The Party's Over

 Not only is this guy ridiculously happy (which he is), he is now trying to climb stairs and is mere seconds from walking. Sigh. I guess the party is over and my baby will soon be replaced by a toddler. Emphasis on the toddling.

Look how proud he is!

Playing at Bah and Honey's.

He loves to walk with this push-toy.

Go Buy This Ebook!

My friend Jenel posted this on her blog and she words it better than I could. Please buy the ebook and support a great cause and get a lot of great stories based on The 3 Billy Goats Gruff. Besides the incomparable Jenel Cope (my writing partner) you will get stories from the likes of Shannon Hale and Rick Walton.

What are you waiting for? GO BUY IT!

A List for Tuesday

5 Things to Look Forward to in April

1. Baby Dane's 1st birthday
2. A weekend at the cabin!
3. Easter
4. Warm weather
5. A new fence for the yard!

Pam & Clarissa and the Festival of Colors

Every year the Hare Krishnas throw an event called the Festival of Colors. It's a celebration of spring where everyone goes and throws colored chalk at each other. And it's just as awesome (and random) as it sounds. One of my favorite people on the planet, Miss Clarissa Carpenter, was my date to this year's festival. It was the first time going for both of us. We had a blast! Picture proof below.

 Before

 During

 It got to the point where you couldn't even tell what my original hair color was!

After

The Hunger Games: A Snarky Review

Sorry, no pictures to accompany this blog either because Julie and I forgot in all the excitement and making fun of the girls dressed as Katniss.

To preface this post: I liked the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I didn't like the other two in the series, but I liked the first one. You should also know that the movie was one that I would see if the opportunity arose, but I wasn't super-excited for it or counting down or anything. So when my friend Julie had an extra ticket for the midnight showing last night I was happy to take it off her hands (and see the movie with someone as awesome as Julie). This is my review of the movie.

Overall I really liked it, but it's no fun to point out all the things you love in a movie, so instead I'm going to tell you all the things I didn't like in a (hopefully) funny way.

• You know how when you watch old home movies where a kid had the camera it's so shaky you get sea-sick? Yeah, most of the movie was like that. There were a few times where I had to close my eyes because I was getting dizzy from the "artistic" cinematography.
• I had a really hard time getting over the fact that the guy who plays Gale is dating Miley Cyrus in real life. Ew.
• The beginning was SO slow and then suddenly it warps into hyper-speed and ends so suddenly that Julie and I looked at each other and said, "That's the end?"
• Peeta's hair was horrible! Especially at the end when they have him in a bright blue suit and black t-shirt. Just push up those sleeves and he'd be doing a great Don Johnson impression.
• It really felt like they were adding Cinna as another love interest. Seriously, every time Katniss and Cinna had a scene together I was sure they would start making out.
• I thought it was a little hilarious how Katniss always looked perfect, even when they were supposed to be all dirty and grungy. Peeta was all beat up looking and she looked daisy fresh!
• Lastly, I thought it was really bloody. I know the book is, but I had hoped they do a more Hitchcock-esque-implied-but-not-seen take to the blood. Nope, they went for the jugular (pun intended).

All in all it was good, but not great. They could have made it so much more than it was, but nobody asked me.

Have you seen it? What did you think?

Writing For Charity 2012

There will be no picture accompanying this post because I forgot to take any. I remembered my camera and everything, I just forgot to pull it out and shoot some pics. As a quick explanation Writing for Charity is a one day writing conference started in 2009 by Shannon Hale. All the proceeds from the (very affordable) registration fees and all the money earned from the silent auction go directly to buy books for kids. Great cause and great conference!

I went to the last Writing for Charity (W4C) in 2010 and it was a great experience. The last time I signed up literally the day before so I had no time to prepare. This year I took the time to read books by the authors I would come in contact with. I also took the time to read up on each of them so I would know what their strengths were that I could gain from. My writing partner Jenel and I went together (which is fitting because it was W4C 2010 where we first became writing friends).

