Spread the love.

Okay, seriously. Is there a fresh & easy store near you? Are you there like all the time? You should be! It's my new favorite store.

Here's what is so perfect about this store:

-great produce that's easy and accessible

-the produce isn't in huge mounds (like apples for example. I hate going to the supermarket and seeing a ginormous mountain of apples. I'm always like, "I bet that's the exact same shipment of apples that I saw last week and probably the week before that." I don't know why stores do that. Does the feeling of bounty make people buy more? I love how f&e (how we'll now refer to it) has apples in a pack or a bag of 4, with a set price, and the label has an "eat by" date on it and every time I go it's a new shipment with a new date.)

-OH! AND...they have this thing called 98¢ produce packs. Have you seen Food, Inc.? You know that Hispanic family that goes to the supermarket and explains how crappy food (McDonald's) is cheaper and more accessible than good-for-you food? Well, f&e has made it easy for you. A family can buy 10 things from the dollar menu, or you can buy a 3 lb. bag of potatoes, carrots, apples, grapes, lettuce, oranges, bananas, tomatoes, etc. for that same $10. Cook some beans or lentils, buy some cheese and that's like my favorite way to eat.

-it's like a step down on the pretentious scale from Trader Joe's. Don't get me wrong, I love Trader Joe's. It's like a fun, specialty store. But this is a fun everyday store. I bought a boatload of food tonight for $132. A TON of food. I think I'll try to scan the receipt to post it. Because I know you care that much. Oh, and like half of what I bought is organic. Beat that!

-OH! And they carry Stretch Island fruit leather. Mom, isn't that exciting?
Secondly...are you a quilter? More specifically, are you a quilter that's obsessed with Heather Ross? Well, I am.

I think I have a new favorite to add the the group, however. I submit this awesomeness to you for your viewing pleasure.

The designer is Lizzy House, and that's just a cool name anyway. This is her third line, and her first two lines were pretty rad, but not produced by megacompanies like Moda or Free Spirit, so I don't think they got their fair share of attention. I hope this third line gets more notice, because it has all the right ingredients to be a hit. So check her out. She keeps a cool blog, she's a printmaker, she's Mormon, she's a BYU-I grad, her mom has a sweet line of quilt patterns, what's not to love?
Some Emily thoughts for the day. Look for a post about real life stuff in the very near future.

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!

Alvin, Simon, Theodore!

So, Halloween was a hit. I'm in deep dark doodoo with my family for not posting these earlier. But, my days are seriously filled with the real variety of deep dark doodoo, and I just haven't had it in me to blog lately.

True business, the last two months have been harder than when the babies were tiny and I was nearly killing myself (okay, so that's exaggerated a little) nursing/pumping like 8 times a day.

Still though, Halloween was great and our kids knocked some socks off at the ward party.

I've been trying to convince Erik to be Alvin (as in Alvin and the Chipmunks) for years now. I just think it would be so funny to see a grown man in a turtleneck dress thing with a huge A on it. Since I have been unsuccessful in that attempt, I figured my next best option was Reid. Luckily, he was all over the idea.

So, I hired a professional costume designer (my mother) to make an Alvin costume and two baby Chipmunk costumes for Simon and Theodore.

The day that they came in the mail, I put the boys in them to see how they fit and Reid just danced and giggled in his costume for a good 2 hours. Even now, it's a perfect bribe (uh, I mean...reward) for when I need him to do something. He loves his costume.

Here's Reid and his friend Natalie at the ward party. Reid loves Natalie. He follows her around like a lovesick puppy. They are bff's.

Simon and Theodore. My favorite part of the night was when we were walking in. Reid was in the front of our little caravan and then Erik and I were following, each carrying a baby. Everyone saw Reid first and many people joked to him, "Hey Alvin! Where are the chipmunks?" Then, they would see Erik and me with Dane and Alec and they would just bust up laughing. It was perfect.
Reid making his rounds at the party.Dane got to be Theodore because he's a little chubbier than Alec. They are both pretty small for their age (Alec is in the 2nd percentile for weight. 2nd! How is that possible that I have a baby that tiny? Come on Arnett genes, let's pick it up a little!)
Alec is relaxing in his coach.
A friend from the ward was cool to get a picture of all of us. We don't have very many of those. As you can see, I went for the bangs, and it's hard to tell, but that hair is pretty red. Yikes. Erik wore his Alaska State Prison costume that we made a few years ago. Always a hit. And I didn't really make any sort of effort. Lame. I know. But I'm already thinking about next year.

I've got a great idea for the boys, and maybe Erik and I will be the same thing as they're going to be. It would be funny to see 5 people show up to a party as the thing I'm thinking of.

No, I'm not going to tell you.
On the actual day of Halloween we stayed home, ready to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. (I think next year will be Reid's first time as an official trick-or-treater. He went around to a few cars at the ward party, but he had more fun passing out candy at our car than going around to the other cars.)

This is our first Halloween in this home, and I didn't know how much trick-or-treater traffic we were going to get, so I figured that about $20 worth of candy would suffice.

We only got one kid.

A darn cute kid.

