Paris, Schmaris

The other day we had some new friends over for Family Home Evening and after a lesson and a few rounds of "Don't Eat Pete!" we had some fun treats. I found this recipe the day of and did not find it lacking in any way. Even if you accidently double the amount of cream cheese in the frosting. Remarkably, it's still good. Who knew? (I doubled the recipe and when I went to make the frosting I didn't have the recipe open on the computer anymore and couldn't remember if the number I was thinking in my head was the original amount or the doubled amount. It was the doubled, which then got doubled, which is actually quadrupled. Not a big deal when cream cheese is involved, I say. Anyway...)
Before the lesson and such we gave our friends a small tour of our new house. People here are always really interested in what each other's houses look like because there are so many little villages you could live in, so many types of homes (new home, old home, in the city, in the country, etc) that it's interesting to see what someone else chose for their family. when we were giving the tour, as I was showing the guest room (the empty guest room, mind you...we should be getting our household goods next Tuesday) I think I said something like, "and here's our guest room, this is if anyone ever comes to visit!"
I do realize that we've only been in Germany for 7 weeks or something like that, and haven't even been in our home for a month, but it's just so far away and it feels like it's been forever since we've seen all of you. These boys are changing so quickly and it's heartbreaking to me that I can't share that with you. I know that this is going to be a wonderful two years, but I'm not sure that being close to Paris is a good trade for being close to family.
Well, to be fair, I haven't made it to Paris, yet. So ask me if the same is true after that.

Reid is in an artistic awakening. He loves coloring more than anything these days and spends most of his time at the table with his twistables crayons (we love them, so great for traveling) and the latest coloring book. Of course, maybe that has to do with the fact that he only has a handful of toys, our backyard isn't finished yet so he can't play outside, it's been really rainy lately, and a dining table is one of the only furniture items we have. Either way, he's getting really good. Here is his rendition of Don't Eat Pete. I made the circles and asked him to draw faces and arms and legs and here's what he gave me:
I love it.
Mom, I'm pretty sure that the red one is you.
If you look closely you can see chocolate/saliva smears on it. Kids are so funny with this game because when the put an m&m in their mouth they put their fingers part way in, too. So then when the reach for another m&m they get drool everywhere. Cracks me up.

In other news, we finally have a stroller.
We had a double stroller when we came here but somewhere along the way it got busted coming on or getting off a plane. We tried to make it work, but it made life miserable.
I told you the story about going grocery shopping with it, right?
So, I ordered a new stroller and when they said the shipping estimate was 37-54 days I thought, "surely it will come sooner than that!"
The stroller pretty much said, "I'll come when I want to come, people! And don't call me Shirley!" (Mom, that joke was for you.)
I'm not able to get very far without some sort of a stroller. Imagine trying to take the kids for a walk on the sidewalk, four little boys, with no stroller.
That's why that no work. (Another joke for you, Mom.)
Now we've got some wheels and I'm excited to try them out tomorrow. I also have a new baby carrier so I can keep Henry strapped to me, put Alec and Dane in the stroller, and Reid can walk beside me. We could go a whole block like that! Now we're talking!
Henry and I gave it a test drive around the house. I mean, seriously people. Is he not the cutest?
I get weepy when I think about how much I love this little baby. He has just brought so much joy to our family. I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place because I want you all to be able to see this little guy, but we're just so far away. I can't really just get on a plane with all the little ones, although I do try to figure out in my head how that would work. Logistically. To fly internationally with four children four and under.

The bottom line then is that I hope you'll come to see us, soon. The guest room is ready, and this baby is adorable. Babies don't keep, so get a move on.

what's goin' on in the hiz-ouse.

Some of these pictures are a month or two old, but come on...like you care. Cute is cute, even if it's outdated by a month or so.

Here's Reid after breakfast one morning and he got out a little clementine cutie, one at a time, and counted them. It was really sweet.

Dane at breakfast making spit bubbles.
Erik with our boys, seriously, could they all be any sweeter? No, I don't think it's possible. It's easy to see where the boys get their good looks from. I hope that someday one of our kids will hit the jackpot and get Erik's blue eyes.

