Pictures...Finally

Yes I am still alive. Sorry, no pictures from the Vegas weekend until now. I have been battling this cold/allergies/sinus thingy for a few days now. It is kicking my butt I think. I also have to confess that I have been watching the first season of Lost dvd during naptimes and therefore I have not been on the internet like usual. But I finally got through all the episodes and am all caught up. Cool show I must say.

So here are the pictures from Vegas. Unfornately the cheerleading pictures did not turn out very well because the arena was so dark and we were so far away. Here is one though.

The FAO Schwartz pics turned out cute I think. Here is Jack picking out choo choos in the case. . . very expensive choo choos I might add.



Then it was onto car shopping. He liked the little red convertibles but...

Fell in love with the Hummer. And the price on said car for KIDS...

Shown below. Spoiled rotten rich kids I say.

Then it was off to check out the motorcycles. The boy has a thing for Harley's I guess.

Vegas Baby

We went to Las Vegas this weekend for Laura's National cheerleading competition. This was a huge thing. I mean thousands and thousands of people and girls running around in skimpy little cheerleading outfits.

It started out with us driving up there on Friday. Of course leave it to the cheerleaders to book this event the very SAME weekend that Nascar has a huge race in town also. So that means that all the rooms were booked OR what was left was charging highway robbery. I mean the Stardust crappy rooms that normally are $29 were over $200 a night. So Jim's Navy career came through for us and he booked us in the family lodging at the Nellis Air Force base in North Las Vegas. And the price for a 1 bedroom apartment with murphy beds in the wall for the kids? $31.75 a night!!!!! In Vegas! Yeah I was impressed too. It saved us probably close to a thousand dollars!

We got there Friday afternoon and when we arrived on base, the Thunderbirds were practicing. Of course Jack went crazy about all the *airmays* (airplanes in Jack-speak). Oh and Jim was just as or more enthralled with the airmays as Jack. It also allowed us to do some shopping at the base Exchange. Low prices and no sales tax - gotta love that.

On Saturday, Laura's competition started at 6 AM!!! She went on at 8 AM!!! Yeah early. Thank goodness her mother was the one to do the hair and makeup for this one. She did great as usual. There were 18 other first-place teams from around the country in her category so it was stiff competition.

After she performed we had 4 hours to kill before her awards ceremony. So we headed over to Caesar's Palace and went to the FAO Schwartz toy store. The boy was in heaven. I mean there were $30,000 Hummer battery-operated cars! For kids! I mean really give me a break. Besides the over-priced spoiled rich kid's toys, there were also Thomas tables, ride-on toys, the giant piano on the floor, cars, choo-choos, airmays. I mean it was kid heaven. Of course when it was time to leave, we had to take the boy out kicking and screaming.

We got back to the competition in time to see Laura take FOURTH PLACE in her category. I think that is great out of all the other teams. And were are really proud of her. I think she was a little bit bummed for not getting first place, but still even placing is a great accomplishment. One of the other teams from her gym got first place in their category, so I am sure there was some jealousy involved.

Anyway, we came home today. It was snowing in the mountains when we came home and was absolutely freezing. It was also freezing in Vegas being in the 30's. Brrrr Told as Jack would say. It was a fun weekend but it is always good to get home. I will post the pics a bit later. There are some of the competition and the enormity of the whole event. Also cute pics of Jack being enthralled with the toy store.

How do YOU spell Headache?

Take 75 toddlers and mix them with about 20 drums and other assorted *musical* objects that make A LOT of noise and you spell one big fat HEADACHE!!! Oh yeah and one VERY crabby Jack who is screaming in his crib right now cause he doesn't want to take a nap even though it is VERY MUCH needed. Where is that asprin again?

Mama needs a break. I think I will go watch an episode of Lost from our new Season one DVD. Even though I have three thousand things to do right now. Oh well, it will be there in an hour right?

Story Time

We went to storytime at a new children's bookstore in town. I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but it was my dream to open a children's bookstore about 10 years ago. A friend and I were seriously thinking about doing it, but then the evil B&N (don't get me wrong I love em also, just not in the neighborhood of your bookstore) came and plopped down and we kinda figured that we would not do very well with them around. Who knows?

But anyway, there is a very cute and quaint new children's bookstore in town with storytime every Wednesday. The owner of the store is even named Dawn (go figure). About half of her inventory is used books at really good prices. Jack really enjoyed the bookstore. He had a lot of fun taking 300 books off the shelf and looking at them all. Of course with me as his "put the books back person" cause he didn't have time for that when there are books to look at.

He also picked up the guitar that was sitting in the play area. He picked it up like he knew what to do with it and held it the right way and started to strum it. Of course when I shot the picture below he wouldn't hold it correctly for me then.



After storytime, she had a small craft for the kids to do. She has a paper tree on the wall and kids were decorating leaves to put on the wall. Very cute and of course Jack thought it was so much fun.

Today we have on the agenda to go to the outlet center for the free monthly kids outlet thing. This month they have musican lessons where they teach the kids how to beat on drums. Oh joy. Just as long as the drums stay there and not go home with us.

Happy Birthday Aunt Corlinda

Today is Aunt Corlinda's birthday. I won't say the number cause hell after 30 nobody says the number right? And no you are not getting old - we all are getting old. Have a good birthday today!

A Healthy Two-Year-Old Little Boy

We just got back from the doctor and the 2-year checkup for Jack. And I am happy to say that he is just a normal and healthy little boy. His stats were 30lbs even and 35.5" tall. I had heard that if you double the height at two years old that is what the eventual adult height is going to be. So I asked the doctor if this was true and he said yep and that we can expect Jack to be around 6 foot tall. He was 70 percentile for weight and 85 percentile for height.

He did get one shot and the strong little thing that he is got out of my hold on his hands and managed to grab the needle and actually jabbed himself further with it. And nope, he was not a happy camper after that, but a sucker helped ease the pain a bit.

So we are done for another 6 months with the doctor and the next appointment is just for another vaccine. I think the Hep A second shot. Geesh all these vaccines makes your head swim.

Oh and I had to add this cause it made me laugh at the doctor. He asked if Jack had a vocabulary of at least FOUR words. I wanted to laugh so hard because the boy is talking non stop and he has a vocabulary of about a HUNDRED words now or more. Who counts past like five anyway?

For Your Viewing Pleasure - The Boat & Fishing Show, Birthday Presents

Jack really liked the boats. He kept saying "Big Boat". I told him he better get a really good job before he does this for real.


