Melissa McCarthy

Addy just saw this magazine cover and asked if it was me. LOL. I do love me some Melissa McCarthy, so I guess that's a good thing.

DISNEYLAND - DAY 2 (finally)!!!

To start off today's festivities, please enjoy a little early morning video from Addy. Doesn't she look hung over? I swear we were not drinking the night before.

On Day 2 we were joined by our friend Mandy and her family (who also let us crash at their house), which included Mandy's 4 year old daughter, Sydney. Ohhh was Addy ever in heaven to have a friend, and especially ANOTHER friend named Sydney (this is her 3rd).

I tried to start the day off with something less traumatic than the first day, so Finding Nemo Submarine was stop #1. Survey says: kids loved, mom not as much. One of many taken for the team.

Hallelujah for the multiple adults thing again, because I got to hit my favorites - Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, both with Ethan. Maybe I'm getting old, but I.J. was way more exciting than I remembered. Space Mountain, on the other hand, scared the pants off me. The ride was the same, but they made some changes for Halloween to the images projected inside and they were terrifying! Maybe I'm a wimp, but giant red floating skeleton heads popping up while I whiz by at 60 mph tend to make me nervous.

Another fun Halloween change was the Haunted Mansion. AWESOME!!! This ride seems like it's always closed when I go to Disneyland, so I was thrilled it was open. And holy cow, amazing!!

Of course, we had to hit the Teacups again - this pic shows Addy looking a little nervous about riding with all the boys, so she hopped into our cup right after this was taken.

It's a Small World was a HOOT with these two! Sidenote - Sydney does not have a gold tooth - that's popcorn.

As you can see, these girls thought IASW was the best thing EVER!! Seriously, I thought they were going to climb out of the boat and hug all the puppets. I also quite enjoyed myself because it's a LONG ride and was a nice little chance for me to change my shoes (yes, I switched shoes), enjoy some Diet Coke, send some texts, and basically sit in a stupor for 10 minutes.

Not as big of a hit was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I sort of knew this would happen going in, but it was the only ride in Fantasyland that had less than a 25 minute wait, so there it is. Here's the classic group pic: Tyler, Connor, Mandy, me, Sydney, Addy, Cassy, and Ethan.

We trekked back to California Adventure and Ethan and I went on the River Run with some hilarious little Japanese girls and their dad. Next time I won't wear jeans on this ride.

Our only major mishap of the day was losing Sydney for about 20 minutes inside the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Apparently (this happened while Ethan and I were getting soaked on the river) Sydney is a jungle cat and blew Addy out of the water with her climbing skills on the ropes course. She got to the top and took off before Cassy could catch up with her, but luckily we found her before we had to shut down the entire park.

This is Addy meeting Russell (from the movie Up).

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train at Bug's Land. I know I complained about other rides being boring, but this one wins not only the most boring, but also the shortest ride ever award. I swear it was 7 seconds long.

Last stop was the Tower of Terror. And no, I did not take Addy on this. The funnest part of the whole thing was waiting in line, and getting laughed at by Ethan while I peed my pants in suspense. OK not literally, but it was close. Even being wheeled into the operating room for a C-section was not as scary as getting on that ride. The ride itself was also pretty darn terrifying...at one point I couldn't tell if we were going up or down or east or west or what but it was crazy. CRAZY!!. My blood pressure stayed at approx. 200/120 for at least 15 minutes after it was over. What a rush!

And that, you will be grateful to know, concludes our Disneyland travelogue. What a totally wonderful and magical vacation! It was so fun watching Addy experience everything Disney for the first time. I just loved it. And it was SO cute watching Addy with my Cassy and Ethan. She really misses out on a lot of good family time living so far away, so it was great for her to have a little bonding time with her auntie and cousin. Love you guys!!!!

DISNEYLAND!!! DAY 1

Be still your beating heart! I bloggeth!

If anything deserves a blog post, it's definitely Disneyland (although I just realized that apparently the birth of my son didn't warrant one - yikes). This last weekend, Addy and I took a mommy-daughter trip to Disneyland!! And yes, I am a mean wife and left Ammon at home with Emmett, poor man. We met up with my sister Cassy and nephew Ethan at the airport and stayed with our fabulous friend, Mandy.

