Phew...we're still alive!

Hello friends and family,
I know, as many of you have attested, I am a crappy blogger - hence the title of my last blog, about 2 1/2 months ago. We have been working like crazy on our new house and have finally moved in, sort of settled ourselves, and are working to finish up a few more projects. My painting skills have really blossomed since I've probably put about 20-30 gallons of paint on the walls in the house, walls, ceilings, trim, furniture - you name it, I have painted it. Rob, on the other hand, has had the fun jobs, tiling, demo work, hardwood floor installation, finish carpentry ( his favorite!) and other odds and ends that needed to be done. He has really made the house look amazing. Honestly, this has taken over our lives and we haven't gotten out much. No summer trips, no going to the movies, not even TV which was really hard with all the season finales of our favorite shows. Except we did find time to watch "Lost" which we are still talking about. Anybody have ideas about it? We had a bunch of pictures of the house and of Mae, etc but we took them on Rob's little brother's camera and then lost it...oops. Hopefully he has a backup of all his pictures from his trip to Germany last summer.

Mae is talking up a storm. The other weekend, we were driving to Casey Kaiser's wedding celebration and I was trying to do Mae's hair. I broke the elastic and said, "Oh shoot!" and she proceeded to say that the rest of the night. The only problem is that it comes out like another word that means pretty much the same thing but most people would be mortified if they heard their child repeating. Well, what can you do? She also is very practiced in her animal noises, and loves to recognize letters. We hope to be reading by the end of the year. (Just kidding) She loves running around in circles in the new house and thinks it's funny to be chased. She also is quite the fashion plate - she loves her "shades" this summer and can't have enough shoes. Boy, are we in trouble! Her one fun thing we've done this summer is swimming, or getting squirted by the hose in the front yard. It doesn't matter, as long as it involves water, she is there and loving it.

Well, enough of our boring lives - hopefully in the next few months, there will be more to blog about than our stupid remodel. Okay, it really has turned out great but we're pretty ready for normal life again so please don't think we've fallen off the planet and give us a call.

I know, I am a crappy blogger

Hello Friends and Family,
I know what you're all going to say, that Suzanne and her family aren't very good bloggers - it's been over a month since she last posted anything. To tell you the truth, life has been very crazy but with boring stuff - nothing really worth blogging about. We have been trying to make the deal on our new house close all the while, trying to keep our house clean for house showings to try and sell our little home. (Try keeping a house clean with a toddler following at your feet pulling out everything you just put away!) We've packed up lots of our stuff to try and de-clutter our house and it is strange how if feels like less of a home now. I am going to miss out little place.

Mae had a great Easter. (I know Easter was like 3 weeks ago but i had good intentions) She found a few eggs on the lawn, and was very content just opening them up, organizing the pieces and lining up her pieces of candy. All the while, mass chaos ensured around her as cousins hunted for eggs, Rob and his uncle had an egg toss competition, and the dogs chased one another. She was oblivious! Good thing the egg from the egg toss didn't crack on her head. We were very excited to get a zoo pass from Grandma and Grandpa Kingsford so we've tried it out a few times and Mae loves it! She especially likes the giraffe, gorillas, and monkeys. We hope that will keep us somewhat busy this summer.

Anyway, I hope you are all well. I love how blogging connects me with people who I wouldn't normally have a chance to talk to in this little cyber world. Please stay in touch and come see our new house soon. (And send buyers our way if you have any for our darling house!)

The end of an era...

Hello everyone,
This week has been a whirlwind for us and now that I'm trying to process what has happened, there are many mixed emotions involved. We decided to buy a new home, just literally down the street from the one where we currently live. We will even still carry the Bryan street address which sounds kind of crazy but hey, we can't bear to leave! This new house is one that we can hopefully be in for awhile and will be able to have our kids (no I only have one right now and none on the way, but some day) grow up with lots of other kids right on the same street. We are so excited!

At the same time, it is hard to say good-bye to our old home that has so many fun memories associated with it. We have loved this "good ol' house" and have had fun fixing it up so it feels like home. So, at any rate, if any of you know someone who wants to move into the Foothill area, we would love to sell it to a great person! More updates to come as we start remodeling the new house. It isn't officially ours until the middle of April so cross your fingers and toes that we survive selling the house, remodeling, moving and all the rest!

