memorial day 2009

We spent a day over Memorial Weekend at Lake Byllesby in Cannon Falls. We met up with my family - Grandma and Grandpa Schwake, Auntie Jennifer, Uncle Chris, and Uncle Ben & Aunt Angie. It was wonderful to have such nice weather - it was perfect. I've uploaded a bunch 0f pictures but they all are overexposed :-( I was trying to be creative and it didn't work out. It's hard taking pictures outside because I can't view them in the viewfinder when it's really bright out to see if they turned out like crap or not.


Hats, hats hats. Hats, hats, hats. Hats, hats, hats, hats, hats....sing that to the tune of Jingle Bells. That is how every subject is ended on Elmo's World and we have a segment on hats so these pictures make me sing hats, hats, hats. Hats, hats, hats.

Meredith loved the dogs. She loves dogs. Too bad we're NEVER going to get one :-)

something to make you laugh

We came across this today as we were walking back to our car from the St. Paul Farmers Market. Apparently someone was VERY concerned that their 1985 Crown Victoria was going to get stolen. I found it so amusing that I had to walk to the car and get my camera just to take a picture. It was almost as good as when we saw a golf cart down in FL parked at Target with The Club on it.

Stay tuned for some Memorial Weekend pictures coming tomorrow.

i scream, you scream...

We all scream for ice cream! I'm not a huge fan of ice cream. I mean I like it but I can definitely go without so ice cream isn't a huge staple in our household. Plus, I have to watch the girlish figure, you know. Meredith eats ice cream with Grandma Schwake all the time though. During the summer, they go to Culver's all the time so she has been feasting on ice cream since she was a wee one last summer.

I thought it would be a nice treat to have some at home (of course I picked the WRONG flavor for Daddy) so I thought some chocolate ice cream sounded good. When I was cleaning up after dinner, I told Meredith that we were going to have ice cream cones. She about flipped out wanting one right then and now. She threw a mini-fit about it unless I stopped everything to get her that ice cream cone. I think she thoroughly enjoyed it though.

mothers day 2009

Well folks, I finally made it home and am happy to say that my feet will be firmly planted on the ground for three whole months. I just got back from Portland on Friday and little later than expected but home nonetheless. It was one of those flights where we backed up from the gate and the pilot comes on and says a 'light' is on so they had to call the mechanics. Turns out the engine was (and I quote here) "broken" so we had to pull the plane back into the gate and they didn't know whether to cancel the flight or fly in a part from Seattle. We all got off the plane and formed a line at the check-in desk to be rerouted on to different flights. After about two hours, they suddenly said they had it fixed - Viola! So, most of us got back on the plane and made it in a few hours late.

I have so many stories to share from my week in Portland, I don't even know where to begin. The weather was beautiful when I arrived and I had an awesome view of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood from my hotel balcony. It was beautiful for three days and then it rained for four days in a row. I spent Saturday afternoon at Portland's Saturday Market. It was very neat and I could have spent a lot of money there. I ended up buying a handmade fleece coat with puppy dogs on it for Meredith.

Part of my job involves hiring temporary staff to help in registration, watch meeting rooms, etc. Well, I had no idea if one of my workers was a man or woman. The name was Sharra leading me to believe that it was a woman but I just didn't know for two whole days. This person had a buzz cut, voice that could go either way, a body that looked like It's Pat (an old SNL skit from around 1990). On the last day of the event, she (yes she!) was talking about how she was in the ladies room and another woman in there pointed her in the direction of the mens room across the hall. I couldn't even imagine! She was joking about it and was saying she had to get lifters for her boobs. I'm sure she's well aware that she looks like a man - thus the reason why she was joking about it. I was just glad the gender mystery was solved because I accidentally referred to her as a 'she' in front of her before I knew she was a she and I would have been mortified if she turned out to be a he.

