My Blogging Head

a sunkissed moon

2012-01-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

immediately after dinner tonight owen decided to spit out a sip of water so as to get his legs and feet wet so he could say "i need a bath!" (perfectly logical if you're 3). he quickly stripped and ran past ian when ian said,

"OWEN! you STILL have sunshine coming out of your bum?!"

"IAN! " i sort of gasped, fumbling over my words

about to say

"where did you even hear that expression?"

but before i could...

a streaker ran past and i saw owen's tiny bum.

complete with the fading lower back tat that daddy thought was hilarious to draw on the other day while owen was wearing his pull-ups.

literally: sunshine coming out of his bum.

that's how awesome my kids are. sunshine shines from their bums.

literally.

can you say the same?

hero's work

2012-01-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Memere & Papa,

Thank you SO MUCH for giving the boys stickers at Christmas!

They enjoyed them for an hour or so... until I took them away.

Forever.

Dear Random Stranger From the Internet Whom I Found After Typing In;

"how to remove stickers from the kitchen floor",

Thank you for the weird and gross advice.

Sure enough, after about 2 minutes slathered in mayo -

the stickers came right off with a paper towel and minimal fingernail work.

This? This I call, Hero's Work!

(mostly because i do realize if this is really the highlight of my day, I have fallen a long, loooooong way...)

ALL's FAIR...

2011-10-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

corn dogs

fries

roasted corn on the cob

philly cheese steak

candied apples

fried milky way candy bar

cherry snow cones

fresh chips

funnel cakes

***

2011 NC State Fair = CONQUERED

***

art purge

2011-10-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

a while ago i started a new blog. a secret blog. a blog (there is just no way to make the word "blog" sound respectable or grownup btw) where i could say things.

deep, thought-provoking, fancy things.

alright, that's a lie. but someday i will post something thoughtful on it and not my usual gripes and trivial concerns and ramblings. i don't know why i have this need to EXPRESS. to use various art forms to purge my emotions or to help explain what doesn't feel explainable by conversation.

i just do.

i'm not very creative in my pattern of self expression though.

if i'm drawing, andrew knows to tread lightly. i'm in the bad place and needing to numb out.

if i'm playing the piano, i want to be left alone. it generally brings out the quiet,

sometimes somber side of me.

singing = the happy place.

however, singing WHILE playing the piano??... probably feeling reflective and possible a bit blue.

please don't interrupt.

feel free to take a seat and enjoy the show though.

obsessively editing photos? getting stuff DONE.

stay out of my way.

writing often means venting. although sometimes it's from the fun place. you know, a fun-vent.

dance.. yes, i dance! *insert jazz hands. i still do a mean shuffle-kick from ballet class, age 6 thankyouverymuch. and i didn't take "street jazz" for one whole year during puberty just for the heck of it. you can't unlearn sweet moves like those from street jazz.

they just become a part of you.

where was i? oh yes, dance.

dance = some kind of frantic HIGH. and almost always involves ian and owen accompanying me.

theater geeking = i'm in the mood to TALK. and you will be expected to listen. and learn. and then appreciate all things theater and performance related.

hmm.. not really sure how this all came about or how to end it.

i think i will go do an angry flight of the conchords dance to resolve this random post.

artpurge, done.

and to prove the apple doesn't fall far from the weird, artsy tree; a photo of my youngest - whose older brother had his own purge of artistic self-expression yesterday.

all over his younger brother's face.

"..gone to carolina.."

2011-09-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

i knew i missed the east/south - but how MUCH i missed it wasn't clear until we arrived. i love the sound of cicadas at night. i still vividly remember the first time i realized how silent idaho can be at night. i went on a date once to the sand dunes (no napoleon dynamite jokes please...) and we made a fire. something was "off" that made me uncomfortable and i couldn't put my finger on it. finally i realized it was the complete and utter SILENCE.
no bugs.
no critters.
no leaves in the wind.
no traffic.
nothing but the coyotes occasionally yelping in the distance.
(which incidentally abruptly ended the date and sent me speed walking for the car..)
i never got used to that silence. but oh the cicadas! i love their sound. ian was terrified the first time he heard them once we moved back. he's adjusted though.

driving around my home town, i felt like a weight had been lifted. not that i hated the places we lived. in fact there are things i miss from every state we've been in, but it just felt good to explore MY city again.
an AMAZING house fell into our laps here, which put ian in an amazing school~ we have a creek in the back yard and unlike the one in cascade, i don't have to worry about the rushing water carrying the boys away or bears possibly drinking from it. we do have copperheads though...ugh. we live in a cul-de-sac. and not a dirt one either. to the best of my knowledge, we have never had a mountain lion in the yard. or fawn carcass in a tree. or a bear cub by the garage. no large bears have punctured our trashcan. (although flies have invaded it.) i can't say the view is as beautiful here. there are no snow capped mountains surrounding us as we swim in the lake. the lake water isn't clear either. it's tinged with a combination of pollution and red clay. it's hard to find a place where a house isn't blocking your view. but the beach isn't too far. the mountains are within driving distance. there are lush, green trees everywhere. and the state fair is coming soon! fall is my favorite time of year - probably because i grew up here. the leaves are already starting to change.

okay, these are the opposite of the kinds of blogs i like to write. but consider yourself updated.

we are home, baby!

a few random pics

2011-09-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

We're Baa-aaaack

BOAT TIMES
Mommy & Ian - the whole Fam - Mommy & Owen

Owen with his cousin Sofie & with his Aunty Donna

FAMILY TIME
Aunt Bebe & Caden - Uncle Andrew & 'Fia

Sofia, Papa, Caden and Memere

Tia Maria with Sofia and Owen - Ian saying "goodbye" to his sweet cuz -

Baby 'Fia in LOVE with her big cousin

This one did NOT end well...

Sick boy wanting to be no other place than his Memere's arms~

the Crazies

SCHOOL DAYS
Ian's first day of 1st Grade - Owen kissing Ms. Jan on his first day of Preschool

NC Thunder Storm

Daddy's Secret Fishing Spot - Shrek in the Mud

Owen's 3rd Birthday

"Pony" rides in the back yard

Memere's Birthday!

Trying to be like Daddy...

Boys exploring the back yard - My little Poser

Randomness complete.

2011-05-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

today as i dropped ian off at school he came to my window to give me a kiss (as he does every morning), and i licked my thumb and started

mom-cleaning the grits that were left on his face from breakfast. he backed up in horror and said,

"MOM! you're doing that in front of EVERYBODY!!"

- even though no one was watching.

i embarrassed him.

i...embarrassed...my kindergartener.

*sniff...

granted he will be in 1st grade soon so he is practically a man. it really did make me a little sad though..

fortunately on his walk into school he continued to do what he does every morning, which is wave incessantly at owen and i, flash "i love you" signs, and even blew a kiss or two to his brother who every morning screams from his window,

"BYE IYO!!! YOVE UUU! GOOD DAAAY!!"

over and over until he his big brother is out of sight.

as long as he is still little enough to realize how uncool signing "i love you" and blowing kisses are then i guess we're still okay.
still, that was a close call.

as we were getting out of the car at home after dropping him off, owen marshall grabbed ian's old "CARS" backpack, tried to put it on himself and said for the first time ever,

"i go school"

i think i'm fighting a losing battle.

2011-02-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

the best thing about turning 30?

wisdom!

no that's not it.

accomplishing everything i've ever set as a goal for myself?!!

nopers.

starting a new phase of life?

ehh.. *with indifferent shrug*.

getting spoiled for a weekend?

i'm not THAT shallow people!

okay, yes i am. i am that shallow because so far the BEST thing about turning 30 has been the celebration of me - i mean IT! the celebration of it.

1st there was a box from home with some bday presents, then an unexpected bouquet of beautiful roses from my parents-in-law followed by the anticipation of a girls night out in which i had no idea what we were doing! (i do love a surprise) - especially since i was a little bummed to be so far away from friends this year~

my sister-in-law, tillia and my cousin, aleksi picked me up and we headed up to salt lake where we went to this awesome spa for pedicures. it really was such a neat place and the girls there were very cool. they even let us paint our fingernails while they did our toes which was pretty nice. sometimes i forget how i tend to view the world thru mother-of-little-boys eyes. i decided to choose this cool nail polish that sort of cracks as it dries to expose whatever color you have underneath. i informed everyone that my right big toe dried to look like an earthquake fault line and my left big toe dried looking reptilian. like a cool lizard. my uber-girly cousin, aleksi said she thought it looked more like black lace over the greenish/blue under color i had chosen. i suppose her way sounds prettier, but personally i think they should from here-on-out advertise this look as "reptilian earthquake". what woman wouldn't want that?!

here is the after pic; me (with the reptilian polish, tillia in blue and aleksi in gold).

i was also treated to some awesome shimmery grey o.p.i. after~

tillia had asked me earlier in the week what i would like to eat for my birthday dinner. i told her i would think about it and asked my boys. my husband said, (only semi-jokingly sadly) "i always like golden coral!" and my 6 year old quickly followed with "and i always like cracker barrel!"

"both EXCELLENT suggestions", i said.

i called her back to say sushi sounded heavenly.

and so after our feet and legs were spoiled with pedicures and massages, we headed to this amazing japanese restaurant, rated the BEST sushi in slc. we sat in the "traditional seating" area. while i have had a lot of sushi, i have never been to a "traditional" japanese restaurant. i sat with my legs sideways for a solid 20 minutes before i realized that the floor actually drops a foot or two underneath the table for your legs... my bad.

dinner was fantastic. beyond fantastic actually. the absolute PERFECT birthday meal.

after dinner we hung around until we started getting mean looks from the staff and decided we just wanted to skip a movie and hang out. so we stayed out talking until 2am.

aleksi gave me a pretty necklace and tillia told me that my "real"bday present were the tickets she had gotten for us to see"RENT" this summer.

YAAYY ME! although i have to say there is no one and i mean NO ONE that tillia could have more fun with at a show than myself. fact.

even though at the end of the night aleksi informed us that hanging out with tillia and i was like (and this is a DIRECT quote) "hanging out with two moms"

BURN... (in hindsight i suppose we did tell a lot of kid stories).

and even though i have been dreading this birthday, i have to say it was one

awesome evening.

i was informed not to expect this every year since 30 is a special one.

noted.

on my actual birthday, we celebrated with tiramisu and cake.

and after the boys were asleep, while andrew and i curled up watching a movie while binging on cake and "blood orange" drink stuff, andrew's sister, jen and her husband and girls dropped by with lots of cards and drawings and little gifts. it was a great way to end the day~

so that's it. i am now officially 30.

if wisdom happens to find me this year, i will be sure to let you know.

thanks to all my friends and family for the birthday wishes~

i feel loved.

and old.

A LOVE LETTER (sort of) - more, A LOVE TIMELINE

2010-11-27T23:48:00.000-08:00

PREFACE

I am not someone who GUSHES about being a mother and kids and love and my husband and the perfection that is my life. It's not me. It's part that I don't always buy it when people do it on their blogs, facebook, etc.. - and it's part that those things are close to my heart and announcing it incessantly to the public somehow cheapens it to me (I have issues, I know). It's part that I am a ridiculously affectionate person, who kisses and hugs and tackles her kids and husband and nieces and nephews constantly so I don't need to gush in writing how much I love them - they know it. And finally, part that I get bored reading how perfect life and love are on other people's blogs - would rather write about how my kid asked me if you can get heat stroke in heaven, or how my 2 year old literally drank from the toilet, or how a few days ago I had to scold my 5 year old (without an explanation of course) as to why we don't walk around saying "is that a banana in your pocket?" (NO idea by the way where he heard that)! Or about how one time my husband bought me a card and gifts for our anniversary and was secretly a little pleased that I had been the one to forget our anniversary since I hadn't told him

"Happy Anniversary" alllll day - only for him to discover that evening (just about to give me my presents) that he was exactly one month early. We were married in November, NOT October. Which leads me to this... Our anniversary is November 28th. This is our 7th anniversary. A big one to me.

My husband likes when people gush.

And so I offer this out-of-the-normal LOVE LETTER!

ahem.. A LOVE LETTER (sort of) - more, A LOVE TIMELINE

First, we were friends.

Okay, that's not entirely true.

FIRST, we were acquaintances. After all, you were the painfully shy kid in the back of Sunday School Class building forts out of your suit jacket and the chairs. I was the oldest kid in class, sneaking out every chance I got to go to the older, cooler Sunday School class... You know, the one with the kids NOT building forts in the back of the class.

THEN, we were friends. We hung out sometimes with a group of friends. You took me canoeing and on adventures in the woods. We "borrowed" a paddle-boat at night once. You came to my plays. We went to different schools, but shared an after-school job (juice bars won't work themselves after all). I watched you lift weights between customers. You watched me blush when I couldn't make correct change. I gave you girl advice, (as I was a year ahead of you in school and thus infinitely wiser in the ways of love). You made me this for Valentine's Day one year, (even though I was dating someone else). I kept it forever and now it sits in our home.

Years passed by. We lived other places. Did other things. Had our own heartaches and trials and sporadically kept in touch through letters and "Hi's" from family members.

THEN, near the end of the summer we got together as FRIENDS. Because we were old buddies and no one else was around and why not hang out a few times before summer ended?Except, it wasn't a few times... and we were not apart - even for a day - after that. It went from kind of hoping we would be able to get together the next day, to needing to see each other every day. We were scared and neither was looking for love. Or marriage. We knew it though. It was done. We knew like we knew like we knew it was supposed to be this way. But even still, I was scared. So I left for school at the end of the summer. After attending a friend's wedding and trip to the SLC temple, I knew for sure. For sure. But did it have to be NOW?? I didn't want to be "that" girl. The flaky girl. The girl who leaves school to go get married. I was "President" after all... I had responsibilities and school was SO much FUN! But after 2,219 miles and starting to unpack, my perfect plan was starting to unravel. It took a Bishop telling me "I knew. I knew when i set you apart to be President that something would come to intercept you. But you needed to prepare to be President. Do you want me to tell you what to do?" "YES!" I exclaimed. I knew what he would say... "Go and pray about things. You will know what to do." But he didn't say that. He said, "Go home. Marry him. He sounds wonderful." And that was it. I needed permission from someone on the outside. Someone to say, "It's okay to be that flaky girl." So I drove 2,219 miles home. We dated. We got Engaged. We got married. We stayed for a bit in good ol' NC, and then I headed back to school. This time, with you.

Our first place was just as every couple's first place SHOULD be. Old, dusty, a light that hung from a chain. A stove that forced you to open the door even in negative temperatures so you didn't get sick from the smell. I made dinners. We went on little outdoor trips. We went on dates to school things like plays and guitar competitions. But mostly, we just stayed in. We didn't want to be entertained. We didn't want to make new friends. We just wanted to hang out.

Together.

We had it all planned out. It wasn't really all that difficult - this little life we had made. Until...

UNTIL...

THIS happened. Quite by accident. Quite unexpectedly. We were married 5 months. That's it. Just 5 little months. We were most assuredly NOT trying. We were most assuredly NOT ready. But he was. He changed our plans. Our life. Our outlook. You were in haze of shock those days. You were good with him - tender, attentive, concerned, loving, but you also flew him around the room like an airplane and slid him down the couch like he was on a slide, until I told you newborns didn't so much appreciate that kind of thing. We stayed for a awhile. In the cold. We stopped back in NC and then moved to somewhere tropical. Where we saw more than one small alligator hit by a car laying in the road. Our plans had changed and we tried to adjust. Your professors loved you. Offered you a job. But we wanted something different. Out west. "Train in your profession HERE", they said. So when classes wrapped up, and you had passed your national certification, we moved. This time to Washington. More school. More certifications. More living with other family. By this point we had spent most of our marriage living with other people. Good people, but it was still hard. Finally you were hired to "give the breath of live" I believe you called it? We moved to Spokane. Not an especially beautiful city, but we loved it. It will forever be one of the best summers of my life. We had our own little place. There were a million parks and rivers and lakes and hikes and playgrounds to choose from. I went where I wanted to go when I wanted with my little sidekick. Ian and I swam and played and explored. you applied for firefighting jobs all over. But the economy was bad. A single job opening would yield one thousand applicants or more. Literally! So you branched out...and then.......

THEN an opportunity. A real job! Not what you were trained in necessarily, but law enforcement was kind of similar... We didn't know where the town was - (most people don't know where the town is!) We scouted it out. We checked out the one grocery store in town. It closed at 7pm. A library no bigger than our apartment in Spokane. Wild-life...well, EVERYWHERE. It was an adventure. A foot in the door. So we went. You moved in and set us up while I visited NC with the boy. I was nervous. As I was flying to you, exhausted and drained and nervous and waiting... waiting... for my flight that had been delayed, you told me something you shouldn't have. The first of many times you would tell me something you shouldn't have. A cougar attacked a deer IN our yard. Not near our yard. IN our yard. And what's more, with you and your parents (who were helping you move in) sitting outside. NOT GOOD. Then you told me that the next day you had found a fawn carcass in a tree IN our yard. It was old, not from the attack the night before... OH. Good. So, I cried. In the airport. In front of strangers. Ian played on the floor and I sat there on the phone and cried. Hard. I am not a country girl. I don't like cougars. Deer aren't even that magical to me. I flew into Boise and we drove the windy, long drive through the canyon, past the rushing river to our new home. I called Fish and Game. They told me to keep my 3 yr old close to me at all times. "Don't be out at dusk or down. Cougars don't normally attack in front of people....". "DUH, Fish and Game! That's why I called!!" So I cowered in our home. I trembled (literally trembled) when I took out the trash. Made lots of noise to scare anything away before I would even walk from the car to the front door. (I admit, that makes me giggle now). Our first week there, a bear got into our trash. Twice. Punctured the lid with it's nails or teeth or something, even though you had tied the lid down to show that bear who was boss. Our neighbors excitedly told us a tiny bear cub was hanging out by our garage. You were in heaven. I was in... not heaven. But we stayed. The fires that had ushered the animals down into the valleys eventually let up and from then on, we saw cuter things. Foxes (my favorite)! Cows, (again, IN our yard). Bunnies. Horses. Elk. Raccoons. Baby skunks. We loved the beauty. We made friends that we were supposed to make. That are now a part of us. They became family in a place where we had none. In a place where you were forced to meet your neighbor. To help each other. To work together to survive a winter! We stayed almost 3 years. It was hard. Sometimes fun. Heartbreaking. But that is where we really became a family. Our little boy went from a toddler to a kid. We had another baby. Not the girl the ultrasound promised and we prepared for with a pink and brown nursery and car seat and beautiful/trendy wardrobe, but a boy. A shocking surprise during a routine c-section. Our life together has indeed been full of surprises. Two boys. Living in the place little boys are made of. Dirt roads. 4wheelers. Men who get together and talk about their trucks and hunting. Dogs with no leashes. Mud. Snow. Rivers. Stray kitties...sighhhh....!

