One Monkey Two Monkey

Alice in Wonderland Birthday!!!

2010-08-09T21:32:00.006-05:00

We joined up this weekend for a Mad Hatter tea party! :) I apologize, I was slow taking pics and running around like a chicken with my head cut off since you see Bobo tearing up the food table already, and me neglecting Little Miss's guests doing their craft in the kitchen (to which I didn't take a single picture of!) Anyway, we had a great time and it was nice to have a small party for a change!

Now, you are BOUND to notice the AMAZING cake and cupcakes we chose for this party... while I WISH I could say I had such incredible talent, alas, I have to give credit to Lisa over at Create it with Cake! She also did Bobo's cake 2 months ago for his birthday too.

In addition, the ADORABLE custom Alice dress was made by Polly at Apron Envy!!

Now, I did make the paper flowers....LOL like this even compares with Lisa's cakes (you can see her assembling in my kitchen in the picture below) or Polly's mad sewing skills :) And I designed the tags on the tea cups that were inspired by a fantastic designer I found online. The idea was not my own.... just wanted to point that out :) I forgot to take any close ups, but you can see some a few posts down when I talked about the Wonderland Jar Cookies.

Happy Birthday, beautiful princess!!! :) I love you so much and can't believe I have blessed with 5 fantastic years with you! I can't wait for a lifetime of more memories :) :)

Here are also some pictures from her 5 year portrait session I did this weekend!

This little girl is OBVIOUSLY the daughter of a photographer... she climbs up to this little spot, poses herself and says, ok Mommy, this is a great spot with my Alice dress :)

Wonderland Jar Cookies

2010-07-28T15:05:00.005-05:00

More and more projects for our wonderland party. I haven't done this many crafts in quite some time. I have made large hanging flowers (stemmed from large pom pons) small flower on pipe cleaner stems, I have designed lots of danging charms inspired by this wonderful blog and now comes our "Wonderland Cookies"

I got the idea and the recipe here and took it in a different direction to fit Little Miss's party theme. All of these blogs are so wonderful and I have gotten so many fab ideas. As usual, I'm already thinking of ideas for next years parties before this one is even over! Depending on how my pregnancy and moving situation is going, I hope to host a Halloween party too :)

Anyway, to the pictures... I think these turned out to be super cute. We also made a batch and they are YUMM-O! Also I appologize in advance for the crazy white balance in all of these pictures. My under cab lighting cast a yellow look in the images I will turn them off next time ;)

Ok, here is what I started with. I decided to go with a regular bag of m&ms and seperate them myself since buying them presorted cost about 4-5x as much. I decided to do a two color combo of the colors in each jar omitting brown.

Linked at
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Get your craft on!

DIY Cupcake Stand Tutorial!

2010-07-26T11:04:00.007-05:00

So, I am totally stuck in Wonderland as I prepare Little Miss's Very Merry Un-Birthday Tea Party for her 5th birthday. I've been having a ton of fun trying new crafts and projects to put a handmade twist without breaking the bank.

I decided that cupcake stands would be a fabulous touch for our snacks and treats for the party! Like I said I was keeping cost in mind when doing this project and am happy to report that since I used most things from around the house, I only spent about $7 for all three stands (for the spray paint) and have most of the cans left!

I will also admit that this was a trial and error process, but with the help of DH we figured it out. I am sure there are several other ways to achieve the same end, some of which may make more sense, but this worked for us!

On to the tutorial....

Supplies you will need....

Wood (about a 1/2 sheet)
Closet Dowel
tape measure
jigsaw
miter saw
bowls (to trace circles)
hot glue gun
screwdriver
screws
primer
spray paint (your choice of colors)
Ribbon (your choice)

Step 1: Start by giving your DH a big kiss on the cheek and bribe him into helping you cut and assemble your project. If you are hand with power tools, you can skip this step.

Step 2: Measure dowels to your preferred height (I used 5 inches) this is personal preference but make sure it is tall enough to clear whatever you will be putting on the stand....no one wants a smooshed cupcake! Cut one for a two layer stand, two for a three layer stand etc.

Step 3: Trace different sized bowls on to your choice of wood to give you a template to go by for each level of your stand. We used plywood because we had some left over from DH fitting the windows for hurricane season (woo hoo South Texas) if I were to do this project again I would fork out the extra money for better wood, but this works for our $7 project!

Step 4 (not pictured): Use a miter saw to cut the wooden dowels, tell your DH to be patient as he teaches you to use it.

Step 5: Get DH to cut the circles with a jigsaw. Please note that my husband is extremely daring, and sometimes reckless. I don't recommend using patio chairs to balance the wood, or putting your hand in front of the blade!

Step 6 (not pictured): Primer and Spray Paint your stands in the color of your choice.

Step 7: Screw the bottom layers of your stand together. Do this by measuring to find the center of each piece.

Step 8: Hot glue the top layer of the stand to the top dowel (you can screw this in but we used glue to avoid an unsightly screw in the top.

Step 9: Hot glue ribbon around the edge of each layer of your stand. Again I used ribbon I had at home and may have chosen something else but I wanted to make this a cheap DIY project.

Step 10: Glue ribbon around each dowel.

Step 11: Give your DH another big kiss and thank him for his help with your project!

Linked at
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Between Naps on the Porch
Making The World Cuter

Bobo turns TWO at his Carnival Party!

2010-07-21T09:56:00.009-05:00

So I am behind on blogging this....whats new? :) But my little man turned 2 last month!!! :) We had a carnival themed party and it was a blast!!!

A little side note before we begin....
photographs were taken by Zander and Breck Photography
cake was made by Create it with Cake

THANKS LADIES, you were AWESOME! :)

Most of the party was held indoors, since we live in Texas and his birthday was in June, you just can't keep the kids outside the whole time. The eating and presents were inside and the games were outside. We had a ball toss, bean bag toss, pin the nose on the clown and water balloons. Then to keep the kids cool part way through we did giant pop ice. One of the events that we did that was a big hit was the face painting. I hired our babysitter to come and paint faces as the kids were arriving. We also had popcorn along with dinner and that was the favorite among the parents and kiddos!

The cake was amazing!!! Lisa from Create it with Cake made this adorable Carnival themed cake that matched our decor and really was the centerpiece of the party. EVERYONE loved it... not only did it look amazing, it tasted amazing too! :)

Moving on....

2010-07-20T09:54:00.004-05:00

So we have decided to move after all. Since there are so many questions and ideas floating around in our heads for what we want to do permanently, we have decided to rent a house until we make up our minds. If we do decide to build, renting in the mean time would be our option anyway. We just need more room now for this new little guy we have coming and we don't want to rush into anything...

If you know of anyone looking for an awesomely awesome house, let me know!! :) :)

Some news :)

2010-07-20T09:27:00.007-05:00

First....this post may be TMI for some readers, so skip it if the joys of fertility treatments don't appeal to you ;)

As you all know, my husband went through cancer treatment this past year. Lucky for us we had two great doctors that stressed the importance of sperm banking, which we did before Dave started chemo. And just as we suspected, the treatment has left him (at least temporarily) sterile. We decided to try the IUI (intrauterine insemination) route in March. I have PCOS and have trouble conceiving so we started with me, injections of ovidrel, ultrasounds several times a week and tons of poking and prodding. We went in for the IUI on March 28th. After getting ready for the procedure the doctor told me that almost all of Dave's sperm had died. He said that can happen when there is an underlying condition like Cancer.

We had banked enough for 1 IUI and a few rounds of IVF (invertro fertilization) - which is SUBSTANTIALLY more expensive and invasive. So he said that we had about 100,000 sperm out of the 10 million they suggest for a successful IUI. So we were down to 1% ONE freaking percent of the amount they like you to have. So while tears were streaming down my face we finished the procedure, went home and basically wrote off the whole thing. Two weeks later when i started bleeding we knew it was the end and that we would wait a few years before trying again. It was about 3-4 weeks after that I started not feeling well... thinking it was the flu bug that was going around I ignored it. When it persisted and felt oddly familiar I ran to the dollar store and picked up two pregnancy tests. When both tests came back instantly positive I was shocked and confused. I thought perhaps Dave's sperm count had come back up in the mean time. I called him and he didn't believe me. I made an appt with my Fertility doc and went in. He too though that I must have gotten pregnant in the cycle in between. Typically they do a blood test following IUI but since I had assumed I started my period I cancelled the appt. No sense in going in and torturing myself when I already knew the truth.

