Yum!

Well, first a couple of updates. My bracket -- has been the worst NCAA bracket I have EVER had. Before last night's games, I was #1922 out of 2387. Ouch. But, I am starting to move back up. I'm at 1485 now. Blake is moving down, and will continue to do so, since he had Notre Dame in the final game, and they lost last weekend.


The next update concerns that potty training. I was ready for it. Blake was ready for it. James demonstrated the signs on "the list" of being ready for it. But, no. He had an evening of being very proud of himself. Then proceeded to refuse to use it. Or find other ways to let us know his opinion. So, we wait.


The process of attempting to potty train was exhausting and a little stressful. So, I was SO happy when Wednesday night rolled around. I'd already been looking forward to Mom's Night Out at The Melting Pot for a couple of months, but wanted it even more when it came. It was Ladies' Night, which meant a couple of things. First, it was only $27 for the 4-course meal, which is significantly cheaper than usual. Second, we couldn't help but notice that all of the servers were attractive young men. There were female servers, but they only did things like fill water glasses and not talk. We thought it was pretty funny and were imagining how interviews there were -- "Ok, you look good. You will be required to work all Ladies' Night events. You got a problem with that?"


I took a few pictures of us, but won't post any -- somebody is chewing or putting food in their mouth in every picture. Which, at The Melting Pot, is exactly as it should be. But, here's a photo of the yummy dessert. Every 2 people got a plate like that to share, and there were 3 pots of chocolate fondue for the 10 of us. I love that place!

New Toys, and old things that are NOT toys

Blake's parents, Larry and Debbie, came Saturday, so we went out to eat at Ariake, one of our favorite restaurants. James doesn't like when they throw things, make loud noises with the knives, or start the fires, but he's doing better. Despite his unhappiness at times during the meal, for the past couple of days he has been asking to go to the "Fire Place". It took me a couple of times before I realized he was talking about the restaurant and not that thing in the living room . . .

James had so much fun on Easter. The night before, the last thing he said before bed was "Easter Bunny", because we'd been telling him about it. He found an egg right away, and didn't want to stop to look at the basket of goodies from his grandparents -- he just wanted to look for eggs. He was so determined!!! Here he is gleefully sorting his treats.

We renewed our USCellular contract (since we've been very happy with them) and were able to pay the same money for a better plan, and get 2 new phones for a total of $10. The phones are great, with a 1.3 megapixel camera (better than the old VGA one I had) and an MP3 player, which I'm looking forward to using when I go out to the trails, since I'll only need to take the phone, not the phone and ipod. And, they each have 3 faceplates, so Blake and I could decide on our own colors and be able to quickly tell our phones apart.


I still hadn't finished learning how to use all the features of the new phones when Larry and Debbie came for Easter. And, with them came more manuals to read, because they got us a NEW CAMERA!!! Larry is quite into cameras and photography, so he knew what would be best for us. He said he got a good deal at Costco, and I hope so, because what they got us is amazing! It's a Canon PowerShot A650 IS, 12.1 megapixels, and the viewing screen that swivels around so short me can hold it way over my head to take pictures when I'm too short to actually see something. And, it came with a Canon Pixma multifunction printer/copier/scanner. So, Blake got my old photo printer and I have the new deluxe one! I've been playing all weekend! This camera takes such great photos, but I won't bore folks with all the photos I'd like to.

Me with new camera!

My phone and our new printer, with a stack of product manuals on top.

I'm glad it was a fun weekend, because today we started potty training. Ugh. I will not post pictures of James in his new big boy underpants, but here is a picture of the things that are not fun new toys, but are getting lots of use -- the mop and laundry basket. I may have to post a picture of a beer later, if Blake doesn't bring me home a latte. Ooh, Blake just called, and there is a tall skinny mocha latte on the way! Yes, for anyone who knew me "before", I now drink those drinks. And sometimes, instead of a Guinness, I'll have a girly drink, too. Eek.

The best 2 sports days of the year!

