Andie & Brady Quotes: Aug - Sept 2011

Naturally, as the kids are getting older the conversations are definitely getting to be more interesting. Sometimes one of them will say something and Cameron and I will just look at each other and start laughing.Everyday is a new adventure with these two!

B: "Mommy, why did Daddy marry you?"
Me: "because he loves me."
B: "That's why I married Andie."

Brady bonked me in the face-
Me: "Ow, I think you just broke my nose."
B: "Oh let me see, (he wiggles my nose). Welp, it doesn't come off, I don't think it's broken."

B: "Mommy kiss my eyeball."

B: "Mom I want to get on your bed and do a trick."
Me: "No, that's dangerous."
B: "Mom, make a choice."

B: "What do bad guys look like?"
A: "They were a black and white striped shirt, a mask, and a hat."

 A: "We need a milkman. Do you know what a milkman is? They always wear a bill hat and a white suit."

Andie fell and hurt her knee pretty bad, she hobbled to me crying: "I need a doctor. I broke my leg and I can't walk." After a few minutes of waiting for our Dr friend to finish up dinner, she looks up at me worried, "does this mean I am going to be in bed for a few days?"

A: "What kind of cereal is the toasted tiny little bread?"
Me: "Cinnamon Toast Crunch?"
A: "Yeah, that's what I want for breakfast!"

The kids talking in bed many hours past bedtime-
A: "Brady, we are going to stay up all night."
B: "why?"
A: "because, we are nocturnal, like bats."

Karen to Andie-
K: "You sure are nice to share a sucker with your brother Andie."
A: "How come old people call lollipops suckers?"

A: "My favorite exercise is running.
B: "My favorite exercise is football"
A: "Football is great exercise Brady!"

Brady to Cameron: "You are a really cranky man!"

Brady to me (said with a lisp): "You said it girl!"

Andie to Cam: "Who's playing football?"
C: "The Buffalo's."
Brady running from the other room: "The Buffalo's are playing? Oh goody!"

I was in the middle of doing my nails when Brady comes into me crying-
Me: "What's the matter Brady?"
B: "My nails don't look cute. I need them painted."

Brady's phrase of choice: "Oh brat feathers!"
I was doing lots of de-cluttering and deep cleaning and I asked Andie to put her shoes away-
A: "Ugh, why do I always have to do chores?"
Me: "Why do I always have to clean every one's messes? I didn't make them."
A: "Because you are nice mom."

 

Andie & Brady Quotes: July 2011

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Andie & Brady Quotes

I don't have too many this time around since I have been kind of slacking when it comes to writing things down...

B: "Dad wont help me put on my shoes cause he's being a stinker bum!" (it was 8:15pm)

B: "I can't get this stinkin' shoe on!"

B: (to a boy at the park) "You can play with me, I'm very nice. I'm a nice kid!"

A: "Brady is obsessed with farts huh?"
Me: "yeah he is"
A: "why is this happening to him?"
Me: "because he's a boy and boys are gross."
A: "Ugh, they are so disgusting!"
Me: "Yes, yes they are."

Brady got drilled in the throat with a football, he came to me crying and I said: "Oh, you're a man, you can handle it. That's what happens to me football players."
B: "I don't wanna be a man, I a kid!"

Cameron and I were talking about pink eye and Brady said: "last time, I ran into a wall I got blue eye."

Andie took off her goggles and said: "mom, you've GOT to see me eyes."
Me: "Oh cool."
A: "Do you get it? they're goggle shaped!"

Me talking on the phone to Andie while I was out of town: "What can I bring you back from my trip?"
A: "Um, we want a pet."
Me: "What kind?"
A: "A monkey for me and a giraffe for Brady...real ones."
Me: "I can't bring you back real ones but I will bring back stuffed ones."
A: "Well don't they have a pet store there?!"

B: "mom how about this outfit?"
Me: "no, it doesn't match."
B: "but it IS appropriate."

B: "I really liked that movie, it gave me a laughy head!"

B: "I'm gonna fart my toots out."

A: "what's a haircut?"
Grandma: "what's a haircut Andie?"
A: "Ummm, I don't know."
Me: "Uh you should know, you just gave yourself one remember?!"