Well, we did a blood test and when that came back high for levels of HCG we did an ultrasound and sure enough, I was already 9 weeks pregnant :) My doctor is just amazed.... this simply doesn't happen with the odds that were against us.

We are so excited to welcome this baby BOY into our lives :) We found out a couple of weeks ago that its another boy and we couldn't be more excited!! :) He is due December 19, 2010 :)

Baby Boy at 9 weeks!

Our 16 week ultrasound at Baby Image in Sugar Land. They were fantastic!!!

Summer is almost here :)

2010-05-17T10:18:00.004-05:00

Well, it has once again slipped my mind to keep my blog up and running. My business (Nena Metcalf Photography) is keeping me extreamly busy, and I love every minute of it! The kids are doing great, Little Miss is wrapping up prek and Bobo is about to have his second birthday!!! I can't believe my little man who was once so sick in the hospital is such a big rough and tumble guy!

We've been having fun with playdates, mini vacations and hanging out with great friends. We think we are going to wait a bit on the moving thing... we just can't seem to make up our minds and we don't want to make the wrong decision. Sometimes I want lots of land and to be able to have a studio in a seperate building on my property and other times I want a big house with a bigger yard but still in a neighborhood with my studio in the house. There are pros and cons to both and until we can decide we are staying put. I am going to try some redecorating and figuring out some inovative storage solutions for the mean time to keep me sane!

So the weather is already HOT HOT HOT, thats what we get for living in Southern Texas, but now that we have been here for over 3 years - WOW THREE YEARS! We've gotten used to it. I still hate the fire ants and muddaubers but I'm learning to manage.

And what is a blog post without some pictures??? Here are some family pictures we did recently :)

Playing Catch UP

2010-02-16T14:42:00.004-06:00

So things have been pretty crazy, good crazy, I never thought that I would be this busy this quickly with my photography.....and I love it! I sometimes forget, however, to take pictures of my monkeys!! We went to Old Towne Spring one afternoon before I was shooting a wedding near there and got some shots of the kids. I wish we had time to get more (plus we were there on a Saturday....busy busy!) But I do love the ones we did get! That little Bobo is a difficult one to grab, but I did get some smiles :)

R-E-M-I-S-S-I-O-N and Christmas

2010-01-15T12:39:00.004-06:00

FINALLY! Dave is in remission!! I feel like our celebration is a bit tainted because they believe that Dave has some sort of auto immune disorder that they can't seem to diagnose. It could be nothing, it could be serious, and it would be nice if we knew what it was!! :)

His hair is also starting to come back :) He is getting some hair on his face and his head is starting to feel a bit picky :) We have been meaning to go do some pictures of him, maybe the rain will let up this weekend and we can do that! :)

Also, I never posted any pictures from any of our Holiday activities. They weren't as excited as we wanted them to be because we almost thought that Dave was going to be getting chemo over Christmas. Santa called after he heard the news and said that he would come and do an early drop off :) So nice of him!! :) Here are some pictures from some of our festivities in a new video slideshow feature that I use with my photography :)

My little Bobo

2010-01-15T12:19:00.004-06:00

He is 19 months now! He is getting so big and doing so many new things now, it just amazes me. Its like his personality exploded over the past month or so. He is now saying all kinds of words and just is growing so fast! Nite nite was a new one today :) He usually just says "bye bye" to me but actually said nite nite today. One of the funniest things I think he does is he thinks that saying bweeese (read - please) gets him whatever he wants, like that is the magic word and that gets him my cell phone, Little Miss's littlest pet shop or a turn to bang on daddy's laptop. I love him :)

He also had his 18 month check up two days ago. He is right were he was before 50% for weight - 26 lbs, 75% for height - 33" and 50% for head circumference 19"

Update

2009-11-28T10:51:00.004-06:00

Well, Dave is wrapping up his second round of Chemo. This time around we had friends watch the kids, and our foster son. It was a little stressful, both for me and the kids, but we made it through! We get to pick Dave up from the hospital later today. This round has made him a bit more nauseus and this time they are sending us home wtih a Nulasta shot to hopefully avoid the week long stay he had last time because of his lack of white blood cells.

So that is where we are at right now! Here are some pictures I have taken of the kids latley too! :)

Superwoman???

2009-11-17T10:18:00.004-06:00

A friend of mine refered to me as Superwoman... I'm not so sure I agree. Dave's cancer has really thrown a wrench in things. This weekend, on Saturday, he had a bit of a fever. We took him in and good thing we did. He has an infection and has been in the hospital ever since. His white blood count is ZERO and they don't know whats wrong yet.

On top of that, just before he went in, we got a call saying our foster care license was finally approved! In that call they also asked us to take a 22 month old little boy. After some discussion, we decided to do it. So now I am like a single mom of three. We didn't expect Dave to be in the hopsital but so far, I am doing well. Maybe I am just so busy that my mind isn't on anything to do with the C word. Our foster son is doing very well though! He is adjusting well and taking to the monkies quiet well.

I don't know... Superwoman? I think not. I am copeing, I am managing, I am living my life and holding myself together.... mostly... I seem to cry at the drop of a hat. Today when we got to school (for Little Miss) I realized that we had forgotten her backpack and lunch in the foyer at home. As I was dropping her off she got so worried about it, it made me so upset that something I had overlooked was upsetting her. I assured her I was going straight home to get it and as I said goodbye, I got all teary. ..

I don't think Superwoman would do that....

When It Rains, It Pours

2009-10-29T21:54:00.003-05:00

So, we had another wonderful visit to M.D. Anderson today, sarcasm included. As soon as the Doctor comes in, he shakes our hands, sits down and logs in on the computer. He pulls up my lab and test results from a few days earlier and says everything looks great...except for one small thing. In fact, it is only 1.2cm, but it sits right between the aorta and the vena cava. So, it's official, we are now a Stage II and will be starting 3 rounds of chemo on Monday.

-Dave

YAY!

2009-10-26T21:19:00.002-05:00

My remote sync came in today! WOO HOO, it took like 3 weeks, I guess that is what you get for paying $8 on ebay and having it sent from China... but it works perfectly!! Little Miss and I headed out to the garage.... I mean studio ;) and took some shots!

OUR STUDIO

2009-10-26T16:01:00.006-05:00

So we have been working in the studio trying to keep our minds off other things and our hands busy. It is really coming along! I still have to paint the other three walls and baseboards white and that will be good for the mean time. Once we get a little bit of money, we will be buying two large storage cabinets and putting them where the white drapes are, and all the crap..ehhhmmm i mean, stuff that is there will be put in the cabinets. Oh, and figure out what kind of top I want for the white cabinets, something cheap or free I am hoping, I need to take a look around craigslist and freecycle. Any ideas?

List of what we have done so far...

-Clean out the Garage

-Have the floor stained, then re-stained, then fixed again...still not what I wanted it to be, but it works

- Add an air vent

- Add lighting

- Hang backdrop roll-y thingy

- Paint walls

- Paint Cabinets

Seems simple when its all laid out like that, add a 4 year old and 16 month old to the mix and it gets interesting :) Its been way fun though!! Luckily most of the stuff we used was free or really cheap. The blue paint is leftover from Bobo's room, and the white is from the builder, I traded photography to get the floor done, we got some of the air vent stuff that had been discarded at a local job site. So woo hoo for that!

Welcome to MD Anderson

2009-10-23T18:51:00.004-05:00

We heard this several times over the last two days. Welcome?? Ok, I mean I get that they want you to feel good about your stay, but really? Who wants to be welcomed to cancer land?? Anyway... we had a really busy last two days. First, we arrived at the Mays Clinic (part of MD Anderson) and we had to register. We asked how long we would be here yesterday and once she checked she said "all day" grrrr we weren't prepared for that, we also weren't prepared for the fact that we had to be there today also. So here is what our day was like...

12 PM Arrive and Register

1 PM Meet with our nurse and Doctor, they were both a little different, but very friendly. They each took their time to make sure our questions were answered. We were told about the slew of tests we needed to take over the next two days and that our course of treatment would most likely be either one or two rounds of chemo.

2:30 PM Blood Work... we were a little late to this one, no biggie though

3:00 CT Prep

5:00 CT and Chest X-ray... this is where we waited for a long time, luckily my friend Kim came to visit me. Her husband also has cancer and he was finishing up his inpatient stay of his 3rd round of chemo, Kim has been my own personal cancer dictionary/encyclopedia through all of this... this chick has her cancer knowledge together! You can read about her and her husband's journey through cancer here....

Then we finally got to go home! My mother in law decided to take the kids over night to her house since we had to be back this morning at 9. I missed my little monkeys :( but that is part of this process I suppose....

