Circus fun

Jayda wimped out on the elephant ride she so desperately wanted to go on, so she got her face painted instead! Rawr, she's a tiger incase you were unsure! Grammy's are the best!

Quiet quiet night

A word of advise for any other ranch wives out there. Don't gush about your blissful nights' sleep.

After a long weekend, last week, I came home and could have spent a good two days being swallowed by my bed. Coming home to sleep in your own bed is always the icing on the cake, and this girl loves her sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I said to Jed, "Geez, I slept like a rock last night...didn't wake up at all until my alarm went off!" He looked at me with that, "You've got to be kidding me, right?" look on his face. Seems I momentarily forgot that he gets up three or four times a night to check heifers. He didn't find my uninterrupted sleep comment very compassionate. Then Paisley started crying for her bottle and Jayda came bouncing out of her room, and our Monday was in full swing!

Tonight I am writing this in complete silence...very very strange in the house of Jayda Jo. She was invited to spend the night at Grammie Pammie's and go to Dickinson to see the circus tomorrow. Lil Paisley keeps turning her head this way and that way, wondering where Jayda is hiding. She has recently discovered her hands and how they move. She does a waving action and stares with such intense curiosity at her fingers moving. She's also doing a kissing noise and loves to play peek-a-boo. Her mode of transportation remains the log roll, she is pretty handy at scooting her butt around to change direction. It's hard to believe, but she is an even better baby than Jayda was. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful sleepers! Give em a blankie and a paci and its lights out!

"Cav'in"

 A beauty from last year's calf crop

Don't let my title ruin your impression of my spelling abilities, which by the way, won me many spelling contest titles in my old Hermosa Grade School days...just saying. I am fully aware that "cav'in" is actually spelled calving, but when you write it as "calv'in" to emulate how it would actually sound if you said it, it looks too much like Calvin, and I don't know a Calvin, thus I'll spell it Cav'in. Ok? Ok! Now that we have that bit clarified, on with the good stuff.

So I'm going to start a new trend. The next time someone asks me to do something I don't really want to do, I'm going to answer, "Cav'in," or "Sorry, Cav'in", or "nope, Cav'in." For you ranch wives, ranch daughters or just plain ole ranch people out there, you understand exactly what I'm talking about. You've lived in a house where this yearly event occurs and your father, husband, brother, mother, sister, grandpa ect have repeatedly used the phrase "Cav'in" when you asked them if they could go to lunch, go to town, watch the kids, visit a friend, or God forbid, leave the ranch for more than 2 hours. I'm not saying it isn't a completely credible excuse, I'm just saying it gets a little old from time to time. I've learned to deal with it best by being completly capable of going where ever it is I need to go, alone or alone in terms of the only adult, but with two rugrats sitting in the back seat. Ok, Paisley is too innocent to be called a rugrat, so one rugrat and one precious angel who has never talked back to her mother or told me to mind my own business...don't worry, after she saw the look I gave her, she said, "My business, is your business," and flashed me a "I'm so funny," smile, as if she was just trying to get a rise out of me.

Back to my point, the next time my boss asks me to come to her office, I'm going to reply, "cav'in," and see if I get the same  response, I give Jed. Or when Jayda asks me for gum, candy, or chips, maybe "cav'in" will keep her at bay? Best of all, when Jed asks me to pick up some more coffee before I come home, or when he calls me AT work and asks, "Whatcha do'in?" I'll simply reply, "Cav'in....you?!"

I suppose we could change things up through the seasons and try, "Feed'in, Brand'in, & Hay'in," and be thankful I don't have to say, "Farm'in!"

Jayda's stick people (with belly's)

I was pretty impressed with Jayda's ability to make stick people. She drew these all by herself without any assistance. The picture on the bottom is Paisley, Me, Jayda and Jed. She does very good at making each person a different height, she's always very concerned with who is bigger and what is taller, smaller, ect. I'm not sure why Paisley is the only one that got a smiley face, but I am glad to see that we all have relatively the same size belly's (the circle in the middle). Sometimes she makes Jed's really big...then he cries.

Creek's Up

creek's up

Sorry for the quality of these pictures. They were taken with my cell phone, but they do show how the water has risen in the past day. Yesterday was a cool day, which helped slow things down. Hoping the water level won't rise much more, or we'll be in trouble...again.

Straight from the source

Time for some Jayda quotes, which I will begin titling as "Straight from the Source" for easy retrieval in the future.

On our way home from Rapid, she said something funny and I laughed at her. She then repeated the same thing 3 or 4 times. Then after a silent pause, said, "You're done laughing aren't you?"

