This is better than Aquafina!

(Look at all of the hair! It is starting to get long again...soon, more pigtails!)

What?! Whatcha looking at?

No bath for me!

Hiding from Momma & Dadda

Caitlin has gotten really crafty in avoiding taking a bath (all of the sudden, she has decided to protest). She even brought some reading material to her hideout.

ABC's

I got this from a dear friend who wishes to remain unanimous...but, I thought it would be a fun addition to the blog, so here were go:
A is for Age - 27
B is for Booze - Only for my beer biscuits
C is for Career - mom, wife, library technician
D is for Dad's name - Don
E is for Essential items to bring to a party - munchies
F is for Favorite song at the moment - "Move Your Arms Like Henry"
H is for Hometown -I consider Montrose, CO to be my hometown even though I was raised in Michigan
I is for Instrument you play - Nada--not that talented
J is for Jam or Jelly you like -homemade strawberry
K is for Kids - 1 girl
L is for Living arrangement - duplex
M is for Mom's name - Paula
N is for Names of best friends - Jen & my DOC pals
O is for overnight hospital stays - broken arm around 3 yrs old, having Caitlin
P is for Phobias - creepy crawling bugs, tight spaces
Q is for Quote you like - "Kids are not people to be unfolded but rather to be molded"
R is for Relationship that lasted longest - Friendship with Jen, something like 14 years
S is for Siblings - 2 brothers 21 & 18
U is for Unique trait -lip reading
V if for Vegetable you love - broccoli
W is for Worst trait - Biting my nails
X - is for XRays you've had - too numerous to mention, I was a clumsy child
Y is for Yummy food you make - spinach enchiladas
Z is for Zodiac sign - Taurus
Firsts:
First job - babysitter
screen name - caitiesmomma03
First funeral - good friend from church, suicide *sniffle*
First piercing - ears around 6
First tattoo - None, never
First credit card - Wells Fargo Bank Card
First kiss - Ben
First enemy - I can't remember his name but can picture him
First favorite band - The Bangles
Lasts:
Last kiss - Ben, when he came home to get his phone
Last movie - Monster in Law
Last beverage drank - Lemonade
Last food eaten - Popcorn w/ Caitlin
Last phone call - Mom, she wanted to know if I wanted to attend my brother's final band concert
Last shower - 6:30 this morning
Last CD played - Wiggles
Last website visited - target.com
Single or taken: Very taken
What do you miss?: Being able to go places on a whim
Hair color: Naturally brown
Eye color: blue
What makes you sad?: Lots of things that are going on in our world
Are you happy?: Yep!
Do you want your friends to fill this out, too?: Sure, why not!

Poor Little Sick Girl
This was Caitlin earlier this morning. She woke up coughing and one thing lead to another. For the first time in about a year, I am taking a sick day to care for my litle sick girl! Why do they look so precious when sick?

Ben & Ed on Ed's last day @ Oasis 

A Fond Farewell

Okay, I'm hoping that Ben doesn't lash out irrationally when he sees that I've posted this but--goodness knows he'll never do it himself! So, here goes...

Ben's co-worker and pal extradionaire recently left Oasis to venture to South Carolina with his fiance to be closer to both of their families (that's what it's all about, right?). They are probably rolling out of Montrose as we speak.

Ben & Ed have been working together since December of 2004, so they have some history and have become great friends sharing many common interests (basketball, computer shop talk, etc). So, you can imagine how sad Ben was to hear that Ed was leaving.

We attended a going-away party for him on Saturday and everyone had a good time. I hope that Ben & Ed are able to keep in touch and who knows, vacation may find us on the East Coast in the near future!

Telluride's Library

Courtesy of www.town.telluride.co.us
Wilkinson Public Library-Telluride, CO

Being that I'm a librarian, I noticed Telluride's library as we passed it on the way to Smuggler's for dinner. I just got a peak in the windows on the side and saw one of the cutest children's areas with big stuffed animals and a story-telling chair made to resemble a Native American maiden. I will make it a point to stop in sometime as I know one of the librarians. It looks like a really nice library, as it should be for a town with the kind of financial resources that Telluride has.

