$5 Dinners

A recipe site worth checking out for great ideas:

http://www.5dollardinners.com/

And if you're one of my friends who is or has a kiddo who is gluten free, she posts options to make the recipes gluten free.

I'll add the link to the side bar of my blog for easy access too. If you haven't checked out the 365 Days of Crockpotting blog yet, that is a good one too!

Is it obvious that I'm trying to come up with stuff to post in the mean time, while I try to figure out why Blogger and Photobucket won't upload pics from this computer? Hmm...

A Chloe Funny

So, I embarrassed my five year old yesterday. She is the "princess of the week" in her class this week. Over the weekend, we made a poster all about Chloe and she needed to take it to school yesterday so it could be hung in her classroom. Because of the size of a piece of posterboard in relation to the size of Chloe, I wanted to help her take it to her class, despite her telling me she could do it herself and that I could just drop her off.

As we were walking down the sidewalk, a girl from Chloe's class spotted us and hollered to Chloe, so we waited for Erin to catch up and she and Chloe walked together with Cooper and I following behind. After a few minutes, Erin turned, glanced up at me, and then quietly asked Chloe, "why is your mom following us?!" Chloe turned and gave me an annoyed look, rolled her eyes and replied, "she thinks I need help carrying my poster."

Sorry Chloe, I'm sure it is just the first of many times to come that I'll be there to embarrass you!

Stay Tuned...

Our computer spazzed out, but I am back up-and-running partially on an old computer from my parent's garage...

I've got a bunch to post about... Justin's 32nd Birthday, Trunk or Treating at the ward Halloween party, Tater Tot Casserole (just for you Carissa!)...

Ahead of the game

Cooper may not feel the need to use words very much, but he sure does feel the need to have a clean diaper (or no diaper). Two out of his last three poops have been in the potty! Yay Cooper!

There might be some truth to the adage that cloth diapered babies potty train sooner... we won't hold our breath until it is true though! In the mean time, I do need to go buy him a potty of his own... everytime I need to use the restroom, he beats me in there and insists that he sits on the toilet first!

disclaimer: I am not trying to force early potty learning on my child. He is leading the way and we are just following the signs and signals from him!

Today we celebrate...

Seven years of marriage, walking through life hand in hand.

October 19, 2001

October 18, 2008

I love you Justin.

Forget two... terrible twenty months?

Cooper doesn't like being confined... so this morning while Chloe was doing this:

Cooper was doing this:

I guess maybe it is hard to be the little brother, drug all over to big sister's activities sometimes.

Comfort

We decided it was time to move the glider out of Cooper's room to make room for the train table. I got distracted mid-move and the glider ended up in the living room. As much as I detest wood gliders as part of living room furniture, especially our light colored, nursery matching glider amongst our dark wood living room, no one (and by no one, I mean Justin) seems to be in a hurry to move it out to the shed. I guess there is something to be said about comfort!

Chloe's Walkathon

Two weeks ago, Chloe participated in her elementary school's walkathon during her lunch recess. She had lots of fun! On Monday of this week, she came home from school and told me that it was announced over the PA system during morning announcements that she "won the walkathon!" After a short question and answer session, I was able to figure out that she did the most laps of any kindergartener! She may be tiny, but she is a ball of energy!

Today she came home from school with a certificate and a gift card to Blockbuster. Chloe is very excited and proud of her award!

Way to go Chloe on "winning the walkathon!"

The Mall

Cooper and I went to the mall today. I'm sure you're wondering what is so extraordinary about our visit to the mall that it warrants a blog post... Well, this was the first time I'd been to the mall since my last day as an assistant manager at Gymboree on August 26th. I set an all time "Melonee Record" for not going to the mall for almost two whole months. I live five miles from there and I used to be there multiple times a week, but I quit cold turkey.

Cooper and I rode the new high speed elevators up to the third floor and checked out the NEW kids play area. It was super crowded, but large and full of fun stuff! If only he didn't insist on screaming at the other kids when they tried to touch whatever he was playing with/climbing on...

In fact, it was such a productive trip to the mall, that not only did we play in the play area, buy a few things at Gymboree, and pick up a Cinnabon to take to Justin, but I also got a job while we were there! My manager and most of my co-workers from Gymboree are now at Pottery Barn Kids. I finally caved and will be joining them one night a week.

Maybe I'll have to trade my children's clothing habit for a home decor habit? Hmm...

Here are a few pics of Cooper playing... they aren't that great because I was trying not to photograph other people's kids... But, the pics were taken with our new digital camera! I'm still saving my pennies for a SLR, but we needed a new point and shoot to replace our broken one. So, in honor of our upcoming anniversary, Justin and I bought a new one at Costco last night! These are the first pics I've taken with it.

Enjoying the moment

Warning: The following post contains lots of random thoughts and brain farts.

