For Carrie

Why didn't I get your love of cooking?

Recent excitement

Ah, the excitement of normal life. Last weekend, we went to a s'mores party hosted by a friend.  I was a huge fan of the idea. Violet was, too, and she went home asking when we could have a s'mores party in our backyard. I told her we could when we have a backyard.

Charlie insisted on roasting my marshmallow for me.

Violet wouldn't touch the burned marshmallows at first, but she got used to the idea. 

 And for the most exciting news, Violet finally earned her bike! She had been putting stickers on a chart for a month and at last filled it up.  She is beyond excited about it.

Watch out, world, here she comes.

This is what we do

I'm going to preface this post by saying that some of these pictures have nothing to do with the content.  I just had to announce to everyone that today Violet put on these clothes, struck a pose, and said, "How do you like my outfit?" It was priceless.

 What I was really going to talk about is our family time lately.  Have you been checking out my photo blog?  You should.  It's awesome.  I was afraid of running out of ideas but I realized that's never going to happen.  I'm not sure why I didn't do this awhile ago.  Anyways, back to family time.  Lately it has been revolving around taking pictures, and that has actually been quite fun.  We let Violet have her own camera (Brandon's shock-proof, water-proof camera) and she joins us on little nature walks.  Charlie is too young to manage a camera, but he enjoys picking the flowers while we are out anyways. There are few things as fun as getting to share your interests with your kids, so this has been a great thing for us to do.  Pretty awesome family time, if you ask me.

Picking the flowers

This is not the camera we normally let her use, but she looks so hardcore, I couldn't help myself.

How could I NOT put this picture up?

Charlie has the prettiest eyes, even if the booger is a bit distracting.

A blog-worthy bedtime story

Violet loves telling me bedtime stories.  She often takes events from the day and forms them into a more colorful story.  Today was not my day, as Charlie fell out of the stroller and had an injury that almost warranted a trip to the ER. The ER trip was only called off after I called my mom and she assured me that they couldn't do anything for a mouth injury at the ER.  (Don't worry, Charlie is fine now.  By the time I got home, he was talking and eating happily, so obviously there was no serious injury.)

But right when I thought I was getting over the trauma of the night, Violet told me a bedtime story. Here's how it went:
Once upon a time, there was a brave queen named Mommy.  She was riding her horse and she fell down and broke Charlie.  She rode to the castle and the other brave queen, Dr. Reed, put a bag of ice on Charlie so his broken heart could be glued back together.  The end.

So there you have the day's events told through Violet's eyes.  You're welcome.

Rodeo time!

On Wednesday we went to the rodeo not once, but twice. Violet was so excited that she insisted on wearing her cowgirl hat all day.  Our morning visit consisted of watching mutton busting and pig races, and the most memorable part-- the petting zoo. The petting zoo had a sign on the outside that said, "Enter at your own risk."  When I saw it I scoffed, thinking, "What are we, babies or something?"   Then we went in and within 30 seconds, Violet was approached by a deer about a foot taller than her which tried to eat her skirt.  She ran to me, jumped on me, and screamed, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!"  And I thought, "Holy crap, they weren't kidding!"  Charlie was still enjoying himself, so I was mean and made her wait while he finished petting the goats.  I was nice and held her the rest of the time, though.  But I did NOT wait in line for 15 minutes to leave within 30 seconds.

 Our evening visit had much less drama.  Since we are cheap, Violet got to choose one ride to go on-- she had been eyeing the Ferris wheel for weeks now, and that's what we rode.  I thought she would get scared because it went to high, but she loved every second of it.  SO much better than the petting zoo.

And if you want to see more pictures from our outing, check out my *drumroll please* NEW BLOG, 50mmlinds!  (Sorry Bexie, a view from the shade was taken.)

Blogging dilemma

Dear everyone,
Thanks for the feedback on my potential photo/art blog.  I need your help yet again: I'm having trouble deciding what to name this thing. Here are the runners up (keep in mind that all these names will have ".blogspot.com" tacked onto the end):

"A view from the shade"
What I like about it:
My sister came up with this name. It's hilarious (because my family calls me Shady).  I like that it is ambiguous enough that it can include photo and art stuff.  And it's personal.

My reservations:
It's not self-explanatory.  I read that if the subject of your blog isn't obvious from the title, many potential viewers might pass it up simply because they don't know what it's about.  Brandon suggested having it as a subtitle/description on the blog, so I could still use it even if it's not the title.

"50mmlinds"
What I like about it:
The lens I use the most in my photography is my 50 millimeter lens.  I like that this lets you know that it's a photo blog, and uses part of my name.