Some may think I'm a bitch for this but I was in Starbucks one morning and there was a man in there with his miniature pinscher. I went up to the counter and asked if they allowed animals in the store. They said only service animals and I kind of snorted and said that I really didn't think that this man had a service animal. They proceeded to go over to him and ask him to take the dog out. I just don't understand why some owners of lap dogs think they can take their animals in wherever they want - especially in an establishment that serves food. That's just gross. There was a mall across the street from my hotel that had a sign saying that dogs were not allowed there except for people bringing them into portrait studios (and service animals of course).

I had a great Mother's Day. Thanks Greg and Meredith for the great gifts.

We played around.




Some kitty lovin'. This is odd because whenever Tabitha comes anywhere near her coloring book, she has a fit but she was just dishing out the kisses today.

Check out this wispy hair. She is nowhere near ready for a haircut but it looks like a mop. I guess I just need to have it grow out a little more. She's really working towards a nice mullet.

pizza hut

Really? Seriously Pizza Hut - get your act together! I went online to order the Panormous because it was such a good deal ($10.99). It said that it can not process my order for delivery for whatever reason - as if I live out in BFE or something. I proceeded to call in my order and asked for it to be half pepperoni and half cheese. 45 minute later, Curtis comes knocking on my door with this:

I thought the Panormous was supposed to look like this:

So, thinking there was some mistake because the Panormous is supposed to be two square shaped pizzas in one box, Curtis leaves the other two pizzas with me and says he will go back and get the right pizzas. Five minutes later, he calls me and says he just checked and they just put them in different boxes and asked me if everything was okay. I said "Sure Curtis - it's just fine".

I guess it will be a while before I try Pizza Hut again. At least it was hot and fresh.

sick again...still

Here is how we spent our weekend. If there is an upside to having a sick child, they certainly are cuddly.



Meredith is battling an ear infection that she has had for over a month now. We're on our third antibiotic (amoxicillin, augmentin, and now cephrozil). As if going to the doctor three times in a month is bad enough, she managed to come down with something while she is on antibiotics.

This weekend also marked the return of my two goldfinch friends. I was delighted to see them back. They showed up last spring during nesting season because apparently the fuzzy stuff on the back of Greg's grill cover made excellent nest-building material and we've had a feeder out ever since.

Last but not least, I made another trip to Goodwill since it is 50% off kids stuff on Thursdays and I got all this for $13.

1 like new tonka truck

2 children's place fall shirts

1 brand new osh kosh genuine kids skirt

1 pair of children's place capris

1 pair of arizona sweatpants

1 almost new pair of stride rites

And here's a close-up of those hardly been used Stride Rites I got at a dirt cheap price of $3.99.

easter 2009

I'm a horrible mom. I am a holiday grinch. I didn't even get Meredith an Easter basket this year. At least the Easter Bunny stopped by Ben and Angie's house otherwise Meredith would have completely missed out on this holiday so THANK YOU both! And thanks for the Elmo book Jennifer.

We spent Easter down in Wanamingo and Ben and Angie's house. It was nice to have some good weather. Meredith got to spend some time outside playing in a real back yard.

baby animals at the zoo

I'm worried my child is going to be the bully on the playground. Why, you ask? Well, Meredith must have things her way or the highway. She is very possessive and even gets mad at our cat when she comes near her things.

Today we went to the zoo to see the baby animals. You can walk right up to the goat fence and pet the animals. Meredith got a little too possessive and would screech and throw a fit whenever a little kid came near the goat she was petting. On a day when traffic was backed up all the way to the freeway almost with people going to the zoo, getting a goat to yourself is a tough task.

It got a little embarrassing so we made our way through the farm animal area, and then headed back up to Discovery Bay where the dolphins and fish are. It was much less crowded there and there were no animals that she could stake claim to.

Here are those darn cute baby goats that she loved so much.

This one is kind of weird - she is looking at the grizzly bears.

Does this look like the face of a playground bully?!?

we welcome warm weather!

