Sunday Activity

One of my friends got me a pedicure kit for my birthday, so to fill out the evening Taylie and I gave ourselves pedicures.

Painting the nails of a 3 year old takes far more patience than I posses....

and she think she is so beautiful!

as she got into bed she told me that I had to "clean it off!"

*sigh*

Happy Birthday to me!

I don't want to make this too long, so I will sum it up by saying that I had a really good day, got some really good stuff and ate really good food!

The best part that I HAD to post about (and the part Jacob wishes I wouldn't) is about the cake.

This is my birthday cake!

Jacob found a recipe over a year ago for a 3 layer super chocolate fudge cake. This is a serious recipe that is pretty complicated and literally takes hours. He has been dying to make it for me because I love chocolate and he really doesn't. He spent about 4 hours working on the process of making the cake. After a little cake-explosion in the oven (actually, it was pretty big. The cake literally exploded out of the pan) and Taylie took a handful out of it as it was cooling. The cake was SO moist that it couldn't get out of the pan in 1 piece...or actually, 3 whole pieces. It was crumbling and breaking so there was NO WAY to frost it. Speaking of the icing...he got that all mixed up and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour and it would not thicken up AT ALL. It was a chocolate soup! Jacob was pretty bummed but I figured that since it wasn't holding together anyway why not eat it? So I took spoon fulls of the icing and poured it on the cake. The cake literally fell to pieces because it couldn't hold the weight of the icing. It was SO YUMMY! We told the family to just grab a fork and eat it that way, but they opted for taking heaping spoonfuls instead.

I was not sorry at all for how it turned out. I LOVED IT! What is better than ending the day with a nice, yummy, chocolate, messy desert? I dare say nothing...

family bowling day

We decided that we needed to have some fun with the kids before the chaos of life gets kicked up a notch with Jake starting school next week. We thought bowling would be a fun activity to do with the kids and entertaining for us to watch. *sigh* Let me tell you a few things I learned about bowling with toddlers:

1. Bowling with young children is fun for exactly 7 1/2 frames, then all interest seems to dissipate into thin air.
2. It is as close as you can come to torturing a kid to make them wait while 3 other people have their turn. The lesson of teaching patience lasts for about 3 frames then you risk an all out tantrum.
3. Rolling a ball down the lane at 1.3 mph will cause more problems than you would think.
4. My husband is capable of being a very sore loser when challenged by a 1 year old. (it was a real worry for him, honestly! you will see...)

Despite all of these little quirks, we did have a lot of fun! Taylie got a kick out of it and Luke thought it was funny. He actually picked out the perfect moments to laugh, such as when Jacob landed a gutter ball...more than once.

again, rolling a ball @ 1.3 mph leaves LOTS of time for taking pictures!

Taylie was determined to pick up and carry the ball by herself. An 11 lb ball at that!

So, like I promised, proof that Jake is threatened by his kids. You can't see his score, but I believe that he is sitting at a 16! Luke was seriously kicking all of our rear-ends by the beginning of the 4th frame and he was the first one of us to get....

A STRIKE!!!! I had to take a picture for his baby book or something, he did it all on his own!
The really sad thing is that we were really trying. We were only helping them get the ball down the right lane but they did all the work (with bumper assistance, of course). It was pretty funny that we were both getting creamed by our kids.

After the first few framed we realized that we could very well be there ALL DAY LONG if we didn't get something to speed it along. We found these little frame things that gives the ball a little bit more momentum because they can push it from up higher. Luke LOVED this!!!

From that point it went a bit smoother because we got the ball traveling up to about 5 mph. :)

In the end, Jake won, but only by 4 points.

This is a little movie of how the afternoon went. Someone bowled, Luke would clap and Taylie would say "Yay!"

So much fun!

Kid-isms

Dad: "Taylie, can you please go put this in the trash?"
Taylie: "Aw Dad, you threw off my groove!"

(we all laugh...)

Dad: "can you say 'I am a rich, powerful, ball of charisma?'"
Taylie: "that's not even a word dad!"

