My Life is Brilliant...

One of the perks of motherhood is that you get to watch Sesame Street again. This really cracked me up this morning as we were getting our daily dose of PBSKids. It's just so perfect since I always think of James Blunt as some sort of Oliver Twist muppet anyway. I actually prefer this version of the song since the original, to quote Denver Greene, was a cheese grater on my soul.

Girls Night Out

Aubrie got a bunch of us girls free passes to see the preview of Mamma Mia! on Tuesday night. We had such a good time! I really liked the movie and have had the soundtrack stuck in my head for two whole days now. Meryl Streep has such a good voice! Pierce Brosnan uh... has very believable chest hair, that's about all I can say. I also really liked Amanda Seyfried who I know from Mean Girls and as the dead girl from Veronica Mars. It was a really fun movie and will be good if you're looking for a girl's night out. I also want to take a vacation to the Greek Islands now. Don't we all?

Extreme Blog Makeover

Why hello there. Like what we've done to the place? Since I spend more time blogging than cleaning my house I thought I should at least make the blog look nice. Shauna Callaghan did such a wonderful job! The prices are very reasonable and she will really work with you to make sure you get something you like.

I should probably represent...

Lucas did a great job on the MSB's video for their CD release party!

Is it December yet?

If grad school was my college boyfriend we'd have moved past the DTR on our way to an awkward break up conversation which would result in my having to avoid the cafeteria for weeks.

Compromise is...

...letting your 13 month old dump out an entire 600 count pack of Q-tips so that you can finish straightening your hair.

Pool Party

Mandy and Vivian came over today and the girls had a pool party on our oh so scenic shadeless patio. Unfortunately, our tropical rain forest tree on the pool has wilted in the Oklahoma heat and wind.

Viv let's play baptism!

How about we play I'm getting taller than you and you're not the boss of me instead?

If you're looking for something fun to do tomorrow night come out to The Matt Stansberry Band's new CD Release Party starting at 8pm at the Plaza Theatre on NW 16th . You can buy tickets at the door. All the cool kids will be there:)

Question of the day...

Why are there 25 Starbucks in Edmond (more or less) but not one Babies R Us? I schlepped all the way to the baby megastore today. Yeah I schlepped, I'm a schlepper. I bought a baby gate only to discover when I had schlepped all the back home that it in fact does not work at ALL! Don't buy the Evenflo 2 pack at Babies R Us if you have any molding around your floors.

Babies R Us Edmond, look into it.

4th of July Weekend

We had a great time with Ben's family in Texas this weekend. We shuttled back and forth between Granbury and Ft. Worth. Granbury is the perfect 4th of July town. They have a big celebration and beautiful fireworks over the lake. They also had a booth in the town square that sold nothing but suspenders and straw hats, you don't get that in Edmond.

Aidan celebrated her independence by taking her first real steps on the 4th of July. This wasn't the best video of her walking but I enjoyed the scream of triumph at the end...

One of Aidan's many 4th of July costume changes courtesy of Anna.

This is the smallest bow I could find in the state of Texas

Aidan with "Aunta" and her boyfriend Chris.

Clearly, someone was having too much fun at the lake to bother with something trivial like sunscreen. I would never say I told you so though, that's just not in my nature.

This is the start of one of our busiest weeks ever. The MSB is having their CD release party on Saturday and I have 2 big projects due for grad school. In the midst of all of this is a 13 month old who is learning to walk and leaving a path of destruction in her wake. I wonder who will win?

Tinius Out

We're in the country of Texas where everything is draped in red, white, and blue even when it's not a holiday weekend.

I don't care who you are...

That's just cute.

Vengence is sweet...

Mandy and I took the girls up to the University House dorm at OC to meet up with their Auntie Tams. Don't even get me started on how much nicer that dorm is than what I lived in, kids these days. Apparently I'm 90. Get off my lawn and turn down that music!

Anyways....

Vivian has a few tricks up her sleeves, namely, she has learned to crawl. If you're thinking this will have consequences for Aidan the torturer you are sooo right. Let's watch what happens shall we?

Um, When did she learn to move?

I think I'll just go pull myself up out of danger.

Oh, she can do that too. Hahahah (nervous laugh). Crap.

Seriously what I'm I going to do?

What? I'm just crawling, I forgive and forget man.

SNATCH!

Who stole your pacifier this time? That's right! Step off.

