Auntie T will be banished from our house if she keeps bringing loud/annoying gifts!

Auntie Tori came to visit this weekend. As always, she brought gifts to spoil my children with her. Among the gifts this time, was a Minnie Mouse cell phone with sound effects. It was very cute the first 3000 times she played with it but now I just want to run it over with my car. It's a camera phone, too, so I'm very tired of her making me stop what I'm doing to smile for the camera. I think technically the phone was from Tori's Mom, Lana (aka Granny Lanny) but because she wasn't here to present it to Ella I will force my wrath on Tor.

Although, I guess I can't be too mad...look at how darn happy Ella looks!

So Big!

Luke's 9 month check up was this morning. He's such a big boy now! What happened to that little 5 pounder we brought home from the hospital? He's up to 28 inches long (25 percentile) and 18# (20 percentile). He's doing some skills up to 13 months. Sigh. He barely even needs me any more. Double sigh.

Ella went along with us to this appt and she was so good she got a Nemo tatoo. Dr. Brown is her hero.

Here he is--passed out in the stroller yet again. Oh Lukie. It's pathetic!

Cowpoke!

Sorry this pic is a little fuzzy--it's because Luke has been a wild horsey riding fool lately! He's all about getting up on this thing and riding like there's no tomorrow. I keep worrying that he's going to fall off but he hasn't. Ella acts like she wants to ride doubles with him but there completely is not enough room for that. So what happens is that she smashes him into the front of the horse when she's trying to get on the back and makes him whine/cry. When he does this she tells me "Lukie want off now. Ella's turn." She's little but sneaky!! Hmm...I'd like to say that's a trait learned from her father's side but it's more likely it's from mine.

Dream Weaver

Ella woke up the other morning and as she was still in bed stretching she said to me "Mommy, Ella go zoo." I asked her "Do you want to go to the zoo sometime?" She just kind of shook her head and said "No, Mommy, went zoo with Grammie yesterday." Ok, 2 things I know for certain, she definitely had not gone to the zoo yesterday and she certainly didn't go with Grammie because she has been on vacation for the last 10 days. I told her "You didn't go to the zoo with Grammie yesterday, sweetie. What are you talking about?" She told me "Last night, went to zoo with Grammie. Saw Ephelants (elephants), flamingos, and alligators." I asked her "Did you go to the zoo with Grammie last night when you were sleeping?" She smiled and said "Yes." How cute is that?? I guess that Grammie doesn't have to take her to the zoo anytime soon because she's already gone!

Binky Be Gone! The Tale of a Big, Little Guy

Luke has officially broken himself of his binky habit. About a month ago, Aron and I talked and decided that we should probably take his binky away before it became a serious habit that would be hard to break. We kind of stalled getting around to this for a while and didn't really try to stop him from using it. About 2 weeks or so ago, Luke just started to reject the binky when we tried to give it to him. We'd put it in his mouth and he'd spit it back out. I have officially thrown all of his binkies in the trash except for one yellow one that I'll keep as a souvenir for him. Maybe Aron and I should tell Luke that we think it's time for him to start changing his own diapers and fixing his own bottles. Wouldn't that be sweet?

Seriously, he's turning into such a big, little guy. His head and face are starting to get more of a big boy look to them. His hair has turned into this fuzzy, tufty little mass of cuteness. Not only is he pulling himself to standing on anything that will support him, he's starting to shimmy around the couch. He likes to take a couple steps between toys--mostly a careful transfer from toy to toy rather than an actual independent stepping process. He's jabbering quite a bit, too. Lots of Dadadadadadadudududududududu.

The Fourth Annual Picnic

A summer tradition. We got to know each other many summers ago as camp counselors together. Matt and Kortney. Tracy and Missy. Aron and Annie. All of us together so long ago and still together now. Who would've guessed it, ay? It's great to have friends like these guys. We've adopted another couple (Matt and Amy) to add to the group and they blend as if they've been there the whole time.

Our kids, Kaylene, Mason, Ella, Liam, and Luke, had a great time playing together as always. There was a spirited round of bocce, of course. Ella had a good time helping Aron tossing his ball while Luke played on the blanket with Liam. Mason and Kaylene had a good time playing in the sandbox. They ALL wanted to be pulled around in the little red wagon. Tracy even pulled them around the block (their hero). Good times. Good times.

Just to clarify...

Yes, I really did ask Trooper Baskerville if I could kiss him. No, Aron is not mad. Yes, Trooper Baskerville did reject my offer. No, I am not crushed by his rejection.

More pics for someone special

Cheese!

Peek-a-Luke!

Auntie T and her pseudo-children
Who knew story hour at Grammie's library could be so tiring?

Who knew?

