I Got Crabs For Christmas!

So most of you know I was born and raised in Maryland. I grew up spoiled in a house smack dab on the Bodkin Creek. My bedroom window overlooked the pier, the sailboats, and the lone Great Blue Heron that fished from our dock every morning. This is a picture I took sitting on my bed last summer:
During the summer, if we weren't at the barn, we were on the water. Swimming, boating, and crabbing were just second nature to us. Maryland is famous for their blue crabs. Crab claws, crab cakes, crab dip, cream of crab soup... you name it and you can make it with crab! Sprinkle some Old Bay on it, grab yourself a beer and a mallet and you can make a day out of picking crabs. Finish it off with some Berger cookies and you've got yourself a perfect afternoon.
I've lived in Arizona for almost 7 years now, but no matter where I am, I can close my eyes and take myself back to that place. I can see the fireflies blinking as the sun starts to set. I can feel the humidity and the mosquito bites on my skin. I hear crickets in the thick grass and jet boats buzzing by on the creek. And my mouth waters just thinking about crabcakes and black bottoms.
This year for Christmas, my mom and dad sent us a package that "needed special attention." I told mom if they sent us a hamster I swear..... To my surprise.. it was crabcakes! MARYLAND Crab cakes!
So last night (and tonight) for dinner that's just what we had! Oh man oh man was it delicious! I guess if I can't be home for Christmas, I'll take the next best thing... crabcakes!!!!
So there you have it... best Christmas present ever. I got crabs for Christmas.

Family Pictures!

So this year we finally broke down and got our first family pictures taken! Now every year we have done a Christmas card, but always just had a friend or Tim's mom take it of us in front of the tree. This year I wanted to do something different, especially if it's going to be our last year in Arizona. A friend of mine is a photographer and offered to take our pictures out at the dunes! We were a little nervous at first at the thought of posing 2 small children and all the sand everywhere (we did bribe Leah with lollipops to give us big smiles..hey whatever works, right??)... but I'm so glad we did it! They came out amazing! Thanks to our awesome photographer, Andrea Hauck, who captured such great moments for us! Here is a sampler of some of our pictures... You can see the rest on my dropshots website: www.dropshots.com/vanderhoff









And those are just a FEW of all the awesome pics she took of us!

On another note, this morning I laid Chase down on his blanket and went to go take out the trash. When I came back inside, he was sitting up all by himself! And he's going to crawl ANY day now. He's also blowing rasperries and starting to babble. He CRACKS up every time Leah says or does something! And he LOVES cheerios!


Leah is SO excited for Christmas. She loves going to look at the lights. Whenever we pass a house with Christmas lights she yells out "Thanks for the lights!!" She's too cute. We also told her that Grandpat is coming for Christmas and so she asks everyday if we can go to the airport to see Grandpat... she's so excited!




Leah's Lingo

Me: What does the cow say, Leah?
Leah: He says 'Moooo'
Me: And what about a horse?
Leah: The horse says 'mmmhmmmhmmm'
Me: That's right! And what about a kitty cat?
Leah: Meoowww meoww
Me: What about Chase? What does Chase say?
Leah: (thinks about it for a second) He says 'WAHHH WAHHH'
haha i guess we're not the only ones who thinks he cries a lot!!

The other night after I gave Chase a bath I was putting his lotion and jammies on. Leah likes to help put his lotion on. She was staring intently at his..parts. I asked her out of curiousity to what she would say, "what's that Leah?"
Leah: "That's his booty...that's DISGUSTING!"
Bahahaha Tim liked that one.

Orange You Glad You Ate That?

