmed Shady. But you know what, considering we did it in a backyard with my camera on a tripod and a 10-second timer, I think it turned out pretty well. (Of course, only after we re-shot because the first round was blurry and I almost cried. Do you know how hard it is to tell if something that far away is in focus?!?!) Thanks for cooperating, everyone!

Funky time

My sister and her kids came into town a couple of days ago and we have been having a blast. We went to the Rodeo and got to see baby animals and pet bunnies. Here are some of the cousins having fun at the fair grounds. Today we went to the park and the zoo. Uh oh! Is that Graham touching something pink?

He and Devin were more interested in the floor than the animals.

Caroline and Devin got a little crazy in the tunnel. Seriously though, look at the reflections of their faces. Hilarious. Everyone had fun on the carousel.

Single mom

Here is what Brandon's schedule has been like:
Last week: at school till 7 or 8 almost every day.
Last weekend: on a field trip
Sunday night: I thought he was supposed to come home that night, but I found out that he wasn't coming home until Monday at 9 or 10 PM.
Monday (well actually Tuesday): Comes home at 12 AM.
Tuesday: Off to school at 10 AM, still not back. And this week is spring break.
I hate this semester.

Capturing the moment vs. living the moment

I am becoming one of those annoying camera ladies. You know exactly what I mean. The one that has a camera glued to her face and is always yelling, "Look at the camera! Look at mommy! Do that cute thing you were just doing again but this time do it slower!" Yep, that's me.

Well, today I was taking a walk with Violet and Baby #2 (no, I'm not pregnant, that's just what I call the girl I babysit for privacy reasons) and the most amazing thing happened-- the Rodeo riders marched right in front of our complex on their horses. And my first thought was, "Oh, I have to go get the camera!" Then I almost slapped myself in the face. Seriously? Was I going to tear Violet away from a literal parade of animals so that I could take a dumb picture of it? No way. So we walked to the street and Violet waved at the horses as they walked by, hyperventilated the entire time, and cried when they were all gone. No, I didn't make that last part up. As it turns out, we caught the tail end of it, so if I had gone all the way back to the house to get the camera, we would have missed the entire thing.

I guess cool hair just runs in our family.

Brandon's hair is now even longer than this. Maybe he will style it like this for Mom's family pictures in a few weeks.

A common view

Violet loves to play with my ring. For some reason she really likes it on her big toe. She's weird.

You can bruise my strawberries, but you can't bruise my pride

I am a sucker for a sale. So when I saw 50% off chocolate-dipped strawberries the day after Valentine's, I knew they had to be mine. Why not do something romantic on a day other than February 14? I must have been beaming with romantic thoughts when I went to pay for them. Apparently, the cashier was not a romantic. Maybe he had just been dumped or something but for some reason, he thought he could ruin my post-Valentine's day. In a jealous rage, he tipped the box of pretty little strawberries upside down to scan it. After a couple of seconds and no beep, he looked at me and said, "Hmmm... they're not scanning." So he SHOOK the box up and down in front of the scanner and when every last strawberry had fallen out of its cupcake wrapper and bruised the one next to it (you could actually see this happen since it was a clear plastic box), he finally put it down, took out the handheld scanner, and scanned it. What a jerk.

If cheese makes you vomit, then don't read this

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who made this Valentine's day great.

To Brandon, for being so sweet and taking me out.

To Mom, for watching Violet while we went out,.

To Dad, for going to Mexico and leaving Mom with nothing to do but watch Violet.

To Poodle, for getting Violet a hot pink dress to wear on Valentine's day.

And to Violet, for actually posing for a picture.

It was a good year.

Violet's words

Violet has been saying some words for quite awhile now. The only problem is, when people ask me what words she says, I can never remember any. So I figured that I would get them down while I can remember them.
Book (bok)
Look (ook)
Throw (drow)
Ball (ba)
Shoes (shish)
Kitty (teeyee)
Keys (kish)
Trees (teesh)
Clothes (lothes)
Toothbrush (tadush)
Mama, mom
Dada

and of course... No. Which she usually says while lying on the floor.

She is also quite fluent in animal language and can make lion, bear, rhino, lizard, dolphin, turkey, bird, and monkey noises.

First attempt

Remember the poll I put on my blog a couple of weeks ago? You probably don't, because a whopping 3 people responded to it. But the majority said they wanted to see more photography on my blog, so here I am posting some pictures that I took of my pregnant friend and her family.

I was a little disappointed with some things. First, the lighting was terrible. It was a perfect overcast day until 10 minutes before the shoot when the sun came out and became very harsh. Also, I have realized that my lenses aren't the best for portrait shooting. Now I'm thinking about getting a new lens, but the one I want won't be able to autofocus with my camera. I'm not sure what to do about the lens, but one thing I know is that I want to get much better.

