"To the mountains!" said Ted

Dad at the parade!










So we just got back from a roadtrip to Crested Butte, Colorado, to visit my little sis, Ker Bear. It was fun. We went last year over the 4th of July, as well, so we knew we were in for some fabulous fireworks and fun.

Here are some photos from the trip. The kids did SO well on the car ride. Seriously, Andy and I kept saying that we felt so lucky they were doing so well. They really didn't even need to watch the DVD player that much. They both enjoyed the scenery and the radio. Whew! I'm sure we're jinxing ourselves for our roadtrip to Michigan coming up over Labor Day, though...

My Mom and Dad and older sis, Shana, and her three kids came up a couple of days after us, so we were able to all spend the 4th together. They are still on a roadtrip this week. Just got a text from Shana saying they are driving from Durango, CO, to Roswell, NM today---aliens! I asked her to tell them "hi" for me.

Kerry is doing well in Colorado. She works two jobs right now-part time as a nanny and part time at a liquor store. She knew pretty much everyone in town we passed. That social butterfly...it was fun. We hiked around 4 miles one day w/ the kids on a trail that was so beautiful, it reminded us of the scenery in "The Sound of Music" or something. So gorgeous. And the kids loved hiking! And Andy stepped in fresh horse poop not once but twice in one hike, and in the same day Cleo puked on his head while she was riding on his shoulders. Poor Andy! Ha ha. It's funny now...

We're back to the old grind now, but Andy and I are excited to go to Miami on August 4 for his sales incentive trip. The kids will spend almost a week with my parents in B-game. I know I'll miss them like crazy (I already do), but it'll be awesome to get away. I selfishly hope the oil stays away from South Beach...we shall see. On the other hand, it would be a reality check to actually see the damage for myself to better understand the horrific impact the spill has had. I will feel a bit guilty enjoying a clean beach if the oil hasn't affected the waters yet in Miami...it just tears me up what this spill is doing to ocean life and to those to depend on the waters for work. :( On that positive note...more in a month or so. I figure worse case I'll still get a good tan.

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Where has the time gone

I keep meaning to post and then I don't...so here we go! Sorry it's been awhile. Time just flies by these days and we've been so busy. I've included some photos from the past month or so. Andy took Gus and my nephew Brody to see my Dad where he works in Topeka (Stevenson Company). My Dad is retiring in June after working at Stevenson for over 40 years. So Andy took some great photos of them. We went to Ash's 4th birthday party this past weekend, and we have some fun photos, including ones of the kids hitting the pinata-it took quite some time to open it up (and some help from Jim David's knife--ha!), but the thing finally exploded. And the kids were so freaked out with excitement! Good times.

Gus only has a week left of preschool and then he starts a Lawrence Arts Center "integrated arts" class that focuses on ceramics, pottery, painting, drawing, dance/movement, and the like. I think he'll dig it--he loves art class at preschool, and this one is just once a week during the summer. I wanted to get him into soccer but we'll have to wait until it starts up in the fall. Cleo is saying new things everyday. She says "Oh, alright" and "Thank you!" and "Pleeeeaaaazzzee" and "NO!" and "Yesth!" (with the lisp, of course) and my favorite "All done, mommy!" and more. She's really funny and super ornery right now. She's pretty much into anything Gus is into, but she's really getting into her dolls/babies these days, and she likes to say to us "I'm pretty!" Scary...

We're set to roadtrip it to Colorado to visit Kerry over July 4th again this year. We've booked our condo, so we're getting excited. It'll be here before we know it. We're also going to Miami in early August for Andy's sales incentive trip (no kids). I'm so psyched! Maybe we'll party with the Kardashians. Ha ha. I kid. And we're also going to drive to Michigan again this summer over Labor Day week with the kids. So vacations are taking shape, which is exciting.

I've been working my tooshie off in the garden this spring and I absolutely love it. Just when I think I'm "done" I think of more stuff to do, and we're currently redoing the landscaping on the east side of our house, so we have that project yet to finish. So far I've planted all kinds of herbs: rosemary, lemon and lime thyme, curry, lots of basil, cilantro, lemon balm, parsley, sorrel, dill, mint, and more. And today I planted about 12-15 tomato plants and a couple of green peppers. So excited! Andy helped me put wire around the plants so fingers crossed that the little bunnies and squirrels stay away. And my flowers have never looked so good, I think b/c of all the snow and rain we've had this past year. And I've planted a few additional things this year, too including some blackeyed susans, poppies, and other stuff I can't remember right now. Oh, and today I almost broke my back transplanting two HUGE hastas to another garden space. They were hogging all the space that some of my lillies needed, so I had to move them. I hope they do okay. It's my first big transplant.

