Something Creative...

Here we go...

2012-02-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

6 Weeks ago, I imagined this post looking very similar to this one, but this round has proven to be quite different. About six weeks ago, I took a pregnancy test and it was... positive! I felt peace and joy and thought, our family is complete!! Kelly and I were thrilled to pieces, and a bit shocked too. Not shocked because we weren't hoping to get pregnant, shocked because we weren't sure we would be able to. But, that would be another post that I probably won't take the energy to write...
Anyway, we were and have been so thankful for this pregnancy. But, like I mentioned, it has been extremely different than Georgiana's, which I understand is the norm. To feel one way with one pregnancy and then sometimes polar opposite with the next. With Georgiana the thought of twins never really crossed my mind, there was one moment right before my first ultra sound that I thought, hmmm... Maybe? But, nothing more than that. Which was funny, because my entire life, at least my entire life that I can remember, I have wanted twins. Dreamed of twins, just knew I would have them. When I was really little I would tell my Mom and whoever would listen, that I would someday have twins, a boy and girl. I went through a phase when I pretended that I had a twin brother. Yep, I got my friend Katie in on it too... I was also the 'creative,' or a little silly, toddler with an imaginary friend, so this was not too far off of my norm.
All this to say, I've always been quite fond of the idea of twins. When my sister found out she was having twins, we all had to laugh at how surprised we were! Twins definitely run in the family, we just never thought about Tiffany having them, and oh how blessed we all are that she did! We LOVE our Ryder and Hana. When Tiffany was pregnant, even she said "I thought you were going to have the twins!" Me too Tiff, me too :) But, it was totally meant to be, we couldn't not have our Ryder or Hana, and Taye called it from the get go. He told Tiffany he wanted one brother and one sister!
So, when I found out I was pregnant this time, I most definitely had twins on my mind. First, I thought it was because my sister had twins, and my friend Jessica was just about to, so maybe it was just on my mind a lot. But then, it became like I just 'knew.' I remember Kelly and I talking and he asked me, "So, do you really think we are having twins?" I said, "No, I know we are, so prepare yourself :)"
Prepare yourself, because after seeing a first hand account of how much work two beautiful precious little babies really are, I knew it was going to be a crazy, but super joyful, ride! At our first dr appointment, I asked if there were any twin symptoms I could look for until our first ultrasound. Of course, there are not, it was one of those questions I had to ask.
So, our ultrasound was scheduled, it was to be last Friday, the 10th. But, in true Nicole fashion, I had some intense cramps that triggered an ultrasound on the 2nd. After each of Georgie's ultrasounds, Kelly and I were walking on air. Grinning from ear to ear, holding the pictures, and feeling like the most blessed people in the world! The 2nd was different. My dr's office was booked up, so they scheduled us at the hospital. The tech/nurse (I'm not sure of her title), was super nice, even asked if I was too uncomfortable with such a full bladder. I had been instructed to drink 32oz of water an hour before and "not go potty." Yep, the nurse told me over the phone to "not go potty." I obeyed, and it was miserable, but it just goes with the territory, so really it was fine.
With Georgie girl we ended up having 6 or so ultrasounds, so I became familiar with what one sweet little peanut looks like on the screen. So, almost instantly I bombarded the tech with questions, I felt bad, I was probably annoying, but I was nervous and excited. I could see one little baby moving and hanging out, and then I asked about the other image I saw on the screen. What else was showing up on the screen? She said she wasn't sure... She was going to take some measurements and find out. Okay... She then started on the heartbeat. I saw her click for a heartbeat and the scan came up flat_________________, she did it a second time ____________ flat, then a third and it was 164 bpm. Healthy as can be, right? Yep, a solid heart rate of 164. But, I still thought it strange. I asked her if there was just one baby in there...
She said "Um... I think so." I waited and waited and waited for a more solid answer. She moved around looking at other things, asked me some questions, and then before we knew it, we were done. I asked, "So, one healthy baby, right?" To which she replied yes. I later kicked myself for the way I worded that question, but surely they would have told us if something was wrong. She had the radiologist look at the images, came back and said we were good to go, that my dr's office would be contacting us.
Well, they didn't, no contact whatsoever. The tech had handed us one large picture, I said thank you, and gave it to Kelly. Normally, we would have been fighting (not really) over who would get to carry it, but I didn't care to look at it. I was tired, hungry, and distracted, just ready to head on home. I didn't feel a sigh of relief, I didn't feel like I knew everything was okay, I felt horribly guilty for not wanting to stare at the picture. I felt awful that even after seeing the baby and the heart rate, that I still felt a disconnect. I told Kelly, something is off. I've heard many of my friends say that with their second (or more) babies, they were so busy with their first baby that they didn't feel like they were bonding as much with the baby they were pregnant with. So, at first I thought maybe that was it, but I knew it wasn't. I felt more like in the deep of my gut I knew something wasn't right, but yet it appeared that everything was, so apparently I was just a crazy, delusional, hormonal pregnant person.
Tuesday came and I gave my dr's (dr/midwife office, it's a combo office) office a call. Just checking in, seeing if I was still going to have my ultrasound that was scheduled for Friday, or if the first one cancelled it out. They said I wouldn't need one on Friday, but to still come in for the appointment with my midwife, since I hadn't seen her yet. Okay, easy enough.
The week went on, I told a few friends that I was pregnant, all of who asked if I thought it was twins. I didn't quite know how to answer now. Initially I just said, well I thought I was having twins, but according to the ultrasound I'm not. My friend Jessica said she "really thought you were going to have twins." She told me that sometimes in such early ultrasounds one twin is hiding behind the other. I was so glad she told me that, because then I didn't have to feel crazy for still feeling like I was pregnant with twins, and it made me feel like maybe that is why the ultrasound tech was answering the questions so awkwardly. It all made perfect sense!
On Thursday, I was talking with my friend Melissa, we were talking about how many kids we could see ourselves with. I told her, maybe I really am pregnant with twins, because I feel like this is my last pregnancy, but at the end of the day, I see three kids. (Keep in mind before I had Georgiana we thought maybe 4, so I have learned it is very very subject to change!) Anyway, I said, I don't know how we would get to three, but I kind of picture three.
Friday morning came. Kelly ended up having training that he couldn't get out of, so I decided to go solo, not entirely solo, I took my best little buddy Georgiana Lee with me. It was an appointment that I kept thinking, oh I should ask so and so to come, maybe just to watch Georgie while I go back... But, I procrastinated and at the end of the day, I thought it would just be a simple appointment.
After checking in, they completely forgot about me, in this case it did not pay off to be patient (no pun intended). Georgie and I waited and waited and waited. We were in the waiting room close to an hour before I finally went up to the front desk and asked if they had an estimate of how long it would be? Poor Georgie girl, it is A LOT to ask of a one year old to hang out in a waiting room for that long. Particularly when I am completely freaked out by the germs and would not let her touch anything!! Thankfully, there were some other kids to watch and distract her, and we had snacks. I am so thankful I packed snacks. Anyway, they apologized and 20 minutes later they were weighing me in.
It was a long appointment. Longer than expected because apparently my midwife (or whoever was responsible for requesting it) forgot to request my ultrasound from the hospital, so we had to wait for it to be sent over. Oh, and my midwife wasn't in the office that day, so I would be seeing someone else, "but didn't we call you??" No, no you did not. At this point I didn't care, I was trying hard to be pleasant and appreciative and not grumpy, and then...
The super nice midwife sat down with my ultrasound report, and when prompted for any questions I asked "So, at the ultrasound when I asked if there was only one baby, the answer was kind of vague and I have just been wondering if I could get some clarification..." Her entire face changed, and I think I knew right then. Truthfully the thought had NEVER entered my mind. I thought for sure I had thought through every explanation of my possible twin obsessed insanity, but not this. I had never thought of this. She calmly and compassionately said "they didn't call you..." No, no one has called me. I called them, but they didn't call me, and they have my number, we checked three times over the course of this appointment. No call. No one had taken the time to explain to me that the reason I thought I was pregnant with twins was because I was, I had been. The image that I saw on the screen, the one the tech couldn't quite explain, that was my other baby, a baby that had passed. The heart rate first showed up flat because she was testing the other baby, I didn't realize that the 164bpm was for one baby and that the ________ was for another entirely. I completely fell apart. It was a pain I had never felt before, a pain I had never understood entirely, and a pain that made it really really difficult to pull myself together. I felt a tiny little hand rubbing my back and leaning into me. My Georgie girl stood up on the bench and wrapped her arm around me and said "Momma" in the softest of tone. I willed myself to reign in the tears for Georgiana. I didn't want her to have to comfort me. She is still a baby herself. She is the best medicine and has the kindest, most tender heart I have ever seen in a tiny one.
It's really strange to be told you had a miscarriage, but you are still pregnant. Many women start out carrying twins and without an early ultrasound, they never know about the loss. I must say, I am so incredibly thankful that we found out. I have over used the word 'crazy' already, but I have no other word to describe how I have felt. And now, it all really does make sense. I understand why the week after the ultrasound I kept telling Kelly, something is off. It was a feeling unfamiliar to me, but one I felt certain of. Kelly had hung the ultrasound picture on our bulletin board, and it bothered me. What!?! Why would I feel that way, I felt sick from guilt for feeling that way. Probably around the Wednesday before my appointment, Kelly said "this morning I was just starring at our littlest one's picture." All I could say was "oh." He was starting to get slightly worried, he was picking up on my weirdness. Apparently I wasn't hiding my avoidance of the picture as well as I thought. I finally took time to look at it yesterday. I was ready. As much as it ripped my heart out, I understood it. That feeling of knowing something wasn't right, but not being able to pin it down at all, that feeling is gone, the confusion is gone, now it is just a spot that is healing. Healing a wound that is much deeper and more raw than I would have ever guessed it would be. I was completely taken aback by my reaction at the dr's office. Many of my friends have gone through miscarriages, some even more than one. My heart always ached for them, but I had no idea how much they hurt, and maybe even now I don't. Each situation is so different, some even worse than others.
We have much to be thankful for. In all things give thanks.
Someday I am going to snuggle my sweet baby. For now, I picture my Uncle Cal holding the baby in heaven, I almost wrote him because that is how I think of the baby, as a him. The image is most likely not an entirely accurate portrayal of heaven or even of the baby, but it gives this tearful Momma a whole lot of peace, so I don't think God minds if I hold that image close to my heart.

2012-02-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

That would be Georgiana's doll stroller.

Yes, she put herself in it.

And no, she cannot get herself out...

Oh Georgie girl.

20 Months

2012-02-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

Looking up at Daddy...

Georgie girl is 20 months old, twenty months, four months away from being TWO! She finally had her 18 month well check appointment last week, she gained all of her weight back from being sick in January, plus TWO pounds! We were all quite thrilled :) Georgiana has always been in the 75% for her height and around the 10% or a little under for her weight. She's grown this way since she was born, so it is her norm, but she jumped up to the 25% for weight and she feels sturdier and has the cutest little tummy. I LOVE it. She's always been strong and healthy, just lean lean lean, she's still lean, but I'm liking the 25%, hopefully she can hang out (at least) there for a while.

We bought Georgiana some new shoes today. The purple Adidas' in the pictures above. She was 'modeling' them for me and doing a little dance! If you live near the South Hill Puyallup Costco, and need a pair of boy or girl tennis shoes (size 4k-10k), I would head on up there. They are clearanced down to $9.97! As of this morning, they had quite a few. At first I had the white tennis shoes with a pink, purple, and maybe blue (I can't remember) stripe on them, but then I remembered that we want them for play shoes outside. Outside in the wet, sometimes muddy grass, so purple it was!

Other randoms, we went to the Seattle Children's Museum last week. If you haven't gone, GO! We all three had a great time, exploring and giggling. Since the last post, we have lost our power twice. Thankfully we have a generator now, and I must say I truly do not mind the hummmm of the generators when the power goes out. It's like a nice little noise machine for sleeping. Thankfully, we finally became symptom free (after having a lingering cold), and in the last couple of weeks I have got to meet three new babies! My friend Patty had her second baby, beautiful little Molly. Georgiana went crazy over Molly, Patty was SO SO sweet and let Georgie hold Molly, literally as soon as Molly was in Georgie's arms, Georgie gave her a big smooch right on her forehead. She leaned really really close to Molly's little face and said "hi baby." It was precious. A few days later, I got to snuggle the most adorable twin baby boys! My friend Jessica let me come over and meet her babies. They were so peaceful, gorgeous already, and I could have held them forever.

That's about it for this post. I'll be back with more, there's been a lot of behind the scenes action in the Smith house, but it is going to take some time to blog it all out...

We Survived!

2012-01-23T20:02:00.001-08:00

Our power was out (along with many many many others) from 8am last Thursday until Saturday evening. We of course sold our generator this past Fall because it wasn't compatible with the hard wiring that we wanted to be able to use it for...

The plan was to buy a new one, but it got put off, and I have reminded myself about 3,000 times to be very very supportive of Kelly when he wants to execute generator take two!! I will not say a peep about the cost, about the location of the storage of gasoline, about the time to hook it all up, even the cost of hiring an electrician to make sure the hard wiring will work.

Not a peep I tell ya :)

We are so blessed to live close to family and friends who opened up their warm homes to us, Georgiana was a true trooper as we bounced from house to house, but next time this happens hopefully we can just stay put in our own warm home. It's a bit of work to load up a toddler and a bag of giant laundry. Mental note: Stay on top of the laundry because if a power outage happens it is a real bummer to be behind!

One cute highlight was when Kea and I were cooking lunch, we were far enough away from the fireplace that we had to bundle the kiddos up. Georgiana and her buddy Sawyer were running around giggling in their fleece pjs, winter coats, and winter hats. Toddlers can put a smile on your face in just about any circumstance.

Now, here's to hopefully an uneventful week! Oh how I can hope :)

Snow & Georgie Pics!

2012-01-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

About 10pm Saturday night, my sweet little Georgie girl was hit with the flu. It took everything in me not to cry my eyes out with her as she bravely vomited more than I thought humanly possible. The sickness continued well into Sunday morning, Sunday late morning into the afternoon she slept on me for over 4 hours. Then, finally around 4pm, she was ready to go out in the snow for a few minutes!

These pictures are both from Sunday, our streets are MUCH more covered now! Our backyard is untouched, so Kelly and Georgie plan on exploring and sledding back there this afternoon :) I will probably take one more rest day. The flu hit me yesterday morning, and I can honestly say this is the worst flu I have ever had! Georgie and Kelly both rebounded pretty fast, and I am hoping that is the track I am on! I just uploaded a good 80 plus pictures, so here are some of my favs for your enjoyment!

***

Georgie loves to share her snacks and drinks with her baby dolls. I am often told throughout the day that baby needs "mo" milk or toast or "ray rees" raisins... Thankfully, the babies clean up quite easily.

It may be snowing outside, but per her request, Georgie has her shades on in the inside!

Her facial expression cracks me up, ha!

Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture!?!

A total toddler, sigh, where is my baby?

Stickers and a runny nose (during the ear infection days). Poor girl! But, it is amazing the smiles a few stickers can bring. We have officially reached the season of life that I check all Georgiana's laundry for stickers, and we all walk around the house with stickers on our faces and clothes. We also all (yes daddy too), walk around with hair bows of Georgie's choice in our hair. I am sure the day will come that I will find myself at Target with a hair bow and sticker on, if you see me, don't worry, I haven't lost my mind, I'm just the forgetful mommy of a toddler!

Georgie LOVES her kitchen. She's quite the little culinary queen, you know, baking cookies and everything :) She brought her bowl of snacks over to her kitchen and placed the animal crackers on her cookie sheet. I've found quite a few sippy cups in her refrigerator, I'm pretty sure she is convinced this kitchen is the real deal!

Dressing Georgie up just doesn't get old! This outfit reminded me of a toddler Audrey Hepburn picture that was circulating around last Halloween...

