our weekend

It's 5:40am and I can't sleep.  My brain is too busy.  I'd go for a run but it is at most 23 degrees, there is snow and ice on the ground, and I don't wanna.  So I suppose I might as well write a blog post!  It's been long enough.  Truthfully I've got a lot on my plate right now, and while I have had some free time, I just want to tune completely out come 8pm.  But home renovations are underway so soon enough I'll at least have all that to talk about!

Speaking of renovations, this weekend we went home to meet with a cabinet guy about designing our kitchen.  The kitchen has quickly escalated from just painting the cabinets white, to getting all new cabinets and appliances.  Funny how that happens.  In the long run I truly think it will be the best choice.  The house is going to feel almost brand new by the time we're done with it, and we will still be all in at less than we would have to build.  At least that what it seems like right now anyway.

They have ripped out all the carpet in the house, started taking out drawers and doors in the kitchen, and have almost completely gutted the master bathroom.  I have yet to completely come up with what I want the master bathroom to look like, or how I want it to be laid out.  Just one of the things keeping me up at night!  Unfortunately while we were at the house we noticed water leaking out of the dishwasher.  We tried to clean it up, couldn't figure out why the water was coming out, but scooped some out and thought we were good to go.  But the dang thing kept filling back up.  My dad and Chris came up with a solution, somehow shutting something off and turning on faucets in the basement.  But not before some of our hardwoods were definitely ruined.  We're getting them refinished so it shouldn't be an issue, but it was certainly frustrating.

After we finished meeting with the cabinet guy, Chris won all the dad points by driving Ryann back to Kansas City for an hour long event at her school.  It was Daddy Dino Day, where the kids and the dads could go have fun doing dinosaur activities.  I really didn't think he would take her, nearly three hours in the car, for an hour event, all while the KU basketball game was on (ROCK CHALK!).  But Christopher loves his girls, and Ry desparately wanted to go.  Ryann said they had dino snacks and did an obstacle course, dug for fossils and some other various things.  She had a blast and I'm so thankful she has a loving daddy who will do those things with her.

Also, she picked out her headband and bracelet that day.  Accessories are key!  :o)

If Christopher won all the daddy points, my parents definitely took the win on grandparent points for the weekend.  It was a cold gloomy weekend, so they opted to do something a little different.  The bounce house inside for a change!  I'm not sure why we've never tried it, but it definitely kept the girls busy while we were in town.  We regularly had to tell Elsie that the bounce house had to take a nap so that the thing wasn't running all day long.  Sorry about that electric bill Papa!

The rest of the weekend was spent pouring over pinterest for kitchen and bath ideas, eating big breakfasts and yummy dinners and making decorations for Elsie's birthday party.  As of Saturday the only thing I had accomplished was buying supplies and spray painting a giant E.  By Sunday night I had made 75 tissue tassels.  Whew!  My mom definitely played a role in it by cutting most of the tassels, while I did all the twisting and gluing.  The color scheme is starting to look a little 80's to me or something, but whatever.  I didn't want to use just black and yellow, so I threw in some other stuff.  Maybe a little more pastel would have been better, but nonetheless I think it will be fun!

daddy ran them outside to catch snowflakes on their tongue

It started snowing Sunday, and by the afternoon the roads were seeming a little icier than expected.  We decided to stay at my parents and had planned a run to the grocery store for supplies to make some super bowl snacks.  I was all pumped for the food, and then Chris remembered he needed to get the portable ultrasound machine back to work.  Wah waaah.  Goodbye yummy snacks.  Thankfully the highway turned out to be much better than we anticipated, so the drive home wasn't too rough.  On the way I ordered some pizza for dinner and we ate while watching the game.  I was pulling for the Seahawks, so sad.  The girls really enjoyed the halftime show, and I was just stoked to see Missy Elliot.