At this point Alec still had one goopy eye, but they are both clear now. He's had issues with both of his eyes and blocked tear duct drainage systems, or something like that. He was going to have to have a small operation where they put him under anesthetic and just kind of pop out the blockage, but luckily both tear ducts opened on their own.
This is what it looks like after bathtime. Pure crazy. Limbs flying around and naked babies trying to get free and then running around while we're trying to lotion them up and get diapers and pajamas on them. It's like the most stressful 5 minutes ever.
Reid's joy in life: making new combinations of Mr. Potato Head. He does it all the time and comes up to me with a new creation, and he's always so excited and proud. It's adorable.
Most mornings the boys all get to play outside and just goof around for a while. Sometimes it's a little chilly, so they have to wear coats and hats, but it's getting warmer.
Some indoor play. Here's Dane after one of their favorite scores, finding Dad's motorcycle vest.
Big smile from Alec.
Another appearance from Mr. Duck. He's still so into Mr. Duck.
The huz had a birthday two weeks ago and turned 34. I say, 34 never looked so good. He got some more camping equipment for the many campouts he has planned with the scouts, some handsome new dress slacks, new cologne (that one may be more for me...) and lots of slobbery kisses. From the boys, of course.

Here's Erik with his cake, a Martha masterpiece.
Reid can't wait for some cake! I used this cake recipe and this frosting. It was intense, but very good. Next time Erik requests a chocolate cake, I think I'll try a different cake but stick with the same frosting. The frosting was dense, glossy, and heavenly. Of course it was, the two ingredients are cream and chocolate chips. 4 cups of cream! Crazy.

There were three layers and it was seriously huge. Ever since I was a kid and watched Pollyanna, I've always wanted to make a huge layer cake. It fulfilled a deep-rooted childhood Disney fantasy. Speaking of, Reid needs to see Pollyanna. He's seen the Parent Trap and Summer Magic, so he NEEDS to see Pollyanna.
Here are the boys enjoying a movie together. They love sitting here, each with a blanket, staring right into the TV. They last for about 8 minutes that way and then run around the room playing while the movie just kind of happens in the background.
Remember my spending hiatus? It's going pretty well, except for maybe my new obsession with Liberty Tana Lawn fabrics. Well, the obsession is not new, but the flood gate finally burst and I've been snatching up some fabrics on ebay. This is one collection of 6" charm squares that I didn't win, but wished I paid more attention to it and had won it. Look at that triangle pennant print in the bottom left! Perfection!
I did, however, pick up a little more than a yard of this gorgeous print, "Betsy" in green. This is probably my favorite, and will maybe end up as a dress someday. For my someday baby girl. I just hope she doesn't puke as much as Alec and Dane did/do, because puke doesn't belong on Liberty Tana Lawn. True business.
Lastly, have you seen this couch at Anthropologie? Like I would ever spend that on a couch, but come on, it's so beautiful! I can't even stand it. And imagine how lovely in a living room with our black piano and with my someday/dream house white glossy floors...

Then again, Alec puked all over our couch in the living room last night, and baby puke on a couch this lovely would cause me to cry for a full fifteen minutes...

So, I'll just keep this in my dream house file in my brain grapes.

First things first.

I have a new bright idea. All in the hope that this silly blog can recover from its lack of awesomeness. First of all, the post the other day about fresh & easy and stuff, I started it as a draft back in January, but just posted it a few days ago. But it posts it as the date I started it, and I don't know how to fix that. So, sorry for that confusion.

Also, I did promise weekly posts, or something like that. But then Erik left for Texas for a month, and that good intention died a quick and painless death. He gets home tomorrow night and I can't tell you how nice it well be for us to be a complete family again.

Here's the bright idea:

shorter, more frequent posts!

It's genius!

I don't know why, but when I blog I usually try to tell you as many things as possible and show as many pictures as possible before I run out of steam. So dumb.

So, I'll finally get this blog whipped into shape and make it more fun to read and definitely more fun for me to write.

But, since I realize that you care more about pictures of my cute boys than you do about my thoughts about fabric lines...

Here goes...

this is what a typical morning looks like for us. In the family room/playroom we have a lot of items that aren't really toys, but the boys love playing with them, so they stay in the playroom. My swim cap is one of them. They all think it's so funny and I love it. And, as you can see, both babies are walking (more like running) machines. That's Dane with the cap on.

