Mike’s been at it again, sneaking away from work to do some fishing. He’s come home 2 days in a row with these monster salmon. He’s so proud of accomplishments. These fish are going to get smoked. Can’t wait to try it.

Yesterday’s fish.

Today’s catch was a female.

How did we know, you ask? Take a look for yourself.

Enough eggs to fill up a bowl. Just call her fertile Myrtle.

Huge fish means huge filets.

In other news my mom came for a visit this week. She’s in the process of relocating to Chicago, so she did some searching for new digs. The perfect place was found, and she’ll be moving into her new place in the next couple of weeks. The girls are super excited about having their Grandma so close and getting the chance to visit with her more often.

While trying to take advantage of the last of the nice days this year I called up the Johnsons to see if they wanted to hang out at the park. The invitation was accepted, and Mimi couldn’t have been more thrilled to learn about her upcoming playdate (is it supposed to be play date–2 words, or playdate–1 word, or does it even matter?). It occurred to me that I haven’t pulled out my big camera for outdoor shots in ages, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to do so. The Johnson kids didn’t know what to make of me or my large, black box, but I eventually got them to cheese it up for a few shots. The day was really overcast and gloomy, but I think it added an interesting mood to the pictures.

At first, Alex just ignored me.

I got him to smile a little, but I think he only did it so I’d get out of his face.

This picture cracked me up. I see a future rock star here.

I’m sure he’s thinking, “When will she go away?”

One last smile, but that’s it.

Chloe was a little trickier. In this picture, she’s actually running away from me. I happened to catch her smiling when she thought she dodged the bullet.

I finally figured out how to get Chloe to lighten up, it was to take off that massive coat that was suffocating her on a 65 degree day (sorry, Julie, couldn’t resist).

Mimi tried to steal the seahorse from Chloe. I’m glad I talked Mimi out of it because these are my favorite photos from the day.

As you can see I have no problem getting Mimi to smile or pose for me. Such a ham.

They actually did have fun in spite of the crazy lady with the camera.

This is all I feel like doing lately.

All those projects I had hoped to make are piling up in my brain but are not getting made in real life. I was doing so well when this new baby arrived. The projects were getting done. The housework was mostly getting done. However, it seems like the laundry is suddenly growing exponentially, and I can’t keep up with it along with all the other chores. By the time the bare minimum of tasks is completed for the day I’m quite exhausted. There’s no energy left for the long list of fun projects to get tackled. I really can’t blame Violet because she generates minimal extra laundry (or does she) and is sleeping 10-12 hours per night. I will say that she is requiring several hours of time being spent in my arms. Like right now I’m forgoing eating dinner in order to hold Violet while the girls eat (Mike’s gone for the night on a scout camp out). I also attribute much of the disorder to my other 2 tykes. The second I turn my back after cleaning up a mess another one has been made by them. Of course, I do make them help around the house, but that “help” requires my supervision which keeps me from completing other missions. When I suggested that hiring a live-in housekeeper would be good for the economy Mike just gave me a look of disdain. After all, the same suggestion was made in my favorite series of books, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Not that we’d ever be able to afford to employ a person, but at least I can dream, huh? Oh well, I suppose this is how it is to be. For now. Maybe I can muster up enough energy tonight after all the girls are in bed to finish the jacket I’ve been making for Annie. Dagnabit, it’s so close to being finished.

I’m finally getting back to the gym after being on maternity/pregnancy/broken foot leave for the past 6-7 months. It’s amazing how much the body gives in to the sedentary lifestyle. My hiney is not happy today, and the rest of my body went on strike. I’m hoping after a week or so though that my muscles will start to remember what they are supposed to be doing instead of just exerting enough effort to pick up that next Milano cookie. Man, I love those things! In the meantime, I’ve been searching for the perfect workout to get my body back into ultimate shape. I think I’ve found it. Anyone want to join me for a session?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8fRyj0Y900

This may explain the horsey video from yesterday. Occasionally, there are some people who will ride their horses through the field in our backyard. They did this yesterday which prompted Mimi to grab her horsey for a “ride”. Today they got a chance to meet the real horses and to sit on them. The girls were out of this world excited about this opportunity. Annie declared afterward, “Today was my favorite day!” I’m glad I grabbed the camera.

Violet didn’t get a chance to ride on the horse, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be included in this post.

Mike wasn’t sure what time he’d get home from work last night, so we decided to meet up with him at Buffalo Wild Wings on his way home. It was kids’ night (which means free food for the kids), and Cuddles and Billy were there to paint faces and make balloon animals for the kids. Thank goodness the girls don’t have a phobia of clowns like I did as a child.

As mentioned in the previous post, Mike and Brad shot some ducks. Here’s Brad posing with their game. Brad got a female teal duck and Mike a female mallard.

Have a closer look at the teal duck.

Mike has been heading into work a little earlier some mornings so that he can get some fishin’ in. Last week he caught this large fish. I think this one was a salmon. Mike has been telling tall tales of these huge salmon overtaking their rods, nets, and lines. Men and their fishing stories.

