Advent: Day 11. AKA The Weirdest Day Ever

Today, I did the strangest thing I've ever done. I put my little girl on the bus. It wasn't my choice, I just had no other options. I spent the whole time with my stomach in knots. "What if there's an accident? What if she's bullied?" When 8:30 rolled around and I knew she was in class and I hadn't gotten a phone call, I relaxed for 2 minutes. Then I started worrying about her getting on the right bus after school. Needless to say, it was a rather long day.

Before getting on the bus, Leilani opened todays Advent package. Christmas jokes! Some of them she didn't understand because of the cultural difference (the jokes are from a British blog) So when I asked her "What's an ig?" the answer ("An Eskimos house without a loo") didn't make any sense until I explained what a loo is. Then she giggled. A couple others that made her laugh were
"Why does Santa like to wear bells? Because he love a good bell-y laugh"
"Knock knock. Who's there? Snow. Snow who? Snow use, I'v forgotten my name again"
"What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Ice Krispies"
"What goes 'oh, oh, oh'? Santa walking backwards"
"What do monkeys sing at Christmas? Jungle Bells"
and last of our morning jokes
"Knock knock. Who's there? Mary. Mary who? Mary Christmas"
I heard her singing "jungle bells" as she was getting ready for school, so I think she really liked that one. *grin*

While Leilani was at school, Natalia and I watched Star Wars 4, 5, and 6. Well, more like had them on while we napped, cleaned and baked. We cleaned and vacuumed the living room, cleaned the kitchen, made no-bake chocolate-peanut butter-oatmeal cookies and enough cheezee sauce for three different meals.

Leilani made it on the right bus, and is safe, sound and in one piece. Unfortunately, the truck isn't done and won't be until sometime tomorrow, so she's riding the bus again tomorrow. She's pretty excited, I'm not, but I'm glad that Thursday we'll be back to normal.

Friday

I can't believe how quickly we're adjusting to Leilani going to school. She wants to leave earlier and earlier. Natalia and I are having a good time having one-on-one time. Today I've managed to get the kitchen and dining room mostly clean, done some dishes, and laundry.

I gave Natalia a bath today - I did let her bathe a bit longer than five minutes, I put Aveeno baby eczema oatmeal bath stuff in it. She was just so happy, grinning, splashing and playing, I decided I'd just slather her up with extra lotion. She had a little turtle toy that she was banging into the water, then she hit a duck with it. When the duck fell over she turned it right side up to knock it over again. It's safe to say, she thoroughly enjoyed her bath.

I've decided to start using the green/yellow/red ticket system at home. Leilani's teacher uses it, and Leilani's so excited toi get green tickets, because when she gets ten of them she'll get a special prize out of the treasure chest. It makes her so excited that I think it's going to help her behave well at home. I'm not sure what sorts of prizes I'll use, but I'm thinking something along the lines of mommy-daughter dates, extra TV time, little things like that, that would make her super happy and wanting to obey.

Leilani's been doing brilliantly - she got a green ticket everyday this week! Jeremy got home early, so he was here when I brought Leilani home. He asked her if she'd learned anything today, and she said "no". He said "well maybe we shouldn't send you to school, then". Leilani had the brilliant response "I don't get sended like I package, I get taken to school!"

Show-and-Tell Saturday

Natalia has started doing this hug thing. She puts her arms around my neck and holds tight, it's so cute. She also knows who she wants and when. Like if Jeremy's holding her and she wants me, she'll lean as far away from him as she can and reach for me. Or if he's holding her and trying to give her to me and she doesn't want me, she leans into him and away from me. Or vice versa. If she wants you to pick her up while she's sitting on the ground, she'll lean far forward and put her arms behind her, almost like she's trying to take off. She's a bit sneaky, too. Like if I put her down to go take care of something really quickly, she'll send up a cry like she's hurt or scared to get me to come running and give me the hugest grin when she sees me. Almost like "you've been punked, mama". She also gave her first kiss Thursday night. As soon as daddy got home she went to him and puckered her lips and leaned forward.

