Relief

Clara and I went to meet with Lamar Monday morning. We went to the bank with him and then he took us out to lunch. He lives right across from a Qdoba's and that made me HAPPY! I haven't eaten there since I worked downtown and I only recently found out about another one so I was pleased to find out about this one too! Lamar is so funny with Clara. Other than the time he scared her, she loved playing with him.

We stopped by KS on the way home and my first bit of relief was delivered: I wasn't expected to have the full-fledged return done by today, just enough to know how much to pay with the extension. We went home and worked the day away. I was in the middle of doing something when Clara woke up from her nap so I gave her my phone to look at while she sat on my lap so she wouldn't want to grab the mouse and keyboard. Two seconds later, she decapitated my phone. I had no idea it was only connected by a thin data strip that was easily ripped in half. She wasn't even being rough with it, she just opened it. Either it was perfect timing or horrible timing. Perfect because I had so many things to do and no one could get ahold of me or horrible because I had so many things to do and I couldn't get ahold of anyone. Since I do have my work phone, I decided it was perfect timing. I secrectly liked not being able to be contacted. So if you called, I wasn't ignoring you. It seems as though I can get a free phone if I sign a new 2-year contract, which is what I'd have to do when my phone credit comes up in six months, right? So why not do it now? In the meantime, Karen has offered me her old phone, but I won't get it until Thursday night. I'm sure some of you can't wait that long to talk to me, so just e-mail me.

I met with two of my clients, gave instructions on how/what to file and was up late working on payroll. We're switching back to QB and I decided it'd be good to do at the end of the 1st quarter. Woops, I forgot that would mean doing it during crazy tax time. But we survived and everyone got paid on time.

This morning I called my mom for help. She came to get Clara and for the first time since Clara was born, I was alone in our house. It wasn't exciting as I thought it'd be, but that's probably because I was scrambling to finalize payroll and prep extensions. Grand totals: 8 individual returns, 2 individual extensions, 1 partnership return, 3 partnership extensions, 1 corporation extension, 2 individual extensions and 2 S-corp extensions. Mind you, all of these should be multiplied by 2 since there was one for fed and one for state. That's the most I've ever done and for the first time in my four year accounting career, I finally appreciate the relief felt at the close of April 15th. I will only begin thinking about working tomorrow and have enjoyed not worrying about it tonight. I went and got Clara after I finished up at KS and just sat at my mom's for a bit. I am so far behind on everything from focusing only on taxes the last week. I can't walk in my room without stepping on things, I have no clean clothes and you can't tell what color my kitchen counters are or my table. Hopefully I can be productive tomorrow and feel a little more organized. For now, I'm just enjoying not feeling stressed. :)

I Can Explain

I have had one of the busiest weeks of my life and I can explain it all. These pictures are from the park on Thursday... of the community sippy cup. Clara, Elsa and Lucy were all drinking out of Clara's sippy cup so I thought it'd be funny to take a picture of each of them with it. Friday was spent working trying to finish up the taxes I'd agreed to do and getting stuff for the ones I still had to do. About 4:30pm, I went out to Queen Creek to help Lisa with a video she was making for her dad's 60th birthday. Fortunately, we figured it out and then went to McDonald's (which reminds me, I created my FOF post but was waiting to add pictures before publishing it... obviously that didn't happen). I got home at almost 900pm and decided to go out with Genny and her friends. We had a little Girls Night Out to celebrate her 30th. We had appetizers and pizzookie at BJ's (they watched a movie before that). Mmmm, good stuff (and HUGE in case you can't tell by the picture). It was fun and even though I didn't get home until almost midnight (I think) I was glad I went. I worked for a little bit and then went to bed.

Saturday morning I had to be at the Church at 730am for Little Philmont, yet another Scout training. I got there at 745am and it was actually really good. Sometimes the trainings get a little redundant, but this was my favorite yet. A guy in our Stake spoke about how and why boys are different now and I loved it. Not only that, but a friend that used to be in our Ward gave me a fabulous idea for Singing Time. The training was until Noon, afterwhich I had to go switch cars with Jason at work and then go get Clara at my mom's. Clara and I came home and I started to work when I got a call from Lisa needing more help. We spent over an hour on the phone and still had some problems. I was so frustrated for her and wished we lived next door so I could go help her. I was determined to do whatever we needed to make this work because I know how much time she spent on it.

