House Arrest

That's how I feel. Ever seen the movie Brokedown Palace, where the 2 American girls are in Thailand (?) and have drugs hidden on them and they have to go to a horrible prison. Ok, my situation is probably not that bad, but I've been stuck inside since Sunday afternoon and I think my mind has left the building.

On my way back from the Y on Sunday, my car, which had been giving me some problems, crapped out completely. I got it to the house, and there it sits. Ross has a friend who is supposed to come look at it, but that has sadly not happened yet. Hopefully when it does, it won't be too expensive.

I've only owned 2 cars in my life and they have both given me more problems than they were worth. Yeah, but one was a 1990 Toyota Corolla station wagon, don't be jealous. Lets keep our fingers crossed that the 3rd time (whenever that will be) will be the charm.

Haircuts, Tears, and Birthdays for all

We've had quite an action packed weekend. Ok, not really, but hey, it is what it is. Friday I went and hit up the 30% Old Navy sale. Love the sale/gift card combo, makes me very happy.

That afternoon Quinn and I had haircuts scheduled. Quinn had been doing pretty well getting his hair cut. His first few went horribly, but I thought (hoped) he'd outgrown that. Yeah, I was way wrong. He freaked out. I had Chik-fil-A lemonade to distract him, but it did nothing. I felt bad for our hairstylist, Mary, but at least she has a little girl, so she knows how kids can be. His hair isn't quite as short as I wanted, but I had to get him out of that chair. Ross' mom came up to the salon and took him home and I got my hair done. It always makes me feel great to have a fresh do!

WARNING - really bad picture of me follows...just wanted to make sure you were warned, but it shows my new shorter hair.

I had to wake Quinn up from his nap to go get dinner with daddy, since mommy had other plans on Friday night. Well, I guess he was still upset from the haircut and didn't want to get up. So there were a few more tears from that. This is the best picture I could get of him on Friday. Cute, but definitely not his best moment.

Friday night I went to dinner at Moe's and to see Toy Story 3 with Joy. I am a huge Pixar lover, so I was so excited to see it. Quinn is very much into the Toy Story movies these days (especially Buzz, that's a Buzz cup in his hand in the above picture), but I know he is not ready for a movie theater yet. Maybe next year when Cars 2 comes out!

Anyway, Toy Story 3 was amazing. Witty, emotional, hilarious, and smart, a fabulous movie. Pixar hit it out of the ballpark. And yes, I cried, several times actually. But so did a lot of people, so I don't feel too bad. It definitely made me nostalgic for those childhood toys I have discarded. Unfortunately it also made me want to hang on to all of Quinn's toys, so for that I curse it! I guess I need to give it some distance before cleaning out his room.

As I already posted, yesterday was Ross' birthday and we celebrated by making him some breakfast (or lunch really) in bed. Then last night we went to his favorite restaurant, Texas Cattle Company. Nothing better than free steak on your birthday! I also made some pretty great chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, if I do say so myself. I think he had a pretty good birthday!

Here are a couple of pictures from last night!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Birthday Ross!

Today is Ross' 32nd Birthday!! Quinn and I would like to wish him a very happy year and we hope it is one of the best! He's a great daddy and husband and we wouldn't want to hang out with anybody else. Love you!

Yay for Quinn!

So this adorable picture you are looking at is from this morning, when Quinn and I celebrated his great success at swim lessons the past 4 weeks with a milk and blueberry muffin treat. Ok, he had milk, I had a grande skinny hazelnut latte with 1 splenda, but whatever. Quinn loved swim lessons and really did a good job. By the end he was swimming by himself with the floatie thing strapped to his back. I'm thinking of signing him up for the next level...we'll see. I'm sure he would love it, as whenever I mentioned swim lessons this past month, he would yell "Fun!" very emphatically.

Here is a picture of Quinn and Ross on Father's Day. I did coordinate them in brown, although Ross' funky green shorts weren't part of the original outfit. We went to Smokey Bones' for dinner with Ross' parents, and had a good time, even if we had to wait forever. Who would have thought a Dad's Eat Free promotion would bring out everyone and well, their fathers?


Let the blackmailing begin!! Quinn decided he wanted to put my shoes on last night, and in really no time flat he was cruising around in them. Those are 4 inch wedges people! I'd say my kid is talented, but I don't know if that's what you call it. I guess he at the very least has good balance.

And for a few more Quinn updates, he currently weighs 28.5 lbs, according to the scale at Publix. That puts him at about the 40th percentile for weight, which is a lot more than I thought it would. He is becoming a bit more, shall we say, independent and mischievous these days. We've had a few dinnertime battles, although tonight seemed to go fairly well. He is definitely his father's son though, as he is easily bribed with the promise of a "treat". I think I should start calling time-outs treats, maybe then it wouldn't be such a issue.

