The Hacker Family Blog

Are you ready for some football?

2012-02-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

Since the birthday party is over, I have turned my attention to football food for the big game on sunday. I have to say that I am quite jealous of those of you in Indy. I have missed being there this week reading about all the fun things going on in the city. Hope you got a chance to enjoy some of the events. Here is what our menu is going to include:

Taquitos http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos/
I haven't ever made these before, but they sound yummy. And yes, they will be without cheese for that loving husband of mine.

Guacamole and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus served with chips, carrots, crackers, etc

Meatball sliders

Chicken Wings - Wade's in charge of these, he is going to make them on the grill this year.

Mini Pigs in a Blanket - the kids favorite

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks - http://www.laurenslatest.com/fail-proof-pizza-dough-and-cheesy-garlic-bread-sticks-just-like-in-restaurants/
I haven't ever made this before either, but really, how can I go wrong??? Reminds me of cheese sticks from college. Hope they are as good.

Black Forest Trifle - http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/black-forest-mousse-dessert-90590.aspx
You TTT girls will remember this. An old favorite. I think I might have a sister in law that loves it too ;)

That is all I can think of, I think there are probably a few other things but that about tops it off. Should be a good time.

GO GIANTS!

Its Winter? Really?!?

2012-02-03T11:00:00.001-08:00

It is hard to believe that we are already through the month of January. We've had hardly any snow, our heat bill has been awesome, and we've been playing outside all week! Who can ask for anything more?? Yesterday we had a picnic in the driveway with our afternoon snack.

As those of you with two kids or more know, you can't ever get a good picture of both of them. Top one is good of Keira, bottom one is good of Mal. :)

Come one, come all ...

2012-01-30T10:42:00.001-08:00

to the greatest show in town! Keira turned 6 last week and we had a circus party to celebrate. And boy was it ever a circus. We invited the whole class, expecting to get about 6 or 7 kids. This was based on what I had seen at other parties that Keira had been to that the whole class had been invited to .... well, Keira is apparently a popular kid because we had 18 kids show up on Saturday. Yikes!

Keira's party invitation

One party activity was dressing up like a clown - we had hats, noses and funny glasses for all the kids. They also decorated a funny tie too.

There was also lots of games .... knock over the cans, pin the nose on the clown, a fishing pond, ring toss ...

Of course, there was food. And plenty of it. One of my big stressors was whether or not there would be enough food for everyone. So stressed was I, that on the morning of the party, I baked an entire extra cake because I was afraid we wouldn't get 20 pieces out of the clown cake I had decorated the night before. Yes, I know I am neurotic! We had popcorn, goldfish, animal crackers, popcorn chicken, fruit served in waffle sundae bowls, and applesauce packets, cookie pops, and cake. There was plenty!

Here is the cake. Yes, I realize that I am not going to be the next Great Baker, but I thought it was pretty good for never having done anything like this before. It was all free form, made from a round cake and a 9X13 cake. I was so terrified of cutting up the 9X13 into pieces that I made Wade do it!

Oh, did I mention there were clowns a the party ;)

Birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candles!

I think everyone had a great time. There was no crying and no fighting and only a small amount of wrestling! One kid told me he never wanted to leave. What is that song ... You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here ....

Wade and I celebrated a successful party with margaritas at our local Mexican restaurant for dinner. Well deserved!

Last Update ... promise!

2012-01-15T05:53:00.001-08:00

Keira has chosen to switch from Dance to Gymnastics ... here she is in her leotard, cute, right?

New Recipes

2012-01-15T05:46:00.000-08:00

Despite the illness, we actually have tried some new recipes ... all of which have turned out great!

This first one is for Brussell Sprouts. I know, gross, right?!? But these were really good! We got Brussell Sprouts in the produce basket, otherwise, no way would I have ever tried them, but take it from me, this recipe really does make them taste good. You basically roast the heck out of them until the outside is actually crispy. Yummy!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-brussels-sprouts-recipe2/index.html

I also made these Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies right before I got sick, so sadly I didn't get to enjoy much of them, but Wade did. The one I did have was delicious. Super rich for sure!

http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/09/29/gooey-chocolate-chip-sandwich-bars-cookies-for-kids-cancer-cookbook/

Seems like I made something else new too, but I can't remember what the heck it was. Have I mentioned I am getting old??? Oh well, at least you can see one resolution is getting accomplished! It is back to running today, which I am sure is going to suck, but it is what it is.

Oh and Keira has chosen a theme for her 6th birthday party which is fast approaching ... Circus Party! Should be exciting, I am hard at work planning the carnival games and food :)

Snow Day?!?!

2012-01-15T05:44:00.000-08:00

For some reason, unbeknownst to a girl who grew up in northern Indiana and went to school when snow was measured in feet, not inches, the kids had a snow day this week. I could still see the grass on the ground, but whatever, we had a snowday! We made pillow forts, drank hot chocolate, and watched movies. It was fun and Mal was glad to have her favorite playmate home in the middle of the week!

Umm, Yeah, How are those New Year's Resolutions Going????

2012-01-15T05:39:00.001-08:00

Well, so much for the weekly posting. The good news is, I do have a good excuse. We have been sick, crazy sick. For a week, Mallory and I had a very bad cold. That type of snotty yucky cold where your child won't let you put her down even for two seconds type of cold. We didn't leave the house for almost a week. On friday, we hit the grocery store and came home, that was the extent of our travels that week. And then on Saturday, Mal got the stomach flu. Awesome. Poor poor baby. Poor poor Mommy. And then Sunday afternoon, I got it. And this was no easy going flu, this was violent illness. Wade had to stay home from work I was so sick. I stopped throwing up by monday afternoon, but as I sit her and type, I can say that I only probably started to feel sorta normal yesterday. I haven't been able to eat regularly until yesterday. I've lost 4 pounds. I haven't run in a week. So 2012 is off to a great start! WooHoo. And now, I hope to get back to weekly posting ;)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to begin it has been so long since I have posted. Yeah, sorry about that. In a paragraph or less, here is what happened in teh last half of the year ... We had a our kitchen remodeled (it took forever, but turned out fabulous), Mallory turned 2, we traveled to Chicago to see Kendall on her first birthday and had lots of fun, we had my family in for Thanksgiving which was a lot of fun and a lot of cooking :), we traveled to Indy the weekend before Christmas to see Wade's family and the kids got to play with their cousins, they went as a Fairy Princess and a Lady Bug for Halloween, made lots of christmas cookies, and I am sure lots of other stuff that I can't remember ... I'll try to post pictures to catch you all up!

On to the resolutions, in no particular order ... try one new recipe a week, keep up with the running (I am up to about 5 miles/day, 5 times a week). and post to this blog at least once a week. I know, I am not shooting for the stars here, but I am trying to be realistic.

The good news is, I have already tried the new recipe this week! We had minestrone soup tonight for dinner - I've never made it before, I have always been a fan of Olive Garden's version. I am not trying to brag here, but I really think what I made was better! Here is the link for the recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jamies-minestrone/detail.aspx

I made very few changes - only had 2 zuccinis, so that is all I used. I used dry spices instead of fresh. Left out the water, instead just used chicken broth. Fresh green beans instead of canned. It was really really good.

So, what's up with the rest of the family:

Keira: She is racing through kindergarten and learning more than I ever imagined. She is a great reader, seriously blowing me away with the books she can already read. She really loves the Magic Tree House books, we are reading those aloud at bedtime and she can't get enough, think she will love reading like I do. She has what she terms "a boyfriend" at school. His name is Charlie and he sends home little pictures with hearts on in for Keira. Very cute. She has decided to switch from Ballet to Gymnastics.

Mallory: She is my little spit fire. She is full of energy and runs around showing it off every day. She took at tumbling class at the gym and did pretty well, though staying on tasks is going to be difficult for this child. Despite her looking for trouble ALL THE TIME, she really is pretty sweet and still loves to snuggle up at bedtime. She is really into singing Happy Birthday right now, I'll have to post a video, it is hilarious.

Wade: Wade was off for 11 straight days the end of this month and it was wonderful (at least I thought so, he is probably ready to get out of this nut house and back to work ;). He accomplished a lot of projects, the biggest of which was paiting the ceiling. He has also taken up running and provides me with someone I try to beat everytime I run. Sadly, this is a losing battle for me as I will never be as fast as him.

Here is to a great 2012!!!

Adventures in Cooking

2011-08-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

The kids love to help, the Mom in me loves the idea of them helping. The type A personality in my does not love it so much, but we do it anyway! This week the project was Pizza - a crowd favorite. Keira really loved kneading the dough. She wanted to eat it right there - I think she thought it would taste like cookie dough. Mallory's favorite part was eating the toppings. I would hand her a pepporoni and instead of putting it on the pizza, she would put it in her mouth. She thought it was hilarious!

Mallory to the left super excited about the pizza. Below she is stealing a pepporoni!

Our next cooking club fun will be Grandma's birthday cake - I am sure that there will be good pictures of that!

2011-08-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

How did we go from

<----------------this

to this --------------->

so quickly??

One of those things you hear about a million billion times when you are pregnant or have recently had a baby is "Enjoy them now, they grow up so quickly". And you don't listen. Because everyone says it. And you don't really want anyone's advice anyway. And really, it's just something people say, right?!? Well, I am hear to tell you for the million billion and 1 times ... it really does go by fast, really really fast, like crazy fast. Enjoy them now!

