Few things make me giggle like Tard The Grumpy Cat. He is an unfortunate looking little kitty who looks like his face is perpetually frowning and his sadistic owners take pictures and caption them with simple sayings that crack me up. This is my favorite from this last week:
He’s just so ugly, he’s cute
At a particularly bad time in life, my mom, sister and I were looking for a new home. I remember her telling us that we needed to pray that God would find us a new house and that if he did, we would plant a rose garden in honor of Mary. A short time later we found a little rental house that was run down, but had lots of potential. And in a corner in the backyard was a neglected little rose garden. We used to spend hours trimming and fertilizing and the results were some of the most beautiful roses I’ve even seen.
Flash forward a few years and we were ready to buy the house down the street. Again my mom prayed that if we got the house, we would plant a rose garden. And again there was a neglected rose garden behind a small wall in the backyard.
Those rose gardens spoiled me because they were old and established and produced amazingly large blooms with powerful scents. It was nothing to have a large vase full of 20+ roses, all from the yard. When PW and I remodeled our house, we built raised beds for vegetables and roses – the vegetables have done great, the roses, not so much. After some research a lot of trial and error and some additional plants (vines on the block walls keep the heat index down in the summer), I finally have a bush that has lasted a full year AND produced blooms. Not a vase full, but we’re getting there. I have plans for a second bush (and maybe a third…) so hopefully this time next year my post will be filled with beautiful blooms!
As it opened, it changed color
Until I have the vase full of home grown roses, I’m relying on Pottery Barn’s Heirloom Rose diffuser to get me through. I put it in the bedroom and it’s gentle scent makes me happy every time I pass by.
You hear about things that are happening to others and it makes you stop and realize how very lucky you are. Today is one of those days where the worst things I’ve got going on are a kiddo who is slightly under the weather, 6 pounds of baby weight that won’t budge and a to do list the length of my arm and only one hand to tackle it with …and in the midst of feeling a little overloaded, I feel like I’m big time winning.
I’m thankful for my health and a body that is still a little chubby but can carry two kids and squat down to get dropped keys, my families’ health, a wonderful husband, crazy kids, health insurance, a warm house, clean sheets, a refrigerator full of food, the ability to ignore the refrigerator full of food and order in, PW’s busy job, a nice sister, a step family that I genuinely like, more friends than fingers, faith in God, a lettuce table that didn’t freeze, a baby who likes to sleep 5ish hours at night and being able to enjoy a glass of wine while to kiddos sleep soundly in their beds.
My mom always says to be thankful for the boring times. Today, I am incredibly thankful for the (relativity) quiet!
Everyone was in the mood to have their picture taken (well the little girls were for awhile…) on Christmas Eve so we got some great family shots that were so festive. Although it was yet another reminder that I need to use my gift certificate and learn to use my camera in low light…
Don’t laugh – but when I saw this picture I said to Peter “We have TWO kids! We are a family of FOUR!”. I don’t know why but seeing all of us in a picture made it seem more real than 3am feedings. Did I mention I don’t sleep?
Cousin Zoe, Titi and Uncle Mike
The BIG cousins (this is the point where the little girls and babies were not having it)
PW pointed out that each cousin tortures the next oldest – can you tell who precedes Baylor? Thankfully Quincy doesn’t seem to mind.
It’s too bad we don’t look anything alike…
Three generations. Again, too bad they don’t look alike.
Auntie Ali, Uncle Gary and Mason
After the Christmas Eve festivities, it was time to put out Santa’s snacks – reindeer food on the lawn and carrots on the plate, homemade cookies with milk and a carrot “squeezer” for Mrs. Clause.
Christmas morning came early – even for the kid who gets to nap at will and was the reason no one else slept…cousin Blaise was so awesome with Auggie – and it showed since Auggie was so happy to sit with him. No seriously, that’s a yawn.
I love these:
Noni and the man.
Waiting for everyone to arrive to open presents got a little long…which apparently in three year old world means you convince your cousin to let you ride him like a horse. Also? Those are only about half the presents #firstworldproblems.
Mason was ready to get his rip and tear on.
Isn’t this cute? Nancy puts all their Christmas cards on the cabinets – adorable!
