I need a Sugar fix

Reality Bites

2012-02-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

I censor myself on I Need A Sugar Fix, a whole heck of a lot! I don't know who is and isn't reading the blog so I keep it neutral. Plus I've got some fairly good intel that gives me a descent idea that I've got a few blog stalkers (ie: people I don't deal with in real life because they are A holes, but still want the scoop on whats going on in my life).

I've noticed some of the blogs I follow also keep an "invite only" blog where they post more personal things that they don't want everyone to read. I'm jumping on that band wagon and have created my own personal invite only blog. I haven't posted to it yet, but if you're interested in getting an invite leave a comment and make sure I know what your email is so I can send you an invite.

Mobile post... Sort of successful :)

2012-01-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

Our first ever mobile post can be viewed here:
http://tenboa977.blogspot.com/

Wordless Wednesday - Resting Angel

2012-01-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

It Came!! It Came Early!!

2012-01-17T22:00:00.000-08:00

BB's trike got delivered today, two days early!

I couldn't believe it and was really glad I didn't pay for expedited shipping,

considering it would have been delivered today as well.

I LOVE IT

and think it's the cutest dang trike I've ever seen.

I put it together.... and searched through Seth's tool bag

and was very pleased that I was able to put it together by myself with serious tools!

BB helped too, and knew immediately that it was for him.

BB LOVES IT TOO!

All he needs now is a helmet and we can take him out to zip around.

He's already started to figure out the pedals and loves to ding his bell.

Once we get outside with the trike I'll take some better non-phone photos.

Sneak Peek

2012-01-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

We did BB's Valentine photos today.

It was fun and they turned out completely different than what I imagined.

I thought last years photos were hard with a 9 month old wiggling around.

LET ME TELL YOU,

a nearly 21 month old with a mind of his own...

all I can say is last year was a piece of cake!

BB couldn't walk and now he can :)

Friday Night Leftovers #19

2012-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's FRIDAY!

Check out Sippy Cups for more info on FNL

When I placed the trike order, they said it would arrive 1/19 but today when I looked at the confirmation it says it will arrive by 1/18!!! One day sooner than expected so that's good! We decided on a Schwinn, check out how cute it is going to be:

Now all he'll need is a new helmet, for bike safety!
BB and I got to pet two sweet pups, a pug and a furry dog (not sure what it was). Both were VERY sweet and gave me kisses on my hand and were more than appropriate with BB, it was really cute. He sat down to pet them and was very calm (but excited to see "duuugs" that were not his own), he didn't even run up to them he waited until he knew they were OK! See all my pet training is paying off!
The new pig Geico commercial entices Captain to howl and I mean REALLY howl. It's kind of cute, but annoying when Candy joins in and she doesn't howl, she only barks!

There are these hard seed berry type things all over the ground near the park we go to, BB is really interested in them and throws them and gets down on the ground to watch them roll around. Thankfully he's never decided to put one in his mouth.

Last year I did a really sweet Valentine's Cupid photo of BB. He was about 9 months and so cute in his cloth diaper and wings. The wings still fit and I want to try another more grown up Cupid photo and Seth has made me promise that he wont be in just a diaper this time now that he's a big boy! I dug deep in my creativity vault and think I've come up with a completely suitable and cute idea, so stay tuned!

I AM

2012-01-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

I read the I AM post on MaMe Musings and thought I'd do it too, and was going to do it tomorrow but realized (excitedly) is Friday! I do FNL on Friday, so I have to post two times in one day :)

I AM

I AM... keeping my fingers crossed for something exciting to happen.

I WANT… BB's new trike to ship quicker than the estimated 1/19 delivery date.

I HAVE... two really cute dogs that I love a lot.

I KEEP... way to many receipts and do nothing with them.

I WISH I COULD... read more books.

I HATE... annoying neighbors who complain about dog noise during the day but think it's OK to do construction after 10 pm.

I FEAR...having to stay in the hospital.

I HEAR... the dryer right now and don't want to fold the laundry!.

I DON'T THINK… I will ever make it to a Jeopardy taping.

I REGRET... not paying for expedited shipping on BB's trike.

I LOVE...my BB, Seth, my pups and my parents a whole heck of a lot!!

I AM NOT... ever going to buy the square ricola drops ever again, they are uncomfortable in my mouth.

I DANCE...with BB to Pandora's 'workout' station and we have a blast.

I SING... along to the songs while BB and I dance.

I NEVER... will understand some peoples intentions.

I RARELY...let the laundry get too out of control.

I CRY WHEN... I find out someone's beloved pet has died.

I AM NOT ALWAYS... excited about the holidays.

I HATE THAT…Candy likes to give too many kisses sometimes.

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT... how people don't know how to say thank you or send a proper thank you note or RSVP to parties.

I NEED...BB's trike to get here :)

I SHOULD... make the dogs boarding reservations in morning or time will run out.

Stroller

2012-01-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the stroller is more exciting than the park toys.

Vitamins

2012-01-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure BB is allergic to milk, he's tried yogurt/ice cream/milk and each time he's gotten a red rash on his face. So none of those things for BB and his doctor was concerned he might not get enough calcium, so we started to give him liquid calcium. At first he took it like a good little boy, but now he's in this mode of only wanting to feed himself and he doesn't do good with liquids unless it's water or juice in a sippy cup and the amount of liquid calcium was too small to use a sippy and not a good thing to mix in with something else.

Anyways, I found L'il Critters Gummy vitamins and BB loves them, no more problems getting him his calcium or vitamin C! You can also get them for a great price at Costco, which is always a plus. I also "liked" their FB page because they sometimes have contests with great prizes (that I never seem to remember to sign up for!). Well yesterday the L'il Critters FB page posted a photo contest for their Vitafusion Fiber Gummies, a before and after taking the fiber gummies. So I entered BB's before and after photos:

Here is an example of what they are looking for:

Do you think BB has a chance?

Puppy Love

2012-01-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned that BB LOVES his puppies?

They love him too, especially now that he has learned how to be gentle. We've never allowed him to man handle the dogs, but for a while BB wanted to pull their tails and ears.Something that shouldn't happen to pets. Kids shouldn't be allowed to do whatever to pets and I think it's important for them to learn proper pet behavior as soon as possible. Caps use to try and steer clear of BB, but now that he has good balance and is calm Caps enjoys BB's sweet pats.

After playing with his pups BB is a happy boy!

Oil Seeps!

2012-01-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I read a chapter in the car from Everyday a Friday,

on the way to the beach.
I think it made our trip to the beach that much better.

Seriously!

(even though I forgot my camera & we had to take phone photos!)

It was gorgeous, the water was pretty warm and BB ran around.

The tide was out and we looked at rocks, seaweed and shells.

BB ran around.

We dipped our toes in the water,

and BB ran around some more.

He had a blast.

After the running around was finished we pushed the stroller down the beach

to see the tar pits or oil seeps, which are part of a natural asphalt lakes.

See I'm standing on it!

The neat thing about the tar pits is that these are one of five in the world.

THE ENTIRE WORLD!!

They supposedly date back to the Pleistocene epoch

or 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP!

This tar was used by the Chumash Indians to seal their tomols (plank built boats)

After the asphalt adventure, BB made a new friend at the park.

His new pal even allowed him to test out her tricycle and helmet.

Maybe he needs his own trike?

Friday Night Leftovers #18

2012-01-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Happy FRIDAY!

It's the first Friday of the year and so I've got to start it off right :)

Visit Sippy Cups for more details.

I had a crazy thought the other day after BB was enjoying the birds... for a split second I thought he might need his very own bird at home! I quickly had flash backs to elementary school when I had a bird and realized I never took care of the bird, my mom did. My sweet amazing mother took on all the burden of my bird duties and this realization made me quickly realize BB does not need a bird!
We are getting ready to take a trip and I'm looking into pet boarding, I can't believe how expensive it has gotten. Then I thought why not just take the pups with us? They are small enough. Well it turns out it's not much cheaper to travel with dogs, even if they fit under the seat! They make the dog count as one of your carry on items AND charge you $125 for each dog, each flight! CRAZY.
BB and I are excited to visit the kid gym tonight, they were closed for 2 weeks for Christmas and we've really missed our weekly activities.
BB is getting very good at stairs.
We found out this week that Seth's sister is going to have a baby girl in May, BB is very excited to be an older cousin.
For those of you who aren't dog bloggers, you might think my last post about Mango Minster is weird. It's actually very fun and an extremely popular online pet contest and we are excited to be participating for the third year! Candy even won an award for her entry in 2010!

