Unfinished Projects

We live in a house of unfinished projects. And for some reason we keep starting new projects before finishing the many half-completed ones (we have issues). It's a vicious cycle and we're starting to lose hope that we'll ever feel like we're on top of things. I won't bore you (or embarrass myself) by listing all of our unfinished projects, but there are a couple that are blog-worthy.

Let's start with our exterior doors. When you have a totally awesome brother in law who knows everything there is to know about all things construction-related,  you consider yourself very lucky indeed. We took advantage of his discount and ordered a new front and back door. Because let's be honest, when your doors are as old as the house (40+ years) it's time to replace them. Jake was a stud and even gave us a Saturday afternoon of his time to help get them installed correctly (if we had done it ourselves it would have probably taken 4 Saturday afternoons and I'm sure I would have spent at least a few days with a tarp for a door.) So basically, 3 cheers for Jake. I was going to wait and post pictures after we put up the trim around the door, but since that probably won't happen until next  year (kidding - it's our April project), you get our mostly finished doors.

Below is the "Before" of the front door. Notice the slits of light coming in around the entire door. On windy days I could feel every gust of wind. Also pay attention to the nasty towel at the bottom of the door which was our sorry attempt to keep the cold air out.

And below is the new door! The blue turned out brighter than planned (you know how it goes when you pick the perfect paint but the paint demons come and make it look different after it's dried.) But it's still 5 million times better than what we had so we are happy and grateful.

Our totally awesome back door from the 70's was actually a hollow interior door that had a window installed. So it had no insulation and also made the house freezing cold.

The finished product is amazing! None of our windows are kid-height approved, so if they want to see outside they have to stand on the couch (and in Savannah's case it means I have to hold her on the couch.) Now they can look outside to their hearts contents and I don't even mind all the finger prints.

Before we could finish the doors, our garbage disposal broke (one of the many reasons why so many projects are unfinished . . . something else decides to break). This one I took upon myself to fix and I am proud to say it is a completely finished project! I only needed Dan's help a couple of times when I needed a third arm, but thanks to youtube and a free Friday night, the garbage disposal is working. Hoorah for girl power!

 Here's to nothing else breaking so we can actually get some of these projects finished!

What's the point of a blog post without a picture of the kids? Here they are on Easter Sunday when we went to visit the girls at the cemetery. Swoon!

Sick of Being Sick!

Remember how Owen turned 3 a long time ago? Well, he did. And it was awesome. Except for the part about him being SICK. If there ever were a kid who shouldn't have to be sick on his birthday, it was Owen. He is OBSESSED with all things birthday. One of his favorite "rewards" is watching the Elmo's World episode on birthdays. Every day before tucking him in for his nap (yes! he still naps!!!) I have to tell him a story about Elmo having a birthday and we sing the Happy Birthday song and blow out the pretend candles. We've been doing this daily for MONTHS. And since his birthday is at the end of the our family birthday showdown, he had to wait and wait through a lot of other birthdays to get to his. And of course he woke up on his birthday with a fever. It was sad. But we made the best of it and still had fun, even if his cousins couldn't come to celebrate. 

Helping me make his cake. He loves "chocrate" almost
as much as his mom!

 Since he is obsessed with all things Sesame Street and all things cookies, it wasn't too hard to figure out that a Cookie Monster cake would more than make his day. It was worth staying up until midnight working on it to see the look on his face. He was STOKED.

Playing with a train from Grandma Great.

Looking at his "Olaf book" from favorite aunt Lisa.

The messy aftermath.

This is what I find Savannah doing all.the.time. Clean, folded clothes and dishes just put in the dishwasher are her specialty. Why do I clean at all? 

BOOKS! This girl is OBSESSED. I get that her obsession should be a good thing. But when she whines and begs all.day.long for me to read her books, it can get tricky. But as a fellow book-lover I can't get too annoyed. :)

A semi-impromptu family night about Noah. We're ghetto, but we have fun.

She LOVES shoes. Except when I make her try on her dad's
giant snow boots. I don't blame her.

