A Day With My Girls.

Today was quite a day. When I went to pick up Olyvia from horse lessons today I was informed that she didn't ride today because she was too upset over Jackson. Jackson is the horse she has been riding and who she loves very much. Today she witnessed Jackson being loaded into a trailer to go to the clinic because he is very sick with colic. She was totally distraught over the whole thing. She isn't totally clear on what the outcome will be and was insistent that she will need to call and check up on him. My heart was so sad for her.

From there I got home and we took Button to the bathroom. She of course proceeded to get into something that made her smell completely horrid. We gave her a bath. What a treat that was. If you have read previous posts of mine about what I feel my role in taking care of a dog is, you know that bathing them is definitely not on my list of duties. However, my lovely husband is out of town today and there was no way I was going to leave this task to my 6 and 4 year old so I dove in. Literally. By the time I was done it looked like my bathroom had at one point been filled completely with water and I smelled like wet dog shampoo. I decided not to change. Just went and doused myself in some VS perfume and called it good. Nothing quite like dog smell covered up by Victoria's Secret. Fabulous! I call it 'Scent of Mom.' If only that was marketable.

After we had her somewhat dried and pretty much on her bed, I then thought I wasn't having a fun enough day so I would take the girls to the grocery store. By this time it was just after nap time, although no naps had been had. In the car at the store I was very firm in stating that the girls would be getting nothing in the store. We were only purchasing those items on our list and that is all. My youngest was OK with this. My oldest however seemed to think it important to explain to me over and over and over and over that she was STARVING and NEEDED something. I stuck to my decision though much to her dismay and by the time we got back out to the car with the groceries she was practically whithering away to nothing and I had of course forgotten 5 different things that were on my list. ARGH! There was no way I was going back into that store with my two girls in tow and the dog in the car with the rest of the groceries. That would definitely not end well.

Now home from the store, more laundry to do, groceries to put away and really all I want to do is cuddle on my couch with my girls....maybe we can paint nails. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.

No More Babies.

I don't have any more babies. Last night my husband and I are making dinner and in the blink of an eye our youngest daughter is on the counter sitting there and munching crunchy noodles. I didn't think much about it until my husband said, "did you see that? Ellie, get off the counter please." She then got down. "Now get back up there." She vaulted herself up onto the counter and started munching away at her crunchy noodles. I couldn't help but start laughing. She is definitely out little monkey. This morning she climbed into, yes into, the fridge to pick out her own yogurt.

Above all else this has brought it home for me that I no longer have babies. My beautiful girls don't need my help as much as they used to. They are getting more and more independent as the days progress. It is sad but at the same time, oh so exciting. I love to watch them grow and learn more things and they are so excited to show me all that they are learning. I can't wait to see they next thing one of them comes up with.

It has been too long.

I really need to get a post up here. I just realized we are almost a full month since my last post. The holidays were busy but wonderful this year. We spent a lot of time at home which was fabulous. Over New Years we were able to get a ton of stuff done around our place that I have been wanting to get done forever including cleaning out the garage and taking loads to the dump and recycling.

There are definitely stories to tell and when I can steal away a few minutes I will post something longer. Maybe something about the things I was able to get Robb to get rid of. I mean do we really need magazines from the early 90's? I don't think so. Or how about glass etchings he made in grade school. He loves them so much he keeps them hidden in a box in the garage so you can imagine how beautiful they are. That doesn't even scratch the surface of what we were dealing with when we battled the garage.

He is on to making me shelves now. Finally! A project he has been talking about for a couple years now. I am getting to the point that I almost don't care what they look like I just want them up. I need shelves to put things on. I am so happy though that he is getting to it and taking the time to make sure everything fits right. They should be wonderful when they are done and I will make sure to get some pics up once we have them complete and filled. :)

Dead Pig Smell - Yum! Yum!

TAKE NOTE: When you take a container out of the fridge that has obviously been in there for WAY too long and what used to be pulled pork is now unidentifiable, no ordinary person would open it because there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO OPEN IT. My husband is not an ordinary person and my office now smells like dead pig. Grrrr!

2009 Young Family Photo at Kopperskogen

I finally got to taking our family photo today. We started with the typical "everyone stand and look pretty for the camera" photo . . .


But in the end we decided it just wasn't us and went with this instead . . .

Julie & Julia

What a fabulous movie. Great story, fabulous food and some amazing acting by Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Julie & Julia really delivers. I heart warming look at a woman reaching 30 and searching for who she is. In her search she reaches out to do something. Not just something, but to make every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook. As we watch her take this challenge on we are taken back to Julia Child in the 50's when the cookbook is born.

For you guys out there, it isn't just a "chick flick." Robb and I both enjoyed the comedy intertwined in both the lives of Julie and Julia. Plus if you have ever known someone who sets a goal for themselves and is determined to see it through, then you will be able to relate to many parts in this movie.

It is a definite must see in my book.

Yum! Yum!

"Mom if you are going to write yum, do it right. It needs an exclamation point so people know you are saying it loud." No better way to express the fabulous cookies the three of us made. When I say "three" I use the word very loosely. What actually happened is I mixed, rolled, cut, scooped, baked, cooled, mixed and mixed and spooned and baked and cooled some more all while the girls continually asked me if they could sample just one. The sample requests started as soon as I had dough in the bowl and didn't end until they got one after all the cookies were made.

They abandoned me somewhere during the first hour of cookie making after the decorating was done. They had no interest if there wasn't decorating of cookies to be done. They ran off to their room to enter into pretend world. They sounded like they were having so much fun that I made the mistake, mid cookie baking, to glance into their room. Scary! (Note the exclamation point.) That really is the best way to explain it. It is almost as if they knew I was preoccupied and so they thought "now is the time for our room to suffer a natural disaster because what can she do about it? She has to watch the cookies baking in the oven." I quickly brought them back to reality when I told them they would not get any cookies until their room was cleaned up. This meant that the animal hammocks had to be put back up in the corners and the animals needed to be in them, the art stuff put back away, ponies and barbies and clothes (clean and dirty) needed to be put where they belong, new clothes put away, shoes in the closet, bed made. . . the list goes on. This seemed to work as a great energizer until Grammy stopped by and suggested they needed the energy only a cookie can provide. Thus they got a cookie and all ideas of cleaning were quickly out the window.

I entered into the picture the plastic garbage sack. There was hysterical crying and running and really the quickest feet I have seen in awhile. The room was cleaned with the help of mom, Grammy and the garbage sack.

Long story short, we got the cookies made and the room cleaned out. It was a win win day.