Kiddoville

The joys of molded plastic

2009-05-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

My mom gave the kids an extremely exciting joint birthday gift today (their birthdays are coming up next week for Jack and July 2nd for Brooke). Their very own play house for the back yard! To say they love it would be an understatement. See for yourself.

The play house has a fountain, as you can see, that is uber-fun for them. What is it about water? I'm sure the pump will wear out or be broken very soon, since it will have its on/off button pushed 1,482 times a day. I especially snicker at the "conversation" that Brooke is having on the play cordless phone that came with the house. She is "talking" to Mimi (my mom) and I think I hear myself in her dialog. Too funny.

Thanks, Mimi!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

The kids were up early to enjoy the Easter Bunny's gifts... the Bunny tried to make the baskets more about "fun" than about candy this year (though there were the obligatory chocolate bunnies and peeps in their baskets!)

We had a short Easter egg hunt in the house which was fun and then the coloring and movie-watching began. They received Cars (Jack) and Madagascar (Brooke).

Brooke also received a really cute real chine mini-tea set. She's really into hosting tea parties for her "buddies" so she got right to work.

Happy Easter to all!

Spring has sprung!

2009-04-10T08:19:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of going to Portland to help celebrate Sierra's 2nd birthday with my brother Clark and his awesome girlfriend, Heather. The weather was fantastic and we had such a good time at the party (and hanging out with them the night before!) Except for the part where Jack barfed right as dinner was being served. But we won't discuss that part...

The Birthday Girl enjoys her cupcake!

Jack sure was happy to help her celebrate.

Mmm, cupcakes!

When Clark and I were kids, our Grandma Spoon (whose real last name was Witherspoon, but to us, she was always Spoon) had this awesome bamboo swing on her deck. Her deck was really special because it had a spectacular view of downtown Portland. Clark and I enjoyed many hours spinning in the swing, and I'd show you the pics if I had a scanner. Anyway, the old swing is now hanging in Clark's gorgeous backyard and the kids were enraptured by it this weekend! I can't believe the old swing is still going strong, I guess that's a testament to the strength of bamboo. It must be 40 years old because it was NOT brand new when I was Jack's age and I'm 39. It did my heart good to see the next generation of kids giggling in that swing.

This guy has me convinced we need some kind of play structure in our backyard!

Hilarious

2009-04-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Jan sent this to me today (I have no idea who it is). It brightened my day so I thought I'd share... I challenge anyone to view this and not smile at this cute little guy!

Misc. pics

2009-03-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while! Thought I'd share a few recent pics.

Late winter walk in the neighborhood. Let's find some sticks!

My little man ready to walk.

Brooke set up this tea party for her 3 besties all by herself. FYI, from L-R that's Ellie, Horton, and Hello Kitty. She served them a nice variety of plastic food.

We made green shamrock pancakes for St. Patrick's Day!

Mr. Jack's new obsession - "Cuties" (aka mandarin oranges.) We buy them by the 5 lb. box and it lasts about a week. I don't know what I'll do when they go out of season!

Happy first day of spring to you all!

Update on Gimpy (Leo)

2009-02-28T14:21:00.001-08:00

Justin just called on his way home from the vet with Leo. Today they had a consultation with the orthopedic specialist, which included a sedated examination of Leo's knees to determine whether or not he has a ligament tear. The doctor's opinion is that yes, he does have a partial tear in his left ACL, which can be successfully repaired with surgery. The bad news is that his X-rays show that he still has a growth plate in his legs which means he can't have the surgery yet. Apparently they remove some of the bone and attach a titanium device to the bone when they do the ligament repair surgery, and that can't be done until the bone is done growing. So... poor Leo has to rest as much as possible for a few months and also try to lose some weight. The combination of needing to lose weight and also having his activity restricted means the poor guy is going to get a lot less food in his dish every day (worst case scenario for a lab!) We're thinking the surgery should be scheduled sometime in early summer. Oh, and it costs about $3000. Yikes! Too bad we never got around to signing up for pet insurance...

My Cuties

2009-02-26T16:48:00.001-08:00

We had portraits done of the kids today and I snapped this on the way out. I'm so happy with how their outfits came out! We took this antique rocking chair with us, it was my grandfather's and I believe it was hand made. The portraits came out amazing (this same pose only it looks a million times better by the professional photographer!) I can't wait to get the prints back.

Shocking

2009-02-26T16:22:00.001-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I have been doing Weight Watchers since mid-January and am doing pretty well so far - I've lost about 17 lbs. and counting. One of the great things about Weight Watchers is that nothing is specifically "off limits" - you just have a budget of points to work within and over time, it becomes clear which things are worth using up points for and which things are not.

Today, I was thinking about taking the kids out to lunch at Red Robin so I looked up the nutritional info. Even as a pretty educated person when it comes to nutrition, I have to admit I was shocked at what I found! Get this: my regular favorite at Red Robin (which I have not eaten since December) is the Banzai Burger, of course with fries on the side. According to www.redrobin.com, this meal serves up a whopping 1,444 calories and 80 grams of fat! This makes my jaw drop! I simply cannot believe it. Oh, and don't forget the hidden killer, sodium, which comes in at 2696 mg (more than you should consume in an entire day -- without even picking up the salt shaker on those fries!). I think I will never be able to eat out again. Unbelievable.

Note: I did take the kids out to lunch, we went to Applebees, where they have a few Weight Watchers approved meal that have the points calculated already. I had a delicious steak and portobello meal that only cost me 7 points, about average for lunch.

Preschool Show-off

2009-02-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Bed Head

2009-02-22T17:17:00.001-08:00

Pajama Dances

2009-02-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't want to dance when they hear classic 80's Robert Palmer?

And this one, ok, not pajamas, but cute anyway. Jack's favorite song - Baby Beluga. Ignore me talking - I was on the phone and he started to dance so I quietly turned on the Flip so he wouldn't notice me recording him!

Catching up

2009-02-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Wow, seems like a lot of pictures have been taken, fun things have happened, etc. since I've posted! So in no particular order, here are a few shots I'd like to share.

On President's Day, we took a nice day trip over to Leavenworth, Washington. It's about a 2 hour drive from our house, so we went there and back in one day. The town of Leavenworth is modeled after a Bavarian village, it's so quaint and has cute shops and restaurants - easy to fill an afternoon walking around. The snow was lightly falling which made it even more special - the kids had a great time! I am such a bad photographer in that I never remember to take pictures by picturesque spots... so all of my photos are of us when we're sitting somewhere and the thought finally occurs to me. Oh well. Here we are at lunch and at our coffee stop at Starbucks.

We had a sunny week (rare for Seattle in February) so we hit the park a couple of times. Jack attempted and succeeded at his first trip down the "big slide"!

Today, I took some shots of Brooke because she was so cute. She kept repeating a line from the Horton Hears a Who movie (which we watch several times a week in our house) and it was making her crack up. I wanted to capture her natural smile while she was laughing so hard. Usually I get her fake smile when I get out the camera!

Jack will most certainly kill me for posting this picture someday, but he is so darn cute I can't resist. Note: No actual "work" was accomplished (or has ever been accomplished by Jack) on the potty, but he likes to be like his big sister and try now and then. How cute is he with his truck book on the pot?

Last but not least, our other boy, Leo, spent a few hours at the vet being sedated and X-rayed yesterday (cha-ching!) because he's been limping and we need to find out why. I had done some research and was afraid it was hip dysplasia. Since he's a purebred lab and this is somewhat common in labs, I got very nervous about it. The vet agreed that he shows some signs so that is why they did the X-rays. Fortunately, he does NOT have hip dysplasia, which is a huge relief - the surgery to correct it is rather gruesome involving cutting off the ball of the thigh bone and allowing scar tissue to form a new "joint" and the leg (or legs) being shorter and the dog limping forever. Ugh. And it costs $2-3,000 per leg so needless to say, we're all relieved he doesn't have bad hips. But we still don't know why he's limping. Our vet took X-rays of his knees and sent them to a radiologist for consultation and we'll hear back in a day or two. We now suspect it might be a foot problem. Poor Leo was one unhappy camper last night, he came home heavily sedated and he was groggy, didn't want his dinner, whimpered all evening... poor bud. Thank goodness he's back to his normal self today! I hope we find out that the limp is something not too serious. He's only one year old for heaven's sake! Too young to limp around.

And finally, under no particular heading, I've lost 17.6 lbs. since mid-January! I am so excited. Weight Watchers is magic. What's really great is that we're all eating better - tons of fresh fruits & veggies, less meat, more whole grains and dramatically less sugar and butter... it's so good. I've actually discovered that now when I eat something "off plan" (like the Thai takeout we had the other night) I really don't feel very well afterward. I'm thrilled to have recognized this fact because it makes me want to keep eating well (and feeling great). A few of my pants have been moved to the "donate" pile and I'm hoping to be solidly into the next size down pretty soon. Wish me luck, I have a lot more to lose!

Tock-it Milk and Bingo

2009-02-06T16:36:00.001-08:00

When Brooke was first learning to drink regular milk, she never could get to love it like most kids do. Rather, she wouldn't drink it at all. So we started putting chocolate syrup in it, and VOILA, she loved it! And guess what? We've never been able to break her of the habit. She now distinguishes between chocolate milk and white milk, which is only for babies (in her book). So when Jack transitioned to regular milk last year, I was determined to keep him on and not allow him to get hooked on chocolate milk. Everything worked fine until a few weeks ago when Jack figured out that he could sip Brooke's milk whenever he found it unattended and - darn it! - it tastes better than his! Then he started offering her to "trade?" (naturally she declines) and now he's escalated to full-on demanding it. And it's not chocolate milk, it's TOCK-IT MILK! Heaven help us. Thank goodness they sell two-packs of giant Hershey's Syrup at Costco, right?

Brooke is having so much fun with a game that her Uncle Clark got her for Christmas, called United States Bingo. She doesn't totally get the concept of filling up a card to win the game, but she does love certain states because they have pictures of industries that she's decided she likes. So when we play, she always has to have the cards for Florida (because they have flamingos, palm trees), Hawaii (Pineapple), Maine (blueberries and lobsters) and inexplicable, New Jersey (shipping!) She is a real kick.

In other news, I'm up to 12 lbs. lost in 4 weeks and couldn't be happier about it! I'm going to keep on keepin' on... got quite a few more till I reach my goal, which I expect will happen sometime in late summer or early fall. As of today I have one pair of pants that is officially too big now. Bring it on!

At the risk of embarrassing my daughter...

2009-01-31T22:11:00.001-08:00

I have to share this funny story. Tonight, after she got out of the bath and brushed her teeth, I noticed Brooke had some, ahem, audible signals that she might have to go potty. So I suggested it, and she agreed. There was, as usual, a lot of dilly-dallying around, she hopped off the potty to grab tub toys (pants around ankles) and I told her to get back on the potty and concentrate on going #2 so we could get on with the bedtime routine. I left the room for a second and when I came back, she was sitting on the toilet with her legs crossed. I said "Brooke, you might want to uncross your legs if you want to get the job done," to which she replied, "but Mommy, I'm pooping like a lady."

How can a mom argue with that?!

My muses

2009-01-30T20:47:00.001-08:00

Just a few shots taken today and yesterday that came out cute.

