Not a MeMe- Rather, A YouYou

I loved this idea, so had to steal it! I hope some people actually come and see it and comment, cuz it could be lots of fun!

Anyway, this is how it works:

Comment on this entry. Any comment will do. After you comment, I'll answer/guess/makeup the answers to these questions:

1. What I'd say to you if we were to hangout in real-life.

2. What television/movie character you are most like.

3. Your favorite way to eat potatoes.

4. What your favorite ride/activity/food is at the fair.

It doesn't matter if I know you, if you have never commented before this, nothing. If you do have a blog, make sure that I can find it so I can find out a little about you to make the answers more interesting. Sounds fun? Leave a comment!

Thursday Thirteen #3- Illy Speak





Thirteen Things Bendy Has Said (Not Counting Mama and Dada!) 1. Surprise! 2. Woof! Woof! 3. I get you! 4. Hiiii! (Waving forward, at you) 5. Buh-bye! (Waving backwards at herself) 6. Boom, boom! (At the fireworks 4th of July or pretty much any loud noise.) 7. I did it! 8. Bounce 9. Thank you! (As she hands YOU something.) 10. Do-do (That's Dora...) 11. No (This one is just starting, and I can already tell it won't be fun!) 12. Ba-ball (I don't know where the extra syllable came from) 13. Wow! I see! (Exclaiming at anything new, i.e., on our walk the other day, at the sky, at the flowers, at the rocks... heh)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thursday Thirteen #2-Thirteen of our Fave Shows





Thirteen of our Favorite Shows... 1. Jack's Big Music Show 2. So You Think You Can Dance 3. Reno 911! 4. Family Guy/ American Dad 5. Bones 6. Weeds 7. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 8. Backyardigans 9. Dexter 10. NCIS 11. Criminal Minds 12. America's Next Top Model 13. Dirty Sexy Money

Betcha can't guess which of us three likes which shows?? hehe.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Song for a Fifth Child- Poem

I saw this poem on someone else's blog and I really loved it. It's so true, so fitting... Where does the time go? Why do they have to grow so fast? As Will said to me recently, "Now I know why some people want to keep having babies- the time flies by so fast!"

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

1958

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due (pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo,
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs.
Dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Silly Slacker Girl...

Soo... I apologize for not having updated in a while, things have been crazy and frankly I decided that not many people view my blog anyway, so it's been on the back burner. Now, though, there have been some new developments in our lives which I thought I'd share, because we're really excited that life --finally-- seems to be heading in the right direction for us. On that note, here's what's new:

(1) Dada found a job! He starts this coming Monday, the 30th and will be the new shipping manager at a small printing company in the next town over. I'm so proud, and also happy for him that he has found a job that has room for growth and will take advantage of all his computer skills. No more busting butt laboring, being on top of roofs and ladders or breathing in yucky chemicals that make him feel gross. On top of that, my boss said I can rearrange my schedule so that the two of us can carpool (we work about 5 miles from each other) which will save on gas (how important is that right now?!?!) and also make my morning drive more interesting.

(2) Due to #1, Bendy will be starting daycare on Monday also! We have found an awesome, reliable, and affordable woman to watch her-recommended by my boss, which cuts down a lot on our worry as parents. We went and met Carol, the new sitter, last week- she's an older woman who was an elementary teacher for a long time, but has been doing daycare for about the past twenty years. I really think Illy will love it there, even though I'm sure she'll miss being home with her Dada... There are about six kids, and one of them is a two year old girl, so she'll have at least one little friend that is around her age. Now we just have to worry about all starting to get up early enough to get us to our destinations on time! :)

(3) Will and I had our eight year anniversary! Didn't do anything special, because we're broke and it's not really a significant year... but it still blows my mind. We have been together for exactly 1/3 of my lifetime now. Craziness!

(4) Ilyana has learned the rhythms to all of her favorite songs and started to sing along with them... Most times, she doesn't get the words, just sings out the rhythm with a "da" sound, but the other day, we overheard her sing "Backyaaaarrrrddddigans". lol.

(5) She now says "ouch", "uh-oh", and "whoa" all the time. They're her new favorite phrases. That's okay with me... I'd rather "Whoa!" than "No!" :P

(6) She PEED ON THE POTTY! TWO TIMES!!! And totally unprovoked- on her own! I wasn't home, but I hear it was rather amazing. I was told she went over to her potty and sat on it with her diaper on and started bouncing, so Dada asked her "Do you need to go pee on the potty?" And he took her diaper off and she sat right down and peed! Then she did it again a few minutes later. She hasn't since then, but we're not pushing it- she's so young to be doing it now, we're just psyched it has already happened once! WOOO Bendy! You go girl :) Prior to this, she was just using her potty as a place to store her extra animal crackers. So she's definitely making progress... lol. The pic below wasn't from the day she peed on the potty, it was just one of the times she was hanging out sitting on her potty, drinking juice... You know, like all of us do.


I think that sums it up, although later I'll probably be hitting myself saying "Why didn't you think of that?!?" That's the nature of my scatter-brain. C'est la vie. Have a happy Thursday and a wonderful weekend!!

Wordless Wednesdays #1- Crazy Hair Chronicles

Ilyana Turns One!

