Birthday's & Chloe-ism's

Life is (as usual) great right now!  We are having beautiful weather and spending as much time as possible outside!

We celebrated Bg's first birthday last month.  It was a bittersweet day for me.  She is starting to walk, but is pretty wobbly still.  Bg is the funniest little thing.  She is a bit of a biter, a huge pig and will put anything and everything in her mouth.  She is pretty onery and likes to harass her big sister.  Her favorite place to play is the toilet!  She keeps us on our toes for sure!

Chloe has some pretty funny sayings:
-She calls long sleeves "down sleeves" and short sleeves "up sleeves."
-We were in the bathroom the other day and Chloe had to poop.  She said, "I got three poops out but the 4th poop is stuck in my butt!"
-There was a dead fly in her room and she asked if it was going to come back to life like Jesus.
-We went to the Edward's baby shower the other night and I told her there was going to be a bounce house.  She asked what that was and I told her it was what she jumped in at church.  She replied, "I didnt know Jesus made bounce houses!"
-She was talking up a storm and told Jeff, "I am tired of talking."  So Jeff told her to just stop.  She replied, "oh, okay!" like the thought never entered her mind.
- Jeff and I were trying to figure out how we were going to move the swingset.  Chloe chimed in "I think we just just push it!"  Her logic was so right, but we werent strong enough!

I am sure there are more, but I cant think of them.

March Madness!

Yes, March has been mad and I am not just talking basketball! We have done some more work on the house and finally have a back patio and front steps! I have all kinds of crazy organizing plans for the inside but doubt that will happen very quickly.

So, since it has been a while, I will do an update on us!

Chloe: Poor thing has had a rough winter. She just got over strep for the second time. She was sick off and on with high fevers for over a week. She was absolutely miserable, poor thing. But other than that, my baby girl (yes, I still call her that) is growing up. She remembers the craziest things and amazes us daily with her smarts and her observations. She is such a great big sister, but Bg is starting to be rather annoying and wont leave Chloe or her toys alone. Chloe loves to play outside, but lately has started to become a bit of a chicken. She can ride her bike so well and I hope we can remove training wheels this summer! She loves dance class, but doesnt always listen well or pay attention (hmmm...must be my kid!). She is growing taller and is so skinny. I will be glad when she can wear shorts so she doesnt look like she is wearing high waters all the time.

Bg: Oh boy, this one is going to be the onery one! She loves getting into things. And she knows that she is not supposed to. She somehow managed to get the baby gate down from the bottom of the stairs. And she is learning to now come down the stairs without rolling. She is starting to let go of things when standing for just a few seconds. She gives the best, open mouth, drooly kisses. She waves and says mama. She loves to rock in our little wooden rocking chair. She loves to mess with her sister. She has three teeth. And her 1st birthday is less than 6 weeks away!

Jeff and I: We hope to plant grass seed this weekend. I am trying to get back into running, but I am so out of shape! In my mind, I could easily just right back into it, but my body (especially my lungs) are not willing. I am trying to convince Jeff to let me get chickens but so far he says no. I am also trying to convince him to let me get a housekeeper. He says no, but I think I am going to fight this one. Well, no fighting, I am just going to do it! I would like to get a garden started, but we may just have too much going on this spring to do so. I am also trying to convince Jeff to play softball with me this summer. Wow, it sounds like I am constantly trying to convince Jeff to do stuff- talk about wife pressure! I am also tryig to become some Martha Stewart type or something. I love baking in my new kitchen and am going to get some cake decorating help from Aunt Elaine and Aunt Krissy!

The Tigers: Ha ha, I cant believe I am updating about them, but I am a nut. They won the Big 12 tourney, which is awesome, as we are leaving for the SEC. I was sad about the move, but I am irritated at the Big 12 for the way they have treated the players, so I am ready to kiss them goodbye and move on to bigger and better things. Mizzou is a second seed going into the big tourney, but they should have been a #1 seed. They finished the season ranked #3 in the nation. I am proud of these boys and sad that the season is coming to an end.

So that is a quick summary of what is going on.

Blah....

The stomach flu hit our house last week. Hard. And it snuck in out of nowhere. I went from happily preparing pot roast to head in toilet in less than an hour. And when you have kids (one who is nursing) while you are sick, it just makes things that much worse. I did get a good chuckle (after the fact) once when I was puking. Chloe comes into the bathroom and asks, "Whatcha doing mom?" Like I could really answer. And then, "why are your glasses on the floor, here, put them on." And she tries to hand me my glasses as I have my head halfway into the toilet.

And of course, when mom gets sick, one of the kids has to get sick too. I got sick Tuesday night. I was looking forward to a recovery day at home on Wednesday, but Chloe started puking about 10 mintues after Jeff dropped her off at Miss Linda's. And when he brought her home, she proceeded to puke all over me. Three seperate times. I had one of those "you know you are mom when..." moments when Chloe is sitting on our brand new carpet and starts to heave. I stick my hands out and catch it. Gross, I know, but I didnt really want to try to clean puke out of brand new carpet either.

Chloe luckily got over her illness quickly. Mine however refused to let go and I was sick for 6 days. The good news was that I finally reached my goal weight! 125 pounds! Not quite the way I wanted to achieve it though.

Unfortunetly I was sick for our anniversary. Not that we would have done anything romantic anyway, but we had a nice home cooked dinner planned. Oh well, maybe next year.

Never had a doubt...

About my Tigers' ability to beat KU! It's kind of the end of an era I guess. MU is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. I am not sure how I feel about that just yet, but I am glad that Mizzou has beat KU in football and now at home in basketball. They still have one more game to play in Lawrence, but the Tigers pulled off a last minute win at home on Saturday. We went to Heather and Gary's to watch the game. MU was ahead at the half, but trailed all of the second quarter, even letting KU build a 8 point lead. But we rallied in the last 3 minutes. Poor Bg thought her parents had gone mental. I was shaking and pacing the floor. Heather had to hold Bg so I wouldnt accidentally throw her across the room! Chloe saw a picture of a Jayhawk on Sunday and told me that, "we dont like those!" Good girl!

And yesterday was the SuperBowl. Boy, Superbowl party at Jason's sure has changed in the 10 years I have been with Jeff! Everyone is married with kids now. The party is much more family friendly! The girls had a blast. CHloe cried when we left.

February

So could this February possibly start off any different than February of 2011?? Remember the blizzard? Well, yesterday was sunny and in the 60's. Chloe and Bg were able to play outside all afternoon. Chloe's legs are bruised black and blue- from falling out of trees, to tripping over twigs and falling down hills. But she is loving every minute of country living. And in our backyard is the most fun dirt pile ever!

But all this crazy weather gave me a nasty sinus infection. So while my children were outside delighting in the beautiful weather, I was inside sleeping. Poor me, but enough of my sob story.

We had a scare last night. Dad called around 9 and said mom had been having chest pains all day and went to urgent care after work. They did an EKG and said these scary words: Heart Attack. They gave mom some nitroglycerin and said get to a hospital. Dad rushed mom to the ER and they did another EKG, but these results were better and they werent sure about a heart attack. So mom was admitted and is undergoing tests today. My mom is way too young for this! She already yelled at me for harping on her about her diet, but she does need to take better care of herself. And I say this out of love. I want my babies to have the kind of relationship with their grandparents that I had with mine and that means no heart attacks!!

Go Tigers!!!

For Christmas, the girls gave me tickets for a Tiger basketball game. Tigers were ranked 2nd in the nation, so it was pretty awesome to go see such a great team playing. I was also very excited to take the girls to their first game. Chloe was pumped up and practiced cheering the entire way to Columbia. Nothing is cuter than hearing a 3 year old yelling MizzouRah! At first, we thought we had crappy seats. We were all the way in the top of the arena- the last row. But we ended up loving our seats. We were right at the top of the stairs, so we had a straight shot view down to the court. Chloe didnt have anyone in front of her, so even when everyone stood up, she could still see. She also had a wider platform to stand on since there were no seats in front of us. Of course I forgot a bottle, but was able to privately nurse Bg since we had more foot room and no one was behind me. She somehow slept through the first half even with all the noise. But because there was no one in front of us, I could still see even when everyone was standing. Of course, the Tigers won, beating a Big 12 opponent- Texas Tech. Next year we are moving to the SEC. Chloe is already asking when we can go back, so I am hoping this is the start of a new family tradition.

Tea Party!!

For Christmas, Heather, Gary and the girls gave Chloe a Princess Cook Book with recipes for cupcakes, cakes and cookies. Someone made a comment about a tea party and my little elephant never forgets, so she has been begging since Christmas to have a tea party. I thought it would be a good time to also show off the house, so we planned the party for yesterday.

I am starting to become a bit of a baking snob. No more box stuff for me- I am having fun playing with new recipes and making everything from scratch. I have always made cookies from scratch, but I thought the boxed stuff was so much easier for cakes/cupcakes/icing. But honestly, it really isnt. Yea, I have to measure out more stuff, but it is so much for fulfilling when someone compliments your baking to say that you made it all on your own. So I spent Saturday baking vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. And I must say, they are DARN good! I am not the best decorator, but I am learning and am getting a bit better.

The tea party was yesterday. Chloe had a great attendance- Grandma and Papa Michael, Grandma and Papa Tyler, Granny and Great Grandparent Michaels, and the Hoeppners- Scott, Amanda and her friend Calle. We had tea, coffee and cocoa to drink and several types of fresh fruit and cupcakes to eat.

Chloe had practiced all morning saying, "Welcome to my tea party, may I take your coat?" She said it so sweetly to Grandma Judy. But in the excitement of seeing her other grandparents arrive, she somehow cut her toe open. It wasnt a bad cut and I dont think it hurt her, but it was bleeding and I couldnt get her to sit still so I could get the bleeding to stop. She freaked when Jeff got a band-aid, so the rest of her guests all walked in to a kid having a meltdown. Lovely.

It was good to see both Grandpa Michael and Granny out and about. 2011 wasnt the best year for either of them and I pray for continued health in 2012. It is so hard seeing your once strong grandparents getting old.

Stairs

We now have to keep a sharp eye on the stairs. Bg has made it her mission to climb the stairs as much as possible. She really figured it out over the weekend.

On Sunday, I walked into the living room and Chloe had climbed up the outside of the stairs. She was hanging 10 feet above our living room. And then I notice Bg had climbed the inside of the stairs and was standing up (holding on) on the third step. Like a good mother, I yelled for Jeff to come see his monkeys. And then we made them get down.

However, we failed to tell Miss Linda about Bg's skills. The kids were playing downstairs and Linda ran upstairs to get something. When she started to come back down, she realized Bg was climbing up. Linda started to rush down and Bg decided to go back down, which she hasnt mastered. Bg fell down the bottom step and got a nice red mark on the side of her face.

That didnt teach her any lessons though, as she instantly headed for the stairs when we got home. Jeff stayed with her and she climbed up about 6 or 7 steps before she decided to try to go down them head first. Luckily dad stopped her! And CHloe thinks it is great fun to still go up the outside of the steps. I am curious as to how high she will go. She hasnt gone to the top yet, but I am sure it will happen sooner rather than later.

Another case of the Mondays...

Mondays would be much easier if we didnt have such good weekends! I like my job, but I like being home with my kiddos even more! Bg was super sick with a nasty cold last week but was better over the weekend, so on Saturday we went to Alli's basketball game. I love seeing how much she improves each year and it was exciting to watch her play. Even though I want my girls to stay little forever, I am also looking forward to the day when they can play sports.

