well, beginning monday griffin is going to start the old potty-training thing. i'm not sure how this will go.
he seems ready is some ways, but not in others.
the last couple days i've been telling him that he's going to be a big boy and going to go on the potty, and he'll say, "pampers all done?" but, when i tried to sit him on said potty...he freaks. then he'll say, "no toilet mama, put pamper on!"
(miss yvonne calls all diapers pampers, and it kinda stuck with us....so its always referred to as pampers...even though he wears huggies)
anyway, miss yvonne thinks he's ready and is wanting to start him, so we're going to see how it goes. dan and i have done no research whatsoever...i guess we just will figure it out as we go along and probably have a lot of headaches, accidents and cleanups along the way. we don't want to pressure him into this, so we'll see.
things have been good but busy. dan has been working quite a bit of long days on a big project at work. i have had a busy couple of weeks with working my freelance stuff for my old job. of course managing to get some socializing in as well.
g and i hooked up with baby mal, laura and her sis and family at a local splash park for a picnic and playing.
my good friend sarah madrid was in town so we went to dinner and caught up. so, so good to see her.
yoga last night with a drink afterwards (way to counter-effect the good of yoga) with pie and jes.
tonight i'm going to the duffy concert with some co-workers. tomorrow night i think we are having a quiet evening at home, and saturday we are going to a bbq/party to see some more good friends, and a friend from england that is in town visiting.
sunday is the st. paul inline marathon...which means i will have to make saturday a pretty tame night. i'm only doing the 1/2...not the full marathon, so not too worried.
my road rash is much better and doesn't look so awful. i haven't been on the blades since last monday when i had my fall, so i'm nervous about sunday.
griffin has been a great little guy. he's expressing himself more every day and saying funny things. he will tell us that food is "really tasty", or he'll tell us that he "was kinda scared sleeping in a different bed". he also told me the other night, (while he was crying about the toilet), "mom, i'm crying here!"
he's been saying "why" all the time now though. not sure if this is going to last the next 5 years or what. i'm sure all kids do it.
miss yvonne told me this a.m. that when she tells him to do something, he'll say "why" over and over. she'll tell him "i'm not going to tell you again".
anyway, yesterday they were out swimming and he told her that he didn't want to go in the pool. she asked him, "why?" and he told her, "i'm NOT going to tell you again. NO"
that's right...put miss yvonne in her place. sometimes she deserves it.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
mama ok?
so, i had a little accident. rollerblading accident to be specific.
after months of my co-workers asking me to go blading with them each monday (of course this is after i talk up the fact that i rollerblade and how much i just love it..)...they were probably tired of my excuses, so they said they were coming to my house and we'd go from there. uhhh..crap. guess i can't get out of this. (unless i am going to drop $600 on another last minute trip to boise to get out of yet another sporting event that i don't want to do..)
anyway, we head out. i'm feeling good. we go around lake nokomis a few times. no sweat. we are going to attempt to head down to harriet via the parkway. rather than get onto the path the normal way, i lead them through neighborhoods and finally to a path that leads down to the parkway. very steep, very windy and lots of debris on the path. great. just what i'm so good at...hills, braking and avoiding debris. (all my enemies)
i proceed down with caution...got the brake on. wind up hitting some of the debris in the path, my brake comes up, i start going way too fast and i can't brake in time. i hit some bark/sticks and fall.
trying to put the embarrassment aside, i brush off and say.."i'm good. let's keep going"(hell, i'm pert near down the hill at this point...mission accomplished).
my co-workers take a look at me (shaking, quivering and dirty wounds) and say we better head back. "no, no...really, i'm ok!" uh..we head back. we had already gone about 9 miles so no one felt the need to continue.
this hurts like a total MF. i scraped up my elbow and my shin area pretty bad. total road rash. it looks awful and stings really bad. i'm not able to sleep that well because the sheets iritate it and unless i take a bunch of advil, its quite sore.
now, of course the first thing that crosses my mind after falling: "sweet, now i have an excuse to get out of the rollerblade race i'm doing next sunday!"
but i suppose i just need to get right back up and on them. i could make excuses forever on why i don't want to exercise...but after just getting on the scale...i need to keep this exercise thing going.
the sweet relief in all of this...griffin is such a doll. each time he sees my gross puss-ridden wounds, he says in a sweet little voice, "mama ok?" then he comes over, gives me a hug and says, "there you go mama, there you go". (just like he does when he's putting his penguin "pengy", bunny and bear "maca" to bed.).
he makes the pain a bit more bearable.
