Just some pics

Probably the last time we will see her eating broccoli


She is just starting to stand at stuff

What's my tummy picture?

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

I can't believe my Brittles is 1!

Kierra loved getting dressed up for the party. I bought both of them leggings and it is all she can talk about.

I just had to buy a cute little birthday outfit for her why I was out getting supplies. She looked so cute.
She had such a great time. I think all the kids had a good time. It's a good thing because she was grumpy earlier. We probably should have done the grumpy bear cake.

Richard was a good boy and decorated her cake for me because I just don't have the patience. It was a Care Bear, but not for long!! Sorry to those who missed the festivities. It is always fun to watch a baby destroy food and make a complete mess. By the way, I didn't completely clean it up until Sunday.

I hope this year will be a good one for her (and for us). We have two vacations planned this year so it's already looking up for all of us.

Recently I have been evaluating my life and family. We have a new home and many nice things that many people would love to have, but why do I constantly question them? Since moving, I have realized that I just don't seem to be happy with what I have. I don't understand it. There is always going to be something that someone has that is nicer or they got a better deal on it than you did. With people moving in on our street, I have begun to feel like we got screwed on our house. New move-ins were able to negotiate their purchase as we were not. No matter how much I want to, I can't change what happened. I can't change that home values have gone down in three months. I can't change that maybe we were taken advantage of because we needed a place to live fast, and the sellers knew it. However I can change how I look at things and if I can do anything about the things that bother me. So after much thought in the middle of the night, I decided to call the West Jordan Building Department about city codes. Shortly a city inspector will be contacting us for an inspection of our home. To be perfectly blunt, I feel like I have a need to get the builder to fix what they refused to do. There are some safety issues that I have and want someone to fix them. Finding a large hole covered with leaves in the front yard topped it off for me.

But of course, there is nothing in the world like a family that loves me and will do anything to make me happy.

I want to go to disneyland!

Lately, Kierra's preferred topic of conversation is going on an airplane to find the castle at disneyland. In fact, it is getting a little out of hand. The other day I told her we were going to the store. She threw a fit because we weren't going on an airplane. She has been quite strongwilled lately. She cried one day because she wanted to go on a space ship like the little einsteins. What am I supposed to tell her? No, you cannot go on a space ship. So we told her that if she saved her money she could go on a space ship with Richard Branson. She still doesn't get it.



We have been sick here. In fact, we haven't been to church in a month. The kids are finally well after ear infections and pneumonia. I am still feeling a bit sick but nothing compared to how it was. Of course Richard didn't get sick. I don't know how his immune system is so good. I would think that since his sleep schedule is so screwy that it would affect his health.



I have been trying to find things that I am interested in. What I have not so recently discovered is that I really love gardening and plants. I love to look at them and plant them and take care of them. We had an enrichment activity the other day on gardening. The person who taught it has a degree in horticulture. It was really interesting to learn what she knows about composting and pruning. Her husband is an engineer and made a homemade composter out of one of those blue water barrels. It had to be the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. He made a contraption for it to sit on and rotate it too. It made me want to start composting, which I think would be a good thing for some great gardening. I plan to build planter boxes for vegetables in the backyard when we finish the yard this summer. I think it is the one thing I am excited about.



Oh yeah, and we all want to go to disneyland.

Wow it's been a long time

Here we are, the beginning of February and I am just barely posting something. Since we moved, we don't have a very good connection and I have been unable to post.

There have been many holidays and Kierra's birthday since I last posted. Kierra is now in the terrible 3's. It's not that bad, I just say it is to get sympathy. She had a great christmas and birthday. Definitely got the motherload. Of course most everything is tinkerbell. She has been doing great with the move and loves her house. There really hasn't been an adjustment at all for her. Nursery is all the same for her even though some of her friends are missing. She is just that social butterfly that we would all like to be. I have been looking at preschools for her but I think she is a bit too smart for them. It was quite disappointing to me to see her telling the kids that are a year ahead of her the answers. Should I pay for that? I have decided that I will try to teach her on my own for now until she is a bit older. Not homeschool or anything but but just maybe for the next year.

Britta is now done with her helmet. She got a bit behind on her motor skills because of it, but she will catch up. So, her mode of transportation right now is scooting on her back and rolling. My baby is growing up so fast. She got her first tooth on christmas and a second just popped through. She is definitely a harder teether than Kierra was. She bites everything, so I hope she doesn't get used to that habit. That's all I need is a biter on my hands. A cute biter that is.

As for Richard and I, nothing is really new. We aren't learning anything new or going anywhere. Just the same old business. I guess the big news is that we sold the beast. Yes, the camaro that is. It isn't clogging up space in my beautiful garage anymore.

Holy Cow!! Holy Sheep!

That is a phrase from our good friend Kierra

So, many a things have happened in a month so lets start a list:

1. Britta got a helmet

2. We all got what I think was the swine flu

3. We looked at probably 100 houses

4. We sold our house

5. We are in the process of buying a house

6. Went to a halloween party

7. Bought a fridge for the new house

8. Bought a new garage door as a request from the buyers of our house

Hmm, I think that is probably it so hopefully this next month will slow down, except for the move.