Jack and Daddy fishing. I knew it wouldn't be long before Jim had a fishing pole in the boy's hands.


Here is Laura fishing. Notice the intense concentration. I told her that if she caught one, she had to clean it. Even after that news, she was still trying to get one.


The big birthday present. He's just lucky we found it on ebay cause at retail price, he wouldn't be getting it.


Out for a Monday afternoon car ride in the backyard. The other birthday present.


And of course Foo Foo has to go down the slide with him.

The After Party Hangover

Even though no booze was consumed, I feel very hangoverish today. Jack's birthday party and the getting ready for it has wiped me out big time. We had a good birthday party, even though most of the people I invited and said maybe did not show up. We still had 8 people show up and just forced them to eat really BIG pieces of cake and lots of hamburgers. Jim's supervisor and his family showed up. They have a daughter who is 8 days younger than Jack. And boy did they enjoy each other. So much in fact that when it was time for them to leave, they BOTH gave each other big smooches right on the lips. Wish I had the camera for that Kodak moment, it was sooo cute.

Yesterday we went to Long Beach to attend the big boat, fishing, camping, and anything outdoor-related show. It was fun to dream about actually having money to buy a boat, RV, and the other assorted big boy TOYS they had. But alas we are poor. They did have a big pool stocked with fish and they were letting people try to catch the fish. If you caught one, you got to take it home (oh joy). So we stood in line for over 30 minutes for our (err THEIR) chance to catch a fish. Yeah this girl don't fish. But Jim, Laura, and even Jack took turns trying to catch a fish while I stood there secretly hoping that they DIDN'T. Yucky Fish.

After that, we went to pick up the climber thingy that I won off of ebay. I also bought one of the cozy coupe car thingys from her. Yeah thats right Jack is a spoiled rotten child.

I will post pics of the great fishing escapade and the new toys in a bit. Right now, I think nap nap time is calling me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY - YEAR TWO

Well here we are again. It is your birthday. You keep on insisting upon growing up, despite your mother's wishes. I can't believe that it has been two whole years since they laid you in my arms and we finally met. Boy oh boy has it been the most amazing two years of my life and the shortest.

This past year you have accomplished quite a lot. I guess the biggest one would have to be walking. You decided that it was time to start walking when you were 13 months old. We were on vacation on a cruise at the time and for just some reason you decided to take off walking while we were on the ship. However, my stubborn little son, you decided for some unknown reason that you weren't going to walk on land for another two weeks after we got home. If only I could read your mind at times to figure out what is going on in there. It would be so much fun, I think.

You have also grown - a lot! You have grown about 4 inches and about 6 pounds. I guess all those green beans that you love have been doing their job. Sometime along the way, you became a kid and no longer a baby. Not sure when exactly that happened, but it seemed like one day you became your own little self with your own little ideas of what you like and dislike. Oh and you are not shy about expressing those dislikes to me and sometimes in a very loud, vocal way.

Speaking of vocal ways, you are talking a lot these days. You are learning new words everyday and you love to put them to good use. Although, I must tell you now that sometimes you don't always get the words out in the right manner. For example, right now you are having trouble saying "K" sounds and instead mix those up with "T" sounds. So when you are cold, you say "told Mama". You yell at the cat by saying "Tat!" and you absolutely love Tars and pretending to drive them. You also refer to yourself as "Baby". It is the cutest thing to hear you say "Baby Hurt" and I have to bite my tongue to not laugh because you just fell off the couch and bumped your head on the coffee table.

You still are very much attached to your stuffed animals. Currently the top 4 stuffed animals are Foo Foo (Doggie), Bear, Murphy, and Wiffer. Foo Foo is your absolute favorite and is very often in need of a bath. But I do have to sneak Foo Foo away from you to throw Foo Foo into the washing machine because the one time you caught me putting your Foo Foo in the feared machine, you almost had a full-blown panic attack. You thought for sure that Foo Foo was going to be dead. Just lately you have been calling Murphy by his name, or as you say it "Mercy". And when you call out for Bear, you have the sweetest voice and full of innocence, it warms my heart.

I also need to mention right now when you are two that your Father and I are going to be in BIG TROUBLE when you hit puberty. You LOVE the girls. An example of this behavior was just a few weeks ago. We were waiting outside a restaurant for a table and there was a little blonde girl who was 3 months younger than you. And you were in love. You climbed up on the park bench and patted the bench for her to come sit down next to you. I had to warn her parents that you would probably try to kiss her, because well you have been known to do that also - walk up and give little girls kisses. So while you were flirting with the blonde, a little brunette girl walked up and you patted the bench on the other side of you for the brunette to sit next to you. Yeah, we are going to need to warn all parents of little girls when you are around. I saw a shirt that said "Lock Up Your Daughters" and I so need to get that for you. So so true.

There are a couple of transitions we are working on at the moment. One of them being is transitioning to the big boy bed. The first night we tried to lay you down for the night in the bed did not work out so well. So we are slowly getting used to the big boy bed. Of course, I as your very emotional mother, cried that first night. Just another proof that my baby is no longer a baby.

The second transition is one that I am looking forward to accomplishing. Potty training. You are not ready for this big step yet. You do have your own potty, but right now you just think it is a really cool chair to sit on. You do however let me know when your diaper needs to be changed. You will walk up to me and say "Di Di" and pat your butt. My cue to change you. So we again are slowly transitioning to the non-diaper stage.

Another big event in our household happened this year. I decided to quit my job and stay home with you and devote my time to raising you the way I want to raise you. I love being home and being with you. There is never a day that goes by that you don't make me laugh. You are so much fun and I love the way you are learning something every single day. You are teaching your mother everyday what the real priorities in life are and how to be patient. There are moments when I want to tear my hair out, moments when you are exerting your will against my will. But you are a really good boy and I am so happy and proud to be your Mama. Everytime you call me Mama, my heart melts and I am reminded just how much you mean to me.

It is so much fun to see things through your eyes. You have shown me that choo choos really are pretty neat and that the airplane flying in the sky is amazing, even for a 38-year-old mother. Thank you Jack for opening my eyes to the wonder that is life and showing me all that is amazing.

I promised you in your birthday letter last year that I would be here every step of the way and I want to reassure you that is the case. No matter what, you will always be my baby boy and I am here for you right now and forever. I look forward to what your third year of life will bring and what new adventures you will experience. And of course, I will be there always.

