Videopalooza!

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I hope this post is well worth the wait! (It should be considering everything I've had to do to get it together, which included a very broken laptop, a finicky USB port & waiting forever for youtube to load.)

So, for your viewing pleasure, not one, not two but THREE(!) exciting Sariah videos! ENJOY!

BEDTIME STORY

A VERY SMART SARIAH


ITSY BITSY SPIDER

Why was 6 afraid of 7?

This is my favorite group, BNL! I've been a fan for 10 years now, and on May 6th they're coming out with a kids cd, Snacktime. This song is seriously additing. Enjoy!

Good Mommy, Bad Mommy, Earthquake, Ducks

No, its not a title of an obscure Dr. Suess book; its 3 posts squished into one because I'm lazy.

Good Mommy, Bad Mommy

Thursday was a long day for poor Sariah. We were going to have a nice quiet relaxing day, but I got a phone call early for an invite to book club, so we rushed over to Barnes and Noble to pick up the book (It was Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, I highly recommend it.) Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped at Chuck E Cheese and met some friends there for "lunch" and play. Sariah had a blast! They had a slide and all kinds of things to climb on. She got to ride in the "vet's jeep" with one of our two tokens. She was mad when that stopped, she liked it so much. With our other token we got this picture "drawn" of us. I don't think I've been there since I was a kid, but it was really nice and not crowded at all on a Thurs. at 11am. We'd go back. Yay, good Mommy!
Boo, bad Mommy! Sariah's new bedroom furniture arrived after nap time (that's not the bad part), and I was holding Sariah on my left hip. As I turned around to show the delivery guy which bedroom, I cracked Sariah's head (accidently!) on the corner of the wall. I feel SOOOO bad! She cried for a little while, but then seemed okay. I did call the doctor as a precaution, and we watched her last night for any signs of concussion, but she's fine. The swollen goose egg on her forhead was so big as icky though! These pictures don't do it justice. So the moral of the story is, watch out for walls, bad Mommy!




Earthquake

Did ya'll hear about the earthquake in Illinois this morning? I did when I woke up. Its big news here, because I guess some people felt it all the way up here and called 911. Me? I slept through it.

Quack, quack, quack, cockadoodledoo!

We get lots of wild life in our backyard (which I'm not looking forward to keeping out of our garden.) Squirrels, song birds and rabbits are the most popular. These Mallard Ducks were a suprise though.

I guess I shouldn't be THAT suprised. The local minor league baseball team is the Mallards, but since we aren't really that close to any of the local lakes, I think these two were a little off course.

It must be Spring!

Yesterday was really nice, not too cold, not too hot, pretty windy, but still nice. Playgroup was held at a park that's about a 20 min. walk from our house, so we took a little stroll. I wish I had remembered my camera (this is why I got a small one last year for my b-day,) because there would've been lots of cool things to photograph.

First off, Sariah was super cute. After realizing that rocks don't taste good, she sat and played in the pebbles with another little boy for at least 15 min. It was the first time I've actually seen her play with someone, making me feel a lot better about going into nursery soon.

Then on the walk home, we were passed by about 10 people on all kinds of bikes. This is noteworthy because all these people had to be over 75 years old. I thought it was really, really cool. I hope I'm that active! (Well, sometimes I'm not even that active now!)

In other springy news, my bulbs from last fall are starting to sprout! I can't wait until they bloom, stay tuned for pictures. I love our backyard, its big and shady with lots of trees. Great in the Summer, not so super when all those leaves fall. And since we didn't get them all up last year, now that the snow has melted, they're still there. Now that its warming up, we're getting outside and cleaning it up. Soon it'll be time to fertilize and cultivate and all that other good outdoorsy stuff.

Finally, Sariah's furniture comes today, so hopefully expect the final room pictures by this weekend. I did find something for the shelf, well you'll see. :) Thanks for all the suggestions!

