Turkey

I plan to puppynap Dyna someday.

Our short trip to Reno has come to end. We left on Wednesday night and didn't show up until 12:34am on Thursday. After getting no sleep between an upset stomach and a baby who likes to kick me in his sleep, we were up at the crack of dawn thanks to a sweet three year old who is Kevin's nephew. I encouraged Kevin's sister & brother-in-law to give their child Nyquil, but they didn't find that as amusing as I did.

I dropped off Jack in the mid-morning at the Lynch house. Of course he was greeted by the three sweet angel dogs they have. My favorite is Dyna (see picture above from Lisa's page). I love that dog. One day she will be mine. Anyway, Jack spent a few hours at their house until I picked him up for turkey dinner with Kevin's family. It was Kevin, his sister, brother-in-law, nephew, niece, dad, and his dad's special lady friend. Dinner was amazing! I don't know how his sister did it. She has so much to do every day... I can't figure out when she sleeps.

After dinner I took Jack back over to the Lynch house for a sleep over. Of course I wanted to cry as I was walking out the door, but Lisa texted me shortly after I left that Jack was playing with his Aunt Stevi and Shae, and was a very happy boy. That made me feel much better, so I went back to Theresa's house (Kevin's sister) for pie & her "special" hot chocolate. And by special, I mean peppermint schnapps. We played this awesome pirate game called Dread Pirate or something like that. I can't remember what it was called, but I lost both times and had so much fun. We all talked like pirates which is always a good time.

I had a wonderful and quiet nights sleep (Thank you, Lisa & Jay!). I was able to get my sushi-fix this morning at Sushi Pier. It was fantastic. I miss that place so much! Around noon we headed back to Bend which is where we are now. Babycakes crashed after his bath, and I'm stuffing myself with brownies & coffee. I think I might break out some cheese. I need to get a little extra fluff for the winter to keep myself warm!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Heading to Reno

While Kevin is at work today, Jack and I will be running around Bend getting a bunch of stuff for our trip. Who would of thought 2 days in Reno would take an entire day of preparation?

So, we are leaving tonight at 5pm. Then we are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow at 3pm. Sometime in the morning (or maybe night) I will be taking Jack over to Lisa's. Then Friday morning we are going to Sushi Pier and coming home. I hope hope hope it is open! I can't imagine driving 7 1/2 hours and there not be sushi at the other end.

*Happy Thanksgiving*

Monsters Inc.

Jack's favorite movie right now is Monsters Inc. He watches it every day! It works out great for me because I am able to get a lot done while he is entertained for 92 minutes. He laughs hysterically at every thing in the movie and dances for about 3/4 of it. With all that moving and grooving, he gets tired and takes a long two hour nap. Thank you Disney/Pixar!

Happy Birthday!

Today is three very important people's birthdays! First, we have my very good friend Nessa, who is turning... well, it doesn't matter what she's turning. The girl looks like she's 21! So, Happy Birthday, Nessa!

Next, we have my long time friend, Aaron. He is 28 today! Happy Birthday, Tiger-Face! Snarl!

And of course, my favorite girl Stevi, is 12 today! Happy Birthday Aunt Stevi!

I hope you three have a fantastic day! We love you!!!

Hello Reno!

Kevin and I decided to make a very quick trip up to Reno next week for Thanksgiving. He hasn't seen his family since we moved here in May, so we thought now is a great time to go down and visit. I wish we had enough time to go to California as well, but that will just have to wait for December or January.

We are leaving Wednesday when he gets off work. We won't get into Reno until about 1am or 2am. Thursday we are doing the whole Thanksgiving thing with his family around 3pm, and then leaving Friday afternoon to come back home. I'm coordinating with the Lynch family so they can have Jack for a little bit as well. That sweet baby, he's going to have an exhausting three days!

I wish I had enough time to visit my friends, however, we are so limited on time that I won't be able to. My sincerest apologies to all of you! I promise to make my next trip longer!

Before I sign off, I saw the movie Twilight tonight with my sister. Fan-freaking-tastic! Nothing in comparison to the books, but still phenomenal! I plan to re-read the books on my long drive to Reno. Sigh....

