he almost burnt the house down

to keep me humble I will share my embarrassing, crazy, unbelievable, almost burnt the house down story (also another reason why today, i don't want to have any more children since I can barely manage two):
lance loves to cook and bake.
today we decided to make cookies since lily is sick and we couldn't go to small group this morning.
we made the dough, put a few cookies in the oven, set the timer and went to play while the cookies baked.
I fed lily in the playroom while lance was playing in the living room.
I finished feeding lily and went to check on the cookies, the timer hadn't gone off yet, and they were no where close to being done so I went back to the playroom to finish what I was doing on the computer.
I heard the timer go off then heard lance in the kitchen, shouted to lance that the cookies weren't done and we needed to give them a few more minutes to finish baking.
A few minutes goes by, lance comes in the playroom and points towards the kitchen (moment like this i wish he could talk).
I say "yeah the cookies are probably done now" and get up and head to the kitchen.
I walk into the dining room and see upon the floor my oven mitt with flames on it.
I immediately repeatedly shouting "oh my God", and tried stamping it out, but it was still on fire, so I picked it up and threw it in the sink and turned on the water.
The oven mitt released tons of smoke and lance points to smoke say "ohhhhhh," very exciting stuff for an almost 3 year old. He sensed that he might be in trouble, but I was too shocked to be angry and stunned that he was capable of everything to get angry, I learned my lesson and I could tell he had too.
should note: I was holding Lily during all the commotion and most importantly:
Amazingly NO ONE GOT HURT!
this is what i figure went down:
Lance heard timer go off, went to check on cookies
He really wanted cookies and somehow got the oven door open
with oven door open, pot holder was easy to reach since it was on the oven handle
he must have tried to get cookies out himself with the oven mitt
the oven mitt must have fallen on the element and caught on fire
lance somehow got oven mitt out and tried to take it to me, dropped it on dining room floor and came to get me to show me what had happened
AMAZINGLY NO ONE GOT HURT!
Lance is fine, house didn't catch on fire, cookies were delicious, however the oven mitt was destroyed and there is a small burn mark on the hardwood floor that will be a reminder forever on the incident.
crazy thing, this all went down in a very short amount of time, around 5 minutes.

here is the oven mitt
the scary thing is how fast the oven mitt caught on fire because the time from when I checked on the cookies till the mitt was on fire was very short, yet it looks like it is pretty well charred

and here is the burn mark on the floor:

lesson learned, keep oven mitts out of reach, don't trust lance with oven and make sure to teach him that the oven is dangerous and not for him to use. so there is my very humbling story. I am extremely thankful that no one was hurt and I am in awe over what lance thinks and does. sometimes I wish I could get a glimpse of what he thinks about and his rationale for things he does. so today was very humbling and I definitely won the award for worst mom of the day today.

some days

I really want to have more kids, I don't feel "done" with two.
Today, I am content with two.
Lily is sick again! Ick! She has a cough and runny nose. I don't feel that great myself, scratchy throat and some congestion- is it spring allergies or a cold, who knows? time will tell.
I feel bad because I have little patience for either child right now and with their bodily fluids.
Saturday both kids managed to pee on me. Lily got poop on me and all over herself too. Last night Lily coughed until she spewed not once, but twice. And now today my left shoulder is her own personal tissue. I know it could be worse, Lance could be throwing up and having a runny nose so I should focus on the positives, but I just want to whine a little bit. It feels like Lily just got over her cold and now she is sick again. I think we may have to become hermits if this continues. Bottom line, I am ready for the summertime when colds are rare.

my thinking chair

isn't really a chair at all, my best thoughts take place in the shower.
strange, but i think really well in the shower, probably because it is one of the few places that I usually can be all by myself, well most of the time.
This morning's thoughts- my mom's wish for me.
When I was pregnant with Lance my mom was disappointed that I was having a boy (though I was overjoyed about a boy). She had hoped that I would have a girl. She also wanted a me for me, a daughter like me for me, does that make sense? Anyways, my mom and I were talking about an upcoming wedding this fall, on her birthday in fact, her 60th birthday which got me thinking about her wish of a daughter for me. I then realized that though Lily is my second child and I'm the firstborn, Lily is my me, she might just be my mom's wish for me. With my mom turning 60 this year, I realized that she had me when I was 29. I keep thinking I was 30 when Lily was born, but she actually arrived days before my 30th birthday, so I too was 29 when I had my girl, just like my mom. So my mom's wish for me to have a me, might just be with Lily, my sweet pea!

