The Novice's Guide to Emily-ish

I just thought I'd share some more gems from the mind of our older daughter. Emily has decided that "Hello" and "Goodbye" are too plain for her so she has come up with her own alternatives. The new hello is "Changalolo" and the new goodbye is "Boingaloo". That's all I had to say, so Boingaloo for now.

One more thing

Just wanted to let you know that I added a list of my favorite blogs on the right had side of this page. These are mostly scrapbooker blogs. It's my thing - don't judge. For the non-scrapbooker, you have to check out Pioneer Woman. She's a hoot - as is Dooce. Funny stuff.

If you a regular reader of my blog and would like to have your blog posted there as well - let me know. I only did blogs of pseudo blog celebrities....didn't know if I had permission to do anyone else.

And hey - just because they are mostly scrapbooker blogs doesn't mean you can't read them if you are not a scrapbooker. Ali Edwards blog is very inspirational. Lisa Bearnson and Becky Higgins have some good stories, decorating ideas and recipes. Tara Whitney is an AWESOME photographer. Her pictures are truly inspirational. Cathy Zielske is also a hoot. A sarcastic girl after my own heart - love her. And as I have said, Pioneer Woman and Dooce are awesome. These ladies make a living through their respective blogs. Pioneer Woman even has a recipe blog - which I have to say has some really yummy stuff on it....chocolate sheet cake...yummy!!!

Anyway - if you don't blog....you are missing the boat. I swear, it's not hard. Doesn't take that much time. I work two jobs, have two kids, and a house to take care of, and by GOD, I blog. You should too.

If I can convert a couple more people, I qualify for a toaster oven. :)

A Task Well Done

Emily's Valentines Party is a little early this year because they are out of school for the Winter Break during that week. So, her class party is on the 8th of February. Today, we made her Valentines box. I bought a big bag of puffy heart and word stickers for 99 cents at Jo Anns. I made her use the whole bag - no leftovers to surface in other places. I think she did a pretty good job.

I also thought that it may be a good idea to get a jump start on her Valentine cards - she had to sign her name to 36 cards....which incidentally is much better than the 65 she had to do last year. I was only going to give her about ten to do - but my awesome girl did all 36. She kind of pooped out at 28, but I bribed her with a lollipop if she just did eight more - never saw a girl write her name so fast.

The difference between last year and this year was astounding - last year, we had to throw out about 20 cards because her name was illegible. This year, she didn't even have to be told to make her name small enough to fit on the whole card - she just did it on her own. She only had one mess up card. I thought it was just fine - she was the one who decided that it wasn't good enough. She is growing up so fast.

(In case you are wondering - the reason she has about half the amount of cards compared to last year - her class split on half this year. I think it's much better that way. 65 valentine cards was kind of out of control!!)

Monday, Monday, Monday

I was right - the doctors appointment was today. Yea!! My mind does work!!

Emily is a whole 42 and a half pounds and 45 inches tall. Paige is 17 pounds, 15 ounces, and 28 inches long. The doctor says both girls are doing just great. Paige is just growing and growing. The doctor says that we can start giving her Cheerios and cheese and all sorts of good stuff - bout time, I say. Maybe she'll stop grabbing for my stuff!! Emily got a pin prick for her blood work, and Paige got three shots and an oral vaccine. Paige cried, but only for a second. We were the only people on the "well" side of the doctors office - and I am hoping we won't have to go the "other" side for awhile. All in all, not too traumatic. Oh, and most importantly, Emily got two stickers - she gave one to her sister. Goofy and Donald Duck in case you were wondering.

I also forgot to mention one other activity that I did this weekend - patching the knees of my oldest daughters jeans. Three pairs. And, I noticed the ones she was wearing yesterday also need patching. What is up with this? I bought her seven pairs of jeans this year - thought we would at least make it into March - wrong. I have noticed that the length is a little short too - oh well. She'll be in shorts soon enough....that's wishful thinking on my part.


Emily's dog Wow doing a little light reading. She said his arms weren't feeling good today, so she had to help him turn the pages.

Believe it or not, I patched these jeans - my Mom says that people pay hundreds of dollars for rips like that. Maybe you should buy regular jeans and let your five year old wear them for a couple months - I guarantee you will have cools rips like this one.

"I just had three shots. The torture I must endure....now give me some Cheerios...please."

Insert creative and funny title here

Well, it's 10:30pm on Sunday nite. I am done with my work for the travel agency, and I am getting ready to go to bed...I thought I would dust off the ol' blog and make an entry.

