Baby Shower

So, my dear and extra fabulous sister-in-law Alyson had her adorable baby a few weeks ago. When they told us they were expecting, I jumped at the opportunity to repay the kindness she often shows me and asked if I could throw her a baby shower. When it came down to it, I felt pretty intimidated because I'm sure others could have thrown a much more elaborate/fancy shower, and here I am a mommy of 2, in school full-time, and on a college-student budget, but alas! It was fun and I'm glad I got to do it.

Here's some remembrances of today's shower:

My sweet centerpieces-



Mama Wisdom book of advice we all wrote for her-


I didnt get a picture of the cheesecake/chococake-stars-dipped-in-chocolate-on-a-stick favors I made, but they were pretty cute.

The games consisted of a memory/matching game where the words to match and the treats were like 'hospital bill' = 100 Grand, "the daddy" = Mr. Goodbar, 'Umbilical cord'= nerds rope, 'naptime'=fastbreak, 'nursing bra'= Reese's Big Cup, etc.

And a Diaper TP game. (it seems that any shower-type party is really just an excuse to involve some toilet papery game...) The people paired up and one had to be diapered. The judging was based on style, absorbency, efficiency, etc.

Janice and Jessica were 'potty training'- you could choose btwn the 'crumple' and the 'fold'...

Most Modest, The Absorbantest, the Whitey-tighteys.

What total Hotties!!

(yes, this will be blown up and shown at each of their weddings....)



Thanks to mom for all your help!!

and Thanks a bajillion to Patrick who took care of our kids the whole time and was a major lifesaver to me. Of course, this is nothing unusual...

All in all, it was lots of fun (for me at least....)

Thanks, Aly!!

overhead in our church

so- christian loves nursery (the 18mo-3yr old class at our church). the mere prospect of going to nursery is what gets him excited and cooperative sunday mornings.

often, we are helping him get through last minutes of the 1 hr, quiet, sacrament meeting by telling him that after the song/prayer- it's Nursery!!

this morning he was super excited for nursery.

right after the opening prayer he called out while clapping his hands together once:
"AMEN! NURSERY!!"

when nobody moved and the meeting continued he looked around dejectedly and slumped back on daddy's lap.


sometimes i feel that way, too.


:)

Happy Birthday, Grandma Great!

Monday we went and visited Grandma Great. She turned 92 a week ago and is truly amazing. We will miss her tremendously when she is gone- she is so loving and kind to our little family and always makes us feel like a million bucks. Plus, she always raves about my hair. :P

grandma's birthday card:

So patrick and i worked up a piano/sax duet he arranged for a class a few years ago of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. We went and played it for grandma and she loved it. in fact, she was in tears. it was extremely touching- she was so appreciative-and i am SO grateful we were able to do that for her. She is such an incredible woman.

Our boys love her, too. We were going to try to visit her Sunday evening and so we told Christian. He was super disappointed when we didn't go, and spent all Monday asking if we could go see Grandma Great.





Afterwards we went to chili's to use some gift certificates I won at Evan's jazz swing night.






Man, I love my family!!

All in a day's work.... (or life with a 2 yr old..)

Yes. We have been welcomed into the world of 2-yr-old-ness with open arms. Very open arms. Very extended, open arms. Nearly grabbing open arms...

It's pretty dang....adventurous.

Why is it that the days I feel like such a great mom---end up being the days that we rack up major expenses due to Christian's antics?

It was a pj day. And Im okay with that.

Start off by feeding elmo 'MEAT'.

Then we brought in the giant boxes left by amy w. and build a fort. Its a pretty sweet fort.


Since I was right there to supervise, I decided the occasion warranted the use of markers.

The inside of the fort is gorgeous. Trust me.

Im feeling super awesome at this point. What a COOL MOM i am!!

Channing thrilled as usual to be alive:



We even got showers and everything!

But then I walk out to see this:

(it was all over the other couch, too, but that picture didn't turn out very well.)


And after his 'admonishment', Christian said: 'oh, it's okay, mommy, it's okay!' No, Christian- it's NOT okay... But a pat on the back and a big hug certainly makes it a little more okay...

So we turn on BYU COUGAR MARCHING BAND SHOW so i can gather my wits and try to clean up. (it won't come off, btw. I've tried pretty much everything..) So I clean what I can. aka the dishes. Christian wants to wear the dishwashing gloves.
B/C manly men wear gloves and dance around as naked boys with footballs. Doesn't get much manlier than that.


