Check this out!

"What is this architectural marvel?!" you may be asking yourself. Well, I'll tell you. It is gingerbread gone bad! It's a gingerbread throwback to the late 60's early 70's when weird geo-desic shaped houses were a novelty and flat roofs were considered modern. If we could see inside, I bet we'd find a shag carpet in a lovely shade of rust and a kitchen outfitted with avocado and gold-flecked countertops. If only Hansel and Gretel had stumbled upon this gingerbread house in the woods. Surely they would've turned and ran rather than being enticed inside.

Despite my architectural background, this gingerbread house is the direct result of a frosting mishap and not an intentional design statement. My amazing friend baked enough gingerbread to create 5 houses. She generously offered us the gingerbread pieces to make one house, along with an assortment of candy for decorating and a container of frosting (again homemade) mix. It should've been so easy, my friend had done all of the work, all I had to do was add water to the powdered frosting mixture, assemble the pieces and let the Girl decorate. Twas not to be. Sigh. A combination of runny frosting (I'd improperly mixed it originally) and significantly less patience than was required, was all that it took to foil my dreams of the perfectly picturesque gingerbread house. I strayed from the original floor plan and resorted to the design-build method resulting in a gingerbread creation that I sadly told the Girl was not going to resemble the cute little gingerbread house of her friend 'A'.

Luckily, the Girl is impatient and so she said, "It's ok Momma." She was only interested in getting to the decorating part so that she could sneak candy. I'm pretty sure she ate more of the decorations than what actually ended up on the house. At any rate, my hat goes off to my friend for successfully creating several gingerbread houses that I can only dream about!

The Girl didn't care what it looked like, she was on a sugar high!

View from the back.

The front.

The candy sure did look pretty - good enough to eat!

Snow Bunny

This morning we woke up to substantially more snow, probably close to 4 inches. As was the case yesterday, the Girl was jumping at the chance to get outside and play in it. So J pulled out a sled and it wasn't enough for him to just pull the Girl around the backyard. The thrill-seeker part of him (and it is a very large part) just had to build her a jump too. But the Girl, who's character traits closely resemble those of her Daddy, L-O-V-E-D it. She took a fair share of spills but kept clammoring for more and was commanding, "Run Daddy, run!"

A frequent scene

Check out her air

"I'm ok Dad. Let's do it again!"

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

This morning we woke up to a dusting of the white stuff. The Girl was so excited that she just could not wait to get out and play in it. Directly after breakfast it was on with her coat, boots and gloves...she didn't even change out of her pajamas. Nor did we run a comb through her hair!

On another note. This afternoon, completely out of the blue the Girl stated, "I'm so glad I have a little sister now." Oh she can be just so darn sweet at times!

Say What?!

It all started on Monday when the Girl asked me, "Momma is today tomorrow?" To which I replied, "No, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow." Probably didn't make a whole lot of sense to a 3-year old. Especially as every day since she has asked me that same question. But yesterday the conversation was extended to include:

the Girl: "Momma is today tomorrow?"

me: "No, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow."

the Girl: "But yesterday you said that today would be tomorrow."

me: (completely dumbfounded) "Oh. You're right."

How do you explain to a 3-year old that today will never be tomorrow and that tomorrow will always be tomorrow? "Say what?!"

So to go along with this random post, here are some random photos from the past week.

I love Baby Sister's expression in this photo...kinda like she's just sent a right hook to her big sister's jaw.

A rare moment caught on film...er memory card, Baby Sister and the Girl both smiling.

The bib says it all.

Why does Blogger do this? In my folder the picture is oriented correctly.

How the Girl decorates a Christmas tree.

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree..."

'J' flexing his muscles while the Girl looks on in awe...or is that confusion?!

Family self-portrait 2008

Where's all the snow?


Family self-portrait 2007
with the Girl enjoying a bit of snow




Family portrait 2006


As we have done for the past two years, yesterday, permit in hand, we headed for the hills in search of the perfect Christmas tree. This year we decided to deviate from our usual course and went to a different area in pursuit of our tree. It was much closer to home, only 20 miles versus the 80 miles that we've traveled in the previous two years, and we figured that it would be much easier. We quickly discovered that "closer" doesn't necessarily mean "better" or "quicker." We left on our little journey at 8:30 in the morning and did not return home until after 2:30 in the afternoon! It took a long time to find the "almost perfect, but at this point we don't really care what it looks like" tree. After traveling 20 miles up a narrow, rough-going, pot-hole laden mountain road, we hadn't seen a single tree that wasn't a Charlie Brown tree when we came to a point in the road that was bordered on either side by dead bushes and trees. The branches of which encroached into the road and made it unpassable, unless of course one didn't care about the paint on their vehicle being scratched. Anyone, who knows 'J' knows that he cares about those particular kinds of things. So after 20 fruitless miles and over 2 hours spent in the car, we did a 30-point turnabout and headed back down the mountain. At the bottom of the road we took a pit stop to feed Baby Sister and continued back to the main highway and the nearest ranger station so that the Girl could take a potty break. While we were using the bathroom, 'J' was in the parking lot of the ranger station getting directions to another road from a family who already had what seemed to be a perfect Christmas tree on the top of their SUV. So we continued on to the above-mentioned road and traveled all the way to the end of the road without seeing a single tree that would work. They were all either huge or so meager that their branches would surely snap beneath the weight of an ornament. So at the end of the road, 'J' got out of the car and headed out on foot to continue our search while us Girls hung out, ate snacks and sang Christmas songs. It wasn't long before 'J' re-appeared with a tree. Surprisingly enough, a tree that made up for such an unexpectedly long adventure.