It has been a busy week. Amanda left on Monday, we had our eight year anniversary on Tuesday, we have been trying to catch up with the orders for the store, Paige turned six months old on Thursday, went to Ypsilanti for Julie's baby shower on Saturday, and at the same time Emily went to her friend Vincent's birthday party. Today, was a day of rest. And, we did. We did have some fun - we went to lunch at Red Robin - yummy.

The drive yesterday was not so much fun - there was TONS of salt on the roads from the previous night's snowfall, and that means tons of salt spray. You literally have to hit the wiper fluid every few minutes so that you can see - wore me out. The shower was very nice. Julie got lots of great and useful stuff - including a scrapbook made by yours truly. I even won a prize - got a high score on a quiz about my cousin Ryan - I would have gotten a higher score if I could have remembered that his first car was not a Ford Probe. Oh well. We are so excited about the arrival of Emerson Rae - she should be here in about a month and a half. Can't wait to see if she has her Dad's trademark hair.

I would like to say a big "You Rock" to my husband, who, very bravely, took both girls out by himself, so that Emily could go to her good friend Vincent's birthday party. I guess a few of the dads that were at the party - with their children and wives - commented that they couldn't do it. Maybe I should get Eric a SuperDad cape!! Emily had a great time, and was quite tired last night.

Well, another busy week awaits us. I think both girls have a doctors appointment tomorrow - I lost my appointment card. I will let you know what happens.

Some photos from the week:

It is SO hard to get a picture with both girls looking at the camera, and somewhat smiling. I am just happy if I get one of those things to happen.

Emily posing with her artwork. She is really into drawing monsters lately.

Came home from Costco on Friday and found Emily like this. She hasn't taken afternoon naps in over a year - but sometimes school, waking up early, running around, and just being five catches up with her. So, she sleeps, in her most beloved chair, with her most beloved Eeyore blanket. She is so sweet - she looks so young. Love those sleeping babies.

Classic Emily

This morning as I had a mouth full of Listerine Emily walked up to me and said, "Daddy, your head is the Moon and you have elbows for legs." She further elaborated by telling me, "You're Neil Armstrong and you live in Antarctica and you lost your space suit." All I could do was motion with my hands that she should finish getting dressed, but this is a good example of how her mind works. Good to see I'm passing the right genes along.

I am thinking of changing my name from "Daddy" to "Daddy-fix-it". Emily thinks that I am the superhero of fixing things. "Daddy, can you fix my fire hat? Can you fix this torn book? Daddy (crying), the zipper broke on my doggie knapsack." Here you go honey, all fixed. Now I'll admit that I am handy but Emily thinks I can fix absolutely anything including popped balloons, broken rubber bands, and stickers that don't stick anymore. Wait, I actually have fixed all those things on at least one occasion. What if she's right? Maybe I can fix anything. Emily, if it makes me look like a hero in your eyes, keep the broken stuff coming. You know where my workbench is. Daddy-fix-it is on the job.

Couldn't choose just one....

Paige is six months old today. It's her half birthday. We are having a HUGE blowout tonight for her...clowns, bounce houses, face painting - you name it. Ummmm, sure, Allison.

Have you heard? This is the new big thing - celebrating half birthdays. I just can't wrap my head around that one. What's next? Quarter birthdays? Monthly and weekly celebrations? Sounds silly, but come 2012, you'll be attending your first of many weekly birthday parties.

Paige at six months - two teeth (on the bottom, of course), lots of moving around, fruits, veggies, rice and oatmeal. Four bottles a day. Two naps and pretty much sleeps from 8:30pm until 7:30am. Has showed interest in her thumb, but still likes her pacifier. Sits independently. Pivots around to get stuff that is next to or behind her. Loves to bounce. Just in the past few days has showed early signs of crawling - she can go backwards. Has left her 3-6 month clothes behind, and even some of her nine month clothes as well. Loves her big sister. Loves to be read to. Favorite toy currently is anything that she can cram into her mouth. Oh, and she's VERY JUICY. She hasn't said any real words yet, but she loves to scream. She loves to be carried around, and go where the action is. She's just a joy. We'll keep her. Oh, and she has the most kissable cheeks - ever. You just can't help yourself.

(For those of you who are wondering...we will be having no half birthday celebration. I know, bad mommy. Please alert the proper authorities. I have already booked Paige's therapy sessions for when she's older.)

