manning

One of the Reasons I Am Enemies With Snow

2012-01-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Twice in the last three days, my plans to go grocery shopping have been foiled by impromptu blizzards that make it onto YouTube. That means food is getting a little scarce around these parts. Scarce meaning that my fridge is pretty much down to condiments and Diet Coke (because I would never run out of that, that is just crazy).
Last night, while the snow was coming down in droves while I was supposed to be at Costco, I had to get creative. I dug back to my Snow College roots and we had cheese fries for dinner.

Holden was not entirely convinced, so I brought out some carrots and pineapple to help me sleep at night.

P.S. I just realized my last three posts have included pictures of Holden sitting at the table. I promise we do things besides eat...Well, Reo and Holden do. I am 14 and a half months pregnant. All I do is eat.

The Trickiest Part of Parenting my 3 Year Old

2012-01-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

All of the sudden, the kid is on to me when I try to throw his stuff away. You know, important stuff, like his coloring pages, broken toys, half eaten apples...Stuff like that. He seems to have a sixth sense about when one of these "treasures" has made it into the trash and gives me the third degree about why I could have possibly thought it was a good idea to throw away what was apparently his most prized possession. It's like the garbage police live here.

Sorry kid, our house is on the market. Only the necessities make it out alive. If I can live without a microwave, you can live without the hair covered gooey hand you got out of the quarter machine at the grocery store.

He's cute though, right?

Big Plans

2012-01-01T22:19:00.001-07:00

I had big plans for New Year's Eve..Big plans involving getting caught up on episodes of Parenthood and eating my weight in ice cream. Instead, I gave up and went to bed at 10 o' clock. Must have been an inspired decision, as Holden was up at 6 AM to ring in the New Year. I thought it was because he was sooo excited about going to the "big kid Sunbeam class" at church today.

Turns out he had a bad dream that he lost one of his quarters.

Ahh, 2011. The highs were high and the lows were low. I am expecting no less for 2012, as I have come to realize that that's what years are like when you are a grown up. I am still crossing my fingers for more of the high highs than the low lows.

Happy 2012!

Twas Two Days After Christmas..

2011-12-27T13:49:00.001-07:00

..and all through the house, there is lots of post Christmas recovery to take care of, so I am blogging instead.

We ate a lot:

Pictured: Holden giving my cinnamon rolls (30 by 30 checkmark!) a thumbs down. He was totally wrong by the way, because they were awesome; Christmas Eve dinner extravaganza.
Not Pictured: The 14,000 other times we ate good food.

We got visited by Santa:

Pictured: Checking on Santa's location one last time before bed; Running around like a maniac checking on all our Christmas spoils
Not Pictured: Holden holding still and/or looking at the camera. Santa's gifts wait for no man.

We literally opened presents for hours.

Pictured: SOME of the presents we had shoved into my parent's living room (in our defense, there were 12 of us)...But we were also spoiled. Baby Girl even got her fair share of gifts in utero; a happy three year old opening said gifts.
Not Pictured: Holden picking out which present he would open next while there were still 10 people to go before his turn came around again.

We took obligatory awkward family photos

Pictured: My way too pregnant belly; MORE of my way too pregnant belly next to a cute and tiny pregnant belly in the form of my sister in law; and proof of my inability to take a picture without giving someone creepy glass eye (I thought the camera on the iPhone was supposed to be foolproof, what am I doing wrong?)
Not pictured: TONS of other people, because we were lucky enough to see so much family that if I posted all the photos you would still be reading this blog post tomorrow, when you really wish it was already over.

Oh, also? Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

2011-12-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have been determined not to let Christmas slide through my chubby pregnant fingers the way Halloween did, so we have been living it up with the Christmas activities this year.

Exhibit A: Since Holden is still not a fan of Santa's beard, we decided to write a letter instead. Holden can still ask for his Firehouse Legos and Thomas Train Set, but doesn't have to be creeped out by the big guy...Everyone wins.

Exhibit B: We went to the Festival of Trees and ogled impossibly intricate gingerbread houses and took funny pictures of ourselves while waiting for the REAL point of going, watching the dancers. That's everyone's favorite part, right? Oh, that's just Holden, then? Hmmm..

Exhibit C: Inspired by the impossibly intricate gingerbread houses, we decided to construct some of our own. Pay no mind to the fact that if you look too closely you will see that they are actually haunted gingerbread houses. Halloween clearance will not be ignored, people! P.S. Holden put exactly two pieces of candy on the gingerbread house before declaring he was going to go watch Netflix. Scrooge.

Exhibit D: We have been doing LOTS of Christmas crafts in our underwear. Well, Holden is in his underwear. I am usually wearing sweatpants.

Exhibit E: We also play with our nativity sets a lot. I have been finding baby Jesus' all over the house. Maybe Holden just thinks I need some reminders of the reason for the season.

In non Christmas news--Reo had a birthday. It went both undercelebrated and under photographed...Sorry honey. I'll try again next year.

Holden and I celebrated Reo's big day by seeing a movie (some family we are) (also, 30 by 30 alert).

Reo missed out on an empty theater and typical Holden gems such as...

"I used to watch The Muppets when I was a kid!"

"That's okay, I will just leave it at the movie theater." (said after dropping his Junior Mint on the floor).

"Oh no! I forgot my Kitty Piano!"

and finally,

"These Junior Mints are delicious! Even the minty ones!"

More Christmas festivities to come!

30 By 30

2011-12-04T15:44:00.003-07:00

Normally, I really enjoy making New Year's Resolutions. Sometimes I even keep them. However, I don't plan on making any for 2012. Mostly I plan on spending a good portion of the year in a hugely pregnant/new baby fog. BUT, since the very beginning of 2013 will bring a new decade to my life, I have decided to try and complete an infamous list of 30 things to accomplish before I am 30. That gives me 13 months and one day. Some things on my list aren't exactly ambitious, but still need to be done. So before you judge, remember the whole hugely pregnant/new baby thing and cut me some slack.

Without further ado, here is my 30 by 30 list:

~~1. Make homemade cinnamon rolls. (Since I am afraid of yeast, this is a terrifying one for me).~~

2. Have coordinating family Halloween costumes.

3. Give Birth

4. Go "Unplugged" for 3 days...No TV, movies, internet or games on my phone. Phone calls and texts don't count. Mostly because I don't make many of those.

5. Make something for the baby....So if anyone has any no fail ideas, keeping in mind my utter lack of craftiness, please let me know. This one makes me nervous.

6. Buy a house...P.S. If you know anyone who wants to buy a really cute condo, send them my way!

7. Read a "classic" book...One I haven't already read. Again, I am open to suggestions if you have any you liked.

8. Go To Disneyland.

9. Make 72 hour kits for my family.

10. Learn how to properly clean a bathtub. This is one household chore that continues to best me time after time.

11. Stay at least 50 dollars under my grocery budget one month. Right now I pretty much go over every month, so heaven help me with this.

12. Buy a good pair of jeans.

13. Make my passwords more secure. I am currently probably asking to get hacked...Dear Internet creepers, I am doing this one soon, so don't get any ideas. Thanks.

14. Finish organizing my photos. I got a good start earlier this year, and then gave up halfway through.

15. Use the gift card Reo gave me for a massage for Mother's Day.. 2010...I know, I know, but I am really afraid of strangers touching me, so I have been avoiding using it.

16. Try a new (to me) restaurant. Can't be a chain restaurant.

17. Complete a Couch to 5K program. Given my current situation and my overall laziness, this is probably the most unrealistic goal on the list.

18. Fix the giant hole in the bumper of my car.

19. Cook a ham.

20. Send out birth announcements. I didn't do this with Holden, and I probably should have. Emailed birth announcements count if I get desperate.

21. Put blonde back in my hair.

22. Get CPR/First Aid certified.

23. 100 percent potty train Holden. I am seriously not kidding when I say I live in fear that this will be the last thing on my list to be completed.

24. Watch a movie that won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Suggestions?

25. Learn how to cook an artichoke. Those little poke-y vegetables intimidate me to no end.

26. Complete this 30 day Mom Challenge.

27. Take a spontaneous Day Trip/Overnighter. As in, decided the day of.

28. Put aside enough money for a car rental/gas for our Hawaii trip. (Probably around $500).

~~29. Take Holden to his first movie.~~

30. Set up a chore system for Holden. Besides me begging him to help me pick up and him saying "I will just watch you do it."

There you have it. I will probably be updating as things get completed, you know, for the whole accountability factor. But, the more I look at it, the more I realize those are going to be some pretty boring posts (A picture of me with an artichoke? Yawn.) Consider yourself warned.

"These are my Thanksgiving pants!"**

2011-11-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

That's right, to celebrate the gluttony that is Thanksgiving I made the switch to maternity pants, and I am thankful I did, as I literally ate until it hurt to move.

Other Thanksgiving things I am thankful for:

(Unusually) None of my Thanksgiving food contributions were inedible/really really ugly to look at.

(Not as unusually) neither were anyone else's contributions.

To make up for my Halloween laziness, Holden and I successfully completed a Fall themed craft while it was still technically Fall.

Probably the number one reason I decided to have kids was to make the holidays fun again. Holden is not disappointing me. I could not love more that it is 100 percent obvious that a 3 year old decorated my tree. There are bare spots galore along with the occasional branch dripping with 4 or 5 ornaments. And almost all of the ornaments have been relocated at least once to make room for Holden's newest favorite game "Ornament Plinko"--AKA dropping ornaments through the tree branches onto the ground and cheering about all the money you just earned.

I get to peek in on this sleeping face at night. Which believe me, I do a LOT after a rough day.

For the record, I am NOT currently thankful for Blogger, as I had a bunch more pictures to post (you know, ones of actual people and stuff), but they kept rotating funny and I got bored/annoyed.

**For those not in the know--title is courtesy of an episode of Friends. Just thought I should clarify.

Free to be Three

2011-11-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Holden has been three for a good month now, so I figured I was overdue for one of those cheesy growing up posts I like to do every once in a while. Thanks for indulging me.

The biggest difference between two year old Holden and three year old Holden is that he is starting to assert his independence. Despite the bad rap of the "terrible twos," Holden really didn't care too much about testing boundaries or doing things his way. Now he does, by the way. Now he does big time. But when I think about it, I can't blame him too much. He has a lot to catch up for. He turned 11 while I wasn't looking.

Proof:

The Stats:
37.5 inches (50th percentile) (more importantly, only 2.5 inches away from riding all the good rides at Disneyland).
34 lbs 3 oz (75th percentile).

The Things He Likes:
Candy
Quarter Machines
Having unintelligible conversations with Siri (the creepy robot lady on my cell phone).
Playing Plants Vs. Zombies

The Things He Doesn't Like:
Eating Dinner
Sleeping
Going To The Dentist (He hasn't actually been yet, by the way, nor does he have any upcoming appointments, but he tells me pretty much daily that he doesn't want to go, so I am expecting THAT to be a treat when the time comes).
Santa's Beard

Funny/Weird/Random Stuff He's Been Saying Lately:

Me: What are you doing?
Holden: Just talking to Siri!
....

