2014 – Page 36 – JTOK Chatter

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Katie words v3

Posted on March 4, 2014 @ 2:35 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

I should have posted this a long time ago…so the list goes back at least a month or more.

Balloon (bayoon)
Banana (nanna)
Bite (when she wants another bite of banana)
Elmo (alno)
Owen (o-wee)
Please (peese)
Thank you (tay-kyoo)

New words:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G
Boppy (character from Doc McStuffins)
Cereal
Doc (character from Doc McStuffins)
Grape (Gape)
Juice
Minnie [Mouse]
Nap
Night night
Pants
Pills
Shoes
Sleeping
Snowing
Stuck
Swing
Thank you
Where’s [daddy, milk]?
You’re welcome

She’s also good at repeating when she wants to—today she repeated “I see you!” But she still refuses to say “Mama, ____ please!” She’ll repeat each word separately but not as a sentence.

First real daddy haircut!

Posted on March 3, 2014 @ 5:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Owen was getting pretty shaggy and I’m tired of spending $12 every other month so Tom took a go at it. It went pretty well!

Dr. Seuss Day

Posted on March 3, 2014 @ 3:49 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

It’s his birthday today so the kids were asked to wear their favorite Dr. Seuss costume. I do things the easy way so he just wore his Thing 1 tee shirt and took his Cat in the Hat stuffed doll.

Owenisms 39

Posted on March 3, 2014 @ 3:05 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Me: How are your eyes this morning?
Owen: Good.
Me: Were they stuck shut this morning?
Owen: Yes.
Me: Did daddy help get them unstuck?
Owen: No, I just used my two fingers!

Owen: Mom, can my friends come over? I miss them.
Me: Sure, we can invite them over.
Owen: When are they coming?
Me: I don’t know—we haven’t invited them yet.
Owen: Check your phone!

Owen: Remember C3PO?
Me: Yes.
Owen: I love that guy.

Looking at a smashed car as we drove by.
Wow! Look at that car. It’s dead.

Owen has a very short thumbnail—we’re assuming he bit the nail while he was sucking his thumb—and it’s a little painful. He went to suck his thumb:
Oh. Wait! This one hurts. I’d better use the other one!

Terrible Twos are starting already

Posted on March 3, 2014 @ 8:50 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

So she has a bit of attitude and this is what I get when I take something away or tell her no:

Nanny Alice, Day 4

Posted on March 2, 2014 @ 7:00 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Naptime project!

Alice said he completed 90% of it on his own!

Their final dinner:

Post-dinner bike ride!

Both kids were in bed when we rolled in about 7:30…and both got a good report overall! Katie has lots of attitude now and Owen had a few grouchy spots but nothing major. Neither missed us, which is a good thing! And Alice wasn’t waiting in the driveway (though she was packed to leave!)…so we consider it a major success!

HotAmi 2014, Day 2

Posted on March 1, 2014 @ 11:15 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Good morning!

We ran some errands then headed to our group lunch spot:

Waiting for drinks:

It sounded (and looked) better than it tasted:

The whole group:

Then it was back to the house for visiting, games (trivia, which my team came in fifth of five!), and fun! I missed pictures of the delicious catered Cuban dinner we had!

Cigars with Sheryl—a tradition!

Tom and Elle!

We knew we’d have an early morning so we said goodbyes around 11!

Nanny Alice, Day 3

Posted on March 1, 2014 @ 7:30 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Miss Alice surprised the kids with chocolate donuts and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast!

Candyland while Katie was napping:

Katie swinging and singing her ABCs:

VIDEO COMING SOON! CHECK BACK!

HotAmi 2014, Day 1

Posted on February 28, 2014 @ 11:55 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Aside from my usual 4:45am potty trip, I slept in until 7:41! WOOHOO!

We went to our host’s house to carpool to a Cuban lunch:

Then we joined him on errands…which included Costco and Total Wine:

Then it was back to the house to visit and hang out before dinner.

And then Sheryl was having issues getting the iPad to take a picture so we were laughing. 🙂

On our way to meet for the “high end” dinner!

We were originally going to do the “budget” dinner…but then learned that a forum friend from California that I’ve really wanted to meet was going to be attending as a last-minute surprise so we switched. So we got to sit next to Brett and hear lots of Apple stories (super interesting to me)—he was a top engineer at Apple for many years and just recently retired. You know Siri? That was him. HDR on your phone? Him. AppleTV? His team. Just fascinating.

Our table of 17:

Recreating a photo from last year (substituting Katie for Nancy who couldn’t make it this year):

And another California peep, Darren:

After a nice dinner and dropping people off at hotels, it was back to the house to visit for just a tiny bit until we called it a night—the previous night was 12:30 and tonight was 11:30 and we were exhausted!

Nanny Alice, Day 2

Posted on February 28, 2014 @ 7:30 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Snacks before taking Owen to school! Miss Alice even did Katie’s hair—something she hadn’t done to a little girl’s hair in 10 years!

The view from her lap:

Today’s after-school snack: blueberry seas with goldfish jumping and pear sailboats with teddy Grahams. Too creative for this exhausted mama!

Pre-HotAmi Dinner

Posted on February 27, 2014 @ 11:55 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

After we checked in to the hotel it was straight to the sushi restaurant for dinner with friends. We had seen most of the small group last year but I was SUPER EXCITED to see Katie, one of my very bestest friends whom I hadn’t seen IN SEVEN YEARS! SEVEN YEARS! (It hadn’t felt like that long since we do talk online and text/call now and again…but it’s obviously not the same as seeing each other in person.) I think she was even more excited than I was, and we hugged hello for a good two minutes!