Leilani's adding 1's, 2's and 3's and seeming to love it. She's also blending a few consonanats with short vowels. She learned five new sounds this past week. We made an obstacle course on Thursday using our little exercise trampoline, kiddie picnic table, kiddie lawn chairs and small slide. We jumped on the trampoline, went over the picnic table, weaved in and out of the chairs and went up and down the slide. Afterwards we made a strawberry banana smoothie. Leilani's new favorite game is sliding down the stairs. She's pretty fast! Nothing like stairs to keep a five-year-old occupied.

I decided to scrap the sourdough starter. It was too much work, especialy since using the breadmaker I can throw together a loaf in three minutes while holding a baby, then push a button, and forget about it. For where I am right now, it's what works.

I did some stuff I'd pinned on Pinterest...the girls' bathroom has a jungle/safari theme, so I cut out silhouettes of a giraffe head, lion head, parrot and monkey to put along one wall; then I cut out elephant silhouettes to put on the other wall. Once I get my camera charged I'll see if it's working (it, too, got water spilled on it) and get some photos of the finished project.

I made baked potatoes with broccoli and "cheese" sauce for dinner - quick, easy and cheap :). Leilani loved the sauce, she was eating it by the spoonful.

We're slowly getting through the boxes. The kitchen, living room and dining room are box-free. Finally. I have about six boxes left in the library/school room. I've found a few more toy boxes, so the playroom nearly has all its toys in it. I've been working on a cleaning schedule to keep the house clean, something nice and easy so I'll actually do it.

Funny Card

As I was unpacking the whole half a box I got done today, I came across a card my grandpa gave me for my graduation from Le Cordon Bleu. It was probably the cheeriest card I've ever received *heavy sarcasm*. It reads:

Dear Elizabeth,
Congratulations on your graduation. I'm sure sometimes you felt it would never happen, but you kept going. Your grandma was watching over you all the way. On to bigger and better things, and it may not get much easier.
Love from both of us,
Grandma and Grandpa

Actually, for my grandpa, that was a really sweet, sentimental and optimistic card.

Addition

Today, we tackled addition. Yikes, I'm so not ready for this! Fortunately it was 0+0=0 and 1+0=1. But I'm still having a hard time believing my little girl is old enough for addition!

I got a few more boxes done this morning since Natalia slept in. They're broken down, put in the garage and everything! I'm to the point that I just can't stand the boxes anymore, but still can't get them put away since Natalia's always wanting me to hold her. Not moby her, that's not good enough apparently, but actually hold. And as I keep reminding myself "Babies don't keep". I made up for it by putting her down to nap (which means shorter naps) and getting stuff done. So really, I'm feeling pretty good about the amount I got done. We even walked down to the mailbox. Leilani complained that she was chilly, so I taught her a new word - "nippy". She then said "nippy" the rest of our walk.

I took the taco "meat" from the other day and the cheezee mac from yesterday and mixed them together to make a casserole. Threw it in the oven and topped it with some bread crumbs and tada! Less waste :).

Speaking of less waste/saving money, I finally found all the cloth diapers. While it was nice having the military move us, the packers put the cloth diapers and wipe in three - yes, three - different boxes. I was getting pretty frustrated, trying to find everything.

I found the Christmas stockings my sister-in-law crocheted for the girls, so yesterday I stitched their names on them and I'm planning on putting trees and other things on them. I think it's so awesome my girls will have hand made stockings from their aunt. And yes, before you ask, I'm so ready for Christmas! Now that we have room, I can't wait to put up the tree, decorations and everything. Do you think the day after Hallowe'en is too soon?

Busy Day

We managed to keep pretty busy today. That sourdough starter I started just a few days ago is already ready to use. I must've made some really strong wild yeast! So this morning, I made up a batch of sourdough bread and refrigerated the starter, because I don't think we're going to be making that much bread! Leilani knocked her school out fairly quickly (the promise of hair gel and Backyardigans when she finished really worked lol).

