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January 31, 2010

Cans for Comments - Super Bowl Style

Alright - the challenge is out again! Time for Cans for Comments - Souper Bowl Style. (Get it?)


This challenge is courtesy my friend Helen over at Three Times the Giggles. The last time I participated in this challenge it was around Thanksgiving, and I managed to raise 28 comments - which in turn lead to 28 non-perishable goods which I the donated to a local food bank.

Well we're doing the same thing again, this time with a theme - "Souper" Bowl. So here are the rules:

  • Challenge Starts Monday at 8am PT, and ends at 8pm on Super Bowl Sunday.
  • Only comments left on this blog count (emails and Facebook comments do not count)
  • Comments can be left on any blog entry - current or past - to count
  • I recommend visiting other sites as well to help distribute food around the country, including Helen's site (she has a listing of others who are doing this challenge as well)
So let's see if you can help me beat my previous Cans for Comments Drive - let's raise at least 30 cans (I'd really like to hit 40).... So let the kickoff begin!

January 30, 2010

Scrapbook Saturday - Wiggles

You may recall for Drew's 2nd birthday we treated him (a bit early) to his first concert. This page is dedicated toward that trip.

I used the colors for all the Wiggles to create the background for this spread.... just cutting out the squares and gluing them to a sheet of paper.

The "Wiggles Go Banana's" title is cut out from the program from this concert. I wanted to place this top and center, but it never looked just right. So right smack center stage it goes.

The photos are then cropped and given a green border to match the title banner/program. I used the Wiggles characters also from the program - just to add a little something.

Wanting to bring the cricut into this page, I had it cut me out a tag. I used 2 sizes to give it the shadow effect, and then "sealed" it with a brad (a blue one at that, for my favorite Wiggle - Anthony). I really wanted to create this page with a Wiggles feel.. and I think I was able to accomplish that.

January 29, 2010

Knock Knock...

Oh dear - Drew's into making "funnies" right now. It's all about the knock knock jokes. Until a few days ago, all of his jokes had zero punchline. As in:

Drew: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Drew: Apple
Me: Apple Who?
Drew: Knock Knock...

Well that's changed. There's a punchline now.. sort of...



I guess you have to have the mind of a 2 year old to find these jokes hilarious. We're getting a kick out of the fake laugh right now, anyway

January 28, 2010

And the Best Movie Nominiee is....

It's award season, and while the various award programs are announcing their nominees are for best picture, actor etc., the celebrities are working on their acceptance speeches, or at a minimum their wardrobe.

Well at our house we have our own nominee for best picture - or at least most frequently watched.

That's right, this Dr. Seuss movie is a HIT! We're talking - this video comes with three stories, and Drew will only watch Green Eggs, over, and over, and over again. Like HOURS! And it's about a 10 minute video people!

And then we get the pleasure of reading him that story at bedtime too - so we're surrounded by Dr. Seuss. (I guess I shouldn't complain - Daddy gets to read the story, because Mommy doesn't do the voices right).

I even bought the "Cat in the Hat" movie at Target when it was on sale, thinking maybe we could sneak that one in. No interest. OK get him the book... perhaps the book is better than the movie. He wasn't so thrilled by the book, although it did put him to sleep, so I guess it did its job. hehe So far I'm unsuccessful in the swap.

Anyway, if you're looking for a Friday night movie recommendation, Drew gives this one an enthusiastic two thumbs up!

January 27, 2010

Translation Please?

