Maybe this post explains...

...why my house looks the way it does? Or why I never feel I have enough time in the day? Or why I have that annoying little nervous tic?

Today, as I was leaving from McKenzies' swimming lessons I almost ran over four separate children. They were darting between parked cars, dashing in the road, chasing after balls, and who knows what else. No parents in sight. Mental note: next year, don't book swimming lessons in the same park and same week as the county arts festival.

We somehow make it home, and about the time I strip off McKenzies' swim suit, the door bell rings. I instruct McKenzie to wait in the bathroom for me, but of course, she's soon standing at the door, somersaulting in all her glory in front of my neighbor.

The neighbor leaves, and I tackle McKenzie and dunk her in the bath. In the meantime, the baby has found my juice and begins to bathe herself (and my carpet) in it. Apparantly, she's now tall enough to reach things from the end table.

I begin mopping up the mess, and then dunk baby in the tub. In the meantime, McKenzie had been brushing her hair, but somehow knocked over daddys cologne, where it breaks and spills all over the floor. Scent overload. Glass everywhere! Kenzie gets banned to her room (and safety) and baby gets locked in her crib where she wails. And wails. AND WAILS!

The glass finally gets cleaned up. No cuts! But, for some reason I don't think anything will ever smell the same again. Baby is rescued from the crib, and I ask McKenzie to pick out a book for us to read.

Reading time/cuddle time begins but Alli can't give up her independance long enough to finish the story - she's set free to crawl around the living room.

Book is finished, toddler is happy, and where is baby? BAH! Beginning to eat the check the neighbor just dropped off. Did I mention I just found out she was tall enough to reach the end table!?!

A work in progress...

Thought I'd fallen off the face of the Earth, did ya? Nope! I was just buried up to my neck in sand and dirt and SOD! I'm SO EXCITED!

We built this house almost SEVEN years ago, and had starry eyed fantasies about how easy it would be to finish the back yard. We had no clue the amount of work and the money we would sink into it! But, we made huge improvements this year. (Mind you, all of this dirt is left after we had TWENTY TONS of sand hauled away!)

BEFORE:

DURING:

We were so lucky and incredibly grateful to have so many people help us out! My family was there, Cris' dad and some friendly neighbors! Thanks for putting in the hard work, everyone!

I think we picked the hottest day of the year so far for the work. There was a little bit of sunburn, lots of sweat, and sore muscles the next day. Thanks for helping put this "vision" into reality!

AFTER:

I have some grand ideas for filling the planters with lush plants, shading the yard with leafy trees and growing moss between all the rocks... but my husband assures me I've spent enough this week! It's taking every ounce of self control I can muster to resist maxing out the credit cards at the nursery. It's that feeling of being so close!

We still need to put in a few cement pads, acquire some patio furniture and some lighting, then is Bar-B-Que time! Wahoo!

Two Thirds of a Year

Allison is officially eight months old. It's been a hard milestone for me to swallow. For some reason 8 months seems incredibly close to a full year. Where did the time go?!

We're also under some big adjustments in our house because she is now officially mobile! She's been rolling around the house for several weeks, then she learned to sit up from laying down, and now she's officially crawling! I can't believe it! She's also pulling up to stand and is pretty good on her legs, so I won't be surprised if walking isn't too far off. It's exciting and fun... but I'm not looking forward to the bumps and bruises that her new freedom will inevitably bring.

She's a good little eater! She likes oatmeal and veggies, but doesn't usually care much for the fruits or juices. However, most of the time she prefers to eat whatever the family is having. She has an uncanny knack of identifying dinner time, and has a way of guaranteeing herself a spot on my lap.

She still hasn't mastered sleeping through the night, which is my only complaint. However, it's not horrible - she wakes up around 2am to eat, and goes right back to sleep. I might also have to get up once or twice to help her find a binkie.

She's learned to give kisses, but doles them out stingily - saving the majority of them for Grandma. She claps, sometimes waves bye-bye and mimics just about every sound - including "no, no, no" when we have to take something away from her. My favorite sound is when she scrunches her face up until her nose wrinkles and she snorts over and over again! Too cute!

This afternoon my mom was over helping me paint the hallway in our home. Allison was sitting on the floor of her room, where she could still see us, playing with some toys. She grabbed her baby brush, and rubbed it up and down on the door over and over again, all while looking so proud of herself! I swear she was trying to paint, too!

She's a super happy, easy going baby (unless you don't feed her fast enough) that always has a smile on her face. We love her so much and can't wait to see her next set of tricks. Even if right now I'm remembering when she was a newborn who nuzzled under my chin and would fall asleep on my chest. I miss those quiet cuddles, but, I love this stage too - who wouldn't want a full beam smile on a bouncy baby SO excited just to see ME every morning!

Love you, babe!

Imaculate Degeneration and Bird Friendly Beans

While we spent some time at the cabin, we went to check out Midway, which is a really cute little town! We ordered gourmet pizza and ate at an outdoor cafe - where my dad ordered organic, bird friendly, grown in the shade, environmentally suitable coffee. How do I know the coffee was that good? The coffee cup told us! What is bird friendly coffee, anyway?!

Afterwards, we toured a really cute boutique in a barn. While we wandered through, McKenzie discreetly passed some really bad gas. My mom asked her about it, and McKenzie said, "It's just my breath, it's okay!" We laughed so hard, we had tears running down our cheeks!

Grandma Dona had spent the weekend with us, too, and while I was driving home she was telling me about her macular degeneration. However, she had a slip of the tongue and called it "immaculate degeneration" a few times. I've heard of immaculate conception, but I'm really not quite sure how that effects her eyes. Hmm...

Grandma also had a few colorful conversations with me, that included the word "doggy style" and and a few choice parts of anatomy, that I am electing not to blog about. It was entertaining and uncomfortable all in one. Either way, I've officially decided that McKenzie is genetically prone to her "Kenzie-isms" thanks much to Grandma Dona. And if this weekend was any indication, I think our conversations with my daughter are only going to get more colorful!

Celebrity Look-a-Like

I totally stole this from Kristy's blog; thought it looked fun!



I'm not sure what to think about looking like Christian Slater. Hmmmm....