Happy 4th!

We went up to Michigan last weekend to celebrate Joe's mom's birthday. It was a nice relaxing weekend; the little boys got to play together, and the big guys (Joe, Jer, and Bob) all got remote control helecopters. Good times had by all. We had a really yummy brunch Sunday with all-you-can-eat crepes (so good!) and corn fritters, which I'd never had before, but now that I have, I think I need to find a place around here that makes them. They're like little cornbread donuts!

This weekend was great as well. We went to mom and dad's house for an early birthday party for me (I'll be twenty-ten next week.) Again, the food was great: John was the grillmaster yet again--I'm pretty sure he's earned that permanent title-- and mom made chocolate chip pie, my favorite.

Along with the great food, we've had a good crowd to celebrate with. Grandma D is in town visiting for a few days, which is fun. I haven't seen her in a while and it's been great to have a relaxing weekend to hang out with her, and for her to see Quinn too, even in all his teething glory.

And I got to see Grandma L for a little bit Saturday; she and my aunts Becky and Nancy stopped in to see dad for a while and were still at the house when I got there.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the pool and eating leftovers from Saturday; I got a nice hot-pink sunburn that will be keeping me out of the sun today, so instead of swimming I think I'll head to the outlet malls to see what I can find.

These are some pictures from last weekend of Quinn and Trey. These are just a few; I took a ridiculous amount of photos of the two of them, but I can't help it- they're so cute!! I have no pictures from this weekend, because I was being lazy and I was too busy eating, swimming, and taking naps.

Here they are, taking turns vandalizing Grandma's flower beds....

What I'm Watching:

Summer is here, and along with that comes summer TV programming. I love summer TV shows, because they are always just a little more lame than the stuff we watch during the rest of the year.

For example, last night I watched the first episode of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager". Catchy title, Molly Ringwald plays the mom, I thought I'd give it a try. I will say this: abc family definitely tried to please everyone in this one.

First off, there's the scandal in the very beginning of episode 1: the main teenage character is pregnant. I guess they figured that Juno was such a big hit, might as well see if it translates to TV. Then there's the two best friends, the perfect sidekicks. One smart, one smarty-pants. One white, one black. One skinny, one chunky. Kind of a tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum effect, but it works. I think so far they're my favorite part of the show, actually.

Then there's the boy who loves the preggers girl...he looks, acts, and speaks just like Stephen Colbert...coincidence? Doubtful.

Next comes the fast-speaking, quit witted Asian girl, a la Gilmore Girls. And the...I'll call her "friendly" majorette. (Did I mention these are a bunch of band kids? Yet another reason to love the show!)

And then there's the pretty blonde girl, and her jock boyfriend, but the catch here is that they are the only two people in school who don't seem to be, uh...."friendly"....that is, until the end of episode 1, when jock boyfriend hooks up with skanky majorette. The blonde girl is the seemingly only religious person in a high school of partiers; and she's awfully reminiscent of Lucy Camden from 7th Heaven.....and the dialoge is kind of the same....and- wait a minute-- halfway through the show I notice that the football coach is the same guy who plays the police chief on 7th Heaven! Yes, sure enough, this show is produced by none other than Brenda Hampton, executive producer of 7th Heaven. Go figure. I'll watch it anyway.

On to other shows, the anti-Brenda-Hampton show of the summer: Swingtown. A nice wholesome (OK, maybe not) show set in 1976 about a family who moves on up to the nice neighborhood and befriends Tom and Trina, a couple who convinces them to....well, the title kind of gives it away. It's got the scandalous smutty factor that we're missing from Desperate Housewives. However, the best part of this show is the soundtrack! They play the best of the best of the 70's hits.

Another great (yes, I'm using the term "great" very loosely here) one is the SoapNet series "MVP". It's basically a show about a hockey team and the drama that surrounds it: a dead team captain and his widow left penniless....her daughter falling for the new rookie, who has a trailer-trash girlfriend back home to send money to....a coke-snorting womanizer...and the new captian who has fallen for the random girl next door preschool teacher. Yes, all very realistic. But hey, it's SoapNet, what can we expect? Still, entertaining nonetheless.

And I'm waiting for the second installment of The Starter Wife to begin. Yes, I actually watched this trainwreck of a miniseries last summer, in all it's horrible acting, editing, and even worse storyline. And yes, I'll watch it again this summer.

So what I'm basically saying in all of this is when you are flipping channels and you come across some lame Lifetime movie or an even worse series and you think "Who watches this crap?" The answer: I do.

song lyric quiz,(updated with answers) and of course, more photos.

OK, I saw this on another blog and ripped it off for my own fun. Here's the game: put your iPod on 'random', and list the first lyrics to each song from the first 20 songs, no matter what they are. That's the point of the whole random thing...it's fun not only to guess the songs, but to laugh at the random music people listen to on their iPods!
So here's mine, we'll see who gets them right. Try to name the song and the artist.

