Monday, September 17, 2012

Really Random Post

1. NATHAN'S FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!! 
How do you make something read important?  I hoping it does because seriously, YAY!! A year ago we never thought this day would come...literally because we thought he'd be pursing a Ph.D somewhere else. But we are so thankful to be here (even though 5 months ago we had never even thought of moving to D.C.) and be blessed with a good job (even though 5 months ago we thought Nate would be back in school this week). Nathan got no sleep last night and I feel like I sent my little boy off to his first day of Kindergarten. 

2. Josie is two! Not really. Her birthday is the end of October. But she is sure acting like a two year old.  Grumpy, grumpy. I remember Kendyl at this stage and thinking how easy little baby Josie was. Their roles have totally been reversed. Not that Kendyl is now "easy" but Josie is definitely more to handle.  She fell again at church last week and gave us a huge scare. We've had to move our couch to stop her from climbing up the back and jumping off and put the bar stools in the shed (which means me and Nate now eat standing up). I frequently find her sitting on the toilet. Anytime she goes in her diaper she flings it off and runs to the bathroom. Now if only we can get that order reversed. She insists on getting up on the potty all by herself which is pretty amusing and partially gross to watch. We love Josie and really pray she makes it to age 3. 

3. The best thing I heard all day: Kendyl ran to me and said, "Mommy I did not eat the butter!" Of course I ran out to check. And really, truely she did not eat the butter. I don't know why she told me, but I gave her a high five. It must have been some temptation to warrant her announcement. 

4. The fall is amazing. We have our windows open at night. I wear sweaters and long sleeves even though I don't really need to yet. We go to the park without gallons of water and sunscreen.  I get less mosquito bites when I get the mail. I love it! Hoping the leaves don't change color for another month though. Kendyl was promised that when the leaves turn red and fall on the ground she will get a new pair of running shoes. (Sounds like a line out of Bug's Life.) She found a tree full of red leaves on Saturday at the temple, but wasn't able to produce one that had fallen yet. We are hoping the red leaves wait a little longer until Nathan gets his first big boy paycheck. 

5. My house is messy and it's driving me crazy. Which is really the reason this is a long post because I'm totally procrastinating. Something about cleaning a crockpot encrusted in day old spaghetti sauce. Which is why I'll keep going....

6. This is a napless house. Not that we are anti-naps, just that we don't take them anymore. I wish we could bring back the naps. But half the population does not agree. 

7. This one won't surprise you. I lost my camera. (Hence the lack of recent pictures.) And a key I really, really need to find. Another reason to clean. 

8. I finally started copying and pasting all of mine and Nathan's dating emails from my old BYU-I email account. They were fun to reread but I wish I had kept a better journal. (Or emailed more.) Even now I wish I did it. For me promising to be a better journal keeper is like promising to give up chocolate. But then I remember I update my blog and take pictures and I don't feel so bad.

9. As part of our date, Nate and I made a list of all the things we'll have to start buying back. Of course it will take a while, but it was fun dreaming of owning dishes, dressers, and cookie sheets again.  

10. I can't think of anything else to write so I'm going to post some random pictures to go with my random post, call it good, and maybe tackle the sink. or laundry. or general mess everywhere. 

How I normally find Josie Pie. She had been fully clothed not much earlier.  
(I censored it because this is not a private blog and I don't want her running home from school one day saying she found this on google images and I ruined her life.) 

Summer 2007. I just saw this picture and realized I lost my one and only BYU-I shirt. Probably 2 years ago. Nate and I were also just saying how we have nothing from our alma maters. (Maybe a few diplomas but no one sees those. ) Nate rushed through DU so fast we never made it to the bookstore.

 On one of our first dates we painted pictures of each other. We didn't reveal them until after we were done. Good thing I decided I already liked him. 

Photo of my room before I married Nate. He saw this before he married me...and still thought I was amazing. But he can attest that these days I'm not the one with the messes. 

Like I said, random pictures.

 Here's a picture I sent my family over 5 years ago of this new boy I went out with and kind of liked. 
Next day I learned they put this up as their computer background next to a picture of another guy I'd recently gone on a date with. I think they found his pic on BYU-I stalker. Caption was something like, "Nathan vs. _____. Who should Liesel pick?" I can't recall who the family voted in. 


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Pull out your sunglasses people, because Kendyl is now a...

 Our ward started a pre-Sunbeam class this last week so the transition into Primary wouldn't be so hard on them (and nursery was running out of room). 
So how did our little sunspot do? 
Later I talked to her teacher and her report was as I expected.
 "Would not sit still." "Easily distracted." "Has difficulty staying involved." "Listening skills need improvement."
(Okay not her exact response but the El Ed graduate came out it me for a second.)
But for a kid who can barely make it through a 7 second prayer and a 3 minute dinner I call it a complete success. 
Because I am not her teacher. And she is a really cute kid. And I married her male duplicate so I'm already used to the "not sitting still."

