life lately: may 2016

here's some snippets from our month of may. 99% are of the girls (ok, there's only one pic of jae and i and it's a terrible picture!), but our lives revolve around them so it makes sense, right?

a rainbow shaped line of shoes is gracie's favorite thing to be OCD about lately ;)

big girl bed!!!! this bed has been waiting for months now (i've been pushing it off and pushing it off..) and since lola hit 6 months and wasn't sleeping in her crib yet (i had a lot of anxiety about that) because gracie was still sleeping in the crib - well i finally told jae it was time and we were just going to jump right in! so we did. and she's done pretty dang good. this was her first night. she was pretty excited.

endless kisses between these sisters

she is a momma's girl and a snuggler and i cannot get enough of the sweetness

she wanted to have a picnic in the basket with her snacks and books. so she did!

gracie went to see cousin quinn in her ballet recital. i think she got a little bored with all the dancing, but loved the costumes and the flowers at the end! and dressed up in her 'twirl' skirt and pink sparkly ballet shoes for it

pantry door, painted and knobbed and installed! check.

tile floor is done!!!!! jae did amazing.

she cracks me up. insisted on the hat (which is so cute but too big so falls off constantly) and the purse, of course. she gets so mad when she can't get it on and off over her head by herself.

oh and all of that while reading some books in mom and dads closet.

i wish you could see him from the front view, but someone asked gracie 'what is dad doing?' and she looked at him like this and said, without missing a beat, 'feeding lola!'. that's exactly what it looked like, now that she mentions it! it was so so funny.

first nap in the crib. now she's in there for every nap and every sleep and it's been so great.

just a goofy gracie face. she's super into scrunching her nose lately and giving us this disgusted look.

she often asks to have some of my morning smoothie, and it always makes its way up to her nose somehow ;)

lola doesn't make very many silly faces like this! i was so glad i caught it on camera.

we had a nasty cold turned bronchiolitis run through our house a few weeks ago and the girls (and jae and i) were sad little sickies for two weeks. it was miserable.

greatest family photo you've seen, amiright?! (lola's face!)

visiting my sister susan's new house that's being built and playing peek-a-boo in their fun little windows under the stairs. perfect gracie size.

first ride in the stroller sans carseat. she did pretty good sitting up! until she fell asleep.

lots of park days and lola got to sit in the swing too! she literally just sat in the swing for 10 seconds - but it's a start! soon she'll be swinging right alongside sister. 

(and it was too bright for little baby eyes)

gracie's first dentist appointment!! they took xrays and brushed her teeth and counted them and she got to pick out a new toothbrush and two prizes. she did awesome! and no cavities! 

(score one for the parents ;))

life lately: and april is over.

i'm not even sure what happened to the month of april, but here we are in may!

the last couple weeks i have had a pretty consistent sore throat. i'm not sure why. i don't feel sick. maybe a weird dry air problem? who knows, but it's annoying more than anything. and jae seems to be allergic to something in or around our house - he'll be fine all day (where he's working outside with grass and trees and all sorts of things he's actually allergic to) and then he gets home and literally 5 minutes later his nose starts running. what the?! can't figure that one out. gracie is just a typical 2 year old - such a sweet sweet little girl whos' giving me hugs and kisses and then two minutes later is screaming at me that she wants chocolate milk and she wants it now! and i am not to tell her what to do! and i am officially the worst mom to a 2 year old. i just don't have the patience. i just don't! and then lola - she's absolutely PERFECT. except she doesn't poop. like, maybe once a week. and even though changing a poopy diaper only once a week sounds amazing, it is actually starting to be a problem.

so that's us lately! plus these:

it's hard to haul a baby and a laundry basket around - so we improvised :) don't worry - no harm of babies during this transport. she kind of loved it.

so this happened.... weber water turned on and apparently this pipe was seriously busted. it sprayed water out like this ALL DAY LONG til jae got home around 4pm and noticed it. it had been raining all day too so the extra water sound didn't even phase me, since i had no idea til jae found it. filled the window well (next picture down - look close, you can see the water just pouring in) and came in the bathroom window and just like that we had INCHES of water sitting ON TOP of the carpet. the entire basement got wet. it was a disaster. so who did i call? the flood disaster people. too much for us to even deal with. we were lucky though - nothing got seriously damaged. except the carpet and bathroom and such, but nothing else. still working on this.

gracie was just 'taking orders', with the help of grandpa's shoulders

lola practicing selfies. she's getting pretty good. and plus - she's adorable so.

date night out at the new cabellas!

since we're such fisherman and hunters and so outdoorsy like that - we bought baseball caps at cabellas. ha. and gracie wanted to try out my new hat.

