Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window… Cold and cloudy and unpleasant :P

I am thinking… that I would really like some warm, sunny weather right about now. 

I am thankful for… the possibility of us getting a house very soon.

From the kitchen… water getting ready to boil for Spinach pasta and dishes that need to be done. (Yes, I am stealing some time online between Mike getting home and dinner time!)

I am wearing… jeans - BRIGHT yellow summer-y shirt and white cardigan. (I really do want warm weather to be here! I even considered wearing sandals today but more out of wishful thinking than practicality)

I am creating… some cards and packages to send out in the mail soon.

I am going… to take Lou in for her 2 year check-up tomorrow am. I still cannot believe that little lady has been in our lives for over 2 years now :)

I am reading…. not much - still working on Strangers and Sojourners. Need to get some good Lenten reads soon! Any suggestions?

I am hoping… that our offer is finally accepted on our house (yes we call it our house)

I am hearing… the dryer going, Mike talking to his mama on the phone, Louisa running around

Around the house… there are little things to tidy up - the usual :)

One of my favorite things… waking up to a baby, kissing mi amor, Louisa saying 'Mama; Josie seeping?'

A few plans for the rest of the week: Dr. appointment, and.....wow nothing else comes to mind! I should make some fun plans with people!

Here is picture I thought of sharing…. I call it, "Morning angel" 

*I never used to wear bathrobes in the morning. In fact I didn't even own one until after Louisa was born. I used to love getting out of bed and heading right for the shower, spending an hour getting ready, then making a big breakfast for myself. Ha; boy are those days over for a while! Now it takes us a very long time to get ready, I wear this bathrobe more often than I'd like to admit, and if I want breakfast I have to steal bites between feeding and cleaning up after Louisa & nursing Josie. :) Mornings are....just what they should be with young children.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Photo Edition!

Just 7 pictures from around the house. Maybe I'll give explanations later...though most just speak for themselves. Enjoy, God Bless, and happy Friday!

I am serioulsy so tired. Yet I am so happy. I never really thought this was very compatible. Enter the vocation of motherhood....

Thank you Lord for my children.

I was going to write a whole post on how Josie is doing developmentally. But it will have to wait because yes, you guessed it...I'm simply too tired.

Stinker, Stickers, and Snow.

Very clever title, ey? Well it just came to me after I uploaded my three pictures :)

So this little stinker-baby has been a bit of a handful lately. (Here she is dressed up in daddy's shirt and shorts) Well, I don't really blame her for not being in the best of moods. She has been getting over a cold, so she has a runny nose. She hasn't been sleeping well. She is breaking in at least one tooth, perhaps two. But she was so all over the place this weekend. This morning I had a dentist appointment (a follow up to take care of that nasty root canal, blech) and my mom was able to take care of the girls. She did great for the most part, but by the time I was done she was starting to lose it. After my appointment, my mom and I went to this sweet little bakery for a cup of coffee (drank with a straw by me :) but Louisa didn't last long. She threw a huge fit in the bakery. When we got home she went right to sleep but that was only 10:30 so our routine was ruined for the day....

...*sigh* Ever since the day has been kind of crazy and highly un-productive. Oh well...moving on. Don't you love these vintage-looking dentist stickers? The office lady gave them to Louisa who now has this habit of asking everyone in public for stickers. Well, people who look like they work at the place we are at. It's pretty funny actually. Let's see; she's asked the butcher, the barista, the courtesy clerks at the grocery store (all the time), the doctor, the dentist...and more I'm sure. It's like she assumes it's part of everyone's job to keep stickers on hand for little toddlers like herself. I keep thinking, Be careful my little sticker-fiend. It's cute now, but I don't want you to become too demanding. (Although she is very sweet and always says thank you in a very sincere voice :)

Here is a picture from outside about 2 hours ago. The snow keeps coming and going. I guess tomorrow we're supposed to get a bigger storm system coming in. We're standing by to see what happens! We were thinking about going to go to the Children's museum today with friends, but decided to stay in because of the white stuff. Hopefully we can go later in the week. It would only happen if Louisa cheers up, the snow goes away completely, and I'm not still in pain from my tooth (which I am at the moment :(

Littles

Do they have to grow up...............................................??

