We are Spud Buds

For Christmas my mom got Zoe a small briefcase with a Mr. Potato Head and his Spud Buds. One is a carrot and one is an ear of corn.

She loves to put some feet on Mr. Potato Head and then put arms in all the other holes.

When you try to convince her to put a face on Mr. Potato Head, she tells you to do this:

Apparently we are friends of the spud as well.

We hosted a murder

For awhile N and I have been trying to decide a fun way to have a parent's only night with the young families group at church. A few months ago I had the idea to host a murder mystery party.

I found a kit for a Mardi Gras murder and actually found decorations for Mardi Gras in June. Which is 3.5 months after Mardi Gras.

We had a fantastic response to the party and I got to work on making our house look like a Garden District chateau.

Most people have some kind of mask during Mardi Gras. I had the brilliant idea to make masks. With feathers and some craft glue.

Zoe loved the feathers and insisted we each put a blue and pink one in our ponytails as decorations. According to her it is "pretty."

Shortly after that my mom picked up Zoe for a slumber party at her house. N and I got to work transforming our house into New Orleans.

The masks and name tags.

Another big thing during Mardi Gras is the King Cake. It's a cinnamon cake with cream cheese frosting and the colors of Mardi Gras. There is also a tiny baby baked inside. Whoever gets the baby has to host the next party.

I decided to order a King Cake from a bakery in New Orleans. It was totally worth it. It came unfrosted and with everything I needed.

After I hung several decorations inside and out, we were ready.

The owner of our new Garden District worthy chateau, Mr. DuPre was murder in the billiard room (aka Zoe's room). All we needed were the suspects.

Here's our cast:

Connika Gothika - the eccentric, gothic writer who lives next door. She is not amuzed by anyone.

Bourbon DuPre - the deceased nephew and jazz musician in the Quarter. He was working on his smoking drawl for weeks!

J. Stephen Peek (our former pastor Ryan) - the attorney (and murderer!) and Matthew "Gator" Crovitz (our friend Shawn) - the poor swamp rat turned rich.

Melissa DuPre (the pastor's wife, Katy) - a Vegas cocktail waitress who married the deceased 3 months ago. She was 50 years his junior.

For some reason I didn't get a picture of Alexis DuPre (Shawn's wife Becky) - the beauty queen daughter of the deceased.

It was a great time. Everyone played their character and came dressed for the party. I couldn't have asked for a better cast. Each of them made the party so fantastic.

After dinner we cut into the King Cake. I was pretty sure the baby would be big enough for us to see it.

Not so much. It was basically the size of your pinky's top knuckle.

Fortunately Kate had a keen eye and noticed it before she ate it.

We can't wait to find out when the next mystery will be Katy.

Whether Portland or Seattle, we'll be there.

We may need another tissue

I've mentioned before that I don't like the term "terrible twos." I don't find my child or the age to be terrible.

I prefer the term Intwopendence.

We are definitely in that. In the last month or so there has been a real change in Zoe.

She is starting to understand how she feels and her likes and dislikes. She has also inherited my need for routine and rules.

She likes to know what's going to happen each day. She also has rules about what shoes she'll wear, how to eat mashed potatoes, how to play tea and what colors we should color with.

It is expected we know and follow her rules.

Fortunately she's also growing her vocabulary as she's growing her list of rules. The learning curve for N and me isn't too bad.

The one thing that has happened the last month is how sensitive she is. If we're watching a cartoon and something sad happens (like Pooh can't get any honey or Tigger loses his shadow) we get tears. Massive amounts of tears.

Plus a pouty lip, puppy-dog eyes and slumped shoulders.

We also get this if it's time to come inside, time to change her diaper, time to get in the bath, time to get out of the bath, etc.

In the last week she's been able to convey her feelings to me. No less than 10 times this week I've heard,

"I'm sad Mom. Mom I'm sad."

I can't help but feel bad for her. Her little world has been crushed and she confides in me how she's feeling.

It's part preparing me for puberty.

The best part is that it's also setting the foundation for our relationship. I only hope over the course of my life she can always feel comfortable saying, "I'm sad Mom."

I also hope that I can always be the mom who can comfort her, tell her it's going to be okay and pray with her.

