2011: A Year In Review

I love to take this time of year to look back and evaluate the past year as well as make new goals for the coming year. Here is a list, in no particular order, of some of the events that have happened in 2011: (I might share some of my goals later, we'll see.)

-Miss Fifi has learned lots of words. She now says: Hi, Mom, ruff (sometimes it's "oof"), moo (all animals, according to her, say ruff or moo), Da, "ot" (hot), out, and "ut-ut" (uh-oh).

-Rory worked really hard in school. He received and associate's degree in Pre Electrical Engineering. Now he is looking forward to attending the University of Utah to finish his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering.

-Miss Fifi has also learned a lot of signs. She knows: all done, milk, I love you (it looks like something else...), change (for diaper change), book, and please (she rubs her belly for that. So funny.) She also started folding her arms for prayers and pointing at her mouth when she's hungry, I didn't teach her that one but I'll take it.

-In true Jones form: We're moving again. (Oh, the stress to be had.)

-Miss Fifi turned one.

-Rory quit his job so we can move.

-I learned to enjoy homemaking more. I always knew that I wanted to stay home when I had kids, but I didn't know it would be as rewarding. I know it isn't for everyone, but it's for me.

-I knit a bunch with my spare time. Here are photos of some more things I knit and crochet. (I did the red blanket, headband with the crochet red flower, diaper cover, and the crochet booties. Isn't Piper adorable!?)

Another thing I like to do is look back at our finances from the past year. This year was... well... Let's say: this year was modest. (That's a nice spin.) Between me staying home to be with Miss Fifi and Rory working part time to go to school, we had to make some sacrifices. And, I wouldn't have changed a thing. I consider us very blessed that we were in the financial position we were in when this year began. One thing that I am proud of is that at one point during the year we had a fully funded emergency fund! It lasted about a month before we had an emergency and had to dip into it, but still, I feel like we did a pretty good job this year.

Call it luck, call it blessings, call us the recipients of wonderfully charitable acts; all in all, I'd say we had a pretty good year. This year had it's stresses and un-fun days. But looking back I'm so grateful for how 2011 turned out. I'm also looking forward to bigger and better things that 2012 may have to offer.

I wish everyone a happy new year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We did this a couple of years ago (to a different song) and we had a few requests to do it again. So, here you go:



And, because Miss Fifi doesn't make an appearance in the video:

Christmas morning 2010

I hope you Christmas time is less stressful than ours!

Late October Stuff

Get ready for some super flattering photos of me.

Last week was pretty eventful. Among other things that happened we all got sick, which put a damper on our Halloween festivities. Miss Fifi was the first to get sick and honestly, if I had gotten sick first, I probably would have had more sympathy for her. Poor thing. She acted like her normal self -aside from the runny nose and cough- for the first couple days. When I got it, there was a sore throat and all around grossness in the mix.

About three days in, though, Miss Fifi's breathing wasn't sounding right. She was wheezing and working a little harder for her breath. Rory had asthma when he was a baby, so we thought it would be best to take her in for a doctor's appointment that afternoon. When we were heading out the door, we could see her stomach contract with each breath. It was so sad. They did a nebulizer treatment which helped. (Despite the fact that she screamed and wiggled like a bag of eels the whole time. How long are those treatments, anyway? 'Cause it felt like it took an hour.) Anyway, the doctor wrote a prescription for Albuterol MDI. It's basically and inhaler with an attachment that goes over her mouth and nose. It only takes a few seconds, so it's much easier to make her hold still for it. She's gotten better since those treatments. The poor girl still has had some coughing fits, but she is doing better. Anyone else had babies with asthma? Any tips for a newbie parent would be welcome.

Anywho, on to the rest of the post: We went to a pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins a week ago. I'd never been and thought it would be fun. I think it's going to be a new tradition.

Miss Fifi had fun.

Our friends throw a fun Halloween party every year and as per tradition Rory and I threw together our costumes no earlier than three hours before. Let's take a stroll down memory lane to remember our other half-hearted efforts at costumes, shall we?

