10 Smile Tuesday

So here we are again at another Tuesday and more smiles to share. I hope that you have had many smiles this past week too! For some reason I haven't taken many pictures in the past week so you'll have to envision the smiles with me. Your imaginations will probably be even more colorful than a picture could capture anyway! :)

1. Spring. Oh, the absolute joys of the signs of spring these days. I see leaves starting to sprout from my trees, lush green grass everywhere, daffodils poking their beautiful yellow heads out, the green stalks symbolizing the coming of my lillies and the magnolias finally blossoming. Yeah for spring!!

2. Warmth. Speaking about joy, the warmth that spring is beginning to bring makes me giddy! I am not a fan of cold, at all. My asthma is not a fan either, so to feel warmer temperatures means no pain in my chest, no more heavy and binding coats and flip flops to (NOT) cover my feet! Then of course, Lilla says, "You can't wear sandals, we're not at the beach!" Funny!

3. Baking cookies. Lilla and I made cookies yesterday and it was such fun. She had a blast with the coloring of eggs and bunnies and crosses. I had no idea you could buy sheets of sugar cookies dough to cut out without rolling. That is brilliant! We had such frosting colored fun, I could hardly get her out the door for gymnastics!


4. Speaking of gymnastics, I can hardly believe how much the peanut loves gymnastics. And yesterday was her favorite day yet. Up to now she's been in a class all by herself, but yesterday she joined 3 other little girls and boy did she have a good time! The rest of the night all she could say is, "I go back to gymnastics with my friends now!" Too cute!

5. Sibling love. Lilla really does try to take care of Anna, when she cries she tries to calm her down by saying, "It's ok Anna." Anna is giving her the biggest smiles these days. Lilla will bring her toys to her, and sometimes take toys away, but it's all a part of being a sister. It just makes me happy to see!



6. The Zoo. Yesterday we went to the zoo for the first time this year and Anna's first visit. I actually had my camera but didn't take but 2 pictures and it didn't even have anyone but Anna and then one of her cousin in it. Just a slow week for pictures I suppose!





7. Jenna. Lilla has a friend named Jenna, they've been friends almost since we moved here a year ago, and they are finally both getting to a place of playing well with other kids. So fun to see them interacting and having fun in the car, on the playset and doing bubbles the other day together!








8. Smiles. Anna is just full of smiles and belly laughs these days. It cracks me up and makes Lilla say, "She likes me! She's laughing at me!" It's really sweet and fun to see her personality coming to life!

9. Rest. This Saturday, besides cleaning the house, we did nothing. I mean really nothing. We did not leave the house and it was so nice. Saturdays are usually just crazy around here so for us to just take a Saturday and do nothing...ah, so luxurious!

10. Fresh eggs. Our chickens are again producing like crazy. We get at least two a day so we are able to give some away to family and then just enjoy the others. So yummy!

And one more for good measure...my friends! I have two close friends, Carrie and Shelley whom I just adore. They are just the kind of people that everybody wishes they had as friends. They are kind, thoughtful, good listeners, giving and fun. I'm so fortunate to have them as my friends!

What are you smiling about today?

My Ultimate Blog Party Post 2009

Welcome to my little corner of the web, Amy's blah, blah, blogging. As you have probably gathered by now, my name is Amy. My husband, Michael, and I thought we would welcome you with some fun party hats. I'd put on some Cyndi Lauper and Abba, however, I can't remember how! Very typical me let me tell you! There should also be a big bowl of orange sherbet, pineapple juice and ginger ale punch...I just need to figure out what I did with that punch bowl. Urgh...someone needs to clean house a little...oops!

Forgive me, I did just have my 2nd child in December and have since seemed to have lost my mind...along with the punch bowl, of course, since! Fortunately for me, I haven't lost either of the children, that is, yet. My 3 year old has tried to get lost several times, thankfully a wonderful, what I'm sure must have been a mom, invented a backpack monkey that you too can pick up at Target.

God bless it. Yep, I'm one of those cruel moms with a kid on a leash...and, I still have that wild monkey of a three year old as a result! Woo hoo! I'm doing pretty good!

