Happy Belated Birthday, Katya

Things were so crazy with guests coming into town, I neglected my blog and in turn - neglected to shine the spotlight on my eldest child. My beautiful, smart, creative, funny, athletic, not so little girl.

She turned 14!

Katya was my surprise baby. I was 23 and was kind of floating through life without a real sense of direction. I look back now and realize how much of a little kid I really was. Having Katya was absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me. I kind of felt that it was just the two of us through life since her father and I split when she was just over a year old. I was always her mother, but there was nobody that I would rather go on a trip with or spend the day with.

We have gone through a lot together. I did the single parent gig for many, many years and she was a good sport about not being able to do soccer or so many other after school activities because I didn't get home until 6pm. We went from sharing a bedroom in my brother's condo to buying a townhome together to forming a new family with Bob and moving to Oregon. Throw two little siblings into that and you have some serious change for her over the last three years.

I think we have weathered the storms well and came out of them closer than before. She continues to amaze me with how wonderful she is. She is smart and has continually kept up her straight-A's. She is an avid reader and we often share books. When she picks out a book for me I always love it. She has unleashed her inner athlete and blossomed with volleyball, basketball, lacrosse, track & field and snowboarding. She likes to cook and when she does go in the kitchen makes yummy stuff like home made fish sticks or lasagna. She is creative and that shows in her drawings, overly dramatic essays for school (tissues please), earrings that she makes, and random poetry that just pops out of her from time to time. She loves music, the arts and museums. She loves to learn and finds life to be a grand adventure. She banters with my mother about mythology and historical landmarks. Her sense of humor is very dry with a dash of sarcasm thrown in. Kind of like my mother. She is a great traveler making the most of wherever she is and not complaining about the discomfort that usually is involved to get there. She is a great big sister and has been known to change a diaper or two. She seems to be a good friend and is always willing to lend a shoulder to cry on.

She is awesome. I love her. I adore her. I can't believe that I made her.

I look forward to watching her go through life. I want her to know that I will always be there in case she falls.

My love is unconditional and endless.

Happy Belated Birthday, Squirt

Cookie Monster

This was just such a cute picture I had to share!

Done

Following the trend of the local Bend Bloggers, items in italics are things I've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (I'm not saying how big a mountain it was)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped (not a chance)
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (I've also watched one in a small plane)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (I had just returned from a year in Belgium and was having a problem dropping the accent)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer ( I do right now)
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero (who has to pretend? I'm a mom)
58. Sung karaoke (I was forced by my friends)
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (actually, my hubby has but I'm part of it)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days (got my tonsils removed as an adult - awful)
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert” (just once)
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone (this could mean many things)
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (a fish and it was so gross I couldn't eat it)
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language.
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts.
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

The "N" Word

Someone has learned the "N" word and uses it all the darn time now.

Are you finished with dinner? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Let's go take a bath. No no no no no no no

Smile for the camera! NO NO Nooooooooooooooooooo

It's a lot of fun.

I am trying to teach her No Thank You, like I did Katya. But so far I am totally unsucessful.

Stubborn like bull that one!

A Day Devoted to Katya

Saturday was "Katya's Day with Mom".

It didn't start out that way, but Bob was home with the kids and was willing to stay with them all day. Which was good since Alexis was going through Daddy withdrawls from him working so much.

Katya had a basketball scrimmage first thing in the morning so we were up, fed and out the door by 8am. Her game was at one of the local high schools and it was COLD in that gym. Her game lasted about two and a half hours. I seriously have to get myself a bleacher seat thing with a back support. My back was killing me.

We ran home so Katya could shower and change. I visited with the little ones and Alexis jumped up and down and did her best to describe her morning to me. "Daddy color (she loves her huge coloring book)...Daddy ball (they played with an exercise ball)...Daddy jump (they danced)...Daddy food (he fed them breakfast)...Daddy book (they read books together)... you get the point. She was so happy!

After Katya was suitably primped, we headed out the door to Barnes and Noble. Her middle school was having a fundraiser and Katya was a volunteer. We didn't really have anything to do other than walk around with stickers saying that today's purchases would benefit our school. Who cares! I was in a bookstore for three hours!!! I do try and not buy books since we are doing the one income thing. But I couldn't resist buying a few since I was there for so long. And it benefited the school. Totally justifiable!! Some of my picks (keeping in mind I read the same books as Katya so we have more to talk about): The Warrior Heir, The Looking Glass Wars, Crank, the Wicked series, Betwixt and Three Cups of Tea.

After the bookstore we headed back home for another pitstop. Katya was having her friend birthday party / sleepover at Debbie K's house (brave, brave woman). We had loaded up on all kinds of frozen appetizers, chips, dip, apples with caramel, drinks, candy, cake, doughnuts, fruit and popcorn for the party on Friday night so all we had to do was pick up the food, movies, camera and take it to Debbie's house. We put everything away and Katya got the music going until her friends started showing up at 6pm. Her favorite gift? A full size footed pajama with moose on them. I had no idea they made them in her size. Three other girls were wearing them so it was really funny to watch them jump around the room. I left her to her party and headed home. Debbie said that they were perfect and they even cleaned up after themselves.

Katya and I hadn't spent a day together without babies since Alexis was born. She was feeling really good and loved when I left her. And Alexis and Logan had totally enjoyed their Daddy day. We have to remember to do that more often.

My Perfect Hour

I just got a chance to enjoy a perfect hour.

... Both little ones napping in their beds
... Snow lightly falling outside
... Classical music playing in the background
... A hot cup of tea in my hands
... The Christmas tree lit up
... The cats curled up in front of the roaring fireplace
... Me reading a new book

For an entire, quiet, peaceful, relaxing hour. Aaaaaah.

