Colder than Siberia!

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!

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...

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

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

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!

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!

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.