AmberFest 2011 Begins

Yes folks, it's that time of year again. And by that, I'm talking about when all the stores dedicate large isles to selling huge bags of Halloween candy. My favorite. Oh and by the way, this is Dave, not Amber. But either way, that first sentence pretty much would have been the same.

Also, it's AmberFest! Yay! Isn't it about time our favorite, most hard-working, under-appreciated, smoking-hot wife/mommy gets a little extra special something, which may or may not include at least two large bags of that delicious processed-sugar Halloween candy (it does).

So this year, having been inspired by lolcats (if you don't know what that is, then we welcome you to the internets. glad you could join us. feel free to poke around a bit. but hey, not too much. these bloggy things can literally loose hours of your life, where you have no recollection what happened, how you got that toast or where the kids are - or so i've heard). so where was i.. ah yes, the lolcats. So, in honor of Amberfest this year, I've decided to do something I'd like to call lolkellz™. er, maybe lolberfest™. hrm, this naming thing is proving to be tougher than i originally thought... anyway, the idea is that i'll come up with and post a few fam pictures with lolwords™ on the top every day. (queue nacho libre voice): it is for fun.

a few may give you a small chuckle, a chortle or if we get lucky, a milk-outcher-nose-er™. but, let's face it folks, most probably won't even be funny. and i'm not promising anything. nothing. at all. is. promised. to. you. people.

most of these will be done too late at night (like now) so they'll probably only be funny to those of us who hit the giggle hour after having hyped-up on some of that, what do you call it.. ah yes, sugar-candy.

so, here goes. do feel free to look away now - you've had your fair warning:







yeah, just an ok start i know. but i'm just getting warmed up erybody. i should probably stretch more before i start..

But Happy AmberFest mommy! We seriously love you. Like, Meelions.



ps. just so you know, occasionally i use capitals, but usually not. cause seriously who are these capital letters to be all walking around telling us what to do, wearing suits and everything. anyway, i just wanted to point out that i'm typically over-sensitive about punctuation and grammar, but in this forum i'm going for the opposite. just cause. so there. high five bros.

Amberfest memories

Want to take a trip down memory lane??

Since Amberfest starts tomorrow, I thought I would reminisce. Feel free to join me at looking at all the Amberfest celebrations since this blog started. Or if you're busy, just look at a couple.
Amberfest 2006 (wow!! I was so young!! And little Quinn was still in my belly)
Amberbest 2007
Amberfest 2008

(There are posts every day this year-- by Dave, here are just a few)
2009 part 1
part 2
part 6
Best part of Amfest 2009 (feel free to cry when you watch this. Dave's the best)

Amberfest 2010 (I remember REALLY wanting to find out if Veda was a girl or a boy on my birthday last year... funny to remember that)

And yes-- my mom is usually here on or around my birthday. How lucky am I?!! I have a pretty great mom. She was supposed to get here today, but had to change her flight to Friday-- but then found out that my brother was going to be home next week. So she moved her flight again. So she'll be here on my birthday... and we'll celebrate after she gets here. With LOTS AND LOTS OF CAKE!!!! :)

(spell-check keeps telling me that "Amberfest" is NOT a word. huh?)

All about Quinn

I'm sure that you all think that I do this blog for your enjoyment, and for my mom (obviously not for comments... haha...) but it's also a record for me. I thought I'd do a little update on Quinn.

She is an excellent big sister. She LOVES Veda. She is good at holding her and helping me with her. It's awesome to have a helper. She watches her brother and sister like a hawk. Usually the main reason that fights between Quinn and Hendrix occur is because she is trying to make sure he isn't doing something that he shouldn't. Which he, of course, plans on following through with whatever he shouldn't be doing-- which ends up with them fighting. But Quinn means well, and is just trying to watch out for everybody.

She loves to color, cut, glue, make necklaces, or paint. She loves to do Elmer's glue-- but the minute she gets any on her hands, she spends the rest of the time peeling it off her fingers. Keeps her busy for a long time.

Her favorite movie right now is Tangled. Which if you know Quinn-- is a big deal. She doesn't do 'bad guys.' She still has me fast forward through the 'scary' parts, but sometimes she will tell me not to, and tell me that she's not scared. For most of her life she has stuck to PBS shows or Bee Movie which doesn't have a villain in it. She is extremely sensitive to scary things. Not that I want her to be used to being scared, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction of her not freaking out if anything is remotely scary.

She is still REALLY shy. Even with people that we've known for a long time-- she gets really shy and quiet and won't even say 'hi' to them. 