Love,

Mama

The Birthday Party

Not As Messy As Last Year

Birthday Time

Tomorrow is Jack's birthday party. I am really not sure how many people we have coming to this thing. A lot of people have said *maybe*. Nobody has said *no* or *yes*. Sooooo we could either have 20 people here or it could just be us celebrating his birthday. Which means we will either have ALOT of hamburgers/buns left over if nobody shows. Oh yeah and 54 mini candy bars with Jack's Happy Birthday on the wrapper. That is not a good thing to have 54 mini candy bars just laying around cause I have absolutely no willpower at all. I WILL eat them folks. Guaranteed.

Today is my get-the-house-ready-for-company day. You know the day when you clean, scour, and mop so that the people coming over don't think you live in filth. Yeah lie to them hehe. And while I do this, Jack is at his daycare providers house for the day. She is such a sweetie and is throwing him a birthday party there with all the kids she takes care of. I sure hope that he gets in a better mood than when I dropped him off. Wow was he cranky this morning. Might have had something to do with him waking at 5 am. I know that makes me cranky.

So now I am off to tackle the kitchen clean-up head on. How fun.

Today is the Day

I get to go to the commissary for our monthly grocery shopping trip. Yay! One small problem though. It is the first and all the military retirees get paid on the first. Therefore, there will be a small army there getting groceries also. It takes more than half the day to do this to begin with, what with the drive there (45 mins to get there) and the shopping (close to 2 hours usually) and the drive back (another 45 mins) and the putting away (45 mins usually), it is a full days job. Oh and yeah I will have the boy in tow who will be Mr. Friendly saying "Hi" to every single person there. And then theres the stopping and talking to people about "just how cute" he is. And if they only could see him when he's not so cute. But the money I save by going there is worth all the hassle, I think.

Anyway, I think I need to go get some coffee and brace myself for the day of grocery shopping.

Chance of Rain - 100%

It is a rainy, lazy, sick day today. Jack and I are still struggling with the crud we picked up somewhere. However, Jack slept better last night due to my knockout combo of the cough medicine and Benadryl and Tylenol. Oh speaking of Tylenol, the kid loves those meltaway/chewable children's Tylenol. He even asks for it by its name! Walk up and say "more tylenol". Scary because if this kid ever got a hold of a bottle, he would down it in 30 secs flat.

I really need to go to the commissary/grocery store sometime soon. It has been more than 3 weeks since I went and the shelves are empty. And the cats are outta food. Funny because Erin also mentioned today about her cats being foodless and what they do to her when that happens. Right now our cats are just pissed off because of the constant rain outside. They insist upon going outside and then turn around and want in and then bitch to me about it raining. Like its MY fault. Um, remind me again why pets are a good thing???

Anyway, I have a feeling that a lot of Playhouse Disney is in our future today. If I had some rice, I would do the big ole box of rice that Jane and Erin did. It may just come to the point that I have to go to the store just for cat food and rice!

Naptimes, Storms, Stupid People On Ebay

Naptime has arrived in the Jackaroo house! Yay! Poor kid, he is really miserable. I decided against taking him to the doctor just yet because he basically has a bad cold and cough and there is nothing more that can be done for him. His cough isn't really deep in his chest to alarm to something serious. So I drugged up the boy again with the cough medicine and he's out. Hopefully for at least a couple of hours. He needs it. And quite frankly so does Mommy. Because I am feeling quite miserable myself today.

And they say we are going to be getting the "winter storm of 2006" coming later today. Which means that it is going to rain. These news people are so stupid. They send these reporters out somewhere and it is NOT even raining yet. And they REPORT on the fact that it has sprinkled. Puhleeze give me a break.

I have been trying to buy this on ebay for Jack. But these stupid people keep outbidding me. It is over $200 now and I am not sure it is worth it to bid it up more, but then with tax and shipping for a new one, it is far cheaper. We'll see how rich I feel tomorrow when the auction ends. But I really want to get him something like this for the backyard to keep him entertained for a few minutes outside in the coming months.

Great

Jack is a sick little boy. That cough has turned into something more. He could not sleep last night at all. It was really pitiful because he kept calling out "Mama Mama" and I would go in there and just soothe him back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so until he woke up again coughing. I have some prescription cough medicine for him from the last time he had this awful cough and the stuff thankfully does knock him out, but he still wakes up coughing and so he's in that miserable wanting to sleep so badly but can't because of the cough. Poor kid.

And me? Yeah I have the cough also. And the monthly cramps really bad. And I am really tired from being up most of the night with Jack. But I realized that I can't take a sick day can I?

So instead of going to the commissary today to get our monthly groceries and stock up for his birthday party on Saturday, we are probably going to his doctor. Great.

On Golden Pond

We went to a local lake yesterday to just hang out and enjoy the peaceful quietness that is there. We also took crackers with plans to feed the duckies, but they weren't coming close enough, so we ended up feeding the squirrels and birdies instead.

We also watched the fisherman and checked out the pontoon boats for rent there. We are planning to go back sometime and rent a boat for a few hours and Jack and Daddy can go fishing and Laura and I can soak up some sun. Yeah this girl doesn't fish, you can ask my entire fish-crazy family about that.

But it was a fun and relaxing day. However, Jack and I both have these coughs that are the rattly, deep in the chest kind. Despite the cough and no nap yesterday, Jack was quite the trooper all day until 7 last night.






These last two pictures I took just before we left the house. I couldn't believe I actually captured a picture of him looking AT me with a smile. Never ever happens. The second picture is a more normal one.

Where the Wild Things Are ... Part 2

We had a really fun time yesterday at the Wild Animal Park. We went with the mommy group and there were 5 mommies and 6 kids. The one mother with 2 kids was awesome. Not sure that I would be as awesome as her with 2 kids. She had a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 month old baby AND she was at the zoo by herself! Amazing. I am a wimp.

It was really nice to get out and actually have some adult conversation and the toddlers were all within about 5 or 6 months of each other. They had a good time, and the mommies had a good time. We did a lot of walking but the weather was absolutely perfect. Not too hot and not too cold (wow that sounded like goldilocks hehe).

We ended up not doing some things that I would have done if we were alone - like the tram ride. It is an hour ride around the park, but the other mothers said that their toddlers wouldn't do very well for an hour. I think Jack would have been fine because he is so totally crazy about the animals. Most of the other mothers didn't want to go into the petting zoo because they were afraid of germs. I thought that was a little bit ridiculous. They did offer Purell on the way out and isn't petting zoos a rite of passage as a kid? So we will be doing the petting zoo and tram when we go back.

