brace yourselves

i got invisalign. after 28 years, say goodbye to maren's special tooth. forever.

bites from my apple will no longer look like this:here's my before {note special tooth at top left...i think it's tooth 7, dr. hauley??}:
we'll catch you on the flip side with an after picture in about 10 months.

p.s. i realized just how much i snack during the day after having these on my teeth. it's so not worth it to take them out, eat a snack, then brush and put them back on. this could be a great way to lose those last few pounds!

going commando

yup, it's what you think. today after church, leah ran into her room and went to her CD player first thing. ryan came in to join us and started laughing. so, i peered around the chair and this is what i saw:
if you didn't notice anything abnormal, look down at her ankles. that's her diaper. the one she wore to church. the one that is full and needs to be changed. it totally just fell off and she kept running.

that's what i get for forgetting a diaper cover.

that canNOT taste good

we always joke that leah has an incredible immune system because she eats, licks and bites everything in sight.

that beautiful chair i repainted and recovered? bite marks all over the arm.

her new crib? looks like it's inhabited by a family of beavers.

sand at the park? a delicacy.

daddy's dirty shoes? yuuuuuuuuummy.

she'll eat anything off the table...when it's not dinnertime. the other day i was cutting up some cheese for dinner and she seemed extremely interested, so i cut off some cubes for her to eat. then i noticed the block i was using looked like this:nice, leah. i know. how dumb am i to leave the nice, big piece next to her little portions? i never learn.

a few days ago, i saw a tiny bit of an orange peel on her chin, so i went to investigate. i found this on the counter:she ate the peel! she took a chunk, ate the entire piece she got in her mouth, then set it back on the counter.

so gross.

at least she eats. at least she eats.

we survived....

ryan and i, that is. we survived parenting three children two and under for approximately 29 hours.and then we decided we're done having children. don't even try to change our minds.

okay, so it wasn't that bad. we watched two cute boys while their parents when on a three-day getaway for their mom's birthday. quite the surprise...and i helped execute the planning. it was fantastic. a few other girls also helped out, but we had the boys for the home stretch.
we survived four meals, at least four snacks, two bedtimes, one nap {where all three slept at once}, a long afternoon where ryan went to work and i was all by my lonesome, a triple-toddler bath, lots of games/books/toys, and a little bit {okay, a lot} of tv because it was raining outside the entire time. i would consider the weekend a success.

leah's so vintage

so my mom saved some of my dresses from when i was a little girl. i've had them in a box waiting for leah to grow into them. i thought a few of them were 3T, which is what she wears now, so i decided to take a look the other day. my very favorite jumper in the ENTIRE world ended up being a 2T...and a small 2T at that, so i think we missed the boat. but, this dress said 3T, so i tried it on for size. i little on the short side, but i'm pretty sure that was just the style 28 years ago, because the rest of it fit beautifully.
my mom asked me how i felt knowing that clothes i wore in my lifetime are now considered "vintage." i say bring it on. vintage is in. :)
funny thing about this dress is that my good friend rachel asked me if it was mine...because she had one just like it when she was little too! walk down memory lane for both of us. thanks, leah beah.

when i find the picture of me wearing the dress, i'll post it. that's just way too much effort for right now.

fa la la la la

...la la la la. :)

at the beginning of december i participated in a double quartet from my ward to sing some carols at our ward christmas party. kind of fun to dress up as victorian carolers. i was a bit disappointed that cousin jeff didn't sport the chops as he promised. next year, jeff. next year.someone please remind me to smile when i sing. i think i am...but i'm not.
isn't mary pretty? i think she's beautiful. mary is one of those people i wish everyone had the chance to know. sometimes i just think of mary and smile because she's such a nice, kind, good person. i love being at her house. i love being with her. sorry to embarrass you, mary. i just think you're great.

thanksgiving

hmmm...somehow forgot to post about the goodness that was thanksgiving this year. quiet. simple. delicious. entertaining.

i started the day off at a local turkey trot with one of my favorite people in the world. just us. no kids. so fun. i wore my new nike id shirt: see mj run. love it.
then we cooked dinner with said favorite person and her cute, cute family. mmmm...dinner. kids slept while adults ate {brilliant!}. kids woke up. kids ate. everyone played outside. kids went to bed. adults played games. adults fell asleep to a movie {yes, we had a sleepover}. female adults woke up and went shopping on black friday - childless {again, brilliant!}.

like i said. quiet. simple. delicious. entertaining.

leah jekyll/leah hyde

we've had some jekyll/hyde action going on at our house lately.

this is from our last day in san diego. after an escapade inside denny's. leah hyde may or may not have rubbed ketchup all over the wall.

this is a few nights before that. leah jekyll being her regular, silly self.we much prefer leah jekyll.

picture a day: november

weekend getaway

okay, let's play catch up:

mid-november, we took a quick drive down to riverside to visit him:and his beautiful wife {love the hair!, really!}.
leah rode her first dog. hey guiness. we took naps, and just hung out.

then we drove down to san diego to watch these guys:run a half marathon. except one got sick and couldn't run, so her husband did.
and this guy ran barefoot. that means no shoes. for 13.1 miles. ouch. we walked around coronado on a beautiful evening. leah was our entertainment. i was pretty funny too.
she tried to pull a few shenanigans, but we kept her under control.
ryan even created this make-shift shack for her to sleep in:
worked like a charm! he should have been an engineer, i tell ya. and to make...er...help her sit still, we tied her to the chair with her blanket. also worked like a charm.
i cheered in my first race. i've never gone to a race that i wasn't running. i guess you could call me a cheering virgin. i loved it! that aforementioned beautiful girl beat her previous time. hip! hip! hooray!

leah cheered too.
i was obviously more enthusiastic.

and then we drove home.

quick. but oh so fun. and oh so worth it to see family. {oh, and to shop at that new 3-story forever 21. must. go. back.}