Happy weekend

We just had the most wonderful weekend. It was very refreshing and fun. I love my whole family so much and wish we could spend all kinds of time together! It's just a little reminder about how much I take them for granted. Congrats on your marriage Josh and Beth, wishing you many years of love, goofiness, and happiness!


Joshy Poshy - you're such an awesome cousin that you get a whole blog entry. You've come a long way since the little yellow table. I hope you're flattered! ;-)

Deals of the week

Ooh yay, I love saving money. Here are some of the sweet deals I found today {thanks to some frugal mom blogs}, so you can save too!:

1. $1.50 off two packs of Velveeta Shells and Cheese dinners (or buy 3 get one free of the Kraft mac and cheese variety). If I wait until they are on sale (2/$3) I'll essentially get one free, AND if I pair that offer with the $1 off coupon from here, I'll get two boxes of Shells and Cheese dinners for $0.50.

2. Free customized Father's Day card at Shutterfly. You pay shipping and tax, but with the free card, your total will be a little over $1.

3. If you're in the market for a movie, get a Disney Pixar movie, batteries, AND a movie voucher to the new movie, "UP" for $10.99 total.

4. Coffee lovers, you can get a FREE small coffee at Borders, but you have to get it by SUNDAY 5/31.

5. YUM! I hope you have free time on June 3rd. Sonic is handing out free 10oz root beer floats from 8p.m. to midnight!

6. And, this is my standby website for all things grocery.

Cute and mine!

Remember my crush on this? Looks like I didn't need to justify cute as a reason for a purchase - Blake {and Isaac} bought me eight place settings for my birthday! Happy early birthday to me, since we'll be out of town on my real birthday. Hooray! I love my husband.

I promise to invite all of you over to eat off of these lovely dishes, but you'll have to share because there are only eight settings of them, and probably a lot of you.

Duet

How sweet. I'm going to teach Blake how to play piano so we can play like Fran and Marlo in 58 years {for our 62nd Anniversary}!



Fran & Marlo Cowan (married 62 years) playing impromptu recital together in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic. He turned 90 in February.

Thanks for the video Abby!

Purse

I need a new purse. My old standbys are really starting to fall apart and one of my favorites suffered a broken zipper over the weekend. Sad. I can't ever seem to find purses that I like, in my price range, when I'm out shopping. I want to go with a purse from ALDO {click here} because Jennifer told me that they had a store in London, and I really wanted to get a purse while IN London, just never came across one I was so-inclined to purchase. I have found many I like on the website, but just want your opinions on what YOU like. Hopefully some of my choices will coincide with yours and my choice will be easier. Thanks in advance.

Here are my criterion:

1. $50 or less
2. Simple yet classy. It needs to go with many outfits. I like colors, but should probably purchase a brown, black or other more neutral color for functional purposes. I am open to options, but maybe something like this.
3. Not too small. Now that I have a kid, I've got to be able to keep necessary baby items, in addition to all of my stuff in the purse.
4. Not too big. I don't want it to be a total diaper bag, but I DO want it to be big enough for the basic necessities for quick runs.

Please help! And, if you're feeling motivated, you can scope out the shoe department too. I would like one pair of gladiator-style sandals for summer, additional dressy flats for work, and a nice pair of dressy, but comfortable black peep toes. Gosh, I'm needy.

Vroom vroom

Grandpa, you can take him out driving for his learner's permit in 14 years too. Maybe you can also teach him how to run over raccoons as well as you taught me (by grabbing the steering wheel and veering at them!).

It's good to be back

New look, public blog. Man, it feels nice not to have to sign into my own blog when I want to read it! Don't you think so too?

Congrats

Happy Graduation Ben! I still can't believe it, mostly because I'm in denial about my age, and the fact that I'm married with a kid. ;-)

What a difference a year makes. From this {senior picture last summer}:


To this {on your graduation day}:


We are proud of you! Love, your family!

Addicted

I am a total internet junkie. Here are my current internet addictions:

1. Checking my e-mail multiple times a day
2. Reading blogs
3. Hanging out on my mommy forum
4. Facebook stalking
5. Reading newspapers online
6. Online banking
7. Baby steals {they have one steal a day, and yet I check multiple times, for no reason}
8. Browsing online stores for clothes {usually for Isaac, rarely for Blake, and sometimes for myself}
9. Internet coupon hunting for my next grocery trip {I love saving $$!}

And non-internet addictions, just to make myself feel better about my internet junkiness:

1. Reading children's books, so I can decide which one to introduce next.
2. Making baby food. Just finished green beans now I'm on to pears!
3. Learning new church songs
4. Catching up with old friends over lunch
5. Taking walks
6. Trying to make Isaac laugh
7. Being a mom {yes, it's an addiction...I love it so much that I even find my mind sometimes drifting to thoughts of another child...and then I remember how much work Isaac is, and that he STILL doesn't completely sleep through the night...}
8. Trying to revive my old wardrobe in an effort to protect my pocketbook {so far, I've revived five pieces of clothing circa 2006. Woot!}
9. Picking at my face {a gross and bad habit, but really, my face looks like a teenager's at this point, which is where the thought of another kid would help. Those pregnancy hormones do wonders for bad skin - so, I trade sanity for vanity}
10. Having good conversation
11. Taking pictures and recording small video clips

Jumping the pond

We are back from our little trip to Europe. Here's just a snippet of what I think:

1. Everyone needs to visit London. I seriously love that city.
2. Traveling with a baby is pretty easy. Everyone is so helpful, and babies can make people around the world smile.
3. Jennifer: you are a lifesaver. Thank you for everything, including letting the stroller beat you up.
4. Look right and mind the gap.
5. I would do the entire trip again in a heartbeat {minus the screaming, melt-down, Isaac}.
6. If you have a baby and you go overseas, please invest in a Maclaren Quest stroller. It made our trip so much easier in so many ways!
7. Paris, for me, was a sufficient day trip. I'm not sure I'd enjoy spending more time there than that.
8. London has the best parks!
9. For more information, let's chat! :)
10. Please see the rest of my photos here and Jennifer's photos here.

Moo

I've been dairy-free for 17 days now. I forgot to call my Dr. on Wednesday to check in on how the dairy-free diet is working for Isaac and me. {Insert shameful looks here!}. By now, I should have been able to eat a piece of cheese or something, but as it's Saturday and they aren't open, I suppose the check-up phone call will wait until Monday....but I'm betting I'll forget again since I'll be so busy planning for the trip to London! So, what I'm saying is that being dairy free sucks, but I've adjusted, and I'll probably be dairy-free for four weeks before I add stuff back in. I won't dare add anything in while I'm on vacation, on the slight chance that it might piss Isaac's digestive system off, and then we'll ALL be miserable!

I'd sure love a giant glass of chocolate milk right now though, and I have no one to blame but myself!

Case #67849302

Usually, life at our house is pretty ordinary. But today, we came home to a pretty gruesome crime scene. The culprit made off with a clean escape, only to be caught minutes later!

The evidence:


The felon {with ears back in shame!}:

Spiffy

Happy Senior prom Ben-jammin {and Shai-NA!}! Sorry I'm a week late with the post. Next up, graduation. Holy crap. Just yesterday, you were a baby biting my chin, and pulling my hair {"Fly like a birdie!"}....ouch!