Two weeks in review

So I haven't blogged in two weeks and now I've got lots to blog about. Here comes another marathon...

I finally got brave and took the kids to their first concerts two weeks ago. Matt's group (Brass in Blue) was playing in the area so we pushed bedtime back about an hour two nights and went out to hear them play. I hadn't heard BinB play live yet so I was looking forward to it too. The kids did great both nights and we were able to stay all the way through the program both times. It took lots of Cheerios, raisins, juice, and milk to stay calm the whole time but they made it and did great. I posted some new pictures to the kids' Shutterfly account and there are a couple of the kids enjoying the concert.

The College World Series was in town starting on the 15th and we watched every game that involved Rice on TV and I got to go to one game. They didn't win the game but it was still really fun to go watch and take in the atmosphere of the CWS. I think I might be a jinx though because Rice lost when I went to the game last year too. Maybe I should just cheer them on from my couch instead of going to the ballpark. I got a little sun burnt while I was there even though I had slathered on the SPF 40 sunscreen. Apparently sunscreen isn't as protective once it has expired. I didn't realize that mine had past its prime 2 years ago until after I got home and looked a little like a lobster. The worst was the burn on the part in my hair. I didn't realize that I had burned it until I went to brush my hair the next day and broke all the blisters. I couldn't figure out why my head was oozing...pretty gross, huh?!?!?

We had Colin's first birthday party on the Saturday before Father's Day. It was great to see lots of family members again and Colin did great with the cake. Gabrielle helped me make the frosting on Friday afternoon so she got to lick one of the beaters. See the Shutterfly site for the evidence. There are also several pictures from the party and one of myself, my cousin Derek, Whitney, and my cousin Jesse. My uncle Bruce and Jesse were in town for the CWS as were Derek and his parents so we almost had a mini-Karpen reunion.

We spent Father's Day just hanging around. Matt was particularly proud of the fact, and wanted me to tell everyone, that the highlight of his day was taking Gabrielle to the putting green to putt. She has her own putter and uses my pink golf balls. The putter is a little long yet so she has to use it like a belly-putter for those of you who know what that means. It's pretty cute though.

Gabrielle and Colin got a fun new toy from Grammie Deb at Colin's birthday party. It's a small tent (about 4' square) that so far has been an indoor toy and they love to run around it squealing and hiding from each other. There are pictures of them playing in the tent on their Shutterfly site.

The other pictures are sort of random and may need some explaining. We've been hiting the kiddy pool about once a week and the kids think it's great. Colin just loves splashing in water of any kind so this is a big plus for him. The pictures are from his first time in the pool.

One of the things I remember about summer meals when I was little was eating grilled chicken. It seemed like Roxie and I always had to fight over the legs because there were never that many in whatever pack of chicken Mom and Dad bought. They must not have been able to buy the massive packages of just chicken legs that are available now. Anyway...I made chicken legs for the kids one night and there are a couple of pictures of G eating her first chicken leg. She says yummmmmm!

The kids each took a crack at playing euphonium last week. Colin just kind of bites the mouthpiece but Gabrielle can actually make a pretty decent sound on it. She can also play trombone but I think she likes euphonium more because there are buttons to push. The pictures are pretty cute since the euphonium is as big as the kids are. Please don't call the authorities. We promise this is not child abuse. So far Gabrielle's got a range of about an octave...not too bad for a 2 year old. Matt seems to think that she needs a slide trumpet to start working on her slide skills but I'm thinking a pocket trumpet would be better. We'll see who wins out here...

There are couple of funny pictures of Colin sitting in the chair in our living room. We were trying to get a good picture to use for his first birthday photo to put on the news but he wasn't cooperating. We got some cute shots of him though.

