2 year old and CD's...

They DON'T MIX well! At least around iMacs. Here's the story.

N reads books on the couch while I take my shower and A takes his morning nap. She's usually really good about it. Well, one day, I came out to find her sitting at the computer desk. Looking guilty. Upon closer examination, I saw a CD poking out of the CD drive of the iMac. Suspicious. With the help of a pair of tweezers, I was able to get it out, with little damage to the disk. Then, I pushed the eject button, because there was obviously another disk in the drive. Um. Yeah. TWO disks, actually. Realized when doing a CD inventory. And the eject button doesn't work. And neither do any of the other bajillion (not exagerating) options found on the internet to get CD's out of iMacs. I googled it and tried them all. There are, however, instructions on how to open your iMac. (Enter DH).

With a specially sized screwdriver, and suction cups, you can open an iMac. And remove stuck CD's. And maybe have the courage to try another CD. (confession: I have yet to put another CD in. What if it gets stuck?!?!)

The inside of our iMac. It looks kind of cool.

Bombay

BOMBAY is a fancy name for ice cream and sherbet. Yummy!

My Kiddos

They're becoming really good friends. So good, in fact, that they'll spend nap-time laughing and giggling and playing with each other. Instead of sleeping. And mealtimes are similar. They'll both eat some, and then, one will get the other going. It's really sweet to watch. Except that putting food in their bellies or letting their bodies rest is also important. N will randomly hug and kiss A. And squeeze him. And "lock him up" (London Bridge) with her legs. And it's really hard to get after her, because he's laughing up a storm. She wants to share all of her toys with him - even the ones that she shouldn't share. I'm really enjoying this new friendship thing. Hopefully it continues.

And the winner is...

MICHELLE!!!

This is our very random way of choosing:

I wrote 1, 2, or 3 (not 4, because really, the 4th entrant didn't want it) on the back of each post-it, then lined them up for N to choose. And she chose number 3! Congratulations!

St. Eve's Kids

A while back I did a post on bedtime routines, etc. Well, as 1 of the first 100 such posters, TwitterMoms sent me 2 St. Eve's Kids Cozys! They arrived today, and at first I was a

little weirded out because I'd forgotten all about the giveaway and had no idea who the return address was from - in Illinois. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened the box, after deciding that it wasn't heavy enough to be a bomb (only slightly kidding). And I found the cozys! I opened one and it's too small for me, and a little to big for N, but she loves it (she's currently taking a nap wrapped up in it!). It's super soft and the color is beautiful (pink). Moral of the story is, I have another pink, St. Eve's Kids Cozy to giveaway!

If you want to be entered to win, here's what you do:

Leave me a comment and tell me how you know me or how you found my blog.

That's it!

(This giveaway will close at midnight on Jan. 9, 2010)

Merry Christmas: 2009 Edition

Am I the only one who, on Christmas Eve, contemplates putting Christmas off for a few days? It's sad to think that all the fun and excitement and suspense will soon be over. And now Christmas has been gone for 4 days. Sad...

It was a good Christmas. All of my brothers and their wives and my parents were in town to celebrate the day. It took a long time to open presents (we go one at a time), so N was getting restless - A and his cousin took their naps. I think they were probably relieved.

DH gave me a Gorillapod. It's a moveable, bendable, twist-around-anything-able, set-up-on-uneven-ground-able tripod. Too bad it's freezing and snowing outside so we can't take a brisk hike and try it out. Soon...

DH is excited for his snowboarding trip. Kind of hard to have one of those in NC and LV, where it only snows once a year.

N and A had a good time. Now we're trying to get back to real life. Trying being the key word. Any tips?

My brothers and I started a new tradition. We take turns choosing a theme for the presents that we give to each other. This year, DH and I chose "Homemade". We gave the brothers homemade jams and jellies. They were received with joy. We received a beautiful braided rug, and bisquick mix (have I ever mentioned how much I love bisquick? This is not just for the benefit of my brother and his wife. I LOVE bisquick. Pancakes, waffles, biscuits, cheeseburger pie - all in a matter of minutes {well, not the cheeseburger pie, [btw, thanks Annie for introducing me to this lovely meal]} with very few ingredients? Okay, that's all. But I really do love it!) Next year's theme, announced on Christmas, is "Camping Wishlist". Wow! I can't wait! Any good ideas to put on our wishlist?

Traditions

Being married is an adventure. I love it! Having young kiddos is another adventure. And I love it! The Christmas season is overflowing with traditions, and merging two people's traditions is part of the fun of being married. Luckily, DH and I are both pretty easy-going people (confession: he's more easy-going than I). Merging traditions hasn't been hard. He brought the tradition of having Eggs Benedict for Christmas Day breakfast. Now we have Eggs Benedict for breakfast on Christmas. I brought the tradition of Ham as the main course for Christmas dinner. Now we have Ham as the main course for Christmas. And we have Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, not Christmas Eve (his). And we wait until after breakfast to open under-the-tree presents (mine)(stockings get opened when everyone is up). See? Easy.

This year, N is older. And more involved. It's been fun to begin making "our" Christmas traditions. Like decorating stockings. Since A didn't have a stocking and we were going to have to buy one anyway, we decided to buy the cheap felt stockings ($1 each, at Walmart) and spend some time decorating them (with buttons, ribbon, bells, fabric paint, etc). We had a great time! And after Christmas we'll throw them out and start fresh next year. To see our stockings, click here.

Name the Movie

Anyone? We watched this movie a couple of nights before heading on our trip to California for Thanksgiving. When we stopped at a rest stop along I-70, I saw this bottle top and HAD to take a picture. Even though I really didn't like the flick. It had it's funny parts, but mainly... not going to be one that I purchase anytime soon. But it was a fun coincidence. So, can you name the movie? Have you seen it? Did you like it?

5 Tips and Tricks to a Successful Bedtime

1. Set a routine!!! My kiddos get a bath before bed. (most nights).

2. Sing bedtime songs. The last song is always the same for us.

3. No lights on. For A, he likes the door closed.

4. Have kiddos snuggle with their blankets and loveys.

5. Snuggle time. After her songs, N likes a few minutes of snuggling.

To check out other bedtime tricks, go here. Also, you may want to take a look at DramaU.

My First...

My First Blog Giveaway...The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. My choice. For you. (I know...a little scary, but maybe fun, huh?)

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like it .

2- It will be just for you.

3- It'll be done by the end of December.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did it will then win a Fabulous homemade something made by me! Ready, Set,....GO!!!

Sorry it took me so long, Lisa!