Santa

So it is Quinn's first Christmas and the question of whether he needed a picture with Santa was bothering me ever since Thanksgiving. I imagine that the pictures are more for the mom's out there than for the kids. At such a young age, aren't the kids mostly scared of Santa anyway? Most pictures I see of little kids on Santas lap are of crying, screaming, scared to death kids. (and some of those make the best pictures!) But we gave in and went to the mall and had a picture taken. I headed off with 4 girlfriends and there little ones to my first Santa picture taking experience. All was going well until we were about 2 people ahead of us and I smelled the awful smell of Quinn doing a #2. Yes, the boy had saturated his pants right before we were to sit on santa's lap. Being ignorant to anyone around me or their sense of smell, I changed him right there in his stroller and threw the diaper away by the cash register. Quinn actually did fairly well and was more interested in Santa's beard than trying to get a cute picture for mom....

Giggle

Jason and I have found that some of the strangest things will make Quinn laugh. The other night Jason was putting a pen between his eyes and letting it fall to the floor and Quinn was cracking up! There is no sweeter sound than that of a child laughing!

Holiday Cheer

It was the day after Thanksgiving and our tree was up and our wreath was out on the front door and I was feeling fantastic. (Jason gave me the prize for biggest wreath in the neighborhood) I put on a Christmas CD that Saturday and decided I would spend all day decorating for Christmas! Then I remembered....I do not have any Christmas decorations! I dug out some really old stuff and decided that this year I would look around and actually buy some festive decorations. I do not even have a Nativity Scene. It just feels more like Christmas this year because I am not working full time and stressing out about Christmas shopping. (only have 2 more people to buy for!) So for anyone that may be in the same position that I am, I have found some pretty cool stores out there with some great Christmas decor. 1) STAR - it is right off the 101 and Shea Blvd. in Scottsdale, in the Fry's shopping center. Apparently they are going out of business at the end of January so everything must go type thing. But they have more ornaments, ribbon, candles, nutcrackers, trees, than you could imagine. 2) Kirkland's. I now prefer to go to the one in the Mesa Riverview. 202 and Dobson. It is a much bigger store than the one in Chandler or the one off Val Vista. They were having 10% off all their Christmas items, but I think that may be over. 3) Razmataz. I usually go to the one in Scottsdale because it is by my mom's house. They have the cutest stuff, for really cheap prices. I have bought more than a few things there.
So is it bad to spend more money on Christmas decor than on actual Christmas presents? (Don't tell my husband!) :)

Back in the Saddle

It has been too long since my last post. After taking care of a houseful of sickies, (Quinn, Jason and I all got the flu!) I am left to take care of my miserable pregnant self. For some reason I am much sicker this time around and have not felt up to much of anything. So here is a little catch up.

HALLOWEEN

Our Little Stinker

We went to a Trunk-R-Treat with Grandma and Grandpa Scanlan, but it was so hot that night that we did not put Quinn in his costume. He had the thing on for a total of 5 minutes on Halloween night when Grammie Williams came over. (waste of money??? I hear hand me down....)

MY SISTER CAME FOR A VISIT

Shannon came out for 5 days and it was so much fun. On the days I felt up to it, we went out to eat, shopped and laughed. It is so fun to shop with Shannon because she has the "eye". She can see something on the rack and visualize how cute it is on! We checked out the San Tan mall one day and hit a few our our favorite stores. Forever 21, American Eagle, and Charlotee Russe. (We call them our disposable clothes stores) You pay $10 for a shirt you can probably wear 5 times and then it is time to throw it out. We also hit the new Kirkland's at the Mesa Riverview and found somethings for the house. (as soon as Jason hangs them up, I will take some pictures!)

SUPER SATURDAY

My new calling is Enrichment guru. WHAT?!?! Anyone who knows me knows that I am not that crafty nor creative when it comes to that sort of stuff. BUT, I helped with the Super Saturday and even made 2 crafts. Sometimes I wonder with all the crafts and super Saturdays that this church does, what some of these womens houses must look like. There were some avid crafty ladies there going bonkers! It was a bit much for my sick pregnant self, but I managed to survive!

I Pee'd on a Stick

How much money have I wasted on Pregnancy tests? I took one earlier this month in hopes that medicine, patches, shots and pills had done the trick! It showed negative. Highly disappointing as we are trying to have Baby #2 before I hit menopause. And then I get a peculiar call from the doctor. "Come back next week for another test if your period has not started."