Happy Father's Day!

Today is the day we honor father's, so I thought I would honor my 2 favorite dads. I hope all the dad's out there have a wonderful day and are made to feel loved and appreciated by their families. Yay Dads!

Two Classics - My Reviews

So I decided to try and read 12 new books this year, and amazingly I'm ahead of target at this point. I just finished #7 this morning. Go me.

In that quest, I had originally decided to only read 1 classic. I read 1 last year (Anna Karenina) and lets just say, I wasn't overly upset when SPOILER ALERT Anna threw herself under that train. So, since I read 6 new books last year and 1 of those was a classic, I figured that since I was going to read 12 this year, I could do 2 classics. So I did. And I decided to do them back to back, I guess to get it over with. Here are my thoughts.

The first was one was, obviously, Pride and Prejudice. I had not read any Jane Austen before this, but had read a book from the same style/time period (Jane Eyre) years ago and enjoyed it. Plus so many people I know adore P&P, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. And because when I went searching for the copy of Wuthering Heights I thought I had, I came up with this.

As I'm sure many people have read P&P, or seen some cinematic version of it, I'll spare you the details and say, I really just thought this book was eh. Not terrible, but not something I was swooning over. Sure, Mr. Darcy sounded like a good catch, the handsomeness and monied aspects of him anyway. And I thought Elizabeth Bennet sounded like a pretty cool chick who was not afraid to speak her mind in an era where women were not told they had minds. But I am not one to get all gushy over spurned lovers and unrequited emotions. I'm not heartless or anything, but I'd rather have some real dialogue and story advancement than frivolous wanting and waning. I saw the ending coming a mile away and was left feeling a little unsatisfied. Oh, and I really disliked a couple characters (Mrs. Bennet, the twitty sister who married the one dude), which made it even harder for me to rave over. Am I happy I read it? Yes. Will I read it again? Probably not.

So after P&P I decided to take a break from romance and try on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court for size. I have read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, along with most of America's middle/high schoolers, and enjoyed them both a lot. But this one, another eh. It was hard at times to get into the language. The story itself was interesting, but I didn't feel like the characters were fleshed out well, and I know there are parts I just skimmed, so I didn't understand later parts. Plus I know Twain built a lot of political ideology into this book, as he did all his books, but I just wasn't feeling it. But I did enjoy the pictures (haha) and the premise behind the book was good.

So there you have it, like em or leave em. Now I'm onto to another non-fiction...1776. We'll see how that goes.

Our First Trip to the Beach...this year

We made our first trip to the beach in 2010 on Wednesday/Thursday. We being Quinn and I. My mother-in-law was there staying at a relative's condo, so we decided to go over and hang out for a little while. I'm really glad we did. I guess I have what you would call a bona fide beach baby. He LOVED it. He would have stayed at the beach all day if he had the chance. He mostly wanted to sit in the surf and let the water crash all around him. Ok, it wasn't really a crash, but you catch my drift.

And to all my non-Florida readers, the beaches of the west coast of Florida are beautiful and oil-free (at least for now). I'm truly praying they stay that way. Come and visit!!
'
Enjoying feeling the water on his feet and the sand between his toes.

Enjoying some cool water on a very hot day.


It must be nice to have your own personal umbrella holder. How very P Diddy of him.


He could sit there like this for hours. No joke.

We went out for a short walk and Quinn ended up staying out so long, we got to see this. It was definitely worth it.

Enjoying some Superman ice cream after a tough day of being a beach bum.

Our Engagement Story

Today over at Kelly's Korner its another Show Us Your Life Friday. Today's theme is engagement stories, so I thought I'd write that up...if I can remember that far back. Ok just kidding.

Ross and I started dating in August of 2001 and we knew pretty early on we would get married someday. When was the question. So flash forward to February 2004 and I was kind of wondering when it was coming. But I kind of put it out of mind and went on my merry way (haha, merry, get it).

So one Sunday (February 8 to be exact) we went to church and went out to lunch and kind of got in an argument. It was eventually resolved and later that afternoon we decided to go for a walk. I should have thought that was weird, as it was kind of chilly out and Ross doesn't do chilly. We walked from his parents house to his old elementary school about 1/2 block away. For some reason the gates were open and we were able to walk onto the playground.

