Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Yummy Pear

We have totally been enjoying the nice days that have been given to us this Spring. I told Andrew awhile back that I really wanted patio furniture for the deck. He hunned and honned without saying much so I started looking on craigslist. I found a set that looked good but most importantly had an umbrella for us faired skinned people. I visioned myself sitting under the umbrella all summer long while Jane played in a pool (we still need to buy this part of the vision). Anyway I got Andrew to come with me to take a look and we ended up buying the set. I have absolutely loved having it. Any day it's nice we go out back and enjoy the fresh air. Today is a beautiful day here in Denver. We started off with a walk at 7:30 and didn't even need jackets. After showers we enjoyed a pear on the deck. When I got done eating what I wanted to eat I gave the rest to Jane to finish off. I was proud of her ability to eat the whole thing. Here is a picture of her sorting through the steam and seeds.


(Poor girl has to wear a sweater so her arms don't get burnt because her mom is too lazy to put sunscreen on)

Hear is a picture of what was left when she got through with it.

Here is little Ren asleep on my chest missing out on eating the yummy pear.


I love Spring!!! The simplest things like eating a pear outside can be so much fun.

We finished the morning with a picnic outside with our friend Samantha who brought us yummy subs from Subway but I forgot to take pictures. Now the kids are both asleep which means I better run if I'm going to get a nap in myself.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Monkeying Around

Reynolds loves his monkey on his exersaucer. I catch him smiling and cooing at it. A few days ago he started to reach for it but today he started to really play with it. He can get it to go around and around.

Tummy time

This is why you shouldn't compare your children. Here is a picture of Reynolds doing tummy time at two and half months. Here is a video of Jane doing tummy time at two and half months . We didn't do a video of Reynolds cause it would be way too boring to watch since he falls asleep within minutes of putting him on his stomach. We obviously love this kid, but he sure is lazy.



Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Hanging with Keegs!


Keegan is our neighbor(not for long) that comes to play when were lucky. I caught all the kids playing together and had to snap a shot.

Grandma's Dress


Grandma Cottle made this dress for Jane last summer. I love it and was so happy to see that she can still fit into it this year.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A Night Together: Three for Three

The plan has always been to put both kids in the same room but I've been a little hesitant to do so. Since Reynolds has been born he has been sleeping in the bassinet in the guest bedroom. Friends and Andrew have been asking me when are you going to move them together. I used to tell them when Reynolds was sleeping through the night but since he has been doing that since six weeks my more recent excuse has been when Reynolds goes to bed earlier. I have hesitated moving the kids together because I didn't want them obviously to wake each other up. On Sunday Jane took a really late nap since we didn't get done with church until 4:00 so we let her stay up a little later. I noticed Reynolds was getting really tired like an hour before he normally does so I told Andrew maybe this is the night we try to put the kids together. At 9:00 we put both the kids down and it was a perfect night. Then I decided I would let them nap together and Reynolds actually slept longer than Jane. I heard Jane talking in the room so I peaked in the door and she was standing at Reynolds crib talking to him. Since he was still sleeping I asked Jane to come out of the room. She ran to me while saying, "cute, cute, brother, cute". It was priceless. Anyway I decided I was ready to let the kids share a room. Last night Jane went down at eight and then I put Reynolds in there at nine. He cried for five minutes and he was out without waking Jane. Andrew and I woke up around seven and didn't even hear a peep from the kids. At 7:15 I looked at him as we were watching the news and said "maybe we should have done this a long time ago. " Finally at 7:30 I heard some life in the room. Being anxious to get on with the day I went in. Jane was just playing around and Reynolds was still sleeping so I woke him up. The third night went just the same. I kind of feel like a dork for waiting so long. I'm sure we will run into some hurdles but I'm in the shared bedroom for the long haul. Here is a little video of what I found the first day. Nothing too cute but thought I would spice up the post a little bit.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Playdough Anyone?