Andie is learning how to tie her shoes. She uses this little ditty to remember: "one little loop what do you do, wrap the lace around and pull it through. Now you have a bow and you tied your shoe." It's really helping.

The Haircut Saga

Did you hear, Andie decided to CUT HER HAIR, when I was OUT OF TOWN, because it was GETTING IN HER EYES!

I was in San Francisco with my sisters + having a great time and Daddy stayed home and took care of the kids (more on this later). Cameron made it almost 5 whole days accident free, almost. The night before I was to return home Cameron called me laughing, "you are never going to believe what Andie just did." I was standing there thinking, "oh how bad can it be?" A minute later I would come to regret that thought. Cameron continued, "she cut her hair!" "Shut up," I said. "You are totally joking right? Tell me you are joking." "Nope, get on Skype and take a look for yourself." OMG! It was so bad!

Cameron gave me a run down on what happened: "Andie was in our bathroom using it. She was in there a while (which, for certain 'chores' she tends to take her time). She came out of the bathroom, dressed as a boy and with a Mr. Potatohead mustache on her face, bowed down saying 'you may call me Sir.' I stared at her thinking she parted her hair weird and it took me a sec to realize she cut it. I started dying with laughter and finally said, your mom is gonna kill you!"

While on Skype the first thing I said to her was, "Andie, what were you thinking?!?" to which she replied through tears, "that it will grow back." Thank goodness we were going to see her tomorrow and Whitney can cut hair! Just by looking at it I knew immediately it was going to become a very short pixie.

It's been 9 days and I am starting to get the hang of styling this short of hair. It is still very short up front which makes it harder. Of course, Andie loves the new cut, she said it's because she doesn't get tangles. But she doesn't like when strangers refer to her as a boy (this did happen at Costco, a man said, "two boys?" "Nope, a boy and a girl who cut her own hair" I said back) or when it comes time to get her hair done, because we have to blow dry it, her least favorite thing. Every time she gets upset about one of these things I always remind her that that's what happens when you cut your own hair.

 

 The damage

 Once it came time for the real cut, I explained to her that she would have Peter Pan hair...she wasn't thrilled with that reality.

 The after

 Another after. We had to cut a little more after this picture to blend it on the sides.

After Mommy styled it a few days later. I am getting a little better.

Like Andie said, it will grow back...eventually!

Couponing to the Extreme...

I am ALL for saving money. I, as do many others, consider myself to to be a very thrifty shopper. I am by no means a full price girl, and like anyone I can appreciate a great deal. I watched that show Extreme Couponing last night for the first time and it was fascinating to say the least. However, I was also rubbed the wrong way by how these people stockpile stuff that some of them admit they will never use. Just because it's free doesn't mean you have to grab it. I have done enough deal grabbing to know that some items you have to buy a certain amount to get the deal, but 1,000's of boxes of toothpaste that you couldn't use in one lifetime let alone before they expire is just ridiculous, as is enough diapers to last a baby until they are potty trained when you don't even have a child. It's silly not to mention a waste of space. I do believe that the man with the toothpaste was putting some of them into care packages for the military which is great, but the woman with the diapers, she said she was holding onto them for when she does have a baby. How about stopping by a women's shelter and donating them to people who know they will use them. It's not like it's a loss in money for her, she didn't pay for them.  If you do grab the freebie and don't plan on using it, at least give it away to someone who can. Maybe it's the little voice in my head that loves to tell me to chuck all things that aren't being used and creating clutter in my life, it's the sense in me.
I do think it's amazing that these people have the patience and time to save their families so much money, I admire it. I've tried the couponing thing, I had big dreams of getting up to the cash register and the checker giving ME money back because I was so amazing at couponing, but alas that was not my calling in life, not yet. I don't have the time or the patience to become "extreme" and I'm okay with that. Who knows, maybe one day I will get the itch to try it out again. We'll see!

Are we normal?

Am I the only person who has ever had a child throw a fit in public? I know that I'm not, but yet, when my child does it, it's all eyes on me. Do the shoppers in the store think I can't hear their comments as I walk past them? I am not deaf, I just have a child screaming because he has not gotten what he asked for.

