It's Summer!!

Summer is here!  And of course, our summer would not be complete without our annual visit from one of my very best friends in the world, Jess!  She was one of my roomies at BYU, and I just love her!!!  We picked her up from the airport last Monday and dropped her off yesterday, and we had such a great week!  The girls absolutely adored her, and we had a blast taking them on all kinds of outings.

I took the girls with me to St. Louis to get Jess from the airport, and while we were in the area, we went to the zoo!  I LOVE the St. Louis zoo.  What's not to love about a zoo that's FREE?!  Aleta didn't care much about the animals--she just wanted to run around.  That's pretty much the stage she is in lately--she just wants to run around, no matter where we are or what we are doing.  Nothing is more interesting than running around.  Naomi, on the other hand, was super excited about seeing the animals.  Specifically, she wanted to make sure we saw the elephants, giraffes, and monkeys.

I think that was a Komodo dragon in the background?

Some type of monkeys.

On Tuesday we took Naomi to the mall because I wanted her to have a cute dress.  Jacob accidentally dressed the girls in each other's dresses a couple Sundays ago, and the dress that he put on Naomi (which was actually Aleta's) was a fancy pink dress.  When I made Jacob change them back (because the dresses didn't fit!), Naomi was devastated.  She was sobbing and just so upset that she had to get out of the pink dress.  I felt so bad because we didn't have any cute, fancy dresses in Naomi's size.  Aleta has quite a few, but all we had for Naomi were casual, cotton dresses.  So I took some belated birthday money that I got for the girls, and we went on a dress search at the mall.  We ended up finding some ADORABLE dresses 50% off at Dillards, and I had exactly enough of the girls' birthday money left, so I bought them matching dresses.  They wore them on Sunday for Father's Day, and they looked super cute!

Just ignore the "A"... this was used for part of Jacob's Father's Day gift, but it's the only photo I have of the girls together wearing their dresses!

While at the mall, Jess paid for Naomi to ride the carousel for her first time.  It was a huge hit!  She couldn't stop talking about "riding the horse again".  She loved it.  So we all went back on Thursday (even Jacob tagged along) so the girls could ride the carousel together.

Wednesday was a hot day, so we took the girls to Little Mates Cove here in Columbia.  We've tried taking Naomi swimming every single summer, and this was the first time Naomi actually enjoyed it!  She usually cries and screams and freaks out and doesn't want anything to do with the water, but she had fun this year.  And Aleta seemed to have fun, too.  Little Mates Cove was perfect for them--it's only for kids.  The water is never higher than a foot or so.  There are slides and flowers that squirt water and other fun things.  And it's not too cold since it's not very deep. 

In addition to going on the carousel again on Thursday, Jess and I took the girls to the library.  We got new books, Aleta ran in circles around everything, and Naomi got to play games on the library computers (Naomi's favorite part of our library outings).  They also had some special thing going on at the library that we were unaware of, and they had chickens for the kids to see and even pet!  Naomi was pretty excited to see the chickens, but she wasn't sure what to think when I told her to pet it.

We spent Friday at a couple parks, trying to find some ducks to feed, but we were quite disappointed.  Somehow, there wasn't a single duck at either park that I was SURE would have ducks.  Naomi was pretty sad, since Jess & I had really built up the excitement of going to feed the ducks, and then we couldn't find any.  But she did have fun playing on the playgrounds!

I love the static-y hair shots. :)

Jacob spent Friday-Saturday camping and fishing with some of his friends, so on our way home from picking him up on Saturday, we stopped at Graham Cave State Park to have a picnic.  All of our pictures turned out kinda crappy, but I think Aleta's face in these two is pretty hilarious.

We spent Father's Day at church and then lazing around at home.  Jacob wanted to have a relaxing day, so that's what we did.  He also didn't want me to take any family photos, so I granted his wish, even though it made me very unhappy.  The girls looked so dang cute in their dresses, and I really wanted a picture of them with their Daddy on Father's Day... but I gave Jacob what he wanted!  We had a steak dinner and a chocolate cream pie for dessert... yum!

Monday was our last day with Jessie, so it was a pretty sad day.  We had hoped to make it a fun day by taking the kids to the science center before dropping Jess off at the airport, but it ended up being a disaster.  First of all, the science center was a complete disapointment.  Naomi loved the big T-Rex and Triceratops, but other than that, there really wasn't a single thing we cared to see or do.  Aleta wanted to do nothing but run around, and she threw a big fat screaming tantrum when we tried to pick her up to bring her to another area.  So we cut our outing short, which ended up being a good thing because they were having some nasty storms in St. Louis.  When we left the science center, it was downpouring outside.  I left Jess with the kids and went to get the car, and before I was halfway to the car, I was drenched.  I couldn't have been any wetter if I had jumped in a pool.  I drove around to the front of the building to pick them up, so the others managed to get in the car without getting completely soaked, but I was miserable.  And of course, I hadn't thought to bring any extra clothes for myself, and I didn't have towels or blankets or anything else, so we had to make a trip to Walmart, where I had to buy the cheapest towels I could find ($1.99!!) and the cheapest shirt/pants for myself.  Then we all had to dry off and change in the Walmart bathroom.  I totally felt like white trash, walking out of Walmart in my new bright red running pants and crappy t-shirt (is it TMI to add that I had to take off my bra, too?  I had no choice!  Everything was soaked through!).  It definitely wasn't the exciting, fun day we had planned... but it was an adventure I guess!