it's is always someone's birthday so we are going celebrate

alternate title: practicing for next month's birthday
subtitle: napping is over-rated, playtime is more fun
subtitle: trying to save 12 dollars by doing it yourself

I have been trying to be good about making dinner every night and not going out to eat but one meal a week (clarification- one meal not one dinner- i love to eat lunch out or go to panera for breakfast so it hasn't been easy). I have been planning my meals and trying to make sure we have lots of diversity. Every week I try and do one soup, at least one meatless meal, one pork, one turkey, and then chicken for the what is left. Also included in the week's menu would be trying one new recipe. This week we have been trying a lot of new recipes and we may have found some new favorites! So Tuesday was a new recipe day, homemade pizza since I love ham and pineapple pizza and I can't find it in the frozen variety anymore I decided to do pizza with dough from scratch. Of course, I forgot the yeast when I was at the store on Monday so we did a quick trip to grab yeast. Yeast is found in the cake mix, frosting, candles, sprinkles aisle and since we were just running in quickly Lance was walking and not in the cart and was immediately drawn to the candle/sprinkle section which just happens to be at his level. He immediately found a package of birthday candles and brought them to me. He motioned that he wanted them and he wanted to blow them out. It was so darn cute I couldn't resist, and they were only 99 cents so I agreed. Of course with birthday candles you need cake so we picked out a cake mix, icing, and sprinkles so we would have something to put our candles in to blow them out. Yes, I am a softee. We got home, made our pizza dough, then made our cupcakes. Lance thoroughly enjoyed blowing out his candle, which he did at least 5 times. It cracks me up the simple things that he gets a kick out of. So here is Lance celebrating someone's birthday:
Gearing up to blow out the candle.

Lance was so excited that he even looked at me so I could take a picture, a rare thing these days.
Lily of course thought Lance was quite silly.

Part II: naptime is overrated
Lily wasn't really into naps yesterday which I was a bit annoyed because she wouldn't let me set her down so I could do some cleaning, from our home-made pizza and sprinkles experiment the night before, when lance cooks it gets messy. I should not complaining too much about her not napping yesterday because she slept all night long last night, wahoo! She was acting fussy at one point so I tried putting her down, she wasn't interested at the time so Lance went upstairs to see what she was doing. He immediately climbed in and motioned for me to get my camera.

he wanted me to get my camera and take pictures, yet he would hide his face so I couldn't take a picture of him, fortunately lily made some great facial expressions

lily peeking over the side of the crib, she is sitting, but it reminds me, we need to lower down her crib very soon before she can launch herself over the railing. she isn't centered in the picture because lance is right beside her and i was hoping to get both of them, but he unfortunately stayed hidden.

lance looks very mischievous and lily is starting to make her snorty face, they are quite a pair


lily still smiling though getting body slammed down, she puts up with so much and loves lance though he can be rough

Part III: trying to save 12 dollars by doing it yourself

Lance's hair grows faster than Kudzu and we are trying to save the 12 dollars (actually it may be more) by cutting his hair ourselves. I gave Jeff new clippers for Christmas in hopes that he could do his hair as well as Lance's. Last night was attempt #2 at doing it ourselves, it was scary and almost disastrous. Before attempt #3, I think I need to find the instruction book that comes with them so I can read up on how to trim hair since. Attempt #1 worked but it wasn't very even, some parts were long and others too short. Jeff didn't get around his ears very well and it was kind of a hack job. This time he found ear guards so we could hopefully get his sides looking nice. Well not thinking Jeff went backwards with the ear guards and kind of took off a little too much hair on one side, scary. After going way short he started to get the hang of things and it doesn't look to bad, if you can look past the almost bald spot on his right side. Overall it was an adventure and very entertaining. Fortunately it is hair and can grow back.
When we were just getting started. Lance was not to sure about those clippers.

His right side which got a little too short. At this point, the bottoms was SHORT and the top was still long, it looked like a bad 80's bowl cut, I was a bit horrified.

In the end, it wasn't TOO bad, it grows fast, in 5 weeks he will need another hair cut.