The Magic of the Christmas Tree

Ya know, nothing says Christmas like a fully decorated tree.

We were unable to go out and cut down our tree this year because last Sunday we had 35mph winds. We were all dressed up in our winter gear and snow pants ready to leave the house when we looked out the window and the winds had kicked up and the snow started flying sideways. That wouldn't have been any fun to go out in that weather. Bummer.

So, we made the best of it and went to Fred Meyer's and bought our tree off of the lot. Alexis didn't care one bit that we weren't out in the forest.

We found an awesome tree and Katya really did all the decorating. She put up half of the lights on the tree and hung most of the ornaments. If the tree is beautiful, it is because of her.

Alexis and Logan love hanging out by the tree and staring at the ornaments. Every once in a while Alexis will just go over to the tree and stare at all the beautiful things we have hanging from it.

Of course, we have the tree sitting in a baby gate to keep little hands from those beautifully wrapped presents that are just begging for them to be touched. I think our tree will be behind a baby gate for at least two more years.

Pink Boots

My mom sent Alexis the cutest pair of pink cowboy boots and she loves them! In fact, she likes to wear them all the time and with any outfit. And of course, when you wear boots you need your hat.

Leftie, Rightie or Bothie

I have never given much thought before to which hand is my dominate. I know that there are oodles of studies saying that certain traits are more dominant in right handed people and other traits are most dominant in left handed people.

For example, seven of our US Presidents were left handed. In fact, we had three left handed Presidents in a row.

I am a right handed person. I mean, TOTALLY a right handed person. The only thing I can do well with my left hand is type. Katya is a complete right handed person, as is Bob. No biggie.

Well, when watching my kids I have noticed some interesting things. Actually, it was my brother that really got me to notice some things. (He commented on a video that I posted of Logan clapping) I do believe that Logan might be a leftie. His cousin, Dylan, is a leftie. Dylan is a brilliant little dude so being a leftie must be pretty good. Bob's sister, Patti, is also a leftie. I wonder how much of that could be genetic?

However, I have been watching Alexis for a good year now trying to notice her dominate hand and she doesn't have one. She uses both hands equally. For everything. She can eat with a spoon with both hands. She can color with both hands. When using the chalk board she will write with one hand and erase with the other .

Ambidexterity is evidently very rare at birth. I have never even heard of a person that was truely ambidexterous. But upon reading about it on Wikipedia, she might become an awesome athlete. I guess some of the best players in the world from baseball to tennis to basketball were ambidexterous. Can you say college scholarship?

I wonder if she will remain using both hands through elementary school or if she might decide she likes using one hand over the other for things.

Either way, both my kids seem to be blazing their own trails through life even though they are both somewhat new to the world. I look forward to watching their lives unfold.

Buy American

Ya know, with all the recalls of the Chinese made toys because of lead paint, Aqua Doodles that can mix to become a date rape drug, toys that are being made in Third World countries in exploited labor markets - you might be considering trying to buy American.

After all, American made items are required to be made to specific safety requirements. Not only that, you would be encouraging local manufacturing which pays for local jobs. And if you really want to get technical, there is a decrease in fossil fuels burned because there was a much shorter distance for travel from manufacturing plant to store thereby being better for the environment.

Soooooooooooo, after all that I found a website via another local blogger that enables you to buy American made products. How cool is that?

If you are still in need of purchasing a toy or book for some grommet this holiday season, check them out!

Fat Brain Toys

The Blog Readability Test

One of my newfound favorite local bloggers posted her Blog Readability Test today so I had to find out what mine was too.

Part of me was hoping that my diverse and eloquent mastery of the English language would have pushed my blog into the Graduate School category. Or at least Some College. Guess not.

Not sure if I pasted it in correctly, so here is the link for those of you that would like to check out the level of your blog. Just let me know if I should enroll in some continuing education classes to continue reading your blog.

Christmas Photo Shoot

Yesterday afternoon was the annual trip to Sears for their Christmas pictures. We had tried another photo studio as a MOPS fundraiser, but they were awful and we only got one so so picture out of it. Thank goodness it was a $20 special, I would have thrown a fit if I had forked over their normal $200 sitting fee. Seriously, that is insane.

Anyway, I drug all three of my chitlins to Sears for our 4pm shoot. Katya decided that she just didn't have ANYTHING that would go with the two little ones outfits so she ran over to Macy's while we did some individual shots with Alexis and Logan. Or should I say - attempted - to get individual shots of the kids.

Thankfully my most wonderful sister in law, Debbie, showed up to lend a hand. She is always there for picture days and I couldn't do it without her.

Logan was a dream to photograph. He is kind of a serious little guy so he wasn't in the mood to smile, but he sat there and looked darn cute for the camera. No drama, no tears...just cuteness. This is one of his pics.

Alexis on the other hand was a little TERROR. I put her in this outfit to start with because it was a gift from a dear friend in Belgium and I wanted to send a professional picture to him to show how much I really appreciated his thoughtfullness. How my photographer got these shots through all the tantrums, falling on the floor, arching of the back (you get the picture) is beyond me. She was SOOOOOOOOOO good. The finished products are all cropped and centered and stuff.

I ordered a copy of this one (it is cropped and closer) because you can see what a little devil she was being.

Katya, of course, took fabulous pics. She just gets more beautiful every year.

Then there was the group shot of the three of them. This was the ONLY shot of them that worked. We got her to look up and laugh for a split second while she was having a tantrum.

Then Katya was taking some other shots for a birthday collage when Alexis (freshly changed back into her normal clothes) decided to be incredibly cute. She grabbed a little chair, pulled it next to Katya and really hammed it up.

