O.L.D.

Thanks to my amazing husband and awesome daughters, I had one of the best birthdays ever.

Chris had a 5 day weekend, thanks to President's Day and a bonus paid day off from his company. He also had a nice paycheck from busting his butt 2 weeks ago shoveling snow in Mass.

We had an awesome steak dinner on Sunday night after the girls went to bed. Monday, Chris woke up and cooked French toast for breakfast and took us for a drive out to Frenchman's Bay to see the big water. Unfortunately the big water was calm and didn't come crashing up on the rocks. However it was so cold that we only stayed long enough to take a couple pictures and were on our way again. 

We decided to go to McDonald's so the girls could play for awhile. Pie found a little boy to play dragon with! Sammie wanted to go potty every 5 minutes. Once we got home, Chris and the girls baked a chocolate chip pound cake and put way too many candles on it for me to blow out!

On Sunday we had a nice breakfast and spent the morning relaxing until a pillow fight broke out. Then we got ready and headed to the swimming pool. Not realizing that it was winter break for all the school kids, we walked into chaos at the pool! Ack! Not my idea of a good time but we all survived and the girls had fun! We got dried off and dressed, then headed to Burilington Coat Factory. Daddy thought a new dress would take the place of "Emma's Dress" that Pie wears 24/7. She picked out a pretty purple polka-dot sun dress but when she tried it on at home, she decided it was too tight and put her old stand buy back on.  Next we went to Miguel's for Mexican food. Surprisingly, it was pretty good!

The girls fell asleep on the way home and we got them put to bed without much effort. Then sat down to watch a movie together!

I am so thankful to have such an amazing husband and awesome children!

TwO

Happy 2nd Birthday BeanieBaby!

We celebrated the day with presents, McDonald's Playland and PINK birthday cake! It just amazes me what an incredible little girl Sammie is. She is so smart, can talk so well, is almost completely out of diapers and is just overall plain awesome!

I am so thankful that I listened to my gut after her big sister was born. I knew God had a plan for us when it came to having kids and I am so grateful that He blessed us with my little beaniebaby!  

Whiteout!

We have had so much snow this year that we are all seeing white! The girls have a bit of cabin fever and our "cabin" isn't big enough for them to get all their wiggles out. I would be happy the lay on the couch all day with a blanket and a good book, but that wont get the house cleaned, meals cooked or keep the girls occupied. When they are bored they get grumpy!

So on Wednesday, we headed out in the cold to do some snow painting. I had read about this way last summer and Pie had been waiting for he chance to do it for months. We filled some spray bottles with water and food coloring and went after the 4 foot high snow banks all around the yard. Pie had fun squirting the snow, me, Sam and Tig. Sam had fun too but didn't quite have the strength in her hands to squirt much.

It sure was nice to see some color in our yard again. After all we still have about 6 more weeks until spring officially gets here, which probably means another 8 or 9 weeks of snow on the ground. Ugh.

Snow Days

Chris went back to work this week after 3 weeks of time off over the holidays. Partly due to a hurt neck and partly due to a lack of work. It was nice to have him home but nice to get back to normal too.

It's been cold and snowy this week and frankly, I just haven't felt like getting out and going anywhere. So we've gotten some extra cleaning done this week and done some arts and crafts here at home!

We cut apart a cardboard box, leftover from Christmas and dissected the latest Current catalog that came in the mail, mixed some flour and water and made decoupage Valentine cards for daddy. (Everything we make ends up being for daddy!)

With a few Wacky Mac noodles the projects were complete!

 

Wheeeeee!

On New Year's day we headed over to Abbot Park in Winterport to go sledding! Pie and I had so much fun while daddy with his sore neck watched and Sam slept in the truck.

We raced down the hill, sometimes I won and sometimes she did. I was impressed at how well she was willing to walk back up the hill. At 36+ pounds, I don't think I could have carried her too many times, along with 2 sleds!

