Author Archives: carrievoris

Here we go, Here we go, Here we go again…

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I can’t believe I am even about to write this because, well…I am tempting fate here. But, while we were on vacation our “baby” decided that she is “a big girl.” Seriously, if you even just call her “baby” affectionately she will stop dead in her tracks and screech “I’m not a baby, Mama! I’m a big girl!”

So, she slept in “big” beds the entire time we were on vacation. These photos were shot after our exhausting first day of travel to Hawaii and a luau. She fell asleep in my arms at the luau, (Sigh. That was so arm-breakingly lovely. It has been a long time since she has done that.) she remained crashed through the entire bus ride back to the hotel where I deposited her on the bed and changed her into her pjs. And then she continued to sleep through until morning. It was crazy…

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…but I loved getting a lot of opportunities to watch both of the girls sleep this past week. So peaceful. Sweet, little, angelic sleeping faces.

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Fast forward to our first night back. Last night.

“I dohwanna sleep in my crib, Mama. I will sleep with Emma? I will sleep with you?”

So I promised her last night that we would make her crib into a big girl bed today, if she slept in the crib last night. It sorta worked. She was up early and ended up sleeping with me, anyhow. But we did move her to the big girl bed tonight.

Again.

But, didn’t we just go through this a few month’s ago? And didn’t it fail miserably?

Yes. And yes.

All day Addie kept saying, “I am so exciting for my kitties and my new bed, Mama.” (I found a really sweet “kitty” quilt a few weeks ago for her big girl bed.) And she kept saying we were “breaking” her crib. “Thank you for breaking my crib, Daddy!”

So how did bedtime go you ask?

All right…again, I know I’m tempting fate…but it went really, really well. It is only 11pm, so we’ll see how the rest of the night goes, but she climbed into bed and was very insistent that I keep the door open and the closet light on (ala what Emma always asks for) and was also adamant that I NOT put the gate up in her doorway. So I told her that if she stayed in bed and went to sleep, I would not put the gate up. I went in to put some clothes away and she was already asleep when I started downstairs.

It is such a bittersweet milestone. But I think this time we are ready.

Fingers crossed.

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Edited for update:

It is 8:10am –  she is still in there sound asleep. Didn’t make a peep all night. This is really too good to be true, right??

Aloha!

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Sunset at Paradise Cove, Oahu

We have returned. I fully intended to write once or twice while we were away, but, well…I didn’t. I barely checked my email, and it felt amazingly good.

We had a great vacation but now we have to re-acclimate back into the real world.

Addie is putting up a good fight for not sleeping tonight, I have a pile of laundry the size of a small mountain waiting for me, a few thousand photos to edit, stories to compose, and a pile of email and bills to address this weekend. Not to mention catching up on all my blog reading!

So I shall return, soon…but give me a  few days to get everyone and everything sorted back out. Mahalo, makamakas!

We Rocked The Vote!

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How very cool is it that our nearly five year old is already excited about voting?

Somebody left some literature on our front gate yesterday and since Em is all about “what does this spell” lately, she asked what the flyer said. So I read it to her and told her that we have to go vote tomorrow over at the school.

E: What does “vote” mean, Mama?
M: Well, you can vote for lots of things, tomorrow we are going to vote for who we want to run for president.
E: What’s a president?
M: He is kind of like the boss. Of the whole country. He helps make rules and laws to keep our country running and safe.
E: Oh.
M: Yeah, it is a pretty big job and so everyone gets to vote, or pick, who they think they will do the best job.
E: Do I get to vote, too?
M: You can go with me and Daddy, but you have to be 18, a grown-up, to vote.
E: But I get to go with you?
M: Yep.

So I figured that was that. Then she wandered downstairs all bleary-eyed this morning looking for Daddy and I told her that he had to leave for work early so he could go to the school and vote.

E: HEY! Mom! (suddenly not sleepy at all anymore) We get to vote today, too! You and me, right? Well, I have to wait til I am 18, but I get to go, right? (First of all…she remembered that she needs to be 18?)
M: Yep. You need to eat some breakfast first, though.

The breakfast was inhaled. She completely cleaned her plate while I was getting ready. AND, she put her clothes on without a peep, had her shoes on and was sitting on the step, ready to go.

Kind of made me wish we got to vote every day.

So we walked over (our voting poll was across the street – handy!) and she watched the whole process with great interest. She asked what I was doing and why I was “voting” more than once.  “I thought you only got to vote for one person, Mama?” And basically chattered the entire time we were in the poll.