Today was the first day of school. We were up early (Mal is teething, such fun), and Keira was ready to put her school clothes on at about 6:30 am. From then on, every 5 minutes, is it time to go to the bus stop yet? Is it time now? How long is 30 minutes? Is that long? Seriously kid, you are taking the fun out of the day. But we did, at last, make it to the bus stop. She was so excited, she practically ran on to the bus. She sat with her friend Haley and they waved to us from the window as the bus was pulling away. And then the water works began. Life will never be the same. It was the end of an era. No more tuesday morning trips to the park, no more thursday lunches at chick-fil-a. Don't get me wrong ... I know this is the beginning of something new and great, but I am not quite ready to embrace it yet. Too busy remembering all the fun we had.

She came home still excited, but tired and hungry. She had a great first day, didn't get lost finding her way to the classroom. Best part of her day was lunch, followed closely by recess. We hope to get more details soon, but she was pretty tight lipped with what actually went on in the classroom. But we heard no complaints.

Mal fared pretty well. She kept asking where "KK" was, I would tell her that she was at school and then Mal would ask me Why? and we would go round and round ... eventually she would drop it and we'd find something else to do. She didn't better than I thought she would.

I wallowed in sadness for about half the day and then kept myself busy to bus pick up time.

Tomorrow is day 2 ... hopefully it will be easier tomorrow!

Tomorrow is D day

2011-08-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

So this was it... our last bit of freedom. School starts tomorrow. The last 3 days have been filled with lots of fun. Sadly, none of it caught on camera as I just forgot to bring the darn thing. We went to The Incredible Pizza Company on sunday. It is basically a big chuck e cheese. They get you though because you HAVE to order pizza there to go in -- it is a buffet. So we walk in the door, we got there right when it opened. And their registers weren't up yet, so they let us eat for free! Y'all know I love free! So that made the experience even better. We ate, we played games, and (Keira's favorite part) got to pick out prizes from the tickets she won. Thankfully, she chose another stuffed animal ... because you know, we don't have enough of those laying around ;) And for whatever reason, anytime she brings home one of these crappy stuffed animals, Peanut thinks they are toys for her and chases Keira around mercilessly until she has to hide the toy away. Weird, right?

Monday, we spent at the zoo. It was an excellent trip. First, we hadn't been since early June because it has been so so hot. Second, the weather was awesome. It was really cloudy and the temperature didn't get above 80 degrees the entire time we were there. Third, we got to see the Hippos! This is always the girls favorite part and the Hippos weren't out last time. They have this big enclosure where you can see the Hippos swim - the girls watched for about 20 minutes! It really is cool. We rode the carousel, ate Popsicles, and got blisters on our feet from walking so much (I got over 9,000 steps at the zoo!). Fun Fun Fun.

Tuesday we went out to lunch, Keira's choice. Which was (of course) McDonald's. Mmmm, yum. Insert sarcasm here. But it was her day, so we went and loved it. We were supposed to have a playdate with a friend from preschool, but her brother broke his leg and had to get it set, so we had to cancel. And then we were going to go to the park, but it rained. So we went ot the play area at the mall and met another friend to play. Then we went and had frozen yogurt at the new Orange Leaf place. It was cool. The girls really loved the chairs and the yogurt too! It is a self serve place and you even get to put your own toppings on. Keira choose gummy bears and M&Ms on her orange flavored frozen yogurt. Glad I wasn't sharing with her. It is sort of an interesting study in marketing there - they charge by the ounce, and again it is all self-serve, and they only have one size of cup - and it is super large. So if you fill it up, you are going to have an expensive bowl of yogurt. Anyway, just something I thought was interesting. Also, the spoons are extremely well made - not the flimsy plastic that most places have. Seems like a waste to me. I know, I need a job or something right?!?

Then we came home for baths and stories and bedtime. Aunt Suzie and Uncle Ryan bought Keira the book "The Night Before Kindergarten" so that was tonight's pick. A cute story.

Check back tomorrow for pictures of Keira on her first day as well as an update on my emotional state ;)

Just something I read

2011-08-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life ... He said to them, "A fight is going on inside of me, it is a terrible fight, a fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil - he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person too."

They thought about this for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win, Grandfather?"

The elder simply replied, "The one you feed".

This is what I get

2011-08-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you trust your kids too much. Wade and I were upstairs this weekend in Mallory's room putting together a new bookcase. The kids were running around, but finally landed in the basement to play. I checked on them periodically, they were playing nicely and relatively quietly ... so I startd spacing out the checking on them ... and this is what I get ...

Thankfully, it was washable marker. And it didn't get anywhere but on them. Keira got the bright idea that they could be green smurfs. Awesome. Just another day in the life. :)

D E N I A L

2011-07-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

It ain't just a river in Egypt!

Full Day Kindergarten is coming, whether I like it or not Keira went to the Doctor today and got all her immunizations updated -- and then was treated to some ice cream afterward - I mean, seriously, getting 4 shots without so much as a tear warrants ice cream, right?!? We got a letter in the mail today about orientation and a phone call yesterday about what bus she is on and when it will pick her up. The train is moving forward and I need to get on it.

Keira is ready. She already knows over 100 sight words and can read some of the beginners books. She is becoming quite the mathematician as well - randomly coming up to me during the day and saying "Hey Mom, 9 minus 5 is 4" Alrighty then, it sure is. She is constantly looking for something more to do. another project to create, something else to explore. She will do great.

But I am sad to be losing my baby all day. She gets on the bus at 7:50 am and won't get off the bus until about 3:45 pm. Talk about cutting the apron strings. Our weekday outings are over for the most part. I already feel guilty about even thinking about taking Mallory to the zoo without Keira. Is that weird? I just don't like the thought of her missing out. But she will be having her own experiences, making new friends, learning new things, taking cool field trips - lots of things that Mal and I won't get to do. I am so excited for her to have all this stuff to look forward to .... just gotta get over the blues that my first is growing up!

Herding Cats

2011-07-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

Trying to get a picture with 6 kids age 5 an under, is, well, like herding cats .... nearly impossible. Below are a few of our attempts.

In front of the arch ... Mal was having no part of it.

At the City Garden, only Keira looking at the camera.

Missing a child here.

The guys trying to get the kids into position. Didn't have much luck.

Hey, look, all the kids in this one! Should have zoomed in, but the darn sun behind them was in the way.

Two, maybe three trying to escape ... several of the older ones trying to hang on to them.

We've got a runner!

What we have been up to ...

2011-07-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

We have been crazy crazy crazy for a few weeks. My MIL came in and we went to key west. We got home on a saturday night, and then the girls and I left on tuesday and drove to Kansas to see old friends. We had a great time - Keira got to go to VBS with Lexi, Mal made Frankie fall in love with her and we all got to spend some time in the neighborhood pool! It was a great time and the 4 hour drive by myself with the kids in the car really wasn't horrendous. i was really sorta freaking out about it, but it really wasn't bad at all. Totally do-able. Watch out Indy friends we may be on our way!

We left kansas on Thursday afternoon and on Friday afternoon had friends from Ohio stop by to visit. Valerie, her husband Kevin and their 4 munchkins (ages 5, 3, and 17 month old twins). Keira and their oldest were "baby friends" when we lived in Ohio. Sadly, the girls don't remember each other anymore, but the moms have fond memories of the girls playing together. We hit the Magic House on saturday morning. Always fun. Keira's favorite this time was playing library. Mal loved to fish. Sunday morning we headed downtown and hit the bubblers at the sculpture park and then headed over to see the arch. The Gerbus' took their crew all the way up! We passed - both Wade and I have been up before and that little egg they put you in, well, is not my favorite thing. And it gets stuck like twice a week - I would totally freak. We'll wait till the girls are a little bit older before heading up again! Then we spent the afternoon outside - finally - it has been so hot here that we had not been outside in over a week. The kids got to run run run and play in the water - it was great! Sadly, the heat has returned :( The Gerbus' then headed off on Sunday night on their way to a wedding in Denver.

Pictures to come ...

Greetings from Key West

2011-07-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my fabulous mother in law, Wade and I were able to sneak away on our annual (without the kids) get away this week. We had such an awesome time in Key West last year that we decided to go back. We stayed at the same place -- Southermost on the Beach. Such a wonderful place. Great room, great views. It is quite a long, hot walk to the other end of Duval where all the "action" is, but it allowed us to work off some of the food and booze and get all our steps for Wade's work competition. The above picture was taken during a bike tour that we took. It is apparently what the Key West Tourism department uses for their advertising. And yes, you read that right, bike tour. It was literally 105 degrees, but hey, we are on vacation, who doesn't want to sweat profusely on vacation. ha. It was neat to learn about the history of the island and see some things we hadn't already seen. And we got to ride Key Lime colored bikes. And eat key lime pie at the end of the tour. Yum.

Wade at the Top of the Conch. It is a bar at the top of the La Concha Hotel. Tallest building in Key West. Super awesome views, overpriced crappy drinks.

Our dollar stapled to a palm tree at Willy T's. There are thousands of them stapled all of the bar. Thousands. Ours says HH + WH 2011 - it looks like WA, but it's not.

The most stolen sign in Key West, mile marker zero. Ignore that we are covered in sweat. Just ignore it. This was also part of the hot bike tour.

Wade and I on the steps of a house that Jimmy Buffett used to own/live in.

The view from our balcony. Aaaaahhhhhhh.

This was "our spot" at the hotel. In the sand and in the shade. Did I mention it was 105 degrees? Just checking.

One of our favorite events ... Turtle races at Turtle Kraals. The literally race turtles on this table. Too fun. And I won $20 Turtle Bucks to pay down our bar tab. Awesome.