1. Anthony works in the grocery store, saving his pennies for someday.

2. Well my heart knows me better than I know myself so I'm gonna let it do all the talking.

3. Oh don't it hurt deep inside to see someone do something to her?

4. I don't want to go another day So I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind. Seems like everybody's breaking up and throwing their love away

5. Love. Devotion. Feeling. Emotion. Don't be afraid to be weak...

6. It's been a mystery, But still they try to see why something good can hurt so bad

7. Needed a shelter of someone's arms, and there you were. Needed someone to understand my ups and downs, and there you were.

8. People living their lives for you on TV, they say they're better than you and you agree

9. I know I don't get there often enough, but God knows I surely try. It's a magic kind of medicine that no doctor can prescribe.

10. Somewhere there's a stolen halo. I used to watch her wear it well.

11. Here have a dollar, in fact no, brother, man, here have two.

12. She take my money!

13. Here I go, here I go, here I go again, girls what's my weakness?

14. Sayin' I love you is not the words I want to hear from you It's not that I want you not to say it but if you only knew

15. On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life. There were plants and birds and rocks and things

16. Secret heart, what are you made of? What are you so afraid of?

17. Who's that lady comin' down the road? Who's that lady? Who's that woman walking through my door?

18. I can feel it coming in the air tonight

19. As I walk along I wonder what went wrong with our love

20. Out in the country past the city limit sign there's a honkey tonk near the county line

(answers listed below the photos)









1. Movin' Out- Billy Joel
2. Black Horse and Cherry Tree- KT Tunstall
3.Silence is Golden- The Four Seasons
4.Stickwitu- the Pussycat Dolls
5.Return to Innocende- Enigma
6.Who's Crying Now- Journey
7. How Sweet it Is- Michael Buble'
8.Who Will Save Your Soul- Jewel
9.One Particular Harbor- Jimmy Buffett
10.Holy Water - Big and Rich
11.Mr. Wendal- Arrested Development
12.Gold Digger- Kanye West
13.Shoop- Salt N Pepa
14.More Than Words- Extreme
15.A Horse With No Name- America
16.Secret Heart- Feist
17.Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car- Billy Ocean
18.In The Air Tonight- Phil Collins
19.Runaway- Del Shannon
20.Boot Scoot Boogie- Brooks & Dunn

Beating the Heat

Lisa has a new work schedule....which, if she ever wrote on her blog, she'd probably tell you about it herself...but anyway, she's doing 4 ten-hour days as a gas conservation kind of deal. So that leaves her with a three day weekend (Fridays off!). I don't work Fridays, Joe's off for the summer, and John's school schedule is online so it's all flexible. So the four of us, plus Quinn, all spent our free Friday together and went ice skating in Columbus, followed by lunch at Chili's and back to Lisa and John's house for a couple hours of Wii games. (that's a video game system, just in case you didn't know....and it's awesome.) Even Quinn played the snowboarding and I'm pretty sure he wasn't the lowest score on that one. I won't say who was, but it wasn't me or Lisa or John...

The skating was fun; I haven't been since high school, so the first trip around the ice was slowwwww.....but after one round I got faster each lap, and if I just told myself I was rollerblading, I did fine. No one fell down, so it was a successful trip. And to add to the entertainment, there were 3 guys there, who obviously come in for the Friday open skate every week--but not together--all of various skill levels. They each brought their own figure skates and showed off their moves. OK, only one of the three had actual moves- he did some pretty impressive jumps and twirls and ice dancing (it looked like the River Dance, but on ice). The other two were no where near his skill level, but still funny---er, fun--- to watch.

Here's a couple photos from the rink. The lighting was crappy so the pictures didn't turn out very well, but I don't really care.

Here's Lisa and Quinn in the waiting area. She and I took turns skating/sitting with him.

Lisa, John, and Joe on the ice. You can see one of the "figure skaters" in the background.

And John helping Quinn with his first video game experience. I have a feeling I'll be seeing the two of them in front of the TV like this a lot in the future....

In other news, I've got this weird summer sickness going on. I don't know what it is. In fact, the doctor at Urgent Care said (and you have to imagine this in his Indian accent, it just makes it funnier): "I don't know what's wrong with you. Here's a Z-pack, hope you feel better. Goodbye." Awesome, no? So while I'm definitely feeling somewhat better each day, it's hanging on longer than I'd like. I have dubbed it "mini mono". I imagine that if you took what I have and multiplied it by 6 weeks or so, it must be somewhat similar to what dad's feeling. No...Probably not. But I have some serious sympathy for him right now- three days of being couch-bound and watching TV and not doing anything else has fried my brain. I can't imagine how much cabin fever he must have right now!!!

Quinn and his Uncle John

a day in the life of a 7 month old

first time in the shopping cart...wearing his hawaiian shirt, just like grandpa!

Upside down baby, in his favorite "outfit".

