Recently

The kids have been playing a lot better together. Seeing Sam share with Grey without any prompting from me, lean over to hug him, or give him a kiss when he gets hurt just makes me smile. Or heck, I'm happy when they're just playing quietly in close proximity without pushing each other over, snatching toys away or screaming....as you'll see happening here.

Those are some sweet little boys.

And I sure do love 'em.

(Expect to see some children's art soon cluttering the wall behind Sam. SOMETHING needs to go there. It makes me uncomfortable to look at such a big empty space.)

During Our 70 Hours in Colorado

We.....
Got this sweet ride.

Got lost acquainted with our maps.
Ate brunch at Hi-Rise. Mine was good - green chile bagel with avocado, egg and cheese. Laura's was way better - foccacia bread with spinach artichoke cream cheese, sausage and egg.
Drove to Lost Valley Ranch, well almost there,...about 6 miles down the 9 mile dirt road.
Turned around.

Killed time.
Ate dinner at Zoka's with a beautiful view and some dogs lounging on the front porch.
Picked up Julie.

Drove to our hotel.
Went to sleep.
Laura burned up.
Julie and I froze.

Monday
Ate breakfast at the hotel.
Grabbed coffee at Starbucks.
Drove through Manitou (mana-two) Springs to Colorado Springs.
Shopped at Swish, a vintage clothing store and Recess, a kid's consignment store.
Ate lunch at CFA. (Got a free 4 pack of nuggets since my first pack was missing a nugget). Truce chunk.
Drove around the Garden of the Gods.



Went back to the hotel to take a nap.
Ate dinner on a patio near a creek at Amanda's Fonda.


(Beautiful girls)

Drove back to the hotel.
Packed.
Talked a bunch after we turned out the lights.
Slept.

Tuesday
Got up early.
Showered.
Grabbed a pastry from the hotel's free breakfast because I was starving.
Stopped at Starbucks.
Headed out to the Ranch.

Drove 9 miles on a dirt road.
Ate an awesome breakfast at the Ranch.
For me, fresh-squeezed OJ, cantaloupe, egg white omelette with spinach, bell peppers, mushrooms, and feta cheese, thick-sliced bacon and wheat toast with fresh raspberry jam.
For Julie, egg white omelette for Julie with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and feta cheese, sweet potato pancakes, bacon, strawberries and bananas.
For Laura, creme brulee french toast. (I can't remember what else you had Laura b/c I was so obsessed with my omelette.)
Met Dewey. He's a punk.



Tried to shoot but got hung up by a dud bullet. Apparently.
Headed back to the Denver airport.
JUST got Laura there in time to make her flight.

Killed some more time.

Flew home.

Gave Bob, and Sam (who got to come to the airport real late), big hugs!

Huge thanks to Julie for showing us around and to Laura for basically making the trip happen!




(And of course to my mom and Bob for handling the kids while I was gone!)

Nature vs. Nurture

I majored in Sociology (and in Art) in college - two pointless degrees when it comes to a career. Lucky for me, I'm not really carer-driven and have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Anyway, being that I majored in Sociology, I had quite a few classes that touched on, or harped on, Nature vs. Nurture.

Most of my professors and sociologists fall on one end of the spectrum or the other. I happen to think it's a tie...maybe not an exactly balanced tie but I do think nature AND nurture play a huge part in who we are.

All that to say, if you know my husband, you know he's a car guy. In fact, it may be one of the first things that comes to your mind when you think of him. He loves cars, knows a ton about them, likes to work on them, clean them, read about them and on top of all that, he works at a garage.

So, if we're taking him to do stuff like this and with Bob as his dad, what chance does Sam even have?

Garmin Gone Wrong

I got the cutest little GPS system almost two years ago.
It's just now starting to work...and by work, I mean it gives me constant directions in the car...and by directions, I mean it sounds like this.

"Vat way, vat way, vat way...vis way, vis way".
"Tun weft, Momma, tun weft?"
"Poleet cah (police car) vat way."
"Sam house - vat way."

That's right, Sam has become my very own "Garmin gone wrong". (He hasn't quite gotten his right and left down). Bob hit the nail on the head the other day by equating Sam to the perfect blend of a Garmin gone wrong and a smoke detector with dead batteries.

**Please enjoy this old, yet appropriate pictures.**

Dude, Your Pants are Falling Down

Do you remember when you were a teenager, still living at home and anxious to stay out late - especially at times like New Year's?


Well, I remember wondering why my parents weren't on board with the idea and what the big deal was. Yes, I knew people tended to drink quite a bit on New Year's, but I had never seen this steady stream of drunk drivers, out on the roads, late at night, hunting young teenage girls.


Fast forward to yesterday....New Year's, 2009.


Driving home after running some errands, we were stuck behind a car that seemed to be having quite a bit of trouble every time we had to stop. Bob and I figured they were driving a 5-speed and just struggling. At the next stop light, they stalled no less than 5 times. We became suspicious. Then an up-standing young man, holding a large dark glass, opens the door and promptly closes it back. They stall out a couple more times and the passenger gets out.


His pants fall down. He is unphased.


He goes around to the driver's side obviously expecting to show the driver how it's done. As we drove around them, it was quite apparent these fellas were still enjoying their New Year's Eve celebration. Both looked wasted. As we passed them, Bob slowed down and rolled down my window a little. I suggested we just keep driving (you know, they're wasted, it's my side and we have a baby in the car).


We passed them, drove a little further up the road and pulled over. We were thinking we could get their license plate and call them in, you know, do our civic duty. Well, they flew by so quickly that even between the two of us, we couldn't be sure of what the plate was. They pulled a U-turn in the middle of the road, flew back by and turned onto a busy highway.


The best part is, there was a cop sitting at the intersection where this was all happening. Maybe he noticed and followed them after they turned...but it didn't look like it.

I'm Callin' it the "C Factor"

Sam and I were sitting at a stop light this afternoon. As I often do, I turned around to talk to him while we were waiting. I noticed he was pointing and looking out the window to my left. He had a huge grin on his face. I figured he was just pointing at some trucks. (For some reason...oh who am I kidding? Because he is Bob's son, he really likes to point out trucks).

Anyway, I turn around and there is an older gentleman (in a truck) smiling and waving at Sam. Now normally, I would deem that fellow creepy, try to distract Sam and anxiously wait for the light to turn. Not this time though because this old guy seemed normal enough and slightly embarrassed that I caught him playing with my kid.

So here's my question. What is it that gives somebody that creepy fact (C Factor)? I've been creeped out by normal enough looking people in normal enough looking vehicles and vice versa. Is it length of eye contact? Whether they look like they've had a shower recently? The state of their vehicle? What? I can't seem to boil it down to just one thing. Although, I can tell you this. If you are pulled up far enough to have to turn around to see me or my kid AND you've been looking for more than about 2 seconds, you.are.creeping.me.out.

Drive away.


Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Oh, the Excitement!

It's no secret that my husband has a "thing" for cars. However, there have been a few times that even I have been surprised by the pure delight he finds in them.

Once such instance occurred last Thursday night, after the oh-so-disappointing "season re-premier" of The Office.

You wouldn't believe how exciting it was to see this...

Really.

I don't think you would believe it.