bouncy balls.

saw this video on say yes to hoboken today and loved it! i couldn't have bumped into it on a better day. tonight we went to nickel cade for a birthday party and we all combined our tickets to buy an enormous {3 foot in diameter} bouncy ball for the birthday boys. i would like to see THAT bouncing down the steep streets of san francisco!

big sister.

guess what, friends?!

serena is going to be a big sister!

we are very very excited! baby #2 is due on halloween, but will hopefully come a few days earlier. i think a halloween baby would be fun, but sean hates the holiday. if you're trying to do the math, they will be 17 months apart {yipes!}.

we went to our first OB appointment today and got to see the little kidney bean. so far i've been feeling great. better than last time, even, and i didn't think that was possible. i keep forgetting that i'm pregnant. i have a feeling this pregnancy will fly by with serena to keep me busy.

9 weeks down, 31 to go!

a little piece of heaven.

did i mention i won a giveaway on cheatday? well, yesterday i got the goods. two dozen lemon chiffon cupcakes. they were to DIE for. you know how i love my lemon desserts. i shared some {it was hard} and everyone loved them!

thanks again, tina!!

o town derby dames.

yesterday we went to see my sister in her very first official roller derby bout. let me just say... it was so much fun! once i understood some of the rules {about halfway into the 2nd half} it was even more fun! the two teams in her league {the o town derby dames} were playing each other and lindsay's team spanked the competition! go ladies of capone! {sorry, sailor marys}.

it's a fascinating sport. i need to have a discussion with lindsay to understand the rules better, but count me as a fan! i think i need to rent whip it now.

{read about it on cityweekly.net}

mi amor.

spent the whole day playing at the house with my girl. she is so silly.

new tricks:

putting cell phones up to her ear and pretending to talk.

waving "hi" & "bye".

pulling herself to standing {had to lower the crib again}.

putting her hands in her diaper when i'm changing her {ahhh!}.

loves.

serena's new spring wardrobe {mostly thanks to my mom!}.
and her easter dress, which is so so adorable.
lunch with sean, mom & serena. i had the ariel special: guacamole taco + cheese enchilada.
cinnamon altoids.
green grass.
lost {i'm gonna have to re-watch that episode. soooo good!}.
cooking on the grill.
giant bag of frozen berries from costco.
my favorite gold sandals, back for spring.
peeps + cadbury minis.
sean's juggling act {to entertain serena}.
sunlight past 6:00 pm.
funny text messages from alicia.
my awesome ward choir.
serena's riverdance.
library movies.

{image}

nothing much here.

today i have been cleaning up messes behind serena and pulling her down off of the many things she tries to climb,

working on my pom poms,

and chasing after serena some more.

nothing much here.

serena swings.

and loves it!

good day, sunshine.

saturday mornings are the best, aren't they? even if i had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. to hang out with my teething daughter. today we are planning a picnic. it's going to be a great day!

pom poms.

i love these fabric pom poms seen on once wed. i don't know where i'll put them, but i'm making them anyway! maybe i'll hang these on the mobile. or maybe i'll use them for serena's birthday party. i can't believe i'm already planning it!

ooooh and this fabric flower garland too!

my favorite things {movie edition}.

lars & the real girl. quirky, sweet, hilarious, perfection! ryan gosling is amazing in this.


ever after. my sisters and i can quote this entire movie. so romantic, and so beautiful to watch.


an affair to remember. i don't know how i waited so long to see this one. it's been on our dvr for months and i won't let sean delete it. i've probably watched it ten times in the last 8 months.

ghost town. ricky gervais KILLS me in this. the scene at her house with the dog and the fiance! hilarious. plus it's sweet and has a good message. and has some romance which is a requirement :)


sense & sensibility. a classic. the cast is awesome. kate winslet plays a perfectly annoying marianne. and who knew snape could be a convincing romantic lead?


you've got mail. i never ever get sick of this. another movie i quote all the time. have you watched it recently? you should. it's hilarious.


funny girl. best music ever. i should really only have the first act in my favorite movies. it just gets depressing after that, but the music is still amazing.


dan in real life. so sad, sweet, funny, happy, romantic. i love this family. i want to have a family vacation like that!


pride & prejudice- focus features version. i'll be honest, this movie ruined the old BBC version for me. it's just so gorgeous and the music is so great and the costumes are perfect! definitely a favorite.


daniel deronda. {based on the novel by george eliot} you need to check this one out from the library. i looooove it. hugh dancy is perfect in it {and very handsome}.


and there you have it. what are your favorites?

have you ever?

have you ever had costco's mango peach salsa? it's delicious.

have you ever had nightmares about ants 4 nights in a row? i have. i really really hate ants.

have you ever eaten at ichiban? i crave it all the time and sean refuses to try sushi. sushi night, lindsay?

have you ever watched police women of maricopa county? i kind of like it. it's addicting.

have you ever waved to the crossing guard at the elementary school as you drive past? i do it twice a day. she always waves back.

have you ever read the help? i haven't. it's on my shelf, waiting for me to finish my current read. i'm excited!

have you ever been signaling to turn into a parking spot, just waiting for the person to leave, and had some jerk sneak into the spot before you can? people make me mad.

have you ever been to a roller derby bout? i'm going on march 27th to support my big sis. i'm scared and excited. details here.

have you ever quit facebook and then joined again? i think i've done it about 5 times. i don't like it. i wanna quit again. status updates make me cringe.

have you ever taught your parent how to text? it's funny!

have you ever brought your own mug to the gas station to get a fountain drink? i felt like an addict. {maybe i am.}

happy st. patrick's day!