Lance's hairy back, fortunately for him, it washed away.

middle of the night

i am a worrier, it is not a good thing, i inherited it from my mom and grandma, they are notorious worriers. I am trying to let go, but it is hard, life is hard right now. last week my mom noticed that I looked like I had lost weight. I don't own a scale so i used hers and was horrified to find out that I had lost around 5 pounds in the last month or two. For me that is a lot of weight to lose and it will be even harder to gain it back. It hit me then, the stress of life right now, the lack of business the store has been doing is hitting me harder than I realized. Two things happen when I am stressed, I don't eat and I don't sleep, i get up in the early morning hours and worry. Last night was one of those nights. It was 4 am, I couldn't sleep and I was just stewing over everything. I am honestly scared about how we are going to make it, how we can weather this crazy financial time when our income is based on people buying things and very few people are buying right now? My worry then changed to a little bit of anger towards Jeff. Here is Jeff, sleeping like a log, not a baby since babies get up all the time. He doesn't seem bothered by the difficult situation we are in and his natural tendency is to bury his head in the sand and pretend there isn't a problem. His lack of concern and his denial makes me worry more because I start to wonder if are deeper in the hole then we realized because there is denial going on. So of course I woke Jeff up and told him I was scared, really scared, his response, it will all work out in the end. Will it though? I wish I had the faith to believe that it will, even if we don't have a house, a car, and all we have is each other. I lack trust, trust that everything will turn out okay in the end, we will make it. I am also frustrated because I am a fixer and right now I can't fix the problem, I can't go out and get a job and fix the problem, it is driving me crazy. and to be total honest, I don't trust Jeff to do everything he can to support us. It seems so wrong to admit that, but it is how I feel, what I am thinking about. I am in this place right now where me the fixer can't fix it and I have to trust that God will see me through especially when it seem impossible and means I may have to give up a lot of things. I am so tired of being in this cycle, I need to learn what lesson needs to be learned and break free. I need to trust, but it sure is hard to step out of the boat and walk on water.

all quiet on the homefront

Spring is here and though it isn't always as warm as I would like it we have been enjoying the warm temperatures when we have them. Note: warm according to me is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Lance still has a snotty nose, thanks to spring allergens. It is slowly going away, but he is that stage where he will wipe his nose on his sleeve, gross, gross, gross. Lily has recovered from her cold and is getting much better with eating cereal and has really enjoyed chomping on a biter biscuit during our dinner. They both are growing so fast. Life has been relatively quiet in our household and I am enjoying it. Here's a snapshot of life:

My pale white baby enjoying some outside time.

What is that on Lance's face you may ask?

Lip gloss. He got into my purse and decided he needed to apply the lip gloss, unfortunately he didn't understand that it is suppose to go on the lips.

Lily trying out the sandbox for the first time. The sand is super dry so she can't eat it.

The sandbox.

it makes sense

I have been a member of a small group Bible study for several years now. I look forward to Monday mornings when I get to see my friends, have some place to talk about kids and life, and basically have a place to put my guard down and be honest. Anyways, we have been slowly going through a Beth Moore study- Breaking Free. It has been good, but today I was totally blown away by something in the lesson. As most New Testament readers know, God laid down His son's life for us. I get it, but not the magnitude of how hard that would really be and what kind of sacrifice that really takes. I guess it didn't quite sink in until now. Here is what I read: "What else could God possibly have done to prove His love for us? I might lay down my life for someone I care for, but I can assure you I don't love anyone enough to lay down my children's lives." AH! That is so true. I might lay down my life for someone, but Lance and Lily, I don't think so. I can't imagine having to lose my children so someone else might live, myself included. I would rather die then have my children hurt.
I read recently in Rob Bell's book, Velvet Elvis that the Bible is alive, it really is, it changes as we change, things make more sense as our life experiences change. God allowing His son to die for me, didn't really mean as much until I had children and realized how hard that must be. So today, I understand a little more about love and hopefully I can love a little more.

