Trouble

My purse is no longer safe from Alex infiltration.
Alex just surprised me by unzipping my purse, which he has never done. He was after my keys and is now "beeping" the car repeatedly, one of his favorite things to do. Hopefully it doesn't drive any of my neighbors crazy.
And I guess now I now that my purse will ALWAYS have to be up on the counter and away from the edge.

red light, green light

I put Alex down for bed about 15 minutes ago. I just went up to grab something and heard him talking in his room. When I stopped to listen, I heard him saying, "green... go! red... stop!".
Nice to know that he's practicing the things we teach him when he's supposed to be going to sleep.

How does it just keep accumulating?

You know... STUFF. I've been working on getting the stuff collecting rooms in our house cleaned out and better organized/laid out and I'm just amazed at how much stuff we've been collecting. And I think a lot of it is because it's not better organized.
So we went through a bunch of stuff and decided what stuff we could part with and what stuff could be put to better use. We have quite a few things listed on craig's list right now and I'm hoping it will all be gone by the end of the week.

So if you happen to need a nice new outdoor light fixture, a cute floral-y light fixture, an entertainment center (27" tv), an HD tuner, or a projector screen you just let us know. ;) Oh ya, and a mantle clock too. Can't forget that!


In other news, I booked my "summer" trip out to Utah for the SWEET SWEET price of $180 after all taxes/fees. Granted, I am flying out of San Antonio... and the only flight they had was at 7pm and won't get in to Utah until 11pm, it was ONLY $180!!! We decided we'd better use our last opportunity to be able to only have to pay for 1 person while we still could. We've been very lucky while we've lived here to find good prices on flights and been able to visit family in Utah OFTEN. However, I long for the days when Alex would sleep through the whole flight.
I'm thinking this potato head pack. And then I'll box it up again and let him open it for his birthday. ;)
These spud buds would be fun too.
Alex is totally fascinated by putting the little parts in the holes. We have a potato head that I got as a Christmas gift from a friend in college, but we have lost most of the parts. I'll randomly find the eyes or an ear or some other part in various places in the house and car.

Any other great suggestions on what I should get him to keep him busy on the plane this time?

Crab in the water

Swimming in the summer heat! from Jon M on Vimeo.

cutie skirty

I wish this was in my size so that I could win it. And even though I don't have a girl, I still want it. And if I don't win, I may just have to replicate it because it is that cute!
(thanks Amanda for leading me to this through your blog!)

Yes, it was wonderful.

And I'm probably going back next week- or at the very least in the next month. And I may take advantage of the Mommy's Night Out classes they have. How fun to get a night out to work on and finish a project. Awesome.
My favorite thing was all the cute fabric they had for 40% off. This is excellent news when the fabric is $8-10 to begin with. I wanted to buy so much stuff, but like the good wife I am, held out.

So here is what is perplexing to me- why can't I find any quilting stores that carry all the great fabrics in Round Rock of all places?! And why do I have to go all the way downtown for Joel Dewberry? Or all the way to Cedar Park for Amy Butler? And why the heck doesn't anyone carry Heather Bailey?! Two stores in Utah do, but absolutely nothing in Texas?! I'm appalled.
I've only seen one store - a sewing machine store in Round Rock that has Moda fabric. I think the same store carried Michael Miller, but I can't be sure because there is something funky with the search function at Michael Miller. Is it really too much to ask to have all of my favorite fabrics all in one store that's not 30 minutes away?
I keep telling Jon that I want to open a fabric store that has all of the great fabrics and designers all in one place. (Wanna move to AZ Lyns?!)

If you have a favorite fabric desinger/collection, please let me know in the comments so that I can see if any stores in ROUND ROCK actually carry it. I just can't believe there would only be one store in all of Round Rock that carries cool fabric.
Come on... Lyns, Nicole, Mush... I know you're dying to comment here!