after months of my co-workers asking me to go blading with them each monday (of course this is after i talk up the fact that i rollerblade and how much i just love it..)...they were probably tired of my excuses, so they said they were coming to my house and we'd go from there. uhhh..crap. guess i can't get out of this. (unless i am going to drop $600 on another last minute trip to boise to get out of yet another sporting event that i don't want to do..)
anyway, we head out. i'm feeling good. we go around lake nokomis a few times. no sweat. we are going to attempt to head down to harriet via the parkway. rather than get onto the path the normal way, i lead them through neighborhoods and finally to a path that leads down to the parkway. very steep, very windy and lots of debris on the path. great. just what i'm so good at...hills, braking and avoiding debris. (all my enemies)
i proceed down with caution...got the brake on. wind up hitting some of the debris in the path, my brake comes up, i start going way too fast and i can't brake in time. i hit some bark/sticks and fall.
trying to put the embarrassment aside, i brush off and say.."i'm good. let's keep going"(hell, i'm pert near down the hill at this point...mission accomplished).
my co-workers take a look at me (shaking, quivering and dirty wounds) and say we better head back. "no, no...really, i'm ok!" uh..we head back. we had already gone about 9 miles so no one felt the need to continue.
this hurts like a total MF. i scraped up my elbow and my shin area pretty bad. total road rash. it looks awful and stings really bad. i'm not able to sleep that well because the sheets iritate it and unless i take a bunch of advil, its quite sore.
now, of course the first thing that crosses my mind after falling: "sweet, now i have an excuse to get out of the rollerblade race i'm doing next sunday!"
but i suppose i just need to get right back up and on them. i could make excuses forever on why i don't want to exercise...but after just getting on the scale...i need to keep this exercise thing going.
the sweet relief in all of this...griffin is such a doll. each time he sees my gross puss-ridden wounds, he says in a sweet little voice, "mama ok?" then he comes over, gives me a hug and says, "there you go mama, there you go". (just like he does when he's putting his penguin "pengy", bunny and bear "maca" to bed.).
he makes the pain a bit more bearable.
Monday, July 21, 2008
weekend updates
haven't posted in a couple weeks. lots of catching up at work and at home from having been gone for 8 days, so haven't had a lot of time.
2 weeks ago. (july 11-13)
friday i went to crosby, stills and nash concert through work. yes, i know...they are still around and alive? i wondered that too. got comp tickets through a vendor and i like my co-workers, so thought it would be fun.
it was! went for drinks and apps before the show at some fancy pants place and then went to the show. for being about 100 years old, they still were pretty decent! we were about the only people in the audience that didn't have an oxygen tank or walker, but hey...live music is still good.
saturday we hung out, then that night, we headed over to gregg and dawns to celebrate jakes birthday. we gave him his present
then after grilling out, we went to the park for some live music.
trailer trash was playing at an outdoor ampitheater. trailer trash played at our wedding 5 years ago.
it was great fun to see them. they put on a great show. friends dina and lyle were also there, along with lyle's sister and her family.
griffin enjoyed it..
and griffin, jake and sammy wanted to go up front to dance and watch them up close.
jake was totally cute. he told the lead singer that 5 years ago, he danced with his aunt on her wedding day. indeed he did.
sunday i went for a run with dina, and then followed that up with heading to friends beth and jasons to see their new baby, george. a real cutie!
a great weekend, full of live music. what is better than that?
this past weekend (july 18-20):,
i ended up booking a last minute flight to boise. it was my cousin chris' wedding. i didn't think i could make it, due to us having to afford a new roof and flights being so expensive, but i found a last minute deal, and a visit from the insurance adjuster, who told us we were getting a new roof due to some storm damage, allowed me to feel ok paying for the trip.
i left thursday late, after we went to a saints game with dan's work.
had a lovely time. pictures to come (i didn't bring my camera, so have to rely on my brother to upload some for me).
spent friday with my parents and gregg, bumming around bodo (thats boise downtown...not to be mistaken with hobo..which is historic boise). we had a good time exploring around. there are about a million places to eat downtown and not much for shops, but it was fun nonetheless.
we picked up my aunt susan, who is in a memory care unit in boise to take her out for her birthday. met up with my grandma and other uncle david for dinner.
a great evening spending time with my family. my grandma seems to be doing well. she has some leg pain, but she looks great and seems to be in good spirits.
saturday we headed over to my grandmas retirement center for lunch. (options at the home were either turkey divan or veal bird.) WTF is veal bird we all asked! (apparently it's a rolled up piece of veal with stuffing.) i went with the turkey, clearly.
after spending some time talking and catching up, we headed out to a few wineries. had a great time taste testing!
got ready for the evening wedding.