So Sunday night I was on my way home from dog-sitting (yes, I'm a jack of all trades..) and I didn't feel like making dinner so I did what any normal mom would do... take out! I ran through the Panda Express drive thru for my favorite - orange chicken! I came home and Leah and I shared my rice bowl.... or shall I say DEATH BOWL! A little less than an hour later it hit me like a ton of bricks... I will spare you the nasty details but let's just say at one point I was on the toilet and throwing up in the bath tub at the same time. What else was I gonna do? Leah seemed fine at this point so I thought I was coming down with the stomach flu that was going around. I put in a call to Tim, who was at work that night, to warn him that he might have to come home early to take care of the kids because I thought I had the flu. After losing it a few more times, I called him back and told him you better hurry! He rushed home to save the day, just in the knick of time! He gave the kids a bath and put them to bed while I was praying to the porcelin gods...
Not 5 minutes after Leah went to bed, she started crying and then throwing up. I knew we were in for a rough night and I was SO glad Tim had come home. Leah and I laid on my bed, both of us shaking and taking turns throwing up. After about the 4th time Leah threw up and my 10th, we decided we should go to Prime Care.
Grandpa came over to sit at the house while Chase slept and Tim swept Leah and I away, buckets in hand, to Prime Care. There they determined we had gotten food poisoning and gave us both some Zofran to help with the nausea and told us that it would pretty much have to run it's course.
We got what sleep we could that night when we got home around 2am, after washing sheets and blankies and bleaching the bathtub and carpets. The next day we both were pretty much zombies. We didn't start to feel better until later Monday night and then on Tuesday we were both completely back to normal. Phew. I have never felt that sick before. Needless to say I will never be eating there again!!
I'm just so glad Tim was home to pick up the pieces and take care of Chase AND sick Leah because there's NO way I was going to be able to do that on my own!! Because there's no PAUSE button on motherhood!

Baby, It's Cold Outside...and it's about damn time.

Well, it's finally cooled off here in good ole Yuma, Arizona. This summer lasted FOREVVERRRRR and I'm not kidding. Once November hit it finally started to hit below 80 degrees and now it's been in the 60's every day... and we're cold! And we love it! We have been outside every second we get a chance.. because over the summer I vowed once it hit below 80 degrees that I would not waste one more minute inside this flippin' house. The past few days it's been too windy and we have all managed to catch the cold that has been running around all over town. Leah cries "Mommmyyyy booooogerrrrssss!" Nothing worse than a whiny 2.5 year old that's for sure! But we'll manage.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, it seemed like everyone jumped right into Christmas mode before even letting the turkey settle. I'm overwhelmed with christmas music and lights and pictures of everyone putting up their trees. The truth is I'm feeling a little "bah-humbug" this year. I'm sure I'll snap out of it eventually, but I have no desire to hang lights or put up our tree. This is the first year.. I think ever.. that I'm not going home for Christmas. There's just too much going on and it's not in the cards right now for us. Maybe what I should do is drag my tree out this week and hang some lights and the Christmas spirit will follow....
But for now all I want to do is put on my hoodie, turn the heat up to 74, get in bed with all my blankets and fall asleep... until the sleep terrorist wakes me up :) Hey, he slept for like 6 hours straight the other night! It was a miracle and I'm hoping something that will catch on!!
Goodnight, world. Bah humbug. xoxo

I'm Thankful For

This year, I'm thankful for:

Her -


My sweet, sassy, kind-hearted, 2-and-a-half year old animal lover.

Him -


My giggly, determined, stubborn, snuggly, blue-eyed mama's boy.

A husband who is the best, funniest, sweetest hands-on daddy to our kids.



I'm thankful for sleeping in every other Thursday.

For my family, near and far..they mean everything to me.

For junior mints and wine at the end of a long day.

For new opportunities.

For unexpected busyness...a welcomed change.

For lazy boy recliners...when he just won't sleep anywhere but my arms.

For turkey, ham, and stuffing!

Happy Thanksgiving!


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My Monkey Man & The Power of Prayer

Today when we came home from church, I put the kids down for their nap. Chase was asleep in the car on the way home, so I just transferred him to his crib and he stayed asleep. Well he woke up a few minutes later so I let him stir for a little bit to see if he would fall back asleep. When I realized he wasn't going to go back to sleep, I went in and got him up only to find that he had spit up in his crib and then rolled himself all in it... it was in his hair, his eyelashes, and he stunk! So I gave him a quick bath and then let him lay on the floor in his room wrapped up in his monkey towel butt naked for awhile. I got some of the SWEETEST pictures of my little man:






Tonight when it was time for bed, I did the usual routine and laid him down. He fell asleep for about 20 minutes ...long enough for me to get Leah a bath and put her to bed... and then he woke up crying. I gave him a bottle and he drank a few ounces and I laid him back down (he usually falls back asleep) but this time he just got himself more worked up. He screamed and screamed... shrill, unconsolable screams. How can something that was SO cute just a few hours ago be so awful tonight? I thought. Nothing consoled him.. I tried rocking him and I even brought him out into the living room with me for awhile to watch TV and that only pacified him for a few moments. I put him back in his crib and he continued to scream for about 20 more minutes. As I was sitting there half watching TV and listening to him cry, I felt silly all of the sudden. I got up, went to his room and picked him up. I held him tight and pressed his little cheek against mine and I prayed over him for a few minutes. I laid him back down and he fell asleep almost immediately and I haven't heard a peep from him room since. All I can say is wow, why didn't I think of that sooner??

