Friday, August 21, 2015

AS LIFE CHANGES FOR THEM

I laid awake last night, thinking about how kindergarten will change our lives. Besides the alarms clocks and schedules, how will it change life as we know it now? More specifically, how will it change life for Ava and Jaina?
Whether they like to admit it or not, they're best friends. You'd never believe it by the way they fight sometimes but they are. 
Best friends. 
Sometimes people ask me if they're twins. Imagine their surprise when I tell them they're three years apart!
They're together all day, every day. Age means nothing to them. They're 3 and 6. That's it. Just numbers.
All of that is about to change. This looming thing called kindergarten.
Soon, Ava will experience things and have a life that Jaina will know nothing about. Will it separate them? Or make they're time together even sweeter. 
I hope they're always best friends.  
I hope that when they're 13 and 16 that age is still nothing to them.
Just numbers.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD & LIFE LATELY

There have been things swimming around in my head that I've wanted to record and now when I have a minute to sit down and do it, I can't remember anything. Isn't that just the way it goes? 
So...here goes nothing. 

~Oscar has had some major sleep regression. What is up!? For months now he's been perfect. Falls asleep on his own, sleeps all night and wakes up happy. For the last couple of nights he has cried and cried and cried. He was up until 9:30 the other night, crying between the times he just sat happily in the chair with me. I know he's probably teething but seriously! 

~Speaking of teeth, he has all of his molars now.

~He taught himself how to "jump". It's so cute. 

~He knows how to throw stuff in the garbage! Change his diaper and then tell him to go throw it in the garbage and off he goes!

~Have I mentioned that he loves airplanes? No surprise there.

~He loves me. Like really really loves me. And he gets jealous and mad whenever anyone else gets too close. It's hilarious. 

~The other day, Jaina said, "Mom! You smell delicious!"

~Riding in the car: "Mom, this is a disaster!" "Why Jaina?"  "Because all of these cars!! It's a disaster!"

~She tells everyone that we meet (after she's asked them their name and introduced herself) "My bedroom is purple and our house is crumbling to the ground!"

~Why does Ava just stare blankly when someone talks to her? So frustrating. 

~3 weeks till school starts. Yikes. I'm kind of scared. 

~You don't have to be a great artist, you just need to have confidence in yourself. -Ava


~Choosing paint color is hard. Like overwhelmingly hard. 

~The dog had only one week of bandage on his leg. Relief!! 

~Donald has a new contract job besides his day job...

~I have all of these visions of what the house will look like when it's "done"....I get way too far ahead of myself. 

~I really enjoy my days "off" ...hopefully I get lot's done in the next couple of days. It's tempting just to sit and listen to the silence. 

AND NOW HE'S 30


We spent the evening down at Canal Park. We had his two favorite foods - coffee and ice cream. We strolled, we talked, we chased the kids and yelled at them for standing in the middle of the intersection and we missed the only ship coming in for the night because the girls took too long in the bathroom. You know, normal stuff. The kind of stuff you do when you spend the evening in town with three little kids. Happy 30th Birthday dear husband. 


Wednesday, August 5, 2015

TAP'S BROKEN LEG


On Sunday morning, we woke up to find Tap limping around. We didn't think much of it but on Monday morning, he was limping much worse. I took him to the vet and they didn't find anything but a glob of sap and hair on his paw. They cut it out, trimmed his nails and $80 later, sent us home. 

Yesterday, he was limping much worse and by this morning, I hadn't seen him eat in over 24 hours. He wasn't putting any weight on his foot and he cried if you touched his leg. 
I brought him back in this morning and when they weighed him, he had gone from 7.9 lbs to 7.2 in two days. That's not very much but when you don't have much to lose, it's not good. 
They decided to do an x-ray and the Dr. found a "R front metacarpal #5 greenstick fracture to metaphysis directly distal (just below) carpus."  Basically it's a fracture in one of the bones just below his "wrist" joint. 
She is sending the x-rays out just to be sure but when pressure was applied where she found what looked like the break, he cried. 
She splinted and bandaged his leg and we have to go back every week for 6 weeks to get the bandages changed and his leg examined. It also cannot get wet so I have to put a plastic thing on his foot every time he goes outside. I'm not looking forward to this at all. Especially the cost!!! Yikes!! Good thing we worked out a budget! Too bad it didn't include broken dog legs! 
He's so awkward walking around on three legs and one big ol' bandage! He fell over when she first put him down on the ground. Poor little guy. 
The funny thing is that we don't know how it happened! What a bummer...

JOHN & VICTORIA {MARRIED}

 
Congratulations to John and Victoria! The day was perfect and the vows were beautiful. We couldn't be happier for you! Looking forward to watching you grow and experience life together. I see lots of adventure in your future!

