Friday, November 25, 2011

Thankful

This year my family spent Thanksgiving in Texas with my brother and his family. Sadly, we didn't have the money to join them.

Instead, we had an awesome dinner with some good friends.
We love Steve & Jaimie. :)

After we ate, Jaimie and I ditched the kids with the men and went Black Friday shopping.
Great Thanksgiving, if I do say so myself.


Now on to what I'm thankful for!


I am thankful for our home, having a place that is ours is so wonderful.

I am thankful for Denny's job, and that fact that he provides for us.

I am thankful that we are all healthy. *ironically we all have colds right now*

I am thankful for the fact that I found something I want do, and can do. Becoming a doula and a midwife is beyond exciting for me.

I am thankful for friends. After years of having crappy friends, who never made the time for me, I now have a handful of extraordinary people in my life.

I am thankful for music.

I am thankful for strength. Thanks to Postpartum Depression, I felt like I was drowning for months. I finally cracked and started taking medication, and it has helped so much.

I am thankful for weekend mornings. Mya and I normally wake up an hour before Denny and Sophie, so we get time to ourselves.

I am thankful for my beautiful girls. They teach me so much everyday. I adore them with every bit of myself.

I am thankful for my mother, who I know will always listen and never judge.

I am thankful for a welcoming and friendly ward.

I am thankful for my husband. He is my rock. So often, when I feel that I am over whelmed, he keeps me standing. I love you. :)

I am thankful for so many more things. I love my life and my family.
I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Thursday, November 17, 2011

Painting!

Guess what the girls and I did this afternoon?

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Decorated my craft room door. :D

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Most beautiful door in the world, yes?

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I attempted to keep the project clean.... so much for that.

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At one point, Mya was trying to eat the paint.

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At another point, we ditched the brushes and started using our hands.


On a random note, Mya has started looking at the world like this.
She just stays there forever.

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Another random note, I cut off all of my hair.

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Tortillas & Steps

It is official - even Sophie is more Mexican than my mother.
We made tortillas the other day.

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Who wants a boring old circle tortilla?
Our tortillas had personality!

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And they were SUPER yummy.

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Mya is becoming a walking pro.
She waddles all over the place.

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See those cute pants?
I made those out of one of my old shirts. :)

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Friday, November 11, 2011

Best Assistant EVER

While Mya was napping today, I was working on my business stuff.
I had all of my diapers out, taking pictures, so that I could list them online.

Mid nap, Mya decided she would flounder about angrily.
I headed upstairs to put her back to sleep.

"I'll finish the diapers, mom!" - Sophie

When I came back downstairs she was smiling.

"Don't worry, I finished the diapers." - Sophie
"Oh good, thank you!" - Me

I uploaded her work.

Best. Shots. EVER!

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She also took it upon herself to photograph her blankie.
We got that blankie when I was pregnant with her. :)

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Don't ya just love that face?

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Little Fuzzies

Guess what I did...

I have a tendency to be ridiculously spontaneous. This personality trait works to by benefit about 50% of the time.

I want to be a doula/midwife and start schooling right away. - Win
I want to learn something new and become overwhelmed. - Fail

Denny has become used to this. If it is something that is likely to fail, he will gently try to talk me out of it. If I am stubborn, he will support me anyways. Yay for loving husbands.

Let's just say that this time, I was stubborn.

I've been thinking about getting Sophie a cat for a few months. There was just one little thing stopping me - I loath cats. We have had several since getting married, and they have all been spawns of Satan. That is not an exaggeration. I still have scars from some of them.

After talking to my friend, Claire, she mentioned that getting two kittens helps out a lot. Then they have a sibling to play with, and that keeps them entertained. Awesome! I continued to research randomness, and fill my mind with kitty knowledge.

Sunday night I had an itch to go looking for kittens.

Meet the newest Schlaikjer family members.

Igor.

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&
Scamper/Pepper.
(Sophie couldn't decide on a name, so she picked both)

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They are brothers.