the wedding itself was in a rose garden. it was hotter than hell. but it was nice. the reception was in the hotel that gregg and my parents were staying in.
we had a good time people watching and catching up with our family. great to see my 2 cousins and other aunt/uncle as well.
drank free budweiser and enjoyed watching all the dancing going on. the guy that married chris was his buddy, and was ordained online.
we referred to him as the "hip hop minister". after the ceremony was over...he turned his baseball cap sideways, put his chain on his wallet and the fun began. my goal was to get my picture taken with HHM...and by the end of the night, i succeeded (as well as about 10 cameos when i would go behind him, while he was in the middle of an awesome dance move, or spanking a girls booty while grinding with her). apparently this guys name was "cappy". not sure his real name, but who cares. he ruled.
the other crowd favorite of the evening was "hippy". again, not sure his real name, but this guy was awesome. you weren't entirely sure if it was a girl or guy from a distance, what with his crazy long dreadlocks and funky eyes. but it was a dude and he was sweet to watch. kept us all entertained for the evening.
flew home yesterday getting in around noon. dan and griffin had a great "guys weekend". they took a long bike ride to choo choo bobs, had lunch out, shopped at target and watched movies.
griffin seemed annoyed that i was home. immediately upon picking me up at the airport, he turned super crabby and started crying and saying "stop it momma, stop it"
we went to friend adams daughters birthday party. aelish turned 2 and they had a party at a park. had some pizza and cake, then went home to put mr. crabby pants to bed.
after he woke up, he seemed to like me better.
we rounded out the evening by meeting friends, beth, jason, jimmy and new baby george at the new park by minneahaha falls. quite a lovely evening. they have a splash pad over there that griffin liked. we finished the night with a little dq.
can't get better than that.
2 weeks ago. (july 11-13)
friday i went to crosby, stills and nash concert through work. yes, i know...they are still around and alive? i wondered that too. got comp tickets through a vendor and i like my co-workers, so thought it would be fun.
it was! went for drinks and apps before the show at some fancy pants place and then went to the show. for being about 100 years old, they still were pretty decent! we were about the only people in the audience that didn't have an oxygen tank or walker, but hey...live music is still good.
saturday we hung out, then that night, we headed over to gregg and dawns to celebrate jakes birthday. we gave him his present
then after grilling out, we went to the park for some live music.
trailer trash was playing at an outdoor ampitheater. trailer trash played at our wedding 5 years ago.
it was great fun to see them. they put on a great show. friends dina and lyle were also there, along with lyle's sister and her family.
griffin enjoyed it..
and griffin, jake and sammy wanted to go up front to dance and watch them up close.
jake was totally cute. he told the lead singer that 5 years ago, he danced with his aunt on her wedding day. indeed he did.
sunday i went for a run with dina, and then followed that up with heading to friends beth and jasons to see their new baby, george. a real cutie!
a great weekend, full of live music. what is better than that?
this past weekend (july 18-20):,
i ended up booking a last minute flight to boise. it was my cousin chris' wedding. i didn't think i could make it, due to us having to afford a new roof and flights being so expensive, but i found a last minute deal, and a visit from the insurance adjuster, who told us we were getting a new roof due to some storm damage, allowed me to feel ok paying for the trip.
i left thursday late, after we went to a saints game with dan's work.
had a lovely time. pictures to come (i didn't bring my camera, so have to rely on my brother to upload some for me).
spent friday with my parents and gregg, bumming around bodo (thats boise downtown...not to be mistaken with hobo..which is historic boise). we had a good time exploring around. there are about a million places to eat downtown and not much for shops, but it was fun nonetheless.
we picked up my aunt susan, who is in a memory care unit in boise to take her out for her birthday. met up with my grandma and other uncle david for dinner.
a great evening spending time with my family. my grandma seems to be doing well. she has some leg pain, but she looks great and seems to be in good spirits.
saturday we headed over to my grandmas retirement center for lunch. (options at the home were either turkey divan or veal bird.) WTF is veal bird we all asked! (apparently it's a rolled up piece of veal with stuffing.) i went with the turkey, clearly.
after spending some time talking and catching up, we headed out to a few wineries. had a great time taste testing!
got ready for the evening wedding.
the wedding itself was in a rose garden. it was hotter than hell. but it was nice. the reception was in the hotel that gregg and my parents were staying in.
we had a good time people watching and catching up with our family. great to see my 2 cousins and other aunt/uncle as well.
drank free budweiser and enjoyed watching all the dancing going on. the guy that married chris was his buddy, and was ordained online.