Dear Martha Stuart's butt,

Consider yourself kicked. I threw a perfectly cute baby shower without your supervision.

Hanging balls of fluffiness








Maternity pictures taken by me




Tons of food, including the Barnaby's inspired Chicken Mill Valley in a Phyllo cup

And best of all, Mrs. Preggo loved it.

Rejected

Brandon and I applied for a hiking permit to Coyote Buttes a few weeks ago. Wait, make that three hiking permits (apparently babies need permits, too). Well, we were rejected. They only give out 10 per day, and over 200 people applied for our top picks. Sigh.

What to do now? We could try a walk-in. It's over 30 miles from any town, but hey, we might be in the area, right? Or we could apply for South Coyote Buttes, which requires 4-wheel drive and topographic maps. I just don't think our little Corolla could handle that.

I'm a bath junkie

I have an awesome best friend. For Christmas she gave me a groupon to Bath Junkie, a store where you can make your own custom scented bath/body products. I made a dewberry/jeweled citrus/coconut perfume, and a hibiscus/peach/honey hand cream. And I want to eat myself every time I put them on.

Just a picture

I love plain white tee shirts. Unfortunately when Violet wears them, everyone thinks she's a boy. So I have to do something different with hers.

Violet, sous chef

Don't be alarmed by the last post. I am back to thinking that having kids isn't that hard.

Tonight Violet showed a keen interest in my cooking. I normally have her sit on the counter and watch while I cook. While I was rolling out some pizza dough, she decided to jump right in and grabbed the rolling pin when I put it down and rolled it all over the dough. I let her shake some herbs on the sauce, and she was thrilled to sprinkle sausage on it, too. I had her try some pineapple juice after I drained it from the can so she could see what it tastes like. It was a huge hit and she kept grabbing the cup to have more. The best part was that she was very proud of herself. She insisted on seeing the pizza go in the oven, and wanted to know what it looked like when it came out. She is a good kitchen helper.

Then again, she usually ends up looking like this picture when she "helps."

Our fun day

This is going to be a long semester.
I don't normally think that having kids is particularly hard. Well, at least not one kid. But this semester, Brandon has ALL evening classes and there are days when I feel like a chicken with its head cut off. Like Tuesday.
10:30AM-5PM: I sit inside all day and babysit. Violet gets cranky because she wants to go out, but I have one stroller and 2 babies. So, I put baby #2 in the stroller and I have Violet ride on top, using the handlebar as a seat and my arms as a seat belt. I get lots of weird looks.
4:00 PM: Violet sees a kitty and wants to get off the stroller. I let her down, and she goes crawling through the mud (yes, it rained the previous day). She comes back after a few minutes, all muddy, and we continue our ride on the stroller. The looks I get are even better now.
5:10 PM: Baby #2 goes home, and Violet and I head to Wal-Mart to pick up her new car seat. We wait for 20 minutes before being helped. Meanwhile Violet finds a toy that plays music and starts dancing to it in the middle of the store. When I try to get her to follow me, she pretends she can't walk.
5:30 PM: I realize that the package won't fit in my car because I already have 2 car seats and I'm boxed in by SUVs on both sides. So I open it right there, in the middle of the parking lot, and throw the contents in the car. I briefly consider leaving the box in the middle of the street. No, I can't. I open the door, shove the empty box with all my might in the car, and drive home with it as my front passenger.
6:00 PM: I put the meatloaf in the oven because I know Brandon will be starving when he gets home. At this point I'm pretty proud of myself for having prepared it during naptime.
6:20 PM: Okay, scratch that. The meatloaf is now sloppy joe mix, because I can't cook.
6:40 PM: Have dinner with Violet. She won't eat any of the sloppy meat loaf, and I can't blame her. But she does eat all the green beans off my plate.
6:45 PM: Violet grabs the empty plate and throws it on the floor, where it breaks.
7:45 PM: It's already 15 minutes past Violet's bedtime, but we have to pick Brandon up from school. We get there and his class that is supposed to end at 8 goes until 8:15.
Insert Violet running around naked every few hours when she is supposed to be getting her diaper changed, and you pretty much have my day. But seriously, what can you do about it? Kids are always going to throw curve balls at you. When nothing goes your way, just put the diaper back on and keep going.

Where have you been all my life?

I finally broke down and got a real diaper bag with my Christmas money. And I think I love it more than it's appropriate to love an inanimate object.

More expectations

Since nothing went as expected last year, I thought it would be fun to list out what I am excited for this year-- you know, just to compare when it all blows up in my face. That's how I like it.