My reservations:
I'm afraid non-photographers won't get the lens reference.  Also, you have no clue that it's also an art blog.  I could do something similar with "wide angle linds" or "35mm linds--" those are a little more obvious but I don't really use those lenses, so it's not as personal.

Yup, that was a whopping 2 names.  Well, I'm still brainstorming.  I do know that I don't want to have my full name in the title, and I also don't want it to be "(fill-in-the-blank)photography," because that implies that I have some kind of business, which I don't. 

What does everyone think? Any other suggestions? 

The languages of love. Ew, did I really just say that?

Last weekend my stake put on a lovely conference for women.  At this event were some classes that you could choose to attend, among which was a panel of married couples answering questions about marriage for the rest of us.  The class was called Hearts knit together in love.  The title itself almost made me vomit, but I really wanted to sit by my friends, so I followed them there.  I'm really spiritual like that.  Before it started though, I leaned over and warned my friend, "if I hear the words 'and that's why we've never had an argument,' I'm walking out."  But only after I go up and do this:

But luckily it never came to that.  One thing they did talk about though, that almost made me walk out, were the "languages of love."  It's one of the most cliche and cheesy discussion topics, but the general idea behind the "languages of love" theory is that we all give love in different ways, and to be happy in our marriage, we need to recognize and respect that.  Which is actually true, I just can't get behind anything that has a name that cheesy.

 

It did get me thinking about Brandon.  As you may have noticed, he's not a traditional romantic guy (lots of flattery and big gifts).  And that's one of the things I love most about him.  Even though he doesn't go shopping for diamonds every time he thinks about me, he manages to do things for me that only he would think to do.  Make a necklace for me out of a piece of rock he found? Yes. Stay up till 2 AM the day before I get back from Mexico to steal 2 dozen roses for me from random people's bushes in Provo? Yes.  Reupholster a chair that he found on the side of the road in a pretty fabric that matches our bedspread? Yes. 

 

But one of the things that took me ahwile to get used to was the fact that he rarely gives compliments.  Back in the dating world, I was hot stuff.  Or at least I thought I was, because the guys I dated told me so.  When I met Brandon, I felt kind of like Ron Burgundy:



And then the first compliment that Brandon gives me is that I have nice ears.  I specifically remember this.  And I thought, Man, this guy's a keeper.  Just kidding. I thought he was weird (albeit in a cute way).  But after awhile, it stopped bothering me.  Because I remembered how the other guys I had dated had always said such nice things about me, and then never wanted to actually spend time with me.  Which made me even more mad, because I felt like I was being lied to.  Honestly, if you think I'm so great, why can't you call me on Friday night?  But Brandon was always there, no matter how early he had to get up the next morning, or how wishy-washy I was being.  So I married him.

 

Now and then my vain self will creep out and want to be complimented more, especially when it comes to art projects. Everyone through my entire life has always thought of me as this amazing artist.  And Brandon, well, he's actually better than I am at art.  He gives me suggestions on how to do things and I react about as well as a spitting cobra.  But it's at times like these when I need to remember again that actions speak louder than words.  When I told him about my photo blog I want to start, he immediately started sifting through blog templates to see what would best suit my needs.  He advised me to get one that doesn't have the blogspot on the url because it would seem more professional.  He talked to me about how it could evolve through time, how I could connect it to a website with a portfolio and pricing, and how I could market myself. Basically he has ideas of me being this amazing photographer with a professional portfolio, and here I was thinking that I just wanted to start a blog for fun.  I don't think I need flowery compliments to appreciate how he sees me.  That's love.

 

PS- I really hope you enjoyed Buddy the Elf.

Not my best day

My day started out with a helicopter mom almost calling CPS on me. 

We went to a park this morning that had a nice little playground for babies to play on-- very low to the ground with soft astroturf below.  Charlie has been walking for a little while now and he can climb onto/get down from things with ease.  He was playing nicely on it and I like to encourage independent play, especially with Charlie since he is so clingy, so I went and sat down a little ways off and watched him.  Unfortunately, I was not the only one watching him.  Another lady there started following him around and spotting him when he tried to climb down from things (thanks a lot, lady-- he hates being touched).  It had been less than 2 minutes before she turned around and started yelling, "Whose baby is this?!?"  So I went up, grabbed Charlie, and snapped, "He's mine!" while resisting the urge to punch her in the face.  Sorry you got mad because you felt the need to hover over my child.

Also, the dinner I made tonight was an abomination.  Seriously gross.  I couldn't even bring myself to bless the food before dinner; I simply asked that "it wouldn't be too gross."  And then I started laughing, because I knew that was too big a request.  Brandon started laughing and said, "Why are we even eating this?"