Is anyone else exhausted? We had an amazingly fun and full holiday season that was all accomplished on 90 minute sips of sleep each night. Which I think is what has lead to me just needing a breath. And a nap. And an empty social calendar….and yet the social calendar is filled for January already!
~Bought a Christmas tree permit for Payson for the second year in a row and then went and bought one at a tree lot instead~
~Auggie turned two months old~
~Didn’t loose two three year olds or a 2 month old at the Train Park for Christmas lights with the DeHavens~
~Survived the preschool Christmas party that Peter described at the 7th ring of hell~
~Enjoyed Zoo Lights as a family of four~
~Saw all of my cousins at the Schumann annual get together~
~Threw a holiday brunch for work friends~
~Watched Baylor sing “If it’s Christmas and You Know It, Ring Your Bells!” in the Christmas program at school~
~Watched Charlie Brown Christmas soooo many times~
Ok. We’ve all seen the infomercials for Wen Haircare. And we’ve all had the same thought; “Of COURSE that makes your hair beautiful…when you have a professional stylist!”. But damn if that infomercial isn’t tempting…
A few months ago I couldn’t resist so I Googled some reviews. All of them were the same: great product, horrible company. Apparently when you order directly from Wen, they enroll you in their monthly refill program and automatically send you a new bottle each month and bill your credit card. Insult to injury – it’s next to impossible to un-enroll in the program. Undeterred, I ordered from Amazon instead.
Not going to lie, this stuff is weird. It’s like washing your hair with conditioner. But you don’t use it like conditioner or shampoo, you literally have to rub your entire scalp for a few minutes AND then leave it to sit in your hair. But this stuff is amazing. I have super fine hair that tends to look scraggly when it gets too long. The Wen stuff keeps it fluffy and full, even past my shoulders.
I knew it was legit when my stylist asked what I was doing. I asked her in return if there was any down side to Wen – her thoughts were that she didn’t totally understand it, but from the looks of my locks, there was no down side!
I’m now about 6 months in and still going strong – but don’t throw out your other shampoo and conditioner. In my opinion, my hair needs a good, sudsy scrub about every 3-4 days. Maybe it’s just me, but I think Wen builds up a little after a few days. The true test will come in the next few months when the pregnancy hair starts to fall out. Fingers crossed that it’s minimal and Wen can keep what’s left beautiful….
Also, buy from Amazon. I’ve purchased 3 times now and never had any issues – just make sure you don’t buy from Wen through Amazon. Now go get infomercial hair!
This week marked our second time to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo – it also officially made it a tradition for us . PW and I couldn’t believe how much better it was than last year and we loved it last year! There were even more lights, more displays and a new light show that was fantastic. And thankfully Jengo, the talking giraffe was back… among millions of lights, the animatronic giraffe is Baylor’s favorite.
I’ve yet to master the night time shot with my good camera – not to mention I was loaded up like a pack mule with Auggie in the baby Bjorn and a bag with all the family’s, ahem, crap (sweatshirts, hats, bottles, diapers, snacks, gas drops…). However the Iphone camera didn’t disappoint. I was a little jealous of the photogs with their tripods and obvious knowledge of adjusting the exposure on their cameras…
There must be 50+ trees like this all lit up in different colors. The one at the entrance must be 200 feet tall and electric blue – it’s amazing. This one was our favorite. It looked like it was wrapped in candy.
PW and his girl
The pack mule and the kids
Jengo! There is a guy hiding behind the screen and he answers questions and talks to the kids – watching them freak out over the giraffe talking to them is priceless. Baylor is still singing “Jengo bells! Jengo bells!”.
The lake has a huge sphere in the middle that changes color, spells out words, turns to flames, etc. Then the trees and some pillars in the lake all change color and “dance” to the rhythm of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It was pretty amazing.
If you go, buy your tickets ON LINE AND PRINT THEM OUT. There is always a massive line of people waiting to buy and we always stroll right by. At least we think that’s what they are doing. There’s a possibility we’ve jumped the line every year…There were also carriage rides that took you to a roped off section of the zoo – it was too much time for us, but if you try it and it’s worth it, let me know so we can factor it in for next year!