This is what happens when I scold Brooke for putting her feet on the table. Monkey see, monkey do!

Ah, sibling love!

Counting!

2009-01-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

This boy continues to amaze me.

Look whose birthday was today!

2009-01-25T23:06:00.000-08:00

Our fearless puppy, Leo, turned ONE today!
He celebrated with some new toys, a large serving of german pancake this morning from the kids, a long walk through the woods from Justin, and a small dose of humiliation during a photo shoot with me. He took it like a real man.

The kids gave him some love - though not at the same moment, shucks says the photographer...

And Brooke had some fun trying on Leo's party hat (which we made at the kitchen table).

Potty? At 19 months?

2009-01-24T10:28:00.001-08:00

Jack has been showing some interest in using the potty. What the heck? Brooke didn't get potty trained until a few days after her THIRD birthday. Don't get me wrong, I'd be thrilled beyond measure to be done with diapers sooner rather than later. I'm just shocked. The other day we were at the grocery store and he started saying "poop! potty!" repeatedly. I was completely taken aback. So twice now I've put him on the potty when he says he wants to... he's all talk and no action but it's awfully cute to see his little chubby legs dangling there.

And for good measure, a pic of my girl. All geared up with her best friend Ellie in her backpack. I took the kids to Applebees for lunch yesterday and they came home with balloons, always a treat in our house. We are getting ready to sign Brooke up for next year's pre-school. We're very happy with her current school, so we're going to stay with it - again, three days of class, but it's longer (3 hours instead of 2.5) and we're adding a fourth day which is an "enrichment class" that goes on a field trip every week. I have friends whose kids have done this class in past years and have raved about it - they take the kids to places like the back room at the grocery store where they see how food comes off the trucks and is unloaded and stocked on the shelves. I'm excited for her, it will be a lot of fun and new experiences.

Friday Misc.

2009-01-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

I'm a little grumpy this morning because after having a very good week (or so I thought) on weight watchers, I weighed myself for Biggest Loser this morning and have only lost 1.8 lbs.! I mean, it's a loss, so I'm happy about that - and if I continued to lose 1.8 lbs. each week, I'd eventually get to my goal, but it's still not "wowing" me. I guess after watching The Biggest Loser on TV I have a distorted perspective of what a reasonable weekly loss should be. Those people manage to lose anywhere from 8-20 pounds per week, it's so awesome. Obviously I am not working out every day, all day, like they are so I have to remind myself of that. Hopefully next week will be better, I'm going to keep the faith and keep doing what I'm doing.

I'm also grumpy because at 10pm last night, while I was reading in bed, my phone beeped so I ran down to see who was texting me so late at night and it was my babysitter, who is sick and can't come today. BLAH! I had a whole morning of working out and reading and who-knows-what else planned while Brooke was at school. Now it will be me and Jack... which means no working out, reading, etc. The last time I took Jack to the daycare at my gym he wailed so hard they paged me back after 5 minutes, so I'm nervous to try it again. It's worse than not going at all to get there and get dressed and get started only to stop after 5 minutes. So today I will either try that again or just bag it and take Jack to the Children's Museum for a couple hours while Brooke is in school. I happen to have a half-off coupon right now, so it would be really cheap.

How's that for a morning cup 'o pessimism? I need to get back in a positive frame of mind. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

Justin came home after midnight last night (delayed, late flight from Denver) so lights were not out for me until after 1am. Needless to say I was not thrilled to hear Jack awake at 6:50am. But the promise of watching inauguration festivities pulled me out of bed (oh, and a cup of coffee...)

Now it's 7:30 and both kids are up early (thanks, Mr. Garbage Man!) and we are watching the festivities in DC. I can't help but think about what a wonderful thing it is that when my kids become aware of the president of our country and all that the position stands for, Barack Obama will be their point of reference. They are too young to have any concept of race, and I love that their perspectives will be shaped from the foundation of a person of color in the White House.

Oh my goodness!

2009-01-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

I've lost 4.6 lbs. in one week! My first weigh-in for Biggest Loser 6 was this morning. I'm off to a great start... wish me strength!

Late night ramblings

2009-01-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

Yo Gabba Gabba Heaven at the Kennedy House

I'm not sure why I'm blogging instead of going to bed - it's almost midnight and everyone else in the house is asleep. I confess that this quiet time is golden to me. Even if it means staying up really late and sacrificing sleep, it's heaven to putter around and do whatever I want, without being whined at by anyone.

Brooke and I decided to host a Valentine Party for her pre-school classmates. I just finished the invitations and they are pretty adorable, if I do say so myself! Here is a photo of the front. The inside has a cute verse printed in red in a great font called Harrington. (I wanted Aged but I was too cheap to pony up the $29 and buy it.) We asked each child to bring a small (under $10) Valentine gift to exchange. Our friend Whitney, who works at the stamping store, helped us design it and also sold us this super fantastic elephant punch that makes a perfectly adorable elephant that even has an ear that sticks out. Too cute for words. Of course, my elephant-crazed girl has punched no less than 1000 elephants in all the colors of the rainbow and "sprinkled" (her word) them throughout the house.

I think the party is going to be a blast. We're making all kinds of pink and red foods, cupcakes, home made candies, and have even started collecting some fun things for goody bags. I even found a couple of fun projects at Oriental Trading Co. that are Valentine-themed (including one for girls and one for boys). Ah, I love planning a kids' party... and I figure since Brooke's birthday is during the summer and over a holiday weekend, it's unlikely that she will be able to do something with all of her class, so we'll have this party now and then do something special with one or two friends on her birthday.

In other news... I joined Weight Watchers last night and I'm happy to say that my first day is over and went OK! They have really improved their program since I tried it (briefly) in 2006. I have to admit I'm impressed. The online tools are fantastic - online tracking, food value lookups, recipes, etc. Tonight I made a Weight Watchers coconut shrimp recipe for dinner and it was quite good! Of course, it would have been fantastic with some corn-syrup laden dipping sauce, but I survived without it. I have a long list of "weight-watchers approved" foods that I'm anxious to pick up tomorrow to make things a little bit easier for me.

OK, it's officially after midnight and I must go to sleep. If I can drag myself out of bed early enough, I'm going to try and hit the gym before the munchkins wake up and the craziness starts.

A fresh start

2009-01-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

2009 = the year that I get serious about losing some weight and keeping it off!

Today is the first day of an online weight-loss competition a friend of mine has organized and I'm off to a good start. Had salad for lunch, went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for 47 minutes, ate an apple for a snack this morning. Wish me luck - there is a lot at stake for me, both personally in terms of my health, and also the competition prize money! Of course I already have a few ideas how I could spend that money...

Jack cracks me up. His vocabulary is exploding which is so fun. He is starting to have real preferences - for his food (he points to what he wants in the fridge, usually mozzarella sticks) and his clothing too. His favorite shirt is his football sweatshirt and he asks for it by name - "football!" while pointing to his chest. It's quite adorable. When you confirm what he's asking for he nods vigorously and says "Mmm!" He is working on a whole bunch of two syllable words, like airplane, football, Brookie, and, inexplicably, pinecone. He imitates everything Brooke does, including asking "why?" incessantly which is a bit much for one mom considering both of my kids now ask why whenever I tell them to do anything. He adores his dog, Leo, and calls "Yee-Oh!" loudly, including yelling "Yee-oh, pee pee!" loudly out the back door as Leo tries to do his business with a shred of dignity. It's quite hilarious.

Brooke had a concert in pre-school today, which was postponed from before Christmas due to the snowstorm we had. It was darling. They all had percussion instruments (jingle bells, shakers, triangles, sanblocks...) and sang about 6 songs. I got some video on my Blackberry but am not sure how to get it off the phone and post it. Brooke was really proud of herself and had to restrain herself from running over to hug me several times during the concert.

Yum

2009-01-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

Brooke refused to sit on Santa's lap. Absolutely put her foot down. And you can see how happy Jack was...

Last night, I finally made up the gifts for Brooke's pre-school teachers. School was canceled due to snow the last two days before Christmas so I got a short reprieve. They got a cute white Starbucks mug filled with home made Vanilla Chai Tea Mix and a Barnes & Noble gift card. I have to admit, I was skeptical about the Chai mix - thought it might be un-drinkable, so I tried it before I gave it away and it was so good I went out and got more ingredients this morning so I could make some to keep and some to send to work with Justin! So yummy - to me, this tastes as good as a chai tea latte from Starbucks.

It's great to be back in the routine this morning - Brooke is at school, Jack and I came home and finished packing up the Christmas decorations, and the house is somewhat quiet. Heaven! Now if I can just get my body back on the routine. After weeks of staying up wayyyy too late and drinking more than my usual one cup of coffee every day, I have not been able to fall asleep the last two nights at my regular bedtime. It's such a bummer to lie in bed at night and stare at the ceiling until 2 or 3 am, thinking of all the projects I could be doing if it wouldn't wake everyone else up. Grr. So today I'm holding fast to one cup of coffee and hoping it helps me get to sleep on time.

Another pic from our holiday season... Have a great day!

I'm alive!

2009-01-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

I know you have all probably given up on me, and I'm blogging to the sound of static right now, but after a two month break, I am back! I have a bazillion pictures and stories to post, including everything from Thanksgiving to our trip to Hawaii, snowstorms, and Christmas too. It seems like time has just flown since 11/1!

I promise that very soon I will post more pictures, but I thought I'd share this one from right before Christmas. We had so much snow. It cooped us up in our house for a few days, then snarled everything up for a week or more, and then it melted... and now it's falling again. Sigh. We were enthusiastic the first time, but this time? Not so much.

Hope you all had wonderful holidays! More to come...

Halloween 2008!

2008-11-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

A great time was had by all... The rain stopped just before we headed out to Trick-or-Treat and within minutes of awakening this morning, both kids had Tootsie Pops jammed in their mouths and dripping all over. Later, I'll post pictures from Brooke's class party yesterday. What a day!

Sorry I've been so quiet...

2008-10-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

A bunch of things have kept me away from blogging these past couple of weeks, and I feel guilty about it but wanted to say that I am alive and well and planning to blog again soon. The kids have been sick 5 or 6 times since school started (that's 5 or 6 times EACH in about 7 weeks... no fun) and Justin has gotten sick at least a couple of times and I finally got sick this past weekend. We were also out of town for about 5 days visiting my family in Oregon, and also our babysitter has been on vacation for a few weeks so it feels like there is just never time to sit down and write! She is back "on the job" this Friday and I am ready.

The other day, Brooke announced to me: "Did you know I'm the Cat's Meow?" I almost lost it. I asked her who told her that and she told me that Mimi did (my mom). Hilarious. And true!

Justin and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary on Saturday! My mom has offered to take care of the kids so we can get away for the evening and we are really looking forward to it.

I saw a hearbreaking story about overwhelmed moms on Oprah the other day (saved on my TiVo from maybe a couple of weeks ago) that has made me take a deep breath. I found myself stopping in a frantic rush this morning and taking a moment to slow down as I remembered what happened in this sad story.

That's about it for me tonight, and I promise to write more and post pics very soon!

