Easter Shopping March 17, 2009

I haven’t vented on here in awhile (and God forbid I turn into one of those gushy mommy blogs that’s so sugary sweet that I make your teeth hurt!) So here goes.

Yesterday I thought ahead and decided to go get some outfits for the boys to wear on Easter.  I didn’t want to get those sweater vests or ties or anything, but I wanted them to look nicer than the usual t-shirts and blue jeans that they wear everyday.  And I didn’t want to spend more than $30 on both.  So i thought we would go to Kohl’s.  They always have good sales.

On the way there I took a wrong turn and ended up going WAY out of the way because I couldn’t make a u-turn for miles, literally miles!  So when we finally got to Kohl’s I was slightly annoyed.  Then I go to pop the trunk to take out the stroller.  No stroller.  Awesome.  Thank God Kohl’s have those little carts (that are as easy to maneuver as a wheel barrel full of rocks.)

So we get to the kids section and now I’m down right peeved.  Why? you ask.  Well, I found the ONE display of boys nice clothes that were priced at $25 a shirt (on sale!) and I looked around and saw a sea (A SEA, people!) full of pink and fluff and sparkles!  And most were under $15.  What the heck!?!?   Even Target had masses of pretty little dresses and (once again) ONE section for boys.  The girls even got dresses on the end of the underwear aisles.  Are clothing designers really that limited when it comes to creating something for a male toddler?  Are buyers really that narrow minded that they only select a few boy outfits and a trillion girls’?  

I’m starting to get superbly annoyed with the sexism that is going on in the children’s department of most clothing stores.  If you’re a mother of boys, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Boys need to dress nice on Easter, too.  When did it become a girl holiday? 

Maybe I should write a letter.  Maybe I should start a movement.  Mothers of boys, UNITE!

Auntie B Family Night March 10, 2009

I’m going out of order in events here (I have a couple of previous events that I haven’t posted) and normally, I would never do that because it just makes me uncomfortable, but last night was so much fun that I was really excited to post the pictures.

So, last night was monday night, which means that it was family night.  Since my Sis celebrated her 27th birthday last Wednesday, I thought our theme could be her, Auntie B.  So we invited Auntie B, Maw, and Pop to join us in the festivities.  (We invited Uncle Jon too, but he had to work late.) 

In the morning, we worked on a happy birthday sign to hang by the dinner table.  I have these cool dot pens and Caden loves them.  He made a B for Auntie B.  And I didn’t even show him how to do it!  Gotta love Seasame Street. 

After naptime we decorated monkey cupcakes for dessert, because Auntie B loves monkeys.

When Auntie B arrived, we took a picture by her sign and with her favorite nephews and then we got changed into out Auntie B Night outfits. 

Jacob wore his bulldog sweatshirt, because Auntie B loves bulldogs, especially Harley.

And Caden wore his soccer outfit, because Auntie B is a rockin’ soccer player.  They even played a little soccer before Maw and Pop got here.

Here’s the whole group.  My mom and dad wore scrubs because Auntie B loves being a nurse, and Geric and I dressed up like we were going on vacation, because she LOVES vacationing.

While dinner was cooking we hung out outside and played some soccer and the monkeys played on the swing set.

For dinner we had chicken pot pie (from Costco… one of Auntie B’s favorites) and some veggies.  While we were eating we listened to some Brittney Spears… also one of Auntie B’s favorites. 

After dinner we played a game.  Since Auntie B loves to shop, I brought out two shopping bags filled with clothes for us to try on.  We raced to put on all the clothes as fast as we could.  It really was so much fun!

I won. 

After the game, we ate our cupcakes.  Jacob LOVED his! 

This was definitely the best family night so far.  It was so much fun having everyone here.  (We missed Auntie Kristin and Uncle Rob.)   We’re totally going to to have to do it again!

Chris Tomlin March 10, 2009

Last Saturday Geric and I went to the Chris Tomlin concert.  We got each other tickets as our Valentine’s Day present to each other.  We had so much fun!  Chris Tomlin is one of my favorites.

The concert was at the ampitheater in Universal Studios, so before the show we ate at Bubba Gumps on Citywalk.  Here’s Geric looking like Forrest, Forrest Gump.

Then we strolled though Citywalk and took some pictures of ourselves.  Aren’t we cute?

Then it was off to the concert.  The opening act was Israel Houghton.  He was awesome.  I guess he’s the worship leader at Joel Osteen’s church (he’s on TV.)  He was so good.

Then came Chris Tomlin.  I LOVE that guy, probably a little bit more than I love Matt Lauer.  That’s big.  It was pretty exciting because they were filming the concert for his DVD, although we probably aren’t on it becuase our seat were crap suey.  But it was still exciting.

A couple of moments that were especially awesome for me was when Chris was talking about going on tour and visting all these different countries and how he translated one his songs into the languages of those countries and how as people (not just Americans, or Brazilians, or Russians) we’re all worshipping the same God.  That’s so big when you think about it, you know?  It’s awesome. 