Holden: Is your cell phone in here, by chance?
...

Me: Holden, do you have to go potty?
Holden: Don't tell me if I need to poop!
...

Holden: Does the baby have any toys or anything in your belly?

So there you go, a little snapshot of Holden's third year thus far. Hope you weren't too bored.

Potty Training Is My Nemesis

2011-11-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

And the worst part is I am pretty sure he is doing an okay job, especially considering we are only a week in and we each lost a couple of days to the evil stomach flu that took down our house last week..

Someone please tell me it gets better, and the rest of my life won't be spent with "Do you have to go potty?" being the most frequent words I say.

And it's too late to tell me to wait until he's ready, because ready or not, I didn't let my kid eat almost an entire bag of Skittles in one weekend for nothing. We're committed.

Oh Yeah....

2011-11-07T21:21:00.003-07:00

So, remember how in August of 2010 I started some sort of schooling? Then remember how back in May, Julie and I went to Indiana for a graduation ceremony? Well, in August, I finished said schooling, but since I had already gone through the whole celebration of a graduation, my school work just sort of...ended. All of a sudden, school was over and all I had to show for it was more free time. Until now...

Last week I checked the mail and found this waiting for me. How cool is that? I had practically forgotten that one of these was coming my way. If only we had an office or something in which to display it. I'm guessing I'd look a little pretentious if I hung it in our living room.

And I Don't Even Feel Guilty...

2011-11-05T11:23:00.001-06:00

Yesterday at Target, these delightful treats (in the running for my favorite candy EVER)

found their way into my basket along with my Halloween clearance items.

And, on the way home, Holden and I cursed FM 100 because they weren't playing Christmas music.
Merry Christmas!

And for those of you who are worried about Thanksgiving, don't worry. He and I have an understanding. He knows I love him and fully intend to celebrate my guts out on November whatever day Thanksgiving is this year. He's just not the kind of holiday I want to celebrate for months on end.

My Weak Attempt At Documenting Halloween

2011-11-02T21:16:00.000-06:00

We didn't do much for Halloween this year. There were no pumpkin patches, there was no pumpkin carving, I didn't decorate, heck, Holden even insisted on recycling his costume from last year despite many requests by his parents to be something else. Add to that the fact that I was camera-less for almost the entire month of October and this makes for one sad excuse for a Halloween post. But thanks to some mediocre pictures from Reo's phone, some photos taken by other people and a Halloween miracle of the arrival of my replacement camera I will do my best to piece together some sort of Halloween memories for 2011.

Not Pictured: Holden making sugar cookies with his Aunt Emily and insisting on more hearts and Christmas bells than Halloween related shapes. And eating so much of the dough that there were very few cookies to show for the event anyways.

Pictured: Annual Halloween party with friends where the Manning Family costumes fail each year to measure up to everyone elses. Could be because we aren't great costumers anyway, and we all tend to shed pieces throughout the night, so by the time photos are taken at the end of the shindig only traces of our costumes still exist.

Not pictured: Any of the Halloween themed crafts/activities I thought about doing with Holden all month (sorry, sweetie, Mom's pregnant this year).

Pictured: Holden's nursery leaders at church saving the day and giving him a pumpkin to decorate.

Not pictured: Trick or Treating at Grandpa's office, where Holden was able to do a practice run for the big night.

Pictured: Realizing that I have a marathon trick or treater on my hands. The kind that in a couple of years will be mapping out lengthy routes and coming home with pillowcases full of candy. This kid was in heaven. He lasted about 25 houses longer than the 5 I expected him to last, and as soon as the candy hit his bucket he turned to us and asked "Are there more houses after this?!?" Add to the fact that we caught up with my parent's next door neighbors who happily took Holden under their wing and let him tag along with them, and I firmly believe he could have gone all night if we had let him, despite the fact that by the end of the night his little bucket weighed as much as him.

Pictured: Despite all the trick or treating fun, when we got back to my parent's house he was still hungry for more and insisted on helping pass out candy to the other kids.

Pictured: Enjoying my favorite part of Halloween, sorting through all the loot you bring home. Must be Holden's favorite part too, as he asks to "sort" his candy about 10 times more often than he actually asks to eat a piece.

Pictured: And finally, refusing to let the Halloween spirit die and recycling trick or treating buckets into "slippers," where we have to dance to the song "This is Halloween" over and over...and over.

Can I just tell you how much fun it is to be a mom of a 3 year old? Because it is crazy fun.

Some Thank Yous...

2011-10-23T19:09:00.000-06:00

Thanks to an impractical pregnancy impulse buy I ended up with a case of peaches a couple of weeks ago. That's 24 pounds. For two people (Reo doesn't eat peaches...I know, he's not right).

Thanks to a brilliant idea from a brilliant friend, I decided to make embarrassingly easy freezer jam.

Thanks to a last minute rescue in the form of an ingredient delivery by my mom, the jam actually got completed instead of thrown away.

Thanks to my camera deciding to kick the bucket I took this measly picture on Reo's phone to document my success.

Thanks to my dad wondering if anything I ever make ever turns out the way I want it to, since I never blog about it, this documentation made it onto the blog.

Basically, what I am trying to say is...YOU GUYS, I MADE JAM! And not to brag or anything,and contrary to what this photo photo suggests, but it actually tastes GOOD!

Items Of Business

2011-10-19T13:44:00.000-06:00

1. Figure out how to double our clothing budget.

2. Figure out how to obtain infinite more closet space.

3. Buy this dress from Baby Gap as soon as it goes on a decent sale.

4. Accept the fact that Baby Girl Manning will definitely not have a name until birth...if not her first birthday. If you have any suggestions, send them our way, PLEASE. Reo is in full out veto mode, so maybe if the names come from someone other than me he won't be so quick to reject them.

They Say It's Your Birthday...

2011-10-16T21:32:00.000-06:00

Holden turned three yesterday, and it was a pretty great day all around. The weather was awesome, it was a Saturday, so Reo got to be home all day and Holden's much anticipated "Beatles Party" was finally here. Seriously, if you know this kid, he has been talking about his Beatles party for months and has been so excited about all the details. In fact, when I made a last minute change to the menu to accommodate my pregnant laziness it ticked Holden right off.

Disclaimer: I use the term "party" really loosely here. Mostly I had my family over for our traditional birthday dinner. Holden doesn't really know that many kids, and when you have a kid birthday party you have to entertain them and stuff, which I am SO not ready for. So, while all the food and decor ideas were pretty much lifted straight from here, I dumbed it down to meet my needs...and then I dumbed it down more and more the closer I got to the actual event and the more and more pregnant/tired I got.

Disclaimer #2: This is still a really long post. Sorry in advance.

All our food was Beatles themed, including Yellow Submarine Sandwiches and Here Comes the Sun Chips, Holden's two personal faves.

I think this year I actually took pictures of everyone who came.

We played Beatles Bingo where my ''artwork" was sufficiently mocked (I knew I should have outsourced that task to someone more talented), and had Beatles themed prizes.

Then came Holden's favorite part of the night...presents. After opening each on he exclaimed loudly about his "BRAND NEW (fill in the blank)." You know, because usually the kid only gets old, used up stuff.

Then, of course there was cake.

Which Holden thoroughly enjoyed. Look at that face. Could not have been happier that everyone was singing Happy Birthday to HIM.

And the biggest ways Holden turning three let me know that he is not a baby anymore: He blew out his own candles and used a fork to eat his birthday cake. I may or may not have wanted to cry a little bit.

Whew, you have officially survived another marathon Holden's Birthday post. You have until next October to recover. Use your time wisely.

Anatomy Of Naptime

2011-10-06T14:42:00.000-06:00

Remember two short months ago when I wrote this post about my sweet angelic child who slept like a champ and life was great? HA.

Here's how Holden's nap time more frequently goes these days.

1. Stall like crazy: Figure out that after lunch, comes nap and therefore take 28 years to eat your last 3 crackers. Then insist on drinking every last drop of your milk.

2. Try being cute: In response to "okay, Holden, it's quiet time" say things like "Or, we could sit on the couch and cuddle!"

3. Stall like crazy: Insist on 14 stuffed animals, a toy from the living room and multiple glasses of water. Oh yeah, and the light on. And the door open just a little bit, please...

4. Sit quietly and plan your next attack: This is crucial, because then your mom thinks she can get things done/play on the internet.

5. Get out of bed and get out all of the toys in your room. This includes, but is not limited to opening all boxes of toys with small parts, dumping an entire bin of books onto your bed, and finding all those dumb happy meal toys to hide in the nooks and crannies of your bed for safe keeping.

6. Declare some of these happy meal toys too scary for naptime and one by one put them outside your door.

7. Make sure your room is properly torn apart. Rip a few pillows from their pillowcases, locate and open up your baby wipes, and take off your pants for good measure.

8. Come out of your room with a big smile on your face and say "I woked up!"
Nap time over.

Just Me, Reo and 14,000 Tweenagers

2011-09-29T21:43:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah, and Taylor Swift.

And I loved every minute of it.

Note to self: Teach Reo how to take the awkward camera phone self portraits so that HE is the one that looks like a gigantic Amazon person instead of me.

Smarter Than A 5th Grader

2011-09-24T14:21:00.000-06:00

So, when I was in the 5th grade, we learned about states/state capitals/state nicknames/etc. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I learned the heck out of those states. I could give you all sorts of United States trivia in my sleep. What can I say, I just found it interesting...Some of it could be that I was terrified of my 5th grade teacher and didn't want to draw any negative attention to myself, but mostly I just really liked it.

I am proud to say that Holden is following in my footsteps. The kid found our old United States puzzle and was fascinated. Not exactly age appropriate, but as we know, if Holden is entertained by something, ANYTHING, I usually just go with it.

Now he is obsessed. He can identify all the states and where they go. He has no less than three United States puzzles and they all get played with daily. Multiple times. So many times that I got bored and decided to start teaching him state capitals while I was at it, and he now knows about 15 of those (mostly the "funny" ones. We think Little Rock is HILARIOUS around this house).

Like I said, couldn't be prouder. Too bad I never excelled at say...mathematical equations. That might get him a little further in life.

Anyway, this video is proof of the obsession.

Disclaimer: The video is one of those things that only a mother could truly love...Or even fully care about, so if you don't watch I won't be offended. Just go ahead and leave a comment praising his brilliance and I won't know the difference anyway.

Survival Mode

2011-09-19T20:17:00.000-06:00

Summer officially comes to an end this week. This usually makes me really really sad. This year is a little different. Whenever anyone asked me if I had any fun plans for this summer, I was usually only partly kidding when I answered "survive." Our whole family spent the summer in what I like to call Survival Mode.

