So exciting!

Sydney is almost there!

Where I hear you ask?

Walking is the where.

Let me backtrack. Storm and I have been encouraging the girls to walk back and forth between us in their bedroom {carpeted} and Sydney has been doing well in the 4 feet that we allow. Today we took them to the park and whilst Kendall held her Daddy's hands, Sydney used the back of her bike to walk the whole way around the park. I don't know if this helped her but tonight the girl was on a roll., back and forth without any help at all. If I had time I swear I would have cried. She's so proud of herself and her smiles go from ear to ear {the only smile that is bigger is Kendall's}.

It's gonna be soon. I can't wait.

BTW: Kendall was so inspired by her sister that she kept going back and forth between Storm and I. I tell you that when that girl gets a bee in her bonnet she doesn't give up. She's so determined to walk and right now is being let down by the fact that her balance is off {she looks like she's been drinking at a bar for 3 days straight!}. She also is very "shiny object". By that I mean that she is very easily distracted and will {in mid-stumble/walk} look to her left/right at the dogs/sister and fall over. Even though she is more focused than her sister, she is also more distractable and as yet does not have the skills to recover from a quick headturn.

She's getting there. I just hope that she doesn't get too disgruntled when Sydney walks away from her. She'll cry and I probably {in sympathy} will too.

In other news - we got our pool fence up today. I'll post a pic sometime this week. It has certainly made a difference in the backyard ambiance but I don't mind as I have peace of mind with the girls having now discovered the dog door. Phew - just in time.

My time

My time is at night. Late night. It's at that time that I get to myself and get to do things.

What do I do? Well, since I have my feet up for around 2 hours a night (gotta love the veins in the summer) I don't get to do much except cruise the Internet looking at the blogs and Craigslist.

All except for Tuesday nights. Tuesday nights at 10pm on FX is all about my show. You need to know that I'm standing up and saying "My name is Nichole and I am a Sons of Anarchy-a-holic." Oops it's back on....

Ad time. Yes, I became hooked when I was pregnant with the girls. I had seen it previously but since it always aired later at night and since I was working at Dr Thomas' and had to get up early in the mornings I never really watched it. Obviously, I stopped working there when I had the surgery and the fact that I was no longer having to get up at 5am I had more time at night. But I must confess that I REALLY became hooked when the girls were born and had to feed the girls their11pm/12am feed with Mum. It was easier for me to stay up rather than wake up so I watched this show for entertainment and I have never been disappointed.

Now don't get me wrong, there is something seriously flawed with a glamourized, Hollywood version of a motorcycle gang that sell drugs, run guns, porn etc but I'm addicted. I cannot help it.

I should be 12-stepping but an addict needs to really want to give the afore mentioned addiction up. I'm not ready. The story is just too good.

The show is over and it's time for bed. (I started posting late in the show tonight)

P.S. Storm - I was really serious when I said that I wanted the first 2 seasons of Sons of Anarchy for christmas. And please do not give me that line of "I can't give you something that you know about". It's what I want and if you've still got the mindset of "I can't give you what you want becuase it's something that you know about and it has to be a surprise" then stop asking me what I want for christmas and listen for the ever-so-subtle hints that I'm giving you.

P.S.S. - Only 8 weeks to christmas! Yay!!!!!!!!

Two weeks and counting

Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I want to leave the hubby and kids for a night but I am really looking forward to a night away to be spent in St George, UT in two weeks.

Kerri and I will be heading up there for an all day blogging conference through the SITS Girls website. It's officially classed as a business trip due to the fact that our business needs to jump on the social media bandwagon but I know that both of us will benefit personally as well. I went to the SITS Girls site today and read up about the Austin, TX conference that's going on tomorrow and was pleasantly surprised at how excited I am about going.

We'll be staying overnight so there'll be a chance to do some Xmas decor shopping at the Cracker Barrel restaurant/shop as well as the outlet malls {again!}. Unfortunately, one of Kerri's fave shops isn't open on a Sunday {I want to say the name of it is Dorsey's but don't judge me on it!} so we'll just have to make do with the others that are up there...oh, what a shame.

Another thing that I am excited about right now is the fact the Xmas is only 8 weeks {or so} away. I love Christmas. I'm not afraid to say it. It is the most wonderful time of the year. I love to watch the old Christmas movies, sing the Christmas carols {to myself etc not in public!}, decorate the house, cook christmassy things. Oh the list goes on and on....

Well my fave decor shop {Rodworks} already has their Christmas decor on display for sale and yes, I've already been up there twice purchasing their "pretties". I am such a sucker for chrissy decor it's not funny. Yes, I'm the person who goes to Mt. Charleston during summer and just, HAS to visit the Holiday Shoppe that they have and buy something. I hope the girls love this special month as much as I do as I might just have to extend it to before Thanksgiving {I know that's wrong as the girls are US citizens but it's Christmas!}.

Oh, well. We'll just have to wait and see if I have the patience and fortitude to hold out on displaying all the cute things that are so reasonably priced up at Rodworks. {Keep in mind that I have to feed my addiction to this store as I will not have it next year once we move to TX - they're only in UT and NV at the moment}. Sigh...

The chair

Ahhh, the chair. They soooo love this chair. So cute to watch them watching their movie sitting in their big girl chair.

