Today I Danced.

I signed Ash up for dance classes.  It's a parent and child class, so we all dance together.  So much fun!  Today was her first day.  She started out feeling super shy (that's a first!), but half way through she decided that it was all good and let her normal, outgoing, happy self out to play.  Yay!

The other fun thing is, her teacher used to be my teacher when I was a teen and I used to take my little sister, Molly, to this same class (14 years ago!!).  One of the perks of coming back to live in your hometown.  :)

Jump!

I'll have to try to get to class early some time and take pics in the studio. 

On another note,  Britt slept better last night, but based on how she's behaved all day, she is still feeling bad.  Poor lil bum.  The Camilia didn't do jack.

Today I Took A Nap.

As far back as I can remember my mom would take a nap.  Every afternoon.  She still does. 

Me, though?  I look at naps as a waste of precious time.  Sometimes I go to bed too late at night because there so much I want to accomplish.  But when my babies first come home, I nap.  Everyone tells you to sleep when your baby sleeps.  So I did.

With Ash I slept when she slept for the first week or two, but her night schedule so quickly became the same as ours, I abandoned napping pretty quick.  "She's sleeping!  Yay!  Quick, get stuff done!" 

I assumed that when Britt came along it would all be the same sort of routine.  I'd nap when she'd nap for a bit and then after a week or so, she'd be "normal" and I'd get projects done. 

Thought WRONG!

Britt has never slept through the night.  Not once in her short nine months so far.  I napped with her for months because I had to.  She would go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 1am and not go back to sleep for HOURS!  It was pretty rough going for a while.  I experienced, first hand, the insanity that sleep deprivation brings.  Not pretty.  It took Britt at least four months to get her night and day sorted out. 

Then things got better.  She went through a little bump in the road a couple months ago where she thought it would be fun to wake up every hour or two, instead of every three or four, just to demand a feeding or play time.  But, I nipped that in the bud by simply laying her down and only feeding her every three hours.  She quickly learned that we sleep at night and snacks are served at strict three hour increments.  It was quite easy actually.

Except now.  Britt is getting a molar.  Ugh.  She's running a temp, dripping drool like faucet, has a stuffy nose, chews on everything, and, of course, won't sleep.  The past three nights have been absolutely horrendous and until that beastly tooth comes in, I'm back to napping.  **sighs**  At least Britt and I are getting extra cuddle time in.

This is the best shot I could get of my littlest princess.

The rest of them looked like this because the light on the camera bothered her poor, watering, extra light sensitive eyes!

P.S.  I'm trying everything (not all at once, don't panic): baby tylenol, bach's rescue remedy, lavendar/chamo/lemon balm tea, teething oil with clove, and even used up the last of the hyland's teething tablets (can't get anymore because of the recent recall).  Nothing is getting use through the night.  Any tips are very appreciated.  :D  I'm about to try Camilia teething relief.  Will let you know how that goes.

Today I Took A Shower.

I know, I know.  You're thinking, "Uh....good for you, Jamie." 

But as I was enjoying the warmth of a hot shower, I started to say a prayer of gratitude because I realized what a huge blessing it is to have running water.  Warm, clean, bug-free, germ-free, pesticide-free water!  Water that I don't have to heat or pump myself.  I turn a handle and it's all there. 

So thankful.

Today I Made A Treasure Box.

One of the scriptures on the top.

I am the secretary for Primary (basically, the Sunday School program for ages 3 through 11) at church.  That means I keep assignments and papers straight, make sure all the teachers have what they need to teach the kids their lessons each week, and whatever else the Primary president and councilors ask me to do.  One of the things I was asked to do was to make a treasure chest.  Well, mission accomplished!  Woot! 

The finished product!

The treasure chest holds strips of paper for the kids to write their names on when they've read their scriptures during the past week.  Then we'll link each strip to the other.  By the end of the year we'll have a long chain to show how much reading the kids have done.  The chain will be a physical manifestation of the spiritual growth the kids can gain as they read about Jesus Christ and his teachings each week.  And of course the scriptures, being the word of God, are a treasure.  Hence, the treasure chest.  :)

The papers for chain making inside.

Basically, I took an empty diaper box, measured three inches down from the top and drew a line, box cut around that line to make a lid, used packing tape on the back to give it a hinge (of sorts), Mod Podged brown packaging paper (in pieces) to the outside, put several layers of Mod Podge on all sides except the bottom, printed out the scriptures and pasted them on, then hot glued all the "gemstones."  Ta-da!

This would also be fun for a dress-up box or for a bunch of little pirates hunting for buried treasure!  :)

Today I Labeled Toy Boxes.

I have a bunch of these storage containers.  When I put them on the shelves, the girls can't find their toys.  When they can't find their toys, they spend more time pestering me when I'm trying to get other things done.  This just wouldn't do!  So, I hopped on Flickr to download good pics, jumped over to Picnik to add the "label" and then hit print on my computer!  Voila!  Threw them into a plastic sleeve, added glue dots to the back and applied.  The only part that took up some time was searching for the perfect picture.  I'm so pleased.  Ash was pretty impressed too.  Britt.   Well, we'll cut her some slack.  It takes a little more effort to impressed Miss Britt-Britt.  :)

Today I Celebrated Ethiopian Christmas.

My parents and siblings have a tradition of going to an Ethiopian restaurant on the 6th of every January.  Ethiopia celebrates Christmas on the 7th so my family celebrates on (or round) that day too.  We went a couple days early this year because my brother and his family are in town right now.  It was fun, the food was good, and they had catchy Ethiopian music playing (made me wanna get up and dance, so I settled for dancing in my seat).  The following are just a few of the many pictures that were taken.  :)

Haha!  I just had to include the first two pics I took.  It was like both of my kids were saying, "Where are we and why have you brought me to this loud, weird place?

Don't worry, the girls loosened up and started bobbing to the music.  I tried to get  a video of it, but when I aimed the camera at them they stopped.  Of course they started right up again as soon as I gave up on catching their dancing on film. 

Group shot. 

Ash reading the menu.  Kept her entertained for about two seconds.  Haha!

Here's the food!

And more (that's an egg in the middle)!  So, we picked up pieces of injera bread and grabbed whatever looked good on the community plate.

Ash only ate two bites and then refused to eat any more of the strange food.  She finished off the cereal puffs after that.  :)

Britt, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of the injera and the yummy green lentils.

Despite not liking the Ethiopian food, Ash had a great night.  We all did.  Another successful Ethiopian Christmas (of sorts)! 

Today I Made Scones.

Let me back up a bit.  For breakfast, this morning, I made oatmeal for the girls and myself.  Homemade oatmeal with raisins, and rice drink and xylitol added after cooking.  We all REALLY like oatmeal.  And it totally hit the spot.  After all the rich and flamboyant things we've been eating for the holidays, it was nice to ingest something simple and wholesome. 

Well, I made too much and I don't care for waste so I got online and looked up recipes for leftover oatmeal.  This recipe here is what I found and tried and we are all very pleased with the results.  Leftover Oatmeal Scones for breakfast tomorrow!  Just kidding.  There aren't any left.  :)  Next time I make these, I'm putting pumpkin butter on them.  YUM!

P.S.  I substituted Earth Balance spread for the butter in the recipe and rice drink instead of milk.  :)