boo!

Ellie has been in at least 5 different costumes today (i'm a mean mom and wouldn't let her wear her Alice dress until tonight. c'mon folks, she's three. and her Alice dress is all white in front. that's just a recipe for disaster). lucky for me, Ellie thought it was awesome. and she thought it was triple awesome that she could eat candy all day long. it was practically the best day of her life.

All in all, it was a super fun day- lots of fun with friends, having dinner with family, and of course trick-or-treating.

 

Alice loved the candy bowl.
who doesn't?

off with his head!

 trick-or-treating was a blast.
Ellie-Alice squealed from house to house in excitement.
i love seeing her so happy.
and little Alice-Cheshire Cat purred right at her heels.

they were pretty stoked with the spoils.

and now we're all in a sugar coma.

man it's way more tiring than i remember.

whew.

but since it's halloween, i wanted to leave you with one last little halloween treat:



hope your day has been extra spooky!

xoxo

right now..

right now we have 17 mini pumpkins scattered around our house. Ellie and Alice are obsessed with mini pumpkins and almost always have one in their hands.

right now i should be planning sharing time for tomorrow.

right now i have 189 unread posts in my blogger. and like a bajillion emails to go through.

right now my kitchen table looks like this:

right now i feel like an Olympian that  i  my MIL and some incredible friends finished those blasted 28 felt pages in time for our exchange this morning.

right now i never want to look at felt again.

but right now, i'm so excited by how adorable the felt pages by everyone turned out. some people are so crafty and creative. once i have them all put together maybe i'll do a feature post. but then again, i've still never done a post about our yard or Alice's birthday (or her room, now that i'm thinking of it), so a feature post is a weak promise to make.

right now i'm loving Halloween-October Season. mostly because i love that i get to have an excuse to let the girls dress up all day every day and i'm not viewed as the "weird mom," but rather the fun one. 

right now i'm loving our trunk or treat pictures from last night- unfortunately i did not get any good individual pictures of us, ....but i will remedy that come Monday/trick-or-treating. it was a super fun family ensemble to do this year.

right now i am eating a huge bowl of chili thanks to an abundance of leftovers that i made for last night. i will be eating chili for a month.

right now i finished that bowl of chili (i took a little break...didn't want to drip on the computer) and am now eating yet another Reese's peanut butter cup. Halloween candy is going to be the death of me and my figure.

right now i'm freaking out trying to put together outfits for family pictures next Friday. i mean really, this shouldn't be so hard. but for me it is. because i am indecisive -- and i really want us to look cute.

right now i am so freaking excited because my sister in law is about to have a baby, and they just changed their thanksgiving plans to go to Southern Cal (instead of their previous plan which included my parents/sister going to Texas for Thanksgiving, and us staying here)- which means we get to go to Southern Cal, i get to see my fam again sooner than i expected, and i get to meet my new niece and snuggle her in less than a month.

right now i want to go back to bed. and it's only 3:00 pm. but staying up till 2 am and 3 am the last three or four nights is seriously making me wonky.

right now it's amazingly silent in my house (though it looks like a war-zone around here) and so i think i just might go back to bed.

sharing time can wait, right?

xoxo

procrastinating felt.

right now i'm laying on the couch listening to Ellie laugh while M throws her beloved stuffed dogs (the ones that sleep with her in her bed every night- and have since...forever) up onto the ceiling fan so that he can turn it on and watch them fly. dads really are just more fun than us worn out moms. because right now i want to go in there and say "quit the shenanigans, you two- it's past your bed-time!! lights out!" but that makes me feel elderly, so i'll just sit here with my feet cozied up on the couch in my new adorable Toms (courtesy of adorable sister) and let my peeps be happy a little longer.

life has recently become so full and busy for me and our little family. busy = good- but also tiring. so tiring. and so i'm taking a mini-break on my little cozy yellow couch. a break to let some of my wild thoughts free.