AVA MARIE:: 6 YEARS [20 QUESTIONS]

1. What's your favorite color? "Pink."
2. What's your favorite toy? "Ummm...duckie."
3. What do you like for breakfast? "Ummm...an english muffin."
4. What do you like to do outside? "I like to scooter."
5. What is your favorite animal? "Ummm...kitties."
6. What do you like to wear? "Ummm...my new dresses."
7. Who is your best friend? "Jasalyn."
8. What do you like for a snack? "Um. Apples."
9. What is your favorite song? "Over the Rainbow"
10. What do you sleep with? "Umm...Furball."
11. What is your favorite book? "Raggedy Ann"
12. What is your favorite ice cream? "Ah. Cookie Dough"
13. What is your favorite vegetable? "A carrot?"
14. What is your favorite fruit? "Um grapes."
15. Where is your favorite place? "Um the park."
16. What is your favorite thing to do? "Ummm....make crafts."
17. What do you want to be when you grow up? "A ballerina."
18. What is your favorite thing to eat? "I like to eat......Spaghetti."
19. Why do you love Mommy and Daddy? "Because...um..you take       me places that are fun and boring most of the time."
20. What do you want for your birthday? "Well...I want a stuffed             animal. I wanted a kitty set, a frozen set, some clothes. I                   wanted dresses and skirts and shirts."

Bonus: What will be different now that you're six?
"Um. Now that I'm older it's kind of different. And...and doing more chores is different. And.....I don't know!"

AVA MARIE {6 YEARS}

 
 Dear Ava,
You're 6!! I can hardly believe it! We celebrated a day early with Grandma and Grandpa Lund and John and Victoria. We had pizza for supper and you requested ice cream cake so we had one of those too. You got loads of clothes for school and Grandma and Grandpa bought you a bird feeder. After supper we walked down to the beach and relaxed for a bit. You said that it was the best birthday ever. 
I think your ready to start school. I know I'm ready. Sometimes you seem so grown up and helpful and other times it's like you're three again and you make me want to pull my hair out. How can this be? 
Its been amazing to watch your transformation over the past year. For example, you wear socks! There is less complaining about how your clothes feel and you seem braver somehow. There is still a hesitation when it comes to new things but nothing like it was before. 
You love fashion and style and you're still into princesses. I don't think you realize it yet but I think your love will be science and nature. Your interest in birds and flowers and how things work has blossomed over the past 6 months. 
You like to spend time with people. You told me that the thing that makes you feel the most loved is not gifts or hugs or words of praise but simply just spending time together. My goal this year is to make time for just us. 
You love to sing. I love it when you sing. 
You and Jaina get along so well when you're not fighting. :) You have a sweet spot for your little brother. 
Daddy and I love you very very much. Happy Birthday sweet girl.

DANE & ANDREA [ENGAGED}

Photo by Danielle Ross
I cannot tell you happy I am that my sister has found her man. They were engaged on their six month anniversary. It's funny how things just seem to work out when you least expect it.
Congratulations Dane and Andrea! 

{IT"S BEEN SO LONG THAT I DON"T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN}

Oh my dear blog....How you've been neglected! I'm not sure yet if I'm going to blabber on and on in one post or break it into a few different ones....We'll see how it goes. :)

I'll just start by saying that life is good....so good. Sure, it's far from perfect but when is life ever perfect? 
It's been almost 2 months since we bought our house and I love where we live. The neighborhood is awesome and the neighbors are friendly. There's a coffee shop, a bakery, a yarn shop, a quilt shop, a gas station, an ice cream shop, a hardware store, a grocery store and a bunch of other conveniences right around the corner. The lake walk runs just a couple of blocks away and Donald rides his bike almost every day to work. There are parks and beaches within walking distance. The air is fresh and clean. They say that it's been a warm summer and we've had some hot, humid days, but it usually cools off at night so we leave our windows open all of the time. 
Our house is old. It needs lots of work. It's sometimes a little bit discouraging but we're getting to a point where we can step back and take things a little bit slower. We've done some painting and fixing up in the basement. Donald has been working on plaster in the living room. It's easy to get overwhelmed with everything but I'm really enjoying this old house. Should I do some house fixing posts? I've considered starting a blog for house projects and before and afters....maybe we can enter a contest and someone else can come and fix our old house. haha. 

Since my last post, Oscar is officially taking only one nap a day, he's walking like a pro and he's working on his third molar (if it hasn't come through already). He loves to be near me and is content just to sit with me for longer than I can imagine a little boy would want to sit. He still doesn't talk much. You might hear a "mama" or a "dada" once in awhile but that's about it. Every animal makes the same sound. :) He LOVES dogs. 

Jaina is sometimes a little bit too friendly and outgoing. We meet a lot of people because of her. She asks everyone what their names are and usually has a conversation if there's time. She keeps us humble and on our toes. 

Ava is all ready for school. Supplies are sitting in the closet ready to go! 

When life gets hectic, I feel like organizing. I bought a planner and filled in everything I need to keep track of. From pay days, to Ava's events at school, to when bills are due, to meeting rotations and other appointments. It relaxes me. {Weirdo} I think that when it's all down on paper it's no longer swimming around in my head. 

The girls have been taking swimming lessons. Ava has really progressed and is slowly overcoming her fear of getting her face wet! Jaina had a hard time at her first lesson but she's warming up to it and does everything that Ava does but with the help of her teacher. 

We sat down last night a worked out a budget. It's about time! We've had some big "out of the ordinary" expenses and it's given us a little anxiety you might say. The goal is to save save save and not go behind every month! Spend less! Good luck to us! haha :) 

There have been a few big events recently so stay tuned!