Or try to distract her with a cookie and bubbles like I do now.

Showin' how funky, strong is your fight

It’s no surprise that I would post a Friday Five Fave post about Michael Jackson. Our history goes way back. I grew up on MTV. I can remember watching the Go-Go’s sing My Lips Are Sealed while my grandma prepared pancakes for me. Since I can remember MTV has been a part of my life.

It was not uncommon for me to watch at home, in the evenings. I liked having a little DIVO and WHAM! on in the background while I cut my Barbie’s hair. Didn’t everyone?

In December of 1983 the biggest thing to EVER happen to MTV occurred: Michael’s Jackson’s debut of his video epic Thriller. You cannot even imagine my excitement that I would get to witness music history like this. 14 minutes of history to be exact.

We had just bought our Christmas tree and we were going to decorate it, while watching history in the making.

There was promise of drama and lots of dancing, plus a new Michael Jackson song. Honestly it was like Christmas came early that year.

We had got the tree mostly decorated when Thriller started to play. I was loving the dialogue, the dancing, the suspense of Thriller’s greatness.

My mom had left the living room to put away some of the decorations. I was circling the tree placing just a few strands of tinsel on each branch, dancing to the beat.

Then I saw the screen. It was the exact same moment that Michael Jackson brought his head up.

AS. A. ZOMBIE.

I dropped my tinsel, ran from the room and began to cry.

The only real movie I can remember from my childhood was Grease. I didn’t even like Goonies because of the fire surrounding the entrance to the jail at the beginning. That could totally happen if some bad guys came into my house, stole my teddy bear and then wanted to get away.

Now, now we have Michael Jackson turning into a zombie.

It was too much for my 6 year old mind to fathom.

For years I had an odd fear of Michael Jackson the zombie coming into my room. Which actually prepared me for later in life when the zombie look was a better look for him. In honor of Michael Jackson and his contribution in music, a Top 5 of my favorite songs:

1) Billie Jean – I loved this song. Mainly because he could totally walk on a sidewalk and it would light up. If only we could all experience that when we walked to school.

2) Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough – What’s not to love. A sequined outfit, disco lights coming from behind him. I could never get enough.

3) Smooth Criminal – The beginning bass line is so smooth you can listen to it again and again.

4) Scream – At the height of Janet’s career and as HIStory was being released, we got to witness two of the younger Jackson’s collaborate. I love this. I would watch MTV for hours just trying to see this video.

5) Unbreakable – This track collaborated with Notorious B.I.G. and Brandy. It’s from his last album and a song I listened to over and over and over again.

I could name more, but it’s a Top 5, so I’ll limit my list.

However, while Jackson struggled to deal with fame, there is no doubt he made significant contributions both in music and in choreography. He even has a patent on a move in the video for Smooth Criminal.

For a girl who grew up on MTV and hoped to be a dancer, Michael Jackson will forever be remember as the zombie who scared the tar out of me before Christmas 1983.

We like body art

My mom bought Zoe some bug stickers. Like 5 pages of bug stickers.

They are Zoe's new favorite evening activity.

We put bug stickers on paper, on our hands, on our legs and even on our face.

This was only the beginning. We finished with no less than 4 each.

Zoe insists on butterfly stickers and mommy gets the yucky spiders.

I love playing on Zoe's level. Any excuse to be a kid.

Call us Ward and June please

For D's & E's birthdays we bought them bikes. They have been asking for them for awhile and now that we have a house we were able to get them some.

They spent probably 45 minutes on their bikes this weekend. For girls who usually only spend 10 minutes on each activity, this was huge.

They even rode down the street and met a new friend.

We were like the Cleavers - kids on bikes, daddy mowing the yard and mommy helping our youngest rider.

She's so close to using the pedals all by herself.

Daddy's Girls

On Sunday we celebrated N. He spent some time with the girls playing Ladder Ball and Bocce Ball.

He let them win.

As you can see, they had a blast.

Whatta blessing it is to have a husband who loves our girls with everything that he is. He is exactly what I prayed for.

Thank you N for being such a loving father, Godly man and my partner in crime. I couldn't do this life without you.