Mango Minster 2012 - Caps & Candy are Adventure Pups!

2012-01-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

The pups have been participating in Mango Minster for the last two years, this year they are entering together as a pair in the Adventure Animal category. They've asked me to tell you why they are true adventure pups!

This past October we took a family road trip up to Northern California to my aunt and uncles house, of course Captain & Candy were in attendance. Taking a road trip was exciting for them and they enjoyed spending time out of the big city and getting acclimated to country living. They spent some off leash time in the backyard and enjoyed patrolling and other actives atop the picnic table.

One of the table top activities was a big hit, wine tasting! What an experience it was for them. Not only did they taste wine, but they also learned some common lingo and expanded their knowledge on all things wine: tannins, residual sugar, body, balance, malolactic fermentation, finish and varietal to name a few.

Captain was so enthralled with all he learned that he's even considering studying to become a Sommelier! His extra pointy beak is a great asset and has helped him develop a discerning and delicate palate. He's especially interested in specializing in food and wine pairings, his current favorite pairings include: Cold Cuts & a delightful Riesling or Cheddar Cheese & a full body Cabernet. He's even perfected his own signature symbol to let others know he's found an excellent wine, it's called the tongue to nose curl and is shown below. Captain also agrees with Ambrose Bierce who once said "Wine, madam, is God's next best gift to man," he knows the first best gift are dogs of course!

Candy on the other hand proved to be a light weight who drank too much and got her buzz on. Much to Captain's dismay, she went around mocking his signature symbol and ended up getting very sleepy and nearly passed out! Since she can't hold her liquor or tell the difference between rock gut and superb wines, Captain has decided she is only allowed Two Buck Chuck or she can stick with beer. Her choice. And if she ever mocks him again... well... he said she would have H*LL to pay!

So there you have it,

Captain & Candy are

ADVENTURE PUPS - OH YEAH!

Birds

2012-01-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

We are having summer weather.

It's crazy that it's in the upper 70s to mid 80s in January.

BB has been loving it and has been getting more outdoor time.

His favorite part of being outside has to be the birds.

He is very intrigued by their chirps and tries to chase the sounds.

He's constantly looking up at the sky!

Most of the time they fly away and he can't watch them,

but sometimes if he's lucky he figures out where they are.

He was determined to be able to watch them and

kept coming back to the same spot, crouched down and was still.

His tactic worked this time and he was able to watch the birds for a little bit!

In addition to watching the birds, he loves to RUN around!

And after all the running and playing, he's tired and needs to rest.

A new DO for a new Year!

2011-12-31T12:03:00.000-08:00

This morning we got up and took BB to get his hair cut.

It was his first official professional hair cut!

We've been trimming and cutting his hair ourselves,

but thought at 20 months he deserved a real good snip & clip to ring in the new year!

We were very surprised how calm and agreeable he was to the entire process.

Not one tear was shed and he sat completely still the entire time.

He even got a lolly when it was all done!

Happy Happy New Year to all our friends!

Please enjoy these hair cut photos & be safe during/after your celebrations!

Before:

During:

After!!

Happy Boy

2011-12-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

BB is generally happy and in a good mood.

He's especially happy when he can spend time in the warm sunshine at the park.

After he had a blast on his Red Plasma Car, he ran around for a while.

Do you see what I mean about plenty of Kid Power?

BB's fast Red Plasma Car

2011-12-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

It looks like BB's favorite all around toy this Christmas is:

RED PLASMA CAR!!!!

He likes to use in indoors and outside.

It's fun to push himself around on or be pulled on.

You can take it to park and play on basketball court or in the grass.

It's big enough and sturdy enough that he'll be able to use it for years to come.

According to the Plasma Car Website :

The PlasmaCar, by PlaSmart, is a mechanical marvel that makes use of the most inexhaustible source of energy; kid-power.

BB's got plenty of Kid Power!

It's a Super Fun Car!!

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!!!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

BB had a great Christmas morning.

He had present opening practice last weekend, when he opened gifts from Seth's parents. So, he was a pro Christmas morning. He loved to rip the paper and Candy enjoyed watching and guarding Seth's presents from the little BB who wanted to open them all!

BB now has PLENTY of toys and neat things, the list includes: a tent with a tunnel (from us), plasma car (my parents - separate post on this cool car)new clothes, accessories & pjs (from us, great grandparents & his aunt/uncle/Godparents), a bunch of books (ALL great grandparent and grandparents), band in a box (my parents), remote control train (my parents), child recliner & blanket (Seth's parents), tons DVDs (uncles & Seth's parents), knit baseball (great grandparent), Disney Cars talking book (great grandparents), Melissa & Doug skills board (my parents), Disney Cars track with remote control cars (Seth's parents), tub toys (my parents), Mr. Potato Head (great grandparents), Giant Fire Truck & matching pjs (uncle) and more stuff that I know I'm forgetting. We need a whole new place just for all his new things!

We went to the Beach Christmas Eve!

2011-12-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Merry Christmas! I'm taking a break from a busy morning of opening presents, making blueberry pancakes, deep cleaning the bathroom (a story for another time) and making delish homemade egg nog lattes. This is just the beginning, I still have to make an apple pie (which I should have done last night), hot crab dip, roast, mashed potatoes and maple glazed carrots and parsnips. I'm tired just thinking about it, plus we need to take BB to the park to test out his new red Plasma Car my parents go him (among other things) and clean up the Christmas present opening mess we created!

It's been lovely, not really winter or Christmas weather this weekend. It was even warm enough for us to go to the beach yesterday afternoon to celebrate Christmas Eve. I hope you enjoy our photos, it was a little windy but regardless we had a great time. We hope all our friends and family did too!

Merry Merry Christmas from my family,

we hope you all got everything you wished for!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

Friday Night Leftovers #17 - Lots of Photos

2011-12-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

Friday Night Leftovers, better late than never.

It looks like my last post about Santa was confusing for people. Seems like a lot of my blog pals thought I was the one holding Baby Boy with Santa, when in fact it was our kid gym teacher. It's understandable because I hardly ever post photos of myself, so now I'll overload you on photos of me :), these are from our family photos we did to celebrate Baby Boy's first birthday last April.

I've decided to shorten Baby Boy to BB. What do you think? I like BB because it sounds like bebe, baby in French.
I finally put the gingerbread house together for BB. It turned out miserable! Somewhere along the way I lost the frosting pouch thing and had to use a knife to apply. Didn't work out so well, evidence below. BB sure did like it though and really that's all that matters!

Today BB and I did a first, we went out to lunch by ourselves. Usually if we get take out without Seth, we take it home to eat. Not today! We went out by ourselves today and ate in. It was fun and I was really surprised how helpful people were. It was nice and BB was on his best behavior, he even allowed me to feed him! This hasn't happened in about a year, it was amazing. He also charmed many of the other customers by smiling, waving and offering to share his juice.

I use !! far to much. I'm working on toning my use down.
I went to a store today that was advertising " buy one get one free, everything in the store*" I of course wanted to buy everything that feel into the * category. I feel like this is false advertising, don't you? Why does the * make it OK to say EVERYTHING?
And last but not least, some more photos of my darling BB when he had just turned 1. I can't believe in just 4 short months he'll be two years old!

More Santa Torture

2011-12-20T20:50:00.000-08:00

Baby Boy's kid gym had a Santa Party this past weekend.

We brought him and overall it was a good little party!

I thought Baby Boy might like Santa at his gym because he LOVES it there.

My thoughts were WRONG!

He made it very clear he did not want to be near Mr. Claus,

but when he was far away he was really interested in what Santa was doing.

When he wasn't checking out Santa, he was having blast playing

in the ball pit,

jumping on the trampoline,

rolling around,

climbing toys,

participating in Santa games with dad

and RUNNING around!

Friday Night Leftovers #16

2011-12-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

Another FNL!

It's a good Friday because I'm not working!!

