Happy Easter- Don't hate for being late

I seem to have some kind of innate inability to post pictures of events as they happen. So here are Easter pictures a week late!

As a side note, I am baking chocolate chip cookies right now. I thought putting these pictures up would be a good project while they bake! Mmmmm....

Anyway, here are some pictures from our adventure out east! Josie's first trip to Pennsylvania since she was 6 months old. And the first flight since the debacle in January. Yikes!

Josie was very excited about wearing her new Easter dress! And she wore the hat all day, everywhere she went. Even in her car seat. It was a struggle to get her to take it off for her nap!

Dressed and ready to go to Church! The whole pack of half-sisters, quarter-sisters and husbands packed in to see Sharon play violin during the Church program. Josie was blown away by this mega-Church and the rock concert they put on for Easter. There were even girls dressed as angels dancing at the end- probably the most exciting moment of Josie's life. She is still talking about it and showing us their moves!

After Church we hunted for Easter eggs! Josie found her basket with a new pair of shades, courtesy Auntie Heather/Easter bunny.

On the hunt for eggs! Quarter-Auntie McKenzie and her baby, Felix, joined the party as did amateur videographer, Auntie Heather.

Hmmm... If I were a two-year old, where would I be able to find Easter eggs? How about just laying randomly in the grass? Auntie Heather and Mom (aka Easter Bunnies) didn't do a lot of actual hiding...

Assessing the Easter spoils! Sharon (Kim and Heather's Mom), Kim and I help Josie figure out which jelly beans to eat and which to give to Dad.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

Another Day, Another Collection of Weird Emails from My Parents

This morning I started my work day with an interesting email in my inbox. My Dad had sent me a letter to the editor from the Minneapolis newspaper. See below:

Letter of the day: Supportive wives need to get a little mad
Star Tribune

What's wrong with the wronged wives of politicians, allowing themselves to be dragged out in front of the cameras to be further humiliated by their betraying husbands?

Can't they say, "No way, pig"?

And, if the stated intention of the news conference is for the politician to resign, and he doesn't, wifey should grab his buttocks and dig in her nails, whispering in his ear, "Resign, stupid, before I grab some other part of your anatomy and hurt you real bad in front of all these nice people."
If they are not tough enough to do that, then they should just stay home. Please! And take their phony "support" with them.

N. BAKER, ST. LOUIS PARK

As I read I was thinking "This woman has an interesting point. Not sure why my Dad emailed this to me, though." Then I saw the name at the bottom and threw up in my mouth. Holy Hell, that's my mother. ACK!

To lighten the mood I returned my Dad's email with a stupid forward about aging. It had pictures of movie stars in their prime coupled with considerably less flattering photos of them today. Hardy Har. Schwartzenegger's got man boobs. Everyone's laughing, right? This was my Dad's response:

"Getting older is just plain unkind! You'll get yours, unless you die prematurely."

Unless I DIE PREMATURELY? What kind of cauldren was he stirring when he wrote that? I guess all the hilarious comebacks I was expecting got sidelined on that one. And thanks for the alternative-- that if I don't die prematurely, at least I will "get mine."

Here's to the Cleavers!

Bye-Bye Ba-Ba

This past weekend I suddenly realized I was officially the mother of a little girl. Josie, Russ and I had a very full weekend of family activities that we all enjoyed. On Saturday we went to the Nature Museum and Josie was in the mix with the big kids, having fun playing with all of the interactive exhibits. Then on Sunday we spent the morning outside while Josie marched through puddles in her rain boots. In the afternoon Josie and I made chocolate chip cookies together. I had so much fun with her! But, I have to admit that I got a little emotional about my best buddy Josie. The baby part of her is drifting so quickly into the past.

I was reminded of a time when I was little and doing some clothes shopping with my Mom. I was in a pink stage (not really out of that yet) and picked out a pink sweatshirt with little gems on it. It had taken me years to learn the real word for those gems- I used to pronounce it “grindstones.” Cognizant of trying to speak right, I said “I like this one with the rhinestones.” I thought my Mom would be impressed that I’d gotten it right, but instead she got teary and said “oh no! The last of your baby words is gone!”

I had the same feeling this weekend when I noticed Josie give up a mainstay of babyhood- no longer acknowledging animal names by their sounds, but by the real words. No more “ba-ba” but the real “Sheep” instead. Also gone were “neigh-neigh”, “meow-meow,” and my personal favorite for bunny, “hop-hop.” I am proud of her for talking like a big girl, but sad to see those cute baby favorites go away!

Paint It Black!

Josie sees a red door and she wants to paint it black. No colors anymore, she wants everything to be black. At least in her Barney coloring book. Should I be worried that Josie will only color with her black crayon? She has a whole box of colors and she refuses to use them. And to make it even weirder, she is really into eye color right now. So when she starts coloring, she wants to color the eyes... the end result would make a child pyschologist drool. On every page are cheesy dinosaurs with their eyes blacked out, and sometimes even their mouths. Then, adding to the weirdness, Russ and Josie made me a Valentine for Valentine's Day. Russ used pink construction paper to cut out some hearts and wrote "Happy Valentine's Day, Mommy!" in red. Josie then drew all over it in black. Is Josie ahead of her time with a statement representing a desire for freedom from manufactured holidays? Or is she the world's first goth two year old?