Last week my sister in-law, Johanna, asked if I would watch her kids Andrew and Hailey while she went to lunch with her friend. Andrew is eight and Hailey is seven so I started to think of ideas of what we could do knowing they may get bored with the toddler stuff we do day to day. If anyone has been around Andrew you know that he is a great kid but he is even greater when he is occupied with an activity. If he is not busy doing something he will surely find something to keep him busy weather it's something you want him to do or not. Playing outside popped into my mind but it happened to snow that day after it was 70 degrees the two days prior. Anyway I remembered when I was in Boise my sister laura made playdough with her kids numerous times and they loved it. I got online and googled a recipe. We had a lot of fun making it. However, I decided not to follow the instructions to put the food coloring in the water because I did not want our whole batch to be one color. Instead, I thought we would die the dough itself. Well that didn't turn out so hot. I was getting a little frustrated trying to get it to work. Andrew too was getting frustrated and kept spouting ideas of how we could fix it. Well I wasn't going to let the eight year old have a better idea then me. I worked and worked at it and couldn't get the color to turn out dark. Andrew decided to do his own thing and at this point I just let him do whatever cause I figured I had ruined the dough. Well of course that smart creative kid got the playdough to be distinctive dark colors. Way to go Andrew!


They played with the dough all afternoon long. Andrew built a castle and Hailey made cookies with Jane. Then they decided to open a pizza shop and I got to be the customer that called and ordered all the pizza's. It was a fun afternoon.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

1968

Think back to the 60's, it sure was a decade of memorable events, or so I have been told. Apparently it was the decade that we landed on the moon, lost two Kennedys, and a gallon of gas was only $0.30. I only know these things from Johanna's 40th birthday party on Saturday. That's right she was born in 1968 and her husband Tom threw her a birthday bash to never forget. All the family and friends dressed in 1968 attire except for the birthday girl herself and her spouse. I would have to say the family was looking pretty good. Cynthia, the family's natural party girl, went all out with her costume.


Jen and Trav did awesome too.................


I would have to say Andrew and I were smokin' hot too but the picture of us didn't turn out so great so since I'm the one blogging about this whole experience I get to pick and choose what pictures get posted.

Here is Johanna looking very unlike 1968 cutting her own birthday cake and serving it. What is up with that?
Happy Birthday Johanna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some of the kids enjoying the cake


The party was a lot of fun. Many of Johanna's friends joined the family to celebrate this wonderful occasion. The only thing that was disappointing is Reynolds got hungry during the second batch of Tom's excellent shrimp so I didn't get any. I was so sad. However, the best thing that happened is that Jane and Alex played upstairs for a good portion of the night and I didn't hear any screaming. I love that Jane is getting older so Alex enjoys playing with her more. They ended the night with a kiss on the cheek.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

A Day at the Farm




A Day at the Farm

Andrew's boss gave him a couple days off for all the long hours he has put in at work. The weather was beautiful on Friday so we decided to take the kids to the Littleton Historical Museum which is basically an old 1860's farm. We thought we would share some pictures.



5 K


I did it! When I quit my job to stay home with Jane I thought I better start an exercise routine or I'm just plain lazy. I started to walk because it has always been my favorite form of exercise but after awhile I felt like it wasn't enough for me. I started to jog which was crazy for me because I alway hated jogging and always said it wasn't for me. Anyway when I ran my first mile without stopping I was stoked and then I got to two. My goal was of course three which happens to be a 5 k so I thought to make it official I would sign up and run one. Well I ended up getting pregnant and having a few complications which prevented me from running anymore. I'm pretty sure I met my goal but I was outside so I don't know exactly how far I went. Doesn't really matter cause when I started to work out again at my six weeks, I set a goal to run two miles without stopping. I did it pretty quickly and was quite proud of myself and then I set the goal to run three miles. Well in the meantime I starting running outside which I think totally killed my knees. I couldn't run for a few weeks cause it killed them. This week I started to jog a little bit and on Tuesday I felt pretty good so I decided that Friday I was going to go for my goal. Well here is the proof, I did it! It took me 32. 41 min not to mention I did do it on a incline of 2 (bit whoop)


I was happy with my time because when I ran the two miles earlier I did it in about 28 min. I must say I'm pretty proud of myself. I know some of you are laughing thinking running 3 miles is no big deal but it is to me and I never would have thought I could do it. Now I need a new goal I can't decided if it will be running three 10 min miles or running four miles. Heck maybe I will try to run the Boulder Boulder at the end of May which is a 10 k. What do you guys think?