Okay, I realize it isn't exactly WARM out yet but I'll take 50's. This is the first time Meredith has gone down a slide. She was barely walking the last time we had warm weather so there will be a lot of firsts for her this summer. I seriously can't wait for some real warm weather.

That expression of joy on her face is priceless. Moments like that make being a parent so rewarding. Oh, and I'm digging the static hair :-)

"Thanks for a great time today, Dada!"

carter's tagless labels

I have known about this issue for a while now and haven't really followed up on it. In a nutshell, Carter's Fall 2007 line of clothing is associated with causing rashes from the tagless labels. They are issuing full MSRP refunds for any clothing sent back. They even send you postage paid envelopes to send your stuff back in.

Did Meredith ever get a rash from it? I honestly don't know. She have very bad eczema for the first year of her life and we were constantly battling rashes all over her body. Could any future children of mine get rashes? Maybe. If I were to donate or sell her clothes in the future, could any other children be affected by it? Maybe.

I decided to get out all her clothes this weekend to find out exactly what we had that has these types of labels. I found 7 pant/shirt outfits, 1 fleece outfit, 4 pairs of PJs, 1 shirt, and 1 onesie. I really loved some of this stuff - there were several outfits that were my favorites. But, I'm going to send it back. We got really good use out of our stuff and I'm sad to see it go.

I like Carters - we just may have to put much of the refund back into their store.

Meredith loves clothes - she can entertain herself for an hour just picking up articles of clothing and sticking her arms through all the holes. Look how tiny that green outfit is. She wore this when she was a newborn. Here's a flashback all the way back to three or four days old when whe was wearing it.

Here's another itty bitty sleeper she used to wear. Was she really that small?

And this is totally random but it's cute. We ended the day on a good note last night in the bathtub.

Last but not least, do you ever wonder what our house looks like at the end of the day?

very expensive headphones

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Well folks, I made it back from Las Vegas all in one piece! I only donated $12 to the local economy and even managed to have a little bit of fun. I had the pleasure of meeting up with a couple girls from high school while I was there because it just so happened we found out on Facebook we were all going to be there at the same time. Who would have thought? The week was long and I came home with an absolutely fabulous gift. I received a pair of Bose QC3 Noise Cancelling headphones. Wow. These things retail for around $350. Seriously, does anyone pay that much for a pair of headphones? Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining! They really are great and the sound is amazing. I'm just not used to getting such nice gifts when I travel.




Meredith has another ear infection so I am going on day three of 1/2 days at work since she can't go to daycare. I'm frustrated at our pediatrician's office. I called after day 2 of a fever and after going over the symptoms, they told me to wait it out for five days unless her fever got to 105. Grrrr. Yesterday evening, I got a rectal reading of 104.1 and I decided I just wasn't going to wait anymore to get her checked out. I called the pediatrician's office again and they were all booked for the evening and was told to wait it out again. Grrrr. We decided to take her up the street to a 24-hour urgent care clinic. After 2.5 hours, we walked out of there with a diagnosis of an ear infection. Hmmmmph! That's what I though all along - mom knows best. And to think her pediatrician's office wanted to wait five days of her suffering with that.




Her molars are really bothering her too. She walks around with her hand in her mouth whimpering and crying all the time. They are taking so long to come through. I don't think it has come down any further than it was a couple weeks ago.


She always surprises me with something cute when I come home from a trip. This time she had learned how to moo like a cow. Cute, cute, cute! She also calls me Mama all the time now which I love! She has known the word mama for a long time now but it used to be really random.



The floors are all done and I think it turned out great. We just need to put the trim back up and add the thresholds where the floor meets the carpet. Last but not least, we need to add a little touch up paint.





I bought Meredith some of those letters that you put on the refrigerator but she just likes to eat them or throw them on the floor. Here she is in action.

And here is the end result. Daddy has retired the letters after only a day.