Okay, so the dinner incident was more funny than anything, but lately I've been feeling like I'm just not cut out for the job of taking care of everyone, especially when I see other moms say things that I can't even relate to.  I heard one new mom say, "If I had known how amazing motherhood would be, I would have had a baby a long time ago," and all I could think was, "If I knew what having a newborn would really be like, I would have OD'd on birth control."  I keep hearing all these things. "I love spending time with my oldest while the other kids are napping!" "I wish I could have more time to clean!" "I'm trying a new organic eating plan with my family!"  And here's what goes through my mind... I have no idea what to do with Violet when Charlie naps.  I wish I could devote ZERO hours a day to cleaning.  Violet can tell you how to get to Burger King from our house.  I AM NOT Supermom.  But I have a feeling that if I were, I would be the most boring person in the world.  And I would rather shower with a bear than cook and clean all day.  I'll settle for being a mediocre mom if it means that I can enjoy it.

Eating sand

This is a pretty common sight at our house-- Violet sitting on my lap and Charlie crawling up from the side, trying to join.  These two rarely fight but they are fiercely territorial when it comes to space on my lap.  It often results in pushing and screaming.  (P.S.-- Reed, those are the princess jammies that Violet picked out with her Valentine's money.  Thanks!)

 I also took Violet and Charlie to the park yesterday.  Violet was busy building a sand castle, but I had to get some pictures of Charlie-- it was his first real experience in the sand and he was quite fascinated with it.

 He really enjoyed getting his toes all sandy.

 And this was his reaction to its taste.

I also have a question for all you readers out there (although I know I have like... less than a dozen): If  I started a photo blog, would anyone follow it?  I always have a ton of pictures to put up but sometimes I just don't have anything to say about them (not all of my photography is cute pictures of my kids with stories to go along).  Art projects would also be posted on there, so it would be more of a "visual arts blog" than anything.  I will also be taking suggestions on what to name it, if I decide to go through with this. So, suggest away!

These kids

How could you not love them?  Well, not much has been going on with us, but as always, my little kids are getting bigger and bigger.  Charlie is walking around everywhere and has a funny little personality.  He loves to brush his teeth and any time he finds a toothbrush, he sticks it under the faucet (pretending to get it wet) and then goes to town on his teeth. He also thinks it's funny when I tell him to go to bed.  I will come in the room and find him standing up in his crib, and when I point to him and say "You go to bed!" he throws himself on the mattress, sheepishly covers his face with a blanket, and starts to giggle.  I'll take that over screaming "I'm not tired!" any day.

 I don't know what more to say about Violet.  She is adorable and smart and continually amazes me at how much information she absorbs from the world around her.

Good news

I may have convinced Mom to do the Bluebell Fun Run with me, which is basically a 5k with all-you-can-eat ice cream at the end.  Obviously it didn't take too much convincing.

Brandon suggested that I run 5 kilometers at the park and just buy $25 worth of ice cream.  So not the point.

Bike rides!

We are officially outgrowing our apartment.  I know that we moved into it just a year ago, and I am still grateful that we were able to find this place, but I honestly don't understand how people have more than one child in a place with two bedrooms and no yard.  Anyways, since we will be here for at least another year, we have had to find ways to make things fun.  So last week Brandon had the fabulous idea of dusting off his bike, and Charlie went for his first bike ride.  Look at this cute face, he loved it! 

 I just want to kiss this little face all day.  Speaking of cuteness, Charlie loves playing with his belly button.  When he is tired, he will sit or lay on the floor, pull up his shirt, and just poke his belly button while he watches us.

I also took the kids to Discovery Green last week.  Our visit coincided with an elementary school group who   followed Violet and Charlie around the whole time, commenting on how cute Charlie is and how pretty Violet's hair is.  And they did look cute, so I took some pictures.  And any time I get antsy about being stuck in a small house, I can look at these pictures and forget about where we live.

Charlie is walking!

He will only do it in our living room, but the kid can get around.

If you've had a bad day, watch this.

A steep learning curve

There has been a new phenomenon going on around here: I have started on a housing quest even though we're not buying a house anytime soon.  It's not like I'm actually starting to look for houses, but a few weeks ago I felt the sudden urge to prepare ourselves financially for the enormous task we will face when Brandon graduates.  So I have been learning all about PMIs, 80-10-10 mortgages, and other things. Instead of being the one who likes to spend money, I'm the one talking to Brandon about savings goals and making a financial plan for the next year.  I think Brandon finds it amusing, and somewhat relieving that I've taken over the responsibility of planning all this, instead of him.  But believe me, when we go to apply for a loan, I will walk into the bank like I own the place.