All in all, a pretty good weekend. 

this and that

:: I haven't run in nearly two weeks.  We'll, I've tried here and there, but something in my hip is a hot freaking mess and I don't make it even a tenth of a mile before I'm limping.  Chris isn't really sure what is going on, I can't accurately pinpoint where the pain is coming from, or what kind of pain it is.  All I know is that even a brisk walk leaves me feeling crippled for a couple hours.  I've been making do at the gym with the elliptical and the bike, but I loathe those machines.  And I haven't been able to make myself really do any weight training.  I love the barbell class, but as of right now I can only make it once a week.  Dear hip, stop sucking at life.  I miss running.

::  The other week I noticed that Target had some Elsa and Anna dresses in stock.  I had told Ryann we weren't taking any toys home that day, so I resisted the urge to grab her the Elsa one.  But I texted my mom and said it wouldn't be horrible if she picked it up.  Well wouldn't you know my mom had to go and one up Target by making Ryann a gorgeous Elsa dress.  My mom is pretty much awesome like that.

The ridiculous part, so my mom shows Ryann the dress, and of course she is happy.  But then she asks where the crown and the shoes are that the little girl on the pattern package had.  We didn't have shoes or a crown, so of course Ryann was crushed.  She was whining, and said to my mom "this girl has the braid and the crown and the dress AND the shoes!" My mom replied "well your hair is in a braid." Ryann's response? "Fine, braid, check.  But I still need the crown and the shoes."  Oh child.  Get over yourself and just tell Grammy thank you!

::  This past weekend was my 10 year high school reunion.  I'm sad I missed out on the tour of the high school, it looks like it has changed a ridiculous amount since I've been there.  But getting together in the evening was fun.  I'm not sure how many from our class attended, maybe 50?  I'm terrible at estimating numbers.  We graduated with just over 300 I believe.  I may have drank WAY too much wine, but it was good to catch up with people I haven't seen since graduation.  I can't believe I've been out of high school for 10 years.

::  Christopher turned 29 on Sunday!  He had a work function to attend, and I was still recovering from the absurd amount of wine, so it was a bit uneventful.  But we had a gift and a cake and I hope he knows we love him.  I'll make it up to you for your thirtieth Christopher, promise.

Alrighty, back to crafting ridiculous dinosaurs with the kiddo.

the flower girl

A week ago Ryann had the privlidge of being the flower girl in our friend Kyle's wedding.  He married an Ashley, so I liked her from the start, but she is a pretty awesome girl on top of that.  And thank goodness she has a very laid back personality, because I was TERRIFIED that Ryann might create quite the spectacle at the wedding.  Really she did pretty good, walked down the aisle (spiking handfuls of petals as she went), sat quietly next to the other flower girl... that is until the other flower girl (Kyle's niece who is 10?  I think...) got up to do one of the readings.

Ryann had strict instructions to stay by Peyton and do what she said.  She was also told to sit in her chair when Peyton went up to read, but apparently Ry chose to ignore that part.  So she followed Peyton up to the mic.  I wasn't quick enough to jump up and retrieve her, but crossed my fingers that she would just follow Peyton back to their chairs after the reading.  No such luck.  Peyton tried to grab her hand to come back down, but gave up quickly.  And then Ryann tried to climb up to the mic so she could talk.  Oy.  Chris (he was the best man) ran between the happy couple, snagged Ry and passed her my way.  She spent the rest of the ceremony playing with a coloring app on my phone.

It could have been worse?  At least she is cute :o).  Of course she pretty much wouldn't let me take pictures (what is new?), but here she is in all her flower girl glory.

Thank you, Kyle and Ashley, for letting our family be a part of your big day.  We are so happy for you!

road trip

Last weekend we traveled to Omaha for our annual family golf tournament.  I have zero interest in golf, but I'm down with the family part.  It was Elsie's first longish car trip, and I was terrified.  That girl does NOT sleep well in her carseat.  The way out she made it about 90 minutes, the way back?  30.  30 freaking minutes of our three hour drive.  Thankfully she didn't scream the entire time or anything, but she was definitely getting pissed by the time we got home.