Big Weekend

My Sis & Bro-in-law had their big "med student prom" a couple weeks ago. We'll now counter that with the Epic Prom, better know as the Epic Anniversary Party. A big event where we get all dressed up and listen to a really long program and then get awesome food. Last year it was a fancy sit down dinner, followed by the program at the local civics center. This year Epic built their own large auditorium and facilities. (Its seriously like a large theatre with other rooms attached. Its pretty impressive.) We had to listen to the program first and their was no sit down dinner, just really fancy hor devours and desserts. (But we ate so much, it was like dinner!) In the area where we sat and ate there was a pretty decent jazz quartet.

I get a new outfit for this event every year, but you can't see my pretty new dress, because I left my coat on all evening. Its an awesome sparkly black dress that I got at JCP for $6 (normally $70, but it was on super clearance.) Its okay though, because I have another oppertunity to wear it next month.

Sariah stayed home with a babysitter, Miss Tiffany, the local librarian, who, in my opinion, is totally awesome. She did really well. The next day (Sat.) she got to play with Daddy all day. They went to the office, bought furniture for her room, did the laundry, and Doug installed our nice pretty new thermostat controll (yay Doug!)

I on the other hand, took a scenic drive through southern Wisconsin and Illinois. The youth had a temple trip to Chicago planned and our Sister Missionaries & Beth, a recent convert, went went. Now the Sisters serving in West Bend, who both at one point served here, decided they wanted to go to the temple, too. So they got a member to drive them to Madison, and I drove them down to Chicago, since I really needed to attend the temple myself. Then we drove back up to West Bend (which is north of Milwalkee) and then I drove home. I was gone about 12 hrs., but it was totally worth it! Even with the rainy/sleety weather, it wasn't a bad drive. The Sisters are funny, and good gals. I was honored to attend the Temple with them.

Today we made it to church, but Sariah and I both have colds. Hopefully we'll get over it soon so we can take advantage of the really nice weather we should be having this week. My bulbs are starting to sprout (the ones the animals aren't digging up anyways.)

In other news: Sariah turns 17 months this week and we can start taking her to nursery next week as long as we stay with her until she's 18 months! Yay! We've bought her furniture, it comes Thursday, and hopefully next week we can install the ceiling fans we bought. She helped us move her baby bed into her new room this afternoon, and she'll start sleeping in there now. She already likes to climb up and lay on her big bed, so here's hoping for a seamless transition. My baby is growing up!

So this turned into a large rambling post, I hope you enjoyed it!

Fill the Void Contest

I have a little problem, I'm hoping ya'll can help me out. The item that was suppose to go on the shelf in the picture is too big to sit there. So I'm enlisting ya'll's help! I'm at a loss as to what I should put on this shelf. What do you think? Leave your idea in the comments. If I choose your idea, you'll get a special drawing by an up and coming, hot, new artist! (And by artist, I mean Sariah.) Just for participating, I'll email you one of me 3 favorite recipes: chocolate chip cookies, from scratch pancakes, or black bean & corn salsa. (Let me know which recipe you want in the comments as well.) So let me know! It can be something bought or maybe something I can make/paint/whatever.

I'm almost done decorating Sariah's room, we still need to buy a ceiling fan, dresser & nightstand. But I'm finished with all the decorating... so here are the before and after shots! I hope they help!



Sariah’s Room

Just to get an idea of what I did. I painted all the walls, made the curtains (which included sewing on all those butterflies individually.) Also I sewed the throw pillows, crocheted (poorly) the afagan and painted the room plaque on her door. Everything else was mostly bought from Target. :) It was fun! I can't wait to do it again!

Do You Hear the Bells?

Congratulations to my Mom and her fiance (now husband!) on their marriage yesterday! His name is James. They got married yesterday afternoon (so no, not an April Fools Day joke) in Utah. I'm not 100% sure yet, but these pictures look like they were taken at Oakridge Country Club. No, I wasn't able to attend, but I'll be there next year when they go to the Temple.

So Mom met James last year. He's retired and is currently working on a book. I haven't met him yet, but he sounds great. I'm very happy for them and wish them all the best!