Back to Reality. Sigh.....

Well, after a few complaints I received recently (my mother, Cindy, etc.), I am back to the blog. I took a little vacation from reality for a week (Thursday through Thursday) and decided to read the 4 books in the Twilight series. Every time I tried to take a break and go clean or blog, I couldn't concentrate and went back to reading. It was horrible! You have to understand something though, I don't read. Like, the last time I read a book was in 2003 when I was at UNR. The fact that I actually WANTED to read was huge. So, Kevin and Jack gave me my mini break from life and let me get it out of my system so now I'm back to normal... well, as normal as I usually am. =)

Last week I went over to Laura's for a play date with the kids & Aunt Jessica. We had tons of fun! Pip convinced Aunt Jessica to take everyone outside and spin! Of course I got nauseous just watching Jess spin the kids around and around... I have a very weak stomach. Nick came home and we all got to hang out together for a little while. It was very nice. I don't think the three of us big kids got to hang out together at once in a long time.

Not much new with Jack this week. He's still pulling hair and hitting me in the face, but not so much anymore. I just walk away from him and ignore him which seems to really tick him off, hence I think it is working. It breaks my heart when he lays on the floor and screams and cries, but whenever I crack and go to him, he bonks me in the nose. So, he's a big faker and I have to accept that.

Jack is definitely trying to talk more though. He is a champ at the word ball! I asked him yesterday if I could change his diaper and he told me no several times. Then, after a while he came to me. I asked him again and he nodded, said, "ya!" and sat next to the diaper and let me change him. I was like, whoe! Are you my baby? It was pretty rad that we were communicating so well.

Well, I will try to have more updates for you tomorrow. I have a very neglected house that I need to clean!!!

I added this picture because it was the only one I could get all three kids in at once!

What Starts With "R"? Pippa Reese!

Jack had an awesome time yesterday at Pippa & Will's house. He always loves it when we first arrive because I let him walk all the way from the car to their front door by himself. He even giggles as he's making the journey (all 10 feet of it). Once we arrived, Will and Jack were off stealing each other's snacks and making all sorts of loud noise. Pip was still asleep, however.

As the boys played, Laura and I got to catch up which is always nice. Aside from work, the only other adult I spend time with is Kevin. So, it's nice to be around an adult female once in a while! Laura's Baby #3 isn't due until April, and I am so excited for another cousin for Jack! My prediction is this baby is a boy.

After a little while, Pip finally woke up. I met her at the stairs. She was holding the letter "R". I asked Pippa what word started with "R", and she simply replied "Pippa Reese!" What a doll! So anyway, I told Laura I would take care of getting her in regular clothes. We went up there and I notice Pip's diaper was a bit full. Here is the conversation I had with this delightful 2 year old:

Me: Pippa, does your diaper have poop?

Pip: Poop!

Me: No, Pippa, does your diaper have poop in it?

Pip: Hmmmm, let me check!

And she sticks her little hand in the back of her diaper to check! I was like, "Noooooooo!!!!"

Pip: Nope! No poop!

Thank God. If it happen to be poop down there, I would have had to call Laura.

Pick A Tent!

Thank you, amazon.com. Which of the 7 pirate tents should we get Jack for Christmas? We are leaning towards the one with the tunnel.

Tent... Continued

I won't lie, if Jack gets this for Christmas, it's really a gift for me.

Holiday Shopping....

Today Jack and I decided we were going to get our Christmas shopping done today. I know it's a bit early, but I was in the mood to go to Target. So, we pack up our crackers and milk and off we went.

We get to Target at 9:30am. I have my list of 5 kids to shop for: Jack, Pip, Will, and Kevin's niece and nephew, Willow and Aaron. All 5 kids are under three, so I figure this is going to be easy. W-R-O-N-G! So not easy, people! First off, I would like to say that my mother is amazing. How she had three children, worked full-time, Christmas shopped for 20 + people, and wrapped all of the presents is a miracle. I only had to shop for 5 people and I cried.