But then, it was time to go. you got into every University in Idaho. We decided on Boise. And then, out of the clear blue sky, an opportunity for a new place. Better hospitals/dr's for our baby. An amazing school for our little Kindergartner. A city for me. A CITY. Your old stomping grounds. School somewhere else. Near some family. So we moved. And even though there were trials, lots of trials... and even though it was not easy to live there at times,

it was hard to say "goodbye". Harder than we imagined.

THEN, we came here. Counting every little apartment change and move early on, this made move #11. We will try to move again before the New Year. Out of this apartment. Move 12 in 7 years. 12.

12 moves. 5 states. 2 kids.

Remember when we first started dating? Remember how EVERYone was shocked?! LoL~ We grew up 8 minutes apart. Went to different schools, but similar schools nonetheless. And yet, and yet... we could not have been more different. "City Mouse and Country Mouse" my mom used to say. I once watched you kill a copperhead in my parent's yard. I filled you in on all the old-school SNL and Belushi references you didn't get when watching "the Office", etc.. (I do have a comedy background after all). You taught me what makes a QUALITY hunting knife and to appreciate "Man vs. Wild" for more than just his accent and 6pack - (who said that?!) I taught you the cast of "Wicked" and each of their personal bios. The words to almost every song in "Rent" (which I won't tell everyone I used to find playing on the cd player in the car when you had been the last one in it). You taught me the difference between black bear and grizzly, between "real" camping and "fake" camping (I think we know which I prefer), how to stand back and look at the "bigger picture", and that hating people who hate others is.... well, kind of the same thing (still trying to embrace that lesson though).

So here we are at 7 years. Which has always scared me a little.

"The 7 year itch", "7 year curse", "Unlucky #" you guessed it "7".

Despite our differences, despite our change of plans, despite the hardships and unexpected twists and turns, there is one thing we have always had in common. Before the kids. Before marriage. Before worrying about money and health and the future and having the answers. Before ANY of it.

YOU - MADE - ME - LAUGH.

And let's face it, I have always been able to make you laugh too. Even when things are bad. When there is loss or sickness, we can find SOMEthing to laugh about. Sometimes inappropriately. I hope we will always laugh together. The other day I listened to a bunch of messages I had saved on my phone. There was one of someone "baaa-ing". Nothing else. Just a long "BAAAAAAAAA". It made me laugh. Out loud. I got it.. A few years ago for our anniversary you wrote me a poem a la Michael Scott - entitled, "I Know the Crap Out of Women".

It was awesome.

Even when I went to kill you. Even when you want to lock me in a closet and throw away the key. Even when we are sitting in a hospital facing something potentially life-changing and scary. Even when the boys are being unbelievably naughty. Even when the "light" at the end of the tunnel seems more like a teeny, tiny flicker... We laugh.

Together.

This past week we went on a date. Our first REAL date in years.

We had a BLAST!

We had FUN!

We had... to go home at 8:30pm because our toddler was throwing up everywhere.

And yet, we shook our heads at our unbelievable misfortune, and laughed.

I love you. You make me crazy sometimes. But you also take care of me when I need it. You talk to me and listen to me. You take care of dinner when I have epically failed. You put the boys to bed (sometimes with bedtime stories I do not approve of, but whatever..)

You laugh at my awesome jokes. You feign enthusiasm for the things I care about that you do not. You help me talk things out when all I want to do is REACT.

And best of all, you make me laugh.

So, HAppy 7th Anniversary.

You make me giggle, AcS.

Almost every single day for the past 7 years we have laughed together at SOMEthing.

*Remember a few weeks ago around Halloween when everyone was dressed up a the bank and you complimented that man on his very authentic looking costume, only for him to assure you (in a most insulted manner) that he was in fact a REAL doctor? - Giggles.

*Remember when you texted me a few days ago and told me you were singing your heart out to yourself in the car and there was NOTHING you couldn't sing? - Chuckles.

*Remember your Karate Moves? - Belly Laughs.

*Your Robot? - Embarrassed Laughs

*Remember years ago when I scared you while you were taking a shower? I yelled "BOO!" You were washing your hair and you jumped SO HIGH and your arms came crashing down so hard that you took down the whole shower curtain - rod and all? - Pure. Comic. Awesomeness.

Even when you don't mean to, you make me laugh.

Happy Anniversary, Stapf

XOXO and oh yeah... XO

- you - me - and gwyn. p. -

2010-11-23T23:28:00.000-08:00

just caught up on the last two episodes of GLEE. no tv. so i always have to wait until at least the next day to watch my favs on hulu.

just for the record - nay, for posterity - my current favorite show... the show that brings more LOUD-hope-i-didn't-wake-the-boys LAUGH OUT LOUDs than ANY other show that i hold close to my heart?...

MODERN FAMILY (and i've never even seen the first season).

i love "the office", "30 rock", "grey's..", "real housewives of (insert city here)" - i am only human after all. but week after week "modern family" delivers. those kids slay me. especially the boys.

but i come to you today with a quick thought about a one: gwyneth p. - i am not a gwyneth p. HATER as so many are. nor am i completely enamored of her. i actually like her more than dislike her. i think she has strong moments and there is something sort of interesting about watching her - especially in the dramatics. i like her take on "i'm scared". but the interest turns into an almost... cringe, when i see her doing comedy. and here is why...

I! DON'T! BUY IT!

maybe that's part of the appeal or irony or something. she sort of has this snotty, perfectionist, buttoned up public image that may or may not be true, but something about her doing comedy - straight comedy (i'm not talking moments here and there) - but a complete commitment to a comedic script - BUGS ME.

for anyone who watched, the whole mary todd lincoln thing actually made me blurt a laugh out. i didn't mean to, it just happened. although i attribute that mostly to the writing - she pulled it off though. well played, g.p.

it's all the other stuff. her being funny and finding the comedic timing (good editing much?...) and being "free" with her body and "in" the moment - i just don't believe it. and it bothers me. because what keeps flashing through my mind is "TRY". she is TRYING too hard. you can actually SEE her acting. please, give me an emma stone. a kristen chenowith. a lily tomlin. or you know what?? - to even it out since those are first and foremost comedic actresses, give me a juliette lewis. a zooey deschanel. a diane keaton!! SOMEone who pulls off doing both.

and so, i needed someone to know how i felt. i haven't read any reviews of her "glee" stint so i don't know what all has been said in the past week. and i don't know when gwyneth's new movie comes out. she will probably be amazing and win an oscar and i will look like a fool for calling her out on anything. but then again...when she wins "best actress" in a comedy...or even "best supporting actress" - call me.

i will eat my words.

ps great blog universe... am i alone in these feelings?

pps (friends who feel the same better leave a "comment" or we are done. DONE i say. you know who you are.) if you don't feel the same way i suppose you can leave a comment also..

feminism, thai food, and 5 year olds

2010-09-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

it must be confusing to be a 5 year old. anything is possible. ANYthing. bigfoot is NOT real, but santa IS. there are NO such thing as monsters, transformers however, are not only possible, but hidden in plain sight all around us.

ian and owen are watching an elmo dvd. and as i'm typing about being 5, ian just turned to me and said, "mommy do YOU know how to get to sesame street?" (the opening song seemed to imply that i did). i can sense his disappointment in me that i do not know how to get there..

so andrew called me a few hours ago and told me about this program that would be on npr today entitled "mormon feminism today"(here were the guests. the woman on the left is historian claudia bushman from claremont university and on the right is the scholar and blogger for "ask mormon girl" and "religiondispatches.org", joanna brooks - although i'm partial to feministmormonhousewives.org myself). i got the live feed off the internet and listened and then put it on in the car while i went to pick up ian from school, then came back home and finished listening online. i really enjoyed it and was just getting offline when ian walked over to me and said "mom what are you listening to?" to which i said, "oh just the radio". (i figured he was confused since i wasn't watching a show but was listening to something - don't think i've EVER used the computer to listen to npr before - or willingly turned it on in the car for that matter).. he said, "like cowboys and stuff??" i stared at him and said, "noo... just people talking. it's a show - but it's just talking and you listen to it". he was getting somewhat annoyed and said, "yeah, but like cowboys?? like with bulls and stuff?" i stared another 2 seconds and then started laughing so hard i could hardly answer him. "no ian, not RODEO... RAAADIO." i then told him how cute he was and FORCED myself to stop laughing. he stared at me like i was crazy, but also like he was a bit pleased with himself for managing to pull off being cute to mom without any real effort.

ahhh 5. so much is possible.

ps a special "I'M SO SORRYYYY" to my niece leland this fine day. after i picked up the kids i proudly served them the thai food i prepared. that's right...i had lunch ready and waiting for them BEFORE they even got home from school! booya!! i had forgotten to sprinkle the peanuts on top and was holding them in my hand when i yelled "LELAND STOP!" she is severely allergic to peanuts you see, and what had her aunt bebe made her for lunch?? just some delicious thai food with deadly peanut sauce. fortunately she had only had a few bites. i called tillia and benadryl'd her up. thank goodness she didn't have a reaction. i felt so sick i could barely eat.. (although in the end i was able to power through. what can i say?...i'm a fighter.) love you, little girl. i'm sorry i tried to make your face swell to twice its size, throat shut and ship you off to the hospital. although at least i didn't give her a peanutbutter cup - which rumor has it her dad tried to do once.

pps jen, you may want to rethink me EVER watching your girls...

mermaids (no, not the movie with cher)

2010-09-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

i always have some sort of story or topic in mind when i write.

always.

today i'm going to see where the wind (and the migraine pill i just took) takes me...

ian is in kindergarten. kindergarten is kind of hard. harder than i expected. he has homework every night, projects, memorizations to pass off each week and reading to complete.
this is what i did in kindergarten: colored. oh and sang. uh ohhhh...
kindergarten flashback!
3 kindergarten flashbacks actually. it must be your (anyone reading this) lucky day!
richmond, virginia.
flashback 1: a little girl named elizabeth crying. she had glasses and short curly, dark hair. she didn't want to be away from her mommy. i put my arm around her and mothered her. (yes, i was "that" kid)... "it's going to be okay", i said. "you'll see her soon"! i don't remember if it helped or not. i'd like to think i changed her life that day.
flashback 2: we had to color mermaids. i did a lovely job. travis (who was also on my soccer team) decided to draw an anatomically correct chest on his mermaid. i took his paper, brought it the teacher and showed the offense. (yep..i was "that" kid too). i can still remember her lips pursed together trying not to laugh. sadly, she did not share my sense of outrage.
flashback 3: play-time. playing house, my favorite game!! (which is ironic considering how bad i am at "house" now). travis threw a block of some sort at john (also on my soccer team - his dad was the coach if memory serves). john screamed and started bleeding. mrs. harper and the assistant carried him awkwardly out of the room and down the hall to the principal's office. travis stood there crying. i don't think he was looking for john to get stitches (which he did) - he was probably just trying to teach him a lesson of some kind. lesson learned. wooden blocks hurt.

ps as i sign off i am listening to ian and his kindergarten cousin, leland (they are in the same class - although sadly, they are no longer allowed to sit next to eachother).. discuss how frustrating it is when half your body wants to play wii and half your body doesn't. now they are arguing over who get's to pretend to be a dog. ian says scooby doo is a boy dog and he is a boy, so leland doesn't get to be the dog. at least he didn't throw a block at her head to prove his point. well done, son.
oh..and in "owen-news", he has finally learned to put ian's vampire teeth in his mouth correctly. it is accompanied by a growl - which we all know vampires don't really do - at least not in the way he's doing it. oh young owen, i have so much to teach you...

all the single ladies...all the single ladies...now put your hands UP!

2010-08-28T01:44:00.000-07:00

(single lady. putting her freshly painted hand up).

for my niece leland's birthday this year we gave her a gift certificate for a manicure/pedicure (she is one of the VERY girliest people in my life after all..) she was supposed to have a sleep-over at our house tonight with ian, but he wasn't feeling up for it after his chicken-pox vaccination today. so instead, i decided to have a girls' night and take leland to get her nails done~ she made the very fashion-minded pick of red sparkles (to match her school uniform of course). i tried to talk her into switching and giving me her gift certificate half-way thru, but for some reason she just laughed at me...
the manicure/pedicure for li'l ladies includes flowers on the thumbs and big toes. after about 5 practice pictures, leland finally figured out how to do a kissy-face picture (while showing her thumb flower) as opposed to a fishy-face picture (it's a tough skill to master).
dinner at bajio. girlfriend put away some food! she also may have told me that her mommy took a nap on the couch downstairs today and that was why she missed lunch.. LoL~ (tillia, i will assume she made that up). after dinner leland wasn't quite ready for girls' nite to end, so she accompanied me grocery shopping. grocery shopping came to an abrupt end when we got a phone call that another certain niece needed her diaper changed.. (leland's parents were on a date and apparently the diaper was so bad it could only be done by aunt bebe, SUPER AUNT).
when we got back to the house, we took a few pics together to remember our evening out.
i thought this was a good one... didn't realize leland was doing her fish/kissy face until she insisted i take another pic with her doing the same face. i fully appreciate her sillyheadedness.

ps thanks for convincing me to buy those two new sparkly $.99 nailpolishes, leland. i have a feeling ian would have picked out something different...

just to recap

2010-08-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

hey.. remember that time i didn't blog for 5 months?

here is a "short" (short for me.. you do NOT want the intricate details of the past 5 months as i tend to be a bit long-winded - or so i'm told).. recap of our events.

aaaand.... we're off!

we live in utah now. near my older brother and his fam, and andrew's older sister and her fam. 10 minutes from each.

here we are last week at leland's birthday party at the natural history museum (or the dinosaur museum as everyone here calls it). it was quite the party and all the kids had a blast~ we had our own party room, tour guide and best of all the kids got to make fossils. they mix their own plaster and pour it into the mold they chose (ian picked a saber tooth tiger tooth - at least i think that's what it is) - and then as they they all leave to wash their hands, the tour guide swaps out all their molds for ones that have already dried. ha ha! kids are dumb. then they all come back in the room and pop "their" fossils out of the mold. (that is tillia's sister stacie's daughter, shelbie above. stacie has been visiting for the past month and we all got to hang out a few times. wish they didn't live so far. stupid florida).

ian with his aunt t.t., the birthday girl who just turned 6!, and ian with his uncle brian

my other niece, ruby had a BLAST causing chaos and exploring all things dinosaur. and because she looked and was being SO STINKING CUTE that day, she pretty much had free rein to do as she wished as every adult (me most of all) looked on in adoration.

last week i also had a mini-roommate reunion. i posed for a picture with ian before taking off. he was not thrilled at his not being invited. i told him he had to go to college first and then he could come. that seemed to make sense to him and he accepted it pretty graciously.we ate at mimi's cafe and sat and talked and talked and talked until i'm pretty sure our waitress's shift ended..

jessica, amber, me and kati

my OTHER (i have SEVERAL) niece, evelyn turned 8 a few weeks ago and was baptized a few days later. it was a very cool baptism and we were excited to finally live close enough to family to participate in something!

here we are with the girl of the hour~

evelyn is NOT much of a hug-giver. she's like the most frugal 8 year old girl in the world, only instead of money, her fugality is with hugs. my cousin aleksi moved to utah the same time we did (and i am SO excited to have her here!!) here she is forcing evelyn to hug her. no easy task. my little prickly pear as i call her~ (evelyn, not aleksi!)
owen's favorite part of the baptism?.. hands down the refreshments at the end. he didn't even pour out his drink onto the floor (a favorite and precious little game of his.... SIGH). as i helped with refreshments and andrew mingled with the grown-ups, i realized i had not seen owen in at least ten minutes. (i was doing refreshments, CLEARLY i was not to be expected to keep an eye on our two year old... right?? the one mingling is supposed to watch the child. an unspoken rule, non??) and so we split up and tore through the church trying to find our mischievous little boy. andrew finally found him, at the opposite end of the church, away from everyone, crying and with his little hands pressed to the glass door leading outside. i'm not sure what his plan was, but i think he figured if he could get outside he would find everyone/thing he was looking for. which would not have been the case.

sami, abby and lydi

here are andrew's sister's girls, who threw owen one awesome party a few days after his birthday. (since it appeared to ian that owen's birthday lasted several days, he has asked again and AGAIN if he can have a LONG birthday just like owen). sami and abby decorated the house for owen and aunt jen made some delicious gluton-free cupcakes!

as you can see, owen was thrilled to be the center of attention! it was pretty much the greatest party a two year old could ask for~ not that aunt jen had much competition.. here is the party that i threw owen. i bought red and white plates, etc.. and decided to do a baseball/ball theme. my two splurges were the balloons and the CAKE, the GLUE, the thing that tied the whole party together, an AWESOME BASEBALL CAKE!!! i bought the mold at the party store and andrew made the batter and lovingly cooked it. i destroyed one half of it the first time bc it was still a bit too warm when i tried to take it out of the mold, but we persevered! (or andrew did rather as i wrapped presents and blew up a huge pack of balloons). i lovingly frosted the bottom half of the cake carefully, slowly, with all the craft-skill (not much in me) and mother-pride i could muster! we waited for the top half to cool. and ever so delicately andrew placed the top half onto my frosted lower half of a beautiful baseball ball. the problem we believe is that i had scooped out the bottom half to fill it with deliciousness. we did not scoop out the top half. it was a bit dense and .... sniff..sniff... HEAVY. at approximately 2am, this is what happened. followed by tears. (mine, not andrew's), sitting on the kitchen floor in a big pile of "i'm a failure as a mother" and finally a few laughs.

and so, in the morning we threw owen his cake-less party - ohhh.. but not before we lost power for SEVERAL HOURS from about 5am on and i took it as a sign to call everyone and officially cancel his party. so after our breakfast family celebration-o-owen, we decided to take the boys to a magical place...a place where all your dreams come true...a place where anything is possible!!...a place that has not been remodeled since the 70's and a place where your hands actually feel weighed down from the pounds of germs you know must be on them after playing each game and carrying around a handful of coins. that's right. a one - CHUCK-E-CHEESE.

this was the first "ride" to be tested. naturally...these are andrew's boys after all! i have to admit chucky cheese was probably a little more for ian since he's been asking to go there since he began talking. but owen didn't complain. until he saw the "stage" that is. you know, with the animatronics - those creepy HUGE, not so cute and cuddly, robotic and unfluid in movement, disney land rejects. he was in some kind of trance watching the "show" as he ate his pizza and sipped his lemonade. every so often he would almost smile and so after 20 minutes or so, i picked him up and walked about 4 steps closer to the stage, (which by the way was still about a football field in length away). he started crying and gripped my arms in terror and back to the table we went.

finally, later that evening we took the boys to toys-r-us to pick up the gift memere and papa had gotten him. of course he and ian had to try out every bike, trike and toy not tied down or in a box first. but we left with a brand new cozy coup for little owen. the same kind i had when i was little. he sits in it every day. and or climbs on it (with the assistance of his big brother)..

here is owen going for a stolen tricycle spin through toys-r-us.

in between chuck-e-cheese and toys-r-us, ian and i headed over to evelyn's party. she had it at this new bowling alley. we were in this cool room with movie screens above every lane! the kids were in heaven. there was also a nice laser tag course they got to do and an arcade. it was a pretty sweet bowling alley. and an action packed party!

me with coral, (stacie's youngest girl) - under that beautiful exterior lurks one naughty little monkey! LOL - good thing she has the face of an angel.

new box of cheerios + a climbing toddler = breakfast ON the table. owen had a blast and eventually ian grabbed a spoon and joined in the fun. ohh...little boys...

we saw one of santa's reindeer on our way to utah lake one day. i think this one summers here.

utah lake. started as a super fun day. we played and swam and ignored the filthiness of the water...right up until ian stepped on an old fishhook - in the water. what r the odds? it actually wrapped around his toe rather than going in it, but for him - the day was DONE.
i must admit, i love the weather here. it has been a pretty mild summer since we arrived so we have been on several little hikes and adventures. here were are at bridal veil falls. the water was ICE COLD, but the boys didn't mind.

owen tries so very hard to be like his big brother. of course he can never quite seem to do things exactly like ian. owen held this pose for at LEAST 45-60 seconds while ian did somersaults around him.

ian was in a tree and so owen just had to be there as well.

of course ian's favorite thing about life in utah has been getting to spend time with his cousins.

the kids decided to put on a circus for us one day. they actually had it pretty organized! fake names, 3 acts and a bow at the end. it was awesome.

so i guess that's it for now. will have to blog about our final days in idaho soon. ian starts school in a week. owen continues to perfect his tantrum technique. and andrew and i are adjusting to life in utah.

the end.

have added three albums on facebook of life in utah thus far. tons and tons of pictures. later, my readers.