This year I am making a goal to paint at least 5 pictures. That doesn't sound like alot, but my last one took me 5 months, so it's actually rather ambitious.
I also want to improve my painting technique, because the last picture made me realize that it's pretty bad.
In May I look forward to picking dewberries. We are going to pick the fields clean and make delicious dewberry freezer jam. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome to.
Also in May, I hope to be going on a trip. Where and when is still undecided.
I want to go kayaking this summer in my kayak that I haven't used since I was 18.
I hope to be able to survive being without a car while Brandon is at his internship all day in the summer. I also hope that Brandon enjoys his work.
I am very excited about this being the last full year that Brandon will be in school.
I want to go camping at least 3 times.
And by the end of the year, I expect that Brandon will have at least interviewed for a real, non-internship job.

The year already got off to a good start. We spent New Year's day at Bayou Wildlife Park. And no one can look at Violet's expression and tell me that wasn't the best thing we could have done with her.

Yep, it's going to be a fun year.

(And here is the painting I just finished. I promise it looks better in person-- the flash washed it out.)

Since everyone else is doing it...

I'll recap the interesting year of 2010. Here are the highlights, in more or less chronological order:
Graduating college in less than 4 years (technically that falls under 2009)
Getting a temp job at a storage facility
Having Poodle visit us for a week
Getting Brandon's acceptance letters to universities in Houston, Colorado, and Utah
Accepting Houston's acceptance
Brandon convincing my family that he actually accepted the one in Utah (still makes me laugh)
Walking at graduation with Brandon, having Violet get to see us graduate
Going to Arches and back in one day with MTB and DTB (thanks for being good sports)
Visiting Houston and getting to see everyone before Bexie's family moved
Surviving Brandon's 6-week field trip class
Moving to Idaho for a month
Going to Yellowstone with Violet
Going on our 2-week Canada trip with a 9-month old baby
Moving to Houston a week later
Getting a babysitting job
Brandon getting an internship offer

I described this year as interesting. Perhaps a better word would be "surprising," since many things this year didn't go as expected. I never really planned on working after I had Violet, and somehow I've worked 2 jobs this year. Getting into grad school in Houston so quickly was definitely a surprise, especially since it took BYU so long to decide that it wanted Brandon. Everyone predicted that a camping trip with baby Violet would be difficult, but Violet turned out to enjoy it more than anyone. And most surprisingly, living in a crowded house in Idaho turned out to be easier on me than moving back to Houston, a place I had long thought of as home. I guess life never turns out as you expect, and it pays to be flexible. We'll see how the new year meets my expectations, or rather how I meet my own expectations in the coming year.

I should probably blog about Christmas before New Year's

Christmas wasn't too eventful, but Violet sure enjoyed it. She had no trouble tearing through the wrapped presents, and when she was done with hers, she insisted on unwrapping ours for us. Caught in the aftermath.

Of course, opening presents wasn't the only fun thing she did. She also made soup with her shoes...

and tried on some "jewelry." She doesn't know the difference between a necklace and a bra; if it's long and stringy, she puts it over her neck.

No, I did not teach her to do any of these things.

I'm so glad when daddy is home

Brandon's first semester of graduate school is over. I would say it was a successful one, but I feel like that would be an understatement since his grades were all A's or A+. Earlier in the semester I asked him how he did on a test and he said he did "okay." Later I found out that "okay" meant getting a 98. When I teased him about it, he just said it's still not a 100.



Violet and I have enjoyed having him home. On Christmas eve, everyone helped smash open a pinata. Violet wasn't sure about hitting it; I think she felt sorry for it. But she was very happy about the suckers that came out of it.

Brandon gave Violet her first golf lesson when we went to the driving range. While I was practicing my drive, they went to the putting green and hit some balls around. She was a natural. They have been practicing their soccer moves a bit, too.

On the night of the solstice, Brandon and I stayed up till 3 to get a good view of the lunar eclipse. There were only intermittent periods of good visibility, but it was fun to watch with him.

Violet has been so spoiled having him around.

everything purple

When I picked out the name Violet, I promised myself that I wouldn't make her wear (or have) everything purple. Well, it turns out I lied to myself. But I think I only make her wear so much purple because EVERYONE thinks she's a boy, and I'm really not into pink, so it's our only alternative.

So, here is the stocking I made for her: purple velvet with white fur trim, bells, and a reindeer.
And I made this skirt for her from some leftover fabric. It's a little short and doesn't quite give her legs enough room to move around, but I'll fix it later.

