My mom is the most amazing mom that anyone could ever ask for, for so many reasons. Among them being the fact that she is coming up today to stay with my kids for FIVE days while Jefferson and I go to Boise. I am so grateful that she is willing to come up and that I can leave my kids without worrying about them at all. Of course I will worry, but just because it's the mom in me, not because my mom won't do the most perfect job of babysitter. It will make it so we can utilize our time in Boise so much better. So, sorry about our upcoming absence in the blogging world. We'll be back in about a week!

19 Weeks:

There he/she is:

Last night Jefferson got to feel the baby move for the first time!! It was so much fun. We were just watching some tv and the baby was moving around quite a bit, so he put his hand there on the off chance that he might feel something. The second he put his hand on my belly the baby gave three of the biggest kicks/punches that I have felt out of him/her yet. This baby loves Daddy already. It was really fun. One and a half more weeks til we find out what we're having!

Easy Easter Egg Wreath

I saw this idea on another blog

And thought, "Hey, I could make that!" She gave the tutorial and so I picked up all my supplies and went to work on it while Jefferson and his friend Ryan played Wii into the wee small hours of the morning. It was so simple and super cheap. I spent just $10, though if you had any of the supplies before hand you could cut a buck or two still.

Easter Eggs: Dollar store: 2 bags = $2

Wreath: Dollar store: $1 (I used a 13" but the original was 18")

Moss: Dollar store: $1

Paints: Michael's: $0.50 each= $1.50 (vanilla, espresso, Caribbean blue)

Spray paint primer: Michael's: $4.50 (if you have your 40% off coupon you can save a couple bucks there. I decided to do this really last minute so Jefferson and the kids were waiting in the car and my coupon was at home)

Hot glue gun: already had

Ribbon: used some I already had around the house

Step #1 said to sand the eggs. Supposedly it helps rough up the eggs so they hold the paint better. I did this to all but one of my eggs, just to see, and I must admit that they look exactly the same. Not sure if you need to do this step, but certainly could if you don't want to risk it.

Step #2 paint with primer. The other tutorial said to then paint it with a regular white spray paint too, but I didn't and it covered up the bright colored eggs just fine. You might be able to get away with just a white spray paint too instead of a "primer." I'm not a spray paint expert.

Step #3 cover wreath with moss. I added this step because I thought the original example was too barren. I just used LOTS of hot glue and did the "shake test"(shake it and see if anything falls off) to make sure it was all securely glued on. I did this while I waited for the primer to dry on the eggs.

Step #4 paint with acrylic paint. Make sure the primer is dry first and then I just used a sponge brush to paint all my eggs. The original only had two colors, but I really like the touch of brown in mine. Also, when the eggs were close to dry I closed them up and then ran a little bit of paint over all the seams to try to hide them better. You will never not see some of the seams, but this helps. And for some reason if you paint from the fat part upwards to the skinny part (or hold it upside down) it covers up the seam better. 

Step #5 speckle your eggs. I used an old toothbrush, dipped it into the paint, held it away from me, and ran my fingers down the bristle. I am sure you all know how to do this. 

Step #6 glue your eggs on. Yup, I just hot glued them. The original tutorial has you poke holes in each of your eggs and thread wire through each egg and wrap it through your wreath. This will probably hold it more secure in the long run, but I don't plan on putting mine outside where it will be exposed to the elements and so hot glue has worked great. I again did the "shake test" and made sure all the eggs stayed on and didn't jiggle too much.

Step #7 add ribbon. Pretty self explanatory. Wrap ribbon around it. I didn't tie it or anything because the weight of the wreath holds it in place. I might play with mine a little and try wrapping the ribbon throughout the eggs too. We'll see.

And here is the final product. I must say that I like mine better than the original. :)

24

We had lots of fun times in the last 24 hours. Yesterday Ben and Sharon and their boys came up so that Ben and Jefferson could head downtown to meet up with my dad to see a couple of NCAA basketball games. To say they had a good time would be an understatement. No kids to worry about, no wives to keep entertained or drinks filled, no constant girl or kid chatter, just guys, hot dogs, and basketball. Yup, it was a good time for them. They were gone from about 3:30-10:00. I will say it was much deserved for all of them. 

In the meantime, Sharon and I entertained the kiddies for all those hours. It was pretty easy considering that they all play so well together. Most the time they just played with all the toys. We also colored and decorated with stickers and played with playdough. We had pizza for dinner, which is always a yummy treat. And then when it hit about bedtime we turned on a movie and they all zoned out. It's always fun to get some good cousin time in, and Sharon and I always have plenty to chat about. 

The kids played so well this morning. It was fun to watch them sit and read together. They did this in about three different places this morning. First it was on Carter's bed, then they both sat in chairs in the living room reading to each other, and then finally over by the bookshelf. 