Sharing

2008-10-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I was reading a book called Flutter By to Brooke at bedtime. The essence of the story is that if you don't share, you will one day realize that others won't want to share with you and that life is better when you learn to share. At the end, there is a page where the (wise) worm says "Sharing is fun!" As I read that part, Brooke sat up and pointed to the page and said emphatically, "Sharing is NOT fun!" I almost choked I laughed so hard. I said, "why not?" Brooke said "When you share, people take your stuff." I said, "who takes your stuff?" And of course, the answer was: "Jack!"

Oh my.

Check it out

2008-10-06T18:15:00.001-07:00

This is from a new online tool called Animoto. Fun, huh?

Shallow Humor

2008-10-06T14:03:00.001-07:00

This made me spit out my water.

see more pwn and owned pictures

My latest guilty pleasure

2008-10-02T20:17:00.001-07:00

This show is absolutely stupid and it's cracking me up - it's basically Human Tetris. Have you seen it? Fox at 8:00 on Thursdays. It's so dumb you can't help but laugh.

Redeeming myself

2008-10-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

OK, so we got Brooke to swimming lessons on time today. I aimed to leave at 3:15 for 4:00 class (20 minute drive - figured that was decent padding to get me there on time.) It worked! We pulled in to the driveway at 3:42 and had time to get her undressed and into the pool area and even sat for a bit before the teacher showed up. Much less stressful. And she did pay better attention this time. Not perfect by any means, but I impressed upon her that last time she played with the toys too much and since we had missed two classes, she REALLY needed to pay attention to the teacher so she could get caught up. I give her credit, she really made an effort. Yay Brooke! And yay me for not having a pseudo anuerysm at the pool.

Several of you have commented that you wanted to see pictures of our paint. The reason I haven't posted is that it just looks white in the pictures - not very interesting - but oh well, here goes nothing. It's a nice cream with the vaguest hint of yellow.

This is the transition from old (left) to new (right) paint. We had to stop somewhere -- our house has rooms that just blend one into another so it was hard to find a stopping point.

In other news, we had a nice sunny day yesterday (probably our last for 10 months) and I took my good camera to the park with me and got some nice pictures of Jack while Brooke was in school. Here are a couple of them. Is he not adorable? No wonder I can't stop kissing his face.

Thankful Thursday

2008-10-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Having just accidentally stabbed myself in the foot with a falling point-down knife while doing the dishes, it's a little challenging for me to do this right now but that's the point, right? (ah, that was NOT intended as a knife joke - "point", get it?) I'm typing with my foot propped up on the table to try and get the bleeding to stop. Lovely.

In random order, today I am thankful for...

Justin. He raves about the dinners I make every night, even when I've slapped something really average together (like frozen salmon burgers and store-bought macaroni salad the other night), and it's awfully sweet of him. He also does the dishes every night which I really appreciate after wrangling the two little ones all afternoon.
My 24" iMac. This machine is the best computer I have ever owned (and I've owned quite a few) and I adore it. The big, bright display inspires me to work on pictures, blog, and do all kinds of things. And like all Macs, it's great because it just works. It's true what they say, "once you go Mac, you'll never go back..."
Our library. I am a big library patron these days. I get all the books I need - fun books for me, stacks of books for my voracious reader Brooke, my latest book club book, and even the occasional non-fiction book. Right now I'm working on a whole stack of library books and I just love that I can enjoy them and not have to buy them or store them long-term. They have an awesome online system for searching and reserving books, and whenever I hear of a book that I want to grab for myself or the kids, I just log on and request it. Then a few days later, I get an email that it's waiting for me. Easy squeezy. They even have an underground parking garage that has spaces big enough for my mom-mobile and a stroller-friendly elevator. What's not to love?

What are you thankful for?

I am the biggest loser of a mom.

2008-09-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it - I am so mad at myself. What started out as a pretty good day has turned sour.

I signed Brooke up for swimming lessons. We're going to Hawaii in December, and she's only had one round of toddler lessons at about 18 months of age, so I want her to learn some more and get some skills under her belt. I feel really strongly about this. So I stayed up until midnight to sign her up for the particular class I wanted, paid a lot of money, and then got really angry at the city recreation people who wouldn't let me sign up for Level 1 and then Level 2 consecutively. They told me she has to pass level 1 before I can sign her up for Level 2, even though that means about 3-4 months lag in between classes which I think is downright idiotic. I said I didn't care if they charged me for Level 2 even if she didn't pass Level 1, with a smug confidence that she will of course pass Level 1. I hung up in a huff because they said no exceptions.

Well fast forward to last week, the first lesson is on Tusday. Guess who screws up and forgets completely? Yep. I recently switched from a hand-written date book calendar to using my Blackberry calendar, and apparently I am having some "transition trouble" to say the least. I was so furious with myself for missing the first class.

Second class: last Thursday. The only appointment I could get for Jack's 15 month checkup was one hour before swimming. So I planned ahead, took Brooke in her swimsuit with clothes over it, got to the dr. office 15 minutes early so we could be out of there on time, etc. After all that planning, we were STILL 10 minutes late to her 30 minute swimming lesson. I was all sweaty and out of breath when we rolled into the pool, dragging heavy Jack and trying to find which group of kids was her class. She got in the pool and barely paid attention - distracted by water toys in a basket next to the pool, kept jumping out, walking away from the group in the water, etc. Very embarrassing. The whole time I was wrestling Jack (literally) because he wanted to get down and run, which I obviously couldn't let him do in the pool area. The whole experience was awful and stressful. I had to have a "chat" with Brooke afterward about paying attention, etc.

So that was Thursday. Today, another lesson. And guess when I remembered it? At 3:55 (our house is 20 minutes from the pool.) So we missed it AGAIN! I cannot believe it. I am so not THAT person, the one who shows up late, misses commitments, etc. It's killing me. And even if she has perfect attendance from here on out, we're going to be out of town next Thursday, so she will miss at least 3/8 lessons which is TOTALLY unacceptable! At this rate, she probably will NOT pass the test at the end.

I know that in the grander scheme of things this is not a big deal, but I am really beating myself up. We were sitting here in the family room doing nothing of consequence at 3:30 today when we should have been getting in the car. I could just scream I am so frustrated with myself. After her distracted performance on Thursday last week, I am not looking forward to her lesson on Thursday - she'll be miserably behind, probably just as wacky and paying no attention, and the Jack Wrestling Show will go on as scheduled for 1/2 hour. Why do I do this to myself?! And poor Brooke is mising out on the chance to learn to swim because I can't get my act together.

Uggghhhhhhhh.

Painting project

2008-09-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I am exhausted but proud to say that this weekend, we got started with the goal of repainting the interior of our house. Almost the whole house needs it (the outside needs paint too but that's a different post for a different time.) Since we've owned this house (almost 5 years) we've only painted the kids' rooms, master bedroom and kids' bathroom. The rest has been this awful, drab, dreary gray color that we've hated. It's such a bad color for our house, because we back up to a forested greenbelt with very tall evergreens and it's DARK. So the gray paint was NOT helping the situation. Of course, over the years we've accumulated dings and dinge that need patching and covering up, but we've had no touch-up paint that matches so eventually we had to do it. We were already planning to paint - had 4 color samples painted on the walls to choose our pleasure, when Friday our dingbat dog decided to tear a small hole in the entry hall wall. Needless to say, the painting project became an A priority overnight.

We decided to get the family room, kitchen, and hall done this weekend and we were successful. It entailed staying up until 3 am last night (and kids got me up at 7:00 this morning! Nice!) and finishing up all afternoon today, but we are SO GLAD we did it. It looks awesome - it's a nice cream that is clean, bright, and warm all at the same time. Next up: the living & dining rooms (which have vaulted ceiling so we'll have to rent an extension ladder) and the ceiling of the whole downstairs. And there's more after that, but for now, we're just happy to be out of the gates.

A side note: when did paint get so expensive? I was planning on ~$25-30/gallon. We bought Benjamin Moore paint, which we've had great results with in the past, and it was $45.99/gallon! Gulp! Fortunately our latest project only took two gallons. I think for the rest, we will investigate the 5 gallon buckets...

For the love of PB&J!

2008-09-25T11:59:00.001-07:00

This is a typical lunch at our house. Thought you might like to play along.

Mmm... peanut butter and jelly...

What? I can't have an Oreo yet?! The injustice of it all!

Ah, much better.

I think this sludge would make a great hair tonic.

Satisfaction. Now that was a good lunch!

Shout-out

2008-09-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

I have to give a shout-out to the Fail Blog. This website makes me laugh so hard. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! It's full of bizarre, irreverent funnies that will make you giggle. And there is new content on there daily!

Thankful Thursday

2008-09-25T10:45:00.001-07:00

Ah, the fact that I am struggling to come up with anything good today tells me this is probably a good exercise for me. So, in no particular order of importance... here is what I'm thankful for today:

TiVo. I know, it's shallow, but I love my TiVo. With the new seasons starting up (Grey's and The Office tonight!!) it's nice to know that I can watch my shows when it's convenient for me, which is usually NOT when they are on. TiVo just takes good care of me and makes it possible for me to sleep when I want to sleep, and be with my kids when they are awake, and still not miss the shows that I love. And let's not start in on the long list of real estate shows that TiVo helps me indulge myself in... My parents have recently joined the "TiVolution" and I hope they love it as much as I do!
Brooke's pre-school. She is SO HAPPY with school, it is going so well for her and it's also been good for Jack and me. It gets all of us on a schedule at least 3 days a week and while Brooke is learning and playing her heart out every M-W-F, Jack and I get some time together which is precious.
Our babysitter, Angela. She has been a God-send for our family! She's been with us for a year now, and every Tuesday and Friday, she steps in and takes excellent care of the kids and the dog for me and even does the kids' laundry for me every Friday. It's wonderful to have her in our lives and I love that when she arrives, she blends seamlessly into our routine. If I haven't gotten the breakfast dishes done, she does them. If the kids want to walk down to the park, she takes them. If the floor needs sweeping, she does it without being asked. She is a great person and I am so lucky to have had her this past year. I know she will go back to a "real job" sometime in the next 6 months or so, and meanwhile I am just really thankful to have her to help me out.

This is our babysitter, Angela, with Jack and Leo, back in May.

So NOT awesome

2008-09-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a new recipe I don't recommend: it's for chocolate chip cement. Make one batch of toll house cookies, only accidentally omit one of the 2.25 cups of flour called for. Proceed to scrape, scrub, and chip off baked on cookie cement from two pans for 1/2 hour. End with zero cookies. Bah Humbug!

Grey's Anatomy is almost back!

2008-09-18T22:24:00.001-07:00

Clips from this coming season have been posted and it's going to be a good one. Get your DVR's ready - the season starts next week!

The Farmers Market

2008-09-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed to admit that after five years living here, we have never checked out the local Farmers Market before today. I have meant to, even tried to, many times, but for one reason or another, we never got there. Now I know what we've been missing - a lot! The market was quite good sized, held in the parking lot of a huge church downtown, and there was so much wonderful produce, flowers, and various other specialty items. The kids and I had a great time. I picked up $20 from the ATM on my way there, since I am usually an all-credit gal (miles!) but I knew that cash would be king at the Farmers Market. Needless to say, I came home with zero. We got a bag of salad greens, a huge cucumber, a pint of mixed cherry tomatoes, a pair of beets, and four enormous peaches - all organic. Oh - and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers!

