Taking Time To Listen

I'm so blessed to have amazing family and friends! I am so grateful to have a best friend in my husband who loves me even though I have a little crazy in me! And last but not least, my two little munchkins who remind me to take time for the little things. We went to Aunt Wendy's house tonight and as we got to the front door Desi said, What's that noise mama? I don't know, I said. She replied, It's crickets, I can hear crickets with my ears! I can hear sounds with my ears! Here's to hoping you take time to stop and listen to the crickets.=)

New Rectangle!

We got a new "rectangle" today as Desi calls it or the rest of us know it as a microwave. Our wonderful neighbor, Andrea, gave us their old microwave and oven! I now have a microwave above my stove! I love having more counter space! As I used my new stove to make dinner tonight, I realized once again how long it takes to make dinner. You have the prep time, cook time and clean up time. I'm so grateful for my Mom who made dinner every night, even if it was grilled cheese or hot dogs sometimes. She always made sure we sat down together as a family for dinner and usually made my Dad put down the newspaper so we could have a family conversation. I love her for the effort she made even though I'm sure we grumbled and moaned. I really appreciate it now and realize the importance of it. I love you, Mom!

Poor Choppy

Thursday night, Charly decided to go into the laundry room and shut the door. I had left a heavy, framed mirror behind the door that hadn't been put up yet and it fell on her scraping and bruising her poor little nose. Thank goodness it's not broken!

Friday morning, we went to Boondocks with my family. Desi loves bowling and the merry-go-round. Charly loved all the space to walk around! And my niece loved the fan by the ball return.

Friday night, the sisters had a craft night and my Mom graciously took my girls for the night. We got a lot done and I can't wait to put up my spring things! Here are just a couple of crafts we did.
Saturday, we went to pick up the girls and I ran Charly over to Krista's to get her hair cut. I love it! It looks so much better than the mullet she had!

We went to a friend's birthday party two weekends ago at a bounce house and the girls LOVED it!



They had a clown make balloon animals and Desi was so excited to get a pink cat! (her favorite color and animal)
Charly loved eating the frosting off of the cupcakes.
And then last weekend...drum roll please...I bought the newest member of our family and his name is Dyson! Our vacuum started sounding funny and Tom said the motor was going out! Woohoo! I was sick of the heavy vacuum and the taped hose and not having any attachments and all the dust it created and washing the filters three or four times every time I vacuumed. I had used Liz's once before and knew it was the one I wanted! Tom thinks I'm crazy but I LOVE it! It's lightweight and the handle turns into a hose and it has attachments and I can vacuum without washing a filter!

So last Sunday I finally dusted off my Bosch and tried making my mother-in-law's delicious roll recipe. They tasted pretty good considering I used all-purpose flour because I didn't have bread flour. I just couldn't quite get the texture right on the top. They weren't as smooth as Mom's or as delicious but I was proud of myself for trying.

Catching Up

This was Christmas Eve/Tom's birthday right before cake, ice cream and bedtime.

We went to church on Christmas Day and then came home and opened presents and I tried to get a picture before Desi started ripping them open.

We took Desi ice skating for the first time and she LOVED it even though Tom couldn't get her to understand how to do it.

The zamboni came out right after we got there and I couldn't get Desi to look at me for a picture.Tom even took Charly around a few times and she was not happy when he handed her back off to me.I need to get some portrait shots of the girls but especially Charly because it's been over a year.She has started smiling now and making a cheesy face when I pull the camera out.I think I better start putting Desi in longer pants! She is getting so tall! She loves getting pigtails!

We celebrated my niece's 1st birthday this last Saturday. She is just the cutest when you can get her to smile!
The girls love watching movies together and drinking strawberry milk.Here are the girls in their Valentine's Day jammies which I think I might frame and put up with my decorations. Why is it so impossible to get a picture with their eyes open but not with their eyes closed?

Happy Birthday Tom!

I love you babe!

Patience

I wanted to write this down so I don't forget it. Last night, Desi, Charly and I were leaving the store and I had been fighting with Desi to stay by me in the store the whole time. We were getting in the truck and she would not get in her seat and put her seat belt on. I said to her "I'm losing my patience." To which she replied, "Where is it Mama?" and started looking around. I couldn't help but laugh as she kept looking around the back of the truck on the floor and asking me "Where's your patience mama?" I swear she knows when I'm about to lose it because she then will give me a kiss or say "Guess what Mama? I love you."
She loves posing for pictures so I found a little camera at WalMart the other day for her birthday and she walked around the store taking pictures of everyone. She tries to close one eye when she takes the picture and she tells you to say "cheese", it's so cute! She also got a tea set for her birthday. I pulled it out of the box and set it up for her on the table putting the pink cups on the blue plates and the blue cups on the pink plates to see what she would do(knowing she has to match everything) and sure enough she switched it around and told me pink goes on pink and blue goes on blue. So of course when I mixed the spoons in the wrong colored cups I got in trouble. You also can't call her nick names or she gets mad. I'll say come on "choppy" and she'll say "I not choppy, I Desi."
Charly is getting so fast! She isn't walking by herself yet but I would bet it will be soon. She laughs sometimes for Tom and me but she thinks Desi is so funny. If Desi has a friend over and they are playing in Desi's room, Charly wants right in the middle of it. She will push her way onto my lap if Desi is sitting on it and definitely knows how to get my attention by crying if Desi takes something from her or just touches her. She has four top teeth and two bottom teeth and loves to give cheesy grins with her nose scrunched. She's also been trying to "roar" at us like we do to her when we chase her. I would've never imagined I could love two little girls so much!
P. S. For those of you who don't know, Tom got the job at I don't want to post on my blog but I think most of you know where!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work!