Oh hey....

I guess I took a little blogging hiatus. In other words I've been little lazy lately and just felt like I had a whole lot to say. But I'm back! Here's what's new with us....

We're having another baby! Woot. We're really excited, but since we have a pretty good idea of everything that comes with having a child, I must say it's a different excitement than round one. The first trimester was not my friend, and boy am I glad to be past all that. I forgot how draining it is to just feel terrible all the time. We had our 20 week ultrasound today and it was fun to see him/her moving around in there. We didn't find out the gender this time, which made the ultrasound a little anti-climatic, but still I was glad to see a single healthy baby squirming around. I'm hoping for a boy, so William has a buddy and because we are all stocked on boy clothes. Greg, on the other hand is hoping for a girl, so he can prove his ability to produce a girl. I guess we'll just have to be patient and wait for April to find out! 

William with his best bud before heading out on Halloween.

William is 2 1/2 this week. I can't even believe how grown up he is. He's so smart and funny, and yet so challenging at times! My mom says I was rather willful as a child so I guess it's karma that I get to deal with it now.  He has started singing and it's adorable. Check out this link if you want to hear him singing some of his favorites. He has a great memory (sometimes too good...) and often gets so excited telling you about something that he can barely even get it out. He was a hobbit for Halloween and thought trick-or-treating with his best bud was great fun. He seems to have mixed up the words hop and hobbit so he often jumps around saying "hobbit, hobbit". 

I can't even handle the cuteness of these two together.

After having no desire to cook or eat anything but toast for a couple months, it's nice to be cooking and eating real food again. Some recent successes include this divine monkey bread for conference, Gardeners Pie, garlic chicken pizza on thin crust, and an assortment of healthy muffins. I also made a cinnamon swirled version of my regular whole wheat bread recipe and it is delicious. Also in the good eats categories as of late include an amazing trip to India Gate (Lamb Korma and garlic naan-oh my), my family's favorite Chinese restaurant (hello Hot and Sour Soup), and the classic (cliche?) Zuppa Tuscana with my mom at Olive Garden.

We're looking forward to the coming month of holiday hustle. We're spending Thanksgiving with my family this week, then just a couple weeks until we head to the Oregon Coast for a quick trip with my family and then we're off to New Mexico to spend a week with the Skidmores for Christmas. I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone and getting a chance to relax and enjoy the season. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

William's New Room

When we have visitors William almost always asks them if he can show them his "new room!" He then will tell them about how he painted, built a wall, hung the curtain, put in carpet and put in a fan. It's pretty hilarious how he takes ownership of all the work we did, I supposed he's just mimicking the many times I've shown it to others and said the same things. So without further ado, here is William's bedroom!

A couple before and in process pics....

And the finished product....

What started as a unfinished dark, musty and creepy storage room, has been turned into a habitable 10x12 bedroom. Okay it has no closet or window.....so technically it's not a bedroom, but it's the closest thing William's gotten thus far. It was a ton of work, and I couldn't have done it without all the help from Greg and my family, especially my Dad, our resident how-to guy. 

The hardest, most time consuming and most frustrating part was mudding and sanding the drywall seams. It took forever and even so, the end result is just okay. If I could do it again, I think it might have been worth the money to hire someone to do it. Lesson learned. But all the work paid off and we love having space just for William and his things (that isn't a laundry room or storage space).

A couple of finishing touches and I can finally call the room completely done. Some trim on the door, an IKEA road rug, maybe recover the chair cushion and a little decor to add some personality and we'll call it good. Any ideas on how to spruce it up a bit? 

I'm pretty much finished with projects at my house....so look out Mom, I'm coming to your house next!

Summer Happenings

I guess I never mentioned it, but Gregory got a job! He's at a small firm in Seattle that does a little bit of everything, but also has an International Law division. He started work at the start of June and it's going well so far. He's learning a lot and staying very busy. With his bus ride, he is gone for long days which is a bummer, but it's nice that he can catch the bus just across the street. Even though it's been nearly 2 months, I still feel like I'm adjusting to having him gone all the time. Between work and his YM calling, sometimes it feels like he's never home, which makes me all the more glad to have family so close.

Rewind to the start of the month, we had a really nice 4th of July. We were invited to a friends for a BBQ and had a nice time. As you can see, it was a little chilly, enough so that we ran home for sweatshirts partway through the night. What a huge difference from last 4th of July in Virginia. Last year we were hot and sweltering in the heat, even after the sun went down. William loved the "fire-booms" and Gregory, who thought the evening might not be up to par, was impressed by Washingtons display of patriotism. 