Friday, April 18, 2008

Colorado Sports: A Rebutall To The Rebuttal To My Original Rebuttal

This is in response to the third post in the "Colorado Sports" series currently going on.

Ok, well after reading that, based on your response it would seem we would have to agree to disagree. I mean, now we are venturing into the land of pure opinion, especially when drawing most of your argument from Denver Post articles(last time I checked, those are written by individuals, not fan bases). And I guess I am not of the opinion that message board posts have any real value. Looking at fan turnout, it seems Denver-based sports are doing just fine.

With that being said, you know I can't help myself. So on to another rebuttal!

Addressing the TV ratings, a quick google search didn't yield much for me. I didn't try too hard to track down numbers, maybe you could point me in the right direction.

As for the reasons why fans attend or don't attend games, that seems like a pointless topic to argue. Maybe you are right, maybe its a convenient justification. I was just drawing purely on numerical data as I don't have that kind of insight as to what obstacles there are to D-Backs fans.

As for knowing and accepting your team's limits, you make a good point, that believing that a championship will be celebrated yearly might be a bit delusional. But please spare me the Woody Paige stuff, everyone knows the guy is a nutjob. You mentioned that you believed the Suns didn't have a team that could bring home the title this year. But are you telling me if they made the Conf Finals, or even the NBA finals, you would still hold firmly to that belief? If you answer yes, then I think you are delusional. However, I think it is safe to say that upon entering the playoffs, delusion becomes inapplicable. I think most fans would agree, especially in baseball, that all bets are off in October. Regarding the Marion comment, are you a Marion fan or a Suns fan? Losing that player seriously made you consider if you would go celebrate a championship?

As for the Kidd comment, I am not sure I still follow you. You say that I was misleading, but maybe it was you? Maybe I misunderstood your point. You reference the wikipedia entry about them missing the playoffs in the 01-02 season. That was the first season without Kidd. They made the playoffs in his last season(00-01) and were bounced in the first round. From the link you posted, it shows that he was on the Nets in 01-02. Is that what you were referring to when saying I was misleading? If so, then sorry, you need to do your homework, not me. If not, then I don't understand the relevance of the wikipedia link.

As for your claim that the Suns wanted to get rid of him "As Soon As Possible". Well that just doesn't really hold water for me. The domestic abuse incident happened in January 2001. He was traded July 18 of the same year, a full 6 months later. Not exactly quick if you ask me. I am only assuming here, but it seems that you are drawing a contrast of Suns fans vs Nuggets fans on the subject of illegal behavior, and pointing to Suns fans and management requesting and immediate dismissal for this behavior. Nowhere in that article does it even make that claim. This is what Colangelo said "There was a general malaise," says president and general manager, Bryan Colangelo. "We lacked personality on the court, and the fans weren't entertained." Nothing about the fans expecting more character or being displeased with this behavior. Just that they needed to make a change because they lacked personality and that the product wasn't entertaining. I am going to go out on a short limb here and say that had the Suns somehow made a great playoff run that season, all would have been forgotten. Maybe Nuggets fans are just more realistic and not delusional on this point. They realize that many of the players are going to make, gasp!, mistakes. And if you overreact to a mistake a player makes(like trading him away), said player(Jason Kidd) might just lead ANOTHER team to the finals two years in a row.

I know I started pretty much every paragraph with "As for", maybe I should think these through a little more before I post.

The fact is, all sports fans are whiny. Thats what fans do, although some more than others. I know you hate the thought of having to spend anymore time away from your beloved Arizona, but I am afraid you are just going to have to get used to whiny Denver fans in the meantime.

I will be eagerly awaiting your response!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Colorado Sports: An Unbiased Rebuttal

This post is in response to the post over at my friend Aaron Birch's blog entitled "Why I Hate Colorado Sports". While I am not a big backer of Colorado sports and their teams, there are too many inaccuracies/biased opinions to let this one completely slide into oblivion like an Arizona Cardinals season.