Beach day and sickies

The beach was a good call yesterday. Us girls really needed the fresh air, and we got out there before the rain clouds came in again. What wasn't a good call was forgetting the memory chip from my camera! These pictures were taken on my phone. But I saw the coolest thing and thanks to me forgetting that little thing I missed capturing it. There were two bald eagles circling the sky (not too uncommon, there is a nest down there that we have seen in the past.) Suddenly, I noticed one of them diving down, and fast. He zoomed toward the water and scooped up an enormous fish into his talons, then flapped back up to his nest to enjoy his lunch. (Or her lunch) It was spectacular. I could have caught it using my telephoto lens easily. He wasn't too far away from us. It was just one of those events in nature that takes your breath away. It was incredible how high up he was when he caught sight of his prey and how precise his dive was to pluck that unfortunate fish out of the water.

Today, we are all still  in our pj's and I have a feeling it will stay that way. Daddy has the flu and I might be coming down with it. So far both girls seem okay so pray they don't get it (especially Josie. I'm worried about the high temperature daddy had; wouldn't want a newborn dealing with it :( I noticed a good many of my friends on facebook have some kind of the sickies. Some are colds but a lot are flu bugs and weird combinations of the two. I hope everyone heals quickly!

Have some Quiche

This post is merely about my breakfast this morning. Quiche from Trader Joe's. Yum. Yes, it was frozen. Ready to go in 2 minutes (I am not ashamed of using my microwave :) I thought it was pretty great for a frozen meal. But I would like to try at my own quiche. I have never made one before - have you? If you have a favorite recipe, please do share. Otherwise I will just use my Joy of Cooking recipe, or possibly an online one.

Quiche is so yummy.

I hope you had a delicious breakfast, too. Happy Tuesday!

Happy Saint Valentine's Day

Me and my Sweetheart went out to dinner last night and exchanged little gifts. It a perfect evening. I am not against Valentine's day at all, are you? I don't see anything wrong with having a reminder to tell folks you love them. It's not like it gets watered down just because everyone else is saying it :) Maybe the commercial aspect has gone a little too far, but that's the case with any holiday now days, isn't it? Just resist the urge to buy too much and you're good.

These pics are actually from the wedding we went to. Which was just beautiful.

Today is a busy day because we are having Father Joseph come over for house blessings. He goes around and blesses our house (well, in this case our apartment) with holy water and prayers. This is our third year doing it as a family and so far I would say it has absolutely worked. We have been blessed and protected from calamity. We love it when Father comes over. He makes good company. After we will be going to two other houses, then having a delicious dinner. Can't wait. Now, I just have to keep things nice and clean until this evening....

God Bless you today and may Saint Valentine pray for us too! (Yes, he was a real person; saint and martyr, go here)



What a lovely love song...."It was harder than we dreamed, but I believe that's what the promise is for" .

7 Quick Takes Friday

Helllooo Friday!

1. Louisa got a very special gift from my aunt. 

What it is is an alphabet that she drew while in art school. It used to be hanging in my room when I was growing up, as you can see she included the note that she had posted on the back. Isn't it amazing? 

...My aunt has always prayed for me. She says she had a special strong urge to do that, all throughout my life. And now look at me! I'm a Christian! Praise God. It really shows the power of prayer, I think. I wonder about some people in the world - if only they had someone special praying for them. Now, my aunt and uncle are Louisa's godparents.

 2. Wedding tomorrow. Yay! I just love weddings, don't you? It is a bit of a drive, but now that we have our van it will be comfortable enough. It's Michael's cousin who is tying the knot, so we'll once again get to visit a lot of his family. I'm looking forward to it! 

3. Tomorrow is also papa's birthday! (Lou and Josie's papa that is) and since I won't be blogging tomorrow, I'll go ahead and wish him a happy birthday early. Happy Birthday papa! Your favorite grand-daughter's love you very much and so do we!

4. My friend Aubrina and I went to visit some friends yesterday. We took a lovely drive out toward Mt. Rainer and visited our friends in their small little town. It was such a fun day! All together there were three toddlers and four babies. Man, it was cute. I was mad at myself for forgetting my camera though...grrrr. The day was crystal clear and it was just neat catching up with our old friends from high school! I loved meeting their kids after seeing so many pictures on facebook for the past few years.