Today we arrived at 9 am for an ultrasound...

9 am, u/s we got there a bit early and they got us in right away. The u/s only took about 15 minutes so we headed to our next appt

9:20- arrived at the MRI place, our appt wasn't until 11:30 but we hoped we could get in early. We waited about 1 1/2 hours and we finally got in!

11 am- They took us back and started Dave's IV we sat there FOREVER and finally asked if we could go get something to eat.. so we did

1:30... after waiting 2 1/2 hours in this little tiny room they took us back for his MRI... poor baby, he sat in this little tube for 45 minutes, I would have been freaking out! He was so brave!

After this we headed home... we will see what the tests say, Dave feels a little sick from all the fluids and things he has ingested or injected ... this is going to be a bumpy ride!!!

Dr's Appt

2009-10-17T22:49:00.003-05:00

Bobo had his 15 month appointment yesterday, although he is now 16 months. Peyton also had her 4 year old appt in August and I forgot I used to always update on their stats. How else will I keep track?? :)

Little Miss- 4 Years
Height 40" - 55%
Weight 35 lbs 50% - Finally she is right in the middle, after 4 years of being so tiny! lol
BP 60/40

Bobo 16 months
Height 32" 75%
Weight 25 lbs 55%
Head Circ. 19" 75%

My little man is getting so big!

Little Miss at 15 1/2 months was 21 lbs and 31 inches :)

They both had to get shots :( Poor babies!

Just wanted to share these adorable pictures!

2009-10-17T09:34:00.005-05:00

Little Miss's friend joined her at cheer on Thursday. Aren't they adorable?

Cancer, photography and life

2009-10-13T18:20:00.004-05:00

Things have been crazy around here. With Dave being home and taking care of him and the kids, I'm defiantly working overtime!

We got the results from the pathology report from Dave's surgery, and unfortunately its not good. There are two types of cancer that it could be, seminoma and non-seminoma, seminoma can be treated by radiation and doesn't require chemo and is less aggressive.... he has non-seminoma :( The specific kind is embroynal carcinoma. He is stage 1B PT2. We have an appointment at MD Anderson next week and will know more about our course of action....

On the complete other side of the spectrum, things are taking off with my photography business. I have been busy shooting, learning and making wonderful mistakes :) I crunched a memory card with one half finished and one barley started session on them and lost the images. And this happened about 10 minuets before my first in studio session was about to start. I had to quickly put it behind me and do the shoot. Boy, I was pissed!! But, lesson learned... Pilgrim memory cards SUCK! :)

We are also in the process of converting the garage into a studio! I scored an awesome deal on some lighting and accessories and have traded photography in exchange of getting someone to stain the concrete in the garage. I will update with pictures soon!

Update

2009-10-02T21:13:00.004-05:00

I compeltly forgot to update about Dave. We are going to the hospital for his surgery on Monday. After that they do a pathology report and we will find out which type of cancer it is and will know the route to take. We are dealing with it step by step and he is handling it very well, so that is good.

On the plus side, my photography business is taking off very well! My weekends have been filled with sessions and I've been getting referals and lots of great feedback! Here are some from a session today. He was TOO cute!!

Check out http://www.nenametcalfphotography.com/ or search Nena Metcalf Photography on Facebook!

The worst 6 letter word...

2009-09-24T08:39:00.003-05:00

Dave was diagnosed with testicular cancer yesterday. I feel like a bomb was dropped on us. It came out of no where and now we are left here having to pick up the pieces. We have doctors appointments and things going in the next several days which will be followed most likely by surgery and chemo.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this trying time.

DISNEY WORLD 2009!

2009-09-21T10:23:00.009-05:00

We are back from what was an extreamly magical vacation! While the 10 day trip was long, expensive and exhausting, it was worth it! Little Miss surprised me by riding the Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, and just about everything we threw at her. Bobo was a trooper having a great attitude depsite the craziness, heat and all that was going on! One bad thing.... my poor beloved $250 Maui Jims were abliterated :( They fell off during Test Track at Epcot when I was reaching in to help Little Miss out of the ride, the attendant moved the car to reach them and CRUNCH. :( So sad!

Disney offered a promotion for free dining during September, we took advantage of that and boy was it amazing! We got to go to so many character meals that we normally wouldn't have been able to afford. It also made it so easy to just eat in the park and not have to worry about money. I don't think a single meal was under $45, (and Bobo just shared) our most expensive was Cinderella's Royal Table, inside the castle. That was great :) Cinderella, Bell, Snow White, Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty were all there. Little Miss just loved it.... and Bobo was quite smitten :)

Here are some of the pictures from our great trip!

New Week

2009-09-08T09:31:00.004-05:00

Although it has only been a week since my last post, I feel like I am neglecting my blog!

Three days until Disney!! I can hardly wait, I can't imagine Little Miss's anticipation...oh wait, yes I can... EVERYTHING is about Disney! There is a billboard announcing a new addition to a local hospital that has fireworks, she automatically associates that with the fireworks we will see around Cinderella's castle. Everything is Disney related!

We were at the mall this weekend and hit up the Disney store, her excitement there was so high I can't imagine what it will be like when we are actually there :) I can't wait!!

I am keeping busy preparing for our trip, but I also have my final interview for the fostering homestudy tomorrow. I am a bit nervous, mostly because I don't know what to expect. Wish me luck!

I have also been busy taking pictures, pretty much of anyone or anything I can get my hands on! I want to get better and am doing whatever I can think of... and I am having alot of fun doing it.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-08-31T11:15:00.004-05:00

Man!! Life just gets crazy sometimes! We are getting ready for our trip to Disney World, Little Miss has started school and just all around craziness!

I am starting to get more into photography. This weekend I did 3 photoshoots. One for a little boy, one for a newborn baby girl and a senior picture shoot! Here are some of my favs!

Little Miss's First Day of Pre-K

2009-08-24T15:03:00.002-05:00

First lets start this time two years ago. Little Miss's FIRST first day of school, when she was 2! We skipped prek last year so nothing there, but here we go. Its funny she picked out jean bottoms and a pink polo again. LOL

And now... my big girl!! In full fledged Pre-K! She totally didn't even care that I wasn't there, she ran into the room and I had to hunt her down for a kiss good-bye! Little stinker!

Happy Birthday to me!!

2009-08-22T22:28:00.003-05:00

My 25th birthday was on Friday! My husband came home from work early so that we could go out. He brought me a yummy cheesecake (MY FAV!) with this adorable card. When I opened the card he read the following to me (he wrote it!!!)

"You might not receive me until mid-next week

But Beaner sure saved a bundle and that's quite a feat.

I see like an eye, not green, brown, or blue,

And I like to blink backwards, odd but its true.

I prefer to see really far and not very near,

But I am really quite fragile, so please do take care

You should know what it is, open this and you'll see,

What I'll do for your camerae and your photography"

How CUTE is he??? By the way, Beaner is a nick name I have had for him since like forever ago! Anyway, if you didn't figure it out, he got me a lens for my camera :) It should be coming soon, I can't wait :) He also printed a picture of the lens and cut it out and put it in the card :)

We also went to see Julie and Julia, which has totally made me want to start some new recipes and things that I haven't done before, so that's exciting too!

So anyway, all and all a great Birthday :)

Another Time Soda Fountain

2009-08-20T08:51:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we headed to Another Time Soda Fountain, this really cool shake and burger place that used to be an old pharmacy. I got there a bit early to take some pictures.

They had make your own sundaes where they brought out all the toppings and let the kids go crazy!! They sure had fun!

My Little Man and Our Fostering Journey

2009-08-11T15:09:00.006-05:00

Looking back on the last several posts I see that the majority of my pictures are of Little Miss. I assume that is simply because Bobo is so hard to photograph. He doesn't look when I tell him, he doesn't hold still, or smile on cue... of course its easier to take pictures of a 4 year old than a 14 month old! Alas, it certainly isn't good to have a lack of pictures of my little guy, so I took some this morning. Here are some that were my favorites!

The quality on this one isn't that great, but I love the expression on his face :)

Now, I was thinking about our fostering journey and how I haven't updated the blog as far as where we stand. Our home study caseworker was out of town so it took some time for her to get in contact with us. We have our official walk through and first meeting with her on Saturday. We are excited but nervous. Then she will come and interview the kids and me and then Dave will stop in at Catholic Charities (since it is right by his work) and do his interview there. The caseworker did say that SAHM's are the easiest since you can tackle them and the kids at the same time and she perked right up to learn Dave could just stop by - got her out of making two trips out to our house, which is about 45 minutes each way. She said that moved us up her list.