I thought this was too cute so I got a pic for me too. I don't think that anyone will ever be able to say that Alexis is a pushover. She is too much like her big sister. And that is a very good thing.

Dyson

Well, our vacuum finally up and died. Even Bob's old, old vacuum that he had loaned to my Aunt Ginger had died. Well, it didn't TOTALLY die, but it sure wouldn't even vacuum up the fuzz on the carpet. Only, my vacuum up and died like a week ago. Can you imagine my house with the kids and the pets with no vacuum for a week. Yulk.

So....I convinced Bob to stop looking at reviews of vacuums on the internet and just go with me to Target because I was going to buy a vacuum. The rug was totally grossing me out!!

I had taken all I could take and I couldn't take no more!

We spent a good 30 - 45 minutes looking at vacuums. Bob looked at the engineering aspect of all the vacuums. We pulled them all down and took them apart. We debated and haggled with each other. We even got input from two passerby shoppers. And we ended up with .....

a Dyson Animal

I think it looks pretty cool. I like the purple. I think it looks kinda fun although Bob hates it.

Let me tell you... that thing can suck! It better for what it cost. Man, oh man. But it cleans a rug or even my cork floors like nothing ever has. I ran it around just the upstairs bare floors and I was disgusted with how much fine dust that thing managed to pull up. Pet hair is no match for it. And it has some cool wand thing that can do stairs too.

As one passerby customer told us when he saw us with the vacuum - "That thing can suck the chrome off of a bumper". He loves his and he even told us that once he got past the sticker shock, he actually thinks it was worth it.

So, my house is now uber, uber clean. Bob and I kept taking turns vacuuming different things just to see how much junk it picked up. I even got kind of miffed because he dumped my first vacuum load instead of letting me do it. Silly, huh?

If you happen to come over - go ahead and lay on the floor. It is clean, clean, clean.

Amazon's New Kindle

Ok, the inner bibliophile is coming out.

I was doing some Christmas shopping on Amazon.com my favorite store in all the world, when I saw their little promo for a new device called a Kindle.

What is a Kindle you ask? It is probably the next phase in electronic books.

I am not a fan of electronic books. I like paper. I like turning pages and flipping back and forth. I enjoy the feeling of a book in my hand as I curl up under a blanket to get lost in the story. But this Kindle thing intrigues me.

It appears to have a display that looks remarkably like paper. No glare. The images look really clear and it has the ability to download books automatically for about $10 each. It has a nice keyboard and is lightweight.

If I was still working at Qualcomm, I'd totally buy this. Can you imagine how nice it would be to travel with this thing? Not having to lug heavy books around in a carry-on? Not bringing two or three books in case you finish reading one? You can just download it. It also has the ability to download documents so you can read them electronically instead of carrying huge reams of paper. Man, that would have been a lifesaver for me before.

In the meantime I will sit back and wait for the reviews on this thing to come in. I never buy the first generation of anything - that is where most of the bugs are. If it gets a good response and it seems to be robust, I may have to look into getting one for myself. Only instead of using it primarily for work - mine will be mostly for pleasure which is better anyway.

To Tell Time

I am a collector of watches. I just went last night and had new batteries put in about twelve of them. Some women have insane shoe collections (like my BFF Michelle), flip flop collections (like my Mom), purses, shoes...you get the idea. Ok, I know that watches are just supposed to tell you what time of day it is. But I love, love and LOVE watches. I don't care if it is Eyore (one of my favorites), tweety bird, Mickey Mouse, Nine West, or Anne Klein. My favorite brand? Fossil.

Fossil makes that most wonderful timepieces. I went to the Fossil outlet way out by the Barona casino a few years ago and bought myself about three watches before I left. I wanted about fifteen.

When I got my watch batteries replaced last night I found out one of my beautiful purple leather band Fossil watches is actually dead. I know that they have a great 11 year warranty on their watches, so I was looking on their website to find info about returning them and got sidetracked by the wonderful new offerings this season. Oh Baby!


Aren't these just beautiful? Man, I could easily own about 40 watches and just wear one each day of the month. Maybe I'll get one for my birthday or Christmas.

Treasure Table

I love MOPS. You all know that, but one of my favorite things about MOPS is the Treasure Table.

The Treasure Table is for all of the "stuff" that you no longer want or need and other people (like me) get to scrounge around to see if it is something that we can use.

All kinds of cool stuff gets put on that table. I've been getting all kinds of clothes for the kids from nice sleepers to Gap jeans for when one of them is in a 4T. I'll take it all!! There are also food items that people got but never used (we all have them), DVDs, discarded toys, VHS movies, books, maternity clothes, breast pads, regular clothes, diapers, cookbooks, magazines, ... you name it. Sooooooooooooo cool.

It is also nice that I have a place to take things that we no longer need at home and that I would normally just take to the Goodwill. Just today I took a bunch of VHS Disney movies that we happen to have on DVD as well. We need the shelf space so I took a bunch of them into MOPS. One woman there was SO excited to get them for her two kids. She didn't care that they were VHS. Her kids certainly wouldn't care. I was able to get a pack of disposable razors that Katya likes (and cost $7), some clothes for the kids and some kid books.

I love this! It is a great part of my living Green plan too. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle BABY! And who isn't pinching pennies in this economy anyway? Everything is costing so much more (filled up your gas tank lately?) it is great to pinch some pennies here and there.

And one woman today offered me her Thomas the Tank Engine table complete with toys. I hope she calls for me to pick it up because HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!!! Alexis and Logan would love, love, love it!!

Hand me downs are cool.

Art is Exhausting

I love art. I love to look at art. I love spending hours upon hours looking through art museums and galleries. I love making art. I love to paint and draw.

However, enjoying these things with the kids is just plain exhausting!