He spent the summer working like crazy at a new job and finishing up a particularly demanding quarter of school filled with daily conference calls and a killer Finance class.

To show for this he has a brand spanking new diploma. We are also all carrying about 2 pounds of graduation cake weight (that Costco cake is good stuff!).

He survived an absentee father and exhausted mother, and way more hours than I would like to admit of Netflix streaming.

To show for it has has an intimate friendship with the cast of Superwhy, and as a result can spell the word spell.

I survived spending a lot of time lounging here, on my BFF, my new couch.

I know, lazy, right?? Probably so, but apparently growing a person once again takes a lot out of me. And I have now officially grown almost 42 percent of a person. Come March 1st(ish) 2012 the fruits of my ~~laying on the couch~~ labors will be fulfilled.

So, while I am always sad to see summer go and will be cursing winter before I know it, I will not miss having an MIA husband, TV zombie child or morning sickness. I do miss Diet Coke.

Dear Target

2011-09-08T13:47:00.000-06:00

As always, thanks for being home to the best 5 dollars I have spent all day.

($2.50 for the super cute bowl and $2.50 for the essential giant bag of candy corn to go in it.)

Love,
Juliana

A Bedtime Story

2011-08-15T13:42:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Holden.

He was an angelic child who had no interest in climbing out of his crib. His mother was a big fan of sleeping all night long without worrying about finding a Holden in her bed in the middle of the night, so she was in no hurry to make any sort of change.

However, Holden was pushing his third birthday and was rapidly running out of space in his crib, so his parents finally gave in.

I give you, Holden's Big Boy Room....

I tried to find a before picture of his nursery, but turns out I didn't take one. But it used to have brown walls. And zero artwork, so although his new room may look slightly bare, it is actually an improvement. What can I say, decorating is not one of my strengths.

The moral of the story? All my worrying was in vain, because Holden is still an angelic child and stays put in his bed and calls to me in the morning when he is ready to get out. He did fall out once, but I don't think he remembers it. The hardest part of the transition? Having the strength to turn the poor kid down every.single.night when he asks if I want to have a sleepover party in his bed with him.

Bonus--now we have room for guests, and just in time, since we are having our very first guests later this week! More to come (probably).

The End.

I Haven't Been Blogging

2011-08-07T15:19:00.000-06:00

But we are still alive, doing all the same fun and not as much fun things that I typically like to blog about. I have just felt zero need to document these things. I am hoping this post will put me squarely back on the wagon. Here is an adorable Holden picture to tide you over.

How Our Fourth Flew By

2011-07-06T14:00:00.000-06:00

Honestly? Our 4th of July was probably spent the same way 99 percent of the rest of the country spent their 4th of July, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

1. We went to a parade. Last year, the fact that we were at a parade was enough to make Holden clap his guts out. This year, Holden discovered that people throw candy and it about gave him an aneurysm. Stakes are high for next year.

2. You know how I really like to pick out Holden's Easter outfit? Well, Reo feels just as strongly about a perfect 4th of July shirt. He was very pleased with his choice this year.

3. I have been promising Holden for months that when it was July we would play with water balloons. He has since asked daily whether it is July yet, so I decided to finally fulfill my promise. And by fulfill, of course I mean pawned the task off on my brother.

4. We attended multiple extended family gatherings. One of which went entirely unphotographed (by me, other, more ambitious people were taking photos). The other went pretty much unphotographed by me except for this photo.

5. The one thing I didn't do that the rest of you probably did? Fireworks. Holden and I have bedtimes that we both hold very dearly. Holden did burn through about 40 sparklers at the unphotographed event mentioned above, so imagine you see a really cute picture of Holden not getting burned (hallelujah) here.

6. And as always, we stayed well hydrated throughout the weekend.

Don't worry haters---it was caffeine free.

My Thoughts on Father's Day

2011-06-18T22:14:00.005-06:00

(Warning: Wordy post with pictures below to make up for it)
It's been a while since a "Reo" post showed up on here, so I thought I'd end that trend. Tomorrow will be my third Father's Day as an actual father. Being a father, or a parent in general for that matter, isn't always easy. For example, did you know that a two year old boy's favorite thing to do is whatever you have just told him not to do? I had no idea. Anyway, this past year has been especially tough for me, what with juggling work and school and family. Being away from Holden and Julie has been difficult. However, there are two good reasons why being a father this past year has been significantly easier than it could have been, given the circumstances:

1. Juliana. Simply put, she has been an amazing wife through all of my time away from the family. I seriously have no idea how she does it. I always tell her that her job is much more difficult than mine. There are times when I'll call her during the day and Holden is going nuts in the background and she is holding it together like a champ. I could never do that 10 - 13 hours a day, five days a week. I just wanted to say thank you to Julie for taking such good care of Holden and our house while I've been busy with work and school. You really are the best.

2. Holden. Seriously, he tries my nerves sometimes. But honestly, could you stay mad at this kid?

P.S. Sorry for the weird affects and colors, I took the pictures with some weird app on my phone, but seriously, how cute is that kid?

Being Secure in Your Manhood is....

2011-06-16T19:27:00.000-06:00

Not being afraid to always need to have your tea set close by.

Even when you are playing video games.

In case you were wondering--
Yes, my son's current favorite toy is a tea set. Judge if you feel the need, but as long as it continues to buy me a solid 45 minutes of play every day the tea set is a friend of mine.
Yes, he is playing some sort of Nintendo gaming system circa 2005. I found it in a drawer, and again, friend of mine.
Yes, Holden is having a particularly heinous hair day. That one is my fault. His baby chick texture hair continues to best me day after day.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2011-06-07T19:59:00.000-06:00

Reo had last week off of school (yay!) and was also getting ready to start a new job (YAY!!), so the stars aligned and we had 5 straight days of uninterrupted family time last week. And we enjoyed every second of it. Well, I did. And Holden did. I am pretty sure Reo was really ready to go back to work after hanging out with the two of us non-stop for so long.

Here's a glimpse at some of the ways we wasted away those vacation days:

Little boy's dream come true: Riding the train to the arcade. Life doesn't get much better than this when you are Holden.

Unless maybe you also get to play Playstation with Dad.

There were French Toast breakfasts...

And after bedtime nostalgic movie nights for the grownups..

And we explored an awesome park, where Holden became more fascinated by whether or not certain birds were or were not "pooping" than by anything that the playground had to offer.

Not Pictured:

Eating out about a million times more than was probably necessary.

Local Celebrity sighting (Bob Harmon, of grocery store fame, for those who were curious).

Diaper changes done only by Reo the whole long weekend ( I know, right? He is way more than I deserve.)

It was back to business for Reo today, but Holden and I kept the party going by having a long overdue lunch and shopping date with a friend. It's a hard life.

What's New With Two

2011-05-30T21:43:00.000-06:00

A post for all the Holden fans out there. If you are not a Holden fan, feel free to skip this one. Then again, if you are not a Holden fan, you probably quit my blog a long time ago.
Holden is two and a half now, and it is quite clear that the best part of two and a half year olds (besides the tantrums, which are awesome) is the funny things they say. Here are some gems as of late...

Best Caught Being Naughty Moment--
Reo: Holden, did you spit your drink all over the floor?
Holden: Yes.
Reo: Why did you do that?
Holden: Well, there is just one reason that I can't really think about right now.

Best Bedtime Stall Tactic--
"After bath, I am going to go to Sea World and Kindergarten!"

Best Break Your Heart Moment--
Holden: I need something to make me feel better.
Me: What do you need?
Holden: Some medicine.
Me: What hurts?
Holden: My Feelings.

Best Diet Coke Related Moment--
Yelling into the opening of a vending machine: "Can I please get a large Diet Coke please?"

Best Cat's in the Cradle Moment--
Holden: I am going to Disneyland when I am three.
Reo: With who?
Holden: Mommy, and Grandma and Grandpa.
Reo: Can I come too?
Holden: No, you will be at school.

Best Example of My Parenting Fails--
Holden: "Seriously, Holden? Are you kidding me right now?" (to himself, after doing something that he was not satisfied with)

Best One Liners--
"First things first..."
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"Is this mine, yes or no?"
"I think I will just stand here and be happy."

Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?

My Thoughts on Indiana

2011-05-13T20:14:00.001-06:00

1. No offense, Indiana, as I am sure you are a delightful place to live, but as far as visiting goes, you are pretty much dullsville. Since tourist attractions not involving racecars or steakhouses were not abundant, I made do with my own personal tourist attractions (meaning: Utah doesn't have them yet)-- H&M, Trader Joes, and Panera Bread (3 times, by the way, we are hardcore like that.) We also got doughnuts at pretty much the best--if not scariest--doughnut shop ever.

That's Reo chowing down...Okay, so I guess maybe Indiana isn't SO dullsville, since it contains so many of my favorites.

2. Another plus? While strolling through the local Borders, what should I stumble across but this...

That is my sister, Emily Wing Smith's, brand new book, called Back When You Were Easier To Love. Clearly I thought this was pretty fancy. and I recommend you stumble across it yourself at your local bookstore. Or Amazon... I told you, fancy.

3. The speed limit in Indiana seemed to max out at 55 miles per hour. This irritated Reo to no end. Regardless of the fact that we were usually being led astray by a faulty GPS, through major construction zones, usually while raining, driving the bohemeth the 18 year old boy at the rental car place thought it would be funny to give us, and we really had no business going any faster than 55 MPH anyways, he would have none of it...

Also, if we had been going faster, we wouldn't have seen this random/inappropriate license plate.

4. I will say, Indiana, you can throw a mean graduation celebration, making all the other craziness well worth it.

Reo was so excited to graduate he turned into some sort of cross between The Flash and a vampire in the Twilight movies while getting his diploma...Hopefully the professional photographer fared a little better than I did.

5. Despite the fact that I can count on no hands the amount of time longer than 4 hours that Holden and I have spent apart in about 2 years, he didn't miss me at all (most likely because he had an entire household of aunts, uncles and grandparents catering to his every whim). This enabled me to not feel one bit of guilt at leaving him behind and soaking up all the Reo-time I could (we even saw a movie, the first we saw in the theatre together since Wall-E. That's 2008, people.) I forgot how easy it is to kill a whole day when you aren't running on a two year old's schedule.

Oh, and before you get too excited for me, the graduation celebration was a bit premature for the Manning household, as Reo still has an entire quarter of school left. But the end is in sight and soon I will get to remember what Reo looks like in the daylight!

Easter Stuff

2011-04-30T23:42:00.000-06:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Easter could possibly be my favorite holiday. Here's why.

1. Dying Easter Eggs is just plain fun. And I am a fan of the hard boiled egg, so it doesn't even bother me to eat them afterwords.

2. Holden had no complaints about the process.

3. And I had no complaints about his chubby little hands that remind me just how little he still is. Nor did I have complaints about the awesome mess-free (in theory) stamping egg dying kit I found instead of those terror inducing cups of dye.

