For Marin

1. What time did you wake up this morning? about 7:30

2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds--love the sparkle

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Revenge of the Sith

4. What is your favorite TV show? Mythbusters or Iron Chef America

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? just enough milk to wash down a multi-vitamin, when I remember

6. What is your middle name? legally: Ashford

Hey, where is number #7?! (I'll insert one, courtesy of Blogger: You've been invited to a fancy ball but all you have to wear is an orange wooly jumper. What shoes do you wear?) The $2million diamond-encrusted strappy 6-inch heels--duh.

8. What food do you dislike? anything with cream cheese

9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Rick & Sherry's Wedding

10. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Echo

11. Favorite sandwich? BLT, all the way

12. What characteristic do you despise? About myself? The tendency to snap at people

13. Favorite item of clothing? my new dress that matches Callie's (sorry, girl, it was just too cute)

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you
go? Spain

15. What color is your bathroom? Cheap-Landlord White

16. Favorite brand of clothing? Carter's--how sad is that?

17. Where would you retire to? anywhere? a mid-size European village

18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 25th--Elena was a baby and my whole family came over

19. Favorite sport to watch? live: baseball, tv: soccer

20. Farthest place you are sending this? everywhere and nowhere, I guess

21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? me?

22. Person you expect to send it back first? me?

23. Favorite saying? "Mena getting married, like Uncle Rick and Aunt Sherry does!"

24. When is your birthday? Oct 29

25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Still night, but I'm starting to enjoy the 7:30 Wakeup Cry

26. What is your shoe size? 7.5-8 depending on the shoe

27. Pets? a 16 lb black bobtail cat

28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Elena's a "preschooler," according to Babycenter

29. What did you want to be when you were little? a mom

30. How are you today? tired, but good--play group was today and it's always good to get out and see friends

31. What is your favorite candy? dark chocolate, especially with almonds

32. What is your favorite flower? blush or fire-and-ice roses

33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 13th--Mommy Day

34. What church do you attend? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

35. What is your full name? **** **** ******* ******

36. What are you listening to right now? the thump of the neighbor's radio

37. What was the last thing you ate? half a granola bar that Elena insisted I eat for her

38. Do you wish on stars? no, but I love sit and stare up at the sky

39. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? seafoam green

40. How is the weather right now? patchy clouds and sunshine, and nice and warm

41. Last person you spoke to on the phone? a telemarketer asking for Jonathan

42. Do you like the person who sent this to you? definitely

43. Favorite soft drink? Sprite

44. Favorite restaurant? Olive Garden

44. Hair color? Brown

45. Siblings? five brothers

46. Favorite day of the year? Valentine's Day--Jonathan always cooks

47. What was your favorite toy as a child? it's a toss-up between sit'n'spin, big wheels, and those turtle racers (seats with handlebars, wiggle the handlebars to go)

48. Summer or winter? either--they both have their advantages

49. Hugs or kisses? hugs

50. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate!

51. Do you want your friends to email you back? sure, but since it's not an email...

52. When was the last time you cried? a week or so ago, I'd yelled at Elena for something stupid and felt horrible about it afterward

53. What is under your bed? several pairs of shoes and a couple boxes with winter clothes
.
54. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Marin

55. What did you do last night? went to the grocery store all by myself

56. Favorite smell? fresh-cut grass on a cool summer breeze

57. What are you afraid of? needles and falling

58. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? kettle corn

59. How many keys on your key ring? 6 (if you include the 2 luggage keys)

60. How many years at your current job? 2 1/2 years being a Mom

61. Favorite day of the week? Wednesdays--play group and date night

62. How many towns have you lived in? 3--here, San Jose CA, and Nauvoo IL

63. Do you make friends easily? no--I'm social and chatty, but still feel isolated and awkward

64. What are you most looking forward to? moving right next to Town Lake (cross your fingers)

Half-Way

Happy Half-Birthday to Elena! She's officially 2 1/2 today--that's halfway to Sunbeam age at 3, and also halfway to Kindergarten age at 5. How scary is that? My baby girl is getting so big, that it's a sweet reminder of how young she really is when she needs her Mommy in a crisis. Last night she went to sleep just fine but then woke up crying every half hour from 9 until midnight. Finally I decided I just had to sit up with her since she'd only sleep curled up on someone's shoulder. I tried to sleep, but I have to say that butterfly chairs are the most shockingly uncomfortable pieces of furniture when you've got a sleeping toddler on you. Somewhere around 2:30am Elena was able to settle down and I could find my own bed. Because of that, today's pretty low-key.

I guess I'm not that different from Elena. I was *that* close to calling my own Mom, last night. So, to expand on my tradition of calling my Mom on my own birthday to thank her for all she's done for me, I'd like to say Thanks Mom for being there for me when I've needed you the most. I hope I'm never too old for one of your hugs to make me feel better.