I got ready (lately, "getting ready" has become quite the novelty) and we were off to my Uncle Hank's 60th birthday party. He's my dad's older brother and sometimes I can't believe at how much they are alike. It was a fun party and we don't see my dad's family enough, so it's always a treat when we do. At the party, I found myself in the middle of a miracle. A picture with my mom and Angela and BOTH of them have their eyes open. A picture with one having their eyes open is special enough, but this? This is fantastic!
Auntie Angela loves Clara, but sometimes she has a hard time minding me and giving into temptation. Angela gave Clara a sucker when she first got there and a few hours later, I told her not to give her anymore. Moments after that I saw Angela looking at me as if she were in agonizing pain. What caused her such pain? Knowing Clara wanted a sucker and that she didn't need one. Of course Clara won and got the sucker and then I think she stole one of the twins' suckers. I took a bunch of pictures of her as she ran into the kitchen thinking she was so sneaky and this is probably my favorite, devilish little face and all.
The margharita that a few unnamed family members were salivating over (yes, it had alcohol and no, they never would've touched it, but it sure was funny how they were eyeing it).
Lisa and Clara. She kept calling Clara her little friend when we were at her house Friday and it was so cute.
The birthday boy.
Mr. Grumpy. Jason was unusually grumpy and he still hasn't told me why. Regardless, he was able to make the video come together. Lisa's neighbor helped her get it on his jump drive and with that and the program that Jason installed on my computer, he got it to work and play from our computer onto the TV. It was so neat to see pictures of my Uncle throughout his life, especially the ones with my dad in it. I love hair from the 60's!! I was also in awe at how much Steven looks like my dad when he was younger. So Steven, just look at dad if you want to know what you'll look like when you're older. :)

They had a giant teddy bear that Clara loved to hug and jump on.
And here's Uncle Tom, my dad's younger brother. The last time I saw the three brothers together was Thanksgiving 2003 so I made them get together for a picture (held hostage by Angela). Uncle Tom loved Clara. He hasn't had little kids around for a long time and his grandkids don't live here. They had fun together.
After the party we rushed to Sprouts (luckily, there was one close to their house) and got there about three minutes before they close. I grabbed some stuff for a salad. Once home, I worked, imagine that! On top of working, I had to do the bulletin (this was the first week I was supposed to do the tri-fold) and prepare Singing Time. What I didn't get done that night was finished the next morning (mostly the Singing Time stuff).

My friend is the primary chorister and she had a baby so I told her a long time ago I'd sub for her when she had her baby and Sunday was my first week. It actually went okay, especially when compared to my fears. The song I'm teaching this month is We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet.

After church I made a spinach salad for dinner and called my Uncle to confirm that Jason left his phone at their house. But not before I took a picture of my sweet baby. Since I was in Primary, Jason got to take Clara for the whole time and his quote was, "I didn't even enjoy church at all." because he was in the halls most of the time. I couldn't help but smile, since I did it by myself up until a month ago.

We had dinner at Ryan and Kathryn's and we all brought something to give my mom a break for their 35th anniversary which was Monday. The dinner was fantastic (salmon, asian bbq chicken, spinach salad, squash and zuchinnin, rolls and baked potatoes). I love my mom and dad. Obviously, they've been through a lot together and they've set a good example on how to never give up. I get emotional thinking about how significant that marriage was 35 years ago. 9 kids, 5 kid-in-laws and 9 grandkids later, their rich posterity continues to grow.

Do I even have to say what I stayed up until 2:30am doing that night? And, it continues!

Silence is...

Whoever it was that first proclaimed silence is golden obviously didn't have kids. In our house, silence is not golden. Silence is trouble.

[By the way, I just LOVE this face.]

Just So You Know...

The closer we get to the 15th and the later I am up at night, the higher my bill rate gets.

FOF

This evening Clara and I went out to Queen Creek to help my cousin Lisa with something on the computer. Her little boy Travis is five and is hilarious. Kids say the funniest things. Like, "Is hers a boy or a girl?" (in reference to Clara). Afterwards, we went to McDonald's. I'm pretty sure it's the first time Clara has ever been there. I didn't let her play in the toys, but she had a good time flirting with the creepy man sitting at the table next to us. Did he really have to say, "You're taking my friend away" when we got up to leave?


