Farewell Pretty Mantle

Here is what our mantle looked like when we left the house yesterday...

 Here is what's left of it...

Here is the demon responsible...

Time to start over on the mantle decorations. 

I'm considering starting over on the cat as well.

Update on the Sleep Chart

Well, Bubba got his Thomas.  It wasn't 5 perfect nights of sleep but it was much better than we'd had overall.  We're on to sleep chart #2 and so far he's doing pretty good.  We have clarified the rules and hope that we can establish a pattern here so we don't need the charts anymore but they have put us on the right path.  Whew! 

The King's Speech and a Demolition Derby

After a fun four and a half hour baby shower yesterday I got to use a rain check with a friend to see The King's Speech.  Thank goodness, it was so good!  Laugh out loud funny in several parts and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush were fantastic, perfect for these roles.

The most interesting part of the day was when I got home.  Dada and Bubba had really gotten into their groove and I came home to what Dada normally walks into.  A loud, wild, crazy, somewhat chaotic house and it gave me a headache.  Really, I had to take Tylenol and leave the room from their demolition derby and all of the cheering that was going on.  Dada laughed and said 'Huh, I guess I'm used to it.  Now you know what I feel like on the nights I come home to play time'.  Point taken.  Time to rethink Dada's coming home time.

Clutch It! Time For Some Mama Culture...

I was lucky enough to join Nana & (Big) Bubba and a group of ladies for breakfast and a guided tour of MOHAIs Clutch It! the Purse and the Person exhibit.  Purses from the mid 1800's through the 1980's and the story behind it all.   I never realized women wore money belts before they had purses, or that you used to be able to buy a kit and make your own beaded purse at home with steel beads or seeds even! 

Once we were done with that we made a nostalgic run through the rest to visit Bobo the gorilla, the Rainier Brewery 'R', and the Lincoln Toe Truck.  I am now old enough to remember these things (ok, not Bobo) when they were just a part of the city and not a museum exhibit.  How did this happen?  Where did the time go??? 

Ah well, guess that means live in the moment and enjoy it while it lasts and all of that.  All of that aside, it really was a lot of fun.  Just being out with the ladies was nice.  And now I need some Bubba time after a morning without my little dude.  What can I say?  Enjoy it while it lasts.

Living (& loving) the Blog Life ~ Taco Soup Style

Bubba tested, Mama approved.  Or Mama tested, Dada approved.  Or Dada tested, Bubba approved.  Whatever way you say it, this was some goooooood soup!  To have Bubba eat an entire bowl, chunks of onions and tomatoes and all means something went very right in this recipe. 

This is the taco soup from the ladies at Our Best Bites.  And it is deeelicious!

We had to make just few alterations to the recipe, not because I'm creative or had an opinion about how to improve it but simply out of necessity.  We only had 1 can on kidney beans so we used those as well as a can of rinsed black beans.  We also had to leave out one of the cans of diced tomatoes and substitute the can of tomato paste for the tomato sauce.  This was due to the fact that my pan wasn't big enough and I just couldn't fit them in.  Just look at ours!  I know it looks like there is room in there but once you start stirring up the chunky goodness in there it was running over the sides.

I had mine with sour cream and the boys had cheese but I'll tell you here and now, this is the first time ever that Dada has asked me to make him a dish to take to work for lunch.  He said he didn't need the cheese, just a spoon.  So that's that.  We have a new top soup recipe in our house!  Thank you Kate at OBB, we ♥♥♥ you!

Indoor Mud Bogging

When it rains outside, we bring the mud in.  Here's how it goes...

Put a young child in charge of making the mud
aka chocolate pudding

 Have them check for the correct consistency

 Construct your course

Choose two opposing drivers

here we chose the police man and the monster truck driver

we felt they were appropriate

Let them loose in the mud

Only when both drivers are sufficiently muddied  

as well as the surrounding floor, cabinet, child, parent, and cat  

do you call it a day and hit the showers

or bubble bath, as it was.

Sleep! Please Come Home! Home to MY Home!

It's time to face the facts.  We are not sleeping in this house.  There is a small child that sneaks into our room in the middle of the night, silently climbs into the bed between us, having mastered the undetected approach, snuggles under the covers and goes to sleep.  Somewhere though, a little later, this small child grows larger than the bed, turns sideways and tries to eject us with any means possible - be it an elbow, foot, knee, chin, hand, top of the head.  All to the point that we, the beds rightful owners, are forced to the edges where we cling to our slumber and eventually are robbed of it.  This happens pretty much every night.