Georgie has access to the tupperware ish drawers in our kitchen. The other day she brought me a 32 oz nalgene water bottle and a small water bottle sippy type lid. She asked me to put water in it for her, at first I told her that it wouldn't fit... Silly mommy, I should trust my little Georgie girl. It actually worked quite well as the world's largest sippy cup! She carried it around for the better part of the day:

Christmas Crafts

2012-01-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

This year (or 2011), in lieu of baking three million different cookies to pass out to our neighbors, I opted to just make a ginormous batch of Rocky Road Caramel Corn, and a small batch of Turtle Bark. My intentions were to simplify, but I failed to remember that the caramel corn is quite involved. I'm thinking next year Georgiana and I may tackle gingerbread and sugar cookies. Turtle bark on the other hand is dangerously easy, like so easy I want to whip up a batch and eat it all up right now. My pants appreciate that we do not have any pecans...
As for Christmas gifts, I successfully made two this year! I had so much fun making these, I am already making some more next week with my cousin. Knowing my love for my sander and my need to use my Cricut splurge item, my friend Lindsey emailed me this Sign Tutorial LINK. I pretty much followed her directions step by step, using the Cricut in place of her silhouette machine. Also, I discovered that if you already have a sander, it is much more cost effective to buy inexpensive pine wood at Home Depot than to buy 'pre-made signs,' aka sanded pine wood, at the craft store, they will cut it for you too! For these signs I bought 12x12" sheets of vinyl, but for the next projects I am going to try out the 30' roll of vinyl (possibly shelf protector?) that I found at the Depot. If it works, that too will be a money saver!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

The pictures below are in no particular order, but I hope you enjoy them the same :)

Although Christmas was sandwiched with Kelly being involved in what he called the on duty fight of his life just a few days before the 25th, complete with a trip to the hospital (thankfully just a busted open knuckle and sprained ankle, the 'other guy' went to Harborview), and sandwiched on the other side with a double ear infection for Georgiana and just wrapped up the nasty flu for Kelly (seriously, the definition of nasty, like we had to hire professional cleaners to attack the stench that was left behind), it really was the best Christmas I've (we've) ever had!

There is something so exciting about watching Georgiana oooh and aww, giggle, learn to unwrap, get distracted, say "appy Gigi" Happy Birthday Jesus, and attempt to say Merry Christmas. Something about reading her the Christmas story, singing carols and going hunting for Christmas lights, that makes even the best Christmases of my childhood not compare to the wonderment I got to see in her eyes. Wowza, what a blessing to be her mommy!!

Christmas day itself was totally busy, totally crazy, and totally fun and joyful!

Christmas Day is definitely a marathon. It of course begins with going to bed much later (for Georgiana) than normal, and once she awakes we hit the ground running...

We did learn, food is very very important. Mommy and Daddy were so excited for Georgiana to open her presents, that we may have forgot to provide her with some sustenance first. Not even a sippy of milk! Thankfully, she is a mighty fine communicator and let us know she would appreciate some fuel to start her day. The sippy got her through her stocking and a few toys, then we took a break and fed her some blueberries and an assortment of ingredients that were in the quiche I was making for breakfast.

The 2011 breakfast menu was a hit, and will more than likely be making another appearance this year:

Kea's Quiche

Legendary Doughnut Balls

(I learned from 2010, request the Oprah doughnuts, maple with bacon, to be placed in a separate box, otherwise your other doughnuts pick up a little bacony flavor)

Satsumas

Orange Juice

Coffee

While breakfast baked, we opened some more presents and got ready for the day.

Next up, Grandma and Papa (my grandparents) arrived for breakfast!

We nibbled and visited and then it was off to Kelly's parents for more feasting and gifting.

After that we shipped out to my grandparents for a big ol' turkey dinner and yet more exchanging and laughing.

Yes, yes it is a very long day. But, we really enjoy it! Last year one of my cousin's mentioned that she embraced the running around, go go, because any other day of the year you can lay around and be cozy at home, so why not go for the gusto on Christmas!?!

Plus, what would I cut out? Exactly.

Georgiana was a champ in spite of minimal sleep and maximum sugar. We stayed in our pjs until after nap time on the 26th. We played with all of her new toys, finished unwrapping a few gifts (in addition to the importance of food, we also learned two new words 'over buying,' oops!) took out our fire hazard of a Christmas tree and relaxed as a family. With Christmas Adam (the 23rd), Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the newly designated go no where be lazy stay at home and relax 26th, the Smith's now nearly have a 4 day holiday! Happy Birthday Jesus!

My Grandma, Ryder & Georgiana
& Mr. Taye

Kelly and his brother Cory with their girls. Macy or "Mamy" as Georgiana calls her.

Georgie girl, pretty excited about her new pots and cookie cutters to go with her kitchen and dining set!

Grandpa (Kelly's dad) and Georgiana, cousin Keiton in the background.

Georgie's 2nd breakfast at home.

Grandma & Papa

Me, making breakfast. It really wasn't as messy as it appears, it was actually super easy!

Georgie's 1st breakfast, there's our happy girl!

I just love her little facial expression!! And her hair, love me some Georgie girl morning hair :)

Kelly teaching our one year old proper form...

Only one more quick Christmas craft post and I am all caught up and ready to blog about 2012...

Kea's Quiche:

2 C broccoli or cauliflower (I used frozen broccoli)

1/3 C onion

1/3 C bell pepper

1 C shredded cheddar cheese (plus a little more for the top)

1/2 C bisquick (I forgot to buy some, so I googled it and it was SUPER easy to make)

1 C milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Lg eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9" pie plate with Pam. In Saucepan heat 1" water to boiling, add broccoli, cover and heat to boiling. Cook approx 5 mins or until almost tender and drain. In pie plate mix broccoli, onion, bell pepper and cheese. In a medium bowl, stir together remaining ingredients until blended. Pour into pie plate.

Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

One More Pic!

2012-01-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

After 5 attempts, the picture finally uploaded!!

My sister Tiffany and I on Christmas Eve :)
And yes, I chopped my hair off, it is a bob. I got it cut Christmas Eve morning, I am shocked at how much I like it. I did of course love it best the day the stylist used her magic on it, but so far it has been really easy to attempt to repeat on my own. I decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love. If you are interested, Gene Juarez salons will take care of the paper work and sending your hair in for you. And, if you live in the South Puget Sound area, I highly recommend Emily at the South Hill Puyallup location, she is amazing!! She is seriously the first stylist I have ever had that listens, gives great input, and is super fast.

Christmas Eve!

2012-01-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Michelle and Uncle Roger throw quite the Christmas Eve Party! It is definitely more of a party than just a family get together. Each year brings more friends and extended family, more laughs, and way too many new foods for the spread. Next year, we may just need platters instead of plates.

I thought for sure Georgie Girl would turn into a party girl instantly, but around 7pm she curled up in my lap and asked for some "mo" (milk) and wanted to go "nigh nigh." I am actually glad we didn't have the pack and play, because she definitely found her second, third and fourth wind and had so much fun with her cousins, it's amazing what a little ice cream punch and cookies can do!

Christmas Eve would not be complete without our $15.00 white elephant style gift exchange, complete with Kelly and my cousins teaming against one another and creating it their sole mission to steal from each other. The trash talk begins days before the event... You can imagine.

Even more important than the game, are the pictures! My family has well over 50 years of pajama pictures. Beginning when my Grandma and her sister in law Joyce, my Grandpa's twin brother's wife, and her would sew coordinating pjs for their kids. A nice little red and white stripe for one family and navy and white for the other. I remember looking at pj pictures of the past when I was younger and thinking how silly the jamas looked, but now they have made it full circle, and I would argue they look like cute little collared Pottery Barn pjs. But I digress...

Below is a picture of my Grandparents with all of the granddaughters, we are practically all adults now, crazy. I know there are a few friends reading this saying, that can't be Makenzie, Brittany, etc... But yes, yes it is, all grown up and beautiful.

My sister Tiffany and her daughter Hana, I LOVE this picture:
After I wrote LOVE, I realized I really l-o-v-e all of these, including Georgiana hiding in a gift bag, completely her doing:

Oh cousins, how I love thee:

And Papa, isn't he the best!
During the white elephant game, my Aunt Beth's husband Chris opened a Seahawks blanket and hat, the same hat Papa was wearing. Georgiana was quite disturbed by this when she saw Chris holding it. She marched over, pointed to the hat and said "Papa, Papa!" And, then pointed to where Papa was sitting. She scooped that hat up and started bringing it over to Papa, how dare Chris steal Papa's hat :) She was distracted before making it over to Papa, I'm not quite sure how she would have handled the two hat situation...

Georgie is a lovebug, she likes to love on her cousins with or without their permission. Usually Ryder absorbs the brunt of this, but Christmas Eve they were all getting squeezed!

The "Triplets!" Georgiana, Ryder, Hana:

2011-12-30T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas Adam

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas

and almost Happy New Year!

This holiday season is wrapping up fast! Kelly's still on vacation, and we are enjoying balancing activities and relaxation. I have lots to blog about and many pictures (although looking through my pictures, I just realized that I must have only taken video Christmas morning!), and many cute little Georgiana moments to share. But, for now I just wanted to say hello!
I hope you are doing well and soaking up the last night or two of Christmas lights. Poor Georgie girl is going to miss looking out the window each night...
I'll be back as soon as I have a free minute or 60 ;)
ps - Georgiana really did have a fun Christmas Eve (pictured above), I think she just wasn't feeling a photo moment, she wanted to be down playing!

Things about Georgiana and December 2011 that I don't want to Forget!

2011-12-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

Walking in a Winter Wonderland. Or, just bundled up for a walk around the neighborhood. Yes, she asked for her sunglasses!
Who needs the present when you have the shipping box!?!

***

I need to charge my camera battery so that I can continue to snap pics of my silly Georgie girl. She keeps us entertained non stop and is chatting up a storm! That is, if she is at home with mommy and daddy, throw in anyone else or take her out and about and she will need 20-30 minutes before her little mouth starts moving. Once she is warmed up, off she goes! Throw in an outfit change, and she may just do a song and dance. She is particularly fond of escaping changes and running around like a little crazy person in just her diaper.
Speaking of diaper... She will now tell us, "I duh poo poo," hopefully soon that will precede the action and be completed on her potty chair, but we are definitely awhile off from that. One more tid bit in the diaper department, it took me nearly 18 months, but I will tell you that although I love using all natural products with and around Georgiana (like Boudreaux (sp?) All Natural Butt Paste), I must tell you that if you are actually facing a real deal rash, I would go for Desitin.
Onto something other than buns...
Not only do I need to snap some pics, but I also need to record Georgie gently tapping her pointer finger on her chin and looking around saying "hmmmm" while she looks for something or thinks something over, ha! My cousin Makenzie stayed the night last week and was witness to it, totally cracked us up!
After spending time with my Grandma, Georgiana will say "oh!" quite a bit. It is funny, the things that I/we don't even notice we say until they come out of a tiny little mouth. Like "yeah yeah," or "no" with her little mouth in an 'o' shape with an almost Minnesotan style accent. Kelly said "no" last night while the three of us were being silly, and it all clicked.
I understand a smidge (a very tiny tiny smidge) why some celebs put themselves on reality tv, because honestly I wish I had constant filming of Georgiana. Her stage right now is hilarious, busy, curious, playful, still so cuddly, and I just love hearing and seeing her do new things daily.
Today we were outside playing in the backyard and she heard some older kids riding their scooters and in a very toddler sounding voice she yelled over the fence "hey, hey!" I just laughed, and then of course we toddled (aka practically ran) to the gate, to the front yard and one of us (Georgie) wanted so badly to continue running across the street to what happened to be the new location of the pre-teens. She was pretty bummed that mommy wouldn't let her. Glimpses. Glimpses of times when I will not get all day with this silly little Peanut. So, tired or not, messy or not, I am just going to continue to soak up every slobbery (I should say drooly, slobbery sounds like a puppy, which would lead well into Georgie's continued obsession of puppies, but I digress) moment with Georgiana Lee.
She is thoroughly enjoying the Christmas season. We attended the children's play at church and it took every bit of self control for me to not give in and just let her run onto the stage. Don't worry, I resisted and did not interrupt the show, we hung out in the back of the sanctuary where Georgie was free to dance and clap without being a distraction. But oh how those little arms reached for the stage. She further developed her dancing skills at an Amazon photo shoot. Where, I learned that pink patent leather salt water sandals happen to be the most perfect Christmas carol dancing shoes. The moves are indescribable. Some were caught on camera, but call me crazy I'm guessing those shots are not going to be surfacing on the website.
Then, this weekend we furthered our Christmas celebration by attending our neighborhood Christmas gathering. It was very Stars Hollow esque (Gilmore Girls reference), which translated into me eating up every moment of it. Even though most of my moments were spent chasing a very excited pink puff around the yard. I think Georgiana would describe a late night (past 7pm, ha!) outside Christmas gathering as AMAZING! She was thrilled to pieces, and although she wasn't too happy with me when I pulled her away from the "gaga's!!!" (Christmas lights), she didn't fight her sleep at all. So, take it as a tip, if your little one is fighting his or her sleep, bundle them up like a pink (or color of your choice) snowman and let them run around in the freezing cold eating cookies (gakas), well one cookie (which she enjoyed almost as much as the gum drop she sampled while building a gingerbread house with our dear neighbor friends, same neighborhood different weekend :), until they are literally falling over in the grass, unable to stand, not due to the puffiness of their clothes, but the jello-ness of their legs. At least that was the trick for Saturday night.
Yesterday, was Georgiana's Christmas dress debut. I must say, a sign of the perfect Christmas dress is the child not fitting in her car seat while wearing said dress. Then, dressing said child in the dress upon arriving at church. It was tempting however, to just leave Georgie girl in her onesie and black tights, I felt like it was a preview of a very tiny ballerina someday, sigh.
I am positive there are more Georgiana takes on Christmas 2011 highlights, but alas this tired mommy needs some rest.
PS - I never expected it to be so hard to not give Georgiana her Christmas presents early. It is ridiculous how excited I am!

Christmas Cheer!

2011-12-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

Georgiana, can you please show me your pretty teeth?

Daddy's little helper!

(Complete with her NRA bib, oh dear)
Hanging ornaments, and being so thankful for the plastic bulb ones I accidentally bought the first year we were married. Who would have thought I would be so thankful for plastic ornaments!

And now, a little quick rewind to Thanksgiving. Sorry, this is a random post, a lot of interruptions and breaks, it is going to 'go live,' aka post without editing, otherwise it will be lost in my sea of drafts that I fear will never really make it beyond their current state!

***

We enjoyed a family fun filled Thanksgiving, with breakfast at Kelly's parents and then dinner at my grandparents. Georgiana played with "babies," aka her cousins Macy and Aubreyanna, and she was thrilled to pieces. She LOVES babies, even babies that are her size or bigger (she calls all of her little friends "baby"). Just yesterday, she saw a baby in a carrier at Costco and she lunged with her arms out, saying "baby, baby, baby." She really wanted to hold that sweet little babe, ha! I don't think she has ever really held a baby before, I still call her my baby... Another baby side note, we are in the phase of changing her dollies diapers. She is quite horrified that we do not have more diapers for them, she keeps trying to throw each baby's diaper away. She is slowly but surely warming up to the idea of me rinsing the diaper out in the sink. Yes, I turn on the water and pretend to wash the diaper out. Feel free to laugh, but it is just one of the many silly things I find myself doing throughout the day. Oh Georgie girl I just love you ...

And now, for some Christmas cheer!

Here are a smattering of Christmas Season pictures in no particular order. We kicked off the season with Sumner's Bridge Lighting ceremony, it was a first for our little family and we didn't know there was a fireworks show. Thankfully, Georgie girl is a brave little cookie, and loved every second of them! For days following she was telling the best animated stories with lots of sound effects and big arm movements! Kelly is practically counting down the days until July!

Since then, I have attended our church's women's Cup of Cheer party (a white elephant sort of event), we watched the Sumner Santa Parade, where my favorite float is a toss up between the Honey Bucket float or the random float with a teenage boy sitting in a sleigh with a sign titled "Finland Exchange Student," yes it is highly entertaining! Christmas cards have started arriving, and I think Christmas cards may just be one of my most favorite things about Christmas, and Georgiana loves looking at the pictures! We also got our Christmas tree...
And forgot about it until we heard a very loud noise as we pulled into our garage! Thankfully, it was a trooper and held up quite well to our abuse.

Georgie's face cracks me up in this next pic:

She thoroughly enjoyed herself!

Oh, and Christmas tights. Love me some Christmas tights.

We tried to go to a live nativity, but it was 'sold' out. I am definitely putting that on our Christmas season bucket list for next year. Even though we have been busy little bees, it has been so much fun to celebrate with Georgiana. We decided this year, to take a new route with some of our Christmas decorations. I am making Christmas poms and a Happy Birthday Jesus banner! We've been practicing saying "Happy Birthday Jesus," so far we have "appy" and then Georgiana's form of Jesus, kind of like Gigi. When we came up with the idea to decorate with birthday party type decorations, Georgiana said "buh buhs!" aka balloons. Kelly and I are always taken aback, we just say "how does she know!?!" So yes, buh buhs are probably going to be making an appearance at some point. I mean, you certainly can't sing "appy Gigi (Jesus)" without "buh buhs."

