Sleepover!

On Thursday night Emersyn had her first "friend" sleepover! :) Her little best friend Estella came over while her parents went to the beach for the night to celebrate her daddy's birthday.

We had such a great time with two little toddlers running around but I gotta say, I cannot even imagine having multiples. SERIOUSLY. I am sure if you have twins, you get to ease into it gradually versus just having two toddlers instantly but still....the meal times and bath times were tricky!!! There are major logistics to consider when you've got two of everything. The Lord blesses those who He sees fit with multiples, and for that I am grateful!! :)

My mom got them matching shirts. Too cute!

It was fun for Emersyn to have a friend over. They are such big fans of each other and are exactly 2 months apart (Ems is older). They are going to be flower girls in a wedding this summer together too, how fun will that be? Fun/interesting.... :)

Today we are relaxing at home. Brett had to work which was kind of a bummer but he gets to take next Sunday off instead of today which is fun. I love Sunday family days. This evening we are headed over to our neighbors for a Memorial Day bbq feast...I am so excited!! David and Jenny are going to join us too.

The weather here in the northwest BLOWS right now. It has been two straight weeks of rain with another week forecasted. Poor Emersyn keeps going to the garage door and saying "bike bike". I think the rain is making her stir crazy too! Hoping sunny days are SOMEWHERE in our future. It is crazy reading about friends across the country whose kids are wearing full on summer outfits. Meanwhile, Emersyn's summer clothes are still crisp and new, unused thus far. GRRRRR. There are far worse things in life then a little rain though. I am still blessed and happy and looking forward to a great week.

Happy Memorial Day!

Tuesday Tidbits

*I am home sick for the second day in a row. I get really stressed out over taking sick time because if I run out of sick time at work, then I have to use my vacation and if I use up my vacation, I won't be able to take time off to visit my family. I have decided to NOT stress about it though. My manager is really cool and I definitely don't take advantage of having a child and calling in sick all the time like a LOT of people do in my department. I only call in sick when I absolutely am not feeling well OR when my daughter needs her mommy. Emersyn started to get a cough on Saturday that has turned into a full blown cold/cough and I got a sore throat on Sunday, which turned into a cold as well. I am hoping that two days of rest will do us both good. I took Emersyn over to her Nana's yesterday and she took a 4.5 hour nap there!! I took a 3 hour nap and it felt good. Sleep really is the best medicine. Today I am keeping Ems at home with me but hoping to take a nap at some point. Ems said that she wanted to go night night but sometimes that just means she wants her binkys. We'll see if she actually goes to sleep in her crib.....I'm not too optimistic from what I hear in her crib. :)

*My brother and his wife are home and living with us for 2-3 weeks. So fun! Emersyn loves having "uncle" and "auntie" here and she talks about them all the time. It is really really cute. It is also fun having "roomies". Last night we watched a basketball game and Ems was yelling "go ball go ball" and pounding her fist in the air after I showed her how to chant, so cute. Then we watched "The Bachelorette" which I wasn't planning on watching but Jen wanted to record it so I thought it would be fun to all watch together, why not. We cringed together at all the awkward moments and laughed too.

*Ems has started repeating things that we say, even when we don't realize she is listening. We were in the car the other day and I heard her talking to herself. I turned down the radio and could hear her saying "oh gosh, oh gosh". I realized that I had said that on the phone and she was copying me!!!!! She has started saying all kinds of things. It is amusing and alarming, all at the same time.

*Ems has to say "bye bye" to everything and everyone. We came inside today and there were landscapers outside. Emersyn stands in our door way and yells "bye bye" to the landscapers over and over, who could not hear her over the lawn mower. We got off of the freeway the other day and as we're driving over the overpass, Emersyn yells "bye bye cars". Whenever we put Ems to bed, we have her say "bye bye" to everything before she goes upstairs. She says, "bye bye cook" to her kitchen. She says bye to her stroller, her ball, her babies, etc. Very sweet.

*It has been fun watching our newlywed roommates interact. It reminds me so much of when we first got married and makes it fun to reflect on how much we have grown together over the last 7 years. Relationships are fun, complicated at times, but fun.

*We watched the LOST finale on Sunday night with some friends and thought it was just okay. We had suspected that they were dead all along due to some references but the show got so bizarre and weird towards the end that we weren't sure where the heck the show was going.

*That's it for now. :) I thought I had more to say but the cold meds are making my mind go blank.....happy Tuesday. Can you believe it's almost summer?!?! You would never know it here though, so rainy and cold. Boo!

Thursday Five

Today these are five things that make me.....