Disneyland was super fun and fancy for Halloween! But note to everyone - it was pretty darn busy. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as the best time of year to go.

As soon as we had a chance, I let Addy pick out a pair of Mickey ears, and of course, of all the Princess paraphernalia available, these are the ones she chose...

My daughter is so not a girly girl, and honestly...thank heavens. Some mom told me on the way out of the park that she paid $230 for her daughter to get a dress and her hair done (which consisted of a hairpiece that I swear had once been home to a flock of pigeons)...and she said it like it was such a bargain!

Our other California friend, Lisa, and her family joined us for Day 1 of Disney. Addy's FIRST RIDE ever at Disneyland was Autopia. She loved it.

Next we hit the Matterhorn, which I was SO excited for. This pic is waiting in line, where our friend Benjamin picked a little flower for Addy. Results on her first rollercoaster: not good. There was a lot of eye covering and screams of "make it stop!!"

Teacups - one of my personal faves, and thankfully not scary after the Matterhorn.

I took Addy and Lisa's daughter, Megan, on Dumbo and the Carousel while the older kids did something scary. Note - the Carousel is a motorized sedative. Be sure to bring your caffeine. After touring Sleeping Beauty's castle, Addy had her first Disneyland Churro. You must understand that this was a momentous experience (for me anyway), since I still remember my first one, also enjoyed at age 5. Note - Disneyland Churro's are NOT the same as Costco Churro's. Disneyland Churros are much, much better, and have 12 calories!

Apparently, I did not get the blaring "Addy is not ready for rollercoasters" message after her Matterhorn experience, and we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad anyway. I spent the 45 minutes in line (in blaring sun near some really pushy Portguese ladies) convincing her that"Fast is fun". This was our mantra as we were buckling in... "Fast is fun, Fast is Fun!", and as soon as the train started picking up speed, Addy quickly changed to "Fast is NOT FUN!!! Tell them to stop!!!!!"

Oy. That was an award winning Bad Mom moment - especially since she wisely tried to back out at the last minute and I wouldn't let her. I did not stand in that blasted line for nothing!!

I don't know if it was the speed or the noise or what, but apparently this girl is NOT ready for rollercoasters. I am seriously disappointed. I was so hoping my daughter would share my love for speed and adrenaline. Although, she is only 5. Perhaps I need to lower my expectations.

May I just insert my opinion here that Disneyland should never be attempted with less than 3 adults? Unless your idea of pure Disneyland bliss is rotating between It's a Small World and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, you will want to participate in some kid swapping. It was SO DREAMY to experience all the magical and cute little kid things with Addy, and all the scary stuff with my nephew Ethan and the other kids. He and I went on Star Tours together, which I wisely realized Addy would NOT enjoy - it was great, but seriously nausea inducing.

Dinner at California Adventure with Ethan:

The whole front entrance of California Adventure is under construction, which means that to get anywhere, you have to walk the whole length of the park one direction, and then back again. I swear it was a mile. BUT, I got to go on California Screamin' which was AWESOME and worth any amount of walking. That rollercoaster RULES!

C.A. was closing early for a show, so we trekked the mile BACK to Disneyland to hit a few more rides before Addy's bones pooped out (as she put it).

Ethan and I did Splash Mountain while Addy went on Winnie the Pooh with Cassy. By that point, it was getting late and dark and I think her nerves were shot. She didn't enjoy it.

To avoid a little walking time at the end of the night, we decided to take the Disneyland train back around to the front entrance. Here comes Mom mistake #2 - I thoughtfully warned Addy ahead of time about the fake but slightly scary dinosaurs we would pass by on the way, and she had a GINORMOUS meltdown. Sobbing, crying, pleading, begging, etc. ANYTHING to not go on the train. THE TRAIN. You know, that really super slow "ride" that goes all the way around the park in a speedy 40+ minutes? Yes, that is what terrified her most about our day at Disneyland.

By promising to plug her ears for her the whole way (which I did), we managed to wrestle Addy onto THE TRAIN, and made it safely, and with no dinosaur attacks, back to the main gate. She conked out on the way, and my heroic sister carried her almost all the entire way back to our hotel.