So that is how things are going with that. We hope to have all of this taken care of by the time we leave for Disney (WOO HOO September 13th!) so that we can come home and get our first placements!

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

2009-08-10T23:17:00.007-05:00

Any girl loves being fancy sometimes. Well, we put this to the test with our Fancy Nancy Tea Party. Little Miss was so excited that she wore her outfit to Academy yesterday after she finished picking it out!

Little Miss Turns FOUR!!!

2009-08-09T12:26:00.009-05:00

My little baby isn't so little anymore :( She is officially a "preschooler"!!! I don't know why, but 4 just seems so much older than 3, much more than a year. We have been so excited planning and preparing for her big Tinkerbell birthday bash and it turned out wonderfully! Including our family we had about 35 people. I can't believe we all fit in our house :)

A fantastaic friend of mine took pictures for me to celebrate this monumental day!

So onto the pictures (and there are still more to come!)

I did take two of her to send to a friend that had to leave early and another who made 2 shirts for Little Miss, I wanted her to be able to see them on!

Thanks Araceli!!

Thanks Lee, Lacey and Brooklyn!!

Thanks Aunt Lisa for my Oregon Shirt!! Woo hoo Go Ducks!

Also, a picture for my Parents of Little Miss putting together the puzzle they sent! She loved it!

Bobo's First Steps!!

2009-08-02T14:17:00.003-05:00

Two days ago Bobo took his first steps, from me to Daddy. He doesn't like to walk very much when we help him, but hopefully he will soon and I can get pictures!

Playing with my camera and photoshop...

2009-07-30T16:16:00.006-05:00

DH and I bought a digital Canon Rebel a few months ago. I have been dreding learning how to use anything besdies the automatic setting, but kind of pointless to buy a camera with all of these features and refusing to learn how to use them. Its been a lot of trail and error since I'm learning just my reading info online, but its been fun :)

So anyway, these are two pictures I took today, of the flower and of Little Miss. I have been playing in Photoshop to edit the pics, I still have TONS to learn with the camera and photoshop, but I think these turned out pretty good for me :)

Straight Out Of the Camera from my back yard
Edited, the color version

And this other sepia-ish edit

My little tater... straight out of the cameraJust playing with the color and blurring the background...

Have any advice, tips or tricks to share?? Please send them my way! I need all of the help I can get!!

Little Miss LOVES Puzzles

2009-07-22T08:44:00.006-05:00

My little girl loves puzzles, and not your wooden big piece ones, bigger ones. She got really used to her 63 piece 5 year + tinkerbell so I got her the princess one and she whizzed through it. So I figured it was time to pull out the big guns :) I gave her this 100 piece (about 6 or 7 and up) puzzle and while it took longer and she did it in little bits, she finished it today :) So proud!!

Bobo is getting SOOO big!

2009-07-16T15:53:00.004-05:00

My big boy is growing more and more and doing more and more everyday!!

Here are some new milestones.....

Clapping :) Woo hoo! Also, signing milk, saying "Hi!" Shaking head for no (I think I already mentioned that one) but here they are!!

Hes so cute!!!

No more swim lessons....

2009-07-13T11:41:00.002-05:00

So obviously with her broken arm, she can't swim. I called the Natatorium to see what can be done...pretty much nothing, we are just out for the second week of swimming. They said we can come and watch but come on...that is torture for a 3 year old. This broken arm thing is really becoming a pain, obviously for her, but for me too. I talked to her cheer coach and she said she can still come and do practice just the things she can and then skip tumbling days. When she is better, she can double up weeks to catch up. So that is better at least.

Well, here is a video of her last day of swim lessons, jumping off of the diving board :) Ignore my voice again... I really have got to stop talking while videoing :)

Little Miss + Codine = One Funny Girl

2009-07-11T16:35:00.003-05:00

Little Miss has been saying random things since yesterday, but she just said to me "Mommy! Your mom added you on Facebook?" WTF? How does she know anything about Facebook. LOL

Yeah... yesterday was fun...

2009-07-11T07:39:00.004-05:00

So yesterday was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-a. Come dressed as a cow, and get a free meal! So our mom group decided to go. We dressed the kids up and all had some yummy free food. The Chick-fil-a cow was there too.
Well.... so that was all fine and dandy until some woman comes running to our table and says that a little girl is really hurt. So Amanda and I go running since we are the ones with girls. Turned out, it was mine. Luckily, a table with a fire lieutenant was there and saw her fall. I guess it had been a while before someone came and got it (it was PACKED and while we usually sit right by the play place, we couldn't today. There was a big day care and lots of families taking advantage of the promo). So the officer calls the ambulance and they took us to Memorial Hermann in the medical center. On the way there they hooked her up with an IV, moniters and gave her Fentanyl. She started dosing off but then quickly woke up and started seizing. Apparently she is allergic to it. That was the scariest thing I have experienced with my children! The EMS man gave her some counteractive drug and she stopped. That was the worst :( But at least she doesn't remember it!

So, of course we were at the hospital ALL DAY. Tons of waiting, x-rays, pain, and tears. After being there for 6 hours they tell us she broke the bone right by her elbow. So great! She just started cheer and gymnastics, has a week left of swimming lessons and has a broken arm! Lets not even mention the amount of pain she is in.

So yeah! What a great start to our weekend!

First Swim Lessons

2009-07-06T10:56:00.004-05:00

Today was the first day of Little Miss's 2 weeks of swim lessons. I am very glad that we had last week to get her used to the water or today would have been bad! She still showed some hesitance a bit when it was time to practice jumping in, but she was great!!

Here she is swimming out with the instructor

Playing while waiting her turn (pink and brown swim suit)

Its hard to see her here, she is on the left in the back swimming with the instructor.

4th of July Parade!

2009-07-04T20:34:00.005-05:00

Little Miss got to be in a local 4th of July parade with her cheer gym. She had so much fun :) It helped that she didn't have to walk the whole way :)

Enjoy the video but please ignore my screeching and high pitched baby voice. LOL I was just excited :)

Bobo and Daddy waiting for the parade to start

Little Miss and Coach Sydney

Cheer, Swimming and Uh-ohs- OH MY!

2009-07-02T09:40:00.009-05:00

This week has been insane, hot, fun and filled with memories and milestones.

I am teaching a camp this week called "Gym and Swim" meaning it is part gymnastics and part swimming. It just so happens that the camp my daughter is in includes swimming also. So while I was teaching my camp, I was able to be out in the pool with her. I think I mentioned before that she is starting swimming lessons next week. Dave and I have been trying to get her to the pool to get her familiar with it. When we first went, even with her life jacket, she had a DEATH GRIP on us! Well, this week, thanks to her Camp Counselor and babysitter Lauren, she is no longer afraid! I also got her some goggles and a new life jacket called a Puddle Jumper that really seemed to help! When we were all hanging out in the pool, Little Miss decided to just swim off, across the whole pool by herself! I couldn't be more amazed at the difference a few weeks make :) WOO HOO! Go Little Miss!

Little Miss swimming with Lauren!

Little Miss swimming with the volunteer, Alfredo.

The next exciting thing that happened was that Bobo said Uh-oh!! Hes been saying, Uh and oh for a little while but never together. We are finally saying it together :) Also Bobo has gotten 4 molars now..hes been super drooly! LOL I tried to get a video of him saying uh-oh but he wasn't having it! LOL Way to go big boy Bobo!!! Also, the other day we were with my mom group at a local church that has a huge indoor playground. The kids had a blast! I am surprised I got the one picture of Little Miss that I did. LOL She was all over the place :)

Bobo Standing!! Big boy! :)

And the last thing, Little Miss is now doing competitive cheer! If you don't know, this is my first break from coaching since I started over 6 years ago. I have coached both high school and all-star. I had planned on Little Miss starting to cheer about this time or a little sooner, but since I haven't been coaching, it didn't happen. Well, we were able to make it work! Little Miss is now the newest member of Spirit Sport's Show Team :) They compete but don't actually "compete" everyone gets a trophy at this age. She is very excited as am I (Dave insists its more about me than her... but I swear she loves it too!!) This program includes a tumbling class once a week and a cheer class once a week. Yesterday was tumbling. I couldn't get any good shots through the glass, but here are some. And we had some problem wtih the humidity fogging up the lens. lol But anyway, she is loving it!!

"But you already have two kids..."