I went to get Luke's 9 month picture taken on Thursday. I conned Aron into meeting me at the mall so he could watch Ella while I had Luke's pics taken. As a reward to Aron, I told him we could go out to lunch wherever he wanted to go. He picked Chipotle (surprise, surprise). He and Ella played in the play area while they waited. Aron took a couple pics of Ella before she started playing. As he was doing this, the security guard came up to him and told him pictures were not allowed and that he had to put his camera away. Who knew it wasn't allowed to take pictures at the play area? Not me.

The Hounds of Baskerville

Ok, so this may seem like a random Sherlock Holmes reference for this post but trust me.

As we all know, my birthday was Sunday. With a birthday comes certain, shall we say, responsibilities. Responsibilities like renewing the registration on your car. Let's say that a certain someone had forgotten about this until Sunday when her mother reminded her of it. I had to work on Monday (see also previous posts) and on Tuesday we were heading to the beach early and I didn't have time to do the registration but was planning on doing it Wednesday (today). So you see, I was planning on doing it as soon as I was able to fit it in my busy schedule. Anyhoos, yesterday morning I was jetting along on the highway on our way to the beach, when I notice a nice state highway patrol car sitting along the side of the road. "Hmm...I see a cop. I'd better slow down" I think to myself. "Hmm...looks like he's pulling into traffic. Huh. That's funny, seems like he must want in my lane. That's strange. I'd better get over so he can pass me. Hey, hey, look he just turned his lights on. That's funny, he turned his lights on when he was behind me. He must just want to get around me so he can go on some important patrolman type mission. Oh, wait. Now he's gesturing to me to pull off. Oh, I get it. HE'S BUSTING ME FOR SPEEDING! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!" Now I haven't been pulled over that many times...maybe 3 in my entire 14 year driving career--not bad, not bad considering the amount of driving I do. Well, this makes 4. I gave the nice patrolman my license, registration, and insurance card. He takes my papers back to his car and runs my info. He came back and said "Do you know your tags are expired?" To which I replied, "Yes, I know. It just happened on Sunday. I turned 30. I meant to go. I'm sorry. " He responded with "Do you know that if you have expired tags we can tow your car?" WHAT?? WHAT?? No one mentioned that in driver's ed!! I panicked and said "Seriously? We're going to the beach." (Like the guy gives a care that we're going to the beach when he has to work hard all day and bust morons like me!). He then said "The plane caught you going 70 in this 60 zone." A plane?? They catch speeders with planes now?? They didn't say THAT in driver's ed either!! He ended up letting me off with a warning (picture me dancing around doing a silly little jig in the car when he said this). After he told me that he was going to let us go, I told him "Oh bless you. Can I come out there and kiss you?!" He responded "No." I said "That's probably a separate citation in addition to the rest of them, isn't it?" He said "Yes." So if you ever see Patrolman Baskerville, tell him I said hi and blow him a kiss.

Beach Party!

Aunt Robbie and Ella

Beach Bum Lukie

Woooooooooooooooo! We went to the beach yesterday! Robin's Mom and Dad live in a gated community on a lake and Myles had been visiting them for the past week. Robin, Ella, Luke, and I all decided to get him yesterday and spend the day at the beach while we were there. Aron had to work (haha!!) so it was just the four of us making the trek to get him. They live a couple hours away. Luke slept most of the way there and Ella patiently watched the scenery while she counted the minutes until she would get to see her precious Myles again. I almost got busted for speeding (I will blog about this separately because it truly deserves it's own segment) but eventually, we made it there. We spent a couple hours on the main beach swimming, snacking, and making sand castles. Ella had a blast playing in the sand and splashing around in the lake. She wasn't afraid of the water at all. I made her wear a floatie bathing suit (think life jacket in bathing suit form with flowers on it) and she rode around on an inflatable frog. She liked to paddle around on the frog and would weave in front of me while shouting over her shoulder "Passed ya!" I think I might be in trouble when she's sixteen and passes cars like that. Hmmm. We (Robin, Robin's Mom, and I) all took turns hanging out with Luke on the beach. He liked playing with it (and trying to eat it, of course) and scooping it into the bucket. He wasn't as fond of the water but that's ok. He's used to his tiny little infant bathtub so I'm sure the lake seemed huge!

Birthday Extravaganza!

Ok, so I totally thought my friends had forgotten my birthday or just didn't love me anymore. They didn't say much about it on Friday when I was at work. Yeah, sure, I got a couple--"Hey isn't your birthday this weekend? Happy Birthday." But no one gave me a card, no hugs, no big display of birthday-ness by my desk. Nothing. What the heck? No love for the Anna??

