FYI

dearest readers of this blog:
[all 6 of you]


i found myself with an excess of energy tonight.
this is quite rare for me and i wasn't quite sure what to do with myself.
i decided to plant myself in front of this here blog and play catch-up.

you will notice plenty of new posts,
[not in chronological order because i didn't have that much energy]-
they're full of grammatical errors and low-quality pictures.
no need to thank me for this.
you are all very welcome.


and i just wanted to say thanks for sticking with me during this time of insanity.
i've requested to work weekends [fridays, saturdays and sundays] in an effort to stabilize our home life.
cuz let's be honest, it's not quite working right now.
not having a schedule is killing us!
that new schedule should take effect in december so we just have to survive one more month of this silliness.
added bonus- the new schedule will keep the baby out of daycare while she's still a newborn.
[i found out i have to return to work after 6 weeks instead of the 12 weeks i was planning on. pretty sure i cried the day i heard that news. stupid new employee rules]

anywaaaaays,
thanks for all the support.
and thanks for not getting mad when i don't return texts, don't answer my phone and ignore my emails.
you guys rock.

good night and happy halloween!

obsession with spiders

dear neighbors-

it all started when you attached giant spiders to your house.

instead of being scared of them [like we expected her to be], miss kate adores your halloween decorations.

everyday before we leave for school, we have to pause and wave hello to your spiders.

same goes for when we return home-

she stands in the driveway, waves hello and shouts 'hi spiiiiiiders'.

it's pretty dang cute.

and next came the face-painting at the local pumpkin patch friday night.

when given six choices katers picked the spider-

complete with fancy glitter and spider web.

when we got home she spent 10 minutes in front of the mirror giggling at her spider.

i really should've video'd that. 

it was awesome.

[pic is of her drinking her nightly metamucil- gotta keep her regular!]

and then tonight we colored pumpkins instead of carving them [because i'm a pretty lazy mom as of late]

and you guessed it- i'm drawing a spider.

she loves it.

before kate would go to bed tonight she had to see her spider pumpkin one last time.

i'm surprised she didn't ask to sleep with it.

so neighborly neighbors who started this obsession-

thank you.

at least my kid isn't scared of spiders anymore!

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90 degrees today. and it felt great.

dear yuma,

i might despise you in the summer but right now, you rock.

i thought i would miss the autumn weather i grew up with.

the leaves changing color, the brisk air, the crunching leaves underfoot as i walked....

but it turns out i don't miss it as much as i thought i would.

having my windows and doors open all day long is lovely.

still wearing sandals and shorts feels wonderful.

and the eternal sunshine never gets old.

maybe i don't hate it here as much as i thought i did.

yuma, dare i say you're growing on me???

ps. that's kate running thru the sprinklers [i have to keep reminding myself it's almost november. it just doesn't feel like it]. it was 90 degrees and i kept asking her if she was cold. she answered me with a 'wheeeeeeeee. it's raining!' and ran back into the shooting water. guess that's my answer. 

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pics from around the house in MN

[more from MN]

harry makes a great baby shower decoration.

although i doubt that clothesline would've held him up.

he the perfect amount of chunky baby.

love this one.

tyler snuggling with his little man.

rainbow drinks from kerrianne's gender neutral baby shower.

[my bets on a girl]

parents-to-be packing up their loot.

i've never seen kate so snuggly with a male other than her dad-

she was loving on her uncle t george the entire time.

thanks ty!

aaron playing with harry while liz enjoys a time-out.

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i miss the mall. i know that sounds more than a little pathetic. i don't care.

[more from MN]

MOA-

it had been too long!
almost 14 months since i last walked your long halls and partook of your dizzying vastness.
and now you have a h&m.
oh, i've missed you so.

yuma has no mall.
well, maybe you could consider the target, old navy, best buy and movie theater a 'mall'.
but i don't.
there isn't a crepe stand.
there isn't mini donuts.
there most certainly isn't a carousel.
and the thing i miss most- gads and gads of people.
i love getting lost in a crowd.
[why do i live in yuma??? oh yeah, loan repayment. gotta keep reminding myself]

MOA, i think the next time i see you might be in another 14 months.
i'll be missing you.
until then, thanks for the yummy treats and awesome shopping.

.

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flying home

oh time, why do you move so fast?

we got home to yuma [and it really does feel like home] last thursday mid-day and then i worked three nights in a row [starting thursday night. not a smart idea], had two days off and i'm back for three more shifts tonight.

i am thoroughly exhausted. 

time is slipping through my fingers and it's making me incredibly sad.