2009-06-25T12:55:00.008-05:00

Woo Hoo! We finished our final PRIDE class on Tuesday. We have a CPR/First Aid and Medication Handling class on Saturday, but that is a separate thing. We are turning in all of our final paperwork and PRIDE homework on Saturday so that will finish up our file and we can schedule our homestudy. I am a bit worried about that. I don't really know what to expect. I am sure it will be fine, we don't live in a slum and our house should be up to code since its only 2 years old, but still, anytime you have someone going through all of your personal information and belongings it tends to make you feel violated. I hear that there really isn't any question they won't/can't ask so that should make this interesting!

Its weird, as we go through this process, the things we have learned and the way things have changed. We had originally wanted to foster with eventually adopting, but now we want to adopt as soon as we can. Its weird, thinking about it, but I feel like someone else it out there raising my children. Which they are, and I feel like there are specific children that are out there that are meant for me, and that right now someone else is caring for them... or not caring for them. Being that I am typically a parinod and controlling person when it comes to my children, it makes me fear for them about whatever is going to happen or has happened to them that will land them into foster care.

Now to explain the title. It seems that the typical response we are getting when talking about adoption is "but you already have two kids...." or some variety of that. Its like President Obama put a limit on how many kids we can all have and I didn't get the memo. If I was having another baby I don't think people would react like that. Or maybe not as many.

Another thing that is already striking me as odd are peoples expressions when I tell them HOW we are adopting. We were at my kid's peds office and my doctors office getting our TB tests done (part of the process) when I said we were adopting, both offices' nurses/doctors asked from where (meaning a country) when I told them the foster care system they looked perplexed. It is kind of disheartening. I wish more people were aware of the amount of homeless and foster children there are in most places. Now, I applaud those who adopt abroad, that is fantastic, any form of adoption is, however I feel that there are so many children here in our own area that need a home too and people just don't know or don't care! I know the children I will adopt (yes children, we want to adopt two) will come with their own type of baggage and that baggage isn't as obvious when you adopt a newborn (but it IS still there) but does that make these kids any less deserving of a good, warm, loving home?

These are just a few of the things that we have encountered already in our journey. I can't wait to see what happens when we actually have placements :)

My dream...

2009-06-23T09:53:00.005-05:00

It may surprise some that living in suburbia isn't my preference. While I am typically mainstream, my dream of living in a small town on a large plot of land is something that I am holding on to. While I don't want to be off the grid by any means (what would I do without a CVS or Walgreens, LOL) but I do want to live somewhere where there is a sense of community. I don't feel that at all here. There are so many different neighborhoods, no clear definition from one city to the next and most people seem to not have any sense of pride of where they are from.

It bums me out that I haven't taken my kids to a homecoming parade or taken them to a high school football game since we moved here. School and community pride and unity is something that I always felt living in Michigan, but here not so much.

We knew that Texas was just going to be a pit stop on our quest to our forever home, so now we are starting to plan and get ideas on where our next place will be. Dave's job can take us just about anywhere, so we are really open to the possibilities. Some places that we have tossed around have been North Carolina, Colorado and Chicago particularly smaller towns surrounding the major cities in these areas. We miss having 4 season so that is a MUST. We want somewhere where our children have room to run around and where we can have a couple of big dogs and maybe some other animals, where we can ride ATVs and that has room for Dave to store his tools and other "toys". LOL

We aren't packing our bags just yet, we have at least a couple more years here as Dave needs to finish his MBA and we want to find and adopt our future children, but it is something that is being discussed often.

So, any suggestions on locations would be helpful! If there is anywhere you know of that sounds like what we are looking for, bring it on!! :)

My baby is a BIG BOY!!!

2009-06-22T09:27:00.006-05:00

So Dave has been pestering me forever about getting Bobo's hair cut. He is just my little baby and I wasn't ready. Well this weekend we decided it was time, its so long it started curling up around his ears and stuff. So we headed out to one of the kids hair cut places! He wasn't very happy, but he was a pretty good customer. And does he look SOOO handsome!!

Before... yeah it was long :)

All done!!! :)

Menu Planning Monday!

2009-06-22T09:12:00.003-05:00

I just did a bunch of grocery shopping this weekend so I have more options :) Now to put them into action :)

If you are coming to visit from orgjunkie, please stay and look around! I would love feedback!!

Alright, on to the menu!!

Monday- Leftovers

Tuesday- Potluck at PRIDE class (making pasta salad)

Wednesday- Pork, maybe kabobs on the grill? yummo!

Thursday- Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans and garlic bread

Friday- Homemade Pizza, yummmmyyy its been a while!

Saturday- All day pride class, probably going out to eat afterward with the kids

Sunday- Meatloaf...man I love meatloaf :) With corn and mashed potatoes!

Scrapbooking...

2009-06-19T15:11:00.005-05:00

I love scrapbooking... I love looking at scrapbooks. I have a horrible memory so I love looking and having the memorabilia to take me back and remind me of those milestones.

Its incredible to compare the pictures of my daughter and my son from when she was his age. They look like twins! When Little Miss was born, and before that, I was big into paper scrapbooking. I had a whole room dedicated to it. But as my life changed, so did my time for scrapbooking, or rather lack there of. So I turned to digital scrapbooking, I really enjoyed it but after a computer crash and loosing all of the elements I had downloaded, I got discouraged.

Today I decided that I just can't keep not documenting the important things in my family's lives. I read about an idea where the mom scrapbooks each month for their child. "2 Months" then "3 Months" each a two page layout. I can handle that! I could probably get caught up with Bobo in a weekend or two. If there is more to scrapbook and I feel like it, fine, but if not I won't let myself become overwhelmed.

Little Miss has 3 scrapbooks a few inches thick that only goes up to when she was 9 months old. I felt the need to photograph EVERYTHING (I still do!) but then to scrapbook EVERYTHING. It just isn't practical, I don't have the time to do a layout for each set of cute pictures I take.

Anyway...lots of rambling, but expect some layouts soon! If I don't post them, gently remind me :)

Here are that I did about a year ago of Little Miss :)

Diaper Cakes and Turning One

2009-06-18T07:57:00.006-05:00

My neighbor and friend, Marcie had a baby shower 2 weeks ago for her little baby boy Diego who will be arriving very soon! I decided to try to make a diaper cake. I watched a few youtube videos and I think it turned out great! I didn't take a picture of it with the bottom, I forgot. Dh cut a circle out of cardboard and wrapped it in shiny silver wrapping paper (thanks babe!)

But all in all I think these make a great gift! Its practical and cute. Her nursery for the baby is jungle themed so I tied everything into that. Everyone liked it :)

Now... Turning One...

Turning one typically means lots of changes. In our family this includes ditching the bottle. With Little Miss we did this right at one... for Bobo we were a little afraid that he wasn't ready, but I thought that if I didn't just do it, it would be much harder to get rid of later. So, Sunday morning he had his LAST bottle. WOO HOO! With Little Miss, turning One meant being able to turn her car seat to face forward...well once she hit 20 lbs. We won't be doing this with Bobo. His car seat can hold a rearfacing child until 35 lbs (which is typical for convertible car seats) so we will be keeping him backwards until then, or at least until he is close to that weight. For more on my thoughts of car seat safety, go here.

My little baby is becoming my little man. I swear he has grown since his birthday. Something else that came was two new teeth! We thought he might be teething because of the amount of drool he has had, but I didn't see any. (Drool is typically the ONLY sign my kids show when they get new teeth) Yesterday I noticed them though, in the back! One on each side of the top. Big boy!

The Mystery Bag

2009-06-16T09:03:00.001-05:00

Well it appears as if my wonderful husband is a bit blog shy. I had left these few things for him to blog about but he hasn't done it. LOL So here I go....

I learned to recycle gift bags from my mom. Why throw away a perfectly fine bag when you will have to buy another one soon anyway. When we lived in Michigan my parents and I passed this orange iridescent gift bag back and forth a dozen times. It became quite the joke. So, its no surprise that almost all of the gift bags I use were given to me at some point.