Roller Derby Redefined

On Saturday we spent 2.5 hours at the rollerskating rink. I'm happy to report only minor changes have taken place. Instead of decorations in browns and oranges, it's blues and oranges. The food counter has extended into a toy counter. They play music from SpongeBob SquarePants. Which had me the most confused since I don't watch a sea sponge. All the kids really enjoyed yelling his name as loud as possible. Our ears are still ringing.

Some things have remained the same. It does have a distinct odor and the skates are the same ones I wore 20 years ago.

The morning started out with some presents from G.G. She got the girls new rollerblades, which they eagerly wanted to take with them.





D's are pink.

E's are purple (and a little blurry - sorry!).



We got to the rink and it wasn't too packed. N got his blades on and convinced me that only 30 or so small children would witness me falling. I got some skates on too.

N took Zoe for a lap, but he got in trouble for carring a child. We decided to find out if they had some in her size.

Apparently the roller rink caters to the toddler crowd.

Zoe was so excited that she would get some skates too. Then she stood up and realized she had wheels on her feet. This led to much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Her skate lesson only lasted 15 seconds. Everyone has to start somewhere.

I ran around the rink trying to take pictures of D & E with their friends. I could only keep up with E and her friends who were sitting down. As my nephew T-Dog said, "I skate like a girl."

Here is E with her friends Sierra and Savannah.

Apparently not only SpongeBob is a must at the rink, but so are blinky pacifiers. All the girls HAD.TO.HAVE.ONE.

Zoe got a huge kick out of the fact that her older sisters and their friends had binkies too. They bonded.

D & E had a blast. After 2.5 hours, they were a sweaty, tired mess. Along with all their friends.

You know a party's a hit when you have binkies and sweat running down your face.

Buckle up

I'm preparing for a rollerskating party of gigantic proportions. Tomorrow we celebrate D's & E's birthdays with 9 of their closest friends. I haven't stepped foot in the roller rink for decades, so I'm a little excited about it.

I've also been warned it has a distinct smell of sweaty feet. I don't really remember that from my youth.

Then again I do remember the rink having a distinct odor, but couldn't really place it. Apparently it was sweaty feet.

I'm on the final round of getting everything we need. This afternoon I'll be picking up Fun Dip, Nerds and some glow sticks for the goody bags. Everyone knows you can't have a skating party without some Fun Dip.

This year, since we are in our own house, we bought the girls their very own bikes. I can put that on here because they don't know I write about them on the internet.

We bought them the exact same bike. I've been looking for baskets to put on the bikes to make them unique.

Did you know they don't actually make baskets anymore. Sure, I can get a boring brown one that looks more bread basket at some fine dining establishment. I can't get white one, made of plastic with cute flowers on it. Like the one I had.

Unfortunately, when I look for bike license plates, they have almost every other name listed except the ones I need.

I'm thinking I'll have to go with bells or something. As I was looking, I came across this - a seatbelt for bikes.

In what world do we need a seatbelt for a bike but not a basket.

A sad world is what it is.

She's taking it to the floor

I was busy working off the portion of the bear cake that I ate and Zoe quickly wanted in on the action.

She loves the Wii Fit board, but doesn't quite understand the mechanics of how it works.

During one step aerobics session, she wanted to get on the board.

As she stood there, she clapped in time to the rhythm.

I see dance recitals in our future.

Maybe, just maybe, a dance off.

Or two.

The reason for the Wii Fit

My mom and I decided that we had always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes. Instead of buying all the supplies and then paying for a class, we decided to buy the Wilton's Course 1 book and try and teach ourselves.

On Saturday we met at my mom's house to practice our first lesson: using the tips.

She made little bear cakes to practice on.

We sat around her dining room table (Zoe, Grandma Lily and Grandma Kathy) to try our hand at decorating a bear. We decided on the panda design and got to putting the decorating bags together and dying frosting black.

Zoe had already started in with her frosting and her bear.

As I sat down at my spot, I saw this. Apparently you don't need to actually put the frosting on the bear to eat it.

After realizing that some decorating frosting needs to be thinned and that an hour after you begin to decorate using a 16 tip and tiny stars you will have a hand cramp that will make you want to eat the cake you just decorated for comfort.

Without further ado, my bear.