4. Easter candy is clearly the best candy ever (obviously). And your kid has to go find it in his cute pajamas (or his nasty sweatpants and a tee shirt because I was behind on laundry), which makes it that much more fun!

5. There are toys, but not too many.

6. Supposedly, the weather is getting nice enough to play outside with family (don't be fooled, it was wickedly cold in this picture.)

7. I get to play dress up on this little one, although I was solidly unimpressed with my options this year. Holden was solidly unimpressed with the photo shoot that followed, as indicated by his facial expressions that range from deer in headlights, to indifferent, to just plain over it.

8. And finally, I get to experience my annual Easter dessert fail. Seriously. I should not be allowed to bake on Easter. Or make cake pretty much ever.

Stage Parents

2011-04-19T14:24:00.001-06:00

Fact: Reo is a ginormous hockey fan.

Fact: Reo wants to pass this on to his child.

Fact: Apparently this means Holden must learn how to ice skate as soon as possible. For instance, the second Holden took his first steps, Reo had grand visions of taking him skating. I was able to hold him off for another year and a half after that, but the time has come. So even though Holden's teeny tiny feet were still too small for the smallest ice skates they had, skating we went. Well, skating THEY went. Let's not get crazy, I was just there for the pictures.

I was slightly concerned (AKA almost positive) that Holden would not quite feel the instant love Reo was hoping for, but Reo claimed he understood and would in no way have his feelings hurt if it didn't go according to plan.

As I expected, Holden was a little apprehensive at first...

And slightly more so when he saw the empty ice just for him (what can I say? We have friends in high places).

Turns out, he is a fan! What's not to like, though? Getting pushed around the ice with little to no effort on your part sounds pretty good to me (well, except for the ice part. Again, let's not get crazy).

They are both being stoic about it in the photo, but I think both Holden and Reo were thrilled with the way things turned out.

As was I, because it means that all my Toddlers and Tiaras nightmares were unnecessary.

No Vacancy

2011-04-10T20:57:00.000-06:00

Holden's crowd of bedtime buddies is getting a little excessive. It may not look like much, but there are 6 big stuffed animals, 4 mini stuffed animals, 2 tiny plastic Elmos, 2 pillows and one wooden hockey playing figure named "daddy." And don't try to put him in bed without a single one of those friends, because it won't happen. This is the bain of my existance when it comes to those stupid 2 inch high Elmos.

Add to that my 32 pound kid, his blanket and at least 3 books and you have a problem.
I see a transition to a big kid bed in the near future.
Heck, I see a transition to a king sized bed in the near future.
Either that or we are going to have to initiate some Bachelor style rose ceremonies around here....I seriously hope those Elmos get cut on the first night.

Indoorsy

2011-04-03T22:11:00.000-06:00

Springtime weather is very hit or miss. Mostly miss, if you ask me. Although on nice days we have been spending major time soaking up the sun, most of our time is still spent indoors. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to during the not so pleasant days.

Sharing our playdoh.

Practicing the air drums.

Stacking up our books before reading them--and getting all OCD when they don't stack the way we want them to.

Trying out our new "grill"--unfortunately I did not get a close up of the dollar signs on the teeth.

More makeshift drumming while in desperate need of a haircut.

And most recently, when we woke up to snow this morning, making these yummy muffins

and practicing our model poses while watching general conference on our temporary floor bed after a certain 2 year old announced--"sorry for peeing on the couch!" (Trust me, you don't want to know more.)

Okay, so really this post was mostly to do something with all the random pictures that have accumulated on my camera over the last little while, but lucky for you, my kid is cute so all the pictures are not at all excessive, right?...Right??

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday....

2011-03-15T20:42:00.004-06:00

This picture pretty much sums it up. That's Holden, examining our dear Playstation in a state of mourning before we put it in its coffin to ship it back to Sony. Sure, we'll get a "new," younger model back, but it still won't be the same. Godspeed, good friend. Thanks for the good times....

Reo's 60GB Playstation 3
September 2007 - March 5, 2011

Parenting Fail

2011-03-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

What kind of parents take their two year old to Vegas? Oh yeah, that would be us. Two overworked, exhausted parents (one of whom was in desperate need of some sunshine), who weren't willing to spend more than half a day driving, thereby eliminating pretty much anywhere else. Luckily, we don't do Vegas the "traditional" way, so our trip turned out to be remarkably family friendly. Here are some highs and lows:

Activities:
High--Finding family friendly activities to do in Vegas (quite a few).
Low--Most of those involve animals, and while Reo and Holden are huge fans, I have neutral at best feelings about looking at wildlife on my vacation (yes, I said it, and if rocks get thrown through my window I'll know it's you).
High--Like I said, Reo and Holden loved it, so it was fun to watch. Here's Holden making eyes at an alligator (or crocodile, I forgot to pay attention) and pointing out a dolphin.

High-- I am a fan of flamingos, so there was one animal exhibit I found to be fun (AND it was the free one).

Food/Beverage:

High-- Teeny tiny donuts at the buffet at TI.

High-- Best Frozen Yogurt of my life at the Mirage

High-- Eating Coldstone for dinner one night.

Low-- Pepsi pretty much OWNS the state of Nevada. I had to witness people putting Pepsi products into the beloved McDonalds cup, and in Mesquite we stopped at a gas station that did not have a single Coke product in the ENTIRE store. Desperate, I went to the Coke store on The Strip, only to find that the snack bar was closed for construction. The whole situation would have been downright humorous had I not been going through withdrawls.

Travel:

Low-- It pretty much snowed the whole way to Vegas, and some crazy truck tried to run us off the road outside of Cedar City.

High--The way back was bright and sunny, Holden slept for a good 3 hour stretch, and it was a pretty much uneventful drive.

Low--We still had to drive through the bain of my existance, Utah County.

Overall, we came back refreshed and fat, so what more can you ask for? Thanks to the generous sponsors who made this trip possible (hint: if you gave me cash for my birthday, that's you.)

Guilt

2011-02-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, (you know, when it was a downright balmy 50 degrees outside) I was feeling pretty guilty as I went through Holden's drawers and noticed that the snow boots he got for Christmas still had the tags on them.

Just a few short days later I had the opportunity to redeem myself, when it dumped 6 inches of snow on us. So, as not to tempt fate to continue dumping snow until those boots got used, off came the tags and we bundled up and went outside.

Before my camera died 5 minutes into our outing, I got a few classic shots of Holden avoiding the camera and pretty much pretending I didn't exist.

Not pictured were our awesome snow angels (blew Holden's mind by the way), beating snow off all the trees with sticks (always a fave), and making snow babies (because there was no way I was attempting a snow man. Plus, if we made a snow man Holden wouldn't have picked it up, cradled it in his arms and sung it Rock A Bye Baby, thereby melting my cold, black winter heart.)

Plus, he got a redo when it dumped ANOTHER 6 inches on us a few days later and Reo took him out to show him how it was done.

See? A whole post about winter and not one complaint! I am making progress.
Wearing snow boots twice totally justifies the end of snow season, don't you think?

My Thoughts on Grad School

2011-02-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

It's pretty much a no good, evil homewrecker, but it gave us one heck of a tax return this year, so I guess I can be bought!

Food Stuff

2011-02-07T14:23:00.002-07:00

So, I really really love soup. So much so that I have no less than 3 white chili recipes that I L.O.V.E. They all have a special place in my black heart. Please don't judge...Actually, you know what? Judge if you must, I don't mind, I'll wait....Finished? Okay. The recipe I made the other day most definitely owns the place of EASIEST white chili recipe. And since I can't be the only one who appreciates easy, I thought I would share the recipe with all of you! Now, I took a picture, but please do not judge the recipe by my picture. Just keep in mind that it is a slow cooker recipe, and slow cooker recipes, by law, must look slightly like vomit. At least in my experience. Or, there is a much more delightful picture (and the recipe!) on the website of the birthplace of this recipe, Pink Parsley. I urge you to look at her picture and then make this chili as soon as possible.

In other Domestic Win news, thanks to a no fail recipe from my sister in law Cami, I have fulfilled my New Year's Resolution of making my first ever item with yeast. I present to you, my very first attempt at pizza dough. Feel free to give me lots of praise.

The Break Up

2011-01-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

Dear January:

We are soooo over. And it's not me, it's you. Also, February's been calling me, and I've decided to take him back. Statistically, he treats me marginally better than you do. So, best wishes in your future endeavors. I seriously hope that someday we can be friends.

Love,
Juliana

Editor's Note(s):
1. You would think that I would be over writing letters to inanimate objects/intangible things/months of the year...You know, since it is the oldest trick in the blogging book. But I still like doing it, and it's my blog, so what I say goes. Thank you for your patience.

2. I can (almost) promise you that this will be the last time you hear me complain about winter...This year...I've got some tricks up my sleeve to help me get through the rest of these winter months. More to come.

Anatomy of a Sick Day

2011-01-25T11:58:00.005-07:00

Apparently my child's misery is enough to end my blogging temper tantrum. Being sick is rough, but he does have a pretty good set-up.

And the biggest indicator we have a little sickey on our hands...

This was yesterday. Holden is in slightly better spirits today. The same cannot be said for me. I am running on 2 hours of sleep and we are out of Diet Coke. If you live around these parts, keep an eye out for my SOS signals.

Curiouser and Curiouser...

2011-01-10T20:52:00.004-07:00

By the way, I am still anxiously awaiting the day that this kid doesn't look like he is being tortured when I ask him to look at the camera.

If you hang out at our house for more than 5 minutes lately, I guarantee you will hear one of the following questions from Holden. (and probably more than once):

What is that?

Where's it from?

Who bought that for you/Where'd you bought that?

Is that Holden's?

Can I eat it? (While referring to something gross/inedible...He thinks this is hilarious.)

Who's that dude/lady?

What is that dude/lady doing?

and, the most common question of all...

Can I have frazzert (dessert)?

Seriously, people. The questions never quit. At least they haven't gotten all philosophical yet.

Also, as a side note, January is not being kind to me this year. I'm over it. If I manage to post even one more time this month it will be a miracle, so unless something crazy fun happens (or someone on The Bachelor does something I can't help but judge publicly) chances are I'll see you on the other side. Peace out.

No Words

2010-12-28T14:12:00.005-07:00

Okay, some words. Christmas 2010 rocked my socks! Hope yours was just as wonderful!

Merry Christmas To All...

2010-12-25T22:06:00.007-07:00

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and to all a good night.

The Goose Is Getting Fat

2010-12-23T14:56:00.012-07:00

And Christmas is definitely coming at the Manning house!
December has been jam packed with festivities! Here's what we've been up to.

1. Holden has been rightly wary of Santa, both real and fake.
No pictures with real Santa because, well, look at how nervous fake Santa made him!

2.We went to the Festival of Trees, where we looked at hundreds of amazingly decorated trees. However, if you were to ask Holden what he did at the Festival of Trees, he would tell you that he watched dancers and clapped.