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Chase's First Love

So a few months ago, Leah saw a commercial on TV for the new Tinkerbell movie and she seemed interested, so Tim bought it for her and we have watched it almost every evening after dinner since that day. I have all the words and songs memorized and Leah has started talking with a slight British accent. But the funny thing is... when Chase was a newborn and collicky and screaming all the time, if we held him in front of the TV when Tinkerbell was on he stopped crying. He was mesmerized by Tink. We think he has a slight crush on Tinkerbell. He could be on the other side of the house in his walker and hear Tinkerbell come on and he makes a beeline (yea, he's fast in that thing!) for the TV. This is his face when he sees Tink:

We thought maybe it was just the bright colors and the animation that he likes, but no, it's Tink. We tried watching Finding Nemo one night and he was all excited as the TV started to glow and then he screamed..yes screamed..and then started whimper crying when he saw that it was not Tinkerbell. We changed it to Tinkerbell to see what he would do and he immediately stopped crying.
Leah has a Tinkerbell chair in the living room. We have a big blanket laid out on the living room floor for him to scoot around on and he loves to scoot over to the chair and stare at Tink and grab at her. It's pretty hilarious actually.
I'm blogging about this for his future girlfriends... and I have the pictures to prove it :) But, hey, we can't blame him.. Tinkerbell's a babe!
Sorry, Chase....




Grandpa thought it'd be funny to put a Tinkerbell poster over Chase's crib...






Leah's Lingo


Leah: Mommy, what's that on your chin?
Me: That's called a zit, baby.
Leah: Oh. Can I have a zip too?? Please??


Two nights ago we walked by the community pool on our evening walk and Leah asked if we could go swimming. I explained to her that it was too cold and that the pool was closed for the winter and that when it was hot again we could go swimming.
Last night we walked by it again...
Leah: Mommy, you wanna go swimming? (before I could answer her she responded...) Nope! Too bad...so sad!

Yeah man, that's the good stuff...

I had so much fun tonight just laying on the floor making my babies laugh. I'm so glad God chose me to be their mommy. And even though it may be a crappy job sometimes (quite literally), I'm so blessed to be able to stay home with them, to teach them, and to watch them grow day by day.
Sure, I may never miss changing a poopy diaper, but I was here the first time we celebrated for her going on the potty. I never miss his 2-tooth smile as he stares at the turtle hanging over his changing table.
I may never miss a temper tantrum, but I also never miss the sweet "I'm sorry mommy, I love you!" and big hugs.
Sleep? What's sleep? But there's nothing better than a snuggly baby in pajamas even if it is 2am...or their happy smiles first thing in the morning...even if it is only 6:25!
And yea, I'm here to wipe every butt and every tear, and to put a princess band-aid on every owwie (real or fake!)...but I'm also here for every smile, every giggle, and every "first."
At the end of the day, my house may be messy, but my kids are happy. My back may hurt, but my heart is full. And I wouldn't change a thing. xoxo.


Leah's Lingo

Chase follows Leah everywhere in his walker. She's learned to run when he gets too close, or else he will run over her feet and that hurts! Today I was folding laundry in the hallway when Chase started coming at me.. Leah ran in the hallway and yelled "WATCH YOUR FEET MOMMY!!"

For some reason, she has adopted these phrases:
"Owwie, my ass!" I have no idea where she got this one from.. it only lasted a few days, but it sure was funny.

"Oh, my bad!" Don't know where that one came from either...

and adding "ma'am" to everything she says. I like this one. LOL


She wants to do everything like mommy...


My sweet animal lover!



Oh, and one more thing.. check me out on Yumamom.com for a giveaway of 2 SayWhat Creations gift certificates!

