Silly Baby Blue Eyes...

Yesterday was probably the longest that I've ever been away from Monkey and I think it was much harder on me than on him....

We both survived although he's been pretty clingy today and doesn't want to let me out of his sight. Makes for a hard time getting much done, but at least there's nap time :)

Anyway, here are a couple pics of him in his pack-n-play...he spent a while in there yesterday because they were installing carpet. He actually enjoys playing in there...throwing himself against the screen sides, chewing on the top rail...throwing stuff at people...


HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

A Long Drive Home...

I'm doing a freelance job right now that requires me to be on site, so...today was my first day.

Great first day.

Actually, it was nice, but the drive home made me realize that I am SO glad that I don't work full time outside of the house anymore.

A drive to the office this morning took 29 mn. The drive home...

wait for it...

wait for it...

2 hours and 20 mn!!!

Suck Ass. I do NOT miss the traffic. I do NOT miss the stress that comes with rush hour traffic, especially in a "snow storm"

I will however appreciate the extra padding in my back pocket. It'll probably go to buy our new basement, but whatever...it'll be there for a little while before it heads out the door.

So I had more updates, but they'll have to wait for tomorrow because I am EXHAUSTED.

We did get carpet today...I have my bare naked toes running over it right now and it's wonderful...

Breakfast with Bobalu...

Bobalu is pretty much a peanut butter toast boy in the mornings.

He rarely has anything else willingly unless I make him eggs.

Those are probably his favorite...either in a breakfast burrito or when I make egg in a nest.

So with no toaster yesterday, I managed to talk Bobalu into trying the blueberry cereal and he conceded, but only if he could also have a Gogurt.

Apparently those things are like little kid crack...at least you'd think so the way the disappear around here...

Whatever, they're yogurt, so they're pretty healthy.

And I was working on some freelance stuff, so I already had the camera out and I tried to get a few candids of the guy.

Unfortunately, he's too quick for me and LOVES to make silly faces.

I told him to just "pretend like I wasn't there" and he tried, but he couldn't quite shake the sillies, so these pics are what we got.

Enjoy!
Breakfast with Bobalu is one of the favorite parts of my day...

It's only life after all...

This song always makes me happy :)

R.I.P. Sir Hamilton Beach...

Our toaster is dead. Not dead actually, but perhaps rabid...it's been burning things at an alarming rate. I'm not sure why, but for $20, I think we can afford to get a new one...

So, goodbye Sir Hamilton Beach, we will be disposing of you today after you cool down. Burning all those carbs into crispy smoky nothingness the past couple days has been great for our lungs and eyes...

(on a somewhat funny sidenote, have I ever told you the story about how Pipp's Dad wanted to name her Hamilton? He thought it would be hilarious if she would've been a boy named Ham - Berger...get it?!?! Hamberger...yeah, not so funny then, but now...ok, still not that funny. Sometimes I wonder why I post the things that I do...)

Comp 1, Comp 2, Comp Red, Comp Blue...

Only kidding, they're b&w :)
Figured it out finally, so here they are...
These are just rough drafts, but one of them, or a version of them, will be going out in the mail :)

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

I've been doing some freelance work lately. A lot of it actually, so that's nice :)
I just finished doing a couple comps for the ALS Association, so I thought I'd just post them here...

It's a pro bono job, but that's ok. My Grandpa K had ALS and so of course doing stuff for this organization always makes me feel a little closer to him. He was a wonderful man and he is truly missed...

So with that being said, here's what I've been working on this week. Check out the volunteer opportunities and email Stephanie if you'd like to volunteer!!!

I love orchids...and blogging...but...

I've been thinking of putting a password on this blog which would only permit invited guests to view it... Basically you'd get an email from me with your user name and password on it...

I feel lately like I have to censor my posts because there is personal information that I don't necessarily feel like sharing with everyone and I feel like I won't be as true to what I wanted to do here if I continue to feel like I can't write about everything that I want to...

But then again, I feel like if I have to set that password stuff up, I'm not doing what I wanted to start doing here in the first place. I wanted to post my photographs, my artwork, my digital work, my thoughts, my writing, etc....WITHOUT censoring myself.