Other than creepy men, here's five things that make us happy:


Clara
1. 'Clacking' her tongue. She'll just walk around the house doing it.
2. Her dollies (or bears, or bunnies). She all of a sudden loves hugging them and will whine for them.
3. McDonald's toys
4. Making messes
5. Community sippy cups


Anna
1. The things my Scouts say. On Wednesday, Clara tooted. One of my Scouts started laughing and said, "I didn't know ladies farted." Yeah, and they have bowel movements too, kid!
2. Rice Krispy treats... although I've felt completely guilty each time I've thought of sharing my pan of rice krispy treats and convinced myself not to since that would leave less than a full pan for myself.
3. Planning a party for Jason's graduation.
4. Finishing a tax return (for the five seconds until I realize I have another one to work on).
5. Being so busy I don't daydream about "my" new house. :)


Pictures added intermittently in following posts...

The Zoo and Everything Else

On Monday we went to the Zoo with Jen, Curt and Cache. It was a perfect day for the zoo. I'd been contemplating on whether to buy a pass and I decided it would be my splurge from our tax return. And splurge it was, all $109. :) I think I could go to the Zoo every week. I'm not a big animal person but I love to watch them. Especially the large ones. The elephants, the giraffes, the tortises, the rhinos. Their enormous features are amazing to me. And of course it's always cool to see unicorns.Clara has the funniest little face in this picture and I love how green the trees are.I got two free tickets to Stingray Bay and since the stingrays are leaving on April 20th, we used them to go in. It's always neat to touch the animals. Clara touched one a few times but I don't think she knew what was going on. My favorite exhibit is the Monkey Village, where you get to go inside the monkey cage, basically. I've always wanted a pet monkey. They are such cool little animals.And then it was time to say bye bye to the Noble family. Clara and Cache even held hands... that was, until Clara decided his soft baby fat on his arm was fun to pinch. Really, I think she just likes the feel of it and does it for the same reason she pinches her food. And I LOVE this picture of Cache. It just shows his true, laid back personality. Clara, on the other hand, is gnawing on my sunglasses. :) Since then, life has certainly not slowed down. While my activities aren't nearly as fun as the weekend, there's not much to complain about either. I've just been working, planning and having Scouts, going to Book Club (hadn't finished the book, but still plan on it) and meeting with a new client.

(Don't read this paragraph if discussions regarding bodily functions bother you). Clara has pooped in her potty chair twice. It's easy to know when she's ready because she starts passing gas, I excitedly ask her if she wants to go poopoo in her potty chair and she excitedly runs to her chair or splashes in the tub depending on where she is. If she is not in the tub, she trips several times on the way to the bathroom because of her excitement. If she already did her duty in her diaper, she grabs the back of her diaper when I ask. I've never been able to try to get her to understand peepee because I have no clue when she's going. This morning I was doing dishes and she came up to me and grabbed the front of her diaper and signed please. I asked her if she needed to go peepee in her potty chair and she excitedly ran to the bathroom. I think it's become a game for her and she just likes to sit on the chair. She laughs and after about five seconds wants to get off. Sometimes, I'll make a noise and tell her to go peepee, but I used to think she had no clue what I was saying. But it was no game this morning and she knew exactly what she told me in the kitchen. She peepeed in her potty chair just a few seconds after I put her on it. Am I going to potty train her now? No, but I was impressed that she told me she needed to go and then went. And it gives me hope that she'll be an easy one to potty train.

Later, we had fun at the park with our cousins (mine and Clara's). I had to go by KS on the way home and Clara was so exhausted so she zonked out about 3 minutes after we left. When we got home, she'd been sleeping for about thirty minutes so she had no intention of taking a longer nap. Oh well, we had fun playing together.

Tonight I went to my sewing class and was so proud of the progress I'd made. I went to try my skirt on and it was about four inches too big around the waist. Nice. It's an easy fit, but basically, that put me back to the point I was at the beginning of the last class! It was quite discouraging. Nonetheless, it's so rewarding to be able to see a glimpse of the finished product.