In my short time here in Colorado I have not become a fan of any of the local sports teams. There is good reason for that as I am an avid Chargers and Padres fan and have a rooting interest in the Jazz as Deron Williams is probably my favorite player in the Association right now. Besides that, Holliday still hasn't touched home plate! With that being said, I entered into Colorado territory knowing full well that the teams I love will love to be hated here, which is fine. After all, you should expect that type of thing when you are in enemy territory. The only thing that really irritates me is watching Rockies and especially Nuggets games. The announcers have got to be the biggest homers I have ever had to listen to. They are so publicly biased that it can really ruin a game for me. However, I can take this bias from local fans, as that is what fans are supposed to have. Other than that, I have no issues with Colorado, the teams or the fans. In fact, I quite enjoy living out here with all it has to offer. Now on to my rebuttal. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

Aaron, considering you are not a sports fan, I am puzzled by this lengthy discourse on, well, sports. As you are not a sports fan, maybe that is a good reason why you are bothered by or don't understand fans (fanatics) attitudes and opinions. I am a little perplexed on your assessment of Colorado sports being ignored outside the region they call home. Isn't this true of most any sports team/franchise with the exception of some of the more storied franchises in history, i.e. the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs or in basketball the Lakers and Celtics or in football the Cowboys and Steelers. This seems fairly common and I am not sure why this is a knock against them as it is something entirely out of the city's control. On to that chip your describe. I, for one, have never had the impression that Colorado sports fans carry a chip on their shoulder, after all, between the Rockies, Avalanche, and Broncos in the last 20 years they have made it to their respective league championships a combined 8 times, totaling 4 titles, which is nothing to sniff at. I am not sure there is much of an inferiority complex going on there. Not sure how there could be. This seems more like biased opinion than fact, but I guess that is just my opinion as well. And to address your statement about "teams walking on water", I think it would be pretty pathetic if a sports town didn't rally around a team that is doing well. If not, then why have the sports franchise anyway? As an a-side, Denver was picked as the 7th Best Sports Town In America, one sport ahead of Phoenix. It should be noted that Denver was the number 1 sports town in America, as voted by The Sporting News, in 1995 and 1997. Clearly, sportswriters ain't buying what you're selling.

Moving on. I will give you a point for referencing the rather pedestrian start by the Broncos last year that coincided with the Rockies miracluous run to the Fall Classic. When the Series ended, the Broncos stood at 3-3. That is where the bonus points end. Fans coming out of the woodwork? Are you serious? The Rockies averaged 29,000 fans a game in 2007. May I note that this was just ahead of the D-Backs average attendance. Now the uneducated fan might believe the average must have been raised by the crazy finish they had to the season where the stadium was thumping to full capacity. But in their run where they won 14 of 15 to finish the season, only 9 of those games were played at Coors Field. 9 games does not a season average make. The fact is Denver has generally turned out in droves to support the Rockies and only in recent years has fan support waned. Look over at baseball-almanac.com for attendance analysis for the Rockies and D-Backs. As you can see each team has been supported fairly well since coming into the league. For the Rockies first 9 seasons, they drew more than the league average, the D-Backs did if for the first 7 seasons. Even if a team isn't good, for the first couple of seasons you would expect that fans would turn out for the sheer fact that a new pro sports team is in their city. However, one question has to be raised, why is it that the Rockies, through all the terribles seasons and one measly playoff appearance prior to last year get such high attendace? Hmmm, maybe because Denver is a pretty good baseball town. Why, also, don't the D-Backs do better, considering they have been to the playoffs 4 times and even won a World Series, and they can't keep fans in the stands? Maybe Phoenix doesn't really care for baseball. I don't know, you tell me. All I know is this is not a case of bandwagoning. This is a case of the city of Denver being shafted for so many years by pathetic teams and could only take so much. I mean, the Rockies do hold the MLB single season attendance record at 4,483,350; that is a ton of fans. When the Rockies started winning, of course excitement grew as the prospect of making the playoffs is exciting to any fan, especially a playoff starved baseball town.

The more I read your post, the more bitter you seem. Your jab at the Rockies for attempting to trademark the phrase "Rocktober" seems kinda silly. Why is it so hard to fathom that people might be optomistic that having a good team could be a year-in year-out thing? Oh thats right, in Arizona, fans, know not to expect too much for the fear of heartbreak. Thats why you will never feel the highs nor the lows, there is no investment there. No real fans either.

