2.29.2008

Dangerously good

We've clearly resolved that I love chocolate. Okay, that's understood.

Normally when I buy ice cream at the store, I look for what brand is on sale. And I try not to be selfish, since Casey doesn't like the really chocolatey stuff, and try to get something we'll both be happy with (of course there's usually 2...okay 3 cartons of various flavors in the freezer at any given time.) But last night we were all at the store together and Dreyers was Buy One get One Free. So, he got to pick one and I got to pick one. He usually falls for cookie dough (I like it too). But I choose one of the American Idol flavors: Cookies 'N Dreamz. It's chocolate ice cream with Oreo cookies and it's the Slow Churned "lite" version. And SERIOUSLY, it's so good! It's dangerously good.
I remember last year, when Dreyers did the same thing with the AI flavors and I fell in love with the Birthday Cake Batter. I even went online to vote for it. Well, this year, I heart Cookies 'N Dreamz.
If you are a chocolate lover, go buy it! (and don't feel so bad for eating it, since it's only 120 calories and 4 grams of fat....for each serving you devour)

2.28.2008

I can do it on my own...!

...pretty much.
I took the kids to Disneyland yesterday without Casey and we did okay! We really had a great time and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. We did have some extra hands though. We met up with Sarah, Karla and their kids and everyone had so much fun together. It was great to have extra adults along also to grab a stray child when needed.
I took my little red stroller this time for Lucy (instead of the double) and I kept Owen in the baby bjorn the whole time. It was so easy to maneuver through crowds and easy for Lucy to get in and out when she needed to. I even got a break from Owen at the water area. The kids played for an hour and Owen sat in the little red stroller. He looked so old.

What kid doesn't love to play on the "California" letters? Lucy and her "L".
Water, water, and more water. The kids loved it...especially Chloe. Too bad I didn't snap a picture of her in her princess bathing suit.
The kids thought these funny yellow chairs were great. Next to the water, they were their favorite thing. This picture makes me laugh. I could never get everyone to smile...but Sarah sure looks cute!And of course they loved Toon Town also.
Checking out Minnie's dish washer:
The kids also had fun dancing to the banjo band music on main street and riding the horse-drawn trolley.
I honestly had a really really fun time. All the kids were happy, no meltdowns, kind people helped me on and off the tram with my stroller and bags, fun conversation with the girls and great weather. I originally planned to stay for 2-3 hours, but we stayed for 5! The best feeling though was getting to our car and strapping both kids. No more kids were attached to me! They both fell asleep on the drive home. And since our car stereo is broken, I enjoyed the silence (cue Depeche Mode).
We got home and everyone took showers. Ah, I love that feeling. Spending a long day in the sun with lots of walking and then getting all cleaned up. I was super relaxed all evening.
Hopefully every trip goes this well!

2.26.2008

7 hours


I fed Owen at 10:30pm last night, I was in bed by 11pm, and he didn't wake up till 5:40am!
It's now 9am and he's still sleepin.
Life is looking up!

2.22.2008

Happy Birthday Lucy

Lucy is 2 today! And it's been a great day.
She woke up jumping in bed. I sang her Happy Birthday. And then Shannon invited us to Kidspace. Lucy was in heaven. I can't tell what she likes more, their toys, their books....or the little "k" stamp they put on her hand. Here she is checking it out (and probably saying, "oh! k!"):
Erica Munson and her daughter June were there also, so we moms had a fun time chatting while the kiddies played. We easily stayed for 2 hours, but finally left for nap time.

We love our little Lucy girl. She is a real sweetheart with tons of energy. She continues to keep us laughing. A few months ago, I finally finished documenting her "birth story". And since I started the blog a year after she was born, I decided to back-post it to the blog. If you're interested in reading, click here (don't worry, no gross graphic details...for the most part).
And to pay homage to Lucy Lenore, I decided some pictures were in order. So, here's our little girl over the past two years:

1 day old
home with mom and dadbest smiley face
our little piglet
first Christmas
one of our many morning walks with Casey to the train station
and just to prove that she's not alllways cute, check out this doozie. I mean, wow.
Click on it to enlarge the crustiness. (from the same morning walk above).
1 year old!
love that sad face
what a rugrat
not the 1980s
little strawberry girlfirst haircut
favorite mixing bowl
Christmas '07
our little 2 year old
Happy Birthday Lucy!
and now back to the jumping...

2.20.2008

Oweeen

Lucy can finally say her brother's name. For two months we've tried to teach her "Owen" and she'd just say "baby" back to us. In fact, we tried to teach her in syllables, since she knows the letter "o". Here was a normal conversation:
Lucy, say "O".
"O".
Now say "O-wen".
She'd get a smirk on her face and reply, "Ooooo-baby!"
What a tease.

So yesterday, just on her own she said Owen. Only, it came out Oweeen. It still sounds real cute. She seems to enjoy a new word in her repertoire.

Here they are playing Casey's favorite game "Owen's gonna get you..."
He and Owen chase Lucy around and she thinks it's the funniest thing.
Can't wait till they're older and really do play together!