Fabric Addiction

I finally decided to look up places where I could get some designer fabric that I am constantly drooling over and discovered that the 2 places I want to go are both in Cedar Park. Luckily, I am going there tomorrow. Even luckier Amy actually gets to live close to them. Or maybe it's a good thing I don't live closer...
I will let you all know of the inspiration that will certainly befall me upon entering a quilting store. I'm hoping it will spur the projects that I have onward so that I can get them done in order to buy more fabric (Jon says I can't get stuff for more projects until I finish the ones already on my plate). Unfortunately, I have a creative brain that just wants to do all sorts of things.
Now, if only I had the motivation to sit down and actually sew instead of just sitting after dealing with house keeping and the little boy all day. I am rearranging and cleaning my crafting room in order to better do so. Don't you just love how you need a neat and clean place to work on craft stuff, but when you craft it keeps all messy? Ya... it's a vicious cycle.

Anyway, I am very much looking forward to my morning out tomorrow and hopefully Alex will tolerate it for long enough to appease me. *note to self- pack LOTS of fruit snacks.*

Colors and numbers

Alex has them down!
Well the numbers are hit and miss, but he does awesome on his colors thanks to Daddy reading him his color book every night. Thanks Jon!
He just turned 21 months on the 19th and he's starting to string at least 2 words together on occasion. On a bad side, the past couple of days he's been crying about everything. I'm hoping it's just teeth or something and not a precursor of what's to come.

Brandname vs. Generic

Ahh... the age old question as we pick up each item in the grocery store and decide if we should get the cheaper generic version or splurge for the brand name.
I am largely a generic person and will try out any generic thing and weigh the benefits before deciding to switch to the brand name.

And now for the examples.
I bought 2 packages of generic Oreos so that we could make some cookies and cream ice cream. I figured that I like eating Oreos, so that second package was for me to dunk in my milk and see how they compared with Oreos. Conclusion: not as good as Oreos, especially for dunking, although they were probably fine in the ice cream. Seeing as we don't buy Oreos on a regular basis, this is something that I would be willing to spend the extra dollar on when we do buy Oreos.

Peanut butter. I always thought they were all equal. Until I married Jon. When I bought generic peanut butter, Jon was appalled. So I buy him the Jif he likes and I stick with the generic for myself and Alex. To me, the dollar more isn't worth it, but to Jon there is no other way.

Macaroni and cheese. I grew up on Western Family. I still remember the white boxes with plain black print. I didn't know of any different until I was babysitting and they had some Kraft. And I really wasn't that much of a fan of it. But then I had more of it (I think my mom picked up some REALLY cheap boxes in mass amounts at NPS) and grew a taste for it's superiorness. Now we are a Kraft mac n cheese household, which I'm sure is quite the shocker for my mom. I think they still do the Western Family stuff at my parent's house. And really, maybe Western Family is nearly as tasty as Kraft and the stuff that I can get here in Texas is just different. Who knows?

Wheat Thins. Okay, really most crackers. Wheat Thins beat the generic hands down. Same thing with Ritz. Those are really the only crackers I buy. I do get generic graham crackers and "Teddy Grahams" (aka H-E-Buddies!) along with soda crackers, but anything else just never seems to quite step up to the name brand cracker quality and taste.

What other brand names do you have to have? What are you willing to splurge on?

Noodles and Sauce

Ever since eating at The Spaghetti Warehouse where Grandma shared her noodles in marinara sauce with Alex, Alex has been absolutely crazy about noodles and sauce. I've taken to cooking a big pan of penne noodles that Alex can tear through during the following week or 2 because he eats a LOT of them several times a week. He will seriously eat about as much as I can when it comes to noodles and sauce.
It hit a new level when last week he put his noodles on his fingers and was saying "hi" for them (this is what we do when we play with puppets or stuffed animals... they just say hi to each other).

Another benefit of the red sauce is that I can puree more veggies besides tomatoes to put in them- I'm thinking red peppers and carrots.
And on that note, my wonderful mom just sent me the Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfield which is all about pureeing veggies to put in stuff. I'm really excited to try out the recipes and get some extra doses of vegetables in.

Black beadboard island? CHECK!

Jon is wonderful and painted under the island for me last night. I love it and think it looks fabulous! I'm excited that there isn't flat paint under there anymore to collect the colors of my jeans and anything else that happened to rub against it.

