Favorites (Foto Friday)

Hey, I still have a few minutes left on Friday to get this thing posted!

Today's feature are the kids' current favorite things. Let's start with the eldest, shall we?

At Boo's school, they were asked to dress up as their favorite character from a book. I had her look through her books and we'd discuss which one she thought was her favorite. She picked a cat and then expected me to just whip out a full cat costume in a couple days. I may be good, but I'm definitely not that good. This was her second choice:


Can you guess who she is here? Here's the answer:


The Boy - as I've mentioned before - likes trains. It goes beyond a favorite, though. I think "obsession" is more like it.


Recently, the Man took the Boy to a miniature train show held locally. We kept it a surprise, just telling him that he got to go somewhere special. When he saw all the trains, his head nearly exploded. They spent almost two hours at the show - a lifetime for the attention span of a three-year-old - looking and looking again at all the displays. That was a few weeks ago and he still talks about it daily.

Then there's Baby. She has very simple needs. But here is her very favorite position:


Tightly wrapped in her blanket (so her arms can't move), binky firmly in place. And no siblings in her face. I think we can safely say that the question about her eye color has been resolved.


P.S.
In regards to my last couple of posts...if the Man had been out of town for an extended period, then it would be really, really wonderful that he came home today!

Top Ten Reasons Why It Rocks When Your Husband Is Away

(Sorry about the confusion over which posts got published when...I was writing both of the Top Ten lists at the same time and basically had a total airhead meltdown when it came to publishing them. Smooches!)

Have to end this on a positive note, right?

1. Makeup, fixing my hair and clothes other than pajamas are optional. Bras, too.
   
2. The Man is not here to demand home cooking or dinners with nutritional value. Chocolate pudding is perfectly acceptable for lunch.
   
3. I don't have to watch any of "his" shows. The remote is all mine. Goodbye college sports; hello Doctor Who!
   
4. I don't have to share the blankets. And his pillow becomes community property.
   
5. Dishes only have to be done when we're using forks to eat our ice cream.
6. Costa Vida takes over my evening meals for me. I never get tired of their salads!
7. I can adjust the thermostat to whatever I want. He likes it at 68. I like higher. I win.
   
8. Casual get-togethers with friends go from "just for fun" status, to "absolutely necessary for my sanity" and therefore, make getting a babysitter a priority.
9. I don't feel guilty about updating my status on Facebook every couple of minutes after the kids go to bed because there isn't anyone waiting for me on the couch.
10. There's no one that can prove that I've eaten the rest of the brownies. The only other people in the house either can't count that high or aren't tall enough to see that there's a pan on the counter.
    

Top Ten Reasons Why It Sucks When Your Husband Is Out Of Town

I'm not saying the Man really is out of town (because I'm paranoid enough, people) but if he were...these are the reasons why it would potentially suck. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

1. My feet are perpetually cold. There's no one to warm them up at night. No way am I wearing socks. Maybe we should rent a dog for when the Man isn't here to fulfill his duties.
2. I have to change all stinky diapers. Sure, Boo takes care of the wet one but the messy diapers are still a little too gross for her delicate constitution.
3. All trespassing spiders receive a stay of execution. So the spider in the bathroom gets to live trapped underneath that cup for a little while longer.
   
4. I have to get up when the kids do and get them breakfast. Usually, the Man feeds them and then heads off to work so I get to snooze a little while longer to catch up on the sleep I missed while spending "quality time" with Baby in the wee hours of the morning.
5. Bored, bored, bored. It's a good thing I joined Facebook or I'd have no idea what to do with all this empty time.
6. My panic attacks are going into overdrive, especially at night when I'm trying to fall asleep. Was that the heater turning on? Or was it a band of vicious burglars breaking down the garage door? Was that one of the kids' coughing in their sleep? Or are they silently choking to death while I just lay here? Such happy thoughts...
7. There's no tag-team. And my split personality doesn't count.
8. I have to do all the Man Jobs. I got married so I wouldn't have to take out the trash anymore. Too bad the kids are still too young to haul the big trash can down to the curb...
   
