Sunday, November 21, 2010

Henri & Valerie videos

These ones are on You Tube...I had a hard time uploading this to blogger.

3 minutes of pure Henri energy.  Imagine 12 hours of it and you'll get my typical day...



Valerie



more Valerie

Update with lots of pictures!

First, I'll share some family photos we had taken by my friend's husband...




This week has been all about Henri's party.  I used my Cricut diecut machine to make Dinosaur related items:












Henri got excited when the balloons showed up...

Valerie was excited to see grandma


I made dirt cups (pudding, coolwhip, oreos, chocolate rocks & dinosaur gummies)




Everyone had a great time, even the adults





Henri opened presents.  Well, he opened the firetruck, then I opened the rest because he was obsessed with getting it out of the box...


There was also his pillowpet that he spent the rest of his night proclaiming "Piwwow Pet, Piwwow, Pet!!! MY Piwwow Pet!!!!"



Then time for the pudding cups



Random pics of the month

I don't think I posted these, but they are fun!

Banana phones:

The kids with their Trick or Treat Loot-not bad for an hour.


Grandma shows Henri who's boss...


Grandpa relaxes Valerie into a state of bliss...

Henri plays with his best buddy Carson.  Funny story... they go to childcare at bible study on Wednesday mornings together.  Carson tells Henri, "Bye Henwi, high five!" they tried to smack hands in the air and missed and it took them 2-3 tries to connect.  So cute!

Carter & Kaylee playing Wii

Henri at Allison's birthday party

Carter at the same party

Henri picking his nose.  $10 says he ate it.  His newest not-adorable habit.

Valerie...
Henri falling asleep.  3 hour time difference from Disney plus 1 hour for time change = naps totally out of wack...

Friday, November 12, 2010

Scrapbooking weekend!!!

Yesterday, we had breakfast with someone from MOPs and her kids, then had a playdate with Carter's friend from preschool who moved to Bellevue after last year let out, then we dropped off stuff by my mom's house for the kids to stay overnight, then dropped off mom's apple corer/slicer at another MOPs member's house, then visited my grandparents and my three aunts, uncle & cousins there, then back to my mom's house.

After dropping off the kids, I went home to finish packing for the convention and went to sleep quite late, but was so excited I woke up before the alarm.

Amanda and I go together to the Creating Keepsakes scrapbook convention.  In order to miss it, you must be in the hospital (two years ago I was 3 weeks away from having Henri and on bedrest).  Each year we make it a little better.  The first year we tried a couple of classes and the vendor faire.  The next year we shopped on Friday and took classes Saturday.  This year, we are women on a mission.  No kids (even Valerie's at my mom's), 5 classes spread over two days, entire vendor fair must fit into 5 hours on Friday with possible revisit for a few hours during our lunch hour Saturday. Oh, and the Saturday evening crop (which my aunt will be joining us for-a crop is a time to work on scrapbooks for those who don't know-usually done in a group so you can gossip and share ideas and photos while you are "working").

We bring an extra bag for shopping.  The conventions start out in Portland and work their way around the country, so Seattle is the last stop.  Since scrapbook supplies are like clothing and there's new stuff every year, the vendors want to go home with empty trucks so they can pack up the new stuff for next year.  This means there are incredible deals to be had to begin with.  Then the Saturday night crop is the absolute last opportunity that the vendors have to unload stuff.  They sell right outside the crop doors for incredible deals and have great give-aways.

So today our classes were both very good.  One was for 12 birthday cards (4 of 3 designs) we made one of each design during class.  The next class was to make 4 single page layouts that we could then purchase the other side from the vendor downstairs (which we did).  Then we joined Shari, our friend from our scrapbook message board who lives nearby for the vendor fair.  It was so fun to visit with her and shop for our favorite things :)  Then Amanda and I headed to Wild Ginger for supper and split a beef curry.

Early to bed tonight as we'll be busy from 8:30am until 11pm.  SO FUN!

Called mom and dad and the kids are all being good, Valerie had 8 bottles today (that's about 32 ounces.  Average for her age is 25 ounces)  Carter decided he liked peas (he will only try new foods at her house).

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Welcome Home. Sigh.

We may be back, but last week my mind was still on vacation.  Let's see... among other things we... forgot a birthday present at home, stared at the woman at Costco wanting to be paid wondering why she was looking at me and not saying anything, on and on ad nauseum.

So Monday I was determined to get back in the swing of things.  I got 19/20 things done on my to do list.  Then the kids stopped sleeping. 

Back in college I would get by on 4 hours of sleep and sleep most of Saturday.  No problem.  Now, I really need 6-7 hours.  Uninterrupted would be best. 

Last night was typical: 9:00 I try to get Carter in bed 1/2 hour after bedtime.  No, apparently there are zombies that are in his head that he's afraid of in his room.  I let him sleep in my bed telling him it will not be allowed the next night.  9:30, he's sobbing saying the zombies will not get out of his head.  I am desperate, pleading with him to go to sleep, I'm exhausted, they've been doing this to me for 3 nights, all making sure to get up at least once. but not at the same time.  Finally I say, "I have no idea what to do.  Let's pray about it and see if that will help."  We prayed to God to get the zombies out of his head. Apparently this did the trick, then I read aloud to him from Luke, which is the book I'm on, but also full of great little stories.  Think the human interest magazine portion of the bible.

I finally pass out at 10:30 or 11 next to Carter who is hogging my pillow.  3am Valerie wakes up for a feeding.  I can't feed her in my bed because Carter's there as well as Paul, so now I'm feeding her in the rocking chair in her room.  Get back to bed, sleep about 1/2 hour when Henri wakes up.  Sleep next to him in Carter's bed for about 2 1/2 hours more.  It's been like this since Saturday night.

Henri is also making me insane.  Not doing what I ask, getting into stuff, etc.  I will sell him to the next gypsies that come to the door.  He's almost 2, what can I say.   So this morning he climbed into the pantry "I want this!" pointing to the Halloween Candy is his current favorite thing to do.  He spilled rice everywhere in the process.  During naptime, I have installed a drawer lock on the pantry door.  Drilled the bar into the wall, used Command adhesive to put the latch on the back of the door.  If he gets the latch off, I'll use super glue as it's the back of the door, who cares if I can never get it off.  I'm trying it on the food side first and will update how it's going next week.

The only thing getting me through this week is that my incredible parents are taking the children Thurs night until Saturday evening so I can go to the Creating Keepsakes scrapbook convention with Amanda, my yearly date with her.  You have to be in the hospital to miss it.  I was 3 weeks away from having Henri and we were calling around looking for a wheelchair to put me in since I was on bedrest.  Eye on the prize.  Of course, I know the darlings will all sleep for my parents.  Promise, mom!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Valerie Christmas Idea, but get them now!

http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=51&products_id=1544

These are seconds on the Cloth Diapers I LOVE for the babies.  Only $12!  Normally they run $17-$18 each.  Also free shipping.

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