She was telling my Mom and Dad a story on their way home about a conversation she had with Kaia. "We live on Foster Road, but Kaia keeps saying, "No, we live on gravel road."

We rush and rush until life's no fun

After a fun filled, action packed whirlwind of a weekend, I've decided I need to slow down. I can't continue to try to see everyone possible, run every errand, and pick up every thing on my list in two days. I'm killing myself, stressing myself out and ruining any quality time I have with my family. I came home Sunday and felt like I'd been run over, completely exhausted, although most of that was from carrying Paisley through the mall and parking lot. Girl has got to start walking or go on a diet..that goes for both of us! I had what Oprah would call an "ah ha" moment while I was standing in the middle of the mall, screaming at Jayda to "come on," while she was begging me to let her see the Easter Bunny. Here I was, telling my innocent 4 year old that she couldn't go sit on the Easter Bunny's lap, because we had someone to meet for lunch. When I drug her out of the mall, and got her into the car, I turned around to see her defeated expression on her face, and had a minature break down. It was minature, because I only had 3 minutes to feel bad about it, before we arrived to our lunch date. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly wanted to see the people we met for lunch and love them dearly, I just need to face the realization that I can't do it all. I often pride myself on my ability to take on more than I should and handle it with grace, but when I looked at Jayda's sad, uncharacteristic expression, I realized this is not a picture of grace. This has to change.

So from now on, when I get to go home for a visit, there will be people I don't get to see, and things I don't get to do, and that will be ok. I will not rush through the weekend and wish I had taken the time to slow things down. I will let my children sit on the Easter Bunny's lap, or play in the McDonald's play land and I will capture the joy on their faces when they do so, either by camera or by memory and store it in my pocket forever.

Need your help, Mom that means you

I'm trying to come up with a catchy title for my blog, rather than the boringness of our names. So...this is where you come in. Comment on this post with any clever, cute, funny, strange, titles you can think of. The only thing that came to my mind was, "Corn on the Top" Just because I think its adorably hilarious that Jayda continues to call corn on the cob, corn on the top. And if you ask her what she wants for supper, "CORN on the TOP," is what you'll hear!

Knowing when to Stir

I'm facing a dilema at work and can't decide if I should stir up drama, or keep my mouth shut and let things go on as they are. In most cases I'm more likely to keep my mouth shut and lay low, as the few times I have spoken up, haven't worked out very well and in the aftermath I wished I had just shutup. This particular case involves fairness and all employees being treated equally and given the same opportunities (perks). Most of me wants to shrug my bit of incriminating information off and go on with my day as someone who simply knows this is going on. The other part of me wants to bring it to attention and fight for it, since it's something that would benefit a lot of us, including myself. I'm struggling with my need for a piece of the pie. Rephrase that, I don't need a piece of the pie, rather I want a piece of this particular pie.
What to do, what to do.

Finding the right time

Yesterday I heard back from a photography company that I had applied for a weekend job with. Unfortunately I had to tell them that I wouldn't be able to work their two events that are both one week long.

This was her response:
Oh we are sorry to hear that :( We really need to put together a team that can do all the events. I will definitely keep your information though, your work is very good and we may have something else come up in the area:) we really liked your work and feel there’s a time and place for everything:) We certainly will keep you in mind. . .you just never know what might come up;)

So that is that. I was a little bummed that she wasn't willing to use me for the weekend events, but I'm hopeful that this contact will develop in the future and I'll be able to work with her and learn more. I'm so eager to learn! Guess thats why I'm still in school after all these years. Jed was relieved to hear the news. He thinks I'm crazy most of the time for taking on so much, and his initial reactions often get him into trouble. For instance, I was looking at swim suits a few days ago, online. He walked up behind me to see what I was looking at and his reaction was, "Ha Yeah Right!"  This old dog is hard to train. I was just excited for the possibility of being able to wear a swim suit that I didn't have to sew a bra into. Obviously he doesn't "get" that. It's not like I was looking at bikini's..I haven't completely lost my mind or will to live.

I don't know who else is counting, cuz I certainly am but just incase you've lost track...2 months from yesterday, is GRADUATION! And 5 months from a few days ago, Paisley will be done drinking bottles! Home girl will be 1 year old in 5 months, home girl say what say what?