2010-03-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

sooo... for those of you who know me well - (really well) - know my craziness and aren't fazed by it, etc.. the revealing of my latest borderline ocd trait will come as no surprise to you. for those of who don't, here's the deal: sometimes...SOMEtimes i get "excited" about something and get a little - hmmm what's another word for "obsessed"?? - over zealous! in my "research" of said thing.. it could be finding the perfect diaper bag, researching a behavioral/child rearing issue, finding the best dog breed for our family, the PERFECT under-eye concealer (fyi - bobbi brown) - but not the point... i will not rest until i have searched page after page after page of examples and reviews and photos and information - (or until my mouse hand and shoulder cramp up) - whichever comes first.

so this past week i decided to find a watch.

(not buy...just find - just so i know it's out there. waiting for me and my large-boned wrist).

a watch with personality! chutzpah! that certain je ne sai quoi that sets it apart from all other watches. yes, it's a huge burden for a watch to carry,

but i knew it was out there.

i searched ebay, bidz, and small specialized boutiques online. i looked at the ones ridiculously out of my price range: dolce & gabbana, calgaro, marc by marc jacobs, nixon (i do love nixon), vestal, and many, many more. i found several i really liked and made a list of my favorite brands. and then i thought of one last site to try. my beloved etsy.com. i have ordered a few things from etsy

(handmade and at a ridiculously awesome price!)

and what to my wandering eyes should appear??

but a korean based shop that makes the watches of my dreams-happy tear.

i will be saving my money for a time (no pun intended) to be able to afford one of these, but i HAD to share with you the coolest, most unique (literally one of a kind), beautiful, STATEMENT piece watches i've ever seen. (and since about half my wardrobe is couture - having the ONLY one in the world is important to me)! okay that's a lie. although my victoria's secret yoga pants have so many holes in them from repeatedly wearing and washing them more than anyone who doesn't actually do yoga should - and have been "patched" up with my awesome sewing skills so many times that i'm pretty sure they qualify as "couture".

anyway, i am in love...

behold.

i believe you can choose any color leather you want, ask for unique stitching and they can be personalized with a quote or initials (already included in the price).

i think it is just one woman who makes these, but i'm not sure... i do know she has 100% POSITIVE feedback from her etsy buyers and apparently ships them very quickly.

oh the watches!!

cute ones...

dressy...

his & her matching ones...

and these nameplate ones that wrap twice. i thought i was ordering one of these for an AMAZING price...lol...but i was wrong. a miscommunication that was entirely my fault!

she was amazing and replied to all my inquiries immediately.

she ended up giving me an awesome deal on something else - which was so nice of her bc it was TOTALLY my fault! she didn't charge me a penny more and is engraving it and everything.

i promised her i was saving up and would be back for my dream watch in due time.

here are some other accessories she has. necklaces, bracelets, etc..

i think the "missing" leather bracelet is pretty sweet. that one is $50.

this is the necklace she's mailing me with a small engraving somewhere on it.. i can't wait to get it - and i will faithfully wear it around my house as i vacuum, do laundry, watch hulu.com, etc...

(i'm committed). and maybe someday i will even get to wear it out in the big city... of boise.

anyway, judge me if you'd like. make your snide comments like:

"brittany, you have WAY too much time on your hands".

ACTUALLY, i "researched" watches at night after the boys were asleep. twice going to bed well after 2:30am - AND i had MANY other things that i NEEDED to get done... ie. paying bills online, etc... so...

HA. jokes on you. i didn't have too much time on my hands, i MADE the time. it's what i do.

there are tons more on her etsy site, some even more unique/strange/cool than the ones above, and some more girlie if that's your thing.

if any of you are interested in being awesome, here is her site:

Marrianne Handcraft Watch & Band Studio

http://www.etsy.com/shop/revolt70

they range from about $120-$250 and $315 total for the "his&hers"

happy shopping! let me know if any of you get one and hey,

enjoy being cooler than everyone else!

it's like i'm changing the world for the better one blog post at a time...

you're all welcome.

all things ian. and also ninjas.

2010-02-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

ian is officially 5 now.

he had a pretty sweet birthday considering we had a small party at home and i made ian take a nap first. i looked up games for kids' parties online and found this little gem... the kids then drew names for teams and decided who would be the wrapper and who would be the mummy. since it was a "super hero" themed party, about 30 seconds before i explained the "game"... i thought to say their super power was the speed of - toilet paper wrapping - obviously a gread power to have.

ha ha! oh precious little ones - you're so easy to fool. they had a blast. i didn't know if they would lose interest or think it was boring but i'm telling you, it was a HIT!

then they hopped around in their mummy suits for a minute or so,

posed for some pictures,

and got to rip it all off and toss it around in a huge t.p. fight.

we also did a marble/water/toe contest thing that i won't do again. everyone was dead quiet as each kid took a turn trying to pick up marbles with their toes one at a time and see who got the most.

it was not the liveliest game. lol.

although they didn't complain so i guess they kind of liked it..

ian's stomp rocket jr. however, was another party favorite! all the boys even assembled themselves into an orderly line without anyone asking.. we did it again and again and again...

merandy, thanks again for bringing ian's dream cake!

ian's gang.

meanwhile, owen looking gross covered in cake.

ian also started pre-school a few weeks ago. he is loving, loving, loving it. unfortunately all his knowledge of what to expect in a school has come from the few moments he saw of "high school musical" at his cousins, and what he's seen on various Nickelodeon shows...."no ian, girls will NOT be trying to kiss you"... "no, teachers do NOT LIVE at the school and only go home to get ready".."yes, there is a library INSIDE the school so you don't have to drive to one on library days"

NEVER have two boys been more excited to explore a school!! ian was in awe of the REAL lockers! and because we live in such a small town, he recognized at least 5 kids sitting in their various classrooms or with their pictures in the hallways, etc.. which made him feel very cool.

ian signs in every day first thing. here he is with his teacher helping him on the first day.

i am pretty sure this must be some kind of "naughty chair" outside the classroom. owen decided it was the PERFECT size for him and immediately climbed up.

on the day of his preschool "interview", we borrowed a friend's truck. it died - in the middle of the highway - on the way. i called andrew at work and had him call the school to tell them we would be late. not 90 seconds after the truck stopped, a friend and ISP officer came driving to the rescue and flipped a u-turn and pulled up behind us. ian asked in the most sincere voice if we were going to jail. i assured him we were not and the police officers HELP the good people and bring the bad ones to jail so the good people are safe. (ironic he didn't know this since his daddy is in law enforcement, but whatever..). then our buddy who's truck we borrowed also showed up and traded cars with us so we could get to the school and he could fix his truck. he is also an officer. ian talked for several days about how two police men came to our rescue and were our heroes. as far as he was concerned it was pretty much the best possibly way to begin his school year. after the interview on our way home i said, "ian, do you remember your teacher's name?" "hmm.." he said, "mrs......Hogganballu?" "uhh no!... close!" i said. "it's mrs. rosen (roseen)". i'm sincerely hoping his memory serves him better throughout his academic career then it did in remembering his teacher's name. i also said something to the effect of, "she seems like a really nice lady, huh?!" to which he said, "mommy! THANK you for saying lady - so i can say SEXY! hey sexy-lady!!"

sigh...yes, this was our conversation. heaven help me.

ian's "bestbuddytodd" (all one word) as he refers to him has made waaaayyy too many jokes about the girls chasing ian on the playground and trying to kiss him. so much so that it was the primary topic of conversation about school for the week leading up to his first day. i promised him they would NOT try to kiss him - then it took a turn for a few days into a conversation about ian kissing the girls. in fact, when he got on the phone to talk to my mom about school, it was the FIRST thing he mentioned to her. finally i told him that if he kissed any girls at school then their daddy's would come to the school and get VERY upset and say,

"WHY DID YOU KISS MY DAUGHTER?!"

he hasn't brought it up since.

here was the first day daddy got to see ian's class and meet his teacher.

5 minutes later, here was andrew having a mild anxiety attack as he thought about his own "joy"-filled school days... we worked thru it though and he was able to get into the

"school-is-AWESOME!" spirit eventually.

owen now makes himself at home when we drop ian off. he is pretty pleased with himself when he makes it up on the stools with no assistance.. (see the little smirk on his face?)

so, in honor of all things ian,

here are a few more ianisms for your sunday.

1. the other day i had on my MAC shimmer stuff that my sweet friend, annie hardison moody gave me last time i was in nc. (she knows the way to my heart for sure). i wear it all the time but for some reason on this day it caught ian's attention. i had it on my collarbone/chest and i guess the light (in the living room. i know - i know. i shouldn't be wasting mac makeup on myself when i have NOWHERE to go, but i just love it so very much. and so do my collarbone, eyelids and cheeks, even if the only light that has the chance to reflect off the shimmer is the one hanging from the fan in the living room). anyway, ian was snuggling me and sitting on my lap. he pointed to my collarbone and said in his inquisitive little voice with his eyebrows raised, "mommy, did you decorate here??"

DANGIT. that seemed much funnier when it happened then it does now in writing it. oh well.

it did make me feel like a christmas tree though...

2. ian likes to run into whatever room i happen to be in when he's watching "ni hao, kai lan" and bust out a chinese word and then tell me what it means. i love when he does that~ anyway, he told me his new word, and then said, "do you think someday we will go to china?" to which i said, "oh that would be so awesome!! yeah, maybe someday all of us can go to china together. we could see so many neat things! that's such a great idea, ian. do you want to go there someday?!" he said, "yes", but without much enthusiasm. he was quiet for a few seconds and said in a hushed voice, "but mommy, (dramatic pause) what about all the bad ninjas?" after i laughed out loud i said, "what?!" he explained how all the bad ninjas are in china. i said they weren't and then he said, "oh!! so ninjas aren't real?!" "uhh... i guess there are ninjas, ian" i said, "but there aren't THAT many i don't think and i think most of them are good - and i promise that no ninjas will hurt you if we go to china". "but mommy, what if they try to hurt YOU?!" yep. a good part of my day is spent going in circles in conversations like this one. anyway, later as i told andrew what he had said, andrew got a guilty look on his face (although also very entertained at the same time - fake guilt i think it was) and said, "yeah... that may have been my fault. i told him all the good ninjas live here and he didn't need to worry about the bad ones because they all lived in china".

i mean WHY?!!

do other people's husbands fill their trusting childrens' heads with utter crap just because they CAN?! or is just mine? then andrew and i had yet another talk about how ian believes every thing he says and how he can be a very LITERAL kid! not to mention, didn't ninjas originate in JAPAN?! i mean if you're gonna lie to him, at least make it a historically accurate lie.

3. ian has a loose tooth. bottom middle-right one. two days ago he said, "mommy! i think my tooth is getting longer!" (we haven't talked about how teeth get loose and i thought we had at least two more years or so before that would happen - so he didn't really have a vocabulary to describe how it felt/feels). after talking for another few minutes i realized his tooth must be loose - and sure enough we can wiggle it just a little bit. later he told my friend cheryl that the drink she gave him was sour right "hewe" - while pointing to the middle of lower teeth. she had no idea what he was talking about until i explained it must feel weird b/c it's loose - although "sour" probably isn't the word i would use. so ian called my dad, then mom and then his aunt t.t. - though he had no real desire to tell her, but only for her to relay the vital loose-tooth information to his awesome cousin, coleman, as soon as he got home from school. every time ian tells someone he says, (and again, i quote..) "guess what?! the tooth fairy is gonna pick me up! and also, my tooth is wiggling!" after him doing this 3 times i told him that the tooth fairy would only be picking up his tooth, NOT picking HIM up. to which he said, "oh - well okay, but i think i just want to keep saying it that way".

fair enough.

ian played in his very first basketball "game" tonight. it's a long story, and as far as i know there are no practices and no real teams?? anyway, i wasn't there. andrew took him. ian was apparently very confident with the ball and immediately ran to the hoop to score the second he got it. it was the wrong goal...and he ran like he was playing rugby (ie. no dribbling...) but still - yay for my little athlete! plus he looked SO cute before he left for the game - in his carolina-blue shiny basketball shorts and his little adidas shoes and hoodie. and he looked sooo old!!!! thank goodness he is still willing to kiss me goodbye in front of all his little preschool homies. wonder how long that will last??...

so anyway ian, thanks for making us laugh somuch, kiddo.

and thanks for telling me every single day how good i smell. how my pillow and sheet smell good and how even when i'm dirty i still smell SO GOOD! "how come you always smell SO GOOD, mommy?!!"

what can i say? i may not be the hottest or thinnest mommy around...i may not get out of my pajamas every day or be able to keep my child from raising his eyebrows in a creepy way and saying "hey sexy lady"...

but my collarbone is decorated and i always smell good.

and also, my 5 year old rocks.

(a few of the most recent ALBUMS w/captions)

january 2010 & ian's bday party: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140269&id=737543123&l=c2035cd701

christmas eve/day '09: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=139714&id=737543123&l=5d8496f1ee

november/december '09: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128623&id=737543123&l=8c975c6dd4

end of '09 in a nutshell - a very big nutshell

2010-01-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

falls lake in nc at dusk.

end of '09 in a nutshell.

in october the boys and i travelled home to nc. we flew out of spokane, so first we hung out for a week or so in wa.

"nina" wasted no time putting ian to work.

ian wasted no time putting "nina" to play.

he decided they would perfect her somersault technique some other time...

(we only had a week after all...)

daddy and ian made a new friend at nana's.

and despite ian's pleas to keep it as a pet, daddy convinced him to release it so it could go back to it's family. he then said, "i know buddy, this is always the hardest part for daddy too..." man i'm glad they have eachother. sadly, i had a hard time relating to that one.

we hung out at nana and grandpa "jewels" house for a few more days after daddy left,

and then drove up to spokane to stay with rachael and her clan.

(we are missing owen and kai from this picture) - but i assure you owen was there. kai was chilling with other family at the time.

guess she just needed to "get away"...

although i can't imagine why...

even though roach was going thru an exceptionally difficult time (what with her hubby in iraq, me begging her to be quiet, and a birthday mishap!!)...

she still showed us a pretty good time. we went to pumpkin patch/apple orchards.

i let my one year old offer his fingers to a random duck for the sake of a cool picture.

we played in a giant pea-box.

oh, and a word of advice - if you think you could walk into a giant pea-box balancing your toddler on your hip and your camera around your neck and stepping confidently as if it is solid ground, you would be wrong.

wrong. wrong. wrong.

think the marble scene in home alone, or any cartoon, ever.

as you can see, kai-kai knew exactly what to do in a giant pea-box.

we also chose our favorite kids and took just them to the spokane fair. (just kidding kai, isaiah and koa!!) side-note: a day or two before we went to the fair, a hospital took a group of mentally ill men to the fair - you know, for a field trip - and lost one of them. don't worry, it's not like he was some deranged murderer or something... wait...oh yes - that's right, he WAS. it was national news for a few days. but even that could not deter us from our mission or ferris-wheel-fun. did i say ferris wheel?? i meant corn-dog-fun. mmmm....the true reason for having a fair.

c'ne was awesome enough to take ian under her very cool wing, and show him how to handle the big kid rides (and a few little kid rides as well~ thanks again, c'ne).

owen tried his very first caramel apple

(sans caramel) after ian had had as much as he wanted of it.

what a kind big brother.

after seriously testing the bonds of our friendship, rachael drove us to the airport and we headed to north carolina. that was a looooong day... and owen only slept for a bit on the first flight.

a few days later we went out on the boat for one of the last times before it had to hibernate for the winter.

i even went tubing with ian. papa tried his best to scare his sweet daughter away from ever tubing again, but sadly my resolve for tubing perfection is too strong.

not even a week after getting to nc, memere, the boys and i left nc and headed up to va to visit my younger bro. sadly, ian's "hot tia maria - her eyelashes are hot" (to quote ian exactly) was in south america with my sweet nephew visiting their "other" family. sigh... SO sad we missed you guys! despite their absence, we had a GREAT time hanging out in dc.

see... here is ian hanging out in front of the monument in a tree in dc.

