Happy Birthday Veda!!

Boy has this year flown by. It seems like just yesterday that this sweet little bundle was born.

Here's the post from when Veda was born if you don't remember.

Veda has always been such a sweet baby. She is super happy and smiley.

Quinn adores her. I love to watch the connection they have. Quinn's latest thing has been to point out how cute Veda's fingers are-- specifically Veda's thumb :)

Veda can say all sorts of words, like: "Ba, Dada, Mama, Na, (nigh-night), and make a kissing noise. She also loves to point to pictures on the walls. Every time I get her up from a nap we walk around her room so she can point to everything that's on the walls.

She loves to climb the stairs or play by the trash can or try and play in the toilet. She's such a little angel.

I'm pretty sure she thought she won the lottery today when she found one of Hendrix's fruit snacks on the floor-- and I let her eat it. After she ate it, she was searching all over the floor trying to find another one. 

In true Amber-form we are throwing her a big shin-dig on Saturday for her birthday. If you are reading this, you are probably invited. Come on over – it's at 3. 

Happy Birthday my darling girl. And STOP growing up so fast!

Veda walking

A year ago today we were in Urgent Care with Hendrix, with yet another ear infection. In fact – we were all horribly ill. And I was about to be induced to have a baby. Don't worry – a birthday post for the big girl tomorrow. But to hold you over, heres a video of her walking.

Aquarium

When my mom was here we went to the new aquarium in Boise. 

And afterwards we went to one of my favorite restaurants-- Flatbread. (And we went before I had a chance to do my mom's hair... bummer that she has roots. I swear I didn't let her fly home before doing her hair)

Her and Quinn were looking at pictures on my mom's camera and I don't think Quinn noticed I was snapping pictures. It's so rare to catch this girl candidly in a picture. She's awfully sweet and sure loved having Grandma here to play with her.

Phone

it's a sad day when the camera on my phone is better than my regular camera. But it's true. Here are a couple pictures from my new phone. (my old phone went crazy and died-- so if you haven't already, please send me a text me with your name-- or send me your phone number somehow. Unless you never want me to call or text you ever again-- then you are conveniently off the hook) :)

My mom/housekeeper/babysitter left this morning :(
The GOOD news, is that she'll be back in one month to help is drive across the country. Can't wait, mom :)

Austin Trip

We made it!!! We've spent the last few days in Austin trying to find a house. It was a long, exhausting, emotional, and fun few days. If you aren't in the mood for the details or some suspense this early in the morning-- here's the important thing: we found a house!! We just found out-- literally 5 minutes ago. So if you don't want the details, you can't stop reading. But if you do- here's the story:

My mom flew in Saturday night and Dave and I flew out Monday morning. So we had a day with my mom to show her the ropes of watching the kids. We got to the airport early Monday to find out that our flight was delayed. We were routed through San Fransisco and the weather was bad there so they wouldn't let us take off. I had to stand in line for over an hour because we were going to miss our connecting flight. We were put on a flight out of San Fran-- but not until 7 pm. Not really what I wanted to hear while traveling with a baby (we brought Veda). They finally let us board the plane and for some miraculous reason our flight was WAY faster than planned. So when we landed in San Fransisco we realized that our original flight was actually not taking off for 5 more minutes. Which means that we had to RUN to get on that flight-- or wait until 7 pm. So we RAN. As fast as we could. Holding Veda and three bags. And we made it. It was a miracle. We were probably the last people to board-- but we made it. Veda was ticked and we were all hungry but had no time to eat or go to the bathroom.

So we get to Austin, and at the same time we were originally supposed to!! Unfortunately-- our luggage did not. (Our luggage that included Veda's pack n' play/pajamas/blankie/sound machine). And the airline said that we could expect it by 10 pm. And if you know me at all-- Veda does NOT stay up until 10 pm. I just about lost it in the baggage office.

So then we went to pick up our rental car. Everything with that started out fine except that we needed to rent a carseat. They had a carseat but no base. We needed a base. We knew we would be in and out of cars for two days straight and wanted to be able to get her in and out if she was sleeping. So we waited. And waited. And waited. I think while someone went to buy one :) Just kidding.... but it took forever.