Officially mobile!

my drive home thursday

Took me some time, but I finally MADE the time to figure out how to update my blog from my handy dandy cell phone. Now I can capture videos with ease and upload those buggers right here for your enjoyment!
The above photo was safely taken on my drive home from work on Thursday. You can see three tracks, the forth which should be where my right tire is/was, is under snow drifts, so I drove the majority of the way home on the wrong side of the road. I called Jed to tell him it would take me a while longer to get home, and report the road conditions. Upon telling him I had to drive on the wrong side of the road, he sooo generously offered the advise of, "Well don't do that when you're going up a hill!" Gee thanks Jed, what would I do without you??

activating mobile. see if this works

Always on the gRow

Amazing the difference a day makes! Yesterday Jayda turned a total 180 and was 90% back to her normal, chatty patty self. I stayed home with them hoping a day of pure rest would do the trick. It appears it did, and also gave me a chance to do some spring cleaning. I finally tackled the job of sorting through Jayda's old clothes. Was able to get them sorted by size and put them into plastic totes that will be easier to retrieve when the time comes. Previously I had them stuffed into garbage bags in no particular order, making it hard to know what I really had for each size. It appears I was in a bit of a shopping mood around size 2T! Oh who am I kidding, so was size 12 months, 18 months and 3T!

Paisley is on the verge of crawling! She loves being on her tummy now, and its a matter of time before she gets crawling figured out. She does a silly swimming type of action trying to scoot on her belly, but it doesn't get her very far. Rolling continues to be her mode of transportation, its amazing the ground she can cover in a moment's time. She's started saying Mahma Mahma, instead of bah bah. She continues to be such a sweet little person. Always has a smile when she see's your face. She does a funny little river dance when she's in her walker if you say, "GO Paisley GO!" She knows exactly how cute she is and loves every minute.

she's gonna want my bag

Dispite the sad, uncharacteristic look on her face, here are the promised Jayda pictures with her "refurbished" camera. Give the girl a break, she's been dreadfully sick for a week and today is the first day she's acted like a real, live person, minus the horid cough that just won't quit.

Ask and you shall receive

Her name is Lola...la la la la Lola

I love surprises! Yesterday when I got home from a miserable day at work and two miserably sick little girls, my entire week, month, year, was instantly improved when I spotted a large box with the word Epiphanie written across it. I immediately knew what was inside and couldn't believe it was sitting in my house!!!! I tore open the box and couldn't contain my joy. Jed thought I was completely off my rocker, by how excited I was to open this particular box. My aunt Jennifer actually saw my link to this camera bag, and bought it for me, as an early graduation gift! It's even more amazing than the pictures show. Its so adorable, stylish and functional! My camera can hardly wait to be carried in this sachel of loveliness.  So thank you Jennifer! I love it, and I love you!

In a related ask and you shall receive story, I keep meaning to update Jayda's worty the wart story. She's had this wart on her leg for probably a year now, that I've struggled to get rid of. The Dr didn't want to burn it off since it was a little big. So he advised me to use over the counter removers to see if I could get it smaller. So we've tried several different methods, we had a little luck with the bandaid wart removers, but they began giving her skin a rash, from the strength of the adhesive. Nothing was quickly doing the job so I had given up for the time being. A couple weeks ago, while I was giving her a bath I noticed the wart was completely GONE! She hadn't even noticed, so you can imagine our excitment upon this discovery. She jumped out of the bath and went running to tell Jed. She screamed, "My wart is gone, Jesus healed it!!"

Little did I know a week prior to this, Jayda and her grammy Pammie, had prayed over her wart and asked for healing. Who knew! Dr Scholl's ain't got nothin on Jesus!!

Whopper of a week

The Seim house has had better weeks than the current, and Friday evening cannot get here soon enough. Our head cold situation is still running wild, and has us all on crabby/tired patrol. Jayda was the last to really start feeling the effects and chose 1am Monday morning to go into full bore drama mode. It began with two bloody noses throughout the night, then puking up her cold medicine because it's "yucky." I could go on, but it's tiring just to think about. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night and it was a bad night to choose to take nyquil....

Paisley is on the verge of feeling better, as am I and Jed. Still run down and could use a good day of sleep to recoupe. Today the wind decided to blow, rather than be foggy for a change I guess.  The roads were horrible coming to work. All this snow just needs to go away and let the grass begin to poke out. We can't take it anymore, let the sun SHINE.

It's hard not to begin to feel a bit depressed when you're low on sleep, energy, and on top of it all audit week at work! I keep trying to get myself excited about the fact that next week is Spring Break at school. If I had somewhere fun to go, I suppose it would help, but I'll just have to be happy with the fact that I don't HAVE to do homework for a week, although I probably will anyway. Yeah, I'm crazy like that!