3. Reo and I celebrated our 2nd annual Manning Family Employee Appreciation Christmas Party, eating breakfast at the Grand America Hotel. Because let's face it, the grownups in this family worked hard this year! We documented the occasion by taking one of those awkward self portraits that really shouldn't have made it onto the blog. Oh well.

4. Those of my family members who were lucky enough to not have work/school/other lame-o time suckers made a gazillion cookies. Holden ate nearly all of them, and threw up that night. Merry Christmas.

5. Awesome friend party with the always entertaining white elephant game, lots of chatting, and getting 3 two year olds to sit and watch a movie (Toy Story 3, you produced a Christmas miracle, thank you).

Yes, folks, Christmas is getting close. I know this because the rad Christmas countdown chain Holden made in nursery no longer resembles this...

And our once full Christmas candy jar now looks like this...

A Big Birthday Post

2010-12-12T21:08:00.012-07:00

In the spirit of all things holiday lately, we celebrated Reo's birthday all week long this week. And seriously, if anyone deserves the birthday hoopla, it's him.
Seriously, who else do you know who wakes up at 5:30 AM, goes to work all day, studies for a million hours after work and barely has time to change his clothes before his cranky wife complains to him that she has been playing with their kid ALL DAY and needs a break.
He deserves way more than a night out at a kinda nasty bowling alley (oxymoron?), but that is what he got.

We had a good time, though, as evidenced by this picture of the back of people's heads (action shots are difficult while bowling).
And Holden totally seemed to enjoy his cheater bowling.

I enjoyed looking at Holden's teeny tiny bowling shoes.

I also enjoyed that the bowling cake I made turned out looking halfway like a bowling cake...And if you'll recall, my track record for these things is pretty much the worst.

On the actual big day, we stuck to the basics: Presents and Cold Stone cupcakes

Holden and I also handcrafted this awesome birthday banner. No coloring session at the Mannings is complete without Holden requesting I draw The Beatles, which is why there are four stick figures in the middle of our banner. What, you didn't recognize them? Shame on you.

We closed out the week with a joint birthday dinner at my parent's house for Reo and Cami, who also drew the unfortunate lot of having a December birthday. Here's a picture of the birthday kids.

Oh, and we had cake again, because, well, why not?

Happy 28th birthday, Reo! You are pretty much awesome!

You Know The Drill

2010-12-01T13:22:00.002-07:00

Good news, everyone. Christmas cards are a go. I know, right? What a relief. Just don't judge the picture too harshly and remember that in real life he is about the cutest thing that ever lived.

Not actual Christmas card photo

True to last year's promise, I only need your address if one of the following applies to you:

a. You have moved and haven't given me your new address.
b. We weren't friends last year, but we are now.
c. You didn't want a card last year, but have found the error in your thinking and changed your ways.

If any of those are you, please email your address to juliana.manning@gmail.com. And don't be shy, Costco sells their Christmas cards in packs of 50, and unfortunately I am almost sure I have far fewer than 50 friends.

Also, cards will go out on or before December 10th, so don't delay! Merry Christmas!

Best Of: Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-11-28T20:11:00.016-07:00

This year has been a big year for dragging on holiday goodness as long as possible. Thanksgiving was Thursday to Sunday. I plan on trying to make Christmas last an entire week. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the best of the best of Thanksgiving Weekend.

1. Thanksgiving

Pictured: Action shot of the meal we wait all year for & post holiday "crafting."

Not Pictured: My kid getting spoiled rotten with attention & making the rounds to scam in on dessert at as many families houses as possible.

2. Decorating The Tree

Pictured: Holden examining the decorating goods

Not Pictured: Holden getting downright fed up with the fact that he wasn't getting enough attention, and throwing a massive temper tantrum.

3. One of Santa's Elves visiting and leaving some holiday prizes

Pictured: Holden examining the goods (once again)

Not Pictured: Explaining to Holden that there is more where that came from as long as he agrees to keep his grubby paws off of the Christmas tree. So far so good.

4. Post Thanksgiving rendezvous at my Grandma's house

Pictured: Lonely Utes fan Reo during the big game, my kid getting spoiled rotten with attention (again), and a close to complete cousin photo op.

Not Pictured: Practically fruitless trip to Ikea, lunch with some of my favorite Utah County peeps, and 2 missing cousins from our cousin photo op (one missing thanks to Afghanistan, the other thanks to an unfortunate kitchen mishap.)

There you have it! Our Thanksgiving in a (kinda gigantic) nutshell. Clearly I have much to be thankful for.

Favorite Things...Oprah Style

2010-11-20T13:56:00.006-07:00

Yesterday was the Oprah's Favorite Things episode. Watching that episode inspired me to blog about some of my favorite things, which you surely care about, or you wouldn't be reading my blog, right? Also, just to be clear, I am not giving you any of things. I'M not Oprah. But feel free to check them out yourselves!

Modern Family: Clearly I am not the only person who watches this show, it's a pretty big deal. But it is probably my very favorite sitcom since the dearly departed Friends, so I have been waiting a long time for this!

Crazy 8: Affordable children's clothing where the boy clothes are often as cute, if not cuter, than the girl clothes. Because of this, you will often see Holden looking like a walking advertisement for this store.

Steel Cut Oats: Holden and I eat this for breakfast probably like 3 times a week, and Holden probably eats more of it than I do. It is delightful stuff. Now, truthfully, I am an oatmeal lover in general, so I may be biased, but trust me on this. And put maple syrup on it. You won't be sorry.

Redken All Soft Line: Reo has been super busy with school and work these days, which means that I didn't exactly have tons of afternoons free to get my haircut sans child. As a result of this, my hair got unreasonable long and slightly out of control. Switching to this conditioner made it so I could actually comb through my hair again and made me one happy camper. And now that my hair is a little less Big Love-esque, the good conditioner is a just a really nice bonus.

McDonalds Drive Through: I feel like it may be fate that McDonalds made all their drinks $1.00 right around the time I had a baby and it would be super inconvenient to get out of the car to get my Diet Coke fix. Kharma and I must be on pretty good terms right now.

The Girl Who Ate Everything Blog: I have now tried a bunch of recipes from her blog, and not one has disappointed me yet. Click on the button below if you want to go to there.

Pumpkin Bars: These delightful little treats are waiting to be shoved in my mouth right now, making my house smell like pumpkiny goodness...Well, not THESE exact pumpkin bars. Mine are still cooling and therefore are lacking frosting, but I fully intend for mine to look like this in a few short hours. Minus the super cute cake stand, because, well, I don't have one of those.

So there you have it, my very favorites as of November 2010. All rights to mind changing reserved. Anything to add?

What I Like About Two

2010-11-15T20:24:00.003-07:00

Holden has been two for a month now. Although I definitely can see why these are called the Terrible Twos, for the most part I am really enjoying my kid these days. Here's why:

The giantness of his babyhood has balanced out. As of now he is 34.5 inches (60th percentile) and 30 lbs (75th percentile). Still not a shrimp by any means, but my arms are thankful he is no longer a 99th percentile kind of kid. Especially because he has realized that walking is the pits and has reverted to wanting to be carried everywhere.

Seeing Holden learn new things is remarkable. Seeing him learn new things incorrectly is just funny. For instance, this is how he counts. 1-10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 17 and then 19 and 17 repeat themselves until you tell him he can stop counting.

He talks. A lot. And he and I have some pretty interesting conversations.
Example-
Holden: I play in cupboards?
Me: No, we aren't playing in cupboards right now.
Holden: I'm so excigeg to play in cupboards. Good choice!

Other favorites: "How's your day, mama?" and "It's okay to poop."

He does not understand the concept of playing independently. Sometimes I don't find this so endearing, particularly when I want to drink a Diet Coke or go to the bathroom, but him forcing me to play with him at all times forces me to stop and enjoy him while he still wants me around.

And now for what I DON'T like about two. I searched through every single picture I have taken of Holden since his birthday and I found these three that were acceptable. And by acceptable I mean he was A) looking at the camera, and B) not crying. My standards are not high. You may or may not be getting Christmas cards this year if this keeps up. Or maybe you'll get one with a photo of just me and Reo on it.

Welcome Home...

2010-11-07T12:38:00.003-07:00

Back in the day, (you know, three months ago) I would come home from work or studying to a warm welcome from Holden. Okay, maybe not warm, but cute. I would open the door and hear little footsteps approaching from somewhere in the house, accompanied by a little boy going, "aaaarrrrrggghhhh". Usually, he would then see me, smile, and turn around and run off. Good times.

Lately, something has changed. Now, I walk through the door and still hear the footsteps. However, instead of the "charming" scream, I get this: "I play Rock Band, Daddy? Play Rock Band?" With this request comes him grabbing my hand and leading me to the living room and the Playstation. I usually have to decline, or at least tell him that we'll play later. It can be tough though, because who can say no to this:

Next time you see Holden, maybe he can sing you a favorite from his playlist:
"The Yeah Yeah Song," AKA Uncontrollable Urge by Devo
Roxanne by the Police
Next To You by the Police
Pump it Up by Elvis Costello

Photography Fail

2010-11-04T19:13:00.002-06:00

Today was a nice day.

I decided to take Holden out and try to take some Fall pictures in his super cute (in real life...I promise) hat.

Instead, I got some pictures of Holden in what appears to be a really bad mullet wig.

Advice to self: Leave everything to the professionals...Always...

The Best Part of November

2010-11-02T19:18:00.002-06:00

Fact #1: Reo is a planner, especially when it comes to gifts.

Fact #2: Despite being such a planner, Reo also is a big fan of instant gratification.

Result: He buys my Christmas presents insanely early, and I always manage to con at least one out of him before the holidays even arrive.

This year it was this super awesome apron (pay no mind to the frazzled looking girl wearing the apron..it had been a long day.)

The best part is he made it himself!! Okay, not really, I picked it out at Ross a few weeks ago, but I had you going for a minute, didn't I?

Let the Christmas Season begin!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T14:45:00.002-06:00

Love, Holden

Easy As 1-2-3

2010-10-26T21:05:00.002-06:00

The lighting is bad, the clapping for himself almost drowns him out, and he won't even glance at the camera, but after months of effort, his ABC's are officially documented. Enjoy.

In Other News

2010-10-22T22:27:00.008-06:00

I know it appeared that last weekend was all Holden's birthday, all the time, but that actually wasn't the case. It was a big weekend for other reasons as well.

1. We went to a rockin' 30th birthday bash for my sister, where we dressed up in our best 80's attire, played Tetris, and sang 80's karaoke.

Holden was trying on the Terrible Twos for size that night, so I tried to bribe him into being in a good mood with endless Fun Dip...It almost worked.

2. My brother came home from his LDS mission. He spoke in church, and we had a little shindig at my parent's house afterwards. I didn't take pictures of the event (what else is new), but here is a sa-weet picture of him before he left sporting his pre-mission 'stache.

