Characters of note

Warren put the light sabers down for a little while and took up a new persona for Thanksgiving dinner -- Batman! It goes without saying that Jack was Robin, whether he liked it or not :) And it also goes without saying that no one had taken the tag off of the top of his mask yet when I was taking pictures of him!

He's in the band

Hurry, hurry Reagan, you'll be later for the big game!


And don't forget your trumpet! Now go make us proud...

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

Two little turkies playing on the stairs with cars and trucks of course. They are thankful for their mommy and daddy and all their toys, very age appropriate!

Of course, as their parents we are thankful that we have been blessed with two such amazing little men to raise and for the health of everyone in our family.


My little 'Dubbs', the one that started it all by surprising us 5 years ago ;)

God Bless!

Giving credit where credit is due

A man's place is...in the kitchen? Okay, I am no feminist but I do love the fact that just about every night after dinner Bryan loads up the dishes and then in the morning (he wakes up earlier than the rest of the family) he unloads them.



So, thanks, honey. I really appreciate it! Oh! And thanks for taking back this crappy camera that I had bought since it makes blurry, overexposed pictures for some reason. I like the Kodak one MUCH better :)

Our latest conquest

For Jack it was the Carousel ride at the mom's group meetup and for me it was, well actually making it to the meetup finally after joining a month ago. Lots of nice mommies and playmates for Jack and the long nap he took when we got home didn't hurt either.

My little monkey waiting for his turn on the ride:


And finally riding the horse of his choice:


I am still figuring out my new camera but the good news is that all the pics I took did not have red eye!

Of Mice and Men

A mini-mouse:


To go with my brand new mini laptop (it is 8'' wide!), also called a netbook:



I call it cool. Bryan got it for me since I don't have a computer of my very own now that I am not working outside of the home.

From whence I blog:


AND, I got a new camera too! We have an older digital camera that is so slow and I swear has red-eye on every picture, making my angelic children look like satan's personal assistants. Okay, so I will NOT be writing the ebay ad to sell the old camera, that will be Bryan's job...ya know, since he is the bonafide salesman and all.

This is the camera I got:


Before you judge it as one of those junky toy cameras (don't judge a book by it's polka dots!!), it is 10 megapixels and I mostly got it because I wanted one that doesn't have the lense that comes out since I plan on toting it around in my purse and I am worried that those kind will get broken if the on button gets pushed inside my purse. Almost all the cameras have the lenses that come out so really this cutesy one was a strong contender right out of the gate and the fact that it has pink polka dots and matches my new laptop was only a slight motivation, honest ;)

Confessions from Jack's mom

While I thought Jack was just having some good quality solo playtime in the loft, I soon discovered that he was actually busy removing all the wheels from any car whose tires come off...using his TEETH. Oh dear!

And, when after reprimanding him several times for his colorful choice of words to describe the lunch I had made him that he didn't like, I elected to use the good old soap in the mouth form of punishment...only to find out that he has a very fragile gag reflex, which left me the one actually punished cleaning up vomit from the rug in the kitchen. At least I kept my naughty words under my breath.

As if that wasn't enough fun for one day, later that evening he took a big swig of Bryan's gin and tonic (apparently I wasn't the only one who had a hard day!) and made such a terrible face since he was expecting water. As I was walking him to the toilet to spit it out, he swallowed it instead and then announced that he wanted more...yeah I am not about to win parent of the year today...maybe tomorrow ;)

More Fav Products!!

Well, I am in a sharing mood today so I have a few more items/products to share that I love and use everyday. You may remember my last such post here.

#1 High quality satin pillowcases...I have read in multiple books/magazines that these are great for the delicate skin on your face to reduce what will become permanent wrinkles from sleeping. Also, I read that the copper content in the satin helps skin retain firmness, which is further supported when I see lots of anti-aging products containing copper. They are easy to find, in fact the Linens 'N Things by my house is going out of business so I recenlty popped in and grabbed a couple of king sized cases for a reasonable price:



And even if it is all a gimmick, they really are so soft and luxurious feeling that I don't really care ;)

#2 ANYTHING from the H2O+ brand Milk line of products. I currently have the hair mask, body butter and some facial gel that is a miracle healer of any blemishes' remnants. This stuff smells SO good, it is hard to describe because it isn't floraly or fruity...a very unique fragrance from the milk proteins that make these products so rich and capable of rectifying all the damage I do to my hair from styling and coloring:



#3 I recently added a new supplement in addition to the fish oil I am now taking Lipoic Acid, which is a great antioxidant:



This is one that I suppose I won't know about how effective it is/was until years from now, but I figure it can't hurt. I take prenatal vitamins every day and the fish oil and lipoic acid, so it's not like I'm popping a bunch of pills...yet.