one of the big life-changes is that i got called to be the Primary President in my ward (feel free to insert gasp here...like unto the congregational gasp that happened when they made the announcement in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday). (for those not-LDS readers out there- this just means that i, along with three other women, are in charge of running the child organization in our church group). i have gone through a whirlwind of emotions since i got called. first and foremost, i feel inadequate. i'm only 26 years old. i know that experience = knowledge and wisdom, and i just have very little of either of those things. i am so lucky to have some wonderful counselors and secretary, 2 of which have been the primary president before. but i honestly feel like a little duckling trying to lead the ducks- it is ridiculous thinking of a duckling leading a duck- but that's how it feels. i just know there are far more experienced, capable women out there- and am scared to make mistakes.

having said all of that, i have been overwhelmed by the love i have felt from Heavenly Father. i feel like He truly knows me and understands the chaos that is my life sometimes- and will help me get through it- and make peace out of this chaos...somehow. and for now, i find sure peace knowing that I love Him, and i love children, and hopefully those two things will be on my side. i know many of you wonderful women have served and are serving in callings like these- and that inspires me! and of course, i'm so excited for all of the things that these children will teach me- i can't wait to surround myself with their sticky hands and chatter-box voices- and their pure faith and hearts. i just love kids so much.

and so that's my new life in the Primary.

before i knew about this calling, i had signed up for this Quiet Book Co-op- basically it was this group if ladies that were going to make X number of a designated gospel-topic-felt page, and we'd all swap. I'm not sure when or how this ever appealed to me- because i hardly sew, and i am barely crafty. but the thought of having an adorable homemade book like those masterpieces floating around on pinterest was kind of exciting. so i signed up.

birthdays happened. family came into town. world went crazy with new calling. felt book = last priority.

and now, my pages (28 of them! 28!!!!) are due on Saturday and i feel like a tenth grader who has procrastinated her end of semester project that counts for 97.3% of her grade.

I'm about to flunk.

guys why did i do this to myself?

ugh. thank goodness for awesome friends who will help you for hours and hours sewing snaps and cutting felt. and even for a husband who (bless his heart) did his best to cut some deformed fruit. both acts of true love.

but the truth is, i don't know if i'll ever be able to look at or touch felt again.

and yet it calls to me. because i'm not finished yet. and wonder if i ever will be.

hey, at least X factor is on!
i've always been a sucker for reality TV.
and i really like Astro the rapper and Drew- but i've also always been a sucker for the teen-boppers.

ok, now i'm just procrastinating again. it's just so easy to do when felt is involved.

xoxo

miss one-derful.

yeah, it's official. i stink at being a bloggaholic.
maybe it's the fact that my one-year-old is a walking godzilla.
maybe it's the fact that every time i turn my head or start doing something that requires both of my eyeballs from watching the two hooligans, terror ensues. and tears inevitably follow.
maybe it's the fact that when i get a free moment, all i want to do is lay flat on my back in utter silence (until i hear a fly buzzing around my personal bubble, and then my free time is spent going on a mad-fly-killing spree).
whatever it is, i won't be seeing blogging therapy any time soon.
my apologies.

anyway- probably the most exciting thing that has happened around here in a while is that our little baby Alice has turned into a not-so-much-of-a-baby-one-year-old.

being a parent is such a miraculous thing, don't you think?
i mean, watching a baby learn and grow and transform into the person she'll always be is truly amazing.

Alice has been such a sweet baby.
so sweet, in fact, that i have wished almost her entire babyhood that she wouldn't grow up out of being a baby. don't get me wrong- she's always been active and quick enough to keep up with her (cute) monster big sister. and i admit, now that we're really learning her personality, i'm starting to warm up to the idea of her lack of baby-ness anymore... but there's still that ache and pang in my side that is sad that she won't be a baby forever.
having a baby is just so unique and special. and so i'm hanging onto those little baby things a little while longer... and then maybe my baby hunger will take over and the only remedy will be to make another one.

sorry future posterity. but you'll have to learn about the birds and the bees eventually.

anyways, back to my point.
Alice Joy.

