Kara's Party Ideas Giveaway!

I'm blogging about this giveaway so I can win it! Its a cute set of carnival party stuff. Perfect for say, a certain boy turning 2 in August. What's the best part? Popcorn. Can't have a carnival party without popcorn, now can you? Click HERE to see the post.

Wow.

I think this is a new low. I'm not going to go through my posts and check, but the last time I posted was May. And now I'm putting up my Christmas tree. So that's a long time.

Anyhow. I don't even know where to start. Soooooooo much has happened since May. I don't even recognize my life. Its just bizarre.

My family started a bakery. The bakery responsible for the upturn of my life. And everyone else's involved. Absolute insanity. So in July, for some crazy reason, I went on KSL to see if there were any bakery related businesses for sale. There weren't, but there were two restaurants. And in a moment of what I can only explain as a total lack of sense, we started calling these places and setting up times to see them. You know, just to feel out the market. For the future.

Turns out the future was the next week. We went to this absurdly nestled restaurant to meet up with the nice man trying to get out of his money pit. He practically shoved the thing at us. He dropped the price to nearly nothing, he just really needed someone to take over his lease. And we signed right up.

So we went from our blissfully calm lives (I didn't think so at the time, but now I see) to painting, shopping, experimenting, fighting, yelling and definitely not sleeping. We got the place at the end of July and we opened for business August 16th. The sheer madness of it all is that we had absolutely no plan. Or we thought we did, but we didn't. We planned on selling to caterers and grocery stores. Teaching Gluten free classes and whatnot. We ended up with a sandwich shop that just happens to also have delicious gluten free baked goods, not selling to anyone but the public. No one gets paid. We go to the shop everyday, work our butts off, go home and crash, get up and do it again.

And I've never been more satisfied with a job. I've never worked without dreading it every single day. And I wake up happy to go in every morning. I like seeing the same people come in every day because they like my food. I like seeing new people come in, so excited to find something gluten free. I like working with my husband every day and my family. I like bringing my kids with me. And I like having a place to cook my dinner when my power goes out. :)

There've been alot of trials going into this thing. A ton of injuries, lots of tears and crazy moments. But I know if we make it through the storm, its going to be sweet.

And with that said, I'm going to list above mentioned injuries.
Blackened butter steam burn to my mother.
Deep cut from sharp knife to Josh.
Deep cut/gouge from stubborn picture frame to me.
Minor cut from sharp knife to me.
Minor cut from crappy slicer to me.
Assorted heads bouncing off the concrete floor to my kids.
Assorted burns to everyone from everything hot.
Severe (in my opinion) burn to my poor baby's whole hand from a hot pan with delicious cinnamon rolls on it.
Bloody nose from face plant on concrete floor to my baby.
And a million more that I can't think of.
Pictures!!

Still Slacking.

I've come to this conclusion. I will probably never be a consistent blogger. Every time I post, I like to think I will be. Even this time. You notice how I squished in a "probably"? That's because I still think there's a chance. It shouldn't be that hard to post at least once a week, should it? Well it apparently is. You people who post every day....seriously....props (does anyone even say that anymore?). Don't know how you do it.

So, I'm really only posting now because Josh noticed that my last post was in March and started to complain.

What's new? Josh got a temporary part time job with the census, so I won't be seeing much of him for a while. Sad! The kids will really miss him. Yes, I will too. But they're just never going to get a break from me. And even I need a break from me. So, yeah.

The cake thing is still going strong. I want a bakery!!! I want more room and more stuff and more clients. I want! So if anyone wants to give me a bakery, or even just a sheeter, or a cricut cake, just let me know. You can write it off on your taxes!

Clara has started dance class. She's very confident and outgoing in class. Which is good. I think she does pretty well for having just started.

Nolan is still terrorizing the family. Oliver cries every time he sees him. Clara is constantly tattling on him. I am always telling him to stop climbing or eating or mauling. The usual.