I promise it is all her idea...

2011-11-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

The other night she had everyone down doing push ups. Yep, even my Grandma, go Grandma!! It all started a week or so ago when I heard little grunts on the floor, I looked down and saw Georgie girl doing the cutest little almost push ups that I have ever seen, ha! It was quite entertaining. Now, when she wants to exercise she requires everyone in the room to participate. And, she will call you out if you are tired and think you can get away with just laying on the floor... I speak from experience. She is going to whip me into shape!

Thankful.

2011-11-23T21:46:00.000-08:00

As I think about Thanksgiving this year. I just feel spoiled. I have soooo much to be thankful for. I remember doing a "Thank Fest" on a high school youth group retreat, it was simple. We were asked to sit down and make a list of things we were thankful for, and then thank the Lord for those things. As simple as it is, rarely do I really do that. Sure, before I eat I thank the Lord for providing the food, I thank God for protecting Georgiana when she trips and misses the corner of the sharp baseboard edge by no more than a millimeter (multiple times!), I thank God when it comes to mind. But, rarely do I sit down and stop to think of all the blessings that He has given me, things I just take for granted.

I don't really know where I am going with these thoughts, maybe just simply that I want to have more of a thankful heart. Not a heart that expects things or feels entitled. A heart that finds joy in the little things (and big things) and looks to God first to say "thank you."

Thank you God for my silly Georgiana Lee who pops out of her "club house," aka the tv stand, with the silliest face and does a little jig. Thank you God that she is so curious and so social, and that she is adventurous even though it scares me to walk into the room and find her standing on the window sill so she can wave at the kids playing outside. Thank you God that she is a joy, and that You made me her mommy. It's beyond words.

Thank you also for my crazy husband who loves his Georgie girl. Who bends over backwards and then gets up and does it again. Thank you that he has a job he loves, thank you that he loves you, God. Thank you that you brought us together so early in life.

Okay, I've rambled enough.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Allie at the Movies!

2011-11-21T19:27:00.000-08:00

One of my best friend's in the world, Allie, has been my go to movie girl since elementary school. I kid you not, she has the best reviews and best movie knowledge of anyone you may ever meet. These days, I do not make it out much to the theatre (movies or plays!), and my Redbox and Netflix days are even limited... SO, Allie has come along to guest blog and give us all a movie review. First up is the Twilight saga Breaking Dawn Part One. For those of you who have been on this blogging journey with me for awhile, you know that I have a particular interest in these films (or at least I did once upon a time). Nonetheless, I haven't seen this one yet! I'm the biggest scaredy cat in the world, so after Allie's review I am not sure I will be able to... But, I don't want to spoil it. So, without further adieu, I introduce you to Allie at the Movies:

ps - please welcome Allie with a little comment :)

-----------------------------------------------

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1

Let's start off by saying, I didn't have high expectations for this movie. I was disappointed by Eclipse. New Moon was my favorite book, and thankfully, New Moon the movie brought real emotion, beautiful cinematography, and a memorable, yet heartbreaking, soundtrack. Eclipse left me with memories of bad wigs, cheesy acting, and a boring soundtrack.

That being said, Breaking Dawn Part One was a valiant contender against the mighty last book.
The director, Bill Condon, got kinda crazy with this one.
There are dream sequences, hallucinations, micro close-ups of vampirized veins crystallizing inside the body, werewolf-vision, a giant cake made of corpses, and more blood than in the other three movies put together. I read all the books four times, and still found myself biting my lips at points, wondering what was going to happen next. I think this movie was Kristen Stewart's best portrayal of the Bella I'd hoped to come out the books onto the screen. Although I found the Cullen family acting awkward (I love Esme! So cute!) during the scenes where they haven't fed in weeks, and the werewolves don't impress me, I think Taylor Lautner stepped it up a bit as a torn and fierce Jacob. The score was okay, the only thing I liked about it (besides Bruno Mars's It Will Rain) was that it included some memorable favorite tunes from Twilight as a tribute to Edward and Bella's relationship. There's also a sweet montage of Bella's life towards the end that even made me choke up a bit.

This movie could seriously give someone (me) nightmares. Maybe the scariest part was how they made Bella look during her horrifying pregnancy. That was some gross and realistic makeup/cgi/both. The birth scene pushes PG-13 to the limit, and the wolves are genuinely menacing for the first time. It leaves off exactly where you predicted it would, but is a fascinating finale.

Bottom Line: The movie stayed pretty close to the book, which would make any reader happy, and brought to life the crazy events in the book that made me want to read it four times. I am excited to see it again, and will probably see it 4+ times in the theater, since we have to wait a whole year to see the finale :( Take notes from Harry Potter, Summit!

Seriously, though, it's good. Thanks Nicole for letting me guest-star!
P.S.- You get to see the trailer for next June's Snow White and the Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen. It looks good!

2011-11-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hello Blog!

I thought I should get some pictures of Halloween up before Thanksgiving comes and goes! We have had a busy Fall, filled with lots of laughs and playing. Right now we are a bit under the weather, but I am hopeful that we are on the mend. It has been a nasty cold, hitting us each like dominoes. But, hopefully we will be all rested up to enjoy Thanksgiving.

Georgiana is a full on toddler. We still call her our baby girl, and sometimes I think we always will, but she is definitely moving and chatting like a little girl.

She LOVES to climb and is faster than you could ever imagine.

Her new little favorite reading spot is to cozy up on the end table. (A table I meant to blog about, but that post got pushed so low on the priority list I forgot about it until now. The table was a $5.00 garage sale find this summer, it was old, a funky brown color, but it was just what I was looking for. A little sanding, paint and new hardware and I was quite happy with it!).

Another favorite spot is her toilet.

Please notice she is fully clothed and visiting with Kelly (who thankfully is also fully clothed). She is quite obsessed with this potty seat or "biper" aka diaper as she refers to it. But, she only likes it if Mommy or Daddy will stay and visit with her. Sometimes she tells me "biper biper" and points to her potty. She will sit without a diaper for quite sometime and then be "ah dun" or all done. I will put a diaper on her and then almost immediately she will drop a little poo, so she is slowly getting the idea... She is sporting a little "Lifeguard" sweatsuit from Seaside, OR.

She got that as a souvenir last month when she and I went to Seaside with my grandparents and Aunt Michelle. It was a fun and restful trip. We walked around the little shops, ate out, ate in, looked out at the ocean, and cheered on square dancers from our balcony. Georgiana was quite convinced the 'caller' was her daddy. Oh dear.

We have had just a small dusting and rapid melting of snow. But, boy oh boy has it been getting cold! Here Georgiana is all bundled to go 'a sigh" or outside and go down her "weeee!" aka slide, and she will tell you all about (with hand motions) how it is "burrrr" outside.

In the picture below she is sporting her North Face gear. I only mention it because my aunt introduced me to a website that I want to pass along to the blog world. She has used and recommends moosejaw.com, for some unknown reason I couldn't get that site to pull up, so I ordered from http://www.departmentofgoods.com/. Both sites carry last years colors, including last years black... Anyway, the clothes are legitimate and not knockoffs and are on average 50% off! I also got free shipping, I ordered on a Tuesday evening and it was on my doorstep Thursday afternoon. Just a good site to tuck away or make a favorite.
Not only is Georgiana a climber. But, she also is a tippy toer. Which makes her able to reach doorknobs. Keeping us on our toes!

And now, Halloween. Georgiana was a little pumpkin!

She thoroughly enjoyed being outside with all of the kids. She was on a mission!

We had our good friends Brian & Kea and their two boys, Brody & Sawyer over for chili and pumpkin cream sandwiches. The kids were so cute answering the door, I think that may have been Georgie's favorite part. At first, she thought Gaga and Papa were ringing the doorbell, but then she started realizing that it was kids every time. She was a great little helper and would put candy in their bags. I don't think she had any idea what she was handing them :)

I did a terrible job taking pictures in Seaside. But, I did snap this one of Georgie visiting with Grandma and Papa. We all got a kick out of how much she embraced the chill atmosphere. She sat in that chair with a Readers Digest (I kid you not!), and would read and relax for a long time. She was actively searching for "woof woofs," and we were all quite surprised to see just how many puppies one can find in a little periodical.

All Georgiana needs is a Readers Digest and a long hallway to run up and down with, with "Gaga," aka Auntie Shell. While in Seaside, Georgiana decided that Grandma, Papa and Auntie Shell should all be named "Gaga." Papa has returned to Papa, but for now Auntie Shell is Gaga, Uncle Roger is somewhere between Gaga and a Punjabi name I am not quite sure how to write out.

A little Q & A...

2011-11-16T21:56:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to do this post for a super long time, so I sincerely apologize for it taking me so long to finally sit down and type it up!
Many friends and friends of friends have asked questions about getting one's child into acting/modeling, and I try to email or call etc back, but let's face it I am not the best at getting back to people lately. My days are joyfully distracted. So... I thought it best to type up a few thoughts and hopefully answer some general questions.
First off, all these thoughts (like all my posts), are simply my opinions and jabber.
Where to start....
Georgiana had an easy ish start because I have an agent in Seattle (TCM), and so it was a very natural pairing to have her meet my agent, land a little print job, and then meet and officially sign with the children's department of the agency. That being said, you don't have to have an "in" to meet with an agent. Sometimes I will post emails that my agency sends me, requests for certain body types etc, I do not receive any type of kick back from the agency for sending them people. And, I am most definitely not a recruiter for the agency. I have had the opportunity of recommending children in response to emails from my agent, and some of my friends' children have worked, and others (equally as cute!) have not. So, you just never know.
Anyway, back to how to get an agent, does my child need an agent, etc.
I am writing this from a NW point of view. The Seattle/Portland/sometimes Vancouver, BC is a very very different market than LA or NYC. I can speak a little to the LA industry (maybe another post), but I have zero experience in NYC representation. For a quick example of the difference, in Los Angeles there are over 300 casting directors (for film/tv/video), in Seattle there are 3 main players. All 3 offer workshops, and all 3 are happy to get to know and help out local talent. In the NW we may not have the workload that comes with LA, but we definitely have a market that is easier to navigate.
For film/tv/video, it typically works as such...
A company (example Microsoft) has a project that they need actors/talent/model for. They contact a Casting Director (example Jodi Rothfield csa) who then in turn contacts local Agents (example TCM), side note: casting directors are also able to pull from their own files of headshots of actors without representation (aka an agent) who have submitted their info directly to the casting director, anyway the Agents then look in their database. Typically they submit pictures/resumes if applicable to the Casting Director who then says yes & no to who they want to come in for an audition. This all happens without involving the actor/talent/model.
If the Casting Director wants to see you (or your child), your Agent contacts you with your audition time. You go to the audition (or 'go see' for modeling), if it is print your picture is taken, if it is film/tv/video you are recorded. Then the casting director (casting director if it is film/tv/video, if it is print the casting director is usually cut out and that role is filled by a producer of some kind, either directly employed by the company the shoot is for, or a third party hired by the company, needless to say, your agent submits your picture and contacts you).
For print, your picture is reviewed and then if you book the job your Agent contacts you. There is also a fast track booking sometimes where you are booked off of your headshot/pictures alone. It is super fun to have your Agent call and say, "hey, I have a BOOKING for you," instead of an AUDITION. Very different. Anyway, if it is print then you usually have a fitting followed closely by the shoot. If it is film/tv/video, then there are a couple more steps. Usually after the first audition, the casting director reviews the 'tape' aka dvd recording of your audition, and chooses their top contenders. If you are chosen as a top contender, you will get a call from your Agent stating you have a Call Back. You go to the Call Back, which is an audition, but typically in front of A LOT more people than an audition with one or so friendly casting director. I remember my first call back for a SAG (Screen Actors Guild, union) commercial, I was quite surprised to walk into a packed room of execs and producers, threw me a little, but I digress...
Anyway, if you book the job after your Call Back, your Agent will let you know, then you will be given all the info you need.
I explain all that because I think it is important to understand what you would be signing up for. If you live in Washington, most of your auditions and work are going to be in Seattle. But of course there are exceptions. Georgiana's first modeling job was over 3 hours away at a mountain lodge in Oregon! We were paid for mileage, but still...
I love every step of the process. It often doesn't make sense why I do, but I do. I always have. And, so far Georgiana really seems to enjoy it too. That being said, Kelly and I have a rule, we will keep taking Georgiana as long as she wants to go, when she says (or displays) that she is done, we are done. Period.
I met the grandma of a super adorable boy at an audition earlier this past summer. She said her grandson had been going to auditions for over a year and not booked one job. I write that because, that happens, a lot. And, it is NOT because the child isn't cute enough, or isn't this or isn't that. I write this because although I am very much a rookie at taking Georgiana to go sees and shoots, I think the parent (or grandparent) has to enjoy the crazy process as much as the child does. You have to be willing to drive at inconvenient times to inconvenient places, to arrive at your call time and end up waiting, to arrive earlier than your call time and be rushed. You also have to be an advocate for your child. You cannot be passive. You have to stand up for them and protect them if they are tired or you are not comfortable with something.
I've been on a set where a child who made it all the way to the shoot was asked to leave simply because even after the fitting/alterations/etc, the company decided to go a different direction. It's like flying standby. If you ever have, you know that it isn't until the plane is literally off the ground that you are actually guaranteed your seat. Same thing, it isn't until you actually see the finished product that you know if you made the cut or not, your work or your child's' may all be on the cutting room floor and you have to be okay with that. So, that's why I think anyone involved has to be crazy enough to enjoy the process. At the end of the day, the process and not product is often what you get.
Okay, enough of my jabber. I still haven't answered the burning question, well how do I even throw my child's hat in the ring and get an agent?
If you are in the NW, you are spoiled because it is a very simple answer. You submit your child's photo and measurements (per the instructions that are often listed directly on the agency's website) to reputable agencies. If the agency is interested they will contact you. I have no advice on how aggressive you should be. Some would 'preach' that you should follow the rules laid out on the website because they are seeing how parents/the talent follow the rules, others would argue that you should send a note or something that will make you stand out. Send follow up notes etc. That is your call.
Anyway, do NOT run out and spend a bazillion dollars on a headshot. Submit candids or professional pictures that you already had taken (not ones specifically for this). Depending on your child's age, you will not be required to have professional pictures. I update Georgiana's agent with snapshots, she still does not have a headshot. The agents are humans and they know that toddlers look different every month!
Do NOT pay for classes for your baby/toddler/young child, do NOT be wooed (sp?) by people who are trying to sell you anything or say that you must use their photographer. It is a scam. They are good and they will wave headshots of famous people in front of you and lie to you and tell you that that is how so and so Disney star got their start. Avoid Kim Brooke, John Casablanca and a lot of the 'schools.'
I am going to list a few agency names I see/hear all the time. This is NOT comprehensive of reputable agencies, but it is a start (I didn't link them, sorry, just google the name):
TCM Models & Talent
Coleen Bell
Heffner Management (modeling adult)
Big Fish
SMG (Seattle Models Guild, modeling over age 2)
When I think of more I will add them.
Also, if your child is older, or you yourself are interested, then I recommend looking up the following casting directors and taking their workshop(s). They are legit and helpful and will often guide you in the direction of an agent that may be a good match for you, linked:
Jodi Rothfield
Stephen Salamunovich
Patti Kalles

If you are thinking about theatre...
that's another post and then some.
If you have questions, please feel free to ask. Just please do not be offended if it takes me a little bit to get back to you.
I hope this is helpful :)
One last thing. Especially with your children, I wouldn't recommend doing any craigslist or random auditions. Those things can be sketchy and without a good background of knowledge the weirdos can be hard to sniff out. The NW is great for kiddos to have an agent because we have some great companies such as REI, Nordstrom, Amazon, random game companies (Portland: Nike, San Francisco: Gap) and a bunch of others that my tired brain cannot think of...
Basically, play it safe with the kiddos.
Last note, Remember, an agent does not ever need to be paid unless you the actor or your child is getting paid. That is how a legitimate agent makes their money, they make a pre-determined perecentage of your pay! Also, do not be discouraged if you submit your child or yourself to agencies and do not hear back. They may currently already have 3 children signed on that have the same hair/eye/skin tone as yours. They may be cleaning up shop, they may have a zillion reasons. Be prepared to be told no and be prepared to get back up and try try try try try and then try again. It's all about what you do after the 'no.'

