Hairstylists in the making... & a GIVEAWAY!

Right now I am laying on my bed propped up on pillows, with the lap top on my lap.
Right now I am feeling tired.
Right now I am wondering what ages will my girls be when I do not feel completely exhausted by the end of the night?
Maybe when Claire is not three anymore, when we can understand her when she speaks, and she doesn't use screaming as her main source of communication?
Right now I believe that motherhood is the hardest job that I will ever have in my life.
(I know it is rewarding too, trust me I know, but right now it feels hard to me.)
Right now I am listening to pandora through my phone with my ear buds in my ears so that I didn't have to hear the girls crying/fighting/screaming while I cleaned up the kitchen after dinner.
Right now I keep having to hit thumbs down when a John Mayer song comes on my Matt Nathanson pandora station.
Right now Mr. Hass just told me that Whitney Houston died today.
Right now I am glad that soon it is bedtime for the little people in the house.
Right now I am wishing I had a glass of wine in my hand.
I am too tired to go get one.

I bought the girls this hair styling kit for $14 last time we were in Target.  I told them they had to share it and if they didn't play nice I would take it away.  The blow drier required batteries.  It blows air and everything.

I was so impressed with Hannah's form.  I think somebody's been paying attention when I blow dry her hair. 

Claire already has mad flat ironing skills. 

I was snapping away with my camera and telling the girls what a great job they were doing, and Mr. Hass was just shaking his head and laughing to himself.  "What?" I said to him.  He just shook his head and said he needed some more testosterone around here.  Then he said he needed a beer.  Then I heard him mumble something like, "Three.  Three women.  Three women with blow driers and flat irons and curling irons.  Three." 

That's right Mr. Hass.  Three.

But, not to worry Mr. Hass.  Because before you know it, they won't be screaming and crying during your Boise State football games, they'll be asking if they can borrow your car keys and stay out at so and so's house until what we think is much to late of an hour for young ladies to be out. 

I know it happens fast.  I do.
So even though right now sometimes I feel stuck in the day to day stuff, I know that I need to look for the good moments and hold onto them because these daughters of ours will be grown up and married making their own bread and pot roasts before we know it. 


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Since so many people asked me about where to find the kenra blow dry spray...

I bought an extra one to giveaway!!!
Here's how you can win it:
-for one entry sign up to be a follower (or tell me you already are)
-for a second entry tell me what products you use before blow drying your hair

I will randomly select the winner and post it on Thursday.

Peace out. 

Gifts, Gardening, & my Girls

First off,

Thank you so much for all of the nice comments about my new do... or is it doo?  I think it's do. Du?  Do.  Short for hairdo.  Yes.  That's it.

Anyway, it was so fun to read all your kind words!

I really love the new look.  It feels incredibly freeing to cut 8 inches off your hair! I'm already dreamin up shorter looks that I might try.

Anyone want to see it again?  ;)

Last night I tried out a new Mediterranean cafe with my girlfriend Amy.  She was so sweet and treated me for my upcoming birthday.

We had a great time eating and chatting.  Thanks Amy!!

Today while Mr. Hass was at work the girls and I had to grocery shop.  But first, we went to Ulta to buy a few things more exciting than groceries.

 I love the Dr. Teal's bath salts that I learned of from my blog friend Nicolle. I didn't know about this bath vapor but I HAD to try it out.
I am anxious to try these bare minerals products.  I bought the moisturizer and exfoliator.  They were feautured in In Style magazine this month.  Bare Minerals is organic and their facial line is derived from natural soil and minerals.  I also bought a cover up stick by Murad which was also featured in In Style.  It has tea tree in it so it is supposed to zap your zits while covering them up as well.  Who doesn't want that?  Also bought a few other goodies that looked fun, silver sparkly eyeliner, sunscreen with micah in it to add shine, and a new lip liner and stick by NYX.  Fun stuff.

Mr. Hass walked in the door from work with this beautiful bouquet of flowers for me today.  They are just gorgeous.  I didn't get around to taking a picture until this evening and it doesn't do them justice.

Then Hannah and Mr. H ran outside to his car and they came back in carrying a big beautifully wrapped box.

I had an idea what it might be and I was right...

 The Breville juicer I have been eyeing at Bed Bath & Beyond!!!
I was SO excited! I can't wait to start juicing it up.

After Claire's nap we drove thru Starbizzuck's for mua, and then headed to Lowe's.

(phone pic)

 We bought a lot of fun veggies and fruits for our garden! 
I'll show you how it's looking soon.
I can't wait to see what we harvest.

(phone pic)

The girls have been especially crazy lately.

I don't know if it's the warmer weather,

or that they sense the fun of summer up ahead,

 but they have been just downright c-r-a-z-y!

