Timehop Tuesday: Happy Birthday G-ma!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA! We love you!

I have to start the Timehop part of the post today with 2.5-year-old Callie in the play house.  I was reading through May 2012 posts on the blog to remind myself of what Callie was doing at Maya's current age.  And I came to this video:



Which then reminded me of a playhouse video I took of Maya this fall:


IMG 9929 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

And then my brain exploded a little bit thinking about how fast they get big.

Anyhow, here are more Timehops:

Kona and the girls- Callie on top, Maya on bottom

And today Maya is wearing a mid-80s jumper that me and Auntie Yoda both wore. Thanks to Boom for finding the photographic evidence!

Kati, Laura, Maya

Weekend Wrap-Up

HOLY MOLY IT IS FREEZING OUTSIDE.

Just another reason to be so thankful for a warm house, plenty of food, and not many reasons to go outside.

Yesterday morning the girls and I tried making a "Mug Muffin"...a recipe I saw a video for online.  Callie diligently wrote down the recipe while we watched and paused the video.  She doesn't like to be told how to spell words...instead likes to sound them out on their own.  I love it.  Our first attempt (yes, there were two) didn't go so well, as we somehow forgot to add one of the most important ingredients: flour.  I'm not sure how that happened, seeing as we had all of the ingredients set out, including flour.  But regardless, it happened, and after 1 minute in the microwave, it was a brown mushy liquidy mess.

So I made another attempt, Maya helped me mix it, and ta-da! Banana cinnamon coffee cake made in a mug in a few minutes time.

The girls liked it too!  Bonus!

Later that morning we met Boom at the Rainbow Systems play place.  It was SUPER busy there, so we didn't make it more than an hour...but Callie had fun.

Maya sort of had fun.  She spent a lot of the time either clinging to me or throwing a fit on the ground when I wasn't holding her.  TODDLERS.

But then later she was ADORABLE...playing independently and creating little stories with the princesses, etc.  I had to take video because it was so dang cute.  And it is pretty clear that she learns a LOT from watching her big sister play.


IMG_2388 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Seriously.


IMG_2389 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Yesterday I had some good Dad reminders.  My sisters and I ordered "Lee" rings and I got mine yesterday.  And the sunrays after naptime...they were awesome.

Today is a super lazy day.  Chris took the girls to church while I stayed home, did laundry, and exercised.  I couldn't make myself go out in the cold.  And church is still probably one of the hardest things for me to do.  I need to get braver and go more often.  But I have faith that will come.

I am one week into working out regularly.  It is a cliche resolution, I know, but one that I need to do.  And to up the ante, I signed up to run a 15K race on April 16th.  That's 9.3 miles, which is pretty substantial considering I haven't run more than a mile in months. So my goal for January is to get fit and work on strength training, in hopes that when I start up the running again in February I won't feel as frustrated.  We'll see how that goes...

The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Chris and Cal went to the Wicks' for the Vikings game, and I hung out with Ms. Maya.

Hope you have a great week.

A Picture Update

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Hahahaha.  We survived our first week back in the real world.  Chris and the girls' schedules changed the most with him starting his new job, but it has all gone really smoothly so far.  And Chris loves his job.  And I had a great week back at my job, so all is good on the life transitions front.

Most of my pictures this week are of Ms. Maya.  She spent her days with Boom (Monday, Tuesday and Friday), G-ma (Wednesday) and Pa (Thursday) and I love that they are all so good at sending Maya pictures each day.

Maya does a great job with the grandparents.  She is a WILD CRAZY MONSTER at home (or out and about) with us.  We went out to dinner just the four of us last night and it took all my energy to try and keep her contained in the booth.  Thankfully there was a ledge she could sit on to look out the window, so she ended up eating up on that ledge too.  And the trampoline is still a hit.

Our living room table has become Play-Doh central.  They got a bunch of new Play-Doh and Play-Doh accessories for Christmas and have been obsessed with it ever since.  It is so fun to see their creativity come out.