Two Sweet!

2011-11-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

I cannot get rid of the giant spaces between every line (you'll see after the pics), sorry...

The after party!

Last month I had the pleasure of co-hosting (with Lindsey) a baby shower for our sweet dear friend Jessica and her twin boys!! Identical twin boys arriving sometime in the New Year! We chose lime green, and two blues for the shower colors, Lindsey designed seriously adorable argyle invitations, which I would happily share a picture of except Legendary Doughnuts kept mine. We served brunch, which naturally included doughnuts in the coordinating colors :) The shower ran perfectly and my only complaint (not even a real one!) is that I didn't get to wear what I planned on wearing. How vain is that, it wasn't even my shower, so I shouldn't even care... But, less than 30 minutes before the shower was starting Lindsey and I bolted upstairs to throw on our party attire and when I pulled my red tunic dress with slightly ruffled sleeves out of the dryer, I discovered that it had a giant mystery grease stain all over the front! For normal people, with clean organized bedrooms, this would only be a hiccup... But, although the rest of my house was sparkling clean for the shower, my room most definitely was not. Which resulted in a panic. Lindsey suggested my go to dress, which thankfully was not wrinkled and ready to wear. Phew. And, most thankfully the rest of the day went perfectly.

My favorite part of any party is the unofficial after party. The close friends that you hope linger around after most of the guests leave, so you can nibble directly out of the serving dishes, take a closer look at all of the goodies and gab on the couch with your feet up. I feel pretty spoiled to have such an amazing group of girls to get to gab with.

Thanks for a wonderful day ladies!

---

And now, a few nuts & bolts. Because, when I read a party post I enjoy this info :)

The Menu:

- My Aunt Michelle's Potatoes (We went thru two 9x12 dishes of these, they are amazing!! And, fat free, just kidding ;) Hope you don't mind a little butter:

Recipe:

Ingredients: 32oz hashbrown potatoes, 1 can of cream of chicken, 8oz sour cream, 1/2 C butter, 6oz shredded cheese.

Topping: 2C crushed cornflakes, 1/2 C butter.

Combine all ingredients and put in 9x12 dish, sprinkle with 2C crushed cornflakes & 1/2 C butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

- Fruit Salsa (a recipe from Kelly's Korner's blog) served with cinnamon graham crackers (This was bomb dot com and I definitely plan on making it again!!)

- Costco Quiche (It was good, but not amazing, it saved me time, which I needed, but I think I will look for a make ahead recipe next time)

- Bagel Thins & Cream Cheese (Strawberry & Vegetable)

Dessert:

Legendary Doughnuts

Chocolate Fondue with bananas, pretzel rods & marshmallows.

Beverages:

Coffee, OJ, Water w/Lemon

Game:

Drink 4oz of juice out of a bottle. A LOT more difficult than it sounds, and entertaining!

Prize: Starbucks Gift Card

Favors:

Green & Blue candy dipped Double (for twins of course!) stuffed oreos wrapped in clear boxes... which reminds me, I need to ask Lindsey where she bought those?

Random:

-Diaper Raffle, this is the greatest way to start stocking up on diapers. It is totally optional, but each person is invited to bring a package of diapers, any size/any quantity and then they write their name down and are entered into a drawing for a prize, ours again was a Starbucks gift card, because you really can't go wrong with that :)

-Lindsey cut 4x6 pieces of blue & green paper and everyone wrote down advice, encouragement or a tradition that they enjoyed growing up. They then fit in a little photo album.

I cannot wait to snuggle those two babies!!

And, it goes without saying, but isn't Jessica a knockout... She's too cute!

2011-11-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

It's taking a lot of self control to not buy this dress!

Link Here.

It would probably be quite comical to watch me see Georgiana on Amazon.com in a new picture. I gasp. I don't think I will ever get used to it. Love my little peanut!

One More...

2011-10-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Taye's 6th Birthday Party!

2011-10-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

I apologize, but I am going to be negative nelly for a moment:

Does blogger ever where you out? Or make you want to pull out your hair!?! It seems that with each post, the pictures are taking longer and longer and longer to upload. So, facebook got the majority of the pics today, but I at least had to share the above ones on the blog because they are just too cute not to share! But, I'm of course not biased at all :)

My nephew Taye turned six this past weekend, 6, that is craziness! I love him to pieces, he is super creative, even his birthday wish list was creative... I mean, how many 6 year olds do you know ask for a metal detector for their birthday!?! You know, to find treasures on the beach, or quarters your Aunt Michelle may have planted outside. He also asked for a 'meat plant,' aka Venus Flytrap. Love him.

And the babies... Oh my sweet babies. Yes, only one of the 'triplets' is actually my sweet baby, but I think of them as my sweet babies, really I should say my sweet toddlers. They played and played and played. Poor Ryder was chased and tackled by Georgie over and over again. Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind too much. My sister thinks Hana was quite pleased to have someone else run around with the boys in her place. Hana much enjoyed cuddling with her grandma and playing with the pup, she's like a living doll I tell you, I could just kiss her cheeks off... But, I don't think she would like that much. She would crack you up if you could see her facial expressions, she let's you know if you are getting to close, ha! I always tell her that someday she can come to my house for girls weekends, I cannot wait!

ps - I can't get the huge spaces to go away. Cest la vie.

Oh Georgie Girl!

2011-10-18T23:30:00.000-07:00

Chasing Fireflies link Here.

After all that... yes, I do plan on eating it.

2011-10-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

"My nephew gave me the heart, but I can't find it, I would just love it if it came falling out of there!"

Those are just a few of the words I never ever thought I would hear. At a location I really never pictured myself at...

The back entrance of a butcher shop on the Monday morning after opening weekend of hunting. Oh my word, it was an experience. Cars, rather large pickups, and one random mini van all lined up to drop off their kill. Kelly was one of the eager vehicles in line to drop off his game, he asked if Georgiana and I would join him so that I could help pick out the cuts. After some great internal debate, I decided to go. Kelly suggested I drive Georgie and I in my car and follow him so that we wouldn't be subject to any potential smell. Lovely.

Georgie girl and I waited in my car while Kelly dropped off the carcass and then the three of us went into the front of the store and sampled the pepperoni that was offered to us. It was quite tasty, and I was feeling quite proud of how well I had handled the bloody exhibits visible behind the counter (I'm not much of a raw meat person). Anyway, just as I was feeling comfortable, the mini van man popped his head in the store and said "hey buddy, they need you in the back." Georgiana and I stepped out to get fresh air and opted not to follow Kelly and the trail of blood to the back entrance. We just looked the other way, when the same chatty man driving the mini van(I'm very very much NOT opposed to mini vans, it was just comical seeing a deer come out of one, it may have been a had to be there moment) asked if Georgie would like to come and see his 'very friendly' dog. Umm... Okay. I didn't want to be rude, so I walked to the back of his van, that was open and currently being emptied by the butchers, and that's when he made the deer heart comment to the men. I know nothing about hunting, but I do know that he was the only man there who had cut his deer into random chunks and stuffed it and his nephews' deer's heart into coolers. The dog was hopping around and it was all very disgusting. Right as I was starting to feel really queasy and begin my exit strategy, Kelly stuck his head out of the back door and said he needed me back there.

I don't quite remember what I said, but I said enough that he replied (twice), "Yes, I'm serious. You can do it..."

Anyway, I tried to play it cool, as I didn't want to insult anyone, and I was very aware that I (and I think Georgie too) was the only person who felt totally uncomfortable. I self talked (unfortunately literally out loud) as I made my way around the very bloody men and hanging animal remains, "I'm not trying to over-react, oh dear (not meaning to be punny 'deer'), oh my word oh my word oh my word. Georgie we can do this..."

My breathing was probably quite bizarre looking, as I was afraid to inhale through my nose, and I was trying so hard to act comfortable and yet make sure the only thing coming into contact with anything was the bottom of my shoes. Thankfully, Georgie must have picked up on my mood because she was as still as she could be in my arms. Not reaching out to touch anything, thank you Jesus. Seriously.

The man taking the order was so helpful and the experience was quick and painless as long as I kept my eyes on him and the paper.

Then... there was our grand exit.

The next man in line, with the F350 Diesel Truck, had apparently shot a deer large enough to go with his ginormous vehicle. Because, rather than just have the two employees carry the meat inside to be weighed, they had to bring the scale hook thing to the truck and hoist the deer out of the bed of the truck. This in turn made a triangle for us to walk under to get out of the shop. Yes, I had to walk underneath the animal... I'm pretty sure I ran and self talked/yelled/tried so hard to be calm, as Kelly literally held his hands above my and Georgie's heads to make sure blood did not drip on us! I made it past all of the men oogling over the game, including the biker leather vest wearing, mini van driving, dog loving, deer cooler, friendly guy, and found myself resting on the running board of my suv with my head between my knees. Thankfully, hidden away from all of the men sharing their victory stories.

So, I guess that answers Kelly's question if I would ever like to go hunting with him?

---

Georgiana and I enjoyed our weekend, a fun visit from Lindsey, Georgie eating her weight in Mac & Cheese, visiting Maris Farm and Taye's 6th Birthday Party! I have many cute pictures from it that I would love to share, but they are still on my camera. Which is in the garage, near the unprocessed head of the above mentioned animal. And, after writing this post, I'm a bit exhausted by the talk and thought of it. So, the pics will have to wait. I don't need to see the head again tonight and have another weird dream.

This morning as we were eating breakfast, I looked at Kelly and with 100% seriousness, asked him if he really told me that he wanted a floor length rubber apron for Christmas?

To which, he thankfully replied no.

Auntie Shell...

2011-10-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

these are for you:

Pretty Baby (Bitty Baby), Nordstrom leggings and socks, jean jacket, little brown curls, pony tail and a bow...

Georgie, can you smile pretty?
I am having some serious Ashley & Makenzie (my cousins) flashbacks!

2011-10-11T21:05:00.001-07:00

Well Hello Blogworld!

It seems that in this season of life, I just need to realize that I am not going to be blogging as much as I would like. And... that's okay! I need to remember that that is okay. That it is good, wonderful in fact, to be distracted by many non internet things. Such as BSF (Bible Study Fellowship), selling Norwex products, planning a baby shower for twin boys, snuggling my little Georgiana Lee who is growing like a weed!!! Watching The Office and Modern Family with Kelly, pausing it to talk about random things and rewinding to laugh at Phil Dunphy over and over again. Cooking and trying to figure out how in the world I clogged my garbage disposal and how in the world am I going to keep the sink from overflowing, heads up... when the sink is clogged, do NOT run the dishwasher. Your water may climb dangerously high and not go back down. In Georgie's words "uh oh."

I've been told over and over again by older women, to "enjoy" Georgiana. I've been advised not to wish past these years, to embrace the diaper changes, the rocking and all the messes. I really feel like I am, and she makes it so easy to enjoy her. As my Grandma would say, "she is personality plus!" Today she was really into rocking her baby dolls, helping them go "nigh nigh." One of her baby's has a pacifier and she is always very concerned that baby has her "nah nah." Yep, that's Georgie's word for paci, it came about mostly because Georgie mainly gets her paci at night time, night and nah... Anyway, another sweet moment was while I was cooking dinner, Georgie pulled her chair into the kitchen (smiled when I asked her to "smile for the camera"). She's been pulling it wherever I am and just sits and reads and chats. Adorable. When I put the cornbread in the oven, I told her it was "hot." She waited until I shut the oven door and then she walked over to the oven, told me "hot hot," and then began to blow on the oven. Like she would if her food was anything warmer than room temp, she likes to cool off her food if it is "hot hot."

In addition to enjoying my sweet girl, I also had the opportunity to enjoy some big girl, girl time with my good friend Kea. (Whenever I get anxious about leaving Georgiana, Kelly practically kicks me out the door (lovingly of course) but he always reminds me that this is how he gets to bond with Georgiana, and they both LOVE their time together!) Last weekend, we ventured to Portland, OR. We ate our way through the city and shopped till we dropped! I asked for restaurant recommendations on facebook, and that turned out to be the best idea ever! We kicked off Friday lunch at Mother's Bistro (my favorite meal all weekend). The atmosphere was Paula Deen meets boutique style chandelier totally cute place to dine. I had the crab cake sandwich, yum. Love me some shellfish. We hit the Portland City Grill for happy hour. The happy hour was packed, but not too bad, just full enough that it was a really fun atmosphere. Live piano, great view unless you were at one of the only two tables in the bar next to a small brick wall (arrive earlier than 6:00 pm so you have a view, we were by the bricks, but it was still great). After that, we headed to The Melting Pot for dessert. I always like to get the plain milk chocolate. I've had others, but the plain is the best to me, just pure deliciousness.

Saturday morning we tried to go to Pine State Biscuits. The pictures of the food seriously made my mouth water, but the line was wrapped around the building, you could tell that it had been featured on Diners Dives and Drive Thrus (or whatever that show is called :). Anyway, we were too hungry to wait, but we stumbled upon a gem called Roost. I am still craving the homemade garlic toast and thick bacon. Soooo good.

In between eating, we shopped. Because, when you come from a 9.3% tax area and are in a tax free area, it's just what you do. I found two pairs of flats at Ross. Ross smelled a lot like a thrift store, but it was worth it because I paid less for two pairs of shoes than I would have for one shoe elsewhere. Now, I'm about to talk about undergarments, so if that weirds you out, please stop reading, you've been warned........

Have you ever had a bra fitting at Nordstrom? If your answer is no, I highly highly highly recommend it. I had a fitting at Victoria Secret and it was... not accurate. I was so convinced that it was off, that I popped into the lingerie section at Nordstrom, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of my weekend. Silly I know. Maybe you are already enjoying comfortable brassieres, so comfy that you don't even notice you are wearing one. I learned that VS has their own method of sizing, and own bra sizes, independent of everyone else. Interesting.

Needless to say, I bought some comfys and am thrilled.

We checked out of our hotel (The Nines, perfect location for walking to restaurants and shopping!) and headed to the country. We were on a mission to wish Matt Roloff Happy Birthday. Mission accomplished! This was Kea's first trip to the Roloff farm, and we managed to get her picture with all of the siblings (except for Jacob), and we saw all of the family (including the grandparents), except for Amy who was not there... Sad. I seriously prayed that the Roloff family would not go down the Jon & Kate route. Anyway, before I start spreading rumors I better spell check this bad boy and head to bed!

ps if there are really large spaces between paragraphs I apologize, it's a technical difficulty.

pps we accidentally marched for a block in an anti war protest, it is more of an in person story to tell

One more thought, Kelly and Georgie ventured out a lot the two days I was gone. They went to the library story time, had playdates with Kea's husband and her boys, did a little shopping, went to an indoor jumping place and went on a date to Cabella's. They had a great time until Georgiana went Hansel and Gretel and started throwing her crackers all over the store. Oh dear...

And, apparently the hotel thought it was our anniversary. As you can imagine, Kea and I got many jokes out of that.

2011-10-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

While I was rotating laundry, Miss Georgiana Lee was quite busy...

I think it's rather artistic :)

Chasing Fireflies!

2011-10-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

I got a facebook message from my friend Missy today, asking if Georgiana had a look alike in the Chasing Fireflies catalog...

I've been excitedly awaiting for this catalog to come out! We haven't received ours yet, but Georgie's pictures are on their website and Kelly and I just grin when we see our little one all dolled up. This was Georgie's first job (back in June), and the three of us went on a little road trip to snowy Oregon for the first picture. It was freezing!!! Georgiana was a champ, I was almost in tears, fearing I was being a stage mom and pushing her too far... But, in true Georgie fashion she clapped and cuddled afterward and just took a nap in my arms in the warm lodge. I don't know that we will brave another Winter outdoor shoot until she is able to tell me in words how she feels about it, which at the rate her words are starting to form I think it won't be too long!

Our rule is, we will keep going to auditions and shoots as long as Georgiana enjoys it, if and when she says she's done, she will be done.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics and catalog!

Oh how I wish we would have been able to keep the clothes...

Maui

2011-10-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

We spent the last couple of weeks in Maui, and it was a blast! Kelly's parents (Bill & Lori) joined us for the first week. It was their first time vacationing in Hawaii, and we all soaked up every minute of it!

