Today Was a Blah Day (92/365)

So here are some pics of the beautiful day that was yesterday. We went outside and played until Matt came home. It was SO gorgeous that we decided to stay out and play even longer. We played with Play-Do until our neighbors came home and the kids wanted to play. The day couldn't have ended better!

She Isn't Always Bad (91/365)

So I was a little hard on Alice last night. She's not always that bad. Yes, she does tend to act a lot like Jekyll and Hyde lately, but when she's sweet she's sickeningly sweet. For example:

She ADORES her sister. She loves nothing more than to make Izzy giggle. I hope they continue to have such a good relationship because so far it's been awesome.

She's always willing to help me clean. Just today, she helped me by cleaning up the disaster of a toy room (otherwise known as our living room and dining room) all by herself. I didn't even have to keep reminding her to keep it up like I usually do. She helped me fold laundry, make dinner, and clean the kitchen too.

She is my social butterfly who you can't help but smile from ear to ear at when she's playing with her friends. She could care less what toy she's playing with, she just wants to be around other kids.

No matter how mad at her I am, she can always find something to say that makes me melt and smile. "Mommy, this is the bestest dinner EVER!" she said to me tonight. I try not to give into her, but sometimes she just knows how to get on my good side.

If I could bottle up these moments, they might just make the crazy psycho moments a little bit easier to deal with.

Talk About Payback (90/365)

I'm beginning to regret all those times in my childhood when I was hard to live with.

Ok, so I've regretted them for a while now because looking back I realize just how impossible I was, but today I'm regretting it for a much different reason. Today was one of those days when all my misbehaving and back talk is coming back and biting me in the butt - ten fold.

Alice has really come into her age as of late. She's no longer saving it only for when we're here at home either as this past weekend it was even noticeable to Annie, who only sees her on weekends for the most part. I texted Matt at some point today and told him that I was going to lock myself in my room and pull my hair out because I just couldn't take it anymore. Fortunately not long after that I finally got her to take a nap and I got a break. She woke up after Matt came home and it wasn't long before he got a taste of what I had been dealing with all day.

Needless to say it ended with a certain little girl not finishing dinner and screaming her head off while Matt got her ready for bed. I'm surprised my neighbors didn't call the cops she was that bad.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I Think Alice Needs a Sandbox (89/365)

It's days like today that make me wish we had a house.

It was a gorgeous day, and tomorrow is supposed to be even better. We
made mud castles, looked for bugs, and ran amuck. Needless to say both
girls went to bed early tonight!

If You Don't Find Yourself on Here (88/365)

I appologize as my little artist couldn't be bothered to draw anymore.
However, she did find it necessary to draw two Izzys. Oh wait, one is
Izzy and the other is Izzy in octopus form.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Arrrrrrr, Me Matey (87/365)

This is the closest thing Izzy will get to having her ears pierced
before the age of 13. Who knew that fruity Cheerios (bet you didn't
know they existed, didya?) could be so stylish?

Lesson #437 I Should Have Learned the First Time Around (86/365)

Never turn your back on an almost 1 year old.

And when you find them climbing on things,

grab the camera before rescuing them.

Ok, maybe NOT the last part.

Guess What Day it is (85/365)

Izzy is finally getting the chance to enjoy pancake and popcorn night. And now that we have Netflix streaming on the Wii, we're adding movies to our Friday nights. Speaking of Pancakes, I made ours (well, the batter anyway) in the blender tonight, it's quickly becoming my favorite appliance. We've had one for years, but I never used it until recently. Now it has a permanent place on my counter and I use it every day. I think it's actually replaced my stand mixer as my favorite!

Izzy approves.

She Likes to Keep Us on Our Toes (84/365)

Turns out, Izzy just wanted to make sure we were paying attention to her - her EEG was completely normal!

Guess it was just spastic Bathje genes after all.

Izzy the Chef (83/365)

Come and visit us and she just might share her creation with you too.
Oh, and I can't help but be reminded of her Great Grandpa Rice when
she smacks her mouth and it comes out sounding like a tongue click
like he used to do.

Somewhere in there she's a Rice.

Ten on Tuesday (82/365)

1. Since starting our Weightloss Challenge in January, Matt has lost 32.5 lbs and I've lost 17. He's been on the ball with this change of lifestyle, but I haven't really been until recently. Hopefully I can keep it up!
2. Tori has been doing great too - in fact she's been leading the pack nearly every week! She and Matt are neck and neck now, but there is still time left!
3. Izzy has been cracking us up lately. We were watching The Princess and the Frog tonight after dinner and she started singing along with the music. I will have to get it on video, it is too cute.
4. Then she outdid herself and started drying the dishes. No I'm not a slave-driver, but she did steal a clean sock when I was folding laundry and proceeded to "dry" a bowl.
5. I actually got this one on film. I didn't catch her the other day when she had a bowl and spoon and was mixing up a storm.
6. The weather has been beautiful! It's been so nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air and sunshine. We even met Daddy when he came home today and made some mud pies.
7. We're gearing up for a lot of events. Annie and I are planning Kathy's bridal shower, Izzy's birthday party (finally sent the invite off to the printer), we're going to Indianapolis on Izzy's actual birthday to do Race for the Cure with a bunch of my MoGo mommies, and of course Easter.
8. Don't know what MoGo is? It's a group of women I met online when we were all pregnant with our October 2006 babies. We're a tight knit group of women and I can't wait to meet up with them for a good cause!
9. I've discovered the best cure for chapped lips. We have a huge bottle of Aquaphor for Izzy for when her face gets chapped, and out of the blue I decided to try it on my lips when my Softlips wasn't cutting it (and I loathe ChapStick) and I was elated to find out that it works so well!
10. I should head off to bed. I'm trying to get my butt to bed before 11pm these days and if I don't go to bed when Matt does I tend to stay up way too late.

Night all!

It's Been a LOOOOONG Day (81/365)

As someone who loves her sleep, today's 4am wake-up call was not a good start to my day. Today was EEG day for Izzy, which meant that she needed to be sleep deprived before her 8am appointment time, which meant that I had to pry my butt out of bed well before I wanted to. The test went well, she fell asleep about 5 minutes after the nurse left her room and she slept as long as she was supposed to. She did wake up for the strobe portion of the test, but really, who wouldn't?! She even came home with a special lap blanket from Project Linus that I know we'll put to good use in the car next winter. Our schedule was off all day long so hopefully tomorrow things will be back to business as usual. I'll be sure to let you all know when we find out the results!

Practicing For Her Birthday Party (80/365)

I have a feeling she'll do just fine come April 24th!
(invites are coming, they aren't quite finished yet, but they will be soon!)

Daddy Love Baby (79/365)

Baby love Daddy

Like Yummy Golden Pillows From Heaven (78/365)

I made the most killer pancakes for dinner tonight. We seem to have started this tradition of having pancakes and popcorn for dinner on Friday nights, and tonight I decided we needed a change from the usual Bisquick blandness. I did some digging on the internet I found a recipe that looked like it had potential, and boy am I glad I tried it (even though we didn't have buttermilk and I had to resort to "making it" with milk and lemon juice) ! I even convinced my darling husband that not all pancakes have to taste like blah biscuits!

If you aren't convinced maybe this will help, Alice ate 4 of them and we didn't have to keep reminding her to take bites!