Decisions, decisions

I tried to get a shower today. It's always a toss up when the kids are awake. Either ignore them for a while and get a shower, or wait and hope that all THREE kids will SLEEP at the SAME time at SOME point during the day. Today I brave it and take the shower I most desperately needed. Not just because I'm dirty, but for my sanity. I just needed 5 min where no one was pulling, kicking, pinching, sitting, walking or otherwise abusing me. Myles was already in bed and I thought the girls could just play downstairs while I ran and took a 5 min. shower. Lydia, who is now crawling quite well, will follow me up the stairs so I remember to put up the gate to stop her dead in her tracks. Then I open the toy bins and pull a few favorite toys out. This ought to be enough for my short shower.

The shower part went well, without incident.

I come walking down the hall and make a stop to put Myles back into bed. He was just opening his door to come out as I walked by. I peer over the railing to see the girls playing quite well on the floor down below. Okay, not bad. Shower accomplished.

I walked down the stairs and saw Audrey sitting right next to the TV cabinet. Odd, but okay. I walk outside to water the grass and the plants and come back in. I find Audrey now lying on her belly in the middle of the rug with the entire bottom half of her shirt covered in POOP! AHHHHHHHH...where do I even begin... FIRST, get Lydia out of the way. She comes over to investigate and "help" as soon as she sees me interested. I put her into the high chair so she is contained. Then I go get a plastic bag and some wipes, about a box full, and the poop mat. Then I start peeling off the clothes. At this point you know she is just going to need a bath. It's REALLY bad. I think I'm almost done when I look over at the TV where she was sitting when I first came down. Well there is poop all over the front of the cabinet. I'm talking everywhere. Upon further investigation it's all over the rug and the toys they have been playing with too. I'm now in for some major cleaning and disinfecting. Where to start! SECOND, get the dog into the garage. Poop is right up his alley and he would be all too happy to "help" clean it up. I get the girls into the tub, then down for a nap. Then it's on to the cleaning. THIRD, gather up all the toys and get them into the bleach. Then hit the rug with carpet cleaner and get all the poop out of the crevice' on the TV cabinet. All in all it's about a 45 min. which doesn't include soaking and washing the clothes of two very dirty little girls. Man... who knew that ONE little girl could produce SO MUCH POOP!

The worst part of the whole thing, no camera, Bjorn took it to work today so he could show a friend some pictures of the kids. Bummer. Oh well, sometimes your imagination works just as well. Just picture mustard yellow poop all over said children, the TV cabinet, rug, toys, etc.

Isn't being a mommy a GLAMOUROUS job! I need a RAISE is all I have to say.

Backyard makeover

This is what our backyard looked like when we moved in several months ago. I'm proud to say that we now have green living things in our backyard. It's still a "postage stamp" size lawn( thanks to my brother Ryan for naming it this), but we love the green look and it does make it look a million times better than it did when we moved in. Take a look, see what you think.

Daddy Shoes

A few months ago I was looking for summer shoes for Myles. His feet are getting so big and it seems I am constantly looking for new shoes. Anyway, I found these cute little black and white Adidas slides for a great deal at Burlington Coat Factory. I thought they could be cute because they are similar to those that Bjorn has. I didn't know if Myles would wear them however, he has a hard time walking in flip flops and opts not to wear them much. I brought them home and he took one look and them and said "daddy shoes." From that moment on it's all he wants to wear(with the occasional wellies mixed in). I even think that while I was out of town he wore them to church because Bjorn didn't want the fight to get them off his feet while trying to get three kids to church on time by himself. What a good dad for taking three very small kids to church by himself in the first place( my friends all commented the following week that they thought if funny that Bjorn let Myles wear the sandals to church). I'm just glad he can get them on by himself! We love the "Daddy Shoes"!

By popular demand

True Audrey

Quintessential Lydia

Lydias B&W for my bedroom

Audreys B&W for my room

So for those of you who already saw some photos, there was a request for more. Here you go. Not any of Myles, but I was trying to get photos of the girls. Here they are. The bottom two are the ones I chose, I love them, and they are going to look great on Canvas above my bed. Now all I have to do is sew my curtains...

