Another Project Complete!

Just completed another website.  It was a wonderful experience working with Heather, and I think the site turned out nicely.  Take a gander!

Heather Spence Designs

Family Pics

Got some family pictures {finally}.  Kacy did a fantastic job!

Wondering Where I've Been?

So, I finally had a breathing moment to sit down and look at my blog. Wow.  A whole month of nothingness.  Not that I am an avid blogger anyway, but, just in case you were wondering where I went.  It's here.

I have been completely enveloped in web design for the last 4 weeks and it has been a really great learning experience for a couple reasons:

1.  I learned that it is {invaluable} to have someone around to watch my kids while I work.  My mom has been here helping out, but on a couple occasions (such as yesterday) I have had to work without her around.  Let's just say that the kids didn't get the extra loving care they are used to (as witnessed by their makeshift cracker and raisins lunch), and they could have been stolen by whomever came to the door since they decided to answer it without me knowing.

2. I learned that I have a very hard time walking away from things that are unfinished. So, in order to make my new web design ventures beneficial to my family, I am going to have to get over that.  And quick.  Long nights do not a happy mama make.

3.I learned that Wordpress is {amazing}.

4. Photo albums make a nice footrest when sitting at the computer for long hours.

5. And, I learned that it is actually super-fun working with a dear friend in a business relationship.  I joined forces with my friend Emily who runs Junelily Studio.  Who knew that chatting about PHP and HTML coding could be so fun?

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Birthday in an exotic place?  Check.
Birthday on a romantic cruise? Check.
Will there be dancing?  Yes.
Will there be laughing?  Yes.
Will there be humiliation?  Uh-huh.
Will it be my best birthday yet?  Most Definitely.

The whole family took a trip to San Diego this past weekend.  I love San Diego.  Perfect weather.  Lovely landscape.  Wonderful company.

My birthday dinner was spent on a dinner cruise, compliments of my mother-in-law. This was a first for me, but I certainly recommend it! I'd show you all sorts of pictures, but my camera was lost at Legoland.  Boo!

But, if I did have pictures, I'd show you one of me and Shiloh drinking sparkling cider against the romantic scenery:

And another of us dancing the night away with 80 navy veterans who were having a reunion on the ship:

I wouldn't have a picture of Shiloh and I making fools of ourselves dancing the jitterbug, but I probably wouldn't have posted it on here anyway.  Let's just say I haven't jitterbugged in over 7 years, Shiloh has *never* jitterbugged, and we were the only ones on the dance floor.  Yep.  But, it was all in good fun, and everyone hooted, hollered, and applauded through our 3 minutes of fame.

Good times.

Shiloh and I spent the next 2 days at a conference while the grandparents took them to Legoland and SeaWorld.  We stopped by the beach, and got the only pictures that I possess from the whole trip:

Oh, and I finally got my hair cut!  Yay!

Down with Commercials

So, we were over at a friend's house last night as a family. She didn't have any toys for the kids to play with so she turned on Nick Jr. for them to watch while the adults chatted on the couch. After a couple minutes of watching, Ezra turns to me with a quizzical look on his face and asks, "Why does the TV keep skipping Mom?  I can't see the show!"

My reaction: "What?.. OOooh..."

Apparently, my 4 year-old has never seen a commercial.  We all howled!  I had no idea!  But, it makes sense: He was raised on good ol' Netflix and DVDs.

Imagine going your entire life without seeing a commercial!  I wish I were him in some ways.  Imagine all those precious moments of my life I could get back! But then again, I'd have missed out on some seriously awesome commercial moments.

Remember this one about Mikey?  



Or this one:



Where's the beef?



Oscar Meyer, anyone?



I was a HUGE Paula Abdul fan back in the day...



Good times...

Ascerting Her Independance

Ashlyn has been sending me clues lately that she wants to be more independent.

Exhibit A: Mascara Mouth

Exhibit B: Pajama Pants TURNED Mini Skirt.

This one made me laugh.  Her favorite phrase right now is, "No!  I do it!"  So, I've been giving her every opportunity to do things herself.  Putting on pants can be tricky, wouldn't you say?

And so, I am venturing into potty-training...  So far so good.  My approach?  Apathy.  This way she doesn't know how much I am itching to have a diaper-free household.  If she catches wind of that, well, she may switch sides on me.  At the moment she thinks this is all her idea.  And that's the way I like it.

That doesn't mean I don't celebrate with her, though. She and I do a potty song-and-dance with each success.  She likes it.  (But, she likes the candy more.) It's been a slow process so far.  Who knows how long this will take?  Really.   It could be a bumpy ride wrought with storms and howling.  Or, it could be a peaceful drive through the daffodils.  But, I am up for the challenge.  You want a piece of me, potty-training?  {Insert Evil Eye}

New Look!

So, after my last post, I figured it was high time, I took the time to give my blog a fresh new look.  I'll probably change it more frequently now that I know how easy it is for me to do it.

Hooray for web design!

New Blog Design

So, does anyone else think it's ironic that although I dabble in web design for everyone else, my own blog is a crappy blogger generic?  Yah, me too.  I'd love to mix it up and make it look posh.  Any suggestions on a new look?  I need some practice with blogger anyway...

Happy 1st, 2nd, and 7th!

First Day of 1st Grade!