[or maybe that's just my completely out of control pregnancy hormones]

i feel like life is rushing past and i have no control to slow it or stop it.

ugh. i hate not being in control.

i have so many thoughts and pictures and stories to share but not enough time to do them justice.

plus, i really should be napping right now since i work tonight.

i'm hoping my brain quiets down enough so i can sleep.

and time, please just pause for a moment.

i need to breathe.

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i've never seen so many pumpkins in my life. the white ones were my favorite.

minnesota weather-

i thought i missed you.
turns out i don't really miss being cold all the time.
50 degrees sounds nice when i'm sweating it out in yuma,
but in reality it just makes me shiver.

like the other morning when dad thought it would be ok not to turn the heat on
and it was 60 degrees in the house when i woke up at 7 am.
yikes.
maybe i turned the fireplace on and made myself hot cocoa.
maybe my family made fun of me.
whatever.

even though i've been complaining about the cold,
i can appreciate that it's made me ready for autumn.
[but i won't lie, i'm excited to head home to the warmth]

we spent an hour at a 'farm' yesterday.
we saw animals and pumpkins.
kate and liz rode the rides [thanks papa for the quarters]
and harry posed for a ridiculous amount of pictures [cuz he's just so smiling and cute]
it's awesome how everything is more fun through the eyes of a child.
kids really do make life better.

 

today was a good day.

Jank-

as i'm typing this our baby girl is kicking and dancing up a storm.
she misses hearing your voice almost as much as i miss holding your hand.

i took some pictures of my day to share with you:

our favorite view from the house. trees, trees and more trees. MN sure is pretty.

miss kate rearranging my mom's front porch. she kept picking up the pumpkin and fake biting it

[complete with chomping/eating sound effects. thanks for teaching her that]

the girls discovered quickly how much fun a piano brings.

of course they make great duets- kate bangs on the keys and liz creates songs.

i'll have to video it tomorrow for you.

mom pulled out the old race track from my childhood.

the girls loved playing with papa

and they only fought over who got what car/driver once every second.

other events that weren't captured on film include:

kate ruining her lunch AND her dinner by purposely dumping her drink on the table.

all the baby shower planing and decorating taking place [no photos allowed of these activities since kerrianne reads this here silly blog and it's all supposed to be a surprise for her]

the mass amount of leann chin we consumed for lunch. sooooo good.

i decided kate will be minnie mouse for halloween and i bought her mouse ears.

hope you're enjoying all the peace and quiet.

we miss you.

maybe we can skype tomorrow morning?

love,

bug

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i wasn't quite prepared for the shock of 60 degree weather. brrrrr

adios work..... hello minnesota.

we survived the flights.

kate was just a wee bit exhausted- she parked herself on the airport floor and refused to get up.

i was too tired to care so i just let her lay there.

she did pretty well on the flights-

only kicked the seat in front of her a bajillion times.

we're just happy to be back in MN with all the family.

liz and kate are busy running around and screeching and destroying the house.

it makes me so happy to see them back together again.

ps. jank- everyone misses you. to fill the void we're eating extra at every meal and proclaiming each meal to be 'the best meal ever' just like you always do. love you a ridiculous amount.

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terrible two's are the absolute pits.

kateroo-

i love you.

i really do.

but you make it extremely difficult for me to like you when every ten minutes you throw yourself to the ground so you can kick and cry and carry on like a lunatic.

i know you're frustrated that the pages of your books are stuck together.

i know you want the talking giraffe app to work on my phone.

i understand that you don't want to eat your cereal.

i get it.

i totally get it.

frustration sucks and the concept of patience is beyond your reach.

but socking your mom in the face isn't going to make it better.

do you really like time-outs that much??

little one, i sure hope the terrible two's pass quickly.

i want my sweet girl back.

i miss her.

ps. don't be fooled by the adorable going-ons in these pictures. this moment was the calm between the storms. i pray the storms pass quickly because i'm flying to MN on thursday [without jank] and my anxiety level is thru the roof. screaming, kicking toddler + public places = my idea of torture.

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you know your kid is exhausted when she asks for her bath and then bed at 6:45.

dear mullet:

you still make me smile.
keep on rocking.

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i married a good man.

jank-

i love you because you do the dishes.

i love you because you're an amazing father to our little girl.

i love you because you always rub my feet and tell me i'm beautiful.

i love you because you're you.

see you in the morning.

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