Dear Britten...

I'm back and I'm dedicating this post to you because you're such a sweetie to leave me comments like you do and to ask for me to "come back". Thank you! You're my most favoritest cousin-in-law.

Well, there is so much to cover from my hiatus. It's not that I'm particularly busy...not any busier than normal anyway, it's just that I'm not blogging just to hear myself talk, ya know? Or see myself type, I guess. I like a little feedback every once in awhile, peeps. That's all. Putting up the pictures and videos...and PhotoShopping them or making them if necessary takes time so I was feeling a little down that I was doing all this work for what felt like "nothing". I don't want to sound like a complete baby, but that's why I was "gone" for a bit. But I'm back with lots of pics and movies as Baby John and his mom are sick so he didn't come today and Easton is napping.

Okay, so here goes...well, last week Baby John's time here continued to go well. I was feeling like it was time to brave taking both boys out at once so we all hit the mall. I wore John in the Snugli and pushed E in the stroller. Not too bad. The two carseats in my smallish backseat were the toughest part. John fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. Even though he had just woken up from a nap. The sweet thing was that as Easton plays with toys in the back he likes to throw them off to the side when he's "done"...but he was conscious of the baby next to him and he'd toss the discarded toys to the other side, where John wasn't. Isn't that cute? He liked having a little neighbor back there with him, even if his little neighbor was a sleepy head. Easton and I shared a bagel at the mall, I got my free Clinique "gift with purchase", and then took E by the pet store. Just about every single animal was asleep with the exception of some kitties in the front display. Here is a video of E enjoying them. And here is a self-portrait of our mall experience...

What else what else? Oh yes, I also took Easton to the zoo again last week. They have a special indoor tropical-y place that doesn't allow strollers so we've bypassed it on every other visit. This time, I planned to only take him there. I carried him from the car all the way to Tropical Discovery and then he ran around awhile inside and I was mortified to find him patting strange children on the rear end. What was he thinking?!?! He reached up to spank some lady and I caught up with him saying, "No no Easton, we don't hit people on the butt." She turned around and laughed at us. It was funny to hear myself say that, but my goodness, what a strange boy I have. On the way out of Tropical Discovery we also stopped to watch the sea lions swimming which E enjoyed. He really liked being out of the stroller. Click here for more video. And then here is a picture from the trip...check out how big all the little goslings are getting...remember them tiny and yellow on one of my old posts? Awwww.

Last week I also let Easton run around in the sprinklers in the yard for the first time. It was so hot that day so even though it was 5 p.m. and breezy it still felt like a hair dryer blowing at us. I didn't bother even sunscreening him up (gasp!) as we were only out there for 15 minutes and he needs to get his vitamin D. I don't want my boy getting rickets. Okay, that's not the real reason. It's just that I wasn't really worried about it and wanted to let him play already. It all worked out just fine. He had fun...see:

Thursday night I headed to a semi-spur of the moment Mom's Night Out. Most of us ended up with parking tickets. Eek! But, we sat and had snacks and libations and chatted about our kids. Britten, I talked with a few of them about Montessori things as some of them have or considered putting their kids in Montessori schools. Anyway, because we were giving the bar so much money they gave us some complimentary gelato. I sampled the white kind: MMMMM coconut! Then the brown kind, yum again--caramel, then the green kind: Holy cow--is that basil? Yup, it was basil gelato. Yeah, no thanks. But the mom next to me loved it. She is quite fancy though. She plays the viola and drinks expensive wines. I preferred the coconut. I would have eaten all of it if I had known the other moms were only going to nibble it. It melted into a puddle that I wish I had wolfed down. Anyway, it was nice to get out and Easton was an angel for Jason, apparently. Lucky.

