Marley and Me

Tonight I watched an amazing movie. It was more real than any movie I've seen in a long time (especially considering the last movie I watched was Twilight). To be honest, I wasn't completely enthralled with the dog. He's adorable and loyal, but that's not why I loved the movie. I loved the relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. The movie shows the progression of newlywed bliss to struggles with children to finding out you are truly happy with a family instead of having the dream job. I absolutely loved watching Jennifer Aniston throwing fits of insanity when her second baby is born. She looks like an exhausted and depressed wreck, she hasn't showered, and she's yelling at Owen Wilson for yelling in the house. She was purely insane and I completely saw myself in in that spot. Twelve months ago I was literally insane with Abby. I was so tired and I had lost my sense of identity and life was just ridiculous. I'm not like that now (Jesse may argue) but I could totally see myself through so much of that movie. But it was nice to see that Jennifer and Owen stay together through all of the difficulties and they love each other that much more. They learn to be flexible and to still have fun admist the trials. And when their children are older they are happy and content. And I loved that their house wasn't spotless. The kids' toys were everywhere! It made me feel so much better about my house right now. I loved the show for that reason. It was real. It was a real life story about a family--just it was supposed to focus more on the dog. So I totally recommend this movie to anyone who is family-focused. If you're not, then you probably will think this movie is dumb. I recommend James Bond for you.

Crafts and a surprise

So these are my latest projects. They all came from makeitandloveit.blogspot.com. It's an amazing website that I have become addicted to. The wipes case I covered in fabric, wrapped with ribbon, and topped with felt, brown yo-yo and a button. The picture frames I got from DI and then covered them with scrapbook paper and ribbon. And buttons. Always buttons. The picture frames are actually supposed to be dry-erase boards, but my marker is too light to see. I'm going to buy a darker one this week so I can write cute things on Abby's like "You're a nut" and "I love my Abby-bugs". The other one is for my room. After doing Abby's room, I got the bug and I want to do my own room. So hopefully it'll match everything we're doing. And yes, I'm going to rant in this blog: I know I've been on a ridiculous spending spree for the last month! I don't need EVERYONE in my family mentioning it to me! Sheesh! I had three of you say something within three hours! Do I not deserve something fun to make my house feel like a home? It was just a mirror! There... It's out of me. I promise I won't spend again for another three months... Oh yeah, and that last picture is a surprise. Surprise, mom! I found this at DI! It's actually a collectible (too bad DI didn't know that! $3!). The garage is missing so it's practically worthless, but I couldn't pass it up. Brings back awesome memories. My mom still has ours from when we were kids and Abby LOVES it. So I'll give it to Abby for a present one day. Anyway, enjoy! (Sorry for the crummy pictures)

Cinderella Wall Art

This is a project I just completed, well almost completed, for Abby's room. I decided that her room actually needed to feel like a room and not just a place where she had to sleep. So for the last month, I have been working on it. We made pink double paneled curtains for both windows, decorative letters spelling "Abby", a dark pink with green ribbon photo board, and now this Cinderella Wall Art. The finishing touch was that I got to have my pink and green floral comforter, sheets, and bed skirt from when I was a kid to add to the bed in her room. She won't sleep in it for a bit, but it adds so much to the room. We also added some fake pink daisies in a small vase on her shelf to tie in the pink theme for the shelf. Don't worry--it doesn't look like the whole place has been hosed with Pepto Bismol. I promise, Sarah. Anyway, this is the wall art I just did. I didn't come up with it on my own. I copied it from a picture I saw somewhere. I know it's not the best picture, but I figured you'd forgive me. A few months ago my favorite cousin scolded me for not having posted my projects. I've felt guilty the last three months that I haven't posted anything. So here it is. I hope you like it.

Beware of the Botany Pond

Abby and I decided to go for a walk to "pick up" Jesse today from school instead of actually driving to pick him up. We used to do this last summer every day and now that the sun is out we're going to continue this tradition. So the sun was shining and Abby and I were singing wonderful Raffi songs to accentuate the happiness. We got to the Botany Pond and there were children all over throwing bread to the ducks, attempting to skip rocks, and laughing to one another. I let Abby down and she began to roam. I stuck pretty close to her and within about 10 minutes Jesse had come down to join us. Jesse and I were having a quiet conversation on the pathway while Abby was throwing feathers in the pond with another little boy. All was cute and picture-esque. Really. I couldn't have asked for a better moment. And then suddenly, Abby stumbled. And she quite literally somersaulted into the pond. I lunged for her the moment she stumbled, but I wasn't fast enough. I watched her little legs roll over her head and she landed flat on her back into the pond. The ducks scrambled and the children screamed. Unfortunately, when I lunged to grab her, I kicked a spray of dirt all over face, in her screaming mouth, and in her ears. I quietly reached forward, grabbed the front of her coat, and lifted her out. She was covered in water, dirt, and slime from head to toe. We quickly stripped her to a diaper and wrapped her in my hoodie, Jesse's coat, and my coat (my coat served as a sack for the lower half of her body). Anyway. So she fell in. I was shocked at how calmly Jesse and I observed the situation and proceeded to take care of her. Neither of us freaked out or really said much of anything. Sadly as mentioned before, we walked to the pond, so we had to walk home. Jesse and I talked about how surprised we were that we handled it so well. I admitted that I had a thought it would happen; Jesse laughed and admitted that he had the same thought. Heavenly Father either really didn't want her to fall in, or he just wanted to prepare us for when it did. Unfortunately it was the latter, but I'm glad that we were somewhat prepared to deal with it. Yay for Heavenly Father and adventurous days. And yay for "traumatic experiences to lighten the mood" (Jesse Larsen).

These pics are not in order:

Feeding her fruit snacks to keep her happy until we get home. She had no hands to eat them herself.

Traumatized.

Cleaning mud out of her ears.

Refusing to look at the camera.

And the gender of the baby is . . . .

"It's a dude!"

That's the text message I just got from my twin brother about the gender of his baby-to-come. Huzzah! Let the shopping begin!