Drew has his own lingo for a few things - and it often takes us a while to figure out what the heck he's talking about. Here are a few examples and translations where we have them:

  • "Big Slide, Little Slide" - Translation: the hill near our house
  • "Happy Birthday Rabbit" - Translation: Hoops & Yoyo Birthday cards
  • "I'm going to bust you up" - Translation: Watch out Daddy, here I come
  • "I go see spinners and animals" - Translation: he wants to see windmills on the hills, and the sheep near Ms. Stephanie's house. One thing we haven't figured out yet, is why when we talk about his "school" he always says "I go see spinners and animals".
  • "I go find green balls" - Translation: He wants to pick off my flower buds in the backyard
  • "I wanna do clap" - Translation: Lay down daddy because I want to jump on top of you
  • "Mommy I carry you" - Translation - Pick me up Mommy
  • "I had ickies" - Translation - Drew puked
  • "That's disgusting" - Translation - Usually means he has a booger on his finger
  • "I make water" - Translation - I'm going #1 in the potty
  • "I watch pepsi" - Translation - forget about what you're doing on the computer, and please put on YouTube, so I can watch myself
  • "I want a breakfast cookie" - Translation - I'll have a Nutrigrain bar please
And there you have it, the Drew to English "dictionary".

January 26, 2010

Does This Qualify as Narcissistic?

According to the be-all and end-all of online encyclopedias - Wikipedia defines a narcissist as:
" ... being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige.[2] Narcissistic personality disorder is closely linked to self-centeredness."

Well that about defines every child I know... including my toddler. Case in point, Drew is obsessed, and I mean obsessed with watching videos of himself on our computers.


This was him on Sunday. He wouldn't stop whining until I finally threw YouTube Videos of himself on. Oh and then he whined begged for us to put on a different clip. Thankfully he knows how to replay the same clip.

For the record - he's perfectly happy watching videos on all of my friends blogs too, he just asks to see himself.

So does this qualify as setting up narcissistic tendencies? Would we as parents be considered enablers?

January 25, 2010

Look Who's A Big Boy Now

Look who's a big boy now! That's right my baby is now in a big boy bed!

This is a work in progress - as we are going to pain the rails in the center of the head/foot boards some sort of "baseball" colors, and the knobs on each corner will transform into a baseball as well. We are just waiting to locate some accessories that "scream" baseball.

Unfortunately there isn't much (affordable or age appropriate) on the market at the moment. I'm hoping things change once baseball season hits in a few months.

He looks so small when he sleeps in his new bed. My baby is growing up.

So there's some drama as to how this bed came together - I share it because I'm hoping Dave can laugh at it now....

On Saturday morning while Dave was putting this together, Drew and I stopped over at GG's for a bit. We finally had a break in the week-long rain, and Daddy thought despite feeling a little under the weather he'd take advantage of a kid free house and get this bed together.

Drew and I got back shortly before this task was completed. The last task - to get the board for the mattress to rest on... So off to Home Depot Daddy went. When he left the skies were clear (see where I'm going with this?), and when he left Home Depot not 15 minutes later it started sprinkling. Now we live a whopping 1 mile at most from Home Depot - and in the time it took Dave to tether the board to the top of the car and get home - it started pouring!

I open the door to a cursing husband (needless to say I shut the door on him so our little mimic of a 2-year old doesn't pick up any more potty mouth) and Dave asks for towels and a blow dryer. Yes, Dave was in the backyard, wiping down and blowdrying a piece of wood!

Finally it was dry enough to put on the bed, and we assembled everything.

The cruelest part of the joke - after we assembled the bed, and Dave went to go outside to clean up the towels and mess... the sun was shining bright as could be! (I still laugh at this one!)

January 23, 2010

Scrapbook Saturday - Dirt

What toddler boy doesn't love dirt right? Mine seems to really attract it when we go camping! Here are two separate pages that I've put together with a Dirty Theme:

This page is my more "recent" creation. As in within the past 4-5 months. I made it pretty simple. Took green paper, matted the photos with an orange paper, and used cut out the "mounds of dirt" from another 12x12 paper I had that was designed for boys.

The artwork and journal page was from another sheet of 12x12 paper that had a plethora of ideas and things on both sides. (I've found Jazzy Crafts in Castro Valley to be a great place for some paper - although a little more expensive compared to Michaels).

A side note about this page.. this was from the camping trip where Drew burned his hands - less than 24 hours later we were in the ER.

And now for the second "dirty" page...


