No Country For Old Men

We've wanted to watch this movie for a while now and finally tonight, we did. The first half hour I counted and approximately 11 living things were killed. Not off to a great start. Russ threatened to turn it off I had my face covered up so much!

It was suspenseful.

That guy is psycho.

His voice is psycho.

My heart pounded throughout this movie.

I liked it, I think.

I did cover my eyes quite a bit, even though it wasn't scary.

The part that scared us both the most....was a car accident.

Who do you think he looks more like: Denny from Grey's Anatomy or Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs? Call it. Or is it that Denny and Buffalo Bill had a baby--and this is what he looks like?

Miracle Grow!!

Okay, so Mom gave me two seeds from her potato vine. About a month ago I planted them.I thought the seeds were no good because I'd waited too long to get them in the ground. Two weeks ago, we saw a vine coming out, Russ cleared out the grass around it (mostly so I wouldn't kill him if he weedeated over it) and put the trellis up. I took this picture the evening of
Thursday, May 22.

This evening I took another. You won't believe this:

All that in 8 days. Amazing!

Adventures

Places I've Seen:

Washington D.C.

New York, New York

Gothenburg, Sweden

Arlington, Virginia





Belize

Las Vegas

San Francisco, CA

Pasadena, CA

Others (before digital photography):
Disneyland, CA
Acapulco
Nashville and Memphis
Wolf Creek, CO
Riodoso, NM
Cozumel
Denver, CO
Hollywood, CA
(Somewhere), KY
(Somewhere), AZ
(Somewhere), NM


Places I'll Eventually See:

Paris
Cape Cod
Florida
Greece
Maine
London
Chicago
Seattle
Italy--all of it


And where else would you suggest?

When Will it Stop?

I thought this was bad.....




Worse:




What I thought was bad is looking cheap compared to now.









I'm becoming a psycho and texting or calling my husband to tell him where gas is 2 cents cheaper. I'm filling up at 3/4 of a tank these days--you never know when it's going to go up 10 cents while we're sleeping.

I've heard rumors of $4 a gallon (next week?), $5 a gallon during the summer, and $15 by the end of the year. Hopefully we find a place to stop soon!

American Idol

Not David Cook, Riley Cook! He's all about singing right now and I wanted to get this down:

Tonight he was singing "Twinkle Star."

This week it's been "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in which he screams "YES SIR YES SIR" and something that sounds like "Hollywood!"

We're still singing "Happy Birthday" at night before he gets in bed, to whoever is in his life. Anyone. He's started requesting I sing to inanimate objects. I draw the line--they have to be living things.

He knows so many Backyardigans songs....and knows about 50% of the words. I've got to capture that on video. I love it when he KNOWS the words....and the ones he makes up are pretty great too.

When he was a wee one, his favorite song was "Itsy Bitsy Spider." He learned the hand motions to that early. We don't really sing that one anymore.

Cute, Dada?

This week, while Russ was getting Riley ready for school, they were doing the usual routine: brushing teeth and hair while Riley sits on the bathroom counter. Riley wanted the brush and was brushing his crazy morning hair, looked at Russ and said, "Cute Dada?"

Yes, so cute!! :-)

Rockport

We're taking a road trip to Rockport this weekend. Leaving Friday, packing in my Tahoe (to split the outrageous gas bill), and headed south.

Rockport is a good time, every time we go. Even if it (always) rains! Mmm-hmm, every Memorial Day it rains. I enjoy the road trip up there, visiting in the car, listening to good music, watching the view from the window, and trying my hardest to keep the two year old happy.

We just hang out in Rockport. We go to Walmart. I never go to Walmart when I'm at home. Never. We go to Starbucks. I never go to Starbucks when I'm at home. HA! We sit out on the deck and wave at boaters as the roam the canal. We watch the birds. We drink coffee out there in our pajamas. Even when it's steamy. We go to the liquor store to get more margaritas. We go to Blockbuster to get movies. We go to some of the little shops downtown.

We hang out in the living room. There's air conditioning in there. Mike watches Nascar. Isn't ANYTHING else on? Maybe all of us on the porch would join you! :-) We watch movies at night.

We cook. We plan our next meal while we're eating. I like that! Robbye and I are bringing our ice cream makers and hope to try a recipe I found for Margarita Ice Cream. Seems like there's always something to pick at in the kitchen. We drink margaritas.

We cruise in the big fishing boat. We cruise in Baby One (the perfect little boat). We paddle up and down the canals in kayaks. We lay in the hammock on the downstairs deck. We take the jet skis out and go around and around a tiny island (with 1,000,000 others). The guys go fishing. We ride bikes around the neighborhood. We cruise by George Strait's place to check for any signs of life.

Good times. Can't wait.

Some of my favorites from last year:

If You Give Riley a Cracker

If you give Riley a cracker,

he's probably going to want a glass of milk to go with it.

If you give him a glass of milk,

he'll probably ask for "two."

"Two" will remind of The Backyardigans, so...

he'll ask to watch an episode (or 8).

If we watch one, he'll want to watch "Pirate Treasure"

and that will remind him of the Pirate Party we went to.

He'll say "Aaaaarg!" and grab his pirate booty bag.

His bag will remind of him of the hat he wore, so.....

he'll ask to wear a hat.

His John Deere Tractor hat will remind him

of The Ranch and he'll probably want to go.

He'll want to drive the tractor and see the cows.....

and if he sees the cows, he'll probably be reminded of a glass of milk.

I had this idea after reading the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series by Laura Numeroff. While reading each of the books to my class, I was reminded of Riley and how one thing leads to another. There is usually a connection in this crazy cycle, but not always. It old my kids I was going to write one. Here's my quick, off the cuff version.