I was getting ready for Bobo's birthday and I noticed this gift bag sitting on my dresser. I had just been digging through the bags trying to find one for my friend's baby shower, so I figured I pulled it out then. I put a few of Bobo's gifts in this bag and the tag caught my eye, "5/25/09 Happy Birthday with lots of hugs and kisses! From Moca and Aita" (see picture below). Now this was weird for a few reasons... first of all, it had been written only about a week before and the fact that we don't know anyone named Moca or Aita! I have NO idea where this bag came from. I don't remember getting it in a freecycle batch since we have been doing that alot lately, and we definitely didn't receive it from anyone. Bobo's tonka truck was sitting there, I thought maybe it had been returned or something and a gift bag was stuck to the bottom of it, but we bought that before the 25th. So... anyone know someone named Moca or Aita??? Help us solve the mystery!!! :)

Dave's Other Lost Post

2009-06-16T08:46:00.004-05:00

Texas is hot, like you didn't know. Our neighborhood promised a pool and rec center when we bought our house over 2 years ago... there is nothing to show that it was no more than bait to get people to move in. I don't think we will see a pool here as long as we live here anyway. Luckily, we have access to the pools where I do my summer camps, but sometimes driving out there isn't an option when I am by myself with both kids. So DH headed to Academy and got the kids a little pool for the back yard. We have a little slide that is too small for Little Miss and still a bit too big for Bobo so she uses it to slide into the pool. It is helping us beat this hot weather and keep in good spirits when we play outside!

Our Fun/Insane/Great WEEK!

2009-06-15T08:21:00.016-05:00

This week was one that I was excited for, but dreading at the same time. We had ALOT going on and it seemed to all fall on this week. First, it was my first week of summer camps that I am teaching. I am teaching 4 this summer so this was the first. On top of that, it was our second week of pride classes, one of which was a 4 hour class, instead of 3. Little Miss had her dance recital on Saturday which included two rehearsals, one on Friday and one Saturday morning, and then, of course, Bobo's first birthday. And to top that off, Bobo had a cold all week! So yes, very very busy week in our household! It did leave us with some fantastic pictures though :)

First, Bobo's Birthday... My baby is one. I just can't believe it was a year ago that I was terrified because he was in the NICU, now I'm terrified that he will eat me out of house and home!

Lets start with the cake fiasco! I ordered a cake from Randalls, I went to pick it up and it was HORRIBLE I should have taken a picture... it looked like Little Miss made it... more like Little Miss could have done a better job. She offered me a lower price and I told her I just didn't want it. This put me in a bit of a panic. Dave reminded me of a cute cake we saw at Walmart so I drove all the way back over by our house to see if they had it....they didn't. They had this one below but it was mostly yellow and white. The bakery lady offered to add some blue to make it more boy-ish...well... she didn't lie. She definitely added blue... I felt obligated to buy this mess of a cake simply because I thought that I was out of options. I called Dave and he suggest that I go to Marble Slab and get an ice cream cake... I should have just done this in the beginning. That cake was beautiful! So yeah, the kids ate the mess cake and the adults ate the yummy ice cream cake :)

We were singing Happy Birthday to Bobo and I was trying to keep his hands away from the fire... yeah that didn't last very long. A second after this picture was taken he reached up with his other hand and...

Screaming baby.... I wasn't sure if it was more of the pain or because we all gasped and stopped singing. Either way he was happy once he got his cup cake...

He loved his presents :)

Yes we ate first, the pictures are just in the wrong order :)

Our Birthday Balloon Release. We started this with Little Miss's first birthday as something fun to do. We haven't had anyone email us if they found it, but its still fun :)

Little Miss's Dance Recital...

What a beautiful little mermaid :) They danced to "Under the Sea" from the movie The Little Mermaid. We weren't able to video tape the actual performance, but I taped the dress rehearsal.

Little Miss and her friend

Little Miss and her friends!

Mommy and Little Miss afterwards

Daddy and Little Miss

PRIDE Classes

2009-06-08T19:11:00.003-05:00

I think I am acutally going to come out of these classes learning quite a bit! One of our assigments was to do a "genogram" I hadn't ever heard of it, but apparently its a real thing! Here is a sample of one. Mine of course has names, and then birth and death dates and places.

We have another class tomorrow, I am acutally looking forward to it :) Just not the drive downtown in rush hour traffic :)

Its interesting the things you find out. I had no idea my grandfather was born in North Dakota. I just figured he was from Michigan like the rest of my family on that side. My mathernal Grandmother was a huge help :) She gave me all the information I needed on my mom and dad's side and I called my step-dad for the info on his side.

On a side note - my dad died when I was 12, so when I write refering to my "dad" most likely I am talking about my step-dad who has been in my life since I was 9... but around here he is mostly refered to as PaPa :)

Cleaning out the closets

2009-06-05T07:41:00.007-05:00

Ok, it isn't an understatement when I say our house seriously lacks storage! The only closet not in a bedroom is our pantry in the kitchen. Whoever designed this house must not have much stuff. I must say that we have been very VERY blessed with people who have passed on alot of their unneeded things to our foster care efforts. I have been putting things wherever I can, but 2 days ago, someone donated a fantastic dresser so I was able to move some things around. I also did some reorganizing and purging. Here are the befores and afters of the metal shelves in the closet of the will be foster children's room.

BEFORE

AFTER

Still lots of junk but there is space to add more things and alot of the trash is gone :)

We also had a bookshelf in Bobo's room holding diapers, wipes and things, and now we needed it for storage. I don't have a before picture of the books as they were all over the house, but now we have a nicely organized bookshelf!
BEFORE

AFTER

PRIDE Classes

2009-06-03T14:03:00.005-05:00

Last night we started our first of 8 PRIDE classes (Parent Resource for Information Development Education). I can tell already this is going to be an interesting journey through this process. Just as of last night, I can see that my thoughts and feelings and expectations are changing. For instance, I had subconciously vilified the birth parents of the kids in foster care. Now I can see that there are so many reasons and circumstances that lead up to a person's children being taken into custody.

I can't remember if I said this before, but we do plan to adopt a child at some point in our journey through fostering. We had planned to adopt younger than Little Miss, but now we are thinking that this child that we add to our family may not necessarily have to fit into this little box we have planned for them. I think if we keep an open mind (which the trainer encourages) we could come out adopting a child that is completely different than what we had planned and they could be a perfect for for our family.

My biggest fear, and really one of my only fears, is how I will cope when it is time to send the child home. I know that is a big reason why alot of people won't foster. I simply don't feel that the loss that I will experience is grave enough that I shouldn't offer my love and care for a child in their time of need. I CAN make a difference and I am willing to sacrifice my comfort for them.

I do also want to say thanks to all of those who are supporting us in this decision and those who have donated so many things to us already to help us prepare for these children!

2009-06-01T23:01:00.001-05:00

Yeah... I'm a big Twilight nerd.... I know it... if you know me personally, you know it too :) Here is a trailer for the new movie, New Moon! Can't wait :)

Bobo Says "Bye- Bye"

2009-06-01T08:42:00.005-05:00

So, I think what they say is true, that your second child doesn't talk as much or as early as your first. Little Miss has been a chatter box since day one, and her vocab now is much higher than your average 3 year old, but Bobo has decided that words are overrated :) As of yesterday, he began waving and saying "buh-bye" at the same time. Sometimes its more "buh-buh" but still, we get the point :)

My little man is getting so big! His birthday is less than two weeks away! Wow, how time flies!

On another note, I have a funny Little Miss quote to share. She informed me a few days that "worms go into a raccoon and turn into a butterfly" At first, I was a little lost, then I realized she was saying cocoon :) Too cute!

Monday Menu Planning

2009-06-01T08:39:00.000-05:00

Happy June, Everyone! I love the month of June. It used to mean getting out of school and summer break. Now it means longer days, more family time, and grilling out! Our move to Texas two years ago left us with extremely hot summers, but we do still enjoy them ... as long as we can safely return to our A/C!

Monday - Hamburgers on the grill, light summery pasta salad (some sort of pasta, Italian dressing and an assortment of veggies) and corn

Tuesday- Tacos (we didn't do these last week!)

Wednesday - Hotdogs on the grill, some fruit in season, chips

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Bbq ribs, on the grill, with potatoes and green beans

Saturday - Peanut Chicken Salad (again, we forgot this last week!)

Sunday - BBQ Chicken

As you can see, some of it is a little vague, I am going to go to the store today to pick up the rest of the items we need, then I can update things like "some fruit in season" LOL

Mickey Mouse Tuna Melts

2009-05-28T13:26:00.001-05:00

I love Works For Me Wednesday hosted here... even if I don't participate very often, I love to read other peoples ideas.

Erin at Closing Time wrote about making Mickey Mouse tuna melts for her kids. This was perfect timing! (Thanks Erin!) Last week I realized that DD (who will be 4 soon) has never had tuna, so I bought a can. I figured this would be the best way to have her try it out!

She was very excited!

I'm going to put him on the spot...

2009-05-27T08:20:00.001-05:00

I told Dave that I granted him "permission" to post here. :) He just hasn't yet. So now I'm putting him on the spot... I am sure he will love that!