Speaking of gardens, I've had a recurring dream lately where we move to a high rise apartment in Chicago and once we get there I'm told I won't have any garden space (save for a window box or two). Usually at this point in the dream/nightmare I start crying b/c I want to move back to Lawrence and have my garden. Then I wake up. Weird. We aren't moving back to Chicago, but I think these dreams stem from us looking very casually at bigger houses. I've fallen in love with my "work in progress" garden over the past couple of years, so the house we find better have a garden that's just as fun. But the nightmares are so silly. I just had another one last night, in fact. Anyhoo.


More later...

Well now that was fun

Easter 2010 was a hit. The kids received more candy than I know what to do with (if I eat it all I will certainly go into a sugar coma). We have bags full of candy in our freezer, b/c now the kids know how to break into the fridge and find goodies. Often we'll find Cleo walking around the house with a cookie in hand that we did not give to her (we keep the cookies in the fridge...or at least we did). That stinker. Oh, and speaking of "stinkers," if you say "She's a stinker!" or something like that to Gus he will inform you that "stinker is a potty word, Mom. Don't use it." Ooops. That's what we get for telling him not to say "poop" every five seconds b/c it's a potty word. Now anything that remotely sounds like a word you would associate with the potty is considered a "potty word" and not approved by Mr. Gus. He's a stickler for rules.

Here are some fun photos from the weekend. The day after Easter Gus said to me, "Mom, when's Easter again?" So, I don't think he has quite grasped the idea that holidays are but once a year...and it's always sad the day after a holiday, eh? I know I still get a little depressed the day after Christmas. I guess it's just all the build-up...so it goes...

Let the sun shine

Spring has sprung, for the most part anyway. We've had a long winter up in heeeere and I'm so ready for warmer days. This week is supposed to be gorgeous...in the 70's! Thank you, Jesus! Seriously, Jesus, if you're listening...THANK YOU.

We've spent quite a bit of time at the playground recently. Both kids start giggling with anticipation whenever I even drive by a playground these days. It's always a bit heartbreaking when we don't end up going, b/c Cleo's eyes fill up with tears. She's all like, "What???!!! How can you just TEASE us like that, bioootch??!! What kind of mother ARE YOU????!!!" At least that's what I imagine she's thinking. Ha ha. So I've tried my best to take the kids often as the weather has been warming up. As predicted, Miss C. is a daredevil on the playground equipment. So much so that I often have to climb up with her or she will just take off, going to the highest of all slides and flying down on her stomach. She has no fear...none! Gus, on the other hand, is Mr. Cautious. It takes him some time to warm up to the really big slides. They are so opposite in so many ways, but they are besties (so far). When I go somewhere with Cleo (and without Gus), Cleo points to his carseat and looks at me saying, "Us! Us!" (that's "Gus! Gus!" in Cleo talk). She adores her big brother. Gus often gets annoyed with Cleo, but he will do things that show me how much he loves her. The other day she was sad for some reason and without any prompting from me, he walked up to Cleo and kissed her on the cheek and said "It's okay, Cleo." Heart.Melting...

Other than enjoying watching the flowers finally bloom, we've just been dealing with March Madness trauma. I'm relatively over it all, but I've caught Andy a couple of times staring blankly at the television saying under his breath, "We should be there. We should be playing right now..." It's sad to see Andy suffer like this. Losing in the second *effing* round was hard. But you know what? Someone's gotta lose, and it was us this year. We didn't have the fire this year. Hopefully in the next couple of years we'll get there again. I think we play better as underdogs, anyway. Being the absolute #1 always jinxes us a bit. Now I'm pulling for Butler, just b/c they are underdogs. But I really don't care anymore. Meh.

The piano was such a great purchase. The kids love it, and Andy will come home from work and just plop down and play. He loves it more than anyone. I wish I knew how to play. I want to take lessons now that we have it. We just had it tuned last night and the guy who tuned it said it's in really good shape. It's a 1941 war-era piano, and we love it. I feel like it has a personality. I like to imagine all the folks over the years who have sat down to play the keys. Gus had Ash over last week for a play date and they had a ball playing on it (picture above).

Let's see...oh, I have a new boss at work. I think he's going to be cool. He's coming from the University of Utah, where he was the Director of the Music School there. He'll be our first official Dean of the School of Music, as we've had Interim Deans for the past two years. He seems very nice and cool. He starts June 1. I'm excited to finally have a boss who is here long term.

Easter is coming up and Gus is getting psyched for all the candy. Cleo has no idea what's coming, but Gus gets it. He's being good for the Easter bunny this week...we'll go to Burlingame and Osage City for family time. Should be a chaotic, good time. Then Andy and I are taking a vacay without the kids to Portland, OR, the wknd after Easter. SO EXCITED! We're just going for a long weekend, but it will be so nice to sleep in and go out at night. If we can stay up late enough to do that! We're staying in a hotel, but we'll hang out some with our friend Tom Humphrey, who lives in Portland. It should be super fun to get away. It's my early birthday present, and it'll be a good time. The kids are staying w/ my parents for the first time in Burlingame. I hope they do okay! I'm sure they will...