5. Speaking of Facebook, have you guys seen the movie The Social Network yet? I actually kind of enjoyed it. Facebook's impact on our generation and the world cannot be overstated. I thought learning some more about how it was founded was cool. Even if most of the movie wasn't based in fact...hmmm er,...oh well. I still liked it. It had some good themes in it. You should see it. We got it through RedBox.

6. This Josephine May girl is pretty great. She turned two months on the same day Louisa turned two years. She's just along for the ride it seems like. Eating, growing, smiling. Goodness, we love her.

7. Justin Beiber has a huge crush on me. It's true. *sigh* I haven't had the heart to tell him I'm happily married yet. The poor kid's heart will probably break. Oh well, that will give him more material to write about I suppose.

Yes yes, very silly, I know. I didn't make this by the way. It was someone else.

Anyway, wish us safe travels! And have a great weekend all!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Tres Parties

one...

 two...

 three...

So...we kind of had 3 separate parties for Lou this year. Lucky girl, I'd say :) Seem a little excessive to you? Well, it actually worked out pretty well. She wasn't overwhelmed by one huge party, but she got to see everyone she loves. Really the excessive part was that she got three different cakes :) (Yes, mommy is a little exhausted from this part) Even though we had fun at all three parties we are praying that next year we will have a house and everyone can come over all at once.

This is one happy, well loved 2 year old!

The girl is 2

haPpy BiRtHday deaR louisA!

(the quality isn't so great because I swiped a lot of the pictures from my Facebook albums. It seems to look better when you watch it on Facebook for some reason)

Oh, and here is the link to last years first birthday video :)

the Big Game

 So, we went to a Super Bowl Party yesterday afternoon (hmmm, hopefully I won't get in trouble for saying that...apparently most stores have to say "the Big game" unless they pay the NFL since "Super Bowl" is a copyrighted...)  

...Anyway, it was actually pretty fun. Mike and I are always a little wary of taking Louisa to other people's houses since at her age she tends to want to get into everything. We were pleasantly surprised at how well she did though! She played with some of her buddies (like Dani and Beth) and generally seemed to have a great time. We  did too - although at our rate, I don't know how long we will be able to go to friend's houses for things like this. With any more kids it might get tricky. That is unless all our friends started having babies then it would be a big baby/kids party!! Sounds good to me - why don't you get started, guys!? Well, luckily our friends Steve and Mel do have a little guy and boy is he cute! Louisa actually took this picture of him...not bad, huh?

Louisa was diggin' all the snacks :)

Fun time! Go Green Bay!

(I guess...;)

7 Quick Takes Friday

Happy Friday!

1. Guess who's almost 2?! Louisa Ann of course! Her Birthday is next week. Originally I really wanted to have a nice party for her with her friends at the Children's museum. It didn't pan out though - partially because of the cost and partially because we couldn't figure out how to make it work with everyone :( I hope we can do it next year. She might even enjoy it more since she'll be older. Since Christmas she's been talking about 'presents' so I'm sure she'll get a kick out of opening a few for her birthday. I can't believe her second birthday is here. She is such a big girl! I love being her mother...

2. Big Pictures! I'm sure you noticed that my blog is different. X-large pictures, baby! :) I've been thinking about changing it for a while but honestly I couldn't figure out how. Now my photos are In - yo - face! (whether you like it or not :)

3. Is anyone sick out there? Michael was home sick a few days this week. He worked from home a little, but mostly camped out in our bedroom. It's amazing how different being sick is when you have children. I remember almost enjoying being sick when I was growing up. Even in college - because it was like a ticket to relax and pamper yourself (or be pampered by mom!) Now - ugghhh. It makes me shudder to think of getting sick. The responsibilities do not go away. Especially if you are nursing a baby. They still need you! But I really hope Mike felt like he could rest. I tried my very best to take care of him and not disturb him with our needs. It was challenging though....daddy was just in the other room and we all knew it!

4. I miss seeing my friends! I really do. I've been trying to schedule coffee dates, play dates, any kind of date I can! It hasn't really been working out though :( Something always comes up and we don't follow through. I am going to make a concerted effort next week and beyond! I miss the social company and Louisa really loves seeing other people too.