His eyes look a little cross, but apparently I was supposed to use tip 4 and decided to buck the mold.

The view from the back. So cute with his little tail.

Me with proof that I could decorate a cake. Since my hand is still cramped from all the decorating and the Wii Fit, I'm not sure when I'll get to the next lesson.

My decorating partner, enjoying my bear. Notice the black frosting! It came off Sunday night in her bath.

I'm so glad we got a Wii Fit just in time to start cake decorating.

It helps those stiff muscles really relax.

I am unbalanced

This weekend N and I came across a deal that couldn't be passed up. We bought a Wii Fit.

On Friday nights we're usually in bed around 9:45. Not last Friday. We stayed up until 11 o'clock playing with the Wii.

I honestly thought it would be more fun than challenging. While it is incredibly fun, it's really hard. I did some hula hooping. For 3 minutes. I didn't know I had so many muscles in my hips.

I even convinced N to hula hoop. He's already a pro.

We spent the weekend playing around with it and trying the yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance games.

N is very good at all the balancing. I am terrible.

I was called unbalanced more than once this weekend.

If that wasn't pleasant enough, I was also weighed and measured. According to the Wii Fit my correct age is 35 (which is 4 years older than I actually am).

Apparently I'm out of shape and unbalanced.

The good news is that I can totally entertain the crowds at the next sock hop.

Friday Five Faves - vol. 10

I'm not quite sure where this week had gone. It seems to have flown by. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining it's Friday, I'm just praying that this feeling stops so the weekend seems long.

Here is my 5 fives in no particular order:

1) Zoe's talking. This week she saw N's car in the driveway and yelled, "DAD!" Then she goes, "no, daddy at kool." She knew he wouldn't be home and she knew enough to say he was at school.

There are times I still look at her as the 2 pound baby I first met and it brings tears to my eyes to see the girl she's becoming.

2) N's kool. For the last year N's been on a wait list for the degree program at school. Yesterday he found out that he's been accepted. He will begin the degree program in the fall.

While we are completely excited that he can pursue his dream of earning a degree, we both know it's going to be hard work. We're both a bit worn out on this schedule, but it'll be worth it in the end.

I couldn't be more proud of the fact that he's worked full-time and gone to school full time for the last year. He's worked very hard to get where he's at. I know God has some amazing things in store for him.

3) LifeWater by Sobe. I normally don't like flavored waters. I like it ice cold, plain, NO lemon and NO ice. N on the other hand hates water. That is until he discovered LifeWater. His favorite is the black & blue berry, which I think is appropriate if you know N's line of work!

I had a sip and was impressed. It's really great flavored water.

I'm more impressed that they have N drinking water regularly now!

4) Pretend. Zoe is into pretend. She loves to feed her dolls, host tea parties and make spaghetti and meatballs out of Play-Doh. We play pretend all day. Last night she had her head on my shoulder, patted my back and then made a burping sound. She looked at me and said, "MOM!"

5) Flowers. This weekend is the last chance to order flowers from the Washington Bulb Company. Every year they host at Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, WA. They have the most gorgeous tulips I have ever seen. I ordered some bulbs while I still lived in Puyallup and was blown away by the size and beauty of them.

If you order by the 15th, they will give you 20 free bulbs. Granted you won't actually see the flowers until next spring, but I can assure you they are worth the wait.

Have a great week all.

Just like Daddy

Happy Birthday Grammy

When N and I got married I inherited a whole new family. I can honestly say that I love and cherish each one of them.

Two people that helped shape N into the awesome guy he is today are his Grammy and Grandpa. I never had the opportunity to meet N's Grandpa, but I do have the awesome opportunity to have a relationship with Grammy.

For some reason, knowing how important this woman is to N made me a bit intimidated by her. It wasn't until Christmas 2006 that I had an opportunity to just be with her, to talk with her and get to know her better. I immediately understood the relationship she had with N and how she had come to mean so much to him.

Grammy is a woman of Godly character, genuine love and continual joy. You cannot help but want to be around her. I am so grateful that God has put her in our lives and that our girls have her as a role model.

Happy Birthday Grammy/G.G.! Our lives are richer because of you. We hope your day is as full of as many blessings as you are to us. Love you!