We made Cheezee Mac for lunch, added in some frozen pea and diced tomatoes for a bit more nutrients. Leilani ate two bowls, so I'm guessing it was a big hit. We'll probably be eating it for the next few days, as it made a HUGE batch.

After lunch, we made pumpkin brownies, something I found on Pinterest. Just take a can of pumpkin and a box of brownie mix and waalaa - pumpkin brownies. We did amp ours up a bit by using a pumpkin cookie cutter to make them truly pumpkin brownies. They were a bit chewy, more like fudge, but turned out really cute.

The bread tasted amazing, just like sourdough should. And it's whole grain, so less guilt *grin*

Both the girls have new favorite shows (yay for Netflix...mommy has new favorite shows, too). Leilanis is Wonder Pets (not my favorite, but the melodies and harmonies are pretty good) and Natalias is Sesame Street (big surprise, right?). My new favorite shows, well, there are quite a few - Doctor Who, Downton Abby, Sherlock Holmes and Lost.

Anyway, we're off to watch some Sesame Street.

Playroom Done!

Today my new washer and dryer were delivered! The first thing I washed (with the sanitize cycle) were Natalia's diapers. I was ridiculously excited to get them nice and clean. Then I washed the clothes. Super exciting, right? But since the appliances were supposed to be delivered between 9 and 11 I kind of wasted my morning waiting and playing on the computer. I made up for it, though, by getting the playroom done (besides the few boxes that are in the wrong places, so are yet to be found). I got some done in the library/school room, too. Hopefully I'll get that room all done tomorrow. Especially since I'm planning on starting school back up on Monday.

Unpacking

It's hard unpacking boxes all by yourself. Jeremy had to go in to work (big surprise, righ?) so I was on my own with the girls and around three hundred boxes. Since I got most of the kitchen done yesterday, I decided that today I'd concentrate on the play room so Leilani'd have a place to play, especially after yesterday (which I'll
get to in a minute). I got through about fifteen or so boxes, and now the room looks like it qualifies as a national disaster area. I'm organizing as I go, so it's taking me a bit longer, but in the end will save me a lot of time. Well, as long as Natalia isn't as clingy as she was today.

Now, about yesterday. I guess Leilani decided Rapunzel and her long tresses were just so last city because she came out from behind some boxes and announced she'd cut her hair. At first I didn't take her seriously, thinking she just meant she wanted either me to cut it or to go get it cut. I continued unpacking and Jeremy continued taking care of Natalia. A bit later, Leilani came out again, and said the same time. This time, I actually looked at her. What she had done wasn't so much cut her hair as it was chop. It's butchered. It doesn't even reach her shoulders anymore. And in some places it's as short as Jeremy's. Or Natalia's for that matter. We're going to have to go to a salon to get it styled. Since I've been wanting to get a pixie cut, I'll get mine done at the same time.

Today we got paid (finally!) so had to restock our pantry. I know I made Jeremy's day by waiting until he got home to go shopping, but I figured with the girls and the amount of stuff I needed to get, there was no way I was going to be able to do it with one cart or by myself. So we now have a full pantry. Well, almost, I decided amazon's prices were better for beans, some nuts, and other things, so they'll be arriving sometime next week. I did use a trick I found on Pinterest to keep the fridge clean. We'll see how it works. I took Glad Press 'n Seal and put it on the shelves to keep the fridge itself clean and cut down on cleaning time, because all I'll have to do is peel the old stuff up and put new stuff done. Should be easy-peasy *grin*

One Exhausting Day

The movers arrived bright and early with all our stuff. Jeremy took the inventory while I directed boxes to their proper homes. Because of the pay issue (which is almost resolved) we were running low on food, so I bundled the girls up and we ran to get bread (this WalMart has the coolest vegan bread!), peanut butter, jelly, apples, bananas and almonds. We now have food to eat, even if it's the same thing again *grin*

Then I found out my grandpa died so spent the whole afternoon trying to find out if that were true or not. It is. And my owm mother didn't let me or any of the family know. So I've been dealing with that on top of having to unpack and get things put away.