The moment I got home (dinnertime) I snapped into gear, making tacos, and chopped up our own two little tomatoes - my first and maybe only harvest from our own garden this year, and made a salad with the FM greens, tomatoes, and cucumber. The greens were too firm and bitter for my taste, but the tomatoes and cucumber were fantastic.

If you haven't checked out your local Farmers Market yet, get thee down there ASAP, the season is almost over (ours goes for three more weeks before winter hiatus.)

Thankful Thursday

2008-09-18T09:35:00.001-07:00

Well, to start with - thanks to Tiburon for this tradition - I'm finally getting on board with the Thankful Thursday tradition. I think I need to remind myself of how much I have to be thankful for. And thanks also to Mindi for the cute graphic. I know you "stole" it from someone, but I don't care, I love it!

This week, I am thankful for:

My great kids. I couldn't be more blessed with these two - they are healthy, smart, cute, and all-around wonderful little people. They challenge me every day, and in the end I think that's a good thing (even though it's sometimes pretty rough in the middle!)
My sweet and considerate husband. He is an incredible husband and father and I couldn't ask for more in a life partner and co-parent. We are coming up on our five year wedding anniversary and I'm looking forward to some alone time with him to celebrate all that we've built over the last five years!
Our little blue house and our big white car. They both take care of business quite adequately and I count on them to be there for us!
Awesome hand-me-down clothes from our neighbors. I cleaned out Brooke's closet yesterday and I was amazed at what a large percentage of her clothes are beautiful, high-quality things that her friends Alli and Brooke (aka "The Other Brooke") have worn. It has really helped with my budget for kids' clothes, and allowed me to buy a few really special things each season (like I did yesterday at Gymboree) instead of a ton of really mediocre things.

Wanted: Kid Entertainer

2008-09-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

Kid Entertainer/nose wiper wanted. Hours: 4:30-5:30pm daily. Pay: A seat at the dinner table. Duties include: keeping children from melting down and clinging to my legs during dinner preparation. Send resume to Stephanie, start date ASAP.

Brooke's Cardiology appointment

2008-09-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

In July, at her 3-year checkup, Brooke's doctor heard a faint heart murmur and told us that we ought to get it checked out by a pediatric cardiologist. She assured us it was probably nothing, but better to be sure of that so we got in the queue for an appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital. Finally, today was the day. Good news - it's a harmless, very common murmur called a Stills Murmur that she will grow out of and we don't have to worry about it! What a relief. We were treated so well at Children's, Brooke actually really enjoyed her visit - the facility is incredible and so many fun things to look at and play with, and the two residents and one senior cardiologist who examined her were incredible. I hope we never have to go back there for obvious reasons, but if we did, it's good to know that such a high-quality facility exists only 10 miles from our home.

Fortunately, the appointment came on a day when our regular babysitter was scheduled to be here, so Justin and I were able to go with Brooke and focus all our energies on her. Afterward, Justin went to work and Brooke and I headed off to University Village for a "girls' day" (Brooke's favorite thing to do). We did some shopping, some playing at Pottery Barn Kids and in the mall playground, and we had sushi from a conveyor belt for lunch (a first for Brooke!)

Do the Puyallup!

2008-09-15T14:35:00.001-07:00

For those of you not from the Northwest (or even not from the Seattle area) you may not know what a phenomenon The Fair is around here. A small town called Puyallup (pronounced "pew-AL-up") hosts a truly awesome fair for three weeks every September, and it's the best one I've ever attended. I grew up loving the fair - my grandfather worked the refrigeration systems at the Oregon State Fair, which was only a few blocks from my grandparents' house growing up, so we made it a family tradition to go to the fair with them every summer and the memories are sweet. I really enjoy everything about the fair - the rides, the animals, the demonstrations in the exhibit hall, and best of all, the food. So it's no surprise that I want my kids to learn to love the fair as much as I do - and I think we're on our way. Yesterday, Justin and I took the kids to the Puyallup Fair and we all enjoyed ourselves tremendously! The weather was incredible - 78 or 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We get like 3 of these days per year here in the Seattle area so when it happens, people get crazy!

Last year, my friend Marie came up from Portland for the fair and we took Brooke, then 2, and Justin stayed home with Jack, then 3 months old. Brooke had fun, but there were a lot of rides she couldn't really go on by herself because she didn't really get it. This year, we have clearly turned a corner. She couldn't get enough!! She is a thrill-seeker just like me.

Clean, dressed, and excited, ready to go to the fair...

Moments before slamming her head into the mirrored wall in the fun-house. Oops.

The carousel. Finally, a ride that Jack can go on with us! (At least he could after I fibbed and told the operator he was 2...)

That's Brooke on the yellow airplane, white sunglasses and curly hair are about all that you can see. She grinned at us and gripped the steering wheel every time she flew around the corner!

One of the best rides of all is the Giant Slide. You can see in the top pic how big it is, you have to climb over 100 steps to get to the top. Justin and I each took a turn on this one with Brooke.

Self portrait. Jack will have a lot more fun next year when he can go on more rides.

I caught this little lady with my camera through a window while we were eating lunch. I thought she was awfully cute and patriotic and check her out, partaking in the Krusty Pups (aka corndogs) and curly fries. You go girl!

Of course, an elephant ear was eaten by THIS little girl... who worships elephants!

And so it ended... two tired kiddos who came home and took bubble baths, ate dinner, and fell asleep by 6:30pm. What a day!

We knew this was coming!

2008-09-10T20:57:00.001-07:00

Poor Brooke. After only 3 days in pre-school, she is already sick with her first "classroom petrie dish" cold. Having been at home with me for 3 years, she's hardly ever sick, and we realize how lucky we are. I have a feeling this is going to be the first of many bad colds she brings home. My little girl is currently dosed up with children's ibuprofen, propped up on pillows, and sleeping in a steam-filled room thanks to her cow-shaped humidifier. Now I just hope we can keep Jack from getting it (as well as Justin and me!)

I don't make this stuff up

2008-09-07T22:16:00.001-07:00

This is just cracking me up. I'll admit, it's after ten so I might just be loopy from exhaustion, but check out the hilarious graphic (and text) on the back of my new $1.49 Goody comb. I had to buy it because one after another comb disappear from my bathroom... I am certain I will find a cache of combs in the bowels of the playroom one of these days but until then, a girl has to comb her hair! Anyway, back to the graphic. If only it was that easy! Who knew that all it took was a $1.49 comb to go from crazy wild hair, which I definitely have, to sleek smoothness? Dang! Stop the presses, I'm returning that $100 flat iron I just bought!

My other favorite part is where it says "The styling options are endless." Today is my lucky day!!

The Circus! (and I don't mean my kids)

2008-09-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

Today, we went to see the Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus in Everett. I think I was a little surprised at how much fun we had! Those guys put on an amazing show, and tickets cost less than $20 each, so I have to say I was impressed! Brooke is WAAAYYY into elephants, so I knew she would be thrilled to see the elephants in the show, and Jack was captivated by the lights and music and clowns for about 45 minutes and then he decided he just wanted to get OUT OF MY LAP. And Justin's lap was not cutting it either. At one point Justin had to just get up and take him to the aisle, he was so squirmy. Oh well, I guess you can't expect too much sitting still from a 1 year old.

Brooke thoroughly enjoyed a $12 bag of cotton candy, which was soon ALL OVER her face and hands. We escaped with only one crying fit (Brooke apparently wanted popcorn, REALLY BADLY, but forgot to mention it until we were in the parking garage. Oops.) We had dinner at Chevy's, which was not as good as Justin and I remembered it from years past, and Brooke spilled two huge glasses of ice water on our table which was actually quite comical. But it was fun nonetheless and both kids crashed instantly in their beds when we got home.

Oh, and if you are looking for a funny online circu game that kept my 3-year old laughing hysterically for 1/2 hour the other night, check here.

First day of pre-school!

2008-09-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Wow! She did it! Brooke had an excellent time at her first day of pre-school. Justin followed us in his car so he could come in and see the classroom and kiss her goodbye. We got there and she dove right into an activity (there was Play-doh out on a table with cookie cutters, one of her favorite activities). She didn't even care that we were leaving. We stole a quick kiss and walked out the door and I don't even think she noticed. I would have been sad except that she was so looking forward to this day and she's been ready for school for a long time now, so the whole experience was 100% positive. When I picked her up, 2.5 hours later, she walked out of the room a little glazed over, but within a minute she was excitedly telling me all about her day. Over lunch she told me that one girl cried and her mommy had to come pick her up. Brooke said she didn't miss me (I asked) and she can't wait for Monday. Awesome, I'm so proud of my girl!

In other news, I am thrilled to say that I just hired a housekeeper! Woo hoo. Every other week, starting next week, and the price I was quoted was $30/month less than what I was prepared to spend (the amount freed up in babysitting dollars now that pre-school has begun). And, they can come while we're out of the house on one of the pre-school mornings, which is perfect. I didn't want to have to get out of the house just because the housekeeper was here. I am doing the happy dance right now!

Beads

2008-09-03T13:28:00.000-07:00

She even made a bracelet for her BFF, Ellie.

I have noticed recently (ok, for a long time now) that Brooke is needing more and more stimulation. Pre-school could not come at a better time. So I picked up some projects at Michael's the other day so that she and I could do some fun things together while Jack naps. Yesterday, we stamped the animals from Noah's Ark onto white paper with "cages" drawn on it for a do-it-yourself Zoo, then she colored them. Today, our project was a $1 foam bead necklace & bracelet set. She loves it so much that I am going to go back and pick up a few more. I can't believe how well she did at stringing the beads herself! She even learned to use a toothpick to "unclog" some of the beads that needed it. This just confirms what I already knew about Brooke having inherited my artistic/crafty aptitude.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Labor Day weekend with a day trip to Mount Rainier. I can't believe that we've lived here for 5 years (and Justin grew up here!) and have not been yet. It's a truly phenomenal and gorgeous place. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

On the way there, we noticed the temperature dropping. Little did I know that this photo would not be the end of the low temps (at the lodge, it was 36 degrees and snowing! In August!) Can you tell by Justin's face that we were pumped up to get out of the house for the day?

Jack was decked out in his new Chuck Taylors (and a bag of cheese ritz bits, apparently) for the event. Must look snappy.

We stopped for lunch at one of the visitor lodges. The kids met a bear.

A short walk was taken, rocks were balanced on, nature was inspected.

The highlight of the trip was Christine Falls - absolutely gorgeous! Above the falls, the river comes crashing around a corner and has carved a graceful arc out of the rock. Really spectacular. I spent a fair bit of time freaking about how easy it would be for someone to fall off the cliff though, as Justin pointed out. Hands were held tightly.

It was a lovely day, we'd do it again in a heartbeat. Next time we'd like to camp out one night so we can spend more time there and see more! The wildflowers were still in bloom at the higher altitudes, so I'm sure in mid-summer the park is unbelievably beautiful when they are in bloom in the meadows.

So this is the end of summer already?

2008-08-29T21:41:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe that this is the ceremonial end of summer weekend. Afterall, it really only got warm here after 4th of July weekend, so it feels like we just got started! Our holiday weekend is shaping up to be quite low-key.

