Big Girl Chair

Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart and bought a booster seat for Aeryn to sit in at the table. Which led to the first dinner that just the three of us had at the table. Before last night, we'd only eaten at the table when we had guests. Usually we eat off of TV trays. But the past week Aeryn has been reluctant to sit in the high chair, most of the time. Which is why we got the booster. She loves it! What a success. I had been stressing out about her diet lately. I had only been making her food that she could eat without making a mess, in case she didn't want to eat in the high chair. So there was a lot of sandwiches and crackers.
Another recent problem, getting her to let us brush her teeth. After her bath Monday night, she stood up on Tim's legs, to see on top the bathroom counter. And she grabbed her toothbrush and stuck it under the sink, waited for us to turn on the water, then brushed her teeth. When she was done, she let me brush her teeth. So we also bought a stool for her yesterday. It worked good last night, but not this morning. The stool isn't as tall as we wanted, but it's safe. We'll see if she gets used to it.
I take Aeryn to Baby Story Time at our libraries. On Tuesday I take her to Hardesty Library in Tulsa(about 10-15 min from our house to the library), and Wednesdays I was taking her to Broken Arrow South(about 2 miles from my house). But the teacher at Broken Arrow we had last year moved. I don't think that the new lady is very good with Aeryn's age group(birth- 2yrs). So today we went to the Broken Arrow library close to down town(about 3-4 miles from my house). I like it a lot better there. The other mothers seem really nice, and there are few more kids, and closer to Aeryn's age, at the new one.
Story Time is fun. Just a few stories and play songs. It's great to get out of the house and make contact with other moms and Aeryn gets to socialize. Not to mention, it's free! I am looking at enrolling Aeryn in a dance, music, or gym class. The cheapest enrollment fee, I found at a ballet studio. I can't remember the name, I think South Tulsa something. It's at a new shopping center at 101st and Memorial, next to the movie theater. We went to observe a class last Saturday, but none of the kids had shown up. They said that had never happened before. I asked how many kids there were, only 3. So we are going to go back this Saturday and hope they make it. If it's worth it, I am hardly going to be able to contain myself. I took dance when I was little. I don't think I was as young as Aeryn is now. It's just so neat to see your kids enjoying the same things you did.

Salsa Baby

Last night, Tim, Aeryn, and I took my dad out to dinner for his birthday. We went to a Mexican restaurant here in BA, Compadres(sp?). We love the chicken fajitas there! You get so much yummy chicken for your buck than other places. You get free salsa and chips. I gave Aeryn a chip and she saw me dip mine in salsa and wanted some for her chip. I dipped it a little, thinking it'd be too spicy for her to like. But it was the total opposite, she loved it. And was good about not knocking over the bowl when she dipped her chips herself. Even later in the meal she stopped using a chip at all, just her fingers. I was worried about the consequences of allowing her to partake of the yummy salsaness. But so far, nothing outrageous. After dinner, my dad went home and we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie. Our Aeryn made a new friend. There was this other little girl, about a month older, there and Aeryn walked right up to her and babbled a hello. She was very interested in the movie the girl was holding but not once tried to take it away. She also tried to giver her a kiss and hug. Aeryn is too sweet! She even said "bye bye" to her.

Today Aeryn and I went to the Tulsa Women's Expo at the QT Center(formerly Expo Square). It was a last minute thing. I wish I would have tried to find someone to come with. Tim wasn't very interested for some reason. :-) It would have been better to go with someone. It had been going on since Friday, but I only found out about it last night on tv. It said there was a cute baby contest, and I wanted to enter Aeryn, even if it was to cause self esteem problems for the other babies. We all know how awesomely cute she is. I looked it up online, and the entry acceptance date had passed. Maybe next year. We walked around all the booths, avoiding sign ups for "fabulous prizes...not for a mailing list" like they're the plague. You know what I'm talkin bout. But some had some cool freebies we nabbed. Aeryn went through two helium balloons popping on her. It didn't startle, scare or upset her at all, she had almost no reaction to it. We shared some Blue Bell ice cream. I hogged the chocolate covered strawberry. I planned on sharing with Aeryn but I guess my bite was bigger than I realized. :-) I also grabbed some free magazines from a Food Pyramid(bought out the Albertson's in Tulsa) area. And I couldn't resist, I bought three awesome necklaces and a pair of earrings from a booth Dazzle Me Jewels. They are based out of Minnesota, they don't sell online unfortunately, only travel around expos. So if you are ever at one, keep an eye peeled. Their wholesale, the jewelry is sterling silver with Australian crystals. Three necklaces and a pair of earrings, only $33.48. My earrings dangle a little and have a light purplish round crystal. And my necklace charms are a monkey, wine glass, and a star. I love them. I can wear them with anything!

That's all I am up to. I will eventually have a ton more recipes on my other page and new picture slides on slide.com. I will keep you updated...and yes I still have some postdating for you.

Time Flies! ... FAST!

Okay, so it's been a while. But I have been keeping some notes, so there will be some re-caps. Just some POI's to catch you up. And I will go into more details later.

What a trip to Michigan we had! My dad flew us up to MI to spend Thanksgiving with Brad's family. It was great to spend time with everyone. We played games, went to a planetarium, saw some movies, watched Law & Order tapes I brought, and enjoyed watching the kids play. Thanksgiving dinner was great! I will get more into the trip another time. Took up so much already with the flights.
There was a big ice storm in December. Power went out Monday morning, before the sun was up, and we didn't get ours back until Thursday after dinner. What an experience. I know that I can't really sympathize with people living in war torn countries, but I think I got a taste. It's so surreal to drive on a city street in total darkness. And there are branches falling everywhere, sounds like explosions. Roads are completely blocked off by trees and power line poles. We were lucky because my dad was out of town, so we stayed at his house at night. We had to come back during the day to take care of the dogs. And it's just more comfortable for us at home.
Christmas Eve, I made dinner for Byron, his girlfriend Kryston, my dad, and his date. It was so good. I will be posting it on my recipe blog. Christmas day we went to my moms in the morning, then to Lee's mom, Regina, for lunch. We had Christmas with the Danzigers later that week, at Ian and Stephanie's.
For New Year, Aeryn stayed the night at my moms. It was her first night away from us. I should say us from her, I think the separation was harder on us than her. :-) It was nice to have a night out together.
I think that's all I am up for today. There will be more soon... I hope.