London with Ashley

How do I begin?? The trip over started with our flight from SLC to JFK. The in seat entertainment was broken...no kids cartoons. So I tried Go Go wireless on the laptop, it would stream for 15 minutes then stop for 15 minutes....aaargh. 5 hours, no kids movies, no nap. Flight from JFK to LHR. Ash falls asleep right after we take off. I mistakenly wake her when dinner arrives. All hell breaks loose, LOUD wailing, crying " I want to go home" " I want my own bed" " I don't want to go to London". One hour later still getting stares from other passengers...are you going to shut your child up anytime soon??? I finally lie to Ash and tell her that I will have the pilot turn the plane around and when she wakes up we will be back in SLC. We eat, she watches cartoons, we are only 3 hours from London and she only slept a total of 2 hours. I give her some Dramamine and she is out. I wake her when we arrive at LHR. More crying, wailing etc. " Hold me Mommy pleaseeeeee!" " I am so tired...my legs don't work!" We stand in the Customs line for 40 minutes before a kind Immigration Officer comes and pulls us to the front of the line. I think the other 700 people were tired of listening to her. Disaster.
Time change ended up not bothering her at all. In bed every night by 8pm, up at 8am no naps, just like home...aaaah:) My brother Craig cooked me wonderful meals every day. I drank wine with every dinner. Never had to wash dishes..I didn't want to come home:) We went to Legoland, rode the double decker bus, the tube, went to the playground everyday, the Sea Life Aquarium, visited Ian's sister and her family, visited Mark's Spencer Department Store and much more. Craig and Ian were great hosts and I can't wait to go back...perhaps just with Dave next time:)
We left one week later, flew from LHR to JFK. As we came closer to JFK to pilot announced were were going into a holding pattern...okay.....2 hours later "Well folks were are low on fuel so we are diverting to Newark to refuel, then we'll get new paper work and head back to JFK....thanks for your patience." Well we had a 3 1/2 hour layover in JFK....so much for that.
About 90% of the airplane missed their connection, we were all stranded until the next morning. Ash fell asleep again 20 minutes before we landed and I had to wake her up to get off the plane. More crying, more wailing....oh God here we go again. Yet again, the Customs Officials saved us by bringing us to the front of the line. I think the other 300 passengers were very grateful. We all shuffled over to Terminal 4 to find a comfy couch or bench. Once I had Ash settled she fell asleep immediately. 30 minutes later I felt so awful, nauseous, sweaty, yuck. I spent the next 4 hours running to the bathroom to vomit. Fortunately, I was next to lovely ladies from England who were willing to watch over Ash and our luggage, while I ran to the bathroom. They were true guardian angels.
Below is our slide show from London.

Legoland

At the end of August I bid for a long (24 hour) overnight in Orange County, CA. It was over a weekend and the plan was to bring along Dave and the girls and visit Aunt Cathy (Dave's sister). After a horendous flight with Madison screaming for freedom, we arrived to sunny 72 degree weather. We piled into Cathy's car and headed to Legoland for some fun! After yucky traffic and a 2 hour drive to go 50 miles, we arrived. The rides are perfect for small kids and waits were not to bad for a Saturday. We left when the park closed at 8pm and both girls quickly fell asleep....sweet silence:) We stopped for gas right next to the hotel and Cathy's car battery died. She had it towed in the morning and all was well. Maddie still screamed on the flight home...just not as long as the way over. She is officially banned from airplane travel until she is two...unless she is traveling with Nana and Papa...they can have her:)

Katie's Baby Shower

Back in June I hosted a baby shower for my fabulous sister in law Katie. She lives in Vegas so she came up for the weekend and we had the shower on Saturday the 19th. We had a great turn out of family and friends. Baby Taylor was born September 20th 2010, more pics of her later! We are excited to have a new cousin in the family, we love you!

Money

This is a tough subject for many. We are spending around $1,000/month for food, gas, clothes and toiletries, diapers, cleaning supplies etc. Dave thinks it is too much. I want to know what everybody else spends per month and see if I am really overspending or we are about the same. If you feel comfortable leaving a comment for me privately I'd love some feedback on what your house spends...if not that's okay...Dave and I will still argue every month about who is right:)