We did lots of other stuff, but I am out of patience with the photo uploader on this thing. Let's see, we did a Wind and Wine sunset sail. It was pretty cool -- there were 9 different wines to taste and plenty of appetizers. We sailed for about two and a half hours just enjoying the water. There was a street fair type thing one night with live music a local band called Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24 played. Definitely Jimmy Buffett-esque. Loved it. Hit a great dueling piano bar, spent time at Irish Kevin's, ate at Blue Heaven twice, saw lots of wild chickens, had some Hog Fish.

Great time was had by all.

Now off to Kansas.

What do I even say about this picture?

2011-07-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

I used to think we were excellent parents. Keira is such a nice, polite, well behaved little girl. She says please and thank you, doesn't throw fits, asks to be excused from the table when she is finished, etc etc etc. And then there is Mallory. This child, well, she just looks for trouble. In the past week, we have removed her from the dryer, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen table. Places Keira would never have dreamed of going. She has learned the word MINE already and likes to throw the "throw yourself on the ground and scream" type of fits when she doesn't get her way ... again, Keira would never have done this and is quite embarrassed when Mallory does. Join the club, kid. So apparently, sometimes, parenting requires some work ... personally, I prefer the self-policing model we got with our first ;) So Mallory is a work in progress. Since she idolizes her big sister, so we are hoping Keira rubs off on her ... quickly!

Chicago

2011-06-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

We hit the big city this weekend ... sadly for only about 24 hours though. Little Miss Kendall was baptized this weekend and we are (very honored to be) her godparents so we went up for the ceremony. The girls were just dying to see not only Kendall, but Uncle Ryan and Aunt Suzie too. And Spike - of course. I did not get a single good picture of the kids together - I thought it was hard to get two - impossible to get all three smiling and looking at the camera. This one was as good as it got.

Mallory is in that "I LOVE Babies" stage. She was very interested in Kendall. I think she is trying to give her a kiss here.

We hit the Lincoln Park zoo - the girls loved it, of course. We traveled there using public transportation - wasn't that Green and Frugal of us???

I thought this was a GREAT picture! Well, Ryan could use a smile, but the girls sure look nice!

Mallory's first taste of popcorn. She loved it, so much so that she demanded to hold the container. At one point, she put her entire face in it. Love it!

Kendall completely co-operated for the baptism, no screaming involved. :) I'll post some pics of that in the future - didn't get any with my camera. It was a long ride home, but well worth the trip. Wish they lived closer!

Magic House

2011-06-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Surely I have posted about the Magic House before ... but even so, it is so fun that it bears mentioning again. Magic House is basically St. Louis' children's museum. The kids really really love it. Keira claims all the parts are her favorite. She loves the static ball, the section that has a the grocery store/library/bank/etc, there is an area to learn about magnets that Mal really liked ... I could go on and on. Oh and another favorite is the creative studio in the basement where the kids get to paint and do a craft to take home - also Keira's favorite - especially since she now wants to be an artist when she grows up (changed from "Nature Girl" about a month ago!). We got to go to the Magic House with some good friends that came to visit from Kansas City. Keira thinks it is neat that we have friends all over - I think it's neat too -- except for that fact that I would rather have them all live next door ... who is up for some communal living?? Anyone ... Anyone ... ????

Static Ball - Keira loves it! It makes for great pictures.

Malzy was actually flirting with an employee that was outside of camera range. Pretty cute.

Keira was totally into the hospital nursery - for about 5 minutes she wanted to be a doctor. Then she changed her mind to mechanic (see below).

Nascar pit crew anyone?

Random side tucked away in the museum. There are several, one is several stories high with glass windows so you can watch them go down.

Thank Goodness for Water

2011-06-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

It's been hot hot hot here and we've spent every afternoon (and some mornings) in the backyard lately, that is, when it's not raining and there isn't a tornado warning making me crazy. As a SAHM, I am not sure what I would do without the backyard kiddie pool, sprinkler and slip and slide. The girls can play for hours back there. Here are a few recent pictures.

My big girl ... she is going to be taller than me by third grade, I think.

Look at those curls!

Mallory loves the water table. I mean seriously LOVES the water table. This will keep her attention for a very long time. Today she was using it to search for treasure ... rocks!

Mallory has entered that stage where it is extremely difficult to get pictures of her. She says cheese and smiles, but rarely looks at the camera. So you'll have to take what you can get for awhile.

After about 7,000 tries, this was the best I got of the two of them together. Grrr....

Dance Recital Videos

2011-06-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

Ok - so I couldn't figure out how to make them smaller, so I uploaded to you tube. You have to click on this link to see them, you can't search and find them. They are each about 2 minutes long. Keira is the second from the right in both videos. So cute!

Tap Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2vh6bJggmU

Ballet Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJfGrj5_FdU

Apparently I fell off the wagon

2011-06-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

I was soo good with posting or awhile (unlike some regular readers of this blog ... you know who you are!) and then, well, I just forgot. Thank you to one nice reader for kindly reminding me to get on it! :) So, let's see ... oh yes, Keira's dance recital. It was just so, absolutely adorable. They held it at the local community college. They did two routines. A tap and a ballet. The costumes were fabulous. Hot pink and silver. Keira did very well. For the most part, she knew both routines. At this age, they still have their teacher standing up front, directing them. It was pretty cute in the tap routine because the girl standing next to Keira watched her the whole time for the moves. I've got a few pictures below ... the video is a bit to big to post, but I am working on that!

I made these as a little treat for the girls, aren't they cute??!!??

Keira all dressed up and ready to go. The hands on the hips are all hers - she is a bit sassy (but in a good way! :)

Another "pose" all her own.

Keira tip toeing (I am sure there is some ballet term for whatever they are doing, but I don't know what it is) off stage. Keira is second from the end. Yes, she is tall for her age.

My other little princess - wants to be all dressed up, just like her idol, big sister!

More on these to come ...

2011-06-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

Crazy Weekend

2011-06-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

We had lots and lots and lots going on this weekend. One of those things was Keira's last soccer game. The Queen Bees had a great season and I really liked the coach. He really focused on helping the girls get better. They had their medal ceremony and got some great treats too.

What can I say ... she's her mother's daughter ... she loves her some cupcakes!

Giving the coach a High Five after receiving her medal.

Go Queen Bees!

Treats I made for the girls ... Cute little water bottles I found at Michael's for $0.80 and then filled with sugar cookies with yellow frosting for the Queen Bees!

Cardinals Game

2011-05-31T11:14:00.001-07:00

We decided to pack the kids up and head to the cardinals game on monday. It was hot hot hot. But thankfully, our seats were in the shade, so we weren't miserable! The stadium was really nice and had a great view of the arch. We made it 5 innings before we had fussy kids, so I was pretty impressed. :)

The view from our seats. Pretty neat I thought.

They mow an arch into the field ... sadly it took me almost 2 innings to even notice.

No baseball game would be complete without ice cream in a helmet!

Malzy trying to hide her cotton candy because she thought Daddy was going to get it!

Peanuts: The reason we made it as long as we did! Mallory became obsessed with them. (and yes, I know they are a choking hazard, but she was watch closely). At first, I was shelling them and them biting them and giving her half a nut at a time. She didn't care for that routine. So she took the bag and did it herself. Put the shell half in her mouth to crack it and bite it. She spit out the shell part and then shook the peanut out and ate it. It took about 5 minutes per peanut. Kept her busy for a very long time - she was very determined!

I took about 30 pictures ... none had all 3 looking at the camera.

It was definitely no Cubs game, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing more of St. Louis.

Working at the Car Wash ...

2011-05-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

One of the many things we did this weekend was wash the van. It was H O T hot, so it seemed like an activity that everyone could enjoy! Well, as much as two adult can enjoy washing a car :) The kids had fun and even washed their own vehicles.

This may be less washing the car and more spraying your sister in the face, but I can't be sure!

Keira did a great job on the tires, she was super into the jet setting on the sprayer.

Mal not only washed the van, but also washed the driveway!

Me making a rare appearance in the blog pictures ... dressed in my best car washing clothes!

Mal washed and washed and washed the headlight. Cleanest headlight in town!

Ladybugs

2011-05-24T18:56:00.001-07:00

A girlfriend and I made these for Keira's graduation. She was in the ladybug classroom at school. These are cake balls decorated as ladybugs. Let's just say, hmmm, cake ball chef I am not. But we had fun making them and Keira loved them and so did her classmates!

I've got two more projects planned - cupcakes for her ballet recital and cookies for her last soccer game. More pics to come as those dates get here!

Pomp and Circumstance

2011-05-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

So, she is a preschool graduate. I am so proud! The ceremony couldn't have been cuter. They sang a bunch of songs, put on the three little pigs play, walked down the aisle in their caps and gowns ... so bittersweet. I've been reflecting a lot lately on Keira's short 5 years and I thought I would share with you, David Letterman stlye, the top 10 lessons learned/advice to be given on this parenting journey ... (Don't worry, we'll take picture breaks!) ...

10. Try to live in the moment. It's hard, I know. And this is the one that I am most guilty of not following. There will always be laundry and dinner prep and bathrooms to be cleaned and floors to be scrubbed and errands to be run. But there will not always be little people running around that need to be chased, tackled and tickled. :)

9. Happiness is a choice. Life has handed us some difficult situations. You can choose to wallow or you can choose to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Choose the light, choose it quickly.

8. You can sleep when you're dead.

7. There will be no time to yourself for years. Years. If you get to go to the bathroom by yourself, consider yourself lucky. That being said - figure out how to make time for yourself. Go out with your girlfriends, go to the movies, get to the gym. Whatever your thing is. You'll be a better parent for it.

