Thursday, April 30, 2009

Nothing Cuter

My friend Laura was saying that there is nothing cuter than a running toddler, but a toddler running on the beach has to be the cutest. It was a little windy, and you can see the shadow of the kite that Dave was flying. Just 46 seconds out of our few days of beach, pool, play, food and drinks.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

As Our Mexican Vacation Ends, So our Swine Flu Quarantine Begins...

Kidding!!! But since it's the topic on everyone's mind, I might as well give you the scoop on the swine flu first, since who wants to hear all about the beach, and the pools, and the drinks, and the desserts, right? You'd probably feel jealous if all I talked about was how we were upgraded to a suite, and had the best location for our room, near the adults only pool on one side, so it was quiet, and with the miniature golf course right outside our patio. So you'll just have to wait until tomorrow for all that good stuff. So: Swine Flu.

On Sunday or Monday we noticed about 4 people wearing masks, and one of them was a really, really old lady. It had seemed sort of hazy as we were landing, since Puerto Vallarta is on the pacific side, with the ocean and the mountains and the LA style inversion layer... I thought maybe the masks were asthma/smog related.

Tuesday morning, we turned on what we thought was the news, and it was like this: "Influenza, blah, blah, blah, Influenza, blah, blah, blah, INFLUENZA, blah, blah, blah! INFLUENZA!!!" interspersed with video of people frantically passing out masks. (My Spanish isn't very good.) I wondered if maybe instead of the news we were watching a Mexican production of The Stand. Dave said, "Huh." and turned off the TV. We were just trying to get an idea of what the weather was like in Denver.

At the airport we saw random people wearing masks. No one at the United counters had on masks, but some baggage handlers were wearing masks. One Asian family was masked, all Americans were unmasked. Carl's Jr. workers: Masked. Starbucks: Unmasked. Etc. I asked Dave if he thought we were going to be quarantined when we got off the plane. He said, "No."

When we got off the plane, we got a piece of paper that listed the symptoms of the swine flu, and it said to call the CDC if we got sick. That was it. You get sick in 2 to 7 days, so I guess we'll know in 1 to 6 days.

In the meantime, here are some cute greetings from Mexico. Jack was very popular in Mexico, especially once he started saying, "Hola!" (or owa!).

¿Cuántos años tiene su bebé? Mira a los ojos azules! Hola bebé!








Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Overheard, Take 2

Dave said that my post yesterday wasn't funny, so I thought maybe I would put some more context around it:

Dave: No, Jackie! Teeth are not for biting.
Luke: Except with food.
Dave:
Luke: Except with food, Daddy.
Dave:
Luke: Daddy, you use your teeth to bite food.
Daddy:
Mommy: -snickering-

Back in the day, I had a refrain that I said to Luke, "No Luke, we don't bite/pinch/hit/pull hair. We kiss and hug." But once I accidentally said, "No Luke, we don't bite, we pinch and hit." Dave's was way better though.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Overheard at Casa de MetaMegan

"No Jackie! Teeth are not for biting!"

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter

At some point last week, I was instant messaging Dave, and I said, "Do you really think we'll be able to get up, find Easter baskets, have an Easter egg hunt, make it to church by 9:00 am, then head straight to Eldora for the last day of the season, and still make it to dinner at our friends by 5:00?" He said, "Sounds great!"

And that was before the impromptu egg dying, card playing, movie watching marathon that resulted in Dave having to stay up until midnight making cauliflower pie on Holy Saturday.

I can't even remember which night we were up with Jack between 4 and 5:30 and which night Luke's alarm woke me up at 3:30 am, after it had been going off for an hour. Long story short, everyone was tired on Sunday morning, and I let Dave stay in bed while the boys looked for their baskets. With the combination of staying up too late and having candy for breakfast it came as no surprise that we went from Easter morning joy, to finding the baskets, eating breakfast, playing, and finally, sobbing in less than 50 minutes. Right on schedule.