We are starting our party a bit late this year because we just got back from a trip to San Francisco. Such fun to get away from the midwest for a few days. Not any warmer there to be sure, but they do have some of the greatest food there. So many choices, so little time!

The last two years I've had so much fun at the UBP and I've been so fortunate to win prizes both times. I really hope this year does not break that cycle. I just love winning things, who doesn't right? And there are so many great things to win this year, like an artisian stand mixer, a $50 giftcard to Target, a $50 gift card to Born to Impress, another $50 giftcard to Target, and yet another $50 giftcard to Target, (can you guess what I REALLY want?), $50 gift card to Hatley, A Hotslings Sling and Nursing Cover Combo, a $25 giftcard to Target, and so many other things. You know I'd love a gift card that I could use, but being that I have an infant and a 3 year old, really anything for that age group would work too!

I've recently joined the ranks of babywearing moms. In fact, we didn't even take a stroller to San Fran. One of us wore our little girl the whole trip! And boy, did she get spoiled! She adored every minute of it! We have also just started our first compost pile. Soon we are going to plant our vegetable garden and I can't wait! Nothing like fresh vegetables picked from the garden.

I have, admittedly, been a real slacker in the blogging world since I had my little Anna in December. Two really does make a big difference in time consumption. I do try to hop on Tuesday or Wednesday to do a list of ten things that have brought us smiles in the past week, we call it Ten Smile Tuesday. It is great for reminding me of my blessings, as sometimes they can get lost in the laundry or dishes! Hopefully as we get a better routine going in the next few months I'll better be able to blog as I once did.

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting with us, leave me a comment so I can stop by and say hi to you too! Oh, and one last little smile from my peanut...

Gotta go to the party and meet some more of you at http://www.5minutesformom.com/

10 Smile Tuesday

I have not done 10 smiles in forever, so I wanted to quickly do them before bed. So, here you go...

1. 71 degrees...It was 71 degrees and sunny today. Crazy for March in the heartland, but oh, how I loved it! Perfect day for a skirt, short sleeves and sandals. (Which by the way, Lilla says I should not be wearing as I am not at a beach. Where does she get these things?!?!)

2. Parade...Everyone loves a parade, right? Well, I do. Such fun to watch all the interesting people, floats, bands...ect. There was a big one downtown today for St. Patty's day so the girls and I met up with an old friend and her son to watch. Lots of fun!
3. This dress. Anna got dedicated this weekend and since she couldn't fit into the dress that my mom wore, I wore, Lilla wore (I told you, she's huge!) I bought her a special dress a couple of weeks ago. I'm now in love with it, and oh, how pretty she looked in it!
4. These shoes. Same time we bought the dress, Lilla also got some new shoes. Are these not the cutest crocs EVER?!?! They just make me smile. We also got Michael a pair of crocs on sale for $2.99...isn't that crazy? They are orange, so I guess that's why. I love them because they are orange though, totally make me laugh when I see them. Love it!
5. These jars. I know it seems silly but I've wanted these big glass jars for flour and sugar for forever but I'm way too cheap to just buy them. Well, I found them at Wal-Mart this week for 8 bucks each and with some birthday money I'd already been given (my birthday is March 19th), I went ahead and got them. They make me happy! :)
6. Friends. You know, everyone needs one. Lilla finds them everywhere. Today is was with my friend, Claudia's son, Jonathan. They sat and played together, laughed and hugged at the parade and festival. Just sweet to watch.
7. Jesus wants me for a sunbeam. Tonight in the bathtub Lilla just busted out in this song. I was on the phone at the time and I just had to hang up so I could soak in the moment.

8. Leotard. My friend gave Lilla this leotard and it just makes me smile. Seriously, Lilla looks so cute in her leotard it just kills me! Watching her do gymnastics is cute enough but that's just cute overload!

