I was fixing dinner tonight and caught a quick glimpse of Casey playing on the patio. She stopped, looked down, and realized that she had an accident in her shorts. She crawled back through the dog door (I say "back" because that's the way she got out in the first place - she prefers that to the actual sliding glass door).

 

She came into the kitchen, looked at me and said, "I went peepee in my pants. Dammit." 

 

Crap. Oops! I guess I can't say that one either.

 

I'm gonna need a second job...

 

 

Thanks to Trevor, our personal photographer. ;-)

 

 

Meet Spooky - Nonny and Poppy's cat.

 

Oh, if cats could talk. Her exact words? "Kill me."

 

 

The two phrases I'm LOVING right now:

 

Let me know if you need a translation, but I think she was pretty clear. :-)

 

Lately, Casey has had an obsession with dog poop. Not in a bad way, but in more of an OCD-type, this-shouldn't-be-in-my-backyard type of way.

 

Now, this is sort of a good thing, because it gets me to clean up doggy poopy on a more consistent basis. The bad part is that Casey first tries to scoop the poop herself. I've got one of those nice "jaws of life" pooper scoopers. You squeeze the handle, the bucket opens around the poopy, and you simply put it into the bag. No muss, no fuss. Well, Casey doesn't get the whole squeeze-the-handle thing, so I look outside from the kitchen to see her pounding Bailey's piles of poop into the grass with the scooper. Once she gives up, she'll come to the door and say, "Mom? Scoop the poop. Get a bag."

 

At least the grass is clear more often.

 

I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner. Trevor comes home after a busy day at work.

 

Me: What's wrong?

 

Trevor: Long day and I'm getting a headache.

 

Me: I'm sorry about that.

 

Casey: He needs beer!

 

March has been a whirlwind for us and it hasn't seemed to slow down. Here's a brief recap:

 

- March began with our anniversary and week-long trip to Disneyland (see previous post).

- Upon return, we decided to replace the carpet in our house since ours is officially trashed. It'll be installed on April 7th. In the meantime, I put an ad on Craig's List to possibly sell our living room furniture. Within 24 hours, I was sitting in my living room with nothing but a couch and our entertainment unit (which is also for sale!). No replacements yet, it'll probably take us a good few months to make up our minds on what we want.

- We're also replacing the kitchen sink, garbage disposal and countertop. A lady from Lowe's called today to make an appointment to come out and take measurements next Friday.

- After the home improvements are complete, we're putting the house up for sale. Even though the market isn't so great, we figure we might as well try our luck.

- Easter came and went and was really a nice holiday. We hid eggs three separate times because Casey enjoyed it so much. She also got "Enchanted" in her Easter basket and we can pretty much recite the movie now!

- Bailey had emergency surgery yesterday after the tumor on her ear burst. She also had a tumor on her gumline removed. Poor thing is just laying around the house now, recooperating. We should have biopsy results back in a week, but even if anything turns out bad, the vet assures us that he got it all.

 

Throw in a half a dozen papers for graduate school, a busy month at work, and you've got our March. I'm really looking forward to turning the calendar on Tuesday. Here's hoping April is much less chaotic!!

 

I haven’t updated this in a little while since we’ve had a lot going on. I’m pretty sure the following will be a short novel, so here you go:

 

March has been eventful so far. On March 1^st, Trevor and I went to a Suns game to celebrate our 6^th wedding anniversary the next day. I got him really good tickets for Christmas and strategically combined attending the game with a child-free anniversary celebration. We had a blast, even though the Suns lost. I’m sure we’ll be attending another game when we get an opportunity.

 

 

On our actual anniversary, we boarded a plane headed for Disneyland! We arrived at the park around 4:00 that afternoon and stayed until the park closed at midnight. Casey was on excitement overload but didn’t pass out until around 11pm.

 

We spent the next five days in the park and had the perfect family vacation. Casey pretty much directed the entire trip, selecting each ride as we went along. We went on the “Pirate Boats”, “Ghosts”, “White Rabbit” and “Dumbo” more times than I can count. Our daughter also has a new affinity towards the Teacups – something Trevor and I never expected. We went on the Teacups at least 10 times, although we refused to go into full-spin mode.