I bought the yearly pass with parking that gets us into this park and the San Diego zoo for the next 14 months. This park is a lot closer to us and I can see Jack and I going here a lot by ourselves or with the other mommies a lot. The yearly pass is only $126 for Jim and I and Jack is free until he is 3 (ALOT cheaper than Disneyland!). If we take Laura, I'll buy her a yearly pass for only $21. Not too bad.

I guess Jack was really exhausted last night because he went to bed BEFORE 7 pm and slept until 7 this morning. And I have to admit the day pretty much wiped me out also.


Jack loved the lions. We also saw a baby lion eating lunch from a baba. Jack kept saying "baby lion" over and over again. And of course when he came up to the lion here, he had to say "ROAR". He got that from the lion on the MGM logo on tv.

Here he is playing with his buddy Sam. They are the same age, Sam just turned 2 last week. They had a ton of fun together. I think Sam is a bit more adventurous than Jack, but Jack had to do whatever Sam did. Or I should say that Jack had to *climb* anything that Sam did. Also Sam has seen the movie Madagascar a few times because he kept looking for Melman all day hehe.

Sam had the really cool car stroller that Jack really really liked. So about halfway during the day, they switched strollers. Jack was in the car stroller being pushed by Sam's Mom, Anna. And Sam was in Jack's stroller being pushed by me. They seemed to accept this arrangement and as long as they weren't screaming, all was right with the world and the mom's were fine with the arrangement also.

Where the Wild Things Are

Jack and I are off the Wild Animal Park today with the mommy group. I was thinking of skipping this today because of a thousand reasons that included cleaning/mopping/organizing and then I realized that we needed to go for Jack's sake. And mine to get out and socialize more. I know I need to do that. So despite it being cold here (alright its not cold, but its down right chilly, okay?) we are going to go.

I'll post pics later when we get home.

There is a reason for adoptions

My jaw was on the floor of McDonalds tonight. Jack and I were eating there because Daddy had to work late and I was lazy. As Jack and I were sitting in a booth, a young couple came and sat beside us. She was about 5 months pregnant and I couldn't help but overhear their conversation which made my jaw drop. What caught my attention was the statement that this pregnant girl said "I can't wait until I am 21 and can go barhopping" !!!! Isn't there something just wrong with this statement?

And then as I continued to listen, my jaw dropped even further. Evidently she has ANOTHER baby because she was complaining about THAT baby being sick and it is a "big pain" because she can't go OUT. I have no idea where this other baby was, but OMG those poor babies!!!

I have no idea if the guy with her was the father to the baby #2 on the way, but it didn't sound like he was father to baby #1 because she spent a good 5 minutes complaining about THAT guy. She said that he just sits on his butt watching tv while she has to do everything. So are they married? Or just living together? If so, not sure who I feel more sorry for. And somebody needs to take those poor babies out of there NOW.

I just have one word - ADOPTION

The 2nd Birthday Pictures

In Jackaroo Style, he latched onto a stuffed doggie they had there and would NOT give it up. So therefore, we also have pictures of the doggie ALSO. The first one is my favorite. I didn't get the photographer that I really like. He has won awards for his work and why he works at Sears is beyond me, but instead we got some 19-year-old girl who didn't know anything about how to please a 2 year old boy. But they turned out okay I guess.

Of course on the way there, I would not let him drink or eat or touch ANYTHING for fear that he would get messed up somehow. And sure enough when I let him have some goldfish afterwards, his face, hands, and shirt were all cheesy.

I did end up buying a package for $100 with these 4 poses, so grandparents be on the lookout for pics of the boy in your mail in the next few weeks.

The Whole Internet

is awaiting the birth of Claire's baby. Hopefully will hear news soon that baby brother to Isaac is welcomed to the world.

I also want to welcome to the world Avery Claire. Callie has a new baby sister.

Also expecting to hear the arrival of Jen's sweet pea in the next few days if not sooner.

With all these new babies popping up, my question is What Happened Nine Months Ago? ... Well besides THAT!

Weekend Recap

Did everybody survive the cooolllldddd weekend out there? I know that those of us in California should not complain, but gosh it was cold here too. And rainy.

We went to the big mall near San Diego yesterday to get out of the house and do something besides sit on our duffs at home watching endless amounts of tv. It was fun just walking around the mall looking at stuff. We didn't buy much because of that lack of cash thing. Literally at this moment, Laura had more in purse than we did in our checking account! How sad is that? But then Laura walks around with ALOT of cash all the time. It makes me nervous. But in her mother's house, money is not anything special because they have lots and lots of it. Something about her mother's family having a money factory or something. But anyway thats a whole OTHER post (novel).

We did get Jack 2 pairs of shoes at PayLess. He went up 2 sizes! Poor kid was walking around with shoes that were like really tight. One of the new shoes is a pair of Thomas shoes. We put those on him while we were at the mall. The kid just stared at them while he walked. It was so funny. I think he likes them.

Jack and Laura had a really fun time this weekend. He so loves his Sissy. They played all day on Saturday together. And when it came time to take her back to her mother's, he absolutely broke down and screamed. It really was sad. He just doesn't understand why only see her on certain days.

The boy woke up this morning hungry I guess. He has been referring to himself as "Baby" these days. He will bump his head and walk up to me and say "Baby hurt". Well this morning the first thing he said to me was "Baby hungry". He is now feasting on a bowl of Frosted Flakes.

We have planned today to get Jack's 2nd birthday pictures taken. I have quelched my addiction to Sears pictures to just his birthday and the family pictures at Christmas. I hope to be able to post the pics later today.

A Birthday and a Brag

First off just want to say Happy Birthday to Grandpa A. He turned 79 yesterday. Here's to another 20!

My parents are right now in Florida visiting my brother who lives in Daytona. So here comes the bragging. My nephew who is only 13 years old is a race car driver already! And he is good. He was racing yesterday on Grandpa's birthday and he won the race just for Grandpa. Congratulations Chad! Your Aunt in California is proud of you.

Oh and when he is as famous as Jeff Gordon, just remember you heard of Chad Akins here first.

Lazy Rainy Saturday

The Jackaroo household is having a major lazy day today. It is raining and cold here. I know I know. It is so much colder where you all live, but for us it is COLD. We were watching the weather channel this morning and saw all the low temps around the country. I swear it gave me the chills.