When Katya was little, she hated art of any kind. In fact, she didn't voluntarily make me a picture for my fridge until she was in Kindergarten and she told the teacher "she had a picture she had to get out of her head". Now she is an amazing artist. Yes, I still have the picture.

I admit, I was half way expecting Alexis to follow in her sister's footsteps and avoid art. No siree... this girl wants paints and crayons! Bring it on!! We have already gotten a lot of use out of our little easel for coloring and chalk. And we have done some painting of pumpkins and construction paper. Alexis never wants to stop. Which is great! Which is cool! But it is such a mess!

Today we went to a craft time with my SAH mother's group. We were making little placemats with the kids which are going to get laminated. So, there were paints & brushes, stamps, markers, crayons and stickers. Total mayhem. I wasn't quite expecting all that. I had printed out some pictures from my computer and managed to get them cut out before we left. I left Logan on the floor to roll around and get oogled at by the other little girls while I attempted to help Alexis make a handprint turkey. She LOVED it. In fact, she wanted to paint all over everything. The pictures, her hands, her arms, the table... quite the mess. And just when I got her cleaned up and I was trying to finish her placemat, she went right back to the paints.

Then I had to do one for Logan. I did footprints for him and he giggled and giggled when I painted his feet. He is very ticklish. And while I was trying to get Logan's placemat done, Alexis was all over the art table again.

I managed to throw together something I hope the kids will like to eat off of when they get a bit older. But, man I was so happy to leave. I was exhausted and we were only there for an hour!

Trying to wrangle two kids while one is wielding a paint brush with paint on it is quite the challenge. I think that I could create an entire program for corporate teambuilding. If you want to figure out how to manage a group of people working on different projects - try and manage the same number of toddlers (all with paint brushes and sharpies) in a room of nice furniture. If you can survive that, you could survive the workplace.

Tagged for Honesty

I've been tagged by Jen to post 7 honest things about myself. I've never been tagged before, it is kinda cool! Huh, not sure how interesting or deep my relevations will be but here goes...

1. I can wiggle my ears. It is a little trick that I figured out that I could do when I was about five years old. I believe I was trying to wiggle my nose like Samantha from Bewitched - but my ears wiggled instead.

2. I fell asleep at the wheel once when I was 21. I had worked a very long day and went to meet some friends after work at a deli since it was Halloween (Don't worry, I wasn't drinking. I am a self-imposed non-drinker.). I headed home about 11pm down a long and dark stretch of road. I had rolled down my windows and turned up the radio to stay awake. I remember blinking and when my eyes opened all I saw was weeds flying by my car. Evidently I had crossed several lanes of traffic (nobody was there luckily), narrowly avoided a power box, jumped my car over a small canyon and landed in a patch of land behind someone's backyard. I had to stand on the roof of my car to find the road (no lights) and I turned my car that direction and prayed I would make it. I did. All my car suffered was two blown out tires and a dent in the hood. I drove my car two miles like that to a grocery store and called a friend for help. My guardian angel was watching over me that night for sure!!

3. I am a freak about laundry. Living with my brother (whom I do love and adore) taught me that men can not be trusted with a washer and dryer. I don't know how many items he changed the color of or shrunk. So many shirts and pants from Katya's and my closet have to be dripped dry I don't let anyone help me. So, Bob is forbidden from doing laundry. He doesn't mind.

4. I worked as a Microbiologist Tech for about two years when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I worked in a clean room, made agar, grew all kind of nasty things, counted spores...etc. It made me a total clean freak for years and years. I used to clean my keyboard, phone and desk with IPA (rubbing alcohol) every Friday for about ten years before I mellowed out a bit.

5. When we travel, I check out the bathroom of any hotel we are staying at before I sign anything. I am a freak about a clean bathroom. Probably because of #4. I KNOW what can grow where.

6. I am an appliance junkie. I just love to get all those infomercial gadgets that are supposed to make cooking sooooooooo easy. Even though I don't really like to cook, I like the gadgets. Whenever I have insomnia, it costs a lot of money because then my willpower is non-existant.

7. I love cold sugar cereals. I mean LOVE them. I try and be good and only eat healthy, whole grain, and organic cereals but sometimes I indulge. I love Golden Grahams, Fruit Loops, Super Sugar Crisp, Pops, Fruity Pebbles, Frosted Flakes, Cookie Crisp, Lucky Charms, Captain Crunch with Crunchberries.... I could go on and on. Yum!

I'm tagging Laura at The McClellans of Eastlake, Mandee at For the Love..., Aimee at Here in My Life..., Azucar at The Jet Set, Kelly at My Happy Little Life, Ginger at The Kids The Dogs And Other Things, and C Jane.

The guidelines are:
1 Link the person who has tagged you
2 Tell seven true things about yourself
3 Tag seven new people
4 Leave a message with the person you have tagged so they know about it

Good Eats

I love this show!

I try and record it periodically so I can learn about everything from the origins and usage of paprika to the history of squash.

Last night I recorded an episode on vanilla and was watching it this morning as Katya and Bob bustled around me leaving for school and work. I had already set out the vitamins, made the lunches, ensured they ate their breakfast and was curled up on the couch writing down Alton Brown's secret to a good fruit salad when I realized Katya and Bob were standing behind me as enraptured as I was.

You have to love Alton Brown. The man is a master for making otherwise boring information that you usally skip over in a cookbook (ok, I am the one that skips over it) into something quite intriguing and attention getting. Bob was appreciating his power tool arsenal. No wimpy tools for Alton. To core a pear he uses his trusty drill with a different bit on it. When making creme brulee he doesn't use a small butane torch. No sir. He uses a full propane tank with a torch end on it. A real man's kind of cook.

