Memory Lane

Today walking through a Blockbuster made me think of a movie I would like to share with Alex. Growing up one of my favorite movies was "The Secret Garden". I had learned there are several versions of the movie is based off a book. The 1993 version was my favorite. Well I couldnt find it at Blockbuster (kind of slim pickings because the store is going out of business) so we came home to search on NetFlix. Doug was able to find it and add it to our queue of movies to watch. Im excited to watch it when it arrives. Also excited to share it with Alex. I have many memories of me popping the tape into the VCR, sitting down with a bowl of popcorn and watching the movie over and over on rainy days. Maybe if she likes it enough the Easter Bunny will bring it in her basket.

Practice Makes Perfect

Well Im far from perfect but Im still practicing. I started a project for one of my in laws Mike (Dougs dad) and Margo (Dougs step mom) who celebrated their 25th anniversary over the summer. She asked that I take pictures of the family and create a framed collage of these pictures. It took me several months to arrange the photo shoots, learn to use Photo Shop Elements editing program, choose favorites and frame. Margo provided 2 photo box frames to work with. I ended up with 1 frame of black and white pictures and a second frame of color photos. We gave the finished project to Mike and Margo as a Christmas present. Here are the photos I took:

Thought for Thursday #1

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
~ Art Linkletter

Brainstorm

While sitting here at work Im browsing the internet checking out random blogs. Literally Im clicking "Next Blog" at the top and reading what comes up next. Ive come across Colorado mother of 4 expecting a new baby, a NY teens inspiration and dream to be a make up artist for the stars, a family of 7 (5 teens, mom & dad) blog about the past holidays and a young Asian business woman living in Australia. Very interesting collection of people. The only thing stopping me from reading more is that 1) im at work and need to look busy doing actual work stuff 2) my yearly review with the boss and 3) my mind just keeps wondering with ideas. So I thought I would write them down. Specifically because I have the worst memory ever and will forget within 5 mins what I was doing.
So I was inspired by a celebrity mom Brooke Burke to start a post. She posts Wordless Wednesday, a single picture that describes her day or mood. I thought I could start something like that. Without stealing her exact idea I thought of "Memorable Monday". I will post a picture taken that day of me or something going on with me. I was even thinking of starting "Thought for Thursday" and posting an inspirational quote, funny joke, idea or question running through my head.

Dont ask the 4 year old....

For a few months now Alex has been telling us that her room is a "baby room". She doesnt like the butterflies and flowers on the walls. She wants a big girl room. She also feels her bathroom is a boy bathroom and would like a girl bathroom (its decorated in stars, moons and suns). I planned to redecorate her bathroom this winter. Grandma Grape aka Grandma Olivia aka GG bought Alex a colorful beaded chandalier. I originally thought about hanging it in her bedroom but found super duper cute bathroom decor it goes perfect with. And its on clearance/sale with free shipping at Target. So plans changed to hang it in her bathroom over the toilet. It will fill in the blank wall. We are getting rid and selling a few items and toys in her room that will hopefully pay for the redecorating of her bathroom. I have priced everything out to total just under $200.

Now for her bedroom. Doug and I decided to start redecorating it even though this was not planned for a couple of more years. When we bought her crib, we bought the Lifetime crib that changed from crib to day bed to full bed. We did not purchase the rails (I blame Doug for this as I wanted to buy the rails at the time we purchased the bedroom suit when I was pregnant). Well searching on line I found out the crib/bed was recalled in 2009 because there was a fear babies could get caught in between the rails. There were no reports of injuries so it was a precautionary recall. So the rails were no longer available to purchase. (hhmm, should I dance around and sing "I told ya so Doug"?)

So after some thought and research we have decided to buy her a new bedroom suit. We found a really cute bed and dresser with mirror at Ashley Furniture. We then gave Alex many options of new bedding to choose from. Obviously this was a harder task for a 4 year old than we expected.

Heres one of the many conversations we had with Alex while showing her pictures of bedding:

Mom: Do you like this one Alex?

Alex: I dont like the clock

Mom: The clock on the wall?? We are not buying the clock. Look at the comforter on the bed. Do you like the colors?

Alex: I dont like the clock. I want pink.

Mom: (next option) How about this? Do you like the butterflies? It has pink in it.

Alex: No. I want the light

Mom: We are not looking at the lamp. Look at the blanket on the bed.

Alex: I dont want butt-a-flies.

Mom: (another option) Okay how about this one? This has flowers on the blanket.

Alex: (peering at the computer screen with all the other bedding sets listed) OH Momma! Look, Butt-a-flies! I want those! Purple Butt-a-flies!

Mom: (jaw dropped) What? But you just said.... you.... but... this.....huh?