3. One of my very favorite shows started again! As far as I'm concerned, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team is the only good thing to come out of football season.

Holden's Birthday: Parts 1 and 2

2010-10-18T21:21:00.009-06:00

Yes, you heard me, parts 1 and 2. And before you get all judgy, let me just remind you that this household hasn't seen a birthday since January, and we were in major need of some celebration.

We started off Holden's birthday weekend with a mother/son trip to the Children's Museum. I was excited about this, Holden not as much, as he requested on multiple occasions that both Cayden and Natalie join us.

Apparently I am okay company, because Holden seemed to have a good time after all. Here he is being enthralled by cupcake liners getting blown around by some sort of fan.

And here he is practicing his crazy eyes in front of the "flower" garden.

Then we met up with Reo for lunch, so that he could get in on the birthday action.

Holden and I then came home to decorate cupcakes to take to various family members. Holden took his job very seriously.

No pictures from the actual deliveries, because this is me we're talking about, and we all know by now that my ability to remember to take photos is hit and miss.

After taking a day to recover, we had some more family over for Holden's Elmo's World themed birthday dinner.

Elmo cupcakes and pizzas, handcrafted by your's truly. The idea was inspired by Dimpleprints .
Also on the menu was Mr Noodles and Cheese, Super Grover's Super Green Beans and Oscar's Trash Can Salad.

Decorations. Thanks to Hillary for the Holden's World logo.

Guests. My mom and my brother Andy must have been sitting in bad places for getting their photo taken, because once again, I failed to document. Sorry, guys!

Obligatory cake all over the face.

Present opening.

All in all, I'd say Holden had a great birthday weekend. And since he hasn't told me any differently, I bet he'd say that too.

The only downside was that it was too nice of weather for Holden and I to wear the Fall-like birthday outfits I picked for us...And let's be honest, when it comes to me, warm weather is never a downside.

Plus, it could be worse. The very same crazy eyes I mocked on my son could have made an appearance on me in the only family photo of the night. Oh, wait...

If you made it through that marathon post you deserve some sort of prize. Leftover Elmo cupcakes, perhaps?

Fall Weekend Getaway or Deja Vu (You Choose)

2010-10-05T20:38:00.010-06:00

The longer I have this little blog, the more I remember that I am a creature of habit, and therefore the blog posts of Fall 2010 are shaping up to be eerily similar to the blog posts of Fall 2009, and I don't see any changes to that in the forseeable future, so consider yourself warned. On the bright side, you do get to see my cute kid doing all the things he did last year, but a year older, so you have that going for you.

My parents treated us to our annual family get together in the mountains last weekend, and once again, a good time was had by all. Especially my spoiled rotten child, who pretty much got to do whatever he wanted, including--but not limited to-- the following:

Providing a little extra defense during Foosball games...

Taking baths in giganto bathtubs...

Hanging out in creepy, sandy tunnels...

Convincing any sucker he could find into playing Rock Band with him, only to then bogart the drums the entire time...

And coloring every chance (and attempting to color on every surface) he could...

The grownups had their share of fun as well. We also colored...

And had a rousing Air Hockey Tournament of Champions. Sadly, the Mannings were eliminated in the first round (although, in my defense I was playing the number one seed, Cami. And in Reo's defense, he probably could have gotten some sort of reward for causing the most puck related injuries.)

(TOC winner, Ethan)

(Silver, Gold and Bronze Medalists)

Like I said, good times. And like most good times, I failed to bring out the camera as much as I wanted to, so that's about all I've got.

Stay tuned for more replicas of October 2009, coming all this month!

Priorities

2010-09-24T20:34:00.005-06:00

Reo: I love you, Holden.

Holden: I love you, Diet Coke.

First Day Of Fall

2010-09-22T19:42:00.003-06:00

and we're already on our second bag of candy corn this year. Life is good.

An Af-{Fair} To Remember

2010-09-16T21:07:00.006-06:00

Okay, let's be honest. This year's State Fair experience was pretty much identical to last year's experience, so there is not a whole lot to say.

Only difference worth noting? This year, Holden got to love the funnel cake right alongside Reo.
Much to Holden's dismay, the baby dinosaurs he was hoping to see at the fair didn't make an appearance. To make it up to him, we let him ride a pony instead.
The pony ride worker guy called Holden Cowboy...It pretty much made his whole year.

This Face

2010-09-13T14:27:00.003-06:00

Just so we're clear. This face

makes that other face I was complaining about

SO worth it.

Chairs

2010-09-10T13:50:00.005-06:00

Holden has graduated from this chair (please excuse the picture recycled from a previous blog post, I was too lazy to track down the hard drive with all the old photos on it). He now sits at the big kid table with his parents, where he can throw food at us from a closer range. He is enjoying himself immensely.

This chair has been welcomed into our home. We call it the Time Out chair (creative, I know).

Holden doesn't spend a lot of time in it....What's that? You think he doesn't spend a lot of time in it because he is so well behaved all the time? That's cute. You must not have spent any time at our house the last couple of days. In actuality, he doesn't spent a lot of time in it because he is too busy chasing me down doing this whenever I try to put him in time out.

Anyone want to borrow an (almost) two year old?

To Remind Myself That Summer Existed...

2010-08-31T20:08:00.007-06:00

There has been a definite bite to the air around these parts these last few days of August. Weather gurus are predicting a long, snowy winter. This news saddens me.

I had figured the statute of limitations had passed for this post, but I decided that during the upcoming long, cold days of winter I will want some warm memories to look back on. Plus, it is my blog, so I can make the statute of limitations whatever I want, right?

While Reo was gone, I recruited several people to be my friends, as I tend to be a bit codependent (thanks to all my recruits, by the way, you did a great job). The lucky ones on this particular day were my mom and little sister. Holden and I joined them for a day at Pineview Reservoir. The day included all of Holden's favorite things: sand, water and bananas.

The day also included some of my favorite things: built in babysitters so I could read magazines and take a nap on the beach.

Smells Like School Spirit

2010-08-18T13:56:00.004-06:00

Reo spent last week in Indiana, getting all sorts of Master's Degree know-how (he's home now, so don't get any ideas all you internet creepers out there).

I am sure he learned all sorts of educational things, but he also contracted a severe case of Hoosier Fever.

Apparently the only cure is to bring home massive amounts of Indiana schwag.

Note to Self

2010-08-10T12:49:00.005-06:00

Dear Self:
If you someday find yourself with a little girl, please buy her this dress from Etsy

If not, look into having it made in size grown up.

With love,
your 2010 self

This Post Brought to You From the Center of the Sun: AKA Our Condo

2010-08-03T13:44:00.005-06:00

Current reading on my thermostat: 87 degrees
Number of days since my air conditioner died a quick and painful death: 6
Number of sweltering days remaining until my new air conditioner arrives to cool my house and empty my bank account: 2
Number of times we have overstayed our welcome every air conditioned place we can think of , most frequently Target and my parent's house: Countless

But, it's not all bad...

Since crossing and uncrossing my legs causes me to break a sweat when it is 87 degrees in my house, I pretty much spend most of my days doing what I do best; plopping my lazy bones onto a couch with 2 fans pointed directly at me, watching reruns of the Hills and drinking Diet Coke.

Meanwhile, Holden is finding alternate ways to stay cool as well.

I encourage everyone to go give your functioning cooling system a big fat hug right now, so you don't get betrayed like I did.

Dear Utah,

2010-07-25T20:19:00.008-06:00

Thanks for becoming a state all those many years ago, so that Reo could have an extra day off work to spend with us enjoying all that you have to offer.

Like hometown carnivals, complete with Holden's very first (somewhat ghetto) carnival ride.

And the scone Reo talks about all year long.

Super fun family swim days,

And enjoying S'mores using the world's most giant marshmallows.

Thanks again, can't wait until next year!

Love, The Mannings

Holden's Life Just Got a Little Better

2010-07-20T20:25:00.004-06:00

He's discovered the joys of a bubble bath.

Life is good.

So Long, Farewell

2010-07-18T20:26:00.009-06:00

It is an unwritten rule that I like my friends to stay close to home so I can see them whenever I please. For the most part people comply with these rules. But for some reason THESE three

decided that moving across the country to go to medical school was more important than me being able to see them willy nilly. Naturally, we needed to have a going away bash, but since our go to hostess with the mostess was the guest of honor, the rest of us scrambled to step up to the plate. Good news! The party turned out anyways, even with me as one of the organizers.

We did a lot of this...

and then posed for some formal shots, since who knows what kind of grown ups we will all look like when they get back.

Lastly, we had the children (minus baby Ember, who had the good sense to go to bed before the madness started) provide the evening's entertainment by trying to get them to pose for a photo. This is the best I got.

I know what you are thinking, THAT was the best you got? Sad but true, primarily because SOMEONE's child (the one on the left with the apparent glass eye) was not being very cooperative. The other children were not pleased.

But hey, I wouldn't be either. The little show off thought we were there to take pictures of him dancing. Seriously, some people's children...

Dear Derek, Lara and Jack. We will miss you lots, so come visit lots. Thanks.

Our 4th (and 3rd, and 5th, and 2nd...) Of July!

2010-07-06T13:13:00.004-06:00

Having the 4th of July on a Sunday really makes for an endless weekend of endless fun!

Pictured: The Centerville Parade
Highlights: Perfecting Paula Abdul clap (Holden); eating taffy through the wrapper (Holden); watching the parade on Dad's shoulders (Holden); and freaking awesome hair day (me).

Not Pictured: Pretty much everything else...Guess I was too busy having fun to take good pictures.
Highlights: Three, count 'em, THREE(!) barbeques; s'mores; swimming(x2); breakfast picnics; and leaving church early after being puked on repeatedly by a toddler (not mine).

Odd

2010-06-29T21:07:00.002-06:00

You know how parents are always lamenting about why they even bother buying toys when their kid just picks random stuff to play with? Well, Holden is no exception. He has always preferred real phones to toy phones, real remotes to toy remotes, etc. But this one threw me for a loop....

Yup...A plastic spoon and a lime. He has carried these around the house with him non stop for the last 3 days. I have to beg him to leave them behind when we go anywhere (you know, to avoid the inevitable weird looks we would get). Hopefully he gets over this obsession before the lime starts to go bad, or things could get ugly.

My Thoughts On Our "Campout"

2010-06-27T19:39:00.007-06:00

I feel as though "campout", similarly to "scrapbooking" and "gardening" needs to have quotes around it lest people get the wrong idea about my skills. Those of you who are die hard campers would laugh at my less than 24 hour overnight jaunt that I consider to be my summer camping trip. I slept in a tent and I ate s'mores. It doesn't get more camping than that, right?

Holden decided to start the trip off right by getting completely filthy before we even stepped foot onto the campsite. If a little bit of licorice face keeps him from having a total meltdown during the car ride, so be it. Yes, you heard me, again with the licorice. Don't judge.
Side note: Turns out Reo about has a panic attack seeing our child get dirty. Good thing Holden and I clean up the shananigans that take place while Reo's at work, or he might have child protective services after me.