Sam woke up in time for a couple runs too and had a blast sledding with her sister!



Life on a mountain in the winter.

We got more that a foot of snow in the "Blizzard of 2010" on December 27th. It snow for about 36 hours straight. On the 28th we got out and attempted to plow the hill so we could get down the driveway. Our house sits about 200 feet up off the main road and the hill is pretty darn steep. It ended up turning into a Murphy's law kind of day. The snow was so wet and heavy that the plow (with a broken spring) was getting pushed up over the snow instead of staying down on the ground. It took us about twice as many swipes but eventually we saw the dirt again.

Along the south side of the hill runs a ditch that gets deeper and deeper every year as the water runs off the mountain down into the drainage ditch. At one point we got a little bit to close to the ditch and got stuck. Glad we have another truck so we could pull the plow truck out! Then... we ran out of gas. So we loaded up in the Tundra and headed to town only to find out that Wally World was sold out of gas cans. We ended up with a yellow "kerosene" can that worked just fine, we also picked up some jumper cables because the plow truck seems to like to eat batteries for lunch.

We made it home and started to plow down the hill again, got to the bottom, turned around in the road and the truck dies again! Chris has to hike his tired butt back up the slippery hill to bring the Tundra back down. He pulled the plow out of the road and tried to jump it again. No luck. So we went back up, got the battery out of the other truck, made it back up the hill with both trucks. we only had a little bit more left to plow but now the plow wont lift up! By this time we were all ready to just give it up! 

Is it April yet?

Observations in Playland

Yesterday Pie wanted to go to McDonald's Play land. She bugged and begged her daddy until he gave in and took us all for a late lunch before we did a little grocery shopping. The closest indoor Micky D's play land is in Bangor about 25 miles from home. I continue to be amazed that there are so few places to take your kids to play, especially in the winter. I guess maybe that is why Maine has such an obesity problem.

Both girls fell asleep on the way. This made me happy because Sam had been getting in the habit of taking some really long, late naps lately which means she wants to stay up late. That would be OK except that Pie likes to get up when the rooster crows.

Both girls were so thrilled to wake up and see Ronald's shining smile greet them at the door and the smell of chicken nuggets and of course that promised toy in the happy meal box. They both ate a good unhealthy lunch ( and yes I let them have fries over "apple dippers" because well, they like them.) Then we headed off to play!

McD's has have recently replaced their play land equipment and created a toddler area with an cool piano slide that makes music as you slide down. Unfortunately, there were 5 girls that had taken over the area who were clearly older than the age limit of 3. Pie can hold her own pretty well but the older girls weren't so nice to Sam. I was about to bust out my mama bear protectiveness when the nice older lady who oversees the play area stepped in and got the girls under control.

As I looked around and matched up the kids with the parents I found it interesting to see how many parents had their laptops open or were absorbed by their smart phones while their kids were running amok. I will admit that I do spend plenty of time online and the girls spend a considerable amount of time watching TV but when we are out doing something as a family, I want to make the most of it and I actually enjoy watching my girls play. I felt bad for the parents who were missing out on the time they were wasting with their children. They grow up so fast and I have the feeling that the internet will be here for a long time to come.

My New Year's resolution is to remember to keep those priorities straight.

She melts my heart

Pie has really impressed me with her ability to know the right thing to say at the right time. She has an amazing sense to know when someone is upset and needs a hug or tells them she loves them. She doesn't like to see anyone unhappy. She has warmed my heart so many times lately and it just makes me so proud that she has this trait. She is usually rough and tough and loves to run and be wild so I'm glad to see her show such a sensitive side too. She really is an amazing child.

Christmas Day

Despite all my bah-humbug-ness we had a really nice Christmas. It took f.o.r.e.v.e.r to get them to sleep on Christmas Eve, mostly because they had both taken nice long naps during the day. Pie and Sam decided to get in the Christmas spirit buy singing, or rather, yelling JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLLLLLLLLLS!!!! At the top of their lungs. It was hilarious! At least for a while...