Now that he's mobile, Quinn loves to roll over to the couch and look under it.

waving 'hello'

Q loves his blanket...even in 90 degree weather.
play 'til you drop: falling asleep in the exersaucer

watching tv with dad; ESPN, I'm sure.
hmm....
The 'bitter juice face': Apparently watered-down white grape juice tastes as bad as it sounds.
Just hanging out, showing off his sitting up skills.
First time in the pool- he was a little unsure at first, but ended up loving it!

Hey all you bloggers: send my dad some get-well thoughts please. He's in the hospital with mono and pneumonia. He's actually supposed to be able to come home tomorrow, which is awesome (He's been in there since Thursday night)-- but he's still going to need some at-home recovery and rest while he continues to get better. Dad's definitely on the mend though; he looks, acts, and sounds a ton better than he has in the past couple of weeks, and I know he's excited to get out of the hospital and back to the house. It's good to see him feeling better each day.

------
Updated Monday evening: Dad got released from the hospital this afternoon and is at home resting up. :)

as promised, a happier post.

Check out my new "I'm a mom so I need a bigger vehicle" jeep patriot. The photo is not my actual jeep, seeing as how it's parked in my driveway where it's 91 and humid, instead of in the snow in front of my (make-believe) cabin....but it looks just like this.

warning: sad story up ahead.

Well, Cissi the Wonder Dog had a good 15 year run, but that came to an end Monday evening. We miss her and I still haven't gotten used to her not being in the house, but it was time for her to go. She was down to 9 pounds (she's usually about 14 lbs or so) and was just shutting down, so we took her to the vet Monday and said goodbye.
She was pretty awesome and I know I'll never find another dog as cool and smart as she was.

I promise a happier post next time.

Memorial Weekend photos

Here's the photos to accompany the post below. This is Trey and Quinn with Grandma. on the living room floor: Trey sleeping, Quinn playing
playing games in the yard on Sunday


Quinn on the swing with Grandma; he loves to swing, but he prefers his own seat, rather than sitting on someone's lap. He's so independant. :)
Me, Joe, Quinn

Holiday weekend

Happy belated Memorial Day. Our weekend was so nice and relaxing; I took Saturday off, so I had a long 4-day weekend and enjoyed every second of it! Friday and Saturday Joe's parents and Jer, Trish and Trey came to visit for Joe's birthday. We went to dinner at Young's Dairy- did the batting cages and driving range...we never did make it to the ice cream though. :( Saturday we stayed here, had lunch, watched Grey's Anatomy that I had saved on my DVR (holy callie-and-her-new-girlfriend! whoa! OK, saw it coming, but still...!!!).
Trey and Quinn played together all day Saturday; now that they're getting older, they are playing more, and they're a lot of fun to watch them interact.

Sunday we went to mom and dad's for more b-day shenanigans. Dad wasn't feeling all that great, so Lisa and I became the grill-masters....OK, 'masters' is probably taking it too far, because I'm pretty sure a grill "Master" wouldn't cook the ribs beyond the point of being able to chew them, but hey...I warned him I didn't know how long to cook them! Anyway, lunch was still yum-O and we had some great cake with about 75 different flavors of ice cream. We played yard games all afternoon (cornhole, horseshoes, and something-or-other golf-- it was fun.) Kara, Mom, Lisa and I played cornhole, and Mom beat the socks off of all of us. She's apparantly got mad bean-bag skillz.

Later in the evening, Lisa, John, Joe, and I went into the basement with every intention to play a pool tournament, but Lisa and I got sidetracked by the stacks of rubbermaid containers in the closet with all of our old stuff in it. So we spent the next few hours "treasure hunting" and sorting through all the good stuff (translate: CRAP). We did manage to throw a lot out and clean up mom's basement which I'm sure she appreciates. We had some good laughs, especially at my senior scrapbook and Lisa's 4th grade writing journal. Good stuff.

Monday, Joe and some other coworkers went to Detroit to watch the Pistons game, and Quinn, Lisa, John, mom and I went to Alaina's graduation open house. She wins, hands down, for the best graduation party food! Arby's roast beef, pitas and hummus, stuffed mushrooms, Grandma's chocolate 'stuff'' (I can't remember what it's called, but I had 2 bowls of it!), taco salad, taco dip, noodles, potatoes, fruit, and of course cake were some of the items on the table (and my plate). It's really all about the food for me.

Baby talk

Need a laugh?

Try this: Go to Google.com and type in "find Chuck Norris", except instead of 'search', click on 'I'm feeling lucky'.

6 months old!

Quinn turned six months old on Monday. It's hard to believe half of his first year has already gone by! He really is growing up quickly and doing new things all the time. He's sitting up on his own, rolling over, playing with more toys, scooting around the floor, and discovering new things around our house on a daily basis. His personality is really coming through too, and it seems like he's pretty ornery. I wonder where that comes from????

Here's a few pictures from this week:

I just want to bang on the drum all day!