If I want to swear, I want to swear. If I want to admit that I did something terrible, I want to be able to write about it. If I fed the kids cookies and jolt and deep fried candy bars for dinner, (oh my God, can you even imagine...) I want to be able to write about that too...you get the idea :)

Not that I have any super freaky stuff to post...although sometimes I wish I did ;) (What can I say, life was quiet again this last week with the hubby gone. Yes, I'll admit that he was gone again now that he's almost home again and I feel safe once more :)

BUT, I digress once again...we're trying to get pregnant again and I don't necessarily want everyone knowing about that the second it happens, and all the little things that happen with the kids that I love sharing, and my FEELINGS...we all know how emotional I can be...

There are, to be honest, people in this world (you know who you are) that I don't really trust with anything at all because...well, you know why...and most of my readers know why too, so I'll

just leave it at that...

Any thoughts???

Awwww....

Grandpa Jim has been coming over every day for the last 4 months to help us work on the house. He's been great and his craftsmanship is wonderful.

Today is his last "regularly scheduled" day with us and I think we're going to miss having him around every day for conversation, lunchtime, etc.

Especially Monkey.

Whenever Jim comes later than usual or the few times he hasn't come at all, Monkey is usually over by the addition yelling "BAA-PAA! BAA-PAA! BAA-PAAAAAAA" and doesn't seem to listen when I tell him that Grandpa is running late or not coming that day.

So it will be interesting to see how we both do now that it'll be just the 2 of us all day long.
Monkey will be going to a little "daycare" over the next 3 weeks while I do a freelance job, so that will also be interesting. He's never been in a full-day situation like that before.

And who am I kidding, it'll probably be harder on me than on him :)

Anyway, that's our update for today. We're both excited to have the house done and sad to have it done because I'm sure we'll be missing Grandpa a lot...

Criss Cross Applesauce...

That's what they call "sitting indian style" at Bobalu's school.

Monkey does it all on his own and it's so cute I just had to share.

He's teething on a frozen spatula here in case you were wondering.

No, he doesn't help me in the kitchen yet...unless you count being underfoot as helping, which I don't...

Little Ms. Creative...

My darling daughter had 70's day at school last week and when she didn't have anything in her closet to wear, she decided to make something!

She is so creative and I love that she has the confidence to have her own sense of style. She's always had her own fashion and it's really fun.

Please note that these pics were taken when she was sick :( Poor girl...She wanted me to explain so you knew why she had pj's on with her new homemade jeans...

The other thing...

Yes, it's true. I'm addicted. I LOVE my coffee...

Kelly without her coffee and crossword puzzles makes for a crabby Kelly...

My Daily Therapy...

I love The New York Times crossword puzzles.

I love how they get harder as the week goes on and I love it when I can finish a Friday or Saturday puzzle...

Simple pleasures...can't beat 'em!

Sunday Drivers...

After a fairly boring morning of chores and naps, I was getting restless.

So...we did a little exploring today. Got "lost" in Burnsville and ended up in Savage at El Loro. It's a cheap little Mexican Restaurant down on hwy 13. We'd been there once before and Pipps liked it, so I thought Hey! Let's give it a try (Thank you Anna as well for the recommendation)

The lunch was pretty good. Pipps had a burrito, Monkey had a quesadilla (he LOVED it) and I had the chicken enchiladas. They have yummy salsa too :) They apparently have Mariachi there, but not until 6 and since we were done with our lunch well before 3 pm, we decided we should get going instead of hanging around ;)

We decided to get lost and find our way home, so that's what we did. I let Pipps do the majority of the navigating and we ended up somewhere...I think maybe it was New Prague....I'm not sure. There were a lot of horses. We saw a donkey! and a sign that said "Tom is Back...From Iraq...Hooyah!"

Found our way into downtown Jordan. I was thinking to myself that I wish I'd had K's number in my cell so I could call her, but we were almost out of gas so we went to Holiday and peed and filled up the MV for our drive home.