We love to hop...from a distance.

Last year we had the awesome opportunity to bond with nature. A small frog got into our house and as I was trying not to scream, N was trying to capture it. Then the frog jumped into our couch and much lifting and tugging happened before the little guy was apprehended.

I don't really like animals that are unpredictable. I basically like fish and dogs. Beyond that everything is questionable.

I was pulling some weeds and noticed something moved by my impatients. We've also been dealing with quite a few crickets, so I thought maybe it was something like that.

Nope.

The frog is back. Granted, I'm not sure it's the same frog because while N was busy getting inside our couch, I was in another room trying not to scream.

I ran inside, told N the frog is back, got Zoe's shoes on her and we all went outside to look at our visitor.

I know I really shouldn't be terrified of something so small, but seriously they can totally hop on you or in your clothes at any given point. I'm not really down with that kind of unpredictability.

Did I mention that they can hop?

Zoe takes after her mother. She preferred to stay on the other side of the patio. She then noticed my gardening gloves and decided they would give her some kind of protective shield against the hopper.

She slowly walked over to daddy to see what this was in his hand.

She kept a good 2 feet distance at all times. At one point a glove fell off. She ran about 7 feet away, beckoned me over to put the glove back on and then hopped over to where daddy and the frog were. After all, it is a frog, they hop, she can hop, they were bonding!

After all the hopping, Zoe decided to take the gloves off and water her pumpkin. N let the little frog go back into the flowers.

Here's Zoe, much like her mother, instructing daddy to put that frog at least 7 feet from her.

They are unpredictable.

Even if you can hop just like them.

Daddy's girl

One of the things I love most about being a mom is watching the relationship between N and Zoe. I had heard once that you fall more in love with your husband when you see the way he loves your child.

I was raised by a single mother and have only met my father once. It was a source of much of my self-esteem troubles growing up. When I was a teenager I began to pray that whoever God had for me would be the father I had always wanted. Some one who genuinely loved our children and would take the time, no matter how much, to engage with them on their level.

One of the first things I noticed about N 5 years ago was how much he enjoyed his children. I sat in his sister's dining room, watching him chase his girls around and hearing them laugh from their bellies.

You could say it was the thing that made me see him differently than I had in high school. It was also then that I began plotting how I could get him to ask me out.

That's a story for another time.

This weekend was family time. We spent much of the time at home, just being. When I got home from work on Friday, this is what I saw:

I love the way they love each other. No matter where Zoe is or what she's doing, her daddy HAS to be a part of it.

He can get her to laugh harder than anyone else. She will freely give him kisses and then tickle him right back. He will laugh and squirm like her tickles really work.

N is the man of her dreams.

And mine too.

You may see her at the World Cup

Last weekend we had the opportunity to take E to her soccer awards ceremony. She played really hard this year, ran her heart out and scored some goals.

N and I couldn't be more proud of her.

The trophy was a bobblehead girl playing soccer. Too cute!

Friday Five Faves - vol. 9 - The sleep talkin' edition

Are two of you that read this freaking out a bit that I've done the 5 faves a couple weeks. IN. A. ROW? I know I am!

Maybe the signs of summer (we totally missed spring) have made me think more in list form than the winter months.

That does make sense, as N will tell you. He has a new list every weekend!

1) Dr. Chris. Yesterday was Zoe's first dentist appointment. We take her to a pediatric dentist. There are 5 doctors in this office and Zoe's first visit was with Dr. Chris. He was charming, kind and reassuring.

Even though Zoe cried and cried and cried he assured me that her teeth were beautiful and he doesn't see anything to worry about. He quickly put some fluoride paste on them and we were out the door.

She even got a Tigger toothbrush and got to watch some Tigger and Pooh before Dr. Chris came in. I think they already know the way to her heart!

2) Movies. Yesterday, after the appointment, my mom took Zoe to her house for nap time. That meant I got 3 hours to myself. That's 180 minutes of me time.

I went to the grocery store, raced home, made some lunch and watched He's Just Not That Into You. It was a cute movie and I love Jennifer Aniston.

Plus did I mention the house was quiet and I was alone. It's those moments that recharge my batteries and make me a better mommy, wife, friend, person.

Thank you mom!