Halloween 2008: Sarah Palin and Jemaine Clement (See what I mean about flattering?)

Halloween 2009: Pumpkin (borrowed from his childhood) and scrounge up old dance costumes and see what you get (Don't worry, it's a thing.)

Halloween 2010: Rory (Not Pictured)I don't even know what he was but involved sparkly armbands and a welding mask. I (again, not pictured) was "pregnant" (This was three weeks after I gave birth... I thought it was funny.) Miss Fifi was a ballerina. (If only she could get her parent to be as on top of things...)

Halloween 2011: "Lame" (he came up with it himself), Raphael, and a Japanese girl.

And... what good is a ninja without any cool poses?

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What I'm listening to:

Artist: Damien Rice

Album: O

This album has a lot of meaning for me. Besides being the kind of album that I could listen to every day for a month and still want to hit repeat, this album was the topic of discussion on my first date with Rory. In fact, we listened to a lot of Damien Rice for the first couple months we were dating.

Beautifully written. Beautifully produced. Check it out.

Miss Fifi is Big in Japan

This post has the potential for being very long. You'll get over it.

Miss Fifi's birthday party was last week and I promised that I'd do a party post. As for the theme, I figured that adults would outnumber kids at this party, so I thought that I might as well make it fun for me to plan. I also just wanted to have an excuse to make fun rice crispy treat sushi. I settled on Big in Japan. Many people asked me about what it means. According to Wikipedia it is, "a phrase to describe Western celebrities failed in the Western world, but more successful in Japan." Funny, right? Just go with it.

If you follow my boards on Pintrest, you may have seen a number of photos that inspired this party. I worked within a budget and pinterest is a great resource for cost saving ideas.

So imagine that the stack of mini chairs and the chalk board aren't in the back ground and it's at a park on a warm fall day. That's what I had in mind when I planned this but you've got to roll with the punches sometimes.

We had fortune cookies I found in bulk at Winco for $.06 each. I dipped them in chocolate a couple days before. They were yummy.

White cake pops dipped in milk chocolate, topped with coconut. I made them with my trusty cake pop maker I got a few months ago. It's a time saver. I recommend getting one if you are in the habit of making cake pops.

"Swedish Nigiri" Rice crispy treats topped with swedish fish and wrapped in green apple fruit roll up.

Wontons filled with cream cheese. Rory also made his famous Thai dipping sauce. I'll try to post that recipe soon.

"Twinkie Roll" Twinkies cut and topped with cut gummy bears.

"Zinger Roll" Zinger's cut and topped with gummy bears.

Funfetti Cake with cream cheese frosting. 'Cause that's how we roll.

We also served Miso Soup, Samurai peanut mix (a Winco find), and the "Miss Fifi Roll."

The Miss Fifi Roll didn't photograph well. It was mango, strawberries, and kiwi with rice cooked in coconut milk and wrapped in a chocolate dough. To save myself from stress I made it the week before and froze it. If I could do it again, I'd make it fresh. Recipe is here. I cut back on the salt in the chocolate dough, and if I made this again, I'd also cut back quite a bit on the sugar. It was awfully sweet.

My tips for saving money while planning a party:

-Spend money on things you can reuse. The cake plater that Miss Fifi's cake was on is a great example because I will always be able to use it. If I bought a green and yellow one to match the theme, I'd be very limited on how I'd be able to use it in the future.

-Plan far in advance. Some people thought I was crazy to start talking about her party in august. Starting that early gave me time to brainstorm and think outside the box. I had time to shop around and not feel pressure to buy because I knew I had time on my side if the price wasn't right. I also had time to make things that I wouldn't have time for if I'd started two weeks before.

-Shop around. I ended up buying much of the food in Winco's bulk section. (If you've never been there, I implore you to go. I've had bad luck with their produce, but their bulk section is marvelous.)