Approaching Telluride from the highway...

Picture courtesy from: www.town.telluride.co.us because yes, I forgot to bring the camera AGAIN!

Our weekend

Wow! I cannot believe how fast this weekend blew by--just as the spring winds blow. Here is a recap of what we did---

On Saturday, I had to work, like always while Ben had his "dadda-daughter" time with Caitlin. The two spent the day just bumming around the house and getting their recommended daily allowance of the Wiggles.

Sunday started us with a good effort to get our place in tip--top shape. I think we should be applauded for our efforts! That afternoon, having lined up babysitting (did I mention that it was free thanks to my brother & future sis-in-law?), Ben & I headed to the movie theatre (free again, thanks to a birthday gift certificate) to watch "Monster In Law" with J. Lo and Jane Fonda. The film was more comedy than romance and we whole-heartedly joined in the ripples and echoes of laughter. If you haven't seen it, it is worth your $6 (at least here it's only $6). After the show, we trekked to my parents' house to have dinner with the whole McLean clan. My brother, Mike and his fiance are home for the summer, so, it was a full house. My best friend Jen & her son also joined in the fun. The two kids had a blast playing in the backyard sandbox and Caitlin even gave Seth a new hair treatment--sand! It's supposed to do wonders to cleansing the scalp. The food was delicious like always and we all left with full bellies. It is so nice to be close enough to get together often.

Today, Jen, Seth, Caitlin & I decided that we needed to "get out of Dodge" so we loaded up the kids (and all of their gear) and headed up into the mountains. Jen is new to the area having relocated from the Great Lake State recently and has yet to see the sights. We decided to go to Telluride (yes, the famous ski resort where the movie stars have homes) in hopes of taking the kids for a scenic ride on the gondola. Well, we got up to Mountain Village and discovered that the gondola was closed (more like inaccessible as the parking lot was torn up down to dirt and boulders) so we drove around amongst the hollywood-budget shops and mansions. Eventually, we ended up back in downtown Telluride, parked the car and window shopped down the main drag. We found the cutest pair of baby Uggs at an attractive price of $155 (and that was at 25% off) and a Japanese silk dress in 2T (the price was in the 2's too, $200 that is). Caitlin also spotted a pair of ladybug leather dress shoes--she kept saying, "Bug Momma, bug!" Caitie also pointed us numerous dogs along the way as it seems to be quite the trend to bring your furry pets into town with you. We decided to wind down our window shopping by looking for a place to eat which catered to our youngsters and was budget conscious (you must understand that most restaurants' menus averaged out at around $16/plate). Finally, a friendly businessman pointed us in the direction of Smuggler's. We parked our strollers outside after being convinced that 1) no one would take them (duh, I knew that) and 2) no strollers were welcome inside and lugged our kids up the stairs. Jen & I ended up having Gyros--no, Metro-Detroiters, not as good as Leo's. Seth was safely strapped into a highchair but through some miscommunication, Caitlin remained "chairless" and was climbing all over me and the booth (word of advice, keep your kids strapped in for as long as you can). I was quite glad to leave the restaurant and head back to the car. 50 minutes later, we were back at home...tired but refreshed from the outing.

There you have it, that was our weekend. Now, we will all be getting back into our normal weekday routine.

My Princess Glasses 

Little Chatterbox Chatters in Sentences

Well, it's finally happened. The little girl that we were encouraging to talk has crossed another milestone threshold! Caitlin now knows several sentences--just a sampling of what she can say: "That's mine!", "I'm hiding", "I pooped!", "That's my (momma, dada, nana, etc)", I want (cookie, drink, doggie)" and much more. Now that she's mastered talking in phrases, we're thinking she's never going to stop! My mom says this is very adequate payback because I started talking around 7 months and haven't stopped since. From one chatterbox to another.