Or cuter.


Ugh. This kid has GOT ME.



and Im okay with that.


:)

Babies!

No, we're not having twins.

We're not even having singles.

However- it seems like EVERYONE ELSE is. :) As Patrick wisely reminds me, we won't be joining them quite yet. Graduation is so close!!! (So is Seven Peaks--let's be honest about motivations here).

Within six days, three of our good friends and relatives welcomed new additions to their homes. Our cousins the Gouldings had their 2nd boy Jaxon Kenneth, a few days later our neighbors the Workmans had Jessica Lynn (their first), and a day later our sister and brother-in-law the Schmuhls brought Claire Alyson into the world.

It was so fun visiting all three families at the AF hospital.

I've also started making cards. While I don't have all the fancy equipment or the money for special embellishments, I do enjoy doing what I can with what I have.

Mostly to remember what I've done, here are the cards for the girls. (I forgot to take a picture of Jaxon's)





Sweet Claire

Woes of a student-mom

So i have this incurable desire to create. I want to be so crafty! There are a million things I would like to do:
1)make an upholstered headboard
2)make a curtain for our bedroom
3)make a table runner
4)finally print out and frame our family picture
5)make thank you cards for christmas and Christian's birthday
6)bake
7)develop sugar cookie decorating skills
8)etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

HOWEVER.

I am 'in school'. (although, all truth be told, even if I weren't, lack of monetary funds is the #1 reason these things will remain un-done.)

I have two children. and one semester left. and I think i will die. (so of course, rather than take this time to conquer some assignments, I will use it to lament on my blog..) Last semester I took it easy-peasy. (hm. I have definitely never used that phrase before...). This semester I. will. die. Truly. It is inevitable.

Exhibit A:
3 online courses

Exhibit B:
Statistics

Exhibit C:
1 full-time internship which is supposed to chock up to 400 hrs. I am attempting to start up my own music business. Hm.

Exhibit D:
1 2 year old.

Exhibit E:
1 7 month old.


The evidence is clear. DEATH.

Im trying to convince myself to let everything else go- all desires to be a domestic goddess and a crafting diva and amazing gorgeous wife extrodinare- and just FOCUS ON SCHOOL. Kill myself for 4 months, and then its over. and I am G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.D. Ignore all fantasies about decorating my apt, of hosting lavish parties, of creating cute and educational activities for my kids, of sending out amazing homemade cards 'from' my 2 yr old. Of sewing this and sewing that. Of getting my house cleaned. Of making decent meals. Of Showering.

To Let it all Go.

Until April 15th. FOCUS ON SCHOOL. F.O.C.U.S. I.Can.Do.it.

I will survive?




My self isn't listening.






help!


edit:
I know it will be worth it. Otherwise i wouldnt be doing it.

I just don't know HOW i will do it. How DO people do it? Trouble is...I dont actually know anyone that is trying death by 400 hrs, wife, on and off campus classes equalling going to school almost full-time, along with 2 kids. WHAT AM I THINKING?!?

p.s. We're Freeezing!

so, our heater died last night. I guess that is one perk to living in an apt- we dont have to do anything! No dropping a couple hundred (or however much it costs for a new/fixed one), we just sit around and wait for somebody to come and fix it. Which, is also maybe one of the un-perks of living in an apt....we've been freezing our tushies off waiting for the fix-it man. and the boys and I are sick, so i dont feel very good about crashing someone else's house.... Yay for the library! :)

in other news:

CHAN MAN iS 6 MONTHS!! (okay- now he's almost seven months, but our computer is stinky and so is our internet...)

at our WIC appt, the informed us he is quite underweight- he was supposed to have gained 7lbs btwn appts and only gained 4- which 3lbs off doesnt sound like that much, but i guess when it's 1/4 of your body weight it's a pretty big deal. thats like being 40 lbs or so underweight for a 150 lb adult. ouch. anyways.

So- we've been cranking up the food intake and adding olive oil (per dr's orders) to his cereal to help fatten him up. He has an appt. tomorrow, so we'll see what the doc says.

ANYWAYS.

HERE IS THE CUTEST, SMILIEST guy EVER. seriously. this kid smiles like you've never seen before.