Do you Know how to Boil a Frog?

awww cute matching hats!

this is the damage to the bushes and our new elecrtical box (the bushes used to cover the grey box except the point at the top, to give you an idea of how much the damage was)

Eliza and Alayna playing together. Take note of Alayna's excessive ammounts of drool it's non-stop these days!

All 3 sets of painted toes. Summer please hurry our way!!

Eliza with her baby... Such a good little mommy!

I do... you don't throw a frog into a pot of boiling water because he's just going to jump out. Rather you put it in cold water and slowly raise the temperature so that it doesn't notice until it is far too late.

On Monday we had the oposite experience. Around 7 am some guy drove his car through my power box in front of the house. Being me I didn't notice that was the problem and assumed that it was the snow from the night before and surly someone else in the neighborhood has already called the city and there's no need to waste my energy calling them again. Well around 8:30 I go down to the basement to seperate the laundry and it feels a little chilly I quickly brush it off as no big deal the power will be back on soon. WRONG. I look at the thermostat after coming upstairs only to find it's about 65 degrees in my house (BRR). About 20 min later it's droped another degree... That was when I noticed the car high centered over my power box. there were two city trucks and a cop all sitting around waiting for the tow truck to come move the car. I threw on a jacket to ask how much longer they thought it was going to be and the kind officer informed me that it would be at least another 30 min before a tow truck arrived and it could be another few hours of repair work before the power would be back on. At which point I called my mother-in-law and saught refuge in her warm comfy house for the rest of the day. I have no idea when the power actually came back on but when I stoped at the house at 3pm it still hadn't warmed all the way back up. I cooked dinner and cream puffs for the Merritts as a thank you and it ended up being a very fun day.

Tuesday was uneventful (thankfully)

Wednesday we went to Loveland and spent the day with my mom. Eliza and I went to her class and had a good time inspite of her being a very sleepy two year old. I pretty much only saw my mom in passing all day because we kept having to go do seperate things and so one would leave and the other would stay and watch the girls. I got my hair cut (it really needed it) and this time I went a little bit shorter because I didn't even make it a whole 4 weeks without needing it cut again. The poor stylist was in shock when I showed up with such "long" hair considering how short she had just cut it so she thined it out a little to help (I'm not sure how that really helps but someday all these Merritt women will turn me into enough of a girl to understand, hehe). I went to the activity for the Beehives to stand in for one of the other leaders and then ended up not being needed so I thought about running away but decided to go home and help Ben get the girls in bed instead.

Thursday Grandma Merritt kept both girls for me and gave me some much needed time to relax. I was again reminded as I walked through the store, (in the middle of the day, child and stress free) just how unbelieveably lucky I am!! Eliza and Alayna have been sick with colds for the last few days at this point and so basically they're the worlds biggest snot machines and therefore apparently Eliza lost all her ability to use the potty on a regular basis. It was really really infuriating for me to have her intentionally having accidents and then it was even worse when she got the runs (someday she will hate me for talking about this but such is life when you're 2) and would try to make it to the potty and instead only trailed it through my house. :-(

Friday was a great day... well at least the evening was. I had the privilage of being spoiled rotten by my mother-in-law and went to A-Nu-Do Salon for pedicures and waxes. It was incredible!! I got myself some new makeup, spent a fortune on it but after crunching some numbers it was totally worth it for me!

Saturday was a day of spiritual uplifting and laughter at the reilef society meeting. I sure do love the social time!

That was basically the week and I have to stop talking before this post gets any longer! I hope everyone's weeks were good too!

a little bit of everything

It seems like it's been a whirlwind of a week and yet we have done very little.

Eliza's hand-foot stuff healed up very quickly (thank goodness) Although there was one blister on her hand that filled up so much it was hurting her so I finally poked it to drain the pressure off. Which she proceeded to play with the loose skin for the next few days until it all peeled off. Gross. I also started using this incredible lotion that my mom's visisting teaching companion gave me to try (Thank you!!) and it's working miricles on her crazy dry skin! He feet and bum haven't looked that good since she was born! It is a little more difficult to use than the liquid lotion but SOOO worth it!

Alayna has been growing like a weed! She's such an interactive baby. Her current favorite thing to do is be in the exersaucer while Eliza runs in circles around her and plays with all the toys attached to it. She also loves it when Eliza pulls up her stool and sits and reads stories to her (so dang cute!). Time sure seems to go by faster than it ever did with the first! She threatens more and more to try to roll over these days. On another note, Alayna doesn't scream when she has tummy time now! Her incredible ability to spit up has yet to change, it's still in massive ammounts at least once a feeding. Alayna's newest game is getting naked! She LOVES being naked and getting her diaper changed (funny kid) so now whenever she fills her pants she makes sure to have it go all the way up her back and if we're lucky she'll have it squirt down her legs as well. So to say the least my laundry is a never ending battle and I sometimes wonder if some things are worth trying to save.

Ben has been busy with work! and I'm sooo glad that he is because it means that he has a good job that can support us! We were able to pay off our second car on Friday thanks to a hefty tax return. In addition to the car being paid off we will also be able to pay off our credit card and be entirely debt free by Monday afternoon! I'm beyond excited about this and can't wait to start saving more!

