New Kitchen stuff

Getting ready to move is something I've never totally been a fan of for obvious reasons. It's a LOT of work! In order to 'trick' myself into believing this is a good process, I tell myself that it's a cleansing process, a healing process, a cleaning out of the dross, dust and stale things cluttering up my peaceful haven. It works ok, but it's still stressful. There are a lot of decisions to make for a person who is sentimental like I am. There are memories all over my home, of times, places or people who influenced me over the years. Pictures of my children and ancestors fill sections of my home along with things made for or by them. It's hard to let these things go for me. That's why moving is hard for me.
 I figured out that buying things for my new place has really helped ease the stressful feelings and create a sense of anticipation. Browsing through Ikea's website the other day, I checked the clearance section. It happened to have a series within that I had been ogling for a while but just didn't feel like investing in at the time.  Here is a link to the BYGEL series that I purchased for my new kitchen. Check out those prices!! I didn't buy the utility cart because I won't have space for it, but I just love that I'll be rid of that dirty old plastic drying rack. :-) Any suggestions for living in super small places? Please post in the comments, I'd love to read!
Here are a couple of pictures of the new place:

For reference: That stove is 22 or 24" wide, the fridge is 5' tall. 

This is the living room. My couch fits all along that whole corner by the maintenence man. Can't wait to show pictures when it's done! 

This is where the BYGEL items will go. 

It will be really cozy when I get finished! 

Birthday Visit with the girls

Today I got my hour with each of the girls. It was fantastic! I have missed them so much, and they have grown so much! I walked into the room, and I said 'Hi!' to the girls. Abi just stared at me and said to my brother, 'Uncle Dave, is that my mommy?' I wanted to smack him, but I waited and he said, 'yes' so she came running around the table and gave me a hug! Zoe followed quickly and wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed! Oh it was good to see my girls again!!
Abi said she wanted to go first, so we got into the visit room and got settled. I got spontaneous hugs, all kinds of great conversation, and she got her hair and make up done, along with two visits to the bathroom and a few new dresses. I gave them the kitchen and dollhouse I had been holding for them, with a cash register (from a friend) and a bag of candy to 'sell' to their brothers. The pictures are downloading now.
I forgot a couple of their presents at home, so I'll have to bring them by to the caseworker and let her pass them along. The girls were so excited to get more presents. Abi told me that she had a frozen cake at Bananas for her birthday this year. I told her under my breath and once out loud that she can see me any time Dave will let her. He didn't like that and said, "That's not gonna happen, don't tell her that." I wanted to scream and say, 'what, the truth?' but I held my angry tongue. It was clear he was frazzled and didn't want to be there, and everything inside me wanted to make it worse. For him. That, however, would not have been better for my girls, so I smiled and hugged and loved on them.
Pictures are loaded:
First up, we have a picture of my brother's car, parked conspicuously where it doesn't belong. The parking lot of non-handicapped spots is wide open behind it, by the way. He isn't handicapped. Nobody in the car is legally handicapped either. Besides being openly angry, I want to establish what kind of person he is in general. This does a pretty good job.

 This is my Abi when she first arrived, before getting all dolled up! She did her hair all by herself today, like she does every day. She knows how to do a pretty good ponytail and is very proud to be able to do her own hair!

She gave her fiercest grin: 

She seems to think her cheekbones aren't high enough: 

She insisted upon having pictures of her hair pretties. I explained this special bobby pin is really special and has sparklies in it: 

And the other side. Crowns in her hair! 

This one is designed to show off her pretty lipstick: 

Mommy joined in on the growl: 

Mom and daughter have really similar taste in shoes:

Sunglasses are a total winner: 

Now with a smile:

Darker shade of lipstick (don't worry, it's Vegan):

Duckface for facebook:

Fairy wings attached and a pretty fairy pose: 

We had so much fun! We ate a lemon pudding cake, had apple juice, and chocolate milk from Starbucks (they need the cups for their new kitchen). I got them all kinds of gifts and sent my brother with one of those huge Ikea bags full of kitchen utensils and dollhouse furniture. I am worried he will throw it away and tell the kids that he doesn't have room for it. He could really take a lesson from my mom at this point, which is incredibly sad. 

After doing make up and painting nails (with an herbal nail polish), we played 'darts' with velcro balls, cuddled, and played dress up. The picture above is her new dress, which has a sparkly rhinestone heart belt buckle. I guess it's time to get sewing for fall! 

Next came my time with Zoe. Zoe is a total cuddle bug, but it's hard to keep up with her energy. 

First thing she did was take off her dress. No hello, no hug, just off came the dress, ready for the new one. 

This dress/shirt I made out of a cafe curtain that was in my grandma's house. It had a hole in it as a curtain, so I figured cute little dress would work. I didn't see the kids for Christmas, so I hung on to it and they got too tall. 

Zoe pulled out the sit & spin and went 3/4 around once, then got up and was off to the next thing. 

Better picture of the dress. It has little blue cut-out details around the 'waist' (was the hem)

Big "CHEESE!" 

Showing off her pretty make up, which she put on all by herself with the exception of the eye shadow and lipstick. 

See how the corners of her mouth just barely go up? That means "I'm ready for fun!" 

There's my smiling girl! 

We were going for a growl, but it didn't quite happen.

In this one, she put on all of her birthday presents. I made leg warmers to go over her braces, bought her a sun-changer t-shirt from Moab, and a pink tutu from Denver. The yellow gloves were super soft and came from walmart at Christmas. 

She loved the supersoft gloves!

This is when she spots my necklace

But we go for sunglasses instead! She crawled right up and cuddled with me, arm around my neck, and we traded sunglasses a couple of times. 

What a wonderful time I had with my precious babies! They're getting so big! Zoe wants a necklace just like mine for Christmas. I want them back for Christmas. :-)