Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Colby!

You're the caramel in my Twix, and the salt on my popcorn.

Sure do love and adore you, Handsome Man!!!

Pop Quiz

Just a quick Pop Quiz. Very important. Take your time, and answer each question honestly, and truthfully, to the best of your abilities.

1. Dani thinks that:
A. Spiders are the literal spawn of Satan.

B. God created spiders in His fury over Adam and Eve partaking of the Forbidden Fruit.

C. Spiders are the very embodiment of Evil on the earth.

D. All of the above.

2. Dani wishes that:
A. Spiders, every single species, would magically and eternally disappear from existence.

B. All spiders would, at the very least, stay at least 3 million miles away from her.

C. All books and movies portraying spiders as kind, adorable creatures could be banned.

D. All of the above.

3. Despite her intense and burning hatred of spiders, Dani:
A. Is far too chicken to actually squash them.

B. Prefers to send in her cats to "play" with the spiders until they die, and then she will vacuum them up.

C. Will spray them with spider spray, hairspray, window cleaner, or any other remotely poisonous and/or noxious substance, hoping that they die a slow and miserable and tortuous death, and will then vacuum them up.

D. All of the above.


Okay, time! Pencils up.

The answer to every question was D, All of the above.
How did you do on this quiz?


As much as I am ready for warm weather, and the absence of snow and temperatures hovering at 30, I have to admit,

I HATE SPIDERS!!!!!

How is it possible that even with the dratted snowy February-like weather the last few days, the little eight-legged demons from hell have made their way into my house?

3 of them just today. I was really hoping that the evil creatures would react more like tomato plants, and that they would just shrivel up and freeze and die in this ridiculous cold snap.

No such luck.

I need a lot more hairspray..........

Because Everyone Already Knows......

Savannah likes the Jonas Brothers!! No matter how much she may try to deny it, she does. In fact, she LOVES the Jonas Brothers. I don't know that it even matters all that much which Jonas Brother you choose- she likes them all...a lot! Just in case you have doubts, Savannah has a Jonas Brothers CD, a concert DVD, and bedding.

Let me explain the bedding, because it is crucial to the whole point of this post.

So, Savannah has a brand-new bedroom. It is HERS; she no longer has to share with Charlotte. She's very excited about this, not only because it's more space, but because she gets to decorate her own room to her own liking- it doesn't have to be purple, pink, and Princessy anymore, because Charlotte can have that in her own room. Yay for Savannah! So, she picked out her room decor, and for her birthday, she received a Jonas Brothers super-soft blanket, a Jonas Brothers throw pillow, and a Jonas Brothers sheet set. This is in addition to the Jonas Brothers poster she received for Christmas. She placed the poster on the wall, directly above her bed, so that when she lays down, she can see the very cute, hot and handsome Jonas Brothers smiling down upon her, as she is laying on the pillow with the cute Jonas Brothers on it.

You get the idea.....she loves the Jonas Brothers, despite any and all protestations to the contrary.

Which brings me to today. I was (sort of!) teasing her about the Jonas Brothers, which (anyone who knows Savannah will already have guessed that it) did not excite her, or please her at all. I was (sort of!) teasing her about the perfect arrangement of the poster, the bedding, and all other things related to the Jonas Brothers. She eventually told me to stop teasing her, because it makes her feel embarrassed, and "how would you like it if I teased you?" I asked what she meant; how could she tease me? She just said "What if I told everyone that you thought someone was cute, and it made you embarrassed?"

So, I had to explain something to her.
Oh, Savannah, my dear, the thing is, I happen to have a major crush on someone, and I have since about 1985. And, pretty much everyone knows, too, so you couldn't really tease or embarrass me by telling everyone about it!!
I tried to tell her that if she likes those cute little Jonas Brothers, she shouldn't be shy about it, or try to hide it, or deny it.

Proclaim that love and adoration, Savannah!!


But, to try and make amends with Savannah, and to make her feel better, I posted one of my favorite pictures of my
(not so) secret crush.
So, here he is, Dani's major crush for about 25 years running....

The one and only, the delicious and perfect Martin Gore.

Isn't he adorable?!! I still swoon over this guy.

And, for the record Savannah, if I could find a pillowcase with Martin on it, I'd be all over it!! And I would buy the matching super-soft blanket, and pretty much anything else!

And for further record, just in case anyone is reading this post with growing panic and alarm, Colby is aware of, and fully supports my Martin crush. Don't worry, I know that Colby is the most awesome, the most handsome, the most amazing and hot guy ever to walk the earth.
I adore him.
The thing is, Colby is very secure in my love for him, so he is by no means threatened or scared of my decades-long, rapturous crush on Martin. He even downloads and sends me pictures of Martin. He was fully aware of my Martin crush when we met; he was fully aware that it was still there when we got married; and he is still aware of it now, thirteen blissful years later. Everyone okay? Good.

