The "other" chicken.

Our little boy loves his chicken nuggets. However, he's been 2 since January and his Mommy is trying to expand his palate.

Enter steak fingers.


They look an awful lot like chicken fingers, now don't they?

So we introduce them as "chicken... um, the other chicken... Daddy's favorite chicken"

He gobbled them down!

Halfway thru I thought it was safe to offer that maybe they weren't quite chicken and said that they were "yummy beef", to which our brilliant son answers "Cow...moooo..."

Me: What?

Then he confims it. "Chicken (baak, baak), Pig (snort, snort), Cow... (Mooo)"

Alex: Points at fork mooo-ing.

That's our little carnivore!

We're okay

In case you heard the reports on the news and were trying not to freak out, I thought I would write a little note and tell you that we're all okay.

I know that the news (especially for the benefit of my out-of-state friends & family it seems) always get their geography WRONG and totally over dramatize the damage, so let me set the record straight:

We are OK. We knew the storm was coming and were watching the news. The forming clouds were AMAZING to see. Alex & I were at Glenn & Cindy's when the tornado sirens went off and we just went down to the basement and watched the news from there. Their basement's cushy and Cindy had stashed an entire library of Stan's old books for Alex on one of the shelves. Good Grammy. Alex thought it was all just an adventure.

We called Grandmother & Granddad and they headed to the basement. Stan was at church for rehersal but they quickly canceled that and he joined us again. Nate & Lindsay were accounted for via text messages and are fine.

We lost satelite signal for a while because the rain was so heavy. Dad pulled out the emergency am/fm/weather band radio/tv/flashlight (excuse me, torch), really-cool-emergency-thing that Val gave us for Christmas one year. We watched Fox4's Joe Lauria and at 8:15pm they cleared the tornado warnings and we went home. Alex was in his own bed a little before 9pm and Stan & I made sure we had the appropriate emergency things laid out and stowed away in the basement. Everything was calming down and we went to bed (with the TV on in the background).

We were woken by the wind at 1:45am. It was insane. I mean insane. Officially, hurricane force, straight line winds clocked at 60-112 MPH. Several small tornadoes touched down in areas outlying to the metro, MILES from us. Lots of people are without power and there's a lot of clean-up. There are a few road closures from debris and downed power lines, but we have not been directly impacted (our neighborhood looked as though nothing happened!)
And, I haven't heard of one serious injury, that's good news!

So, other than not having slept all that well (though Alex didn't stir once... that kid could sleep thru, well, a hurricane...) we are all just fine.

I have to say that it was just yesterday I had to explain to my warehouse manager that earthquakes don't come with warnings... that would be hilarious though... earthquake sirens, haha. No, earthquake warnings are wall hangings like Raindrops at my parent's house (I call dibs if you're listening, CAY, RAY & BAY) and pull cords on ceiling fans. You get 0.2 seconds to duck and cover. Here you've got at least a few minutes... Tradeoffs.

Doggies and Teddy Bears

Doggie PJ's - five dollars at Aldi's
Two Teddy Bears - gifts from family
Monkey cereal bowl - three dollars at Target

Grin from ear-to-ear on our little boy's face... Priceless.

Mouse Bread

Alex informed me, this evening at the dinner table, that the split top on his slice of bread is Mickey Mouse ears.



He's now eaten one of the bottom corners off (because we couldn't eat Mickey's ears...) and now the remainder of the slice is traveling across the table as a train... At least that's what I'm gathering from the 'choo-choo' sound being imparted!

Middle pieces are then torn off and shall henceforth be known as clouds.

Then, a piece of the top crust tore off in a strip and must be some sort of flying car based on the wooshing and vrooming that's going on.



This kid cracks me up!!

Little Drummer Boy

This one's for you Gramps...

You might need the free Quicktime player to view it. Select the option without iTunes and you don't need any of their updates.

Nice on the Ice

Yes, I am 2!

Yes, I am Nice!

Yes, even on the ice!

Nice on the Ice: (in Daddy's cap with MagnaDoodle in tow)

Do you know the Muffin Man?

I do... he asked for one the moment I pulled them out of the oven!






We thought it was funny that he was eating it from the top... he ate until there was only the bottom 1/4" remaining then handed it to me and asked for a new one. I thought that was cute, so I did. He bit off the very tip, handed it back to me and asked for a new one... he's still refusing that one without the tip. So much for cute.

Who am I kidding, he's adorable! My little Muffin Man!