i don't know if i ever told you the story about her name. so i'll tell it real quick. just because i want to.
on the day that Alice was born, we went to the hospital...without a name picked out. i was so mad at M because he wouldn't ever talk about names with me, and when he did, it just turned into one big joke. "let's name her Bertha, after Jeff's big toe." or "let's name her Hilda, after our 65-year-old German neighbor." yeah right, you ding-dong. but mostly he made me mad because he didn't like my #1 pick of a name- the one i had told all of you about, Roxy. i loved that name. i still love that name. but M, he loathed it. "that's a dog's name," he'd say. or "my mom says it sounds like a Las Vegas lounge singer." yeah, i wanted to punch him in the face wasn't thrilled about his derogatory comments about my beloved Roxy name-- but i convinced myself that we'd make it to the hospital...and when he saw the complete and utter agony i was in bringing this dang baby into the world, he'd let me choose whatever name i wanted...and then we'd bundle little Roxy Lynne up and take her home.

but the day came.
and no such agony came.
it was a peaceful morning.

i know right?
peaceful?
but it's true.
i got up, showered. blow-dried my hair. painted my nails. and even put make-up on. (was i going to get family pictures taken, or to have a baby?).
my mom took me to the hospital so that M could take care of Ellie and get her to Grandma and Grandpa's house (so wonderful to have so many helping hands).

of course, when i got to the hospital, things were a little more stressful. they had me get in, and threw a gown at me and wanted to check my progress and put in the IV immediately. i was already dilated to a 3 or 4 or something like that...contractions were coming, and so they sent the anesthesiologist in right away to give me my epidural. the guy was a total dork who put in the needle three times and numbed only half of my body- and could never quite get it right. i still don't get it. like i said, he was a dork. but after that hour of chaos, the peace came again.
M strolled in.
we took some completely unflattering pictures of me and him (ones that no one will ever see).
and we waited.
we talked.
they ate delicious Sweet Affair sandwiches (kind of like Kneaders).
i ate ice chips (so gourmet).
we waited.
i tried to talk about names.
denied.
we waited.
we talked.
and my Nurse came into check me.
i was at a 10.
i finally said to M,
"ok we really need to decide what we're naming this baby!"
i mean seriously. it was stressing me out more than actually having the baby was.
we asked my Nurse for some name advice.
she was tight-lipped. (smart lady).
we asked my mom for some name advice.
she was also tight-lipped (double smart lady).
then i kinda tried to pretend like i was in a lot of pain.
and i moaned,
"please, let's just name her...(groan of pain) Roxxyyyy?"
he wasn't buying it.
"she is NOT a Roxy, Marci."
"FINE." i said.
i was mad.
and realized no amount of pain i pretended to be in would make mr. stubborn M change his mind.
so it started racing.
racing for new names.
all of the lame ones came to my mind, "Bertha. Hilda. Malificent. AHHHH. I HATE CHOOSING NAMESSS!!!!"
and then, there was peace for a minute. and out of the blue while sitting there, at a 10, waiting for my doctor to come and catch the unnamed baby girl, it just came to me.
"what about Alice?"

Alice was the first name we talked about when we got pregnant again. we both loved it, but i was  skeptical because it sounds pretty close to Ellie. and i didn't want anyone calling Alice Allie, because that was reaaalllllly close. so we kind of ruled it out.

but then it that moment, i just knew it was her name.
and M knew it was her name, too. it was the first time i heard these three words come out of his mouth, "i love it."
and because it had been such a peaceful, joyful day, i knew her middle name had to be joy.
and so, literally 10 minutes before Alice Joy came into the world, we had chosen her name. and i can't imagine her as anything else. M was right (but i'll never admit again...and don't you DARE tell him i said that). she truly is the most joyful little creature on the planet.

i loved the day she was born.
and i've loved every day since.

some more about Alice:

