DIY: Fail

I never told you about my Christmas DIY fail.
This past Christmas I went to "The Christmas Idea House." Basically it was a really nice house filled with Christmas decorations you could buy and all the money went to charity.
I saw something like the picture above.
I thought it was cute because I basically like anything with ruffles.
The price tag said $15. And I said to myself, that is so easy. I could totally make that for much cheaper. (By the way, lest you think I am uncharitable, I did buy other stuff there)
So I went to Michaels and found out that a styrofoam cone cost 10 dollars (seriously?). And then the candlestick and cupcake wrappers put me at $20.
And while I think my creation turned out pretty cute, I don't think it is worth $20.
And neither did Don.
So the moral of the story is: sometimes crafting ain't as cheap as it looks.
Just go to Target instead.
But not Anthropologie. That place is just insane.

Last week we were running a mucas factory here at the Mortensen household. the only reason I am telling you this is....

...to explain this picture. Chloe looked really pathetic with her red eye.Which doesn't quite come out in the picture.

Also last week I decided to finally hem my curtains. Unfortunately numbers have never been my strong point, and I was preplexed when I put my curtains up and found them to be about 5 inches too short.

And I am embarrassed to say how long it took me to figure out what I did wrong. I eventually remedied the problem.

This week I am painting the outside of my house. Because it is 75 degrees. This my friends, is the place to be in January.

Come visit me.

Macie and Chloe slept in their own respective beds ALL NIGHT.
Tears of joy!!
PS I think poor Macie had a sore throat the night she woke up every hour because the next day she had a cold.

Sleep. Or lack there of.

I have created a monster. 2 actually. They are very cute monsters. They are sweet wonderful children during the daylight. But something happens when the sun goes down. They turn into creatures from another world. I know I have only myself to blame. Both have been spoiled into thinking they own my bed. In the past year I think only once have both of them stayed in their own bed for the whole night at the same time.
I am trying quite unsuccessfully, to retrain them.
Last night Macie woke up (it seemed) like every half hour. I held strong for most of the night, and then I could not take it anymore. Letting her cry it out that many times was torture. Even with ear plugs.
And then of course Chloe ended up in my room as soon as I gave in and let Macie sleep in my bed.
We thought it might solve the problem of Chloe being scared to go to sleep, if Macie and her shared a room. And it works-until Macie wakes up, waking Chloe up and sending the rest of the night into a game of musical beds.
So I think I first need to solve Macie's problem. And get her sleeping through the night. Which I am not sure how to do. The only thing I can think is to put her in the farthest room away from us and put in the ear plugs. But like I said, she wakes up frequently and she is persistent every time with her crying, it takes a half hour to give in. She is literally crying half the night!
And...she won't take a bottle. Or a pacifier.
This has got to end. We ALL need our sleep!

Max: Who is Chelsey?

Chloe: She's big. And tall. And always mad.

Max: Oh.

Today I went with a friend to the AZ Science Center. Chloe's little friend kaylin came along also. The two of them stepped in the elevator and before we (the adults) could join them, the doors closed. Chloe gasped and gave me a look of shock as the door was closing, but there was nothing I could do. I wasn't afraid for their safety or anything, so I found it pretty funny imagining the 2 of them in there. We went from floor to floor to find them, and when I got to the 2nd floor I stepped out and said, "chloe...Chloe." And I heard from the floor below me, "I think she is down here!" I look over the balcony and there is Chloe and her friend sitting on a bench like 2 scared little puppies. They were very happy to see us and I bet this will be one of her memories that sticks with her as this is the first time I think she has really felt lost. My favorite part is that she told the adult who helped them that my name was "Mewissa."

I asked her this evening this question, "What is your favorite thing about your life?" I thought it was a pretty vague question and didn't really expect an answer but I thought her answer was quite heart warming. she said clearly, "Having friends." Yes, having friends is one of my favorite things too.

And for Macie news...she took her first step a few days ago. It has not been repeated, and I am certainly not pushing the issue. I suspect it will be any day now. But she can get around pretty fast crawling so maybe she doesn't feel the need to become 2 footed. One other thing we have discovered about Macie is that she loves, loves, LOVES food. If she sees someone eating, she books her way over to it. She is like a little scavenger and I think can and does eat more than Chloe. Her fascination and delight for food is very entertaining.