Yesterday, Brady went into Target with the idea that he was getting a baseball helmet. I did not tell him that we would buy one, he wanted it because he had seen another boy with one earlier in the day. As we walked through the store to get the few items I had on my list, Brady continued to ask for the helmet. I reminded him that we came in to get a few things that we needed and the helmet was not one of them. I avoided the isle that has the baseball gear like the plague. We made it through most of the store and as we were finishing up I said we were going to check out. All hell broke lose. Brady once again asked about the helmet and I responded with a firm "no". He went into full tantrum mode.

I quickly made my way to the front of the store. I could see the older snobby women sneering at me, the younger mom's smiling with a sympathetic and understanding look on their face, the men shaking their heads, and the young children staring. As we were checking out, the checker was looking at Brady then to me then back to Brady waiting to see what I was going to do about him. My child was letting out the most awful blood curdling scream like he had just broken all him limbs and a customer in isle next to me was looking at Brady and then to me in horror. Oh the horror! Gasp! a child is screaming, his mother must have beaten the crap out of him for someone to scream like that. It must be child abuse. Why else would a child scream like that? Certainly one doesn't throw such a fit after being told no! Despite all the dirty looks and staring, I managed to keep a smile on my face while making my way out of the store.

I have never experienced such a shocked reaction to a child throwing a fit in public. When we lived in Utah, no one even gave the screaming child a second look, they could care less. I am pretty sure their first reaction wasn't that the child was beaten either. Here, everyone seems to assume the worst. They look at you with horror, shock, and disgust. I have seen countless times, mothers buying their child whatever it is they asked for after they told them "no" once the child started screaming. If I did that I would be broke.

This is only the second huge outburst I've had with Brady in public, and I am sure it wont be our last. People need to learn that small children, especially in the 2-4 range, throw tantrums in public occasionally and they do it for the attention. Quit giving it to them, ignore it and keep your obviously unappreciated comments to yourselves. Yes, I'm talking to you middle aged women dressed for the ball and dripping in diamonds, I heard you say, "just give him what he wants," I hope your children are the worlds biggest brats. And you, apparently single and without children sir, asking your friend, "what did she do to him?" He was a overly tired 2 year old who just got told "no", a fit fueled by the attention of strangers is just what the doctor ordered.

Peace

Currently my kids are outside measuring their toys to see how tall they have grown. They are so cute. They both need a bath in the worst way from their afternoon of playing in the dirt yesterday, but after a week of constant fighting they are finally playing together and I am enjoying the peace for a moment. We'll see how long it lasts and then it will be nap time.

Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter holiday, filled with lots of family, friends, food, and love. Hope you had a beautiful day and remembered the reason we celebrate this day.

Happy Easter to you and yours!

Kid Quotes

I have been feeling very uninspired as of late,
so the silly things my kids say will have to do for now...enjoy!

B: (praying) "bless Daddy and Grandpa at work. Please bless Darth Vader in his fight with Yoda, Amen!"

B: (holding a baby doll) "this is my baby brother. Ouch! he just bit me."

B: (seeing a commercial) "What movie is this?"
Me: "I don't know"
B: "It's called, 1-800-224- DISNEYLAND!!!"

B: (waving a wand over Cameron) "abra cadabra I turn you into a butthead!"
*not very nice but we are still working on the potty talk.

A: "you put the sticks at the end of your ears" (explaining to B how to put sunglasses on)

A: "When am I going to be 99?"
Me: "well most people don't live to be 99, that's really old"
A: "well Grandma and Grandpa are really old."

B: (poking my chest and counting...) "1, 2, 3!"
Me: "Hey don't touch Mommies boobies"
B: "I was just counting them!"

B:  (found a feather in the parking lot) "Hello little feather, my name's Brady, do you want to go into Costco with me?"

A: "When I grow up my husband's name is going to be Baseballbat and our son will be Traintrack!"

A: (to me a few days later) "I wanna have another baby."
B: "yeah, let's name him Baseballbat!"
A: "no that's my husband's name!"
A: "I like cotton candy but it's a little hairy and sticky."