YIPPIE!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't blogged in exactly two weeks, last week I was really sick with the flu. This week, I was catching up with all the things I didn't do while I was sick.
We got Baby Boy a new toothbrush, he LOVES it and is even asking to brush his little teeth!
Can you believe this... we haven't put up a Christmas tree! I'm really not in the mood for Baby Boy to knock it over, AND HE WOULD. No doubt about that.
I never got around to doing a photo Christmas card this year. I wasn't inspired and decided not to waste any time going through the motions, just to send out a personalized card. I went a little nuts last year with all the holidays and did SO many cards that I think I'm ODed. I'm sure by Valentine's day I'll be itching to dress Baby Boy up as Cupid and do something. So this year, if you send me a card.... you will be getting a genuine Trader Joe Holiday Card!
A few weeks ago, I rearranged our living/dining/play area. I do this every few months and soon I'm sad to say I'll run out of rearranging options, there is only so much you can do in an apartment! When I was growing up, my mom would rearrange the furniture regularly! It would drive me nuts and honestly I really didn't look forward to assisting, because sometimes we would spend all the time moving things around just to realize it looked better the way things were. Now though, I'm glad she exposed me to creative thinking and taught me that just because they say it's the dinning room, you don't have to use it for that.
So since we moved things around Baby Boy has found his new favorite spot. He climbs up on a chair near the window, sometimes he stands there with the dogs. He gets up there so he can look outside!

Enjoy your weekend!! I'll be searching for the perfect Christmas gift for Baby Boy!

Friday Night Leftovers #15

2011-12-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

I'm really not in the mood to blog, which is evident since I haven't posted since Monday.

However, I can't not do a FNL post, it's become a habit.

Caps has been on bed rest for the last two weeks and early this week I really started to notice he's 100% back to normal. I'm thankful he's back to causing a raucous and his little spitfire personality has returned. To be cautious, I'm still restricting his activity.
I have no idea what to get Baby Boy for Christmas. He's got pretty much everything a 19 month old could ask or want, expect for a motorized car, but we just don't have the space for that!
Now I know what I'd like for Christmas! Some of the items include: Chanel no 19, PJs and robe from LL Bean and a pair of TOMS. We will see if I get anything from my list... I'm not holding my breath though!
I'm sick of the dogs barking at dogs on TV, they even bark at cartoon dogs.
Why does blogger link my first sentence by default each time I start a new post??? It's really annoying.
Last but not least, look who likes to brush their teeth!

We saw Santa & Warm Fennel Parm Recipe

2011-11-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

We saw Santa on Saturday.

Baby Boy was less than pleased to sit with him.

This was his first time visiting and it wont be his last!

I wonder when he'll actually start to like his visits?

Warm Fennel & Parmesan Recipe

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch wedges
4 garlic cloves, slightly crushed
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons, finely grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a large heavy ovenproof skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium-high heat until shimmering; add fennel, pressing down so that most of it fits snugly in a single layer. Add garlic to skillet. Brown fennel on 1 side for 4 minutes. Flip, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Cover skillet with parchment-lined foil, and transfer to oven. Roast until fennel is very tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly.
Raise oven temperature to 450 degrees. Puree fennel and garlic in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in 1/4 cup cheese. Transfer mixture to a 3-cup baking dish, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cheese. Bake until dip is hot in center and cheese is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Fennel smells like licorice and is delightful, it usually comes with a big furry stalk. It's a member of the carrot and parsley family and when you roast it, it tastes like a delicate delightful onion. I highly recommend this this recipe and if you are planning on taking this to a party, you should think about doubling the recipe (the fennel seems to shrink once roasted) and if you're not afraid of garlic add some more cloves. I served our dip with grilled french bread brushed with olive oil and tiny bit of cheese sprinkled on top. I also used an Italian blend cheese mix instead of pure Parmesan.

Friday Night Leftovers #14

2011-11-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

It's Friday Nigh Leftovers time and we've got some leftovers!!

My Thanksgiving meal was a hit! As I brought to food to the table Baby Boy proclaimed "MMMM" each time a new dish made it's debut. Probably the cutest Thanksgiving moment.
We've got tons of leftover food since most recipes are for 6-8 (there were only 2.5 of us!). I didn't feel like calculating for smaller portions.
The only recipe I didn't care for was the turnip & sweet potato gratin and of course it's what we have the most of.
Baby Boy ate SO MUCH cranberry glazed turkey, it was impressive. He's never loved turkey as much as he did last night.
Baby Boy got a much needed haircut this morning, he was a little too wiggly and ended up getting a buzz cut. It's pretty cute!
Poor Baby Boy has a fever, he's very tired and even snuggled with me for about an hour this evening.
We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving, we hope you all did too! Below are some photos of our meal, I think it all looked much better in person :)

Warm Fennel & Parmesan Dip

Parsnip/Carrot puree, Green Beans & Wine

Cranberry glazed Turkey Breast, Cranberry-Cornbread Stuffing & the gratin

My beautiful cranberry pear pie being cut into

A gorgeous slice of pie!

Happy happy Thanksgibing to all our Friends!!!

2011-11-24T21:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!!

Before & After: My Thanksgiving Pie

2011-11-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, this might be my best pie EVER.

I'm tired of being modest when it comes to my baking skills, I might have a baking gift. According to my mom, my Great Grandmother Lucy (a bonafide Parisian) was a FABULOUS cook and baker extraordinaire. My mom is a FANTASTIC cook and doesn't do much baking, I don't think she enjoys it. I on the other hand enjoy baking A LOT! I think I inherited the baking gene and I'm proud of it.

When Seth and I were first married, I made him a pear and cranberry pie. He LOVED it and still talks about the pie 3 years later. Since I don't care for the traditional pumpkin pie, I thought this year I'd make another pear and cranberry pie just for my Sweet Seth! I tried a new faux lattice technique that turned out well, very time consuming but well worth it.

We'll enjoy our beautiful pie tomorrow with some vanilla ice cream in celebration of all the things we are thankful for. I secretly hate to cut into this beauty.... but will so we can enjoy this amazing dessert!

Before:

After:

Thoughts on Holiday Grocery Shopping

2011-11-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight I did our Thanksgiving grocery shopping.

I had this idea that it was going to be easy and boy was I wrong. The wrongness started when I decided it was a great idea to get a hot tea to carry around as I pushed the cart with Baby Boy in it. Bad Bad BAD idea, especially when you are trying to push a cart, hold hot tea, read your list and then cross items off your list all while Baby Boy is dancing in his seat (seated and strapped in of course). Have I mentioned he loves to dance and usually does it on command now?

These are my thoughts on holiday grocery shopping:

People are either really nice and accommodating or total A-holes, I can't tell you how many times we almost got run over by someone and their cart.
The only turkey breast left at the store were REALLY small... so I had to get two, so we can have leftovers.
A lot of people were using coupons and decided the perfect time to review their periodicals was in the middle of the aisle causing major cart jams.
Too many people (including some of the above couponers) were clucking on their phones and caused even more unnecessary additional cart jams.
I'm sure I didn't help with the cart jams as I tried to navigate with only one arm pushing my cart because I was holding my stupid tea.
A ton of people thought Baby Boy was between 2.5 -3 years old. I'm still in shock about this, he's only 19 months. They also thought he was really cute, after some initial shyness he waved "buh bye" to most of them.
I always get turnips and rutabagas confused, so I asked the produce guy to confirm the turnips I had were in fact turnips. He was really rude about my request for confirmation, which was really annoying.
The guys in the deli were extra friendly which made up for the grump produce man.
I had twice the amount of groceries as the lady in front of me and I wasn't offered help out to my car like she was. I had twice the amount of groceries as the lady in front of me and I wasn't offered help out to my car like she was.

I hope you did your shopping, because if your store is anything like mine, they might be out of some key ingredients if you wait too long!

Self Portrait

2011-11-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I was doing some research on Christmas photo ideas and somehow ended up on a site dedicated to amazing self portraits. People come up with some really great photos of themselves. So instead of figuring out what to do for our Christmas photo, I decided to try my own self portrait. Here is what I came up with... not that fantastic! You can't see my face, but that's kind of the point.

I actually prefer these photos I took when Baby Boy was just a few months old, even though he's crying in one. I feel like it captures the moment, what do you think?

Needless to say the Christmas photo idea hasn't come to me and I'm kind of thinking no photo this year. Not sure but that's just how I'm feeling right now because I want the photo to be amazing and if it can't be great then I'm not really seeing the point this year.

Thanksgiving Menu

2011-11-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

After much procrastination, I've decided to sit down and make my Thanksgiving Menu. I have to get with the program and since Baby Boy is napping and Captain is resting in his bed, it's the perfect time to get 'er done. So here it is, my proposed Thanksgiving feast, my mouth is already watering!

Warm Fennel and Parmesan Dip

Cranberry-Glazed Turkey with Cranberry-Cornbread Stuffing

Turnip and Sweet Potato Gratin

Green Beans with Lemon Butter

Pear-Cranberry Pie

Sounds like a tasty menu to me and I might also make a parsnip and carrot puree since Baby Boy LOVES it!