Part of the conference was the opportunity to have a one-on-one critique by one of the authors there. You were assigned based on your top 3 picks. My top three were Shannon Hale, Brodi Ashton (author of Everneath), and my third choice should have been Kristen Chandler (author of Girls Don't Fly). About 90% of the attendees wanted to be in Shannon's group and the limit was 7 people. I had great confidence that I would be chosen for Shannon's group. This (perhaps misguided) positive thinking must have worked because Ms. Hale read the first two pages of my Cinderella re-imagining The Stone Flower.

The rest of the conference was really good too. Jenel and I went to every class together even though we hadn't planned it that way. I think my favorite class was the one about Critique Groups; it really made me appreciate the great professional and personal relationship that Jenel and I have.

By the way, Brodi Ashton and Kristen Chandler were both awesome! I recommend you go out and buy their books immediately.

A List for Tuesday

5 Things I Don't Feel Like Doing When I'm Sick:

1. Blogging
2. Cleaning
3. Writing
4. Eating
5. Parenting

The Only 5 Things I Want to Do When I'm Sick:

1. Sleeping
2. Reading
3. Drinking orange juice
4. Napping
5. Laying around wishing I wasn't sick

Someday, when the coughing stops, I'll tell you all about my awesome weekend at Writing for Charity.

Dutch the No-Sleep Monster

I found Dutch asleep on our bed.

Well, sort of on the bed.

I try not to compare my boys, but there is one place where they are so different and it's driving me crazy. Dane has been consistently sleeping through the night since he was 5 months old. Dutch, at 3 1/2, does not.

I can count on one hand the number of times he's slept through the night this year. Usually he wakes up between 2 and 3, kicks either Chris or me out of our bed and then goes to sleep. That's a good night. Most of the time when he wakes up at 2 or 3 he stays awake. Did I mention he hasn't taken naps since he was about 2?

I'm SO tired of not getting a full night's sleep. I don't know how Dutch does it.

Bo Has Cancer

Today Bo went to the vet for his "well-doggy check-up" to get all his shots up-to-date. While we were there I had the vet look at this little bump on Bo's front wrist that he's had for awhile, but lately I noticed it was getting bigger and seemed to be bothering him.

Turns out it's cancer: a slow-growing sarcoma, to be exact. It shouldn't shorten his life or alter the quality of it at all (as long as it really is slow-growing). Because of where it is Dr. Orme (our vet) is a little apprehensive to operate. There's less skin on his front leg and there's a chance that it wouldn't heal properly, leaving an open sore. The risk of not operating is that it will get so big it will bust out of the skin and become a gaping sore, leading to amputation.

So we're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Baby Xander

Isn't he so cute? Though 3 months younger, Xander is almost the same size as Dane. I think Xander is average for his age; Baby Dane is just really small! It's so fun to watch the two of them play together, although I think Xander will like it more when he's mobile and can run away from Dane's love.

A List for Tuesday

5 Reasons I Hate Daylight Saving Time

1. What's the point? No, seriously, I have no idea why we do it in the first place. Stupid Benjamin Franklin.
2. I turn into an insomniac trying to get my body back on the right schedule.
3. Dutch stays up way too late and wakes up way too early.
4. Dane has his naps so confused I think he only goes to bed "on time" because he's so exhausted.
5. There's always that one clock that's so hard to change that I have to leave it the wrong time 6 months out of the year.

Why do you hate Daylight Savings?

Book Club

Julie, Cat, me (notice my sweet faux-hawk), Jenel

About two months ago I decided to start a book club. I did this for a number of reasons, but the biggest one was I wanted to be in a book club that I couldn't get kicked out of. This is a picture of our first book club meeting last month. We read Patricia Wrede's Snow White and Rose Red. All three of these chicks are amazing and I'm looking forward to many more book club meetings. Hopefully this month every member will be able to attend!

A Dutchie School Update

I was trying to take his picture and he

 kept getting closer to the camera until

he was right in front of me!

This last week Chris and Dutch and I went to a Parent/Teacher Conference with Dutch's teacher, Gretchen, and his Speech Language Pathologist, Allison. He is making progress in all the areas we've been focusing on, but he's still having trouble interacting with other kids. I'm trying to make friends with some of the women in the neighborhood who have kids Dutch's age. Hopefully a few extra play-dates at home will help his social skills. He's doing so well, in fact, that they wanted to have him come 3 days a week instead of just 2. That way he can progress even faster. That means next school year he'll go 4 days a week! I am excited for him to get to go to school more, but I'm also excited to have more time just Dane and me, and more time to myself. 