We loved having Jess come and play for the week, and we can't wait til next summer!!!  Now, who wants to come visit us next? ;)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

That's what I would tell you if you asked me how we have been lately... we have been SO busy!!  I have been working two part-time babysitting jobs, one during the day and one in the evening (and the daytime job has somehow turned into full-time lately), and it has made my life a thousand times crazier.  Three weeks ago, I worked 53 hours and went two full days without seeing my girls (oh my, that was so hard!!), and last week, I worked 47 hours.  It has made cooking and cleaning and laundry pretty much impossible, so Jacob has taken over a lot of the cleaning for me.  Luckily, he had a 3-week break from school and has been able to help me out a ton.  But he went back to school on Monday of this week, so I don't know how we are going to survive now!  Stay tuned, because I'm sure it will be interesting. :)

Last week, our friend Angela came to visit for a few days!  She is one of my old roommates from BYU (and also Jacob's ex-girlfriend... but that's a story for another day!).  We had a lot of fun, even though she was only here for 3 days.  We tried out the lake/beach area at Stephen's Lake Park here in Columbia.  Somehow, we even got Naomi to get into the lake and play in the water a little bit!  I think I've mentioned that she has an awful fear of water when it's in a lake, or a pool, or a splash park, or pretty much anywhere other than a bathtub or sink.  So we were shocked that we were successful in coaxing her into the water!  She had a moment when she fell face-first into the water and I was afraid it was going to ruin our progress, but it ended up being ok.

Aleta, in her cute HUGE hat.  (I couldn't find the baby hat!)

 

Naomi, nervously eyeing the water.

I don't know what Naomi is doing here, but it made me laugh. :)

At least Naomi smiled for this one, even if she didn't look at the camera!

Angela's first experience with Steak 'n Shake!

Smiling at Daddy

Me & Ang, about to leave for the airport.

Jacob & I went to his 10-year high school reunion a couple weekends ago, which was a major letdown for him.  First, they held it in a bar, which is one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard.  That's just trashy.  I get that they're all from some small hick town in Missouri, but come on!  Couldn't they have even tried to make it a little more classy?  The bar smelled SO badly like cigarette smoke that I felt like I needed a shower as soon as I got home to wash the stink off of me.  And it was so loud that Jacob and I had to literally scream at each other to be heard, even though we were sitting right beside each other.  That's not exactly the atmosphere I would think people would want at a reunion, when they are trying to catch up with friends they haven't seen in years. And there wasn't even close to enough room for everyone who came--they didn't rent out the bar, so it wasn't just reunion people there.  They had maybe 12 tables reserved, which filled up quickly.  By the time Jacob & I left, our table was surrounded by people who were standing because there wasn't anywhere left to sit.  And once it got crowded, we never saw our waitress again, so it took us close to 45 minutes to track her down so we could pay for our 2 sodas and leave.  It was awful.  I'd never been to a bar before, and from what I saw, I don't think I have been missing anything!  We wanted to make the most of our night out (since it's the first date night we've had in a long time) so we stopped at IHOP on the way home to have a delicious dinner.  I had chocolate chip pancakes (made with chocolate batter), and Jacob had stuffed French toast.  Yum!!

I think Jacob jabbed me in the side or tickled me or something.

About to leave for the reunion.

Last Friday, we attended a Convocation Ceremony for Jacob at Mizzou, where the people entering his major (nuclear medicine) and a few other majors in the health professions got a pin & recited some oath.  It wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, but Jacob has had to work EXTREMELY hard to get to this point, and I'm really glad we went to the ceremony.  It was an excuse for me to wear a dress & get all dolled up, and I was proud to see Jacob walk across the stage, even if it was just for a silly pin.  I'm so proud of Jacob and the way that he has handled certain experiences that he has unfortunately had to go through in the past year.  Let's be honest--the world can suck a lot of the time, and things are unfair, but Jacob handles all of the crappiness like a pro.  My husband is awesome!  (pictures from the ceremony to come in a future post)

Naomi has been busy being a typical 2-year-old... she enjoys throwing thirty tantrums a day, refusing to eat anything but snacks, and waking up Aleta when I have FINALLY gotten her down for her nap.  She is beautiful and funny, and she has been talking more and more.  She loves to give hugs... she will randomly jump up from where she is sitting, yell "HUG!!", and throw her arms around me.  Or Jacob.  Or Aleta.  Or even Hippo.  She jumped up from her chair in the living room one day, yelled "Hug!", and ran right past both Jacob and me before picking Hippo up from where he was laying on the floor and giving him a big hug.   She can match up colors, and she counts to 8... after 8, she just starts repeating "one" or "two" over & over.  She is definitely a cutie!

For some reason, Naomi squints & kinda scrunches up her face when she says, "Cheese!".

Trying to steal the camera from me... those are chip crumbs all over her face, in case you were wondering!

Aleta has been crawling around for a few weeks now.  She army crawls mostly, or scoots backwards, but she can pretty much get around to anywhere she wants to go.  She is still a really happy baby, and she is usually content to play on the floor and entertain herself.  Naomi was never that way, so I am loving it!  She still eats like a pro--she downs everything I give her.  She hasn't been sleeping so great for me lately, but I guess she has to have one flaw... haha.

Before she could really crawl forward much, she was playing on the floor one day and crawled/scooted backward across the living room until she had backed herself into this spot!  She got stuck between the couch and the wall and couldn't get out!

 

8-month photos

Happy girl!!

As for me, I've been working pretty much nonstop, like I said earlier.  I am not used to being a mother and a wife and working full-time hours, and I am having a rough time finding a balance!  The baby I watch during the day has been very needy lately... and she has the worst separation anxiety I've ever seen.  She screams bloody murder if I leave the room or even walk too far from her (basically, if I get farther than a few feet away, she screams) and doesn't stop until I come back and pick her up to soothe her.  When she screams, it upsets Aleta (who is usually so happy!), so then I have two screaming babies.  It makes it impossible to get anything done while I am watching her, which as I said, has been every day lately.  And then I'm gone in the evenings for my other job, so the housework has definitely suffered.  Hopefully I can find a balance soon so my life & our home can be less of a mess!

Jacob & I had a Brazilian-themed date night at home last weekend, which was fun!  I got the idea from this website, which has AMAZING date ideas & ideas of other ways to keep the romance alive in your marriage.  Anyway, they have a bunch of date night ideas where all of the activities are themed around a country, so you can have a night in Italy, or Mexico, etc. But they didn't have a night for Brazil.  So I planned my own!  I was planning on decorating the kitchen with a big Brazil flag & streamers & other things in the colors from the flag.  Then I had planned on making a yummy Brazilian dinner, which we would eat while listening to Brazilian music, and then we were going to make Brigadeiros together for dessert.  Finally, we would watch Rio, which neither of us had seen yet.  But that's not exactly how the night went down.  I was exhausted from working 47 hours that week, and I had no time to do anything to prep for the date, and our kids were awful and wouldn't go to bed until later than I had hoped, so we only had the time and energy to make Brigadeiros and then watch Rio.  *sigh*  Oh well... I guess we'll just have to visit Brazil for date night again soon, and I can do all the other things I had planned!

This is how I informed Jacob of our date night... you can make your own plane tickets here.  How fun is that?

Our Brigadeiros!  They were delicious!

P.S.  I forgot to mention that Jacob served his mission for our church in Brazil, so he lived there for 2 years and speaks Portuguese.  That's why I chose Brazil for our date night... I thought it would be fun for him to "revisit".  haha :)

They Came, They Ate, They Left.

Today, two of my good friends from Utah came to visit!  Well, we were all friends when we lived in Provo, but they're actually both from Missouri.  Sarah now lives in California, and Liz is home for a visit before she and her family move to New York City.  It was so fun to see them and their kiddos!  It has been about a year since I've seen Liz, and I haven't seen Sarah since we moved from Provo 2 years ago.

We ate a little lunch and then spent a few hours catching up, chatting, and playing with our kiddos.  I loved having them visit, but it made me miss them more, too.  I miss the days in Provo where we all lived within a block of each other.

Here is a photo from when Naomi first met Brooklyn (Sarah's daughter)...

and here is when Naomi first met Elliot (Liz's son)...

and here are all of our kids today!

From left to right:  Elliot holding Penelope (Liz's kids), Naomi & Aleta (my kids), and Brooklyn (Sarah's daughter)

And here's a pic of the three of us today.  I looked, but I couldn't find a single photo of us together from before we all moved from Provo.  Sad!

Thanks for coming to visit, Liz & Sarah!  I miss you guys already.

A few more photos from the week...

Jess sent me a cd in the mail with the photos from her camera, so here are a few more photos of my week of fun with Jess:

Aleta, all ready to go!

Jess in the cave

Walk to Devil's Icebox

Naomi was trying on Jess's hat