Day at the Zoo

A Day At The Zoo

Em and Boo ...wait...Boo is looking at the camera!

...watch me climb up this fence...

...the brand new koala exhibit featuring sleeping koalas on loan from the San Diego Zoo...

Treeboy from Channel 13 doing a live interview at the Koala house.

Look at those Kodiak Bears!

The swaying bridge took Boo a little offguard.

The carried away a kangaroo on a stretcher.

Sitting in the snake coil.

The three of us with the Rhino.

Emily touched a shark.

Boo loved the butterflies.

Look! Another one!

Bags and More by Pam

Check out my friend's etsy shop, Bags and More by Pam. She has so many wonderful crocheted items. There are....

...baby bucket hats...

...ponchos and bags for kids and adults...

...and cute things for your pet.

Visit Etsy Secrets for her coupon.

She also has a great blog, AND her store is being featured as the Etsyhooker of the week over at Laura's Left Hook.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Em has left us (we miss you) for the warmer and less humid state of CA, but we got to have a birthday celebration for her before she took off. We got the fabulous triple chocolate cake (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and fudge to drizzle over the top, oh my) from Buca di Beppo's.

"We named the dog 'Indiana'".

Em and I went to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" last night. Besides the fact that it was so fun to see a movie in the theater, it was a great Indiana Jones movie, and I love Harrison Ford. Just a few lame one-liners, and of course one or two ridiculously impossible escapes. But you can't help but love it when you hear the Indiana Jones theme music play during a chase scene. And of course the hat got plenty of screen time.

Shia LeBeouf was great, and Indy's 'love interest' was awesome. I was so tickled when she popped out of the tent and it was HER (sorry, don't want to spoil it for you). The dry sand pit was far and away my favorite scene. And my favorite line? "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Relay for Life Part II

I logged on to my Relay for Life page today and discovered that there is a lot more to Relay for Life than just walking around a track for 24 hours. At dusk (on Friday, May 30th) there are hundreds of luminarias lit around the track in memory and in honor of those who have fought cancer, and then there is a survivor's lap for those in the area who have survived cancer. On Saturday morning (May 31st), there is a carnival at 9 am. So if you are in the area, and either of these events interest you, you should stop by.

And I think I finally figured out the donation system. I have a goal to raise at least $50. If you would like to donate, you can click here. That will take you to my personal page. I wish I could change the text that you see there, but I haven't figured that out yet. Anyway, there is a "Donate" icon you can click to make your donation, and you can be 'anonymous' if you wish.
Or you can purchase a luminaria "In Memory" or "In Honor" of someone. I haven't figured out how you can do that online, so if you would like to do that send me an email or leave a comment and I will work it out.

Relay For Life

I decided to do Relay for Life at the end of this month. I am really excited about it. It's a 24 hour event, and there is supposed to be a member of your team on the track at all times to signify that 'cancer never sleeps.' I've never done anything like this before, so I am really looking forward to it. I felt the need to get involved in events such as these after losing two grandparents to cancer and also having good friends who are cancer survivors.

Has anyone done Relay for Life before? I would love to hear about your experience.

Esty store!

My etsy store is officially up and running! Only a little drama with finding a name and a bit more drama with creating a banner. I finally settled on this one for now until I can get the cooler one from scrapblog.com to upload properly. (Thanks a million to Erin for helping me figure out the banner.) I still have a few things to put up, but all in all it's a good start.

Happy Mother's Day

A picture from Mother's Day.

Finished room pictures

Here they are, the pictures of our newly painted front room. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I love the color, it gives the carpet a completely different look. The room is so much more warm and inviting with color instead of white. (Dad - if you look in the lower left corner, you can barely see Boo's cardboard playhouse - still hanging in there).

We still have a few more touches to finish things up. We need some house plants for the tops of the bookshelves, and eventually we'll get darker bookshelves and entertainment center. And we need something for the wall with the vaulted ceiling. We have some prints that we want to put up...we just need to find the right frames.

Painting the front room

We have this really big room in the front of our house. We have been wanting to paint it for awhile, but the vaulted ceilings put a damper on my motivation to paint. But with Em here, I decided to take it on.

Choosing a color was probably the worst. We tried four samples before we finally settled on Cincinnatian Hotel Carl Tan. Thanks to Elizabeth for her 11th hour advice.

Before pictures, with everything prepped.

We got the first coat on Friday night. It went pretty quick, thanks to help from Em and Elizabeth. That's me up on the extension ladder.

Em and I did the second coat on Saturday. It took much longer than expected, we were so relieved to have it done. We got the room put back together this week, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. Pictures of the finished product soon to come.

Yard Sale Victory

The neighborhood behind us had a community yard sale today. Em, Boo and I went out to see what kind of deals we could score. It started out pretty lame. Lots of houses, no great finds. A few things I liked but that were overpriced for a yard sale.

And then we struck it rich. I found a Fisher-Price farm set, with all its pieces, and a Noah's Ark set, with all its pieces. For yard sale prices. Then there was a magnetic letter book, a puzzle, a Five Little Monkey's board book, and an entire set of peek a boo blocks that I have been wanting for over a year (for a buck). And if that wasn't enough, at our very last stop, I found my most prized yard sale find. A complete Oreo cookie shape game. I got this game when I very first started working, and it was the best game I had for speech therapy. I could get kids of any age to work on just about anything with this game. But then came the preschool years, and soon most of the pieces were missing. I don't think I even took it with me when I left the preschool. But now I have it back.

We have been looking for a little trike for Boo at yard sales, but everything has been too big for her. What sort of bikes are good for two year olds?

New look

Like the new look? It's thanks to the people over at Cute Blogs. Not only do they have cute backgrounds, but they tell you exactly how to change the html. Next on my list is to create a cute photo banner like Stacy, Ashley, and Lorna.

Etsy Secrets

I just got a link to a brand new ETSY SECRETS BLOG from Erin over at Life in the Nuthouse. Check it out to get discounts at all kinds of etsy stores. One of my favorites: A Sugar Affair. You must see the cat and yarn cake here (it's on the slideshow).

You can find a coupon to Tag You Are It (Erin's store) for cute cute taggie toys here.

And coming soon...my own etsy store!

S'mores at home

Em and I made one of my favorite treats this weekend - s'mores. Give them a try, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:
graham crackers
peanut butter
marshmellows
chocolate chips

Spread a graham cracker with peanut butter. Sprinkle on marshmellows and chocolate chips (I go light on the marshmellows and heavy on the chocolate). Broil it in a toaster oven or regular oven until the marshmellows get toasted on top. You can eat it warm, or even better...stick it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes and eat it frozen. Yum!

Running

Since Em has been here, we have been running in the morning. It's so great to have a running buddy, and since I know she's waiting for me, it's easier to get myself out of bed and do it. It's been a week now, the sore muscles have passed and my feet are getting over the blisters. And I'm loving it. I'm hoping to do a 5k with a reasonable time in June. I may even invest in a jogging stroller - does anyone have recommendations for a good jogging stroller?

Charlie bit my finger

Long time, no post. We have been busy prepping, painting and cleaning up...not done yet. Before and after photos to come. In the meantime, here is a funny little video, thanks to Em for the link.

Pleez

My SLP friends may be the only ones to appreciate this, but today Boo said her first final consonant. I will admit to being a little nervous about Boo's speech development. She has a lot of words...they just all sound the same. But today was a breakthrough - she put on 's' on the end of her 'please'. I couldn't be happier.