We stayed in a hotel just for that night, but it was SO WORTH it. Addy thought it was a marvel and proclaimed "This is my favorite hotel EVER!!!!" Day 1 down.

The Party is Over.

So, Ammon went back to school today after being off for almost a month. A month! You can really get settled into a new version of your life in a month. Having him tell me to pull out my earplugs today at 6:30am was PAINFUL. As was realizing I was out of Diet Coke with no car (have no fear, we walked to the gas station a few blocks away).

Anyway, we had a great time having him home even if we didn't do anything more exciting than go to the Rec Ctr. Emmett had his first pool experience, which he seemed to like and was pretty cute until he threw up in the pool. Ah well. That's what chlorine is for, no? We got TONS of projects done, which has made me feel a little more organized and a little less tense. Having an almost daily nap helped too. =)

I realized today that I have given almost no updates on Emmett! He is 8 1/2 months old now and such a squishy love!!!! I want to just eat him up all the time. He is squealing to himself in his exersaucer right now, and it is so adorable. He is eating all his unappetizing-looking "solids" with great gusto, and thinks it's really funny when he sneezes and sprays peas all over Mommy's face.

He LOVES his sister and thinks she is hilarious. He giggles and goos every time he sees her, and she is so sweet with him. Is there anything more precious than seeing your children love each other? He rolls pretty well now, but still can't sit on his own because the child has no butt and an enormous belly. This doesn't make for good balancing.

He really is a delightful and easygoing baby. We are quite lucky. Don't get me wrong...he has his opinions and is not afraid to share them, but most of the time he is fabulous.

These pics are totally out of order and I'm too lazy to sort them:

Emmett on Easter Sunday, and enjoying some green beans last week.

Addy snuggling Emmett around Christmastime (hence the blanket), and one of Emmett's finer moments:

This was during one of the days I was teaching preschool in Jan/Feb.

Getting a little Vitamin D time over the winter.

Enjoying some more green beans. Or peas.

Dance Recital!!

Addy's first (and likely last) dance recital was on Saturday night, and oh my heavens, she was a hoot. Between the thumbs ups, finger pointing, and random spastic moves, she was a STAR. Not a born dancer, mind, but a star nonetheless. I honestly don't think she hit the right move at the right time once, bless her sweet heart. *Note to self: if you forget your choreography, just shake it (she did some serious butt shimmies during the dress rehearsal).

For a variety of reasons, each class ended up doing their number a total of FOUR times. This particular video is Round 2 and is by far her funniest. Although I wish you could see Round 4...anyone age 5 or under basically just stood on the stage looking like they were in shock. Or else heavily sedated.

Addy starts off on the back row, 2nd one from the left. Please ignore my cackling in the background.

By the way, I just showed her this video and told her she did awesome. Her response: "Oh it was nothing. Why were you laughing in the video?"

Insomnia, again.

Why is it that I only blog when I'm unable to sleep? Am I turning vampire-like into a creature of the night? Although that title sounds vaguely "escort-ish" so we'll leave it alone. I've got to start writing comprehensible things during normal daylight hours or you will all start gathering for an intervention of some sort, I am sure.

Anyway. As Awesome-Wife-Number-One (I claim that title for today only), I slept on the couch because Ammon's last day of finals is today, and apparently, I snore. Rather loudly. Or at least I did last night and interfered with his R.E.M. sleep, which is a crime in our house punishable by communication exclusively via grunts and excessive glaring. So I Took One For the Team (mine) and slept quite comfortably on our Furniture Row Beauty until about 45 minutes ago when I woke up with my nostrils pressed into the cushions, my leg thrown over the top (and asleep), and my neck in what felt like a post-mortem contortion.