One thing I found interesting was that you linked that article from the Denver Post that was recapping one of the NLCS games and you say how Denver fans are bitter. Did you even read the article? Do you remember what happened in that game? I mean come on, look at that game/article from an outsiders perspective. The fans were throwing all kinds of crap down on the field at the players, if that is not disrespectful and downright childish I don't know what is. I know that is not reflective of all fans, or even the city/state as you mention. But the cold hard facts of life are that a few bad apples can spoil the bunch. And from my perspective, that is exactly what happened that night. If you are going to admit to anything, don't admit that the D-Backs didn't even show up for the series, but admit that the fans crossed the line, and you don't agree with that type of behavior. Unless of course you do agree with it, in which case, well, I wouldn't know what to say.

But seriously, the next statement is straight up pathetic. I am glad you don't claim to be a sports fan, because your fanhood would be revoked on the spot for saying, "Maybe it was because people who knew baseball knew that whoever won the NLCS was just going to go on to be embarrassed by the Red Sox". You can't be serious. First of all, that statement at its base is flawed, because the Red Sox weren't waiting in the wings to take on the NL champs. In fact, the day after Colorado won the NLCS, the Indians, not the Red Sox, held a 3-1 lead in the ALCS. But besides that, you say "people who knew baseball". Did you ask baseball fans? As you mentioned before, you are not one of them, so I would expect that you forgot how the Tigers were supposed to roll over the Cards in the 2006 series and ended up losing in 5. Or how the 2003 Marlins were going to get wiped up by the Yankees and instead won in 6 games. Or how could you forget your hometown D-Backs pulling the upset on the Yankees in 2001. Then there is the 1997 Marlins. I could go on and on. People who know baseball, or any sport for that matter, know that the favorite does not always win. So your assertion that the D-Backs didn't care because they knew they would lose anyway is ludicrous beyond belief, and in fact belittles and disrespects them as competitive athletes.

Ok, lets get to the next paragraph where you start off with some more doozeys. You claim all the Rockies fans have abandoned ship and gone over to the Nuggets. Well, look at the facts, the Rockies aren't playing great, but they are still drawing fans. They are 6th in the NL in attendance and 10th overall. Whereas those rabid D-Backs fans sit below them at 1oth in the NL and 14th overall, and they are in 1st place! Where is the fan support? I mean, even the Giats, arguably the worst team in baseball is higher than Arizona. So its clear the Rocks have plenty of support regardless of your factless claim that they only support them when they are winning. You go on to say how Colorado fans take it out on Arizona. Sorry, but that just sounds like a little crying kid. Don't give yourself so much credit. Maybe you should attend/watch more Devner sporting events when an Arizona team isn't involved, the results are the same. Its called fans supporting their team and booing the other. Thats what fans do. And by the way, the Jazz are much more hated and seen as a rival to the Thuggets than the Suns are. Lastly, I am not really sure what your point about Carmelo Anthony's DUI is. Are you saying that anytime a player has a brush with the law the moral police should swoop down and suspend the guy? This is not a city or even team issue, its a league issue and the league will punish him if it feels necessary. The tox report isn't even back yet. I mean, I am not defending the dude, he made a huge error in judgement and is lucky that noone was hurt, I don't condone that in the slightest, but it's not like its the first time its happened. But you do raise an interesting memory in my mind. Going back to 2001, I remember when Jason Kidd admitted to abusing his wife. Oh, he played for the Suns then too. Maybe the league should step in, supsend Anthony for the playoffs do the same retroactively to Kidd. I don't recall him being suspended for the 2001 playoffs.

In closing, I am glad you moved to Colorado. I enjoy hanging out with you guys, maybe you guys don't feel the same, who knows. Also, if moving here has increased your fanhood, then I am all for it. Just don't be too biased, it just sounds a little childish at times and even sounds like you might be the one with the chip on his shoulder. In reality, you are probably just having a little bit of culture shock, sports-wise. Sometimes its not easy to hear negative things about your teams, but that is the reality of sport. I have to give you credit, you do put together a decent argument that I am sure most would just swallow, even throwing in some good wit. I enjoyed the read. Not sure if you will enjoy mine as much(this thing took on a life of its own). I hope you know this is all in good fun. But seriously, I don't expect you to understand, after all you are NOT a fan!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Tagged by Erin

4 Jobs I have had:
Cashier/Cook at Burger king
Market Research Interviewer
Nutrition Consultant
Associate Director


4 TV Shows I watch:
Grey's Anatomy
Lost
Desperate Housewives
law and Order
(nobody tell my young women girls the trash I watch, I can't be perfect in all things, lol.)