5. Crayons are from the devil. Blue crayon in the dryer. Made me so mad yesterday. I think that's enough said, I don't want to talk about it.

6. I keep thinking about my post with pictures of my apartment. I realized that taking pictures of a house almost never does it justice. I should have realized it from house-hunting. Isn't it strange how pictures can make a house look really wonderful or really bad but almost never tell the whole story? Our apartment is really not that grand, but there are many things in the pictures you can't tell. Like that we have vaulted ceilings (thank goodness or I'd feel really claustrophobic) and a really fantastic view of the mountains. But, probably you couldn't tell from the pictures that our carpet is really grody. It's really old and stained...which I hate! Anyway, I've just been thinking about it for some reason.

7. There is something that makes me sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo angry - and it's this; I am tired of the pro-life movement being ignored by the media. It is rediculous. Actually, as the video points out, it is downright fraud. It makes me want to scream!

But. I have to remember something....as Christians we should expect to be persecuted, ignored, humiliated, and ridiculed. Christ was treated this way, so why should we expect to be loved by the world? It's just hard sometimes to control the urge to lash out and be angry. In this case, the media chooses to ignore the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in defense of LIFE. Please, do not believe what you hear from the mainstream media. They are biased. They have an agenda. They are not neutral. How could they possibly be when they ignore the hundreds of thousands of protesters in favor of reporting the handful of pro-abortion people? 

Light

the lighting around here yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. I never realize how much I miss the sun in the winter until it comes back. It felt so good, even to enjoy it from indoors. It just made me want to go around taking pictures because again, the light it created was so beautiful. I hope we get more sunshine today!

the Home edition

You know something I really enjoy? I enjoy looking at pictures of other people's homes. I like looking at magazines too, like Home Beautiful, Traditional Home...etc. however I actually much prefer looking at people's actual homes because lets face it, looking at a magazine pretty much makes a person more jealous than what is healthy. Those living rooms and kitchens are just too perfect. Even for me. Looking at pictures of my friend's homes (or of course visiting) gives me a much better sense of reality - and people's quirks and living styles. I am putting up some pictures of my apartment for you. Granted, I think most people who read this have been over here before, so it's not really a big thing. However, if you know me, you know I'm a notorious furniture re-arranger. You could come over one day and the next time you come things could/probably would be totally different! Poor Michael - he actually prefers things to stay the same, though I think he's getting used to my ways. (Plus he was warned at the wedding by my maid of honor's speech :) Now he hardly notices when I move the couch, or re-hang some pictures. I cannot help my compulsive moving of things. It never fails to put me in a better place though, which is probably why I do it. It makes me feel better when I know I am in control of my environment. Life with a two year old is much different, of course. I don't get to keep things as neat and tidy as I'd like (though I fight it, boy do I fight!) Again, I can't help that I like things to be organized. If there is something disorganized I start to get anxious about it until it bothers me so much that I must get up and do something about it or my head will explode. Okay - perhaps that's a little dramatic, but it does get to me. For my own peace of mind I usually spend a good amount of time cleaning and organizing. It gives me energy and again, makes me feel better about everything. I realize not everyone is like me. For some, it's easy to look past the messes. Or perhaps they do bother you, but the cost of cleaning is too high and you'd rather be doing other things. I do not look down on anyone for being different, honestly. It's how I am programmed and it's not a superior or inferior trait. In fact, sometimes I wish I could let things go without getting stressed out. I know there are periods of my life that the house won't be immaculate. Mike and I would like to have a big family - hence, you might say, we will have to have a messy house. Maybe. But I have a feeling my tendencies are too strong to let my home become out of control.

I did not mean to go on and on about this subject! Guess it is pretty important to me, huh? Anyway, I wanted to point out that I acquired a new piece of furniture that looks like it will work perfectly for an art cabinet. It actually belonged to my great-grandma. She used to have a record player in it! Cool huh. Thank goodness my family is good at hanging on to things. I really like it and I like the organization it affords me :) (Before her are supplies were just in a little corner on the kitchen counters and it kind of drove me crazy)