The little man has mastered the tricycle. He cruses right along on this thing and loves to find things to pull around the yard. This little dude is quite a handful. Definitely a strong willed and highly energized child. He is a talking machine, and never lacks something to say. Mimicking Greg, William often tells me "thank you honey" after a meal. He must have very vivid memories, because he is often struck by a memory and will recount in great detail what happened. Like the other day he jumped down from a chair, his eyes glazed over for a second then he started recounting every details from our trip to the pool two weeks ago. It's always fun to hear what the highlights of life are for a two year old. 

We decided that since we'll be staying here at my parents mother-in-law apartment for the next year or so it was worth it to replace the well worn and patchwork carpet in the front room. We love it. It gives the front room a big face lift and feels so nice to walk, sit or lay on.

Last weekend my sister got us free tickets to the Museum of Flight. Shockingly (not), William loved it. He went crazy over all the airplanes and was a mad man running from display to display. The kids section was especially cool because you could climb into 2 airplanes and a helicopter. It was nice to get out and do something together. 

And no post would be complete with out something about food so... I'm loving barley salads these days. This Mediterranean style salad and this Santa Fe style salad are two favorites that I've repeated a few times. I made Cherry Sorbet and it was to die for. Then last week I made this Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream and it was equally divine. I'm so glad that most of the 20lb box cherries are still awaiting use in my freezer. Also, I tried this Monkey Butter (left out all the sugar) last week because I had a ton of ripe bananas and I was pleasantly surprised. And finally I made Mel's Chocolate Granola Bites with chopped dried cherries and they were divine. I wish I hadn't eaten them all so I could have another right now. Maybe I'll just make some of these Chocolate Macroons instead.....

Bow Ties and 'Spenders

Sometimes I can't get enough of this little dude. Especially if he's wearing a bow tie and suspenders. 

 

William's Play Kitchen

Before: 

After!

Perhaps William might have been happier with a mini basketball hoop for his birthday, but I couldn't resist taking on this project instead. Not only did I desperately need a project to help my sanity, it was so fun to work with my family to finish it. My dad (who knows all and has nearly every tool imaginable) altered the nightstand to make it fit our needs, my sister helped me paint it and my mom helped search the thrift store for mini accessories. It was definitely a group effort. 

The best part? It cost nearly nothing, under $30. My parents had the nightstand, we mixed the paint colors from old paints we found in the garage, the faucet is from my parents old sink, and the sink, mini muffin tin, oven rack and loaf pan were thrift store finds. The Grandmas helped finished off the set with felt food and play dishes, I used scrap fabric to make the oven mitt and I found the little fry pan, pot and utensils at Big Lots. 

Overall, I deem it a success. It was fun to make and William likes playing with his new kitchen. I love that it encourages creative play and is a toy that our other kids can enjoy as well. So there you have it! 

And a little sneak peak at my current project. It's a little more extensive than a play kitchen...

Happenings

I feel like we went from one extreme to another. In Virginia we were hardly ever home. We were both working, Greg was in school most nights and weekends were filled with catching up on errands, school and housework. Things are quite different here. Neither of us are working and we're both home all the time. Basically everyday is Saturday at our house, except Sunday. At first we were both going kind of crazy (okay, I was going really crazy), but I feel like were settling in and starting to fill our days and new life. 

One of my favorite new things has been doing projects with my Dad. He has so much knowledge and so many fun tools. He and Greg built an awesome sandbox. We re-plumbed our laundry sink drain connection. We hung trim on all the doors and windows in our apartment. Dad helped me built a shelf/cookie sheet divider to fill an awkward empty space in our kitchen (I got to use a table saw!).  We turned a nightstand into an awesome play kitchen for William (details in a post to come!). And we made my mom a planter for mothers day. I love the satisfaction of creating something, or even better, taking something that was useless or ugly and making it functional and aesthetically pleasing. 

William is something else these days. He's so full of energy from the moment he wakes up until he finally goes to sleep at night. His language is really coming along, and it's fun to hear more of his thoughts. Like today, we were looking at the program in church and there was a picture of Jesus on the front. After pointing out the picture he told me that he wanted to brush Jesus' hair. I love it. He's exhausting but how boring our life would be without him! 

Earlier this month he was consistently climbing out of his crib so we transitioned him into a toddler bed. It's been mostly good, but I do miss the good ol' days of complete containment. We also have been potty training for the past couple weeks. He's doing well considering he's just turning 2 tomorrow, but we've still got some work to do. This last week was a particularly rough week for William's face. He took face dives 4 times this week. I'm not a neglectful parent, but you sure would think so looking at him.....yikes!

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Highlights from the Move - Part 2

Pit stop at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX then onto...

Our fourth stop, Clovis/Portales, NM to visit my sister Emily.

At the city zoo in Clovis, NM. William was a big fan of this stop.

Our fifth stop, White Rock, NM to visit Greg's parents and brother. 

Reading with Grandma and cousins.

A walk in the park with Grandma and Grandpa Skidmore.

