loves.

wordfeud vs. sean {and tara & chris} on our phones.
the maze runner!
my pretty 2011 calendar from sarah jane.
new flat iron. {i've needed one for like 3 years. maybe you'll actually see me with my hair down now.}
a recipe book project with heather.
an early spring!
cheesy potato soup and homemade bread on a cold, cold, windy day.
finding a chocolate marshmallow santa behind some stuff in the pantry. jackpot!
valentinesy everything. i love the holiday.
a visit to the grocery store with a sleepy harper and zero meltdowns from serena.
a bribe balloon.
sweet old lady who offered to help move my 24 packs of soda into my car and bring in my shopping cart! {i only let her do the latter.}
if i loved you.
brother-in-law safely out of afghanistan. {but not home yet.}

serena lately.

{watching the snowstorm outside}

she calls herself "seenie". her version of serenie.

today she was found wiping her teddy bear's bum with a diaper wipe. i asked her what she was doing and she looked at the bear and said "a poop". as in the bear pooped.

she asks for a "toe-tee toe-tee" {cheesy tortilla} for lunch every day.

she sings herself to sleep every night. it's usually twinkle twinkle little star or i love to see the temple.

she gets soooo excited to see churches and buses when we're in the car.

she has the same conversation with me dozens of times a day:

serena: daddy?
me: he's at work.
serena: all gone.
me: yup, he's all gone.
serena: mugga? {grandma}
me: she's at her house.
serena: all gone.
me: yup, she's all gone.
over and over and over.

says "hol-doo" {hold you, meaning hold ME} in the sweetest little voice. we can never turn her down.

meet shannon.

she is my sister-in-law and the sweetest person i know.

{serena makes a 2 second appearance at the end. she loves her aunt shanny!}

video by seth.

soggy soggy girl.

anyone know the cure for a baby that spits up a lot all the time?

harper is constantly soggy with spit up. she goes through several outfits, bibs, blankets and burp cloths a day. i don't hold her as often as i would like to because she will inevitably spit up all over me. even 2 hours after she eats, she'll spit up.

help, pleeeeease.

serena thinks horses wearing coats are hilarious.

harpers is three months old.

{serena calls her "harpers" and i now i find myself doing it all the time.}

at three months, harper:

is a smiley little thing.

likes to suck on her fists.

doesn't like binkies.

hates tummy time.

hates bath time.

loves sitting in her rocker.

is still the most inconsistent sleeper ever.

{but at least she knows to go to sleep when she's in her bed... just wish she would sleep for longer periods between eating!!}

sleeps in her own room.

likes to watch her big sis.

spits up a lot. i've given in and started putting a bib on her all the time.

is patient with the lack of attention she gets thanks to her demanding sister.

snores.

grunts.

eats loudly.

is pretty much always making some kind of noise.

has beautiful long eyelashes.
always falls asleep in the car.

is getting chubbier.

makes us melt with her big gummy smile.

8:30.

a.m.

p.m.

{dressing up. fancy.}

kind of wishing i was here.

{photos from the cabin last winter.}

i need some snow.

christmas book advent.

i wanted to do a christmas book advent last year with serena, but we only had a very few christmas picture books. i've decided to start collecting now, so we'll have 24 to read before this christmas {seriously, i'm already planning christmas 2011! what!?}. here's what we have so far:

christmas in the manger
who is coming to our house?
the night before christmas {illustrated by douglas gorsline}
stopping by woods on a snowy evening {illustrated by susan jeffers}
christmas is here
how murray saved christmas
snow
snowmen at night
wake up, santa claus!
how the grinch stole christmas
i'll be home for christmas {toot & puddle}
a wish to be a christmas tree
the twelve days of christmas {jan brett}
the wild christmas reindeer
silent night, holy night

we still need 10 more. {we read how murray saved christmas AND the night before christmas on christmas eve.} any suggestions?

sickies.

it seems this winter we are bound to catch one cold after another after another. bleh. i don't remember ever having one of those colds that makes you sneeze like crazy. i've probably sneezed 30 times today. i've been trying hard not to get harper sick {see my mask above}, but based on her irritability today, i'd say we're in for a bad 48 hours.

on a happier note, though, i've been keeping up the new year's resolution to cook 3 dinners a week. in case you're wondering what's been cookin' in my kitchen:

last week:
sweet & sour {turkey} meatballs
candy chicken
chicken parmesan + french peasant bread {so good. so easy.}

this week:
chicken pesto paninis on the geo.fo. {inspiration from here}
easy chicken cordon bleu {with a few alterations, making it into a casserole}
spaghetti with homemade sauce

paninis are tonight and i'm counting down the minutes until sean gets home and i can get cooking! yummmm.

top 10 reasons i don't want to blog lately.