By the way, to all those who may be younger than I am..........if you must ask me who Martin Gore is, I reserve the right to sigh condescendingly, and then smack you.....but I will mean it in the nicest possible way!!!!

It is so easy....

I have decided that boys are soooooo easy to entertain.

This morning, I was messing around with the settings on my e-mail, and we came across a new background/theme for it:

Ninjas.

Well, obviously, Barrett thought I shouldn't pass that up, and so now, my e-mail page looks as though Snake Eyes has gotten the best of it.

Now he has told me about 20 times in the last 20 minutes "Mom, we need to check your e-mail."

I have a sneaky suspicion that he really doesn't care in the slightest about my e-mails, it's just that he is as excited to see the Ninjas all over the screen the 20th time as he was the first time.

And now he is dashing around the house in all his Snake Eyes gear, happy as can be.

It takes so little!

Battle Cry.....

This happened a while ago, and I thought I had already blogged it, but apparently I didn't, so, better late then never!!

Back in February, our family watched the Olympics. We love the Olympics, and the kids really liked it, especially figure skating, snowboard halfpipe, and the ski jumps. But, during the men's figure skating, there was a short little bio of Russian skater Yevgeny Plushenko. Well, Barrett LOVED watching him skate, and actually thought that his name was just about the coolest thing he'd ever heard. For days after, he would take his sword, his gun, his shield, or whatever weapon he happened to have, and then, before attacking whatever nefarious foe he was up against, he would shout "Yevgeny Plushenko!" and advance toward the enemy with deadly speed and force. Or, if he ever tripped, fell down, or otherwise hurt himself, he would say "ouch, yevgeny plushenko!"
That guy's name became Barrett's all-purpose expression: a battle cry, an expression of anger or hurt, you name it.
It was sooo funny, and I wish I had caught it on camera for you. He was so cute, and it was just adorable to see him, sword raised, face drawn in concentration, and then his adorable little-boy voice shout, at the top of his lungs, "Yevgeny Plushenko!"

So cute! How I love that little boy of mine!!

The Most Creative Award...

Charlotte has decided that she no longer wants to take naps during the day. Yes, I do realize that she is five, and that many kids her age haven't been taking naps for quite some time now. But, only in the last few weeks has she expressed her displeasure about naptime.
But, today, she told me that she couldn't take naps anymore, and it took every ounce of self-restraint I had to not laugh, because it was soooooo funny.
Charlotte takes the award for
"Most Clever and Creative Way To Get Out Of Doing Something"
for telling me this:

"I can't take naps now, because I am allergic to naps. Mom, do you know what "allergic" means?"

And then she proceeded to explain to me the definition of "allergic:"
'it means you really hate something.'

Huh.
So Charlotte is allergic to naps, and by her definition of the word, I am allergic to spiders, tomatoes, jelly beans, and the horribly
over-rated music of U2.

What kinds of things are you "allergic" to?!?!?

Barrett rocks!

I have already explained why my kids are the coolest, and yet, here I offer further proof.........

when we clean the house, I always put in a CD or two, and rock out. I mean, if I have to clean, why not at least have an awesome soundtrack to the cleaning, right? So this morning, it was Barrett's turn to pick the "cleaning music." His choice.........Yep, Dead or Alive!! And if that isn't cool enough, his second choice was........

The awesome Pet Shop Boys.

See, my son is soooooo cool! He picked out two very sweet CDs to listen to, all on his own, without any coaching or persuasion on my part!
Just don't tell my darling sister Steph!

Top Five Lists

I know it has been a while. So I thought I might post a few things that have been on my mind the past little bit. Nothing tremendously important, or amazing, or groundbreaking, but, oh well!


The Top 5 Reasons I Love Barrett:
1. At this point, I think he has the cutest and most adorable little voice in the universe. Seriously. I could listen to him talk all day long, and just smile. It is kind of hard to get angry at him, or try to discipline him sometimes. His little-boy voice is just sooooooo adorable, I usually melt. Love it.

2. He has an adorable smile and giggle!!

3. He is quite a Super Hero geek, just like his Daddy. Maybe it should concern me, but it doesn't. There is something completely and utterly adorable about a nearly-four-year-old boy who can hum the Superman theme music; who lifts his arms up, and before taking off at a ridiculously fast pace, says "To the rescue!!" and other such Hero geekiness. I kind of hope he never outgrows it. Batman Forever, Bear Bear!!

