Allison Brenna

Ahhhh..My little Allie Brenna! She is the most wonderful little girl a mommy could ask for! She has brought such joy to our family from the moment she entered it! Oh, and such a mommies girl! Sometimes it wears on me a little, but only for a nano-second! I can honestly say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the fact that she is so attached to me! She cries for me if she see's me in one room and she is in another, or when I walk by her and don't pick her up, or fusses when someone other than me is holding her!

I love it when she gives me kisses! No, really, she gives me kisses! I have never seen this before! She puts each of her little hands on my cheeks and smashes that tooth-less little face on me. She only gives them to me though!

I love this little girl so much and cant wait to see how she evolves as she grows, but I am perfectly happy with her as she is right now! I cant believe she is already 8mos old. Time flys when your having fun, and that's what its been like with her! FUN! I love you, Allison Brenna.

Museum

Today we went to Lied Discovery Museum, and saw their special exhibit "Clifford the Big Red Dog"! It was so much fun! Jeff has been ice fishing (burrrr) in Ely NV this weekend, so when I heard on the radio that this exhibit was in town I was all the way in! They had it set up like Birdwel Island, and lots of fun interactive things for the kids to do and play with!
Hunter had a blast not only with the Clifford exhibit but also playing with all the other exhibits as well. He is at that age where he can really start getting into them and you can see the little wheels in his head turning round and round!
Here he is in a few on the exhibits!

We were there for 2hrs and I had to beg Hunter to leave! I wasn't smart enough to remember lunch and I was FAMISHED!!
Of course, little Allie couldn't miss out on a little fun either! Here she is in Cleo's dog house, she was such a trooper today! She just hung out all morning in the little front carrier and didn't make a sound! She was so entranced by everything around her! All in all it was a wonderful day with the kids!

Obama

What an inspiring man! I wont go into it too much, but I am extra proud to be American today! I am in awe of the President Obama and cant wait to see what he does with our country! He is a man of dreams and LOTS of ideas, good ideas!

Grandma Nino

So, due to my previous post about Hunter screaming for his Grandma, It started me thinking about my Grandma Nino! I had two memories of her today, one right after the other! Memory number one was when I was making blueberry pancakes for my kids this morning. I remember Grandma always cooking! Always! In my mind her days went a little something like this: wake up, start making breakfast for Grandpa Nino and one or more of my Uncles who were working in the pastures with the animals then cleaning that up and making breakfast for her grand kids! Now, since she has about 22 it was for whoever happened to be there that day, two of us or all of us we always got fed! She would send us out to the blackberry (I think they were blackberry bushes! It was a long time ago!) bushes behind the house and over the irrigation ditch to gather berries to put in the pancakes. It was probably her way of getting us out of her hair for a while so she could clean up one mess just to turn around and clean up another! Those bushes were no joke either! They were prickly, and not in the easiest place to get to. You had to balance on about an inch of dirt or fall into the irrigation ditch! But what a reward! Yummy, homemade pancakes to fill your tummy!

If she made something I didn't think I liked I would tell her "That's gross Grandma, I don't like that"! And she would calmly reply "That's just not true! Grandma doesn't make anything gross"! And its true! She is by far one of the best cooks I know! Now, as I am older and cooking for my family I regret not cooking with her more when I had the chance. I'm not too hard on myself though, I made a mean mud-pie in the ditches across the street!

Memory No.2:

Again, thank you Hunter for bringing this memory in to my head again today! Whenever I was upset, or thought my parents were just not being "fair" I would sit in my room, dramatically screaming and moaning for my grandma! I remember it like it was yesterday! "I just want my Grandma" I would say. Like that was easy to get! We lived about an hour to hour and a half away from her at the time, so the chances of me getting what I wanted were slim to none! I'm sure, if Mom had her way she would have gladly sent me to her had we lived just a little bit closer! Funny how Grandma can make all your troubles fade away isn't it?

When life gives you lemons, scream for "Gamma"!