So to combat this, we have turned to a sticker chart with a Thomas reward and we are two nights into it.  The first night was wonderful!  He slept all night in his bed, got up the next morning to inform me he closed his eyes and slept 'five whole minutes' and would like his Thomas now.  After a tearful realization that he had to repeat the process four more times we stuck the sticker over number '1'.

Last night was night number 2 and it didn't go so well.  We had the same discussion, he vowed to stay in bed because he really does want that Thomas train to drive with his new Diesel.  Somewhere around 1:30 he started yelling and we waited.  He didn't stop but he didn't come into our bed.  I went in to see what it was and he'd had an accident.  Stripped the bed, stripped the kid, got everything dry and clean and he went back to sleep.  Somewhere around 4:30 I startled awake to find a face about 1.25 inches from mine.  I asked 'what is it?' and he informed me 'I didn't climb in your bed'.  AS IF!  So I stumbled down the hall and put him back to bed and he went to sleep.

Now what to do?  He didn't break the rule of not climbing into our bed in the middle of the night but once again I'm up multiple times.  I know I have to give him the sticker for night number 2 but boy I don't want to.  Who knew parenting a 3 year old would be so tricky?  Pft!  Who knew a 3 year old would be such a little trickster? 

Here's hoping night 3 will be more like night 1.

Back Posting Holidays Today

Due to the overwhelming amounts of photos I took and took from my Mom and sister this year, I'm behind on getting the holiday's up.  I'll be back posting Christmas and New Years today onto their appropriate dates.

Bubbas Newest Loves

Christmas was a lot of fun this year and I'm behind on getting a lot of the pictures processed.  That'll teach me to take my sisters and moms memory cards and put all of their (hundreds of) pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on my laptop.  I have every angle of every event we shared.  Over 400 pictures to go through and I'm not even close to being done.  So here are a few that have captured his favorite new play things.

His new 'learning' trumpet

His TWO new garbage trucks

His new 'retro' red kitchen

Which he like to take all of his fish puzzle pieces and cook us up some octopus and shark on

His new Buzz Lightyear scooter

Dada's old Legos - especially the castle kit

Diesel - who has been a big hit! 

And his slide whistle

Honorable mention goes to the two, yes, two Pillow Pets he received.  Both live on his bed and have replaced his bed pillows for sleeping.

My Newest Loves!

I just finished reading a really good book for today's Moms on a recommendation from a friend.  It came at a good time and I loved the book!  Read through it in a couple of days and have quoted it in most of my recent conversations.  Something about it just hit home, or lots of somethings about it.  I highly recommend it and turns out the authors also have a blog - Really Good Mom!  What fun!

Speaking of new blogs to follow... yesterday my sister turned me on to  Chez Larsson's blog.  I want to live in her home!  And sit by her fireplace - shoot, we even have similar cats.  I really think I could pull it off.  Our cats match, I love white all through the house, we wrap our present the same, her stuff is from IKEA, she lives in a small house, I want to live in a small house.  At the very least I'm making the gingerbread casa decoration on her mantle and the sugar cube house next Christmas from her blog.  So completely right up my alley!

Just look at her mantle!  And a giant white bucket to put the tree in?  Genius in simplicity.  LOVE it!

And check out the cats!  This could easily be Weezy and Woody if they would both gain a few pounds.

OK, so Woody would have to gain about 10 pounds to match her cat. 

But look at what she considers a 'good time' - I love this woman.  I'm sure we would be fast friends if we ever met in person.  Most people wouldn't know that I went and bought this movie for myself for Christmas and yes, we have Starbucks mugs in our house.  Side note about the movie - Baby Bubba got up from his nap while it was on and it was the scene with Jude Law laying there without his shirt, so of course my guy had to take his shirt of to 'be like dat guy in de moobie'.  OK, back to the task at hand... adoring Chez Larsson!

Ahhhhh, so dreamy.....

And these are her photos from her blog so if you enjoy them as much as I do, you really should check it out - it's wonderful!  http://chezlarsson.com/myblog/