 

On Wednesday, we had an ironic opportunity to spend the day with friends we haven’t seen in years. The previous week, Trevor got a call out of the blue from Brian Frye – a friend he’s had since kindergarten. Brian said he was thinking about Trevor for some reason and that they are living in Anaheim. Trevor told him we were planning to be in the park the entire next week. Brian is an FBI agent and had free passes to the park for assisting with the Orange County arson investigation. So, on Wednesday we met Brian and his wife Elva in the park. We had a great time with them, and it was wonderful to connect with friends that we haven’t seen since our wedding! That evening, we were meeting Trevor’s dad at Steakhouse 55 since he was working in Pasadena all week, so we asked Brian and Elva to join us. Trevor’s dad was absolutely floored to see Brian, and proceeded to talk his ear off all night.

 

In all, we had a wonderful time. We’ve got tons of stories, but I’ll list my top five moments here:

 

-         The “child swap” pass. This comes in really handy when traveling in a group of three. One person waits in the normal line while the other stays with said child. When the first person is finished riding the ride, the second person takes the child swap pass and boards the ride through the emergency exit. We combined this with Fastpasses, so both of us rode Space Mountain and Tower of Terror within 10 minutes.

 

-         The Princess Fantasy Faire. You wait in this massive line, but get one-on-one time with each princess. Casey LOVED this. Like I said, the line was ridiculous, but offered us plenty of time to get pretzels, ice cream, and face painting. Snow White was my favorite, as she struck up a conversation with Casey that lasted at least 10 minutes. We looked back, and they had created a second line of people waiting to meet her. Snow White couldn’t have cared less. I appreciated that, as Casey couldn’t stop telling her how much she loves “Doopey”.

 

-         The Dream Fastpass Scavenger Hunt. Trevor and I scoured the park for these things. Apparently, each park gives out about 300 of them each day, at an undisclosed location shortly after the park opens. We missed them by no more than two minutes each day. We did manage to snag collectible pins and an invitation to a dessert buffet, as we were literally following employees with large black bags and communicating to each other via cell phone like a couple of private detectives.

 

-         The lady with Tourette’s. Elva lost her cell phone at lunch, so we went back to the scene of the crime to find it. There was a lady sitting at our table, so she asked what I was doing looking under her chairs. I said we lost a cell phone, to which she replied, “OH SH*T!” Not exactly the response I was prepared for, at Disneyland no less.

 

And my personal favorite:

 

-         Casey deciding to drop a #2 right before boarding Finding Nemo: Submarine Voyage. Nothing like poop to add to the stink of an enclosed and crowded underwater submarine for 20 minutes.

 

Casey is already asking when we can go on the “pirate boats” again, so I’m sure another trip will be in the not-so-distant future!

 

 

 

 

Who's on vacation? Me, that's who!!

 

I did all the laundry today, pulled out the suitcases, and turned in my research paper two days early. Trevor and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary (a day early) by going to the Suns game and watching them take a beating at the hands of the 76'ers. The hot dogs were good though.

 

Tomorrow afternoon at 2:10pm, (actually today, since I just glanced down at the clock and it's 12:14am), all three of us are boarding a plane for Disneyland!

 

I figure the shuttle will drop us off at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel by around 3:30pm, figure 15 minutes to check in and drop our bags in our room, and we should be in the park and in line for Dumbo - Casey's request for the first ride - by 4:00pm. I'm guessing we'll ride Dumbo at least nine more times by the time the park closes at midnight.

 

We'll be back on Thursday night, after five fun-filled days in the park. No school, no work - I'm in heaven already!!!

 

Tonight, sitting at the dining room table:

 

Casey: Mommy, wanna go with me?

 

Me: Sure. Where are we going?

 

Casey: To see Jesus.

 

Me: Sounds good. Where is he?

 

Casey: At the zoo.

 

 

Who needs a TV??

 

 

 

In case you're wondering, she's screaming "Streetrat," from Aladdin. Sing with me, won't you? "Riff raff, streetrat, I don't buy that..."

 

 

We're right in the middle of the "terrible two's," and I think it's becoming obvious. Casey repeats pretty much everything we say, and this weekend I think I got a glimpse of what she hears the most. Here are a few examples.

 

Serving her lunch in the living room: "Daddy, I want 'Alice in Wonderland' RIGHT NOW. You understand me??"

 

At Target: "Mommy, you want some candy? Mommy, you need to listen."

 

Playing around: "Don't tickle me, Daddy. That's not very nice!"

 

Sunday night in the living room: "Daddy, you need to listen. I will spank you - in the booty!"