4. He makes the funniest faces! He has a wide range of smiles and smirks and lopsided grins that just make me laugh!!

5. This is my favorite, mostly because I think it will most likely become a less and less frequent occurrence as he gets older. So I cherish it for now. Barrett will come up to me, at totally random times during the day, and say "Mom, I so much love you." Or he will say things like "Mom, you are such a pretty girl," or other such (sweet and sincere) lies that he has learned from hearing his Dad say them to me all the time. I am sure that the day will eventually come when he won't tell me how he so much loves me, or that he thinks I am a pretty girl- that would be a total cramp in his style. Oh, how I do love my little Barrett!

Top 5 Reasons I Love Charlotte:
1. Once again, her delicate and fragile and girlie voice. She just sounds like a Princess, and I love that about her. She is so girlie, and so twirly, and so fluffy, and so Princessy, but in a good way. Love it!

2. She is soooooooo sassy! Maybe this should bother me more, but, for some reason, it just doesn't. Charlotte has some serious fire and sass in her personality, and I love it. She actually reminds me of my Granny East. She was a tiny thing, not even 5 feet tall, about 90 pounds at the most, but she was a spunky and fiery and sassy lady! I loved that about her, and I love that Charlotte has some of that. Granny passed away when I was in high school, so Charlotte never had the chance to meet her here, but I am sure that Granny was teaching Charlotte up in heaven, making sure that the sass and fire keeps going.

3. She likes to read. The same books and stories, over and over and over and over and over again, but I love it. I am glad that she loves to read.

4. Her favorite colors are Pink, Light Pink, Dark Pink, Princess Pink, Tinkerbell Pink, Baby Pink, Shockingly Bright Pink, Cotton Candy Pink, and any other variation and shade of pink that you could possibly imagine. Pink Power forever, Charlotte!!!!!

5. Her awesome and funny face that she makes whenever she "plays" Guitar Hero with Colby. She likes to "play" the bass, and she takes it very seriously. She makes the most focused, concentrated, and Rock Star Chick face ever. I love it!


Top 5 Reasons I Love Savannah:
1. She has the most enormous deep green eyes I have ever seen! I LOVE her eyes. I always said that if I ever had kids, that all I wanted was for them to have Colby's eyes. They can suffer through life with whatever they were unfortunate enough to inherit from me, but at least inherit their father's huge, amazingly deep green eyes. If they get his excellent vision as well, even better....so far, so good on that!

2. Her tender, emotional and sincere little heart. Savannah is the most sensitive and sweet girl in the universe. And what's more important and amazing, is that she is incredibly sincere as well. She is not in the least fake or artificial, she really is very sweet, kind, and loving. I love it.

3. She pretends that she doesn't have a massive crush on the Jonas Brothers, which I think is sooo funny and cute. She gets all red and embarrassed whenever anyone brings it up, and it's just funny. But, she really does like them, and she really thinks they're soooooooooo cute, and it is so adorable. I wonder if my parents thought it was funny and adorable when I was her age, and had a major thing for Martin Gore. Oh wait, I still do......oh well, don't judge me.

4. She pretends to like me, and to think it's okay if I am "myself" around her friends. Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but, let's be honest- I am really kind of a dork, and kinda crazy, and to a nine year old, that spells certain doom if ever her friends see that. Bless her heart, she likes me anyway, despite my innate nerdiness!!

5. She is such a Daddy's girl. I cannot even tell you how much I love that. It just makes my whole heart swell with joy whenever I see her with Colby. She adores him, and she loves being with him, and playing with him, and talking to him. Honestly, it does make me a teeny bit jealous sometimes (or a lot of the time), but I really do love how much she loves him, and looks up to him.


And, finally, my darling sister Steph's Top 5 Reasons Why I Should Be A Little Worried and Embarrassed and Concerned:
1. All three of my kids know ABBA songs. Lyrics, humming the tune, the whole thing. They have a disco thing going on, and it just disturbs Steph greatly!

2. They all know Depeche Mode songs. Same thing, lyrics, music, all of it. Very sad, to Steph.

3. They all know Erasure songs. Even sadder than Depeche Mode, according to Steph!

4. They all love New Orleans Saints football. Well, as much as Charlotte can love football, anyway...... But, this is plain devastating, because Steph thinks the Oakland Raiders are the only team that should exist in football.