(dc trees are just cooler than other trees).

we took ian to the smithsonian while memere and owen hung back. i was not sure if ian would find "museum fun",.. well, fun. but he seriously had the BEST time!!!!! i can't believe how much he LOVED every second of it!! it was such an awesome day.

mommy was in such a good mood, that ian even convinced her to buy an insanely expensive dog from the museum of natural history gift shop... i swear to you ian has never, EVER made this face before!!!

lol - i had to take a picture of it bc i had never seen such intense longing and desperation in his eyes. it worked. wolfie (as ian so aptly named him) is now a member of the family and several months later, still sleeps with ian every night.

when we got back to nc, ian got to mini-golfing. i tried to assist him, but he assured me he was a "pwofessional". four year olds are cocky.

we caught up with lots of old friends.

here is owen having a blast on the very cool playground in my sweet annie's new neighborhood.

and here he is "bonding" with my sweet annie...

my other annie, (howington) also came over and ian rekindled his friendship with jack. they had a dance-off (no seriously, they did - just ask my dad - who sat with his head in his hands as his grandson danced what he was feeling!)

and then they wrestled.

they may be dancing-boys, but they are most definitely boys.

owen and lila stared at each other and when they finally started to actually play together, owen pushed lila down... then laughed. i think he thought she fell to be funny.

sadly, she did no such thing.

sorry again, lila!

we spent lots of time in nc at various playgrounds

and having fun in memere and papa's yard,

and one of every boys favorite places, the back of the truck.

peekaboo with memere is SO much more fun in a pick-up.

owen learned some life lessons about falling and getting up again.

we also got to hang out with the khaters.

thank goodness lauren was home from school on break! no trip home is really a trip "home" without the khaters coming over for dinner and laughs.

while the rest of us were busy talking, akram decided perhaps someone should feed the little one. thanks again, akram!

uncle brian had to ditch his wifey and 5 tots in utah and come to nc for work, so we had a short reunion dinner at el dorado. brian convinced ian that he was ordering cow's brains and eyeballs (or something like that) and ian has since begged for that meal several times. ian of course believes everything uncle brian tells him (as i too used to. fyi - goldfish and sucker fish do NOT live in waterbeds. oh and circus cotton candy is NOT made from elephant hair that has been swept up by the clowns - something i had to learn the hard way from our next door neighbor). fortunately ian can just come to me to verify uncle brian's claims.

i got to go out for a few different ladies nights out. annie and kim howington ditched me in anthropologie just before closing time. i thought all the people there staring at me were shoppers.. finally i realized they were all employees - staring me down until i put two-and-two together and realized they had locked the door and were willing me to leave with daggers in their eyes and a smile on their face.

also had another el dorado night with tammy, emily and juli.

i laughed so hard that by the end of the night my stomach hurt. man i am FUNNY!

okay, some of the time i may have been laughing at the other funny girls...

ps thank you so very much to my awesome group of cascade girls for teaching me to play nertz. because while i may be horrible at it here, i was the queen of nertz in nc. sorry nc girls, but these idaho girls could teach you a thing or two about taking nertz seriously and talking trash...

ahh... and finally, our last activity - or should i say, the REASON for our trip.

you know, minus that whole seeing the grandparents, family and friends thing...

the nc state fair. (can you hear the angels singing??) i possibly scheduled my entire trip around being able to hit the state fair before heading back to idaho.

mommy was possibly more excited than ian and owen-pie..

even making the mistake of going on the water ride as one of our first rides and having to walk around for an hour or so with a wet tooshy that looked like i had possibly not found a bathroom quickly enough - could not dampen my spirits - no pun intended. okay a little bit intended.

by the way, that is pure TERROR on ian's face.

but it was followed by pure joy and a request for more!

ian caught a whale and won a cheap stuffed snake from a very unenthusiastic fair worker.

(side-note: ian just saw this picture and said, "i just don't why i am so good at that!" everyone is good at this, sweet boy.... everyone.)

SOMEhow ian convinced us to let him use his last few tickets for a haunted house ride. papa actually backed up this idea!!!!!!! papa, i still hold you responsible for this error in judgement. last night, (2-3 months after this ride - which incidentally was the "kid-version" of the haunted rides - ian is still obsessed with it). andrew opened the back door at about 4:30am yesterday before he headed to work and it made a very loud squeeeeaaak. two seconds later i heard the pitter patter of terrified little feet running towards my bedroom to crawl in bed with me after his "haunted house" dream. and as much as it scared him, he is also fascinated with it and wants so badly to go again. his birthday is coming up and he has asked for a haunted house cake. i convinced him the cake should coordinate with his theme of super heroes. what a weird kid.

owen had his own scary incident.

in fact, as far as owen is concerned, sparky was worse than any haunted house.

ian got to check out a real live monster truck. not the kind of "monster" you have nightmares about though - thank goodness.

~so thank you to everyone for making this a fantastic trip~

and most of all thank you to memere and papa!! we love you and miss you and hope to get to do it alllll over again very soon!

and that was the rest of '09.

minus that whole thanksgiving, christmas thing... but that is another post for another time. and a much shorter post i promise.. a real "nutshell" - if you will.

.."help, i'm in a nutshell"..

*in british accent.

I HATE NATURE

2009-09-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

okay, that title is misleading...as there are in fact many, many things i love about nature; trees, wheat fields, picnics, "sweet light" time, crisp autumn air, pumpkin patches and the list really and truly does go on. however, after ian, myself and finally owen all getting stung by yellow jackets in the last 5 days and after walking outside and seeing the horror-fest above my front door, i am feeling at war with nature. i used to HATE spiders - have nightmares that they were COVERING my floor and i had no where to go... but i thought i was mostly past that. then i saw this little "beauty" over our front door. our neighbor killed it with some of our spider spray - it took a TON to kill it - and my heart is still racing. i feel like i just walked away from a car accident. my adrenaline was kicked up and i swear my heart was doing this horrible flutter thing (not the good kind) and i was left clutching my heart. i feel like it's crawling on my as i type this...is it crawling on me?!!! (shudder!!) why do i feel like i'm gonna throw up?? uuuhhggggg!!!!!! forget the bears in the trash and the dead fawn carried up a tree in our front yard, THIS is the stuff of nightmares...
EXHIBIT A: the itsy bitsy killer

EXHIBIT B: our rabidly filling bee/yellowjacket trap

EXHIBIT C: nest #1

and EXHIBIT D: nest #2

and this is all just the front side of the house!!

ohh...i have never felt so sick after a post...gotta....go....lie....down........

Inside my Heart (ps...I rate this post PG-13...ish)

2009-09-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ten musically enhanced clips/videos/excerpts/"moments" that make me HAPPY!!! I feel like I am revealing bits of my true nerdy/over-the-top-theatrics loving self...and it's scary...(deep breath)...but I hold my head high and shout, "I AM A MOVIE/THEATER NERD! I LOVE SPECTACLE AND LIGHTS AND OVER-THE-TOP ACTING, LIVE SINGING, COSTUMES, AUDITIONS AND MOST OF ALL, NERDY TALENT THAT COOL PEOPLE MAKE FUN OF!" okay, i didn't really yell that because both the boys are napping. but here it is anyway:

1. GLEE: "Don't Stop Believin'" - Ohhhh yeah... may have watched this more than a few times... This show (or at least the first episode) rocks my little Idaho-world. Man did we used to ROCK OUT to Journey in High School...and that wasn't even my generation, but even in '98 and '99 I could appreciate rockin' music that came out the year I was born... So hat's off to "Glee" for making me fall in love with Journey all over again.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Fragua/videos/1/

2. Thanks, Dad - for making me watch this movie until I learned to appreciate it!...

The movie: Blues Brothers
The Song: "Think"
The Singer: Aretha

(Wish I could find the minute or so leading up to her singing, but oh well).. http://www.trtube.com/aretha-franklin-amp-blues-brothers-think-27580.html

3. Whoo! This one makes me giggle... many a sleepover we watched this movie. The last five minutes or so in particular. And that part, (Ohhhh yeahh...YOU know that part...) when Patrick Swayze wrinkles his nose and says, "and i owe it all to you!" - well, i will just say this, "rewind". And that we did, again, and again, and again we would rewind that part. 8th grade Slumber parties, anywhere from 5-13 or so girls, this is what went down - lol. So here it is - and may i just say... "No one puts Baby in the corner"...melting...sigh..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y97bWP33d8I (couldn't find a clip that the "no one puts Baby in the corner" line AND the nose wrinkle, so here is the whole song - but still minus the nose wrinkle at the very, very end...can't find it anywhere - however, i HIGHLY recommend watching this. Don't you love how all the camp counselors had been secretly choreographing a number for just such an opportunity? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpmILPAcRQo

4. I was not allowed to see the movie "Flashdance" as a kid, (and rightfully so!) but somehow I have seen these clips many-a-time. I just explained to Andrew how in the 80's you could dramatically run in place for minutes on end and it basically made you a kick-butt dancer. I did not realize just HOW MANY awesome moves have been "lifted" from "Flashdance" until watching this little montage again. Boy did they dance with feeling back then - LOL. Enjoy..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZ5R3C5bzs&NR=1

5. "Girls just wanna - they just wanna-a-aaaa.." SING it!

You loved it. Don't deny it. Possibly (possibly i said) may have made a certain younger brother try to do some of these lifts with me when we were elementary age... it did not end well. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - it's a DANCE OFF, fools! (side note..when the wolf calls him a "butt-head"!!!....gasp....i thought that was SOOOO naughty as a kid. I'm still semi-uncomfortable with it..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TASGl0_jnjU

6. "Shag"....basically any movie set in, filmed in, or about NC or SC has a special place in my l'il southern heart. I ALMOST bought this movie the other day. (Don't worry "Shag" for a $1.00 in the thrift store, I am coming back for you). PS a big "THANK YOU" to Anne and Rick Hardison for teaching me these sweet moves!!!! (Love you Mom and Dad, but being the little Floridian girl and Cali-boy that you two are, had to learn some Southern appreciation from my friends' parents.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV9WACDEBV4

(please excuse the small curse in the first two seconds - although she's so prim it almost doesn't sound like one)...

"MYRTLE BEACH - SPRING BREAK '98 - WOOOOHOOOOO!!!" (please imagine that a la arrested development style - with the blurs..)

7. Tony Awards! Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenewith. No more needs to be said. (Oh except this - don't you LOVE when they cut to her hubby Taye D. in the audience?!! LOVES IT!) He's on another type of list of mine... (it's okay, Andrew totally accepts it. Just like I accept that Megan Fox is on his list.... lousyactresstramp...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J72thWNW6PE

8. Oh how I LOVED me some Bryan Adams. Knew every song on my Bryan Adams tape. And then when he did the theme for "Robin Hood"...heart be still... anyway, I watched the credits many times and vaguely remember holding a tape recorder to the t.v. so I could listen to the song, write down the words and learn them... What?? who said that? How lame... I mean I was out doing awesome stuff like break-dancing and snowboarding before it was even cool - yes, that's how cool i am. (side note: LOVED when they got married in the woods with the leaves falling and the wreath on her head.... possibly subconsciously influenced the fall colors in my own wedding flowers...hmm, never put that together before. See? We are ALL learning new things about me.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGoWtY_h4xo

Also, same thing with the song at the end of "The Princess Bride" (tape recorder, nerdsville, etc..)

9. Cool MTV videos with enough theatrics to make me LOVE these....
- "Helena" by My Chemical Romance. Love, love, love, love, love and oh yeah, LOVE this! Not entirely sure why I love it so much. If any aspiring psychologist wants to take a stab at why I have watched this 100 times, go at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2_rOE1sYaM

- "Perfect Situation" by Weezer. Same amount of Love for this one too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgR-l3fhygw&feature=PlayList&p=76017691207B71F4&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

- "Anything for Love" by...wait for it...MEATLOAF. I know it's like this combo of sci-fi meets broadway meets lol ridiculousness, but the heart loves what it loves. And oh yeah... I would do ANYthing for love, but I WON'T do that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GNhdQRbXhc

- This past year's Video Music Awards there were two that rocked my world. PInk's "So What" - MAN i want to be her JUST for these four minutes or so.. Look how BAD she looks in that picture down there! Go on with your bad self, Pink.http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/272675/so-what-live.jhtml#id=1593809 and Rihanna's Disturbia.(Incidentally, I do not find her a great singer, but this performance/song/choreography/dancers were pretty sick). http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/272630/disturbia-seven-nation-army-live.jhtml#id=1593810

- I couldn't post this tonight without a shout-out to Aerosmith's "Crazy" and "Cryin" videos - is there anyone who didn't at one time love those?! (although why you wouldn't still LOVE them i have no idea unless...you...are............stupid. It's getting late and that is the meanest thing i could come up with) - so ZING! take that Aerosmith haters.

10. And finally, tying all these cool moves together and rounding out this top ten list, "Flight of the Conchord's" - Bret's Angry Dance...lol..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0noYTY3hTw

Hope your day has been enriched. And to anyone (although i highly doubt anyone did) who watched alllll of these clips, don't you have something better to do??!!

(it's okay, you can admit just to me that your heart was all a twitter whilst taking this walk with me down memory lane...wink, wink!)

One more, an honorable mention to Napoleon Dynamite. Watch it. You know you want to. And then when you're done, run out of the room with your head leading your body. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2006172

Baby Boot Camp

2009-09-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

so...here is a directly quoted conversation i had with ian a little while ago:
IAN: "mommy, you know why I’m so crazy?? Because you had a crazy baby in your tummy!"
ME: "yeah - and we named him ian!"
IAN: "yep, that's why i slap myself in the face like this..*SLAP*
ME: "ian! DON'T hit yourself!"
IAN: "but momma, i can't help it...you had a crazy baby in your tummy and it's ME!!!"

please tell me other people have these type of conversations with their four year olds and that slapping ones self in the face is "normal" boy behavior.. you know what, even if it's not true, just lie to me.

the other night we were at a little football party (boise state vs oregon)- which apparently was like one of the biggest games in boise state's history...(yawn)...sorry bsu fans! anyway, we caught the tail end of the ncstate/clemson game and my tummy did a little flip~ i thought, "i've been to that stadium!" and i wondered how many were people were in the stadium and tailgating that i knew there. i asked andrew if it made him just the tiniest bit homesick (it did not incidentally). so everyone there had these duck calls (still not entirely sure why..oregon ducks?..i don't know...) and whenever something big happened the house (and probably neighborhood) was filled with the always soothing sound of dying ducks.. two times of this and poor little owen yet again thought the world was coming to an end. ian can SCREAM in his face all day long, but any sound that is not the norm for owen and he falls to pieces. actually he "fell to pieces" in another way too - sitting on the hard tile floor in the kitchen, somehow his giant head pulled him forward (still not positive as no one completely saw how it happened) and he smacked his forehead HARD on the floor. he screamed and screamed and screamed (while crying of course) for several minutes. he never cries that hard so it must have really hurt. we took him outside to calm him down and eventually were able to bring him back in...(until said duck-call time hit) and then we decided perhaps the party would be more party-like without us there. ian was super bummed to go since he was playing with a bunch of new friends. he wanted to borrow his friend desmond's cool disc shooter. desmond said "no", i said, "NO", even the dog said, "no", but it was not a reasonable for answer for ian who broke into heaving sobs as we got into the car. he and owen egged each other on in a crying contest the whole way home. andrew and i just shook our heads and laughed and i said, "see?...do you REALLY want to have another kid??" "no", he said, "not at the moment". ian finally calmed down about 30 minutes later and while sitting at the kitchen table with an occasional sniff he said - just as serious as could be, "momma, why are all his toys awesome and all my toys are weak sauce?" andrew and i could barely keep a straight face - andrew tells ian quite frequently that his wrestling moves are "weak sauce" or if i throws a ball less than impressively it's "weak sauce" - and ian gives it right back to andrew - but apparently his toys are weak sauce too.

oh and as a side note, andrew received a mini-lecture from a lady at the party about how it's our own fault that owen cries and gets scared of noises because... we "coddle" him too much. she then compared him to a tougher one year old...lily. needless to say andrew was pretty annoyed. all babies, but owen and lily in particular couldn't be more different. they have completely different eating habits and likes, completely different things make them laugh, get their attention, make them cry, and the list goes on... how dumb to tell someone their 12 month old isn't tough enough - but we decided to enroll owen in a baby boot camp just in case he is being coddled too much. his day will start with a vigorous baby work-out, followed by breakfast in which he will prepare his own meal and feed himself. then all the babies will stand (or sit in owen's case) in a line while the drill sergeant yells things like, "you little maggot! why don't you call for your mommy you momma's boy! are you a quitter or are you a TOUGH BABY?!" then owen will respond "TOUGH BABY, SIR".

"YOU CAN'T EVEN BRUSH YOUR OWN TEETH - ARE YOU SURE YOU CRY BABY?!" "SIR-YES-SIR", owen will yell. then nap time, more working out, another meal or two, a baby obstacle course followed by rigorous cleaning of all the floors and toilets and light's out. we feel it will be money well-spent, because is there anything worse than a baby who can't make their own way in this world?.. i didn't think so.

Birthday Baby

2009-08-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

"Dear Mommy, Daddy and Ian,

(Owen here). Just wanted to share my thoughts and feelings after one whole year on this Earth. I am sure glad I came into this family!

Mommy, you aren't much of a cook (see picture of cupcakes from my birthday)

but you make up for it with lots of kisses, being a super fast crawler and chaser and teaching Ian and I awesome dance moves.

I know you did a lot of throwing up when you were growing me in your tummy and I know I made you tired and just a "tad" bit moody... (sorry, Dad).

And I also know you were surprised when out came a boy, but thanks for adjusting so quickly (and also for not giving me a girlie name).

I enjoyed my pink and brown nursery
and car seat ...for a time,
but I definitely feel the pirate theme is more "me".

So thanks for changing it up for me. I know I'm not much of a cuddler, but I am getting better at those kisses so keep working with me!

Daddy, it was obvious to everyone (including me - even though I was only minutes old..) that you were THRILLED to have two boys!

Thanks for telling Mommy that you thought I was "the greatest thing to happen to mankind" - I will do my best to live up to your expectations. I can already crawl, pull myself up on the furniture, eat faster than any human should be able to, say a few words and last night I took my first steps...so yeah... I think I'm off to a pretty good start of being an awesome person. Thanks for all the wrestling and tickles and especially for throwing me so high and making me laugh harder than anyone else is able to do.

You are one FANTASTIC Dad and I promise to continue squealing with delight everytime you walk into the room.

And last, but certainly not least, Ian. Ian, Ian, Ian... You are one awesome big brother. I know I can be annoying when I cry and mess up your cities of blocks, but thanks for being so patient with me. Thank you for dragging me (literally) all over the house so I don't have to be alone. I love to hang out with you and someday I will learn to keep up with you - (You sure are fast!!) Thanks for sharing your lollipops with me when Mommy's not looking and for taking me out of my crib in the mornings (even though Mommy tells you NOT to alllll the time! - boy she is a buzz-kill sometimes).
Thanks for teaching me how to play with cars and how to wrestle and play chase and hide under a blanket (even if I'm not the one who puts the blanket over myself) and go on "bear hunts" and draw with marker on myself. It has been an invaluable education thus far. I love you and I couldn't ask for a cooler and nicer big brother.

So gang, thanks for a great year. And I know you all feel bad I didn't have much of a "party" this year, but the good news is I can't seem to remember what you said just four minutes ago so I will most likely not remember anyway!

