Bed Head

Rob left for Washington DC this morning and we miss him already.

Honey, Jack woke up with "Daddy hair" today. He sends you big kisses. Be safe. We love you!

Boo!

I was so excited that today was finally October 1st. In addition to celebrating Great TuTu's birthday, it was finally appropriate to wear my cool new Halloween t-shirt that Grandpa Nick and TuTu brought for me on their last visit. I looked really handsome this morning, but Mommy and Daddy had no time for a photo shoot. Sorry about the soup splotches, but I hope you still think I look cute after dinner and a full day of playing at Karen's house. I have been practicing my "ghost" act for about 2 months now and I think it's pretty scary. Happy October!

Wednesday Night Fun

Jack was unstoppable tonight. Literally, he was wound up tighter than the Energizer Bunny...he kept going and going and going! He was terrorizing Gracie, but she seemed to tolerate it pretty well. Dare I say, she seemed to enjoy it! Mommy and Daddy liked the show. He didn't go to bed until 9:15 PM! And even then he was kicking and screaming; something about having the meanest parents on Earth, blah, blah, blah. Well, he's not too far from the truth. Immediately after we put him down we had yummy homemade apple pie. I could hear him grumbling from his crib as he dozed off, "Damn you! Pie-hoarding jerks!"

Calgon, Take Me Away!

Sorry for the ghastly lag in posting on our blog! Last week was a crazy mess, but I lived to tell about it. My teaching partner has changed yet AGAIN! So, last week I had the choice of writing up 3 days worth of plans for a sub, or working all 5 days myself. Well, I can't believe I used to work full-time! Add to it, Back-to-School Night on Tuesday and one morning without Rob, and I was whipped! I've also been having trouble losing my voice, so today I visited the Ear, Nose & Throat doctor to discover that it is my inconsistent use of voice that is causing the trouble! I talk a LOT, loudly at school ,but use a more normal tone and talk less when I am home. The remedy is either to use my voice more gently at school or yell more at home! Let's see how Rob and Jack like that!

Rob has been crazy busy too. In the last 10 days he has been to Arrowhead, LA, Santa Maria, LA again and has Washington DC on the books this weekend! Jack had a complete melt down when Daddy went to work this morning. I think we are all a bit ragged around the edges right now. Last Friday night, my mom had Jack for the evening, so Rob and I had a date night! Well, he had computer problems at work, so we both worked late, grabbed El Pollo Loco and scarfed it down at home, and dragged our weary corpses to the movies. If we hadn't Fandangoed the tickets already we both would gladly have just called it a day and gone to sleep around 8PM.

I know how disappointed you all were, logging on and finding the same old (cute) photos of Jack every time. I tried to post twice last weekend, but the video wouldn't upload. Today I wanted to share another cute video of Jack eating an Oreo with his darling new haircut, but I couldn't find it on Rob's computer. I hope this cute photo from last month will suffice. I should get the video up by this weekend. Have a great week everyone. And happy early birthday to Great Tutu Dotte!

Babysitting Co-Op RULES!

On Saturday night, Rob and I had the pleasure of watching Junia and Eden While their Mommy and Daddy had a date night. Well, Sarah and Davis said they had a fabulous time, but I think we had the better evening at our house. We played outside, blew bubbles, watered the flowers, ate dinner, and used all of Jack's toys we could find! The girls loved playing with the toys that Jack has grown bored with and he inturn decided they were his new favorites! The green-eyed monster of jealousy did NOT take kindly to some other little people sharing his Mommy and Daddy. After a huge tantrum during dinner, he decided to make the best of matters. And by the end of the evening they were all snuggled in bed together watching a cartoon. The best was when I piled into the little teepee with all three of the kids and they shrieked when Gracie poked her head in too! Rob laughed when the phone rang, he got up to answer it, and it was Eden calling our home line from Rob's i-phone! She chatted away to Mommy and Daddy before giving it back. Too Cute!

Then on Sunday evening, Jack played with Junia and Eden at their house while Rob and I attended a fabulous fundraiser in Santa Barbara. Great food, excellent wine, super auction items and plenty of laughter with amazing friends. We got outbid on the 6-night ski trip to the French Alps, but I think we might have won a couple magnums of wine from a local winery during the silent auction. The event was held outside on the cliffs in Summerland overlooking the gorgeous Santa Barbara coast. Breathtaking! We live in paradise.

And I can't resist adding a shot of Jack eating ribs tonight. He worked that bone over until a forensic scientist could not have found any evidence that it ever had meat on it! Mmmmm! Yummy! And yes, it was bath night tonight!

Brunch with Friends

Jack could not eat breakfast today without his doggie friends. Since they were too big for his tray, we tucked them all in next to him in the seat. They were cozy, but he was happy. He LOVED his peaches as usual (I craved them while I was pregnant with him. Connection?) But that English Muffin he was not entirely sold on.

Midway through posting this blog, our local Jehovah's Witnesses came calling. This of course caused Gracie to bark and when I set my lap top down to answer the door I managed to knock over my entire cup of coffee all over the "coffee" table. I failed to see the irony at the time. Well, I yelled "Shit!", locked the dog in the bathroom, then answered the door. They were smiling politely. "Bad timing?" I'll say.

Tonight we will be trying out our new babysitting co-op. We will be watching Junia and Eden while our neighbors Sarah and Davis have a date night. Tomorrow, they will watch Jack while Rob and I head to Santa Barbara for a work event. No paying a baby sitter AND we know our kids are in great care with our friends. So far there are 6 families in our co-op, but this could get big. This will be our first try at it, but we are really excited. I'll let you all know how it goes. We are looking forward to our fun evening with the girls. Ruffles, butterflies and bows...I'll be in girlie heaven! And they've both got a spunky spirit that Jack totally loves.

Have a nice weekend!

Cookie Monster

Happy Labor Day everyone! We celebrated by enjoying our annual block party on our street. It is really a flash back to a different era, when neighbors watched out for one another, kept an eye on each other's children, shared vacation stories and exchanged pot luck recipes. AND WE LOVE IT! This year there was even a 12 foot high blow up water slide! Jack loved waiting at the bottom for the big kids to woosh down and SPLASH him! He danced to Ian's music (great selections), munched on popcorn, hotdogs & chips, and impressed all the neighbors with how big he's gotten over the last year.

After his late nap, Jack helped Mommy bake cookies. Oatmeal with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts...yum! I am trying not to be one of those paranoid moms, so I even let him lick the spoon despite the fact that unbaked cookie dough contains raw egg which could potentially lead to salmonella. Screw it! I ate cookie dough when I was a kid and I lived to tell about it. I am not going to be a killjoy over it. He loved it. The spoon tasted yummy, the mixer went round-a-round and made a rurring noise, and he got to push the handle on our new toaster...what more could a boy need? After watching Lady and the Tramp, he snuggled with Mommy and then went off to sleep happily. We had such a great weekend together as one big, happy family.