Thought I would post a quick note to let everyone know we booked our hotel in Rome!!! Most of the photos are in flash, so I couldn't copy and paste them from the website - but you are free to check them out at Eurostars International Palace
--Here is a photo I found of a band playing behind the hotel :)--
We are really excited because the hotel is right near Via Nazionale and the heart of Rome. That way we will be able to walk to all of the cool destinations, and not have to worry about a car! We are counting down the days till our trip!
I am finally recovering from what I would call the worst sickness I have ever had. It started two weeks ago with achiness, then a fever, throwing up, continued fever and runny nose. Then I started to feel better, then I lost my voice for three days. Finally on Friday I couldn't stop coughing and had a fever again, followed by upper respiratory problems. But, after three days in bed, many many hours of Lost and many many boxes of Kleenex, I would like to announce that I have beaten you Sars, bird flu, the plague, or whatever it is that I had. Thanks for all of the concern...but I am okay, and luckily, no one else in my house got it! Thanks to Josh, Gona and Baca who watched Mac while I recovered!
We are very excited at the progress in the basement. I have been doing my best to give Josh every Saturday to work down there. We (well he) now has the following rooms completely framed: guest room, guest closet, networking and audio/video closet, main room, and McKenna's understair hideout. He has the soffit lines done, just needs to figure out how lighting will be run before those are installed. All we have left is the small under stair office (josh's idea), bathroom, and mechanical room! The hardest part is deciding how to do the cabinets, and where we want lighting/electrical.
Our hope is to get it done by May 15th, when Gramma Rue comes to watch Mac while we are in the Mediterranean. We'll see how realistic that dream becomes as time gets closer!
Somehow Josh keeps conning his friends into coming over and helping. Sashank had never really worked with tools before, but his wife and son are in India visiting family, so he came over and spent Saturday with Josh.
--this picture is to prove to his wife he can use power tools--
Sounds like he is coming over this weekend as well. Thanks for helping Sashank!
I am SOOOO tired of winter weather warnings. Mondays are my day to hang out with Mac and we made the best of the crazy weather, and had a great day anyway. I have been getting over the worst flu I have ever had, and even though I couldn't sing, we stuck to our Monday routine. We go to Kindermusik at 9:30, then usually run errands. We play games in the afternoon, have lunch, nap, and usually take cheesy pictures after she wakes up. Today we mailed a book to Lily after Kindermusik. We are part of a book chain. You mail a book to one child, and if everyone participates, you get 36 books in return! Sounds like a cool deal to me! Lily is Kevin's friend. She lives in Raleigh, and we hope she likes the book we picked out!
After nap today we watched the BIGGEST snowflakes start to fall.
--Hard to tell, but the snowflakes are as big as golf balls--
--view from our deck--
--Mac checkin out the flakes--
--She watched the snow for at least 15 minutes--
--Saying "mommy snooooow"--
--Cheesin for the camera with her FAVORITE toys the teletubbies--
--tucking bear in for a nap--
We decided that since the weather was yucky, we would go through her closet. Mac has been small since she was about 9 months, and has been a little behind in sizes. She is just now starting to outgrow her 18 month stuff. We brought out the 2T jammies tonight. It is a little sad, because I remember when we bought them, they looked SOOO big! I can't believe how fast she is growing!
McKenna got spoiled with Valentines this year! She got candy from Cole at daycare, a gift basket of fun goodies from her nanny Heather, hugging bears from Gona and Baca, and a cute valentine from Grandma Watson!
At our house we make valentines - they are more fun that way!
Josh made me a dozen oragami roses. They are awesome! And they will keep a lot longer than real ones!
--very pretty!--
Last year Gona and Baca gave Mac an outfit from China. We have been anxiously waiting for her to fit into it! So we spent the day before Valentine's Day taking pictures to make this valentine for Daddy:
--she is the perfect subject--
We had a lot of fun shooting others as well!
--chillin on the stairs in her warrior suit--
--up close--
--calling china to thank them for the cute duds--
I had also asked Emmi to help me with a funny gift for Josh. I gave this little frog that sings and flashes you to Emmi to put in Josh's office (since they work together.) I called her at 1 because I hadn't heard from Josh. She had forgotten in all of the hubub of valentine's day with the kids. Luckily she was willing to rush home and retrieve the flashing frog. I get a frantic phone call telling me that the frog didn't work! I am willing to give up at this point, but luckily she saved the day and exchanged the frog for a working model. THANKS EMMI!!!