Mommy Vs. The Pajamas

Alright, I'm the first to admit that there's nothing cuter than a freshly-bathed baby in pajamas (just wanted to add that when I re-read this post, I read "freshly-baked"...so not the same thing). I don't know what it is about pajamas that makes a baby look 100 times cuter than they already are, but they do! And they're all snuggly and smelling like Johnson & Johnson shampoo...which is quite possibly the best smell in the world, besides alfalfa hay on a rainy morning (but that's another post entirely).
And I know babies are supposed to wear snug pajamas so they don't get all tangled up or suffocate. But good grief could they be any harder to put on!? I swear I break a sweat trying to put on Chase's pajamas every night. When I leave his room, I feel like I have just wrestled a 24-lb alligator.

Confessions of a SAHM & Leah's Lingo

Confessions of a Stay At Home Mom:


-my kids stayed in their pajamas all day today.
-I ate 6 Oreos for lunch.
-Chase refused to take a nap today and therefore screamed in his crib for 20 mins because mommy needed a time-out (to eat my 6 Oreos...)
-I realized tonight that I can recite the Tinkerbell movie word for word.
-I have never been more excited about "poopy on the potty" in my life and yes I used the all-star parenting tool called bribery (it's been a rough few weeks with Leah holding it...) we did a marvelous dance and she got to pick out a lollipop!
-if I hear one more new mom talk about how their baby has been sleeping through the night since birth it's not going to be pretty.
-when I was going to the farm tonight to work I was halfway there before I realized I was still listening to Barney and the kids were home with Grandma.
-Leah wanted chips for dinner...we improvised and I made taco salad so she could have tortilla chips.
-my kids have been in bed for an hour...as much as I love bedtime, I miss them already. I'm sure I won't feel that way at 2am.


Leah's Lingo:

Her new thing is turning on and off all the lights and fans. The light in my closet burnt out today. Leah goes in my room and flips the switch and nothing happens. "MOMMY! Light's broken! It needs batteries!"

Any time we go to the store she wants to know everyone's name. "what's her name mommy?"

Tucking her in tonight.
Me: I love you, baby.
Leah: you're my best friend!
She melted my heart. I hugged her so tight she said "I'm stuck mommy!"

Leah reading to me tonight before bed.




My boy!




Watching daddy play football.


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My first public appearance!

So since starting SayWhat Creations back in early October, it has been a huge hit! I can't believe the outpouring of support and business I have received so far! Tim calls me his little elf, because when the kids go to bed, I go to my desk in the corner of our room (my "office," I lovingly call it) and hammer away making jewelry. It's been so fun for me (plus a little extra cash never hurt anyone!). I am in the process of getting all the information for getting a business lisence and my Christmas orders are in full swing!
So friends of ours, Lara and John Dinsmore, have been in the adoption process since January. They have decided to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. You can see their story on Lara's blog: http://thefarmerswifetellsall.blogspot.com/. They have been fundraising by selling T-shirts and doing raffles, etc. I contacted her a few weeks ago, when I first started my business, and asked her if I could donate a necklace or two for her to raffle off for their fundraiser. She asked if I would be interested in joining them at their "Stop N Shop For Adoption" Fundraising event, where home businesses were getting together at the Civic Center to sell their items and donating a portion of the proceeds to the adoption fund. I thought, what a great way to help out an awesome family and earn myself some advertising as well!
So on Friday, I set up shop at my first public event. It was a small event, but lots of fun! I met a lot of other "home business" moms who gave me great advice and ideas and even invited me to join them in future craft shows in the area! My next event will be on December 6 at the Cocopah RV Resort (hello snow birds!).
Here are some pictures to mark my first public appearance as the SayWhat Creations girl!
*Special thanks to my dear friend Stacie for helping me out that night! Also to Sarah Rapp for designing my catalogs and to my DADDY at Printing Specialist Corporation for printing out my awesome catalogs!! I got so many compliments!

Leah's Lingo & Sicky Chase

This morning Leah spilled some water on the floor and she blamed it on the dog... She ran in the room (with her half cup of water) screaming "MOMMY! Felony peed the floor!" It was too funny because our dog has never had an accident in the house and she was still holding the evidence in her hands.


