Great Grandma Bunny

"Good Thing" jar

This is my jar of "Good Things." It's been a place that in the midst of crazy life stress with school and such, I've put in little reminders about what's going great in life. School life can especially be hot and cold. I'm trying to remember more of the "hot" days than cold... :)

Like the day when one of my first graders who had been giving me some recent trouble, went over and helped his classmate with his reading and I overheard him saying the exact words that I had said to him in the sweetest voice. It brought tears to my eyes.

Or when one of my rambunctious third grade reading group boys felt like I would be the right adult to go to about a problem he was having with other boys playing football at recess. That couldn't have felt better.

You may have noticed that the jar isn't so full, but the good days are coming faster than the bad. I'm full of optimism for 2010 :)

Girl Time

We recently went to a baby shower for Tiff! I had to post these pictures for two reasons...ONE- so you could see how much fun Mimi had meeting her new friend Bella, and TWO- so you could see the CUTEST, most fun playroom ever!!! (and my pictures don't even do it justice!)


This is Mimi and Bella. Annie is Tiff's friend and the girls were born around the same time! Annie and I reconnected at Tiff's wedding shower when we were pregnant and she became my pregnancy emails "pen pal." It was so nice to have someone who was going before me in the whole "birthing a child and bringing them home" thing to give me tips! :) Here are the girls playing:

(doesn't this look like Bella is doing the whole, "shh! Just go!" from Dumb and Dumber!? She was a fun girl for Mimi to play with! I don't think that Mimi knew what to do with herself!

Tiff's shower was at Kathy's house. She has the SWEETEST playroom downstairs and also has the SWEETEST granddaughters!!! Here's Mimi playing...

These girls were so good with Mimi. They even hung up a drawing that she did in their playhouse...Mimi was in HEAVEN!

Thanks Kathy for letting me show off your room! (of course, your whole house was cute, but I didn't take enough pictures for that post! :)


YAY Tiff!!!! We can't wait to meet Baby Grady!!!

Mimi's Favorite People (+one thing)

(those were just some shots from Popee's birthday celebration at the Olive Garden on Monday...so much fun! We especially loved having "Aunt Paytie" there to walk around with Mimi!) Which brings me to the title of this post...


Mimi's FAVORITE PEOPLE (+1 thing :)

So, right now Mimi loves:

Nana (that's who she is ALWAYS talking to on the phone, even if it's on Nana's cell phone and she is standing right there!)

Aunt Paytie (she says her name over and over again and cried such sad tears when we said goodbye to her last)

and...Mando!!!! Yep, that's right. Ben's good friend from college who lives in Seattle. Yes, the friend who literally may have been in our house for less than 12 hours when he stayed over a few weeks ago on his way to Vail. We went to dinner with him, chatted for about an hour and then all went to bed and Mimi can't stop talking about him. At first it floored me that she remembered him when she brought his name up a week after he had been here. Now, she brings him up in any conversation. We sing "Happy Birthday" to Mando (we sing Happy Birthday to any family member Mimi thinks of at the time), we write his name when we're coloring...you get the idea. I hope that Mando knows that he has a serious fan in Colorado (besides us of course!)


She is also in serious love with her pink blankie. Kristina is even going to try and find a second one at Babies R Us to keep at her house (to ward off the meltdowns for when we forget it!).

* Even blankie makes it into a round of "Happy Birthday."

DISNEY!!!!

We decided that this October, while we're in Florida with the Turrill clan for a little Captiva reunion, Ben, Mimi and I are going to add on a little Disney trip!!!! I really think that my head may explode :) For whatever reason, I am SUCH a Disney girl. I think because over the course of growing up I've been there so many times. We didn't travel much, but my mom had a good friend there who I'd go to Disney with and have also been for a couple of cheerleading trips. It's just magic for me. I'm so excited to be there with Mimi and Ben.