Get ready, already

We must have had too much fun this weekend, as we turned a two day weekend in a three dayer. Unfortunately it involved lots of snot, kleenex, and coughs. Jayda and Paisley started coming down with the yuck Friday night. We went to Dickinson for a full filled day of swimming for Jayda and the rest of her girl cousins. It was a nice outting for the girls and gave us a excuse chance to get together for the day. By Sunday however, the whole house was feeling icky and tired. I stayed home yesterday with the kids and tried to catch naps whenever possible. Jayda crawled up on my lap and we snuggled for a good hour. She's a good snuggler! I think most of us are on the mend, just a bit groggy and could use a few hundred hours of sleep!

On the positive side, my cap and gown arrived in the mail yesterday! Although trying on the cap is almost enough to deter me from my desire to walk through the graduation ceremony. I wonder of they do that on purpose? Jayda got a kick out of it, I have a feeling I should hide the cap before it magically disappears.
After a weekend of not wearing makeup and not getting dressed, Jayda is always happy to see me "getting ready" for work. Yesterday after I managed to squeak in a shower, she said, "are you going to get ready now?" I said, "No, we aren't going anywhere." She replied, "Well, I like it better when you wear makeup!" Such a nice lil gal isn't she?! She redeamed herself this morning when she walked into my room and said, "Oh mom, you always look so pretty!" when you're wearing makeup.

Jayda is well known in our house for being a dumpster diver. If there is something to be thrown away that she may want/like, you better make sure it's covered up in the garbage before she see's it. I was cleaning the entry/office and came across my old camera. It's been sitting there for about 2 years now, and I finally decided to pitch it. Obviously I didn't do a very good job of covering it up and Jayda found it. She came pouncing into the living room, "LOOK what I found." As if it was a treasure. Can I keep it mom? oh...sure. So now she has been wearing this camera around her neck constantly since Sunday, snapping imaginary pictures every where she goes. She even turns it around and says, "look at my picture," or "oh, that's a bad one Mom."  She's such a modern girl, never knowing what it was like before the digital age. And I feel so old saying that.  Anyway, I'll try to catch a picture of her in the act, as I find it pretty cute to see her "playing Mommy" as she says. Little does she know, in actuality that would require a calculator. It's ok, I'd rather play her version of mommy as well!

Get a Grip

Last night as I was browning hamburger I caught myself with a death grip on my mix-n-chop utensil

If you don't already have one, GET one, they are lovely little tools. http://www.pamperedchef.com/

 But anyway, thats not really my point.  I was alarmed at how strongly I was choking my poor mix-n-chop and had to consciencously make myself loosen my grip. Upon loosening my grip, my entire attitude and state of mind improved immediatly. I was no longer annoyed by the blaring TV, or Jayda hovering behind me, or Paisley saying "Bah Bah Bah." for the billionth time, or the fact that Jed wasn't inside helping me calm this disaster. I took a breath, let out a sigh and felt relaxed, just by loosening my grip. In my journey towards  perfection self improvement, I'm thinking I could loosen my grip on a lot of little things and would see drastic improvements in the way I interact with Jayda, handle a tired baby, deal with Jed's daily dose of drama, and just life in general. I'm guilty of letting myself become too up tight in situations I cannot control or situations that I shouldn't let stress me out. Messy rooms, messy car, messy this and that, will no longer consume me, or cause me to be an angry person. I'm going to loosen my grip the next time I begin to feel anxiety and work towards controlling my own emotions, rather than the situation.

too cute for my hat

I can't stop staring at these pictures. I don't mean to gloat, but come on....HOW CUTE IS SHE?? UGH...she's so cute you want to bite her, don't you? Ok, maybe that's just me...I always want to bite things I love this much...of course I never do, but I just want to gnaw off a little piece! Yes, that sounded way weirder than it did in my head. So forget that and scroll back up...oohhh and aww at 20 pounds of chubby, adorable.

PS, if you click on the picture, you can see it larger. Incase you need a bigger bite..like I do!

A little bit wet

Thoughts of a 4 year old

Jed has been wearing compression shorts lately to help heal  a pulled muscle. For those that don't already know what compression shorts are, or wear them for underwear (Ross) (how's that for a shout out brotha) they resemble boxer briefs, but are much more spandex-y. So Jed came inside for the day and went to our room to take his off and change into normal underwear and sweats. Jayda sometimes is a bit invasive and doesn't like to be alone in a room, so she follows him and watched him change "shorts." Then she says, " Daddy..were they a little bit wet?" With the most sympathetic, I know what it's like, expression on her face. This coming from the girl who waits until the last minute possible before dashing to the bathroom. "A little bit wet" is a common occurance.