This is kind of a fun page I thought... I took a layout I saw in a magazine and just made it my own. The only thing that I kept from the magazine idea - the individual letters that were held to the page with eyelets (I love my crop-a-dile, and I found oodles of eyelets on Ebay).

So the "Dirrrrrty" was just stamped letters on cut out paper. The background paper is from a package of paper I got for Christmas (a la Costco I believe) last year. I then put another layer of paper, and then a 3rd layer for some dimension, color and bordering.

I have a tool I LOVE too for rounding the corners on the pictures... I got the rounder thingy (who knows what the actual term is) from a Creative Memories party I went to last Christmas. I LOVE this thing!

The "explore" embellishment is from a package I had of various travel and family designs & words. I then just journaled on the paper.

January 22, 2010

Ready for MLB

Santa brought Drew a homemade set of baseball team flashcards. You saw a first glance at this new household hit a few weeks ago here.

Well about 2 1/2 weeks later, Drew has them all memorized. That's right all 30 teams!


January 21, 2010

Specialty: Organizational Skills

Typically men aren't exactly known for their organizational skills. I mean isn't that why they get married, so wives will keep them on track, and find their keys, or their shoes...

Who knew, at 2 years old you can begin to establish behaviors that most men never possess.


Yes, Drew has now taken up organizing and lining up his cars! He first runs them over the arm of the couch. Picks them up, brings them over to the stash of cars and lines them up! Now if only he'd pick up his toys....

January 20, 2010

Overnight Comedy

First I want to update you on Drew's health. Fever disappeared almost as quickly as it came. While Drew did get sick again last night at dinner - it wasn't due to illness, but because we made him try some rice for dinner. Yup, barfed at the dinner table, before we could even get a bite. That'll teach us for making him try something new. What is it they say about paybacks?!

Since yesterday's blog was so photo heavy, I'll give your eyes a break and tell you about the overnights on our Tahoe trip. I realize now why Drew has his own room. He'd keep us up all night long.

I know I've mentioned this before, Drew talks in his sleep. Well all weekend he was at it. One night Dave and I couldn't stop laughing, that was until he threw up everywhere.

Some of the "discussions" I recall are:
  • "Mickey Mouse" and "yeah"
  • "Nooooooooooo"
  • "But I waaaaannnnnntttttttt it"
  • "hehehehehe" (yes he was chuckling in his sleep)
  • "Big One"
There were plenty more, but these are the only conversations I remember.

January 19, 2010

Family Trip - Lake Tahoe

What an amazing weekend we had! It turns out this was our first getaway weekend as a family - no friends, family or others accompanying us on our journey. Who knew we had to wait nearly 2 1/2 years to make that happen.

We headed out to the beautiful mountain town of South Lake Tahoe. Destination - Snow & Sledding. Get ready for a plethora of photos and a video or two - and I'm going to fit everything into one blog.

We left on Saturday morning and arrived in Tahoe at our motel shortly after 1:30 or so. We were lucky enough to check in early get settled, and then find our motel manager's sledding recommendation. He advised us to go over the Nevada border (we stayed about a mile from State Line) and about 12 miles toward Hwy 28 (I think it was).

You see, we initially went on this trip thinking we'd pay $5 a piece for two hours at the sledding/snow area at Sierra at Tahoe - a ski resort. Our motel manager - guided us to the perfect place. A great big hill, and it was FREE!!

Day 1: Drew wasn't so sure about sledding. The image to the right was just as we arrived, and Drew was climbing the hill to meed Daddy.

Dave went down with him on his first run and it ended with a few splashes of snow right in Drew's face. Needless to say he had zero interest in going back down on the slide. So we found other means of entertainment.

Like "Let's pull Drew around on the sled"

Drew happily gave the thumbs up. He forgave us for sending him to a wall of snow


Drew LOVED throwing those snowballs too. He nailed me a few times

My first attempt at working the timer feature on my camera - not bad!


Just before leaving, we were pulling him around in the sled, and found a little "bunny run" near our car. He loved it! I think this is what got him comfortable again with the idea of sliding. We went back and forth down a maybe 3 foot drop for about 20 minutes.