So we are sitting on our duffs watching the Olympics and whatever else seems good. Its kinda fun.

CRISIS!

We have an emergency in the Jackaroo House. Doggie has an owie. He is split open and his innards are coming out. OH NO. Need needle and thread. Stat!

Teach me to put him in the washing machine to give the poor filthy thing a bath.

Trading Places - Jackaroo Style

About a month ago, we set up Jack and Laura's playroom and took all toys out of the family room. Because to be quite frank, it was driving me crazy to have a Toy Explosion in my family room every single day. No matter how many times I picked up that room, it always looked like a toy factory exploded in there.

Jack Space #1. The Playroom. Of course, it very very rarely is this picked up. But I spent an hour this morning cleaning and organizing. Before? You couldn't even see the floor.

Jack space #2. The bedroom. We still have the crib in the room for probably another 1-2 months is my guess. Until the boy is fully in the toddler bed and sleeping the night through on a consistent basis. Then I will take down the bears, bring in a book shelf that the boy desperately needs, and put up the train decorations that I have been buying here and there.

Mommy Space! I have reclaimed the family room from the Toy Explosion!

This picture I threw in here because I thought it was cute. I got the idea from Jane . Jack was having a grand ole time playing in the bathroom sink.

Can Toddlers Get PMS?

Because there is only one word for Jack yesterday afternoon and that word is - Bitchy.

Geesh there was no making this boy happy for about 4 hours. It started when we came home and he was saying something about a "fysie" (his word for fire truck) and going insane trying to find it in the backseat. I couldn't see it and made him go inside. He gets inside and totally melts down and is trying to get back in the garage to find his "fysie". So we go out to the garage again to look and sure enough his little wooden "fysie" was lodged in the backseat.

I thought all was well with the world once again. The boy had his "fysie". But NOOOOOO. He had to whine, complain, scream, and basically be bitchy for almost the entire night. He did perk up when we played choo choos in the playroom after dinner. And was back to normal (Thank God) when we were reading books before bedtime. But good grief that child can out bitch even the bitchiest woman in Hollywood!

Sleep?

Sleep is just a non-thing around here lately. Poor Jim had to get up at 11:00 last night to go into work and then work through his shift until 3:00 this afternoon. How he does that is just totally foreign to me.

Because he was not around last night, I did not sleep very well. I was up at 1:30 surfing the internet. Then at 4:30 Jack decided that it was time to get up and face the day head on - At 4:30 AM!!! Yeah gotta love that. So I brought him into our bed and he watched Disney while I kinda dozed. But it was hard to do that because he thought it was incredibly fun to be jumping up and down on the bed and then jump on Mommy.

Now, I am off to go do some accounting work for my friend Mark. Extra cash is always good. And Jack gets to go to my friend Janet's house and play with her other daycare kids. And SHE gets to benefit from the extra long nap that I am sure he is going to take in about 2-3 hours.

Fun and More Fun

Jack went to daycare today because I have my *really fun* annual doctor's exam this morning. Can we all say "Yay"? Don't you just hate those things? So yeah, that is the Fun for today. And for the More Fun - probably going to do our taxes since I got a toddler-free environment today. So doesn't that just sound like a hoot today?

Just For Valentine's Day

This was taken by one of the other mother's at the playgroup we were at last week. Just more proof that we are in big trouble in a few years.

The Big Boy Jack Took Over My Baby!

The boy seems to be growing up so fast, everyday there seems to be something new. He is now talking and seems to know EVERYTHING. For instance, he can name all the sesame street characters. Granted he has been watching the show almost everyday for his entire life. He also knows the song to Elmo's World and sings it loudly everyday.

He somehow knows other characters from tv that we hardly ever watch. Like Dora. He pointed out Dora to me in the store the other day. How does he know? Just like all the Thomas and friends. How does he know all of them? I can hardly keep track of them all!

He also counts to ten and loves to count. The other day we were in the car waiting for Laura to show up and he and I were counting all the other cars. He thought that was such a cool thing.

We went to see Chicken Little on Sunday. And I could not believe how good he was. He sat there in the seat next to me eating his popcorn and laughing at the movie. At one point he looked at me, pointed at the screen, and said "Funny" while laughing.

And to solidify the proof that the big kid has taken over my little baby - He slept in the toddler bed last night. He ran right into his room, jumped on his bed and couldn't wait to sleep in the big boy bed. Then this morning, he woke up, and came running into my bedroom laughing. He was so proud of himself.

We need to slow time down people. This is just happening too fast.

Birthday Plans

I can't believe that it is that time again. But Jack's birthday is coming up. We are having his birthday party in 3 weeks from today on the 4th. It isn't going to be very elaborate - just a bbq with friends and neighbors, but I am already starting to plan.

The theme this year is going to be Elmo and Sesame Street. He is going to be receiving the Elmo Knows Your Name from us for the birthday present. The thing comes with a cd-rom and usb cable to program him to say 100 different sayings. Geesh the toys these days.

I also found these for the party favors. So cute. And get a birthday shirt from Erin's store and we got ourselves an Elmo birthday party.

Cleaning House With A Toddler 101

This morning I guess I got the cleaning bug because before noon, I had cleaned the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room along with 3 loads of laundry. And all with a Jackaroo "Helping" me.

It started with me vacuuming this morning while he was trying to watch Dragon Tales. All of a sudden I hear him screaming "MAMA MAMA" over the vacuum noise. I look over there and he has this really really annoyed look on his face. It has happened. My child has yelled at me for trying to vacuum while he was watching cartoons. Bound to happen sooner or later I guess.

Then I started mopping the floor, which is one of his favorite things to do. He will take the mop and pretend to mop all day long. So he tried to take the mop away from me and I kept telling him that it is "mommy's turn". So what does he do? He runs off down the hall to the laundry room and grabs the ceiling fan duster and comes back and starts to "mop" the floor also.



Other joyful occasions while cleaning this morning included him trying to drown Doggie in the toilet while I cleaned said toilet. Also, he got into my makeup drawer while I was in the shower cleaning and proceeded to dig out my eye shadow and wipe it all over the door, floor, himself AND Doggie.

Now he is napping. Can we all say "YAY"? He has been napping for almost 3 hours. I think that cold is wiping him out a bit. Poor guy. I just hope it doesn't turn into anything more than sniffles and watery eyes.

