strawberry-banana in case you're wondering

dear miss kate:

miss kate eating lunch.....errrr.... painting with yogurt.

this is how i get the dishes done.
otherwise you take out every utensil i put in the dishwasher and hid it.
[this is a favorite game of yours]

also, thanks for kissing my 'owwwwie' all better yesterday.
i should really learn not to be such a klutz.
i was surprised that your little kiss actually made me feel better.

love you more than you can imagine,
your mommie



.

matchy matchy

katers-

striped shirts w/ v neck cardigans 

it has come to my attention that we dress alike.

this is completely my fault.

i do all your shopping and i basically just buy whatever i'd want to wear.

so we're twinners the majority of the time.

i don't even notice until we've left the apartment and someone says-

'oh how cute, you guys look alike'

gag.

i never wanted to be that person.

the person who wears mommie-daughter outfits.

oh well.

i say we rock it out for as long as we can

because soon you'll have an opinion about your clothes.

i'm not going to lie- 

i'm dreading that day.

ps. pic taken @ the red iguana [yeah for restaurants that live up to the hype]. i told jank i've quit living like a student, so we're dining out more. not the most financially sound idea....

pps. did anyone else notice that we're less than 100 days away from the gloriously mind-blowing and life-changing graduation day??? as katers says- YEEHAW!!

someday...

dear future home:

i would very much like you to be on a street such as this one-

also if you could look like this house, 

that'd be great.

jank and i found this home last fall on one of our car rides through the valley.

it's located in federal heights and i think i gasped when i saw it [being dramatic is such fun].

i'm a sucker for white trim and shingle siding.

i'd definitely cut back those bushes in the front to let more light in.

and can you just imagine me curled up on that deck reading a book?

sigh.

that'd be awesome.

some people might say that a detached garage is not practical.

i say 'a garage!?! booyah!'

a place to store bikes and trikes and cars?? 

yes please.

future home, you have a lot of hoping and dreaming to live up to. 

currently my 'house inspiration' folder in iphoto contains 325 photos.

and my 3-ring binder full of magazine clippings is overflowing.

here's hoping you're everything i hope you will be!

;

unplugged

to whatever caused the power outage last nite:

thank you!

having no power forced jank and i to read.
me: chic-lit [thanks kel]
jank: a book helping him get ready for his august certification exam [booooorrring]

the house was silent and i could hear the rain hitting the windows.
we lit candles and read and talked and ate ice cream.
it was pretty romantic [which jank took advantage of. sly dog]

we forgot to turn off the overhead light in kate's room when the power went out [before bedtime]
so when it came back on, her room was ablaze in light.
it didn't phase our exhausted peanut though.
she slept right through and didn't wake me until 0700.

i think we're all settling back into normal sleep routines [naps included].
hallelujah!



you can knock our power out anytime
[but only for an hour or two, any longer and it's just annoying]

.

more from easter sunday.

to my one and only:

yesterday i fell more in love with you than ever.

you were so patient with me as we drove around mantua-

looking for the perfect field to take family pictures in [which we're NEVER going to find. augh]

later that afternoon, i watched you play with the little ones and my heart was content knowing i married a kind, fun and loving man.

i know it's been a little rough lately.

lack of sleep is not pretty on me [or you, or kate for that matter]

but thanks for loving me with kindness and patience.

i don't deserve you but i will never give you up. 

i'm selfish like that.

.

easter sunday

many thanks to all who made our easter a great one

i've never seen miss kate so happy.
she was outside for the majority of the day.
climbing, running, sliding, finding eggs filled with m&m's,
and the best part- hijacking the pint-sized four wheeler and cruising around g+g's yard.

a special thank you to the weather for a beautifully sunny day.
sun, family and good food.
it doesn't get better than that.

.

i now have muscles

dear body,

i apologize for not exercising you more.

it's always on my to-do list.

every morning i have great intentions-

but rarely do they pan out.

normally i feel rotten about my lack of overall fitness.

but not today.

today, we made up for all those lazy days...

we walked for 45 minutes- back and forth [and back and forth] from the bedroom to kate's room.

every 10 seconds or so we stopped to do dead-lifts with 23 pounds of writhing toddler.

every other 10 seconds or so we squatted to kiss the still writhing toddler and said 'ni-ni'.

