Photography by Alyssa

Alyssa loves taking pictures and I love seeing the world through her eyes. Here's some of her "treasures" from when we were playing a few days ago. I especially love how she looks all ticked off like "stop taking my picture!!!!" in the second to the last one when *she* is the one taking her picture. And I love the pensive-ness (yes, that's right pensive-ness) of the last one. And the first one is just pretty darn sweet. Proving that appearances can be VERY deceiving. ;)

Eyelashes

I think my boy has pretty amazing eyelashes (especially for a boy). They are beautiful and I'll admit I'm jealous of them. I attempted to take a picture today, but I just couldn't quite do them justice. Here was the best out of the bunch. Eyelashes are tricky photography subjects!

I'm not in small town Iowa anymore

Alyssa and I went to the dentist on Tuesday afternoon. It had been about 4 years since I had last been, so I am proud to announce that we are BOTH members of the "no cavities" club. Of course she got her picture taken for the club wall and all I got was floss. But the toothbrushes ... oh the toothbrushes!

Alyssa was awarded a purple, sparkly, princess toothbrush during her visit. She was in HEAVEN. I got a fairly nice one, too. I was impressed because the toothbrushes I remembered getting from my dentist growing up looked like they got them at the "Everything's a penny" store. Then when I got home I noticed that it had the dentist's name and phone number printed on the handle. Nothing like a little "free" advertising, huh? Adam says that he thinks that his toothbrushes that he got from his dentist always had the name and number on them. I find that really weird.

Moment of Truth

Adam and I decided to Tivo Fox's new show "Moment of Truth" last night since both of us were intrigued by the previews. I *highly* recommend recording it and then fast forwarding through all the "fluff". We turned a one hour TV show into about 20 minutes when we skipped over the long, dramatic pauses.

I don't think there could be much simpler of a game to win money at. Maybe its because I don't have a really juicy past where I would have a hard time admitting things in front of America. But then I decided that I wouldn't make a very good player because I would over analyze each question. Like last night one of the questions was something along the lines of "since getting married have you flirted with a member of the opposite sex". I'm sure I probably have ... I've probably said something teasingly that could be considered inappropriate to a guy friend in an e-mail or in passing, but that doesn't *really* count as flirting, but if its said in kind of a flirtatious manner .... see what I mean?

Things I hate today

In no particular order:

1. Other children's poopy diapers. I can deal with my own kids poop, but other kids poop is significantly nastier than my precious children's poop.
2. Sponge Bob
3. and Sponge Bob marathons. Damn you Nick Jr.
4. Strained carrots
5. The shrill screams of a baby with regards to strained carrots.
6. The whining of a 3 year old that is "really, really, really, really, really, really tired" and can't walk because she's so exhausted. My advice to her is "trying sleeping through the night".
7. The fact that I was up about every 30 minutes or so with one (or both) of my children last night. No sleep = cranky, pissed-off, crabby mommy.


I think that's enough for today. I also think that its naptime.

Who is "SHE"?

The kids and I took a day trip to my parents house today and as I was listening to this really crazy kids songs CD that we got from a friend I found myself wondering ...

who is this "SHE" who is coming around the mountain? SHE certainly seems important.

The great play dough mystery

It never fails. Any time we get out play dough to play with for daycare when its time to clean up, there is always one extra container that seems to have no dough to fill it. Dough came out. So where did the dough go? Its happened at least 3 times now. And I don't *think* anyone is mishandling (aka eating) the dough.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

Is there anyone out there?

I missed National De-lurking week, which was last week, but I've been finding myself wondering who reads my blog. Sometimes I feel like I'm just writing to myself. So ... if you read and want to continue to hear my musings, please leave a comment and let me know that there are readers out there! :)

And now for a quick update on the family and the crazy fun that is my life.

Alyssa started swimming lessons last week. She loves it. And I love seeing her all alien-like in her little swimming goggles! Dance class started up again last week and she was SO excited to get back to that. The weekend after Christmas she was a flower girl in her "Uncle Noodle"'s wedding. She did SUCH a fantastic job and Adam and I were both REALLY proud of her.

Joel is celebrating the anniversary of his birthday in 17 days. But he will not be turning 1. Because that's too old for my baby to be. I *think* he is saying "mama" "dada" "hi/hey" and "yes/yeah". He also grunts in a barking fashion whenever he sees the dogs. He would make Tim the Toolman very proud. He's started standing (very briefly) on his own without holding on to anything, so I suppose walking isn't too far away.

Adam and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary December 28th by traveling to the great state of Illinois for David and Kristi's wedding with my parents. 5 adults, 2 kids, 2 carseats and luggage in a 7 passenger van. I'm happy to announce we all made it out alive.

And I'm excited to announce a new member to our family. Our Wii! The entire family (and several friends) are all having a blast with it.

And I'm crazy to announce that I have taken on 2 more daycare families. I've added a 16 month old, an 18 month old, and a 5 year old to my mix. The plus side is that they are all boys, so finally Joel is getting a little testosterone in the house during the day instead of being the only boy with four girls. Its working out really well so far. Both new families were willing to work around my Monday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule, so I still have Tuesdays and Fridays off to do whatever Alyssa wants me to do. ;)