Brooke had her last soccer practice today. It was very cute, she has improved a lot and actually knows how to kick the ball when she deems it important enough to pay attention to it. The coach invited the parents on the field today for some fun and games, so I took the opportunity to take a little video with my awesome new little point & shoot (and you can see how well Brooke kicks the ball and how well Jack is walking now! Brooke is in the purplish/blue shirt running away from the camera at the beginning.

The little brothers found a way to entertain themselves stacking cones (Jack's on the right).

In other news, we are counting down the days until Brooke's first day of pre-school next Friday. She is SO excited, she can hardly stand it. We get to go in for a "get acquainted party" on Wednesday morning, then starting Friday, she'll be in school every M, W, F from 9:30-12. She is such a little firecracker, Justin and I are thrilled for her. And I am also very much looking forward to having Jack all to myself for some focused time. It seems like our activities are so often centered around Brooke, that it will be nice to do things just for Jack and be able to talk to him the way I was able to talk to Brooke before Jack was on the scene.

Who wouldn't be thrilled to spend some 1:1 time with this guy?

I am also working on some fun things on the calendar for the fall - a family trip to Oregon to visit my parents, a girls' weekend with my college BFF in Austin, TX, Justin's 20 year high school reunion, a visit from Uncle Clark (my brother) and his new gal pal, and of course, Hawaii in December. The rest of this year is sure to fly by with all the excitement that is on the books.

Gross.

2008-08-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

Nasty. Today at the gym, I was minding my own business on the elliptical, when suddenly the worst odor appeared in the form of a man next to me. I am telling you - bad, awful, like smelly feet. Oh my goodness. I had to actually get off the machine and change places! I felt bad for him, he must have noticed that I moved within minutes of him arriving, but I couldn't breathe! Ugh. How can someone not notice that they smell that bad? He was well-dressed too, in expensive workout gear and did not look like the type who had an odor problem. I don't get it.

An ode to Epicurious

2008-08-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have to share - if you haven't discovered Epicurious yet, you are really missing something wonderful! It's a cooking website, with recipe archives from some excellent cooking magazines including Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and others. The quality of recipes is outstanding. The best part is that each one has reviews. So I look things up, read the reviews, and then make my decision about what to make. The community of reviewers at Epicurious won't steer you wrong! Just to whet your appetite, this morning I made the most delicious buttermilk pancakes from scratch (so easy too) and they were melt in your mouth good. And one of the best parts of the site is, you can create your own (free) "recipe box" to save your favorites in. Check it out!

One less fertile male...

2008-08-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

Leo has returned from his neutering surgery. Poor guy! He had the surgery Monday morning and then spent the night for observation. His vet told us to keep this big Elizabethan Collar on him to keep him from licking his wound for 5-7 days and to keep him from running or jumping for 10-12 days. YEAH RIGHT! Hello? May I introduce you to our 7 month old lab puppy? Neither of those are very likely to happen. But I put the collar on him... he was mortified. Need I say more?

And then within moments, this is what happened. Makes an awesome ballet skirt, doesn't it?

Let the games begin

2008-08-17T22:00:00.001-07:00

I promised myself that this year, I would get our Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving because shortly before Christmas we are going to Hawaii. I'd rather come home and just enjoy the holiday season than return and be in a mad rush to buy, buy, buy. So today, I officially kicked off my Christmas shopping by picking up two stocking stuffers that I happened to find on sale at Safeway -- Dora and Diego electric toothbrushes! Wish me luck that I can follow through and get it all done in time. Every year I try and it seems like every year I'm shopping at the last minute. It's so much more fun to buy one or two little things at a time that have some real thought go into them.

Jack's First Haircut

2008-08-17T15:17:00.001-07:00

Hair was finally trimmed and no one cried - success! Look at my little boy, he's growing up so fast... sniff, sniff. And did I forget to mention, he's WALKING now??

Before (and happy about the firetruck seat!)

During - hey, this isn't so bad...

All done! How do I look?

The reward for good behavior - a blue balloon!

Oops

2008-08-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

It appears that if you don't religiously replace (or in our case, clean) the furnace filters every THREE MONTHS, your A/C coil will freeze up on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. Awesome. And of course, it happens at 7pm on a Friday night... fortunately we figured out that the charge for a Saturday visit was the same as a Friday night 10pm visit from the technician, so we got it taken care of (we hope) tonight. Now we are awaiting the big thaw. We're told that by noon tomorrow we should be back in business. Which will be just in time, since Seattle is expecting another 90 degree day tomorrow. So much for my smug "we have A/C" attitude, I think karma is biting me in the rear!

Snoqualmie Falls

2008-08-14T16:42:00.001-07:00

Today, we had the pleasure of meeting up with our friends Dandy, Sophia and Gavin, who are visiting from North Carolina. It was a gorgeous day, mid-80's and sun so we went to Snoqualmie Falls. The views were spectacular and the kids had a blast running around on the grass and climbing on rocks. It was really nice to see Brooke and Sophia playing together - they are only 3 days apart in age and both are tall girls, and it was fun to see how much they have in common! They are both very articulate and bright, so it looked like they had a lot of fun playing together. We convened at a local restaurant for a nice lunch afterward, and then came home so Jack could crash. Fun day!

Have a Nice Day

2008-08-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

Breakfast should be fun (at least once in a while). We copied IHOP this morning and had some fun with pancakes.

See how neat and tidy Miss B was?

On the other side of the table, we have THE BOY. We don't need no stinkin' utensils!

Enjoy your Monday!

Summertime / Storytime

2008-08-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

My cuties...

Yo Gabba Gabba Ecstasy

2008-08-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

Oh my... they finally did it - someone merchandised Yo Gabba Gabba. We've been waiting! A 3 year old girl is awfully happy today! This is what a real smile looks like.

If anyone else's kid is similarly obsessed, you can find them at Target, along with a whole new line of toys. I hear they're also at Toys'R'Us and the Evil Empire (aka Wal-Mart).

Leo's Big Snip-Snip

2008-08-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ah, poor Leo... there comes a time in every young dog's life when we call upon a qualified vet to do the unspeakable to his manliness. After I was "humped" while kneeling down to put Jack's shoes on the other day, I said "enough is enough" and scheduled him for surgery. Enjoy your randy, frisky self between now and 8/18 buddy!

Well that was complicated

2008-07-26T23:08:00.001-07:00

I think I'm losing my technical edge. I used to be really good and FAST at figuring out technical things. Like my new BlackBerry. But I just spent 1/2 hour or more setting up a new email address on the phone and figuring out how to send myself a picture that I took today on the phone. Phew! Enjoy the fruits of my labor. We went to the annual Bellevue Arts Fair today and lo and behold... Brooke got to have her picture taken on a REAL police motorcycle! Her Uncle Clark, the motorcycle guy, would be proud. The picture I took was crummy (see above) but they took a very cute one and printed it for us, putting it in a folder that says "Junior Motor Officer." So cute.

Justin is out of town on a long trip so for two nights in a row now, after the kids have gone to sleep I've been amusing myself with all the horrible junk TV I record on TiVo. It's like junk food. At first, it feels like such an indulgence but after a while you're just watching it (eating it) because it's there and you're left strangely unfulfilled. I also discovered that you CAN make s'mores on the gas cooktop. Oh, this is bad to know. Very, very bad. It would have been much better if I'd lived the rest of my life thinking I had to wait until we had a campfire to eat s'mores with that authentic burned crust taste.

Brooke's 3 year checkup

2008-07-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

Brooke had her 3-year checkup yesterday. She is doing just great, except one little thing that's bothering us, apparently the doctor detected a very slight heart murmur. She said it's 98% sure to be nothing, but she wants a pediatric cardiologist to listen to it to be sure. It's bugging me but I have to wait until later this week for the referral to go through before I can call and schedule the appointment.

Relevant stats:
34.8 lbs (75%)
39.75" (97%)

And this time instead of head circumference, they calculated her BMI, which was 15.1 (25th percentile for her height). She also had her blood pressure taken for the first time, which she thought was very cool because I frequently get mine taken (like whenever I'm at the drugstore and pass the little machine).

Other than the heart murmur, she got an A+ from the doctor. She was particularly impressed that Brooke is all potty trained. Go Brooke!

Sunnybank 2008

2008-07-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend with my dear friend Marie at her family's beach house on the Oregon Coast. The house is called Sunnybank, and was purchased by her great-grandparents for $300 many, many years ago and has been a wonderful retreat for successive generations ever since. I've been going to Sunnybank for about 14 years now, so it's become a very special place to me and it means a lot to me, now that I'm married with a family, to share it with my husband and kids.

Despite a long drive down (7 hours that should have been more like 5) and a horrendous drive home (8.5 hours of solid traffic!) we had a great time. The weather was fantastic on Sunday and great on Saturday afternoon too.

Brooke was so fired up about playing in the sand that she was ready to head down to the beach as soon as she got up. The time stamp on this picture is 7:25 am. Notice the pajamas and bead head.

Later...

Guess who had the time of his life? Leo!

Rare smile from Jack (must be the Twizzlers). The rest of the weekend he mostly cried.
I chalk it up to the 2 days of fever he experienced right before we left, which I think was teething.

What Jack looked like most of the time. Not a happy camper!

Brooke (with Fancy Nancy sunglasses) and Marie.

Then Jack wanted to try on the Fancy Nancy glasses.

Even my friends Laurie and Mike's darling little guy Ryan got in on the Fancy Nancy fun!

Yikes, sorry it's been so long!

2008-07-16T12:33:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize it had been almost a week since I posted. Not much is new - just busy busy, enjoying the summer. A few notes:

Brooke is almost completely potty trained. Woo hoo! She is 100% on #1, about 80% on #2, and the last two days she has also woken up dry. I am so thrilled. Less than two weeks! I guess there are perks to waiting until they are 3 to potty train. Our first big car trip is coming up so we'll see how that goes... I see a lot of stops in our future.
I had another "first" experience at the gym yesterday - get this: in the shower (they are divided by frosted glass) I noticed that TWO WOMEN got into the shower together next to me. I was a little shocked! Were they good friends who needed to share shampoo or ??? It didn't appear that any funny business was going on, but I tried to hurry myself out of there quickly and was trying not to look. Yikes!
We are going to the Oregon Coast to my friend Marie's beach house on Friday. Yippee! We are all excited. Brooke has soccer in the morning and we're going to leave right after that. We'll spend the day in Cannon Beach and then head south to Rockaway when Marie gets off work. We can't wait. Leo too!

Guess that's it for now! I have a post brewing in my head about Jack and his super dancing abilities, but I have to get the video uploaded to really show the cuteness of it all. Stay tuned.

Rockin' and rollin' on the potty training...

2008-07-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo - I am happy to report that Brooke has not had a #1 accident for two whole days now! She has really mastered peeing on the potty. Before today, I'd been putting her in a pull-up when we left the house, but today I decided to get brave and let her use public toilets. First, she tried the adorable kid-sized real toilet at the kids club at my gym. (this was before they paged me to come get Jack, who had not stopped crying since I left... So my workout was only 12 minutes long. Sigh.) Then, she had a dental checkup this afternoon and used the facilities there. Tonight, we went to Applebee's for dinner and she used the facilities twice! What really tickles me about all this is the look of delight on her face. She is really taking pride in her accomplishment and it makes me very happy.

