Sittin' Tall

Just a couple of days ago, I sat Ethan up with a toy and walked out of the room for a minute. When I came back in, I fully expected to find him on his back, but I found this instead:

He sat there for a long time until he got tired and just rolled backwards. It still amazes me when he and Craig both make those leaps in their development. Craig was only a month or two older than Ethan is now when he started crawling, so I guess I need to keep an eye on that, too. Life just blows by and I lose track of time. My baby is growing way too fast.

FREEDOM!

We are officially minivan-ers!

Robert swore that he would never own a minivan--that's why this is in my name. :) We got more back in our taxes this year than expected, so we decided we would get either a van for me and the kids or a commuter car for Robert. After much searching, disappointment, and two very long, tiring days of driving around Mesa/Phoenix looking at cars with no great prospects, we found this through a private owner on Craigs List. It's a 2000 Honda Odyssey and has all the features we were looking for. The back seat folds into the floor, so that means when it's up there's a whole bunch of extra storage in the back. It has the two chairs in the middle rather than a bench, which we wanted to keep Craig away from Ethan :). As a bonus, it has a new DVD player that the guy who sold it to us installed just to make it sell faster. The guy also replaced a bunch of stuff like the brakes, tires, even the transmission is new! And, since he was wanting to get rid of it so quickly, we got a screaming deal on it. It's emaculate, too. Everything inside and out is clean and intact. We got REALLY lucky on this. I love it and I love the freedom!

Funny thing: when we were looking at dealerships, we went to a lot of the little hispanic used card dealers in downtown Phoenix. I used the bathroom in one and it had a list rules (all in Spanish) to the employees. I read very little Spanish, but I got the message in #4 loud and clear. Basically, it said, "If you have to go 'el mejor 2' go to the McDonalds down the street." I thought that was hilarious! Needless to say, we didn't go to that McDonalds for lunch.

Updates

Here are a few things we've been up to lately:

Robert bought a little plastic remote control helicopter and now we can't keep Craig away from it unless we hide it. (This picture was taken right after dinner and his shirt was particularly messy, so I just took it off.) As soon as Robert showed Craig how to work the controls, he was off and flying. He does better with than me, for the most part. It's starting to fly a little sideways, though, because Craig likes to watch it ram into the walls. He is such a little techie. With language skills, he's still working on pronunciation and using two and three words together, but give him something electronic and he'll figure it out in no time.

Bumbo seat...booster seat. It's all the same.

We've lived here for almost 9 months and finally hung curtains on Monday. I've actually never hung curtains before since most places we've lived have either already had them or we didn't really need them. It's just so darn sunny here all the time, we need a break from it once in a while...:) I really like the way they add so much warmth to the room.

And here's Craig, throwing a fit since I won't let him play with the camera. What'd I tell ya? Mister Techie.

And finally, I made these cookies on Sunday. They're SOOOO good and really easy. Here's the link for the recipe: Chocolate-Marshmallow Pillows.

I also made this soup last night for dinner. Robert and I both thought it was blog-worthy: Loaded Baked Potato Soup.

Cheesecake, blue aliens, and a light sleeper

Since Robert usually works on holidays (especially Valentine's Day) we've gotten in the habit of going out on a day other than the actual holiday. So on Tuesday night we went out on our first date (all by ourselves) in over 7 months for Valentine's Day. I've been wanting to go to the Cheescake Factory for a while, so we went there for dinner. I've never been there and it was awesome! I would highly recommend it. Robert was even impressed, which is hard to do. Then we went and saw Avatar, which was an awesome movie. It was a great night altogether. Our neighbor babysat for us and everything went smoothly until 10:30 when Ethan woke up and she couldn't get him to go back to sleep. They were both up when we got home at midnight and she had to go to work the next morning! We felt really bad. Ethan normally doesn't wake up until around 2 or 3 in the morning, so she just happened to get him on a bad night. The next day we offered to watch her son in the afternoon so she could take a nap. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I can't wait until our anniversary next month when we get to go out again!

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle (this is what I had...well this and dinner, which was good, but not picture worthy)



Great movie! I think this is blu-ray worthy--no pun intended.

You wouldn't mind losing sleep over this, would you? :)

Blessing Day (Finally)

Today we (finally) blessed Ethan!

Ever since we moved to Mesa Robert's had to work most Sunday's. Therefore, we haven't been able to bless Ethan. Here, they pretty much only do blessings on Fast Sunday and Robert's had to work every Fast Sunday since Ethan's been born. The only other Sunday's Robert had off were in December when we were coming back from California and then one week when we were all sick. The other times he's been at church there's been one reason or another why we couldn't do it that week. So, we finally did it. Poor Ethan...it was right during his nap time and he wanted to be good, but he did whimper and squirm a tiny bit during it. But he's now officially a child-of-record in the church. :)

I was surprised that he still fit into the blessing outfit. This is the one Craig wore and it's a size 0-3 month! (Ethan is 5 months already--crazy.)

Things I love about Robert

We think the same things are funny.

Craig lights up when Robert comes home.

He tries hard to pay as much attention to Ethan as Craig (it's hard when your almost-2-year-old demands so much attention and your 5 month old is so mellow).

He is extremely talented in his craft...and I wish I could somehow make his employers see that.

Because of the previous statement, I have learned SO much about cooking/baking and have gained a greater appreciation for it.

He's developed great patience in many ways, and I don't think he knows it.

Our time together can be just as fun and meaningful if we go to the store as a family or on date (but dates are still nice).

I've had many people tell me throughout the years, "Your husband loves you so much...he's always talking about you."

He really likes having people over for dinner, dessert, games, or just to get to know them better.

He's always thinking of ways to do something nice for someone or helping someone who needs it.

I can tell he's always thinking of ways to make things better and more comfortable for us.

He is ambitious. Very ambitious.

He's quite a skilled handyman. He's always surprising me with his ability to do random household things.

He really wants to be a great husband and father.

He doesn't know it, but he already is a great husband and father.

O Canadians

Now that Vancouver will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking.

Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website.

Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? ( England )
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? ( Sweden )
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada ? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto , Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? (England )
A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? (USA )
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary

Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ? ( England )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-t ri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary , straight after the hippo races.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )
A: No, WE don't stink.


Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? ( Germany )
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada , but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.


Why do the Americans have to be the REALLY stupid ones? Sigh.