another beautiful day. we played in the grass and went for another long walk.

and on an urelated note, how about a serena update?

she has two giant top teeth coming in. on the sides. not sure about this new look with no front teeth.

she has suddenly decided to boycott all naps. she sits up as soon as i leave the room. and then she doesn't know what to with herself. after a while she will fall asleep in some awkward half-sitting position and i have to go move her so she'll sleep for longer than 15 minutes. i dread naptime. {she is in her room screaming as i type, boycotting her afternoon nap.}

example:


she is crawling, finally! actually, really crawling. it's kind of fun. she doesn't quite understand that she can go anywhere she wants to now, which is nice. i'm sure she'll figure it out soon.

welcome spring.

what a beautiful couple of days we've had! we took advantage of the blue sky and warm{er} weather and went for a long walk today. there's nothing interesting to walk to by my house, so we went to my parents house and took a stroll to the botanical gardens with my mom. i am getting so excited for spring and summer! serena has been bored to tears {literally} at our house. she loved seeing and hearing the ducks.

thinking green.

don't you wish st. patty's was a gift giving/receiving holiday!? green is my favorite color, so the holiday this week gave me a great excuse to search for some pretty green things.

bracelet. umbrella. necklace. dress.

bag. sock kitty. lamp. pom pom throw.

party poms. rose necklace. spiral hat. throw pillow.

shamrock necklace. dress. kiwi dutch oven. rose ring.

{p.s. you can learn to make your own party poms here. love them!}

lucky duck.

what a great weekend!

on saturday, my mom and i went to see the young victoria.

it was sooo good and i loved it! my mom had already seen it and liked it well enough to see it again with me :) i didn't even mind emily blunt {who for some reason usually bugs me}. and albert was very handsome. nothing like a good, clean, 19th century romance. i highly recommend it. i doubt it will be at the broadway much longer, so rent it! or get it on netflix! or whatever it is you do. seriously.

i finished this dang book:

a review to come on the reading blog soon. but let's just say, i'm glad to be done with it.

stephanie gave us a big bag of hand-me-downs at the most perfect time! serena has grown out of all of her dresses. and now she has a whole new {used} crop. thank you, steph!

and last but certainly not least, i am the luckiest duck! i won a giveaway over on cheat day.

two dozen lemon chiffon cupcakes... all for me! ok probably i will share them :)

ten.

serena is ten months old! what!? she's almost ONE, which makes me sad! she's so big and growing up way too quickly.

here's a little about serena at ten months:

she likes eating grown up food. in other words, anything on MY plate.
she still takes 2 naps and sleeps about 10 hours at night.
she jabbers on and on and is starting to imitate our inflection, but not necessarily our words.
she has two bottom teeth.
she can sort of crawl, but not really. she gets about 2 steps and then goes flat on her belly.
she loves splashing in the bath tub {thanks for teaching her, SEAN!}. i end up peeking through a crack in the shower curtain while she makes tidal waves.
she sits up in her crib and plays when she wakes up or if she doesn't want to go to sleep.
she is tall and heavy!
she likes climbing on her parents.
she loves watching kids, especially her cousins!
she struggles at church.
she "sings" herself to sleep.
she hates getting dressed.
she loves the imagination movers... and i must admit that i don't hate it as much as i used to.
she loves going for walks in the stroller.
she is finally starting to like reading books with me.
she doesn't like to be alone and screams if i'm not in her line of sight.
she likes to stand up {with help} and practice her balance.
she likes to give us trouble when we're changing her diaper {sit up, roll over, kick, etc.}
she is a happy, smiley girl.

happy to meet you.

truman baby.

kess & i went to meet truman yesterday. he is such a handsome little man! so little tiny. i love him. congrats alicia + jonny!

ants.

last night before bed i was reading the poisonwood bible. it's about a white family from georgia whose father, a baptist preacher, takes them on a mission to the congo so he can baptize all of the people {they don't have much success}.

anyway... the chapters i read before nodding off were about a swarm of ants that basically ate the village they lived in. they wake up in the middle of the night, covered in millions of ants. the whole ground is covered and everyone runs for the river to escape. when the ants have moved on and the family returns to their home, the ants have eaten their chickens, leaving nothing but skeletons.

it kind of freaked me out. not the best thing to read about before falling asleep.

well, this morning when i went to the pantry to find my cheerios, guess what i found?

ANTS. and a lot of them.

they were on the 3rd shelf up {which is unreal... how do they do that?}, feasting on a jar of peanut butter that had been left partly unscrewed. i almost had a panic attack. it was so creepy that i had been reading about swarms of ants last night and woke up to a bunch in my pantry! and i don't really know what to do with ants! i took all of the food off of the shelf, brushing ants into the sink as i went, and then killed the rest with lysol.

and now i get to spend my night completely emptying the pantry. i swear we are not piggish people. we don't have open food containers lying around the house or anything. i think a lot of our neighbors have had ant problems too. {hopefully it's not just us!}

bleh. i think i have a new phobia.

faux headboards.

a few months ago my parents gave us a twin mattress they were trying to get rid of. it's in storage, waiting for the day when serena will be in a big girl bed. but in the meantime, i've been dreaming about faux headboards to make it fancy. check out these lovelies i've found around the web:

how perfect would this decal from decoMod walls be as a faux headboard for a twin bed? love it.

these decals from bilk are also lovely, but wouldn't work for a twin.

i love this wallpaper headboard tutorial, seen on ohdeedoh.

this is a sweet alternative to a headboard, also seen on ohdeedoh.

or i could paint my own... which scares me!