Little Miss Sassafras turns 2

(This post is a few weeks late due to my hard drive failure and all the headaches that caused.)

Ella is two! And a mighty terrible one at that. We have never had a terrible two year old before, usually just the terrible three year old kids. However, three older siblings have helped Ella to grow up a bit faster just so she can keep up. Here is a list of the wonderful (or not so wonderful) things that Ella does:

She has figured out how to undo almost every childproofing item we have in the house. We thought we were safe because Ty is still trying to figure some of these things out. What a stinker!

She adores emptying out an entire box of cereal. If she gets to the frosted shredded wheat, she will lick off the frosting and put the wheat part back in the box. She does the same thing with oreos with the cream filling. Ewww!


Ella is ridiculously hard to photograph when it is me photographing her. These photos were very hard to get. They aren't perfect but at least you can tell what she looks like. I promise she does smile.

Ella is still a peanut and fits 12-18 month size clothes.

Ella is obsessed with Care Bears.

Ella loves blankets (a.k.a. Banket or Gankie). She can't go to sleep without one and she will wake up in the middle of the night if it isn't covering her. She is starting to show a preference for two pink blankets we have, but usually anything soft, including a towel, with suffice.

Ella gets at least 4 cup of water on my floor everyday. I would like to know whose ingenious idea it was to have a water dispenser on a fridge that doesn't have a lock, grrr.

Ella is talking very clearly and using sentences. We find her chatter to be the cutest thing about her. She loves to say prayers and repeat after us during scriptures. The funny way she says the Book of Mormon names has us all giggling.

She has to eat cereal and cheese everyday as those are her two favorite foods. Noodles come in a close third. She is no longer on formula but drinks powdered milk and water.


She loves to snuggle and expects to be snuggled when she wants it, even if it is not convenient for you.

Ella is a fish. When we go boating, we anchor the boat for a while. Then we hang out, jump off the back deck and swim, which makes her extremely happy.

We all love and adore this little girl despite all the trouble she causes. In the end though, the joy and laughter she adds to our home is worth more than the trouble, so she is a keeper. Our family just wouldn't be complete without her.


This is as close as to a happy face that Ella shared with me. Stinker.


Ella is staring in awe at an apache helicopter that is flying near us.


Ella does not think my attempts at getting her to look at the camera are amusing. Anybody else's kid and they are fascinated, but Ella, no way! I officially diagnose her with PKS . . . Photographer's Kid Syndrome.

Five for Friday

1. I am sick with a terrible head cold.

2. I am totally going to make felt food for Ella for Christmas this year. I hope to get her a kitchen and the food would make the perfect addition. You can see this cute food here: Cute felt food!



3. I have been visiting www.etsy.com, www.craftser.org, and www.marthastewart.com a lot this week to help prepare for Christmas gift making and craft day for Relief Society. Lots of fun ideas and I can't wait to get going on my gift making extravaganza for the Holidays. I always try to include a little homemade item when I give gifts, so much more fun than buying everything.

4. I am really looking forward to Church being in the morning again this next year. Sunday afternoon naps will be possible again. Yay!


5. The fifth fact is a tip. My favorite backup plan for dinner is Knorr's Pesto packets (thanks to a friend, Ruth Ann who introduced me to this years ago) that you can buy at the store for about $1.25. I can throw in shrimp or cooked chicken to make it even more filling. The best part is that the kids love it too, especially in their lunch since it works well at room temperature.

Andrew's dream room

Oh, did I say Andrew? I meant Ty. Right. We received our Pottery Barn catalog in the mail recently and later on we heard, "Oh cool!!!! Mom I want this room!" from Ty. Of course, being the huge fan that he is, I wasn't surprised that he needed that room. However, he told me it in that little 4 year old voice. You know the voice, the one that has magical powers and makes you want to cave in to whatever the voice is asking for. Or maybe, Ty has a little bit of the 'force'? Either way, I am now researching how I can create the look for cheap.

Buggies

Ella is convinced that the raisins in Raisin Bran cereal are buggies, but it doesn't stop her from eating it. We were all laughing about it this morning, and then one of the older kids said, "What if she thinks she can eat real bugs?" Well that quieted our laughter down real quick and we kept repeating to Ella, "Those are raisins, not buggies." Good times.