After hanging out on the hill for maybe an hour or so, we decided to pack it up and head back. There were a few crazy adults going down on tubes and they kept trying to beeline for Drew. So back to the hotel we went in hopes Drew would nap - no such luck. Instead he found himself in a precarious position..


He managed to escape. But he was being so good - especially for being nap deprived.

Day 2: we woke up, had breakfast, then went back to our sledding hill. Lucky for us we were the first ones there! So we had some quality runs in before it got crazy.

As you can see - Drew bought into going down the big hill this time - and LOVED it!

And then we came up with the brilliant idea of sledding tandem!


Sorry for the quality of the video... I took it with my point-and-shoot camera, and I don't have much control of the focus.



Mommy and Drew got a few runs in too.


After sledding, we found some powder and created our second child. While Dave and I were trying to build it, Drew found it entertaining to try and tear it down.


After this we had a snow picnic of PB&J, chips and juice. And then played in the snow a bit more before calling it quits. Again we were trying to get Drew a nap at the hotel room. Unfortunately the 20 minute catnap in the car would have to do.


After the failed nap attempt in the room, we ventured around Heavenly Village - a Tahoe Ski Resort area, and did some window shopping and photo snapping.


Drew's favorite part - other than the fountain.... the Dr. Seuss Art exhibit. Of course we were watched like hawks, so no cameras. What - they think a 2 year old is going to put his grubby hands all over everything or knock down a priceless stature? I mean come on....

Anyway it was a fantastic trip, and the "storm of the year" didn't make it until after we left. So that was great. Overnight they were expecting a foot or so - we were lucky if we saw 2". The drive home was beautiful, and thankfully chainless.

For the first part of the ride Drew kept asking us to let him out of the car so he could play in the snow. So we decided that we are for sure making this an annual trip! We all had a blast!

Only downside - Drew woke up the final night with "ickies". He got sick all over the room in our attempt to "throw" him into the bathroom. And then he got carsick on the ride home too - that time all over Daddy (FINALLY) and the gas station floor. We got home and realized he had a slight fever... we're hoping a little sleep and R&R will kick this bug quickly.

January 18, 2010

Ladies Night

It was ladies night on Thursday - my brother's girlfriend, my sister, my mom and I all enjoyed some time together at Hannah Nicole winery in Brentwood.

One Thursday a month is dedicated to the girls. On one side of the winery you hear the whoops and yelling from all the bunco playing ladies. And then on the other side, the much more calming and "sophisticated" sounds of the ladies sitting around.

Guess which side we were on?

Why yes, the "sophisticated" side.

It was great, we just caught up on the past few weeks... and you know chatted. It was kind of nice, we all tried different glasses and had "tasters". Turns out that starting next month the Thursday night Girls Night Out turns into Tuesday nights. We'll have to do it again!

January 16, 2010

Scrapbook Saturday - Baseball Theme

Big surprise right, my scrapbook is filled with pages dedicated to Dave's favorite past time, baseball. The trick is coming up with something different for every one.

This was an original idea I had. Since this was to show off their Cubs jerseys, I tried to create a Cubs logo - and then the stripes of the jersey. Not to mention play on the fact the Cubs haven't won a world series in something like nearly 100 years.

The white Cubs "logo" and the white for the "curse" were something I cut through the paper. In other words I cut out the blue background and put white paper behind it, to try and give it some "dimension". The words "Cubs" and "Curse" I believe were cut out using the Cricut.

I then used a few baseball embellishments I had to try and round out the picture.

January 15, 2010

Going for a Test Drive

Last weekend we had decent enough weather (and enough time) to test drive some of the new wheels he got for Christmas. We tried to start by building the Diego tyke trike he received from Tata & Abuela, but Daddy seemed to have some "difficulty" reading and following the directions. It was taking a bit longer than a 2 year old likes to wait.

So I ran to the garage to grab his scooter, no assembly required I might add. So he gave that a ride up and down the walkway for a while. He picked up how to maneuver that one right away.