we referred to him as the "hip hop minister". after the ceremony was over...he turned his baseball cap sideways, put his chain on his wallet and the fun began. my goal was to get my picture taken with HHM...and by the end of the night, i succeeded (as well as about 10 cameos when i would go behind him, while he was in the middle of an awesome dance move, or spanking a girls booty while grinding with her). apparently this guys name was "cappy". not sure his real name, but who cares. he ruled.
the other crowd favorite of the evening was "hippy". again, not sure his real name, but this guy was awesome. you weren't entirely sure if it was a girl or guy from a distance, what with his crazy long dreadlocks and funky eyes. but it was a dude and he was sweet to watch. kept us all entertained for the evening.
flew home yesterday getting in around noon. dan and griffin had a great "guys weekend". they took a long bike ride to choo choo bobs, had lunch out, shopped at target and watched movies.
griffin seemed annoyed that i was home. immediately upon picking me up at the airport, he turned super crabby and started crying and saying "stop it momma, stop it"
we went to friend adams daughters birthday party. aelish turned 2 and they had a party at a park. had some pizza and cake, then went home to put mr. crabby pants to bed.
after he woke up, he seemed to like me better.
we rounded out the evening by meeting friends, beth, jason, jimmy and new baby george at the new park by minneahaha falls. quite a lovely evening. they have a splash pad over there that griffin liked. we finished the night with a little dq.
can't get better than that.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
family vacation
we had a great trip. we spent 3 days in waunakee with my parents.
dan and i went to my hometown beer tent (the good ol' dane fest) shortly upon arriving. we saw the love monkeys play. They are a band i used to LOVE when I was in my 20's...and at the beginning of the night, dan and i were both thinking they sucked. "why did I used to love this band?", i wondered.
many pitchers of bud light later...and they were our favorite band! we were front row and center and singing along to all the classics.
it was a fun night seeing a bunch of good friends that i don't get to see that often.
griffin was snuggled tightly in bed and grandma and grandpas.
The next day, we took griffin to the dane parade. (ulterior motive is that we had to pickup the jeep that we left the night before. (see above: too many bud lights)
the parade consisted of about 100 different firetrucks, and kids pelting candy at the crowd.
caught up with some more old friends.
monday we hit the madison zoo with my mom, dan's mom and friends julie, thea and kenn, with all their cute kids. we got a great treat and were able to meet up with auntie wendy and cousins addison and andrew. they were in town while griffins other cousin, alexandra, went to camp. bummer we didn't get to see alex, but griffin loved spending time with his cousins and aunt!
we spent most of the day at the zoo, then headed over to the memorial union to sit by the water and have ice cream.
we saw a few other friends this night, had dinner with my parents and spent the night just hanging out with my folks.
the next day (tuesday) we spent the day with my mom before having to say goodbye, to start the next leg of our trip.
griffin loved his time in waunakee and we were sad to say goodbye!
tuesday we arrived to milwaukee, checked into the downtown hilton and got ourselves ready to walk over to summerfest.
we had a nice 2-3 mile walk, saw the cool art museum and then made our way to summerfest.
we had a great time just walking around, eating, seeing a couple bands and griffin enjoying the playground.
there was NO one good playing the day we were there...but we found a stage that had some good jam bands and just hung out.
wednesday we spent the rainy day inside the hotel, where we had a waterpark. g liked that. we all had a great afternoon nap, then walked around downtown milwaukee again, and found a great brewery for dinner.
thursday we hit the milwaukee zoo. (we certainly got our fill of zoos on this trip).
g loved it. his favorite part was the train that took you around the zoo. he was obsessed with that thing!
we arrived to our 3rd destination of our trip (chicago to see dans brother dave, cindy and cousins aidan and reese) in the late afternoon.
griffin had a great time catching up with his cousins. it was super cute to see him play and interact with them.
we went to the park ridge fireworks this evening and g loved it! he was ooing and ahhing and was fascinated by all the colors and booms.
the next day (friday the 4th) we hit the local waterpark. it was great fun to see aidan and reesie playing around.
g on the other hand, had other plans in mind. he immediately zonked out on daddy for a nap. i think the trip had caught up to him!
we spent the evening grilling out, enjoying hanging with the family. g loved spending time with everyone.
saturday the girls went to get pedicures (aidan and reese got fingernails painted).
we met up with the boys at a choo choo restaurant where g about lost his shit. it was a restaurant where they carried the food from the back kitchen to the counter via electric train. griffin was mezmorized by this and just watched them go around and around.
when we all met up, i was QUITE taken aback. our little boy who had just looked like this:
now looked like this:
dan had given him a buzz cut with the beard trimmer. nothing like a good summer cut. we all called him "patchy" for the first few days, but it's kinda grown in a bit now and looks better.