6. Always wear sunscreen. Not just on your kids, but on yourself too. Skin cancer is real.

5. Take a deep breath, smile, and then deal with the situation. It moments of anger, it allows you to get ahold of yourself before you say something you shouldn't. In moments of fear, it helps suck back the tears so you can properly assess the situation and not scare your kids!

3. Get used to gross stuff. You will likely be peed on, puked on, pooped on at least once in your parenting journey. If you're lucky, it won't be all at the same time! (Oh and don't forget the joys of the ever familiar "I need help wiping" call from the bathroom. It's good to be a parent.)

2. You will say some things you never thought you would. I just used "Because I said so" about 100 times this week. Just embrace it. It is what it is. The worse one I can think of saying is "Please don't try to stick your finger in Peanut's butt." Sadly, I have said this to both my children.

1. When all else fails ... go to the beach!

City Garden

2011-05-22T18:02:00.001-07:00

What a fun day we had today! We have decided (and when I say we, I mean me) that we needed to see more of the city ... I saw a commercial that St. Louis was running about the Core of Discovery. A website about a bunch of things to do in the "core" of the city. This was the first one we picked from the website. It is called City Garden and is basically a sculpture park with a splash pad. A very hands on sculpture park. Climbing is encouraged. The girls had a blast! Here are a bunch of pics -- Mallory has reached that stage where she can't stand still for a picture, so the ones of her aren't great! For those that want to check it out, http://www.citygardenstl.org They have a pretty cool feature where you can call a number from your cell and then enter the number of the sculpture and get information on it - like an audio tour for your cell phone.

Do you see Keira? How about Mallory's tiny little feet?

Keira spent a lot of time trying to climb this one. Especially difficult when you are wet.

Wouldn't have been a great pic, if Mallory was looking!

Again, can we please all look at the camera at the same time?

I did not ask her to pose this way, she's a natural!

Peek a Boo!

Let's get wet! Mallory is wondering where the water went???!!??

Keira made quite the game out of jumping over the water.

Mallory again wondering where the water went!

The only picture where Mal is looking at the camera!

The days are long but the years are short

2011-05-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

These are the moments you dream of when the doctor says, "It's a girl!". Your head (and your house) is suddenly filled with pink and tutus and princesses and ponytails and well, more pink if you live here! Keira's first big recital is June 5th and she had pictures this past saturday. She was so thrilled with the costume she could hardly contain herself. "Mommy Mommy, I look like a princess, don't I?". I swear those were the words that came out of her mouth. I had a few tears in my eyes looking at her and how big she has gotten. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were talking diapers, walking, and ABCs. Today it's ballet, soccer and kindergarten. It is so cliche, but the years really do fly by. Surely this picture below was not taken almost 5 and 1/2 years ago?

But I guess it was as the calendar never lies. So the lesson is, take time to enjoy these little moments in their lives because they are fleeting. Soon enough she'll be locking herself in her room and want nothing to do with me. :)

Oh and to answer Keira's question - "Yes, baby girl, you do look like a princess and you always will."

Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

What a great reason to celebrate! Actually, I don't know the reason (note to self: Look up the reason!), but let's celebrate anyway! We had the playgroup over for a potluck lunch. Lots of kids running everywhere, but it was a lot of fun. I made a paper mache pinata, which sadly I did not get a picture of (total bummer) and we had lots of great food - like tacos! Ha. And I made these lovely cupcakes for all the mommies to take home - Margarita cupcakes with Lime Buttercream frosting.

I let the girls have their water in what they called "fancy cups" tonight for Cinco de Mayo. Loved it! Unfortunetly, Mal then started putting food in it and then flung it halfway across the room. Awesome.

Day 6: The Beach!

2011-05-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Aaah, day 6. Our last day before going home. Beach Day. Here's how I know Keira is my child - As we arrive at the beach, she runs to the sand and yells: "This is going to be the best day of my life!" Man, I love that kid ;) And she indeed, did have a great day. The water was C O L D, but she didn't care (Wade did, but this was not about the best day of his life!). She swam, jumped in the waves, and drug daddy out as far in the water as she could. I finally made her come in when she was literally turning blue. Malzy loved the beach too. She played more in the sand than the water, but she got wet too.

Keira dying to get to the water. She did not want to stop and get her picture taken.

Mal doing the 'I hate sunscreen' dance.

Daddy trying to stay warm in the chilly water. Keira trying to get used to the cold.

Mallory trying to get in the water. She was a little more effected by the cold.

Mallory chasing the birds. This was such a sweet moment because the first time we took Keira to the beach in california 3 years ago, chasing birds was her favorite thing to do!

Daddy and Keira getting out. Daddy was cheering, K, not so much.

Mallory checking something out with her teeth chattering.

Mallory in a lifeguard pose.

Grandma and Keira on the Santa Monica Pier.

The girls and Dad on the Santa Monica Carousel.

Alas, this ends my vacation posts. Hope you had fun experiencing it with us!

Day 5: Easter and Science Center

2011-05-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

If you can guess what Malzy is doing in the above picture, you win the prize. Answer at the end of this entry! Day 5 was Easter and Keira was pleased to wake up and learn that the Easter Bunny did in fact know where she was. This had been an issue of concern for quite awhile. The kids spent some time going through their baskets and then went out into the courtyard for an egg hunt. As with the previous egg hunt we did - Keira was totally into it. This is one of her favorite activities. Mal, on the other hand, well, once she figure out there was good stuff inside the eggs, she was done and wanted to eat the candy!

Keira on the hunt!

While this looks like Mallory putting eggs in the basket, it is actually Mallory taking eggs out of the basket and shaking them to see if there is anything inside.

Going through their baskets. There was a smart Easter Bunny living in California that brought soft sided baskets so that they would fit in the suitcase!

Keira showing off her new nightgown the Easter Bunny brought.

I think this is my most favorite picture of Mallory I have ever taken.

Keira found 30 eggs! Which was exactly how many we hid!

After Easter festivities, we headed to the science center. The kids had a great time here and might have actually learned some things, ha! The great part about it was that not only was it free to get in, but we didnt' run into any traffic trying to get there, so it was only a 20 minute trip! As a side note, I will never, ever live in LA. The traffic would kill me. I would never go anywhere for fear of being trapped in the car with two screaming kids. And since I wouldn't go anywhere, I would probably go crazy from being trapped in the house with two screaming kids. Vicious circle.

In the hurricane chamber. It was pretty neat - 80 or some mile/hour winds. Not sure exactly what Mal is doing other than probably trying to get in. She does not like to be excluded!

Us on TV at the science center.

Mallory touching the clouds!

Keira feeling the cold ice in the ecosystems part of the museum.

Keira driving away!

And that ends Day 5 of our california adventure. Be sure to check back in tomorrow for Day 6 - BEACH DAY!

*The answer to the trivia above was that Mallory had shoved an entire chocolate covered marshmallow bunny in her mouth. Crazy kid ... I have no idea where she gets the sweet tooth from :) *

Days 4: Long Beach Aquarium

2011-05-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

We headed down (up, I actually have no idea) to the Long Beach Aquarium on day 4. This was bar far Mallory's favorite day. She was up out of the stroller and everything was at her level. We heard lots of oohs and ahhs and "what's that?" out of Mal. She raced from one area to the next as fast as her little legs would take her. While she loved just looking at the fish the best, Keira loved being able to touch the stingrays. We got there when it opened and just about had the place to ourselves for the first hour - Californians are NOT morning people! Here are a few pictures.

This is us outside - behind us are the sharks.

Keira next to the stingray tank.

Malzy and Keira playing in the little play area they have outside.

Us outside the aquarium.

The girls and grandma - Keira is making what she calls her "silly face". I have no idea.

This is soley a post ...

2011-05-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

to keep the streak of posting day after day alive ...

best part of today ... the Mallory and Keira hug fest that has been occurring after bathtime. It is the cutest thing - for whatever reason, Mallory feels the need to try to tackle Keira and give her the biggest hugs after bath time. It is really cute.

worst part of today ... it rained, again. We are going to need an ark soon.

funniest part of today ... I told Wade that I was going to paper mache a pinata for our upcoming Cinco de Mayo party here on thursday. He laughed so hard he nearly spit the pop that was in his mouth out. So I've never paper mache-ed anything before and really, I am not super crafty and I'll likely have to do it while the kids are running around ... so what?? So much for your husband being your biggest fan, right??!!??

That is all I've got - more pictures from the trip to come. We've still got the science center and the aquarium to cover.

Day 3

2011-04-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day ... Don't get too excited, this will be a short one. Day 3 was our day without the kids. We left the kiddos with Grandma and spent the day in and around the city. Our first stop was The Grove shopping center and Farmer's Market. There was lots going on while we were there. Mario Lopez was there filming pieces for E! or whatever entertainment show he is on. Dasani was doing a big thing for Earth Day where they had a fashion show of sorts with the models where only Leaves. It was a nice area to wander through.

Mario Lopez asking the hard hitting questions ... "So, who do you find more attractive, Vin Diesel, Rock, or Paul Wilson?"

After The Grove, we headed to the ever Famous Pink's Hotdog stand. Our consensus was that it was good, but it was still just a hot dog.

After lunch, we headed to Santa Monica for a Segway tour. This was a groupon not too long ago, that was how we found out about it. It was a lot of fun. I had no idea how they worked - I figured they had a gas button or you twist the handle or something to make it go - but it is actually just made to move forward or backward by your balance - lean your hips forward, away you go, lean the hips back and you stop or go backwards. Takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get it - totally neat.