-Make your own food. You might think this would add more stress in the end and might not be worth it, but I was able to spread out what I needed to make over a few days. It turned out to be pretty easy. (The cake I made three weeks before, I wrapped it up really well and froze it. I pulled it out of the freezer the day before and it was just as moist as the day I made it.)

-Borrow. I borrowed the tablecloths, a drink dispenser, a cake pan and the platter that the big cake was on.

-Repurpose. The bamboo that was on the table was actually meant to be a blind. I found it at Big Lots on clearance. It was the exact length of the table, so I used it as a table runner. It added a lot to the over-all affect, yet it only cost me $3.

-Craft. The serving platter the little cake was on I made myself using thrifted plates, dollar store candle stick holder, and some epoxy. Here is the tutorial. It cost me a whopping total of $6.75. I also spent $4 on cardstock and had my sister show me how to fold paper cranes. (*I don't recommend using cardstock for origami. You live, you learn.) I also made the "lanterns" for decorating the cakes. They cost me about $3 to make.

(Craft cont.) With the help of my mom, I also made Miss Fifi's Kimono. I found fabric on sale at Jo-Ann fabrics. It actually inspired the color scheme, too. Cost $10. I plan on using this for her Halloween costume too. Two birds. One stone. Holla! (I'm sorry, I'll never use that word again.)

Another photo of Miss Fifi just for kicks:

The budget was about $80. I went over by a few dollars, but I think it was worth it.

Food: $28

Serving plates: $16

Paper goods: $15

Decor: $15

Fabric: $10

Invites: $2

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GRAND TOTAL $86

I think $86 dollars isn't too shabby for a fun party. Am I right?

If there is anything else you'd like to know about Miss Fifi's party or any other ideas on saving money on parties, let me know.

Things

Please note: Some of the contents of this blog post sways into complaining, on the verge of pity-party territory. I apologize.

I would like to be a better blogger, but I feel like things are so up in the air right now that I don't have much to blog about. Here is an update... Well, it's not even an update because there is much yet to be decided. So, here is my non-update:

Rory is finishing his Associate's degree in Pre-Electrical Engineering in December. After that, he has to transfer to a different school to finish his Bachelor's since UVU doesn't offer a EE Bachelor's degree. So, we'll probably be moving in a few months. Where to? We still don't know. We've thought about BYU. It would be nice because we wouldn't have to move, but between the classes he'd have to repeat (since they don't accept some credits from UVU) and religion classes it would tack on possibly an extra year to his degree. No thanks. We've narrowed it down to a couple of state schools. USU and U of U. Logan or Salt Lake City. Right now we are leaning towards U of U. That could change tomorrow. I don't know.

We are also coming to the realization that as Rory finishes his degree, we just might have to go into debt. The thought of debt makes me cringe.

The thought of moving farther away from family doesn't bother me. I think it will be good for us to not rely on family for babysitting and entertainment when we are bored and don't want to make dinner. Anyone else know how that is? Moving a little farther away will be an adventure. It's just not knowing where we need to look that I'm having the hardest time with. I'm a planner. I need time to work things out in my head and... well, plan. Not knowing where we'll be in five months scares me.

Part of me just wants to get the next couple years over with. I don't like thinking that way because A) That would mean I'm one of those people who live thinking; 'life will start as soon as...' (they graduate, they buy a house, they lose the extra 5 lbs. etc.) As cheesy as the old cliche is, it's true; "Happiness is a journey, not a destination." (If you know who first said or wrote it please, help a sister out.) And B) Could you imagine Miss Fifi skipping from 10 months old to almost 3 years. She's already growing way faster than I believe is fair. Skipping two years of her life is unimaginable.

Speaking of Miss Fifi; isn't she cute?

Because I am unable to solidify moving plans and such, I've focused my efforts on planning Miss Fifi's birthday party and knitting her a blanket. Her party will be awesome, trust me on that one. Would you like a sneak-peak of her blanket? Shhh... I need to trust that you won't tell her about it.

That's all you're getting for now. I didn't go with any of the patterns I listed in my previous post. (Found HERE.) I found this one soon after I published my last post and really liked it. I'll probably do the Escher one some day, but I decided that it wasn't baby enough for Miss Fifi.