A: "grandma what is a bird?"
G: "you tell me, what is a bird?"
A: "I think it's a little baby chicken who can fly!"

Lauren: "boys are tougher than girls are"
A: "that's not true"
L: "yes it is andie"
A: "my mom can punch my dad really really hard, and my dad used to wrestle tuna!"
*FYI I have never punched Cameron but I am sure Andie would be right!

A: "look mom I got a spork!"
Me: "how do you know what that is?"
A: "it's a fork AND a spoon. (flips it over) and it's made in China!"

A: "mom, remember this morning when we were playing dogs and my name was sunblock?"

Cowboy cookies are in the oven, A turns on the light to take a peek and says, "if those are cowboy cookies where are the hats?!"

A: "mom can I have your ring?"
Me: "no, why?"
 A: "cause I am the ring bearer at a pretend wedding. So, can I have it?"
Me: "no."
A: "that's fine, I can still pretend can't I?!"

Imagination

For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Andie, may or may not know what a huge imagination the child possesses. Just yesterday as we were driving home Andie was telling Cameron and me all about the pet tiger she had. The wha? She told us all about how she got him, when she was one, and about the time when he bumped his nose on a log. Apparently they are best friends and have had so many great times together. In the middle of her babbling on Cameron turned to me and said, "I think we should write a children's book using Andie's stories." At first I laughed and said how funny that would be but then I started thinking and I could picture this fun little story about a little girl and her adventures with her pet tiger.  What an idea! My husband is a genius. I am not really one to go out and do something that seems so impossible as to get a book written and published, but this is something I think could actually get done. We have several family members who have written books and suddenly the idea doesn't seem so impossible. I plan on sitting down with Andie today and hearing and recording more about her adventures with her pet tiger.

Mommy's Thoughts

When I was nine my mom died from leukemia. It was sad and hard but we were young and seemed to make it through alright. As I have gotten older and especially since becoming a mom to my own little sweeties I often wonder what my mom would have done in certain situations or just to know what her thoughts might have been during a normal day with me and my siblings. Did we drive her insane, did she lose her temper like I all too often do, did she let the little things go or was she to anal to do that? Since I was so young I sadly don't remember a lot of details. I wish there was more video more still shots, but she had 5 kids, and for a while was very sick, pulling out a camera is not the first thing one might have thought to do. I am grateful for smells, sights, pictures, and voices that can suddenly bring back a memory that was long ago tucked away.
Since I have lost a parent and now experience these feelings, I have made a solid effort to take more pictures, let the little things go, allow my children to occasionally crawl in our bed during the early morning hours and most importantly, write things down. I feel most comfortable writing these thoughts in letter form to my children, sometimes individually and sometimes together. I write about things we did that day, how the kids reacted to a new situation, a new milestone they may have reached or a funny conversation we had together. I also make sure to include private thoughts, stories from my childhood, lessons learned, and my feelings of love towards my children and my husband. These thoughts are often disorganized, I tend to just write on whatever piece of paper I can find before the thought goes away. Already I have gone through and read old notes and I am always surprised at how much has been forgotten in such a short amount of time. I wish my mom could have known what the future held for her, for us, but she didn't, no one could have. I don't know what the future holds for me and my family but I hope that if something should, heaven forbid, happen to me, my children will have a few of these future curiosities answered. This is how I keep a journal, by writing letters, and blogging of course.
I know that every day here on Earth is a gift from our Heavenly Father. I am working on being a better wife, mother and person and leaving my children memories that they can one day enjoy in my absence, whether it's tomorrow or 60 years from now. I want to make today count.

Back in the Saddle

I haven't blogged in a while, obviously. I haven't really been "feelin' it" but this morning I decided to update the look of the blog and it got me excited again. I just have to get some more recent pictures put up and I'll be set.
Now to do a quick catch up:
We had a great Christmas full of family, love, food, gifts, and laughter. I am sad that one day, not to far from now, my kids won't believe in Santa and Christmas just wont be the same. I have nothing but wonderful memories of Christmas as a child, my parents did an amazing job at keeping Santa around and the true meaning of Christmas in our home. I will still insist that that one Christmas when I was maybe 5 or 6, we were driving home from a party and I saw Santa and his reindeer fly across the moon! Call me crazy, but my sister Whitney remembers the same thing. Believe or don't believe, but keep away from my kids at Christmas time, they believe and it's magical for all involved.
The New Year has brought with it new challenges but many more blessings. Our family is healthy and continues to grow. We have 2 new cousins joining us (one actually came early this morning, congratulations Chris, Emily and Eva!) which means more family gatherings and more cousin play time.
The business continues to grow and provide new and exciting opportunities to come in the next year for the Casper family. We are researching where would be ideal to live in Arizona and making a list of all the things we want in a home and all that needs to be done to get there. No, we aren't moving today, tomorrow or even next month, we are just starting the process and working on making it happen in the next year or so. The kids have been begging for a dog that they can name Goofy. We bought ourselves some time in telling them we would revisit the idea when we buy a house and they seem to be content with that, for now.
Andie and Brady are still a handful but both have mellowed out a bit which makes Mommy and Daddy nicer. Andie is getting so big and is really excited to start Kindergarten come Fall. She is working hard to be prepared and is surprising us everyday with her talents. She has been carrying around her "handy dandy notebook" and it is so awesome to see how her drawing has evolved. I was so excited yesterday to flip through it and see her first drawing that actually resembled a person! She is really good with her shapes, calling them by name and telling you how many sides they all have and what the difference is between similar ones. I am impressed cause this is not something I have thought to teach her. Yay for kids TV that actually teaches!!! She is also working on adding numbers together on her fingers and starting to really get the hang of it. Oh, I almost forgot the best new thing about Andie, SHE LOVES TO DO THE DISHES, and she is actually really good at it!
Brady is still a handful, of course. He is wanting to be more like Andie everyday. He has lost all signs of baby features and it makes me a little sad. Brady has started waking up in the middle of the night and most nights it's more than once which is killing me. I forgot how a disruption in sleep can really throw you off and make you exhausted. When I'm in the kitchen Brady loves to say, "show me how to cook like a mommy," as he climbs up on the counter to learn/"help". It's so cute, and he is getting the hang of cracking eggs. He has also become an excellent diver, jumping from inside a laundry to the floor and swimming along the ocean bottom. His imagination is impressive and endless and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Andie & Brady Quotes Oct-Dec 2010

Driving in the car for a sleepover at Gma's house-
A: Where's the moon?
Me: Well it's really cloudy tonight so I don't think you'll be able to see it.
A: Well that's just great! It's my first time to have a sleepover and now it's ruined!

Giving me her order for the Mexican food place- A: I want a cheese taco with blackamole

A: Sanasauresrex, he's a carnivore. (during dinosaur talk)

A: Hey mom, where did you get this peanut butter pizza? (referring to the peanut brittle)

A: Mom, I can hear my nails growing.

Thinking that she can read the receipt-
A: This says baaaaaad news.
Me: Oh really? what does bad news mean?
A: Well it's not good news!

Saying the family prayer before bed-
B: Thank your for my pirate room. Thank you for pirate beds...Amen!

A few days after I decided we would go to a real pumpkin patch as opposed to the fake carnie one by our house. We were driving home and passed by the fake patch-
A: Boy, sure does look like those kids are having a fun time at the pumpkin patch tonight!
Me: Yeah. It's cause they have cool parents!

His answer to, "does aunt Lindsay have a boy baby or a girl baby in her tummy-
B: A boy baby, a boy baby went up the water spout... 

Talking about his whale tattoo on his arm that had sparkles on it-
B: Oh no, where did the sprinkles go on my whale?
He pauses a minute to ponder this
B: I guess they blewed away, sometimes that happens.

Talking to himself in the car-
B: Sorry monkeys, you can't go in my ears!

 A: I am going to tell Santa that I want a hang glider for Christmas!

B: What are those? (pointing to my hair)
Me: My bangs.
B: Oh. Bang, bang, bang.

Andie and Brady talking in the backseat of the car-
B: Hey Andie are you a pirate?
A: No
B: Oh, well I am a pirate. This is our pirate car and it says arr Brady Jack Sparrow!

A: I'm hungry
Me: you had breakfast, you had a snack and a cup of juice, what more could you possibly need?
A: I need a pomegranate!

Andie put a xbox headphone on-
A: Hello this is your captain speaking
JJ does the same thing a few minutes later: welcome to McDonald's can I take your order?

A: Brady guns aren't heavy...well maybe to ants.

B: I want to go home and see a superhero
Cam: Oh really, who's a superhero?
B leans in and whispers: Choppy, he is superhero Choppy.

Me: Whoever cleans the most in your room gets a brownie. (Brady runs to his room to clean)
A: Ummm, I'm fine. Who made the brownies?
Me: I did
A jumps up: I'm going to clean the most!!!

Mean Mom

Today Cameron and I took little Brady to get his hair cut. We have been growing it out for a year now and I thought it would be a good idea to cut it off and start over again. I wanted to see him all cleaned up for a while and for the fast approaching holidays. He wasn't happy at the barber to see his "football" hair falling to the ground in a mess all around him. He was silent during the entire process. I just thought it was because he was tired and confused because it is so unlike him to have nothing to say. After his nap it was very clear that he wasn't silent because he was tired, it was because he was very upset.

 Pictures taken last week of Brady with his "Tom Brady" hair

 Picture today of the, not so found of, "Batman" hair

 Maybe I cut it because I miss this little guy?!

Over the course of the last year he has become very attached to his hair, in fact he has been calling himself Tom Brady ever since he saw that they had the same name AND haircut, thus the evolved term "football" hair. Everywhere we would go people would comment about his hair, nothing ever bad, thank goodness because I am pretty sure Brady would have tackled them. "Oh my, he has the most beautiful hair coloring!" "oh how cute, he looks like a little surfer boy," "the long hair is adorable on him," you know, stuff like that. Brady loved to look at his silly hair in the mirror after his morning showers and with a big cheesy grin would say, "oooooh, look at Tom Brady's hair! HAHAHA!" To say he liked his hair would be a gross understatement, he adored it, he appreciated it, he enjoyed it, he was found of it...the kid LOVED his hair. Now, I have to admit, none of this occurred to me until this afternoon. When we got home I laid him down for his nap. Brady slept for several hours which was heaven for mommy, but when he woke up he was in panic. I went to his room to get him and he was laying on the floor touching his hair crying, "I want Brady hair, I want Brady hair back. I don't like batman hair anymore..." Oh yeah the reason I took him to get the haircut in the first place was because a few nights ago he had asked for a batman haircut. We continued to talk about it over the next several days before I finally took him in this morning. BAD IDEA. I picked him up and calmed him down and we went into the other room to change his diaper. Once he stood up, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and he once again touched his hair and started to cry. I FELT HORRIBLE. I put him down and explained that it would grow back and I was sorry, he ran over to Andie, gently and loathingly grabbed her hair and cried, "I want Andie's hair..." I thought my little heart was gonna break. I sat on the floor and held him while he cried. I hadn't realized what an attachment this child had made to his hair, it had become a part of him and his little personality, and I took it away from him. He is that tomato plant that's in shock right now because we cut too much too fast. He has gotten better throughout the day, later he touched his hair and said, "what's this?" to which I replied, "it's your new haircut!" he said, "oh yeah." and I reminded him that soon it would all grow back to Tom Brady hair.
SO YEAH, I AM PRETTY MUCH THE WORST MOM EVER!!!

Andie & Brady Quotes Sept. 2010

A: "Mom, did you get me a drink
Me: "I did."
A: "Good, I was counting on ya!"

"When I was a Disney character I put on a Woody costume and ate the hay cause that's what cowboys do." -A

"I was a little bit angry that I didn't get to see the tigers but it's ok, I'm only upset about it now." -A after we left the zoo early do to the extreme heat.

A: "When I go back to Madagascar with Clayton can I bring my dog?"
Cam: "I think they might eat your dog hun."
A: "This cute guy? Noooooooooo!"

A: "I'm gonna stay this tall forever."
Jaden: "Why?"
A: "cause my mom wants me to"
Jaden: "but why?"
A: "my mom says I can't grow up."

"Daddy, when Andie was a little boy did she's pays football?" -B

Brady spotted Jessie and Woody at Disneyland, "there are my cousins!!!"

A: "Hey mom, what letter starts with Popsicle?" she runs to me out of breath
Me: "P"
A: "ok, p p p p...." and runs back

Little girl at church talking and having a brain fart: "want.....want....want..."
B: "Want what?! Gosh!"

A: "Brady let's go in our room, close the door so you can scream in the dark and I'll laugh"

Brady watching Sunday football: "wow, there's me and daddy....oh, he tackled me!"

B: "I am a baby football player, not a big guy one."

B: "Crunch, crunch, did you hear mom? that's what the apple chips say."

A: "I want a snack. I want the slippery cheese. You know the cheese that's on top of the Brie cheese? I want it. In my tummy."

"My balls, they came. They are my friends!" -Brady when the balls he was playing with rolled back to him
___________________________________________

Probably the funniest comment from Andie to date:
"Do you remember when my tiger was dying and we had to take him back to the zoo?"
Wha?!? That came out of nowhere and Cam and I erupted in laughter.

I'm a Slacker

I do realize that I am have been quite a slacker at blogging lately, but all that is about to change. I don't ever post because we don't have Internet in our new house...yet. I scheduled an appointment this afternoon to get everything all hooked up on Monday so after that I will have no more excuses not to post. Who knows, after that you might even get some pictures!!!

Growing Girl

I can't believe how big my Andie is getting! She's not even 4 and already has almost outgrown her car seat. Last week we were at the store checking out the boosters. I noticed while at Target that they are getting smart, they have a place to measure your child and then have all the seats categorized for you. What a time saver!
I couldn't help but look at the new infant seats they have out. Andie had the kind that has the base, hers was identical to the cosco car seat base. Someone gave us a different brand car seat but with this base you can use ANY designer brand infant seat. Whoever thought of the base was a genius and deserves to be a millionaire! I loved it, and it made my life so much easier especially the second time around!
When she outgrew the infant seat, I went out and got her yet another Cosco brand seat. I got the convertible Alpha Omega Elite because it can be used all the way through the booster stage and it was the highest rated with Consumer Reports that year. Yay, money saved...or so I thought. Turns out I have tall kids, really tall. My little Andie is just about too tall for the convertible car seat hence the booster shopping. Once we get the new booster purchased all that'll be left will be to add a DVD player with two screens to the back seats!

I Wanna Be a Food Blogger Too!

I love to cook. I love to think that I am good at cooking, and my husband and family are nice enough to agree. I get great joy in researching and recreating some of my restaurant favorites. On more than one occasion, I have done better than the famous dish. I could watch the Food Network all day long if I didn't have other responsibilities like, taking care of kids, cleaning, making meals, and being a devoted wife. When we lived in Utah I was able to cook A LOT. We made (almost)every single meal from scratch. I am not a huge fan of premade food and I try very hard to avoid it, in fact, on lazy days I often kick myself for not having a frozen dinner that I can just throw in the oven. When I was cooking all the time I got good at it, really good. We would have friends come over several times a week to share meals with us, because seriously, who can cook for just 2 people? They loved the food too.
If I am being honest my fist love is baking, but in the last year or two, cooking has become almost as fun. Since moving to San Diego I haven't been cooking nearly as much as I would like. You know as well as I do that cooking meals from scratch gets pretty pricey pretty quick. I love when I am watching someone chef on tv and they say something along the lines of, "a home cooked meal doesn't have to cost a fortune," I want to smack them. Unless the meal is made up of the bare essentials, it is going to cost a good $20-$40 and that times 7 is between $140-$280 a week, just for dinner! If you are anything like me, your bare essentials includes but isn't limited to, some meat or chicken in the freezer, several boxes of almost gone cereal, 20 gallons of milk in the fridge, an onion that I never got to, 15 cans of assorted foods/veggies, 10 pounds of flour and sugar, 3 bags of white rice, pasta, a few sauces, vanilla, dried basil, seasoning salt, pepper, soy sauce, 1 too many bottles of ketchup, 13 packages of hotdogs, some bread in the freezer, shredded cheese, and a half dozen eggs. I am sure you are looking at my list going, "what the?!?" I have kids, cereal is the meal of choice hot dogs are a close runner up and milk/crystal light is all they drink. I don't think that I actually know how to shop and keep my kitchen stocked with essentials. One day I will master this too.
As of late, I have become totally enthralled with food blogs. Oh my gosh, these self taught, stay at home Mommy and Daddy chefs are amazing. Where do they find the time, energy and money to make these elaborate dinners? Not only that, the chefs and their families are always rail thin! The dishes that some of these people come up with are ridiculously imaginative but what is even more impressive to me are their pictures of their dishes! Are these people closet professional photographers too? I mean, really! I try, I want to be creative, where is my gene? I guess the people who are born chefs are also born food photographers.
The day I figure out how to photograph my food creations is the day I will start a food blog. Not necessarily of recipes I have come up with, but recipes I researched, tried and succeeded with.