Here we are last year at Thanksgiving, in the snow!

Look how little he was!!

Thanks Martha Stewart for all these great recipes!!

Sweet Caps Pupdate

2011-11-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

My pups are never sick, I've only ever had to take them in to get shots and that is it! So needless to say, since our relocation to Southern CA, they haven't needed shots so they haven't been to the Vet. I didn't know where to go , so so I called up the Vet clinic in Petsmart.

It ended up working out well and when the Vet came in I was pleasantly surprised because I thought it was the perfect person to be my tiny Caps' dogtor! She was a very small person with little hands perfect for examining my 6.2 pound boy.

She examined him, made him walk around the clinic and determined that his little knee cap is bothering him. I forget the clinical name for it and I guess it's very common for small dogs. She prescribed him a medication, the equivalent of Advil (in liquid form) and 2-4 weeks of rest in his crate. He's already crating himself and a few hours after his first dose of medication he's finally up for a little bit. He's actually resting in my lap as I type. Plus he finally ate!! I gave him some rice and chicken, which is suppose to be gentle on his little tummy.

I had never seen my Captain this sad and hurt before. I was convinced I was going to get really bad news. When I was young I had dog named Judy and when she was about 4 or 5 years old she got a degenerative bone disease, she stopped eating and had a hard time walking. I was convinced Caps was having the same problem. There was not cure for Judy, she was in so much pain that we had to put her down :( I'm so glad my Caps only has a little problem with his knee. We go back to the Vet in a week for a check up.

Sweet Judy photos below.

Friday Night LeftoverS #13

2011-11-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

And it's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

For more on leftovers click here.

I'm really tired today

Here is how I feel today... that can either be a yawn or scream. I could do both! LOL

My poor Captain is hurt and it breaks my heart. On Wednesday while outside going potty, he started screaming and so I picked him up and brought him inside. All he wanted to to do was be alone and sleep, so we let him. I thought he was better yesterday morning, but soon after getting up he was back to his bed and the same thing today. He doesn't want to eat or drink anything, unless it's peanut butter. I'm very concerned about him, so we are headed to the Vet after work.
Baby Boy has been very concerned about Captain as well. He walks into our room and stands outside his bed and looks at him. Baby Boy somehow knows Captain is hurt and knows to be extra sweet and gentle.
I finally got my LL Bean slipper socks and I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!! My feet are usually always cold and now that I have my new socks they are not. I love them.
When I lived in the Chicago area a few years ago, I donated platelets on a regular basis. I haven't donated in a long time and I finally got my but in gear, found a local donation center and made an appointment. I went on Wednesday after work and donated blood, I did an automated double red cell donation for the first time. It's a little different than regular whole blood donation and more similar to what happens when you donate platelets. Thankfully it doesn't take as long as platelet donation and about 20 min longer than whole blood. I'm having my platelets counted to see if I'm still eligible for platelet donation, the nurse said most of the time your platelet count stays pretty static throughout your adult life, so I will likely still be a good candidate. The only concern is the HLA antibody that woman can get after having a baby. If you have the antibody you are ineligible to donate platelets.
Since we are taking Captain to the Vet after work, it's doubtful we'll make it to our play gym's free play :(
While my sweet Captain was in his bed resting, I took some photos of my dear little Candy girl.

Someone needs a haircut!

ICK!

2011-11-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

OMG.

I feel sick.

I haven't worked out with weights and things in a LONG time.

I've been walking and stuff but not doing a serious work out.

Today I did a serious workout and I feel good in a

'I'm so out of shape, exhausted and nauseated' kind of way if that makes sense.

So please wish me luck as I try and stick with it.

Friday Night Leftovers #12

2011-11-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

I say this every Friday.
Yay it's Friday!
Visit Sippy Cups for more info

I found the Flip video recorder. Great huh?! Yep, until I realized it only has a little tiny bit of juice left and I can't figure out if the thing uses batteries or if if there is a charger for it. For some reason I think it uses batteries, but I can't find where they would go and I can't figure out where a charger would go either. Looks like some Internet research will be required this weekend.
I'm desperately waiting for my new LL Bean Slipper Socks, my feet are FREEZING! They should arrive soon.
We need to go shopping for Baby Boy this weekend. All his pants are getting too short and he's walking, rather RUNNING around with short pants. My concern is that he's wearing 18 month pants, which are getting too short but are still loose in the waist. I think 24 month pants will fit the length but will most likely be way to big in the waist and fall off him. So we'll go shopping and see if anything fits.
I weighed Baby Boy today and he's 28 pounds.
Captain is starting to get more and more grey hairs, he's only 3! At this rate he'll be silver before he's 5. We weighed him too and he's almost 7 pounds, Baby Boy is 4 times bigger than him.
I'm still procrastinating and haven't figured out our Thanksgiving menu. I'm more interested in trying to figure out how to decorate out Thanksgiving table and brainstorming Christmas photo ideas.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

The Gym

2011-11-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week I figured out how to get videos from my phone onto blogger via You Tube. I was excited and I guess I'm still excited just a little disappointed because I can't edit the videos on my computer or combine them with the program I have. I tried to combine the next three videos into one video but it didn't work, my program didn't even recognize the videos. So if you want to check out all the fun things we do at the kid gym, watch the three videos and enjoy.

Thanksgiving Plans

2011-11-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Are you cooking or going somewhere?

We are staying home, it's going to be a lovely relaxing couple of days. No matter what we do, I always make a special Thanksgiving meal at home for Seth and I. This will be the first year Baby Boy can enjoy a full Thanksgiving meal. I made a roast turkey breast last week and he gobbled it up, so I know he'll LOVE our special meal. I enjoy making everything from scratch, with one exception, gravy. I hate gravy, it totally grosses me out, especially the kind you add flower too. I don't get the idea of lathering up your meal brown liquid flower, GROSS. So instead of making it, I get some pre-made gravy at Trader Joes... I guess by gravy standards it's tasty and gets the job done. I wont be testing it out anytime soon.

Once I figure out our menu, I'll post it and after I make the recipes I'll provide my review. I'm a good cook but my presentation skills need some work so this year my goal is to make a beautiful plate! I'll take photos and will let you be the judge! I'm also going to try and make a decorative pie crust... wish me luck!!

***********

We went to the park and Baby Boy spent the majority of the time in the swing. He loves to swing, which is curious to me since he HATED his baby swing when he was little. I think he spent a total of 30 minutes of his baby-hood enjoying the swing, the rest of the time he would scream to get out and finally I gave up trying. Now he's a swing lover, it's hard to get him out without him getting upset. He also loves swing time at his gym, they dedicate 10-15 minutes of the class to swing time. He gets very excited when he realizes the teachers are putting up the swings. I'll try and get a photo next time, it's neat how they hang the swings from the ceiling.

After swinging we hung out on the picnic table.

2011-11-08T17:31:00.000-08:00

Isn't this a darling photo of Baby Boy?
I just love it...
and that's all I've got for you today!

He's a dancen dancen dancen machine!

2011-11-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

Check out Baby Boy's moves....

It finally dawned on me how to get videos from my phone on blogger!
I just had to email it to myself and save on my desktop.
Then I uploaded to our You Tube Channel!

WOOHOOO!

Friday Night Leftovers #11

2011-11-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Friday, it's finally Friday!!

Time for LEFTOVERS!!!!!!

It was really windy earlier this week.The weirdest part is that it was hot wind, not cold wind. HOT! It was very strange and Baby Boy was really intrigued with it! He kept looking out the windows watching the trees sway, check out the photo below.

I found a new show for Baby Boy to watch on Netflix Watch Instantly, it's called Sid the Science Kid. The best part is, I don't get totally annoyed with the show as background music. It's actually kind of interesting!! Baby Boy loves it!! So I love it!! He also likes to sit on the ottoman and watch, evidence below.

I can't find the video recorder thingie and I can't get videos from my phone on to blogger.... so I tried to get some shots of Baby Boy on his rocking horse, but I failed miserably! All the photos are REALLY blurry. Maybe I need to find the video recorder this weekend.
I started to DVR Dr. Phil so I wouldn't miss his interviews with Casey Anthony's parents and so now it DVRs all his new shows, so I watch them. He's got some good things to say, but what I'm shocked with is that people actually go on TV and talk abut their private problems IN DETAIL! Are some of these stories really TRUE?? Are people that desperate for help that they broadcast major problems for anyone and everyone to watch on TV?
We need a toy box or something to put all of Baby Boys toys in when they are not in use. Putting them in a pile in the corner is really getting on my nerves.