Kid Updates

1. Macie stood up unassisted for a few seconds today. She is getting closer to walking, which I am in NO hurry for. She is already all over the place and could probably get along well with dumpster divers.

2. A conversation I had with Chloe today:

Chloe: Mom-what color are we?

Me: Well, we are white.

Chloe: What??!! No we're not!

Me: Well what color are we then?

Chloe: I don't know. That's a hard color.

Let's see, we're not blue...we're not red...we're not yellow...we're not green...we're not pink...etc.

I know! We are the color of a paint brush!

Me: And what color is that?

Chloe: I don't know. That's a hard color. I've never learned that before.

I should tell her we are a tuscan beige. With spots.

3. She also told me that she needs a "shooting star for her dreams."

And boy I wish I had one of those because that might make putting her to sleep easier. She is afraid to sleep by herself in her room because she is afraid of nightmares. One morning she told me that she dreamed I had eaten bugs. Last night I caught her talking in her sleep carrying on some conversation with her friend Mo. It sounded like, "Mo! Mo! Mo-come here!!!!" Which makes sense, in real life she is also bossing him around.

Every morning I wake up with Chloe and Macie (and Don) in my bed. 4 people in a queen size bed might be nice if we were stranded in a car on a frozen mountain top, but it is not ideal under normal circumstances.

I think my girls look quite different. And their personalities are quite different as well. This is Chloe at 11 months:

And Macie at 11 months:

So let's take a vote. Who do you think is prettier?

Juuuuuuuust kidding.

They are both scrumdidiliumptious to me.

And here is Chloe at a year, just because I love this picture of her so much.

Me: Chloe, does your magic wand clean kitchens?
Chloe: No, it's fake.
Me: Oh darn.
Chloe: Brooms clean kitchens?!

She is full of helpful advice.

The circus

My brother bought us tickets to a small Italian circus for Christmas. It was last Friday night. It was pretty fantastic. It was old fashioned...and clean, and I mean literally and figuratively. Apparently it is a family run circus that hails from Chicago. There were a lot of children that participated, like children climbing to the top of a pole while an adult (Dad?) balanced the pole on his forehead and stomach. Or the children that were flung into the air by an adult's (Dad?) rock solid thighs. It was pretty amazing. So I got to thinking during the circus...so if you are born into this family, do you have to be part of the circus? I mean what if you are afraid of heights? What if you don't like walking or swinging on skinny ropes? What if standing up on a moving horse is not your thing? I would be horrified if I was born into that family. I mean, I am sure they are all lovely people, but 1. I hate heights 2. I am scared of standing up on running horses 3. I don't like to wear leotards that show all my lady assets off 4. I am accident prone. I would most definitely make a poor circus girl. Of course I could always be a clown. Oh wait, that is #5 I hate clowns.

So the clown in the show I finally figured out, was actually the leader/owner/ring leader (whatever you want to call it) , as in, it is his show. But all I kept thinking is, man, this is awesome, all except for the personal space invading clown. I lived in fear that he was going to hand pick me out of the audience and humiliate me. Because he did not take "no" for an answer. He told some guy to do a somersault, and the guy tried to get out of it. He clearly was not comfortable with the idea. But the clown hassled him until he must have realized there was no way out of it. He probably would have made me do a cartwheel. And I would have had to say, "Look, I can't do a cartwheel! Leave me alone already!" Okay, I can do a cartwheel, but would I want to do that in front of 500 people? no sir. But the clown was very nice. I told him nice job at the end and he gave me a genuinely nice hug. Hmm. That does sound creepy, doesn't it.

Well anyway, we had a fabulous time. There were only enough tickets for 3 of us, so Don stayed home with the baby and my Dad bought a ticket there. We were very disappointed to find out they were sold out, but lucky for my Dad someone turned in a few extra tickets at the last minute. My Dad bought it. The ticket said $25 but my Dad gave the ticket lady $40 because he said he didn't mind paying extra for a good show. And then he bought Chloe cotton candy, licorice, popcorn, a balloon, a 10 dollar 4x6 picture (above), and Chelsey a clown doll. And he also made sure to tell the trapeze performer after the show that he really enjoyed the show, but he had been concerned for her safety.