So, I rolled over and started "thinking" which went something like this: "Oh man, I am going to be so tired tomorrow. I wonder if I can get a nap at some point. But I do need to get preschool ready which means I have to clean the house oh shoot I haven't done any laundry and Emmett is out of clothes I wonder if this new formula is helping. He still seems to be spitting up a ton but he's so cute oh nuts I haven't posted any pics of him, like, ever and I really should and I need to post pics of Addy's recital too man that was funny. I sure hated dance when I did it, but my friends seemed to like it and I wonder what happened to Friend X? Man I was so jealous of her in high school I should teach a YW lesson on jealousy sometime (this thought followed by 20 minutes of planning said lesson from start to finish - even though I'm not in YW or have been asked to teach, ever)...holy hannah I just planned a YW lesson, I am losing it maybe I should blog?"

And so I got up and here is the fruit of my nuttiness. Don't you find your train of thought when you can't sleep totally INSANE? I love that I can start thinking about napping and end up writing fictional lessons to kids I don't teach or have any authority over whatsoever. I am without calling, which is like being without country, but maybe not so much?

OK I'm tired again. Going to try to get a little nap in before kids wake up. And by the way, you people out there that get up at 5am ON PURPOSE are also INSANE. Loves! =)

A night in the life of Emmett the Nugget and his sad, sad mother

No one should blog at 1am while they're baby has been screaming for an hour after having recently taken an Ambien, most especially me. But, as you'll see from my FB posts I threw in here, I just couldn't leave this glorious and joyful night undocumented.

Here it is, starting at around 12:30ish:

Is there anything suckier than listening to your baby cry themselves to sleep? The sleeping part hasn't happened yet and I just want to cave, but I know this is what he needs. ARGH.

16 minutes ago ·
and the longer I sit here, the more Cadbury Mini Eggs I stress-eat. Dang you Cadbury. Dang you.

14 minutes ago

And now of course, the little stinker is asleep, and I'm all kinds of keyed from chocolate overconsumption and stress and will probably not sleep at all tonight.

14 minutes ago

Keyed UP I meant to say. Oh for the love.

And...I lied. Back to screaming. I love my life I love my life I love my life. Sorry for the running commentary, but this night of fun must be documented.

9 minutes ago

And starting here is where I decided to give FB a rest (my junior high math teacher probably doesn't care much about this. I'm only speculating? Maybe she does):

1:06 - Intermittent yelping. Sort of like the sound a car turning over. RRrrrrrrrraaaaaaarr. Rrrrrrraaaaaaar. OK that is not even CLOSE to what he sounds like.

1:08 - Giant scream/squawk/bark/snort, and....silence.

1:08 - I spent 60 seconds of that time trying every way I could think to spell squawk before I gave up and looked it up.

1:11 - Still silent.

1:21 - Still silent. Have I subdued the beast for good? Gads I hope so, but seriously, I am totally wide awake now. I may be typing incoherent nonsense, but hey - it is ALERT incoherent nonsense. Funny how it's now 1:23 because I had to spend so much time thinking about how to spell all those big words.

1:23 - So. I managed to put down the bag of mini-eggs (yeah me), and I've already played like 5 games of Mah-Jong. Online shopping?

1:28 - I have enough wits to realize that making any purchasing decisions in my present state has never produced positive results. Although...that's not strictly true. My Super Slim Shaper, which is the best little fat sucking number I've ever tried, was purchased at just such a moment. Who knows what glorious things could show up on my door in a few days?

1:30 - I wonder if tomorrow I will blame Ammon for eating such a huge amount of Mini-Eggs. Probably. And I will read this post and be heartily embarrassed. But right now it's just fun to see how long it takes me to fix all my spelling errors with my eyes crossed.

1:31 - Bless the child he is still asleep. Shoot though - I just saw a lot of head movement in the monitor. Yes, we have a video monitor, but it was really cheap and Emmett looks kind of like a fuzzy turtle on it.

1:33 - Why am I sitting here in the dark? It's not like the 'lektricty quits working at our house after 10pm. OK now I am just blathering about absolutely nothing. And starting to write in the same voice as a character from one of the books I'm reading.

Shoot damn. I best get m'sef on up to bed.

Now I have really lost it. I'm sorry you had to witness this, you mysterious intrepid readers. I'm not necessarily going to bed, but I really think this post needs to end.

Goodnight! and hopefully you have a laugh at my expense tomorrow! Today! St Paddy's Day!

