FYI

Some of you may be thinking that I'm quite the slacker about the whole "'Michael is the best' Friday" thing. And I guess it's kind of true. But I realized pretty quickly that life is a little too crazy to do a weekly post on a specific day and expect to remember to do it every time. I knew I would end up forgetting eventually and then that would make Michael feel bad. So I talked to him about it and apparently it made him feel a little silly anyways. So feel free to be on the lookout every now and then for why Michael is the best, but I won't be doing it weekly. Sorry if this was a pointless post to most of you. :)

Father's Day

I know I said that Michael's bike would be his father's day present, but I decided to throw in something extra as well. He's been wanting a chin-up bar. So this is what he got today:

I'd love to say it was a great surprise, but I made the mistake of involving Jessica in the process of buying it and wrapping it. Yesterday she goes up to Michael and is all, "I know where your present is!" Michael was naughty and continued to ask questions that Jessica happily answered. Oh well.

We decided to give it a little try this afternoon. Jessica loves to hang on it. She even did a full chin-up on her own (well almost).


I haven't done chin-ups in I don't know how long. It went a little something like this:



After I tried to do one, Jessica runs off and grabs her step stool. She sets it under the bar and says, "Here you go Mommy. Now you don't have to do the knee thing. It's ok Mommy." Then she starts to sing, "Keep trying and trying!" I think I got a good ab workout just from laughing so hard.

New Shoe Fund

I am now accepting donations for a new shoe fund. I know, I know, ha ha, very funny, wouldn't we all like to have ton of money for new shoes? But seriously, I am in need. Apparently this whole Chandler pregnancy messed up the size of my feet. Some of you are probably thinking, "Yeah, my feet grew with my pregnancy too." No no. My feet shrunk! I could deal with it if my shoes were a little too tight now. But instead I can't wear like ANY of my heels without them flipping in the back while I walk. I look like I have no clue how to walk in heels anymore. Remember those two pairs of cute shoes I got a couple months back? I can't wear them. I tried wearing the black pair to Michael's graduation and eventually just had to walk around barefoot. At first I was thinking - "well that was dumb to buy shoes at the end of my pregnancy; my feet must have swollen when I didn't realize it." Nope. Even the shoes I've had for years are too big now. Lame lame lame!! Anyone have any advice on how to make your feet get bigger?

A Friend for Jessica

Last night I was telling Jessica stories before bed. She says, "Mommy, tell me a story about a little girl who is sad because she doesn't have any friends and she live in [the city we live in]." That broke my heart! She had lots of kids her age that we'd get together with before we moved, but it's just slim pickings here. I guess it's my sign that the couple of phone calls to other moms that I've made just won't cut it. Poor girl needs some playmates. Any ideas on places other than church to meet other kids? We go to the park and all, but those are just kind of short-term friendships. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have something to report.

"Michael is the best" Friday

Michael is still the best. Seriously, I love him like you wouldn't believe. :) Why? Well, he is hilarious. He is so many different kinds of funny. He can do sarcastic dry humor with the best of them and then he has me dying when he does MadTV impressions ("Girl, can I get ur number!?"). No, Kami, he can't quite top you at that, but it is still too dang funny. Plus he's passing it onto Jessica. He always gets her to do and say funny stuff, even though half the time she doesn't get why it's so funny. But she'll keep doing it a million times over b/c she loves to make her daddy laugh. So babe, even though I'm always telling you how very unfunny you are, we both know you are a riot. And that is yet another reason why Michael is the best.

Confession

I have a confession to make - I am a Craigslist addict. I check it faithfully everyday, sometimes several times a day. There's nothing like a good bargain and I have gotten some good ones lately. Back in Moscow I got Jessica her whole 3T wardrobe as well as lots of 2T and 4T stuff for $11. Fabulous. Then Chan has a little bit of a flat head thing goin' on (don't worry, not even close to helmet-worthy, according to our doctor) so I wanted to get him a tummy-time toy. Oh yeah, $3.

I went a little crazy today with some people ditching all kinds of stuff.

The exact play kitchen I was going to get Jessica for her birthday, just at half the cost:


Kid's table and chairs, $10:


The same mirror I've been thinking of buying new, at 1/3 the original cost:


Plus I got a couple others things. Love it, love it, love it! And that's not even mentioning the money we've MADE off of selling things. We got most of our money back from our TV, we made more than we spent on Jessica's old mattress, we've sold couches and appliances, and all kinds of stuff. Seriously, it is the best site ever!

And just because it's too funny, here's a picture of Jessica after having an ice cream cone yesterday.

Jessica and Chan

I just love these two!

Bike

Michael just bought his own father's day present, Christmas present, next year's birthday present... OK, it wasn't that expensive. Michael just got a new road bike. It's Italian and apparently really cool. You'll have to ask him the details. :) Too bad it's been storming here for the past week so he hasn't had the chance to ride it yet. Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow so he can ride it into work. After all, that's the idea - that as long as the weather is half decent, he'll ride instead of drive. In theory it should pay for itself after a while. I really do love seeing him so happy.

4 Months Old

Wow! Chandler is growing up fast. All in all he's doing great.

Here are the stats.
Length: 24 1/2 inches
Weight: 12 lbs 13 oz

And here are a few pictures of the little guy.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Recipe

The other day a neighbor came over with a bag of these AMAZING cookies to welcome us into the neighborhood.  They are fabulous! I'd probably make much smaller cookies than they instruct b/c eating a whole one is probably ALL of your calories for the day.

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Cook's pure vanilla powder (optional)

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 eggs

5 Tablespoons half and half

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 cup chocolate/caramel chips

12 miniature peanut butter cups (or more if you're making more cookies)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients in the order given, except the last three items (chips and PB cups). Mix well. Then add both kinds of chips. Divide the cookie dough into 12 equal pieces. Wrap 1 piece of dough around each peanut butter cup, shaping into a ball. Place 6 balls on an ungreased cookie sheet, spaced evenly apart. Do the same with the remaining dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely.

 

"Michael is the best" Friday

I think Michael deserves at least one day every week to hear about how much he means to me. Hopefully he hears it daily, but I thought something a little extra might be nice. So here goes a little tradition in the making.

Michael is the best because no matter what else he has going on, his family is his number 1 priority. He just came home for lunch today to spend some time with us. He even had a tea party with Jessica before heading back to work. Even with all of the studying for the BAR, if he has to study in the evening, he still comes home to have dinner with us. Michael knows what's important in life - he's home for dinner, he's home Monday night, and he's there for us whenever we need him. The time he spends with the kids is truly quality time. One of the big reasons we opted for a smaller town over a big city law firm was the hours. Most of the other attorneys at the firm are family-type people. It's an 8-5 job and I love that Michael is willing to make some financial sacrifices in order to have benefits that actually are important in life - time with his family. I love you Michael! Check back every Friday to find out more reasons why.

MIA

Wow, I've really been slacking lately at this blogging thing (at least for me). All in all things are pretty much the same as always. Chandler is growing like crazy and Jessica is as fun and crazy as any two year old. It's kind of odd really being done with school and entering the working world. Granted, until August I won't really feel like we're done - dumb BAR Exam. Michael is lucky enough to be at a firm where they're letting him work mornings and then spend the afternoons studying. He goes back to the office after dinner some nights as well. I can deal with it since I know that it's extremely temporary. We feel so blessed to have the job we do with the hours, etc that it has. In other exciting news - Michael was called as the new Scout Master for our ward. It's kind of strange to be in the realm of real callings now that we aren't so transient and mobile. We'll just wait and see what they come up with for me. That's about it. I'll get some pictures of the zoo or the park or something like that soon.