My Lake Cabin Memories

When I was growing up I was blessed. We had two lake cabins to go to and so our summers were filled with incredible water, sun, and family. It was wonderful. Moving to the Seattle area and far from my family and our lakes has been hard. It is hard that my kids aren't growing up around their family and also around water...well water that can actually go in because we can afford or know people who car afford beach access.

This past July we went to our cabins with both girls for the first time. I wasn't really sure how it was going to go because Ella hasn't been around a lot of water and Charlotte has been, well a baby I guess. Ella took to the water like a fish and didn't want to come out. I had visions of me and my cousin Sean standing in the water with our teeth chattering and my Grandma Rita laughing at us and telling us to come out and warm up. That was my child this time. It is crazy how life leads you full circle. My memories and love of the lake seem to have been bred into my child. She automatically loved her cousins and the water and the boat and pretty much everything. The kid that hates to get dirty was covered in grime by the time we went to bed and she loved every second of it. It is a magic place where time and problems melt away. You can sit for hours and not realize that you haven't done anything.

I want to share some photos of Ella at our lake cabin. The same lake cabin where I learned to swim, ate way too many s'mores, watched fireworks, got lost in the forest, stepped on a bees nest and survived, played way too much in the water, and learned how to make pancakes. It was where my Grandma and Grandpa taught me about slowing down and washing your feet before entering the cabin. Where we grew and learned as children, then teens, and now as adults. The process starts all over again with our children and friendships with family are created. It is special and real and magical and there is no place in the world quite like it.

The Magic of Sisters

When I found out I was having a girl both times I had several weeks of freaking out. You see, while I am a girl myself, I was scared of the bows, dolls, and later the make-up and dating and all of the other things that coming with girls! When I found out I was having TWO girls the fears only multiplied and I was worried that would hate each other, because let's be honest girls can be nasty! Now that I have been in the trenches for six months I can say that my fears were a little crazy. These two love each other! Like a love so deep that I kind of am sad I didn't have a sister! I know they are still little and the fights and hair pulling will come sooner than I know it, but there are these moments where I can see their little souls are so entangled with each other that they will have a bond that only they will understand.

I want to share this video that makes my heart melt. Charlotte was crying and Ella went and pushed her on the swing and sang her a song. Charlotte is so happy and content and Ella is deeply in love with her. When people ask me about whether they should have more than one child, I always tell them yes because of these moments. Moments where you see that there is a love that no one else can understand. A moment where you realize that they together are learning how to love and share and care for another person. There isn't anything else like sisters. There just isn't.

Being a Sports Fan in Washington State

I feel like this post has been coming for a while from me...what it is like to be a fan in the great state of Washington. I'm talking about those fans that every year pretend that our teams might actually win some games only to get halfway through the season and realize we don't have a chance so you start to talk about "next year". I am also talking about those of us that have to explain that we aren't all the weirdos that paint our faces and scream for 90 minutes or four quarters, but we are the fans that have a rotation of sports team gear that rotates with the season - baseball, soccer, college football, NFL, and for those nights when nothing else is on a hockey team that we would need a passport to actually see in person.

We are the fans that have been heartbroken and beaten down. We are the fans that have the low budget college team that the high budget college team on the other side of the state and that wear purple and bark at you for no reason say rude and demeaning things to even though they didn't actually get a degree there.

These are the fans I am about to talk about.

It is hard to get excited or even to be confident in your team's ability to win any game let alone a BIG game. We cheer and are happy at any success and fans that have teams that make it to championship games don't fully understand how being a fan like that feels like. I talk to Patriots or Yankees fans and they boast how their team is the best and it makes you shake your head because being a fan isn't about being a fan of the best it is about being a fan of what you love, where you heart is, despite winning or losing or making a total embarrassment of you (hello New Mexico Bowl 2013).

That is why when you are a fan of "your" team and they finally make it to the championship game you are cautiously excited. You want to jump and yell and scream, but you also don't want to do anything to cause some sort of catastrophic collapse that you have probably witnessed several times over (hello New Mexico Bowl 2013).

In this sense I would like to say HOORAY MY TEAM IS IN THE SUPERBOWL! and I would also like to say I HOPE WE WIN because I can't say we ARE going to win. That would be something that a Patriots fan would say and they aren't in the Superbowl this year...sorry folks.

