Ketchup

I yet live.

Some of you may have wondered. (With reason.)

Actually, to be honest, the reason I didn't post anything for so very, very long is because I was having a hard time finding much nice to say about my situation. Ok, that was the case for a few months, but then I just vacillated between being busy and being lazy. (Sorry.)

But here's the down low:

* We moved back to Utah. I was not an initial fan of this plan (Pete admitted that he was actually terrified to bring up the idea because he knew how much I loved living in NYC). But when his parents decided to serve an LDS mission and the opportunity came up to live in their home free of rent for 18 months, well, the lure of saving money for a future home eventually won me over. (I'm much happier in Utah now than I was those first few adjustment-y months.)

* My In-laws did NOT leave on the above mentioned mission. At least, not until seven months after the initial planned date. They were originally called to serve a temple mission in Brazil, but because of visa issues, their departure date kept being pushed back month by month until they finally tired of waiting and requested a reassignment.

* My in-laws left for a mission to Mozambique. That's in Southern Africa, for those of you who had only a foggy idea of where that may be located. So I no longer live in the same house with anyone who is not part of my immediate family. It's nice. But won't last long; Pete's cousin is going to live in the basement (not a separate apartment) while he's waiting to get married. Then we'll have all sorts of family staying with us as we get ready for my sister to get married. Which brings me to my next point:

* My baby sister is getting married. Kind of exciting, and I'm a little bit embarrassed of how much time and effort I put into searching for the perfect flower girl dresses. (They are pretty fab, though.)

* I've lost 25 pounds. We can talk more about this later. Or maybe we won't. I tend to think of my health (weight, diet, etc.) like I think of my sex life. Just because it's there doesn't mean it needs to be discussed openly, and with strangers. But people ask, and I have to admit, it is pretty exciting to have found something that works. And I'm also considering becoming a health coach for the program I've been using, so if that happens my weight loss story will become a shameless marketing tool. We shall see.

* I've started refinishing furniture. So far I've redone a decorative bookcase and a set of whicker patio furniture. Next I'm planning on working on a coffee table. My ideas are becoming more ambitious a lot faster than my skills are progressing, but since I'm working with thrifted, garage sale fodder, I feel validated experimenting.

* My kids are growing up. For reals, though. Georgia has transitioned from a baby into a little human being, complete with a definite personality, sense of humor and extensive vocabulary. It amazes people that such clear, thought out sentences come out of something so small. And Amelia is practically a lady. She's getting ready for her second year of pre-school, and is taking a ballet/tap dancing class. She's always running out the door to the neighbors' house and talks incessantly about what her friends said, and did and all that kind of stuff.

(Is this reading like a Christmas letter?)

Anyway, we're in Utah. Pete works for doTerra as the Corporate Communications Manager (and loves his job, actually) and his wedding cake and catering business, The Mighty Baker, is doing well and picking up steam. I have fun hobbies (plan to start writing seriously again IN THE NEAR FUTURE) and my life is full. We are really happy. It took me a while to be able to say that honestly, but it is now true. We are happy.

And I might post here again soon.

Maybe.

If I get over being busy/lazy at the same time again soon.

Retrospect; My 30th Birthday

I spent five hours on a bus covered in vomit. Life is glamourous, no?

Pete and I decided to go to visit my sister's family in Boston for Thanksgiving and we left on my birthday. (We still lived in NYC at the time, remember?) Of course the traffic leaving the city was horrendous. And, of course, my baby got carsick. Poor babe was fussy and unsettled. She kept going back and forth between Pete and me and then finally settled down long enough to throw up all over me. I was able to step into the nasty little horror of a WC at the back of the bus and get both Georgia and myself cleaned up, but it was only a matter of a few minutes before she repeated the performance and I was out of options for clean clothes.

Georgia felt much better and spent the rest of the journey snoozing peacefully on her daddy's lap wearing nothing but her raincoat and a diaper. I pulled my coat on over the smelly mess on my chest and cracked open the window.

It wasn't the best beginning to a birthday celebration I've ever had. But when we arrived at Sharon's house my sisters surprised me with a party and Pete had secretly made me a cake. Lovely Mexican food and balloons everywhere.

I really was happy about my party and cake, I promise. This is just what happens when someone else is in charge of taking the pictures.

So now I'm 30. It feels good. I'm more comfortable with myself, my talents, abilities, personality and purpose than I've ever been. I'm pretty sure that this is my prime decade. Life is better than ever and I'm loving the adventure.

Saying Goodbye

To New York City.

It all happened so fast; one minute we're living cozily in our (maybe) 500 square feet of New York rented space, and the next we're hauling our lives back across the country in favor of a 5 bedroom home with the most agreeable rent agreement possible--free. And just in time for Christmas.