9. There's no escaping them! I am the only adult present and am therefore the only one who can supervise baths, break up fights, refill drink cups, deliver punishments, distribute bribes, and run away from tickle attacks.
10. No one to cuddle with on the couch while watching tv. No big hugs when he gets home from work. No kisses to reassure me that he is still head-over-heels in love with me.

*sigh*

If the Man really were gone, then I would really be missing him right now...

What do you to when your Significant Other is away?

Worst Movie Ever

No, I'm not talking about "Twilight."

Every now and then, I let the kids have a "movie night," where I microwave them a Kids Cuisine and let them eat in front of the tv while watching a movie of their choosing. Lately, we've been on a "Madagascar 2" kick but that's over, apparently. Tonight, they chose "Thomas and the Magic Railroad."

I got this movie a while ago, when the Boy was first getting interested in Thomas the Tank Engine. It was only $5 at Target and had big names like Alec Baldwin, Henry Fonda and that cute little girl from "Mrs. Doubtfire" (who, unfortunately, has reached her awkward tween years).

The acting is horrendous and the lines...oh, some of the lines are agony!

Here are what I consider the best of the worst:

• "I'm at the windmill. Now that's what I call a perfect landing."
• "Oh, Lily, I'm so glad to see you." (said absolutely devoid of emotion...)
  
• "I don't know what eventually means but it sounds very, very long."
• "Planes. Trains. Mountain. Fountain. I might be on to something there. I think I'll try the celery."
• "That's my shell phone." (and yes, it was a shell.)
  

My personal favorite:

• "Well, my Lady, the lights are green for you, now. Green for glory."

And if you ask a dog which train you are supposed to take, don't look so confused when you end up on the wrong one.

Oh, the things we suffer through for the sake of the children...

Poke, Poke, You Owe Me A Coke

I caved. I succumbed. I buckled. I turned to the Dark Side. I gave in to the peer pressure. I...really need to give the thesaurus a rest.

I joined Facebook. It was inevitable, really. About once a week I'd get an invite from a friend to join, but I deleted them. I just didn't need one more thing to do on the computer. It was already sucking the soul out of my free time. Resistance was futile, apparently, because I signed up a week ago and have rarely left my chair since.

In the course of a week, I've reconnected with friends from elementary school, seen pictures of kiddos, cried over deaths, dodged ex-boyfriends and laughed at what has happened to the "popular" girls from high school. It's definitely been more than I expected. And I've discovered I am just as clueless on Facebook as I am in real life.

Most people have a rule about who they will ignore and who they will accept when it comes to the ex relationships. And I kid you not - the day after I joined, I had a friend request from an ex. Crud. Should I accept? Should I ignore? Should I delete my account and pretend like it never happened? I was completely unprepared. The turmoil!

And it's not just the ex-boyfriends that keep appearing. Apparently, there are these applications on Facebook where you can send virtual stuff to your friends to annoy them show them you care. There's all sorts of items from expensive things they'll never really own to virtual affection. I even got chocolate. But I tell ya, Facebook chocolate isn't nearly as satisfying as the real thing.

But what, dear friends, is with the poking? I've been poked repeatedly and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to poke back or contact my local authorities. What is a poke? Are they trying to wake me up ('cuz I got a baby that's pretty good at doing that)? Is this like what you do to a weird-looking bug to see if it'll move? Maybe I should change my profile picture...

Do you have rules about friend requests from your exes?

Screwed It Up Without Even Trying

Hey, remember that giveaway I had? And there was like, all these comments and entries and stuff? Yeah, that was cool.

Then I announced the winners. I wrote out all the name and took lots of pictures with the littles drawing the names and such. Seems easy enough, right? Write down name. Fold paper. Put paper in box. Take picture of name chosen. Foolproof.

So I guess I'm better than your ordinary fool because I screwed it up.