Ten for Tuesday

1. At about 4:45 p.m., I witnessed the neighborhood pit bull escape from his home across the street and attack a neighbor. When I saw the pit bull dash out of its yard, I slowed the car down to make sure that my neighbor, who was outside chatting with another neighbor, would be okay. As soon as I saw the dog bite her leg, I started honking my horn like crazy to scare or distract it. The dog came towards my car and I pressed the gas a little. That scared it away from the car and from my neighbors. I'm glad it worked! My neighbor seems to be okay, but there was quite a bit of yelling between the husband of my neighbor and I believe the owners of the pit bull later that evening. I plan on visiting my neighbor tomorrow to make sure she is okay. Talk about unwanted excitement in the neighborhood . . . not to mention an unwanted, attack pit bull!

2. I have discovered a great new children's CD. It is by the popular band, BNL. You can hear samples of the songs here. While I'm not thrilled with the name of the band, their music is teriffic. My kids LOVE the "Popcorn" song.

3. We asked Ty what he learned about in Church on Sunday and he couldn't remember. So we tried prompting him with some questions. "Did you learn about Moses? Did you learn about Noah? Did you learn about John the Baptist? Did you learn about _________? (insert Bible name here)" and he would always say "Yes." We asked him "Did you learn about Luke? and he started to laugh and said, "Mom! We don't learn about Star Wars at Church!!" (Of course I meant Luke, the author of one of the Gospels.) We got a great laugh out of that one.

4. Ty is obsessed with Star Wars.

5. I finally figured out a way to protect our games for the Wii/Gamecube and our DVDs. They are always being scratched and it has cost us quite a bit! I bought a locking CD case and I'm the only one with a key! The case is called Vaultz and you can buy them at Walmart. The kids have to bring me the game they've been playing to exchange it for another. It's working great so far. I just may have figured out a way to stop Ella from playing "scatter-the-expensive-games/DVDs-all-over-the-floor."

6. Ella has earned the nickname 'Destruct-o-girl' in our house. I seriously can not keep up with the carnage she leaves behind sometimes. The other day, I was cleaning stickers off of my wood floor and while I was doing that, she emptied out a box of cereal. While I was cleaning that up, she got in more trouble with another contraband! I have never had a stinker quite like this one. Of course, with three older sibling leaving her easy access to everything (i.e. forgetting to put the cereal boxes away in the locked cabinet), she pretty much has free access to things that were only dreamed of by our other 'destruct-o' kids.

7. When you lose your hard drive and you have to start all over, you quickly learn what you miss the most. I miss my bookmarks and my organized mailbox folders. And autofill for email addresses is such a time saving feature. Sigh.

8. Brianna is getting moody and I don't like it. I have been reassured by parents of other 10 year old girls, that this is very normal, but that is only slightly reassuring becuse they also say that it just may get worse. :( She is constantly testing me and her emotions jump from low to high to low again. Ugh!

9. We upgraded our satellite to more channels for the football season. I am so excited to have Monk, Psych, and HGTV back!

10. We all seem to be getting sick. Yuck. Andrew and Ella have it the worst. It is the back-to-school cold rearing its ugly head again.

Update on my computer

Apple repaired the hard drive and I have my computer back.  I won't know until next week how much data is recoverable.  I do have some data on my back up hard drive but not all of it.  I have learned lots of important lessons, most importantly to back up the entire computer, not just pictures.  It is going to take me weeks to recover from losing all of this.  Yuck.

A little surprise was waiting for me when I turned on my iMac.  They upgraded me to the newest operating system Leopard at no extra cost.  

This can't be happening!

Well my iMac broke. One year and two weeks after buying it, it is dead. The hard drive apparently doesn't exist. At first I didn't worry, because I have an external back up hard drive. But then I noticed, the hard drive wasn't attached to the computer and I suddenly felt nauseated. How long has it been like that? Ugh. The longer it has been disconnected, the more lost files there will be. This can't be happening.

This can be incredibly devastating to me. As I am unable to access the external hard drive, I don't know how much information I have lost so all of the worst case scenarios keep popping up in my head. Not good for my general emotional health.

I am hoping that it is only a loose connection somewhere and that is it. That would be the best answer. I am taking the iMac to Apple tomorrow, so please pray that this isn't a disaster.

Arick's Baptism

Today, Arick was baptized. It was such a nice day and the program, as well as the baptism, was wonderful. Aunty Maren talked about baptism and my good friend, Cristina, spoke about the Holy Ghost. After Arick came up out of the water, his smile was so big. I asked him if he felt different later and he said he feels 'grown up'. I just hope the he remembers the joy he felt forever.