Christmas Letter

This is for those of you who I forgot to send a Christmas card to, or who just didn't get a letter in your card. =)

Merry Christmas!

You will notice I combined our baby announcement with our Christmas card this year…please don’t judge. It was my goal to have a delightful picture of all four of us looking happy, rested, and attractive, but that shot is still a few months out. We’ve been a wee bit busy…

2010 was typical for our family, in that we decided to have multiple life altering events happen at once. What is wrong with us?

After many lengthy discussions, we decided that Ammon needed to go back to school to finish his PhD in physics, and he started in September. It’s been a little rough so far, but he has been happy to have intelligent conversations during his work day again. In addition to taking classes, he also teaches an undergraduate lab and is TA for another class. I help Ammon out where I can – recording grades and even grading essays (I weep for our youth’s English skills). No, I don’t help him with his homework. Every assignment looks to me like aliens wrote it.

Obviously our biggest event has been adding Emmett James to our family a mere 2 weeks after Ammon started school. Our timing is impeccable. Oh he is so yummy! No surprise to anyone, pregnancy was sheer torture for me. Luckily, things went a little better this time around and Emmett was only born 6 weeks early (as opposed to Addy’s 8.5). He spent one week in the NICU, which was also a nice change from Addy’s 5 week stay.

It’s hard to tell much about his personality so far – babies at this age pretty much just lie there – but he does seem to be pretty mellow and easy going. For the most part, he’s a really good sleeper. He’s smiling now and just started laughing a few days ago. So far his most endearing trait is that he snorts like an angry piglet when he’s mad. I know I shouldn’t laugh when my child is upset, but it is beyond adorable.

Addy is our verbal girl, and at 4, she is sounding like a mini adult. Some gems from this year include: “I had a double blast-off toot!”, and “Mom, I’m growing hair in my armpits!” (not actually true). Yesterday’s went like this: Addy: “I’m a genius!” Mom: “You are?” Addy: “Of course I am! Why would I be dumb?” Why indeed. She has been loving preschool again this year and has also started taking dance. It looks a little spastic sometimes, but it’s still cute. Other than preschool and dance, her favorite pastimes are pretending to be a puppy, a lion, a kitty, a jaguar, and…pretty much any kind of animal, complete with soundtrack.

She is such a sweet big sister. She loves to sing to Emmett to calm him, and frequently prays “that Emmett will stop crying soon and get big so he can play with me”. She is slowing recovering from the only-child worldview that life revolves around her. It’s been a slightly painful adjustment.

As for me, I didn’t accomplish a whole lot this year, other than…oh yes, I had a child. I suppose 8 months of gestating is enough work for anyone? I am ridiculously thrilled to feel healthy again! I’m slowly adjusting to my new life as mother of two and wife to a student. I’m finding that as long as I have book club and plenty of excuses for girls’ night out, I do pretty well. And if I get a nap.

It’s been kind of a grueling year, but it has also given us the chance to witness countless miracles in our lives. We have been enormously blessed each step of the way. We are so grateful for a kind Father in Heaven who knows and loves us, and for His Son, Jesus Christ.

With love,

Micaela and family

So it begins...

You know I must have something momentous to share if I'm actually taking the time to blog, and I do.......I'M PREGNANT!! I'm 9 weeks along right now, and the little nugget is due Oct 20.
As you can imagine, all possible emotions have made an appearance in the last few weeks since I found out, and most within the first 15 seconds: elation, joy, TERROR, excitement, HORRIFICATION (is this a word?), instant desire to be sick and to go baby shopping all at once.
If any of you have read back to the begininning annals of this blog (or have had had a conversation with me lasting more than 48 seconds), you already know that Pregnancy #1; aka The HORROR did not go so super smooth. In any possible way.
According to experts (so far anyway), chances are pretty darn good that Pregnancy #2 will be muuuuuuch better. So, say a little prayer for meeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (I'm hearing Kris and Meggan on backup there).

