Another Shake Post

The best shake in Southern California that we have found so far is at Connal's in Pasadena. This place is less than a mile from where I grew up and yet I only went (I think once) with my dad. James reintroduced me to Connal's last week by buying me a chocolate-peanut butter-bannana shake and let me tell you it was FANTASTIC! So.....I went back and got another one Saturday night :)

Buying Newborn Diapers

I was shopping for newborn diapers at Target the other day and at first could only find the regular package of Huggies that comes with 36 diapers. After a few minutes of searching I found what was marked "Jumbo" package, this one has 40 diapers. What? Seriously? A 4 diaper difference between regular and jumbo?

Wife: Just get the small package
*Husband comes home with the "Jumbo" package*
Wife: I said the small package, we only need 36 diapers what are we going to do with the extra 4?

Luckily, I found one package of "Super Mega" diapers (72) shortly afterwards.

I'm Virtually Toasting The Queen

Apio Verde, Queen! Hope your day is great!!!!!!!!

One Month Old, Two Disneyland Trips

Last Friday, Brooke went to Disneyland for the first time. We were accompanied by Grandma, Becca, Elizabeth and Joshua. (Should have gotten a picture with the crew). Brooke's first ride was Dumbo (Sydney and Micah's was Finding Nemo), contrary to popular belief she cannot yet communicate to me whether she liked it or not but since she is my child, I'm sure she did.

Tuesday, she went to Disneyland again, this time with Grandma, Jane and the Little Jane's. If we wanted to keep track of her ride count the tally would be as follows:

*Dumbo-1
*Jungle Cruise-1
*Pirates of the Caribbean-2

She has yet to make it to California Adventure. Maybe next week ;)

Sydney and Brooke Meet The Criteria

Thank You!!!!

Bec 072

What are the odds? The other day at Disneyland Becca got the Bec license plate. I wish it was Bec 077 though, Bec 22 would be pretty cool, maybe Bec 143 or even Bec1AwesomeSister :)

Spring Break 2010

I haven't had spring break since I was in college but when you are on maternity leave and some of your favorite people come to visit (during their spring break) it's sort of like being on spring break yourself.

CD's By Steve

For years, Steve has been sending David's CD's of some of their favorite bands. I didn't realize how much effort actually went into creating these CD's, I also didn't realize how many of them he had sent until I went through the CD Footprint project last week.

The CD's are mostly of live performances from all over the world. Most are two CD's and all include a great cover, song lineups and notes from Steve on the particular CD. It's impressive to say the least. Here is one example:

Happy St Patricks Day

I am not sure what is going on in this picture. My best guess is that Joshua is trying to be a leprechaun in celebration of St Patrick's Day. This looks NOTHING like him!!! Still, it's too funny (or scary) not to share. Love you, buddy!

First Shamrock Shake

Sydney loves shakes and usually if we are indulging we will share a strawberry shake from McDonalds. A couple of weeks ago we got a Shamrock Shake to share. It's safe to say that she likes Mint just about as much as she likes Strawberry. (Let me add, I have tried to get Shamrock shakes 3 times since this first time and everytime McDonalds has been out of them. Seriously? How can you be out of Shamrock shakes?)

Impossible To Indulge

I'm not sure why picture number 2 will not rotate correctly but I do know that you can still see how small this cup is. I love Wendy's frosty's and on the rare occasion that I visit I usually get a small frosty. Well I am not sure if they have downsized or what but the other day I ordered a small frosty and the small was....well....small. The cup was barely bigger than my hand and I only managed to get 4 or 5 bites. Still, that was perfect for the post pregnancy diet so I'm not really complaining.

Look Who's Cooking

The last week I have started getting Sydney involved in cooking dinner. She loves throwing things into the pot and then (with moms help) looking at whatever it is cooking. The other day, she made the garlic bread. Do you think she likes cooking?

A Toddler, Disney and French Onion Soup

I think Ariel likes French Onion Soup more than Sydney.

You Certainly Are......

Our CD Footprint

We have tons of CD's. Most of them have been stored in our old office on these CD shelves we had gotten at IKEA. We don't have room for these shelves in the new office so I have been trying to come up with a way of reducing the space required to store our CD's. I ended up convincing David that we should throw out the plastic cases and just keep the paper inserts (which we can store in the attic) and the CD's which we can store in CD book cases. Check out the results: (And yes, that entire trash can was filled with nothing but CD cases)

Instructions (In Case You Didn't Know How)

Early Morning With The Girls

The Target Elevator Is Cool

Sydney enjoyed the mirror on the ceiling of the elevator so much that we rode the elevator 4 times.

Mail From The Braun's

About 1.5 months ago the item below was received in the mail from the Braun's. There were no contents. I wonder what was in it?

The Angry Pickle

Joining the Scary Tile and the Scary Desk we now have the Angry Pickle .

