Cheating at Domesticity

Once upon a time, there was a wife who tried to make bread kind of a lot of times since getting married and failed miserably every time.

Then her lovely friend Kimber let her borrow her bread machine. 

Instructions as follows: put all the stuff in and push this button.

Easy enough.

3 and a half hours later, BREAD! 

No rock-like center
No activating yeast (anyone who can do this is my hero)

No "knead for 2 hours"

No "let rise 18 times".

It worked!

Do I feel inferior to a machine?

... maybe.

P.s. New posts! The Smart Girls Blog

Weekend!

Naptime Aftermath

We plan on working a little

Taking it easy a lot

Being kind of crazy

And loving it.

XO

P.s. Don't forget to check out my sister's and my new blog! Sarah-and-danielle.blogspot.com

Introducing...

The Smart Girls Blog!

{read where the name came from here}

My sister and I just started a new blog together! We can hardly contain our excitement! She is a gorgeous, brilliant mom of 3 and between the two of us, we are covering topics that range from kids to recipes to health to DIY and beyond. 

Sarah (hyphen) and (hyphen) Danielle (dot) blogspot (dot) com.

Enjoy!

My Attractive Childhood

If anyone knows about awkward stages, it's me. Mine was long and incredibly painful. Don't get me wrong, I was a really happy child. I think I was kind of oblivious of how not awesome I looked all the time, which is probably a good thing. Also a bad thing because my hair and clothes were out of hand.

Over Christmas break, my mom gave us each an album of pictures that she had leftover. Inside I found so many gems I just didn't know where to begin.

A few facts of my childhood:
-The first time a boy liked me, I was in 4th grade. I cried because I was so freaked out.
-I was terrified of p.e. because I was that bad at sports.
-I had a pallet separator which is essentially a giant piece of metal glued to the top of your mouth with the purpose of creating more space for adult teeth to grow in. This extra space manifests itself in the form of an extremely attractive gap between your front teeth.
-I wore glasses starting in second grade.
-I had a thing for sweatpants.

Meet Danielle:
It started out pretty well. The styles of the 90's didn't do me too many favors, but let's just blame the times.

I always had the best haircuts.

I also knew how to charm with my various attractive faces.

Around age 7 is when it really starts to get good. If you'll notice in the picture below, I'm wearing a hot pink t-shirt tucked into red sweatpants. No, I do not blame my mom. I guarantee I picked this outfit. I may or may not still have that shirt.

This age also marks the beginning of my blossoming smile. In this picture, I had about 50% of my teeth missing and my mouth was being overtaken by massive adult teeth in a bad way.

These black sneakers are a recurring theme in my photo album. Also, I remember this day. I felt super hot with my high ponytail. I clearly knew what looked good.

These glasses obviously brought out all my best facial features. 

Not-so-petite child issue #237: My thighs rubbed together and made my shorts ride up. Irritating. Not my best look.

Overalls with hooded shirts. Because who didn't love a good pair of overalls?

Then basically overnight, I finally hit puberty. Not that it solved my problems, but at least I did my hair.

Can I get a holler for braces!

And after 6 (yes, 6) years of metal in my mouth, the braces finally came off. Thank goodness.

I still vividly remember when my mom came at me with a razor in 5th grade and said it was time to shave, when my sister suggested I try a blow dryer, and when I figured out how to buy jeans that actually fit. I also remember being astounded when boys started thinking I was cute. What?

This post is dedicated to my sister, who so lovingly speaks of my awkward years.
Also, my mom, who still says she thinks I was cute the whole time. Aw, shucks, mom. You're the best.
And to Trevor. If only you could have known me when I was ten. Then I really would have won you over early.

Thank goodness for the end of the 90's, older sisters and moms who help you emerge from the black hole that is third (and second... and fourth... and fifth... and eighth...) grade, and contacts.

 And let me just say that nobody could pay me to repeat junior high. Yikes.
Hope you all had a fabulous weekend :).

Awkward & Awesome Thursday

This is my first time participating in Awkward and Awesome Thursday. Get excited.

Awkward:
- Teaching swimming lessons to adolescent boys who are taller than you. For that matter, teaching swimming lessons to 10 year old girls that are taller than you.
- Changing in front of your 5 year old niece and having her ask what your bra is. Then when you vaguely answer that it's a bra, having her make the rhyming connection with your little nephew's nickname for your husband, Tra. "Bra? Like Tra? Tra bra?"
- Telling your landlord that one of the burners on the stove has never worked, him unplugging the burner and sticking it back in, and staring at boiling water on said burner 5 minutes later.
- Asking your landlord how many kids he has and being answered with a casual "15".
- Not being able to figure out the name of a student due to their speech impediment, and asking them to repeat/spell out their name about 10 times.

Awkward and Awesome:
- Sweating through an entire shirt every day. Awkward because that's not very ladylike. Awesome because I worked hard.

