Snowpocalypse 2011 - Day 2

Another snow day!  This one started out with Izzy helping me get my weekly meds together.

And then we moved on to making valentines

 

And then Izzy decided to take ALL the toys out of her toybox and play with them.  First thing she found was this balloon

After all of this fun, Izzy took a nap while I did a conference call for work.   The rest of the day was pretty lazy, which was kinda nice for a change.  Part of me was wishing to see an email from the daycare saying it was closed again, but then, at the same time, I'm not sure if i would've been able to enjoy it because I've got so much to do at work!  This is the daily internal struggle I feel between work and life...there is no balance.

Snowpocalypse 2011 - Day 1

It sounds funny, but that's what everyone else is calling it so I'm going with it.  Today was the first day back to "normal"....Izzy back at daycare (which had been closed the last 2 days due to the ice storm), me back at work (me actually out of my jammies :)..this was actually the first time I drove since Monday afternoon!  I was ready to get back in the swing of things.....well, I was at least ready to get out of the house.  I think we were all starting to feel like caged animals.  I'm pretty much OVER the ice though...I wiped out Wednesday morning taking the trash out (only to find out that trash pickup was postponed until Thursday morning....nice.), and I wiped out this evening in the backyard with the dogs.  I flippin need some of those ice shoes that climbers use!

Anyway, enough complaining.  Getting past all of the crappy things associated with an ice storm...you just have to stop and admire the beauty of the ice....

Of course, the dogs had a hard time of it.  They weren't sure about the snow because it was coated in ice, and everywhere they walked was frozen solid.....meaning they wouldn't poop.  And since I was so worried that Rosie would hurt herself if she and Murphy were out there together, I had to let them out separately.  But judging by this video, Rosie handled it pretty well, wouldn't you say?

And Murphy's just a big barker

We were all stocked up...got some bread and water..you know, the essentials.  But I also thought that CUPCAKES should be part of my emergency preparedness kit, so that's what we did ;)  Izzy is starting to help out with cooking a little more, which is so fun for me, since I LOVE to cook. 

 At first she was a little scared of the mixer, but if I held it for her all was well

 But then she got a little too excited about stirring....right on to my sweatshirt :)

 And Izzy really enjoyed the fruits of her labor

 And afterword she helped Pappa clean up and do dishes.  Ahhhhh....a girl after my own heart ;)

LOTS of sick days this week

Izzy has been sick most of the week...a fever that kept coming back (no fever today, so hopefully it's finally gone) a hacking cough, and a nose so runny that it's now bleeding.  Poor.  Little.  Thing.  One of us was home with her from Tuesday through Friday.  I didn't get much done at work this week because even when I was there, I knew I should've been home with her.  Ahhhh....the perils of being a working parent.  What WAS nice was getting to spend so much time with her, even though a sick Izzy isn't quite as entertaining as a healthy Izzy.

She wasn't too bad early on Tuesday, yet.  I had to keep her home, though, because of her fever.  Check out the multi-tasking on this one...chattin' on her phone while watching Dora.   

But by Wednesday, she was fully sick and pathetic.

I think this video says it all, don't you?

She wasn't being dramatic.  She REALLY felt this bad.

Thursday I went back to work, which was awful for me.  It was nearly impossible to concentrate, and at 4:15pm I got a call from Joacim with a crying Izzy in the background.  She had been crying for me for a 1/2 hour.  I felt awful so I packed up immediately and headed home.  Joacim had soccer playoffs that evening, so it was just us girls.  We finished making Pernil, which is a Puerto Rican  pork, and then we started making some homemade chai concentrate.  Anyone that knows me knows that I have a severe slight addiction to chai.  I can't tell you how much money I've donated to Starbucks, but it's an embarrassing number, I'm sure.  so when I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website, I HAD to try it. And luckily she was feeling good enough to be my little helper for a bit.

This video I feel a teeny tiny bit guilty about...probably not good that she's eating pure sugar, but she'd had such a rough week....

And here is the end result.  And it is DELICIOUS.  And I'll be making it regularly.  Sorry Starbucks :(

I did get a few smiles out of her

Izzy's fever spiked up again after all of this activity, so I drove into work Thursday night to get my computer because Joacim had a meeting that he couldn't miss.  It was 10:00pm when I left..I didn't get to work until 11:00pm.  A semi had apparently exploded in flames on the interstate.  Perfect.  I slept in a little on Friday morning with her, but had to get up for a web meeting.  While I was on the phone/computer, Izzy sat in the office with me and played with her play-doh.

At one point ALL of the animals were in the office, but 5 living creatures makes it pretty cramped (and I was pretty sure that Rosie would eat some play-doh at some point) so I gated the dogs out. But a gate doesn't hold Lemmy back, and luckily he found a quiet place to rest.

It's been a long week, and I'll be glad to get back to some routine, but at the same time, I'm gonna miss her like crazy.

Dec 28 - visit to Trader's Point

It seems as though we're making this an annual event!  For the past 3 years we've gone to Trader's Point Creamery between Christmas and New Year's.  The first year, Izzy was only 6 months old, and Joacim's parents were visiting.  Last year and this year it's just the 3 of us, but we have a great time.  And there's nothing better after hanging out in the cold with the cows than a bowl of their organic chili in The Loft restaurant.  AHHHHmazing.  

But, before we could go to Trader's Point, we had to get ready. Izzy got a hair-styling set for Christmas and this was her first time to use it.

And then I was treated to a little jam session from my budding rock star

I LOVE taking photos of these cows...

These are the brand new babies..lying in the manger.

I don't think she had any idea how CLOSE this calf was to her head!

Look at the crazy horns on this one

When I said babies...I truly meant BABIES...I mean (and not be graphic or anything) but this mamma cow still had the afterbirth attached!

Ohhhhh....that yummy bowl of chili, and some coloring while we waited :)

Dec 25 - Christmas

We had an absolutely awesome Christmas.  Santa was VERY good to Izzy, as you can tell by this photo.

The day started pretty late for us.  We slept in until around 10:30...we actually had to wake Izzyboo up!  I'm fairly certain that this will be the last year for this luxury :)  After breakfast and a walk for the dogs, we dug in to the presents.  Izzy's first gift was an electric guitar...so she can ROCK N ROLL!!!!  Now, this is a cute present, but since there's no volume control, it may also be one of the worst idea's that Santa has ever had.

Izzy got a tea party set for Christmas, which she is loving!

Izzy got a box!!!

The look of surprise on her face in this video is something I've anxiously waited for

Let's not forget about one of the two cutest dogs in the world....

I think she got a little bored after awhile

Izzy's getting all dolled up with her play lipstick

A kaleidescope...she still hasn't quite figured out the whole eye thing (she keeps closing the eye that's supposed to be looking through the viewfinder)...freakin' hilarious to watch!

One thing I did notice, already, is that clothes are never a winner :)

Here's our very first tea party

Lemmy was in complete stealth mode because he heard a bunch of birds in the neighbor's yard.

It was a long day of opening gifts, and Pappa needed a little rest and a snuggle...how cute are these two?

Forgot about these

I completely forgot about these videos that I had uploaded last week, so I wanted to share them tonight :)

Here she is kicking the ball and being silly...


Here are the dogs playing tug with the wubba.  It's funny to see how sneaky Rosie is about taking the wubba, but also how she's finally holder her own against Murphy.  I have to say that it's not easy to hold onto the wubba when Murphy's thrashing around like that!


And here's a little conversation Izzy and I were having in the backyard the other day.  Totally random.


There's really no rhyme or reason to these videos...I just looked back at last month and realized how few videos that I had taken, so I've got some catching up to do.

A few more songs from today...

Izzy and Joacim had a rough start to the day....she threw up all over him. Yeah, glad I wasn't on the receiving end of THAT one. After I went to work to get my safety shoes (ugh) I came home and stayed with her.

I was doing a lot of photo editing today. I had a TON of photos from the weekend to process and I actually got it all done. Maybe because Izzy was on the floor doing this:

 And after she woke up from her nap, she blessed me with these songs...

This one is called "You play drums"

And here we have another rousing rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

A little song from Izzy....

This was my dinner entertainment....



Good lord, could she be any more fantastic??????

Celebrating the 11th Anniversary of my 25th Birthday :)

I am a firm believe that you're never too old to celebrate a birthday.  Every year I want cake and presents...that probably won't even change when I'm 80.  I just don't see why growing old has to equate to growing boring and grumpy.  A birthday is a day to be celebrated, and I had a GREAT one!

The morning started off with Izzy and Joacim bringing me presents in bed.  LOVED it!

Here she is helping me open my 1st present

And my 2nd present

Here's a little photo of Lemmy..he was unusually calm this morning

And here's her helping me with my 3rd present

You have to turn the volume WAYYYY up to hear this one, but she's saying, "Happy Birthday Mamma". 

I.  AM.  MELTING. AT. THE. CUTENESS.

This is a video of what we have to deal with every morning after we let the doggies out to do their business.

After presents, it was breakfast at Bob Evans for some biscuits and gravy...I'm in heaven. (Ok, you probably don't want to see all that I hauled down....these aren't necessarily for you to see, but for me to remember ;)

In the afternoon, my sister and niece and nephew came down for a visit. Izzy and Taylor played in the pool while Joacim took JT on a motorcycle ride for his birthday, which was a couple of weeks ago.

Andrea made me my favorite (and apparently Izzy's too) cake...German Chocolate with Carmel, Coconut and Pecan icing.  My mouth is watering just typing it.

It was just such a perfect day for me.  I got to hang out with Izzy and Joacim, got great gifts, breakfast at Bob Evans, and some cake and family time.  Perfect.

Oh yeah, here's my gifts...There was the t-shirt, then a red stylus to use with my iPad, and the coolest thing which is a coffee mug made to look like a Nikon lens.  I am officially a photography geek now too.