Yesterday was Tali's winter ball. For whatever reason she couldn't go to the ball, but the girls did come to our house! Gona and Baca came over in the morning to help with the basement and play with Mac. Then the girls came over around 1 to hang out. They helped me make home made pizza dough. Then we put toppings on them and baked them in the oven. Josh taught them to play settlers, and we enjoyed some sparkling cider to celebrate the occasion.
--There most poshist of posh looks--
--Here they are toasting the pizza and settlers of catan--
After dinner it was time to run around and be silly. Mac LOVED Tali and Nikki and soon would rather hang out with them than lame old mom and dad. They played follow the leader, hide and go seek, and did silly things like dog pile and run around the house screaming:
--Here they are playing ballerina--
--watching nikki be a monster--
--hangin out on the floor in her "baa baa" jamies--
--one of the girls--
--playing hide and go seek (pretty good hiding place I think!)--
--here is some general sillyness--
After Mac went to bed we watched Austin Powers. Tali and Josh have been quoting the "moley moley moley" line for years, and she has never seen it! Then, I got sleepy and went to bed while everyone else stayed up and watched 28 Days Later and had popcorn.
We had such a good time with Mac's cousins! They are both so attentive and fun to hang around with! You can tell that Mac just loved playing with them! In the morning we made pancakes and I taught them how to do eyeliner without looking like a raccoon :)
For the longest time I have been meaning to blog about this. Rylee has OCD. Every night we feed her 1 cup of food. And every night she eats EXACTLY one half of her food, leaving the other half until the next day....
--this is too weird to make up--
Keep in mind I did not arrange her food like this, she does this. Always the left side first, then the right the next day.....crazy dog.
This morning Mac woke up at 4:30! In an attempt to get her to go back to sleep I got her a drink and took it up to her. I covered her up and closed the door. I only filled the drink half full, because otherwise it could leak in her bed. At 6:00 I heard a quiet, "mama, more? mama, more?" Then a much louder and more emphasized, "mama, MORE! MAMA MORE!" I go in her room and she starts giggling and holding her empty cup up, expecting more drink. Then she proceeded to tell me "oh no, baby owie me" I guess she bumped her head against her doll and wasn't too happy :)
Tonight we picked out some new flannel "ba ba" jammies that have sheep on them. She had to point at every sheep and let me know "two ba ba, two ba ba, two ba ba" she thinks that all letters are A and all numbers are 2. At least we are on the right track!
Then we sang "rock by baby" together and she asked for "bea, baney, baby and ba-ba" (bear, blankey, doll and doll's bottle).
I was looking through some pictures and forgot to blog about this one. A few weeks ago, Mac was sort of getting over a cold. I have never seen her do this, she was so tired she actually fell asleep eating! Definitely a first for her!
We are only half way through this weekend and it has already been very eventful. Today Josh spent his whole day in the basement. I just realized I have yet to put pictures up of the project.
--Damon creating the entry way to Mac's fort under the stairs--
--Josh standing in the new guest room, aka Gramma Rue's room--
--Mac figuring out what all that noise is downstairs--
We have realized that finishing the basement is a lot more work than we thought...well I haven't done any "work" yet, but I have watched Josh do a lot of work! And I have diligently shopped for colors, bathroom fixtures, baseboards, etc. I have also done a great job of coming down and inserting my opinion.
Today, Nolan got to come over and play while Damon helped Josh for a few hours. I think having the extra help really makes things go 4 times as fast. Today he got the entire guest room finished, and started the "fort" under the stairs for McKenna.
I always enjoy the days because it is just me and Mac, and we get to play all day. Any time Josh used the nail gun, or saw, she would say "oh no, daddy owie?" It was hilarious. And at times when the air compressor would turn on, she would run to me and say, "oh no!"