It is definitely different vacationing with a 15 month old. I never thought in a million years that I would spend so much time soaking up the shade. But, boy oh boy did I quickly learn to love those big ol' cabanas. Thankfully, as you probably can tell from the pictures, little Miss Georgiana is a great napper in that she (usually) has no problem sleeping in her stroller or on her Mama. The kiddie pool would clear out around lunch/nap time, but most of the time we were able to stay outside and read in the shade while Georgie kicked back. I will tell you, I learned rather quickly that swim diapers work great for one thing and one thing only, holding in the you know what while swimming. Otherwise, they are about as absorbent as undies. More than once, my little sleeping cuddle bug warmed my legs up. Yep, it's what you think. I apologize to anyone staying at the Westin Villas on Kaanapali beach, there is a reason you should always lay a towel down on your lounge chair.

A couple of tips that I found helpful while traveling with a little one are, stock up on $1.00 store (or Target $1.00 section) toys for the plane ride. Georgiana loved playing with things she had never seen or read before, and if anything was left behind it was only a buck, so no biggie. She is a full on lover of all stickers, thankfully the lady and gentleman sitting near us did not mind lending their hands and arms to be stickered. Yes, she loves to share.

She also loved what Kelly calls "baby gu packs." Link HERE. They worked perfectly for pool side snacks, Georgiana was able to eat them right out of the package like a little smoothie. It was a really handy way to get some veggies in her. Especially considering every single kids menu consisted of the same lovely options, such as: grilled cheese, chicken strips, mac & cheese, and your occasional fish & chips. All of which come with french fries and your occasional blue jello. Needless to say, Georgie girl and I shared a lot of food. Don't worry, we did let her live it up and eat her share of flours and cheese, and she discovered her new favorite combo... grilled cheese sandwich dipped in a glass of water until it is nice and soggy and makes her Daddy a little queasy. Yummy! Especially when it plops back down into the murky water. Appetizing I tell ya!

In addition to eating and napping, we swam and swam and swam. Georgie got braver by the day and thoroughly enjoyed both the little kid pools and the big kid areas, dunking her basketball in the water and going down a giant slide with Kelly.

Kelly and Bill went scuba diving (we used Kelly's camera most of the time and all of those photos are currently on the memory card reading "memory card error," hopefully we can recover them!). They had an amazing time and are ready to go back again and again. Lori and I also had an amazing time above water! We went to the Heavenly Spa at the Westin, and it's name could not have been more accurate. We had Lomi Lomi Hawaiian full body massages and pedicures. I think part of a massage should be an hour of sleep afterward. When the masseuse told me to take my time getting up, I thought, do I really have to get up!?! I tell you, I have not been so relaxed in I don't know how long. Our nail treatments were equally as pleasurable. I opted for the clarisonic pedicure, I am years, probably decades, past baby smooth feet and this little tool was basically a spa sander. Which my heels needed. I chose grey for my polish color. It's my absolute fav color I've ever had, and please feel free to laugh, but I chose it because I saw it on Heidi Klum's nails when she was doing an infomercial for NY Fashion Week. Ha ha!

Something random, but totally cute. Georgie got into the habit of rearranging herself in her high chair. She decided both legs (crossed of course) in one side is the best, and in one picture above she is doing that, wearing my shirt. She and Kelly picked it out. Thankfully she only wore that in the condo. She has opinions this one, I love it. I really do. She will tell you "yeah." Or shake her head "no no." We are working on "yes please." Georgiana can you say please? "Yeah."

Georgie's up from her nap, so I am posting this unedited otherwise I fear it will enter the long awaiting list of "drafts."

Aloha!

Georgie meet our good friend Maui...

2011-10-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

On our last night in Maui, we walked to Duke's and ordered Hula Pie (best Hawaiian treat!) to go. Passersby called Georgiana a "Movie Star." Per her request, our little star wore her shades and enjoyed sandy grapes and animal crackers until well after the sun went down.

Fit Modeling

2011-10-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Georgiana was the fit model for the shoes above. I have decided that fit modeling is the best job in the world. That and being a food critic. Or travel/hotel reviewer, or or or... Anyway, I have decided that fit modeling is one of the best jobs you could have. You arrive on time, but do not have to be camera ready, you can wear whatever you want, it is super fast, so far everyone has been extremely nice, and all you have to do is try on the shoes or clothes. Let the kind designers make some notes, maybe snap some pics, and then you are on your way. It pays great, and sometimes you get a very special treat, ie you get to take home a sample pair of shoes. So, if you are the local women's shoe fit model for Nordstrom and your shoe size is 7.5 and you are looking for someone to fill in for you, I volunteer! But, I have a feeling whoever has that job is holding tight to it. I would.

Here's the link to the shoes (no picture of Georgiana, just the shoes, and yes they are baby boy shoes :)

PS - I am currently uploading pictures from Hawaii!!! Hopefully blogger wants to cooperate so I can share some with you. Kelly's camera is showing an error message "memory card error," and the pictures will not upload... we are going to take it to a camera shop tomorrow. I am hoping and praying that we can access the pictures, thankfully we took a few (around 200) with my giant camera.

Crackers & Coach

2011-09-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Who needs toys when you have animal crackers and purses!?!
ps - I am quickly learning how durable leather purses really are. They are holding up quite well so far :)

A Style All Her Own!

2011-09-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Georgiana is a shoe girl already. She loves her little shoe boxes and brought me her Fall boots the other day to put on her. Complete with an unbuttoned onesie of course!

Please notice how she decorated Daddy's feet in the background. She was quite proud of herself :)
And, she's decided sunglasses aren't too bad...

They make it a little easier to look up and point out planes!

Be careful what you wish for!

2011-09-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

I really really wanted Georgiana to like wearing bows. Up until now, she has only tolerated them, sometimes throwing them out of her stroller in stores or on walks, where sometimes I can find them and other times I cannot. Thankfully, I have never paid too much for them (Walmart sometimes has them for $1.00, and today I got a big one for only $.50). Anyway, along with those bargain bows, I think we turned a corner...
Georgiana loved them all, and felt they would look best being worn at the same time! She would bring me a bow, point to where she wanted it, and repeat and repeat! When one would fall out, there would be a little gasp and she would quickly run it over to me to put back in. When it was time for a nap, she asked for her paci and started pulling the bows out. I couldn't imagine they would be very comfortable to sleep in! I need to look on etsy for bow storage ideas, I think I need to whip something up.

Also, while looking at these pictures I just kept thinking, where is my baby girl!?! She looks so big to me in these pics, sigh... My little 15 month old.

Recognize this little froggy...

2011-09-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

I posted this on fb a few days ago, but I wanted to share this picture with my blogging friends. This picture is being borrowed from Amazon, link here.

From that link, just click on the right arrow a few times or click on 'view looks.'

Kelly and I both gasped with excitement when we saw our little Georgie girl on Amazon.com for the first time. We showed Georgiana and she wasn't too impressed, she probably thinks, yes mommy you posted another picture of me on your blog!

Kelly and I auditioned with Georgiana for the family picture (the first picture on the Amazon link page with dorothy, the pirate and little gnome). Georgie was too small for the costume, and I think Mommy and Daddy were not modely enough :) Honestly, I can say that taking Georgiana to photo shoots is a bazillion times more fun than any shoots I've done myself. Everyone on set just calls me "Mom," or "Georgiana's Mom," and I get to just enjoy watching Georgie girl do her thing! I'm pretty sure she thinks we are on playdates, she and the other kids play and play and enjoy snacks from craft services. One of my favorite moments was at her last photo shoot, the stylist was putting adorable little black patent leather dress shoes on her, Georgie was sitting on my lap and would lift up each foot one by one, first for socks, then shoes, and would clap for the stylist each time. Oh how I love my Georgie girl!!!

For my sister...

2011-09-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

My sister, Tiffany, is the bargain hunting queen! She asked to see my latest craigslist finds. Georgiana has been enjoying them very much! I have decided it is kind of nice to buy outdoor toys used, that way when a new scratch or smudge of dirt appears it really doesn't seem too bad :) One thing I learned, people post outdoor toys in all sorts of categories, so we found it best to just type in key words when searching and not select a specific category. Happy bargain hunting, Georgie happily soaked herself at a birthday party last weekend, so I think next up on the craigslist hunt is a water table!

2011-09-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Helping Daddy get better!

Hello old friend!

2011-09-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

Oh blog, I've missed you. I am so amazed and baffled by the bloggers out there that can keep up with blogging and day to day life. I have a running list in my mind of things I would like to blog, but time escapes me! So, here is a tease:

10 Year High School Reunion

Renaissance Faire pics

Ocean Shores

Stained Teeth, Scary business I tell ya

Wine (not related to above)

Georgiana working

Lakeside Bible Camp x2

Craigslist, buy & sell

Sanding & staining tables etc (somewhat related to above)

Playing and outside, lots

Norwex, exciting!!

Kelly having knee surgery (today) yikes, but praise the Lord it went great!

Georgie girl talking up a storm in both her own language and English

Chasing puppies, chirping at birds and still trying my hardest to master the art of a clean home.

And laundry, don't get me started

Oh, and my first overnight (San Francisco with my super good friend Lindsey) away from my sweet little Honeybee (Georgiana).

I'm off to fill ice packs and fix myself a bite before my patient and my Georgie girl get up from their naps :)

ps - I have deleted the spaces between the lines three times, I give up!

Happy Sunday!

2011-08-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

It's a little difficult to snap a picture of Georgiana these days, she is always on the go!

I'm pretty sure the span of all these pictures was maybe 5 minutes. She had a couple "o's" aka cheerios, pushed her giraffe around, did her version of a head stand and evaded the camera by running and yelling "ahhhhhhh."

But, I thought this outfit and ponytail were just too precious to not try and capture!

Summer Weekend

2011-08-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Only two pics because blogger is being a pill, taking FOREVER, and only uploading one by one. Sorry, blogger and I just don't always get along. But, enough negative nelly. On to the post!

Summer, rain and shine, continues to be busy busy!

This past weekend was filled to the brim with fun...

SWAT call out 15 minutes before Kelly's alarm was supposed to go off for he and Ashley's half marathon.

Kelly barely making it in time to throw on his running bib.

Georgiana clapping and cheering on the runners (her sign said her signature yell, "Yay Dad!")

Ashley kicking some serious butt on the run!

Brunch with family.

The Renaissance Faire (Georgie becoming Lady Georgiana!)

Getting up to get ready for church and instead planning an extremely last minute trip to Ocean Shores.

Georgie and Kelly running through hundreds of seagulls.

Georgie sleeping like a champ while Kelly and I ate vending machine ice cream treats and day dreamed about future adventures.

Driving through the cute little town of Seabrook.

Lots of giggles and chatter by little Georgiana.

BBQ pizzas and finishing up our Love & Respect Bible study.

Laughing like crazy and thinking... is this really just root beer?

Tuesday, Georgiana and I headed to the Tacoma Children's Museum with my friend Kea and her two boys. I checked out a pass to the museum from the library and we all got in for free! As for Kelly, he returned to work and the fun ended. He injured his knee in training. We are awaiting the final verdict, but for now he is on light duty. We are praying for a quick recovery!

We also returned to our vegetable garden boxes filled to the brim with not one, but two extremely poisonous weeds. The Noxious Weed Chairman (yes, each county has one, who knew!?!) referred me to the Master Gardner's, who then referred me to Poison Control. Each person "doubted" that the vegetables would be dangerous to eat. The Poison Control employee advised that I dig out at least a 3-4" radius around the Poisonous Hemlock to ensure that nothing we eat has come into contact with it. Considering he informed me that that weed is responsible for the death of two hikers, we thought it best to not play Russian Roulette with our dinner plate, so both boxes are being emptied completely. The words doubt and fatal just weren't sitting well with us.

Let's see... what else?

Georgiana is continuing to transition to one nap, she is handling it like a champ. She's been quite the little helper, loves to sweep, wash her hands and love love loves to be outside. I am obsessed with Hershey's chocolate sandwiched between graham crackers, and I am also quickly becoming addicted to my new Norwex cleaning products.

The Renaissance Faire pictures are on Kelly's camera and he is currently out picking up a craigslist find for Georgiana (a slide/gym combo), so I will have to leave you in suspense! I will say, it surpassed all of my expectations, and the Smith family plans on making it a tradition. Turkey legs and all. Hands down, best people watching ever. Not every day do you get to watch a man dressed like he is straight off the set of Narnia wander around a field for no particular reason. Oh America, I love you.

Also, just fyi...

Apparently it is Fall.

We returned from the ocean to find one of our trees has dropped it's leaves. Yep, it's August 10th and Georgiana and I were out crunching leaves this evening. Cest la vie.

ps - my cousin tie dyed her own shirt. it is one of her many creations. i'm quite impressed.

2011-08-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

I thought Georgiana looked kind of sad in the pigtail pic below, so I added this one for good measure. Georgie + Food = Guaranteed Smile!

A Happy Heart

2011-08-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

It truly amazes me how much my little Peanut has grown this last year. The picture above is from late July 2010 and the picture below is from today...
Pigtails. My little baby is wearing pigtails.
And playing with baby dolls.

So, that's what we've been up to. Watching Georgie girl grow like crazy and develop her sassy and sweet little personality. I feel fairly certain she really does do something new everyday. I feel spoiled to get to be her Mommy. So thankful and sometimes so tired, but I try to just focus on the thankful. I realized awhile ago that talking about being tired just brings me down and I want to try to cheerfully enjoy each of these very very fast stages!

I recently heard a friend tell her daughter to "Choose to have a happy heart." I absolutely love that!

Teething & Toast

2011-07-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Georgiana's teething, a lot. Which makes for some interesting days and nights. But, I cannot blame her, seriously I can only imagine how I would feel if I had teeth cutting through my gums!

Aside from that, she has also figured out how to take her tray off of her bumbo while she is in it. Fun times, ha! She thinks computers are solely for pandora, so she points to them and dances and sings until music is produced. Love her.

When asked, "Georgie, what do you have?"
Toast. It makes everything better.

Last weekend was my 10 year high school reunion, I have pics coming. Last week was teething as I mentioned. Yesterday was sunshine and swimming in our backyard. Oh, and Friday was... Have you ever seen marks on the cement posts in drive thrus and thought who in the world runs into those!?! Well, I have an unfortunate answer for you. Although, I didn't run into a cement post, I did back into a bike rack. Yep, a really fabulous moment, so I have more sympathy for those post rammers. My car went crunch. Just fyi, bike racks are extremely sturdy. Thankfully no one was injured, and only two pedestrians were entertained. One troubadour and one city employee who confirmed that I was good to go and did not damage property. I just switched our car insurance last week. We are saving tons each year, but it is still a $500.00 mistake, yuck.

I was going to share one more thing... What was it???

Oh, totally random but possibly useful. I saw a couple of people buying the salmon patties from Costco, so I decided to be brave and give them a try. I am so glad I did! They are really tasty, and made from whole salmon fillets. Costco just doesn't disappoint.

Oh, and I am excited for the salmon to start running in the river near us! Fresh salmon here we come!!!

Simple Summer Fun!

2011-07-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Georgie has so much fun playing with daddy and napping with mommy.

I think it's a pretty good arrangement!

After all, aren't Sundays supposed to be restful...

2011-07-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is one of those I know it is blurry but I still love it pictures.
And, I love this little outfit. My friend Erin gave it to her about this time last year (thank you Erin!), and I couldn't imagine her being big enough to wear it. I just bought Georgie some dresses for next summer and they look gigantic, but I have a feeling this year will fly and I'll soon be looking at pictures of my little peanut fitting perfectly into those big ol' clothes.
Crazy.

I just uploaded 276 pictures...

2011-07-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

So, as you can imagine this post has a lot of pics and few words.
Georgie's little clubhouse, aka the tv stand.

Georgiana & Tristan.

Cleaning the garage with daddy.

Kelly calls her an ant.

Daddy, look at the bird!!! Every single bird is just as exciting.

One of her many faces and tippy toes. Classic Georgie girl!

Exciting first steps.

Georgie's free shoes from her shoe fit modeling job. I would wear them if they came in my size :)

***

After dinner, Georgiana and I went outside to play. We decided to head out to the front yard because there were quite a few kids out, and Georgie girl LOVES to watch them play. We took Georgie's new green bouncy ball and a little cotton rattle ball, but she was of course most entertained by the kids riding their bikes and scooters. Two little girls went to get the mail and Georgie grabbed her ball and went marching over, yelling the whole way of course, to meet them. Much to her dislike, I scooped her up and carried her back to the grass. But, as I watched her march over to the girls with pure joy on her face, her little head held up high, lots of happy jabber coming out of her mouth, and a ball in her hands inviting them to play, I prayed that she would never loose her courage. That she will always be brave to make new friends and share her toys and dive on into life! To have fun, to get excited and take risks!