And then…they got a sticker! My goodness they give out stickers when you vote! Did you know this? She so proudly wore her “I voted” sticker all day.  And kept asking “Do people know I went to vote today because I have this sticker on, Mama?”

This could be an incredible history-making election, with either a black or woman being elected to President. And as excited as I am to witness that, I am even more excited to witness my little girl, who is years away from being able to vote, realize what a privilege it is to be able to vote.

Crafty Tuesday

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Em and I were crafty this past weekend. She wanted to do Valentine’s for her classmates, and I wanted to do a few for the cousins and some of our friends…so our house is currently covered in glitter, but they turned out pretty cute. Addie made a huge mess helped with the glittering, of course.

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I got these little “kits” for Em’s Valentine cards in the $1 bin at Target. God love Target!

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What craftiness do you have going on this week. I’m anxious to get back to scrapbooking – hopefully when things calm down at the end of the month.

Also, I really need some takers for the Craft It Forward. Anyone?

The Worrisome Park? ~ Best Shot Monday

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We are at a beautiful, sunny park running all of our “ya-yas” out. So what could this girl possibly be so worried about?

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She is going to get worry lines on her forehead at the ripe old age of 2 if this furrowing of the eyebrows continues…

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This one is my favorite and my Best Shot for this fine Monday.

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It is fine, of course, because J. comes home today – Hallelujah!

And what could make this week even better? We are headed to Hawaii for the ProBowl and a little R&R on Wednesday. It’s a rough life, I know. I haven’t said anything about our impending vacation because I have been, ah…burned, a few times on some of the other scheduled trips. But we are going. For sure. We leave this Wednesday and we’ll return the day after Valentine’s Day. And my laptop is taking a trip to the genius bar for a little TLC, so it will not be accompanying me. I will maybe hop on J.’s laptop for a quick post here and there…but I may not. We’ll just have to see how all of those the mai tais affect me.

Make sure to stop in for other BSMs over at Tracey’s though! Next week, too…even if I can’t tear myself away from the beach to post one, there will be some great ones, I’m sure!


This One’s For The Boys…

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…mostly Daddy because he misses his girls so much. But also for Papa because he is apparently unhappy that I have not posted anything in the past two days.

So here you go guys, photos of the girlies from our park expedition yesterday –

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I have been tirelessly trying to keep our days filled while J. has been gone this week, so that (1) the days go by a little more quickly and (2) it keeps the girls busy – both of which will inevitably keep all of us happy.

Ah, who am I kidding? I’m just trying to wear them out as much as possible so I can put them to bed by 7:30pm and they’ll be so exhausted they won’t think of getting up before 8am.

Which I must say has been the case this week, so my evil plan is working. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

We have had a pretty uneventful week, pretty routine stuff. The girls have been a good mix of “pulling-my-hair-out” frustrating and “cavity-inducing” sweet. Which means they give me plenty to be thankful for and remind me that J. and I are very blessed, while at the same time not allowing me to get too complacent and lulled into thinking I have perfect children.

They have been C-H-A-T-T-E-R-B-O-X-E-S lately, though.

Em keeps asking random questions. Persistent questions. And I guarantee that we are not done discussing this topic. It will come up again, probably tomorrow.

E: Mama, what would you say to an alien if you met one in outer space?
M: Well, I don’t think there really are “aliens” like you think of aliens, honey. They are kind of just make-believe, like on cartoons and such. (Sorry to offend any of you E.T. believers out there…but I was trying to figure out the easiest way out of this without inciting any sort of nightmares of possible extra-terrestial life!)
E: Oh, I know. But if you could go up in a rocket ship to outer space and you did find an alien? What would you say to him?
M: Hmm…well, I think that if I did find one, he would be so scared because he had never seen a human before, he would run away before I could even ask him anything.
E: Oh. Yeah, he probably wouldn’t want to talk to you anyway.

And Addie…the girl just doesn’t quit with the funny stuff that comes out of her mouth. Yesterday they both came up to me and wanted me to open something –

Em: Mama, can you open this for us?
M: Just a sec, babe. I’m cleaning the cat poop box out.
Ad: Ewwww! UCK! Let’s get outta here, Emma!

And this morning as she was trying to sneak out of eating her bagel, she leaned over and whispers…“Emma, let’s get out of here!”