If you are a fan of a team that people say isn't very good, or they make comments about how you suck for being a fan of a "sucky" team just politely smile and know how that person isn't a real fan because they don't get it. They don't get how you can support and love a sports team with a horrible losing record, to sit in frozen bleachers when your team is obviously not going to win, and still be proud to wear your colors the next day. The world needs all sorts of fans, but a sports fan in the great state of Washington is one that takes a little extra heart and a little extra cautious excitement.

Go SEAHAWKS!

Potty Training

I feel like this is the phase I have been dreading the most - Potty Training. I purposefully didn't get a puppy when we were looking at a dog because I didn't want to potty train. Needless to say you can't really skip over from baby to fully potty trained child so I knew it was coming.

How did I know? Well Ella loved "pretending" to go potty on her potty chair (which is a huge improvement from her "pretending" to barf in it to copy pregnant mommy), and she also had been telling us when she needed a new diaper. Go figure, my 27 month old was ready when I had a two month old that was also very needy.

We used the 3 Day Potty Training method that comes in an ebook. It was intense and the lady was kind of scary with her "rules" that she demanded you do. She sounds like a wacko to be honest, but it totally works! Ella basically controlled the whole process and now goes mostly without accidents. I say mostly because sometimes playing is WAY more fun that running the potty. Also she refuses to go on a big potty or in public. Hooray. But at home and at day care we are diaper free! Such a big girl!

I'm mostly proud of how fast she got it. In one day she figured it out and also figured out how to get her reward multiple times by only going a little bit and then heading back in for round two a few minutes later. Her parents may be suckers...

I highly recommend this method if you have a child that can talk, expresses when they need or have gone in their diaper, and that are awesome like my child!

Christmas as a family of four

It is the day after Christmas and we are EXHAUSTED! I took Ella to daycare today so she could get her wiggles out and mommy can recover.

Ella got a bike, which is what she asked for, and Charlotte got lots of clothes and baby toys, which I'm assuming if she could talk she would have also asked for!

When I was little Christmas was sort of a rush running from place to place, but since we live far away from family it is much more calm with the four of us. We woke up somewhat early thanks to Ella. We told her Santa was coming so when she woke up she ran to do the door thinking he was actually going to be here when she woke up! She got through all of her presents really quickly and then decided she was done so she went and played downstairs. Such a goof!

I made her an apron for Christmas so she can wear it when we bake since she loves to help with the "BIIIG mixer". I'm sure once the excitement of her bike wears off she will love it...I hope.

One of the traditions I started when my husband and I first moved far away was to make cinnamon rolls. My Grandma Rita would make cinnamon rolls for every family. She would wrap them in foil and you got to take them home and eat them on Christmas morning. They were a sticky bun with maple syrup, the recipe of which has been lost forever now. I opt for making cream cheese frosting, but the rolls are still part of our Christmas morning. The recipe is one I got from Mrs. Pringle-Jones in my High School home economics class. It isn't the recipe my Grandmother actually used, but it is really good and to be honest much easier than a normal bun recipe. I want to share it here and also document it so that just incase it happens to go missing I still have it (it is still on the purple printer paper from my notebook from that class...not super safe with a toddler in the house). So here are my Christmas Cinnamon Rolls:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cinnamon Rolls (Cool Rise Method)

2 3/4 - 3 1/4 cups Flour
1 package Yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm tap water

1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Stir well to blend. Then add butter.

Add tap water to ingredients in bowl. (water should be slightly warmer than room temperature)

Beat with electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape bowl occasionally.

Add 1/2 cup more flour. Beat with electric mixer at high speed for 1 minute or until thick and elastic.

Gradually stir in just enough of the remaining flour with wooden spoon to make soft dough which leaves sides of bowl. Turn out onto lightly floured board (or if using a KitchenAid mixer attach the dough hook)

Kneed 5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Let rest 20 minutes on board (or in bowl if using the mixer). Punch down dough.

Roll dough out into 9x12 inch rectangle.

Spread with 1/4 cup softened butter.

Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over butter.

Roll up tightly, like a jelly roll.

Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces (use thread or bread knife)

Place in greased pan.