[and never once did i lose my cool, a vast improvement from days past!]

overall i say it was a great workout.

at least my back is killing me and that's a sure sign of a good workout right?

and now we can relax and eat some skittles and enjoy the peaceful silence.

wahoooooo! 

doesn't everyone celebrate a success by playing with photobooth????

dear body of mine, i sure hope we don't have to do this workout much longer.

it's been a few days since we started it and i'm already exhausted.

at least we only have to do it once a day since the toddler cooperates at night time.

you're doing a great job scrawny body,

you deserve a hot bath tonight.

ps. for all those thinking 'maybe katers doesn't need a nap anymore?'... i say to you- fooey!! and i have the video footage to prove it. that child NEEDS her naps at this stage. however, i fear she will start phasing them out shortly. then when will i blog?????

.

pps. wondering why this workout plan is necessary? it goes something like this..... no more binki=kate climbs out of crib=kate sleeps in pack and play=kate climbs out of pack and play=we convert kate's crib to a toddler bed=workout!! phew, just typing that exhausts me. 

he's back!

hey there woog!

glad you could rejoin us.

hope you had a fun couple of days without us.

sorry you were abandoned in a parking lot again.

sorry that you had to be towed [i'm sure it wasn't comfortable]

sorry the tow truck dented your muffler.

sorry you're stuck at a auto shop until we pick you up tomorrow morning.

sorry people like to take you away from us.

tomorrow we're buying 'the club' in hopes of keeping you around for a few more months.

i love you and everything but i cannot wait to buy a different car. [after graduation--jancer promised]

you're high maintenance. 

welcome home woog.

ps. jank says you have one more chance. get stolen again and you're outta here!

.

another rainy day

Ruth's dinner

[a note about a no-bueno day turned bueno]

take one rainy morning,

add a husband who needs a ride to work at 0730 [way too early to be out in public],

throw in a stolen car,

and you've got a not-so-happy kayla.

but surprise that lady with a unexpected hole in her husband's schedule,
which allowed for breakfast in a trolley car turned diner,
located on a winding canyon road [oh how i love canyon roads],
add to that hot cocoa and a plate piled with bread and butter,
and you get a very happy kayla

thanks ruth's diner,
you certainly didn't disappoint.



ps. miss kate's bedhead/jammies/golashes combo also made my day. she might have stayed in those jammies until dinner time. i'll never tell.
.

lightning does strike twice

dear friends,

anyone want to buy us a new car?
we currently have a need.

jancer's car was stolen.
AGAIN.
and no it's not funny........
ok, it's kind of funny.

let me know if you'd like to buy us a new car.
i sure wouldn't say no to this one:

yes, this one will do nicely.

please and thank you.

thanks friends!

the jancers

ps. maybe the thief will nicely abandon woog in a parking lot again.... at least we can hope.

.

practically ready for college

happy birthday magoos!!

enjoy all your presents [lucky girl].
and bring tangled over next week so we can all snuggle and watch it.


love you to pieces,
aunt k


ps. remember last year when i told you to ask your mom for a baby brother? nice going, we got our wish! told ya birthday wishes were magic.

.

swedish fun

Dear ikea,

you [yet again] proved how great you are.

your store was practically deserted [a rarity] so i let kate run around all willy-nilly.

i was having a slow-moving day [aka lazy parenting day], so i let her do whatever she wanted.

she climbed on sofas, jumped on beds and had tea:

this is kate trying to figure out how her foot got stuck.

she was perplexed for quite some time.

it was perfect.

many thanks to your employees who never once gave us the stink-eye. 

.

liz comes to play

dear camera battery,

thanks for lasting long enough for me to get a couple of pictures today.

please excuse their crazy hair- there was a storm rolling in.

kater's mullet was just a-blowing in the breeze.

it was awesome.

you did well today little point and shoot.

i might be the crazy mom at the park with the camera in my kid's face,

but at least i'll have pictures to torture her with when she's older.

mwahaha

you died right after i snagged this shot.

it's my new favorite pic of them.

i couldn't resist loading it into instagram and zhuzhing it up a little:

i know they look miserable but i promise they loved it- they kept asking for 'mo! mo!'

ps. kate finally built up enough guts to go down the [little] slide.... at least until next time when she'll go through the whole debate again: slide and risk life? or just sit and watch everyone else play? 

