Bragging Rights

I try not to brag about myself much but I've been wanting to for a while now. And I know my brother Evan will just crush my happiness, but that's okay, he really is better than me. If you've seen me recently I have been carrying around a Rubik's cube, if it's not in my hands I usually have it stuck in my back pocket. My sister Laura came to visit over the summer and her husband John bought her a Rubik's cube for the long trip (don't worry, my mom drove, so she wasn't actually driving and cubing at the same time). Laura and I put our heads together to figure out how to do it (don't think we are like genius' or something, it comes with directions). We spent a lot of time figuring it out, luckily our kids entertained themselves. After about a week of flipping it, turning it and yelling at it; we did it. I was out of luck after she went home since it was hers to take with her, so the next time I was at the store I bought one for myself. Bo thinks I'm crazy most days, but I really do carry it everywhere with me. I think it's a stress relief for me but I really just like doing it. I also like to see peoples reactions when they ask if I can do it and I tell them I can. Most people actually say that they have never seen anyone solve it. I've been wanting to post my record time for a while now, but I haven't had a watch to time myself. The last time I timed myself was a couple months ago and I was frazzled by trying to get a good time. I timed myself at 3 minutes 38 seconds. That's pretty good, right? This morning Bo left his watch home by accident, so I took advantage of his forgetfulness. After fiddling with it for a couple minutes just to figure out how to work the stopwatch, I timed myself again. 2 minutes 15 seconds! Am I amazing or what?! Like I said before, I'm sure my brother has a better time, he always does... I guess I still have a lot of work since I can't do it one-handed, blindfolded or in 20 seconds or less; I'll keep working. I just feel accomplished because I can do the Rubik's cube. Can you?

Cheap Entertainment III

I was going to entitle this blog "White Trash Entertainment", but I felt bad calling my daughter white trash. So, Cheap Entertainment it is. Cheap Entertainment I & Cheap Entertainment II

When I was little every time my parents got anything that came in a box we cut it up and played with it. I think it was generally my mom's idea, and she usually did the cutting. Washer, dryer and fridge boxes were the best! We unpacked this box the other day and I had a flash-back moment to my childhood and thought it would be fun to cut it up for Boo. She has really been in our faces a lot for attention lately; I think it's her "subtle" way of saying she needs a sibling... Bo cut a door in the box last night; she was so confused at what he was doing but once he showed her what it was she spent the rest of the evening climbing in and out of it. We almost couldn't get her to go to bed.

So, this morning I cut windows in it and she was again tickled pink about it. She even told me after I finished cutting that I had cut a square window and a circle window.

When I asked her what the shape of the third window was, she quickly replied "It's a window mom" almost irritated that I didn't know that.

I got the booster seat that Grandpa Simper made her to put inside and she was more than thrilled to sit and watch Dora through the window.

Kids are so cute sometimes!

Good Friends Are Hard To Find

The slide shows aren't over yet... I just have way too many pictures! Here are some pictures of our friends. I tried to find some of everyone, but if there isn't any of you, it just means that I don't have any. So, hint, hint, send me some!

Christmas Decorating

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we tried to get some of our Christmas things out. We put up our lights on our house just to find out that we are short a couple strings to finish, but to our dismay we can't find any of the right lights at the store. But we did get our Christmas tree up. I wanted to get a full size this year but I thought, "why not wait until after Christmas and get one for cheap!". Smart thinking. So her is Boo helping decorate the tree. I left all the glass ornaments off because she can't seem to leave the decorations on the tree. She was upset to find that it wasn't there for her to play with, but that hasn't stopped her from changing the location of most of them. It was fun to have her interested in Christmas. Last year she was just a little too young to fully appreciate the occasion.

Bo's Mission

I had this slide show at the bottom of the blog, but decided that I just wanted one down there. But I couldn't find myself erasing it, so here it is again.

Grandparents are Great!

Here are some great pictures of Boo and her many grandparents!

Bo & Kay

I'm just having way too much fun with this slide show function... Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of Bo and I. Again, click on it to make it larger.

Heirloom Dress

This is a dress that my grandmother made. My mom took pictures of her girls in it, except for me..., and now she is trying to take pictures of her little grand-daughters in it. Here is the funny "photo shoot" with Boo. Click on it to view it larger.

Homeless Banana Update

I finally gave my ever-so-ripened bananas a home. I tried the recipe my sister-in-law postedin the comments under the Recipes Anyone? post. It turned out very good, but beware, as she mentioned it makes 4 loaves! I wasn't sure about adding the chocolate chips to it and I wasn't sure about if I wanted nuts or not. So I made one loaf with just chocolate chips, one with just nuts and two with chocolate chips and nuts. The ones with both chips and nuts turned out to be my favorite and they were all very moist. I received a couple more recipes in my email and I plan to try those when I have some more bananas in need. Thanks for the great recipe Kyra!

Boo was so cute when i was cooking, she sat at the table and copied my every move. I finally let her stir as I knew she was just itching to help.

