The Ministry of Silly Walks

There's a Monty Python sketch called "The Ministry of Silly Walks", which I'm pretty sure Laina has never seen, but seems to have the idea down... She apparently just can't keep from shaking her booty when there's music playing in the house...

Check out my other blog...

I decided to do more posting over on my other blog, www.lainaslaundry.blogspot.com. Be forewarned - most of the posting will be related to womanhood and such, possibly with "too much information" for some readers. The blog was originally started to showcase products and updates to my baby shop on Etsy, but there is rarely any news on that front, and I wanted a more public outlet for some of the topics I want to discuss, which aren't necessarily related to family. So, if you have an inclination to find out what keeps my little brain up at night, check it out.

First Snow

Today we woke up to the first snow we've had of the season! It is absolutely beautiful and it started to really warm up so I put on Laina's snowsuit (from late last year and it still fits, sort of) and we headed out to play. Our neighbor who nannies for another neighbor was also out with little Taylor so we tried to get the girls to play in the snow together but Laina wasn't too excited about that idea.

Unrelated, but still blog-worthy is the fact that Laina is getting so imaginative and playing with her dolls and stuffed animals like a mommy. She puts them down for naps, changes their diapers, and just today she even read a book to her doll. I really wanted to run and get the camera but I knew the moment would be over before I could get back. Maybe next time I'll be ready beforehand.

Whassat?

"What's That?" Has become Laina's favorite phrase of the last couple weeks. She points at everything and asks the question, "what's that?" (sometimes comes out "whassat?"). If she wasn't so adorable it would get pretty annoying. If she wasn't so adorable there would probably be a lot of things about her that would be outright obnoxious... but the cuteness factor overrides all...

The upside is that "what's that?" is a better phrased question than "This?" which is how she used to ask the name of things, and her vocabulary is continually increasing exponentially because of the question... not many 18 month-olds know the terms "orzo", "falafel", "soul patch","sand dunes", and "window sill", but pointing and asking gets the job done...

Of course she does enjoy the pointing and asking sometimes more than the learning, which is why she'll ask you five times in a row what the doggy is... oh, she knows its a doggy, she's just messing with your head...

Also a recent obsession is her cars. All cars, all the time. She got a toy happy-meal car a couple weeks ago from a friend of Jenna's, and became really attached to it. So I took her out and got her some little tonka cars, which she loves (especially the bus). Also, showing her the movie "Cars" probably didn't help. Every night when I get home the first thing she says is "Daddy, play cars!" Here she is proudly holding three at once (she couldn't decide between the bus, the tow truck, or the ice cream truck)... and apparently I was really sweaty for some reason.

Turning 30

Today is a monumental day - I turn 30. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, and when I asked Jay what we were going to do for my birthday (this was a few weeks ago), he asked if I just wanted to wallow in my sorrows. I thought I would be down about turning 30, but really I just feel indifferent. However, in my head, I know I should be thankful to God for giving me the gift of the past 30 years. I know that every single day is a gift.

Anyways, enough with my poor philosophizing, and on to the activities of the big day, which we actually celebrated yesterday. It was a busy day because we had church in the morning, I had a riding lesson in the afternoon, we had bible study at 4:30, then we brought Laina home, got her dinner and a babysitter, and then headed out to the new outdoor area at Park Meadows mall called The Vistas. It was fun and somewhat modern with lots of cool firepits and trendy-looking restaurants. It was COLD though and I absolutely should have worn the new boots I got with birthday money (compliments of my parents - thanks!) instead of the "holey" tights and heels I wore.

First we went to Mikuni Sushi which was pretty good. They were out of some of the fish I wanted to try, like the O Toro (extra fatty tuna), but the regular toro was delicious and we tried a new one with a name I can't remember, but it was basically a white fish and you squeeze lemon on it. Not super impressive, but good. We also had unagi (freshwater eel) which basically tastes the same to me wherever we get it - good. The big star of our sushi show was the "Rockies roll" which was spicy tuna and crab on the inside, topped with albacore (white) and red tuna. What can I say, I'm a big fan of tuna. We should have taken a picture of this one as it was beautiful in addition to being delicious. The bummer of the night was the "crunchy dream roll" which sounded fabulous on the menu, but was really not that great. Over all I did like Misuki, until I found out it was a chain, then I didn't like it as much. I do like some chain restaurants, but something about having a sushi chain just didn't seem right. Oh, and also, it always seems werid to me when you get non-ethnic people serving you, like the super white guy that served us. Oh well.

Then after sushi, we walked over to the other restaurants to check out the menus and find something for dessert. I loved the stylish new Mexican restaurant, La Sandia, and while we didn't stay for dessert, we liked the ambiance and the patio up top with a firepit and bar. I defnitely want to head back there to check out the food - it smelled great! For dessert, we decided on a place called the White Chocolae Grill, even though white chocolate is not my favorite. They had a molten non-white chocolate souffle though which was delicious.

The best part? Coming home to gifts wrapped in paper that Jay and Laina decorated. I loved the coloring and Laina even signed her own name in my card! If you use your imagination, you can see the "L", "i" and "n" pretty clearly from the pic. You can really make out the whole name in person! Jay got me a "task chair" for my workstation in the basement, along with a space heater because it's dang cold down there! It's not as good as a fully finished basement, but it will have to do for this winter ;) Speaking of winter, today is feeling very wintry and I've got pea soup simmering in the crock pot for dinner...should be yummy! I need to get some hot apple cider and a cinnamon stick and turn on the fireplace!

Laina's Artwork

I was doing some work on the computer and Laina was contentedly playing on the floor by the bench we keep our shoes under. This is the masterpiece she created all by herself. Really, it is pretty impressive in person. A nice arc with the one tennis shoe up at it's top.

Sheep says 'Baa', Chuck Norris says 'Boo'

Laina was an adorable little lamb for Halloween this year, and Jenna went as Little Bo Peep. Normally a thick fluffy costume for Laina is great, since its usually cold on Halloween here, but this year was really unusual for Colorado in that it was in the upper 70s, which made it not a long-lasting costume. We hit about 3 houses and went to a neighborhood 'progressive dinner' party (or something like that) and hung out with all the neighbors.

I came up with another last minute cheapo costume and yet again won a prize at the office costume contest... this year it was "best all around"... I'm starting to feel bad about winning all the time... that's 3 for 3. My Chuck Norris costume cost me all of $7 ($2 shirt and $5 vest). I modified a mullet wig I already had for the hairdo...

Best of all was a day full of Chuck Norris jokes:

Chuck Norris doesn't dress up to be scary on Halloween. Halloween is already afraid of Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. Only another fist.

Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost.

Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy. Its a Chucktatorship.

(courtesy www.chucknorrisfacts.com, except for the Halloween one)