,

no pants day

sweetzers:

kate, i need to apologize for all the weird and random things we call you.

sweetzers is the nickname of choice lately.

i have no idea where it came from.

it just popped out of my mouth one day and it stuck.

you don't seem to mind but i'm sure we're only about a year away from the day you say-

'mooooom, don't call me that!'

anywho, today was a good day.

reasons listed below

1. your hair fit into a pony. hurray for growth [too bad you still have some bald patches]

2. we had waffles and fruit for dinner. 

3. your dad returned from the VA at a semi-respectable hour and you guys wrestled.

4. you didn't wear any pants for half the day [personally i think this was the best part]

the end.

.

happy birthday!

i often joke that i have 4 kids-

[listed in chronological order]
child #1 is jankyface [sad but true; i feed him, pick up after him and love him unconditionally]
child #2 is the imac [thanks scootchers for convincing us to buy it!!]
child #3 is kate [so glad she's mine]
child #4 is my blog


O FANTASTICAL BLOG--

yesterday was your birthday.  

you're one now.

so grown up.

i look back on how you've grown and it makes me happy.

when i started writing letters i was struggling to find balance in my life.

i wasn't the most joyful person but i was trying to be.

now, i'm content and happy with where i am and with who i am.

and that's big.

to celebrate i made a cake and let kate smash her face in it.

[as if i need an excuse to make a cake]

please excuse the awesomely striped couch, it's comfy but ugly.

you are my confidant.
i use you to remember the good days and the bad.
the amazing and awesome adventures that come with raising a child,
and the frustrations too.

i write stories about work that i know will bring a chuckle when i reread them later in life.
heck, i even laugh while writing them.
ER patients are a different kind of lovely aren't they?

i tell you about the little things that make me smile:
macdos, reading books to kate, cake, shopping, jancer, traveling...
in the hopes that when someone [whether current friends or future posterity] reads this,
they will feel like they know me a little better.

you're my journal.
because of you i have a better memory.
i'm able to recall specific days and events [something i have never been able to do]
and that's all i hoped for when i started you a year ago.

thanks for letting me work through my struggles with you.
and thanks for letting me celebrate the good times with you.
a coworker [hi johnny!] recently said to me 'you seem much happier'.
i am.
i owe that in part to you bloggy.


thanks for everything.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

much love,
kayla


.

whoever invented the public library... THANK YOU!

dear camera manual that i've never taken the time to read until now:

so glad we decided to meet.

thus far i've learned quite a bit.

including how to set the timer so i can be in pics with katers.

this is us reading library books yesterday:

i set the camera to take 7 shots in a row and this is the only one that turned out-

obviously i have a lot to learn

that girl loves booktime.

so does her mama.

it's nice to just sit and be still for a bit.

tv's off, no music playing... just me and the kid enjoying our simple life.

and then we read all the books in the stack and she's back to throwing tennis balls around the house.

dang that jancer for teaching her how fun that is.

at least her aim is getting better [yikes]

thanks for educating me,

k

.

a better day than the one before

corner bakery and cafe-

jank said he was 'souped out'-

guess that means i should quite making it three times a week for dinner

thanks for a great lunch today.
soup was just right on this cold, windy, cloudy day.
and seeing jank for an hour was perfect.
he was stoked to see peanut since he didn't get to see her yesterday.
by the time he came home at 8, she had already been asleep for 45 min.
that kid was tiiiiiired and craaaaanky from skipping her nap yesterday.

today, we're doing much better thanks to you.
going out to eat has to be one of my top 5 favorite things to do-
that's kinda sad huh? i should say exercising... but that would be a lie.

3 seconds after i took this picture, water was everywhere-

ahhhh life with a toddler

peanut ate a super lunch consisting of one roll.
and then was so tired from her eating frenzy that she passed out in the car on the drive home.
she didn't even wake up when i accidently choked her while trying to unwind the scarf from her neck.
no harm done, she's now sleeping peacefully in her crib....
or is she passed out from the choking???
guess we'll find out in an hour or so when/if she wakes up.

thanks for the yummy food.
and for the cheesecake brownie.


 love, 
a much happier kayla


.

day one= not bad, day two=help!

something brewing indeed....

not cool universe, not cool at all.


today was painful.
and that's all i have to say about that.


excuse me while i go eat my weight in ice cream and watch entirely too much tv.
girls gotta cope somehow.
no judging.

ps. miss kate can now climb out of her crib and did so thrice today. how do i parent that new development?? i am so not cut out for this.