In other news, Mike was outside this afternoon cleaning up the garage so that I can finally park inside it again. The girls were playing with their hula hoops, and Mike decided to shoot some video footage of them. Annie is really good now at this skill. However, please watch the entirety of this video as there is much more to it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82t73KtaWHQ

We had a fun few days with some friends this weekend. They drove up from Indianapolis which is a short 4 hour drive. My friend Rebecca has known me since 7th grade when we met in home-ec. She was working hard and getting excellent grades in the class while I was busy chatting and getting a D+. I wised up for 8th grade home-ec, and I am grateful for what I learned in order to do the sewing projects I make these days. Anyway, Rebecca was always a good friend. We lost touch for a few years but found each other a couple of years ago and have been in touch ever since. Rebecca and her husband, Brad, had a baby girl, Kamille, 5 days before Violet was born. We thought it’d be fun to get together and worked this weekend into our schedules. Turns out Brad is an avid hunter like Mike, so they spent the weekend hunting geese and ducks. (Check out the website I designed for his new business Pinnacle Outdoors. If you need any hunting calls or scents, then order from him. 🙂 ) Both Mike and Brad shot a duck last night, and the boys were quite ecstatic. Rebecca and I just hung out with the babies. We made her sweetie 3 pairs of baby shoes like Violet’s. I was so glad and surprised we could get those made despite fussy babies. I hope they had a great time like us, and we’d love to do it again in the future.

The babies weigh exactly the same and are the same height. Check out the cheeks on Kamille. Such a cutie! Speaking of Violet’s stats, she had her 2 month appointment on Thursday. She now weighs 11 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile) and is 22.5 inches long (50th percentile). She had to get 3 shots and was not happy:(

As you can see it’s impossible to get two 2-month-olds to look and smile at the camera at the same time.

The moms with their babes.

Happy, little family.

The girls insisted on holding Violet, so they each got a turn. As you can see the novelty of a new baby has not worn off. Violet doesn’t seem to mind though.

Mike gets just about every holiday off since he’s a government employee. This Columbus Day was no different. We decided to visit Minnesota for the three days, so that the rest of Mike’s family could meet Violet. Of course, the girls also love spending time with Grandma Minnesota, the cousins, anuts, and knuckles. There was no shortage of that. On Saturday morning Knuckle Jake cooked up some brunch for everyone (delish, as always), and we got to see most everyone except for Anut Sara and Knuckle Dave. Fear not, we did finally get to see them on Sunday evening for a dinner at Ma Olsen’s house. The one bad thing about these visits is that they are usually short, and we are sad to eventually have to go home.

While unpacking the suitcase we finally remembered where we stored Violet during the car trip.

At Jake’s brunch Violet got to meet many of her new relatives and get held a lot. She loved that part. Marissa, Owen, and Maya are enjoying their new relative here.

Matt and Dylan will be celebrating their birthdays this month, so it seemed appropriate to celebrate it while we were all together.

Even Lily the husky greeted her with warm kisses.

According to his mother uncle Jake has always been a fan of babies. Maya seems to have inherited that gene from her daddy. She was funny with me and kept coming up to me to ask who I was. You would think that she would remember me since we’ve spent time together on at least a dozen occasions. I must not be that memorable (sniff, sniff).

As usual Grandma has the magic touch and can put Violet to sleep in mere seconds. On two separate occasions, no less.

It was discovered that the furnace was not operating properly and not generating any heat. It got pretty darn cold on Saturday night, so we pulled out the snuggly, winter suit for Violet to wear to bed. Isn’t she cute? I had a hard time putting her to bed because she was so soft and cuddly in this.

The next night was dinner at Grandma’s house. Mike acquired a few pheasants from a friend, but they needed to be plucked first before freezing. All the cousins were fascinated with the processing of the birds. Paul and Dave helped with the plucking, and the little kids were curious to see the heart. Owen kept his distance though.

Like brother, like brother.

He likes to scare small chidren, too (just kidding, he’s actually a fun uncle).

The girls got ahold of the camera. Mimi’s model pose.

My guess is that this was taken by Mimi just a tad too close or something…hmmm?!? Or were they just in the red light district? And what in the world is going on with Annie’s mouth?!?

On the way out of town we met up with Grandpa Minnesota for lunch. Although it was a short visit it was still nice for the girls to see Grandpa and for Violet to meet him for the first time.

Our neighbors were gracious enough to loan us anything baby-related because their baby would be a year-old by the time Violet was born. This saved us tons of money and the stress of having all new baby stuff for the last baby in our family. We received the crib today from them, and I finally got the opportunity to put the final touches onto the nursery. I don’t know if I’m more excited about the nursery part of the room or the craft side. Have a look for yourself.

We’ll start with the craft side first. My workspace. The table now has a skirt on it to hide all that unsightly clutter underneath.

Those little shelves on the wall house all my sewing notions and such for easy access. The cabinet has all my craft supplies like scissors, stamp pads, markers, decorative punches, etc. It used to be our kitchen cart for our one-butt kitchen in our first house we owned. I made the display boards years ago for the girls’ rooms, and we never had a place for them in DC. Now the girls have the purple one in their room, and I got the pink one. I plan to put craft ideas there for inspiration later.

Let’s take a look at the nursery. Here’s the changing table. I’ve got wicker baskets on both shelves below for all of Violet’s things. How is it possible for such a little being to need so much stuff? The pictures on the wall are of Annie and Mimi. They used to hang in Mimi’s nursery in NC. I guess they are kind of sentimental to have “baby” pictures of the girls hanging in Violet’s room

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, those “fish” that the general consensus seemed to think I made. Can you tell what they are now?

Here’s a closer look, from Violet’s view. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s a bird mobile. Mike cut some branches for me and also stuffed the birds.

The tree thingy behind the crib is a vinyl wall “sticker”. An easier and cheaper way of getting a wall mural. I loved this as soon as I saw it. So fun!

I wish I would’ve taken a better picture of the crib, but here are the crib bumper and crib skirt I made.

I love this room, and plan to spend a lot of time in it. Hope Violet doesn’t mind.

In a quest to get Mimi’s hair out of her face during dinner time, Mike appeared with several hair bands and came up with the idea to do this to the girls’ hair. Of course, the girls were giddy about their new look.

Violet, on the other hand, was too busy dreaming of her new shoes to be concerned that her hair isn’t long enough to pull off such a look.