BUT THEN

They totally surprised me with a birthday party yesterday! Yeah for me! They still love me! The only bad thing is that I totally ruined it by coming in on Monday instead of my normal Tuesday. They had a big huge thing planned for Tuesday including scheduling a conference room in my building, pizza, cake, etc. I even hear there was a script penned in order to get me to go to the conference on time. Sniff, sniff. They really do love me (insert swelling ego here). My friends are such tricksters. My party rocked! You guys are the best!! So, in summary, birthday parties rock! My friends rock! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! A big fat thank you to the following in random order:

Con, Susan, Jeanne, Paula, Jamie, Amy, Krystal, Bob, Heather

and Janitor Bob who can always sniff out cake in the building.

As a reward for them, I will treat them to a cute picture of my Luke in the pool. He's my little Pool Boy.

Birthday-palooza--2006 edition

My birthday was today (woooooooooo!) and so Aron and I went out last night to celebrate. He tried to surprise me with an evening of fun. I give him an A for effort but a C+ for actual execution of surprise event. Here are the ways that I knew he was doing something to surprise me for my birthday:
1.) He hadn't mentioned us doing anything for my birthday despite the fact that he had mentioned my turning thirty about a bazillion times in the previous weeks. Normally, he would bug me to death trying to get me to decide what we were going to do (think "what do you want to do for your birthday" "Seriously what do you want to do for your birthday" "Have you thought about what you want to do for you birthday" and so on and so on until he drives me insane or I break and decide what I want to do.)
2.) He was out in our garage talking to our teenage babysitter. Why in the world would he be talking to our babysitter in secret unless he was trying to be sneaky about doing something for my birthday? Oh, Aron!

We went out to dinner at Bon Vie which is a really nice restaurant. Aron spent the dinner looking hungrily at my plate and sneaking forkfuls of my food off my plate when I wasn't looking because he liked my food more than his--pathetic. Bon Vie is known for their selection of yummy martinis so I decided to have a mango martini which was quite tasty.

We also went shopping at Trader Joe's (I had never been there before and was quite impressed with their selection of organic/health foods). They even had fruit leather (a favorite of Ella's) which was cheaper than what we normally pay. Aw yeah. They must've known it was my birthday and marked the price down just for me.

After Joe's, we went around and shopped. After shopping, we went to a comedy club and watched a stand up comedian. That was fun. We've been to a bunch of different comedy clubs when we go on vacations (we've been to improv places in Boston and Chicago and Caroline's in NYC and had good times) but had never been to this one that was so close to home. Oh the good times.

An Ice Cream Social

Ella went with Granny Lindy to an Ice Cream Social on Saturday. She was so excited to go (see also photo). She wore a dress that Granny Lindy had made for Aunt Annie when she was a toddler (again, see also photo). Aron, Luke, and I didn't go but from what I hear there was much ice cream eaten. From the amount of chocolate syrup on her dress when she came home, I would guess that she probably ate 1/2 gallon of the stuff. Who cares, though. Granny Lindy was buying so I told her to eat like there's no tomorrow.

Lukie was so photogenic this weekend!

And as such, I am going to post a few of the cute ones.

McBlog

We went to Grammie's library today for their special entertainer...Ronald McDonald! Aw yeah! Nothing beats the red wigged wonder, Ronnie McDee. Ella was a little reluctant to get her picture taken with him but she did allow him to hold her hand. Luke was very fascinated with him and watched at least 1/2 of the show on Grammie's lap while staring intently at Ronald. I find I must mock the McLibrary (see also behind my head in the photo) that Ronald brought with him. I must say that I was expecting the show to be full of McDonald references using the prefix "Mc" for everything (like McBook or McShirt or McComeToMcDonaldsAndLoadUpOnMcFries) but it wasn't. He was a free entertainer for the library, too (cha ching for free!). Overall, I was impressed by the Ronald McDonald experience. In summary, DaDaDaDaDaaa I'm lovin' it.

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A

Ella's language development is really coming along. I'm currently trying to teach her how to spell her name. Of course, being me I can't just do that in a normal way. I'm teaching her how to spell it using the YMCA song. I tell her that her name is spell E-L-L-A, E-L-L-Aaaaaa. She's starting to pick it up but she keeps trying to spell it E-L-A-Hhhhhhh. I encourage her by telling her that although it is phonetically correct to try to spell it that way, that's not the way we spell it (can anyone say "child genius" or "Mensa"?). Nah, I'm kidding, I just try to get her to do it again. I think it's the double L that's getting her confused.

She has a little green pair of handcuffs that she likes to play with (she likes to handcuff her stuffed animals together--a future career in law enforcement?). The other day she was getting ready to cuff one of them and was holding up the one side of it. She pointed to the cuff and said "Look Mommy, there's a 3." Sure enough, I look over at the cuffs and they were indeed forming a 3. I decided to impress her and turn them around to form an E. I turned it around and told her "Look Ella an E." She looked at me like I was crazy. I guess she's not quite abstract enough to think of an E having curved sides. Maybe not Mensa material.