Just a few random thoughts

I very rarely blog about everyday life, but hey maybe someone out there wants to hear about it. Ash says funny things right now.." Mom don't step on cracks they break your back" She really does avoid every crack on the ground.. "Mom watch out for the muddles ( muddy puddles)" " Mom does she have ammonia (pneumonia)?" " Mom you are sooo beautiful" not funny but downright touching:)
Life has been a bit crazy with Ash starting preschool last week. She is in heaven and barely says goodbye as she bolts out of the car. She seems to be enjoying it so far and it is great for me to have some alone time with Maddie. I started Little Gym with Maddie yesterday, we are going to the same location I went to with Ash. The teacher, Mr. Braden is AWESOME and I think it is great for the kids to see a male role model for a change in this type of setting. I was practically in tears watching Maddie run around for an hour climbing on everything and smiling and giggling...she was so happy!!! Teething in my house has been rough the last 2 months. We are not giving her the binky like we did with Ashley to get through the day. Maddie only gets it at nap and bedtime...therefore my life is pretty much a scream fest all day long as she gnaws on her fist and even bites herself so hard she cries louder!!! Maddie is a screamer and I'm at my wits end!! Is it because she is the 2nd child and Ash picks on her all day or is it just Satan in my cute child's body and she has no control???
Here is a quick run down of our typical day on school days. I get up at 6:30am to shower and get ready, wake up ash at 7:15am, get her dressed, brush teeth and do hair ( but not like the Grinch she says..). Then I get Maddie up and dressed. We go downstairs, heat up 2 sippy cups of milk and feed the dog. We eat breakfast quickly so we can leave by 8:15am. I pick up Ash at 11:30am and we usually run one errand and get lunch somewhere. Maddie falls asleep on the drive home and I put her in her crib. She doesn't transfer well so she wakes up and plays until 2 or 2:30 pm then falls asleep again. I put Ash in her room to play quietly and watch a DVD while I nap for an hour and do any computer stuff I need to. Both girls out of room by 4pm. We have a snack and then I force them to go outside in the backyard while I start dinner. Some days they play really well outside together, other days they scream and cry every 5 minutes over toys. I feed the girls and eat with them around 5:30 or 6pm. Dave is home around 6:30-6:45pm. He entertains Maddie while I clean up the days dishes and load the dishwasher. I no longer do the dishes after every meal. I stack them during the day on the counter and load them all after dinner...this helps me feel like I'm not doing dishes all day in the kitchen. After cleaning up it's time to get the girls ready for bed around 7:30pm. Ash goes right down at 8pm now that we have cut out her nap. If your 3 year old fusses at bed time and doesn't go to sleep until 10pm it is time to give up the nap...I promise you that 1 week of cranky transition is worth it!!! By 10pm I am DONE for the day and go to bed to read for a few minutes before it's off to la la land.

Swim lessons

This summer has lots of fun new activities for including swim lessons! We booked private lessons with Walkers Swim Kids, a company many of my friends have used. It's not cheap but we went 3 times per week for a month and 12 lessons later Ash is no longer fearful of putting her face underwater or floating on her back! She cried hard the first 2 lessons and screamed for me but I just turned the other way and by the third lesson she was over her fears. She even jumped off the diving board during a few lessons. I wanted to continue another 12 lessons but it is expensive and time consuming to do 3 lessons per week. We'll have to continue next year, then Maddie can do some lessons at the same time.

4th of July fun

Well we did our annual trip to Jackson Hole this year for the 4th of July. My bright idea was to use our flight benefits and fly up to Idaho Falls both ways and have Dave pick us up there instead of spending 4 hours in the car with kids. The flight is only 30 minutes and the girls slept both ways. It is only another hour and a half to our condo in Driggs where we stay each year. I love free flight benefits:) The bad news about the trip is that both girls had bad colds and were pretty cranky the whole trip. The first night was very sleepless as Maddie could not be consoled not matter what. Ash kept saying "Mommy tell her to stop crying I'm tired!" We did manage to swim one day and ride the chairlift at Grand Targhee. We also did our annual hike at Jenny Lake to the waterfall, it is so pretty! The day of the 4th we went to Jackson to picnic and watch the fireworks. Maddie was dead asleep when they started but woke up and giggled and pointed. Maddie loved it......Ashley is still afraid. She didn't cry this time but she had earplugs in and sat with her eyes closed on my lap the whole time. We are making progress!

Maddie's BELATED birthday pics

I know that she turned one on March 24th...however life gets busy and I'd still like to have a record of it on the blog. Enjoy. The following video is an example of why you never take cake from a baby on her birthday.....

Random kiddie pics

I have so many fun pics that I've taken over the last few months that I wanted to share. Just a glimpse into our life with 2 girly girls who love each other one minute and are pulling each other's hair the next!

What happens when you let a 14 month old feed herself.......

Let's just say that we do not get to eat yogurt or oatmeal in the morning if we need to hurry out the door...

Ashley starts softball!

Treat time!!!

