Friday, January 30, 2009

Flashback Friday: Pumpkin Phone Home

Like Mommy, like Pumpkin. At least on this video that was taped when my little man was just a year and a half last December. I dare someone to try to translate. :)

Monday, January 26, 2009

What a stinky post


Someone needs a stinkin' thesaurus

I'm not sure if you can read between the stinky lines here, but there is a stinky word that our stinky five and a half-year-old keeps saying that is really starting to get old and stinky. I have heard other friends laugh at this stinky stage, but it is awfully trying at times (not to mention a little stinky). However, to our older son, this stinky routine is so much stinkin' fun. Please tell me this stinky stage will be over soon before I lose my stinkin' mind after hearing ten rounds of this stinky version of "Old MacDonald":

Old MacStinky had a stinky
Stinky, stinky, stink
And on his stinky
He had a stinky
Stinky, stinky, stink
With a stink, stink here
And a stink, stink there
Here a stink
There a stink
Everywhere a stink, stink
Old MacStinky had a stinky
E-I-E-I-Stink!


Do you like my stinky silly face?!?

I became deliriously stinky tonight in the stinky car after hearing this stinky version and only added fuel to the stinkin' fire with my stinky laughter. I guess it could be stinkin' worse!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Flashback Friday: Ken and Kristin (1973)


My brother would have turned 41 yesterday, January 22nd. I added a special post to his memory blog in honor of his birthday. This is my favorite picture of us, even though it is a little out of focus and it has a hole in it where I stuck a thumbtack through it to put it on my bulletin board when I was little. It makes it even more special because it was a favorite of his, too.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Tonight he's going potty like it's 2009

Yay, Pumpkin!


We have hit a major milestone in our household. On Friday, I picked up the boys and was given some great news: Pumpkin used the potty!!! I was pretty surprised since I have not really been working on this with him. We have talked about it, and he has accompanied most of us to the bathroom on occasion, but after a rough potty training period with Peanut, my mantra was: He will use the potty when he is good and ready. Fortunately, he has been positively influenced by our wonderful daycare provider and by a little boy who just turned three and is actively learning.

So, with so much pomp and circumstance over his first pee in the potty, he did it again the next day and the next day. A few times this weekend he has told us he needed to go and he wasn't able to complete the mission, but I told him how very proud I was of him for trying. While I was reading him his nighttime books last night, in the middle of a (non-potty) story, he looked me in the eyes and said out of the blue, "Mommy, I peed in the potty!" I said, "I know, Pumpkin! I'm so proud of you!" When Pumpkin was an infant, he flapped his arms like he was imitating a bird learning to fly, and he still does this when he gets really excited; my mom said I did that, too (apparently, I have grown out of that, though, thank you very much). Anyway, every single time he talked about using the potty, he did his arm flappy thing. It makes me teary that he is so proud of himself! In fact, in the midst of going, he was yelling, "I did it! I am peeing in the potty!"

Just to keep the enthusiasm going, I have slowly pulled out my potty pack: Peanut's old favorite potty DVD called Potty Power (which I highly recommend to any other parent going through the process), another classic potty video called Once Upon a Potty and two books: Too Big for Diapers and The Potty Book for Boys. (However, I draw the line at ordering these guys.) I have decided that when he says he isn't interested, I am not going to push. He seems totally thrilled with these new books and shows right now, so I have used them as a way to reward him for doing such a good job. But he didn't expect anything even though he received a lollipop at daycare the first time he went. In fact, he hasn't asked for any sort of reward at all; he was so proud, I think that just actually doing it was enough of a thrill. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me that he will be much easier than his older brother and that this enthusiasm will not wane anytime soon.

Gotta go...it's time to potty! :)

Friday, January 16, 2009

Flashback Friday: A Bumbo and a Big Brother

My husband and I were talking tonight that even when Peanut is whiny and tired and pushes every single button we own, we are still so proud of him. He is such a good big brother to Pumpkin. I remember writing in our first Christmas letter after Pumpkin was born that nothing in the world makes our baby light up like his big brother. Probably like all moms who already have at least one child, I was so concerned about Peanut's adjustment to having a baby brother. I was so worried he would think we had betrayed him. But he loved his little brother right from the start. Even now, Peanut uses a different tone of voice when he is trying to explain something to his little brother or when he is telling him something fun they can do together. And whenever his big brother is out of the room, Pumpkin immediately wants to know where he is. They already have their own little songs and words that make them laugh until they get the hiccups. When they tell each other out of the blue that they love one another -- even right after they were fighting over Peanut's Leapster -- I can't help but stand back and smile. We are truly blessed.

Monday, January 12, 2009

I am a big dork (times 100)

Okay, so I had it all planned out. I was going to have this amazing post for my 100th POST and blow everyone's socks off. It was going to be spectacular and grand. I have seen many other blogs celebrating their 100th, 200th, and even 300th posts, and I was looking forward to it. I would have more comments on my 100th post than ever before because it was gonna be so original and fun.

Well, guess what? I am a big dork...that's what.

I forgot.

I blame it all on my overzealous love of scrapblog, by the way. That, and the Superstar Blogger MckMama fans who flocked over here without any warning on the day she linked her blog -- one that frequents thousands of hits per day -- to my modest little blog. I got so caught up with my excitement over my new header that I had to post about it right away. And that's not like me. I am a planner who overthinks and analyzes most everything. And do you know where that got me? I wrote a post about my happy new header, and I didn't think for a minute about that super duper post I was going to write next for my 100th post. You know, the one I should have gotten all those comments about.