Another eventful weekend

This weekend started off pretty rough for me. I woke up on Friday with a nasty, nasty sickness. Brandon wasn't able to help me out with Violet since he had a paper due that day, and Violet didn't go easy on me. As I was lying on the floor in agony, Violet threw Are you my Mother at my face and gave me a partial black eye. She figured out how to take off her diaper and peed on the floor before texting pictures of her finger to most of the people on my contact list. But later that night I got to have a big bucket of chicken from KFC and sleep for 12 hours, and I felt much better in the morning.

Just as I woke up the next morning, I got a call from Mom and she told me that everyone was at Brazos Bend state park. Of course, I can't miss out on any of the fun so we immediately got in the car and drove out. They were done with the trail by the time we got there, but we were able to have lunch with everyone and Mom and Dad did the trail again with us. Dad took care of Violet the entire time: And we saw 26 alligators, some of which were babies and only a few feet away from us. Also, Brandon and I discovered at least 3 in our pictures that we didn't see while we were there. He is becoming quite the wildlife photographer.

We also made it up our family tree. Brandon never has any problem climbing anything, but I was impressed that I got my sick butt up there. Of course Violet wasn't going to let us be up there without her, and she thought being in a tree was the coolest thing that had ever happened to her.

By the time we got home, I was starting to remember just how sick I had been the previous day and I was pretty worn out. But we toughed it out and managed to make it to our ward Christmas party where Violet met Santa. She wasn't too sure about him, but she did like running around with all the other kids. In fact, she was so excited that her pants fell off a couple of times. Luckily, no peeing on the floor.

Thanksgiving recap and Christmas kickoff

Thanksgiving is great. Is there any other day of the year where you can sit and marvel at how thankful you are for everything you have, and the next day shamelessly rush to the mall and wait for it to open because you need everything inside? I don't think so. This day is not only for giving thanks but for being overindulgent.

We went out to Katy for Thanksgiving and had quite a feast. Violet was quite taken with all the cousins and spent the day chasing them around (only when she wasn't stuffing 3 servings of cranberry salad in her pie hole.) Between the delicous turkey, potatoes, pies, and other commotion, I managed to snap this cute picture of her: She barely had time to pause for the camera. After the festivities, we went to mom and dad's apartment and waited for the sales to start. When it was apparent that Violet wouldn't go to bed there, Mom offered to take us on a drive so that she would fall asleep in the car. It worked, and on the way back, Mom spied a Jack in the Box with a "2 tacos for 99 cents" sign. So obviously we stopped. Brandon was a good sport and let me run to the mall with Mom at midnight to look for deals. It was fruitful, and after that, we headed home.

In the true, non-commercial spirit of Thanksgiving, I feel that this would be a good place to list out what I am thankful for. First there's Brandon, who I have come to realize is very brave. First of all, he married me. He was also brave enough to change his course of study four years into his program and do what he really loved. That resulted in 2 extra years of schooling and a move to a city that has no rocks within 100 miles, which is a pretty big deal for him. But through every change he has remained supportive and hardworking, and I love him very much.

And then there's Violet. She always makes sure that I exercise, because when I get too lazy and don't go outside, she finds her shoes, my shoes, my keys, and my purse and throws them all at me in that order. She is so fun to go on walks with because every time she sees an animal she sits up and points at it. She even hugs me when I ask her to. How could I not love that little girl?

Now for the Christmas kickoff. Two years ago, Brandon and I literally went into a snow-covered forest and chopped down a wild Christmas tree with his family. This year was a little less romantic. We hiked across Kirby all the way to Kroger and bought a tree. Being the lumberjack that he is, Brandon slung it over his shoulder and carried it home. What a man.

Violet thinks it's the coolest thing she's ever seen. We still haven't decorated it; that will be done tomorrow. But I have a really cool idea for it that was inspired by my blue snowflake pillow and sheepskin rug. I know you're all excited to see how that interpretation turns out on a tree.

Later that day, Mom took me, Bethy, and her girls to see the Nutcracker performed by the Houston ballet. It was a truly amazing performance. I was concerned that the little girls wouldn't make it thorough the show, but the only problem they ran into was deciding if they liked the snow queen or the sugar plum fairy more. I can't wait until Violet is old enough to come with us.

Who says you can't buy happiness?

I get it for 99 cents every Wednesday. TCBY has 99 cent Waffle Cone Wednesdays, and it has become one of my favorite things about living in Houston.

But this doesn't cost me anything.

The Christmas shirt

I was on a roll with the turkey shirts so I felt like making Violet a Christmas shirt. I found a really cute red shirt, some red and white fabric, and white ribbon so I made an ornament on it.

For all those angered by not seeing her face, she wouldn't look at the camera to save her life.