POTD Challenge 8/23-8/29/2009

The underlining theme for this weeks POTD is Addysen in her pajamas..I swear we change her out of her pajamas in the morning...just somehow all of the pictures were taken while she was wearing pajamas...funny, but it's what you can get away with when you are 18months!

On Sunday (8/23) I came into the living room to find Addysen trying to put her dress on. I usually lay out Addysen's clothes for Chris to dress her but apparently this time she was faster.

A good-bye kiss before school...

2 is way better than 1! Addysen has started to carry around both of her silky blankets. The pink one was a gift from my Aunt Jeanne and the cream was from my friend Rachel.

I knew Christopher wouldn't let me take a "back to school" picture of him so I opted for his books. I'll have to take a picture of one of the pages. It's totally foreign language for people who don't speak Math.

My in-laws came to town this weekend and brought with them 2 little shih tzu puppies. Barbara has been breeding her dogs for a while now and these were the last 2 of her latest litter. Both girls adored the puppies!


And finally, we all caught a little cold this past week- Elodie was the last to get it and it hit her on Saturday. Too much birthday fun and her birthday isn't until Thursday! It is highly unusual for Elodie to fall asleep on the couch like this! She needed her rest!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

For the past year all we have heard from Elodie is that she wanted a Build A Bear Workshop party for her birthday. Elodie's actual birthday isn't until the 3rd of September but since her birthday always falls around the Big Dirty, we try and do it before. (Not sure what the Big Dirty is? Click HERE and HERE) So that's what we did. She was able to invite 2
friends, Madison and Ryanna, we met up at Build A Bear, and afterwards took the girls to Dairy Queen. I was worried at first because of the 2 friend limit-I was sad she had to leave some friends out but Build a Bear is an expensive place and as it was we were giving each friend a $25 gift card! I was happy it actually worked out really nice. Any more kids there and it would have been super chaotic! It was crazy with just the 3 girls running around the store! And it was nice for Elodie to not have to spread her attention too thin and we got to take our time!

I know all the girls had a great time. Elodie has wanted a Hello Kitty Build A Bear forever! Everytime we were at the mall she wanted to stop in and look around! She was really happy to be there!


There was no time spent choosing her bear! She went straight for Hello Kitty. Although she did eyeball the High School Musical Bear but she really knows nothing about HSM so she (thankfully) chose Hello Kitty.




We all got to warm a heart and put it in Elodie's Hello Kitty.

2nd Week Class/Homework

This one cracks me up! I had to include it! Elodie must have been SERIOUSLY distracted when she was writing her name! So funny! I asked her later what happened and got the typical 5-16 year old answer..."I don't know!"

As if I needed another chocolate chip cookie recipe!

These seriously hit the spot for our Sunday night sweet tooth! Right up there with Christopher's chocolate chip cookies!

Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies:

4 cups (2 12 ounce packages Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
2 and 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs.

Preheat oven to 375

Melt 2 cups morsels.( I used the microwave)
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in melted chocolate. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in remaining 2 cups of morsels. Drop by 1 tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 to 9 minutes or until cookies are puffed. Cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet then remove to a wire rack.

P.S- These were better 2nd day!

A Master SunDevil

Christopher started the Masters of Civil Engineering program today at ASU. We did 5 years of school to get our undergrad...what's 3 more semesters right? The decision to start the masters program was slightly forced upon us, although we knew it was something Chris needed and wanter, but we are grateful for the opportunity to just get it over with now!

Good luck hon! We love you!

POTD Challenge 8/16-8/22

We have 1pm church on Sunday. In an attempt to give the girls something fun to do we tried to make a tent. The girls loved it even though Addysen wouldn't sit 2 seconds inside it for a picture!















First day going all day for kindergarten....



















Making Elodie's school lunch. I could make it at night but never feel like it.Her school doesn't have a cafeteria...except for Friday's when they order out for pizza. $1 a slice!

Where you can find me every morning at 8:30am. It works out perfectly. Elodie's school also doesn't have a bus system so I drop her off at 8:15am and my classes start at 8:30am! AND, my gym is like 4 minutes from the school. There really will be no excuse for me not to go every morning- unless I'm helping out in the classroom...

Role reversal...usually Elodie's is pushing Addysen around!

I painted Elodie's toes Saturday evening....we couldn't leave little sister out! This was the first time she got her toes painted. She's still a little too young to understand "SIT STILL!"

Be still my beating heart....

I'm surprised by how many of you out there wanted to know what kind of camera I want. Could it be that you really want to donate? Or, you could also help me bug Chris into submission! Either one is fine with me although I think I can handle the bugging part well enough on my own!

So let's not let the anticipation kill you....

Contestant #1:


Contestant #2:























I'm really leaning towards #1 and of course it would be the more expensive one. I really love that my current Canon has video capability like #2 but since I'm ready to take it to the next level, I'm wondering if #1 would be better since it's just the camera with no video. Afterall, I do have a video camera. I've just been so spoiled with the all in one!
If I get a new camera before the end of the year it will be a flat out miracle. But then again, a girl can always dream....I'm so ready to upgrade. My canon has been great to me but I feel like I've gone about as far as I can go with it...I really want to delve into the photography world, take classes, and become really good at it! With that said, if anyone is looking to upgrade their own camera but not sure where to go, I'd be happy to sell my canon to you. It's a great camera, 6 mega-pixels, video recording capability, great zoom, and automatic focus. Every picture I've ever taken that is here on my blog has been with this camera. Of course it helps to have cute little models like Elodie and Addysen. Just saying. I can't really upgrade till I sell my camera and I can't really sell my camera till I have the money to upgrade. I couldn't possibly go a day without a camera! I'm stuck. Boo!