I'm exhausted. Hopefully a good nights' sleep will help me feel better.

In a Holding Pattern

Today we finished cleaning the apartment, got the rest of our stuff and went back to the hotel. The girls and I hung out there while Jeremy ran up to work to take care of some stuff. All I can say is, thank goodness for cable and personal DVD players. For dinner we tried out an Indian restaurant. There's this awesome app called Happy Cow that tells you what vegan/vegetarian restaurants are in the area, and that's how we found it. Before this, I'd never had Indian cuisine before. And, I was the only one who loved it. I mean, I've had curry before, but authentic Indian cuisine, no. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it very often, since Leilani and Jeremy weren't too crazy about it. Natalia was mad because I wouldn't let her have too much, she did get a taste and loved it, but her face went kind of red from the heat. But, boy was she mad when I wouldn't give her anymore!

Sunday

So I'd like to start off by saying, I have the best husband in the world. He packed more boxes, cleaned the living room, did dishes and cleaned the kitchen in the past couple of days. Actually, he cleans the kitchen a LOT...he's really good at it. He also made me a PBJ while Natalia was napping on me, made Leilani a bunch of bagels while Natalia was napping on me, helped keep Leilani quiet so Natalia could nap and is just generally awesome!

We all slept in until around 10 this morning, so stayed home from church. Natalia and I did run to the store - we seem to go through our soy milk and fruit awfully quickly! While I was there I finally remembered to get the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to clean the walls....those things are awesome! We'll need to get a few more though, to get the walls spotless for moving out. Ergh. Oh, and I'm finally doing laundry, too. We made the delicious green smoothie from yesterday again, so I probably should've bought more spinach.

Tonight we're gonna watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Hopefully I'll get to bed a bit earlier tonight than I did last night!

Delicious Green Smoothie

Today we did, well, Jeremy did, some getting-ready-for-move-cleaning. We got rid of Leilani’s bed, not the mattress, just the frame. It’s five years old and has become a danger. The spindles were falling off and nearly hit people in the head (Leilani and me). It was kinda sad to see it go, I gave birth to Leilani on that bed, but safety definitely comes first! Now, her mattress is in the master bedroom, so we’ll all be co-sleeping for a while *grin*. Her room is now the play room. I just couldn’t handle stepping on one more Lego or Lincoln Log!

I made a delicious green smoothie this afternoon, the ginger gave it a bit of a kick, and it’s chock full of different colors, which means TONS of nutrients and antioxidants. It was all gone before I could take picture, though *grin* Yummy and good for you! You’ll need a high-powered blender to make it, and put the ingredients in in the order listed. Other than that, enjoy!

Delicious Green Smoothie

2 cups water
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 loose cups spinach
2 apples, quartered (NOT peeled)
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 frozen banana, broken into chunks

Put all ingredients into blender and blend until fully combined. I got two large servings, plus one small one for Leilani, from this.

Sunday Funday?

When we left for Florida (we're back now) we left the house in a bit of a shambles. Today was "un-shamble the house" day, which is about as fun as it sounds. We cleaned nearly all day. But our box count is really high, high enough I've lost count *grins*.

Natalia took a nice long nap, all by herself today. Normally, she has to be laying on me, but I set her in the bassinet and she slept for a good long while, which gave me plenty of time to get a few loads of laundry done. I loaded the dishwasher, then realized I have no dishwasher tabs. But I have to go to the store tomorrow since we ate up all our food before the trip south. I'm going to try a new grocery store, in hopes that they have a larger selection of vegan goods :)

Leilani and Natalia watched a Baby Einstein together, it was so cute, them sitting in front of the tv, Natalia in the bouncy seat and Leilani sitting next to her on the floor. Leilani and Natalia had a nice cuddle on the couch, too.

The day's been long, but really not much to write about, hopefully more tomorrow!

Goodnight!