Oh yeah and at some point my child has turned into a fashion guru. This morning, I went to get a shirt for him out of the closet. He yelled "NO" and took the shirt out of my hands and threw it on the floor and pointed to the open closet. So I went over there and had to show him about 4 or 5 shirts while he said "No" to each one of them until we came to THE shirt. Who knew he really liked the striped green and blue shirt so much?

Day at home

Not much happening today. We have been pretty busy this week with gym class, playgroups, and other activities, so it is pretty nice just to be at home today. Besides that, both Jack and I have the beginnings of colds. Poor kid last night was all sniffles and watery eyes.

So we have a lot of Sesame Street and Playhouse Disney in our future today. Oh and I might try to clean a bathroom or two, who knows.

Day At the Free Kids Outlet Center

Every month our local outlet center holds a kids day. I have always wanted to go and decided to go today. I had no idea it was such a big thing. There had to be about 50-75 kids there today - all toddlers. Can you imagine that many toddlers in one place? Yeah the word Zoo comes to mind doesn't it? It was actually a lot of fun and Jack had a blast. It was hosted by the OTHER gym class place in town - The Little Gym. The two places are almost identical in their activities and structure. They are actually opening one of these closer to my house, so we maybe moving to that one later - we'll see. But as you can see from the pictures, Jack was really into the whole thing. I also feel like I have to warn all the mother's of the little girls. The boy LOVES the girls. It was almost embarassing as he was constantly following around these two little girls who were about 3 years old. I thought for sure he was going to walk up to them and give them a big kiss! But he did give them hugs! Oh boy are we in trouble in a few years! Oh and yeah these pictures are not very good quality, they were taken with my camera phone because I was a dork and forgot the camera again.

Trying to impress the girl on his left.

There he is right by the girl.

Running after yet another girl.

Notice how he has situated himself BETWEEN the two girls.

And how he has to copy the little girl by putting his hand out like her.

I also felt bad for him today because summer has hit in the area. It doesn't care what the calendar says. Today was in the high 80s and poor Jack has NO summer clothes whatsoever. He does have 2 short-sleeved shirts that still fit him but they were dirty today. By the time the class was done today, his little cheeks were all rosy and the poor child was about ready for heat exhaustion. So despite having no money until Daddy gets paid on Monday, I went to the Old Navy outlet after class and bought 2 shirts and 2 shorts.

Successful Playdate!

We went to a playdate today and it was a lot of fun. It was held at somebody's house and it was all 1-3 year olds. There were about 10 kids and 7 mothers and everybody got along really really well. No snobs this time - yay! Jack played really well with the other kids while the mothers just sat around talking about their kids. Not sure if any other topic was involved except for our kids, but it was fun comparing and talking about where the great toys and clothes bargains are in town.

Oh my gosh, speaking of toys, this place had probably 10 times the amount of toys that Jack has. Their entire backyard was filled with Little Tykes stuff. They had the playhouse, kitchen, sandbox, THREE ride-on cars, and almost every Little People imaginable. At first I thought that other mothers brought some of the toys, but I was later informed that it all belonged to one 2-year-old little girl. Geesh! And here I was thinking that Jack had a lot of toys. The boy doesn't even come close.

But it was all fun and we were there for a couple of hours. We made plans to meet again next week at another mother's house. So hopefully it will work out to someplace fun that Jack and I can go to regularly. We have our weeks full these days with Gym class on Tuesdays and now Playgroup on Wednesday. And tomorrow we have plans to go to a kids craft thing at the outlet center nearby. Supposedly it is for the 2-5 year-old crowd. This stay-at-home thing is pretty fun.

On the way home, Jack fell asleep about 3 minutes before we got home. And it seems that 3 minutes was enough nap for him because he WILL NOT nap. Right now, he is in his crib talking and carrying on very deep conversations with his stuffed animals. Actually I think he is playing suicide jumping with them as he throws them out of the crib. I was peeking in there and he was saying "up up up up" as he raised an animal up and then "DOWWWWNNN" as he threw one by one to the floor outside the crib. Whatever, I just hope he will settle down and actually sleep because I don't want a crabby, cranky Jack until bedtime. We shall see.

Broken Record ... That's Me

Yes I know that I have written about the subject of the toddler bed Ad Nauseam. And here I go again.

We tried it again last night. I wasn't going to because I , myself, was exhausted and well Gilmore Girls was coming on and you all know my obsession with GG. So to make a long, boring story short, we go into his room to get ready for bed. The mattress is in the crib and the boy is yelling at me to "move bed". I tell him that we need to get our jammies on first and then we'll talk. But no, he has to have a fit about the mattress being in the crib. So my defenses breakdown and I move the mattress to the toddler bed. Oh and by the way, I am getting very very tired of moving that mattress a thousand times a day. I put him in the bed and because my favorite show is coming on in 5 minutes, I leave the room. I tell him he can not get up and to stay there and go to sleep. Yeah right. That would be like telling a prisoner to stay in his cell when all the doors are wide open.

Jim and I are watching GG and Jack comes walking into the family room. He is laughing and giggling and thinking this whole new found freedom is just the coolest thing. Because I was soo tired and well because of GG (even though I was recording the thing also), Jim took him back to bed and put him in the crib, against the wishes of the boy.

Now, the boy wants to be in the bed, but will not stay there. What do I do? I stayed with him the other night until he slept, but he still got up and was freaking out because he had closed the door. Do I just keep doing that?

I think he is ready to be in the big bed and clearly wants to be there. Just being the stubborn Jack that he is, he will not stay there. I worry that he will be wandering the house and get hurt. And if the door is closed, he freaks out. Not to mention the crabby Jack the next day because he didn't get much sleep. Oy! Just when you get the sleeping thing down, then comes this.

The Saga .... It Continues ...

I had no idea that the switch to the toddler bed would be THIS hard.

We again tried to sleep in the big boy bed last night. I thought all was well. He was so excited about the bed. He kept patting it and saying "big boy bed". We read books while he was laying in it. Then we sang the sleepy song. I turned out the light. And then I took Claire's advice and stayed in the rom with him until I was sure he was asleep - about a half hour. So I tiptoed out of the room and thought - Success. Yay.

UNTIL 12:30 am, I awake to him screaming like crazy. Not just the usual scream, but absolutely terrified scream. I get up and realize that he has closed his door and he is inside trying frantically to get out. He hasn't figured out how to open our doors yet. I have no idea how long he had been trying to get out, but by the time I got to him, he was almost unconsolable. And WOULD NOT go back into his room. Period. So I took him back to our room and went to the bathroom. He was so cute and had his doggie with him and said "tired Mama". My heart broke. So I decided to take him into the guest bedroom so Jim could get some sleep. He absolutely screamed his head off because he thought we were going back to HIS room. But he stopped as soon as we walked right by his room.