Tonight Josh went to play poker with some friends in Ames. We tried bean burritos for the first time. She loved them, but made quite a mess :)
--This is not spots on the lens....it is bean burrito on her face--
Tomorrow Josh and Mac are going to Perry to visit Grandma and Grandpa Great. They are going to hear all about Gona and Baca's adventures in Africa. I am stuck working the superbowl, so I am sure the store will be a ghost town. Oh well, time to catch up on other work!
I have been doing my best to capture Mac's cute little sayings, so that I can tell her all about what she was interested in at 21 months:
"Mommy sit down" "no doggie, get down" "time ew eat?" (time to eat?) "wach la la po?" (watch lala and po) from Telletubies, she LOVES that show for some reason "give Mommy ball" "bea, baney, dink?" (bear, blankey, drink) before bed she gets them all together to read stories "oh no!" very dramatic "go po-po!" I think that is self explanatory - potty training in the near future! "rock by baby" (rock a by baby) "choo choo, nina nina nina nina" (choo choo, dinah dinah dinah dinah) a song we sing about a book from Kindermusik "ah dun naw" (all done now) "notty" (naughty) "time go"
These are just some of the fun things she is saying. I know there are many I am missing...but thought I would write them down while I had a minute!
We are anxiously awaiting Gona and Baca's return from Africa! They should be getting home tonight! We also agreed to have Energy Doctor come out and install some thin foil lining over our insulation in the attic. It will reduce our energy bills by 25%, and is good for the environment.
I started classes two weeks ago. I am taking Psych Disorders, and Diversity. Both are very interesting, but have a lot of reading. Now I know what doctor's have to go through with all the dry subject matter. Reading a 900 page book that is meant to be a reference for mental illness is not my cup of tea!
I was so lucky the other day and got to spend the whole morning with Nolan. Damon and Shelly are our really good friends who live down the street. We talk to them or see them almost every day for one reason or another. Shelly had an interview, and I offered to watch Nolan while she was there. What was supposed to be an hour interview turned into about 4 hours, but it was great!
I was worried at first, because Mac has been known to be very jealous of her Mommy's attention. But she did really great! When I fed Nolan his bottle, Mac fed her baby. Then we burped our babies, and changed them. She did great as a little mommy. It makes me think she is ready for a little brother or sister :) The only time she got jealous is when she was getting sleepy and ready for a nap.
--Pretty laid back, enjoying the little bouncer--
--laughing and cooing--
I forgot how fun babies are at this age. He is starting to reach for things and giggle. We had a great time. I can't believe how strong he is. He is 4 months old and already rolling and holding his head up while on his tummy. They are going to have their hands full!
--Here is Mac showing Nolan how to spin--
Handling two kids is definitely a new dynamic. I am glad that we waited to have kid #2 until they were farther apart. I don't know how people do it with a baby AND a 2 year old.....whew!
Friday we got together with a group of friends that we enjoy. Two friends Scott and Melissa live in Boone and we headed out there and met up with Char and Jaime. Char, Scott and I all work together and we always have a good time eating and playing games. Scott has a home theater room that would upstage any hollywood studio. He has a seperate insurance policy on that room alone. So we enjoy going over there for movies, and Wii play :)
So Friday we dropped Mac off at her Aunti Ems. She just loves her Aunti Em. She also loves this silly backpack I got her at a garage sale for a dollar. It is a purple nike bag that she feels all grown up wearing. She calls it her "bap-pack." She puts her jammies, diapers, wipes, blankey and toothbrush in there, then zips it up and with some assistance puts it on. She knows we are going somewhere fun when we pack it up.
--Here she is ready to go--
--Mac and her bap-pack--
I was in charge of the appetizer, so I made this fruit salsa with homemade cinnimon sugar chips. It was really good, and quite the hit. Then we had chicken ala king, and an oreo ice cream cake for dessert. Very tasty. Then we played Dirty Minds. It was hilarious...if you haven't heard of this game you should check it out. It is really inappropriate and quite a hoot.
Mac was great at Em's. We are so lucky to have such great family so close!
We are playing with the idea of potty training. The only thing holding us back is consistency. I can't take a week off to just do it at this point, and I don't want to have to ask Mac's nanny to start her, because the other child Mac's age isn't ready yet. Also, Mac tells us when she has to poo-poo, but really doesn't get the idea of big girl underwear, or any of that yet. So I don't want to start too early and hinder the process. The other night I asked her if she needed to go potty before bath. She nodded yes, and we had a successful pee-pee in the potty....woohoo!