The big prize? The gift card? Apparently it was won by someone who didn't enter. Mary was kind enough to point out this fact after I had announced her Big! Win! Sure, she follows my blog but she's had her hands full lately and hasn't been making the rounds, so she missed the contest.

The winner of the gift card was this Mary. Completely different - but I'm sure just as nice.

So congrats to the real Mary (and please email me your address so I can mail your prize to the right place).

I Pink-Puffy-Heart Food!

Valentine's Day! Some people hate it but I think it's fun. I didn't always feel that way. In fact, it wasn't until I was dating the Man that I had someone special on Valentine's Day. And that first one was not what I expected (I cried). The next one - our first as a married couple - was equally as disappointing (I cried, this time locked in the guest bedroom, not speaking to him). But he's gotten better! MUCH BETTER! And I've loosened up, too. We've started celebrating it as a day to spend with the people you love instead of purchasing over-priced flowers or an expensive dinner (but I still demand a box of nice chocolates).

Three years ago, I started the tradition of a heart-shaped dinner with the family. That year, we had a heart meatloaf and heart carrots (which actually didn't look at all like hearts, more like an orange PacMan). Last two years (here and here), we've had heart pizzas.

In my efforts to improve on the year before, I decided to tap into my Type-A personality and do everything in hearts.
Or pink.
Or with pink hearts.
And we started with breakfast: pink chocolate chip pancakes. I didn't take pictures because I was too hungry.

Here's lunch:

That's a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich made into hearts with a sandwich cutter I got at Wal-Mart (we also have a dinosaur one). It about blew their minds that the milk was pink. Boo kept asking me how I did it. I told her I was magic. Somehow, she didn't believe me.

Since we were once again having pizza for dinner, I made it more Valentine-y.

I folded the pepperoni in half then used my kitchen shears to trim out the hearts. It actually went pretty fast (and the pepperoni under the cheese is the normal round stuff but don't tell anyone). And that's not grease glistening on there...it's love.

Drinks were the same as last year (Sprite) but this time I made the heart ice cubes with pomegranate juice. It was rather tasty but not as pretty a color.

The pears had to be improved, too. I soaked them all day in pear juice with food coloring. This picture is actually rather deceiving; they were more pink than it shows. Next year I may try to get them soaking overnight for better color. And the Boy would have mutinied if I didn't have jell-o. These were made using the "Cool Layers" recipe from the side of the box (basically you mix in Cool Whip and it separates out as it sets) with raspberry jell-o.

For dessert, I used a silicone pan I got on clearance last year. I used my favorite brownie recipe but the details didn't quite come out so it's hard to see. It's mini loaves made to look like Hershey's bars. There was strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce and piped chocolate hearts. The dessert plates were a clearance item from last year, too, for a quarter each.

While the dinner was tasty, it was also really fun to put together. I don't think I could have gotten everything done if it hadn't been a Saturday when the Man was home. It helps to have an extra set of hands to put kids in time out.

Winners!

Have you been checking my blog every hour? Are you one of the three people who have emailed me and asked when I would announce the winners? I guess I had better get to it, eh?

For my first giveaway, I had a total of 59 entries...


I lovingly wrote each one on little strips of paper and then stuffed them into my daughter's Valentine box. I had some entries with the same name so I distinguished between them by adding the name of their blog. Both of my kids helped me pick the winners. Here they are!

Winner of the $30 gift card to Target is:

Mary! Congratulations! Please email me with your address so I can get that out to you.

Winner of One Dozen Cupcakes:

Congratulations, Diane! I will bring those over hopefully in the next week. Let me know what flavor you would prefer.

And since the second place winner was local, I decided to go ahead and give out the fancy M&Ms, so that winner is:


Congrats! Amanda (from Moving Forward), you need to email me your address, okay?

Thanks to everyone for playing! This was a lot of fun. I will have to find another reason to have a giveaway. Hope y'all had a good Valentine's Day. Our heart dinner was pretty great...of course I took pictures and I'll get those up for you soon. Be sure to wish my blog a happy 2nd birthday.