Mae is a pistol these days and we've officially entered that stage where you can't take her anywhere anymore. We tried to go to Pei Wei for dinner the other night and she threw a fit in the restaurant, in the middle of eating, so we threw our dinner in cartons and got out of there as soon as possible! What a horrible experience! It's a good thing she's so dang cute, otherwise I might sell her to the circus.

A long time in coming!

Okay, so I know that I've received a lot of flack for not posting since before Christmas. January and February have been busier than usual, which I guess is a good thing. I don't know what made it so busy though, as nothing really new and wonderful is happening in our lives. We are in the process of redoing our kitchen - well, just new countertops and a backsplash. It is so thrilling for me to be able to wipe off the kitchen counter and swish the crumbs right into the kitchen sink without it getting stuck in grout, and the lip on the sink. (Both of which are not gone as the conters are granite and we have an under mount sink.) Some of you might know what I'm talking about and others of you will just think I'm crazy for loving the clean swish. But at any rate, it is wonderful!
Mae is keeping us on our toes and is discovering the joy of being naughty. She still eats dog food and splashes in the dog water, she fishes things out of the garbage can, she pulls all the books off of the shelves and tries to run away from us whenever we're in church, a store, etc. I guess it's good that she is very sociable. We have decided, on many occasions that we are going to be inactive church members because going to church is the biggest challenge of the week. It seems like the longest three hours ever! But everyone else at church thinks it's cute that Mae runs around - I'm glad that someone does! My favorite thing that she does right now - just in time for valentines day - is blow kisses. However, it is a bit different how she goes about expressing her affection. She sticks her index finger in her mouth and pulls it out to make the kiss noise. She tried to blow kisses the regular way but didn't know how to make the sound so she has figured that the sound is the most important and has mastered it with perfection! It really is quite amusing. Well, have I talked enough about my child to make you all think I'm that proud mom that brags about her kids? I hope not.
I did feel like I was truly initiated into motherhood a few weeks ago though as Mae had her first flu. She puked all over me multiple times and we were up the entire night. Then, in the following days, I was up to my elbows in poop and to top it all off, Rob got the flu and couldn't really help out. It is a week I hope not to relive for awhile. But there is something about those days that really makes you feel like a true mommy! Enough with the gross stuff though, I'll attach some recent photos of the little squirt!

Tis' the Season for Celebration

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone. We hope all our friends and family are having a great holiday season. We have been busy getting ready for Christmas, baking lots of treats, wrapping goodies, having parties and trying to get our shopping done. I feel like I'm on that old game show "Supermarket Sweep" every time I go shopping. Mae can only last so long before she has a little meltdown in the store so I plan my list out strategically and make a dash for it once she's situated in the cart. Our experience at Target last week was comical. I was running all around the store, shoving fruit snacks in her mouth as we went and ended up throwing things in my basket that I didn't even want. And in the checkout line, as we were nearing the end of Mae's rope, she grabbed for my shopping list and started to eat it. I figured, a little fiber never hurt anybody so I let her chow down and proceeded to empty my cart to be rung up. The lady in back of me said, "Excuse me, did you know your daughter is eating paper?" I told her I'm sure she thought I was a terrible mom but at that point, I'd do whatever it took to buy me a couple more minutes to get out of the store. She thought for a second and then said, "I understand, I've done it with four of my own kids." Oh boy! Hopefully we're almost done with the Christmas shopping for the holiday.

We also celebrated Mae's first birthday on December 2nd. We had a party with family and were all excited to see Mae go to down on her cake. Much to our surprise, she didn't know what to do with it just sitting there on her tray. She poked at it for a few minutes and licked a little frosting off her fingers. Once I cut it into pieces like I do with all her food, then she went crazy! We had a great time celebrating even though she didn't know what the heck was going on.

Anyhow, we hope life finds you all well and happy. Merry Christmas!

Fall is in the air

Hello everyone,
We have had some fun these past few weeks. For Halloween, Mae was Pebbles Flintstone and we went as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Mae had fun but she obviously didn't get what was going on. But she sure has loved playing in the leaves with her cousins and all the other days that I have been raking. We have been loving the great weather and are a little sad to see the cold come. But the changing seasons means Mae's birthday is coming up soon!

Dance DanceRevolution

Well tonight was our last night with Grandma and Grandpa Wood before their departure to the Singapore Mission. Mae pulled out all of the stops to show off one last time. Enjoy