It's Friday, ENJOY your weekend!!!

2011-11-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Candy and Baby Boy are best pals.

Wherever Baby Boy is.... Candy is too!

It's fun to watch them play together and grow up together.

These two dogs quotes are special!

The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic.

~Henry Ward Beecher

The greatest love is a mother's; then a dog's; then a sweetheart's.

~Polish Proverb

Baby Boy's Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

We went to Baby Boy's gym yesterday for their Halloween party. There were TONs of kids and parents. Thirty six kids signed up for the hour long party. Each child had to have one parent with them on the gym floor at all times, and only one parent because there were so many people. It was pretty crowded and I didn't get very many pictures and most of them aren't that great since I was taking them far away from the action on the sidelines.

Baby Boy was pretty serious the whole time, I think he was intrigued by the crowd. At his gym class, there are usually no more than 8 kids and no one dresses in costume for class either! Everyone loved his outfit, and I was happy that no one else dressed as Mickey. The only downside of the get up is that it's stuffed and ended up being really hot as Baby Boy tried to play. Surprisingly he kept his Mickey head on the whole time, until I took it off because he was getting too warm.

There was a haunted house, a maze, bubbles and trick or treating, plus fun Halloween music the whole time! A good time was has had by everyone and Baby Boy was pooped, always a sign that he had a blast! We hope everyone else did something fun and dressed up in a neat costume!

I just realized that we never went to a pumpkin patch. DANG IT!!

Next year we'll go for sure!

Last weekend

2011-10-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we saw some family.

Here are some photos from the visiting....

again I'm bummed I didn't get more.

These were taken outside my Grandmother's 80th birthday party.

Baby Boy was running around with his balloon we got for free at Walgreens.

After a while my dad, niece and nephew joined us outside.

One of the only pictures of my mom and aunt at the party.

Now for a beauritful photo of Klohe, the kiddles mini schnauzer cousin.

... and some of Baby Boy and his Uncle Lucas

Saturday Night Leftovers... better late than never!

2011-10-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday and I'm late for Friday Night Leftovers.... oh well better late than never!!!

I have a lot of things on my mind right now.... here are a few of them:

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all; especially if it pertains to unhappiness regarding the possibility of a future grandchild.
Actions speak louder than words, talking the talk requires walking the walk. Just because you don't like me doesn't mean you need to take it out on my child. So if you really do love my child, follow through with your promises.
It's frustrating and tiring dealing with people whose actions/reactions are powered by guilt.

I have a few other things I'd like to say, but for now I feel better getting that off my chest. Now to post some happier thoughts :)

Baby Boy is going to a Halloween Party at his gym this afternoon, to get him ready to dress as Mickey Mouse he watched a Mickey episode on Disney Junior. I promise to bring my camera!
It's going to be a challenge keeping Mickey's hat on Baby Boy, he's more inclined to carry it around and no way is he going to wear the Mickey hands!!
Last Halloween I did some really cool photos of Baby Boy, it was easy, he was about 5 months old and wasn't able to run around! I'm still thinking of ideas of a quick Halloween photo this year, I think I'll need to get something that will distract Baby Boy and encourage him to sit or stand still for a few seconds :) please wish me luck!
I didn't take enough pictures last weekend... I'm bummed now because I didn't even get a photo of my mom and Baby Boy or any with my aunt and uncle... BUT I did get some of my dad and Baby Boy!!

Since this once was a dog blog!

2011-10-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Some of you might not realize that I Need a Sugar Fix was once a dog blog. In the spirit of dog blogging, I'm dedicating this post to my sweet pups.

The pups, Captain & Candy came with us this past weekend on our road trip up North. They are such good travelers, they make no noise in their crate, even if Baby Boy is upset! They are dream travelers.

On Saturday a little bit before sunset, we sat in the back yard at my Aunt and Uncles house. The dogs enjoyed hanging out on the picnic table and as you can see Captain was constantly on patrol! We saw some deer and many birds. It was warm in the sun, but dang, the minute the sun went down it got increasingly more chilly. Captain ended up cuddling in our coats since we forgot his sweatshirt.

And this is Annie, the neighbors elderly pup who enjoys hanging in my Aunt and Uncles yard. At first Captain and Candy were a bit animated with Annie, but finally they got comfortable with one another and things were nice and relaxed!

Catching Up

2011-10-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the small things that make my day a million times better.

This morning I needed a cup of coffee, I didn't make any at home. We are heading out of town tonight and I want to minimize messes as much as possible. So early this morning I headed to Starbucks for my coffee fix with Baby Boy in tow. While waiting for my coffee, the barista proclaimed "He is the most beautiful baby boy. So angelic!" This made my day!! Of course I think Baby Boy is darling, he's my boy but I still love to hear feedback on how cute my sweetheart is.

I also realized that today my Baby Boy is 18 months old!! I can't even believe he's 1.5 years old. What a big boy he is now, running running running! Always running, he can't get to a toy or activity fast enough it seems! He's loving his time at his play gym and he's won the hearts of all the staff. They always comment how sweet he is, he's always kind with other kids and doesn't seem to mind sharing toys. We are taking him to the gym's Halloween party in a few weeks, I'll be sure to bring my camera to document the fun he has.

We are heading out of town, we hope you all have a good weekend!

This a classic Baby Boy pose/sitting style.

Friday Night Leftovers #9

2011-10-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Friday Night Leftovers!

I got a quilt earlier in the year at Bed Bath & Beyond, it was on a super duper clearance for $12.99. It's currently on the back of out couch (see photo below). I liked it when I saw it and loved it when I saw the price! The funny thing is, I've seen it on a few TV shows the past few months! I can't remember them all right now but my quilt was on Desperate Housewives!

I'm waiting patiently for my Shakeology shipment to arrive... it can't get here soon enough!
Have you watched the new show Pan Am? I just caught up with the show and I love it! I'm a sucker for any period based show... especially if it's the 60s!
I finally ordered Baby Boy's Halloween costume yesterday. Last year I had his costume WAY in advance... now I just have to figure out what kind of Halloween photo we will take.
I got up this morning to find a perfectly chewed up cork... darn dogs, it's always something they are chewing up. Thankfully it's never anything really important.
This might sounds mean... but I'm so tired of the complaining on Facebook from first time mom's who are pregnant and so uncomfortable and so tired. Then when their babies arrive there is MORE complaining about being tired. It makes me want to scream and point out that they are not the first one to ever be pregnant, uncomfortable or to have a newborn and be tired. It's called LIFE! BUCK UP people. Don't get me wrong, I'm compassionate and know how uncomfortable and tiring it all is, I just can't deal with the constant complaints.
My child is too resourceful for his own good.

Doodles, oodles of doodles!

2011-10-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I found Baby Boy with a notebook and a pen, he must of grabbed them off the table. He was "drawing" on the pages of the notebook. I was surprised to see him doing this because he's never showed any interest in coloring or drawing before. It was neat and I thought he might enjoy a real coloring book and crayons.

At Costco they had a huge coloring book called Doodles - A really Giant Coloring and Doodle Book. It's about 400 pages and filled with all kinds of ideas and activities. A very neat book, something that I'm sure Baby Boy will have for a long time and will certainly grow into. Especially since Costco's price was under $13.00! Right now, since it's another new activity he's very serious and concentrates on the crayon and the book, which means no room for smiling!

I learned my lesson quickly to only allow him to have ONE crayon. Having access to ALL the crayons in the box only encourages him to throw and run around with the crayon and not color. So, he gets only ONE crayon at a time and I hide the box! This allows for more concentration and focus on the new activity. He's learning quickly that more pressure means more color (I obviously colored the tree, to encourage and show him how to do it). So far he likes to do dots and lines. His first masterpiece!!

sidewalk chalk

2011-10-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sidewalk chalk was on sale at Target this Saturday. Baby Boy has never played with sidewalk chalk before.When he experiences new things, he's always very serious. So don't expect a bunch of smiley photos!

At one point, Baby Boy decided he was done playing with the chalk and that the broom was more amusing. I guess messing up chalk art and cleaning it up is far more entertaining? This isn't the first time he's found sweeping more exciting, we should probably get him a kid sized broom and put him to work more regularly!

Since sweeping isn't a new activity, we finally got some smiles!