While we were there we visited the Omaha Zoo.  They currently have a dinosaur exhibit with 15 giant animated dinosaurs.  Ryann was in HEAVEN.  Seriously.  The dinos were really cool, they looked like they were breathing and everything.  We also really enjoyed the aquarium, as usual (how cute was Ryann the last time we visited the Omaha Zoo?).  I was very proud of Elsie, we were there for close to four hours, and she was a champ on minimal sleep and a lot of heat.

Unfortunately we didn't get to spend too much time in the evenings hanging out with my family because Elsie has gotten to the point where if she's up past 7:30 she is just done.  Really 7:00-7:15, but we milked another 15 minutes out of her.  Nonetheless we still had fun.  There isn't much else to say, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.  Please note the awkward hug between Ryann and her cousin (second cousin?  I don't know, my cousin's kid).  Ryann was pretty smitten with her, I'm not sure the feeling was completely mutual :o).

happy birthday christopher.

My other half turns 28 today (I can't believe we're almost 30!).  I wish I had come up with some elaborate birthday plan, but elaborate isn't really in my vocabulary lately.  So instead we've got a homemade cake, a homemade birthday card and a couple of presents.  And my parents lined up as babysitters for the evening.  It may not be elaborate, but I think he'll love it just the same.

Christopher, I think this is the 11th birthday (maybe?  my math skills aren't so good right now) I've celebrated with you.  I hope there are many more birthdays to come.  The girls and I are so lucky to have you in our lives, we appreciate everything you do for us.  Thanks for being awesome.  Happy Birthday.  We love you.

five years

Five years ago today I woke up well before my alarm.  I laid there in bed staring at my ceiling, making a list in my mind of the million things I still had left to do (have I mentioned I'm a HUGE procrastinator?).  I rolled out of bed, took a shower, and scrambled around the house doing this or that.  I was surrounded by my family and friends.  The morning was hectic, and stressful, and absolutely wonderful.  All those people I loved right there with me.

Eventually we were all ready, the limo finally showed up, and we headed to the church.  With a pit stop on the side of the road for photo ops in front of a corn field of course.  We snuck our way into the church so my groom wouldn't see me.  My stomach was a ball of nerves, I was so excited, and so anxious.  I listened to the prelude music, and heard the hum of guests filling the church.  I couldn't believe my wedding day was here.  Everything was a blur.  Suddenly it was time, we lined up outside the sanctuary.  One by one the couples made their way down the aisle.  I smiled when everyone laughed, the flower girl was taking her sweet time with the rose petals, and the ring bearer gave up and left her.  Then it was just my bestie, my dad and me.  She gave me one last squeeze before heading into the church.  I slid my arm around my dad's elbow, gave him a smile.  We stepped into the doorway.

And for a moment time stopped.  I can't remember exactly what everything looked like, what Chris's face looked like, but the feeling that I got?  I'll never forget.  My eyes met his and all of my joy and excitement and love collided into one place.  Everything else disappeared out of the room, and all I felt was pure happiness.

Today I get to celebrate five years of marriage with my better half.  We've grown up together.  I was 15 when we met, just a baby.  We've been through a lot.  High school, college, med school, residency.  We moved to Kansas City, we bought a house, we had two babies.  During all of which we've certainly had our ups and downs.  Right now our relationship isn't where I want it to be.  We're both spread pretty thin, and haven't made each other a top priority.  In spite of that, I love you, Christopher, even more than the day I married you.  You make my world go round, I don't know what I'd do without you.  I'm honored and overjoyed to celebrate many more years together.

Happy Anniversary.

Sorry for the excess of photos.  The lovely Adrienne Maples captured the day so well, and it was hard to narrow down some to put in the post.  I figured since it was somewhat of a milestone anniversary I was allowed :o). 

Georgia Snapshots

Lately I have been TERRIBLE about getting out my big camera.  My phone is just so much quicker.  But I did manage to snap a few shots that I really liked while we were in Georgia.  So...

That last one kills me.  Those eyebrows, they say so much!  And actually I was already dead thanks to the matching swimsuits.  We've got my Auntie Donna to thank for those!

Now to upload all my instagram pictures from the week...