We had a couple weeks of lovely spring weather and discovered that Savannah's happy place is at the park. This girl has no fear and begs to go down any and every slide over and over and over. And she would let me push her in the swing for hours.

 Owen thinks he can turn 3 and grow up on me! I came into the kitchen one Saturday morning to find he had poured himself a bowl of cereal and there wasn't even a mess! I'm pretty sure it was his first attempt, so I was impressed, then I was sad that he's growing up and doesn't need me anymore. (Ok, I wasn't THAT dramatic about it. Promise.)

I don't want to be one of "those" people who dedicates an entire post to our winter ailments. So let's just say that between the 4 of us we have only had a few rare days of health in the house. Seriously. Cold upon cold upon stomach flu upon cold (and throw in a few new molars and you've got a recipe for a really LONG winter). Next year we will put the kids in a sanitized bubble before we go anywhere.

Christmas!

Look at me, getting Christmas pictures up before Valentine's day! It's a true Christmas miracle. The holidays were a blur. In a matter of 33 days, we have Savannah's birthday, Christmas, Dan's birthday, our anniversary, and Owen's birthday. Talk about a logistical nightmare for the birthday/Christmas gift giver (me!) Mostly this year's insanity just made me realize that it will get worse as the kids get older and I have to make sure they all get the same amount of gifts, etc. BUT we survived and even managed to enjoy ourselves.

The season started with a visit to Santa. He rides on a firetruck through every street in our city with a police escort. It's totally awesome to walk outside and wave at Santa and pretty sure Owen loved seeing the firetruck and police cars just as much as Santa. Then we headed to the city hall for treats and games and some one-on-one time with Santa. It's totally awesome. And little baldy (Savannah) was tired (but still cute!)

The next 2 pics make it look like the kids were helping decorate the tree. They were actually helping un-decorate the tree! But whatever it takes to entertain them while Dan and I try to listen to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.

Nothing cuter than munchkins enjoying each other. Even if you have to
give them technology to do it.

The family moved the Christmas Bus to a later date just for us! We were lucky enough to have Pres. Nelson come to our stake conference. It was amazing and especially neat now that he is the prophet. Anyway, the Christmas Bus is kind of the best tradition ever and I pity the fool who doesn't get to participate. Grandma Great and Lisa and Dave even made it down this year, which was awesome. And with Mel coming we made an entire day of it! Nothing like Grandpa's giant pancakes for breakfast in the morning.

Round 2 of "The Triplets." Savannah is the oldest. And the smallest.

Siblings! We are so.old. Remember how "Bubs" just turned 30?

hoorah for family!

Sibling selfie. This needs to happen more often (the getting together part,
not necessarily the selfie part).

Trying to get a good nap in before the Christmas bus.
We had to wake him up to go and this is how we found him.

Pretty soon we're going to need 2 buses!

Owen's hat had lights in it. Which was helpful when walking
through the Temple Square crowds.

Savannah was stoked to not be in a car seat.

Savannah is wearing Lydia's snow suit. So she was there in spirit!

Owen watches the MoTab each week (he loves music) so he was super excited
to see where the choir sings.

 I vaguely remember how both kids were up multiple times on Christmas eve night. Savannah had pooped (of course) but I was congested and couldn't smell it. Since she won't sleep with a messy diaper (I don't blame her) it took 4 times of me going in before I thought to check her. By then the night was basically ruined. And I don't know what Owen's deal was, although I think he was just super excited for Christmas. By 5:30am when it was obvious he would not be getting anymore sleep, I gave him my phone and told him to watch Sesame Street until I came to get him. He was stoked and it will probably go down as his favorite Christmas ever because of it! (Too bad he won't remember.)

Christmas morning was awesome! Savannah was still in the hospital last year, so Christmas basically didn't happen, which made this year's extra special. We definitely enjoyed being in our own home and having the morning to ourselves. We started upstairs with the stockings and Owen would have been overjoyed if we had stopped there. He was stoked when we made it downstairs to open presents. It was awesome.

Owen still talks about Uncle Josh's light sabers. He's never
seen Star Wars but he knows it's awesome.