Babe, you need to post something... preferably today :) I know you aren't busy at work!!!

Love you!

Weekly Menu

2009-05-25T17:54:00.001-05:00

Monday - Grilling out :) YUMMO! We didn't get to do this on Friday, so we are at it again :)

Tuesday - Tacos

Wednesday - Peanut Chicken Salad...sooooo yummy!

Thursday - Amanda's Beans and Rice and Corn Bread

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - Add in Hamburger Helper - The plain kind doesn't have much (if any) nutritious value... I add all sorts of things to help that out!

Sunday BBQ Chicken, corn and salad

Hot Texas Weather

2009-05-25T17:46:00.005-05:00

Its hot here...well of course it is... this IS Texas. But living in the only neighborhood in our area without a pool leaves us to have to get a bit creative :) We bought this little squirt toy at the dollar store and Little Miss loves filling the bucket up with water and using it. And of course, our sprinkler system comes in handy :)

Oh...and a side note. While I love blogging to document the things we do (I figure it will be helpful later since I have a horrible memory) we do love to get comments from the people who read our blog!! Under each post is a "comment" link, click it and leave us some love!!! :)

I wish her eyes were open...but what can you do? I'm lucky she stayed still long enough to get what I did!

...

2009-05-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Nissan Pathfinder,

I was behind you today at a red light of a very busy intersection. I saw your precious little 2 (2 1/2?) year old little girl standing in the back of your car. Mrs. Pathfinder, you turned around and talked to her, oh so sweetly, and you were obviously aware of what she was doing.

Now, while I am certain that this must be because you are without a doubt, the BEST drivers in the state of Texas, I must remind you that you can't control the other drivers on the road. Lucky for you, I am quite the safety fanatic and tend to pay attention as much as possible when I drive. I wasn't doing my hair, talking on my phone, or reading a book like so many distracted drivers out there do. So, for today, your little girl's life was saved. I can't imagine why on earth you would spend 3 minutes putting her hair in that cute ponytail, but can't spend 30 seconds to buckle her into a car seat.

Mr and Mrs. Nissan Pathfinder, I hope to one day run into you again when I have the time to chew you out. Until then, hug that little girl for me.

Sincerely,

Nena

My Country Tis of Thee

2009-05-21T22:56:00.005-05:00

Little MIss loves puzzles. This isn't a surprise, she loves dumping them out and putting them back together. As you will see in this video, my smart little 3 year old knows her stuff. You will even her one of her famous lines referring to her "hard tuffy puzzle"

I would also like to announce that I have now given "permission" (in blog terms) for my lovely husband Dave to post here on One Monkey, Two Monkey. I hope by me announcing this that he will get the hint to post. We shall see :)

That boy that boy is much too much!

2009-05-21T07:44:00.001-05:00

A common phrase in my house! I can not keep Bobo out of ANYTHING! He doesn't care if he has 500 toys on the floor, he goes straight for anything hes not suppose to! I don't like my kids in the kitchen when they are crawling. I just think kitchen floors...no matter how clean, are gross!

So here we are...just this morning, we've been up for about an hour and hes into EVERYTHING already.

He found a crayon that Little Miss left on the floor. :) I took the next shot JUST as he was putting it in his mouth. I caught it right in time :)

Little MIss eats her breakfast at her little table. For the last few weeks Bobo has decided that he wants cereal too! LOL He terrorizes her on a daily basis! "MOM...Bobo is pulling on my shiirrrtttt!" And a few times he has knocked her cereal onto the floor!

Bobo being occupied for ohhh... 2.3 seconds.Then he's off, passing over his toys to get to the next thing.

As we speak...hes under my feet getting to the computer! How do I get 5 minutes of "peace" to finish posting this blog...

Yeah...exersaucers are priceless!

Incredible Pizza Company

2009-05-19T15:43:00.001-05:00

Amanda and I took the kids to IPC today. They had a blast :) And because I totally wiped out on the wet floor and tore up my knee, we get to go back for free :) Woo hoo!

playing miniture golf

Little Miss and the giant glasses
Mommy and Bobo

Merry go round

Little Miss

Little Miss in the airplane

Time for Lunch!

I also added some pictures of Dave and Little Miss in a smart car the other day. I forgot to post those!

Car Seat Safety

2009-05-15T16:55:00.005-05:00

Car accidents are the number one cause of death in children over 1 year of age. The proper carseat is your first defense against having your child become a statistic!Most people know that I am obsessed when it comes to the safety of my children....some would say so much as being over protective. (I can hear DH now.... "some???" LOL) But I figure its one thing that I can afford to be obsessed with :)

I sent an email out a few months ago regarding car seat safety. I had seen too many of my friends put their kids in incorrect car seats and I couldn’t just keep this information to myself any longer. That is how this post started, but now I have added even more information to ensure the reader leaves with an understanding on proper car seat usage.

Please share it with friends! You can link to this post directly if that is easier, it is really important that this information gets out!

The vast lack of education that the typical American parent has in regards to carseats is just ridiculous. Our safety standards for carseats are among the lowest in the world. And with car accidents being the number one killer of children, it is about time that we took a few moments to educate ourselves.

Lets first start with the different kinds of car seats and how to choose the best one for your child. (Please note- every car seat is different and the installation and weight/height restrictions vary, please refer to your car seats manual)

Infant Carriers – These are the kinds that typically snap into your stroller. These are rear facing only and hold kids up to around 22 lbs and 29 inches.

Convertible Car seats- These seats can be used rear facing to around 35 lbs and up and forward facing to around 40 lbs/40 inches (some more). These are the safe way to keep your child rear facing past their infant carrier, or can be used in place of the infant carrier as most can seat a child as small as 5 lbs.

Forward Facing Car seats- These seats are recommended for children over 20 lbs, while as you will see I advocate keeping the child rear facing as long as possible, these seats are great for after your child has hit 35 lbs or over your convertible seat’s height restrictions. These seats weights limits vary greatly depending on the seat. The Graco Nautilus, for example harnesses up to 65 lbs (and is a booster up to 100 lbs).

Booster Seats- These seats are a high backed seat that uses the car’s seatbelt as a means to hold the child into the car. These seats don’t teather in and rely only on the seat belt. These seats should only be used after your child has outgrown their forward facing seat. While the limits on these seats say for children over 40 lbs and 40 inches, your child should be much larger before moving into a seat like this.

Backless Boosters- These are for big kids (7-8 and older), who can no longer sit in a booster seat but aren’t quite tall enough to use just the seat belt. These should be used only after all other seats are too small.

Now, how to put your child in a carseat.

-Most seats that hold children up to 40 lbs come equipped with the LATCH system. This system uses tethers and clips to secure the seat into the car. There are 3 tethers, two that go into the bottom of the seat and one on the back of the seat, or sometimes on the floor behind the seat. Cars manufactured after 2000 or so come equipped for the LATCH system. Follow your car seat and car’s instructions for installation.

-For rear facing seats the straps need to be AT or BELOW the child's shoulders. If the child shoulders is not at the lowest strap setting, they are too small for that seat. For forward facing seats the straps should be AT or ABOVE the child's shoulders. If the child's shoulders are past the top slot of the carseat then they are too big for that seat.

-The straps cannot be twisted at all.

-The chest clip needs to be at armpit level.

-The straps need to be tight. Try doing the pinch test. If you can pinch the belt anywhere on the harness then it is too loose. You may need to loosen the straps to get your child in every time, then tighten them up, but it is what is the safest.

- Check your car seat often, tether straps can move and become loose over time, tighten them as often as needed.

Extended Rear Facing
When Little Miss was around 15 months she had reached the recommended age/weight limit to be turned to face forward. The limit that is suggested is 1 year and 20 lbs. Some parents don’t even know that it has to be 1 year AND 20 lbs. But, this is a bare minimum! We weren’t aware and flipped her around to face forward as soon as we could. However, if we would have known that children are 4 to 5 times safer staying rear facing until 35 lbs (when most car seats hit their rear facing maximum) we defiantly would have waited. Here is a crash test that shows the difference between rear and forward facing.

Yes the rear facing is in the front seat (which you should NEVER do) but it shows it side by side.

Extended Harnessing
Extended rear facing is a part of car seat safety is becoming more of common knowledge; however, the next part is the one that most people don’t know about. The current suggested limit for moving your child into a high backed booster seat is 4 years of age and 40 lbs. I see SO many children moved to boosters prior to this limit. In addition to that, this limit is significantly too low! Here is a video depicting a high backed booster with a seatbelt and a child in a 5 point harness, both facing forward. The difference is more than obvious.

