Sunday, April 29, 2007

Granny Bunco

I have a lot of catching up to do - blog wise - so hold on to your hard drives, because I just might post every day...

Kelly hosted "Blue Hair Bunco" this month and I must commend her on the attention to detail. She put a million doiles around her house and even as the night wore on I kept finding new items strung around, like those ashtrays with the beanbag on the bottom. Anyone? She served all soft food like cottage cheese and jell-o with fruit. We had a blast, as always, and the winners got cash and a handmade potholder. And prunes.

Kelly

Jen, Carrie and Robyn

Yours truly

Holly, Nicole and Cherie

Gaynor, Kim and Kelly

Carrie

Jen

It doesn't bode well for the future, but I do love jell-o with fruit.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Welcome and Welcome Back

I've been without Internet again for the last few days, so I have a million posts, but I promised my husband never to list what I bought at the store again. Critics. First off - I want to bring to your attention a few additions to the blogroll. Robyn, aka "Blogyn," and her blog, Mitch and Squish is back and if you head her way, you can also find a link to her other blog - Anomalyland. Robyn has two sweet boys, always a clean house, and no last name. Holly has been all up in my blogroll for a while, but here is the official notice of residency. You'll find her at Living Life with Spice where she talks about food, her curly-q toddler, and occasionally, my pant leg. Lastly, but with a booty that apparently won't quit, Karoline has finally given in and started up all of the cool kids are doing it. Yes, we are. Whoo. Hoo.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Lollilocks, Lollilocks, Ooooo, Lolli, Lolli, Locks

Kate and Miles got haircuts today, and we found a sweet new place called Lollilocks.

Before (with Miss Brooke)

After! The hairstyle, glitter and butterfly clips were all included.

Before

After. Miles did not get glitter, but they did offer him a tattoo and/or colored hair spray.

Kate also got a "piggy toes" pedicure. She wanted blue polish, but settled for red. So cool.

They had a fun play area with a Toy Story going and Laurie Birkner on the radio. What else would you even need?

Oh, maybe bigger eustachian tubes so that poor Miles can get rid of these darn ear infections. He's now down with another double infection that is resulting in a trip to Bono's ENT doctor. Please pray for him because he is absolutely miserable and has had 3 shots this week of Rocefin which are in turn giving him a bright red bottom.

Summary: Lollilocks = sweet!
Stupid small ear bones inherited from Mom = terrible

That ended badly, so if you're depressed now, watch this:

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

I Heart Weddings

My friend Jessica got married on Saturday and it was such an honor to be there. Jess and I taught fourth grade together at MV back in 2002, and it was in every way, my favorite year teaching. I had been transferred over from my first school and I was warmly embraced by my fabulous team. Jess had a really hard year, but I think it truly made her a stronger person. In the spring, I found out that I was pregnant with Kate and decided to quit teaching other people's children and start teaching my own and Jess went on to meet Mike, who now goes by, "Jessica's husband." They live in Michigan, but the wedding was here, so it was really neat to see her again. It was held outside and was absolutely beautiful. Congratulations!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Just In Case You Thought I Was Just Sitting Around Watching Oprah

Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Dropped Kate off at my mom's house. Miles had yet another doctor's appointment (see #4), so she volunteered to watch her while I took him. On the way we ran errands and for those of you with more than one kiddo, you know what I mean when I say that all of a sudden, just doing these things with ONE is sooooo easy! Also, Kate likes to run into streets and ask "Why?" every two seconds, so Miles was a cinch.

2. Took curtains to alterations lady. Now, that sounds like an easy task, but in reality, I have again found myself in the situation of hiring a very old person. Katie found her in the paper and the first time I called, I was told she was sleeping. At 2:30 in the afternoon. The second time I called, I talked to her and she gave me the address of her Assisted Living Home.



When Miles and I showed up, there was a woman sitting at the window just watching the world go by. There were these frail little things on the couch and their eyes lit up at the sight of my handsome boy. Dina had a lot of trouble with my name, "It should be Michael." "Oh, it's not." She invited me into her room and to sit on her bed, and I was feeling torn about whether to grap my curtains and bolt or to stay and explain for the tenth time that I wanted the hem let out an inch. She wrote it all down on this little pink post-it note, "because I will forget in a day or two."