Brush lightly with melted butter or margarine.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hours. When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and uncover.

Let stand for 10 minutes while oven preheats to 400 degrees.

Bake for 15-20  minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from oven. Rolls can be drizzled with powder sugar and milk icing or cream cheese frosting when slightly cooled.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are easy and extremely delicious. You can cut them smaller and get more small rolls or bigger to get larger rolls depending on your style. I go back and forth with size but just adjust the cooking time based on the size. You can tell if they are done but checking the middle rolls to make sure they aren't too gooey.

Sticky Rolls: Before putting the rolls in the greased pan, mix together brown sugar, maple syrup, and a tablespoon of corn starch until smooth. I usually do a cup of brown sugar and enough maple syrup to make it runny. Pour into the pan and place the rolls on top. Omit the melted butter and cook like normal. Let cool once out of the oven about 20 minutes and then turn out onto a platter. They will be VERY sticky but yummers!

Hooray for Christmas!

Tis' the Season!

This is Charlotte's first Christmas which means I have to go absolutely crazy buying "First Christmas" things like ornaments, dresses, pj's, and t-shirts. Assuming this is my last baby I just *HAVE* to have these things!

I also forced my adorable children to get photos taken at JC Penney when they very clearly would have much rather cried in the quiet and non-eye prying public. Oh well, a mother must do what a mother must do!

So I put them in their first of I'm sure many matching dresses and drove to our local mall and wheeled in a screaming one month old and fidgety toddler through the very breakable home crystal department and arrived red faced at the photo counter. I checked in and sat down to nurse my screaming child while the other one I convinced to run back and forth down the hallway "as fast as you can". People gave me looks of pity or annoyance depending on if they had/have children and I tried to keep it together. Yes there were tears in the bathroom when I changed the baby's diaper for the second time and my happy toddler declared extremely loud that she was going to "open all the doors".

Over an hour, two nursing sessions, and about one hundred "faster, faster, run faster"s we finally made it to the tiny little photo room. One child slept through the whole thing while the other decided it was best to stick her tongue out and smile with "all my teef".

Here is the "best" photo we got:

Yes, my baby has a Mohawk. Yes, Ella's hair is messy but hey they aren't screaming!

I declared it a very successful endeavor full of many memories so to reward my toddler (i.e. myself) we went to the Top Pot Donuts. Then we went home and both children passed out in the car and I sat and finished my coffee.

Tis' the season!

My First Day Out Numbered!

Yesterday was my first day alone with the girls as Brad went back to work. I was nervous and to be honest a little overwhelmed at the idea of not only being alone but being outnumbered!

Instead of giving a play by play I thought I would give a list of things that did and did not happen yesterday:

THINGS THAT DID HAPPEN
1. We woke up nice and early - okay early but nice, eh...
2. Breakfast was made and consumed by all
3. Tummy time
4. A shower
5. Kitchen and dishes were cleaned
6. A little too much Mickey Mouse was watched
7. Two Band-Aids we used
8. An icepack was also used
9. Four toddler tantrums
10. One time out
11. More diapers were changed than I would care to mention
12. Floor was swept, twice
13. Floor was mopped, by mommy and then also by Ella
14. Two waffles may have been consumed by one toddler for lunch
15. The phrase "gentle with baby!" became the phrase of the day

THINGS THAT DID NOT HAPPEN
1. Make up
2. Shower BEFORE noon
3. Dinner made
4. Laundry put away
5. Leaving the house during daylight hours
6. Tears from mommy - now the other two had plenty of tears for all three of us
7. Educational learning (ha!)
8. Toys picked up
9. Hair brushed and dried after late in the day shower
10. Lunch that did not include syrup
11. Christmas shopping started
12. Baby book started and photos ordered
13. Grocery shopping for Thanksgiving meal
14. Vacuuming or dusting
15. Mommy running out of the house because she went bonkers

So there you go. Some good things, some not so good things. The life of being a mom of two will take adjustment. So far it isn't too hard because one of us sleeps most of the day and can't move much. Thank goodness! The other one is a little crazy ball of energy that is having some mommy issues where she also wants to be rocked like baby and when baby cries she also feels the need to cry. Hooray!

I am on day #2 so we'll see how today goes...so far I did get a shower before noon so that is a win in my book!