Overall he had a good time, especially sweeping.

Friday Night Leftovers #9

2011-09-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited it's Friday?? Visit Sippy Cups for more info!

Netflix Watch Instantly, I hope what I've been reading is true and they continue to add more and more selections. We've been watching instantly since before Baby Boy was born and I've definitely seen the options increase and get better.
Baby Boy has really been enjoying his rocking horse, it allows him to go up and down and back and forth and he goes wild on it. I'll try and get pictures/video this weekend.
I got a sample of Shakeology in the mail and I'm excited to try it. Just need to go get a new blender.
We will be taking a road trip up to Northern CA for my grandma's 80th birthday party in October. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents and other family but NOT looking forward to the drive. All of our long road trips were taken when Baby Boy was really little, now he's bigger and wants to run around 24/7!
Captain needs a new harness or collar. His red one is getting old and it's really annoying to put on.

That's all folks!

Have a good weekend!!

Potty

2011-09-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today, Baby Boy sat on his potty for the first time.

He did have all his clothes on.

He had removed the inner potty liner...

So he couldn't actually go potty.

BUT he sat on his potty all by himself for the first time!

Based on my google research Baby Boy is not ready for potty training.

A bunch of website/articles say if they are not ready,

forcing them makes the whole process so much harder.

So we will see when Baby Boy decides to be really interested!

My Gym is now OUR gym!

2011-09-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

A Few weeks ago I stopped into the The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for a cup of tea. As I was waiting for my tea I was looking at all the photos and advertisements on their community board, there was one for My Gym. The flier was promoting their enrollment weekend, the part that caught my attention was the word FREE!. I was intrigued and had been trying to think of things for Baby Boy to do so he can have interaction with other kids and get some exercise. I emailed the gym for more information and to sign up for the event. For some reason the gym didn't provide many details on the enrollment costs and so I assumed the one time enrollment fee was going to be crazy expensive. But I thought oh well, at least we can get one free play session.

We were pleasantly surprised when we got to the gym, during the enrollment weekend, the enrollment fee was waived! YAY, that's a $75 savings! Baby Boy LOVED the gym and so we decided to sign him up. Our first month, we get unlimited classes and free play. Baby Boy and I have attended 3 classes and 1 free play. Each time we go he is more and more comfortable with the surroundings and staff. I can already tell he is benefiting from the socialization and being in a new environment.

Baby Boy adores balls, any type and size, so it's only fitting that his FAVORITE place to be at My Gym is the ball bin! If he could, I'm sure he'd stay in the bin the entire hour. There is the little ball bin and a big ball bin, Baby Boy is most happy when he can be in the small bin with one or two big beach balls in there with him.

So we all like the gym, Seth even has a fun time there too! It's neat to watch Baby Boy gain confidence, charm the staff and start to play with new friends. There are some things I find odd though....

Seth and I are some of the youngest parents there and we aren't even that young. Sometimes I'm confused if the adult with the child is their parent or grandparent. So, I try and listen really well to see what the child calls the adult, because I'm nosy and have to know! Just call me Gladys Kravitz.
Most of the parents don't want to talk to the other parents. WEIRD! I don't get it, we are all there with kids similar in age so why wouldn't we chat? Maybe it's just a southern CA thing? I find this is the same at the park too and it bugs me.
A handful of the kids scream, that high pitched annoying octave that is in my opinion unnecessary and a bad behavior that certainly shouldn't be encouraged. All the screamers parents seems to think it's "cute" or not big deal. Plus, when I hear a scream I'm alarmed, is the child OK??? So irritating.

Overall we love the gym and the good certainly outweighs the few annoyances I experience.

Friday Night Leftovers #8

2011-09-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

YAY! Friday.

It's my third week in a row participating since before Summer.

Click here to read more about this fun Friday tradition.

I hate when I open a bottle of fuzzy water (also knows as sparkling water) and it explodes all over the place. This happened to me last night and it got all over the kitchen... thankfully it's just water, but annoying none the less!
My neighbor got really mad at me yesterday because the dogs were barking when the telephone people were here fixing our phone. We live in a pet friendly complex, so if you don't like dogs and the noises they make I suggest moving. I'm mostly frustrated because I've gone out of my way to be extra nice to my neighbor, he's older and lives alone so I regularly bake and make things and share with him. To freak out during the day because dogs were barking as you walked from your car to the mailbox is in my opinion extra hyper sensitive.
We joined My Gym last weekend and this month we get unlimited classes and free play. I thought the best class would be after work, but Baby Boy was REALLY tired and didn't seem to have as much fun as he did during the weekend morning class. We'll try one more week night class to see if he's tired again... if not NO Sleeping in on the weekend for me!
I love the TOMS we got for Baby Boy. I want to order a bunch more for him, Seth and I!
Have you seen Russian Dolls on Lifetime? I was excited when I first heard of the show and set it record on the DVR. Unfortunately it's a pretty dumb show. I wanted to learn about the Russian culture, but instead all they do is fight and sometimes in English and sometimes not. Bummer...
To end this Friday post, a cute photo of Baby Boy!!

TOMS

2011-09-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

Have you seen or heard of TOMS?

I've seen them around and just figured they were just another fad. Then I saw the creator of TOMS shoes Blake Mycoski on TV and I learned that for each and every pair of TOMS shoes purchased they donate a pair to a child in need. I've always taken having shoes for granted. Heck, Baby Boy has had shoes since before he could even walk... yet there are kids out there without any shoes and it's pretty neat that TOMS exists and is able to provide shoes to kids in need. I can't even imagine not having shoes, can you? Think of how many things would be harder/impossible/painful without them.

To read more about TOMS one for one movement, click here.

To support this neat cause, I got Baby Boy a pair of crimson corduroy TOMS! They arrived in the mail today and are so CUTE! We love them! Check out Baby Boy breaking them in!

Fat Brain!

2011-09-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

A new toy is great.

A gigantic box of new toys is even better.

Thanks to my mom, Baby Boy got a GIGANTIC box of new toys from this great site:

Fat Brain Toys

Baby Boy tested out one of his new toys, his pound a peg set.

You can see from the below photos that he is enjoying this new toy.

It's also interesting to see him using his pacifier!

He never walks around with it.... I don't want to make this a habit!

I love this photo.

It's not very detailed,

but I love the colors and the view of Baby Boy sweet little face.

Friday Night Leftovers #7

2011-09-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's Friday again, THANK GOODNESS!

Visit Sippy Cups for more details on this weekly post!

It's September 9th and things are finally starting to look up for us. We are waiving good bye to our bad luck August. YAY. Please keep your fingers crossed, your paws crossed and say a prayer for us that things continue going in a more positive direction.
Last week I mentioned that I was dreaming of a trip to Sol Duc Hotsprings... well guess what?! We have a trip planned next June to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday and my parents anniversary! I can't wait. Really I CAN'T WAIT... is it too early to start a count down?
Baby Boy got a HUGE box of toys in the mail from my mom today. I haven't even given them all to him and he's in heaven. He especially loves the giant box filled with paper (i.e. packing materials).
One of the toys is a board with all sorts of locked doors. It says 3+ years... however my 16 month old has already figured most of them out! We may have a Houdini on our hands!
I won $4 on lottery scratcher... it doesn't compare to last weekends $50 win, but it will do!
Baby Boy is finally using his rocking horse, wearing his cowboy boots and hat. SO CUTE.
I need to start brainstorming a Halloween costumer for Baby Boy and a possible photo shoot. Last year he was a black sheep and my Halloween photos were pretty cool if I do say so myself. It much easier then... he didn't move very much.

Finally, I can't believe it's been 10 years since 9/11. I sure hope all this hype about a possible terror plot(s) is false.

The Fun Bunny

2011-09-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

I originally had planed to take some photos of Baby Boy and his fun Bunny my mom got him.

This is the only descent photo of the fun Bunny.

Little did I know, the fun Bunny would be such a hit with the dogs. Baby Boy thought this was really neat. He was instantly obsessed with putting the bunny right in front of the dogs. Either or both of the dogs would grab a hold of a bunny leg or arm and play tug with Baby Boy. They thought it was pull toy. So annoying. This Bunny is too cute and special to be used as a toy, so I had to put the kibosh on all the fun. MEAN MOMMY!

My next bright idea was to put the dogs on the patio while I took photos. As I'm putting them on the patio Baby Boy also slipped out and ran over to the patio chair and climbed up. Candy quickly found a comfy spot right next to him and so the "photo shoot" turned from Baby Boy and Bunny to Baby Boy and his beloved Candy girl!