Luke found Jack's basket right away but couldn't find his own basket. Jack found my basket right away and had no desire to look for his own. Why bother looking for your own basket, when you can just climb on top of the table and eat Mama's candy? (The Easter Bunny does not hide my basket.)

From April2009


In this video, I learn that Jack can say chocolate. (Dave told the daycare that Jack likes jelly beans, which gave all the other parents the chance to say that their children have never had jelly beans. Bad Dave!)



In this video I regret letting Luke get involved in the army. Or watch Star Wars. Or whatever it is that causes him to march around like this.



Once Jack finally found his basket, he wasted no time stuffing his little chipmonk cheeks with candy:

From April2009


It was hard, believe me, to come up with the perfect outfit that would transition from Easter Sunday mass to skiing to dinner with friends. Dave did well with long underwear under his nice jeans. Exchange the jeans for snow pants and voila!

From April2009


I planned to pull on my fleece pants under my skirt and exchange my sweater for a fleece top. But I forgot my clothes and had to just go with just tights under my ski pants and my Easter sweater. No photos, but brrr.

Dinner was delicious. Dessert... well that's a story for another day.

From April2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Opening Day!

Happy Easter! I know, I am even more behind now... And I have lots of cute photos and stories to share, but it is way past bedtime so I need to go with the one that has already uploaded. So! Little League has started, and opening day was Saturday. We biked to the field at about 8:45 am, and it was a balmy 40, and then the temperature started dropping. But it was still pretty fun. And Luke had a pretty nice hit, too:

Sunday, April 5, 2009

MetaMegan: Grounded Until The Taxes Are Filed

I really, really need to get the taxes done. I'd be working on them right now, but long story short, I am working on work. So, as soon as I finish this fun project, I am moving on to the taxes, and no blogging allowed until I am finished!

But coming soon:
1.) Several months of backlog of Panic Attack Magazine
2.) Luke week, in which I focus on cute things about Luke so he doesn't have to go into therapy when he reads my blog and it sounds like I am always talking about his brother. Before I forget - today we had this exchange:
Me: We need to try on some shorts to make sure you have some pairs that fit before we go to Mexico.
Luke: Eye roll
Me: Unless you just want to wear your bathing suit the whole time
Luke: No, because then girls be saying, "Wow, those are some pretty funny shorts you are wearing."
Me: (thought balloon) Uh... Huh?? Wha?? Girls???
3.) Jack's reaction to hand me down sandals
4.) My fun sewing project.

That is all for now. Wish me luck with the taxes.

Here is a picture of my baby hippo to tide you over:

From March

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fools

A few weeks ago, when Dave caught Luke and I whispering about April Fools Day, he put in a polite request that I not make meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes again. I was happy to oblige.

I had read about a trick that I wanted to play on Luke, and then he flipped through my magazine and saw the trick and he wanted to play it on Dave. I figured Luke would forget, and he did, so I tricked him and then he and I tricked Dave. The trick: Put a drop of food coloring in the bottom of a cereal bowl. Add cereal. Then when you add the milk, it turns a crazy color. I went with blue for Luke and red for Dave:

From April Fools


Then, after school, we made a spaghetti dinner and a spaghetti and meatball dessert:

From April Fools


From April Fools


Luke insisted on having both types of spaghetti on his plate at the same time and he wanted to eat the spaghetti cupcakes first, but we managed to talk some sense into him.

From April Fools


After dinner I had to run out to the school for the school improvement team meeting. Before I left I whispered into Dave's ear, "I short-sheeted Luke's bed. So make sure he doesn't just get under the comforter." I wish I had a picture of the look that Dave gave me. I was something along the lines of, "What the heck is wrong with you?" But about 2 seconds later, Luke said, "Mom! Remember that you were going to play more tricks on me. When are you going to do that? You have more tricks planned, right?" That continued right up to until he couldn't straighten out his legs once he got into bed. Ha! Got him.

In other news, here is Luke's leaning tower of snowman right before we got another 4 inches of snow:

From April Fools