Joyful
Giddy
Excited
Thankful

Jubuliant

I think you get the idea. :)

1) Last night I went in to check on Emersyn before I went to bed and she was just angelic looking. Seriously, I get teary eyed almost every night, gazing at my daughters innocent little face as she sleeps. She stirred a bit and sat up all bleary eyed. I told her to lay back down and go to sleep and she did......and then let out a GIANT toot. I had to run out of her room, I was laughing so hard and didn't want to wake her up. It made my night, seriously. This may make me a weirdo but I don't care. You had to be there.

2) My husband sent me an email on Monday to thank me for making some muffins on Sunday night and said I was so "domestic". I swooned a bit.

3) Emersyn went pee on the potty today!!!!!!!!! She always talks about the potty and loves to point at our toilet and say "mama potty" and then her potty and say "emmy potty". Today I had her sit on it naked while I was blow drying my hair and she peed!!! It was awesome!!! We made a huge deal out of it and she was awfully proud of herself. So cute. We are taking potty training slow and steady but she sure is showing all the signs. So fun.

4) I got to have sushi last night with my sweet friend Roxanne, which was a treat. I LOVE sushi soooo much, and by sushi I mean California Rolls, nothing crazy like raw fish. :)

5) I got a card in the mail for my anniversary (which was last Sunday) from my grandma, with an apology for the card being so late. In the card was a gift card to CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!!!! We now get a free dinner for our date night tomorrow, whoo hoo whoo hoo!!!!

Happy Thursday everyone!!

Wordless Wednesday- First Frap

Second Annual Oregon Garden Trip!

Brett and I have officially decided to make the "Oregon Garden Resort" an annual trip for us! It is such a great getaway, reasonably priced rooms, beautiful grounds, and only about an hour away. Perfect! Last year we went on Memorial Day for the night. This year we went a couple weeks earlier but the weather was fantastic! Here are some pictures from last year's visit and this years...can you tell I like the "then and now" type posts? It's just so fun to see how much bigger Emersyn is getting (and how much littler hopefully that Brett and I are getting, ha ha!).









For more cute pics of our trip, check out my other blog here.....hard to post pics on two different blogs sometimes. There are some super cute pics of Emersyn, definitely worth checking out! :)

Not Me Monday- It's been awhile!

*Everyone knows that you do NOT try out a new self tanner right before a MAJOR LIFE EVENT. I could just leave it at that but I'll elaborate for your amusement......I posted on Facebook a couple weeks before my brother's wedding to find out the best sunless tanners out there. 95% of my friends suggested "Jergens Natural Glow" lotion. It wasn't me who completely disregarded all my friends advice (the advice that I solicited mind you) and decided to buy a Neutragena spray tanner instead. It also wasn't ME who decided to wait until the Wednesday night before the wedding (which was on a Friday) to have my husband spray me down. I figured he can spray paint decently, this would be similar, right?!?

Upon waking up on Thursday morning, it wasn't ME who looked like a streaky orange/white MESS!!!!! I didn't wake Brett up frantically, showing him my newly acquired stripes. And I certainly didn't frantically start googling "how to remove sunless tanner". One of the remedies was to take a bath in baking soda and baby oil. After soaking for 20 minutes and seeing no results, I decided to get out, telling Brett to be SURE to clean the tub behind me.

Life had to go on and we had to go pick up my cousin from the airport. I put on some pants and a hoodie and thanked my lucky stars that I had enough sense to NOT put the sunless tanner on my face. On our way to the airport, I confirmed that Brett had indeed cleaned out the bathtub, the bathtub that the groom-to-be was going to use that morning. It wasn't my husband that FORGOT to clean out the deadly baby oiled tub!!! I frantically called my brother and prayed that he hadn't already broken his neck on the slick fiberglass death trap and luckily he answered the phone and heeded my warning. :)

I called a tanning salon who recommended using Windex. It wasn't ME who used nearly half a bottle of windex over the next couple of days, scrubbing down my striped body and prayed for forgiveness for being SO foolish!!!

P.S. The Windex actually worked. If you looked super closely at my skin, you could see some remnant streaks but it wasn't noticeable at a glance. Hall-le-lu-jah!!!

*It wasn't my husband who made us THIRTY minutes late for pictures on the wedding day because he waited until THAT afternoon to pick up his shoes!!!!

*It wasn't me who pulled into my next door neighbors driveway last week while deep in thought, ha!

*It wasn't me who went to bake some yummy applesauce muffins, only to realize that I had used ALL my baking soda during the sunless tanner fiasco.....

"Rate My Space" winner! :)

A couple of weeks ago, Keely over at MannLand5 posted that she was going to be doing a "rate my space" of kids rooms and nurseries. I have never participated in a rate my space before. I used to think that I had a streak of interior design in me but not at this time in my life. I don't have enough money, time, patience or magic erasers (due to having a toddler) to pursue a perfectly decorated home. I am, however, proud of Emersyn's nursery so I decided to participate and submit a couple of pictures.