I wish that every time she reaches out to someone they would be nice and encouraging to her, but I know that is not going to be the reality. I would like to be next to her every step of everyday, to scoop her up when she needs to be, to protect her. But, I know that that too is not reality. Sigh. Oh the heavy heart of a mommy. But, how thankful I am that the Lord protects her, that ultimately she is His. That He has plans for her. That He will always be there to scoop her up. And, that He will never fail her.

One more cutie patootie thing, Georgiana waves to every car that goes past us. I love watching even the grumpy people turn their frowns upside down and wave back to her. It's kind of hard not to smile when a little tiny person is waving her hand up and down with all her might. She makes "vroom..." sound effects for cars. I love it. Her little hand goes from side to side "vroom, vroom, vroom!"

Want to join us???

2011-07-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Feel free to laugh... but we are totally going to the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire. I wish we could go the weekend of the 2oth, but we will be out of town. So, we will be going on the 7th, the pirate themed weekend. I've told Kelly we should go the last couple of years, I mean if I enjoy people watching at the Puyallup Fair, how could I not enjoy this!?!

Plus, today the tickets are half off thru groupon (link HERE).

And seriously, please let me know if you want to join us on the 7th for crispy turkey legs and the best people watching Pierce county has to offer!

2011-07-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

If I count Georgiana's audition on Monday, she worked 4 days this week! Georgie's girl work plus lots of playtime, going to a Norwex party, my upcoming 10 year high school reunion, visiting friends at camp, dinner with friends, Nordstrom anniversary sale and dollar store shopping has kept us quite busy. Oh, and Georgie girl's first tantrum at the library. I was in shock and had a very proud first time mommy moment, when I honestly thought... not my child!?! Ha ha, we are learning the word no, and it is very traumatic when you cannot take a puzzle home with you from the library, and just a heads up, little ones can scream loud and clear with a paci in his or her mouth. But, please don't get the wrong impression, she's still the best little girl in the whole wide world, no bias here :) She thinks the sole purpose of a laptop is for music (Pandora), she points to the computer dances and sings, everything becomes a phone to her ear, she walks almost runs around every where, and giggles instead of saying 'yes' when you ask her a question. Right now she is begging to go outside, it is the first request of probably 300 today, rain or shine she likes to be outdoors! So, off I go to play in the backyard in my pjs. I am sure the neighbors love the entertainment.

Summer Thoughts

2011-07-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy and busy.

But, we generally like busy, so no complaints here.

Do you ever think in blog posts? I do. A lot. And, if I had the opportunity to blog as often as a post goes through my head, wowza that would be a full time job!

I have posts about all you can eat sushi go through my head. Like blogging about Kelly eating a quail's egg on a roll of rice, seaweed and salmon eggs. I freaked and said, "You have 50 salmon and a bird in your mouth!" He gave me a look that was worth a thousand words, some of which I translated as please be quiet otherwise I am going to throw up 50 salmon and a bird! Disgusting, but entertaining. We had a great coupon and my all you can eat was only $18.00, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get my money's worth. Ha! Nearly $40.00 worth of sushi later, my opinion was changed. Add that with Kelly's $40+ and I would say our dinner turned out to be quite the bargain.

Georgiana & Madeline

2011-07-15T20:30:00.001-07:00

Last month Georgiana and I had a wonderful visit from my good friend Melissa and her daughter Madeline. Georgiana and Madeline played so well together. Although, Georgie girl can be a bit of a bully! She wanted to drag Maddie by her shirt or make her move wherever Georgie thought she should go. Sorry Madeline, we are working on that!

By the end of the play date, the girls were sharing pacis in their pjs. I wasn't ready for them to leave (to go home out of state!), I just know these two are going to be great friends!

Please come back again soon!!

Pebbles

2011-07-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

2011-07-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

For the last hour blogger has refused to upload any of my pics.

This makes me sad. Cest la vie. I shall return when blogger and I can learn to get along again. Otherwise all is well in the Smith house. Just enjoying summer rain and shine :)

Georgie Girl

2011-07-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Oh how she makes me laugh!

This face especially cracks me up!!

140.6

2011-07-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

We had a blast in Coeur d' Alene last weekend, just walking around the Ironman village was fun and entertaining to watch all of the athletes in their final prep for the big race. Kelly's parents joined us for most of the weekend, and my Aunt Michelle flew in on Sunday to cheer Kelly on. Georgie girl was a champ and although she was confused as to why her Daddy wasn't stopping to visit with her, just running by or riding by, she joined in and yelled "yay Dad!" complete with a fist pump in the air. Talk about melting our hearts!!!

We made camp on the main street/finish line and watched finisher after finisher run/walk or cry past us. If we weren't cheering loud enough, Georgiana would grab my hands to help me clap. She usually hits the sack about 7:00 pm, so by 8:30 pm she was a little delirious and her claps transformed into full on arm extension and were about the silliest cutest thing ever. Georgie also enjoyed her share of Mac & Cheese, although I fear she will never be able to eat Kraft or boxed. Her palate was exposed to some of the tastiest Macaroni & Cheese ever, I encourage you to order off of Tito's children's menu in Coeur D' Alene, either that or try some of the pizza, delish.

Of course, we were in Coeur d' Alene for more than eating and taking pics of Georgie. We were there for Kelly to complete the most insane triathlon of his life. And, complete it he did!!

How he enjoyed over 15 hours of hardcore exercise, I will never understand, but he did and all of us rooting him on could not have been more proud of him! The finish line felt much like the Mainstreet in Disneyland watching a parade, and I think to Kelly the finish line definitely felt like the happiest place on earth.

Kelly described the first ten minutes of the swim as the most intense 10 minutes of his life. Considering he can compare that with explosively breaching the front doors of bad guys, I can say with absolute certainty that I have zero desire to dive into the water with Ironmen. My heart was pumping just watching from the sideline. Seeing a pack of over 2,300 people enter the water at once is a site like no other. They all set their eyes on completing the 2.4 mile swim, and all but 4 reached that goal in under the allotted time of 2 hours and 20 minutes.

After the swim came the 112 mile bike ride. Kelly was excited about the scenic ride. He and the two friends he trained with drove the bike ride a couple of days before the race. Apparently hills appear much smaller from the car window than from a bike seat. Kelly is convinced he will never ride a bike again, I am convinced he will probably do a sprint tri by the end of summer...

Upon finishing the bike ride, it was time to run a marathon. Yep, a full on 26.2 mile run. During his transition, Kelly yelled "I feel great, my legs are fresh!" Followed of course by a gigantic smile and thumbs up.

Kelly hit the run hard, he past over 200 people on his first lap. Only problem was, he didn't realize that the run was two laps. When the volunteer said "1st lappers to the finish line this way and 2nd lappers this way..." He looked at her with total disbelief and said "What!?!" It was an oversight that he says completely took the wind out of his sails. Mentally he went from pumped and literally looking down to the finish line, to realizing he had a hair over 13 miles to go. He describes his physical reaction as his legs started catching up to his brain. Although he was thrown for a loop, he still managed to pass an additional 100 competitors on his second lap.

Kelly planned to complete the race in around 15 hours. It still amazes me how he knew his body well enough to come to that number. His training numbers individually would have pegged him at around 13 hours, but he did a great job of guessing how much his body would react to all three events on one day.

When he rounded the corner onto the main street/finish line, I knew something wasn't right. In an instant the plan of holding sleeping Georgie and cheering Kelly on from the sideline was out the window. I quickly handed Georgie to my aunt and found myself running in my flip flops to meet Kelly. His eyes looked glossy and he was moving so awkwardly, his legs were cramped and as I ran beside him I didn't want to slow him down, so I said "go ahead Babe, beat me!" He just looked at me blankly and I could feel myself take a deep breath to hold back the tears. Tears of complete joy that he had reached his goal, tears that this journey was almost over, and tears that no matter what I would be getting Kelly across that line with a smile on his face. His eyes were glossy not from tears, but from being completely physically, mentally and emotionally spent, just glazed over. His legs were cramped and he had dried sweat on him, so thick that he looked like he had been painted white. So, I ran with him. I channeled my one year of cheerleading experience and bounced and yelled with the best of them for the last 1/8 mile. The street was packed, people came out and gave Kelly high fives, yelled and woo hooed as I yelled

"Here comes an Ironman!!!"

"Go Kelly!!!!"

"You did it!!!"

All of the outside restaurants were packed with onlookers who rallied behind Kelly with cheers and exclamations! It was an experience we will never forget. As we reached the grandstands, I yelled, "you did it, now go smile for your picture!" and then let him do his thing.

He ran through the grandstands, finished confidently and when I met him on the other side he gave me the sweatiest kiss ever. Pda's not really my thing, and I'm definitely not a sweaty pda girl, but I tell you, in that moment it just made me smile as big as him.

I'm "borrowing" these pictures from the asi website, we placed a pre-order during registration and I'm hoping we get the hard copy soon!

If you click on picture below, it is a link to an entire album and captions of our Ironman weekend:

2011-07-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Just hanging out with Mr. Green Frog...

First Birthday Pics 06.09.2011

2011-06-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

I think I may have already blogged about Georgiana's actual birthday, but I just uploaded a million and one ironman pics and found these cutie patootie pics. So, I thought I would share...

We took Georgie to Red Robin for lunch on her birthday. She doesn't look too excited in the above picture, but as you can tell from below, she was pretty pumped about the experience :)
Mmmm, a garden burger patty (the entire thing!), sweet potato fries and cantaloupe.

Then, we were off to the Seattle Aquarium.

After the aquarium mommy & daddy needed/wanted some ice cream.

Georgie kicked back and enjoyed people watching. This is a standard position for her in her stroller, sans shoes and all:

We attempted many self portrait family photos, it's just a little difficult, but at least all of our heads made it into this one!

Such a fun family day!

We'll say Georgie is holding up the #1 because it was her first birthday :)

"Triplets"

2011-06-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

These pictures turned out a little grainy, I'm not sure why, but I love them just the same. It was quite the challenge to get all three one year olds to sit still in their chairs, but as you can see the mission was accomplished!

Georgiana and her cousins Ryder & Hana.

2011-06-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Mommy, I thought we talked about these giant bows and flowers...
I don't think you were using your listening ears,

I would prefer NOT to wear bows roughly the same size as my little noggin.

Cest la vie!

Love,

Georgie

***

PS Georgie went to the doctor for her one year check up. She is 29 3/4" long and 17 lbs 12 oz, and healthy as can be, woo hoo!! She took her first steps on Monday and has only taken a few each day since then, she doesn't seem too sure about walking. She much prefers to crawl or race around with her lion.

Georgiana's 1st Birthday Party!

2011-06-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

I accidentally deleted this pic in the post and blogger will only let me upload it as the first one, so here it is:

Last Saturday we had Georgiana's first birthday party, and it honestly could not have gone any better. My friend Lindsey designed and printed the invitations, the snippet image (above) just doesn't do them justice, the border was pink to match and they set the tone for a lot of the decor. I am so spoiled to have such a talented and generous friend! Thanks again Linds!!

I am going to post approximately 3 billion photos, so please brace yourself :) The first set are ones that I took the morning after the party. Yes, I am that weird. With all of the hustle and bustle of fun, I forgot to snap pictures of most of the decor and the food tables, so Sunday morning I had a little decor photo shoot while Kelly and Georgie rested up...

The cake table remnants:
We ordered cupcakes from Albertsons, chocolate with whipped frosting and white cupcakes with buttercream. After sampling both, the chocolate was my fav, I didn't realize the buttercream was soooo sweet. Albertsons also made Georgie's cake, which is pictured way down below. I learned that Albertsons makes the first birthday cake for free, how cool is that!?! And below, I thought Georgie would like a really understated simple hat:

In lieu of a traditional cupcake tree/tier, I wrapped up polka dot presents (I hot glued two of the boxes together in case they were bumped):
Georgie's cake topper and candle, the week of her party I became the proud owner of a Cricut cutting machine, I heart it so much:
The pink gumballs were a huge hit with some of the little kids. I'm not so sure if they were such a hit with some of the parents, sorry friends! Taye was one of the little ones who thoroughly enjoyed chewing them, that is until they "lost their power," and he would have to get a new one. Oh how I love Taye's verbiage!

Marshmallow sticks. I got this idea from Legendary Doughnuts. I thought they would look cute on the table, but they actually ended up tasting really good too! They were so easy to make, just stick giant (or you could use the regular size too) marshmallows on candy making sticks, dip in melted candy coating or chocolate, and then dip the top in whatever you would like. I used crunched up pink fruit loops, but Legendary uses M&M's. My aunt helped me make them, and we were thinking chocolate dipped mallows with crushed graham crackers would be the cutest S'more Sticks! Only note, if you do make marshmallow sticks that are about the same size as a cupcake, be prepared for cupcake leftovers, or just order a few less cupcakes (mental note).

Another quick tip, some of my last minute helpers (thanks again Linds and family!) helped me by scooping ice cream into punch cups and then putting them on cookie sheets in the freezer. This made serving cupcakes and ice cream to roughly 60 people quick and easy!

Another Cricut project:

Party Favors!

The favors were my Grandma's cream wafers inside Container Store boxes. My friend Lindsey made up recipe cards and stickers for personal touches.

Entry/Hall table:

These tulip vases ended up being some of my favorite decorations and they were by far the easiest:

Balloons, Georgiana's favorite decoration, lots of oohs and awws and pointing:

More oohs and awws:

The tissue poms were a close second to the balloons. When I brought Georgiana downstairs Saturday morning, she was so excited. She kept pointing up to the poms with her mouth wide open. The poms are still up, they are cheerful and she absolutely loves them! Simple pleasures:

More simple pleasures:

Napkins:

The Menu:

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches on Potato Rolls

Coleslaw

Watermelon

My Grandma's Macaroni Salad

Carrots & Hummus

and...

Cheese Balls.

I bought them because they were orange and round and I thought maybe some of the kids would like them. Oh, I have so much to learn! We have enough leftovers to eat pulled pork sandwiches everyday until Christmas, but those 3 lonesome cheese puff/balls are all that remain. I poured them in punch cups, and it was an easy way to serve them.

Can you tell I like tiered plate holders, we used a third one for the watermelon:

Yum and easy to make ahead, two great qualities for entertaining food:

And now, for anyone still reading, the day of the party pics.

***

The Birthday Girl!

Another party scene pic:

And yet another (sorry if I am boring you, but the blog is my scrapbook, so please bear with me :)

My nephew Ryder, doesn't he make it worth looking through all of the decor pics!

Crazy Party Girl!

The aftermath, we forgot to snap a picture before the party, but you get the idea:

We rented tables and chairs, and it was the best idea ever (and way less expensive than I thought it would be). Most everyone ate outside and we opened gifts outside too. It was so nice for all of the little kiddos to be able to run around and be silly outside with bubbles, a sandbox made out of a pink princess pool, hula hoops and bouncy balls! And, most of the toys are things Georgie girl will be able to play with this summer.

Pink & Orange Punch (another aftermath pic):

Auntie Tiffany, giving Georgie a tasty treat. But, Georgie closed her lips so fast and didn't want a second bite!

Kelly and I really thought that Georgie would end up in the bathtub after her cake. I pictured frosting in her hair, everywhere, but she really wanted nothing to do with the cake! It was her first time having sugar, so I thought she would go crazy. After everyone had left, I thought maybe she would want to try a little frosting on my finger, but she wanted nothing to do with it. I had to laugh at how badly I wanted her to enjoy her cake, I guess I should have made it out of peas or watermelon, maybe a little applesauce as I know she is very good at rubbing that in her hair. She did have a little bite of one of my Grandma's cookies today, and she LOVED it.

The top of her cake was a giant pink flower, I was picturing the bright frosting all over her sweet face, but she prefered it to stay on the cake. That's okay Georgie girl, somehow I ended up with orange frosting on my nose. Let me tell you that is some seriously strong food coloring! I love that my nose was stained orange, but Georgie's face was picture perfect, ha!

One of my most favorite pictures, my sister Tiffany, cousin Ashley, Papa and cousin Makenzie:

My heart = Melted Puddle:

All of the little boys were so cute about Georgie opening her gifts. Her cousins and friends all wanted to give her the gift they brought and sometimes tell her what it was before she opened it. Then, they would ask, "does she like it!?!" To which I would say, "Yes! She LOVES it!" And she did :)

She loved her cards too:

We've been playing with dolls and stuffed animals a lot since her party!