New Teeth

Joseph is up to four teeth, now! The fourth one finally poked through on Saturday (at Rick and Sherry's open house) so he's now officially all set to bite his Kix in half before chewing. If you hadn't heard about the third, it came in the Thursday of spring break, just before he spent the rest of the day at Aunt Regan's house.

Too Much Helping?

Elena's been a great helper, the last few days, and I've made a point of complimenting her for it. She's even started thinking ahead, helping before I ask--taking her cereal bowl to the sink after breakfast, bringing me wipes at diaper changes, and so much more. She's even started monitoring Joseph by cleaning up toys he shouldn't play with and telling me where he is when he decides to go exploring. She knows that he's not supposed to play with the DVD player, either. (He wants to see the movies, when we watch them, and the best way to get closer to the action is to pull up on the TV stand. That brings the DVD buttons right to chest height--perfect for poking and fiddling with.) So, today, Elena wanted to help Mommy by heading off disaster before it arrived. I sat there, absolutely shocked to see Elena pick up Joseph, carry him across the room then drop him on his rear. Joseph thought it was hilarious. I'm still not sure what to do with this turn of events.

Self-Service Meal

We were having broccoli alfredo for lunch, yesterday, and Joseph got to have some, too, for his very first Real Food. He even got to feed it to himself, which he thought was a huge thrill.

A Few Days Off

Marin has been in town the last week and we finally found time to hang out, Tuesday night. I'd never realized how much fun Dance Dance Revolution was. So, of course we were up late that night. Then Jonathan and I went to San Antonio Wednesday morning (Elena and Joseph played with Abigail and Blaine at "Auntie" Jessica's house). It's been almost almost a year since we've carved out some temple time (I was 7 months pregnant and all the temple ladies were fluttering around me making sure I'd be OK) and even though I had my own appointment for Thursday evening, Jonathan wanted to come too and Wednesdays are his day off. It was fantastic! The whole city was fogged over and, while the sound of traffic was muffled, you couldn't see anything but yourself and the temple. It was so quiet and serene. Thursday night was just for me, though. Brave Regan took in the kids while Jonathan went to work, and I drove back down to San Antonio to be by myself for a bit. I turned off the radio and let my thoughts roam. I sorted through everything I have to deal with every day. Best of all, I didn't have to be chef, maid, nurse, nanny, referee or security blanket for 5 straight hours. The one thing I miss the very most about when I was working was that I could leave every one of my cares and troubles in my locker and just be me for the duration of my shift. Not having that release has been rough on me, the last six months, and this was the first time I've found a way to replace that feeling. Now if only I can get a sitter that's willing to take us a second time...

A Day in the Park

The sky was blue, the breeze was blowing, it wasn't yet blazing hot, so we decided to go to the park. And if you're going to spend half the day at the park, you *have to* go to the big one. Here we are at Zilker, down by the creek, just below the pool. Normally, there's ducks, but half the city apparently had the same idea about enjoying the sunshine, so the ducks played least-in-sight. There were tons of dogs, though, and Elena was very brave and went wading in the creek. She even dunked herself. I guess she thought swimming looked so easy when everyone else was doing it.


After a quick costume change (I knew we were going down by the ducks and planned ahead) we headed up to the playground. Elena ran all over the playscape, up ladders and steps, then down each and every one of the slides. Here, she's stuffing rocks through the holes in the sides of the platforms.


Joseph chilled in the stroller with a bottle and watched the clouds and birds.


There was a clown next to the playground making balloon animals, and Elena asked for a frog.


She'd also asked to bring her tricycle with us, and she rode it from the car to the playground and back again when we were ready to go home.


It was a great day!

Let The Babies Continue!

Lacking only a few minutes to midnight (and that's before the time change, which would make it 1am) we stumbled in the door Saturday night to discover a phone call on our answering machine. Jonathan's sister, Cynthia, had called and wanted us to call her back. It would have to wait until the morning, though, because we were nearly falling over where we stood. Upon further (coherent) reflection, Sunday morning, I realized something very important. Jonathan's family generally doesn't call each other just for the fun of it. That meant that Cynthia's call could mean only one of about three things--someone was in the hospital (but the voice tone was all wrong for that), they were inviting us to Easter Dinner (but that was a month away), or she was pregnant. Church times overlapped so we didn't get to talk to her until much later, but I was right. Cynthia's having a baby!!! She's twelve weeks now, so that puts her in mid-September. We are totally thrilled for them. I'm sure Elena will be really excited to get a baby cousin for her third birthday. Yea babies!

