Milestone

Emily has had many milestones since she was born. Crawling, walking, first day of school, first dentist appt., and so on. But tonight she seemed so grown up as she sat in the chair at Claires and got her ears pierced. We weren't planning on it but we've talked to her in the past and she's wanted to but not enough to go through with it. But tonight she went for it full force. She even got to watch another six year old little girl go right before her, and she was really brave so that helped.

We picked out her earrings and in true Emily fashion it took her all of two seconds. She isn't one to deliberate for very long. She picked out her birthstone and that was that. I even pointed out some cute flowers but to no avail. She then got up in the chair with cautious excitement and was fine, until the first ear. Then she started crying, not hysterical but crying. She didn't want to do the next ear but then actually handled it very well. We let her get an Ariel hair piece for being so brave, which she knew about ahead of time, so she bounced out of the chair with little thought to her aching ears.

I of course didn't have my camera because I was downloading the scavenger hunt photos so my dad graciously used his camera phone...thanks dad!

Her earrings look really nice! I can't wait to buy some really cute ones in 6-7 weeks. Although Emily has declared she'll never take these ones off! Oh, and Ally really wants hers done now. Not sure we'll be able to hold her off, she wants to do everything her sister does!

Christmas In February

Last night our women's group went on a scavenger hunt, it was a lot of fun! But as we're driving around I notice Christmas lights not only still up but on. I commented to the girls in my car that I've been seeing a lot of that lately and they agreed they had too. Well this morning blew the christmas lights on the houses out of the water when I looked over at a house that still had their tree lit up in their big front window. It was crazy! I did a double take, I couldn't believe it. It had to be fake because it was still green as could be and all lit up! No one told me we were celebrating Christmas in february here in Redding!

We Want To Go To Disneyland Too, Nana and Papa!

Riddles

I told Mike a long time ago he should do a weekly riddle. I thought it would be fun. But he didn't keep up on it so I thought I would try. So, here's the first one. I hadn't heard it so if it's one everyone knows I'm sorry! =)

What common English word will describe a person or thing as not being found in any place and yet with no changes other than a space between syllables, will correctly describe that person or thing as being actually present at this very moment?

Our One Picture

I downloaded our camera from Vegas and I had to laugh, the one picture Mike and I took together is at the M&M factory. And to be honest it was for the girls. But how sad is it that we're in Vegas where we could have taken tons of pictures of us and we get one in the M$M factory!? The only other pictures were of the castle hotel for Emily and the lions for the girls.

I'ave been meaning to do this post since my mom did hers but kept forgetting. So here I go...

1. Vacuuming – Run it through the house hitting the heavy-track areas; or, move most of your furniture to get as much carpet as possible? (I honestly think I'm half and half on this. I don't move the heavy furniture but I do make sure all the big floor toys are up like rocking horses and play chairs.)

2. Milk – Use well past the date on the carton, until it smells funny; or throw it out the day after the date on the carton? (I follow the 7 days rule, and also the smell rule...if it remotely stinks it's out!)

3. Childhood – What do you do as an adult that you weren't allowed as a child? (My parents were pretty easy going so nothing really comes off the top of my head.)

4. Toilet Paper – Roll the paper over the top, or roll it under? (Oh my gosh, this is such a thing for me, I HAVE to have it over the top. It drives me nuts the other way.)

5. Bed-Making – It's made every morning, occasionally, or not at all? (every single morning. And if for some reason I can't get to it all day, (rarely happens) then I'll even make it before bed. I love getting into a made up bed.)

6. Most Hated Household Chore – Cleaning bathrooms; doing laundry; or dusting/vacuuming? (Bathrooms don't bother me one bit. I hate hate hate dusting. My parents used to work in a furniture store and they had Josh and I dust on the weekends. Yuck!).

7. Favorite Type of Vacation – Each day planned out with reservations; or, hit the road and go wherever you end up? (So opposite my mom here. I am horrible at planning vacations I actually don't like to do it. Mike is our planner. He makes all the reservations and looks up local attractions. But we both love to just go places spur of the moment.)

8. Butter – Stored in the fridge, or in the pantry? (On the counter. I like soft butter We did that growing up so that's what I'm used to.)

9. Bathing – Shower or bath; and once or twice daily? (Ditto on my mom's. Shower in the a.m. and bath in the p.m..)

10. Handling Life's Curveballs – When life hands you a big lemon, which way do you tend to handle it: get upset then make lemonade out of the lemons; or smile and make lemon creme pie and figure you may as well enjoy the lemons you were handed? (I think you should ask those around me but with most things I don't typically get over upset about things. I try not to let it get to me, it is what it is, you can't change it so you might as well move on!)

It would be fun to hear from other people what they say. I think it's a great way to learn something new about other people.

Crazy Vegas People

When in Vegas, I found you saw and heard many weird things from people. The first one happened for me in the elevator when I was getting Mike and myself breakfast. It was just an older lady and myself heading to the lobby and she turns to me and asks...

"Did you see the snow on the mountains this morning?"

