pat on the back

whether it's for sympathy or congratulations, a pat on the back is a nice, supportive thing.

even if you have to give yourself a pat on the back sometimes. :)

it's appropriate in a lot of different setting as a platonic phsycial exchange. between colleagues, teammates, friends, teacher & student, etc.

it's really pretty versatile. you can use it through sarcasm, 'way to go, champ.'

or slow it down & it's a come-on. 'how you doin'?'

it's also pertinent in a more emotional context with a warm look/embrace. when you lost the big game, at a long awaited graduation, at a funeral, you catch my drift...

at our house it is solely used for solace to the broken hearted. by our one-year-old.

every single time she is upset enough to be picked up & comforted, through sobs & sniffles, you feel her little hand on each side of your back.

pat, pat, pat.

it's all gonna be okay. i'm here for you. we'll get through this... together.

haha. it's like we need sympathy all around. she doesn't want you to feel like she does right now.

she's a sweetheart.

tues to tues

tuesday:

park, library for austin's beloved census, & grocery store with troy & kids, giants game with aust & his work friends. oh & watching the rally pumpkin. we decided i would be his sidekick: the rally squash.

wednesday:

e's doc appt (50% for weight, 75% for height - seriously been the same since birth) & shots, laundry, fabric store, swim party with my young women @ church, & scouts for austin.

later A did homework.

thursday:

old navy, e had a new tooth break through, babysit for a friend, bake. i almost cry & we decide i'm the only adult ever that has earaches. austin mixes some concoction & i let him put it in my ears. ahhh, relief. ellers spends a half hour walking back & forth from me to her papa bear, holding us by the shoulders & leaning in for a kiss.

while A did homework.

friday:

chief was off, took a quick trip up to the city by train with michael & austin's work buddy adam to see if they could zipline. unsuccessful but always fun checking out 'cisco on a gorgeous day.

then A did homework.

saturday:

boys went paintballing.

girls (& gpa) went to hollister to take gold in a good old scarecrow making contest & check out the hodgman's csa, 2 small farms.

& A did homework until we left for the movie date night; really pretty funny.

sunday:

status quo. church, i teach the young women, talk to his fam, nap, then austin tries to steal baby luke & we have nudist dinner with my fam.

monday:

cleaning, working out, organizing new baby hand-me-downs from kara, playing outside, cooking, & more cleaning. baby bean kicks so hard it wakes me in the middle of the night... not like i hadn't been up 3 times to use the bathroom anyway. :)

A did more homework.

tuesday:

looking up recipes for jalapeno cheddar bread that my annoying lover boy won't stop talking about, working on our photo book, grocery store, & blogging this.

we'll have waffles & game night & then i'm sure A will be on homework duty yet again.

#3. the hunt

the hunters:

lexy (4 1/2)

lena (2 1/4)

ellery (1 1/4)

luke (1/4)

that's not to say we didn't have some other hunters helping out...

i wish we'd taken pictures of their loot. who doesn't love the hunt?!

disjointed post

i have pictures coming out my nose. it's probably because i haven't posted one for a couple weeks.

i know. i suck.

so here's my seriously disjointed ramblings to get us back on track...

we'll start with some fun recents of the jellybean.

we had a pirate bowling party for my brother's 28th!

i think only three of us broke 100 after 2 hours of bowling. i was not one of them.

a few days later i caught ellers zonked out on gpa's

shoulder in the middle of the loudest beatles rockband session i've ever heard.

alright, now that you're caught up let's cover easter.

#1. the easter bunny himself visited our complex so we ventured out to see him.

e loved him (see top left pic) as long as she was at least 3 feet away. :)

that's me playing hide & seek on the right there... she always thinks it's funnier when i do it than aust.

we go on walks around the grounds multiple times a day.

#2. easter sunday was general conference (worldwide church on tv) this year 

so we went over for a session & dinner with the 'rents.

michael holding ellery back while she tried to run away. classic!

i fix her hair 18,743 times a day. exhibit a.

how sweet is she?

she lives to rock on this little old rocking chair at my parents.

just don't tell her she has to sit down when rocking.

sweet can turn sour pretty quick around here.

"elleryyyyy... what's in your mouth?"

"michael, get it out. i'm too lazy to get up from this couch."

"huh. she's really making you work for this..."

"oh a foam nerf dart. cool."

it was kind of a rainy, gross day so we decided to do the hunt (#3) later in the week.

but it was still a happy easter.

oh & i had to add this little number.

& this is even after luke left the room, yelling at the top of his lungs.

chaos. :)

phizz-whizzing collection

i bought this at costco a couple of months ago.

i'm always adding to my collection of children's books.

a few weeks ago i decided to read them. since they're geared towards kids that still pick their noses i thought i should space one roald dahl book to one, ya know, 'adult' book. & it started out that way - i promise - but i ended up blazing through the box & it was so fun & it got me so excited for eventually having older kids.

my favorites were the ones about dahl's life. kind of autobiographies but not.

& my favorite lesson 'what a child wants and deserves is a parent who is sparky'.

that's a pretty harmless goal: be sparky!

cala lilies are still my favorite

my baby girl got her first flower from a boy today.

and my heart exploded.

one long-stemmed white cala lily as big as she is.

from a 3 year old neighbor boy who is smitten with her.

he met her today.

oy. was i really meant to have girls?

spring break baby!

we've been running around having too much fun lately. it's probably austin's break in school. it's gone to our heads & we're drunk with the freedom.

there've been ncaa games (that gave me the happiest husby alive), great america amusement park with michael & friends, austin's cub scouts banquet, beach trips with sand vball & ellery reading to us, hil & bopi visiting, sharks games, 3D movies with the fam, my youth conference, & our sweet nephew luke's baby blessing. all in like a week & some change.

so why is miss e helping her daddy polish his car one of my favorite moments?

one & a half

i think 1 1/2 is always a good thing. 1 1/2 breakfasts, 1 1/2 your hourly, or 1 1/2 kids for that matter. :)

but i'm talking about 1 1/2 speed.

we have our desktop computer hooked up & using the tv as a monitor. it makes it totally seamless to access hulu, netflix insta play, & our library of saved movies with our remote & then we can watch by big screen. we also record shows using media center (basically free tivo).

okay that's all fine & good but we have a magical, wonderful button on said computer that is hard to come by.

1 1/2 speed! it speeds up the audio & video in perfect sinc (& without chipmunk voices) & helps us blast through sitcoms, documentaries, & even austin's videoed grad classes. who can watch, absorb, & ace a graduate level course without ever leaving the family room with a toddler playing, a wife reading her books & interrupting, AND do it in 1 1/2 speed? that'd be my aust. i think it's a little ridiculous for that but it is my perfection for all other television viewing experiences. & i cannot go back to regular speed.

bytheby the olympic games were insane sped up.

& if you're judging me for devising a plan on how to get more tv into my life then judge away. i'm convinced it decreases actual time spent on the couch... but probably not.

this got me thinking on monday about 1 1/2. monday is cleaning day. our house goes to crap because i just don't pick up over the weekend & austin's a disaster zone, not to mention ellery's into everything. but i was having delusions of grandeur imagining that i could speed myself up & go out & play! you know, like in bewitched when samantha's mother-in-law unexpectedly stops by & she whips herself into high gear so that by the time she's ringing the doorbell the house in spotless.

then i decided i just needed a remote to hit 1 1/2 speed for my cleaning, laundry, & work out sessions.

i know what you're thinking: did i learn nothing from that movie click?

maybe i missed the moral because i was watching it in 1 1/2 speed.