How To Travel Light with Toddlers...

Flying, across the country, to see my husband Graduate from Basic Training. It will be the first time that I've traveled by myself with two little kids. I traveled alone with a toddler, once before with just my oldest, but it's been a while. And, I highly doubt that I'll luck out with either getting an entire row to myself or having such wonderful and understanding people sitting next to me. Also, I'll be arriving at an airport I don't know , have to get my luggage and rental car, while juggling 2 toddlers. This should be fun!

Knowing how hard it was with just one, I'm preparing myself for twice as much trouble this time. Alsom I figured that I'm not the only one dealing with this sitatuation, or one like it, so I figured I would write a "How To" about my experiences. This way other's can avoid making the same mistakes, that I am sure to make.

Let's talk about Preperations.

~I first started my prep work when I was making my hotel reservations. I made sure to ask for them to reserve a port-o-crib for me. A lot of hotels have this service available for FREE.

Yes, you read that correctly, there is NOT a charge for a port-o-crib!(at least I haven't come across one with a fee yet) This will save you a LOT of "lugging" around time and energy.

~Second, while I was still on the phone with the hotel, I asked what they had for complimentry toiletries.


I learned this from my husband, who learned it from his father, who used to travel weekly for business. You can get, not only shampoos and soaps, but shaving razors, shaving creams and even mini sewing kits. You just have to ask.


This one is especially important, because of all the regulations on liquids in carry on's and rising costs for checking baggage.


Now obviously, hotel shampoos don't have the best reputaion, but I've noticed that they're getting better. And, for a trip that lasts a week or less, I think it's worth it. I don't use a lot of other styling products. But if you do, you can now get in all of your favorite styling gels and sprays, and still have clean hair to work with :)

~Third, find out what the Baggage Fees for your airline. You can find these at their websites.


The nice thing about looking these up is that they sometimes offer a discount for paying for your bags in advance. It's only a few dollars, but think of it as money to buy the kids a treat to keep them happy during the layover :)

~Forth, while you're at the website, see if you can check-in online. Some airlines are now offering online check-in, even if you're checking a bag!


They do this so that their lines are shorter, making it so they don't they have to pay for extra people to be on staff.


But in turn, it helps you because it's one less line to have to wait in with the kids screaming, and other such wonderfulness :)




I still have a ways to go. This is just the beginning :)

FORGOT PHOTOS!!! ...ugh...

I just realizied that I completely forgot to take pictures of the skirts and dress that I made for Gayle, before she left.

I'm still working on the last dress. It proved to be much more challenging than anticipated. But, I should have it done in time to take it with me to Jake's graduation. :)

I guess I'll have to see if I can get some shots of her in the dresses then.

I am still really excited that the other pieces turned out as well as they did.

Hopefully, this last one will be up to par with the others :)

addicted to "blog shopping"...

I've started this new ritual of checking out all the blogs and links on my friends' blogs. I have found some amazing sites this way.

My favorites are the cute and simple home crafts, made by moms, just like me! I love getting inspired by their creativity.

I also love the little boutiques, that hopefully, I'll be able to eventually buy something from(or even better make my own versions :) ). They have such amazing tid-bits from home decor to childrens' toys.

Seriuosly in love!

Growing up so fast...

Maddi has just surpassed my expectations recently. She had gotten into my purse, pulled out my wallet and had proceeded to take out the cards. I catch in the midle of this and tell her, "No, no, no...put those back please." I figured she would just leave the mess on the floor and find something else to play with, but no, she started to put the cards back into my wallet, folded it up and put it back in my purse! I was so shocked, that all I could say was," Thank You."

I think it's amazing how a 1 1/2 year old can already fully understand a request and proceed to fix the problem, without extensive instruction. Kids are definitely smarter than we give them credit for.

ABC's to knowing Anna...