The picture of Gabrielle scooping food out of her bib has a short story behind it. I made pizza for lunch last week and we also had vegetables to balance out the cheese/bread factor--yes I try to serve my kids balanced meals. Knowing that Gabrielle LOVES pizza and that she won't eat anything else after she sees the pizza I gave the kids their vegetables about 5 minutes before the pizza was done. Gabrielle did great until I got the pizza out of the oven. She immediately starting asking for pizza. She only had about 2 bites of vegetables left so I told her that if she finished eating her veggies that she could have some pizza. I went back to the kitchen to cut the pizza and as I glanced back over at her to make sure she was eating her veggies I caught her scooping them into the front of her bib so as to hide them. When she noticed that I was watching her she leaned forward real fast so I couldn't see what she was doing. She knew she was busted though. The picture is her trying to eat the veggies out of her bib.

Gabrielle has been adding words to her vocabulary left and right. We just figured out that the "Payway!" that she has been shouting for weeks is "Hooray!" Not sure where the "P" sound is coming from but at least we know what she's saying now. She's become pretty proficient at counting and can make it all the way to 13 without any help. 13 sounds kind of like "turfeen" but she's getting better. She has also developed a love of singing. She likes to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Row Your Boat, Are You Sleeping?, and the ABCs. She's getting better at the ABCs too but when she sings she misses a lot of the inbetween notes and aims for the end of the phrase. She added two knew words/phrases just today that are somewhat interesting. Colin had been drinking from his juice cup when Matt got home from his gig this evening. Colin burped pretty loud and Matt said, "Nice one Colin." So of course Gabrielle repeats it verbatim. "Nice one, Cawn (Colin)." About 1o minutes later Colin blew a raspberry with his mouth and what does Gabrielle say? "Nice one, Cawn." Her other new word for today is not one that I hope she'll start shouting in public but I knew it was coming sooner or later. I was changing Colin's diaper when he decided he would like to play with his little "friend." I told him not to play with his penis and Gabrielle points and says, "Colin, penis, no-no." I tried to talk to her about boys have a penis, etc. but she just thought it was fun to run around the house saying, "Colin, penis, Colin, penis," ad nauseum. I guess she was going to have to learn what that was eventually but I don't think I was quite ready for it yet. Oh well...

And one note about me. I decided back in January that I was going to re-read all 6 Harry Potter books before the 7th one comes on July 21st (what a great b-day present for Roxie). I figured that if I could read on book a month I would be able to make it and tonight when I go to bed I've got about 40 pages of book 6 to finish. I have sort of torn throught this last one but it's such an easy read that I find myself reading 50-60 pages without really noticing. Anyway...I preordered my Deathly Hallows today at Borders and will be going to pick it up at midnight on the 21st. What am I going to read for the next 27 days though?

I know I always say this but I truly hope that I can get to this blog a little more frequently as this post has taken me nearly an hour to write. Hopefully you've made it this far. As our former Nigerian priest used to say at the end of his homilies in his very think Nigerian accent. Thank you for your patience in listening. Or reading in this case.

Hoot, hoot!

Just a quick shout out to the Rice Owls baseball team for their second consecutive trip to the College World Series. My cousin Derek is an owl himself so I'm super excited to get to see him play again. Go Rice!

Saving lives...3 at a time

I donated blood last week for the first time in about 3 years. I started donating blood as soon as I was old enough to do so(17 years old) and made it to a gallon before I went off to college. Before my multi-year pregnanct/nursing stint, I had a few unfavorable experiences while donating. I remember two instances where I nearly passed out shortly after donating or while donating. So, I was a little worried when I went to donate this week. I made it through just fine though and while the finger stick still hurts I didn't feel any different going out than when I went in. I did feel pretty good about possibly helping someone who needs blood though. I think there is something special about giving something that you can't just buy in a store. Anyway...enough of that sentimental type garbage. I'm going to try to get some sewing done while the kids are napping. I'm working on a valance for Gabrielle's room. I'll post pictures when I'm done.

Catch-up time

Ummm...it's been a while since I've blogged so I'm struggling with where I should start. I'll guess I'll start with Gabrielle.

