and this...

...is how malcolm stays preoccupied while i am working on mail order! yikes! thank goodness for my dyson :)

(can you see the peanuts stuck on his back? haha)

my current point of view

...coffee and (lots of) mail order...

i'm such a slacker

i've been really bad about posting regularly on here, so i am going to try to update more often. this week has been pretty busy, nothing too exciting happened, but we seemed to be going, going, going all week long. last saturday danny's sister catherine came over to watch the kids while danny and i went on a date. alanna took this photo of malcolm and catherine while we were gone.

danny took me to see The Lovely Bones, and then to dinner at a nice thai place. i read the book back when it first came out, i think in 2003, and i really liked it. i would take alanna (she was about 7 then) to the local park near my parents house, and i would read on the bench while she played. i loved it back then, when i actually had some quiet time to sit and read a book. maybe someday i will be able to do that again :)

anyway, i liked the movie. while we were in the theater, i kept thinking that danny was probably not enjoying it, but he actually liked it too. it was pretty similar to the book, but it left a few things out, so there were some holes (like the relationship with ray and ruth). stanley tucci was sooo creepy, and a few scenes were kinda scary. i think the "heaven" scenes were a bit cheesy, except for the ships-in-a-bottle, which were awesome. but overall it was good. i thought the girl who played susie was really cute, but one thing that really bothered me, was the way that she whisper-talked. it was really hard for me to listen to her voice. i have a problem with people who talk like that. like daniel faraday on LOST. and vincent d'onofrio's character on law & order: criminal intent. i love law & order: svu, but i cannot stand to watch CI because of the way he whisper-talks, haha! i think peter jackson did a good job on the film. it made me want to read the book again.


this week is raleigh's big toy sale, the kids exchange, you might remember my post about it over the summer? this time around i sold some things, well lots of things actually. tons of alanna's clothes that no longer fit, including about 8 pairs of like new jeans. she needs to quit growing so fast. and some toys malcolm never liked or has outgrown etc.

on monday, alanna and i dropped off all of our items. i also volunteered, so i worked on thursday evening helping with the checkout process. it was very tiring work. and i am working again tomorrow night to help sort things after it shuts down. yikes.

the perk for being a volunteer, is that you get to shop 2 days before the general public. so on wednesday, alanna and i went to see what good stuff we could find! it was sooo packed with toys, books, games, baby gear, and clothes, etc. that it was almost hard to shop, since there was so much to sort through. it was overwhelming, but we did find some great stuff. lots of new clothes for alanna that look like new, a few things still had tags attached. score! and a couple things for malcolm. this is what the toy area looked like.

we went back again on friday after alanna got out of school, and found a few more good things, including a vhs copy of caillou for a dollar for malcolm. he loves that show right now, and can even say "caillou" really good. our local pbs channel seems to have removed it from their regular schedule. bummer. but now he has a few episodes to watch at home.


while we dropped off monday, and shopped wednesday, danny took malcolm to the park. he loves to have playtime with daddy. he can also say "park" now, and he asks to go constantly. even when it is dark out. it's pretty cute. (oh, and he says "dark" now too. what a little talker!)


after playing hard, and staying until it was dark out and they were both cold, they had a starbucks date and enjoyed some hot soy cocoa together


last night, alanna was blessed with her very first monthly "gift". holy shit, i have a teenage daughter!! she didn't want me to tell danny, because she knew he would tease her about it. but i needed to take her to target to buy some feminine items, so i had to tell him why we were going so late. of course he immediately starts in on the jokes. and then, being the clever beast that he is, he starts singing "she's a lady"!! hahaha, oh man, it was so funny. and alanna was so pissed, haha (but she knew he was just teasing). when we were about to check out, i told her that i was going to take a picture of the cart full of products, but she took my camera away. she would be mortified if she knew i was posting about this on here, so for those of you who read this and talk to her, please don't let her know :)

tonight we met up with danny's mom and dad, his sister, and compton and garrett at a local chinese restaurant to celebrate his dads birthday. we had dinner, enjoyed each others company, and had birthday cake. malcolm loved when we all sang dan happy birthday. he got the cutest grin on his face. he is going to love it when we sing it to him next week! oh my goodness, malcolm is going to turn 2 in a week! wow, this year has flown by!

here is malcolm and his grandma vicky in the reflection of the toy claw machine at china pearl


as i was getting malcolm ready for the bath tonight, i hear this coming from the computer. hahaha! danny is hilarious.

tagged?!

yesterday i was tagged, by a fellow blogger, to make a list of 10 random things about me. thanks jessica, for choosing me, even if i was a totally random pick :) i love her blog, you should go check it out <3

it was kind of hard to decide what to list, so here goes:

• growing up, i lived in the same house my entire life (for 25 years), until i got married and moved to north carolina. my mother has actually lived at that same address her entire life as well, but in 3 different houses. crazy!
  