Confession Time

Not me, YOU!!!

I just came across this comment from a post in June. I have no idea who it is, pretty sure that's the point, but I would LOVE to find out. Come on "Vinnie", who are you? I want to say thank you for the good laugh!
-Amber


"Vinnie said...
Yo Amber, dis here is Vinnie. You prolly no some1 named Vinnie so its like we no each other alreddy. I saw your plee for help and I hope Im not to late. I would be happe to watch your little kidlins for youse. I have been gainfully employed by the State of Utah for what was expected to be 15 years, but was only 12 for good behavyur. I was such a dedicated workur that I lived where I worked. I learned how to make many things out of things that you wouldnt expect to be able to make things out of, so Im kinda like Macguyver. I lived and worked near Thanksgivin Point, which all da kidlins love, so I really no how to entertain da kids. I learned a lot while working for the State of Utah, like its just plane wrong wrong wrong to sell or traid your kids for drugs. And its even wrong to lone your kids for drugs, altho I gotta admit that I dont really understand why becuz your gonna come back for them as soon as you get your money outta da ATM. Anyway I no these things now so do not worry, I wont do any of these things no mor. Trust me. Lemme no if you still need help. Vinnie"

Andie and Brady Quotes

Sorry it's been a while since I posted quotes from Andie. Since Brady is talking up a storm he gets quite a few good ones out too. I don't always remember to write them down, but I finally realized that I could put them on my phone, which I always have with me, and now I finally have enough that I can make a full post of them.
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In the car driving to Disneyland around nap time and Brady was falling asleep, "Brady you are not tired, we are going to Disneyland mister!" -Andie

Talking about when Kate, Lauren and Molly were in town, "Yeah, we played sleeping bag roller coaster. It was really really funny and I was laughin' like crazy!" -Andie

Andie: "Mom, you have have big boobies?"
Me: "Yes."
Andie: "Well Daddy has short ones."

"Well that could be an idea mom, I'm glad you're thinkin' again!"-Andie

Andie was holding Brady in a chock hold and telling me what happened, "Brady's slerber camed out his mouth all by itself!" -Andie trying to say slobber

"Mom, Brady just squeezed my bone." -Andie talking about her arm

Andie was playing with a laundry basket and came limping in the room, "Ow ow, I was sailing the boat and I hurt my toe! Can you believe that boat?!"

While I was brushing A's hair she grabbed my necklace and in the exact voice as Capt. Jack Sparrow said, "Where did you get this?"

"Help me put on my swimmin' soup Momma." -Brady talking about his suit

"Mom, I need to go find wild animals outside!" I laughed hard at the urgency in her voice. "No no no, there's craaaaazy animals out there!" -Andie

Brady: "Can I have some gum please?"
Whitney: "What'd you say Brady?"
Brady: "My name is PRINCE CHARMING!!!"
(he's obsessed with Shrek 3)

I was fixing my skirt and Brady said to me, "Put your wiener down mom!"

"Girls have a crotch AND a butt, boys, they have a wieners."-Brady
(what can I say, he's a boy and loves potty talk, don't judge me!)