**You may have noticed that there was no Foto Friday this week. I had planned to post pictures from Baby's photo shoot. The experience was so unpleasant that my eye still hasn't stopped twitching...perhaps - once I've doubled up on my happy pills - I will be able to tell you the horror story that is Kiddie Kandids.

My 80s Song

You Are "Time After Time"

If you were transported back to the 80s, your life would be all about reflecting. (Why? Because I like reflective surfaces?) You're a serious, earnest person - and you couldn't help but think a lot about how things were back then. (True...I liked the music and really? I miss my Crimper.) You'd spend a lot of your time writing, researching, and learning. (Probably too much of my time doing that. I think I need to take a class or something to get me out of the house and away from the computer a little more.) You would either become a social anthropologist - or a crazy guru with a knack for predicting the future. (Definitely the guru. It's more fun to say.)

What's Your 80s Karaoke Song?

I found this through Blog Stalkers Unite but cannot remember which blog it was on (sorry!). If you take the test, tell me what song you are in the comments! Or if you can think of a more fitting song, go with that one.

Celebrating Me

Hey, guess what? On Saturday, my fantabulous blog will turn two years old! So to celebrate I am hosting my very first giveaway with two completely awesome prizes. Are you ready for this?

First Prize:


An Autographed Picture of Me. This is going to be worth a lot of money when I'm rich and famous and wanted by the FBI.

Second Prize:


My colorful collection of toe jam! Comes in cherry flavor.

Okay, so those aren't the real prizes. I am going to give two, though.

The Real First Prize:
A $30 gift card to Target. Because we've kissed and made up so I feel like our relationship is strong enough that I can send my friends there again.

The Real Second Prize:

Ummmm...I don't know yet. I was thinking of giving away a dozen cupcakes but you'd have to live locally. Or I can dig through my gift collection and find something cool. What do you want me to give as a second prize?

EDIT: I've decided the second prize will be a dozen cupcakes if you live locally. If not, I'll send you those new Premium Triple Chocolate M&Ms. Sooooooo good!

Here's how to get your entries:

1. Leave a comment on this post indicating that you would like to win an awesome prize. It would really help if you a) have a blog b) have an email address listed on your profile or c) leave your email address on your comment so I can contact you should you win.
2. Become a "follower" of my blog for an extra entry. Yes, this is a shameless attempt to boost my numbers because I currently only have 8 followers (whom I love and adore and will automatically give an extra entry). And you *MUST* be a follower to get the extra entry. Telling me I'm on your Google Reader doesn't count. I need the proof!

Contest ends at Midnight (MDT) on Friday, February 13th. Winners will be chosen on my blogiversary (Saturday, Feb 14th). I'll put all entries into a hat and have the child who isn't currently in time out draw out two names, then I'll post it here.

Foto Friday: Baby's Blessing

In the LDS faith, we do not baptize infants. For more on that, please visit here. Instead, we give them a name and a blessing. And we dress them up in fancy clothes. Then we all leave church early, go home and eat lots of funeral potatoes. Mmmmm....potatoes...

Sorry about that...I get distracted easily.

We blessed Baby G a few weeks ago when we had all the grandparents on town. Then I neglected to post pictures. In my defense, I didn't get that many good photos. My camera was used as a bribe. The Boy was refusing to have his picture taken because he is three years old and likes to make Mommy cry do his own thing. So I gave him my camera and let him take pictures of everyone else. He happily clicked away while the grandmas worked their cameras. Everyone was happy. Unfortunately, those same grandmas have not sent me copies of their pictures (and I know you're lurking around here so consider this your gentle reminder, ladies).

Here are the pictures I do have...


I cannot tell you how much I love this picture! This is going to be one of my favorites for years to come. Boo is wearing her Christmas dress and Baby is in her blessing gown. It's the same one that Boo wore and I just love it.


