A typical morning in November

I wanted to write about our routine so years from now we don't forget what life was like.

5:30 Pollux cries from his pack n play that's in the green room.  Matt, who is sleeping in Bella's room with Bella after being kicked out of our room for snoring, wakes up.  From what I can hear from the other room, he attempts to comfort our squawking little monster bringing him into their room.  He's too hungry so he runs downstairs to prepare a bottle.  Bella is happily talking to Pollux and he seems somewhat content with what she has to say to him. 

Usually Bella sleeps through the whole thing so this morning I'm relieved that she's happily awake and being a great big sister.  I lay in bed and wake up, realizing that I've mostly slept through the night and feel rested.  Matt feeds Pollux and Bella comes and snuggles in our bed and we talk about what she's going to wear because the weather has changed and it's chilly outside. 

Matt hops in the shower, followed by Bella and me.  I wash her hair and finger comb the conditioner through her hair.  I talk to her about getting a haircut, but she says she wants long hair.  Pollux sits and plays in the center of the bed.

I select Bella's clothes after retrieving her winter clothes from the underbed storage.  I love the tights, but she refuses because they cover her feet.  She just wants leggings under her school uniform.  We loosen the buttons on her skirt so she can easily go potty.  Suddenly she has to go potty and rushes to the toilet.  She makes it with only a drop in her panties.  She assures me that it'll dry and I convince her to change panties.  She agrees and actually does it on her own.  Not moments ago she whined that she needed help getting her clothes on, but now, there seems to be no problem.  I'm grateful.  She watches PBS as her reward for getting dressed.

We all go downstairs for breakfast.  I eat leftover pasta, eggplant and peas.  Bella eats pasta and peas, her favorite food for over a year now.  She requests a second bowl then starts searching for fruit roll ups that she just remembered were in the kitchen.  Matt tries to distract her, but she still remembers about the fruit.  We convince her to eat 4 bites of pasta, get her shoes on, carry her lunch and backpack out to the car before Matt gives in.  They drive to school.  Matt later texts me that they are waiting in the cafeteria with a couple of her friends.

Pollux and I go back upstairs to change into his clothes.  I attempt to put away our clean clothes so that our housekeeper has space to put more clean clothes.  I'm relieved that when we return our toilets will be clean.  Our carpet will be vacuumed.  All of our clothes will be clean and folded.  We'll be able to slip in between clean sheets and a made bed when we're ready to go to sleep.

Pollux gets fussy and is ready for his morning nap.  We rush to get into the car.  I carry our bags and bottles out to the car along with him in his carseat.  Within minutes of being in the car, he's asleep.  I get to listen to the radio and look at the gorgeous, sunny, morning sky as we drive to school.

are you happy?

"Mommy?  Are you happy?" is the most popular question asked by Bella lately.  "Of course I am!" is my usual reply.  Bella then asks, "Mommy, are we mad at Penny?" 
Poor, poor Penny.  She's really not bad, but she has a way of getting in the way.  She knows it's her job to clean up fallen food.  Instead of waiting in her 'spot' which is a 3 x 5 foot rug beside the table, she crouches down beside our feet, half under the 2 foot tall table.  She's supposed to wait until we're finished eating before 'cleaning', but she often forgets and starts early.  She's just too close for comfort and we shoo her to back to the rug using our firm or 'mad' voices.

Bella's Happy Face

things are really looking up

Things are really looking up in 2012.  Bella loves her pink car that Santa brought and her Mickey Mouse mini-coloring pages and markers.

in need of new camera

Over the holidays, our trusty little, red point and shoot died.  It was on it's last leg and certainly was a good camera while it lasted the last 3 years.  We would like to replace it with a step up but nothing too fancy or anything that we would have to hold with 2 hands.  If you have suggestions, please let me know.  Until then, our pictures are going to come from our phones and look mostly like this

Pinteresting Recipes

I have discovered Pinterest and found a recipe that looked both healthy and involved macaroni - so I know Bella would eat it.  Here's the picture and link.  This picture was enticing!

I've been waking up at 5 am...and laying around until 6 am.  This morning I decided to make these mostly because yesterday we ate out all three meals.  I worked a half day on Saturday so it was easier to go through the drive-thru at the Kolache Factory, stop on the way home at Freebirds and order Papa Johns after exhausting ourselves grocery shopping.  Here's how my Skinny Macaroni Muffins turned out at 6:30 am.

I didn't have the exact ingredients for the recipe and it suffered to the point that it wasn't that good.  Quite disappointing, but expected.  Instead of flour, I used whole wheat flour.  Instead of skim milk, I used almond milk.  Instead of Gruyere and sharp cheddar cheese, I used colby jack and part of the mac n cheese powdered cheese.  The "muffins" were certainly edible and they tasted healthy.  I think the key missing ingredient was the Gruyere cheese, but I couldn't find it easily yesterday with the mobs of people picking up dips, chips and beer to watch football.  Oh well.  Bella and I moved on to canned croissants with nutella.  Those definitely hit the spot!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

 She's in awe of the fact that Santa Claus came and left presents for her.

We spent a lot of time with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  It was a spectacular time with good food.  (sorry mom, this was the only picture where the majority of us were in focus and actually looking at the camera)

a photographic day

 We were up early just hanging out waiting for daddy to get up.  She is getting so tall!

Later on that morning we went to the park and captured this one of her about to go down the slide.

Happy Halloween!

 Bella wore only two costumes this year.  A monkey (because when she whines sometimes it sounds like a monkey or chimp) and Tigger (which was a favorite from last year and still fit this year).  We had a good time going to the neighborhood park for some playing then trick or treating.  Of course, the most fun was coming home to see all of our neighbors and the outpouring of CANDY!  She had a great time!

crashed car

Our poor car was crashed.  A drunk driver hit Matt and Bella, but very fortunately, everyone was okay.  The police and ambulance were there almost immediately.  Not so immediate was all the negotiation with the insurance company.  The lesson learned was that "replacement value" doesn't really replace what you lost.

a family visit

In August, after Baby Max's arrival, our family and dogs got together to celebrate.  Something must have been really funny (to me, not Bella) as you can see we all had a good time visiting each other.