Blind Date

Russ and I are having 2 friends over for dinner tonight who have never met, but we think they should. I've known A since college and she's been in the dating game for a while now and hasn't found that someone special. She's a fabulous friend and an awesome mother. Russ has a friend at work who is also looking for someone special, so.....guess what we did? I don't know much about the guy, but have heard that he's funny (which is very important).

I'm so excited! Maybe something will come of this. Maybe not, but it's worth a shot.

UPDATE: We had fun! The party didn't end until after midnight. Our brave friends even played Rock Band last night and were great at it! A on the drums and K on the guitar. Wow, I'm totally impressed!!!

Meanwhile....back at the ranch

Who Goes There?

Okay so, all of a sudden, Riley cares which episode of Backyardigans we watch. Seriously? His obsession for the past 8 days has been the episode titled, "Who Goes There." We have to watch it every day. I know it was recorded on 4/4--it didn't take me long to learn that shortcut. Some days he even wants to watch it "Gin (again), Mama." That is where I draw the line. Once daily is bad enough, but we're not doing this in succession. No way.

So...f.f. (fast forward) to bedtime last night. The routine went as usual: bath, pajamas, books, bed. After about 20 minutes of silence (but for the bedtime music coming through the monitor) we hear Riley say, "Who goes there?"

Russ and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. We weren't sure if he was dreaming or what....

Mother's Day

Mother's Day started early for me this year. Thursday Russ walked in with a huge box for me to open. This:

He did so good-- a surprise AND something I've been wanting for a while. Thanks, Babe--I love it! It perfectly matches the sign we already have:

The next day, Friday afternoon, I picked up Riley from school--business as usual. I knock on the door, Julie opens it and heads back to get Riley. Riley comes around the corner, running. It looked like this:

No, I don't always stand at the door waiting with camera in hand, ready to snap, silly. I made Julie take him back, ran to get my camera, and these pics are from take 2....with tears in my eyes. What a special, sweet surprise this was. Riley was so proud. (p.s. Those weren't Mommy's flowers like you may think, they were "mine.")

Sunday, My Babes gave me a card each (more tears) and my favorite bottle of wine. I'm so blessed to have them in my life and to be loved by them. It was a Happy Mother's Day!

Mom

A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary."

Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Mother's Day Brunch

Last year we had our mothers and grandmothers over for brunch Mother’s Day Weekend. We did it again this year, so now it’s an annual event! I tried out some new recipes: Vanilla Almond Breakfast Ring and Brie-Sausage Casserole. Both were a hit (whew!).

Nana, Grandmom and Grandda, Mom, and Gary all showed up this morning at 10:00. We missed Thomas and Karol—they were at the ranch.

Riley sure did have fun showing off for his grandparents and great-grandparents. He took Grandda outside to show him how to water the plants (he had no idea!), insisted on sitting between Grandmom and G to eat (and ate off of their plate, not his), and finish his meal in Mimi’s lap.

We had a great time!

birthmark

Your birth marked me as a mother.

Marked my sweet husband as a father.

Marked us as a family of 3.

Marked me as a "worry wart."

Marked me as a sucker....sometimes.

Marked me smitten for life.

Your tiny birthmark is on your 2nd toe, but your "mark" goes so much deeper.

Brown

*the color of earth
*coffee
*my maiden name
*the color I wish my legs were
*chocolate
*wood
*the color of my bedroom walls

When I was a child, brown was always the yuckiest color. Now it's my absolute favorite. Look at all the wonderful things that are brown.

Quotes from a Two Year Old

"Are you Mama?" = "Where are you Mama?" (He says this in the mornings while he's waking up, when he's ready for me to take him out of his bed.)


"That Mine's" = "That's mine." (And yes, it's driving me crazy that he doesn't put the possessive on the right word, but it makes me proud that at least one of them does. We're working on it!)


"Mell it, Mama." = "Can I smell it Mama?" (He wants to smell the coffee beans when I grind them.)


"My hoo hoo!" = "Be quiet--I want to sing this part!" (He sings the theme song to Two and a Half Men.)


"I gon gitchu Dada!" = "I'm gonna get you Dada!" (Playing with Dada)


"No home--Robbye's house" = "I don't want to go home, let's go to Robbye's house." (He's been saying this since our last visit to Robbye and Mike's--usually says it when I pick him up from school and we're getting in the car.)


"No, this way." (We have a backseat driver now.)


"A-yar-gins, please."= "Can we watch (or listen to) Backyardigans, please?"


"Hi Doaky Boy!" (He says this when it's been a while since he's seen Doak.)


"No Mama, no sing, my sing." = "Mama, you can't sing, I want to sing."


"I uh you Dada!" = "I love you Dada!" (Usually screaming this downstairs to Dada while Riley and I are reading books at bedtime.)

"Whoa, Dude" (This is usually in the car when we go over a big bump.)

"More tractors" (Please drive around and let me look for tractors until my tractor appetite is satisfied.)

"Eat time!" (When he's hungry or hears a kitchen timer go off!)

Shoes

I love shoes, it's no secret. I prefer the non-fancy kind. Here are a few of my current faves:






Here are my faves from Russ's side of the closet:








And let's not forget the little guy:

Aaaah!

Coffee tastes better on Saturday mornings. It doesn't have to go in a "to go" cup, it goes in my Starbucks mug (a gift from my class this year) or my Zephyr mug (the camp Russ worked at as a child). I grind whole beans on the weekend, not Folgers Columbian ground. I sit on the couch or on our porch and drink it, not in my car. I have it with my family by my side instead of in the car solo or surrounded by 21 7-year old's. When I run out, I can have more--not a cup from the office that's too strong. Blech.

I haven't been a coffee drinker that long....only since Riley was born. I think I'll have a tough time next pregnancy not drinking it as often as I'd like.