She is definitely a girl. She has an emotional side that is unmistakable. She has mood swings and will change her mind about something for no good reason at all. This past Saturday I was going to take her on a mommy-daughter date. Even though we had been talking about it for a couple of days and she was excited, on Saturday morning she decided that she didn't want to go. And that was it-- there was no talking her into it. She had even said "Just take Hendrix instead." 

She has good imaginary play-- she'll get a collection of 'things' to play with, but it will be totally random: a small stuffed animal, a mini plastic dog, a car or two and a hairbrush that talks. But she'll play contentedly for a while-- and doesn't want me to interrupt or play with her. Other times-- she wants to pretend WITH me, but tells me what/who I am, what my name is, and what my person/animal is saying and doing. 

 We got this little 'grass head' in Portland. I wanted to take a picture of it with her while it grew (to do a cute blog post, of course). but she would have nothing to do with it. I only took 5 or 6 pictures, but all of them were like this:

 or this:

I know that I have damaged her because of all the pictures I've taken of her throughout her life. It can be really hard to get her to cooperate in a picture.

Quinn is an awesome little girl. We love her a lot. I'm so excited for all the years to come of having a little buddy. She loves to shop and craft and loves birthdays -- we couldn't have more in common :)

And yes-- it was sweet of a couple of you to remember that Amber-fest is starting...

laundry baskets are fun

playing with the laundry baskets

my mom gets here in one week!!!!! We all can't wait. 

First tooth!!

Yay!!!! Veda has a tooth!!! I LOVE baby teeth. 

I'm so happy. She's even been a champ. No real fussiness or drool.

(plus a crochet flower I made)

And here's a little flashback for you.
Quinn getting her first tooth (she was four months old!!) and goodness she was a cute little baby.
Couldn't find a post of Hendrix's first tooth. although I feel certain I would have mentioned it on the blog. But he was a DROOLER. I keep waiting for Veda's drool to start- but hopefully it just doesn't. Quinn didn't really drool either.

First date

I got to go on a date with my favorite person ever last night. 

It was our first date since the baby was born. crazy, huh? It had been too long. I realize that I'm crazy and never leave my kids with a sitter other than Sarah or my mom. But last night I sucked it up and called a sitter and we went to dinner. And it was awesome. 

new leggings

i love baby GAP. Look at these darling leggings- they were only $5!!! I love it when they have a good sale (and it helps when they have a lot of selection left). They had TONS of stuff on sale yesterday, and it was all an extra 40% off. (and no... unfortunately the GAP isn't compensating me for this. I wish) :)

 And there's her tongue sticking out like always.

 gosh she's cute. look at the rolls on her upper arms. And her cheeks...

 Doesn't this silly picture of Veda remind you of Quinn? I tried hard to find a picture of Quinn making this face as a baby, but I couldn't. You'll just have to remember... or trust me 

"Mama"

My kids are the best.

Today, all these things happened.

Quinn: "Hey mom! I like... no, I LOVE helicopters!"

(completely random-- yet hilarious)

Hendrix: tonight I'm putting him to sleep. And maybe I had held him too long? But I put him down in his crib and he said, "Tomorrow... when I get up... you can hold me." I can't wait :)

Veda: "mama..."  (no joke!!! she said mama!!! she may have been babbling and didn't know what she was saying, but she still said it. over and over and over) I love her.

I love being a mom. My kids make my life awesome. I love being with them everyday. Babies are the BEST-- two year olds are too-- and 4 year olds :)

Even though every day I feel kinda like how I look in this picture--loopy and tired, I still love all the hard work they make me accomplish. 

Veda's tongue

This darling baby loves to stick out her tongue. 

And smile at the same time.

 (she's my only child without an extended frenulum-- so her tongue seems so long and pointy)

soccer and crochet!

here's what we've been up to this weekend. since i'm sure you've all been on the edges of your seats waiting to see how we filled our time :) My nephew Caleb had a soccer game this morning. It was a beautiful morning and it was fun to watch him play. here's the whole gang that was there. (It starts with the cowboy hat and ends at the umbrella) .

Ellie got an mp3 player for her birthday and was nice enough to let Hendrix have a listen. He thought it was pretty cool. So cool, that he wouldn't even look at me since he was concentrating on listening to some tunes. (Sugarland, I'm sure).

I made my niece Ellie a shirt for her birthday. Turned out kind of fun. I did a combination of freezer paper stencils, and vinyl. 

Then later today everyone came over for dinner. Here is Hendrix busting up while playing with Caleb.

Sweet Miss V with Grandma and Grandpa.