5. That I do not color, highlight, or otherwise "improve" my hair!! I keep trying to tell her that it is a wasted effort, because my hair is sooooo blonde that any color just fades in a week, at the most; and I can't highlight any lighter, or I'd look like a platinum blonde bimbo, and I just don't think I could pull that look off even if I wanted to; plus, I just don't care enough. Which, to Steph, is the most sad and grievous part of it all, I should care more about my hair, my clothes, whatever, and I just don't. Oh well. At least I really love baseball, and my favorite team is the Boston Red Sox, so that has saved me in her eyes, at least a little!!!!!

Because I Love Him!!!!

I happen to adore my Colby!!

He is the coolest, most awesome and funny guy in the universe.

Today we celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Colby!

Here's to us!!!

Charlotte's New Pictures

These are the new pictures of Charlotte! I cannot believe my little baby girl is going to be FIVE!! Where has the time gone? She had such a fun time getting her picture taken, she really does love being in front of the camera. She is such a doll, and we love her so much! Enjoy!

This is one of my favorites! I love how excited she was at having a bunch of flowers in the picture!

And then, tossing them up in the air!

Funny face!

Flower girl!

Another silly funny face! How come she is still so pretty and cute when she makes funny faces?!!

So pretty!

I love this picture. First of all, I am a sucker for a sepia-tone photo, and second, this just captures Charlotte's personality so well. Mellow, laid-back, and relaxed!

Look how tall she has gotten!!

I love this picture! She looks so sweet and angelic. Love it!

This pose was one of Charlotte's ideas. She wanted to hug her knees and show the photographer her cute lime-green socks! She is so funny!

Charlotte LOVES this picture. She was quite pleased to have the biggest pink flower right by her face.

I must admit, this one is my very favorite! There is just something about her funny little personality that really shines through in this picture! I love it!

So, there you have it- the latest and greatest pictures of my
Darling, Sweet, Adorable, Lovely, Funny, Gorgeous Blue-Eyed Beauty!

Girls Night!

I just wanted to post really quick, and say "Thank You" to my dear friends for the fun Girl's Night Out tonight. It was so fun to get together and have a night out, talking and laughing so much that the employees at Rumbi were surely laughing at us!!!!
However, we missed you Linda- you have to make it next time!

And, in almost-typical Dani fashion, I have no pictures of our fun night- but not because I forgot the camera, as I usually do. Nope, this time I remembered my camera, I even got it out of my purse and everything, I just flat-out forgot to take any pictures!
That's what happens when I am having so much fun talking and laughing with my friends!

Football Brings Out The ____ In People...

Today, as we were watching the football game, it occurred to me that football can bring out the best and worst in people.
Let me explain.


Colby has always been a New Orleans Saints fan. For baseball, it's the Red Sox, for football, it's the Saints. Today, the Saints are playing against the Minnesota Vikings. Obviously, we want the Saints to win, not only because they are the household favorite team, but also because we DETEST Brett Favre. Since it is Sunday, and I should probably be truthful and honest, we would be not-very-sad if Brett Favre sustained some form of injury in this game. We'd like the Saints to win, and not only that, but we'd like to make the Vikings suffer a terrible and humiliating and ego-crushing loss.


It didn't turn out quite that way. At the time of this post, the Saints were tied, but awaiting the outcome of a challenged play, that, if goes in our favor, would put the Saints on top.

But, just a few minutes ago, something happened, and it appeared that Brett Favre was hurt. Now, Barrett and Colby have been yelling and shouting "Come on Saints!" and "GO GO GO GO GO!!" at the top of their lungs the whole game. So, when we saw that Favre was probably hurt, we were all not-so-secretly rejoicing!!

Except for Savannah.

The dreaded killjoy that she is, in all her amazing sweetness and niceness and goodness, said something like "Oh, how sad, he's hurt bad!" To which we replied something like, "Who cares? It's not only a Viking, but it's Brett Favre. Yay, injuries!"
Then Savannah said, in all seriousness and sincerity, "It doesn't matter which teams they're on, we should be worried and care about everyone the same."

Obviously, Savannah does not understand football at all!!

But, she does understand genuine kindness.
How on earth did she ever come from me?

Mom's Book Report

So I love to read. I don't really get to read as much as I used to, or would like to. But I have been reading a lot more often the

past few months.

Just a small piece of advice, though....DO NOT try reading when you are trying to stay awake on a graveyard shift!! Not very effective. It is quite effective at making you feel very, very sleepy very, very quickly, however.

Anyway, I have been reading more these past months, and I'm not sure if it's because of Savannah's age, or the fact that she likes to read, or what, but I have been reminded of all the wonderful books I read when I was her age. So, I thought I would give you a small book report on my reading lately! Aren't you excited? Well, you should be!