Friday was a very full day. First things first though, in the morning we headed out to the Berry Patch Farms which is actually quite near our house to meet a few mommy friends and pick our own strawberries. I was a little worried how Easton would do but he had a blast and there wasn't much trouble for him to get into so he roamed around picking and eating berries right off the plant. How awesome is that? He had a tendency to pick the not quite ripe ones so I'd trade him for a red one from my bucket. He gobbled them up almost as quickly as I could pick them. But, boy were they yummy and I was happy to see him eating so much. After we were done picking we sat for some snacks with our pals and Easton had some crackers and some pear. I guess he felt like he needed even more servings of fruit. He loved being on the farm and seeing the turkeys roaming freely and wanting to put his fingers into the chicken coop. Yikes! I was afraid of the Toms even if he wasn't. They'd get SOOOOO close. Our friend took a picture...I'll have to see if she has it to share. Turkeys are very unattractive, even if they are delicious. What a fun morning.


Alright, so after our berry filled morning we needed to head down to Aurora to pick up Lauren from summer school (at my old high school--crazy!). So, Easton napped in the car as I hoped he would and we drove to get Auntie Norie (that's still the same person as Lauren, she has many nicknames). As soon as I stopped the car, E woke up. Not in the best of moods either. Shoot. Oh well...Lauren and I hit Good Times for some lunch on the run and headed back up to our house where she was going to spend the night with us. I tried and tried to get my Easser Bunny down for a real nap but he was all done for the day. Poop on a log. We opted to keep him as busy as we could so we made a trip to the "cool" park and were there for quite awhile. He was happy at the park. So were we.


Once Jason got home from work none of us were all that hungry for a real meal so we ate some fresh picked berries, string cheese, and then went out for ice cream. That's what I call dinner. Yum. Then, look what we came home to (I swear it's not a Photoshop trick):

That night we had fun with Easton, he likes having Lauren around (there are 3 videos to click in this paragraph). So we tickled him. He enjoyed my Donald Duck impression. And then in the bath Daddy invented this game. I like Easton's unsure face when the lights come back on...

Breakfast the next morning was Starbucks and I made pancakes with our berry patch berries and whipped cream. Yum!

For lunch that day I went out with Baby John's mom. When she first emailed to invite me I thought I might be in trouble ha ha ha. I wasn't. She was just wanting to hang out because, like me, she doesn't have many girl friends in the same stage of life as we are: happily married, house, kids. That sort of thing. We had a good time over Mexican and margaritas and 2 whole hours flew by while I left Jason, Lauren, and Eastie Boy to fend for themselves.

Then, that evening when my mom came to pick Lauren up she and I prepared sloppy joes for dinner. Lauren doesn't have much cooking experience so I try to teach her the limited stuff I can do from time to time. Lauren has always liked "my" sloppy joes so I taught her to make them (even taught her how to use a manual can opener)! Easton gobbled up some Joes too. Yay for everyone!

As everyone knows, yesterday was Father's Day and all my secret surprise "plans" were thwarted. First, I had planned months ago for Jason (who is a Cubs fan) to take Easton (and me) to E's first Cubs game when they come to play the Rockies. Well, then Jason's friend from New Mexico came up with a plan to come to town for all those games and invited J...so I had to tell him my plans (which he LOVED) weeks ago. Then, he wanted some recent Easton pictures for the frames he keeps at work. Well, I got some and threw the box in the trash. Then he saw the box and figured it out again. THEN, the day before when I was heading to have lunch with Baby John's mom, J came in while I was showering to say, "Someone left you a message, I think it was John's mom." So, I had him listen to the message for me since I was in the shower and it was the portrait studio confirming our appointment for Father's Day! This is me feeling like a blockhead: D'oh! Oh well. We had a nice day. I made Jason the breakfast he requested: my gourmet breakfast tates and smoothies. Then he picked Texas Roadhouse for an early dinner. Easton was SO well behaved. He ate quite a bit too. Then we came home and the boys were so cute and fun together. It was a lovely yet restful day. Here is video of Easton being not so restful.


Today we got the call that John wasn't coming so we made a grocery and shopping list and headed out. Easton eventually got quite cranky where I was a little embarassed. I only cared because the checker at Wal-Mart said something about it. Grrrr. He wasn't that bad. But, he looks cute today. We bought him a new shirt yesterday. It's that one we were talking about, "I do all my own stunts" ha ha ha. Here it is:

I guess that about wraps it up for now. I'll try not to be gone for so long again. Oh yeah, and I put in a ton of pictures into E's album last night. Like 30+. Since it's been awhile and all. Okay, chat with everyone later. Maybe.