Me: "Yes, it's beautiful. It's definitly a very nice day outside?"

The lady, with a look of total confusion: "Is it, I didn't look outside."

She then turned away from me looking like I totally missed the point of her comment. I was so confused. How do you look at the mountains without looking outside?

The second time was way funnier. We were walking the strip towards Bally to watch the Price is Right and if you've never been to Vegas, they hand out cards for, how shall I say it, naked girls looking to "hook up" every 5 feet. Well, we've never actually seen someone take one, until Saturday. The lady directly in front of us took one from every guy passing them out. We hear her mumble to herself as shes sorting them like trading cards, "oh, I have that one already, oh that's a new one..." Mike and I look at each other like, "are you seeing this?" and Mike asks her if she likes those. LOL! This was her hilarious answer, (and by the way she's probably in her early 40's), "No, I'm collecting them for my brother in law as a gift for when I get back home." Mike and I bust up laughing, there was no restraint to get past her before we laugh. Honestly, that was the best thing all weekend. What must her sister in law think of her collecting nude pictures for her husband? Do you think she'll gift wrap them? I wish I had my camera playing during that conversation! Mike said maybe he should collect some for Josh!

Bucket Of Water

Today was another whirlwind day. I was super busy all day. After school, I picked up Tessa from Jed's and they came home and had a blast doing valentines for their classmates and homework. Tessa stayed for dinner and then womens group. Well, tonight I under estimated how wound up having a friend over all evening and left on your own can cause Emily to be.

After we got the bedroom all cleaned up, I turned out the light, and Ally asked for water. So I took her sippy cup to fill it up when Em then wanted some. I knew they would fight over it, both being tired, so I made Em use a dixie cup in the bathroom and firmly told her to hurry up and get into bed. This was one of the many excuses to get up. Well, next thing I know, Ally comes out and calmly informs me that she's wet, Emily had thrown water on her. I'm thinking little dixie cup here. I turn on the light, and realize that there had been a bucket we had bought for easter last year in the bathroom and Emily had put quite a bit of water in it and threw it on Ally and her bed. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING????

I was so mad, so frustrated at her that I was completly speechless. I literally had no words. It sounded so stupid to say, "don't throw water on your sister." DUH! No brainer here! Honestly, I could have wrung her neck. I asked her why she did this, (not that it mattered). I got answers like, "I don't know" and "It was a joke" and "It was an accident". Yeah, an accident. You accidently put water in a bucket, carried it in the room and whooops, sorry sis! I would love to have thrown water on her and make her stay in bed all night like that but it was so cold it was snowing outside, so not exactly the best time. There really wasn't a good punishment for this crime. So tomorrow night we'll be trying to learn the correct way to go to bed, only quite a bit earlier.

Sanity returns in two days, or should I say, insanity goes to someone else in two days! Thanks mom and dad!

Ahhhh, Monday!

Today was one of those days that wasn't over busy, wasn't bad, wasn't good, wasn't great....just kind of weird. One of those Mondays where I'm tired. Mike is gone and I woke up at quarter to six and couldn't go back to sleep. Something I don't think would have been a problem if he had been there.

The pre-school morning went well, especially since I was up so early I was completely ready before the girls even got up. It's so nice as a mom to get ready without saying NO 100 times because they're getting into your makeup, hair stuff, cleaners under the counter, ect. Anyway I got Emily to school and came home long enough to have a quick conversation with Mike. Then it was back to Emily's school to put in my hour and a half at center time...and of course there was a sub today. I'm sure she loved seeing me walk in with 2 kids in tow!

The project with the kids was fun but it involved pretzels. And I had to tell the kids not to eat them, but how do you convince your one year old she can't have them? It wasn't pretty! She finally did manage to sneak some in between group changes. Afterwards, I'm always tense and a little stressed with the busyness of the school kids and keeping my kids out of, well, everything! So I wisked them home to feed them and put them down because, since Mike is gone, I have to pick Emily up and go to the doctor for Rylees 2:30 18 mo. checkup. What the heck was I thinking setting a 2:30? I must have lost my mind!

So we leave just in time to pick emily up and as I walk in I notice she is looking like she's trying not to get upset on the rug with the other kids. Sure enough, as soon as she see's me she bursts into tears, not like Emily. So she rushes over to me and I ask what's wrong. She tells me she doesn't know. Her face is bright red and I can tell she's embarrassed about crying. Turns out that the substitute had used these weeble type animals to keep the kids in line. She put them around to room to "look" for good behavior and then drew names at the end of the day for who got to take them home. Well, Em's name didn't get drawn and she was heartbroken! So we rush out, me trying to comfort her but get home in time to get a new shirt because Em managed to somehow cut a hole in the middle of her shirt, oh and get half her lunch on it too.