This is the classic morning scene. Babies stripped of clothes because they've smeared banana on themselves and puked down their shirts. The vacuum (barely visible in the bottom right corner) out to vacuum up the many stray Cheerios, Reid still sitting at the table (that's him in the top right corner) because he takes like an hour and a half to eat (seriously), and on the floor by Reid's chair is Patches, the zhu zhu pet that Uncle Brian and Aunt Stamatia sent the boys. At any given moment, one of them is playing with him.

On a different day, Reid was playing with the swim cap. I had music on (because dancing is Reid's joy in life) and Reid came out to dance looking like this. I love how his pajama pants are just barely hanging on.
Here's a quilt I finished (with some serious help from my mom) lately. This is honestly the one and only craft ANYTHING that I have accomplished since the babies joined our family. I'm happy that it's completed and already sent off to its adorable owner.
Oh, and the boys love playing in their chipmunk Halloween costumes.
Here is our recent front landscaping. When Erik's parents were here for Christmas, Erik and his dad built the retaining wall and planted that gorgeous palm and all of the other plants. They've filled out quite a bit in the last month (since we had like 2 weeks of straight rain) and I love how things look. In a month or so, we're going to plan some bougainvillea at the edge of the wall, on either side of the little bay window. The guy at the nursery told us to wait until March when the frost is over, and I'm so excited for some more color and viney loveliness growing up the house.
Here are a bunch of pictures of the boys playing. They seriously play ALL...DAY...LONG. It's so fun to see them having fun together and growing together as friends.
Check out Alec's face in this one. Click on it to make it bigger so you can get the full effect.
Reid loves playing this card game with Erik. Dana gave this to Erik for Christmas, and Reid just giggles the whole time as we play.
This is silly, but one morning when I was at the kitchen window washing dishes, I looked out and saw this pretty sunrise reflected off the van and I just loved it. The silhouette of the palm tree and the colors of the sunset just look so California to me.
Here's another favorite non-toy toy.Reid is "helping" Erik install a sprinkler system.
Our cuties enjoying a bath. The babies used to HATE baths. They would scream the whole time and we would just go as fast as possible, and then as soon as we pulled them out they would stop screaming. As soon as they turned one they all of a sudden loved baths. It was honestly the day of their birthday. They had pizza and cupcakes and were super messy, so we plopped them all into the tub expecting to have to go bananas fast like usual, but for some reason, that day, the babies were giggling and playing and splashing and having a great time. Now, it's impossible to give just one of our boys a bath because the other two won't stand for it. They love baths together.
And there's our picture roundup. Okay, so this post was really long, but for the most part I'm going to try more frequent, shorter posts. We'll see how that goes. Remember when I tried the confessions thing like my (pretend) friend Sarah Champion? Yeah, that didn't last very long.

Hot Dang!

As you might have predicted, one of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more. I'm shooting for no less than one a week. I've kind of missed it, and I get sad when I think on how much the children have grown and that you're missing it all.

So, here's a December recap:

Erik had a work thing in Texas for two weeks so we all drove to Tucson to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Traynor while Erik was gone. We got to help Grandma decorate for Christmas and Reid found a buddy in the dancing Santa. He loved it.

My mom had a big party at her home for her brothers and sisters, called "The Brother/Sister Party", natch. I love a party, and it was fun helping her prep for things and mostly making her talk about it for hours on end. I love thinking about parties and preparing for them at least as much as the actual thing. Especially when I'm not really invited to the party because I'm neither my mom's brother, nor sister. It's pretty exclusive. Here's her dessert table, and I made the caramel apples (my new obsession - want some tips? I've got 'em.) for party favors.
And here's the table that all of the siblings and siblings-in-law partied at. Oh, I love a good party. And I had the best time being a fly on the wall at this party. Those Arnetts know how to have a good time.
Dane and Alec celebrated their first birthday. They got to enjoy their first glass of milk (which they loved) and they chowed on pizza. Alec is a superhero eater. He usually just keeps his head down the whole time while he uses his hands like little shovels and just keeps shoveling it in. He eats at least 150% of what Dane eats. He also burns at least twice the calories. Or so it would seem.
Alec taking a brief moment to look up for a picture.
Dane trying out this sippy cup business. They are not fans.
Grandpa Traynor showing some love.
And then, it was cupcake time. They knew exactly what to do. Dane didn't mess around and went for the frosting.
Alec just grabbed the whole thing and shoved as much as he could in his face. He's never been one to be delicate or subtle.