saturday night grandma lawrence watched all the kids while dave, cindy, dan and i went out to celebrate dave's birthday. it was a great night, full of silliness, friendship and family catching up.
sunday we had to leave. we wished sweet little aidan a happy 5th birthday before we hit the road.
what a great trip...just what we all needed.
we got to meet dan's dad, bruce and wife lucy in the dells for lunch on the way back through, so that really completed our week of family fun.
we made it back to minne to awesome yellow grass, ants and that shitty looking roof that we have to replace. reality i suppose. but, it didn't keep us from feeling great about our weeklong family vacation, full of fun memories, funny moments with our little man, and the realization that our family of 3 rocks.
dan and i went to my hometown beer tent (the good ol' dane fest) shortly upon arriving. we saw the love monkeys play. They are a band i used to LOVE when I was in my 20's...and at the beginning of the night, dan and i were both thinking they sucked. "why did I used to love this band?", i wondered.
many pitchers of bud light later...and they were our favorite band! we were front row and center and singing along to all the classics.
it was a fun night seeing a bunch of good friends that i don't get to see that often.
griffin was snuggled tightly in bed and grandma and grandpas.
The next day, we took griffin to the dane parade. (ulterior motive is that we had to pickup the jeep that we left the night before. (see above: too many bud lights)
the parade consisted of about 100 different firetrucks, and kids pelting candy at the crowd.
caught up with some more old friends.
monday we hit the madison zoo with my mom, dan's mom and friends julie, thea and kenn, with all their cute kids. we got a great treat and were able to meet up with auntie wendy and cousins addison and andrew. they were in town while griffins other cousin, alexandra, went to camp. bummer we didn't get to see alex, but griffin loved spending time with his cousins and aunt!
we spent most of the day at the zoo, then headed over to the memorial union to sit by the water and have ice cream.
we saw a few other friends this night, had dinner with my parents and spent the night just hanging out with my folks.
the next day (tuesday) we spent the day with my mom before having to say goodbye, to start the next leg of our trip.
griffin loved his time in waunakee and we were sad to say goodbye!
tuesday we arrived to milwaukee, checked into the downtown hilton and got ourselves ready to walk over to summerfest.
we had a nice 2-3 mile walk, saw the cool art museum and then made our way to summerfest.
we had a great time just walking around, eating, seeing a couple bands and griffin enjoying the playground.
there was NO one good playing the day we were there...but we found a stage that had some good jam bands and just hung out.
wednesday we spent the rainy day inside the hotel, where we had a waterpark. g liked that. we all had a great afternoon nap, then walked around downtown milwaukee again, and found a great brewery for dinner.
thursday we hit the milwaukee zoo. (we certainly got our fill of zoos on this trip).
g loved it. his favorite part was the train that took you around the zoo. he was obsessed with that thing!
we arrived to our 3rd destination of our trip (chicago to see dans brother dave, cindy and cousins aidan and reese) in the late afternoon.
griffin had a great time catching up with his cousins. it was super cute to see him play and interact with them.
we went to the park ridge fireworks this evening and g loved it! he was ooing and ahhing and was fascinated by all the colors and booms.
the next day (friday the 4th) we hit the local waterpark. it was great fun to see aidan and reesie playing around.
g on the other hand, had other plans in mind. he immediately zonked out on daddy for a nap. i think the trip had caught up to him!
we spent the evening grilling out, enjoying hanging with the family. g loved spending time with everyone.
saturday the girls went to get pedicures (aidan and reese got fingernails painted).
we met up with the boys at a choo choo restaurant where g about lost his shit. it was a restaurant where they carried the food from the back kitchen to the counter via electric train. griffin was mezmorized by this and just watched them go around and around.
when we all met up, i was QUITE taken aback. our little boy who had just looked like this:
now looked like this:
dan had given him a buzz cut with the beard trimmer. nothing like a good summer cut. we all called him "patchy" for the first few days, but it's kinda grown in a bit now and looks better.
saturday night grandma lawrence watched all the kids while dave, cindy, dan and i went out to celebrate dave's birthday. it was a great night, full of silliness, friendship and family catching up.
sunday we had to leave. we wished sweet little aidan a happy 5th birthday before we hit the road.
what a great trip...just what we all needed.
we got to meet dan's dad, bruce and wife lucy in the dells for lunch on the way back through, so that really completed our week of family fun.
we made it back to minne to awesome yellow grass, ants and that shitty looking roof that we have to replace. reality i suppose. but, it didn't keep us from feeling great about our weeklong family vacation, full of fun memories, funny moments with our little man, and the realization that our family of 3 rocks.
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