So, then a funny thing happened. On the post that was my 100th that I didn't remember was my 100th, I got 25 comments. Which -- if you remember from this plea on my blogiversary -- is almost twice as many comments as I have ever had on any one post.

And I owe it all to my sudden spontaneity about scrapblog.

Oh, and maybe to MckMama, too. ;)

Are you getting tired of me saying "scrapblog" yet? Yeah, me neither. But I promise my next post will have pictures of my sweet boys and no mention of the above word. I guess I better work on weaning myself off of it.

Honestly, I can't believe I have written (over) 100 posts!

Thanks to my wonderful readers for reading them.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

You say the word "addicted" like it's a bad thing...

So, last night, instead of what I was supposed to be doing again (which may or may not have involved warm blankets and dreaming), I couldn't resist creating another header in scrapblog for my other blog. For those who don't know, I began a blog last February to honor my brother's memory called Remembering Ken. (To read how I lost my brother, click here. But first, grab some tissues -- just in case.) I cannot get over how easy it was to make this second header now that I sort of know what I am doing! It only took about twenty minutes to make it from start to finish, and I played around with many different options before I settled on a design. But now what am I going to do?!? I better start making up new blogs just so that I can make some new headers. :) Lucky for me, you can also make photo books, greeting cards, and calendars on scrapblog. And no, scrapblog is not paying me a dime, nor do they probably realize they have created the greatest...site...ever. (Hmmm...Maybe my next blog should be called SBA: ScrapBloggers Anonymous.)

Anyway, head on over to my only other blog (for now) and let me know what you think of the new header. I'm sure you can guess where I'll be in the meantime. :)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A New Year and a New Look

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, I have included directions at the bottom of this post. Honestly, I almost posted a how-to, but I figured that many people are much more technologically adept than I am. Also, I posted this before I even knew that MckMama had linked to me and that I would have brand new visitors. So, if you're a MckMama fan as well, welcome! I'm so glad so many of you like the scrapblog as much as I do!

I'm so excited! I finally have a real header on this blog. Instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing tonight, I chose to play around with this amazing website that someone recommended to me. Thank you, Beaver Bunch!!! She informed me that scrapblog.com allows you to make headers and downloadable scrapbook creations all free! And free is the right price for me. I was seriously considering paying a professional to make me a pretty header, but as an admitted creative control freak, I loved being able to create it all by myself. I just had to share this in case anyone else was interested. Let me know what you think!

Directions for adding your scrapblog header to your blog:
1) Click "publish" when you are finished with your header. (You can publish publicly or privately -- no one else will see your design on their site if you choose to publish privately.)
2) Click "No, thanks" when the pop-up asks if you would like to share your scrapblog with others on the site. (Don't click "view scrapblog" yet.)
3) In the upper left corner, click on "File" and then click "Export as JPEG."
4) Click "Download" on the page you want to use as your header, and save as you do your other photo images.
5) Then, after your scrapblog has downloaded, open your blog and go to the layout tab in Blogger.
6) Click on your header's "edit" link.
7) Then upload your image (you may need to check "shrink to fit") and save it! Voila!

Hope that helps everyone! Let me know if you have any other questions, and thanks again to the Beaver Bunch for helping me and introducing me to this cool site! :)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

It's over already?

Attention All Readers: If you haven't commented on my last trying-to-break-my-own-comment-record-post, it's not too late! Please add your comment below. Thanks a bunch to those of you who obliged with such nice things to say.

Do you guys wish Christmas was a lot longer as much as I do? I felt the same way last Christmas (as I documented here), so I guess it's one of my many issues. I just feel like we spend so much time in preparation for the big day, and afterwards, it's on to New Year's. Not that we don't spread out the fun over here; we have three sets of grandparents who want to have Christmas with us, which is a great way to continue the spirit. But I am so disappointed when the same radio stations who broadcast nothing but holiday music starting on the day after Thanksgiving refuse to keep those songs playing after midnight on Christmas and I hear Fall Out Boy for the billionth time instead on December 26th. Don't other people besides me want to enjoy Christmas music longer than that?

Oh, well. Here are some of the highlights of our holidays. Hope yours were just as happy!


Peanut showing Rudolph some love

Peanut showing Pumpkin some love

A little excited for Santa to come


Peanut's gingerbread house he made in his kindergarten class. He ate some of it before it came home and one of the walls was falling off, but it did survive a bookbag walk home, after all.


Our family attempt at a gingerbread house. It's certainly not Martha Stewart or nowhere near Adrienne's masterpiece, but the boys really liked it and we had a good time creating it. By the way, remind me next year to cut an even smaller slit in the icing package. You can always make it bigger, Kristin!


Aerial view of the House of Gs

Anyone excited that it's Christmas Eve?!? Anyone?

One of Peanut's favorite gifts...a Christmas Edition Buzz Lightyear

Peanut was so sentimental about getting this talking Larry Boy plush from the Veggie Tales (that turns inside out back into Larry the cucumber), he said that even when he is a grown-up, he never wants to sell it at a yard sale. :)

Leave it to Pumpkin to enjoy the $1.99 M&M fan from his stocking as much as all of his toys.


Happy "brudders" as Pumpkin says

And finally...our beautiful Christmas tree in our garden room

Okay, that may not actually be our Christmas tree. But we did go to see it. And we did take pictures of it (along with hundreds of other people who apparently also wanted the Christmas spirit to continue even though it was a few days after Christmas). Hope you allow the Christmas spirit to linger in your hearts a little longer than the calendar suggests as well, and hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season.