Celebrating a Year

We celebrated Lauren's 1st birthday this weekend. We had a great time with our family. I can't believe it has been a year already! Lauren is such a sweet blessing in our lives. Here are a few pictures....

Lauren's Birthday Cake







Opening presents...



A little sibling meltdown...


and a recovery...



Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Perhaps not my finest parenting moment...

We are thrilled with Evan's preschool program. We like the facility and the caring teachers and staff. We thought three things set it apart from other programs we considered. First, they have a solid learning curriculum. Second, they take the children on field trips regularly. Third, they offer sports and swimming classes during the day. As I said, we're thrilled with the program.

But, if there is a downside to such a well run program, it is that we constantly have a list of things to remember for the school. Have I paid for the field trip? Is today Spirit Friday? Does Evan have swimming lessons today? Is today Water Friday? I'm not complaining, this is simply context.

So, a few weeks ago the theme for his class was cereal. Each child was supposed to bring in a box of their favorite cereal. Honestly, Evan doesn't really each much cereal and he doesn't really have a favorite yet. As we were walking out the door in the morning, I remembered that Evan needed to bring in the box of cereal. I checked our pantry and there was one lone box of cereal on the shelf. All Bran. Evan reminded me that we needed cereal and I told him we only had All Bran. He said "All Bran? I LOVE All Bran!" Now he's never had All Bran. He has no idea whether he loves it or not. I offered that I could pick up another box and drop it off at lunch, but he insisted that he LOVED All Bran. So, I grabbed the box and we left.

When we got to school, he marched into his classroom, gleaming, carrying his box of All Bran. I was a little embarassed, but I was glad to have one less item on my to-do list. As the week went by, we got updates about cereal week....

Show and Tell: "I just wuv All Bran. It's de-li-cious. It's brown.. and crunchy... I wuv All Bran!"

Art Project: Crushed All Bran glued to construction paper. Want to guess what crushed All Bran looks like on construction paper? Not pretty.

Cereal Party: All of the children in the class got to try Evan's FAVORITE cereal. According to the teachers it was one of the more popular cereals at the party. Well, that, or they knew I was swamped and wanted me to feel better about my maternal shortcomings.

So, here's the kicker. A few weeks after cereal week, I saw the special cereal week craft project on display outside of the classroom. All along the wall were pictures of the children on the cover of their favorite cereal boxes. Froot Loops, Cheerios, Fruity Pebbles, Wheaties, Apple Jacks... And then there was this:

My son on a box of All Bran. The maternal misstep that JUST WON'T DIE. I doubt he will forgive me for this if he finds this blog post in 10 years. I would like to be a perfect mother. But honestly, I am more likely the mother who sends her son to school with a box of All Bran. And when I saw this, I laughed. Hard.

Like a pancake...

Evan and Daddy during Evan's bath tonight:

D: Evan, now that it's light out longer you could stay up a little later and play. Would you like that?

E: YES!

D: But, there is one thing you have to do. If you stay up later, you can't take a bath in our bathroom, you need to take a shower in your bathroom. Could you do that?

E: (Stares at D for about 20 seconds)

D: Evan? Could you do that?

E: I'm going to stand on you and squish you flat.

D: What?

E: I'm going to stand on you and squish you flat!

D: What do you think about the shower?

E: No.

Breakfast Bits

M: (Feeding Lauren)

E: Mommy! I want to feed him!

M: Feed her?

E: Yes! Feed him. I want to do it ALL BY MYSELF!

M: Okay. You have to be very gentle and careful.

E: Here comes the car... Open the garage!

M: Did you just say "here comes the car, open the garage?"

E: Yes!

M: Where did you hear that?

E: Olivia.

M: Okay.

L: (Chewing on a spoon)

E: I don't go to school anymore.

M: You still go to school, but today is Saturday.

E: You get married on Saturday.

M: What? Who gets married on Saturday?

E: YOU! You get married on Saturday!

L: (chewing on a toy hammer)

E: Let's go to Farmville! When I grow up, I'm going to be a farmer! You can be a farmer when you grow up too!

L: (chewing on a toy wrench)

M: Honey, I'm already grown up and I don't think I'm a farmer.

E: I want FIVE Baby Laurens!

M: Five? What would you do with five Baby Laurens?

E: I would hug them and kiss them and say kootchie kootchie koo!

L: (grinning from ear to ear)

We are heading to the zoo today. I'm pretty sure these monkeys will fit in just fine.

Wordless Wednesday

Look closely...

Wordless Wednesday

He's fwee!

Evan turned "fwee" and we threw a party for him over the weekend. We had a Construction theme.

My sister (who is far more talented than I) made a dump truck cake. You know what was most impressive about the cake? When Evan saw it, he knew right away that it was a dump truck. If I had made the cake... well... I'm just glad that Kristin was there.

We made personalized hard hats for all the guests, including the adults. They were good sports and actually wore them. Now, I'll be a good sport and not post the pictures of them wearing the hats.

Even Lauren got into the action...

If the state of my living room is any indication, I would say everyone had a great time...

Happy Birthday Evan!