Our friends drove over so that Emma (Reid's friend) could trick-or-treat at our house. I had already given up too much hope at that point (and had been puked on quite a bit) so I was already in my sweats, but I was so excited that they came.

We do, however have a lot of leftover candy.

So, I figured, how about a party! Next Saturday we're having a fall fiesta, and I'm going to make a turkey pinata to bust at the party. More about the party soon, it's going to be killer.

There it is. The wrap-up. I hope I'm out of the deep dark doghouse.

please bear with me. (whining and stories about baby puke ahead)

Hello again, to anyone and everyone who still reads this thing.

Right, so now that this is a private blog, that means that it isn't going to show up on your reader anymore, which means that you're going to have to remember to click into your bookmarks and show up here.

How about we make some kind of an association in your head, so that it will be easier to remember to check the blog?

Maybe every time you vacuum the floor you could check the blog.

No, that's too much.

I don't blog that often.

How about every time you wash your sheets?

No.

Still too often.

I know.

How about every time you clean your baseboards you remember to check the blog?

Perfect.

Now that we have that settled, I have a few aggravating things I need to get off of my chest.

Aggravating thing number one:

Did you know that I dyed my hair bright red and cut bangs? What? You didn't know that? Yeah, that's probably because I didn't tell you, but it's true. I did it.

I've always wanted to try red hair, and my "granola vs. J.Lo" complex got the better of me and so I did something crazy with my hair.

It looks a little something like this.

For real.

Okay, maybe not quite that Kool-aid red, but it's pretty red. I realize that you're not going to believe me until I post a picture of my and my darn hair, but that may not happen. Depending on the day I either love it or hate it. And, I think I'm going to go dark brown here any day now, so...

Next item of aggravation:

These babies puke all day long. Seriously. All day long. And no, it's not just spit-up. It's puke. It's a real problem. And now they crawl and cruise anywhere they want to go, so the puke is taking over the house. Our carpet it in really bad shape. Like, it makes me depressed.

When we moved into our house the carpet was brand new. I'm not a huge fan (or even a little fan) of wall to wall carpeting (more on that later), but at least it was new. Now, a mere 8 months later, and it's disgusting. We steam clean it, and then a few days later it looks like a landmine again. Plus, many times a day I get the lovely surprise of finding puke bombs by stepping my bare foot into goopy pukey carpet. So gross.

But, in our kitchen we have tile and in the hallway we have laminate. That's better, right? Easier to keep clean?

Well, it's easier to keep clean, but I don't know if it's better because in the kitchen and hallways the babies puke and then slip and slide around in it. Or, I get to discover a puke splat as I walk down the hallway and slide and crash from slipping on puke.

*the climax of your pity for me:

True story. Yesterday the babies were crawling down the hallway making a fast sprint to the hall bathroom because they saw that the door was open (Reid and I are deep in the depths of potty training). The babies love the forbidden delights in the bathroom. They love to whack on the scale until the lights blink and then laugh and laugh. And the other day they figured out how to pull up to a stand by pulling on the toilet, cruise over to the side and pull the flush lever. Then the toilet flushes and they laugh and laugh. So anyways, they were on a fast break to the bathroom and so I dashed down the hallway to intercept them. Along the side of the hallway was a metal hanging garment rack thing, just sitting there, because we moved all the bedrooms around (more on that someday) and it was just kind of sitting there. The bottom of the rack has a wire mesh shelf with an edge that's kind of sharp. As I was dashing down the hall, I slipped on a big pile of puke (it's magically imperceptible on the tile/laminate...I don't understand it) and slid right into the rack thing while trying to slow myself down with my hands braking against the wall. The rack sliced a monster gash into my lower shin that streamed blood for a solid half hour despite my best pressure and elevation applications. It was pretty bad. Not bad enough for stitches, but I considered it.

Where does all this whining lead to?

Probably nowhere.

But it does make me daydream about flooring. All I want in this world is glossy whitewashed hardwood floors. Because I LOVE them. I love how they look. So clean and uncluttered.

And, as an extra bonus, I think baby puke would be easier to detect. And that would make my life 100% easier. You have no idea.

Have you heard of Sixx Design or the book Downtown Chic? Well, there's this couple with SEVEN children, living in New York, that finds old run-down properties, buys them, moves the family in and renovates them while living there. Then they sell the property for millions of dollars. Seriously. I love their style, I love that they have a big family and that they still are out there living their dream with kids right alongside them, and I love this house they renovated. This is one of my favorites. My dream house, if you will.

Oh, and notice the white floors.

Pretty awesome, right? Now I just need to convince Erik into the lifestyle of living in shambles while we renovate things into something awesome. That'll be a tough one.

But in the meantime, here are some more pictures of beautiful white floors to get me by. I don't think it will really happen. Not in this house, at least. We've got three more years here at the most, and possibly as little as a year. So, you know, I won't really be here long enough to justify making it my dream house. I can survive splatted landmine carpet. I guess.
Didn't you love it? All the white?

That's my design preference in a nutshell. White, white, and more white. With blasts of color spattered about. That's what my house looks like in my head, as I try to comfort myself when I step in a carpet puddle or bathe the babies again after they've been slip and sliding in their puke.