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What I'm Listening to:

Artist: Snow Patrol
Album: Eyes Open

It's just some good stuff I haven't heard in a while. You Could Be Happy is probably my favorite song on the album. Unfortunately, I never really paid attention to Snow Patrol until this album was released. It was their fourth album, did you know that? I didn't realize that. They are about to release their sixth album, actually. Crazy. I had no idea. I'm not sure if there is a release date for that, but they've got an EP due September 4th.

Rory and I were just talking and we realized that we both bought this album and Death Cab for Cutie's Plans at the same time before we met. (Are we soul-mates or what? haha)

Rory Birthday Fun

Rory got to have two birthday parties. One for friends and cousins. One with his family. He's one lucky boy.

I did a lot of baking for the first one. I even salvaged the cake I made. See?

I made cake pops too. They turned out pretty well.

He's got a lot of candles there.

It was like pulling teeth, getting him to be okay with having a party. The kid doesn't like having birthday parties. Who doesn't like birthday parties? Lame.

After it was over, he said that the party "wasn't bad." I count that as a victory.

Birthday parties=1, Rory=0

Then we had a birthday party at Rory's parent's house. Rory shares a birthday with his 3-year-old niece, so they had a Dora the Explorer party. She pronounces Dora as Dorla. It's cute.

Because they didn't get a chance to at their wedding...

I have no explanation for this.

Poor Dorla.

All the kids got their own purple "backpack." I didn't know that was a thing.

(I've got a lot to learn with this whole motherhood thing.)

There was even a pinata and fireworks. None of it impressed Miss Fifi, though.

Rory was impressed.

I think he had a good birthday. I know I had fun.

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What I'm Listening To:

The band I'm listening to are no longer a band, unfortunately. But that's the beauty of my "What I'm Listening To" posts. They don't have to be new, just what I'm listening to at the time of my post.

I'm listening to The Format right now. Dog Problems is probably my favorite album of theirs. They are super cool. They are all around good, polished, modern, fun.

I first heard them in 2006. I went to an All-American Rejects concert with some friends. I'm not a huge fan of All-American Rejects, but I thought it would be fun. The Format opened for them. I was more impressed with them than with the headlining band. I don't remember any of the songs they played or anything. I just remember thinking they were pretty good and the singer was quite hunky. (This was a year before I met Rory, so it's okay.) Anyway, they are a good band, in case you are looking for music to listen to.

I'm just wondering, does anyone read my "What I'm Listening To" sections? Does anyone care to know what I'm listening to?

Random Facts About Rory

Today is Rory's birthday. In honor of it, and to help everyone get to know him more, I thought I'd share will you some random facts about him.

-He shares his birthday with a brother-in-law and a niece.

-When we first started dating, he avoided taking me to restaurants that served food that is commonly served along side ketchup until he knew that I really liked him. He was afraid he would scare me off by the quantity he uses.

-He would take Jean-Luc Picard over Captain Adama any day. Nerd.

-Rory is a Heinz-snob. (I bet you didn't even know that was a thing.)

-Rory now owns four guitars. If I had to guess which is his favorite, I would guess his Gresch 125th Anniversary.

-He says that Radiohead made him a music snob.

-He is pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering.

-Rory used to like Creed.

-Rory likes to think outside of the box and play devil's advocate when discussing politics.

-His favorite comedian is Steve Martin.

-He often wears a Snakes On a Plane t-shirt but has never seen the movie. (Has anyone seen that movie?)

-Rory loves Jack White and thinks he has the Midas Touch.

-Rory isn't just into music. (I guess that's an inside joke.)

-Rory played football in Jr. High. He also played Jr. Jazz.

-Rory is a Jazz basketball fan.

-He loses his keys a lot.

-He once met Steve Smith, who is widely regarded as worlds best drummer.

-Wilford Brimley told Rory (when he was Five) he'd teach him how to chew Tabacco.