Out of 8 rooms, I won!! I was so happy!!! :) I kept an eye briefly on the voting and it seemed like it was going to be close but then I saw Keely's post and felt a surge of happiness. I can be kinda competitive.... :)

Anyways, thanks for picking Emersyn's room those of you who voted! It was a labor of love. The striped wall was quite the effort and I am so grateful for a husband that was willing to carry out my vision. :)

Here are some more pictures of my sweet girls room.....enjoy!

We custom ordered these letters off EBay and painted them ourselves.

This was a dresser in our guest room that we decided would make a perfect changing table for Emersyn!

We made this mobile using little birdies from Pottery Barn Kids and a clearance mobile from Target that we took apart.

Found these prints on EBay that matched our bedding. Also ordered the custom photo maps off EBay.

I worked at Pottery Barn Kids the holiday season before I got pregnant and they kept me on a couple times a month. I was able to get our crib and all her bedding at PBK for 40% off, hallelujah! We also got her curtains, window hardware, and various other items too.

Wordless Wednesday- Wedding Gifts!

Dear David & Jenny....

I am sure you have better things to do in Hawaii then read my little ol' blog but in the event that you happen to stumble across it, I wanted to put together some of the advice that my oh so wise friends have offered you, along with some thoughts of my own.

Your wedding was beautiful and Brett, Emersyn and I were honored to be a part of it. It is very evident to me that God brought you together and that He has an amazing future in store for you.

It was always very important to me that David marry someone that I would get along with. Because of my relationship with my brother, I knew that we would always be good friends and envisioned our children growing up together as best buds and cousins. I wanted David to find a girl that would love and accept him, despite some of his weird unique personality traits. :) I wanted someone that loved being with family and that wanted to be a part of our lives. I am so happy that he found that in you Jenny. Jenny, I love your sense of humor. I love that Emersyn knows you as her "Auntie" and that during my dad's birthday party on Wednesday, you were the only person she wanted to be with other then myself. I love how you watched Emersyn last summer, free of charge, while I was dealing with some stressful childcare situations. I love that you love my brother and encourage him to be a better man.

Now, I didn't get overly emotional at your wedding, probably because I was busy trying to entertain my very tired toddler, but I do get emotional writing this blog. Jenny, you are it now. You are the one who David will rely on when he is sick, feeling down, or needing advice. I will always be David's big sister (although I am working on the big part, ha ha) but our relationship will definitely change. I won't miss his nasty sunflower seeds in my coffee mugs but I will miss our candid chats during the day when he lived with us. I won't miss his black socks that he insisted on leaving in my living room each night, but I will miss him saying "Uncles home" to Emersyn when he got home from work. I know that each of you will always be a big part of our lives and we are excited for all that the future has in store for all of us!

Okay, here is my marriage advice, not that you asked for it.... :)

I fully agree that sometimes it is best to go to bed angry. Some of our ugliest, meanest fights have occurred in the late hours of night when you are vulnerable, tired, and sometimes (oftentimes) unreasonable. Sometimes a good nights sleep brings clarity. I do think that the idea of "don't go to bed angry" comes from the philosophy of not brushing things/issues under the rug. Don't let anger plant it's root in your hearts over issues. You WILL get on each other's nerves. But talk it out and find compromise.

Other advice that I feel is valuable is to never give in to the peer pressure of "husband bashing" or "wife bashing". Always be each other's biggest fans and never put each other down in front of other people.

Another thing that I have learned while married (and it took me awhile) is that I am accountable to God for the kind of wife I am, despite what kind of husband I am married to. I have found myself sometimes thinking, "well, Brett never does this or hardly does that.....why should I?"etc. But then I realized that it is my job to honor the Lord and my husband in whatever I do. Having a selfless attitude is one of the biggest challenges in marriage but it's also the most rewarding. Grandma Inglis told me once, "don't expect 50/50 in marriage....if each of you gives 70% and only expects 30% you will exceed each others expectations everytime".

And finally, the most important thing I have learned in marriage is something that I think you guys are great at already.....never lose sight of your friendship which is what brought you together in the first place. Enjoy each other, laugh together, take time to connect daily and put down your phones, computers, video game systems *cough*David*cough*, etc. Marriage is a blessing and will be the greatest adventure of your life so far. :)

Okay kids, I will leave you with advice from my friends who were so kind to take the time to offer it so you know it must be good!!! :)

*We have been married for 27 years and have found a couple key things to keep our marriage strong. The biggest is communication. Men and women think so differently that we have to have many conversations on what is going on in our heads and why we think the way we do. This helps from hurting each other's feelings. The other is marriage is give and take, life is no longer just about you. Good luck and congratulations!