Grandpa Craig and Gigi took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden restaurant afterwards to celebrate (thanks for the yummy meal!). We were all so full that we had to turn down the free birthday ice cream and told them to just sing the birthday song.

Seriously, whose kids do this?

Warning: the following post is about potty training and is not to be read at meal time. :)

I know that I am behind on my posts and pics . . . I'm just too tired these days. But I wanted to share a little bit about Ella. Yesterday was her second birthday! I can't believe my baby is TWO! Well, she received a "princess potty" as a gift. I really have had no desire to potty train Ella since she's my baby and since potty training has historically been pretty difficult and messy. Plus, she's only two . . . still quite young. However, Ella has been giving us signs that would indicate that she may be ready, in a few months, to take this big step.

Well, Ella has had us all fooled. That girl was so excited for her potty, she stripped down, sat on it, and did her business without the slightest problem. This potty has music that plays to encourage the potty-goer . . . although meant to be a reward, it kind of scared the pee out of her the first time she heard it! Andrew and I had a good laugh!

When we told her she was all done and we took her off the potty, the little stinker cried because she wanted to stay on it. Seriously! What kid just starts using the potty without being bribed or prodded to do so . . . and then begs to just sit there?!

Today she has been determined to keep using the potty and has had great success. She hates her diaper and wants to wear a swim diaper because she thinks they are underpants. Could she go without a diaper all day? Not yet. But in 24 hours she has had more success than our first three kids combined! Seriously, this just doesn't happen!

Yet, as exciting as this is, it makes me a wee bit sad (pun intended) to see my Ella leave babyhood behind (again, pun intended).

10 for Tuesday

1. My sil, Maren, takes more pics of my kids than I do. See them here.

2. Arick turned 8 this week and I did not take it well. I was teary eyed all day. He was spoiled with lots of fun gifts and attention. Brianna did not take that well at all, you would have thought she was 3, lol. I sense preteen emotional drama coming on.

3. Brianna and Arick started school yesterday. They both were assigned teachers that they adore, mostly because they are 'anti-homework' teachers. I can tell that I am going to like those teachers as well.

4. Brianna earned a Hannah Montana Piano book as a reward for her consistent piano practicing. She is beyond thrilled.

5. My favorite part of the Olympics so far is watching Michael Phelps. That guy is seriously amazing at what he does.

6. 5th grade girls are lame. They are obsessed about having boyfriends. Brianna is not (that we know of), thank heavens, but how long can I 'protect' her from this insanity? Ugh.

7. Andrew received a new calling at Church. He is now the Executive Secretary. I am sure he will enjoy this calling immensely.

8. My current obsession for food is frozen corn. A whole bag for lunch . . . yummy! My friend Gayle shared with me a corn on the cob recipe that I adapted to what I had around. I sprinkle olive oil, southwestern spice mix that I have, lime juice, and a little salt on my hot corn. It is so tasty.

9. Ty is obsessed with Star Wars. He wants to watch the movies over and over again.

10. Arick is finally clicking with the guitar. Like his teacher said 7 months of 'nothing' and then magic happens. He is doing so great now. I was very close to stopping the lessons.

I've been tagged

My friend Sally tagged me.

Enjoy!

3 Joys

1. My membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love going to Church on Sundays. It is my absolute favorite day of the week! I know that my family is stronger because of our faith and that we are better people because of the Gospel. I love serving in the Church. I love the people who attend. Most importantly, I love my Savior and I have a strong testimony as to the truth of this Gospel.
2. Photography. I can't tell you how much photography has benefited my life. I love to learn and I can learn something new everyday in this field.
3. Spending time with those I love. Dates with Andrew. Book Night with a group of wonderful ladies. Spending the day shopping or cooking with a friend. 'Girl's Night Out' with Brianna. Going to the park with the kids. Reading with Arick. Sunday dinner with Gigi and Craig. And so much more.


3 Fears

1. A house fire. A few years ago, I used to unplug everything before I went to sleep. Silly, I know.
2. Dying young. I don't fear death but I fear what I leave behind. I can't stand the thought of leaving my kids to grow up without me.
3. Spiders. Enough said.



3 Current Obsessions

1. Photography and getting my business off the ground. You can see what I've done so far at http://www.amylynnsmith.com.
2. Watching the Olympics.
3. Cute hair for Brianna. I've recently discovered the world of hair-style blogs for girls. While I've accepted the fact that I may never, ever learn how to french braid, these blogs have shown me hundreds of other ideas that are just as cute!