Now, #2 is another story. She had two accidents today, so clearly we have work to do. Not loving that but hopefully it won't take too much longer for this part of the routine to click for her.

Sorry if this is too much detail on the subject. It's really all that I've been up to since Sunday so I have nothing else to report! I will consider it a big accomplishment when we're done -- way up there on my list of parenting achievements.

Day 3 - I think we're on the right track

2008-07-08T22:32:00.001-07:00

Brooke only had 2 accidents today and even did #2 (ok, only a tiny bit but it counts!) I am so proud of her. She is really getting the hang of it. She is wearing panties all day and has started telling me when she has to go potty. This is a huge step forward from Sunday (day 1) when we went for a walk and she peed in her pants and didn't even notice it! I am committed to see this through now. Day 1 & 2 I wanted to quit, but there is no going back now.

Potty training update

2008-07-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not sure how to grade our progress. Brooke is doing pretty well at peeing on the potty - which I am thrilled about. She is still wearing a pullup at night (I'll tackle that after the daytime is under control). She still poops whenever and wherever... and doesn't seem to notice it. Sigh. I have this incentive system in place - we have a big shopping bag full of goodies and she gets to pick one every time she uses the potty. It seems to be working well so far, but the best thing in the bag - a satin and velour Dora & Boots pillow - is reserved for pooping on the potty and I keep reminding her of how much she wants to earn it, but so far she hasn't been able to do it. She doesn't even seem to notice she's done it - much less get upset about it! This part is discouraging to me. I think I waited too long to push her on this. Everyone told me not to push, they'll do it when they're ready, etc. but now I'm not sure that's the best advice. She is way beyond capable but at this point (age 3) she has developed habits that are hard to change. I wish I'd done this before Jack was born because now it's really hard to focus on her 100% during this time, which is what she really needs to be successful.

Meanwhile can I just whine for a second about how hard it is? Man oh man! Sunday and Monday I did absolutely NOTHING except sit on the floor in the bathroom encouraging her, reading to her, and staring at her bare bottom. Not exactly productive or fun. We changed and washed a lot of wet underpants.

So today is day 3, wish us luck... thankfully the babysitter will be here today (I'll be around, working in the yard) so I get a break from the imprisonment in the powder room.

Any moms who have been through this, I'd love to hear words of encouragement!

Potty training: This is it!!

2008-07-05T22:26:00.001-07:00

I've had it with having two in diapers. My three year old needs to learn to use the potty NOW. We've been trying off and on for over a year now - almost a year and a half. People keep telling me that age 3, +/- one month, is the magic age and I'm ready. So tonight, I went to Target and got a huge bag full of supplies: Two big jugs of cran-apple juice, two packs of Dora panties, and 7 fabulous prizes (all but one are Dora themed - what can I say, it's her currency!). After peeing through her diaper this afternoon in the car, Brooke has agreed that tomorrow is THE DAY. I'm going to put her on the potty as soon as she wakes up and then it's panties all day. I'm ready to do the laundry and clean the carpet. With the huge bag of incentives, I'm hopeful that she will hop on board the potty train. WISH US LUCK!!!

My baby girl is 3!

2008-07-02T20:45:00.001-07:00

Brooke had a fantastic birthday today. We took three of her best buddies to Build-a-Bear and then out to lunch at Red Robin. The girls had a blast at Build-a-Bear, and since it was Brooke's first time, she was wide eyed and overstimulated. What more can you ask for on your birthday?

Note: Brooke hasn't quite figured out how to smile on command for the camera.
It was so cute - they all made a birthday wish for Brooke (they took this very seriously)
and then kissed a heart and put it in Brooke's elephant.

The girls gave their bears (and Elephant and Cheetah) a bath.

After being fully dressed and over-the-top, bling-bling accessorized, we were ready to go!
(Again with the straight face - honestly, Brooke did have a great time!)

I made panda cupcakes for the occasion (I was up until almost 1:00am last night baking - I have a sickness!)

The cupcakes got the thumbs-up from Brooke!

Sent the girls home with goody bags, of course.

What was in the goody bags.
And the cupcake balls that I couldn't wait to try. They also went home in the goody bags.

And tonight I rest. On to the next birthday. Up next: Daddy. Bring it on!

Sprinkler Fun!

2008-06-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Big announcement folks - It's finally summer in Seattle!!

Jack received a darling bug sprinkler for his birthday, and since he's not walking yet, we decided to let Brooke give it a try this afternoon. The temps were in the high 80's and she couldn't wait to take a test drive. After over an hour of fun, I had to drag my pruned-up, shivering girl into the house. A few tears were shed. That's the most fun Brooke has had in a while.

2 Little Piggies

2008-06-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

These two adorable pigtails took 3 years to grow so I thought we better spread the news! And as a throwback to my own childhood, check out the Saltwater Sandals. Ah, the memories.

A little discouraged

2008-06-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

I know this is probably wussy to say, but after 3 weeks of working out HARD five days a week (I mean really working it - sweating and sore, 30-40 minutes on the elliptical plus weight lifting)... shouldn't I have lost just one pound? The scale has not budged. I know you gain some weight first when you weight lift so if a friend said this to me, I'd say keep it up, it will pay off soon... but I'm not feeling the optimism right now. Off to the gym I go, again. I really want to see some results soon!

Nightly check-in

2008-06-26T23:29:00.001-07:00

I have to confess. I really adore my bedtime ritual of checking on my kids before I go to sleep. They are both such dynamos all day, except for Jack's single nap (he never took two naps, neither did Brooke, who gave up her nap at 20 months of age). They also took about 8 months each to sleep through the night, so my heart still skips a beat seeing them sleeping deeply, blissfully dreaming away.

Just now, Jack had his leg thrown over his stuffed orca whale (his first birthday present, bought at the aquarium on his birthday, and it's almost as big as he is). Brooke was sprawled out on her back, pillow cast aside, breathing deeply. It fills me with tingly, heart-throbbing love and affection to see my sweet babies so still and relaxed and comfortable in their beds.

My latest project and Gym Characters

2008-06-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

My parents are throwing a baby shower for a co-worker of my dad's, so my mom asked me to make a diaper cake. She knows that I like to do this kind of creative project... so I went all out and had a blast! What do you think? How much could I sell one of these for on eBay?

On another note, I have had a lot of time to observe people at the gym lately since I've been going 5 days a week. Today I increased my time on the elliptical from 30 minutes to 40 minutes so I had even more time to observe people. I get a real kick out of the characters at the gym. Those of you who go to a gym know what I mean. One of the things I love about my gym (24 Hour Fitness) is that it's not a showcase for hardbodies by any means. The membership is made up of all kinds of different people, different body types, ages, races, etc. I always feel like I fit in there because it seems like every "type" is represented and everyone is there to work out and do their own thing. Some of my favorite types that I've seen lately:

The senior citizen wearing sneakers that, I kid you not, have to be as old as I am (and that's old!) I imagine him rummaging through the bowels of his closet after joining the gym, thinking to himself "I know I've got an old pair in here somewhere... no sense in spending good money on a new pair when these will work just fine."
The middle-aged woman I saw today who was sporting an authentic Jane Fonda style leotard, paired with a huge pair of black baggy sweat pants and a pair of ratty, big, unlaced black Reebok high-tops that just look like they smell bad. She had this hilarious hair that was dyed bright red and back combed so it stuck out all over, she had 80's style big black plastic hoop earrings and a plastic bead necklace, and she spent at least 15 minutes getting ready to work out. She fiddled with her iPod (encased in gold sparkly sleeve), filled up her water bottle (pink, Race for the Cure logo), sought out the remote so she could change the channel on the nearest TV to CNBC (must have a lot of stocks to keep up with!) By the time she started, at a very leisurely pace, I was already half way done with my routine. Then, ten minutes later, a gentleman about her age came in and climbed onto the elliptical next to her and she chatted him up. I felt sorry for him.
The 20-something who had a braid down past her bottom and low-rider sweats, rolled down to the middle of her hips, and dropped a full cup of lemonade and ice on the treadmill and the hysterical look on her face as it rode the treadmill at running speed and then flew off the back and all over the place. She was mortified. Yes, she cleaned it up.
The elderly woman who always walks on the treadmill in jeans. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it does seem a little weird...
The tiny dynamo with 2% body fat who stripped naked in the sink & mirror part of the locker room (which I consider one of the "Clothed" areas - there are naked areas, by the lockers and by the showers, but not where you wash your hands!) and threw ALL of her clothes into the sink and washed them out at a feverish pace with hand soap. Then, she left them to soak while she whisked off to the shower. Some people surprise me at how comfortable they are zipping around strangers and going about their business all while completely naked.

I'm sure tomorrow I'll see some more characters to add to my list.

Our Trip to the Dairy Farm

2008-06-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

My good friend Marie came up from Portland for a visit this weekend. We had pedicures and lunch out on Saturday, and when Jack woke up from his nap, we packed up the whole family and Marie in the Family Truckster and headed out to the country. Marie has a friend who runs a dairy farm with her husband about 45 minutes from our house, and she had invited us to come for a visit. We had a fantastic time! We had no idea our visit would be so fun and educational. Leann and Mike are two of the most gracious people I've ever met - they took 2 hours out of their day to show us around the dairy farm and explain how everything works. We asked a LOT of questions and Leann was happy to answer them all. It was a very impressive operation - almost 800 cows, mostly Holsteins and also a few Jerseys. They are in production 24/7/365 - which translates to a whole truckload (around 7,000 gallons!) of raw milk every day. Some interesting factoids that we picked up:

A milk cow can have a career of 16 years or more
Cows weigh about 125 pounds at birth.
A cow produces on average 7-10 gallons of milk and per day.
Cows like mariachi music. In fact, when these cows hear it playing in the milking room, they begin to "let down" their milk!
For every gallon of milk they produce, they also produce 3 gallons of manure :-)
Investing in the cows' comfort pays big dividends in higher milk production.
Cows get 2 months paid sabbatical each year to graze and frolic (who says happy cows only live in California?)
The two biggest times of year for milk demand are back to school time in the fall and the Superbowl (because of all the cheese consumed on pizza!)
Cows don't have teeth in front on the top, instead they have a leather-like pad that enables them to grasp blades of grass with their bottom teeth.

Our kids were absolutely fascinated by the whole thing. Jack kept pointing and yelling streams of unintelligible "words" when he saw the cows, it was hilarious. I have to say, I have so much respect for the very hard work that is done by people like Leann and Mike to put milk on our table every day. As big consumers of milk (our kids drink about 1/2 gallon of whole milk every day) I really appreciate what they do. It is not an easy job or an easy lifestyle. So thank you to the dairy farmers of America!

The "ladies" lining up to be milked.

You have to imagine the mariachi music blaring to get the full picture in the milking parlor.

Check it out - a calf that had been born the very same day we were there!

The calves live in these interesting pods known as "igloos."
They seemed quite comfortable in there... plenty of room to move around and stand up or lie down.

We all got to experience a baby calf sucking on our fingers. Brooke and Jack were both brave and gave it a try!