If only I could type the ooh ooh ooh sound from Tim Allen to get the same effect.

I admit, I have strayed from Alton periodically to peak over to what Emeril is cooking (I'm trying his blueberry peach cobbler tonight) or License to Grill on Discovery Home (I want his red outdoor fridge!). But for pure entertainment factor and actually getting the nerve to try something new - Alton's got me. He makes everything look so darn easy!

Maybe some of this will seep into my brain by osmosis and I will become a steller, amazing cook in the league of my Aunt Ginger. One can only hope. Until then, I am still happy with a bowl of cereal for dinner for myself.

Thankfullness

As Thanksgiving looms in the not so distant future - it is time for me to begin thinking about what I am thankful for this year.

- Nobody died.
- Nobody got cancer.
- Nobody cut any body parts off.
- Nobody is in any court battle.
(2004 was a tough year. Those were some of the worst highlights of that year.)
- Nobody lost so much as a tree during the fires in San Diego.
- I have a huge extended family that I love (and miss)
- I have some wonderful friends that I love (and miss)
- Everyone is healthy! Yeah!!
- We welcomed Logan into the family
- Alexis is amazing, opinionated, stubborn, funny, creative....I could go on and on
- Katya is doing so well in school & sports this year
- Bob's business is doing better every year
- Bob was able to move his business out of the house and into their own space. Thus, making our new "lounge" area.
- We have a space now to do crafts and Katya can escape to when the kids are too noisy.
- I am slowly shrinking to my pre-baby size. Maybe not as fast as I would like, but I am making progress.
- I have amazing neighbors. Our circle of neighbors does everything from housesitting, to dogwatching, to mail collecting, to random plates of cookies showing up on our doorstep... I live in an amazing place surrounded by amazing people.
- Our house projects are making slow progress. Any progress is good progress!
- I love the views from our windows. Looking out at the mountains and the trees is so calming.
- I love having the Risch family living just a few miles away. And if I get lucky, I run into Diana when shopping at Safeway.
- I love having Debbie K., Jane and Patti close by.
- I am thankful that my arm & shoulder pain has remained manageable for the past two years despite hauling babies around all day, toting groceries, doing bookkeeping and cleaning the house.
- I have a husband who loves me.
- We have a good family with lots of laughter and hugs.

My life is grand. My life is blessed. My life is fabulous.

Post Halloween Photo Album

Everyone looked cute in their costumes this year! This should come as no surprise since I have such amazingly cute kids.

We painted our pumpkins and we decorated the porch. We handed out candy and visited Bob's father in his nursing home (the old ladies there LOVED the kids all dressed up). We still have a huge bag of candy left which I am sure Bob and Katya will help to eliminate.

All in all, it was a fun Halloween. I hope that you all had a good one too.

Logan with his pumpkin that Katya painted for him.

Alexis painted her own pumpkin.

Katya with her pumpkin.

Our front porch. Mine is the witch pumpkin. It was kind of rotting, so I had to paint it in place. Bob went another year without carving his pumpkin.

Katya decorating our front porch.

Logan the dinosaur

Alexis the ladybug. (I had to corner her to get a picture)
Katya as a glam punk

Bob with a bad fro wig

Happy Halloween & The History of the Jack-O-Lantern

Happy Halloween!

Well, today is the day of trick or treaters and the kids dressing up in costumes. Alexis is a ladybug and Logan is a dragon. They should be WAY cute! Katya dressed up as a punk rocker for her friend's party last Friday night. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Tonight is our traditional time to carve our pumpkins. Not sure why we usually wait until Halloween day, but we do. Unfortunately I won't be carving a pumpkin this year. Mine has decided to start rotting already. Yulk. I think I will be either drawing or painting a face on it. I have a great witch hat so that can cover the ooky part by the stem. I was planning on doing the same thing for Alexis and Logan's pumpkins too. They should turn out cute.

Yesterday Bob decorated our front porch with black lights, a giant 5 foot green spider web complete with huge gross spiders, a glow in the dark happy skeleton and a few little hanging signs. We still have webbing to put up everywhere, but that will be when Katya gets home. It should be fun! Bob is planning on taking Alexis out trick or treating to our neighbors to show off just how cute she is. Talk about a proud papa.

Well, I figured that I would leave you all with a bit of Halloween history.

History of the Jack O'Lantern

The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin.The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.

Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".

On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.

Catching Up

Isn't it funny how easy it is to fall behind in something? I'm still getting over my plague (Katya is now in bed with it) and since I am feeling better (although my voice sounds really sultry still) I am attempting to catch up on all my chores.

I have a lot of chores.

Yesterday I began the arduous journey of trying to get a hold on the laundry situation. There was so much I just dumped it over the railing from the second floor to the first and created a nice mountain that Alexis had a good time trying to climb. It is more like rolling hills now that I have done umpteen many loads of laundry. The machines are still going. I am surprised there isn't smoke coming off them.

Last night my darling of a husband cleaned the kitchen and I started the dishwasher this morning. The floor still crunches when I walk so I think I should concentrate on that soon. Thank goodness we don't have ants here or I would have a colony living in my dining room! Then there are the toys and puzzle pieces strewn all over the house. My paperwork mountain sitting on my desk is in dire need of attention too. It is almost the end of the month and I need to send stuff out for the business. Oh yeah, I have a nice pile of ironing to do too. I am too cheap to send all of it out to the drycleaners when I can do some myself and save money. Then there is all the prep work for Halloween and Christmas that I am starting to think about. (The holidays are fun work though.)

Busy...busy...busy

Well, I'm heating some hot water for tea so I can attempt to catch up on my life.

I hope you all are more caught up than me!!