supermom for the day

Jeff's grandfather passed away on Saturday and the funeral was today. Since taking small children to a funeral is inappropriate and because of the short amount of time Jeff planned to be gone we stayed at home. I wished we could have seen his family, but for one night and 8 hours in the car, the amount of stuff needed to pack was not worth it and he needed someone to be at the shop until his employee could get there at 3 (we open at 10 am). So in the last 24 hours I have been able to experience life as a single working mom. I got to say, it is HARD!!!
Last night, in the pouring rain I hit the grocery store since we were out of everything and going today wasn't an option- supermom feat #1.
After getting home it was close to 8 pm. Lily needed a bath and I was hoping that Lance would be my "helper," but no such luck so I gave both children a bath- supermom feat #2. Bath was stressful, but we managed, Lily kept wiggling all around, I was scared she was going to topple over in the water and Lance kept splashing water all over the place.
I then got both kids in pjs and asleep. Since Jeff was gone I let Lance sleep in bed with me, which was fine until 12:30 hit and he started coughing. I would fall asleep then Lance would start coughing waking me up and then as soon as I fell back asleep he would cough again. Around 1:30 I finally got the energy to get up, fill the humidifier, lather him up with vapor rub, and prop him up with pillows to help him breathe better. I got to sleep a little before 2 then at 3:30 I was awoken by Lily, got her fed and back to bed. 7:30 came in a blink of an eye- supermom feat #3- little sleep!
Since both kids were still snoozing I saw my opportunity to jump in the shower. As soon as I got out of the shower the morning began on overdrive! I showered, got dressed, fed Lily, had breakfast with Lance, cleaned up the kitchen, got the kids dressed, got packed up for our morning at work, got everything and everyone in the car and went to the shop- supermom feat #4- raced around the house like a chicken with my head cut off but got to work ontime.
I unloaded the car, it seemed like I was staying for the weekend and not a couple of hours based on the stuff I had (food for lunch, pack'n'play for Lily's nap, toys for lance, toys for lily, my computer and bills, blankets, diapers, extra change of clothes, everything pretty much except the kitchen sink. The time from 8 am till 10 am flew by (the time getting ready to go to work), but from 10 till 3 time seemed to go by super slow. Lance got into pretty much everything, Lily fortunately took a nap, we had only a handful of customers, and I managed to run the store without breaking anything or anyone- supermom feat #5- the shop isn't totally in chaos after our morning/afternoon there. We survived, barely I might add. Lance was extremely tired by the time 3 rolled around and we didn't get to leave until 3:30. Both kiddos fell asleep in the car, but I was able to transfer them to their bed from the car without them waking up- supermom feat #6.
So now I need to get dinner going and finish picking up the living room. I am tired, but feel proud of myself for making it on my own, though I don't want to anytime soon. It is hard not getting a lot of sleep, working, taking care of the children, trying to get everything done, and spending 5.5 hours in a very child unfriendly place. I am thankful Jeff is coming home late tonight, I don't think I could repeat this tomorrow. How do single working moms do it?

it's the end of the world as we know it

and i feel congested.
I think the world is coming to an end because of the freaky weather we are having, but then again it is March. Let's see so far in March it has snowed 8 inches, gotten up to 80 degrees, and now today a wintry mix and a cold 34 degrees. I should note we have only been in March for two weeks, and we have seen it all, I take that back, no thunderstorms yet, maybe next week.
I am excited about this weekend though and hope I feel normal soon. Tomorrow night a friend is getting married and I am looking forward to going because Jeff and I are going without children! It will be our first real evening out without children and we get to dress up! We also get to see friends we haven't seen in awhile and celebrate, it should be fun. The wedding is Saturday night and then Sunday I am going up to the D.C. area with a friend to hit up IKEA and the outlet malls around. I hope to be able to get some spring and summer clothes for the children. It will also be fun to walk around IKEA, I need some new picture frames and stuff for organization. We were suppose to go last weekend, but then the kiddos were ill and it was such a nice weekend I didn't want to waste the day shopping, and this weekend is suppose to be cold and rainy, the perfect time to be indoors shopping. Now I just need some money, hopefully Jeff will have a busy weekend at the store.

the real reason i joined twitter

I blog, I facebook and now I twitter. I have been saying for a few days now that my eye keeps twittering when I meant twitching, already I was succumbing to the pressure of being part of another trend online. I told Jeff the reason I joined now instead of waiting till everyone I know and their mothers joined twitter was so I could get a decent screenname. I didn't want to be Sarah82118277, who can remember that? I wanted a good screenname not a word with a bunch of numbers behind it or my 30th try of an available screen name. Can you tell I had issues back in AOL days when I was Fish821 because it was the only thing not taken or my email sarahhg5? So I am now embracingchaos, no numbers just a phrase. I tried to think of something easy to remember, but also very representative of life right now. Chaos definitely describes my life and for a time I tried running away from the craziness, but I am learning to stand and find joy in the chaos. So I am embracingchaos, besides lifewithlanceandthelilybeantoo is way to long.