So there we are with Jack, me, Doggie, and the real doggies, and a kitty ALL of us on the bed. And Jack will not go to sleep. At all. So for an hour, we lay there singing and talking. He was very very talkative at 1 in the morning. I finally ask him if he wants to go back to the crib and he nods his head. Yay! So, back to the room we go. I transfer the mattress to the crib yet again. He gets in and seemed happy.

I don't quite trust that he is going back to bed, so I get up and get on the internet for another 30 minutes just to make sure he is fully asleep.

So, I guess my question is, do I continue trying to force the toddler bed or just give it up and realize that he just is not ready for the big boy bed? He is so excited about the concept of the bed because he talks about it all the time, but when it comes right down to sleeping in the thing, he just won't or can't for some reason. Oy!

Domestic City

Somewhere along the line, I turned into a domesticated housewife. I guess it happened sometime after I quit my job, but whenever it did happen, I sure am domesticated today.

Take today for example. I got up this morning, made out a grocery list, cleaned up the kitchen, got Jack dressed and fed. Then we went off to the Commissary to get groceries. I try to only go big-time grocery shopping once or twice a month and then just buy the milk and bread type stuff in between commissary trips. So because of this, my trips to the commissary usually last about an hour and a half of actual shopping. With Jack tagging along!

We got back from the grocery-shopping trip about 1:00 and nap was taken in the car (damn!) so Jack was raring to go. It took me about 45 minutes to unload the groceries and put them away. And during this time, I had to tell Jack "NO" 327 times. One of those times, I had to yell at him because he was busy filling the dog's water dish with the dry dog food - about 5 lbs of it! All this and I didn't lose my patience once! Quite remarkable, I think.

I also accomplished today 3 loads of laundry, playing choo choos and cars with the boy, and getting dinner on the table. As I was sitting here tonight after the boys went to bed, I just had to wonder if my college self would like my present-day self. The college self who was going to conquer the world with my business suits and knowledge of accounting and the thought of spending a day like today was really nowhere in my thought process. But I just have to say that I am sooooo much happier today than that little girl playing dress up in business suits.

Toddler Bed Woes, the Saga Continues

All was good with the toddler bed. He napped on it yesterday. When he woke up, he got out of bed all by himself, grabbed his doggie, then went outside his room, closed the door and proceeded to come see us in the family room. He was so proud of himself for doing this, he couldn't stop giggling and laughing. He just thought that was the neatest thing.

But, last night going to bed was a whole different story. I thought all was going well. We read some books while he laid in bed, I said good night and tiptoed out of the room. About 10 minutes later, he showed up in the family talking about "toys" and "choo choos". I again took him back to bed and AGAIN he got up a few minutes later. The third time he got up, he was carrying his pillow, blanket and doggie with him and rubbing his eyes. I knew he was very tired, but for some reason, he just couldn't sleep on the big boy bed. So when we went into his bedroom, this time he patted the crib. Yep, he wanted to sleep in his crib. So at almost 9:00, I switched the mattress to the crib and put the pillow, blanket, and stuffed animals in there and then a Jackaroo. He fell asleep almost instantly.

So the saga continues. I figure we are not going to take down the crib until he has slept consistently in the bed for at least a week.

Ha, and I was going to start potty training also! LOL, I think I will hold off on THAT transistion until we get the toddler bed down. Geesh!

Hiking Pictures

The two boys.

We thought this was a perfect picture taking spot.

Of course there was sitting among the weeds.

Daddy and Jack taking a breather on the bench.

Jack had to pick up every rock on the way and carry them all.

One of the Views.

Big News!

Jack slept in the toddler bed last night! I kinda figured if he spent the day playing on the thing, he would be more willing to actually sleep on the thing. I now know it was a mistake to set it up and plop him in it and expect the boy to actually sleep. Just a little advice to those who have not done the transfer yet. Small steps.

When we were getting ready for bed last night, I kept saying "big boy bed" and that got Jack saying it also. By the time it was time to actually go to bed, he was really excited about the whole thing. So we read some books while he laid in bed and then he went to sleep. I did check on him before I went to bed and he was sleeping with his legs dangling over the side, which did not look very comfy to me, but to each his own I guess. He must have gotten up to get his cars and took them back to bed with him, because that is how I found him this morning - sitting on the bed playing with the cars.

Right now he is napping on the big boy bed. We had a reprieve from cheerleading today because Laura's mother took her (yay! for her actually doing her mother job). We are going down tomorrow to watch her and then watch the award ceremony and then hopefully be back before the game starts (go Seahawks!).

Because we didn't have to go to the brain-numbing cheerleading competition, we went hiking this morning at the Santa Rosa Plateau. We probably hiked about 3 miles total and Jim ended up carrying Jack on his shoulders for about 2 of those miles. It was really fun to get out and enjoy the outdoors and get some exercise. It was a perfect day today for hiking. I think Jack enjoyed it for the most part, but at the end he was not a happy hiker. We pretty much made the boy exhausted - which is always a good thing.

Wouldn't You Want To Sleep On This?

The Toddler Bed

He loves to play on the toddler bed, but so far no sleeping. I personally think it is soooo cute. And to be honest, I am now itching to get rid of the crib and totally redo his room in the choo choo theme.

No Park Today

I put the boy down at 10 for a quick nap before we left to go to the park playdate. He's still sleeping at 12:30! So no park today. But let me tell you, it is absolutely beautiful here today. And I am wearing shorts! I just got done with cleaning up the patio and doing some yard work, all while wearing shorts. It is perfect weather today.

Once the boy gets up from his marathon nap (the one I wanted him to take yesterday), we are going to go out in the backyard and soak up some sunshine.

Oh and I just had to tell this story about Jack today. We went to the grocery store early this morning for a few quick things. This grocery store gives out free cookies from their bakery and I always manage to grab one for the boy, which keeps him happy for the duration of the shopping. I tell you this kid's memory is really amazing because as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, he started yelling "Tooey Tooey" which is his word for "cookie" (remember he can't say K sounds).

And that reminds me when we went to My Gym this week. Last week they brought out the choo-choo ride and the boy melted down because he only got to ride it once. This week, we got there and he said "choo choo?" and put his hands out questioning where the choo choo was. That memory thing is kicking in.