Mawage... Is What Bwings Us... Togethuh... Today

We'd like to welcome Aunt Sherry to the family and tell her how excited we all are to have her with us.

So here's our run-down...

Elena, Joseph and I picked up Jonathan at school early Friday afternoon and headed up to Fort Worth for the night-before dinner and gathering. We got to meet Sherry's family and had a lot of fun. The next morning, we went to the Dallas temple for the wedding. It was beautiful! Sherry was radiant, Rick looked a bit giddy, nearly everyone was tearing up.


Once outside for pictures, all sorts of fun things happened.

We caught Paige munching sticks.


Elena started splashing in the fountain (for those of you who remember, hark back to Michael doing the exact same thing--almost the same pose--at Nate and Kim's wedding).


We stopped for a family portrait.


After just a few pictures, we went to Abuelo's for lunch. Elena flitted from seat to seat to seat, not really eating. Joseph got to try out refried beans, spanish rice and guacamole.


Elena and Paige sat on the step at the edge of our corner of the restaurant.


At the reception, Rick and Sherry both reveled in having so much family near. Here's Rick and his nephews.


The music was infectious and you couldn't help but dance.


Elena discovered the table set aside for coloring, but the edges were all full.


All in all, we had a blast. Maybe we didn't get to spend enough time with everyone (weddings can be hectic like that) but it was certainly a lot of fun.

I'm Bushed

It's been a busy, busy day. We started by taking Daddy to school, then it was on to Joseph's checkup at the pediatrictian--he's 9 months! (and a week--almost). Joseph is 27 inches tall and weighs in at 15 lbs 13.5 oz. He's still pretty petite, but getting bigger. We got out of the doctor's office just in time to meet our friends at the park for this week's play group. I was thrilled to see ten moms there since last week it was just me and Tiffany. It's an older park, too, so it was kind of fun for us to see everyone playing on the sort of equipment we grew up on--a merry-go-round, see-saws, a jungle gym, a tall metal slide, those horses on the giant springs and all the other stuff you never see anymore. Elena had a blast on the slide. We played for two hours, ate some snacks we'd brought along, then headed off when Joseph and Elena both started looking a bit tired. We stopped in at Barnes & Noble to look at First Word type books in Spanish, then both both kids fell asleep in the car. Too stinkin' bad I need to pick Jonathan back up--that would have made for an awesome nap for me, too, if I'd gone home right then. Ah, well. Once we got home and had a larger snack/small lunch, Elena pulled out her colors for a bit of art. Not on the paper, though, you'll notice.



Very cute. You've got to love such determined creativity. I guess the car nap got her in the mood, though, because she decided to "go night-night" (which almost never involves actual sleeping) on top of the toy box.


We've still got plenty left to do tonight, but at least we can slow down and rest for a bit.

Yarn For a Dead Chicken

It was a very surreal moment: "Which one of these looks more like raw chicken?" I ask the lady in the yarn area at my Hobby Lobby. She replies, as I knew she would, that the slightly fuzzy boucle did, though the cotton would get the smooth skin texture I wanted. Blast.

Perhaps I should back up and explain.

I found a pattern online for a baby hat that looks like a whole raw chicken. Think Joey from Friends with that turkey on his head. The pattern calls for cotton baby yarn, but that company doesn't make baby yarn anymore, and their regular cotton yarn doesn't come in the color I want. Neither does anyone else's, either. How often do you have a need for yarn the exact color of a raw chicken, anyway? I got both, though, and I'll make a hat with each to see which one I like better.

Catching Up

We' re back! The computer has been fixed and updated, but so much has happened in the last week. First of all, I'd ordered a new Macbook (my first call from Visa Fraud Alert!) for Jonathan so that he could write papers in the library at school. That showed up on Tuesday and we've been having a blast playing with it ever since. That's Elena playing her faviorite Build-a-Bear game.


I also decided to start showing Elena how to spell her name. She loves singing the ABC song and I showed her all the letters on our whiteboard, then wrote her name out. She wanted to try it too, and this was the result. That's the "a" on top of the "n." Still, a pretty good job for her first try.


Joseph has been enjoying the newly cleaned floor and hall--maybe a little more than he ought to. I wanted to see how he'd do on the stairs, but he was a little too tired to really give it a go. Our biggest trouble now is that he zooms over to the dinning area and eats cheerios that fell on the floor at breakfast.


As for the Days Not Pictured, the kids and I went to the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday, and visited Gwamma and Popa afterward to play with the cats and get the computer fixed. All four of us went to CROP Walk on Saturday. It was cold and blustery but the pancakes helped and the music was really fun (go Rick!). Poor Joseph had the hardest time falling asleep and while the blanket covered most of him, his chin got a bit sun-and-wind burned during his nap.