The Plague

It started coming on yesterday and today it is the full blown, please take me outside and shoot me, my head might explode at any minute, my nose might fall off if I blow it one more time - plague.

This is pretty awful since I don't get sick days being a domestic goddess. Where is that fairy godmother when you need her to whip up a trustworthy nanny for the day?

So here I sit rather zombie-like staring at the computer screen while the kids are napping. The house is a mess and I just don't have the energy to pick up one more toy. I think I might make myself one more cup of tea and lay my head on the couch and hope that Logan lets me sleep for a bit. He has an uncanny ability to know when I am almost asleep and then he wakes up. It is because of his rare talent that I tend to avoid napping since it is an exercise in futility.

I hope that everyone else is healthy. Although poor Mandee, I read that she has the flu too. Just know that I am wallowing in misery with you!

Last Fire Update

Well, my parents are back in their house. No damage done, just a lot of soot and ash in the air.

My brother and his family are back home and all is well with them.

My Aunt Linda's house is not on the list of destroyed homes, but she is not allowed back to Rancho Bernardo yet. She is still hanging out at my Uncle Doug's house in Vista.

Carlsbad was taken off the evacuation list so my aunt and uncle there are fine.

I'm still waiting to hear from a few friends that were evacuated from the Escondido area. But, I am fairly positive that their homes were left untouched.

I am so thankful that my family is safe and sound! My mother told me that the evacuations were done in a really orderly fashion, her friends that were at shelters were being given free food and water and everyone seemed to be bending over backwards to extend a helpful hand to their neighbors. Way to work together San Diego!

Fire Update

The fires in San Diego are still raging. The Santa Ana winds blew with gusts all day yesterday and all night. It caused a LOT of damage. For those of you that would like an update on the fires here is what I know as of 7:40am:

- The Harris Fire is still going strong and it threatening my brother's house. They evacuated last night to my aunt & uncle's house in Vista. I am hopeful that it will avoid their house.

- The Witch Creek fire seems to have headed West avoiding Scripps Ranch altogether. My parents had to evacuate last night to another aunt & uncle's house in Carlsbad and hopefully can return home today. My aunt and uncle are in a voluntary evacuation zone so they are still not out of the woods yet.

- The San Marcos fire forced the evacuation of Bob's nephew, but he was able to return home last night.

- The Rice fire is still going strong, although the winds have died down to the 15mph range. It is heading North now, heading away from Vista where the bulk of my family is hunkered down. This fire is zero percent contained.

- Unfortunately a new fire has started overnight in Pauma Valley (being called the Poomacha fire) that is heading towards the 76 corridor and starting evacuations in Valley Center, Deer Springs, Hidden Meadows and Vista. According to the maps it looks like it is the Eastern most part of Vista so my family should still be safe.

We had to battle the Cedar fire and the waiting, watching the news, the horrid ash in the air, the frayed nerves was awful. I wish that I could teleport my family up here to safety so Ginger and I could take care of them.

San Diego is Burning

My hometown is on fire! I thought that the Cedar fires of several years ago were as bad as it could get for fires in San Diego, but I was wrong. This is a picture from the fires, it is awful!

I've been sitting here glued to the computer watching 10 News (a local news station) as they cover the vastness of this fire. There is a fire somewhat close to my brother's house, a fire somewhat close to my parent's house, a few friends have had to evacuate and the rest of my family is hunkered down in Vista waiting for things to die down. I fear that one of my aunt's house is gone. At this point 250,000 people have been evacuated.

I can't do anything from Bend other than send them good wishes that everyone's house is still standing, that the air quality gets better quicker (I know from the Cedar fires how awful all that flying ash is and how long it sticks around) and that this ends soon.

I love you all! Stay safe!!

First Snow of the Season

Saturday I got up with Logan and was letting Thor outside to do his business when I opened the door to find SNOW!

Beautiful, glorious, pure and cold snow. I love snow. Love, love, love it!! Who would have guessed I was born and raised in San Diego for my first 35 years?

Anyway, I wanted to share a pic of what I hope is a glimpse of a very snowy winter. I hope, I hope, I hope.

I'm gonna make some of the wonderful cookie recipes that people posted so we can all share them over some hot cocoa. Yum.

Virtual Cookie Exchange

The weather is finally getting colder, the leaves are turning beautiful shades of gold and red, you can't leave the house without a jacket and the clouds are big beautiful puffs up there in the sky.

I love Fall.

It makes me want to bake!

As much as I don't enjoy cooking - I love baking. I love trying out new recipes and coming up with 'tried and true' ones to add to my personal cookbook. I am getting geared up now because I need to try out some new recipes before December gets here.

Every year I go on a baking binge and make cookies, breads, fudge and brittle to give to neighbors, friends and co-workers. Since I don't have any co-workers anymore, I make trays for Bob to give to his clients. My mother (oh great and wise one) taught me this is a great way to make clients and co-workers feel the love when you don't have the fundage to give much else. It is also fun to have cookie parties to get yummy home made baked goods from others and new recipes to add to your holiday bounty.

So, since I live so far from all of you let's have a virtual cookie exchange!

This is how it works: I'll give you my tried and true, really yummy Snickerdoodle recipe (they are quite fabulous). Then you all can leave me your favorite cookie or quickbread recipe.

I hope that you play along. I would love to try some of your holiday favorites.

Snickerdoodles

1/4 cup sugar

1 tblsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 400.

Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon; reserve. Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the shortening, margarine or butter and eggs in large bowl. Mix in a separate bowl the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add to sugar mixture.

Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll in sugar mixture to coat. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from cookie sheet. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Pumpkin Patch Time

Fall is my most favorite time of year and the annual trip to the pumpkin patch is my favorite outing of the season.