This is us about halfway through the tour. We went along the boardwalk through Santa Monica. I am swear we passed the beach club that was used in Saved by the Bell (I think they called it the malibu sands beach club - Yes, I am a total dork)

After the segway tour, we had planned to head dowtown to the LA Live area, but the tour ended at about 4:15 and traffic was a super nightmare, so we headed to Border Grill for some delicious happy hour margaritas and appetizers. Then we headed to a sports bar called Yankee Doodles to watch the game. The food sucked, but the beer was cheap and it was crowded with Lakers fans, so fun to watch the game.

And that concludes Wade and Hallie's Day without the Kids!

Day 2

2011-04-30T11:13:00.001-07:00

M I C K E Y M O U S E ... c'mon, you know the words, sing it with me ... Day 2 was our Disney Adventure and while it was great and we had lots of fun, it was super crowded. I didn't realize how spoiled we had been in our past few trips - the park has always been somewhat busy, but there are usually a few rides that we could just walk on all day - like the teacups, we have ridden those 4 and 5 times, mostly because there was no line! This time, it was crazy crowded, like you could totally lose your kid crowded. But we perservered. We got there just about when the park opened and were able to hit a few rides with very little line. We went on the Buzz Light year ride first, then to the Nemo ride. Keira decided the Nemo submarine ride was her new favorite - replacing the tea cups from years past. I liked it a lot too! Mallory got to meet Mickey and Minnie for the first time and she wasn't as wild about them as I thought. I don't think she really knew what to think. She didn't scream and cry, just kept her distance! Mallory enjoyed all the rides, but the waiting in line was the for the birds! A close 2nd for Keira's favorite thing was meeting the princesses - she just loves them! Below are some of the pictures from our day.

This is the girls meeting Mickey. Keira ran right up to him and gave him a hug like they had been best friends forever. Mallory, on the other hand, kept her distance.

Here we are with Minnie. If we look like we've been out in the rain, it is because we had! It rained on and off most of the morning. And don't ask me why Wade is not in these photos, he is somehow good at escaping the camera!

Mallory on Dumbo. We almost didn't make it, someone had had enough of waiting.

The ever favorite teacups!

Keira and Ariel. She was super excited about that - she had never "met" Ariel before.

Mallory conked out for about 2 hours while we were there, the excitement was just too much for her.

Keira with a Mickey shaped ice cream bar.

Mallory making a total disaster of an ice cream cone.

Keira catching bubbles at the Disney Live show. This was a favorite too!

More to come tomorrow ...

Vacation - Day 1

2011-04-29T11:53:00.001-07:00

We're baaaacccckkkk! We had a great time in sunny (and sometimes not so sunny) California. It packed a lot of fun into a week ... though it really didn't feel like a whole week. Here is day 1 ...

Waiting patiently at the airport to go see Grandma and Papa!

Playing on the airplane on our very looonnnggg 4.5 hour flight.

Carpet picnic at Grandma's house for lunch.

Playing at the park ... no idea what is going on here ;)

More park playing ... to the left of Keira is Julie Bowen, this was my attempt to get her picture without being obnoxious! On my camera I can zoom in and really tell that it is her, but couldn't figure out how to do that on the computer!

Teeter Totter.

Malzy loved the sand, no matter where it was. She spent an hour playing in it at the park.

Swinging with Grandma!

Day 2 to come tomorrow ... Disneyland!

Digging for Treasures

2011-04-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

Queen Bees

2011-04-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

Spring soccer has begun. This season, Keira is the gold team - and they have named themselves the Queen Bees. Pretty cute, I thought. I think this will be the make or break season for Keira and soccer. We have moved up to the under 6 league from the Pee-Wees in the fall since she is 5 now. Last year was more about picking grass and skipping around. This year is a bit more serious. It is 5 on 5 (last year 3 on 3) and there is a goalie (no goalie last year). Like I said, more serious. I really like her coach. He does a good job of running drills and letting the girls have fun. So far, Keira still really likes it, though is probably one of the more easily distracted ones on the team. They had their first game on saturday and she did really well - even scored a goal! We are so proud of her! They don't technically keep score, but they won! (Shhh, don't tell anyone I was keeping score). Here are a few pics in her uniform.

The Queen Bee all ready to go. She's number 13.

Keira during the game. Yes, she looks like a line backer. She has her winter coat on under her jersey. It was a little cold saturday morning.

Mallory watching the game. She desperately wanted to play too.

Patiently waiting her turn.

During the game.

No reason at all

2011-04-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Because sometimes you can make and eat chocolate cake just because it's Sunday!

Best served with vanilla ice cream!

Keira is clearly ecstatic about having cake "just because it's Sunday"!

Mallory on the other hand has no idea what is going on!!

Bubbles

2011-03-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing can make you forget that it's going to cost $305 to fix your gutters, your husband is out of town ALL week, you have no idea what you are going to make for dinner (and neither child will likely eat it anyway) and the dog is still missing most of it's hair, like watching your kids chase bubbles. It was a beautiful, beautiful day and we played outside and the girls chased and chased and chased those bubbles. Days like this just don't occur often enough. No pictures, we were just in the moment. Too bad, it was quite a sight. :)

I used to think this was cute ...

2011-03-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

So, on Mal's high chair, there is a little indentation for a cup on both sides. She uses the cup holders to put things in, sometimes her cup, but most of the time she'll put the goldfish in there or the peaches, etc. Well, now she uses it for food she doesn't like and is not going to eat. Phase 1 of this was that she would taste something, spit it out, and then put whatever was left of that particular item on her tray she would move it all into the little cup holders. I thought it was cute and funny. Well, now we have moved on to phase 2. Now if I put something on to her tray that she doesn't like the look of, she'll put it into the cupholders without even tasting it. Awesome. Tonight, every single bit of food went into the cupholders.

Not really so funny anymore ... good thing she's so cute :)

Mardi Gras!

2011-03-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

Made a King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras this year. But with no baby, for several reasons. One, I think it's sorta creepy. Two, I don't need anyone choking or breaking a tooth. Three, I didn't want to buy a bag of about 50 of them ... 'cause that is even creepier ... to have a bag of small naked babies just lying around. weird. Anyhow, it really turned out great. Doesn't look fantastic, but tasted good. Below is a link to the recipe I used for someone that asked. As always, it's complicated. I used that recipe for the dough, but didn't like the sound of that filling, so I used another recipe for the filling. 1st one is dough, 2nd one filling. And if you like cooking blogs, the first one is a fav of mine. Super yummy Thai Peanut Noodles.

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/02/king-cake-happy-mardi-gras/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mardi-Gras-King-Cake/Detail.aspx

Love her!

2011-03-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

Seriously ... is she not just the cutest thing EVER! I just can't get enough of that sweet face!

I intended to do a big update tonight, but honestly, since sitting down to write, I can't think of a thing to say! Ha, Wade would love it that I am speechless. :) We've been busy doing everyday things really. Today I made a king cake for Mardi Gras. First time I had ever made one - and it turned out pretty freakin' good, if I do say so myself. The kids especially enjoyed it.

Keira has been busy with dance and preschool. Last week, she got to be student of the week - which she has been waiting for since school started. You get to make a poster with pictures of your family and all the things you like and dislike. Then you get to bring in something for show and tell (her pink teddy bear "Pinky") and on friday she got to bring her favorite book (She loves books so much, it was difficult for her to choose. She ended up going with a sesame street book I think). We registered her for Kindergarten last week too. Mommy was pretty sad about that. Kindergarten is all day here and I don't think I am ready for her to be gone all day yet. I know Mallory isn't!

Mallory has been growing like a weed. She follows Keira around constantly and wants to do everything she does. Keira was playing with Little People on the couch the other day. She must have had 30 of them out and was playing school with them. Mallory came and stood on the other side of the couch with two Little People she had "stolen" away from Keira and moved them around like Keira was. Soo cute.

Same old same old for Wade and I (emphasis on old I think!). We've been having lots of house "fun" lately. The furnace went out and we were without heat for about 36 hours. The temp outside was about 2, so that was great. Then our TV went out. And yesterday, the roof or a window or something started leaking. Awesome. Not sure why we don't rent????

For all of you following the saga that is Peanut's life ... she has currently been diagnosed with Allergies - this vet thinks that is why she has the hair loss. Also thinks she DOES have a thyroid problem and that the reaction she had while on the thyroid medication before was not related to the medication. So she got juiced with steriods and back on the thyroid meds. It has been about 2 weeks. She hasn't lost any more hair, but I can't say she really looks better. Stay tuned for updates on this. I guess the good news is that she hasn't eaten anything interesting lately, not even a sock.

That is all I've got folks. Oh, I did find a dollar laying on the side of the road. That is lucky, right?

Peace!

Birthday Post - Part 2

2011-02-03T18:40:00.001-08:00

Can you guess where we had the party???? Lots of fun and ice cream was had by all at this 5th birthday party. The kids got to play a taste test game where they tried a few different flavors of ice cream and then guess what the names of them were. Then they got to make their own ice cream cone by dipping it in chocolate and sprinkling sprinkles on it. We played pin the cherry on the ice cream cone (sadly, no pics of that - but I have to thank Mrs. Wonka for her fantabulous art work on short notice, seriously, you rock!) and the kids ate ice cream and cake (also crafted by the aforementioned Mrs. Wonka!) and a good time was had by all. Keira has already asked to do the exact same things for her "6 birthday". Must mean she really enjoyed it!

Kids hiding behind the cow

Arguably, Keira's favorite part of the party, "Party Noise Makers".

Keira dipping her cone in chocolate and adding the sprinkles ... she was concentrating very hard!

Blowing out the candles, Happy Birthday Big Girl!

The kids in the freezer at Ben and Jerry's. They thought it was hilarious!

