Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

I know it was nothing compared to what VA experienced this week, but the wind was a howlin' at our house last night. It woke me up several times.

And when I looked out the back door this morning, I noticed that the shed door had blown open, which is pretty common. . .

but then I looked to the other side of the yard, and Ben's grill was tipped over.

This is his grill (or one that looks a lot like it)

Kiwanis part 2

We went to the park again last night for family night. We played a little tennis (some of us played more than others. . .) I also took some more pictures. It's just such an ideal place and perfect light for good pictures.


"sharing" a Coke with Dad

Trying SO hard to crawl

He cooperated a bit better with the pictures with his mom this time around

I Won!

I won a t-shirt on GoodyBlog! It's for wee Nolan, and this is what it looks like:


I enter a million contests online, on various blogs, and this is only the second time I have won something.

YAY!!

My options were all pretty "stop global warming" centered, so I picked the most generic message. . . I do believe in saving the planet, even if I think Al Gore is full of it.

Hancock

I can't believe I am just now hearing about this movie, but I will definitely be seeing it. It looks hilarious!

Babysitting

The possibility has become very real now. . .

Nathan is graduating from his MBA program at the U next week. And he's looking for a job.
One of the interviews he's been to, the one that looks the most promising for them at the moment, happens to be in Phoenix.

Up until now we've been lucky enough to have Jenny be our babysitter for the 3 days a week I go in to my office to work. It's been SO nice to have Nolan stay with family, and he LOVES being over there. So I'm mourning the possible loss of their family for the sake of the friendship we have with them, as well as a really great babysitting situation.

I have to find someone else, just in case the job happens and they need to be out of here quickly.

I don't know how many of you have ever tried to find a really great babysitter for your kids. . . most of you probably stay at home with yours, and therefore don't need to. . . but let me tell you, it's hard. REALLY hard. There are GREAT babysitters out there. But most of them are full.

So, dear readers, I'm asking for your help.

Do you know anyone, anywhere between Springville and Alpine, that might be willing to watch the most adorable little 6 month old in the world 3 days a week? A stay at home mom that wants some extra spending money for adding one more little one to the brood? Someone great? And preferably (as awful as this sounds) not white trashy. . . You'd be amazed at the people the state licenses as babysitters. . . seriously.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

Bless you!

Discovery

Nolan found a new favorite toy this evening.

Daddy's tongue



It took a while to get the shots of what he was doing because every time I get the camera out these days, this is what Nolan does:

Quilt Giveaway

So there's a great quilt giveaway on the gorgeous blog of a quilter down in Las Vegas.

Go There

Enter!

And tell her I sent you!

Video for Grammy & Grandpa

This is the video of Nolan that we sent down to AZ so Ben's parents could catch up on his growing up. It's really long, in internet video terms, but I didn't really know how to break it up well, so I'm posting it the way I edited it in the first place.

Ben has the video camera at work this week, so I'll have to download the stuff from this weekend later, but hopefully this will satisfy everyone's desire to see how cute our little boy is, and was. . . This video only covers up to a month ago, when he turned 5 months old.

Enjoy!

Unrelated

First, a small review.

We finally watched Michael Clayton last night. I'm not sure why it took us so long, but it's sat atop our TV for about a month, waiting to be viewed. I have to say, I really liked it. It's a really well crafted movie. I have always had a bit of a crush on George Clooney, but outside of that, you have to admit, he's a great actor. The movie has a little bit of language, thanks to Tom Wilkinson's character, but holy cow, he's amazing. You've never seen anything like this out of him. . . SO deserved his nominations. . .

And on a completely unrelated note. . .

I happened upon a blog post about motherhood earlier, and though I'm not always a link clicker, I decided to follow this one. . . it's really great and funny in a sweet sort of way. I tried to find it on YouTube or download the version I'm linking to, but it didn't work, for some reason. . .

It's worth watching/listening to, though.

Click to it

Weekend Roundup

Forgive my weekend absence. My computer was receiving some TLC by way of a defrag to it's hard drive. . . hopefully it's going to make some difference. . .

We had a busy weekend, and I since I captured some moments on film (or SD card, more accurately), I thought I'd share.

Friday night Nathan, Jenny & Tanner came over and we grilled some steaks on Ben's fancy grill. Nathan & Tanner played Guitar Hero after dinner while we all watched. Ahh, how that second guitar Ben got is simplifying Nathan's GH playing life. . .

Nolan was pretty fascinated by the game. . .

Gee, whose blue eyes did Nolan get?

Saturday afternoon I dragged my boys all over town running errands. . . it was a bit exhausting. They needed a rest in the Love Sac. . .

We promised our Sunday School class a treat if they could memorize a scripture this week. I promised them some cupcakes. . . the girls wanted a chocolate/strawberry treat. So I chopped up some strawberries and added them to chocolate cupcakes. Honestly, I didn't love them . .. the chocolate wasn't sweet enough for me. . . but whatever. The kids seemed to enjoy them.

I also got some great video of Nolan this weekend. I'll post it as soon as I get it uploaded.
Happy Monday!

Winners and Losers

YAY Ali!

First female Biggest Loser!!