It's tourney time! I love watching non-stop basketball, 4 games at a time for 2 days! Thanks CBS online! And, I don't even have to use the "boss button", not that I think it would fool many bosses, anyway. I talked Blake into entering a bracket online with me, and so far, he is kicking my butt. Our brackes are on http://www.thiswebsitestinks.com/ . I'm Hahred and he is hahredmanslave. Tee-hee. Sorry, Danielle, we both put USC beating KSU. But during the game, I was pulling for K-State, and don't mind too much that their win KILLED my bracket, since I had USC in the Elite Eight. And I REALLY hoped Belmont would pull the upset over Duke. It was so great to see how close they came.

I was cleaning like a madwoman earlier in the week, just so I could do next to nothing while the tourney is on. I still have to go to the store this afternoon, though.

Had to insert this picture of James. I remember when he was a little baby, choosing the cutest outfits for him to wear, dressing him up, showing him off. Well, those days are over. Today, he found and insisted on wearing this sweater vest, which is way too small. He was so proud. The picture is too dark to show much of the rest, but he also has drool on the shirt, and his eye is a little icky from the cold. Perfect. He saw the picture and kept saying "tummy" and laughing. The shirt goes away tonight. Forever.

We had fun yesterday. My friends Meg and Phil from Columbia came by with their 3 1/2 year old twins. The 3 boys had fun playing, although not necessarily with each other. And the adults enjoyed visiting. Then we went out to lunch at Red Robin. As each conversation was interrupted about 20 times, Meg and I reminisced about the days when we would all go out to a restaurant and eat and drink and talk for HOURS at a time. And the more I think about it, I can't think of a single one of those times when anyone threw a crayon. So, then we laughed at how things change and how happy we are with our boys.

Grrrrrrr!

What do we have to do -- become hermits? While I am on my THIRD medicine to try to clear up the conjuctivitis I got from James, who got it at either Jump 4 Fun or the Hippo Place, James is sporting a new icky runny nose. I will spare you the details. The dilemma is -- the humidifier would help, but now that he can reach the top of his dresser, we really don't trust him not to find a way to dump the water all over, in which it may end up in the electrical socket. So . . . we are going the no humidifier route. OH, I just had a possibly good idea . . . I can have it on in his room while he is up and around, then take it out when he is in there to sleep. Maybe that will help. Either way, it is frustrating to keep getting colds, etc. from the play places we go to. But, I guess that's part of the territory.

We did have fun going to West County Mall the other day. He got to play, but first we bought some big boy underwear, in preparation for potty training, which will probably begin next week. And, I got a new battery for the receiver of my heart rate monitor. Now that I have it again, I see that I was really slacking on my cardio. Since it knows my age, weight, gender, and my heart rate, I think it gives me a more accurate accounting of calories burned. So, I used it this morning, worked out much harder than usual so that it would show that I was in my target, and found that I burned a pathetically low number of calories. The good news is that when I weighed myself yesterday, I've lost a little more weight. And with my new and improved cardio workouts, I'm sure the pounds will melt away! I like my SparkPeople.com program.

A long overdue update

For the longest time I wasn't posting much -- because we weren't doing much. Lately, we've been doing plenty, so I've been too tired! Here is a brief update.

First of all, we never found the missing cards, so Blake got a new license, and the others were cancelled.

My mom came for a visit, which James had a blast with. We went everywhere to play, he got new books, and it took both of us a couple of days to recover. Of course, the Hippo Place was the first destination, but we also went back to Whittle Train Station, and to the mall, where he rode the carousel. He was not sure about that at first, but Grandma helped him be comfortable. Also while she was here, Blake and I got to go out on a date! Yeah! We talked for a while at a coffee shop, then ate at Brio. Yum! No diet that evening. No photos to post, though -- blogger is giving me error messages, and with the dying camera the photos look a little wacky anyway, so it's not worth the extra effort. Unless you really want to see what James looks like in neon shades.

Last night, we went to a family night party for playgroup. It was a lot of fun for all of us. Blake and I got to visit with other adults (and kids), James got to play with other kids and toys, and I got to try a new recipe http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeyscheesecakeBars.html . They were very good. I know that when you are watching what you eat, you're supposed to take something healthy to a party. Yeah, well, my strategy is to take something really yummy that I can have a serving of, rather than having a bunch of leftovers around my house. Of course, I also don't seem to be losing weight as quickly as I would like, so you might not want to adopt my strategy.