Picking your pumpkin, feeding the animals in the petting zoo, walking around the pumpkin patch to find "your" pumpkin. So cool.

We have been a bit pressed for time lately with Bob working every single day for the past two weeks and Katya's schedule - so we hit the last two hours of the pumpkin patch yesterday. I may go with the kids this week just for fun, but it would only be the three of us. The annual trip is a family affair.

Alexis was WAY more fun this year. She loved the animals. She wouldn't really touch them, but she liked talking to them. She had a great time just running off in different directions squealing in delight. Katya was being a teenager and it took a while for her to warm up. Those of you with teens understand.

We went and explored the pumpkin patch and after much searching and deliberating we each found the pumpkin of our dreams. Well, not our dreams but the one that called to us. 100 pounds of pumpkin baby!! Luckily, only $24. Alexis wasn't sure what to do with hers and she tried eating it like an apple.

After some kettle corn and fresh air we all trapsed home. Our pumpkins are patiently waiting on our front porch for carving day. Now I just need to decide what face I want to put on mine. Hmmmmmmmmm.

Pumpkins $24

Kettle Corn $5

Bottled Water $1

Spending time together as a family - PRICELESS

What is up with movies?

It has happened more times now than I can remember. We rent a movie from Netflix that we hear is highly recommended or funny. We sit down as a family on a Friday or Saturday night and pop in the DVD. About thirty minutes into the movie we take it out and watch something recorded on our DVR.

The profanity, the crude humor, the constant stream of sexual implications - how is this getting into a PG-13 movie? How can people say this is funny? I think we have seen parts of three movies now that we think could have been great, funny and "must buy" movies if they had just done without all the profane words, crude humor and sex references.

It is a shame that Hollywood thinks that all of that is required for people to want to go see a movie. I would assume that the continued decline in movie theater ticket sales might be a clue. But, I guess they are a bit slow in getting the message. And obviously they don't have children because people in their right mind would never take their kids to see those movies.

The latest movie in our series of disappointments? "Knocked Up". What a total shame. It could have been cute. It could have been funny. All of us (including Katya) were just so put off after the first fifteen minutes.

I now have a lot of openings on my Netflix queue. Does anyone care to share some of their favorite movies? Considering I haven't been to a movie in a theater in two years, it is safe to say I haven't seen it. The last movie I saw was "The Chronicles of Narnia". FABULOUS movie by the way.

Teenager Parties

Katya's birthday is coming up in December. Last year she turned 13 and we had a huge ice skating party to celebrate (among her many other celebrations).

This year we are doing things low key and having a party at home for her with some of her friends. We will still do a family & neighbor party, but it is the friend party that we are stuck on.

It was Katya's idea that I post a blog asking for advice on activities that we could do at the party that wouldn't be considered lame. I had suggested everyone making their own pizza, but that was shot down. She wants to DO stuff, not just watch a movie and she wants it co-ed since she has some really good guy friends.

Soooooooooooooo, have any of you got some good ideas? Did anyone go somewhere and thought "that was a lot of fun"? Did someone's teenager have a party and do stuff that was at least not boring?

Help!

Go Boo Someone

It's Halloween time! Time for little kids to dress up as their favorite princess, ninja turtle or bug and wear those costumes EVERYWHERE! Time for candy, bobbing for apples, spooky movies and fake cobwebs hanging from your front porch.

It is also the time to go and stir up some Halloween fever in your neighborhood by "Booing" your neighbors and friends.

Our house was "Booed" last year and it was so cool! It was such a treat to open the door and see a cute little bag decorated with a poem and filled with candy inside just for us. It kinda makes you feel special and puts you in the mood for the slew of holidays to come. And then you get to be sneaky by prepping a bag for two of your other neighbors. The kids get to do recon to see who has and has not been "Booed" yet and then they are the ones to sneak to their front door, hit the doorbell and then hide (yet still be able to spy on who actually retrieved the package).

I was at Target and saw a little "Boo" bag and I decided to start it up this year for our street. Katya plans on hitting all of her friends houses after she gets her bags ready. I don't have the money to buy these pre-done bags for everyone so I bought one for the poem and made our own with lunchbags. I also found a cool picture of a ghost and popped into Word and put "I've Been Booed" and printed a few copies.

So, assemble your own bags and start up some Halloween spirit on your street.
- Print out a document that says "You've Been Booed" along with the poem below on it and staple it to a brown lunch bag or a plastic pumpkin (whatever you've got)
- Print out a document with a large friendly looking ghost that says "I've Been Booed" for them to put on their door so they don't get hit again.
- Put some yummy candy and treats in the bag and you are good to go!

YOU'VE BEEN BOOED!

This Treat is for you.
We hope you enjoy.
The idea is simple,
one we hope you employ.
You pass “BOO” along to 2 other neighbors.
Along with any kind of Halloween Favors.
If we all do our part,
and spread the good cheer,
by Halloween night it will be very clear.
We’re a friendly bunch,
we like to share fun,
so please do your part
and keep “BOO” on the run!

To Cook or Not to Cook

....that is the question here today.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and got some basics. I'm talking milk, eggs, yogurt, bread, veggies, cereal, cream cheese...nothing exciting. The only splurge item that I got was a magazine. And WITH our coupons and club card savings totaling $43.79 it still cost $140.00 for a weeks worth of groceries.

What is the deal?

If I cook at home all week, make lunches for everyone, make snacks and cookies (and other wonderful baked goods) we spend more on food than if we just did frozen junk from COSTCO most nights. Now I KNOW that it is healthier for all of us for me to cook. I make things that are much lower in fat and sodium than we could get frozen. And I would most certainly hope to say that my cooking tastes better.