.

so long my dear friend

farewell mr binki

the second after i cut him, panic ran through me and i thought 'what oh what have i doooooone?!'

you have served us well.

you can go to binki heaven knowing you executed your purpose perfectly.

i will miss you terribly as will miss kate.

she sat in her carseat this morning mumbling 'bwoken, bwoken'

oh how she loved chomping on you in the car and before bed.

last nite wasn't too horrific-

kate went down without a fight.

she was up three times but only for a few minutes each time.

this morning i thought 'the worst is over! we rock at this no binki stuff!'

i wasn't even thinking about nap time.....

and now as i sit here typing this letter to you,

i can hear katers jumping and playing and talking in her crib.

and i have to wonder-

are we done with naps because we no longer have your soothing presence?

please say it isn't so!

sorry to see you go, but it was time.

much appreciation,

the jancers

ps. 45 seconds after i hit publish, katers started crying. it took me 5 minutes of back tickling to get her calmed and then i saw the blessed eyelid flutter and heard the deep breathing of a contented child. the universe is being far too kind to me... something's brewing.

.

to grandma's house we go

dear interstate-15:

two things are a guarantee when we drive on you for longer than 30 min--

1. i will become very irritated with the utah drivers that drive the speed limit in the far left lane. hello! i would like to go 80 mph, kindly move over or i will tailgate you ruthlessly. i also may honk my horn at you [this i do sparingly since it makes jank nervous that someone will become enraged at my proper use of the car horn and kill me. silly mr jank]

2. jank and miss kate will fall asleep leaving me to ponder the cosmos [but mostly i think about the internet and how glorious it is]

thanks for giving me time to think deep thoughts.
also thanks for the car pool lane.

grateful for the quiet time,
mrs jank


ps. i LOVE when your speed limit changes to 75 [but please make the signs bigger because those other idiot drivers still think they have to go 65. not good for my road rage...]

.

a girl and her noon

dear app store-

you are the devil.
stop convincing me i need new apps.
instagram was the first in a series of purchases including [but not limited to]....

-angry birds rio [which jank and i play on separate devices while laying in bed and then exclaim to each other 'how did you pass that level' and 'what is up with all those pinneapples?']
-talking tom [makes kate giggle every time]
-hippocolors [for kate]
-about 4 different alphabet games [again, for the kid]
and my new obsession...
-colorsplash

i discovered today [during conference when i was listening really closely] that i could combine instagram and colorsplash.

exhibit a:

kate and her balloon

and now i'm addicted to my phone.
even more than i already was.
curse you app store.


grrrrrrr,
mrs jancer

ps. that balloon deserves it's own letter.... dear ballon, thanks for making katers laugh tonight. waiting in that long line for you was worth it. also, thanks for not minding that katers calls you 'noon' [she's working on the whole talking clearly thing]

.

hello spring!

dearest most loveliest miss spring:

this scene makes it almost impossible to think about moving in august

i feel that it is time to officially welcome you into our lives again.

you have been thoroughly missed this past year.

i would like to welcome you back with an open-mouthed kiss.

SMOOCH!

yesterday i took miss kate and miss e on a walk to celebrate the return of spring to utah.

the walk took an hour but we only went a few blocks.

every tree was touched.

every fence was hugged [i don't understand this one]

every electrical cover was drummed on.

and every flower was inspected.

walking with toddlers is awesome.

the sunshine and warm temps are slowly drawing me out of the funk i've been in this week.

this morning katers and i wandered around the outdoor mall in slc.

she watched the kids playing in the fountain while i let the sun warm my face.

the change in me was tangible.

i could feel the sun infuse me with patience and love-

those golden rays pushed out the oppressing feelings of frustration and discontent i've been harboring. 

and man oh man, that felt good.

and then katers and i read books in b&n.

she cried when we had to leave.

she is my daughter through and through.

how i love her.

thanks miss spring for being so beautiful and for showing up in my time of need.

mr jancer thanks you profusely.

xoxo,

k

ps. a note about mr jancer- he deserves an award for putting up with me this last week. if not an award, then definitely a bacon double cheeseburger. maybe in between conference sessions??

.