So we got our rental and went to our hotel. It was beautiful. It was probably 74 degrees and sunny. The grass was green and it was slightly breezy. A GREAT first impression of Austin. Our hotel was nice and everyone was super friendly and helpful. We went to dinner with Dave's business partners at a Mexican restaurant called Chuys. We ate outside even though it was 7 at night. It was my first time meeting the new partners/wives. Everyone was super nice and cute and had cute hair :)

Our hotel had a pack n' play that we could use. But it was awful and lumpy. Veda was so pooped from our long day that she slept OK anyway. Our hotel had an awesome breakfast (with Texas shaped waffles!!).

Then our realtor came to get us. All I can say-- is that she was a gift from Heavenly Father. We could not have found a house without her. She drove us around all day for two days. Made all the appointments, took us to lunch, was patient while I nursed, changed, and comforted Veda, never gave an unwise or unwanted opinion, called and called and called leasing offices to get answers on our approval, answered emails at 7 in the morning and 9 at night, and dropped off papers to our hotel late at night. She was awesome. And had this cute little Southern accent. I loved her. And she did all of this to help us find a RENTAL.

So the first day of house hunting was a nightmare. We looked at 8 houses. TWO were livable- but we didn't like them. The others were horrible. Nasty, dirty, scuzzy, 80's appliances, broken everything, or smelled like smoke or body odor. There was one house was was not great-- but was in a great spot. The other thing about rentals there is that they go fast. And by fast-- I mean within 24 hours. So we had labored over a list of houses we wanted to see- and by the time we were in Austin, 70% were leased already. So after our first depressing day we decided to just apply for the one that was OK. We were worried we were going to go back home with nothing.

But then the second day started. Almost every house we looked at was decent. We were then looking in the other part of Austin (surprisingly the part that everyone said that we probably wouldn't want to live). I still don't know why. The house that we got is awesome. Awesome and small. :) A block from a park and pool. Clean. Cute little kitchen. An office for Dave. Washer/dryer/fridge-- which means we don't have to bring ours. GREAT school district. And the school is only blocks away from the house. It is 5 minutes from TWO different Targets!! 10 minutes from IKEA, 10 minutes from an outlet mall. 3 minutes from a good grocery store.

I can't even tell you the relief I'm feeling this morning. We applied for the house Wednesday afternoon-- knowing that we were flying home in the morning without an answer. And also knowing that our 2nd and 3rd choice houses could very well by gone by the time we got an answer on our 1st choice.

 Veda loved the kleenex dispenser in our hotel bathroom.

 View from the front door of our new house!!! Yes-- it has tile throughout and wood in the bedrooms/office. Tile was the ONE thing that we said we didn't want. But we got it anyway since the house was so much better than everything else. And at least it's pretty tile.

 Me and Dave at the airport ready to fly home. We were tired :)

Veda was a trooper. She had many moments of crying and being upset-- but she really did awesome overall. She slept in the car, on the plane, in my arms, and in the hotel without too much fight. She was sick of the car and really sick of airplanes. But we couldn't really have asked more of her. She was super thrown off her schedule. Had to stay up late and nap in the car. But did awesome. And I have zero tolerance for people who have zero tolerance of people traveling with children. We did encounter a rude lady... geesh. She must not have gotten a good look at how cute Veda was

testing, testing

Hello out there. Anyone still reading this little ol' blog?

Here's a quote from the book I'm reading. I've mentioned it before- it's called "A Joyful Mother of Children." It's a good one. Here's something I read last night in a chapter about reminding yourself that your having fun being a mom-- despite the craziness that raising children brings.
"We mothers do have fun watching these little ones learn and grow. Sometimes we're so close that we can't see it, so we have to step back a little and focus-- and remind ourselves about how much fun we're having!"

Amen to that. I love the moments that seem to stand still. When I can stop and just giggle at what Hendrix just said. Or notice how much Quinn is actually comprehending about the world around her. Or enjoy the twinkle in Veda's eyes and she's discovering everything. I sure love my kids. It's an exhausting job, but they make me so happy.

Ha... the kids 'cleaning' the floor with colanders on their heads.

 Here's a random fact about me. Did you know I wear this bracelet every day? In fact, I never take it off. My sister-in-law Krystal was in the Peace Corp and went to Guyana. While she was there, Hendrix was born. Her host family gave her this little ID bracelet for him since most of the babies there sport one of these. She brought it home and gave it to him... and I swiped it! I'll consider giving it back to him one day. But now it's an extension of my arm so it'll be hard to part with it. I decided to take a picture of it because last night it got caught on something and fell off!!! So I thought I'd better take a photo and blog about it so it's burned into everyone's memory for all time.

