Today

I fear I made the wrong decision. The REALLY wrong decision. Sigh. Have fun, lbs! I want pictures and a full report...And a promise that I will NOT make the wrong decision again!

(Though, on the other hand, at least I'm not having a Thanksgiving "pat down"...so, there's that.)


(the frames, finally)

Well. So. THAT Happened.

I went grocery shopping yesterday morning. The store was packed. There was an eerie calm everywhere. It was warm - in the 40s - and the snow from Sundays storm was melting. The wind had died down. Everyone was talking about the blizzard that was about to hit. They were predicting it to get to us at 3 pm. Being out at noon, that was so hard to believe, but I wanted to get everything done, just in case. Isaac closed his schedule at 2. Schools closed early (including the university). People went home early. All before the storm actually hit. Which is, well, lets call it rare and leave it at that. I wasn't super nervous, I knew we were home and prepared, but I was a little on edge about it.

I picked Isaac up just after 2. We grabbed some pizza and headed home. The wind was starting. When we got home, Isaac went out and laid down our garbage and recycling cans and made sure nothing was outside. At 3, the lady who made our pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving stopped by to drop it off. I couldn't open the door, the wind was so strong and the snow was starting. Right as predicted. Even though the storm wasn't as strong as predicted, the next three hours were CRAZY. Sideways blowing snow, zero visibility, wind sounds in our house I've NEVER heard before. I'm so glad that we were home, safe. I'm glad my sister's family was home, safe. I'm especially glad my brother came home from work early and got home just before. We hear the storm got a little weaker as it went south, but for us? I was really glad for the warnings that meant most were home instead of trying to travel. I'm also glad the wind decided to spare our power. Not even a flicker. The entire three hours! By the time I peeked out at 9pm, it was clear. And freezing. So odd that last week was no jackets and 60*...


(snow trapped in between our screen and bedroom window this morning)


Our front door seemed a *little* frozen this morning for some odd reason...



(snow caught between the screen and sliding glass door)

I hear nasty rumors that its 0* outside right now. I don't plan on finding out...


(walk out to winter, aztec camera)

My Son Named His Doll Sparkle. Heaven Help the Women He Someday Brings Home...

My son has a doll. Her name is Sparkle, Glitter, Rockstar or Cate at any given moment and he LOVES her (though Sparkle seems to be winning out...). Feeds her with her bottle, snuggles with her (along with Momo, of course) and takes care of her. He takes her to stores and plays with her. Pretty much everything a good little daddy would do.

However. I have noticed that there are mighty differences between the way my son plays with Sparkly Cate and the way a girl would play with HER doll. Like the way he carries her (one handed around the neck, as first pointed out by my friend Nikkala). Or the way he plays with her - a little rougher, a few more cars involved, etc. But the main thing? How he put his felt kiwi in her diaper, brown fuzzy side up and came to show us "the really giant poop Sparkle baby has in her diaper! See? It's so GROSS!".

Sometimes, my sweet, pacifist, sensitive, cuddly little boy is JUST.ALL.BOY...




(blame it on the girls, mika)

When A Plan Comes Together...

Friday we headed south to see The Frog Prince at the Children's Theater. We decided to make an afternoon of it and went shopping first.

We have had the same Christmas tree and ornaments for the past 11 years. The tree is short and was about $20 that we splurged on the first year we were married. It's FINE, but I don't love it. I keep swearing that THIS is the year we're going to get A REAL TREE, but I've yet to follow through on my threats. Sigh. Maybe next year...Anyway. The ornaments we have were given to us by one of my sisters that same year. So...11 year old glass balls. They were lovely, but were never really "my" style. However, the past several years, they have been looking VERY worse for the wear. But ornaments. They are never on your to buy list until you are decorating the tree every year, but I never wanted to pay full price. And then, after Christmas, when they are the price I'm fine with, they never have anything I want. So, 11 years. And never being excited about my tree. Sad.

Last month, we were at IKEA (shocking, no?) and they had their Christmas stuff out. I was poking around in the boxes and found these. Lovely, right? The colors are so rich and the plaid ones are divine. I'm so completely excited about them. With all of the colors, I'm drawn to the deep navy blues and wanted to find some smaller navy ornaments to compliment them. Our first scouting location was Pier 1. I will tell you a *little* secret. I LOVE Pier 1. LOVE. I always have. And every year, I would drool over their Christmas displays, but never pulling the trigger out of frugality. But, Friday? Friday was my day. I planned and budgeted and shopped for Christmas decor. And I love every single thing I bought. Plus. Well. The most gorgeous set of red and glass stemware and probably the most gorgeous red bowl I've ever seen.


Just...lovely. However, while I left with bags full and some lovely icicle ornaments, there were no navy to be had.

(I REALLY wanted to leave with this:

The photo does NOT do it justice. It's GORGEOUS and deep blueish green and would look lovely in my bedroom...)

Target was stop number two. We stocked up with the most frivolous impulse buy purchases ever. Mostly funky tights for me. And LED Christmas lights. And, well, small teardrop shaped ornaments. In silver. Because teal is apparently the blue choice of 2010. I'm ok with the silver, though. For now. My quest for navy will continue, but for now...I'm actually excited to decorate the tree this year. Even if it is the same ole bargain fake tree we've had since the dawn of time...

Since we found ourselves downtown, we hopped over to the Gateway for a little Anthropologie shopping. For, uh, more fun tights. While there, we tossed over ideas for dinner. We settled on Buca right out of the gate. Like there is ever any discussion when we find ourselves downtown...I mean, c'mon. We really love Buca. But then, I had the brilliant idea of calling Isaac's brother and his wife to see if they wanted to join us. He had plans, but our sister in law Kim and their adorable Caleb came and had dinner with us. Sammy adores Caleb and so it was a great time for all. We left dinner just in time to find the theater and parking and get our tickets at will call. We found seats and Sammy explored while we waited for the show to start.

The theater is adorable. Small, with three rows of seating on three sides, a small stage and square in front of the stage for the action. I tried to prepare Sammy for the show, how it was different than going to a movie, but his face when the action started? I don't think we'll ever forget that. He was completely in awe of the live action. He laughed, he clapped, he loved it. By intermission, he was starting to fade. The show started at 7 pm, which is about the time Sammy starts heading to bed, so we knew this would be pushing it. I was a little hopeful that a small nap in the car would buy us some time, but a nearly two hour show? A little bit pushing it. Which is fine. We really wanted this to be his first outing and we figured whenever we had to leave due to sleepiness, we would. I'm happy to report that we made it about 1/2 way through the final act when Sammy looked up at me and declared, "I need to go home, put on my jammies and take a nap right now". We pushed it a few more minutes and then Sammy started gathering up his things and would have started trekking home alone had we not followed. The boy, he is serious about his bedtime. Which I love, but it's still comical.

All in all, I think it was a success. We may do a matinee next time (because I'm adamant there be a next time!), but we love how close we are to opportunities like this for him. It's really important to me that Sammy has the opportunity to learn how to be in a theater for plays and go out to eat and conduct himself in those situations and we are so blessed to be in a place we are able to take advantage. I cannot recommend the theater enough.


(I was totally going to scan in a picture of our tickets, because they were so cute, but Sammy's scissors somehow managed to attack them first...)

And if you throw in a Saturday night out with good friends for dinner and bowling? We had ourselves one mighty fine weekend. Though I am really looking forward to my bed for the next several days. Good thing I have an upcoming turkey coma to help out with that.


(two princes, spin doctors)