This blog needs more babies!

We officially have a crawler in the house. After scooting backwards for a month something clicked yesterday, and suddenly Amanda now shifted out of reverse. She's not moving really fast, but she is quickly getting the hang of it!

And now that she's crawling, it's definitely time she start sporting some fun bloomers! I could REALLY get carried away with fun bloomers. I like them, because it's unexpected!

I got an email from a loyal fan, who requested more pics of Baby Amanda. So.. this blog was a little Nathan heavy, until today!

Hooray! We found a PreSchool for Nathan!

Check out this Pic of Nathan's new Preschool!!
Excuse me, what's that you say? It's a Shakey's Pizza? Yes that is right, we are sending Nathan to preschool at a Shakey's Pizza Parlor. That's what the cool mom's did in the 1980's. They gave the kids some quarters and $2 for the lunch buffet, and the kids played video games and ate pizza all day, and mom picked them up in time for t-ball.

Okay, the real story is that I toured a preschool that was AWFUL! It was messy and chaotic. The director informed me that they were moving to a new large location, hence the mess, at the end of July. She raved about the new location, and how it would have a fantastic layout with lots of centers for the kids to play in.

Even though the school was awful, I wondered if the new location was really fantastic would it make up for the chaos.. probably not. But curiousity got the best of me, and this is really close to the house. So I drove by the new location, and yep, it's Shakey's Pizza. It's closing early July according to the sign on the door. That means the preschool has 30 days to overhaul it, add a playground, and make it into a daycare facility. Uh... I don't think they are going to be able to do it in 30 days.

I'm imagining the salad buffett becomes the craft table, the sneeze guards will probably cut down on the communicable diseases that plague preschools. The crouton holder can hold all the glue sticks. The Baco bits holder can house the crayons, it just might work. My brother pointed out that they would have a killer time on "Kids in the Kitchen Day" making pizzas in the giant pizza oven.

So, bottom line, no I don't think Nathan will be attending Preschool at Little Shakey's Preschool Parlor.

Has anyone seen Lord of the Rings?

Remember the Hobbits... well check out these pictures!





I was getting the dogs ready for a walk, and Nathan came out with Ross wearing these pants. They are Amanda's, and a few sizes to small. It made me laugh so hard to see him prancing around in theses chocolate velvet pants.


On Saturday, I went to the Spa for an R&R day. It was FABULOUS, and totally addicting. The robes were so plush, and I came home scrubbed, relaxed, and smelling like a pear! I could totally get addicted to going to the spa.

Also, if you haven't seen this. It's amazing, one of my favorite artist shot a music video for $15, when it normally cost $150, 000 to shoot a video. You can watch it at http://www.worldonfire.ca/

Note to Self... Donna Karen is timeless, but not always versatile.

Long story short, we think we are going to move Nathan into a more developmental preschool. So, once again I've been touring schools, asking questions about ratios and curriculum. So far, I seem to be leaning towards a religous preschool. Not neccessarily, because I feel like Nathan needs the bible time, but I really like the schools. Today I went and toured a fabulous Lutheran Preschool. I really liked it..... did they like Nathan? It appears so, did they like me... uh.. I don't think so. Here's the deal...

I have strong opinions on clothing. I love fabulous clothes, and I enjoy a good splurge now and then. I was always taught that a woman should have three great black outfits in her closet:
- A great suit for job interviews
- A black evening dress
- A black outfit that works for funerals, bar mitzvahs, weddings, christenings, etc.
I have a summer and winter version of each of those. I bought the suit pictured above specifically for funerals. Sounds morbid, but upon my Father in Law's diagnosis, I felt much better having an outfit for the funeral in my closet. (Although, technically, I wore a different outfit to the funeral, but this dress has seen christenings, baby blessings and funerals.) When I first wore it, Ross commented that it made me look Muslim. No disrespect there, he and I both have a reverance and respect for the Muslim religion some of our friends practice. The high collar, and floor length skirt definitely would work. I think the suit is timeless and makes me look tall, and for goodness sake it's Donna Karen... no other designer has conquered black like DK.

So back to today, I had a busy day planned. Preschool tour at 9:15, kids go to daycare, and I go to a funeral to support a dear friend of ours. Our heart just aches for our friends and their family. So, I put on my funeral suit loaded the kids off to the car, and off we went to this Lutheran Preschool. Nathan loved the school, joined in with the kids, and I listened to the director. They require one parent to be religious, and I told her both my husband and I are LDS. She looked at me questioningly, I explained we are Mormon. She looked me up and down and said Oh. A few minutes later, she asked if LDS was a spinoff of the Mormon religion, and I said No. She kept coming back to that. I didn't think anything of it. Then as I stopped at Starbucks for some Tea, I saw myself in the mirror. I look like I could be one of those poligamist wives on Big Love, in my long skirt, and high collar. If you add a bonnet, then I'm the lady who kidnapped Elizabeth Smart with her husband.

She must think I'm some weird cult member, because who dresses like that at 9am on a Wednesday morning. It never occured to me to tell her I was going to a funeral, it didn't seem like any of her business. Oh well.. there are other preschools.... right?

It's a Jeep Thing!

Nathan wanted to wash his car....





And my Dad with Amanda.... He held her for most the day yesterday.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

Adoption Day is here!! We adopted Amanda yesterday! It's the end of a long journey and while it doesn't change how we feel about her, it's a fun reason to celebrate!


Getting Sworn in...













The Judge shows Ross the document that says, "This page says you promise to spoil her with lots of fabulous shoes, spoil her rotten, send her to college, and throw her the wedding of a lifetime."











Wendy signs the paperwork to make it official.











Nathan enjoys stickers and Chocolate Milk













Here we are with the judge














Here we are with (L to R)
Judge, Nana (Wendy's mom), Grandpa (Wendy's dad), Ross with Nathan, Wendy with Amanda, and Grandma (Ross's mom)









The official "all done" pic outside the courthouse!











We had a Fabulous day!

I'm Cheap.. so here is my new photo blog...

I loved Typepad, but it's just not worthy of my money every month. So, we are officially moving the Family Photo Blog here.

This is Ava, a guide dog that took a vacation from work at our house for a week. She is a sweetheart, and thoroughly enjoyed her time off as a pet.



Nathan Swinging, he lays on his stomach and pretends to be Superman. I took a bunch of action shots, but mostly got blurs. Dang camera!! But a few cute ones captured the moment.






We took a photo for Nathan's Preschool Craft project involving mothers. Here is Nathan with his mom (ahem... me)

And this is an old pic,, but I just love it. He looks a lot like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber in the haircut department, but those short bangs really show off his rosy cheeks and gorgeous eyes.