I did my fair share of baking this weekend. I did a practice run on homemade cupcakes/icing from scratch so I can make some for Chloe's tea party next weekend. And I also tried a new recipe on my quest to make the best chocolate chip cookies. And I think I may have finally found the recipe. YUM!

We had dad over for a fish fry Saturday night. Mom's stepmom Sharon was in the hospital, so mom had gone down to Springfield for the weekend.

The weather has been amazing for January. Yesterday Jeff and Chloe went down to Rock HOle and played for a long time. They came back wet, muddy, cold and happy. I was a bit jealous, but got to nap with Bg so all was okay with me.

Chloe cracks me up with what she calls one of her favorite treats. She always wants to eat, "Fishgolds." I used to try to correct her and have her say Goldfish, but I actually think Fishgolds sound so much yummier!

Family Weekend

What a wonderful weekend, considering it was January!

We spent Saturday morning up in Jamesport- Amish Country! Note to self: dont tell Chloe in advance that we will see lots of horses and deer b/c the entire trip up there, she constantly asked when we were going to see horses. But see horses we finally did! I could live a simple life....okay, probably not, but it would be nice for like a week or two!

Anyway, we started our furniture quest way wrong. We would have saved 3 hours of time if we had just shown up and said, "show us the cheapest stuff you got." Because that is what we ended up buying. But we did get a 6' dining room table, 6 chairs and two bar stools! I am so excited!

Saturday night was the annual Brannock Christmas, which is always a fun, albeit loud, time. I think sometimes we get to be a bit too much for Jeff to handle. But us cousins always have a fun time together.

Bg is getting so much more mobile. She pulls herself up on everything and was delighted to show off her skills to the family Saturday night.

Sunday I did something that I dont normally do. We skipped church. I have a lot going on this week and just wanted some family time. It was a decent day, so we bundled up in our bibs and spend quite a bit of time outside. Chloe got to ride in the dozer and bobcat with her dad. They started fires and walked across fallen trees. After lunch, we roasted marshmallows. All in all, what a lovely January day!

Tonsils

So I took Boo to the doctor yesterday b/c her tonsils are extremely (to my uneducated mind) swollen. Turns out she just has a cold and the doctor wasnt that concerned about her tonsils and called them a 2 on a scale of 1-4 (4 is the worst). I was worried about strep again since she just had it a little over a month ago.

Chloe and I then went shopping for her tea party. We picked out some cute princess cupcake liners and some cupcake themed decorations. She is so excited! She also bought a little wooden birdhouse that she painted last night. Maybe I have a budding artist on my hands!

We need to figure out something to do with Jerrie. His litter box is in the basement and we just leave the door cracked. Well, now that Bg is mobile, her favorite place to go is the basement door. We dont really want Jerrie's litter box upstairs, but we cant leave the door open anymore either.

Happy New Years!

So 2012 has started off well. We stayed home to celebrate the New Year in our new house! I made fancy, stinky cheese fondue and Jeff and I realized that we have Velveeta Taste on a Velveeta Budget, so that it a good thing. I was afraid we would love the stinky cheese and it would cost a ton! We didnt see midnight but did stay up later than we normally do. We had our new neighbors come over and visit for a while and it was nice to get to know them better.

So here are my resolutions for the year:
1. Create a budget! We do live within our means, but we could also save better. I have started reading Dave Ramsey.
2. Be a more adventuresome, healthier cook. Eat more fresh produce.
3. Be outside more. Take lots of long walks with the girls.
4. Blog, blog and blog some more. I want to remember all the fun stuff we do and the things the girls say.

I could go with several of the traditional ones- lose weight, exercise, etc. Which I need to do, but I am not good with sticking to those kinds of things. Actually, I dont really need to lose weight, but I do need to tone this butt!

And for the daily funny: I had a customer tell me today that I no longer look like a young, hot chick, that I look like a mom. Uh, thanks???