Weekend Fun

I had decided for my birthday that I wanted to go to the hibachi grill. Brian and I really wanted to see the girls experience the hibachi so we took them there on Friday night. It was actually pretty adorable. Brian was super smart and was worried about their reaction to the fire and (as usual)  he was right, they were terrified at first (but soon loved it). When our 'table' went up in flames Kate's little lip stuck WAY out and she just couldn't seem to get it pulled back in! She was in a highchair next to me but she was leaned all the way over trying to hide her face in my shoulder. It was so cute but it didn't take long for her to love it, she kept a very close eye on that chef though!

Yesterday we spent the day at IKEA (a special birthday surprise). We just got a few things but it was actually a really good trip because a) we finally reached a few decisions on how we want to decorate some areas and b) the girls were ridiculously good. Kate isn't tall enough to go into the childcare area so both girls stayed with us and for 2 hours giggled together and shopped. Kendall kept picking out things for Kate, "This would be a good bookshelf for Kate's room, can we get it for her?"

And finally, my much anticipated (ha) to-do list. This isn't for today but really what I want to accomplish this week. I'm thinking about treating myself to a productive day of.... scrapbooking, I'm out of the habit and think it would be a great way to start off the next decade of my life. So this is the list of things I want to do on top of the regular house cleaning and mainly consists of organizing areas that have been bothering me.

• Organize bar drawer
• Post office (ranks on my list of fun things right next to root canal)
• Order Valentines
• Organize recipe binder
• Basement--getting the play area put back together now that we can put the carpet back down (although this will be messed up again very soon because we're having the carpet removed and the whole thing painted)
• Call painter/handyman (see above)
• Organize spice cabinet--exciting I tell you
• Research Week in the Life and 365 Project Documentation---this might be the only one that gets done today
• Plan art activities for the girls
• Clean mudroom--Check this off the list, we bought a shoe rack and mat at IKEA and I had to clean the room before I would put them out so this happened last night
• Kendall's bookshelf--needs tackling about once a month, the girl has a LOT of books and it gets  disheveled looking quickly.
• Call Goddard preschool to observe

There is also a rough meal plan on the right side, a short list of blog post ideas, the library book I want to pick up and the paint color we choose for said basement project.

Right Now

A snapshot into right now. What the photo doesn't capture is the sound of the girls playing in the basement (lots of giggles and an unidentified banging noise??). 

My cousin did an awesome blog post this morning that consisted of her (crazy ambitious--for me at least) to-do list. I LOVED it, I loved seeing that part of her, maybe because I love lists but mostly because I just love to see how other women work and what they do throughout the day. It left me wanting more, I have a list of people (in my head at least) that I want to peek into their to-do list. I'll include my own sometime soon.

I think it would be an fun scrapbook page to have a bunch of "right now" snapshots from various days. I've added a "Right Now" label so I can find them easily in the future. Wouldn't you love to have a snapshot of your mom's life 30 years ago. I imagine many of them included to-do lists and recipes but maybe not the laptop.

30 While 30

I have two days to finish my 30 while 30 list. I need 9 more items to complete it. Here is what I have so far:

1. Visit a local art museum

2. Explore Pittsburgh

3. Expand garden

4. Volunteer

5. Track spending

6. Have a baby

7. Visit Niagra Falls

8. Document a “Week in the Life” before 3^rd baby is born

9. Find a gym class to commit to

10.  Send someone a care package

11.  Introduce kids to a variety of art media in fun projects

12. Find a local Bible study  

13. Hang some stuff on the walls

14. Freeze a few meals once a month

15.  Drastically reduce or omit corn syrup from families diet.

16.  Family game night

17.  Take a tennis lesson

18.  Make jelly or jam

19. 30 random acts of kindness

20. Keep car clean.

21.  Take a picture a day.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

Got any suggestions for me? I had to delete a few once I found out I was pregnant I had snow ski and water ski both on there but those are gone now.

Mish Mash

We have a goal of "finishing" our formal living room this month. Considering it's the 22nd I think we're in trouble. Instead I can't stop looking at kid's rooms. Like this for instance

photo source here

Heading to the library this afternoon to get this book. I think I can do five minutes and I hear there is some kind of avocado bread in this book, yum.

I started this pregnancy at a higher weight then I would like to have. I weighed myself this morning and I have lost a pound since my last appointment. It's common in the first trimester to loose weight but the books say from this point forward it's about 1 pound a week, yikes. Considering I picked up the ingredients to make this I think one pound a week wont be a problem.

Find the recipe here.

Slow Down

My sweet sweet ladies had me laughing out loud this morning in the car. We were talking about how some people go to college and how that is a big kid school and how those kids stay away from home during that time. Kendall was talking about how she was going to go there and we discussed the different kind of things that she could study. And then this conversation followed:
Kendall: "But you're going to have to drive me there"
Me:  "Actually you'll be big enough to drive then so you will drive yourself"
Kendall after only a brief pause: "But I wont know where to turn"
I love that she isn't at all concerned about driving, I'm sure that looks easy, she is just worried about knowing where to turn!