You don’t need to buy an expensive carseat to ensure your child’s safety. Little Miss has just outgrown her convertible carseat and we have replaced it with a Graco Nautilus, this carseat harnesses up to 65 lbs and has a booster up to 100 lbs. This carseat was only $150, and I have seen it as low as $120 on amazon.com. There is NO reason for your child to be in a high backed booster or even a simple booster seat until they are over 65 lbs.

"There is no way my (insert age here) child will sit in a carseat!" Here is my almost 4 year old riding comfortably in her "Graco" lol

Also, many children aren’t even in boosters when they should be. Watch this video showing a child using just a seatbelt.

Again, make sure that your child’s carseats are properly installed. Make sure their chest belt is at armpit level and that the belt is tightened so that you can only get a finger in between your child and the belt.

Here are some other videos that I found helpful. Two are from mothers who wished they had this information before, it may have saved their children’s lives.

If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them! Lets keep our children safe!

Pat the Potter

2009-05-14T12:15:00.002-05:00

Today we went on a playdate with my mom group to Pat the Potter, a clay pot studio near us. We had alot of fun! The kids made little cut outs and turned them into necklaces.

Bobo just hung out...he obviously couldn't care less :)

Here is Little Miss compeltly focased on her project.

Amanda and the girls were there too!The kids playing outside while the clay was baking.

Little Miss with her necklace

Bobo just eating his kix :)

Listening to directions... Good girl :)

And of course the fun couldn't just stop there! Amanda got a flat on the way home :) I had driven to the potter place a different way, but for some reason my gps took me another way home, luckily it led to me following Amanda! She got a flat. There were some trasportation guys that stopped to help us! Woo hoo!

Becoming Foster Parents

2009-05-13T13:34:00.001-05:00

DH and I are starting the process to become foster parents.

"What?? You already have two kids!!"

Uhh...yes we do ... we're aware :)

I wanted to share this process as we go from "Two Monkeys" to.. well, "More Monkeys" :)

Alot of people have asked why we have chosen to foster. The idea came to us in the form of a 16 year old girl named Amanda (not to be confused with my BFF Amanda) She was a cheerleader that I coached back in 2004. She was born to teenage parents and had been bounced around from house to house and it really had an effect on her. After a bad time with her Aunt she came to live with us before they could place her with her Grandmother. She lived with us for about a month.

During that time, we gained some experience with caseworkers, government hassle, but most importantly, having the chance to make a difference in a child's life.

This process is long, and can sometimes be grueling, but we are very excited to start this journey.

Look for updates :)

Little Miss's New Top

2009-05-08T08:44:00.001-05:00

I saw this top online and I just was dying to make it. Unfortunatly, the pattern was $10 and I just couldn't see paying that much for a pattern. So... I decided to try it out myself. I used some fabric that was given to me before going out and buying some incase I made some mistakes. There are a few things I will do differently next time (Thinner straps, smaller loops in the back, lower the elastic in the top etc) But overall, it turned out really cute. Little Miss likes it too!!

Mine

Online One

Discovery Green and the ER

2009-05-07T07:41:00.002-05:00

Discovery Green is a cool park in downtown Houston. They have a playground, splash pad, they do concerts there etc. Yesterday was hot... so we picked up Dave from work and went to play. I have to say, Bobo enjoyed the water more than Little Miss did. Of course I didn't anticipate getting THIS wet, and didn't bring myself a change of clothes. Yeah, I was wet the whole way home (and in the ER...)

Where did the water go??

So after our fun time at Discovery Green, we wound up here... in the ER. Little Miss was buckling her car seat and she did something funny with her arm and popped one of the small bones out again (Nurse's maid) this happened before when she was like 18 months. It usually stops after they are 2, but can happen up to 5 years old. Typically when it happens once, it will happen again. They did x-rays and the doctor popped it back into place. She was a trooper. And of course she loved the purple popsicle they gave her!

Oh and you can't help but notice Bobo's sunscreen hair!!

Mommy's Little Woodpecker

2009-05-06T11:13:00.001-05:00

Ok... so not exactly, but its amazing how much kids can tear up a crib. DD did it to hers, now Bobo is doing it to his. I found this awesome tutorial online that gave instructions on how to make these crib rail covers. I have made the front one and still need to do the sides, but I wanted to post it anyway!

Hard Rock Cafe and the Park

2009-05-06T10:54:00.003-05:00

Amanda and I took the kids to the park yesterday...after hitting two parks and turning around and leaving due to some questionable people, we decided to go to the park at her neighborhood. The kids had fun! Bobo was too cute babbling the whole time he was swinging, he was really enjoying it!!

Amanda's DD 2 and My DD:)

Amanda's DD 1 :)

Alright, Bobo is at the age where we are starting to give more solids. This weekend we were at Hard Rock Cafe and he was sharing some of the toast from my sandwich. He was inhaling my toast and it started to break off, since he screams anytime you take food away I tried to be sneaky. I gave him one fry for one hand, and one for the other... unfortunatly, this is what happened....

That silly little guy!!!

Here are some more pictures

Visiting Uncle John

2009-05-03T23:06:00.001-05:00

My brother in law John moved into his first house a few months ago in Spring. We hadn't had a chance to get up there yet so we went today to go spend some time with him. We went up into The Woodlands to a shopping center they had there. John, Dave (DH), and DD had fun playing in the water. DD was a bit hesitant, but they all had fun! Good thing for spare clothes in the car!

Here is John convincing DD to get wet. For some reason she didn't want to. She typically LOVES water but she was a bit crabby today :)

John sacrificing himself :)

See...she likes it :)

Dave eventually decided it was ok to get wet too!

The guys trying to convince DD to run across

They made it....almost unscathed!

Bobo enjoying the beautiful weather from his comfy spot in the stroller!

Mini-Van Mama

2009-05-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

"I will NEVER drive a mini-van!!!"
Those words have come out of my mouth since I started driving. And until this point, its been true. And since my kids, I've had a Trailblazer, a Pacifica and currently an Equinox. But, my dear friend Amanda just bought a Honda Odyssey and I was hooked! The space, the features, the seating, it was everything I wanted with the stigma I hated. So I decided... screw the stigma! I love my new mini-van!

Its a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan, fully loaded only 9000 miles, totally clean and in perfect condition. I love her!

Pillowcase Dress and Kite Festival

2009-04-28T08:55:00.001-05:00

Pillowcase Dress

Despite the name, this dress isn't made from a pillowcase (although you can use one). Most of the things I make DD are more modern, but I wanted to try something old school, like the settlers old school :) I think it turned out cute, and DD really likes it!

Ok, have to share one of this little things my monkey said. She come walking out of her toy room with a purse, dress up shoes, jewerly ect. I asked if she was a princess, she said "No, I'm a mommy, I have a braclet, ring, shoes, purse and a gun in my purse... in case there are birds!"

(Little back story incase you don't know... Dave had to shoot some birds (with a pellet gun) that were pestering us . After he got one, Peyton shouted "Good Shot, Dad!!" LOL

Kite Festival

On Sunday there was a Kite Festival to help raise awareness for child abuse. There were lots of activites for the kids and booths set up with information. The Bikers Against Child Abuse group was there and they gave temp tatoos to the kids, DD loved that! Then at one time everyone flew their kites to represent all of the kids who had died due to child abuse. It was the perfect day to fly kites. Its hard to tell in the picture but those bigger kites were HUGE I haven't ever seen anything like it. It was so cool!

- Oh...and thanks Marcie for letting us know about it!!!

Kids at the Park

2009-04-27T07:22:00.001-05:00

I took pictures of the kids at a park the other day...these two pictures were my favorite!

My first real post!

2009-04-26T16:55:00.002-05:00

Alright, a bit about my crafting background. I used to be an avid paper scrapbooker...instense, big craft room ect. I got bored, I just got too far behind as I couldn't just scrap some things, I had to scrap EVERYTHING! Well I got into digital scrapping a bit. I still play sometimes, but nothing too big. A few months ago, I started sewing. I haven't really sewn anything since 8th grade home ec, but I really like it. I am very much a beginner but I look forward to getting better!

Here is a shirt I made for DD yesterday!!

It started as a dress, but as usual, i made some mistake and it ended up too small, so I improvised using inspiration from various places, but the overall design is mine. Isn't she cute ?? :)

Where to start...

2009-04-26T12:38:00.001-05:00

Well I wanted to make a place where I could post pictures of my kids, my projects and whatever else I feel is noteworthy. So...here it is :)