Something else that I wanted to share with you all is the project that he is promoting that you may (or may not) have heard of.  It’s called One Million Can.  It’s really cool because they’ve singled out different issues in third world countries that really need to be fixed and they’ve calculated how much of a difference one million dollars can do.  It’s huge!!!  For example, did you know that there are 2 BILLION people in the world that don’t have access to clean water.  2 BILLION??!?!?!  That’s a lot of people.  But for only $4500, they can build a well that will give access to clean water to 700 people.  That’s just one of the issues.  They are also helping child sex slaves, children who were forced to be soldiers in Uganda but are now orphans, life altering surgeries.  I could go on and on.  Anyway, you should check it out and if you have a few extra bucks, help out.

So yeah, the concert was amazing and my husband was super fun to hang out with.  I love him… way more than Chris Tomlin or Matt Lauer! 

An Interview with a 3 Year Old March 6, 2009

I stole this from Stef and Rachel.  I was a little nervous to find out what Caden would say, but it turned out okay… except for number 12.  I guess I should work on that!

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you.

2. What makes mom happy? I not be trouble and Jacob.

 3. What makes mom sad? I push this button (pointing at the computer)

 4. How does your mom make you laugh? Like this (makes a silly face.)

 5. What was your mom like as a child? a toy

 6. How old is your mom: uh, uh, uh 4?

 7. How tall is your mom? Tall like this (holds hand up to my head.)

 8. What is her favorite thing to do? Listen to me.

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around? Work

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? I’m all done (that’s a hard question for a three year old!)

 11. What is your mom really good at? Exercise, yah, yah that’s your favorite part.  (oh really??? My waistline says otherwise)

12. What is your mom not very good at? You’re mean to dad.  (only sometimes, when he deserves it)

 13. What does your mom do for a job? Work.  Work with dad.

14.What is your mom’s favorite food? Noodles  (my wasitline nods in agreement)

15.What makes your mom proud of you? Clean up my toys.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Pooh

17. What do you and your mom do together? play a game.

 18. How are you and your mom the same? We go to Disneyland.  Yah!   I like Disneyland!

19. How are you and your mom different? Ummmmmmm, ummmmmm, uhhhhhh, I don’t know, Mommy.

 20. How do you know your mom loves you? Because you tickle me.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad? You hug him.  (See?  I’m not always mean!)

22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go? To Disneyland

23. What do you love most about your mom? I love YOU

24. If you could go anywhere in the world with just your mom, where would you go? To Disneyland (I sense a theme)

25. If you could buy your mom a gift, what would you buy her? a shoe (He knows what makes me happy!)

Landscaping March 2, 2009

We’ve lived in our house for two and a half years now, and the yard (both front and back) have left something to be desired.  We haven’t done much mostly because of the ongoing battle with the gophers, but seeing as we have won the war and the rodents have vacated the premises, we thought it was due time to spruce the place up.

DAY 1:

After researching plants that are native to our area and deciding on which ones I wanted and how many we would need (yadda, yadda, yadda) we spent most of the morning at Home Depot.  Oh, how I love Home Depot.  I truly, truly do.  I could wander the aisles for hours and daydream of all the home improvment projects we could take on.  My husband… not so much.  So I made a list before we left, but we still spent awhile picking out the perfect plants.

So we (I mean, I, but I’ll say we to be nice) got home and weeded the side area and Geric dug a big hole to plant our new orange tree!!!

DAY 2:

We finished up planting the rest of our plants and weeded a little more and planted a little more.

The grand finale!!

Dinosaur Family Night March 1, 2009

Last Monday night our theme for family night was dinosaurs.  I stole a couple of ideas from Heather, but I had a few of my own, too. 

During the day the boys wore their dinosaur t-shirts while we ran errands.   And while we were out, I found dinosaur coloring books for 75 cents each, so we bought a couple of those.  Caden colored.  Jacob snacked on crayons.

When Geric got home we got dressed up like cavemen and a cavewoman.  Geric wouldn’t get in the picture and Caden refused to take off his dino t-shirt, so here’s me and Jacob.  Don’t I look nice?  I was lookin’ so good I was sure some caveman was bound to come along and club me over the head and drag me back to his cave!

For dinner we ate dinnosaur eggs and for the leaf eaters we had some leaves.

While the boys were napping during the day, I made these dinosuar feet out of pasta boxes and craft foam.  It’s amazing what can be done with a glue gun!  So after dinner they put their dinosaur feet on and had a race.

(There’s Ger in his caveman attire… shhhhhhh, don’t tell him!)

After the races Geric read “Can I Have a Tyrannosaurus Rex Dad?” to Caden while Jacob helped me get dessert ready.

Then we had dessert.  Homemade chocolate lava cakes.  Mmmmmmmmm!

If you’re not doing this with your family yet, what are you waiting for???  It’s not hard.  You can totally steal my ideas.  (They aren’t all mine!)  And it’s so much fun!  Think of all the memories you’d be making!