Merry Christmas!!

It is 9:00 on Christmas night, and ALL the boys are in bed! What does that mean? It means I have a chance to sit down and do this!

Erik got in from Denver on Saturday, his flight was delayed 2 hours by the Continental jet the went off the runway... so he got here at midnight-ish. Dagan got a bad cold on Saturday, so he was still awake when Erik got here. He was super excited to see his big brother again.

We didn't have anyone else here for the holiday. Erik was disappointed, he really enjoyed having Dad and Cathy here over Thanksgiving.

Without further ado, here are some pictures.

Friday Dagan and I set up the christmas tree. He was a BIG help. He kept getting into the ornaments and playing with the lights. He saw me put a string of lights on the tree and tried to put on the string he had. He also liked to point at the tree and talk to it. It was pretty cute.

Santa and family was pretty good to all of us, especially the kids. They made out like bandits, as usual. This is what the tree looked like before the boys got to it.

Dagan must have known it was Christmas, because he woke up at 5:45am, and he ran out to the living room. Normally if he wakes up that early I can nurse him right back to sleep, but he didn't hang around long enough! He paused to point at the full stockings, and then spotted the tree. I had taken down the gate for easy present placement, and didn't think I would need to put it back up. Boy, was I wrong. Dagan ran to the tree. I tried to put the gate back before he could get into the presents. I didn't make it. He was all excited, pointed to all the presents and promptly spotted some of his unwrapped presents. What do you mean I have to wait??

Finally, at 7am everyone else got up. After about half an hour of coffee drinking and general messing around we got down to business.

Erik got a scooter, operation, a game called Hyper-Dash, some books, crafty-things, clothes, cars, a video game, and other random things. Dagan got a singing and counting chair thing, a piano with blocks, some giant baby blocks, one of the wooden toys with the swirly metal and shapes that move, some Colorado Avalanche stuff, clothes, and other random stuff. Like I said, they made out like bandits. Here are some pics of them playing with their toys. Mostly of Dagan, cus Erik played his video game for 2 hours, and those would be boring pictures.And one extremely unflattering pic of me in my pajamas playing with Dagan. .

Paint Shop is fun!

Mike had fun today editing some pics of Dagan. They are super cutte, and just thought I'd share!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a full house this year. My Dad and stepmom came out, as well as my stepson, Erik. Dagan had a blast with all of them, one night he even outlasted Erik! Without further ado, here are some pictures!

Cathy and Erik

Me, getting ready to chow down

Dagan

A trip to the park.

Saturday morning I took Dagan to the park. He was a bit restless and cranky, so I thought a trip to the park was in order. He could get some fresh air, and run off the cranky.

There was no one but us at the park, so we didn't have to wait for the play structure.

This was Dagan's first adventure on a play structure. I think I've been a bit overprotective of him, not getting him on one before now. However, he did only start to walk 2 months ago and is still sometimes wobbley. Especially when he tries to run. He wasn't really sure what to do in there, so I had to walk him around. He wasn't impressed. Of course, there wasn't a slide or anything cool so there really was nothing to be impressed with.

We left the play structure in favor of "running" through the leaves and chasing the soccer ball.

Dagan's first haircut.

Today I gave Dagan his first haircut. His hair was getting quite long, and it was past time. I have attempted in the past to cut his hair with scissors. Bad idea. He got all mad, wouldn't hold still and all that good stuff. So I decided to use Mike's clippers. I waited until after nap time, and made sure he was happy. Then I broke out the clippers. Dagan was NOT happy. I had to finish because if I didn't he would have dumb hair. Obviously it couldn't be left half done. I cut a good 2 inches off of it, he now has little boy hair! It was bordering on girlish before.

This is Dagan 2 days ago at the park with long hair. You can see how it's getting down into his eyes.

This is Dagan today after his haircut!

It took a couple of hours for me to get used to seeing him with so little hair! I think I cut it a bit short, but it's hair, and it grows. That, truly, is the beauty of hair.

These are a couple of random pictures also taken today. I realized I don't have many pics of Dagan and me, so I took a couple. I even put on makeup. Yea!!

Get that kitty!!

One roast, 3 meals?? You bet!

Sunday I put a nice big roast that I had rubbed with salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the crock pot with 1 package of gravy mix (brown), one package of Italian dressing mix, and 1 package of Ranch dressing mix with one cup of water. I let it cook for a good 8 hours on low. I sliced and served with mashed potatoes, bread (homemade, of course) and salad. Yum! There was PLENTY left over.
Tuesday night I took some of the meat, shredded it, and heated it up with a bit of the sauce, put it into tortilla and fried them on both sides in Smart Balance spread. Served that with some southwestern style hashbrowns that I made from scratch, and fat free sour cream and salsa. I love salsa (sigh). Yummy.
Last night I made stew with all the leftover meat. The secret is to cook your vegies (potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and garlic) in just enough water to cover them. When that starts simmering you add the rest of the roast and the left over gravy. That saves you from having to add much bullion. Then you just season with herbs and spices however you like! You need to stir every couple of minutes or the potatoes might stick to the bottom, and no one wants that!
Yes, I know, I'm freaking fantastic! OR something. Just thought I'd share, because I have nothing else excitin to say and I haven't blogged in a whole week!!

Dagan Videos!