And then Kate joined in and the girls decided that they wanted to be in the same classes and how Kendall would drive and Kate would sit in the passenger seat. Kate declared that she would turn on the music and Kendall had to correct her to let her know that Kendall would turn ON the music and Kate could turn it down. I started getting so sentimental because 1) because I know this will happen before we know it and 2) I am so happy that they have each other and that they are so close in age. They are very different but they have been playing together so well and they love each other so much.

When I was pregnant with Kate (and being pregnant now) I got SO irritated that people assumed I would want a boy. With Kate it was quite the opposite, I wanted another girl just because I knew the bond I shared with my sisters was something I wanted Kendall to experience. With this pregnancy I'm completely fine either way. It would be fun to have a boy but it would also be great to have three sisters that can grow up together. I've bought a few boy clothes and a few girl clothes (and saved all the receipts, ha). I always grit my teeth because everyone has to make a comment about maybe this one will be a boy, or we're 'trying for a boy'. Grrrrrrr.

Yesterday I had an ugly run in with some morning sickness, my first in the history of all pregnancies. I was okay afterwards and had some breakfast but then started feeling so sick again. I cancelled our dinner guests for the evening, I was spending a good portion of the morning on the couch and would not feel up to cleaning and getting ingredients for that. However, I had already promised the girls that we would have a special date that afternoon.

You see we used to have a huge problem with bed time. Crazy bedtime dramatics that were so stressful and then ridiculously early wake up times, finally we came up with a system that works for us. We implemented the sticker on a chart system and they only get the sticker under two conditions. Once mommy/daddy leave the room they do not call us back in there (then or in the middle of the night--of course nightmares or being sick didn't count against them) AND in the morning they don't call for us until a designated time. We bought each of the girls alarm clocks and when the music comes on they can get out of their bed to play in their room and when the alarm comes on they can come wake us up. Nights are so peaceful now! We tuck them in and walk out and don't hear a single peep, no asking for water, no whining just peace. Their sticker charts had space for a LOT of stickers and we were sticklers for the rules, if they came in our room in the morning asking for random things before the alarm went on they didn't get one. Occassionaly we would offer up extra stickers for very good behavior (it isn't uncommon now for the girls to keep playing in their room after the alarm goes off!) It was finally FULL yesterday so I picked the girls up a little early from school (despite my rolling stomach) and took them to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs we even had snacks, popcorn and a drink. Then we walked next door to Target and each girl got to pick out a prize. Kendall choose a tiny baby doll with pacifier and she has been talking so SWEETLY to it! Kate chose a golden globe Barbie complete with award, golden purse and shoes. Fancy.

I LOVE this picture of Kendall sitting like such a little lady during the movie.

Here she is toting her little bundle around.

 Here is Kate with her now naked Barbie. Afterwards we made our favorite dinner. Homemade pizzas, we make the dough and the sauce and the girls add their own toppings. Like I said I didn't get ingredients today so our toppings were a little limited.

Two of My Favorite Colors Today

Today is a good day for yellow and black. This little bumble bee has been buzzing around today. Here she is quietly studying the IKEA catalog.

Now we've made it home from a Sam's run, the girls are both napping and I'm sitting down with this yumminess. I cut up a big 'ol pineapple and tossed in some blackberries. So good!

I'm always amazed by how much these monkeys can eat at breakfast. Note: they are dressed the same. I picked out Kate's clothes and then Kendall picked out her own.

Invitation

I've decided to continue the blog, however it is going to be by invitation only. If you would like to be invited please send your email address to ashley.paperchick@gmail.com  The blog will remain as is for the next few days to ensure all readers receive this message but after that you will be required to 'log in' to read.

I will continue to blog about the kids but will also include craft projects that we do, house decorating, and recipes. I started the blog as a way to document our days and those things are all very much a part of who we are. I love to look through my mom's old cookbooks to see what she was making while she was a young mom and I love to see pictures in our photo books that give glimpses into who my parents were and what they loved when they were the age I am now (and laugh at their hair styles). I want to have that recorded for my girls. One day, when they have babies of their own, they will be able to look back on things they did, but also get to know their parents at a different age and to see what they were passionate about. So from this point forward I will not feel guilty for posting non-Kendall and Kate related posts. I want this blog to be as much for them as it is about them.

Reached a Fork

I'm unsure on if I want to continue blogging or not. Various reasons, various concerns...different possible solutions but just unsure on how I want to handle it. What to do, what to do, help me out here...I want to know who YOU are. Let's see who's out there reading this old site. Who are you, how did you find it and what would you like to see here?