How To Have A Good Day

1. wake up around 7.  read books and watch maru videos in bed. 
 (search "maru the cat" on youtube. you will not be sorry.)
 
2. have an indoor tea party / picnic.  work on "cheers"ing when you drink and ignore babyzilla knocking over the china and gobbling up the kix.

3. if you're < 2 take a long nap between 10am-1pm.  if you're > 2 take advantage of the two hours overlap.  maybe even shower.  more importantly, take advantage of the one-on-one time with awake baby.  

4. be prepared. get organized.  hummus doesn't hurt. 

5.  collect sticks and pine cones. walk to the mail box.  look for airplanes.
or all of the above.

6. paint.  use the pine cones you collected. who really wants them hanging around anyway?  

and don't bother naming the colors over and over.  just make a mess. 

7.  take a destinationless train ride. 

(this step requires a grandmother who is willing to drop you off and pick you up a few towns over.) 
 
8. watch blues clues.
9. make a train with cardboard boxes.  < 2 hop in for a ride.  > 2 push it all over the house.

10. be exhausted.  < 2 act cranky for at least half an hour before bed.   > 2 remain calm, ignore the crankiness, and put the little people to sleep.

(some days are better than others.  today was great)

Halloween Happened.

Stella caught on to the whole "trick or treat" idea quickly.  Anton mostly went along for the ride.

The costume shoot was several weeks later.  Anton was starting into 4 weeks of respiratory infections on Halloween (see above).  He was a happier elephant in November. 

 I was planning a Goodnight, Gorilla themed Halloween.  It was Stella's first favorite book.  She talked about the keys constantly.  I was going to be Joe the Zookeeper and get Stella a set of keys to go with her Gymboree monkey.  Ta. Da.  But things got away from me.  

Funny that I can't remember what had me so busy in October. 

What Kind Of Mother Were You Going To Be?

Before Stella, I talked up what a minimalist mother I was going to be.  Who needs piles of toys?  My kids were going to collect sticks and play with spatulas and rolling pins.  If you want to get them gifts, books only please. 

But a swing is great for a fussy baby and a bouncer helps too.  Before long sitting in a Bumbo provides a different way to see the world.  Then all those excellent mothers I know swore by different baby products.  Then there was that steal on Craigslist and something we couldn't  pass up on the street ("Are they really throwing away that Hotwheels jeep?") and the gifts. 

And before I knew it we accumulated a lot of stuff.  Guess we'll just make a small fortune reselling it after our baby years are behind us. 

HACKED!

what the heck happened to our blog?  is someone playing a joke on me or did i accidentally make it look like this!?

i better get it back to my crisp, clean white background asap.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving isn't ALL about the food.  But pretty close. 

This year we broke tradition (Thanksgiving at my parents' house) and went out my uncle's new house palace.  Dinner was FANTASTIC.  Ohhhhh, the food.  Jason said this was the best meal he's ever had...or something like that.  Here's a quick run down so I can read this and reminisce in March.  

- french onion soup (my favorite) or italian wedding soup (tough choice)

- fried turkeys (glad I finally got to try one but I may prefer traditional)

- mashed potatoes

- sweet potatoes (not in the usual sugary sauce but still sweet.  loved them!)

- sausage stuffing (i just started to salivate)

- creamed spinach

- artichoke casserole

- peas with onion and prosciutto (you didn't know peas could be this good)

- homemade rolls

- corn casserole (paula deen knows what she's doing.  this dish change you life.)

I regret dressing Anton in his Christmas outfit and not in our pink/blue color scheme.  I also regret not doing my hair.

We stayed over a few days which made it feel like a vacation.  We lounged around, went for a walk on the beach and Stella played with their patient Boston Terriers.  It was lovely.

oh thankful day.

- stella was somewhat quiet during sacrament meeting.  when she wasn't quiet she was being pretty flippin' cute. 

- the babies napped at the same time.  i napped too.

- the weather was perfect so we went for a long walk with friends.

- noelle snuggled with anton.  he was in heaven. (check the picture. also check out her adorable two tone nails.  love.)

- we had grilled steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions for dinner, and big diet cokes with snikers bars for dessert (better combinations do not exist).

- i got a lot of help with the babies.

 and now i'm off to bed, what could be better than that?

Rock Your Title

1. Listed, random thought blog posts are almost always my favorites to read. 

2. I think I need this dress.

3. Noelle and Matt are teaching me how to use the internet better.  I realize that's lame.  Little things that I've maybe forgotten like opening multiple tabs while shopping, taking screen shots and uploading videos.

Turn down your volume, I wasn't thinking when I help the camera right by my face. I'm trying to teach her about privacy (a bathroom thing) and she now loves reading in privacy (adorable!). And yelling, "Shtop," is Stella's new thing. I prefer it to "No!"     

4. I sometimes forget that Stella's still a baby because she is extremely capable.  Like today I asked her to go upstairs and get me diapers for Anton.  And she did it.  But she's 19 months so really I shouldn't be sending her on errands around the house, especially ones that involve stairs.  (safety note: my mom supervised the stair part).   

5. My friend Halloween costume was so clever.  Can you tell what she is?  She was told me I was part of the *inspiration.

6.  Jason and I are talking about having a small Christmas for the kids.  But it is so hard.  I love too many brands...Melissa & Doug, B.Toys, Young Explorers, Manhattan Toys.  And so many of the toys are educational. That gets me EVERY time.  I want to get puzzles, art supplies, new books, toy cars, dress up clothes, puppets, and a pony!  Ok, I'm kidding about the pony but it's easy to get carried away. 

7. The filters on Instagram make it one of my favorite iPhone apps.  Do you have a favorite?

 

8.  I need a new blog title.  Clearly I wasn't thinking ahead when I titled it, "Stella's World."  Suggestions are welcome.

*A stressed out, young mother.