BERdeen.

Dylan, Avery and I are at my parents house for the week.  I think I said that in my last post?  Its been awhile.  Sorry about that!  I get distracted when out of my normal habitat.  I'll work on it.  I know a certain someone who was probably fighting the urge to call me and ask what the problem was.  His name starts with a D, ends with a Y and has ANN in the middle. He's very loyal, but also a slave driver.  I ought to make him do a guest post so he can see what this takes.  Ha!

Anyway, when we were here at Christmas, Dylan had brought along a gingerbread train to construct with Grandma.  Well, once again, we were distracted by other activities and it was forgotten.  Have no fear!  The St Paddy's Day Gingerbread train is here!  Woo woo!

Avery's first braid!  I distracted her with candy to get the job done.  Very sneaky.

And she lobbied for MORE, MORE, MORE!

I've been working on my Zumba routine this week and my Mom's been giving me shit for my "hair cutting face" that I apparently have when I'm dancing (aka, thinking).  HERE is HER "hair cutting face."  HA!  Take that, Mom!

Dylan loves coming here because he gets to watch lots of TV with Grandpa.  Yesterday I came home from Zumba class to find him watching Modern Family.  Ummmmm.  ??????

Finished product - prior to the gradual deterioration we've been watching the past few days.  (sneaky fingers.  For the record, this is all NEW candy - not the crap that came with the train)

When we got here, we were amazed by the snow!  We don't have this much.  So I took pics of it.  Its melted a lot though since we've been here.

You can't even see the mailbox!

I made him go out and stand by the snow bank for perspective purposes.  He didn't want to.

He's wearing my shoes.

This guy flew in from Texas.  He'll be flying to White Earth Lake in May or so.

Up to no good?  Always.

Today's lunch = delish.  This is Rachael Ray's French Style Tuna Melt.  It was so good that I ate TWO of what you see here.  TWO.  Plus chips.

And finally, Dylan wanted a picture of his ice cream from tonight.  Fancy!

Tomorrow I'm planning to make some vegan Samoa cookies.  Can't bring myself to buy processed girl scout cookies, so these better live up to my high expectations!

 

Later!

 

Mr Slapshot

I cannot figure out how to post a video, so please follow the link.  Surely there is a way, but my patience is lacking right now.  The kids and I are off to Aberdeen for a week while Eric works long hours this week in preparation to go play with his friends at the Final Five hockey tournaments in Minneapolis this coming weekend.  Trishy no likey long amounts of time alone!  So, off we go to Grandmas.  Here is a video for your viewing pleasure by Eric.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyJK0CxX8LU

Later!

OH and please excuse Avery's morning time hair.  I purposely included her in the video clip b/c of its funny-ness!

Young Love Part 2

As noted in yesterday's post, Dylan has fallen in love with my cousin Melissa.  Today she requested he draw a picture of her wearing a big hat with a kitty cat resting on her shoulder.  Challenge was accepted.  Truth time  - I drew the cat.  The awesome glasses were his idea though.

Then in the afternoon, it was mail time.  Every day he asks me if he got anything in the mail and almost always my answer is, "no."  Today, the answer was YES!  He had been expecting a letter from his girlfriend complete with hand drawn pictures.  And you just KNOW that I HAD to take a sequence of photos documenting him opening his first "love" letter.  HA!  He was so excited...

I love how he starts to get shy here, like she's looking at him looking at the pictures or something.

This one especially - he's so cute!

 

This is why he was making that face.  She drew a picture of the place where their love first blossomed - the condo at South Padre Island.  They spent a lot of time discussing this building.  How many floors it had, how the other buildings around were just not quite as big, etc, etc.  It was "their building."

 

 

There were TWO pictures in the envelope!

 

It made him laugh.  It was some sort of creature.

 

Hopefully Melissa got her letter from him today too.  She deserves a little love as well for making his day!  The saga will continue I'm sure...stay tuned!

 

Young Love

While we were on vacation at South Padre Island, Dylan fell in love for the first time.  With my cousin Melissa.  Ever since then, he talks about her nonstop.  He asks what she's doing, what she is eating, what she is doing at work, who does she talk to at work, can I call her on the phone (that was our battle tonight - I convinced him she was busy), can I go to her house, will she come to my house - it just goes on and on and on.  Yesterday he drew a nice picture of her and we texted it to her.  It was well received, so he felt he need to make more today.  He has never shown much skill in drawing people until now.  Apparently all he needed to get crafty was a crush!

She has a mustache in this one!  He was quite amused by that.

Then he wanted to write her name with this one.  When he runs out of room or the picture gets in the way - he puts the letters wherever there is room.  The "3" was his first attempt at an "S."

This one is my personal fav!

And his last one for the day - she has a dress on here.  And the line coming out of her head is her ponytail.

I'm not sure if Sissa can compete with Dylan's little sister though.

He was trying to teach her how to do an elephant stand and a somersault.

Here he is carrying her.  She didn't seem to mind at all.  I guess his sister will have to do until he can get together with Sissa again.

Sadly, this is all I have to say today.  And I have more bad news too.  Apparently this blog software was just a free trial, so I'll be going on hiatus again until I can come up with the moola to fund it.  I've got 2 more days on the trial so we still have a little time together!

 

Trickery

Would you believe that this cute little girl turned into a little tiny monster when I tried to help her get her dress on the right way?  OH yes.  She did.  Right when we had to get going out the door too.  I just love the "I can do it myself" stage! ; )

Dylan was quite pleased to get back to school this week after being gone on vacation.  He came home OBSESSED with leprechauns and St Patrick's Day.  I suggested we make a trap to catch a leprechaun and he was all over that idea.  Its still a work in progress.  We finished the top (not pictured) but we're still working on a ladder.  I'm SURE we will catch one.

I got back into the kitchen today.  I'm still having vacation withdrawals, but I think I'm slowing getting better.  Avery is having withdrawals too.  No more treats 24/7 and as much milk as a girl can drink when you're at home.  Today I had to take drastic measure to make sure she consumed more than just milk, a waffle and a banana for the entire day.  Behold - Dairy Free Carob Pudding.

TOTALLY tricked her.  It has sweet potato, avocado, carob powder and dates in it.  Muahahahahaha.  It worked just as I hoped it would.  But better.

She ate her bowl AND her brother's (unfortunately, the trick didn't work on him.  Boooo.  He still eats all his food for the most part though, so he's off the hook.).  It tasted okay.  I definitely need to let the processor run for long b/c the dates didn't get smooth enough.  I'd totally make it again though, so I guess its a winner.

And here was my obsession of the day.  This is Raw Vegan Cheddar Dip.  Seriously good stuff.  Totally tastes cheesy but there is no cheese in it.  I started out with veggies but moved on to my arch nemesis, Stacy's Pita Chips.  I'm addicted.  Can't help it.

That is all for today.  I've been so busy learning and practicing my Zumba routines that I barely have time for anything else it seems.  My first class will probably be sometime in the next month and I'm hoping I'll get some time back then.  I hope!