Lyssa's Latest Learnings

(I love that it looks like Lyssa is giving me thumbs up in this photo! She could be a policital candidate! She'll lower your taxes, save the economy, and "win" the war in Iraq all in one naps time! Lyssa for President anyone?)It seems like my sweet little Lyssa is learning and growing crazy fast! I know that babies are always learning, but I guess lately it's just more apparent because it's stuff we can hear and see her doing. She went in for her 9 month check up a few weeks ago. She weighed in at 19 lbs and 7 oz. (60%), height 27 3/4 (60%), and head circumference of 17 1/8 (40%... amazing considering Alec's almost always been above the 75%). She's a growing, healthy baby! She was happy as ever until the doctor tried to look in her ears. For some reason she has always been bothered by getting her ears checked. She quickly got her flu shot and that sent her through the roof. She was REALLY MAD so it was a good thing her favorite guy in the whole wide world was there to love on her after wards.She really is turning into a Daddy's girl! In fact in the last few weeks she's started saying "da da!" (We've only heard a glimmer of "ma ma" once or twice.) Every time she sees him she gets really excited. She loves playing with him on the floor and almost always reaches for him first if he's around to hold. The kiddos have been getting along pretty well lately, and are learning to share and interact more and more each day! Alec is learning that Lyssa's a sly one and as soon as he puts a toy down she speed army crawls over to get that toy. (We're working on finding toys to trade rather than yanking them out of her hands...)Speaking of Lyssa's speedy army crawling, I was talking with a friend the other day about Lyssa and she brought up the idea that Lyssa's fast enough on her tummy that she may never find the need to crawl conventionally. I was starting to think the same thing until Nick got her to do it last night! The video is kind of dark, but I was so excited that I didn't want to put the camera down to go turn more lights on... sorry!

Way to go baby girl! Now if only big brother, Alec, would stop pushing her back down every time she gets up on her knees and tries to crawl! (Perhaps he knows nothing is safe once she's crawling around the house) :-)

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we decided to carve pumpkins. Nick and I have carved pumpkins together for Halloween every years since we've been together. We decided that since Alec loves to help cook and work projects that this would be a great activity to do together! Alec wasn't a huge fan of the gooey stuff at first and it took some coaxing to get him to stick his hand in there. He got over it, but tried to eat some of the gooey stuff, calling it "peaches" (like Lyssa's baby food peaches) and quickly learned that pumpkin tastes very different. Alec liked Nick's pumpkin better because it was bigger...Lyssa was desperate for sleep at 6:45 and missed out on the entire event. Alec was super excited that he got to use a knife (thanks mom for the kid friendly pumpkin carving knives!) and help carve Nick's spooky pumpkin. Alec's interest was waining by 8pm and at a certain point I found him laying under the table reading books. I decided that was probably a good time to put my snuggle bug to bed. Nick laughed at my little added bow, but I think my pumpkin sums up my perspective of what Halloween is supposed to be: fun, cute and silly. Nick's pumpkin wasn't necessarily scary, but definitely more complicated to carve out. Thank goodness we were able to find those cool pumpkin carving face stencils online! Our masterpieces now light up the front porch, just in time for Halloween!

More Good Mail!

Monday night all FHE plans were scratched... because this came in the mail!

It was hard to save it until Nick got home, but since he was sad about missing out on the last package we decided we could be patient and wait for him. Nick was excited to help the kids open their cards and goodies from Grandma Lael and Grandpa Parkinson! Alec carries around his monster card most of the day. (Don't worry. We've extracted the classic $2 bill for safe keeping)

This little boy wanted to read his books the moment he pulled them out of the box until he saw these...He was kind enough to share one of the three spooky flashlights with Lyssa! She LOVES that all you have to do is push a button and they light up!Now I find these around the house all the time. They are Alec's "drums, Mommy, drums!" Here's a little video for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for making our night!

The Big Envelope

Look what we got in the mail today!

It's the BIG ENVELOPE! I remember back when I was applying for my undergrad that I was deathly afraid of the skinny little envelope... you know, the one that says "You're not quite good enough. Thanks, but no thanks." We'll my dearest Nicholas, it looks like you're a wanted man! Nick will be starting his MBA at the University of Iowa come January! (working all day, school and studying all evening and night) All that studying for the GMAT and writing and rewriting essays (thanks to your loveliest of lovely essay editor) has paid off.

We're so happy for you, Nick! This will bring all sorts of new learning and challenges for us individually as well as a family, giving us all the opportunity to stretch ourselves and grow. Bring on the adventures!

Picture of the Week: October 21-27

So I've already posted about trick or treating at the Living History Farms, but I purposely didn't add this photo so I could use it for "picture of the week". Drum Roll Please....