Visiting with the boys (Taye & Case):

Cousin Hana, Connie (who quickly became her best friend), and little Maxwell sipping some milk:

Georgie's friend Brody walked in, looked at the cake table and said "Nice Party!" Could he be any sweeter!?!

A quick food table pic when the party first started, sans the orange coleslaw bowl:

As soon as Georgiana was born, if not before, Kelly said that he wanted to have a big ol' 1st Birthday bash with family and friends. I was a little reluctant at first, afraid it would be overwhelming, but I am so glad that I ended up embracing the idea with him. In the end, Georgie girl had so much fun, and that was the main goal! I loved celebrating Georgie's first year with so many supportive people, people who helped make her first year special.

Call me crazy (I know I am!), but I already have a theme in mind for her 2nd birthday. I figure I probably only get to pick the theme a couple of times, after that I have a feeling she will have a few opinions on the matter. She wouldn't be my girl if she didn't :) I am encouraging my brain take a rest though. It was so nice to walk into Target on Sunday and not be scanning the aisles for orange and pink.

Okay, I've blabbed enough.

Happy 1st Birthday Georgiana, we had the best time celebrating your first year and wowza are we excited to enjoy year number 2!!!

Georgie Girl!

2011-06-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's still cold enough in June to wear a bear coat.

Sigh.

2011-06-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is ONE!

This picture was taken on the morning of her birthday, before we headed to Seattle to eat at Red Robin and go to the Seattle Aquarium. My sister gave me the suggestion of ordering a garden burger patty for Georgie. It was perfect! Georgiana ate the entire patty, some cantaloupe and sweet potato fries. She was thrilled! It was our first time ever ordering for her, and she loved every bite.
She also had a blast at the aquarium. We were going to let her touch some of the little sea creatures in the touch pool, until we heard an employee say that she thinks it is a good time to touch because most of the stinging had already been done for the day. Earlier that day there were a lot of field trips at the aquarium and she said that equals stinging for the not so gentle little kids. Lovely. She thought she was reassuring us when she informed us that it takes a few hours for the stinging solution to regenerate. No, not assuring, not at all. We kept all our our hands out of the pool. No tears needed on her big day!

This has been a draft too long!

2011-06-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

(I have started this post so many times, I am going to post it no matter what tonight!)

Last month Kelly's cousin Mikki and her husband Jonny stayed with us for about 5 days. We had such a fun time! I've wanted to post about it, but I had quite a few pictures and videos to look through, I finally had a minute and here are the results:

Mikki, if you've wondered about Georgie sticking out her tongue, she hasn't forgot the new trick you taught her :) Now, in addition to sticking out her tongue, she is trying to grab it. Silly girl!
Georgie and Jonny reading Global Babies! The best was when Jonny read it in his American accent, oh how I wish I spoke with a British accent. I told Jonny that I think everything he says is either hilarious or brilliant. No joke. I wanted to show you the above picture because a) it represents all of the eating out we did (Thai, Greasy American Fare, Seafood, Sushi, you name it we ate it!) and b) because it shows Georgie's Tiny Diner Mat. It suctions to the table, keeps lots of germie bugs away, and does a really decent job of catching food that would otherwise end up on the floor. It is definitely one of my favorite baby items!

Above is one of Kelly's classic paparazzi shots. Mikki is in the background, peek a boo, and I have a tail. Mental note, never wear that shirt under a jacket again.

I love this picture. Such a cute couple :)

We didn't see a no photography sign, and the artist didn't object. I LOVE this calendar, but it is over $50.00, I just can't swallow that. Mikki & Jonny found and bought a beautiful original piece of art. This was a store right along the viaduct, I had never been in before. I love discovering new places!

We played putt putt golf. Aka ghetto golf. Seriously, this place was not safe for children. Rusty and rickety, the perfect place to people watch. And, dog watch... A few people thought it was a great activity for their dogs. Weird. Sorry if you bring your dog putt putt golfing, I don't mean to offend, it was new to me.

Mikki & Jonny are making their way to the West coast, Southern Cali, Kelly is planning California take two (Just Kidding). But, we are super excited to have them on the West Coast, hopefully we will get to see them more, because we miss them, lots!!

Come back again soon!

Guest blogger (as interpreted by mommy).

2011-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Help!

My Mommy is reading too many Southern blogs.

Big bows and gingham dresses.

What's a Northwest baby girl to do!?!

Love,

Georgiana

2011-06-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Same city, same dress, different Saturday.

I found this dress at Tarjay (Target) a little while ago, and it has quickly become a fav! I decided I don't care if I am wearing it in picture after picture, it is just really nice to not have to put an outfit together, I may have even wore it to church today :)

A couple of weekends ago, we headed up to Seattle with our good friends Brian and Kea. The date had been marked on our calendars for over a month, and it was definitely worth the wait! We ate at Ipanema's, the Brazilian restaurant I blogged about a couple of months ago for my aunt and uncle's anniversary. The food was as tasty if not better than I remembered, and although I missed my sweet Georgie girl, I noticed that I was able to eat a lot more not walking around with her. I was thankful for my elastic leggings :)

After Ipanema's, we headed to Pike Place Market to pick up some flowers. Seriously, they always always have the prettiest flowers at the best price! We also shared some little doughnuts... We were soooo full, but no one else had ever had the fresh little doughnuts, so I twisted their arms and we all had a couple (they're tiny). When looking at the fish throwing stand at the market, go around the corner to your left, and there you will find the tastiest mini doughnuts ever.

Then, we headed to pick up sweet Georgiana. She had an absolute blast with my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Roger! She fell asleep in my aunt's arms while reading books, oh how I love that precious girl.

We ate a little more, is this post starting to remind you of the Very Hungry Caterpillar book, by the end of the day I did feel like the caterpillar on the page where he is bloated like nobodies business... Anyway, my aunt made the Strawberry Pretzel dessert from Kelly's Korner's blog (link on right). It was one of her show us your life Friday posts, had I not been so full from lunch I too may have been able to eat the whole pan (that's what Kelly of Kelly's Korner says about it).

Yum.

I'm off to work on some party details for my almost ONE year old! Craziness. Simply crazy fast.

Georgie Girl!

2011-05-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Georgiana = Busy. Busy. Busy. Too cute for words. Busy.

And yes, that's a Valentine's Day bib in May. A new family motto: wear what is clean. May I just say, one Kelly sock and one of mine can be a bit unbalancing. Men's socks are much thicker than women's, just fyi :)

Peas.

2011-05-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Georgie loves peas, I've been buying bags of frozen peas. I thought canned might be another good option. She disagreed. After comparing them, I can't say I blame her... Left is canned, right is frozen.

So much better than a $5.00 footlong!

2011-05-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogworld!

Sorry I've been gone so long, we have been busy busy bees. Doing well, just busy. I've had about a dozen posts going thru my mind, but not much time to type them up. Tonight I finally have some free time, so I thought I would get started...

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We kicked the day off with Legendary Doughnuts and breakfast sausage. I like a little grease to balance out the sugar :)

Our anniversary also happened to be the Annual Ladies Tea at our church, where for the third year in a row, I forgot to snap a single picture!

While I filled up on tea sandwiches and fellowship, Kelly and Georgiana had a play date with our friend Brian and his boys.

After the tea, we headed to Seattle for the Maritime Festival. We planned on snapping a family picture or two, but the camera battery died before we had the opportunity. Nonetheless, we got these...

It was such a nice day, sunny and beautiful! Still a bit windy near the water, hence my earrings make me look like I am about to take flight. I promise they were hiding behind my hair most of the time. Of course not for the picture though!
Georgie thoroughly enjoyed herself! The highlight of our day was watching her (unprompted) throw her hands up in the air and give the best little baby version of "woo hoo!" She loved the crowds, the wind, eating in her stroller, the horse carriages and not having to wear shoes!

Our plan was to try out the clam chowder cook-off (I read about it on the Thrifty NW Mom blog) and then go to Elliot's or somewhere on the water for dinner. We were envisioning Costco or similar sized small samples of chowder. Oh no, we were soooo wrong.

Here's how it worked. You pay only $5.00 per person for a "passport" that you take to up to 9 different participating restaurants on the pier. Almost every restaurant gave us nearly a cup size portion, crackers, sourdough bread, you name it! Our top choice was Ivar's. 2nd was Anthony's. 3rd for me was The Crab Pot, it had a little kick to it. Some of the other's were just okay, too runny, a couple had sand in them (gross!), but we made it to 8 of the 9 restaurants and had a blast eating our way along the waterfront.

Although we had a great time, I felt a bit foolish come 2am Sunday morning. You see, I'm not much of a dairy eater. I don't eat too much ice cream, I drink Rice milk... So what in the world was I thinking eating buckets full of chowder!?!?! By sunrise on Sunday morning my stomach was in full rebellion and although I would still do it again, I would use a little thing called self-control and pace myself. A bite here a bite there. You get the idea.

In addition to eating our body weight in chowder,

we've had wonderful house guests (Kelly's cousin Mikki and her husband Jonny) come and go, I started and completed the Hunger Games trilogy. I bought the first two books while I was pregnant, but I just never found the time to open them up. Well, be careful if you do, you may find yourself so addicted that you are reading battle sequences aloud to your almost one year old in a sing song voice... Oh dear.

I totally recommend the books, I'll refrain from going into any detail about them so I don't give anything away. All I will say is, team Peeta.

I've also been to the dentist, boo. Yes, boo. I really never understood why people disliked the dentist. What's not to like about getting your teeth all cleaned up twice a year? Nothing, nothing is not to like about that. However, if you skip out on your appointments for over 2 years and get cavities and have to go back to the dentist for fillings, multiple appointments of drilling and drooling because the 3 out of 4 quadrants that need to be worked on can only be worked on one at a time. Well, there's lots to not like about that. I miss my healthy teeth. I wanted to cry when I was told I had cavities and then I wanted to cry when I was getting my teeth worked on. I vow to never make fun of the sedation dentistry commercials again. Even if they have a super creepy sounding androgynous voice over person.

I was told that while you are pregnant and the first 2 years of having a baby, you are a bazillion (I forgot what the real statistic is) times more likely to get cavities. I really don't mind if my dentist was just telling me that, it made me feel a teentsy bit better.

Okay friends, I'm sure I've rambled enough for tonight. I'm off to make a big ol' shopping list for fun birthday party supplies for Miss Georgiana Lee. In addition to our outings, she is keeping us so busy at home, the words non-stop are truly not an exaggeration. I'll be back soon with more pictures from our latest adventures!

No Itch.

2011-05-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Seven years today!

Someday I'll find time to turn our old school pics into digital ones :)

2011-05-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

Peek

Boo!

no joke

2011-05-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

Georgie just tooted and then laughed and said "Da Da!"

Oh silly girl.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last Week.

1st Official Mother's Day!

2011-05-10T09:53:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe I didn't take more (or any!) pictures. But, I had a wonderful Mother's Day. We kicked the day off by going out to breakfast, I ate and ate and ate. Georgie was a little doll and kept herself entertained by sprinkling cheerios all over the floor. I'm starting to think I should bring a vacuum out with me, or at least a broom!
Speaking of vacuums...
We bought a dyson this weekend too! I LOVE it, seriously L-O-V-E it. Our old vacuum wasn't doing much, and with Georgie crawling all around we were really starting to notice just how badly we needed a new one. We bought ours from Target, it was on sale and the price was better than Costco, which is rare but awesome. Just brace yourself to be horrified by the amount of dust it will suck up. Seriously, I was soooo grossed out.
Back to Mother's Day. After breakfast we headed to church, where we ended up hanging out in the parking lot while Georgiana napped. I just didn't have the heart to wake her up, so once we realized that we were missing church, we headed to Legendary Doughnuts. Where, miracle of all miracles I didn't buy one for myself! Shocking I know. We bought some doughnuts and gift cards for Mother's Day treats, and the owner was so sweet to box them up individually and tie them with ribbon. I should of at least taken a picture of those!
After a relaxing afternoon at home. And checking out my new vegetable garden boxes Kelly built me for Mother's Day, we headed to my grandparents for a delicious steak dinner.
One stop by Kelly's work and it was off to home for Georgie to get to bed and Kelly and I to watch our new obsession...
Shark Tank. Have you seen it? It is the only show that Kelly and I feel smarter after watching :)
My pumpkin bread just beeped at me, off I go!
I hope you enjoyed Mother's Day too!

Menu Monday

2011-05-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is a busy busy work week for Kelly, which equals me keeping it very easy in the kitchen. Because, speaking of busy...

Georgie girl is one very busy bee these days (doing the traditional crawl now too)! She loves to watch the older kids play outside. I joke that we are the neighborhood stalkers. I know a lot that goes on in the neighborhood, even when we get a new garbage man. Poor new guy, I didn't think he would make the cut. His first week he was so SLOW and got left behind a couple of times, which made him run after the truck waving his arms. You can imagine it was a big day at our house. After a couple of weeks, he's lost a few pounds and doesn't appear to be stopping the entire truck for as frequent of water breaks.
We've put away the swing, her bouncy chair, and now the jumperoo. Next up is the exersaucer, but I'm hoping I have a couple more weeks left of convincing her she is having fun in one spot. Many friends have asked me what I was going to do about my low shelves filled with breakable dishes, or my gigantic floor vases? I just said, "I'll cross that bridge when I get there." Well, the bridge is here. Lots of rearranging going on. Including bookshelves. Georgiana loves to remove every single book she can reach from the shelves. Kelly saw the results of her hard work on the landing. He asked, "Did Georgie do that!?!"
No Kelly, it was me :)
Other news. Georgiana HATES diaper changes. I mean detests like I cannot believe. She does better when we are anywhere but at home, but at home she screams and sometimes gets worked up to the silent cry. It is awful, and sad, and I am sure like everything just a phase. But, it is still hard.
Now, on to the Easy meal plan for this week:
Monday: Salmon, Asparagus, Rice Pilaf (boxed)
Tuesday: Black Bean & Avocado Quesadillas
Wednesday: Spaghetti & Salad
Thursday: Albacore Tuna Melts & Sweet Potato Fries
Friday: ?
Saturday: Our 7th Wedding Anniversary = not cooking :)

Hanging out with Daddy!

2011-05-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

This first picture was my view while I was making dinner the other night. I cannot describe how thankful I am that Georgie has Kelly as her Daddy. The other day, I said I think someone needs some Daddy/Daughter time. To which Kelly replied, and some Daughter/Daddy time. I'm not sure who gets more excited when he gets home from work :)

After all, he's kind of like a living jungle gym. She plays so differently with him, it's fun and funny to watch.
I just love those tippy toes!

Wordy Wednesday (I tried wordless and this is what I came up with :)

2011-05-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

I tried to get a picture of Georgie's sweet face, but she was one busy bee, this was the best I got!

We met some friends at the park today and ate picnic lunches in the sunshine. My friend Kea and I both brought our cameras, but both forgot to snap pictures (next time!). While I packed our lunch, Georgiana was quite entertained by her new shoes. I am shocked at how long they stayed on her feet! She still prefers to have nothing on her feet, it makes sucking those sweet little piggies a little easier!

And now... I introduce you to Georgiana's new crawl. Up until now she has preferred the army crawl, but today she hung up her fatigues and created a style all her own! And yes, she is eating puffs off of the floor. The mom (me) who for the first 6+ months used a paci wipe practically every time Georgie's paci even possibly hit the floor, has joined the masses and now rolls with some of the germy situations (at least the safe at home germs :).

Now I am off to relax and enjoy some Frozen Dairy Dessert. Last night as I was dishing up some Breyers, I was a little bothered to see that it is not called ice cream. Frozen Dairy Dessert... I'm choosing not to get my google on to learn why it is called that. Tastes yummy all the same.

I often intend on blogging...

2011-05-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

but as you can see, Miss Georgiana keeps me quite busy! Don't worry, I caught her and she was a-okay and off to play with her kitchen. Now I'm off to eat some ice cream with Kelly, I'm loving the simple things!

---

I just showed Kelly this video and he about had a heart attack. I reassured him about twenty times that I caught her! I promise no babies were injured at all during the making of this video :)

Oh Georgie Girl!

2011-04-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

She can crawl and escape diaper changes so fast these days! The other day, Kelly came home from work and I had Georgiana dressed like so in the above picture. Sometimes it is just not worth the battle! Plus, I heard tuxedo tails are coming back in style so I'm trying a new baby look :)

And, this next picture just makes me laugh. I feel like she wants to say, "really mom, another picture!?!"
Big bows and lots of online window shopping for monogrammed clothing... Can you tell I've been reading some cute Southern blogs. Oh dear.