* I wanted to comment on your post today for your dear brother.My marriage advice is something my husband taught me early on in our marriage, and a concept I am still trying to fully grasp. And that is that love is a CHOICE. We don't fall in or out of love with someone. We must make the conscious effort daily (sometimes more frequently than that) to love that person that we have committed our life to. Things WILL change, change is inevitable but choices are in our control. Then there is the advice my MIL gave me . . . Fight Naked. It's hard to stay mad at each other when you're facing each other down in your birthday suits. :) (I can honestly say, I have yet to put this particular piece of advice to good use. But it always gets a laugh.)

*Pray together daily and start your morning off in the Word together daily - It's such a blessing! Also, never go to bed without dealing with a problem. And one more little bit of advice... Never withhold sex as a punishment... Those are my little random bits of "wisdom"... ;)
Oh and one more thing, always remember, you are on the same team. She's/He's not out to get you. Don't be quick to take offense, ask for her/him to repeat him/herself in a different way - I can't even tell you how often it clarifies what was said and takes out the offense that derived from miscommunication. Praying for a wonderful wedding day and start to your lives together!!Britt Clarkson :)

*I agree with the advice listed above. I also want to say take a moment to breathe during the ceremony, reception, etc and REALLY take it all in. It goes fast and those memories last a lifetime. Also, while this goes against some beliefs. Its OK to go to bed angry, occasionally. My husband knows I love him and I know he loves me. Sometimes we both need to stew a little. We get a good night's sleep and either are clear-headed enough to figure it out, or we can laugh about it. Either way its a better solution. If the worst should happen in the middle of the night and one of us DIES without apologizing, we will both know that we were loved beyond belief, and occasionally had a disagreement. Love your spouse where they are at, where ever that may be. Never stop talking to each other, little stuff and big stuff. Never stop laughing or having fun. I really think that is a key thing to remember, and I know its gotten my husband and I through some difficult situations. Think of each others' families as your own. There is no "in-law" in my vocabulary, (although I use it occasionally for clarification's sake). Congratulations to David and Jenny!

*The best advice we got was to ignore the "Don't go to bed angry" advice. Let me tell you, at 10 pm, I'm tired and my emotions are all over the place. Staying up until things are worked out can actually make things worse. Our problems never seem as big in the morning after a good night's rest.

*Swallow your pride and be willing to forgive & open to forgiveness. Hanging on to the past keeps you from looking forward to your future.

Have an amazing honeymoon brother and sister-in-law!!!!! We love you!!!!!

Back to normal...

I said "see ya later" to the last of my family this morning. My mom hates saying goodbye so we say see ya instead. :) It is always emotionally draining to say goodbye to my parents. My heart wishes that they lived here but instead of dwelling on the sadness, I will reflect on the happy moments of the week! I have a decent "Not Me Monday" post brewing in my head but no energy to write it all out. :)

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I got to celebrate at breakfast with grandma on my dad's side. We got a great four generation picture as seen here...

And later in the day, I got to celebrate with my mom's mom as seen here!

Brett and Emersyn got me a beautiful necklace that I can't wait to show you but I need to get a chain for it first. Brett wasn't sure what size I would want so we are going to pick it out together which is fun. :)

I am so grateful to be Emersyn's mama. I couldn't ask for a sweeter child. I thank the Lord for her daily and count it a priviledge to have her as my daughter.

Hopefully I'll get some more posts up this week. I miss you all and miss the normalcy of blogging!! :)

Marriage Advice

My brother is getting married on Friday. 95% of me is ecstatic for him, the other 5% does realize that things will never quite be the same between us. David really struggled when I got married. He was a Junior in High School and in his eyes, his older friend Brett had come in and stolen his big sister. It didn't go over well initially but as David grew up, him and Brett became as close as real life brothers and the three of us have shared many a fun memory. I am excited to add his fiance Jenny to these memories from this moment on. (Wink wink Jenny, hee hee).

I feel like I should have some wise older sisterly marriage advice to give them but in so many ways, I STILL feel like I am figuring marriage out even after SEVEN years!

So, while I gather MY thoughts I thought I would ask you, bloggy friends, for any marriage advice that YOU have found to be tried and true over the past however many years that you have been married. I will compile any responses I get into one big post (hopefully it's big if enough of you respond) and perhaps print it off for the future Mr. & Mrs. David Green. Should be interesting. :) If you want to leave anonymous/private advice, feel free to email me at pattijensen@gmail.com and I will pass the advice on your behalf anonymously. :)

Should be kinda fun! Thanks for playing along, even if it is just a word or two. It's fun to hear everyones little pearls of wisdom in life, after all, isn't that what community is for? :)

A year ago today...

...we said goodbye to our sweet Molly Brown. We miss her so much, Emersyn would have adored her. We like to think of her in doggy heaven with open fields and an endless supply of bones and mini marshmallows (her favorite). :)