(And, because I'm not a word-traveler, I love that I can have raspberry cheesecake at a little French bakery, buy Paddington Bear items in England, see a little Morroccan belly-dancing show in Morocco and finish the night off with a stir-fried meal looking out on a Japanese garden in Japan...all within Epcot!!! This is the part where you laugh at me. At least that's where Ben does...)

So, needless to say, I'm stretching out the fun by planning our short little stay. Santa conveniently brought us a Disney Guide book...(how did he know?!? And why did the tag have my handwriting! That Santa!!! :) which is what I spent Christmas looking through with a highlighter and pen. There are now notes in the back of the book with our rough itinerary, as well as plans for our dinner reservations and things not to miss. I had to blog about it so that you could share in my joy (and give some good Disney tips ;)


exhibit a)

exhibit b)

as if one book on Disney wasn't enough, I checked one out from the library and made copies and highlighted those!



(Did you know that there's a little place in Magic Kingdom called "Bibbity Boppity Boutique" where little girls can get made up like their favorite princesses?? Are you kidding me?!?! Mimi will be too young I'm sure (which is why we'll have to make the trek back again in a few years...!)

Disney...here we come...
in 9 months!!!

It's even too early to book dinner reservations...don't worry, I've tried! ;)

Congrats to Dad

Benny got some news from work today that he made some great progress with his new branch...
We made sure he was able to get a "congratulations" and "we're proud of you!" from his girls


Mimi loves to "cheers"

Yay for Dad!!!!

Sushi Sweetie

Last night we had sushi to celebrate Nana's birthday. I just had my phone's camera,which is horrible, but I had to share the pictures of Mimi in her cute headband. She L-O-V-E-S sushi...which I love (except for now I have to share my expensive treat with her!)

A Proud Mama Moment

I love music so much. It's my favorite part of working out, basketball games and especially driving in the car. I love loud car music the best. Today when Mimi and I were driving home from school I was playing a new CD a friend made for me. I started to realize that it was louder for Mimi, being in the backseat, than it was for me. So I turned it down. After that she kept saying 'mok mok' ( her word for 'more'). I could not, for the life of me figure out what she wanted 'mok' of. I passed her anything I could get my hands on...until I realized that she meant the music! I turned it up for her and watched from my rearview mirror as she started moving her little hands to the music. When I turned it down again, I heard the same demad for more volume- we drove the rest of the way with our car music good and loud as we jammed out.  (She now says 'mok' when we get in the car if the music isn't on yet). I'm so glad that I have a music-lovin' buddy to rock out in the car with.. :) I am one proud Mama.

Happy New Year!

On New Year's Eve Ben and I went to listen to Drew's band play music in Boulder at the Baker Street Pub. We had so much fun!

Kate, dancing (with Drew in the background)

Ben and Jensen

Missing in 2010...

Here is the list of things that are missing in our house as we start this new year:

-our DVD remote.

We are forced to now watch EVERY preview on Mimi's new Tigger movie, and
have said goodbye to any chance of just skipping ahead a few chapters, because we can't bear the thought of watching that first opening scene of Tigger bouncing down Eeyore's house ONE MORE TIME!!!


-my makeup brush.

As I went to go get ready for our big night out of New Year's Eve, I reached for the brush I use to put on my powder/foundation. It's the ONE non-negotiable part of my makeup routine. It hides my fabulous brown spots that have held on since my sixth month of pregnancy, as well as tries to camouflage the fact that my face hasn't seen the sun apparently in months. It was NOWHERE to be found.


My suspicion is that a little tiny troll (about two feet high) who lives in our house keeps walking away with our stuff. She has been spotted in drawers and cabinets, pulling yards of dental floss, Mama's fancy pearl earrings and various hair products with her. Due to the odd nature of the places that she decides to keep her treasures, it may very well be NEXT year until we find our beloved things. (See the "hair spray" incident: a bottle of expensive hair product was missing for a month or two, and was recently recovered under a certain someone's crib mattress, while we were lowering the crib!)

If you know of the whereabouts of any of these items, you are asked to please call the Turrill family.