He did take one tumble off the scooter when he lost his balance, and it scared him when he fell into the grass. I chuckled and told him, that's why we wear the helmets - so it doesn't hurt. When I asked if it was time to go in because he was hurt, he yelled no! And the crying stopped so he could continue scooting up and down the front yard.

Finally Daddy finished battling with the Diego bike - and bummer, Drew's legs weren't quite long enough to operate both pedals. Will that stop Drew? Nope!


He happily walked/scooted the bike up and down the front yard. He loved it! Finally the cold weather and lunchtime hunger started to get to Mommy, so we forced him inside the house to eat. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon activity - AND it helped him to take a great nap a little early.

January 14, 2010

Discovering Chocolate Ice Cream

It's no secret - Mr. Drew is a picky eater - and that's putting it mildly. But in recent weeks he's started venturing out into the world of food. For instance last week, he asked for a slice of cheese. Not in a sandwich - he will eat grilled cheese - but just to nibble on a slice of cheese.

He had to ask me a few times before I'd give it to him. To my surprise he ate it!

Well last week after I went to the grocery store, I found a killer deal on some chocolate ice cream bars (1 point for you Weight Watcher conscious people). Drew has refused to even try ice cream, that is until the other night.


Yes Daddy had to share his with Drew... since Mommy had nearly devoured hers. But he loved it! Now if we could only get him to eat noodles or even some fruits and vegetables...

January 13, 2010

Referred to Specialists

An update on a few health related issues going on with Drew:

  1. Drew has had a "blackhead" looking thing on his manhood for a few months. We first noticed it around the time he was a year old, and it lasted a few months. And wouldn't you know it when I get a chance to have my Mom look at it, it's gone.

    Well it came back a few months back. We remember seeing it again around October, and it's remained ever since. It does bother him, especially when we look at it, touch it or even wipe - it's painful. On Sunday it started to look almost infected with some redness and swelling. After a bath and some cleaning it didn't look as bad.

    Yesterday when I went to pick him up at day care it looked bad again, so I made the doctor's appointment for this morning. The pediatrician looked at it, and suspects it could be the way his circumcision healed, creating a "hole" - for lack of the medical term she used - which then collects stuff in it.

    She has only seen 2 or 3 cases of this, so it's fairly rare, but she wants us to see a specialist about this. She said it could go away and never return after he's out of diapers or it could be something he deals with forever. That of course sent shivers down Dave's spine, and he began asking a million questions.

    So I will look for the urologist, all of which are in Berkeley. So I'll keep you informed.

  2. The doctor also noticed that Drew had a cough, and I told her he's had it since Octoberish as well. That I also suspect he may be borderline asthmatic. And described a few recent events - everything from his hacking after running around (which has also led to puking sessions, at church), and the barking cough he had last week. Oh he's getting a daily dose of Children's Zyrtec too - and how it seems to keep the cough and nasal issues at bay.

    So she has us checking into a local pediatric allergist as well. Just to see. She didn't hear any wheezing when we were there - just as I told her she wouldn't. She said because both Dave & I have allergies, he's pretty much doomed.

    Again - we'll keep you informed.

Reading into Independence

It was awfully quiet Saturday afternoon in the house while I was trying to clean up and get ready for a birthday party. Dave was out running errands, and I knew Drew was floating around somewhere. After a few moments, this is what I found:

Yes he was in his room (on his new big boy twin sized mattress - frame is yet to arrive) reading to himself. This particular story of choice - "Green Eggs & Ham". I tried not to interrupt too much, but he was doing quite well reading "I am Sam, Sam I am" and other topics on the pages.

I'm sure it's because Dave's read him the story a TON, not to mention we bought the movie - and it's now one of his favorites.

Periodically I could hear him reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" and "Hop on Pop". Hey he was reading and behaving! Who was I to complain?

January 12, 2010

So Peaceful

There's something about watching your children sleep, that really, there are just no words to describe it. They look extra innocent and sweet - making you forget all the naughty things they do throughout the day. It's like a clean slate. I mean how could you still be angry for the hitting or glass breaking they did a few hours earlier.