But it most certainly makes me pause when I am planning what meals I will be making for the week when I think of the grocery bill. Now, keep in mind here that I married a meat and potatoes kind of guy. No meat for dinner? Well, then what is for dinner? And he thinks he has an allergy to all green veggies too. So, you can scratch those lovely veggie stir fry entrees I used to make.

Am I the only one that has sticker shock when they buy food?

Are there places to get coupons that I am unaware of? (Our local paper doesn't have the insert coupons that were in the Sunday paper that I used to get in S.D.)

Does anyone have great money saving tips that they would be willing to share?

Lots of New Words

Alexis has finally decided that it might be kind of cool to learn to speak.

I mean, she gets her point across without words quite well. The combination of her sign language skills and her little grunts, squeaks and screams work very effectively.

But, she is now using tons of new words! Out of the blue! And she sounds just so darn cute!!!

So far in the past two days I have heard these new words:

- Please (one of my favorite words)
- Mom (another one of my favorite words)
- Shoes
- Socks
- Nose
- Mouth
- Eyes
- Sit
- Bailey (the dog)
- Debbie
- Cheese
- Up

I'm loving this sudden explosion of speech. Her voice is darling and I can't wait to hear more of it.

Mohawks

When you are in your twentys, you are able to get away with things you just can't at any other point in your life. Case in point - my cousin, Becky.

Becky is a beautiful, creative twenty-something who is on the artistic side. She actually has a degree in art from CSU Fullerton - I can attest to that since Katya and I went to her graduation. Her artwork is beautiful, edgy, fantasy provoking, disturbing, gorgeous and everything an artist would like their art to be. She is still working on becoming the next big thing, but in the meantime has decided to show the world a bit more of her creative side by getting a red mohawk. Why not? She is young. She has a wig she wears at work. It is temporary. She will have the pictures to prove some day that she was a crazy chick who one day got her head shaved on staged and dyed it red. Who knows where she will be in ten years? She might be the owner of an art gallery and have to look all prim and proper. For now, she is enjoying life and having some fun.

But I wanted to show her that she is not the only rebel in the family. Both Alexis and Logan had their own mohawks - only au naturale. Alexis' has grown out, but Logan is still going strong with his. Laura should post Dylan with one of his many, many mohawks too. I wonder if this means they will all be edgy creative types too?

Alexis at almost five months.

Logan at 8 months

Outlook On Life

I am usually a fairly positive person. Not an optomist by any stretch, but try and look at the good and not focus on the bad. Not read, watch or engage in things that I know will not make me feel happy. Talk about the good things in life and not the bad. Focus on the good and not dwell on the sad.

I fell off the wagon. When exactly, I'm not sure. But I have been getting some strong messages from the universe that I need to go back to my old habits to really find some true, solid, know it in my bones, life is amazing - happiness. I think that I got derailed sometime during the custody battle, infertility challenges, work changes and remodeling. Not too surprising, actually.

But all that is changing now! I'm back on track - or at least I am going to give it my best shot again. It will take a while for me to change my way of thinking again to what it needs to be. But I will get there.

What exactly is how I need to be thinking you ask? Let me tell you:

1. Wake up every day grateful for what I have. (Healthy children, a happy marriage, a home to call my own, a wonderful extended family...)

2. Visualize what I want out of life. (To have money in the bank, to travel the world, to wear a size 8 again, be happily married to Bob for then next 50 years, to finish the art room, happy children...)

3. Focus on the good things in life. Talk about positive things. Think happy thoughts. Read happy stories. Write about happy things. Watch happy movies and shows. Listen to happy music.

4. Don't focus energy on negative things in life. No sad movies. No sad stories. No sad news. No talking about negative people or hanging around negative people.

5. Take some time every day to be alone with my thoughts. Either with 30 minutes during nap times to do something I enjoy (painting or scrapbooking) or in the bathtub when the kids have gone to bed.

6. Make daily exercise a priority. Gotta love those endorphins.

These things are small changes, but they have a big impact.

High Maintenance

It is a good thing that Logan is cute because he is driving me NUTS!

We are going on a week now of constant whining, crying, screaming and general bellyaching. If I give him 100% of my attention, he is fine. If I try to clean the kitchen, make dinner, pick up toys, feed Alexis or heaven forbid - sleep - he fusses. This week he has been waking up about four times a night so I am getting a bit testy from lack of sleep.

I went to my beloved MOPS yesterday and he kept melting down in the nursery so after 20 minutes of trying to nurse and calm him down he had to accompany me back to the meeting and sit on my lap the last 90 minutes. Not quite the baby-free rejuvenating experience that I had two weeks ago.

This morning I took Alexis to a playdate and left him with Debbie K and she said he was an angel. But then again he got 100% of her attention the whole time he was there. He is most definately NOT the independent type like his sisters.

What do you do to try and force a kid to self entertain?

Is this a phase?

Is this a boy thing?

HELP!

Maiden Voyage

The baby backpack gets lots of use at our house. I was hoping to get Mandee's old one so we would have two, but I will have to buy one here. Got two kids, need two backpacks.

When Bob pulls out the backpack Alexis runs over and tries to climb in it. It is her favorite thing to do when Bob is doing yard work or we go for a hike. It must be nice to be tall when you are so small.

This past weekend Alexis was taking a nap and Bob had to mow the lawn so he decided to try Logan in it . I was busy sanding an old nightstand to put in the lounge (there will be a post about that when I'm done with it) so I couldn't watch him.

Logan LOVED it! The noise from the lawnmower didn't seem to bother him either. He just leaned way over so he could see what Bob was doing. I need to start saving my pennies so I can get over to REI to buy another backpack. Bob doesn't want me to show these pics to Alexis for fear she will get upset.