Mommy, thanks for the homemade birthday banner and sign and decorations.

I know I am loved.

Owen Marshall. Out."

View all

Get your own

2009-07-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

is it just me or does anyone else find the first 20 minutes of disney's "tarzan" heartwrenching?... like, maybe... doing everything you can to be a brave soldier in front of four year old so he doesn't think you are the world's biggest baby. no? that's just me? *sigh* i remember my senior year in high school, andrew and i went (just as friends of course!) to see "tarzan" in the theaters. i think we were there with jake and josh spears and maybe russell henderson and/or devin gilreath?? anyway, i think i was the only girl?? and i think i possibly shed a tear or two, (yes, even then i had that problem...) and possibly was ridiculed for the rest of the night. so weird that ten years later i am watching it with my two little boys and trying to answer questions like, "how does tarzan slide down the trees like that?" and "what is a piranha?" out of curiousity i asked ian what he thought happened to the baby gorilla as the cheetah grabbed it. he said he just took him away (but did NOT eat him). phew! that's a load of my mind...definitely thought that played out differently. anyway, as we have temporarily cancelled our tv (i know, a moment of silence please...) tarzan has been on about 7 times in the last three days. seeing how ian has nightmares about monkeys, probably not the best thing for him to watch.

hmm... i had a list of "notes" - my little one word thoughts that i glance at before i start writing, but i can't seem to find it. okay, that's a lie - it's here, on this desk in my kitchen buried under something, but i am too lazy to look for it. i am lazy about many things these days: too lazy to change out of pajamas, too lazy to ever do my hair or put on jewelry, too lazy to deep clean. i went to see "harry potter and the half blood prince" at the movie theater in town. (yes, we have one. it shows exactly one movie at a time.) anyway, i wore an adidas t-shirt (andrew's), black yoga pants with holes in them, (which a teenage guy in fact pointed out to me - as if i was somehow unaware my pants had 6 holes in them - haha! jokes on him), tennis shoes, hair in it's standard messy bun thing and very little makeup. it may have been the the least effort i have ever put into going to the movies - or anywhere for that matter. on my way home, after midnight i saw one, two - THREE little foxes in a parking lot! i quickly turned off the highway (well, not quickly - SAFELY) and one hung around and let me get pretty close to it. andrew likes to tease me that for being such a city girl i get awfully excited about little critters (you should see ALL the pictures i have of the frog that was stuck on our door) - but i think that is EXACTLY why i get excited.. because even though i am completely immersed (up to my ears) in country-life, i'm still not used to seeing them - as the true country gals 'round here are.

here he or she? is trapped between the glass and the screen of our front door. and then in andrew's hand before his/her release back into the wilds of our front lawn.

anyway, the next day i told andrew how awesome the movie was to which he countered, "are you sure it was that awesome, or would any movie have been awesome since you never get to go to them?" touche.

the fourth of july was interesting. i had waaahayhaaaay more fun when i was nine months pregnant with owen and went last year than i did this year. it turns out owen is kind of a girl. no, scratch that - he is a GIANT GIRL!!! (guess the ultrasound had it right after all?!)

he cried over EVERYTHING. including every horn, siren, tire screech, and loud noise a parade can make. he was absolutely terrified. ian had a blast again this year, but i was hot and dealing with a baby who apparently thought it was Armageddon so i was ready to go about five minutes into it. after the parade, we came home and filled up our $5 baby pool form wal-mart. (you know, the wal-mart that's an hour and a half away..) turns out it is more fun to splash in two inches of water than to watch a parade. who knew?

(here are lily and owen having some water fun).

and my little clone of andrew - complete with water shoes, a life-vest (you can never be TOO careful) and goggles giving his giant, but adorable ears even MORE personality!

uhh, so... ian keeps telling me about the "boys in his head". apparently there are three of them - or three including him? not quite sure.. because the other day when i gave him two cookies he explained how one of the boys didn't get one and he was upset. told him too bad which then prompted the boy in ian's head to make an ugly face. he told me that one of them is really old and can't lift a chair or bike (incidentally i made ian put his bike and a big lawn chair in the garage the other day..) and just a minute ago as ian was showing me his awesome karate moves while demonstrating on a bouncy laundry basket, he said, "janey (yes, apparently one of them is named janey) is really good at karate!" (or kwaty - as he calls it). "who is janey?" i asked. "you know, janey, the boy in my head". he then asked me if he (IAN) was good at punching. which of course i reassured him he is. now, had i not experienced the weird head voices from my nephew, coleman approximately six years earlier, then i may be more concerned. but i guess this is something little kids/boys do?? please oh please tell me some of you have children with imaginary friends, or voices!! at least the voice in ian's head wasn't Jesus telling him to spit on me - as coleman told me so many years ago.

we made sock puppets the other day. attempt one included small circles of paper, a needle and thread, (for eyes of course..) a bloody finger and me wondering why i even ATTEMPT this stuff?! attempt two: a permanent marker which was not working in harmony with andrew's socks. finally, attempt three: some finger paint - actually got the job done. as you can see here, ian took his task very seriously. and maybe i did too... psych! like i care about sock puppets! stupid... okay, fine so i took a picture of mine. and maybe three more of mine...and maybe made ian take pictures of me next to my puppet... but like i've claimed - i mean SAID before - i just do this stuff for the kids...

i have this book with tons of ideas for entertaining preschoolers and every once in a while when i feel like making the effort to be a good mother i crack it open.. found the recipe for some goopity goo (as i have named it): cornstarch, water and food coloring... who knew how awesome it could be??? when you move it around it doesn't stick to you and it's kind of hard, but the second you let it sit (in your hand obviously) it starts to melt and seep through your fingers. ian LOVED it. and andrew and i may have also had some fun with it as well. does this mean we haven't matured past preschool age? no no, don't answer that.

these are the wild-flowers that andrew and ian (owen was with them too and got a few mosquito bites so i will credit him as well) and owen picked for me the other day. emphasis on WILD-flowers - as in dirt road, no homes, an elk nearby, mountains all around, etc... ian made me close my eyes while daddy found a vase and arranged them. i was quite impressed. they sat proudly displayed on our wood burning stove until they turned brown and stinky.

oh, and for further proof my son is a wee too "sensitive", here he is crying because of some bubbles. yes, you read that right. he is TERRIFIED of them. i tried to find out what the phobia of bubbles is called - apparently there is no such name. even on the "strange phobias" website i can't find a name for it. so in honor of going to "harry potter" this week i hereby name owen's irrational fear - "ridiculosa".

for more pictures from the fourth, july thus far and june, here are the links to the albums. and as always, the captions tell a story. a boring story, but a story nonetheless.

July http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=93769&id=737543123&l=56afb48848

June http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86280&id=737543123&l=5a2e01bb2c

2009-06-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Latest Albums:

JUNE/LAKE FUN http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86280&id=737543123&l=5a2e01bb2c
ANDREW'S CAMPING TRIP http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85242&id=737543123&l=e4137d2f71

BEST FRIENDS

As you all know, I am in my twenties and have two little boys ages 4 and 10 months. After tonight I have decided to get my tubes tied. And just to be safe my husband decided he will get a vasectomy also. Actually, instead of "tied", I am going to request that my tubes be double knotted!!.... Does anyone else have a four year old who will NOT stay in bed?????! We recently came up with the "brilliant" idea of letting our boys share a bedroom. My husband has such happy memories of late nights and games and story-telling and adventures with his own brother, that he wanted his boys to experience the same thing. Now granted, one of them is not yet walking or speaking, but since we only have three bedrooms and we have company from time to time who need a guest room, we thought "why not put them together now?! They will bond! Laugh! Grow! Play together in the mornings! It will be wonderful!" Here is a small taste of what we have been experiencing as of late - tonight pretty much sums it up: we put the boys to bed around 6:45pm. They were fed, prayers said, teeth brushed, sips of water, more prayers (for sweet dreams) said, cuddled, kissed and humored in every way a four year old could come up with. My sweet husband took over for the first two hours and instituted the "Super Nanny" rule of - After the first time the child gets out of bed you explain what is expected and if they keep getting out of bed then you gently take them by the arm and place them back in bed again and again and again and again until finally they relent. Andrew stood in the kitchen waiting for the inevitable a whopping 80 TIMES. As in 8 and 0 - 80! the number after 79. He made me stay away (which I gladly did while watching "Pregnant at 16" and "Wife Swap" in the bedroom) so that Ian and Owen wouldn't see me and start screaming for me. Finally at 9pm i tagged him out and kissed him goodnight and have been dealing with my "angels" ever since. Ian woke Owen 3 different times and poor little Owen Marshall is EXHAUSTED since he missed his afternoon nap today. We aren't "spankers", but i came darn close tonight! Threatened it and told Ian that we have always done the time-out thing but he is getting very close to us beginning to just spank him and was that what he wanted? (He does not - in case you were wondering). Finally, about 15 minutes ago I either stumbled onto the trick, the magic, the threat that may just work from now on ...or...he just finally collapsed from exhaustion. Before I share my new strategy let me just say that ever since Ian had a nightmare (he has many) but a very alarming nightmare last week about a monkey - sigh and lol - he has literally been my SHADOW. He won't go to the bathroom alone, get a toy alone, if i am in my bedroom and walking between the bathroom and closet - he is SO close to me that i am literally stumbling over him. If i'm on the computer, he's by my feet playing. if i'm in the shower, he's in the bathroom with his toys. It sounds cute and pitiful but believe me it is anything but!!!! It is frustrating and infuriating and I am at a complete loss. Here is a kid who liked to go by himself on bear hunts alone in the closet armed with a flashlight and squirt gun - who now BEGS for me or his baby brother to watch him go to the bathroom so that he won't have to be alone. I could go on and on about this and everything I have tried, but believe me I have tried every common sense idea you could fathom - and even some non-common sense ones... Anyway, a few minutes ago while i was at a total loss of how I was ever going to get Ian and Owen to sleep, I googled "four year old scared of bed" and found some forums. And among the monster sprays and prayers and spankings and co-sleeping and answers from parents who have clearly never experienced this and every method imaginable, was my magical answer: "Give her/him one chance, before bed, to ask for anything she/he could possibly need before going to sleep. Including a pre-lights out monster check. Come up with something she/he will sorely miss and tell her/him that if they come out after they are put to bed, she/he will lose it the following day.Good luck!" So simple and yet SO effective. So as I walked Ian back to his bed for the zillionth time I said, "if you get out of bed again, tomorrow I am taking away Batman and you will NOT play with him all day". He got out of bed - and so I said, "okay, tomorrow I have Batman". Then as I put him back he started screaming for me and crying (but NOT getting out of bed!! Ahaaa!) Then Owen started fussing. So I went in there and said, "You've already lost Batman tomorrow, but if you get out of bed again OR if you yell for me OR wake Owen again, I am taking away the big black car you play with." To which he crinkled his forehead and said, "What black car?" to which I said, "The big black car that Papa gave you that you play with every day" to which he said, (in a Mommy-you-are-not-too-bright way), "That car's not black", to which I gave him a blank stare and thought, "children are overrated". He is right - it is silver and black I saw as I walked out of his room, but guess who has not made a peep and who is currently fast asleep with an angry...i mean angelic...look on his face??! I would like to give an honorable mention to another favorite answer that I saw on the "how to get your child to stay in bed" forum. This response comes from a 15 year old girl: "Tell her if she doesn't go to bed you're going to ask the monsters to eat her toenails. I'm 15 and that would make me go to sleep in a flash!" Now there is a future mother who could write a parenting book!

TWO PEAS IN A WEIRD POD

dance party time - check out their "robot"

Andrew's sister and her family came to visit Wednesday and Thursday and we were so excited to have them! Aside from all the obvious reasons and the fact that we hadn't met each other's newest babies and haven't seen each other in forever, the major bonus was that Ian had his best bud, cousin Landon around to leach onto 24/7 - so I was finally shadow-free for a blessed 48 hours. You would think that the boys getting to have a slumber party together (complete with marshmallows and stories) would have solved the getting out of bed problem, but you would be wrong. Last night I heard wailing over the baby monitor... here is what I'm almost positive happened. Landon started crying (in his sleep) which in turn woke his sleeping bag buddy, Ian - who was also crying walking towards my room when I came to check on them. By the time I got into the room Owen had started crying and just as I settled him down Landon again cried out in his sleep and then from the bed Hallie started crying and calling for her mommy. I sent Ian to my room to sleep for the rest of the night (okay, I guess I wasn't completely shadow-free after all!), tucked Landon in again, made sure Owen was still settled and after unsuccessfully trying to calm Hallie, finally knocked on the "guest room" door and ever-so-gently shoved her in. Just refer to me as "Crisis Management".

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM..

Anyway, all in all it was great to see family! And we are excited to have them for another night on their way back from Utah. Love you guys~

Signing off:
Crisis Management

croup, ear infections and other pleasant things...

2009-05-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

here are the complete albums on my facebook account from our trip to utah, easter egg hunts, easter sunday, etc...

UtAh PART I FARM COUNTRY: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=78345&id=737543123&l=7ff7742d63
UtAh PART II DINo MUSEUM & DINNER W/FRIENDS: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80612&id=737543123&l=65a98f097b
UtAh PART III, PAPA's ARRIVAL: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80619&id=737543123&l=741e3dc6d9
EASTER EGG HUNTS AND PHOTO SHOOT: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75425&id=737543123&l=ba70910317

i am feeling a bit overwhelmed with how behind i am on my bloggity blog.. where to start, where to start... let's work backwards shall we?

(ian, evelyn, leland and claire at the dinosaur museum in utah. sadly my camera died the second after i took this shot - which was taken in the entrance of the museum by the way. one of three fun places we went and i don't even have photographic evidence. i was NOT happy.)

(ian, claire and leland)

PART 1. we have now been back from our utah "vacation" for a few weeks. "vacation". what a silly word.. it brings to mind images of sitting around on weathered, white adirondack chairs, soaking up the sun, playing hard and going to bed exhausted, sleeping in and having lots of laughs. i would like to give to the world MY definition of "vacation". (clearing throat...) "ahem... Vacation: doctor's visits, croup for the entire family and any relatives within the household, upper respiratory infections, shots three days in a row for your baby and a shot for your four year old, double ear infections for the children, sinus infection, croup and a uti for mom, a child barfing all over his aunt's beautiful duvet and quilt and pillows and floor, coughing throughout the night so that no cousins want to share their room with you, spending a small fortune at the local pharmacy, a pediatrician warning you that both of your boys' eardrums may in fact rupture during your flight home, not being able to visit the rest of your relatives or go places for fear of spreading the plague to other households, and finally, vacation: telling yourself over and over again, "this was not a waste of money, this was not a waste of money, this was not a waste of money..."

(we did get to do a few fun things, like go to Farm Country - and without the two babies - so we were able to move quickly and the kids had a blast! we also got some amazing pictures - see album.)

(aunt tt and her silly - farm country. and ian hammin' it up for the camera.)

(leland, ian, claire, owen, ruby, papa, coleman and evelyn. uncle brian bought lakers/jazz tickets for my dad's birthday (go lakers of course!) so papa flew out from north carolina and got to hang with all the grandkids...well, almost all... but come on caden, he gets to see you all the time!!)

(owen LOVES babies - like loves them sooo much more than they seem to love him in return. here he is with his cousin ruby. ruby is three months younger than owen marshall, but they weigh the EXACT same. look how skinny his little arms are! owen was infatuated with ruby. every time he saw her he lit up and grinned and giggled and his only goal became to touch her and kiss her and hug her and smother her. the term "kissing cousins" definitely applies.)

(see what i mean? kissing cousins. by the way, check out ruby's thighs...now look at owens... their little bodies could not be more different!)

(coleman being an awesome cousin and leading all the little ones in some parachute fun. coleman was awesome with ian - who has been talking about seeing his super cool cousin for months and months and months. seriously, ask my friends. ask his sunday school teacher. EVERYone here knows allllll about ian's cool cousin coleman. thanks for making ian feel like such a big kid, coleman.)

(what goes around comes around owen. owen may have smothered ruby, but claire gave it back two-fold to owen! she fed him, pointed at his boy parts every diaper change, hugged him and kissed him and even referred to him as her baby a few times.)

(is it wrong that highlights of my trips often center around food? is it odd that i take pictures of said food? i heart yopana. and i heart brian for ordering and picking up yopana sushi. mmm....sushi... isn't it beeeeauuutiful?? like a photo of a sunset or quiet mountain stream, this is my art.)

(shelley hess johnson, kati johnson heath, brittany krallis stapf and jessica sue frost - oh and owen marshall looking pitiful, cold and maybe a little bored in his car seat. i am a semi-horrible mom for dragging my sick child out to dinner with the ladies, but he seemed to mostly enjoy himself and even fell asleep at jessica's house as we all stayed up chatting. here i am with some of my old college roommates. it was a fun reunion - and yes, amber we missed you terribly! we had a blast at pizzaria 712 - i think that's what it was called - and blabbing about our lives. thanks for a great night, ladies~)

(okay, so this was taken before we left for utah, but it's just so stinkin' cute i had to post it. owen marshall - 8 months old.)

PART 2. easter sunday was a little sad without daddy around. the boys woke up to their baskets from the easter bunny. fortunately owen is too young to notice how blatantly the easter bunny seemed to prefer ian. although owen DID get a new teething toy,sooo... jealous much, children?? i decided after church that we needed a little photo shoot while we were all in our sunday, easter colored clothes. things did not go smoothly. andrew was still at work, as was cheryl so todd graciously became the photographer in our impromptu shoot. there was still quite a bit of snow so he took turns 4wheeling us down the land in his backyard as we attempted to find some scenic spots. ian refused to sit in the dirt...i know, i know...i'm working on it.. my kid is AWESOME about washing his hands with soap before meals and after potty time and pretty much anytime he's sticky or messy - the flip side is he seems to be showing some ocd tendencies with dirt and getting messy. highlights of the "photo shoot": getting mud all over my white banana republic skirt, owen refusing to look at the camera when this new stuff called "pine straw" was soooo much more fascinating, todd's three dumb dogs insisting on running through every other shot, and to top it all off, the 4wheeler getting stuck in the snow on our way back up to the house - forcing me to take off my heels and RUN BAREFOOT through snow up to my calves! these were some of the better shots..i'm still not sure it was worth it. but hey, happy easter!! i will not include the photo of me holding my fingers like a gun to my head while the boys are doing everything but smile - but believe me, it's saved on my computer and pretty much encapsulates the whole event.)

(my tiny little boy.)

(one of our closest attempts at a frame-worthy picture. owen looking up? - check! owen even smiling? - check! me not looking too hoss-like? check! and ian pursing his lips and giving todd a random thumbs up??...check, check.... sigh..)

(another almost-winner. but not quite..)