Like the shoes? I saw these little socks when Boo was a toddler and have been coveting them ever since. So of course I asked Santa to bring them for Baby. She got six pairs: all with black "shoes" but different colors for the sock portion.

And this is what the Boy was doing while the rest of us were standing for photos:


The picture is blurry because he was constantly in motion (just one more reason why I'm glad Baby is a girl...).

"A Mothering Moment" by Jessica G. - #3

If you are going to go through all the trouble to haul the blasted, bulky diaper bag into the grocery store and have it take up valuable cart space, then you had better be sure there are actually *diapers* in there should your baby decide that Aisle 5 is a good place to empty her bowels.

P.S.
But hey! Macey's offers a free diaper if you're having an emergency. We were definitely having an emergency.

************

AND? Mamarazzi is having a swap! I've done one before and it was really fun so I can't wait to see what comes in the mail for this one!

The Final Battle

I cannot for the life of me find anything of interest to post these days. I'm sure you don't want to hear about my new electric toothbrush and how I feel like it rattles my brain when I use it but dang, my teeth feel good. And you're probably sick of hearing about how wonderfully cuddly Baby is (but she is!) so I won't talk about that. Instead, I am going to subject you to a meme that I did a while ago but never posted. I saw it again on a friend's blog and remembered it. Here ya go! You can thank me later.

RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Have Fun. (Well, if you insist...)

IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY....?
"Mary" by Sarah McLachlan (It's actually a rather depressing song about feeling alone. 'Alone' is not how I'd describe my days currently. I can't even go to the bathroom by myself.)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
"Cupid's Chokehold" by Gym Class Heroes (The Man might describe our relationship like this...)

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
"Kiss Me" by Six Pence None the Richer (You can tell a lot about someone just by kissing them...not that I kiss just anyone. I have to be married to you. Or you have to pay me. Or give me chocolate.)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
"Mr. Heatmiser" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Except that it's not hot...my feet are cold.)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
"Get Over it" by the Eagles (Well, I do tend to hold grudges...I think my iTunes is sick of playing all my mood music when I'm feeling pouty.)

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
"Don't Speak" by NoDoubt (Had to laugh at that one...anyone who knows me knows that you can't get me to shut up. So maybe this should be my motto.)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"My Eyes" from Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Interesting song sung by Dr Horrible about society's decay and the female love interest about how there's hope...so I guess it means that I'm a pessimist but my friends think there's hope for me?)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"Crush" by Jennifer Paige (And that takes me back to my eternal boy-crazy teen years, which my poor parents had to suffer through...)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"Just a Girl" by NoDoubt (True, I am all about the pink these days.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR FIRST KISS?
"I Can Love You Better" by The Dixie Chicks (Or something like that...)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"So Much For Pretending" by Bryan White (Wait, are my iTunes trying to tell me that my friends are imaginary? 'Cuz that would certainly explain a few things.)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"Ice Cream" by Sarah McLachlan (That about says it all.)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Irreplaceable" by Beyonce (Yep. No one microwaves dinner like I do.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"White & Nerdy" by 'Weird Al' Yankovic (Please, please do not tell the Man...but it kinda fits. It fits rather well, actually.)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers (Well, it did snow on my wedding day...which was in MAY.)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Killing Me Softly With His Song" by the Fugees (Now, that's rather fitting. I would much rather be killed softly as opposed to other methods.)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Come On Eileen" by Dexie's Midnight Runners (So I guess my interests include obscure 80s one-hit wonders and wearing overalls without a shirt on underneath.)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem (I actually almost skipped this one because I didn't want to admit that I have some Eminem songs on my iTunes...so I guess that is my biggest fear.)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley (Okay, okay...so I really need to do laundry. Stop nagging me already!)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
"Insensitive" by Jann Arden (In a way, this actually fits. I'm having way too many panic attacks lately. It would be nice to not react that way to the simpliest things.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins (True, I would miss my friends, except for the fact that they're all imaginary anyway.)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"The Final Battle" from the Les Miserables soundtrack (And that about says it all.)