The below photo makes me laugh, both have a weird look on their face...

not sure why, but they are looking at me! LOL

We can't forget Caps, at one point he was on the chair with Baby Boy and Candy.

I tried to get some photos of them all, but there was WAY too much commotion.

And as usual, Captain's interaction was limited and he chose to sit on his own chair. ALONE!

So, back to the bunny. With the dogs out of site, I tried to get some shots with the Bunny. Unfortunately without the dogs around Baby Boy was more interested in trying to chew the eyes off than play with the bunny. I got this one silhouette style photo and now realize this might not be a good stuffie to play with... it might just be best for the Fun Bunny to hang out on the book shelf for a while, far far out of Baby Boys reach until he's older!

After all the bunny and dog fun, Baby Boy was tired, fell on the ground and giggled.

I think he had a good time!

Photos

2011-09-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

According to my camera, the last time I a took a photo was on 7/28!

So now we finally have some photos!

Enjoy.

Please ignore the nap time hair... we forgot to fix it before we left!

No Photos for Us.

2011-09-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't picked up my camera in weeks.

WEEKS! Maybe even more than a month. I can't believe it.

When we were cleaning up a while back I put my camera in the closet and honestly I don't even know where exactly in the closet it is and I don't have a clue where any of my lenses are. Now that I think about it, I don't even think I know where my charger is. This is bad! I've lost out on about a month of taking photos of Baby Boy... his 15th and 16th months are now not well documented. I didn't even take very many iPhone pics. Oh well.

I guess taking daily photos is kind of like daily blogging. If you don't do it, then you forget and then it seems like something really big has to happen in order to take photos. It doesn't have to be that way! Tonight, I'll find my camera/lenses/charger and I promise to take some kind of photo tomorrow.

Friday Night Leftovers.... #6

2011-09-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged since 8/19/11, the day after my birthday.

I recently read on blog I follow the reason why the blogger blogs daily. She simply said if she didn't blog each and every day then she's eventually feel like in order to blog it would have to be something really interesting or important. I'm feeling like that. So instead of not blogging, I decided to participate in Friday Night Leftovers, I haven't done this all summer!

Visit Sippy Cups Are Not For Starbucks for more info!

It's finally September and I'm relieved. August was a really crummy month.
I'm dreaming of a trip to Sol Duc Hot Springs
I discovered that Netflix has a variety of kid programs on their watch instantly offering. We are watching our first show right now - Word World and Baby Boy is very interested in it.
I made home made play dough yesterday. It is red and colored using kook aide. Baby Boy enjoyed it. I made the edible kind, because I knew he'd want to test it out. Interestingly, it smelled good but tasted HORRIBLE! The recipe calls for 1/2 cup salt, so it was gross (which is good). The dogs didn't even want to eat it when it got on the floor.
Candy is ridiculous, she's barking at the cartoon dog on the Word World show.
This morning Baby Boy found a jug of vinegar, opened the top and poured it all over the kitchen floor. The kitchen floor I might add that I just mopped! UGH!

Templeton

2011-08-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

We've always been intrigued with Captain's beak....

His nose sticks out way past his chin.

His ears are gigantic, they are what got Seth's attention.

Captain should be thankful for those big ears,

without them he may not have come home with us!

Anyhow, this week Seth commented that he looked like Templeton from Charlotte's Web.

I looked on YouTube and YES, he looks like Templeton!!

I think we'll change his name to Captain Templeton.

What do you think?

2 Years with my Pups!

2011-08-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated two years with the kiddlets!

I can't believe two years have already gone by.

Click HERE to read our first post about Captain & Candy!

These two are still tiny little dogs and it's like having eternal puppies!

The pups are a very important part of our family.

Candy is a Baby Boy lover to the max,

and Captain is my sweet lap boy.

As I write this post, Captain is in my lap....

and just now Baby Boy walked up and rested his head on the side of Captain.

SO CUTE and sweet.

Baby Boy is turning into a major animal lover!

When we are out and about he points at other dogs and says DUG!

Since yesterday was our "pup-a-versary" that means tomorrow is my birthday!!!

Yay!!

Our Trip to the South, Part 6 - Fish Lips

2011-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Baby Boy has a neat skill...

FISH LIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this skill, it's really cute!

progression of fish lips

Our Trip to the South, Part 5 - Hairless Wonders of the South!

2011-08-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

If you are new to the blog, then these hairless kitty cats might be shocking.

These fabulous cats live with my parents and Miss Bailey.

They've adapted well to their new Southern location.

Baby Boy likes the cats, he loves all animals regardless of their fur status!

Actually, Baby Boy has never pet a furry cat!

The cats liked him too and are very gentle with babies.

Miss Bailey adores these sweet cats too!

My dad even LOVES his hairless wonders!

This is especially shocking since before my mom got them,

my dad was not a fan of ANY type of cat!

The neat thing about photographing hairless cats is that they have very interesting wrinkles.

Aren't they exotic little critters?

Our Trip to the South, Part 4 - Asheville City Fountain

2011-08-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

After a fun night in the Hot Spring Cabin, we packed up our things at the Hot Spring cabin, we headed back to Asheville. We stopped 20 minutes outside of town and had breakfast at Momma's County Kitchen. WOW! We enjoyed another wonderful home cooked southern meal.

When we were back in Asheville, we walked around all the shops and headed down to the most amazing city fountain. It was really nice out so we let Baby Boy run around the fountain. These photos speak for themselves and tell a better story than I could write... so enjoy the photos! If you ever have a chance to visit Asheville, NC please do! It's such a great town with so much to do, I can't wait to go back and visit the Biltmore Estate!

And since this blog was once an exclusive dog blog...

it's only fitting to include a few photos a my parents dog Bailey.

Now that she's a southern pup, you can refer to her as Miss Bailey!

Our Trip to the South, Part 3 - Asheville & Hot Spring

2011-08-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

Another fun trip we took while visiting the south was to Asheville, NC & Hot Spring, NC.

We took an over night trip to celebrate my Dad's Birthday!

It's a couple hour drive from my parents, so packed up the car and headed to Asheville. Baby Boy is at the age where he doesn't really want to be sitting in his car seat for extended periods of time. We had to keep the snacks and interesting toys coming his way! He was really interested in my the chain from my mom's purse, it kept him content for a long time.

When we got into town, we stopped for a quick snack at Posana Cafe, it's a gluten free restaurant. We sat on the patio and enjoyed a cheese plate with gluten free baguette! The below photos are from the Posana patio and the neat corner the restaurant sits on. If you're in Asheville you've got to stop by this great cafe!

After out snack we drove 40 minutes into the Blue Ridge Mountains to the town of Hot Spring to our cabin. There was absolutely zero cell service in this town and at our cabin. It was neat to be totally disconnected. Our cabin was really nice and the scenery was fantastic, very relaxing. The cabin also had it's own natural hot spring hot tub! It's amazing what that water does, it's almost like a fountain of youth! We BBQed steaks to celebrate my dad's birthday. It was such a fun get away.

Our Trip to the South, Part 2 - Rocky Creek Farm

2011-08-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Our southern travels took us to a magical farm, The Rocky Creek Farm in fact! I'm sure most of you are familiar with Lynn, her Scotties and her farm. If not you should stop by their blog. Lynn and I have been blog pals for a while now. So, when we found out that we were only about 2 hours away from her farm in gorgeous Virginia we knew we had to get together.

Lynn hosted a delicious lunch for my parents, Baby Boy and I on her farm. It was wonderful. We had so much fun. Her farm is a little slice of heaven. We were able to see the puppy Scotties and adult Scotties. Baby Boy was able to play and play and play some more with the other Rocky Creek puppy Ivy. Sweet little Ivy couldn't get enough of Baby Boy as you'll see in the below photos.

We had so much fun, thank you again Lynn for having us to your fabulous farm!

And now the beautiful Scotties!!!

For some reason I expected the Scotties to be Candy's size (12 pounds).

They are not Candy's size, they are actually a lot bigger.

It was a pleasant surprise!

Our Trip to the South, Part 1 - Charleston

2011-08-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's August 2 and I'm just now getting to sharing photos from our trip June! Can you say bad blogger?? :)

Oh well, better late than never right?! So here I go.... our first day trip while visiting the South was to beautiful and historic Charleston, SC. After a few hours in the car, we made an immediate stop at Hominy Grill. I never thought I'd like let alone LOVE southern food and so I was pleasantly surprised with the delightful and delicious food. The Chef/Owner has even earned a prestigious James Bear Award , I'm only aware of the importance of this accolade from watching Top Chef! After having lunch here all I can say is... both Baby Boy and I adore cheesy grits! Below is a photo of my dad and Baby Boy at lunch and one of my cute parents.

