Sophia

I can always tell when Sophia has been playing with my phone....

This happens.

 Oh, AND.... this is how much Emma looks like her older sister.  One of the following two pictures was taken last week of Emma, and the other one is Sophia at 6 months.  Can you tell which one is Sophia and which one is Emma?

So much has happened

I feel like each one of these pictures could probably warrant it's own blog post, but I'm going to crush everything into one because I'm the queen of lazy lately.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving home from work and my car died.  Like dead.  In the middle of the road.  I had to get out and push by myself.  In a dress.  By myself.  Just me.  In a dress.  Pushing my car.  (Got a visual?)

You know how you're not supposed to drive when your car is heating up because bad stuff can happen?
Well it happened.  Only my car forgot to tell me that it was getting hot.  (Thermostat was also dead)  So I blew heads (Whatever that means) and blew seals, and tubes and everything I could possibly damage.

I bought this the next day.

Before you go thinking that was a little fast, I had actually been looking for a larger vehicle for a few weeks and did some shopping before this happened.  I was just forced to get it sooner than I had planned.  My car is getting fixed and I'll keep using that to get to work, which is a really good thing because I can't seem to get used to driving a van.  Like, "Has my life really reached mini-van stage?"
There should be a support group.
'Mini-Van Drivers Anonomyous'
We could all carpool!

 After the car situation, I went with my friend Jen up to Provo to Women's Conference.  I had a couple of funny experiences like the complete stranger we asked for directions helping himself to our popcorn, but the best was probably seeing my good friend Mary and her new baby.  She's 2 months younger than Emma, so I know they're going to be perfect BYU roommates some day!

And last Thursday was the science fair and AJ's school. 

 He was the only one that did sugar crystals. There were at least 12 volcanoes, 17 projects involving some kind of soda explosion, 10 projects about which laundry detergent works better, the parents kid that separated DNA on different types of fruit... and then there was this kid

I'm sure he got an "A".

Since we were going to the school, Sophia had to wear her backpack.  Empty of course, but we all know backpacks are more about the fashion statement then their usefulness.

And Emma had to be cute.

My last bit of news is that we got a dog.  Not on purpose, he just kind of happened, and now we're stuck with him.  His name is Oso (that means "bear" in Spanish) and he's a good dog.  (Don't tell him that, I don't want it going to his head)

So that's it.  Catch me in 2 more weeks when I've probably moved to Europe, bought a boat, and been on a reality TV series.

So, I had a baby... and stuff.

I took this picture a couple of weeks before she was born so I could have at lease one documented image of the completely uncomfortable, awkward, tiring process that is creating a human.

 Emma was born Feb 5 at around 6:30pm.  It was a scheduled c-section so I was way more calm when we went to the hospital.  We checked in and got situated and then just had to wait for my doctor to get there.  I walked into the operating room and got the good stuff inserted in my spine and immediately peed all over.  Well, not really, but my water broke, so this baby knew it was time, even though we were 1 week early.

 Emma Elizabeth - 6 lbs 15 oz, 19 inches long.

Big brother AJ is a big help!  Although the newness is starting to wear off I think. 

 Big Sister Sophia loves her Emma and likes to hold her a little too much!

 We blessed her on March 3rd.  Here's the second baby blessing gown made from my wedding dress.  I should say second and last since there's not much dress left to cut up!

 Emma's been great, but she did decide to get sick a couple of weeks ago which landed us in the ER.  They had to hydrate her because she hadn't eaten much all day and they needed to do some tests.  Turns out a cold and urinary infection were the culprits of her fever.

 The second best thing about having a baby is the 2 months off of work!  I had a ton of projects in mind for when I would have unlimited free time.  (Free time with a newborn and 2 1/2 year old that is!)  Aside from getting to do all the mommy things I don't usually get to do like take Sophia to the park - she would live there if we let her, and story time at the library.  I managed to get a few projects done. 

Here we go.
1. Outdoor Kitchen
Technically this is my Honey's project, but I helped when I could.  (Like unloading 6,000 lbs of brick- yeah I was feeling that the next day!)