Oliver will be 9 months on the 5th. I cannot believe it. I can't. He's crawling around everywhere, pulling himself up on furniture, climbing up things. He has 4 teeth, and he uses them. Its just insane.

So I don't take many pictures, and I should. I know. But I'm going to post our pics that Tina took, even though I already put them on facebook, for lack of any other pictures. They're so cute, they should be everywhere anyway!

Okay, so I'm not. Blogger is being stupid and won't let me upload anything. Boo. Well, I guess that's it then.

Just Like Dad

Nolan has picked up a few habits from his dad, namely lounging and munching. His favorite spot is the lovesac in front of the TV. He usually puts his hands behind his head (like dad) and locks his fingers together. It looks like he's going to do situps, but he never makes the move. If there's food, even better. Its cute, to some extent.

Fortunately, couch potato isn't the only thing he's got going for himself. He has inherited another of his father's traits. And that is to injure himself repeatedly. He is 2 years old. Besides all the black eyes, bruises and cuts he keeps popping up with, he's had a broken arm, a broken face, and now, stitches. I've never had stitches, outside of an operating room. I've never broken a bone. On the other hand, I believe Josh has broken both arms, wrists, a collar bone, had the tip of his finger torn off, and he has a huge scar on his shoulder, not sure what from. He's also broken his nose, I think with a peanut butter jar.

This most recent damage came from stacking plastic storage containers on top of eachother, (empty storage containers, he dumped all the clothes out of them first, after I slaved over their organization for hours) and climbing them. He fell, hit his head on a jagged edge, cried and came to me. I freaked out. It wasn't bleeding, but there was a hole in his head that I could see right through. I swear I saw his brain. Josh says it was just a layer of fat, but I don't know. In any case, it was gross, so I yelled for Josh to come get him. Josh laid him down, changed his diaper and took him to the docs. I'm glad I didn't have to watch him get the stitches. I really pray that nothing involving blood, or gaping holes happens when I'm home alone with the kids.

All stitched up. Sorry about the soiled bandage part. He wouldn't let me take it all the way off. Its Spiderman.

March? Really?

I seriously can't believe its even March. Let alone that its almost over. Didn't I just post?? In December? It can't have been 3 and half months already. I'm not that bad.

And so much has happened in that too short amount of time. Nolan turned 2, Clara turned 6, I turned *cough-cough-cough27cough-cough*, Oliver started sitting, got his first teeth, finally rolls over, eats normal food, Josh um...got a haircut? Anway, the point is, I'm a big slacker for not documenting the milestones in my family more diligently.

This is another attempt to ease my guilt and acknowledge, in a more permanent form than my memory, the things that I want remembered.

This is Oliver back in December when he was still a limp noodle. This outfit still fits him because he's still puny. He's just more physically capable.

This is Nolan when he still had beautiful blonde locks. Now they're kind of dingy brown. He looks a little high here, but I assure you he's not.

This cake was not for Clara. She has this thing where she insists on getting her picture taken with every cake that I remember to take a picture of. Kind of cute, but mostly just stressful. I don't want her to ruin the cake. She could cough on it, accidentally bump it, trip and smash her face into it...that kind of thing.

And whatever big sissy does, Nolan has to do too. That's even worse. He wouldn't accidentally bump it. He'd intentionally dig out a big chunk and shove it down his throat.

This is Nolan's quick birthday cake. He insisted on Diego after seeing the other Diego cake. I wanted to try out the topsy turvy style, so we compromised. I did the topsy turvy cake and he got a Diego candle thrown on top. :) Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Nolan on his birthday. Josh just took video. I haven't figured out how to add those yet.

The aftermath.

Christmas Eve was a couple days later and Nolan was Joseph. Unfortunately, he had just received a toy gun as a gift. Wouldn't put the thing down. So instead of a Joseph vibe, he kind of sent out the pasty white terrorist vibe.

That candy filled cane looks menacing too.

Clara was an angel. Without a gun.

The whole holy group awaiting certain destruction from Joseph the Terrible.