Copy and paste to your's...and tell me so I can see :)

A
- Age: 25
- Annoyance: lack of common courtesy
- Animal: monkey!
B
- Beer: don't drink...next quesion :)
- Birthday: Dec. 17, 1984
- Body Part on opposite sex: Smile and arms(have to be good at hugging ;-) )
- Best feeling in the world: hold my girls for the first time :)
- Blind or Deaf: deaf
- Best weather: just after it rains and the sun is warming everything back up
- Been in Love?: yup, and fall in love again each day :)
- Been on stage?: yes, love hate relationship
- Believe in Magic?: I believe in the magic of people's good works
- Believe in Santa?: yes, but I'm starting to wonder why my mother-in-law was kissing him this last year ;)

C
- Candy: CHOCOLATE, only the good stuff
- Color: all of them
- Chocolate/Vanilla: CHOCOLATE
- Chinese/Mexican Food: both
- Cake or pie: cake
- Continent to visit: Europe
- Cheese: mozerella
- Cuddling: of course, my hubby loves it even more than me :)
D
- Day or Night: Day
- Dancing in the rain: A must, especially when we lived in Las Vegas, because then it was a really special occassion

E
- Eyes: hazel
- Everyone's got: Secrets
- Ever fail a class?: sadly, Institute, I blame my sister Maggie though, she kept me from going

F
- First thoughts waking up: are the girls crying?
- Food: Thai

G
- Greatest Fear: the unknown
- Goals: to get out of debt and provide a happy hime for my family
- Gum: eh, not big on it
- Get along with your parents?: I get along with fairly well

H
- Hair Color: sandy-blonde
- Height: 5' 3''
- Happy: on the days that end in "y"
- Holiday: Christmas
- How do you want to die: in my sleep or in the really cold

I
- Ice Cream: Gotta Have It, Cold Stone's
- Instrument: piano, but shhhh don't tell anyone ;)

J
- Jewelry: wedding ring, CTR ring and Go Army bracelet
- Jobs: Mom, of Lizzi & Maddi Inc.

K
- Kids: 2
- Kickboxing or karate: kick boxing
- Keep a journal?: does bloggin count?

L
- Love: my family
- Letter: of the aphabet? A.
- Laughed so hard you cried?: been a while, but I'm sure it happened at least a couple of times living with Missy
- Last movie you watched and with who: How to Train your Dragon, Mom and my girls

M
- Married: Yup, going on 4 years
- Milk: 1% or 2%
- Movies: classics, comedies
- McD’s or BK: niether

N
- Number: 17

O
- One wish: to live a happy life
- One night stands: nope

P
- Pepsi/Coke: not a soda drinker
- Perfect Pizza: pepperoni and pinapple, I know, I'm weird

R
- Reason to cry: because I'm a girl and I'm allowed
- Reality T.V.: none of the above
- Radio Station: mainly country with a little pop and oldies but goodies
- Roll your tongue in a circle? Like a taco? yes
- Ring size: I think it's a 6ish

S
- Song: Glory of Love, it's our song :)
- Shoe size: 7 to 7 1/2
- Salad Dressing: Ranch or Honey Mustard
- Sushi: still trying it, for Jake's sake
- Skinny dipped?: unless you count when I was a baby, nope
- Strawberries/Blueberries: both please!

T
- Tattoos?: nope
- Talent: Sewing and cooking
- Time for bed: when the girls go to bed
- Thunderstorms: guilty pleasure

U
- Unpredictable: at times

V
- Vacation spot(s): any where

W
- Weakness: Chocolate
- Worst feeling: Regret/Guilt
- Wanted to be when you were younger: a mom
- Worst Weather?: 110*

X
- X-Ray: Teeth and wrist

Y
-Year it is now: 2010
-Yellow: ?

Z
- Zoo animal: africa animals

run...don't walk...run!!!

I stopped off at JoAnn's Fabric and Craft Store this afternoon, just to check out what they had, fabric wise and all that jazz. Well, they are having an AMAZING sale on their McCall patterns... $.99 each!! Yes that mean for 99 pennies you can buy a just about any McCall pattern you want!