We could sit and watch Drew sleep for hours. Within the past few weeks he's taken to sleeping with his hands under his head, making him look extra adorable. It's so funny, he'll fight going to bed and falling asleep - asking for something to drink, and extra story, having you lay by him... and then he'll put his hands under his head... and you know the end is near.

It's so precious. One of the great moments of being a parent.

January 11, 2010

Happy Monday

Mondays are a blah day - it means back to work and another 5 days until the weekend. If you're looking for a little cheer on this day - here's a smile to brighten you up.


What's not to love about that big cheesy grin. This candid was snapped by Daddy while I was off doing something. It was a pleasant surprise to find in the camera.

Drew is back into puzzles again in a BIG way. He loves to take the pieces and "drive" them up the side of the couch and then over the edge. We're talking he'll do this for hours at a time! Seriously.

Of course we try to get him to pick up the pieces before he "drives" all the pieces over the edge and we have a mish-mosh of puzzle pieces alongside the couch.

January 9, 2010

Scrapbook Saturday - Summer Fever

I'm resurrecting something I started last Summer - a Scrapbook Saturday entry. I'm hoping I can accomplish a few things by doing so:

  1. Show off my "masterpieces"
  2. Offer a few ideas your way
  3. Give you an extra post every week
  4. Force myself to scrapbook more!
I absolutely love to scrap, my issue is finding time. So by sharing a page or two with you every Saturday, I hope to revive my hobby. I mean there will come a point I need to make another page or two to share right?

For today's resurgence of Scrapbook Saturday I'll bring some "warm weather" memories to those of you freezing throughout the country... Fourth of July pages.

Here is my most recent 4th Holiday page:

This is one of my recently done favorite pages. Of course I did this probably 4 months ago or so..

I took an idea I found in a magazine and customized it. Trying to stick with the Red, White & Blue, I journaled on the white pages - descriptions of who was there, what we did etc. Then found a few pictures that would be best for Drew's eventual toddler scrapbook.

The artwork is from an old scrapbook desk calendar. I also used a few star eyelets to hold down the Location tab, and up at the top, those are Star brads I found in the Target $1 section.

Now to take you to the page I did for Drew's first year scrapbook from July 4th 2008:


This page I put together more than a year ago... and is one of my favorites in his 1st year scrapbook. I really liked the flag paper I think I found at JoAnn's, but it looked too busy when I put the pictures flat against it.

So I took some dark blue cardstock, and then distressed each of the photo edges. For where I have my journaling, I took a knife and cut a picture of Drew out. I think this one came together rather nicely for not having a clue what to do in the beginning.

January 8, 2010

The Latest "Sayings"

Oops, I forgot to put together today's blog.... so until next week, this is what you get. A few little "sayings" that are commonly heard coming out of the mouth of our 2 year old.

  • "But I want it"
  • "But I want to"
  • "What is that?"
  • "Mama, Mommy, Mama, MaaaaaMaaaaa"
  • "Mommy I carry you"
  • "No, I do it"
  • "But I want it" - yes we hear this a lot so I am making you "hear it".
  • "No time out"
  • "I don't want to"
  • "I watch Sprout"
  • "I watch fall Down" - as in he wants to watch America's Funniest Videos
  • "No bath" - we're back in the "I hate baths" phase again
  • "No bed, I'm not tired"
Obviously we're battling normal 2-year old behavior. I hear most of you thinking - "haha, glad it's not me", or "We're going through the same thing here" or "I remember those days". And it gets worse at three right?

January 7, 2010

Celebrating a Little Saint

We welcomed a little saint into the church community this past Sunday when we attended the baptism of my friend Nicole's son. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to pull out the camera before he went down for his nap, but I did after. (Some friend right?)

Well I managed to capture a few shots of Drew who finally got out of time out long enough to play soccer (he was fighting over toys with the 6 month old baptized little boy, which he lost by having to sit in time out).