Birthday Post - Part 1

2011-02-02T18:14:00.001-08:00

So, we celebrated a 5th birthday here a couple of weeks ago ... I can hardly believe it. I read a quote once that said something to the effect of ... as a SAHM the days are long but the years are short. I couldn't agree more ... especially since we have been trapped inside the house by snow and sickness for almost a week ... I cannot believe that she is 5! She will be going to kindergarten next year. Full Day Kindergarten! AHHH! But alas, that is a post for another time - this is just about her birthday! We headed back to see our friends in Kansas. We stayed at The Great Wolfe Lodge for the first part of the celebration. We headed into town on a friday, picked up her BFF and headed for waterpark fun. We had never been a Great Wolfe before and we loved it! Keira has already told me that she would like to have her 6 birthday there too! Ha. The waterpark part was excellent, lots of pool space, slides, etc for the kids. Lots of areas for all ages to play. They have storytime at night where the kids can get in the PJs and head to the lobby and hear a story from some of their characters. And of course, there was plenty of food, candy, donuts, etc. Below are a few of our favorite pictures.

Keira, Lexi, and Mallory outside the snack shop.

The girls first dip in the pool. Look at those smiles!

Looks like Mallory knows she is a Hacker - she loves the water too!

This is the area where a very large bucket of water dumps on the kids. The girls really wanted me to hurry and take their picture so they could get out of the way!

I guess it is possible to wear them out!

Birthday post coming soon

2011-01-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

We've been down for the count here with colds, stomach flu, passing out, etc .... more soon!

Snow Day

2011-01-28T17:18:00.000-08:00

Much to my chagrin, we have been getting a lot of snow recently. I, being the terrible parent that I am, sent Keira out in it by herself the other day. We got about 8 inches and my boots were no where to be found, so there was no way I was going out. But she had fun sliding down the snowy slide and making snow angels. The next door neighbor's dog was out playing in the snow, so Keira had fun throwing snowballs into their yard and having the dog chase them. After she came in (she spend about 20 minutes in the snow), we made snow ice cream! Now that is how I play in the snow!

Mini Me

2011-01-28T17:16:00.001-08:00

I call Mallory Mini-Me in this picture, because of her outfit ... plain color top and cargo pants, just like her momma! Wish I could find pink ones!

Fingerprints

2011-01-28T17:12:00.001-08:00

Fingerprints on tables used to make me crazy ... especially when they appeared just moments after I had dusted and waxed. Now ... well, now, they make me a little sad because those prints are still so tiny, but I know they won't be that little for long.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year frienda and family. Hope that 2011 and is a great one for you all. Here is some cute pictures of the kiddos have fun with hats and noisemakers!

Christmas 2011

2011-01-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that Christmas and for that matter, New Year's, has already come and gone. The entire month of December seemed to fly by. We had lots of fun on the big day - tho it was almost ruined by me having the stomach flu 2 days prior. Sadly, that kept Ryan and Suzie away for the main event, but they did make it down for New Year's.

Christmas morning was fun as always - especially with two little girls participating this year (Mal didn't do much present opening last year ;). The girls both got into the opening of the gifts, Keira of course knows the routine, Mallory figured it out pretty quickly. Keira's favorite thus far has been the Rapunzel tower. Though I think the Barbie Jeep will take over as soon as it is warm enough to ride it. Mallory seems to love anything Keira is playing with -- so we will keep this in mind for next year. :)

The super cute pajamas they are wearing are courtesy of Gram-Gram. Keira calls them her "Elf Pajamas".

Mallory's new tent! Wade went out with all the crazies on Black Friday, to Wal-Mart, at midnight no less, to pick this up. Love him! I was going at 4 AM and just couldn't do both -- and he volunteered for this shift!

Mallory enjoying Keira's present!

So excited to be opening presents.

Annual Christmas Socks Picture.

What Santa brought the girls!

We are looking forward to all that 2011 will bring. Hopefully, lottery winnings ;)

Lots of Holiday Fun!

2010-12-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

We love Christmas time here at the Hacker House. Everybody has been busy with holiday related activities. Here is a few pictures of what we have been doing the past week:

Keira and I made cut out Christmas cookies. She used an ENTIRE thing of colored sugar to decorate them ... uuuhh, yum?!?

Wade and Keira built this lovely Gingerbread house. Wade said the frosting the kit came with was super gross ... Keira didn't seem to notice!

The Parks and Rec department here put on a Candy Cane Hunt. So Keira got to go outside and search for Candy Canes and then come back in for prizes! Santa also visited and their were crafts and cocoa and cookies. It was a lot of fun. This was Mallory's first visit with Santa. She wasn't too impressed. She was ok with looking at him and there were no tears, but she really wanted nothing to do with him holding here - In this pic she is trying to wiggle her way out of the chair.

This is Mallory being bashful with Santa - which is really ridiculous because she is not at all shy!

Keira and Daddy making Candy Cane Reindeer.

Mallory enjoying a cookie at the candy cane hunt. She somehow got ahold of an entire cookie and was NOT letting go! Hey, it's Christmas, right?!?

I hope you are all enjoying the season. I am thankful for no snow yet. Yippee! It has been quite chilly. I traded in my flip flops for a pair of those line crocs. For the record, yes, they are the most hideous things I have ever seen, but they keep my feet warm and I can just slide them on and go. Some days there just isn't even enough time to tie my shoes!

We have a school christmas program and a christmas ballet recital coming up, so those should produce some good pictures! Talk to you soon!

Painting, Painting, Painting.

2010-11-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

We finally got the main area of the house painted -- it is really one large room that encompasses the kitchen, dining and family room. I hate painting. It took pretty much all the non-waking hours of the kids over two weekends for us to get it finished. I hate painting. It was complicated by the fact that the windows you see to the left (there are 5 of them) cannot be reached with a ladder because they are over the stairs. I hate painting. So Wade constructed a platform (we named it Matt) to span from the railing to the window sill. And yes, we did in fact check to make sure the life insurance and the disability were paid up. I just basically ignored what he was doing and did my stuff because the more I thought about it, the more I freaked out about it. Have I mentioned I hate painting??!!?? Anyhoo, the result was great - the color looks fab (SW Virtual Taupe). And the christmas decorations kinda complete the room!

Chocolate Turkeys!

2010-11-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

Keira is super interested in crafts right now. So while Mallory napped on Thanksgiving and I worked on getting dinner on the table, Wade and Keira made chocolate turkeys from malted milk balls, reese cups, and oreo cookies. Yum! (well, sort of - I hate malted milk balls, bleck). They turned out really cute. They had a good time putting them together and Keira mostly loved eating them. :)

So many pictures!

2010-11-13T17:45:00.001-08:00

Oh my have we been busy the last couple of weeks ... Mal's b-day, Halloween, Grandma visiting, Daddy out of town a bunch, Wonka's visiting, stomach flu, runny noses ... you name it, we've had it/done it lately! Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Also, sorry ... these are in crazy order, I can't get them to move!

Happy Birthday Mal! Have some cake!

Oh my goodness, Look at those presents! Really, she was more obsessed with the balloons, she could have cared less about the presents!

Sick Days - we moved the futon mattress in front of the tv, hung out in our pajamas, drank lots of fluids, and did very little else. Peanut was happy to join in.

Yum, cake!

Yum, more cake. I think we had 3 birthday cakes!

BFF Lexi visiting. I pretty much didn't see the girls all weekend - they ran off to play together as soon as Lexi walked in the door!

Bonding time with Grandma. Pink fingernails and toenails!

Snuggling with Mom.

My poor sick baby.

Sisters having fun!

Mallory is 1!

2010-10-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

My baby is 1 today. I cannot believe it. The year has passed so quickly. I would like to say that I am more rested than when she was first born, but she was up for a couple of hours last night because her teeth are bothering her, so not really sure that is true! Here are a few pictures of her from the day she was born and from her 1 year photo shoot. **Sorry, I know the pics are crazy, blogger is being a pain and I don't have the energy to fuss with it.**

Thanks, but I'll do it myself.

2010-10-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

Mallory has decided that anything we eat, she should be able to eat. After a bunch of whining, we just give in ... here she is eating some fun stuff.

Outtakes from the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

Every Mom can commiserate ... sometimes it is just impossible to get pictures of your kids. Here are a few outtakes from our recent trip to the pumpkin patch.

Mal: "I am outta here!"

Keira: "There is something way more interesting going on over there"

Mallory decided she needed to tell a story right as I was taking a pic.

I have no idea what is going on here, especially with hair!

This is Keira's fake smile.

Sisters

2010-10-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

99% of the time, the girls are best of friends. Mal simply adores Keira. chases after her. Wants to do whatever Keira is doing. It is so cute. On occasion, Keira refuses to share, but she has learned pretty quickly that when Mallory is playing with something, it is usually for about 10 seconds and then she is on to something else. Today we were at Costco and they got some veggie straws samples. Mallory had one in each hand and was sharing with Keira by leaning over the cart and giving Keira a bite. Keira thought it was hilarious.

Soccer

2010-09-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

So we are trying another sport ... t-ball wasn't really a favorite, so it's on to soccer! So far, Keira loves it. It is a 3 on 3 co-ed league and there are 7 kids on the team. And Keira is about a head taller than all the kids ... even the boys!

Not only am I walking ...

2010-09-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

but I am climbing too!

Friendship

2010-09-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival." C.S. Lewis

We went and visited the Wonderful Wonka's last weekend in Kansas. As expected, it was a great trip. Keira was thrilled to spend some time with her best bud and I am pretty sure that Henry and Mallory are going to get married (at least if Mallory has anything to do with it! She tried to kiss him on multiple occasions, but he made her talk to the hand!).