3) The quiet house. Our cricket, Jiminy, is no longer with us. It's been quiet for a full 36 hours now. I'd like to say that I miss the little guy, but I really don't.

I had a brief moment last night when I thought he'd returned. It was all his buddies outside for the funeral.

4) Sleep talkin'. Since I typed that, I've got that Bee Gees's song in my head, "Jive Talkin'". Which is always a good choice for a song to get stuck in your head before coffee.

It was 2 am and I head "Oh NO!" along with some babble coming from the monitor. My first instinct is "OH NO!" she's awake.

Apparently Zoe may like to sleep on her tummy like her father, but she talks in her sleep like her mother.

It was so cute, despite it being 2 am. That's mainly because I can see her little expression as she says it.

5) Benadryl. I have no idea what's going on this month, but the pollen is blowing. Right into my sinus cavity. I've had the itchy, watery eyes, the stuffy nose, the scratchy throat. It's gross.

Thankfully there is Benadryl. Totally helps me fall asleep and clears my head. Not to mention helps me fall asleep after being awoke by "OH NO!" coming from the monitor.

Oh Benadryl, how I love thee.

Hope you're Friday is full of as much disco as mine is.

She caught like three feet of air that time

Zoe has learned to jump. With both feet at once.

S is for Sister

Now that Zoe is getting older, we have an easier time keeping all three girls entertained. This past weekend there were lots of giggles and playing.

After dinner there was even an impromptu soccer game. D & E were on opposite teams trying to score while Zoe held onto her ball and chased after them.

There were games of Ring Around The Rosey, some water game where they each got soaked and some coloring.

I love to see the bond Zoe is developing with her sisters. D tends to take care of her while E is more of a playmate.

It is a joy to see all of our girls enjoying each other.

It fills a place in your soul.

No good, very bad day

So I don't mean to be an Eyeore with this post, but I've got to share with you the day that made me appreciate all the other days that I thought were no good and very bad.

I'm going to do them in a list format because, well I'm lazy.

1) Received some news at work that I'm not feeling too positive about. Kinda sucked the wind right out of my sails.

2) Arrived home to find the lid to our garbage can had broken, leaving the lid open. We don't have a secret place to put the can, so it's out in the open. The lid kept the garbage from being visible. In my very handy way, I put some tape on it.

3) Got everything ready for some French Toast for dinner. Got our three pieces of bread, dipped the first two pieces, got to the last side of the third piece only to discover a HUGE green spot of mold. New dinner plans!

4) Put a new diaper on Zoe only to discover that one side did not have a sticky tab.

The final piece of my evening that makes all other pale in comparison:

5) The cricket. A couple weekends ago N and I heard a cricket in the laundry room. It was low and behind the dryer. Our neighbor was pulling weeds and working in his yard on that side of the house. We figured it was by the dryer vent outside.

Until I got home. I could hear the cricket again.

By the backdoor.

I pulled out furniture, grabbed Zoe's flashlight and did some cricket hunting.

I got lucky, I found cricket. Which is a feat that is almost impossible because they get quiet when you get near.

Unless they are in your wall and don't see you coming!

The cricket is in our wall. Where it is dark ALL THE TIME.

Meaning is chirps ALL THE TIME.

How long do those guys live? Apparently two weeks at least.

Oh the Lord, He has a sense of humor.

It'll be like Roller Girls, but without the language and the body-slamming

Both D & E have their birthdays in the summer. It makes planning birthday parties hard. In the past we've run into some other obstacles.

To combat all those things, we've decided to do a joint birthday party for the girls the Saturday before Father's Day.

D really really really wanted to go roller-skating for the party, so that's what we're doing. The rink nearest our house offers a pizza/skating party. Each of them will invite 4 of their friends.

I decided to keep the tradition of homemade invites that I do with Zoe with both D & E. Not to mention they love to do any and all kinds of crafts.

Here are the artists in action:


We decided to cut out an inline skate, attach some wheels, a bow to indicate laces and the word "PARTY." D's favorite color is pink and E's is purple, so we decided to use those as the color scheme.

They did the entire invitation, minus the bow. I couldn't be prouder of their work.

The countdown is on.

Until I can convince N to do a little couple's skating.