3. Turned in paperwork at Kate's preschool. Nothing exciting happened there except that I filled out all of the forms (in a euphoric state, because I LOVE, LOVE filling out forms. Really.) but I forgot to put her name at the top of them. Then I basked in the glory of the secretary telling me that I had such neat handwriting. I may have blushed.

4. Went to Miles' doctor appointment.


He had another fever, followed by an ER visit, so we are ear infection watch. We were there for under 10 minutes and paid $30 on top of the $30 at the aforementioned ER - meaning $60 for two doctors to say that he just has "some type of virus" and "please come back on Saturday and pay me another $30 just in case his ear gets all red and stuff." Good times.

At the ER

5. Shopped at Babies R Us. Things we got:

* a new thermometer - the ear one. Ours broke after repeated use.

* Sunny Days fruit bars

* Size 4 Cruisers

* crib sheet - there are undiscernable stains on ours

* door knob covers

* Diaper Genie refills - stage 2

* GATE!!! To replace the toy box that is there currently, that replaced the ottoman that was there before that.

When I got to the checkout, there was a lady buying a hangonthedoorframejumperthingie and I just about said to her, "I have a used one in my car if you want it," but I didn't because the checker might have gotten upset that I was outside selling baby items out of my trunk.

6. Bought this from Barnes and Noble:


7. Grabbed all white meat chicken terriaki bowl and very large Pepsi at Neo Tokyo.

8. Went back to my mom's where the kids played outside in the fabulous weather:

The first video is a nod to Kate's strange fascination with anything that is not an actual toy. Here she is thowing hairbrushes down the slide, which for some reason, makes Miles crack up.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5521467974838051708

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3136499888554807891

When my mom said, "See you later, Alligator." Kate said, "See you later, Shark!"

9. Watched Oprah - I admit it, although I have been skittish about watching ever since the autism show...

10. Took pictures of various items to sell on craigslist.

11. Tried to take a walk, but it was freezing and the wind made Miles cry.

12. Made a Dream Dinner (spaghetti with shrimp and rustic tomato sauce - Mmmmmmmm.)

13. Played Tic-Tac-Toe with Kate and actually let her win a game.

14. Talked to Carrie about the autisim show on Oprah.

15. Watched new episodes of Scrubs and The Office with Josh, where we had to rewind (DVR!!!) the part where Michael asked what they were fighting against and Dwight said, "Wolves."

The End.



Monday, April 09, 2007

Celebrating Resurrection Day

He is Risen! I was having a little trouble explaining Easter to Kate because she really doesn't understand death yet, so I asked Josh to do it. He thought about it for a while and then told her, "Kate, we celebrate Easter because Jesus loves us." While that's true, she wasn't fully prepared for the lesson at Sunday School. She came running out and in a tearful voice said, "I don't want to tell you what happened to Jesus!" I asked her what she meant and she said, "He got stuck in a big rock!"

Kate and the Easter baskets from my parents. I got Peeps in my basket as well. Score!

The Dudes: Miles, Colin and Scotty

After church we headed to the West Side for Easter dinner and a hunt for 80 eggs.



This is the best picture I could get. And I tried. Hard.

Terry's Bunny Cake


Irish Matt

Let the hunt begin! Kate was the only small human in the hunt, so they made sure to leave some out in the open for her. She loved opening them before moving on to find the next one.

Eli

After the hunt, Kate was hot and tired and decided to take a short dip in the pool. I was just too lazy to stop her or remove any of her clothing first.


Hence the borrowed shirt from Dani, aged 17.


Daddy and Miles


Me and Uncle Ed - self portrait

Happy Easter. He is Risen, Indeed!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Easter Parade

Yesterday morning was the something annual Easter Parade, so we all loaded up our Radio Flyers and headed out.

Kate and I


Jen, Sean and Madison

Miles

Lance and Scott

Robyn and Luke

Owen and Amelia


Scott bought all the kids these really really loud horns... I just want to say thanks a lot. Seriously.

video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHeBOQ40x9s




Sean sporting his sweet new visor

Katie and Scotty