But what I've learned the most about-- and what surprises me most-- is what I like in a house.  I've done a few online searches just to get a feel for market value in different areas.  I first looked in the Woodlands-- if you're not familiar with Houston's geography, it's an area that's so far north it could probably qualify as a suburb of Dallas, and where you can get a million-square-foot home for less than what we pay in rent.  (I may exaggerate, but you get the picture.) To any normal person, it would be a dream come true.  Huge houses in nicely organized communities, each with miles of counterspace in the kitchen and backyard access to the neighborhood pond.  But instead of thinking like a normal person, little voices inside my head say, "Imagine how much it would cost to furnish a home that size! Those ponds breed bloodsucking mosquitoes and are a drowning danger for kids!  It would take hours to clean that kitchen!  All your neighbors would probably have one child and two SUVs!  Suburbia!  Stepford Wives!  AAAAAHHHHHH!!! Am I unfit for the American dream?  Then tonight I looked at some inner-city houses, where houses in the same price range are half the size.  They were old, they were small.  They had exposed brick and terracotta tiles and enough character to delight even the hippest of hipsters.  And I got a little teary-eyed and thought, "Our furniture would look so cute in there! And look at that kitchen, it's so small that I would always have an excuse to not cook!"

Who knows.  Where we end up will probably have more to do with where Brandon has employment than with satisfying my inner hipster.  And there are many tempting advantages to the ones that have 7 bedrooms and a study.  But none of that is for me to decide yet, and I prefer to be just as surprised as everyone else at which one we choose.

New skills

Every mother is convinced her child is a genius.  I was definitely on that bandwagon when Violet was a baby.  Every little social or motor skill she learned was further proof of her prodigy.  Well, it's different with the second child.  I'm busier and I've seen it all before, and sometimes I forget that Charlie is also a smart little baby.  Here are some ways he communicates to us:
Shaking his head (means no)
pointing to something (means he wants it)
making a grabbing motion with his right hand (means "give it to me!")
waving his arm up and down (means "let's go!")
slapping his chair (means "I want it NOW!")
He also combines these things to be more specific.  When he sees me walk out of my room in the morning he us usually having breakfast in his high chair, and every time, he points to me and then starts slapping his chair.  Translation: I want mom, NOW!
And sometimes I will be holding him, and he will point to something on the table.  So I will pick it up for him and he will shake his head and point more emphatically to what he wants and make a grabbing motion with his right hand.  Translation: I want that! No, not that, mom, I want that other thing!  Give it to me!
He also loves playing in a certain kitchen cupboard and any time I go to get a bowl out of it, I find a little car or ball stuck in there somewhere.
He loves reading books and can do some of the motions to We're Going on a Bear Hunt.
He stalks anyone who tries to take a shower when he's awake.  He crawls into the bathroom, rips open the shower curtain, and starts laughing hysterically.  Every time.

And Violet... she's still a genius, in my eyes.  The other day she accurately pointed out where we live on a map of the world. She also knows how to spell the word no, and she goes through her alphabet book and tells me what sounds the letters make, and what words start with those letters.  Like "mall." She told me that mall starts with M.  And these things may not sound very impressive, but I didn't teach her any of them.  So don't ask me how she figured out how to spell no, or what letter mall begins with.  She's just a smart girl.

Snow day!

We had a snow day here in Houston last weekend.  If you're not familiar with Houston's climate, let me break it down for you: my parents' neighborhood brought in a snow machine on a 70-degree day, which made a small patch of snow in front of the splash pad where kids were taking off their clothes and running through (see background of picture).  Violet took to the snow quite quickly and started throwing snowballs at unsuspecting victims.

Charlie had a different opinion of the snow. Brandon had him touch it and he hated it so much that he managed to keep every part of his body off the ground like that scene in Mission Impossible.

 My dad thought it would be fun to take him on the sled.  Here's how that worked out:

 If you need a close-up of that face, here is is:

 After that we asked Charlie if he wanted to go on it again, and he shook his head and said "Nuh-uh!" Poor little guy wouldn't even look at my dad for several minutes after that.

But the kids were soon distracted by the park there, and everyone ended up having a great day.

Why 2013 is going to be great for my whole family

 Because it already is. 
For the kids:
1.It seems I have cured my kids of bedtime drama!  The relief this brings is incalculable.  I have literally had a vast improvement in the all-around mood of my home now that every night does not end with a fight.
2.Gymnastics.  Violet went to her first class and I'm already convinced that it's one of the best investments I've ever made for her.  She was elated the entire time.  She was the most enthusiastic child there-- too busy to even miss me, but when I did catch her eye for one second, she emphatically waved and jumped up and down to let me know she was having fun.
3.I cleaned and organized their room so it's now a lovely little place to play.