What a cute cute sad little mouse... It was blasted windy, cold and wet that night. Alec's sweet puffy feet were soaking up all the mud puddles that he stepped in, and I imagine that it was getting pretty frustrating. Luckily he bounced back once he got some of that sugary goodness 100 yards down the boardwalk, and stayed pretty content from that point on. He even roasted a marshmallow and learned of the sweet goodness found in those white puffs of sugar!

Oh, and as far as the Meal of the Week goes, I feel a little embarrassed about the winter of cheese and spinach ravioli. It's all about the Costco baby! I buy Pasta Prima Spinach and Cheese Frozen Ravioli. You pop it in a pot of boiling water and let it cook until it floats. Then I drain out the water and toss in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, wait a minute or two, and then sprinkle the cheese spice mix (that comes in the package) on top and toss. I also usually add a little bit of McCormick cracked pepper medley and Parmesan cheese on top and serve with a side of salad or green beans, and whatever fruit I have on hand. It's fast, easy, not badly priced, and makes my tummy happy. Enjoy!

Race Day!

Last night I did not sleep well. I was nervous. Nervous about running in a race... nervous about being the last person to cross the finish line... nervous about not being able to run the entire race... nervous I would sleep through my alarm clock. Well, I didn't sleep through, but with the 24000 people there to participate I did have some difficulty getting the race. With all the hoards and crowds of people I struggled to get through to start with the runners. Eventually I left Nick and the freezing cold babies to fend for themselves while I snaked through the crowd. At a certain point I had a man tell me that there was no way I would be able to run and I should just give up trying to get through the crowd. He sparks the fury of Chrissy. NO ONE tells me I can't do something... especially something I've been training for and working towards for the last month! Spunky Chrissy worked her way through the crowds and lets just say it's good I'm short and moderately little. :-)

After finishing the race and finding my family...

Eventually I got to the starting line and joined the masses of people, running with my Ipod blasting in my ears. It was a little frustrating to run into lines of people blocking the street all walking, but I got around and tried not to get too wriggled up. Every once and a while I'd come to a song on the Ipod that would be too slow and I'd shout "Nope! Too Slow! Speed it up!" Every once and a while I'd have to do a little dance while running and yell to myself to keep moving (especially when I was doing that last 8/10 of a mile uphill). The people around me probably thought I was crazy, but it's what works for me. Nick was waiting at the finish line, though he totally didn't see me. I guess being small and short didn't quite work to my advantage that time. We estimate that I made it somewhere between 20-25 minutes though we don't know for sure (I didn't want to pay the extra $2 to wear a timing chip).

Right after I finished the race, sneaking up on Nick from behind!My Cheering Squad... (crying counts as cheering, right?)

Alec was sick of the crowd, sick of being strapped in the stroller, and didn't appreciate the 40 degree weather.Lyssa had been all smiles when I left, but got bored when people starting paying attention to the runners and not to her. She, too, did not like the almost freezing temperatures or blasting wind...My race number... with only 4 digits instead of 5 or 6!

The babies, happy as can be once they had their mama back... or maybe it was all the free yogurt, juice, chocolate milk, and fruit.... not to mention freedom from their restraining devices...Nick was proud of me... even though I was a crabby patty all morning before the race...I was touched by the many people there with "In Memory of..." on their t-shirts. In my heart of hearts I fear that someday I'll be wearing a shirt like that. Here's to my Grandma Marion, for being a survivor! And here's to getting that much closer to finding the cure for everyone...

New Traditions

There are great things about every stage of growing up, and right now I'm really enjoying this stage with Alec. We communicate pretty well most of the time, and he always wants to do things with me. Since the babies are becoming more and more aware and have a longer attention span we've been able to start some of the family traditions I've been dreaming up for the past few years. Lately Alec has been cooking and baking with me! A dear friend gave me some frozen zucchini so we decided to help warm up the house on a cold, blustery day baking zucchini bread. I found my recipe here. It's really yummy, though I would probably not bake it as long as it says on the recipe. I felt like my bread was a tad bit dry. Alec sure loved the batter though and Lyssa wanted to eat and entire piece all by herself!We've also started pulling out the traditional Halloween Fun! This is a picture of the kids in their costumes before a Halloween party last week. With three weekends of Halloween fun I really feel like I'm getting my money's worth out of these costumes! Lyssa enjoys wearing Alec's old Tiger costume and Alec was a little jealous at first, but he's handled it well. Personally I think he's the cutest mouse there ever was, but I know I could be biased. Thank you to one of my favorite stores, Target, for the wonderful costume sale a few weeks ago! Funny that Lyssa's the tiger, and Alec the mouse. :-)Friday night we decided to venture out in the blasted cold and rain to go trick or treating at the Living History Farms. Nick's company helps to sponsor the event so we get in for free! We took Alec last year and had so much fun that we thought the kids would enjoy it again this year.This was Alec's first real introduction to candy. He was so enthralled with the first two pieces and couldn't seem to grasp the concept that if he would keep walking he would get even more... He just wanted to hold what he had! Lyssa really wanted in on this candy bit too. We decided that she needs to wait another year, though we thought it was sweet Alec was willing to share his tootsie rolls. The trick or treating ended something like this..... Yikes! I can only hope that this is the last time Alec is sitting in the back of a police car after trick or treating. They had a fire truck and a police car there for the kids to climb in and Alec was obsessed with the police car and the flashing lights. (The officer was so nice to turn them off for the picture, but turn them back on at Alec's bidding.) Though it was late (and oh so wet and cold) we set off to pick up pizza for dinner and ride in the "race car carts" at the my favorite grocery store! Which brings us to our next tradition! We've started Family Pizza and a Movie Night! We lay out a big picnic blanket in the TV room and watch a kid movie while eating pizza, popcorn, cinnamon rolls (Thanks Sara! Delightful!), and whatever healthiness we have around to feed the kiddos. This is Alec ready in his Jammie's for our movie and feast! And this is everyone glued to the TV! To keep with the festive theme we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown". (Last Friday we watched the fabulous "Finding Nemo!" and heard about it for the rest of the week) Once the show was over we whisked the kiddos off to bed. Tomorrow was race day and morning would come early!And now I invite you to watch a brief clip of Alec in walking action (which is no small feat with a costume so big and warm). I can't help but laugh and call him 'Gus Gus' from this great movie!(Maybe we'll watch that one next Friday for Pizza and a Movie Night!)

