Pigtails!!!

I know, what a thing to be excited about...Pigtails. But you all need to realize how frustrating and sometimes infuriating it is to get comments like, "What a cute little boy" or "He's a heartbreaker" despite little Edana being in ALL pink and holding a babydoll.

So ...

YAY

FOR

PIGTAILS!

Oh, and yestureday while at the grocery store, Edana got her first ,"AWw! She is such a doll!" from a complete stranger. :)

Happy Birthday Kirsten!

To Kirsten:

I don't even know where to begin. I feel like we've literally been through thick and thin with each other, despite only knowing each other for 3 years. You are one of the few people that I have been able to connect instantly with and the only one that I think really knows who I am and where I am at in my life. You pretend that you don't care what others think, but the beautiful thing about that is...you do. You treat others with respect and kindness, even if that may mean some bluntness is needed :). You aren't afraid to stand up for your loved ones: friends, family. You acknowledge the positive in others and commend them for their achievements, yet significantly down play the fact that you have achieved so much! Here you are: alive, strong and continuously working hard for your family, your beliefs, your goals, and dreams. You amaze me by just how strong you are. You want to do an iron man for goodness sakes! I am so grateful that you are so willing to be my friend, despite the goofiness, blunders, and distance. I am so touched by the nurturing friendship you have given me and wish so badly that I could repay you for all the pep talks, encouragement, laughs, shoulder to lean on, thrift store outings, pictures you took, and love you have given me. I am so grateful for this day, because today was the day that my dearest friend, Kirsten, was born. Happy Birthday Kirsten.

And because I can't be there to celebrate with you, I made you something.

....ahem...it's titled....

"Desluna, Genyphr, and the Flying Panda Bar saves Lokunamewana"

On a terrible and bleak day in the city of Lokunamewana, the houses were in flames from a very large and (I'll admit) very cute dragon who was carelessly playing with his new fire breathing skills. The Loknamewana townspeople were afraid and it seemed everything that could go wrong, was!

The mayor of Loknamewana, Mz. Pow T. Face, knew that the only way the town would be saved is if they had some superhero help. So, Mz. Pow T. Face aired her own world wide commercial, offering a beautiful pink leather handbag along with some fire red pumps to anyone that could save Loknamewana.

In a very distant town, so distant it needn't be named, Desluna and Genyphr, two renowned superhero runners were taking a nice jog with some athletes and their sidekick Panda Bar. While the race was going, the commercial of Mz. Pow T. Face came on the scoreboard. Realizing that the city of Loknamewana really needed their help, and they were down to their last pair of red pumps, the superheroes jogged off to help.

Meeting with Mz. Pow T. Face, they were informed of the dire situation and dressed for the occasion. With their best faces (and dresses) on, they quickly sent the little dragon on his way home, where he was sent to a naughty spot for the chaos he caused by his mommy dragon. Then, seeing that the Loknamewana-aans had no homes whatsoever, they put on their own show called Extreme-Extreme Home Makeover and rebuilt and decorated the entire towns peoples houses.

Then Desluna, Genyphr and Panda Bar went on their merry way to wherever with their new pink handbags and red pumps in tote.

The End

Raise your scones to a new lease!

Well. We did it. We re-signed our lease (already!) to stay in our cozy little apartment for the next 15 months. Maybe a silly thing to celebrate, but after a hard decision of buying a house, then not, then looking for a new apartment, then not...we are staying. We are so grateful for the great apartment we have and the time we get here to call it "home".

As a "gift" from the Knolls Apartments, we had an accent wall painted in our room. I love it. I didn't think I would be, but alas, I am a purple girl. In celebration, we made cranberry scones for breakfast and had little lemon lime cake bites (leftover batter from crumble cake) for dessert that night. HOME SWEET HOME

Until our next duty station.

Potty Wars and Crumble cake

Today has been one of those days.

After the sudden interest Edana has had in the potty, since her bestbud, Anaya is potty trained (yeah for her!) she has been talking about it and asking to sit on the potty.