Somehow I never got a cute pic of Savannah in her adorable Christmas dress (thanks Aunt April!) But here she is in her dress loving on the Morgan's dog.

We had Ditto family pictures (they turned out SO cute!) and here's a funny shot of all the grandkids after the fact. 

  We spent the entire Christmas break following Savannah up and down the stairs. She is OBSESSED with stairs but it took her forever to learn how to turn herself around at the top. Bless all the aunts and grandparents who followed her around to make sure she didn't fall.

The end!

Croup, Poop, and a Birthday

I've had every good intention of getting a new post up here weeks ago, but between dealing with croup (both kids) and lots of poop (also from both kids) and getting ready for the holidays as well as Savannah's birthday, life has been crazy.

Thanksgiving Day. Savannah has pink cheeks from the steroids.

Playing with cousins

Savannah had the croup before Thanksgiving. We caught it early and she handled it great. Owen's didn't show up for another week. The croup itself never got too bad but the steroids they gave us made him CRAZY. He hardly slept for 2 days and the melt downs were comical. Fingers crossed we won't see more of that one ever again.

Jammies at noon. Sick kids is the worst.

Poop. Oh the poop. Owen was doing great and then regressed and started making "messes" whenever I couldn't keep a watchful eye on him (like when we were out visiting some friends from St. Louis or at the pool with dad). And in between those times he would hold it for days (we call him the bum of steel). Of course this was going on in the middle of croupiness so we were all a hot mess.

I've always told Dan we could get a pet if he could find something that doesn't shed and doesn't poop. So far he hasn't found a candidate that fits the bill. BUT if buying a 14 cent gold fish will help motivate my non-pooper, I will welcome it with open arms! Owen picked out the black goldfish (who knew there was such a thing) and the black rocks to put inside the bowl. (He's on a black kick. It's hilarious.) He gets to feed Dorothy after taking care of his business in the toilet. (Dorothy is the name of Elmo's fish, in case you were wondering.)

This kid has clocked SO MANY hours sitting on the toilet.
So glad he's got it figured out now.

After a diet of fiber and laxatives we got things moving again and now he's doing great. Savannah decided that Owen couldn't get all the attention for the #2's, so she learned how to let loose in the bathtub. Even if I waited until she had messed her diaper before putting her in the tub she still managed to produce some floaters. I was cleaning up poop so often that one on particular occasion I couldn't remember if I had washed my hands afterward or not. Gross. Let's just say we're all grateful to have that messy month behind us.


My itty bitty baby turned one! She is still so little that it's hard to remember she's hit that milestone. 16 pounds - a mere 4% on the charts (up from 2% at 9 months). She is letting her personality show which is fun when it's cute, and frustrating when she's showing her independent side. She only uses a binky for naps and bedtime and when she started throwing it on the ground and making me come to give it back to her I decided it was time to be done. I didn't make it 24 hours before I caved. That girl was determined to never sleep again without the bink. So for now we are tying it to her pajamas and maybe when she's 12 or something we'll work on getting rid of it again. ;)

We had way too much fun with the birthday tutu!

 

Pink frosting with crushed candy cane. December birthdays
CAN be fun!

I had a hard time choosing only a few pictures, so I went crazy.

The next picture has nothing to do with Savannah's birthday, but if I suddenly turn up dead in the next few weeks you can blame it on THE BIRDS! They live over by a canal not too far from here, and when winter hits they scour the neighborhoods for food. Our walnut trees provide a feast! This picture doesn't do it justice - there are usually 3 times as many. They sit in the trees and knock down the walnuts, then they will pick up the walnuts in their beaks and fly up high to drop them on the concrete. If they break open on contact, a flock comes running to get a piece of nutty goodness (it's actually kind of cool to watch - crows are smart!) But they are SO LOUD and of course they drive the neighbors crazy. They usually only come for a couple of hours each morning, which meant that we got to pick up anything left over each day after they left. It took about a week of scavenging before they had picked our trees dry. If you have any tricks on keeping crows away, let me know!

Merry Christmas to one and all! If you're lucky I'll do my Christmas post sometime before Valentine's day. :)