I have especially felt like this week I have just been doing damage control.

Cleaning up messes after them in every room,

breaking up fights (constantly),

making meals and cleaning up after meals,

and then turning around and cleaning up the mess they made while I was cleaning up after the meals...

But,

throughout the messes

they can still make me laugh.

And I am reminded of how blessed I am to be their mother.

They have changed me in so many ways and I could never thank them enough.

(phone pic)

Just a quick example of how they make me laugh-
Today while shopping in Ulta,
Claire was strapped into the stroller (like I'd let her roam free in that place), and I gave Hannah strict orders to not touch anything.
As I was reading up on moisturizers and facial creams, I turn around
and Hannah is standing over Claire with her left hand underneath Claire's chin, and her right hand gently applying a (very dark) purple lip gloss all over her face and mouth.  I had to laugh because it was so funny.
Then I glanced at Hannah and she had the same dark purple lip gloss all over her mouth and chin as well.

What girl doesn't like a beauty supply store huh?

There Are No Words

Sometimes there really are no words adequate enough to describe the love I have for both my girls.  It is a love that I knew nothing about before I became a mother myself.  And then suddenly, I understood.  Suddenly I understood exactly what it means when my mom says "I love you".  Suddenly I understood exactly why she wanted to know the exact names of the streets that I would be driving on to get to Taco Bell with my friend Kelly, and why she wanted me to call her the minute that we arrived at our destination.

Now I understand.

I will admit that as much as I sometimes long for the day when both my girls will be in school and I will have a bit more time of the day to myself again, I also wish I had the ability to keep them small for as long as I wished.  Not always of course, but on nights like tonight I especially wish I had that power.

After Mr. Hass returned home from work this afternoon, Hannah and I left the house for a special date.  The date did not go exactly as well as I had hoped, but that's just life.

I was inspired by Mel over at The Larson Lingo to have a date with Hannah.  I know it is important to spend one on one time with my kids, and while I've spent that one on one with Hannah at home while Claire is napping, I have never really gone somewhere special with just her.  Mr. Hass has taken Hannah out a couple of times, and I figured it was time I did as well.

Of course we couldn't leave Claire Bear out of all the pictures.

Poor thing, being the mama's girl that she is, threw a fit when she realized that Hannah was leaving with me and she was staying with Daddy.  Sorry Claire, you will get your turn.  I promise.

Our first stop was the local library.  Shamefully, I do not have a library card, so we thought we would go get ourselves some cards and some books to borrow.  Once we pulled up I saw that the parking lot was empty and thought oh no.  Sure enough, they were closed.  The hours are very limited now and I wonder if it is due to the bad economy.  I thought it was so sad.  Hannah was very upset because she wanted to go the the library just like Caillou (her new favorite show) does.  I promised her we would go soon.

Then we went to Chick Fil A.  She took two bites of her food and that's only because I practically forced her to.  Then she wanted to go play.  There were some very rough and rowdy boys running amok in the play area and Hannah was scared of them.  She finally got brave enough to go play and one of them practically knocked her down while he was running around like a wild baboon with no parent in sight (of course).  Hannah started crying and that was that.  She didn't want to leave, but she didn't want to play with those boys in there. 

We left and went to Golden Spoon to get dessert for us and some to bring back for Daddy and Claire.

I was disappointed that our date wasn't as great as I had envisioned, but I know we will do it again soon.

What got me so emotional tonight, was after I took a bath I went into Hannah's room to turn off her night light and kiss her goodnight.

What I saw just melted me into a million pieces and I sat down on her bed and started to cry.

My sweet Hannah.
So anxious to grow up and go to "hike school".
Asleep with the back to school Target catalog in her bed, and her toy Woody in her hand, and Woody's hat on the tip of her sweet little girl fingertips.

All I could think is that one day her room will be covered in posters of boys and rock bands, and notes from her friends.
There will be no more Woody, no more night light, no more nie nie.
I know it will happen so fast.
So I really am trying to take it all in.
(And trying to see the computer screen because now my eyes are filled with tears)

I wish I could slow this one down too.

She wants to be so grown up.

She thinks she is almost four, not almost two.

Oh how I love these little girls.

Don't Blink.

Cause just like that, your baby girl grows up so fast.

One day she's 8 weeks old, the next thing you know she's almost too heavy to hold.

Don't blink.  Cause if you do, she'll go from 6 months old...

to almost two.

Don't blink.  Cause just like that, your baby girl grows up so fast.

Oh my sweet Claire.  You turned 20 months old on the 17th.  You are getting so big and I like it, but I don't.  I miss your babiness.  And everyday you are less baby and more big girl. 