Throwing the ball

Learning some rules

Taking a "little rest"

We are super excited for Ashley to be learning how to play softball this year. She plays with her good friend Garrett and each week the kids rotate between stations for 10 minutes at a time and learn lots of fun new skills like hitting, running and catching. The last 2 weeks of the program will be a mock T-ball game, should be hilarious since all the kids are only 3-5 years of age.

Memorial Day Fun

The Zoo

The Zoo

Allison and Maddie...7 months apart in age!!

We had a fun weekend without Daddy while he was camping in Canyonlands. We went to the Zoo on Sunday with Nana and then to the park. Nana hadn't been to the Zoo since we were kids and was surprised how much it had changed for the better. The weather was great and we even ran into Deb's friend from college, Alix.  We had our friends Kate, Garrett and Allison over for dinner on Saturday.

Easter Pictures

Last week I went and had a quick 10 minute session with a photographer that my friend Whitney recommended. They turned out great...so fun for the girls, and the bunnies were so mellow!

Toy Story and toy Story 2 coupons

Hey all, go to http://disney.go.com/disneymovierewards/ and enter in your normal disney.com user name and password or just register if you don't have one. Then enter code 786936294507 to bring up a $10 off coupon for the toy Story blu-ray dvd combo pack. The code for Toy Story 2 movie is 786936294521. Toys R' Us has a sale this week that allows you to buy each movie for $16.99 if you buy both...use both coupons and walk away with the 2 movies for $13.98. Go to Walmart or Target with the Toys R' Us ad and have them price match if it is more convenient. Cheers!

$10 off coupon for The Princess and the Frog

It's that time again, Disney is now consistently offering $10 off coupons for new release movies on to Blu-ray and DVD. Go to http://www.princessandthefrogcoupon.com/ and print off your copy! It is good March 16th thru the 21st 2010. The Blu -ray combo pack will cost you $16.99 with the coupon. What a deal!

Tubing at Gorgoza Park

Little known secret..I love to tube when I'm not the one hiking up the hill! Yesterday we took Ash to Gorgoza Park in Parley's canyon for her first tubing adventure. You have to be a minimum of 3, so this is the first year we could take her. It was fairly warm up the canyon so the snow was slushier than usual , but perfect for Ashley's first time. They have 3 kiddie lanes for small kids ages 3-6 and 5 really long lanes for 6 years and up. Dave and I took turns going down the long runs which are quite a bit faster. Sorry Ash 3 more years till you can go faster and yell " Yee-Haw!"....Dave taught her that:)

WARNING: Video footage could make you feel sick:)

Potty Training success!

Well I decided it was time to buckle down and get Ash out of diapers. She was waking up dry every morning and was telling me when she pooped and peed, but didn't ever care she had a messy diaper. Pure laziness on her part, sheer terror on mine to attempt big girl panties! A few random people recommended the book http://www.3daypottytraining.com/ so I took a chance and purchased it. It is a quick read and I decided that we would do it just like she recommended and see if it works. Well by golly this woman was right! In 3 days time we only had 3 pee pee accidents and no wet bed sheets!! Here we are 2 weeks later and we are officially potty trained. Ash took right to the the method of "keeping her underwear dry" and she is so proud of herself. Today we took a promised trip to IKEA where she could play in the kids play land for the 1st time now that she is potty trained. It was a quick hour that I spent with Maddie looking around then it was time to go get Ash. No accidents and she used their bathroom all by herself!! YEAH! I would highly recommend this method to people, she believes you can train kids as early as 22 months..so Maddie will get the same treatment this time next year..we'll keep you posted!

Daddy Daughter date night

Here is a picture of Ash and Dave at our HOA's 2nd annual date night. Ash got a corsage, learned a new dance, decorated cookies and made a princess hat all with Dad's help. I think they had a great time and next year Dad will get 2 lovely ladies on his arm as Maddie will be old enough to go! Hubba hubba! Happy Valentines Day!

Highlite photos

So I won a package from Highlite photography that included the sitting fee and 1 8x10 and 2 5x7 pictures. We had to redeem it by Feb 1st, so we used it to do family pics in December. The shoot went very well and the kids were great. We went back on January 4th to narrow down what we liked. As we finish narrowing down the pictues the gal says to me , "ok, here's our price list, the basic package starts at $599...." What the ???? I quickly reminded her that I won the package and was just looking to have just a few nice new photos of us. Long story short, we still walk out having to spend $192 for just 3 pictures, an 11x14 and 2 8x10's and 3 5x7's. Note to self...nothing is ever "free", they know you will get emotional seeing beautiful pictures of your family and then can stick it you by charging $50 for one 8x10. I think they take great photos...but a good lesson learned.