-In high school, Rory was voted "Most Off The Wall."

-Rory has been in a couple of bands; Exit 282, Soul Research Foundation (a Crescent School of Music Funk Ensamble), and The Gentleman and a Scholar. He also played guitar for J. Wride in a few shows. He will also be playing for Rachel Ann's album release show on August 3 at the Velour in Provo. (Everyone should come. She's amazing!). He's also played for a few other random bands here and there.

-He once played with Brian Bromberg, who is considered worlds best bassist.

-Rory watches Project Runway with me. And enjoys it.

-He is told that he looks like Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords a lot.

-Rory is a wonderful father.

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What I'm Listening To:

I'm listening to my very good friend from high school, Rachel Sonderegger Koller. (AKA Rachel Ann) As previously stated, Rory is playing with her August 3rd and the Velour!

Everyone should go like her on Facebook. Seriously. Go HERE to do so.

You should severely consider coming to the show. It's August 3rd at the Velour. (Have I mentioned that already?) Doors open at 8pm. Admission is $6.

Back when I was musical, Rachel and I played duets together. She could sing my face off. I have always felt humbled by her talent. She is releasing her debut album and I am SO excited for her to be following her passion. Since, Rory has been practicing for her show, I've been able to get a sneak-peek of her songs. Let me just tell you: The album and the show are going to beMARVELOUS. I highly recommend following her musical career with me.

An Ode to Rory

This post has the potential for becoming cheesy; bare with me. But some things are worthy of cheese.

Ahh... Rory. Where to begin? I absolutely love this man. Three years ago today we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful day. A wonderful wedding. We had our reception the night before. (*Gasp* I know! Untraditional? Yes, but it was a brilliant idea. [Trust me, we had to fight certain traditional family members for it. They later said that it was a great idea. Go figure.]) So all we had to worry about that day was the luncheon, ceremony, and pictures. Everything lead up to the ceremony. It was perfect. He looked dashing in his tuxedo, I wore my white gown and Grandmother's necklace. I was lucky enough to wear my mother's wedding dress (which she made) for the ceremony. Have I mentioned that it was perfect?

We weren't very nervous. You were nervous when you asked me to be your wife, but on our wedding day, we just felt... right. I only cried after I saw my sister crying (happy tears). Sisters have that effect, you know. Other than that, I felt fairly calm, considering it was our wedding day. We felt right.

We held each other's hands so tight that day. I remember vividly. All day. It was perfect. We were so happy to start our life together. The way he looked at me that day made me weak and want to jump up and down hip-hip-hooraying all at the same time. The way he looks at me still makes me feel that way. And I sometimes see him look at our little girl with that same amount of love. I can't think of a better way to describe how that makes me feel other than: pure joy.

Over the last three years I can safely say that we've fallen more in love. Rory understands me better than anyone I can think of. He even loves me for my quirks that he doesn't understand. Like the way I totally throw myself into new things/hobbies/ideas/what have you, my unexplained fetish for socks, the way that I can't stand when pajama pants ride up exposing my ankle to cold air, but I can wear shorts to bed just fine. (Man, I'm coo coo.) I love his little quirks too. Always experimenting and putting ketchup on random food (the man is easy to please), beat-boxing with Miss Fifi, forgetting his keys, the way he says things that don't make sense to be funny, his excitement over Yo Gabba Gabba. He's just so cute.

I love all the sweet things he does for me too; rubbing my feet nearly every day when I was pregnant, helping to roll me out of bed when I was REALLY pregnant, listening to me talk his ear off about my new hobbies or things I learn, taking the pink toothbrush because I like green better, watching Project Runway with me, offering to take pre-natal vitamins with me because he knows how much I hate swallowing pills, going to the store at 3 am for a medicine (Again, while I was pregnant.) then being able to give me a blessing after, letting me talk him into an uber-extreme money plan that some friends and family think we are crazy for, changing most of Miss Fifi's diapers (unprovoked) when he is home. Isn't he sweet? I couldn't have imagined a better fit for me. And, I wouldn't trade our conversations for $1,000,000. Rory is wonderful.