As for myself I am going back to school. I don't recall if I posted anything on the blog about it before but I am now so if this is repetitive then sorry just deal with it! I will not make it for this semester as I had planned but I am one step closer to getting it all done. I needed to get a replacement SS card due to some confusion at the office and long story short in two weeks I'll be sitting down with a counselor and figuring out what all I need to do to get my degree. (for those who care, I'm going to be working toward an associates in accounting). A big thanks to my mom for her willingness to take the girls for the classes that I have to be in a classroom for and otherwise thank goodness for online courses!

Snow Snow go Away...

Come again... Next Winter Please!!!
(pictures first)
Eliza hanging out in the Fort!

Stickers are a new favorite for Eliza... she loves to put them on herself far more than the paper I provided so now I find little stickers all over my house that have fallen off of her

The Fort... it was wicked cool!

Alayna... I'm trying very hard to catch a picture of her little dimple but she sure doesn't like to smile for a camera at all!

A slightly better pic of the dimple... She's such a cutie!

I'm so done with winter this year... I feel like I was totally cheated out of a beautiful fall and went right into winter with snow... and more snow... and bitter cold... and more snow. So I finally gave and had a full on snow day with my girls. Well at least with Eliza, Alayna could care less what we do all day as long as she can have a few naps in the mix.

We built a fort, watched movies, had popcorn, painted, and did an ubsured number of arts and crafts. Tuesday night Eliza decided to stay up until almost 10pm and so Wednesday I made her get up at 7am because we had her class in Loveland and I didn't think she should be allowed to sleep in when she stays up all night... Poor kid was exhausted all day long. She participated in class and everything but she just had NO energy. I was feeling pretty proud of this and excited that she'd get home and sleep well for me that night... Well as it turns out she wasn't just tired from staying up all night she was exhausted because she didn't feel good and was running a fever (Bring on the guilt!!). Oh well such is life at times I guess.

Thursday Eliza ran a fever off and on all day. It was really random but I figured her body will figure it out itself. Then when I got her up from her nap she had this blister on her finger (one of the ones she sucks on) and I thought she had some how burned herself and didn't notice so I blew it off.... Until Saturday when I notice that theres more of them... lots more of them. They're on her hands and her feet and her bum and a few on her face. Poor kid has gotten Hand-Foot-Mouth disease. Fantastic as it may be I'm horribly bummed because it's highly contagious and I dread Alayna getting it as well. Bummer.

Other things of note in the week were... Saturday Ben went to a gun show with his dad, and brought Heather and Heidi home for them to watch the girls while Ben and I went to the Stake Adult Valentines Dance. It was incredibly well decorated and very well attended! Fun times! after that we came home and watched Heather and Heidi play wii fit and that was excellent entertainment if nothing else :-) That was basically the week... Happy 18th Birthday to Eric on Thursday!

Pic Pic Pictures

'Liza bustin' a move for the camera!

Eliza was so cute the other day she crawled up on my bed sat down behind Alayna and snuggled her... what a good big sister!

Super blurry sorry... but that little half grin makes her look like her daddy!

Alayna playing in her exersaucer. She doesn't look super happy but she really does love it!

Cheezze! so proud of her new pink jammies!

Don't you just love how Eliza looks so ticked and Alayna is laughing :-)

goofy face!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday

Growing up Super Bowl Sunday was just another Sunday that lots of strange football fanatics had big parties for... Well now I'm a Merritt and Super Bowl Sunday is practically a holiday. There's tons of excellent munchies, then a yummy dinner, family, and of course football. Some of us mourn the temporary end of the football season and others of us (such as myself) get a tiny bit of joy in the ending of the season. Ahh the joy of the holidays!

This week has been fun Alayna has recently discovered the joy of her exersaucer and the freedom to stand all on her own. Eliza also loves the exersaucer for the toys. And Mommy likes the exersaucer for the separation of the overly loving big sister from the extra sensitive baby.

Alayna is getting more and more personality every day. It is so fun to watch her turn into her own little person. She is also learning how to defend herself... well kinda... she's got the 'tattling look' down pat. Eliza gets too close or does something she doesn't approve of and Alayna starts looking for mommy with this exasperated little expression. SO funny!

Eliza has been busy working diligently on the potty training and has been having more success than failure thank goodness! Grandma Waite signed Eliza up for a 8 week class at the rec center in Loveland (colors, shapes, & numbers) on Wednesday mornings. It's a mommy & me class so Grandma keeps Alayna while Eliza and I go to class. I was a little worried about it at first because it's a relatively formal, school like, setting and I wasn't sure how Eliza would do but it was fantastic. She has been so excited about all of the things she did and learned that she tells almost everyone about it!

Ben has been very busy with work these days and when he's not working at his job he's working at home! What an incredible dad! Wednesday he had Eliza while I was at YW's. Thursday night he had both girls all night while I took advantage of Lindsay's generosity and went to see Legally Blond the Musical in Denver. That night was fantastic for me but not so great for him. Eliza thankfully went to bed pretty easy but Alayna spent a good 3 hours crying for him. She refused to take a bottle (silly girl) in spite of the fact that we DID make sure she would a few days before. Oh well it wasn't for a lack of effort. The girls have been punishing me since then for leaving them. Eliza follows me every where I go and neither one of them will let Daddy help with anything. Silly kids think that only mommy can do it right. It's a good thing I really loved the show or else the repercussions might not have been worth it.

Last thing of all... I have my computer back! WaHoo!!! This is sooo incredibly exciting to me because it actually runs like a computer should now and I have a newer version of photoshop to learn how to use (SUPER DUPER exciting for me!) So bottom line THANK YOU MIKE!!! It's never run better!