My dad had meetings downtown this morning so when he was done, and before he hit the road, we met up with him for lunch and then just walked around the Lloyd Center. Carter and Andi love spending time with their Grandpa. Carter always says "... and Grandma," so I have to remind him that it's just Grandpa, and he's okay with that. 

I could not get Andi to crack a smile on the way home and it was cracking me up. It was a half hour past naptime, so that may have something to do with it.

To top off this glorious day, Jefferson will be finished with finals in just one hour!! Then we plan on playing stress free the rest of the day. And, oh yeah, it's my last day of work!!! Hooray for this weekend!

Green Eggs & Strawberries

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We pretty much celebrate anything that will break up the monotony of our days, so today was definitely a day to celebrate. We started with green eggs, english muffins, and strawberries. The kids, of course, did not know what we were celebrating, but certainly loved the green eggs. It was one of the first things that Carter told Dad about when he got home tonight.

We all made sure to wear our green shirts so as not to get pinched. 

And for a little art project we decorated our clovers. The kids loved it.... it was something different.

W.I.C.K.E.D.

This was by far the best musical I have EVER seen!! I have seen some good ones, but everything about Wicked was phenomenal! The storyline is so clever and witty and funny. The music is amazing. The costumes were fabulous, I wanted to be part of the ensemble on a number of occasions. And lastly, the cast could not have sung better or fit their parts better; namely Elphaba. This woman was INCREDIBLE!! I would give up my right eye to be able to sing like her, not even kidding. She was fabulous. I just wanted to sit and listen to her sing all night. I wanted to immediately go back in and watch the whole thing again. LOVED IT!!!

Alli came up on Saturday afternoon and we bummed around with the kids for a bit. Then we scarfed down dinner, got ready, and headed to the theater. We were early so we walked around downtown for a few and then met up with Robyn and Allison and their husbands. It was so fun to have somebody who appreciates music and shows there with me. We both just smiled through the whole show. We had a great time!! I am trying to talk her into coming back up to go to the ballet with me. Not sure I can convince Jefferson to go with me. :) Alli helped me wrangle kids today at stake conference and then she had to hit the road. I am so glad she made the trip up. I think she would agree that the show was worth the drive!

I will be "flying high" from this musical for a long time!

Fun Filled Days

We have definitely been having some fun around these parts. There is always the random day to day things that you'll see below, but on top of that, my dad was in town on Friday for business so we  got to meet up with him for lunch. We will certainly miss that when we move from Portland; random business meetings my dad has up here, afternoons playing between/after his meetings, seeing my parents before and after their flights from various places, etc. We love every little minute we can get with them. So we met up with him for lunch and just roamed around Cascade Station for a while. It was a beautiful afternoon. That evening while Jefferson was at school studying, the kids and I took about an hour long walk at 5pm, without sweatshirts!! It was sunny, windless, and just lovely outside. The kids loved it and did not want to come back inside. 

Here are the pictures Carter took at lunch with my dad:

A picture from last Monday when my mom and dad were here:

Noogie pants... need I say more:

Andi's hair is getting long. It kind of looks like a greasy old man's hair with the slicked back look, but this was just after her bath. She loves having her hair combed.

I moved the furniture around for our card party and who knew that something so simple would open up a whole new world of play for my kids. Andi enjoyed sitting on the dining room chairs in the living room reading books, and Carter pretended that under the table was his school:

Random thoughts

I probably shouldn't be blogging so late when all my thoughts are a jumble, but I had a few thoughts I thought I would click out before I hit the hay.

First of all, my husband is amazing. I go through this every semester, and even more frequently than that, but every time finals come around, this time with two sets of boards the weekend before, I just have a new found appreciation for my husband. He is so dedicated and smart and hard working. I don't know how he puts in the number of hours studying that he does, how he deals with the stress of two sets of boards and finals, and still manages to be a decent man to be around. He will get a little more quiet and slightly on edge, but handles the stress with such composure. I would be such a crabby, cranky mess if I were him. I really appreciate his level headedness and how he manages school, family, and a calling. I never feel neglected by this man. I love him. 

Then, tonight I had another card party. It was a small group of ladies, but it was so much fun. I just love my girlfriends and have such a good time with them. I really appreciate that they support me in my love of crafts and love that they love it, or at least pretend to love, coming and playing. There is always good, honest, open girl talk, and no subject is off limits. It's refreshing and funny and helpful and, and, and... Love you ladies!

And lastly, how could I have a post without gushing about my kids? Honestly, they are so amazing. I don't know how I could possibly love them more, but every day I do. I just think that they are so beautiful, and smart, and funny. Carter has taken on the roll of teacher for Andi. He reads to her and tells her to repeat words after him to teach her new words. Today it was, "Say table Andi," and "Say couch." He likes to reprimand her when she gets into something she shouldn't or makes a mess of something. Andi is just my sassy little thing. She has an opinion and doesn't mind hitting to get her way. She is easy to make smile and quick to forgive. I love watching her run. She definitely runs like a girl. :) They just make me smile and laugh every day. Every night when I see them sleeping, it makes me ready to get up and do it all over again the next day. 

