Como Se Dice Ruffles?

Okay, here we go again. When Cody saw this apron for the first time he said, "Holy ruffles, Batman!" (not really, but he did comment on the ruffles). This apron is designed to make you want to salsa dance while cleaning and wear red high-heels while you cook. It makes you feel dangerous! (no, not really either, it's just fun, not super functional since it doesn't cover your shirt, which is where most spills occur anyway, but don't let that distract you from its fun).



Anyways, leave a comment if you want to be entered into the drawing by Wednesday at Midnight. And you get extra bonus points if you tell me I am your bff. (again, no not really, but flattery never hurt nobody).

Let the fiesta continue! (I am so multilingual- estoy lleno como sapo de latrina- see!)

Come on Down!

Without further ado, the winner of the green/brown/pink floral bag is. . . Melanie, who said, "I've been waiting for the giveaways to start! If I win (or should I say when I win, hint hint) I'd like the floral one.". I would just like to clarify, her win was a legit win and there was not 'wink/winking' taking place. Melanie happens to live the closest to me geographically (under a 1/4 of a mile), so the delivery of the bag shouldn't cost that much postage.

Now Tiffani, on the other hand, the winner of the red and pink bag, lives on the other side of the United States, in good ol' Washington. Still the postage will be insignificant. It should be noted that Tiffani is my most loyal commenter. She has perhaps commented on every single post, from the very beginning. Her current comment said, "I don't have a baby, but I have plenty of friends who do and I know would love one of these. They're so cute Brooke! Count me in!" So if you know her, you better start kissing up to her if you want to be the beneficiary if she decides to gift the red bag (or she might keep it to store her publisher's clearinghouse stickers).

Thanks everyone for playing along or humoring me, whichever. Don't worry, the wild partying isn't over yet. Keep an eye out for more giveways this month. Dun, dun, DUN!

Wild and Crazy?

So far my blogs first week of birthday partying has been anything but wild and crazy. It has been non-existent. Lame, I know. But enough about the past, lets move onto the present. Today is the first give away of this soon to be wild and crazy (or more like calm and relaxed) birthday month.

My friend, Gina, taught me how to make diaper/wipes cases, and I wanted to give them a try. I tweaked them a little bit (because I like pleats) and tada, here is the first giveaway.

(this is actually red, not purplish as it appears in this pic)

They carry your wipes case with a couple spare diapers so you can just throw them into any purse/diaper bag you want. I tend to be into making baby things, being that I have a baby, so I apologize that this first giveaway is so baby-specific, but just remember- even if you are not in the diapers/wipes stage of life, you could give it as a gift, use it to carry your giant JLo sunglasses, or keep it for the day when brick-sized cell phones come back in vogue and use it as a cover.

Just leave a comment on this post by Thursday at midnight to be entered into the giveaway. I will then randomly draw the two winners. If you have a preference for which bag you want, make sure to tell me in your comment.

Happy Birthday to She

Today is my blogs birthday. She is two years old today. She still can't walk, or feed herself, or appreciate the necessity of white space, but we are proud of her fine use of words that she doesn't quite know the meaning of mingled with the occasional swear word. We have had a good time with her, thus far.

Does it scare you that I refer to my blog as if it is a person? And that I am celebrating her birthday? Or does it just annoy you that I am coming up with more ways to celebrate mediocrity? (name that movie)

So in order to celebrate this so-called 'birthday', I am throwing a month long (that's right, I said MONTH long) birthday bash for her. We'll be playing bobbing for apples, pin the country scrapbook paper to the template, spin the bottle, and hopefully I can get a couple people leaving the party in tears. Oh, and there will be giveaways. I realize that you guys should technically be sending my blog gifts (c/o my address) since it's her birthday, but being how generous both she and I are, we will be giving gifts to you, the ones who really make the blog real (because it's kind of like the tree falling in the forest thing, if you write a blog that no one reads, is it really a blog?).

I know. Me and my blog are deep. And philanthropists. And big fans of using parentheses. Who knew?


And a Big PS: Congratulations to my sister Monica, the proud new mama to baby girl Vanessa or Gabriella (I haven't heard a final name yet!). We are so excited to see pictures of the girl who may or may not have a name yet!

Not Forgotten

I am currently addicted to Gilmore girls.Speaking of girls, I wanted to shout-out a belated birthday wish to my sister, Michelle. She is a great sister and I hope that she had great fun on the big day.Speaking of big days, my dad also had a birthday that I want to make a belated shout-out. He has just recently acquired the internet, and so along with the birthday wish, I also wanted to welcome him officially to the 21st century. Speaking of the 21st century, how did I ever live without a digital camera? I was out of batteries for a month and I missed a lot of photo ops, the main being that Claire started preschool at the beginning of the month.I had to take traditional picture of the first day on my cell phone. Bummer. But she is having a good time at school and is learning those social skills I so feared her never mastering, like standing in line and not throwing the wicked, rolling-around-on-the-ground, flailing like a fish fits. Speaking of wicked, Cody and I went to Wicked several weeks ago. It came to town and I was excited to see it again, and I was excited for Cody to see it for the first time. It was wicked cool. Cody only thought it was unrighteous cool, but he was still impressed with the singing and the special effects. Speaking of singing and special effects, the primary program is done and over with! It went well with only a few minor glitches (but let's be honest, the glitches are the best parts of the show). I am glad to have it done and behind us. Claire did a cute job though she was kind of a pill the whole part of church. After primary, I could hear her all too familiar scream and cry coming down the hall way. I peek out to see her rolling around on the floor, flailing like a fish. Sweet. Speaking of flailing like a fish, Cody is back from his week long fishing trip in Rhode Island. He said it was the trip of a life time, best fishing of his life. We are just glad to have him back, safe and sound. Speaking of safe and sound. . . nothing. I've got nothing for that.

