Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Official Birth Announcement

Picture by Penny Lutz, design my my sister, Julie Broadbent (one of her namesakes).

S Day

Yesterday was our S day. I had grand ideas of strawberry pancakes and scavenger hunts, but with all the craziness of prepping for my last-minute Utah trip and getting Lizzie to the first day of Vacation Bible School, pretty much all we had time for was stamping (we used regular stamps and experimented with various toys). We also tried to go swimming, but it didn't quite work out. Within 15 minutes of our arrival we heard thunder and had to vacate the pool. It was just as well. It was crazy hot and I had spent most of those 15 minutes trying to cool off Gabrielle with cool compresses (a frozen capri sun wrapped in my nursing apron).

Below is a shot of Lizzie in her antennae from her Believe VBS. We're trying a new one this summer and so far so good. Today she came home with a kids christian rock CD and was able to sing along with some of the songs which was interesting.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Week in Review

mOnDaY - Our first day (and so far, only day) at the pool. I survived with all three girls. Alaina kept trying to take off her swimsuit (and hat and hair tie) and eventually, I gave in.
TuEsDaY - Played at the mall, signed up for reading programs (Borders and Barnes and Noble have summer reading programs and the kids earn a free book!), went to our final Daisey Girl Scout activity (we delivered food and other supplies to a food pantry that the girls bought with their cookie money last week). wEdNeSdAy - Gabrielle is one month old! I can't believe how fast these last four weeks have gone. I'm a little sad that she's old enough for us to state her age in months not weeks, and soon I'll be figuring Lainey's age in years instead of months. It's going so fast! ThUrSdAy - Last day of first grade! Lizzie's growing up too fast too. We celebrated by going to Johnny Rockets with three of her favorite classmates. We also went to the never-ending dress rehearsal for Lizzie's upcoming rehearsal. It was crazy managing everything with all three girls, but we survived and Laina LOVED watching the girls dance. Afterwards we joined some dance friends at . . . Johnny Rockets (ugh). And after that, on the drive home, I found out that my grandfather died.fRiDaY - "O" day fun with oranges and other sundry things. In the evening Lizzie climbed in Alaina's crib (and piled in a bunch of pillows) to read her stories at night. So cute.SaTuRdAy - Dance Recital! Four hours long, 64 dance numbers, took up our whole day, but it was so fun to see Liz on stage. The babies did pretty well too. They both slept through most of the second half. Actually, Andrew and I rested our eyes a bit too. After the performance Drew gave some flowers to Lizzie because she did such a great job and some flowers to Alaina (wearing her tutu again, of course) so she wouldn't be jealous of Liz. Also, I booked my flight to Utah for Grandpa Bud's funeral.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Today brought to you by the letter O . . .

Since today was the first day of summer we started our alphabet days. Today was O.

Our activities included an outing (lunch at Ikea with friends), an oil change (Liz said this one was pretty lame), and the following food:

Some hot dog octopus for dinner (really it was supposed to be a jellyfish, but since it was O day we called it an octopus). Fresh squeezed orange juice.
Jello in an orange (not pictured) and cupcakes in an orange. Liz picked red velvet cake and we were a little sloppy when we filled the oranges. They looked like they were bleeding.
The cupcakes overflowed the oranges, but were really tasty. We'll eat the jello tomorrow.
One of my favorite things about today was the outfit Alaina insisted on wearing (shoes and all):
When it came time to put on pajamas, Alaina didn't want to take off her tu-tu so I let her put on a puffy dress up skirt (and the drama ceased).
Naturally she wanted to sleep in it as well.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

In loving memory . . .

I love you Grandpa Bud and miss you already.
Above: Grandpa with Drew and I at our 2001 BYU graduation.
Below: Grandpa Bud with Lizzie back in 2004.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Father's Day

We celebrated by letting Drew sleep in, making him breakfast, and I tried to do all the diaper changes over the weekend. I also did my standard photo shoot with the girls in some new ties for dad and an interview with Liz. The following are some of my favorite answers:

When my dad shops he likes to buy: "licorice, pizza, and donuts.

At work my dad: "Goes on the computer and does boring stuff."

My dad's favorite household chore is: "Nothing. He doesn't even want to clean a single thing."

If he could go on a trip, my dad. would go: "to a beach house and the jungle."

My dad always tells me: "I love you."

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Differences

It is so fun for me to see how different Alaina is from Liz. For instance, Lizzie piles on the stuffed toys at night. Alaina recently banished the teddies (all two of them) from her crib.It is so fun for me to see how different Alaina is from Liz. Tonight she threw a fit when I tried to rinse out her shampoo so I dumped a tray of ice cubes into the tub with her. I thought she would enjoy watching them melt/be distracted while I rinsed her. When I came back from putting the tray in the freezer Alaina wasn't playing with the cubes (like Lizzie used to), she was eating them. It shouldn't have surprised me. She eats nearly everything.

Speaking of eating everything, the other day she ran up to me, held up an unwrapped piece of gum, said "Nummy!" and popped it into her mouth (where there was at least one other piece). By the time I chased her down she had already swallowed everything. Arghh! So, Lizzie's first stick o' gum = 6.5 years, Alaina's first stick/s o' gum = 21 months. Sorry Laines.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

I can't believe I have two in diapers


Body Art

I put Alaina in her highchair with some paper and markers this afternoon so I could fold laundry without worrying about Gabrielle's safety (Lainey's hugs and kisses can be painful for little ones).

When I went to check on Laina, this is what her paper looked like: And this is what she looked like (naturally):
And she was very pleased with herself:

Today was my official due date

I'm so glad she's already here.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Paternity Leave

I'm so sad Drew's paternity leave is over. Today was day three of him back to work/me back to being a lone stay-at-home mom. Having him home was wonderful. I spent my first few days home from the hospital sorting through bins of baby things, reorganizing the girls room to make room for Gabrielle, and cleaning the apartment. Finally I calmed down and focused on recuperating while Drew did pretty much everything else. Some pix from those blissful two weeks: One day we took a drive to Shenandoah National Forest.Daddy gave Gabrielle her first sponge bath.
I survived my first outing with all three girls (Drew had ski patrol class). We went to Lizzie's dance class for pictures.
I tried to take my own baby pictures of Gabrielle, but it didn't work out too well.
The girls enjoyed holding their new sister. So far Alaina seems more jealous of Lizzie's baby holding time than of the baby herself (I'm sure it will come though).We enjoyed an edible arrangement from our good friends, the Murphys (and discovered that Liz likes pineapple). We also enjoyed multiple meals brought in by friends.
Gabrielle slept a lot (during the day that is).
I came across a cool nail polish pen, while shopping for a not-so-cool nursing bra, and Lizzie and I had fun drawing on each others nails. She surprised me by requesting black nail polish as her base color.
The girls enjoyed lots of daddy time.

Things I survived doing on my own this week: Ellie's 2 week check-up (weight: 7 lb, 4.5 oz; herniated bellybutton, doc removed the umbilical stump), shopping at Costco, and Lizzie's first grade picnic (the day was crazy hot).

Contributors