Again, sorry no pictures. I promise to be better this weekend. My little sister is coming up to see "Wicked" with me and there is bound to be a fun post to follow. 

Fun Days

I don't have any pictures to go with this post- BOO! So sorry. We have had a couple of really fun days. Sunday night my parents came into town for some meetings my dad had on Monday. When they got in we had orange julius and crustos and played Five Crowns. It is an amazingly fun card game. My dad beat us all by about 100 points and I lost by quite a few points. :) 

Monday my mom drove over to play while my dad was in meetings. We spent a lot of time at Fabric Depot. It has even inspired me to whip out my sewing machine. Then we went to lunch so the kids could run around. During nap time we made two angel food cakes. They are to die for good!! My dad joined us in the afternoon and Jefferson even got home early. We made a trip to the store, made delicious cheesy potato soup and enjoyed some family time. After dinner my mom and I headed off to my old lady card club while the menfolk stayed home and took care of the kiddies, including putting them to bed. Old lady card club was a riot as always. I just seem to fit in better with old people... hmmmm. Then my mom and I raced back over to Fabric Depot for about another half hour before it closed. When we got home from our late night fabric run we ate angel food cake and played Five Crowns again. I again got slaughtered at my own game. This time my mom creamed us all. 

This morning we met up for breakfast at this little old "shack" called "Gateway Breakfast House." It was delicious. I am pretty sure that it has been there for a good 50 years and they haven't changed one thing about it. The decor was rockin'! After breakfast, you guessed it, we went to Fabric Depot. My mom is out of control with all of her sewing projects. After about an hour there my parents had to hit the road home. 

It was so fun to have them here for the short 36 or so hours. My kids just love having their grandparents come and play and I love the diversion to our regular routine. 

In other news, I have started to feel our little baby move. I have thought I have felt him/her a few times in the last couple of days, especially when I am laying down at night. But this afternoon, it is for sure baby moving in there. I forget how magical and fun it is to feel life inside of me! Maybe this will help me remember that I am pregnant. :)

I QUIT!

That's right, I am resigning as the resident manager of Star Apartments. There's actually a bit of a story behind it.... I had a meeting with my property manager (PM) on Wednesday. It was somewhat ironic timing because we are full right now. No vacant units= maximum cash flow for the owners=good job resident manager (me). Anyways, the set up here is that I am in the actual office for 2 hours every day while my kids are napping (I can see my apartment from my office and have the monitor over there). Then I spend the rest of my office hours every day in my apartment. I have the office phone on me all the time and there is a sign on the office door stating where to find me at with my apartment number and phone number on it. Never been a problem, get tons of calls and tons of showings. Anyways, the owners think that I need to be spending more time in the actual office every day. They don't have a good reason for it, they just think for some reason that that will help these apartments rent quicker. Nevermind that we didn't have any apartments rent ready for months because the owners wouldn't pay to have them turned. That could never have anything to do with why the vacant units didn't rent! Who wants to rent an apartment they have never seen, especially when the outsides aren't particularly inviting or promising? 

Anyways, I said "no." I will not and cannot spend more time in the office. My PM thought that would be the case so she offered to move me to two other properties that were newer, smaller, and less office hours. Consequently also less pay, and also in Hilsboro (about 45 minutes away). While I appreciated the offer we decided it best not to move with only six months left, especially when most of our friends live over here, that would mean at least a 45 minute commute to and from Jefferson's clinic every day, my midwife is over here who I adore, and now without me working we will qualify for additional aid that will basically cover the cost of our apartment. 

I had really mixed feelings about quitting at first. I felt guilty because quitting was mostly a selfish thing that I have been wanting to do for months. I was also nervous because we weren't sure if my PM would let us keep our apartment and we really didn't want to have to move. I was ecstatic at the possibility of having more freedom to travel and freedom to do whatever I want all day long and to schedule playdates for the afternoon if I want and, and, and... I hate quitting anything and secretly thought that maybe this whole thing was a ploy by my PM to have me quit and that for some reason she wasn't happy with my performance and didn't have the guts to fire me.

I went and had a meeting with her today to let her know that though I appreciated the offer of transferring properties, I was going to "resign." She was sincerely upset and asked if I had a chance to go look at the properties before I made my decision. She did say she understood how family needs to come first and said that if I changed my mind or ever wanted to go back into property managing she would hire me again, or give me a good reference. That was reassuring and nice to know that I was actually valued as an employee. We are going to stay on for the rest of the month and then start actually renting our same place until we move in September, or whenever it may be. It was a good meeting, I felt like we have made the right decision, and I feel like a load has been lifted!