Next year, back to our usual spot where it may take much longer to get there but the Christmas-type trees are in abundance.



Another bummer was the fact that there was no snow this year for the Girl to play in. She was disappointed but ended up having plenty of fun playing in the dirt while 'J' secured the tree to the top of the car.

Pipsqueak

Baby Sister had her first well-child check-up this morning and at two months old she is a mere 8 pounds 9 ounces, which places her in the whopping 4th percentile. She has grown 3 inches since birth (50th percentile) and with her head circumference being in the 45th percentile she is a little bobblehead just like the Girl was...although the Girl never fell below the 10th percentile for weight. Her pediatrician (whom I love and am willing to drive 20 miles to see) is fairly certain that her lack of weight gain can be attributed to her frequent episodes of spitting up. Anyone who has been around Baby Sister for even a short amount of time has can attest to the fact that she is an unusually spitty baby. And it's not just the frequency, its also the volume. I've mentioned to J on several occasions that if she could keep down everything she eats, she would be a little chunk. So for the next week I am nixing all dairy from my diet to see if that makes a difference. If not, then we will start Baby Sister on an antacid for reflux and see if that helps. I hate the thought of having her on medication, especially at such a young age, but I also don't like the fact that she isn't gaining weight at a more reasonable pace. One of the reasons that I love our pediatrician so much is that she is also reluctant to use medicine, so if she thinks we need to go that route then I am on board. I completely trust her judgement when it comes to the health of my Girls.

I also expressed my concern to her (our pediatrician) about the fact that back at the beginning of November when I took Baby Sister in because she had a nasty cold, the pediatrician that saw her said that she was tongue-tied and that the membrane attached to the bottom of her tongue would need to be clipped between 2 and 4 months to prevent the possibility of a speech impediment later. The prospect of having to get that done and put her through pain was horrifying to me. So our pediatrician looked at her tongue and confirmed that she is indeed tongue-tied. However, she advised against clipping the membrane citing recent studies that suggest there is no increased occurence of speech impediments among children who are tongue-tied versus those who are not. Have I mentioned that I love our pediatrician?! The other doctor was rather matter-of-fact that it needed to be done.

Despite not having to get the membrane clipped, Baby Sister still had to endure a fair amount of pain this morning. She got 3 shots and a PKU (heel prick), none of which she enjoyed. To my surprise, the Girl maintained her composure throughout all of it, I thought for sure that I'd be dealing with 2 crying babies. The Girl was so sweet and wanted to hold Baby Sister's hand during the shots "to make her feel better." When it was all over and we were back in the car and headed for home the Girl said, "Momma, I want to go to Target and get a toy for being such a good girl." I broke out laughing and exclaimed, "Baby Sister is the one who got the shots. She should get a toy not you." The Girl retorted with, "But she can't even hold anything yet." Oh my, point taken. Ha!

Cherished Moments

Yesterday afternoon the Girl, Baby Sister and myself were all in the Girl's room laying on her bed and reading stories. These fleeting moments are my favorite times throughout the day...the times when the three of us are just hanging out together. No crying, back-talking or household chores involved.

On this day...

...12 years ago, 'J' and I went on our first official date.

On this day 8 years ago, J proposed to me under the stars on a cold and snowy night in the location he had been standing the first time he ever saw me.

On this day 7 years ago, another cold and snowy evening, amidst our family and friends we were married.

May 2008

December 2004

The day we found out we were pregnant with the Girl.

August 2004

At a wedding of friends in Bow, Washington.

June 2004
On the beach in Florida.

March 2004

St. Patrick's Day 5k run through the streets of downtown Denver.

July 2004

River rafting in Colorado.

May 2004

On the streets of New Orleans

June 2003

Fishing in Colorado.

December 2001

Riding the cable car in San Francisco.

June 2001

At the top of Pikes Peak, Colorado.

September 1998

July 1998

'J's' 20th birthday.

January 1997

The first picture we took together.

4 Degrees

2 States

4 Cities

1 Condo

1 House

5 Vehicles

1 Cat

1 Dog

2 Beautiful Baby Girls

and

Countless Disagreements...

having 'J' as a best friend and husband...

PRICELESS!