End of conversation. Daddy and Mommy made the final choice. This is how many of our conversations went when trying to get help from Alex to pick out the bedroom suit. She didnt like the comforter on the bed so she didnt want it. Its difficult to make her understand we arent buying the bedding, we are buying the furniture.

Here is the bed we chose. It has extra storage underneathe! Oh the lil things that excite me.

Here is the dresser and mirror to match.
And here is the new bedding we chose. We matched paint swatches to it as well. Two shades of pink. Dont even ask me how that conversation went with Alex. Lets just say, she apparently doesnt like pink anymore after asking for a pink bedroom. Difficult child, difficult.

New Blog=Fatter Me

One day I was browsing the web for a recipe and came across a baking website/blog.
http://www.bakerella.com/
I found so many yummy recipes to try. And of course I find it at the worst time. Doug and I are trying to watch what we eat, exercise, get fit and all that jazz. But I cant resist wanting to eat practically everything this lady has on her blog. For Dougs birthday I thought I would make something with cheesecake since its his favorite dessert. His birthday is not till April so until then I think Alex and I will have to try a few other recipes. She loves to bake and is always asking to help when Im in the kitchen. Every third Saturday he has to work so I think that is a great opportunity to have a special baking day with my lil sweet pea.

A few pictures from my cell:

Booster Seat for the cars! Alex has been appearing uncomfortable in her car seats. She needs more leg room and to sit up straighter. So we decided to switch to a booster. It was a huge change for Mommy and Daddy as we didnt want to leave the 5 point harness system. But Alex is getting so tall that she was definitely needing out of the car seat.

Oops, forgot to rotate the picture. But as you can see with a tilt of your head, she is learning how to write her name. So proud!!

Valentines Day gifts for Alex: the book "The Grouchy Ladybug" with matching stuffed animal and a singing guitar she has been begging for since January. She loves to "rock out"

The only way this child will let me take a picture of her is if I let her make a funny face. Hey, Ill take it....

Double Take!

OMGoodness! Could it be? Yep! Its me!! Im back. I'm a slacker and cannot believe I let myself go months without updating the blog. I'm sure everyone out there is wondering where the heck are we? Right?...no?...okay I didnt think so either. But we are here! Never went anywhere! Just keeping busy...or being lazy...It seems I update my FaceBook account daily so why should I keep this updated? Well not everyone has FB. Shocking, I know.

So in the last few months we celebrated Christmas, a New Year and Valentines Day. We also celebrated the births of new babies into this wonderful world and celebrated the lives of friends/family we lost. I also created a New Year Resolution for myself. I promise to finish what I have started. Another reason I am updating the blog. I have also received a couple of chances to practice photography by taking photo shoots of friends and family. I still have a lot to learn.

So what is going on? I still have short hair. HA! I havent broke down and bought a wig of long hair. I am still enjoying ym short hair. We will see if I have the same feelings this summer. Speaking of hair, Alex wants hair like Mommy's. Im not chopping her hair but am growing our her bangs and giving her a side part. So right now she is in the midst of a style change and its rather messy looking at times. I just keep reminding myself "Its just temporary. It is growing. Give it time. Dont cut it".

Alexandra has recently started learning how to spell and write her name. We are working on Alex rather than the full Alexandra. She is doing such a great job. She gets so proud of herself when she rights every letter correctly. You can tell by looking at our shower walls what letter she is working on that week. She likes to practice writing on the shower walls with washable crayons made for the tub. Which I hesitated buying for a couple of years. I didnt allow these crayons in our house until she learned right from wrong. Because she is older she understands and knows its wrong to color on the walls. I was afraid introducing her to these crayons too early at an age would make her think it was ok to write on walls with any crayon/marker/pen.

Because she would rather play with the crayons in the tub I have decided to throw away all of her bath toys. You ask, "why do that to her?" well I hate bath toys now. As a child I ALWAYS had bath toys. I didnt realize until having my own child what work it is to have bath toys. Constantly washing, drying, bleaching and disinfecting these darn things. Mold grows on these toys like weeds. And my child likes to put things in her mouth. All of the time. We never ever had to worry about her putting items in her mouth as a baby until she got older, like around 3. The child is always slurping up water, sucking on wash cloths, nibbling toys, playing tea party, etc. We see this mold growing on and in her bath toys and its disgusting. On the evening of her 4th birthday party she took a bath. I caught her sucking on a toy and then noticed after scolding her, the toy had mold in it. Within a few mins I had a barfing child. And it lasted all night until early in the morning. Because of the content of the vomit and no signs of fever, I now think its because of the mold she consumed. Absolutely disgusting. And I feel so bad as if it's my fault.
So I decided, no more toys in the bath tub.

I have lots of pictures to share but all are on my laptop at home. I will update very soon