She is doing really well. She is a rock-star helper around the house and talking more and more everyday. She mostly just tries to repeat little phrases that Matt and I say in casual conversation. She has started saying, "Oh my goodnesh," "I don't know," and "No, no, Cawn(Colin), no, no...yah." She adds the "yah" to the end of almost everythings she says as if she's trying to convince us of what she's saying. It's pretty cute though.

We went to the zoo today and she asked only to see monkeys and alligators. We went though all of the monkey exhibits to include the gorillas. She wasn't all that excited about the bigger gorillas but the little baby that is 11 days older than her was hilarious. She also liked the oragutangs and the warthogs that are near the gorilla exhibit. We watched the giraffes for a while as well and when we went inside she said, "Wow, big." We skipped the alligators because they are way down in the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit and it's really dark down there and I didn't want the kids to get scared.

She LOVES playing outside and can open the sliding patio door by herself now. She knows that she's not supposed to go outside without shoes on though so she usually asks for help putting them on or tells us that she's headed, "Side." She has definitely developed some pretty strong feelings of independence and frequently lets us know that she doesn't need any help getting dressed or with any other activity for that matter. This usually results in two legs in one pant leg, clothes on backward, and shoes on the wrong feet. She has also figured out how to take her diaper off so occasionally she'll come to me naked from the waist down holding a diaper saying, "Wet." She's getting closer to potty training but I can't get her to tell me when she needs to go. She did pee on the potty today but only because I bribed her with chocolate. I know you're not supposed to use food as rewards because that can lead to childhood obesity, but I think we'll make an exception on this one because she loves chocolate.

Colin is great too. I can't believe that he's almost one. He is getting closer to walking everyday. So far he can crawl without a problem and has started to rise up on his knees like he wants to try to stand up on his own. He can stand by himself for a few seconds if we get him standing up and steady before we let him go. I think I'll be in big trouble as soon as he figures out the whole walking thing though. He says a few "words" like ma-ma, da-da, and ba-ba(bottle). He's a really big kid though in comparison to Gabrielle. When she was this age we were hoping and praying that she would be 20 lbs by her first birthday so that we could turn her around in her carseat. We turned Colin around 2 weeks ago because he's just that big. He seems to travel a lot better now that his legs aren't all squished up and he can finally stretch a little bit. His latest unofficial weight as conducted on our bathroom scale was 26 pounds. Gabrielle weighs 28 lbs. I think he will outweigh her by this time next year...or maybe by Christmas. He's not really fat but just a big dude.

His birthday party is coming up next week and I'm still not 100% sure what kind of birthday cake to make him. Just like Gabrielle last year, his favorite time of the day is bathtime. So, he might end up with a rubber ducky cake just like Gabrielle had. That or I could make a macaroni and cheese cake or a grilled cheese sandwich cake since he loves to eat. Who knows...I feel a little un-original with the rubber ducky repeat but it might be my best option.

Matt and I are doing well. I have enjoyed this last week being home with the kids. It reminds me that my friends and acquaintances that are stay at home moms acutually do have jobs because chasing kids is physically and mentally draining. They just don't get paid for their jobs.

Matt is getting ready for a bunch of gigs coming up next week and a short tour at the beginning of July. He's been golfing a few times and is doing well despite a sharp down turn in the frequency of golfing in the past two years. We went to the driving range last night and I was reminded that I am horrible at golf and no matter how hard I willed the ball to go straight and long it wasn't going more than 100 yards no matter what club I used. Oh well though. I'll have time to work on my golf game when I'm old and retired.

I've got a bit of the sewing bug and have about 5 projects on my sewing table calling my name. I think I'm going to go cut out patterns...that part sucks.

New Pics

I posted some new pictures today of Gabrielle watering the flowers. She got her very own watering can from Grammie Deb and enjoys being a good helper. Note--most of the water ends up on the patio instead of the flowers, but she has the right idea. More pictures and a longer post coming soon.