Clara: Sleep, Mullet & Trick

Last Wednesday, Clara took two, two hour naps. Lovely, I thought, she's going to keep taking two naps a day. Thursday, she took a thirty minute nap in the morning and screamed for thirty minutes when I tried to give her an afternoon nap. She went to bed early (715pm) and Friday morning is when she slept until 10am. Friday I didn't bother putting her down for a morning nap (what's the point when you wake up at 10?) and she didn't get an afternoon nap because friends were over. She went to bed early again and slept in late. She did the same thing Saturday night and Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon she finally took a nap. But then she woke up at 645am on Monday. So what, if she takes a nap she can't sleep past 7am?? She took a morning nap, not an afternoon one and went to bed early and slept until 9am yesterday. Obviously, this is a vicious cycle I am trying to break. Today I got her out of bed at 8am (she woke a bit early) and then put her down for a nap after lunch. She gets SO tired, even though it was only Noon-thirty. Plus, she never takes that great of afternoon naps (usually just an hour and a half or so, rarely more than two hours). Not that anyone cares about this, I am doing it for me.

Jason says mullet. I say, what mullet?On Saturday, I was busy getting stuff done in the kitchen and I shut my door so Clara wouldn't go play in there. She can't be in there without me because she loves to throw my work files around and pull everything out of all of the drawers and cupboards. I heard her shut a door and cry (she goes in rooms, shuts the doors and cries) and I was pretty sure she was in the laundry room. I went to get her and she was in my room. Hmmm, I guess I didn't shut the door. So I took her out, shut the door and went back into the kitchen. And then I heard the door open. Clara has learned a new trick.

Throbbing

(This text was written last night... pictures added today under no headache conditions). That would be what my head is doing at the moment. However, I've just finished another round of taxes that I've been dreading due to my OCD issues and what better way to celebrate than to waste some time blogging? I have so many things to write about, so we'll see how far I get. I still have a bit of work I must do tonight, but my head needs a break.

On Friday I woke up, knowing it was past Clara's normal 7:30-8:00 wake up time. Sure enough, it was 9:40am. I felt guilty wondering if Clara had woken up and fussed and then just went back to bed and I never woke up because I was so spent. Either way, I'd saved lots of housework for Friday morning and Jen's plane came in at 8:00am. So when I saw what time it was, I panicked. Luckily, I got most of the house cleaned before I went and met them for lunch. We continued tradition and ate at Rosa's per Jen's request. Silly me didn't get any pictures though. I wasn't too worried. If I took lots of pictures the first time I saw her, what would I do the remaining weekend?

After lunch we went back to my house and Beka and her boys came over. Then, I went grocery shopping, made dinner and went to Costco. We visited a little, but Jen and Curt had a very early flight so they retired to bed early.

Saturday began with aebleskivers, possibly one of my favorite things to make and eat, as our conference breakfast. Karen came over and we all attempted to watch conference. I didn't get to hear much of it because I was either chasing Clara or talking. Thank goodness I can listen to, watch or read the talks as frequently as I please. In between sessions, Karen and I went to "the house". Don't worry, I'm not obsessed. It's only the fifth time I've driven to it this week. I'm attached and I can't wait to live in it. Oh the power of positive thinking. :) We were having more friends over for dinner and I had too much to do in too little time. I was so grateful Karen cleaned for me and Jen did the fruit salad. It's amazing how much stress that relieved!

I almost didn't have anyone over because I tend to go a little overboard, which always results in me feeling completely frazzled and with a headache that keeps me from enjoying the time with friends. But this time I asked for help and it turned out great. The guys ate and went to Priesthood while the girls played the mom role. (Ashley left before we took this picture...)

We took the kids to the park and I got a little carried away with the pictures. I'm still debating on whether to post a picture we took of the girls on the slide. And we tried to get all the kids on the steps after genius Amy suggested it, but that was laughable. We never had more than three of the five kids together. This picture, however, is pretty cute of the twins and Clara crawling up the steps.Then, when the guys got back from their meeting, they walked over in their white shirts and ties and it looked like a music video from a boy band. I laughed. But I laughed harder when we convinced them to take the lamest picture ever. Another picture I'm debating posting on here. I don't know how many people I can handle hating me, so we'll see. Sometimes I'm amazed at how influential wives really are. :)

We played games for a bit and I had to take this picture when I was off to the side and noticed my house was absolute chaos. You see, I don't have a huge house and when there are toys and people everywhere, it feels even smaller. Oh, but it was fun. Kids started going to bed and guests slowly began leaving. Ashley, Jen, Curt and I were the last ones standing and had a good time visiting. I guess I should speak for myself, I had a good time visiting. Ashley left, Jason decided he could be social (well after midnight) and we ended up staying up much too late talking. But again, it was fun!