It was a nice afternoon. Pipps and I liked looking at all the farm houses and new construction everywhere and it was pretty fun to get lost. Thankfully I have a digital compass in my car or we'd probably be stuck on the side of the road somewhere trying to syphon gas from farmer Bills tractor...

Now there's a visual...

Safe and Sound...

My darling husband can fix anything. I know I've posted this before, but it's true.

I am proud of him in so many ways.

Plus, his buns look pretty hot in those Carhardt overalls ;)

Trade...

I watched this movie last night and it absolutely broke my heart.



I've been online tonight looking for ways I can get involved in stopping this and I haven't been able to find a lot, which is disheartening, but I plan on finding a way to help, to advocate, to get involved.

I found this tidbit online, just as a reference and it makes me so sad...

How extensive is slavery's reach?
Human rights groups estimate that anywhere between 12.3 million and 27 million people!!! are enslaved in forced or bonded labor, child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude at any given time.

Watch the movie.

Have I mentioned...

This is my Valentine that I got yesterday. I LOVE homemade cards.



Notice the shooting-star of David on the front. Nothing says I love you quite like the star of David...

When I said, oh! It's a shooting star! Bobalu said "No Mom, it's not...I was just being creative..."

Hahaha. He's got the most priceless little quips coming out of him all the time...

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Here are a couple of pictures of my littlest valentine learning how to walk.

I don't really buy into the whole Valentines Day hoopla, but it's fun to do stuff with the kids.
I made cupcakes and we're having take-out and opening presents (not big presents, think dollar rack at Target presents :)

And on a random side note, what happened to Kathleen Turner??? She was on The View this morning and at first I thought she was a drag queen impersonator...I love her, but eek!

Ok, that was shallow...whatever...

Windows...

Monkey has a new favorite place in the house.


He LOVES to stand and look out the window every day; watching the neighborhood going ons, watching Jim work on the house, watching the world go by...

He yells BAH! everytime he sees something interesting, which happens a lot. He loves watching the snow come down too. He gets all excited and giggly. I LOVE babies...

Outside the box...

We got a big box with stuff in it yesterday via FedEx. The contents weren't that interesting to the general populous of our family, but the box was!!!

The boys played in it all night and then again this morning.



It's amazing how you can have a roomfull of toys, but that big empty cardboard box trumps them all.

I love my boys...

From now on...

My Mom is going to just post stuff about me on her blog

It's too hard for her to get anything done now that I'm starting to walk and am constantly getting into stuff.

I like to keep her busy :)

Thanks for visiting!

Updated pics from the house...

The house...

Check out all the pictures from the beginning until now.
I sat in my new bathtub last night (sans water) and it was WONDERFUL!!!

Spaghetti face...

I just had to share these from this wkend...

I think everyone has baby pictures of themselves eating spaghetti - it's sort of a tradition :)


And because I never get tired of those baby fingers...

Slowly but surely...

Ok, so I FINALLY got pics downloaded, uploaded, and loaded loaded!!!

I'm going to post relevant pics to older posts today, so scroll through the past couple months to see them.

Otherwise you can just check them out on our family site.

Ciao!

Argh....

Things that make me crabby....

People that take sick kids out on the town. Give me a break. They need rest, they need to not infect everyone else, they need to not come home shivering and hacking and feeling like crap because after a 5 day fever someone thought a day at the waterpark would be a good idea...

People that lie...

People that are not respectful...

People that are hurtful and mean...

Canon EOS digital software not working.

Enough said...

I will seriously try and have pics up sometime in the future...I don't know how long that will be. I have 300+ pics that are SO cute and really want to share them, but my camera and computer are not co-operating tonight, so...

Tomorrow is a new day.

Mama's, Music, & Mayhem

I FINALLY got out of the house last night. With sick kids, it's a crapshoot trying to have any "me" time, nevermind getting groceries, running errands, doing anything :)

Anyway, I met my Mom for dinner at Tejas in Edina for dinner. I had a training thing for BRAVO (explanation below) at 7, soit was the perfect place to meet. We'd both wanted to try this place for a long time and Open Table was offering 1000 points for eating there this week, so I jumped on the opportunity.