Wordless Wednesday

E: What kind of yogurt am I eating?

M: Strawberry Shortcake

E: I like it!

M: You know, when I was a little girl I had a Strawberry Shortcake doll.

E: What is a doll?

M: It’s a toy that looks like a baby or a little girl.

E: You ate your doll!?!?

M: No. I think we lost something in translation here….

The One where Carolyn is Emotionally Distraught over Fictional Characters….

If you were a fan of the TV show Friends, you might remember that all of the episode titles followed the same format….

The One where Phoebe Runs
The One with Ross’s Teeth
The One with All the Thanksgivings
My personal favorite: The One where Phoebe Hates Pottery Barn

So, in keeping with this format, this blog post is The One where Carolyn is Emotionally Distraught over Fictional Characters.

The only way I can read books for leisure these days is to listen to them on CD during my commute. So, I got a library card two years ago and I check out books on CD. Some of the books are challenging and thought provoking, but many of them are just fun fiction. Last year, I went through the entire Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Towards the end of the year, I listened to the book Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks. You might recognize him as the author of The Notebook. Anyway, I loved Three Weeks with My Brother and decided to listen to some of his other books. So, I listened to True Believer and the sequel At First Sight. I finished At First Sight this weekend and I am seriously saddened by some of the events in the book. *spoiler alert* I cried when I heard the ending of the book and my heart continues to ache when I think about it now.

I guess it is a sign of a good book, but I can’t help but think it is also a sign of a manipulative author. I downloaded another Nicholas Sparks book on my iPod, but I can’t decide if I’m ready to go back for more just yet. I’m a sucker for happy endings, regardless of how implausible they may be. My real life isn’t overly drama-filled, and for that I am grateful. I’m just not sure that I want to add drama via my leisure reading selections.

Any advice cyber-friends? Are you laughing at my misery? Has anyone else been impacted like this by works of fiction?

Technical Difficulties

Okay, I hate to admit this but I'm not nearly as technically adept as I would like to be. My husband excels in this area, so we make a good team. Rather, he makes up for my inadequacies. It rarely has an adverse impact on my life, but it does surface from time to time in small ways.

Like my blog layout? Good. Because I can't change it. I couldn't even copy and paste the html code correctly from another website. My friend (Hi Dana!) had to log into my account to fix the formatting for me. It was cute, but then one day I logged in and the formatting was gone. I couldn't revive it, so I went with the bland and boring Blogger standard. When I add photos to my posts, they have a mind of their own and go wherever they want. Fellow bloggers - want to help me out? I'm clueless here.

We have so many pieces of equipment connected to our TV, that I can't figure out how to play a DVD. If Evan wants to watch Bob the Builder, there are about 154 steps to play the stupid thing. I think our "DVD" player is actually the PlayStation, or the xBox or the Wii or something...

TV Input... Nope.
DVD Power... Input... Video 1... Nope.
DVD Power... Input... Video 2... Nope.
DVD Power... Input... Video 3... Nope.
DVD Power... Input... Explorer 8300 - Score!

Play... Wrong remote... I give up!

I got an iPod Nano from hubby for Christmas this year. It's pink and super cute. I also got to spend some time in the iTunes store today. I think the iTunes store and I may be a dangerous combination. It's a little like online gambling. Give them your credit card into, and just click your way to bankruptcy. But, I digress...

So, I'm embarassed to admit this, but I bought the Glee Volume 1 soundtrack tonight. Or, rather, I intended to buy the Glee Volume 1 soundtrack. You know what I bought instead? I'm even more embarrassed to admit that I actually bought the Glee Volume 1 KARAOKE soundtrack! Don't know what the karaoke sound track is? Welcome to the club - no pun intended. It is the background track to the Glee Volume 1 sountrack. Like, in case you are so serious about singing along to this silly music that you want your own instrumental tracks, buy this! Or, if you're so new to iTunes and you're a little trigger happy, we'll suck $7.99 from you to capitalize on your stupidity!

Dave - just roll your eyes and shake your head when you read this. Chuckle a little to yourself about how stupid your wife is. It will make you feel better about the $7.99 I just wasted.

Everyone else - stay tuned. I'm going to use my extra time with this to work on a rousing rendition of track 11.

09 Blizzard - Digging Out

I haven't seen the "official" snow totals yet, but the "unofficial" reading we took on the deck last night was 24 inches. This is what it looked like:

See that man shoveling his driveway in the middle of the blizzard? That's my husband. Pretty much the BEST husband ever...

Where do you start with this? We can't even open the door...

Maybe having two cars is overrated. I wonder what would happen if I just left my car here until the spring thaw?