Happy Friday everyone. MY MOM COMES TOMORROW!! (this morning at breakfast I was one the phone with my sister. Quinn all of a sudden looked at me and flipped me off. But what she was meaning to do was hold up a number 1-- since Grandma comes in ONE day).

more cuteness

Are these a repeat? If so-- that's okay. Because they are CUTE.

 Aw.... she kissed him back.

Veda walking holding my hand

Here's a clip of Veda walking while holding my hand. Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal, it's just that she doesn't usually do this. (but I think it's because we try to hold both hands?) Little miss independent, I guess. But I tried today just holding one hand and now she wants to do it all the time. I might have cried a little bit. But I admit to nothing.

Valentine's Day activities

It's been too long since I've done a video of the kids. Here they are. :)

 Hendrix was invited to a little Valentine's Day party today too.

 And of course, Veda came too.

 He didn't really want to participate in the games/Valentines stuff too much. He just wanted to play.

 He experienced his first (and hopefully last :) Fun Dip.

 His face was stained all day. The green did not want to come off.

Valentine's

I hope you all feel lots of LOVE today. 

Happy Valentine's Day to the loves of my life.

catch up

Wow... busy week. Sorry, mom. Here's what we've been up to:

My next door neighbor had a birthday party for her little girl. It was a princess tea party-- and it was a dress up party. I didn't get a good picture of Hendrix's cape-- but he's wearing a cape. And his shirt has a shield on it. That's the closest we had to 'prince' attire :) 

 And no crown for Quinn either. (We kinda try hard to avoid the 'princesses' thing at our house. Hopefully I'm not damaging Quinn somehow. Actually I'm trying to do the opposite. And I hate princesses) :)

 Here's Veda-- with the birthday girl.

 As party favors my friend gave out tiny tiaras. And Veda didn't notice hers for a while... it was pretty stinking cute on her.

 Look at what a cute party!! My friend is amazing. Even little tea cups with lids. Perfect for a two year old tea party.

 The mini princess baby.

 Yesterday Quinn and I were dressed like valentine's. So we took a picture.

 Hendrix too. Wow... my camera stinks.

Quinn and Levi had a play date. We need to cram a lot in before we move. They are sure cute little buddies. 

I made THIS for dinner tonight. It was SO GOOD. I simplified it a little. Basically just made the sauce-- put it over chicken, broccoli slaw, and noodles. If you like Asian food you should make it.

I've been busy making my kid's birthday photo books too. I try and make them a photo book of the highlights from the past year and give it to them for their birthday. But now having THREE kids with birthdays in March means a lot of work for me all at once. So I guess I've been busy doing that instead of blogging.

And I hosted another baby shower on Friday. I'm so sad that I didn't take ANY pictures. :( Not only am I sad for me that I didn't document it at all, but I'm sad for her because that means that she has no pictures of it either. It was a fun shower. It was actually a surprise and it's so fun to pull off a good surprise. She's having her FOURTH girl. And she makes darling little girls, so I can't wait to meet this newest sweet baby.

And my mom gets here in LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!

more favorites

love this:

This is the ONLY picture we have of Quinn by herself. :)

"major" dilemma

So I have this major dilemma. I am getting my haircut tonight-- and I don't know what to do with it. When it comes down to it-- I want it short, but the problem is that I'll be back in the same boat I'm in right now-- grown out and no one to cut it. (My awesome hairstylist friend is cutting it tonight even though she just had a baby and is moving in two weeks). So I'm kind of leaning towards still growing it. At least until I'm settled in Texas and have found a new stylist that I trust. It's just going to be hard for me to just have her trim it because I want it short-- and Dave REALLY wants it short too. hmmm.

We got our pictures from Saturday back!!!!! There are too many cute ones to pick favorites right now. But here are a couple. I love how calm I look in this even though Quinn is throwing a major crying tantrum. Ha. The joys of parenthood.

And oh my-- my darling baby. How can your life not feel complete when seeing this picture??!! (lots more cute ones of her. I'll post more later)

Our photographer: dana peterson. She's amazing. She did our family pictures and Veda's newborn pictures. she always does an amazing job.