Once on that playground, we noticed there was a map on the ground. I love maps, which of course Ross knows. So we went and stood on the map and Ross told me to stand on my favorite state. I stood on Illinois. Ross took off the ring I wore on the middle finger of my left hand and put it on Illinois. Then he told me to stand on my 2nd favorite state and I stood on Florida. Then he said all these nice things that of course I don't remember and he put the ring on my finger. I said yes, then he got on one knee and did it again. It was all very surprising and great and very Ross.

I was more surprised to know he had had the ring since I think September of 2003. He had had the money at that time and so he bought it. I love it because he designed it himself and put a lot of thought and love into it. I still love wearing it.

I had to go do a work thing that night, but got out early and we went to one of cousins houses where a bunch of people were getting together. Everyone was excited and it was just so great to enjoy it with other people. Than we went out to dinner at Steak n Shake. The perfect end to a great day!

Reasons I Love my Toddler

Toddlers tend to get a bad rap in our society, and often for very good reasons. I might have to post on that myself in the future. I could list many reasons that happened in the last 4 hours. But in my quest to stay positive, I thought I'd write a post about just a few of the many reasons I love my toddler, all 2 years 3 months 3 weeks of him.


1. He loves music and he loves to dance!
Quinn has loved music since he was a baby, but it has really been coming out lately. He can identify quite a few instruments by sight (piano, guitar, violin, cello, drums) and is able to pick out some instruments in certain songs, usually guitars and drums. Ross and I are very happy about that, since we both grew up playing and enjoying music. I hope this means he has some sort of future in music.

Quinn also likes to move to the music. He has been a dancer since he could stand and he can really get into it. The picture below was taken last week during a trip to Epcot. We were listening to a band playing in the Canada pavilion and Quinn was really boogying down. So much so he got a shout out from the band and had several people take his picture! So maybe he'll be a famous musician/dancer.


2. He knows how to have fun!

Quinn definitely knows how to have a good time. And he is usually pretty good at keeping himself entertained. We have frequented a local establishment called Kidz Club and Quinn has a great time there. He spends the whole time running from toy to toy and structure to structure. He particularly loves the little "roller coaster" they have. He can now do it all himself, so he is good to go, no waiting on momma!

3. He's a great helper!

Lately Quinn has been happy and excited to help me when I ask. He often responds with an emphatic "Yay Mama!" That is so nice to hear, and I'm enjoying it while it lasts, as I doubt it will be for long. Just today he let me put one of the recycling bins in his wagon and he pulled it all the way down our weird, long driveway to where it gets picked up. And then when the recycling had been picked up, we loaded the empty bins into his wagon and he happily pulled them back up to the garage. He had a smile on his face the whole way. I love that kid!

As you can see in the picture below, he loves to pretend to vacuum. Now when I actually start the vacuum cleaner, he is both fascinated and freaked out by it. He runs and hides, but then peeks out at it whenever it gets close.


4. He takes time to stop and smell the "roses".

Having a toddler reminds me to look around and get excited about the little things in life. Or even to just appreciate them. The littlest things give Quinn the biggest thrill, and that in turn gives me a thrill. You would think a school bus was the most awesome thing ever!

The picture below is of Quinn as we were leaving the Brunchery last week. He stops and sniffs those flowers every week, and it reminds me to do the same.




5. He loves adventure!

Not only does Quinn love to have a good time, but he loves to stay energized and he makes everything an adventure. Its so fun to see his little creative mind at work. He often just starts running and will yell out "I run" in an almost Forrest Gump like exclamation, and he is off on another adventure. He keeps himself busy, that's for sure.



6. He's just so stinkin' cute!

What more can I say, its the truth!

Swim Lesson

Today was Quinn's very first swim lesson. It was originally scheduled for Monday, but was cancelled due to the holiday (but unfortunately my number was wrong in the Y's system and I did not get the call. At least we got there on time). Quinn was very excited to get in the water and he did a great job the entire lesson. We sang songs, worked on kicking and blowing bubbles, and jumped off the side. He didn't do as well with the jumping, but I eventually got him to "jump" in from a sitting position without holding onto my fingers. He had a great time and didn't want to leave. Lucky for us there wasn't a class after ours, so we were able to stay for a bit and swim some more.

We have swim lessons 2 times a week for the month of June, and even though they are at 8:30 in the morning, I won't mind going as long as he is enjoying them.

A Picture

Ok, I'm finally figuring out the whole new camera/computer thing, so here is a recent picture of Quinn in his new wagon. He loves to go for rides and even likes to pull the wagon himself pretty often.

Now once I can figure out how to upload these pictures in order and not have to shrink them to move them around the post, I will add more pictures. Until then, enjoy the wagon!