Photos and more photos

My fabulous friend Angela came to the house the other day to take a few pictures of my kids. I've been needing these two pictures of the girls for my bedroom. They turned out really well and I'm going to have a hard time choosing which ones to put on the canvas. Thanks for you great talent Angela. I've been blessed many times by the photos she takes of my family. Take a look and see what you think!

Trying to get three kids to look at the same time is worse than pulling teeth!

Little Lydi, she's my lil' bully

Audrey my little princess

Momma and her girls. I just love these little faces. Man, I think I'm getting more and more freckles each year!

Tour of California 2010

Big George Hincapie

Today was stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. This year the Los Angeles stop was a time trial. This was a great way for us to see all 85 riders multiple times. The course was a loop that had to be done twice. It started in Downtown LA in front of the Staples Center and the top of the loop was up near the Disney Concert Hall. Like last year we made the day of it. Now that we have two more children to add to the mix it's a bit harder, but it's still fun and we are STILL determined to do the things we like to do. Sometimes our activities are harder, or slower than usual, but we are still enjoying them. Today was no exception.

We took the train into Union Station in LA, then took the subway one stop to Civic Center where we walked about 2 blocks and there was the course. Myles loved riding the train. He sees it all the time while we drive on the freeway. So when I told him we were going to take the train he was very excited and told me "choo choo".

Cancellara

We picked the perfect stop because we got to see the riders both coming and going. We saw most riders, many whom we didn't know, but many we did. Armstrong had pulled out of the race a few days earlier due to a crash that left him needing stitches under his eye. We were able to see George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, Jens Voight, David Zabriskie, and Fabien Cancellara to name a few. Each rider had a motorcycle escort, plus a team car following behind. Myles had a great time cheering when the cars drove by, he would clap his hands and cheer. Although I think he was cheering for the cars, not the riders! It was fun all the same. The girls took a short nap in the stroller while the rest of us had a picnic lunch right there in the middle of the street. It was superb(wish I would have taken some pictures of us!, next time). A great free family activity that I would recommend to everyone.

This video is of George Hincapie riding away from us, while another(unknown name) rider is riding towards us.

Happy Birthday Thing 1 & Thing 2

My "Thing 1" & "Thing 2"

Well I have no idea where the time has gone, but Audrey and Lydia are now one! I can't believe it. They are getting so big and changing so fast. I need to find a way to freeze them in time. Their birthday was Friday the 14th, and we celebrated in Dr. Seuss Style on Saturday the 15th. It was a great party. We had invited friends and family alike and everyone enjoyed their stay. That is everyone other than the girls. They were both in bed before the end of the party. Audrey wasn't feeling well that morning and she wasn't too thrilled to see so many people. When I made her stick her hand into her cake she began crying and it didn't stop till she went to bed. It was her party and she did "cry if she wanted to!". Lydia was just tiered so by 1:30 so she was off to join Audrey in bed.

Uh mom...I got stuff on my hands...

The "smash" cakes.

Lydia enjoying her cake.

The party theme was "Thing 1 & Thing 2". We had a bounce house for the kids and several games for them to play. The girls each had a "smash" cake to eat and play in while the rest of us had cup cakes. We had three kinds to choose from, white cake with cream cheese frosting, vanilla bean with cream cheese frosting or "thing 1 & 2" cupcakes with red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting complete with cotton candy for the blue hair on top. The thing about these cup cakes is that you have to make them just before you are ready to eat them. The moisture from the frosting melts the cotton candy leaving you just a pile of blue sugar on top. Really cute idea for about 15 min.

"Thing 1 & 2" cupcake

We had a pizza, salad, fruit k-bob, & veggies for lunch. I think everyone had a great time. The kids made their way between the bounce house and the drink bucket. Stopping along the way for some games. Pin the hair on the thing, cat in the hat dress up relay, and balancing book relay.

Before everyone left we gave them a bag to fill full of red and blue candy. We also gave each family a Dr. Seuss book to take home. I wanted to give everyone a book, but couldn't afford to, so we gave one to each family.

The site of the party. This is the "green" space in our development. Thanks for the shade dad! What a life saver. He even colored it in the coordinating color of the party!

The girls got some really cute things from our guests and family. Thanks to everyone who came. It was a lot of fun! I have to say that I'm a little sad about the girls turning 1, but excited for the new things to come.