I feel like I will be a better mom without this job. I also think that my pregnancy will be better not having to worry about hauling two kids around doing showings at 9 months pregnant. Not working will free me up to travel and make arrangements for moving in September and to set up housing and help with setting up a business. So yay for being solely a stay-at-home mom! 

I have appreciated this job and it has been a blessing for the time that we have had it. Some things that I have learned from this job:

-I am so incredibly blessed in my life. 

-I am also an incredibly clean person. I never thought I was above and beyond what was "normal," but after walking through every single one of the units here, our apartment looks like heaven!

-It is hard to break the cycle of lifestyle that you are born into. Luckily I was extremely blessed to have been born into a very good family.

-Many people do not want to take accountability for their actions, or lack of action; tenants and employees alike. 

- Education is invaluable and possibly one of the greatest indicators of where you will end up in life. 

16 1/2 weeks

Nothing too exciting to report. I have been SUPER tired, but I think that's a combination of two kids, being sick, not sleeping well, and being pregnant. I also feel like I could eat the house down! Seriously, I am hungry around the clock. I had an appointment today and I have gained 8 pounds! YIKES! Baby's heartbeat sounds great, had some blood work done, and scheduled our next ultrasound for April 3rd!

Nothing to blog about...

I really have been a boring blogger for about a week or so... maybe longer. There is nothing to report. We have all been sick for about a week and a half (thank you playgroup) and have been laying pretty low. We didn't go to playgroup on Monday due to our sickies, I had a meeting for work downtown on Tuesday, Wednesday was mutual, yesterday was random errands, today, a doctor's appointment. Yup, boring. Being pregnant, sick, and not sleeping well has made me one tired mama. But, here are a few pictures to hold you over until our life picks back up into something exciting.

Our "silly faces": (there's a reason why my silly face didn't make the post, because it won)

We made a little corridor for our cars to race through today. Carter has a little "Cars" toy that shoots the cars out. That kept us entertained for a good half hour or so:

This is a random video clip. Carter read Andi stories while I was making lunch the other day. I was kind of far away so the volume isn't great on it. Had I come closer into sight, it would have ruined the moment for sure. Carter is mostly just saying, "A is for corn. A is for apple. Do you want some corn Andi?" That's when he takes her nuk out and feeds her some corn. It was kind of tender to see them sit and play so well.

Giveaway... with a catch.

I think this is so fun! I'm not sure if people will actually respond because it commits you to doing something yourself, but take a look:

The first THREE people to respond to this post will get something hand made by me!

My choice.

For you.

I will consider your requests, but have the final say in what gets sent your way.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who comment on your blog. I will be checking to make sure you post this, or you will not be getting your handmade goodie from me.  :)

The first 3 people to repost and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FABULOUS homemade gift by me! Ok, the "fabulous" part might be pushing it, but you will get something, I promise you that.  

Sounds like fun, right? So, pay it forward!

weekend update

It's been a fun weekend. Last night we got to go to the temple and do sealings. It is always so fun to be in the temple with Jefferson, but even more fun to hear the sealing ceremony over again and to be reminded of all the amazing blessings we have been promised, the best of which is that we get to be together for eternity!! I love the temple. 

Saturdays are my favorite because we get to sleep in and we always have a hot breakfast as a family. It's the one morning Jefferson isn't out the door by 6am. After breakfast Jefferson needed to study so the kids and I just lounged in our sweats, watched a movie, and made brownies. It was divine. I got to go grocery shopping by myself during nap time- Hallelujah!- and then we had the missionaries over for dinner. It's always nice to have them over and have them remind us to be doing our missionary work. After the missionaries left our friends, the Dovers, came over to watch our kids, or rather our house while the kids were sleeping, and we went to play games with some chiropractic friends. We played "Scene It" on the xbox. If you haven't played that, I highly recommend it. We also played Mario Cart (of course), and then some American Idol. It really is a riot. 

In other news: My "best friend" moved out!!! Ok, she kind of got kicked out. This is the best news of my week!!! I don't think anyone will understand how much easier this will make my life. It will be sad not seeing her out there at 10 am drinking, or hearing her kids run around the parking lot unattended at 11 at night, or having her call and make false claims about what is or isn't being done around here, not to mention not having to deal with her over protective, under informed, oblivious mother who doesn't know when to stay out of other people's business, or to have her ghetto friends in drunken yelling matches at 2am, or not having to call the cops multiple times a month... so sad. :) I wish her kids the best; they need it. I will sleep easier tonight knowing her apartment is vacant. Glorious day. 

To top off this awesome piece of news, I filled 4 of my 5 vacant units this week. Plus I get a bonus for every one of those approved applications. Hip, hip, hooray!