I don't see the point

I wanted some hot chocolate this morning but all I had was white hot chocolate left over from Christmas. I attempted a few drinks and realized it had kind of a coconut thing going on and was frankly not nearly as appetizing as regular hot chocolate. I made a mental note of not seeing the point of white chocolate. It doesn't taste like anything but creamy sugar. If I am going to invest in the calories, I might as well enjoy the taste of actual chocolate. Which led me to make a list of things for which I do not see the point:

1. White Chocolate

2. New kinds of pop- Why are Coke and Pepsi always coming out with new kinds of cola? My Dad helped me understand Coke Zero, but now they have a coke with vitamins? Is this to improve super model scurvy rates?

3. Extra huge rolls of toilet paper- is it really that hard to change the roll? This is turning into the 5-6-7-8-9- blade razor contest. Now they even have to sell roll extenders.

4. Rumer Willis- She's starting to think she's a hollywood starlet. But let me break it to you easy- she is heinous.

Get me home before I #$%^&*#@$%^!!!!

I have just completed the worst, most complicated travel experience of my life. Let me break it down for you.

Friday, February 1:

Beginning this crusade was a two day trip to Iowa for my Grandfather's super sad funeral. On Thursday, Russ and I drove back to Illinois in a blizzard causing our three hour drive to take more than 6. Waking up in Sycamore on Friday, we had to turn around quickly to head home. I have plane tickets for a previously scheduled trip to Minneapolis. Its hectic, but I'm excited to see Mona and Josie is all about airplanes so its actually kind of fun.

Saturday: Super fun day with Mona and her new baby, Andrew! We capture their first kiss on film. Really great day and hardly any arguing about politics with her Bush-backer hubby, Jon.
Sunday: Josie and I head to a day with Plank relatives at Jane's house. Its so fun, I am miserable when its time to leave for the airport to go home.

4:00: Arrive at Minneapolis airport with Josie. I make my way through ridiculous security. They force Josie to put Pooh through the xray thing and even have her take her shoes off and walk through the metal detector. She is suspected of being a terrorist.

4:30: Dang! My flight is delayed 45 minutes! Some problem with not having the right pilot. Whatever, Josie and I walk around checking out the airport scene.

5:30: Time to board! We'll be home soon!

6:30: After sitting on the plane for an hour and doing nothing, the airline tells us the flight has randomly been CANCELLED. They kick us off and tell us to rebook the flight. Apparenty they still couldn't find a pilot.

7:15: Hooray, maybe this isn't too bad, we got on another flight right away. We take off and head to Midway. Can't wait to see Russ! The flight attendants are giving us updates on the Superbowl.

8:15: Flight attendants, prepare for landing. I can see Midway out the window! Hooray!

8:20: What's happening? Why are we not landing? A flight attendant comes over the loudspeaker and says "Bad news, folks. The weather has gotten bad and the visibility is down to zero. We have to turn around and fly back to Minneapolis." I choke on my gum. This has to be a joke, right?

9:30: Um, no, its not a joke, because here I am getting off the plane in Minneapolis exactly where I started 6 hours before. Only this time the airline has lost my stroller and my luggage. They finally find my stroller but by the time I can get to the ticket counter there are no more flights scheduled until tomorrow. I have to call my Dad, but he doesn't answer because he's at a superbowl party. I am now stranded and living like the people on Lost!

10:00 pm: I finally get a hold of my Dad and he is coming to get me at the airport. The airline has lost my carseat as well, so I ride in the backseat of my Dad's car with Josie in my lap hoping we don't go over a bridge or something.

11:00 pm: We get home and I put Josie in one of MaryBeth's shrunken t-shirts for sleep. Josie is screaming and freaking out. Where am I, what's up with this t-shirt, who is this MaryBeth character, and why am I not at home. We sleep together that night. Josie wakes up every couple of hours to make sure I am still there.

Monday:

8:00 am: Wake up and assess the damage. Schedule a new flight. My Dad goes to buy Josie some extra diapers.

10:45 am: Head for the airport for another attempt. My Dad helps me and tries to talk security into letting him come wait at the gate with me, but I am not disabled so they kick him out. We say good bye and it is not until I reach the gate that the computer tells me my flight is cancelled AGAIN. I call my Dad as fast as I can so he doesn't leave the airport with out his two vagabond ladies.

All day we watch the computer as flight after flight is cancelled. All in all 6 flights I was scheduled to take home are cancelled. I talk to Russ and he tells me that more bad weather is coming to Chicago, and if I can't get home today I might be stuck in Minneapolis until Thursday! In mid-afternoon, another snow storm also hits Minneapolis.

10:40 pm: We head to the airport in the fluke chance we might actually get home on this red-eye flight. The northwest employees seem doubtful. But they board the plane and we are heading out. 10 minutes before we land, they say something about needing to circle the airport because they can't land due to fog. I experience acid flash backs and start sweating. But suddenly, we are on the ground and home!

By Wednesday I am back at work. Besides waiting another day for my luggage and enduring a 4-hour power outage on Tuesday night (a vast Republican conspiracy to keep people from voting on Super Tuesday), its almost like things are back to normal. I can't wait to fly again!