Quite a snotty weekend

alternative title: longest post ever

First it was Lily, then Lance, and now me, we are all suffering from too much snot otherwise known as a really bad cold. I am not surprised to catch a cold during a week that had a record low as well as a record high. Going from 9 degrees to 80 can cause havoc on the sinuses. Despite the coughing, sneezing, runny nose, water eyes, and just feeling bad we had a nice weekend, we got outside and enjoyed the warm weather, and got some stuff done (at least on Saturday).
Friday afternoon neither child felt like napping so we hit the playground and enjoyed the beginning of a warm weekend. It was so nice to be outside and not have to be bundled up. Lily wasn’t feeling well, but I thought it may be due to teething, little did I know it was a nasty cold that would hit Lance and I later.

(the kiddos enjoying the 70 degree weather on saturday)

Saturday morning both children woke up snotty and coughing. I felt so bad, they were quite pitiful, but they did improve as the morning wore on. We badly needed groceries so my mom came over to watch the kiddos so I wouldn’t have to drag the sick kids with me to the store. After planning my week’s menu, making my list, and finding coupons I hit the store, it was so strange going solo, I kept thinking I was forgetting something. It was a good thing though I went solo because there was no room in the cart for kiddos, I bough way too much food, but we got to eat. After putting the groceries away and eating lunch Lance and I played outside while Mom stayed inside and listened for Lily to wake up from nap. Once Lily woke up we set off on a walk, it was too nice of a day to stay inside and walking wouldn’t overexert my sick children, though at this point they weren’t really that bad. The walk was so nice, it was warm and the neighborhood we walked in is quiet with beautiful houses to admire. Lance fell asleep during the walk and slept a little bit more when we got home, but he started coughing badly and didn’t get a good nap in, day 2 of no good nap for Lance. The kids and I played outside some more and then Jeff got home and we made dinner. Despite some runny noses and coughing, it was a beautiful, nice day out and we enjoyed every moment.

(lily showing off one of her new spring dresses, i love seeing all that skin!)

Sunday I was suppose to go out-of-town shopping with a friend, but Lily and Lance had been running a fever on and off and with their colds, the time change, and the weather being beautiful I didn’t go. Since the kids had runny noses, bad coughs, and on-again-off-again fevers the kids and I skipped church and went for a walk instead.

It was once again a beautiful warm day. Lance once again fell asleep on the way back and got a small nap in, but not the kind that he needed, day 3 of no good nap for Lance. Both kiddos were awake when Jeff got home from church so we were able to have a picnic in the front yard.

After the picnic, Jeff and Lance worked on Jeff’s bicycle and Lily and I played in the yard. Lily then took a nap while Jeff and Lance took a short bike ride, I was starting to feel cold symptoms coming on so I tried to sleep, but not being a napper I basically just read for an hour. When Lily woke up we put both kids in the trailer and rode our bikes down the park in hopes of seeing a train on the trestle.

Unfortunately, no train came through, but it was outing. I hadn’t been on a bike in 2 years and it was also Lily’s first bike ride, we didn’t know how she would like it. She did pretty good considering she didn’t feel that great. The afternoon was great, but that evening was rough. Both kids seemed to feel horrible in the morning and at night and this night was the worst. Both kids were up multiple times and Sunday night seemed like the longest night ever.


Monday morning, all three of us felt miserable, but fortunately Jeff was still healthy. Jeff planned to take Monday off to go snowboarding, but since we were all sick and the weather was nice and warm he stayed at home with us. Monday seemed to be the worse day for the cold for both kids and though I have felt worse I didn’t feel very good either. We just hung around the house in the morning and then had lunch. While we were eating lunch the UPS man arrived with my FLOR, so we had a good time putting the new rug together. (should note:After playing around with carpet squares both kiddos took a nap while Jeff ran errands. Lance slept like a log, but Lily was very fidgety and would only sleep if I held her so nap time yesterday was unproductive. After both kids got up we went for another walk to enjoy the last of the really warm weather since it is suppose to get colder this week. When we got home I was able to cook dinner without having both kids underfoot since Jeff was playing with them outside, yeah for me! After dinner we played hide-and-seek until it was dark, it was so nice to outside.