These are the "Spiderwick Chronicles" books. They were only published in the last few years, but I read them because Savannah received them as a Christmas gift in 2008, and since she did not read them, I thought I would. They were fun. Savannah has since read the first two books, and even did a book report on the first book for school this year. Nice!

These are the "Anne of Green Gables" book series. This is actually the exact same set I had as a kid! I have to admit, though, I only read the first three books in the series, and they were not my favorites. I have only seen a few episodes of the TV series that was produced when I was a kid, and I wasn't a huge fan of them either. Apparently, I am just about the only girl who has read these books, and not really fallen in love with them. Oh, well.

These are the "Little House on the Prairie" books. These are the same exact books I had as a kid, and that I still have!!!! I LOVED these books. I bet I have read these about 15 times each, and I love them just as much every time I read them. I have tried to get Savannah to read them, and she just doesn't seem very interested in them at all. You know what? It almost hurt my feelings!! Isn't that weird? I totally adore these books, and I almost take it personally that she doesn't like them, not yet anyway. So, since she won't read them, I am currently reading them again. I am on the fourth book right now. It has been at least 15 years since I read them last, so this has been so fun!!! And yes, I realize it's just a wee bit lame-o that I am so wounded over my daughter not liking the same books I do, but....

I'm working on it!!
:o)

These are the "Chronicles of Narnia" books. I loved them and read them all as a kid. I actually re-read the whole series about a year ago, and I was surprised at how much I still loved them. I think I had an entirely different perspective reading them as an adult, compared to reading them at the age of eight. Savannah won't read these either. She just likes to watch the films. Grrrrr!!

These are the "Wrinkle in Time" books. I know I read all of them in third grade, and so I bought them for Savannah for her birthday last year thinking she would love them too. Any guesses on how sharp and accurate I was?!?!?! Yep, you were probably right- she has zero interest in them! So, I read them all again. Kind of funny, I remembered the first book pretty well, but the second and third books did not seem familiar to me at all. I liked them all though.

"Island of the Blue Dolphins." I know I read this one a few times and loved it. Savannah just barely got this for Christmas, so we'll see how long until I realize that she has no interest in it either, and then I will read it again!!


I have had a lot of fun reading these "children's" books, and maybe I will start reading "big people" books again someday,
but I don't think it will be any time soon. First I need to finish the "Little House" books,
and then I think I am going to re-read "Sherlock Holmes" again!


And then, I am going to try and pound it into my head that Savannah does not have the same taste in books as I do!

Ha! Good luck with that one..........I know........

Happy New Year!!

For New Year's Eve this year, we decided to let the kids stay up as late as they wanted to, and if they pooped out before 2010, so be it. And honestly, for our kids, staying up until 9:30 is staying up REALLY LATE, so it was an ambitious goal for them!!

We decided to eat dinner, and then watch a movie and let the rest of the night unfold. The movie we watched:

"George of the Jungle" with Brendan Fraser.

It was so funny! Yes, we realize the movie was produced in 1997, and therefore not new at all, but we had never seen it, so it was new to us!

The kids LOVED it! They were giggling like hysterical maniacs throughout the whole film! And afterward, they were jumping off the chairs and couches- hands outstretched as though holding a vine- and yelling like Tarzan.....or George, in this case!

It was so funny, and Colby and I were laughing like maniacs watching them!

So, Happy New Year!!

We hope that your 2010 is a good one, worthy of jungle-swinging, Tarzan-yelling laughter!

Random and Pointless Photos!

So we all know that we just like to be silly and have fun at our house, right? Well, here are some pictures to prove it.Savannah thinking it is so fun to wear Mom's glasses. Honestly, only people with perfect 20/20 vision want to wear glasses just for fun.

Charlotte and Mom. You don't know how difficult it was for me to have these pictures taken, let alone post them- because everyone knows how much I HATE having my picture taken, right? But, it was hard to edit myself out of the pictures and still get the cute photo of the kids, so.......

We were trying to get a nice picture of me cuddling Char, but she just wanted to make silly faces!
Savannah and Mom. Savannah actually likes to sit nicely and pose....sometimes. This is one of my new favorite pictures!

Barrett and Mom. Bear is just fun and silly personified. It was a struggle to get him to sit still long enough for a nice picture with Mommy.

I can't remember where or why these feathers came to our house, but here they are, and Charlotte thinks they are awesome tickle-toys!!


I LOVE this picture of Charlotte. She looks so sweet, so funny, and so coy all at the same time.

This is a very short clip of Charlotte dancing at the Festival of Trees. She LOVES to perform, and like her Daddy, shows absolutely no signs of being nervous or afraid.

So, there you have it. Random and pointless photos to show how much we love being silly and fun!!! I love random photos, don't you?!?!