PS: This is the 4th food post in the last week.

Turkey Tortilla Soup

Turkey Tortilla Soup was on the menu for tonight. I started with a basic recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup that included stock, onions, chili powder and chicken. I was a lucky recipient of my moms turkey carcass from her turkey dinner on Sunday so I started by making a stock then I added the basics above. It definitely needed more so I added some cilantro, black beans, garlic, and tomatoes. Simmered it for about an hour and then topped it off with avocado, sour cream, monterey jack and some tortilla chips. It was delicious. (Doesn't it look like the mozzerella is forming a 2 in the middle of this picture? I have to wonder where the other 2 is....maybe it's in Laura's Wedding soup or Queen B's Chicken Noodle)

Random Tuesday Thoughts (KT On Maternity Leave Version)

*It's so much easier taking a rectal temperature on a 2 week old than a 2 year old
*I wish the parks were this cool when I was a kid
*Short-term disability was better in 2008
*Judge Judy needs a hairstylist
*How come Swype is not working on my Droid
*I need a program on my phone to remember to change Sydney's diaper
*Formula is so much easier than Breast feeding
*I need to go to Costco for wipes and diapers
*Boy that umbilical cord is disgusting
*Is it socially acceptable to wear maternity clothes indefinitely?

Southern Steak Rolls

I love to cook but haven't made a real meal since I went on bed rest. I am so sick of take out and restaurants in general and tonight I returned o the kitchen. I decided to make a recipe out of my newest cookbook, The Blue Willow Inn, Bible of Southern Cookbook. This was a gift for Christmas from Ms Andrea and happens to be her favorite cookbook.

So I made steak rolls with a sour cream sauce. David loved them I thought they were pretty good as well. I forgot to take a final picture but here is the picture I took off the steak rolls when I took them out of the oven.

Tomorrow, Chicken Tortilla Soup.

DVD's At Starbucks

Yesterday Becca and I went to Starbucks with Sydney and Joshua. The kids were being great (Joshua always is) but Sydney was going to be ready to go so I decided to do something for the first time. (And no, it won't become a slippery slope) I went out to the car and got the portable DVD player. We rarely use it (I don't think it's been used since November) and it had never been used before outside of the car. Anyway, the kids were ecstatic to say the least. See for yourself:

The Grilled Cheese Truck

Awhile ago David heard about the Grilled Cheese Truck on the news. Today, it happened to be relatively close to David's work so he decided to bring it home for lunch.

I had the Plain and Simple Sharp Cheddar Melt and added Bacon and Tomato. It was DELICIOUS. Since Mom loves grilled cheese I took her a 1/4 of mine (I didn't want to give it up but it was so good she had to to try it. David went for the gusto (surprise!) and had the Cheesy Mac N Rib. He said it was great!

If it's in your neighborhood I highly recommend you try it out.

"Mom, Sydney Hold Her"

Sydney continues to ask to hold Baby Brooke. The length of time Sydney holds her is approximately 1/500th of a second. The moment I go to hand her to Sydney she pushes her away and says "hold her" meaning now it's moms turn. It is really funny.

Iced Trenta Chai

I read today on Laura Martin's Facebook status that they now have "Trenta" size drinks at Starbucks (Trenta is 31 ounces compared to Venti at 24 ounces). I did a little research and apparently this is a test that is occurring only in Phoenix and Tampa Bay.

It also doesn't look like it will be available for all iced drinks just Iced Coffee and Iced Tea. I can assure you that if they go forward with this I will argue for a Trenta Chai on occasion.

"I'm Smiling Under My Mask"

Thats what mom said right before this picture was taken.

Voice Search

The Droid has a great voice search, you click a button, say what you are looking for and it searches your phone and the internet and returns a list to you. David uses this feature all the time but I hadn't used it really at all until I started messing with it yesterday.

Today, I decided to use it to call Diane Parr but no matter how many times I said Diane Parr I kept getting back search data for Vampire. Who Knew?

The More Things Change... (2)

the more they stay the same. Two babies, two post partum re-admissions.

The More Things Change...

the more they stay the same...

A General Observation While Standing In The ED

Everyone that goes out of the bathroom turns off the light when exiting, I find that odd. Its bad enough you have to touch the door knob, why touch the switch? That means that three times I had to turn the light on.

Attention, please stand

This seems to be my blood pressure's favorite position. Don't ask it defys all medical science.

Doctor says sit down and raise your legs - blood pressure raises. I stand blood pressure goes down (interesting fact however: when I take a hot shower it goes down to almost normal rates. I wonder what the internet will say about that 2 years from now).

All know is that I have been standing since Brooke was born, My groin is sore, my back is killing me but I am very clean.

And now I await what else medical science has to offer. Standing not laying in the gurney. (Hmmm standing has created a great weight loss plan too.)