Here's some pictures I just got of Kendyl from her old nursery in Denver about a year ago. 
Her hair as tamed some since them.
Last note: 
Last week for the first time without prompting, Kendyl told Nathan and I separately and out of the blue "I love you."
She was laying next to me and said, "Momma I love you."
And she threw her arms around Nate's neck and said, "Nathan I love you!"
Best moment ever.
Also for the first time ever after she got mad, she started crying, ran off to her room and slammed the door. Heaven help us. It's begun already. 




P.S. I admit, she inherited the running to her room from her mother, not her father. 

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Summer Stay-cation

Since its my birthday (my excuse for everything today) I'm not going to type much. So here's a narrative of our summer stay-cation in 50 words or less: 

Wanted vacation. Too poor for Bahamas. Settled for D.C. Zoo. Free admission. Took metro. Josie tried to escape. Lectured by dad. Saw some animals. Josie fed them. “Short cut” to metro. Lost on long trail. Beautiful. Better if we weren’t lost. Found metro. Rode bazillion steps down. Went home. 

Oh yeah. 2 more words: Had fun!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Things that make me happy

I love my girlies the most when they are outside. 
And not in the living room pouring a whole bottle of oil on the carpet. 
Recognize their skirts? 

It's the first thing I've sewed in a long, long time. Easy peasy. Piece of elastic and a pocket moved over a mud stain. So simple I didn't even bother to pull up a chair to the machine...or coordinate the thread.

Monday, August 27, 2012

What’s in a name?




I came across this quote today:

“The most beautiful word on the lips of mankind is the word ‘Mother,’ and the most beautiful call is the call of ‘My mother.’” -Kahlil Gibran

Such a sweet sentiment. Especially for those who have children who call them “mother,” “mom,” “mommy,” or “mama.”

I have a child who calls me “mama.”

I have another child who calls me “Liesel” or “Liesel Vasher” with an occasional “Moooom!” thrown in the mix.

She also calls her father by his full name. Her “th” is still a little off so it sounds like “Nasan Vasher” or just “Nasan.”

Which means Josie is now “Josie Pie Vasher” and Kendyl refers to herself as “Kendyl Baby Vasher.” The “Baby” is because that is what she aspires to be. Really. If you ask her what she wants to be when she gets older, it’s to be a baby.

Kendyl has switched back and forth between calling us by our first names and calling us Mom and Dad ever since she could talk. But since she recently picked up on the concept of last names, she now calls us more often by our full names. 

And because we are the modern parents that we are, we don’t really care. I’m sure one day she’ll sort it all out when she realizes its cool to call your Mom and Dad “Mom” and “Dad.”

It just makes us laugh inside when we hear, “Liesel Vasher I need to go potty” or “Nasan Vasher can I have some chocolate milk?”

Because really a mother “by any other name would smell as sweet.” Unless she is changing a diaper. 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Summer Pictures

Here's proof we braved the humidity and mosquitoes and went outside this summer:

One of the best parks ever. (If you're 3 and almost 2) 
Big downside is not much shade but definitely planning on going lots in the fall.

Farm park we went to yesterday for play group. Josie had a ball. Kendyl enjoyed it from the safety of a stroller (hence not many pics of her). 
K's favorite park was watching a riding lesson in the arena for some girls. She's now asking to go horse back riding. But I'm a supportive mother. So maybe next year...we'll put her in pre-school and she can learn all about that. H is for horse. 

Swimming! Nathan was trying to pull off a Michael Phelps move and ran into the pool edge. He has a nice scraped upper lip and chin. Perfect look when trying to find a job :)

Girls love playing dress-up. They insisted on the background music.

The nights are finally getting a little cooler. I am looking forward to the fall. Everyone raves about how wonderful it is here. I can't wait. On a bittersweet note, this will be the first fall no one on our family will be starting school. We are all hoping this next season brings good news for our family!

The End. 


Friday, August 17, 2012

Switched at Birth?...

Nathan and I have two theories.  #1 Josie's spirit did not enter her body until she was 9 months old. #2 She was switched last summer (maybe at some park play group??) and the child we are now living with is not our original Josie.  

Josie Vasher (Summer 2011)
Hair: 2 mm, white blonde
Last seen wearing a cute summer outfit
Diaper: generic size 2
Sleeps: anywhere, naps well in carseat
Morning wake-up: 7:30am
Temperament described by Nate: still
Temperament described by Liesel: sweet, quiet, very adaptable

 Supposed Josie Vasher (Summer 2012)
Hair: 4 inches of blonde curly hair gone wild
Last seen in the nude
Diaper: if she is even wearing one it's a size 4 (and if she notices there MUST be a Minnie Mouse on the front even though half of the package comes with Mickey) 
Sleeps: only in her bed. MUST have 1 blue pillow, cow pillow on top of that, her quilt covering her, stuffed elephant on her left, holding yellow sippy cup (on request either: 2 inch tall plastic baby wrapped in a wipe, Clifford book, or random shoe)
Morning wake-up: 4am-6:30am
Temperament described by Nate: crazy like her hair
Temperament described by Liesel: nonstop, high volume, independent, daring, tenacious (thats the positive version of stubborn, right?)


But rest assured. We love both our Josies.