8 Great Years

This morning as I was getting dressed I did a clothing check with Allison..."Honey, does this match? Yes? Really!?" By some random chance I had selected pants and a shirt that actually matched. I say random because to my eye pretty much everything sorta matches, so picking out something that actually does match from a woman's point of view is akin to hitting 00 on a roulette wheel, and just about as common an occurance on my side of the closet. It kind of makes me wonder why she's kept me around for 8 years now...Oh, that's right, I kill household bugs. I knew it was something. Happy 8th Anniversary Allison!

Allison's Weekend Recap

So, hello again. Remember me? I feel like I have been blog hijacked. But, it's fun to have another point of view around here - I guess I can get quite boring.

We had a fun weekend around here. My sister Amanda came in for a few days. She picked the coldest weekend of the season. We have been in the teens and single digits for the past few days - and that's not including the windchill - which brings it down below zero. Usually, it's no big deal, we just don't go out....but we did. We went to the new OUTDOOR mall on Saturday. For those of you who are concerned - Paige and Emily stayed home with Daddy, just us grown-up girls went. Of course, Amanda and my Mom complained about how cold it was the whole time - those wimps. It was refreshing. Then, just because apparently we could not have enough cold, we went to see "27 Dresses" later that night. Yes, it was indoors, but when we came out of the theater it was FREEZING!!!!! We ran all the way to the car - even my teeth were cold. The temperature gauge in the car said the outside temperature was 5 degrees. A little chilly.

Eric had his 37th birthday on Saturday. He got some really nice gifts, including the Nintendo DS from me - see earlier post. Now we don't have to fight over mine. The only reason he got this was because when I went out on Friday to pick up his birthday gift, I told him I was going to Target to get some shampoo - I wasn't, I was going to the mall to get him some new shoes. He asked me to pick up some Rice Krispies from Target for him - dang!! So, I thought I would just check one more time to see if they had any DS's - they have been out of them forever - and they did. So, Eric got one. All because he wanted some Rice Krispies.


We went to Buca di Beppo for dinner - and ate way too much. It was so yummy. On Sunday, we had my family over so they could see Amanda. Eric, Amanda, Clara and Hayley all played together with the DS's. They had a great time. It was funny to see their heads buried in the videos games for at least an hour.


So, on this Martin Luther King day, we are home, resting from our fun and busy weekend. Amanda left for the airport about an hour ago. There's a little snow on the ground this morning, and our current temperature is 19 degrees. We are supposed to have a little more snow this evening. It's quiet. It makes me a little sad. Here's some more photos from this weekend. Have a great Monday!!

I made yummy salsa for our Mexican fiesta on Thursday. Is was go-od.

Poor Paige, she kept making yummy sounds every time I took a bite of my cake. She did get a fistful when I wasn't looking. She is definitely my child. No question about that.

Our piano prodigy in training.

Emily's dog Brownie apparently was very sick on Friday - he was on the toilet with diarrhea. Where does she come up with this stuff?

The Nintendo Phenomenon

There is a new phenomenon starting...Nintendo DS! This is a portable game system from our Japanese friends (now made in China of course) at Nintendo. I got Allison one for Christmas and she got me one for my birthday, so now we have his-and-hers Nintendos. The cool thing is that they are equipped with a Wi-Fi connection so you can play wirelessly with nearby opponents. Yesterday we had several guests over for my birthday and several of us had our faces buried behind their diminutive screens, fingers fidgeting wildly at the controls. Ah, sweet victory! I think there were about five of those things in our house at once. Last night before turning out the lights Allison and I had a little go-kart championship race going on. I think my fingers may be sore today, especially my "gas pedal" finger.

Just wanted to let you know....

That the views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the blog creator.

By saying that, I would just like to let all of you know, that I am in TOTAL disagreement with my dear and darling husband about yesterdays windshield wipers post. While I do think that it can be a public safety hazard to have a bunch of people honking their horns to show their support of a street corner protester - I do not think that it is a waste of time to protest something which many people think is so inherently wrong. I think a better alternative would be to roll down the window and shout out a "Right On", or "You Rock", or anything else like that. Or how about one better - join him. Is the president going to stop the war because of this protest - um, I think not. But, I think as an American, it's vitally important to exercise one's right to free speech and public protest as much as possible. If you believe in something, or you are completely against something, show it. It's the American thing to do. It's patriotic. And, let's hope that never changes.

Anyway - that's the last of the political blog entries for awhile. I have some pictures to post later - I just wanted to get my opinion out there. Have a GREAT Friday...and hey, go protest something...it's your right, and it's NOT a waste of time.

I'm all black and blue!