Here's Jon painting:




and the finished product! Not the best light as it was dusk, but you get the main idea. (please excuse the horrible state of my kitchen as well. I wasn't home all day to get it picked up.)






It feels great to not want to do anything else to my house- well besides taming the bushes out front, but that's not for a few more months.

Not the vacuum!

I really needed to vacuum, so I went to get it out of our extra bedroom's closet. Alex, of course, followed me in and walked in the doorway just as I was getting the vacuum out. The second he saw it, he got the most terrified look on his face that I have ever seen, screamed, and then ran out the door running as fast as he could down the hall.
I don't think it should be funny, but it was hilarious to me.

Are all nearly 2 year olds terrified of the vacuum? Hopefully he'll grow out of it one day!

Do you have our Office Season 3?

We have discovered that our Office Season 3 DVD has gone missing. Jon can't remember if he lent it to someone.
I'm having a vague recollection of Sally taking it to San Antonio with us to watch on her dvd player... any chance Sally put it in a weird place or it ended up in your suitcase and home with you?

So if you read our blog and happen to know where our Office Season 3 DVD could be, please let me know. We miss it.

"I ate glue when I was a kid"

... will be something that Alex can tell his friends later on in life.
Yesterday after church, Alex thought the gluestick I had out in my classroom would make a fine treat and decided to give it a little taste. Jon and I had no clue until he started doing the "get this out of my mouth" spitting etc. We looked over to see the glue stick in hand and it was pretty obvious what had happened.
There are two very shallow teeth marks in the glue. When I find the camera, I'll take a picture.
Oh and Alex is fine. It was only a small amount and it's non-toxic.

I just keep thinking about the feeling of sticky glue stick in your mouth... eww!

Weekend of fun and some silly Alex things

This weekend was jam packed for us. More specifically, Saturday was. Jon played in the final softball tournament at our stake's Pioneers and Patriots festival. As the winners of the losers bracket, they played 2 games against the winners of the winner's bracket and won both, so we won the CHAMPIONSHIP! (Jon wants me to add in that he himself scored the winning run in the top of the inning). My personal input is that he played great and got some really good hits and runs. Go Jon!

Alex had a great time running around outside for 2.5 hours, sharing his fruit-snacks with Walker, drinking from a little water bottle, and playing with a softball (until he threw it and it rolled down onto the field...)

I also have to add in the humor that Jon finds in the Pioneers and Patriots festival. Basically, Mormon history in Texas is that the Mormons that settled here are the ones that didn't want to follow Brigham Young and continue heading West. So they came to Texas. And let's not forget Our Confederate Dead. Texas patriotism is great!

Sadly we did not get to stay for the catered bbq, massive amounts of watermelon, and sno-cones at the festival because Jon's team for work was having a team bbq. It was a lot of fun and Alex tried some "Earl Campbell's Hot Links".

We recently got some sausage for Alex the last time we were at Rudy's and he loved it, so we figured he would love these (plus, all the burgers had cheese cooked on them and we're trying out a non-dairy diet for Alex since he has less than solid BMs). Well he downed at least a quarter of one, if not closer to a half and then he started spitting and doing the usual "get this out of my mouth" routine when he doesn't like something... accompanied with crying. He quickly sipped up a good portion of my water. Guess the hot links were a little too hot for our Texas baby. Maybe next year Alex.

Alex loved the landscaping rocks they had in their yard. They kept him busy almost the whole time we were there. I think he will be very happy in Arizona.

To top off a great weekend, Alex pretty much ran to nursery today. He was so excited to go and play! He ran down the hall and tried going in each door, thinking it was nursery. The sight was so funny to me because he has NEVER done that. I'm glad I didn't have to walk down the hall to primary listening to the screams of my child coming from the nursery!

Jon also gave a talk in sacrament meeting. He did a great job and Alex did a good job of sitting in the bench with me and staying entertained. We usually sit in the back and he wanders the back when he needs to. We'll probably have to sit in a bench every week... guess that means we'll have to leave at 12:30 instead of 12:50.