Finally, we played another game that we got for Christmas tonight.  Hanna gave Chris the Jelly Belly game.  There's a box full of Jelly Bellies and a spinner.  When it is your turn, you spin it and see what color jelly bean you have to eat.  Each color is one of two different flavors- a gross flavor or a good flavor- and you don't know what you are going to get.  For example, the first one Chris got was white. The flavor options were coconut or baby wipes.  I'll let you guess which flavor it actually was.

We all tried one, and I had to take videos because it was hilarious.  Enjoy!

Juicy Pear or Boogers:


IMG_2335 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.


IMG_2333 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Chocolate Pudding or Canned Dog Food:


IMG_2339 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Let me tell you...the dog food flavor lingered a long time...

Buttered Popcorn or Rotten Egg:
 

IMG_2331 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Maya was the only lucky one that round!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Timehop Tuesday

I like the sound of Timehop Tuesday better than Timehop Thursday, so I think I'll stick with that in the new year.

Here we go!

First up: Maya's SQUISHY cheeks!

And then: a reminder of what our lives were like 6 years ago with baby Callie, compared to now with chore-doing Callie (if $ is involved).

Next up: Sisters!

And lastly, a toddler comparison. Cal on the left, Maya on the right.

Winter Break Wrap-Up

It is hard to believe, but two weeks of break have gone by in a flash.  With the holidays on my normal posting days, there were some pictures from the past two weeks that I didn't get around to posting yet, so here is a picture update of all the non-holiday related things we did over break.

1. Playing at the park.  In the winter.

2. Teaching Callie how to clean the bathroom.

3. Playing with the new castle tent.

4. Gallivanting in the snow.

5. Going to Edinborough and the library with Boom.

6. Hanging out with cousins Arieanna and Annelise.

7. Goofing around with my 2-year-old.

8. Hanging out downtown.

9. Spending time with Brent and Bethany while they stayed at our house.

10.  Having sister time (some crabby, some happy).

11. Being super lazy on New Years Day.

12. Walking around Minnehaha Falls.

13. Playing with G-ma and Pa and Kona.

14. Enjoying 2 weeks with these two crazies.

15.  Reading lots and LOTS of Maisy books.



IMG_2273 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Have a great week!

Timehop Friday: The 2015 Edition

I thought I'd do something a little different for my Timehop today.  I went through my pics from around a year ago, and my December 2015 pictures and found some favorites to see the difference a year makes.

Family

Us

Callie Joy

Maya Leigh

Sisters

Happy New Year!

A New Year

2015 started out with a bang. Literally. Chris and I were in Aruba with my family, watching fireworks at midnight on the beach.

During this holiday season, I have often pictured the me from a year ago and thought, "If only you knew what would happen in 2015..." and then I don't even know how to end that sentence. Because, well, everything.

Last January I chose the word "Change" as my word of 2015. And then soon after, added the word "Brave" to the year.

In early February I lived up to my newly chosen words and and got a new job. After that I embraced "Change" and "Brave" in other dumb ways, like chopping off my hair. And starting to run again.

Then came April 30th, 2015. Eight months ago.

My dad died. Suddenly. Unexpectedly. And we were left reeling. 

For the rest of the year, I lived a completely different reality of "change" and "brave" than I ever could have imagined.

After that there were other words that needed to be chosen mid-year. Words like "Grief" and "Gratitude"and "Sunrays."

I was a little weary of choosing a new word or words for 2016. You can probably understand why.

But I am going to. I need to leave this dark year of unwanted change and reluctant bravery behind.

So here are my words: "Shine Bright."

I even got a mug:

The world can be such a dark and scary place. My hope for 2016 is that I can take all I have learned from my dad, the gratitude and perspective I have gathered amidst the darkness of 2015, and BE a light.

I'm lucky to have an awesome family who remind me on a daily basis that I need to make the world brighter. For them.

I came across this quote the other day that sums up my 2015, and gives me purpose for 2016.

So with that, I thank you. And invite you to "shine bright" with me in 2016.