And I've been crocheting! It's so fun. I saw the CUTEST hat at Art in the Park last week and thought that there was no reason that I couldn't make one! My sister sent me a book to teach yourself how to crochet, so I've been working my way through the projects (working my way up to making this hat I'm dreaming of for Veda). Here is a dish rag I made over the last couple of days. Have you ever seen such a beautiful dish rag? I just can't wait to stain it up.

Dave just got back from a SIX MILE RUN. I know, I know... it's super cool that I'm married to a runner now. He's amazing. I haven't run six miles in a row since my high school cross country days.

Little Lou

my little angel.

And interesting little tidbit. Veda is 17.5 pounds right now. Quinn was 17.5 pounds when she turned one. Here on her 1st birthday you can see what a peanut she was.

And none of you seem all that surprised that we're MOVING. Maybe everyone saw this coming before we even did :)

humungous changes

I'm going to grow out my hair. That's huge... I know. And I can't even believe that I'm admitting that I'm growing it out because of this picture of Jennifer Aniston. How cliche' can I get??? I should know better since I'm a hairstylist. But it's cute, right? But I don't think I'm going to grow out my bangs. Everyone I've mentioned this to tells me that I shouldn't grow it out. really-- I think every person. So someone tell me that I should :)

And I'm ALSO growing out Hendrix's hair. I've always wanted him to have long hair, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE his hair short, so I've never taken the plunge. But we're finally gonna do it. It's going to be cute.

and oh-- we're selling our house. 

funny

two pictures from the week that made me laugh. 

(I was just trying to capture how cute she was while asleep. 

After I took the picture, I saw the surprise she was giving me with her right hand)

hendrix face is saying: "I can't believe I'm getting away with this!"

art in the park

we went to Art in the Park yesterday. It's always a good time. Here's the baby... enjoying herself.

AND being pretty cute

classic Quinn pose lately. I should do a post of all the pictures I have of her looking like this. it's her "I don't want you to take my picture" pose. And I don't think she realized that she wore her crown. About a half hour after we were there she realized it was on and took it off. :)

mmm.... someone gave this kid a pixie stick. heaven.

45 minutes later-- still having fun.

corn

our cute boy. 

enjoying the produce of summer.

more favorites

You asked for it... more of my favorites:

Downeast Half- sleeve T shirt.
I love these in white for an undershirt. I LOVE tight sleeves on my undershirts-- and these are awesome. The perfect length, the perfect arm-tightness.

Blog:
71 toes.
(Lindsey-- I think I found her blog off of yours??) She is a wonderful photographer, good mom, down to earth, and has lots of good parenting advice. Even just through the daily documenting of her life with her kids I feel like I learn a lot from her. I feel like when I read her blog, I love my kids more. Weird? yes. It's a great blog-- it's another one that I get excited to read.

Jeans:
American Eagle Artist.
So... I tell this to you a little hesitantly. Yes-- these are my favorites, but I wish I had a different favorite jean. I've been wearing these for a couple of years because they fit me the best that I've found. The bum is just snug enough, and the length is usually perfect.... except the last time I ordered them they were too long. And it makes me sad. I'm short, okay? And even a 0short is too long!!! So if anyone has awesome jeans that they love, and they come in a short length, pass it along. :)


Song:
Typhoon:
I wanted to share a favorite song. I couldn't really think of my very favorite song right now. I really like this one. Dave went to see them in concert a few weeks ago and introduced me to them. Good. And pretty sweet that there is like 20 of them in the band. And sorry if there is a curse word. I can't remember if there is or not. I've been living in Idaho too long too.. I'm starting to like country music. eek... I've gotta get out of here!
p.s. My real favorite song is by Dave. :)


These kids are my favorites:

Other favorites:
sewing
eating brownies, ice-cream, cake, or candy
birthdays
Target
my mom :)

Quinn in wax

these are those bendy- wax things. I can't remember what they are called. But Quinn was playing with them the other day and I saw her make this:

see the hair? and the pig tails? and the "Q" at the bottom? (her stick figures don't have a body-- just arms and legs and head). So cute.

headbands

my dear friend Alicia just had a baby girl and I sent her a couple headbands. She mentioned that she needed a couple other colors.... so I made some more. 

No friend of mine should be lacking for headbands :)

 (and the duplicates you see are for Veda. Hopefully she'll start leaving them alone)

first hair clip

If you look REALLY close, you can see the tiny hair clip I put in her hair this afternoon. the silly girl has found her headbands.... ugh. Grabs it-- pulls it down to chew on it, lets it hang around her neck, accidentally snaps herself in the face with it. And she really only has 5 hairs to put a clip in so it's not really a possibility yet. sad. At least she's a doll-- even with no hair.

and oh-- she's 17.5 pounds. 80th percentile all around.