Alice is spunky.
Alice is sweet.
Alice is curious.
Alice is a chatter-box.
Alice is a ham.
Alice lovvvvvvveees food- including (but not limited to) popcorn, strawberries, oranges, grapes, cheese, yogurt, and almost any variety of those awesome squeezable baby food things they have recently come out with (side note: those squeezable baby foods are genius! how they've changed my life! i especially love the ones that have a veggie mixed in. brilliant).
Alice has a round belly to prove that she looovvvvees food.
Alice loves her lovie.
Alice loves her thumb.
Alice loves her sister Ellie.
Alice loves to walk everywhere. and hates when she can't walk.
Alice doesn't have time to snuggle. even before sleeping.
Alice is always in a hurry. just like her mama.
Alice loves to squeal.
Alice loves to toss things out (ie DVD's, toys, blocks (danger!), clothes....the list could go on and on).
Alice loves to carry around either a spoon or a crayon at all times. random. but true.
Alice loves her bath. sometimes i'll catch her just standing in front of her bath, looking in. and one time, i couldn't find her anywhere. finally i looked in the bathroom and there she was, just sitting in the empty bath, looking up into the faucet...as if she was waiting for the water to come out.
Alice loves books.
Alice loves finger puppets.
Alice loves music- and even knows hand-motions to Popcorn Popping and The Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Alice loves to dance. i love seeing her little march dancing. so cute!
Alice loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Alice loves when Daddy comes home. she squeals and yells and runs to him. and then whacks him real good in the face (baby affection is so endearing).
Alice loves people- and saying "hiiiii!" to just about everybody we see when she's in a shopping cart or at a restaurant. she has a way of making people melt around her. including her mama.
Alice has her mama and daddy wrapped around her little finger.

she is just such a sweetie.
we all love her so much (duh)-- our hearts have grown practically a bajillion sizes since she entered our lives.

i love you miss Munch, tu tu, squish, Alice! (don't you love the nick-names you can come up with?)
i can't wait to see you continue to change and grow and discover this big world.

xoxo

being a bloggaholic is time consuming.

i'm sorry. i just don't have time to tell another story today (especially with gimpy pinky over here, making it a funky process to type anything).

but i thought these pictures might hold you off till tomorrow.

some photobooth fun from Alice's little circus birthday party:

fun, huh!?
the party was a total riot.
and yes, i just rocked the word riot like it was 1993.
we'll chat again soon.

xoxo

the tale of the mutant pinkie*

* let me preface this tale by saying 2 things: 
1) i wrote this post by spelling the word "pinky" with a "y." spell-check gave me the red squiggly lines of death, and told me that it should be spelled "pinkie." so i changed it. but i personally like "pinky" better. thoughts?
2) what you're about to read is a tragic tale. a horrific tale that has become significantly funnier the further i get away from it actually happening. i'm pretty sure it belongs in a movie like Dumb and Dumberer-est or something. so. no need to feel guilty for laughing at my absolute dorkiness and for not feeling any sort of pity on my idiocy at all.

once upon a time, there was a young mama of two hooligan children. they were really cute children, but their constant mischief and whining made them hooligans nonetheless. (irrelevant details). this mama always operated about 5 minutes late...because one of said hooligans always had to go potty right before it was time to go, or had a messy diaper, or dumped a milk+water+paint concoction all over the floor. it was a circus. but it was a happy circus, so this mama was happy.

one day, the mama had 3 hours with only the baby hooligan, while the master hooligan was at school. the young mama was so excited because she had many errands to run- and then could put the baby down for her nap and even clean up some of the chaos back at the circus house. it was going to be a good day.

and so the young mama made her impressive list and was off to do her errands. she arm wrestled baby hooligan in the grocery cart, threw a couple of full boxes of cheerios in her always-open beak (wait, is this a baby hooligan or a baby bird we're talking about??), and when the cheerios were gone and her strength was spent, they arrived at the car. baby hooligan started squawking -- so young mama glanced at her watch and realized it was nap-time. she ran to her drivers' seat where she set down her phone and keys- this had become a crisis-prevention course of action, since she'd misplaced both items too many times before.

so in the car seat went the baby hooligan...who used impressive wiggling-jello-body-skills to protest the seat- but luckily young mama won this time.
then baby hooligan started squawking and whimpering again.
so young mama dashed to her bags, and started throwing them in the trunk- being careful with the bananas and bread (because squished bread and bruised bananas are just nasty). then the young mama quickly shut the trunk (since everything she did was done quickly). and the unthinkable happened... she felt pain. immense pain. in her cute little pinkie on her right hand. she pulled. and pulled. and PULLED. and realized, yes, in fact, the impossible happened. her pinkie finger was stuck in the trunk. you heard the narrator correctly: STUCK IN THE TRUNK. the young mama had somehow, in some way, slammed her beautiful pinkie finger in the trunk. it was immovable. thoughts of panic ran through her mind.