(Luke is whining about being in the car...)

Me: "Luke! Are you feeling grumpy today?"
Luke: nods head yes and smiles
Me: "Do you want to go home and eat dinner?"
Luke: nods head yes and smiles
Me: "Do you even understand what I am saying?"
Luke: shakes head no and laughs hysterically

Luke's 15 month check up!

My huge baby boy is finally starting to level out into a well proportioned toddler! :)
Here are his latest stats:

Length: 30.5 in (50-75%)
Weight: 24 lbs 8 oz (50-75%)
Head: 48.3 cm (75%)

To sum it up: he is an average size boy with a head that is a bit bigger than the rest of his body, but not so big that he is a freak of nature.

Most recent milestones:
-- He thinks he is Tarzan and should be able to climb anything and
everything within sight. When he can't quite get it, he screams.
--He speaks well, but about 75% of his vocabulary revolves around food.
Some of his words include: wawa (water), waffa (waffle), mo waffa (more waffle), juice, cheez (cheese), a-bi (a bite), hung (hungry), pop (as in, soda)
Other words: mom, dada, Tay, shoes, horse, dog (with sound effects), off (as in, "please take off my clothes"), how (meaning, Howie the stuffed dog, bink (binky), bank (blanket)
He says LOTS of words for his age and also likes to communicate by nodding and shaking his head in response to questions. He is almost always correct in his response as well.
--He likes to tell me when he is ready for bed.
--He puts up a huge protest if I dress him in the wrong clothes and is still throwing a fit over his new shoes.

Basically, he is an EXTREMELY opinionated child and the doctors response is "it will serve him well later in life, but for now, just roll with it and do your best!"


We LOVE our silly baby boy!

coming out of the closet!

For those who know me well, you know that I like the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. What you may all not know is HOW big of a fan I am [except Bri, she is fully aware of my obsession because she shares it with me ;)]. I am finally going to spell out how much I absolutely LOVE this series (and no hating on me or my vampires!)

Things not to worry about: I am not interested in stalking, hunting down, following around, or taking pictures with (or anything that falls in this frame of mind) the actors involved. It is not my life's ambition to travel across the country and meet them or "hang out" if you will, I have a life.
I do not and will not hoard memorabilia. I do not have have a stash of "Cullen Family" accessories, Edward/Jacob/Bella barbie dolls which are being circulated at your nearest toy store, trading cards, paper plates/cups as my everyday place settings. My bedroom is not covered with posted like that of a 13 year old girl and I have not stooped so low as to make my husband sleep on " New Moon" bedsheets and pillows after taking a shower behind the curtain where Edwards face dominates 75% of the area. I do have my limitations. I do wish to acquire all of the books on audio cd and the books with the art work for the covers that has been inspired by the movies...as well as different editions and versions of the movie, which I shall address later...

The things I will admit: I hated the movie the first 3 times I saw it. I didn't understand how such a truly crappy movie was such a huge phenomenon. I watched the movie with a "stinky fish smell"s expression on my face the whole time. I could not comprehend how a book that bad could actually be made into a movie. So I read the book. I fell in love! I read the whole 4 book series in the span 4 and half days. I admit to neglecting my home and my children ate "picnic style" for several days. I even skipped showers and ate meals while reading. To this date, I have read the whole series 4 times. It comes with me to the gym and I usually have a book with me. I even have the draft of the unfinished "Midnight Sun" downloaded on my phone. I can probably tell you every single, tiny difference between the movies and the book down to the wording. My most shameful admission will be this: I planned a "New Moon" party for the midnight release of the movie in the theater with my best friend only to realize several months later that the night the movie was released landed on my son's 1st birthday. I did bow out of the party, but still made it to the premier.

Things that you should know: If you go out of your way to talk about how horrible you think my series is, and I find out that you have never read the books (any of them), just know this: I am fighting every instinct I have to not punch you in the face and make snide passive aggressive comments directed at you. You can't make a decent judgment on the series just from the movie because, honestly, the movie SUCKS! If you have read 1 book, I will probably hear you out before deciding where to place you on my list of personal annoyances. If you have actually read them all and still do not like them, then I can respectfully agree to disagree with you and I will still love you in the morning. Just don't talk any un-needed smack against my vamps and wolves and we are good.