9. Dedication and party. As I previously said, we had Anna dedicated this past weekend and that was really wonderful. As many of you also believe, children are a gift from the Lord and it is part of the Christian walk to dedicate their lives back to Jesus. They are His anyway, right? We had such a lovely service and then everyone came back to our house to enjoy some time together. Perfect weather and perfect company! 10. Grilling. It's finally been warm enough that we've dusted off the old grill and gone to town. Oh, how happy am I? What does not taste good with that flamed taste? Yummo!
A couple more for the road...the little high pitched noises Anna makes when she's "talking" to you...Lilla finally got what an A is, we're on our way!!...potty training in gear, 7 hours and a nap today without peeing in her pants, woo hoo!!...an impending trip to San Francisco on Thursday just for fun...lots of jumping, chasing and laughing with our new trampoline, great times!!

What are you smiling about today?

Saturday photo hunt - four

My precious little one is showing you her four tiny fingers, and hiding is her one tiny thumb!

Photohunters theme of the day: Four
For more four photos, go to http://tnchick.com

It's a hard knock life

For some reason, it just seems like life is hard lately. I'm tired all the time and so I'm crabby all the time. That carries over to my kids. A LOT! You know the old saying, when momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy? Well, it is really true in this case. And that makes me sad.

I want to be that momma that the girls look back at and smile when they think of the fun we had together. The awesome things that they learned from me and the memories we shared together. Today I said, "It's cold outside." And 3 year old Lilla said, "That's because the temperature dropped." Huh???

She then proceeded, of course, to ask me how a temperature drops. I was like, um, mumbling something about barometric pressure...wind from the North...Williard Scott anyone? Yeah, clearly she understood every word.Little Miss Anna is now 12 weeks old and I just think, where could those 12 weeks have gone? Did I stop to breathe it in for even a moment? It barely seems like it. When the peanut was this young I was with her every second, loving and hugging and rubbing baby oil all over the little crevices. Anna has had like 2 baths. OK, not 2, but you know what I mean! She just doesn't get that same attention and I'm wondering if she doesn't feel loved like Lilla did. She looks at me so desperately wanting my attention and I've got my mind on 10 other things and she doesn't get it.
Sorry this post is so scattered...just too much on my mind. Too much to do. Maybe I need an internet break. Take care of my kids...refocus...and go to sleep now.

How are things with you?

Busy Bee

So I haven't updated in awhile so this is just a pish posh of what's going on in our lives.

Life just seems to be going by so fast lately. Anna is about to be 12 weeks old. 12 weeks! Where did the time go?!?! I feel like I was in the hospital yesterday worrying about her, and now here we are 12 weeks later just living life like nothing was ever wrong. I think with the second child time just goes so much faster and there is little time to just sit and enjoy all the little things. I try to take it all in with her when I get the chance, but there are few chances lately.

Lilla is just really growing up and on the go. She started gymnastics several weeks ago and is just taking off with it. For some reason she could never jump, and she spent a ridiculous amount of time every day for months trying to jump. Now, she is a hopping fool. My little jumper.

We were fortunate enough last week to get a trampoline with Lilla's birthday money and by selling our old fridge we had just sitting in the garage for the last year. We decided she loves gymnastics so much, why not? She has been having the time of her life on that thing! So Lilla and I have been out there every day just hopping away. And let me tell you, it is quite the workout! I am going to have great legs this summer!

The girls and I have all been sick this past week with sinus infections. Poor Anna does not like the antibiotics. And, they don't like her either! Ugh, it's not been pretty. Hopefully we'll all be better soon. I think we're on the upswing! Seems just about everyone has been sick lately so I don't feel alone.

Anna is getting so big! She already weighs 14 lbs! Lilla only weighed 18 lbs when she turned 1!! So, you can imagine what a difference it is for me. I don't carry her in the carseat like I carried Lilla. She is much more in the sling. It's not as hard on my back. She is smiling all the time now, laughing, loves to watch her sister and likes to hold on to things. Anna is so curious and just wants to be held and she is happy as a little lark. She's really a cutie pie!

Next on the docket is Anna's baby dedication and party next weekend and the following weekend we are going to San Francisco! Yeah! It will be so nice to take a long weekend and just get away. Of course Anna is going, as I nurse her. Lilla, however, is having her first weekend away from us. Hopefully she does well!

Oh, and just because I know you can all use a laugh today...here you go!!