It’s a long-running joke that the two of us share a brain because we think a lot alike, have the same views, like the same things, have finished each other’s sentences, etc…and it was proven again tonight—remember we haven’t seen each other in seven years and really only talk on forums…yet we both wore black capris, a purple shirt, and a black jacket.

We visited with friends until after midnight then headed back to the hotel to crash—we hadn’t been up that late since I don’t know when…and were exhausted from a long day on the road.

Road Tripping

Posted on February 27, 2014 @ 7:45 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We spent just a hair over 12 hours on the road to get to Florida… It went fairly smoothly and was actually quite relaxing without the kids (i.e. worrying about snack breaks and potty stops and whining and napping).

I got caught up on my blog entries and a mini stack of parenting magazines, Alice was texting updates and pictures…and we Skyped with Owen while flying down the highway:

The only annoying thing was the toll roads in Florida. First it’s a turnpike but you have to pay along the way (not just at exits). Then you think you’re getting off the turnpike but wait there’s an exact change only booth on the other side of the traffic light….so you’re apparently off the turnpike but still on a toll road that only has exact change/sunpass lanes and we don’t carry change. Then we hit a manned toll booth and got change…but then we were on I-75. WHAT?!? It was maddening (we’ve obviously never taken that route).

But we made it to the hotel without major incident. 🙂

Nanny Alice, Day 1

Posted on February 27, 2014 @ 7:40 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Our friend Alice (actually a professional nanny—though usually for much older kids!) is staying with the kids while we go to Florida. The kids met her about two weeks ago when she came for two nights to meet them and Owen was excited to have her back.

This was the first picture we got on the road—some pre-nap cuddles!

Maggie and the kids enjoying the nice weather, the bubbles Alice brought, and playing swords!

She spoiled the kids with a fun dinner: Owen got a caterpillar hot dog and Katie got hot dog palm trees. Both got strawberry flowers:

And she braved giving Katie yogurt:

My honest first thought was What is she doing to me? Now the kids are going to expect fun dinners all the time?! But my immediate next thought was Oh what a super special surprise that only Miss Alice does! 🙂

Bye bye long locks!

Posted on February 26, 2014 @ 7:35 pm by Jen — 2 Comments ↓

I’ve wanted really long hair my whole life. The closest I previously got was in 2009 after I had Owen…at which point I got fed up with it and chopped off 8″ to donate.

Fast forward almost FIVE years and it was even longer (though I don’t think by much)…and I was ready to cut it again. Apparently for me, the romanticized idea of long hair is better than the reality. It’s hard (time consuming) to blow straight, it gets knotted if you don’t comb it out daily (which begets tons of split ends), it’s constantly getting caught, and it spent the majority of time in a stupid pony tail.

I didn’t take an immediate Before pic, but this is somewhat recent:

I would have liked to donate it again, but I had way too many inches of split ends (which they don’t want). As it turned out, it’s a tad shorter than I’d have liked…but I wanted ALL of the yucky ends trimmed so it’s super healthy. And of course I feel like I have no hair (I think she cut off a good 6-8″).

The aftermath:

And the new me:

A friend commented that she loved the color—and was surprised to learn it was natural! I guess I don’t have to worry quite yet about covering the gray!

A kid and her cat

Posted on February 26, 2014 @ 9:30 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

Story with daddy

Posted on February 25, 2014 @ 6:55 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Typical TV watching

Posted on February 25, 2014 @ 5:10 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Then about two minutes later he was screeching “MOOOOM! She won’t get off me!” 🙂

Restaurant and Storytelling

Posted on February 25, 2014 @ 3:40 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Owen and Katie were playing restaurant. 🙂

Then he decided to tell me a story. Hopefully you can make out some of it—it’s mostly about Star Wars and light sabers (complete with accurate light saber sounds).

Slide down, Katie–I’ll catch you!

Posted on February 25, 2014 @ 3:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Riding a bike, part 4

Posted on February 25, 2014 @ 2:40 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Well, part 4 for me anyway. He went out with Tom once where he got a lot better—and learned to stand up to get started peddling!

This is what happened today. He wasn’t happy that I tried to make light of his slow-motion spill at the end. (I was trying to get him laughing so he wouldn’t be upset about falling—because I knew he wasn’t hurt.)

Sibling Slide Fun

Posted on February 24, 2014 @ 4:45 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Then he laid down so she had to.

Then she tried to help him get up.

Trying to find Katie:

And a super happy girl!

Trying to be patient while mom’s a patient

Posted on February 24, 2014 @ 8:25 am by Jen — No Comments ↓

Delicious sous vide success!

Posted on February 23, 2014 @ 5:45 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

One hour in a 126° circulating hot water bath then one minute per side in a screaming hot pan with a butter/oil mix and seasonings.

Mmmmm.

I am loving my Sansaire that I got via Kickstarter!

She finally likes her swing!

Posted on February 23, 2014 @ 5:20 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

And especially when daddy is there tickling her:

Little miss poop patrol helping daddy

Posted on February 23, 2014 @ 4:50 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

We had to show daddy what a good little helper she is. 🙂

Katie’s down!

The Lego Movie

Posted on February 23, 2014 @ 4:00 pm by Jen — No Comments ↓

Tom and I took Owen to The Lego Movie today. He was SOOO excited! The whole time we were coming home from Costco he was telling us to hurry so he wouldn’t miss the movie! We assured him we would be home in plenty of time. He even wore his new Lego Crocs!

The movie was really cute and Owen was super excited to see some of his own minifigures in the movie!

As the movie ended these were my exact thoughts: