Wednesday, October 31, 2007

"Dad, this is boring"

That's what Zander said when Mana took him trick-or-treating tonight. This was the first year we took him, even though it was only about 3 houses in the neighborhood. Geez, the kid has high expectations!

Plans changed a bit this year. A party was planned at LCC for all the daycare kids at 4pm, but my nephew Ayden got sick (poor Moo Moo!) so Liz had to close LCC around noon. Mana picked the boys up, who were also somewhat sick (so far, just colds). My parents came over and brought dinner. I'm glad they got to see the boys in their costumes. Mason had his on for a bout 2 minutes before it was off to bed. After we got the first few trick-or-treaters at our house, Zander wanted to go out too. So, Mana took him out to a few nearby houses. After the 3rd one, Zander said, "Dad, this is boring". So they came back. Then we visited with my parents some more. When they left, I took Zander to my friend Brenda's house. He seemed to really like that. She gave us a tour of her new house.

On a separate note, Zander can now come into my office, wake up the computer and start the 'robot game' all by himself. He doesn't know how to do anything but 'squirt the water' (or at least that's what we tell him to avoid the 'shot 'em up' mentality. We'll see.)

And on another unrelated note, Mason just loves standing up holding onto something. You can just tell that he thinks he so big standing there. To him, it's so much different that sitting down. So cute! He also loves clapping. If you say 'yeah' and then clap, he'll usually join in.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Just call me Nicky Grand

I saw this on someone else's blog, so I thought I'd try it. Kinda fun...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
-Nicky Grand
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
-Chocolate Oatmeal
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) - K- Zer
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
-Purple dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
-Lynn Robbinsdale
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -Zerke
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
-The blue mai tai
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
-David Robert
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite scent, favorite candy)
-Almond Promise
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
-Ann Edward
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
-Alvers Atlanta
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
-Christmas Gerbera
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
-Orange Sockie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
-Cheerio Maple
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
-The Stamping Sunshine Tour

ready for halloween!

I think we're ready for Halloween. Zander requested an eye patch for his pirate costume, so my mom let me have some black felt and elastic. It was pretty easy to do and custom fit. We'll see if he actually wears it tomorrow at the party!

The boys both have colds. Poor Mason is so stuffed up that he doesn't drink much. The last few night we haven't even given him the pacifier and he has fallen asleep within about 10 minutes. Maybe this is the end of the "nukers" (as my nephew Ayden calls it). That's how we got rid of it with Zander - a cold made him stuffy and not want it, so we just never gave it back. Mason doesn't use it during the day, just at night - but I would love to get rid of it altogether.

Friday, October 26, 2007

"Lizzy, Zander is spitting on me!"

The other day, Mana got a call from Liz after laughing so hard at Zander. Linsday, a 4-year-old at LCC, ran over to Liz and said, "Lizzy, Zander is spitting on me! Make him stop." Zander said, "No, no, I'm not spitting, I'm beat-boxing!"

We can thank Blake from American Idol for Zander's new mad skilz! Mana found the French Idol & Australian Idol on the internet. Zander loves watching their videos and is actually pretty good himself.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Mason's 6-month photos

We took Mason's 6-month photos about a month ago, but they've only been on Mana's computer, so I haven't been able to do anything with them until today when Mana finally burned me a CD. Anyhow, here are the highlights from his session. So cute!!




Halloween party at Stacy & Travis Noll's house

Fun day today... Stacy and Travis hosted a party to show off all the kiddies in their costumes. The adults could dress up too, but we opted to wear black. Zander had a blast playing with all the kids in the backyard with the balls. We did a kid group photo. Boy, that was fun!! Here are some highlight photos from the day. Enjoy!



















Saturday, October 20, 2007

Saturday fun... or not?

I was a widow once again this Saturday. Mana had a family shoot in the morning and then a wedding starting in the late morning. He came home at 3:30 and then left shortly thereafter for football with the guys. It was a perfect fall day, so I can't blame him for taking that opportunity. He came home for a few hours and is now at band practice at Bear's house. Bear and Erica just built a new house. They designed a "band room" above the garage. I actually think the band (which they've named "Big Hairy Deal") is pretty good. Mana plays drums. Stripes plays keyboard. Chris plays guitar. Jeremy plays bass. And Bear is the lead signer. I think most of them would like to do a "gig", but Bear has major stage fright, so I don't think that will happen anytime soon. I personally think it would be fun to go see them in public. I guess I would be considered a "groupie". Not sure what I'd do if I heard another "groupie" say, "hey, that drummer is cute." Probably won't have to worry about that due to the previously mentioned stage fright issue.

As for the kids and me.... in the morning, I took them to the Andover YMCA. Not to go to the Y, but to shop/browse at the vendor fair they were having. It was mostly home parties like Tastefully Simple, Pampered Chef, etc. They had an usborne books booth, so of course I had to buy something. This is the company that makes really good kids books, including Zander's favorite book, the "finding book". I was telling the person that our "finding book" is so well loved tat it's falling apart. She said that you can contact the original seller (via the sticker on the back) and buy a new copy from them for half price. So... we just might do that.

I called my grandpa tonight, who has been in the hospital for over a week. (this is in addition to the 1 weeks he spent in there about a month a go). He had 2 stents put in during his previous hospital visit after having symptoms of a heart attack. A angiogram revealed 2 arteries very blocked - one 99% and one 90% blocked. At the first visit, he also had some presumed internal bleeding. Some simple tests indicated that the bleeding must have stopped, so they sent him home with the thought that they would see him in about a month for a follow-up on the internal bleeding. Well, he didn't get that far. He collapsed at his place, where luckily my mom happened to be there, last Friday. After a trip to the ER, they concluded that he still had internal bleeding and the lack of blood caused the collapse. He got several infusions, but the bleeding still has not stopped. He has been there for over a week now and they've performed tons of tests - without any definitive answers yet. I called him today to say hi, but I he was finishing eating and saying goodbye to g-ma and mom... so the conversation was short.

Tomorrow is the Halloween Party at Stacy & Travis' house. All the PC girls are going and bringing the kids in costumes. Should be interesting to see how long the costumes stay on. Since the summer picnic was a flop, I haven't seen most of the kids since the ornament exchange last year. Looking forward to it!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Zaylee's b-day party

Sunday (10/14) was Zaylee's 1st birthday party. We have no cake or present photos of the b-day girl... but we have a bunch from when the kids were playing outside.











Zander and Ayden LOVED playing with Bobby. He was their buddy for the day.









So, I've been in the new Medtronic Mounds View facility for a few days now. Going well so far. I pretty much just go straight to my cube and stay there the whole day. I don't ever take lunch due to my use of the "mother's room". One of these days, I'll have to wander around. There are so many "amenities" like: Minute Clinic, US Bank, Caribou Coffee, car service place, daycare, fitness center and much more. Definitely handy to have these things on the premise.

Right now, I'm making another batch of baby food. I love making my own baby food! Today is yellow squash, which is a new one. I'm sure Mason will like them. He's taken to most solids pretty well. Tomorrow, we go to the doctor for a weight check. At Mason's 6-month check-up, the doc was concerned since he was only at 20% for weight, but 85% for length. At that 6-month appt, he was just getting over being sick, so I attribute his low weight to that. I guess we'll see tomorrow. The doc also talked about feeding him more solids, so we'll see if we need to ramp it up or not.

Mana had two meetings tonight, so I gave Zander his bath. He cracks me up. He was so excited to show me how he can "swim like Annie". Yes, my kid loves orphan musicals. His two favorite movies/musicals are Annie & Oliver. Anyhow, he loves the scene where Annie goes swimming at the mansion and imitates it when he takes a bath.

That's all for now.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Pumpkin Patch

We did end up going to the Pumpkin Patch today. It was a pretty nice day, so I didn't want to pass up the opportunity.... even though it was like pulling teeth to get Mana to agree. Both of the boys loved it. We must not get out much because Zander did a lot of people watching/staring. We managed to get a few good photos. It's tough though. This was a nice preview of the cousin photos we'll be doing in a few months - only there will be 4, not 2! Anyhow, here are a couple photos from the outing.






I made beef stroganoff for dinner - a Let's Dish favorite! It really felt like fall with it cooking all day in the crockpot.