Funny Alex story from this week: I found a red/black small spider crawling on the floor by where I change Alex's diapers and thought it was a red ant. I get freaked out if I see any red ants in the house because that means there is more of them and I have to figure out where they are coming from. So I said, "oh crap!" and Alex quickly followed with a "oh tap". I thought it was funny (still undecided on if I'm okay with Alex saying oh crap or not) and was telling Jon about it when we were all in the car that evening. I looked back at Alex and said, "say oh crap" and he said, "pooh". We about died laughing!
(the pooh comes from a recent discovery of Winnie the Pooh. Apparently Alex was thinking about him in that moment).

AND FINALLY- we have another HD video for you!
This is Alex saying "I breaked it", which we think is cute. Of course, this is the only thing he proceeds with an I and I have no clue how he figured out to say I and knew that it referred to himself. Apparently he just knows that he should use it with "breaked it".

Please excuse my weird looking hair. I hate blowdrying it if I'm not going anywhere.


I breaked it from Jon M on Vimeo.

Raving about Bum Genius cloth diapers- you know you want some

And even if you don't some, you want to try to win some for me! Just post a comment to enter to win and 18 pack bum genius cloth diaper package.
Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

These are the diapers I'm hoping to switch over to once the next baby moves out of the large amount of small fuzzi bunz we have. We got Alex 3 of them last month and I have been so impressed with them and they look absolutely adorable on him! And I love that they fit all the way from 8lbs. up to 30.
It would be really nice to save over $200 and not have to buy these one day. I need to win!

Who let the dogs out?

Alex: "woof woof woof. "



There was a commercial that just came on with this song on it and Alex thought it was the greatest thing ever and started barking along with it.
Just one of those little things that make me laugh!

And many "fond" memories of Zak singing this song. Ahh... the days of Who Let the Dogs Out...

Update on the turtle (aka Snappy)

This morning, the turtle was still out in our yard! Hooray! He didn't escape! He wasn't as shy around me when I went out there and still had his head out, so I could see the red marks on his head. So that made it really easy to figure out that he is a Red Eared Slider. He looks like this:



This morning I found him enjoying the left over water sitting in Alex's wading pool. It wasn't a surprise that he is an aquatic turtle. From "The Animal Planet": "It spends most of its time in or around water. Although it can be found in lakes and rivers, the Red-eared Slider prefers marshes, ponds, and slow-moving water that supply food and basking areas. In northern areas it will hibernate."

I guess we were destined!

When Alex goes down for his nap I'm going to set up a little pool for the turtle. As much as I like him in Alex's pool, I don't especially want his lovely claws to poke a hole in it. I'm sure Alex's world would come to an end if he no longer had a pool. Especially since he has taken to crying and screaming/throwing tantrums when we have to go inside. Or even try to take off his swimming suit/shirt/shoes. It's lovely.

Snappy the Turtle

So after a trip to Taco Bell and Wally World we arrived at our house with groceries and the like. As I stepped out of the car I happen to spot something moving in our garage out of the corner of my eye. Looking behind the red bucket in the corner I spy a lovely turtle who probably crawled in today since I left the garage door open after bringing the garbage in this morning.

This called for a HD experience using our new HD camcorder! (Yes, I did get a killer deal on it otherwise Carrie would have killed me by now.)

Witness Snappy the Turtle in his Hi-Def debut:


Snappy the Turtle from Jon M on Vimeo.

(You actually have to go to the site to see it in HD, but once there you can click on the little white X to make it full screen and then click on Scaling is On to get it in the native resolution. It looks AWESOME!)

We can't wait to tell the Bronsons that we have a pet turtle now too!

Coming soon in HD!

Jon got us an HD camcorder. It's charging as we speak and we're really excited to check it out and see what difference it makes! I think Jon is more so than I am, but he's a guy. He gets excited about stuff like that.
Unfortunately for you who read the blog, you still get the lovely low quality blog movies.
But if you know us, I'm sure Jon will make you watch some video we've taken in HD at some point when you're over, so beware!