Georgie's 1st Easter!

2011-04-25T20:39:00.001-07:00

I LOVE Easter.

I love celebrating Sunday morning at church, singing praise songs of how Jesus rose from the dead and paved the way for us to spend eternity with Him! Doesn't it just make you want to sing!?! I so hope it does. Jesus' love is so worth singing about :)

I also love frilly dresses, big bows, crisp shirts and ties, and all of the beautiful bright Spring colors. I love Black Forest Ham, my Aunt Michelle's cheesy potatoes, and this year's coconut cupcakes that my sweet little 5 year old cousin didn't like because they were covered in grass (dyed coconut).

I thoroughly enjoyed holidays before my sweet Georgiana was born, but now...

Oh my goodness do I love them even more!

I promise I didn't pose her:
And now, a few captions from Georgiana's p.o.v.

This purse looks really fun Mommy!

I love it!

Oh no! Not another giant bow you are going to try and make me wear!?!

Easter grass, aka shreds, is AMAZING!

Me & Georgie with her new swimsuit:

Georgie & Grandma with her shoe (of course!). When she gets close to walking I am going to get serious about weaning her from her shoes!

One of Kelly's candid shots:

My Aunt Michelle & cousin Makenzie (another true candid shot). They don't look alike at all! :)

I love Georgie's smib:

She does not:

Georgie & Daddy/Kelly. Probably going over strategies for the big Easter egg hunt :)

Na'Liyah & Makenzie. Na'Liyah chatted and chatted away with Makenzie, she was her bud and it was adorable!

Kelly hid Georgie's eggs outside and then a small monsoon started, so while the older kids braved the wet, Kelly re-hid her eggs inside. She had a blast, and as you can imagine Kelly was quite proud of her:

At the library story time, they pass around eggs with rice inside (taped shut), for the babies to shake and play with. So, for two of Georgie's eggs I filled them with uncooked macaroni noodles and she thought they were pretty fun.

I wish I would have remembered to ask someone to snap a picture of the three of us, especially before Kelly changed out of his Sunday best. Cest la vie! Next year.

I hope your Easter was filled with lots of joy!

Army Crawling & Climbing...

2011-04-25T20:26:00.001-07:00

in an Easter princess dress!

My favorite part is, "she's brave!" We're not proud parents or anything :)

Blueberries

2011-04-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

It seemed like such a good idea...

After quite the cleanup, the remnants made her look like she had the cutest little mechanic hands ever. So, if you see Georgie and fear she is never bathed and has oil stained hands, fear not, she's just really passionate about berries!

She has also become passionate about taking off her bibs! She can pop any and every velcro bib off with just a few tugs, but so far she hasn't been able to unsnap any... So, I am loving (it was already my favorite and is firmly holding the spot) the bib she is wearing. It was a gift from a friend at work, her mom made it! I may just have to try and hunt down a couple more, especially with berry season just around the corner...

Georgie's Fort...

2011-04-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

and her little feet:

It seems that under the end table is the perfect place to escape diaper changes and take a water break. Georgiana is cracking us up! She likes to pull her high chair over to extend the range of her fort, and she is quite content to sit and "explore" on her own. Oh how I love that girl!!!

Ramble Ramble...

2011-04-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had the most beautiful double rainbow. We took Georgiana outside to check it out, we could see both ends and the picture simply does not do the colors justice. The lower rainbow was so vibrant! Next pic, brace yourself, this is a truly random post. I am still using the frozen green beans from Costco, we are almost finished with the bag. They still taste fresh and are far from freezer burned. Last night I steamed the beans, added craisins, sliced almonds, salt, pepper, Italian salad dressing and then some spinach/mixed green blend (from Costco). It was really flavorful and light, the perfect side to baked chicken and roasted potatoes.

This was a moment that I had to snap a picture of. We are officially in the do not leave Georgiana out of sight for one moment, not even to wash your hands after changing her little diaper. Or, at least do not leave wipes + Georgiana out of site for one quick moment, she figured out how to open them:

I've shied away from the applesauce substitute for oil in cakes, but Kelly and I have eaten a whole cake or two (not in one sitting) in our day, so I thought it was worth a try. I am sold. At least for this Betty Crocker milk chocolate cake, that I added marshmallows to just for fun. The cake is super moist, and I will definitely use this substitute again. Brownies however, I am still not sold... any good applesauce brownie recipes out there? I am all ears...

Georgie's been trying lots of new foods too! Her favorite of course is plastic. And yes, it ended up on the floor, along with some broccoli, applesauce and her sippy. She's a great communicator and always lets us know when she is done :)

Poor girl lives in her Bunny Hat, can you tell I am scarred from windy ear infections from my childhood. No fun. We've been trying to get outside as much as possible, but boy does the great NW make that a little difficult at times. She and I have had some close calls on our walks, I try not to stray too far from home in case the rain turns on, or hail like yesterday!

Yep, salmon in her hair:

Other ongoings, if I wasn't so upset I would laugh at myself. It is truly crazy how bothered I am over an email I read this morning. It seems when our milkman delivered our milk, eggs and butter yesterday, he found last weeks order in the box too! What in the world, have I seriously lost my mind!?! I so thought I skipped last weeks order, but it appears I did not. And, over the course of the week I never bothered to check. Feel free to laugh at how dramatic I am over this, I am physically ill. I am hoping that by blogging about it I will feel better :) It probably also doesn't help that about a month ago I had this "great" craft project idea. It was highly impulsive and has sat in my office/room of clutter, for the entire month. So, a couple of days ago I went to return some of the items, of course I couldn't find the receipt, and the items are now a 1/3 of the cost that I paid. So, they were welcomed back into my home and are currently residing in the mud room area. Shake it off Nicole, these are trivial things.

Cest la vie.

Believe it or not, I feel a little better already.

More trivial things...

We FINALLY had our air ducts/vents/everything cleaned on Monday. This was on the do before Georgiana was born to do list, but it somehow was forgotten, sort of like last weeks milk. Anyway, aside from the fact that I was naive enough to believe that it really would only be the $39.99 as advertised on the valpak coupon, $186 and one broken shelf later (thank you Sergio), we are actually super happy with the results. Who knew our air intake vents made noise and turned on throughout the day? Not us. And, Georgie thinks the curtains blowing in the air are amazing, her ooo's and aw's make it so worth it. Plus, talk about breathing in nastiness! We can honestly tell a difference, and I promised Sergio I would never let it go this long. He threw in some air purification solution "for the Georgie."

Lastly, yesterday I took Georgiana to story time at the library. Oh my goodness, she had a blast! My friend Kea brought her two boys too, and we were beyond impressed. It was songs, bouncing games, toys, an adorable book read aloud, and basically the cutest little play group setting. For Free! I am excited to take her again!

Quick Tip

2011-04-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled upon a website that lists the lowest gas price in your city or zip code of choice!

Click Here to save a few pennies :)

Happy Birthday Kelly!

2011-04-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

A little video from our day. We went on a family adventure to Anderson Island and encountered a stinky septic tank, Georgiana thought Kelly's reaction of spitting was the funniest thing she has ever seen!!

Mr. Bob

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

This next face cracks me up, subtle, yet silly and wide eyed: She cracks herself up a lot too!

Yay, a non crazy smile caught on camera :)

And now... my apology to our neighbor, Mr. Bob.

Georgie heard activity outside and just had to see what was going on. To her delight it was our neighbor, Mr. Bob. At first he was just visiting with another neighbor (I can't remember his name, I guess I'll have to check Kelly's diagram with neighbors names, oops did I type that, love you Kelly), anyway... Georgie was waving and hoping so badly that they would see her. Like any mature person would do, I hid out of sight, I didn't want them to think I was being nosey. I struggled between really wanting them to see her so that they would wave to her and make her soooo happy, and then not wanting them to, so they wouldn't think we were the creepy stalker neighbors. As, I am sure they figured tiny Georgiana didn't just climb up on her own, despite hiding they obviously would know I was an accomplice!

But, I just couldn't pull her away. See, Mr. Bob started doing yard work. Mowing his lawn. And, Georgiana thought it was one of the most amazing things she has ever seen:

She went from relaxed and resting her arms on the back of the couch, to pushing up onto her tippy toes so she wouldn't miss a thing!

She watched him the entire time, and was thrilled to pieces. Mr. Bob, I doubt you are reading this, but if you are, I think you have some cookies coming your way. Delivered by Georgiana, she is quite smitten with you :) I have a feeling he is going to have a fan for quite a while. I can just imagine her peeking her little head over the fence to say "hello."

Growing up, I peeked my head over the fence when I was 5 years old and met my neighbor Bill. I would stand on a huge tractor tire we had in our backyard (like a playground toy), to visit with Mr. Bill. We would talk and talk and he would tell me all about his garden. He would give me rhubarb and my mom would make the best rhubarb strawberry pie or cobbler. It's silly, but I still do not know Mr. Bill's last name, every year I send him his Christmas card simply addressed to Bill and sign it, love your old neighbor Nicole :)

Georgiana's Dedication

2011-04-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

This was way back in November (the 14th), and I have had every intention of posting pics sooner, but time simply got away! So, here you go... In the picture above our pastor, Pastor Tim, was asking Kelly and I if we plan to raise Georgiana according to God's Word, and to pray for her and love her as Christ asks us to? To which (unplanned) Kelly and I both said without hesitation, Absolutely! Sweet Georgiana Lee fell asleep during praise and worship, she was sleeping in my arms as we headed up to the stage. I'll admit, I was nervous handing her over, she usually doesn't like to be disturbed while sleeping, but she was a champ! I think she actually enjoyed being in front of the congregation. She sat peacefully in Pastor Tim's arms and looked out bright eyed at all of the people.

Kelly and I felt so blessed to have close family and friends come and support Georgie girl and celebrate her. It was so special, I wish I could think of a stronger word, to have them pray along side our pastor and elders of the church, it was meaningful, loving, yes special... I guess that's my tired mommy vocabulary coming out :)

After church, we headed to our house for lunch, lots of cheese & cracker snacks, baked chicken & spinach manicotti, my Grandma's garlic bread, Caesar salad, pistachio pudding salad, my Aunt Michelle's famous lemon bars, and some peanut butter chocolate brownies that I made for the first and last time. Well, at least I will not make them with organic peanut butter, the texture was not appetizing, the peanut butter looked like huge noodles and didn't melt well. I think I should have used good ol' Jiff.

It is our prayer that Georgiana would know Jesus as her loving Lord and Savior at a very young age. That she will seek Him and strive to bring Him glory all the days of her life. Daily, I pray that her life will be blessed and that she will have the joy of the Lord! I pray that she will be bold and loving to those around her, and I pray that she and I will always always be close, super close :)

We have these verses hanging above her crib, and I pray they are true in her life...

Trust in the Lord with all of you heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

PS - I just ate a warmed croissant with a little Nutella. I highly recommend it, basically it melts in your mouth but is way better than an M&M.

Firsts & Favorites

2011-04-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

First little blazer:

First Ponytail! Georgiana's new favorite little smile, she grins for the camera and then reaches for the camera to look at the picture, totally cracks us up! And, her favorite teether...

her shoes.

Breakfast

2011-04-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Georgiana was in a super silly mood and had crazy hair to match! Some mornings I call her my Baby Einstein. She's started trying to brush her hair. It is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. One day she reached for her brush and started rubbing it on her head, she usually holds onto the bristles and clonks the handle on her little noggin. She'll get it soon enough :)

Okay, back to breakfast.

My silly girl caught sight of the camera and gave me her gummy pirate smile:

She honestly held this smile for the camera! I was using Kelly's point and shoot camera and it gives a red flash before taking the picture, she took that as her cue. Ha, oh my word she is a character: Georgie, will you please wave to Momma?

Can you blow me a kiss?

Yay Georgie!

Do you want to eat a puff?

Yum!

Recent Happenings...

"Please don't put salmon in your ear."

"Is that a pea in your belly button?"

"Nice poo poo!"

"Let's not eat lint."

to the Target cashier: "Oh, wow, I didn't realize I had baby food all over my sweater." Seriously, it was COVERED (butternut squash), how did I not notice this!?!

2011-04-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Georgie has been drooling up a storm! She spends 99% of the day wearing a teething bib, the other night it was only an hour or so before her bedtime so I thought I would just let her be... (see pic above!) In her defense, she was also tipping back on a sippy of water. And, her favorite thing to do is sip a bunch of water and then let it dribble all down her sweet little face. She's also been kissing up a storm, you can imagine it is much like a car wash on your face, but I would still argue they are the best kisses in the world :)

Tacoma Children's Museum

2011-03-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

It takes a lot of self talk and hand sanitizer to let your little one enjoy a children's museum. But, Kelly and I did our best and Georgiana had a wonderful time!

She was by far the youngest one there, we half expected it, but she enjoyed herself all the same. She explored, played and absolutely loved watching the older kids do their thing.

This was the tiniest little ballerina looking bar, she was having a great time until...

in the blink of an eye she became quite upset! I usually don't just let her cry and snap pictures, but it happened so quickly and I think she has the cutest little sad face, so here you go:

Poor girl! Don't worry, she recovered just as quickly. I snuggled her while some older kids asked if they could take our order and make some tasty plastic grilled cheese sandwiches for us. Georgie lasted a little over an hour, and then she was ready to go. She was one tuckered little girl.

She's just about the greatest little distraction and the best cure to a heavy heart. We can't help but smile :)

2011-03-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

Kelly's Grandpa, aka W.W., went home to be with Jesus this past Saturday evening. I am at a loss for words as to what exactly to say about his passing. Most simply, he will be greatly missed. I am thankful for the full life of 88 years that he lived, for the joy he both experienced and brought to others, and for the memories I was able to have knowing him these past 10+ years.

***

I was planning on writing a few of my favorite W.W. memories, but after writing this first one, short and sweet, I think for now I will leave it at that...

The year that Kelly and I lived in CA, we were visiting WA and having dinner with his family. His Grandpa looked across the table and asked me, "So, do you have an agent?"

He was a very well read man and very in tune with things I would never expect him, or any other retired fighter pilot, to be interested in. I loved his no nonsense tone of voice; and I always admired how he thoughtfully asked how things were going, agents and otherwise.

Great Grandpa Smith

2011-03-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, we went to visit Kelly's Grandpa, aka W.W. You may remember me doing a post or two asking for prayer for him over a year ago when he had a stroke. If you think of him, Kelly and I would so so very much appreciate your continued prayer for him, for the Lord's will in his life.

These pictures are actually from a January visit, we opted not to bring the camera this past Tuesday. Only because we didn't have a ton of time, and sometimes we try so hard to capture every single second on "film," that we miss out on the interaction. That being said, I absolutely love these pictures. Every time we've taken Georgiana to see him, they hold hands and it warms my heart like nothing else. W.W. isn't able to communicate verbally, but he nods his head, squeezes your hand, smiles his best, and looks with intent and kindness. He even reaches for Georgie. We have the greatest pictures of him holding Georgie with Kelly's help back when he first met her in July (They are on the external hard drive otherwise I'd post them). On Tuesday, Kelly was holding Georgiana while she stood on the arm of his chair, she started doing a dance of sorts to the music on her toy phone. Poor W.W. thought Georgie was loosing her balance and falling, a simple mistake to make :), so he reached out to catch her. It is simple things like these that melt my heart and remind me that words are just one way to communicate, but definitely not the only way.

Crate & Barrel OUTLET

2011-03-23T20:18:00.001-07:00

Up until a few days ago, I didn't even know this existed. Now...

This could be dangerous.

Link HERE.

First Spring Walk.

2011-03-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

In between downpours, Georgie and I got out for a walk around the neighborhood. We used the jogging stroller for the first time, and she LOVED it! I think she will be thrilled to go out with Kelly, because the faster I went the more she giggled, she loves the wind in her face. I think she is going to be an adventurous little girl, even with her mittens on she was pointing and excited about everything she could see. Of course, the mittens lasted all of 2 minutes, she got them off and threw them out of the stroller. Thankfully, I snatched them right up, but she sure enjoyed the freedom of free hands in the wind.

The picture below is my view. I know it is silly, but I often like to snap a quick picture of what I see. I know I will always have these memories in my mind and on my heart, but her first year is already going so fast, I like little reminders of the day to day.

Just looking down and seeing a fluff of pink: