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!)

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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.

More Easter... My Pics!

So I finally got around to dealing with my own pictures from Easter this year... Here are the best of the best (or at the very least, my favorites) from mine :oD Enjoy!

Ilyana and Dada get some quality time together...

Cey-cey and the Ills play with the camera!


Owen and Mitch, playing Wii!! I love the faces... lol


Kisses for Daddy


Whoa! These floors are slippery...


Know how much I love you???


Sniffly girl and Mumma


This one was kind of blurry, but Owen's face made it for me. Classic!


Garret and Ilyana, checking out the food!


Mom and Davey-doodles!


Illy unsuccessfully tries to wiggle-worm her way from Cey-cey to the ground.

Snuggle bunnies.


Ilyana plays with the chick. I would normally crop out the background, but I liked that Mom is back there, taking a pic too :o)


Sunny sun sun! Finally!!

~~Ilyana's First Christmas, 2007~~

Literally the Christmas from hell.

Both Will and Ilyana were sick Christmas morning when they woke up. So sick that Will only made it through half of his stocking before he had to go downstairs and lay down with a barf bucket. He could barely move the whole rest of the day. Ilyana was a trooper trying to make it through, though I could tell by her glassy eyes and pale face that she felt just terrible. She managed to get by through the stockings, but of course once I had all the stocking gifts into a bag, she proceeded to throw up all over and inside of the bag, causing me to spend the next half hour or so cleaning the presents, cleaning her, cleaning her Exersaucer, and finding a new way to (safely) store the gifts.

From then on, she was pretty much a sad little blob that just wanted to snuggle and be held. Being only seven and a half months old, Illy didn't understand what all the hubbub was about, and wasn't really old enough to care about opening presents. I have no pictures at all to show for Christmas day, because I spent the entire day cleaning diarrhea and puke, running back and forth from the upstairs back down to check on Will, and then hastily trying to rip open gifts that I had to catch up on for both me and Illy, because she couldn't do her own... Which made it very boring for everyone else, I'm sure, because being her first Christmas and all, everyone spoiled her, buying her tons! The whole last half hour of the morning was me, trying to catch back up while my whole family watched. One thing I was grateful for, though: at least I didn't get sick, because I was able to care for the both of them... Oh, and the gifts, of course. We're always grateful for those!

It must have been a strong virus, because not only did the two of them get sick, but most of my family caught it (I'm assuming from Ilyana) as well. We felt so awful!! Merry Christmas everyone, your gift from Illy is.... the sickness of death! My cousins Miles and Bobby both caught it, as well as my brother and Mom, and then also my grandfather. We had also gone to visit Will's parents, and made his Stepdad sick too!

I'm lucky that I had taken some "Christmas" type photos prior to the actual day for scrapbook and present purposes, so I do have some cute little pictures of Bendy in her Christmas suits, seen below. Next time anyone feels bad the day or two before Christmas, I think quarantine will be in order. Hopefully next year will be much more enjoyable, and I'll get some awesome pics of the Eve and the day. I can't imagine it could get any worse!

Ilyana, just under seven months old.. December 1, 2007

Ruggle with the beads!

Christmas poses, December 16, 2007

Hey there!

Who me? I didn't do anything....

Escaping ruggle!

I love you...

Woo! I can hold this handle!!

Help Mom! My hat!

I'm done with pics. Where's the food?