August 27, 2011
We decided to head up to Logan for the Aggie football scrimmage and Family Fun Day at the stadium. We ended up driving to Logan for lunch.
Let me explain.
When we got there, it was lunchtime. Two kids and frankly, two parents don't do well without a solid meal at noon. So we stopped at the best bakery ever, the Gristmill. Yummm and way, way, way better than the ever popular Great Harvest. With filled tummies, we then headed to the stadium. Pearl was beyond excited to be going to a football game with her Dad. Jeff was excited to see Turbin race down the sidelines, Cole was just happy to be out of the house (and car), and I was excited at the prospects of getting a family picture decked out in our Aggie gear.
I think Cole and I were the only ones who left happy.
We were an hour late and missed the entire scrimmage. In our defense, Aggie Family Fun Day lasted for three hours so we assumed at least an hour and a half would be actual scrimmage. Nope. Pearl freaked out when she figured out there would be no playing. It was traumatic. Not even a new game day tee-shirt and "A" tattoo could quell her whining. Jeff kept his disappointment to himself that he wasn't able to see the new quarterback or Turbin. He's fast. Really fast. And it was hot. Like triple digits hot. With no shade. We were all a bit grumpy with that.
But me? I was thrilled to see no one standing in the vicinity of the U-state logo. I knew we only had one shot, with Pearl's hysteria about missing the game. And cheerleaders. And Big Blue. Neither of whom were in attendance to begin with. We lugged over a garbage can, set the timer on the camera, and smiled. Not too shabby for four sweaty Aggie fans.
Oh, and Pearl did cheer up when Jeff took her down on the field to meet the football team. She threw some passes to a kid named Jefferson, told Coach Anderson that Cougars smell like poop and they suck (he laughed pretty good and said he wasn't sure if he should give her a high five or not), and got a pom-pom from another football player.
The drive to Logan for lunch was well worth it. Minus the sweat.
August 26, 2011
After attending a birthday party of one of Pearl's friends, I have come to the conclusion that it just might be worth forking over the money to pay a princess to do everything. Like...
Teaching the guests how to courtesy. And say, "excuse me" when someone bumps into you.
Reading your princess story. In this case Snow White.
Playing princess-themed games like "don't eat the apple" (the best part, getting candy with said game) and apple toss animal sounds.
Crowning the birthday girl.
Taking pictures with all the guests.
And making it magical for 13 little girls, while the moms sit back and do nothing.
August 25, 2011
We all got distracted this morning with books. Both of my kids love books. Pearl a little too much, as she will stay up way past bedtime reading in her bed or screaming at us to read her a story until we give in.
Cole loves any book with animals in it. You'd think he would know all their sounds by now, after all we tell him what the doggie, kitty, elephant, horse, cow, chickens, sheep, tigers, lions, bears, goats, turkeys, birds, bunny rabbits, fish, and pigs say about 300 bazillion times a day. He points at each picture and says, "that" over and over again. Unless of course the animal resembles a horse, then it says "neigh." He's also got down what a pig says and tries to snort at you. Doggies just stick out their tongues and go "hhhhhhh." And if you're lucky, Cole will do his best to make an elephant sound while raising his arm in the air like a trunk. But that's about it.
I was happy to hear Pearl wanted to read Cole his book this morning. For 10 seconds neither one of them were fighting, crying, or making a mess. Pearl said she could read it because it's "just animal sounds, Mom." What I'm really excited about though, is Pearl learning how to read this year in her early kindergarten program. That way she can take over some of the reading around this place!
August 24, 2011
Having a window office at work has its perks.
#1. There is this perceived higher social standing amongst your peers. It really boils down to the fact that you're either someone important or that you've been there a long time. In my case, I'm still a peon but have put in my dues I suppose with eight years.
#2. You can see what the weather is doing. This really comes in handy for surprise rain or snow storms.
#3. You get to watch things happening along the Jordan River. Arrests, medical emergencies, drunks wandering around, people walking their dogs, etc.
#4. One time a bird flew into my office window. Scared the bejeebers out of me.
#5. You get the benefit of extra light and warmth, which comes in handy in the winter after a long holiday weekend when the heat gets turned off. This benefit sort of backfires on you in the summer though when the air conditioning has been off all weekend.
#6. The view definitely beats looking at the ugly, depressing, gray cubicle walls.
#7. You only have neighbors on two sides of you.
#8. I have a spare shelf to put junk on. I really should decorate it with plants or pictures but after awhile you can start to see how artsy piles of papers, reports, folders, and to-do lists can be.
#9. Everyone else wants it. Duh. (That was Jeff's reason... we both are lucky enough to claim office windows.)
#10. And finally, the best reason, I get to sneak a peek at my kids playing outside during recess. Prior to our office reconfiguration, I was directly above Cole's playground. I could always tell if it was my kid crying or someone else, which did have it's drawbacks when Cole was having a bad day and I had to keep working. But after the move, I now get to spy on Pearl in their new outdoor classroom. It's fun to watch them from afar when they have no clue they're being spied on. Their creative imaginations are fascinating... as is the social world of 4 and 5 year-olds.
August 23, 2011
Several weeks ago, my favorite, trusty black heels broke. Split clear through the entire length of the shoe, right under the ball of my foot. The only thing holding it together was the actual leather of the shoe. It was slightly traumatic. I've been too lazy, too frumpy, and too poor to go buy me a new pair of heels so I continued to clomp around at work with a broken shoe.
Jeff got tired of me complaining so he took me shoe shopping tonight. Pearl and Cole were also able to get Dad to buy them shoes... shocking that Jeff was the only one to walk away shoeless. I think he gets tired of me buying "cheap" shoes but hey, he wasn't complaining when I found these both on clearance. And the best part? It was buy one clearance shoe, get one free! Yes, that's right! FREE!!! A grand total of $17.04 for two pairs of new heels. Who cares if they are last fall's style? I got a free pair of shoes.
August 22, 2011
One of the quarks of having a 101 year-old house is not having a working doorbell. Well, let me clarify. A doorbell that is wired into the rest of the house so it's always ready to inform you of visitors. Plus, our house is solid concrete blocks which doesn't exactly lend itself well to drilling a quick hole to connect it to our electricity. So we've been stuck with buying battery-operated doorbells. And with only two choices of home improvement stores nearby, we just happen to have a doorbell that is on the save frequency as our neighbors. Which means every time their doorbell rings, so does ours. We replace the batteries or re-glue the actual doorbell every month, or so it seems. Half the time we don't even notice the batteries are dead. By the time we figured out our doorbell had once again died a few months ago, we decided eh, who needs one anyway.
Oh, but don't worry. If you do come to visit us, we will answer. Jeff replaced the doorbell tonight.
August 21, 2011
I guess Cole's legs are long enough to get him up and over the side of the tub now. He thought it was funny. Jeff and I weren't quite sure what to do when we saw him sitting in the tub, jammies soaking wet. But we were both pretty surprised.
August 27, 2011