Slideshows

I have SO many pictures on my computer that I wanted to share them with everyone so check out the bottom of our blog. I will be adding, updating, deleting them frequently so check it out often. I will try to put a post up every time I change it! So far this is what I have...

Thanksgiving Recap

Like previously mentioned, because of a horrendous kidney infection we stayed home for Thanksgiving. We had a good time just the 3 of us hanging out together. I tried to remember to take some pictures but this was the only time I broke out the camera. We did all the turkey fixings and had the typical over-eating Thanksgiving feeling when we finished. The rest of the evening was spent watching movies and lounging. We wish we could've seen family but we did enjoy the company and entertainment of our 2-year old. Hope every one's Thanksgiving was as good as ours!

Thanksgiving Plans Crushed

On a sad note today, Bo and I have decided that we won't be going to the valley for Thanksgiving. We were hoping to make our way to the valley and then later up north to see friends and family. Unfortunately we won't be going...

After not feeling good on Sunday, yesterday I expected to feel better or at least a little bit better but I didn't. If you know me well at all, you would know how much I hate going to the doctor, but when the pain gets bad enough I usually cave and agree to go. Yesterday the pain in my back and stomach got really bad in the late afternoon after the doctors offices closed... of course, that's my just luck. We went to the Emergency Room and two hours later had a diagnosis, I have a severe kidney infection. After starting some antibiotics I'm feeling a lot better today, not great but better than yesterday. The doctor told me last night that I would feel pretty crummy for the next couple of days and then I should start feeling back to normal.

I don't know if anyone out there has had a kidney infection before, but they hurt really bad. When I was in labor with Boo, I had back labor meaning all the pain was in my back. The pain I felt yesterday was very similar to labor, it reminded me why I haven't had another baby yet. I haven't talked myself into the pain again...

Bo took really good care of me in my hours of pain. I have such a great husband! Boo did exceptionally well at the ER, she was the hit of the night. Everyone thought she was so cute, she even got some stickers from one of the nurses, and she wasn't even the patient. All I got was poked and prodded, then given some pills to take. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

Hopscotch

We had some weekend visitors on Sunday, Ashley and Mindi came over for the afternoon; we had tacos and made cookies. While we were waiting for the cookies to bake, Mindi went in the back yard with Boo and had some fun. Mindi tried to teach Boo how to play hopscotch, mostly Boo just jumped around and counted. It was really cute! Sorry my camera takes such crappy video...





Boo was begging anyone to come out and play with her; really, who could resist this face?

Pie Anyone?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving we decided to buy a pumpkin pie the other day and thought we could get away with not sharing it with Boo, we were sadly mistaken. She came smell something tasty a mile away. Then she wouldn't let us get away with just feeding her little bites of ours, she wanted her own piece; after she consumed that one she wanted another.

Can you blame her, who doesn't love pumpkin pie?

Car Cleaning

If you know Bo or I you should know that we take pride in keeping our car clean. Before we had a two-year old it was a lot easier to keep clean and it would stay that way longer. So the point is that we have to clean our car a lot more often now, and sometimes we have a hard time finding the time. After putting Boo down for her nap on Saturday we took advantage of not having an extra pair of "very-helpful" two-year old hands. Since our "very-helpful" two-year old had been sick the weeks prior, she had up-chucked in her car seat a few times and we just wiped it down as best we could; we decided to give not only the car a good detailing but her car seat too. Bo started on the car as I started with her seat.

After what I found in her car seat, I suggest that anyone with a car seat should give it a good cleaning ever-so-often. I stripped the car seat down to nothing, washed the cover, and dumped out all the loose "stuff", then wiped it down with Clorox wipes and a wet rag.
This is what came out of the seat before and after I took the car seat cover off. As I have notated, there is a moldy french fry that was found in a deep dark crevice that would not have other wise come out if we had not taken it all apart. "Eeww, no one would buy it!" (What movie is that from??)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Bo is always telling me "You should put it on your blog", but this time he was telling me it was too gross to post, but I thought you should know what grows in your car seat.

In Memory Of...

This post is really for my brother Evan and sister Laura but those of you interested, you can read. This Sony tuner has had quite a history in our family; I'm not really sure I even know the whole history. I inherited the stereo from Laura when she went away to college, so I have had it for around 12 years. In my ownership the CD player has never worked; I have always had it hooked up to another CD player playing on auxiliary. Since getting married it was used with our DVD player as a red-necks version of a surround sound. Anyways, this isn't a history lesson, this is really a post to say that I am no longer going to be using it. My mom and Dad gave us their old tuner and Cd Player and it works great into our surround sound/entertainment center. We kept the speakers from it but the tuner has no more use for us. So as a call to my two siblings, if you want it-take it, if not-I'm getting rid of it.

Boo was quite confused as to why I was taking pictures of this strange black box, so she stepped in as Vanna White to model it for the camera.

Recipes Anyone?

Does anyone out there have a REALLY good Banana Nut Bread Recipe? I have tried a dozen or so that I have gotten off the Internet and found them all less than "a-peeling"(Man, I crack myself up!). It could be that I am I very picky Banana Nut Bread person. I mean, is it too much to ask for a recipe that makes the bread very moist and tasty as can be? I've got some bananas in desperate need of a good bread home, any help would be great!