Christmas morning we woke up and the girls were so excited to see all the presents under the tree and so happy that daddy had filled their stockings. They both did really well making sure the other one had a present to open and were actually more excited about the gifts than the paper!

They got some really amazing gifts, especially the picture puzzles that Grandpa had made for them. And of course the loved their pillow pets that they have been going crazy for every time they see them in the store!

They were truly blessed with so many new toys and gifts from everyone. And I am proud to say that my girls were happy to get so many new books!

My Christmas gift was an hour to my self, to relax and take a little nap. After I got up we went outside to play in the snow and then cooked our traditional Christmas dinner of manicotti. Yum, yum!!

I am thankful that we had a very nice day!

Through Her Eyes

Last night Pie wanted to take some pictures with my camera. It was amazing to see what she saw through the lens. I asked her to help me caption the picutres she took...

Lily

 "My Firetruck"

 "Tig"

 "Sammie's Bear"

 "It's the Christmas tree"

"Sammie and her bear"

 

"Pie with her eyes"



Bah HumBug!

As an adult I have grown to really dislike the holiday season. It starts out with the end of summer, which leads to my gardens dieing off, flowers wilting away, leaves falling and then the dreaded snow. Winter is just plain depressing, I count the days until spring comes and I see new sprouts, buds and life again.

Christmas was wonderful as a child, I have no complaints. My parents did a great job making the holidays happy. There was rarely drama and never any guilt trips, at least that I noticed as a child. It was wonderful having all three sets of Grandparents around and they all got along so well. I never knew how much of an amazing thing that was at the time. Christmas morning was magical and everything that a child thinks it should be.

Once I became independent and had to start actually buying Christmas presents for everyone and try to pay the normal bills too, I realized how stressful the holidays are financially. We barely had enough money to cover the grocery bill, let alone to buy presents, especially equal to what we ended up receiving. That always made me feel guilty and less than.

Our families do not get along with each other and so most of our holidays were spent divided up between the two and always with a dash of tears and a sprinkle of guilt. No matter how much time we spent with certain people there was always the "Oh, you have to leave now?" drama fest that grated on the Christmas spirit until it no longer existed.

Since we moved away from Colorado, our holidays have become much less stressful and I can avoid the guilt just by not answering the phone (Chris isn't always so lucky). We are able to do what we want and can spend our time actually enjoying the holiday and creating our own traditions. I don't feel obligated or committed to anything that means nothing to me. But I do miss my family so much.

I hate that I feel like this about a time of year that is supposed to be so freaking wonderful, but I do. I would just as soon boycott the whole damn thing and get on with spring already. I've tried to get into the festive-ness of it all for the sake of our girls. I don't want my scrooge tendencies to rub off on them.

It has been hard on Pie this year. Her birthday is 4 days before Christmas and gets to open some gifts but has to be patient and leave the rest until Christmas morning. Last night proved to be too much for her to handle and she ended up having the worst meltdown ever. It broke my heart to see her like that over something that is supposed to be happy and it made her miserable. I tried to let her know that I understood, that i knew it was hard, her feelings were totally valid. Finally she calmed down enough to get in her jammies and drifted off to dreamland only to wake up again knowing she had presents to open. I think maybe next year we need to re-think this whole thing and really figure out what it's supposed to be all about because what we've been doing just doesn't feel  right.

How lucky am I?

Facebook is a very interesting thing. I love how it can be custom for each user and can be so very very different depending on each person's interests. Chris only uses his facebook to play Mobsters2 and a few other games. He rarely ever reads the newsfeed and most of his "friends" are people who he doesn't even know. My facebook keep my in touch with my family and my closest friends and keep my informed of news and topics dear to my heart: natural living, parenting, breastfeeding and cloth diapering. I don't have a ton of friends and don't want facebook to be a virtual high school reunion, I've moved way, way, WAY beyond those years and have z.e.r.o. desire to relive that part of my life.