I'll freely admit that I am a typical clueless male when it comes to clothing. Frequently I will get dressed in the morning and Allison will take one look at me and say, "What in the world are you wearing? That doesn't match." And I think to myself, "Really? I thought I had a good outfit going on here. What part exactly doesn't match? What do you mean by everything?" This morning while getting dressed I ran into a frequent problem for me, and I suspect men all over are similarly afflicted: I cannot see the difference between black and dark navy blue. Evidently women can tell them apart just as if they were black and canary yellow but to me they look exactly the same. So of course I probably did look foolish trying to wear black shoes with a blue shirt, but men don't look at the shoes people wear in any case. Good Lord! How did I dress before I met Allison? It's a wonder I ever got a second date!

Wipers for Peace

Hi all. This is Eric (Allison's husband for those who don't know) and I will be contributing my thoughts and images to the family blog occasionally. Today's thought comes from a local war protest. Every Monday on Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road there is a war protestor urging people to honk their horn as they drive by if they are opposed to the war. Now once or twice is one thing but this guy has been doing it every week since December of 2002, and the local people are starting to get a wee bit tired of all the honking. The city has initiated a ban on honking and the police say that traffic code only permits honking for a vehicular emergency and that violators will be ticketed. The protestors are all up in arms saying this is a violation of their 1st amendment rights. So I propose a peaceful solution - windshield wipers for peace. If you oppose the war turn on the wipers. They are quiet and exactly as effective at ending the war. It's not as if President Bush is going to say, "We can't have all those people honking on Woodward - better pull all the troops out immediately!" I say that the protestor should realize that since his weekly devotion has basically amounted to a fruitless usage of over 250 days of his life maybe he should get a hobby or a TV show or something. You don't get those days back, man!

Today's word of the day: BOONDOGGLE Guys, we just dont use boondoggle enough in our daily talking. Try to fit it into a conversation soon!

Tracks in the snow

Was Billy from the "Family Circus" in my backyard?

This is the view of the backyard from my bedroom window. I noticed the tracks last night when I was doing my most favorite thing - folding clothes. They are from Max. It's funny to see what path he takes. Have a great Wednesday!!

I was going to be so patriotic

And it was all foiled. I had such a great idea of taking a picture of my "I Voted" sticker for this blog. It would have looked so cool - but no. No stickers today. Yes, I voted in our ridiculous, not by the rules, primary today. I was already upset because my candidate was not on the ballot, therefore rendering me to vote uncommitted - but not even an "I Voted" sticker? A sad day really. But I digress.

So, it is so sad for all of you as well - you'll have to deal with some really cute pictures of my kids. Sorry about that.




If you look really closely at the one of Paige in the bathtub, you can see her little teeth starting to stick out - she's got two coming in now. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Teeth and stuff

We have been busy. But, here's the thing....I don't know what we have been busy doing. All I know is that it is now 10:30pm on Sunday night, and I am seriously wondering where my weekend has gone. I know that I did get my haircut Friday afternoon, and after that, everything is fuzzy.

The BIG news around here is that Paige is getting a tooth. Bottom left, to be exact. Eric says that we can now officially say that Paige is teething. Not really a surprise though - she has been drooling buckets. She has been napping pretty good, and sleeping pretty good at night, too. I am hoping that this stays the trend for awhile.

Here are the photos from the past few days - I have been very good and taking at least one picture everyday.

See the drool?

See Paige's whole shirt is covered in drool??

Emily and all her new Doggies: Wow, Sally, Libby, Rosebud and Pretty

Emily and some of her older doggies: Strawberry, Grace, Ashton and Polka Dot

Okay, so I know you can't see it, but it's there....trust me. Paige was not exactly a willing participant for a photo.

See - got my haircut. It looked so much better when I got back from the salon.

I love sweet potatoes.

Daily Pictures

The new thing in Scrapbooking is to take a daily photo. I have been pretty good with this so far this year...I think I have only missed a couple days. I could just throw in some extra here and there and no one would be the wiser....just me and my hard drive. Gotta love digital photography!! Here are today's photos:

I am so in need of a haircut - so much that while editing this photo for the blog, I called my hair salon and have and appointment for 2:30pm tomorrow. I am going to have to hold back getting it all cut off, although I am so tempted because Paige loves nothing more than to grab and pull a handful of my hair. I think it's her subtle way of say, "Mom, gets this mop cut!!"

Also, in case you were wondering - flower barette courtest of etsy.com (ellabella designs). I got her some more headbands and a pink and green flower barette as well. They stay in her hair for at least an hour.