4 Places I have been:
Mexico
Canada
North Carolina
Florida

4 People that email me:
Laura (bound to get one of her stupid forwards each day that I have told numerous times not to send)
mom ( sends her journal almost everyday (mom you really need a blog))
Angela aka t-bone
Sarah (man we really need more cell minutes or texts so we are not left to e-mail each other or I guess we could just walk over to each others house)

4 of my favorite foods:
Fresh Mex
Avocado
Chinese
chocolate anything except just a plain heresy bar not so good.

4 Friends I Tag:
Kristen
Jessie
Ben (maybe this will force you to update your blog)
Veronica

4 things I am looking forward to in 2008:
Not being pregnant again
Hopefully seeing family
Losing some weight
See where Pam and Joe will go on their mission (not looking forward to having them gone)

Monday, April 14, 2008

A Post For Megan

Most of you have no idea who my friend Megan is. We both went to Weber High, Dixie College, and Utah State. The funny thing is that I didn't actually meet her until my last year at Utah State when we had about four out of five classes together. She is really loud and likes to talk a lot so we get along great. We used to sit in the front of our classes because we had good intentions to listen but instead we would just talk the whole time. I know it was little disrespectful but for some reason our teachers loved us. In fact Ms. Donna Gordon was one of our professors who when we saw we used to sing "Oh Donna, Oh Donna", she was always begging us to be student aids in fact I think Megan was an aid after I graduated. Anyway even though we really have nothing in common (besides the fact that we both wanted to be dietitian but couldn't hack the program so settled for the lesser major of community health education (really there is a whole lot more)) she is a great friend. So I do realize that probably nobody cares about any of this besides Megan herself and since I know she looks at my blog often since she makes a comment on every post I decided to make a post just for her. Since Megan is such a good friend she sent Reynolds some shirts. I have to admit to Megan when I opened them and saw that they were long sleeves and said 3-6 months I thought what was she thinking Megan is pretty good about stuff like getting the seasons right. Then i saw there was a card and when I read it Megan wrote, "I know these are too big but I took in to account how fast Jane grew and thought they would be perfect for Reynolds" (see she really thinks about these things). However, I thought Reynolds is so small compared to Jane he is not going to fit into these shirts while the weather is still cold. Well Meg and to anybody else who is still reading this post here is little Reynolds in one of the shirts and it fits him perfect and there are still plenty of cold days left in Denver.



So the coolest thing about this shirt is I found socks in the sock drawer that I would swear were made for his shirt. I actually spotted the tops which were red and yellow. I thought those will match. When I unfolded them they had little football players throwing footballs and two numbers on them 32 and 22. What a find.


Thanks Megan your the best!

Terriable Two's?

Jane is about two months away from turning two, but she has been into everything for the past several months. I sure hope that the terrible two's are no worse than the behavior we have been experiencing. She can open anything and dump it such as Reynolds gas drops twice (you would think mom would learn her lesson the first time) and last week she finally figured out how to open a door so now nothing can stop her. Every once in awhile she gets into something and it is pretty cute. The other day I was putting my makeup on (yes I do wear makeup even though you can't tell). I started to put my eye liner on when I heard Jane pull something out of my makeup bag. For you ladies you understand that once you start with eye liner it's best if you keep going with the same line. You also know that this only takes a few seconds. So I decided to finish putting it on and then I would take a look at what Jane had gotten. Well I wasn't expecting my mascara and definitely wasn't expecting that she would have already unscrewed it and tried to put it on. Man she is quick. Lucky the camera was sitting right on my dresser so I could get a picture of this memory.