The next night I asked her and she said no. But half way through her bath she goes ah oh. Then frantic "poo-poo" then I asked her if she had to go, and before we could do anything she screamed "ICKY!" and up float little poo poos.
Really it is funny, but now she is scared of taking a bath saying poo poo all the time, whether she needs to go or not and pointing at her bum. This potty training thing is hard.
Last Friday Josh and I had a date night. It has been WAY too long since we have done anything, just the two of us. We dropped Mac off at Gona and Baca's. It was a good chance for Mac to hang out and spend the night before Gona and Baca went to Africa. They planned a two week trip for their 40th wedding anniversary. We are all anxious to hear details and see pictures!
Josh and I went to Noodle Zoo, a little restaurant that serves great salads, noodles and dinners. After that we went to the movie Cloverfield. I was unaware that it was Blair Witch-esque, but really enjoyed it! It is made by the same people who work on Lost, which I also like, so it was no surprise that we both loved the movie. I am not going to give anything away, but it is pretty good - a little far fetched, but worth seeing. I really felt old, because Friday night at 7pm around here is high school date and go to movie with your high school friends night. When the movie started I felt like I was 20 years older than I am, young wipper snappers and their new fangled text messaging. Can't they all be quiet.....so never again early movie on a friday night.
The next morning we got up early and went to a home improvement show in Des Moines. We are finishing our basement (or should I say Josh is finishing our basement.) He has the guest room almost completely framed. And we have lots of ideas. I am excited to have the extra space, not that we need it, but will be nice for guests to have more of a suite than a room off of ours.
The home show was pretty cool. We got some ideas about making our home more efficient and earth friendly (which I am big on.) We also got to see tigers. That's right......tigers! In some random way tigers are somehow tied to home improvement. You could get your picture taken holding a baby tiger for $25. I just took pictures of them in their cages and called it good.
--Here are their parents....they don't look too happy--
--Really cute, and only a few feet away! What a strange business--
Mac had a great time at Gona and Baca's and we had a fun weekend! Nice to have a date once in a while :)
Wow -this has been a long time coming! On December 28th McKenna and I headed home to Washington for our family Christmas with my family. As we get older it is harder and harder to get everyone together! We left at 7pm our time. Luckily Josh could drop us off, because with the stroller, car seat, bags, diaper bag, carry on, bear, blankey, baby and coats...it was a handful! We got checked in and hung out until about half an hour before the plane left. We said goodbye to daddy and went to security. I had to take my shoes and Mac's shoes off, put the DVD player in a separate container, put the two bags and the stroller on the conveyor belt and then grab my toddler who just wanted to run around. And as luck would have it we were 30 minutes late getting on the plane. But, McKenna was an angel. We started by taking walks up and down the terminal and talking to each plant along the way (she thought this was hilarious.) Then we bought some juice and played tea party, then read some books. We got on the plane, and she was scared to death. She didn't like walking down the noisy hallway and climbing in the little door. Once we were seated, things were great. We talked to our neighbors, had snacks, read stories, and played games all the way to Denver.
In Denver our plane was running about 1-2 hours late. We walked around met some other people on our flight and talked with them. By this time it was an hour passed bedtime. Mac got her jammies on, and got her bear and blankey. Then I put her on her stroller and walked in a huge loop over and over until she fell asleep. We got on the plane and she slept all the way to Kennewick, what a trooper!
I couldn't believe it, but the eventful night tricked her internal clock, and she slept in until 8am the next day...that is 10am her time!!! YAY MOMMY GOT TO SLEEP! She slept in a pack and play in my old room, I slept in Chelsey's room next door, and Chels slept upstairs in the guest room.
We had Christmas morning on the 29th. My family was nice enough to wait on all the presents until we got there. McKenna was spoiled and got a train, puzzles, a cute dress, a baby, sweats, and a book of pictures. I got my dustbuster, perfume, money for Europe, and a book about Italy.
