Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day weekend was wonderful. Good times with family. Good food. I've really earned myself some extra time on the elliptical this week with all the wonderful sweets we had! Joel's sister Hannah graduated on Monday. She's the 5th to graduate. It's so crazy to me, because when I met Joel, Hannah was 10. She performed a beautiful concert with amazing piano solos and a fantastic vocal performance. Then we got to visit with family all evening at the reception. Tuesday, we played softball (our team won:-) and just had fun being outside. Preston was wiped out after so much fun with his cousin Micah (who is 4.) They had fun playing together, and wanted to be outside every chance they got! Since this was the first time all of the siblings and spouses were together in a year and a half, we HAD to get some family pictures. My Father-in-Law is a creative photographer, so I have to post some of the pics we took. Here's the whole gang:

In this one, Joel's sisters and I were supposed to be 'strangling' our husbands.

This one cracks me up. The wives had the money and the husbands were supposed to be showing their empty pockets. I think it's pretty funny that I had to borrow the cash from Cristi, to my left. My husband's wallet really was empty!:)

In this photo, I enjoyed feeling 'tiny' for once:

Here's Joel's parents with their grandkids:

1-866-HATRED

866-209-6227. Memorize it if you have to. This is an awful phone number. I get at least one call from this number everyday. During Preston's nap time usually. They are Discover Card. They want to sell me fraud insurance for my credit card or something like that. Not interested. DEFINITELY not interested. If I was, I would call THEM!! I am on the National Do Not Call List...I have called these Discover Card fraud obsessing people and have been placed on THEIR do not call list, which could take 30 days to process? during which time I could still receive calls. And I have been.

Well, today they called again...and I did not answer it of course. Caller I.D. is a wonderful thing. But, tomorrow...I'm ready for them. I'm going to answer the phone and say, "Pizza Hut, may I take your order please?" If they stutter or say, what? I'll respond with "Would you like to order one of our special large hamburger pizzas for only $8.99?" This charade will continue (I hope) until they decide it is best to stop calling my pizza place.:) 

Wow, I feel better now. I also just found an amusing article online that may help stimulate your creative juices if anyone else has trouble with persistent, annoying telemarketers. Some of the good ideas I found include: repeatedly asking for Bill throughout the duration of the telemarketing call and also to pretend that you have taken hostages and proceeding to list your demands. I'm not wanting to go to jail though, so I think I'll stick with the pizza plan...for now.

Wow, we had a busy weekend with family and friends, and today we are all dragging.:) Saturday morning I hosted a baby shower brunch for my second cousin and her new bambino. There were about 15 of us. JoAnn was in charge of games, and we had some good ones! First,we were divided into 2 teams and had to change and pass a 'baby' around the room until our team was done. It was funny seeing people change and basically throw the baby to the next person, with a backwards diaper on or a haphazzardly taped diaper. All I can say is good thing they weren't real babies. We ate good food too. Then, Saturday night we went to Matt & Becca's for a super fun outdoor-grillin' party! Great times, and fabulous weather!!

Last night we had some friends over for a little BBQ. They are from California, and are considering moving to Nebraska. WHY-you may ask?! For law school...certainly not for the change of scenery. They looked at houses yesterday afternoon, and then last night we went ACROSS the street, and looked at a county-owned foreclosure!! How great would it be to have friends RIGHT across the street?! Pretty great, especially since they are super fun to be around AND the house they like has a pretty awesome swingset.:)

Preston really bonded with them, especially Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a friend of theirs, and a fellow-PCC grad. He came over last night as well, and Preston immediately took to him. He led him outside where Jeremiah PUSHED him around the yard in his Little Tyke's car. They are friends for life now. I should've got a picture of that, but instead I got a photo of them on the couch, cuddled up watching Franklin-the Green Knight-which is pretty much the cheesiest movie ever.

Oh, I'm also posting pics of Preston helping Daddy mow the yard. By 'helping' I really mean getting in Joel's way mainly, but it did make for a fun photo shoot!:)

P might need a Sibling

Someday, Lord-willing, we will have another kiddo. In the meantime though, Preston will probably continue to be his own imaginary friend. The other day, after his nap, he was sitting at the table eating a cookie. He said, "Hey, Preton-whatcha doin'? Eatin' a cookie. Oh." I just stared at him. What a crackup! Do we not give him enough attention? Does he somehow crave conversation with himself? Sometimes throughout the day, I'll here him say..."You ok, Preton? Yeah, I okay."

Yep, someday it will be nice for him to have a sibling to talk to. Until then, he'll be his own best buddy!This is Preston with the little girl I've babysat a few times. As you can see, he loves her!

Hungry...but not that hungry!

Well last night I decided (again) to try and get Preston to eat something "different". He's so picky, and it seems like at times we cater to that, because in reality it is easier to give him what we know he'll eat, so meal times do not have to be a fit and we can all eat in peace! That has left us very limited...mainly to the 3rd stage jarred spaghetti and their turkey with veggies (ew) and his infamous chicken nuggets.So, last night for supper, I made him a grilled cheese! We've tried it before on him, but no luck. I make his with dairy-free cheese (he's allergic) and vegan butter....It's actually still an awesome grilled cheese! Anyhow, the first attempt failed...He wouldn't eat it, and got sent to his room. Well, I know he's hungry, because he's hanging around the fridge, wanting FOOD! He asks for rice milk and whines around and finally I make another sandwich, because the kid has got to eat...(So I think!) I had told him this is it, all that you get for supper. Our second attempt went better, at least he sat up to the table longer...and TOUCHED his food. After he was done, his plate looked like this:

Which WOULD have been exciting, but the centerpiece on our table looked like this:

Ah, well...You can't win them all!

Locksmith??

So today, I went out to the garage to take the garbage out, and shut the door behind me. I told P, 'just a minute'...While I was heading back inside, I heard it. Click. He locked me out. My mind instantly went to the other entrances to our home. All of them locked. Even if I opened the garage door and went around to the front, it wouldn't do any good. It was LOCKED! I banged on the door, 'Preston, open this door...NOW!' Click. He unlocked it. He was sitting on the steps, wide-eyed when I entered. I'm just glad he was able to unlock it. I've seen him mess with the lock before, but didn't know if he would be able or willing to unlock it...I bent down and said, 'Now, NEVER lock this door again, ok?' I hugged him, so thankful he let me in. I realize now I've GOT to get a key to put in the garage. Just in case.

Should be Mandatory:)

Today is "Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day". Really. It says so in my planner. Clearly it must be a real 'holiday'...Guess I'm just not understanding why Joel didn't want to take P with him today. I mean, who wouldn't want to take this guy to work??

Ok, so in all fairness, this was nearly a year ago-while I was packing up boxes, getting ready to leave our Lincoln house. P didn't waste any time before he began emptying boxes in the pantry. So helpful! I had been wondering where we were going to pack all that heavy pasta, and those Cheerios, what a load! He's much more helpful now. More hands on. The other day he was throwing the laundry out of the basket-into the closet. I'm sure there's a method to the madness. I just haven't figured it out yet.