Little Ilyana got to enjoy her very first birthday party on May 10, 2008. We partied on down Hawaiian-style, with all the luau fixins' we could find! We had leis and party favors for the kids, plenty of coconut and pineapple-flavored food, luau music and crazy decorations to deck the house with! We had so much fun , though it was a little crazy and chaotic with everyone running around in our apartment. Even the birthday girl herself seemed a little overwhelmed. We had thirteen guests over not including ourselves, so it was definitely a full house! Here are some pictures taken by my mom that day- I was busy opening presents, serving food and visiting, so I really didn't take many. Hopefully I'll be collecting more photos from the family, and there will be more to come!

Thanks to all from the Bend for coming up to enjoy the day and for all of your wonderful gifts- we really appreciate them! Now she can move into summer showing off her stylish young diva-self in all her fashionable new clothes, and has plenty of new toys to enjoy as well. We hope everyone had fun, and we'll see you all soon!

Saying hello to the Cey-cey! Happy Luau Ceyc!

I am a pretzel eater.


Learning to trust Uncle Mitchie- finally sitting happily on his lap!

The Dizzle checking out the buffet table.

Mommy helps bendy with her presents


Pretty new dolly!

Pep gets a little snugglin' in.

Tootin' around backwards on her new car from Grammy and Pep!

Birthday girl and crazy Dada.

Four generations of the Brulotte family. Why didn't I get their dark skin?

Somebody loves cake!

Thursday Thirteen #1! What Have I Learned Lately??

Thirteen Things ILYANA Has Learned In The Past Month! 1) How to say "map" and "backpack"~ Thanks to Dora and Diego!! 2) How to kick a ball 3) Recognition of songs- i.e., she said a word in the song just by hearing the intro music :oD 4) What cream puffs taste like (Yum, yum! spoiled little munchkin...) 5) How to brush her teeth... well, how to chew on a toothbrush, at least! 6) What milk tastes like (we made the switch~ woo!) 7) What grass and dirt feel like on her little hands 8) How to ride in the baby swing all by herself 9) How fun the slide can be! 10) The best hangout to find other little friends (can you guess where it is? check out all the hints, *lol*) 11) What happens when you take a nosedive into the tubbie bubble water 12) What it feels like to wear hard-soled shoes... although they don't fit quite right, so she won't really be *wearing* them until the end of the month or so 13) Why a crazy Mumma would make you wear a scratchy hat-- for FIRST BIRTHDAY invitations, of course!! (PS: The picture below isn't the one we used for invitations... but it shows how happy she was about wearing the hat!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants


Food, food and more food!

Will and I have really been getting into cooking in the past year or two... We figure no matter what, we have to eat, so why not enjoy cooking together and make it the best we can? Now that Bendy is getting a little older, I hope to be able to expose her to a lot of new tastes and types of cuisine, and teach her a love of all foods yummy! She's getting to the point now where she is really curious about our foods and always wants bites, so I'm excited to see her getting ready to be eating our dinners too like a big girl!

Many of you have probably heard of this site, but if you haven't and you like to cook (or even if you don't, because it has handy tips and easy recipes and reviews from other users to help you out) DEFINITELY check out ALLRECIPES. They are so user-friendly and free too! You can save your favorite recipes, add your own for review and placement on the site, and search by nearly anything you'd like: ingredient, dish type (appetizer, entree, etc), or name, just to name a few. On top of that, they always have cute ideas for holidays- not just food ideas, but decorating and crafty things too. I found the BEST recipe for pizza dough, and now I never buy those pre-mixed dough packs in the store- they just don't taste as fresh and they don't rise up as well-and I always rag on Will now when he wants to order... With making it at home being so easy, who wants to waste the twenty bucks?

Another food comment of note: Buy a crockpot/ slow cooker. They ROCK! Most stay-at-home Moms already know this trick... You can throw 5 ingredients in there in the morning, and come home to a nice, hot, delicious meal with a bonus- everyone can eat when they feel like it, and it will still be just as good for the last person (if not better! longer time=yummier with the crock!) as for the first. I bought one for my cousin who had just gotten his first apartment last Christmas, and I've had many thanks from him and his girlfriend already. You would really be amazed at HOW MANY things you can make in a slow cooker- not just the go-to beef stews, chilis, and pulled pork. You can make delicious desserts, scrumptious sauces, delectable dips, and appealing appetizers too. One of my favorite recipe sites for slow cooker stuff is Southern Food on About. But there are plenty of other sites out there, too! If you know of any good ones, feel free to post 'em, I'd love to check them out!

All this talk of food has made me hungry... Time for lunch I guess! Happy eating!

Easter 2008

We drove down to Sandown, NH to see my second cousin's (? not sure if this is exactly the right relation... we've always called her Aunt Sue) new house. She used to live in California, but has recently moved back to this area and built her new pad, which is GORGEOUS! My brothers spent most of the day playing Wii, and Will and I chatted and hung out and chased around Bendy (as usual!) who had chapped cheeks from this looonnnggg winter, but otherwise looked adorable in her new little fashion diva dress! Mom and I both took pictures, but I have to admit she got me this time- hers came out much better. Here are some of the best:

The best picture of us that was taken (I think!)

Me and the Bend, looking up the skylight. "What's up there, Momma?"



Ilyana, *reflecting* on life...



Just me hanging out with some chick I met :oP



Ilyana can run run run!!!


Illy with the Grumps!



Ilyana munches the chick. Don't worry, she only munches the people she likes.



Cey-cey and Aunt T get some lovin'...



Okay, okay, I got in on the Wii for a couple games. Notice my face. Mitchell is definitely kicking my ass hardcore here.