The weekend made me think alot about friendship. (And a bit about the attitude I have been having here - I've been sorta over the making new friends thing, it is a lot of work). Moving is hard. To live in a city for not even 2 years and put down any type of roots is difficult. And it is a lot of work. And I am not the worlds most social person, definitely an introvert, so it is uncomfortable for me. But I guess, there are two schools of thought here. You either don't even try and suffer through the amount of time you'll be there OR you stick your neck out, try to make some friends and let the good times roll. I learned this weekend that really, friends are what make the world go round. Not that I didn't know that before. But it just became very clear for me this weekend. I was literally brought to tears watching Keira play so excitedly with her "Kansas Friends" as she calls them.

I am glad to say that in both Kansas and Ohio, I found some friends (couldn't have survived without them) who will be with me forever. They have been there through the sleepless nights of infancy and will be with me through the sleepless nights of teenager-hood! I love you girls (you know who you are).

I hope to find a few in Missouri as well. Guess I'll put that on my to do list. :)

Mallory -- 10 Months Old!

2010-09-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? I just don't know. Mallory is growing up so quickly. She is learning lots of new skills. The most important of which is that she is *almost* walking. She can take about 12 steps on her own and today is doing more walking than crawling, she is almost there. She totally does the George Jefferson walk where her shoulders are back and her arms behind her, fairly hilarious - of course, no pictures of that, but see below to see the other fabulous new skills she has learned.

Look Mom, I can get in the refrigerator and get my own snack ...

and I can feed myself - and Peanut, and the floor, and my hair ...

And I can totally sleep with my cute little booty in the air! But wait, one more skill ...

I can take OFF my own diaper!

Kid Free Vacation

2010-09-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

The month of August FLEW by for us, we had lots of visitors and we were able to sneak out and take a Parents Only vacation for a few days. We headed as far SOUTH (surprise surprise, right?!?) as we could get and stayed in Key West at a place called Southernmost On the Beach. it was beautiful and very relaxing, exactly what we were looking for. Spent most of the time reading in a chair on the beach, but we did take one day and go on something they called the "Power Adventure". It was a full day out on a boat where we snorkeled, jet ski-ed, took banana boat rides, went parasailing, and drank until we couldn't drink anymore! It was a blast. I took very few pics, but below are a few.

Wade and I at the Southernmost Point in the US.

At a resturant for breakfast called Blue Heaven. Yummy Pancakes! And roosters running around!

The view from our Balcony.

A Hammock we spent some time in!

Pier at the hotel.

Keira Self Portrait

2010-09-07T12:14:00.001-07:00

Key West Here We Come!

2010-07-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, at least some of the Hackers are going! Wade's mom has volunteered to watch the kids, so Wade and are are taking off to Key West for a few days in August. I am so excited that I might burst. I am sure I will miss the kids like crazy, but it will be nice to have a little break. To make it even better, the flight and car (we are flying into Miami and driving down) were free from points on the credit card!

Batter Up!

2010-07-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Keira started t-ball this week. I would say she is luke warm at best on the sport thus far. She loved that she got a shirt and a pink glove, really that was the highlight! Oh and snack on the bench, LOVED having snack on the bench. We'll see how the season goes. Here are some pics from practice the other day.

Man have we had a busy few days

2010-07-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

We had great friends visit this weekend and we had a blast. Kids got to play play play and the moms and dads just had to watch . . . and drink margaritas . . . no, really, mostly watch our kids (or maybe mostly drink margaritas and chocolate wine and ... well, I digress). The weekend involved visiting the science center, playing in the sprinkler, turning the slide on the swingset into a water slide (Keira was flying about 12 feet through the yard on this!) and just hanging out. Here are some pics.

This was officially Keira's first sleepover. The girls camped out on the floor and as sleepovers go, had to be warned several times that if they didnt' quiet down, they were going to have to be seperated :) They did eventually fall asleep!

We headed to the science center on sunday. It was pretty neat. Below you see the girls looking through plexiglass on a bridge over the highway. You could see the cars zoom past below you. They also had radar guns out the windows so you could see how fast the cars were going. It was neat.

Those of you who know us well, know what a ridiculous amount of toys we have in our house. Yes, I have a problem and I can admit it ;) Well, with all the toys, a box was still the most fun to play with!

Mallory desperatly wants to be one of the "BIG" girls!

A good time was had by all - we hope they come back soon!

Mallory's favorite place in the house

2010-07-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Mallory loves to look out the windows, this is her favorite spot!

The Girls

2010-07-06T07:24:00.001-07:00

Mallory adores her big sister and the feeling is mutual on Keira's part. Here are a few pics of the kids together.

Mallory

2010-07-06T07:17:00.001-07:00

Mallory is growing like crazy and doing all kinds of new things. She figured out crawling and pulling up in the same day. The kid is on the move! She isn't quite cruising yet, but she is close. She has also started solid foods, so I have started making baby food again. So far her favorites are sweet potato and avocado mixed with mango. She absolutely refuses green beans and anything mixed with oatmeal. Loves peas, pears, peaches, papaya ... hmm, that is a lot of Ps! And the best news of all to report is that she FINALLY started sleeping through the night. Hallelujah!

Playing Dress Up

2010-07-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Look at what we can find in Mommy's closet. As a side note, the skirt she is wearing is the skirt I wore on my first date with Wade. :)

Water fun!

2010-07-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Seems like we spend most of the summer in the water! Keira loves it and so does Mallory. We just finished up two weeks of swim lessons (indoors this year, I learned my lesson with the heat last year!). She loved it of course and is making great progress. Below are some pics from the lessons as well as one picture of Mallory at the city pool. The city has a great little water park that has the little bubblers for the babies as well as slides and a big climb on thing for the bigger kids. Keira loved it and has asked to go back every weekend!

Patiently waiting her turn

Getting ready to dive down to get the rings.

Playing red light/green light/blue light (blue light was for blowing bubbles!)

The last day they turned on the tubes and let the kids play - Keira loved it!

Mallory playing in the water at Alligator Creek Pool.

Alligator Creek Public Pool. Pretty nice set up for only $4 admission!

A morning at the zoo!

2010-05-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Ya'll know I love a good bargain, right? Well, here is the deal with the zoo here. First, it is free to get in. All day, everyday. That in and of itself is a good bargain. Parking is apparently $12, but we got street parking, so it was free too. Bargain. Then, someone at work told Wade that the first hour the zoo was open, that the carousel, Sting Ray petting and feeding, and the children's zoo are all Free. Bargain, Bargain, Bargain. We had lots of cheap fun today. The zoo was great and weather really wasn't too hot. Keira loved it, of course. Not sure what her favorite part was, but we saw every animal there was too see. Here are some pics!

Mallory on her first carosel ride. She loved it!

Daddy with two kids who would rather be doing something else than getting their picture taken!

This is in the children's zoo section. You could pet goats, play on slides, pet alpacas. All the exhibits were down at the kids level so they could see well and touch everything!

Mallory may have had a bit of ice cream. I don't have any idea of who would feed my 7 month old ice cream, but it certainly wasn't me that made her this happy ;)

A couple pictures of the house

2010-05-28T18:31:00.001-07:00

Front of the House - we sit on the edge of a cul-de-sac, so only 3 houses beyond us. Nice for Keira to ride her bike without being worried about traffic.

Back of the House - We really love all the windows!

The new playset. Keira loves it. There is enough room in the playhouse part for a table and chairs.

One of the bunnies I was telling you about. This one is Hoppy.

Keira enjoying the swing!

Pictures of the inside to come soon! Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Broken Record

2010-05-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, if you have heard it once from me, you have heard it a thousand times ... we have been so busy it has been difficult to post. A lot has been going on - we moved! We are now sorta settled in St. Louis - Saint Peters to be exact. Well, that isn't really exact. Apparently our mailing address is Saint Peters but we technically live in O'Fallon. I dont' really have any idea if that means much, but that is where we are if you are looking for us :) I'll post pictures of the house soon.

The pictures at the top a from a photoshoot we had at the Olathe house. Mallory is 6 months old in the pics and Keira almost 4 1/2. Yikes how they get big quick!

So here are some quick updates:

Keira: She loves the new house - it is a ranch style home, so she likes to run from one end to the other. Fun. She also loves the new playset in the back (pics to come). But her favorite, favorite feature is that we have a family of bunnies living in the back yard. She has named them Hoppy, Carrot, and Thumper (well, maybe Daddy named the last one). They are super tame and Keira can get to where she can get within about 3 feet of them before they hop away. And even then, they just hop so they are about 10 feet away, not even out of the yard. (They aren't afraid of Peanut either - if she gets after them, they just hop to the other side of the fence and look at her!). We have found her a new preschool at a church that is about 3 miles away. We got to tour it on tuesday.

Mallory: She just turned 7 months old. She has sitting up mastered and is just desperate to crawl. She can get up on hands and knees and does the rocking thing, but hasn't figured out how to move yet. Mostly she gets frustrated, falls flat down and then kicks her arms and legs furiously and screams until someone comes and picks her up! She totally adores Keira - smiles everytime Keira pays any attention to her at all. She is a super smiley girl - everyone tends to stop and talk to us at the grocery store because Mal can't let anyone pass without a smile.

Wade: Wade is definetly enjoying not having to drive back and forth to Saint Louis anymore. He is not really enjoying the huge backyard we have when it comes to mowing though - I think a riding lawn mower is on his list to Santa this year.

Me: What can I say about me, trying to get settled, get the house in order, find my way around (what would I do without a Garmin???), trying to find stuff for Keira to do (so far we are signed up for swim lessons in June and T-ball in July), get dinner on the table, ya know, just the standard stuff! Mostly, I am tired. But hey, I've got my whole life to sleep, right?!?

