The Freakin' Weeken'

The weekend is upon us. If you have yet to schedule your plans for entertainment, you may want to consider staying in, kicking back, and enjoying the vocal stylings of Miss Bryn. This number is featured on one of her favorite movies, The Puppy Movie (aka 101 Dalmations).


If you happen to be unfamiliar with this song (you clearly do not live in my world), and you are unable to fully understand everything Bryn says (you very clearly do not live in my world), the lyrics are as follows:


At first you think Cruella is the devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from underneath a rock!


This vampire bat
This inhuman beast
She ought to be locked up
And never released
The world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella Cruella de Vil

City Livin'

Last week I dined with Queen Latifah.

Okay, I actually just saw her dining at a restaurant I wanted to eat at, but didn't because they didn't have a bathroom, and since my lovely womb tenant has me peeing nearly every hour the non-bathroomed restaurant was quickly eliminated as an option, even with Queen Latifah there, which is unfortunate because I love the Queen.

And I went to The Colbert Report.

Apparently you must be 18 to go to Colbert. I didn't have Bryn with me, so I didn't have a diaper bag with me, so I didn't have my wallet with me, so I didn't have any ID with me to prove that I was over 18. My enormously pregnant belly was not accepted as a legitimate sign of my mature age. However, I think the pregnancy factor may have softened the "bouncer's" heart a little as he did allow me to use his smart phone to look myself up on Facebook and accepted my Facebook profile as sufficient identification. And people wonder what's so great about Facebook...

Milestone

A few weeks ago Bryn got her first haircut.

This is the before. It was getting pretty long.

We went to a great kids' cuts place where Bryn got to sit in a car,

and watch Dora. She loved it.

A full salon experience, she even got blown dry and styled...ooh, la, la.

This is where I should insert the darling after picture for everyone to "ooh" and "ahh" at. Unfortunately, this marks the date and time when our camera finally decided to bite the dust. It's been struggling for awhile, but up to this point it has always pulled through. Sadly, there seems to be no imminent recovery this time around.

I'm not sure if it's the new 'do, the recently claimed 2-year-old status, the rapidly approaching big sisterhood, a combination of any of the previously stated, or something different all together, but Justin and I have been alarmed by how much of a little girl our baby is becoming. She has grown up so much just since our return from Africa. Insert cliche, yet oh-so-true statement about growing up too fast. Sigh. Right after the cure for cancer is discovered and the solution for world peace is established, will someone please figure out how to keep my children young forever?

More Learning Time Fun

We have been having so much fun with this month's learning time theme: Plants.

We dyed carnations to help us learn that plants drink water.

(See video at bottom of post for final product results.)

Bryn is using dot paint to dot all of the S's on the Sunflower

Of course dot art is much too fun to stop at just the S's

Working on colors (actually, reviewing colors--she knows them already) using pom-pom balls

Art project

We even tied our snack into the theme

Tracing the letter S

Identifying shapes

A sensory/exploratory activity: I hid a lot of little objects like flower shaped buttons and beads, little wooden flower pots, etc. in the bird seed and let her search for them.

I also gave her a spoon, measuring cup, and funnel and let her go to town. She LOVED this activity. I was thrilled when she was entertained with it for 20 minutes, but she continued to play for nearly an hour. That's next to eternity in two-year-old time. Yes, there was lots of bird seed to sweep up after we were finished, but who cares?! It was super fun!

We ended up having to rearrange the bedroom so we could use the entire wall for our completed alphabet.

We've loved noticing the blossoms that are coming out and the flowers that are blooming around town. If we could convince the sun to join us more regularly we would really be enjoying it. We planted some of our own seeds that we've watched grow in our house as well. We love, love, love Learning Time!

*I must send a huge shout-out to my uber-creative and dedicated friends, Julie and Austyn, who pass along all of their brilliant ideas and all of the ideas they find on the internet (what did moms do pre-internet??). You guys are awesome!*

Happy Birthday, Brynerooskie!

Last year Bryn celebrated turning 1:

As sequency would have it, this year she celebrated turning 2!

Her birthday weekend started out with a trip into the big city. She has been wanting to ride on the subway train ever since we got back from Africa, so this was a very exciting event. We took her to the Toys-R-Us at Times Square that has an enormous ferris wheel inside. She was in awe for about a minute, then her 2-year-old attention span was directed to some other wonderful discovery.

Ridin' the Wheel (that's what the locals call it...just kidding). I read a warning sign while we were waiting in line that advised pregnant women not to ride. Obviously I live life on the wild side.

After the toy store we went to dinner where the restaurant staff sang to Bryn, sombrero-ed her, and presented her with an ice cream sundae.

The sombrero proved to be merely an obstruction to the ice cream and was promptly discarded. I like the girl's priorities.

The night before her big day we got everything set up for a birthday morning surprise:

She spent about 5 seconds being surprised and then went right to work baking "bread, cookies, ice cream, and German pancakes."

She got to choose her meals throughout the day, but had to settle for 2nd choice every time since her first choice was cupcakes. She loves German pancakes and requested them (as her 2nd choice) for both breakfast and dinner, probably because they are nearly as sweet as a cupcake with all the fixin's.

After breakfast we opened the gifts that had been arriving from grandparents throughout the week.

Conference was watched and a nap was attempted, but she either didn't want to miss a moment of conference or the birthday excitement was just too overwhelming to allow for a nap. Either way, the birthday nap was a no-go, which moved us right along to our next birthday surprise: hunting for number 2's around the house that led to finding the last 2 on a new tricycle (Thank you, Grandad and Kim!)! We took it out for a spin right away.

The birthday was wrapped up with cake and ice cream shared with friends.

Quite a day for quite a two-year-old!

Mommy and the birthday girl

Daddy and the birthday girl

Group shot

We LYMTTCT, Bryn!

XOXO

Perception of Ingratitude

It has been brought to my attention, and rightly so, that my last post could be perceived by many to be quite ungrateful of the many cards and gifts ($) we have been given over the years. In my attempt at sarcasm (which never did anybody any good, unless you're Ricky Gervais), I failed to convey the message I was intending to send: that I, Justin Malden, am terribly uncreative when it comes to showing my appreciation and love for Jill.

Of course I am truly grateful for the many loved ones who have been so thoughtful to us and who have helped us along our way. I only wish that we could adequately repay all of the kindness and love that we have received from both family and friends.

To My Lovely Lady, Happy Birthday

Let's be honest. After 21, birthdays are kinda lame. The childish excitement is all gone and the only milestones left are 30 (blah), 50 (old), and 78 (average life expectancy). The social custom demands that we celebrate one's birth by perusing the endless assortment of "another year older" cards, cat cards, and "this sexy [person] wants to give you a present you'll never forget" cards.-------------------Edited for an offensive statement--------------------------

Despite my pessimism, however, there is one birthday that I love to celebrate: Jill's. Recognizing that there are an infinite number of events that had to take place to ensure our present circumstance, I can honestly say that the day Jill was born is one of the most important days of my life. I regret that I didn't know Jill existed for the first half of my life, but I have found reason to celebrate her life and the blessing it has been to be a part of it since the day we met 14 years ago.

I celebrate her humor, her intelligence, her virtue, her honesty, her diligence in the gospel, her dedication to personal growth, her talents, her grasp of motherhood, her beauty and her loyalty and affection as a wonderful wife and friend. I aspire to be like her in every possible way.

Happy birthday babe, glad you're alive. - Justin