Author: Alexis

Remember walking into my room and catching me singing and pretending in front of the mirror?

It lives on…..

such a special moment for me…..:) and then she saw me:

Yes, we moved. And we love it.

Things are still being hung and getting used to new sounds at night but over all we feel SO blessed by this place. I’ll give you a house tour soon but I need rooms to be complete first so until then you’ll just get glimpses. Some random things though I’ve noticed since living here all of 2 days.

1. HOW is it possible, living on the 5th floor, for us to have an ANT problem?!!! Please tell me because I am shocked. 

2. Man the sunsets are great. 

3. Sound sensitive/ VERBAL/older ladies for neighbors make for a frustrated Alexis.

4. The air conditioning in our place works great. Almost TOO great, I’m wearing pants and a cardigan to combat the arctic breezes blowing past me and it’s boiling outside! Reminds me of Austin, TX and their movie theaters- fa-reeze-ing.

5. Emma having her own room is fab-u-lous. With a capitol ‘F’. She loves it, we love it, perfect.

6. Does anyone else get frustrated with having to plan out a kitchen? Placing plates/cups, mixing bowls and tupperware is stressful to me! lol Weird I know.

Here is a picture of our our old loft. I miss it but only a little. It was perfect for when we needed it and now we are being blessed with an even better place. *Thanks God

I was struck today, as I was doing the dishes, that I have moments of being a ‘wanna be’. The Cool Mom.  The mom that does fun creative things with her kiddos. And of course, all those ideas just flow so easily too. 🙂 (This is not in comparison to anyone, just an imaginary momma)

I know I don’t measure up to my high standards at all. But before you try to argue with me: Yes, I have my fun days. I like being silly and spontaneous with my girl…but really when it all comes down to it…it’s whenever it’s convenient for me. If I have some free time I’ll think of something fun for Emma and I to do. And that’s alright.

But what I was shown today made me think , I don’t want Emma to tell me years later that she wished we would have done more things she liked to do. Basically it’s her childhood, not mine. The $1 TCBY cones are great. The rainbow pancakes, awesome. But will I have a random pretend birthday party for her in her room? Will I sing happy birthday to her over and over and pretend to sip on plastic cups taking my time when I have other things to do?

Sometimes what I think would be fun is not fun for her. I need to be sensitive to that and recognize what really excites her. Like Ring Pops, Dollar store rings and finger nail polish. Snuggling after waking up and allowing her to be more involved in the kitchen. Will I spend an extra $10 and get her nails done at a real salon?! We live right next to one…or allow her to wear a special dress out in a field picking smelly weeds she calls flowers?! (all the while not telling her to be careful of dirt)

Just some thoughts. What do you think?

It was about 5:00 and I was looking through my pantry and fridge thinking, ‘what the heck am I making for dinner?!’ Ever been there?

I saw the beautiful frozen Talapia and also the frozen wild rice I have been saving. Suddenly a thought was coming to me…I had a few extra tortillas….and heck even some homemade tarter sauce. BAM!!! I’ve got myself a dinner.

I needed something crunchy in it too. But since my veggie options are down I chose from what I had in the crisper, match stick carrots.

The fish seasoning was from a shaker. Nothing fancy. But I was generous so it had a kick. I’m silly and like to balance out the creamy tarter sauce with a bit of a kick.

It might sound fancy, but my homemade tarter sauce is so SUPER easy. Please, read, copy and feel fancy: Basically just add together and mix.  It’s all up to you and your personal taste.

Now for Emma’s dinnner…the fish was too spicy for her taste buds so fish sticks it is! Couldn’t she be a spokes model!!!

Her plate, she ate all the fish and carrots. Didn’t touch the rice or tortilla. Oh, well.

Are your kiddos good eaters? What tricks do you use for them to eat their food? Or do you make special meals for them?

***********************

When Travis came home I told him what I made (house smelled AWESOME) and he said, ‘ugh! I dont’ like fish tacos at all! They’re weird!’

Seriously?! Don’t you just “love” it when family members surprise you with information too late?!

So we had fish with rice and carrots on the side.  lol

*********************written by emma**********************

i miss my friend. she and i love to play. she left on an airplane today and won’t be back for a very long time. mommy and daddy say they are hoping we’ll see her really soon and she can show me HER bedroom and toys!

i miss you esterka and wish you were here. see you soon!

We live by  this little secret fountain. Nobody thinks to go to it on hot days but us. It’s awesome. Especially on days like today, going up to apparently 97’F! But I get kinda paranoid and feel like some cop is going to come and tell me not to play in the water. And really is that so bad?! Not the worse thing that could happen…

She was in heaven. And I was using this time to test out my manual mode on this camera.

Did you have a nice relaxing Saturday?

Do you know I get my hair done every day? I must be the luckiest girl. 🙂

 

Surprise birthday parties are the best. We threw one for Weronika and it was great. Small and definately a surprise. 🙂 We made sure to have her favorite desserts. Homemade Pumpkin Pie and American cake. Here’s how her cake turned out:

Her favorite color is purple, so obviously, the cake HAD to be purple. 🙂

It was leaning really bad. lol but thankfully it didn’t fall over.

(like our wedding renewal cake did in the stairwell during a fie alarm. Long story)

Over all, I think it went well 🙂

My friend, Weronika made me a wonderful Polish/Czech dish, KNEDLE.

(I may or may not have cornered her when she arrived and told asked  her I wanted her to teach me a Polish dish)

But on the day she made this, I was HORRIBLY sick. I instead, took a bite with my barf bag on my lap, smiled and excused myself to my bed.

I felt horrible for her. Really, all this work and I was so looking forward to trying to help her make it. Poo. But today, I am feeling much better and able to eat a few of these wonderful little Potato dumplings filled with fresh plums. 🙂

Thank you Weronika!!! It was delish!!

emma here showing you all my pictures i took! i can pick up the camera, look through the little box and snap the picture! I can also tell my subject (here it’s mommy) what faces i want her to do. 

she looks silly huh. hahahaha

and my favorite. i told her to open her mouth and show me her tongue. she told me to do the same thing. silly.