Happy Birthday Cake! March 30, 2008

 

Tomorrow we are venturing to Bellingham for Jackie’s birthday so I thought, hey, why don’t I bake a cake for the occasion. Well it took a long time to make this cake. I chose Red Velvet cake and it was a hassle but eventually I’ll get better at it. At least it tastes good.

Update: When I woke up this morning and came downstairs to make coffee I noticed that the cake frosting had decided to run all over the place. Unfortunately the frosting recipe that I used just did not turn out right. I thought that I had followed the directions but I guess I did not follow them close enough. Plus one of the layers had not turned out so I had put it aside. I tried it last night and a little this morning and it basically gave me a complete sugar shock. The cake eventually made it into the round filing cabinet, so we will head to the grocery store today and pick up another cake. Next time I bake a cake I plan on trying another recipe where the frosting actually turns out.

Yeah for Friday’s! March 28, 2008

I am so thankful that this week is finally over. It has been a tough week for me at work so I am so glad that the weekend is here. This week was extremely busy with Ethan’s daycare shut down and the whole diaper rash business. Hopefully its back to smooth sailing next week.

Today when I pick up Ethan in Snohomish Courtney, Ethan, and I are going to go walk around the town and do some shopping so that I can pick Ethan up some of his favorite (well my favorite) shoes. I just have to say as a parent that these are some of the best shoes around.

Baby Jail Time. March 26, 2008

 

Jeff purchased a play pen for Ethan and it finally arrived today. Since I am working from home today I decided to set it up and it is indeed a baby jail. He seems to do ok in it though since its got some activities to play with inside. Plus its nice that we don’t have to worry about him if we leave the room for two seconds to get a drink of water. But man, this thing takes up a lot of room. I think we need a bigger house.

Happy Easter March 24, 2008

We ventured out to Lopez Island this weekend to celebrate Easter with my mom and Jon (aka Grandma & Grandpa). As you can see from one of the pictures Ethan drove the car while on the ferry. We had a great time taking the boat over on Saturday to Orcas Island for some delicious pizza and spirits. All in all it was a great weekend and when we arrived home the Easter bunny had visited while we were gone and brought lots of goodies galore.

Ethan at the babysitters March 21, 2008

Daycare is closed today so Ethan got hauled off to a friends house for a rollicking good time.  Here is the post about it from our good friends Jeff and Courtney – http://teamstrannon.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/watching-ethan/

Easter Goodness… March 21, 2008

 

Every Easter I cannot wait for the Toy’s R Us’ commercial to come on television and this year it did not. I was very sad about this and was about to shed a tear. Thank goodness for You Tube. You can check out the commercial here in all of its glory and hopefully it will make you chuckle a little as well.

Enjoy!!

Musical Interlude March 18, 2008

Those of you that read this should be familiar with PAX – the big video game festival we put on every year.  Part of the festivities are a series of concerts featuring geek/nerd related acts.  Well one of our musicians has exploded beyond Internet stardom, getting a lot of mainstream press.  So for those of you that I know would appreciate his music but have not yet heard of him I  present Jonathan Coulton (http://www.jonathancoulton.com).  One of my favorites is the song titled Stroller Town (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/mp3/Stroller%20Town.mp3), done in a Beach Boy’s style about a baby that like to drag race in his stroller.  His biggest hit is Code Monkey which you can listen to here – http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Code%20Monkey.  And last but not least his great cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back, http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Baby%20Got%20Back.  He will be playing at our show again this year, so if any of you become big fans let me know.

Aloha! March 18, 2008

 

Jeff’s company has a yearly retreat and it was a surprise until yesterday. We found out that we are headed to Maui in September and I am so excited. Ethan is not as excited since he has to stay with Grandma, but I am sure he will be spoiled. I have actually never been to Maui so I am looking forward to exploring the island as well as hopefully getting in some snorkeling and sun. Pina Colada’s here we come!

*Also the above photo is where we are staying.  

Weekends need to be 3 days instead of 2. March 16, 2008

 

Today is Sunday which means back to work tomorrow morning. Very sad indeed. We ventured to the Seattle Factory Outlet Mall yesterday in search of work clothes for me. Unfortunately it turned into a trip wasted since the only store I wanted to venture into had tremendously huge lines. The day was not lost though since we met our friends Jeff and Courtney, and their neighbor Aitana for dinner at the Redhook Brewery. We were originally supposed to head to Lopez Island to visit family but my mom came down with the flu on Friday. As a side note, Easter is quickly approaching which means its time for the Easter bunny to get her/his game face on.

Finally, a full nights sleep! March 13, 2008

As you can see from Jeff’s post Ethan has been fighting us recently on the sleep issue. I did some Internet investigating while up one night during one of these episodes. Last night I decided to put some of my research to the test.

Previously we had been cradling Ethan in our arms to get him to fall asleep and then tip toeing into his room to put him in his crib. From the sites that I browsed it said that this was a no no. We were supposed to get him to fall asleep on his own, in his crib. Otherwise, when he wakes up he does not know where he is and freaks out.

At around 7 last night he started to get sleepy and the eyes started to droop so I took him into his room and put him in his crib. At first he seemed OK with it and was entertaining himself but then decided that he was not ready for bed and let me know it. So I went back in at about 7:15 and read him a story and gave him a bottle. By this point I could tell he was really tired because normally he tries to grab at the pages of the book. So, back in the crib he went which resulted in some fussing. While he was in his crib, I went downstairs, monitor in tow, deciding to wash bottles which takes about 10 minutes. On my last bottle there was not a peep to be heard from his room. So I carefully tip toed back upstairs to check on him and sure enough he was sound asleep. After that he woke up a few times for about 30 seconds and was able to put himself back to sleep on his own.

This is a total break through since both Jeff and I were becoming sleep deprived (mostly Jeff). Last night was a great night sleep. Let’s hope that tonight he continues this trend.