Awesome:
- What being in the pool/spending time in the sun does for my skin. Ahh, clarity.
- Having a clean apartment already when the landlord decides to drop in (good choice, landlord. Thank you.)
- The fact that there is still no snow on the ground.
- New Oakleys because your sister didn't like how they looked on her face (thank you Sarah!)
- Working on secret surprise projects with said sister- stay tuned.
- Getting this baby in the mail:

XO

These Days

Thinking about looking for a big girl job

Spending lots of time lifeguarding in the meantime

Trying to wake up by 9 every day since I never work before noon (reach for the stars, I know)

Loving the blessing of being able to wear stilettos whenever I want (5'1" me married to 6' Trevor)

Researching a particular marathon in June (eek)

Loving that it's not slushy and snowy outside (I think I'm going to have to swallow those words tomorrow judging by the forecast)

Reading whatever I want! Because I can! 

Seriously though, give me book ideas. 

Missing my sister and her kids, because for some reason they didn't come home with me?

Thankful for my heated blanket (don't worry about the fact that I use it year-round.)

Glad that I finally have all my clothes back in my closet (minus we don't actually have closets in our house, so that's code for back in my wooden cupboard)

Shamelessly flirting with my sexy hubs all day long because I can.

Happy Wednesday. XO

P.S. I was serious about the book thing.

Lazy Sunday

Oh how we l.o.v.e. Sundays around here!
First of all, new favorite outfit (if you can get past the dusty terrible phone mirror picture):

 Thank you, F21, for letting me feel tribal. And I can't get enough of those sleeves.

I promise it's so much brighter in real life.

And MY NEW WATCH! Remember this watch that I've been envying from Fossil, oh, forever?

VavaVOOM! Thank you present from my sister for watching her kids. It has barely left my wrist since.

Church followed by:
Long naps
Hot bath
Hawaiian haystacks (oh my yum)
And now some nice easy unpacking because, not kidding, my stuff got back into town and then a bomb went off and somehow it's everywhere. How does this happen?

Happy MLK long weekend!

Playing Momma: Days 5 and 6

First of all, Colton is sexy and he knows it:

I cannot get enough of this boy!!!

The rest of my momma week was characterized by:

Warmer weather.

Baking some (nasty) cookies.

Taking Colton on dates to the pet store and grocery store. He loved the animals. So did I.

Colton and I putting some miles on the jogging stroller.

Meeting Madi at lunch for school.

Made a new best friend.

Little girl hovers for 5 minutes. "Will you be my best friend?"

Me: "Sure."

10 minutes later: "Will you be here tomorrow?"

Me: "No."

Shortest best friendship ever. Kindergarten is great.

Eating way too much candy and staying up past bedtime.

I miss those babies already. Also their hot mom.

Mmm... baby with yogurt= baby lost in yogurt.

Jaxon+syrup= don't forget to cut it up for him.
And give him a fork.
Oops. Obviously I have a long way to go.

This BABY!!!

Glad to be back with my smokin hubs!

Playing Momma: Days 2, 3, and 4

Day 2: Saturday.
Within 30 minutes of waking up, I had cleaned up more baby puke, started laundry, changed an up-the-back diaper, given this poor little boy a bath, and fed 3 kids. Whew!

Those kids love playing with each other. It's adorable. Also, they love giving hugs and kisses before bed. I love hugs and kisses anytime so this makes my whole day.

I also learned a little bit about mommy chauffeuring today.
Drove Jaxon to Aunt Cristina's. Cristina offers to take Colton as well and I almost cry with joy.
Drove Madison to birthday party.
Picked up Madison from birthday party.
Took Madison to Cristina's. Picked up Colton.
Took nap with Colton. Ahh.
Picked up Madison and Jaxon from Cristina.
Drove Madison to piano lessons.
Picked up Madison from piano lessons.
Went home.
Took all 3 kids to chick-fil-a.
Drove all kids home.
Again... whew!

Bad mother moment: Jaxon has to go to the bathroom at chick-fil-a. I'm feeding Colton and watching Madison play. I say, ok, go in the one with a picture of the boy. Jaxon runs across entire restaurant to bathroom. Comes back holding his underwear and pants. It is then that I remember that he is 3 and that I just did a terrible thing. For future reference, 3 year olds still go in the girls bathroom with their moms. Mortified.

Also, almost got driven crazy by a phantom smoke detector. It started beeping so I took out the battery. Had to pop the cover off with a knife and stand on the table to get to it. Then it kept beeping. What? Emailed my sister to ask her to please for the love tell me where I could find a battery for it. Finally found one. Meltdown avoided.

Day 3: Sunday.
Somehow got 3 kids and myself ready for church by 11. If church had been any earlier, we probably still would have made it by 11. No sooner.

15 minutes into church, we had pretty much an entire bag of pretzels ground into the carpet. I'm so sorry. I'm learning here, people. Pretzels at church for the baby and 3 year old (who keeps laying under the pew and grabbing the little girl's ankles behind us) WILL become dust.

Colton waved and smiled at everyone. Jaxon wore his "future missionary" badge. Madison is just beautiful no matter what. These kids are all heartbreakers.

After church, I maybe cried on the phone to Trevor a little bit. I mean! It's a little overwhelming going from no kids to 3 that can move and ask for stuff! Madison and Jaxon were yelling at me. Colton was crying. I was hiding from them in Sarah's room. But Madison and Colton gave me hugs and really, when people that cute are giving you hugs, can you be all that stressed?