I was talking to Chris the other day about our diaper stash, the girls are so close to being done with diapers (I really don't like the term potty "trained", they aren't dogs and I haven't done much training anyway, they've learned to use the potty based on their own abilities...) Anyway, most of our diapers are about shot. The newest prefolds are going on 2 years old and have been used on both girls. They have held up really well but have been used and abused!

29 diapers has had the MOST awesome giveaway going on this month. For 29 days they have given away some of the coolest prizes, diapers, covers and so many other products related to cloth diapering! I was lucky enough to win 2 dozen prefolds from their sponsor  The Little Seedling ! How exciting is that?

There is still one giveaway left and it's the BIG ONE! Woohooo! The grand prize is: an autographed copy of the book Ecofrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year, a 3-pack of Happy Heinys pocket diapers, a pack of Bummas cloth wipes, an Itzy Ritzy wet bag, Zoe Organics diaper balm, a gallon of Allen’s Naturally detergent from The Little Seedling boutique, a Weleda baby toiletries starter kit, Episencial wash, soothing cream, and face balm to pamper both mom and baby, AND 2 Thirsties Duo Wrap diaper covers with 4 Duo Hemp Prefolds–that’s a $285 value!

Head on over to 29 diapers and get your entry in!

Three

My Pie is growing up! Today is her THIRD birthday! How in the world did she get to be that old already? She woke up to find a tricycle built for 2, sent by her Grandpa Dave. (Chris and Sam spent the evening before putting it together.) Then opened the rest of her gifts. Her cousin's sent Pie and Sam their most favorite toys of their own childhood - a whole box full of My Little Ponies and a Leapfrog book reader! Grandma and Grandpa M sent a "Color Me A Song"  and an "I Spy" game. Daddy got her an awesome Tonka Firetruck!

Pie and I got busy mixing and baking her birthday cake - yellow and chocolate swirl, with chocolate frosting and of course - sprinkles!

We got ready and headed out to find a swimming pool. That was not an easy task. Well, finding the pool was - finding that was open for swimming was another story. We ended up driving all around then then stopped at McDonald's playland in Bangor. They had replaced their jungle gym and is now more friendly for smaller kids. Sam and Pie both had a great time playing on the musical slide and Pie climbed aaaaalll the way to the top of the tower to slide down the biiiiiig tube slide!

It was almost time to go back to the swimming pool, so we headed back out into the cold and drove around to see some Christmas lights, since it was already dark at 4:30 in the afternoon. (gotta love December in Maine, or not.) Some houses were decorated really nice and others looked like they opened a window, chucked a string of lights out and plugged it in! I guess Christmas spirit comes in all different forms!

Finally it was time to go swimming. The girls had a great time splashing in the water and sliding down the dinosaur slide. Pie had the most fun trowing every.single.toy into the pool. We played for about an hour then headed back home for birthday cake and bed.

It was a great day, I am so blessed to be a part of Pie's life and so thankful that she made me a mom. 

Baby Girl

"Hi, Sammie Baby Girl."
"Hi, Mommy Baby Girl."
"Hi, Sammie Baby Girl."
"Hi, Mommy Baby Girl."
"Hi, Sammie Baby Girl."
"Mommy, I love you allllllllll up."

Fruit of our Labor

This afternoon the girls and I harvested our pumpkins from our garden. We ended up with 14 nice orange  and 5 nice sized green pumpkins. I really had no idea how many to expect when we planted them and then being gone most of the summer, I kind of expected the garden to be a bust. We filled the wagon twice to get the pumpkins back to the house and unloaded them in the flower garden until Chris has a day off and can help us carve them. What a chore THAT is going to be! Too bad no one will see them since we live in the boonies. I guess thats what Facebook is for!

Our harvest makes me really happy, especially because my mom and dad were here to help plant the garden, it makes me feel like they are still here and are apart of our halloween.