For me:
1. Well, with my kids this happy, how could I not be? But in addition to that, I have already been asked to do 3 paintings. This is unique because she has something specific she wants me to paint, and when most people ask me to "paint something" for them, they just say, "oh, whatever you want."  And I'm not a huge fan of guessing what people want.
2. We don't have to move for Brandon's internship this year!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Since making my "stop trying to please people" resolution, I feel like I have cleaned out a closet in my head that had been stuffed with all the things I seek approval for. I have so much free space now.  And when I'm making decisions, all I have to ask myself is, "Do I want to do it or not?" and it saves me a lot of time.

For Brandon:
Okay, I really don't know how this year will go for Brandon. I know that it's going to be his last full year of school and he has a really cool internship lined up, but in all honesty he will probably be very busy.  C'est la vie.  But if I know anything about Brandon, it's that he is much more likely to be happy when I'm happy, so the year is looking good so far.

Annual resolutions

Here it goes again... the review of last year's resolutions and my list for the coming year.  I actually did pretty well this year.  I made friends, I took much better pictures, I am working on my 5th art project, and we went on quite a few fun trips.  As for the "enjoy cooking more" one and the "exercise" one, well, I should have known that with a newborn those weren't going to happen.  Not that I totally failed on them; I had some good spurts of exercising and cooking, but I'm still not consistent with either.

And this year, instead of having resolutions per se, I want to give myself gifts.  (Yes, I know what you're thinking.  I'm not making a resolution to spend more money on myself or anything like that.  Although, that's not a bad idea.  It would at least be a resolution I could keep.)  We always make resolutions and feel guilty when we don't keep them.  Well, I'm rephrasing in more of a positive way, so that I won't feel guilty if I don't keep them, and I don't have to view them as some kind of list I need to check off.
1. The gift of sleep (for me, and for my kids).  Violet is, and has always been, a terrible sleeper. She is so difficult to put to sleep that bedtime usually lasts about an hour (and that's after I put her in her bed).  It's not healthy, people.  I've decided that this has to stop.  I'm going to be stricter on bedtimes, I will avoid having her fall asleep in the car before bed at all costs, and I'm going to be home for Charlie's afternoon nap.  I'm also planning on going the entire year without having a newborn to take care of (imagine that!) so I might as well take advantage of all that sleep I'm going to get.  I don't care how, but in 2013, my kids are going to sleep!
2. The gift of a clean house.  I've been way too leanient with Violet and Charlie when they play with things they shouldn't play with.  It's hard for me to set limits because we don't have many toys, our house is really small, and we have no backyard, so I feel terrible telling them that they can't pull the pillows off the couch or take the ribbons out of my sewing stash.  But like the bedtime drama, it has to stop.  They got a ton of toys for Christmas so there is no reason for them to play with all of my things.  Not being a pushover is going to be AWESOME.
3. The gift of a well-fed family. Somehow, I always think I'm buying enough food for the week but every Sunday we always end up starving because there is NO FOOD in the house.  I'm going to fix that.  This is the year to fatten up my husband.
4. The gift of not trying to please people.  Enough said; this one's going to be great.

Top 10 highlights of 2012 (in no particular order)

1. Having Charlie join our family.  I know he was born in 2011, but it was very close to the end of the year so I consider this year his first year.  I couldn't have asked for a better baby, and it has been more fun than I ever imagined.
2. Finding an apartment with a garage that doesn't flood all the time.  This place has been perfect for our family.
3. Getting put up in posh corporate housing over the summer with a giant pool and splash pad.
4. Attending my sister's wedding in April and getting to hang out with all the family that came-- I really believe that was the best week of Violet's little life!
5. Visiting Utah and Idaho in October and going to Brandon's aunt's wedding, and getting to hang out with his family all week.
6. Taking a family trip to Sea World and Enchanted rock in May, and adding "astrophotography" to our list of hobbies.
7. Brandon accepting an internship offer which allows him to be part of a carbonate research team, which is what he specializes in at school.
8. Taking a vacation WITHOUT THE KIDS to Belize, which was one of the most amazing adventures of my life!
9. Brandon passing his thesis proposal defense, and knowing he is that much closer to finishing school.
10. Realizing that although I am excited for Brandon to finish school, we have had such a good year with our family and friends that I am in no rush for him to do so!