I love the smell when I first open up Claire's bedroom door at night to check on her while she is sleeping.  It smells of baby.  I'm not quite sure when that smell disappears, but I am savoring it every single night right now.  The smell of baby powder, a freshly bathed little one, diapers, and all things Claire.  Oh how I love that smell. 

I love that Claire is such a mama's girl.  She lights up and runs to me the second she sees me enter a room and jibbers "mama" in her cute little baby talk.  I especially love this because Hannah is such a daddy's girl.  If he is around, I do not exist.  But not to Claire.  Most Wednesdays I get home late from work and Claire is already in bed.  And a lot of Wednesdays Claire will cry when she knows I am home, and I will go into her room and sit with her in the rocking chair for a minute or two.  Not too long.  Just long enough to hold her sweet baby head in my hand, and whisper in her ear that I am home now and that she can go to sleep.  Sometimes she does a little sigh, sometimes she just looks at me and giggles, sometimes she gives me kisses, and always I know she is glad that I am home.

Claire absolutely loves books right now.  She has a basket full of the hard paged books that she can not rip and she flips through them constantly, content for minutes on end.  Right now her favorite one is Goodnight Gorilla.  It cracks her up.  Or maybe it's the way I read it to her.  Maybe I crack her up.  We've read Goodnight Moon so many times it's been put to sleep.  She seems to be a big fan of anything and everything that Eric Carle ever wrote too. 

And once in a while she gets a hold of one of Hannah's books.

At nap and bedtimes we usually give her a book or two in her crib.  She flips through them until she falls asleep, and in the morning she reads (looks at) them quietly until she lets us know she's ready to get up.

Claire is an excellent sleeper.  She plays so hard during the day, that she naps extraordinarily well.  She is usually ready for a nap by 1pm or 1:30, and lately she has been sleeping until 4:30pm and sometimes 5pm!  I usually seem to get a lot done during that time period. 

Claire is an excellent eater.  This girl loves her food.  She has a palate unlike any other toddler I've ever seen.  She is also not afraid to get down and dirty with her food.  Most meals I think she winds up eating more than Hannah does.  She chowed down the chicken paninis we had last week and loved every bite of it.  Even the spinach.

She likes sharing with Abbey too.

I've recently pulled Claire's crib away from the wall in her room because she has been grabbing the letters that spell her name and she bangs them against the wall.  She hasn't tried to get out of her crib yet though.  I wonder how much longer until that happens.

For as rough and tumble as this little girl likes to be, she is such a sweetheart too.  She loves to snuggle and be held.  And did I mention that she is a Mama's girl? 

She is bound and determined to do everything her sister does.  Even if that means rock climbing at the park.

She is truly such a joy. She completes our Hass family.

She has the cutest little belly button ever.

I love the little curly tendrils at the back of her hair.

Stop growing Claire.

Stop.

Just for a little while.

I like you the way you are.

xoxoxo,

Your Mama

No clever title for this one.

Parenthood...

...it is not for wimps.

That's all I have to say today.

(Picture was taken by my brother in law Dustin, on the day that Hannah was born. 11-7-06.  I was not feelin so hot in case you can't tell.)

My Mother's Day Weekend

It went a little something like this...

I'm so tired I can't even remember Friday.
Oh wait, I do remember.  It was not a great day.
I went to the grocery store and Claire cried the whole time.  We met friends at the park.  I hate the park.  I went to Trader Joe's to shop some more.  I also popped into Francesca's Boutique to see if there was anything I couldn't live without.  There was.  So I bought it. I mean them.  So there were a couple things I couldn't live without.  A couple necklaces that screamed my name.  A scarf.  And maybe some earrings.

This guy had to work all weekend.

I hate it when he works the weekend.  The days just drag on and on.  I can't get my hair washed.  It's rough.

My house was a mess all weekend.  It still is. 

These pictures don't really do anything justice.  There was way more mess. 

It is next to impossible to try to get myself fully ready the way I would like to without Mr. Hass around on the weekend.  Hannah is no problem, but Claire.  Oh Claire.  She is just not content to sit and watch a cartoon.  No no.  She has to roam the house, constantly looking for something to break, or make a mess of.  She pulls every single one of my shoes off their shelves and tries them on.  She wants me to pick her up.  She cries.  She leaves a trail wherever she has been.  She cries.  It's just not a great way to start the day.

So this morning before going upstairs I thought what can I give them to keep them happy and entertained long enough for me to take a quick shower.  Licorice.  Red Vines.  That's right, I used the tv as a babysitter, and I fed my kids Red Vines at 9 in the morning.  You gotta do what you gotta do. Well, that didn't work out so well. (Note to self- Never give Claire red vines in your bedroom ever again.  You will never get the bright red sticky drooly stains out of your pretty off white bench at the foot of your bed.  And those sticky red handprints all over the doors and walls were not fun to clean either.  Bad idea.  Maybe next time just put Claire in Abbey's kennel.)