Ok, so I hit the toy isle. Can you believe it took me FOUR hours to find everything? The present I wanted to get Pippa was no good as Laura called and informed me she already had it. Doh! So much for the most awesome Word World present ever! And sweet Will, what do I get him? Those two angels have everything, and I didn't want to just get them more toys. So, I got a little creative. Of course, I can't tell you what I got them as that would ruin the surprise.

Next, I start shopping for Aaron and Willow. They just got a new play kitchen so we wanted to get them some accessories for it. There were so many choices, how could I decide? I called Kevin, like 5 times about it while I was there, and he just kept saying, "just pick something!" He ended up coming to Target on his lunch to help me as I was having a nervous breakdown and started to cry.

Then there is my sweet angel pie, Jack. Besides the totally rad tent, what else do I get the boy who has everything? I got him bubble bath. That was the only thing I bought for him today. Bubble bath. What kind of Christmas is that? I am so sad. When Kevin gets off work, he's going to entertain Jack so I can go to Walmart (eek!) and try to find him a few little stocking stuffers. Would it be weird if I just wrote him a check and put it in his savings account for his Christmas gift? Don't answer that, I already know the answer.

After Target, we get in the Jeep (heart!) and I had a coupon for a free coffee from Maui Wowwie. We hit the road and the gas light goes on. Me, being cheaper then most conservatives, has to drive everywhere to find the cheapest gas. $2.17... I rock. After that, we drive and drive looking for this coffee place. I find Mocha Joes, Mocha Madness, Coffee hut here, coffee hut there... Finally I find Maui Wowwie. So, I get my free coffee and I head over to Albertsons to go grocery shopping, but someone in the back seat fell asleep. So instead, we are home. Jack napping, me trying to find my sanity somewhere. I think I left it at Target.

Fort Knox

As you can see, Jack keeps all of his valuable and special toys in his fort, and guards them very well!

Here is taking a nap right now. He chooses some interesting sleep positions.

An Even Cooler Present!

Kevin came up with a way awesome present that we are getting for Jack instead of the zebra thing. Jack & Kevin make a fort every night and play hide-and-go-seek, peek-a-boo, and other fun games with it. So Kevin went online and found these really cool tents with tubes in it. We haven't decided which one we want to get for Jack yet, but it'll be something like this:

French Bread

I just found where Jack hid the french bread from dinner. Yum!

Nice Black Eye, Mom!

So, I have half of a black eye care of Jack. "Jack?" you say to yourself. Yes, Babycakes! Yesterday morning I was laying on the living room floor. I was all bundled up in blankets and taking a nap. Apparently that wasn't ok with Jack so he took his Jack-in-the-box toy and threw it at my face. Now, I have half a black eye that is in the shape of the edge of the box.

Then this morning, for some unknown reason, I thought I would curl up in the blankets and rest on the living room floor again. Guess what Jack did! He takes his keyboard (the kind that goes to computers) and throws it at me AGAIN! Now I have an egg on my head.

So, what have I learned from this? Don't try to nap when my tot wants to play. He's going through a throwing/hitting phase right now. I thought he was getting over it, but my eye says differently. Someone is starting to get well aquatinted with the naughty chair.

Can't Find Your Remote?

Can't find your remote? Try checking this spot:

This is the infamous toy I've told you about; The one where Jack loves to hide cheese and other odd-n-ends.

This morning I could hear Jack talking. I went into his room to see what had him so intrigued... guess I'll need to keep the hand sanitizer on the other side of the room now!

Vice President Reese

Did you see the news today? Joe Biden has been dumped as VP. Jack is now taking over his position!

Football Part II

Kevin has been teaching Jack how to play football lately. Here's the highlights from last night's game:

Tonight's Dinner

As I was working on dinner tonight, I noticed the bread went missing during my preparation of the fish. Here is what the bread looked like when I found it:

It was quite light, which I thought was odd. So I looked in it:

Yes, that's right, Jack ate the entire inside!

Here are a few pictures of the end result of dinner, and of course Jack enjoying it!