Drew had so much fun playing soccer with the bigger kids - even went back out to play after taking a ball to the face. Atta Boy.

After a while though the much needed nap was becoming more and more obvious so we said our goodbyes to Grammy & GrampC who left shortly before we did, and but we got a few last shots.

January 6, 2010

Every Man Needs Reading Material

We pause your regularly scheduled blogging with this brief announcement.... Drew is like every other man who sits on the pot...


Some people may read the Sports Section of the newspaper, others the Funnies. My son, Mickey and Minnie books. Unfortunately this time there were no "results" in the potty, but he's more interested in spending time in there - you know like his Daddy.

For the record we've had three instances of Drew "making water". And yes, that's what he still calls it.

January 5, 2010

High School Reunion - Sort of

It a strange turn of events - I got an email from my friend Heather (pictured in the back with her daughter) asking me what I was doing this past Saturday. Turns out it was a quiet day - so she said she was working to get some friends from High School together since our friend Irene was in town (lives in SoCal) and surprise - she's pregnant!

So here's a shot of the whole gang from Skippolini's where we hung out like old times - only instead of Antioch we graced the Walnut Creek location with our presence (centrally located for those that live further away).

It's so funny - it's been 15+ years since we graduated and while I haven't seen some of these folks since our 10 year reunion - others since graduation... we caught up right where we left off. Funny how you can do that even after all these years.

January 4, 2010

Another Year, Another Decade

New Years is always a nice time to reflect and look back. It was 7 years ago this New Years that Dave popped the question... 3 years before that we spent Y2K apart at separate parties. Me in Arizona - him in Rohnert Park (near Santa Rosa). Last year we had a fairly unmemorable New Year apparently... we can't remember what we did.

This new decade, we spent it at home with our 2 year old son, and my parents. The mission - to study wines - it was a blind wine tasting party!!

The rules we set up for this game... everyone had to bring a red wine (we couldn't know what our spouses brought), and the ladies had to bring 2006, guys 2007. Then we had to rate the wine based on things like color, aroma, texture, etc.


Here Dave is making his notes. After we did our "rating", we then had to figure out what varietal it was - you know like is it a Zin, a Merlot, Cab etc. Needless to say we're not exactly the wine connoisseurs we thought. I think the most anyone had right was - one!

No Drew didn't partake in the blind wine tasting, however he was tasting things like crackers and goldfish. He was so good, he managed to stay up until nearly 11:30! He was a fighter, refusing to go down, but he was being so good and having so much fun we didn't force him. He finally passed out on the living room floor.

Here's what GrampC shortly after arriving a few hours before bedtime.. he dressed him up like Urkel.

Drew didn't seem to care. He was perfectly happy running around the house with his pants hiked up to his armpits.

For dinner I attempted my very first Prime Rib. YUMMY! It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself.. problem was it was HUGE! We had a ton of leftovers. But it was so good, who's to really complain about Prime Rib leftovers?!

GrampC barely was hanging on at the midnight hour, but Grammy came to the rescue... shaking him awake before the big ball drop.

Meantime Dave was busy pouring the bubbly! Like our makeshift champagne flutes?Happy New Year everyone - we hope it's a better year for all!

New Year Funny

**BONUS POST**

I got home this morning from my run, and Drew wanted to join me for my post run stretches and sit-up routine.

The whole time Drew's helping me count... After my last rep of 25 reverse crunches, Drew says:

"Mommy, that's a lot of skinnies".
I broke out laughing and replied "Yes baby it sure is".

For the record I'd done a total of 100 crunches by this point. Have you done your New Year Workout routine yet today? I could lend you my little personal trainer if you want :)

January 1, 2010

Batting Practice

Happy New Year! Here's to hoping 2010 is a prosperous year... have you made your resolutions yet?

Since I'm assuming I'm recovering from a wine hangover, I'm leaving you with a video of Drew taking batting practice in our dining room. It won't be long and this sport will be moving outdoors - to save our windows and appliances from his hacks...




I wish you all a wonderful New Year!