"how was this possible!?"
"maybe i can wriggle it out..."
"how can i open this trunk...the keys are on the front seat...am i going to be stuck forever!!??"
"they're going to have to amputate!"
"i liked my pinkie so much!"
"will i be deformed forever?"
"will M still love me without my pinkie?"
"could i die from this?"
"am i on candid camera?"

after coming to the conclusion that she wasn't going to escape alone, she started doing a freaky-panic dance to any and all people that happened to be meandering in the proximity of "the incident." there was a person waiting for her parking spot- so the young mama waved ballistically and screamed at them, "I'M STUCK! HELP ME! HELP MEEEEEEE!" she looked crazy, hunched over her trunk, waving her left arm like a monkey.
just then, a mysterious man arrived at the scene. "Holy Sh$$!!" he yelled. and then asked the young mama where her keys were. she told him, "RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!" (as if he was the idiot or something).

about a minute had passed.
she was beginning to feel like a movie was going to be made of all of this.
she wondered if she'd be alive to see it made.

finally, mystery man found his brain, along with the lever for the trunk and popped it open.
young mama jumped up and simultaneously cursed a naughty word.
and then she felt bubbles come from her toes to her head...and puked her guts out.

young mama got in the car and cried.
the man upstairs had in fact saved her finger, but washed her potty-mouth out with puke.
the baby hooligan was oblivious to the scenario- and giggled at the young mama's crying, as baby hooligans seem to do sometimes.

two weeks passed, and the finger got increasingly ugly, turning black and blue and swelling up real plump. the young mama's hubby began referring to her once-cute-pinkie as "the mutant finger."
her parents began freaking the young mama out with old wives tales and stories of gangrene.
and her friends constantly encouraged her to see a doctor because "it just didn't look right."

so the young mama found a morning when she could escape away from the hooligans for the exciting event of seeing a doctor. almost as soon as she arrived, she saw nurses and doctors who all scolded her for waiting so long to come in. "i have hooligans for children and live in a circus. i don't have time for doctors," she thought. the doc rolled her eyes at the careless young mama and told her to get an X-ray immediately. the medics kept referring to the young mama's injury as a "crush wound." the young mama felt like she was an impostor of some real serious injury...until the results came back showing a minor fracture, and the doc informed her that she had an infection and would need antibiotics and a splint. luckily the medics assured the young mama that she and the pinkie would find their way out of deformity...eventually.

this story has no happy ending, for the finger is still in a "mutant state."
what does 'eventually' mean, exactly?
will the pinkie ever heal?
will the young mama ever be normal again?
only time will tell.

the moral of this story:
don't be in too big of a hurry...you never know how your pinkie may suffer.

{please don't judge the young mama's Hitler mustache. taking care of hooligans and crush wounds come before personal hygiene (or photoshop editing) (seriously though, why does it look like that?)}

xoxo

bloggaholic week.

hey howdy hey (toy story style)!

i have sooooo much to blog about. life has gotten nuts around here. like crazy pistachio, macadamia, cashew, peanuts nuts. i have lots of crazy stories, new stages of life we've stumbled upon, and fun stuff we've been up to in between. so! i'm going to try to post something every day this week. yes, i'm going to be a bloggaholic. i'll get a therapist later.

topics to be covered:

beach trip on my birthday
Alice turning one
Alice's circus party
new church callings
our yard
Alice walking (as of like 6 weeks ago- wait, that may explain a lot of the chaos these days...)
a crazy finger injury
my family's visit
our attempts at having FHE- including a visit to the Pumpkin Patch
Ellie being SO three, it's killing me (and giving me more grey hairs than i can count)

wow. lots. where do i even start?