(while todd ran ian up to the house in the 4wheeler, i took a bunch of pictures of owen and lily hanging out in the woods. they did this all on their own which was pretty precious i must say. a second later she poked her fingers in his mouth, pushed his face away and basically broke his heart. girls..)

(after the easter egg hunts (plural) on saturday, we all went to visit daddy at work. for some reason ian decided to hide in the corner. got a pretty cute shot out of it though).

PART 3. i have funny little stories and quips and one liners and ianisms and life as seen through my eyes to share, but i think this post has been long enough. if anyone goes to the albums i attached, make sure to read the captions as they pretty much tell the story of what is happening.

so anyway, thank you tillia and brian for letting us stay at your house for two weeks and get your children sick. thank you dad for coming to visit and bravely letting sick grandchildren climb on your lap and kiss your face and for being willing to get croup and take it back to mom. sorry to both of you!!! but look at the bright side: you didn't have to share a room while you were sick with a sick baby and sick four year old who threw up on your bed at 9pm! see? silver lining!!! can't wait to come out to nc in a few weeks. we are doing our best to get rid of all infections and owen will be getting tubes in his ears next wednesday - so he should be good as new - which was just 9 months ago for him..

PART IV OF NOT V - BUT IV IT TURNS OUT...

2009-03-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

so, i was trying to work backwards with my five part blog. but as it turns out, i am a quitter. i have lost interest. i guess i will entitle this one Part IV of V, but there will be no part V. a while ago i uploaded a TON of pictures and saved an unfinished blog as a draft. i've decided for this one i am just going to put a link to a few of my facebook albums. okay, here we go...
1. EMBARRASSING STORY:
i can't believe i'm sharing this story, but it's kind of a funny one - and rita, it includes you! my back went completely out recently - like can't-hold-my-baby out. andrew took the kids to his parents and took great care of me! at least i think he took great care of me...i was in a vicodin/muscle relaxer/anti-inflammatory haze for most of that time. andrew was working nights and one night - around 3am, i was wide awake. i'm still not really sure what happened - 24 hour bug or something - but i was fighting away the urge to throw up and watching an infomercial. and then i did something i have NEVER done! something i have wanted to do many many many times - something throughout the years that andrew and i have discussed many time because it just so seemed like this thing (which varied) could make our life complete... i ordered something...off the tv! things i have wanted to order before: the thing that has a light on it and cuts paper for scrapbooking - even though i don't scrapbook - but if only i had that i know i would be a scrapbooking star!, the magic-bullet (isn't that what it's called) - you know, that little food processer thing? i'm not a great cook, but if i had the magic bullet i KNOW i could be star chef!, knives, hair products - like that bump-it thing - the ladies know what i'm talking about.. and countless other brilliant little inventions. so anyway, i ordered something and then the second i got off the phone i threw up. like majorly/wanted to sleep on the bathroom floor - threw up. and finally, sleep came. the next day i was talking to my friend, rachael (waddup ml?), when i gasped and said, "oh my gosh! i ordered something from the tv at 3am and i cannot remember what it was!!" it took me a day or so, but it finally all came back. and here is the embarrassing part. (deep breath)... oh for the love...i don't know if i can type this. for some of you, this is no big deal, for others, it's a tad scandalous and some of you may just laugh as you picture me using this product... i ordered... workout tapes. not just any workout tapes...oh no...sexy workout tapes. three to be precise. one of them involving a chair - i haven't yet tried that one. we only have four chairs and i would hate to have to explain how i broke one doing a sexy work out routine. i think one of the tapes is entitled "booty beatz". i locked myself in the bedroom once my back was all healed and did that one. it is the most i have ever laughed at my own reflection in the mirror! the girls in the video - as in all workout videos were HOT. perfect bods, hair down, makeup on and just ohhh so happy to be doing what they do. i will give myself the compliment that i picked up the routine very quickly (guess that street jazz and cheerleading i did in my youth finally paid off!) however...and this is a big HOWEVER...i looked a bit different doing the same moves. i can do the "party girl" move pretty awesome as i have been doing that one for years, but some of the other moves - which i am too embarrassed to even tell you the names of - were quite a sight to see with a plus-sized girl in baggy black sweats and a sweaty, red face and things jiggling that don't jiggle on the wannabestrippers performing. so, as andrew and i were leaving to go pick up our little ones from nana's, my tapes came in the mail. i grabbed them on the way out, showed andrew and had a good laugh as i tried to imagine these workouts. finally we met andrew's parents at the halfway point, and his mom helped get things/children switched over to our car. and what does my four year old do? he grabs all three tapes out of their discreet brown envelope and says, "mommy! what are these??!" i grabbed them quickly - very, very quickly and said at an almost yell, "THOSE ARE MOMMY'S WORKOUT TAPES". i was pretty sure rita saw the back of one of the tapes. the one with a hottie on a chair - burning calories and looking good doing it.. i was embarrassed. mostly because i was not yet prepared to explain those tapes to anyone. sooo... rita, wanna workout with me next time i visit?

2. ST.PATRICKS DAY
the leprechaun came to our house the night before st. patricks day. i told ian he was coming and how we all needed to have on green or we would get pinched. before ian went to bed i told him to get on his pj's and he said,
"but mom! the man is coming!"
to which i said, "what man?? does daddy have someone coming over?"
"NOOO MOMMY that MAN! you know, that MAN? i can't put on my pj's because i have to wear this shirt or he will punch me!" (said in an almost-panic by the way).
(i just stared at him in confusion).
and then i got it! "ohh! you mean the leprechaun?! okay, you are right, you can sleep in that shirt". (followed by some lol's).

that night, he left green cookies and green candies for ian, some cute signs around the house, a letter to ian, and you know how mischievious leprechauns can be...he moved things in the wrong places! he put the chairs upside down and some on top of the table, he turned over owen's sit-n-play toy, he put the coffee table center piece where the toys go and the toy basket on the coffee table AND he t.p.'d the house! ian loved the green cookies and candies the leprechaun left, but could not comprehend why he would purposely make a mess and be naughty. i tried to explain he did it as a joke, but ian seemed more concerned then amused.

(naughty leprechaun!)
(a note for ian and some green cookies)

fast forward about 9 hours later. i was about to have my first physical therapy appointment and we could NOT find the keys! andrew was upset, i was upset and ian decided he was upset too. we looked EVERYWHERE! i knew it was my fault because andrew and i both remembered my picking up the keys off the floor, but we remembered nothing past that. andrew had to go to work after my appointment and was starting to panic for his own reasons. we looked EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! everywhere we could think! after almost an hour of searching and me cancelling my first physical therapy appt, ian said, "mommy, did that leprechaun TAKE them?!" "YES!!!" i shouted - relieved to have a scapegoat! "well, he didn't take them, but he moved them somewhere! he is SO NAUGHTY!" ian decided we should set up a trap next year to catch him. andrew said he would be waiting with a shotgun...which i thought was a bit extreme, but like i said, he was pretty upset. guess where that leprechaun put those keys?! in ian's toy box. he must have cleaned up a toy on the ground when he was holding the keys and dropped them in there. leprechauns are the worst.

3. THE END
owen will be waking up any minute, so i will end this for now. here are the links to a few albums.

things in this album: winter carnival, game night with todd and cheryl, my birthday, snow sculptures, and kids.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=63942&id=737543123&l=f0de8863b3

things in this album: valentine's day, outing with cheryl, friends, and visit to spokane/deer park.
ahhh... this is much easier than posting all these i must say!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=65604&id=737543123&l=7b4788ad02

enjoy~

b

PART III OF V

2009-03-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

Videos! Be patient if you only see one - these things take FOREVER to upload. Okay, uploaded two - done for tonight - more to come soon~

Owen Marshall saying "Hi"... kind of...

Ride 'em Cowboy

(don't mind the broken chair and mess in the backround!)

PART II OF V

2009-03-11T19:07:00.001-07:00

just some january randomness~

ian looking ADORABLE.

Ian and Daddy...and Owen Marshall's head.
After Church.
Working on breakdancing moves. Seriously. We watch kids breakdancing on youtube and then ian attempts the moves. My kid rocks.

Photo shoot of Mommy and Owen - picture by Ian!

Family Outing! Fun at the Winter Festival...and no...Mommy and Daddy did NOT get into a tiff because Daddy said he was (quote) - "just here to hold things"...

Look at the excitement in Andrew's eyes!!

Snow Sculpture Fun.

Mommy and Ian.

Cheryl and Lily came with us.

Ian and his buddy Kade. Those are Ian's FAVORITE socks because his cousin Coleman gave them to him. Nothing like used socks to build a kid's self esteem!

Bathing in the sink. He is still soooo tiny!

Ian completely dressed himself for the day...

PART I OF V

2009-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

last night as a three year old..

birthdays are a big deal...at least in my world. after hours of looking for a transformers pan online (there are none that i'm aware of) and picking the perfect picture to sketch onto a cake, and making mini-cupcakes and setting up something special for ian to wake up to, i collapsed into content exhaustion. you see, while i love surprises and surprising others and creating and maintaining traditions, it doesn't always come as natural to me as it does to others. i spend hours upon hours picking the right font for a card, decorating the birthday cake, arranging and then re-arranging the table that ian will see when he wakes up. all for little ones who will have no memory of these early birthdays. but as tillia says, "it's all about the photos" - and so here they are:

here is the little present, card and mini-cupcake ian woke up to. i even used the real china... ahhh to be four again. eating mini-cupcakes for breakfast on mom's china without a care in the world...

TADAAA! the cake that took me hours. and i do mean HOURS to design. i even made the frosting ALL BY MYSELF - something i have never done (or even thought of doing) before! it was hard - and scary - but i powered thru and mixed and mixed and colored the frosting gray and blue. just once, i would like to bake something that looks professional. where someone looks at it and puts their hands to their face and says, "oh my! you should sell these! you have such talent!" instead i generally get the pity/i'm-proud-of-your-effort head cocked to the side as someone says something like, "aww...you did really goooood". in that "bless your heart" kind of way. oh well...that cake above is as good as it gets.

ian pre-party.

we had a ton of helium balloons (thanks to julie) and lots of preschoolers and preschoolers' siblings running around the church gym like caged animals being set free. we also played duck-duck-goose (which i realized once we started playing that my son had never seen or played before!) and a musical numbers game where when the music stopped they had to go find a number to stand on that i had placed on the ground. then a child got to pull a number out of a bag and whoever was standing on that number got to come get a party favor.

presents!!

when our neighbor, todd arrived, he announced to all the moms (and a few four olds) that "the stripper is here". at the church...to lds moms...and children... but todd would never let a little thing like "being appropriate" stop him from getting a laugh..

mommy and ian

andrew retrieving the flyaway balloons... and looking very happy here to do so!

all in all, it was a great day. owen slept, ian partied and mommy and daddy got extra hugs and kisses. love you ian. you are the coolest four year old i know.

owen watching the festivities from a safe distance~

More Good Stuff

2008-12-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Random Thoughts, Observations, Stories and Ianisms

Hard Core - Not everyone can pull it off.

- okay, so here is my lame christmas shopping story that i know you have all been waiting for. originally andrew and i weren't going to give each other gifts this year - but we (or i rather) changed our minds. i got him some cologne in new york a few years ago and it is almost out. so, i thought i would get him something new. i sample smelled several of the higher end ones; dolce and gabbana, armani, cartier, jean paul gaultier, etc... and they were pleasant. the guy at the mens' fragrance counter was doing his best to sell me on something, anything. he even told me some stories about how fabulous this one or that one smelled on his male "friend". i don't know why he didn't just say boyfriend...but whatevs. so anyway, i told him i was going to look around. he then stuck his nose in the air and practically ran away from me. okay, here comes the lame and embarrassing part. i had one fragrance and one fragrance only in my mind....lol..."woods" from abercrombie and fitch. now, i realize that in middle school you could smell a cloud of this when the guys sat together in the cafeteria or walked by in a cluster and it is a bit lame that i miss that smell. all i know is i loved "woods"! and "cool water" for that matter. they melted me then, so why not now? and so, i ventured into abercrombie...pushing my new baby in a stroller and trying to act like i went in there alllll the time. (as if i could even probably fit in anything in there - okay sure, maybe some of the guys stuff...). so i pushed little owen all the way to the back and starting looking for "woods"...and looking...and looking. then i went up front and started a conversation with the sales man - or boy rather.
-"hey", i said, "do you guys not sell woods anymore?"
-blank stare. "you know, woods? the cologne? it was like abercrombie's signature fragrance.."
-blank stare. "uh...i've never heard of that."
-"oh." awkward pause "well it was HUGE when i was in middle school and high school". awkward silence. "i feel old".
and out i walked, went to a few cool teenager places; hollister, american eagle, etc... and smelled their colognes. went to american eagle twice - their cologne was okay and i was considering buying, but af seemed cooler than ae to me. anyway, started talking to the guy in american eagle. -"oh my gosh!" says i, "i feel soo old! i was just in abercrombie and was asking them about woods and they don't even carry it anymore! and not only that, the kid didn't even KNOW what i was talking about!" and then i laughed out loud. and then i received yet another blank stare. followed by an awkward laugh from salesboy number 2.
-"umm...i've never heard of it either."
and then i realized that while american eagle sales boy was much taller than me and had a football players physique, that was probably because he played football...in high school. you see people, tall does not equal older in case you didn't know. and so, i awkwardly laughed my way out of the store. and realized that while i may feel 17 or 19 or even 21 inside, i am in fact inching ever closer to 30. yikes - that's scary to write. and so back to a&f i went, with my shoulders slumped in an i'm-30-in-2-years' kind of way. and bought "fierce", which - fyi - smells very similar to woods. andrew is wearing it today and i want to bury my face in his neck. then ian asked me to smell his little skinny neck - apparently he is now sporting "fierce" as well, which makes it waaaayyyy less sexy let me tell you.

Andrew Stapf and Brittany Krallis Stapf Christmas Day - Idaho - 2008

- so, thank you to jen and fam for our christmas gifts. ian has taken over owen's caterpillar book and every time we turn the page - makes me turn it back again and again and again to see where the caterpillar went... most of all, thank you for the best truffles i have ever had. magic truffles, i like to call them. a christmas miracle if you will. i forgive her for addressing that particular box "to the whole family" and ask you to please send those only "to brittany" the next time around. that's right, i'm putting in an order. i have never had better chocolate. andrew totally stole one of the bags and i may have called his work and told whoever answered to please tell my husband that i know he is a thief and i want "my" chocolates back. you would think a 5 pound bag for each of us would suffice. you would be wrong.

Owen Marshall the night before Christmas.

And Christmas morning.

That's right, he goes through two sets of pj's in that time.

- yesterday andrew and ian were wrestling and andrew pinned down ian and yelled, "who do you work for??!!" which i thought was pretty funny since he's never said that to ian before. ian didn't miss a beat and yelled, "I WORK FOR BOB KWALLIS - BEEF JEWKY! i guess while we were in nc he heard my dad answer his phone one too many time, "Bob Krallis"...

- a few days ago ian, owen and i were hanging out on my bed. ian needed to go get something and said, "mom, you keep owen happy - i'll be wight... back." good thing i have him around to tell me what to do.

Cheryl Gerzine and I

About to have Christmas Dinner at their house.

If we look extra happy,

it's because we were about to eat!

By the way guys, I totally dig your Elk-plates.

Mmm...yams on scenic elk-ware.

Can you beat it?

Cheryl and Lily and Lily and Owen

please compare the thighs...

Seriously, Owen doesn't stand a chance against this girl! She's only a month older, but she is about to flatten him in a 'steamroll' - See him smiling? That's because he has no idea the crushing weight he is about to feel..

No offense Lily-pad.

Ian was given two Harley Davidsons. Todd definitely knows the way to Ian's heart. Two toy motorcycles and a couple of gas sounds and Ian considers you a friend for life.

A picture of Todd, Cheryl and Lily Gerzine I took in our back yard.

They are nauseatingly cute.

This was also taken in our yard. I think it is awesome and that I should win some sort of award for this picture. It helps having such a photogenic subject as well. About 60 seconds later Lily totally ate it - as in - faceplanted in the snow.

But we all feel her sacrifice was worth it.

Ian eating an Octopus. This kid will seriously do ANYTHING that Todd does. It almost ruined me and Andrew's meals. What 3 year old eats octopus???!! Oh he also ate SEVERAL crawfish - like fully in their shell with their little eyes begging for mercy. Ian said (and i quote), "they almost look like animals". Oh sweet boy, if only you knew...

- lately i have been worrying about my child outsmarting me sooner than anticipated. for example, he asked how when i order a movie on the computer (pay per view) - how it gets to the tv. i think i said something about satellites and technology. he totally bought it - phew. then that night he we were lying next to each other in his bed and as i was kissing him goodnight he said, "mommy", (and started touching above my eyebrow and around my forehead) how do dreams get right here?" "uhhh..", i said - "well, close your eyes. do you see the grinch? do you see the christmas tree? (the last movie we had watched) do you see mommy? well, that's in your brain. and even when you close your eyes and go to sleep, your brain keeps working." i was pretty impressed with my answer i must say. i should probably write a book entitled, "how junk works: explaining the complexities of life with a three year old mind...i mean, TO a three year old mind" so, here's my concern. he's three and i'm having a hard time answering his questions. what happens when he's 8? or 13? maybe i will use the, "how do YOU think it works?" answering his question with a question. then i will appear wise while encouraging a 'seek-your-own-answers' facade. yes, i totally have this mothering thing down.

Andrew and I. You don't know this, but he threw up approximately three times before we took this picture. What a good sport!

(Now you know why we aren't kissing in it).

"i want to go to there" - who's with me?!

2008-12-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

When you're poor you hang a blanket over the piano

and borrow your dad's camera for a photo shoot.

Just way too cute.

Ian and his Papa. Boy do they love eachother.
Ian has called our neighbor "Papa" by accident exactly three times since we've been home.

I love that hair swirl on the back of his head. Not crazy about the bald patch.

Brittany Krallis Stapf and Owen Marshall Stapf

Ian, Mommy and Owen

Me and the boys - "all the boys are here" - as Ian says.

Sometimes he tells me about when Mommy was a little boy.

Ian Robert Stapf and Brittany Krallis Stapf back home in good ol' NC.

So cute it's a little disgusting.

I never got around to taking a foot print - but I'm crazy about this picture.

i should finish cleaning. the house looks pretty fantastic - my room on the other hand looks like a clothes-bomb went off. in my desperation to find a migraine pill, i MAY have dumped a few perfectly packed and folded suitcases. never did find the pills - i think i left them in nc. not to worry. the pharmacy took mercy on me once and my doctor took mercy on me today. small town living does have it's benefits.

so, rather than try to connect my random thoughts and stories i'm going to number them so that i will not have to segue from one thing to the next.