We went to Jon and Cristina's for dinner, too. It was so fun and the kids loved it. Colton also got some tlc from a real momma, which I think he needed from being sick :(. Cristina has saved my life by a million. I'm so glad she's here!!

Day 4: Monday.
Missed my alarm by 15 minutes for school. Made up for it by making Madison's bed for her. Madison was out the door at 7:30, right on time. Danielle:1, Early Mornings:0.

After giving Colton a bottle when he woke up at 6:30 a.m. so that he would go back to sleep (did I mention this happens every day when I'm the mom? It does.) Jaxon came in at 8:00 nice and awake (did I mention Jaxon never gets out of bed in the morning until someone comes and gets him? He doesn't. Unless you're me and just hope that you can squeeze 5 more minutes out of them. He hates waking up. Obviously so do I.) and he was off to school by 9. Party time for Colton and me!

We went to the store...
and danced around...
and played legos...
and hide and seek...
and took naps...
and picked up Madi...
and made cookies!

 One baby is a lot different than 3, did you know that? I didn't. But, WOW!
Cristina took Jaxon after school. Once again... I love you Cristina.

Cristina and Jon came over tonight for FHE. The kids were all so exhausted. I'm pretty sure Jaxon fell asleep within 30 seconds of his head hitting the pillow.

Moms are my heroes. I love these babies so much and I'm glad I get a whole week to spoil them rotten. Also glad that I get to go back to Trevor in a few days. I miss my hubs!

XO

Playing Momma: Day 1

Today was my first day of taking on these three solo: 

Sarah teaching Madison to tie her shoe. Colton climbing on Sarah. Jaxon practicing flying from the stool to the couch. 

Here is what I've learned so far:

Anytime I look at this little stud muffin I just about melt.

 I mean really!

Running with 2 kids in a jogging stroller is really hard. Made it 3.5 miles pushing 2 kids uphill against the wind and almost died. Jaxon hid under a blanket from the wind (refused to wear pants because he loves his soccer shorts). Colton laughed about it. We ran past Madison's school and caught her out at recess! Also, we took many animal cracker breaks and stopped at the park at the end. Thank you, 70 degree Dallas weather!

 Sometimes it's ok to take naked babies to pick up their older sibling from school because they are covered in puke when you wake them up. I maybe had to call my mom and ask her the best way to clean up baby vomit. But look how cute he is! He was bouncing around the rest of the afternoon happy as ever.

After dinner, they all jumped on the trampoline together. It was so cute. They love each other so much! 

 Now we're having MOVIE NIGHT! Burned popcorn and cute kids. What more could you want? Colton (the baby) loved his popcorn. Pretty sure he could have eaten the whole bag by himself. 

Jaxon (toehead blonde) and I took a 2 hour nap together today. Ahh. Love naps with cute kids.

Kids get hungry and thirsty a lot. 

Loving that I have permission to spoil these kids all week long.

Also, they create many diapers that need changing.

I had to call my husband to ask him how to make french toast today. Soggy bread and I don't get along, so I don't really do french toast.

Managed to create 4 loads of laundry in one day.

Currently, I just swept up something glass (sorry Sarah), am surrounded by a Jaxon on my left arm, a Madison on my right shoulder, and popcorn all over the floor. 

I cannot wait to be a mom.

XO

Winter Vacation in {a million} Pictures

Part 2: Kansas!

Cold weather and lots of layers

Game nights

Christmas Day!

Naps

Niece and nephews

And I will forever adore my home town!

Playing at Walmart, obviously

I dare you to hula war with me. 

Giant thing #1: This wrench. There are a few giant things in this post.

This baby sleeps in the funniest positions.

Part 3: Texas!

Warm and beautiful

New Year's

Anniversary

The three cutest kids in the nation

Best friends (sister) time

Go fish

Ice Skating

Playing the Kinect- SO fun.

Ice Skating!

Our arms were REALLY sore after this excursion.

Madison did SO good!

Happy Anniversary!

Really though... I love this guy.

Date night

Jaxon: "Mom had an idea and it was pa-ark!"

Super Momma in action

Trevor and Madi practicing their sweet moves

We know how to party on New Year's.

Love babies who cuddle up to read books.

Colton LOVES Trevor.

Giant thing #2: Sarah's water bottle. Also notice she has her water, her DP on ice, and her DP in a can.

Giant thing #3: Men's size 22 Basketball shoe. What?

Now for the next week and a half I am flying solo in Dallas with my sister and her family. I dropped Trevor darling off at the airport last night. Reason #23481 why I love my husband: he let me take him to the airport 4 hours early so that I didn't have to wake up at 4 in the morning to drive him. I don't even want to admit that this happened because of how high maintenance it makes me sound. He'll be back in Provo tonight and I miss him like crazy already.


Also, my sister and her husband are going to Cancun on Friday for 6 days and I will instantly become the stand-in mother of 3 busy, adorable children. I'll let you know how that goes.


XOXO