What a Poser!

Bo is really funny at times, but the comment he makes lately is "You should put it on your blog" like it's a threat, he says it about everything. Sometimes it makes me wonder if he is really thinking I should, or just trying to give me a hard time about my love of blogging. I say this in preface of last night. I went in to check on Boo on our way to bed, as I do every night because I am a paranoid parent. And over all the times I have checked on her, she has made some really funny face and body movements. So I went in to check her and she was positioned really funny, she was on her back with her mouth wide open and her hand on the side of her face open palmed with just her finger tips touching her check and temple. I giggled to myself and went to find Bo to show him; is it wrong to make jokes at your children's expense?... We started to laugh about how she looked, I wish I had a night-vision camera to take all the funny pictures of her. I thought she looked like a psychic, "I'm clairvoyant, butt-head" (Hey all you movie-quoter's, what movie is that from?? :)). Bo said she looked like a celebrity trying to avoid the flashes of cameras "No pictures please!". As we quietly left the sleeping babe, Bo said, "You should write about this on your blog" and I didn't really know if he was being serious or not, but I guess it was a pretty blog worthy story. If she only knew how funny she really is...

We're Back!

Well here we are again, connected with the Internet and in touch with the outside world. The last weeks have been "full" for us with a lot of things happening in our life. As I mentioned, we have recently moved and are trying to settle into our new house. Although we are no where near being unpacked we are starting to feel a little more secure in our surroundings. After a whirlwind past six months it's nice to know that we are most likely sticking in one place for a while. Here is the fun we had packing our apartment and moving it to our house.

As you can see, Boo was... helpful...

Boo is adjusting quite well; she is thrilled that she has a "park" in her back yard. The previous owners left a swing set in the back yard that she is thrilled about to say the least.

I have previously posted pictures of our house, but here's a couple more.

The backyard:

Here is Boo showing you her toys that she is very happy to have unpacked.

This is our living room that is not quite unpacked; well, nothing is completely unpacked but we are trying.

My parents stopped by the day after we got the keys with nothing moved in and this past weekend we we had some more visitors.

In the midst of our moving, unpacking, visitors, and everything else; we have had a sick kid. Boo has been sick for just over 3 weeks now. We have gone to a doctor here, and didn't really see the results we were wanting so we are planning to take her to the valley to her old pediatrician. She has been vomiting and had diarrhea on and off for the whole 3 weeks and just when we think she's getting better she takes a turn downwards. As mentioned in a past post she is allergic to milk, but we are starting to think this may be the onset of another allergy. The possibilities of what's wrong are numerous, all the way from allergies to bacteria, to the flu but after watching her the last couple weeks we are leaning toward allergy. Hopefully we will be able to have tests run to find out what's wrong; we'll keep this updated. But in the mean, we are sure getting tired of cleaning up throw-up... The joys of parenthood, right?

She sure is cuddly when she's not feeling good, we have had a lot of time to have her just sit in your lap and hold you. We stay in a lot (what is there really to do in a small town) and hang around in our PJ's.

Last One, I Promise...

On a final note, I thought I should post the most recent pictures until we have access again. Here is Boo in her new apron that her auntie Sue made her(the apron really has her real name on it, I just photo shopped it for the blog), doesn't she just have the little model pose going. What a cutie!

Halloween...

I would like to say I'm going to be posting some cute pictures of Boo in her Halloween costume, I would like to say that we handed out candy to all the cutely dressed kids, I would like to say that Boo had a great Halloween trick-or-treating, but since I can't I guess this will have to do...

I know what you are thinking, "You didn't celebrate Halloween with your child?" Noooo; if you were listening, I said I didn't. Even though Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, that's not the reason we didn't take Boo out, we do have a good reason though, we were moving! As I've mentioned in many previous posts, we are in the middle of a move. We had actually just moved a load of "junk" (I'm calling it junk because I'm sick of moving it...) and were on our way home. Our landlord warned us that the neighborhood we are moving into is really big on trick-or-treaters so we tried to hurry to beat the rush. We did have some candy just in case they got there before we left and Boo happily helped herself to 3 suckers. I really did contemplate dressing her up just to say that I did, but I took advantage of the fact that she didn't really miss it and wasn't asking for it. (Bo keeps trying to convince me that we should do the same thing for Christmas.) For a costume I was even thinking easy; my friend Ashley gave me the idea: in just normal street clothes I was going to have her wear a sign that said "Nudist On Strike". I just couldn't fit it into our schedule to make the sign; packing seemed much more important. So, to make a long story short, no Halloween pictures and packing is slow but good.

On the subject of packing, we hoped to be moved by the end of the weekend. We are going to try and pack all the big things over tomorrow and then finish up Saturday. Because of this, we won't have Internet for a while so this is my last blog for now... I hope to have it back up as soon as possible, but you know how life goes... sometimes it doesn't happen in a timely manner. (Especially when you live in a small town.) So until we have Internet again, take care and stay out of trouble...