Despite not feeling the best the weekend was overall enjoyable. I got a menu planned, groceries bought, and some laundry done so it was productive. I can't wait for spring to be here and stay, I love spring and summer!

beside the refrigerator there was a piece of glass

Miss Susie stepped upon it and broke her little,
ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies,
miss Susie is in the bathroom zipping up her
the flies are in the kitchen, the bees are in the park,
Miss Susie and her boyfriend are kissing in the D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, Dark, Dark

I think I am missing the beginning of that rhyme
we use to sing that all the time in elementary school
I wish I remember how it started
well speaking of refrigerators,
our fridge door handle broke shortly after we moved in
it took us almost 5 years to replace it, PITIFUL, i know!
Last week Jeff ordered a replacement part (he tried to replace it a year ago, but he couldn't remember what color our fridge was when he was at the parts store and never forgot about it)
well the part came in on Tuesday and while Lance was napping Lily and I fixed the door handle, I must say I am pretty handy with a screwdriver!
I had told Jeff the part came in but I didn't tell him I fixed the door handle because I wanted to see if he would notice it.
when he got home from work I was feeding Lily some cereal and I decided to ask Jeff to get things out of the fridge that we needed to make dinner so that I could see how long it would take him to notice the new door handle.
I first had him get out the half-n-half, he didn't notice the door, he also didn't use the handle to open the fridge. I made sure the door was shut and asked him to get out the Parmesan cheese, he once again didn't use the door handle to open, but he did use it to shut the door. At this point I was crying because I was laughing so hard, he had used the door twice and he even used the door handle and still hadn't noticed the change. He of course asked what I was laughing about and I told him to see what was different about the fridge, he opened the fridge once more and started looking at the fridge contents trying to figure out what special treat might be in there that he hadn't noticed before. I of course was dying laughing, especially when he gave up and shut the fridge using the door handle. I told him to look at the door with and that is when he realized that I had fixed it and he was so surprised that he hadn't noticed it himself. We both laughed till our stomachs ached because he was complete clueless to the change right underneath his hand.
I am happy that our fridge handle is now fixed, but someone else has now learned how to open the fridge all by himself, Lance!
Lance can now open the fridge which he couldn't do before. He opens it up and stands there trying to figure out what he may want, usually it is cheese, but he is wasting a lot of energy in the process and he doesn't always close the cheese drawer and door when he is done which means it stands open. He can also now can get a juice box out if he so desires, and juice is his favorite thing. I am not quite sure I like this new power he has. Maybe the newest will wear off in time, that or he will get constipation from eating so much cheese and learn his lesson, just kidding. So the fridge is now complete and has a new user. Just shows there are highs and lows to everything!

the quest for the perfect rug

Ever since we have moved into our house we have been on the quest for the perfect floor covering for our living room. This quest has taken almost five years and I hopefully have found the perfect floor covering solution, thanks to my large end of season swimming paycheck! FLOR! I discovered FLOR almost eight years ago when I was a nanny because the family received the FLOR catalog. One day while bored I flipped through and thought it was cool, but didn't give it much thought until I had my own house and kids. We bought our home and and had kids and discovered how one cup of coffee, one bit of chocolate anything, and dirt can leave a stain that always seems to be blaring at you, basically ruining a whole carpet. I wanted something that would be like carpet without wall-to-wall carpeting, small enough to be washable, thick and soft enough to sit and play on, durable, something that won't show dirt and stains, and something that would match my funky green living room walls and FLOR seems to meet my requirements.

RUG #1

Rug number 1 was striped, from Crate and Barrel, was used to pick out a paint color for our living room (herb cornucopia, a funky shade of green that changes color with the time of day), and had a bit too much white in it. At the time Jeff was welding as a part-time job and he tracked black stuff onto my rug and after two odd years the rug was unsightly. It also wouldn't lay flat, wasn't thick and carpet like, and use to be nice looking, but not very practical, especially with babes so it was replaced.