It was a pretty great night.

Christmas Part Dos

Gee, I wonder who took this picture. Notice a certain someone's feet...I always enjoy finding pictures like this on my camera that lets me know Chloe got a hold of it.

So Christmas was a really nice day. We had church at 9AM which was kind of nice because we didn't have the option to laze around in our pjs all morning (* day). But it made for a rushed morning. We made Chloe hold off on presents until my family showed up at 1:30 PM, which was really hard. It was torture for Chloe. We gave her her stocking when she woke up and she found some little goodies and this dress (above).

When we were driving to church I realized my contact was going haywire. I thought it would work itself out by the time I got there, and I even brought contact solution with me, but it was no use. I had gotten make up on it and it was not coming off. This proved to be somewhat problematic being that I had to play my violin and it is rather difficult to read music when you are blind. So I ran home and put on my glasses instead, which made for a not so relaxing Christmas morning. Luckily that was the only real hiccup, not something like my string breaking.

When we got home from church we started our traditional breakfast. this year I made a German pancake and peach compote, and it was very tasty. Don stuck to his burritos which are always spectacular. And I think we used every dish, pot and pan making our breakfast. And being that is was Christmas, and I don't do dishes on Christmas, the following day I awoke to a very dirty house and a heck of a Christmas hangover, minus the alcohol of course.

This photo belongs on awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

And those are my pictures of actual Christmas. Note to self, get pictures and video from Adam.

Santa was good to all of us this year and I was very proud of myself for wrapping things ahead of time this year.

Chloe's favorite gifts: Pinkalicious Book, Belle barbie, magic wand, pillow pet, princess costumes.

Chloe likes to freeze people with her wand. Don got a mirror and used it to freeze her back. Now that is a scene I wish I had on video.

Chelsey got Wii Mario Kart which I think is all of our favorite Christmas gift.

Don got the game of Pit and a radio. somehow we lost "Pit" after only 2 days of having it. And the radio is going back to Best Buy. sorry Don.

And I got some cute new clothes.

And Macie...well she is a baby so I got her a dress, which was really a present I gave to myself. Because seeing her all dressed up makes me giddy.

Later that day we went over to Julie's house to spend some more time with Denise and Whitney. Chloe wanted to go spend some more time at my Dad's house, so we let her go over there.

It was quite a lovely day. I was really glad we went to church in the morning because it started the day off with the real Christmas spirit. I have felt so much gratitude this holiday season for my countless blessings. I have done nothing to deserve what I have been given and I thank God for all the tangible and intangible things He has given me.

Oh, and back to Christmas Eve, did I mention the crazies in the family jumped in the pool. Wolfgang jumped in too, and he looked like he was going to drown being that he was shocked by the cold water. We all stood there hoping that if he needed to be saved, it was not one of us that had to jump in to do the saving!

I brought Chelsey along, and my in laws did not know she was coming. they handed out cards and cash to all of us, and Chelsey went up to my Mother in law and asked where hers was, my Mother in law said she had forgotten it in the car, or something like that. And she made a card for Chelsey and gave her some money too which I thought was so sweet. I married into a fantastic family.

Last week we intended to either go to a cabin with some of the family or go help with the harvest in St. David but we ended up not doing either. Macie got sick and we were pooped. We were able to relax though and meet up with some old friends. Monday we had a birthday party at Nicole's house. Tuesday we had Spencer and his wife over for dinner and we played a game. wednesday I went out to eat with the Ences and Fullers, Thursday I met up with a friend I have not seen in years (Larissa) and had Pizookies, Friday I fell asleep watching "Midnight In Paris" with Don, Saturday I fell asleep again watching "Sherlock Holmes 2" with Don and rang in the new year in the produce section at Albertsons, and Sunday was Don's 35th birthday and we had the Archers and my siblings over for pie, coco and cinnamon roles. I made Don some green chili burritos. Poor Don. I think having a New Years birthday is a pretty lame day to be born. Everyone is so over partying. It's a good thing he has no expectations for his birthday.