Aww Viv gave Aidan her pacifier back.

Or did she.....?

You don't even want to know....

Backyard Pool

I'm falling way behind on blogging and I don't have the energy to think of anything to clever to say so here's some cute pics of Aidan in her pool that she got for her birthday. I managed to get about 2 pictures with her eyes open. She loves the pool. We have to keep her from submerging herself.

Bring it On 4: It's Done Been Brought, the baby edition.

Poor, sweet little Vivian Stansberry has had to put up with a lot from Aidan in the short time she's been on the planet. Aidan loves her and thinks she's lots of fun, but she also likes to smack her, and pull her hair, and swap pacifiers. I keep telling myself that this is normal and that Aidan isn't going to start torturing kittens or burning ants with a magnifying glass.

Vivian was brave enough to come to Aidan's birthday on Friday and Aidan returned the favor by refusing to let Vivian touch any of her toys.

Everyone's playing nicely...or so it seems.

Vivian spots Aidan's prized orange tambourine (which she had owned for about 10 minutes). Look at the gleam in Vivian's eyes. Who can resist an orange tambourine?

I know she did not just grab my orange tambourine.

Snatch. Vivian's heart is broken.

First Birthday Part 3- The Eating of the "cake"

That's my cake? Seriously? What were you doing all day?

1st Birthday Part 2 - The Party

Here are a bunch of pictures from the actual party. We had a Mexican Fiesta theme and our little house was packed with people! Ben made some awesome fajitas. (He does well cooking under pressure).










Coming Up - The Eating of the Cake.

1st Birthday part 1...The Saga of the Cake

Miss Scarlett, I don't know nothin about makin no birthday cakes.

Here's the thing about self-fulfilling prophecies...they're self-fulfilling. I do not do well in pressure filled cooking situations. In my intense desire to not screw anything up...I inevitably screw something up.

I had one job to do, bake the cake and then Mandy would come and help me decorate it. So I purchased 2 boxes of Betty Crocker white cake mix. Are you with me so far? Nothing groundbreaking? Didn't think so. Then I baked the 2 cakes. Here is where the problems begin.

Apparently when you make white cake you're only supposed to use egg whites. No one informed me of this. Well the instructions did, but I just looked at the picture of 3 whole eggs and proceeded. So now I have 2 pound cakes. Which is fine but not what I was going for.

After I cooled the cakes... I try to remove them from the pan. It does not go well. As I stare at the crumbling heap of cake I have created a strange calm comes over me and I go into shock.

I call my Mom...

Me: Mom the cakes don't look good.

Mom: What's wrong?

Me: They kind of fell apart.

Mom: Did you grease the pan?

Me: Yes.

Mom: Did you put flour in it?

Me: What?

I call Mandy...

Me: The cake does not look good

Mandy: Did you grease the pan?

Me: Yes

Mandy: Did you put flour in it?

Me: No one has ever mentioned this to me!!

I call my sister (who has been married less than a year)

Me: I messed up the cake and it fell apart

Lindsay: Did you grease the pan and put flour in it?

Me: HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS!?!?!

So now I have a crumbling cake which I made worse by putting the layers on top of each other instead of leaving them separate.

Ben comes home and I show him the cake. He says yeah that doesn't look too good. I glare at his back.

Mandy comes over, she walks into the kitchen...and laughs. Fears are confirmed.

So she begins to try and fix the cake, which looks like this (it looked even worse before I started taking pictures)....



At this point we kind of throw out any preconceived design we may have had for the cake and just try to cover holes and keep it from falling over.

At this point we are laughing hysterically because it's ridiculously bad. It keeps being funny until people start to show up and then I get really embarrassed and feel tears coming on.

After MUCH hard work by Mandy. The cake, while not perfect by any means, at least resembles a cake. Also Mandy is excellent at writing with icing. Hire her for all your iced writing needs.

At least it tasted really good, even if I did use whole eggs and baked it too long. Thanks for the save Mandy!

Coming up...the party.

Birthday update pending...

I promise I will get pictures up of the party (including the cake fiasco) as soon as I remove the cake that is embedded in our carpet. Oh and write a paper for grad school and read like 200pgs on why information is important or something.

Wind comes sweeping down the plains...

If you want me to have a nervous breakdown Oklahoma, just go ahead and make me lose power again with a freezer full of food the night before Aidan's party.