Our sixth and final stop, Utah Valley to visit lots of family and friends. 

Rachel knew the way to William's heart. Taking him outside to squish snow and letting him draw on her tablet.

Meeting up with Suzy for lunch at the Wilk!!!! 

Visiting William's Zimmerman cousins and my sister-in-law.

Enjoying the sunshine in SLC.

William loved all the water at Temple Square and the City Creek Mall. 

And then we hopped in the car and made our final drive to Washington. 

It was a jam packed 12 days. We had so much fun visiting family and friends, seeing new sights and revisiting familiar places. We were lucky to have so many kind and generous people feed, house and take care of us along the way. 

Highlights from the Move - Part 1

Our first stop was windy Indianapolis, IN to visit Greg's sister and cousin. 

NCAA Hall of Champions

Monument Circle

Driving day two pit stop at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO. 

Our second stop was Paola, KS to visit the Kluber Grandparents.

 Outside the new Kansas City Temple. 

At Liberty Jail. William was pretty sure we were going to leave him there with the Sister missionaries and he would not let go of us for even a second. 

Greg and William with the Kluber Grandparents. 

Our third stop, Manhattan, KS to visit the Skidmore Grandparents. 

 At the Flint Hills Discovery Center. Who knew a museum about grasslands could be so awesome! 

 Greg and William with the Skidmore Grandparents. 

February

Parenting is tough stuff. I have a feeling it's only going to get harder as William grows and more children come along, but already I'm stumped. How do you find the balance between showing unconditional love and setting/enforcing expectations? What things do you let slide and what things do you stand your ground on? What are realistic expectations for behavior at any given age? And perhaps most pertinent, how to you get your toddler stop hitting and stealing toys from other kids?!?

We're moving in less than a month. It's so bittersweet. I'm thrilled to be moving back west and to be with family again. And I'm excited to be out of the big city and the non-stop life we've been living. Yet, the thought of leaving the life we've built here in Virginia makes me want to cry. I'm so sad to be leaving all these wonderful friends. It took a long time for Virginia to feel like home and now we have to say goodbye and start over again. 

William is such a little man now. He is a taking machine. My favorite words/phrases of his are "I like that!", "Bummer."and "It's cute!". He knows where every fire station, metro line and construction site is on our commute and excitedly announces when we're approaching. He loves fruit and so we use it to bribe him to eat the rest of his dinner. He thinks it's great fun to feed, diaper, wipe, swaddle and rock his teddy bear. He thinks every screen is a touch screen, even our tube TV and my 7+ year old Dell laptop. And his hair is out of control and I love it. 

And after reading Katya's post on her kitchen fun here's what's been happening in our kitchen. I'm still loving basically everything on Mel's blog and I'm trying lots of vegetarian/vegan recipes these days. I've been honing my whole wheat breading making skills thanks to a great recipe from my mother-in-law and haven't bought a loaf of bread in a couple months. Some of my new favorites are this coconut red lentil soup, this quinoa chili, fritatas, these cookies with half butterscotch chips and homemade almond butter. And I'm slightly obsessed with this granola recipe. I've altered it significantly (where do you even find brown rice syrup?) and it's a winner. And final thoughts on food, I went to a RS activity of the benefits of eating raw and I think I'm going to try to make green smoothies. It may be a disaster in my weak blender, but it's worth a go, right? 

Happy last week of February!

Farwell to Law School

We have conquered the beast of law school! There is no law school graduation for students completing requirements in December, so our finish feels a little anti-climactic. But the final semesters grades are in. Classes have been passed and credits have been fulfilled. Gregory is now a J.D.

We made it! Through long days and late nights at school, mountains of readings and dozens of papers. Through student loans and bank emptying tuition payments. Through long days of work and late night drives to campus. Through 89 credits and 8 rounds of finals. Law school has stretch us both as a couple, and individually, but we made it. And more that just making it though, we've built a good life here in Virginia. It certainly hasn't been a stroll in the park (is life ever easy?), but there have been plenty of good times to get us through the rough patches.

I'm so proud of Gregory. He has been a trooper. He has done his best in everything that is put before him. He has poured himself into his studies without complaint, gone to work and gotten it done. He has balanced full-time work, night classes, church responsibilities, extracurriculars,  fatherhood and his sometimes-crazy-wife. Basically he's a rock star. So while I say that we made it and we earned this degree, really it's Gregory. He's the one who made it happen. So hats off to you, dear.

Now we move on to....??? We're not exactly sure. We're both relieved to be finishing school and moving forward, but it's more than a little daunting to be charging ahead into the darkness. But we try to keep moving forward and have faith that things will work out, that doors will open and opportunities will arise.

But while we work towards and wait for whatever is next, we'll take a little time and celebrate our victory of getting through law school.