Rest for the Mommy...no rest for the Daddy...

Saturday I had the day off from the kiddies. Whoops. I meant, Aron got some quality bonding time with his children. I went to a party in the morning and early afternoon. I told Aron that he could stay home with the kids and see what its really like to watch the kids (he thinks it's easy and thinks that I should get many household chores done when I'm home with the kids but I beg to differ). He decided to take the kids to Granny Lindy and Steve's house instead (wimp). While there, they had a cookout with hotdogs (Ella's favorite) and burgers.

Sunday was good, too. Granny Lindy and Steve came over and watched the kidderoos while Aron and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2. While we were at the movie, they went to the park. There was much swinging and sliding. Ah, good times.

Yikes

Luke's all over the place! Ever since he learned how to crawl, he's all over the house. He's also pulling himself to standing on anything that will support his chubby little self. He's transferring from a standing position from one toy to another and not losing his balance. This can only mean one thing. Walking is right around the corner. Yikes! I guess he must've heard me talk about how he would have to pick up the pace if he wanted to walk before his sister.

He's also decided he doesn't really enjoy baby food any more. What he wants is what we're eating. Ella was feeding him whole peas the other day and he was loving it. If I try to give him peas from a jar, he balks. Of course, have you ever smelled peas from a jar? Yeah, I'd clamp my mouth shut tighter than Fort Knox, too.

A new favorite of his is to try to play with the electrical cords by the DVD and lamps. Even Grammie had to put the smack down on him on Friday for that...she pointed to him and said "Lukie! No, no." He even listened to her and crawled away. What a good boy.

Random cute photos

The up close pic of Luke is one of Ella's masterpieces.
Yes, that is a butterfly net on Ella's head and her tutu around her waist.

I said go to time out!

I had an appointment with the dentist today (yup, a cavity.). Ella and Luke went and hung out at Aunt Robbie's while I was there. They had a bunch of fun together. When I got back to their house, Luke was sleeping so I stayed for lunch. After lunch, Ella and Myles took turns putting each other in time out. Ella would point to the entry way for Myles to go in time out and yell "Time out, My!" He'd dutifully walk in and she would shut the door behind him. Then he'd come charging out and yell "Time out, Ella!" Then it was her turn to go in time out and he'd shut the door behind her. Imagine all this admist tons of giggling and stomping around. Ella's definitely started a phase where she likes to put people in time out. She put me in time out the other day because I was being too loud scraping off wallpaper in my bedroom when she was trying to take a nap. She came storming out of her room and said "Mommy, you too loud. Go in time out, please. Thanks" then stomped back in her room and shut the door. If nothing else, at least she was polite, I guess.

She really just likes to reprimand in general which goes along with her current favorite future occupation--teacher. She told me the other day she wants to be a teacher when she's a big girl. It's probably because Aron and she were taking a walk last night and ran into a neighbor of ours that is a kindergarten teacher in our school district. They talked all about how when Ella gets to be 5 she can go to school and might have this neighbor in class with her. Ella gets very excited when you talk about how she's going to go to school someday. I think she thinks it's all crafts and playing on the swings. She also doesn't understand that her precious My My (Myles) isn't going to be going with her.

The Fourth of July was restful?!

Yeah, that's right. The Fourth was restful for this family. After weeks and weeks of being on the go nonstop, we decided to stage a family intervention. Aron and I made a pact that we would not go anywhere or do anything the entire weekend. IT WAS SO NICE! I've been working on remodeling/redecorating our bedroom (that's right, ladies and gentlemen, the green and white striped walls are history. Sniff, sniff) so I spent a majority of Saturday and Sunday scraping wallpaper and getting the room ready to paint. I'm going to go with a buttery yellow color. Aron hates it but what's he going to do about it? Divorce me?

We did break our pact momentarily to have my family over on Monday night. Aron came up with the concept of the "hotdog bar." What is hotdog bar, you ask? Basically, you have everyone that comes over bring their favorite hotdog topping, put them in the middle of the table, and eat away. Some of the things brought included: sauerkraut (a given), pickle relish (also, a given), baked beans (sounds crazy but it's just beans and weiners on a bun), and coleslaw (now that was creative AND tasty). Grillmaster Aron (aka Aron) even slightly burned a hotdog just for me just the way I like it. Aron was in heaven and I believe he had 3 hotdogs then proceeded to claim that he was so full that he would never eat again. Um, yeah. He must've meant he would never eat again until another dish of food was in front of him. He's like that Japanese guy that can eat like 50 hotdogs every Fourth of July.