WWE Daddy-Style 

Girl Time 

Caitlin's Humble Adobe 

He's Down For the Count! 

My Mother's Day

Caitlin woke me up this morning with a big a smile, a cute Garfield card and Amy Grant's newest CD "Rock of Ages". I have loved Amy Grant's music ever since "Heart in Motion" came out and have remained a faithful follower except for a brief spell when her music took a dark spell. Despite popular opinion, her divorce from Gary Chapman was the best thing that ever happened to her & her music. Once again, you hear the heart & soul of Amy Grant and she's singing the kind of music that she grew up with and re-discovered her Christian roots--though this time with more of a rock flare. I love it! So, I was so thrilled to open the CD and pop it into Windows Media Player...listening to the great tunes while composing this blog.
Ben has something else up his sleeves for my Mother's Day but refuses to give me a hint. He is currently out in the kitchen making me breakfast! I'm so touched. He makes killer waffles!
For the first time in weeks, the sun is shinning. It couldn't have happened for a better reason and I plan to take advantage of it.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go fill my stomach! Again, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today marks my second official Mother's Day but I know that it's a first for a lot of my friends. I hope that is special for all of you, regardless of how long you've been a mother. Happy Mother's Day to my mom and mother-in-law. Thanks for loving us and enriching our lives!

Here's Something

After being begged by Laura, I am going to post---SOMETHING! Since I am a Computer Tech, my postings will not be as entertaining as Laura's. In fact, if I post a picture, it will be of my tech bench here at home or Caitie messing around on my PCs. Right now, I just inherited a Pentium II PC that I am going to load Red Hat Linux. If only, someone would be so kind to bless me with a laptop or a Mac Mini...

Little Miss Chatterbox

Caitlin just loves talking on the phone and can hold actual conversations with people now that she can talk in little phrases. Here she is, talking to her Uncle Mike in KC. Look how engrossed she is in and how well she can hold a cell phone. Just proves that children learn thru observation.

Not exactly threatre seating... 

Showing her artsy side

Yesterday, wanting to spend some quality time with Caitlin, we headed up to Delta (20 miles north) to go to a Paint-Your-Own Pottery studio called "Fat Cat Pottery". We stopped by my mom's house to invite her along and away the three "girls" went. I decided that I wanted to showcase both Caitlin's artistic ability and how much she's grown so we decided to have her paint a 4 x 6 tile and then pressed her handprint in a darker color on top of her painting. I can't wait to see what it looks like after it's been fired and glazed. We will have to go pick it up next week. I plan on making this at least a yearly ritual and am kicking myself for not doing it when she was younger. Oh well, better late than never as the saying goes. Caitlin had a l0t of fun painting with a brush, sponge and "polka dot maker" but honestly, I think she was more captivated by the dish of water than anything else! Funny side note, my mom & I both meant to take pictures of this outing but, I flat-out forgot my camera at home and my mom left hers in my car so, we will just have to go back and recreate the memories! I promise to post pictures of Caitlin's creation when we get it back. I also made a piece but you'll have to wait and see what it is.

Beer Biscuits

I have been asked by numerous friends for the recipe for the biscuits that I've been raving about well, courtesy of The Food Network ("Follow That Food"), here it is:

Bubba's Beer Biscuits:
4 cups biscuit mix- 1/4 cup sugar, 1 (12-ounce) can beer, 1 tablespoon butter (melted)
Honey Butter: 1/2 pound butter 2 tablespoons honey
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients together and mix well. Pour the batter into well-greased muffing tins and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden.
Allow the butter to soften to room temperature. Using an electric mixer whip the butter and honey together until well mixed and smooth.
Serve the biscuits while still warm with the honey butter.

See, I told you it's easy and delicious! :) Let me know what you all think.