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Other than the fact that Moose has an aneurism every time she sees them, everything is going delightfully. I have already trimmed their claws, and the girls love them. I even like them.

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See that super awesome shirt Sophie is wearing?
I made that.
It is refashioned out of a shirt that I wore, while I was pregnant with her. :)

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And Mya sticking random crap in her mouth.
That's how she rolls.

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Sunday, November 6, 2011

The First Snowfall

Sophie has been waiting months for it to snow.

MONTHS!


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When it finally started snowing the other night, I actually thought about waking her up just to show her.

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The next morning, she all but exploded from excitement. I told her that we had to eat breakfast before we could go out and play.

She inhaled it.

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Mya and I even wrapped up and went out for a bit.

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I can see many hours spent outside this winter.

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ALSO

We made 70 tamales this weekend. :)
They are suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper yummy.

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Day at the Tree House

I took the girls to the Tree House Museum last week.

This was the first time that Mya actually got down to play with all of the fun things.

The light table and magnetic shapes are one of Sophie's favorite toys there.

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She was asking me if we could buy a unicorn.

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Building towers!

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Sitting on said towers.

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Mya eating the townspeople.

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I'm really glad that my mom got Sophie a membership for her birthday. We have really enjoyed going here. I'll have to renew it next year. :D

Friday, November 4, 2011

Purple Hair :D

I was raised by a mother that supported anything I wanted to do.
Piano, dance, soccer, cheer-leading, basketball, volleyball, girl scouts, choir, track, drama etc.
If I wanted to do it, she found a way to make it happen.

She also got involved with a lot of the activities. She went to every game/show/concert I had. She was my troop leader, she was my girl's camp director, she was awesome.

A lot of the time, I forget that some kids didn't have "involved" parents. I was very much spoiled with love as a child. One of the best gifts my mother gave me was confidence and independence. I was taught never to "follow the crowd," but do what I wanted to do. I was allowed to mold myself into someone unique.

I pride myself in being an awesome mother, just like my mom was. I try very hard to encourage Sophie to be her own person. She dresses herself, and most days she doesn't let society cripple her fashion. One of my favorite outfits was a tutu, butterfly wings, rainbow shorts, and snow boots.

After having kids, I felt somewhat pressured to mold into the generic housewife. I stopped dying my hair funky colors, started buying more boring clothes, rarely put on makeup, and basically toned myself down.

I just realized this kind of makes me a hypocrite. Here I am teaching her to be herself, while I am just doing what is expected. Screw that. I was worried that me being "unique" or "alternative" would put off all the other moms at church, playgroups, preschool, etc. I didn't want my little Sophie to suffer because I couldn't just be normal.

Thanks to a supportive husband, who gave me the final shove I needed; and my friend Jaimie, who helped me with the coloring - I now have purple hair.

I love it. I decided that if someone is going to judge me based on the fact that I have fun hair, I don't want them around my family anyways. Judgmental people often raise judgmental children, and we don't need friends like that.

The best part?
The purple is only a semi-permanent color, and will wash out in a month or so.
Then I can put a NEW color in! :D
I will be a human mood ring.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Gift List

I cannot believe we are already in November.
This year went by way too fast.

You all know the drill, same as every other year.
Here are some ideas to help out the family that spoil our girls. :)

Mya
She is currently in winter 9-12 month clothes.
Next size she will need are 18 months. Either winter or summer.
I have no idea what size shoes she needs, as she never wears them. :P
She could use some new little books.

Sophie
She is currently in winter size 4 clothes.
Next size she will need are size 5. Either winter or summer.
She is in size 8 shoes.
Favorite colors are pink, purple, and blue.
Favorite animals are unicorns and giraffes.
She could use dress up clothes, books, or art supplies.
She loves My Little Pony.

Denny
He wears XL shirts.
Anything nerd makes him happy.

Lexi
I wear size small shirts.
Headbands, or fun jewelery are always welcome.
Gift cards: amazon.com, barnes & nobel, joanns, etc.


Once again... I've misplaced everyone's addresses. *sigh* I'll be emailing you all to ask for them sometime this month.