Poor Chase can't catch a break. He has been cutting his bottom front 2 teeth for weeks and they JUST popped through the skin yesterday. This weekend he got a cold and now it's turned into a really bad cough. Poor guy, he sounds SO awful. His breathing is raspy and I'm debating taking him to the doctor, but he's still so happy and doesn't have a fever. I may take him in anyway just to be safe. He's being such a trooper though, hasn't been fussy at all!
This is what he's doing right now while Leah is napping and I'm catching up on some emails...

Halloween Girls' Night Out!

I had big plans for this Halloween since Chase was born... Leah was going to be a princess and Chase was going to be a frog. The princess and the frog..cute, right? Not. Halloween weekend, Chase wasn't feeling well. We decided that Tim would stay home with Chase and I would take Leah to the Harvest Festival at our church.
Well that night, Leah decided she didn't want to wear her princess costume.. there was no persuading, bribing, or tricking her into wearing it. Plan B.... think think think.... what do I have around here that somewhat resembles a costume? AHA! I had Leah's FOX Motocross jersey that Grandpa got her for Christmas... paired with some black stretch pants and goggles around her neck.. motocross rider it is! So I put on my cat ears and we headed out to the festival.
We had a great time, just us girls! There was a petting zoo (which we frequented.. I'm not kidding, at least 20 times), pony rides, and games. Oh, and of course candy :) We stayed out until way past her bedtime and then stopped at Applebee's for some ice cream on the way home! It is so fun doing one-on-one things with her now that she is old enough. She was talking about the animals all night and when we got home she ran to Tim and said, "DADDY! I want a pony!" *Sigh* My girl :)

Leah 2.5 year update!

Well my sweet baby girl is now two-and-a-half!! I can hardly believe it! I blinked and she went from this chubby little baby to a beautiful little lady. Whoever said the twos were terrible never had a daughter like Leah! This is my favorite age so far. She carries on full conversations with me. She's witty and funny. And she has the sweetest, kindest heart. She loves her brother Chase. She's always kissing him and talking to him and bringing him toys. She's not real fond of him slobbering on her toys though.. She says "don't eat that bubba!" The other morning when Chase woke up she put her hand on his cheeks and said "aww look how cute you are bubba!"
She loves to play outside but she doesn't like to get dirty...if she spills something on her shirt she wants a new shirt immediately. She is stubborn and has a one-track mind. If she is looking for a certain toy (ie a little Minnie Mouse figurine or a tiny plastic flower) she will ask you to find it and won't let it go until you find it! We have learned to keep a close eye on her precious toys. She also has some slight OCD errr organization issues... She loves to line things up and everything has to be in place and if not she flips out. For example if the pillow falls off the couch or if the bed sheets are bunched up in the middle.
She's a great listener. She doesn't do much to warrant time outs but she does get them occassionally. She has to sit on the stool in her room for 2 mins and afterwards she kisses me and says "sorry mommy!"
She is so smart and picks up on things really quickly. She potty trained in less than 2 days!
She loves animals. She loves books. She's obsessed with Barney, Cat in the Hat, and Tinkerbell.
She's daddy's princess and has him wrapped around her little finger. She knows if she wants something to put her hands on daddy's cheeks, kiss his forehead, and say "please daddy?"
Yesterday she told me "mommy, you're my best friend!"
I love that little girl!!!

Chase is 5 months now! He is developing quite the personality. Now that his GERD medication is the right dose, he is such a happy boy! He loves to lay on the floor and play with his toys. He "attempts" to crawl and rolls his way to whatever he wants (usually to get to Leah). He loves his daddy. He has trouble eating during the day but he scarfs down 10 oz before bedtime. He's still not sleeping through the night..he's up every few hours but usually goes back to sleep. He doesn't really take a binky no matter how hard we want him to sometimes. He's 22 lbs and wears 18-24 month clothes! At around 5pm every night all he wants to do is be held. He gets a bath and goes to bed at 7 and by that time my back kills!!
He loves cruising around in his walker. Leah could only ever go backwards in hers but he gets all over the house! He loves the swing at the park and he also loves being outside. Tim and I are slowly forgetting the cries and screaming that consumed the first 3 months of his life. He's turning into our happy little guy and we just love him!!















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