We brought along the men folk in the form of Reo and my brother in law Dan to do the hard labor, like putting up the tent.

Thanks to their skills we got down to business lounging around inside the tent in no time.

Holden discovered that throwing rocks around the campsite is the funnest thing ever. Except maybe throwing rocks at people's heads. Time-out is hard to enforce in the great outdoors, but after getting clocked with a couple of boulders, you figure out a way.

I discovered that Holden has no fear of water, not even sicko, murky water. A nice morning stroll around the reservoir turned into a fully clothed me chasing a fully clothed Holden into a freezing cold body of water before he could finish diving in headfirst.

One of the best parts of camping is catching up on my trashy magazines. Shocker alert: Jake and Vienna didn't make it? If those two kids can't work it out, my marriage doesn't stand a chance.

Reading all those trashy magazines has helped me realize my true potential. I should definitely be moonlighting as a papparazzo. If Reo were famous you would totally be seeing this picture in the next issue of Us Weekly, don't you think?

Due to Reo having that previously discussed problem with Holden getting dirty, he was only allowed the (untoasted) marshmallow part of a S'more. Holden didn't seem to mind.

Overall, a good time was had by all. "Camping" may be something we attempt again.

Signs

2010-06-19T22:01:00.009-06:00

Signs that things have gotten pretty lax at the Manning house these days:

1. The first thing Holden says to me when I go to get him out of his crib every morning is "licorice?" When I inevitably say no, he follows up with "Watch Elmo?" Depending on how early it is and just how lazy I am feeling, sometimes he wins on that one.

And also, I usually give in on the licorice later on.

Wouldn't you? Look how much he loves that stuff!

2. My cleaning closet is looking, well, unclean. At best...

3. Holden spends way too much of the morning looking like this:

The benefit of our new laid back lifestyle? We get to spend more time doing stuff like this:

Thanks for finally showing up, Summer. We are big fans.

Say No To This Kid...I Dare You

2010-06-04T20:05:00.004-06:00

Who wants to be the disciplinarian for my child? Anyone? Because I'll be honest, between the super cute pouting and the cheeseballing, I just don't have the heart. I left the mini tantrum that followed out of the video, because some of you don't have kids yet, and I'd like you to. But even that was kind of adorable, in it's own way.

P.S. Once again, sorry about the bad quality. Steven Spielberg I am not.

P.P.S. Don't be alarmed that Holden looks like he is scratching 10,000 bug bites. That is his attempt at the sign language word for please.

How I Spent My Morning

2010-05-28T13:33:00.010-06:00

Feet up on a lawn chair, reading a book, and watching this...

Have I made you working stiffs sufficiently jealous? If it makes you feel better, we actually intended for this activity to take place last Monday, but we got this instead...

If You Can't Beat 'Em...

2010-05-21T13:36:00.011-06:00

Sick of our plans constantly being foiled, we decided we were going to the park yesterday, rain or shine. These were the results:

All Blogged Out

2010-05-12T19:06:00.006-06:00

Serves me right for blogging six, yes SIX, times in April. Because of my blogging overload I was bled dry of blogging material for May. My two and a half week old post just sat there, mocking me, until I couldn't take it anymore. Rather than doing the logical thing, and waiting it out until something blog worthy came along, I decided I must fill the void with something. This is something.

Reo is in love with the morning radio show on X96. And I mean in L.O.V.E. For future reference, if you are ever talking with Reo and he tells you that "they" said something, he means the people on the radio. Kerry, Bill and Gina are BFFs of the Mannings. Anyway, on this particular radio show, they have a segment called "Things that Must Go," where they discuss things that are especially irritating, or that "must go." I thought about doing a Things That Must Go list, but decided I was feeling entirely too positive to do such a negative post, and thought my positive energy would be better directed towards a list of "Things That Must Come Back." You know, those things that have gone away for whatever reason, and your life has never quite been the same. Being me, my list is mostly television and/or food related. That's how I roll.

Things That Must Come Back

1. Grape Bubblegum ice cream from Magie Moos. I had it the first time I tried Maggie Moos, and fell in love. I kept going back to try it again, but they never had that particular flavor. Finally, I looked on Maggie Moos website only to find that my beloved grape bubblegum flavor had been DISCONTINUED. I have (embarassingly) sent more than one email to Maggie herself, trying to get it brought back, but to no avail....I am thinking the next step is to organize some sort of letter writing campaign. Who's in? Anyone? Anyone??2. Road Rules. Because I am sick of seeing Real World people fight over nothing. I would rather see 6 people with no money in a sicko 600 sqare foot RV fight over impossible challenges. Now THAT was television!

3. Pretty much anything that I have ever truly loved from Einstein Bros Bagels, including, but not limited to, salt bagels and the yummiest chicken salad ever. You leave those pumpkin bagels alone Einstein's, do you hear me?

4. Oreo O's. Yummiest dessert ever. The End.

5. Pushing Daisies. Gone too soon. So soon that I didn't even see an episode of it before it was already off the air. Except for the one that was on in the background of my hospital room while I was gearing up for my C-section. I don't count that one. Charlotte's wardrobe was so beautiful I want to cry just thinking about it. RIP.

6. Zuka Juice. Because no matter what Reo tries to tell me, it is NOT the same as Jamba juice, plus it doesn't have the sentimental value.

7. Lauren Conrad on The Hills. Because apparently she was the voice of reason that kept everyone from going insane. Seriously, insane. Has anyone else been watching this show? It is madness!

There you have it. My list of Things That Must Come Back. Feel free to add your own in the comments, or, if you are in need of blog to blog recuscitation, do a Things That Must Come Back post of your own. I am telling you, I feel more blog inspired already.

One of the Big Kids

2010-04-25T19:40:00.002-06:00

Holden is now a year and a half old. This is a big deal because it means that he gets to go to the nursery class at church, and I get to stop spending my Sunday chasing him up and down the halls. I got him a new outfit for his debut Sunday.Seriously, I know everyone says this about their kids, but I can't believe he is getting so old! Nursery is for kids who run around like crazy (oh wait, he does that) and kids who can talk (oh wait, does that too) and just big kids in general. I guess he's a big kid now. But not too big. He had his checkup last week and he was 32.5 inches (55th percentile) and 26 lbs 5 ounces (55th percentile). Also, his head is in the 55th percentile (I know, I don't believe it either, look at that noggin!). You can't get much more average sized than that.

Best Of: San Diego!

2010-04-21T18:54:00.010-06:00

I know, I know. Other people's vacation photos are pretty much the least exciting thing ever. But I figured anything was better than the picture of my feet that has been front and center on this blog for the last week. Plus, although you may THINK I posted every single picture I took on our vacation, you'd be wrong. I promise, only the best of the best made the cut (hence the name "best of").

1. Gigantic pancakes at my new favorite restaurant, Hash House A Go-Go. Below you see Reo's bacon pancake, which was delightful even to a non bacon lover like myself, but my Strawberry Frosted Flake pancake was delish as well...Do other people take pictures of their food, or is that just something we do in my family? No matter, it was GOOD!

2. Touring the Whaley House in Old Town San Diego. It is rumored to be one of the most Haunted Houses in AMERICA. Plus, Holden didn't like it one bit, so I am pretty sure his tender child spirit was drawing out all sorts of ghosties.

There's one!

Oh, wait. False alarm. That's just Holden being mad at me because I was trying to make he and Reo pose like the creepers in the portrait behind him.

3. Discovering that Holden, like his parents, LOVES the beach. That kid could have filled his bucket with sand all day...

until he discovered the ocean (which I swore none of us would step foot in due to the fact that is is April and that water is COLD!). Poor kid was dragged kicking, screaming and shivering away from the water.

4. Spending a day with the animals of the San Diego Zoo, where Holden learned all sorts of new words like Go-weela, Cwoc-dile, and "Oooh, I touch it!" (thankfully we did the petting zoo last, or he would have been right in that panda habitat trying to make a new friend.)

5. Realizing that children are more of a novelty in San Diego than in Utah. I mean, I will be the first to tell you that I think my kid is pretty much the most adorable thing ever, but you would have thought he was an Olson twin the way people were fawning all over him. But seriously, what's not to love?

Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me...

2010-04-15T20:17:00.004-06:00

Back in our young and carefree days, Reo and I planned a trip to Hawaii. Before our trip, I decided to get a pedicure. I decided to go to the place owned by a cute little Vietnamese couple that I used to frequent to get my nails done in my even younger and carefree-er days. I picked my nail polish color, settled into my pedicure chair and, despite a significant language barrier, started to have a pretty nice conversation with the woman who had the unfortunate job of touching my feet for the next hour. The subject of my upcoming vacation came up, and the woman excitedly asked if I would like a palm tree painted on my big toe. I thought, "why not, my toes could use a little pizazz!", so I agreed. She carefully painted a palm tree on one big toe. And then the other one. I was thinking "wow, this is pretty intense nail art, but I think I like it," and prepared for my top coat. Then I noticed that she was not done. She proceeded to paint a little sun on each toe. And then some sandy beach along the bottom. And THEN, as I stared down in horror, she painted two birds on each toe. Yep, you are envisioning it correctly, I had an entire nature scene painted on my big toenails. I am both shy and non-confrontational, plus the woman looked super proud of her artwork, so I thanked her, paid, and went on my merry way. (I still had fun on my vacation by the way, despite the fact that my feet looked like the cover of a National Geographic magazine).

Now, I have had several pedicures since then. Often they have offered to add some sort of artwork, which I have vehemently declined. Today, I decided to cash in a present from the Easter Bunny and get a pedicure for our upcoming vacation (getting a little deja vu?) I went to a different place this time, picked out my nail polish color, and settled into my pedicure chair. As the pedicure progressed, the woman asked if I would like a flower. Before I knew what was happening, I had agreed! I meekly added, "maybe just a little one?" After my initial panic attack due to pedicure related flashbacks, I talked myself down. This was a different person, a different place, and a different year (heck, a different decade!) Plus, this sweet woman had spared no luxury, even whipping out the champion of loofahs to scrape off some of my dead winter skin. She wouldn't let me down! And she didn't...At first. At first I started out with an itty bitty white flower, just like we agreed. Then, she started to make little white lines across the other side of my toes (stems perhaps? I am still not quite clear.) Then, out came the silver glitter, you know, for accent purposes. By now I am sitting there in such shock that I barely noticed when she added a little jewel to the center of each flower. That's right, my toes were officially Be-Dazzled.

By the time I left, my feet looked like this...

By the way, the Barbie Jeep pink nail polish was not part of the tragedy, I actually picked that AND like it, so don't judge. Seriously, I should no longer be allowed into a nail salon unsupervised.

Eww. Just, Eww.