You can't tell from the picture but she did actually get a little bit of it on her eyelash. I don't know whether to be proud or worried. JK I'm neither.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Sleepless Nights

The weekends around our home have been a little bit crazy the last few weeks. Andrew was consulting for a company called TelePacific to help them do who knows what. I know it had something to do with updating their billing system. He has worked on a few different projects since he has been employed at Comverse but this project was his first "real" project that he got to see his work go through the whole process of "going live". The last few weeks have been crunch time so Andrew has been putting in a lot of extra hours. The last few weekends he has been pulling all nighters. This weekend was show time which I'm happy to say that Andrews part is done. I'm so proud of him and all the hard work he does for our family. I know that he puts a 110% into his work. I was over looking his shoulder yesterday as he was instant messaging with one of the guys he was working with. The guy asked him when the last time he took a nap was since they had been up the night before and were scheduled to be up all through the night again. Andrew responded "during the day but that he was fine". I asked Andrew what he was talking about since I knew that he hadn't slept a wink all day because he still continued to work. His response was that he needed to instill confidence in his co-worker that things would go smoothly. Being in previous managment I know Andrew is one of those employees who doesn't complain about his situations in fact does the opposite and never lets anyone know how hard he works. Well I know, and I'm so grateful to have a husband who works so hard and takes so seriously his obligation to take care of our family. Thanks Babe, I love you.


This is Andrew one morning trying to catch a few zzzzzzzzz before his day began. It's pretty sad when your husband brings your children to you when they wake up on his way to bed.


After Andrew was all done this morning after basically getting no sleep for two days he decided to spend some with Jane instead of going to sleep and then join the family for lunch at the original real Cottles. He is a great dad too!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

Sometimes it feels like all I do is bathe children. I only bathe each kid every other day, but it seems like the every other day is everyday. I usually bathe Jane in the morning and Reynolds at night. Well I was so tired the other night that the last thing I wanted to do was give Reynolds a bath and I didn't. I feel kind of bad cause I asked Andrew if he would rather get Jane ready for bed or give Reynolds a bath and he quickly responded to getting Jane ready for bed. Well I didn't keep my end of the deal. So it was the next morning and Reynolds still hadn't had a bath and Jane needed one. I thought man I should be bathing the kids at the same time then it would free up one of my nights. Well my plan went almost perfect. The kids had a good time in the bath together. Jane actually started to bath Ren and Ren just smiled at her and cooed. When I got them all scrubbed I decided I would get Reynolds out first. I got Reynolds out, put a diaper on him and when I reappeared (I know I should never leave a kid in the tub alone but I was just at the bathroom door) I noticed that Jane had open the expensive baby wash for Reynolds and dumbed it all the tub. I was so mad. Jane got a diaper on quickly and went straight to time out.


New Toys


We got some of the baby toys out so that Reynolds could start to use them. It may be a little too early for him play with the toys on the excersaucer but it's another "station" for him to be fairly safe from his sister when I need to put him down. He loves the bumbo, thanks Sarah for lettting me borrow it. Kind of a lame post I know but just wanted to get some pictures out for the grandparents.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Meet "Nolds"

When Andrew and I first started dating we had the talk of what we wanted to name our kids pretty quickly. I told him I wanted my first daughters name to be Jane and he told me that he wanted his first sons name to be Reynolds. Andrew Reynolds is one of Andrews favorite skateboarders and has always loved the name Reynolds. In fact, Andrew has incorporated the name Reynolds into various screen names, logins, and passwords. I think he secretly wished it was his name so he is living vicariously through his son. Anyway, I did not argue with the name thinking in my head what are the chances I will actually marry this guy. Well, obviously that day has came to pass. When we started to tell people what the name of our child would be the frequent question came up as to what we would be is nickname. People have come up with a few different things but I'd say Jane has come up with the best one yet "Nolds". It kind of sounds like nerds when she says it but regardless it has stuck with me, and I find myself calling him that all the time (FYI I love the name now). So here is "Nolds" he is really the best baby as long as he is not tired, hungry, getting out of the bath, being bugged by his older sister, and stuffed up(he is sick). He makes our home that much more fun and we feel so lucky to have him.

So when people found out I was pregnant with a boy they kept telling me that he was going to pee out of everything and to make sure his urinator was always pointing down when I changed him. I tried to follow their advice but there is really nothing ever to point down. I think this has a little bit to do with the lack of skin they circumcised and his chunky thighs. The doctor says that babies urinators that are really chunky tend to stay in the skin more. Maybe too much information for some. Anyway we have been pretty lucky to not have him pee out of too many outfits. However, today when I woke Reynolds up from his nap I felt that he was pretty wet. When I took off his pajamas this is what I discovered.