I will get some pics of the house this weekend and we are headed to the zoo tomorrow, so I will try to post some of those pics too. I am really excited about the zoo - we have heard lots of great things - here is hoping it lives up to the hype!

Almost Gone

2010-05-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well, we have less than a week left of our short stay here in Kansas. Life has been crazy over the last few weeks trying to get ready for the move. We've also been trying to visit all our "favorites" places and restuarants before we go (jason's deli, minsky's pizza, mi ranchito, to name a few!). I took Keira and two of her best friends, Lexi and Reese, to Deanna Rose Farmstead. They had so much fun feeding the animals, playing on the playground and eating Popsicles. While the girls just had a great time because they don't quite understand the significance, it was bittersweet for me to watch them have such a great time, knowing this was the last time this would happen in a long time. Yes, we'll be back to visit, but it won't be the same. This is the hardest part of this move - Keira has her own little life now. Friends, school, playdates, etc and taking her away from those things is hard. And sad. The good news is, Keira is great at making friends. Everywhere we go, she picks up friends. Vacation, the park, swim lessons, she always finds someone to play with and they are great friends for as long as we are there. So now, we just have to go "pick up" some new friends. I am going to miss all my Mom friends here too - I am not as good at picking up friends as she is, so it will probably take me a bit longer.

The next time you hear from me, it will be from the great state of Missouri. Hopefully it will be relatively soon and please pray the trip over is MUCH less eventful as the trip to Kansas was. I really can't deal with another near death experience.

Mallory doing push-ups!

2010-05-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

Now that Mallory has mastered sitting up, she is desperate to crawl. She hasn't quite figured it out yet, so instead she is just practicing her push ups!

*And yes, I know it has been way too long since I last posted, but I don't have time for anymore now! Will post more after the move!

Feet

2010-04-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Seriously, how stinkin cute is this? I love the phase where they are obsessed with getting their feet. So cute!!

SOLD

2010-04-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I haven't mentioned on here that our house is SOLD! We've got inspection wednesday and closing on May 20th! Yippee. Wade and I are heading to St. Louis on Friday to find a new home there!

LOVE the weather

2010-04-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it is FINALLY spring here. Well, really it feels like summer. It was over 80 several times this week. We have been outside, outside, outside. It is great. It is so much easier to be a parent when you can be outside. There is so much more to do, no one is bored, Keira gets to run off all that excess energy - Love it! We've played on the swingset, chased after bubbles, rode bikes, you name it, we've done it. Sadly, we've been having so much fun that I forget to take pictures, but here are a few!

Love that Laugh!

2010-03-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Hacker Girls!

2010-03-27T18:58:00.001-07:00

Who would have thought it sooo hard to get a picture of three people all staring at the camera and smiling?!?!? Here is one more ...

Oh, and note the thumb in the mouth in this one ... Mallory has become a thumb sucker!

Getting Big!

2010-03-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Mallory is growing up right before our eyes. I can hardly believe it. She is getting so big. She is almost sitting up on her own and while we haven't officially started solids yet, she has had some banana, which, to be honest, she could really take or leave. She really loves Peanut - they have lots of staring contests! Here are some recent pictures!

Cheap Cereal at Target

2010-03-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Target has Frosted Mini Wheats on sale, 4 boxes for $10. On top of that, you get a $5 gift card back with purchase. There are $1.50 off 2 boxes coupons out there, so you pay only $6 for 4 boxes and get $5 back. Good thing Keira likes the strawberry kind, she'll be eating it for awhile!

And just a little known fact .... unopened cereal stays good FOREVER, so feel free to stock up, it won't go bad!

Just because she is cute!

2010-03-15T12:04:00.001-07:00

Doesn't she look good in pink????

Swim Lessons

2010-03-15T12:01:00.001-07:00

Keira was so excited that I thought she would burst this morning! She loves being in the water and couldn't wait to get to the pool this morning. This is spring break week - so the class is 4 mornings this week. When I told her that, she asked, "Why isn't it 5 mornings?". She can never be pleased! Lots of fun was had and she can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Arrgghh!

2010-02-22T08:23:00.001-08:00

I am trying to get some pictures of both girls together, but it is sooo hard to get them both looking at the camera and both smiling. Hopefully some this week!

Bath Time

2010-02-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

Mallory have finally started to like her baths ... and proved it tonight by splashing Wade to the point that he had to change his clothes. Here she is right out of the tub!

Mallory and Peanut

2010-02-22T08:18:00.001-08:00

Mallory loves Peanut. Whenver I am sitting on the couch with Mallory, Peanut usually lays next to us. Mallory always reaches her arm out, so that she can pet peanut. It is the cutest thing. She must like the way her fur feels. The picture below is Mallory having a staring contest with Peanut! The other is of her trying to reach out and grab her.

No Go

2010-02-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

So, we didn't make the trip. At the moment (seriously, the moment I reached for Keira's coat), it started snowing like crazy here. And did so for about an hour. Then I hopped on the internet and it said there was another storm coming through sunday night, so we decided not to risk it. I do not drive well in weather. Ever since our trip here, I just get too nervous. So it was best we stayed home. We didn't get anywhere near the snow they said we were going to, but we didn't know that at the time. We'll try again in a few weeks.

Lost

2010-02-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention we have become addicted to Lost. We are about halfway through season 3 at this point. Good stuff.

A big trip

2010-02-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

So we are about to embark on Mallory's first car trip. I don't think it's going to be fun. Mallory is a car seat screamer. Not 100% of the time, but a lot of the time. Since Wade is in St. Louis this week, I am going to drive the kids by myself to St. Louis. We are going to stay the night there and then leave in the morning, together for the rest of the trip to see Wade's family. Pray for my sanity.

We are going to be so close to many of you ... but sadly unable to see you :( We are only going to be in town for about 36 hours, so there just want be time for a side trip to indy or cincy.

As a neat side note, McDonald's website has a pretty cool feature - trip planner. It lets you put in your begining and ending point and then will map all the McDonald's in between. I am going to need to stop and feed Mallory along the way and thought it best to stop at a McDonald's with a playplace so that Keira would have something to do. The website tells you which ones have play places too! Anyway, just thought it was neat!

Nothing much else exciting going on. Well, that isn't true. Mallory had one night this week where she slept from 8:15 PM to after 6:00 AM. It was awesome. Sadly, it didn't start a pattern, but I will take sleep anywhere I can get it, especially when Wade is out of town.

Speaking of out of town ... still working out details of this lousy move with Wade's company. I am not going to go into all the details, because it would take more pages than this blog has, but we are still waiting on stuff from his company before we can make any firms plans to move. Bleck.

ok, think that is it ... here are a couple of pictures. And yes, Mallory still has crazy hair!

Back in the game

2010-02-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

So I have sorta fallen off the Wags/CVS wagon as of late. Just haven't had enough time to get to the stores. But have started back up in the last couple of weeks - this week was really a good one for Walgreens. Here's what I did:

Dove Men's Body Wash - $5.99
Orbit Gum 3 Pack- $1.50
Orbit Gum 3 Pack - $1.50
Kotex Tampons - $3.00
Kotex Tampons - $3.00
Total $14.99

Coupons $5.50 ($1 off gum, $1 off gum, $1.50 off body wash, $2 off tampons)
Total: $9.49
Paid with $10 RR that I got from Pepsi deal last week, got back $6 RR from body wash and $3 RR from tampons.

Then went back and bought Huggies Diapers $8.99, minus $2 coupon, $6.99, paid with $6 RR, so a little over $1 OOP, and got $3 RR back!

I went back and did the body wash and diaper deals again because they were such good deals. Hope the deals are as good next week! I love free and almost free stuff!

What a good week!!!

Mostly pictures

2010-02-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day is almost upon us and that means lots of crafts. Keira made 6 or 8 in one sitting. It was a lot of fun ... except for the glitter part. I think every mom hates glitter, guess I had forgotten just how much I hate it. It's everywhere right now and probably will be for the next few months!!! Below are some pictures of the girls. Nothing too exciting going on really. Just hanging out and trying to stay warm! It will be spring eventually, right?!? Enjoy the pics.

Pics of Mallory

2010-01-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

Mallory is 13 weeks old already and getting big. According to our big scale, she is about 14 pounds. She is smiling, giggling, talking, and grasping objects and putting them in her mouth. She desperately wants to be a thumb sucker but hasn't quite figured it out yet.

Keira is 4!

2010-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

Keira turned 4 last week! Hard to believe, I know! Where does the time go?!? She requested a princess beach party, so a princess beach party is what we had. There were grass skirts, princess hats, sunglasses, and leis! There were also about 13 4 year olds running around - the house was crazy. But they all had a lot of fun playing Find the Snow White's Poison Apple, Sleeping Beauty Freeze Dance, and Pin Flounder on Ariel! Here is a picture of Keira all dressed up on her big day.

This picture below is similar to the above except that she has her princess hat on. I didn't realize when I bought these princess hats that they would make her look like a gnome. And I have this weird thing about gnomes ... hate them, they seriously creep me out! Would never have bought those hats had I thought about it!

Keira picked out this gigantic castle cake. I made the mistake of telling her she could pick out anything she wanted from the book at the store. I should have previewed the book first. So this was the one she picked ... $38 later ... YIKES! But what do you do? She only turns 4 once!

Here is Keira blowing out her candles ... took a few tries, but she got them!

Overall, it was a great day. Keira loved it and mommy and daddy were exhausted after it was all over and it was only a 2 hour party!