Rug #2

While recovering from Lance's delivery I found another rug from Crate and Barrel that was one sale (dirt cheap, 60 bucks and it was a 5x7), was a smaller size than rug before (other one was too big though this one was smaller than I would have liked), it was thicker than rug 1, it appeared to be softer, and was the right color scheme for our living room. Rug number 2 has made it almost 3 years but it needs to be replaced (longer than rug 1), it is looking rough, it is stained, it is coming unwoven, it just isn't soft enough for play and it doesn't vacuum well, the unwoven parts get sucked up and it never seems to be clean.

Jeff would love carpet, but I want something funky so we have a compromise, modular carpet, a.k.a. FLOR. Besides, my new vacuum needs something new to vacuum right? Well if I was going to be spending money on a new floor covering and I have such a funky wall color I need to make sure that the floor and walls would coordinate because it is very easy to find something that clashes so I ordered some FLOR samples and they arrived today!


Oh, I am so excited! I love the brown, and the green, and the blue, they are all so yummy. I can't wait for Jeff to get home and help me decide what color scheme we are going to do. I wish I could have ordered more sample colors, there was a cool fuchsia pink, a funky orange, a cool turquoise, but then I don't do well with too many options and I may have never decided on a rug so I limited my samples and the samples cost money. I can't wait! I am not as excited as I was over the vacuum, but excited that I may finally have something that will work and can be used for years even if we move and is changeable because I love to rearrange.
Because I love lists:
Why FLOR?
-it is carpet
-you can customize your colors
-they are squares so you can constantly rearrange
-when they get dirty you can pick up the dirty squares and clean or replace without having to replace the whole thing
-you can add to or take away from the rug
-because it is just so darn cool!

it snowed

it actually snowed! i can't believe it. i am not sure how much we got, 6 inches or more. it has been years since it has snowed like this. it is beautiful and we are having a fun day. after breakfast we got bundled up and headed to a great sledding hill a few minutes away and did some sledding. we then came in and had the standard snow lunch of grilled cheese sandwhiches. lance and jeff went back out to play in the snow while I got Lily down for a nap and then Jeff went to snowboard while Lance slept. after everyone woke up we made chocolate chip cookies, yum! and then i got to make dinner kid-free since jeff was home. we feasted on shredded bbq chicken sandwhiches, homemade mac and cheese, and french fries, not necessarily the most nutritious, but it was sure yummy. all in all it was a fun day and we enjoyed having daddy home for the day, he doesn't get a whole day off very often.
the view out our front door, the road is covered, the first time, in a long time.

lance checking out the snow first thing this morning.

poor lily, so bundled up she could barely move.


lance and i about to head down the hill

lance, lily and their friend ella, chillin' in the snow

the four of us out in the white stuff

the new addition to our family

weekend update:
lance and lily playing while mommy is working hard- I love/hate my kitchen so this weekend I tried to get back to loving it by rearranging it. I hadn't really organizing and rearranged since we moved in and of course since that happened almost 5 years ago I have acquired lots more kitchen gadgets and I was at the point where there was no more room and I could never find anything. So yesterday I emptied out the kitchen and today I reorganized and I have found a home for everything and tons more room. I can get more! yeah right!

I did it! I didn't spend my last paycheck on bills or anything practical, I broke it down and got the DYSON!!!!

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It is wonderful!
Why I Love it?
1- it is works, it really, really works
2- it is lightweight
3- it is quiet
4- it is small so we can tuck in in a corner
5- it has washable filters and bagless, so I don't have to buy anything additional
6- it is quiet and lance isn't afraid of it
7- it only weighs 11 lbs
8- it is cool looking
9- did i mention it actually works? it sucks!!!!!
10- also my husband likes it, maybe he will vacuum too

so since it is a rainy/sleety/snowy afternoon we did what anyone bored would do, take pictures while playing with our new toy! note how microscopic our kitchen is, i have to say it does have plenty of counter space, but it is small. In our next house, I want a big kitchen.
see even lance likes it and he would never touch any other vacuum, heck, he doesn't walk into a room alone with other vacuums.

starting him young! he is going to be a fine husband one day.

to give you a size perspective- it is the same size as Lily! So life is good and we are having a little too much fun cleaning!

So we have been vacuuming like crazy, i had been putting off vacuuming for a week or two so now I am going all out, my floors will be crumb free!