After lunch we headed to the heart of downtown Charleston for a fun and educational carriage tour. Outside the barn there were some roosters, who were not shy with their cockle-doodle-do! Our carriage was pulled by a mule, he was a little stubborn and very cute! We rode around town for about an hour learning all sorts of interesting facts. I couldn't believe how many beautiful churches, I found the Unitarian church to be the most interesting. They have a garden and it's wild! They believe in "organized chaos" and pretty much everything is lush and what most would consider over grown, you can read more about it here.

There was so much to see, take in and visit that one day trip is not enough time, maybe our next trip to Charleston can be longer!

Hi, I'm Martine and I'm back to blogging.

2011-07-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

I went on vacation and then disappeared, but I'm back.

I realized today that I needed to get back to my blog.
I love to blog, so I'm back and rejuvenated!

We had so much fun in North Carolina, we went all over the place.

I'll gradually get photos posted to catch everyone up on our adventures.

So stay tuned... more to come.

Below are a few photos that Seth took a few weeks ago.

Didn't he do a good job!?

And one in color!

And now for some really current photos of Baby Boy, isn't he getting so grown up?

We are still here...

2011-06-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

We've been having so much fun in North Carolina,

that we forgot to blog!!

We got our photos back from our session a few weeks ago.

check out the link - http://www.melissamaephotoblog.com/?p=2760

We are of on another Southern adventure... I promise to post photos and updates soon!

Oh and...

2011-05-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Baby Boy also climbed a tree today...

Don't worry... Seth was holding him in place the entire time!

He enjoyed his new vantage point and liked touching the bark.

The wind blew his hair into a mohawk!

He's also practicing early for a career in football!

We also saw a really calm gopher.

They are pretty cute little critters...

This park is on the top of a really high hill....

see that pier down below?

That's the longest wooden pier in CA.
We should visit again later in the day once the marine layer has burned off!

The swing

2011-05-21T18:47:00.000-07:00

Baby Boy took his first official swing ride alone today.

The swing set was part of a tiny kid play area at a local park.

Everything was way smaller than a normal play area.

Seth was taller than the swing set.

I really thought Baby Boy would be bigger in the seat than he was.

Looks like he's got a lot of growing to do before he graduates to the big kid play lot!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Friday Flower Day!

2011-05-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

I stopped into Trader Joe's this morning and found a dozen roses for $4.99!

I had to get them, I just couldn't pass up beautiful roses for less than $5!

I cut them down and put them in a jar.

I added a crystal necklace to jazz up the jar, I think it looks pretty cute!

Happy Friday!!!!!!

2011-05-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I'm going to be away from the blog for a while....

Baby Boy and I are headed to visit my parents in North Carolina for 2 weeks, we leave next week! We've never been to NC, so this will be a great adventure to see new sites and to fly across the county alone with Baby Boy. It will be an adventure.

The week I get back from NC, I have to fly to Connecticut for work. So I'm looking into day care for Baby Boy and getting it all set up. This will be the first time I'll be away from my sweet boy, thankfully it only looks like a 2 day trip, but man it will be exhausting flying across country back to back.

Then I'm working on something, but until it gets off the ground I'm going to keep it secret. But please wish me luck and feel free to guess what I'm working on! If you guess correct, I'll confirm it for you privately :)

I'll try to get on and post info our trip, but if I'm unable you know why I'm MIA!

Friday Night Leftovers #5

2011-05-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

YAY!! Friday could not come soon enough for me this week.

So it's Friday and it's time for this weeks leftover!

I'm currently sitting on hold for the second time with Expedia.com . Their wait time is crazy long and I'm getting more and more annoyed with their choice of hold music.
My coworker is really getting on my nerves, thankfully I only have to deal with her over the phone. She is very vocal about her annoyance with me taking vacation time off in June... she thinks that since I took 12 weeks off after having Baby Boy that I shouldn't be able to take vacation ever. Little does she know I have a month accrued!
Seth brough me home a bottle of Skinnygirl Margarita - you know the skinny cocktail from Bethenny Frankel! I'm excited to try it.
Speaking of Bethenny Frankel... I'm sad her 2nd season of her show is over. She makes me laugh.
My scale broke so I can't tell you how much weight I've lost! I know it's broken because it's telling me I gained 48 pounds! I think not! So my weight loss report is this... I can fit into size ten jeans! YAY!! I haven't done this in a few years... I'm so excited! I'm going to keep plugging away.
I walked into the living room and Captain was in Baby Boy's pack n' play (or is it play n' pack?? I can't ever remember). He must have done some serious acrobatics to get in the pen! He was having a blast.
Baby Boy learned how to clap this week. SO CUTE

The Park

2011-05-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

I've been taking Baby Boy over to the park by our apartment.

He loves to run around in the grass.

When I want to take photos, I bring something for Baby Boy to play with.

He usually wants nothing to do with regular toys...

as you can see the balloon lolly pops were more fun for him!

He has really perfected his walk,

and can get up on his own unassisted.

At home he sometimes puts his forehead on the ground for balance...

Thankfully he refrains from this move when we are outside.

Not sure why?
Maybe he doesn't like the feel of grass on his face.

At home, he also likes to fall down, lay flat on his belly, laugh and kick his legs.

He doesn't do this outside either!

Maybe because it's a newer environment?

He's much calmer outside then when we are home playing.

A Boy & His Dog

2011-05-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

A Loan From God

God promised at the birth of time, a special friend to give,

His time on earth is short, he said, so love him while he lives.

It may be six or seven years, or twelve or then sixteen,

but will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me?

A wagging tail and cold wet nose, and silken velvet ears,

a heart as big as all outdoors, to love you through the years.

His puppy ways will gladden you, and antics bring a smile,

as guardian or friend he will, be loyal all the while.

He'll bring his charms to grace your life, and though his stay be brief,

when he's gone the memories, are solace for your grief.

I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return,

but lessons only a dog can teach, I want you each to learn.

Whatever love you give to him, returns in triple measure,

follow his lead and gain a life, brim full of simple pleasure.

Enjoy each day as it comes, allow your heart to guide,

be loyal and steadfast in love, as the dog there by your side.

Now will you give him all your love, nor think the labour vain,

nor hate me when I come to call, to take him back again?

I fancy each of us would say, "Dear Lord, thy will be done,

for all the joy this day shall bring, the risk of grief we'll run."

"We'll shelter him with tenderness, we'll love him while we may,

and for the happiness we've known, forever grateful stay."

"But shall the angels call for him, much sooner than we've planned,

we'll brave the bitter grief that comes, and try to understand."

A Dog Poem By: Author Unknown

Have a happy weekend!!

2011-05-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

Have a happy weekend!!

Baby Boy will be running wild!

Another Photoshop creation!

Friday Night Leftovers #4

2011-05-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's Friday, it's time for his weeks leftover!

I'm teaching myself Photoshop.. over a year ago I ordered a Photoshop for Dummies book and never opened it up. I played around minimally with the program, but could never really figure it out. I was annoyed so I decided to get the book out last night and try to learn it... all I can say is I love the magnetic lasso tool. Below is my first "masterpiece" LOL

Last night, out of no where it got foggy and I mean FOGGY.We drove down to the beach and we couldn't even see the ocean. Apparently this is what we have to look forward to the entire month of June!

I'm happy to report I've log 5 pounds! 45 more to go!
I can't wait until tomorrow afternoon, the carpets will finally be clean again!
We got a duplicate birthday gift for Baby Boy, it was sent to us via Amazon.com. We sent it back in and I'm so bummed that they subtracted almost $11.00 for return shipping from our credit! Now I've got to pay extra out of my pocket to get Baby Boy wooden blocks. UGH!
My mom sent me a fantastic Philosophy gift set for Mothers Day, I love this brand, especially the amazing grace scent. All their products include a little philosophy blurb.... my new tube of lotion has a great one I'd like share.

how you climb up the mountain is just as important as

how you get down the mountain. and, so it is with life, which

for many of us becomes one big gigantic test followed by

one big gigantic lesson. in the end, it all comes down to one

word. grace. it's how you accept winning and losing, good luck

and bad luck, the darkness and the light.