Sunday morning session was much the same as Saturday: I pretty much didn't get to listen to much. In between sessions, we had our traditional snow cone visit. Nylene and her husband bring people in the ward snow cones. It's awesome. Clara almost glaring with her blue mouth and Cache giving me a silly smile with his.After lunch, Clara and Cache went down for naps and I actually got to listen to conference. I LOVED the second session of conference. I couldn't tell if it was because it was so much better than the others or if it was just because it was the only one I got to really listen to. :)

Jen and family left after the second session. We enjoyed having them visit. I love having company! I think I love it most because it's, well, company. And we all know I love to talk. Secondly, I think I love it because I get to cook for people.

To come: Clara's new trick, conference report, mullet?, Clara's sleep habits, the Zoo

Noble Conference Weekend - A Glimpse

I've enjoyed two of my favorite things in life during this weekend: friends and General Conference. In fact, I've been having so much fun this weekend I'm exhausted and have no energy to blog... but I couldn't resist sharing this succession of photos. Saturday night we had dinner at my house and of course, you can't bring your kids near me and think I won't see a photo opportunity. The first few pictures, the kids were so good. If you're wondering what they are looking at... well, that would be me standing on the couch hitting myself in the head with a plastic bat. After the third picture (which easily could've been the 30th if Amy was using any camera but my SLOW annoying camera...), you'll notice Cache discovers Clara's sippy cup and reaches for it ever so innocently. This clearly is the turning point in the well behaved children (or should I say Clara and Cache). Clara tries to fight back, but Cache wins. Clara screams. I tell her to take it back. She tries, but Cache tries harder. She cries more. By this time, the twins decide they don't want the other one near. All the while, Ryan just sits very patiently and observes the craziness. More of my weekend to come when I want to think about something other than sleep and all the work I have to do tomorrow...

FOF

The other day Clara was walking around the house and then she would back up to her stroller and she discovered with the wheel turned just right, it made a perfect little seat for her.Then, I was trying to put the food away from my last Costco trip and when I turned to look at Clara as she walked out of her room, this is what I saw. (No, I didn't have my camera with me so I had to reenact, but this is exactly what I saw).
Finally, one of the funniest pictures of the week in my opinion... Clara's new skirt is just a tad too big so the more she walks, the lower it goes. And that just makes her legs look short and stubby. It was also funny when she fell over and couldn't crawl and had a hard time standing up because of the position of her skirt.

Five things that amaze me:

1. Watching babies/kids learn and grow. It's amazing how much a child can know and do at 15 months old.

2. Seeing the master planned community Jason is working on coming to life. Development is such a massive process.

3. How quickly things spread through e-mail. I've received a "conference packet" by two different people. It's the same one. The people don't know each other and neither of them know my friend, who is the one that created the packet.

4. Seeds. I just can't get over the fact that a seed is nothing... unless you plant it and water it. And then in a week or so, it sprouts. Not long after, you have a produce-producing plant.

5. Waking up at 9:40am. Even before I had Clara I was never one to sleep in that late.

Five things that make Clara happy:

1. Wipes. She loves them. She pulls as many out as she can before I catch her. Then she either wipes things with them (including her belly, the furniture, her toys, etc.), squeezes them until the liquid drips from them, shakes them violently in the air or bites them.

2. The remote. This picture cracks me up because it looks like the remote is only half as big as her... especially with her baggy onesie.

3. Her styrofoam bugs (especially when NONE of them are in their container)

4. Sleeping until 10:00am... or maybe this made ME happy... okay, it made us both happy (HOLY COW!! I slept until 9:40am (which was awesome since I was up until 3:30am) and haven't done that for YEARS).

5. Boyfriends (can you tell which ones are related? ha ha)

{Welcome to Arizona Noble fam!}