  
• my mother had me when she was 40 (my father was 46). and i was a "miracle" baby of sorts :)
  
  
• when i was in elementary, i was scared to death of big rig trucks. then i saw "maximum overdrive", and was even more afraid of them! yikes! i was also afraid of the hamburglar, haha.
  
  
• i do not have any living grandparents. (neither does danny). my grandma hart was the only one i really remember well, and she died when i was 15. my brother and i spent a few summers at her home in idaho, and they are some of my fondest childhood memories.
  
  
• i wear contact lenses, and have since the 7th grade. i have not owned a pair of glasses since the third grade. i need to remedy that, pronto. (my eyes are killing me).
  
  
• i never learned to tie my shoelaces correctly. (mom, miguel taught me wrong!) i also do not hold my pen correctly when i write. ouch.
  
  
• i love being pregnant. danny and i both want one more child. but if we were to win the lottery, and never had to worry about money (and the stress that it brings), i would want to have many more children. i love being a mom.
  
  
• when i was little, i wanted to be a grocery store manager. haha. when i was a teenager, i wanted to be a photographer for the national geographic. (i still sort of do...)
  
  
• i like to put ketchup on bean burritos.
  
  
• i love, love, love willie nelson, and i have seen him perform live four times!
  

and i guess i will tag a few of my friends too. so here you go ladies, make a post!

lynn
emily
katie
lianna

finally, some nice(r) weather

it's been really cold here this month, so malcolm and i have been spending most of our time inside the house. but yesterday the weather started to warm up a little, and we went exploring outside in the yard. it looks like today will be nice again too. i cannot wait for spring to come, i am so over this cold snow-less winter. we are getting cabin fever, and we would love some nice weather to run around in.

"let's go mom!"

squirrel watching

checking out some bark that a squirrel threw down on us

picking up little acorn tops

we found some squirrel's snacks on the back deck


malcolm wanted to eat them too


then he got stuck in the railing. he was saying "hepp me, hepp me, mama", haha


so i helped him get down :)



little feet


and little hands <3

snicker doodles!!

uh oh, these are going to get me in trouble...

this is my new favorite cookie recipe! i used this vegan cookie book again, and they were super easy to make. danny says he had never had a snicker doodle before, and i haven't had one in a very long time, but these taste just like i remember, and he and alanna both liked them. they are so sweet and cinnamon-y. i am in love... and i've already eaten way too many. i better not make another batch for a very long time :)

this was my very first time baking with parchment paper (thanks vicky!), and wow, why have i never used this before?! seriously, i've been missing out. the cookies literally slid right off of it once they had cooled. and there was no extra oil needed to grease the pan, which is a major plus! i will have to use it more often for sure.

here are a few random photos from this week.
lucky dog sleeping ever so sweetly (on his very own pillow that alanna gave him) <3

malcolm putting on mr potato heads moustache, haha

and licking the cold glass window pane. what a silly little guy!

mama cat is a saint

malcolms new favorite thing to do... carry mama cat around, haha!

she is so patient with him. i think that deep down inside, she actually loves him mauling her. she enjoys and needs the attention. what a good cat.

and when she's done "playing" with him, she can escape to the mud room (her private little sanctuary)

random photos from the past couple weeks

this is how i found my shoes, silly baby :)

alanna on christmas night, after a long day of fun, passed out with lucky dog (i forgot to include this one in my christmas day post)

danny making his way through the tent tunnel, haha

malcolm hiding behind the christmas tree (to poop)

malcolm sleeping while alanna plays the wii (p.s. new super mario bros wii is so awesome! but i suck at it)

cheers to a new year!

compton totally sold out! or not... it was just sparkling cider. we watched iron man to ring in the new year!

our movie snacks!

apparently alanna has been telling lies...

...and malcolm is aspiring to be a unicorn (or a narwhal)

alannas new camera has a "beauty" feature that is supposed to correct your hair and skin and make it look better. here is our glamour shot, haha :)

malcolm has figured out how to take his pants off. he loves to run around naked. i keep finding little piles of removed clothing all around the house, haha