Inspiration/Motivation Needed

Do you ever get in that rut where you feel as though your brain has become the size of a pea and your energy level has gone below that of a sloth? That's me.

Our lives lately have become caotic. We finally took the leap and listed our house. It has been extremely stressful and at the same time exciting. Yes, I said exciting. There are so many homes out there for sale and in some ways we have our pick of what we want and we found it. Problem is, we still have our house. It is sitting here clean as a whistle but only for the likes of the inhabitants. We have only had 2 showings in a month. Much to be discouraged about. Kierra has enjoyed the house hunting experiance by playing on other peoples yard equipment and jumping on their beds. She is now banned from going with us as she thinks that she owns every house we go in.

There are other things going on that aren't so interesting as well.

-we had a garage sale and made $60 in 5 hours.
-worked on potty training a bit.
-cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more.
-went to the zoo to see the baby animals.
-went to idaho to see the fam.
-had a laser treatment.
-Kierra went to the dentist.
-went to the park.
-went swimming.
-Richard had a birthday.
-and so on, and so on.

So you may ask, what is the purpose of the beginning sentence? Perhaps it would intrigue you as the reader or it would cause my mom to call and tell me that I am depressed. Na, it's just the life of a stay at home mom having the life sucked out of her. No, that's not it either. I just need to get myself motivated to get off my butt!

I have tons of pictures to post but blogger won't let me. I may have to post them on facebook.

Finally we can sleep in comfort

It only took them 2 1/2 weeks to get it to us but it is finally here. Our super soft, super comfortable, super expensive bed. However, they didn't ship the pillows. Let's just say I've had many conversations with the store and their warehouse. They aren't too happy with me considering I filed a complaint with the BBB. That's right, when I am unhappy with a company, they shall meet my wrath. Ha Ha Ha Ha. Did that sound like a witch? Eh, who cares.

With that said, we have been trying to have fun these past few weeks. Our house was full of fun for the 24th with all of our neighbors over for BBQ and fireworks. Richard and our friend Josh are the pyros of the group so being the boys that they are, there was experimentation. No injuries were reported for that but then the illegal fireworks came. Lets just say a few days later and one trip to the ER, Josh is doing fine. I guess it serves them right.

Family from out of state have been here this month for my uncle's funeral. Kierra has had so much fun playing with her cousins and uncles that she skipped three days worth of naps. Jeff came so it was great to get to spend time with him and for him to see Britta for the first time. It had been a long time where both our family and my aunts family had been together.

Britta and her new best friend Riley. He sings her Star Wars to get her to sleep.

Jeff and Britta

Kierra finishing her (my) Neilson's Custard on the way home from the cemetery.

Jeff and Kierra

Britta just being her cute self, who by the way sleeps through the night now. I know, isn't it awesome!!

Kierra likes to make forts with pillows now. I think she really likes to hide from us.

Here she is with her boyfriend Mitchell at her friend Logan's birthday party. Seriously though, they love each other :)

Take them skinheads bowling

Oh yeah. We went real bowling. Not the fake Wii bowling, but old school bowling. I must say that I suck at it in comparison with the Wii. It's quite disappointing when your Wii score is 276 and at the old alley, it's a whopping 102 and that's with bumpers. It is also quite sad that a 2 year old can get a strike but I can't. Out of everything we have done with Kierra, I think this was the most fun she had ever had. Full on tantrum when the game was over. She refused to leave. She picked up the ball and ran toward the lane to throw it while crying. Good thing we caught her. It was actually kind of funny but at the same time embarrassing. The bowling alley in fort union has games for $1.50 so we decided to give it a go and I think it was money well spent. Maybe we have created a future pro bowler that grandma garton would be proud of.





Here we go!!


Britta had fun too.

Anxiously awaiting the ball to return.

Time flies when you're not having fun

We have been really busy here at the Black household. Life can get pretty crazy with two kids that are cranky at the same time. Let's see where do I start?

The binkie fairy visited Kierra and brought her a bike. It wasn't too bad getting her off of them and sometimes I would like to go back to the old days of less whining but then it would have been for nothing.

She looks a little handi in this photo but it's the best one we've got.

I think that Kierra has finally hit the terrible two's as well this month. I think I am going to loose it. Lots of crying and screaming and tantrums. I am running low on patience and some days would like to run away (or at least get a job). But then again some days she does such cute things. I made her a hideous princess blanket and the first thing she said was "oh my gosh!". She loves the thing. She has also been running around singing "I am a child of God" all day every day. That makes me proud.

Britta has become a little princess and a mamma's girl. Yes, finally a child that likes me. She has the biggest smile for you when she wakes up. She is just so darn cute you just can't stand it. She had her 2 month appointment this month and weighs a whopping 7lbs 6oz. She is on the same track as Kierra was.

We thought about putting our house up for sale but decided not to. We are really attached to our friends here and I would hate to lose them. So, since we changed our minds, I redecorated. I'll post pictures later since we aren't completely finished yet.

We also blessed Britta this month and have no pictures of the actual day but here is a picture of her in her blessing dress.

The zoo has been frequented this month as well. We bought a zoo pass so we have to get our money's worth. It sucks that it is so far away.

Kierra's favorite part of the zoo.

Popcicle face

Kierra and her friend Mitchell