Rory-

I've told you this many times, but it seems to become more true every day: "I'm so glad I married you." After three years of marriage, but still very much at the beginning of our marriage: I love you, Rory.

-B

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What I'm listening to:

Today, I'm listening to our wedding songs. We had two. (We love music, what can I say?) In no particular order:

Reasons to Love You by Mieko and

When She Believes by Ben Harper (Grooveshark doesn't have the rights to any Ben Harper, so you're stuck with a poopy video from youtube.)

*Photos courtesy of Raquel Acevedo.

Miss Fifi's Mobile

Miss Fifi is crawling now. She started pulling up to standing before she could crawl, so not much is holding her back from getting what she wants, nowadays. So far she's managed a few feats which I will share with you.

-Learned how to open cupboards. (Thanks Rory. I could have done without you showing her.)

-Pulled my cooling -but still hot- straightener down from the bathroom counter. (This was a close one. I was standing right there and quickly got it away from her before she got hurt.)

-Turned on our Bluray player then pressed eject, making the disc tray come out. (I pulled her away before she put her weight on the tray, which she was reaching to do.)

-Pulled our lightest weight acoustic guitar on top of her. (Didn't cry, just acted startled. This might not have been the case if it were any of our other guitars.)

-As I type this, she just learned to open a drawer. (Oops, fingers. Hold on... I'm back. For my mom's sake: she's just fine, didn't even cry. I think it just startled her.)

-Managed to get herself out of her Bumbo twice. (For those not well versed in baby gear lingo; The Bumbo.)

Wow, reading all this makes me feel like a bad parent. Sometimes, I just like watching her work through things (ready to pounce if things go awry). It's fascinating to watch. Needless to say; we will be doing some more baby-proofing this weekend. As for the blueray player, (since we don't have doors on our entertainment center) Rory said he could disable the bottons on the front so that we would need the remote to make it work. (I love having a tech-savvy husband.) That is fine by me. I hope it will be a while before she figures out how the remote works... or hides it. Maybe, we will get a kid-friendly entertainment center for Christmas...

I love her.

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What I'm listening to:

Right now, Death Cab for Cutie is on the ipod. Someday you will be loved is the song. Plans is a great album. I agree with Rory when he said that Owl City kind of turned him off of the Death Cab, Postal Service, and Owl City vibe for a while. It's unfortunate that a totally different band can have that effect. Poor Ben Gibbard. I don't know, maybe we're just snobs. Actually, I know we are snobs. But are we alone? Anyone?

Anyway, we just recently started listening to them again. It's kind of refreshing, listening to something you love but haven't heard for a while.

We've Been Crafting

Rory crafts like this:

(Image source: http://gizmodo.com/5812627/your-minecraft-obsession-now-irl)

I craft like this:

I made this because I started meal planning a few weeks ago. It's been great so far and I want to keep it up. I didn't think it would have much of an impact on what we eat, but I feel like we eat a lot better and I put less effort into meals. I don't have to scratch my head, trying to figure out what we have that can be turned into some sort of dinner. Anyone else been there? I'm also spending a lot less on groceries since food doesn't go bad before it's used and I'm only buying what I'm sure we will be eating. Go figure.

I haven't officially chosen a color scheme for our kitchen but I wanted the frame to match our plates. I'd say, it's pretty close. I added the cork myself and had Rory paint "Menu" and the letters of the week. (I'm always scared to write permanent things and he has much better handwriting, anyway.) I'm happy with how it turned out.

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What I'm listening to:

Right now, I'm listening to Passion Pit's album Manners. They are electronica-licious. I can't listen to them without being happy. They are so fun. My favorite songs on this album are probably Sleepyhead and Little Secrets. I can't remember where I found this band. It seems like it was on some music show on hulu. I don't know, ask Rory. He might remember.