It didn't start! I went back for another blood test, so I hurried and pee'd on my own stick.......

I am due June 18th. Yippee! Quinn and the new one will be 16 months apart. Jason and I are both very excited and wanted to share the news!!

Everday is Earth Day

Did you hear that Al Gore won the Nobel Peace prize for his work on "An Inconvenient Truth"? (along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.) Hats off to Al for caring about the environment, the world and global warming. I have seen the movie just once, but it moved me to do better. I learned a lot and in simple terms the message of the movie was: Carbon dioxide and other gases are warming the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is a good thing because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising. Droughts and heat waves will happen more often. Glaciers are melting and severe storms are increasing. Global warming is real and it has been caused by our actions, not by some natural occurence.
Since watching the movie, I have vowed to do better. Recycling comes to mind as our city offers a "Recyclables" bin and picks it up every Saturday morning. I keep telling my husband that "everyday is earth day." I am sure that he is tired of hearing it as I drive off in in my SUV, but I really am trying to make a difference. The topic came up at family dinner the other night and it was nice to hear that all the family is really trying to do their part to recycle. It is so easy to throw that water bottle in the recyclables along with paper, plastic, aluminum, and cardboard. So this is my 2 cents, please help where you can. Below are some simple and very do-able tips how all of us can help save the earth.

1. Replace a lightbulb with a flourescent lighbulb.
2. Walk, Bike, Carpool if you can
3. Recycle!
4. Keep your tires inflated properly (it can save you money on gas!)
5. Use less hot water (it takes energy to heat that stuff up!)
6. Cut down on your garbage and packaging
7. Turn up thermostat by 2 degrees in summer and down 2 degrees in the winter (except if you are pregnant!) :)
8. Plant a tree
9. Turn off your electronic devices when you are not using them.
10. And of course, spread the word!

Daddy's Boy

To my husband: you are right! I am blogging about this! After what seemed like 10 hours of TV on Sunday (not due to Conference, but due to Conference AND Football), Jason and I decided to take Quinn to the park. It was his first time on the swings and he loved it. We walked over there and I forgot how lovely it really can be here in Arizona. I think the worst is behind us and the cooler temps are knocking on our door! Quinn played in the sand and loved that also. It was so fun to go to the park and see what other people were up to. There was a neighborhood flag football game going on between what looked like 10 and 11 year olds. Three or four families had met up to build a skate ramp on the basketball court and BBQ. One grandma had taken her grandson on the swings and was eager to see how old Quinn was, what he was up to, and could he crawl? (not yet, a sort of army crawl, if you will) It reminded me of being in a small town on a beautiful fall day. It makes you forget all the chaos and crap that is going on in the world. It made me appreaciate family and the time that we are able to spend together. Which reminds me......The original reason for the blog.......Quinn is such a daddy's boy. He turns his head in excitement whenever he hears dad's voice. He will be crying and I will pick him up and he will still cry. I make the hand off to Jason and he stops! I feel like sometimes when he finally gets in dad's arms he looks at me like "HA! This is where I belong!" I am sure that will all change when he can comprehend who is feeding him, changing his diapers, and delightfully responding to his every whimper, cry and yelp! Or maybe he will just be a daddy's boy. I am OK with that, too.

Hot Stuff

This is our latest purchase from Craig's List. It is a hook on the counter/table high chair and I found it for $10!(normally $50 in the store). Did you hear that Zack? This was bought from Craig's List for $10! :) I had to post some pics because Quinn thinks he is such hot stuff in it. I think that he thinks he is a big kid. We took the chair to Grandma's last Sunday for dinner and it was great! Jason and I could eat without him in our lap and trying to grab our food. He was showing it off all night long!

Moment on the Lips....

I have a very sweet tooth. And for the last several weeks Jason and I have been trying to OUT sugar as much as possible. But in a weak moment I drove down to Sweet Cakes in downtown Mesa and purchased 6 Sugar Cookies.

They are the best sugar cookies ever! If you can't tell by the photo, they are thick thick thick! I gave 2 of them to my mom and hopefully Jason will eat 2, so that will only leave me with 2! Every once in a while it feels good to indulge!

Free Popcorn!

I discovered the best popcorn ever! And if you have a sweet tooth like I do, then you have to jump at this! OK, there is one string attached, you have to pay for shipping. But you get 2 bags of popcorn and the shipiing is less than $6. So good! It is made by Dale and Thomas Popcorn and they have lovingly called this Drizzlecorn. The sound of it makes my mouth water!