I tried to get Reynolds doing some other cute stuff but it's pretty hard to catch as this age at least for my son anyway. We have decided that he is kind of lazy, I think it's cause he is male.

Friday, April 4, 2008

New HTPC

As you can see, my wife is pretty cheap, err thrifty. Well, I am too and I just built a new computer(htpc) for a pretty low price. Since all of you who read this blog are big computer nerds, I am confident you will excitedly read all that I have to say. Let me break the price down for you:

  • Computer Case and Power Supply: $21 on clearance at WorstBuy
  • GeForce 6200LE Video Card: $5 After Rebate at Frys.com
  • Intel Celeron 420 Conroe-L: $41 at Newegg.com
  • Corsair 1gb(2x512 mb) DDR2 PC 6400 Ram: $25 at Newegg.com
  • ABIT AB9 Pro Motherboard: $49 After Rebate at Newegg.com
  • Grand Total: $141
I already have some hard drives and an extra dvd drive to use, so $140 for a new system is pretty good if I do say so myself. I hear you snickering in the background at the Celeron processor. Let it be known that this little bad boy can easily handle 720p and 1080p videos from apple.com and they look nice. So far it can take everything I throw at it with the exception of a 1080p 40mbps video which is pretty ridiculous. I am pretty pleased so far. I have the celly overclocked from 1.6 ghz to 2.8 ghz currently and pushing for more(my goal is 3.2 which would be a 100% oc). Man I love screwing with new computers!
The case could use a little better cable job, but that's not important right now.


Thanks for tuning in. I am sure you enjoyed this post about my computer as much as I did putting it together.

Jane and the ABC's

So for a couple of months now Jane has been able to recognize her letters. One day she started to pull letters out of the tub and telling me what they were. I was in complete shock and had no idea that she knew them. I began to quiz her and found that she nearly knew most of them. For Christmas her Aunt Laura gave her a set of alphabet books which she loves and they have taught her the letters she was a little shaky on and also helped her to recognize words that start with each letter. For a few weeks Jane has been into singing songs so I've been waiting for her to bust out the alphabet song. A couple days ago she said song and then started to say her ABC's. In the video it doesn't sound much like a song at all but at least she is finally saying her ABC's without reading them. I know it's not perfect but I think it's still cute so I thought I would share.





Pinching Your Pennies

So anyone who knows me knows I'm really cheap. Well my friend Veronica introduced me to a website called pinchingyourpennies.com and it has taught me how to be even cheaper and score some awesome deals. Tonight I went shopping at king Soopers and got lots of free stuff. I didn' t have coupons for all the stuff I got so I had to pay for some of it but all in all I got 30 items for $18.00 dollars. If I didn't buy 4 boxes of morning star products and a thing of cheese I would have made out with only spending $8.50. Anyway I wanted to pay tribute to all the deals I have scored with the tips on pinchingyourpennies.com and would suggested anyone who likes a deal to go to the site and see what deals are going on in your state.


This deal I would actually have to give Andrew full credit for. Cereal was on sale for a $1.00 a box. Andrew went online and found coupons for a $1.00 off a box. That's right most all these boxes of cereal were free!!! We also scored with nature valley granola bars for .60 cents a box. On the last day of the sale I told Andrew I was heading in one more time and he actually got mad at me and told me that we did not need anymore cereal even if it's free. Yes we will eat all this.



ok I know I'm nuts showing you pictures of my pantry but I just get so excited about these deals and want everyone who cares to have the same opportunity. I have learned that people don't get nearly as excited to get free cheese nips, triscuits, and ritz. Alright I did pay .20 cents for each box of triscuits and riz but half those cookies mixes where free and the other were .20 as well. I know what you thinking who eats all that crap. Well we do for .20 cents or less plus they are great to have on hand when we get the treat bucket for nursery or you need to bring a quick treat to someone.


Last but not least my .20 cents score on beans and rice and pasta roni. My sisters make fun of me for eating so many beans but heck they are so good for you and at .20 cents a pop bring on the bean casseroles and bean burritos. Who says it has to be expensive to start up your food storage.