"I want my GAMMA"! This is what my morning was like today! Hunter has been having a hard couple of days around here and today was no exception! I'm not actually sure how it happened to be honest, just a lot of little things that ended in screaming for "Gamma" upstairs in his room! I made pancakes for Hunter this morning for breakfast and as soon as I had them made up and told him to sit down, I had a thought flash into my head: I don't think Hunter likes pancakes too much! And he proved that to me after he saw what he was going to have to eat! I even made two different kinds! Regular and blueberry pancakes!
I instantly tried bribing him: "Hunter" I said "if you eat those pancakes I will call Grandma and see if she is working today" (He had already requested I do so at around 7 a.m.) "Okay" he said, however, it was not Okay! He didn't keep his end of the deal up by eating! LOL! As you can probably guess, the situation spiraled out of control and ended with Hunter in time-out in his room with no pancakes and nothing "different" to eat either! ('Cause lets face it: I'm not his short-order cook! You eat what I make or wait till the next meal!)
Anyways, my whole point to this post was this: I used to do the EXACT same thing when I was a kid! I can vividly remember screaming for my grandma on my bed in our trailer house for what seemed like hours! So when I heard him doing it today I had to smile to myself at that old memory he had stirred up in me...then I went and "made friends" with him again! We went to the park and had a great afternoon! Grandma Pool surprised us and came by for lunch and Grandma Mike said he could spend the night! Moral of the story is: When life gives you lemons, scream for "Gamma"!

Today I:

Today I:





-Told Jeff I loved him


-Hugged, held and kissed Hunter a lot!


-Had alone time with both my kids


-Avoided the toy aisle at Target (One of the bigger accomplishments of the day I think!)


-Did things for myself


-Attempted to clean the entire house


-Went to the grocery store to get what Jeff didn't!

-Ate better than I have in several weeks!

-Didnt shower until 4 this afternoon

-Consiquently stayed in my PJ'S all day due to not showering until 4!

-Went to Target for teething gel, teething tablets and baby food. Left without the first 2 items listed yet somehow I had 5 bags.


-Wondered how I could forget the teething gel and teething tablets after the nights I have been having!


-Seriously gave thought to turning around to get the 2 items I forgot, but didn't!


-Made 1 1/2 hats for my Etsy shop


-Talked to a good friend on the phone :)


-Cooked a good dinner for my family


-Got both kids bathed and in bed asleep before 9 p.m.


-Got a head start on my "revolving chores" list for tomorrow


-blogged :)


-Hopefully watched my shows building up on my DVR when I post this! Goodnight everyone!

Clifford the Big Red Dog

My little guy Hunter LOVES, LOVES, LOVES animals! Always has since he was an infant. He still sleeps with his 4 stuffed puppy dogs every night right up by his pillow and covers them up so they don't get cold! So, when we started watching PBS around 9mos ago naturally, Clifford the Big Red Dog was his show of choice! He started repeating lines from episodes he favored and at one point even told me to call his grandma and tell her when Clifford was on because he was spending the night and didn't want to miss it! (On a side note, he really doesn't watch that much T.V., only about 2hrs all day long!) When he started really getting into Clifford about 6mos ago, I remembered that Uncle Chad and Aunt Krista had given him a DVD of Clifford about 2 Christmas's ago, so I dug it out of the box in the garage and we watched it every day, sometimes more than once! We would go to the library once a week and all he ever wanted to check out was Clifford! So, when I saw Clifford Uno cards at the store around Christmas, I grabbed them so proud of myself...he was going to LOVE them! I also managed a Clifford book and he got one from my Mom too! So, imagine my surprise the last two days when asked what he would like to watch, the reply not be Clifford! I have actually repeated his request back to him and said "Honey, are you sure you don't want to watch Clifford"? "Yes", he said "No Clifford, only super-dog or only Ninja Turtles". "Are you sure"? I would say? "Yes, just no Clifford now"! What is happening I asked myself? Is the world coming to an end? Hunter not wanting to watch Clifford, but rather these other "older-kid" shows that I'm not so sure I like anyways??? I used to beg him to watch something other than Clifford! Now he wants nothing to do with him? Then it hit me: H-E I-S G-R-O-W-I-N-G U-P! NOOOOOO!!!! I have been silently screaming to myself all day! Not yet, just keep wanting to watch the antics of Clifford, Cleo and T-Bone! Wear your T-bone shirt and sweats every single chance you get, repeat those sweet, gentle lines from the show, tell me over and over again "Mommy, I like you just the way you are"! Just stay the way you are right now, always! But he cant, and really, I want him to grow, it just is happening too fast!

So, even though we may not watch Clifford as much as we used to I will always remember the sweet little boy who would take pictures of the T.V. when it was on, and who barks and whimpers like T-bone, and for the one who still sleeps with his puppies every night! And I will cherish the nights when he asks me to read Clifford to him before he goes to bed for pretty soon he will not be asking me to read to him anymore because he will be able to do it on his own.