So...I tried to encourage it. We bought the panties, juice, potty treats/stickers, and trainer diapers. After about 2 hours of constantly going to the bathroom, this is all to show for it...

It literally was the Potty Wars today. From Edana not understanding why mommy wouldn't give her a potty treat for going on the floor, to mommy sighing heavily as she watches her daughter scream demon-like when encouraged to try on her panties. How other mothers seem to do this seam-lessly, I will never know. So after much coaxing, screaming, crying, pushing, leaks, and tearing up the toilet paper, Edana had a nice nap, while mommy got her frustrations out by baking.

I will always be the first to admit it: I am NOT a baker. I love to bake. I love to create new ideas from recipes I read, but when I actually attempt it, nothing ever turns out the way I would hope.

Today's attempt: Lime Yogurt Cake with a lime sugar frosting.

To me it resembled a scrambled cake. Instead of cursing and tossing it in the trash, I essembled the cake on a plate, flourished it with frosting and lime zest and laughed. This cake definately sums up this sort of day.

It actually tasted really good, but it's frustrating when things don't turn out the way I thought they would...like our potty day.

At least I have a loving husband that will always be my guinea pig for these kind of days. He's even managed to get a happy Edana into big girl panties. My hero.

Valentine's Day Celebrating

I am a sucker for anything cute, pink, and mostly-girly. (on the side note: I'm also known to love black, dark, and some would say "morbid" things...go figure) So, valentines day was something I was looking forward to. A day to celebrate how much I love my family and ANOTHER excuse for some baking!

We started our celebrations with our cousins we had been babysitting that week. We decided to put some restless children to work and made sugar cookies for our friends and kind neighbors. (They put up with all the noise for that week, so we thought they deserved some cookies!)

I then broke down and finally did some valentine decorating.

For the actual V-day celebrating, we all exchanged gifts.

Then Larry and I went out the Friday night before and painted some love mugs*note:mugs not done...no pictures. :(

We also went out to dinner at Pizzeria Rustica and enjoyed some brick oven pizza. Oooh! So good! It was so nice to have a night alone.

I am so lucky for the incredible family I have. My sweet husband, who puts up with more drama and high maintenance than any other man. I am so grateful for him, his friendship, support and love. I could never make it in this life without him. (And his sexy looks are a nice side perk for the whole package!)

My darling little Edana, who always makes me laugh and cherish life. Even if we knock heads most of the time, I am always amazed at the wonderful kid she is and how incredibly smart she has become all on her own.

To all my friends and family, near and far: I love you all too! It has helped me so much with different phases and transitions in my life to have all of you there to support and love our little family. We are truly so blessed by your love and friendships.

We hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day! Here is a virtual Valentine's, just for all of you!!

Copy Cat-Name Game

So, I'm totally copying my sister-in-law, Andrea's, blog. I thought this game was hilarious, so I had to try it out for our fam. Thanks for the fun idea, Andrea! Or should I say...Buckwheat? ;)

YOUR REAL NAME:

Larry Eyring

Jennifer Eyring

Edana Eyring

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME(mother and father's middle name):

Edward

Marlene Rahn

Joylene Joseph

NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad):

Lawrence Joseph...wait a second....

Clarence Claude

Rory Carl

STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name):

Eyrla

Eyrje

Eyred

DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal):

Red Binkterong

Pink Flying fox

Pink Elephant

SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, city where you were born):

Joseph American Fork

Joylene Orem

Loralie Portsmouth

PORN NAME:(1st pet and 1st street you grew up on):

Anole SixHundred East

Buffy Eighthundred Thirty

..we'll leave Edana out of this one...

SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning):

The Green Dr. Pepper

The Pink Horchata

The Red Hot Chocolate

FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 3 letters of your last name):

Laing

Jeing

Eding

GANGSTA NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie):

Reese's Samoa

Chocolate Chunk Grasshopper

Any Vanilla Wafer

YOUR RAPPA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle):

Larizzle

Jenizzle

Edaizzle

YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets):

Black Pyro

Black Vada

Black Turbo

..I think our superhero names are the best!