Seriously. Look at that face. Does he look like he's joking?

We came home and put the kids to bed. This was the pile of crap under the tree that would soon be an even bigger pile of garbage and toys the next morning.

This is the kids opening their presents. There aren't a lot of pictures, because Josh likes the camcorder thing, but ain't they cute?

Moving on from Christmas...a couple of months ago, this was the morning tradition for Nolan and Ollie, after we sent Clara off to school. Nolan would squish himself into Oliver's blanket and they'd watch morning cartoons together.

Next comes Clara's sixth birthday. She had a cupcake themed party, they played musical chairs, smashed a pinata, and decorated cupcakes. Fun was had by all, reflected in the giant mess afterwards.

This was the top of her cupcake tower. Fancy.

Pin the cherry on the cupcake. I painted it. That's right.

An example of the delicate treatment my children get when in the hands of a loving uncle.

President's Day! I love it.

This is the first picture I have of Oliver sitting by himself. He still flops over occassionally, but he's so strong!

Nolan being innovative with the jumpy thing.

See? Look how dingy brownish blonde his hair is now. Oh, and the nose picking thing. That's new too.

How handsome.

This is their new ritual. Oliver won't lay down now that he knows how to sit up, so they just sit together on the love sac and watch morning cartoons.

And that is all, my friends. All I had the time or patience for anyway. Until next time...

Mom Brain

I've got it bad. Real bad. Its a curious thing, mom brain. The anti nausea portion of the brain seems to deplete the common sense sector. I have been puked on peed on, pooped on and slobbered on, all without blinking. I wipe the offending fluid off and continue on with life. Second nature.

BUT I can't think anymore. Its a big problem considering I have three kids. As of yet, I haven't forgotten any of them. Not when it mattered anyway. I did once leave the baby in the car, but my sweet husband was there to gently remind me "ARE YOU CRAZY? THE BABY COULD DIE OUT THERE! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Case in point. I wasn't thinking. I just can't, its too hard.

Example 1: I walk in to the house with the baby, the diaper bag and a bowl of egg salad. I hang the diaper bag up, take the baby upstairs and put the highly perishable egg salad away. Everything looks good. Until the next day when I go to the cupboard to grab my kids a healthy fruit leather snack. A cupboard in which lies my highly perishable egg salad. All nice and perished.

Example 2: Cash. Josh went to the bank and took out some money for me to go shopping on Black Friday so I wouldn't spend too much. I tend not to keep track (mostly because I know if I do, it just won't be as much fun). So I have that stash of cash. I also babysit my niece, she paid me in cash also. I remember putting the babysitting money on the kitchen counter downstairs. So its not the best place to put money, but I knew where I put it, which is one step ahead of the norm. The BF money I recall placing on the microwave. Vividly. I get ready to go shopping and I think I know where all this cash is. I go to the microwave, nothing. I go downstairs to the kitchen counter, nothing. I ransack the house, dig through hampers, shuffle through junk drawers and non junk drawers, look under, in and over the couch, double check everything, stick my hand in my pocket and pull out the babysitting money. Celebrate quietly, grab my purse to ensure its safety, put my hand in and pull out the BF money. Celebrate much more quietly as to not tip off my husband of my insanity and unify the money in one big safe wad.

Such is my life. Always.

Which brings me to my latest excuse for the large expanse of time between blog posts. I forgot I had a blog. Can't post in a blog you don't have now can you? Okay, I jest, I'm not that crazy yet. Just a little slower than usual.

Pictures!

Pics by Tina, Oliver at three months. Adorable.

Oliver passed out on the boppy. Those things DO look comfy.Cozy baby.Nolan and his little bro. Look at that color difference!All my sweeties.Happy boy!The boys.Ollie at the computer, his favorite spot.Nolan's black eye. It got so much worse, sad I didn't get a picture. I searched high and low for a picture of Clara without messy hair. This was the closest I came. I really do do her hair every morning. Super cute. She just destroys it in a matter of minutes. She's cute anyway.