Phew. After a full round of antibiotics for the team and a very busy yet fun Thanksgiving, I have some time to A. Breathe and B. post pics from Thanksgiving!
This was our 6th year of hosting and probably the least stressful yet. I think PW and I finally have a system that we have honed over the last years that starts weeks ahead of time but means the day of Thanksgiving is actually fun and not so crazy. Also I have slowly been accumulating the things we need for the day of so that I don’t have to raid my mom’s house for table cloths, silverware, serving spoons, plates…the list goes on.
This year PW built me a table that I have always wanted; it’s the same height and length of our outdoor furniture so when you smoosh the two tables together, it makes one large square with enough room to seat up to 20 (more on Peter’s craftsmanship soon…). It was awesome. No more people at one end of a very long table with no one across from them!
Fun paper table runners
The Munchkin table
The outdoor living room
Chef Baylor’s fancy pie crust
Sarah’s cookies
PW’s new coozie collection…don’t ask because I don’t know. At least there was good Montana microbrews to put in them
Peter’s super delicious turkeys. They brine for 12 hours in a special mix he makes and then smoke for 6 hours.
Chef Wand
Thanksgiving is exhausting
Mason. Doing a very good impression of his father.
Cousins!
The Wischer Women…and Mason
Everyone at the BIG table!
When we were sophomores in college, Peter had an idea to create a student group that would rival the student groups of some of the biggest and well known colleges in the country. The University of Arizona is one of the largest universities in the country and has some of the best and most prestigious athletic programs around…so why didn’t we have a student section at basketball games?
Peter ran for the student senate that same year with the goal of creating such a student organization. He spent many hours campaigning and I spent many hours (and manicures) helping paint bed sheets with “WAND FOR SENATE” to be strung up between palm trees around campus. I have to admit, I didn’t understand why we needed a student section – more so, I didn’t know how he was going to pull it off. And like many times before then and many times after, he didn’t fail to wow me.
After winning a seat on the student senate, PW campaigned, recruited, marketed and worked his butt off to create and then get the wheels on the student organization moving. He got the support of the athletic director, funding from Pepsi and also the men’s basketball team on board. A contest was held to name the organization and with the mens basketball team’s help, the title of the Zona Zoo was selected. And thus, a legacy began.
A few years ago, we had the UofA game on. A few minutes after kickoff, I heard swear words from the living room. When I asked what was going on, Peter rewound the dvr and showed me how many students were at the football game. And right behind them, painted on the stadium wall was ZONA ZOO. He was in shock. We had no idea that the Zoo had grown so much.
This month is the tenth anniversary of the Zona Zoo and the Arizona Daily Wildcat newspaper called to interview PW about the inception of what is now one of the largest student organization in the country with 10,000+ members.
It’s an amazing legacy and one of many that I think Peter will have. Congrats PW on an amazing job well done!
http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2012/11/beginnings-zonazoo-history-110912
Jen the trainer told me about a great website called Yoga Glo. It’s a membership site where you can choose a yoga class to watch by either the length of time, type of yoga or specific issue (like back pain or prenatal). She assured me that it was no nonesense yoga – not too much om-ing and no corny music. And she was totally right. It’s just stretch, breathe, move on – perfect. I have big dreams of squeezing in 30 minutes on the patio during nap time when it’s finally cool in the afternoon!
I was doing a prenatal session with an emphasis on sciatica (that fun nerve that shoots down your back and leg – mine always gets irritated when pregnant). In the begining of the session, the instructor has you do some simple and calming breathing. Basically in through the nose and out through the mouth – but she added a visual effect. She instructs you to picture soothing, cool, healing green light. When you inhale, you visualize breathing the green light in and pull into wherever the pain is. And when exhaling, you visualize red light leaving your mouth and taking any pain, irritation or anxiety with it.
Now, I’m sure you’re thinking “uh, that sounds a little too om-y….” and maybe it is. But something about the visual really makes it work. I tried it yesterday when I started to feel the anxiety creeping up that usually drives me to run a few miles or scrub the house top to bottom and within a few minutes, the tightness in my chest floated out upon exhaling – and it stayed away too.
The house, however, is still dirty. I need to try visualizing green light while moping I guess…
The Goon Room 