--Here is the Christmas tree before the present opening--
--Chelsey, soooo excited she got Grey's Anatomy Game--
--Gramma Rue got Mac a baby that you feed a bottle to--
--McKenna made sure someone was feeding the baby before she headed to other presents--
--Talking puzzle from uncle Brandon--
--Chelsey modeling her coat from mom--
We spent the rest of the day eating great Christmas food, relaxing and catching up. Chelsey did my hair in ringlets, which I think she has fun doing.
--I can never get it to turn out this good at home--
--My bro and sis--
I am going to get all of the events mixed up, because it seemed like the week flew by. We watched a lot of football, visited friends, went to church, watched the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice mini series, watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3, played a lot of games (settlers, sequence, Grey's Anatomy), played music, danced to the singing nutcrackers, talked, slept, ate, just the best, most relaxing holiday!
--Here is Mac dancing to some chiming nutcrackers (she LOVED these)--
--Luckily Chelsey got this cute outfit for Mac for Christmas, so she could go to church with Gramma Rue and Aunti Chelsey--
--All dressed up and ready to go--
--We spent one day with Maren and Jocelyn, Mac is showing her how to line up all her princesses--
--Not too sure what to think of this funny girl--
Jocelyn is quite the little lady, very willing to share and very social. It is so fun seeing Maren as a mom and what a good job she has done with her kids! Deric is still a ball of energy, but pretty good with the girls, and really enjoying school!
--Wathin football. Got spoiled and was able to eat and drink snacks on the couch, silly grampa rue is giving her bunny ears--
--Mac loved to sit and read the paper with gramma--
--her other favorite thing was to ask for a "cracka" every time she got near the pantry--
--on the last day there I got to go out with some old friends from high school, maren, janelle and charis--
It was such a great trip, and a Mac was equally as pleasant on the way home. I told her on the denver to des moines flight that it was time to take a nap. She said okay, and fell asleep. What a sweetheart! Not one peep out of her either travel day....she is going to be a great world traveler.
--Here is a photo I found of a band playing behind the hotel :)--
--this picture is to prove to his wife he can use power tools--
--Hard to tell, but the snowflakes are as big as golf balls--
--view from our deck--
--Mac checkin out the flakes--
--She watched the snow for at least 15 minutes--
--Saying "mommy snooooow"--
--Cheesin for the camera with her FAVORITE toys the teletubbies--
--tucking bear in for a nap--
--sporting her new 2T jammies--
--very pretty!--
--she is the perfect subject--
--chillin on the stairs in her warrior suit--
--up close--
--calling china to thank them for the cute duds--
--There most poshist of posh looks--
--Here they are toasting the pizza and settlers of catan--
--Here they are playing ballerina--
--watching nikki be a monster--
--hangin out on the floor in her "baa baa" jamies--
--one of the girls--
--playing hide and go seek (pretty good hiding place I think!)--
--this is too weird to make up--
--So sleepy!--
--Damon creating the entry way to Mac's fort under the stairs--
--Josh standing in the new guest room, aka Gramma Rue's room--
--Mac figuring out what all that noise is downstairs--
--This is not spots on the lens....it is bean burrito on her face--
--Pretty laid back, enjoying the little bouncer--
--laughing and cooing--
--Here she is ready to go--
--Mac and her bap-pack--
--Here are their parents....they don't look too happy--
--Really cute, and only a few feet away! What a strange business--
--Here is the Christmas tree before the present opening--
--Chelsey, soooo excited she got Grey's Anatomy Game--
--Gramma Rue got Mac a baby that you feed a bottle to--
--McKenna made sure someone was feeding the baby before she headed to other presents--
--Talking puzzle from uncle Brandon--
--Chelsey modeling her coat from mom--
--I can never get it to turn out this good at home--
--My bro and sis--
--Luckily Chelsey got this cute outfit for Mac for Christmas, so she could go to church with Gramma Rue and Aunti Chelsey--
--All dressed up and ready to go--
--We spent one day with Maren and Jocelyn, Mac is showing her how to line up all her princesses--
--Not too sure what to think of this funny girl--
--Wathin football. Got spoiled and was able to eat and drink snacks on the couch, silly grampa rue is giving her bunny ears--
--her other favorite thing was to ask for a "cracka" every time she got near the pantry--
--on the last day there I got to go out with some old friends from high school, maren, janelle and charis--