My Star DDR!

Here is my Lee-lee dancing it up at Aunt Vicki's house on New Year's Eve. She was pretty uptight that she wasn't getting a chance. I hope she dances like this forever.

Cupcakes

I really like cupcakes. They make people happy. It's like your own private dessert that you don't have to share, you know? I was having a brief conversation with someone the other day about cupcakes. Actually, I overheard this conversation. This person mentioned that cupcakes have to be an 'outside' treat because they make such a mess in the house. I have been thinking about that all day. I think little kids are suppose to make messes. They are suppose to crumble cupcakes, and spill their milk and wipe their hands on their shirts. They need to jump in puddles and play in the mud and take their straw out of their juice and flick it all over the kitchen. And they absolutely have to pull every book off their bookshelf to find that one book, that one special book they've read five times already today. I have been thinking about whether I let my kids make messes. I'm a 'just wipe it on your shirt,' kind of mom. I mean, serioulsy, it's just clothes. And if the stain doesnt' come out, so what. But I have been thinking if I let my kids make mistakes. Messes, as it were. Am I constantly cleaning up after them, or do I let them clean it up. Or, if it isn't going to kill anyone with E coli or some strange bacterial fungus, do I just let it sit so they know they are more important. This was a huge moment for me. If I dont' let my kids make a mess, how will they ever know that 1)It's okay when we make a mistake and 2) Messes are fairly easy to clean up when you ask for the right kind of help. Cupcakes may be messy. But they make me smile. There is nothing better than watching a little person lick the frosting off the cupcake. And then, of course, wiping their fingers on their shirt.

Working Down the Line in 2009

The following list is NOT a list of resolutions and or goals. Although, I have always been very good at making a New Year's resolution and keeping it. These are just things I really want to do in 2009, things I am so looking forward to and things that I"m not going to slit my wrists over if they don't happen. This may be an ongoing list if I can't remember them all right now.
1. Go away with Ryan and company for our 14th wedding anniversary. We always take our kids with us on our anniversary get away. It's such a blast.
2. Visit Paris and London with my great friend, Kelly. I have to each lunch on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and stand at the Globe Theater and cry.
3. Marsh Lake with Ry's whole family. If you know me at all, this is just a given. We do this rain or shine or illness.
4. Work out with my husband at the Clearfield Aquatic Center. We bought a family pass, good for a year. I am not working out to lose weight. That, my friends, will never happen. But to just go with him, to do something together. He's lost about 60 pounds and wants to keep feeling great. I am so proud of him!
5. I need to go get a massage at least twice a month.
6. I am going to go tan once a week. THis is not for my body, but my mind. If you know me, you'll know what I'm talking about.
7. I want to stay more connected to friends who have been there for me.
8. Add #4 to our family! I am very excited for this.
9. I get to direct "Peter Pan" or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up." I can't wait to fly~~

Amylee is 2!!

Or as she says it, "Toooooooowa." I can't believe she is so big. She is talking like crazy and still acting like she owns this house. She was a cuss before she ever exited my body. She quit growing at about 34 weeks. I knew from the beginning of the pregnancy something was wrong. But everyone just kept telling me "Every pregnancy is different." Well, I know that. But there is nothing mistaking a mother's intuition. Ryan's mom and sister believed me. I looked about six months pregnant the day I delivered. My dr decided on a Friday that we would start me the next Wed, which would have been the 20th (My birthday! I was so excited. I had always, always wanted a Christmas baby.) He said she needed to come out. She wasn't due until January 8th. But that Sunday I woke up and didn't feel her move all day. I tried everything I could to get her going and nothing. So I went to the hospital to just get on a moniter and make sure everything was okay. I even went up by myself, leaving Ry here. I thought all would be well. The nurses took one look at me and freaked out when I told them I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. I had lost about 20 pounds with her. So, they called my dr who said "We are doing this tonight." They let me try to have her vaginally, but she was in distress. So at 1:45 am the dr came in and said, let's have a baby. And at 2:04 she was here. Weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds 1 ounce. The tiniest thing I have ever seen in my life. She had a hard time at first, so she was in NICU for one week. We brought her home Christmas Day. The best present I have ever received. Below are some pictures so you can appreciate her tiny-ness. Up against Ry she is itty- bitty. The one of me holding her, you can see her in relation to my hand. And I have small hands. I think back on that and I am grateful for intiuitive women in my life and a skilled dr. And a husband who kept me calm while I was FREAKING out during the C-section. Oh my litte Lee-lee. I love her!

OOH MOUSE DROPPINGS!!

So Ann found mouse droppings under the Christmas tree skirt and around the front room. She was so disgusted that we might have brought a mouse in with the decorations(this might be from having mice in our other house, RyLeigh picked one up when she was like two, but other story). She immediately got out the vacuum and started cleaning up. I got home and she said,"You remember how I thought we might have a mouse in the house?" I said yeah. Then she went to the cupboard and pulled out the container of chocolate sprinkles. "Well this was left on the table and Amylee got into it."

That's right, she got into the sprinkles and must have been saving some under the Christmas tree.

I knew naming her Amylee was a bad idea!!