Anywho. Hear are my preliminary thoughts on Pregnance #2, aka PII:

Cons:
1. The obvious. I promise not to give you a detailed list of every gross thing that has or will happen to my body. Suffice it to say: constant state of carsickness/I must have just had the bad shrimp x 24/7 = not such a perky girl.
2. Interesting twist here...I REALLY am trying to avoid being annoying pregnant girl that whines and moans incessantly, because frankly, I knew what I was getting myself into and that's just not fun for anyone to listen to. Except your husband. That's his job. The problemo lies in the bitter irony that if I Put On My Happy Face TOO much, then no one will feel sorry for me and offer to watch my kid/do my calling/bring me cottage cheese. Must persevere and find the balance!
3. The elusive hunt for the exact perfect right thing to eat at the exact right moment. I explained it this way to Ammon: it's sort of like believing that you can find the end of the rainbow...you know it's there, you can see where it ends! But every time you think you've found it...Poof! It was never there. It's as though all pregnant women (well, OK, me) believe that when you're feeling sick, there really IS that certain miracle food out there if you could just THINK OF IT!!!!! And if you think of, how quickly can you get there??????!!!!!!!!!!!!! The saddest part is that even if you think of it and manage to order it and get it in front of you, chances of it making all your dreams come true are nano-slim. I made this very mistake on Thurs night - I had a light shine down from heaven saying QDOBA!!!! So I hauled the fam over there, ordered the chicken taco salad (you women that have been pregnant already see my fatal error), took a bite.......and nothing. Worse than nothing. Blech. Note to self!!!!! DO NOT ORDER CHICKEN WHEN PREGNANT. IT ONLY SOUNDS GOOD IN THEORY.

Pros:
1. If Addy is any indication (and I am praying my little heart out that she is) of how cute my next child could be, then we have obvious Pro #1.
2. I think that PI aka The HORROR did a real number on Ammon's psyche because the man has done a complete 180 since round 1. Seriously, he has done EVERYthing the last few weeks while I moan on the couch (I'm allowed at home, just not in public). He has been a superstar, a rockstar and all of the above.
3. The deliciously rare moment in the first trimester when you actually find the pot of gold - the perfect food at the perfect moment. Mine was several weeks ago in the form of a roast beef sandwich from Panera with horseradish. LLLLlllaaaaaaaa angels singing I just ate something divine!!!!! Ironically, I went back the next day to try and recreate the moment, and blech. It's go to be at the RIGHT TIME.

I'm sure more to come later. In the meantime, wish me luck!!!

The New Crafty-Me

I don't know what has happened to me since I quit working over a year ago....I swear I've had a personality shift: I stopped blogging regularly, I hardly shop at all now (although that's just circumstantial I'm sure), and I've discovered I looooooove being crafty! I seriously never knew this about myself.

So the house isn't any cleaner, I don't cook any more often, but I have made some fun things over the last year...a Halloween wreath, several Advent calendars, a jute vase, pillows, Christmas yarn balls, been in a cardmaking club (which I NEVER thought I would do), decoupaged a drawer pull, spraypainted and painted almost every piece of furniture/accessory I own, hosted a Scrapbooking weekend, started digital scrapbooking, and on and on and on. Poor Ammon. Early in our marriage, he had lots of hobbies to keep himself occupied, and once told me that he wished I had some hobbies I enjoyed as well...I really don't think this was what he had in mind. =)






My latest, or at least most involved project has been making Scrabble-tile necklaces. I LOVE doing these! It's fun to look at a piece of paper and visualize what you could make out of it. They really are nothing fancy pants at all, but, I did recently display them at a craft fair, and they did quite well! Who knew??




Anywho. So now I have dozens left (because I can't do anything in small doses) with no home. OK, I really never thought I'd do this, so here goes really fast:

I'm-selling-my-cute-little-pendants-for-$5-each-they-come-with-ribbon-or-$2-extra-for-metal-chain.

That was awkward. You'd never know that I used to work in sales would you? lol. But what the heck. Maybe there is some reader out there who just can't live without a necklace, and seriously...what am I going to do with all these? =)




As you can see, I've shown a bunch of samples of ones I've made already - be gentle - our camera sucks, and my photoshopping skills are nil. I've already done several custom necklaces, so if there's a certain monogram or color you want I can do basically anything. Just comment on here if you want to buy one, or 7. They make great stocking stuffers!