1. went to the creche (or for those of us who are not awesome enough to use "creche" in our everyday language would say), the LIVE NATIVITY at the church in raleigh. apparently the night before we went, 2,000 people came thru. way to go raleigh. more people filtered thru the stake center there than live in my whole county. so the live nativity was outside and the million little nativity scenes were set up in the cultural hall and the primary room had some cute stuff set up too. tried to get ian to dress up like joseph or a shepherd or an angel and have his picture taken, but he was not feeling it. anyway, in the center of the gym was one really big nativity scene - almost life sized. i bent down next to ian and said, "see ian, that's joseph and mary and baby jesus"...then i explained about the wise men and gifts and why we give gifts on christmas. i knew he had a pretty good grasp about what was going on so i thought i would test him. "see the one in the back ian? do you know who that is?" "yeah", he said very confidently, "it's the tooth fairy". as you can see, i'm doing a bang-up job on my eldest child. i relayed the story to some people at the "creche" and scott moore said it well when he confirmed that, "ahh..yes, the tooth fairy was there to usher in the birth of Christ". so i guess ian wasn't totally off.

2. ian and i did some decorating with our meager christmas decorations today. if ian doesn't become a professional wrestler i think he may have a future in decorating. we hung our dollar store bells from the tree and he kept saying, "okay mommy, stand back and look"...we would then step back to make sure they were balanced. i told him gold bells on the tree and silver ones in a bowl. next time i went in the living room he had put two gold christmas trees on the wood burning (not burning at the time) stove. symmetrically. then later moved them to the dining room windows. again, symmetrically. then he came in the kitchen and said he needed a bowl for the silver bells. gave him a christmas bowl (another dollar store find - because that is how we roll).. and forgot about it. later i was walking around the living room looking for it - and thinking "there is no telling where he put that bowl and the bells" - and was surprised to come across it on our kitchen table, which i had set with our christmas dishes earlier. it was perfectly centered. i was pretty impressed and may have gushed over him a wee bit. but just so you know, he is well-rounded, he can catch, throw and kick a ball better than almost any kid his age. i'm just sayin'...

3. went to my friend kim's house yesterday. you remember kim - the one who i was in the "band" with and also the one whose son cade came over my house only to have his feet mildly burned in our fire pit... anyway, you know what they say about payback.. so, kim has this beautiful house that she and her husband built. it has an amazing view and the yard is pretty much a boy's paradise. tire swing. big hills for sledding. dirt bikes and motorcycles, a dog that looks exactly like a wold, and all the fun toys a boy could have. now cade is roughly ian's age but the kid is tough. like fall-on-your-face-onto-the-concrete-off-a-tall-trampoline-and-not-shed-a-tear tough. so he and ian and another little boy went outside to play in the light dusting of snow we had. (don't worry, we're due for a blizzard this weekend). anyway, i was hoping they would just run around. but cade had bigger plans. he decided they needed to go sledding. down a very big hill in the yard. oh and did i mention the ramp? yeah, there was a plywood ramp - because sledding down a huge hill at three years old without catching air...la-ame. so cade goes a few times. and he is good. his first run he gets a running start and belly flops onto the sled. he knows how to kind of steer it and he always hits the ramp dead center and if something gets in his way...like a tree orr...let's say... a parked car, he bails. and so ian decided he will go too. i was nervous. i tried to tell him to start half way up the hill (brittany-style as i call it) and work his way closer to the top. he didn't agree with my method. apparently he is a "jump into the pool all at once" kind of kid. little did i realize that the sled ian was hauling up the hill was waaay heavier and thicker and faster than cade's sled. so ian starts at the very top and comes FLYING down the hill and hits the ramp - fast - and literally and i do mean literally, takes flight. he landed it - thank heavens!! - and eventually came to a stop with a slightly panicked look on his face. (even now as i think about it i can't stop giggling out loud. it was soooo awesome and scary). "okay", i thought - "that was good, let's call it day" - but i really didn't want to be THAT mom. you know, the kind of mom with tissues in her coat pocket so she can wipe her child's runny nose? he needs to do these boy things - i convinced myself. and so he goes again. same sled. flying down the hill at lightning speed. and i was standing with this little two year old kim was watching at the bottom of the hill to make sure he didn't get in the way. ian hit's the ramp again - but this time at a slightly different angle - and instead of going past us towards the left, he is going right. "right" toward my parked jeep and kim's beast of an suv. as i turn to see him blow by, i realize there is NO WAY he is going to stop before he gets to the car. and he has no concept of bailing. so he goes under the back left side of the car and comes to a jarring stop when the sled rams into the tire. i was running towards him - and he was sitting very still. i was sure his face was broken. his nose broken and bloody, his teeth gone, his cheekbones shattered. and by some MIRACLE and had cocked his head far enough to the side that somehow his face didn't ram into the bumper. i took the fast sled away after that. his first run on the slow sled he came to a stop on the wooden ramp - a very slow stop and he very gently rolled off the sled and onto the ramp. for some reason that brought the tears. a little bit later i went inside to check on owen and not a minute later i hear ian bawling. he had run into the cars again, but this time bumped his head. it was on the slow sled, but he had a little marble sized bump sprouting up. we went in the bathroom while he cried and cried and finally pulled it together. and shortly after, we left. "i am torn", i told kim as we left. "part of me wants to come over here all winter and hang out with you and let ian play with the boys and do fun winter things. and part of me wants to keep his arms and legs in one piece". it's a tough call.. ps. just for a description of kim's family...three boys and one girl. they are all like little action heros. they should have their own reality show. they take the kids rock climbing and white water rafting with them and the five year old is apparently amazing on a motercycle. oh and did i mention they are all beautiful and obviously super-fit? needless to say i feel spectacularely awesome about my chubby, clumsy coolness when i'm with them.

4. ian saw santa at k-mart while we were home. for $2 you can take a picture with a polaroid camera of your kid with santa and $1 goes to st. jude's childrens' hospital. ian sat with santa - who incidently has NO idea how to talk to children and smells like cigarette smoke and may have been on something...in case you were wondering. he asked ian what he wanted and ian asked santa if he could buy a transformer. as in, he asked santa's permission for ian to buy a transformer. he really does not get the santa concept. everytime he asks for something i say, "let's ask santa for it and see if he brings it" - ian counters with, "no. lets just go buy it at the store".

5. FINALLY get to see andrew tomorrow after 5 weeks apart!! i missed that guy. i am making a very special ribs and sweet potato dinner for him. and since my culinary skills rarely please him, i'm hoping very much to hit a homerun.

6. just checked on owen - who has been VERY fussy lately with an ear infection and not eating much. never kiss a sleeping baby. even though you think you want to. even though your lips start itching to kiss that little cheek or forehead or lips, DON'T DO IT. because then they stir and moan and change positions and you back out of the room tiptoeing, but it is often too late.

7. today dr. gustafson checked owen's ears and he started bawling, his hurt/mad cry. a few minutes later we heard a loud grunt/pouty sound and looked over at ian who was sitting in a chair with his arms folded across his chest, and clearly sulking. "ian! what's wrong?" i asked - in a you-are-being-rude kind of way. "doctor hurt my brober and i don't - like that!!" i love that kid. he is awesome.

8. almost this whole thing is about ian. i swear i have my own stories. my own life. really i do. as soon as i can think of something from it, i will share.

9. thank you again to annie hardison moody for our books from ghana. love the "fly, eagle, fly" book. it's a great story and the best part about it is that ian has fallen asleep three out of the four nights we've read it before i get to the end. does it make me a nerdy that i continue to read it all the way through so i can see how it ends?

10. while i was home i read "the invisible wall" - LOVED it! and the one that came after that. can't remember what it's called. "the dream" or something like that. this guy wrote them at 92 years old! his memoirs from england and then as an american immigrant. i highly recommend them. also started the 1000plus page "world without end" in nc and finished it today. i really like the stories and reading about the lives of these medieval peasants and royals and priors, etc... but follett's writing is kind of juvenile at times. every once in a while he throws in a big word for you, but his descriptions make me roll my eyes sometimes. still, i really did enjoy it. not every book has to be ayn rand i guess.

11. have a christmas shopping story i am looking forward to sharing. but as it will ruin andrew's present, i will wait. let's just say - i realized my age while out buying him a present. and it is not 17 my friends.

brittany. out.

NC

2008-11-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

i am currently in north carolina visiting my
family for a month. i wish i could have come just a little earlier, when the state fair was in town. does it make me a redneck and a wee bit trashy that going to the fair is one of my favorite things to do in the whole world? i'm pretty sure it makes me cultured with sophisticated taste - but i can't really back that up. mmm fair corn dogs...funnel cakes...scary rides...corn dogs...fried oreos...livestock...people in overalls with racist bandannas...people with big chains and racist t-shirts...corn dogs...bears in horribly small glass cages...corn dogs...and the list
goes on and on.. i have yet to go to any other state's fair. a) i believe it would make me a sell-out and b) perhaps some of you would say the food is the same - it can't be! says i. southern fair food is on a whole other level - again, can't really back that up.

ian has pretty much had the time of his life. i think he just realized that daddy is not with us about two days ago. he is starting to really miss him. today he told me he was sad and missed daddy and that he needed to cuddle. but he has also claimed that EVERY day has been "the best day" or "a GREAT day". ian has been to the movies with papa twice, played at the indoor mall playground twice and jumped on the crazy harness trampoline at the mall once, eaten out, had more (mostly caffeine-free) soda than any child should, eaten out a few times and had what he called the best rice with soy sauce ever at a sushi place, gone out on the boat one last time before the boat retired for winter, caught a fish, bought a few new cars, played with papa's huge remote controlled jeep, watched transformers with papa (mommy wasn't going to let him but papa fast forwarded thru all the war stuff and scarier stuff and did a great fake laugh to let ian know it was indeed funny.. ian is still begging to see it again). ian will only allow memere to put him to bed - they have a pretty good routine going. basically he is going to go into lack-of-fun-shock when we get back to idaho. not that watching the snow fall and fall and fall and staying away from the wood burning stove aren't exhilarating activities.

owen marshall is getting bigger and starting to laugh a little and drool a ton. wish i could tell you more about him - but he has yet to do much more than that. he is rolling onto his side (not all the way over) but still - that's pretty exciting no? uhhh... his nails are like little razors and his hair has some random long patches. and... i'm out. that's all i got.

speaking of hair, as you can see i chopped mine off. the guy who did it was awesome! he was trained by vidal sassoon and lived in scotland in some kind of program with them. he is pretty high up in the hair biz but on tuesdays he does hair for half off - you know, to keep it real and hang with the not so elite clientelle. and that is why i got to go to him - thanks for keeping it real scott. this is what i know about him: he is straight, grew up around salons (his dad owns several and his mom did hair, loves amsterdam with a slightly obsessive level, wants to move there but couldn't leave his parents so he goes four times a year. i found this out when i said "oh, so do you try to go once a year?" to which he said, "i usually go about four times a year." to which i thought - "wow... you know you're poor when your mind doesn't even go to the place of people traveling to the same place abroad more than once a year."

highlights for me so far:
-hanging out with my sister-in-law tia ria (or aunt maria for those of you who no speaky espanol).
-going to d.c.
-madame toussand's wax museum - straight up high class yo.
-hanging with kim h.
-getting a free stone massage!!! can i get a whatwhat?!
-window shopping - ahhh...if only where i lived had windows for such a purpose...
-watching a few movies with my dad - who may be the only one is as into movies as me.

i can't think of any great stories right now. will post again soon. hopefully hanging with the following people soon:
-annie hardison moody
-annie howington
-emily williford black
-tammy edwards -can'trememberherlastnamerightnow-somethingwitha"y"i think
-juli helmer kilgore
-brandon fields
anyone else want to get in on that list??

Hot Feet

2008-10-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Some random pictures before we begin...

Owen looking tough kid gangsta. That's right, he could totally beat up your two month old... Go on... test him...

Ian took this picture. I think my face looks weird, but Andrew likes it.

This was taken way back in April - that is Cade on the far right, and again below. Just so you have a visual for the story you are about to read...

I should be sleeping right now. Everyone else in this house is sleeping, but I would rather make "the people" (that's all my fans out there) happy by giving them a new blog.

Today I hung out with my friend Kim and her youngest son Cade. (For those of you keeping track, Kim was on electric guitar in our band - scroll down several entries for some rad band pics). Anyway, Cade and Ian are the same age - although, Cade is a wee bit tougher than Ian. Okay FINE!! He's a LOT tougher than Ian - happy now?? But he has three super tough older siblings so it's to be expected. Anyway, Kim left and Cade stayed to hang with Ian. They were having a great time; running around the yard, taking turns on the bike and making pretend fires in Ian's little tent. (FYI - Cade may be tougher but his pretend fire was WEEEAK! Ian's on the other hand could have won a merit badge. I'm not kidding. He formed a rock circle, had a huge flat rock in the middle and crossed the little sticks for appropriate oxygen levels to get the fire started. So live with that Cade...live...with...that.)

I was in and out of the house and thank goodness I was outside when the trauma happened. Last night Andrew and Ian had a fire in the fire pit in our yard. So I'm talking to Tillia on the phone and the boys run towards the fire pit to get a Frisbee and I thought I saw Cade jump and the next thing I hear is horrible screaming/crying. I think I dropped the phone in the grass and went running over to find Cade (out of the fire pit thank goodness), but sitting down with his feet completely covered in dirt and ashes. And even worse he had on those sandal/sneakers with no socks. I pulled off his shoes and scooped him up (he is heavy, but I had the adrenaline and strength of a bodybuilder at that moment) and ran over to the hose (or spicket rather) and ran ice cold water on his feet. Then I picked him up again (this time he felt a little heavier - he is seriously a solid kid!) and carried him inside. By the time he stopped crying I realized my legs and hands were shaking a little. No permanent damage...maybe some psychological, but hey that's what therapy's for right? And hopefully he's young enough that he will not remember it was me and blame his mother instead. I spent the rest of his time here trying to make it up to him with the last Otter Pop, watching Dora the Explorer, letting him eat in the living room, coloring with chalk and making goofy faces at him which by the way, did not bring a smile to his face.

So, two valuable lessons learned here:
1 - do not jump into a fire pit... ever. even if it looks soft and sooty and inviting.
2 - little boys are... well, kind of stupid.

Alright, I don't want to be one of those annoying moms who thinks their kid is hilarious and tells stories that no one else thinks are funny... it just so happens my kid is in fact hilarious. Like, universally funny. He makes awesome faces, he can dance for reals or to get a laugh and when the time comes I am pretty sure the delivery and timing of his jokes will be dead-on. So, I just wanted to add some Ianisms (as i like to call them) that he has said in the past few weeks.

If you don't find these funny, then you either:
A) hate children
B) have no sense of humor
or
C) have been jaded by the world and/or my superior sense of humor.

And now I present...

IANISMS!

1) a few days ago a friend talked me into adjusting/cracking my neck. something i never EVER do and am kind of against... (anyone who knows the hendersons knows what i'm referring to.) But, I am constantly hunched over the baby and my neck and shoulders are killing...so, i agreed. And Dan (who is coincidentally Kim's husband, Cade's dad) adjusted my neck. He was sort of shaking it around to get me loose (because I could NOT relax it) and Ian RAN over to us and got in between us and said, "What are you doing to my Mommy?! YOU'RE BREAKING HER HEAD!" I was pretty impressed he tried to protect me.

2) the other morning i made ian and i this carnation instant breakfast/banana shake. you know how sometimes when you eat ice cream or milk - it can make you phlegmy and you start coughing? well, ian started coughing a lot. then he walked up to me and said, "this makes me cough. what is it?.... coffee (coughee) or somethin'?"

COME ON PEOPLE! THAT IS HUMOR.

3) i was holding owen - who was sleeping - and ian wanted to wake him up. when i asked why?, ian said he needed to show owen something. he was holding up one of owen's shirts and and looking at the tag and said, "see mommy! it has baby owen on it!" - it was actually a picture of the Gerber baby on the tag, but obviously the adorableness factor is the same.

4) this one is embarrassing...i know everyone in both my and andrew's families will judge us, but yesterday we were all sitting around in the living room with Seinfeld on in the background. andrew was laying on the floor, i was sitting on the couch with owen, and ian was building a city with his blocks. you know those progressive insurance commercials?
here is the link if you haven't seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itDejkU20Ig
it came on and no one was really paying attention - ian was completely focused on his blocks, but just as she says, "yeah, or a big tricked out (pause) name-tag", ian says "name-tag" in perfect unison with her. andrew sat up as fast as possible and we looked at each other while ian continued looking at his blocks. in fact, he never once looked up. yes, yes.. i know, i get it.. will be cutting back the tv time...

and in the interest of getting to bed relatively soon i will only share one more.