If you're laughing at that, I just hope you never have to do it. Because after nearly 10 months of daily doubletime puke, I'm not laughing anymore.

picture mania.

What's up everybody! Since you're reading this, that means that you've followed us over to private blogland. Thank you for that.

As a warning, this post has probably close to a billion pictures, so I recommend getting up and going to the bathroom, washing your hands, grabbing a cold beverage and a snack, and then coming back to the computer.

The babies do not like being on the other side of a baby gate. Dane especially. Dane is our sensitive baby. He's adorable like that, he takes it very personally when he gets put in his crib or when the baby gate goes up. But sometimes the babies make funny faces, and that makes all this crazy twinness work worth it. To see their faces smooshed in the mesh of a baby gate or pack n play.

This is Alec's smooshed little face.
Big news around here. We laid sod in the backyard and it's pretty dope. First we spread around some compost soil that Erik brought in big truckloads and dumped in wheelbarrow piles around the yard. Then I would use a rake to spread around the piles. I have a lot of experience in spreading dirt. Ask my mom and dad.
The huz being all handy and hardworking and stuff.
There he is again, still at it, and now laying the sod. Our friend and home teacher Nick came by to help. It was a HUGE help. The weather was perfect and in about 2 or 3 hours all of the sod was laid.
Here's Reid the next morning, remembering that there's grass and wanting to play in it. He still had his pajamas on so we gave him a sweatshirt and let him at it. We love this grass so much. Pretty soon we'll have some friends to roam the grass, but I'll mention that later...
The babies like to chat with each other. Here they pulled themselves up next to each other and I heard both of them giggling and giggling at each other. Alec is on the left and Dane is on the right.
The gang all ready for a Sunday afternoon walk around the neighborhood.
On labor day we went to the beach for a few hours. I love being so close to the beach. There are some A+ beaches within an hour drive from our house, but there's also a B- beach that's only 15 minutes from our house. So we pick that one.
Best idea ever. I put the babies in sleepers to try and minimize the sand that seems to get everywhere. It worked pretty darn well. Plus, it reduced the surface area that needed sunscreen. Double awesome. Here's Dane checking out some dried seaweed-ish stuff.
All the boys.
Alec being cute.
Isn't their hair coming in so nicely? I love it.
Dane's cute mug.
Reid loves the beach. He's super psyched every time we go, and the whole time he has sand all over him and never seems to notice. When I give him a snack, he has sand all over his face and probably eats as much sand as he does snack, but he loves it.
Here are the babies modeling their new booster chairs. We copied our awesome friends the Crandells and just skipped the whole high chair stage and went straight to this booster business. It worked great with Reid, and our babies love it, too. Here's Dane.
And Alec.
And another one of Dane. Look at how crazy huge his eyes are! Even as a tiny baby he's always had such bright eyes.
Bathtime. After a lot of trial and error, I've discovered that the boys like the sink the best. Especially Alec. Alec hated baths in the tub, but will now endure a bath in the sink without screaming. Sometimes he even smiles a little bit.
The boys are always playing together. One morning I found them all congregated by the window.
Then by the piano.
Last Friday we had a little birthday party for me. It was a success and a failure mixed in one. A success because our awesome friends the McCunes came over and partied with us. We had ice cream sundaes and here's Reid going to town on his ice cream. Sometimes utensils just slow him down, so he takes matters into his own hands. Literally. The party was a failure because I invited like 6 families and only one ended up coming. That sucks. It sucks being the new kid all the time and not really having close friends. Then, by the time you're in one place long enough to make close friends, you move again. Sucks. I want to be like, "I'm Emily, I throw fun parties! Hello?!" Oh, and I bought enough ice cream for an army, plus all kinds of sundae toppings. Which are now in my pantry. And I've decided to go on a sugar diet. As in a diet from sugar. Not a diet made of sugar. More on that later.
The boys enjoying the grass. Check out Alec's face in this one.
And Dane's face in this one.
This year we learned from last year's cake fiasco and just went with my favorite. A classic. Rainbow party chip. Erik employed his creativity to make this beautiful cake. That's me in some cheesy pajamas in the back.
The candles are sparkler candles, and Reid wasn't quite sure how he felt about the sparks.
Yeah, he was a little bit concerned. But the cake was awesome, and the birthday was probably my favorite ever. Erik was like superhero husband awesome. More about that later.
These pictures are just cute. I gave the babies those baby toast things and Dane wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
Here's the Reidman being adorable.
Alec loved the little toasts and is modeling why I'm never buying that crap again. I forgot how messy they are. There was toast mush and crumbs everywhere. Seriously. Everywhere.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

The winner of the cookies!

Reid helped me pick a winner...
and that person is...
Casey! Suh-weet! Casey and I are friends from all the way back into elementary school, and I'm so glad that weird things like facebook and blogs have brought us back into each other's life. So, homegirl, email me your address so I can send you some sugar-induced comas.
The next issue of the blog will be a full report on Monday's successful birthday-ing. The theme of which is: Erik is the best.

It'll be a good one.