We also learned a few interesting things about Dutch:
1) He refuses to take his coat off at school. I think that's so funny because at home it's the first thing he wants to take off! I guess he's using it as his security blanket or something.
2) He's regressing as far as his potty training goes; he won't go to the bathroom without being bodily taken in there. Because of this he's had a few accidents at school, so we've gone back to Pull-Ups for now. I have to say that potty training is, by far, my least favorite thing about parenting.
3) Apparently he has a huge crush on his teachers Brittany and Julie. Sometimes he has trouble focusing in large group because he wants to play with Miss Brittany's hair!
4) Dutch is (still) the most polite kid in his class. He always says "please" and "thank you" and I'm so proud of him for that!
5) Lastly, they both said they all think he's so cute! That goes to show how smart they are because he IS so cute.

So crazy to have a pre-schooler, but we love him so much!

Dane's Feet

Dutch and Grandma Honey

So I haven't posted pictures because no one seemed to be interested. Then I was told that someone was. So these are for that one interested person.

The following are pictures of Dutch helping his Grandma Honey make dinner. We go over to Greg and Kellie's house every Tuesday and most of the time Dutch just wants to play and eat fruit. This time, however, he wanted to help. And he was a really great helper!

Notice his dinosaur shirt. It's one of his favorites.

A List for Tuesday

This post is in honor of my sister Carianne who just learned she's partially deaf in her left ear. I've been partially deaf in my left ear for 10+ years, so I have some tips to offer her.

5 Awesome Things About Being Partially Deaf
(in no particular order)
1. When you're trying to sleep and there's a lot of noise, just lay down with your deaf ear up. The noise disappears (or softens) and you can get the sleep you need without having to constantly yell "SHUT UP!"
2. If you go to the movies with someone who talks too much just have them sit on your deaf side. When they blabber on through the movie you can just smile and nod and enjoy not hearing them.
3. When your children are yelling you can say, "I can't hear you when you use that tone of voice."
4. Plays will often accommodate you by giving you a helpful hearing device. This makes sure you don't miss any of the jokes that even your hearing friends might miss.
5. When you have to come up with an interesting thing about yourself at those stupid getting-to-know-you activities you can say, "I'm deaf in my left ear" and everyone will immediately think you're awesome for hearing as well as you do.

Bonus: You now have an excuse to learn American Sign Language, just in case.

Picture by Jodi

Family Picture

December 2011

Favorite Picture Friday

This was taken July 2011.

I can't believe how big they both are now!

The Goal for March

I feel like my blog has been lacking in pictures lately. I feel like I have been very bad about pictorially chronicling our crazy life. To remedy both I've decided to post pictures every day in March (except Tuesdays). I hope you will enjoy them!

Dane, as taken by Dutch

Our sweet baby Dane is currently sporting 6 teeth! 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. All but two of these teeth have come in the last week or so. He has been getting them 2 at a time which must be miserable. He's still amazingly mellow, even when he's in a bad mood.

Lately he has found Bo hilarious. The other day Bo sneezed and Dane laughed about it for 5 minutes straight. He, much like Dutch at this age, finds Bo's ears fascinating and is constantly trying to taste them. So far he has been unsuccessful in this endeavor.

In sad (for me) news, Dane is trying to walk. Okay, so he is walking, but he still has to hold on to something. Lately, however, he has been trying to stand up in the middle of the room (and, hilarious enough, he looks like he's trying to Tebow when he does it). This is very upsetting for me! I don't want my baby pie walking around; I want him to stay little forever. 

Dane loves baths, anything and everything Dutch does, and absolutely adores his Daddy. If Chris doesn't say hi to him almost immediately he fake cries until he does. He's learned to wave, but not clap, despite my best efforts. If anyone is eating something then he wants a taste of it. He's busy busy and constantly on the move.

Any requests for pictures this month?