Wednesday, September 28, 2011

September 28

Isla had a rough day today. I'm not sure what is going on with her. It is different than her normal fussy/crying when she is hungry or tired or wants something. She sounds like she is in pain. I don't know if she is not feeling well or getting a tooth or what is going on with her. It is so frustrating...to know something is not right but to not know how to fix it.

So, this evening, I could not figure out any way to get her to stop crying. I decided to try a bath, because she is always happy during bath time. Sure enough, she was screaming bloody murder as I undressed her, but as soon as I put her in the tub, she was quiet and happy, even smiling some. Then I got her out of the bath tub and the screaming resumed.

She went to bed easily and was asleep by 8:15. Maybe she just needs a good night's sleep, and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.




Tuesday, September 27, 2011

September 27

I thought it might be a good idea to get Audrey out of the house during the house appraisal this morning. As cute as she is, I thought the appraisal guy might get kind of annoyed with her constant chatter while he was trying to do his job. So Daniel and Isla hung out at home with the appraiser, while Audrey and I went to the mall.

It was fun to do something with just the two of us! We hit up all of Audrey's favorite spots to play at the mall, including the rides that Audrey thinks are just toys she can climb on.
We found some socks on clearance at Gymboree, and they ended up being less than a dollar per pair. That was a good find, because I have been trying to squeeze Audrey's feet into size 12-24 month socks this week. Probably time to get some bigger socks!
Then we got our favorite special treat at the mall: a pretzel from Auntie Anne's.
The most exciting part of the trip for Audrey was definitely the escalators. She always wants to ride on the escalators, but we are usually there with Isla and the stroller, so we can't. She was SO excited when she realized the stroller was not with us. "No stroller! We can ride the escalator. Yippee!"




Monday, September 26, 2011

September 26

Bear with me, as this is just going to be a bunch of random rambling tonight.

1. I didn't take any pictures today, but I do have this video of Audrey singing. This girl loves to sing. Loves it! She also loves to learn new songs, and this is one she learned recently: Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah!

2. We are refinancing our house, and it is getting appraised tomorrow. I'm taking a break from cleaning now to type this. I'm wondering how much more cleaning is necessary. The house is decently picked up, but it is not spotlessly clean. Does the cleanliness of our house really affect the appraisal? Cause I would really like to go to bed now and not do any more cleaning tonight.

3. The timing of this appraisal is not so great. Daniel is gone every night this week running sound for a show. So, today he was gone all day and then gone all night...which leaves me alone to clean the house with the girls. We were not nearly as productive as I would have liked to have been today, hence all the late night cleaning now.

4. Because Daniel is gone this week, the girls and I are looking for some fun things to keep us entertained. but I'm trying to get Isla on a better nap schedule so we are spending most of our time at home. I start to go a little crazy when left alone in the house with my children for really long periods of time. So if anyone wants to stop by and hang out, you are welcome to come on over!

5. Daniel's show is over on Sunday, then on Tuesday he leaves for a conference in Atlanta. I think I'm going to take the girls to my mom's house then, because two weeks all alone with them may be more than I can handle. I have the utmost respect for single parents...I don't know you do it!

Time to stop rambling...the broom and mop are calling my name.




Sunday, September 25, 2011

September 25

I went to some garage sales yesterday and was super excited to find this cute dress/top that Audrey wore to church today. It is made by Tea Collection, a brand that I think is adorable but their clothes are way out of my budget. Their tops run around $40 a piece, but I only paid $1 for this one. And it looks just as good as new!





Saturday, September 24, 2011

September 24

I got some fun packages in the mail today with a few of the things I ordered for Audrey's birthday party next month. The theme for her party is "paint the colors of the rainbow." She really likes to paint and do crafts, so the paint part is for her. And I really like all the rainbow party ideas I have been seeing lately, so the rainbow part is for me. We aren't actually going to use any rainbows in our decor, just rainbow colors. It's going to be lots of fun and super cute!

I got a few things from this etsy store: HeyYoYo. Like these really fun straws:
And these cute cupcake wrappers.