I'm still running, but I've been sick with a nasty cold for the past week, so my exercise routine has been on hold. I'm going back to the gym today, and we'll see how far I get today. I was up to 4 miles without stopping, but then I got sick. I'm trying to push myself to 5 miles so I can sign up for a 10k in June. I know if I can get to a comfortable 5 miles I can push myself to 6 miles in a race. I think I'll register for the 10k just to motivate myself to get there.

That's it for now...more later.

March Madness

A visit from the Dierks


Good girl


Sleepy little sis


Gus always has crazy bedhead in the morning

Tourney time is here. I always get super duper nervous this time of year, so I'm trying to mellow out. It's hard! I want so badly to win the whole thing, but I always tell myself just getting to the Final Four would be great.

The kids are doing well. Gus is really into imaginative play right now. He "cuts our fingernails" for us and "fixes us pizza" and we have picnics all the time in the living room. He's also super into music right now--sings all the time, and has a few favorite CDs (Fleet Foxes, Music Go Music, The Chipmunks, The Soft Pack). He loves our new piano-both kids do. Gus is learning how to play some simple songs and we're going to make sure they both have lessons. Cleo is a doll. She's keeping up with big brother and loves him to bits. We are trying to grow her hair out a bit, but I gave in and trimmed her bangs today. They are a tad short...a la Jim Carrey's character in "Dumb and Dumber"--oops! But she's still cute, of course.

That's all for now...Rock Chalk!

I heart Etsy

I'm pretty much obsessed with Etsy.com (www.etsy.com) these days. Need a new anything? Just visit Etsy and find the most delicious handmade anything on planet Earth and support starving artists! I went a little Etsy-crazy at Christmas when buying gifts for folks (and myself, ahem), and I go on there quite often just to "window shop." I wish I had all the money in the world to buy things from Etsy, but Andy might kill me, so I will refrain.

I do need a new spring/summer bag (I know, sounds silly, but ladies, we all need our seasonal handbag fix, no?), so I just purchased this from an artist out of Philadelphia. Technically she's advertising it as a sewing materials/diaper bag, but I'm gonna use it as a regular handbag. I love big bags I can fit the kitchen sink in (much to Andrew's dismay), and this is a big one. It just screams spring to me, too, so maybe it'll help usher in the good weather?

Anyway, exciting post about my shopping habits, right? Hey, I do what I can to keep my head on during this long, cold, poopy winter. I'll have more exciting things to talk about once the weather improves. But when it's 7 degrees outside with snow on the ground, momma buys new handbags.

This and that

Yogurt Face



After a big snow


Gus at the dentist



It's mid-February...all I can say about that is THANK GOD. That means we're creeping closer and closer to spring every day. March is like a breath of fresh air (mentally) for me, even if it's rainy and cold sometimes. Just knowing it's March makes me a happier person.

It's Friday-thank God. Just to paint a picture of our Fridays, here's the scoop: It's about 4:30pm, Gus and Cleo just played with Play-Dough for about 1.5 hours (they LOVE it), and we had a popcorn snack during that time. Both kids ended up stuffing most of the popcorn into the Play-Dough, which was super fun to pick out. Har dee har har. Before that we all went on a walk outside, since it's in the 30's, and not as bitter cold as usual. Now they are watching The Wiggles as I finish up some work (and my blog, of course). I'm ready for the weekend. It's been a long week. Oh, and I'm listening to some band cover "The Killing Time" by Echo and the Bunnymen on KJHK and loving it. And I already have a glass of wine...yeah, I know. But it's Friday, so whatevs. I usually make myself wait for 5pm, but today it was 4:30pm. So sue me. Ah! Now Wilco and then the Kinks on the radio...not bad dj, not bad. It's amazing what a song will do to change your spirits.

Things are fine otherwise. Andy hasn't traveled this week, which has been awesome. He does travel for the next few weeks, off and on. Boo. Work is, well, it just "is." We have dean candidates coming in for the next couple of weeks. Let's just say that makes for a bit of a stressful and anxious time right now. So I'm trudging through it all, hoping for a good outcome.

I'm not my usual perky pants this week, I think mainly due to work stuff and the shitastically "meh" weather. So forgive my "bitter pill" attitude...this too shall pass.

Here are some fun photos of the family. One of them shows Gus at his first dentist appt. He did very well. The others are just a mish mash. Hopefully we'll have more and more as spring comes into view and we're outside more! Sweet Jesus, one can hope!!