an evening 'round here

This post is mainly for me. I just want to document a typical evening (and beyond) around here, because someday I hope to look back on this time in our lives and remember it fondly.

445: leave work to get girls

505: on a good day with no dawdling by Emmy, we are leaving their school by this time

525: arrive at home. 1 out of every 15 days Nora might fall asleep on the way home, we have a monitor base that we keep in the car for those times. 

540: dinner is served. I'm the fastest chef this side of the Mississippi!

600: play time/ quick family walk/ clean up kitchen

615: bath time for both girls

635: Nora and I head to her room to rock/nurse while Emmy watches "Elf on the Shelf"

700: Nora asleep

715: Emmy goes potty and brushes teeth. This is followed by us reading a book to her, singing a song and saying prayers.

730: leave Emmy's room so she can have 5 minutes of "reading" books to herself. 

735-740: lights out for Emmy

740-830: listen to Emmy thrash/cry/do yoga in bed/remake her bed/ rearrange pillows/sing/make demands and cough. This usually requires a few trips into her room, threats if the spanking spoon and removal of privileges. 

900: I shower

930: pump, wash parts and all other baby things from the day, pack Nora's bottles for the next day. Then we feed the dogs. 

1000: to bed

(The next few items happened last week, and although the time of the events usually vary- the events themselves almost always happen)

1130: Nora wakes up and is wide eyed. I pull her into bed with me on the daybed in her room. 

1245: she's still awake and becoming very agitated.

100-115: I give in and feed her and she falls asleep

116: I go into our bedroom, pound on bed to wake the hubby and proclaim "we have GOT to fix Nora's sleep". Side note: we never had to "train" Emmy to sleep. She just did it on her own. Nora is giving us a run for our money. 

215: Nora wakes up crying. A few pats on he back and paci reinsertion later and she's asleep

400: coughing attack that wakes her, she needs help getting back to sleep. 

445: another coughing attack that wakes her and me, she needs help getting back to sleep. 

610: Emmy wakes. Goes peepee and then back to bed, where she stays until her clock turns green at 640. 

We get ready for work, do our morning stuff and sometime around 8am I settle in at my desk to, ya know, enjoy ALL that kid free time I get as a working outside the home mom. Because, as everyone knows, when I'm at the office I can just shut my door and not answer to anyone.  I have no one that needs me here and I can just rest ;)

our budding broadway star

Emmy LOVES to sing.  She always has.

Around 2 months old she found "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to be about the best thing since the invention of boob juice.

Music has always caught her attention, and she always tends to like shows that have more music.

Lately, we have been on a Christmas kick.  She tends to do this.  It was 2 years ago that we were watching "Rudolph" well into April.  Well this year it was Charlie Brown Christmas (until it self deleted from the DVR) and now it is Elf on the Shelf.  Another favorite is listening to "Oklahoma" from the musical.

Ok...there's the intro, here's the story:

The other day we were driving home from work/school and she is singing "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing".  I look back and and I see her nose pointing up to the sky....just like all of Charlie Brown's friends.

Also one night this week, Emmy was very adamant about putting on a dress and sitting up on the arm of the chair.  Chris kept picking her up and she kept expressing her displeasure with what he was doing. This happens quite often that her 3 year old words don't keep up with her racing 3 year old brain.  She has a great vocabulary, but she gets so wrapped up in what she wants that she has a hard time expressing it.  She eventually said "I want a long dress that goes over my boopies" and DING, DING, DING....I finally knew what she wanted. (Keep scrolling)

She wanted to re-enact THIS scene!

This girl keeps us on our toes.  She frustrates us.  She makes us laugh.  She makes us want to pull our hair out.  She gives the best hugs. She wakes Nora up in the morning by having a fit. She calms Nora down by singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".  There is only one Emmy Christine and we love *most* everything about her :)

10 month collage

 (L to R and Top to Bottom)

1.  Playing with her new "Nora" bench

2. From Emmy's point of view

3.  Our new dog, Perry

4.  Tummy time on Christmas morning

5. (center pic) Tummy time on Christmas eve (notice Nora is still not getting UP on all fours)

6.  Sister time every morning in mommy and daddy's bed

7.  The Sanders girls, minus the mama

8.  Matching jammies with the baby

9.  Opening presents Christmas morning

10.  Matching jammies with Emmy

(Notice there is no picture with all 3 of us and our matching jammies.  This is because Emmy had a classic case of "the threes" that particular night and did NOT want to wear her jammies while Nora and I had on ours)

What's for Dinner Wednesday

I love to cook, I love to bake, I hate to clean up, I make big messes, and I have 2 girls who are ready for dinner the moment we step in the house after a long day at school/work.

Anyone else in the same boat?

I can't promise you, or myself that this will become a weekly habit- but I need a place to keep track of our weekly menu (because you can usually find the weekly menu, on a piece of paper with the grocery list, in last week's trash pickup).

So here I go, starting something that I probably won't stick to....oh well.  Start project, don't finish it.  Make messes, don't clean them up.  Are we seeing a pattern?

Monday:  Buffalo Wild Wings, since we had a gift card.  My order was not ready for pick up when I arrived so they threw in 4 extra boneless wings for Chris, score!  I joke about his boneless wings b/c I call them "fake".  I eat the real ones: bone, skin, lots of fat, lots of goodness.

Tuesday: Slow Cooker pork chops from here.  They were delicious.  I added some honey to the original mixture.  At the end of the day, I took the juices and combined with pineapple juice and a cornstarch/water mixture on the stovetop to make a thicker sauce.  Poured it over the chops, pineapples and rice.  Next time I'll add some steamed broccoli in there for more nutritional goodness.

Wednesday:  Avocado stuffed sweet potato from here. I'm not into following directions unless I'm baking, so for this recipe I usually just make an avocado pico de gallo and add some drained and rinsed black beans.  It makes a nice meat free meal, although shredded chicken would also be a great addition.

Thursday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup.  The high is supposed to be 38* and Chris will be working late, so no need for a big dish.

Friday: Bubble pizza from here. I made this last week and it was delicious.  A few minor adjustments:  I used an oval casserole dish and only needed 1 tube of biscuits, cheese on 1/2 the dish only as I'm still dairy free for Nora and we did canadian bacon, pepperoni, mandarin oranges and pineapple.  This week we are going to use sliced sausage, pepperoni and sliced olives!  We are going up to Kansas this weekend and if we don't finish all of this dish before we go, I will take some with me for breakfast the next morning!!!

What are you having for dinner this week?  Please feel free to share your "go-to" and "no-fail" recipes, I'd love to add some more dishes to my list!

2012 picture recap

Let me just say that I am SO relieved that I have a picture, from each month, of the girls together!  I started making this collage thinking I would just pick my faves from each month.  However, the collage took a turn and this is what I ended up with.  They may not be the best pictures, sharpest pictures, most smiley pictures…but I love what it captured from this past year.  I cannot believe how each girl has grown in the past 10-12 months.  

I need time to slow down.

In 2 months and 2 days, Chris will be turning 31.  That means that in 2 months and 3 days, Nora will be turning 1!  How can this be possible??????  I know I have said that statement before and I will probably say it again.  This year has absolutely flown by without asking me for my opinion!

So here is our 2012 collage in chronological order (left to right and top to bottom).  Do you have a fave picture?  I think if I had to choose just one as my favorite, it would be the "August" picture. 

Or December…

Or June…