I suppose we did kind of see this coming; Pete wasn't exactly making headway in the saving-for-a-bakery plan and we knew his parents were planning to leave for a mission to Brazil. I just don't think I really believed that we'd head back to Utah so soon--or ever.

We made the decision and acted fast, giving ourselves three weeks for packing and checking off our city bucket list. I must say I'm proud of everything we were able to squeeze into those three weeks, but of course there were things we left unexperienced.

One thing I insisted that we do before leaving was have a family portrait taken. It turned out to be a bit of an ordeal to make it happen (our poor photographer had to cancel last minute due to pregnancy complications so we had to scramble to find a photographer, and the dear friend we asked to step in and take our photos last minute didn't have any of his equipment available at the moment so he had to use my camera, which he wasn't familiar with. Nor is he a portrait photographer, he's a fashion photographer which is entirely different) but we got our photos done.

So here are a few images of my family bidding farewell to New York City and leaving our blessing. And a promise that we'll be back to visit someday. When we've made our fortune.

Retrospect: Four Babies and a Birthday Party

Three friends and I all had babies within six weeks of each other last year. That means that they all had their birthdays together this year, and we mommies decided to throw them a combined birthday party. We held the party at one of my favorite playgrounds for ambiance in Central Park; Safari Playground. I chose this location because of all the charming hippos popping out of the ground. They are just cute and I felt they provided the perfect setting for photographing a pack of squirmy one-year-olds.

We gave Georgia a bubble machine for an early birthday gift and it was the hit of the party. In fact, there was another birthday party going on at the other side of the playground and all the kids from that party kept coming over to play with our bubbles. It made me smile because I know we spent much less on the bubble machine than the other party must have spent on the clown they hired to make balloon animals for their kids' friends.

Pete made the birthday cakes, which we designed to be simple 4 inch rounds frosted white with bright colored sprinkles around the edges and a stenciled number 1 on top.   I love the way they turned out.

The cupcakes we brought for everyone else were iced with a very light whipped icing so the sprinkles ended up bleeding in the frosting resulting in a tie-dye look. Not what I was going for, but pretty nonetheless. And oh so tasty!

Of all the babies Georgia definitely has the reputation for being the biggest eater, despite the fact that for several months she's been the tiniest one, so we were all surprised when she didn't dive into her birthday cake like the other babies did. She sat back and daintily dabbled her fingers in the icing and snacked on it rather than demolishing and stuffing.

I'm really grateful that Pete got a few pics of me with Georgie at her birthday party. I'm typically the one behind the camera so I have very few pictures of myself with my kids.

I had originally wanted to do a lot more with decorating, but because of guidelines for parties in playgrounds at Central Park I wasn't able to tie up balloons, banners, garlands or anything else. I'm glad I didn't. It was a perfect first birthday party for four birthday cuties; simple and understated, with lots of freedom to just be babies. It couldn't have been better (except for maybe if I had been able to get some of those giant 36" balloons. Just for photos. Oh, well). Next party.

Halloween with Little Miss Muffet and The Spider (not the Tuffet)

I love Halloween. Years ago, long before I had children, I told Pete many many times that I wanted kids for the sake of celebrating holidays. It seemed like such good fun to have kids from Halloween through Christmas, and then to return them just before New Year's like an unfortunate Christmas sweater. 

Still a fond dream of mine. 

I particularly love kids in costumes. Cute ones, not icky gross ones. This year I decided to continue the theme of classic children's literature characters by dressing Amelia as Little Miss Muffet and Georgia as the spider, but Amelia would tell anyone who asked her what she was going to be for Halloween, "I'm going to be Little Miss Muffet and Georgie's the tuffet." That pretty much sums up her view of their relationship--which is ironic considering how many photos my parents have of my older sister sitting on my head when I was a baby.

I made, or at least collected all the elements for both girls' costumes, something my mother always did and I'm going to try to continue to do. It was a fun challenge to gather ideas for how I could accomplish the look I was going for and actually get my sewing machine out and make costumes happen. I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out, except perhaps Georgie's spider legs, which, after she vomited all over them the first time she wore them out of the apartment, never were quite the same. But she looked pretty cute in her costume even without the spider legs. 

Since Georgia's birthday is so close to Halloween we decided to celebrate it at the Bronx Zoo, which she loves--particularly the Bug Carousel. We dressed the girls in their costumes and hit the zoo's annual Boo at the Zoo Halloween celebration. 

Told you she loves the carousel. (Thats a jeweled spider on her headband, which is the exception to my mommy-made-everything rule. It was just too cute to pass up.) The polka dot jacket is not part of her costume but was the only clean clothes I had to change her into after she inexplicably threw up all over her costume on the way to the zoo. 

I made the hat and pantaloons Amelia wore. 

The dress is one my mom made me when I was Amelia's age. 