And YAY Bernie for beating Mark by just 1 lb! (it really has been the season of 1 lb)

Also,

I am thrilled that Kristy Lee Cook finally got the boot last night.

It was about flippin' time!

Thank you America.

Tanner

Tanner on his Cars trike:


Then I asked Tanner to come over and get his picture taken with Nolan.

Nolan apparently preferred wrestling.

My favorite picture of the night.
Tanner is such a patient kid,
and so good to Nolan.

Mom & Baby

Nolan didn't much want to participate at this point.
He was more interested in eating my chin and pulling my hair.

But we tried.

Now you know why my hair is forever in a ponytail.

Dad and Baby Part 2

At The Park

We had FHE at the park tonight

and took a lot of pictures

Dad & Baby part 1

An Exercise in Sweet Potatoes

Phase 2 of solid foods. . .

Sweet Potatoes

Taggie McTag

Where is your mobile phone?

desk

What is your favorite gadget?
iphone

What did you dream last night?
nothing

What do you prefer to drink?
Coke

Dream car?
Tribeca

What room are you currently in?
cubicle

Your husband?
fantastic

Your hair?
ponytail

Your mother?
talented

Your father?
generous

Your ex?
gone

Your biggest fear?
heights

What do you want to be in 10 years?
rested

Who did you spend last night with?
Ben

What are you not?
rested

The last thing you did?
emailed

What are you wearing?
stripes

Favorite book?
Austen

The last thing you ate?
Triscuits

Your life?
busy

Your mood?
antsy

Your best friends?
kind

What are you thinking about right now?
Nolan

Your car?
filthy

What are you doing right now?
working

Your Summer?
hot

Marital status?
married

What is on your TV right now?
dust

When did you last laugh?
yesterday

When did you last cry?
Wednesday

School?
past

7 Random Things

Everyone and their dog has done this tag. . . except me. And as I don't have any more darling pictures of my boy to post today, I'm doing it.

1-- I am a popcorn addict and a popcorn snob. . . I will not eat microwave popcorn unless there is no other choice. My most favorite is air popped with real butter drizzled over it and plenty o' salt. Emily's popcorn off the stove is in a close second, but I don't know how to make it myself. Given the opportunity, I would prefer to eat an entire bowl of popcorn than actual dinner. (my husband doesn't let me do this very often any more)

2-- I have saved every movie ticket stub for every movie I've seen in a theater since I was 12. I'm still trying to come up with a creative way to scrapbook said ticket stubs. My first one is The Little Mermaid. I inherited this trait from my father, who still has the cards from every golf game he's ever played. . . Can you say TYPE A?

3-- I cannot eat hot fruit. I'm not sure why the temperature matters, but it does. I love fruit pie cold, but straight out of the oven, especially with ice cream melting on top. . . no thanks. Can't do it. The only exception to this rule is the grilled pineapple at Tuchanos, but even then, I prefer it to be no more than warm.

4-- I hate wind. I get that it's necessary and all that, don't get me wrong. But if I had my way, I would never have to stand in it, never have to try to picnic in it, and certainly never have to fight with it when doing an outdoor play.

5-- I have an obsession with cupcakes. We had them at our wedding. I've tried countless incarnations of recipes out of a bunch of different books. I just can't stop!

6-- I think pebble ice is one of man's greatest inventions. I'm not sure why it's so rare, but if I had my way, every Coke would come with pebble ice. . .

7-- I have strong opinions. About pretty much everything. . . In case the first 6 didn't give you that impression already.

I have enough weird quirks and pet peeves to fill up this list 10 times, but I won't bore you.

Randomness

For REAL? Michael Johns?

What was America thinking?

----------------------

I just finished Season 1 of Veronica Mars, and the cliffhanger is killing me. I think I'll have to cheat and figure out WHO IS AT THE DOOR until I can watch season 2.

High Chair

As seen in the previous post, Nolan is adjusting quite well to his high chair.

Thanks to Tiff & Kurt, he has a pretty spiffy one, and mommy & daddy were spared the stress of picking one out.

He hung out in it and played while I made myself dinner tonight. That was so nice.



He has started talking even louder than before (if that's possible)
I often wonder if he knows exactly what he's talking about, and figures we're just too stupid to understand. And, like someone trying to make someone who doesn't speak their language GET IT, he raises the volume. Hopefully he'll learn that doesn't work, eventually, but I doubt it will be any time soon.

When Mommy's Away. . .

The boys will play. . .

or eat. . .

We'd talked about giving Nolan rice cereal. He was acting VERY interested in our food, and he was getting to be a very big boy. Ben was home with Nolan today, and he was really fighting his bottle. We're pretty sure he's teething big time now (though I still can't see the little monsters poking through). So, in a desperate attempt to get him to eat, Ben decided to try the cereal.

He documented it for me, since I didn't know it was happening.

This is pretty much his reaction to EVERYTHING at the moment. . .


Apparently he wouldn't let go of the spoon.
Just held it in his mouth.
Ben had to tug pretty hard to get it back.

Tell me that's a kid that isn't LOVING what he's eating.

Oh yeah. That's a happy kid.