Quite the Introduction

So I have been out and about trying to meet the new people. And yes, honestly, I did talk about labor and delivery, boobs, boobs after nursing, and I might have even briefly mentioned Harriet. But nonetheless, I was talking to new people. You would be proud. The anxiety is easing, people are relaxing and getting more familiar, and I have even felt so comfortable around a few of people as to show the grouchy side of me (hey, I was hungry and stressed, that equals grouchy!).

But no matter how well (or not well) I am at introductions, Claire always, ALWAYS manages to outdo me in this department. Claire makes quite the impression.

For instance, last week we had a new babysitter come over to meet Claire and Morgan for the first time. When she arrived, Claire was upstairs playing on the computer.

"Claire, come downstairs and meet the new babysitter, please."

Silence. Crickets chirping.

"Claire, sweetheart, will you get off the computer and come downstairs, please?"

"No, I am busy."

Ah, isn't she precious?

"Claire, get down here right now!"

Great first impression, even before she enters the room!

When she finally does decide to grace us with her presence, she runs straight past me and the sitter, without saying a word, and dives head-first into the pillows on the couch. Smooth.

"Claire, can you say hi?"

No, apparently she can't say hi. But what she can do is crawl around on all fours and bark like a dog for 10 minutes. Isn't that charming? I kept thinking about what it would be like if adults acted that way when you first met each other. It would definitely be an ice breaker (albeit, an awkward ice breaker).

In church on Sunday, Claire had brand spankin' new teachers in sunbeams. They are also brand spankin' new in our ward, and they had the privilege of meeting Claire and the rest of the sunbeams in our first (and CRAZY) practice for the primary program. Within the first 20 seconds of sitting down, Claire has thrown a fit and hit the kid sitting in the chair that she wants to sit in. Nice. She had a bit of an emotional for the rest of primary.

And right dab in the middle of the closing prayer, when it is as silent as can be, when you could hear a pin drop, Claire decides to speak out, in an above whisper voice. I bet you are curious what choice words she would have to say at this choice time, in front of her choice new teachers?



"What the hell?"

Again, we are so proud.

48 hours

The last 48 hours have been busy for one Claire Nelson. Busy. Here are just a couple of things she managed to find time for in her busy, busy world of la-la land and coloring crayons.

She decided to become a beautician. I could tell as I left to get my haircut that she was feeling a little left out, so, with that perky determination of hers, she scaled to the highest heights and found the hair clippers, located in the medicine cabinet and she gave herself some bangs. Really cute and sassy short ones. But don't worry, she left the long ones on the side, so she could look like a glamour shot photo from the 80s. I am pretty proud of her- I mean, I LOVE bangs on her, and I LOVE how she waits until just before her bangs (which she cut a mere 10 months ago) are almost grown out long enough to fit in the pony tail, before she cuts them short again. It's not like I have strong feelings about bangs on her or anything like that. It's just hair right?

But the pampering didn't stop there. Since she was getting a lovely haircut, why not get a lovely new mani and pedi? And being the self-starter that she is, she just decided to do it herself, with nobody's help. We are pretty proud of her. She coated her fingernail and toenails (and the carpet, and our one nice towel) pretty thoroughly. Boy, when that girl sets her mind on something, she exceeds every one's expectations.

In all her pampering excitement, she accidentally got gum stuck in her hair. But you know, nobodies perfect. Even Claire makes the occasionally mistake. Luckily the gum came out pretty easy and no tears were spilt.

This all was just in the hour and a half I was gone getting my hair cut. She is fast. Again, we couldn't be prouder.

Today, yesterday, and the day before she has been trying (and very unsuccessfully, might I add) to pour herself her own glasses of chocolate milk. She is just like Mary Tyler Moore, trying to make it all on her own, while wearing her cute new clothes. Lucky for us you can bleach white shirts (but does fingernail polish bleach out?).

This morning, Claire put on her thinking cap and decided to explore the nature of the world around her. Her first experiment was seeing if after you break a glass cup up in your bedroom, if you tried to clean it up without mom knowing, would you, in fact, cut your finger? The answer is most decidedly yes.

Her next science experiment of the day was what would really happen if you applied fingernail polish directly to the eye. The answer- it stings like heck. We like to encourage her find these things out on her own, to foster learning and independence (though I guess I did cheat a little when I helped her flush her eye with water).

Do you see how much learning and growing she has done over the last 48 hours? You know I have heard people say that raising kids is hard, but to be honest, I just don't get it. It's the easiest thing I have ever done. I mean, she is basically raising herself. We are so proud.