Look at those eyes! Hot dang! (I think that's going to be my 2010 saying. It's funny.)
Reid getting in on the birthday action. He's the only one who was interested in wearing a hat.

And then, a few weeks later, we celebrated Christmas. Reid was obsessed with the whole Santa idea, even though we didn't push it very much. Even now, when the heater kicks on or the hot water heater makes a noise or something, he goes "Mama! It's Santa! On the roof! I can hear him!" He's so sure of it, and then we have to explain the whole thing over again. In Christmases yet to come I'd like to downplay the whole Santa thing, but I think it's something exciting that little ones really grab onto. We'll see how it goes next year.

This year Reid got a bookcase for his room and the babies got a table and chairs set that all the boys are really enjoying. Here's Reid checking out the stockings and new presents.
Grandma and Grandpa Olsen came up for Christmas and it was so fun to have them here. Here's Dane with his new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.
Here's Reid showing us his new finger puppets. 2009 will go down in history in our home as the year of the puppets. Reid is cah-razy about puppets and I was so jazzed when I found some cheap finger puppets at IKEA. I was double-super-hotDANG-jazzed when Jan sent the boys some fancy finger puppets. I had actually seen these online and really considered buying them, but I'm frugal (cheap) and so I didn't. But Jan doesn't do cheap (a wonderful fact that has benefited me many a time) and so my boys got lucky.
Reid checking out the traditional stocking offerings: Hershey bar, candy cane, orange, apple, toothbrush, etc. Oh, also...check out his new Crocs. I showed these to Reid online and was trying to convince him into the blue color, but he was very clear and decisive that he wanted the green color. He's so into these shoes. He wears them pretty much all day, and when anyone asks Reid what he got for Christmas, his first answer is always "my green shoes."
Here's Alec modeling the crazy cute new pajamas.
A cute shot of Grandma Olsen and her boys.

So, that's what we've been up to.

Not pictured in this post but will be addressed in future posts:

Reid and his potty training successes and struggles (you lucky reader, you)

My tips for fantasmic homemade pizza

Erik and his dad as miracle superhero front yard landscapers

My future business (short-term)

And my future business (long-term), watch this fun video for a hint.

Oh, and my song of the month. Do you do that? Make titles for everything? I do. I have a song of the week, song of the month, song of the year, movie of the year, food of the month, all kinds of nonsense.

On my to-do list:

-Finally make the darn puppet theater so that Reid can really go to town with all of his puppets.

-Buy this pan
So I can make my own version (with this recipe) of these cuties from Williams-Sonoma.
-Buy this cool bird feeder thing (it's genius!)

-Focus on my one little word. How about you do it, too. And we can talk about it, and about how Ali is totally my guru. My word of the year is Groove. As in, 2010 is the year of "How Emily Got Her Groove Back" (just minus hooking up with some random dude in the Caribbean. I haven't seen the movie, but I get the impression that that's what it's about). Today is my first runner up word of the year. Focus is my second, and Hot Dang is my third. I have a hard time picking mantras apparently.

-Get going on my family's goal of each of us walking/running 350 miles by Christmas 2010. I have a love/hate relationship with Nike+.

-Get my sewing machine serviced so that I can make something already. Almost done with that quilt, Natalie! Hope you haven't been holding your breath! And Reid sure could use a little dude apron for helping me in the kitchen.

And the last thing for this post...a plea for help.

A while ago I came upon a cute children's clothing site and I saved some of the pictures, but I can't remember what the site is. I need help because it's starting to make me crazy. Do you have those moments? When something that totally doesn't matter, like not even a little bit, creeps into your head and you can't figure it out but you can't just forget about it and you start going crazy about it? Please tell me I'm not the only one.

So here's what you have to go on:

children's clothing site (maybe just boys, I can't remember)

and here are some pictures from a year or so ago, so these items probably aren't even available anymore.

And here's your mission...

The first person to put me out of my misery by finding this clothing site for me will win a dozen heart-shaped whoopie pies rush delivered to you. Made with love and gratitude for helping me not go crazy.......er.

Thank you.

edited to add: my brother William is the superfast superawesome winner! I had a feeling he would be. The website is bobinette, in case you were wondering.

Thanks William! Keep your eyes on your mailbox!