Brooke was invited to "drive" the front loader and jumped at the chance!

That's my girl, piloting a $200,000 John Deere.
She kept raising and lowering the bucket as she and Mike tooled around the yard.

And they have a to-die-for view of Mount Rainier from the farm!

Thanks again, Mike and Leann! We really enjoyed our visit.

So this is what it's like having a boy

2008-06-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

I was just checking my email when I heard that familiar panting noise (human) and the sound of Leo running up & down the stairs. You know those moments of "mom intuition" when you suddenly realize something is not quite right?

This is what I found:

The gate is actually pulled out of its position and just moved aside! Cripe!

This boy is strong and fast! And with a canine co-conspirator, he is unstoppable. Heaven help us!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately

2008-06-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

I have not updated the blog this week because I've been SO TIRED! I have been working out every day and it's really catching up to me. I am exhausted and I find myself sore much of the time... I know this will get better and I'm sticking with it. I think I may have lost a teeny tiny bit of weight so I'm encouraged.

Meanwhile I jam on the elliptical and the weights at the gym every morning. If anyone can recommend any must-have workout tunes, I'd love to hear them! It's amazing how stale a couple hours of music can get when you're listening to it at the gym 5 times a week.

Jack's Checkup

2008-06-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

My baby boy is a rockstar! He had his one year checkup today (and two shots, poor kid... he cried!) He weighs 24 lbs. 3 oz, which is 50th percentile, he is 31.5" long which is 90th percentile (shouldn't we all be so lucky to be long and lean?) and as expected, his head is 90-95th percentile. He and Brooke have both always had huge heads. At one of his previous checkups, the pediatrician told me it usually comes from one or both parents having a large head - so she measured mine only to find out that it's a good bit OVER the top of the charts for adult head circumference. Grrrreaat. Anyway, Jack is awesome. He's hitting all his milestones and happy as a clam. The doctor was thrilled to hear that he's fully transitioned to whole milk and mostly drinking from a sippy cup. I could throw the bottles away now if I wanted to and I probably will within the next week or so. So hooray for Jack!

One side note that is interesting - I've been tracking the two kids' height, weight and head circumference in a spreadsheet (I know, I'm a nerd) and they are almost exactly the same size at the same age. Jack is a tiny bit heavier than Brooke was at one year (about 3 oz) but he's a boy so I expected that. I wonder how long they will track to one another.

Yo Gabba Gabba Obsession

2008-06-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Brooke is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba on Nick Jr. I mean really obsessed. We've been printing the Yo Gabba Gabba coloring pages for her - there is one for each of the five monsters (for those of you who aren't blessed with this lovely influence in your home, they are Plex, Brobee, Toodee, Foofa and Muno). Honestly, I think she alone is responsible for destroying a whole tree because she colors 2-3 sets of these per day. Everything in her life is related back to Yo Gabba Gabba - especially by colors. "What color plate do you want for your breakfast Brooke?" (insert lots of debating, hemming and hawing here). "Plex yellow! I want Plex yellow 'cause I love robots. Plex is my favorite. No wait, I want Muno red. I love Muno 'cause he has one eye and red bumps!" This dialogue can go on forever as you can imagine. It was fun for a while but now it's just getting silly. There are even songs that she breaks into spontaneously when I say something unrelated to her. Today I told her something (I can't remember what) was dangerous and she launched into Plex's rendition of "Dangerous, so dangerous..." Aye aye aye!! Brooke is a character!!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

We had a great Father's Day this year! Our tradition on Mother's Day & Father's Day is to do an excursion or day trip as a family... it usually involves one or more meals out and we try to go somewhere new. Today we started out early - we were on the road slightly before 9:00am which is a real feat for the four of us. We were heading to the Washington coast, so we stopped for breakfast at IHOP in Olympia, where they served up a scrumptious and inexpensive feast. The kids were ravenous and we enjoyed every bite. What's not to love about pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream on them?

Then, we drove west on a very scenic drive through timber country to the town of Westport, WA. Not much happening there - we barely got out of the car (kids did not). Turns out Westport is a fishing town and it was D.E.A.D. So we backtracked to Aberdeen and headed to the north side of Gray's Harbor to Ocean Shores. Now that was a cute beach town with a fantastic beach! There were a bunch of very cool gigantic "kites" (or windsocks?) that were being flown on the beach and the kids were FASCINATED. Even Jack saw them through the window as we drove in and started pointing and yelling. Leo had his first taste of the beach. Too bad we only had an hour to enjoy it before we had to head back! Justin did accomplish his one big goal for the day - to fly his own kite, with some help from his little assistant, Brooke.

Dad and kids on the beach - look at those kites!

Mom and kids - that's a rainbow slug behind us!

Brooke loved this penguin.

Justin and Jack - My two handsome young men

Kite flying from the back of the car!

Our kite!

Our plan was to go straight to a very cool new(ish) Mexican restaurant at U-Village and meet Justin's dad, Jim, there for a Father's Day dinner. However... due to the rollover accident on the freeway, we spent over an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic and missed our reservation (we first called and moved it an hour later, then realized we were going to miss that too and the littlest family member was grouchy having skipped his nap). So we canceled it and met Jim at our house for Chinese takeout, which was delish.

A nice day indeed. Happy Father's Day!

Brooke loves to "drive" the car.

Jack enjoyed exploring the back of the car (and getting out of the wind for a bit).

Our guy, Leo, on his first trip to the beach.

The Parade of Wildlife continues

2008-06-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Note: this isn't the actual coyote we saw. My camera was in the other room so I missed it. But it looked just like this only scruffier.

Holy Moly. The kids and I were just now eating breakfast and Brooke said "Look! There's a deer!" Only it wasn't a deer, dear... it was a coyote! In our backyard. I am more and more concerned every day about our kids and our dog being out in the backyard. In the last year we've seen one bear, one coyote, multiple deer, multiple raccoons, and one bobcat. SCARY! You'd think we live in the sticks but no, we live in a 20 year old development in the middle of the metropolitan Eastside of Seattle.

Hilarious!

2008-06-12T21:04:00.001-07:00

My friend Tiburon just blogged about this hysterical site. I am guilty of (ahem) several (ahem) of the things on the list (Britax car seats, Swedish high chairs, children's books to name a few). What are YOU guilty of?

Thursday already?

2008-06-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

This week is flying by. I can't believe it's Thursday evening already. The sun came out today which was lovely and I took the kids to the park this afternoon. Jack amazed me - crawling & cruising everywhere, he really enjoyed it.

I've made good on my workout commitment this week. I have been to the gym 3 days in a row, and am feeling better than ever about it. I was almost shocked today - when the timer ended on the elliptical machine at 30 minutes, I didn't notice it. I looked down and it had stopped at 33 minutes for some reason and I wasn't even tired. Fantastic! The only hitch was that I spent 90 minutes this morning (with babysitter here) downloading and organizing new workout music for my Shuffle. Then, I got to the gym and all my old music was still on it. Totally maddening! So tonight I'm going to make SURE the new music is on there, I can't wait to jam out to it.

Since Sarah asked how I find the time to get to the gym, it depends on the day. This week, I had a sitter Tues & Thurs so I was able to work out while she was with the kids those days. Yesterday, I took them with me to "Kids Club" at the gym which was a big hit. They loved it! Tomorrow I'm going to the gym at o'dark-thirty (probably 6 or 6:30) before Justin goes to work. I think my goal is twice a week early am, twice with the babysitter, and once to bring them to Kids Club. But any combination of the 3 is fine with me.

The other new thing I've been working on is changing up our dinner routine. We've been in a routine of feeding the kids at 5:30ish, then putting them to bed (we usually divide and conquer) by 7pm, then making/eating/cleaning up ourselves. The good thing about that routine is the time alone with Justin to eat a peaceful dinner after the kids are in bed. But the downsides are that (a) the kids miss out on eating together with the family, (b) I have to make two dinners, and (c) we end up finishing dishes at like 9pm! The whole evening is shot then. So for the past few nights I've been working on having dinner on the table for all of us together by 5:30 or 6pm. It's been wonderful to have a real wide open evening after the kids are in bed! Of course, the meal itself is not very relaxing - lots of "primitive behavior" - sometimes I think we have two little cave people living in our midst! There is constantly food being thrown / smeared / spilled everywhere, and me in an endless loop of "eat with your fork! no, put that down... take a bite please, no you may not get down yet." Then there's the constant jumping up & down for napkins, thrown sippy cups & utensils, etc. It's exhausting. But I have to believe that if we keep it up, over time it will get easier. It will get easier, right?

OK, I guess that's it for tonight. Hope your week is going well!

Colder than Siberia!

2008-06-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

So relieved to know it's not in my head... we are having the coldest, wettest, most winter-like spring you can possibly imagine. It's snowing in the mountains and raining and freezing here... the Seattle Times had this graphic on the front page today. I don't know whether this makes me feel better (that I'm not crazy thinking it's awfully cold) or worse (accepting that our weather really truly does suck.)

So glad we have Hawaii to look forward to.

Hawaii here we come!

2008-06-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited. We just booked our tickets to Hawaii in December. Which is a long way away but I'm actually thrilled because it gives me time to shed some poundage before wearing a swimsuit. We're staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village where Justin and I had our best vacation ever (in 2002), except (of course) our honeymoon. They have a boat the travels around the resort, dolphins, a lagoon with sea turtles you can swim next to, live flamingos, countless pools and even waterslides. The kids will be in heaven!

Meanwhile, my goal is to get to the gym at LEAST four times, preferably five times, every week. It's aggressive but I have a lot to lose between now and December. Send me some good vibes! I'm going to need it!

Trying to get rid of the BPA...

2008-06-09T22:25:00.001-07:00

This whole controversy about Bisphenol-A (BPA) in children's products has gotten to me. I was the first one to jump on the glass bottle bandwagon when I was pregnant with Jack, but then with his reflux and colic, we reverted to Dr. Brown's because he was miserable and he did SO MUCH better on Dr. Brown's and at that point we were tired and worn down. Now that he's one and completely off formula, I'm starting to transition him off of bottles -- we're down to 2-3 a day but he uses sippy cups the rest of the time. So once again, I'm going to try to simplify our exploding collection of one bazillion different kinds of sippy cups down to one or two varieties (either the same for both kids or one kind of Jack and one kind for Brooke) and only a few cups of each. Brooke is learning to drink responsibly from a "big girl cup" (ie, a regular cup) so I don't want to invest too much in sippy cups or straw cups for her, but to be practical, it will be at least a few months if not more before she can kick the sippy cup for good.

Today I bought these two stainless steel cups from Target - Foogo by Thermos. They are quite cool, I have to admit. They were expensive (almost $15 each) so we only have one per child right now before we decide if we love them or not... but they are insulated and claim to keep beverages cold for 6 hours (the small one) and 12 hours (the big one). They even claim to have proven in a lab that the insulation in this cup reduces or eliminates bacteria growth in that time period. Jack took to his right away - didn't seem to notice the difference from his old Playtex handle cup, and Brooke thinks hers is the best thing EVER. She was hilarious in Target... they only had the straw cup (12 oz capacity) in blue/yellow, but they had the handle cup (7 oz) in pink or blue. I tried to convince her that 7 oz. was going to be too little for her, but she kept saying "but I'm a girl (gerrr-uhl) so I need PINK." So I reluctantly agreed, and then ten minutes later while we were browsing another aisle she suddenly announced "I need that big blue cup. I'm a big girl." Yay! My convincing worked, albeit on a slight delay. I promised her that if she loves it, I'll order her a pink one too.