2.19.2008

Happy President's Day

A message from the man of the house:
Today I had a day off of work, which was a more than welcome break. So Owen and I went over to my Dad’s place and worked on Lucy’s birthday present: a brand new marble track. But our day was cut short because I had a class to attend. Yep, a class on President’s Day. At a state school. Subsidized by your tax money (if you live in CA). Turns out we get a break from class on Cesar Chavez Day instead, but that’s another topic for another day. So because I didn’t get a chance to fully celebrate President’s Day today, here’s a quick thought on our great leaders of the free world. I listened to a program today on the Hugh Hewitt Show that talked about each of the Presidents we’ve had, from Washington all the way to George W. I actually only caught the first hour and a half, up to the 1870’s. There were a few things that jumped out at me as they discussed each President. First, that each President certainly had his flaws. The early Presidents were slave owners, some of the later ones were prone to anger, and most of them were nasty campaigners - today’s candidates are all gentle in comparison. I even learned that Franklin Pierce is considered by most historians as the worst President in our history. He was so bad that after his first term, the Democratic party chose not to let him run for a second term.

My favorite story was William Henry Harrison. He took office in 1841, and died after only one month of service! It’s said that the cause of his death was weather exposure on the day he delivered his inaugural address. He spoke for nearly 2 hours, and said over 8,000 words. Then he rode through the inaugural parade, waving to everyone. Turns out he caught a cold that developed into pneumonia and pleurisy, and he died.
I was glad they got to Abe Lincoln before I was done driving for the day. I’ve seen documentaries about Lincoln, heard radio bits about him, and I’ve read about him. It seems that in the long line of Presidents with flaws, Abe Lincoln’s worst flaw appears to have been that he was one ugly dude. But even he had a great sense of humor about his looks, so it cancels out.
He was also a great speechwriter, and is still often quoted to this day – “Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.” He led the emancipation of slavery. He embodied the American dream, having gone from rags and poverty to becoming the President of the country. He’s one man who appeared to have filled the position in every way that we always hope they do.
So let’s raise a glass for our Presidents. Some turn out to be crappy while others become our heroes. We seem to get by either way, thanks to an inspired Constitution and a free market economy. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

2.18.2008

lots of Lucy

Sorry for the tons of pictures. This post is definitely about Lucy. She turns 2 this coming Friday on 2/22. So we decided to celebrate early and went to Disneyland! I've been debating if we should buy Annual Passes. And since my siblings and many friends have them....we decided it was time (esp since Lucy is free for one more year). After waiting in line to park the car, line for the tram, line for our tickets, line to take our pictures, line to get into the park, phew....we were there! Lucy had fun!
Mostly, she loved running free throughout the theme park:
Casey took her on a ride and she liked it. Then I took her on this mini teacups ride in Bug's world and her face says it all: very unsure about it. She did NOT like the spinning around and didn't want any more rides after that.
But she loved playing in the water area (good thing we brought extra clothes) and she loved running around Toon Town:
Her favorite part of the day was on our way out...a small band of horns was playing near the firestation. Chip and Dale chipmunks came out and danced and she jumped along with them to the music:

The whole day was a success! Owen was an angel and slept most of the time. We even got lunch after and the kids were pleasant. Here we are back at the house. I love that Owen is the only one really smiling in this picture:
And since Lucy didn't jump enough during the day, she decided to try it in the bathtub too. I'm just waiting for her to slip and fall:

On Sunday we went down to my parent's house to celebrate two birthdays: Lucy and my sister Meredith. Mere turned 18 on Feb 12th. And she recently found out she's accepted to BYU Idaho this coming year. We're super excited for her!
Here's Lucy, the almost 2 year old:
I made them mini red velvet heart cakes.
For Meredith: Text Me and for Lucy: I Love Milk. Seriously.
She opened presents and kinda enjoyed pulling the paper off. Of course, she didn't always want to open the next one because she wanted to play with the cool thing she just opened. Since she's way into coloring right now, she carried around the crayons that Eric and Laura gave her all night.
I love this picture. She looks so old. She's having a moment, smiling at the cake, while everyone sings. What a cute little joe:
Blowing out the blown out candles:
The whole group:
I told Casey that coloring is a great skill because no matter how old you are, it's always interesting. And here's the proof. Grandpa Suman, the artist, had just as much fun with the coloring book as the little kids did (and his pages looked much better than Lucy's):
Two old friends: Papa and Old Man Owen. It's really cute how much my dad loves holding the babies.
And just for kicks...hat time. Our cousin Colin is serving a mission in Belize and an investigator made him this hat. So he sent it to Meredith for her birthday. We all took turns trying it on...and acting stupid.
Lucy really got to live it up for her birthday celebration and didn't go to bed till 10:30! And she seriously went NON stop until then, pure Energizer Bunny. She jumped and jumped on the ground, on the ottoman, on the couch and then she jumped some more. And Meredith taught her a new skill....beat boxing. She had no idea what we were doing, but she tried it too. She even covered her mouth as the spit went flying. Here she is jumping and beat boxing, with her J. Lo hat:


Fun Birthday weekend with our little girl. I'll have to post an official 2-year-old picture on Friday.