Cousins

Well, we live here in Arizona where the weather is hot and the cousins are plentiful! Today Quinn and I made a road trip over to Laveen to see Aunt Kami and cousin Addie. Quinn was in heaven! He played with all of Addies's toys and really wanted to pinch and hug Addie all day long. Poor Kami is expecting twins and is supposed to be on bed rest. We brought her lunch to mix up the monotony of her day. Her belly is so big and cute! That will give Quinn a total of 6 cousins (Jason's side) here in Arizona. I am pretty happy about that! Quinn is fascinated by little children and babies. (that is how we keep him entertained at church...just sit behind a family that has kids!) I am so glad that we have family so close!

Sister

This is my sister Shannon. She is holding Quinn on his 2nd day out of the womb. I have been thinking about her a lot. Everyone should be so lucky to have a sister like mine. I start by saying that she has many talents and gifts and I often find myself wondering why I didn't get many of the same gifts. Afterall, we are from the same gene pool and grew up the very same way. I can play soccer. She can cook, decorate any room in the house, organize, remodel a kitchen, keep 3 boys (should I say 4, including her husband) busy and happy, research, plan vacations, sell things on CraigsList, know the fastest way to do something, train a seeing eye dog, and in her spare time paint, make dinners for friends, volunteer at the school, ride her beach cruiser, download music and still have time too keep up with SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. I find that now I am married and have a 7 month old child,playing soccer well does me absolutley no good. I am in much need of Shannon's gifts/talents. I often call on Shannon for decorating ideas, recipes, organizatinal tips and the advice of a seasoned mother. She was there when Quinn was born and she helped me learn how to feed him, learn how to put him on a schedule. She cooked, she cleaned, she washed bottles, and she loved Quinn. It was one of those times that you are deeply grateful that you have a sister. Shannon, my sister. No, you can't have her. She is mine.

Ode to BJ

Today is the 3rd Anniversary of BJ's passing. It still seems like just yesterday we were harassing our college professors and whining about our love lives to one another. BJ was one of my best friends. I loved him like a brother and trusted him with my life. My husband and I were on of the last few people to talk to BJ. I cherish that phone call and wish that I had known it was going to be the last. BJ suffered from epilepsy and on a Sunday afternoon retreated to his bedroom to have some time alone. We think he had a seizure and just could not recover. He is sorely missed. His sense of humor is what I miss the most. He could make me laugh until I was crying. He was a passionate person and loved his sports teams! I have never seen anyone be such a die hard Golden State Warrior fan even when they had the worst record in the NBA. He also loved the Oakland A's. BJ was gifted with music. He loved to play guitar and throughout his life was in severla bands. Woodeye was probably the most remembered.
I miss and love him. I want him to know that he is definitely NOT forgotten!

JumpSnap!

I have come across an exercise piece of equipment that has been a life saver for me, a stay at home mom. It was introduced to me by my sister-in-law who saw it in PEOPLE magazine from Kell Ripa. (does she have an awesome body or what??) It is called the JumpSnap! It is a ropeless jump rope that you can do at home, traveling, outside, anywhere you feel the need to burn some calories.
Kelly Ripa says she takes it with her whenever she travels and it really helps her stay in shape. I love it because I can do it while the baby sleeps and I do not have to go anywhere. I can put on my I-Pod and start Jumping!! At first I could barely get through a beginner workout and now I am doing the 12 minute workout and burning 275 calories! How great is that!?! (Did I mention it was only for 12 Minutes?!?! TWELVE! 275 Calories!!) The handles on the Jump snap show how long you have been jumping, how many calories you have burned, and how many rotations you have completed.
As we are trying to have Baby #2, I want to get down to a reasonable weight before I get pregnant again. It seems to consume me. The JumpSnap makes it so easy to exercise everyday. If you need another little exercise to add to your routine, check out their website. www.jumpsnap.com

Luckily I will also be starting soccer again in 5 days. I can't wait!!!

Blogging? huh?

I guess having a BLOG is a big thing nowadays. I have never done anything like this and am not sure where to begin. This will all be experimental for a while until I figure out what I really want people to know!

So to begin, this is a picture of our son Quinn. Jason and I waited a long time for him to get here, and we are so excited to have him. He has changed our lives, for the good of course! He is now 6 months old. Being a first time parent at 33 is a lot different than I thought it would be. (more to come on that, I am sure)