In line for the 4D movie at the zoo.
Georgia loves the rumbling seats, 

the bubbles that shoot out, the mist and the big screen.

Love these faces.

Here are a couple with Georgia actually wearing her costume, but you can't really see the full effect. She had eight legs and a tulle tutu for a web. 

I'm glad I took as many photos as I did at the zoo because I didn't get any of the girls out trick-or- treating. I didn't want to carry around my nice camera and the ones I took with my phone didn't turn out. Too bad because trick-or-treating in Harlem is really worth seeing. The kids trick-or-treat up and down the streets at all the businesses (nail salons, cafes, laundry mats, convenience stores, etc.) and Harlem is one of the few neighborhoods in the city that offers trick-or-treating in residential areas. The beautiful old brownstones that are so iconic of Harlem lend themselves well to trick-or-treating, and all the houses that are participating tie an orange balloon by the front door signaling that kids are welcome. Most of the participating houses are decked out in full spookiness anyway.  It's such a great community event as everyone meets each other and admires each other's kids' costumes--Amelia's costume was particularly admired (although everyone thought she was Little Bo Peep. Oh, well.) Georgia was in the stroller happy as can be with a lollypop. 

So Halloween, and Georgia's first birthday, were a success. And now Amelia keeps telling me what she wants to be for Halloween next year. So far the list includes: Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan and Captain Hook, Cinderella, a wolf, Robin Hood and a scary witch. I won't start thinking about it for at least three or four months. 

My Baby's Birthday

Our little Georgie Porge is officially 1 and I made a video to mark the occasion. At 13 minutes long I warn you it's a bit of a time commitment, but it is pretty darn cute and I worked hard on it. So watch it anyway and enjoy the GeorgeFest.


Georgia's First Year from Charlotte Tidwell on Vimeo.

Until next birthday!

Retrospect: Pete's Birthday {The Old Boy is 30}

Birthdays are a big deal. It wasn't many hundreds of years ago that people didn't live to see too many birthdays, so we have to celebrate in big fashion whenever we do reach such momentous milestones; or at least in as big a fashion as we can afford.

When Pete turned 30 I wanted to do something he would remember. So 30 became the number of the day and everything we did was in groups of 30.

While Pete was at work I picked up 30 balloons and placed them throughout the apartment, each tied to one of his 30 birthday gifts. The first balloon was tied to the railing just outside our apartment door next to a stack of party hats and a sign that read, "Please Take One." When we got home from dinner at Patsy's Pizzeria, our fave New York pizza joint, Pete had to go throughout the apartment from balloon to balloon gathering gifts that ranged from Kit Kat bars and chocolate milk, to shirts, ties, baking tools and self help books extolling the virtues of self employment.

The 30th and last balloon was tied to a cake stand on which I had fashioned a donut cake (no, there were not 30 donuts, there were only 18. Why in the world would I want 30 donuts in my house??).

Even though I don't think Pete got quite as much of a kick out of the balloons as the girls did, I think he really loved his birthday celebration. He enjoyed having so much candy and junk food at his disposal, and looks pretty snappy in his new birthday clothes.

I wanted Pete to feel how much his ladies at home love and appreciate him, and in that respect think the mission was a success.

A just because moment

This girl just kills me. 

And at 11 months old, as Amelia says, "She's growin' that hair!" And it's looking pretty strawberry.

:)

The Family that Plays Together

My family plays pretty hard. It feels like we're doing "stuff" all the time. Parks, museums, concerts, libraries, gardens, zoos, pools, puppet shows, you name it, we're there. In fact, when I'm talking to my Mom on the phone, our conversation often goes something like this:

Mom: So, what're you up to today?

Me: Well, there's this ________ going on down at the _______ ______, and I was thinking I'd take the girls and go _________ing, and then check out the ________ ________, and then meet some friends for some _________.

Silence

Mom: You sure work a lot harder to entertain your kids than I ever did.

Touche.

But I don't have a back yard. So climbing trees and running barefoot through the grass and making flower chain crowns and catching grasshoppers are kind of out of the question. (There are few places in this city I would suggest running barefoot--and just try picking flowers here, see what happens.) 

So I embrace it. I'm busy entertaining my kids almost all the time. So this is a post dedicated to highlighting some of the things we've done to stay entertained lately:

Indoor games with Daddy (On rainy Saturdays) 

Checking out the Discovery Room at the American Museum of Natural History (of Night at the Museum fame)

 P.S. This is the coolest card catalogue chest type thing I've ever seen. The little ladies explored opening the drawers and finding treasures for almost an hour.

Impromptu Huck Finn swimming at the park

And Beauty Parlour--this was also impromptu, and unfortunately, unsupervised.

But that is not all, oh no, that is not all.

More to come.