She has impeccable timing, too. The minute I am about ready to lose it, she will get this goofy grin, look at me out of the corner of my eye and say something that has me cracking up. The other day she was being…well, a two-year old, again, and Em said to me, “Mama? Is Addie pushing your buttons right now?” And before I could even respond, mostly because I was laughing at Em and her assessment of the situation, Addie looked up at me with her big, puppy dog eyes and said in her little sing-songy voice, “But I love you, too, Mama!”

Who can argue with that?!

And then?

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I am sitting in my “office away from home” waiting for my project to upload. My big project that I have been stressing over for weeks now. It is finished. Well, for the time being, until the client sends back a list of demanding changes, but finished for this week, at least.

And then?

I’ve got a few hours to treat myself.  Well, I am running all of those errands that are easier to do sans girlies. Like recycling, dropping off the Goodwill boxes, getting a car wash. Definitely in that order, too. The cardboard is making my car stink so it needs to go first, and whatever toy it is that “talks” when I go over any bump is driving me a bit crazy, so it needs to be donated, pronto. And, wow! Is my car is in dire need of a good vacuum.  So every surface needs to be clear for the ultimate in vacuuming efficiency.

And then?

I get to do some real fun things. Like get a haircut! By the way, when did this start rating as a relaxing way to spend an hour or two? I guess right about the time I no longer had even ten minutes to brush out my hair, much less style it in any way. But they do this amazing massage during the shampoo…it is worth the haircut just for that – not to mention the shagginess that has taken over my head.

I know I am very lucky to have a job that I can do from home after the girls are in bed. And I’m so very lucky to have Denise two afternoons a week so that I can work. And I’m lucky to have two girls that, for the most part, are pretty amazing and I love spending time with them.

But why do a few truly “free” hours make me feel so incredibly giddy? I am almost heady with the prospect of not having any responsibilities for the afternoon. Free to do whatever Mommy needs or wants.

And then?

This incredibly sweet little girl just came in with her mom and my heart feels like it is going to just pound out of my chest. Just watching her makes me miss E. and A.

I just spent the morning with them, and left them not even more than an hour and a half ago. Yet, I’m already counting down the hours til I go home to bathe them, snuggle with them and put them to bed.

How can that happen just like that – really in an instant?

Focus ~ Theme Thursday

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Focus is today’s Theme Thursday.

“Please, focus here, Emma Grace! Concentrate. Listen up.”

I can’t tell you how many times a day/week/month I say this to Em. She has definitely fine-tuned her ability to block the sound of mom’s voice out. And I’m certain that I sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown to her.

“Wah wah wah waaah, wah wah, wah.”

Yesterday the focus was all on Em because we had her first parent-teacher conference.

I know she is a good girl, and she just pushes me because she can. But it was still good to hear that she is a great student. Her teacher said she is a joy to have in the class, very polite, attentive and always focused. And she never has to tell her anything twice.

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She also appears to be in with the “in crowd” of girls at school. She is coming out of her “shell” and confident in both leading and following. I think she will be demanding the center of focus for a long time to come.

Focus up on some other great shots at Stacy’s new home for Theme Thursday.

Happy Birthday To Daddy! ~ Wordless Wednesday

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Okay, I can’t really make this Wordless because it is a word-worthy event.

So, although the photo says it all, I would also just like to add that we really think J. is spectacular. He is a fantastic husband and best friend, but most of all, he really is the greatest daddy in the world. We thank God for him each and every day, and I am certain that the world is a much better place because he is in it.

(Yeah, and Uncle Jeff isn’t too bad, either!)

Happy Birthday Daddy & Unca Hef! We love you both!

Crafty Tuesday ~ Craft It Forward

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So this is what it is going to take to get me back in my craft mode…

I saw this idea of a Craft Pay It Forward first on Stacy’s site. I loved the idea, but then figured, really, what would I, or could I, craft for the little experiment.

Then I saw it again on HipMomma, and decided that I might be able to come up with something, and it may force me inspire me to do some fun crafts again.

So here is how it all goes.

The first three (3) people to comment here on my site and commit to Crafting It Forward will get a free craft from me.

By committing you must post a similar challenge on your blog – and create something to pass along to your three takers. It can be anything, just needs to be handmade.

Interested? Hurry. Comment. Post. Play along!

Oh, as for what I am going to craft…I think I will give you a choice. I will either create for you:

1. A scrapbook page (you send me any photos and journaling you want incorporated)
2. A little stack of handmade greeting cards (maybe 5 or so – different occasions)
or
3. A little batch of notecards designed for you (with your name or a little design)

Sound good?