Here are a couple of new videos of Dagan. One is a little dark, I took it thismorning, but it's a bit overcast outside, sorry! He's wearing only a diaper and bib.... he seems to have another cold, and is a drool machine, hence the bib.
The other one was taken a day or two ago. He's dancing. You can almost hear the music!

What's for dinner?

Ok everybody, I want to know what you all had for dinner last night, or are having tonight!
Last night we had comfort food. Meatloaf, funeral potatoes (I've been having a craving for these lately), salad and freshly baked bread.
Tonight, I think we'll have crockpot cream cheese chicken with rice, salad and bread! I'm trying to get more vegies into our diet, hence the salad these 2 nights. It's also cheap, easy, and filling!

Chips!

A week or 2 ago I bought a big bag of tortilla chips at Safeway. When I got them home and opened them, they were horribly stale, oily and chewy. I was so mad! I spent over $4 on that bag! So I wrote the company, not really expecting anything. Today or yesterday, I got a letter from them in the mail. It said their chips are guaranteed fresh through the date in the bag, and it was possible the condition of the chips was due to mishandling either along the distribution channels or at the point of purchase. AND they gave me coupons (3)! $2 off any of their products, but I can't combine them. Frankly, that's OK, considering I wasn't really expecting to hear of get anything. Woo-hoo! Yeah for companies that read their e-mail.

Today Dagan had to get his shots. He really hates the doctor. All the doctor has to do is walk into the room, and Dagan starts screaming. He had 4 shots; his chicken pox, flu shot, TB skin test and the last of his pneumococcal. Poor baby was screaming so hard I thought he was going to pass out! He eventually got over it, and here is a video! This was after his almost 2hr nap. Let me add that he wore himself out screaming and crying at the doctor. He fell asleep minutes after we got going home, with his arm in the air, holding a baby mum-mum. If I could have taken a picture, I would have, it was so cute, but I was driving. Mike says I can't do stuff like take pictures while I'm driving. it's not safe, or something. Go figure

Why are my potatoes green??

I bought a nice big 10lb bag of potatoes, and they're green under the skin. Why? That bugs the heck out of me. I mean, they taste fine, but green?? Once you peel off all the skin, they aren't greem anymore, just in case you all thought they were totally green. I mean, seriously, I paid good money, you know, like $4.00 for a bag, and I don't want green taters!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

First, let me tell a spooky and true story:

Yesterday I was laying in bed nursing Dagan, when I heard the message tone on my phone beep. I'm thinking it's probably Mike, texting me. After I can release myself from Dagan, I get up and check. Not a text message, but a voice mail. Huh, I didn't hear my phone ring. I check the message. You have one new voice mail, sent today, at 1pm, or whatever. Nothing. Dead air. To save your message, press 9. Blah blah whatever you get at the end of a voicemail. Then I check to see if I have any missed calls. Nope. I had a ghost message! Nobody called me, and they left a message...

Anyway, on to more fun things. Today after a dress up Stroller Strides class we had a Halloween party! Dagan fell asleep in the Jeep on the way there, but I woke him up so he could play! He ran the whole time. He didn't want to eat any of the snacks, or stay in one spot. He wanted to see what was going on with everyone. Without further ado, here are some super cute pictures!

His costume is a dragon/dinosaur type thing. So, he's Dagan-saurus Rex. He does not like the hood. At all. He spent most of the time running away from me, and I was super lucky to get the pictures that I did, because he was constantly on the move. The bummer thing is, my batteried died half-way through the party. He had a hug smile on his face the whole time, and was laughing and hollering and having rear-end loads of fun. At noon they brought in this guy called music mike. He looked and sounded like he was just taking a break from smoking a little weed to sing to the kids. I didn't really care for him, but the other kids seemed to like him. Dagan didn't give a rat's behind. He was busy playing with a water bottle and some little girl's shoe.

He's on the move, look out!

After the party, he was all tuckered out, and fell asleep in the Jeep on the way home. He's still asleep.

Oops.... I did it again!

I am the official recipient of the "bonehead of the year" award. I was doing laundry last night and scooped up Mike's clothes from out by the hot tub. As I was transferring the clothes from the washer to the dryer, Mike's cell phone fell out. He had it outside when we were in the hot tub, and didn't bring it in. Like a bonehead, I didn't check pockets, etc. or the pile of clothes. I just dumped it all into the washing machine. This is the second time I have sent his phone through the washer. Neither time did the phone survive. So I am off to AT&T to hopefully get an upgrade on the dead phone.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Today Mike and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! Yea! Since I don't have a job, we didn't do anything super special. We had pizza and wine. I can't believe it has been 3 years already. It seems like only yesterday...

The place it all happened: The Craftwood Inn, Manitou Springs, Colorado

Here are some photos of this day, 3 years ago.

This is me getting ready with my mom.

Mike getting ready with a steaming cup of joe.

My fantastic brother and sister.

Mike, Grandma Helen, and Don

Cathy, Jinny, Ashley, Mom, me and Mike

Mmmm. Cake.

Ok, seriously tired of uploading pictures. I'm sure you all get the gist...

It has been a fabulous 3 years. We moved across the country, got new jobs, had a fantastic baby. In cast you're not sure what he looks like, here's a picture of him:
Dang he's cute! And cranky. I'd best be tending to the little munchkin now...