Monday, November 29, 2010

To be a kid again...

Mike went on a trip to Vegas in October. While he was there he played at an arcade-type place (kind of like Chuck-E-Cheese) where the games spit out tickets. One of the things he got with the tickets was something called "B'Loonie". You blow into a tube connected to a tube of liquid latex basically, and you end up with "balloons". But the balloons are sticky, so what they ended up doing was sticking them to whatever was around and going on to the next one.  Thus, I ended up with "baloons" growing out of my trash can one afternoon.

The next couple of pictures is pretty funny and needs a little explanation.  So I was undressing Amanda one evening for her bath (while Mike was in Vegas) and my hand slipped before I got her shirt all the way up over her head.  It was still covering up one of her eyes, so I laughed and said something about her being a pirate.  Amanda proceeded to say "argh matey" which made me laugh even harder.  So I left her shirt partway on and tied the sleeves behind like a bandana and we pranced through the house saying "Argh matey!"

 
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am trying to get Kevin undressed for his bath.  He is a slippery one who often runs away, which he proceeded to do before I could get his shirt all the way off.


Well, now Amanda wants in on the fun too, so she insisted I do the same to her shirt! Then both kids ran around the house acting like pirates.


 

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I love the Internet

I remember growing up my mom had a special coupon drawer.  Yes, a full drawer dedicated to just coupons.  She poured through the Sunday newspaper and clipped them, and whenever they came in the mail, she would throw them in her drawer.  Then when it was time to go shopping, she'd take a good 15 minutesto go through her coupons and make sure she wasn't missing anything.
Compare this to today.  There are websites like couponclipper.com where you just go, print what you need for that shopping trip, and wallah, instant savings! 

People used to buy Christmas gifts for family, then either package & ship them themselves, or carry them in their bags to their destination.  Today, shipping is free on most sites (especially around the holidays), and often cheaper than buying in a brick-and-mortar store.
I just purchased all the gifts for my neices and nephews for Christmas.  Target.com was having a 4-day sale w/free shipping, and through my work I got an extra $5 off.  I sent them all directly to Illinois where they will be waiting when we arrive on the 23rd of Dec.  Easy peasy!  I love that.  No gas used, less time to find things, cheaper than doing it myself, and sooooooooo much easier.

Now comes the hard part.  Amanda is at an age where she understands Santa.  We're going to be in Illinois for Christmas this year.  Do I buy "Santa" gifts for her and ship them out there for her to find Christmas morning?  Then try and figure out how to get them home.  Or tell her that Santa still comes to our house in CA and she will get them when we get home?  I'm thinking a little of both.  Maybe some small gifts that can be carried she will get in Illinois, and anything big will be waiting for her at home.  Either way, should be an interesting holiday...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

15 months

Ok, was able to extract and upload to blogger this picture.  Tell me if that is not the cutest face you've ever seen?

I think Kevin is teething.  He puts something in his mouth almost constantly.  He currently has his two bottom teeth, and it looks like the top two are beginning to cut through.  Only took 15 months, but he's finally getting his teeth!




It's amazing how different boys & girls are.  Kevin *loves* to make as much noise as he can.  He yells, screams, hits two things together, whatever he can to make some noise.  Amanda on the other hand, scared of anything that is even slightly loud.

Here are a couple pics from when he discovered he could make a lot of noise hitting the stove with a wooden spoon!

By the way, notice his outfit?  That would be what daycare put him in when he soiled his regular clothes.  They claimed it was the only thing the could find, but I checked and he had 3 perfectly good outfits there, that were not swim trunks.  Oh well, we had a good laugh out of it!

Picture Problems

My pictures don't seem to work from work anymore.  I can't extract the link to the picture on flickr.  I have a bunch of pictures to post too, and I can't get them over here!  Work is pretty much the only time I can sneak a minute to post on this blog.  Home is where the chaos starts!

This last weekend we took the kids and my sister Erin's kids to a local park and had "professional" photos taken to be used as Christmas presents.  It was supposed to be of just the kids, but she ended up taking pictures of each of us with the kids too.  I'm still waiting for the link to see the results.  I wasn't blown away by her technique, and after viewing a friends' session, I'm not expecting anything spectacular.  I'm beginning to think I'm jaded.  Maybe it's the new camera, but I feel like I have very rarely gotten the caliber of picture that I want.  Amanda's 6 month pictures and Kevin's 1 year pictures are the exception.  I really liked those pictures.  But other than that, I would call everything else "blah".  What I really really wish is that I had gotten the name of the photographer who did Amanda's 6 month pictures at JCPenney and then possibly hired her outside of there.  Because she had some really amazing ideas and beautiful shots.  But alas, it's been 3 years and I have no way of finding out who that was at this point!

Another of my pet peeves - the prices photographers charge!  I completely understand a price for their time.  Say $200/hour to have them take your picture.  You are paying them for their time, just like I am paid for my time at work.  However, what I don't understand is ALSO paying an arm and a leg for the photograph.  Ok, I am not paid ALSO per spreadsheet that I prepare at work.  So the whole "copyright infringement" thing is just assinine in my opinion.  If I pay you for your time, I shouldn't also have to pay $500 for a picture that took you a fraction of a second to push the button on the camera for.  If I then can't pay for the photograph, I just paid $200 for nothing!  Ridiculous.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Home is where the heart is.

I really hate "wordless wednesday", but these really don't need much of an explanation.

Sophie's favorite spot at night:
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Bedtime!
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This is Halloween!

Here are a few collages of some Halloween photos.
The two in this of Amanda are from Saturday at our Church Halloween party.  The other is of Kevin getting into the candy bowl on Halloween night!
Collage1_edited

This one is of Halloween night, getting ready to go out, and of Kevin in the stroller (he made it one house and was done)

collage2_edited

This is a pic of Amanda's pumpkin (she drew it herself, and then we cut it out), and of trick-or-treating. Amanda did amazingly well and went out for more than an hour!

Collage3_edited

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Caught in between

I am non-confrontational.

There. I said it.

I hate confrontation. Despise it even. My mind goes blank, my palms get sweaty, and I forget everything I want to bring to the table. This is why I like e-mail so much. I can think about what I want to say, compose it the way I want to say it, re-read, re-write and finally send.  Then it's just up to the e-mail gods that the person on the other end reads it the way I intended it to be!  But that's a story for another day...

So...
Today I start off the day like any normal day.  And at some point I get a phone call asking me to help with what could potentially become a lawsuit against the company I work for.  Great.  And guess what, I'm the one who knows & understands this stuff more than anyone!  So far, all correspondence has been by snail-mail (his choice) or e-mail (my choice).  But now they want to have a phone call!  Ack!  Panic time!

Then...
I get copied on a bunch of e-mails about a conflict that really doesn't even include me, but I got pulled in due to being the head of the parents group at our daycare.  Great.  I don't really know if I should even respond, but I feel bad for these people all the same.  I just don't want to be the next head on the chopping block!

So today I feel stuck in the middle.  I am the cream of the oreo, the marshmallow in the s'more.  Lovely.