Frosty Flashdance

Driving to School with Evan

E: Ice! Ice! No Ice! Mommy’s car! You turn on car! I drive your car! I want to be warm! Why beeping? Toy magazine? Toy magazine! What that Jeep doing there?
M: It’s not a Jeep, honey. It’s a Hummer.
E: Why people in it? Where are they going?
M: To school. Everyone on the road at this hour is going to work or to school.
E: Yellow! Why that light yellow!?!?
M: It’s a warning sign. Like “Warning! The light is about to turn red!”
E: What red mean?
M: You know what red means.
E: Stop! Green. What green mean? Green means go! (Giant sneeze) What’s that sound?
M: Um, it’s you. Sneezing. (Looks in rear view mirror to see impossibly long trails of snot coming from E’s nose.)
E: I have a snail trail!
M: Hold on, don’t touch anything! I’m getting a tissue for you. Here, wipe your nose.
E: I can’t! You do it!
M: You have to try, the light is green and I have to drive.
E: Okay mommy!
M: (Looks in rear view mirror to see all snot is gone, but the tissue has not been used.) What happened? Where did all of that snot go?
E: In my mouth!
M: Oh, Evan, yuck-o!
E: That’s so silly!
M: That’s not silly, it’s gross. Next time use the tissue, okay?
E: Okay mommy! That’s the YMCA! Why am I going to the YMCA? Who drop me off? Who pick me up? Make u-turn! Why this a u-turn, mommy?
M: Because it’s shaped like a U. Look – long straight line, turn at the bottom, long straight line.
E: Do it again!
M: If we do it again, we’ll be driving in circles.
E: Do it again!
M: Look! We’re at school!
E: (Attempting to unbuckle his car seat) I do it ALL BY MYSELF! I can’t do it! You help me!
M: Let’s do it together.
E: Lock the car! Flash the lights for me! (lights flash) That’s so silly! Where’s my cement mixer? I play on the playground! Miss Sandy! Let’s play with your Christmas toys! Bye mommy! You say bye-bye mommy!
M: Bye Evan! I love you!
E: Who pick me up?
M: Daddy will pick you up. Love you!
E: Love you too mommy!

A fly on the wall...

As you may have guessed, the reason for this blog is two-fold. I want to share insight into our daily lives with friends and family. I also want to capture pieces of our busy life that might be forgotten over the years. So, in that spirit I am going to start posting “A fly on the wall” entries. They will be essentially things that you might overhear in our house on a daily basis.

Here are a few snippets of recent conversations….

*****

Evan (as we pull away from the Starbucks drive-thru): No latte for me?!?!?

Me: Uh, no. No “latte for you” for a long time…

*****

Evan to Lauren in the morning: “Good Morning Sweetheart!”

*****

Evan (standing on toilet, wearing his new winter coat and looking in the mirror): “I handsome. I very handsome…”

Letters to Santa

This is the first year that Evan seems to "get" Christmas. He understands the concept of Santa Claus and is quite excited about him. In fact, I think Evan has a running loop of the song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in his head. If conversation in our house ever ceases, even for a moment, Evan will break into "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Only he sings it twice as fast as usual and sings the entire thing through about seven times before he stops to breathe. But, I digress...



Evan is really excited about Santa Claus, so we decided to write a letter to Santa this weekend. Here is the letter:

Evan got a bit of help with the structure of the letter. But, when we finished I asked him is he wanted to add anything else. This is what he suggested...

I love that kid. So, then Evan mailed his letter to Santa Claus...

And probably committed his first crime. Notice the incorrect address and the lack of any sort of postage? I think the USPS frowns on shoving things like that in their mailboxes. We're living dangerously these days. Here is the fun thing... Thanks to Sealed by Santa Evan should be receiving a personalized response from Santa and some reindeer food in the next few days. Isn't the internet wonderful?

A Perfect Day!

Saturday was a perfect day! We met some friends for breakfast in the morning. When we arrived at the restaurant it was cold and rainy. When we left, it looked like this....

So, we went home, lit the fire, put on some music and decorated the house for Christmas...

I made Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. Then, we decided that the house was sufficiently christened with holiday spirit. So, Evan and I played in the snow. When I bundled him up in this get-up he walked around saying: "I'm cute! I'm cute in THIS outfit!"

We made a snowman. We threw snowballs at each other. Evan would say, "I'm going to throw this snowball at you! One... two... three... four... five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten... eleven... tweleve!"

Evan ate snow. I know better. ;)

We caught snowflakes on our tongues and eyelashes.

Then we went inside and drank cold apple cider. It was Evan's request.

.

Later that day, Kristin drove up from Richmond. She watched the kiddos and I had a date night with my husband. Want to be my new BFF? It doesn't take much. Watch my kiddos and let me go on a date with my husband. As my sister, Kristin already has lifetime BFF status, but this solidified her standing! It was a perfect, perfect, perfect day!

Thanksgiving Recap

Ever since we relocated from Texas, we have been talking about going to a log cabin in the mountains for a getaway. But, the timing was never quite right. Over Labor Day weekend, I stumbled upon what appeared to be the PERFECT log cabin for such an escape. So, we decided to rent the cabin for Thanksgiving this year.

It was a great decision! After a busy Fall, it was a much needed break. The cabin exceeded our expectations. And, we had HIGH expectations going into the weekend! We invited our local family to join us and cooked our Thanksgiving dinner at the cabin. We spent the weekend hiking around the lake, staring at the fire, reading, napping and exploring. We are already looking for an excuse to go back. Here are a few pictures from our weekend...

Happy Thanksgiving!