confessions of a crazy mama

So yesterday at about 4:30 I decided I needed to go do some errands. It's been just over a week since Spence left and getting used to doing everything on my own is gonna take some time. Anyway we finally got out of the house and I knew that the kids would be getting hungry. I was gonna be real quick and we would be home by 5:30 and we could eat supper and it would be great.

Well one errand led to the next and pretty soon I hear Ella saying, "Yum, yum." (that means she's hungry).. then I hear her eating something. I turn around and she is eating a fry.. a day old fry that was in her carseat from the night befores "dinner". I literally burst out laughing. I am the mom I said I would never be. What has become of me.. There are soooo many things wrong with this picture.

1. Fries!!! I said I would never do it.. who gives there kids fries for dinner? I was at costco and it just seemed all to convenient.

2. Feed you kid already.. then she wouldn't have to eat the fries from her carseat.. which brings me to the last one

3. Clean out your car seat lady!

I remember reading all kinds of books before I had Sophie. I was sure that I wouldn't ever break the rules. I would NEVER give my kids anything deep fried. (supersize me anyone?). I would never let my kids sleep with us... Sophie may or may not have slept in my bed every night since Spence left (not her idea either). I would nurse my kids for a year (5 months with Ella.. that's close right?)

I am sure I have seriously grossed out many by this confession.. I could try and give you all the reasons I gave my kids fries for dinner and I could tell you that I have been sick as a dog this week and it takes a lot of energy to take care of 2 kids on my own.. I could tell you that I did vaccum and wash out my jeep 2 days before, but I won't.

I also won't tell you that instead of going home and making my kids a delicious, healthy dinner I went through the mcdonalds drive through..

I know you all have your confessions.. I wanna hear em.

ella ella ella...

Something happened to my baby..

my angel baby

She is not a baby! She's getting big and feisty, and hilarious, and noisy.. did i mention feisty??

She tells me no and get's mad when Soph cuddles me.

She is super mischievous. When it gets really quiet I start to get very worried.

ok. seriously my baby was an angel for the first year of her life.

where did she go?

But I really really love her...

She's affectionate and sweet and loves her big sister so much.

She cuddles me all the time.

Her little baby words melt me.

She loves to dance and sing.

She makes me feel like the funniest person ever and laughs at everything I do and say.

She gets a kick out of herself.

oh.. and she still sleeps like a dream

... I ADORE my little toddler

I just miss my baby.

My sweet, easy baby.

(my baby that would lay on the floor all day and smile)

My kids

... because I think they are darn cute

I have almost completed my photography course and will be starting an advanced class in a few weeks. I have loved learning more about the beauty of natural light. I took these right next to my front window. I have loved having my little models to practice all my weekly assignments on.

ps. how awesome is sophie's messy hair.. spur of the moment photoshoot

one last hoorah

We have made a lot of trips to Kalispell this year.. And I do mean ALOT. We have come at least once a month. That's one aspect of Spencer's job that I love--we get some serious family time 8 months out of the year.. not so much the other 4.

Anyway we took one last trip to Kalispell before Spence starts up his office. Boo hoo! Anyway I had too much fun shopping and Spence enjoyed having Jon this time to look at guns and do "boy stuff" with.

Ella was teething the whole time so that wasn't fun, but luckily I had a lot of people to take turns entertaining her.

ps. Kalispell is my heaven...

Happy Easter!

Easter was perfect.

Woke up in the morning and had a little easter egg hunt at our house.

Ella ate waaaay more jellybeans than a little one year old should.

Soph of course was in heaven from all the cheap.. sorry, beautiful princess accessories she got.

I found this picture from last years easter

I can't believe how much they have both changed...

We watched the first session of conference at home and headed to Cardston in between for the second session. Conference was the highlight of the day for sure. I loved all of the speakers and the whole time just kept thinking, "I needed this so much".

After conference it was round two easter egg hunt. This was way better than ours. My mom had a whole treasure hunt. Soph loved every minute of it.

Jon, Kara and Soph enjoying some good old country air. haha. Jon is apparently a horse whisperer according to Kara. She got herself a good one.

It was a little windy but I still managed to snap a pic of Soph during the treasure hunt. Ohhh she's so cute!

Strawberries = Love

I love strawberries! Spence does too.. but my girls LOVE LOVE LOVE strawberries. They would eat them all day long if I let them. I have to limit there intake because between the 4 of us we are going through container of them a day. Last night when Soph was about to go to bed she asked if she could please please just have a snack of strawberries....

Well with those big blue eyes looking up at me how could i even say no..

I put 4 strawberries in a bowl and gave them to her... oh my MELTDOWN.. that was not enough. Mostly the problem was she was tired and acting totally irrational so off to bed she went without her strawberry snack.

This morning as I made her and Ella toast and strawberries for breakfast this is how our conversation went.

Sophie :Mommy, are you giving me strawberries because you love me so much?

Me: Yep.

Sophie: Why didn't you love me last night?

Me: I loved you last night, I just didn't love the way you act when you get tired.

Sophie: ..after thinking a long time "Aren't mommy's supposed to love there girls even if there bad"

Me: Sophie I do love you, even when your bad. But you don't get "rewarded" when your bad.. ( i thought i would throw in a word i thought she didn't know.. maybe quiet her up)

Sophie:I was sad all night mommy....

... oh my... everyone warned me about the 3 year olds.. haha! As challenging as this age may be at times I sure do love it.

Vegas baby

I love Vegas! I love Vegas!!! One of our friends, Ryan was turning 30 so his awesome wife, Beth organized a suprise party in Vegas for him.. Seriously best wife ever! Anyway we just went for the weekend and it was the best. It was a nice little getaway before the crazy madness of summer season starts for Spence. If you are wondering why there isn't a single picture of Spencer.. it's because I pretty much didn't hang out with him. The girls went shopping while the boys golfed. We had so much fun and I wish it was longer. We are already planning our next trip. I am hooked. Through Spencer's job over the past 4 years I have met some of the greatest girls and have maintained good friendships with them. We don't see each nearly enough but when we do we pick right up where we left off. It was so fun to hang out with some of them this weekend and meet some new friends also.

We stayed at the New York, New York. It's a cool hotel, reminiscent of New York obviously. They have a statue of liberty outside it and it has a rollercoaster that wraps around the whole hotel. I wouldn't suggest it for kids though. It's pretty smoky.

we totally got a limo.. i am so mad this is the best picture i got of it.. its cute of beth and vic but not of the limo. whatev!

ummmm ok. best buffet ever.. any eating healthy was thrown out the window. all of the menu items were super fancy so you can try out all of those dishes your too scared to order. if anyone goes to vegas, hit up the wynn buffet! you won't regret it.

shopping.. it was the best weather!

frozen hot chocolate from "serendipity".. it was good.. not $10 dollars good.. but we can say we did it and we got a picture so hey.

randee and i and our candy apples. ya, it was a scandelous night of eating at the buffet

Anyway we are back to real life now and I am more tired then ever..