Friday, October 12, 2007

random day off

Ok, maybe not so random. But, it wasn't very planned. My office at work is all packed, so our whole department got the day off. I had to sit home to wait for the irrigation place to come blow out our system between 9-11 am. I would've liked to pay a visit to the Weinhagens at Sheila's mom's funeral, but didn't work out with the timing of the irrigation appointment.

I did manage to get to Let's Dish and put together 8 meals. It's been quite a while since I've done this. In fact, I know exactly when it was... the day Mason was born! I had signed up for a session with mom and Linda Rodeck. That morning my water broke, so mom and Linda made up my meals and mom brought them to me when we got home from the hospital a few days later. The meals I made today should be yummy.

My niece, Zaylee, is turning one and her b-day party is on Sunday, so I ventured downstairs to make a card. Of course, I can't make just one! I played around with my new Cuttlebug (which exchange for a new one) and am loving it! Every time a new idea popped in my head, I had to make up a sample before I forget.... and then make a few variations. So, about 8 cards later, I came up with a cute card for my little niece. Simple, but cute.

Tomorrow is the first day in a long time that none of us have anything going on. No weddings, no shoots, no nothing. We might go to the local pumpkin patch. It's about a mile from our house.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Cuttlebug - curse? & Uppercase Living

So, the other night I bought a Cuttlebug die-cutting system. I was waiting for a long time to get a 50% off coupon at Michael's or Joann's before I bought one. The 40% coupon was just not enough of a discount, apparently! So, I bought it, assembled it (which was not difficult) and did some test cuts right away. When I took the "machine" out of the box, the pad at the bottom came off. At first I wasn't sure if this was supposed to do this or not, but I guess this pad is what creates the suction to hold it to the table. I suppose that doesn't matter too much. Or I could take it back and argue with the sales person. Not sure yet what I'm going to do. It cuts great and I got a couple of cool embossing plates. Plus, I can use my Quickutz dies with the new machine.

Last night I went to an Uppercase Living party hosted by my auntie Karen. It's a home party, like Tastefully Simple (which I also love and plan on hosting in November), but I digress. Anyhow, Uppercase Living sells these sticker-like things you adhere to your wall. Most are words/quotes, but there are also some other images. For example, I ordered a custom one for my scrapbook room. It will say... imagine * design * create A daisy will be in between each word. I'm super excited. I'll post a photo once I receive it and apply it. I also ordered one for Mason's room that says... sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite... and there are a bunch of little bugs around the saying. Very cute!!

Tomorrow, I'm packing my office at work. Monday (10/15) is my first day at the new Mounds View campus. My co-workers and I visited it last week and I'm really looking forward to the "newness" of the building. I'm just a little worried about finding my way around. It's so big!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

First post

Ok, I've been reading blogs for long time (mostly scrapbookers), so I thought I'd start one of my own. I really don't care who (if anyone) reads it. I figure it will be a good way to capture all the stuff I will add to my scrapbooks, if nothing else. So here goes...

Today, I took Zander to get a haircut with Kim. He absolutely adores Kim - gets just giddy when he knows we're going to see her to get a haircut. I also got my hair cut. Not just a trim, but a major chop. I got 10 inches cut off and am donating it to locks of love. My 'do is really short now, but I know it's for a good cause. When Zander first saw me, he said, "Woooaaaa mom!" Mana thought for sure that I'd have a "butch haircut", but he told me he liked it right away... not that I had to approve it by him. It's just good to know that the general public won't stare at me oddly. Here are the before pictures that Mana made us do.















As for my other boy, Mason, he was 7 months old a few days ago and we finally got around to taking his monthly photo. This monthly photo was inspired by my friend Kerri (with a slight twist from my fav scrapbook celebrity, Becky Higgins). With all 3 of Kerri's kids, she took a photo of them once a week and has 52 photos of her kids for comparison sake. I knew once per week was not realistic for our house, so we went for once per month. The Becky Higgins twist is that we take Mason's photo with the same stuffed animal each month. This way, we can see his growth compared to the animal. In his one month photo, he's about the same size as the animal. It will be fun to look back. Here are the photos we've taken - from 1 month to 7 months!

































One last tidbit about today. It's October 7th and we had our air on today! It got so humid and steamy that Mason took a nap in his diaper. Zander woke up from his nap drenched in sweat. And to think that less than a week ago, I wore a sweater. Crazy Minnesota!