{in no particular order}

10. harper is almost 3 months old and not so sleepy anymore and demanding more attention, which i am happy to give! she is usually awake during serena's nap and i get some mommy-harper time.

09. nothing particularly interesting is happening around here.

08. i'm actually trying to read a book. with packing, moving, unpacking & having a baby, i got kind of out of the reading habit. and i've missed it. i'm now reading the maze runner and i'm hooked.

07. we've been watching a lot of how i met your mother through netflix. yeah... great use of time, i know. but we're almost through the last season available on dvd, so that should free up some time :)

06. i haven't had any pictures to post, and i HATE posting without pictures.

05. i'm busy working 3 days a week.

04. i've been busy cooking.

03. i've been busy doing laundry which has doubled since harper was born. i don't understand it. she does spit up a LOT, but geez, i feel like i do nothing but laundry these days.

02. i've been busy with a few crochet projects that are now thankfully done. i'm taking a break from the hook because of...

01. carpal tunnel. i used to joke about getting carpal tunnel from all of my crocheting, and now it has actually happened. and it is NOT FUN. turning the key in the ignition, using a can opener, doing my hair, changing diapers, carrying the baby seat, typing... they all cause severe pain. {and here i am typing...} my hand aches all night and i'm seeing my dr about it today.

carson.

smiles.

♥ ♥ ♥

balloons.

it's so bitter cold outside that we've had to get creative with entertaining ourselves these days. we've been watching Up! on a daily basis {ever since serena watched it on tv and fell in love}, so i thought i'd surprise her with a balloon funhouse when she woke up from her nap today. she looooooved it. so we let our hair get extra staticky and played with ballooons and watched Up! for the second time today.

$10 tent from ikea {a christmas gift} + $3 pack of balloons + 45 minutes of blowing up the balloons = one entertaining aternoon.

new year's resolution.

i made good on a couple of my resolutions last year {making my bed! oh yeah!}, and i'm hoping to keep this one alive in 2011 {and for a long time after that}. my goal:

a. plan 3 dinners per week.
b. do all shopping for the meals at the beginning of the week, in one trip to the grocery store.
c. sit down at the table and eat dinner as a family.

this is HUGE for me, friends. i am terrible at meal planning. most nights i am making something for serena, something different for me, and letting sean fend for himself. {don't judge, he's the world's pickiest eater.} but i would really like to start sitting down at the dinner table as a family every night and we pretty much NEVER do that. 3 dinners per week is a good number for us. sean and i are each gone one night a week. and when you're cooking for 2 1/2, there are always leftovers {although sean won't eat them...}.

this week's menu {entirely from eat your veggies, peas}:

1. low fat broccoli cream soup + green salad
2. easy chicken cordon bleu + green beans
3. mini meatloaves + broccoli

and on a side note, these are some of my favorite food blogs to borrow recipes from:

redhead recipes
the pioneer woman cooks
eat your veggies, peas
sweet basil
zupas

new year.

goodbye, 2010!
it's was a good year.
we ate italian food and discovered handbell choir on the wii.
we played at the cabin.
i started making my bed.
we found out i was pregnant in february,
and shared the big news in march.
i met baby truman.
i closed up the etsy shop.
serena and i went to the tulip festival with mom.
i sang carmina burana with utah voices.
serena turned one, had a party, and posed for some photos.
we met cousin campbell.
we had a summer cabin trip with some friends.
we visited my aunt & uncles new house in the middle of a canyon in the middle of utah.
we went swimming and ate lots of yummy summer food.
serena vistited the zoo for her first time.

we had a backyard campout.
we visited temple square with serena.
serena got really sick for two weeks. {longest two weeks ever.}
we spent a day at bear lake.
we had a lovely trip east with sean's family.
we met cousin carson.
we sold our house and moved into a new place. {miracle!}
we visited the pumpkin patch.
we welcomed harper emmeline to our family. {highlight of the year!}
serena started talking. a lot.
we blessed our new daughter.
we celebrated our 5th anniversary.
and had a very merry christmas.

last night we had a party at our house with my family. what better way to end a year than by eating tons of delicious food and playing games with the people you love?? :)

welcome, 2011. hope you'll be as great as 2010.