The food was pretty good. To start they serve up their version of trail mix. It's basically some nuts and raisins that they make with honey and a little chili pepper. It was pretty good. I had the tortilla soup which was just ok. I'd heard such great things about it that I was expecting something better than what I got.

For entree's we had the Pork Tenderloin with Blackberry Mole and the Mahi Mahi with creamed spinach enchiladas. We shared of course because that's what we do ;) It's part of what I love about going out to eat with my Mother.

Anyway, the company was fabulous and the dinner came in a close second. I would probably eat there again. Not my favorite restaurant of all time, but it was the best meal we've had together for awhile.

Ok, so onto the explanation of BRAVO. It's basically a classical music program that I teach to Liam's class. We go over the basics of classical music, learn about different composers and some really basic theory concepts. We also try to have fun. I don't think I'm very good at coming up with the super great stuff, but they enjoy it and although I was really worried about my presentations, I think I'm doing what I should be based on talking to the other volunteers last night.
All in all it's pretty fun.

The training was a bit of a bust, but maybe I'm just a music snob and was bored since I studied classical music for so long and the teacher treated us like we were 5 :) Good times.

Anyway, let's get to the mayhem part. Mostly because I'm curious to find out if anyone knows anything about why 18 was closed down last night between 16 and 42.
When I was coming home at about 9:30 I was driving up the hill on 18 and a couple fire trucks shot past and then a cop blocked off the road. I had to drive all the way into Savage and back down 42 just to get home. 18 was also blocked off at 42, so I'm not sure what was going on...

Anyway, that was my evening. I'll post more later about today as it has been fairly eventful. And I'm going to try and get my pics posted this wkend as well, so look for those soon :)

Happy Friday!!!

Virus Schmirus...

Well, it's been confirmed. Bobalu and Monkey and I are all suffering from a virus that's going around and apparently we just have to "wait it out".

Fun

Not so much.

At least it's not something more serious, but it's still hard that Bobalu had to miss almost an entire week of school.

I have training tonight for the class I teach at Bobalu's school and have an appt tomorrow night, so I just keep telling myself I'm not sick and although it's not totally working, I think it helps a little bit :)

Just keep those Kleenex coming and I'll be fine...

A little comic relief...

Ok, this is dumb, but I simpsonized myself...
So this is what I look like as a simpson in a bucket dress ;)
haha

Are you tracking the caucus like I am? How big of a nerd...
That's me!!!

Baby steps...

Monkey took his first steps today! 5 in all.

We're very proud of him and he's also very proud of himself. He giggled and hugged me for quite a while...Funny stuff.

He's also cut his top 2 teeth, so I'm hoping the crabby time is over for a while.

So that's my baby update for the day. Again, I promise I'll post pics soon!
(Pics Posted! Yeay!!!)

Silver Dusk...

I finished painting the bathroom on Sunday night. It's SO beautiful! I can't wait to take a few pics and post them so you can all see, but I may wait until the plumbers get here and install all of our stuff...toilet, bathtub, etc.

I can't wait to take a bath in my new 6 x 3 whirlpool tub. It's going to be sooooo nice to relax in there after a long day of freelance work, babys, kids, dirt, diapers, etc...you get the picture :)

Anyway, we're almost done now! Just have to finish up with some of the woodwork before we start painting the bedroom and living areas and then throw in some carpet and we're golden. I can't wait!!!

Derbys and Darlings...

Friday night and Saturday were the Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts. My darling husband and oldest son did this together and it was a lot of work, but they did great!

Bobalu and DH modeled the car after Bobalu favorite hotwheels car (A Mustang of course) and cut it out, sanded it, weighted it, etc. I don't really know all of what they did, but I know it was a lot. That's his shiny red car on the left (track 3).

They didn't win first prize, but they did have one of the fastest cars there! I will post pictures of the car and event as soon as I can get the pictures downloaded.

I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of both of them for working so hard on this. It was a great thing for them to do together. I'm so happy for Bobalu that he has DH in his life. He's made a world of difference for him :)

Yeay for my guys!!!