I hope you all are having a good Friday today.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everybody! Has this been a long week for everybody else or just me? Our plans for this weekend are cheerleading, cheerleading, and oh yeah a little bit of cheerleading thrown in. Laura has a 2-day competition in San Diego. Oh and the time she has to be there on both days? 7:30 am. Yeah so throw in the hour and a half drive and the hour and a half to do hair and make up before we leave, that makes us getting up around 4:00 - both days. On a weekend! Yay! Supposedly the schedule says she should be done by 11 both days, but the way these things go, that means about 1:00 or so.

I think I am going to try another park playdate today. I know that the last one wasn't very good with the other Mommies, but Jack enjoys the park and it is supposed to be about 75-80 today. A good day to get out and enjoy the outside me thinks.

Oh yeah and last night I left the boys to fend for themselves so I could go get my hair done. As in done, I got the roots done, weave, color, and cut. The whole schmear. The first time since Jack was born that I got it all done. How sad is that? Two years of having icky hair. But I do have to say that it was nice getting away BY MYSELF, even if it was to get my hair done. I honestly can not remember the last time I did that.

Well it looks like the boy is done with his Fruity Pebbles (2 bowls this morning. He kept saying "more" when the first bowl was gone). So off we go to our Friday adventures.

Is This No-Sleep Day?

Did somebody make this the National No-Sleep day and not tell me?

Jack after waking up at 4:30 this morning, playing with his choo-choos, going to My Gym where he roughed and tumbled for an hour, WILL NOT TAKE A NAP! He was getting sleepy in the car on the way home, yawning and the whole bit. We got home, had some lunch and I put him down for the long-awaited mega-nap that I was dreaming about since 4:30 am. BUT, he won't go to sleep! He is in there right now babbling and again having a deep, philosphical conversation with Doggie. Where is the nap? I just know that he is going to start screaming Momma! Momma! at any minute now. Wait. Yep, there it is - "Momma Momma Momma" .

Does he not know that I have things to do like watch the Dr. Phil show from yesterday, watch the last half of Lost because I fell asleep last night, even though it was a rerun. Oh yeah and there's also that little thing called dishes and cleaning. I need the naptime. Naptime is what keeps a Mommy sane.

Oh joy! The "Mommas" are getting louder now. Waaahhhh....

**Update** It is now 2:25 pm and he finally went to sleep 10 minutes ago. Phew!

How Does He Know?

Jack has a Thomas the Tank calendar hanging in his bedroom. Today while he was playing "hide from Mama" in the closet, I changed the calendar to February. Henry is the tank of the month for February.

So Jack comes out of the closet, I shriek and say "There's Jack" and he INSTANTLY notices the change of the calendar. He points at the picture and says "Henry". How does he know that is Henry? I mean really to me, he looks like Percy and every other green tank on the show. But no, Jack knew instantly that was a picture of Henry.

I guess that just proves he is aware of any and all changes in his room and the boy KNOWS his Thomas and friends tanks.

So now we are off to My Gym for a makeup class. Here's to getting toddler really tired and hoping for a big long 3+ hour nap this afternoon because this morning has been really really long. He's been up 5 hours already! Oh boy!

Jack and Sleep (or Non-Sleep)

Jack is usually a really good sleeper. His routine is a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and then down for the night around 7:30-8:00 until about 7:00 in the morning. I have always felt sorry for those who had toddlers who just did not sleep. I don't know how they do it because the first 3 months of Jack's life when he would not sleep for more than 2 hours just about killed me. But ever since then, he has been so good and I know I need to be saying some major thank you's to the sleeping gods for that.

So what happened last night? I put him down at 7:30 and he just sat in there and talked to himself and his stuffed animals for about an hour. Then it was all quiet. Until about 2:30 when poor Daddy had to get up to leave the house to be at work at 4:00 am. Then he decides to test his lungs out and make sure they work by screaming. After about 15 minutes of this lung testing, I go in there. Change his diaper thinking that is what is bothering him. Put him back into his crib, try to soothe him and tiptoe out of the room. Nope, not gonna do it. So we do a dance for the next hour or so of him screaming, me going into his room, him quieting down, me going back to bed. So finally about 4:30, I bring him to bed with me as we watch the Disney channel. Yay! Gotta love Little Einsteins and JoJos Circus at that time of the morning. Then at 5:30, I notice he is getting sleepy. I put him back in his crib. And guess what he is doing now? Yep, he is having some deep, philosphical conversation with Doggie. I figure let him stay in there until he finishes the solving-world-peace-talk and goes back to sleep or he decides to tests his lungs again. So until then, here I am blogging. I have a feeling it is going to be an interesting day.

Oops, he just started to test his lung. So I guess we up for the day now?!? Yep it is going to be a fun day.

The Four MeMe... Oh yeah...

I saw this go around the blogland a few weeks ago. Not sure if I was tagged or not, but I was gonna do it on here, but something came up and well it just never happened. So I saw it on Dooce and I went "oh yeah" and so here it is.

Four jobs I’ve had

1. Babysitter
2. Retail clerk in a clothes shop in the mall (my entire paycheck went back to them I think)
3. Filing tax returns in a big warehouse building - back when everybody filed paper returns and this was the place that all the tax returns went in the New England area. I had a quota that I had to either file or pull a certain number of returns during my shift. It involved climbing ladders to get to some of the returns. But I think I had fun just reading the tax returns.
4. Accountant

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. Gone with the wind
2. Its a wonderful life
3. Star Wars (all of em)
4. Sleepless in seattle

Four places I have lived

1. Battle Creek, Michigan
2. Waltham, Massachuttes
3. Bellevue, Washington
4. Lake Elsinore, California

Four TV shows I love

1. Gilmore Girls
2. Lost
3. Guiding Light
4. ER

Four places I’ve vacationed

1. Aruba
2. Bonaire (Carribean)
3. Florida
4. Santiago, Chile

Four of my favorite dishes

1. Spaghetti
2. Tuna Casserole
3. Indian Food
4. Pot Roast

Four sites I visit daily
(Besides all the blogs listed in the sidebar)

1. MSNBC
2. Guiding Light message board
3. Our Bank
4. Web Sudoku (extremely frustrating and addictive game that Kelli got me started on)

Four places I would rather be right now

This is hard because I am home and I love being home. But here is a short list
1. The Carribean
2. Living in a state in the southeast so that we could be close to both families and still not have snow in the winter.
3. Or any state that is not California and does not have snow in the winter.