Also, I am trying to stretch for ~10 minutes per day since my back has been a little achey lately, probably from carrying Jack and running up and down the stairs a hundred times per day. I was a sprinter all through college so I am NOT flexible at all and can really benefit from even a few minutes of effort in this department.

I would L.O.V.E. to hear of any favorite products, supplements or actions that anyone has to share that they think makes a positive impact on their health, appearance or life!

As seen in...

...my living room on any given Saturday. NASCAR on the TV, NASCAR on the laptop, oh my!!



...my dining room...can you believe this candle holder was a wedding gift from Bryan's grandma that I just finally opened a couple days ago. Now that we finally have room to stretch out in the new house all kinds of things are possible.



...the office just about every evening. All the Star Wars creatures come out in full force, and voice imitations are included!

The Big 2-9

*I turned 29 on my usual birthday of November 9th, no big deal. Spent most of that day at Sea World and even went on a roller coaster - nothing says "I'm still young" like a clenched jaw and white knuckles on the Steel Eel, right? But ever since that last youthful hoorah I have been thinking "am I getting old?" Next year I will be thirty and I just want to make sure I haven't already settled into some kind of rut like I see other people in and wonder if they even know. Ya know?

So, I am ramping up my going-to-the-gym efforts and actually using the Crest White Strips that have been in my cabinet forever and drinking more water and basically making a desperate last attempt to make sure I am in check in my last year in my twenties...which is actually not even a year now, more like 359 days...AND COUNTING!!

*Bryan worked/played with Warren today outside throwing a football and MAN, the kid has some natural ability. Wasn't so much the distance he was throwing it (a mere 20-25 feet) but the speed and accuracy with which he was hitting his target. Sheesh, maybe he will make us rich someday as a quarterback ;) If nothing else we will definitely be enrolling him in football ASAP.

*The boys went to 'parent's nite out' at Warren's school last night and we went grocery shopping while they were there. I know we are lame but it is a treat for us both to go to the store and take our time. We got the boys new pajamas while at the store...with capes, because naturally all we end up doing when we are not with the rug rats is talk about them and buy things for them:

Snowday!! Hooray!!

It FINALLY snowed in Denver today, although by the time we made it outside it had all melted of course.

But that didn't stop me from bundling us all up though and heading out for a long walk. Warren got a new winter coat this year:

And Jack obviously has some growing to do to fill out his hand-me-down:

I certainly wasn't immune to the rediculous-ness of the winter coat, as is evidenced by my furry shadow:

It's the little things

Bryan painted the garage floor while I was in San Antonio last week and it is so amazing and clean, I am just so impressed...and yes I realize it might be odd to be so impressed with a garage floor.



But, ya know, sometimes it's the litte things that make me happy, like a sparkly garage floor...

...and a smattering of Christmas decorations that I put out early because I am just too excited this year:

I remember when...

...my little "bubba" would be waiting for me at the window when I got home from elementary school in Eagle River, Alaska. We were equally excited to see each other and would roll around on the floor playing. I didn't even mind when he drooled on me or bonked me in the head with his play toy hammer, he was just too cute!

Now, he is almost 24 and just graduated from boot camp in the United States Air Force. I am so proud of him for this accomplishment that he embarked on after completing college. I hope this journey is just what he needs.





Congrats, Airman Garrison!! We love you!!

Crafty update

Check out my latest project! I have been trying to come up with a way to display the boys' art work and such...and since you can't put magnets on the front of our stainless steel refrigerator, I came up with the notion of using clothespins on a ribbon to be able to continually change out the display. I think it turned out cute and Warren is loving looking at all of his art work.



And I'll just go ahead and address the elephant in the room...or rather the elephant on my republicrocs...



Yes, I am disappointed, but I am not one to dwell on the negative. So, it is onward and upward and looking into more crafts...like how to avoid paying taxes under this welfare advocating administration.

Goings On

We have my mom and sister here from Alaska, and have been busy basking in the early November Colorado sunshine. That's right, it has been in the mid 70s since they arrived so we are getting majorly spoiled.

I remember trick or treating with my fairy costume over my enormous snow suit in the -30 degree temperature going up hill both ways in Anchorage...okay, okay it wasn't that bad but certainly nothing like the Halloween weather we had this year in Colorado.



We had my aunt and uncle and cousin over for dinner and it was great to be surrounded by so much family, which is a rare treat for us! Cheers!



I was feeling so relaxed I had to break out my favorite hat that my grandpa Jack gave me...

Man and Boy's true best friend...

...NACHOS. Shirt is optional.