3 facts

1. I am not an outdoorsy person but I adore camping if the weather is right. Waking up to the sounds of birds chirping on a cool crisp morning and the smell of smoke from the campfire (Andrew wakes up with the sun, so he always gets our campfire going in the morning.) is nirvana to me.
2. I ate at the Cheesecake Factory twice this past weekend (Thanks Andrew! Thanks Mom!) and both times I ordered the same thing. The Ahi Carpaccio on the appetizer menu. I pair this with the bread and some cheesecake (usually a half of a slice) and that is dinner. It is by far one of the most amazing things I have ever ordered from a restaurant. Yum!
3. I do not like to get water on my face. Andrew finds it hysterical. I have had five bad swimming experiences. Couple that with my fear of drowning and it doesn't seem that irrational. Right?



I tag Maren and Ashley.

I'm going to Pheonix

Yesterday, my Mom and Craig surprised me with an early Christmas present! I am heading to Phoenix in January for a week to attend the Imaging USA conference!! This is an awesome conference for photographers and I am so incredibly excited to go. A week of 12-hour days studying photography and the business of photography . . . that's my kind of vacation. Did I mention that Anne Geddes is going to be presenting there?!!! Good times ahead. The scary part is being away from the kids for a week but I will have all of those classes to distract me. Thanks Mom & Craig!

An old photo of Bri

So I found an old photo of Bri and I just wanted to have fun with the processing. Enjoy! (I promise the original photo is not that interesting.)

Odds and ends

Here are some photos that I have been meaning to blog for a while now. Enjoy.


Brianna riding a horse at a birthday party.


Ty falling asleep on the floor with his head on his teddy bear after a hard day of canning food storage.


Brianna performing at her music recital.


Here is my most recent picture of Auntie Maren.

Basketball Camp

Arick and Brianna had the opportunity to attend basketball camp a while back and they had a great time, Arick especially. Hopefully they can do this again next year.

Food storage

This year we have been focusing on following the counsel of our Church leaders to be prepared for adversity (you can read more about it here at www.providentliving.org). We have put together 72 hour kits (we assembled ours using this guide from Red Cross) , we have 3 months of basic pantry staples on hand, and have put a side a small amount of cash for emergencies. Included in the food storage is what you see in the photo below. We purchased things like flour, wheat, sugar, beans, and rice in bulk and packaged them in cans which are cheap and pest free. The kids had a great time helping us fill the cans, label them and sort them.

Here is a blog with some great recipes using common food storage items: http://everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com/

Trader Joe's

My happiness has just increased 10 fold. I just found out that Trader Joe's is coming to Nashville! I absolutely adore this store (http://www.traderjoes.com/) and I really look forward to eating healthier foods at a reasonable cost. Woohoo! Leave a comment and tell me your favorite products from Trader Joe's so I can add it to my shopping list.

If you open a package of Oreos and find. . .

If you open a package of Oreos and find only the chocolate wafer cookies with the stuffing licked clean, then you can bet that Ella has found your cookie stash.

Grandpa Craig's cake

I forgot to share this story with you all and I want to remember it, so here it is.

A scene at Gigi and Grandpa Craig's house in the spring. Before you read this, you must understand that we eat dinner there almost every Sunday. They serve yummy food and usually buy a fancy dessert. Well Craig has always joked with the kids that he slaved over the dessert in a hot kitchen for hours. The kids all know it is a joke and we all laugh.

(Grandpa Craig) "Arick, look at this cake that I spent all day making. It is seven layers and it is called a layer cake."

(Arick) "You should call it a liar cake."

Fox Blood

So here is a little story thanks to Brianna that made me chuckle.

A conversation in the car with Brianna.

(Brianna) "Mom, can I have corn starch, corn syrup and red food coloring?"

(Me) "Why?"

(Brianna) "So I can make [fox] blood?"

(Me, thoroughly confused) "Brianna, you do realize that doesn't make real fox blood?"

(Brianna) "Mooooooooooom!, I don't mean F-O-X blood, I mean F-A-U-X blood."

(Me) Ha-ha-haa-haaaaaa

(Me, after getting some air in my lungs again) "Brianna, F-A-U-X sound like FO, it is French and means fake"

(Brianna) "Well can I make some? I want to freak out Arick."

(Me) "No"