Since I jumped on this particular bandwagon a little later than most I was only able to acquire the single disc regular edition of the "Twilight" movie. Last week while in Shopko I ran across the 2 disc special edition. I bought it. I now have 2 copies of the same movie which is completely stupid, but I HAD to have it!
Ever since the release date came out for "New Moon" I have been scouting out websites and getting any and all updates I can get my hands on to tell me who is coming out with what special features on there edition of the movie. I have already pre-ordered my copy from Wal-Mart because they have the Ultimate Fan Edition (sounds promising?) It is, so far, the only edition to have actually footage from Eclipse which is not coming to theaters until June 30. I am currently arguing with myself to decided if I can rationalize the choice to get Target's edition of this movie as well. Documentaries and cast interviews are almost too sweet to pass up.... I told you, I have it bad.
I can tell you what projects most, if not all, of the cast are currently involved in and what they are thinking about working on. I get all of there Twitter updates so I can tell you where (all the ones that are online anyway...) they are at the very moment you ask me and who will be on what television interview or magazine cover for the week. Speaking of magazines, I begged my hair stylist to let me keep the "People: Twilight special edition" that I was reading in the salon. She obliged to please the crazy in me. She got a really good tip.

So, now that I am out of the "Twilight" closet I do not want to hear any crap when I post how beyond any reasonable level of excited I am to find out that the trailer for "Eclipse" will be premiered March 12 in the previews of Robert Pattinson's new movie "Remember Me" which I will be going to see just to view this preview!!! I have posted some of my favorite fan sites for my fellow "Twi-hards" that have the most up-to-date info on...well, everything and also a countdown ticker to the "Eclipse" premier. I don't want to hear 1 negative thing about it.

Kid-isms

One of my friends on her blog has a "segment" if you will called "Livisms". Her little girl is named Olivia and she says some of the funniest things I have heard come out of the mouth of a toddler. It literally makes me want to roll on the floor laughing. So I am adopting her idea except I will call it "kid-isms". It goes something like this:

Dad: "Taylie, please take that pen in your hand and put it back in the kitchen where it belongs."
Taylie: (as she hides it behind her back) "I don't know what you are talkin' about, my dear!"

Mom: "Taylie! What are you DOING?!"
Taylie: "I'm feeding the ants mommy. They is hungry."

time-out buddy

Luke is a pretty sensitive little boy, when he wants to be. Taylie got put into a time out and he went and sat in the corner with her to make her feel better and even brought his favorite blanket for her to have.

This seems so sweet, except, I have yet to catch on camera the times that he stands in front of her and taunts her by playing with toys and just running around when she can't....while giggling.

Kid Photography

I let my kids play with the camera to see what they would come up with. I thought it turned out pretty funny!

I let my kids play with the camera to see what they would come up with. I thought it turned out pretty cute! It could have been worse....

Project Clean Room: COMPLETED

I am sure that some of you remember my previous post back in August of last year about my "I will get to it later piles" (that post can be found here: http://jmbrooksfam.blogspot.com/2009/08/un-adventures-of-me.html)

I just thought I should update you and let you know that it got a whole lot worse before it got better.

Exhibit A

after I re-arranged the placement of the furniture in the bedroom I decided (for what reason, I really can't remember...) that I should pull out everything that we had in storage and go through it, just to make sure I had everything I was wanting out in accessible reach. So Jake pulled it all out for me and I went through it, slowly but surely, until it was all done. The MANY boxes and rubbermaids that we own invaded our bedroom and there was not even enough walking room to be confident in your foot placement. Not to mention that it crept out into the hallway where you had to turn sideways and inhale to have a chance of squeezing through.

BUT, after a few horrible days of little to no breathing room, I actually completed the project I had set out to accomplish!

Here is the proof:

Yay me! :)