1st Week of Class/Homework

I learned the first week Elodie came home from pre-school that there was a lot of "papers" that came home with her. Initially there was the preschool overload that took over our fridge, then I smartened up. Instead of keep EVERYTHING she came home with, I started taking more pictures of crafts and scanning special papers that documented her progression. And then throwing it all away! Is that wrong? I hope not! I know my mom kept a ton of our stuff but in the end....what the heck am I going to do with it? I'm sure if my mom had a scanner and a digital camera back when I was in elementary school she would have done the same thing!

So, the first week of kindergaten Elodie came home with atleast 20 papers! I sifted through them all, ooh'd and aah'd over each one, and picked out my favorites. And then, when Elodie wasn't looking, I threw the rest of them in the recycle! I'll do this each week. Scan them, blog them, and then throw them away! At the end of the year (hopefully) I'll scan them on a disc and store them away! Of course this is just week one. We will see how well I'm doing by week 30!

Making the Switch

When we first registered Elodie for kindergarten I blogged about whether or not she was going to go half day or full day. In the beginning my decision was to put her in half day the first semester and if she loved it, we would switch her to full day the second semester.

That plan was in place for the first day of school...and that's it. The minute Elodie got in the car she went on and on about going all day. You may remember her asking me when were we going to get her a lunchbox so she could stay all day.

I blame this on 2 things. 1- Her 2 little girlfriends from church are in her class and are both full day. And she knows this. And 2- When the teacher walks the half day kids out, they have to walk right passed the picnic tables where all the rest of their class is eating lunch. How unfun is that!?!

Oh, and I also blame pre-school. She was totally overprepared to go to kindergarten! ;)

I talked her out of full day for the entire week but on Thursday when I picked her up, she was pouting. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she was the only one that was half day now. Initially I thought maybe she was just saying this to make me feel sorry for her. So on Friday when Chris picked Elodie up from school I told him to ask her teacher if Elodie was telling the truth. Sure enough, she is the only one that is half day now. The class started out with 6 half day kids. And to top it off, Friday was pizza day at lunch and Elodie had to miss out. Chris felt so bad for her that he let her pick her own place to eat (Panda Express) and they went out to lunch together.

So, now I feel like we have to switch her! She can't be the only one going home when the rest of her class is staying! And besides that she loves it and wants to stay. I can't really deny her that.

So, we talked to her teacher who said we could try full day the entire week and see how it goes. She thinks Elodie will transition fine. I know how it will go. Elodie will love it.

She was so excited to get a lunchbox and bring it to school and even more excited to stay and eat lunch with her friends. Again, I can't deny her that! I remember a time when I begged my mom to ride the school bus...I'm sure she wasn't crazy about the idea either.

I still think it's too long of a day.

I still think it's a lot of fluff in the afternoon.

I'm still not convinced I want her going all day but know it will tear her apart to pull her out now. I just have to keep reassuring myself that's it really not that much longer than halfday. Only 2 and 1/2 more hours.

Ugh. Sometimes being the mom stinks! And we are only in kindergarten!

On a postive note, I'm excited about all the one on one time I'll get with Addysen. She is still napping twice a day so she really doesn't know Elodie is gone. As if I needed to worry about how all of this will scar Addysen! But it will be nice to give her all the attention that Elodie got at this age!

In reality, I know myself well enough to know that either way I will feel guilty.
If she goes half-day I will feel guilty that she is missing out on time with her friends and lots of things that she could be learning. On top of that, I'll feel guilty if I'm not filling her afternoons with as much fun and learning and she would have gotten at school.

On the other hand, if she goes full day, I'll feel guilty that the days are too long, she won't have enough time at home to relax, she will be tired and overworked,she won't have enough free time, and on and on and on!

Or maybe, I'm just overthinking it all and this post is a waste of time.

POTD Challenge 8/9-8/15/09

First day of school outfit ready and waiting...

Doing Homework....

Whenever we tell Addysen we want to change her diaper she runs and finds a book and then comes to you. It's the funniest thing!

After a whole day with her hair in piggies, this is what she looked like. Scary!


Addysen loves shoes! I think it's the age and the fact that she is a girl. Elodie did the same thing and still loves to pull out my shoes. Heck I remember doing it as a little girl! I would take my mom's Sunday shoes and walk around in the kitchen on the tile. So funny.

The note I found on Elodie's door. After Christopher pointed out that he was a boy, she immediately said only Naughty Boys weren't allowed in her room. This was at the end of her first week of kindergarten. She is learning all the important things at school!

And me playing around with my photography...any tips on how to convince my husband I need an $1100 camera let me know! Or if you would like to donate to said camera, let me know that too! Either way, this girl melts my heart!