Needless to say, I picked up my fair share, and probably will head back tomorrow to see if there are any others that I might want on hand. It's going through April 17th, so hurry in if you want to take advantage of this sale.

I'm so excited, because I basically have a full selection of pattern to choose from, regardless of what I want to make.

Oh, and they are having a pretty good sale on their fabrics too. Most of them are 50% off. I'm still on the hunt for a "Quiet Book" pattern, but I'll settle for my treasures for now :)

Sew What?

Gayle is coming into town!! I'm really excited to see my little sister, but I'm especially excted for this trip because I'm going to be sewing up a storm making her some AMAZING dresses and skirts to take with her to Georgia!

They will be so cute!

We're even going to be making a special trip up to the Fabric Depot, so that she can have to ultimate selection of fabrics to choose from.

I'm super happy, because now I'll be able to prcatice my seamstressing skills!

I'll definitely have LOTS of pictures of my creastions and my wonderful sister/model posted asap :)

clean up...clean up... :)

I'm so proud of Lizzi and Maddi!

We've been working on picking up their toys at the end of the day. I start picking up toys, while I sing the "Clean Up" song and we go around and put the toys into their baskets.

Tonight...I only had to start singing the song and they started picking up their toys. Maddi was really great at finding all of the blocks!

I such a proud mother right now :)

Now the trick is to get this to stick with them through their teenage years...sigh...that would be so nice :)

Sunday... Sunday... Sunday

"Another wonderful day at church," said in a slightly mocking tone.

Now, please understand, I love going to church and going to all of my meetings, but there are some Sundays, like this one, where the choices I've made, leave me feeling more drained than uplifted at the end of it all.

It started out really great! The girls made it through all of Sacrament, although we did use up almost all of the treats we brought, just to keep them occupied. But, none the less, they made it through the first hour. I on the other hand, was doing my best to keep my emotions in check. I don't know what it was, but every hymn we sang just made me want to start crying. I was really missing Jake today, so that could have been a HUGE factor in that.
Then it was on to Nursery and Sunday School. Lizzi and Maddi went right into Nursery without a fuss. I didn't even need to sneak out, they both waved and said "Bye!" (they are growing up so fast!) So, I headed into Sunday School. I even found myself a seat in the front row. ( I was so proud of myself) Then, I was called out to change Lizzi's poopy diaper. (it went down hill from there)
Suddenly, I felt really overwhelmed. I changed her diaper and took her back to the Nursery. But then I just felt like I couldn't handle going back into Sunday School. So, I went out and sat in the fourier, and told myself that I would take a short break and then go back for Relief Society. I figured, there was not much time left in Sunday School, and that I would be more disruptive than anything else, if I went back in there.
I can tell that it's time to start the third hour, by all the shuffling in the hall. I gather myself together and head towards the Relief Society Room. Looking through the window, I can see that they have already started, and my justifications for not going in started pouring into my mind.
I ended up hanging out in the hall, reading the bulletin board, and was "planning" on going in, but never actually went in. I did catch up with another Sister in the hall, who was trying to calm her baby down. She and I talked for the rest of that hour about various "mom" topics. When the meetings were over I went and got Lizzi and Maddi out of the Nursery and we went home.

I really felt like I could have stayed home, for all that I didn't do or get out of church today. I seriously need to make going, actually attending, to all of my Church meetings a priority. I can definitely tell the difference between a uplifting day at church and a "I'm just here" day at church.

Saturday Sanity Check...

I've noticed that I stay up late on Saturdays, thinking about how the previous week has gone, as well as thinking about the projects and tasks of the upcoming week. Granted, since Jake has been at Basic Training, I've stayed up quite late most nights, because I have a hard time going to sleep without him. It's kind of funny, because there were times when I seemed to sleep better when I had the bed all to myself, but now that I have to live without him there every night, it seems to have become difficult to face going to bed alone.
I can honestly say that I'm anxiously counting down the days for him to be done the all of his training. Although, then I have to deal with upcoming deployments. Oh well, 'tis the life of an Army Wife. I know I'll miss him, but I know that we will be in a much better place financially when he gets back. I just have to remind myself that there is always a silver lining to every rain cloud...and sometimes you have to hold out through the worsts of storms to find the rainbow at the end :)

Pictures!!!