We made blueberry muffins yesterday morning.

Hannah showed Claire how it's done.

Lick and enjoy.

I was able to get out of my mom uniform for a few hours last night.

My friend Kelly and I went to dinner and a movie.  A good dose of Kel always makes me feel refreshed.  She's good medicine.  So was the wine.  We saw Back Up Plan with J Lo.  It was really cute and funny.

While I'm on the subject of movies, let me say a BIG THANK YOU to the makers of The Princess and The Frog.  Claire has never sat still long enough to watch any show, and she is completely enamored with this movie.  Both girls were.  And yes, I used the tv to babsit again while I laid on the couch and tried to gather my strength.  You know you've done it too.

And one more movie I must talk about before wrapping this up.

SATC2!!

Sex and the City 2 people!

18 more days til it's released, but who's counting?

I'm a big fan.

I have all of the dvds from every season.

I have watched most episodes multiple times.

I have memorized lines from several episodes.

I repeat these lines from time to time.

I get chills when I see the previews for the new movie.

Mr. Hass bought tickets for us to do the SATC tour when we were in NY 4 years ago.

It was so neat and so fun.

(He was 1 of 3 men on the tour.  And he was the only straight man on the tour.  Hats off to him.)

Here's a few pics from that trip.

That's me, 3 months pregnant.  Trying so hard not to throw up at the millions of smells that New York City has to offer.  I am sitting in front of the Pulitzer Fountain, across from The Plaza Hotel.  The same fountain where Carrie runs into Mr. Big after his wedding to Natasha.  Remember that epsisode?  I was sitting right there.  Cool huh?

This is the stoop of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment.  How cool is that.  All of the people milling about are actually the neighbors that live on that street.  They were having an outdoor garage sale type thing for the whole street.  It was pretty neat to see.  They are also used to the screaming and adoring SATC fans that come by to see Carrie's stoop.

Times Square.

New York was fun.  I can't wait to go back someday.

Okay, I'll wrap this up now.  Sorry I got so excited about SATC I got a bit "Carried" away.  hee hee

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and my Mother In Law!  Hope you both had a fantastic day.

PS- The highlight of my mother's day was my hour long bubble bath at 4:45pm this afternoon.  I got to read my fabulous book without any interruptions, so thank you to Mr. Hass for making that possible.

Balance & Easter Part Two

Since becoming a mother I have realized that life is all about finding a balance.  At least my life anyways.  When I feel happiest and the least stressed is when I am in a good routine with things, and my life is balanced.  You know what I mean by balance... somehow finding a routine/schedule that allows time for it all.  Or as close to that as I can manage.  Finding time to be a mother all day everyday, but also time to work, manage my business, keep my house clean, and laundry done, and children fed, and still have time carved out to be alone with my husband, exercise, read, time for me, time with friends, and a little of this and that in between.

It's easier at certain times it seems than others to find that balance.  Last night after putting the kids to bed, Jake and I had ordered Macaroni Grill for dinner.  He went to pick it up, and we enjoyed a nice dinner and actually got to sit and talk for a while.  It was nice.  I told him that I feel off balance right now.  Life has just been so busy.  I know a lot of it has to do with taking this photog class.  It's such fun, but it is time consuming.  And I can't just do anything half assed, so if I'm gonna do it, I want to do it right. 

Anyway, I'm not stressed about it.  Just trying to balance it all out.  ;)
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And now for the rest of my Easter post. 
Part Two-

A big thank you to these two, for hosting such a perfect day.

Aren't they a cute couple?

He calls her Buns, did you know that?

Or Puddin'.

And sometimes Bunnigan.

Sickening. (no not really)

After naps, we changed the kids into some comfy clothes that they can get dirty in.  Cause you know how kids love to be dirty.  We got to Gamma and Geeps, and busted out the bubbles from that bunny.

While we were outside playing bubbles, the earth started to shake.  I was inside with my Mom and Dad in the kitchen when we all looked at each other and said, "Is this an earthquake?"  And I ran outside like a crazy person wanting to locate both kids and make sure they were fine.  They were.  They didn't stop blowing bubbles for a minute.  The water in the pool was sloshing all over the place for a good couple minutes afterward. 

I love this picture of Claire and her hair blowing in the breeze.

My Mom prepared a delicous feast.  She said we were just going simple, so she did not tell me what to make, and she certainly outdid herself.  Everything was so good.  And the leftovers were even better.

After dinner, we went out to the sport court for some fun.

We went home with two worn out and very dirty little girls.

It was a perfect day.

(minus the earthquake of course)