2010-04-12T20:57:00.002-06:00

Congratulations, KFC, your new "Double Down" sandwich shocks me. And I just ate 4 semi-stale marshmallow Peeps and a half eaten package of fruit snacks in one sitting.

But good news for all you health nuts out there...You can get it with grilled chicken instead.

Best Of: Easter 2010

2010-04-05T19:06:00.008-06:00

1. Super awesome easter basket courtesy of Mr. Easter Bunny, who is desperately hoping that Toy Story can help us move past the "all The Incredibles, all the time" phase we have been in.

2. Holden discovering the gluttonous joy that is a Cadbury Cream Egg first thing in the morning (don't worry, he wasn't allowed to finish it).

3. The excitement of participating in one's very first Easter Egg hunt.

4. The excitement of finishing the Easter Egg hunt, roughly four hours later, because the only participant needed to open and inspect each egg he found before putting it in his basket.

5. Trying to complete the world's most impossible Easter Egg shaped puzzle. You will notice I am not in this photo. I worked on that thing forever and only put 3 pieces together. Even our affectionately dubbed Puzzle Rainman Cami couldn't get it done before the night was over.

Lucky Number Seven

2010-04-03T23:02:00.008-06:00

Seven years ago today Reo and I got married. We took a (rare) picture together to celebrate. You can tell it is rare because I haven't mastered the skill of self portrait taking. What do you think? A little different from ourselves 7 years ago?

And just to add to the "awwwwwwwwww, how cute" factor, here is us about 10 years ago.

P.S. Please pardon the very poor picture quality. I was much too lazy to scan old photos, so I took a picture of a picture. I know, right? If technology was dead (were dead?) it would roll over in its grave because of me.

P.P.S. I was feeling pretty vain due to all the pictures of me in this post, so check out this awesome kid. How jealous are you of his eyelashes? Seriously, I want to rip them off of his face and attach them to mine. In the least violent way possible, of course.

P.P.P.S. At what point do I start getting judged when I post pictures of my kid with a pacifier in his mouth?

Decisions Decisions...

2010-03-30T19:35:00.006-06:00

It's been a while since our blog has been graced by my presence and, uh, "unique" writing style, but I have some news to share. As some of you may or may not know, I recently decided to attempt getting in to graduate school. This entailed about 3 months of in-depth study for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (Ugghh), taking said test (UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!), researching and applying to schools, then waiting in agony for the schools to accept or (probably) reject me.

In an effort to err on the side of caution, and to satisfy my self-doubt, I applied to 8 (EIGHT!) schools. Those schools are: University of Texas at Dallas, University at Buffalo, Penn State University, University of Wisconsin, Saint Louis University, Indiana University, Washington University (St. Louis), and University of San Diego. Since I'm going after a Master of Supply Chain Management, Penn State was #1 on my list. Though, since it's well reputed, I figured I was a long shot. After that was Indiana, again, a long shot for a highly ranked schooled. I applied to the rest just hoping to get into one of them. Any of them. I honestly figured on going to the only place that accepted me. I was wrong.

I have now heard back from 5 schools and my "record" is 4 and 1. I've been accepted to University of Texas at Dallas, Saint Louis University, Indiana University, and (gasp!) Penn State. If you're curious, I was rejected by the University at Buffalo (booooo!). Well, I didn't think going into this that I would have to decide between my #1 and #2 choices. Here's the issue: Penn State is a 2 year program, but is tops when it comes to SCM education. Indiana is a 1 year program, highly ranked, but not Penn State. Since Indiana accepted me a week before Penn State and only gave two weeks for a decision, I had to act fast. I agonized over this for days. You can ask Julie, I was downtrodden and struggled with the decision. But, after thinking it through and looking at what was best for me, my family, and our current situation, I chose.....

INDIANA UNIVERSITY!!!!! Seriously. Here's the letter to prove it:

Alas, don't fret about my 1 year absence from your lives, the program is online. So I'll still be around, just really really really busy from August 2010 - August 2011. Sorry for the long post, but I thought I would share.

P.S. Can anyone tell me what a "Hoosier" is? That would reeeaalllly help me out, thanks.

The Big Three

2010-03-24T18:54:00.012-06:00

Holden has recently divided all mankind into one of three categories, and identifies them as such over and over again until someone acknowledges his brilliance:

1. Baby--Anyone under the age of 12.

2. Grandma--Every single person he came across at church last Sunday, quite possibly offending some 30 year olds. And some men.

3. Jesus--Anyone with a beard, President Obama, and legendary author Louisa May Alcott. Sorry Louisa! If it helps, I don't really see the resemblence. Unless I look too long.

Top O' The Morning To You!

2010-03-17T08:13:00.001-06:00

Happy St Patrick's Day

Love, Holden

A for Effort

2010-03-07T12:17:00.013-07:00

This is Holden. Holden is 16 months old.

Since Holden has become 16 months old, we have encountered a dilemma. You see, Holden is no longer interested in sitting and playing nicely with his toys. He is much more interested in throwing them, hitting the TV with them, or tossing them into the garbage. The problem? He does not yet grasp the concept of "structured" playtime either.

Exhibit A: "Fingerpainting" with pudding. I thought this would be a good beginner project.

Exhibit B: Holden hoovering all the "fingerpaint" into his mouth at lightening speed. Like he had never eaten before in his life.

Exhibit C: He did let me make a few marks on his tray to show him how it was done, distracting me while he got every last drop into his mouth. Super fun project idea over in approximately 8.5 seconds.

Lesson learned? Children should not be 16 months old in the winter. Whenever you're ready, spring.

Slave Labor

2010-02-25T17:29:00.005-07:00

Would you believe me if I told you this was all his idea? Would you believe me if I said that dusting is one of his favorite pastimes, right after vacuuming and sorting laundry? I kid you not, the poor child sits in front of the cleaning closet crying "baa-cooom, baa-coom" multiple times a day. He also drags his giant hamper to the washing machine and tries to put his clothes in it.

He is either starting young with the whole "clean freak" persona or knocking my housekeeping skills. Could be either one.

Obsession

2010-02-19T20:37:00.006-07:00

Anyone else obsessed with the Olympics?
Anyone want to come obsess with this guy?
I've had just about all the random Olympic trivia and detailed rule breakdown for each sport that I can take.

Speaking of obsession, you'll never guess what Holden's newest obsession is...

Yup. We watched two episodes just today. Holden kept pointing to the TV and saying "mmm, good!" I'll be honest, it was a welcome break from the Playhouse Disney crew.

Valentine Things

2010-02-15T09:06:00.004-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!! Hope it was filled with lots of pink, hearts and treats!

She's Crafty...(And She's Just My Type!)

2010-02-09T11:07:00.005-07:00

A little Beastie Boys anyone?...Anyone? Just me then. Hmmm..

Well, as we all know by now, I am NOT crafty. But now I have one fewer excuse..I mean, reason...for my lack of craftiness.

Previously, if I wanted to get to my meager supply of crafting items, I had to go through this... To get to this...
Organized? Ehh, kinda. Accessible? No way! Even less accessible when Holden is sleeping (which would be the only time I think to do anything crafty anyways).

So..since my condo hasn't recently grown a new wing to support a craft room, I purchased this little beauty for our living room.

Organized? Yep! Accessible? Very much so. Oh so pretty? I think so! Who knows, this might be just the solution to my non crafty ways!

Oh, and if you were worried about the fate of the fancy plastic drawers that USED to house all this stuff, don't worry. They were adopted by the hall closet and are fitting right in at their new home.

Holden's Thoughts On Winter

2010-02-01T12:31:00.004-07:00

Not a huge fan... To relive my thoughts on winter, see here.

On The Wagon

2010-01-27T12:28:00.006-07:00

Hi. My name is Holden, and I am proud to say that it's been 26 days since I last hit the bottle.
It was a slow process, I gave it up one bottle at a time. There were times, especially at the beginning, where I would drink a whole bottle 5, maybe 6 times a day. Sometimes I would even get up at night to drink it. But gradually I cut back until I was bottle free.
It was expensive, too. My mom and dad (being enablers) estimate they spent over $1000 supporting my formula habit over the last 15 months.
It definitely hasn't been easy, particularly when I am around other babies who are still using. I can't say I haven't tried to rip bottles out of the hands of innocent children. But it gets easier every day.
So thanks for your support everyone. If you see me on the street with a sippy cup, just know that it is water, maybe milk, but NEVER formula, and I couldn't have done it without all of you.
Love, Holden

(me, in much earlier days, displaying what my parents called my "drunk" face)

A Love Letter

2010-01-21T15:46:00.004-07:00

Dear Google Reader:
Hello beautiful. Where have you been all my life?
Thank you for helping me do twice the blog stalking in half the time.
Hugs and Kisses
Juliana

Playing Favorites

2010-01-18T20:12:00.003-07:00

No explanation required...

Baby Proofing Fail

2010-01-11T20:11:00.003-07:00

Umm, Mom?
These little pronged things that you stuck in all the outlets are for pulling out of the wall, putting in my mouth, and then putting back into the wall, right?
Just checking!

Happy Birthday, Kristin Cavallari!

2010-01-05T07:06:00.004-07:00

I couldn't imagine a better birthday buddy than you! Unless we also shared the birth YEAR of 1987. We do not.

Fun Fact! Other celebs who share my special day:

Robert Duvall

Diane Keaton

& Marilyn Manson

P.S. Who are some of YOUR celebrity birthday buddies? Can you beat Marilyn Manson?

Spokane: A Photojournal

2010-01-01T20:46:00.003-07:00

is what this post would be called had I not forgotten to pack my camera. Our recent trip to Spokane went 100 percent undocumented by me. Nonetheless, here is our trip in a nutshell.

Highlights:
*My little brother got married (the reason for the trip) to Cami, so our family is now one person bigger.
*Holden charmed the pants off of the flight attendant on the flight to Spokane, and slept most of the way on the flight home, making each trip a success!
*We discovered that Holden can seriously bust a move to Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies."

Lowlights:
Spokane is just as cold as here. I like you a LOT Cami, but I might like you just a teensy bit more if you were from Hawaii.

And because I would never subject you to a post without pictures, here is Holden testing out the Hog Santa brought him (Christmas blog post completed? Check!)

All That HGTV Watching Is Paying Off

2009-12-17T12:44:00.006-07:00

Reo and I put our plethora of design/architecture skills to work this week, and came up with this masterpiece. The rest of my family made some awesome houses too (it's okay to tell me mine is the best, they won't mind).

This picture is funny. I am one lucky girl.

Because A Boy Needs Options...

2009-12-15T13:26:00.004-07:00

A Step In The Right Direction

2009-12-05T12:56:00.004-07:00

Finally! I was convinced that I would be carrying this kid across the stage at his high school graduation.

P.S. Sorry about the video quality, it was taken at like 5 in the afternoon, so of course it was pitch black outside (boooo on winter)!

P.P.S. Sorry Dad, I know you requested a post from Reo, but this isn't it...