 

In this chair they are in the right position to enjoy some love from the boys. And boy do these boys love to give love...



But not when the boys are dressed a'la rocky horror picture show though.

A place to play

Now that the weather is getting to be much nicer here in Vegas the girls have been itching to get outside. With the pool we really couldn't just allow them to move willy-nilly around out there so we set up a small play area for them with some interesting toys etc.

They have really been enjoying themselves out there and we can have a little peace of mind that they're not going to wander into the pool etc. (Note: we are getting a pool fence in the next week though)

 Enjoying their lunch at the picnic table. Gotta love peanut butter samiches!

Got the mats under the whole play area so that they have somewhere softer to fall when they attempt to walk each day. Yes, we're getting there slowly but surely.

Our poor little boy

Our sweet Rudy had surgery this Monday. He had a lipoma/cyst behind his right shoulder and it had started to move and get trapped in under his armpit. He had serious trouble walking and x-rays revealed that even though he is starting to develop arthritis it probably wasn't the cause of his lameness. Either way it was time for that sucker to come out.

So, he has been feeling very sore and sorry for himself which I don't know if it's attributed to the surgery (he has two incision spots with about 30 stitches in total - I feel really bad because I thought he only had one and I only found the second spot today - 3 days after the surgery, mind you. I'm not sure why there is two incision spots and will have to speak to the vet about it when we see him next week for the arduous task of stitch removal..)

or the fact that he's wearing a t-shirt. The t-shirt was suggested by the vet to keep him from licking/tearing at the wounds. It was either that or the collar which wouldn't have gone down too well. Storm wasn't too happy that I used one of his shirts but I used an old one so it was ok.

Yes, that's Storm lying down beside him. Rudy stresses a lot when we move around the house when he can't follow so it was up to Storm to keep him laying down so he wouldn't blow a stitch or seven.

Speaking of seven, happy birthday to our boy who turned seven on Wednesday. I'm sorry that you had to be in pain for your birthday but lameness sucked even more worse (sorry!) and you'll have more birthdays...

Back again!

Ok, so I know it's been a while so I've decided that I'm just going to start from now and go backwards to vacationing in Hawaii when I have time.

What have we been up to I hear you ask? Well it hasn't been a lot even though I feel that we've been extremely busy.

We did go up to the Staheli Family Farm in St George, UT last weekend. We drove up around Saturday lunchtime thinking that the girls would nap (not!) and stayed overnight in a local motel. The farm was as a working farm goes - stinky (poopy cow smells), dusty but fun and so great to get away out of town. They had a great setup of a petting zoo, farm themed jungle gyms for the kids, a cow train, horse rides, a pumpkin patch and a corn maize/maze (he he). A few friends also went up to see the "Field of Screams" (read scary corn field maze) and stayed overnight as well so we had a chance to hang out. As much as we can with the kids in tow....

Our new mode of transport for the girls during the cooler months. They are so loving their little red wagon. 

Putting their shoes on because I don't have their shoes on all the time (they aint walking yet) but I keep forgetting that they are standing and lurve to get out and about. It's just sucky that their out and about involves using their hands on the floor which on a farm won't happen on my watch. On the bright side they really loved the straw for some reason. Texture? Right height? Could be banged like a drum? No clue...

Storm and Syd in front of the donkeys and cows. {Look at those mountains in the background!} Sydney has a curiosity for things and is constantly pointing at anything wanting to be shown it. She's very happy to get into anything as long as she feels safe. She feels safe in our arms which means that we have to go where she points. How much fun is that? 

It's quite cool now as Kendall used to be so afraid of animals (everything except for Rudy and Oscar) but that day she was so happy to pat the goats and look at the bunnies, turkey's (look out boys thanksgiving's a comin'!) and would have pet a horse except it was further away from the fence (and also I wouldn't have let her pat the horse's face - horse bites are yukky). She did come so close to a calf when I was petting it that it snotted on her. Charming I know but she has really come along with her confidence which is so great.



There was a pumpkin patch where you could pick your own pumpkin (yes in the background there are people picking pumpkins from rows and rows of vines throughout the field). Our hands were full enough with the girls that there was no room for a pumpkin. But we could pose the girls beside one... 

Again, look at the hills! I am always reminded of the movie Footloose when I go to Utah even though it as filmed closer to SLC.

Syd. She wasn't not sure if she wanted to cry or keep exploring around the pumpkins. Either way I really love this pic of her. So cute...

My little country bumpkin chewing on a piece of straw. Must be my country blood coming out in her.

 Oh, what a wonderful view...my family.

Kendall really enjoyed herself later dancing away to the music whilst she was eating her dinner (yes I caved and gave a hotdog and chicken strips at the farm but I want you to know that I did get her to eat broccoli later that night! Both of them knocked off some mac and cheese quite well). And after a good night's sleep we went and did some {very minor} damage at the outlet mall the next day before stopping at the Cracker Barrel for a disastrous lunch (the girls were tired and done) and going home to the boys.

I enjoyed getting out of town and visiting somewhere new.

Resuming posting soon...

Just wanted to let you know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

Hawaii was great but I'll have to wait for some more time to tell you all about it and post the piccies.

Should have more time next week after I complete the garage sale this weekend.

Until then,
N