I also got some crepe paper that I am going to use to make fringe streamers. Via pinterest (of course!), I found this idea for the fringe streamers. They are super easy to make and so much more fun than regular old streamers. I had a hard time getting a picture of the one I made today. Go to the link above for better pictures of her streamers. Just imagine how cute these are going to be when I get all 50 of them made and hung next to each other in rainbow colors...so excited!




Friday, September 23, 2011

September 23

Tonight was our annual church music department party. Every year Daniel puts together a big banquet for all the volunteers in his ministry. It is always a themed party with lots of food and competition and fun. Because I love party planning, I always help him with the decorations and theme ideas. Before we get to tonight's party, here's a quick recap of our previous parties.

2006: 50's theme. This one was fun to decorate. We had several balloon arches and a soda shop. And wow, I'm looking very young and skinny in this picture!2007: Amazing Race theme. I think this one might have been my least favorite. Probably because I didn't take any pictures! I don't think we really did much to decorate. But we did have a big scavenger hunt throughout the whole church.

2008: Out of the Box theme. This year, Daniel decided it was too hard to come up with a theme on his own. So he had everyone come up with their own theme. Each table decided on a theme for the table, then decorated the table and dressed accordingly. I participated with a table this year, and our table was the "Silent Monks." I think we were the best table that year. But we didn't win. Yes, I'm still a little bitter about that.
2009: Out of the Box 2 theme. Since it was so easy for Daniel to plan this theme, he decided to do it again. My table combined with another table to create a giant wedding. We had a table for the wedding table and a table for the wedding guests. Each person played a different character in the wedding, and all of the characters were totally crazy. Exhibit A:
2010: 80's theme. I think this one was my favorite. Everyone really got into dressing up, and the decorations were fun. I spent a lot of time watching 80's movies and working on 80's trivia for this one. Plus it was fun to dress Audrey up in leg warmers with a side ponytail!
And that bring us to tonight! 2011: Survivor theme. Daniel and I kind of waited until the last minute to pick a theme for this year's party. I thought that Survivor would work well because the decorations would be easy (the church already has a large collection of luau decor), plus it would be easy to come up with fun game ideas.

I think it was a fun night! I took a lot of pictures, but none of them turned out that great. We had several challenges throughout the night where the teams competed against each other. This was the eating challenge, where they had to race to eat a plate of gross food. Yuck!
So, what should we do next year???




Thursday, September 22, 2011

September 22

Isla had a fairly intense physical therapy session this afternoon. Shannon tried lots of different things to figure out the best way to get her to move her head and neck and improve her head strength and control. When we got home, Isla went to sleep and slept in her crib for one hour and 40 minutes! That is her best crib nap ever. (All the other longer naps she has taken have been in her swing or carseat). I think I might like this more aggressive physical therapy!

I also have to add this picture of Audrey and the vacuum. Tonight, I mentioned to Audrey that our floors were dirty and needed to be vacuumed. The worst part of getting rid of Maggie is the dirt that accumulates on our floor. Maggie was like a little vacuum cleaner, cleaning up food and crumbs before it would even reach the floor! Without her, I am amazed at how quickly our floors get dirty!

So tonight all I did was mention the word vacuum, and Audrey got so excited. She pestered me over and over again, "When are we going to vacuum, Mom? We got to vacuum, Mom. We got to."

This was shocking because for entire life, all 35 months of it, Audrey has hated the vacuum. She has always cried and fussed when we run the vacuum. Always. But all of a sudden tonight, the vacuum was the best thing in the world. I strapped Isla into the baby carrier, got out the vacuum, and ended up vacuuming the whole house. After we finished one room, Audrey would pick the next room to be vacuumed. I let her push the button to turn it on and off, and she thought that was great. And the loud sound that used to scare her now makes her happy. She kept saying, "That loud sound make me laugh. Ha, ha, ha!"

When we finally finished all the rooms, Audrey said. "Now the whole house is clean. Now we take a break." Oh, she is a funny girl!