Beyond the fact that she had to roll out of bed at 6:15 AM to make it to school on time, Eliza couldn't have been more excited.  (Seriously, after getting up and getting dressed she asked if she could take a little nap before school.)  On the drive home, I asked what were her favorite things about first grade and she replied "Playing on our iPads and playing on the BIG KID PLAYGROUND!"  Kindergarteners have a separate playground at her school, so this was a big deal for her.  She went on to explain that she climbed to the top of the big monkey bars and then jumped off.  She had no complaint of injury so apparently no harm done.  Exhale. Oh, and did I mention that she's in an iClass this year?  It's a pilot program at her school.  We'll see how she fares.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

 Someone turned two... I'll let her tell you:

And what would a birthday be without a cake face picture?

Seventh Anniversary!

I'm a little late, but Shiloh and I celebrated our anniversary a few weeks back.  Love that man o' mine.

Check out a little video snippit I compiled of one of the activities we did to celebrate...

Family Vacation to NYC!

New York City.  Three kids under 5.  Suprisingly, our best vacation to date!

We traveled to the East Coast this summer and spent 10 days gallivanting around as a family.  I was all nerves and stress the preceding 2 days as I planned, packed, and planned some more. But let me tell you what: I had nothing to worry about.  The trip was an absolute success!

Since the vacation naturally split into 3 parts, here we go:

- - - - - NEW YORK CITY - - - - -

 We spent the first two days of our vacation right in the city.  And though I was wary to rent a car for that part of our trip, it turned out okay.  Driving in the city is like being in an intense thriller movie.  It kept me on my toes, that's for sure.  But, no harm done, really.  That huge bus had it coming anyway for cutting me off.  (Just kidding, but I should have!)

Our activity list comprised the following:

The Natural History Museum -- A must for young kids in the city.   This place was 4 floors of amazing artifacts and bones.  We could have spent a whole lot of time here, but had to soldier on through the city to see what we could see!

The Statue of Liberty -- Before we went to NYC, Eliza could talk of nothing else.  She assured everyone that this year she was spending her birthday at the Statue of Liberty.  (Which was true, more or less.)  It's a very relaxing ferry ride to Liberty Island and Ellis Island.  I highly recommend it. There was no hiking to the crown for us, however.  The minimum requirement is 48" tall and none of my kids have reached that height last time I checked.

 
 
Empire State Building -- Of course, we went to the top!

Central Park -- The kids got really tire walking around.  We had a few meltdowns and we lost a child for about 10 minutes, but the park was overall very fun!  The kids enjoyed the carousel.

Okay, so I probably can't drop the "lost child" bomb without an explanation...  Per the above picture, we had one single stroller on our trip.  And, as afore mentioned, the kids' legs got pretty tired walking around all day.  So, as we walked down one of the sidewalks in central park, Shiloh and I stopped to insert a wailing Ezra in to the stroller with Ashlyn.  We finagled until both were comfy and satisfied and then looked up to continue our stroll.  Only, Eliza was no where in sight.  I was baffled.  Was she in the bushes hiding?  We weren't pre-occupied for *that* long.  Nope.  Nowhere. This is the part where my blood started to pump a little faster and I went into "find my child" mode. There were hundreds of people in the park that day.  She could've wandered off or been snatched just as easily! Shiloh started running down the sidewalk in the direction we were headed, while I stood around calling after her.  Minutes went by.  I said a dozen prayers in my heart.  And then finally Shiloh called my cell and let me know that he had found her.  She was about a 1/4 mile down the path on a bridge near the edge of the park.  Apparently, she was asking a man where her parents were!  Um, apparently there are a few things other than "hug a tree" that we need to go over with our sweet kids.  We had kept the kids on a tight leash pretty much the entire vacation thus far, and this incident sealed the deal that we would continue to do so. Literally.

The Subway -- Eliza was scared at first. But, it was the fastest, most effective way to travel.  Sure, there were times when the subway was packed like sardines with our bodies involuntarily pressed up against a few others, but for the most part, it was a roomy, fun ride!

NYC food.  Yum!!

FAO Schwartz.  The ultimate toy and candy store!

Ultimately, the kids enjoyed NYC, though, I am still not convinced that it would've been very fun for them past those two days.  NYC is an adult city with lots of adult things to do.  If we ever come back here, it will most likely be without them.

- - - - - LONG ISLAND - - - - -

We spend 5 days getting to know Shiloh's father's family.  It was our first time meeting them, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!  Long island is very beautiful country!

- - - - - NEW HAMPSHIRE - - - - -

Shiloh's best friend Uillame goes to Law School in New Hampshire. So, we drove to the tip of Long Island (the most beautiful drive, bytheway), took a ferry to Connecticut, and then made our way up there to see him and his family for a few days.  It was important we got there on Eliza's birthday because she and Uillame's daughter Rhyen share a birthday.  They've spent all but one of their birthday's together so we couldn't resist!

New Hampshire has some amazingly beautiful countryside.   We spent a day at the lake...

And a day at the farm...

 It was a fantastic trip overall. Most things went really smoothly. (Unless you count the fact that on our way home we were stuck in a plane for 7 hours and then the airport for another 2 hours and then had to sleep in Denver. But, a lot of people consider that part of their vacation adventure.  I don't.  But some do.) Can't wait to do it again!