 

Daddy obviously gets in trouble more than Mommy does. At least two of these occurrences made my mouth hit the floor. I had to leave the room when she said she'd spank Trevor, because I could feel the tears of laughter rising in my eyes. And of course, you can't laugh in front of a two-year-old, because next thing we'd get is a note from school telling us that she was spanking everybody.

 

Bailey turns five today! (February 5th, in case the blog screws up the posting date)

 

Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet girl. I can't believe you're five already. Five years of attitude, chewing up picture frames, drooling on my pants (and the bed, couch, chairs, etc.), and licking yourself until we can't take it anymore and have to yell at you to cut it out. I wouldn't trade you in for the world!!

 

 

If you haven't seen this yet, enjoy!

 

 

I get a monthly email from Babycenter, telling me all different sorts of things about my toddler. I had to share the one that I got yesterday because it made me laugh. Either my child is highly advanced (I'd buy that), or Babycenter needs some serious updating.

 

"Your 30-month-old:

Your child is becoming increasingly good at matching words with the objects they describe. She can name a few body parts, some colors, and even a friend or two. You can help her improve her verbal skills by giving her details. If she says, 'Dog sleep,' for example, you might say, 'Yes, Spot is curled up and fast asleep on the chair.' She can't imitate your complex language patterns just yet, but she's learning more all the time."

 

At the rate that Casey yammers on daily, I'd fully expect her to say, "Yes, Spot is curled up and fast asleep on the chair," before I heard her say, "Dog sleep." I let her try cotton candy at Disney Princesses on Ice last week, and she told me it tasted like a feather. I told her she had to put her dinner plate in the sink last night, and she goes, "Okay, Mommy. If you say so." She knows every single word to Aladdin's "A Whole New World" when I play it on the car radio. So apparently, according to Babycenter anyway, my daughter is just about ready for college.

 

This is the time of year when I truly geek out. While I didn't like accounting classes in college, I LOVE doing our taxes. My W2 was emailed to me on January 7th and I've been a crazy document collector ever since. I even got an EFax number so that I can fax documents to myself to then store on a CD for safekeeping. I know, but just roll with me here...

 

Maybe it's because I only need to do my own taxes. Messing with other people's documents and working 20 hours a day until April 15th just doesn't appeal to me. :-) Also, I'm expecting a fat refund this year, so I like watching the refund amount continually increase as I add more figures into Turbo Tax.

 

The holidays went by in a blur and I'm still having a hard time believing we're in 2008! I did manage to write a check for daycare yesterday and not mess up the year (usually a frequent occurrence in January).

 

We had a wonderful Christmas. Casey did a good job of being a sheep in the childrens' Christmas Eve mass, even though she didn't stick around for the entire pageant. Word of caution for next year: all parents and grandparents need to stay out of the visible line of sight. Kids tend to get mad and then throw a fit when you tell them they can't go stand by grandpa with the video camera.

 

 

Everyone came to our house afterwards for tamales, refreshments and sweets for dessert. Trevor's sister Stephanie had to leave early Christmas morning to drive back to Vegas for work, so we opened all presents to and from her on Christmas Eve. Our house looked like a little Christmas morning! Casey opened her Rudolph gift (Rudolph hits our house on Christmas Eve, leaving one present - jammies - behind) and was excited about the Christmas morning Barbie that was tucked inside. After she went to bed, Santa knocked on our door and loaded up the living room.

 

Christmas Day went by in a flash. We spent the morning at home, opening presents that ranged from a mini-trampoline (for Casey) to Suns tickets (for Trevor) to a pair of unexpected earrings (for me!). The afternoon was spent with my parents, and the evening with Trevor's family. We had so much fun and were completely exhausted by the time the day was over.

 

 

Four days later, we packed our things, dropped Casey and Bailey off at their respective grandparents' houses, and boarded a plane for Denver. Jason and Ami hosted a fantastic New Year's weekend, filled with great food, entirely too much alcohol, and laughter that made my stomach sore. The true highlight for us was going to Sunday's Broncos game. I have never seen Trevor so excited, not to mention that the Broncos won in overtime, just as it was starting to snow. I also learned that Trevor likes to steal Broncos cups ;-), and I can belt out "Eye of the Tiger" on karaoke like nobody's business. We had a fantastic time!

 

Here's hoping that 2008 continues on the same fun ride!