We make it to the doctor and the nurse opens the door and calls for Rylee. Rylee immediately starts hysterically crying. She remembered that this nurse gave her shots last time and is trying her darndest to not go back there. I scoop her up and try to put her down on the scale to be weighed....yeah right! She clings to me, I can't get her off of me and make her stand still...so she and I got weighed together. Which means I have to put her down to weigh myself so we can subtract the two numbers. As soon as I put her down she runs off to leave, and almost made it out the door. And measuring her height almost didn't happen either. She was really not wanting to be there. She calmed for the doctor as usual and then freaked out again when the nurse came back in the end to give her the shots. Luckily, as soon as she was done and I said, "All done" she was totally fine. Checking out with 3 kiddos is hard enough without adding loud crying on top of it.

After all that, we find out that Rylee is healthy, no kidding! She weighs 21 lbs even and was 32 inches long. ( I know I always give those numbers but they're for me for later too!).

All in all, it was a tiring day. It's 4:30, the time of day when I start the countdown to Mike getting home. But there's no countdown today. Mike won't be here tonight. It's sad. I already miss him. I hope he's having fun, but I wish he were here to! Thankfully I can have a countdown tonight as Jenn promised ice cream and Chuck together tonight! What a friend!

Hats

Wednesday is my day to watch Jack and Bella. The first thing Jack and Rylee did was start putting on hats. They both would wear a hat, then switch, then go get new hats and repeat that process. Funny enough, the only one to wear the crown though was Jack. Rylee wasn't interested in that one at all. And at least Jack wore the pink hat backwords, looking a little more cool! My personal favorites were Jack with the pink hat backwards and Rylee in the cowgirl hat. And if you ask my parents, I would usually NEVER think a cowboy hat looks good on anyone. Soooo not a country girl.

This and That

Mike an I instant message throughout the day instead of calling one another. That way we can respond when we have the time. Yesterday we were both busy so it was slow going in our conversation. So yesterday, I told Mike we should really decide how we want to use some rewards money that we've earned on a card. We had it narrowed down to Sears cards for a new television for the loft or food type gift cards, applebees and such. As we're instant messaging the last thing I wrote was, "we really need to order those gift cards." When I came back, here was Mike's response and lo and behold, my response...

Mike: Do you want Sears or Food?
Jamie: Food
Mike: Are you sure? sidenote (Last he talked to me I wanted Sears)
Jamie: Yes

As I'm reading this, I'm so confused. I didn't write that??!! Emily was sitting on the chair behind me with Ally reading her a book. She, as calm as day, says, "I wrote that." I bust up laughing because Mike totally thinks it's me and is going to order a ton of cards I don't want. I rush to the phone and call him, thankfully he didn't order the cards! This wasn't the first time she had conversations with people. The other day Mike walked away after typing with his brother and Emily got on and asked him, "woodyoulikeacoffy" aka if you can't read Em's spelling...would you like a coffee? I ask Mike that all of the time.

On to Ally...she has somehow gotten her name and Rylee's name confused. Rylee is now Ryleeson. Mike gets a kick out of that and of me trying to correct her all the time. So now, we're all jamieson, emilyson, and ryleeson to him. Lovely!

And for myself...I got my invisalign braces on today. You really can't see them that much so that's good. BUT, they are incredibly hard to get off so it's a need to eat basis from now on! The assistant told me it would get easier, I hope she's correct. I'm also bummed because I love sodas and I can't just drink them whenever anymore. She said water is the only thing with my retainers on. She said the acid from anything else gets caught in there and isn't good for the enamel. So I'm down to water and the neccessary 3 meals a day! I also have to brush everytime before I put them back in. So I'll be looking skinny and have great white teeth when I'm done...good deal I guess! But they aren't super comfy right now. In the back of my mind I keep thinking that I can't wait until bedtime when I can take them off. I wish, they'll be on 24/7 till I'm done!

Datenight

Last week was a pretty busy week again. Mike had 2 important lunches...Wednesday with his boss and his bosses boss, recognizing his achievments and then Thursday in Sacramento was a rewards lunch with about 30-40 other agents. So when he's gone a lot from work for things like that we don't really see him the other hours of the day because he's at work. Add working out every evening when he gets home, and it's been a lot of me and the girls! So, Mike surprised me and took me out to the , not so new anymore, Rivers restaurant. It was amazing! He wore a suit, and it wasn't even Valentines Day! And I wore a red dress I bought for Valentines day last year but didn't wear. We were pretty dressed up! We got a bottle of wine, something we've never done and it was so good. We then got a seafood appetizer with shrimp, crab and prawns. Then I got an angel hair shrimp carbonara. It was amazing! So so good. I'm not sure I would want to order anything else if we went again, it was that good. I would love to have the recipe. Mike ordered the lamb and gave me a taste. I don't like lamb but he really enjoyed it! We then topped it off, although I'm not sure how, with dessert. I got the very yummy choc. trio!

Mike even had flowers delivered earlier that day. Red, white and pink Tulips. They're cut down pretty small in this photo as they were starting to fall, but they're still really pretty.

We had an amazing time. Thanks, honey for spoiling me that night! I love that you care enough to take time to plan fun nights for us, even when you're swamped at work!

And afterwards, well...it was super romantic...we put on pajamas aaaannnndddd...picked up Emily and Tessa from AWANA!