I've also been watching lots of basketball -- the Big 12 tournament championship is at halftime right now. And the NCAA tourney starts on Thursday. So, it's time to put together my bracket, enter a pool or two, and watch my ranking go lower and lower. I would also like to take this moment to thank ESPN360 and CBS for having all of these games online.

Have you seen . . .

Blake's license, debit card and credit card? They're missing. We both remember where he put them -- on the ledge between the kitchen and living room. Easily within reach of the child. I recall thinking that was a bad idea. Blake may have moved them. Or it may have been a really fun game for James to find skinny little places to put them in. If you find them, let us know. We've looked all over, so asking you seems as logical as anything else right now.

Trains and cookies

Today was a fun day for James. We went to Whittle Train Station with playgroup. It's basically just a store that sells toy trains and books about trains and all things trains for kids. But, they also have tons of trains set up for kids to play with. There were a LOT of kids there, in addition to our playgroup, and everyone had fun. I haven't seen James entertained by just one thing ever. It actually gave me time to talk to people. Which is unusual -- usually playgroup time is spent chasing.

Then this evening I made oatmeal raisin cookies. I wanted for James to help a little, or at least watch, but he kept trying to dump the oatmeal out, so I decided to go solo. The cookies were good, and he kept demanding more. While I was waiting for one pan to cook, I had another ready for the oven sitting on the counter. While my back was turned, the little stinker stole a cookie off of it. Just as I'm sure I did when I was a kid.

We're getting ready for a busy and fun weekend. And, right now, I am waiting for Blake to get home so we can watch Lost. I get more confused with every episode, just like they planned.

Saturday nights just aren't what they used to be

On Saturday night, Blake decided it was time to put the dresser his parents gave James for Christmas together. I will admit there may have been some encouragement (ok, nagging) from me on this. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it, but did want to help. I'd even considered opening the box and putting the drawers together one day, but fortunately didn't do that. Because here is what we found when opening the box . . .


about a million pieces. Blake apparently knew it would be like this, which is why he hadn't done it before. It was RIDICULOUSLY hard to put together! Blake wouldn't let me help, but wanted me to keep him company and listen to any complaints he had during the process. The 3 HOUR PROCESS! But, it turned out very nice, and James likes that he can now get his books off the top of the dresser. And, almost every time I get him from his nap or bedtime, I find a huge pile of clothes that he has pulled out of it. At least he helps pick them up.


On the top of the second picture, do you see the purple line? And that the photos don't look so great? I think my poor PowerShot A80 is about to call it quits. The picture on the screen when I am setting up shots keeps looking worse and worse, and now the photos are starting to. I'm ready to move beyond the world of 4-megapixels. I'm just not ready to have to pay for it. But, I can't complain too much -- I've had this camera for years and it has served me well.

I got my embossing tools to use for the invitations (actually for Save the Date cards -- waaay to early for invites!). And now I know that I need to go to Archivers Rubberstamping Basics class! I am not good at this. But, it is a fun chance to learn. Well, back to my practicing!

Malls, Malls, Malls

We haven't done the most exciting things lately, but we have been getting out of the house more. James really likes playing at the mall now. The local mall re-did the kids area, and it is great for him now. And for me -- I can pretty much watch him from one spot without needing to do any chasing. He also had fun at Mills Mall today, and rode the train for the first time. He did not like it at first, but once Blake got in there with him, he was fine. And wanted to ride again.

I went to a Bridal Showcase class at Archivers today, where they demo'd different invitation options. It will be fun to design and make them. I need to get an embossing gun. Oh, how I hate to get scrapbook supplies. HaHa.

Mizzou is currently 10th in the Big 12. So, there isn't much to look forward to there. At least no more players have committed crimes lately.

I finished the 3rd Harry Potter. I really liked it. And, I can now confidently say, that having seen 2 of the movies, I remembered almost nothing from them. Not sure why, because they were good.

That's about all here. Just wanted to do a quick update!