The only downside, aside from cost, is that they are "dishwasher safe but handwashing recommended." So for now I figure I'll hand wash them a couple times a day if they have milk in them, once a day if they have water, and see how that goes.

The Party of the Year

2008-06-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well, at least it was the biggest party I plan on throwing this year! Phew! 50 people (of which 20 were children), I made barbecued bratwurst, baked chicken with home made barbecue sauce, my special potato salad (3 batches!), fruit salad, and the assorted veggie & chip appetizers. Oh, and the most popular food item of the day appeared to be Bugles. who knew people were so nostalgic for this salty vending-machine snack?

Jack had a fantastic tie and performed the requisite cake smashing with great skill and aplomb. After he was through, I had to carry him at arm's length up to the bathtub where I quickly stripped and showered him. He was wondering what the heck was going on but there was no choice, he was simply covered in red frosting!

Anyway, on to the pictures. There aren't as many as I wished for but it's hard to be photographer, hostess, and mommy to the birthday boy all at the same time.

The invitations I made. My first foray into stamping - you like? I have a lot to learn but I think they turned out cute.

The cake, pre-smashing.

Notice he even took over Brooke's plate - we had to cut her another piece!

$89.11

2008-06-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

I filled up my gas hog yesterday. Has anyone else been snagged by the $75 limit at the pump? I find this situation extremely annoying. It took $89.11 to fill up my car yesterday. So when it shut off at $75, I tried swiping my card again but the pump wouldn't take it. So I went inside. The first guy had no idea how to help me, he seemed to think the second swipe should have worked. Then we went around and around as he asked me "well how much more do you need?" Me: "Gee, I don't really know exactly how much more I need... can't I just fill it and then pay you for it?" Him: "well how much do you want to put in?" My head was starting to hurt when the manager agreed to "open" the pump for me but then I had to come back inside to pay for the balance ($14.11). What irritates me about this is that if I'd had the kids with me, I would have had to unstrap them both from their carseats TWICE to finish filling my car. Totally unacceptable. When I politely pointed out that the $75 limit was no longer very reasonable (it won't be long before smaller cars need $75 or more in gas) the gas station manager said it was the credit card companies that set the limit, not him. So I left in a bit of a huff and called my credit card company (Bank of America). There, a supervisor told me that it's not actually them, but the pump is programmed to stop at $75 (do I hear a buck passing?) So last night my dad called Chevron for me, of course he was referred to a separate Customer Service number which is not open in the evenings... If I have time today, I will call but I feel like it's a waste of my time because they are unlikely to listen to my complaint.

Anyone with me on this being a royal pain? Until it changes, I guess I can only get $75 worth of gas each time. Wonder how long till that's nowhere near a full tank...

Happy First Birthday, Jack!

2008-06-04T09:56:00.001-07:00

At birth - 6/4/2007, 8:31 am

Birth announcement picture
Thanks to the lovely and talented Dani.

3 Months

6 Months

9 Months

One year old!

You've come a long way baby!

Bad Dog!

2008-06-03T08:18:00.001-07:00

On Friday, the kids and I went to Costco and were gone for maybe 2 hours. I left Leo gated in the laundry room and this is what we came home to! He clawed a huge gouge in the wall. What was he thinking? I'll never know. Justin spent some quality time with a bucket of spackle this weekend. Good thing I have never loved the blue on the walls because this moves the laundry room up on the "must paint" list.

I'll consider myself tagged...

2008-05-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

OK, I have a couple of friends who've said "Tag to anyone who hasn't done this before" so I guess that's me. I'll do two sets - one for each kid.

First Brooke:

1) My name is: Brooke Elizabeth

2.) My first word was: Dit (this)

3.) My favorite food right now is: Chocolate milk. (Blech, I don't drink WHITE MILK.)

4.) My favorite song is: The Umbrella Song by Rihanna & Jay-Z (no kidding)

5.) My car seat color is: Yellow with flowers (I love my "flower seat"!)

6.) My room color is: Pink, green & white with dragonflies on my quilt.

7.) I love to use this kind of shampoo: Suave strawberry.

8.) The thing that can make me the maddest is: Diaper changes!

9.) My favorite person right now is: Mimi (grandma)

10.) I like to read this book over and over and over: Caps For Sale and the Baabaasheep Quartet

11.) My brand of diapers is: Huggies. "Number Six!" Potty Training is for sissies.

12.) The cutest thing I say is: I like to show you the states on the US Map. I know 23 of them!

13.) My favorite fruit is: Strawberries.

14.) When I get hurt I want: a Dora or Spongebob bandaid.

15.) I mostly ride around in a: White Toyota Sequoia.

16.) I go to bed at: 7:00PM, unless it's a special occasion.

17.) I wake up at: 8:00AM, sometimes 9:00... I'm not a morning person.

18.) My nap time during the day is: Nap? What nap? I don't do naps. It drives Mommy bananas.

19.) My most favorite thing to do is: Color and draw pictures! Oh, and play play-doh.

20.) My favorite show/movie is: Yo Gabba Gabba, Wonderpets and Dora.

Now Jack:

1) My name is: Jack William

2.) My first word was: Cars!

3.) My favorite food right now is: Anything I can get my hands on. But I do enjoy Cheerios quite a bit.

4.) My favorite song is: Mommy sings me "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon.

5.) My car seat color is: Black & Silver

6.) My room color is: Light blue, sage and navy

7.) I love to use this kind of shampoo: Johnson's Allover Baby Wash

8.) The thing that can make me the maddest is: When my sister takes toys away from me.

9.) My favorite person right now is: Mommy!

10.) I like to read this book over and over and over: Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs by Sandra Boynton

11.) My brand of diapers is: Huggies #5 by the case from Costco.

12.) The cutest thing I say is: Vroom vroom while rolling my car back & forth

13.) My favorite fruit is: Bananas.

14.) When I get hurt I want: Only Mommy.

15.) I mostly ride around in a: White Toyota Sequioa.

16.) I go to bed at: 7:00PM.

17.) I wake up at: 7:30-8:00AM. I'm a very happy morning person.

18.) My nap time during the day is: Noonish - 2-2:30ish.

19.) My most favorite thing to do is: Play with my puppy and investigate my sister's toys.

20.) My favorite show/movie is: I don't really watch TV yet but I light up when Dora comes on!

Now I tage Sarah and Kimberly!

Patio Project - Check!

2008-05-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my "patio rejuvenation" project. I got the lumber today and replaced the rotted strips of wood between the concrete sections. It looks really good, I'm pleased. It was quite humorous though, if only you could have seen me piloting a cart with a 12 foot-long 2x4 and five 10 foot-long 2x4's. Tough to corner the aisles with those babies. Thankfully, my mom-sized SUV handled it in stride! I was really proud of myself too, when I got home I got the circular saw out and trimmed them down all by myself.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2008-05-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom's birthday. I am so happy that she is coming into town tomorrow so that we can celebrate together... I have something special planned for next week that I think she will really enjoy. So please join me in wishing my super mom a happy day! She is an excellent Mom and an awesome grandmother to our kids. I love you, Mom!

Coupon Clipping Fool

2008-05-29T00:00:00.001-07:00

OK, I've known about this thing for a long time but the bug finally bit me. Food prices have gone way up lately and Justin and I are playing a bit of a budget game ourselves (ie, I get to keep whatever I don't spend so suddenly I have all this motivation to save!). So I joined the Grocery Game today and I am so hooked already! To summarize, they do the ad-scouring for you and tell you what's a bargain at which store and where to use coupons on which items to get the most stuff for the least dough. It's tremendous. This week, because of the Memorial Day holiday, my two main grocery stores don't have a list to shop by, but I did get lists for Walgreens and Rite Aid and let me tell you how fun it was! I only had a few coupons, because the game works on a 12- week rotation. In other words, once I've clipped coupons for 12 weeks I'll really be able to take advantage of some deals. However, I saved 60% at both stores even with my meager coupon selection. That's right - I saved MORE than I spent. How fun is that? I even got some free stuff -- when the store has it marked down so low that the manufacturer's coupon makes it free. I think what I like most about this, surprisingly, is not the savings but the challenge. It makes grocery shopping fun. And that's saying a lot. So this is why it's midnight and I'm still up -- I've been clipping and organizing a bazillion coupons in my new binder. I really can't wait for the new coupons & sales to come out on Sunday now!

Moving up!

2008-05-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

Our family must be growing, because today we played musical chairs at the kitchen table! Brooke has moved out of her Tripp-Trapp chair and into a booster in a "big girl chair" and Jack moved out of his baby booster into the Tripp-Trapp chair. Everyone seems thrilled with their new seats... thanks in part to a hard-hitting marketing campaign by Mommy and Daddy. Now we can officially donate that nasty old high chair and relegate the baby booster seat to the closet for visiting babies and for traveling.

Side note: Brooke's latest trick to get our attention is to call us by our first names. It's hysterical. I'm going about my business and I hear this little toddler voice yelling "Steph! I need you to open the gate so I can go upstairs!" or "Justin! Please get me some cheese & crackers!" It really throws us for a loop. It's disrespectful but it makes us laugh so we're not making a big deal out of it.

I got ripped off

2008-05-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been paying even more attention than usual to what I spend on groceries. I'm planning my list pretty carefully, trying to only shop once a week for a big load and then one small trip in between. I'm very conscious of prices, I shop the sales, I stock up when it makes sense, etc. Yesterday I was so happy to have kept my weekly total under $90 (not including meat, which we buy at Costco) and still patting myself on the back as I fell asleep last night for finding taco shells on sale for $1.

Well in the chaos of shopping with two rambunctious kids, I didn't review my receipt until just now. It turns out to my HORROR, I paid $12 for a small bag of grapes! How the heck can that be? My receipt says I paid $3.39/lb when I distinctly remember the sign saying $2.99 which I thought was high but to make it reasonable, I took some out of the bag to make it a smaller portion. I think the scale ripped me off because it says I bought 3.4 lbs. After feeding them to Brooke for dinner and lunch (maybe 12 grapes each time) I just weighed what's left and it's a shade over 1 lb. So there is NO WAY I walked out of there with over 3 lbs. And I'm so irritated. All that hard work on the rest of my bill got blown away by one ripoff that I wasn't paying attention to.

Uggghhh.

Where in the heck is Spring?

2008-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

The trees in our backyard as of about 5 minutes ago. Gray skies and rain.

Living in the Seattle area, I do know what I signed up for with the weather. But at this point, it's Memorial Day Weekend and my thermometer says 49-point-something and the drizzle is pouring down and I'm sick of it. I want to plant flowers and vegetables and take walks to the park with our puppy, who's just had his final round of shots so he can finally GO for walks. At this point, our weekend is shaping up to be 3 days of same-old, same-old, here at home. BLAH. Can someone send up a message to the weather gods? We need help!