(plus - she's obsessed with that baby. it goes everywhere with us.)

we've been enjoying the nice spring weather outside and the other day gracie laid back and put her hand up to block the sun and said "let's watch the clouds go by mommy". ha! i was like what did you just say!? silly girl :)

walks on the boulevard! she's super into seeing the temple lately and since we're living right below the boulevard, it's the perfect place to walk to! and gives gracie the chance to run and run (and get tired before naptime ;))

i got in my car and started driving to work last week and looked over to notice a WASP literally making a nest IN MY CAR!!!!!!! you guys, i freaked out a little. i pulled over and swatted it away and knocked it's beginning of a nest down and jumped back in and was then terrified the rest of the drive that a swarm was going to come out my vents and sting me to death. last time i'm leaving my windows down while parked in my driveway. 

baby girl found her toes!

always wanting to hold lola and ALWAYS wanting to give her loves

we were sitting on my bed the other day and i just noticed how long her and pretty her hair is. love it.

she had a bowl of apples and her books were already in the basket. she said 'mom can i get in? it'll be like a picnic!' so she did. she ate her apples and then read her books one by one, all in the basket.

just post-nap snuggles on my chest. oh i just love her.

an update on our house (that i haven't even blogged about at all yet...ha): jae's almost done with the kitchen/dining room tile! he's so awesome. love a man that can get stuff done around the house!

isn't it pretty? i love it already. he's further than this now, he should be done pretty quick! cannot wait.

where in the world.

i probably shouldn't be writing a blog post at 6am because i'm not exactly totally awake or coherent in my thoughts or sentences, but here i am. i feel like my brain and my mind and my thoughts and my everything is going a million miles an hour in a million different directions. i feel unsettled and unsure. and tired. i feel very very tired.

for some reason that's still somewhat unknown to myself, we decided it'd be a good idea to do all of these things at once: both jae and i work full time jobs (while i also have a second PRN job), have a baby, and put our house up for sale on a whim (while still working on some finishing touches in our house and with no real idea of where we'll go). all while raising our toddler in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the busy summer months and trying to stay alive. at this point, that's about all i feel like i can do some days - stay alive.

i can't stop yawning - did i mention i was so tired?

and also - what were we thinking??!

the whole house thing has just been craziness. i started a post about it, and if the saga ever ends i'll finish the post. but basically it's been one giant rollercoaster - so great and promising one day and then super up in the air and uncertain the next. and i'm kind of really over it at this point.

and then there's work - can i just say it? I HATE WORK.

this post is feeling like a really down and depressing post. life is also really good - gracie is growing and learning and TALKING UP A STORM every day, and she is so fun and lively and a little firecracker with some serious attitude, we just can't get enough of her. also, baby SISTER (i don't think i've even blogged about being pregnant yet....hmmm) is growing and kicking and doing great, which is a HUGE relief and blessing.

i just need life to calm down a little bit. i feel like i'm at work every.single.day.of.my.life, because really, i kind of am, and it's wearing me down. i'm kind of super ready for fall, because i feel like life kind of naturally has a way of slowing down a little when september hits and a routine kicks back in that we haven't had during the summer.

and then there's this blog. i really love to blog and love keeping up on our life through these posts, but the posts are few and far between these days, and that's just how it is right now. also, my phone has some weird film/scratch thing right through the middle of the picture lens, so every picture i take with it has like a blurry spot and it's super annoying and ruins all the pictures so i rarely even take pictures on it anymore. so that doesn't help with the blogging effort either.

i guess with this post i just needed to rant and ramble for a minute.
and now, some random pictures of (you guessed it) gracie and life lately, because why not.

she put on dad's hat and picked up a bag and wanted her shoes on because she was "going to work"

i found this little gem one morning after jae had been playing blocks with gracie the night before. in case you need a translation: jae loves mh (that's me, guys) and gracie :)

helping grandma karen water her flowers

relaxing in the hammock with cousin jack.

grandma karen got a new camper tent thing and i think you can tell how gracie feels about it.

i'm not sure where she got it from, but she likes to lay back and relax with her arms behind her head. it's kind of hilarious.

we went on a date the other night, just gracie and i. we had ice cream first and then dinner ;) (see what i mean about the blurry blop in the picture? dumb.)

and another ice cream pic to finish them up.

garage in progress, vol 2.

we have made progress, people!

at the end of the last garage post, we had footing, foundation, and a garage floor poured.
now, we've completed framing, windows and (people) doors installed, half of the driveway, brick, and half of the roofing!

spot the little nugget?? :)

there's another few feet of driveway out to where the sidewalk/curb/gutter will be, but that's not going in until next spring. so we will just have half a driveway through the winter with gravel filling in the front few feet til we get all the rest of that put in next year.

ok so i haven't actually taken a picture of the roofing in progress yet - jae (with the very amazing help of family, friends, and neighbors - THANK YOU!) just finished getting all the tar paper up today before the storm hits. so now it's ready for shingles.

our siding is ordered and should be here in the next week or so. electrical will be done in the next week or so, too, hopefully. lastly is our garage doors i think? yay! then it can snow ;)