The End.

I LOVE GIVEAWAYS!

So last week I had a winner of a day (no pun intended) when I found out that I won this....

My friend has this awesome Blog called I LOVE GIVEAWAYS! Each Monday she posts a new giveaway and you check out the items and leave a comment. Then through a random selection she gets a winner! It's totally free to you, but a great way for small online businesses to advertise their products. Cool huh? I love love the bracelet and can't wait until it comes to Lyssa can show it off. :-) If you're into the baby girl bracelet thing, mine is coming from this cool site! Thanks Precious Reflections!

My Latest Project

My garage turned into a workshop for the last two weeks! It was a sunny fall day and we had no big plans so we decided to take the kids to the park! On the way out to the car Nick said "hey, I think there's a garage sale going on down the street. Lets walk down and check it out before we go!" Needless to say, we never made it to the park. Turns out there were two garage sales and an estate sale all going on at the same time. I'd never been to an estate sale, so maybe they're not all like this, but this was an "everything must go" sale and we totally hit the jackpot! We found a beautiful 1970's bedroom set that I just LOVE, a dresser, and a Bistro table and chairs set, all for ridiculously cheap. We called our awesome home teacher (thanks Phil!) and moved the furniture out of that house and into our garage.

We immediately got to work. In fact, Nick took off all the old nasty hardware before I could even take pictures! We sanded and sanded and sanded some more for days (or really nights, after the kids were in bed). Then came the painting (which I left up to Nick's expertise) while I filled in the old holes with wood filler. After even more sanding, everything got painted and we moved everything into the house. We spent many nights in the garage working, but the bedroom set is finally complete (minus the mirrors that don't fit in our bedroom).

Nightstand before....

Nightstand After! Dresser before... (notice the not so lovely hardware sitting on the top...) Dresser After!
Armour before...
Armour After! (This is by far my favorite piece!)I LOVE the detailing, though it was a bear to sand and paint!Notice the new hardware I got from Home Depot.Lyssa's new dresser that I'll paint (and replace hardware) next Spring!I decided to hold off on painting the dresser for Lyssa's room until next Spring. Financially even bargains add up eventually, and it's getting freezing in that garage! I didn't take pictures of the bistro table, but I'll post about that someday when I recover the seats and paint it all up pretty.

So in all the chaos of new furniture, I decided to give Lyssa and Alec their own rooms. Lyssa is in the Winnie the Pooh room now, and Alec now has dominion over what used to be the guest room. (Guest will still have a bed, it's just now in the basement. :-)

So now I need your help. We want to decorate Alec's room in a "transportation" theme, but after splurging on all this stuff last month my budget is a little on the tight side. Have any ideas for me?

Alec's Acrobatics

Do you ever have those moments where you see your kids doing something kind of naughty, but really funny, and it takes everything you have not to laugh (possibly condoning the bad behavior)? Well, lately Alec has taken up some acrobatics. It is pretty funny to watch, but it can get a little out of hand sometimes...

Why Lyssa's crib is so much cooler than Alec's we may never know...

Picture of the Week: October 14-20

So I got this photo last Tuesday and knew as soon as I saw it that it would be the photo of the week. All I did was point and shoot. No touch-ups. No picasa edits. No photoshop. It was one of those cloudy cold days when we decided to go to the park anyway (just bring a towel along to dry off the slides). Lunch with Daddy at the park up in Johnston is always a hit! We just wish we could do it every day! Okay, now on to the photo. I love my little guy, so chill, so happy (most of the time). :-)