5) the other morning ian climbed in bed with me and i said, "morning buddy. did you have good dreams last night?" now, usually i don't ask him about his dreams. i used to, but he would always say he dreamed about snakes - i have a feeling he was lying because no one dreams about snakes every single night. anyway, he said - "yeah, i was THERE!" and i said, "you were where?!" and he said, "NOO Mommy, IAN was IN my dream!! iiii was there!!" it never occurred to me dreaming about yourself could be a brand new experience. and last night he said he had a dream that sweetie pie (for anyone who isn't familiar, again - scroll down and find sweetie pie entry) turned into a giant white bunny...like a transformer. it's his first real weird honest-to-goodness dream that he could articulate. those of you who really know me know i have the most vivid, crazy dreams anyone could imagine. and for some reason i am oddly proud of his cat to bunny transformer dream.

i know this entry started out with words being capitalized, but i got lazy... just deal with it people.

ps kim, if you read this...sorry i burned your kid's feet. and sorry i publicly called him (and all little boys) stupid.

useless dribble and palin

2008-09-23T00:03:00.000-07:00

i feel the need to write - or purge - but i've not much to say. usually i have a little outline of what i want to write about before i blog. (don't you love using blog as a verb? or is it just me? oh..it's just me??) but tonight i come to you with no agenda. just me, in the dark, and the humming of the fridge and computer. speaking of.. i was lying in bed (laying or lying?) and really TRYING to get to sleep earlier - i turned off the tv at midnight, said my prayers and was determined to make tonight the night i get to bed before 2am. however...i kept hearing this buzzing/vibrating sound. like a cell phone vibrating rapidly and repeatedly, over and over and over. i checked the floor, my bed, me cell, andrew's cell - which he left here on accident - the tv, the nightlights around the house, the baby monitor and - nothing! couldn't find the source! so then i thought, maybe it's just in my head and i tried to listen to the fan and focus on that sound, but it was to no avail.... the buzzing continued. then i started hearing other sounds. then my heart started beating fast. then i got up and turned on the tv (because that always makes me braver). i checked on ian and sat down at the computer. i was on for a minute when i realized - the computer was vibrating!! this weird, barely audible sound that i SWEAR i was able to hear and feel in my room. if i were a superhero i would probably have supersonic hearing (i don't even know what supersonic hearing means or entails, but i'm pretty sure that's what i would have). one time i was living somewhere where i could hear this ticking - fast ticking that felt like it was in my brain. no one else could hear it but it was driving me insane. finally i found the source...it was one of those things that you plug in with this high frequency that humans aren't supposed to hear to drive away spiders and insects. "brittany", you say - "surely you jest". "no", i tell you. "this is a true story!"
i am starting to feel this blog is going downhill at supersonic (ha! didn't think i'd be awesome enough to use that word again so soon did you?...) speed. next time i will return to my outline.

what else can i write about?....

it's 1:15am exactly. i just fed owen a bottle that i "expressed" - i think that word is so lame. it's trying to make pumping milk from your breasts sound cool and smart so you don't feel like a farm animal hooked up to a contraption. so, having cleared that up... i just fed owen a bottle that i PUMPED and got him back to sleep. but now i can't sleep. i'm in the bad habit of napping everyday. andrew works nights, comes home and sleeps. then i wake him up sometime in the afternoon and i crash. it's a pretty sweet system we have going. i really need to make a change.

i signed up for some new features with our house phone today. and our bill for phone and internet will be $20 less a month. i now will get call waiting, 100 minutes long distance a month and most importantly... caller i.d.! that's right fools - i'm ascreenin'you now! now i just have to train ian to recognize certain names to not pick up the phone for. ian loooves to talk on the phone. he calls my parents and anyone else he can think of everyday on my cell phone. he knows that memere is #3 and papa is #4 and aunt t.t. is #6. it's been a great way for him to learn his numbers. however...he thinks all phones are programed like my cell and gets upset when he picks up the house phone and hits 4 and nothing happens. and when he sees a 3 or 4 on a paper or remote he says, "hey that's memere's number!" yesterday it was raining. we looked out the window and ian said, "wow, it's really raining". and i said "it sure is". and he said, (in a very serious and burdensome voice - like the weight of the world was on his shoulders), "hmmm... i better tell papa..." i'm sure my dad was pleased to receive the weather report from idaho while in north carolina.

ian has this big, super loud and obnoxious robot that walks and shoots little discs that my mom got him for $8. (thanks again mom...) the other day he was holding it with one hand under it's head, and one hand under it's back so it was parallel to the floor and he said, "mommy, this is how you hold someone when they die". to which i said, "where did you learn that???" to which he said, "in boise." it's sort of his fall-back answer when he can't remember something. "ian, where did you hear that expression?" "in boise". we don't go to boise often as it's an hour and a half away. and i'm pretty sure ian has never learned an expression or seen a dead person held there. but when in doubt, "in boise".
andrew has a trap set up on the back deck for a raccoon. it includes dog food, a plastic cup, a huge cage like thing and a long piece of twine that comes into the house for one of us to pull if something actually climbs in there. here's the problem. you would have to be in the laundry room to watch it and pull the string...a place we aren't in the habit of hanging out. and also...i don't want to catch a raccoon.

owen just woke up. so now i am holding him and trying to type with one hand.

i really like alec baldwin. i know he called his daughter a "rude little pig", but you need to hear his side of the story. he makes me giggle. and tina fey makes me laugh out loud. she is awesome. and tracy morgan makes me chuckle. pretty much i heart 30 rock. speaking of 30 rockefeller place, did anyone else watch that 20/20 or dateline or whatever it was about that french guy who pretended to be a rockefeller and jipped all those wealthy americans out of millions? it was pretty absurd and funny. he was french, people!! the french don't make rockefellers! did you know that the expression "jipped" is actually an ethnic slur? it relates to gypsies - and people saying they got "gyped" out of money. so i almost never use that term - except now, so that i could teach you all something. you see, when you come to my blog you get an anecdote and a lesson. you are all welcome.

my friend rachael and i fantasize about being the personal assistants to one - kathy griffin. we're pretty sure she would treasure us and our humor. and also we would laugh at all her jokes to make her feel good about herself. because often times comedians have low self esteem.
there is so much more i could go on about and give the masses who read my blog (thanks honey...) insight into, but my left arm is cramping up from holding this baby boy and my right arm is getting funny shooting pains and my milk is coming in right...this...very...second...

so, goodnight and God speed. no wait, i don't exactly know what "God speed" means... i think it means God Be With You, but i'm not willing to put money on that. which is good because one shouldn't gamble on something like that.

ahem (clears throat)... goodnight and - good luck.

also, will ferrell really cracks me up.

ps i will add some pictures to this tomorrow.... or "foomonow" as ian says.

pps every - and i do mean every - guy i have asked about governor palin seems to have a crush on her. is she universally hot? i mean, she's attractive, but she's no - jessica simpson. speaking of jessica simpson (you guys like that segue?!) i can sing better than her. i may not have the hot bod, or blond hair, or mental capacity of an 8 year old, but i am a better singer. this i know for sure.

Welcome to the World, Owen!

2008-08-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am finally blogging the story of Owen’s birth…

Owen Marshall Stapf 7lbs 4oz 20 inches

It all began on a warm July day (insert magical, hazy imagery here) when I began having contractions every 8 minutes. Since I was not scheduled for a C-Section until August 4th and that was a week early AND my doctor assured me that it is very uncommon to go into labor before a scheduled C-Section, imagine my surprise.

Baby Girl's Room...all packed up now!

I called the hospital that evening and spoke with my Doctor who was on-call in the E.R. and I assured her that I did NOT want to come in that evening. She told me if they became more frequent or more intense to call back, otherwise take a Benadryl and go to bed. I one upped her and took a Benadryl and a Tylenol PM. I slept pretty well, but every time I woke up I would have another contraction.

The next morning, Andrew was supposed to go fishing with our neighbor and good friend Todd (who Ian calls Dot because he can’t say Todd). Andrew offered to back out but I didn’t want to over-react and told him to go ahead…especially since he assured me they would only be 30 minutes away (liars) and would have cell reception.
Talking to Andrew on the phone and telling him to get home...I may have been a wee bit misty eyed and a wee bit panicked...

Later I got up and let’s just say more was going on then I thought…I told my mom to call Andrew because I thought I was losing my plug. She called and told him not to come yet but we may be going to the hospital soon and he may need to get back but she would keep him posted. Unfortunately for the guys they had only cast their lines about 4 times at this point… my bad…actually, Owen’s bad. Then I hopped in the shower and I was positive something more was going on so I told my mom to call Andrew and tell him to get back immediately. More than AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER Todd and Andrew finally showed up. Andrew kept calling and telling me to go to the hospital (which FYI is about 40 minutes away) but I told him I was NOT going without him and I wanted him to shower so he didn’t smell like fish on our special day. It’s all about priorities people.

We finally got to the hospital and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and sure enough they were anywhere from 6-10 minutes apart, “Yes! I’m not crazy!” I thought. However…they weren’t sure if they wanted to keep me or send me home. If you are FORCED to have a C-Section because of hospital policy then I personally think it is completely unfair to have to experience ANY labor! 4 hours of monitoring later I BURST into tears in front of a nurse because I thought, what if they send me home? I know I will end up back here, only this time we will be rushed and I really don’t want another horrific emergency situation like we had when Ian was born. The nurse went on the offensive for me and called my Doctor and then came back and said, “Dr. Gustafson is trying to assemble a team”. (Gotta love small towns...)

Daddy and Owen Marshall

A little while later the nurse came back and said, “Okay, you are scheduled for a C-Section today at 4:30pm”. At this point I had been having contraction still about 8 minutes apart for 24 hours. I was relieved and nervous and SOOO glad my mom had surprised me and flown in 4 days early!! Thank goodness she was there to take care of Ian and help us with everything.

Mommy and Owen

Soon after the nurses announcement they began prepping me for surgery. I may have been more nervous for the Spinal than the C-Section! They brought me into the O.R. and the head nurse, Dan and the anesthesiologist rolled me on my side and gave me the shot. It hurt. But it wasn’t as terrible as some others I’ve had.

Immediately they made me straiten my legs and switch beds so that my brain would know my legs weren’t still bent before I lost all feeling. Then my ribs began to tingle and slowly it spread downward until I couldn’t feel anything. I tried with everything I had to wiggle my toes (you know, just to make sure it was really working!) and to move my knees, but they were dead as could be. What a bizarre feeling. Finally, they let Andrew back in and everyone began getting into place. 3 doctors (one for baby, two for me), 4 nurses, the anesthesiologist, Andrew and myself – it was a packed room.
Looking over his little boy

Everyone asked what we were having and I confidently said, “a girl.” Then I told everyone how we had heard that the hospital had been wrong twice in the past six months about the sex of a baby and I may have said something along the lines of… "if this is boy we will sue!" To which the entire O.R. went dead quiet and I learned one should never say the word “sue” before a surgery to a bunch of doctors! I tried to cover after Andrew squeezed my arm and said, “Or at least I will have a strong talking to with the tech that did my ultrasound”.

The anesthesiologist then looked down at me (he and Andrew were by my head and the only people I could see) and said, “I’m happy, you know why I’m happy?” To which I said, “Why?” “Because they have already made the incision and begun”, he said. Then I was happy because I hadn’t felt a thing! A little while later the pressure began. I found out later I had a band of scar tissue that they couldn’t get the baby past. So this nurse was pushing (and I mean PUSHING) down just under my ribs to force the baby out. Andrew said that at one point she actually came up off her feet. Today, 11 days later is the first day I’m not aching where she pushed.
Memere and Owen

The anesthesiologist grabbed Andrew’s elbow and made him stand up to see over the curtain so that he wouldn’t miss seeing our baby for the first time. Andrew said, “I see her head! Ohh.. she’s so cute Brittany”… (again, I am looking up at Andrew’s face) then I see the he looks confused for a second – he kind of cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brows… then he GASPED and his eyes got huge and he put his hand over his mouth and nose. I said, “What? What?!!” although, oddly enough I knew it wasn’t something really bad… I think a part of me sort of knew from the puzzled look.

Ian and his little brother (who he is still referring to as "she")

The anesthesiologist looked at the baby and looked at Andrew, looked at the baby again and looked at Andrew and said, as serious as could be, “You need to tell your wife”. Other than hearing the baby cry once it was COMPLETELY SILENT in the O.R. – NO ONE was talking! Andrew said, “the baby is fine, it looks great, but… it’s… a boy.” Then, all the emotion I thought I would have at the birth of our child was sucked out of my body and all I could feel was SHOCK! I think I said some things like, “but we have a girl car seat! And a girl room!! And everyone has spent so much money on girl clothes!! And Rachael has been working of girl accessories for months!”

Owen was having a hard time breathing in the mean time, so Andrew went to be with the baby as they sucked out his lungs and worked on him. Again, other than the things they had to say to carry out the surgery, it was SILENT. Kind of like a black cloud settled over the Operating Room. I think everyone was worried I would freak out and start thrashing around or yelling “I sue you and I sue you and I sue you!” About ten minutes went by, which I needed to process everything. Part of me felt like I had been bonding with a little girl this whole time and I didn’t know this boy they were about to show me, but when they lied him down next to me and I kissed his little head I was fine. Until they took him away and then the freak out continued as I thought of all the people we had to tell – first and foremost, my mom - who had her own freak out!

Daddy and his little men

But here is the one really special thing about what happened. The first 19 weeks of my pregnancy, before I had the ultrasound, I told Andrew and my family that I KNEW we were having a boy! I felt as strongly as I’ve felt about anything that a little boy was waiting to come into our family. I told Andrew I just felt like I knew him and that if I was wrong, I would NEVER trust my intuition or spiritual inklings again! I do not claim to have strong spiritual insight into many things – it is VERY rare I feel 100% confident about something along these lines, but I was sure it was a boy. Until the ultrasound that is… Andrew and his parents can testify as to how shocked I was. And I thought, “I am in idiot – I have no more insight into matters of the future or answers to prayers or spiritual matters than… I don’t know… a duck.” (I’m on Oxycodone right now and duck is the first thing that comes to mind).

And now, I LOVE that I have two boys – not sure we will have any more little ones, but for the time being, my family feels complete. Two boys sound just right. I think maybe I was more excited about the clothes, bedding (as you can see!) and accessories that went with a girl then in actually having a girl. Andrew, although he has always wanted a little girl, is THRILLED to have another boy! He adores his little boy and is a phenomenal dad. He thanks me everyday for giving him Owen and he may have said, “I think he is the greatest thing to ever happen to mankind” (in addition to Ian of course!) …. Which makes me laugh~

So, that is the story of Owen Marshall (middle name named after Rita’s father, her maiden name) Stapf. Not Mya Stapf or Anderson Stapf like we thought, but Owen – who rode home from the hospital in the girliest car seat you’ve ever seen.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS: PART II

2008-07-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

OBSERVATION - I have decided there are two types of people in this world…Leno people and Letterman people. Letterman people are funny. They appreciate good silly humor as well as deep, thought provoking humor. These are the people you want to be around…the life of the party, if you will. Leno people are not as funny. They laugh at the Letterman people because the Letterman people are the one making jokes. Sometimes Leno people are very intelligent, but boring and incapable of enjoying goofy humor…then again sometimes Leno people are not so smart…not so smart at’tall. I suppose there are a third “type” – those who watch neither and who have no opinion one way or the other – but really, who cares about these people?

Me 9 months pregnant. I had to set the camera up and hit the timer button because there is never anyone around to take pictures of me.

RANDOM STORY - The other night I had several bad dreams. I was watching Larry King a few nights before and he had those Psychic Kids from the show I believe called…”Psychic Kids” on. They must have freaked me out a little because I never dream about ghosts, but there they were, all over the place. Here is the scary part of my dream… Andrew is lying next to me in bed and I reach out to make sure he is there. Then, a minute later I reach out again and he is gone. I start calling him…louder and louder and more and more high pitched. I think maybe he is in our bathroom so I get out of bed and open the door and there is a little boy standing there…oh yeah…and he’s a ghost. I gasp and shut the door – then (and for some reason when I am REALLY scared in a nightmare it turns to rage) I open the door again, but I can’t see him so I start flipping off the room (thinking he is probably in there somewhere) – because nothing scares a ghost like giving them the finger. By the way…I don’t exactly give people the bird…ever…but apparently that did the trick.
So then Andrew woke me up and cuddled me (although as always when I wake him from his sleep he was secretly ticked off at me…ahhh – unconditional love…).

Ian and his cousin Landon hanging out at Andrew's parents. And Hallie in the backround...minding her own business.

RANDOM STORY/OBSERVATION - Today Ian was riding his bike and Andrew was near him. Ian started to fall and Andrew caught him just in time while the bike crashed. Ian called his daddy a super-hero. Then came inside and told me about it. Andrew made him repeat it a few times. Later, Andrew was trying to fix something with the sink and he pulled off this filter (which, FYI – I could have done) and Ian said, “Wow Daddy! You are such a big, strong man!” Ian is really good for Andrew’s self esteem.

Landon is a month older than Ian - but Ian towers over him - like an ogre...like Shrek if you will.

RANDOM INFO - I am dilated to 1cm. Can I get a WHATWHAT??!! I am scheduled for a c-section August 4th (that’s in 2weeks and 3 days…but who’s counting?), but I guess it’s possible I will go early.
OBSERVATION - I was home alone for several days and it was blissful. Does this make me a bad mother? Andrew and Ian went to visit Andrew's parents a state away and I decided that at 9 months I wasn't up to the drive. I had no car and only myself to entertain me (well, myself and the tv..and the computer) and we were all quite happy together. I did get together a few times with some friends because I am awesome and people just want to be around me. But for the most part it was just me...alone. I don't think I have been away from Ian for more than one night in the past 3 1/2 years. And the times I have been away from Andrew I was with Ian. Anyway, I think this whole 4-5 days alone thing should be something we try every...oh...two months...or at least every year. I'm just sayin'...something to think about.

Ian trying to do the Spiderman web-throw...not sure why but it makes him really happy...as you can see. He has not quite perfected the technique as you can also see.

RANDOM STORY - Two doctor's appointments ago I had gained about 5 pounds in two months and my doctor said...(and I quote)..."whoa, you've gained some weight". And I thought, "Listen you skinny, granola girl...if you think this is a lot of weight you should have seen me pregnant with Ian". So then the next visit I didn't gain anything and she was quite happy and asked me what I had been doing. I think i made up something about chasing Ian around and being outside more...but to tell the truth i have no idea why I didn't gain weight. It was just lucky happening. Then this last time I gained about 6 lbs. And when I looked at her with my guilty naughty puppy look she said, "Ohhh you're fine!" - all happy and encouraging. And here come the OBSERVATION part of my story... I think my doctor is screwing with my mind and emotions.

4th of July

2008-07-07T11:32:00.001-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised with the hardcore parade this little town was able to pull off on the 4th. At one point we even had 3 jets fly overhead. It was one of the best parades I have ever seen...not that I'm really a parade girl, but still - it was impressive. Ian had a blast and got more candy than Halloween! But really how could anyone resist throwing candy from their floats towards such an adorable boy?...

Andrew had to work so it was just me and the boy...and my belly. We actually ended up skipping out on the fireworks that night because they didn't start until 10:30pm and we were worn out. There's always next year...

Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures from the parade if anyone is interested... Not going to post it because it's kind of boring but there was a big Republican float that kind of blew the Democrat float out of the water...not that that's surprising here in Idaho...land of the diverse...and by diverse I mean white Republicans who all like to hunt and fish and like to talk about - you guessed it - hunting and fishing...you know, not to stereotype...

My shocked husband informed me that i may not have been using my best motherly judgement when letting my child put a boa around his little neck...he may have compared it to giving him a loaded gun and then telling him smile. I can only say it truly NEVER crossed my mind that this could be dangerous. I plead insanity by pregnancy.
Airshow! Kind of...
Marilyn Monroe and other celebrities...not sure why...

Ian yelled, "Mommy, Look at the PIRATES!!!" basically if they have a hat and some kind of weapon then he considers them a pirate!

Deep in Thought.

Needless to say...we got soaked!

One of Ian's favorite floats!

Ian's FAVORITE truck in the parade!

Tillia, I know you play Bunco...just wanted you to see the crowd you would be hangin' with if you lived here.

LDS Float!

Ian clutching some candy.

My little street beggar...he learned very quickly how to get the good stuff!

Cascade Beauty Queens...Cascade Drag-queens actually. I would LOVE to see a real drag-queen here! I can't even imagine the reactions they would get!

Smoky the Bear says, "Only you can prevent forest fires!"

After 10 lbs of candy, being soaked by the firetruck, a snowcone, otter pop and lots of sun...i think it is ready to call it a day!

The big finale with all the horses.