how bout i start with the beach trip on my birthday.

as noted in my previous post, i had a fabulous birthday.
birthdays are wonderful, aren't they?
holidays are fun because you know lots of people around the globe are celebrating on the same day for the same reason (generally speaking) as you. i like thinking of families everywhere gathered around the Christmas tree, opening Christmas presents together. i like thinking of the world running around dressed up in monkey suits, freaky masks, and princess tiaras, all in the name of candy + Halloween. holidays are exciting and fun.
birthdays, though.... birthdays are the best because it's a special day. it's a day where YOUR birth is celebrated. it's a day where we celebrate everyone's unique awesomeness. it's a day where you feel uniquely appreciated and loved. it's a day where you hear from family members and friends that you haven't heard from in a while. it's a day where you do fun things and make new memories. and all of that is why i love birthdays.

i also mentioned that in the evening of my birthday, M planned to take us girls to his favorite beach spot up here in the Bay Area. of course the girls + i love the beach...who doesn't, right? we got there in the early afternoon, and i was stoked to take bunches of pictures- especially in time for Alice's birthday. so we had been there for like 10 seconds and there i was, gettin' all snap-happy. my back was toward the tide as Alice was running toward me-- all giggles and squeals like she is these days. M was snapping some pictures of Alice / Ellie with his iPhone.

and then.

BAM.

i was soaked. water from my ghetto-fabulous booty back-side, all the way down to my (thankfully shoe-less) toes. the tide had raced passed me-- and all of a sudden the colors around me dimmed, everything around me went into slow-motion, and there was Alice- knocked down by the force of the tide. she rolled right onto her back- and without thinking (or was it while a million thoughts were running through my mind?) i dropped my camera (which was thankfully strapped around my neck), fought against the water, and swooped Alice up right as the water went over her face. minus her skin saran-wrapped in sand, her teeth-chattering, and goosebumps, she was OK.

have you ever felt the Northern California Ocean?

it's basically ice.

so M grabbed Alice from me, and we stripped her down as quickly as possible and wrapped her in a blanket.

and then i finally exhaled. and inhaled.
i felt like i had been holding my breath that whole time.

M and i just both stared at each other.
whoa.
did that really just happen?
how did that just happen?
how did we all make it out of that ok?

we hugged each other extra tight.
thanked our Heavenly Father for blessing us with safety.
and gathered everything up real quick to head home.

(much to Ellie's dismay. she realllllllly wanted to keep digging. three-year-olds are pretty clueless when it comes to life-threatening situations. sometimes i wish i could still be that care-free and naive).

life is crazy!
and while we'll always remember that crazy birthday eve, i'm so glad that we'll remember that we were all safe and watched over, in spite of the craziest fast-raising tide i've ever seen.

yes, we're blessed.
stay tuned for many more crazinesses (and much happier ones) from this aspiring bloggaholic!

xoxo

12 happies

12 things on october 12's happy list:

1. the cute poppies snuggled up by my tree in my new front yard, and the beautiful cala lily pot inside my house


2. birthday month and the perpetual parties, oreos, balloons and cheesecake going around our house.


3. Ellie writing her name for the first time all by herself


4. my mustard cardigan gifted by an adorable friend (yes, all my pinterest peeps can heave a sigh of relief! now i can finally stop pinning mustard cardigans)


5. Ellie showing off her cute lil cupcake necklace


6. pumpkins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin cheesecake... PUMPKINS PUMPKINS PUMPKINS!


7. Alice wearing my fedora


8. the amazing full moon tonight


9. Alice eating a lime for the first time


10. my Facebook page bumpin' and cell-phone ringing with texts, messages, and calls today, helping me feel so loved. thanks for all the shout-outs! i love you, my peeps.

11. newly + freshly cut locks


12. andddddd, hanging out all day long with some of my favorite peeps...ending at the beach for a lovely sunset.




so today i'm happy. so happy that i'll do a little jig in my birthday suit. totally justifiable at least one day a year, right? (no worries, i'll spare you from a pictcha on that one).

26 is going to be a good year- i can feel it in my bones!

xoxo