Some fun pictures of what Lizzi, Maddi and I have been up too, since getting to Oregon!

Both Lizzi and Maddi love getting a treat and playing at Subway. Their favorite treat is a bag of Cheetos, one for each of them, of course :).

Easter was so much FUN!! I think I had just as much, if not more, fun than the girls. Don't they look so cute in their dresses? I love that they turned out so well, the dresses and the girls in them :).

I don't look half bad in mine, either. I was so proud of myself for making them. I can hardly believe that they actually fit and didn't fall apart in the wash.

Lizzi, being a big girls now, helped me with making the cupcakes. She did a really great job at mixing all the ingredients. I just had to help scrape the bottom of the bowl and make sure the eggs were completely mixed, but other than that, she did it all by herself.

Lovely, I know right? I completely forgot that I had my hair up in a towel when I asked my dad to take some pictures. Oh well, at least my hair is out of the way :).

Maddi couldn't wait to eat her candy. She has at least two jelly beans in her mouth, if not more.

Lizzi was so helpful with Maddi during the Easter Egg Hunt, but once she found out there was candy in the eggs, she kept a close eye on her basket.

I let the girls decorate their cupcakes. This proves that kids are smarter than you think they are, because Maddi took her spoon of frosting and stuck it right in her mouth. She knows what she wants and exactly how to get it.

Lizzi, on the other hand, tried so hard to make her cupcake look pretty. She kept circling her little knife around trying to smooth out the frosting.

Lizzi was also my dainty eater. I think it took her almost 20 or 30 minutes to eat her cupcake.

On the other hand, shortly after this picture was taken, Maddi stuck her entire cupcake in her mouth and tried to eat it in one bite. Luckily it didn't fit, so she had to break it into smaller pieces.

Random pictures of the girls playing...

I need to start up again...

It has been four months since my last blog, and sadly I have had sooo many things to blog about.

First of all, Jake has left for Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He started there March 1st and will be graduating on May 7th. The girls and I already have our tickets and hotel reservations made. I'm getting really excited, because once he's done with Basic Training and on to Advanced Individual Training, at Fort Hauchuca, Arizona, the girls and I will be able to fly down on an occassional weekend to see him :).

I have been keeping myself busy, to the ponit of exhaustion. Between trying out new recipes, making dresses for the girls and I, and working out at the gym, I barely have a moment to stand still. It was really fun to make Lizzi and Maddi's Easter dresses, even though they turned out to be quite wide on them, and long on Maddi. But, none the less, Lizzi and Maddi, both loved running around and twirling in them, which is all that matters.

Lizzi has been growing up so fast these last few months. She has started to take on responsibilities all on her own. She will come and ask me for a wash clothe to wipe up something she has spilled, without me having even noticed it had happened. She knows when I start singing the "Night-Night" song, that it's time for bed and she walks right in and lays down, pulling her covers over her. She even helps to clean up her toys at the end of the day. I think her favorite thing is to help with Maddi. Lizzi will bring Maddi her blanky, if she sees that it's been left behind. If Maddi is crying, Lizzi will going over and try to ask her what is wrong or give he a hug and kiss. She even shares with Maddi now, which has been quite a struggle to get Lizzi to understand what that ment.

Maddi, not to be left behind, is growing up so fast too. She knows the"Night-Night" song and when she's ready for bed, she grabs her blanky and starts singing the song. My favorite thing is that Maddi has started to understand and use some of the sign language we've taught her. She can now say, "Please" Thank You" and "Drink", which helps me out A LOT :). Maddi also helps with cleaning up around the house. She loves helping me load the dishes into the dishwasher and picking up their toys at the end of the day.

I must say, I'm really surprised at how well they both are doing. I thought it would be year before I could get them to do half of these things. I just hope that the cleaning part sticks around through their teenage years, here's to hoping :).