And I think that pretty much covers everything.

Christmas 2011 was great and even though it was really busy, it was a good busy, and I enjoyed the holiday season.

Christmas Part Uno

Hello Blog. It has been awhile. Well, awhile in Melissa time. We had a really swell Holiday season. And I am more than fine that it is over! I think that there can definitely be too much of a good thing. My very tight pants being a prime example of what happens when you have too much of a good thing. I am happy to be cleaning up my house and organizing things that have been just waiting for my attention. I am very proud of myself that I finally, FINALLY cleaned up my junk drawer. Don is not a fan of my junk drawer. But it reminds me of home. Growing up we had lots of junk drawers. I thought that is what drawers were for. To put random crap in. Like screws and barbie shoes and receipts and things that you have no idea what they belong to, but you fear throwing them away thinking that they must be of some importance, but realizing that you most likely will never figure out what they went to because you never think when you are missing something, "Oh, let me go through that awesome junk drawer." You're welcome for that run on sentence...
Anyway, I finally decided to organize that mess because Don started throwing random junk in there like an old martinell's glass bottle and an old apple core just to prove his dislike of my drawer.


So I am feeling pretty good about myself. It has been like 3 whole days that I have stuck to my New Year's Goals. This year I have some more ambitious goals than last year. Last year I was 9 months pregnant and I remember my goals were to brush and floss my teeth and to get dressed. So really, my goals only could go up from there.


So let's take a trip back in time and reminisce over our month of December. Christmas Eve we went to Kay's house and had delicious Mexican food. This year Don's sister and niece from back East made it out to AZ, so that was a treat to see them. Of course I have no pictures to prove that they were even there.
Chloe could hardly contain her excitement to see her favorite cousin Loma. I was so proud of Chloe. She is really growing up. She was so well behaved and listened quietly as her Grandpa told the Christmas story followed by a quiz for all the kids. The best part was when Wolfgang (who was visiting from back East) answered the first question and opened up his prize of nail files. Not a ten year old boy's first pick, I am sure. His reaction and disappointed face was priceless. Santa also paid a 30 second visit (literally) and her reaction to that was also priceless but of course the camera is never ready to capture those moments, even though in Kodak commercials they make it seem like it is so easy to get it on film. That's probably because it takes 2 minutes for my camera to actually take the picture. And thus the story of my blogging life-technology is always working against me.
We also met the newest Grandchild, Lyla, who is a few months younger than Macie. I am glad Macie will have a cousin to play with when they start caring about things besides food and having their Mommy hold them.
And my Miss Macie Moo is just as charming as ever.
Even though I put strange 3-D flowers on her head.





And of course there were a lot of other fun Christmas celebrations...

(our friends, who came over one night, but I have not seen them since because I guess right after this night my friend became the victim of violent morning sickness)

Our friend Kendall looks like he has 2 wives. What makes this picture even creepier is that the one nuzzling him is his cousin.
That fire, is our new tv. Which we love. And my brother gave us a Roku for Christmas. Internet TV is the best invention ever.

Chloe took this wonderful picture of me. She dressed me too. I believe this was the day after I was viciously attacked by a 24 hour stomach bug (along with at least 70 other people from my ward, and that is no exaggeration). I think I look like a German Body builder named Olga.


Oh and other happenings around here....home improvements have involved putting in pavers in our front and back yard. And....I guess I need to take an after shot. The front yard is quite impressive. For a couple weeks our house looked like we had a moat for a front yard, with peril and dangers crossing your path every step you took. Unfortunately you will have to take my word for it because, well you guessed it, I didn't take a picture. And I painted over those atrocious flowers on our back patio.
The after shot! So beautiful, right? ! Just kidding. Uh, I'll have to get some after shots now.

In other news, I got released from the RS presidency Christmas day. And well, what a fantastic Christmas present.

And Part II of this blog will be coming after Don comes back with the laptop and camera,