Aardvarks and Thoughts on Fatherhood

I bet you are wondering how I'm going to incorporate these subjects into one blog post. It sounds like the ingredients of a bad joke to me.

So, a father and an aardvark walk into a bar, and the bartender says...

Awkward...

Last week I realized how close we live to a Library. And because, in the words of a very wise aardvark, "Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card" I decided to get one. (I may or may not have been singing that in my head while I was there.) I don't care for novels, I prefer non-fiction, make you think about things differently type stuff. I found a book along those same lines called The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are afraid of the wrong things by Barry Glassner. It is really interesting. I don't necessarily agree with his point of view on some things, but I'm learning a lot.

The chapter I'm currently reading talks about single moms and teenage moms. He writes about something that is very worthy of discussion. He brings up the point that many times people talk about the absence of fathers being a bad thing. And I agree that a child is definitely better off with a good father in their life. As President Bill Clinton during a speech at the University of Texas in 1995 puts it "the single biggest social problem in our society may be the growing absence of fathers." But Barry Glassner says that fatherhood is more than that. He suggests that by that standard; "mothers, who are deemed deficient on account of what they do or what they believe, dads are judged on whether or not they're around. Men's mere presence is apparently adequate to save their children and the nation from ruin." It's an interesting comparison. A good father is more than one who is simply there.

Which brings up my question: What is a good father? I'm not eloquent enough to describe this fully, but I believe in the words of whomever (whoever?) it was who said; "The most important thing that a father can do for his children is to love their mother." (My google search resulted in a few different people allegedly saying that.) While this makes the role of a father very much simplistic still, I believe that if a father were to make this a priority, all the other factors would more easily fall into place. What are your thoughts? What makes a good father?

In spirit of the upcoming holiday, an ode to the wonderful fathers in my life:

My dad: Thank you for both loving my mother and teaching me, among countless other things, what to look for in the future father of my children.

My father-in-law: Thank you for loving the mother of the future father of my children and teaching the future father of my children what it means to be a man and father. (That's a mouthful.)

Isn't that a cute mullet on Rory?

The father of my Miss Fifi: Thank you for both loving the mother of your child, and following your own father's example of how to be a good father.

And thanks for not sacrificing our child to the lion at the zoo.

Fun with Miss Fifi's Cousins

I had a new nephew born a few weeks ago. He was born five weeks early, so he had to stay in the NICU for a couple weeks because he wasn't digesting food properly for the first little while. He got to come home two weeks ago, oxygen in tow. He is a cute little boy, if I do say so myself. He made Miss Fifi look like she was enormous. I've said it before and I'll say it again; It is amazing how much babies change in the first few months.

Isn't he cute?

The new older brother, laughing at Tigger.

The new baby came home when my sister and her girls happened to be here for a visit. It was the first time my nieces met Miss Fifi. They were so excited to meet her. My six-year-old niece LOVED holding her. I thought she would get bored after a few minutes, but she would sit and hold her for like an hour. I kept asking; "Do you want me to take her so you can go play?" And each time she would say no. Miss Fifi has such sweet cousins.

It is always busy when my sister comes to town. We eat lots of food, do lots of shopping, lots of visiting, and the kids play all day.

We went to visit my grandma. (She is awesome.)

We laughed.

Miss Fifi was mauled by her cousins.

(Don't worry, she loves them even though she may not always photograph well with them.)

I knit a couple of headbands for my nieces.

Everyone drooled over new fancy gadgets. (Some literally.)

We even had an Easter Egg Hunt.

Why am I holding a basket, you ask? I was just helping Miss Fifi, I promise.

Miss Fifi mostly just liked to chew on the basket.

The kids got lots of loot. Pssst... There was even money involved. The paper kind.

Here is a photo of Miss Fifi with her Dad. Isn't he pretty?

It was a really fun week. Hopefully, soon I'll be able to post photos of Easter day.

Another photo of Miss Fifi for good measure.

Rory just got done with his last final (Dang it, I've been done with this semester for like a month now and I wasn't even in classes), so we'll be spending some family time now. Got to go.