Here's my honey and his dad laying the foundation for the kitchen

I don't have a really good picture of the whole thing and it's not finished yet, but it's almost there.
Here it is at night.

 The smoker is in the corner, there's a sink next to that, and the BBQ grill on the left.

 To the left of the grill, we have an electric stove top with the option to switch it out to a grill top.  (I'm envisioning many roasted veggies on that!)

 And no kitchen would be complete without the oven.  I'm excited to use my new pizza oven.

 Although the kids think it's their new fort!

 

Speaking of kitchens...

Another big project that I took on was the kitchen cabinets.  We bought a cabinet transformation kit a few years ago and never got around to using it.  I bit the bullet and took the kitchen apart to get everything painted.  Here's the before picture.

Here's the after picture.  We're planning on installing granite counter tops eventually.  I just need to keep at those penny slots so we can fund it!

 My easiest project was to reupholster the kitchen chairs.  I wish I had all wooden chairs with no fabric, but I need to make do with these.  Once upon a time these chairs were in pretty good shape.  Then Sophie happened... Here's the before picture.

And the after.  Yes I did leave the plastic on top of the fabric.  Yes I do realize that it's pretty tacky.  Yes I also realize that it belongs in 1972 with plastic couch covers, but I'm keeping it!  (And secretly searching for those couch covers on ebay)  I'll sacrifice style for wipeable chairs any day of the week!



One of my callings in the ward is Cubmaster and I had to put together my first pinewood derby.  I think it went pretty well.  I got a brother from the ward who's a police officer to give the boys a driving test and administer driver's licenses.  He got pretty into it, it was cute.

 And I homemade all the awards.  (Good thing I had plenty of cut up bricks laying around the backyard from the kitchen project.)  I spray painted matchbox cars and glued them to the bricks and then each boy got a tile with an award (best paint job, most original design, etc)

 Whew - so that's the last 3 months of my life in a nutshell.

I'm back at work now, so if I was busy before, it's getting ridiculous now!

Plus I've started going to Zumba.  And I've managed to drag my honey with me.  He may not have rhythm, but he definitely has spirit!  We're both down 5 pounds so far and we're hoping to make this last!



Men are from Mars

Here's a conversation I had with my honey last night.

Me: (8 months pregnant and leaving work around 5:00)
Hey honey, I just wanted to let you know I'm leaving work right now.

Him: (not pregnant and sitting at home)
Ok, What are we going to have for dinner?

Really?  I mean... Really?

Bangs

Sophia always refuses to allow any type of bow or pony tail in her hair.  She'll rip anything out after 15 mins.  So this summer, my mom insisted I cut her bangs that always hang in her face.  I really didn't want to give her bangs, but it's better than hair hanging all over her face so we went with it.

Since the original bangs were cut, I've only done one touch up trim and it was definitely time for another trim.

Here's how she looked after I trimmed her hair the last time.

Well, my mother-in-law, bless her heart, also noticed that it was time for a trim and rather then tell me I should do it, she went ahead and did it.

 I got home from work and asked Sophie if she had cut her own hair.

Here she is the next day.

I really didn't have a lot of options for fixing it.  If I cut it even with what was started on the right side of her face, she'd look like this.

So I just cut the long straggling pieces to mid forehead and let it be.

I'm thinking of enrolling my MIL in beauty school for her birthday.

Holiday Happenings

Cathy came over for a day of holiday baking.  We made Apple Crisp, apple bread braids, cookies, cake, and more cake.  I had to bring a dessert for a Ward Christmas party and ended up bringing 4 desserts.... it was a good thing too because there were only 10 desserts, so I provided almost half for the whole ward.  (The Spanish ward aren't huge bakers.... The other 6 items were store bought!)

 While we baked, the kids played outside in the "freezing" Las Vegas weather.

 Then last week I was off work so we took the kids to the Ethel M chocolate factory and cactus garden.  We got there right as they turned on the lights.

 And we rang in the new year by painting Sophia's bedroom.  I got it in my head that I wanted a "Tiffany Blue" for the room and once my mind is made up, it's made up.  I went and got the color and we went to town on New Year's Eve.  We finished up on New Years Day and I love it!

Happy New Years!  Here we go 2013!