I have a problem. My problem is that I feel like I'm always waiting for next step instead of living in and enjoying the moment. My children are young and fun and I'm trying to not let it pass me by while I wait for my life to be "settled." I think that I feel unsettled because I don't know where I want to live the rest of my life. I like moving... but more than that, I like the thought of being settled, putting down roots, and staying put for a very long time. Here comes the morbid thought part of my post: I don't know where I want to be buried when I die. I like the Seattle area, I'm from here, I live here, but I don't think it is where I want to live for the 50 years. So what happens if I die? The most logical thought would be to bury me in this area, right? But if I die, would Justin stay in this area? Probably not, so, if he moved somewhere else and ended up living there for the next 55 years, thats probably where he'll want to be buried, right? Not up in Seattle with me. Totally random thoughts, I know. I don't think I'm going to die anytime soon, it is just a weird thing I think about sometimes.

So, in my quest to feel "settled," I often find myself not enjoying the present. Life is passing by so quickly and I am afraid I'm going to look back and wonder why I didn't take the time to enjoy it more. Before I know it, I'm going to have teenagers on my hands and wonder where my babies have gone. We've been here in the Seattle area for FOUR years now. It seems like we just left Utah, moved to Eugene, and then moved here. Nope, its been the fastest four years of my life.

So, my pledge is this: No worrying about where life will take us in two years. I need to focus on now. Right now, I live in a wonderful area, my daughter goes to a fabulous school, my husband has a very secure job that he enjoys, and I get to spend hours each day spending alone time with my buddy Cooper. Life is good... I'm going to enjoy it!

Some Cooper Goodness

Because these pics are too cute not to post:

Laundry

Want to know something weird about me? I enjoy doing laundry. It is like a hobby for me. I have four different detergents that I use, an arsenal of spot removers, I hang dry the majority of my kids' clothes (keeps them looking new!), and I really enjoy it. I pride myself on my spot removal abilities.

Believe it or not, I even enjoy washing cloth diapers. I know, I know, I'm weird... what do you expect? There is just something about warm diapers, fresh out of the dryer.

Maybe the root of it all is that I enjoy my children's clothing and I get to look at it while doing laundry? Same with the diapers... cloth diapers aren't what they used to be and I love shopping for them. I don't know.

So there, I've let another oddity about me out of the bag. I'm a laundry-freak and proud of it!

Gave him the wrong name...

I really think we should have named Cooper, Justin Jr. He is like a chubbier-clone version of Justin at this age.

And yes that is my backyard (and no we don't live out in the country- we live in the middle of the 2nd largest city in Washington). As much as I want to move out of this area, I'd sure miss the lush green-ness and tall trees!

cutest.sweater.ever.

Now that our fall weather is here to stay, I've pulled out all of the FABULOUS fall hand-me downs in Cooper's current size, that were passed to us by my friend Melanie. I love this sweater. Thanks Mel!

Do you Bzz?

Early last spring, I became a Bzz Agent. Bzzagent.com is a really cool word of mouth marketing company. As a Bzz Agent, I get to sample/try out new products (either sent to me in the mail or by use of a coupn allowing me to obtain the item for free). After I try out the products, I "buzz" about them to other people to spread word about the product. I also give feedback to the company that makes the item. It is a neat program and it is fun to get to try out products that I might not normally buy. So far, I've done Horizon Organic Milk, Glade Wisp Flameless candles, and Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber.

Right now, I'm working on the Pledge Multi Surface spray campaign. The Pledge Multi Surface Spray is a pretty cool product! You can use it on most surfaces, so you don't need to switch cleaners as you go along- great for a quick and easy clean of an entire room! It can be used on wood, metal, glass and more. I've even used it to clean a mirror and was left streak free! It also comes in wipes in addition to the spray, which is really convenient.

Thanks for letting me bzz you... now go sign up to be a Bzz Agent!

Justin's Favorite Month!

October is one of our family's favorite months of the year, but it is without a doubt Justin's favorite! If you ask him, he'd probably even say that he likes Halloween more than Christmas (I'm not sure if that is possible, but he says it is). So, we've been celebrating October this week! Monday night we had some fallish food, pulled pork sandwiches, and celebrated with a pumpkin shaped cake.

(no laughing at the cake. it tasted good.)

(yeah we use paper plates. 'cause we're fancy like that)

Tuesday night we started putting out our Halloween decorations inside the house. Justin set up his Halloween Village, err... I mean "Spooky Town." The black and silver wreath went on the front door and the purple and orange lanterns were hung in the front window.



Maybe we'll set up the cemetery in the front yard tonight.

The Little(est) Gymnast

Chloe is still loving her gymnastics class and it is fun to see her progressing. Here are some pics from this past week:
Warming up:
Getting help from Coach Kelsey with her handstand:
Summersault on the balance beam:
Here she is jumping over the sponges on the beam:
Swinging on the bar and letting go with her hands when she is up in the air (swinging back):